The current pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique assumes a linear relationship (Stem-Volmer Equation) between intensity ratio (Io/I) and pressure ratio (P/Po) over a wide range of pressures (vacuum to ambient or higher). Although this may be valid for some PSPs, in most PSPs the relationship is nonlinear, particularly at low pressures (<0.2 psia when the oxygen level is low). This non-linearity can be attributed to variations in the oxygen quenching (de-activation) rates (which otherwise is assumed constant) at these pressures. Other studies suggest that some paints also have non-linear calibrations at high pressures; because of heterogeneous (non-uniform) oxygen diffusion and quenching. Moreover, pressure sensitive paints require correction for the output intensity due to light intensity variation, paint coating variation, model dynamics, wind-off reference pressure variation, and temperature sensitivity. Therefore to minimize the measurement uncertainties due to these causes, an insitu intensity correction method was developed. A non-oxygen quenched paint (which provides a constant intensity at all pressures, called non-pressure sensitive paint, NPSP) was used for the reference intensity (Im,sp) with respect to which all the PSP intensities (I) were measured. The results of this study show that in order to fully reap the benefits of this technique, a totally oxygen impermeable NPSP must be available.


Purpose To describe a new approach for deriving a preference-based index from a condition specific measure that uses Rasch analysis to develop health states. Methods CORE-OM is a 34-item instrument monitoring clinical outcomes of people with common mental health problems. CORE-OM is characterised by high correlation across its domains. Rasch analysis was used to reduce the number of items and response levels in order to produce a set of unidimensionally-behaving items, and to generate a credible set of health states corresponding to different levels of symptom severity using the Rasch item threshold map. Results The proposed methodology resulted in the development of CORE-6D, a 2-dimensional health state description system consisting of a unidimensionally-behaving 5-item emotional component and a physical symptom item. Inspection of the Rasch item threshold map of the emotional component helped identify a set of 11 plausible health states, which, combined with the physical symptom item levels, will be used for the valuation of the instrument, resulting in the development of a preference-based index. Conclusions This is a useful new approach to develop preference-based measures where the domains of a measure are characterised by high correlation. The CORE-6D preference-based index will enable calculation of Quality Adjusted Life Years in people with common mental health problems.


A wide range of polymer film products are available with varying degrees of permeability to a variety of gases, from oxygen to water to aromatic species. The barrier properties are determined primarily by the choice of the matrix polymer, and fine tailoring can be introduced through the addition of filler materials such as inorganic platelets and polymer blend materials. It was identified that hollow and porous addition of such particles appears little studied. Gel particles were prepared by free radical emulsion polymerisation of styrene and DVB in presence of hydrophobic solvents. Porous particles were prepared by the surfactant free emulsion copolymerisation of VBC and DVB, followed by Friedel- Crafts alkylation to yield hypercrosslinked microporous nanoparticles. Porous and gel particles were added to polymer films and the oxygen permeability and mechanical properties of these films determined. It was found that the addition of hypercrosslinked microporous nanoparticles increased the oxygen permeability of the films up to 〜50 % when added at 40 wt% loading. Further to these studies, hollow nanoparticles were prepared by the emulsion phase ATRP of DVB when initiated by mPEG-6-PS inisurf in the presence of a hydrophobic solvent.


ABSTRACT Sweden has a long tradition of comprehensive upper-secondary education. This began in the early 1970s. It culminated in 1994 with all the programmes having a core curriculum that gave general eligibility to higher education. Conservative and liberal governments have introduced several neoliberal school reforms, which the subsequent social democratic government has done little or nothing to change. In 2009, the government initiated a trial with academic elite programmes. The aim of this article is to analyse how and why the elite programmes translated into and transformed local school practices as they did. The study builds on interview and questionnaire data from school principals, university teachers, upper-secondary teachers and students involved in the programmes that started in 2010, and questionnaire and interview data from students that graduated from the programmes that started in 2009. The results show that programmes failed to recruit the target group, that relatively few students used the opportunity to specialise, and that the new programmes replaced previously developed local systems for support of the academically most able. The schools used the trial to strengthening their brand. The study confirms the need for ongoing development of the academic quality of the general upper-secondary education programmes.


Sixty unpremedicated patients undergoing dilatation and curettage were allocated randomly to receive one of three inhalational agents (halothane, enflurane or isoflurane) to supplement 67% nitrous oxide in oxygen after induction of anaesthesia with methohexitone. Recovery was assessed by the time patients took to open their eyes, to give their correct date of birth, to regain their pre‐operative level of manipulative skill with a children's postbox toy, and by comparing pre‐operative and postoperative performance of a paper and pencil test (the p‐deletion test). There was no difserence in the time to open eyes or to regain their pre‐operative score with the postbox whether the patients received halothane, enflurune or isoflurane. Patients in the isoflurane group took longer than patients in the enflurane group to give their correct date of birth, but they performed better in the p‐deletion test postoperatively, completing more lines with the same number of errors. Patients receiving enflurane committed more errors postoperatively in the p‐deletion test. The incidence of complications was low and was not influenced by the choice of inhalational agent.


: The cause of hyperinsulinaemia in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is unknown, but two recent reports have implicated mutations of the tyrosine kinase domain of the insulin receptor gene in two patients. We have undertaken amplification of the insulin receptor gene using the polymerase chain reaction and single-stranded conformational polymorphism analysis in 22 hyperinsulinaemic patients with PCOS. Of these patients, 50% were polymorphic in exon 17 of the insulin receptor gene, but none of the alterations in sequence has been associated with insulin resistance. The genomic sequences in exons 18-21 were normal in all patients. We conclude that mutations involving the tyrosine kinase domain of the insulin receptor gene are a rare cause of insulin resistance in the PCOS.


To overcome low response speed and low control precision in the existing traditional shape memory alloy actuators, the new type of structure named planar bending embedded shape memory alloy actuator was developed. Two SMA wires were embedded in parallel with the axis of the elastic rod. The actuating wire, which was superposed along rod's axis, was set to obtain "U" memory shape and the restoring wire, which was placed off-axially, got straight memory shape. The differential stain gauges were located at suitable position in corresponding to the actuator's bending direction in order to measure the signal of displacement. By making use of continuity, common origin and common limit conditions and adjusting martensite fraction coefficients appropriately, the analytical model was deduced to adequately account for the presence of major and minor hysteresis loops. The structural parameters of 60 mm long actuator, such as rod's radius, wire's radius, wire's recoverable curvature and offset distance, were optimized by combining analytical model with experimental results. The experimental results prove the merits in optimal prototype.


[The author uses the pastoral circle or "see-judge-act" practical theological method to review the status of Hispanic/Latino ministry. He takes note of new research findings, while stressing the importance of an integrating framework for shaping the Catholic Church's response to the multiple challenges presented by the Latino/a presence. Paul VI's Evangelii nuntiandi provides the needed framework with its stress on inculturation, liberation, and interreligious dialogue. Sections are then devoted to the challenges of popular religion, youth, the flight to other religions, multiculturalism, and pluralism. Finally, he names several practical implications and lays out a map suggesting where this may be heading.]


The sudden and untimely death of Alan Jon Magill at age 61 on September 19, 2015 has led to a growing list of remembrances from a grieving community of friends and colleagues seeking to support his family and has been accompanied by a growing recognition of his extraordinary and unique contributions to the field of tropical diseases. At his death, Alan was the director of the Malaria Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) since 2012, and was also the immediate past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). Both positions underscored his enormous commitment and contributions to tropical medicine over the past decades.

Alan's education was at Lamar University (BS 1976), University of Rhode Island (MS 1978), and Baylor College of Medicine (MD 1984). His post graduate training in the U.S. Army (at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center) was serendipitous, as it allowed him to join his partner and later wife Janiine as she trained as a pediatrician. Thus began the bulk of his career as a physician scientist within the Walter Reed system, combining clinical parasitology and research on product development of new interventions, including drugs and diagnostics.

During his fellowship, Alan first focused on leishmaniasis, as troops from Desert Storm brought home challenging clinical presentations of cutaneous disease. He worked on rapid diagnostic tests and polymerase chain reaction-based assays for cutaneous leishmaniasis; the latter cleared Food and Drug Administration approval. This work established him as a lifelong leishmaniac, and his expertise was firmly grounded in clinical management and his strategic thinking about the need for new interventions. He was subsequently an advisor to leishmania vaccine development programs at the Infectious Diseases Research Institute and the BMGF.

Alan then took on several broad roles; first, on detail to the parasitology program at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 Peru; second, Chair of the U.S. Army Malaria Board for the Office of the Surgeon General; third, Director of the Division of Experimental Therapeutics at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research; and finally research coordinator of both the Malaria Drug and Anti-Parasitic Research Programs at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The breadth of these activities solidified Alan's knowledge of the clinical and product development challenges facing the malaria field.

Alan's achievements in malaria within the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research program included the development of the first American malaria rapid diagnostic test and driving the development of two key treatments, intravenous artesunate and tafenoquine. He identified new malaria drug scaffolds that advanced into lead optimization. He led challenge trials of vaccine candidates in the United States and vaccine field trials in Africa. In addition, while in Peru, he helped to characterize malaria drug resistance patterns at a time when older therapies were losing efficacy, leading to engagement on methods of detection, monitoring of drug resistance, implementation of changes in national policy, and training on the use of new drug regimens.

Subsequently, Alan joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2009, where he directed programs of innovative plant-protein therapeutics and biologics, as well as advancing influenza vaccine candidates into early clinical trials.

Alan's diverse experiences served the malaria field well in 2010, when he participated in the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) project. His contributions were critical to the establishment of Single Encounter Radical Cure and Prophylaxis (SERCAP) as a research priority for malaria drug development, enabling progress toward malaria eradication. His contributions as a member of this highly consultative process demonstrated leadership skills, which were to serve him well in his subsequent position at the BMGF.

A listing of Alan's many management and leadership positions almost gets in the way of recognizing his enormous commitment to graduate medical education. His generosity with his time and energy placed him in a vortex of activities to advance graduate medical education of parasitology writ large, and malaria specifically. He was first recognized as an outstanding teaching resident during his internal medicine residency. This was the harbinger for what would become a life-long commitment to education, working through ASTMH, its subgroup, the American Committee on Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health (Clinical Group) and the annual Update Course in Clinical and Tropical Medicine, as well as numerous other organizations that represent infectious diseases (Infectious Disease Society of America, American Society of Microbiology) and global health (CDC Traveler's Health and courses sponsored by the Gorgas Course in Tropical Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to name a few).

Alan's contributions to ASTMH began with his membership in 1991. He served as Councilor, Corporate Liaison, and on the Legislative Affairs Committee. He was a member of the American Committee on Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health for 8 years, culminating in his service as President in 2007. He was president of ASTMH in 2014, bringing to this position his remarkable optimism, enthusiasm, and focus. He was seriously engaged in malaria elimination at this time, but during his presidential year a large Ebola outbreak in Africa became a primary focus of the tropical medicine community. He led efforts by the Society to address this epidemic, including careful attention to political challenges, scientific advances and human rights concerns. More broadly, he was greatly interested in the future of the Society, and he left a profound impact on the blueprint for future Society activities.

63rd ASTMH Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2, 2014

Alan's decision to join BMGF as Director of the Malaria Program was not made lightly. He considered the opportunity to drive the Foundation's malaria eradication strategy and its implementation as the culmination of his career. His engaging presentations at the Harvard/Barcelona/Basel Science of Eradication course over the past three years reflected his evolving framework for malaria eradication. Upon arrival at the BMGF, he worked to advance the malaria eradication strategy, applying his strong base as a malaria clinician to rethink the role of drugs as prevention, appropriate strategies to eliminate parasite reservoirs, and reshaping the vaccine development agenda to maximize impact on the eradication of malaria. His strategy was strongly endorsed by Foundation leadership and offered an enormous step forward for the field. Malaria elimination and eventual global eradication are far more achievable goals than we dreamed until very recently, in no small part because of his energy, talent, wisdom, compassion, and commitment.

Through his career, Alan was a master at relating to his team and colleagues. He maintained independence of thought, but was engaged both internally and externally with those that would challenge his thinking. His passion for the history of malaria, understanding of the biological basis of disease, and unique experiences in product development of drugs and vaccines grounded his approach and cemented his credibility with the malaria research and policy communities. The integration of his program into a proactive, forward looking agenda, has resulted in a framework from which it is possible to believe, as he did, that "Malaria Delenda Est"—malaria must be destroyed. This was the inscription on the medal that he awarded, in the military tradition, to the members of his team at the BMGF.

The medal given by Dr. Magill to his team at the BMGF.

What is extraordinary is that since Alan's death many people have individually noted how he connected with them personally, giving whatever time was needed. This includes his staff, colleagues, and grantees. Moreover, he managed to do this while also being extraordinarily well-read, a voracious learner, a generous teacher, a malaria expert, a leishmaniac, an historian, a leader, and above all a family man. He certainly came across as smart and hardworking, but he didn't seem extraordinary. As David Brandling-Bennett noted, "After last week, I had to conclude that he was truly extraordinary, but he disguised it so well that individually we didn't realize it."

An avid outdoorsman, Alan's favorite activities included climbing mountains and hiking, activities which he enjoyed with family and friends, in the Seattle area and beyond. He is survived by his wife Janiine Babcock, daughter Lara Magill and her spouse Jonathan Krynitsky, daughter Sarah Magill, and brother Donald Magill. We thank his family for sharing him with us.


"This is an analysis of the installation of a participatory device in a sector which seemed controlled by old and solid relations between representatives of the ministry and certain teaching trade unions. In a sector which, because of failed reforms and recurrent strikes, could appear "ungovernable", the implementation of such a procedure means more than the demonstration of trade-union uselessness as regards reflection on the School; it dilutes the power of the actors recognized up to now in a process of formation of a "base" of ordinary people informed by collective discussion. Also of interest is how these professionals in representation and bargaining sought to exist, to last, and even to gain new positions in this device which however tended to dispossess them."


Sucrose polyester (SPE) is a carbohydrate ester compound that has diverse functions, from surfactant to low-calorie food products. Sucrose fatty acid ester with the degree of substitution 1-3 can be used as emulsifier in foods and cosmetics. The enzymatic synthesis of sucrose polyesters can be carried out using lipase in organic solvent and contain small amount of water. In this study sucrose esters were synthesized by esterification reaction between sucrose with fatty acids from coconut and palm oil using Candida rugosa lipase in n-hexane. Optimization esterification reaction was carried out for parameters of incubation time, temperature, and the ratio of the substrate. The optimum incubation time was at 18 hours for coconut oil and 12 hours palm oil, the optimum temperature was 30 o C for coconut and palm oil, and the mole ratio of fatty acid to sucrose was 40:1 for coconut oil and 64:1 for palm oil. Esterification products were characterized by FT-IR. The FT-IR spectrum showed the ester bond was formed as indicated by the wave number 1739.79/cm. Esterification products have 2 substitution degrees.


A number of previous studies have built up a picture of the early events in the oestrogenic response of the immature rat uterus. This consists of an overall growth and development of the tissue preparing it to support a pregnancy. The most important requirement in this chain of events is the massive increase in protein synthesis as the lining of the uterus differentiates and proliferates. This requires the synthesis of large numbers of new ribosomes. The evidence suggests that this synthesis is preceded by and is dependent on stimulated hnRNA synthesis which is detectable 30 minutes after giving the hormone. It is apparently vital that messenger sequences present in this hnRNA be translated before the stimulation of ribosomal RNA can occur. Hybridisation studies suggest that the proteins eliciting this response are encoded by a small number of moderately abundant messenger sequences, all of which appear in the polysome population between 2 and 4 hours after oestrogen administration. This project set out to detect and characterise these proteins by radio-labelling immature rat uteri in vitro after short periods of oestrogen stimulation in vivo and analysing the protein species by two dimensional gel electrophoresis and fluorography. The three approaches adopted were the labelling of whole uteri in vitro; the labelling of fractionated epithelial, stromal and myometrial cells in vitro; and the translation of uterine polysomes in cell free systems. These three methods yielded different information. Whole uteri labelled in vitro showed very little difference between the protein populations from control and stimulated animals, although analysis of their polysome profiles showed the translational statuses of the two groups of uteri to differ greatly. The study of fractionated cell type proteins revealed a differential response to the hormone. Epithelial cells showed relatively small quantitative differences between the control and hormone-treated uteri, but at least three new proteins were reproducibly detected as radioactive spots. Stromal protein synthesis was strongly stimulated after four hours of oestrogen treatment and in addition to the quantitative changes, some further qualitative changes were also detected. Nine new species were seen in response to oestrogen treatment and the labelling of a number of other species was strongly enhanced. Little data were collected on the response of the myometrium which showed lower levels of radioactive incorporation, and fewer protein species than the other two fractions examined. Cell-free translation revealed a number of changes in the protein population during the first four hours of stimulation. The synthesis of at least ten proteins was stimulated 2 hours after oestrogen administration although only five of these were totally reproducible. Further changes were observed by 4 hours after treatment. Unfortunately, none of the new proteins detected by cell-free protein synthesis could be identified with oestrogen-induced species in intact, isolated cells. However, the possible identity of some of the proteins synthesised in increased quantities by polysomes from oestrogen-treated rats was investigated. These experiments established the presence of actin and IP, an induced protein, in the uterine protein population. None of the stimulated uterine protein species comigrated with a number of other candidate proteins, including non-histone chromatin protein and hnRNP particle protein, however, the presence of low levels of ribosomal proteins was established. The results obtained by each method are assessed, discussed and compared with results from other systems. It is thought that the bulk of early induced proteins we sought to identify was present in quantities too small to be detected using the methods employed in this study.


The basic concrete characteristic which needs to be controlled is the compressive strength of concrete, the values of which are subject to various random influences, for example climatic conditions, conditions of production and changes in the properties of components. The efficient control requires not only the registration of the decreased or increased concrete strength but also specifying the place and the date of application of concrete batch with characteristics deviating from the project assumptions. The article presents the control procedure, taking into account a division of the series of test results for the compressive strength of concrete from an annual production into concrete families of statistically stable strength parameters, in the identified time intervals. The article presents examples of verification of a hypothesis concerning the attachment of a set of compressive strength results to a concrete family, using selected statistical tests.


Satellite glial cells (SGCs) of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) ensure homeostasis and proportional excitability of sensory neurons and gained interest in the field of development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. Pigs represent a suitable species for translational medicine with a more similar anatomy and physiology to humans compared to rodents, and are used in research regarding treatment of neuropathic pain. Knowledge of anatomical and physiological features of porcine SGCs is prerequisite for interpreting potential alterations. However, state of knowledge is still limited. In the present study, light microscopy, ultrastructural analysis and immunofluorescence staining was performed. SGCs tightly surround DRG neurons with little vascularized connective tissue between SGC-neuron units, containing, among others, axons and Schwann cells. DRG were mainly composed of large sized neurons (∼59%), accompanied by fewer medium sized (∼36%) and small sized sensory neurons (∼6%). An increase of neuronal body size was concomitant with an increased number of surrounding SGCs. The majority of porcine SGCs expressed glutamine synthetase and inwardly rectifying potassium channel Kir 4.1, known as SGC-specific markers in other species. Similar to canine SGCs, marked numbers of porcine SGCs were immunopositive for glial fibrillary acidic protein, 2′,3′-cyclic-nucleotide 3′-phosphodiesterase and the transcription factor Sox2. Low to moderate numbers of SGCs showed aquaporin 4-immunoreactivity (AQP4) as described for murine SGCs. AQP4-immunoreactivity was primarily found in SGCs ensheathing small and medium sized neuronal somata. Low numbers of SGCs were immunopositive for ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1, indicating a potential immune cell character. No immunoreactivity for common leukocyte antigen CD45 nor neural/glial antigen 2 was detected. The present study provides essential insights into the characteristic features of non-activated porcine SGCs, contributing to a better understanding of this cell population and its functional aspects. This will help to interpret possible changes that might occur under activating conditions such as pain.


The effect of dietary supplementation of probiotics and synbiotics on gut microbial population and histomorphological characteristics was examined in a 56-day experiment using 128 seven-day-old turkey poults fed with antibiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplemented diets. The experimental design was a Randomised Complete Block Design. Poults were brooded for 7 days, after which they were allotted to 4 dietary treatments with 4 replicates of 8 birds per replicate. Treatment 1 was the basal diet with no supplements while treatments 2, 3, and 4 were supplemented with  antibiotics, probiotics and synbiotics respectively. On day 56, birds were slaughtered and digesta samples from the ileum were collected for microbial load count and intestinal pH. After flushing out the digesta samples, sections of the ileum (5cm posterior to Meckel's diverticulum) were removed for ileal morphological measurements. Probiotic and synbiotic supplementation significantly (P<0.05) reduced the total coliform and total bacteria counts, meanwhile, lactic acid bacteria were significantly increased in birds on the experimental diets. The intestinal pH was slightly acidic across the treatment groups (6.45 – 6.83). However, the probiotic and synbiotic treatment groups had the lowest pH at 6.53 and 6.45 respectively. Probiotic and synbiotic supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved the villus height and crypt depth of poults which was comparable to those on antibiotic diet. In summary, dietary inclusion of probiotics and synbiotics improved the overall gut integrity of the turkey poults as well as reduction in the populations of coliform and total bacteria, while the population of lactic acid bacteria was significantly increased. Keywords : Antibiotics, Probiotics, Synbiotics, Turkey poults


Today, scientists and others arrive at major conferences without knowing whom they should meet and talk to outside of their own field. The whole medical-research enterprise is damaged when researchers miss these connections. The key to improvement is to have the main data presentations online, allowing conferences to focus on exploration and discussion, instead of lectures that must rush through the new data.


From the earliest days of video games, unscrupulous copycats ripped off the games of others, and the courts struggled to define the boundaries of copyright law as pertains to video games. As technology advances, small independent games are on the rise again, but so are copycats. Courts have had about 30 years to apply the body of copyright law to the medium of video games. However, recent litigation, especially Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc., has sought to jettison some important aspects of copyright law as applied to game-play mechanics. This article analyzes the history of the idea/expression dichotomy as applied to video games and suggests ways that future courts can better draw the boundaries of copyright protection.


The paper presents a new approach to the development of cooperative human-machine systems in the Transportation domain which is currently researched in the European project D3CoS. A necessary precondition for the acceptance of cooperative human-machine systems with shared control is the confidence and trust of the user into the system. D3CoS tackles this important issue by addressing the cooperative system as the object and the target of the system development process. This new perspective, along with corresponding innovative methods, techniques and tools, shall allow the identification of optimal task and authority sharing approaches supported by intuitive human-machine interaction and user interfaces at an early stage of system development. This will support powerful teamwork between humans and machines or between machines and machines that is transparent, intuitive and easy to understand. The paper describes the research dimensions for the development of the methods, techniques and tools as well as first results.


This thesis deals with direct generated electricity for the Swedish and Norwegian railway systems. The form of renewable energy sources that are presented in this thesis is hydropower and a small part is about wind power.Alvkarleby hydropower plant could give redundancy to the Swedish railway system and at the same time solve that problem of locations for static converters close to Stockholm since the land areas close to Stockholm are expensive [14]. A conversion of 50 Hz generators into 16.66 Hz generators in Alvkarleby hydropower plant could lower the pressure on the nearby converter stations which this thesis shows, see Table 6.6.The conversion of a part in Alvkarleby hydropower plant would also strengthen the Swedish railway grid as can be seen in Figure 6.11 and Figure 6.12.If a malfunction would happen in Haggvik converter station as the case was in the fall 2008 [35] and Alvkarleby is functioning it would be possible to have train traffic running. The simulation preformed in this thesis shows that it is possible to have reduced traffic and still have the voltage levels in an acceptable range, see Figure A 4.3 and Figure A 4.4.In 2009 the "132 kV power flow control system" will be introduced for the Swedish railway system. This control system together with direct generation by hydropower could make the idea of hydropower generation attractive as one alternative renewable energy source.Both Norway and Sweden have similar railway systems. The 16.66 Hz electricity price is increasing in Norway and that is one reason why JBV (Jernbaneverket, a company that owns the Norwegian railway grid) chose to renovate one of their two hydropower plants that generates low frequency electricity for the railway.The renovation plans show that JBV sees a profit in renovating their existing low frequency hydropower plants.These aspects are strong arguments to why a reintroduction of hydropower in Sweden could be one alternative solution to more static converters, when dealing with the problem of increasing power consumption.


Configuring and executing application across multiple clouds is a challenging task due to the various terminologies used by cloud providers to describe their services and features. Likewise, the services are regularly offered at different levels of abstraction, such as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS). While IaaS services provide low-level access to the infrastructure, PaaS services enable the users to delegate the management of the computing environment to the cloud providers. Consequently, at the IaaS level, the users are responsible for managing the computing resources, whereas, at the PaaS level, the users must develop native cloud applications following the constraints defined by the PaaS provider. These two options exist, mostly because the clouds target web applications, whereas users' applications are commonly batch-oriented. Considering how difficult is the task of configuring and executing applications across various clouds, we advocate the use of autonomic systems to do this work automatically. For this purpose, in this paper, we propose and evaluate an autonomic and goal-oriented system. Our system implements self-configuration, self-healing, and context-awareness properties. In addition, it relies on a hierarchical P2P overlay (a) to manage the virtual machines running on the clouds and (b) to deal with inter-cloud communication. Likewise, it depends on a software product line engineering (SPLE) method to enable applications' deployment and reconfiguration at runtime, without requiring pre-configured virtual machine images. Experimental results show that our system frees the users from the duty of configuring and managing the execution of a non-native application on single clouds and over many clouds. In particular, our system tackles the lack of middleware prototypes that can support different scenarios when using simultaneous services from multiple clouds.


The pharmacokinetics of tablets containing equimolar amounts of bacampicillin and bacmecillinam totalling 500 mg were studied in healthy volunteers. Bacampicillin and bacmecillinam are prodrugs which hydrolyse completely upon absorption to give ampicillin and mecillinam respectively. The concentrations of ampicillin and mecillinam were determined in serum, peripheral lymph and urine. Both substances were found to invade lymph more slowly than serum and also to remain in the former somewhat longer. There were also longer lag time values for lymph than for serum, lasting 0. 7 hours for both compounds after the fust dose and 0.5 hours after the 7th dose. The elimination half-life was around one hour for both antibiotics and sites, the individual values usually longer for lymph than for serum. After 7 doses, the levels were of the same order as after one dose. The peak concentrations in lymph were approximately half of those in serum and appeared somewhat later than in serum. The mean (± SD) curve peaks in lymph for ampicillin were 2.3 ± 0.7 and 2.1 ± 0.4  µg /ml after the first and 7th doses. The corresponding values for mecillinam were 1.6 ± 0.6 and 1.5 ± 0.2 µg /ml. For ampicillin, the areas under the serum curves were 40- 50 percent higher than under the lymph curves, whereas the areas were smaller, although similar, for mecillinam in both types of specimens. The ratio of ampicillin to mecillinam was close to the optimal for antibacterial in vitro synergistic activity in serum, lymph, and urine. Penetration into the lymph was satisfactory. This is significant, since lymph levels reflect concentrations obtainable in unmanipulated tissues, which may become infected. Consequently, the design of the fixed combination of equimolecular quantities bacampicillin and bacmecillinam seems suitable from a pharmacokinetic point of view.


The aim was to test the hypothesis that cultivated bovine luteal cells from three different thirds of pregnancy behave the same way as in vivo luteal cells relative to P4 production. Corpus luteum samples from days 90 (n=3), 150 (n=3) and 210 (n=3) of pregnancy were obtained at a local slaughterhouse. Under aseptic conditions cells were mechanically dispersed and cultivated in a 96 wells-plate. After 24 hours of culture, cells were washed and the precursor pregnenolone was added. Experiments were conducted eight times for each studied time period (24, 48 and 96 h) and three times for each gestational age. Culture medium and cells were collected after 24, 48 and 96 hours of precursor addition and kept frozen at -20oC until processing. Progesterone was measured by RIA and protein content by Lowry's method. Results were statistically analyzed and considered different when p <0.05. A higher P4 production was observed on day 90 of gestation (35.277±0.075), then this production was decreased at day 150 (28.820±0.231) and increased again at day 210 (32.777±0.099). After 24 hours of culture, luteal cells P4 production reached maximum values in the group of 90 days (2.912±0.047) when compared to 150 (2.669±0.137) and 210 days (2.741±0.088). At 48 and 96 hours of culture, bovine luteal cells from day 90 of gestation produced more P4 than cells from day 210 (2.934±0.029 and 2.976±0.121 respectively x 2.760±0.059 and 2.695±0.149, respectively; p<0.05), which in turn, produced more P4 than cells from day 150 (2.334±0.084 for 48 h and 2.205±0.136 for 96 h). Luteal cells from day 150 of gestation presented a decreasing P4 production throughout the 96 hours of culture. These differences could be explained by differential gene expression of enzymes and/or factors belonging to the esteroidogenic cascade in accordance to the gestational period. The established luteal cell culture model could be used for further functional studies once P4 secretion pattern in vitroresembled what occurs in vivo.


Inflammasomes take the wheel Cells require microbial ligand binding to sense pathogens (see the Perspective by Liu and Xiao). Binding to the family of NOD-like receptors triggers the assembly of large protein signaling complexes called inflammasomes, leading infected cells to die and produce inflammatory mediators. Hu et al. and Zhang et al. use cryo–electron microscopy to uncover the structural and biochemical basis of two such receptors: NAIP2, which directly binds microbial ligands, and NLRC4, a protein functioning directly downstream. A self-propagating activation mechanism of downstream inflammasome signaling starts with one molecule of NAIP4 directly binding its microbial ligand. NAIP4 then catalyzes the activation of 10 to 12 NLRC4 molecules to form a wheel-like structure. Science, this issue p. 399, 404; see also p. 376 An autocatalytic self-propagating mechanism drives activation of the NLRC4 inflammasome. [Also see Perspective by Liu and Xiao] The NLR family apoptosis inhibitory proteins (NAIPs) bind conserved bacterial ligands, such as the bacterial rod protein PrgJ, and recruit NLR family CARD-containing protein 4 (NLRC4) as the inflammasome adapter to activate innate immunity. We found that the PrgJ-NAIP2-NLRC4 inflammasome is assembled into multisubunit disk-like structures through a unidirectional adenosine triphosphatase polymerization, primed with a single PrgJ-activated NAIP2 per disk. Cryo–electron microscopy (cryo-EM) reconstruction at subnanometer resolution revealed a ~90° hinge rotation accompanying NLRC4 activation. Unlike in the related heptameric Apaf-1 apoptosome, in which each subunit needs to be conformationally activated by its ligand before assembly, a single PrgJ-activated NAIP2 initiates NLRC4 polymerization in a domino-like reaction to promote the disk assembly. These insights reveal the mechanism of signal amplification in NAIP-NLRC4 inflammasomes.


Marxism analyzes work dryly as the cruel dead-end of man-by-man exploitation. In reality, work is a deep and complex concept. Furthermore, the sacrosanct clear-cut division between work and capital is fading away. In addition, the division of labor is not specific to capitalism but to the industrial logic. Value depends on how much a good is desired, irrespective of the amount of work that produced it. Finally, talent, or the ability to seize and take advantage of the Zeitgeist, enhances the value of goods. In the end, applied scientific socialism changed the exploitation of man by man into its very opposite.


Alteration of glutathione (GSH) homeostasis represents one of the earliest events during the commitment of stress-induced apoptosis. Extrusion of GSH into the extracellular milieu, in response to several oxidative stimuli, has been suggested as a molecular switch triggering apoptosis. However, chemical depletion of GSH does not induce cell death even though cytochrome c release from mitochondria has been observed. Here we report that U937 cells treated with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) are able to survive and to inhibit the apoptotic program downstream of cytochrome c release. BSO treatment induces a highly significant decrease of GSH in both the cytosolic and mitochondrial fractions. The concomitant release of cytochrome c into the cytosol was associated with nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor. GSH depletion also resulted in reactive oxygen species production and in a specific increase of mitochondrial protein carbonyls. However, all these events were transiently present inside cells and efficiently counteracted by cell-repairing systems. We observed an increase in the proteasome activity and in the expression levels of heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) and Hsp70. Moreover, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) was activated in our system as a survival cell response against the oxidative injury. Overall results suggest that activation of NF-kappaB and Hsp could allow cell adaptation and survival under exhaustive GSH depletion.


Increasingly, Americans who have contact with the criminal legal system find themselves deprived not just of their liberty but also of their property. In recent years, advocates have shed light on the court-imposed fines and fees levied on low-income individuals who have contact with the criminal legal system. But less attention has been paid to the charges imposed on these individuals and their families by the private companies that now administer components of the American criminal and immigration legal systems. Much criminal legal debt is now owed not to the state, but rather to the vast network of private companies profiteering from the criminalization of poverty and communities of color. As a result, a person in jail who wants to make bail or to call their family, or a parent who wants to make sure their child has basic necessities while in prison, or a teenager who has just been ordered to attend a rehabilitation program, all face the potential trauma not just of incarceration but also of spiraling indebtedness.

This Article seeks to illuminate the commercial abuses occurring in the shadows of the criminal legal system — to draw attention to the problem of "crimsumerism." The Article also seeks to ameliorate the problem. In addition to traditional civil rights-focused claims like § 1983, the Article proposes the application to private correctional businesses of a different set of laws entirely: consumer protection statutes. If bail bond companies and private debt collectors are routinely engaged in abusive, predatory behavior with respect to individuals who have contact with our criminal legal system, then those businesses should be held accountable through the same laws that would apply were they operating in any other corner of the marketplace. Holding bail bond agents and debt collectors to account through the Truth-in-Lending Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or state Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices laws means that some of the most vulnerable consumers in our society will have access to additional protections, while advocates simultaneously work to end mass incarceration and criminalization in the United States. Over the long term, vigorous enforcement of consumer protection laws will reduce the predatory practices that are currently widespread in the modern corrections industry and ultimately, perhaps, help to eliminate exploitation and other abuses from our criminal legal system altogether.


Ultra wideband (UWB) technology is fast emerging as a potential contender for next generation wireless sensor networks because of the inherent low power requirements and built in security. Time hopping and direct sequence based spread spectrum techniques are employed for UWB multiple access systems, which makes the correlation properties of these techniques a critical issue in a multi-user (multiple nodes) scenario. In this paper we present a comparative performance analysis of different spreading codes namely, PN, Gold and Kasami using PPM and PAM modulation schemes over AWGN and IEEE 802.15.3a channel models. We use a PRake receiver for multipath channel. We observe that DS spreading technique is more suitable than TH for multi-user systems. Simulation results show that Kasami codes perform better than Gold and PN codes for all considered cases. However, Kasami codes can accommodate less number of nodes for a given code length due to their reduced set size. Thus, for small sensor networks Kasami codes should be deployed, where as for larger sensor networks Gold and PN codes are more suitable


In 2009, Usain Bolt broke the world record with a finishing time of 9.58 seconds in the 100m race at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin. With 9 Olympic gold medals, Usain Bolt is considered as one of the most decorated sprinters of all time. In this paper, we calculate the change in wavelength of the colour of Usain Bolt's shirt as seen by an observer at the starting point of the race. This phenomenon is also known as the Doppler Effect.


We study the determinants of stock market development and the growing migration of capital raising, listing, and trading activity to international exchanges. Economies with higher income per capita, sounder macro policies, more efficient legal systems with better shareholder protection, and more open financial markets have larger and more liquid markets. As such fundamentals improve, however, the degree of migration to international exchanges also increases. This leads to gains for corporations in the form of lower costs, better terms and more liquidly-traded shares. Fully-fledged local stock exchanges are thus becoming less necessary for many economies. Furthermore, migration can leave too little domestic activity to sustain a local exchange. Therefore, the functions and forms of stock exchanges in many economies need to be rethought. JEL classification codes: G15, G18, G20


It is very important to detect fiber orientation error in orthotropic composite laminates because the layup of a CFRP (carbon-fiber reinforced plastics) composite laminates affects the properties of the laminate, including stiffness, strength and thermal behavior. In this study, an investigation of shear wave ultrasonic technique was carried out in order to detect stacking orientation error for the orthotropic composite laminates. During testing, the most significant problem is that the couplant conditions do not remain the same because of changing the viscosity of the couplant. Therefore, the design and use of a shear wave transducers would greatly aid in alleviating the couplant problem. A pyramid with an isosceles triangle with two 45o was made of aluminum to generate shear waves using two longitudinal transducers based on ultrasonicpolarized mechanism. Also, the signal splitter was connected to the pulser jack on the pulser/receiver and to the longitudinal transducers which were mounted with mineral oil. The shear transducer was mounted on the bottom as a receiver with burnt honey. It is found that the shear wave was generated at a maximum and a minimum based on the ultrasonic-polarized mechanism. Finally, test results with model data were compared for a fiber orientation of the laminates.


In the present paper, we consider the demand management decisions of a manufacturer facing stochastic demand. While in the previous literature, either the order release decisions are fixed upon arrival or a single-stage production environment is assumed, we make online order acceptance and order release decisions in a multi-stage production system. After describing the problem formally as a stochastic dynamic program, we develop a bid-pricebased revenue management approach in which the order acceptance and order release decisions are made based on previously computed bid prices and feasibility according to a linear program describing the multi-stage production system. A numerical study shows the good performance of the approach compared to an ex-post optimal solution in various supply and demand settings as well as the benefits relative to existing models, which work under simplifying assumptions.


A brief appraisal of the present state of seagrass restoration in the context of the 64-year-old seminal publication by C.E. Addy reveals that early observations were prescient and have remained the basis for our collective attempts to conduct open system seagrass restoration. Our ability to ensure restoration success remains limited. A flawed philosophical framework for choosing restoration, frequently exacerbated by management inexperience and failure to apply known standards for site selection, continues to plague the process. Moreover, seagrass restoration has become an on-demand attempt to overcome hysteresis and shift a habitat from one stable state (unvegetated) to what is arguably a more complex stable state (vegetated) by artificial colonization methods. These methods are frequently overwhelmed by natural processes that ordinarily rely on orders of magnitude more propagules and years of recruitment classes. As a result, the expectations for successful seagrass restoration, like most wild community restoration projects, are often unrealistic and improperly held to an even higher standard than agricultural crops. Limited attention to project monitoring, lack of practical recovery metrics, and, in some cases, limited scientific knowledge of seagrass (e.g., population ecology, genomics, and landscape dynamics) limit our capability to generate quantitative guidance and realistic expectations. Improving the probability of successful restoration depends not so much on overcoming technical transplanting issues, but on avoiding injudicious reliance on restoration to solve higher-level resource management issues. Overall, conservation of seagrass remains a more reasonable alternative than restoration, and Addy is revealed as a keen observer of the field.


Financial Accounting Standards for Entities Without Public Accountability (FAS-EWPA) is a financial accounting standards issued by The Indonesian Institute of Accountants or Ikatan Akuntan Indonesia (IAI) and endorsed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board of Indonesian Accountants or Dewan Standar Akuntansi Keuangan Ikatan Akuntan Indonesia (DSAK IAI) and intended for small and medium enterprises. The underlying priciple of IAI in issuing this particular standards is the attempt to facilitate small and medium enterprises in arranging their financial reports. If this standard is not issued, they have to follow the new FAS (which is stage of adopting IFRS – full convergence 2012) to arrange their financial reports. The application of this FAS-EWPA based IFRS is relatively more complex and expensive for small and medium enterprises. FAS-EWPA adopted some parts of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for small-medium enterprises (IFRS for Small-Medium-sized Entities/SMEs). This study aims to describe the layout of the difference measurement, assessment, report and the implementation of auditing standards between FAS-IFRS and FAS-EWPA. This study employed descriptive qualitative technique of data analysis by reviewing literature and analysing the field concerning with the implementation of Financial Accounting Standards Statements (FASS) and FAS-EWPA. Specifically, the secondary data of this study are FAS-IFRS and FAS-EWPA. The findings shows that there is a difference presentation and disclosure of financial statements between entities which report using FAS-IFRS and FAS-EWPA. Therefore the perceived program and audit procedures will be different because it will be tailored to the presentation and objectives the audit, suppose that in the implementation of FASS and EWPA, there is a difference in the assertions about the disclosure/presentation. For other assertions about existence, completeness, rights and obligations as well as assessment and allocation, basically, between FASS and EWPA, they have a common concept. While in presentation assertions as has been described earlier, the FAS-EWPA has a simpler form than with FASS, therefore there is a definitely difference in terms of the presentation between the two.


As far as the case report of Dr Lewis and others is concerned, it would be useful to know if the patient had acute or fulminant changes of exophthalmos, for without these changes their patient would be similar to one of our own who did not respond. The lack of response in such patients is probably due to permanent fibrotic changes in extraocular muscles. In this regard it would be extremely useful to have a simply measured biochemical marker which would predict potential responders. For the moment, however, it appears that one would have to depend on the clinical indications such as those described above; this is not necessarily a compromise since it is mostly in association with these features that the threat to visual acuity occurs. Plasmapheresis is not a treatment for cosmetic discomfort but a possible alternative to orbital decompression. We agree that this procedure needs further assessment. P DANDONA N MARSHALL S BIDEY A W NATHAN C W H HAVARD


The structure of the former Lateran canonry in Sternberk ranks
at present among the finest preserved monastic houses of the
Augustinian canons within the territory of Bohemia and Moravia.
The aim of the specialised texts and pictorial material of the
collective monography is to point out the art history
transformations of the canonry within the context of the 18th
century (contributions by Filip Hradil, Jiři Kroupa and Martin
Pavlicek). The painting decor of the interior of the canonry
and the parish church is again emphasised in connection with
the restauration work, which is going on today (contributions
by Milan Togner and Michaela Seferisova Loudova).


This thesis is in two parts. The first part reports a study of resistance factors in Senecio vulgaris (Groundsel) and of them matching virulence factors in its parasite Erysiphe fischeri. The second part reports a study of the effects of E. fischeri infection on the growth, development and functioning of the leaf tissue of S. vulgaris. PART I Eight resistance factors to the mildew were identified in a number of groundsel plant lines on the basis of differential reactions of the plant lines to eight different fungal isolates. Plant lines possessing no resistance factors to any of the isolates and plant lines possessing three or more resistance factors were more common in the host population than expected while plant lines possessing one or two resistance factors only were less common than expected. The selective pressures leading to this situation may have been imposed by the parasite although other environmental factors could have played a part. The resistance factors were found to be inherited in a simple Mendelian manner with resistance generally dominant over susceptibility. Resistance factors R3, R4 and R5 were found to be in the same linkage group, R3 and R5 being closely linked with a recorridnation value of about 1.5 +/- 1.5%. An analysis of the virulence factors possessed by each of the eight isolates of the mildew revealed that each possessed virulence factors matching all but one of the eight resistance factors in the host. The isolates were thus complex races. Thus, natural selection presumably as a result of selection pressures imposed by the host population has led to the development of a series of complex races, each race possessing the ability to overcome many of the resistance factors in the host. Over half of the plants susceptible to each race were very susceptible giving an infection type 4 to that race while only about 20% gave more resistant infection types 2 or 3. Thus selection appears to favour the most virulent condition in the parasite. At least six morphological forms of groundsel were identified on the basis of stem characters (red or green; hairy or glabrous) and inflorescence characters (radiate or non-radiate) and these were present in all populations studied. The population structure of groundsel in relation to the distribution of resistance factors and of morphological characters indicates that groundsel populations are genetically very diverse and is therefore a more complex form of a mixed variety cropping system. It is thus likely that long term usage of a mixed variety cropping system to control crop parasites may lead to the development of complex races which are able to attack most, if not all, the cultivars. PART II When groundsel plants have more than 30% of their leaf surface infected with mildew, both dry matter production and leaf expansion are reduced. Factors affecting this reduction in growth have been investigated. Neither the chlorophyll content per unit area of leaf nor the unit leaf rate were reduced even with 90% total mildew cover. Thus reduction in the rate of dry matter production was not due to a reduction in the efficiency of the leaf as a photosynthesizing organ, but to a reduction in the total green leaf area. Infection reduced the total green leaf area by enhancing leaf senescence, by reducing the number of expanding leaves on the lateral branches and by reducing the rate at which individual leaves expanded. The extent to which infection reduced the area of individual leaves depended upon the time of infection. Infection did not affect fully expanded leaves, but it drastically reduced the area of leaves which were infected while still expanding. Such leaves contained fewer and smaller lower epidermal cells than did un-infected leaves, indicating that infection inhibits both cell division and cell expansion. The succulence of the leaves was reduced by levels of infection over 60% cover. In such leaves, the amount of water lost per unit area of leaf appeared to be related to the amount of mildew present. It is thus possible that water stress in the leaves was partly responsible for the reduced expansion of the leaves. This investigation thus indicates that S. vulgaris has a high level of tolerance to E. fischeri.


Abstract This paper examines Canada's macroeconomic policy response to the recent financial crisis. Compared to the economies and financial sectors of its G-7 counterparts, the Canadian economy and the Canadian financial sector came off relatively well. Policy played a role, and the macroeconomic policy stance exhibited a pronounced change over the course of the period from late 2008 to 2012. However, structural features of the Canadian economy, and the particular character of the prevailing regime of accumulation, including the attendant ideology of neoliberalism, constrained the degree to which the policy change was radical and/or transformative. Those structural features also highlight some differences between the respective agendas of fiscal and monetary policy.


The perspective-taking skills require the ability to manipulate spatial reference systems and are the basis of the empathetic process. Empathy, in its relations with space representation and manipulation of spatial reference systems, is the investigation subject of this work, whose aim is the design of a videogame aimed at the measurement of the player's perspective taking skills. The idea of creating a video game on perspective taking is based on a classic Piagetian task, the three mountains problem, object of recent attention by the Italian scientific community that is involved in research in education. The current stage of the project has produced a video game, now in alpha testing release. The article discusses the software theoretical framework (spatial theory of empathy), describes the choices made in the design stage and comment on first results obtained during the alpha testing.


I feel strongly that those in medical charge of boys' schools should be cognizant of this total situation, and should, in the rare intractable case, even suggest to the boy and his parents that future plans for a service career should be revised. Obversely, it should go without saying that, whether or not the removal of many a distinguished general's vest would reveal many an acne scar, one is entitled now to expect uniformity of action on this problem from all the relevant Service medical boards.-I am, etc.,


According to the invention, the image encoding device, the quantization obtained by quantizing frequency components of image signals by using a level value Lev that indicates a value of non-alphabetic coefficient following the run value Run and the Young's modulus, which is the number of the zero coefficients continuously the coefficient, there is provided a run-length encoding unit RLE1 for variable length subjected to the encoding process. Run-length encoding unit RLE1 has, a level value Lev to rearrange reordering unit Lreodr and, with gabyeol length coder LVLC for encoding the rearranged level value RoLev using a code table is selected according to the value of the quantization parameter QP, a quantization growing a run value Run to the low-frequency component thermal loading from the high-frequency component of the coefficients are variable-coding for reordering unit Rreodr, and already using the code table selected in accordance with the number of processed run values reordering run values RORun length and a coder RVLC. Thus, gabyeol of the quantized coefficient length coding process, is treated with a higher encoding efficiency, the redundant (redundant) information included in coefficient is effectively reduced.


Introduction Although acute transverse myelitis (ATM) is a rare neurological condition (1.34-4.6 cases per million/year) COVID-19-associated ATM cases have occurred during the pandemic. Case-finding methods We report a patient from Panama with SARS-CoV-2 infection complicated by ATM and present a comprehensive clinical review of 43 patients with COVID-19-associated ATM from 21 countries published from March 2020 to January 2021. In addition, 3 cases of ATM were reported as serious adverse events during the clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222). Results All patients had typical features of ATM with acute onset of paralysis, sensory level and sphincter deficits due to spinal cord lesions demonstrated by imaging. There were 23 males (53%) and 20 females (47%) ranging from ages 21- to 73- years-old (mean age, 49 years), with two peaks at 29 and 58 years, excluding 3 pediatric cases. The main clinical manifestations were quadriplegia (58%) and paraplegia (42%). MRI reports were available in 40 patients; localized ATM lesions affected ≤3 cord segments (12 cases, 30%) at cervical (5 cases) and thoracic cord levels (7 cases); 28 cases (70%) had longitudinally-extensive ATM (LEATM) involving ≥4 spinal cord segments (cervicothoracic in 18 cases and thoracolumbar-sacral in 10 patients). Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) occurred in 8 patients, mainly women (67%) ranging from 27- to 64-years-old. Three ATM patients also had blindness from myeloneuritis optica (MNO) and two more also had acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN). Conclusions We found ATM to be an unexpectedly frequent neurological complication of COVID-19. Most cases (68%) had a latency of 10 days to 6 weeks that may indicate post-infectious neurological complications mediated by the host's response to the virus. In 32% a brief latency (15 hours to 5 days) suggested a direct neurotropic effect of SARS-CoV-2. The occurrence of 3 reported ATM adverse effects among 11,636 participants in the AZD1222 vaccine trials is extremely high considering a worldwide incidence of 0.5/million COVID-19-associated ATM cases found in this report. The pathogenesis of ATM remains unknown, but it is conceivable that SARS-CoV-2 antigens –perhaps also present in the AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine or its chimpanzee adenovirus adjuvant– may induce immune mechanisms leading to the myelitis.


Calcium-activated chloride channel (CLCA) proteins were first described as a family of plasma membrane Cl– channels that could be activated by calcium. Genetic and electrophysiological studies have supported this view. The human CLCA2 protein is expressed as a 943-amino-acid precursor whose N-terminal signal sequence is removed followed by internal cleavage near amino acid position 680. Earlier investigations of transmembrane geometry suggested five membrane passes. However, analysis by the more recently derived simple modular architecture research tool algorithm predicts that a C-terminal 22-amino-acid hydrophobic segment comprises the only transmembrane pass. To resolve this question, we raised an antibody against hCLCA2 and investigated the synthesis, localization, maturation, and topology of the protein. Cell surface biotinylation and endoglycosidase H analysis revealed a 128-kDa precursor confined to the endoplasmic reticulum and a maturely glycosylated 141-kDa precursor at the cell surface by 48 h post-transfection. By 72 h, 109-kDa N-terminal and 35-kDa C-terminal cleavage products were detected at the cell surface but not in the endoplasmic reticulum. Surprisingly, however, the 109-kDa product was spontaneously shed into the medium or removed by acid washes, whereas the precursor and 35-kDa product were retained by the membrane. Two other CLCA family members, bCLCA2 and hCLCA1, also demonstrated preferential release of the N-terminal product. Transfer of the hCLCA2 C-terminal hydrophobic segment to a secreted form of green fluorescent protein was sufficient to target that protein to the plasma membrane. Together, these data indicate that hCLCA2 is mostly extracellular with only a single transmembrane segment followed by a short cytoplasmic tail and is itself unlikely to form a channel.


. Language, in all its forms, is one of the most comprehensive ways to characterize human societies. By means of the analysis of regular components, either at phonetic, morphological, syntactic or semantic level, human language provides valuable information that can be translated into knowledge in order to represent behavioral patterns. For instance, in web texts, such as the ones posted on Twitter or Facebook, it is quite frequent to find linguistic expressions, such as the following one: "Don't come here. If you are afraid for your life and you have no place to go, don't pick this country." This text could denote an explicit description of the current immigration phenomenon and, likewise, it could connote an implicit content of mockery, aggressiveness, or even hate. Both interpretations are possible, but only one of them is more likely according to the author profiling. This fact stresses out the underlying problem that it is faced in this investigation: Many of our utterances entail two communicative dimensions. The explicit dimension (literal use of language), and the implicit dimension (figurative use of language). Both dimensions are supposed to communicate information thought consciously. In this respect, the most challenging issue for this approach relies on the recognition of the correct communicative dimension profiled by the author in a web text. In this context, this article focuses on analyzing textual information, mainly extracted from Twitter, in order to set a computational framework to differentiate between explicit and implicit language. In particular, we are interested in recognizing figurative uses regarding irony and sarcasm, in order to apply the findings to better understand and prevent social problems related to hate speech.


Purpose of the article: The issue of capital or financial structure is still a very current topic, the beginning of which dates back to the middle of the last century. Despite such a long time, there is still no universal theory that would help us understand the behaviour of companies in this area. This is due to the fact that each industry, sector, economy, and even the company itself has a different strategy, and therefore a different financial structure. Unfortunately, it is not possible for researchers to analyse all the companies in the world individually, but it is at least possible to examine individual industries and economies. The purpose of this research is to expand knowledge about the financial structure in the industry – Accommodation and Food Service activities in 8 selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe during the period 2010–2018. A total of 23,991 companies are analysed, which are divided into medium and large. Due to the fact that research in this industry in selected economies was not found, this research could significantly expand knowledge about the financial structure in selected economies and the sizes of companies individually.Methodology/methods: Two methods were chosen to meet the aim – the least squares method and the Generalized Method of Moments. It is a comparison of two regression analyses, a simple one, in which several assumptions must be met, and a modified one, in which only one test follows to verify the credibility of the resulting model.Scientific aim: The aim of this research is to determine whether profitability, liquidity, asset structure, non-debt tax shield, the GDP growth rate, inflation rate, and reference interest rate affect the level of total, long-term and short-term debt.Findings: The main finding of the research is the limitation in the use of the least squares method in terms of fulfilling the basic assumptions and the fact that both internal and external determinants have an influence on the formation of financial structure, however, in terms of significance, the influence of external determinants clearly prevails.Conclusions: The main conclusion is that non-corporate determinants have the most significant impact on the level of indebtedness, with the influence of the reference interest rate clearly dominating in terms of the value of coefficients; while in terms of the frequency of coefficients the GDP growth rate is significant.


All pregnant women wanting to book in for maternity services at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will have to produce proof of their eligibility for free NHS care under a pilot scheme planned by the financially challenged trust. If the pilot study is successful it will be rolled out to other services across the hospital.

The scheme, outlined in the trust's October board papers, would require women to produce photo ID, such as a passport or proof of their right to remain in the UK (visa, proof of asylum status), and a current utility bill, before receiving care.1 Any woman not able to prove eligibility would be referred to the Overseas Patient Team for further investigation.

Patients are currently asked to complete a booking-in form that requests proof of eligibility, including passport details. But in practice patients rarely complete these details and are later sent a letter asking them to provide documentation to prove eligibility. If patients do not …


This thesis explores the role of First World War British army clothing to the representation and experience of men through popular culture, official regulations and personal accounts. The aims of the research are threefold. Firstly, it examines how mass mobilisation altered sources and systems of army clothing supply to consider how large-scale production and consumption shaped masculine identities. Secondly, the thesis argues that khaki service dress was part of the iconography of war, a visible signifier of active military participation and object of evocation and memory. Finally, it explores tensions between individual experience and collective myth to consider the role of clothing practices to the formation of ideas about gender, class and the relationship between the body and technology
during the First World War.

The discussion explores themes of gender and visuality through a focused analysis of the ways in which British army uniform was worn, promoted and made between 1914-1918. It shows how the specific design of khaki service dress drew attention to the body, created illusions of corporeal durability and suggested equality through an aesthetic of standardisation. The work of Michel Foucault is used to consider how cultural practices shape objects, specifically in relation to disciplinary techniques and gendered practices in military culture. The thesis shows how the service dress enabled techniques for body discipline and standardisation, but also how its role in military discourses perpetuated the fiction of a singular and uniform masculinity. Thus, the research explores the formation of meaning of army clothing in wartime through popular representations, but tests their reliability against a range of other kinds of sources such as personal accounts, production processes, trade organisation and official regulations. As clothing links a number of related concerns, the thesis uses uniform to establish a dialogue between formerly discrete disciplines, in particular, military history, social history and cultural studies. This exploration of the significance of military uniform, an object experienced by a wide range of social groups, contributes to current debates about British popular culture during the First World War.


Ebb tide advects low salinity discharges onto the continental shelf where they mix with ambient shelf water. Only a portion of the mixture returns on the flood tide into the estuary. The remainder often forms a low salinity zone detached from the parent estuarine plume. Shipboard and aerial surveys conducted in autumn were used to determine the fate of the estuarine discharge from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. We used a simple momentum balance to estimate the wind generated alongshelf current. We found that the plume deflection was predicted by the vector addition of the wind generated current and the tidal current operating at the observation times. Thus, the plume is easily deflected downwind since wind stress in shallow water is transferred directly to the bottom. A sequence of cross-plume sections was obtained during a portion of the ebb and flood tidal cycle. Ebb flow carried low salinity estuarine water seaward where it turned abruptly southward as it encountered the southward current that prevails along the shelf in autumn. The front separating estuarine discharge from shelf water was significantly stronger on the upstream side than it was on the downstream side, as indicated by salinity and suspended matter content that sharply distinguished the two water masses. During the flood stage, the upstream front weakened significantly.


We introduce a three-dimensional (3-D) processor-in-memory integrated circuit design that provides progressively increasing processing power as the number of stacked dies increases, while incurring no extra design effort or mask sets. Innovative techniques for processor/memory redundancy and fast global bus evaluation are described. The architecture can be augmented with a nearest-neighbor physical 3-D communications network that can substantially reduce interconnect lengths and relieve routing congestion. The test chip, with 128 Kb of memory and 512 processing elements (PEs) on two fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) dies, can achieve a peak of 170 billion-bit-operations per second at 400 MHz.


ABSTRACT The interdependence between the first and second language of bilingual immigrant children has not received sufficient attention in research. Most studies concentrate on mainstream language skills of immigrant pupils. In some studies, the gaps in the language development of immigrant children are documented by comparing mainstream pupils with immigrant children. The competence in the first language receives very little attention. In order to show the role of first language competence in second-language acquisition and lower school achievement, we present the findings of our empirical study by comparing bilingual Turkish immigrant children (n = 30, mean age = 67.27 months) in the Netherlands and monolingual Turkish speakers (n = 30, mean age = 66.97 months) in Turkey. The evidence presented in this paper shows that compared to monolingual Turkish speakers, Turkish immigrant children lag behind in their first language cognitive concepts, lexical, syntactic, and textual skills. Mothers' education level turns out to be an important factor in explaining the performance differences of immigrant children. This would have an effect on their concept and cognitive development as well as on their second-language acquisition.


This work focuses on young people's experiences of political information, to identify how information literacy instruction may support young people to develop political agency. To explore the phenomenon of political information, the study uses three theories: personal construct theory, phenomenography and critical pedagogical theory. The methods used were surveys, repertory grid interviews and semi-structured focus groups. Prior to the collection of substantive data, a survey was conducted to gain insight into the participants' political knowledge and attitudes. To identify what sources of political information young people are exposed to, 23 repertory grid interviews were conducted with 14 and 15 year old pupils in a secondary school in South Yorkshire, England. To map the different ways in which these sources are understood, three focus groups were conducted in line with the phenomenographic approach. Parents, friends and teachers were found to be the most influential sources of the wide range of political information the participants use and are exposed to. Additionally, mass media and social media were found to be significant. The interview and focus group data was analysed using personal construct theory and phenomenographic techniques to produce a set of personal construct categories and a phenomenographic outcome space. The participants experienced the production of information, the evaluation of information, the relationship between their use of information and their sense of political agency, and their conception of politics in variously complex ways. Although the majority of experiences of political information were found to be lacking a critical dimension, the potential for young people to critically evaluate information and its sources was identified. Several critical pedagogical concepts were identified as being of potential use to practitioners seeking to support young people in the development of critical capacities. The most relevant of Giroux's critical pedagogical concepts to illuminate the structural issues affecting young people's experiences of political information were identified as political illiteracy, the banking model of education, media literacy, political agency, civic literacy and critical consciousness. These findings contribute to information literacy and information behaviour theory. Most significantly, the recommendations emerging from the analysis of the research data through the outcome space and construct categories may help practitioners in their work, to better understand the information literacy needs of young people in relation to political participation.


Background: The recent substantial increase in the number of obese surgeries performed in Sweden has raised concerns about the budget impact. Objective: Our aim in this paper is to present an assessment of the budgetary impact of different policies for surgical intervention for obese and overweight subjects from a healthcare perspective in Sweden. Methods: The model simulates the annual expected treatment costs of obesity related diseases and surgery in patients of different sex, age and Body Mass Index (BMIMI). Costs evaluated are costs of surgery plus the excess treatment costs that an obese patient has over and above the treatment costs of a normal-weight patient. The diagnoses that are included for costs assessment are diabetes and cardiovascular disease since these diagnoses are the principal diagnoses associated with obesity. Four different scenarios over the number of surgical operations performed each year are simulated and compared: (1) no surgical operation, (2) 3 000 surgical operations in persons with BMI > 40, (3) 4000 (BMI > 40), and (4) 5000 (expanded to BMI > 38). Results: Comparing Scenario 2 with Scenario 1 results in a net budget impact of on average SEK 121 million per annum or SEK 40 000 per patient. This implies that 55 percent of the cost of surgery, set equal to SEK 90 000 for each patient, has been offset by a reduction in the excess treatment costs of obesity related diseases. Expanding annual surgery from 3000 to 4000 the cost-offset increased to 58%. By expanding annual surgery further from 4000 to 5000 and at the same time expanding the indication for surgery from BMI > 40 to BMI > 38, no cost-offset is obtained. Conclusion: A cost-minimization strategy for bariatric surgery in Sweden should not expand indication, but rather increase the number of surgeries within the currently accepted indication.


Assortment planning is the process in which a retailer selects a product line to offer to customers and is a key determinant of a retailer's profit. We consider the assortment planning problem using a locational choice model for customer product selection and allow for both horizontal and vertical product differentiation. When the distribution of customer preference is unimodal, the optimal solutions for this problem are unknown. We propose two solution philosophies for generating product assortments. First, we introduce a metaheuristic representation for the problem and test the performance of three metaheuristic techniques. We suggest that a tabu search or genetic algorithm may be the best technique for the problem depending on the parameters. Next, we introduce a combined dynamic programming and line search approach for generating optimal solutions. We use this technique to explore the properties of the optimal solution and suggest instances where this technique is preferable to the metaheuristic methods. We then propose a new model which allows for heterogeneous quality preferences among the customer population. This model allows for more realistic customer product selection but also increases the complexity of the problem. We give mathematical properties of optimal solutions to the heterogeneous model and propose a new metaheuristic representation and a genetic algorithm for solving the problem.


Why do politicians with strong local roots receive more electoral support? The mechanisms underlying this well-documented "friends and neighbors" effect remain largely untested. Drawing on two population-based survey experiments fielded in Britain, we provide the first experimental test of a commonly posited cue-based explanation, which argues that voters use politicians' local roots (descriptive localism) to make inferences about politicians' likely actions in office (behavioral localism). Consistent with the cue-based account, we find that a politician's local roots are less predictive of voter evaluations when voters have access to explicit information about aspects of the politician's actual behavioral localism. However, we also find that voters' positive reaction to local roots is only partially explained by a cue-based account in which voters care about the aspects of behavioral localism tested in this article. Our findings inform a normative debate concerning the implications of friends-and-neighbors voting for democratic representation and accountability.


Melatonin, an endogenous hormone, plays protective roles in cancer. In addition to regulating circadian rhythms, sleep, and neuroendocrine activity, melatonin functions in various survival pathways. However, the mechanisms of melatonin regulation in cancer remain unknown. In the present study, we performed a comprehensive characterization of melatonin regulators in 9125 tumor samples across 33 cancer types using multi‐omic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia. In the genomic landscape, we identified the heterozygous amplification of AANAT and GPR50, and heterozygous deletion of PER3, CYP2C19, and MTNR1A as the dominant alteration events. Expression analysis revealed methylation‐mediated downregulation of melatonergic regulator expression. In addition, we found that melatonergic regulator expression could be used to predict patient survival in various cancers. In depth, microRNA (miRNA) analysis revealed an miRNA‐mRNA interaction network, and the deregulated miRNAs were involved in melatonin secretion and metabolism by targeting circadian clock genes. Pathway analysis showed that melatonergic regulators were associated with inhibition of apoptosis, the cell cycle, the DNA damage response, and activation of RAS/MAPK and RTK signaling pathways. Importantly, by mining the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer database, we discovered a number of potential drugs that might target melatonergic regulators. In summary, this study revealed the genomic alteration and clinical characteristics of melatonergic regulators across 33 cancers, which might clarify the relationship between melatonin and tumorigenesis. Our findings also might provide a novel approach for the clinical treatment of cancers.


Design and evaluation of early child development (ECD) programs are poorly documented in low- or middle-income countries. The study aimed to identify family and child characteristics associated with developmental health outcomes among children aged from 4 to 6 years who participated in the "Primeira Infância Melhor" - PIM (Better Early Childhood), a home visiting program in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. We also evaluated the impact of PIM on developmental vulnerability at school entry using a comparison group. Multistage sampling was first used to select cities, then families, in different regions of the state, resulting in a sample of eight cities and 571 children (364 PIM; 207 comparison). We used a sociodemographic questionnaire, completed by parents, and the Early Development Instrument (EDI), completed by teachers. Among PIM children, lower family income, time of exit from the program, city, and younger age were associated with higher risk of developmental vulnerability and/or with lower mean scores in EDI domains. Multivariate analysis controlling for covariates found no differences between the study groups in EDI outcomes even though the gaps in equity of the outcomes were smaller in the PIM group. These results are discussed in the context of challenges faced by home visiting programs in addressing complex social conditions of high-risk families and difficulties in finding an adequate comparison group in communities where an ECD program is universally accessible. We also note the importance of setting structured and longitudinal monitoring systems together with the implementation of ECD policies.


This text, reviewed to reflect new information as well as understanding of student needs for critical thinking, contains the systematic, in-depth coverage of topics of great clinical interest. It seamlessly integrates data from all fields of neuroscience as well as clinical neurology and psychology. This textbook presents the functional properties of clinically-relevant disorders by incorporating data from molecular biology to clinical neurology.Key features:Chapters knit together by numerous cross-references and explanations, helping the reader to connect data.Carefully selected full color line drawings of the complexities of the nervous system.Extensive use of text-boxes provides in-depth material without disturbing the flow of reading.Provides a crucial list of references for further reading.While most neurological textbooks are cobbled together by multiple authors on a variety of topics within the field, Dr. Brodal pulls together a cohesive and comprehensive guide to neuroscience. This book reflects Dr. Brodal's concise and easy-to-read style, encouraging reflection and critical thinking in established facts and scientific conjecture. This is the perfect reference for medical, graduate, and undergraduate students alike.


Behind every apparently placid surface there lies an unruly ocean of complexity. Fractals, chaos theory, and dissipative structures bear witness to these hidden complexities of the universe. Complementing these ideas in the sciences, fiction from the likes of Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Thomas Pynchon, and Samuel Beckett reveals our deep-seated desire for simplicity while we are obliged to learn to cope with complexity. And painting, especially since Paul Cezanne, evinces the complexity pervading what we often wish to take simply as what there is."Simplicity and Complexity" is about simplicity and complexity, order and disorder, as seen through the lenses of fiction, the sciences, and works of art. Floyd Merrell offers a nonmathematical account of chaos theory, fractal geometry, and the physics of complexity insofar as they are relevant to crucial facets of literature and painting created over the past century. Though his account is informal, he addresses technical concepts and philosophical questions, and sheds new light on the authors and painters he discusses. His radically interdisciplinary approach is within the mainstream of postmodern practices, yet it criticizes the tendency toward facile conclusions and sweeping generalizations regarding relations between the arts, the humanities, and the sciences. It brings a collection of disciplines under an umbrella that is protective of particular theories, concepts, methods, and practices, while revealing connecting threads in the tenuously linked web of all human endeavors to know the product of the mind and of the world."Merrell gives inter-disciplinarity a new horizon and continues the dialogue between the sciences and literature in a way I have not seen since Hegel tried to pull it all together in his Encyclopedia." --Eugen Baer, Professor of Philosophy, Hobart and William Smith CollegesFloyd Merrell is Professor of Theory, Semiotics, and Spanish-American Literature, Purdue University. He is the author of a number of books, including "Peirce's Semiotics Now: A Primer; Semiosis in the Postmodern Age"; and "Sign, Textuality, World.""


Abstract. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are essential in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation due to their dual roles as precursors and oxidant producers. In this work, the VOC species in Xinxiang, a mid-sized city located in Henan Province in central China, were measured and analysed from November 5th to December 3rd, 2018. Based on online monitoring with proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and canister grab samples, 53 VOC species are obviously detected, and the most abundant categories are oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs) and benzenoids. Compared with field measurements in other regions, the mixing ratios of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), acetaldehyde, and C3 carbonyls are at high levels, indicating intensive anthropogenic emissions in Xinxiang. According to the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, benzenoids are mainly emitted from solvent evaporation (~47 %), residential heating (~19 %), industrial emission (~16 %), and vehicle exhaust (~10 %), while the contributions from biogenic and secondary sources as well as thermal power generation are minor. However, the emissions of total OVOCs from the six resolved sources are similar. The potential source contribution function (PSCF) and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) results show that the transport contribution for VOCs is not intensive, but the cities within Henan Province or in the neighbouring provinces may influence the mixing ratios to some extent. The roles of benzenoids and OVOCs in SOA formation are investigated by estimating the mass of oxidation products and rates of OH radical production. Among the observed VOCs, toluene has the largest SOA formation potential (SOAFP), while its weight in SOA formation declines with the aggravation of pollution. On the other hand, the SOA concentration shows a good relationship with OH exposure, which highlights the importance of the atmospheric oxidation capacity, especially in polluted periods. Formaldehyde is the strongest radical contributor, and the contribution of acetaldehyde is also significant in this study. Furthermore, solvent evaporation, industrial emissions, and vehicle exhaust are estimated as the top three anthropogenic contributors with the highest SOAFP and radical contribution rate.


Despite decades of research, there is yet no general rapid prototyping recognizer for dynamic gestures that can be trained with few samples, work with continuous data, and achieve high accuracy that is also modality-agnostic. To begin to solve this problem, we describe a small suite of accessible techniques that we collectively refer to as the Jackknife gesture recognizer. Our dynamic time warping based approach for both segmented and continuous data is designed to be a robust, go-to method for gesture recognition across a variety of modalities using only limited training samples. We evaluate pen and touch, Wii Remote, Kinect, Leap Motion, and sound-sensed gesture datasets as well as conduct tests with continuous data. Across all scenarios we show that our approach is able to achieve high accuracy, suggesting that Jackknife is a capable recognizer and good first choice for many endeavors.


The use of digital financial services, including money transfers and mobile money, have expanded widely in lower-income countries in the past decade; 47 per cent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa (548 million) had a registered mobile money account in 2020, with 29 per cent of those accounts representing active users (Andersson-Manjang and Naghavi 2021: 8). Among lower-income countries for which data is available, the average number of mobile money accounts is more than double the number of commercial bank accounts. In many lower-middle-income countries, mobile money usage is the same or more than commercial bank usage (Bazarbash et al. 2020). Alongside this growth, governments have increasingly sought to tax DFS, rooted in deeper discussions about the role that technology can play in increasing tax revenue and strengthening overall state capacity (Fan et al. 2020; Okunogbe and Santoro 2021). While capturing revenue from DFS can come from many sources, mobile money taxes in particular have often been introduced due to the untapped revenue potential and the relatively convenient and easy nature of the tax handle (Lees and Akol 2021a) – particularly in relation to, say, corporate income taxes on financial service providers. As noted above, the search for revenue is often closely linked to a desire to capture revenue from workers in the informal economy, who are often framed as tax evaders.


– Now days, the increased economic growth as well as urbanization in developing countries have led into extensive construction activities that generate large amounts of wastes. Material wastage in construction projects resulted into huge financial setbacks to builders and contractors. In addition to this, it may also cause significant effects over aesthetics, health, and the general environment. These wastes needs to be managed as well as their impacts needs to be ascertained to pave way for their proper management, however in many cities of India wastes materials management is still a problem. In this research work we are discussing the method for the management and control of waste construction materials. The main objective of this work is present the waste control procedures included as part of particular site management in general based on pull learning process and focusing process transparency principle based on qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. Additionally we are presenting the literature survey study over waste management system as well as construction waste management


Survivor-time curves have been determined for cultures of Bact. lactis aerogenes exposed to various concentrations of 2:8-diaminoacridine, m-cresol or acid. Usually a small residue of the population shows a much greater apparent resistance (smaller death-rate) than the bulk. Selection and subculture of these survivors show them not to be mutants with inheritable resistance, nor even stably adapted cells. That, however, temporary adjustments of a more limited nature occur during the actual test and increase the survival time of certain cells is suggested by the following facts: (a) the relative proportion of abnormally resistant survivors increases as the concentration of the lethal agent falls and the time scale of the test is thereby extended; (b) the proportion of longer lived cells is greater when glucose and oxygen are present in the medium to support active metabolic changes.


Ti45Zr30Ni25RE3 (Y, La) alloys were prepared by melt-spun at wheel velocities of 20 m s–1. Ti45Zr30Ni25 and Ti45Zr30Ni25La3 were composed of I-phase, amorphous and Laves phases. Ti45Zr30Ni25Y3 consisted of amorphous phase and I-phase. The addition of La and Y caused the decrease of maximum discharge capacity and the increase of cycling stability, which should be ascribed to the change of various phase abundant. The high-rate dischargeability of Ti45Zr30Ni25 alloy electrode was better than that of Ti45Zr30Ni25Y3 and Ti45Zr30Ni25La3 alloy electrode, which was attributed to the better electrochemical kinetics.