Environmental issues and concerns about depletion of fossil fuels have driven rapid growth in the generation of renewable energy (RE) and its use in electricity grids. Similarly, the need for an alternative to hydrocarbon fuels means that the number of fuel cell vehicles is also expected to increase. The ability of electricity networks to balance supply and demand is greatly affected by the variable, intermittent output of RE generators; however, this could be relieved using energy storage and demand-side response (DSR) techniques. One option would be production of hydrogen by electrolysis powered from wind and solar sources. The use of tariff structures would provide an incentive to operate electrolysers as dispatchable loads. The aim of this paper is to compare the cost of hydrogen production by electrolysis at garage forecourts in Libya, for both dispatchable and continuous operation, without interruption of fuel supply to vehicles. The coastal city of Derna was chosen as a case study, with the renewable energy being produced via a wind turbine farm. Wind speed was analysed in order to determine a suitable turbine, then the capacity was calculated to estimate how many turbines would be needed to meet demand. Finally, the excess power was calculated, based on the discrepancy between supply and demand. The study looked at a hydrogen refueling station in both dispatchable and continuous operation, using an optimisation algorithm. The following three scenarios were considered to determine whether the cost of electrolytic hydrogen could be reduced by a lower off-peak electricity price. These scenarios are: Standard Continuous, in which the electrolyser operates continuously on a standard tariff of 12 p/kWh; Off-peak Only, in which the electrolyser operates only during off-peak periods at the lower price of 5 p/kWh; and 2-Tier Continuous, in which the electrolyser operates continuously on a low tariff at off-peak times and a high tariff at other times. The results indicate that Scenario 2 produced the cheapest electricity at £2.90 per kg of hydrogen, followed by Scenario 3 at £3.80 per kg, and the most expensive was Scenario 1 at £6.90 per kg.


We encountered five cases of drug-induced pneumonitis due to Sho-saiko-to or interferon-alpha or both. In all 5 cases the underlying disease was chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C virus. Interferon-alpha alone was administered in one case, Sho-saiko-to alone was administered in two cases, and both were administered in two cases. Bronchoalveolar lavage was done in 4 cases. In three cases, lymphocytosis and abnormally low CD4/8 ratios were found on examination of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In the only case in which interferon-alpha alone was given the percentage of neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was abnormally high, and the adult respiratory distress syndrome developed. Lymphocyte stimulation tests were done in four cases, and in all four cases the only positive results were against Sho-saiko-to or against interferon-alpha. The frequency of drug-induced pneumonitis among patients with chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis was 0.7% in those given only Sho-saiko-to, 0.5% in those given only interferon-alpha, and 4.0% in those given both interferon-alpha and Sho-saiko-to. Therefore, pneumonitis due to Sho-saiko-to and to interferon-alpha is more likely to occur if these two drugs are given simultaneously.


Metal nanoparticles exhibit high catalytic activity in catalytic reactions due to their large surface area and abundant exposed coordination sites. Immobilization of metal nanoparticles provides an efficient method to increase the chemical stability and mechanical strength of the metal nanoparticles. Compared with the free metal nanoparticles, the immobilized metal nanoparticles are particularly suitable as they can be recycled and used in the flow-through systems. Polymeric membranes with high specific surface area are suitable carrier materials to immobilize nanoparticles. In this study, Ag nanoparticals (AgNPs) were uniformly immobilized on the surface of microporous polypropylene membranes (MPPMs) via in situ reduction of Ag+ by the polydopamine (PDA) layer adhered on the membrane surfaces. FT-IR/ATR was used to characterize the chemical structure of MPPMs after modification. SEM and EDX mapping images were obtained to characterize the distribution and stability of the AgNPs on the membranes. The amount of immobilized AgNPs is directly linked to the skin layer of PDA on the membranes. The AgNP-immobilized membranes showed high catalytic activity for methylene blue (MB) reduction with NaBH4. The dye solution quickly and completely discolored as the MB solution flowed past the AgNP-immobilized MPPM. Ethanol is a good cleaning and wetting agent to regenerate the AgNP-immobilized membranes and improve the catalytic activity of the membranes. The flow rate and residence time together define the catalytic efficiency. The flow-through membrane reactor had the best performance when the flow rate was greater than 210 L m−2 h−1 (the residence time was only 2 s). These results reveal the promising potential large-scale applications of the AgNP-immobilized membranes for dye removal and wastewater treatment.


Recently, tellurium (Te), antimony (Sb) and germanium (Ge) have been used as an alloy in phase-change optical magnetic disks, such as digital versatile disk-random access memory (DVDRAM) and DVD-recordable disk (DVD-RW). Although these metalloids, the so-called "exotic" elements, are known to be non-essential and harmful, little is known about their toxic effects and metabolism. Metalloid compounds, tellurite, antimonite and germanium dioxide, were simultaneously administered to rats. red blood cells (RBCs): Te accumulated in RBCs in the dimethylated form, while Sb accumulated in the inorganic/non-methylated form. In addition, trimethyltelluronium (TMTe) was the urinary metabolite of Te, whereas Sb in urine was not methylated but oxidized. Ge was also not methylated in rats. These results suggest that each metalloid is metabolized via a unique pathway.


One of the paramount challenges in neuroscience is to understand the dynamics of individual neurons and how they give rise to network dynamics when interconnected. Historically, researchers have resorted to graph theory, statistics, and statistical mechanics to describe the spatiotemporal structure of such network dynamics. Our novel approach employs tools from algebraic topology to characterize the global properties of network structure and dynamics. We propose a method based on persistent homology to automatically classify network dynamics using topological features of spaces built from various spike-train distances. We investigate the efficacy of our method by simulating activity in three small artificial neural networks with different sets of parameters, giving rise to dynamics that can be classified into four regimes. We then compute three measures of spike train similarity and use persistent homology to extract topological features that are fundamentally different from those used in traditional methods. Our results show that a machine learning classifier trained on these features can accurately predict the regime of the network it was trained on and also generalize to other networks that were not presented during training. Moreover, we demonstrate that using features extracted from multiple spike-train distances systematically improves the performance of our method.


This paper proposes a new HVDC (High-Voltage DC) transmission topology, its modeling and control method, used for large doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)-based offshore wind farms. The sending end is a line commutated converter (LCC) with a STATCOM (Static Compensator) while the receiving end is a current source inverter (CSI) using IGBTs. The STATCOM provides stator voltage support for DFIGs, as well as commutation voltage for the LCC. The LCC regulates the active power produced by DFIG wind farms, and transmits it to the onshore inverter through HVDC link. Working in constant voltage control mode, the inverter then feeds the active power into the main AC grid. Simulations verify that, as a combination of existing LCC-HVDC and VSC (Voltage Source Converter)-HVDC technologies, the proposed system not only has the black start capability, possesses fast active power dynamics, but also can provide independent reactive support to the grid.


Following recent international oil price increases, there has been considerable interest in how this external factor can affect the South African economy. This paper reports results from a computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis of an increase (up to 30 per cent) in international oil prices. Background information is provided, which puts the magnitude of the price variations in historical context. We describe the procedure used to adjust the social accounting matrix (SAM), which is used to calibrate the model, to account explicitly for crude oil. Then, the effects of the crude oil price increase are traced through the economy, from markets, industries through to factors, households and the government. Predictably, the shock hurts the economy: a 20 per cent increase results in a drop in GDP of 1 per cent. It is found that the major impact is to be found in the petroleum industry itself, whereas the effects on liquid fuel dependent industries such as transport is not as large as may be supposed. In agriculture, it is found that the depreciating currency has a positive effect, offsetting most of the negative effects of higher petroleum prices, particularly in export-oriented areas. In a long-term scenario, capital and skilled labour becomes mobile, and the results suggest that such reallocation may not be to the overall advantage of the economy.


Weapon Systems Portfolio Selection (WSPS) can be considered as a multi-objective decision analysis (MODA) problem. Aiming at its challenging features because of, 1) interactions and indepen dencies among weapon systems, 2) the uncertainty of the sample data set for assessment, and 3) the missing target value of the assessment criteria, the WSPS problem is solved form four perspectives: portfolio without the independencies or target value, po rtfolio with the independencies but without target value, portfolio with the independencies and target value, portfolio in a incomplete sample data with the independencies and with target value. The synergy concept is introduced to describe the independencies among systems and Grey Target (GT) and principal component analysis (PCA) method are employed in this study to deal with the missing target value and incomplete sample data set. Three hybrid multi- objective programming algorithms are proposed as GT-MOP1, GT-MOP2 and PCA-MOP2 and non-dominated portfolios are generated as by sorting algorithm as a set of Pareto-optimal solutions. Finally, numer ical experiments are given under four scenarios to illustrate the feasibilities and advantages of the three hybrid algorithms.


Probabilistic risk analysis aims to assess the safety risk of a system so that actions can then be taken to improve safety. Uncertainty however always exists in modelling. For more informed decision making, uncertainty in the outputs of the model must be assessed through uncertainty analysis. This research focuses on parameter uncertainty of a risk model composed of fault trees and event trees. Research questions include: (1) how to model the subjective uncertainty in the basic events and the consequences; (2) how to propagate the uncertainty in the input parameters through fault trees and event trees to obtain uncertainty in the output. Structured approaches are developed to elicit the covariance matrix of the basic events and to model dependence among the consequences. To calculate the uncertainty propagation, a model is developed to mimic fault trees and event trees; an analytical solution and a simulation-based method are developed for assessing the uncertainty propagation, which are implemented independently and therefore crosscheck each other. The developments can be used for subjective uncertainty assessment of Fault-tree and Event-tree models. With the developed methods, a reasonable elicitation workload is required to model the subjective uncertainty in the input parameters; the assessments can be monitored during the elicitation process. The methods for assessing the uncertainty in the output can work efficiently for large fault trees and event trees. Two case studies have been conducted with the Safety Risk Model (SRM) developed by Rail Safety and Standard Board (RSSB), UK. In the two case studies, the developed methods are deployed and experts were confident in making the required assessments. The feasibility of the developments is validated by the case studies.


Captive breeding has the potential to rebuild depressed populations. However, associated genetic changes may decrease restoration success and negatively affect the adaptive potential of the entire population. Thus, approaches that minimize genetic risks should be tested in a comparative framework over multiple generations. Genetic diversity in two captive‐reared lines of a species of conservation interest, Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), was surveyed across three generations using genome‐wide approaches. Genetic divergence from the source population was minimal in an integrated line, which implemented managed gene flow by using only naturally‐born adults as captive broodstock, but significant in a segregated line, which bred only captive‐origin individuals. Estimates of effective number of breeders revealed that the rapid divergence observed in the latter was largely attributable to genetic drift. Three independent tests for signatures of adaptive divergence also identified temporal change within the segregated line, possibly indicating domestication selection. The results empirically demonstrate that using managed gene flow for propagating a captive‐reared population reduces genetic divergence over the short term compared to one that relies solely on captive‐origin parents. These findings complement existing studies of captive breeding, which typically focus on a single management strategy and examine the fitness of one or two generations.


In this paper, we propose a domain-general model, termed learning-to-weight (LTW), that guarantees face detection performance across multiple domains, particularly the target domains that are never seen before. However, various face forgery methods cause complex and biased data distributions, making it challenging to detect fake faces in unseen domains. We argue that different faces contribute differently to a detection model trained on multiple domains, making the model likely to fit domain-specific biases. As such, we propose the LTW approach based on the meta-weight learning algorithm, which configures different weights for face images from different domains. The LTW network can balance the model's generalizability across multiple domains. Then, the meta-optimization calibrates the source domain's gradient enabling more discriminative features to be learned. The detection ability of the network is further improved by introducing an intra-class compact loss. Extensive experiments on several commonly used deepfake datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in detecting synthetic faces. Code and supplemental material are available at https://github.com/skJack/LTW.


Records of 94 does and 419 kids for the period 2004-2011from the Bodles Research Station, Jamaica West Indies were used in the study. Grade Boers (GB) had 75% Boer blood while grade Nubian (GN) had 75% Nubian blood. Thirteen purebred, non-pregnant F2 Boer does were used for the thermoregulation study. The traits: birth weight, weaning weight and pre-weaning growth weight of kids were analyzed. Reproductive traits: kidding interval, age at first kidding, prolificacy, and total number of parities for does were analyzed using GLM procedure. There were differences among breeds for age at first kidding (p=0.015) and kidding interval (p=0.001) but not for prolificacy (kids/doe) (p=0.832). Percentage kid mortality was significant (p=0.000) among breeds, ranging from 9.3 to 17.1%. There were no significant differences (P= 0.103) among breeds for birth weight (values were 3.01 kg for purebred Boer (PB), 3.05 kg for GB and 3.11 kg for GN. Birth weight was also not significantly affected (p=0.629) by season, however year of birth had a significant impact on birth weight (p=0.000). Sex and litter size affected (p=0.00) birth weights of kids for all three breeds. Birth weight decreased with litter size, with singles being 3.19 kg, twins 2.84 kg and triplets 2.70 kg. Average weaning weight differed significantly (p=0.000) among breeds; PB kids were the lightest (12.94 kg), followed by GB (13.97 kg) and the heaviest kids were GN (14.40 kg). Average daily weight gain to weaning age significantly differed among breeds (P= 0.00) where PB had the lowest mean daily gain of 117.20 g/d, GB was 165.80 g/d and GN had the highest at 171.30 g/d. Rectal temperatures for PB were not significantly different (P= 0.227) between the morning (38.4 ± 0.3 oC) and afternoon periods (38.8 ± 0.3 oC). The data showed that the imported animals (PB, GN and GB) being used to improve the island's genetic stock are able to perform at an acceptable level and suggested that the continued use of these animals in the Jamaican environment would be desirable.


The effect of threonine and methionine on the growth of and lysine synthesis in Streptococcus bovis st. A024/85 was studied. The character and the degree of manifestation of growth and regulation effects of these amino acids depend on their contents in the fermentation medium. The target in the regulation of lysine biosynthesis is aspartate kinase, whose synthesis is controlled by threonine and methionine. Lysine excretion was stimulated by the addition of a low concentration of dimethylsulfoxide in the medium during fermentation.


This is designed to be a place for you to begin your library research, as well as to access information about research and writing in Biblical and Theological Studies


We consider the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) of non-cooperative multi-cellular time-division duplexing (TDD) systems, assuming that the number N of antennas per base station (BS) and the number K of user terminals (UTs) per cell are large. Our system model accounts for channel estimation, pilot contamination, and an arbitrary path loss and antenna correlation for each link. We derive approximations of achievable rates with several linear precoders and detectors which are proven to be asymptotically tight, but accurate for realistic system dimensions, as shown by simulations. It is known from previous work assuming uncorrelated channels, that as N→∞ while K is fixed, the system performance is limited by pilot contamination, the simplest precoders/detectors, i.e., eigenbeamforming (BF) and matched filter (MF), are optimal, and the transmit power can be made arbitrarily small. We analyze to which extent these conclusions hold in the more realistic setting where N is not extremely large compared to K. In particular, we derive how many antennas per UT are needed to achieve η% of the ultimate performance limit with infinitely many antennas and how many more antennas are needed with MF and BF to achieve the performance of minimum mean-square error (MMSE) detection and regularized zero-forcing (RZF), respectively.


The Mississippi Valley-type deposits of the Touissit-Bou Beker district are hosted by a 25 m thick sequence of diagenetically and hydrothermally dolomitized carbonate platform rocks of Aalenian-Bajocian age. The sulfide mineralization consists principally of galena and sphalerite and occurs as open-space fillings of voids and moderate to massive replacement of the medium- to coarse-grained host dolostone. Five types of dolomite have been distinguished, two of which (D 1 and D 2 ) are of replacement origin, whereas HD 1 , HD 2 , HD 3 occurring as open-space filling are of hydrothermal affiliation. Main ore controls include stratigraphy and lithology, carbonate dissolution, paleogeography, faults or faulted rocks, and availability of organic matter. Fluid inclusion data, along with Na-Cl-Br leachate, indicate that the ore-forming fluids correspond to evolved NaCl-CaCl 2 -KCl-MgCl 2 basin-derived hot (100° ± 20°C) saline brines (>20 wt % NaCl equiv) that acquired their high salinities and Ca/Na ratios through evaporation of seawater, and subsequent dolomitization and fluid-rock interactions. Stable isotope data for replacement and hydrothermal dolomites are tightly clustered and overlapping, with δ 18 O and δ 13 C values from 20.5 to 21.2 and 0.2 to 0.7‰, respectively. Similarly, sulfides yield δ 34 S values between 11.2 and 1.9‰, whereas those corresponding to the nearby Triassic gypsum cluster yield around 14‰. Altogether, these isotopic compositions are consistent with a basinal-type fluid with reduced sulfur very likely being derived through thermochemical reduction of dissolved sulfate, resulting in metal precipitation, and carbon of mainly marine Aalenian-Bajocian carbonate origin with a minor biogenic component. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values of replacement dolostone are similar to those of ore-related hydrothermal dolomites, ranging from 0.70746 to 0.70833 and from 0.70769 to 0.70828, respectively, and are different from those of the Visean rhyodacite (0.71849–0.72167). Lead isotope ratios ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb = 18.319–18.390; 207 Pb/ 204 Pb = 15.620–15.680; 208 Pb/ 204 Pb = 38.452–38.650) of sulfides are consistent with Pb being derived from the Visean rhyodacite and associated volcaniclastic rocks. The intimate link between faults and mineralization suggests the strong possibility of brine flow along both ENE-trending regional-scale faults and NW-SW-trending local-scale faults. The data suggest that MVT mineralization was emplaced during the late Neogene-Quaternary (i.e., ca. 15–0 Ma), possibly as a result of subsurface gravity-driven fluid flow in response to the collision between the African and Eurasian plates.


Police officers perform a variety of physical tasks that can range from deskwork to chasing down fleeing suspects on foot. If not sufficiently prepared these tasks can lead to an increased risk of injury or task failure. The aim of this study was to profile the routine dispatch tasks performed by the Australian law enforcement officers of a state police force by frequency and duration. Participants for this study (n = 53: male n = 43, age = 33.5 ± 7.7 years, years of service = 7.2 ± 6.4 years: Female n = 10; age = 31.6 ± 9.1 years, years of service = 7.1 ± 6.1 years) were drawn from ten different police stations. Data reporting the tasks attended, their priorities, and their durations were gathered from a computer-aided dispatch system. Data from 77 shifts (3.8 ± 4.0 tasks/shift) captured 292 tasks attended (29.2 ± 17.5 task per station). 'Check bona fides' (checking an individual's identification; 27%) was the most frequently occurring task followed by attending a domestic incident (14%). The longest task was attending an accident (mean = 43.50 ± 78.85 min, range 2–249 min). The results of this study suggest that police tasks are highly varied in terms of type and duration and these may differ between regions. An understanding of the dispatch tasks police officers are required to attend can inform injury mitigation and return-to-work rehabilitation practices.


The paper sets up an upwind local differential quadrature-Lagrange interpolation (DQ-Lagrange) method for solving the flow field in the interlocking labyrinth seal. The implementation of the Dirichlet boundary condition and the Neumann boundary condition is improved. The paper analyzes the influence of support domain size, the implementation of boundary condition and the upwind scheme on the accuracy of the calculation. Numerical simulation result shows that the high order Lagrange interpolation may cause numerical oscillation and the local differential quadrature method is recommended. The upwind support domain can improve the accuracy of the calculation. Solution accuracy may be better in case of that the velocity support domain is larger than the pressure support domain.


The development of the pneumatic conveyor facilitated the displacement of solid materials, be-cause it provides a good security and low maintenance and installation costs. But since the transport is made through pipes, the pressure loss and the erosion wear of the pipes and bends are problems that can't be avoided. Using tees can reduce this wear, but the pressure drop information for this fitting isn't available on the literature. This work aimed the analysis of the pressure loss profile and the kinetic energy multiplier for a tee utilized on soybean pneumatic conveying for different process variables. The experimental unit consisted of a pilot scale pneumatic conveyer with 117 mm internal diameter acrylic ducts and piezometric taps in different points on the main pipeline. The curves for the head loss as a function of outlet speed were made for the air and 4 soybean flows (0.144, 0.201, 0.339 e 0.380 t/h). The K value found in the experiments varied between 0.141 and 0.248 for the soybean mass flows used. With only air on the system the range was 0.136 to 0.144. The K variation with the velocity can be predicted by the equation K= 0.0059∙v2-0.219∙v+2.1961  with a R2 of 0.9026. Keywords: Pneumatic conveying, soybean, pressure loss, tee.


Biomaterials Center is composed of five groups and collaborate each other to examine interdisciplinary fields of biomaterials. In the ceramics-based biomaterials research, we have been developing three novel bone regeneration materials, i.e., high-porosity hydroxyapatite (HAp) ceramics with high-strength, guided bone regeneration (GBR) membranes and bone-like nanocomposite composed of HAp and collagen. The GBR membrane composed of β-tricalcium phosphate and biodegradable copolymer of lactide, glycolide and ε-caprolactone has thermoplastic, pH auto-adjustment and enough mechanical property to protect an invasion of surrounding tissues. With the membrane, bone defect up to 20 × 10 × 10 mm3 in length in mandibles and segmental bone defect up to 20 mm in length in tibiae of beagles are regenerated without any additional bone fillers or cell transplantations. The bone-like nanocomposite is synthesized by a co-precipitation of HAp and collagen via their self-organization. The dense composite has a half to quarter mechanical strength (40 MPa) to cortical bone and the porous one demonstrates sponge-like viscoelasticity. The composites implanted into bone are incorporated into bone remodeling metabolism like as autogenous bone graft, i.e., they are resorbed by osteolasts followed by osteogenesis by osteoblasts.


An investment portfolio is a collection of financial assets consisting of investment tools such as stocks, bonds, and bank deposits, among others, which are held by a person or a group of persons. Constructing a portfolio with standardized optimization remains a myth in Ghana and hence this study displayed how the Markowitz model can be applied on the Ghana Stock Exchange and also unraveled the most efficient portfolio among selected stocks to the relief of the investor. Historical monthly data of the stock returns from 2011 to 2016 was used for the study. The study revealed that, GCB Bank limited had the best average returns (returns of 4.2%) with a risk of 13.1% followed by CAL (returns of 3.5%) and 11.7% risk. UGL had the lowest risk (risk of 6.8%) and lowest average returns of 2.1%. A risk lover may go in for GCB and CAL while an investor who is completely risk averse can opt for UGL since it comes with the lowest risk. A two-way combination of the portfolios also concluded that, the most efficient portfolio is the combination of GCB and CAL and recommended that a risk tolerant investor can invest all his assets in GCB while a risk averse investor can invest 39.21% of his assets in GCB and 60.79% in CAL. In terms of expected returns, a combination of CAL and GCB bank limited gives the highest returns of about 3.9% with a risk of 10.6%, followed by the combination of TOTAL and GCB with expected returns of about 3.40% and a high risk of 12.3%. The relatively high expected return of the combination of TOTAL and GCB could not reflect in the Sharpe ratio because of the high level of risk which implies that the portfolio cannot compensate much for this high level of risk. Also, CAL and GCB achieving the highest Sharpe ratio shows that, this portfolio is expected to offer the best compensation for the risk taken by an investor and therefore the most efficient portfolio for investor. The lowest risk (which is what the risk averse investor is interested in) was achieved from the combination of HFC and UGL which is 5.2% with a Sharpe ratio of 6.7% and a covariance of -0.00051.


Abstract We report the first case of an 82-year-old woman with five basal cell carcinomas within a large nevus sebaceous of the trunk. Nevus sebaceous of Jadassohn is a congenital cutaneous hamartoma affecting 0.3% of newborns. Clinical diagnosis is based on its distinctive hairless, orange-brown appearance. Up to 51% of nevus sebaceous may exhibit secondary neoplasia, and basal cell carcinoma is thought to occur in approximately 1% of lesions. Our patient presented with an asymptomatic, pigmented verrucous plaque on the upper right back that had been present since birth. Histopathology of concerning papules within the nevus sebaceous were consistent with five basal cell carcinomas and two follicular adnexal neoplasms. The patient was treated with local excisions, topical imiquimod, and close monitoring.


Fingermarks are one of the most important and frequently encountered pieces of evidence in a crime scene. Ballistic material may also be recovered from a crime scene where firearms have been involved. The current recovery rate of identifiable fingermarks on ballistic evidence is quite low. The study herein aims to improve the knowledge base in relation to the enhancement of fingermarks on ballistic surfaces by employing various fingermark enhancement techniques that have been underutilised, while also using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry and a new fingermark deposition protocol to further strengthen our understanding of mark enhancement. A quick and cost-effective Gun Blue protocol with exceptional results on unfired ballistic material that had been exposed to a variety of environmental conditions and some well enhanced fingermarks (from various donors) on cartridges fired by different firearms is studied and proposed as a routine police casework technique. Vacuum metal deposition, a technique that was mostly visited for enhancing marks on plastic surfaces, is revisited for mark enhancement on ballistic material. The results of 2 different studies with different donor pools, showcase the suitability of the technique for brass surfaces and fired brass cartridge cases with a wide range of donors (20), while also being effective on older fingermarks (2 months old). Our results show the potential of VMD to be a used in police routine casework, when the surface in question is brass. The use of Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry lead to the identification and quantification of compounds that are able to withstand the extreme conditions of firing, and thus providing information on which fingermark enhancement methods would be the best candidates for fired cartridge cases. Squalene, palmitic acid and cholesterol were the compounds that were most consistently present in the fingermark samples, while also being less affected by the time elapsed after deposition. Our findings in this chapter explain the favourable results Gun Blue enhancement generated on old fingermark samples. An artificial fingermark was created as a way to generate reproducible fingermarks by loading the fake fingermark with a precise amount of compounds found in fingermarks prior to each deposition. Our preliminary results demonstrate the additional advantage of this protocol, which is the potential it has to pinpoint, which compounds facilitate fingermark enhancement for different development methods. This could result in a better understanding of all fingermark enhancement methods and therefore could lead to improved recovery rates of fingermarks.


Abstract. Lidar (light detection and ranging) data are becoming more and more important in the analysis of the most relevant forest parameters. This study aims to compare the most recent segmentation methods for single trees using the ALS (Airborne Laser Scanning) point cloud and the CHM (Canopy Height Model). The methods used were the Li et al., method developed in 2012 and the Multi CHM method developed in 2015. The parameters analysed were the height and diameter for the individual trees and the volume and density for the entire forest. The efficiency of each method was verified by comparing the estimated parameters with those measured through 30 test areas. To better identify the useful parameters for the correct calibration of the algorithms, the population was divided into three layers according to the vertical structure and chronological class. From the comparison of the volumes obtained with the above methods and those calculated for the test areas, it emerges a tendency to over-segment for the Multi CHM method, while for the appropriately calibrated Li method there is a better correspondence to reality. The F-score values for the volumes obtained for the Li method are between 0.52 and 0.69 while for those obtained for the Multi CHM method are between 0.47 and 0.55. When compared with relascopic measures for each of the 48 parcels, a mean absolute difference ∼127 m3/ha and ∼141 m3/ha were found for Li2012 and MultiCHM respectively.


Recent studies have shown a remarkable degree of plasticity in the N-glycome of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; ablation of glycosylation-relevant genes can result in radically altered N-glycan profiles despite only minor biological phenotypic effects. Up to four fucose residues and five different linkages of fucose are known on the N-glycans of C. elegans. Due to the complexity in the wild type, we established three mutant strains defective in two core fucosyltransferases each (fut-1;fut-6, fut-1;fut-8, and fut-6;fut-8). Enzymatically released N-glycans were subject to HPLC and MALDI-TOF MS/MS, in combination with various treatments, to verify structural details. The N-glycome of the fut-1;fut-6 mutant was the most complex of the three double-mutant strains due to the extension of the core α1,6-fucose as well as the presence of fucose on the bisecting galactose. In contrast, maximally two fucoses were found on N-glycans of the fut-1;fut-8 and fut-6;fut-8 strains. The different locations and capping of fucose meant that up to 13 isomeric structures, many highly galactosylated, were determined for some single masses. These data not only show the high variability of the N-glycomic capacity of a "simple" nematode but also exemplify the need for multiple approaches to reveal individual glycan structures within complex invertebrate glycomes.


: Forty patients with chronic destructive tuberculosis of the lung and concomitant diabetes mellitus treated with the routine chemotherapeutic agents without any effect were subjected to intermittent polychemotherapy. Combinations of 4, 5 and 6 drugs were used. Some of them were administered intermittently. The period of the polychemotherapy ranged from 4 to 8 months and was followed by less intensive regimens. It was shown that the polychemotherapy allowed one to increase the treatment efficacy in the patients with chronic destructive tuberculosis of the lung and concomitant diabetes mellitus. Discontinuation of tubercle bacilli isolation, cavern healing and partial cavern regression were observed in 25 (63 per cent), 11 (26 per cent) and 27 (54 per cent) patients, respectively. The clinical picture did not change in 6 patients (15 per cent). Adverse reactions to the polychemotherapy developed in 17 patients (42.5 per cent). Markedly pronounced adverse reactions requiring discontinuation of the drug use in 7 (17.5 per cent) of them were recorded. Lowering a dose of the drug, applying corticosteroids, pyridoxine, nicotinic acid, cerucal, lipamide, carsyl and unithiol allowed one to eliminate the adverse reactions developed.


CURRENT approaches to preventing infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have focused on the retrovirus itself. However, biologic and epidemiologic studies of HIV and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) indicate that more emphasis should be placed on the virus-infected cell. Several groups of researchers 1-10 have demonstrated the presence of HIV in many different hematopoietic cells, including T and B lymphocytes and macrophages, as See also p 3023. well as in cells (macrophages and endothelial and glial cells) of the brain. These infected cells can survive and serve as reservoirs (factories) for continual virus production and spread. When found in body fluids, they can transfer the infection to other individuals. T-helper lymphocytes generally die after HIV infection, 1-4 but some can replicate HIV to high titer in culture without undergoing cell death. 11 Thus, they too could serve as a source of virus transmission. In studies from our laboratory,


Data description for continuous parameters is sometimes only based on means and standard deviations of measurement series, graphical representation only concentrates on corresponding "MSE plots", which provide means and standard deviations or even only mean squared errors. However, this strategy is only correct for normally distributed data. Outliers may seriously bias mean and standard deviations and may therefore lead to wrong clinical conclusions. The present paper suggests the use of medians and quartiles, which - just like their graphical pendant, the nonparametric "box whisker plot" - can be applied much more flexibly.


In Kentucky, the slavery debate raged for thirty years before the Civil War began. While whites in the lower South argued that slavery was good for master and slave, many white Kentuckians maintained that because of racial prejudice, public safety, and property rights, slavery was necessary but undeniably evil. Harold D. Tallant shows how this view bespoke a real ambivalence about the desirability of continuing slavery in Kentucky and permitted an active abolitionist movement in the state to exist alongside contented slaveholders. Though many Kentuckians were increasingly willing to defend slavery against northern opposition, they did not always see this defense as their first political priority. Tallant explores the way in which the disparity between Kentuckians' ideals and their actions helped make Kentucky a quintessential border state.


Marechal's treatment of tolerance theory shows that, in designing high-quality optical systems, we should aim at minimizing the variance E of the wave aberration. This suggests that the value of E may serve as a diffraction-based criterion of image quality in the fine-correction stage of automatic optical design. For this purpose, it would be desirable to know the range of states of poorer correction over which E may still be regarded as a useful criterion. In the present investigation, it is found that a necessary condition to be satisfied is that the Strehl ratio of the system should exceed 0.5.


This paper presents a hardware based comparison of buck-boost converter topologies in MPPT applications. Buck-boost converters perform perfectly compared with the other DC-DC converter topologies without voltage conversion limitations. Comparative analyzes of classical buck-boost, sepic and cúk converters are made in terms of tracking capability, number of components that are used for power stage of these converters, control requirements, whether current of photovoltaic (PV) module is continuous or discontinuous and difficulties of measurement PV module current. Several simulations are performed by using perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm in MATLAB/Simulink environment under different solar irradiation conditions to conduct this research. With the help of this study, a basic technical guide for converter selection in MPPT applications is proposed.


I. INTRODUCTION Although litigants may take their claims to court, full merits consideration of those claims may or may not be provided. Judges, for example, might find that a litigant lacks standing to sue or that a claim was presented too early or too late for adjudication. They might conclude that the litigant failed to exhaust administrative remedies prior to seeking judicial resolution of a legal question or that the court lacks jurisdiction to decide the matter. These and other similar decisions are based on a group of threshold rules that are frequently raised in litigation which, when applied, might lead a judge to forego reaching the merits of a claim. Thus, when judges apply such threshold rules, they are aptly described as "gatekeepers." (1) Because of the significance of threshold rules, it is unsurprising that judicial scholars have explored their use in some detail, and they have done so especially with respect to the Supreme Court. (2) Yet relatively few scholars have acknowledged and analyzed the threshold decisions made by the judges of the federal courts of appeals. (3) But there is something very revealing about these sorts of rulings in the federal courts of appeals, which makes this situation all the more notable. After all, as Professor Cross describes, (4) these procedural rules provide judges with discretion. This fact alone makes a study of threshold decisions in the federal courts of appeals potentially worthwhile given how their dockets are marked by their non-discretionary nature. That is, federal appellate judges' interpretations of threshold rules might lead them to forego making decisions on appellate claims even if they might otherwise have no discretion to decline to hear particular cases. (5) In addition, while it is impossible to disagree with the argument that federal district judges play an important role as gatekeepers via the application of threshold rules, (6) their decisions pertaining to threshold matters are obviously subject to appeal. (7) This paper represents an effort to further explore this dimension of gatekeeping in the federal courts of appeals by providing a descriptive analysis of their threshold decisions over a substantial period of time. Employing the sample data available in the United States Courts of Appeals Database, (8) I investigate the frequency with which the federal courts of appeals consider cases raising threshold issues and examine whether the circuits seem to vary in their threshold behavior. Moreover, comparisons are drawn between Democratic and Republican appointees to the federal appellate bench and among "presidential appointment cohorts" (9) to determine whether presidents have selected federal appeals court judges whose voting behavior varies systematically on questions of judicial access and, if so, whether such tendencies are more pronounced in certain types of litigant contests and/or with respect to certain types of threshold issues. II. BACKGROUND Judicial scholars have recognized the importance of threshold rules, given the implications such rules have on litigant access to the judiciary. (10) Review of the relevant literature suggests emphasis on the Supreme Court's procedural gatekeeping--investigating both the frequency with which the Court considers threshold questions and whether such decisions serve to restrict or enhance access. (11) The resulting analyses are suggestive of at least some differences in the consideration and treatment of these issues across select Supreme Court regimes (i.e., Warren versus Burger Court eras) (12) and also point to multiple sources of influence in the gatekeeping behavior of individual justices. (13) In addition, among the insights generated by this line of research is the basic notion that a justice's preferences pertaining to the merits of a case can influence how the justice construes threshold rules. (14) Of course, another important area of research involves an exploration of gatekeeping practices at the first rung of the judicial ladder--the federal district courts. …


This post-hoc study examines the academic effects of car hijackings on primary school children in South Aftica. The sample includes senior primary school children in Grades 4 to 7 from eight schools in Gauteng. A Questionnaire / Consent form was administered to the parents of all the children in these grades. A total of 3200 forms were given to all the children's parents. Only 19 response forms were returned. Some parents of children who had been hijacked refused to participate in the study. In addition, many of the children's families who had been involved in car-hijackmgs, had left South Africa and were living in another country. Each child's academic scores relative to their class average scores were obtained both before and after the trauma. The results were statistically analysed by means of the Sign Test and the Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test. These results indicate that there were no significant changes in the academic performance of children who had been hijacked five months earlier. Implications of these results were discussed, with a view to future research. An important extraneous variable could have been exposure to post-trauma counselling. During the course of the research it came to the researcher's attention that every child in the sample had had some form of trauma debriefing. This may have contributed to the post-trauma functioning of the children.


Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the role played by the patient's age and physician's experience in determining the contamination rate of pediatric blood cultures. Methods: The proportion of true-positive (isolation of a pathogen) and false-positive (isolation of a contaminant) results among blood cultures obtained by in-training physicians and experienced pediatricians from young children (aged 1–35 months) and older children (≥36 months of age) and the value of a positive blood culture to predict a true-positive result were retrospectively determined. Results: The odds of a positive blood culture to predict isolation of a true-pathogen was 0.366 only when the sample was obtained by an inexperienced physician and 0.523 when it was drawn by an experienced physician (P < 0.001), 0.419 when it was obtained from a young child and 0.429 when it was drawn from an older child (P = 0.781). The predictive value of a positive result for isolating a pathogen was significant higher when an experienced physician drew the blood culture regardless of the patient's age. Conclusions: Patient's young age and lack of experience of the physician who draws the specimen increase the risk of blood culture contamination. These results strengthen the need to improve the technical skills of young physicians.


The diagnostic accuracy of serum thyroglobulin (S-TG) determination as measured under endogenous thyrotropin(TSH)stimulation (ETS) has been investigated in 372 patients with completed therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer. In 51 of these (13.7%) S-TG could be detected by means of the IRMA-technique. In 34 S-TG determination was additionally performed during suppressive thyroxine therapy (SSH): S-TG in SSH was significantly lower as compared with S-TG in ETS (p <0.001). In seven cases with proven metastases S-TG values were pushed below the minimal detection level by SSH. Tumor manifestations with suppressive S-TG were significantly smaller (x͂ = 5 ccm, range 1-25 ccm) than those with non-suppressible S-TG (x͂ = 90 ccm, range 11-125 ccm, p <0.005) and displayed a papillary histology. There was a moderate correlation between S-TG concentration and tumor volume (r = 0.71 ; p <0.001). 21 % (n = 66) of patients with undetectable S-TG in ETS showed 131l-uptake in the thyroid region; 2% (n = 7) had proven metastases. Sensitivity of S-TG determination for the detection of metastases amounted to 82.5% in ETS and 53.3% in SST, specificity was 94.6% in ETS and 99.7% in SST. It is concluded that small metastases of papillary thyroid carcinomas may escape S-TG screening more readily than follicular carcinoma metastases when S-TG concentrations are measured during thyroxine treatment.


The importance of enchancing metacognition and encouraging active learning in philosophy teaching has been increasingly recognised in recent years. Yet traditional teaching methods have not always centralised helping students to become reflectively and critically aware of the quality and consistency of their own thinking. This is particularly relevant when teaching moral philosophy, where apparently inconsistent intuitions and responses are common. In this paper I discuss the theoretical basis of the relevance of metacognition and active learning for teaching moral philosophy. Applying recent discussions of metacognition, intuition conflicts and survey-based teaching techniques, I then outline a strategy for encouraging metacognitive awareness of tensions in students' pretheoretical beliefs, and developing a critical self-awareness of their development as moral thinkers.


Surfaces of unpaved roads are subjected to dust PM10 (particulate matter < 10 µm) emission by wind process regardless of vehicles (wheels) transport. However, there is little quantitative information on wind-induced dust emission from unpaved roads and the efficiency of diverse dust control products. The study aimed to fill this clear applied scientific gap using wind-tunnel experiments under laboratory and field conditions. The wind-tunnel complies with aerodynamics requirements and is adjusted to dynamic similitude by appropriately scaling all variables that affect dust transport. The results of the control sample (no-treatment) clearly show that dust emission by wind from unpaved road could be a substantial contribution to mass transfer and air pollution, and thus should be considered. Diverse dust control products of synthetic and organic polymers (Lignin, Resin, Bitumen, PVA, Brine) were tested. In the first stage, the products were tested under controlled-laboratory conditions. The results enabled quantitative assessment of the product efficacy in wind erosion without the impact of vehicle transport. In the second stage, the products were tested in field experiment in an active quarry, in which the products were applied on plots along the road. The field experiment was conducted after transportation of the quarry-haul trucks in two time points: several days after the application, and several weeks after the application. The results show that in most of the plots the dust emission increases with the wind velocity. PM10 fluxes from the road surface in each plot were calculated to determine the effectiveness of the dust control products. Some products significantly reduced dust emission from quarry roads, especially when using the Hydrous magnesium chloride (Brine). Additional experiments revealed that such Brine can be applied with reduced amounts and still keeping on low emission.


This paper provides the extension of the observability rank condition and the extension of the controllability rank condition to time-varying nonlinear systems. Previous conditions to check the state observability and controllability, only account for nonlinear systems that do not explicitly depend on time, or, for time-varying systems, they only account for the linear case. In this paper, the general analytic conditions are provided. The paper shows that both these two new conditions (the extended observability rank condition and the extended controllability rank condition) reduce to the well known rank conditions for observability and controllability in the two simpler cases of time-varying linear systems and time-invariant nonlinear systems. The proposed new conditions work automatically and can deal with any system, independently of its complexity (state dimension, type of nonlinearity, etc). Simple examples illustrate both these conditions. In addition, the two new conditions are used to study the observability and the controllability properties of a lunar module. For this system, the dynamics exhibit an explicit time-dependence due to the variation of the weight and the variation of the moment of inertia. These variations are a consequence of the fuel consumption. To study the observability and the controllability properties of this system, the extended observability rank condition and the extended controllability rank condition introduced by this paper are required. The paper shows that, even under the constraint that the main rocket engine delivers constant power, the state is weakly locally controllable. Additionally, it is weakly locally observable up to the yaw angle.


<b>English Abstract:</b> This paper provides evidence of significant international co-movements of public debt in the form of the common global and regional factors. International events such as the global financial crisis and regional sovereign debt crises suggest the existence of global and regional factors that can generate synchronizations of public debt across different countries. In contrast with previous studies that are focused mostly on domestic economic fundamentals in explaining public debt, this paper finds distinct global factors in the public debt-to-GDP ratio, both from principal components analysis and the Bayesian dynamic factor model. We show that the global factor accounts for a significant fraction of the variation of public debt often more substantial than those explained by domestic variables in many countries. We also find significant regional factors in public debt, especially for the Eurozone member states.


As the knowledge-based economy time comes, the core of business process is transforming financial intensive into technology intensive and knowledge intensive gradually. However, the value of knowledge itself can't be measured easily. We must evaluate and investigate the performance of knowledge management through activities of knowledge management process. During the performance evaluation process, many uncertain factors must be considered. It is also involved ambiguity occurred by human subjective judgment. Therefore, a performance evaluation model of knowledge management is proposed in this paper by combining Fuzzy Delphi with Fuzzy AHP. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the procedure for the proposed method at the end of this paper. Keyword: Knowledge Management, Measuring Performance, Fuzzy Delphi, Fuzzy AHP


Preparation for replacing the large proportion of staff nurses reaching retirement age in the next few decades in the United States is essential to continue delivering high-quality nursing care and improving patient outcomes. Retaining experienced critical care nurses is imperative to successfully implementing the orientation of new inexperienced critical care nurses. It is important to understand factors that affect work engagement to develop strategies that enhance nurse retention and improve the quality of patient care. Nurses' experience of moral distress has been measured in medical intensive care units but not in surgical trauma care units, where nurses are exposed to patients and families faced with sudden life-threatening, life-changing patient consequences. This pilot study is a nonexperimental, descriptive, correlational design to examine the effect of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, moral distress, and level of nursing education on critical care nurses' work engagement. This is a partial replication of Lawrence's dissertation. The study also asked nurses to describe sources of moral distress and self-care strategies for coping with stress. This was used to identify qualitative themes about the nurse experiences. Jean Watson's theory of human caring serves as a framework to bring meaning and focus to the nursing-patient caring relationship. A convenience sample of 26 of 34 eligible experienced surgical intensive care unit trauma nurses responded to this survey, indicating a 77% response rate. Twenty-seven percent of the nurses scored high, and 73% scored average on compassion satisfaction. On compassion fatigue, 58% scored average on burnout and 42% scored low. On the secondary traumatic stress subscale, 38% scored average, and 62% scored low. The mean moral distress situations subscale score was 3.4, which is elevated. The mean 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale total score, measuring work engagement, was 3.8, which is considered low. Content analysis was used to identify themes of Role Conflict With Management/Rules, Death and Suffering, Dealing With Violence in the Intensive Care Unit, Dealing With Family, Powerlessness, Physical Distress, and Medical Versus Nursing Values. Additional themes identified were caring, helping families, long-time interdependent relationships of colleagues, and satisfaction in trauma nursing. As work engagement increased, compassion satisfaction significantly increased, and burnout significantly decreased. Results of this study support moral distress as a clinically meaningful issue for surgical intensive care unit nurses. Moral distress scales were elevated, whereas work engagement scales were low. This finding was congruent with Lawrence's study and may reflect ongoing need for greater supports for experienced intensive care unit nurses, from both education and management. Future recommendations for research include examining the interaction of these variables in larger samples to examine additional explanatory factors as well as strategies for self-care, motivation, and behavior change.


Cell Biology
Development is thought to be one-way: Stem cells produce cells that mature into specific types, such as neurons and glia in nervous systems. But Kaukua et al. found nervous system cells transforming back into stem cells in a surprising place: teeth. Researchers knew that "tooth pulp" contains mesenchymal stem cells, which can mature into teeth, bones, and cartilage. But where those stem cells come from was not clear. So the team traced the cells' development, adding fluorescent labels to mouse glial cells around neurons in the mouth and gums. Some glial cells migrated toward the inside of teeth and transformed into mesenchymal stem cells, eventually maturing into tooth cells, they found. Identifying which chemical cues in teeth pulp signal glial cells to transform into stem cells, the team notes, could offer a new way to grow stem cells in the lab.

Nature 10.1038/nature13536 (2014).


Among the over 200 molecular species identified in interstellar clouds, many are organic molecules. It has been proposed that some of these molecules survive the star and planet formation process and are eventually delivered to Earth where they can form the molecular basis of the origin of life. It is now well established that one of the most important factories of these molecules are ice mantles that cover the dust grains in star-forming molecular clouds. Simple atoms and molecules such as H, O, N, and CO condense from the gas phase onto the grain surface and then react with each other in the ice to form increasingly complex molecules. At the extremely low temperature (10–15 K) in these clouds, the widely accepted mechanism to bring reactive species together—diffusion—is severely impeded in the ice, raising the question of the mechanism of their formation. In laboratory experiments we find that the top layers of the ice mantle, which are made primarily of CO, transform from a disordered phase to a polycrystalline phase at such a low temperature. During the phase transition, reactive species buried inside may migrate and react without the need to overcome activation energy for diffusion. By quantifying the kinetics of crystallization, we predict that CO ice in interstellar clouds is mostly in the polycrystalline form. The reorganization of CO ice, which occurs below 10 K, may promote mobility of reactive species, and therefore can be a driving force of molecular complexity in molecular clouds.


Summary In cattle early gastrulation-stage embryos (Stage 5), four tissues can be discerned: (i) the top layer of the embryonic disc consisting of embryonic ectoderm (EmE); (ii) the bottom layer of the disc consisting of mesoderm, endoderm and visceral hypoblast (MEH); (iii) the trophoblast (TB); and (iv) the parietal hypoblast. We performed microsurgery followed by RNA-seq to analyse the transcriptome of these four tissues as well as a developmentally earlier pre-gastrulation embryonic disc. The cattle EmE transcriptome was similar at Stages 4 and 5, characterised by the OCT4/SOX2/NANOG pluripotency network. Expression of genes associated with primordial germ cells suggest their presence in the EmE tissue at these stages. Anterior visceral hypoblast genes were transcribed in the Stage 4 disc, but no longer by Stage 5. The Stage 5 MEH layer was equally similar to mouse embryonic and extraembryonic visceral endoderm. Our data suggest that the first mesoderm to invaginate in cattle embryos is fated to become extraembryonic. TGFβ, FGF, VEGF, PDGFA, IGF2, IHH and WNT signals and receptors were expressed, however the representative members of the FGF families differed from that seen in equivalent tissues of mouse embryos. The TB transcriptome was unique and differed significantly from that of mice. FGF signalling in the TB may be autocrine with both FGFR2 and FGF2 expressed. Our data revealed a range of potential inter-tissue interactions, highlighted significant differences in early development between mice and cattle and yielded insight into the developmental events occurring at the start of gastrulation.


The functional role of the Bacillus stearothermophilus 50S ribosomal protein B-L3 (probably homologous to the Escherichia coli protein L2) was examined by chemical modification. The complex [B-L3-23S RNA] was photooxidized in the presence of rose bengal and the modified protein incorporated by reconstitution into 50S ribosomal subunits containing all other unmodified components. Particles containing photooxidized B-L3 are defective in several functional assays, including (1) poly(U)-directed poly(Phe) synthesis, (2) peptidyltransferase activity, (3) ability to associate with a [30S-poly(U)-Phe-tRNA] complex, and (4) binding of elongation factor G and GTP. The rates of loss of the partial functional activities during photooxidation of B-L3 indicate that at least two independent inactivating events are occurring, a faster one, involving oxidation of one or more histidine residues, affecting peptidyltransferase and subunit association activities and a slower one affecting EF-G binding. Therefore the protein B-L3 has one or more histidine residues which are essential for peptidyltransferase and subunit association, and another residue which is essential for EF-G-GTP binding. B-L3 may be the ribosomal peptidyltransferase protein, or a part of the active site, and may contribute functional groups to the other active sites as well.


Assessment of irrigation performances is very essential while planning and chalking out management strategies for various irrigation. However, in Ethiopia, especially Tigray, performance evaluation of irrigation schemes is rarely conducted. The performance of Tahtay Tsalit irrigation scheme was not assessed yet and hence, this research was undertaken to assess the hydraulic performance of the irrigation scheme. The study was carried out during the irrigation season from September to November, 2016. The field measurements on canal dimensions, water flow measurements and water surface elevation were undertaken at selected sampling points. Simple descriptive statistics was employed for analysis of the data collected from field measurements and observations. However, hydraulic performance indicators were used to evaluate the performance of this irrigation scheme. Several factors such as flooding, sedimentation, design problems, damage of sluice gates, abstraction of irrigation water by unwanted plants has been identified in this irrigation scheme for mal-functional of different irrigation structures. Hydraulic performance of the irrigation system was evaluated using ten hydraulic performance indicators. There was no problem in irrigation adequacy (0.84 fair), equity (fair), dependability (0.057 good) and efficiency (0.77 fair) of irrigation water in this irrigation scheme. The average water surface elevation ratio, delivery performance ratio, and delivery duration ratio of the main canal during the monitoring period was less than one, greater than 5 and 150%, respectively. The highest sediment accumulation was observed at head and middle reaches of the irrigation scheme than the tail reaches. Generally, in this irrigation scheme there were a number of irrigation structures which had mal-functioned, and now required to be remodeled with sustainable solution to improve the performance of the irrigation scheme. Hence, it has been recommended that capacity building and awareness creation for irrigation water users, water committee, Woreda and Kebelle expertise are the main key factor to bring a change in irrigation water managements.

 Key words: Hydraulic structures, hydraulic performance, small scale irrigation scheme.


P component is present in amyloid deposits, normal serum, and normal tissues in relation to elastic fibres. Its pathological role in inflammatory synovitis was investigated. Its distribution was determined immunohistologically in 33 synovia: 15 rheumatoid; seven osteoarthritic; seven traumatic controls; and four infected biopsy specimens. P component was present in two circumscribed distributions: extracellular fibrils in dense fibroelastic tissue of the more fibrotic synovia; and in the arterial wall, where it was confined to a single elastic lamina in some cases and in others showed reduplication and fragmentation. These were not related to amyloid material. It shows no disease specificity, but P component categorises the nature of the pathological reaction and is typically in biopsy specimens showing the development of chronic fibrosis. There was close codistribution of P component with elastic tissue, though this was not absolute. P component had a different distribution from C reactive protein (in synovial lining cell layer), and fibronectin, which was absent from fibrotic areas. Understanding the pathological interactions of P component may help elucidate why some synovial reactions remain inflammatory and others progress to chronic fibrosis.


Non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis (NLCH) is a histiocyte disorder comprised of dermal dendritic histiocytes with a characteristic staining pattern. Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a subset of NLCH in which patients experience bone pain with corresponding changes on imaging. In addition, these patients show other evidence of systemic involvement, which can also be identified with imaging. This disease can occasionally present with cutaneous findings. We present a case of generalized eruptive histiocytosis (GEH), misdiagnosed as ECD, found to have an NTRK1 gene rearrangement. This is the first report of an NTRK1 kinase fusion with NLCH. The implication is unclear and further studies are warranted.


Paramyxoviral infection in childhood has been linked to a significant increased rate of asthma development. In mice, paramyxoviral infection with the mouse parainfluenza virus type I, Sendai virus (Sev), causes a limited bronchiolitis followed by persistent asthma traits. We have previously shown that the absence of cysteine protease dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI) dampened the acute lung inflammatory response and the subsequent asthma phenotype induced by Sev. Adoptive transfer of wild-type neutrophils into DPPI-deficient mice restored leukocyte influx, the acute cytokine response, and the subsequent mucous cell metaplasia that accompanied Sev-induced asthma phenotype. However, the exact mechanism by which DPPI-sufficient neutrophils promote asthma development following Sev infection is still unknown. We hypothesize that neutrophils recruited to the alveolar space following Sev infection elaborate neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) that propagate the inflammatory cascade, culminating in the eventual asthma phenotype. Indeed, we found that Sev infection was associated with NET formation in the lung and release of cell-free DNA complexed to myeloperoxidase in the alveolar space and plasma that peaked on day 2 post infection. Absence of DPPI significantly attenuated Sev-induced NET formation in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, concomitant administration of DNase 1, which dismantled NETs, or inhibition of peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4), an essential mediator of NET formation, suppressed the early inflammatory responses to Sev infection. Lastly, NETs primed bone marrow-derived cells to release cytokines that can amplify the inflammatory cascade.


This 3- wave longitudinal study examined (a) the causal direction of the relationships among psychosocial work characteristics (e.g., job demands, job control, and supervisor support) and indicators of learning- related behavior (e.g., motivation to learn and active problem solving), and (b) whether these relationships differed across age, by comparing the results for young (≤30), middle- aged (31-44) and older (≥45) workers. The results for the total sample revealed significant reciprocal causal relationships among job demands, job control, and learning- related behavior. Furthermore, significant age differences were found in the level of the work characteristics and learning- related behavior, as well as in the cross- lagged relationships among the variables. Compared to earlier-predominantly cross- sectional-results, the present study underlines the importance of taking a dynamic as well as a life- span view on the relationships between work and learning- related behavior. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The rise of the cyberspace and use of social networking have resulted in further facilitation of both human communication and access to information. However, the cyberspace has also become a newfound haven for perpetrators, including offenders engaging in child abuse. Various forums and social networking sites are increasingly becoming a minefield for child abuse, ranging from bullying to more grievous offences such as child pornography. Being aware of this situation, legislators have already enacted various mechanisms that seek to fight such offences. Nevertheless, malefactors constantly seem to be finding alternative methods through which they achieve their aim. It is because of such flexibility and continuous evasion by perpetrators, that fighting child abuse in the cyberspace is a seemingly lost battle.


Abstract Zircons from a bentonite near the base of the Purley Shale Formation in the Nuneaton area, Warwickshire, yield a 206Pb/238U age of 517.22 ± 0.31 Ma. Based on the fauna of small shelly fossils and the brachiopod Micromitra phillipsii in the underlying Home Farm Member of the Hartshill Sandstone Formation, trilobite fragments that are questionably referred to Callavia from the basal Purley Shale Formation, and the presence of trilobites diagnostic of the sabulosa Biozone 66 m above the base of the Purley Shale Formation, the bentonite likely dates an horizon within Cambrian Stage 3, at about the level of the Fallotaspis or basal Callavia Biozone. This is consistent with bentonite ages from other localities in southern Britain, which constrain the age of the lower and uppermost parts of Cambrian Stage 3. The new date provides additional chronological control on the earliest occurrence of trilobites in the Midland Microcraton, a date for the marine transgression at the base of the Purley Shale Formation, and is the first radiometric age from the Cambrian succession of Warwickshire.


The study of celestial objects has always been a challenge for humanity. Using the parallax method, astronomers have gained a large database regarding the celestial objects in the Earth's vicinity and those situated at longer distances in space. The evolution of space technology has enabled the launching of satellites, artificial objects that gravitate on the Earth's orbit. For a relatively long period of time, the study of these objects (their position and trajectory) was possible using a technology available only to the scientific community and the military. Nowadays, due to the advancements in mobile technology, the presence of the acceleration, GPS and magnetic sensors in a smartphone enable, through a series of dedicated applications, the detection of the precise position and trajectory of certain communication and scientific satellites. In this study I will show how, using the application ISS Detector, the students in the Physics class can quickly receive data regarding the trajectory of International Space Station (ISS) and of the satellites from the Iridium constellation, together with information about their elevation, magnitude. Using this data, the students can calculate the altitude and the terrestrial coordinates associated with the ISS and the Iridium satellites relative to the reference system they are located in.


Key studies on the prevention of human papillomavirus and hepatitis A published during the past year found that: A quadrivalent vaccine against human papillomavirus prevents cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, vulvar and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia, and anogenital disease in young women. The vaccine is likely cost-effective when given to girls, but perhaps not when given to boys. Although hepatitis A immune globulin is modestly better than hepatitis A vaccine for postexposure prophylaxis against hepatitis A, both are highly effective. Hepatitis A vaccine is now recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as the preferred agent in healthy individuals between the ages of 2 and 40.


This study presents the clinical and epidemiological aspects of children affected with dengue, in Manaus, AM, in 2006 and 2007. There were 482 The aim of this study was to present the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children affected by dengue, in Manaus, State of Amazonas, in 2006 and 2007. Analysis was conducted on 482 dengue cases with confirmation from laboratory tests, in 2006 (46.9% in children under 15 years of age), and 1,538 cases in 2007 (57.7% in children under 15 years of age). The data were obtained from the National System for Notifiable Diseases (Sistema Nacional de Agravos de Notificacao; SINAN) in Manaus. The variables analyzed were: age, gender, district where subject lived, month when symptoms started, serotypes and clinical form of the disease. Statistically significant increases in the proportion of cases in children under 15 years of age and in the proportion of severe forms were found between 2006 and 2007. Although the hemorrhagic form was almost three times more frequent in 2007, the mortality rate was lower. The serotypes identified were DEN-3 in 2006 and DEN-1, DEN-2 and DEN-3 in 2007. In 2007, cases were recorded in every month of the year.


The intracellular milieu is crowded with biomacromolecules. Macromolecular crowding changes the interactions, diffusion, and conformations of the biomacromolecules. Changes in intracellular crowding effects have been mostly ascribed to differences in biomacromolecule concentration. However, the spatial organization of these molecules should play a significant role in crowding effects. Here, we find that cell wall damage causes increased macromolecular crowding effects in the Escherichia coli cytoplasm. Using a genetically-encoded macromolecular crowding sensor, we see that crowding effects in E. coli spheroplasts and Penicillin G-treated cells well surpass crowding effects obtained using hyperosmotic stress. The crowding increase is not due to osmotic pressure, cell shape, crowder synthesis, or volume changes, and therefore not crowder concentration. Instead, a genetically-encoded nucleic acid stain and a small molecule DNA stain show nucleoid expansion and cytoplasmic mixing, which could cause these increased crowding effects. Our data demonstrate that cell stress from antibiotics or cell wall damage alters the biochemical organization in the cytoplasm and induces significant conformational changes in a probe protein.


Author(s): Helmy, Sameh | Advisor(s): Read de Alaniz, Javier | Abstract: The development of an easily synthesized, modular, and tunable organic photoswitch that responds to visible light has been a long-standing pursuit. Herein we provide a detailed account of the design and synthesis of a new class of photochromes based on furfural, termed donor−acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs). A wide variety of these derivatives are easily prepared from commercially available starting materials, and their photophysical properties are shown to be dependent on the substituents of the push−pull system. Analysis of the switching behavior provides conditions to access the two structural isomers of the DASAs, reversibly switch between them, and use their unique solubility behavior to provide dynamic phase-transfer materials. Overall, these negative photochromes respond to visible light and heat and display an unprecedented level of structural modularity and tunabilty. We demonstrate the considerable potential of DASA photoswitches in two unique and powerful applications. First we have applied DASAs for the visible light-initiated recycling of homo-geneous organic catalysts. This catalyst-photoswitch construct effectively polymerized lac-tide with control over molecular weight and a low PDI. The visible-light mediated phase transfer and subsequent recovery of the thiourea catalyst allowed recycling of the organocat-alyst. Further, the potential of these photoswitches in biological applications is demonstrated through the synthesis of a functional amphiphile that displays on-demand light-mediated disassembly and cargo release. This one-photon visible light-responsive micellar system served as an efficient, on-demand drug delivery system. The efficiency and effectiveness of this system was demonstrated in an in-vitro setting, delivering the chemotherapeutic paclitaxel only on exposure to visible light.


Purpose: To characterize the imaging performance of a mobile cone‐beam CT(CBCT) C‐arm for image‐guided interventions. This work reports on 3D image quality of a flat‐panel detector with multiple gain modes (Varian PaxScan 4030CB), radiation dose, and robust methods for geometric calibration and artifact management. Method and Materials: A prototype imaging system based on a mobile C‐arm (Siemens PowerMobil) has been developed to provide flat‐panel CBCT. Three readout modes (fixed‐, dual‐, and dynamic‐gain) were evaluated in CBCT phantom images across a range of dose (0.6–18.8 mGy). An analytic (non‐iterative) geometric calibration method capable of determining all nine degrees of freedom in source‐detector geometry was implemented. Image artifacts associated with x‐ray scatter and lateral truncation were characterized, and methods for artifact management (scatter estimation and projection extrapolation, respectively) were evaluated. Results:CBCTimages exhibit soft‐tissue visibility (∼20 HU) and high spatial resolution (∼1 mm) at dose (∼10 mGy) sufficiently low as to permit repeat intraoperative imaging. Dynamic‐gain readout demonstrated the highest level of soft‐tissue and bony‐detail visibility across all doses, whereas fixed‐gain was degraded at high dose due to pixel saturation, and dual‐gain was degraded due to image noise. The C‐arm exhibits large geometric non‐idealities (>15 mm departure from semicircular orbit) due to mechanical flex; however, the geometric calibration restored image quality (e.g., 0.77 mm FWHM) and was reproducible to sub‐pixel precision. Lateral truncation artifacts were effectively minimized via mixed linear‐exponential extrapolation of projections at the detector edges, and x‐ray scatter was managed to a large extent by subtraction of 2D scatter fluence estimates based on the measured detector signal (patient thickness). Conclusion: The prototype C‐arm demonstrates sufficient image quality for guidance at doses low enough for repeat intraoperative imaging. The C‐arm is currently being deployed in patient protocols ranging from brachytheraphy to chest, breast, spine and head‐and‐neck surgery.


Recent discoveries of oil in some African countries have rekindled a debate about its place in development and international politics. The debate has pitched those viewing oil as a catalyst for development and a more assertive Africa in global politics against others who point to the negative impact of oil on older established African oil-producing states. Oil as a highly priced geopolitical and strategic commodity will for the foreseeable future shape relations between African petro-states and other global actors, particularly international oil companies and energy-dependent established and emerging global powers. The structural position of specific African petro-states in the global political economy and history, and the nature of their leadership, are defining factors in the diverse aspects of local and international politics, including the prospects for development and a more assertive Africa in international politics.


Peritoneal exudate cells harvested from mice after i.p. inoculation of 10 8 viable Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) organisms demonstrate vigorous lytic activity in vitro toward a large variety of target cells. Lytic activity was demonstrable within hours of BCG administration, was maximal after 4 to 5 days, and fell rapidly thereafter. Cell lysis observed in a 51 Cr-release assay resulted from single events of collision with effector cells and was virtually complete within 4 hr. Effector cells were not found in the thymus or bone marrow, and the lytic activity of spleen and peripheral lymph nodes was only minimal. The effector cells were not induced by i.p. injection of thioglycollate medium or proteose peptone broth. Heat-killed BCG induced less activity than did viable BCG organisms. The induction of lytic activity appeared to be under genetic control and to represent an amplification of a cell population present in the unstimulated animal. Some strains (CBA, B6C3F 1 ) gave consistently high levels of of reactivity after BCG administration; others (A/J) showed much lower reactivity. Normal cells did not serve as targets for the BCG-induced effector cells, whereas tumor cells and long-term tissue culture cell lines were lysed. Susceptible targets included cells syngeneic, allogeneic, and xenogeneic to the effector cell source. The rapid, vigorous lysis elicited by 4-day BCG-induced peritoneal exudates against a broad range of target cells indicates that the significance of this new cytotoxic phenomenon may be significant with respect to BCG immunotherapy.


We conduct a survey of transformational towns and villages in High-tech Development District, Yaohai District and Shushan District, Hefei City. Using data, we analyze the "sideline effect" and inherent contradiction of transformational cities, research the policy needs for social security and its trend in the citizenization process of the peri-urban farmers. On this basis, we construct the social security policy system that can adapt to the accelerated process of urbanization. Finally, we put forth the following recommendations for the social security policy in the citizenization process of the peri-urban farmers: distinguishing different groups' policy needs for social security; attaching importance to people's dynamic policy needs for social security in urbanization; focusing on the adaptability of social security policy transformation in urbanization; attaching importance to the social psychosocial environment of social security policy transformation in urbanization; achieving the trinity of non-farm conversion, urbanization and citizenization in the process of urbanization; strengthening the government's dominant position in the building of social security policy system.


Deep neural networks are susceptible to adversarial attacks due to the accumulation of perturbations in the feature level, and numerous works have boosted model robustness by deactivating the non-robust feature activations that cause model mispredictions. However, we claim that these malicious activations still contain discriminative cues and that with recalibration, they can capture additional useful information for correct model predictions. To this end, we propose a novel, easy-to-plugin approach named Feature Separation and Recalibration (FSR) that recalibrates the malicious, non-robust activations for more robust feature maps through Separation and Recalibration. The Separation part disentangles the input feature map into the robust feature with activations that help the model make correct predictions and the non-robust feature with activations that are responsible for model mispredictions upon adversarial attack. The Recalibration part then adjusts the non-robust activations to restore the potentially useful cues for model predictions. Extensive experiments verify the superiority of FSR compared to traditional deactivation techniques and demonstrate that it improves the robustness of existing adversarial training methods by up to 8.57% with small computational overhead. Codes are available at https://github.com/wkim97/FSR


An accessible and comprehensive guide to copyright law, updated to include new developments in infringement, fair use, and the impact of digital technology.Through five editions since 1981, this book has offered the most comprehensive accessible guide available to all aspects of copyright law. Now, with the sixth edition, The Copyright Book has been thoroughly updated to cover copyright for the Internet age, discussing a range of developments in the law since 2000. The only book written for nonlawyers that covers the entire field of copyright law, it is essential reading for authors, artists, creative people in every medium, the companies that hire them, users of copyrighted material, and anyone with an interest in copyright law from a policy perspective.New material includes greatly expanded coverage of infringement and fair use, with detailed discussion of recent decisions, including the Grateful Dead, Google, and HathiTrust cases. The new edition considers such topics as open access, the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), file sharing, e-reserves, the status of ?orphan works,? and the latest developments under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).The sixth edition also brings up to date The Copyright Book's plain English explanation of such fundamental topics as authorship and ownership; transfers and licenses of copyright; copyright notice; registration of copyright (including the new online registration and ?preregistration? systems); the scope of rights included in copyright, and exceptions to those rights; ?moral rights?; compulsory licenses; tax treatment of copyright; and international aspects of copyright law. As copyright issues grow ever more complicated, The Copyright Book becomes ever more indispensable.


Abstract Academics debate the positive and negative consequences of hosting sports mega-events, and although there is a general recognition that doing so cannot be a panacea for solving other social issues, who wins and who loses tends to be the same. This article considers why mega-events are not more regularly resisted given the routinization of harm to local populations that they tend to invoke. It develops ideas derived from the late sociologist and criminologist Stanley Cohen concerning the relationships between, and the politics of, denial and acknowledgement, with specific attention to the role of academics, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media. The article illustrates the difficulties in exposing, contesting and transforming these human rights abuses, but suggests that there are grounds for optimism as new strategies for communicating human rights abuses in connection with sports mega-events are developed.


Since 1999, 23 New Jersey transit villages have been designated in New Jersey municipalities, with the intention of intensifying development around rail stations and bus hubs. As one test of the effectiveness of this state effort, the appreciation in residential property values is investigated and compared with that in other municipalities in the state. Some limited positive evidence is found to support the New Jersey transit village designation. Econometric analysis of the change in average residential sales price over 9 years finds an association but cannot establish a causal effect. Case study analysis of selected New Jersey transit villages suggests that the forethought, commitment, and political will required to apply for transit village status may be what sparks municipal development rather than the designation itself.


The bottleneck of the current oil palm tissue culture technique is the low rate of
embryogenesis and the development of viable embryoid lines. Therefore, it is vital to
increase the efficiency of callusing, embryogenesis, germination and proliferation of
embryoids so that the number of subcultures per line can be reduced without
effecting the number of shoots produced in-vitro. Thus, it is necessary to elucidate
and understand the molecular processes that are involved during somatic
embryogenesis of oil palm particularly those involved in specifying embryogenic
competence. Based on the role of cell division cycle (cdc/cdk) genes and cyclins in
cell division cycle control of other eukaryotes, it is likely that cyclins are also
partially involved in the regulation of somatic embryogenesis.
Hence, an attempt to isolate cyclin genes from the oil palm zygotic embryo cDNA
library was made using heterologous cyclin cDNA probes from Arabidopsis. 32
putative clones designated as OPZE, were isolated from screening. A preliminary
characterisation was carried out on these clones in order to identify clones with sequences related to the cell division cycle. This was achieved by hybridising the
peR amplified OPZE clones with amplified cDNA from suspension cultures and
mature leaves separately. The OPZE clones were categorised into 3 subpopulations
according to their tissue-specific expression pattern: a, b and c. Randomly selected
clones from these subpopulations were sequenced partially and used for sequence
homology searches using DNA sequence databases.
Most clones did not have any significant homology to any known sequences in the
database, thus they were designated as novel clones. Three clones OPZEJA,
OPZE3A and OPZE5A that had significant homology to oleo sin, calmodulin and
tumour suppressor protein respectively were selected for northern analysis. From the
northern analysis studies, it was found that OPZEJA (oleosin) is zygotic embryo
specific and both OPZE3A and OPZE5A are ubiquitously expressed in all evaluated
tissues. In order to complement this study, a partial length homeobox gene, OPHbJ
(KnottedJ -like) from oil palm was isolated and was found to be expressed
specifically in meristematic tissues. However, the specific functions of these genes
during oil palm embryogenesis are still unknown.


On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. By mid-March, all Canadian provinces and territories declared states of emergency which triggered measures to support the response to the pandemic (1). Some of these measures have posed new barriers for people with arthritis to manage their health and daily activities.


Fever of unexplained (or unknown) origin (FUO) remains a relevant clinical problem even with modern diagnostic methods. In addition to the classical definition, new categories of FUO describe different clinical situations: nosocomial FUO, FUO in neutropenic/immundeficient patients and FUO in patients with HIV-infection. The new categories are defined by much shorter duration of fever, i. e. mostly three days. Each category of FUO shows a different spectrum of infectious diseases. Often, subacute bacterial endocarditis is very difficult to verify. In many cases, patients in intensive care suffer from FUO caused by reactivation of CMV. In patients with HIV the most important diagnostic indicator concerning the origin of infection is the degree of immundeficiency. Biological and nuclear medical (PET-CT) verification procedures have been established in diagnostics. A national or international register should be created with the purpose of data transfer and validation of strategies concerning the treatment of FUO.


Mediterranean is the birthplace of different ancient cultures and civilizations, however, the countries in the opposite shores of this sea share historically distinct political, cultural and socio-economic characteristics. Despite these differences, increasingly rising scholars as well as politicians emphasize the need to promote cooperation and socio-cultural dialogue in the region which is expected to eventually lead to the emergence of a Mediterranean community. Within the context of this article, the possibility of the establishment of such a formation will be analyzed by elaborating the major obstacles on the emergence of this community and on a fruitful mutual dialogue. The main question of the study, therefore, will be to what extent the internal as well as external dynamics have an influence on the development of this regional partnership process. The role of international organizations in coordinating regional co-operation and facilitating the appearance of the Mediterranean community along with the different views as the northern African perspectives on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) process –through Barcelona Process which was evolved into the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)- is also a great concern of this article. It will be concluded that it is not possible to create a Mediterranean community in the very near future even though international institutions can play a significant role in yielding security, stability and a firm regional cooperation in the Mediterranean littoral.


Cerebellar granule cell progenitors (GCP) proliferate extensively in the external granule layer (EGL) of the developing cerebellum prior to differentiating and migrating. Mechanisms that regulate the appropriate timing of cell cycle withdrawal of these neuronal progenitors during brain development are not well defined. The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) is highly expressed in the proliferating GCPs, but is downregulated once the cells leave the cell cycle. This receptor has primarily been characterized as a death receptor for its ability to induce neuronal apoptosis following injury. Here we demonstrate a novel function for p75NTR in regulating proper cell cycle exit of neuronal progenitors in the developing rat and mouse EGL, which is stimulated by proNT3. In the absence of p75NTR, GCPs continue to proliferate beyond their normal period, resulting in a larger cerebellum that persists into adulthood, with consequent motor deficits. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16654.001


Digital ecosystems are going through a period of change due to the advancement in technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) as well as proliferation of less expensive hardware sensors. Through this chapter, we present current emerging trends in IoT in different industry sectors as well as discuss the key privacy challenges impeding the growth of IoT to reach its potential in the smart home context. The majority of the existing literature on IoT smart home platforms focuses on functionalities provided by smarter connected devices; however, it does not address the concerns from a consumer's viewpoint. Thus, the key questions are: What are the privacy concerns related to IoT, particularly from a "smart home device" consumer viewpoint? What are the existing remedial approaches for privacy management? This chapter proposes a framework to assist smart home user and IoT device manufacturer to make informed privacy management decisions. The findings of this research intend to help practitioners and researchers interested in the privacy of IoT-enabled smart systems.


Background: Rotavirus is the major agent causing endemic and epidemic diarrhea in young children in both developed and developing countries (1), little is known about prevalence of rotavirus infections in Karbala. Study design and objectives: This cross sectional study was performed to determine the prevalence, clinical significance, and possible risk factors for rotavirus gastroenteritis in Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Karbala governorate during the period from June through October 2oo9. Patients and methods: 386 children less than five years of age with acute gastroenteritis attended Karbala Pediatric Teaching Hospital were studied both hospitalized and out-patients. Rotavirus in stool samples was identified by using two survey tests (One Step Rapid Chromatographic Immune Assay, and Slide Latex Agglutination test). Rotavirus positive patients were divided into two main groups according to the age; the first group was six months and below; and the second group was more than six months of age. Results: generally, rotavirus positive gastroenteritis was more frequent 267(69%) than rotavirus negative gastroenteritis 119(31%) of the total examined stool samples, There was a relative increase in prevalence of rotavirus gastroenteritis in children above six months 142(53%) more than those below six months of age 125(47%) with the clear variance in rotavirus gastroenteritis patients among the gender which referred to an elevation in males 167(63%) more than females 100(37%) in both tested groups, moreover, according to the source of infection there was no difference in children between hospitalized 133(50%) and out-patients 134(50%) in both groups, as well as no clear variance among rotavirus positive patients regarding geographical distribution; urban were 137(51%), and rural were 130(49%) in both groups district to Karbala; in comparison with the type of feeding; the study showed an obvious increase(about two-fold greater risk)in rotavirus gastroenteritis 172(64%) in the children who were not exclusively breastor bottle fed more than those who were exclusively breast-fed 95(36%) in both diarrheic groups. Conclusions, rotavirus is the main leading cause of severe gastroenteritis among children under five years of age in Karbala particularly in males above six months of age regardless the source of infection and geographic distribution; Rotavirus gastroenteritis can be considered as one of the nosocomial infections in Karbala Pediatric Teaching Hospital; promotion of breast-feeding would augment the impact of providing the effective protection against severe childhood rotavirus diarrhea.