Dialeurodes citri is a major pest in citrus producing areas, and large-scale outbreaks have occurred increasingly often in recent years. Lecanicillium attenuatum is an important entomopathogenic fungus that can parasitize and kill D. citri. We separated the fungus from corpses of D. citri larvae. However, the sound immune defense system of pests makes infection by an entomopathogenic fungus difficult. Here we used RNA sequencing technology (RNA-Seq) to build a transcriptome database for D. citri and performed digital gene expression profiling to screen genes that act in the immune defense of D. citri larvae infected with a pathogenic fungus. De novo assembly generated 84,733 unigenes with mean length of 772 nt. All unigenes were searched against GO, Nr, Swiss-Prot, COG, and KEGG databases and a total of 28,190 (33.3%) unigenes were annotated. We identified 129 immunity-related unigenes in transcriptome database that were related to pattern recognition receptors, information transduction factors and response factors. From the digital gene expression profile, we identified 441 unigenes that were differentially expressed in D. citri infected with L. attenuatum. Through calculated Log2Ratio values, we identified genes for which fold changes in expression were obvious, including cuticle protein, vitellogenin, cathepsin, prophenoloxidase, clip-domain serine protease, lysozyme, and others. Subsequent quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis verified the results. The identified genes may serve as target genes for microbial control of D. citri.


Abstract Transcending a one-dimensional paradigm of globalisation, this article provides a kind of archeological analysis of communication and journalism studies in China. It examines the historical trajectory of the introduction of Western communication theories since the early 1980s, the articulation of Western theories and the initiatives of Chinese intellectuals of the time, and the complex social contexts of a transitional China in which a dominant US-based administrative paradigm has prevailed for decades. As a result of this articulation, communication and journalism studies in current China are widely considered an organic part of the leading paradigm of neoliberalism, and less attention has been paid to seeking alternative paradigms, or at least to rediscovering the distinctiveness of Chinese experience in the global sphere. To point out the limitations of this articulation, the article illustrates the increasing diffi culties or misappropriations in using those Western theories to interpret the complex reality of both social and media transformations. A positive relationship between theories and practice prompts social justice and democracy rather than a tendency towards "uneven development" with growing social inequality. Therefore the article contends that China's communication and journalism studies are standing at another historical crossroads today, compared with the time when Wilbur Schramm made his groundbreaking visit to Beijing in 1982. In pursuit of a reorientation in communication and journalism studies in the future, an integrated approach is suggested.


ABSTRACT High-density urban development is claimed as a suitable urban form in enhancing social capital. However, the relationship between those two variables has not been well empirically explored, leading to the emergence of competing results in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the role of urban physical arrangement or urban form in the social capital formation using Indonesian metropolitan cities as a case study. This research was also the first empirical study to investigate the association between urban form and social capital in Indonesia. The multilevel logistic regression was used to investigate the association between the urban form and several indicators of social capital. The findings revealed that individuals in high residential density areas were less likely to know their neighbours, had lower levels of bridging trust, and less involved in the community's activities. Meanwhile, street connectivity appeared to have a positive association with bridging trust but negatively related to social networks. Moreover, the land use mix did not seem to be significantly associated with any social capital variables. However, the aggregated data of urban form limited our ability of the present study to provide specific policy recommendations. Nonetheless, this study would still suggest that urban planners and policy makers should be mindful to consider that urban form features might influence the development of social capital. Highlights Multilevel logistic regression confirmed that urban form can be claimed to have association with the formation of social capital in metropolitan cities in Indonesia High density seems to have reverse relationship with the level of knowing neighbour, bridging trust and make residents less involve in community activities. High connectivity contributes in fostering the level of bridging trust but lowering social networks. Meanwhile, land use mix did not appear as significant predictor of social capital


Introduction. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is still today considered a challenge from surgeons. Considerable progress in prenatal diagnosis, intensive care unit of neonates and surgical techniques, with the possibility to perform minimally access surgery, widely increased survival rates. The aim of this study is to analyze our series about long and short-term outcomes, also considering the progress made by minimally invasive techniques. Methods. The study was performed at Pediatric Surgery of Siena. It is a retrospective study that analyzed all patients with CDH (Bochdalek) treated in the last 14 years, from 2000 to 2013. Sex, side of the defect, presence of prenatal diagnosis, age of onset and symptoms, associate malformation, herniated organs, surgical technique and site of surgery, complications, recurrences, survival and followup were analyzed. Results. We included 23 patients. Five of them, were ruled out because of affected by diaphragmatic eventration or acquired diaphragmatic hernia. Forteen patients (77%) presented left CDH and 4 patients (23%) a right one. The male female ratio were 14:4. Prenatal diagnosis was performed in 5 patients (27,5%) at a mean gestational age of 29 weeks. Forteen patients (77%) had an early onset of symptoms (first day of life). Most common symptoms were respiratory distress and cyanosis; 4 patients (23%) had a late onset of symptoms, at a mean age of 9 months, and most common symptoms were failure to thrive and vomiting. Seven patients (39%) had associated malformation: common mesenterium (5 pts-71%). The colon was the most commonly herniated organ, present in 15 patients (83%), followed by small intestine in 13 patients (72%), stomach in 11 patients (61%), spleen in 9 patients (50%) and liver in 4 patients (23%). Seventeen patients (94,5%) underwent open surgery: 10 of them (59%) underwent a subcostal laparotomy approach, 7 of them (41%) underwent a supraumbelical laparotomy approach; 1 patient (5%) underwent minimally access surgery with thoracoscopy access. We performed performed surgery in the intensive care unit in 3 patients (16,5%). Six patients (33%) developed minor postoperatory complications. No patient had recurrence. Four patients died so we report a mortality rate of 23%. A follow-up investigation, with an average duration of 87 months, it is still going on in 5 patients (27,5%). Conclusions. The our survival rate was 77% and it reflects the encouraging reported data in the recent literature. These results are due to the reliability of the new resuscitation strategies, such as high-frequency oscillatory ventilation and the use of NO, the ability to perform surgery in the neonatal intensive care unit and, especially, to successfully perform minimally invasive surgery in newborn. The improvement of the survival showed the increasing of long-term morbidity end the requirement of a multidisciplinary followup. For these reasons, a multidisciplinary pathway for the management of young patients has been created, to follow them in a standardized way as early as the prenatal diagnosis.


We demonstrate the existence of multiple converging sequences in the ab initio no-core shell model. By examining the underlying theory of effective operators, we expose the physical foundations for the alternative pathways to convergence. This leads us to propose a revised strategy for evaluating effective interactions for A-body calculations in restricted model spaces. We suggest that this strategy is particularly useful for applications to nuclear processes in which states of both parities are used simultaneously, such as for transition rates. We demonstrate the utility of our strategy with large-scale calculations in light nuclei.


Economic institutions encompassing increasingly sophisticated concepts of risk-sharing and liability flourished in Europe since the High Middle Ages. These innovations occurred in an environment of fragmented local jurisdictions, not within the framework of the territorial state. In this short paper we attempt to sketch a unifying approach towards the interpretation of the emergence of these institutions. We argue that communal responsibility in medieval city states created incentives for excessive risk-taking by individual merchants, and that the emergence of firms mitigated this problem. We also find that entity shielding in the sense of Hansmann et al. (2006) arose endogenously and is not primarily the result of regulation by local authorities.


The purpose of this study was to explore experiential learning of agriculture students whilst on attachment, in their second year of training. The study sought the views of twenty-four randomly selected third year students from an agriculture college in Zimbabwe. Focus was on three key areas; organisation of attachment, quality of work experience and the process i.e. the extent to which students from agriculture college easily accessed placements for farm attachment and quality of exposure students got. The study also looked at students' perceptions of the worthiness of the exposure in terms of production technologies involved and quality of mentorship. Data were collected by means of questionnaire with open-ended questions. Responses were grouped according to key emerging themes. The study established, among others, that getting farm attachment, in Zimbabwe, is a nightmare for students, most farm providing attachment are operating at a low technological level and most students feel used as cheap labour as they are not given financial assistance.


All day, every day, Americans seek information. We research major purchases. We check news and sports. We visit government Web sites for public information and turn to friends for advice about our everyday lives. Although the Internet influences our information-seeking behavior, we gather information from many sources: family and friends, television and radio, books and magazines, experts and community leaders. Patterns of information seeking have evolved throughout American history and are shaped by a number of forces, including war, modern media, the state of the economy, and government regulation. This book examines the evolution of information seeking in nine areas of everyday American life. Chapters offer an information perspective on car buying, from the days of the Model T to the present; philanthropic and charitable activities; airline travel and the complex layers of information available to passengers; genealogy, from the family Bible to Ancestry.com; sports statistics, as well as fantasy sports leagues and their fans obsession with them; the multimedia universe of gourmet cooking; governmental and publicly available information; reading, sharing, and creating comics; and text messaging among young people as a way to exchange information and manage relationships. Taken together, these case studies provide a fascinating window on the importance of information in the past century of American life.


Interest in indirect (secondary) refrigeration systems has grown since the discovery of the negative effect of environmentally hazardous refrigerants and leakage problems from direct expansion systems. Among the positive effects of indirect systems are: decreased quantities of primary refrigerant, factory built units and confinement of refrigerant to the machine room. Ground source heat pumps, ice rink and indirect system solutions for supermarket refrigeration are examples where indirect refrigeration systems are being used in Sweden.The secondary fluids circulating in the secondary systems are of great interest as its choice can affect heat transfer process; the overall performance of system; corrosion problems and maintenance costs as well as acceptable risks for the environment in case of leakage from the secondary system. A secondary fluid should have low viscosity, high thermal conductivity, high volumetric heat capacity, low freezing point, be non-corrosive, non-explosive, non-flammable, environmentally friendly, non-toxic, give low pressure drop in the system, have good material compatibility, chemically stable and have low cost.The market for secondary fluids worldwide and in Sweden is complex and a comprehensive overview of the available secondary fluids has not been available. The purpose of this thesis is to compile most of the existing secondary fluids on the Swedish market and present them briefly in this report. Different brands of secondary fluids on the Swedish market based on ethylene and propylene glycol, ethyl alcohol, potassium formate, potassium acetate, calcium chloride and other blends are presented in the thesis. Some of the most common brands are: Eco MPG, Dowcal 200, Dowcal N, Zitrec FC, Zitrec LC, Antifrogen L, Frigogel Neo, Heliogel CS80, Brineol MPG, Glytherm 20, Zitre MC, Dowcal 100, Antifrogen N, Neutragel Neo, Brineol MEG, Glytherm 10, Antifrogen Sol HT, Freezium, Hycool, Antifrogen KF, Brine 25, Swedbrine 25, Brenntag KBS, Brineol Bioethanol, E-Therm KBS Bio, Thermol, Zitrec S, Temper, Pekasol 50, Pekasol 2000, Greenway RTU, Greenway Heat Pump -30, greenway Solar -30, Thermera R and Thermera AC.Additionally, it is important to underline that a permit for installation of ground source heat pumps in Sweden is required. Swedish laws and regulations regarding secondary fluids and ground source heat pumps are complex and difficult to overview on municipalities' levels.


This review contains updated information on benign prostatic hyperplasia, basal cell hyperplasia, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, different forms of carcinoma and rare prostatic neoplasms. The literature and the authors' clinico-morphological investigation of 687 patients are analysed. The diagnostic significance of some morphological markers (mitotic activity, the presence of crystalloids, amyloid bodies, the activity of endocrine-paracrine cells, etc) as well as the significance of PSA-test in various types of lesion are considered.


A wealth of information is available concerning the 'normal' gastrointestinal mechanisms within various species of herbivores (Alexander, 1962; Church, 1971; Quarterman, Phillips & Lampkin, 1957). In addition, the effect that dehydration has upon the physiology of digestion has also been investigated (Schmidt-Nielsen et al. 1956; Schmidt-Nielsen, 1964; Maloiy, 1972; Macfarlane et al. 1972). This communication presents preliminary observations on the effect that dehydration hasupon gastrointestinal water content, as a percentage of total gut contents, and fluid osmolality (m-osmol/kg H2O). A comparison was made under controlled laboratory conditions between six species of domestic herbivores fed identical diets and exposed to a simulated desert environment


Multicellular tumor spheroid (MTS) represents a three-dimensional structural form of tumors in laboratory conditions, and it has the characteristics of avascular micrometastases or intervascular spaces of big tumors. Recent studies indicate that extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins play a critical role in tumor metastasis, therefore normal and cancer cells require an ECM for survival, proliferation and differentiation. Doxorubicin and Docetaxel are widely used in the therapy of breast cancer, as well as in in vivo and in vitro studies. In this study, we examined the effect of apoptosis and proliferation of cells on the human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, by using p53, bcl-2 and Ki67 gene expression, and the tendency to metastasis with extracellular matrix proteins, laminin and type IV collagen after chemotherapy in the spheroid model. The apoptotic cell death in situ was detected by TUNEL method. TUNEL-positive cells and positive immunoreactivities of laminin, type IV collagen, p53 and, bcl-2 were detected in the control group. There was no laminin and type IV collagen immunoreactivities in spheroids of drug groups. While TUNEL-positive cells and p53 immunoreactivity were detected in Docetaxel, Doxorubicin and Docetaxel/Doxorubicin groups, p53 immunoreactivity was not observed in the Docetaxel group. There was no bcl-2 immunoreactivity in either drug group. In addition, we did not detect Ki67 immunoreactivity in both control and drug treatment groups. However, the absence of Ki67 protein in MCF-7 breast multicellular tumor spheroids is possibly related to the cells in G0 or S phase. These chemotherapeutic agents may affect the presence of ECM proteins in this in vitro model of micrometastasis of spheroids. These findings suggest that the possible mechanism of cell death in Doxorubicin and Docetaxel/Doxorubicin treatment groups is related to apoptosis through the p53 pathway. However, we considered the possibility that there is another control mechanism for the Docetaxel group.


Background: Aminoglycoside antibiotics are commonly used in paediatric clinical practice, especially for the treatment of neonatal sepsis and pulmonary exacerbations in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, megalin-mediated endocytosis of the aminoglycosides by renal proximal tubule epithelial cells leads to toxicity, and may result in acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. Current approaches to identify and prevent toxicity are limited. Several novel biomarkers have shown utility in preclinical studies for the identification of aminoglycoside-induced nephrotoxicity, but clinical data and an understanding of their clinical utility is lacking. The potential of statins to prevent aminoglycoside-induced nephrotoxicity by inhibition of megalin-mediated endocytosis has been previously demonstrated in vitro and in a rat model, but its potential in man is unclear.

Aims: Firstly, to investigate the utility of novel urinary biomarkers for the early identification of aminoglycoside-induced nephrotoxicity in children. Secondly, to develop a novel intervention using statins to prevent aminoglycoside-induced nephrotoxicity in children with CF.

Methods and Results: Urine samples were collected from 41 premature neonates at least once per week, and daily during courses of gentamicin. Three urinary biomarkers were measured using Luminex-based (Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1) and Neutrophil Gelatinase-associated Lipocalin (NGAL)) and colorimetric assays (N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG)). All three biomarkers were elevated during treatment with gentamicin, but when adjusted for potential confounders, only the elevation in KIM-1 remained significant (mean difference from not treated, 1.35ng/mg urinary creatinine; 95% CI 0.05-2.65).

Electrochemiluminescent assays for both KIM-1 and NGAL were validated, and were compared to Luminex-based assays by analysing samples from healthy children in the UK (n=120) and the US (n=171). 95% reference intervals for both biomarkers were derived using quantile regression.

Urine samples were collected from a cohort of children with cystic fibrosis (n=158) at outpatient clinic appointments and during exposure to tobramycin. Biomarkers were measured using the validated electrochemiluminescent assays. Elevations in both KIM-1 and NGAL (median peak fold-change was 2.28 (IQR 2.69) and 4.02 (IQR 7.29) respectively) were observed during exposure to tobramycin. In a multiple regression model, baseline KIM-1 was associated with the number of previous courses of IV aminoglycoside (p<0.0001; R2=0.11).

An in vitro model of aminoglycoside-induced nephrotoxicity was developed using a conditionally immortalized proximal tubule epithelial cell line (ciPTECs). Dose and time-dependent toxicity was demonstrated with neomycin, gentamicin, and tobramycin (from most to least potent).

In rats, the addition of rosuvastatin significantly reduced nephrotoxicity compared to gentamicin alone (p<0.01). In guinea pigs, dose-dependent inhibition of gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity was seen with rosuvastatin (at a minimum concentration of 0.94mg/kg/day, p<0.0001), but not with simvastatin. In vitro models demonstrated that neither rosuvastatin nor atorvastatin had any effect on the minimum inhibitory concentration of tobramycin for Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Conclusion: Urinary KIM-1 has shown potential as a biomarker of both acute and chronic proximal tubular injury associated with exposure to aminoglycosides in children. Inhibition of aminoglycoside-induced nephrotoxicity by statins was demonstrated in further animal models, allowing the selection of a statin and dose (rosuvastatin 10mg) which have been taken forward into a clinical trial which will test this hypothesis in children with CF, utilising urinary KIM-1 as the primary outcome measure.


Misinformation, or fake news, has exploded across social media platforms and communities over the past few years, with serious social and political implications. Many library practitioners and organizations have argued that libraries can and should play a central role in educating the public about this emerging issue. However, serious gaps exist in understanding how libraries can create effective community education about misinformation. This article maps out a research agenda that researchers and public library practitioners can use to make libraries more effective sites for combatting misinformation. This research agenda is grounded in analysis of interviews and workshop discussions of public library staff from Washington State. This analysis reveals three areas in which academic partners can support public libraries: through the design of effective programming, through the development of tools that help librarians keep up-to-date on relevant misinformation, and through interventions in the political and economic contexts that hamper the freedom of librarians to engage controversial topics. Our hope is that this article can help to spur more expansive library and information science research across these areas and become the beginning of a longer and more empirically grounded conversation about how public libraries can achieve their potential for combating misinformation.


A quantification of the determinants of arterial hypoxemia was performed in 376 cardiorespiratory measurements obtained from 180 critically ill patients. Statistical analysis showed that pulmonary venous admixture (Qsp/Qt) could explain only 48% of the Pao2variability in the sample of measurements taken (r2 = 0.48), while the effect of central venous O2 tension (P&OV0456;O2) brought the total explained PaO2 variability up to 82% (total r2 = 0.82). These findings imply that pulmonary function is not the only determinant of PaO2; the Pvo2-mediated effect of other cardiovascular and metabolic determinants must be recognized in the clinical setting.


In this study veins that constituted the portal vein were investigated in eight adult Van cats. The portal vein of the Van cat was composed of five peripheral branches which supplied the abdominal organs and two intrahepatic branches at the hepatic porta. The peripheral branches were cranial mesenteric, splenic, gastroduo- denal, right gastric and cystic veins. The cranial mesenteric vein was the largest vessel that joined to the portal vein, and was constituted by the caudal pancreaticoduodenal, ileal, ileocolic and jejunal veins. The splenic vein was formed by the left gastric, left gastroepiploic, pancreatic and short gastric veins. The gastroduodenal vein was formed by the cranial pancreaticoduodenal and right gastroepiploic veins. The right gastric vein separately joined to the portal vein. The caudal mesenteric vein joined to the portal vein either alone or by a common trunk receiving either the caudal pancreaticoduodenal vein or ileocolic vein. The caudal mesenteric vein also opened rarely into the splenic vein. Intrahepatic branches were the right branch which gave off the ramus caudatus and ramus dexter lateralis, and the left branch which gave off the ramus dexter medialis, ramus quadratus, ramus sinister lateralis and ramus sinister medialis.


Ende, S.S.W. (2015). Culturing soles on ragworms: Growth and feeding behaviour. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Despite the high market demand and intensive research efforts since the 1960s commercial culture of common sole (Solea solea L.) has been unsuccessful. Problems related to availability and price of suitable raw materials (invertebrates) and the low tolerance to crowding have hampered the development of intensive sole culture. Alternative extensive pond cultures systems are currently explored where common sole can graze on natural food. The general aim of this study was to get insight into which factors limit growth of common sole foraging on ragworms in ponds. The results did not show any nutritional effects that may hamper the growth of common sole. At non-limiting conditions, i.e. when fed chopped ragworms and when housed in sediment free tanks, common sole showed higher food intake, higher growth rates and higher nutrient utilization efficiencies than when fed mussels or a formulated diet. The results however suggest that growth in a pond with ragworms was limited by reduced foraging capabilities of common sole. To explore this hypothesis, the effect of prey size, predator size and prey density were tested. Overall, intake of buried ragworms was reduced by more than half in contrast to intake of unburied ragworms. Intake of buried ragworms was reduced regardless of ragworm size or common sole size. Increasing ragworm density only resulted in satiation intake values in smaller common sole. Our results additionally indicate that the presence of common sole hampers ragworm performance in a pond. Ragworms reduced their feeding activities when receiving water from tanks which contained common sole and ragworms, i.e. when common sole could graze on ragworms. Results from this PhD study suggest that the growth of common sole in ponds is not limited by nutritional but by their foraging abilities. However, the results of this study are too incomplete to fully predict growth performance of common sole in a pond. Factors such as temperature, oxygen supply or feeding activity need to be investigated to make comprehensive growth predictions.


Modification is one of the most important and effective methods to improve the photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) performance of ZnO. In this paper, the RuxZn1-xO/Ti electrodes were prepared by thermal decomposition method and the effect of Ru content on those electrodes' electronic structure was analyzed through the first-principles calculation. Various tests were also performed to observe the microstructures and PEC performance. The results showed that as the Ru4+ transferred into ZnO lattice and replaced a number of Zn2+, the conduction band of ZnO moved downward and the valence band went upward. The number of photogenerated electron-hole pairs increased as the impurity levels appeared in the band gap. In addition, ZnO nanorods exhibited a smaller grain size and a rougher surface under the effect of Ru. Meanwhile, the RuO2 nanoparticles on the surface of ZnO nanorods acted as the electron-transfer channel, helping electrons transfer to the counter electrode and delaying the recombination of the electron-hole pairs. Specifically, the RuxZn1-xO/Ti electrodes with 9.375mol% Ru exhibited the best PEC performance with a rhodamine B (RhB) removal rate of 97%, much higher than the combination of simple electrocatalysis (EC 12%) and photocatalysis (PC 50%), confirming the synergy of photoelectrocatalysis.


A stochastic model is developed for the dynamic behavior of proteins containing relatively rigid structural components. The paper considers the fluctuations of a gap between the rigid components and the dynamics of substrate--gap interactions associated with the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex. Electron-conformation interactions in the physical situation being considered are described by a model involving multiple diffusion movements within the configurational space having an absorption area. It has been shown that the limiting stage of catalysis (tau approximately 10(-2)-10(-4) s) is a specific structural configuration of the active center groups and substrate, formed during conformational motions, through which effective multi-center chemical interactions are made possible.


Presents a case study of the design of a computationally intensive system to do adaptive nulling of interfering signals for a phased-array radar with many antenna elements. The goal of the design was to increase the computational horsepower available for this problem by about three orders of magnitude under the tight constraints of size, weight and power which are typical of an orbiting satellite. By combining the CORDIC rotation algorithm, systolic array concepts, Givens transformations, and restructurable VLSI, we built a system as small as a package of cigarettes, but capable of the equivalent of almost three billion operations per second. Our work was motivated by the severe limitations of size, weight and power which apply to computation aboard a spacecraft, although the same factors impose costs which are worth reducing in other circumstances. For an array of N antennas, the cost of the adaptive nulling computation grows as N/sup 3/, so simply using more resources when N is large is not practical. The architecture developed, called MUSE (matrix update systolic experiment) determines the nulling weights for N=64 antenna elements in a sidelobe cancelling configuration. After explaining the antenna nulling system, we discuss another DSP computation that might benefit from similar architecture, technology, or algorithms: the solution of Toeplitz linear equations.


While the governmentality of the French State relies on categorizing its inhabitants, they are not passive towards the institutions. This paper presents an ethnographic account of Maroon women's encounters with the bureaucracy of the French state in Saint Laurent du Maroni, French Guiana. My fieldwork was not conducted alongside officers, but with women looking for social housing in Saint-Laurent, ethnically defined as bushinenge. They see the French State as invested with a postcolonial whiteness called "bakaa", even if its agents are from diverse origins. The institutional socialization of these women articulates claims to the right to public housing with the idea that the State "gives" these houses. In return, they have to "walk", i.e. physically go for active and repeated administrative procedures. "Walking" for a house questions stereotypes about Maroon women's passivity based on race, class and gender domination. During their personal interactions with officers, these women both follow bakaa bureaucratic injunctions, and subvert some of the institutional codes. They negotiate bureaucratic arrangements, far removed from the bureaucratic ideals.


The residual stresses in an epoxy film coated on Si wafer induced during polymerization at room temperature are investigated. The curvature measurement method and the boundary element method (BEM) are employed to investigate the residual stresses. An epoxy film is coated on a relatively thick Si wafer. The normal stress across thickness of the epoxy film is estimated from wafer curvature measurements to be 15- 20MPa . The boundary element method is employed to investigate the whole stresses in the film. The numerical result for the normal stress across thickness of the film, σ xx , shows good agreement with the experimental result obtained by using the curvature measurement method. The singular stress is observed near the interface corner. Such residual stresses are large enough to initiate interface delamination to relieve the residual stresses.


The Polynesian people of New Zealand are particularly vulnerable to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and related comorbidities, including obesity and cardiovascular disease. T2DM could potentially be managed and abated with appropriate and targeted exercise prescriptions; however, the uptake of such interventions by this cohort remains low. The purpose of this article is to present a rationale for the investigation of targeted exercise prescriptions for the management and potential remission of T2DM in Polynesian people. The diabetes epidemic will be contextualized by contrasting historical observations of health and physical fitness with current trends and statistics related to significant T2DM risk factors (ie, obesity and inactivity). Longitudinal trials that have prescribed lifestyle-related and exercise interventions in this cohort will be critically reviewed, and novel research avenues will be proposed. Studies are currently required to investigate many critically important hypotheses in this cohort. The outcomes of such studies may facilitate the investigation of exercise prescriptions in other indigenous populations, including indigenous Australians, Americans and Africans, who also suffer a severe burden of T2DM.


Native plants are increasingly used for re-vegetation and restoration. These plants are cultivated for several generations at plant nurseries and often they are of unknown provenance. Therefore, cultivated plants often diUer from their wild progenitors in life-history traits. Using germination behavior as example, we tested the assumption that cultivated plants have diUerent life-history traits than their uncultivated progenitors. Cultivated as well as wild individuals of Plantago lanceolata and Lotus corniculatus, two species frequently used in re-vegetation, were tested in a common garden experiment as well as in incubators for their germination behavior. We observed signiVcantly faster and more abundant germination in cultivated varieties. Using artiVcial crossings we found that also hybrids of cultivated varieties and wild relatives germinate faster and more abundant than the wilds. As wild plants acquire their life-history traits by natural selection, we have to assume that they represent the optimal adaptation to the environmental conditions. If these traits are changed by cultivation or by hybridization between cultivated varieties and local populations, the long-term survival probabilities of local populations may be altered. Therefore, the use of cultivated varieties of native plants should be avoided in re-vegetation.


Groundwater recharge estimation is essential for sustainable water management and water supply schemes. In this paper, we review groundwater recharge estimation techniques and identify the appropriate methods by considering India's hydrological and climatic conditions. Significant components of recharge, factors affecting groundwater recharge, aquifer systems of India, and historical groundwater recharge estimation practices are reviewed. Currently used recharge estimation methods are assessed based on case studies. The most popular estimation methods are studied and compared based on their application in various regions. It is observed that the accuracy of the recharge estimates is largely influenced by false assumptions, the possibility of erroneous measurements, a potential lack of reliable data, and a variety of problems associated with parameter estimation. The suitability of different methods for a region is found to depend on time and space considerations, the objective of the study, hydrogeological condition, and availability of data. In Indian conditions, it is suggested to use water table fluctuation and water balance methods for the recharge estimation, provided that accurate water level measurements are assured.


the goals of this research were to identify land usage trend modifications during 1999-2010 and the direction of these changes. The main methodology of this research was a comparative study of area and main city land usage percentage during the last decade, and to evaluate the amount of usage achievement suggested in the Hadi plan at present. The result of the evaluation and comparison of the main city land usage during 1999 (the vision of the suggested ten year Hadi plan) to 2010 (current situation) indicates that during the past ten years the construction volume increased in such a way that in 1999 there was only 187.43 hectares of residential area; however, in 2010 the residential area usage was modified to 994.26 hectares. So, in the last ten years 806.83 hectares was added to residential areas, which is an average increase of 80 hectares of residential area annually, while the average population growth during this decade was 4.89%. Also, the most land usage allocation was leisure with 49.76%, which indicates that the strategy of those who prepared the Hadi Plan for Shandiz was towards tourism. Due to unbefitting usage of existing land and severe usage modifications in recent years and the destruction of orchards and agricultural lands, which was 25.61% and 72% respectively in 2010, there are now problems in balanced and sustainable development and negative effects on the quality of life in the city.


Background Sex differences in personality are believed to be comparatively small. However, research in this area has suffered from significant methodological limitations. We advance a set of guidelines for overcoming those limitations: (a) measure personality with a higher resolution than that afforded by the Big Five; (b) estimate sex differences on latent factors; and (c) assess global sex differences with multivariate effect sizes. We then apply these guidelines to a large, representative adult sample, and obtain what is presently the best estimate of global sex differences in personality. Methodology/Principal Findings Personality measures were obtained from a large US sample (N = 10,261) with the 16PF Questionnaire. Multigroup latent variable modeling was used to estimate sex differences on individual personality dimensions, which were then aggregated to yield a multivariate effect size (Mahalanobis D). We found a global effect size D = 2.71, corresponding to an overlap of only 10% between the male and female distributions. Even excluding the factor showing the largest univariate ES, the global effect size was D = 1.71 (24% overlap). These are extremely large differences by psychological standards. Significance The idea that there are only minor differences between the personality profiles of males and females should be rejected as based on inadequate methodology.


This paper deals with two main issues regarding the specific energy consumption in an electrolyzer (i.e., the Faraday efficiency and the converter topology). The first aspect is addressed using a multistack configuration of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers supplied by a wind turbine conversion system (WTCS). This approach is based on the modeling of the wind turbine and the electrolyzers. The WTCS and the electrolyzers are interfaced through a stacked interleaved DC–DC buck converter (SIBC), due to its benefits for this application in terms of the output current ripple and reliability. This converter is controlled so that it can offer dynamic behavior that is faster than the wind turbine, avoiding overvoltage during transients, which could damage the PEM electrolyzers. The SIBC is designed to be connected in array configuration (i.e., parallel architecture), so that each converter operates at its maximum efficiency. To assess the performance of the power management strategy, experimental tests were carried out. The reported results demonstrate the correct behavior of the system during transient operation.


In Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is the regulatory agency responsible for monitoring water quality and reporting back to the Scottish and UK governments and the European community. In order to improve water quality in surface waters such as rivers and lochs, the European Parliament has established directives over the past twenty years outlining targets for nutrient levels and water quality status. Moxley (2010), states that the concentration of organic carbon in many Scottish rivers, has approximately doubled over the last twenty years, with soils being the most likely source. According to Moxley (2010), the rate of total organic carbon (TOC) increase, averaged across all sites with increasing concentrations, was 0.12 milligrams per litre per year (mg/l/y). This is an increase in TOC concentration of nearly 2.5 mg/l over a twenty year period. Consequently, the behaviour of organic carbon in Scottish rivers and lochs has become of interest and is the focus of analysis within this thesis.
 Chapter 1 introduces organic carbon, providing an insight into observed trends in the United Kingdom, but also, other parts of the world. Furthermore, Chapter 1 discusses environmental and physical factors which are thought to be associated with changing levels in organic carbon. Moreover, Chapter 1 provides a description of the data and sampling techniques which have been used. The exploratory analysis in Chapter 2 reveals that the log TOC levels in rivers and lochs have been increasing up until the early 2000's, and that the log TOC follows a seasonal pattern. Furthermore, the exploratory analysis reveals the high level of association between total organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon. The exploratory analysis also highlighted issues with the covariates; therefore Chapter 2 explores suitable methods of dealing with values at the limit of detection, as well as appropriately imputing missing values.

 Chapter 3 explores log TOC at a selection of river and loch sites, and the relationship between log TOC and covariates at each site in detail. In addition, Chapter 3 explores the use of different regression techniques (e.g. linear and additive modelling) in order to appropriately capture the behaviour of log TOC at each site. Chapter 4 progresses from investigating and modelling individual sites, to exploring sites which are connected in some manner. Chapter 4 considers the behaviour of log TOC in sites which are part of the River Dee network, where the distance between each site and how the river flows between each of the sites had to be taken into consideration. Chapter 4 investigates the behaviour of log TOC across the river network over time and space visually; but, also explores appropriate modelling techniques which suitably capture the behaviour of log TOC over time and space, taking into consideration suitable covariates to plausibly explain the observed trends.

 Chapter 5 addresses the main theme of the thesis: coherency is defined and explored there. A literature review was conducted to consider possible methods of measuring coherency. The seasonal Mann-Kendall test was found to be an appropriate method of measuring the heterogeneity of a group of sites; and dynamic factor analysis was found to be an effective technique of identifying common trends in a group of sites; hence, these methods were applied in Chapter 5 to measure the level of coherency between sites in the River Dee network, but also, sites located in the same Scottish region. Progressing from the analysis carried out in Chapter 5, Chapter 6 aims to appropriately model the levels of log TOC in Scottish regions, taking into account time and space, but also, possible covariates thought to be driving such trends. Finally, Chapter 7 provides a summary of the findings, and discusses limitations of the study and possible areas of future research.


This thesis presents the problem surrounding green marketing, which involves the lack of knowledge of green consumption by the consumer, and the threats of green washing from companies who present green marketing without achieving the green marketing criteria. An implementation of the green marketing theories in the cases of Patagonia and Klattermusen: green marketing five "I's" and the green marketing three "C's" was done in order to understand if the two companies fit the green marketing profile. This thesis aims to contribute to gain deeper knowledge from the outdoor consumer perspective on green marketing campaigns, and answer the question to how effective these campaigns are to the outdoor consumer, through a qualitative research.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol), one of the most commonly used intravenous anaesthetic agents during cancer resection surgery, has been reported to have the ability of influencing the invasion of human cancer cells. However, the mechanisms are not very clear. In this study, we investigated the effects of propofol on the proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis of human Eca-109 cells, and explored the mechanism.

METHODS
The human Eca-109 cells was treated with propofol at the concentrations of 10-100 µmol/L for 72 hours or at the concentration of 100 µmol for 8-72 hours. Cell viability was determined by the MTT assay; the effect of propofol on apoptosis by 5'-triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. The effect of propofol on angiogenesis was determined by the chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) angiogenesis assay. The effect of propofol on cell invasion using a modified Matrigel Boyden chamber assay. ERK1/2, MMP-9 and VEGF leves was detected by western blotting assay.

RESULTS
In human Eca-109 cells, propofol significantly promoted cell apoptosis and inhibited proliferation in a dose and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, propofol inhibited dose and time-dependent invasion and angiogenesis. Propofol significantly dose and time-dependently down-regulated gene expression and protein production of ERK/pERK, VEGF and MMP-9. The functional effects and MMP-9/VEGF inhibition were shown to be dependent on the ERK/VEGF and ERK/MMP-9 signaling pathways. It was noteworthy that the ERK activator (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate [PMA]) treatment increased the MMP-9/VEGF levels after propofol treatment, and led to significant increase of proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that propofol inhibited proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis of human Eca-109 cells in vitro through modulation of ERK-VEGF /MMP-9 signaling. Propofol not only can be an anesthesia agent which reduces pain but plays an important role of inhibiting the migration and angiogenesis of ESCC cells in the therapy of ESCC patients.


The BJO has prospered for the past seven years because of the editorial leadership of Professor John Forrester. He brought intellectual vigour and honesty as well as creativity to this task. The journal is now both a highly regarded scientific publication as well as a thought provoking and interesting journal to peruse. During the tenure of John Forrester the BJO's impact factor has increased, the quality of its scientific papers was outstanding, and the appearance and readability of the journal were first class. Regrettably, we must now thank Professor Forrester for his service and wish him all the best in his new endeavours as he steps down from the position of editor. I am proud to have been appointed John Forrester's successor although I realise it will be diYcult to match his successes. I have no intentions of reinventing the wheel and will build on the already strong model left by him. I am also pleased to say that there will be continuity in the editorial board that assists me in this task. I am particularly pleased to announce that Professor Andrew Dick, who will shortly assume his responsibilities in Bristol, has agreed to remain as the editor for the United Kingdom. His expertise and intellectual standards will be a great attribute in our task of trying to make the BJO even better. I am also pleased to say that most of the editorial board have agreed to remain. Although there may be a few new members added to the board, its essential structure will remain as it has been in the past with the majority of its members being from the United Kingdom but with a worldwide contribution from other members. No successful journal can aVord to not move forward and bring new formats to its structure. This is particularly true in this age of electronic publishing that is just beginning to make an impact in the world of scientific journals. Most of you are already aware of the fact that the BJO has already established an active and attractive website. We will be putting much of our energy and creativity into expanding this website and hopefully making it one of the leaders among clinical journals. To this end I have appointed Robert Bhisitkul, MD, PhD, a colleague of mine at the University of California, San Francisco, as the website editor. He brings unique talents to this task. He has a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University as well as retinal training at Harvard Medical School. We hope to expand the website, bring new quality material to it, and ultimately have it stand on its own as a unique and distinct resource separate from the published hard copy of the BJO. In the next few months we hope to bring video tapes of surgical procedures and complications to the website. In addition, we will establish a quick response feature which will allow readers to comment on either the content of the published journal and/or the website. Although we believe it essential to expand and enrich the quality of the website, we do not plan to ignore the published hard copy of the BJO. We are currently redesigning the cover of the journal and in the next few months we'll add a new feature to the journal entitled "Point-counterpoint," a format in which experts can debate some of the controversial aspects and therapies of our subspecialty. Undoubtedly, the journal will evolve and change in ways that are not yet apparent. We can only hope to use as our model during this evolutionary period that of Professor John Forrester. We hope that each new feature of the journal will have the same high scientific content that was established under John's leadership. While we wish to make the journal interesting and provocative, we in no way want to compromise the high intellectual standing established by him. All the members of the editorial board and I wish to thank John Forrester for the opportunity to work with him during his tenure as editor. It was a pleasure and an honour to do so. We are all committed to publishing a journal every bit as good as the one published under his leadership.


Six hours of mild surface cooling in moving air at 24 degrees C with little fall in core temperature (0.4 degree C) increased the packed cell volume by 7% and increased the platelet count and usually the mean platelet volume to produce a 15% increase in the fraction of plasma volume occupied by platelets. Little of these increases occurred in the first hour. Whole blood viscosity increased by 21%; plasma viscosity usually increased, and arterial pressure rose on average from 126/69 to 138/87 mm Hg. Plasma cholesterol concentration increased, in both high and low density lipoprotein fractions, but values of total lipoprotein and lipoprotein fractions were unchanged. The increases in platelets, red cells, and viscosity associated with normal thermoregulatory adjustments to mild surface cooling provide a probable explanation for rapid increases in coronary and cerebral thrombosis in cold weather. The raised arterial pressure and possibly cholesterol concentration may contribute to slower components of the increased thrombosis.


The present study tested a hypothesis, whether plant-derived genistein influences the secretion of growth hormone (GH) in ewes, acting directly within the central nervous system (CNS). Starting six weeks after ovariectomy, ewes were infused intracerebroventricularly with genistein (n = 5) or 17beta-estradiol (n = 5), both in a total dose of 40 microg/400 microl/4 h, or with a vehicle (control, n = 5). All infusions were performed from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and blood samples were collected from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM at 10-min intervals. Five genistein- and three vehicle-infused ewes were slaughtered the following morning. The plasma GH concentration was assayed by the radioimmunoassay method, and immunoreactivity of GH in the adenohypophysis was determined by immunohistochemistry. In genistein-infused ewes, mean plasma GH concentration was significantly higher during the whole period of infusion than the concomitant concentration in vehicle-infused ewes. However, examining data within group, GH secretion rose gradually, reaching a significant value during the second phase of genistein infusion. In 17beta-estradiol-infused animals, a significant increase in GH concentration was noted during the first two hours of the infusion, in comparison with vehicle-infused and also in comparison with genistein-infused ewes. Although a gradual increase in basic GH secretion continued in all treated groups during the afternoon and evening, mean plasma GH concentrations in genistein- and 17beta-estradiol-infused ewes were still significantly higher than in the vehicle-infused. The percentage of GH-positive cells in the adenohypophysis and the density of immunoreactive material in these cells decreased significantly in genistein-infused ewes, compared to the control, indicating diminished hormone storage. In conclusion, genistein as 17beta-estradiol, is an effective stimulator of GH secretion in ewes and may exert its effect at the level of the CNS.


In this paper, we study the multicast completion and decoding delay minimization problems for instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) in the case of lossy feedback. When feedback loss events occur, the sender falls into uncertainties about packet reception at the different receivers, which forces it to perform partially blind selections of packet combinations in subsequent transmissions. To determine efficient selection policies that reduce the completion and decoding delays of IDNC in such an environment, we first extend the perfect feedback formulation in our previous works to the lossy feedback environment, by incorporating the uncertainties resulting from unheard feedback events in these formulations. For the completion delay problem, we use this formulation to identify the maximum likelihood state of the network in events of unheard feedback and employ it to design a partially blind graph update extension to the multicast IDNC algorithm in our earlier work. For the decoding delay problem, we derive an expression for the expected decoding delay increment for any arbitrary transmission. This expression is then used to find the optimal policy that reduces the decoding delay in such lossy feedback environment. Results show that our proposed solutions both outperform previously proposed approaches and achieve tolerable degradation even at relatively high feedback loss rates.


Rail curve Lubrication is widely used to enhance below rail and above rail assets life, reduce rail/wheel maintenance and replacement costs. There are various types of applicators and greases used by rail industries. This includes mechanical, hydraulic, electrical actuators/ pumps, short and long bars and various types of grease. There is wide variation of performance of the wear levels for rails and wheels across the industry for similar operational, track and rolling stock characteristics. There is a need for best practice in rail curve lubrication. To establish lubrication best practice extensive field and lab tests of lubricators and greases are essential. Evaluation of latest technology equipment, their placement, optimal settings of grease application rate, reduced wastage, and quality are essential to achieve this. The research on Australian heavy haul lines in this area has been limited. This paper considers the effectiveness of the lubrication equipments, the length of lubricator bars, the bar location of lubricators in tangent track and the spirals of curved track and the different types of grease along with effectiveness of remote performance monitoring in heavy haul lines.


We report the case of a 30-day-old infant presenting a E. coli meningitis with recurrence 5 days after stopping antibiotics. The clinical investigations concluded to the diagnosis of osteomyelitis of the parietal bone probably as a consequence of the infection of a cephalohematoma due to a wound caused by a foetal monitoring. Cephalohematoma is frequent in infant and is usually without consequences. Though rare, cases of infected cephalohematomas are described in the literature, with possible complications of meningitis (E. coli) and osteomyelitis. Sometimes the both pathologies are associated. A secondary infection of cephalohematomas must be taken in consideration when the etiology of a E. coli meningitis is not quite clear enough. In this situation, looking for an osteomyelitis whose presence may influence the infant's treatment is needed.


Now-a-days we all have been so unsatisfied with a social service provider like MSEB OR Water supply company that we felt the need to register our grievances with the offending company. Most of the time complaints go unheard, unanswered and unresolved usually because the company is too large to have to worry about one little complaint from one single customer. And this application is here to help. We are aiming to create a mobile application which deals with social complaints and their recovery. This app will be providing the facility of lodging complaints on a mobile phone and track that complaint till its resolved. The various types of complaints could be road repairing, cleaning, emergency services (E.g. Fire, Ambulance)etc. Our idea is to create a mobile application which can help you out with registering the complaints online without the need to have a laptop or desktop with you. Just one click and you can lodge a complaint anywhere, anytime. Our objective of creating this app is to make complaints easier to co-ordinate, monitor and resolve.


Several methods for the estimation of potential evapotranspiration are reported in the literature covering a wide variation in the complexity of calculation and nature of climatic data required. Five of the more commonly used methods (Blaney-Criddle, Thomthwaite, Pan Evaporation, Radiation and Penman) are used to estimate mean monthly potential evapotranspiration values using data from three agro-hydro meteorological stations sited in the north, central and south-western areas of Qatar. The results are compared and analyzed. Effect of micro-climatic conditions that varies between desert and oasis type environments was found pronounced.


There were a large of the flowing through parts such as valve and slurry pump in production line of aluminum oxide. Because they were grinded and corroded by the strong alkalinity thick liquid of bauxite particles, their life was extremely shorten. So, the ZrO2/Ni60 composite coatings were manufactured by laser cladding. According to distribution state of particle phase, a set of optimum technological parameters recommended was 10.45g/min(powder feeding rate), 2.4mm/s(laser beam scan velocity), 2kW(laser power) and 60mm(defocusing amount), 5% ZrO2 (weight ratio). The M-200 abrasive tester was used to investigate the tribological behavior of the coating in strong alkaline solution (40%NaOH). As results showed, the friction and wear mechanisms of the coatings would be changed with test work condition, and the generating or dissolving of the protective passivity films on the surface of the friction pair was a dynamic state process, even as rotational speed was the high-velocity and load was the mediate load, existence could take effect in anti-wear of reinforced coating.


ARCADE is a project aimed to develop an integrated software platform for authoring and delivery of Internet-based distance courses covering the university needs. Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Unified Software Development Process were applied as a basis for the project development. The Assessments and Assignments package provides computer supported instructional feedback (tests, projects, essays, problems). The IMS Question and Test Interoperabitity specification (QTI) defines the basic structures (Assessment, Section, Item - ASI) for the Assessments module development. This module includes three main subsystems - ASI Structures Management, Tests Management, and Test Performance.


The current approach to driving automation has been primarily vehicle-centric. However, a vehicle-infrastructure cooperative approach, in which infrastructure and vehicles cooperate to perform the different driving tasks, may prevail in enabling automated driving. This paper conducts an economic analysis of vehicle infrastructure cooperation for automated driving. In doing so, we present a model that captures investment decisions in vehicle automation and infrastructure digitalization and their effect on travellers' purchase and travel decisions. Our analysis shows that, under certain conditions, equipping both infrastructure and vehicles is socially optimal. However, by analyzing strategic interactions between infrastructure support service providers and automakers, we show that lack of coordination between these two actors results in suboptimal investment in vehicle automation and infrastructure digitalization. Especially, when these two technologies are complementary, service providers are reluctant to invest in digital infrastructure and vehicle manufacturers tend to over equip their vehicles so as to avoid relying on infrastructure technology. Thus, we conclude by showing that better coordination between automakers and service providers–under the form of profit sharing–is welfare improving and could potentially yield the socially optimal levels of automation and digitalization.


The most recent advances concerning the phylogeny and evolution of calcareous sponges (Calcarea or Calcispongia) are reviewed here, in the light of the history of taxonomy of the group and conceptions about its evolution, starting from Haeckel's works at the end of the 19th century. Calcisponge phylogeny has recently started to be addressed using modern tools of phylogenetic reconstruction: cladistic analysis of morphological characters and molecular phylogeny (so far using 18S and 28S rDNA sequences). The monophyly of calcareous sponges is strongly supported in these works, as is their subdivision into two clades, Calcinea (whose proposed synapomorphy is the basal position of nuclei in choanocytes, with no relation to the flagella) and Calcaronea (whose possible synapomorphy is the formation of the amphiblastula larva through the original process of eversion of the stomoblastula). While the molecular phylogeny of Calcinea is still in its infancy because of insufficient taxonomic sampling, several lines a...


Microstructural variation is quantitatively characterized by measured undercooling. For neareutectic Al-13wt%Si alloys, microstructure transitions, which include a phase change from eutectic to primary α-Al dendrite plus eutectic and a morphological change from α-Al dendrite to equiaxed Al grains, were observed with increasing undercooling levels. For hypereutectic Al-Si alloys, microstructure transitions, which include a morphological change of primary and eutectic Si crystals, were also obtained quantitatively by increasing undercooling.


Pathogens are detected by innate immune receptors that, upon activation, orchestrate an appropriate immune response. Recent studies revealed the intracellular signaling cascades involved in the TLR-initiated immune response to Brucella abortus infection. However, no report has elucidated the role of inflammasome receptors in Brucella recognition. Therefore, we decided to investigate the function of NLRC4, NLRP3, and AIM2 in sensing Brucella. In this study, we showed that NLRC4 is not required to induce caspase-1 activation and further secretion of IL-1β by B. abortus in macrophages. In contrast, we determined that AIM2, which senses Brucella DNA, and NLRP3 are partially required for caspase-1 activation and IL-1β secretion. Additionally, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species induced by Brucella were implicated in IL-1β production. Furthermore, AIM2, NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1 knockout mice were more susceptible to B. abortus infection than were wild-type animals, suggesting that multiple ASC-dependent inflammasomes contribute to host protection against infection. This protective effect is due to the inflammatory response caused by IL-1β and IL-18 rather than pyroptosis, because we observed augmented bacterial burden in IL-1R and IL-18 knockout mice. Finally, we determined that bacterial type IV secretion system VirB and live, but not heat-killed, Brucella are required for full inflammasome activation in macrophages during infection. Taken together, our results indicate that Brucella is sensed by ASC inflammasomes that collectively orchestrate a robust caspase-1 activation and proinflammatory response.


The collective sale of football broadcasting rights constitutes a cartel, which, in the European Union, is only allowed if it complies with a number of conditions and obligations, inter alia, partial unbundling and the no-single-buyer rule. These regulations were defined with traditional TV-markets in mind. However, the landscape of audiovisual broadcasting is quickly changing with online streaming services gaining popularity and relevance. This also alters the effects of the conditions and obligations for the centralized marketing arrangements. Partial unbundling may lead to increasing instead of decreasing prices for consumers. Moreover, the combination of partial unbundling and the no-single-buyer rule forces consumers into multiple subscriptions to several streaming services, which increases transaction costs. Consequently, competition authorities need to rethink the conditions and obligations they impose on centralized marketing arrangements in football. We recommend restricting the exclusivity of (live-)broadcasting rights and mandate third-party access to program guide information to redesign the remedies.


Available online at: http://www.iiees.ac.ir/jsee In this paper it will be investigated that whether it is possible to find some regions in which earthquakes occur as well-behaved random processes (instead of chaotic processes). If so, it will be possible to use analysis methods of random processes in earthquake forecasting. There are two main approaches for earthquake prediction; first, precursory methods based on relationship between abnormal behavior of some geophysical quantity (such as gravitational field, crust conductivity,…) and earthquake occurrence. Second, forecasting methods based on the statistical analysis of earthquakes themselves, which is dealt with in this paper. Each probability distribution function (pdf) in statistics has its own coefficient of variations (CV) which due to it we can have a sense of dispersion and variance level of quantity which obeys that specific pdf and also its future variances. In the case of earthquake occurrence also it is possible to calculate the CV of inter-occurrence times of sequential earthquakes in a specified region and specified time interval, in order to find appropriate subregions in which random processes analysis tools can be used for forecasting future seismic behaviors. Here this idea has been applied to Iran.


This article reports on the results of a study aiming to investigate whether the comic strips can help students to enhance their writing skill in English. This study was conducted at the tenth class of SMA Negeri I Tapa 2014/2015 in academic years with 25 students as the participants. The text in focus was narrative. The study used an action research by using Kemmis and Taggart" s design that consists of four steps, namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The data were collected from observation and written test. The data of observation were obtained the teacher and students" activities in teaching learning writing. Whereas, the data of written test were obtained from the students" writing task in every cycle. Some aspects used to analyze the students writing ability, namely content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics ones. The results indicates that despite some aspects that still need improvement, the use of comic strips can enhance students writing skill in narrative text. The portraits of students" progress in writing English narrative text of some cycles show that in the first cycle, only four of twenty five students (16%) who can write narrative texts as the successful indicator 80%. In the second cycle, ten students (40%) were success, then in the third cycle, twenty two students (88%) could reach the value 80 or more as the criteria of successful. Observation data shows that the students were motivated to write English narrative text by using comic strips both in group and individual works. Whereas, the commitment of English teacher as a model and colleagues to reflect and to renovate the teaching and learning process was running well on each cycle. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that comic strips be implemented in other genres, notably recount text or other language skills, and other countries.


Actual and perceived gender norms are key to understanding gender inequality in society. In this paper, using newly collected nationally representative datasets from 60 countries that cover over 80% of the world population, we study gender norms on two distinct policy issues: 1) basic rights, allowing women to work outside of the home, and 2) affirmative action, prioritizing women when hiring for leadership positions. We establish that misperceptions of gender norms are pervasive across the world. The nature of the misperception, however, is context-dependent. In less genderequal countries, people underestimate support for both policies, particularly support among men; in more gender-equal countries, people overestimate support for affirmative action, particularly support among women, and underestimate support for basic rights. We provide evidence of gender stereotyping and overweighting of the minority view as potential drivers of the global patterns of misperceptions. Together, our findings indicate how misperceptions of gender norms may obstruct progress toward gender equality, but also may contribute to sustaining gender policies that are not necessarily favored by women themselves.


The development of an innovative functional assessment procedure based on the combination of electroencephalography (EEG) and robot-assisted upper limb devices may provide new insights into the dynamics of cortical reorganization promoted by rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD) in alpha and beta bands in a patient with pure sensory stroke who underwent a specific rehabilitation program for somatic sensation recovery. A 49-year-old, right-handed woman (time since stroke, 12 months) with severe upper limb somatic sensation deficits was tested using validated clinical scales and a standardized video-EEG system combined with the Bi-Manu-Track robot-assisted arm trainer protocol. The patient underwent a 3-month home-based rehabilitation program for promoting upper limb recovery (1 hour a day for 5 days a week). She was tested before treatment, at 1-month, and at 3-month during treatment. Results showed progressive recovery of upper limb function over time. These effects were associated with specific changes in the modulation of alpha and beta event-related synchronization/desynchronization. This unique study provides new perspectives for the assessment of functional deficits and changes in cortical activity promoted by rehabilitation in poststroke patients.


Product markets are weaker in some nations than they are in others. Weaker product markets have more monopolies and more monopoly profits, both of which affect politics and corporate governance structures. They affect corporate governance structures directly by increasing managerial agency costs to shareholders, which shareholders then seek to reduce. One would expect corporate governance structures, laws, and practices to differ in nations with monopoly-induced high agency costs from those prevailing in nations with more competition, fewer monopolies, and lower agency costs. The monopoly profits also affect corporate governance structures indirectly by setting up a fertile field for conflict inside the firm as the corporate players - shareholders, managers, and employees - seek to grab those monopoly profits for themselves. And we might speculate that these rents when large enough affect democratic politics and law-making: directly by making monopolists political targets (and political forces); and indirectly as the players inside the firm seek to capture those monopoly profits through political action, with political parties and ideologies (and, in time, laws and standards) that parallel the players' places inside the firm. Data from the industrial organization, finance economics, and political science literature is consistent.


Gain-difference spectra are used to show that 980-nm band pump wavelength changes can significantly effect spectral-hole burning (SHB) in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Gain measurements made using a number of different signal and pump wavelengths help to characterize the underlying inhomogeneous spectral properties of EDFAs and a framework for modeling these effects is presented. Despite the difficulty of obtaining the needed subpopulation specific cross section spectra, this model can be used to explain seemingly anomalous changes in the gain spectra of EDFA as a result of changes in signal or pump wavelength.


In this study a comprehensive quantitative analysis of the geographical and stratigraphical distribution of the faunas in the lower part of the Bringewoodian Stage (Ludlovian) in Wales and the Welsh Borderland was undertaken. Information and material was collected from 34 sections from 17 localities; over 1000 m of strata were examined and sampled using a bed-by-bed sampling technique to ensure that, as far as possible, a complete and representative picture of the faunal distribution was obtained. Over 91,000 fossil individuals were collected and identified.
For each sample, relative abundance (% of each taxon), faunal diversity and faunal density calculations were made. This data together with lithological information for all the examined sections are presented in a series of charts and tables. The accumulated data show that the shelf fauna of the lower Bringewoodian is not as homogeneous as previous less-detailed studies have suggested. The lower Bringewoodian of the 'basin' and Llandovery-Landeilo areas was sampled for the first time in a palaeoecological investigation.
Sedimentological studies were undertaken to establish the various environments represented by the strata examined during this study. The following environments are recognised in the lower Bringewoodian of the area examined: a) proximal (in the south-east inliers) to distal (around the shelf edge) shelf environments, with a decrease in the thickness and frequency of storm deposits in the quieter water, more offshore regions b) basinal environments either with uncirculated bottom waters of low oxygen content or with bottom currents and consequently more oxygenated waters; interbedded slumps and turbidites also occur c) outer delta platform, interdistributary bay and tidally influenced distributary channel environments in the Llandovery-Llandeilo region. The hypothesis of continuous regression during the Ludlovian is rejected from the evidence of published sedimentological work and supporting observations presented herein.
The literature on the functional morphology of each individual lower Bringewoodian taxon is critically reviewed and on this, and the evidence from this study conclusions formulated regarding their autecology. By recognising and separating transported assemblages (e.g. storm deposits, slumps or turbidite faunas) from those that show little or no signs of transportation the 'original faunal distribution' is more accurately established.
It proves possible to explain the absence, occurrence and abundance of a species by its degree of adaptation to the combined physical environmental parameters operating in each environment. These factors probably included variations in turbulence, wave buffeting, sediment reworking, sedimentation rate, substrate type, temperature fluctuations, degree of exposure and oxygenation of bottom waters with combinations of these factors operating in the various environments recognised herein. The distribution of the 9 lower Bringewoodian faunal assemblages recognised here can be similarly explained by variations in physical environmental factors. Changes in the physical environment produced changes in fauna whereby as conditions became limiting for individual species they were excluded or became rare, whilst other species better adapted for the new environment established themselves and proliferated. Species appear to have occurred together largely where their environmental tolerances overlap. A large degree of species independence seems to have existed. Changes in faunal density and diversity between different environments are related to the degree of stress exerted by each environment, with the highest stress conditions producing the lowest density and diversity values; the abruptness or gradation between faunal assemblages, which is controlled largely by environmental gradients, is also taken to indicate the strong influence of the physical environment on the lower Bringewoodian fauna.


With depletion of natural resources and growing awareness of the limited capabilities of the globe to cope with pollution, the need to design life-time recycling loops for all types of products is steadily increasing. Rubber articles of all sorts and the need for a proper disposal of these at the end of their life-cycle cannot escape this trend, and also come more and more into focus. Most conspicuous in this context are tires, of which appr. 800,000,000 are scrapped world-wide on a yearly basis. If piled up at a height of 25 cm each, it establishes a pile of 200,000 km, 2/3 of the distance to the moon: per year! Apart from the environmental problems which these scrap tires represent, they actually are also a source of valuable materials if they can be recycled and reused in proper ways. The present paper reviews latest developments in the recycling: de-vulcanization of rubber articles, including tires of various sorts, and the contribution which the research in the university of Twente has played in this field. It highlights what has been achieved for different major rubber types, but also what the hurdles are to be taken before rubber recycling is as obvious a technology as the manufacturing of first use rubber-articles.


The main objective of the paper is to create context sensitive decision support services within flexible Quality Assurance (QA) of software development projects and their resulting products. The new QA process is supported by an Internet solution composed of several knowledge, context sensitive services based on open standards that is able to detect changes in the scope and requirements of an application (or changes in its development process) and provide the adequate set of assessments as a basis for an accurate measurement of the quality of the process and product at any time and allow for effective decision making within QA. The Internet Services monitor the different stages of the software development process, interoperating with the existing applications and systems to provide quantitative information about the quality of each phase (i.e. project management, requirements gathering, functional and technical design, development and testing), the project as a whole and the resulting product. They also monitor context under which the SW is developed and decisions on QA have to be made. Data obtained in real-time by the monitoring services are used in an indistinctive way by software engineers, designers, developers, testers and managers alike for different collaborative decision making. The paper is one of the first attempts to apply context sensitivity to support decision making in QA for SW development. The approach is assessed in 2 different business cases in order to validate the results under different conditions. The first business case belongs to a large software company developing large Internet projects based on Rational Unified Process methodology. The second business case belongs to a SME developing complex projects based on agile methodologies.


This article looks at the history of the National Award in Narrative Literature (El Premio Nacional de Literatura, Modalidad Narrativa) – a governmental prize issued by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports – to examine how the award has contributed to the formation of a particular idea of Spanish literature in the democratic period (1977–2013). On the one hand, drawing from the theories of Rancière and Foucault, I argue that the conferring of the prize represents a specific technique of power that has allowed the Spanish state to attach itself to individual citizens/artists of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and to appropriate their works as "national." In so doing, I claim that the issuing of the National Award has served the state well in its attempts throughout the democratic period to market Spain as a multicultural, yet cohesive nation state. On the other hand, I discuss how the issuing of the National Award also serves as a platform from which to discuss a wide variety of social issues, paradoxically including ideas that challenge the state's legitimacy.


We develop an equilibrium directed search model of the labor market where workers can simultaneously apply for multiple jobs. Our main theoretical contribution is to integrate the portfolio choice problem faced by workers into an equilibrium framework. All equilibria of our model exhibit wage dispersion. Consistent with stylized facts, the density of wages is decreasing and higher wage firms receive more applications per vacancy. Unlike most models of directed search, the equilibria are not constrained efficient.


Bacterial resistance has become a worrying problem for human health, especially since certain bacterial strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) can cause very serious infections. Thus, the search for novel natural inhibitors with new bacterial targets would be crucial to overcome resistance to antibiotics. Here, we evaluate the inhibitory effects of Apis mellifera bee venom (BV-Am) and of its two main components -melittin and phospholipase A2 (PLA2)- on E. coli F1F0-ATPase enzyme, a crucial molecular target for the survival of these bacteria. Thus, we optimized a spectrophotometric method to evaluate the enzymatic activity by quantifying the released phosphate from ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by E. coli F1F0-ATPase. The protocol developed for inhibition assays of this enzyme was validated by two reference inhibitors, thymoquinone (IC50 = 57.5 μM) and quercetin (IC50 = 30 μM). Results showed that BV-Am has a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on E. coli F1F0-ATPase with 50% inhibition at 18.43 ± 0.92 μg/mL. Melittin inhibits this enzyme with IC50 = 9.03 ± 0.27 µM, emphasizing a more inhibitory effect than the two previous reference inhibitors adopted. Likewise, PLA2 inhibits E. coli F1F0-ATPase with a dose-dependent effect (50% inhibition at 2.11 ± 0.11 μg/mL) and its combination with melittin enhanced the inhibition extent of this enzyme. Crude venom and mainly melittin and PLA2, inhibit E. coli F1F0-ATPase and could be considered as important candidates for combating resistant bacteria.


Protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs) play a central role in the DNA damage response. In particular, protein phosphorylation and ubiquitination have been shown to be essential in the signaling cascade that coordinates break repair with cell cycle progression. Here, we performed whole-cell quantitative proteomics to identify global changes in protein ubiquitination that are induced by DNA double-strand breaks. In total, we quantified more than 9,400 ubiquitin sites and found that the relative abundance of ∼10% of these sites was altered in response to DNA double-strand breaks. Interestingly, a large proportion of ribosomal proteins, including those from the 40S as well as the 60S subunit, were ubiquitinated in response to DNA damage. In parallel, we discovered that DNA damage leads to the inhibition of ribosome function. Taken together, these data uncover the ribosome as a major target of the DNA damage response.


My project work arises from the consideration that the European Union represents an unicum in international organizations context because of its institutional features, its membership and its material discipline. Indeed it is the best example of supranational integration model. On the contrary, most international regional organizations are structured in the intergovernmental cooperation model, because it ensures the national sovereignty. One of the main features of intergovernmental model is the absence of a permanent judicial system, so generally disputes are settled through political and diplomatic means of international law.
Nowadays a new trend is characterizing the international community, that is the judicialization of international organizations; it consists in the establishment of permanent tribunals in regional economic organizations, above all in developing countries. This trend seems to be the outcome of an interstate cooperation strengthening and of the organization gradual evolution from the original intergovernmental model to a more supranational one. This institutional and material evolution of interstate cooperation brings about new kinds of disputes concerning not only States but also the organization and individuals interests. This explains the establishment of permanent judicial systems, in particular in Africa (UEMOA, CEMAC, EAC, COMESA, ECOWAS e SADC) and in Latin America (MERCOSUR, CAn, SICA e CARICOM).
In my research I have carried out a comparative analysis between the European Court of Justice on the one hand and the Tribunals or Courts established within regional economic organizations in developing countries on the other hand. My aim is to put in evidence if the European Union and its Court can influence the activity of the other regional judicial systems outside Europe.
From a methodological point of view I have divided my research into two parts: the first one comparing the institutional features (structure, functioning, competences) of judicial systems; the second one considering their jurisprudence. In each part the comparison between the ECJ and the "other" Tribunals and Courts has been carried out in a specular way, in order to catch easily the similarities and differences.
With reference to the institutional features, my studies have revealed a general trend of such African, Caribbean and Latin-American regional Tribunals and/or Courts of Justice to imitate the European judicial system and, particularly, ECJ competences. This imitation trend is general but not homogeneous; indeed the imitation degree of European judicial system is different from a regional judicial body to another and it seems to depend on the different cooperation model of the regional organizations in which these tribunals are established. So, the more a regional organization tends to reproduce the features of the supranational model, the more its judicial system is similar to European Union's one.
As already said, I have dedicated the second part of my thesis to the comparative assessment of the judicial systems' jurisprudence. My studies have revealed a general trend to imitate the European jurisprudence, because the ECJ case law seems to offer useful lessons to these regional judicial bodies. In fact, the ongoing integration processes in sub-regions outside Europe make Member States to face the same legal and economic problems faced by European Union in the past. So, in order to manage the various relations and to find the right solutions to these problematic law profiles resulting from their economic integration processes, these regional Tribunals make use of the European judgments and take guidance from its rich jurisprudence, even if it doesn't bind them. Referring to ECJ case law in their judgments the "other" regional Tribunals outside Europe give authority to their own conclusions. In that way, they tend to import the fundamental European integration principles (such as the principle of the supremacy, of free trade, of proportionality, the responsibility of a member State failing a Community obligation) to their regional law orders.
As already said, this imitation trend of ECJ jurisprudence is general because it characterizes every regional Court of Justice I have analyzed. So its diffusion doesn't depend on the institutional features of each regional judicial system or on the cooperation model of the regional organization it's established in. On the contrary it depends on the matters referred to the regional court. Indeed the regional Tribunals outside Europe often act as administrative tribunals (CEMAC – COMESA –SADC) or they settle disputes which don't concern relevant law questions arising from the ongoing integration processes. So, in those cases references to ECJ rulings are absent in regional Tribunals' judgments.
In sum, the EU and its judicial system are perceived as a model to be imitated in order to reach the same European "successful" results. In particular, the European Court of Justice and above all its jurisprudence can influence the evolution of these regional organizations and their Member States' cooperation. This trend to imitate the European jurisprudence determines the diffusion of EU main principles in other regional integration processes all over the world. So, we can talk about a sort of unilateral fertilization.


This paper provides a creative approach on how to implement CDIO-techniques into a Engineering Physics program. A comparison is made between the Vehicle Engineering program and the Engineering Physics program at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), in order to establish what the grounds and potentials for implementing CDIO into a new program environment are. The Engineering Physics program is examined not only though the comparison but also through an indicatory survey performed with students, instructors and representatives from the industry. This is done in order to map the perceived nature of the program. Furthermore, these potentials are explored from the view of the Engineering Physics program at KTH, and implementation strategies are suggested and elaborated in accordance with derived results and indicators, using modelling and simulation as a ground for an abstract product orientation.


The natural ability of plants to release chemical substances from their roots that have a suppressing effect on nitrifier activity and soil nitrification, is termed 'biological nitrification inhibition' (BNI). Though nitrification is one of the critical processes in the nitrogen cycle, unrestricted and rapid nitrification in agricultural systems can result in major losses of nitrogen from the plant-soil system. This nitrogen loss is due to the leaching of nitrate out of the rooting zone and emission of gaseous oxides of nitrogen to the atmosphere, where it causes serious pollution problems. Using a newly developed assay system that quantifies the inhibitory activity of plant roots (i.e. BNI capacity), it has been shown that BNI capacity is widespread among crops and pastures. A tropical pasture grass, Brachiaria humidicola has been used as a model system to characterize BNI function, where it was shown that BNIs can provide sufficient inhibitory activity to suppress soil nitrification and nitrous oxide emissions. Given the wide-range of genetic diversity found among the Triticeae, and the current availability of genetic tools for moving traits/genes across members, there is great potential for introducing/improving the BNI capacity of economically important members of the Triticeae (i.e. wheat, barley and rye). This review outlines the current status of knowledge regarding the potential for genetic improvement in the BNI capacity of the Triticeae. Such approaches are critical to the development of the next-generation of crops and production systems where nitrification is biologically suppressed/regulated to reduce nitrogen leakage and protect the environment from nitrogen pollution.


Research in Keystroke-Dynamics (KD) has customarily focused on temporal features without considering context to generate user templates that are used in authentication. Additionally, work on KD in hand-held devices such as smart-phones and tablets have shown that these features alone do not perform satisfactorily for authentication. In this work, we analyze the discriminatory power of the most-used conventional features found in the literature, propose a set of context-sensitive or word-specific features, and analyze the discriminatory power of proposed features using their classification results. To perform these tasks, we use the keystroke data consisting of over 650K keystrokes, collected from 20 unique users during different activities on desktops, tablets, and phones, over a span of two months. On an average, each user made 12.5K, 9K, and 10K keystrokes on desktop, tablet, and phone, respectively. We find that the conventional features are not highly discriminatory on desktops and are only marginally better on hand-held devices for user identification. By using information of the context, a subset (derived after analysis) of our proposed word-specific features offers superior discrimination among users on all devices. We find that a majority of the classifiers, built using these features, perform user identification well with accuracies in the range of 90% to 97%, average precision and recall values of 0.914 and 0.901, respectively, on balanced test samples in 10-fold cross validation. We also find that proposed features work best on hand-held devices. This work calls for a shift from using conventional KD features to a set of context-sensitive or word-specific KD features that take advantage of known information such as context.


Carry trades consistently generate high excess returns with high Sharp ratios, but are subject to crash risk. I take a closer look at the link between the carry trade returns and the stock market to understand the risks involved and to determine when and why currency crashes happen. Every period, I sort currencies of developed and emerging economies by their interest rates and form portfolios to diversify the idiosyncratic risk. First, I find a strong negative relationship between portfolio returns and skewness of exchange rate changes. In fact, skewness and coskewness with the stock market have a much greater explanatory power in the cross-section of excess returns than consumption and stock market betas. But separating the market beta into upside and downside betas improves the validity of the CAPM significantly. Downside beta has a much greater explanatory power than upside beta, and it correlates with coskewness almost perfectly. This means that carry trades crash exactly in the worst states of the world, when the stock market goes down. After controlling for country risk, the downside beta premium in the currency market is comparable to that in the stock market and equals 2-4 percentage points p.a. I also find that country risk proxies well for the downside beta and skewness. This suggests that there is unwinding of carry trades and a "flight to quality" when the stock market plunges, and that lower interest rate currencies serve as a "safe haven". Finally, I estimate even higher downside betas of the top portfolios and I find an even greater explanatory power of the downside beta in the early 2000s. The growing volume of carry activities might have contributed to the closer link between the currency and the stock markets.


A computational study at correlated levels of theory is reported to address the structures and energetics of transient radicals produced by hydrogen atom abstraction from C-1, C-2, C-3 C-4, C-5, O-1, 0-3, and O-5 positions in 2-deoxyribofuranose in the gas phase and in aqueous solution. In general, the carbon-centered radicals are found to be thermodynamically and kinetically more stable than the oxygen-centered ones. The most stable gas-phase radical, 2-deoxyribofuranos-S-yl (5), is produced by H-atom abstraction from C-5 and stabilized by an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the 0-5 hydroxy group and 0-1. The order of radical stabilities is altered in aqueous solution due to different solvation free energies. These prefer conformers that lack intramolecular hydrogen bonds and expose O-H bonds to the solvent. Carbon-centered deoxyribose radicals can undergo competitive dissociations by loss of H atoms, OH radical, or by ring cleavages that all require threshold dissociation or transition state energies >100 kJ mol - 1 . This points to largely non-specific dissociations of 2-deoxyribose radicals when produced by exothermic hydrogen atom abstraction from the saccharide molecule. Oxygen-centered 2-deoxyribose radicals show only marginal thermodynamic and kinetic stability and are expected to readily fragment upon formation.