This study examined health beliefs associated with novel influenza A (H1N1) immunization among US college undergraduates during the 2009-2010 pandemic. Undergraduates (ages 18–24 years) from a large Midwestern University were invited to complete an online survey during March, 2010, five months after H1N1 vaccines became available. Survey items measured H1N1 vaccine history and H1N1-related attitudes based on the health belief literature. Logistic regression was used to identify attitudes associated with having received an H1N1 vaccine, and thematic analysis of student comments was conducted to further understand influences on vaccine decisions. Among the 296 students who participated in the survey, 15.2% reported having received an H1N1 vaccine. In regression analysis, H1N1 immunization was associated with seasonal flu vaccine history, perceived vaccine effectiveness, perceived obstacles to vaccination, and vaccine safety concerns. Qualitative results illustrate the relationship of beliefs to vaccine decisions, particularly in demonstrating that students often held concerns that vaccine could cause H1N1 or side effects. Vaccine safety, efficacy, and obstacles to immunization were major considerations in deciding whether to accept the H1N1 pandemic vaccine. Therefore, focusing on those aspects might be especially useful in future vaccine efforts within the college population.


When designing the individual subassemblies of machines or entire devices one has to draw special attention to the resistance of the elements working there, to tribological damages (mechanical, fatigue, adhesion, abrasion, hydrogen and other damages) as well as to non-tribological damages (corrosion, diffusion, cavitation, erosion, ablation and others). The main purpose of this publication was to examine the influence of the applied WC/C protective coating deposited by PVD method on the cavitation wear processes of construction elements working in difficult cavitation environment. Two steels were selected for detailed examinations in the conditions of cavitation wear. The first one is P265GH steel commonly used for pressure devices working at elevated temperatures, with a ferriticpearlitic structure, and the other derives from a group of stainless steels, i.e. chromiumnickel X2CrNi18-9 (304L) steel with an austenitic structure. The tests results obtained allow to conclude that the application of special low-friction protective coatings allows to reduce costs associated with selection of engineering materials for a substrate of constructional elements working in a cavitation wear environment. P265GH steel is 4 times cheaper than austenitic chromium-nickel X2CrNi18-9 steel, and if a WC/C coating is deposited in this case, this considerably extends the working time of such elements in a cavitation environment.


Frequency stability of a Rubidium Frequency Standard (RFS) is directly related to the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the microwave-induced (6834 MHz) optical signal which is proportional to the fractional atomic population difference between the two M/sub F/=0 ground state sublevels of /sup 87/Rb. In the present RFSs this fractional population difference is small (<1%). S/N can be substantially improved by concentrating all of the atoms in one of the two M/sub F/=0 sublevels. Potentially, this could lead to a significant improvement in the short-term performance of RFSs. We have developed a novel scheme for concentrating a large fraction of the Rb atoms in one of the two M/sub F/=0 ground state sublevels. We optically pump the Rb vapor with circularly polarized light from a AlGaAs diode laser tuned to the D/sub 1/ transition (794.7 nm). Nearly all of the atoms are concentrated in one of the two high angular momentum states (M/sub F/=2 or -2 sublevels depending on the handedness of the circular polarization). The pumping laser is switched off and two radiofrequency (RF) /spl pi/-pulses are applied sequentially. The first /spl pi/-pulse transfers the atoms from the 2,2(F,M/sub F/) sublevel to the 2,1 sublevel and the second /spl pi/-pulse transfers the atoms from the 2,1 sublevel to the 2,0 sublevel. The resulting population distribution is diagnosed using a second AlGaAs diode laser (weak probe) in conjunction with a microwave field tuned to the 0-0 transition (6834 MHz). We obtain a fractional population difference of 0.7-0.9 between the two M/sub F/=0 sublevels. This should result in an improvement in the S/N by a factor of 70-90 over the lamp pumped RFSs. This could potentially be of considerable importance towards the development of future RFSs. Various relaxations and field inhomogeneities limit the transfer efficiency from being 100%. The details of the experimental technique and possible applications are discussed.<<ETX>>


Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically examine the lending behavior of Vietnamese banks. Design/methodology/approach - – A firm-banking model was established, considering risk-taking behavior and the regulatory environment. Based on the theoretical model, a simultaneous equation system was specified that considered loan growth and deposit growth as endogenous variables to empirically investigate lending behavior in Vietnam's banking sector. Two-stage least square estimators were employed using a micro-level panel data set comprising 39 Vietnamese commercial banks. Findings - – The empirical results demonstrate the divergence in the lending behavior of private and state-owned banks. The regressions results support the predictions of the theoretical model on the positive effect of economic growth and the negative effect of the government bond rate on bank lending. The results also suggest that deposit growth and liquidity constraint significantly influence loan supply in private banks, while equity growth is the determinant of lending behavior in state-owned banks. Nevertheless, the banks' non-performing loan rate, which proxies for the expected default probability of loans, is found to not significantly affect loan supply. Research limitations/implications - – Despite the efforts to capture the idiosyncratic characteristics of the Vietnamese banking system, this study does not fully take into account distinctive nature of the Vietnamese banking system. Practical implications - – The paper suggests implications for the government monetary policy. Originality/value - – The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it introduces a firm-banking theoretical model that allows banks offering different lending rates and modeled under different aspects of modern banking such as risk-taking behavior and regulatory environment. Second, it is a very first study empirically investigating the lending behavior of Vietnamese banks.


SINCE there is an impression that a practicable vaccine for poliomyelitis is either at hand or immediately around the corner, it may be best to start this discussion with the statement that such a vaccine is not now at hand and that one can only guess as to what is around the corner. The future possibilities of a vaccine for the control of poliomyelitis depend in large measure on what we still must and can learn with the new tools that have become available to poliomyelitis research in the last few years. The objective is clear: to imitate what nature does for 99 to 99.9% of the population but without incurring the 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 risk of paralysis which in many parts of the world is the price for acquiring immunity to poliomyelitis. The knowledge and tools we had only five years ago provided little hope


In this demo we present a visualization of formalized representations of story. Introducing the interactive to storytelling requires the management of experiences that a user creates by their decisions. These sorts of variations can have impact on not only the user, but also the retrievable content appropriate to present to the user. The overall contribution of this work is to identify the player impact of story variation by modeling supplementary variations, and systematically responding to player interaction through supplementary variation, while respecting the author's intentions by maintaining the integrity of the core story skeleton.


Background and Aims: Intrabony periodontal defects are one of the important problems in periodontal diseases. Treatment of intrabony periodontal defects with synthetic materials such as Cerasorb has been shown to enhance periodontal regeneration. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of Cerasorb with autogenous bone graft (A.B.G) as a gold standard in treatment of two to three wall periodontal defects. Materials and Methods: In this interventional or randomized clinical trial study, 24 two to three wall intrabony defects were selected in a double blind manner. Defects were randomly (with tossing a coin) divided into two groups (test and control). Defects in test group were treated with flap surgery and Cerasorb. In control group, defects were treated with flap surgery and autogenous bone graft. At baseline and 3-month, 6-month and one-year follow up evaluations; clinical and radiographic assessments were performed. Data were statistically analyzed using the paired t test, Wilcoxon and Mann-whiteny. The level of significance was set at P<0.05. Results: At the 3-month, 6-month and one-year visits, the parameters of probing pocket depth (PPD), probing attachment level (PAL), bone level (distance between CEJ and alveolar crest), and bone density were not significantly different in test and control groups (P>0.05). However, in each group there was significant differences in 4 parameters before and after surgery (P<0.05). Conclusion: Treatment with Cerasorb compared to A.B.G produced the same results of improvement in two to three-wall intrabony defects. Thus, the use of Cerasorb can be suggested in treatment of intrabony periodontal defects.


The use of concept maps on the teaching of sciences has been object of worldwide research with different purposes: to detect the previous knowledge of the students on certain topics or to evaluate learning, among others. Based on Ausubel´s cognitive psychology, concept maps assume that the learning is accomplished by assimilation of new concepts and propositions to the students´ cognitive structure, contributing to establish links between the previous and new knowledge. It is especially interesting on the approach of interdisciplinary issues, as many studied in Biochemistry.The relevance of the use of concept maps on biochemistry learning was evaluated on a thirty-hour undergraduation optional course, with interdisciplinary topics, which are not usually included on introductory Biochemistry courses. The course Biochemistry of Animal Venoms was structured in seven module where the biochemical action mechanisms of the venoms of Crotalus sp (south american rattlesnake), Bothrops sp (jararaca), Loxosceles sp (brown spider), Tityus sp (yellow scorpion), Phoneutria sp (armed spider), Apis mellifera (honey bee) and Latrodectus sp (black widow)were discussed. The students worked in small groups and, at each module, there were (1) an oriented study, guided by questions, texts and schemes, supervised by the teachers, (2) the construction of individual concept maps, where the local and systemic effects of the venoms should be predicted by their biochemical composition and (3) the construction of a new map by the group, incorporating the information of the individual maps. The difficulty level of these tasks was gradually increased throughout the course, with lesser time to carry out the tasks, lesser assistance during the oriented study and even lesser information on the venom effects.The course assessment was given by the number, quality and correction of the concepts relationship present in the concept maps, through a questionnaire and by the teachers' observation. The concept maps produced exceeded the expectation, being gradually more complex at each module. The answers to the questionnaire, in a 1 to 5 scale, showed that the course answered the students' expectations (4,3), that the topics chosen were satisfactory (4,4) and that the students recommend the course to colleagues (4,6). Besides, the majority agreed that the concept maps improved the learning of the course content (4,5) and that this methodology should be adopted in other courses and disciplines.


In Russia, the problem of choice between branded drugs and generics is extremely urgent because funding should be spent efficiently in conditions of strict financial restrictions. However the seeming economy in using generics which are not therapeutically equivalent to branded drugs leads to the decrease of clinical of treatment effectiveness and to the increase of treatment costs as well. The authors analyze the problem in respect to the Russian pharmaceutical market. It is concluded that the choice of the generic is reasonable if there is evidence for its therapeutic equivalence with the branded drugs. To improve the quality of medical care, one should pay special attention to the quality of generics in the market.


Direction of criminal justice in Indonesia is currently experiencing a shift from retributive to restorative-rehabilitative or daad-dader-strafrecht or model of balance of interests. This is confirmed by Laws Number 11 of 2012 on Juvenile Justice System, which states in Article 6 to Article 8 that emphasizes the concept of restorative justice through diversion. Both of these concepts allow the settlement of children out of the criminal justice. However, not all criminal offenses committed by children can be settled out of court (diversion) unless two conditions are met: imprisonment for a criminal offense under seven years and is not a repetition of criminal offenses (recidivism). The essences of restorative justice are three. First, in the settlement of children, it is necessary that the offenders and their families and victims and their families can sit together to discuss the settlement of issues including reparations to victims (restitution in integrum). Second, the essence of restorative justice is to give punishment to the offenders but the punishment is didactic, in order to benefit to both of the perpetrator and the victims. This is in line with an adagio "delinquens per iram provocatus puniri debet mitius". Third, regulation of a quo using two approaches which are victims and offenders mediation approaches as implemented in North America as well as approach that emphasizes restitution and reparation (court based restitutive and reparative measure), as practiced in the United Kingdom.


Background Research has underscored the need to develop socioculturally tailored interventions to improve adherence behaviors in minority patients with hypertension (HTN) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Novel mobile health (mHealth) approaches are potential methods for delivering tailored interventions to minority patients with increased cardiovascular risk. Objective This study aims to develop and evaluate the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a tailored mHealth adherence intervention versus attention control (AC) on medication adherence, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) at 3 months in 42 Black patients with uncontrolled HTN and/or T2D who were initially nonadherent to their medications. Methods This was a two-phase pilot study consisting of a formative phase and a clinical efficacy phase. The formative phase consisted of qualitative interviews with 10 members of the target patient population (7/10, 70% female; mean age 65.8 years, SD 5.6) to tailor the intervention based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral skills model of adherence. The clinical efficacy phase consisted of a 3-month pilot randomized controlled trial to evaluate the tailored mHealth intervention versus an AC. The tablet-delivered intervention included a tailoring survey, an individualized adherence profile, and a personalized list of interactive adherence-promoting modules, whereas AC included the tailoring survey and health education videos delivered on the tablet. Acceptability was assessed through semistructured exit interviews. Medication adherence was assessed using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, whereas blood pressure and HbA1c were assessed using automated devices. Results In phase 1, thematic analysis of the semistructured interviews revealed the following 5 major barriers to adherence: disruptions in daily routine, forgetfulness, concerns about adverse effects, preference for natural remedies, and burdens of medication taking. Patients recommended the inclusion of modules that address improving patient-provider communication, peer vignettes, and stress reduction strategies to facilitate adherence. A total of 42 Black patients (23/42, 55% male; mean age 57.6 years, SD 11.1) participated in the clinical efficacy pilot trial. At 3 months, both groups showed significant improvements in adherence (mean 1.35, SD 1.60; P<.001) and SBP (−4.76 mm Hg; P=.04) with no between-group differences (P=.50 and P=.10). The decreases in DBP and HbA1c over time were nonsignificant (−1.97 mm Hg; P=.20; and −0.2%; P=.45, respectively). Patients reported high acceptability of the intervention for improving their adherence. Conclusions This pilot study demonstrated preliminary evidence on the acceptability of a tailored mHealth adherence intervention among a sample of Black patients with uncontrolled HTN and T2D who were initially nonadherent to their medications. Future research should explore whether repeated opportunities to use the mHealth intervention would result in improvements in behavioral and clinical outcomes over time. Modifications to the intervention as a result of the pilot study should guide future efforts. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01643473; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/ NCT01643473


Can participatory budgeting help make public services really work for the public ? Incorporating a range of experiments in ten different countries, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of participatory budgeting in Europe and the effect it has had on democracy, the modernization of local government, social justice, gender mainstreaming and sustainable development. By focussing on the first decade of European participatory budgeting and analysing the results and the challenges affecting the agenda today it provides a critical appraisal of the participatory model. Detailed comparisons of European cases expose similarities and differences between political cultures and offer a strong empirical basis to discuss the theories of deliberative and participatory democracy and reveal contradictory tendencies between political systems, public administrations and democratic practices.


A physical model for the design of the power distribution networks in three-dimensional integrated circuits is proposed. The tradeoffs among the different design parameters are specified and analyzed. Different case studies are explored, indicating that smaller and denser TSVs can deliver power more efficiently as compared to larger and coarsely distributed TSVs. The interplay between the TSV count and the intra-plane power distribution network in reducing the power supply noise is also shown.


This work explores the feasibility of specialized hardware implementing the Cortical Learning Algorithm (CLA) in order to fully exploit its inherent advantages. This algorithm, which is inspired in the current understanding of the mammalian neo-cortex, is the basis of the Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM). In contrast to other machine learning (ML) approaches, the structure is not application dependent and relies on fully unsupervised continuous learning. We hypothesize that a hardware implementation will be able not only to extend the already practical uses of these ideas to broader scenarios but also to exploit the hardware-friendly CLA characteristics. The architecture proposed will enable an unfeasible scalability for software solutions and will fully capitalize on one of the many CLA advantages: low computational requirements and reduced storage utilization. Compared to a state-of-the-art CLA software implementation it could be possible to improve by 4 orders of magnitude in performance and up to 8 orders of magnitude in energy efficiency. We propose to use a packet-switched network to tackle this. The paper addresses the fundamental issues of such an approach, proposing solutions to achieve scalable solutions. We will analyze cost and performance when using well-known architecture techniques and tools. The results obtained suggest that even with CMOS technology, under constrained cost, it might be possible to implement a large-scale system. We found that the proposed solutions enable a saving of 90% of the original communication costs running either synthetic or realistic workloads.


In the proposed huddle hierarchy scheme based fertilization, farm land of Arachis hypogaea are grouped as huddle and they are assigned with unique IDs based on hierarchical representation. This scheme uses the existing extended Euclidean algorithm for finding the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two positive integers using their prime powers. In order to provide a restricted group based irrigation and fertilization. There is a group controller in charge of irrigation and fertilization management. The group may share excess or surplus water and fertilization among themselves or with the group controller. The focus deals with the reduction of complexity during the watering and fertilizing process by reducing the number of multiplication operations by using the fast fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. In order to measure the robustness of the scheme against yellowing of older leaves due to nitrogen deficiency and inter-venial chlorosis of young and newly emerging leaves, mathematical analysis has been derived.


Studies were conducted in 2006 at Clinton and Kinston, NC, to determine the influence of halosulfuron POST (over the crop plant) or POST-directed (to the crop) on growth and yield of transplanted 'Precious Petite' and 'Tri-X-313' triploid watermelon. Treatments included a nontreated control, 39 g/ha halosulfuron applied POST-directed to 25% of the plant (distal or proximal region), POST-directed to 50% of the plant (distal or proximal; Precious Petite only), and POST. Watermelon treated with halosulfuron displayed chlorotic leaves, shortened internodes, and increased stem splitting. Vines were longest in the nontreated control (Tri-X-313  =  146 cm, Precious Petite  =  206 cm) but were shortest in the POST treatment (Tri-X-313  =  88 cm, Precious Petite  =  77 cm). Halosulfuron POST to watermelon caused the greatest injury (Tri-X-313  =  64%, Precious Petite  =  67%). Halosulfuron directed to 25 or 50% (distal or proximal) of the plant caused less injury than halosulfuron applied POST. Stem splitting was greatest when halosulfuron was applied to the proximal area of the stem compared with POST-directed distal or POST. Internode shortening was greatest in treatments where halosulfuron was applied to the distal region of the stem. However, Tri-X-313 in the POST-directed 25% distal treatment produced similar total and marketable fruit weight as the nontreated control at Clinton. Fruit number did not differ among treatments for either cultivar. At Kinston, Precious Petite nontreated control and POST-directed 25% distal end treatment had greater marketable fruit weight than the POST-directed 50% proximal and POST treatments. The current halosulfuron registration allows POST application between rows or PRE. Limiting halosulfuron contact to no more than 25% of the watermelon plant will likely improve crop tolerance. Nomenclature: Halosulfuron; watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai 'Tri-X-313' and 'Precious Petite'


Extending the classical planning formalism with state-dependent action costs (SDAC) allows an up to exponentially more compact task encoding. Recent work proposed to use edge-valued multi-valued decision diagrams (EVMDDs) to represent cost functions, which allows to automatically detect and exhibit structure in cost functions and to make heuristic estimators accurately reflect SDAC. However, so far only the inadmissible additive heuristic has been considered in this context. In this paper, we define informative admissible abstraction heuristics which enable optimal planning with SDAC. We discuss how abstract cost values can be extracted from EVMDDs that represent concrete cost functions without adjusting them to the selected abstraction. Our theoretical analysis shows that this is efficiently possible for abstractions that are Cartesian or coarser. We adapt the counterexample-guided abstraction refinement approach to derive such abstractions. An empirical evaluation of the resulting heuristic shows that highly accurate values can be computed quickly.


The history of the text of the Qur'ān has been a longstanding subject of interest within the field of Islamic Studies, but the debate has so far been focused on the Sunnī traditions about the codices of Caliphs Abū Bakr and ʿUthmān b. Affān. Little to no attention has been given to the traditions on ʿAlī b. abī Tālīb's collection of the Qur'ān. The Shī'ite school of thought has claimed that ʿAlī b. abī Ṭālib collated the first copy of the Qur'ān, right after the demise of the Prophet. In addition to several Shī'ite traditions on the subject, there is also a significant number of Sunnī traditions in a similar vein, recorded in some of the earliest Sunnī ḥadīth collections. The present thesis examines both Shī'ite and Sunnī traditions on the issue, aiming to date them back to the earliest possible date and, if possible, verify their authenticity. In order to achieve this, the traditions are examined using isnād-cum-matn method. This method has been proven by Western academia to be an efficient tool in dating the early Islamic traditions and involves analysis of both matn (text) and isnād (chain of transmission) with an emphasis on finding a correlation between the two.

Upon examining the variants of the relevant traditions, the thesis concludes that with the aid of the traditions attributed to Ibn Sīrīn, the narrative on ʿAlī b. abī Ṭālib's collection of the Qur'ān can be dated back to as early as the first decade of the second century. This is the earliest date to which the history of the text of the Qur'ān can be traced through analysing Muslim traditions. In addition, in the analysis of a tradition recorded in Kitāb Sulaym b. Qays al-Hilālī, I find that the traditions concerning ʿAlī's collection of the Qur'ān were not only transmitted orally but also recorded in written form, within the first half of the second century. This is, again, the earliest date at which the collection of the Qur'ān in written format has been mentioned.


Using audit-trail data from the Toronto Stock Exchange, we find that market makers scale back in unison when market conditions are unfavorable, which contributes to covariation in liquidity supply, both within and across stocks. Market conditions lower aggregate participation via their impact on trading profits and risk. Contrary to regulatory view, higher stock volatility is associated with more participation and higher profits, even after controlling for other market conditions, including stock volume. Fragility concerns extend to larger stocks and to active participants. The designated market maker mitigates periodic illiquidity created by synchronous withdrawal of market makers in large and small stocks.


In this paper, we address the significance of parasitic inductance on designing signal coupling shields and clock tree distributions in terms of input slew rate and interconnect length by using 3D RLC parasitic extraction and Spice simulation for 500 MHz clocks and 0.15 /spl mu/m process interconnect technology. We report a larger crosstalk deviation under fast input slew rates and a higher clock skew variation due to wiring inductive effect for low resistive long nets which should be considered for future high-speed design. In addition, we propose a feasible one-level interleaved clock shielding scheme with optimized dimensions for a minimal clock skew and compare it to a worst case signal coupling three-level clock shielding scheme.


A 12-month survey of the fungal spores in and out of homes of 145 allergic patients in an agricultural community was conducted. More than 6,100 colonies were recovered and 33 genera identified frm November, 1977, through October, 1978. Cladosporium was the most common genus identified and was recovered from 90% of the homes. Peak Cladosporium counts were observed during November through January, with another peak in March. Penicillium and Alternaria were recovered from 57% and 33% of the homes respectively. Relationships were observed between minimum daily temperature and indoor and outdoor Cladosporium and Mycelia sterilia counts. The relationship between sporulation of fungi and other environment factors is discussed.


Although sulfonylureas have long been therapeutically utilized for their hypoglycemic properties in type 2 diabetic patients, there is a paucity of clinical or experimental data that suggests that this pharmacotherapeutic class confers a benefit on the course of diabetic renal disease. Because the mesangial compartment is central to the fibrogenic response that evolves during the course of diabetic nephropathy, determining the metabolic influence of sulfonylureas on mesangial cells is important. In this article, the current knowledge regarding the metabolic and functional consequences of a mesangial triumvirate of sulfonylureas, their sulfonylurea receptors and sulfonylurea-like ligands termed endosulfines will be reviewed.


SUMMARY: Continuous growth of Neurospora crassa was studied to determine whether the organism was capable of uninterrupted hyphal elongation, whether there was any evidence of homeostatic mechanisms controlling growth over extended periods and, particularly, whether spontaneous mutants with suppressive phenotypes were capable of being expressed. Parallel cultures, A and B, having a common origin, were incapable of uninterrupted growth but permanent cessations of growth were not encountered. The A-culture showed frequent stops of long duration whereas B had infrequent stops of short duration. This stop-start growth behaviour in the A- and B-cultures was determined by two different cytoplasmic factors. Both extra-nuclear mutants show decreased cytochrome-c oxidase activity (Bertrand & Pittenger, unpublished). These stopper phenotypes may be similar to 'vegetative death' in Aspergillus and 'senescence' in Podospora. Both A- and B-cultures showed several major increases and decreases in rate, in addition to more frequent minor fluctuations. The general constancy of growth, however, and the routine restoration of growth after cessations, as well as following either transient or long-term growth rate decreases, indicated that homeostatic mechanisms were capable of buffering the organisms against most deleterious intracellular effects. Two spontaneous nuclear mutants with decreased growth rates as homokaryons also accumulated during growth. These altered nuclear types, whose growth rates were clearly non-adaptive, nevertheless had selective values. Their proportions increased significantly during growth to the extent of either completely displacing the original type or of reaching a high enough proportion so that growth rates were decreased and the morphology of the cultures altered. These nuclear and extranuclear mutants appeared to have a selective advantage because of suppressive characteristics.


A reconstruction of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) for the period 1959–2006 has been derived from the ECMWF operational ocean reanalysis. The reconstruction shows a wide range of time‐variability, including a downward trend. At 26N, both the MOC intensity and changes in its vertical structure are in good agreement with previous estimates based on trans‐Atlantic surveys. At 50N, the MOC and strength of the subpolar gyre are correlated at interannual time scales, but show opposite secular trends. Heat transport variability is highly correlated with the MOC but shows a smaller trend due to the warming of the upper ocean, which partially compensates for the weakening of the circulation. Results from sensitivity experiments show that although the time‐varying upper boundary forcing provides useful MOC information, the sequential assimilation of ocean data further improves the MOC estimation by increasing both the mean and the time variability.


Memory models define an interface between programs written in some language and their implementation, determining which behaviour the memory (and thus a program) is allowed to have in a given model. A minimal guarantee memory models should provide to the programmer is that well-synchronized, that is, data-race free code has a standard semantics. Traditionally, memory models are defined axiomatically, setting constraints on the order in which memory operations are allowed to occur, and the programming language semantics is implicit as determining some of these constraints. In this work we propose a new approach to formalizing a memory model in which the model itself is part of a weak operational semantics for a (possibly concurrent) programming language. We formalize in this way a model that allows write operations to the store to be buffered. This enables us to derive the ordering constraints from the weak semantics of programs, and to prove, at the programming language level, that the weak semantics implements the usual interleaving semantics for data-race free programs, hence in particular that it implements the usual semantics for sequential code.


Financial services decisions can have enormous consequences for household well-being. Households need a range of financial services—to conduct basic transactions, such as receiving their income, storing it, and paying bills; to save for emergency needs and long-term goals; to access credit; and to insure against life's key risks. But the financial services system is exceedingly complicated and often not well-designed to optimize household behavior. In response to the complexity of our financial system, there has been a long-running debate about the appropriate role and form of regulation. Regulation is largely stuck in two competing models—disclosure, and usury or product restrictions. This paper explores a different approach, based on insights from behavioral economics on the one hand, and an understanding of industrial organization on the other. At the core of the analysis is the interaction between individual psychology and market competition. This is in contrast to the classic model, which relies on the interaction between rational choice and market competition. The introduction of richer psychology complicates the impact of competition. It helps us understand that firms compete based on how individuals will respond to products in the marketplace, and competitive outcomes may not always and in all contexts closely align with improved decisional choice and increased consumer welfare. The paper adopts a behavioral economic framework that considers firm incentives to respond to regulation. Under this framework, outcomes are an equilibrium interaction between individuals with specific psychologies and firms that respond to those psychologies within specific market Michael S. Barr is Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; senior fellow Center for American Progress; nonresident senior fellow, Brookings Institution. Sendhil Mullainathan is Professor of Economics, Harvard University. Eldar Shafir is Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton University. The authors conduct research and development on public policy through Ideas42, with support from the Hewlett Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation. The authors wish to thank Ellen Seidman and the New America Foundation for suggesting we undertake this project and for their ongoing support and encouragement. contexts. Regulation must then address failures in this equilibrium. The model suggests, for example, that in some contexts market participants seek to overcome common human failings (as for example, with under-saving) while in other contexts market participants seek to exploit these failings (as for example, with over-borrowing). Behaviorally informed regulation needs to take account of these different contexts. The paper discusses the specific application of these forces to the case of mortgage, credit card, and banking markets. The purpose of this paper is not to champion policies, but to illustrate how a behaviorally informed regulatory analysis would lead to a deeper understanding of the costs and benefits of specific policies. To further that understanding, in particular, the paper discusses ten ideas: • Full information disclosure to debias home mortgage borrowers. • A new standard for truth in lending. • A "sticky" opt-out home mortgage system. • Restructuring the relationship between brokers and borrowers. • Using framing and salience to improve credit card disclosures. • An opt-out payment plan for credit cards. • An opt-out credit card. • Regulating of credit card late fees. • A tax credit for banks offering safe and affordable accounts. • An opt-out bank account for tax refunds.


A series of novel BODIPY-bearing electron-withdrawing groups at the meso position are reported here. According to the optical measurements, it may be clearly seen that the introduction of electron-donating groups into 3,5-positions and the presence of electron-withdrawing groups at the meso position of the BODIPY core resulted in spectacular bathochromic shifts (up to ∼ 304 nm), and the projected photosensitizers had absorption bands in the therapeutic window of the electromagnetic spectrum (600-900 nm). The absorption maxima of compounds 4,5,6, and 7 were at 886 nm, 890 nm, 760 nm, and 761 nm, respectively. The singlet oxygen generation experiments revealed that compounds 6 and 7, with high singlet oxygen quantum yields (0.52 and 0.93, respectively), were excellent and promising candidates for photodynamic therapy. The singlet oxygen quantum yield of 0.93 was the highest reported value so far for BODIPY-based photosensitizers.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the change in consumer preference for U.S. meat and meat products in Mexico and to provide empirical estimates of the extent of sensitivity of meat price change to change in quantity demand. The analyses used an Inverse Almost Ideal Demand System (IAIDS) model to address the study objectives due to its appropriateness in modeling the level of utility for commodities with fixed or exogenously determined short run supply. The study findings show that Mexico's participation in NAFTA could have indirectly effected a structural change in demand for imported meat from the U.S. but the direction of change is heterogeneous among the different meat groups. Also, while Mexican demand for U.S. meat is inflexible, price response to changes in the quantity of imported U.S. poultry is much sensitive compared to pork and beef.


Endocrine pancreatic tumors (EPTs) comprise a highly heterogeneous group of tumors with different clinical behavior and genetic makeup. Insulinomas represent the predominant syndromic subtype of EPTs. The metastatic potential of insulinomas can frequently not be predicted using histopathological criteria, and also molecular markers indicating malignant progression are unreliable because of the small number of cases per subtype studied so far. For the identification of reliable indicators of metastatic disease, we investigated 62 sporadic insulinomas (44 benign and 18 tumors with metastases) by means of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). In addition, the role of MEN1 (multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1) gene mutations was determined to assess specific chromosomal alterations associated with dysfunction of this endocrine tumor-related tumor suppressor gene. Only one case with a somatic MEN1 mutation was identified (1527del7bp), indicating that the MEN1 gene plays a minor pathogenic role in sporadic insulinomas. CGH analysis revealed that the total number of aberrations per tumor differs strongly between the benign and the malignant group (4.2 vs 14.1; P<0.0001). Furthermore, chromosome 9q gain was found to be the most frequent aberration in both benign and malignant insulinomas, whereas chromosome 6q losses and 12q, 14q and 17pq gains are strongly associated with metastatic disease. Our study shows that chromosomal instability, as defined by > or =5 gains together with > or =5 losses, or total number of gains and losses > or =8, rather than parameters such as tumor size and proliferation index, is the most powerful indicator for the development of metastatic disease in patients with sporadic insulinoma.


Villages are the very embodiment of Englishness. The village inn and the local farm, great houses, humble cottages and beautiful country gardens speak of a way of life that has developed peacefully since Anglo-Saxon times. A few days spent in England's idyllic villages offers urban dwellers and foreign visitors a revitalizing glimpse of a more tranquil existence, full of history, legend, literature and artistic heritage. The beauty and diversity of the English village are recorded in this book in absorbing commentary and magnificent photography by James Bentley and Hugh Palmer.


During swarmer cell differentiation in Caulobacter crescentus, morphogenesis at the swarmer pole is characterized by the loss of the flagellum, by the loss of phage receptor activity (PRA) (the ability of the cell to adsorb phage phi CbK), and finally by the initiation of stalk outgrowth at the site formerly occupied by the flagellum and the PRA. We show here that each of these events is a cell cycle-dependent event requiring continuous protein synthesis for its execution but occurring normally in the absence of DNA synthesis or phospholipid synthesis. During stalked-cell differentiation, the flagellum and PRA reappear and the stalk elongates considerably. We show here that these events are also cell cycle dependent, requiring not only de novo protein synthesis but also DNA and phospholipid syntheses. When synchronous cells dividing 160 min after collection were used, PRA reappearance occurred at 110 min. This PRA reappearance was dependent on a phospholipid synthesis-requiring event occurring at 70 min, a DNA synthesis-requiring event occurring at 95 min, and a protein synthesis-requiring event occurring at 108 min. In the absence of net phospholipid synthesis, stalk elongation appeared more or less normal, but the stalks eventually became fragile, and by 240 min, most of the stalks had broken off, leaving only stubs attached to the cell body.


Podoplanin (PDPN)/T1alpha/Aggrus, a small mucin-type transmembrane glycoprotein, has been shown to be expressed on lymphatic endothelial cells and epithelial cells of many organs. PDPN is also upregulated in many cancers, and is involved in cancer metastasis and malignant progression. Human PDPN possesses three platelet aggregation-stimulating (PLAG) domains and the PLAG-like domain, which bind to C-type lectin-like receptor-2 (CLEC-2). Previously, we reported a novel antipig PDPN (pPDPN) monoclonal antibody (PMab-210) using Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method. PMab-210 specifically detected pPDPN-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells by flow cytometry and Western blot analysis. Immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated that PMab-210 stained pulmonary type I alveolar cells strongly and renal corpuscles weakly in pig or microminipig. However, the specific binding epitope of PMab-210 for pPDPN could not be determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a series of pPDPN peptides. In this study, deletion mutants or point mutants of pPDPN were produced for analyzing the PMab-210 epitope using flow cytometry. The analysis of deletion mutants showed that N-terminus of PMab-210 epitope exists between 45th amino acid (aa) and 50th aa of pPDPN. In addition, the analysis of point mutants demonstrated that the critical epitope of PMab-210 could include Glu47, Asp48, Tyr49, Thr50, and Val51 of pPDPN, indicating that PMab-210 epitope is located in PLAG3 domain of pPDPN.


Polar, alpine and temperate ectothermic (cold-blooded) animals encounter temperatures below the melting point of their body fluids either diurnally or seasonally. These animals have developed a number of biochemical and physiological adaptations to survive the low temperatures. The problems posed to the animals during cold periods include changes in membrane and protein structure due to phase changes in these molecules, changes in electrolyte concentrations and other solutes in the body fluids as well as changes in metabolism. Cold-tolerant ectothermic animals can be divided into two groups depending which of two 'strategies' they employ to survive the low temperatures: freeze-tolerant animals which survive ice formation in the tissues and freeze-avoiding animals which tolerate the low temperatures but not crystallization of the body fluids. The adaptations are mainly directed towards the control or avoidance of ice formation and include the synthesis of low mol. wt cryoprotectants, ice-nucleating agents and antifreeze proteins. However, some of the adaptations such as the synthesis of low mol. wt cryoprotectants are also more specific in their mechanism, e.g. direct stabilizing interaction with membranes and proteins. The mechanisms employed by such animals may offer ideas and information on alternative approaches which might be usefully employed in the cryopreservation of cells and tissues frequently required in assisted reproductive technology.


Genetics literacy is crucial for making informed decisions. However, perceived complexity, educational gaps, and misleading media narratives make reaching diverse populations difficult. Interventions to improve genetics literacy beyond K—12 classrooms should center on building science trust and self-efficacy. We used a mixed methods approach to survey 12 museums with genetics content and found 3 framing devices, "Genetics is Fun," "Genetics is Relevant," and "Genetics is Discovery." While each framing strategy leads to high engagement with genetics topics, these approaches differed in ways that affect ability to learn and how genetics is perceived. Exhibit creators should consider design ramifications when creating a genetics exhibit that builds genetic literacy.


Objective: To review the evidence for the short- and long-term efficacy and safety of conventional and atypical agents in patients with first-episode schizophrenia, and to highlight strategies to improve medication adherence in this patient group. Methods: Studies published or in press between January 1975 and December 2006 that evaluated the efficacy and safety of conventional and atypical antipsychotic agents in first-episode schizophrenia were identified from a literature search using MEDLINE and reviewed. In addition, issues of adherence to medication were reviewed. Results: Seventeen studies were identified that met criteria for inclusion in the review. Results from short-term studies indicate that both atypical and conventional agents produced substantial and significant reductions in symptom severity and psychopathology. However, the long-term studies found advantages for atypical antipsychotics over conventional agents, including faster treatment responses, fewer relapses, more time spent in remission, and better retention of patients in treatment. In general, conventional antipsychotics were associated with more extrapyramidal symptoms, while patients receiving atypical agents experienced greater weight gain and prolactin elevation. Studies that compared dosages suggest that lower doses are as or more effective than higher doses in first-episode patients. Adherence remains a critical problem in the first episode. Long-acting antipsychotic agents that ensure continuous drug delivery and the provision of appropriate psychosocial therapy have the potential to address this problem. Initial data reviewed here suggest that long-acting risperidone, the first atypical antipsychotic available in a long-acting formulation, could be a valuable addition to the armamentarium of pharmacologic treatment strategies for longterm treatment of first-episode schizophrenia. Conclusion: Atypical antipsychotic agents offer advantages in the long-term management of first-episode schizophrenia. A long-acting atypical antipsychotic may provide a novel strategy for patients with first-episode schizophrenia.


Synthesis of gray ceramic pigment was carried out by doping cobalt on Tialite crystal structure. Tialite was synthesized by using Al2O3 and TiO2, and was doped with Co3O4 as a chromophore material. To prevent the thermal decomposition during cooling procedure Fe2O3 was added by 0.05mole as a stabilizer. Samples were fired at 1400~1500°C for 2hours and cooled naturally. Crystal structure, solubility limit and color of synthesized pigment were analyzed by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, UV and UV-vis. Yield percentage of Tialite was 96.15% with using Fe2O3 as a stabilizer. It was found that solubility limit of Co2+ in Tialite crystal was 0.03 mole% through analysis of XRD and Raman. By adding pigment with 0.03 mole% of Co2+ to lime-barium glaze, stabilized Dark Gray color glaze having 46.12, -1.26, 0.53 as CIE-L*a*b* was synthesized.


In this work we address the issue of uncertainty in abstract argumentation. We propose a way to compute the relative relevance of arguments by merging the classical argumentation framework proposed in [5] into a game theoretic coalitional setting, where the worth of a collection of arguments can be seen as the combination of the information concerning the defeat relation and the preferences over arguments of a "user". Via a property-driven approach, we show that the Shapley value [17] for coalitional games defined over an argumentation framework, can be applied to resume all the information about the worth of sets of arguments into an attribution of relevance for the single arguments. We also prove that, for a large family of (coalitional) argumentation frameworks, the Shapley value can be easily


This paper proposes a method and a tool based on cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) for assessing energy efficiency improvements in buildings using a case example from Egypt. Commonly used methods for economic appraisal of energy efficiency improvements have shortcomings that warrant the study of alternative methods. To offer avenues for improving the current economic assessment of energy efficiency, methods used in other fields are studied. A chain of argumentation for choosing a suitable method is developed. As a result, CEA appears to be best suited to the problem at hand. It can be used to, first, define the cost of the primary aim of saving energy and, second, allow the comparison of alternative investments in sustainable energy, not limited to energy conservation alone. A case building is studied with a calculation using a CEA method adapted for energy efficiency improvements in buildings to demonstrate the use of the method. In the case studied the CEA calculation produced costs of 0.26–0.60 USD/kWh for energy saved by the energy efficiency investments made. A systematic appraisal of cost-effectiveness of alternative energy efficiency projects would allow pointing out the most effective ones in terms of energy saved per money spent.


Background Carers play a vital role in supporting patients at end of life (EOL). EOL care policy promotes comprehensive person-centred assessment/support for carers, but without a clear implementation strategy this will only remain an aspiration. Aim To develop recommendations for organisational structures/processes required for implementation of comprehensive person-centred assessment/support for carers in EOL practice. Methods 1) Secondary analysis of qualitative data on implementation in 36 services to identify factors facilitating/hindering implementation. 2) Expert consultation (focus groups with 19 lead practitioners/hospice managers) to review Stage1 findings and develop draft recommendations. 3) Wider stakeholder consultation – two professional workshops (23 participants: hospice, hospital, community, policy and academics), online survey (62 participants) and two carer workshops (nine participants) to finalise recommendations. Results Comprehensive, person-centred carer assessment/support requires whole-systems change; a cultural shift at practitioner and organisational level. Ten recommendations identify key structures and processes not normally met by current provision: Consistent identification of carers within the care setting Demographic and contextual data on who the carer is and their situation A method/protocol for assessing carers and responding to assessment A recording system for carer information (separate from patient data) A process for training staff about carer assessment/support Available time/workload capacity for carer assessment/support Support from senior managers Role models/champions Pathways for communication about carer assessment/support Procedures for monitoring/auditing processes and outcomes of carer assessment/support. Conclusions Comprehensive, person-centred carer support requires radical change, at different organisational levels. Carers' fit within service provision also urgently needs clarification. Our ten recommendations outline necessary building blocks to achieve this change.


Recent developments in structural modeling techniques have dramatically increased the capability to incorporate fold‐related data into the modeling workflow. However, these techniques are lacking a mathematical framework for properly addressing structural uncertainties. Previous studies investigating structural uncertainties have focused on the sensitivity of the interpolator to perturbing the input data. These approaches do not incorporate conceptual uncertainty about the geological structures and interpolation process to the overall uncertainty estimate. In this work, we frame structural modeling as an inverse problem and use a Bayesian framework to reconcile structural parameters and data uncertainties. Bayesian inference is applied for determining the posterior probability distribution of fold parameters given a set of structural observations and prior distributions based on general geological knowledge and regional observations. This approach allows for an inversion of structural geology data, where each realization can differ in the structural description of the fold geometries, instead of finding only a single best fit solution. We show that analyzing the variability between the resulting models highlights uncertainties associated with the geometry of regional structures. These areas can be used to target where additional data would be most beneficial for improving the model quality and efficiently reducing structural uncertainty.


The thickness of the process equipment increases in proportion to pressure for the methane hydrate transportation and storage. The pressure is one of the most important factors, because a material must be selected in the way of proper pressure and temperature to design the process equipment. Therefore, we tried to figure out whether the phase equilibrium temperature & pressure can be applied to the designed temperature and pressure or not, and carried out the thickness calculation of the pure methane hydrate container in accordance with "Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code - Division I of Section VIII, ASME". Also, we studied on the effect of the container's thickness using the results of the phase equilibrium temperature and pressure measurement including the inhibitor and promoter of the methane hydrate on some related references.


We aimed to summarize the outcomes reported following the implantation of the V4c implantable collamer lens with a central port (ICL, STAAR Surgical Inc) for myopia correction. A literature search in PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus was carried out to identify publications reporting clinical outcomes of patients who were implanted with the V4c ICL model and had a follow‐up period of at least 6 months. A total of 35 clinical studies published between 2012 and 2020 were included in the present review. A comprehensive analysis of the available data was performed, focusing on visual and refractive outcomes at different time‐points post‐surgery. In addition, adverse events and other parameters such as endothelial cell density, intraocular pressure and vault measurements—which were evaluated in some of the studies—were also compared. This review encompassed a total of 2904 eyes. The outcomes reported in this review lead us to conclude that ICL V4c implantation for myopia correction is a safe and efficient procedure, with stable visual and refractive outcomes and low adverse event rates. The patient's anterior segment should be thoroughly characterized, and the ICL parameters should be carefully selected so as to achieve good outcomes and avoid complications.


From the cultural history perspective, this study examined the impact of the 1965 Immigration Act on the portrayals of Asian Americans in American magazine advertisements during the 1970s. A content analysis of 734 mainstream magazine ads revealed that the first reform of the U.S. immigration policy, which was initiated by the 1965 Immigration Act, appears to have influenced the portrayals of Asian Americans in the advertisements. First, Asian Americans appeared more frequently in the advertisements. Second, they were more frequently presented as playing a major role in the advertisements. Third, they were depicted more in business settings and as having business relationships with other characters within the advertisements than ever before. Fourth, positive stereotyping in the advertisements was apparent for Asian Americans. All these were attributable to the increase in the number of the Asian population and their elevated socioeconomic status after the Act.


AIMS
To assess the 1 year efficacy of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) as index procedure for persistent atrial fibrillation (PersAF) comparing conventional radiofrequency irrigated-tip catheter ablation (RFCA) using contact-force technology and ablation using the second-generation cryoballoon (CB-AdvA).

METHODS AND RESULTS
One hundred consecutive patients (74 male, 74%; mean age 62.4 ± 9.6 years) with drug-refractory PersAF undergoing PVI using RFCA and CB-AdvA were enrolled. Follow-up was based on outpatient clinic visits including Holter-electrocardiograms. Recurrence of atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATas) was defined as a symptomatic or documented episode >30 s. Among 100 patients, 50 underwent RFCA whereas 50 CB-AdvA. Mean procedure and fluoroscopy times were 90.5 ± 41.7 vs. 140.2 ± 46.9 min and 14.5 ± 6.6 vs. 19.8 ± 6.8 min in the CB-Adv and in the RFCA group, respectively (P < 0.01). At 1 year follow-up, after a 3 months blanking period (BP), freedom from ATas off-drugs after a single procedure was 60% (28/50 patients) in the CB-Adv and 56% (27/50 patients) in the RFCA group (P = 0.71). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that PersAF duration (P = 0.01) and relapses during BP (P = 0.02) were independent predictors of ATa recurrences following the index procedure.

CONCLUSION
Freedom from ATas following PersAF ablation with RFCA and CB-Adv is comparable at 1 year follow-up after a single procedure. Ablation with the CB-Adv is associated with shorter procedure time and radiation exposure as compared with RFCA. Atrial tachyarrhythmias occurrence during BP and longer time of PersAF seem to be significant predictors of arrhythmia recurrences after the index procedure.


Despite the long history of arbitration being used as a method of resolving disputes, the precise legal nature of arbitration and arbitral awards remains controversial. The controversy is reflected in the manner in which courts have dealt with arbitral awards, particularly with respect to recognition and enforcement. One key question regarding the recognition of arbitral awards is whether it must be issued in the name of the country's supreme authority and whether it may be nullified if it lacks such detail. The Qatari legal scene was confronted with this question in June 2012 when the Court of Cassation refused to recognize an arbitral award on the basis that the award was not issued in the name of the Emir of Qatar. Following this decision, debate erupted among legal professionals who were largely divided on the merits of the decision. After some two years of heated debate, the Court of Cassation abandoned its stance and has now recognized arbitral awards that do not carry the name of the Emir.


Learning classifier systems (LCSs) originated from cognitive-science research but migrated such that LCS became powerful classification techniques. Modern LCSs can be used to extract building blocks of knowledge to solve more difficult problems in the same or a related domain. Recent works on LCSs showed that the knowledge reuse through the adoption of Code Fragments, GP-like tree-based programs, into LCSs could provide advances in scaling. However, since solving hard problems often requires constructing high-level building blocks, which also results in an intractable search space, a limit of scaling will eventually be reached. Inspired by human problem-solving abilities, XCSCF* can reuse learned knowledge and learned functionality to scale to complex problems by transferring them from simpler problems using layered learning. However, this method was unrefined and suited to only the Multiplexer problem domain. In this paper, we propose improvements to XCSCF* to enable it to be robust across multiple problem domains. This is demonstrated on the benchmarks Multiplexer, Carry-one, Majority-on, and Even-parity domains. The required base axioms necessary for learning are proposed, methods for transfer learning in LCSs developed and learning recast as a decomposition into a series of subordinate problems. Results show that from a conventional tabula rasa, with only a vague notion of what subordinate problems might be relevant, it is possible to capture the general logic behind the tested domains, so the advanced system is capable of solving any individual n-bit Multiplexer, n-bit Carry-one, n-bit Majority-on, or n-bit Even-parity problem.


The link between gut microbiota and insulin resistance has an important clinical impact, people affected by dysbiosis having a predisposition for developing: obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, cancers, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. Dysbiosis may lead through chronic inflammation to obesity and metabolic syndrome. We carried out a systematic review of the studies dedicated to the role of gut microbiota in weight gain and obesity. A systematic literature search of recent data published in electronic databases, was performed, using as search phrase: "gut microbiome and body weight and obesity". Studies that contained no data about the influence of gut microbiota changes on obesity were excluded. Western diet, antibiotic use in childhood, excessive maternal pre-pregnancy weight, Cesarean delivery, and testosterone deficiency are triggers of the alteration of microbiota and subsequently the appearance of obesity. Predominance of Firmicutes and anaerobic genera, changes in the mycobiome and viral intestinal population are implied in the etiology of obesity. Prebiotics, polyphenols, different herbs, medication (antidiabetics, calcium), physical exercise, rich fibre intake and bariatric surgery are the most important therapeutic options. Personalized dietary treatments, antiviral agents and mycobiome manipulation would represent the new target in treating obesity. Any change of the quantitative and qualitative composition of microbiota has influence on the components of metabolic syndrome, so any management strategy for the treatment or prevention of obesity in children and adulthood should have the microbiome as target.


Human cancer cell lines are widely used in pharmacological and systems biological studies. The rapid documentation of the steady-state gene expression landscape of the cells used in a particular experiment may help to improve the reproducibility of scientific research. Here we applied a data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) method, coupled with a peptide spectral-library free data analysis workflow, to measure both proteome and phosphoproteome of a melanoma cell line panel with different metastatic properties. For each cell line, the single-shot DIA-MS detected 8,100 proteins and almost 40,000 phosphopeptides in the respective measurement of two hours. Benchmarking the DIA-MS data towards the RNA-seq data and tandem mass tag (TMT)-MS results from the same set of cell lines demonstrated comparable qualitative coverage and quantitative reproducibility. Our data confirmed the high but complex mRNA~protein and protein~phospsite correlations. The results successfully established DIA-MS as a strong and competitive proteotyping approach for cell lines. The data further showed that all subunits of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor transamidase complex were overexpressed in metastatic melanoma cells and identified altered phosphoprotein modules such as BAF complex and mRNA splicing between metastatic and primary cells. This study provides a high-quality resource for calibrating DIA-MS performance, benchmarking DIA bioinformatic algorithms, and exploring the metastatic proteotypes in melanoma cells.


It has been proposed that a ring-opened form may be responsible for the toxicity of benzene. The present studies demonstrate that incubation of [14C]benzene with liver microsomes (obtained from male CD-1 mice treated with benzene) in the presence of NADPH results in the formation of a ring-opened product. Evidence for the identity of this product was obtained by derivatizing with 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA), which resulted in the formation of an adduct with a 490-nm absorbance maximum. This maximum is identical to that observed after authentic trans,trans-muconaldehyde has reacted with TBA. Separation of muconaldehyde, both with and without trapping with TBA, from other benzene metabolites in the incubation mixture was accomplished by HPLC. The radioactivity profile of fractions collected during HPLC analysis contained peaks that eluted with muconaldehyde and the muconaldehyde-TBA adduct. The structure of the ring-opened product was confirmed by mass spectrometry, studies in which the HPLC peak from the microsomal incubation mixture that eluted at the retention time of authentic muconaldehyde was collected and derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. The high-resolution mass spectrum of this sample contained an ion with an m/z of 291.0729, corresponding to muconaldehyde mono-dinitrophenylhydrazone. These results indicate that benzene is metabolized in vitro to a ring-opened product identified as muconaldehyde.


BACKGROUND
Damage of the blood-brain barrier and invasion of immunocompetent cells into the central nervous system represent key events in the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Mitoxantrone hydrochloride reduces progression of disability and clinical exacerbations in patients with multiple sclerosis. Its precise mode of action is unclear.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of mitoxantrone on the migratory capacity of immunocompetent cells ex vivo and in vitro.

DESIGN
Case-control study.

SETTING
Department of Neurology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.

PARTICIPANTS
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from 11 patients with multiple sclerosis before and after intravenous mitoxantrone treatment; PBMCs from 5 healthy control donors were treated with mitoxantrone in vitro.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The migratory capacity was studied in an in vitro Boyden chamber assay; cells and their rates of migration were analyzed by light microscopy and flow cytometry. To determine the specificity of our findings, PBMCs were treated with perfosfamide in vitro.

RESULTS
Mitoxantrone decreased the migratory capacity of CD14(+) monocytes and (to a lesser degree) of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes. These observations were confirmed when control PBMCs were treated with an equivalent dose of mitoxantrone in vitro. Similar effects were seen when PBMCs were preincubated with perfosfamide. The inhibitory effects of mitoxantrone on the migratory capacity of PBMCs were mediated by reduced matrix metalloproteinase 9 activity, as demonstrated by zymography, polymerase chain reaction, and inhibitory studies.

CONCLUSION
Mitoxantrone may inhibit the migration of inflammatory cells into and within the central nervous system.


Author(s): Habib, Abdulelah | Advisor(s): Kleissl, Jan; de Callafon, Raymond A. | Abstract: Optimization techniques were applied to solve critical power system problems. We first studied the sizing and scheduling of stand-alone loads and generators for optimal energy utilization. The main application of this work is water treatment or desalination plants which are powered by stand-alone solar farms in off-grid setup. The techniques can also be applied to large loads operating in island modes - such as motors or pumps, steel manufacturing, and data centers. Mixed integer linear programming was used for sizing and scheduling the loads. Historical solar data was also used to optimally schedule the available resources in a selected location. Static and dynamic loads types were simulated. The second portion of this thesis focuses on methods to mitigating macrogrid power outages by utilizing available Distributed Energy Resources (DER) to supply load locally, but across several customers. Real household data was analyzed. The algorithm schedules load and demand to meet certain objective functions such as minimizing power losses or maximizing solar energy utilization and is implemented in the framework of mixed integer linear programming. Reliability metrics increased significantly through power sharing. Finally, optimization methods are applied to size a Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) from an economic perspective. As BESS can mitigate effects of intermittent energy production from renewable energy sources they play a critical role in peak shaving and demand charge management. The trade-off between BESS investment costs, lifetime, and revenue from utility bill savings along with microgrid ancillary services are taken into account to determine the optimal size of a BESS. The optimal size of a BESS is solved via a stochastic optimization problem considering wholesale market pricing. A stochastic model is used to schedule arbitrage services for energy storage based on the forecasted energy market pricing while accounting for BESS cost trends, the variability of renewable energy resources, and demand prediction. The approach is illustrated with an application to various realistic case studies based on pricing and demand data from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The case study results give insight in optimal BESS sizing from a cost perspective, based on both long-term installation schedules and daily BESS operation.


Fish of five species of deep-sea squaloids (Centrophorus squamosus, Centroscymnus coelolepis, Dalaticis licha, Deania calcea and Etmopterus princeps) and one-deep sea holocephalan (Hydrolagus affinis) were all found to float when brought to the surface and placed in surface or laboratory sea water. However, by taking account of the effects of salinity, temperature and pressure differences between this seawater and that in which the animals lived, it is shown that all these animals must have been very close to neutral buoyancy at the bottom of the sea. Every one of these fish had an enormous oily liver and the lift which this gave almost exactly compensated for the weight in sea water of the rest of the animal. These livers contained large amomits of the hydrocarbon squalene which is not a convenient material to have as a metabolic reserve but which, with its low specific gravity (0.86), is particularly suited to give lift, being 80 % more effective per unit weight for this purpose than cod-liver oil. It is calculated that because of this unusual oil such fish not only obtain the lift needed for neutral buoyancy more economically in terms of the weight of oil required, but also in terms of the metabolic energy which has to be used to provide the oil-store responsible for buoyancy. It is argued that these fish must carefully regulate the oil content of their livers so as always to balance exactly the weight in sea water of their other tissues. The mechanism whereby they do this is not known.


Low-precision training is a promising way of decreasing the time and energy cost of training machine learning models. Previous work has analyzed low-precision training algorithms, such as low-precision stochastic gradient descent, and derived theoretical bounds on their convergence rates. These bounds tend to depend on the dimension of the model $d$ in that the number of bits needed to achieve a particular error bound increases as $d$ increases. In this paper, we derive new bounds for low-precision training algorithms that do not contain the dimension $d$ , which lets us better understand what affects the convergence of these algorithms as parameters scale. Our methods also generalize naturally to let us prove new convergence bounds on low-precision training with other quantization schemes, such as low-precision floating-point computation and logarithmic quantization.


Nonproliferating cells of Chromobacterium violaceum incubated with glycine, methionine, and succinate as substrates accumulated beta-cyanoalanine in the culture fluid. Tracer experiments showed that carbons-2, -3, and -4 of beta-cyanoalanine are derived from the 2-carbon of glycine. When methionine-methyl-(14)C, succinate-1,4-(14)C, or succinate-2,3-(14)C was used as substrate, beta-cyanoalanine did not become labeled. If K(14)CN and serine were used as substrates, the cyano group of beta-cyanoalanine was labeled. Radioactive beta-cyanoalanine, labeled in the 3-carbon, was formed when glycine and H(14)CHO were used as substrates. (14)C-formic acid did not replace formaldehyde. Asparagine also accumulated in the incubated mixture and was found to be labeled in the amide carbon. Incubation of cells with beta-cyanoalanine-4-(14)C produced labeled aspartic acid in cell hydrolysates.


A sugarcane gene encoding a dirigent-jacalin, ShDJ, was induced under drought stress. To elucidate its biological function, we integrated a ShDJ-overexpression construction into the rice Nipponbare genome via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Two transgenic lines with a single copy gene in T0 were selected and evaluated in both the T1 and T4 generations. Transgenic lines had drastically improved survival rate under water deficit conditions, at rates close to 100%, while WT did not survive. Besides, transgenic lines had improved biomass production and higher tillering under water deficit conditions compared with WT plants. Reduced pectin and hemicellulose contents were observed in transgenic lines compared with wild-type plants under both well-watered and water deficit conditions, whereas cellulose content was unchanged in line #17 and reduced in line #29 under conditions of low water availability. Changes in lignin content under water deficit were only observed in line #17. However, improvements in saccharification were found in both transgenic lines along with changes in the expression of OsNTS1/2 and OsMYB58/63 secondary cell wall biosynthesis genes. ShDJ-overexpression up-regulated the expression of the OsbZIP23, OsGRAS23, OsP5CS, and OsLea3 genes in rice stems under well-watered conditions. Taken together, our data suggest that ShDJ has the potential for improving drought tolerance, plant biomass accumulation, and saccharification efficiency.


PURPOSE
Few molecular determinants of sensitivity to cancer chemotherapy exist. In experimental systems, p53 regulates the sensitivity to antimicrotubule drugs through its effect on microtubule-associated protein 4 (MAP4). MAP4 is the major microtubule-associated protein in nonneuronal tissues and promotes microtubule polymerization. We reported that wild-type p53 induction by doxorubicin in C127 breast cancer cells repressed MAP4, decreased microtubule polymerization, and increased Vinca alkaloid sensitivity. The goals of this Phase I/pilot clinical trial were to determine: (a) the safety of delivering a DNA-damaging agent (doxorubicin) followed in sequence by treatment with an antimicrotubule drug (vinorelbine); and (b) the feasibility of detecting activation of p53 and repression of MAP4 in patients' tissues.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) and tumor were obtained from 16 women with locally advanced (stage IIIb) or metastatic (stage IV) breast cancer before doxorubicin treatment and immediately before treatment with vinorelbine 24 or 48 h later.

RESULTS
After doxorubicin treatment, p53 increased in 12 of 14 PBMNC and 4 of 10 tumor samples. Changes in MAP4 were variable; however, in samples in which p53 was induced, MAP4 decreased in 7 of 12 PBMNC and 3 of 4 breast cancer specimens. Immunohistochemistry confirmed lower MAP4 expression in tumor cells after doxorubicin treatment. Seven of 16 patients had a partial response, and treatment was well tolerated.

CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate the ability to detect the activation of p53 and the repression of MAP4 in normal and malignant tissues in patients treated with a DNA-damaging agent, and that an antimicrotubule drug can be administered safely at a time when cells may be more sensitive to treatment.


The article addresses internal and hidden politics of changes in bureaucracies by focusing on the introduction and use of policy instruments as institutional change without radical or explicit shifts in administrative systems. Beneath public administrative reforms, it examines the use of "low-profile instruments" characterized by their technical and goal-oriented dimension but also by their low visibility to external actors due to the high complexity of their commensurating purpose and the automaticity of their use. The core case study of the paper offers a historical sociology of a technique for calculating the growth of the French civil service wage bill from the mid-1960s to the 2000s. The origins, uses, and institutionalisation of this method in the French context are explored to emphasize the important way of governing the bureaucracy at times of crisis through automatic, unobtrusive, incremental, and low-profile mechanisms. While insisting on the salience of techniques for calculating, measuring, classifying, and indexing in the contemporary art of government, it also suggests the need for observing and explaining "everyday forms of retrenchment" in bureaucracies.


All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) has been shown to improve the outcome of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). However, various adverse effects of ATRA treatment have been noted, such as scrotal and genital ulcers in adult patients. The authors report genital ulcers that developed in a child with APL after ATRA treatment. An 8-year-old girl with APL was treated with ATRA for 21 days and after discontinuation of ATRA treatment she developed genital ulcers. Systemic and local antibiotic pomades were applied and the lesions improved within 15 days. In conclusion, genital ulcers may develop in children with APL as a complication of ATRA treatment and physicians should be alert to this possibility.


Multicarrier transmission technique has become a prominent transmission technique in high-speed wireless communication systems. It is due to its frequency diversity,small inter-symbol interference in the multipath fading channel, simple equalizer structure, and high bandwidth efficiency. Nevertheless, in thetime domain, multicarrier transmission signal has high PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio) thatinterprets to low power amplifier efficiencies. To decrease the PAPR, a CCSLM (Convolutional Code Selective Mapping) scheme for multicarrier transmission with a high number of subcarriers is proposed in this paper. Proposed scheme is based on SLM method and employs interleaver and convolutional coding. Related works on the PAPR reduction have considered either 128 or 256 number of subcarriers. However, PAPR of multicarrier transmission signal will increase as a number of subcarriers increases. The proposed method achieves significant PAPR reduction for ahigher number of subcarriers as well as better power amplifier efficiency. Simulation outcomes validate the usefulness of projected scheme.


This paper presents an accelerating Nonuniform Fast Fourier Transform (NUFFT) algorithm for imaging reconstruction of two-dimensional synthetic aperture radiometer. This algorithm relies on a mixture of the fast Gaussian gridding algorithm and the judicious use of the FFT on an oversampled grid. It is not limited for an equal spaced visibility function sampling, and has the advantage in storage compared with the traditional gridding method. It is also beneficial for the system optimization by testing a new antenna array configuration. The numerical simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm is accurate and high-speed.


Sheep production is
probably one of the oldest productions in the world. In early years this animal
was considered as a domestic and productive one, since it provided families
with milk, meat and wool. Besides providing all these products, the animals
were not difficult to grow. They fed on many different floras that others would
leave so their owners started to walk great distances with them to get the best
grazing spots in winter and in summer. They called this transhumance. But in nowadays,
animal feed became easier to get to. It was no longer necessary to move all the
animals to pastures hundreds of kilometers away, and producers started going
for shorter distances. Production also got more intensive, although sheep
production was always considered to be more extensive rather than intensive.
With this revision we intend to go over all the statistics concerning this production
in Portugal and compare it in different years, to establish a correlation
between them. Although sheep production is made entirely with autochthonous
breeds and these are milk and meat production oriented, the meat production has
a higher relevance in the sector. So it was necessary to make a more thorough
approach to this production. There is also an interest in new and emergent ways
of production which we discuss at the end of this revision, along with a small
global analysis.


Pediatric Anesthesia: The Requisites in Anesthesiology is the newest addition to the Requisites series edited by Roberta L. Hines. This volume is edited and largely authored by Ronald S. Litman, D.O. He draws from his extensive experience as a pediatrician and anesthesiologist at the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York) and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). He has designed the text to be a stand-alone reference for anesthesia residents during their core rotation in pediatric anesthesia, as well as an aid in preparation for written, oral, and recertification examinations. The book is 361 pages in length, with 38 chapters, in eight sections, covering essential topics in pediatric anesthesia. Section I focuses on the physiology of healthy pediatric patients. There is particular attention paid to fetal and infant development, underscoring their unique differences from older children and adults. Section II focuses on pediatric diseases and is organized by organ system. The congenital heart disease chapter offers helpful diagrams for visualizing some important lesions, as well as a useful case discussion regarding the care of an emergency patient with a single ventricle. The respiratory chapter discusses the contentious topic of anesthetizing a child with an upper respiratory infection both by reviewing a frequently cited article on the topic and by providing a case discussion. The chapter also necessarily covers lower respiratory tract diseases. There is special focus on asthma, and further coverage of status asthmaticus in section VIII, the critical care chapter. The oncology chapter provides a clear outline of the principles for anesthetizing a child with an anterior mediastinal mass, in addition to reviewing key articles and providing a case discussion. Rounding out section II are well-written chapters on diseases affecting premature and formerly premature infants. Section III reviews preoperative assessment and preparation. It was curious that the discussion on premedication with midazolam included every route except intramuscular. Although no one really likes to give shots, it can be the most reliable route for premedicating a spirited toddler coming from home. Section IV covers intraoperative management. There is a wonderfully clear discussion of the dreaded topic of pediatric breathing circuits. There are two chapters on pediatric airway management. The difficult airway chapter, one of the longer chapters in the book, reviews strategies for managing children with either an anticipated or an unanticipated difficult intubation or ventilation. It is well organized and stresses the importance of having multiple backup plans with experienced personnel on hand. In addition to algorithms, there is a clear step-by-step protocol for epiglottitis management, which will aid both practitioners and those preparing for oral examinations. The malignant hyperthermia chapter similarly offers a clear step-by-step protocol for managing suspected malignant hyperthermia patients, as well as highlighting the indications for muscle biopsy testing. Section V briefly reviews a few postoperative considerations. These include: discharge criteria, postoperative nausea and vomiting, stridor, and emergence delirium. In section VI, Drs. Logan and Rose cover the evolving field of pediatric pain management in five chapters of varying depth. Each chapter includes an interesting case discussion, as well as a review of a historically relevant article. The chapters cover pain assessment, analgesia pharmacology, local anesthetics, and adjuvant analgesics, as well as acute pain management and diagnosis and a brief chapter on treatment of complex regional pain syndrome type I in children. The final sections (VII and VIII) cover pediatric surgical procedures, critical care topics, and pediatric anesthesia in nonoperating room locations. As a whole, the book offers a number of unique features. Most of the chapters have not only an illustrative case discussion for the chapter, but also a review of an "Article to Know" that has shaped pediatric anesthetic practice. Those preparing for oral board examinations will find these features valuable. Visually, these sections are set aside in shadowed boxes to highlight their importance and enhance readability. In addition, the text offers sections titled "Additional Articles to Know." These are not so-called suggested readings; rather, the authors provide a brief listing of articles that have shaped pediatric anesthesia practice. Interestingly, the text itself is not heavily referenced. This seems to be clearly a stylistic choice, but perhaps future editions might make a complete bibliography available at least on-line. Like all first editions, Pediatric Anesthesia: The Requisites in Anesthesiology is a work in progress. Dr. Litman's authorship of a number of the chapters gives the book stylistic consistency and enhances its readability. The text succeeds in being a concise, tightly focused overview of the field of pediatric anesthesia. As such, not all topics receive in-depth discussion. For example, the chapter entitled chronic pediatric pain discusses only one pathology, complex regional pain syndrome type I. This is not so much a criticism as an acknowledgment that challenging pathology and procedures always require deeper investigation from other sources. Still, the reader should walk away with a sense of what is a reasonable standard of care for a variety of pediatric patients undergoing routine procedures. This Requisites text is a good starting point for those who desire an overview of pediatric anesthesia. It should be extremely helpful to residents doing their core rotation in pediatric anesthesia, as well as those preparing for their oral board examinations. The book is readable, informative, and well written. I highly recommend it.


The incorporation of renewable energy into the future world energy matrix challenges its efficient use because renewable energy is not always available due to its dependence on natural factors such as wind and sunlight. This work develops a new resource management system to evaluate the renewable energy resources stored in salt caves using power-to-gas (P2G) and compressed air energy storage (CAES) technologies in the initial phase of a project (sub-commercial phase). To fulfill this objective, bibliographical research, document analysis, and consultations with specialists were used as the methodological basis. Two systems were identified to be used as a reference for the proposed methodology: Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) and CO2 Storage Resources Management System (SRMS). A classification framework is proposed for energy storage and an application of the framework is presented for a case study in Portugal. Similar to these reference systems, a sub-commercial project momentum was established, and three stages called total potential resource (R3), total probable resource (R2), and total proved resource (R1) were defined. The results support corporate and governmental decision-making on project continuity for both the market and governments, thus demonstrating their importance in new global energy reality. It is recommended to define the sub-commercial stage as well as the mapping of R2 in the Brazilian territory as was done recently in Europe.


This paper confirms the reputation of Mauritius as a stable country with a wellentrenched
multiparty democracy and parliamentary system, which, however, need
deepening. Independent institutions as well as fair, transparent and credible election
management processes ensure trust both internally and from external observers in
Mauritian democracy and the credibility of the parliamentary and executive
selection process. However, the paper also brings to light the shortcomings,
acknowledged by the Mauritian stakeholders themselves, of the electoral system
which, while it can claim to have provided adequate comfort to the country's pluriethnic
society and to have ensured the stability of the governance system is deficient
in promoting adequate gender representation and a fairer distribution of
parliamentary representation consonant with the voters' will. The attempt to reform
the system is explained as are the reasons why the reform process is still incomplete.


The microbial diversity and metabolic potential of a methanogenic consortium residing in a 3785-liter anaerobic digester, fed with wastewater algae, was analyzed using 454 pyrosequencing technology. DNA was extracted from anaerobic sludge material and used in metagenomic analysis through PCR amplification of the methyl-coenzyme M reductase α subunit (mcrA) gene using primer sets ML, MCR, and ME. The majority of annotated mcrA sequences were assigned taxonomically to the genera Methanosaeta in the order Methanosarcinales. Methanogens from the genus Methanosaeta are obligate acetotrophs, suggesting this genus plays a dominant role in methane production from the analyzed fermentation sample. Numerous analyzed sequences within the algae fed anaerobic digester were unclassified and could not be assigned taxonomically. Relative amplicon frequencies were determined for each primer set to determine the utility of each in pyrosequencing. Primer sets ML and MCR performed better quantitatively (representing the large majority of analyzed sequences) than primer set ME. However, each of these primer sets was shown to provide a quantitatively unique community structure, and thus they are of equal importance in mcrA metagenomic analysis.


Abstract A state-level survey was conducted across major row-crop production regions of Texas to document the level of sensitivity of Palmer amaranth to glyphosate, atrazine, pyrithiobac, tembotrione, fomesafen, and dicamba. Between 137 and 161 Palmer amaranth populations were evaluated for sensitivity to the labelled field rate (1X), and rated as resistant (≤49% injury), less sensitive (50% to 89% injury), or susceptible (90% to 100% injury). For glyphosate, 62%, 19%, 13%, and 13% of the populations from the High Plains, Central Texas, Rio Grande Valley, and Lower Gulf Coast, respectively, were resistant. Resistance to atrazine was more common in Palmer amaranth populations from the High Plains than in other regions, with 16% of the populations resistant and 22% less sensitive. Approximately 90% of the populations from the High Plains that exhibited resistance to atrazine POST also were resistant to atrazine PRE. Of the 160 populations tested for pyrithiobac, approximately 99% were resistant or less sensitive, regardless of the region. No resistance was found to fomesafen, tembotrione, or dicamba. However, 22% of the populations from the High Plains were less sensitive to 1X (93 g ai ha-1) tembotrione, but were killed at 2X, illustrating the background variability in sensitivity to this herbicide. For dicamba, three populations, all from the High Plains, exhibited less sensitivity at the 1X rate (controlled at the 2X rate; 1X = 560 g ae ha-1). One population exhibited multiple resistance to three herbicides with distinct sites of action (SOAs) involving acetolactate synthase, 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, and photosystem II inhibitors. Palmer amaranth populations exhibited less sensitivity to approximately 15 combinations of herbicides involving up to five SOAs. Dose-response assays conducted on the populations most resistant to glyphosate, pyrithiobac, or atrazine indicated they were 30-, 32-, or 49-fold or more resistant to these herbicides, respectively, compared with a susceptible standard. Nomenclature: Atrazine; dicamba; fomesafen; glyphosate; pyrithiobac; tembotrione; Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson


1Lancet, 1965, 1, 1150. 2 Cossio, P M, et al, Circulation, 1974, 49, 13. 3 Cossio, P M, et al, Circulation, 1974, 50, 1252. 4 Teixeira, A R L, Teixeira, M L, and Santos Buch, C A, American3'ournal of Pathology, 1975, 80, 163. 5 Sterin Borda, L, et al, Catdiovascular Research, 1976, 10, 613. 6 Santos Buch, C A, and Teixeira, A R L,Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1974, 140, 38. 7 Cossio, P M, et al, Medicina (Buenos Aires), 1976, 36, 287. 8 Cossio, P M, et al, American Journal of Pathology, 1977, 85, 533. 9 Teixeira, A R L, Teixeira, M L, and Santos Buch, C A, quoted by Santos Buch, C A, in Proceedings of the VII International Conference on Immunopathology3June 1976, ed P A Miescher. Basle, Schwabe, 1977. 0 Ribeiro dos Santos, R, Von Gal Furtado, C C, and Rodriques, W, in Proceedings of the 13th Congress Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine, 1977, Abstract 62.


Lampridiformes is a peculiar clade of pelagic marine acanthomorph (spiny-rayed) teleosts. Its phylogenetic position remains ambiguous, and varies depending on the type of data (morphological or molecular) used to infer interrelationships. Because the extreme morphological specializations of lampridiforms may have overwritten the ancestral features of the group with a bearing on its relationships, the inclusion of fossils that exhibit primitive character state combinations for the group as a whole is vital in establishing its phylogenetic position. Therefore, we present an osteological data set of extant (ten taxa) and fossil (14 taxa) acanthomorphs, including early Late Cretaceous taxa for which a close relationship with extant Lampridiformes has been suggested: †Aipichthyoidea, †Pharmacichthyidae, and †Pycnosteroididae. We find that all three taxa plus Lampridiformes form a clade that we call Lampridomorpha. Under this hypothesis, †Aipichthyoidea is paraphyletic. The inclusion of fossils in the analysis changes the topology, highlighting their critical importance in phylogenetic studies of morphological characters. When fossils are included, Lampridomorpha is sister to Euacanthomorpha (all other extant acanthomorphs), concurring with most previous anatomical studies, but conflicting with most molecular results. Lampridomorpha as a whole was a major component of the earliest acanthomorph faunas, notably in the Cenomanian. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London


G after God provides an accessible introduction to a wide range of contemporary radical theologies. Radical theology can be defined as talk about the divine that rejects the notion of God as a supernatural personal consciousness who created the world and who intervenes in it to accomplish his purposes. In addition, radical theologies tend to reject the absolute authority of traditional sources of guidance such as the Bible and the tradition of a church. Richard Grigg demonstrates that there is a discernible stream of radical theologies beginning in the seventeenth century and continuing to the present. He explores a host of rich and lively contemporary radical religious positions, including the radical feminist theology of Mary Daly, the deconstructive theology of Mark C. Taylor, the religious naturalism of Ursula Goodenough and Donald Crosby, the pragmatist approaches of Sallie McFague and Gordon Kaufman, the Taoist interpretation of Jesus of Stephen Mitchell, and the feminist polytheism of Naomi Goldenberg. This in-depth examination asks, in unflinching terms, what challenges radical theologies face and whether they have a realistic chance of surviving in American society.


A recent development in data envelopment analysis DEA concerns the introduction of a piece-wise linear representation of the virtual inputs and/or outputs as a means to model situations where the marginal value of an output input is assumed to diminish increase as the output input increases. Currently, this approach is limited to crisp data sets. In this paper, the authors extend the piece-wise linear approach to interval DEA, i.e. to cases where the input/output data are only known to lie within intervals with given bounds. The authors also define appropriate interval segmentations to implement the piece-wise linear forms in conjunction with the interval bounds of the input/output data and the authors propose a new models, compliant with the interval DEA methodology. They finally illustrate their developments with an artificial data set.