Today, the relevance of the textile medium as a technique, material, and metaphor in contemporary art, architecture, and criticism is growing. Nonetheless, the rise of textiles as a prominent medium of art since the 1990s has not been subjected to comprehensive historical and theoretical reflection thus far. The present volume attempts to map out some of the many meanings and functions of textiles in contemporary art so as to articulate a "metatextile" theory or a "textile discourse". The authors discuss such central aspects of the contemporary textile medium as narrative, identity, myth, clothing, technology, deviance, faith, gender, architecture, reproduction, ornament, anthropology, postcolonialism, phenomenology, and historiography. The present collection of essays in English, German and French aims to contribute to a new discussion on the textile medium, its identity and history.


In "The War for South Viet Nam," Anthony James Joes addresses a side not often studied in the range of texts available on the Viet Nam War. Written for a non-military audience, this book chronicles and analyzes the twenty year struggle to maintain South Vietnamese independence. Joes tells the story with a sympathetic focus on South Viet Nam and is highly critical of U.S. military strategy and tactics in fighting this war. He claims that the fall of South Viet Nam was not inevitable, that an abrupt and public termination of U.S. aid provoked a crisis of confidence inside South Viet Nam that led to debacle. Students and scholars of military studies, South East Asia, U.S. foreign policy, or the general reader interested in this fascinating period in 20th-century history, will find "The War for South Viet Nam" invaluable reading. The book begins with an historical background to U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. Written with a keen understanding of political, historical, and military factors, The War for South Viet Nam supplies an assemblage of information that was, until now, widely scattered. Joes closely examines the geographical determinants of the war and discusses mistakes in U.S. strategy, including the Americanization of the war, overly destructive methods of combat, and the failure to resolve the problem of invasion through the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Joes maintains that future stragtegy must contain more sophisticated, less destructive anti-guerrilla tactics. The complicated factors involved in the Viet Nam War are here offered in a consolidated, objective form enabling the reader to consider the implications of U.S. experiences in South Viet Nam for future policy in other world areas.


We describe a method to parameterize lines generated from animated 3D models in the context of animated line drawings. Cartoons and mechanical illustrations are popular subjects of non-photorealistic drawings and are often generated from 3D models. Adding texture to the lines, for instance to depict brush strokes or dashed lines, enables greater expressiveness, e.g. to distinguish between visible and hidden lines. However, dynamic visibility events and the evolving shape of the lines raise issues that have been only partially explored so far. In this paper, we assume that the entire 3D animation is known ahead of time, as is typically the case for feature animations and off-line rendering. At the core of our method is a geometric formulation of the problem as a parameterization of the space-time surface swept by a 2D line during the animation. First, we build this surface by extracting lines in each frame. We demonstrate our approach with silhouette lines. Then, we locate visibility events that would create discontinuities and propagate them through time. They decompose the surface into charts with a disc topology. We parameterize each chart via a least-squares approach that reflects the specific requirements of line drawing. This step results in a texture atlas of the space-time surface which defines the parameterization for each line. We show that by adjusting a few weights in the least-squares energy, the artist can obtain an artifact-free animated motion in a variety of typical non-photorealistic styles such as painterly strokes and technical line drawing.


A key question in the study of minority representation is whether descriptive representatives provide superior substantive representation. Neglected in this literature is the distinction between two forms of substantive representation: rhetoric versus policy. We provide a systematic comparison of presidential minority representation along these two dimensions. Barack Obama was the first African American president, yet his substantive representation of African Americans has not been fully evaluated. Using speech and budget data, we find that relative to comparable presidents, Obama offered weaker rhetorical representation, but stronger policy representation, on race and poverty. While we cannot rule out non-racial explanations, Obama's policy proposals are consistent with minority representation. His actions also suggest that descriptive representatives may provide relatively better policy representation but worse rhetorical representation, at least when the constituency is a numerical minority. We thus highlight an understudied tension between rhetoric and policy in theories of minority representation.


The paper discussed its today's status in medicine in terms of its requirements for accurate measurements and their metrological provision, as well as the possibilities of metrology to meet the requirements. The fact that in medicine there is a wide spectrum of urgent measuring tasks requiring priority metrological provision is illustrated by specific examples. The role and potentialities of the D. I. Mendeleev All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology as the chief center of state standards in solving some of these tasks. Particular attention is given to the provision of unity of measurements of physical values which are most widely medically used in diagnosis and treatment.


An extraordinary diversity of amino acid sequences in the peptide-binding region (PBR) of human leukocyte antigen [HLA; human major histocompatibility complex (MHC)] molecules has been maintained by balancing selection. The process of accumulation of amino acid diversity in the PBR for six HLA genes (HLA-A, B, C, DRB1, DQB1, and DPB1) shows that the number of amino acid substitutions in the PBR among alleles does not linearly correlate with the divergence time of alleles at the six HLA loci. At these loci, some pairs of alleles show significantly less nonsynonymous substitutions at the PBR than expected from the divergence time. The same phenomenon was observed not only in the HLA but also in the rat MHC. To identify the cause for this, DRB1 sequences, a representative case of a typical nonlinear pattern of substitutions, were examined. When the amino acid substitutions in the PBR were placed with maximum parsimony on a maximum likelihood tree based on the non-PBR substitutions, heterogeneous rates of nonsynonymous substitutions in the PBR were observed on several branches. A computer simulation supported the hypothesis that allelic pairs with low PBR substitution rates were responsible for the stagnation of accumulation of PBR nonsynonymous substitutions. From these observations, we conclude that the nonsynonymous substitution rate at the PBR sites is not constant among the allelic lineages. The deceleration of the rate may be caused by the coexistence of certain pathogens for a substantially long time during HLA evolution.


Embedding small devices into everyday objects like toasters and coffee mugs creates a wireless network of objects. These embedded devices can contain a description of the underlying objects, or other user defined information. In this paper, we present Snoogle, a search engine for such a network. A user can query Snoogle to find a particular mobile object, or a list of objects that fit the description. Snoogle uses information retrieval techniques to index information and process user queries, and Bloom filters to reduce communication overhead. Security and privacy protections are also engineered into Snoogle to protect sensitive information. We have implemented a prototype of Snoogle using off-the-shelf sensor motes, and conducted extensive experiments to evaluate the system performance.


Recently, organo-metal halide perovskite solar cells based on planar architecture have demonstrated an exceptional progress These structures show lower defect density, high carrier mobility, and broader absorption spectra in compare to other solar cells. In this work a 3D finite element method (FEM) technique is used to simulate a planer perovskite solar cell. Coupled electricaloptical modeling is constructed to fully characterize the proposed device. We investigate variation of short circuit current (Jsc), open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) in different temperature ranges (280-340 K). Also, the effect of material replacement (Cu2O material instead of CuSCN), as hole transport material (HTM), has been investigated on solar cell performance. It is caused to change Jsc. Based on the result the best PCE is 14.32%. These simulation results open up a way to find accurate design parameters in solar cell with best performance.


In many past theoretical and empirical studies of phytoplankton nutrient allometry, cell surface area has been considered the main limiting factor to nutrient uptake rates because of an assumption that the cell surface area is not large enough to accommodate enough uptake sites to meet the uptake demand. However, calculations in this paper show that the required uptake sites may only cover approximately 76% of the surface area of a typical phytoplankton cell. Cell volume could be the main factor controlling the maximum nutrient uptake rates of phytoplankton cells with a cell volume of <40 μm3, while the cell surface becomes limiting for larger cells. The maximum nutrient uptake rate of phytoplankton cells generally increases almost linearly with cell volume, and that of smaller cells increases faster than that of larger cells.


(1) Background: The importance of physician-patient communication and its effect on patient satisfaction has become a hot topic and has been studied from various aspects in recent years. However, there is a lack of systematic reviews to integrate recent research findings into patient satisfaction studies with physician communication. Therefore, this study aims to systematically examine physician communication's effect on patient satisfaction in public hospitals. (2) Methods: Using a keywords search, data was collected from five databases for the papers published until October 2021. Original studies, observational studies, intervention studies, cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, experimental studies, and qualitative studies published in English, peer-reviewed research, and inpatients who communicated with the physician in a hospital met the inclusion criteria. (3) Results: Overall, 11 studies met the inclusion criteria from the 4810 articles found in the database. Physicians and organizations can influence two determinants of inpatient satisfaction in physician communication. Determinants of patient satisfaction that physicians influence consist of amounts of time spent with the patient, verbal and nonverbal indirect interpersonal communication, and understanding the demands of patients. The organization can improve patient satisfaction with physician communication by the organization's availability of interpreter service and physician workload. Physicians' communication with inpatients can affect patient satisfaction with hospital services. (4) Conclusions: To improve patient satisfaction with physician communication, physicians and organizational determinants must be considered.


Standing on the threshold of a new decade, Texas agriculture is faced with three major problems.
The first of these problems is the imperative need for a sound soil and water conservation program. Texas has been struggling with this problem for fifty years and has made some progress toward its solution. During the war, however, it was an all-out production of food regardless of cost, either in terms of dollars or resources. As a result, the conservation problem is more acute today than ever before.
The second problem is that farm production is out of balance. Lucrative prices for oil and grain crops, plus the increasing shortage of farm labor, turned thousands of farmers from the more stable diversified farm program which had been built up during the '30s. Now, they are again faced with quotas and acreage allotments. This calls for necessarily early and probably extensive readjustment of the entire agricultural production program.
The third major change in the agricultural picture is the rapid industrialization of Texas during and since the war. This increase in urban population in this state means an increased market right at the farmer's door for more livestock, dairy, poultry, fruit, and vegetable production.
Fortunately, the solution of these three problems is found in one answer. Pasture grass, forage crops, and legumes provide the best means of soil and water conservation and soil building. Inclusion of these crops in a diversified and balanced cropping program will solve the problem of marketing quotas and acreage allotments. Marketing through livestock will provide the abundance of these foods which is needed to meet the growing demands of Texas markets.


This research aims at the design and development of a museum-visitor interactive system with a set of tools catering to the new generation of museumgoers. By introducing and using the concept of narrative as a key element for accessing, collecting and sharing museum experiences, the proposed system, MEseum, offers various tools to the museum-visitor that allows for the authoring, curating and sharing of museum experiences. The basic concepts underlying the research are; (a) A new approach to the museum experience as a customizable interactive narrative (b) A social media context within which
that experience is implemented and (c) The use of various interactive technologies to facilitate the experience, including but not limited to social media and way finding tools. The research explores these concepts and applies it to each phase of the museum visit, from planning a visit, to arriving at the museum, and then, later access to memories made.


The global demand for air travel and air transport is expected to further increase in the next couple of years, and so the environmental protection will also increasingly come into focus again. In the aviation sector, this means not only saving fuel and reducing emissions but also reducing the noise pollution caused by aircrafts. For this purpose, sound-absorbing acoustic liners are used, which consist of a sandwich structure with one perforated skin layer. To reduce weight, these outer layers are often made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). For manufacturing these CFRP skin layers, laser drilling offers specific benefits, but when it comes to industrial applications, further process improvements are necessary. Although laser microdrilling is a well-known process in laser materials' processing, it has not yet been sufficiently investigated for the processing of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics. This study investigates the quality and efficiency of laser microdrilling with a 1.5 kW nanosecond-pulsed high-power laser for percussion drilling and helical drilling of thin CFRP laminates. The efficiency was evaluated in terms of drilling depth, the amount of energy required to remove a specific volume of material, and the time required to remove a specific volume of the material. The quality evaluation focused on the heat-affected zone and the hole taper. The efficiency and quality results were set in relation to higher-level parameters such as energy fluence in the laser spot, pulse overlap, or total energy applied. This facilitates future transferability to similar laser processes that may use laser machines and system technology with deviating specifications.


Physics of counterpropagating optical beams and spatial optical solitons is reviewed, including the formation of stationary states and spatiotemporal instabilities. First, several models describing the evolution and interactions between optical beams and spatial solitons are discussed, that propagate in opposite directions in nonlinear media. It is shown that coherent collisions between counterpropagating beams give rise to an interesting focusing mechanism resulting from the interference between the beams, and that interactions between such beams are insensitive to the relative phase between them. Second, recent experimental observations of the counterpropagation effects and instabilities in waveguides and bulk geometries, as well as in one‐ and two‐dimensional photonic lattices are discussed. A variety of different generalizations of this concept are summarized, including the counterpropagating beams of complex structures, such as multipole beams and optical vortices, as well as the beams in different media, such as photorefractive materials and liquid crystals.


The Crisis of Church and State 10501300. By BRIAN TIERNEY. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1964. 211 pp. $5.50. In this unusually interesting "anthology," Professor Tierney has made an excellent selection of appropriate texts. The first section, necessarily quite brief, lays the foundation with some quotations from St. Augustine to the charter of Cluny. Part Two deals with the strife of investitures from the program of Gregory VII to the Concordat of Worms. The third part illustrates the predominance of the lawyers, both civil and canon, from the days of Frederick Barbarossa through the mid-thirteenth century. The fourth and last section suggests the profound change which occurred when the debate shifted from the empire and papacy to the national states and the papacy. The selections range from St. Thomas Aquinas to John of Paris. Each "chapter" (nineteen of them) has a judicious introduction by Professor Tierney, setting most of the selections in their proper backgrounds. The book concludes with a very short reading list of titles available in English. There is no index, but the table of contents is analytical and therefore quite adequate. The thrust of this book is the growth of the debate toward more and more precise definition of the state and indeed of the church. The conflict was by no means always with the same terms, the same purposes, or the same results. The volume thus becomes another bit of evidence in the increasing number of witnesses that the Middle Ages were in no way static or unimaginative. Professor Tierney states that his object is not to present a particular theory, but to present texts so that students may arrive at their own conclusions. In the Introduction he isolates three views that have been held. The possibility of other positions is not excluded. On the basis of the evidence presented there is at least a fourth position that might be defensible. Such a volume is always welcome, for the problem is still with us and any light that can be thrown on it is useful. One can safely assert, of course, that the problem is insoluble, but that fact does not militate against speculation and even activity designed to solve it.


: We report the case of a patient who underwent a left nephrectomy for clear cell adenocarcinoma. Four years later he presented with jaundice due to a single metastasis of the same tumour in the head of the pancreas which was resected. The favourable prognosis with surgery encourages a radical approach.


Anoura is a Neotropical genus of long-tongued bats containing at least 10 species, whose taxonomy has been revised substantially in recent years. Herein, we describe a new species of Anoura from the Cordillera Oriental of the Peruvian Andes, inhabiting montane forests (Yungas) at 1900–3450 m altitude, along the Río Cosñipata valley in Manu Biosphere Reserve, Cuzco; where it is sympatric with A. peruana, A. cultrata, and A. caudifer. This new species is most similar to A. caudifer and A. aequatoris, but it is distinguished from them by a unique combination of morphological characters: pelage dark; uropatagium narrow with margins densely furred; foot claws whitish; skull with a long and narrow rostrum; zygomatic arches complete and straight (in lateral view); posterolateral margins of palate without processes; braincase smoothly rounded; first upper premolar (P2) peg-like and separated from the upper canine by a wide gap; second upper premolar (P3) without anterobasal cusp; mandible long, straight, thin and delicate with a large symphysis. Principal Component Analysis separated well the new species from A. aequatoris and A. caudifer. In MANOVA analyses, followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test, the new species differed significantly from A. aequatoris and A. caudifer in six and 11 characters, respectively. The new species and A. aequatoris have montane distributions, whereas A. caudifer occurs at lower elevations. In Peru, the new species and A. aequatoris show disjunct distributions: the former in the central and southern regions, and the latter in the north-central region of the country. This suggests a vicariant effect probably related to the deep Río Apurímac. Finally, we comment on the taxonomy of the A. caudifer complex, discuss the biogeographical implications of the discovery of the new species, and suggest the recognition of a new region of endemism for small mammals in the southern Yungas, south of the Río Apurímac to Bolivia.


Initial research at the state level argued that there was little relationship between citizen preferences and policy. Later work successfully contested this view. First using state demographics or party voting as proxies for state opinion and then later developing measures of state ideology and measures of issue-specific state opinion, scholars found evidence that state policy is responsive to public preferences. However, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) policies are often recognized as distinct from other policy areas like economic, welfare, and regulatory issues. Scholars note that LGBT policies, due to their high saliency and relative simplicity, promote greater public input.
 Research on LGBT policies demonstrates the effects of both ideology and issue-specific opinion, exploring how the linkage between opinion and policy differs across more and less salient policy areas. This work also examines how political institutions and processes shape democratic responsiveness on LGBT issues. Recent research also considers how LGBT policies shape public opinion. While these strands in the literature are critical to understanding LGBT politics in the United States, they also contribute to the understanding of the quality of democratic governance in the U.S. federal system and the mechanics of the linkage between public opinion and policy.


"The objective of this paper is to test whether broiler processors, after observing their contract growers' abilities in the sequences of repeated short-term contracts, strategically allocate production inputs of varying quality. The strategy can either consist of providing high-ability agents with high-quality inputs or providing low-ability agents with high-quality inputs. The first strategy would stimulate the career concerns type of response on the part of the growers, whereas the second strategy would generate a ratchet effect. We test these hypotheses by using the broiler contract production data. The results show no significant input discrimination based on grower abilities that would lead to either career concerns or ratchet effect type of dynamic incentives." Copyright Blackwell Publishing 2005.


Occupational licensing for the building industry is being introduced in New Zealand. This research assesses whether the licensing regime being put into place in New Zealand would require new skills when voluntary licensing (2007) and compulsory licensing (by 2011) are introduced. The paper develops a deeper understanding of the effects of occupational licensing on an industry, above those of increased quality and training, to determine the effects of licensing on future skills needs in the New Zealand building industry. The results of the in-depth interviews of35 leading practitioners in the New Zealand show how occupational licensing will affect skills in the industry in two main ways: increase professionalism and increased specializa ioin skills. The impact on the New Zealand bU1Id1ng industry willbe to force a change in the working practices, increasing the move to offsite . prefabrication and change the types of sk1lls the industry requires. The paper serves as an . illustration to other countries on how changes 1n legislation, and the introduction of regulation for an industry, alter the working practices of that industry.


In this paper, we consider a specification testing problem in nonlinear time series models with nonstationary regressors, and we propose using a nonparametric kernel‐based test statistic. The null asymptotics for the proposed nonparametric test statistic have been well developed in the existing literature. In this paper, we study the local asymptotics of the test statistic (i.e. the asymptotic properties of the test statistic under a sequence of general nonparametric local alternatives) and show that the asymptotic distribution depends on the asymptotic behaviour of the distance function, which is the local deviation from the parametrically specified model in the null hypothesis. In order to implement the proposed test in practice, we introduce a bootstrap procedure to approximate the critical values of the test statistic and establish a new Edgeworth expansion, which is used to justify the use of such an approximation. Based on the approximate critical values, we develop a bandwidth selection method, which chooses the optimal bandwidth that maximizes the local power of the test while its size is controlled at a given significance level. The local power is defined as the power of the proposed test for a given sequence of local alternatives. Such a bandwidth selection is made feasible by an approximate expression for the local power of the test as a function of the bandwidth. A Monte Carlo simulation study is provided to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed test.


Recent studies have shown that accessory proteins that interact with the apical Na(+)/H+ exchanger NHE3 are a vital part of the dynamic nature of the Na(+)/H+ exchanger regulation. We have identified MAST205, a microtubule-associated serine/threonine kinase with a molecular mass of 205 kDa that interacts with NHE3. MAST205 contains a S/T kinase domain and a PDZ domain that mediates interaction with NHE3. Northern blot analysis showed that MAST205 is highly expressed in human and rat kidney. Expression in opossum kidney (OK) cells showed that MAST205 is predominantly expressed in the apical membrane of the cells. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated the presence of MAST205 at the apical region of the renal proximal tubules. Heterologous expression of MAST205 in OK cells inhibited endogenous NHE3 activity, and this inhibition required the presence of the kinase domain of MAST205, since deletion of the kinase domain or a dominant-negative mutant of MAST205 did not affect the activity of NHE3. Consistent with these results, we found that MAST205 phosphorylated NHE3 under in vitro conditions. However, overexpression of MAST205 did not affect expression of NHE3 proteins, suggesting that the effect of MAST205 was not mediated by a decrease in NHE3 expression. These findings suggest that MAST205 regulates NHE3 activity and, although the precise mechanism is yet to be determined, MAST205 appears to inhibit NHE3 activity through a phosphorylation-dependent mechanism.


In this Element, the authors develop an account of the role of behaviour change that is more political and social by bringing questions of power and social justice to the heart of their enquiry in order to appreciate how questions of responsibility and agency are unevenly distributed within and between societies. The result is a more holistic understanding of behaviour, as just one node within an ecosystem of transformation that bridges the individual and systemic. Their account is more attentive to questions of governance and the processes of collective steering necessary to facilitate large scale change across a diversity of actors, sectors and regions than the dominant emphasis on individuals and households. It is also more historical in its approach, looking critically at the relevance of historical parallels regarding large-scale behaviour change and what might be learned and applied to the contemporary context action.


Although Li metal batteries offer the highest possible
specific energy density, practical application is plagued by Li filament growth
with adverse effects on both Coulombic efficiency and battery safety. The structure
and resulting properties of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on Li metal is
critical to controlling Li deposition morphologies and achieving high
efficiency batteries. In this report, we use a combination of nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to show
that fast Li transport and low solubility at the electrode/SEI interface in 0.5
M LiNO3 + 0.5 M LiTFSI electrolyte bi-salt in 1,3-dioxolane:dimethoxyethane
(DOL:DME, 1:1, v/v) are responsible for the formation of low surface area Li
deposits and high Coulombic efficiency, despite the fact that the SEI is
thicker and chemically more heterogeneous than LiTFSI alone. These data suggest
that SEI design strategies that increase SEI stability and Li interfacial exchange
rate will lead to more even current distribution, ultimately providing a new
framework to generate smooth Li morphologies during plating/stripping.


Increasing the concentration of α-linolenic acid (LNA; 18:3 cis-9,cis-12,cis-15) in blood might affect fatty acid (FA) metabolism in the mammary gland of dairy cows. The objective was to determine the effects of different arterial concentrations of 18:3 cis-9,cis-12,cis-15 (18:3n-3) achieved via duodenal infusions with LNA on mammary uptake [assessed via arterial-rectificative venous concentration (AC-RVC) differences], synthesis of FA, and mammary gland FA balance in lactating dairy cows. Four primiparous lactating Chinese Holstein cows fitted with duodenal cannulas were administered 2 treatments in a crossover design: LNA-rich FA infusion at varying concentrations (0, 100, 200, and 300 g/d) versus basal infusate control. Arterial concentration of 18:3n-3 increased quadratically (29.24, 134.1, 218.3, and 219.3 mg/L of plasma) as LNA infusion levels increased from 0 to 300 g/d. The mammary extraction rate and uptake of 18:3n-3 increased linearly as LNA infusion increased. The AC-RVC difference of total FA and 18:3n-3 increased more rapidly than arterial concentrations with all treatments. Increasing LNA infusion increased linearly the balance of 10:0 and 12:0, whereas it decreased linearly the 14:1 and 15:0 balances. Increasing arterial concentration of 18:3n-3 affects uptake and synthesis of FA in the mammary gland of lactating dairy cows. It is also suggested that the use of AC-RVC difference maybe an acceptable way to investigate mammary gland uptake and synthesis of FA.


This study presents radiological and clinical findings in 70 patients with aplasia of caudal spinal segments and associated anomalies of the lower extremities and the inner organs. From a functional point of view 5 different types can be classified--unilateral hemi-aplasia, bilateral aplasia with or without sacral plateau, complex malformations of the caudal spine and medial spinal aplasia. Foot deformities and anomalies of the inner organs are common findings regardless to the extent of spinal aplasia, whereas popliteal webbing is only seen in cases with involvement of the lumbar spine. The lack of osseous junction between the spine and the pelvis leeds to a lumbopelvic kyphosis. Additionally the iliac wings are rotated in the frontal plane with the result of a narrow pelvic outlet and a change in the geometry of the hip joints. Embryologically all types of caudal spinal aplasia can be referred to a damage of the human tail bud. However, the term "Syndrome of Caudal Regression" is misleading; with respect to the presented results it is proposed to call this type of spinal malformation "Syndrome of Caudal Aplasia".


The Internet has now turned into such a significant communications that is able of distribution information within a very short time and easy to access. It is considered as community networks that provide reasonable WAN services to most customers. Applications such as video conferencing and VoIP are the example of typical network applications supported by the Internet Protocol. A variety of queuing disciplines be able to be used to manage packet transmission based on the accessible bandwidth. When congestion occurs, some of the packets will be dropped (buffer space) accordingly. The queuing technique requires to be used in every router to control the transmission of packets. This paper presents a comparative study and the effect of different type of queuing techniques such as FIFO (first in first out), PQ (Priority Queuing), and WFQ (Weight Fair Queuing) on network application such as high Resolution video conference, VoIP(Voice over IP).


According to many local and international reports, the risk of dust and sandstorms has increased significantly in Iraq, creating serious environmental and social problems. In this study Nineveh province was selected as the study area to investigate the relationship between the increase in such storms and drought expansion. In the study, storm-feeding regions and a probable storm path were detected using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and runoff values were estimated and gathered as supplementary data with rainfall, temperature and storm frequency, where all the data were standardized to make them statistically comparable. Temporal variations analysis and Spearman's rank correlation techniques were applied to summarize the strength relationships between the storm frequency and the entire dataset. Unusual behaviours were noticed and represented by decreasing runoff values and drought conditions fluctuating between moderate to extreme, where these behaviours were accompanied by an abnormal increase in storm frequency. Reasonable negative relationships equalled - 0.78 for rainfall and - 0.61 for runoff, while positive rank correlations equalled + 0.45 for temperature and + 0.16 for SPI. These results indicate a positive relationship between the storm frequency and increased drought areas, where 2.2% of the territory turned to drought and desert areas during the studied period between 1992 and 2017.


This Chapter explores the role attributed to science and technology in combating the global war on terror in an age when social bonds have been eroded and our sense of the need for social solutions diminished accordingly. One consequence of this is the exaggeration of risks presented by science and by terrorists to the point of ignoring the more mundane and probable threats that confront us. Prioritising technical means to build social resilience over cultural change is also likely to be counter-productive by further fragmenting the ordinary human bonds that actually make society truly resilient. A political debate over societal values is required if we are to re-engage the public and deal appropriately with all-manner of disasters, including terrorist attacks.


This paper addresses unsupervised domain adaptation, the setting where labeled training data is available on a source domain, but the goal is to have good performance on a target domain with only unlabeled data. Like much of previous work, we seek to align the learned representations of the source and target domains while preserving discriminability. The way we accomplish alignment is by learning to perform auxiliary self-supervised task(s) on both domains simultaneously. Each self-supervised task brings the two domains closer together along the direction relevant to that task. Training this jointly with the main task classifier on the source domain is shown to successfully generalize to the unlabeled target domain. The presented objective is straightforward to implement and easy to optimize. We achieve state-of-the-art results on four out of seven standard benchmarks, and competitive results on segmentation adaptation. We also demonstrate that our method composes well with another popular pixel-level adaptation method.


Wireless industry through 3G Partnership Project (3GPP), and CTIA The Wireless Association has been studying, validating, and standardizing the 2×2 MIMO Downlink OTA tests since 2009. Especially, CTIA has already provided the guidelines for the MIMO OTA tests in both the Spatial Multiplexing, and Transmit Diversity scenarios. After highlighting some background of the well-documented Spatial Fading Emulation Technique in which an array of eight dual polarized antennas and a fading Emulator is used, the paper is presenting the MIMO OTA results of a testing campaign. The Absolute Throughput is the Figure of Merit for MIMO OTA and it has been measured versus both the power and the SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio) at the DUT (device under test) location. It has also been reported in a way that a visual representation of the DUT behavior as a function of the azimuth rotation is given.


Eight brain magnetic resonance imagings (MRIs) and one spinal MRI of 7 small infants and children with herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) were retrospectively studied. Hypointense and hyperintense areas of gray and white matters on T1- and T2- weighted images, respectively, were commonly present, with temporal lobes being the most common lesion sites. Hemorrhagic lesions were found in 4 patients (57%). Early involvement of the white matter, as early as day 4, was a common MRI finding in these patients. One patient had relapsed encephalomyelitis, whose spinal MRI showed diffuse hyperintense T2 signals from the lumbar spinal cord to the conus medullaris. All patients but one survived with major neurological sequelae. Our results indicate that MRI is a sensitive diagnostic modality in cases of HSE, and early involvement of white matter is not an uncommon MRI finding of HSE. Spinal MRI may be helpful in the diagnosis of relapsed herpes encephalomyelitis.


Background: Studies into the association between hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and end-stage renal disease are limited. We investigated the risk of end-stage renal disease after delivery among women with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. Methods: We used insurance claims data from 1998 to 2009 to identify 26 651 women aged 19–40 years old who experienced hypertensive disorders during pregnancy; these women had no history of hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease or lupus. We also randomly selected 213 397 women without hypertensive disorders during pregnancy as a comparison cohort; the frequency was matched by age and index year of pregnancy. We compared the incidence of end-stage renal disease in the 2 cohorts. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after controlling for demographic and clinical factors. Results: Women with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy had a greater risk of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease, with adjusted HRs of 9.38 (95% CI 7.09–12.4) and 12.4 (95% CI 8.54–18.0), respectively, after controlling for urban status, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, hyperlipidemia and abruption. The HR for end-stage renal disease was 2.72 (95% CI 1.76–4.22) after we also controlled for hypertension and diabetes. Women with preeclampsia or eclampsia had a higher risk of end-stage renal disease (adjusted HR 14.0, 95% CI 9.43–20.7) than women who had gestational hypertension only (adjusted HR 9.03, 95% CI 5.20–15.7). Interpretation: Women with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy were at a high risk of end-stage renal disease. The risk was much greater for women who had preeclampsia or eclampsia than those who had gestational hypertension only.


This article traces the fundamental descriptive features of schizophrenia described in the European continental literature form Kraepelin and Bleuler, culminating with the creation of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-8 (1974). There was a consensus among the researchers that the specificity and typicality of schizophrenia was anchored to its "fundamental" clinical core (with trait status) and not to positive psychotic features, which were considered as "state", "accessory" phenomena. The clinical core of schizophrenia was, in a diluted form, constitutive of the spectrum conditions ("schizoidia" and "latent schizophrenia"). The fundamental features are manifest across all domains of consciousness: subjective experience, expression, cognition, affectivity, behavior, and willing. Yet, the specificity of the core was only graspable at a more comprehensive Gestalt-level, variously designated (eg, discordance, autism, "Spaltung"), and not on the level of single features. In other words, the phenomenological specificity was seen as being expressive of a fundamental structural or formal change of the patient's mentality (consciousness, subjectivity). This overall change transpires through the single symptoms and signs, lending them a characteristic phenomenological pattern. This concept of schizophrenia bears little resemblance to the current operational definitions. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, and ICD-10 seem to diagnose a subset of patients with chronic paranoid-hallucinatory variant of schizophrenia.


This guide can be used as an introduction to the resources and services available at the Earl S. Richardson library.


The opening of the Parkes radio telescope in October 1961 placed Australia at the forefront of international research in radio astronomy and ushered in an era of rapid developments in our understanding of the origin and nature of the Universe and our place within it. Thirty years later, the scientists, engineers and technical staff involved in the establishment, operation and subsequent development of this most successful of Australian research instruments gathered to review and reflect on their achievements, and to recount many of the human stories that were so intimately bound up with this extraordinarily productive period in Australia's scientific history.

This book presents their accounts of the work and life at Parkes, and provides a fresh perspective on the growth of Australian science over the past three decades.


Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) in existing deployments is a collection of inter-connected avionics equipment supported by wired technology, with stringent reliability and safety requirements. If the inter-connecting wires are physically secured so that a malicious user cannot access them directly, then this simplifies the security management of the network. However, substituting the wired network with a wireless network - also referred to as an Avionics Wireless Network (AWN) - brings a set of new challenges related to assurance, reliability, and security; even for a specific set of well-defined and non-critical tasks. The AWN has to ensure that it provides at a minimum the existing required levels of safety offered by the equivalent wired network. These challenges are underpinned by a necessity to boot the AWN to a secure and trusted state, before it can be used to bridge different parts of the IMA in an aircraft. In this paper, we discuss the security and trust challenges an AWN boot process might face, along with highlighting a potential solution. Finally, the paper evaluates the proposed validation solution that meets the stated security requirements, based on the security challenges discussed.


American culture is steeped in the mythology of the open road. In our collective imagination, the road represents freedom, escape, friendship, romance, and above all, the possibility for a better life. But our shared dream of the open road comes to a halt in the mundane reality of the traffic stop - a judicially-authorized policing procedure in which an officer may pull over a vehicle if she has cause to believe the driver has committed even the most minor traffic violation. This paper examines the cultural texts - books, movies, songs - celebrating the open road and juxtaposes them against those documenting the traffic stop. The traffic stop, I conclude, interrupts the open road narrative closely associated with the American dream. Those stopped most frequently - in particular, racial minorities - are consequently denied full participation in an abiding national fantasy.


The following thesis outlines work carried out during the past three years for the discovery and investigation of catalytic methodologies towards the synthesis and modification of heterocycles, namely cyclic carbamates, carbonates and their sulfur analogues. Chapter 1 summarises the current catalytic methods reported in the literature towards the synthesis and modification of functionalized 2-oxazolidinones. This introduction highlights the diverse range of methods and catalysts that have been developed and their scope and limitations. In addition the review highlights the importance of these structural motifs and suggests areas in which the following research fulfills unmet needs. Chapter 2 reports the discovery and development of a one-pot two-step copper-catalysed methodology towards the synthesis of N-aryl oxazolidinones from amino alcohol carbamates. The scope of both the N-aryl substituent as well as oxazolidinone functionalization is presented in addition to preliminary investigations into the mechanisms of both reactions. Chapter 3 presents the application of the previously reported one-pot process towards the synthesis of a number of medicinally active molecules and blockbuster pharmaceuticals. The one-pot two-step copper-catalysed reaction was utilized to synthesise a common intermediate in the synthesis of a number of oxazolidinone-based pharmaceuticals. The complete syntheses of Toloxatone, Linezolid, Tedizolid and Rivaroxaban are reported. Chapter 4 reports the modification of N-aryl oxazolidinones towards a diverse library of N-aryl oxazolidinethiones. The reactivity of these structures, in addition to N-alkyl oxazolidinethiones, towards transition metal catalysis was investigated and revealed a ruthenium catalysed O- to S-alkyl migration to afford structurally diverse thiazolidinones. Investigations into the substrate scope and mechanism were also carried out, suggesting a pseudo-reversible radical pathway drawing mechanistic parallels to the classic Barton-McCombie reaction. Chapter 5 details further development of the pseudo-reversible radical pathway for the regioselective rearrangement of dioxolane-2-thiones using Pd(PPh3)4 as a catalyst. The scope of the reaction is reported for the formation of highly selective, highly substituted sulfur-rearrangement products.


This essay isolates, analyzes, and contextualizes a prevalent character type in nineteenth-century American fiction that it calls (following Ina Ferris) the "remnant." Although remnants appear in the earliest American experiments in fiction, the type becomes truly ubiquitous in postbellum regionalist writing. Depicted as living relics or belated leftovers from superseded cultural epochs, remnants, the essay claims, project the distinctly modern modalities of displacement and ontological insecurity into the regionalist texts they inhabit, thus unsettling the conventional critical readings of the genre as a backward-looking nostalgic form while also opening anew the question of regionalism's complicated appeal for its contemporary readers. While beginning and ending with Sarah Orne Jewett's representative remnant figure, Captain Littlepage, the essay also surveys several lesser-known examples, discusses the type's peculiar characteristics, and speculates on the reactions it drew from its original audiences.


A method is proposed to compute and synthesize the microrelief of a diffractive optical element to produce a new visual security feature - the vertical 3D/3D switch effect. The security feature consists in the alternation of two 3D color images when the diffractive element is tilted up/down. Optical security elements that produce the new security feature are synthesized using electron-beam technology. Sample optical security elements are manufactured that produce 3D to 3D visual switch effect when illuminated by white light. Photos and video records of the vertical 3D/3D switch effect of real optical elements are presented. The optical elements developed can be replicated using standard equipment employed for manufacturing security holograms. The new optical security feature is easy to control visually, safely protected against counterfeit, and designed to protect banknotes, documents, ID cards, etc.


Glass-ceramics, with molten blast furnace (BF) slag as the major raw material, were prepared successfully by the melting method. The effect of the CaO/SiO2 ratio in the molten BF slag and heat treatment on the viscosity and microstructure of glass-ceramics produced from BF slag were traced using the melt property tester, DSC, XRD and SEM. The results showed that increasing the CaO/SiO2 ratio of BF slag caused a decrease not only in the viscosity of the BF slag at high temperature but also in the nucleation and crystallization temperature for the preparation of glass-ceramics. The content of akermanitegehlenite increased as the CaO/SiO2 ratio increased from 0.30 to 0.63. With increasing nucleation and crystallization temperature, the crystalline phases remain unchanged, but the crystal shape changes from granular to flaky. The optimum CaO/SiO2 ratio was found to be 0.44, resulting in diopside as the main crystalline phase, augite as the secondary crystalline phase and a small mount of akermanite-gehlenite after appropriate heat treatment i.e. nucleation at 775°C and crystallization at 920°C.


We construct a general family of Galerkin methods for the numerical approximation of weak solutions to a coupled microscopic-macroscopic bead-spring model that arises from the kinetic theory of dilute solutions of polymeric liquids with noninteracting polymer chains. The model consists of the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a bounded domain Ω in R d, d=2 or 3, for the velocity and the pressure of the fluid, with an elastic extra-stress tensor as right-hand side in the momentum equation. The extra-stress tensor stems from the random movement of the polymer chains and is defined through the associated probability density function which satisfies a Fokker-Planck type parabolic equation, a crucial feature of which is the presence of a centre-of-mass diffusion term. We focus on finitely-extensible nonlinear elastic, FENE-type, dumbbell models. In the case of a corotational drag term we perform a rigorous passage to the limit as the spatial and temporal discretization parameters tend to zero, and show that a (sub)sequence of numerical solutions converges to a weak solution of this coupled Navier-Stokes-Fokker-Planck system.


Coronary artery disease (CAD) is associated with both narrowing of the epicardial coronary arteries and microvascular disease, thereby limiting coronary flow and myocardial perfusion. CAD accounts for almost 2 million deaths within the EU on an annual basis. In this paper we review the physiological and pathophysiological processes underlying clinical decision making in coronary disease as well as the models for interpretation of the underlying physiological mechanisms. Presently, clinical decision making is based on non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of myocardial perfusion and invasive coronary hemodynamic measurements of coronary pressure and flow velocity signals obtained during catheterization. Within the euHeart project several innovations have been developed and applied to improve diagnosis based understanding of the underlying biophysical processes. Specifically MRI perfusion data interpretation has been advanced by the transientogram, for hemodynamic data functional indices of coronary stenosis severity that do not depend on maximal vasodilation are proposed and the Valsalva maneuver for indicating the extravascular resistance component of the coronary circulation has been introduced. Complementary to these advances, model innovation has been directed to the porous elastic model coupled to a one dimensional model of the epicardial arteries. The importance of model development is related to the integration of information from different modalities which in isolation often result in conflicting treatment recommendations.


BackgroundThe growth and acceptance of smartphones among clinicians has been remarkable over the last decade. Over 87% of doctors use a smartphone or tablet capable of running third-party software known as applications (apps). In the field of plastic surgery, apps have been designed for personal practice development, education, clinical tools and guidelines, and entertainment. This study reviews the literature on apps related to plastic surgery and determines the number and types of apps available. MethodsA systematic review of the literature was performed to find articles written about plastic surgery applications. Queries were run in the Apple iPhone iOS App store and Google Play using the term "plastic surgery." Apps were reviewed for ratings, downloads, and cost. In addition, apps were categorized based on purpose. Categories include practice development, media/literature, clinical tool and guideline apps, or recreation. ResultsThe literature search yielded 8 articles for review, 2 articles focused on categorizing apps and 6 articles focused on describing useful apps. Searching Apple's iTunes (iOS) store identified 273 and Google Play identified 250 apps related to plastic surgery; since 2013, a 62%, and 580% increase, respectively. The iOS store included practice development (46%), recreation (26%), media/literature (14%), and clinical tool and guideline (11%). Google Play store included recreation apps (44%), practice development (24%), clinical tools and guidelines (11%), and media and literature (9%). ConclusionsApps related to the field of plastic surgery are increasing in prevalence. The content of these apps are variable, and the majority are intended for marketing and development of private practices. Apps linking to literature, texts, study materials, and clinical tools and guidelines are developed for both practicing plastic surgeons and surgical trainees. Finding "useful" apps takes time because searches are often complicated by a variety of apps.


In the recent World Men's Basketball Championships in Indianapolis, Team USA found out painfully that the international game is very different from what they play at home and that the gap between USA Basketball and the rest of the world has been closing. While their losses might have a significant impact on how the United States prepares for the 2004 Olympics in Athens and on how Americans train youngsters to play basketball, their teachings go beyond basketball. The international harmonization process is a game with different rules, different officials, and players with different visions and mindsets. By watching how players interact with rules, officials, and other players, one therefore could gain insight into globalization and the international harmonization process. This Article brings together two leading American exports - laws and basketball - and discusses how the recent losses by Team USA might offer valuable lessons on intellectual property and international trade.


Geographically, Sumberagung Village is located near an active volcano, Kelud Mountain. With such geographical conditions, it is very possible that natural disasters occur, ranging from volcanic natural disasters and cold lava floods in the Kali Putih River Region. With the frequent occurrence of disasters it is necessary to increase the readiness in dealing with disasters in the Sumberagung Village community, it is very necessary to conduct socialization to provide insight and knowledge to the community. The method used is to conduct direct socialization in the field, giving questionnaires, and coupled with literature studies from various sources, to conduct socialization to elementary / MI students in Sumberagung Village, Gandusari District, Blitar Regency. To improve disaster response and be smart in absorbing information on elementary / MI children as an early step, it is very necessary to socialize and simulate the SD / MI children in Sumberagung Village. The entire community and SD / MI students in Sumberagung Village have a very good response to the socialization activities and disaster response simulations that have been carried out, so that they are ready to assist and support the installation of placards for evacuation routes in Sumberagung Village, Gandusari District, Blitar Regency.


ABSTRACT Little is known about sex differences in parental behavior of biparental mammals and if mates in such species coordinate care of young. We studied parental care displayed by prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) under seminatural laboratory conditions during the first 3 d of life of their offspring. Through direct observations and videotaping, we monitored members of male-female pairs to determine if sex differences in early parental behavior exist and if mothers and fathers coordinate visits to the nest. To assess the impact of fathers on survival of pups and behavior of mothers, we also examined parental care displayed by single females toward their young. Male and female members of breeding pairs differed dramatically in degree of parental care. Females spent more time in the nest with young and licked them more frequently than did males. Additionally, females maintained the nest more frequently than did males, whereas they maintained runways less frequently. Although coordination of visits to the nest was not perfect between members of pairs, pups of pairs were left alone for less time than were pups of single females. Parental behavior displayed by paired and single females did not differ, nor did survival of their young to day 3 or 15. We suggest that provision of ample space and cover to vole parents rearing young in captivity promotes expression of sex differences in parental behavior, but that even seminatural conditions are not sufficient to yield benefits of father presence to survival of young. Under more challenging conditions, such as cold temperatures or presence of predators, benefits of father presence might emerge.


Background: The clinical effect of atrial fibrillation (AF)-related ischemic cardiovascular events in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the risk of ischemic events in patients undergoing PD with new-onset AF compared with that in patients without AF and ascertain the association between the CHA2DS2-VASc score and risk of ischemic stroke. Methods: This nationwide, population-based cohort study used data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database from 1998 to 2011 for patients receiving PD with or without new-onset AF. The clinical endpoints included ischemic stroke, all-cause death, and in-hospital cardiovascular death. Results: Patients undergoing PD with new-onset AF (N = 505) had significantly higher risks of ischemic stroke (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.98; 95% CI, 1.40-2.80), all-cause death (aHR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.40-1.85), and in-hospital cardiovascular death (aHR, 1.82; 95% CI, 22.214.171.124) compared with those in patients undergoing PD without AF. After considering in-hospital death as a competing risk, AF remained associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 1.67; 95% CI, 1.17-2.37). The CHA2DS2-VASc score was associated with the risk of ischemic stroke (HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.12-1.46). Conclusion: The risks of ischemic stroke, all-cause death, and in-hospital cardiovascular death were significantly higher in patients undergoing PD with AF than those in patients without AF. The CHA2DS2-VASc score remained associated with the risk of ischemic stroke in patients undergoing PD with AF.


CISCO VNI predicted an average annual growth rate of 69.1% for mobile video traffic between 2013 and 2018 and accordingly much academic research related to video streaming has been initiated. In video streaming, Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) is a streaming technique in which a source video is stored on a server at variable encoding rates and each streaming user requests the most appropriate video encoding rate from the server considering their channel capacity or signal power. However, these days, ABR related studies are only focusing on real-time rate adaptation and omitting efficiency in terms of energy. These methods do not consider the energy limited characteristics of mobile devices, which cause dissatisfaction to the streaming users. In this paper, we propose an energy efficient prefetching based dynamic adaptive streaming technique by considering the limited characteristics of the batteries used in mobile devices, in order to reduce the energy waste and provide a similar level of service in terms of the average video rate compared to the latest ABR streaming technique which does not consider the energy consumption.


Distributed estimation that recruits potentially large groups of humans to collect data about a phenomenon of interest has emerged as a paradigm applicable to a broad range of detection and estimation tasks. However, it also presents a number of challenges especially with regard to user participation and data quality, since the data resources may be strategic human agents instead of physical sensors. We consider a static estimation problem in which an estimator collects data from self-interested agents. Since it incurs cost to participate, mechanisms to incentivize the agents to collect and transmit data of desired quality are needed. Agents are strategic in the sense that they can take measurements with different levels of accuracy by expending different levels of effort. They may also misreport their information in order to obtain greater compensation, if possible. With both the measurements from the agents and their accuracy unknown to the estimator, we design incentive mechanisms that encourage desired behavior from strategic agents. Specifically, we solve an optimization problem at the estimator which minimizes the expected total compensation to the agents while guaranteeing a specified quality of the global estimate.


Students in structural analysis courses can take advantage of common tools such as Excel or Maple to per- form calculations that implement the concepts taught. The advantages of using these tools over hand calculations include reduction in mathematical errors, faster execution of repetitive calculations, and exploration of alternative con$g- urations. However; having students create these worksheets by hand increases the chance for errors in setting up the cal- culations and can increase the dificulty in understanding the concepts themselves. STructural Analysis Resource (STAR) is intended to allow students to concentrate on the concepts of structural analysis rather than the calculations, and to sim- plify the process of creating worksheets for solving problems. The key element of STAR is a graph representation of high- level abstractions of structural analysis methods and data. A student creates a problem-solving strategy by interactively building up a graph. The graph representation facilitates understanding of the relationship between concepts and the flow of data through a problem. The method nodes are hier- archically constructed by the instructor or student from sys- tem-supplied commands and/or other methods. Conversely, the method nodes are modeled as hierarchical "glass boxes," which allow the student to expand a node ana' see the under- lying intermediate steps; these steps are not and cannot be hidden from the student. After the student has created a graph representing the problem-solving strategy, STAR trans- lates the graph to a worksheet for selected target execution environments, such as Excel or Maple.


Embedded electronic devices and sensors such as smartphones, smart watches, medical implants, and Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSN) are making the "Internet of Things" (IoT) a reality. Such devices often require cryptographic services such as authentication, integrity and non-repudiation, which are provided by Public-Key Cryptography (PKC). As these devices are severely resource-constrained, choosing a suitable cryptographic system is challenging. Pairing Based Cryptography (PBC) is among the best candidates to implement PKC in lightweight devices. In this research, we present a fast and energy efficient implementation of PBC based on Barreto-Naehrig (BN) curves and optimal Ate pairing using hardware/software co-design. Our solution consists of a hardware-based Montgomery multiplier, and pairing software running on an ARM Cortex A9 processor in a Zynq-7020 System-on-Chip (SoC). The multiplier is protected against simple power analysis (SPA) and differential power analysis (DPA), and can be instantiated with a variable number of processing elements (PE). Our solution improves performance (in terms of latency) over an open-source software PBC implementation by factors of 2.34 and 2.02, for 256- and 160-bit field sizes, respectively, as measured in the Zynq-7020 SoC.


In the countries in the process of becoming developing, plants are means important of things to solve the public health probleme of third world countries. Ornamental plants are generally introduced into our environment make into a city for esthetics, fragrance and ecological benefits reason. However, this characteristic of ornamental plants often has another face, a "toxic" character. Thisstudy in Abidjan town, aims to show a certain ambivalence ornamental plants which embellish our close environment.The first phase that study method consisted to make an inventory of all the ornamental plants present in the study area. Then the second phase, the way to approach is an ethnobotanical investigation doing among the populations in the study area. The way is a direct interview, which consisted of inquest the populations surveyed. Their answers are reported on an adapted sheet, designed for this purpose. Thus, we visited the horticulturists, florists and the populations on the corridor of the city of Abidjan. In this study, the quiz was at the center of the toxic effects of certain ornamental plants. To make this study possible the inventory of 286 ornamental species belonging to 85 families and divided up in 219 kind. According to our surveys, among the ornamental plants surveyed, we have catalogued 34 toxic ornamental species, or almost 12% of listed species. Also, 6 ornamental plants with toxic constituents, listed, are responsible for many poisoning cases: Asclepias curassavica L. (Asclepiadaceae), Datura metel L. (Solanaceae), Dieffenbachia picta Schott (Araceae), Lantana camara L. (Verbenaceae ), Nerium oleander L. (Apocynaceae) and Thevetia peruviana (Pers.) K. Schum. (Apocynaceae). The esthetic and "toxic" dimension contributes to the ambivalence of these ornamental plants.


Considering the nonlinear model of active magnetic bearings, a new means of nonlinear control is presented which treats variables as rotating vectors in the control plane, specially the unbalance. It becomes easy to cancel out the effect of this perturbation in a rotating reference. Therefore, the rotor can rotate around any desired point, particularly the geometric center or the center of gravity. Simulations illustrate the efficacy of this control law.


The case is described of a 70-year-old man, recently retired but fit and independent, except for haemophilia from which he had suffered all his life. However, he then had rectal bleeding for which he required treatment in hospital. To counteract the bleeding tendency he was transfused with various blood products but none was successful, and finally after an operation to determine precisely the source of the rectal bleeding, he developed peritonitis and died. Apart from the cost of hospital inpatient treatment and the blood products available from blood banks, £8500 was spent on blood products bought in the USA. This case is discussed by a professor of haematology, a director of a regional blood transfusion service, a medical defence specialist, a consultant in geriatric medicine, and finally by a member of a university department of moral philosophy. All the medical commentators agree that a very large sum of money was spent in treating this patient, particularly in buying supplies of commercially produced factor VIII which also carries attendant medical risks. But while this is so, it is also argued that the doctors in charge of the case could have done no other as the fatal outcome could not have been foreseen and a doctor's duty is to treat his patient to the best of his ability, even though in this case the patient was elderly and in the hospital concerned other projects had to be cancelled. The `battle' of the treatment of the aged versus the young is touched upon by all the contributors but it is left to the moral philosopher to examine it more closely and incidentally to direct attention to the nature of the National Health Service which is neither a paternalistic system nor an insurance scheme (thought to be so by some to be a more palatable notion) but a welfare scheme in which the state forces its citizens to do things for the general good. For the moral philosopher age is irrelevant to the debate. Perhaps the consultant in geriatric medicine should have the last word: if the patient had been in the hands of a single general physician or geriatrician, he says, he would have been seen as a whole person and the arguments surrounding the case with hindsight would never have arisen.


Advanced tape cartridge handling techniques are developed for an automated mass storage system (MSS) based on VHS videocassettes. This system provides a data transfer rate of 2.5 Mb/s and an average cartridge handling time of 10 s. The wearless cartridge mounting technique using a precision mechanical hand solves the problem of cartridge-case wear. The earthquake protection control technique, using a microprocessor, completely protects cartridges from even strong earthquakes. These cartridge-handling techniques improve the lifetime of the cartridge and reduce system costs. The high-reliability tape recording technique, which is based on VHS tape analysis and uses an enhanced tape/head cleaning method, solves the problem of tape wear due to repeated tape running. The tape storage durability evaluation technique based on VHS tape analysis shows that low-temperature and low-humidity storage conditions (5 degrees C, 20% RH) are best. Most of these tape cartridge handling techniques should be applicable to future MSSs. >


ABSTRACT We approach generational identity in the workplace as a social identity simultaneously linked to biological and historical location. We outline a dynamic social-ecological model of generational identity in which various levels of influences shape the potential for and manifestation of generational identities in the workplace. We propose that individual generational identity in the workplace is influenced by the interaction of four levels of factors: the workgroup, where generational identity is triggered; the organization, which structures the context in which work-related generational identity takes shape; the extra-organizational environment, which sets the general parameters for generational interactions with occupational and stakeholder groups; and society, where generational phenomena are manifested as historical social movements and depicted as mass media narratives. We examine each of these levels of influence and offer propositions, guided by social identity, self-categorization theory, fault line theory, and generational theory, to elucidate what each level of influence contributes to a fulsome understanding of generation as a complex phenomenon. This approach to generational identity in the workplace highlights the influences that serve as pre-conditions for generational conflict in organizations.


While upper extremity training with haptic and visual feedback has been shown to assist in restoring function for individuals with stroke and related brain injuries (Teasell, Foley, Bhogal, & Speechley, 2003), outcomes vary greatly amongst individuals. Recent studies have found that manipulating error signals during training can stimulate learning. In order to improve current methods, we believe that it is necessary to customize haptic and visual interactions to address individual motor impairments. We can customize training using the statistics of errors, intervening only on the most commonly occurring errors. In addition to rehabilitation, this technique can be applied to situations where error feedback is needed, such as learning new skills.
The primary goal of this thesis is to develop better training interventions to facilitate motor learning. Addressing the need for training tools for both skill learning and therapy, we explore strategies for improving upon current training paradigms. In the first study we show how force adaptation can cause participants to reach with the errors that are necessary for moving in a visually rotated scene. In the second study, we determine the best domain to represent error tendencies during learning. In the third study, we test how error statistics can enhance learning of a novel visual transformation. In the fourth study, we conduct a preliminary investigation using error statistics to customize training interventions for stroke survivors. Our results will contribute a basic understanding on how we can use error statistics to improve training environments and effect functional recovery.


Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity (ACT) is a key limiting factor in setting optimal chemotherapy regimes for cancer patients, with almost half of patients expected to ultimately develop congestive heart failure given high drug doses. However, the genetic basis of sensitivity to anthracyclines such as doxorubicin remains unclear. To begin addressing this, we created a panel of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes from 45 individuals and performed RNA-seq after 24h exposure to varying levels of doxorubicin. The transcriptomic response to doxorubicin is substantial, with the majority of genes being differentially expressed across treatments of different concentrations and over 6000 genes showing evidence of differential splicing. Overall, our observations indicate that splicing fidelity decreases in the presence of doxorubicin. We detect 376 response-expression QTLs and 42 response-splicing QTLs, i.e. genetic variants that modulate the individual transcriptomic response to doxorubicin in terms of expression and splicing changes respectively. We show that inter-individual variation in transcriptional response is predictive of cell damage measured in vitro using a cardiac troponin assay, which in turn is shown to be associated with in vivo ACT risk. Finally, the molecular QTLs we detected are enriched in lower ACT GWAS p-values, further supporting the in vivo relevance of our map of genetic regulation of cellular response to anthracyclines.


This chapter asks in what ways apocalyptic imagery, characters, and other material from the Book of Revelation, and more specifically reference to the Devil or Satan, are evident in heavy metal occulture. It asks in what way the original meanings of the text have been sustained or altered, and why it is that this is the case. It asks what implications this has for our understanding of how religion and meaning operate within contemporary society, and what this tells us about changing patterns of belief and consciousness in popular culture.


HANUS, O., HERING, P., GENCUROVA, V., MOTYCKA, Z., JEDELSKA, R., KOPECKÝ, J.: Validation of deep freezing of pilot samples for checking of time stability of indirect analyses of basic milk composition and for their long shelf-life. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2008, LVI, No. 5, pp. 57-68 Essential part of raw milk component measurement is indirect infraanalyse. The checking of time measurement stability is important there. The preparation of pilot samples was described. Informa- tion about deep frozen milk pilot sample stability are sporadic. Aim of this work was to verify the sta- bility of long-term stored and deep frozen pilot samples (FPSs). Pilot samples were frozen in liquid ni- trogen bath −196 °C and aer that stored at −21 °C for one month (A) and more months (B) till analyse. The pilot samples were measured by CombiFoss 6000: fat F (%); protein CP (%); lactose L (%); casein C (%); solid non fat SNF (%); urea U (mg/100ml); somatic cell count SCC (ths./ml). In the short-term (A) experiment the impact of freezing on pilot milk samples was relatively small, in the framework of ac- ceptable value of repeatability (±0.02 %) for components. The stability of values of FPSs was better according to standard deviations for important F evaluation in H (Holstein) breed samples. The re- peatability of values of FPSs in the time was very good for other components. The repeatability was better for SCC in J (Jersey) breed samples (±16.5 thousands/ml). That is why the higher variability (±30.1 thousands/ml) in H sample is visible less sceptically. The apparent result trends were not ob- servable in the repeatability development of important milk indicators in FPSs. The mild trend was only in CP, but this trend covered absolutely very small shi� (variation range). There are only oscilla- tions, which are similar between J and H samples. It is possible to attribute these oscillations rather to instrument eff ects than to sample eff ects. The oscilations were markedly higher in the long-term (B) experiment. Between J and H samples the oscilations were very similar in curves F and L. It is also possible to attribute them more to instrumental eff ects. The repeatability values (standard deviations sd) of FPSs were mostly lower than ±0.06 %. It is acceptable for result agreement between indirect and reference method. Relevant sd varied from ±0.025 % for L to ±0.059 % for F (in J breed) with exception CP ±0.085 % in J sample. Also B procedure was shown as applicable for instrumental sability control in half year period. In practice the one reference value for concrete FPS is valid from one to next calibra- tion. Persistent trend in repeatability of FPSs can indicate an inadequate instrumental dri� . The ap- plied FPS procedure is usable for stability control of instrumental measurement in milk laboratories. milk, pilot sample, deep freezing, long shelf-life, measurement stability checking, indirect method, infraanalyse, fat, protein, somatic cell count


We propose a fast quality metric for depth maps, called fast depth quality metric (FDQM), which efficiently evaluates the impacts of depth map errors on the qualities of synthesized intermediate views in multiview video plus depth applications. In other words, the proposed FDQM assesses view synthesis distortions in the depth map domain, without performing the actual view synthesis. First, we estimate the distortions at pixel positions, which are specified by reference disparities and distorted disparities, respectively. Then, we integrate those pixel-wise distortions into an FDQM score by employing a spatial pooling scheme, which considers occlusion effects and the characteristics of human visual attention. As a benchmark of depth map quality assessment, we perform a subjective evaluation test for intermediate views, which are synthesized from compressed depth maps at various bitrates. We compare the subjective results with objective metric scores. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed FDQM yields highly correlated scores to the subjective ones. Moreover, FDQM requires at least 10 times less computations than conventional quality metrics, since it does not perform the actual view synthesis.


Electron internal transport barriers (eITBs) are obtained in TCV with different heating and current drive schemes. They are sustained in steady-state conditions for several energy confinement and current redistribution times. In these scenarios, the density profile displays a different behaviour with respect to normal L-mode plasmas, with or without auxiliary heating. In fully non-inductive discharges developing an eITB, the density profile shape is strongly correlated with the electron temperature profile, with the normalized density gradient equal to 0.45 times the normalized temperature gradient, revealing the existence of a significant inward pinch of a thermodiffusive type. The coupling of the two profiles is observed from the 'foot' of the barrier inwards. The effect of small inductive current perturbations on fully non-inductive sustained eITBs shows that ∇n/n is only indirectly coupled to the current profile, through its effect on local confinement, contrary to the standard L-mode.


This comment extends Calvo's ( 1988) analysis of the relation between expectations and the number of repudiation equilibria in public debt management, in order to anaIyse the effects of heterogeneity in (nominal) debt holdings. It is shown that the number of equilibria depends on the relative wealth of the agent represented by the govemment. If this agent is extremely poor no equilibrium exists, while if this agent is relatively wealthy uniqueness is ensured. Under a representative democracy, if the issue of debt precedes the elections, the number of politicoeconomic equilibria and the implied welfare losses depend on the degree of inequality. However, if this timing is reversed, the Pareto-optimum is attained, because of the existence of a government candidate whose unique equilibrium discretionary policy choice is the first-best repudiation rate.


ABSTRACT The locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) is a chromosomal pathogenicity island that encodes the proteins involved in the formation of the attaching and effacing lesions by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). The LEE comprises 41 open reading frames organized in five major operons, LEE1, LEE2, LEE3, tir (LEE5), and LEE4, which encode a type III secretion system, the intimin adhesin, the translocated intimin receptor (Tir), and other effector proteins. The first gene of LEE1 encodes the Ler regulator, which activates all the other genes within the LEE. We previously reported that the LEE genes were activated by quorum sensing through Ler (V. Sperandio, J. L. Mellies, W. Nguyen, S. Shin, and J. B. Kaper, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:15196-15201, 1999). In this study we report that a putative regulator in the E. coli genome is itself activated by quorum sensing. This regulator is encoded by open reading frame b3243; belongs to the LysR family of regulators; is present in EHEC, EPEC, and E. coli K-12; and shares homology with the AphB and PtxR regulators of Vibrio cholerae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. We confirmed the activation of b3243 by quorum sensing by using transcriptional fusions and renamed this regulator quorum-sensing E. coli regulator A (QseA). We observed that QseA activated transcription of ler and therefore of the other LEE genes. An EHEC qseA mutant had a striking reduction of type III secretion activity, which was complemented when qseA was provided in trans. Similar results were also observed with a qseA mutant of EPEC. The QseA regulator is part of the regulatory cascade that regulates EHEC and EPEC virulence genes by quorum sensing.


Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) support the regeneration of olfactory sensory neurons throughout life. However, it remains unclear how OECs respond to a major injury and whether OEC precursors within the olfactory mucosa give rise to new OECs in those conditions. We examined the proliferation and migration of OECs in two postnatal animal models of olfactory axon degeneration. In the first model, we surgically removed an olfactory bulb including the nerve fibre layer which contains OECs. In the second model, intraperitoneal injection of methimazole was used to selectively destroy the entire olfactory epithelium while not directly affecting OECs. Proliferating cells were labelled by the thymidine analogue, ethynyl deoxyuridine (EdU). In the unilateral bulbectomy model, there was a large stimulation of OEC proliferation throughout the olfactory nerve up to 14 days after bulbectomy. Using a pulse-chase EdU application, we tracked cells that had proliferated and found that OEC precursors lining the basal layer of the olfactory epithelium also gave rise to OECs that subsequently migrated along the length of the olfactory nerve. In the methimazole model, a small but significant proliferation of OECs was induced 7-10 days after axon death, with proliferation occurring in all regions of the olfactory nerve. These results demonstrate that OECs actively respond to widespread degeneration of olfactory axons and that OECs arise from both local proliferation as well as from OEC precursors. These results have important implications for selecting the source of OECs for neural regeneration therapies.


This study investigates the importance of word affixes in forming the medical terms by defines the Medical Terminology (MT) and its characteristics showing how the Medical vocabulary is consistent and uniform throughout the world since it is based on Greek and Latin languages , therefore; medical terms can be divided into three groups. The first group, are the medical words which have been derived from the Greek language only e.g. the Greek word (kardia) is a root = cardi= heart. The second group, are the medical words which have been derived from the Latin language only e.g. the Latin word (pulmo) is a root = lung. The third group, are the medical words which have been derived from both Greek and Latin languages. e.g. Greek + Latin roots = nepher (Greek), ren (Latin) = kidney.The Medical vocabulary is vast, and learning it may seem like learning the entire vocabulary of a foreign language , like the jargon that arises in all changing fields, it is always expanding : e.g.: terms with the development of computers, such as software, megabyte, e-mail …etc. So, by learning these meanings, we can analyze and remember many words. Moreover, the study shows the great role that word affixes play in modifying the meaning or changing the pronunciation or even the grammatical functions of the medical terms.


Introduction and Aim An initiative with a further education college, a University and local employers identified a need for formal training within end of life care within the care sector. The hospice collaborated with the college to develop an accredited Foundation degree module worth 10 credits targeted at healthcare assistants with a level 3 qualification. Knowledge and skills development and promotion of working in the care sector were key aims. Method Interviews and questionnaires were completed by the college with local nursing homes and care agencies to assess optimum delivery methods and fee structure. The module content was developed by the hospice which included blended learning, work shadowing and written assignments. Delivery and assessment of the module was undertaken at the hospice. The local college provided administration and study support and collaborated with the University for accreditation. Results Six students were recruited and successfully completed the programme instigating changes in practice within their organisation. Evaluations were positive from the students, the college and the University. Staff valued the opportunity to study with the hospice and to experience putting theory into practice, whilst gaining an accredited qualification. Discussion The strength of the programme was local collaboration with the hospice and college. An unexpected outcome was the recruitment of 2 Registered Nurses who used it as a stepping stone for further study. The low module recruitment numbers were disappointing but reflect issues around funding and study leave for staff working in this sector. Conclusion This project demonstrated a closer relationship between the hospice and the local health and social care community and promoted the hospice as resource and support for end of life care.


Reliable estimates of volatility and correlation are crucial in asset allocation and risk management. This paper investigates Static, RiskMetrics, and Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) models for estimating volatility and correlation by testing them in an asset allocation context. Optimal allocation weights for one year found using estimates from each model are carried to the subsequent year and the realized Sharpe ratio is computed to assess portfolio performance. We also study cumulative risk-adjusted returns over the entire sample period. Our findings indicate that DCC does not consistently have an advantage over the other two models, although it is optimal in certain scenarios. JEL Classification: C32; C51; G11; G15


This paper studies the effect of silicon on the growth and production structure of rice (Oryza sativa L.), and proposes the appropriate applying amount of silicon. The results show that the application of silicon fertilizer to rice can increase specific leaf weight and leaf area index, and improve rice yield by increasing grain number, kernel number and thousand kernel weight. The growth rate of rice yield is 3.45%—15.69% by applying silicon. In the Jianghan Plain, the applying amount of silicon fertilizer for rice (SiO2) is recommended at 15—30 kg/ha.


In this thesis we study two different aspects of holographic superconductivity. First we study fully backreacting Gauss-Bonnet (GB) holographic superconductors in 5 bulk spacetime dimensions. We explore the system's dependence on the scalar mass for both positive and negative GB coupling, α. We find that when the mass approaches the Breitenlohner-Freedman (BF) bound and α→(L^2)/4 the effect of backreaction is to increase the critical temperature, Tc , of the system: the opposite of its effect in the rest of parameter space. We also find that reducing α below zero increases Tc and that the effect of backreaction is diminished. We study the zero temperature limit, proving that this system does not permit regular solutions for a non-trivial, tachyonic scalar field and constrain possible solutions for fields with positive masses. We investigate singular zero temperature solutions in the Einstein limit but find them to be incompatible with the concept of GB gravity being a perturbative expansion of Einstein gravity. We study the conductivity of the system, finding that the inclusion of backreaction hinders the development of poles in the conductivity that are associated with quasi-normal modes approaching the real axis from elsewhere in the complex plane.

In the latter part of the thesis we investigate asymptotically anti de-Sitter (adS) and Lifshitz black holes in a bulk gravitational model that has a consistent embed-ding in string theory and that permits an arbitrary dynamical exponent, z ≥ 1. We find numerically that for both types of asymptotic spacetime there exists a two parameter family of black hole solutions. In the adS case these numerical solutions are supported by analytic solutions in the 'probe' or non-backreacting limit. Finally, we study the dependence of the black hole's temperature on these two parameters.


Despite recent breakthroughs in the structural characterization of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), there is only sparse data on how GPCRs recognize larger peptide ligands. NMR spectroscopy, molecular modeling, and double-cycle mutagenesis studies were integrated to obtain a structural model of the peptide hormone neuropeptide Y (NPY) bound to its human G-protein-coupled Y2 receptor (Y2R). Solid-state NMR measurements of specific isotope-labeled NPY in complex with in vitro folded Y2R reconstituted into phospholipid bicelles provided the bioactive structure of the peptide. Guided by solution NMR experiments, it could be shown that the ligand is tethered to the second extracellular loop by hydrophobic contacts. The C-terminal α-helix of NPY, which is formed in a membrane environment in the absence of the receptor, is unwound starting at T(32) to provide optimal contacts in a deep binding pocket within the transmembrane bundle of the Y2R.


It is more than 30 years since the story was last told of the Bayon, the enigmatic state temple of Jayavarman VII, the greatest king of ancient Angkor. Recently, researchers from several disciplines have again been probing the mysteries of this extraordinary monument and its giant face towers. Under an eminent editorial team, "Bayon: New Perspectives" brings together for the first time leading scholars whose findings and insights challenge, not always in consensus, many of the earlier interpretations of the Bayon's art, architecture and inscriptions. Claude Jacques distills decades of research in a close-up of Jayavarman s life, family and immediate successors. T. S. Maxwell conducts the first in-depth study of the Bayon short inscriptions and through them the unique Buddhist-Hindu-ancestral religion imposed by Jayavarman. Olivier Cunin draws on new technology and sophisticated techniques for precisely tracking the temple's bewildering architectural design changes. Peter Sharrock uncovers clear signs of the Tantric Buddhism of the ancient Khmers and proposes we see the Tantric supreme Buddha Vajrasattva in the renowned face towers. Anne-Valerie Schweyer discovers how the inscriptions of the neighbouring Chams, among whom Jayavarman spent his early adult life, throw new light on the king's psychology and life - which Vittorio Roveda carefully tracks in the detailed political reliefs of the Bayon's outer gallery. Ang Choulean then paints the living Bayon in its vivid local folklore - the great monument as it is seen by the people who live in the villages around it today. These intense engagements to unravel the meaning of the temple draw a masterly new preface from Hiram Woodward, who pioneered the current wave of reinterpretations of the Bayon a quarter of a century ago. Michael Vickery's rigorous scholarly imprint, alongside the sustained energy and commitment of editor Joyce Clark permeate every page of this volume, as it yields a more contoured and credible story of the king's remarkable career.


The introduction, explaining the possible causes and outcome of a stroke is written in a matter of fact way, avoiding the technical language found in many books. Subsequent chapters, dealing with every aspect of life, approach the problems in a positive, encouraging manner, making suggestions which will enable the individual, with help from family and/or therapist or alone, to find the best solution for him. Each section includes health and safety, remembering to point out potential hazards and how to avoid them.


Abstract:Recently, scholars have argued that local social and economic institutions, such as bars and payday lenders, can influence neighborhood crime outcomes. Drawing on routine activities theory and social disorganization theory, such research has posited that such institutions can directly affect crime rates by providing potential targets or encouraging criminal behavior, and can indirectly affect crime rates by discouraging social control efforts. We draw on this literature, as well as the literature on reactions to firearm prevalence, to examine the effects of gun shops on local crime rates. Using data for the year 2000 drawn from the National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' Federal Firearms Licensees Database (FFLD), and the National Establishment Time-Series Longitudinal Business Database (NETS), we use hierarchical linear models to examine how the prevalence of gun shops at the tract and metro level contribute to tract-level rates of violent crime in eighty-nine large US cities. Our findings indicate that gun shop prevalence in urban areas is associated with increased rates of homicides and robberies, and that these effects are more pronounced in neighborhoods characterized by residential instability. We conclude with a discussion of policy considerations and avenues for future research on local institutions.


This study examined inequalities in infant mortality in Denmark in relation to maternal educational level, and compared the inequalities to those observed in a similar study 10 years earlier. It was a register-based study of all singleton births in Denmark 1991-92, a study population of 113,814 births. When adjusted for mother's age, parity, and smoking, the stillbirth rate was independent of mother's educational level, but a clear social gradient in infant mortality was observed. Compared with a similar study in 1982-83, infant mortality has decreased most in the highest educational group and has increased in the lowest educational group. In conclusion, social inequality in infant mortality in Denmark is pronounced and cannot be explained by differences in smoking habits. The social gap between different educational groups has widened during the last decade, but may partly be explained by the decreasing number of women in the lowest educational group.


Repair of DNA damage relies on various pathways including the base excision repair (BER) which targets erroneous bases in the DNA. Here, Uracil-DNA glycosylases (UDGs) are responsible for recognition and removal of uracil base from the DNA. Here, we characterize the interaction of Staphylococcus aureus UDG (SAUDG) with a naturally occurring variant of S. aureus uracil-DNA glycosylase inhibitor (SAUGI). This variant contains a histidine instead of a glutamate at the 24th position which affects the SAUDG:SAUGI interaction surface. We assessed the complex formation of SAUDG with these two SAUGI variants by independent biophysical methods. Our data reveal that the residue difference at the 24th position does not have a marked effect on the binding affinity, yet it confers alteration of the thermodynamics of the interaction. We propose that the E24H variant of SAUGI allows efficient complex formation, and consequently, inhibition of SAUDG. © 2018, Budapest University of Technology and Economics. All rights reserved.