The rhizosphere is an active interface where plants and microorganisms (pathogenic, beneficial and neutral) establish a complex and varied molecular dialogue, however knowledge of the functional mechanisms mediating interactions is still limited. Plants invest a significant proportion of their photosynthetically fixed carbon in maintaining the rhizosphere microbiome via root exudation and in return beneficial microbes provide profitable functions to the plant. The potential of naturally occurring soil microorganisms to control phytopathogens and to promote plant growth is well documented, but the functional mechanisms governing the reciprocal signaling between microbial communities and plants are not well understood. The aim of the studies described in this thesis was to gain insight into the functional basis of interactions between the fungal root pathogen Rhizoctonia solani and root associated antagonistic bacteria of the genus Serratia in the rhizosphere of Brassica napus.
Transcriptomic responses of the oilseed rape pathogen R. solani, to the plant-associated and pathogen- antagonistic bacteria Serratia proteamaculans S4 and S. plymuthica AS13, were studied using RNA-sequencing. The results demonstrate a major shift in the fungal gene expression with simultaneous alterations in primary metabolism, activation of defense and attack mechanisms and distortions in hyphal morphology.
Stable isotope probing coupled with high throughput sequencing allowed the description of the composition of bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil and the roots of B. napus and the identification of active taxa capable of assimilating recently fixed plant carbon. Our results support the idea of active selection of microbial communities from the more diverse rhizosphere environment by the roots. Furthermore, the data confirm the potential of some active genera (Streptomyces, Rhizobium, Clonostachys and Fusarium) to be used as microbial inoculants for improved productivity and health of oilseed rape.
Patterns of gene expression in B. napus exposed to factorial combinations of R. solani and S. proteamaculans S4 were examined in-vitro using RNA-sequencing. Plants inoculated with R. solani only were almost dead at 240h post-inoculation and massive transcriptional reprogramming was observed, whereas the presence of S4 modulated the transcriptional responses and resulted in healthy plants. With R. solani present, we observed an interplay between stress and defense involving salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene and abscisic acid as common regulators. Induced systemic resistance when S4 present potentially depends on jasmonic acid, auxin and salicylic acid. Downregulation of stress-related and upregulation of defense-related genes were associated with transcriptional responses suggesting floral induction and plant development.


Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has become a well accepted test for the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis. Advantages include its ability to detect subtle and severe changes of the pancreatic duct and parenchyma, and its relative safety compared with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Limitations include inter- and intra-observer variability, operator dependence, and an incomplete understanding of its true accuracy. The Rosemont classification has recently been proposed as a weighted, standardized method that may improve EUS chronic pancreatitis scoring. This paper reviews the published evidence regarding the accuracy of EUS in chronic pancreatitis diagnosis, and enumerates the emerging technologies that have been recently studied which may ultimately improve endosonographic imaging of the pancreas.


Limited access to pediatric diabetes mental health care suggests a need to readily identify youth requiring referral. The current study aimed to establish a clinically meaningful cut-point on the PAID-Peds, a previously validated measure of diabetes distress in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The 20-item PAID-Peds has shown construct validity with measures of depressive symptoms, diabetes-specific family conflict (DSFC), and general quality of life (QoL). Higher scores (range 0-100) indicate more distress. ROC analyses in youth 8-17 years old compared PAID-Peds scores against established clinical cutoffs for depressive symptoms on the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale (CES-D) and Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) to identify a meaningful clinical cutoff for the PAID-Peds. Confirmation of the cutoff score included assessment of convergent validity with glycemic control and teen-reported measures of treatment adherence, diabetes specific family conflict, and QoL. The sample included 427 youth ((M±SD) age 14.3±2.1 years, T1D duration 6.4±3.7 years, and A1c 8.4±1.1%); 49% were male, 83% white, 83% from 2-parent families, and 69% pump-treated. ROC analyses identified a cut-point of 41, with sensitivity of 79%, specificity of 69%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 94%. Youth with PAID-Peds scores ≥41 (n=168) vs. The cutoff score of 41 on the PAID-Peds has acceptable sensitivity, specificity, and NPV, and warrants future assessment in clinical research and practice. Establishing a cut-point for clinically meaningful diabetes distress may help clinicians to identify youth at risk for poorer biomedical and psychosocial outcomes, thereby prompting timelier referral for mental health support. Disclosure P.V. Commissariat: None. L.J. Tinsley: None. L. Volkening: None. D.A. Butler: None. B. Anderson: Advisory Panel; Self; Sanofi-Aventis. L.M. Laffel: Consultant; Self; Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk Inc., Sanofi US, MannKind Corporation, Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Dexcom, Inc., Insulet Corporation, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute, LLC..


Due to the growth of genetic technology, genetic counseling training programs are challenged with building a foundation of knowledge in a constantly evolving field. As a result, there is a struggle to incorporate more educational content into training programs to ensure students' success as practitioners without increasing the overall length of training programs.

GeneDx, a commercial laboratory, has been involved in the training of students interested in learning more about the laboratory applications of genetic counseling. In the past, they had welcomed students onsite to gain this experience, but with the increased demand for clinical placements with ACGC's requirements for all genetic counseling students to have laboratory experience, the requests for placements have outweighed GeneDx's ability to accommodate all interested students. To meet the needs of those unable to rotate on site, GeneDx created an eight-week webinar series highlighting the unique role of a genetic counselor in the laboratory setting. This series included seven lectures and one panel discussion.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of the GeneDx webinar series in educating genetic counseling students about the laboratory applications of genetic counseling as well as the satisfaction of both the students and program directors with the series.

Pre and post-lecture quizzes were used to assess students' knowledge of the material contained in the seven lectures. Paired t-tests identified statistically significant increases in knowledge for four of the seven lectures (α = 0.05). Post-lecture and post-series satisfaction surveys were also administered to gauge participant satisfaction. These results indicate that genetic counseling students and program directors felt that this was a positive learning experience.

This project is of public health significance due to the increasing demand for and availability of genetic testing, which is often facilitated by a genetic counselor. In order to meet the needs of a growing patient population with an increasing array of genetic testing options, it is important that genetic counseling students have specialized training in the laboratory applications of the profession prior to entering into the field.


Natural products have been shown to present interesting biological and pharmacological activities and are used as chemotherapeutic agents. Plants have historically been used in treating cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and are recognized for their ability to produce secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites obtained from different plants have been the starting material for designing different drugs. Many useful phytoconstituents have been isolated from Terminalia arjuna. Tannins and flavonoids are responsible for its anticancer properties and triterpenoids are mainly responsible for cardiovascular properties. In the present study we have analyzed the inhibitory potential of triterpenoids, on the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) - the enzyme responsible for various cardiovascular diseases. The study revealed that some of the triterpenoids have high ACE inhibiting potential and also significant IC 50 values as compared to other known ACE inhibitors. Keywords: Secondary metabolites, phytoconstituents, triterpenoids, ACE, cardioprotective, IC50


Trade is the principal channel through which the flow of ideas, knowledge and technology will take place. But it is not clear to what extent the recipient country can take advantage of these variables. Adoption, imitation and production process, by and large, depend on human capital in the recipient country, and also on how the different components of human capital (e.g. on-the-job-training versus academic training) are distributed. This paper uses Ordinary Least Square to investigate relationship between trade, human capital and economic growth. The empirical result shows that there is a significant relationship between trade, human capital and economic growth. The study shows that any progress in human capital will positively affect economic growth. In turn, higher economic growth will lead to more employment, higher income and profit, which means more investment in human capital.


Muslim youth growing up in Western contexts face a complex set of issues as a result of meeting the various, and often incongruent, expectations placed upon them by their family, religion, ethnic community and host national society. This group of young people is often thought to face high risks of maladaptation, as they potentially experience the negative effects of acculturation more so than host nationals or other immigrant youth. Recent research, however, has suggested that many Muslim migrant young people are successfully negotiating their experiences of cultural transition in Western societies. Therefore, the major aim of this thesis was to obtain systematic data on young Muslim migrant's "pathways to positive development", or how these young people achieve successful adaptation in the face of adversity. To examine the complexities of Muslim migrant youth acculturation fully, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of their lived experiences within and across contexts. In order to achieve this, four studies were conducted utilising mixed methodologies and drawing on a range of psychological and sociological theories, predominantly focusing on acculturation, development and religiosity. Study 1 qualitatively investigated the indicators and determinants of participation and success for Muslim youth in the New Zealand environment. The results of this study enabled a framework to be developed that illustrates the most salient ecological resources youth access (family, religion and the intercultural environment), the risks they face (discrimination and cultural differences) and outcomes of the acculturation process. In study 2, this framework was refined by drawing upon theories of resilience, and subsequently was tested quantitatively with a sample of Muslim youth in New Zealand. Results from this study indicate that while Muslim youth in New Zealand may be at risk of maladaptative outcomes because of their exposure to discrimination and cultural transition, ecological resources may counteract some of the negative effects of these stressors. Study 3 sought to test whether the results found in study 2 were generalisable to Muslim youth in other contexts by carrying out a comparative analysis of youth outcomes in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. These societies were chosen to be compared because they share a similar historic culture but have taken very different routes to social cohesion and the inclusion of minorities. The major aim of this study was to investigate whether the country of settlement has an impact on the adaptation of Muslim migrant youth. The results demonstrate that the cultural environment of migration plays an important contributing factor to both the experience of stress and the achievement of positive adaptation above and beyond the effects of resources. Finally, study 4 utilised techniques of multilevel modelling to examine the acculturation experiences of Muslim youth cross-culturally. Drawing on the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY) data, Muslim migrant youth from 9 Western receiving nations were examined. Results indicate that the ideological context (cultural values and host national attitudes towards immigrants) has important effects on individual levels of adaptation and the experience of perceived discrimination. The findings of this thesis contribute novel perspectives to acculturation and development research as well as cross-cultural psychology more generally. Using multiple methods in the study of psychological phenomena enables a move beyond traditional descriptions of acculturation processes as situated predominantly within one cultural setting and advances our understanding of how Muslim youth fare in a global context.


ABSTRACT Preclinical evaluation of drug-like molecules requires their oral administration to experimental animals using suitable vehicles. We studied the effect of oral dosing with corn oil, carboxymethyl cellulose, dimethyl sulfoxide, and polysorbate-80 on the progression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in mice. Infection was monitored by physical (survival time and body weight) and bacteriological (viable counts in lungs) parameters. Compared with water, corn oil significantly improved both sets of parameters, whereas the other vehicles affected only physical parameters.


Performance of any breeding program is mainly due to the correlation among yield and relative importance of each component. This study was conducted to analysis the correlation among grain yield and some important traits in seventhin spring canola ( Brassica napus L .) cultivars at the farm in safiabad, from 2014 to 2015. A randomized complete blocks design with four replications was used. The analysis of variance results indicated highly significant differences in canola genotypes for all studied traits, that it can indicate genetically variation be utilized for the effective selection for improving grain yield. Mean comparision showed that RGS003 and Hayola401 cultivars had higher grain yield than the other cultivars. The correlation coefficients among the grain yield and 1000-seed weight, number of seed per pod, HI and days to maturity were positive and significant. Results of stepwise regression analysis revealed that 1000-grain weight, number of pods per plant and days to maturity had significantly effects on grain yield. Path coefficient analysis revealed that the number of seed per pod and 1000-seed weight had the largest direct effects on grain yield, its seams possible to be use as selection criteria in breeding programs for improving grain yield of spring rapeseed cultivars.


A Thesis submitted to the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Ethics and Public Management of Makerere University


A novel thermal barrier coating comprised two layers: sputtered bond coat and enamel-zirconia composite top layer. The hot corrosion tests were carried out at 900 °C for 100 h. The salt used in the tests was 25wt% NaCl + 75wt% Na2SO4. Mass loss and spalltion of oxide scales of uncoated K444 specimens was obvious. For the coated specimens, no oxide scale spallation and no weight loss were observed. The TGO formed on the coated specimens was thin layer of mixture oxides of Al, Ti and Cr, while thick multi-layered oxide scales formed on the uncoated specimens. Besides, deep internal oxidation zone was observed on the uncoated specimens. The coatings after hot corrosion tests contained t-ZrO2 and NaAlSi3O8, while the oxide scales formed on the uncoated K444 were TiO2, Cr2O3, NiCr2O4 and Na2Cr2Ti6O16.


In 1945 Alfonso Gatto published Il sigaro di fuoco. Poesie per bambini, a volume in which the author, who had already identified in art, urban planning and architecture the possible factors of a moral and civil progress of the nation, renews his
ethical commitment. The collection becomes an opportunity to develop an idea and a practice of education, as well as a pedagogical model other than that proposed in the Fascist period. An unprecedented and courageous project that does not end with the end of the war. In the years of the economic boom, of the degeneration of consumption, the poet publishes for «children of all ages» Il vaporetto, feeling the urgency to make children's literature the ultimate tool for building a model of life and civilization.


Stomata account for much of the 70% of global water usage associated with agriculture, and have a profound impact on the water and carbon cycles of the world. Anion channels at the plasma membrane of the guard cell are thought to comprise a major pathway for anion efflux essential for driving stomatal closure. The activity of these channels is therefore tightly linked to abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent stomatal movements.

Both the inorganic anion Cl- and the organic acid anion malate (Mal) are transported during stomatal movements. The metabolism of organic acids, primarily Mal plays an especially important role in these processes. However, little is known of the regulation of anion channel current (ICl) or its connection with cytosolic Mal and its immediate metabolite oxaloacetate (OAA). Work described here focuses on the relation of ICl and its connections with metabolism and signals controlling other transport at the guard cell plasma membrane. Thus the impact of Mal, OAA and of acetate in Vicia guard cells was examined, and results shown that all three organic acids affect ICl with different characteristics. Most prominent, the suppression of ICl by OAA within the physiological range in vivo indicates a capacity for OAA to co-ordinate organic acid metabolism with ICl through a direct effect of organic acid pool size.

In a second set of studies, the ABA pathway that elevates cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) in order to activate ICl was explored. These studies build on the discovery of PYR/PRL ABA receptors. Previous analysis of the pyr1/pyl1/pyl2/pyl4 mutant suggested that [Ca2+]i increases are suppressed. However, direct evidence had not been forthcoming. Thus a combination of voltage clamp and fluorescent ratio analysis with the Ca2+-sensitive dye Fura2 was used to show that the activity of Ca2+ channels (ICa) at the plasma membrane in the pyr1/pyl1/pyl2/pyl4 mutant is not activated in ABA, with the effect that [Ca2+]i increases were suppressed. Further studies showed that the normal action of ABA in promoting reactive oxygen species (ROS) was impaired, although adding H2O2 was sufficient to activate the ICa and trigger stomatal closure in the mutant. These results offer direct evidence that the PYR/PYL receptor proteins contribute to the activation by ABA of ICa through ROS, thus affecting [Ca2+]i and its regulation of osmotic solute flux for stomatal closure.

Finally, the connection between ICl and the K+ channel currents in the slac1 mutant of Arabidopsis was studied. These studies employed systems dynamic modelling to explain the paradoxical suppression of the inward-rectifying K+ channel current, IK,in and slowing of stomatal opening, by mutation that eliminated the SLAC1 anion channel. Experimental results confirmed the model predictions that the abnormal cytosolic pH (pHi) and [Ca2+]i suppresses IK,in in the slac1 mutant, through measuring pHi and [Ca2+]i in vivo, and experimental manipulation of pHi and [Ca2+]i is sufficient to recover IK,in and stomatal opening. These data uncover a previously unrecognised signaling network that minimises the effects of the slac1 mutant on transpiration, and they underscore the importance of H+-coupled anion transport for pHi homeostasis.


This paper presents a novel reversible fragile watermarking scheme based on a pyramidal structure. The similarities among the detail components of a pyramid-structure image are exploited to select appropriate embedding areas, and then the cryptographic watermarks are embedded into selected wavelet coefficients using a difference-expansion method. An adaptive embedding method is proposed to avoid needing extra space to store parts of the original image and the watermark location map. The cryptographic signatures are created using a watermark generation function that comprises a hashing function and a public-key encryption function. To resist counterfeiting attack, block relationships are created using toral automorphism to increase the security and implementation practicability. Experimental results show that the proposed reversible fragile watermarking scheme can successfully obtain the original image if the protected image is unaltered, and unauthorized manipulations can be correctly identified and localized even when protected images undergo a cropping attack.


A dual-band circularly polarized aperture coupled microstrip RFID reader antenna using a metamaterial (MTM) branch-line coupler has been designed, fabricated, and measured. The proposed antenna is fabricated on a FR-4 substrate with relative permittivity of 4.6 and thickness of 1.6 mm. The MTM coupler is designed employing the provided explicit closed-form formulas. The dual-band (UHF and ISM) circularly-polarized RFID reader antenna with separate Tx and Rx ports is connected to the designed metamaterial (MTM) branch-line coupler. The maximum measured LHCP antenna gain is 6.6 dBic at 920 MHz (UHF) and RHCP gain is 7.9 dBic at 2.45 GHz (ISM). The cross-polar CP gains near broadside of the RFID reader antenna are approximately less than - 20 dB compared with the mentioned co-polar CP gains in both bands. The isolations between the two ports are about 25 dB and 38 dB, at 920 MHz and 2.45 GHz, respectively. The measured axial ratios are less than 0.7 dB in the UHF band (917-923 MHz) and 1.5 dB in the ISM band (2.4-2.48 GHz).


A single-microphone noise suppression algorithm is described that is based on a novel approach for the estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in different frequency channels: The input signal is transformed into neurophysiologically-motivated spectro-temporal input features. These patterns are called amplitude modulation spectrograms (AMS), as they contain information of both center frequencies and modulation frequencies within each 32 ms-analysis frame. The different representations of speech and noise in AMS patterns are detected by a neural network, which estimates the present SNR in each frequency channel. Quantitative experiments show a reliable estimation of the SNR for most types of nonspeech background noise. For noise suppression, the frequency bands are attenuated according to the estimated present SNR using a Wiener filter approach. Objective speech quality measures, informal listening tests, and the results of automatic speech recognition experiments indicate a substantial benefit from AMS-based noise suppression, in comparison to unprocessed noisy speech.


The objective of this communication is to present the new capability at AMIL in ice accretion simulation on 2D Airfoils at low speed. AMIL, in a joint project with CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Center), has developed a numerical model called CIRAMIL. This model is able to predict ice shapes in wet and dry regimes. The thermodynamic model used is similar to existing ones. The major difference is in the approach of calculating the surface roughness and the residual, runback and shedding liquid water masses on an airfoil surface. The numerical ice shapes are compared to rime and glaze shapes obtained experimentally in wind tunnel for a NACA0012 wing profile. The new roughness computation method generates the complex ice shapes observed experimentally in wet and dry regimes and the results agree well with icing profiles obtained in wind tunnel experiments and in many cases are better than those predicted by the models available.


Short Abstract: Emergent technologies are rapidly transforming the nature of services and service experiences. One particular area predicted to have a significant impact on these is the integration of robots into service systems. However, extant literature on service provider-user encounters and their consequential relationships implicitly assumes that the key social agents involved are primarily human. This proposed research will address this gap by investigating the extent to which robot anthropomorphization/animacy influences user perceptions of competence/professionalism and/or social cognition. It considers the impact of these on provider-user relational trust within contrasting service contexts. Specifically, using an innovative methodological approach, it will examine the extent to which 'communal' and 'exchange' contexts are influential on relational development intention and the type of relationship sought by service users.


BACKGROUND:In this randomized, controlled, observer-blinded study, we evaluated analgesia provided by transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block after elective total laparoscopic hysterectomy in terms of reduced postoperative morphine consumption as the primary end point. METHODS:Fifty-two patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: patients in group T (TAP, n = 26) received an ultrasound-guided bilateral TAP block with 40 mL of 0.375% levobupivacaine and morphine patient-controlled analgesia, whereas patients in group C (control, n = 26) received morphine patient-controlled analgesia. Secondary outcomes included pain measurements (Numeric Rating Scale from 0 to 10) during the first 24 hours postoperatively, times to postanesthesia care unit discharge, times to surgical ward discharge, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, functional capacity measurements in terms of 2-minute walking test, and first oral solid intake. RESULTS:Demographic and anthropometric variables were similar in the 2 groups. The total dose of morphine consumed by patients during postanesthesia care unit stay was 6 (0–8) mg in group T vs 8 (5.5–8.5) mg in group C (P = 0.154). Postoperative morphine consumption during the first 24 hours was 10.55 ± 10.24 mg in group C vs 10.73 ± 13.45 mg in group T (P = 0.950). The 95% confidence interval of the difference between means of 24-hour morphine consumption was −7.45 to +7.09. The 2 groups were comparable. There were no significant differences in secondary outcome variables between groups. CONCLUSIONS:TAP block did not reduce morphine consumption during the first postoperative 24 hours after elective total laparoscopic hysterectomy.


Surgical Sepsis. C J L Strachan & R Wise (ed) pp 153 £11.80 London: Academic Press 1979 The diversity of approaches to the prevention of infection in abdominal surgery is a familiar theme in the correspondence columns of medical journals. The above book, which reports the proceedings of a recent symposium on this topic, whilst accurately reflecting such disparate views, also provides a useful scientific blackcloth to the subject. This emerges in the form of fourteen papers, most of which include the results of original work in this field. With the general agreement that the most frequently encountered infections are due to endogenous organisms acting as opportunists, there is consideration of those factors which promote such infections, e.g. operation site, haemostasis, tissue trauma, poor perfusion, foreign bodies and microorganisms. The rationale of mechanical bowel preparation is considered, together with the results of different approaches to this problem. In further studies the use of local antiseptics and antibiotics is described and also short or long term chemoprophylaxis. with single or multiple agents. In addition to general reference throughout the text to complications of antimicrobial therapy. there is a useful chapter dealing specifically with antibiotic-associated colitis. This small, well produced volume, which is of general interest, also provides a useful update on bacteriology for surgeons and on surgical practice for microbiologists. I would recommend it to both groupS, even though some may find the price a little daunting. There is little to criticize editorially, although I would presume that the 18th cranial nerve (page 62) will be renumbered in the next edition. II R INGHAM Consultant Microbiologist Newcastle General Hospital


Parents' ideas and practices regarding monetary payments and children's household jobs have been considered as an index of more general values related to what children should learn and what parents should do. The present study explores (a) the acceptability to parents of a variety of practices, and (b) some general ideas about money in exchange for jobs that may provide a background for discussing actual practices. At issue are both the content of parents' ideas and the degree to which there is coherence or structure within the ideas held and between ideas and practices. The sample consisted of 118 Australian parents (mothers and fathers) each with a child aged either 9-11 or 14-16 years. The results indicate the value of exploring ideas about money as a route into parents' ideas about children and their development, together with the value of exploring both the extent to which ideas are shared by parents and the nature of departures from a coherent set of ideas.


The short-term and longterm effects of physical exercise and sports on the regulation of diabetes mellitus in children are described. The precise tuning of insulin dosage, food and sports can be achieved with self-control and self-regulation. Advisable sports activities and limitations like poor metabolic control are being discussed. Regular physical exercise for diabetic children is advised to prevent lack of movement, also for their health in older age.


We are in the middle of another revolution in information processing and distribution. After the invention of script and then print, pictures are taking over again. The number of gadgets with displays is larger than the world population. On average, every single person on earth owns at least one device with a display on it. These displays are the portals to everything we do: communicating, reading, shopping, learning, etc. But are they up to the job? The most successful display technology to date is still the liquid crystal display. It is a well-established technology that can be scaled in size from small to large and, depending on the drive electronics, has no significant inherent limits to resolution. However, poor light efficiency and data congestion caused by high pixel densities are still technical challenges in need of good solutions. Could electrophoresis in a liquid crystal host be the answer? The fundamental basics and technical challenges of this interesting new approach will be discussed.


The diffusion of the Internet has radically expanded the readily available sources for information of all types. Information that was once obtained second-hand from friends and acquaintances--the traditional "two-step flow"--is now found easily through the Internet. The authors make use of survey data to explore this thesis in regards to information sources about genetic testing and the influence of the Internet on the information seeking behaviors of the public. A telephone survey of a random sample of 882 adults asked them about their knowledge of, concerns about, and interest in genetic testing. Respondents were most likely to first turn to the Internet for information about cancer genetics, second to public libraries, and third to medical doctors. Overall, doctors were the most likely source to be consulted when second and third choices are considered. Age, income, and self-reported understanding of genetics are shown to be predictors of whether someone goes to medical professionals for advice, rather than to the Internet or public library. The results raise questions about the apparent tendency of the public to regard the Internet as the best source of information on complex topics like genetics, for which it may be ill-suited.


Although the title of this book includes the word "introduction", the treatment of the subject is extensive and complete. The material goes well beyond the coverage of bolted joint design received in a typical undergraduate machine design course. The easy-to-read text begins with the fundamentals of bolt strength, deformation, and material selection and proceeds to cover the topics of preload, torque, and stretch control. The emphasis is on practical considerations for the efficient design of joints, including cost, ease of assembly, inspection, and disassembly. This second, revised edition has expanded the coverage of corrosion, fatigue, gaskets, and ultrasonic measurement of bolt strain. Also included are discussions of the failure modes and mechanisms of bolted joints. Case histories from industry are presented throughout the text to illustrate key points. Many up-to-date references are presented at the end of each chapter to allow the reader to pursue individual topics further, if desired. The text contains several appendices with useful tables and formulas for quick reference. The author has broad experience in the subject area from many years as a consultant to the power generation and nuclear industry, active participation on society working groups such as ASME and PVRC, as well as the presentation of numerous seminars on the topic. This book would serve as a valuable desk reference for engineers concerned with the design and performance of bolted joints.


There has been significant progress throughout 2013 in cardiothoracic and vascular anaesthesia and intensive care. There has been a revolution in the medical and interventional management of atrial fibrillation. The medical advances include robust clinical risk scoring systems, novel oral anticoagulants, and growing clinical experience with a new antiarrhythmic agent. The interventional advances include left atrial appendage occlusion for stroke reduction, generalization of ablation techniques in cardiac surgery, thoracoscopic ablation techniques, and the emergence of the hybrid ablation procedure. Recent European guidelines have defined the organization and practice of two subspecialties, namely general thoracic surgery and grown-up congenital heart disease. The pivotal role of an effective multidisciplinary milieu is a central theme in both these clinical arenas. The anaesthesia team features prominently in each of these recent guidelines aimed at harmonizing delivery of perioperative care for these patient cohorts across Europe. Web-Enabled Democracy-Based Consensus is a system that allows physicians worldwide to agree or disagree with statements and expert consensus meetings and has the potential to increase the understanding of global practice and to help clinicians better define research priorities. This "Democratic based medicine", firstly used to assess the interventions that might reduce perioperative mortality has been applied in 2013 to the setting of critically ill patient with acute kidney injury. These advances in 2013 will likely further improve perioperative outcomes for our patients.


Osseointegrated implants have been an optimal treatment option for dental rehabilitation of fully or partially edentulous patients. Although peri-implantitis remains as the most common local risk factor for dental implant failure, the development of oral cancer involving the soft tissue around the titanium may lead to early implants loss and impact the quality of life of the patient negatively. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy among head and neck tumors. It has higher prevalence in men over 50 years old, and in tobacco and/or alcohol users. Unfortunately, oral cancer is often detected in advanced stages, when the treatment options are limited. Thus, OSCC typically has poor prognosis. Despite the recent advances in oral carcinogenesis understanding, the relationship between dental implants and the development of malignant lesions around them is not completely understood. It has been suggested that the titanium corrosion occurring at the top of dental implants causes the release of metal ions. These ions might lead to oral epithelial genetic damage and higher susceptibility of normal mucosa to malignant transformation. The aim of this chapter was to review the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and the possible carcinogenic mechanisms involved in oral cancer around dental implants.


The spectral properties of plant leaves relate to the state of their photosynthetic apparatus and the surrounding environment. An example is the well known photosynthetic downregulation, active on the time scale from minutes to hours, caused by reversible changes in the xanthophyll cycle pigments. These changes affect leaf spectral absorption and are frequently quantified using the photochemical reflectance index (PRI). This index can be used to remotely monitor the photosynthetic status of vegetation, and allows for a global satellite-based measurement of photosynthesis. Such earth observation satellites in near-polar orbits usually cover the same geographical location at the same local solar time at regular intervals. To facilitate the interpretation of these instantaneous remote PRI measurements and upscale them temporally, we measured the daily course of leaf PRI in two evergreen biomes—a European boreal forest and an Amazon rainforest. The daily course of PRI was different for the two locations: At the Amazonian forest, the PRI of <italic>Manilkara elata</italic> leaves was correlated with the average photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R^{2}=0.59$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p< 0.01$</tex-math></inline-formula>) of the 40 minutes preceding the leaf measurement. In the boreal location, the variations in <italic>Pinus sylvestris</italic> needle PRI were only weakly (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R^{2}=0.27$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p< 0.05$</tex-math></inline-formula>) correlated with mean PPFD of the preceding two hours; for <italic>Betula pendula</italic>, the correlation was insignificant (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p>0.5)$</tex-math></inline-formula> regardless of the averaging period. The measured daily PRI curves were specific to species and/or environmental conditions. Hence, for a proper interpretation of satellite-measured instantaneous photosynthesis, the scaling of PRI measurements should be supported with information on its correlation with PPFD.


The purpose of this research is to analyze the potential of the polysaccharides extracted from Calostoma sp. mushroom, which is proven to have bioactive properties through bioassays. The morphology of the genus Calostoma was investigated by scanning electron microscope and light microscopy showed differences. The mushroom species was confirmed as Calostoma insignis. The antimicrobial tests of crude polysaccharide extracts of C. insignis on three bacterial pathogens were done by disk diffusion and agar overlay techniques. The sensitivity of test pathogens was in decreasing order: P. aeruginosa > S. aureus > E. coli. The antioxidant assays shows promising results in Ascorbic acid Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity assay (ICso = 184 µg/mL). The Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity assay showed values of 1 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL and the Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma assay showed values of 87 mrnol/g and 297 mrnol/g for ethanolic and aqueous extracts respectively. The aqueous extract had a higher potency antioxidant activity than ethanolic extract. The ethanolic extract inhibited the growth of some bacteria proves that C. insignis may be tantamount to treat strains of bacteria. These findings are of significance to use the fruit-bodies for antioxidant and antimicrobial activities to reduce the demands on endangered species.


Proton laser-plasma-based acceleration has nowadays achieved a substantial maturity allowing to seek for possible practical applications, as for example Particle Induced X-ray Emission with few MeV protons. Here we report about the design, implementation, and characterization of a few MeV laser-plasma-accelerated proton beamline in air using a compact and cost-effective beam transport line based on permanent quadrupole magnets. The magnetic beamline coupled with a laser-plasma source based on a 14-TW laser results in a well-collimated proton beam of about 10 mm in diameter propagating in air over a few cm distance.


In this work mantle convection simulation with Terra is investigated from a numerical point of view, theoretical analysis as well as practical tests are performed. The stability criteria for the numerical formulation of the physical model will be made clear. For the incompressible case and the Terra specific treatment of the anelastic approximation, two inf-sup stable grid modifications are presented, which are both compatible with hanging nodes. For the Q1hQ12h element pair a simple numeric test is introduced to prove the stability for any given grid. For the Q1h Pdisc 12h element pair and 1-regular refinements with hangig nodes an existing general proof can be adopted. The influence of the slip boundary condition is found to be destabilizing. For the incompressible case a cure can be adopted from the literature. The necessary conditions for the expansion of the stability results to the anelastic approximation will be pointed out. A numerical framework is developed in order to measure the effect of different numerical approaches to improve the handling of strongly varying viscosity. The framework is applied to investigate how block smoothers with different block sizes, combination of different block smoothers, different prolongation schemes and semi coarsening influence the multigrid performance. A regression-test framework for Terra will be briefly introduced.


Large mafic sills in the Ahlmannryggen region of western Dronning Maud Land were intruded into partially lithified sediments of the mid-Proterozoic Ritscherflya Supergroup. Clastic sedimentary dykes intruding the thick mafic sills have been identified, and show evidence for fluidization of the partially lithified sediments. Previous work had demonstrated in situ fluidization and localized anatectic melting. This study demonstrates mobilization of the fluidized sediments, with penetration at least 50 m into the fractured, intruding sill. Physical features within the clastic dykes (e.g. sediment balls, flame structures) suggest that the sediments were largely unconsolidated, or at most only partially lithified. The presence of a thin zone of anatectic melt along the dyke—sill contact suggests that the mafic sill was still hot (c. 700°C) at the time of sedimentary dyke injection.


Background Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) is a systemic vasculitis affecting primarily large and medium sized arteries. Immediate high dose steroid treatment may prevent urgent complications, such as vision loss and cerebrovascular insults1–3. However, there is a clear lack of data on predicting serological markers and their association to clinical complications. Objectives To investigate serological parameters that support clinicians in predicting complications in a large, clinically well-characterized set of untreated GCA patients at time of diagnosis. Methods The study included 98 GCA patients (67% female) with a median (IQR) age 74.1 (67.3–78.8) years and a median (IQR) symptome duration time of 30 (20–90) days). Healthy blood donors (HDs, n=52, 61.5% female, median (IQR) age of 41.95 (20.4–63.1) years) served as controls. GCA complications studied were visual disturbances (including permanent loss of vision), relapses, peripheral artery involvement and claudication. Levels of 27 serum analytes were measured using Luminex xMAP Technology. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and serum amyloid A (SAA) levels were tested using ELISA and nephelometry, respectively. Results The highest, significantly elevated analytes in GCA vs. HDs were SAA (85-fold > HDs mean values), IL-23 (63-fold) and IL-6 (11-fold). IL-13, α-fetoprotein and MMP-2 were significantly decreased in GCA, while levels of IL-2, IL-17A and TNF-α were unchanged. PCA analysis revealed a signature analyte profile positioning towards the HD cluster. SAA, CRP, haptoglobin, ESR, thrombocyte # and matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) all negatively associated with visual disturbances, confirming our previous data. Age showed significant association to permanent visual loss, with older patients being more affected3. SAA, CRP and ESR at presentation were found to be predictive of relapsing disease, while MMP-2 negatively associated with relapse. VCAM-1, α-fetoprotein, MARCO and IL-27 were all negatively associated with peripheral artery involvement. MMP-2 and MARCO showed positive association with claudication, while IL-18 was negatively associated. Conclusions In our large study of untreated GCA patients we highlight the importance of using serological acute phase parameters, MMPs and other analytes for predicting complications. References Weyand CM, Goronzy JJ. Medium- and large-vessel vasculitis. N Engl J Med 2003, 349:160–169. Nesher G: The diagnosis and classification of giant cell arteritis. J Autoimmun 2014, 48–49:73–75. Hocevar A et al. Do Early Diagnosis and Glucocorticoid Treatment Decrease the Risk of Permanent Visual Loss and Early Relapses in Giant Cell Arteritis: A Prospective Longitudinal Study. Medicine (Baltimore) 2016, 95:e3210. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract Healthy eating in schools is central to UK Government attempts to redress nutritional deficiencies and combat childhood obesity. However, there is little consideration of the local, contextual spatial factors that contribute to the ways in which particular policy initiatives are experienced at the school level. This paper presents findings from an evaluation of the 'Eat Well Do Well' programme in Kingston-upon-Hull, UK: an innovative scheme providing free, healthy food to all primary school children. Data is presented from an ethnographic study of two case study schools illustrating how notions of 'spatiality' augment our understanding of the ways policy intention is mediated. We consider the potential of primary school meals policy to address health inequalities using the concept of 'spatiality' to examine the interconnections between the aesthetic, temporal, social and spatial elements of school dining environments. We conclude optimistically, suggesting that an engagement by health policy developers with what we call the 'spatial imagination', might be useful in examining and developing factors that ensure the effectiveness of interventions addressing the determinants of ill health.


In this study, using electronic health record data for a multisite, multistate primary care cohort, we evaluate WCC adherence among children with IOE. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: For children with intrauterine opioid exposure (IOE), well-child care (WCC) provides an important opportunity to address medical, developmental, and psychosocial needs. We evaluated WCC adherence for this population. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we used PEDSnet data from a pediatric primary care network spanning 3 states from 2011 to 2016. IOE was ascertained by using physician diagnosis codes. WCC adherence in the first year was defined as a postnatal or 1-month visit and completed 2-, 4-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month visits. WCC adherence in the second year was defined as completed 15- and 18-month visits. Gaps in WCC, defined as ≥2 missed consecutive WCC visits, were also evaluated. We used multivariable regression to test the independent effect of IOE status. RESULTS: Among 11 334 children, 236 (2.1%) had a diagnosis of IOE. Children with IOE had a median of 6 WCC visits (interquartile range 5–7), vs 8 (interquartile range 6–8) among children who were not exposed (P < .001). IOE was associated with decreased WCC adherence over the first and second years of life (adjusted relative risk 0.54 [P < .001] and 0.74 [P < .001]). WCC gaps were more likely in this population (adjusted relative risk 1.43; P < .001). There were no significant adjusted differences in nonroutine primary care visits, immunizations by age 2, or lead screening. CONCLUSIONS: Children <2 years of age with IOE are less likely to adhere to recommended WCC, despite receiving on-time immunizations and lead screening. Further research should be focused on the role of WCC visits to support the complex needs of this population.


The increasing complexity of high-demand long-running applications has faced programmers with the need to take into account both development hardness and execution time, me/spl mu/ provides the flexibility to control the amount of computational and communication power being used in order to maximize resources utilization and to deliver high performance. In this paper we focus on the aspects of the paradigm that go beyond traditional message passing approaches, promoting the idea that by raising the abstraction level of programming models, programmers will make better use of the available resources with clear impact on both productivity and performance. We introduce the resource as the abstraction used to represent and manage both physical resources - nodes, memory, processors and communication technologies - and logical resources - modules, processes, tasks, threads, groups, etc. We also concentrate on the task of specifying, locating and aggregating resources in order to support the mapping of applications into the target cluster hardware and the explicit management of memory hierarchy.


Transcription by all three eukaryotic RNA polymerases involves the assembly of a large preinitiation complex (PIC) at gene promoters. The PIC comprises several general transcription factors (GTFs), including TBP, and the respective RNA polymerase. It has been suggested that some GTFs remain stably bound at active promoters to facilitate multiple transcription events. Here we used two complementary approaches to show that, in G1-arrested yeast cells, TBP exchanges very rapidly even at the most highly active RNA Pol II promoters. A similar situation is observed at RNA Pol III promoters. In contrast, TBP remains stably bound at RNA Pol I promoters. We also provide evidence that, unexpectedly, PIC dynamics are neither the cause nor the consequence of nucleosome exchange at most of the RNA Pol II promoters we analyzed. These results point to a stable reinitiation complex at RNA Pol I promoters and suggest independent PIC and nucleosome turnover at many RNA Pol II promoters.


At the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in the southern Appalachians of western North Carolina, a near-stream vegetation manipulation experiment is being conducted to determine the effect of removal of streamside Rhododendron maximum L. on the export of hillslope nutrients (K, Na, Ca, Mg, N, P, S) and organic matter. Experimental hillslope transects that span topographical flowpaths from a local highpoint to the stream have been instrumented with lysimeters and TDR rods at two depths, as well as with streambed and streambank piezometers. We present a review of studies of nutrient flux in the riparian zone of forested watersheds. In the southern Appalachians, we hypothesize that R. maximum is a keystone species at the interface between terrestrial and aquatic systems, with extensive near-stream thickets having a possible impact on carbon and nutrient transport into streams. We present the conceptual basis and initial implementation of a model-based experimental design to test the effect of R. maximum removal on billslope nutrient and organic matter export in upland watersheds. The model is terrain-based and will be used to extrapolate elemental flux measurements both spatially from the hillslope to watershed scale and temporally for various climate regimes. The model consists of three modules: (1) objective terrain analysis (TAPES- C); (2) a dynamic interception canopy module; (3) a hillslope hydrology module (IHDM4) with a 2-D Richard's equation of subsurface moisture dynamics. Calibration and validation of the model will occur at two scales: at the hiUslope scale, using well, lysimeter, and TDR data; at the watershed scale, using streamflow measurements across a variety of storm types. We show watershed terrain analysis for the experimental watershed (WS56) and discuss use of the model for understanding effects of watershed management of riparian zone processes.


Direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation in unknown noise environments is an important but challenging problem. Several methods based on maximum likelihood (ML) criteria and parameterization of signals or noise covariances have been established. Generally, to obtain the exact ML (EML) solutions, the DOAs must be jointly estimated along with other noise or signal parameters by optimizing a complicated nonlinear function over a high-dimensional problem space. Although the computation complexity can be reduced via derivation of suboptimal approximate ML (AML) functions using large sample assumption or least square criteria, nevertheless the AML estimators still require multi-dimensional search and the accuracy is lost to some extent. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) based solution is proposed here to compute the EML functions and explore the potential superior performances. A key characteristic of PSO is that the algorithm itself is highly robust yet remarkably simple to implement, while processing similar capabilities as other evolutionary algorithms such as the genetic algorithm (GA). Simulation results confirm the advantage of paring PSO with EML, and the PSO-EML estimator is shown to significantly outperform AML-based techniques in various scenarios at less computational costs.


In this paper, we propose a new protocol, named DDA (Distributed Delay Allocation), which provides average delay guarantees to real-time multimedia applications in wireless ad hoc networks. By adapting the contention window sizes of IEEE 802.11, DDA schedules packets of flows according to their individual delay requirements. The novelty of DDA is that it imposes no control message overhead on the network and does not depend on explicit knowledge of channel capacity. We rigorously prove the convergence property of DDA and show that it always converges to a contention window allocation that satisfies all competing realtime flows' delay requirements, if the requirements of all realtime flows do not exceed the capacity of the network.


The rate and mechanism of nitrogen excretion were examined in Geograpsus grayi. This species excretes waste nitrogen as gaseous NH3 in periodic bursts. The mean concentration of total ammonia ([NH3]+[NH4+]) in the primary urine during bursts of excretion (1.72 mmol l-1) was similar to that of haemolymph (2.07 mmol l-1) but was significantly lower (P<0.005) than that of branchial fluid (80.6 mmol l-1). The effects of ion exchange inhibitors on the apical membrane of the gill epithelium in Geograpsus grayi were examined. The presence of an amiloride-sensitive Na+/NH4+ exchanger was confirmed and a SITS-sensitive Cl- influx suggested Cl-/HCO3- exchange. Thus, the site of nitrogenous excretion in this species is the branchial chamber, which is also the site of reprocessing of urine for ion regulation in other terrestrial crabs. Gaseous ammonia excretion is achieved by volatilisation of NH3 from the branchial fluid. High partial pressures of ammonia in the branchial fluid are produced by apical Na+/NH4+ exchange and elevation of the pH.


Abstract Argumentation is a central epistemic process contributing to the generation, evaluation, and application of scientific knowledge. A key challenge for science educators and researchers is to understand how the important social and discursive ("social dialogic") dimensions of argumentation can be implemented in learning environments. This study investigates how science educators learned about such argumentation through a professional development program at a scientific research center. The 13‐day program included 5‐days working in research laboratories with a mentor and observing scientific argumentation in context. Theoretically, this research draws on sociocultural frameworks to investigate the social dialogic dimensions of scientific argumentation. Methodologically, it examines the reflections of a cohort of 21 secondary science teachers as they observed argumentation in scientific research settings. It examines how research experiences for teachers can promote an understanding of the social dialogic dimensions of argumentation and to help teachers take up educational approaches that foster expansive argumentation practices. Teachers shared a heightened awareness of argumentation as a ubiquitous, embedded feature of authentic scientific activity; expanded ideas about forms, uses, and purposes of argumentation; and developed an understanding of how contexts for argumentation such as collaborative sensemaking and critique can help manage uncertainty and build knowledge. A year after their program participation, teachers recounted shifts in pedagogical practices, including desettling traditional classroom talk patterns, scaling back their epistemic authority, providing students with more agency and ownership of ideas, and recognizing the value of establishing a culture of community and collaboration. Findings highlight how professional development in research settings has the potential to broaden teachers' views of argumentation, with implications for secondary science teaching.


Indonesia as a country has an obligation to ensure the wellbeing of its citizen by administering protection for each and every one of its citizen from all backgrounds. Said protection should not only accommodate security and legal protection; However, it should also incorporate health protection in the form of healthcare. Based on this premise, a national scale program called Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN) was established. This then led to the forming of the JKN organization called Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial (BPJS), which has been running since January 2014. Overall, citizens have benefited from the initiation ever since it started operation. Nevertheless, an opinion poll conducted by Kompas in 2015, indicates that there are 42.9% unsatisfied BPJS users, 39.1% satisfied BPJS users, while the remaining have no answers. On the grounds that two years have passed since the poll, a new research is necessary in effort to examine deeper on the citizens' sentiments about this healthcare program. This research uses a content analysis approach to determine the portion of opinions relating to the user experience and sentiment in order to illustrate the user's opinion on the service quality that Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial (BPJS) provides. The program used in this research works based on the principle of Automated Content Analyses. The Twitter reviews by BPJS users are utilized to represent opinions from different provinces. Consequently, the result of this sentiment analyses reveals that the areas related to reliability, tangibles, access to payment, and medical services are still dominated by negative responses. The result of this assessment can be integrated into the evaluation process towards improving the quality of BPJS as one of the supporting aspects of the Indonesian citizens' health


VOLUME III: BIOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION. Organic Contaminants in Sediments: Biological Processes (John F. McCarthy, Peter F. Landrum, and Anthony V. Palumbo). INTEGRATING CHEMISTRY AND TOXICOLOGY OF SEDIMENT-WATER INTERACTIONS. Making the Transition from Toxicology to Ecotoxicology (James R. Pratt). The Case for Modelling Sediment-Water Interactions in Aquatic and Marine Systems (Donald Mackay, Miriam Diamond, and Warren Stiver). Application of Biotechnology to Water Quality Monitoring (Ivor T. Knight and Rita R. Colwell). UPTAKE AND ACCUMULATION of Sediment-Associated Contaminants. Bioavailability. A Clam's Eye View of the Bioavailability of Sediment-Associated Pollutants (Henry Lee II). The Influence of Water Column Dissolved Organic Carbon on the Uptake of 2,2',4,4',5,5'-Hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB 153) by Daphnia Magna (Hayla E. Evans). Binding and Bioavailability of Organic Micropollutants in Natural Waters: Effects of the Quality and the Quantity of Dissolved Organic Material (Jussi Kukkonen, John F. McCarthy, and Aimo Oikari). Solvent-Filled Dialysis Membranes Mimic Bioaccumulation of Pollutants in Aquatic Environments (Anders Ssdergren). Bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation of Molecular Markers for Municipal Wastes by Mytilus edulis (Paul M. Scherblom and Robert P. Eganhouse). Bioaccumulation of p, p'-DDE and PCB 1254 by a Flatfish Bioindicator from Highly Contaminated Marine Sediments of Southern California (David R. Young, Alan J. Mearns, and Richard W. Gossett). BIODEGRADATION. Anaerobic Dechlorinations. Dechlorinations of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Sediments of New Bedford Harbor (James L. Lake, Richard J. Pruell, and Frank Osterman). Anaerobic Biotransformation of Halogenated Pesticides in Aquifer Slurries (Joseph M. Suflita, K. Ramanand, and Neal Adrian). Reductive Dechlorination of Dichlorophenols in Anaerobic Pond Sediments (Dorothy D. Hale, John E. Rogers, and Juergen Wiegel). Cometabolism. The Effects of Groundwater Chemistry on Cometabolism of Chlorinated Solvents by Methanotrophic Bacteria (Anthony V. Palumbo, William Eng, Gerald W. Strandberg). Anaerobic Degradation of Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Aerobic Degradation of Trichloroethylene by Subsurface Microorganisms (Dunja Grbic-Galic, Susan M. Henry, E. Michael Godsy, Elizabeth Edwards, and Kevin P. Mayer). Biodegradation of Organic Contaminants in Sediments: Overview and Examples with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Carl E. Cerniglia). The Use of Chemical Diffusing Substrata to Monitor the Response of Periphyton to Synthetic Organic Chemicals (Scott D. Schermerhorn, Gina Abbate, and Roy M. Ventullo). Genetic Engineering and Molecular Techniques. Molecular Analysis of Biodegradative Bacterial Populations: Application of Bioluminescence Technology (Gary S. Sayler, J.M. Henry King, Robert Burlage, and Frank Larimer). Index.


Privacy policies are known to be impenetrable and lengthy texts that are hardly read and poorly understood. This is why the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduces provisions to enhance information transparency including icons as visual means to clarify data practices. However, the research on the creation and evaluation of graphical symbols for the communication of legal concepts, which are generally abstract and unfamiliar to laypeople, is still in its infancy. Moreover, detailed visual representations can support users' comprehension of the underlying concepts, but at the expense of simplicity and usability. This Chapter describes a methodology for the creation and evaluation of DaPIS, a machine-readable Data Protection Icon Set that was designed following human-centered methods drawn from the emerging discipline of Legal Design. Participatory design methods have ensured that the perspectives of legal experts, designers and other relevant stakeholders are combined in a fruitful dialogue, while user studies have empirically determined strengths and weaknesses of the icon set as communicative means for the legal sphere. Inputs from other disciplines were also fundamental: canonical principles drawn from aesthetics, ergonomics and semiotics were included in the methodology. Moreover, DaPIS is modelled on PrOnto, an ontology of the GDPR, thus offering a comprehensive solution for the Semantic Web. In combination with the description of a privacy policy in the legal standard XML Akoma Ntoso, such an approach makes the icons machine-readable and automatically retrievable. Icons can thus serve as information markers in lengthy privacy statements and support an efficient navigation of the document. In this way, different representations of legal information can be mapped and connected to enhance its comprehensibility: the lawyer-readable, the machine-readable, and the human-readable layers.


The thesis takes an agential reading of documentation practices to trace the intra-activity within contemporary assessment discourses of early childhood education (ECE) and offers a material-discursive exploration of three teachers at work in one school in North West England.

The research aims to reflect on the performativity of documentation to illuminate how assessment discourses are game-played and challenged. I put to work the methodological framework of new materialism through embodied, sensory and visual data collection, with on-line blogging along with intraviews. Using a diffractive analysis, I playfully map and cut visual, narrative and theoretical data fragments to create research documentation that traces the intra-activity of the human world of children, families and teachers with the non-human spaces and temporalities of the classroom.

The findings uncover resisting and creating intra-actions that generates spaces for teachers to adopt expert gameplay with and against assessment policy discourses. For children and families, the documentation intra-acts with spaces and temporalities to evoke senses of belonging by giving value to children's playful learning.

In summary, this study presents both theoretical and practice implications. Theoretically, a reworked definition through new materialist lenses is proposed as a contribution to knowledge that asserts documentation practice as a potential transformative agent that can shift the teacher gaze. Practically, the thesis proposes that documentation can have powerful affects when its actions within spaces (rather than interpretations) are foregrounded. In addition, I problematise how far new materialist readings can find a practical language that speaks to teachers working within contested spaces shaped by intensifying policyscapes.

As a consequence, the thesis proposes that documentation can influence forms of ethical pedagogies that paint hopeful pictures of ECE teachers at work, promoting liveable and flourishing professional spaces in a policy climate that can otherwise confine


Background. The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of a new electrophysiological intervention technique as an add on treatment in patients with migraine. Methods. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study with a parallel group add on design and a 12-week treatment phase was conducted in a large outpatient headache clinic in a neurological center. Thirty-two patients (mean age 42.6 years, SD 11.8; range 23 to 79) with migraine without any pharmacological migraine prophylaxis in the past three months were studied. The electrophysiological stimulation with sound therapy applied via headphones three times a day for 10 minutes was compared against a placebo audiotape. The main outcome measure was a change in the headache subtest of a self-report test instrument, Giessener Beschwerdebogen (GBB), after 12 weeks of treatment. Results. Significant decreases in the scores of the GBB were found in the treatment group after 12 weeks of treatment in the subtests "headaches" (p < 0.05), "stomach complaints" (p < 0.05), as well as "general physical complaints" (p < 0.05). In the placebo group only, the decreases in "fatigue proneness" and "general physical complaints" reached statistical significance (p < 0.05) between the pre- and post-treatment scores. No adverse events occurred during the treatment period. Conclusions. In the small sample studied here a proprietary method, Psychofonie®, is effective as an add on treatment in reducing subjective pain in migraine patients, although some of the effect could be attributed to placebo.


The currents through single Na+ channels were recorded from dissociated cells of the flexor digitorum brevis muscle of the mouse. At 15 degrees C the prolonged bursts of Na+ channel openings produced by application of the drug DPI 201-106 had brief sojourns to subconductance levels. The subconductance events were relatively rare and brief, but could be identified using a new technique that sorts amplitude estimates based on their variance. The resulting "levels histogram" had a resolution of the conductance levels during channel activity that was superior to that of standard amplitude histograms. Cooling the preparation to 0 degrees C prolonged the subconductance events, and permitted further quantitative analysis of their amplitudes, as well as clear observations of single-channel subconductance events from untreated Na+ channels. In all cases the results were similar: a subconductance level, with an amplitude of roughly 35% of the fully open conductance and similar reversal potential, was present in both drug-treated and normal Na+ channels. Drug-treated channels spent approximately 3-6% of their total open time in the subconductance state over a range of potentials that caused the open probability to vary between 0.1 and 0.9. The summed levels histograms from many channels had a distinctive form, with broader, asymmetrical open and substate distributions compared with those of the closed state. Individual subconductance events to levels other than the most common 35% were also observed. I conclude that subconductance events are a normal subset of the open state of Na+ channels, whether or not they are drug treated. The subconductance events may represent a conformational alteration of the channel that occurs when it conducts ions.


This paper proposes an analytical study of 3D beamforming for 5G wireless networks. In a first step, we develop a three dimensional analytical beamforming model for wireless networks. This 3D model enables in particular, to focus the analyzes on the specific zone covered by an antenna beam. This 3D beamforming model is validated by comparison with Monte Carlo simulations: the two approaches give very close SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio) values. Thanks to this model, it becomes easy to quantify the impact of 3D beamforming in terms of performance, quality of service and coverage in a future 5G wireless network. Different scenarios are presented, which quantify the impact of the 3D beamforming wireless network and show the accuracy of the model. The proposed model is then used to compare 2D and 3D beamforming and to show the interest of exploiting the third dimension.


Marsha Sharp has been the coach of the Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball team for more than twenty years. From her beginnings as a player not tall enough to play college basketball, to guiding the 1993 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship team and coaching the victorious 2002 USA team in international competition, Sharp has honed a tradition of winning, not only on the basketball court but in everyday life. Tall Enough to Coach traces Sharp's basketball journey from her West Texas beginnings through her 23rd season with the Lady Raiders. A 2003 inductee into the national Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Sharp has consistently guided her teams through conference and post-season NCAA victories. With a career record of 508-159, she has led Texas Tech to 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, was a Naismith Coach of the Year finalist numerous times, was honored as Big 12 Coach of the Year twice, was selected as SWC Coach of the Year 5 times, and was named National Coach of the Year in 1993 by the Women's Basketball News Service and the Columbus, Ohio, Touchdown Club. Sharp was inducted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in May 2003. Sharp examines the secrets of the Lady Raiders' success, provides a series of player profiles highlighting former and current players and fans, and sheds light on her tried and true philosophy of playing and living with integrity. Central to the book is the Lady Raiders' run to the 1993 National Championship and the rise of current WNBA star, Sheryl Swoopes. Perhaps Coach Sharp is most proud of the academic success of her players. The Lady Raiders have a 99-percent graduation rate. Success in the classroom often leads to success on the hardwood, as can be seen from what has been accomplished in Coach Sharp's tenure.


Objectives: To assess the prevalence of traditional vaginal agent use in Malawian women and its association with HIV infection. Methods: Consenting, consecutive antenatal women were administered a questionnaire and screened for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including HIV. Results: Of the 6603 consenting women, 886 (13%) reported using intravaginal agents for tightening and 2222 (34%) for self‐treatment of vaginal discharge and itching. A higher proportion of HIV‐infected than uninfected women (17% versus 14%) reported use of intravaginal agents for treatment (odds ratio, 1.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.05‐1.57), but no difference in HIV status was found when these agents were used for tightening. In multivariate analysis, vaginal agent use for treatment was independently associated with HIV seropositivity. Conclusions: The association of HIV infection with vaginal agents for self‐treatment, but not for tightening, suggests that STD may play a role or that vaginal agents are used differently for the two purposes. In addition to a small increased risk of HIV infection associated with vaginal agent use, these agents may interfere with condom effectiveness or acceptability of vaginal microbicides.


Telecommunications networks have migrated from circuit based telephony services to packet based broadband network services. Merging with computer networks, they are being integrated with non-real-time data services on classical Internet integrated multimedia services, including real time voice, video and services on the new generation Internet. Thus, the concepts and requirements of quality of service (QoS) and traffic modelling have also been changed significantly. However, real time services such as voice and video are inelastic, as the transmission bandwidth, transmission time and QoS requirements need to be kept within strict limits and hence are not flexible. On the other hand, elastic services such as file transfer and Web surf are much relaxed with QoS and network resource requirements. Networks need to meet the requirements of both types of services by providing different classes of network services, including best effort service at one end of the spectrum, guaranteed service on the other end, and some others in between, with controlled traffic load. Traffic modelling is one of the important aspects to be considered to meet QoS requirements of services and efficient utilisation of network resources. The paper discusses important QoS issues, techniques for measurement and analysing Internet traffic, and new trends and methodology for Internet traffic modelling. It also presents the results based on the measured Internet traffic to validate the new model and the potential of the model to capture the characteristics of traffic for the Internet.


Pennsylvanian sedimentary
rocks in the Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico, comprise an ~1 km thick
stratigraphic section. The Morrowan-Desmoinesian Gobbler Formation was
deposited by shallow marine processes in and near the Alamo clastic trough. In
this trough, the Desmoinesian-Missourian Gray Mesa Formation (Bug Scuffle
Member, Gobbler Formation) is a relatively thin unit (Space History Member)
representing the glacioeustatic Amado event. The Missourian-Virgilian Beeman
Formation includes the lower, siliciclastic Indian Wells Canyon Member and
overlying, carbonate-rich Horse Ridge Member. The Virgilian Holder Formation
consists of algal bioherms (Little Dry Canyon Member) overlain by the mixed
carbonate-siliciclastic Mill Ridge Member. The Virgilian-Wolfcampian Bursum
Formation is mixed siliciclastic-carbonate strata that represent shallow marine
and nonmarine paleoenvironments. Animal and plant remains occur throughout the
section. Unit age determinations are primarily based on conodont faunas
recovered from the Gobbler, Gray Mesa, and Beeman Formations. Many conodont
faunas correlate with Midcontinent cyclothems. Extensive algal and
foraminiferal fossils also were identified in limestones from the section and
contributed to age determinations. The Beeman Formation in particular contains
an extensive Missourian macroflora. The macroflora is of "mixed" composition,
containing typical wetland elements intimately intermixed with taxa indicative
of seasonally dry habitats. A seasonally wet-dry background climate is
indicated. It is unlikely that drought-tolerant plants were transported
exclusively from "uplands." Some plant remains have arthropod-feeding evidence.
Previous analyses identified late Paleozoic ice-age glacioeustasy as the
primary depositional driver of Pennsylvanian sedimentation in the Sacramento
Mountains. We question this because of problems with those analyses and because
of ample evidence of local tectonics and microclimate changes as important
drivers of sedimentation in this area. Three Pennsylvanian Ancestral Rocky
Mountain orogeny tectonic pulses can be identified in the Sacramento Mountains:
Morrowan-Atokan, Missourian, and late Virgilian-Wolfcampian.


When the corneal hydration increases, its transparency decreases but the quantitative relation between these two functions has not been extensively analyzed. The decreased transparency is due to the epithelial edema and the stromal edema, but their individual contribution to this decrease must be studied separately. The transparency of the cornea has been studied by various techniques. Maurice 1 measured the light scattered by the corneal stroma at 60° from the incident light and showed an increase in scatter with increasing corneal hydration. Kikkawa 2 determined the angular distribution of the light scatter by the cornea but did not quantitatively correlate this with hydration. Potts and Friedman 3 determined the light transmission through the cornea and were unable to show any significant change in the specular density of this light for varying hydrations of corneal stroma. Coulombre and Coulombre 4 measured light transmission through the developing chick cornea (including epithelium) and


CONTEXT
- Delta checks serve as a patient-based quality control tool to detect testing problems.

OBJECTIVE
- To evaluate delta check practices and outcomes.

DESIGN
- Q-Probes participants provided information about delta check policies and procedures. Information about investigations, problems, and corrective actions was prospectively collected for up to 100 testing episodes involving delta check alerts.

RESULTS
- Among 4505 testing episodes involving 6541 delta check alerts, the median frequencies of actions taken among 49 laboratories were clinical review, 38.0%; retest, 25.0%, or recheck, 20.2%; current specimen, nothing, 15.4%; analytical check, 5.0%; other; 2%; and retest or check previous specimen, 0%. Rates of any action taken by analyte ranged from 84 of 179 (46.9%) for glucose to 748 of 868 (86.2%) for hemoglobin and potassium. Among 4505 testing episodes, nontesting problems included physiologic causes (1472; 32.7%); treatment causes (1318; 19.2%); and transfusion causes (846; 9.9%). Testing problems included 77 interference (1.7%), 62 contamination (1.4%), 51 clotting (1.1%), 27 other (0.6%), 12 mislabeling (0.3%), and 5 analytical (0.1%). Testing problems by analyte ranged from 13 of 457 (2.8%) for blood urea nitrogen to 12 of 46 (26.1%) for mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Using more delta check analytes was associated with detecting more testing problems (P = .04). More delta check alerts per testing episode resulted in more actions taken (P = .001) and more problems identified (P < .001). The most common outcome among 4500 testing episodes was reporting results without modifications or comments in 2512 (55.8%); results were not reported in 136 (3.0%).

CONCLUSIONS
- Actions taken in response to delta check alerts varied widely, and most testing problems detected were preanalytical. Using a higher number of different analytes and evaluating previous specimens may improve delta check practices.


Genetic diseases have always been present in the animal population but their significance has increased in recent decades. The wealth of knowledge on genomic information, systems biology and mechanisms of diseases provide great opportunities to elucidate the genetic bases of diseases. The use of recombinant DNA techniques in conjunction with conventional genetic methods have led to a rapid increase in knowledge of the genetic map. Many animal genes have been mapped to chromosomes. A detailed genetic map has become of great value in the diagnosis of genetic diseases and in the development of potential cures through gene transfer therapy. In view of the emerging animal diseases like avian influenza, swine influenza among others with serious health implications for humans, this review aims at highlighting the association between diseases and genes in animals. The information derived could assist in the prevention and management of emerging animal diseases and in future drug discovery processes.

 Key words: Genetics, diagnosis, animal diseases.


In this study, we explore a new strategy to tailor the growth process of monodisperse nanocrystals. By means of X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, it is found that the growth of ceria followed Ostwald ripening, and polydispersed ceria nanocrystals were obtained in a hydrothermal condition. With the addition of cobalt to the growing ceria nanocrystals, cobalt acted as a surface dopant and preferred to bind on the surface of large-sized ceria nanocrystals via Co–O–Ce bonds. The binding could modulate the Ostwald ripening process and narrow the size distribution. With the competition between cobalt dopants and Ce monomers onto the surface of nanocrystals, monodisperse cobalt-doped nanocrystals were formed. This route is expected to be applicable to a variety of monodisperse doped nanocrystals.


On this week's show, Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how dogs' cold noses may be able to sense warm bodies Read the research International News Editor Martin Enserink shares the latest from our reporters covering coronavirus And finally, from a recording made at this year's AAAS annual meeting, host Meagan Cantwell talks with Jill Tarter, chair emeritus at the SETI Institute, about the newest technologies being used to search for alien life, what a positive signal would look like, and how to inform the public if extraterrestrial life ever were detected This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy


By regulating the H2O/SiO2 molar ratio (n = 13.8, 16.9, 20.1, 26.3), NaY zeolites of different particle sizes (NaY-n, 50–400 nm) were synthesized, and NaY-n was modified with disodium hydrogen phosphate, Na2HPO4. The as-prepared catalysts are highly effective for the dehydration of sustainable lactic acid (LA) to produce acrylic acid (AA). Through the optimization of NaY particle size and Na2HPO4 loading, AA yields as high as 74.3% can be achieved under mild conditions (340 °C). In terms of employed feed rate of lactic acid and amount of catalyst, the AA formation rate is 12.0 mmol gcat−1 h−1, the highest ever reported for LA dehydration to AA. Employing slightly low Si/Al ratios in NaY-n can modify catalyst acidity, while pre-applied Na+ ion-exchange and following Na2HPO4 loading can effectively reduce the number of acid sites, particularly the Bronsted ones on NaY-n. Equally important structural features of NaY-n are their shorter pore channels (or even incompletely developed zeolite texture) and relatively larger Sexternal/SBET ratio, which favors quick product departure from the catalyst surface, and reduces the possibility of side reactions occurring inside the long channels. The appropriate surface acidity together with unique structural features of NaY-n ensure efficient LA conversion with high dehydration selectivity. Higher surface concentrations of Na+ on Na2HPO4/NaY-n also favor sodium lactate meanwhile suppressing poly-lactate as well as preventing carbon formation, corresponding to superior performance as well as improved durability of Na2HPO4/NaY-n.


Torture is a Moral Issue: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and People of Conscience Speak Out. Edited by George Hunsinger. Grand Rapids. Mich.: Eerdinans Publishing Companv, 2008. xxii + 272 pp. $26.00 (paper). In late April 2009, the Pew Centers Forum on Religion and Public Life published a survey .showing that for the most part American white Christians, be they Evangelical, mainstream Protestant, or Roman Catholic, support their government's use of torture against suspected terrorists. There are differences within and among the Christian communities about how much torture is all right ("often," "sometimes," "rarelv"); but no group reaches higher than the Protestant main liners in claiming that it can never be justified, and they top off at 31 percent. For Catholics, whose magisteri urn holds that this practice is, like direct abortion, intrinsicallv and gravclv evil, on Iv one out ol five surveyed opposed it without exception. Almost in passing, the IVw report notes that political "party and ideology are much better predictors of views on torture" than is religion. Given the surveys troubling findings. Christians - along with Jews, Muslims, and all people of conscience - might well say "That's what we're afraid of!" The tendency to reduce stances toward torture to partisan politics is what the volume under review, in its sad timeliness, astutely attacks; fi >r torture is a moral issue, and attempts to justify it under any circumstances on moral grounds invariably fail. This collection of essays is divided among five subjects. Part 1, "Background," includes harrowing testimonies I rom a torturer (Tony Lago u ran is) and a victim (D canna Ortiz), along with Kenneth Roth's cogent historical analysis of Washington's willingness in the Bush years to combat terrorism unconstrained by fundamental principles of international law. Roth importantly offers the reminder that legally and morali v. torture exists on the far end of a continuum of wrongful mistreatment that includes what is "cruel, inhuman, and degrading." The rank cvnicism of U.S. Justice Department "torture memos" thus becomes doubly clear, since what they generally claimed, mistakenly, not to be torture surely would have been in any case excluded as cruel, inhuman , and degrading . A " debate" over whether waterboarding is or is not torture (and hence is or is not "okav") already makes concessions to a logic of indecency. Also noteworthy is Admiral John IIutson s condemnation in terms of the military costs of mistreatment to a culture of militan' honor, to the likelihood of securing future allies, and to an effective chain of command. Parts II, III , an d IV consist, respectively, of Christian , Jewish, and Muslim commentaries. A highlight in Part II is a painstaking study by the book's editor, theologian George Hunsinger, founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). that engages traditional just war theory to assess the possible legitimacy ol torture, especially with regard to the notorious case of the "ticking time bomb." He concludes that the latter "emergency" scenario effectively normalizes torture; moreover, it "fails adequately to consider the great likelihood of unreliable confessions, the realworld uncertainties surrounding a detainees actual innocence, the slippery slope of permitting persons to be tortured on mere suspicion, the lack of real world accountability commensurate to the enormity of the deed, and . …


An agar medium containing arginine and calcium citrate as specific substrates, diffusible (K2HPO4) and undiffusible (CaCO3) buffer systems, and bromocresol purple as the pH indicator was developed to differentiate among lactic streptococci in pure and mixed cultures. Milk was added as the sole source of carbohydrate (lactose) and to provide growth-stimulating factors. Production of acid from lactose caused developing bacterial colonies to seem yellow. Subsequent arginine utilization by Streptococcus lactis and S. diacetilactis liberated ammonia, resulting in a localized pH shift back toward neutrality and a return of the original purple indicator hue. The effects of production of acid from lactose and ammonia were fixed around individual colonies by the buffering capacity of CaCO3. After 36 hr at 32 C in a candle oats jar, colonies of S. cremoris were yellow, whereas colonies of S. lactis and S. diacetilactis were white. S. diacetilactis, on further incubation, utilized suspended calcium citrate, and, after 6 days, the citrate-degrading colonies exhibited clear zoning against a turbid background, making them easily distinguishable from the colonies of the other two species. The medium proved suitable for quantitative differential enumeration when compared with another widely used general agar medium for lactic streptococci.


The spatial distribution of learned information within a sensory system can shed light on the brain mechanisms of sensory–perceptual learning. It has been argued that tactile memories are stored within a somatotopic framework in monkeys and rats but within a widely distributed network in humans. We have performed experiments to reexamine the spread of tactile learning across the fingertips. In all experiments, subjects were trained to use one fingertip to discriminate between two stimuli. Experiment 1 required identification of vibration frequency, experiment 2 punctate pressure, and experiment 3 surface roughness. After learning to identify the stimuli reliably, subjects were tested with the trained fingertip, its first and second neighbors on the same hand, and the three corresponding fingertips on the opposite hand. As expected, for all stimulus types, subjects showed retention of learning with the trained fingertip. However, the transfer beyond the trained fingertip varied according to the stimulus type. For vibration, learning did not transfer to other fingertips. For both pressure and roughness stimuli, there was limited transfer, dictated by topographic distance; subjects performed well with the first neighbor of the trained finger and with the finger symmetrically opposite the trained one. These results indicate that tactile learning is organized within a somatotopic framework, reconciling the findings in humans with those in other species. The differential distribution of tactile memory according to stimulus type suggests that the information is stored in stimulus-specific somatosensory cortical fields, each characterized by a unique receptive field organization, feature selectivity, and callosal connectivity.


The Baker terrane, exposed in the Blue Mountains province of northeastern Oregon, is a long-lived, ancient (late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic) accretionary complex with an associated forearc. This composite terrane lies between the partially coeval Wallowa and Olds Ferry island-arc terranes. The northern margin of the Baker terrane is a broad zone (>25 km wide) of fault-bounded, imbricated slabs and slices of meta-igneous and metasedimentary rocks faulted into chert-argillite melange of the Elkhorn Ridge Argillite. Metaplutonic rocks within tectonic units in this zone crystallized between 231 and 226 Ma and have low initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.7033–0.7034) and positive initial e Nd values (+7.7 to +8.5). In contrast, siliceous argillites from the chert-argillite melange have initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values ranging from 0.7073 to 0.7094 and initial e Nd values between −4.7 and −7.8. We interpret this broad, imbricate fault zone as a fundamental tectonic boundary that separates the distal, Wallowa island-arc terrane from the Baker accretionary-complex terrane. We propose that this terrane boundary is an example of a broad zone of imbrication made up of slabs and slices of arc crust tectonically mixed within an accretionary complex, providing an on-land, ancient analogue to the actualistic arc-arc collisional zone developed along the margins of the Molucca Sea of the central equatorial Indo-Pacific region.


Cellular automata (CA) are discrete mathematical systems formed by a set of cells arranged in a regular fashion. Each of these cells is in a particular state and evolves according to a local rule depending on the state of the cells in its neighbourhood. In spite of their apparent simplicity, these dynamical systems are able to display a complex emerging behaviour, and the macroscopic structures they produce are not always predictable despite complete local knowledge. While studying the robustness of CA to the introduction of asynchronism in their updating scheme, a phenomenon called coalescence was observed for the first time: for some asynchronous CA, the application of the same local rule on any two di↵erent initial conditions following the same sequence of updates quickly led to the same non-trivial configuration. Afterwards, it was experimentally found that some CA would always coalesce whilst others would never coalesce, and that some of them exhibit a phase transition between a coalescing and non-coalescing behaviour. However, a formal explanation of non-trivial rapid coalescence has yet to be found, and this is the purpose of this project, where we try to characterise and explain this phenomenon both qualitatively and analytically. In particular, we analytically study trivial coalescence, find lower bounds for the coalescence time of ECA 154 and ECA 62, and give some first steps towards finding their upper bounds in order to prove that they have, respectively, quadratic and linear coalescence time.


One of the most widely studied parameters in turbine blade shaping is blade lean, i.e., the tangential displacement of spanwise sections. However, there is a lack of published research that investigates the effect of blade lean under nonuniform temperature conditions (commonly referred to as a "hot-streak") that are present at the combustor exit. Of particular interest is the impact of such an inflow temperature profile on heat transfer when the nozzle guide vane (NGV) blades are shaped. In the present work, a computational study has been carried out for a transonic turbine stage using an efficient unsteady Navier–Stokes solver (HYDRA). The configurations with a nominal vane and a compound leaned vane under uniform and hot-streak inlet conditions are analyzed. After confirming the typical NGV loading and aeroloss redistributions as seen in previous literature on blade lean, the focus has been directed to the rotor aerothermal behavior. While the overall stage efficiencies for the configurations are largely comparable, the results show strikingly different rotor heat transfer characteristics. For a uniform inlet, a leaned NGV has a detrimental effect on the rotor heat transfer. However, once the hot-streak is introduced, the trend is reversed; the leaned NGV leads to favorable heat transfer characteristics in general and for the rotor tip region in particular. The possible causal links for the observed aerothermal features are discussed. The present findings also highlight the significance of evaluating NGV shaping designs under properly conditioned inflow profiles, rather than extrapolating the wisdom derived from uniform inlet cases. The results also underline the importance of including rotor heat transfer and coolability during the NGV design process.


To develop and evaluate a novel processing framework for the relative quantification of myelin content in cerebral white matter (WM) regions from brain MRI data via a computed ratio of T1 to T2 weighted intensity values. We employed high resolution (1mm3 isotropic) T1 and T2 weighted MRI from 46 (28 male, 18 female) neonate subjects (typically developing controls) scanned on a Siemens Tim Trio 3T at UC Irvine. We developed a novel, yet relatively straightforward image processing framework for WM myelin content estimation based on earlier work by Glasser, et al. We first co-register the structural MRI data to correct for motion. Then, background areas are masked out via a joint T1w and T2 foreground mask computed. Raw T1w/T2w-ratios images are computed next. For purpose of calibration across subjects, we first coarsely segment the fat-rich facial regions via an atlas co-registration. Linear intensity rescaling based on median T1w/T2w-ratio values in those facial regions yields calibrated T1w/T2wratio images. Mean values in lobar regions are evaluated using standard statistical analysis to investigate their interaction with age at scan. Several lobes have strongly positive significant interactions of age at scan with the computed T1w/T2w-ratio. Most regions do not show sex effects. A few regions show no measurable effects of change in myelin content change within the first few weeks of postnatal development, such as cingulate and CC areas, which we attribute to sample size and measurement variability. We developed and evaluated a novel way to estimate white matter myelin content for use in studies of brain white matter development.