We present a generative neural network that enables us to generate plausible 3D indoor scenes in large quantities and varieties, easily and highly efficiently. Our key observation is that indoor scene structures are inherently hierarchical. Hence, our network is not convolutional; it is a recursive neural network, or RvNN. Using a dataset of annotated scene hierarchies, we train a variational recursive autoencoder, or RvNN-VAE, which performs scene object grouping during its encoding phase and scene generation during decoding. Specifically, a set of encoders are recursively applied to group 3D objects based on support, surround, and co-occurrence relations in a scene, encoding information about objects' spatial properties, semantics, and relative positioning with respect to other objects in the hierarchy. By training a variational autoencoder (VAE), the resulting fixed-length codes roughly follow a Gaussian distribution. A novel 3D scene can be generated hierarchically by the decoder from a randomly sampled code from the learned distribution. We coin our method GRAINS, for Generative Recursive Autoencoders for INdoor Scenes. We demonstrate the capability of GRAINS to generate plausible and diverse 3D indoor scenes and compare with existing methods for 3D scene synthesis. We show applications of GRAINS including 3D scene modeling from 2D layouts, scene editing, and semantic scene segmentation via PointNet whose performance is boosted by the large quantity and variety of 3D scenes generated by our method.


Endogenous cardiotonic steroids (CTS) raise blood pressure (BP) via vascular sodium calcium exchange (NCX1.3) and transient receptor-operated channels (TRPCs). Circulating CTS are superelevated in pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia. However, their significance in normal pregnancy, where BP is low, is paradoxical. Here we test the hypothesis that vascular resistance to endogenous ouabain (EO) develops in normal pregnancy and is mediated by reduced expression of NCX1.3 and TRPCs. We determined plasma and adrenal levels of EO and the impact of exogenous ouabain in pregnancy on arterial expression of Na(+) pumps, NCX1.3, TRPC3, and TRPC6 and BP. Pregnant (embryonic day 4) and nonpregnant rats received infusions of ouabain or vehicle. At 14-16 days, tissues and plasma were collected for blotting and EO assay by radioimmunoassay (RIA), liquid chromatography (LC)-RIA, and LC-multidimensional mass spectrometry (MS3). BP (-8 mmHg; P < 0.05) and NCX1.3 expression fell (aorta -60% and mesenteric artery -30%; P < 0.001) in pregnancy while TRPC expression was unchanged. Circulating EO increased (1.14 ± 0.13 nM) vs. nonpregnant (0.6 ± 0.08 nM; P < 0.05) and was confirmed by LC-MS3 and LC-RIA. LC-MS3 revealed two previously unknown isomers of EO; one increased ∼90-fold in pregnancy. Adrenal EO but not isomers were increased in pregnancy. In nonpregnant rats, similar infusions of ouabain raised BP (+24 ± 3 mmHg; P < 0.001). In ouabain-infused rats, impaired fetal and placental growth occurred with no BP increase. In summary, normal pregnancy is an ouabain-resistant state associated with low BP, elevated circulating levels of EO, two novel steroidal EO isomers, and increased adrenal mass and EO content. Ouabain raises BP only in nonpregnant animals. Vascular resistance to the chronic pressor activity of endogenous and exogenous ouabain is mediated by suppressed NCX1.3 and reduced sensitivity of events downstream of Ca(2+) entry. The mechanisms of EO resistance and the impaired fetal and placental growth due to elevated ouabain may be important in pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and preeclampsia (PE).


What makes a state's threats more credible? That is, how can states demonstrate their resolve in a crisis? This paper employs new data to determine whether different tools of military force are more effective at demonstrating resolve in a crisis. The dataset decomposes demonstrations of force into land, naval, and air signals and subsequently evaluates their respective usage by states to bolster coercive threats. This paper evaluates how demonstrations of force with different levels of sunk costs and tying hands affect crisis outcomes. It finds that increasing levels of sunk costs do not affect crisis outcomes; rather, the mere presence of a tying hands element increases the level of target compliance. This study goes further than the current literature on costly signals in establishing that not only do demonstrations of force enhance threat credibility but also that different military demonstrations are equally effective in achieving crisis outcomes.


N um erical s im u la tion o f b u b b le fo rm ation p rocess from a s tagnan t nozzle im m ersed in a qu iescen t liquid (w ater) and from a n o zzle located on a ro ta ting cy lin d er set in a cross-flo w in g liqu id w as per form ed w ith the aid o f a com p u ta tio n a l flu id dynam ics (C FD ) code. S o lu tion o f m om en tum b a lance eq u a  tions w as coup led w ith V O F alg o rith m for track ing the g a s -liq u id in terface in 2D and 3D dom ains. The resu lts o f the sim ulation are co m p ared w ith the experim enta l d a ta ob ta ined from a h ig h -sp eed v ideo cam  era observation . T he ag reem en t w as favourab le in the case o f ro ta ting nozzle. In the case o f a sta tionary nozzle , the V O F alg o rith m seem s to perfo rm best w hen the p rocess is dom in a ted by inertia l forces (h igher gas flow rates).


Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is usually characterized by proteinuria less than 1 g/24 hours and only anecdotal cases of associated nephrotic syndrome have been reported. We report another case of ADPKD with nephrotic syndrome, where histological examination showed features of membranous glomerulonephritis. Serologic tests for hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-hepatitis C antibodies were negative. Antinuclear antibody and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody were negative. Serum complement fraction, C3 and C4, were within normal range. Abdominal ultrasound examination showed both enlarged liver and kidneys, both with multiple cysts of varying sizes. Nevertheless renal parenchyma between cysts was not yet widely interested. Family history revealed ADPKD affecting the mother. Considering nephrotic proteinuria, a percutaneous biopsy was performed, and a diagnosis of idiopathic membranous nephropathy associated with ADPKD was made. Our patient was managed with salt restriction, diuretics and antihypertensive drugs (ACE-I and ARB) and started therapy according to Ponticelli's Protocol. At 12 week follow up proteinuria dropped to less than 1 g/24 hours, with normalization of renal function. Our case confirmed the importance of kidney biopsy even in patients with ADPKD and nephrotic syndrome, in order to demonstrate any coexisting glomerular disease, make an accurate diagnosis and plan appropriate treatment. doi:10.4021/jmc144w


Micron-sized powders of an Al-7Cr-1Fe alloy were prepared by the technique of Gas Atomization Reaction Synthesis (GARS) at the Ames Laboratory (Ames, Iowa, USA). A pre-alloyed stock of the aluminum alloy was melted and atomized in an inert environment. A mixture of micron-sized and nano-sized powder particles was consolidated in a vacuum environment using the technique of plasma pressure compaction (P2CTM). The powders were initially pulsed at 150oC for 10 minutes and subsequently consolidated at 550oC under a pressure of 40 MPa for 10 minutes. In this paper, the tensile deformation and fracture characteristics of the aluminum alloy are highlighted at two different test temperatures. An attempt is made to elucidate the microscopic mechanisms governing tensile response and fracture in light of the competing and mutually interactive influences of intrinsic microstructural features, deformation characteristics of the constituents of the material, and test temperature.


SUMMARY
According to the verifiability approach, liars tend to provide details that cannot be checked by the investigator and awareness of this increases the investigator's ability to detect lies. In the present experiment, we replicated previous findings in a more realistic paradigm and examined the vulnerability of the verifiability approach to countermeasures. For this purpose, we collected written statements from 44 mock criminals (liars) and 43 innocents (truth tellers), whereas half of them were told before writing the statements that the verifiability of their statements will be checked. Results showed that 'informing' encouraged truth tellers but not liars to provide more verifiable details and increased the ability to detect lies. These findings suggest that verifiability approach is less vulnerable to countermeasures than other lie detection tools. On the contrary, in the current experiment, notifying interviewees about the mechanism of the approach benefited lie detection. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Accidentally entangled and stranded egg masses of Sepia pharaonis in fishing gears were collected from various landing centres of Thoothukudi district. The stranded egg masses were incubated, hatched and larval rearing was carried out at the Molluscan Fish Hatchery of Tuticorin Research Centre of CMFRI. The average hatching rate of S. pharaonis was 95 % for the eggs collected from the fishing nets. The size of day 1 paralarvae of S. pharaonis was 5.46±0.06 mm and reached the average size of 40.10±1.15 mm length and 9.6±0.20 g weight on day 60 with the average survival rate of 70 %. Maximum weight gain (%) was noticed between 20 – 40 days. The paralarvae of S. pharaonis fed with suitable live feeds until 50 days, after which fed with dead fish and shrimp. The juveniles were transformed as broodstock with an average length of 137.4±8.08 mm and weight of 229.7±21.54 g on 180 th day of culture. In the hatchery, the first captive spawning was witnessed on 167 th day and the eggs laid by the females ranged from 46 – 118. However, the captive bred egg masses failed to hatch out. Therefore, the hatchery technology needs to be perfected through the development of nutritionally improved broodstock diet to ensure better hatching. During the years 2016 – 2018, altogether 8400 numbers of hatchery reared 60 days old juveniles of S. pharaonis were ranched into the fishing grounds off Tuticorin coast. The biological significance of sea ranching activities to replenish the natural stocks requires further research and evaluation.


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 06 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A field experiment conducted during the Rabi season, 2016-17 at the Instructional Farm, Shaheed Gundadhoor College of Agriculture & Research Station, Kumhrawand, Jagdalpur DistrictBastar (Chhattisgarh). The soil of experimental site was sandy loam; it was low in organic carbon (0.44%) and available nitrogen (235.15 kg ha -1 ) and medium in available phosphorus (13.10 kg ha -1 ) and potassium (291.33 kg ha -1 ) and acidic in reaction (6.2 pH). The experiment was laid out in spilt plot design with three crop residue management practices and four varieties of wheat. Three residue management practices viz. Residue burnt + tillage (T1), Residue incorporation (T2) and Residue retention (T3), were applied in main plot and four varieties viz. GW273 (V1), Lok1 (V2), Kanchan (V3) and Sujata (V4) in sub-plot and replicated 3 times. The results revealed that treatment residue retention recorded relatively higher plant height (16.90 cm) at 15 DAS, whereas treatment residue incorporation recorded relatively higher plant height (26.42 cm) at 30 DAS, (57.51 cm) at 45 DAS and (75.09 cm) at 60 DAS, (93.28 cm) at 75 DAS, (96.74 cm) at 90 DAS and (97.28 cm) at harvest. The varieties GW-273 recorded significantly higher plant height (17.66 cm) at 15 DAS and (26.81 cm) at 30 DAS, variety LOk-1 recorded significantly higher plant height (62.77 cm and 78.24 cm) at (45 and 60 DAS) respectively. Significantly higher plant height recorded of variety Sujata (113.04 cm) at 75 DAS, (113.51 cm) at 90 DAS and (114.06 cm) at harvest. Treatment residue retention recorded relatively higher number of tillers (427.92) at 15 DAS, whereas treatment residue incorporation recorded relatively higher number of tillers (693.75) at 30 DAS, (862.50) at 45 DAS, (618.75) at 60 DAS, (549.08) at 75 DAS, (545.67) at 90 DAS and (544.92) at harvest. The varieties Sujata recorded significantly higher number of tillers (749.44), (901.11) and (652.22) at 30, 45 and 60 DAS respectively, whereas variety Lok-1 recorded significantly higher number of tillers (577.22), (577.00) and (576.44) at 75 DAS, 90 DAS and at harvest respectively. The days to occurrence of crop growth stages more influenced due to varieties and less influenced due to crop residue management practices. Treatment residue incorporation recorded relatively higher grain yield (40.63 q ha -1 ), straw yield (32.92 q ha -1 ) and gross return (Rs. ha -1 64,541), whereas treatment residue retention recorded highest net return. (Rs. ha -1 39,308) and B: C ratio (Rs. 2.81). Varieties Lok-1 recorded significantly higher grain yield (43.36 q ha -1 ), harvest index (61.35%), gross return (Rs. ha -1 66,130), net return (Rs. ha -1 41,452) and B: C ratio (Rs. 2.68). Variety Sujata produces significantly higher straw yield (34.83 q ha -1 ). K e y w o r d s Crop residue management, Wheat, Varieties, Growth, Crop stages, Yield, Economics Accepted: 04 May 2019 Available Online: 10 June 2019 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(6): 150-157


Malaysia's only copper mine is located in Sabah, East Malaysia. The mine was started in 1975 and ceased operation in 1999. As expected acid mine drainage (AMD) pollution is gradually becoming evident at the abandoned mine area. This type of environmental problem, however, is relatively new in Malaysia. Nevertheless, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) is at the forefront of basic and applied AMD research in the country. This paper provides an overview on some of the research findings, in particular with references to the characteristics of the local AMDs and the potentials of using calcareous materials for its treatment. In general, seepages water at the mine pit area have low pH (2.90 – 3.75), high and variable total acidity (176 – 1697 mg CaCO /L), high TDS (302 – 2673 mg/L), high sulphate (292 – 2808 mg/L) and elevated concentrations of dissolved metals (Al, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn). By contrast, the seepages at the tailing dam is alkaline (pH > 7.0) and according to Acid Base Accounting (ABA) test the tailings have negligible AMD potential. Meanwhile, calcareous sandstone and calcareous mudstone have significant acid neutralization and heavy metal removal ability when tested on the AMD samples. The overall efficiency, however, is dependent on a number of factors, including the strength (i.e total acidity) of the AMD


In this paper, we propose a new ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna with enhanced bandwidth for HDR-WPAN application. The proposed antenna is operating from 6.00 to 12.00 GHz which comes under upper UWB Band of 7.25-10.25 GHz range. The proposed antenna consists of a rectangular patch, which is modified by three steps, single slot on the patch and slotted ground plane. Details of the proposed antenna design and simulated results are presented and discussed.


The second editions of these bestselling Twenty First Century Science resources have been developed in partnership with OCR, the University of York Science Education Group and the Nuffield Foundation. The resources have been fully updated to match the new 2011 specifications. The second editions build on the success of this hugely popular suite of resources. Using extensive feedback from schools and teachers, the new suite provides ideal support for the 2011 specifications. There is lots of support for exam preparation and assessment throughout the course and even more differentiation support to help learning for all abilities. The course is fully customizable using the latest digital support and it's packed with new scientific contexts reflecting the latest research and ideas. The GCSE Additional Science Higher Student Book helps you create engaging, lively and relevant science lessons. It helps stimulate students to develop fundamental scientific ideas, with an emphasis on explanations and concepts. This course is ideal for a smooth progression to A Level.


Trimetazidine is a cellular antiischemic agent with cytoprotective action and devoid of any hemodynamic activity. Extensive work has been carried out on this drug in cardiovascular therapeutics and in transplantation surgery. It was thus decided to investigate possible antiinflammatory activity it could exert by virtue of it being a calcium channel blocker. Trimetazidine being a cytoprotective agent could offer protection against experimentally induced ulcerations. Another objective was to extend the antiischemic activity of trimetazidine in the brain in the cryogenic cerebral ischemic injury model and finally to assess the free radical scavenging activity of the drug in the murine peritoneal macrophage model. Trimetazidine potentiated the antiinflammatory effect of ketoprofen and also significantly reduced the rate of edema formation. It was able to protect animals against the experimentally induced gastric ulcerations. Trimetazidine produced a significant antiischemic activity in the brain and also brought about a significant free radical scavenging effect.


Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, curriculum planners are giving more weightage to online learning. However, it would be incomplete to re-imagine curricula without considering the factors impacting learning. In this context, the 'Great Media Debate' (GMD), initiated between Richard Clark and Robert Kozma in the 1990s, discusses the factors influencing learning. While Clark focuses on instructional methods, Kozma posits that both methods and media impact learning. Our study re-visits the GMD in the present context of online learning and extends it, making it more heuristic by adding a specific contextual social factor, i.e., Availability and Accessibility of the Internet (A2I) at the individual/ household level to the debate.  We build our proposition based on the 11,489 learners' responses collected as a part of the Pan-IIT study in India and focus on the case study of one specific institution, IIT Jammu. The analysis using chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests, and descriptive statistics finds strong evidence for A2I to impact online learning, thereby broadening the GMD. A2I also influences the media by shaping the learners' preferences for the media used in traditional classrooms. Finally, it brings out the rural-urban divide due to unequal internet distribution, raising the possibility of a more exclusionary curriculum for the learners. We conclude that there is a need for the contextual social factor, i.e., A2I, among others, to be strongly acknowledged in the GMD, enabling it to take a more comprehensive form and consequently, holding the potential to enrich the curricular reimagination.


In this work a new control strategy for simulation of three phase hybrid power filter for power quality improvement is adapted. This filter consists of shunt passive LC power filter and series active filter, with nonlinear balanced and unbalanced loads and also with variation in the source impedance. A new control method based on dual formulation of instantaneous reactive power vectorial theory is applied by considering a balanced and resistive load as reference load, so that the voltage waveform injected by the active filter is able to attain the objective of achieving reactive power compensation. This also helps in eliminating load current harmonics and also in balancing asymmetrical loads i.e., for achieving ideal behaviour for the set hybrid filter load, Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is reduced and power factor is improved. This method improves passive filter compensation characteristics without depending on system impedance, avoids the danger of passive filter behaves as harmonic drain of close loads and avoiding series and / or parallel resonance problems. And compensation is also possible with variable loads without detuning the passive filter. And is applied for creating LG/LL faults at the source side. The results show that the active filter improves the compensation characteristics of the passive filter and reactive power is compensated.


About 8 million women use the long acting injectable contraceptive depot-medroxy-progesterone acetate (DMPA) and norethisterone enanthate (NET-EN). These progesterone only injectables are not dependent on sexual activity and are easy to administer. Yet they are not always well accepted since they can interfere with menstrual bleeding and often induce amenorrhea. Researchers find that adding estrogen to DMPA and NET-EN treats these irregularities. They must use esters with limited action to protect the endometrium from constant estrogens, however, which requires monthly injections. Thus bleeding occurs once a month just like the normal menstrual cycle. Clinical trials in China of Injectable No. 1 (250 mg 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate and 5 mg estradiol valerate) show that it has few side effects and is acceptable. Other trials in China are evaluating monthly injectables with NET-EN or megestrol acetate. Numerous developing countries often as WHO's Special Programme of Research in Human Reproduction for effective, safe, and fully studied monthly injectables. WHO operates under a 2 part strategy: optimum improvement of HPR 102 (50 m NET-EN and 5 mg estradiol valerate) and Cyclofem (25 mg DMPA and 5 mg estradiol cypionate) resulting in a reduction of the dose of at least 1 of the hormones and results of a study of the efficacy and side effects of these 2 injectables. It hopes the study provides the impetus to introduce them into national family planning programs. It demonstrates that they are indeed efficacious, effect fewer changes in the menstrual cycle than the progesterone only injectables, and are well accepted, even though women must go to a clinic every 27-33 days for an injection. Other studies are determining their effects on lipid and glucose metabolism, coagulation, and fibrinolysis. They are also looking at the time needed for ovulation to return. 1 study shows that menstruation returned in all women by the 3rd cycle.


Alphasatellites, which encode only a replication-associated protein (alpha-Rep), are frequently found to be non-essential satellite components associated with begomovirus/betasatellite complexes, and their presence can modulate disease symptoms and/or viral DNA accumulation during infection. Our previous study has shown that there are three types of alphasatellites associated with begomovirus/betasatellite complexes in Yunnan province in China and they encode three corresponding types of alpha-Rep proteins. However, the biological functions of alpha-Reps remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the biological functions of alpha-Reps in post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) and transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) using 16c and 16-TGS transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants. Results showed that all the three types of alpha-Rep proteins were capable of suppressing the PTGS and reversing the TGS. Among them, the alpha-Rep of Y10DNA1 has the strongest PTGS and TGS suppressor activities. We also found that the alpha-Rep proteins were able to increase the accumulation of their helper virus during coinfection. These results suggest that the alpha-Reps may have a role in overcoming host defense, which provides a possible explanation for the selective advantage provided by the association of alphasatellites with begomovirus/betasatellite complexes.


Cyanostilbene-based derivatives 1-3 were designed, synthesized and fully characterized. By screening their gelating abilities, we observed that the subtle difference in the position of the pyridine nitrogen greatly affected the resulting fluorescence and gelation properties. Notably, 1 was found to be a versatile ambidextrous gelator capable of forming organo-, hydro-, and Cu(ii) specific metallogels. Furthermore, a rare organogel-to-metallogel transformation at room temperature was also observed upon exposure of the 1-DMSO/H2O gel to aqueous Cu(ii). This process, accompanied by colour and fluorescence changes, provides an effective strategy for the preparation of novel sensing soft materials.


The maximum entropy method is used to compute the quark spectral function at nonzero temperature. We solve the gap equation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) self-consistently, employing a rainbow kernel which phenomenologically models results from Dyson-Schwinger equations (DSE) and lattice QCD. We use the criterion of positivity restoration of the spectral function as a signal for deconfinement. Our calculation indicates that the critical temperature of deconfinement $T_d$ is slightly smaller than the one of chiral symmetry restoration $T_c$: $T_d\sim 94% T_c$ in the chiral limit, and $T_d\sim 96% T_c$ with physical light quark masses. Since these deviations are within the systematic error of our approach, it is reasonable to conclude that chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement coincide at zero chemical potential.


Sleep monitoring is essential to people's health and wellbeing, which can also assist in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorder. Compared with contact-based solutions, contactless sleep monitoring does not attach any device to the human body; hence, it has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Inspired by the recent advances in Wi-Fi-based sensing, this article proposes a low-cost and nonintrusive sleep monitoring system using commodity Wi-Fi devices, namely, WiFi-Sleep. We leverage the fine-grained channel state information from multiple antennas and propose advanced fusion and signal processing methods to extract accurate respiration and body movement information. We introduce a deep learning method combined with clinical sleep medicine prior knowledge to achieve four-stage sleep monitoring with limited data sources (i.e., only respiration and body movement information). We benchmark the performance of WiFi-Sleep with polysomnography, the gold reference standard. Results show that WiFi-Sleep achieves an accuracy of 81.8%, which is comparable to the state-of-the-art sleep stage monitoring using expensive radar devices.


Abstract Foam is one of the most frequently used drilling fluids at underbalanced drilling operations. As foam flows, due to the pressure drop, a volumetric expansion is observed, which causes the foam quality to increase in the same direction with flow. Flow of foams through circular pipes and annular geometries are well studied. Interestingly, although one of the major sources of pressure drop is at the bit, there have been few studies of this subject for foams. Many drilling parameters including hole cleaning capacity, volumetric requirements of liquid and gas phase, and backpressure are out of control if the pressure drop at the bit is not accurately determined, even though pressure drops inside the pipes and wellbore are properly determined. This article introduces a more accurate model for estimating the pressure drop of foam flowing through the bit. The major difference between the proposed and the existing models is that the proposed model includes the effect of foam expansion and velocity change as a function of pressure. Pressure drop has been observed to increase significantly as the upstream pressure and foam average velocity increases when compared with the existing models. For the same flow conditions, pressure drop decreases as the foam quality increases, and as the upstream pressure increases, pressure drop also increases. The existing models cannot detect this event at all. In some cases, the pressure drop at the bit can be 10 times greater than the pressure drop predicted from existing models.


Rationale: Gestational cigarette smoke (CS) impairs lung angiogenesis and alveolarization, promoting transgenerational development of asthma and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a proangiogenic, pro-alveolarization, and anti-asthmatic gasotransmitter is synthesized by cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE), cystathionine-β-synthase (CBS), and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfur transferase (3MST). Objective: Determine if gestational CS exposure affected the expression of H2S synthesizing enzymes in the mouse lung and human placenta. Methods: Mice were exposed throughout gestational period to secondhand CS (SS) at approximating the dose of CS received by a pregnant woman sitting in a smoking bar for 3 h/days during pregnancy. Lungs from 7-days old control and SS-exposed pups and human placenta from mothers who were either non-smokers or smokers during pregnancy were analyzed for expression of the enzymes. Measurements: Mouse lungs and human placentas were examined for the expression of CSE, CBS, and 3MST by immunohistochemical staining, qRT-PCR and/or Western blot (WB) analyses. Results: Compared to controls, mouse lung exposed gestationally to SS had significantly lower levels of CSE, CBS, and 3MST. Moreover, the SS-induced suppression of CSE and CBS in F1 lungs was transmitted to the F2 generation without significant change in the magnitude of the suppression. These changes were associated with impaired epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)—a process required for normal lung angiogenesis and alveolarization. Additionally, the placentas from mothers who smoked during pregnancy, expressed significantly lower levels of CSE, CBS, and 3MST, and the effects were partially moderated by quitting smoking during the first trimester. Conclusions: Lung H2S synthesizing enzymes are downregulated by gestational CS and the effects are transmitted to F2 progeny. Smoking during pregnancy decreases H2S synthesizing enzymes is human placentas, which may correlate with the increased risk of asthma/BPD in children.


The application of nasal packing is one of the most commonly performed procedures in rhinology. Various materials have been used as nasal packing, including conventional gauze strips and hydroxylated polyvinyl acetal. Complications related to nasal packing may cause problems that lead to increased morbidity. Among those complications, infectious ones range from localized infection in the nasal cavity to toxic shock syndrome. The purpose of this study was to evaluate conventional gauze strips and hydroxylated polyvinyl acetal nasal packing materials by scanning electron microscopy to reveal their surface characteristics that would promote or prevent the development of infectious complications. The two types of materials were examined before and after application into the nasal cavity. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that hydroxylated polyvinyl acetal material had a smooth surface, whereas conventional gauze strips had an irregular surface with fibers projecting, thus increasing the surface area for bacterial adherence and allowing possible evasion of bacteria from the elements of the immune system within this fibrillar structure.


Pre-contact period submerged landscape archaeology in the United States has been driven and improved by the efforts of cultural resource managers (CRM). While academic organizations in the US have conducted submerged landscapes archaeology, the objective of this paper is to show how CRM projects on the Atlantic outer continental shelf (OCS) and in the Gulf of Mexico have expanded our understanding of principles and methods for mapping and evaluating submerged pre-contact period archaeological sites.
 Basically, there are two distinct kinds of submerged cultural resources that are considered by US legislation. These are historic shipwrecks or downed aircraft and pre-contact period archaeological sites. The Secretary of the Interior's qualifications for archaeologists conducting required surveys distinguish between these two kinds of archaeologists - historic and pre-contact. Methods and principles for shipwreck archaeology have been developed and practiced since the 1960s. Survey and analysis for drowned pre-contact sites on the other hand, are recent subjects for marine-focused geoarchaeologists. Geoarchaeologists are uniquely qualified to understand details of local antecedent (pre-transgression) geology, local pre-contact archaeology, and dynamic local sea level rise details necessary for predictive modeling of any particular submerged paleolandscape.
 This paper will discuss how a survey for submerged pre-contact sites involves acoustic data and paleolandscape reconstruction techniques, determination of what culture group may have occupied those landscapes, and how details of sea-level rise affected that paleolandscape setting. In addition Phase II operations are necessary to test sub-bottom targets. These include coring and diver dredging operations. These methods and novel techniques for perceiving sites and reconstructing past landscapes will be described. We will show the benefits of following Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) guidelines within state waters as well as federal, and in the process of working offshore to reconstruct culture histories, it may come to pass that offshore industries will be a major contributor.


Climatic changes over coastal California from 1951 to 1997 may have benefited the pre- mium wine industry, as seen in higher quality wines and larger grape yields. Observed temperature warming trends were asymmetric, with greatest warming at night and during spring. Warming was associated with large increases in eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures (SST) and amounts of atmospheric water vapor. Although the average annual temperature warming trend was modest (1.13oC/47 yr), there was a 20 d reduction in frost occurrence and a 65 d increase in frost-free grow- ing season length. In the Napa and Sonoma valleys, warmer winter and spring temperatures advanced the start of the growing season by 18 to 24 d, and enhanced atmospheric water vapor resulted in a 7% reduction in evaporative demand. Given the strong coupling between Pacific SSTs and the coastal California climate, and because regional-scale SSTs persist for 6 to 12 mo, additional research may allow the possibility of predicting vintage quantity and quality from previous winter conditions.


Biological information for large, hermaphroditic wrasses (Labridae) are very limited although populations of these species are exploited sustenance for the market. Large
wrasses, such as Choerodon anchorago, Cheilinus trilobatus, Choerodon schoenleinii and Hemigymnus melanopterus, although not highly important commercially as Napoleon wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus, were found in the market of Kudat District. Samples of these large species were collected from Kudat fish market from middle of August 2004 to end of November 2004 to gather information on some aspects of growth and reproduction of these species. Measurements of length and weight of otolith, gonad, and body were made and gonadal examination was made for sex and stage of maturation
of C. anchorago. These were gathered to get information on the growth of these species and to attempt in testing the hypotheses that maturation of fishes is 50 % of the
maximum length and that sex reversal occurs at 80 % of the maximum length. The linear correlation is found for the length-weight relationship between the otolith length and
standard length for C. anchorago (R2 = 0.668) and C. trilobatus (R2 = 0.273). The large wrasses are found to be protogynous hermaphrodites, where individuals change sex from female to male like other labrids. For expected (i.e., < 50 % of maximum length and 80% of maximum length); maturation of C. anchorago was found at size 14.5 cm, C.
trilobatus in size 13.9 cm and H. melanopterus matured at size more than 24 cm. The maturity of C. schoenleinii cannot be detennined because limitation of samples and resources. These findings on maturation and sex reversal on C. anchorago, C. trilobatus and H. melanopterus indicate that fishing pressure is causing an adaptive change in these
populations. For further studies, more sampJes, are needed to confirm these initial findings.


miRNAs are important regulators of gene expression that are frequently deregulated in cancer, with aberrant DNA methylation being an epigenetic mechanism involved in this process. We previously identified miRNA promoter regions active in normal mammary cell types and here we analyzed which of these promoters are targets of aberrant DNA methylation in human breast cancer cell lines and breast tumor specimens. Using 5-methylcytosine immunoprecipitation coupled to miRNA tiling microarray hybridization, we performed comprehensive evaluation of DNA methylation of miRNA gene promoters in breast cancer. We found almost one third (55/167) of miRNA promoters were targets for aberrant methylation in breast cancer cell lines. Breast tumor specimens displayed DNA methylation of majority of these miRNA promoters, indicating that these changes in DNA methylation might be clinically relevant. Aberrantly methylated miRNA promoters were, similar to protein coding genes, enriched for promoters targeted by polycomb in normal cells. Detailed analysis of selected miRNA promoters revealed decreased expression of miRNA linked to increased promoter methylation for mir-31, mir-130a, let-7a-3/let-7b, mir-155, mir-137 and mir-34b/mir-34c genes. The proportion of miRNA promoters we found aberrantly methylated in breast cancer is several fold larger than that observed for protein coding genes, indicating an important role of DNA methylation in miRNA deregulation in cancer.


In this paper, a new lattice Boltzmann model, called the artificial interface lattice Boltzmann model (AILB model), is proposed for the simulation of two-phase dynamics. The model is based on the principle of free energy minimization and invokes the Gibbs-Duhem equation in the formulation of non-ideal forcing function. Bulk regions of the two phases are governed by a non-ideal equation of state (for example, the van der Waals equation of state), whereas an artificial near-critical equation of state is applied in the interfacial region. The interfacial equation of state is described by a double well density dependence of the free energy. The continuity of chemical potential is enforced at the interface boundaries. Using the AILB model, large density and viscosity ratios of the two phases can be simulated. The model is able to quantitatively capture the coexistence curve for the van der Waals equation of state for different temperatures. Moreover, spatially varying viscosities can be simulated by choosing the relaxation time as a function of local density.


The efficiency of ispaghula husk in relieving gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with ulcerative colitis in remission was studied in a placebo-controlled trial running for 4 months. Twenty-nine patients (81%) completed the trial; four withdrew after colitis relapse (three while receiving placebo). Grading of symptoms judged ispaghula to be consistently superior to placebo (p less than 0.001) and associated with a significantly higher rate of improvement (69%) than placebo (24%) (p less than 0.001). The results show that ispaghula can be helpful in the management of gastrointestinal symptoms in quiescent ulcerative colitis.


Little is understood about the effects of social constructivism that shapes conflicting concerns regarding Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) security and usability during implementation. This work looks at social constructivism as produced and reproduced by stakeholders in the ERP systems implementation phase. Social constructivism is characterised by the embedded trade-off for usability, espoused by end-user and security, espoused by developers. Social constructivism was conceptualised qualitatively from a selected case study. Critical Social Theory (CST) was used as the theoretical lens. Stakeholders concerned with ERP security aspects in the implementation phase were interviewed and data transcribed and interpreted. Hermeneutical interpretation was applied towards understanding social constructivism. Exegesis techniques used include textual criticism and reduction criticism. The contribution of the work is twofold: the work provides insights regarding ERP systems security by attempting to explain how social constructivism shapes outcomes of ERP security; the article also shows how hermeneutics could be applied in the discipline of information systems security. Findings for this case reveal that social constructivism does shape ERP security in insightful ways.


ABSTRACT.
 Three new species of leaf-mining Gelechiidae are described: Xenolechia ceanothiae Priest, whose larvae feed on Ceanothus americanus L. (Rhamnaceae); Gnorimoschema shepherdiae Priest, on Shepherdia canadensis (L.) Nutt. (Elaeagnaceae); and Scrobipalpula manierreorum Priest, on Eurybia (Aster) macrophylla (L.) Cassini (Asteraceae). Their leaf mines were initially discovered in the understory in Michigan forests. Barcoding revealed additional records for two of these species from several regions of Canada. Photographs of the imagos and illustrations of the male and female genitalia, larval and pupal chaetotaxal maps are provided. Scanning electron micrographs of selected features of the larva for each species supplement illustrations. Comparative diagnoses of adult morphological characters are presented to distinguish the new species from other North American congeners. Photographs of the leaf-mines for each species are also included. DNA barcodes for each species are shown to be distinct from related North American congeners. The first occurrence of Gnorimoschema vibeiWolff in North America is confirmed by barcoded specimens from Kuujjuarapik in northern Quebec, Canada.


Keeping in view the significant role of E-Learning during COVID-19 and psychological issues of students and teachers resulting from the abrupt shift of teaching-learning mode to online, it is imperative to have a good understanding of motivational strategies being employed in EFL classes during this period. The present research being descriptive is designed to explore the perceptions of Pakistani teachers and learners about motivational strategies used in EFL classrooms during emergency remote learning. The frameworks of Dornyei and Csize ́s model of Motivation in the EFL context (1998) and for E-Learning Computer Assisted Language Learning via Videoconferencing by Davies (2008) have been adopted. Following the pragmatic paradigm, a mixed-method study was designed and data was collected through an online survey from one hundred students and interviews from five university-level teachers. The findings revealed that teachers were more inclined to adopt and favor a student-centered approach to keep the EFL learners motivated, by maintaining a cooperative E-Learning environment, through using CALL's Web-based approach of Videoconferencing and by extracting students' responses. Students, on the other hand, were found to be reluctant to take initiative; the reason may be the psychological trauma caused by the quarantine period during the first wave of COVID-19. The implications of the study will instill a new insight for researchers and language learners to consider the scenario of the COVID-19 Pandemic as a blessing in disguise, acting as a foundation stone towards digital advancement, in the Pakistani E-Learning context in general and in the E-EFL context in Particular.


Cottonseed oil fatty acid composition was determined for several cotton genotypes included in the 2006 and 2007 years of the National Cotton Variety Trials. Seed was collected from a total of nine environments that included six locations, and 35 genotypes were included in the analysis. Oil was extracted from seed with hexane, and the glycerides were converted to fatty acid methyl esters and analyzed by gas chromatography. Results indicated that commercially acceptable cotton genotypes vary modestly in their distribution of fatty acids, covering a range slightly greater than the range specified in the Codex trading standard for cottonseed oil. Analysis of variance, based on a random effects model, indicated the relative level of most fatty acids was influenced by environment and genetics, but the interaction of these effects was relatively small. Correlations were found between the levels of several major and minor fatty acids. Many of the observed associations appeared to have some foundation with known and proposed biosynthesis pathways. Although the results indicate that breeding cotton for modified oil composition should be feasible, the range of variation observed within the genotypes studied was insufficient to provide useful traits for breeding. A more extensive survey of cottonseed genotypes will be needed for this purpose. C


Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease of unknown cause, which is characterized by the presence of noncaseating granulomas in one or multiple organs. In approximately 90 percent of patients with sarcoidosis, the disease is manifested as pulmonary granulomas. Although parenchymal abnormalities often resolve spontaneously, about 20-25% of cases will ultimately develop pulmonary fibrosis. Fibrosis of the lung parenchyma is associated with poor pulmonary function and a bleak prognosis with increased morbidity and mortality. Fibrosis is characterized by a disproportionate increase in extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The exuberant ECM production is believed to originate from an imbalance between cytokines involved in tissue healing and remodeling. Sarcoidosis is likely to be a genetically complex disease that involves a combination of genetic loci (polygenic) conferring disease predilection or phenotypic variation of disease manifestation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP's) in genes that encode for components involved in tissue injury and repair may influence the risk of developing pulmonary fibrosis in sarcoidosis. The effects of genetic variation on sarcoidosis phenotypes may appear as changes of such parameters as radiography, lung function or serum levels of the disease marker. The results described in this thesis strongly support the influence of genetic variation on the disease parameters that are used to describe the phenotypes of pulmonary sarcoidosis. These parameters include disease marker levels in serum, evolution of chest X-ray, and lung function data. The results show that a number of SNPs can add to the propensity to develop pulmonary fibrosis as seen for TGF-β3 polymorphisms in relation to radiographic evolution, or that a combination of SNPs on one allele (haplotypes) may predict the odds of developing chronic sarcoidosis and fibrosis in males. Gene polymorphisms in genes of disease markers ACE, KL-6 and YKL-40 inform us about their influence on protein functionality. The identification or evaluation of polymorphisms in genes that encode proteins which are or may be used as sarcoidosis disease markers clearly underline the relevance of considering gene polymorphisms in an attempt to identify normal and deviating levels of disease markers. For the clinician, however, having to account for the genetic variation of a disease marker may be cumbersome. Means to circumvent the potentially expansive number of reference intervals that are based on e.g. gender, age, length, and gene polymorphisms can be accomplished by formulating a simple algorithm that accounts for any variable known to influence the measures of a marker. As illustrated in this thesis, the Z-score offers a useful way to apply genetically-specific marker levels in practice. In order to grasp the genetic influence on the vast and complex pathways which lead to pulmonary fibrosis in sarcoidosis, the expansion of useful fibrosis parameters are needed to be able to give the affected individual a proper risk assessment and a fitting treatment regimen. The associations described in this thesis will hopefully prompt future investigations into the delineation of the functional roles of polymorphisms in genes that are involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis in sarcoidosis.


Pressure vessels can be subjected to various external local forces and moments acting in combination with main internal pressure. As a result of the stress system set up, and in the presence of attachment welds, surface cracks can occur on the interior and exterior walls. If these cracks cannot be detected at an early stage, there is a real potential for the vessel to rupture with obvious dangerous consequences. The behavior of fractured or geometric discontinuity structures can be investigated with linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) parameters. The stress intensity factor (SIF) is the leading one, and with correct calculations, it can produce the stress intensity in the crack tip region. In cylinder-cylinder intersections subject to local loads, the maximum stress distribution occurs in and around these opening areas and failure in the system usually occurs in this region.
 Using this approach, the present study develops three-dimensional mixed mode stress intensity factor solutions on for external cracks on nozzle joints in cylindrical pressure vessels nozzle junctions for a variety of geometrical configurations. This was undertaken using a finite element approach and employing a bespoke software tool and solver, FCPAS - Fracture and Crack Propagation Analysis System — to create the finite element mesh and propagation characteristics. From this, a parameter study examining the influence of the crack shape, size and position was carried out with a fixed pressure vessel nozzle cylinder intersection geometry configuration and the appropriate stress intensity factors identified and reported. The FCPAS tool is shown to be an effective approach to modelling and characterizing cracks in pressure vessel nozzles.


Camelot is a resource-bounded functional programming language which compiles to Java byte code to run on the Java Virtual Machine. We extend Camelot to include language support for Camelot-level threads which are compiled to native Java threads. We extend the existing Camelot resource-bounded type system to provide safety guarantees about the heap usage of Camelot threads. We demonstrate the usefulness of our concurrency extensions to the language by implementing a multi-threaded graphical network chat application which could not have been expressed as naturally in the sequential, object-free sublanguage of Camelot which was previously available.


This chapter considers the admissibility of and procedural matters relating to hearsay evidence in civil cases. Hearsay evidence is where a witness gives evidence of facts they have not personally experienced for the purpose of proving the truth of those facts. Hearsay may be written or oral, and may be first-hand, second-hand, etc. Evidence is no longer excluded in civil cases solely on the ground that it is hearsay. However, in practice, trial judges give limited weight to hearsay evidence.


We consider the characterization of a dose-response relationship when the response variable is ordinal in nature. Initially, we review the existing models for describing such a relationship, and propose an extension that allows for the possibility of non-zero probabilities of response for the different categories of the ordinal outcome variable associated with the control group. We illustrate via a simulation study the difficulties that can be encountered in model fitting when significant background responses are not acknowledged. In order to further enlarge the spectrum of dose-response relationships that can be accurately modeled, we introduce splines into the existing models for ordinal outcome data; demonstrating in a simulation that such models can provide a superior fit relative to existing ones. We also propose an alternative reference dose measure for ordinal responses. Specifically, we propose an alternative method for defining the benchmark dose, BMD, for ordinal outcome data. The approach yields an estimator that is robust to the number of ordinal categories into which we divide the response. In addition, the estimator is consistent with currently accepted definitions of the BMD for quantal and continuous data when the number of categories for the ordinal response is two, or become extremely large, respectively. We suggest two methods for determining an interval reflecting the lower confidence limit of the BMD; one based on the delta method, the other on a likelihood ratio approach. We show via a simulation study that intervals based on the latter approach are able to achieve the nominal level of coverage.


In this paper, we propose an efficient and accurate data fusion mechanism through temporal and spatial correlations for Home Automation Networks. Data fusion is a process to decrease the transmission number of similar sensory values, thus its importance is in the spotlight because energy efficiency is a main issue on the networks. In order to reduce the transmission amount of data, each device decides whether to send new sensing data or not after comparing it with previous sensing values(temporal correlation) and the last transmitted value of the neighbor device(spatial correlation) which is a one-hop range via a predetermined user threshold. Our mechanism includes a commit and assurance process for security enhancement. For the performance evaluation of our mechanism, we use the temperature data measured on real networks and extend them using Gaussian distribution in order to obtain the more test data sets. The simulation results show that using both types of correlations is more efficient than just using one type for data fusion in terms of the data transmission amount and accuracy. Moreover, our simulation for the commit and assurance process demonstrates only slightly more energy.


We use an implicit large eddy simulation (ILES) method based on a finite volume approach to capture the turbulence in the anastomoses of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to the aorta. The order-of-accuracy of the numerical schemes is computed using a two-dimensional decaying Taylor-Green vortex. The ILES method is carefully validated by comparing to documented results for a fully developed turbulent channel flow at Re(tau)=395. Two different anastomotic flows (proximal and distal) are simulated for 50% and 100% LVAD supports and the results are compared with a healthy aortic flow. All the analyses are based on a planar aortic model under steady inflow conditions for simplification. Our results reveal that the outflow cannulae induce high exit jet flows in the aorta, resulting in turbulent flow. The distal configuration causes more turbulence in the aorta than the proximal configuration. The turbulence, however, may not cause any hemolysis due to low Reynolds stresses and relatively large Kolmogorov length scales compared with red blood cells. The LVAD support causes an acute increase in flow splitting in the major branch vessels for both anastomotic configurations, although its long-term effect on the flow splitting remains unknown. A large increase in wall shear stress is found near the cannulation sites during the LVAD support. This work builds a foundation for more physiologically realistic simulations under pulsatile flow conditions.


We measured polycrystalline samples of SrRuO3 and both superconducting and nonsuperconducting (hydrogen loaded) ruthenocuprates-Eu1.5Ce0.5RuSr2Cu2O10-x (Ru-1222)-samples using ac susceptibility, Ru 3p x-ray photoemission and Ru 2p x-ray-absorption measurements. The superconducting-and metallic-ruthenocuprate samples exhibit significant ferromagnetic fluctuations above the highest magnetic ordering temperature. The (Ru 3p) core level of the SrRuO3, and superconducting ruthenocuprate samples indicate that the (Ru) layers are metallic.


The purpose of the study is to develop and test in practice the method of analyzing the relationship between the formation of internally generated goodwill and investment attractiveness of an enterprise based on econometric modeling in order to improve the investment management process. Attracting additional investments, both for Slovakia and Ukraine, requires the identification of promising objects of investment. Assessment of enterprise's potential cannot be accurately performed on the base of financial statements, which reflect only the state of assets. It is necessary to take into account the prospects for development of this business unit in the future, that largely depends on effective functioning of management system. The success of business processes depends on how rationally managers use the resources of the enterprise and form the structure of assets adequate to the demands of the market. The article considers the problem of estimating the value of enterprises in order to attract investments based on internally generated goodwill, and determines the peculiarities of the formation and types of goodwill of a commercial enterprise. As the main research method, canonical correlation modelling was used to analyze data of Ukrainian machine-building enterprises for the period 2017–2020. As a result, the factors responsible for the formation of internally generated goodwill were identified and classified according to their economic nature. Correlation dependencies between groups of initial and resulting coefficients were calculated and the areas of enterprise management that have the greatest impact on the formation of its market value were identified.


Although the determinants of whether a teenage woman has a nonmarital pregnancy and how such a pregnancy is resolved have been widely investigated, little is known about the joint influence of both partners' characteristics on nonmarital teenage pregnancy. This paper uses data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth to examine whether the characteristics of teenage women and their partners affect the likelihood of a nonmarital pregnancy and whether a pregnancy ends in abortion, marriage, or a nonmarital birth. The results indicate that several attributes of both men and women appear to play a role in nonmarital teenage pregnancy and its outcome. The estimated relationships between one partner's attributes and the probability of a nonmarital pregnancy and its resolution are generally little affected by whether the other partner's characteristics are also taken into account.


Multiparty computation is a computation between multiple players which want to compute a common function based on private input. It was first proposed over 20 years ago and has since matured into a well established science. The goal of this thesis has been to develop efficient protocols for different operations used in multiparty computation and to propose uses for multiparty computation in real world systems. This thesis therefore gives the reader an overview of multiparty computation from the simplest primitives to the current state of software frameworks for multiparty computation, and provides ideas for future applications. Included in this thesis is a proposed model of multiparty computation based on a model of communication complexity. This model provides a good foundation for the included papers and for measuring the efficiency of multiparty computation protocols. In addition to this model, a more practical approach is also included, which examines different secret sharing schemes and how they are used as building blocks for basic multiparty computation operations. This thesis identifies five basic multiparty computation operations: sharing, recombining, addition, multiplication and negation, and shows how these five operations can be used to create more complex operations. In particular two operations "less-than" and "bitwise decomposition" are examined in detail in the included papers. "less-than" performs the "<" operator on two secret shared values with a secret shared result and "bitwise decomposition" takes a secret shared value and transforms it into a vector of secret shared bitwise values. The overall goal of this thesis has been to create efficient methods for multiparty computation so that it might be used for practical applications in the future.


Background : Accidental ingestion of poisons in children is an important health problem all over the world. Over 90% of poisonings occur in household settings, and 40% happen during childhood. Recognition of the current etiologies of poisonings may be helpful in adoption of strategies for their prevention and prophylactic therapy. Methods : In this cross-sectional study, the medical records of children aged 12 years or younger were collected from the 17th of Shahrivar Hospital in Rasht, Iran in 2010. The study was performed in collaboration with the Adverse drug reaction (ADR) Committee of Guilan University of Medical Sciences. Results : Out of 3299 pediatric admissions, 4.27% were identified as accidental poisoning. 86.5% of children were below the age of five and the majority was in 1-5 year age group. Admission rates were higher during the spring season. The most common toxicities occurred by ingestion of drugs (56.73%) and kerosene (9.92%). Chlorine bleach (8.51%), rodenticides (5.67%), opium (4.25%) and mushrooms (3.54%) were other causes, respectively. No deaths had been recorded. Conclusion : Informing parents about hazardous materials, especially kerosene, and medications which need to be kept out of reach of children seems to be helpful in reducing occurrences of poisonings and their subsequent complications.


Factor X activation by the intrinsic Xase complex, composed of factor IXa bound to factor VIIIa on membranes, is essential for the amplified blood coagulation response. The biological significance of this step is evident from bleeding arising from deficiencies in factors VIIIa or IXa in hemophilia. Here, we assess the mechanism(s) that enforce the distinctive specificity of intrinsic Xase for its biological substrate. Active-site function of IXa was assessed with a tripeptidyl substrate (PF-3688). The reversible S1 site binder, 4-aminobenzamidine (pAB), acted as a classical competitive inhibitor of PF-3688 cleavage by Xase. In contrast, pAB acted as a noncompetitive inhibitor of factor X activation. This disconnect between peptidyl substrate and protein substrate cleavage indicates a major role for interactions between factor X and extended sites on Xase in determining substrate affinity. Accordingly, an uncleavable factor X variant, not predicted to engage the active site of IXa within Xase, acted as a classical competitive inhibitor of factor X activation. Fluorescence studies confirmed the binding of factor X to Xase assembled with IXa with a covalently blocked active site. Our findings suggest that the recognition of factor X by the intrinsic Xase complex occurs through a multistep "dock-and-lock" pathway in which the initial interaction between factor X and intrinsic Xase occurs at exosites distant from the active site, followed by active-site docking and bond cleavage.


The β-secretase called BACE1 is a membrane-associated protease that initiates the generation of amyloid β-protein, a key event in Alzheimer's disease. However, the mechanism of inraneuronal regulation of BACE1 is poorly understood. Abstract The β-secretase called BACE1 is a membrane-associated protease that initiates the generation of amyloid β-protein (Aβ), a key event in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the mechanism of intraneuronal regulation of BACE1 is poorly understood. Here, we present evidence that low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1), a multi-functional receptor, has a previously unrecognized function to regulate BACE1 in neurons. We show that deficiency of LRP1 exerts promotive effects on the protein expression and function of BACE1, whereas expression of LRP-L4, a functional LRP1 mini-receptor, specifically decreases BACE1 levels in both human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells and rat primary neurons, leading to reduced Aβ production. Our subsequent analyses further demonstrate that (1) both endogenous and exogenous BACE1 and LRP1 interact with each other and are colocalized in soma and neurites of primary neurons, (2) LRP1 reduces the protein stability and cell-surface expression of BACE1, and (3) LRP1 facilitates the shift in intracellular localization of BACE1 from early to late endosomes, thereby promoting lysosomal degradation. These findings establish that LRP1 specifically downregulates BACE1 by modulating its intraneuronal trafficking and stability through protein interaction and highlight LRP1 as a potential therapeutic target in AD.


For the treatment of diseases, especially chronic diseases, traditional natural drugs have more effective therapeutic advantages because of their multi-target and multi-channel characteristics. Among many traditional natural medicines, resins frankincense and myrrh have been proven to be effective in the treatment of inflammation and cancer. In the West, frankincense and myrrh have been used as incense in religious and cultural ceremonies since ancient times; in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, they are used mainly for the treatment of chronic diseases. The main chemical constituents of frankincense and myrrh are terpenoids and essential oils. Their common pharmacological effects are anti-inflammatory and anticancer. More interestingly, in traditional Chinese medicine, frankincense and myrrh have been combined as drug pairs in the same prescription for thousands of years, and their combination has a better therapeutic effect on diseases than a single drug. After the combination of frankincense and myrrh forms a blend, a series of changes take place in their chemical composition, such as the increase or decrease of the main active ingredients, the disappearance of native chemical components, and the emergence of new chemical components. At the same time, the pharmacological effects of the combination seem magically powerful, such as synergistic anti-inflammation, synergistic anticancer, synergistic analgesic, synergistic antibacterial, synergistic blood-activation, and so on. In this review, we summarize the latest research on the main chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of these two natural resins, along with chemical and pharmacological studies on the combination of the two.


In this paper, we investigate the role of output market imperfections in constraining the microfinance program to mitigate credit market imperfections. We develop a model in which output market imperfections increase operating costs for NGOs and create barriers for producers to market their goods. Therefore, NGOs engage in locations having good physical infrastructure and better productive and marketing opportunities to minimize operating cost and maximize loan repayment. Using data from northern Bangladesh, we find strong support for the model predictions. NGO coverage in a village, measured both by percentage of NGO member households and number of NGOs working, decreases with distance of the village from marketplace and increases with adoption of modern irrigation method and soil quality. NGOs do not consider poverty incidence in the village. The results have important implications for development economics in general and impact assessment of microfinance program in particular.


The ASTM F1295/Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy present mechanical properties and biocompatibility very attractive for application in medical and dental implants. In this context, processing of these Ti-based alloys by severe plastic deformation (SPD) has been extensively reported recently. However, the mechanical properties of equal channel angular pressed (ECAP) ASTM F1295 alloy are still a matter of research. In the present study, Ti-6Al-7Nb samples were processed by ECAP following thermomechanical processing which effects on the microstructure of Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The analyses have shown that the microstructure was composed by ultrafine grains (UFG) with sizes ranging from 200 to 400 nm. Ring-type selected area electron diffraction patterns (SAEDP) suggested the co-existence of low- and high-angle grain boundaries. Some regions of the samples have presented evidences of the presence of grains with unfavorable orientation to the plastic deformation. These grains can act as rigid bodies and concentrate the deformation in its surrounding areas, as an "open-die grain" mechanism. Such deformation mechanism could be attributed to the differences in the plastic behavior between the alpha and beta titanium phases.


We report the detection of GJ 832c, a super-Earth orbiting near the inner edge of the habitable zone of GJ 832, an M dwarf previously known to host a Jupiter analog in a nearly circular 9.4 yr orbit. The combination of precise radial-velocity measurements from three telescopes reveals the presence of a planet with a period of 35.68 ± 0.03 days and minimum mass (m sin i) of 5.4 ± 1.0 Earth masses. GJ 832c moves on a low-eccentricity orbit (e = 0.18 ± 0.13) toward the inner edge of the habitable zone. However, given the large mass of the planet, it seems likely that it would possess a massive atmosphere, which may well render the planet inhospitable. Indeed, it is perhaps more likely that GJ 832c is a "super-Venus," featuring significant greenhouse forcing. With an outer giant planet and an interior, potentially rocky planet, the GJ 832 planetary system can be thought of as a miniature version of our own solar system.


Abstract Motivation Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes involves complex co-regulatory mechanisms involving large numbers of transcriptional regulatory proteins and their target genes. Uncovering these genome-scale interactions constitutes a major bottleneck in systems biology. Sparse latent factor models, assuming activity of transcription factors (TFs) as unobserved, provide a biologically interpretable modelling framework, integrating gene expression and genome-wide binding data, but at the same time pose a hard computational inference problem. Existing probabilistic inference methods for such models rely on subjective filtering and suffer from scalability issues, thus are not well-suited for realistic genome-scale applications. Results We present a fast Bayesian sparse factor model, which takes input gene expression and binding sites data, either from ChIP-seq experiments or motif predictions, and outputs active TF-gene links as well as latent TF activities. Our method employs an efficient variational Bayes scheme for model inference enabling its application to large datasets which was not feasible with existing MCMC-based inference methods for such models. We validate our method on synthetic data against a similar model in the literature, employing MCMC for inference, and obtain comparable results with a small fraction of the computational time. We also apply our method to large-scale data from Mycobacterium tuberculosis involving ChIP-seq data on 113 TFs and matched gene expression data for 3863 putative target genes. We evaluate our predictions using an independent transcriptomics experiment involving over-expression of TFs. Availability and implementation An easy-to-use Jupyter notebook demo of our method with data is available at https://github.com/zhenwendai/SITAR. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


In this thesis the design and performance of a non-linear non-scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator is described. The imagined application of the design is for radioisotope production and in particular the production of 99mTc and 211At. The performance of the design in combination with an internal target and recycled beam, is also investigated as a potential way to increase isotope yields.

The basic design consists of four separate radial sector magnets and two RF cavities. The design differs from a conventional cyclotron in that the edge angles have been optimised with the field gradient to produce a lattice that
is isochronous to �0.15% and has stabilised tunes.

Simulations conducted using the OPAL code showed that the dynamic apertures are large, peaking at 150 and 41.4 � m mrad in the horizontal and vertical planes respectfully. Acceleration with protons is possible at up the 5th harmonic with 100 kV/turn accelerating gradient and at the 1st harmonic for alpha particles.

Space charge simulations suggested strong performance under high current conditions. A proton beam of 20 mA was simulated with 2.3% losses, dropping to 0% losses at 4 mA. Alpha particle beams were simulated with beam currents of up to 800�A with minimal losses. The best harmonic to operate at for handling high currents was found to be either the 2nd or 3rd.

Simulations of the internal target demonstrated that ionisation cooling has an effect even with high Z materials. Two aspects were identifed as key to increasing beam survival; the vertical aperture and cooling the beam longitudinally. It was found that increasing the vertical aperture by �1 cm could double the beam survival time. Additionally by using a combination of a wedge shaped target and RF stabilisation to cool the beam longitudinally, a 140% increase in beam survival time was achieved.

Finally several iterations of the design were created investigating possible improvements to the design including tune adjustment by introducing a magnet shift, a dual proton alpha particle design and a compact 35 MeV design.


CONTEXT This section of the journal encourages discussion between several authors on a policy-related topic. The same question may, therefore, be addressed from different theoretical, cultural or spatial perspectives. Dialogues may be applied or highly abstract. The Dialogue in this issue starts with Burrai and Hannam contribution here https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2017.1362809.


This article examines the way a group of expert teachers' educators contextualises their teaching. To this end, a qualitative phenomenological approach was employed to collect and analyse data from 30 expert teachers' educators. Grounded theory was used to conceptualise and categorise evidences emerged from the analysis of texts while stories of practices were created for each category emerged for illustration. In general, three teaching strategies emerged as means of contextualising teaching: connecting teaching to authentic experiences, aligning practices in teacher education to secondary school teaching and contextualising teaching to students' level of understanding. Lastly, the lesson each university could draw from one another and implications of the study are highlighted.


As the processes of globalization intensify, the issues of people migration and citizenship receive more scholarly attention than ever. The questions regarding dual or even multiple citizenship are unavoidable nowadays and governments have to decide whether they tolerate the fact that their citizens may also be citizens of another state or do they prevent their citizens from acquiring multiple citizenships. There are various understandings of dual citizenship and the common belief is that more states tolerate dual citizenship than ever.
This master thesis concentrates on the dual citizenship politics in Lithuania. While it seems that at least in Europe the governments tend to allow or tolerate dual citizenship, the dual citizenship regulation in Lithuania is strict and dual citizenship is not tolerated despite the large extent of emigration and emigrants wishes to have the right to dual citizenship. The public debate on the dual citizenship in Lithuania is intense for about a decade now and politicians have been urged to solve this issue many times. However, all the intended changes were stopped by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, leaving no way to solve this unless the Constitution of Lithuania is changed.
The politics of dual citizenship in Lithuania in the thesis are analyzed using theoretical framework of the nation-building and the geopolitical thinking in the post-soviet states. First of all, the reasons for the strict regulation of the dual citizenship in The Constitution of Lithuania written in 1992 are analyzed. Second of all, the resistance to the dual citizenship is analyzed in the context of current emigration from Lithuania. The main data was gathered by interviewing experts of the citizenship politics in Lithuania. It is revealed that the political resistance to dual citizenship in Lithuania is the result of the geopolitical insecurity, national minorities residing in Lithuania as well as of Lithuania's historiography.


Fenugreek with the scientific name of Trigonella foenum-graceum L and with leaves consisting of 3 small obovate to oblong leaflets is an annual herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean but is cultivated worldwide. This plant has medicinal alkaloids, steroid compounds, and sapogenins and many uses have been mentioned for this plant in traditional medicine. This plant has been used to ease childbirth, to aid digestion, and as a general tonic to improve metabolism. Trigonelline is considered as the most important metabolite of fenugreek, which is very effective in treating diabetes and decreasing blood cholesterol. Diaszhenin is another important compound in seeds of this plant, which is used in producing medicinal steroids like contraceptive pills. Many studies have been performed on the therapeutic effects and identification of chemical compounds of this plant. In this article, the most important biological effects and reported compounds about fenugreek seed are reviewed and its therapeutic applications are investigated.


Wireless mesh network has recently emerged as a promising technology for next-generation wireless network. Many important applications, such as audio/video conferencing, require multicast communication with quality-of-service (QoS) guarantee. In this paper, QoS multicast routing in wireless mesh networks are investigated. The paper studies TDMA-based timeslot allocation, and presents an effective algorithm for calculating bandwidth of a multicast tree. The paper also proposes a multi-path multicasting routing algorithm, and two strategies for constructing multiple trees are studied. Simulation results show that compared with MAODV, multi-path multicasting routing algorithm can improve the performance of multicast routing in terms of success ratio and network cost.


A lack of precise age constraints for Neoproterozoic strata in the northwestern United States (Washington State), including the Buffalo Hump Formation (BHF), has resulted in conflicting interpretations of Rodinia amalgamation and breakup processes. Previous detrital zircon (DZ) studies identified a youngest ca. 1.1 Ga DZ age population in the BHF, interpreted to reflect mostly first-cycle sourcing of unidentified but proximal magmatic rocks intruded during the amalgamation of Rodinia at ca. 1.0 Ga. Alternatively, the ca. 1.1 Ga DZ population has been suggested to represent a distal source with deposition occurring during the early phases of Rodinia rifting, more than 250 m.y. after zircon crystallization. We combined conventional laser-ablation split-stream analyses of U-Pb/Lu-Hf isotopes in zircon with a method of rapid (8 s per spot) U-Pb analysis to evaluate these opposing models. Our study of ~2000 DZ grains from the BHF identified for the first time a minor (~1%) yet significant ca. 760 Ma population, which constrains the maximum depositional age. This new geochronology implies that the BHF records early rift deposition during the breakup of Rodinia and correlates with sedimentary rocks found in other late Tonian basins of southwestern Laurentia.


Abstract: Relaxin (RLX), a key reproductive hormone in pigs, stimulates uterine growth in pregnant and prepubertal gilts and in neonates 2 weeks after birth. The neonatal uterotrophic response to RLX is developmentally regulated and estrogen receptor dependent because RLX fails to increase uterine weight in the absence of estrogen receptor (ER)‐α or when the ER is chemically inactivated. However, the role of RLX and insulin‐like peptide‐3 receptors, LGR7 and LGR8, respectively, in the neonatal uterotrophic response is unknown. Current studies focus on direct (LGR7/8‐mediated) and indirect (ER‐mediated) effects of RLX in the neonatal porcine uterus. Porcine LGR7 and LGR8 cDNAs were cloned and used as probes to identify uterine transcripts for LGR7 and LGR8, which increased from birth (postnatal day [PND] 0) to PND 14, a critical period for porcine uterine development. In situ hybridization showed that endometrial signals for both LGR7 and LGR8 are predominantly stromal during this period. Administration of RLX on PND 0, before onset of uterine ER expression, increased uterine luminal epithelial height (P <.05) but not uterine weight in the LGR7/8‐positive uterus on PND 2. However, RLX increased both uterine weight and luminal epithelial height by PND 14 (P <.05), after overt endometrial ER expression. Aberrant ER activation between PND 0 and 14 alters the uterine organizational program and affects the function of adult porcine uterine tissues. Present data suggest that crosstalk between LGR7/8 and ER may be involved in estrogen‐sensitive morphoregulatory events that are central to the development of an optimally functional adult uterus in the pig.


Knowledge of the error structure of a given set of experimental data is a necessary prerequisite for incisive analysis and for discrimination between alternative mathematical models of the data set. A reaction system consisting of glutathione S-transferase A (glutathione S-aryltransferase), glutathione, and 3,4-dichloro-1-nitrobenzene was investigated under steady-state conditions. It was found that the experimental error increased with initial velocity, v, and that the variance (estimated by replicates) could be described by a polynomial in v Var (v) = K0 + K1 - v + K2 - v2 or by a power function Var (v) = K0 + K1 - vK2. These equations were good approximations irrespective of whether different v values were generated by changing substrate or enzyme concentrations. The selection of these models was based mainly on experiments involving varying enzyme concentration, which, unlike v, is not considered a stochastic variable. Different models of the variance, expressed as functions of enzyme concentration, were examined by regression analysis, and the models could then be transformed to functions in which velocity is substituted for enzyme concentration owing to the proportionality between these variables. Thus, neither the absolute nor the relative error was independent of velocity, a result previously obtained for glutathione reductase in this laboratory [BioSystems 7, 101-119 (1975)]. If the experimental errors or velocities were standardized by division with their corresponding mean velocity value they showed a normal (Gaussian) distribution provided that the coefficient of variation was approximately constant for the data considered. Furthermore, it was established that the errors in the independent variables (enzyme and substrate concentrations) were small in comparison with the error in the velocity determinations. For weighting in regression analysis the inverted value of the local variance in each experimental point should be used. It was found that the assumption of proportionality between variance and valpha (where alpha is an empirically determined exponent) was a good approximation for the weighting. The value of alpha was 1.6 in the present case. The weight function was tested in the fitting of a rate equation to a kinetic-data set involving variable substrate concentrations. Recommendations are given regarding the establishment of the error structure in a general case and its application in regression analysis.


We analyze the frequency and nature by which new firms are acquired by established businesses. Acquisitions are often considered to reflect a technology transfer process and to also constitute one way in which a "symbiosis" between new technology-based firms (NTBFs) and established businesses is realized. Using a micro-level dataset for Sweden in which we follow new entrants up to 18 years after entry, we show that acquisitions of recent start-ups are rare and restricted to a small group of entrants with defining characteristics. Estimates from competing risks models show that acquired start-ups, in particular by multinational enterprises (MNEs), stand out from entrants that either remain independent or exit by being much more likely to be spin-offs operating in high-tech sectors, having strong technological competence, and having weak internal financial resources. Our overall findings support the argument that acquisitions primarily concern NTBFs in market contexts where entry costs are large, access to finance is important and incumbents have high market power. JEL codes: O33, G34, L22, O32, L26


Coordinating firmware development among many international collaborators is becoming a very widespread problem in particle physics. Guaranteeing firmware synthesis with place and route (P&R) reproducibility and assuring traceability of binary files is of paramount importance. Our HDL managing tool, developed in Python and tightly integrated with CERN Gitlab and Xilinx Vivado, tackles these issues by exploiting advanced Git features and by paying particular attention to Intellectual Property handling. In LHC Run-3, the ATLAS L1Calo Trigger system will be upgraded with new feature extraction and readout modules and our tool is used for the firmware development for these modules.


Effects of 1, 3, 5 or 7% of linseed oil in the diet on the content of fatty acids in breast and thigh meat were studied in broiler chickens. Oils made either of seeds of the linseed cultivar Atalante (A) with a high content of α-linolenic acid or of the cultivar Lola (L) with a predominating content of linoleic acid were fed from 25 to 40 days of age. When feeding A, the contents of all n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), including eicosatrie - noic acid, were significantly higher, those of n-6 PUFA were lower, and the ratio of n-6/n-3 PUFA was narrower (P < 0.001) than when L was fed. The narrowest n-6 to n-3 PUFA ratio was observed at the content 36 g of α- linolenic acid (58 g A) per kg of the diet while the widest one at 2 g of α-linolenic acid (70 g L) per kg of the diet. When using L, the increasing level of linoleic acid in feed was associated with significantly increasing levels of all n-6 PUFA in meat. The content of all n-3 PUFA increased after the application of oil A, but the dependence for eicosapentaenoic acid in thigh meat was expressed significantly more precisely by the second degree parabola with the maximum at the level of 37 mg of α-linolenic acid and for clupanodonic and docosahexaenoic acids by para - bolas with maxima at the level of α-linolenic acid in the diet 41 g and 30 g for breast meat and 35 g and 27 g for thigh meat, respectively. By means of the inclusion of linseed oil with a high content of α -linolenic acid in the feed


This study aimed to investigate mycotoxin contamination of cereal grain commodities for feed and food production in North Western Europe during the last two decades, including trends over time and co-occurrence between toxins, and to assess possible effects of climate on the presence of mycotoxins. For these aims, analytical results related to mycotoxin contamination of cereal grain commodities, collected in the course of national monitoring programmes in Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands during a 20-year period, were gathered. Historical observational weather data, including daily relative humidity, rainfall and temperature, were obtained from each of these four countries. In total 6382 records, referring to individual sample results for mycotoxin concentrations (one or more toxins) in cereal grains were available. Most records referred to wheat, barley, maize and oats. The most frequently analysed mycotoxins were deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and zearalenone. Deoxynivalenol had the highest overall incidence of 46%, and was mainly found in wheat, maize and oats. Mycotoxins that showed co-occurrence were: deoxynivalenol and 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol in oats; deoxynivalenol and zearalenone in maize and wheat; and T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin in oats. The presence of both deoxynivalenol and zearalenone in wheat increased with higher temperatures, relative humidity and rainfall during cultivation, but the presence of nivalenol was negatively associated with most of these climatic factors. The same holds for both nivalenol and deoxynivalenol in oats. This implies that climatic conditions that are conducive for one toxin may have a decreasing effect on the other. The presence of HT-2 toxin in oats showed a slight decreasing trends over time, but significant trends for other toxins showed an increasing presence during the last two decades. It is therefore useful to continue monitoring of mycotoxins. Obtained results can be used for development of predictive models for presence of mycotoxins in cereal grains.


OF DISSERTATION INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN INTEGRATED FLOODEDBED DUST SCRUBBER ON A LONGWALL SHEARER THROUGH LABORATORY TESTING AND CFD SIMULATION Dust generation at an underground coal mine working face continues to be a health and safety issue. Prolonged exposure to high concentrations of airborne respirable dust can cause a debilitating and often fatal respiratory disease called Black Lung. In addition, the deposition of float dust in mine return airways poses a serious safety hazard if not sufficiently diluted with inert rock dust. A localized methane explosion can transition into a self-propagating dust explosion. Since dust is a byproduct of various mining activities, such as cutting and loading, crushing, and transportation, the dust-related issues cannot be totally eliminated. However, the adverse health effects and safety concerns can be minimized if a significant amount of the generated dust is removed from the ventilation air by a mechanical device, such as a dust scrubber. Over the last three decades, flooded-bed dust scrubbers integrated into continuous miners have been successfully applied for capturing and removing airborne dust generated at the working face. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a flooded-bed scrubber can achieve more than 90% capture and cleaning efficiencies under optimum conditions. Although flooded-bed scrubbers have proven useful in the vast majority of cases, they have not yet been successfully applied to a longwall face. In the United States, numerous attempts have been made to reduce dust concentration at a longwall face through the application of a scrubber; but, none were successfully implemented. Encouraged by the successful use of a flooded-bed scrubber system at continuous miner faces, this research revisits the flooded-bed scrubber concept for a longwall shearer. For this investigation, a full-scale physical model of a Joy 7LS longwall shearer, modified with an integrated flooded-bed dust scrubber, was designed and fabricated at the University of Kentucky. The scope of work for this research was limited to capturing and cleaning dust generated near the shearer headgate drum only. The mockup was transported to, and assembled in, the full-scale longwall dust gallery at the NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL). Tests were conducted to examine: (1) the effect of the scrubber on headgate-drum dust reduction and (2) the combined effect of the scrubber and splitter sprays on headgate drum dust reduction. Analysis of test results for the scrubber-alone condition indicates a significant dust reduction of up to 57% in the return airway and 85% in the test gallery walkway, whereas the combination of scrubber and splitter-arm sprays shows dust reduction of up to 61% and 96% in the return and walkway, respectively. These results indicate that a flooded-bed scrubber integrated into a longwall shearer can be used as a viable technique to reduce a large portion of airborne dust at a longwall face. Subsequently, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of the longwall gallery and shearer was developed and validated using the results of the experimental study. The CFD simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results with a maximum of 9.7% variation. This validated CFD model can be used in future research to predict the effects of modifications to the scrubber system, including modifications to the scrubber inlet, to optimize the scrubber design, and to evaluate the effectiveness of adding a tailgate drum dust scrubber.


Organic optoelectronics calls for materials combining bright luminescence and efficient charge transport. The former is readily achieved in isolated molecules, while the latter requires strong molecular aggregation, which usually quenches luminescence. This hurdle is generally resolved by doping the host material with highly luminescent molecules collecting the excitation energy from the host. Here, a novel concept of molecular self‐doping is introduced in which a higher luminescent dopant emerges as a minute‐amount byproduct during the host material synthesis. As a one‐stage process, self‐doping is more advantageous than widely used external doping. The concept is proved on thiophene–phenylene cooligomers (TPCO) consisting of four (host) and six (dopant) conjugated rings. It is shown that <1% self‐doping doubles the photoluminescence in the TPCO single crystals, while not affecting much their charge transport properties. The Monte‐Carlo modeling of photoluminescence dynamics reveals that host–dopant energy transfer is controlled by both excitonic transport in the host and host–dopant Förster resonant energy transfer. The self‐doping concept is further broadened to a variety of conjugated oligomers synthesized via Suzuki, Kumada, and Stille crosscoupling reactions. It is concluded that self‐doping combined with improved excitonic transport and host–dopant energy transfer is a promising route to highly luminescent semiconducting organic single crystals for optoelectronics.


Acoustic timescale Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition (DDT) has been shown to occur through the generation of compression waves emitted by a hot spot or reaction centre where the pressure and temperature increase with little diminution of density. In order to compensate for the multi-scale nature of the physico-chemical processes, previous numerical simulations in this area have been limited to relatively small activation energies. In this work, a computational study investigates the effect of increased activation energy on the time required to form a detonation wave and the change in behaviour of each hot spot as the activation energy is increased. The simulations use a localised spatially distributed thermal power deposition of limited duration into a finite volume of reactive gas to facilitate DDT. The Adaptive Wavelet-Collocation Method is used to solve efficiently the 1-D reactive Euler equations with one-step Arrhenius kinetics. The DDT process as described in previous work is characterised by the formation of hot spots during an initial transient period, explosion of the hot spots and creation of an accelerating reaction front that reaches the lead shock and forms an overdriven detonation wave. Current results indicate that as the activation energy is raised the chemical heat release becomes more temporally distributed. Hot spots that produce an accelerating reaction front with low activation energies change behaviour with increased activation energy so that no accelerating reaction front is created. An acoustic timescale ratio is defined that characterises the change in behaviour of each hot spot.


The First World War that lasted from 1914 to 1918 occupies an important place in Turkish History. However, in comparison with the Turkish War of Independence, Ottoman experience of the Great War remains a relatively under-researched area. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which ruled the Ottoman Empire during the War, constituted a dictatorship and kept the opposition under strict censorship. During the armistice period, political pressure was lifted and the press became a platform for criticism about the wartime policies of the Unionists and its consequences. Therefore, this study primarily aims to analyze Sabah (from January 1920 onwards published as Peyam-i Sabah), a leading newspaper of the opposition, with regard to its perspective on the War during the armistice period. The emphasis of the study will be on the editor-in-chief of the paper, Ali Kemal, an iconic figure of the period, who had been very influential especially in Sabah's analyses regarding the War and the figures who were responsible in this debacle. This study is also discussing the view propagated by Sabah, which at the time became a major platform for liberal opponents of the CUP. Sabah's discourse has been examined in terms of four key themes, namely domestic policy, foreign policy, wartime economy and policies regarding the non-Muslims. Despite being deemed to be a traitor by many Turkish nationalist authors, Ali Kemal's blatant criticisms on the Unionist leadership proved to be resilient and parts of it were later adopted by the historiography of the Republican period.


This thesis explores the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. While focusing on the politics behind the partition, it also looks at the development of Indian nationalisms under British rule, as Indians began to form their own political movements and to demand independence. To cover the full scope of this cataclysmic event, this thesis looks at the conditions that led to the split starting in the nineteenth century through the partition itself in the first half of the twentieth century. Topics such as British imperialism, the communal problem, relations between the Muslim and Hindu communities in India, and the politics behind the partition of India are highlighted in this project. By covering this breadth of topics as well as time, this thesis narrates the waves of division and unity between the two communities, in connection with the evolution of British imperialism, as India moved towards independence. At this time in India, religion and politics were very much intertwined, so by discussing the development of Indian nationalism in response to British imperialism, this paper looks to separate the two by providing the scope and context necessary to see the politicization of religion in the subcontinent, and argue that in the end the partition was motivated by politics rather than religion. Through the use of a variety of speeches and letters and other primary sources, as well as an assortment of work written by other scholars, this thesis demonstrates both the complexity of the issue and the many factors and events that influenced the final shape of Indian independence. By doing so, this thesis looks to contribute to the debate over the factors most significant to the partition of India.