Purpose To evaluate microvascular changes in the macular area of eyes with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) without macular involvement (macula-on RRD) using swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA). Patients and methods Five patients with macula-on RRD were eligible for analysis. All patients underwent SS-OCTA examination (Triton) for the macular area. The healthy fellow eyes were included as controls. The vessel density (VD) was calculated using binarization, and the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) was measured. The VD and FAZ area were compared between the eyes with RRD and the fellow eyes using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results The patients' clinical characteristics were as follows: age, 49.0 years (21.0, 54.0) (median [25, 75th percentile]); preoperative best-corrected visual acuity, −0.08 (−0.08, 0.11) for RRD and −0.08 (−0.08, −0.03) for the fellow eye (P=0.50); and axial length, 27.0 (25.1, 28.7) mm for RRD and 27.4 (25.6, 28.5) mm for the fellow eye (P=0.31). The parafoveal VD was not significantly different between the eyes with RRD and the fellow eyes (P=1.00 for the superficial retina and P=0.44 for the whole retina). The FAZ area was also similar for the eyes with RRD and the fellow eyes (P=0.31 for the superficial retina and P=0.13 for the whole retina). Conclusion The findings of this study suggest that the macular microvasculature remains intact in eyes with macula-on RRD.


As Vitis vinifera varieties are susceptible to fungal diseases, numerous chemical treatments are generally required to ensure the quantity and quality of the harvest. However, in the context of sustainable viticulture, there are increasing societal request, political incitation, and winegrowers' awareness to reduce the use of pesticides. Among possible solutions the use of elicitors that could be included in integrated pest management or biocontrol strategies might be very promising. These bioactive compounds are able to trigger plant defences, leading to induced resistance (IR) against pathogens. Despite IR can be elicited very successfully in controlled environments; it is in most cases not effective enough in practically controlling disease in the vineyard. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of IR and to identify molecular markers enabling the identification of factors (physiological, environmental…) that can impact IR efficacy in the vineyard we performed a transcriptomic analysis under controlled conditions. The results indicated that among highly up-regulated genes associated to IR, one was annotated as terpene synthase, suggesting that terpenes could be emitted following elicitor treatment. This prompted us to investigate whether IR elicitors actually induce the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Applying online analysis (PTR-QMS) of VOC emissions in dynamic cuvettes and passive sampling in gas tight bags with solid phase micro extraction (SPME / GC-MS), we followed the emission of VOCs of vines in response to elicitor-IR against downy mildew under controlled greenhouse conditions. The results obtained point out some of them as potential markers of elicitor-IR (as trans a-farnesene) whereas MeSA is rather a marker of downy mildew infection.


The present work was planned to isolate, characterize and evaluate the prevalence of E. coli serotypes in 180 samples (herbs, water and chicken) as well as detection of haemolysin production, Congo Red binding activity, serum activity and antimicrobial susceptibility test. Forty four samples out of 180 samples were found to be positive to E. coli with a percentage of 24.4%. The serological identification showed that O125, O112 and O86 were the most prevalent serotype among the 44 isolated strains with percentages of 27%, 25% and 18% respectively. The study showed that all 44 E-coli isolates had the ability to bind with C.R. dye gave red colonies and were sensitive to bactericidal effect of human and sheep serum (100%). The results of haemolysis showed that the isolates belonged to O112 and 0114 serotypes had a hemolytic activity and the other serotypes had no hemolytic activity. The result of antibiotics sensitivity indicated that E. coli strains were highly resistant to penicillin and erythromycin (100%), followed by gentamicin, ampicillin, oxytetracycline and nalidixic acid with percentages of 81.8%, 75%, 47.7% and 15.9 %respectively. All E. coli strains were found to be moderately sensitive to ceftazidime (100%) and sensitive to ciprofloxacin (70.5%). The result of ethanolic plant extract showed that Coriander, Ginger, bay leaf, Black pepper, Chilly, Parsley and Turmeric did not show any bactericidal activity against E. coli strains. While Hibiscus, Thyme and Cinnamon showed intermediate bactericidal activity in concentration 100% .Moreover, Black cumin showed low bactericidal activity against herbs and water isolates only with 100% concentration.


This study traces the history o f the village community o f Dunlavin in west Wicklow
over three centuries. The Dunlavin region straddles both counties Wicklow and
Kildare. The study follows the evolution of the village in its regional setting,
examining the long and formative impact of Anglophone settlers during the era of
'Protestant Ascendancy', positing a model, possibly applicable nationally, o f their rise
in the seventeenth century, through their zenith in the eighteenth, to their decline in
the nineteenth, and replacement by the emerging Catholic interest in the twentieth.
Sir Richard Bulkeley erected the new village o f Dunlavin on a greenfield site after the
1641 rebellion. In 1710, Sir James Worth Tynte inherited the village. Tynte and his
eighteenth-century successors pursued a model o f paternalistic landlordism, but the
1798 rebellion, and the Dunlavin massacre, fractured the relationship between the
elite and the masses. The paternalistic model o f landlordism failed in the early
nineteenth century, and the severe experience o f the area during the Great Famine was
testament to this. In the post-Famine era, Joseph Pratt Tynte never regained the levels
of deference he and his fellow landlords had previously enjoyed. Tynte's influence
was challenged by invigorated nationalism and resurgent Catholicism. The Catholic
middle class took control o f local politics, and Dunlavin entered the twentieth century
with middle-class Catholicism in the ascendancy. The irreversible eclipse o f the elite
was already advanced, and the process was completed later in the twentieth century.
This study locates the Dunlavin region in the larger tapestry o f Irish history.
Dunlavin's past is as integral to national history as the past in any other part o f the
island. This case study illuminates an individual section o f a complex network of past
local experiences, and reveals one part o f the range o f past behaviours in Ireland.


This report presents the results of an investigation into trends and causes of opex productivity growth for the water industry in England and Wales. The period of investigation was 1992-93 to 2002-03. The analysis builds upon a similar methodological approach to that employed previously to investigate economies of scale and scope in the industry. The purpose of the analysis has been to: Estimate trends in opex productivity growth over the period 1992-93 to 2002-03; Decompose those trends into the factors contributing to changes in costs over time; namely: The common rate of productivity improvement due to factors such as technical change; Changes in relative price of inputs; Changes in capital inputs; Changes in outputs; Changes in the quality of outputs; and Changes in other characteristics of the operating environment. The extent to which our estimates of historical opex productivity growth should inform judgments at PR04 about the scope for future opex productivity growth is outside the scope of this work. Those judgements will be a matter for Ofwat.


Canine, being the cornerstone of the dental arches, shares an important role in oral functions, esthetics, arch shape and stability. With the new bracket systems that have come to light, which have reduced friction, there is not much literature on how much of a rotation control they have on the cuspids. Hence this study is conducted to compare the efficiency of two least frictional resistance offering brackets – Self-ligating and synergy brackets in terms of rotational control. The study was designed as a prospective randomized controlled split-mouth clinical trial, which included 16 subjects of ages 12-30 years, divided into two groups, left, and the right quadrants receiving Self Ligating and Synergy brackets based on simple randomization, along with a 19*25" SS wire and closed coil springs for individual canine retraction. The patients were reviewed every 21 days for four appointments, and records were taken for each review. Photographs were taken of the cast at every review, and the degree of canine rotation was measured and compared. The results indicate that there is no statistical difference between both the groups in the amount of canine rotation during individual canine retraction with a p-value greater than 0.05 at every interval. The results also indicate that there is a significant amount of canine rotation in Group 1 – Self-ligating brackets and Group 2 – Synergy brackets independently, when comparing T0 to every interval. Overall results show that there is no significant statistical difference between Synergy and Self-Ligating brackets in the amount of canine rotation during canine retraction. The mean or average amount of canine rotation for Group I Self-ligating was 3.32º ±6.55°. The mean or average amount of canine rotation for Group 2 Synergy was 4.08º ±3.85°.


AIM
To investigate the role of ABO blood group and Rhesus factor as a predictor of outcome in patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) for non-metastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data of 463 consecutive patients treated with RC between 1988 and 2003 were retrospectively analyzed. The effect on recurrence-free survival, and cancer-specific and overall mortality were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox regression methods.

RESULTS
Overall, 185 (41.3%), 190 (42.4%), 46 (10.3%) and 27 (6%) patients expressed O, A, B and AB phenotypes, respectively; 65 (14.5%) were Rhesus-negative. Median follow-up was 14.2 years (interquartile range=10.2-17.1 years). No individual blood group was associated with any clinicopathological characteristics whereas Rhesus-positive patients had a higher rate of pT4 disease (11% vs. 22%; p=0.02). ABO blood groups were not associated with outcomes. Rhesus-positive patients had an increased risk of shorter recurrence-free survival, and of cancer-specific and overall mortality compared to Rhesus-negative patients (all p<0.03). In multivariable analyses that adjusted for the effects of standard characteristics, this association disappeared.

CONCLUSION
The results of our study showed that neither ABO blood group nor Rhesus factor are associated with oncological outcomes. The clinical relevance of blood groups and Rhesus factor in bladder cancer remains questionable.


This study explored the way women of different age groups experience development and growth in their professional lives and how they made sense of that development and growth. Narrative research methods were used to analyse the dialogue that the women in this study present as significant to their development and growth. Differences and similarities in the ways women of two groups told their stories are analysed based on narrative data and gender literature that provides a basis to understand how women have grown in their careers and work. The findings suggest that women of different life stages emphasise different choices and constraints that relate to the ways they are recognised in their work and each woman in this study was seen to offer a unique story about her experience of development and growth. Behind the dominant narrative of career progression there was a gender-specific counter narrative; that of coming to terms with a male-dominated work culture. This was particularly the case for the older group of women (the senior life stage). The findings indicate that women at different life stages define effectiveness and value differently, and that groups (who belong to a particular professional role and age range) share collective experiences concerning what it means to be effective in their work. The narrative approach used here has highlighted the significance of reflective practice and the important role workplace culture plays in constructing social discourses. Life stage appears to have an effect on the career progression of women and the culture in which stories are constructed affects development and growth of women in the Australian workplace.


Surface tension driven flows of micro layers of complex liquids over substrates under reactive wetting conditions are greatly influenced by interface interactions and topography of surface alterations. For example, understanding of spreading of molten metals over metal substrates with complex topography may be interpreted as spreading over multiple connected networks of open micro channels. Hence, understanding of the kinetics of wetting and spreading of such reactive systems through micro channels is of a key interest. This keynote lecture will provide an overview of wetting/spreading phenomena related to migration of the molten metal micro layer over smooth, rough, and/or well-organized-topography surfaces, such as micro channels. Systems involving a liquid metal medium temperature range (Al-Si over Al), and a low temperature range (Pb-Sn and Ag-Sn over Cu and Cu-Sn) have been considered. Kinetics data involving triple line movement and its modeling will be supported by real-time in situ visualizations. Targeted applications of these fundamental studies involve art of brazing of compact aluminum heat exchangers for HVAC&R, thermal management for aerospace, and soldering processes (in particular lead-free) for electronics industries.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


Estrogens are known as important modulators of development, growth and maintenance of primary sexual physiology. The medical field has also grown increasingly appreciative of the effects of estrogens on non-traditional target tissues such as bone, cardiovascular tissue and the CNS. Postmenopausal women have been the beneficiaries of estrogen supplementation regimes, but the proliferative actions of estrogens on uterine and breast tissue have raised concerns. Combining estrogens with progestins (HRT) has succeeded in blunting the uterine effects of estrogen but not the effects of estrogens on breast tissue, and breakthrough bleeding induced by HRT regimes continues to present compliance issues. The discovery by Jordan and coworkers in 1987 that the "antiestrogens" tamoxifen and raloxifene showed estrogenic effects in preventing bone loss in ovariectomized rats revolutionized the way we have come to the think of nuclear receptor functioning. Since that time, broad insights have been garnered into both the mechanisms involved in the primary, ligand activated nuclear transcription pathway as well as other, non-traditional pathways via which estrogens may exert their effects. The recent discovery of a second estrogen receptor ERbeta has provided additional possibilities for investigation and therapeutic intervention. Even though raloxifene (Evista) has been approved for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, there is room for improvement. For example, normal HRT alleviates hot flush and urogenital complaints; raloxifene does neither. In addition raloxifene does not raise overall HDL (while HRT does) but does increase venous thromboembolisms. The ideal SERM will maximize all of the positive estrogen attributes while minimizing the negatives, and to that end, there has been considerable activity in the medicinal chemistry community dedicated towards the modification of the SERM structure to achieve compounds with preferable profiles. What we have witnessed, so far, is an evolutionary march of compounds with potential clinical benefit over raloxifene, although the ideal SERM remains to be realized.


In a finite mixture of location-scale distributions maximum likelihood estimator does not exist because of the unboundedness of the likelihood function when the scale parameter of some mixture component approaches zero. In order to study the strong consistency of maximum likelihood estimator, we consider the case that the scale parameters of the component distributions are restricted from below by $c_n$, where $c_n$ is a sequence of positive real numbers which tend to zero as the sample size $n$ increases. We prove that under mild regularity conditions maximum likelihood estimator is strongly consistent if the scale parameters are restricted from below by $c_{n} = \exp(-n^d)$, $0 < d < 1$.


The standard Quartz Crystal Resonator (QCR) and network analysis based methods in conjunction with curve fitting were used to investigate the sensing capability and characterize the properties of phthalocyanine films on vapour exposure. The measurement of frequency shift and resistance change (mass loading and film damping), caused by adsorption of organic vapour namely, Benzene, Hexane, Ethanol and Toluene were investigated. Confirmation of film properties using supplementary methods such as AFM, Ellipsometry and UV-visible spectrometer was also performed to provide a full characterization of the sensing membranes.
The extracted values of Δƒ and ΔR from subsequent fitting of the spectra to the BVD model are observed on vapour exposure. A frequency shift (Δƒ) and change in magnitude (as related to ΔR of the BVD equivalent circuit) indicate changes in the films viscoelastic properties for the increasing concentrations of tested vapours. The sensitivity of the coating has been estimated from the slope of fitted trend line and gives values below LEL thresholds (the Lower explosive limit) and IDLH thresholds (Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health) for the ZnPcs films.
The experimental results of the study demonstrate selected sensing membranes are easily applied through spin coating techniques evident from definitive shifts in resonance. Additionally when exposed to the target vapours tested, the film(s) exhibit fast and consistent responses, consequently giving significant potential for gas/vapour sensing applications. Changes in the film parameters have also been observed through the measurement of the admittance spectra. Shifts in both frequency and resistance are observed on exposures which indicate mass loading and changes in film viscosity caused by ad/absorption of the vapour. Response times appear to be quick and full recovery is observed. From the tested vapours, toluene gives the most significant frequency shift exhibiting the highest sensitivity for this compound; this can be attributed to relatively high saturated vapour pressure as compared to the other analytes. In addition, the film parameters extracted from this work were used to estimate the shear modulus parameters. It was found the shear modulus of viscous material (coating film) extracted electrical equivalent circuit parameters are dependent on film properties, thickness and analyte ad/absorption. Consequently, the QCR sensor can act
iv
as a gravimetric and non gravimetric sensitive device for thin film depending on load and adsorption characteristics. In most instances the studied film behaviour demonstrates a rubbery regime that was indicated from increase in resistance for the coating film at series resonant frequency typically. Consequently the calculation of change in film mass from frequency shift (Sauerbrey equation) is inaccurate except for suitably thin rigid films.
A range of Phthalocyanine sensing membranes have been successfully evaluated; selected variants (mainly ZnPc) have given promising results to their viability as gas sensing membrane to detect a range of organic solvents at vapour concentrations below their lower explosive level, It was found suitably sensitive with detection limits in the low parts-per million ranges for the selected analytes. Furthermore, a comparison of gas sensor responses for the selected materials is included, and consequently a particular type of substituent is proposed as a suitable sensor coating for Quartz Crystal Resonator (QCR) gas sensor applications. Other phthalocyanine materials initially chosen proved less successful; demonstrating limited responsiveness to analytes ad/absorption and giving inconsistent results over the tested concentration range. Factors range from non-homogenous film surfaces to the structure and consequent suitability of the synthesised film(s).
Moreover, further research is suggested to fully characterize the complete adsorption process with wide range of phthalocyanine material and various organic analytes.


Local extra cellular water accumulation in a tissue is the essential feature of edema. It is a manifestation of lymphatic stasis as caused by infection, trauma or congenital lymphatic dysplasia. Usually the condition can be graded visually but difficulty persists in quantifying the edema with a non-invasive tool. Near-infrared (NIR) spectral imaging has been shown to be an elegant method to study the edema pathology. It relies on the scattering and absorption of light by the water and its constituents. The instrument presented uses a probe which can be handheld. It contains an infrared light source and a silicon-based detector device. A transmission and a reflection mode are studied. The measurements can be compared to a standard reference or to a previous result. This study confirms that near infrared imaging can be used as a practical, simple, non-invasive tool in the study of edema. This method allows one to follow the evolution or treatment of a clinical condition with edema.


The pitch is an important part of the entrepreneur–investor relationship. To come to an agreement, entrepreneurs and investors need to trust each other. However, how does trust arise between them, and how does trust evolve during the few minutes of a pitch? With the aim to develop propositions, we build on previous studies in entrepreneurship and venture funding. Therefore, we rely on the main concepts of trust useful to analyze the interpersonal relationship during a pitch: behavioral trust and transformative trust. We discuss the place of formal documents diffused prior to the pitch and the importance of the oral presentation. We conclude by suggesting testable proposition on the evolution of trust during the pitch.


In the framework of simplified water balance models devoted to irrigation scheduling or crop modelling, the relative transpiration rate (the ratio of actual to maximal transpiration) is assumed to decrease linearly when the soil dries out below a critical available water value. This value is usually expressed as a fraction, F , of the maximal available soil water content. The present work aims to use the basic laws governing water transfer through the plants at a daily time step to compute F dynamically as the crop grows. It can be regarded as an expansion of Slabbers' (1980) approach to crop growing conditions. Starting from the mathematical representation given by single-root models (Gardner, 1960), an analytical expression for F is derived, using simplified hypotheses. This expression accounts for plant attributes such as the mean root radius, the critical leaf water potential for stomatal closure and the root length density profile growing with the crop. Environmental factors such as soil type and atmospheric demand also influence F . The structural influence of soil comes from the required introduction of the bulk soil hydraulic conductivity in the single-root model. The shape of the root length density profile is assumed to be sigmoidal and a new profile is calculated at each value of the rooting depth. A sensitivity analysis of F to all those factors is presented. The first general result is that F decreases as the root system grows in depth. Differences in the shape of the root profile can be responsible for differential water stress sensitivity in the early stages of growth. Yet, low critical leaf water potential can compensate partially for a poor root profile. Conversely, F is relatively insensitive to the average root radius. F sensitivity to soil type seems somewhat artificial: given the bulk soil hydraulic conductivity formula, the soil sensitivity results from F being expressed as a fraction of the maximal available soil water content. The atmospheric demand together with the rooting depth appear as the most important factors. However, when assuming predictable climatic and crop evolution, compensation occurs between those two effects leading to a relative stability of F when the crop is fully developed. Though relying on well-known physical laws, the present approach remains in the framework of single layer models with the same limitations.


A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computerized database management system for accumulating, storage, retrieval, analysis, and display spatial data. In general, GIS contains two broad categories of information, geo-referenced spatial data and attribute data. Geo-referenced spatial data define objects that have an orientation and relationship in two or three-dimensional space, while attribute data is qualitative data that can be counted for recording and analysis. The main aim of this research is to reveal the role of GIS technology in the enhancement of bridge maintenance management system components such as the output results, and make it more interpretable through dynamic colour coding and more sophisticated visualization techniques than the conventional tabular data format.
To achieve the main objective of this research, two study areas have been chosen: the old constructionbridge (Al-Qadisiyah bridge) and the newly constructed bridge (Barboty bridge). Both of them are in Al-Muthanna city \ Iraq. The data collection process was achieved in two stages: the first stage is providing a georeferenced satellite image for each study area for the purpose of producing a two-dimensional map. The second stage includes the field surveying process by total station and level instruments.
GIS have been used to create a comprehensive database (Geodatabase) for both study areas. Geostatistical analysis was carried out in which the settlement areas of both study areas were defined by producing a colour image. The statistical tables for these analyses showed that the highest decline in the elevation reached at Al-Qadisiyah bridge to 19 mm in the middle of the bridge which is coloured as a red areas. On the other hand, it was found that the highest decline in the elevation of the Barboty bridge is 16 mm in the last part of steel space which is also coloured as a red areas.


The successful use of winter cover crops (WCCs) in short rotations depends on adequate management of their residues. To improve management decisions, there is a need to understand the factors controlling WCC residue decomposition rates and nutrient release rates. A 2-yr study was conducted to estimate residue decomposition and C and N release rates using principal-component regression (PCR) based on WCC biochemical fractions at the time of WCC killing. Rye (Secale cereale L.), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa L.), and rye-hairy vetch biculture were planted as WCCs in the fall and chemically killed in the spring before no-till-planting corn (Zea mays L.). At killing time, residues were analyzed for total C and total N concentrations, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF), and C and N concentration in the NDF and ADF. Concentration of C and N in neutral detergent soluble fractions (NDSOLC and NDSOLN, respectively) and acid detergent soluble fractions (ADSOLC and ADSOLN, respectively) were calculated. Principal components (PCs) 1, 4, 5, and 7 were selected as significant predictor variables for biomass decomposition and C and N release rates. The PC1 score, suggest that large concentrations of NDF and ADF are associated with low biomass decomposition and slow C and N release rates. Other important fractions are C and N concentration in the NDF and NDSOLC, NDSOLN, ADSOLC, and ADSOLN. The availabilities of C and N, rather than their total concentration in the residue, play a critical role in residue decomposition and nutrient release.


This contribution presents a new force control concept for industrial six-degree of freedom (DOF) manipulators, which uses a Hexa platform that provides an active environmental stiffness for all six DOFs. The paper focuses on the Hexa platform and is split into two essential parts: (i) parallel platform construction, and (ii) application of force control with industrial manipulators using a six-DOF environmental stiffness. This mechatronic solution almost gives one hundred percent robustness for stiffness changes in the environment, what guaranties a significant shortening of execution time.


The purpose of the paper is to review the applications of non-cooperative bargaining theory to water related issues � which fall in the category of formal models of negotiation. The ultimate aim is that of, on the one hand, identify the conditions under which agreements are likely to emerge, and their characteristics; and, on the other hand, to support policy makers in devising the �rules of the game� that could help obtain a desired result. Despite the fact that allocation of natural resources, especially of trans-boundary nature, has all the characteristics of a negotiation problem, there are not many applications of formal negotiation theory to the issue. Therefore, this paper first discusses the noncooperative bargaining models applied to water allocation problems found in the literature. Particular attention will be given to those directly modelling the process of negotiation, although some attempts at finding strategies to maintain the efficient allocation solution will also be illustrated. In addition, this paper will focus on Negotiation Support Systems (NSS), developed to support the process of negotiation. This field of research is still relatively new, however, and NSS have not yet found much use in real life negotiation. The paper will conclude by highlighting the key remaining gaps in the literature.


Somatostatin, a peptide present in hypothalamus, gastric mucosa, and pancreas suppresses several gastrointestinal functions. Its short half life has prevented clinical use. We have therefore evaluated the effect of subcutaneous administration of a new synthetic somatostatin analogue, in comparison with a placebo, on pentagastrin stimulated acid secretion in six healthy volunteers. On different days, acid secretion was measured continuously, after a basal 30 minutes, for six hours during 3 micrograms/kg/h of intravenous pentagastrin. Acid secretion was measured with a marker technique (0.1% phenol red) to correct for duodenal volume loss. Blood was drawn in regular intervals to measure plasma somatostatin concentrations by radio immunoassay. One hour after starting the pentagastrin infusion, a single subcutaneous injection of either 100 micrograms somatostatin analogue, or placebo (isotonic saline) was given. In a follow up study, somatostatin was given subcutaneously in a dose of 200 micrograms. No difference in efficacy was observed between the two doses. A single subcutaneous injection of the somatostatin analogue significantly suppressed acid secretion for five hours (p less than 0.01). Maximal inhibition was approximately 75%. Mean elimination half life of the analogue was approximately 80 minutes. We suggest that the new somatostatin analogue might be useful for clinical use.


Particle-enhanced is the way to improve properties of solder alloys. In the present work, the influence of Ag particle-enhanced on the wettability and creep rupture life of 99.3Sn0.7Cu eutectic solder with Ag content of 1vol% to 10vol% were investigated. It was indicated that the wettability of the composite solders could be improved by adding minute amount of Ag particles. With increasing the amount of Ag particles, the spreading areas of the composite solders increased when Ag was below 5vol%. When Ag was above 5vol%, the spreading areas started decreasing. When Ag content was up to 10vol%, the wettability of the composite solder sharply deteriorated. In addition, the creep rupture lives of the composite solders were longer than that of 99.3Sn0.7Cu eutectic solder at the same condition. When Ag content was 5vol%, the creep rupture life of the composite solder was the longest among the investigated composite solders and about 23 times of that of 99.3Sn0.7Cu eutectic solder.


Dr Jean Abitbol is fondly remembered in the North East of England for his annual contribution to our laser course. He would sacrifice the joys of Paris for the obvious pleasures of Middlesbrough, and he did always add that certain 'style' to the proceedings and course dinner. I have, however, never forgotten the one catering disaster, which subjected him to a culinary experience not inflicted on any Frenchman by the British since the prison hulks of the Napoleonic Wars. He forgave us. Plural Publishing does offer a vast range of books on voice disorders, as is so well demonstrated by a Google search for 'Plural Publishing voice'. I try to concentrate on reviewing only those with a general rather than subspecialist interest, and, so, have presented but a small fraction of the output in this journal. The introduction captures the flavour of the book, telling us that 'If the man is the Spartacus of the voice, Athena is the woman where the voice is the instrument between emotion and reason' or, later, 'As a ship on the waves of the sea of life, the voice will travel through the wind of the hormones and emotions'. I am convinced this would have read even better in the French language. The text is very thought-provoking, ranging from the evolution of voice ('Eve'smitochondria') through the hormonal effects associated with puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and the menopause, each meriting its own chapter. The sacrifice of the castrati and their resulting vocal prowess is covered in detail, as is the challenge of gender reassignment and the voice. There is much here of basic science, whether the simultaneous cytological changes in vocal fold epithelium and that of the cervix, or the central pathways for language and voice. Phonosurgery is very much the province of Dr Abitbol, and there is many an illustration of laser endoscopy. The emphasis is holistic, however, with chapter titles such as 'Madame, keep your voice fit' or 'The female voice and seduction', quite irresistible. A book of this title hardly needs a review, as the content is self-evident, but this is an excellent read for any laryngologist. It carries an oft-repeated message to any surgeon, however. True wisdom is often the gift of knowing when not to operate, as the most technically successful outcome does not always lead to patient satisfaction. Many an anecdote illustrates this, and reminded me that there is a certain art, indeed theatre, to voice work, beyond any other subspecialty in our field of work. It is an excellent and inexpensive read.


OBJECTIVE
Approximately 90% of infants who develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) do so after being fed. Previous prospective studies have shown that infants given small enteral feedings for the first 7 to 10 days of feeding do not have an increased risk for NEC compared with those given no feedings. Although neonatologists now commonly increase feeding volumes, no study has compared the risk for NEC between infants fed these small volumes and those fed volumes that are increased slowly. The purpose of this study was to compare the risks and benefits of small and increasing feeding volume.

METHODS
In a randomized, controlled trial, we randomly assigned 141 preterm infants in the newborn intensive care unit to be fed 10 days using 1 of 2 schedules. One group was fed 20 mL/kg/d for the first 10 study days (minimal). The other group (advancing) was fed 20 mL/kg/d on study day 1; feeding volume was increased by 20 mL/kg/d up to 140 mL/kg/d, which was maintained until study day 10. The main outcome measure was incidence of NEC; secondary outcomes were maturation of intestinal motor patterns, time to reach full enteral feedings, and incidence of late sepsis.

RESULTS
The study was closed early because 7 infants who were assigned to advancing feeding volumes developed NEC, whereas only 1 infant fed minimal feeding volumes did, or 10% versus 1.4%. Although infants who were fed minimal volumes established full enteral feeding volumes later than infants who were fed advancing volumes, maturation of intestinal motor patterns and the incidence of late sepsis and feeding intolerance was similar in the 2 groups.

CONCLUSION
Given that advancing feeding volumes increase the risk of NEC without providing benefits for motor function or feeding tolerance, neonatologists should consider using minimal feeding volumes until future trials assess the safety of advancing feeding volumes.


Many organizations attempt to deploy methodologies intended to improve software development processes. However, resistance by individual software developers against using such methodologies often obstructs their successful deployment. To better explain why individual developers accept or resist methodologies, five theoretical models of individual intentions to accept information technology tools were examined. In a field study of 128 developers in a large organization that implemented a methodology, each model explained significant variance in developers' intentions to use the methodology. Similar to findings from the tool adoption context, we found that, if a methodology is not regarded as useful by developers, its prospects for successful deployment may be severely undermined. In contrast to the typical pattern of findings in a tool context, however, we found that methodology adoption intentions are driven by: 1) the presence of an organizational mandate to use the methodology, 2) the compatibility of the methodology with how developers perform their work, and 3) the opinions of developers' coworkers and supervisors toward using the methodology. Collectively, these results provide surprising new insights into why software developers accept or resist methodologies and suggest what software engineering managers might do to overcome developer resistance.


Carbon nitride is an emerging material for wear-resistant coatings. The fullerene-like CN_x compounds generally exhibit extreme elasticity in combination with a low work of indentation hardness. Yet CN_x shows a low-to-moderate resistance to penetration, depending on deposition conditions. Since the deformation energy is predominantly stored elastically, the material possesses an extremely resilient character. This new class of materials consists of sp ^2-coordinated basal planes that are buckled from the incorporation of pentagons and cross-linked at sp ^3-hybridized C sites, both of which are caused by structural incorporation of nitrogen. Carbon nitride thus deforms elastically due to bending of the structural units. The orientation, radius of curvature of the basal planes, and the degree of cross-linking between them defines the structure and properties of the material. Due to the unique deformation behavior, the hardness requires special care to assess, but can be very high for films with a large degree of cross-linking. This article is a review of the research on CN_x films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering, with examples from our recent work. The findings are significant for the design of fracture-tough materials.


Studies of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and children's educational attainment largely focus on the direct impacts of parental illness and death, overlooking the potential indirect impact that parental knowledge and perceptions of their HIV status may have on children's school enrollment. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative evidence from Malawi, this paper finds that women's real and perceived anticipation of future health shocks has a positive impact on their children's educational attainment. Interventions that target health uncertainty, such as HIV testing programs, may make a significant contribution to maintaining children's educational attainment in communities affected by HIV/AIDS.


Community College of popular as the academic community. Administrative activities in universities can not be separated from the recording of incoming and outgoing mail, file reception and file delivery. The archiving process as an important record of the history of the institution, for easy access and collection of data, synthesize information and improve the utilization of archives. Application of Information Technology (IT) is essential to the use and development of IT for the better in the service of the administration of the university. IPB Archives Unit has been using Dynamic Archival Information System (SIKD) and Static Archival Information System (SIKS) to serve the management of governance archiving. However, the use of information systems used by the Archives Unit IPB unknown level governance capabilities within IT management. Therefore this study to evaluate the capability of IT management level in the management of archives using the framework Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). Selection of COBIT framework because it has many advantages one of them as a control tool facilitates business requirements development of Standard Operating Procedures (POB) and provide recommendations to improve management of the management. Domain of COBIT process selected after the mapping with the goal of IPB Archives Unit. The results of the mapping created a questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered to respondents who manage the archiving process on IPB Archives Unit. The data obtained were processed to determine the level of capability IPB Archives Unit. The results obtained from this study indicate that the Archives Unit IPB capability criteria are at level 1 (performed process) to the percentage of votes the capabilities of the application of best practice IT management is at Capability Level L (Largely Achieved). Keywords: Capability Level, COBIT, SIKD, SIKS, IPB Archives Unit


This study aims to produce human milk fat substitutes (HMFS) rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), mainly the essential omega-3 linolenic acid, by acidolysis reaction between tripalmitin (PPP) and free fatty acids (FFA) from camelina oil, in stirred batch reactor and solvent-free media. The non-commercial heterologous Rhizopus oryzae lipase (rROL), immobilized on Lewatit VP OC 1600 or on Relizyme OD403/S, and the immobilized commercial lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (Lipozyme RM IM) were tested as biocatalysts. Both lipases are sn-1,3 selective. After 24 h reaction at 60°C, using biocatalyst loads of 5 wt% (in relation to tripalmitin), 48.9, 43.6, and 18.3 mol% of fatty acid incorporation in triacylglycerols (TAG) were obtained with Lipozyme RM IM and rROL immobilized on Lewatit or on Relizyme, respectively. rROL immobilized on Lewatit was selected as biocatalyst for the acidolysis, as alternative to the commercial immobilized lipases. With this biocatalyst, the molar incorporation increased with its initial water activity (0.55–0.95). Modeling acidolysis catalyzed by rROL immobilized on Lewatit was performed by response surface methodology, as a function of temperature (58–72°C) and molar ratio FFA:PPP (1.2:1–6.8:1). The highest PPP consumption was achieved at 60°C with a molar ratio of 2:1. The yield of HMFS (new TAG) increased from 42.6 wt% (5% biocatalyst load) to 52% with 8% load, after 24 h acidolysis.

Practical applications: Camelina oil showed to be a good source of PUFA, mainly essential fatty acids, to incorporate in HMFS. After 24 h acidolysis under optimized conditions, catalyzed by the non-commercial sn-1,3 regioselective rROL immobilized on Lewatit VP OC 1600, the TAG fraction contains 67.7 mol% of palmitic acid at position 2. These structured lipids rich in PUFA can be used in blends with 1,3-dioleoyl-2-palmitoyl-glycerol (OPO) in order to mimic the human milk fat. The performance of this biocatalyst was comparable to that observed with Lipozyme RM IM. The replacement of high-cost commercial immobilized lipases by rROL immobilized on Lewatit may reduce the biocatalyst cost. In addition, since the best molar ratio FFA:PPP for rROL is 2:1, i.e., the stoichiometric value for the acidolysis catalyzed by sn-1,3 regioselective lipases, the use of this biocatalyst will reduce downstream costs related with unconverted FFA recovery.

The performance of rROL immobilized on Lewatit VPOC 1600 is comparable to that of Lipozyme RM IM. After 24 h acidolysis, under optimized conditions, triacylglycerols contain 67.8 mol% palmitic acid at position-2.


Spores of Bacillus subtilis 1604 can be induced to germinate by incubation in L-Ala (the ALA pathway) or in a combination of beta-D-glucose (Glc), beta-fructose (Fru), L-Asn and K+ (the GFAK pathway). Biochemical analysis of the germination response of a gerA mutant deficient in the ALA pathway revealed that L-Ala can replace L-Asn in the GFAK pathway (the GFAlaK pathway). In contrast to the ALA pathway of both the wild-type and of a gerB mutant, the GFAlaK pathway was insensitive to D-Ala and showed the same overall inhibitor profile as the GFAK pathway of wild-type and gerA spores. It is deduced that a second L-Ala receptor with different characteristics to that functioning in the ALA pathway is present in wild-type spores. Analysis of the germination response of a gerB mutant showed that whilst the rate of ALA germination could be stimulated by Glc as well as by Fru in the presence of Glc, the spores could not germinate in GFAK. In addition, Glc and Fru were unable to reverse D-Ala inhibition of L-Ala germination which they do in the wild-type. Thus, in the gerB mutant, the L-Ala/L-Asn receptor in the GFAK pathway is defective. It is concluded that the germination receptors in the ALA and GFAK pathways can functionally interact with each other to initiate B. subtilis spore germination. This conclusion is discussed in relation to proposed models of triggering of spore germination.


The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offers a great opportunity in research and regenerative medicine. The current poor efficiency and incomplete mechanistic understanding of the reprogramming process hamper the clinical application of iPSCs. MeCP2 connects histone modification and DNA methylation, which are key changes of somatic cell reprogramming. However, the role of MeCP2 in cell reprogramming has not been examined. In this study, we found that MeCP2 deficiency enhanced reprogramming efficiency and stimulated cell proliferation through regulating cell cycle protein expression in the early stage of reprogramming. MeCP2 deficiency enhanced the expression of ribosomal protein genes, thereby enhancing reprogramming efficiency through promoting the translation of cell cycle genes. In the end, MeCP2 deficiency stimulated IGF1/AKT/mTOR signaling and activated ribosomal protein gene expression. Taken together, our data indicate that MeCP2 deficiency promoted cell reprogramming through stimulating IGF1/AKT/mTOR signaling and activating ribosomal protein-mediated cell cycle gene translation in the early stage of reprogramming.


The aims of this project are to analyze the relationships between organizational culture and mobbing in the workplace, and to identify the features of that culture, considered as specific risk factors which facilitate the mobbing processes development. As a first step, we develop an on-line inventory to assess the perception of the organizational culture. The answers of key individuals in the organization/department (union delegates, management, members of prevention services, etc.) will be used in focus groups created to analyze the mobbing processes in the organization/department. To emphasize organizational culture as a breeding ground for mobbing antecedents, our theoretical frame adapts the model developed by Salin (2003) paying special attention to the cultural dimension. Bullying at work would be often an interaction between structures and processes from three groups: 1) Enabling general culture; 2) Motivating culture factors; and 3) Precipitating processes. When the motivating and/or precipitating structures are present, the enabling conditions will affect whether mobbing is possible or not in a specific organization. In this context, appears what some authors have called (Lewis, French & Steane, 1997) a culture of conflict, an environment where the conflictive component becomes a culture's dominant feature.


Objectives: We investigated the effect of human growth hormone (GH) on newborn rat brain superoxide dismutase, glutathione and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) newborn rats. Methods: Fourty-eight 7 days old newborn rats were randomized to a healthy (n: 15), H-I (n: 18) and GH administered H-I (GH-H-I, n: 15) group. Permanent, left common carotid ligation was performed in the H-I groups. In the GH-H-I group, 50 mg/kg human GH (Norditropin Simplex, Novo Nordisk A/S) was administered subcutaneously just before carotid artery ligation. Two hours after ligation, rats were subjected to 2 h of hypoxemia and then were decapitated. Right and left cerebral hemispheres (CHs) and cerebellum-brain stem (C-BS) were separated. Results: Glutathione levels of each region were not statistically different from each other in and between the groups. Superoxide dismutase levels were higher in C-BSs compared to CHs (for each comparison p < 0.01). CHs and C-BS MDA levels were similar in the control and H-I groups but MDA levels of both CHs of the GH-H-I group were significantly higher than the levels of the H-I group (p = 0.01; p = 0.024, respectively). Left CH MDA level of GH-H-I group was higher compared to left CH MDA of the control group (p = 0.045) while there was no difference between right CHs. In the GH-H-I group, left CH MDA level was higher than the C-BS (p = 0.03). MDA levels of the C-BSs did not differ between the groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Although we have not evaluated the effect of GH histopathologically, increased lipid peroxidation especially in the H-I (left) hemisphere of the GH treated rats might suggest that GH treatment may be harmful in H-I encephalopathy.


The topic of Diluted Combustion Technologies is reviewed from early developments some 10 ten years ago up to date, for the sake of " design and process engineers ". Recent efforts of the academic community to supply interpretation and quantitative modelling of the occurring phenomena are briefly described. Diluted combustion with high temperature reactants, in particular with gas firing, has been developed since a few years for industrial use exhibiting ultra-low NOx emissions and suitable properties for extremely high air preheating, and therefore substantial energy savings and process advantages. Successful applications to high temperature furnaces, mainly in the steel industry, are illustrated to show several advantages obtained from applying the new combustion technologies. This story is a good lesson based on conscious, scientific approach, backed by permanent R&TD efforts. These examples should be pursued vigorously if concrete measures to cope with the Kyoto engagements to combat air pollution are to be brought about in reality.


Since the term 'threshold concept' was applied within economics (Meyer and Land, 2003), its relevance has been demonstrated within disciplines ranging from biology (Taylor, 2006); to communication, culture, and media (Cousin, 2006); accounting (Lucas and Mladenovic, 2006); and philosophy (Booth, 2006). Grasping a threshold concept has been described as 'opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something' and gaining 'a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view' (Meyer and Land, 20061, p.3).In previous issues of this journal, Rust (2009) and Cousin (2010) have proposed that, by highlighting the relevance of threshold concepts within the course content of academic disciplines, we can support learning development work by academics within their departments. Cousin (2010) suggests that our acknowledgement of this particular contribution that academics can make to learning development work, may pave the way for more collaborative relationships between learning developers and academics. If threshold concepts are of such widespread relevance, and can be such powerful learning tools, it would be a shame if their potential were to be explored solely within academic disciplines. This article therefore swivels the spotlight back onto the field of generic learning development, and investigates the relevance of the notion of a threshold concept to study skills development across, rather than solely within, the academic disciplines.


Abstract: A novel Ant Colony Optimization algorithm (ACO) combined for the hierarchical multi- label classification problem of protein function prediction. This kind of problem is mainly focused on biometric area, given the large increase in the number of uncharacterized proteins available for analysis and the importance of determining their functions in order to improve the current biological knowledge. Because it is known that a protein can perform more than one function and many protein functional-definition schemes are organized in a hierarchical structure, the classification problem in this case is an instance of a hierarchical multi-label problem. In this classification method, each class might have multiple class labels and class labels are represented in a hierarchical structure—either a tree or a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure. A more difficult problem than conventional flat classification in this approach, given that the classification algorithm has to take into account hierarchical relationships between class labels and be able to predict multiple class labels for the same example. The proposed ACO algorithm discovers an ordered list of hierarchical multi-label classification rules..


BACKGROUND
Dapsone is used in the treatment of infections and inflammatory diseases. The dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, which is associated with a reported mortality of 9.9%, develops in about 0.5 to 3.6% of persons treated with the drug. Currently, no tests are available to predict the risk of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome.

METHODS
We performed a genomewide association study involving 872 participants who had received dapsone as part of multidrug therapy for leprosy (39 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 833 controls), using log-additive tests of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and imputed HLA molecules. For a replication analysis, we genotyped 24 SNPs in an additional 31 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 1089 controls and performed next-generation sequencing for HLA-B and HLA-C typing at four-digit resolution in an independent series of 37 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 201 controls.

RESULTS
Genomewide association analysis showed that SNP rs2844573, located between the HLA-B and MICA loci, was significantly associated with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy (odds ratio, 6.18; P=3.84×10(-13)). HLA-B*13:01 was confirmed to be a risk factor for the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (odds ratio, 20.53; P=6.84×10(-25)). The presence of HLA-B*13:01 had a sensitivity of 85.5% and a specificity of 85.7% as a predictor of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, and its absence was associated with a reduction in risk by a factor of 7 (from 1.4% to 0.2%). HLA-B*13:01 is present in about 2 to 20% of Chinese persons, 1.5% of Japanese persons, 1 to 12% of Indians, and 2 to 4% of Southeast Asians but is largely absent in Europeans and Africans.

CONCLUSIONS
HLA-B*13:01 was associated with the development of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy. (Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and others.).


Background: Vascular inflammation leading to coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The chemokine receptor CX3CR1 is a key regulator in vascular injuryrelated inflammation.
Objective: The authors examined the T280M and V249I gene variants of the CX3CR1 gene in patients with T2DM, CAD and CAD associated with T2DM, to understand the effect of these polymorphisms on the disease phenotype.
Methods: Whole blood samples were collected from 913 South Indian subjects comprising 160 patients with T2DM, 284 with T2DM and CAD, 198 with CAD and 271 healthy subjects. T280M and V249I variants of the CX3CR1 gene were genotyped in these study subjects using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and PCR-DNA sequencing.
Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the frequencies of 280M and 249I alleles were higher in controls than in cases in both the CAD and T2DM groups. Adjusted odds of T280M according to logistic regression were significant in all disease groups compared withhealthy subjects. Both MM and II genotypes of T280M and V249I polymorphisms were found to have an atheroprotective role in CAD and T2DM. The association of these polymorphisms were then examined in patients with CAD who were also diagnosed with diabetes. The M allele of T280M polymorphism was associated with attenuated risk for CAD and T2DM.
Conclusions: The present study demonstrated a protective role of the T280M variant of CX3CR1 gene for vascular complication in patients with T2DM. This polymorphism may reduce the binding strength of the chemokine receptor, thus attenuating inflammation both in vascular wall and adipose tissue.


The attrition of first-year university students is an important political, socioeconomic, educational, and community issue. Surmounting the intellectual challenges associated with transition problems to university, especially in the first six months, is crucial for developing appropriate academic learning habits and strategies. This doctoral thesis investigates mental models of first-year students undertaking a Bachelor of Education degree and how these might be related to their learning practices.

Mental models have been described as an internal, domain-specific representation of an object, system, or event that may be incomplete. Through their mental models, individuals are able to understand and explain the unknown and, with regard to problems, decide what course to follow, and predict consequences. Mental models are successful tools for the acquisition of knowledge, understanding, and problem-solving strategies in order to make such skills available in different situations. Mental models are seen as an important key to students' knowledge, critical thinking skills, and problem solving in learning environments. Mental models are also seen as predictive tools to students' learning performance and results.

The aim of this research was to build a picture of students' mental models in their first semester of first-year using one subject (course) as the context. In particular, the research questions asked were as follows: (1) What are students' mental models of themselves as first-year university students at the beginning and at the end of the subject? (2) What major changes, if any, occurred in the students' mental models across a semester period? and (3) Which mental models, if any, relate to students' learning achievement?

The sample comprised 102 first-year Bachelor of Education volunteer students studying the core first-year subject, Information and Communication Technologies in Education, in a regional university in Australia. This thesis employed a mixed-method approach but primarily used quantitative methodology. The data collection tools comprised Likert-scale questionnaires which drew on well-established research about student learning and open-ended questions administered as pre- and post-surveys.

There were 50 items in each questionnaire based on questionnaire items in the research literature and they were categorised into seven mental model subscales. The seven mental models were: (1) the Sense of Purpose and Expectation Mental Model, (2) the Motivation Mental Model, (3) the Learning Strategy Mental Model, (4) the Collaboration Mental Model, (5) the Poor Coping and Comprehension Mental Model, (6) the Un-motivation and Ineffective Learning Strategy Mental Model, and (7) the Poorly Prepared and Absent Mental Model.

Statistical tests used to identify mental models of students included exploratory factor analysis, correlations analysis, paired sample t-tests, independent sample t-tests, one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA), and stepwise multiple regression analyses. Qualitative data obtained from the open-ended questions was thematically coded and the results were compared with the findings of the statistical analysis.

The five mental models that were identified at the beginning of the subject from the exploratory factor analysis were: (1) the Motivation, Goal, and Academic Engagement Mental Model, (2) the Coping and Expectation Mental Model, (3) the Collaboration Mental Model, (4) the Learning Strategy Mental Model, and (5) the Unmotivation Mental Model. The sample size in this study (102 students) was just within the acceptable range (100) and the Kaiser-Myer Olkin measure of sampling adequacy at pre-test was acceptable. However, the reliability analysis revealed that the Coping and Expectation Mental Model was unusable and the reliability coefficients of four other mental models were modest to acceptable. Therefore a second exploratory factor analysis on the post-test was not performed. To measure changes in the students' mental models at pre-test and post-test in the quantitative data, the seven mental model subscales were used. Three mental models were found in the qualitative data in both at the beginning at the end of semester one: the Difficulty in Coping and Comprehension Mental Model, the Academic Engagement Mental Model, and the Weak Academic Expectation Mental Model. The results of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis were discussed together to investigate students' mental models of learning.

This research determined that by the end of the semester, students' mental models of learning were difficult to change. Either they had not changed or if they had, the changes were generally not indicative of better mental models of learning. Also, differences were found in the mental models of students by gender and school completion time (school leaver/mature age students). Furthermore, there was a relationship between students' mental models and their learning achievement. The results determined that only the Poorly Prepared and Absent Mental Model of students at pre-test was a predictor of the academic grades of students. This mental model negatively impacted student learning achievement.

The findings of the study have implications for university practice. Implementing a program during the semester that helps students to recognise any weaknesses in their mental models of learning is a recommendation. There should be an emphasis on such programs not simply in terms of increasing skills acquisition but in terms of a program which might target students' mental models of learning. For lecturers of subjects that involve information communication technologies, the interventions such as better instructional design could help students to develop their mental models. Effective instruction can motivate and engage students to learn more and retain new knowledge in their long-term memory which enables them to incorporate and organise new information into more complete mental models.

This thesis has contributed to the mental models research of the first-year university experience in particular of pre-service teachers. Future research is needed to further examine mental models with larger groups of students and particularly, to investigate changes in students' mental models not only in the first semester, but also in the second semester of the first-year and possibly in the following years. Further studies of students in other disciplines, especially where a range of ICT tools are used as learning tools, will enable a comparison of results to help produce a clearer picture of the mental models of first-year university students.


Recent industry analysis based on publicly available production data of most unconventional basins in the US have consistently highlighted the underperformance of child wells as compared to parent wells, although completion practices have continuously evolved. Industry publications have suggested that average productivity degradation of child wells can be up to 29% for some Delaware Basin operators. In some cases, the detrimental effects of parent-child relationships have also been observed on the parent wells after the stimulation of the child wells. In such an environment it is important to develop completion strategies to mitigate the negative effects of this parent-child relationship. In the Delaware Basin, the negative parent-child effect was successfully mitigated on two different zipper pads, with parent wells as close as 500 ft away from the zippered child wells. On the first pad, one parent well was completed and six months later two child wells were zippered with the closest child 1,000 ft away from the parent and pumped with far-field diversion. On the second pad, one parent well was completed and four months later three child wells were zippered with the closest child well 500 ft away from parent and far-field diversion pumped on the two closest child wells.
 The stimulation treatment design was carefully designed to include far-field diverters on the stages near parent wells. Job size and far-field diverter quantity were determined using an integrated hydraulic fracture simulation software with an advanced particle transport model. Contingency scenarios were also prepared to facilitate real-time changes required when or if abnormal behavior was observed during the execution. The zipper sequence was also planned to help establish a stress-shadow effect near the parent well to further mitigate detrimental parent-child interactions. To monitor execution in real time and evaluate interactions between wells, high-frequency pressure gauges were installed on all observation wells including parent and child wells.
 The completion design and far-field diversion treatment worked as planned for the first pad, with no significant well interference pressure signature observed on the monitoring well. For the second pad, the parent well saw pressure increases up to 700 psi during the treatment of a stage midway along the lateral of the closest child well which was completed with far-field diverter. Contingency plans were successfully executed, and no significant pressure increase was observed on the remainder of the lateral. Early production results indicate that the negative impacts of parent-child interactions were successfully mitigated on both pads, with the production of the parent wells quickly returned to their observed trends prior to child wells stimulation. Child wells production, when normalized both by lateral length and stimulation size, was on par with that of the parent well.


Theory predicts that male response to reduced paternity will depend on male state and interactions between the sexes. If there is little chance of reproducing again, then males should invest heavily in current offspring, regardless of their share in paternity. We tested this by manipulating male age and paternity assurance in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We found older males invested more in both mating effort and parental effort than younger males. Furthermore, male age, a component of male state, mediated male response to perceived paternity. Older males provided more prenatal care, whereas younger males provided less prenatal care, when perceived paternity was low. Adjustments in male care, however, did not influence selection acting indirectly on parents, through offspring performance. This is because females adjusted their care in response to the age of their partner, providing less care when paired with older males than younger males. As a result offspring, performance did not differ between treatments. Our study shows, for the first time, that a male state variable is an important modifier of paternity–parental care trade-offs and highlights the importance of social interactions between males and females during care in determining male response to perceived paternity.


: Contemporary operation-related requirements for combustion engines force the necessity of ongoing assessment of their in operation technical condition (e.g. marine engines). The engine efficiency and durability depend on a variety of parameters. One of them is valve clearance. As has been proven in the paper, the assessment of the valve clearance can be based on vibration signals, which is not a problem in terms of signal measurement and processing and is not invasive into the engine structure. The authors described the experimental research aiming at providing information necessary to develop and validate the proposed method. Active experiments were used with the task of valve clearance and registration of vibrations using a three-axis transducer placed on the engine cylinder head. The tests were carried out during various operating conditions of the engine set by 5 rotational speeds and 5 load conditions. In order to extract the training examples, fragments of the signal related to the closing of individual valves were divided into 11 shorter portions. From each of them, an effective value of the signal was determined. Obtained total 32054 training vectors for each valve related to 4 classes of valve clearance including very sensitive clearance above 0.8 mm associated with high dynamic interactions in cylinder head. In the paper, the authors propose to use a convolutional network CNN to assess the correct engine valve clearance. The obtained results were compared with other methods of machine learning (pattern recognition network, random forest). Finally, using CNN the valve clearance class identification error was less than 1% for the intake valve and less than 3.5% for the exhaust valve. Developed method replaces the existing standard methods based on FFT and STFT combined with regression calculation where approximation error is up to 10%. Such results are more useful for further studies related not only to classification, but also to the prediction of the valve clearance condition in real engine operations.


In this new edition of their classic business fable, Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller get at the heart of what makes a leader successful. Newly promoted but struggling young executive Debbie Brewster asks her mentor the one question she desperately needs answered: "What is the secret of great leaders?" His reply--"great leaders serve"--flummoxes her, but over time he reveals the five fundamental ways that leaders succeed through service. Along the way she learns: Why great leaders seem preoccupied with the future How people on the team ultimately determine your success or failure What three arenas require continuous improvement Why true success in leadership has two essential components How to knowingly strengthen--or unwittingly destroy--leadership credibility The tenth anniversary edition includes a leadership self-assessment so readers can measure to what extent they lead by serving and where they can improve. The authors also have added answers to the most frequently asked questions about how to apply the SERVE model in the real world. As practical as it is uplifting, The Secret shares Blanchard's and Miller's wisdom about leadership in a form that anyone can easily understand and implement. This book will benefit not only those who read it but also the people who look to them for guidance and the organizations they serve.


We sought to determine whether the well-established comorbidity between combustible cigarette smoking and subsequent marijuana use in adolescence translates to e-cigarette and hookah use. BrightcoveDefaultPlayer10.1542/6138645416001PEDS-VA_2017-3616 Video Abstract OBJECTIVES: Noncigarette tobacco products may confer a risk of marijuana use similar to combustible cigarettes. We examined whether adolescent electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), hookah, or combustible cigarette use is associated with initiating and currently using marijuana as well as using both tobacco and marijuana concurrently. METHODS: Adolescents from 10 public schools in Los Angeles, California, completed in-classroom surveys at baseline (fall 2013, ninth grade) and at a 24-month follow-up (fall 2015, 11th grade). Among adolescents who never used marijuana at baseline (N = 2668), associations of baseline e-cigarette, hookah, or combustible cigarette use with ever marijuana use (initiation), current marijuana use (past 30 days), and current dual use of marijuana and these tobacco products at the 24-month follow-up were examined. RESULTS: Baseline ever versus never e-cigarette use was associated with initiation (odds ratio [OR] 3.63; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.69–4.90) and current (OR 3.67; 95% CI 2.51–5.36) marijuana use 24 months later. Ever versus never hookah use was associated with initiation (OR 3.55; 95% CI 2.49–5.08) and current (OR 4.10; 95% CI 2.69–6.25) marijuana use 24 months later. Similar associations were observed for combustible cigarette smoking and initiation (OR 4.30; 95% CI 2.79–6.63) and current use of marijuana (OR 1.97; 95% CI 1.05–3.68). Current use of any of these tobacco products at baseline was associated with current use of both tobacco and marijuana (OR 2.28; 95% CI 1.47–3.55) 24 months later. CONCLUSIONS: The association between tobacco use and subsequent marijuana use across adolescence extends to multiple tobacco products.


Mom's Breast Milk is the main nutrition for baby, which determines the baby's growth and development if the breast milk is enough and sufficiently given to the baby. Nevertheless, if there is separate treatment between mom and the baby happens, it could occurs some mistakes in giving the breast milk or Exposure Breast Milk. Cross Check 5 Right System is one of the way to prevent or reduce the chance of Exposure Breast Milk. The aim of this research is to know how far the effect of Cross Check 5 Right System towards Exposure Breast Milk. The research's design is using Cross Sectional with total sample of 30 respondents. The population is using 0-1 month old baby patients in NICU Premier Surabaya Hospital which meets the inclusion criteria. The Variable Independent is Cross Check 5 Right System and the Variable Dependent is Exposure Breast Milk (EBM). The data collecting for observation is implementing the Cross Check 5 Right System in giving the baby breast milk during 4 weeks. The data is analyzed by Chi-Square statistic test with level of  p < 0,05. The result using Chi-Square test is shown by p = 0,001 Cross Check 5 Right System. So, it can be concluded that there is a correlation between Cross Check 5 Right System towards the Exposure Breast Milk (EBM) in Neonatus Intensive Care (NICU) in Premier Surabaya Hospital.The conclusion is Cross Check 5 Right System has been proven that it can prevent and reduce the Exposure Breast Milk (EBM) in NICU Premier Surabaya Hospital.


In this study, three-dimensional body measurement instrument was used to measure 425 female bodies aged from 18 to 26 years old. Imageware software was used to obtain the point cloud images of female body and measure their key parts' altitudes (waist, abdomen, buttocks, thigh, knee). Then, SPSS16.0 was used to analyze the key parts' altitudes and height to find the regression equations of them. Finally, the altitude rules of young female lower body were tested to ensure its correctness. In this paper, the result can provide basis of altitude confirmation rules for the study on automatically pattern design system of women skirts.


Strict norms about hygiene may sometimes have health benefits but may also be a burden. Based on research in the United States, it has been suggested that women traditionally shoulder responsibility for hygiene standards and therefore tend to have stricter views on hygiene. However, there is little systematic research on sex differences in hygiene norms at the global scale. We set up two hypotheses: (1) Stricter hygiene norms among women than among men is a global phenomenon. (2) The size of this sex difference varies across nations with the level of sex equality. We examine these hypotheses using data from a recent international survey (N = 17,632). Participants in 56 countries were asked for their views of where it is not appropriate for people to spit and in which situations people should wash their hands. As a measure of sex equality, we use an existing country-level measure of attitudes to equality between the sexes, available for 49 nations in the study. Stricter hygiene norms among women than among men are observed almost everywhere, but there are a few exceptions (most notably Nigeria and Saudi Arabia). The size of the sex difference in hygiene norms varies strongly with the level of sex equality, but in a non-linear way. The sex difference is most pronounced in moderately egalitarian countries with the highest recorded difference being in Chile. In more egalitarian parts of the world, more sex equality is associated with a smaller sex difference in hygiene norms. In the less egalitarian parts of the world, the opposite relation holds. We offer an interpretation in terms of what different levels of sex equality mean for the content of sex roles.


In a survey of farmers' fields across four states of south western Nigeria, major diseases of egusi melon were evaluated and symptoms described. Pathogenicity tests of foliage and fruits were conducted in the laboratory and causal pathogens identified. Powdery mildew (Erysiphe cucurbitarum) appeared as round whitish spots on the lower surface which increased in size and later appeared as whitish talcum on the upper surface. Downy mildew (Peronospora cucurbitarum) appeared on the upper surface as small and pale green to yellow angular spot which became chlorotic and shriveled. Alternaria leaf spot (Alternaria cucumerina) appeared as small circular water soaked areas which turned dark brown to black; and Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora citrullina) appeared as circular spot with white to tan centers having dark margins. Foliar spots which began as small yellowish watersoaked areas on the veins that later turned circular, dried up, broke and became shattered were symptoms observed for the Anthracnose disease (Colletotrichum lagenarium). Fruit anthracnose started as small, circular, black, sunken canker with raised margin. Leaf blight, stem blight and fruit rot (Didymella bryoaniae) disease symptoms were observed on leaves, stems and fruits respectively. Leaf symptoms began as light brown, irregular spots surrounded by yellow borders that developed from the tip of the leaves and gradually progressed backwards. Brown lesions were observed on the stem which split open and turned dark. Lesions observed on fruits appeared as small, almost circular watersoaked areas which enlarged, resulting in dark, firm and leathery depressed areas. Symptoms of vine wilt were observed as elongated brown lesions which developed on stems near the crown and extended as long, narrow, brown streaks causing stem to completely wilt. Wet rot of flower and fruit (Choanephora cucurbitarum) appeared as characteristic fungus growth resembling numerous pins stuck in a pincushion on the infected surface. The study will help to bridge the gap of information on the characteristic symptoms and causal pathogens of melon diseases in south western Nigeria


This PhD thesis, in English, deals with the computation of daylight availability in buildings. It looks on one side, at models which can be used to compute the sky luminance distributions standardized by the International Commission of Illumination (CIE), on the other side, at the directional daylight factor method (DDF) which can use these distributions to compute illuminances in buildings. We first set up a sky luminance measurment system. It allowed us to measure more than 13000 sky luminance distributions. We then tested the performance of the 3 models most often used to compute sky luminances. We also studied the use of a digital camera fitted with a fish eye and calibrated in luminance. This system provides more information with a precision very close to the one of a sky luminance scanner. We then looked at the directional daylight factor method which helps in computing indoor illuminances resulting from any given sky luminance distribution to test the method, we test the method, we set up a scale model of an office with a facade aperture. The scale model was put outside and we measured every minute both the illuminances on the model surfaces and the luminances of the model surfaces and the luminances of the sky vault. Then, we applied the DDF method to compute indoor illuminances from the measured luminances. The comparison shows that the DDF method now allows to quickly compute indoor illuminances at least every hour. We recommend to perform the same measurements inside a real building for a duration of a year


Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) comprise a fiber reinforcement embedded in a ceramic matrix, the two main constituents being bonded through an interphase, which is a thin layer of a compliant material with a low shear stress, arresting and deflecting the matrix microcracks formed under load. Non-oxide CMCs, such as C/C ; C/SiC or SiC/SiC, are fabricated from a suitable precursor of the matrix, following a gaseous (CVI-process), a liquid (PIP and RMI processes) or a slurry (SI-HPS) routes. Each of these routes is briefly depicted focusing on fundamental aspects and its advantages and drawbacks discussed. Possible extensions of the processes to new composites are suggested. Finally, a comparison of these techniques, in terms of processability and composites properties is presented.


Escherichia coli is an important cause of both community acquired (CA) and hospital acquired (HA) bacteremia. A prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care University Hospital from January, 2012 to July 2014, to compare the clinical features, risk factors, outcomes and antimicrobial resistance between E. coli bacteremia acquired from the community (CA) versus E. coli bacteremia acquired from the hospital (HA). Clinical and laboratory data of 171 adult patients with at least one positive blood culture of E. coli were analyzed. Data were collected from patients with significant blood stream infection, using medical and laboratory record files and information from treating medical staff. The overall incidence of extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) infection was high, 67/171 (77.4%). Thirty-eight (40.9%) of the CA isolates were found to produce ESBL, while 28 (35.9%) of the HA isolates were ESBL producers. Patients with CA bacteremia tend to be older than those with HA bacteremia (0.003). Neoplastic diseases (hematological malignancy (<0.001), solid tumors (<0.001)), renal transplantation end stage renal disease (ESRD) (<0.006), and wound infection (<0.001) were the most commonly associated conditions in patients with HA bacteremia. Patients from the community are more likely to present with UTI (<0.001), fever and pyelonephritis (0.001). Both CA and HA E. coli isolates showed the highest sensitivity to imipenem, meropenem and amikacin followed by gentamicin and tazocin. The CA isolates are more susceptible to amikacin, tazocin and ciprofloxacin than the HA isolates. No significant difference in the mortality rate between patients with CA bacteremia and patients who acquire the bacteremia in a hospital setting (0.836) was observed. Clinicians need to be aware of the risk factors and changing pattern of antimicrobial resistance of this pathogen and should consider adequate empirical therapy with coverage of these pathogens for patients with risk factors

 Key words: Escherichia coli, community acquired, hospital acquired, bacteremia, blood stream infection.


Cr(III)-containing wastewater was treated by continuous foam separation process. The factors affecting the Cr(III) removal efficiency were researched. The optimal operating conditions determined by orthogonal experiments are as follows:wastewater pH 6.50,gas flow 400ml/min,cationic surfactant dosage 50mg/L.When the mass concentration of Cr(III) in the influent is 7.5mg/L,the effluent can meet the national discharge standard with 98% of Cr(III) removal rate for continuous running. The kinetic experimental results show that the foam separation of Cr(III) accords with the first order kinetic equation. The results of continuous experiments in a scale-up foam separation column indicate which reach the Second Wastewater Discharge Standard of Country.


Title of dissertation: MULTISCALE MODELING AND SIMULATION OF STEPPED CRYSTAL SURFACES Joshua P. Schneider, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor Dionisios Margetis Department of Mathematics A primary goal of this dissertation is to understand the links between mathematical models that describe crystal surfaces at three fundamental length scales: The scale of individual atoms, the scale of collections of atoms forming crystal defects, and macroscopic scale. Characterizing connections between different classes of models is a critical task for gaining insight into the physics they describe, a long-standing objective in applied analysis, and also highly relevant in engineering applications. The key concept I use in each problem addressed in this thesis is coarse graining, which is a strategy for connecting fine representations or models with coarser representations. Often this idea is invoked to reduce a large discrete system to an appropriate continuum description, e.g. individual particles are represented by a continuous density. While there is no general theory of coarse graining, one closely related mathematical approach is asymptotic analysis, i.e. the description of limiting behavior as some parameter becomes very large or very small. In the case of crystalline solids, it is natural to consider cases where the number of particles is large or where the lattice spacing is small. Limits such as these often make explicit the nature of links between models capturing different scales, and, once established, provide a means of improving our understanding, or the models themselves. Finding appropriate variables whose limits illustrate the important connections between models is no easy task, however. This is one area where computer simulation is extremely helpful, as it allows us to see the results of complex dynamics and gather clues regarding the roles of different physical quantities. On the other hand, connections between models enable the development of novel multiscale computational schemes, so understanding can assist computation and vice versa. Some of these ideas are demonstrated in this thesis. The important outcomes of this thesis include: (1) a systematic derivation of the step-flow model of Burton, Cabrera, and Frank, with corrections, from an atomistic solid-on-solid-type models in 1+1 dimensions; (2) the inclusion of an atomistically motivated transport mechanism in an island dynamics model allowing for a more detailed account of mound evolution; and (3) the development of a hybrid discrete-continuum scheme for simulating the relaxation of a faceted crystal mound. Central to all of these modeling and simulation efforts is the presence of steps composed of individual layers of atoms on vicinal crystal surfaces. Consequently, a recurring theme in this research is the observation that mesoscale defects play a crucial role in crystal morphological evolution. MULTISCALE MODELING AND SIMULATION OF STEPPED CRYSTAL SURFACES by Joshua P. Schneider Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Advisory Committee: Professor Dionisios Margetis (Chair) Professor Theodore L. Einstein Professor Maria Cameron Professor Konstantina Trivisa Professor John D. Weeks


Estonia is one of the few countries where the abstraction principle (Abstraktionsprinzip) is recognised as the basis for title transfer in property law. Derived from the works of Savigny and from Germany's strong land-register system, it is also among the basic principles of property law in Germany (the foundations of the BGB). In most countries, however, transfer of title is causal. The article describes how Estonia adopted and adapted German legal doctrine and thinking in this important field of law. This path was a long one, even though Estonian law has deep connections to German traditions. Before 1940, Estonia's most important legal act was the Baltic Private Law Act, wherein the abstraction principle clearly was not recognised and the causal transfer of title formed the grounds in property law. In the Soviet era, though property law was given far less emphasis, the causal approach still served as its basis. When Estonia became independent, in the early 1990s, a new system of property law was urgently needed for purposes of land reform and for implementing the land-register system. German support for preparing the new Law of Property Act along the lines of German law was accepted, and the new law entered into force in 1993. Remarkably, at the beginning of this process it was not certain whether the abstraction principle would get implemented, but it became accepted through almost a decade of case law, and the new laws were later amended such that the principle was – unlike in German law – clearly formulated (in the General Part of the Civil Code). The abstraction principle has been an important part of Estonian property law and legal thinking ever since, firmly established both in legal theory and in case law. This process demonstrates well how a legal transplant from a given legal system can work in another.


The use of high and ultra high strength steels in modern bodies in white raises steadily since the 1980's. This trend is caused by the consumers' wish of low fuel consuming cars with an increased passenger's safety. The processing of these steels brings new challenges e.g. high flow stresses and a low formability at room temperature or high tool loads. These challenges can be resolved by warm forming at temperatures up to 600 °C reducing the flow stresses and increasing formability. For the production of complex parts that can not be produced by deep drawing hydroforming is an appropriate technology which can also help to reduce the number of parts and thus the weight of the body in white. Nowadays typical fluids used for hydroforming are only temperature stable up to about 330 °C so that it is not possible to combine the benefits of warm forming and hydroforming. Media like gases and fluids tend to leakage during the process which can only be avoided by a sealing or high blank holder forces. A new approach is the use of ceramic beads as medium for hydroforming at elevated temperatures. Building up a heatable tool for hydroforming with granular material used as medium makes it necessary to consider thermal conductivity so that there is a need of thick insulation plates. These insulation plates show high elastic deformations affecting the blank holder forces during the forming process. Measurements of the compressibility of these plates and implementation in numerical simulation allow a significant increase of the prediction accuracy of the model. A comparison of real part geometry and numerical results from models with and without consideration of elastic deformation will be given.


Most large deposits of iron ore are associated with iron formations for the simple reason that they have the highest iron concentrations of any "normal" rock type. Iron formations are found in all Precambrian shields. Iron was preconcentrated in iron formations by surface processes in Precambrian marginal-marine environments, as outlined elsewhere in this issue.


Accidents occur in all school-based agricultural education laboratories. The extent of these accidents varies by the situation, the individuals involved, and the safety protocols in place. However, it is a teacher's responsibility to limit these accidents and provide a safe learning environment for student academic mastery (Phipps, Osborne, Dyer, & Ball, 2008). According to a review of literature, in many states researchers have noted that agricultural teachers require some iteration of professional development in the area of safe agricultural mechanics laboratory management. This study investigated the agricultural mechanics laboratory management professional development needs of Tennessee school-based agricultural educators who teach in, and manage, an agricultural mechanics laboratory. Data were collected with a web-based questionnaire designed to identify teachers' perceptions of importance and their perceived ability to complete 70 selected agricultural mechanics laboratory competencies. The Borich (1980) needs assessment model was used to assess and evaluate the in-service needs of the teachers concerning laboratory safety. The study found that Tennessee teachers had in-service needs in 13 of the 14 laboratory safety competencies with the greatest need concerning administering first aid. The researchers recommend that professional development opportunities be developed and offered to teachers concerning this critical need area, be delivered in formats conscious of teachers academic schedules, and in a format that reaches the most people, possibly in a web-based format.


Plant species in fire-prone environments possess specific traits which allow them to survive fire. Species are commonly classified according to whether they survive fire and resprout or whether they are killed by fire and regenerate from seed. However, different populations of the same species have been shown to vary in their responses. Therefore, the classification of a species into a single category based on fire-response traits may not necessarily be representative of every population under every circumstance. This study examined the extent of within-species variation in fire-response traits of woody plants in south-eastern Australia after the 2003 fires. Species were then classified using two approaches: (i) using data from a field survey of fire-response traits, taking into account within-species variation; and (ii) using species' fire responses listed in a pre-existing fire-response database compiled from a variety of primary sources. Field data showed that the majority of species in the study area resprouted after fire with around one in 10 species variable in their resprouting response. Almost half of all species varied from site to site according to whether they regenerated from seed, either solely or in addition to resprouting. The numbers of species classified as resprouters and seed regenerators varied according to the classification method used. Differences were also found between the classification method when calculating the mean proportion of resprouters and seed regenerators across sites. The fire-response traits for some species from the database were found to differ from the observed field responses. This study demonstrated that the application of a fire-response trait, reported in a trait database, to an entire species, may not adequately represent the actual fire responses of the populations of interest. Rather than considering the fire-response traits of a species, accurate prediction may be better achieved by considering how different populations of plants will respond to fire.


Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) were synthesized using air as the nitrogen carrier gas and CH4 as the carbon source by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition over a thin catalyst film of Fe50Ni50. Transmission electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements have indicated that the N-CNTs grew with a tip-type growth mode. When H2 was added to the CH4/air plasmas during the N-CNTs growth stage, it was found that Fe/Ni oxide nanowire was filled into the nanotube. However, without adding H2 in the CH4/air mixture plasma, only metal oxide nanoparticle was found on the tip of the N-CNT.


Abstract High-dimensional distributed semantic spaces have proven useful and effective for aggregating and processing visual, auditory and lexical information for many tasks related to human-generated data. Human language makes use of a large and varying number of features, lexical and constructional items as well as contextual and discourse-specific data of various types, which all interact to represent various aspects of communicative information. Some of these features are mostly local and useful for the organisation of, for example, argument structure of a predication; others are persistent over the course of a discourse and necessary for achieving a reasonable level of understanding of the content. This paper describes a model for high-dimensional representation for utterance and text-level data including features such as constructions or contextual data, based on a mathematically principled and behaviourally plausible approach to representing linguistic information. The implementation of the representation is a straightforward extension of Random Indexing models previously used for lexical linguistic items. The paper shows how the implementedmodel is able to represent a broad range of linguistic features in a common integral framework of fixed dimensionality, which is computationally habitable, and which is suitable as a bridge between symbolic representations such as dependency analysis and continuous representations used, for example, in classifiers or further machine-learning approaches. This is achieved with operations on vectors that constitute a powerful computational algebra, accompanied with an associative memory for the vectors. The paper provides a technical overview of the framework and a worked through implemented example of how it can be applied to various types of linguistic features.