22-39 weeks. Using a Voluson E8 machine, PW-MPI was acquired, utilising one plane for the left (Lt) heart side and two planes for the right (Rt), then calculated using a local, verified automation software. Lt and Rt TDI-MPI were acquired and calculated manually from 3 cardiac cycles. Finally, 3 STIC volumes were acquired, manipulated offline, and the M-mode beam measured the maximum annular vertical movement of the tricuspid and mitral annuli. Achievability rates for all modalities were calculated, and intraobserver variability was tested with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). STIC volumes were evaluated by two operators to also assess interobserver variability. Results: Acquisition rates for the Lt and Rt heart sides were PW-MPI 87%/86%, TDI-MPI 86%/92%, MAPSE and TAPSE 94%. Intraobserver repeatability ICC values for Lt/Rt were: PW-MPI 0.80/0.69, TDI-MPI 0.86/0.83, MAPSE/TAPSE intra-observer 0.67/0.81 and 0.71/0.64 for operator 1 and 2, interobserver ICC 0.70/0.86. Unpaired t-test demonstrated a significant and inconsistent difference between mean PW-MPI and TDI-MPI values (Lt +0.08, p <0.001; Rt -0.05, p = 0.004). Conclusions: As the technique for automated PW-MPI has been standardised, the relatively poor correlation between TDI and PW-MPI raises concerns about TDI-MPI. The results of this study suggest that global cardiac function is most suitably evaluated by combing PW-MPI for the left heart side and TAPSE for the right.


We investigated the longitudinal ends' influence on the flux distribution in a permanent-magnet linear synchronous machine with an analytic model and with numeric finite-element methods. We derived a general analytic expression, on closed form, from a linear reluctance model. The model reveals that the flux in a linear machine differs from that in a rotating machine in several aspects. The longitudinal ends introduce a pairwise coupled flux pattern, which will behave differently in circuits with odd or even numbers of magnets. In linear machines with an even number of magnets the pairwise coupled flux will spread throughout the whole machine, whereas in linear machines with an odd number of magnets it will be transformed into an equally distributed flux in the middle. The latter case will give rise to a nonsymmetric air gap flux distribution, where every second pole has larger flux. We confirmed the pairwise coupled flux and the nonsymmetric air gap distribution predicted by the analytic model by finite-element simulations. We noted additional effects when nonlinear behavior of the steel is taken into account. We conclude that saturation counteracts the pairwise coupled flux pattern at the longitudinal ends. Again, a nonsymmetric air gap flux distribution occurs as the pairwise coupled flux is transformed into an equally coupled flux. The pairwise coupling of the flux and the nonsymmetric air gap flux distribution give rise to a number of secondary effects, which we discuss.


We reported the fabrication and characterization of a new type of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) single-electron transistor utilizing usual CMOS sidewall gate structures. We used oxide sidewall spacer layers as well as two poly-Si finger gates on an SOI wire mesa as implantation masks, to form tunnel barriers and thus a quantum dot (QD) that is smaller than the spacing between polygates. Characterization results exhibited clear Coulomb oscillations persisting up to 30 K. The Coulomb energy and the size of the QD extracted from three devices were consistent with the spacing between two poly-Si gates of each device. Furthermore, the junction capacitance of each device was almost constant and only the gate capacitance varied. These analyses suggested that the size of the QD was fully controlled by the process.


This thesis studies the different ways in which the localized plasmon heating effect of gold nanostructures -activated by plasmon excitation via visible and/or NIR irradiationcan be used to obtain different outcomes following the nanofabrication of applicable devices. Both spatial and temporal control were obtained for each one of the systems developed upon the incorporation of plasmonic gold nanostructures. Spatial control was enabled in hybrid mesoporous drug delivery systems fabricated in this thesis through the localized surface plasmon heating effect that allowed the modification of the dynamics of diffusion of the cargo being delivered, thus giving rise to different rates of release that can be controlled by plasmon excitation. At the same time, the plasmon heating effect proved to be capable of controlling the start of the release by dismantling thermo-responsive gates previously incorporated, thus enabling also a wavelength-controlled feature that enhances the versatility of these systems. Spatial control was also conferred to the photo-patterning applications presented in this dissertation by influencing the degree of motility of gold nanorods (AuNRs) embedded in polymer matrices allowing them to self-assemble when the longitudinal plasmon of the incorporated nanostructures was excited; the patterns generated were quite robust and persisted for extended periods of time. Finally, the feature of spatial heating control was also conferred to catalysis. The Friedel-Crafts alkylation of anisole by benzyl chloride using spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) supported on Nb2O5-based catalysts was performed at bulk temperatures below those necessary for the reaction to occur when using bare or modified Nb2O5; this was the result of the combination of bulk and localized plasmon heating produced -bothvia plasmon excitation. This also demonstrates the possibility of using plasmon excitation as an alternative heat source in this type of reactions. iii By combining the plasmonic properties of metallic nanostructures with those granted by mesoporous materials, polymer matrices and Nb2O5-based materials it was possible to obtain light-activated systems endowed also with temporal control and wavelength control while preserving the original properties of each systems' components. Overall, the content of this thesis describes in detail the practical aspects of combining gold nanostructures with different materials and the rationale behind the development of systems with customized and controllable properties. Chapter 0 Daniela T. Marquez iv


Nowadays, the percentage of people with cancer is increasing. There are many methods used to treat cancer such as surgery, chemotherapy, the radiation, etc. In addition, the use of medicinal plants, natural products, is also popularly applied for cancer patients. Using 90% ethanol as the extraction solvent, we produced 4 kinds of concentrated extracts from dried flowers, dried leaves, fresh flowers, fresh leaves of male papaya (Carica papaya Linn). In vitro study, the extracts of dried flowers, fresh flowers did not effect on MCF7, A549, HT 29, Huh 7R, HEK 293 and LLC cancer cell lines. The extracts of dried leaves and fresh leaves presented cytotoxic effects with IC50 values ranging from 1.88 to 13.64 mg/mL. Meanwhile, activities of the extract of fresh leaves was 4-6 times stronger than that of the extract of dried leaves's. Based on evaluation of the IL2 and IL6 production capability of macrophage, we found that the extract of fresh leaves strongly inhibited the IL-6 production at 4 mg/mL (50.56%) and 0.8 mg/mL (23.79%) in comparison with the negative control (P<0.05) while it did not show the ability to induce IL-2 in the same studied concentrations. Using tumor bearing mice as model for studying the antitumor activities of extract of fresh leaves at the dose of 3 mL/kg/day and 6 mL/kg/day, we identified the positive effects of the higher dose treatment. The results showed that the extract of fresh leaves at the dose of 6 mL/kg/day could inhibit 33.44% the tumors' sizes on day 28 (P<0.05); tumor's weigh decreased to 9.84 against 13.76 g of the negative control; the WBC parameter reduced from 41.65x106/mL to 19.1x106/mL (P<0.05), AST decreased from 1441.6 U/L to 1038.97 U/L (P<0.01), and creatinin decreased from 26.37 µmol/L to 20.63 µmol/L compared with the negative control group (P<0.05). These promising results are the scientific evidences for applying this extract in cancer treatment in the future.


This paper describes the development of a tomographic system by employing optical sensors using low cost approach. The final aim of this project is achieving real-time monitoring of solid particles having low concentration flow when conveyed in vertical pneumatic conveyor. The developed tomography system consists of 32 pairs of Light Emitting Diode (LED) and silicon PIN photodiode. These sensors are used to monitor the emitted radiation for fluctuations caused by particles interfering with the beam when passing through it. A good design of sensor fixture may increase the collimating of light beam from a light source that passes through a flow regime. The obtained information from sensors provided the cross-sectional material distribution in conveyor. By using this information, the relationships between particle distribution and light attenuation effects are investigated by using computer programming to reconstruct the image. The results obtained from this investigation shows that the low cost optical sensors are suitable for monitoring low and medium concentration flowing materials. Optical sensors provide an opportunity to design sensors with a very wide bandwidth, thus enabling the measurement of high speed flowing particles or droplets.


This study examined the challenges and successes related to classroom management in a new French Immersion Elementary School (FIES). Framed by language immersion research and theories of culturally responsive classroom management (Weinstein, Curran, & Tomlinson-Clark, 2003), the study focuses on teachers' decision-making processes in a one-way immersion setting. Using a case-study approach on one kindergarten classroom, qualitative data over one year included field notes from participant observation; transcripts of interviews and focus groups with teachers and administrators; classroom artifacts; and videotapes of classroom sessions. Results showed that classroom management was strongly shaped by several factors: the political context, lack of school-wide curricula and policies, built environment, and teachers' prior experiences. The discussion examines how language educators and researchers must look beyond teachers' beliefs and students' cultures when devising solutions to social and behavioral challenges. Recommendations for new language immersion schools that deal with behavior management challenges are made.


Cross-linking polymerization of multifunctional aromatic monomers initiated by exposure to high energy radiation continues to be explored as a promising alternative to thermal curing for the production of high-performance composite materials. High-energy radiation processing offers several advantages over thermosetting technology by allowing for fast and out-of-autoclave curing operations and for its adaptability in the manufacturing of large and complex structures at reduced energy costs. The present article covers the basic aspects of radiation curing by cationic polymerization of epoxy resins, providing a status report on recent investigations conducted in our group to improve the properties of epoxy matrices and gain better control over the process for producing composites. A selection of results based on blends prepared with different composition of epoxy aromatics, transfer agents, thermoplastic toughening agents and onium salt initiators exemplifies the importance of the composition on polymerization kinetics and on the properties of resulting materials. The superiority of radiation-triggered polymerization-induced phase separation of thermoplastic additives is emphasized by the obtained morphology of toughened materials. The low initial temperature and fast curing of the reactive blends limits the expansion of phase-separated thermoplastic domains, resulting in an enhancement of the toughness.


Objectives: Adherence to injectable disease-modifying treatments in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) impacts outcomes and can be influenced by perceptions of treatment efficacy, side effects, injection frequency, and the duration of injection. This study aimed to quantify preferences for selected attributes of injectable treatments among individuals with MS in the United Kingdom and France. Methods: Respondents with a self-reported diagnosis of MS completed an online discrete-choice-experiment survey, consisting of a series of treatment-choice questions. Each choice question presented two hypothetical treatments, each with six attributes (years until disability progression, relapses in the next 4 years, injection time, injection frequency, flu-like symptoms (FLS), and injection-site reactions), each with various levels. Mixed-logit regression analysis was used to estimate preference weights for attribute levels and to calculate the relative importance of changes in treatment attributes (vertical distance between preference weights). Minimum acceptable efficacy estimates indicate improvement in efficacy that respondents would require in exchange for worsening injection frequency and FLS. Results: In both countries, 100 respondents completed the survey. In the United Kingdom and France, respectively, improving the time until disability progression from 2 to 4 years, reducing injection frequency from "daily" to "every 2 weeks", and reducing FLS from 3 days after every injection to none had a relative importance of 2.9 and 2.6, 3.0 and 3.5, and 2.5 and 3.1. Given the ranges included in the study, changes in these attributes were more important than most changes in other attributes assessed. Conclusions: Reductions in the injection frequency of MS treatments and FLS can be as important to patients as improvements in treatment efficacy.


The effect of rotary swaging on the microstructure, texture, and mechanical properties of the magnesium alloy Mg‐4.4Al‐0.9Zn‐0.4Mn is studied. Repetitive processing, conducted at progressively dropped deformation temperature (from 400 down to 200 °C), leads to an increase in the cumulative strain ε. Rotary swaging of the alloy is shown to lead to microstructure fragmentation due to intensive twinning on various crystallographic planes. A high density of twins observed at the final stage of deformation, at ε = 2.77, leads to a decrease in the distance between boundaries (including both twins and grain boundaries) to ≈3 μm. With decreasing temperature, 0.2‐μm‐wide secondary deformation twins form within the primary twins with a width in the range of 1.5–2.5 μm. The texture analysis shows that, upon deformation, the number of orientations increases as does their scatter. Rotary swaging at 350 °C to ε = 2.77 gives rise to an increase of both strength and tensile ductility of the alloy. The high strength characteristics are achieved due to the formation of a subgrain structure and profuse twinning. The increased tensile ductility is associated with the activation of prismatic slip in addition to developed basal slip.


This paper examines the role of HR and labour flexibility in relation to temporary work arrangements within an Australian context. Such arrangements have increased over recent years due to user firm demand and temporary work agency supply. One of the most frequently cited reasons for the growth in temporary working has been the labour flexibility it provides to user firms. The authors provide an inside view of temporary work in relation to five key HR areas: recruitment and selection, integration and identification, employee commitment, HR administration and training. Finally, implications for HR within the temporary work sector are outlined.


In the last two decades, considerable efforts have been devoted to finding a way to enhance cognitive function by cognitive training. To date, the attempt to boost broad cognitive functions in the general population has failed. However, it is still possible that some cognitive training regimens exert a positive influence on specific populations, such as older adults. In this meta-analytic review, we investigated the effects of working memory (WM) training on older adults' cognitive skills. Three robust-variance-estimation meta-analyses (N = 2,140, m = 43, and k = 698) were run to analyze the effects of the intervention on (a) the trained tasks, (b) near-transfer measures, and (c) far-transfer measures. While large effects were found for the trained tasks (g ̅ = 0.877), only modest (g ̅ = 0.274) and near-zero (g ̅ = 0.121) effects were obtained in the near-transfer and far-transfer meta-analyses, respectively. Publication-bias analysis provided adjusted estimates that were slightly lower. Moreover, when active control groups were implemented, the far-transfer effects were null (g ̅ = -0.008). Finally, the effects were highly consistent across studies (i.e., low or null true heterogeneity), especially in the near- and far-transfer models. While confirming the difficulty in obtaining transfer effects with cognitive training, these results corroborate recent empirical evidence suggesting that WM is not isomorphic with other fundamental cognitive skills such as fluid intelligence.


Methods for bioluminescence detection of such important metabolites as ATP and Ca2+ through the use of firefly luciferase or the photoprotein aequorin, respectively, are both well known and documented. Many commercial kits are available and are widely used in cell research for monitoring intracellular metabolites in vitro. The bioluminescent system of bacteria has also been used to measure intracellular NAD(P)H, and, when coupled with NAD(P)H-producing enzymes, it is possible to measure a wide variety of cellular metabolites. Highly sensitive, accurate, and quantitative assays for creatine/creatine phosphate, pyruvate, succinate, and lactate have been described for a variety of cells. These tests, based on the measurement of metabolites following the cell lysis at certain points in time, produce values of average metabolite concentration in the population of cells used (for review, see Ref. 1). With such an approach it is not always possible to monitor fast changes in
intracellular concentration, or to monitor the diversity of reaction of single cells on the used treatment. To better understand the connections between different metabolic pathways within the cell, in vivo tests are more advantageous. 5.1 In Vivo Imaging of the Intracellular ATP Dynamic 5.1.1 Bioluminescence in vivo ATP imaging The first publications describing the monitoring of ATP in vivo in live cells appeared in the early 1990s. It was shown that luciferin and luciferase were not toxic to live cells, and changes in bioluminescence levels correlated well with the intracellular concentration of ATP. However, it was noted that the reaction
kinetics of the luciferases present inside the cells differed from those observed for enzyme activity in aqueous solutions. Due to the high pyrophosphate and protein concentrations in the cytoplasm, the bioluminescence signal from the live cell injected with firefly luciferase was greatly depressed and showed remarkably slow decay when compared with in vitro conditions. This 'glowing' type of
signal allowed continuous measurement of cytoplasmic ATP in single myocytes by monitoring bioluminescence following the microinjection of the cell with firefly luciferase. When cardiomyocytes metabolically poisoned with cyanide entered rigor, cytoplasmic ATP decreased from 1-2 mM to 20 μM within 30-40 s. After removal of the cyanide, the bioluminescence signal recovered over a period of 2-3
min to a level that was approximately 70% of the original level present in healthy cells, thus indicating that ATP was restored.


The benefits of visualization have been discussed widely and it is already implemented into library services. However, use cases for visualization have been mostly focused on collection analysis to improve collection development policies and budget management, not for discovery services that take full advantage of the rich information contained in library catalog records. One of the challenges of working with library catalog records for visualization is the sheer volume of elements (such as control field, data field, subfield, and indicators) and information included in the MAchine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) format records. As is well-known, there are more than 1,900 fields in the MARC 21, which is just too many to use for effective visualizations (Moen and Benardino, 2003). In addition, some fields are used for recording the same information, for example, the control field 008 positions 7 to 14 and the subfield $c of the data field 264 are used for the production related date information. Instead of showing a clear relationship between resources, the large number of elements and duplicated information included in the catalog record may muddle those relationships in any visualization. The question then is which information added in which fields of the MARC 21 format catalog records should be considered essential information to be included in library catalog data visualizations for discovery. This paper explores ways to improve discovery service by visualizing selective library data.


Experiments on four-stage autoacceleration were carried out to generate a subnanosecond, intense relativistic electron beam (IREB). An annular electron beam with energy of 500 keV, current of 5 kA, and pulse length of 12 ns was injected into a series of four coaxial cavities with decreasing lengths. The energy and pulse length of the most accelerated part of the beam electrons were 1.1 MeV and 0.8 ns, respectively. The transmission line theory that was used to explain single-stage autoacceleration process was found to be applicable to the multistage autoacceleration process.


Suffering from mental ill-health does not merely involve mental distress; it also often comprises deteriorated physical health. The physical consequences can be of a severe nature and may lead to premature death. Since physical inactivity has been identified as a critical health risk factor, there is an imperative need to support physical activity in persons with mental ill-health. The benefits of being physically active for persons with mental ill-health are many, but there are also considerable barriers. In mental healthcare and research, there has been increasing attention on a recovery perspective that focuses the personal journey on repossessing meaning in one's own life. However, in the recovery perspective, as well as in mental healthcare research and praxis in general, there is a lack of recognition of the lived body of the person and the lived experiences of being physically active as a potential part of that journey.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to our knowledge of aspects of being physically active for recovery in mental ill-health, and how this can be supported in mental healthcare. Overall, this research was conducted using a mixed methods research design, including both qualitative and quantitative methods. Philosophical and theoretical underpinnings consisting of a lifeworld perspective, of the notion of human capability, and of the existential dimensions of recovery have guided the process of seeking a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. An initial cross-sectional inventory of the self-reported health and physical activity of persons with mental ill-health was conducted (study I). This inventory showed that this population was a vulnerable group affected by both physical and mental health risk factors and low levels of physical activity. The lived experiences of being physically active in persons with mental ill-health were illuminated, and were interpreted to render opportunities to connect to one's being-in-the-world and to experienced meaning (study II). As physical activity enabled a sense of meaning, the person's ability to reclaim life was strengthened. Caregivers' lived experiences of motivating persons with mental ill-health to be physically active were described as something more than an act of doing – it was a way of being together, sharing experiences through being physically active, and interacting with each other's life-worlds (study III). In order to investigate a novel mode of physical activity, the use of interactive video games for physical activity among persons with mental ill-health was explored (study IV). Playing interactive video games was found to enable experiences of evolvement and competence, which can be understood as dimensions of personal recovery.The main finding from this thesis is a recognition of the potential of physical activity for embodied recovery in mental ill-health. Three core aspects were found to articulate the qualitative significance of being physically active as meaning and capability, connectedness, and wholeness. Furthermore, it is assumed, that a person's barriers to being physically active may not only represent realms of the mental illness itself, but also constitute expressions of disconnectedness from the lived body, as subjectively experienced disembodiment. In conclusion, there is a need to develop a more nuanced understanding of the potential of physical activity in mental healthcare, and by giving room for the lived body, experiences of embodied recovery in mental ill-health can be enabled.


Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in most developed countries. A large portion of CAD is caused by rupture of unstable plaque, which is not detected by current diagnostic methods. By labeling the unstable plaque with beta emitting radioisotopes, it is possible to detect the plaques with a very narrow in situ detector system that is placed with a coronary angiography guidewire. Our current detection system uses fiber optics, with a single detector at the tip of each fiber, connected to a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT). The small diameter of the coronary artery limits our current system to six optical fibers. To increase the number of pixels, we are studying a multidetector concept for each fiber. By having multiple scintillating fibers coupled in series, with each scintillating fiber emitting a unique wavelength spectrum, the number of pixels can be doubled or tripled. The light is separated before reaching the PSPMT with a single diffraction grating. The PSPMT separates the detectors in one direction by fiber, and in the other direction by the spectral splitting of the different wavelengths of the scintillators.


There is a need for improved in vitro models of inherited cardiac diseases to better understand basic cellular and molecular mechanisms and advance drug development. Most of these diseases are associated with arrhythmias, as a result of mutations in ion channel or ion channel-modulatory proteins. Thus far, the electrophysiological phenotype of these mutations has been typically studied using transgenic animal models and heterologous expression systems. Although they have played a major role in advancing the understanding of the pathophysiology of arrhythmogenesis, more physiological and predictive preclinical models are necessary to optimize the treatment strategy for individual patients. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have generated much interest as an alternative tool to model arrhythmogenic diseases. They provide a unique opportunity to recapitulate the native-like environment required for mutated proteins to reproduce the human cellular disease phenotype. However, it is also important to recognize the limitations of this technology, specifically their fetal electrophysiological phenotype, which differentiates them from adult human myocytes. In this review, we provide an overview of the major inherited arrhythmogenic cardiac diseases modeled using hiPSC-CMs and for which the cellular disease phenotype has been somewhat characterized.


The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider forward (RHICf) experiment has measured neutral particles produced in the very forward direction in the √s=510 GeV proton-proton collisions at RHIC in June 2017. The production cross sections of these particles are crucial to understand the hadronic interaction relevant to the air shower development at the cosmic-ray equivalent energy of 1.4×10$^{14}$ eV, just below the energy of the knee. Together with the data at LHC, accelerator data can cover the interaction in the cosmic-ray energy of 10$^{14}$ eV to 10$^{17}$ eV. In addition, RHICf is able to improve the former measurements of single-spin asymmetry in the polarized proton- proton collisions that is sensitive to the fundamental process of the meson exchange. Common data taking with the STAR experiment will shed light on the unexplored low mass diffraction process.


Some 20 Ma after the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous obduction and collision at the eastern margin of Adria, the eroded Pelagonia (Adria) – Axios-Vardar (Oceanic Complex) contact collapsed, forming the Kallipetra Basin, described around the Aliakmon river near Veroia (Northern Greece). Clastic and carbonate marine sediments deposited from early Cenomanian to end Turonian, with abundant olistoliths and slope failures at the base due to active normal faults. The middle part of the series is characterized by red and green pelagic limestones, with minimal contribution of terrigenous debris. Rudist 15 mounds in the upper part of the basin started forming on the southwestern slope, and their growth was competing with a flux of ophiolitic debris, documenting the new fault scarps affecting the Vardar Oceanic Complex (VOC). Eventually, the basin was closed by overthrusting of the VOC towards the northeast and was buried and heated up to ~ 180  ̊C. A strong reverse geothermal gradient with temperatures increasing up-section to near 300  ̊C is recorded beneath the VOC by illite crystallinity and by the crystallization of chlorite during deformation. This syn-tectonic heat partially reset the zircon fission track ages 20 bracketing the timing of closure just after deposition of the ophiolitic debris in the Turonian. This study documents the reworking of the Pelagonian – Axios-Vardar contact, with Cenomanian extension and basin widening followed by Turonian compression and basin inversion. Thrusting occurred earlier than previously reported in the literature for the eastern Adria, and shows a vergence toward the northeast, at odds with the regional southwest vergence of the whole margin, but in accordance to some reports about 50 km north. 25


Apolipoprotein (apo) C-III and apoE play a central role in controlling the plasma metabolism of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRL). We have investigated the plasma kinetics of total, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) apoC-III and apoE in normolipidemic (NL) (n = 5), hypertriglyceridemic (HTG, n = 5), and Type III hyperlipoproteinemic (n = 2) individuals. Apolipoprotein kinetics were investigated using a primed constant (12 h) infusion of deuterium-labeled leucine. HTG and Type III patients had reduced rates of VLDL apoB-100 catabolism and no evidence of VLDL apoB-100 overproduction. Elevated (3- to 12-fold) total plasma and VLDL apoC-III levels in HTG and Type III patients, although associated with reduced apoC-III catabolism (i.e., increased residence times (RTs)), were mainly due to increased apoC-III production (plasma apoC-III transport rates (TRs, mean +/- SEM): (NL) 2.05 +/- 0.22 (HTG) 4.90 +/- 0.81 (P < 0.01), and (Type III) 8.78 mg. kg(-)(1). d(-)(1); VLDL apoC-III TRs: (NL) 1.35 +/- 0. 23 (HTG) 5.35 +/- 0.85 (P < 0.01), and (Type III) 7.40 mg. kg(-)(1). d(-)(1)). Elevated total plasma and VLDL apoE levels in HTG (2- and 6-fold, respectively) and in Type III (9- and 43-fold) patients were associated with increased VLDL apoE RTs (0.21 +/- 0.02, 0.46 +/- 0. 05 (P < 0.01), and 1.21 days, NL vs. HTG vs. Type III, respectively), as well as significantly increased apoE TRs (plasma: (NL) 2.94 +/- 0.78 (HTG) 5.80 +/- 0.59 (P < 0.01) and (Type III) 11.80 mg. kg(-)(1). d(-)(1); VLDL: (NL) 1.59 +/- 0.18 (HTG) 4.52 +/- 0.61 (P < 0.01) and (Type III) 11.95 mg. kg(-)(1). d(-)(1)). These results demonstrate that hypertriglyceridemic patients, having reduced VLDL apoB-100 catabolism (including patients with type III hyperlipoproteinemia) are characterized by overproduction of plasma and VLDL apoC-III and apoE.


Purpose: To establish a classification system for congenital X-linked retinoschisis (CXLRS) using clinical examination and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods: Thirty-eight eyes of 19 patients who carried a clinical diagnosis of CXLRS were examined with OCT and clinical examination. Eyes were classified into one of four types based on a combination of clinical examination and OCT. Results: All patients had bilateral OCT scanning performed at an average age of 8.64 years (range 2.24–17.4 years). Review of OCT scans revealed that 37 of 38 eyes had foveal schisis (97%) while 31 of 38 (82%) eyes had macular schisis deeper than the nerve fiber layer in areas of ophthalmoscopically normal macular retina. The authors termed this flat schisis phenomenon lamellar schisis. Thirty of 38 (79%) had peripheral bullous schisis cavities present. Conclusions: OCT examinations of patients with CXLRS reveal lamellar schisis in areas of ophthalmoscopically normal macular retina in 82% of eyes with the clinical diagnosis of CXLRS. Using both clinical examination and OCT, the authors were able to identify foveal, lamellar, and peripheral schisis, lamellar schisis only identifiable by OCT. These findings allow the authors to propose a classification system. The authors hope this classification system will allow a better understanding of the natural history of CXLRS disease and allow testing of therapeutic options.


Nurseri is a location for seedling, maintenance, selling and purchasing of various types of plants found in big cities including Jabodetabek. This study aims to reveal nurseri management in the Kranggan area to support the sustainability and development of the nurseri. This research was conducted by intensively interviewing all owners (6 persons). Kranggan Nurseri has an area of 100-500 m2 with the number of managers between 2-8 persons, depending on the area and the volume of plants being traded. Nurseri owners and managers apply various managements in the seedlings, maintenance, placement, and selection of plant species by considering the volume and the processing time. Many consumers purchase due to the small size, easy maintenance and seedling. Management knowledge is gained from the experience during trading or information exchange with other nurseri traders or managers. Plant placement in the nurseri is adjusted to the needs of light, habitus, aesthetics, and plant canopies. Korean banyan (Ficus compacta) is very potential to be developed in the yard because it has attractive leaf, branching, fruit and canopy characteristics but it does not require extensive land so it is believed to have good prospect to be traded with high economic value in nurseries.
 Keywords: Ficus compacta, nurseries, management, Bekasi


A new series of porphyrin-based receptors for the bipyridinium ions paraquat and diquat, consisting in each case of a porphyrin with an over-arching dibenzo-crown ether, and related structures with hydroquinol-containing polyether straps is described. In all cases, the appended superstructure is connected to the porphyrin via ether linkages from the o-positions of the meso-aryls of the octaalkyl-5,15-diaryl substituted porphyrins. Solution studies of the complexes are compared to those of a previously reported set of related structures with amide linkages in place of the ethers and, at variance with the amide series, reveal conformations in which the complexed bipyridinium is parallel to the porphyrin sub-unit rather than perpendicular. Binding constants for all of the free-base and zinc porphyrin derivatives with both paraquat and diquat in various solvents allow the following principles to be established: (i) the binding strength decreases with increasing solvent polarity, (ii) there is little difference in the binding strength between the free base and zinc derivatives for a given receptor, (iii) binding is stronger for the more constrained 4(i) compared to the looser 4(ii), (iv) in general, paraquat binds more strongly than diquat, (v) the single-strapped analogues 6 are relatively ineffective as receptors for these bipyridinium guests, (vi) for a given sized dibenzo-crown ether cap or polyether strap, the substitution of ether linkages for the amide linkages in the related family of receptors 1 results in stronger binding. A similar binding motif is described for a naphthoquinol-strapped porphyrin 5. The solution studies are supported by X-ray crystal structures of two of the paraquat complexes which indicate that the guest is held by face-to-face π–π interactions with the porphyrin, by C–H· · ·O hydrogen bonds, by electrostatic forces, and by either face-to-face π-stacking with the hydroquinol unit or by edge-to-face interactions in the case of the dibenzo-crown strapped molecule.


Today`s increasingly competitive markets require new levels of reliability, flexibility and cost performance from gas transmission pipelines. One method that pipeline companies can use to address these business objectives is to target station and turbomachinery control system design specification, retrofits and integration. State-of-the-art control tools and technologies have placed turbomachinery control engineering within the grasp of the end users. NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) has taken advantage of this to specify, design, and implement integrated control systems that best address their business needs. This paper explores the end user perspective on applying control system technology to both new and existing compressor stations. The specification of new units and control retrofits are described. The resulting increase in system reliability and flexibility, and reduced maintenance costs is also presented.


The European Union has announced that it will overhaul its data protection rules in 2011. Later this month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Commerce Department will release their own reports on online privacy. Meanwhile, as part of the much-hyped efforts to prepare for cyberwar, the U.S. National Security Agency is strengthening ties with organizations like Google and its efforts to mine social networking sites like Facebook. The dynamic is a familiar one. As usual, privacy will lose. In recent years, the battleground of privacy has been dominated by fights over warrantless electronic surveillance in the United States and closed-circuit television(CCTV) in Britain. The coming months will see further debates over data mining, DNA databases and biometric identification. There will be protests and lawsuits, editorials and elections resisting these attacks on privacy. The battles are worthy, but the war will be lost. Efforts to prevent governments from collecting such information are doomed to failure because modern threats increasingly require that governments collect the information; because governments are increasingly able to collect it; and because citizens increasingly accept that they will collect it.


When the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, some saw the decision as a textbook example of neutral judicial decision making, noting that a Republican Chief Justice joined the Court's Democratic appointees to uphold most provisions of the ACA. Others characterized the decision as the latest example of partisan justice and cited the actions of a bloc of the Court's Republican appointees, who voted to strike down the statute in its entirety. Still others argued that the ACA's fate ultimately hinged not on the Court but on the outcome of the 2012 election. These interpretations reflect larger stories about judicial politics that have emerged in polarized America. Are judges neutral legal umpires, unaccountable partisan activists, or political actors whose decisions conform to — rather than challenge — the democratic will?Drawing on a sweeping survey of litigation on abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, and gun rights across the Clinton, Bush, and Obama eras, this book argues that, while each of these stories captures part of the significance of judicial politics in polarized times, each is also misleading. Despite judges' claims, actual legal decisions are not the politically neutral products of disembodied legal texts. But neither are judges "tyrants in robes," undermining democratic values by imposing their own preferences. Just as often, judges and the public seem to be pushing in the same direction. As for the argument that the courts are powerless institutions, this book shows that their decisions have profound political effects. And, while advocates on both the left and right engage constantly in litigation to achieve their ends, neither side has consistently won. Ultimately, the book concludes, judges respond not simply as umpires, activists, or political actors, but in light of distinctive judicial values and practices.


Cytometry analysis has seen a considerable expansion in in recent years with the expansion in the maximum number of parameters that can be acquired in a single experiment. In response to this technological advance, there has been an increased effort to develop computational methodologies for handling high-dimensional data acquired by flow or mass cytometry. Despite the success of numerous algorithms and published packages to replicate and outperform traditional manual analysis, widespread adoption of these techniques has yet to be realised in the field of cytometry. Here we present CytoPy, a Python framework for automated analysis of high dimensional cytometry data that integrates a document-based database for a data-centric and iterative analytical environment. The capability of supervised classification algorithms in CytoPy to identify cell subsets was successfully confirmed by using the FlowCAP-I competition data. The applicability of the complete analytical pipeline to real world datasets was validated by immunophenotyping the local inflammatory infiltrate in individuals with and without acute bacterial infection. CytoPy is open-source and licensed under the MIT license. Source code is available online at the https://github.com/burtonrj/CytoPy, and software documentation can be found at https://cytopy.readthedocs.io/.


The main task of contractors' estimators is to predict the likely costs involved in executing a future project. This is an onerous job as any errors made can undermine project success and ultimately reduce the contractors' profit margins. The inherent uncertainty of most construction work, however, together with the often very short time periods involved, make errors unavoidable. Unsurprisingly, therefore, estimation is considered to be a very stressful business. To identify the nature of the stress involved, a survey of construction estimators in Hong Kong was conducted. Using correlation analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling, the relationships amongst the causes (stressors or stress factors) and effects (stress) were examined and a causal structural model developed. The results indicate work overload, role conflict, job ambiguity, and working environment to be the most critical stressors, with work underload and distrust being the main indirectly influencing factors. These results are similar to those of a previous study with site managers, suggesting that job ambiguity and work overload are the common problem in the construction industry. The study of the manageability of stress is expected to inspire other similar research involving other professionals in the construction industry. This is expected to be of particular significance in the long‐term development of stress management in the industry in general.


The growing demand of wireless portable devices and the recent advances in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) provide a facility that users can benefit from anywhere and in situation of unplanned collaboration and more suitable for disaster relief. MANET consists of collection of mobile nodes which can freely move without any fixed infrastructure and is dynamically self-organized network. In MANET, the nodes move freely in random topology, so there is a high chance of breakage of link between the nodes. This leads to route discoveries and routing overheads and thus for reducing the routing overhead it is imperative to design such a dynamic routing protocol that will reduce the routing overhead and improves the performance scalability. In MANET, there is also have the problem of packets loss, thus showing the limitation of MANET regarding security as there is no any lines of defense in MANET. Hence, providing a secure network for MANET is another challenge. This paper proposes a protocol that will show the objectives of less overheads and good performance. According to a recent survey, authors suggested various routing protocol such as AODV, DSR, AODV-DFR, but they too have some limitations. In the proposed NCPR system, it will help to reduce routing overhead and increase in performance. In NCPR, protocol need to calculate the two factors i.e. rebroadcast delay and rebroadcast probability. Additionally, it is proposed to implement the AES algorithm for security purposes i.e. use the security key. After sharing the key, the source node can encrypt the data by using AES algorithm. Encrypted data can be transferred from source to destination.


BACKGROUND
Evidence suggests a relationship between prostaglandin levels in colonic mucosa and risk of colon cancer. Physical inactivity and a higher body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms divided by [height in meters]2) have been consistently shown to increase risk of this cancer. We investigated whether higher levels of leisure-time physical activity or a lower BMI was associated with lower concentrations of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in rectal mucosa.

METHODS
This study was conducted in 41 men and 22 women, 42-78 years of age, with a history of polyps, who participated in a randomized clinical trial testing the effects of piroxicam on rectal mucosal PGE2 levels. An [125I]PGE2 radioimmunoassay kit was used to determine PGE2 levels in samples of extracted rectal mucosa collected before randomization. Leisure-time physical activity was assessed through a self-administered questionnaire collected at baseline. The reported time spent at each activity per week was multiplied by its typical energy expenditure, expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs), to yield a MET-hours per week score. A repeated measures model was used to assess the effect of BMI and physical activity as predictors of PGE2 concentration. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS
After adjustment for age, a higher BMI was associated with higher PGE2 levels (P = .001). A higher level of leisure-time physical activity was inversely associated with PGE2 concentration (P<.03). An increase in BMI from 24.2 to 28.8 kg/m2 was associated with a 27% increase in PGE2. An increase in activity level from 5.2 to 27.7 MET-hours per week was associated with a 28% decrease in PGE2.

CONCLUSIONS
Physical activity and obesity may alter the risk of colon cancer through their effects on PGE2 synthesis.


The move towards the use of object-oriented methods for information system development has led to the need for object-oriented approaches to requirements engineering. Research into current system development practices in object-oriented requirements specification is necessary for techniques and tools to evolve and improve. This paper describes a set of four case studies that examined the use of object-oriented methodologies in professional requirements engineering practice by experienced system developers. In these studies, it was found that the widely published and commonly available methodologies were rarely used in their entirety, if they were used at all. Rather, most consultants interviewed developed in-house methodologies based on selected parts of methodologies and notations described in the literature and their own experience of "what had worked for them in the past". The reasons for this development of in-house methodologies include cost constraints for commercial methodologies and personal preference for the flexibility in adapting parts of methodologies to suit a specific task or project. This research project confirms and extends the findings of existing research in the use of system development methodologies and in particular, contributes to research into both requirements definition and object-oriented development practice.


To improve the power production of their 1 MW wave energy converter, Wavestar is developing a new transmission based on discrete hydraulics. The discrete hydraulic system allows all cylinders to supply a common accumulator storage while maintaining low-loss individual force control of the 20 absorbers. The system is implemented using multi-chambered cylinders, where the different chambers may be switched between three pressure lines using a manifold with fast on/off valves. Resultantly, a Discrete Displacement Cylinder (DDC) is obtained, where force control is implemented by shifting between different area/pressure combinations. Currently, a 420 kN DDC prototype has been implemented and tested at the newly commissioned full size wave energy testbench at Aalborg University. The initial design and control of the DDC had poorly damped switching transients. These issues treated in this paper. This leads to a new control, which gives a smooth operating DDC, while meeting the requirements to the efficiency of the drive.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


CURRENT CELLULOSIC BIOENERGY SOURCES In the United States, bioenergy sources are being investigated in an effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil and the associated risks to national security and climate change (Koh and Ghazoul 2008; Demirbas 2007; Berndes et al. 2003). Multiple sources of renewable plant-based material have been identified and include agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid waste, industrial waste, and specifically grown bioenergy crops (Demirbas et al. 2009; Gronowska et al. 2009). These sources are most commonly converted to energy through direct burning, conversion to gas, or conversion to ethanol. Annual crops, such as corn (Zea Mays L.) and sorghum grain, can be converted to ethanol through fermentation, while soybean and canola are transformed into fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) by reaction with an alcohol (Demirbas 2007). Perennial grasses are one of the more viable sources for bioenergy due to their continuous growth habit, noncrop status, and multiple use products (Lewandowski el al. 2003). In addition, a few perennial grass species have very high water and nutrient use efficiencies producing large quantities of biomass on an annual basis (Dohleman et al. 2009; Grantz and Vu 2009). Cellulosic bioenergy research is widespread throughout the country…


The article contributes to the analysis of the transformation of industrial relations in Europe by presenting an analysis of long-term trends and by testing the presence and endurance of clusters of industrial relations systems in Europe, on the basis of some basic quantitative and qualitative indicators. The objective is two-fold: the first section illustrates the general trends, rather than the differences across countries, in Europe as a whole, and in EU15 and Norway as opposed to EU12; the second section addresses the question of whether these trends have been accompanied by the blurring of boundaries between different «models», or established arrangements. A further objective is the identification of changes in the association of individual countries with the underlying cluster structure, in the 1960-2012 period. The analyses confirm the clear distinction between EU15 and Norway on one side and EU12 on the other. In the first group of countries, there are signs of long-term changes in industrial relations indicators, with the decline of union density, the decentralisation of the bargaining structure and the diffusion end broadening of opening clauses. However, bargaining coverage and coordination remain rather stable. In EU12, with few exceptions, the picture and the tendencies indicate a marginal role of industrial relations since shortly after the start of the transition phase (low union density and bargaining coverage, decentralised and fragmented bargaining structures). Industrial relations and collective bargaining involve a minority of employees and cover only quite limited parts of the employment system. The cluster analysis suggests that the structure of the various configurations of industrial relations in Europe is rather stable and tends to aggregate around four clusters (Nordic, Continental, Southern European, Disorganised). But there are also signs of a general downgrading of the role of industrial relations. The compression on the lower end of the spectrum in increasing and the traditional core of European industrial relations, the continental cluster, is moving downwards. Industrial relations in this particular juncture seem more fragile and vulnerable to economic and political processes, and overall less autonomous from policy-makers. The condition of ever-weaker actors and relatively stable structures and institutions does not appear to be sustainable in the long run.


To increase the performance of data-intensive applications, we present an extension to a CPU architecture that enables arbitrary near-data processing capabilities close to the main memory. This is realized by introducing a component attached to the CPU system-bus and a component at the memory side. Together they support hardware-managed coherence and virtual memory support to integrate the near-data processors in a shared-memory environment. We present an implementation of the components, as well as a system-simulator, providing detailed performance estimations. With a variety of synthetic workloads we demonstrate the performance of the memory accesses, the mixed fine- and coarse-grained coherence mechanisms, and the near-data processor communication mechanism. Furthermore, we quantify the inevitable start-up penalty regarding coherence and data writeback, and argue that near-data processing workloads should access data several times to offset this penalty. A case study based on the Graph500 benchmark confirms the small overhead for the proposed coherence mechanisms and shows the ability to outperform a real CPU by a factor of two.


One of the hall-mark of leading edge organization- be they public or private has been the successful application for performance evaluation to gain insight into, and make judgments about the organization and the effectiveness-efficiency of its programmes, processes and people. In other words, they use performance measurement for managing their organizations. It is a common practice to evaluate a company's performance in terms of financial measures like profitability, ROI, EVA. However, survival of company does not depend on financial matter alone. The financial measures alone in performance measurement and control system are inadequate for strategic decision making. There has been growing criticism for financial measures in
performance as they are historic in nature and lack futuristic outlook. Their relevance in the information age, when the companies are building internal assets and capabilities, is questioned. The situation might be worse when the firm is compelled to pursue short term goals at the cost of the long term objectives. Manager in practice have learnt the hard way that an unequalled focus on the financial health of
the organization results in several irreparable adverse consequences. Managers of successful companies do recognize that the financial measures are after-the-events or lagging indicators of performance which depend on numerous events that would have occurred months or years before and over which they do not have control at present. Thus, Non financial measures are equally important while measuring the performance of business units. Harvard's Robert Kaplan and David Norton developed an innovative and multidimensional corporate performance evaluation tool known as Balanced Scorecard. The BSC is a useful approach for organizational measurement and improvement. The BSC is performance measurement system using a multi-dimensional scorecard to translate strategy into a balance of financial & non-financial performance measures. So many corporate firms are using the tool successfully throughout world. While in India, the Balanced Scorecard is also getting popularity.


Significance The floating parts of the Antarctic ice sheet ("ice shelves") help to hold back the flow of the grounded parts, determining the contribution to global sea level rise. Using satellite images, we measured, for the first time, all icebergs larger than 1 km2 calving from the entire Antarctic coastline, and the state of health of all the ice shelves. Some large ice shelves are growing while many smaller ice shelves are shrinking. We find high rates of iceberg calving from Antarctic ice shelves that are undergoing basal melt-induced thinning, which suggests the fate of ice shelves may be more sensitive to ocean forcing than previously thought. Iceberg calving from all Antarctic ice shelves has never been directly measured, despite playing a crucial role in ice sheet mass balance. Rapid changes to iceberg calving naturally arise from the sporadic detachment of large tabular bergs but can also be triggered by climate forcing. Here we provide a direct empirical estimate of mass loss due to iceberg calving and melting from Antarctic ice shelves. We find that between 2005 and 2011, the total mass loss due to iceberg calving of 755 ± 24 gigatonnes per year (Gt/y) is only half the total loss due to basal melt of 1516 ± 106 Gt/y. However, we observe widespread retreat of ice shelves that are currently thinning. Net mass loss due to iceberg calving for these ice shelves (302 ± 27 Gt/y) is comparable in magnitude to net mass loss due to basal melt (312 ± 14 Gt/y). Moreover, we find that iceberg calving from these decaying ice shelves is dominated by frequent calving events, which are distinct from the less frequent detachment of isolated tabular icebergs associated with ice shelves in neutral or positive mass balance regimes. Our results suggest that thinning associated with ocean-driven increased basal melt can trigger increased iceberg calving, implying that iceberg calving may play an overlooked role in the demise of shrinking ice shelves, and is more sensitive to ocean forcing than expected from steady state calving estimates.


A canvass of the resource economics literature of the last thirty years yields a limited number of applications of economic theory to the problems of recreational fishing, especially compared to the depth of contributions to commercial fisheries over this era. This neglect may be linked to the relatively short shrift given to the control of recreational fisheries (relative to commercial fisheries) by fisheries managers in the past. This asymmetry may be justified when recreational takes are sufficiently small to be negligible for the purposes of stock management. However, it has become increasingly clear that recreational mortality, far from being insignificant, is often comparable to or greater than the commercial mortality for many species (Coleman, et al., 2004). With fisheries managers scrambling to find solutions for the control of recreational mortality, economists have entered the policy arena promoting innovative rights-based policies that are grounded in the past successes of economic prescriptions for the management of commercial fisheries (Johnston, et al., 2007, Sutinen and Johnston, 2003). Despite the merits of these proposals, there remains a sense that findings from the commercial fishing experience may not be as immediately transferable to recreational settings as often imagined. In the first place, our understanding of the mechanisms of the rent dissipation process under open access is imperfect at best. Experience from the rationalization of commercial fisheries has yielded many surprises, with drastic behavioral changes occurring at unanticipated margins (Wilen, 2005). These experiences demonstrate the inadequacies of simple single-factor models in capturing the complexities of real-world rent dissipation. Second, while the recreational for-hire sector may seem similar to commercial fisheries operations in many ways, there are key differences that may limit our ability to readily transfer knowledge from commercial rationalization programs. These observations point toward the need for a more developed theoretical foundation in order to make sense of recreational fishery rationalization programs - such as those under consideration for the Gulf of Mexico - and their likely effects. As a step along this path, we develop a simple bioeconomic model of optimal and open access management for a for-hire recreational fishery. We restrict our attention to the for-hire sector for three reasons. First, charter and headboat trips are a substantial part of total fishing effort for many species and often contribute in a significant way to many coastal economies. Second, given the relative ease of observing fishing activities on for-hire vessels compared to solitary fishing trips, they are widely considered easier targets for regulation and are thus likely to be of some importance in recreational fisheries policy making over the near horizon. Finally, as we shall demonstrate, the interaction of consumer preferences with the supply behavior of vessel owners creates the potential for an array of fascinating distortions and feedbacks with great relevance for fisheries policy. Our model rests upon elements of the bioeconomic framework pioneered by McConnell and Sutinen (1979) and Anderson (1993). However, it extends their approach by incorporating a realistic and flexible theory of the choice of inputs of the for-hire fishing firm. This synthesis of traditional analytical bioeconomics with a production economics treatment of firm behavior is unique, both in commercial and recreational fisheries applications. Combining the supply and demand sides of the problem allows us to examine the long run distortions arising under open access in a manner that reflects feedbacks between angler preferences and the decisions of vessel owners. We find that open access conditions in charter fisheries lead to numerous distortions including excess investments in catch-augmenting inputs on vessels, excessive catch of target species and excessive entry of vessels (resulting in idle vessel capacity for a potentially substantial portion of the season). More subtle perverse incentives include the presence of too few anglers per vessel (due to incentives to reduce losses to catch rates due to congestion), possible underinvestment in valuable but non catch enhancing factor inputs and an incentive for anglers to land an excessive fraction of their catch to the detriment of the future stock. Many of these findings are reflective of recreational fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. We then utilize our model to consider various options for the rationalization of chartered recreational fisheries. Interestingly, achieving the first best outcome requires a minimum of two policy instruments, a tax/quota on fishing mortality and a levy/quota on entry. The levy on entry is necessary to prevent new entry into a profitable fishery where all charter boat owners are fully employed leading to a situation of less than full employment of vessel capital and the inflation of industry-wide fixed costs. We discuss at length the problems of monitoring and enforcement for a system of tradable landings and discard quotas and discuss the merits of a single-quota system based on a single estimated mortality variable where both landings and discards are, to some degree, observable. Under this system, fishermen are able to exchange landings quota for discards at a prescribed relative mortality ratio. Vessels vie for certification into a discrete number of mortality classes (and thus discard/landings exchange ratios) based upon easily observed factors such as enforcement of quick catch and release behavior, use of gears with lower mortality characteristics and the employment of accepted post-catch techniques to enhance survival. Vessel owners would face positive incentives to achieve a high degree of certification because doing so would allow them to generate a greater number of landings for a given holding of mortality quota. This increases the effective number of anglers the vessel can serve with their holdings thus leading to an increase in the asset value of their quota - a gain they can capitalize on directly by serving more anglers or, indirectly, by selling their surplus quota.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between internal marketing and service quality. The research method in this study was descriptive and correlation method. Sports and Youth offices staff of Golestan province have established statistical population of research that they all participated in the study (N=180). For this purpose, Tabatabi, (2010) Internal Marketing questionnaire and Davis's Service Quality questionnaire (2005) was used. Reliability of questionnaires after a pilot study using Cronbach's alpha test, respectively (α=0.84) and (α=0.88) were obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics methods for data analysis were used. The findings showed that between internal marketing and service quality in sports and youth offices staff, there is significant positive correlation (r=0/547, p<0/001). The research findings on the importance of internal marketing and its levels as one of the factors affecting service quality within the sports and youth offices of Golestan province underlined. Thus, leaders and HR managers should use the strategic plans for the development of internal marketing in order to provide higher quality services.


Elevated regimen related distress (RRD) in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with poor glycemic control and lower medication adherence but the strategy for and impact of reducing RRD in primary care is unclear. Data for this study comes from a prospective randomized controlled trial that evaluated the effectiveness of a 16-session severity tailored cognitive behavioral intervention plus lifestyle change counseling (n = 67; IG=intervention group) delivered by trained staff compared to usual care (n = 72; CG=control group), in 139 rural adult patients (mean age = 52.6 ± 9.5 years.; 72% black; BMI = 37.0 ± 9.0) with uncontrolled (mean A1c = 9.6 ± 2.0) T2D (52% on insulin) and co-morbid depressive (PHQ-2) or distress (DDS-2) symptoms at screening in an academic primary care clinic. At baseline and at 12-month follow-up: A1c, regimen-related distress (sub-score of DDS-17), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), self-care behaviors (SDSCA), and medication adherence (ModMAS) were measured using validated instruments. There were no differences between groups at baseline in mean age, race, gender, or mean values for A1c, body mass index (BMI), PHQ-9, or RRD scores. At 12-month follow-up patients in the behavioral intervention group had significantly greater reduction in RRD scores than those in the control arm (-1.12 ± 1.vs. -0.31 ± 1.22; p = 0.001). Among intervention group patients only, those with an improvement in RRD score of ≥ 1 (n = 32) had substantially greater improvement in A1c [-1.3 ± 1.7 vs. -0.56 ± 1.9; p = 0.09] and self-care behaviors [+1.33 ± 1.38 vs. + 0.88 ± 1.2; p = 0.16] as well as significantly greater improvement in medication adherence [+1.6 ± 1.7 vs. +0.47 ± 2.2; p = 0.02]. A tailored cognitive behavioral intervention reduces RRD in patients with uncontrolled T2D and co-morbid behavioral problems and is associated with improved medication adherence that may be associated with improved glycemic control. Disclosure L. Lutes: None. D.M. Cummings: None. B. Hambidge: None. M. Carraway: None. S. Patil: None. A. Adams: None. C. Solar: None. K. Littlewood: None. S. Edwards: None. P. Gatlin: None.


This study aims to investigate the initial perceived knowledge and skills of high school students in information technology (IT) security and the effect of an online security support tool, the Security Portal (SP), on students' perceived knowledge and skills in IT security. The SP is a website designed and developed as an extracurricular learning tool to improve high school students' knowledge and skills in IT security. An exploratory research design with descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was conducted to answer the research questions. The data were collected from the participants through the Perceived Knowledge and Skills in IT Security questionnaire, administered as pre-test and post-test before and after using the SP. The results of the study indicated that the majority of students were not aware about their schools' IT security policies and rules. Similarly, students had limited knowledge of the rules for using IT devices at their homes. Students' perceived knowledge and skills in (i) virus infection, (ii) awareness about IT crimes and unlicensed products, (iii) security settings of operating systems, (iv) Windows firewall and defender, (v) security settings of Android OS except adding owner information (vi) security issues related to e-mails, except risk associated with opening e-mails from unknown senders, (vii) security issues of web browsers and SNSs except security and privacy settings of SNSs, could be improved by using such tools.


This thesis reports an investigation into children's understanding of learning, as they engage with an e-Iearning design challenge. It begins by making a case that children's views of learning are of crucial significance, not only because of their position as pre-eminent learners in families and societies, but also because their learning is at the heart of our culture's aspirations for education. Then, it examines a selection of prior studies of learning in e-design contexts in order to gauge the advantages of seeking the views of children about learning in an e-design context. This consideration revealed the technological and educational potential of e-design, suggesting that such a context would be opportune here. Fortuitously, a large, ARC-funded Linkage Project (GENESIS Generating e-Iearning Systems in Schools) provided just such an e-design context. In this project, researchers were keen to investigate whether the slowness of schools in appropriating e-Iearning might be offset when students have a sustained opportunity to conceive, design and, as far as possible, build an e-Iearning environment in which they and other students could explore questions they were passionately curious about. As a case study within the GENESIS Project, this study followed Papert's (1973) five-step process of educational research. First, a theory of education (a biologically based generative theory) was selected. Next, the ensuing set of conditions for the intellectual growth of children (the e-Iearning design challenge itself) was laid out. These conditions were then implemented within the context of The GENESIS Project: the children were equipped with the opportunity and resources to design an e-Iearning environment to explore a science-and technology topic of their choice (How and why do we think? How come we're not born with the knowledge we know now?). Of the large set of project data, six accounts were selected as representative of the diversity and commonality of children's learning and their understanding of learning in this study. Findings revealed that these children understand learning as generating, testing and thereby modifying ideas, they appreciate that these events are influenced by each leamer's values and they recognise value in undertaking this knowledge gaining activity as part of a learning community. Furthermore, these children explicitly enact opportune learning experiences, particularly technologically, demonstrating their fluency as technological thinkers, capable of having technological ideas about learning.


ATTED-II (http://atted.jp) is a database of coexpressed genes that was originally developed to identify functionally related genes in Arabidopsis and rice. Herein, we describe an updated version of ATTED-II, which expands this resource to include additional agriculturally important plants. To improve the quality of the coexpression data for Arabidopsis and rice, we included more gene expression data from microarray and RNA sequencing studies. The RNA sequencing-based coexpression data now cover 94% of the Arabidopsis protein-encoding genes, representing a substantial increase from previously available microarray-based coexpression data (76% coverage). We also generated coexpression data for four dicots (soybean, poplar, grape and alfalfa) and one monocot (maize). As both the quantity and quality of expression data for the non-model species are generally poorer than for the model species, we verified coexpression data associated with these new species using multiple methods. First, the overall performance of the coexpression data was evaluated using gene ontology annotations and the coincidence of a genomic feature. Secondly, the reliability of each guide gene was determined by comparing coexpressed gene lists between platforms. With the expanded and newly evaluated coexpression data, ATTED-II represents an important resource for identifying functionally related genes in agriculturally important plants.


The surface metabolism theory posits that adaptive evolution initiated when autocatalytic chemical systems became spatially localized on mineral surfaces. We searched for such surface-limited metabolisms (SLiMes) using a chemical ecosystem selection paradigm. This involves creating a prebiotic microcosm containing mineral grains and a "soup," rich in food and potential sources of chemical energy, and then serially transferring a subset of the grains to a new microcosm containing fresh soup and new grains. This repeated dilution should enrich for chemical systems that can self-propagate more rapidly than the rate of serial dilution, and such enrichment should be detectable based on changes in microcosm chemistry over the course of multiple transfers. We deployed chemical ecosystem selection on several different soups and minerals and identified a combination that appears to be conducive to the enrichment of a SLiMe. In these conditions, chemical changes were observed over the first 12–18 transfers, most notably a loss of both orthophosphate and organics (as detected by optical density) from the solution. This loss from the solution correlated with the appearance of fractal structures on the surface of the grains. The putative SLiMes show clear evidence of self-propagation ability and manifest basic ecological dynamics. Ongoing work is evaluating the systems' evolutionary capacity.


Background: Hypovitaminosis A and zinc deficiency were diagnosed in a 7-year-old Friesian cow from a small milking herd comprising of thirty Friesian cows in a zero grazing unit in Muranga County in Kenya, on Friday, November 15, 2019. The cow was weighing approximately 500 kilograms and had calved four months ago. The daily production of milk was tweny five litres. The cow had a history of sudden inappetance, reduced weight, sternal recumbency, convulsions and heavy lacrymation. Clinical examination revealed slight clouding of the cornea, and dilated pupils which did not respond to light. The menace response was almost absent but palperal and corneal reflexes were present. The cow was not apparently blind. Methods: The clinical examination of the skin revealed a fungal infection. Skin scrapings and hair from the lesions were examined for fungal species by direct microscopy in 10% KOH and lactophenol. Collected samples were inoculated on mycobiotic agar. The inoculum was incubated at 28°C for two to six weeks and examined for colony formation. Culture examination revealed Trichophyton verrucosum as the cause of dermatophytosis. Blood sample was taken from the cow into a vial containing heparin for spectrophotometric estimation of vitamin A and serum zinc concentrations. Results: Vitamin A and serum zinc concentrations were 5.12 μg/dl and 3.24 μg/L, respectively. The reference serum values for vitamin A are in the range of 15.4 to 32.3 μg/dl, while reference serum zinc levels are in the range of 6-12 μg/L for optimum physiologic functioning in dairy cattle. On the basis of history, clinical examination and significantly low serum vitamin A and zinc levels, the lactating friesian cow was diagnosed to be suffering from combined hypovitaminosis A and zinc deficiency. The dairy cow was therapeutically managed through administration of zinc sulphate orally, at a dosage rate of 1 gram per week for six weeks, administration of vitamin A at a dosage rate of 30,000 international units (IU), deep intramuscularly, once daily for seven days, and intramuscular administration of 3 mls of BelamylR, once daily for seven days. The body parts with lesions caused by T. verrucosum were treated through topical administration of zinc oxide ointment once daily for twenty one days. Following treatment of the lactating cow, significant improvement was observed in terms of disappearance of lachrymation, corneal clouding, sternal recumbency, skin lesions and convulsions. The appetite also returned to normal. All the other cows in the farm were supplemented with vitamin A and zinc. The client was also advised to include fresh napier and bermuda grass in the cattle diet, since they have been shown to contain adequate levels of beta carotene and zinc. Conclusion: In conclusion, zinc and vitamin A supplementation may be of benefit for recovery of cows from sternal recumbency and dermatophytosis.


Elevated levels of iron and aluminium in the body can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and eventually death. To reduce complications of metal overload, specific chelating agents have been used. Following our recent developments in a series of hexadentate 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones (3,4-HP) with high M3+ sequestering capacity, we herein present a novel tripodal homologue, whose design involves one methylene truncation on the linkers. This truncation aimed to reduce the ligand molecular weight and concomitant improvement in the membrane crossing ability and accessibility to cytoplasmic iron pools, but still retaining the capacity for the formation of a 1 : 1 (M3+ : L) complex with high thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness. Besides the synthesis of a new ligand, solution studies have been performed to evaluate the acid–base properties and complexation capacity towards Fe(III) and Al(III) using potentiometry and a panoply of spectrometric techniques. The pFe and pAl values show some decrease, as compared with the non-truncated homologues, but still represent an improvement of, respectively, 7- and 4-orders of magnitude, as compared to the marketed drug deferiprone. The ability of this new ligand to facilitate metal-mobilization from the body was investigated using a mice model injected with 67Ga. The new chelator possessing high pM3+ values shows promising ability to remove Fe and Al under in vivo conditions.


Sediments recovered during Leg 154 exhibit an unusually wide variation of interbedded lithologies down to the deepest layers recovered (900-m burial depth). We report here on relations of properties as a function of lithology and burial depth. Lithologies have been characterized by a large number of carbonate determinations on samples used for discrete physical properties measurements. Carbonate determinations have been supplemented by quartz determinations using infrared spectroscopy, and by shipboard determinations of biogenic opal content. Physical properties show coherent patterns with carbonate content over discrete zones that average several hundred meters of thickness. The relation between seismic velocities and carbonate content is strong enough to detect a velocity calibration problem for an interval of Site 925 shipboard measurements. The shallowest Ceara Rise sediments show a weak positive dependency of bulk density and a more pronounced positive relationship of seismic velocities on carbonate content. The difference between bulk-density and carbonate relations on Ceara Rise and well-known relations established in siliceous settings can be explained by the high quartz contents (15% - 16% on a carbonate-free basis) of the Pleistocene section. For each type of physical property, inversions are encountered, where the sense of the correlation between property and lithology changes. For example, both bulk densities and seismic velocities become negatively correlated to carbonate content at depths of 100 - 250 meters below seasoor on the Ceara Rise, but then become positively correlated on further burial. These inversions are interpreted to result from the competition between mechanical and chemical compaction in pelagic sediments. Bulk density, in particular, shows a complex evolution with depth that often results in a parabolic relation of density to carbonate content in more deeply buried Ceara Rise sediments. Nevertheless, the relations between physical properties and carbonate content on Ceara Rise are sufÞciently systematic that predictive models can be generated to relate lithology to signals sensed by borehole logging tools and by seismic imaging.


Author(s): Cohen, Clara | Advisor(s): Gahl, Susanne | Abstract: In this dissertation, I ask how systematic patterns of pronunciation variation in speech production reveal speakers' awareness of abstract structure and usage patterns during the planning and articulation of an utterance. I explore how structure and usage combine to affect speech production at the level of the sentence and the level of the word. In particular, I focus on subject verb agreement, because computing agreement draws on sentence-level mechanisms and word-level mechanisms of speech production. At the sentence level, agreement implicates structural knowledge because speakers must know which phrases are subjects and which words are verbs in order to inflect the verb appropriately. It implicates usage patterns because, in some constructions, multiple agreement forms may be used, each with its own probability of being selected. The contextual probability of using a particular form in such constructions is thus the sentence-level intersection of structure and usage. At the word level, agreement implicates structural knowledge through paradigmatic relations between inflectional forms of a lexeme. Speakers must know that the relationship between speak and spoke, for example, is the same as the relationship between talk and talked, despite the lack of any phonological similarity between the two alternations. Usage patterns come into play at the word level because different forms within a given lexeme's paradigm are used with vastly different frequencies, and the shape of these frequency distributions affects how people retrieve words (Bien et al., 2011; Kuperman et al., 2007). The paradigmatic probability of using a particular form from an inflectional paradigm therefore represents the word-level intersection of structure and usage. In three production experiments in English and Russian, I ask how contextual and paradigmatic probability of using a particular form affect the pronunciation of that form.In both English and Russian, I find that higher contextual probability of producing a particular agreeing form results in some type of phonetic reduction, while higher paradigmatic probability results in some type of phonetic enhancement. The phonetic feature that shows reduction or enhancement, however, depends on the language. This featural specificity leads me to propose the Contrast Dependent Pronunciation Variation hypothesis (CDPV). According to this hypothesis, structure and usage combine to restrict the types of probabilistic pronunciation variation that a speaker employs. By CDPV, pronunciation is not simply "reduced' when certain forms are contextually probable (Jurafsky et al., 2001) or "enhanced" when certain forms are paradigmatically probable (Kuperman et al., 2007). Rather, the phonetic features that vary with respect to contextual or paradigmatic probability are exactly those features which encode salient contrasts between competing forms. Phonetic "reduction" and "enhancement" are not general processes that weaken or strengthen the articulation in predictable, universal ways. Rather, they are targeted adjustments -- reductions and enhancement -- of the contrasts themselves, and are therefore sensitive to language-specific and perhaps even construction-specific properties.


It is surprising that so little study should have been devoted to the navy of the later Empire. Since new information has now become available, it would seem a favourable opportunity to consider afresh the structure of the warships of the imperial fleets. The ancient sources may be divided into three main categories. The first is represented by that invaluable collection of tenth century naval handbooks which have recently been edited by M. Dain. Most important for our present purposes are the Περὶ θαλασσομαχίας of the Emperor Leo VI, which may probably be dated to 905–6, and the anonymous Παρὰ Βασιλείον Πατρικίου καὶ Παρακοιμωμένου (cited 'Anon PBPP'), which M. Dain dates to the years immediately following the Cretan expedition of 960–1. This latter work was unknown to Torr when writing his Ancient Ships, and M. Dain may be said virtually to have rediscovered it. It is addressed to a certain Basil who was the natural son of Romanus Lecapenus. His bastardy stood him in good stead, and he survived the fall of his father and half-brothers. He seems to have attached himself to the party of Nicephorus Phocas, and organized a 'fifth column' which contributed in no small part to the overthrow of Joseph Bringas. His nefarious enterprises were finally ended by Basil II, who relegated him to a monastery. All the tenth-century naval handbooks reflect older traditions, and there seems to have been little essential difference between conditions prevailing under the Amorian and the Macedonian dynasties.


The effect of post-space treatment on the retention of fiber posts in different root regions was evaluated using two self-etching systems. Post spaces were prepared in extracted premolars and then the root canals were subjected to one of the following post-space treatments: (i) water irrigation (control); (ii) etching with 35% phosphoric acid for 30 s; (iii) irrigation with 17% EDTA followed by 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl); and (iv) ultrasonic agitation associated with 17% EDTA and 5.25% NaOCl irrigating solutions. The dentin surfaces were examined under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after different post-space treatments. Fiber posts were then luted in the treated roots using resin cement with either Clearfil SE Bond or Clearfil DC Bond, and the thin-slice push-out test was performed. Scanning electron microscopy showed that all the post-space treatments tested were effective in removal of the smear layer of debris, or sealer/gutta-percha remnants, on the root canal. The apical push-out strength was affected by post-space treatment. Both 35% phosphoric acid etching and ultrasonic agitation in combination with EDTA/NaOCl irrigation improved the apical push-out strength of the fiber post, regardless of the type of self-etching system. A solo irrigation with an EDTA/NaOCl solution resulted in a lower apical push-out strength compared with the other two experimental groups.


Pathophysiological concepts of primary headache diseases have been developed significantly in the last decades. Nevertheless pathophysiology of single diseases is unexplained. Migraine headache arises from activation and sensibilization of trigeminal nociceptors, essential processes are located at the meninges and the meningeal vessels. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) seems to have essential importance concerning migraine and cluster headache. Mechanisms leading to peripheral and central sensitization are relevant in chronification of migraine and tension-type headache. As a higher-level centre the hypothalamus seems to have an essential meaning in the initiation of migraine attacks. Dysbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic neural system causes cranial-autonomic symptoms in some headache diseases and can be affected therapeutically.


Neonatal rat anterior pituitary glands treated in organ culture with 1 nanomolar luteinzing hormone-releasing factor (LRF) showed a tenfold increase in medium luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations over control values. Simultaneous treatment of the glands with 1 nanomolar melatonin significantly reduced the stimulatory effect of LRF on release of LH. This finding indicates that melatonin can act directly on the neonatal pituitary to inhibit the LH response to LRF.


Cellular adoptive immunotherapy for virus-associated malignant disease is an attractive strategy, since viral antigens provide targets for specific T lymphocytes. In Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive Hodgkin disease (HD), a limited number of EBV-encoded antigens such as the latent membrane antigens (LMP) 1 and 2 are expressed on the malignant Reed-Sternberg cells. The authors aimed to generate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) from patients with relapsed HD by specifically targeting LMP2A. Patients with relapsed HD have highly immunosuppressive tumors and have been heavily pretreated with cytotoxic agents. As a result, monocytes and lymphocytes are numerically reduced and functionally impaired. Approaches using dendritic cells (DCs) as the sole antigen-presenting cell to expand LMP2-specific CTL lines in vitro have proved impractical. The authors now show how small amounts of patient peripheral blood can be used to produce DCs expressing LMP2 after Ad5F35 transduction, and how an initial reactivation of LMP2-specific CTLs can be followed by stimulation with lymphoblastoid cell lines overexpressing LMP2 from the same vector. Large numbers of LMP2-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes are produced that contain both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (favoring long-term persistence in vivo) and recognize multiple LMP2 epitopes (minimizing the risk of tumor antigen loss variants). This approach is being used in a current clinical trial.


The assumption is his practise of denying citizens their prerogative, of which they are likely to be unaware during the stress of unexpected death, whereby they decide whether or not a relative's organs are used for transplantation, research, or teaching (Human Tissue Act, 1961). Mr Andrew points out that a willing kidney donor should carry a donor card. We agree with this view. However, to our knowledge, only two United Kingdom donors suitable for kidney transplants have been recognised by this method. The value of the kidney donor card is clearly limited and may well be indirect; relatives carrying kidney donor cards are likely to give per,mission for kidneys to be used for transplantation if given the opportunity by consultants and junior colleagues. Nowadays most transplant units use only kidneys from donors with brain death supported by ventilators. In this circumstance there is no significant difference between asking relatives to remove kidneys for transplantation and requesting a necropsy. Permission for tens of thousands of necropsies are granted by bereaved relatives each year in the belief that other citizens and doctors will benefit from this examination. It is our view that the majority of citizens would, for the same reason, allow kidneys to be used for transplantation.


Basil (Ocimum basilicum) was cultivated in Rostock, Northern Germany, in a decoupled aquaponic system with African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) under intensive rearing conditions by using three hydroponic components, the dynamic root floating technique (DRF), the raft technique, and grow pipes. A 25% of the recommended feed input still allowed African catfish growth and provided adequate nitrogen and calcium levels in the process water. After 36 days, the plants were examined with respect to 16 different growth parameters. DRF performed significantly better than raft and/or grow pipes in 11 parameters. Total weight of basil was significantly higher in DRF (107.70 ± 34.03 g) compared with raft (82.02 ± 22.74 g) and grow pipes (77.86 ± 23.93 g). The economically important leaf biomass was significantly higher in wet and dry weight under DRF cultivation (45.36 ± 13.53 g; 4.96 ± 1.57 g) compared with raft (34.94 ± 9.44 g; 3.74 ± 1.04 g) and grow pipes (32.74 ± 9.84 g; 3.75 ± 1.22 g). Two main factors limited plant growth: an unbalanced nutrient concentration ratio and high water temperatures with an average of 28 °C (max 34.4 °C), which resulted in reduced root activity in raft and grow pipes. DRF was able to maintain root activity through the 5 cm air space between the shoots and the nutrient solution and thus produced significantly more biomass. This suggests DRF to be used for basil aquaponics under glass house conditions with high-temperature scenarios. Future studies are needed to optimize nutrient loads and examine systems with the plant roots exposed to air (Aeroponics).


An interesting class of intelligent tutoring systems are systems that are able to detect and recognize affective responses and states in students, and use such data to adapt its feedback, guidance and instruction. The article presents affective responses and states considered relevant for learning, and methods that have been proposed or used to detect such responses and states. We focus on the affective state of 'eureka', a relatively short-term state with corresponding difficulties of being detected. There are good reasons to attempt to catch this affective state, since it can mark when understanding is achieved and signal to an intelligent tutoring system that the student is ready to proceed in the learning process. A study is presented where a combination of the behavioural measure of eye tracking and two psycho-physiological measures – skin conductance and pupil size – are used in an attempt to identify this affective experience. The results showed significant differences on all measures between subjects who understood certain stimuli, and purportedly experienced eureka, and subjects who did not understand the stimuli. The psycho-physiological measure patterns were however not as dramatic as predicted. Finally, we discuss the potential benefits for students using ITS, that can detect eureka experiences (Less)


Public financial transparency is increasingly advocated as a solution to concerns over legal tax planning by multinational corporations, and illegal tax evasion, fraud and money laundering. Caution is warranted since the scale of revenues at stake are in fact smaller than is often perceived, while experience suggests that data transparency is not a simple route to accountability. In particular there are calls for mandatory publication of beneficial ownership (the ultimate owners of companies and trusts), and country-by-country reports by multinational corporations (detailing revenues, assets, employment, profits and taxes paid in each jurisdiction). Other proposals include publication of tax rulings and profit and loss accounts for all companies. The broad case is made that the problems are huge, and that public transparency is the only solution. For complex problems to gain political and public momentum, it is helpful to be able to point to simple, clear solutions. Public registers of beneficial ownership and country-by-country reporting have played this role for the issues of illicit financial flows and profit shifting. But, there is a danger both for governments and civil society that iconic transparency measures provide 'form' rather than the 'function' in seeking to solve these problems. Ultimately, the aim should be to iterate towards mechanisms that enable more responsive public institutions, trusted legal systems, more effective markets and a stronger social contract between governments and their people.


Algorithmic trading has becomes a huge proportion of the trades executed on securities exchanges around the world. Reduced transaction costs have faciliated a new generation of trading strategies which depend on computing and network speed. Algorithmic trading also poses a new set of risks and challenges regulators to keep up. This paper reviews the technology infrastructre supporting algorithmic and high-speed trading.


A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination and pharmacokinetic study of cinnamic acid in the plasma of rats after having been administrated orally with the traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) preparation Ling-Gui-Zhu-Gan decoction is established. Plasma samples taken from rats are acidified with hydrochloric acid and extracted with ethyl acetate. Separation of the main effective constituent cinnamic acid is accomplished on a C18 stationary phase and a mobile phase of methanol-acetonitrile-2% glacial acetic acid (10:22:70, v/v) with a UV detector setting at 254 nm. After validation, the method is used to take a limited view of pharmacokinetic profiles of the TCM preparation of the Ling-Gui-Zhu-Gan decoction.