In Calceola sandalina the full complement of counter major septa was established very low in the calyx, extending from the counter septum across to the edge of the counter face. At about mid-height of the calyx, a counter-lateral major septum was generated on either side of and from the counter septum. Serial minor septal insertion was initiated adjacent to the counter-lateral septa at a slightly later stage and continued throughout the subsequent ontogeny of the corallite, with minor septa (schizosepta?) arising on the median side of major septa and bifurcating from them. Alar fossulae are seen in the calyx of mature corallites, on the counter side of a low ridge near the lateral extremity of the inner surface of the counter face. Insertion of major septa in the alar fossula has been observed rarely on the external counter face of worn corallites. The median septum in the operculum of C. sandalina is a compound structure which incorporates adjacent minor septa. In an Emsian(?) corallite of ?Chakeola sp. minor septa are derived from major septa, new minor septa being generated on the outer side of major septa. This corallite also exhibits minor septa adjacent to the K septum, thus casting doubt on Birenheide's generalisation that the counter-lateral septa of C. sandalina are not separated from the counter septum by minor septa. In the Emsian Chakeola whitehousei minor septa are present adjacent to the counter septum of the operculum. The distal, anteriorly facing, projecting peg of the K septum of the corallite articulated within the large socket in the opercular K septum, and subsidiary grooves and plates on the socket and septum further facilitated interlocking. Knobs and/or small lists are developed along the posterior edge of the operculum, in the shelf inside the counter edge; septal pegs developed by septa in the corallite were accommodated within this shelf. The opercular septal blades interlocked loosely between the anteriorly facing, distal parts of septa of the corallite. Rare opercula show one or more (abortive?) attempts to overcome damage which led to displacement of the operculum relative to the corallite, and rejuvenescence is exhibited to various degrees in many opercula. One operculum was apparently broken (bitten?) in half as a juvenile, but was reconstructed to reach a mature form. Other specimens show epifauna, borings and bioerosion either on the external surface of the operculum or on the external cardinal surface of the corallite. 'Galls' on the inner opercular surface are interpreted as stereome deposited to seal off some type of internal parasite. In C. sandalina, tubules containing tabulae are located just inside the counter face, and may have served to house soft parts associated with the operculum. Changes of opercular septal morphology suggest that the phylogeny of Devonian genera of the Calceolidae is Rhizophyllum -> Savageola -> Chakeola -> Richtereola and ultimately, -> Calceola.


The COVID pandemic and the rise of zooming has increased the ability of many people (primarily the rich) to work remotely. This in turn has led to more people moving to other countries to benefit from the ability to work remotely while enjoying other benefits such as lower housing prices, a more leisurely lifestyle, and in some cases greater political stability. Many Americans have used their newfound freedom to move overseas, e.g., to Italy. They and others like them are the new nomads. Such a move is not tax motivated because Italy has higher personal tax rates than the US. It does, however, raise interesting tax issues because the US (uniquely) imposes worldwide taxation on its citizens wherever they live, while Italy (like most countries) does not tax non-resident citizens but taxes its residents on worldwide income regardless of their citizenship status. The question is whether the US or the Italian regime is preferable in a world in which rich people can freely choose their residence jurisdiction regardless of their citizenship. Most of the literature (including my own) condemns the US approach as a historical anachronism and accepts the Italian approach as obvious. But this question requires reconsideration under changing conditions. The tax policy choice (whether a country should tax non-resident citizens or non-citizen residents on global income) raises issues that would have been very familiar to Erwin Seligman and his colleagues on the 1923 League of Nations report. A key issue in the US debate on adopting the Sixteenth Amendment (1913) to authorize an income tax was whether federal taxes should be based on the benefits provided to the taxpayer by the government (the benefits or exchange principle) or on the taxpayer's ability to pay taxes (the ability to pay principle). Seligman was a major advocate of the ability to pay principle, and of the consequent insistence that Congress has the power to tax all income "from whatever source derived," since all income contributes to ability to pay. The ability to pay principle was also behind the adoption of the foreign tax credit and the rejection of exemption for foreign source income in 1918. The 1923 report is based on the benefits principle ("economic allegiance"), but the insistence that the residence jurisdiction must have the right to tax the income of its residents on a worldwide basis while allowing for credits for source-based taxes is derived from the ability to pay principle. Which principle is better suited for taxing nomads? In my opinion, it is the ability to pay principle and not the benefits principle. A US citizen living permanently abroad does not derive sufficient benefits from their US passport (and may in some cases not even have one and not be aware of her US citizenship if that resulted from being born in the US). But if taxation is based on ability to pay, the relevant ability to pay is that of adult members of a political community, who get to vote and thereby determine the appropriate tax rates and the degree of progressivity of the tax rate schedule. And since US citizens abroad can vote in US elections, they should be subject to US taxes based on their ability to pay, i.e., on global income from whatever source derived. Taxation of non-citizen residents, on the other hand, should be based on the benefits principle since they do not get to vote and therefore are not members of the political community in which they reside. Therefore, Italy should only tax US citizens residing in Italy on Italian source income, which reflects the benefits conferred on them by Italy, and not on foreign source income, which does not reflect such benefits. The US should credit those Italian benefits (source) based taxes in accordance with the priority of benefits (source) over ability to pay (residence) established by the 1923 report (the "first bite at the apple" rule). The problem with this proposal, of course, is that it encourages taxpayers to obtain passports in tax havens and live permanently in other countries, and if those residence countries will only tax them on domestic source income, the result is massive under-taxation of the rich. Such "non-dom" regimes are a serious problem under current rules because countries like the UK (and many others) have adopted them to attract the rich. But there are ways to address this issue since non-dom regimes are politically unpopular and therefore ripe for legislative change in democratic countries. First, a residence country should be able to impose tax on its residents on worldwide income if the country of citizenship does not do so at all. Second, while the country of citizenship should be able to impose any non-zero tax rate it wants on its citizens (that is the point of taxation based on voting in a democratic political community), that choice should be respected by the country of residence only if the citizenship is meaningful, i.e., if the resident non-citizen has real links to their country of citizenship and not just a nominal passport (under the well-established Nottebohm test adopted by the ICJ). Finally, the country of residence should respect the primacy of the country of citizenship only if its citizens (including non-resident citizens) are given a meaningful right to vote in free and democratic elections in the country of citizenship (as determined by outside observers). Hannah Arendt defined citizenship as "the right to have rights". In today's deglobalizing world, citizenship has become more important than ever because an increasing number of people (refugees) are effectively stateless and do not have either diplomatic protection or the right of abode in their country of citizenship. In addition, the ability to work remotely has significantly increased the ability of the rich to move permanently to other countries without obtaining citizenship rights and obligations. In this context, I believe the US approach of taxing its citizens on global income regardless of where they live is justified by the ability to pay principle (but not by the benefits principle), and that the current practice of the US and most countries to tax non-citizen residents on global income is not justified (within the limits of the anti-avoidance rules outlined above). This may not be a drastic change from current rules for resident non-citizens because most of them do not have foreign source income. But for those that do (like the rich nomads of the pandemic), ability to pay (citizenship) is a better basis for taxation than benefits (residence). Seligman, I believe, would have approved.


Data from a unique nationwide recreational fishing survey in Sweden is used to estimate benefits of recreational fishing in Sweden, differences between regions and age groups, and how they relate to expected catch. The data targets the whole Swedish population, and as a consequence a large fraction of zero fishing days exists in the sample. To consider this, a zero-inflated Poisson model was used. Swedes fished around 16 million days in 2013, of which two-thirds was spent on inland fishing, and one third was spent on marine and costal fishing. Expected consumer surplus per fishing day vary over the season, from about SEK 23 for winter fishing, to SEK 148 for summer fishing. The highest consumer surplus values are found among the youngest and the oldest age groups that were surveyed. Expected catch is an important determinant for number of fishing days, but catch increases mainly influence summer fishing.


The current economic crisis has deeply affected European labour markets. Employment has dropped more or less in all countries. Female employment was less affected by the recession phase of the crisis than male employment. The second stage, characterised by the implementation of stimulus packages, should have been more favorable to male employment. The third stage, during which austerity plans have been introduced, might be particularly harsh for female employment. These gendered effects of the crisis are basically explained by sectoral segregation based on gender. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the trend in employment for women and men during the different stages of current crisis in eight European countries. We break down the evolution of employment by sectors for men and women by using a shift-share analysis. In some countries, specifically in Spain, the impact of the crisis has led to a narrowing of the gender gap; this is mainly explained by gender sectoral segregation. In the UK and Denmark, women have been less protected by sectoral segregation, because they have experienced more job losses than they should have if their distribution across the different economic sectors had remained the same during the crisis.


Abstract Osseointegration of biomedical implants as well as healing of broken bones are supported by novel bioceramic materials that, owing to their engineered ionic conductivity, in the presence of an electric field provide accumulation of negative electrical charges close to the interface between an implant and living bone tissue, thus stimulating the rate of bone growth. In this position paper, the structure as well as the chemical, electrical, and biomedical properties of Ca (Ti,Zr) hexaorthophosphates are reviewed. In addition, based on evaluation of the material's properties, a conceptual configuration of a capacity-coupled bone growth stimulator will be presented. The advantage of the proposed novel device over already existing bone-growth stimulators is its provision of the intimate contact of a capacity-coupled electric field with the growing bone tissue as opposed to an externally applied inductively coupled electromagnetic field, which suffers substantial attenuation when transmitted through soft tissue covering the locus of bone growth. To achieve higher ionic conductivity in Ca (Ti,Zr) hexaorthophosphates, aliovalent doping with highly mobile Na or Li ions intercalated into the only partially occupied M1 sites appears to be a suitable route.


Introduction Acute gastrointestinal bleeding is a medical emergency. Some 44% of bleeds are caused by peptic ulcer disease but the most severe haemorrhage and highest mortality is seen amongst those with bleeding oesophageal or gastric varices.1 Competent triage and assessment are cornerstones of its initial management, with emphasis on identifying sick patients with life threatening haemodynamic compromise, and then initiating appropriate and timely resuscitation being of paramount importance in the patient's outcome. In a national audit, variceal bleeding accounted for just over 10% of all UK admissions, with just fewer than 50% presenting outside normal working hours.2 The average mortality for a variceal bleed is reported to be up to 20%, with studies confirming a 2–3 fold increase in mortality amongst inpatients.2 Therefore it is paramount that all junior are able to recognise and manage suspected variceal bleeds appropriately. Methods An initial questionnaire was distributed and completed by 67 junior doctors (FY1-FY2) at the University Hospitals of Leicester in November 2015, all with jobs involving the acute medical take and providing ward cover. Junior doctors perceived confidence and knowledge was sampled in a range of key areas i.e. management pre and post endoscopy, senior support and escalation, blood transfusion targets and use of risk stratification tools such as the Blatchford score. Following evaluation of the initial questionnaire a dedicated teaching programme was delivered to 65 junior doctors, whom were subsequently re-surveyed. Results Following introduction of the teaching session all junior doctors expressed improved confidence in managing variceal UGIB's- improved from 8% to 41% of junior doctors feeling confident. Additionally there were significant improvements identified in all areas. Notably; correct pre-endoscopic management improved to 94% (from 36%), appropriate transfusion targets improved from 45% to 76%, knowledge and use of risk stratification scores improved to 88% (from 3%). With inappropriate pre-endoscopic use of proton pump inhibitors falling from 25% to 0%. Conclusion Adopting a focused teaching programme for junior doctors on the management of acute variceal bleeds designed around pre-identified areas of weakness has proven to increase both knowledge and confidence in its specific management. Junior doctor teaching on core medical emergencies such as UGIB's should perhaps be incorporated into trust induction programmes to ensure junior doctors are as prepared as possible on their first day in clinical practice. References 1 Management of acute upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding. A national clinical guideline. SIGN. September 2009. 2 UK comparartive audit of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and the use of blood. British. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The New Orleans Prosecutor's office under the 30 year leadership of Harry Connick was notorious for its failures to comply with constitutional requirements to disclose favorable information to the defense. The Supreme court in a range of cases including its 2011 decision in Connick v. Thompson, excoriated the prosecutor's office for its failures.Leon Cannizzaro, elected as New Orleans prosecutor in 2008, made significant changes in that office. This article, the result of in depth interviews with key stakeholders in the New Orleans criminal justice system, including former prosecutors, examines the extent and effect of the policy and practice changes. It concludes with a series of proposals to improve disclosure practices in New Orleans that are applicable to other jurisdictions.


This study quantifies the effect of temperature and time on the growth of Cu-Sn intermetallics, specifically for flip chip/ball grid array packaging technology. The activation energy and the growth rates were determined for solid state diffusion, after the initial assembly reflow(s). Three different types of solder joints were investigated. 1) BGA 63/37 solder joints which were formed by a standard convection oven attach of 30 mil (760 /spl mu/m)diameter solder spheres to OSP protected, Cu plated ball pads of an organic flip chip substrate. The ball pads are solder mask defined and of 0.635 mm nominal diameter. 2) Flip chip bump pad solder joint consisting of 63/37 eutectic solder bumped die attached to a nonsolder mask defined, OSP protected, Cu plated pad of the flip chip substrate. The flip chip bumps on the die are created by screen printing solder paste on the die pads and subsequent reflow attach, by a standard convection oven to the die under bump metallurgy (UBM). The nominal die UBM pad diameter is 0.085 mm. 3) Solder joint formed on a coupon which involved the reflow of the balls randomly placed on a Cu plated layer with no solder mask coating. The investigation was performed by first establishing the intermetallic growth rate at six different temperatures, ranging from 85/spl deg/C to 150/spl deg/C. The relationship between intermetallic growth and time was shown to essentially follow the common parabolic diffusion relationship to temperature especially above 100/spl deg/C. The activation energy (E/sub a/) and the growth constant (k/sub 0/) were then calculated from this data. The results showed that the E. for the total intermetallic thickness was essentially similar for the three solder joint configurations of the ball, bump and the coupon described above. E. varied from 0.31 eV to 0.32 eV, while the k/sub 0/ varied from 18.0 /spl mu/m/s/sup 1/2 / to 24.2 /spl mu/m/s/sup 1/2 /.


The purpose of the thesis was to: (1) Investigate if Sweden fails to fulfil the obligations as stated in article 3, 6, 22, 33 – 37 of the CRC (1989) concerning their treatment of UMAS in Sweden; (2) Investigate the perspective on UMAS as presented in the routines of relevant actors; (3) Investigate if there is an underlying discourse which affects the relevant actors; (4) Investigate how Maslows hierarchy of needs can explain that deviations and poor mental health in UMAS is a consequence of flaws within the system. Fairclough's three-dimensional model was used to investigate if there was any underlying discourse which affected the societal actors and what perspective the relevant societal actors regarding UMAS. By using Maslows hierarchy of need the thesis aimed to show that possible flaws within the system could account for the poor mental health in UMAS and in deviations. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was used during the analysis of the societal actors to determine if the stated discourse or the hidden discourses worked with the ideas of the convention or not. And it was used to some extent to investigate if Sweden failed/ did not fail to meet the obligations as stated in the CRC (1989) The result showed that it was hard to say how or if the societal actors fulfilled the obligations as stated in the CRC but contradicting discourses and questionable perspectives on UMAS causes one to question it. The Migration Office and the Social Services portrayed UMAS as one homogenous group. The police make a difference in UMAS and children/ minors by failing to recognise UMAS as possible victims of smuggling/ trafficking and only mentioning them in combination with extremists. This indicated that the police believe that UMAS can only be victims of smuggling/ trafficking when they put themselves in a risky situation. The Social Services, the Migration Office and the police shows traces of being affected by underlying discourses which creates clear contradictions. Because of the flaws within the system UMAS was placed on the first step on Maslows hierarchy of needs. This can negatively affect ones' mental health and may lead to issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression.


Can a tax planner be both ethical and aggressive? When a client wants help with a transaction in which the lawyer thinks the tax benefits will probably not be sustained on the merits if challenged, what is the ethical response? How low should the tax adviser go? The rules of ethics and standards of tax practice generally do not answer these questions. And there is a dearth of guidance about what it means to behave ethically when making discretionary decisions about when and how to provide advice for aggressive tax planning. This article fills that gap and argues that a lawyer seeking to pursue a career as an ethical tax planner should identify and implement her philosophy of lawyering to help her make these difficult discretionary decisions in a principled way. Using, as an example, a U.S. multinational corporation that wants to invert and engage in other potentially aggressive cross-border tax reduction strategies that Congress and the Treasury have repeatedly tried to curtail, this article demonstrates that employing a philosophy of lawyering empowers a tax planner determine how (and whether) to assist this client. Ultimately, this article helps a tax planner operationalize, on an individual basis and in a way that aligns with her values, both the general and tax-specific rules of professional conduct so that she can answer the questions posed above.


"Play Therapy for Preschool Children" is a comprehensive sourcebook of play interventions for preventing and resolving the most common disorders of children aged 3-5 years old. Editor Charles Schaefer has gathered leading clinicians and researchers who present the research background alongside recent advances in the adaptation of play therapy for use with children who exhibit a variety of internalizing, externalizing, and developmental disorders, as well as prevention programs for at-risk children. Chapters use case illustrations to demonstrate interventions for mild to moderate behavior problems, insecurely-attached preschool children and children with posttraumatic issues, as well as how to use play therapy in conjunction with parent psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Contributors also discuss interventions for autistic and developmentally-delayed children, and the use of play interventions in classroom and parent-child settings. Throughout, chapter authors provide practical guidance for the full implementation of clinical ideas, from intake through termination. Clearly written and comprehensive in scope, "Play Therapy for Preschool Children" is a must-have for any student or mental health professional who seeks a full understanding of the latest theory and practice of play therapy with this uniquely vulnerable and often misunderstood population.


As Anglo-American literary criticism approaches the end of the millennium, its apparatus of major authorship has become vast and manifold–ranging from 100-level course listings and Ph.D. exam requirements to the volumes of Cliffs Notes, Twentieth-Century Views, Chelsea House reprints and Twayne books produced every year to meet a demand whose source seems uncertain at best. One presumes, of course, that Pynchon's work would not keep accumulating reader's guides unless it were continuing to draw interest from students, teachers and laypersons, and in this sense it is good to see the critical wheels turning out the usual Pynchon byproducts. On the other hand, since most Pynchon readers are aware of Pynchon's indifference to literary criticism and his loathing of bureaucracies, we tend to shudder at the thought that Gravity's Rainbow will ever be "popular" enough to merit its own volume of Cliffs Notes.


There is no alternative! Margaret Thatcher once proclaimed in order to defend neoliberalist reforms and – implicitly – the capitalist regime. But if one doesn't agree with Thatcher's definition of the situation and her (and her many followers') subsequent analysis, what viable options does one really have? Is it possible to come up with an empirically grounded alternative to the dominant modes of production and consumption – an alternative that does not entail climate crisis, economic inequalities and democratic deficits? The starting point of this chapter is that we, in the shadow of the apocalypse, witness the return of the utopias. From Ruth Levitas via Fredric Jameson to Erik Olin Wright, an array of different understandings and notions of the future are envisioned. At the same time, however, a troublesome paradox reveals itself: the more the utopias are turned into realpolitik, the more they are inverted under the influence of bleak TINA rhetoric – and/or by their unintended consequences. This paradox is a recurring theme within science fiction, for example in Ursula Le Guin's novel The Dispossessed about the frustrating life on the anarchic planet Anarres. Focus is here put on upon the dark sides of the covert power structures on the planet, and Le Guin's narrative, it is argued, proffers important insights for all those who engage in political debates on utopian alternatives: the very notion of a permanent 'good society' is both dangerous and unrealistic. Those who honestly want to argue for an alternative must be able to convince their opponents that all its costs, problems and unintended consequences are preferable to the existing state. The utopian endeavour is therefore something other than a project of opposition. It is a challenging quest, an appeal to hope, weighted by an impossible burden of proof. Perhaps this quest is the only thing we can with certainty attribute to a 'good society'. (Less)


The ever increasing demand for high clock speeds and the desire to exploit abundant transistor budgets have resulted in alarming increases in processor power dissipation. Partitioned (or clustered) architectures have been proposed in recent years to address scalability concerns in future billion-transistor microprocessors. Our analysis shows that increasing processor resources in a clustered architecture results in a linear increase in power consumption, while providing diminishing improvements in single-thread performance. To preserve high performance to power ratios, we claim that the power consumption of additional resources should be in proportion to the performance improvements they yield. Hence, in this paper, we propose the implementation of heterogeneous clusters that have varying delay and power characteristics. A cluster's performance and power characteristic is tuned by scaling its frequency and novel policies dynamically assign frequencies to clusters, while attempting to either meet a fixed power budget or minimize a metric such as Energy /spl times/ Delay/sup 2/ (ED/sup 2/). By increasing resources in a power-efficient manner, we observe an 11% improvement in ED/sup 2/ and a 22.4% average reduction in peak temperature, when compared to a processor with homogeneous units. Our proposed processor model also provides strategies to handle thermal emergencies that have a relatively low impact on performance.


Depression is currently treated by pharmacotherapies that can elicit debilitating side effects for patients. Novel treatment options with limited side effects are currently being researched. Resveratrol is a polyphenol and phytoalexin found in the skins of grapes, red wine, Japanese knotweed, and peanuts. It has been studied extensively for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Resveratrol has also gained attention for its neuroprotective properties. The aim of the review was to examine the mechanisms by which resveratrol reduces depressive behaviors in animal models. In total, 22 studies met the established criteria for final review. Behavioral aspects of depression were investigated using validated measures such as the forced swimming test, tail suspension test, sucrose preference test, and open field test. While many physical measures were taken, three main biological mechanisms were explored: Regulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis; decreased inflammation; and increased Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and neurogenesis. Based on these findings, resveratrol may be deemed an effective treatment for depression in animal models at doses between 10–80 mg/kg/day, although higher doses had the most significant effects. Future studies should examine the effects of resveratrol on depression in humans to determine the eligibility of resveratrol as a natural antidepressant with less severe side effects.


Acha (Digitaria exilis staph.) grain was purchased locally from Jos central market in Plateau State of Nigeria. The grain was washed, destoned, oven (cabinet)-dried, dry milled, sieved and used as acha grain flour to substitute for wheat flour for the production of biscuit. The physical (spread ratio, break strength, weight) and sensory (colour, taste, odour, texture) qualities of the biscuit were determined. The spread ratio increases (5.95 to 7.33), while the bread strength decreases (1.97 to 1.49) with the increase in the acha grain flour percentage. The effects were generally significant at above 30 per cent substitution (p=0.05).


ABSTRACT The first detailed history of relative sea-level changes known from lower Paleozoic strata in Antarctica is documented in this study of the Nelson Limestone. Basal beds of the formation constitute a nonmarine terrigenous valley-fill succession. Thickness of these strata varies from 0.1 m to 72 m, suggesting that significant topographic relief existed below the sub-Nelson unconformity. Locally, base level must have risen at least 72 m because, following fluvial infilling of the valley, a succession of carbonates over 400 m thick was deposited as seas inundated the Antarctic margin of Gondwana during late Middle Cambrian time. On a global scale, the broad relative sea-level rise recorded in the Nelson Limestone is synchronous with previously recognized eustatic events during Lejopyge laevigata time. In the Nelson Limestone, smaller fluctuations of relative sea level are indicated by three sequences, each about 100 m thick. The lower sequence is bounded below by the sub-Nelson unconformity and includes the valley-fill succession, transgressive sandstone, and highstand carbonate deposits. The top of a subaerially exposed interval of carbonates in one section is interpreted as a sequence boundary with correlative conformity in the deeper-water areas. The subaerially exposed interval is roughly correlative with a succession of five or more slump deposits 1-2 m thick in another section. Subaerial exposure at nearly the same stratigraphic level as the slumps marked a fundamental shift in depositional style. Following marine flooding, an offshore carbonate shoal with an associated restr cted lagoon was established during deposition of the middle sequence. The upper sequence records marine flooding above the middle sequence and subsequent reestablishment of an offshore carbonate shoal prior to deformation and volcanism in the urea related to the Ross Orogeny.


Leakage has become one of the most dominant factors of power management and signal integrity of nanometer scale integrated circuits. Recently, power gating structures has proven to be effective in controlling leakage. In this paper an alternative dual diode-Vth reduced power gating structure is proposed for better reduction of leakage currents, especially for low-power, high-performance portable devices. The proposed technique maintains an intermediate power saving state as well as the conventional power cut-off state. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed technique can significantly reduce leakage current and associated power consumptions during the HOLD and CUT-OFF power saving modes. It has also been demonstrated that the proposed technique significantly reduces ground bounce due to power mode transition.


Abstract The impoundment of the Taft and Ely rivers by Cardiff Bay Barrage will cause a groundwater level rise of varying amounts within South Cardiff, including the Grangetown Gasworks site. Concern regarding the contamination risk to groundwaters and surface water at and in the vicinity of the gasworks site, resulting from a change in groundwater levels due to the barrage impoundment, resulted in the need for further site investigation to provide more precise information for hydrogeological analysis. This paper outlines the site investigation and groundwater studies undertaken, identifies the existing pollution and contamination hazards at the site and evaluates the subsequent risk resulting from an increase in groundwater levels.


Physical, social, and psychological outcomes have been identified as relevant to the rehabilitation process of children with burn injuries. Existing legacy measures are limited in item content and only cover a few constructs. Condition-specific outcomes are highly relevant to gauge early growth and development. Computerized adaptive tests (CATs) leveraging advanced psychometric technologies minimize respondent burden. This project developed PS-LIBRE1-5 Profile CAT (Preschool Life Impact Burn Recovery Evaluation) to measure relevant post-burn outcomes in children aged one to five. Responses to the field-tested PS-LIBRE1-5 Profile (188 items) were measured on a scale of frequency or ability. Scores were coded from 0 to 4 where higher scores reflected better functioning. Factor analysis identified the items retained in the final item bank of each scale. CAT simulations were conducted to estimate the mean score of each scale. The simulated CAT score and full item bank scores were compared based upon the score range, ceiling and floor effects, and marginal reliabilities. The child mean age was 3.0 + 1.5 years (n = 500). Average burn size and time since burn injury were 4.2% TBSA and 1.1 years, respectively. Psychometric analysis resulted in eight scales: Physical, Communication and Language, Emotional Wellbeing, Mood, Anxiety, Peer Acceptance, Play, and Peer Relations. Ceiling effects were acceptable at <13% for all scales. Marginal reliabilities of the CATs were credible. The PS-LIBRE1-5 Profile CAT contains 111 items, and is a comprehensive measure that captures physical, communication and language, psychological, and social functioning of preschool burn survivors.


The advance of the Internet in the past decade has radically changed the way people communicate and collaborate with each other. Physical distance is no more a barrier in online social networks, but cultural differences (at the individual, community, as well as societal levels) still govern human-human interactions and must be considered and leveraged in the online world. The rapid deployment of high-speed Internet allows humans to interact using a rich set of multimedia data such as texts, pictures, and videos. This position paper proposes to define a new research area called 'connected multimedia', which is the study of a collection of research issues of the super-area social media that receive little attention in the literature. By connected multimedia, we mean the study of the social and technical interactions among users, multimedia data, and devices across cultures and explicitly exploiting the cultural differences. We justify why it is necessary to bring attention to this new research area and what benefits of this new research area may bring to the broader scientific research community and the humanity.


Abstract:Through a focus on the thematics present in the work of the Vietnamese Australian writer and artist Lê Văn Tài and his later adaptation of his experimental print poetics, this article examines how Lê's work represents a significant precursor to modern digital autographics, or digital graphic life writing, from the Vietnamese Australian diaspora. Lê Văn Tài fled Vietnam in 1981, resettled in Australia in 1984, and in 1987, self-published a collection of experimental poetics, Empty arms surrounded by warm breath, that explores his migration and resettlement as a refugee. He later adapted sections of this collection as part of a digital web project, Redreaming the Plains, and used rudimentary digital forms to find new methods for expressing the complexities of his history as a refugee, while more explicitly attending to and updating the anti-immigration and antimulticulturalism sentiments that undermine his ability to settle in Australia. Through an analysis of his adaptation of his print poetics to digital forms, this article proposes that Lê's use of text and image allows him to explore fraught and often ambivalent responses to his experiences of migration and resettlement. Lê's engagement with experimental poetics specifically conveys how such approaches have long been used by Vietnamese Australian writers to express the contradictions and particularities of forced migration, while contesting prevailing literary expectations of writing by members of this diaspora.


Chinese banks likely have more nonperforming loans (NPLs) than officially reported. Banks'NPLs often deviate from Benford's law. As hidden NPLs earn no interest income, loan quality problems may erode the gross interest income of banks.Using stochastic frontier analysis,we estimate the interest income of a hypothetical profit-maximizing Chinese bank with no credit quality problems. Taking the deviation of actual interest income from the calculated efficient income,we then attempt to reveal the amount of hidden NPLs in Chinese banks.Our results uncover a substantial weakening in the quality of Chinese bank loan portfolios in 2016.


The implementation of photodynamic therapy (PDT) usually uses red light as the excitation source to obtain a deeper penetration depth. However, for some superficial infectious diseases, using red-light PDT may damage the normal tissues underneath. If we choose a shorter wavelength light, then the effect of PDT can be limited to the superficial region. This study assessed the effect of blue-light PDT against Staphylococcus aureus. The absorption of hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME) by S. aureus was investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy. The bactericidal effects of HMME, light alone, and PDT using blue light (405 nm) on S. aureus were studied. The results indicate that the HMME uptake by S. aureus rapidly reached a certain value, then steadily increased with time in the range of 0-80 min, and thenreached a plateau at 80 min before a slow decline afterward. Without light irradiation, less than 2 μgml^−1 HMME showed no bactericidal effect on S. aureus. Without HMME, blue-light at a power density of 20 mW cm^−2 had no significant bactericidal effect for 0.5 min to 10 min. When 2 μg ml^−1 of HMME was combined with blue-light (20 mW cm^−2), the bactericidal effect showed a reduction of 3 log_10 with the extension of irradiation time. These results demonstrated that bacteria have the ability to absorb HMME, and HMME-mediated blue-light PDT can effectively kill the bacteria, which laid the foundation for blue-light PDT as a non-invasive treatment for superficial infectious diseases.


ABSTRACT In many countries, the expansion of unconventional gas exploration and development has been met with grassroots resistance; the scale and depth of which has surprised even movement organisers. An often-remarked feature of the movement's success is the teaming up of farmers and environmental organisers, historically at odds with one another on other environmental issues. This paper explores the role of emotions in building alliances, and mobilising opponents of coal seam gas (CSG) in a particular rural setting in Australia. Drawing on interviews with anti-CSG movement participants, the paper argues that emotions help to explain how the movement has mobilised and sustained alliances despite differences between movement participants. We find that while anger plays a central role in mobilising various anti-CSG actors, it is the combination of anger with joy which helps to sustain the anti-CSG movement in regional Australia. Our analysis reveals three key sites (individuals, within groups, and the public arena) where these emotions are expressed and negotiated, and emphasises the influence of the rural context in this process.


Using the 2008 Presidential Election as a case of curricular controversy, the author describes how six high school government teachers responded to the racial, gender, and religious diversity included on the presidential tickets of the two major political parties. Teachers had to decide whether the issue of Americans challenging the tradition of electing White males to the federal executive branch would be deemed "open" or "closed" in their classes, and if they were deemed open, whether they would disclose their own opinions on the issue. The findings suggest that Obama's race was a closed issue in each of the classes in terms of his eligibility for the presidency; however, the teachers and their students implicitly recognized the openness of the issue within both a broader societal context as well as their own political decision-making. Similarly, Palin's gender was also a closed issue in terms of her eligibility for the vice presidency, but the sexist comments made by students and teachers at each school suggest that although they may not have found Palin's candidacy controversial, her gender was an open issue with respect to how they judged female politicians in comparison to their male counterparts. Finally, Obama's religious background was a largely closed issue, although individual teachers positioned it as an open issue in their classes and used it to justify their belief that non-Christians should not be elected president. These findings offer implications for the teaching of controversial issues that are contextualized within traditionally taboo topics of race, gender, and religion.


This paper provides an in-depth description and case application of a conceptual model of social exclusion: aiming to advance existing knowledge on how to conceive of and identify this complex idea, evaluate the methodologies used to measure it, and reconsider what is understood about its social realities toward a meaningful and measurable conception of social inclusion. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's conceptual tools of social fields and systems of capital, our research posits and applies a theoretical framework that permits the measurement of social exclusion as dynamic, social, relational, and material. We begin with a brief review of existing social exclusion research literature, and specifically examine the difficulties and benefits inherent in quantitatively operationalizing a necessarily multifarious theoretical concept. We then introduce our conceptual model of social exclusion and inclusion, which is built on measurable constructs. Using our ongoing program of research as a case study, we briefly present our approach to the quantitative operationalization of social exclusion using secondary data analysis in the Canadian context. Through the development of an Economic Exclusion Index, we demonstrate how our statistical and theoretical analyses evidence intersecting processes of social exclusion which produce consequential gaps and uneven trajectories for migrant individuals and groups compared with Canadian-born, and racial minority groups versus white individuals. To conclude, we consider some methodological implications to advance the empirical measurement of social inclusion.


The goal of this laboratory's ground‐based and microgravity research is to determine the rheological properties of liquid drops of single or multiple components in the presence or absence of surface active materials by exciting drops into their quadrupole resonance and observing their free decay. The resulting data coupled with appropriate theory should enable one to understand better the physics of the underlying phenomena, providing a better foundation than earlier empirical results could. The space environment makes an idealized geometry available (spherical drops) so that theory and experiment can be properly compared, and allows a ''clean'' environment, namely, an environment in which no solid surfaces come in contact with the drops during the test period. Moreover, by considering the oscillations of intentionally deformed drops in microgravity, a baseline is established for interpreting surface characterization experiments done on the ground by this and other groups. Results of work at Yale and in t...


: The activity of acid peptidohydrolase and its temperature dependence were determined in the cerebral cortex and totally in the midbrain and diencephalon of rats in normal state after a false operation and with bilateral adrenalectomy as well as under moderate (30 degrees C) hypothermia of intact, false-operated and adrenalectomized animals. The enzyme activity is established to change more significantly in the cerebral cortex. Adrenalectomy lowers it in the cortex at an incubation temperature of 30 and 20 degrees C. Incubation at a temperature of 37, 25, 20 and 15 degrees C decreases this activity under animal cooling as well. A combined effect of hypothermia and adrenalectomy on the enzyme activity is not additive.


The polyamine metabolism of transplanted N-nitrosomethylurea-derived rat glioma was determined with radiolabeled putrescine used as a marker for malignancy. The uptake of putrescine in vivo was complete within 5 minutes and was specific for tumor tissue. The conversion of putrescine to spermine and other metabolites by the tumor was rapid, in contrast to the case for adjacent normal brain. These results suggest that putrescine labeled with carbon-11 may be used as a positron-emission tomographic tracer for the selective metabolic imaging of brain tumor and may be used in an appropriate model as a marker for tumor growth rate.


A simple method for fabricating a constant phase element (CPE) has been discussed. Dependence of the phase angle on several physical parameters have also been elaborated. Finally, a fractional-order differentiator circuit has been constructed using the CPE, and its performance has been compared with the simulated results


This paper proposes an interface for wearable computers using augmented reality (AR) environment which allows the user to handle virtual objects with his/her own hands intuitively. The proposed system is constructed with a wearable computer and a head mounted display (HMD). A pair of cameras is attached to HMD positioned as a pair of eyes. Using the stereo measurement, the finger's postures are captured and displayed together with virtual objects on a video-see-though HMD. The system tracks the fingertips motion of the index finger and the thumb so as the user can pick up, move and rotate the virtual object as if treating a real object with the hands in the real world. While the stereo measurement, range information is added to the region of the hand Visual occlusion is synthesized between the user's hand and the virtual objects including 2D based graphical user interfaces, 3D computer graphics models and so on.


Article history: Received 6 June, 2017 Accepted 11 September 2017 Available online 11 September 2017 Underground gas pipelines are one of the vital parts of each country which surface blasts can break down such pipelines, making destructive explosions and threatening the safety of neighborhood structures and people. In this paper, to enhance the safety of these lines, response of a buried 56-inch diameter high pressure natural gas pipeline to a surface blast was numerically investigated. Besides, the effects of: i) explosive mass, ii) pipeline thickness, iii) burial depth and iv) concrete protective layer on pipeline deformation were parametrically studied. To simulate the problem according to actual explosion events, geometries were modeled in real scales, pipeline properties were predicted with Johnson-Cook strength and failure model and soil strength was determined by Drucker-Prager model. Also, explosive charge and natural gas were modeled with JWL (Jones-Wilkins-Lee) and ideal gas equation of states. For validation of the numerical method, three bench mark experiments were reproduced. Comparison of the numerical results and the experimental data confirmed the accuracy of the numerical method. Results of parametric studies indicated that by increasing the burial depth from 1.4 to 2.2 m, deformation of the pipeline was reduced about 71%. By analyzing the deformation plots, it was found that in a constant explosive mass, burial depth has a greater effect than pipeline thickness on pipeline deformation reduction. It was also shown that using a concrete protective layer may act reversely and increase pipeline destruction. In other words, to enhance the safety of pipelines, a certain thickness of concrete must be used. © 2017 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


The research reported here aimed to present the stories of care home residents through an interpretative study that was informed by a biographical approach and narrative method. Eight older people who lived in four different care homes in England participated in a sequence of up to eight narrative interviews over a six month period. The findings revealed how the older people tried to live as active biographical agents who were instrumental in shaping their own life in a care home. They were able to do this to a greater or lesser extent through the implementation of a range of resident-led strategies. The understanding of care home life that was developed through this study offers an alternative biography for living in care homes that is not only possible but achievable. This is a biography of frail older people who are active in reconstructing their life following the move to a care home, and living lives that are meaningful, purposeful and enjoyable. This sits in contrast to the standard biography that dominates current understanding of care home life that of older people merely 'existing' for the most part of their days. This image provides a vision for long-term care for older people, which is grounded in the views and aspirations of older people.


The northeastern Tibetan plateau edge is an active tectonic region with crustal deformation featured mainly by thrust and strike‐slip faults. In the past ∼100 years, several strong earthquakes have occurred around this region. Associated with regional tectonic loading, these strong earthquakes altered the stress buildup of active faults; this in turn should affect the potential hazard of seismicity around the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Here, we developed a 3D viscoelastic finite‐element model to explore the stress accumulation along the main active faults during the past ∼100 years. In this model, rheological contrast of the crust and upper mantle between the Tibetan plateau and its surrounding regions is approximated, and regional tectonic loading is simplified from dense Global Positioning System measurements. Results show that after the 1920 M ∼8.7 Haiyuan earthquake, the succeeding ruptures, both of thrusting and strike‐slipping events, had received positive changes of Coulomb failure stress—among which the coseismic and the postseismic deformations from previous earthquake(s) contributed 36%–80%. This means that significant mechanical interactions existed between the active faults around northeastern Tibet during the earthquake process even though they were separated by hundreds of kilometers. Numerical results also suggest that the 1954 M ∼7.2 Shandan earthquake and the 1990 M ∼6.2 Tianzhu earthquake could have been triggered because the Coulomb failure stress received from coseismic and postseismic deformation of previous earthquakes around the epicenter of these two events reached ∼0.02–0.3  MPa. After about 100 years of regional tectonic loading—coseismic and postseismic deformations of past large earthquakes—the Coulomb failure stress along the northeastern segment of the Altyn Tagh fault, the Tianzhu segment of the Haiyuan fault, and the Gulang fault has accumulated to 0.005–0.2  MPa. Therefore, as previous studies mentioned for the Tianzhu seismic gap, these active faults should be carefully studied because of their potential earthquake hazard.

Online Material: Snapshots of Coulomb failure stress changes.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the feasibility of 8 months of supervised exercise therapy in warm water and its effects on the impact of fibromyalgia on physical and mental health and physical fitness in affected women.

METHODS
Thirty women with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to an exercise therapy group (n = 15) or a control group (inactive) (n = 15). The impact of fibromyalgia on physical and mental health was assessed using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and the anxiety state with State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Physical fitness was measured using the following tests: Canadian Aerobic Fitness; hand-grip dynamometry; 10-metre walking; 10-step stair-climbing and blind 1-leg stance.

RESULTS
After 8 months of training, the exercise therapy group improved compared with the control group in terms of physical function (20%), pain (8%), stiffness (53%), anxiety (41%), depression (27%), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire total scores (18%), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory score (22%), aerobic capacity (22%), balance (30%), functional capacity for walking (6%), stair-climbing with no extra weight (14%) and stair-climbing 10 kg-weighted (25%).

CONCLUSION
Eight months of supervised exercise in warm water was feasible and led to long-term improvements in physical and mental health in patients with fibromyalgia at a similar magnitude to those of shorter therapy programmes.


Obfuscation-based private web search (OB-PWS) solutions allow users to search for information in the Internet while concealing their interests. The basic privacy mechanism in OB-PWS is the automatic generation of dummy queries that are sent to the search engine along with users' real requests. These dummy queries prevent the accurate inference of search profiles and provide query deniability. In this paper we propose an abstract model and an associated analysis framework to systematically evaluate the privacy protection offered by OB-PWS systems. We analyze six existing OB-PWS solutions using our framework and uncover vulnerabilities in their designs. Based on these results, we elicit a set of features that must be taken into account when analyzing the security of OB-PWS designs to avoid falling into the same pitfalls as previous proposals.


Intraguild predation of a generalist predator, Orius niger Wolff (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) on Trichogramma evanescens Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), was determined in choice and no-choice experiments using a factitious host, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), under laboratory conditions. Choice and no-choice experiments were conducted in order to assess the level of intraguild predation of O. niger on E. kuehniella eggs parasitized by T. evanescens. In no-choice experiments, approximately 50 sterile (1) non-parasitized, (2) 3-day-old parasitized, or (3) 6-day-old parasitized E. kuehniella eggs were offered to 24-h-old females of O. niger in glass tubes. In choice experiments approximately 25 eggs of two of the three groups mentioned above were offered to 24-h-old O. niger females. In both choice and no-choice experiments, O. niger consumed more non-parasitized eggs of E. kuehniella. However, intraguild predation occurred, especially of 3-day-old parasitoids, but very few 6-day-old parasitized eggs were consumed. The preference index was nearly 1 indicating O. niger preferred mainly non-parasitized E. kuehniella eggs. A lower level of intraguild predation is expected under field conditions but needs to be investigated using further experiments.


This thesis deals with various aspects of proton-pronton scattering at high energies, in particular the recent CERN-ISR results. In chapter one, first we discuss briefly the experimental situation of the total cross-sections and elastic scattering of hadrons on protons up to NAL energies. Then we give a general review of the methods which have been used for the determination of the total cross-section in the ISR. The main experimental features are summarized at the end of this chapter. The results of chapter one motivated a new interest in asymptotic theorems. In chapter two we discuss some theoretical aspects which are model independent, and some physical predictions in the presence of an asymptotic growth of στ. Chapter three is concerned with fitting the data with a variety of Regge pole and cut models. We consider various eikonal-type prescription for the cut strength. In chapters four and five we re-examine the data using two phenomenlogical models; namely : the overlap function model and the geometrical scaling model, using mainly impact parameter language. It will turn out that geometrical scaling hypothesis can describe the main qualitative features of present data. A number of interpretations have been proposed to explain the rise of στ in the ISR energy range. In chapter six we consider the question of the rising cross-section. We discuss two mechanisms proposed to explain the rise of στ, where in both mechanisms the rise of στ in the ISR energy range is interpreted as a threshold effect. Finally we end this work by examining the rise of στ in impact parameter space.


Long before Galileo published his discoveries about Jupiter, lunar craters, and the Milky Way in the Starry Messenger in 1610, people were fascinated with the planets and stars around them. That interest continues today, and scientists are making new discoveries at an astounding rate. Ancient lake beds on Mars, robotic spacecraft missions, and new definitions of planets now dominate the news. How can you take it all in? Start with the new Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Second Edition. This self-contained reference follows the trail blazed by the bestselling first edition. It provides a framework for understanding the origin and evolution of the solar system, historical discoveries, and details about planetary bodies and how they interact?and has jumped light years ahead in terms of new information and visual impact. Offering more than 50% new material, the Encyclopedia includes the latest explorations and observations, hundreds of new color digital images and illustrations, and more than 1,000 pages. It stands alone as the definitive work in this field, and will serve as a modern messenger of scientific discovery and provide a look into the future of our solar system.


Analyses of immune cells in rag1-deficient zebrafish led to the discovery of innate lymphoid cells in teleosts. Fishing for ILCs in zebrafish To date, most studies on innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have been focused on their functions in mammals. It is well known that both lymphoid cells and adaptive immunity are not unique to mammals but are shared by all vertebrates. By studying lymphoid cells in rag1-deficient zebrafish that lack both B and T cells, Hernández et al. have examined the functions of ILC-like cells in zebrafish. Using single-cell RNA-seq to profile gene expression in gut-resident lymphocytes of rag1-deficient zebrafish after immune challenge, they have identified lymphocytes in zebrafish that correspond to mammalian ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 lineages. Studying ILCs in zebrafish should lead to a better understanding of the evolutionary functions of ILCs. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are important mediators of the immune response and homeostasis in barrier tissues of mammals. However, the existence and function of ILCs in other vertebrates are poorly understood. Here, we use single-cell RNA sequencing to generate a comprehensive atlas of zebrafish lymphocytes during tissue homeostasis and after immune challenge. We profiled 14,080 individual cells from the gut of wild-type zebrafish, as well as of rag1-deficient zebrafish that lack T and B cells, and discovered populations of ILC-like cells. We uncovered a rorc-positive subset of ILCs that could express cytokines associated with type 1, 2, and 3 responses upon immune challenge. Specifically, these ILC-like cells expressed il22 and tnfa after exposure to inactivated bacteria or il13 after exposure to helminth extract. Cytokine-producing ILC-like cells express a specific repertoire of novel immune-type receptors, likely involved in recognition of environmental cues. We identified additional novel markers of zebrafish ILCs and generated a cloud repository for their in-depth exploration.


The village of Sedlari is situated ca. 4 km to the west of the town of Momchilgrad in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains. The archaeological excavations on the terrace above the Varbitsa River, a tributary of Arda River, have been carried out for almost 35 years with several interruptions. The archaeological deposits reach ca. 3 m at some places. The multilayered site yielded a large amount of pottery dated back to the Early Byzantine and Medieval periods.
The pottery assemblage is divided into groups based on dates and technology.
The first group comprises handmade pottery sherds. Some of them are dated back to the 4th – 5th century and belong to ware whose shapes and decoration illustrate earlier traditions. The publications on this pottery are scarce although a number of specialists have reported sites yielding such ware. Handmade pottery dated back to the 6th century but completely different from the one described above is also part of this group. This pottery is related to the early Slavic traditions and comprises jars and podnitsi (ceramic dishes for baking bread).
Special attention is paid to the talc used for the clay tempering. The tradition has lasted for centuries, but it is considered typical only for the Rhodopes.
The second group consists of a large amount of pottery. It comprises Late Antique thrown ware. The shapes include jars, handled jars, bowls and amphorae.
The third group consists of pottery dated back to the second half of the 11th and 12th century. It comprises relatively small amount of sherds. It is related to the large Christian cemetery and the ritual pits excavated within its boundaries.
Based on the pottery analysis, an attempt is made to reconstruct the life of the people on the river terrace in the Late Antiquity and the medieval period.


People, livelihoods, and infrastructure in Myanmar suffer from devastating monsoonal flooding on a frequent basis. Quick and effective management of flood risk relies on planning and preparedness to ensure the availability of supplies, shelters and emergency response personnel. The mandated government agency Department of Disaster Management (DDM) as well as local and international organizations play roles in producing, disseminating, and using accurate and timely information on flood risk. Currently, systematic flood risk maps are lacking, which leaves DDM to rely on inconsistent historic reports and local knowledge to inform their emergency planning. Although these types of knowledge are critical, they can be complemented to reduce bias and human error to planning processes and decisions. As such, the present situation has led to ineffective distribution of emergency response resources prior to flooding, leaving vulnerable populations less-than-prepared for inevitable flood events. Given these issues, we have developed a flood risk decision-support tool in collaboration with DDM. The tool uses surface water maps developed by the Joint Research Center (JRC), which were derived from more than 30 years of Landsat imagery. We have also incorporated population data, land cover data, and other information on flood exposure and vulnerability to create the first scalable and replicable Flood Risk Index (FRI) for flood risk reduction in Myanmar.


A potentially cost-effective and scalable method to stabilize pH in microalgal batch cultures is proposed in this study. The cultures were supplied with different concentrations of CO2 enriched gas and controlled amounts of bicarbonate were added. An empirical model correlating the equilibrium pH to bicarbonate and CO2 stream concentrations was established experimentally. Finally, the isolated impact of either pH or CO2 concentration on Dunaliella salina growth was studied.


Background Previously we showed that the DEFB1 SNP rs1799946 is associated with PPROM and a four-fold increase in spontaneous preterm birth risk (PTB); rs1047031 may reduce the risk of PTB. This study describes the relationship between DEFB1 genotype, its constituent human beta defensin 1 (hBD1) protein expression and clinical phenotype, and the expression of inducible human beta defensin 2 (hBD2). Methods Blood was collected at 11–13/40 (n = 400, King's College Hospital 2006–2010) and genotyped for rs1799946 and rs1047031 using KASP (Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR). Serum hBD1 and hBD2 concentrations were determined by ELISA (n = 292). Analyses were by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney-U tests. Results rs1047031 is associated with lower serum hBD1 concentration (p = 0.0200), and rs1799946 with a trend to increased hBD1 concentration (p = 0.0264). Of 292 women with serum samples, 59 delivered <34/40 (28 PPROM, 31 spontaneous). Women with PPROM and PTB <34/40 had higher hBD1 concentrations than those delivering at term (1.15MoM, IQR 0.753–2.12 vs 0.995MoM, IQR 0.739–1.34). Serum hBD1 concentration was negatively correlated with mid-gestation cervical length (r = –0.170, 95%CI –0.326–0.00532, p = 0.0433). Similarly, serum hBD2 concentration is higher in pregnancies with PPROM and PTB <34/40 compared to term birth (1.51MoM, IQR 0.75–3.47, vs 0.94MoM, IQR 0.511–1.55, p = 0.0116). Conclusion DEFB1 genotype is related to serum hBD1 expression in the first trimester and clinical phenotype. Serum hBD2 expression is higher in women who have PPROM and PTB. Women with PPROM and PTB have a distinct innate immune profile evident in their serum in the first trimester, which may provide the basis for a predictive test.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Primary gastric B-cell lymphoma is the second most common malignancy of the stomach. There are many controversial issues about its diagnosis, treatment and clinical management. "Double-hit" and "double-protein" involving gene rearrangement and protein expression of c-Myc and bcl2/bcl6 are the most used terms to describe DLBCL poor prognostic factors in recent years. However, very little is known about the role of these prognostic factors in primary gastric B-cell lymphomas. This study aims to obtain a molecular pathology prognostic model of gastric B-cell lymphoma for clinical stratified management by evaluating how the "double-hit" and "double-protein" in tumor cells as well as microenvironmental reaction of tumor stromal tissue affect clinical outcome in primary gastric B-cell lymphomas. METHODS: Data and tissues of 188 cases diagnosed with gastric B-cell lymphomas were used in this study. Tumor tissue microarray (TMA) of formalin fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues was constructed for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis with a serial of biomarkers containing MYC, BCL2, BCL6, CD31, SPARC, CD10, MUM1 and Ki-67. Modeled period analysis was used to estimate 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) distributions. RESULTS: There was no definite "double-hit" case though the gene rearrangement of c-Myc (5.9%), bcl2 (0.1%) and bcl6 (7.4%) was found in gastric B-cell lymphomas. The gene amplification or copy gains of c-Myc (10.1%), bcl-2 (17.0%) and bcl-6 (0.9%) were present in these lymphomas. There were 12 cases of the lymphomas with the "double-protein" expression of MYC and BCL2/BCL6. All patients with "double-protein" gastric B-cell lymphomas had poor outcome compared with those without. More importantly, "MYC-BCL2-BCL6" negative group of gastric B-cell lymphoma patients had favorable clinical outcome regardless clinical stage, pathological types and therapeutic modalities. And the similar better prognosis was found in the cases with low microvessel density (MVD) in tumor tissue and high expression of SPARC (SPARC≥5%) in stromal cells. CONCLUSIONS: "Double-hit" lymphoma was rare among primary gastric lymphoma, while patients with multiple gene amplification and/or copy gains of c-Myc, bcl2 and bcl6, and "double-protein" gastric B-cell lymphomas had a poor clinical outcome. In addition, patients with MYC, BCL2 and BCL6 expression negative or low MVD in tumor tissue with high expression of SPARC in stromal cells could have better prognosis than other gastric B-cell lymphomas regardless of their clinical stage and pathological types. These results would be of very importance for clinical stratified management and precision medicine of gastric B-cell lymphomas.


One of the challenges of modern plant biology is to understand the specific functions of plant tissues in close-to-physiological conditions. In order to understand how plant perceive and transduce environmental and developmental signals we use Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy. This method allows one to observe the plant growth in vivo, follow cellular differentiation processes and link these events with the dynamics of signaling molecules, including calcium.


Considering that the health industry has changed radically along the years, the efficient professional management of entities connected to this segment is fundamental. Modern techniques, such as demand forecast and stock management, contribute to a better management of scarce and critical resources which might put human lives at risk. The present study describes the use of quantitative techniques for supply forecast and stock management of a blood bank from a given hospital. The demonstration of the viability of these techniques broke paradigms. Furthermore, it has fomented new studies with emphasis on improving procedures and rationalisation. It has also brought an improvement in terms of the institution operations, increasing the level of efficiency.


Objective
To determine how primary care versus specialist practitioners assess and treat school-aged children with irritability.

Methods
Seventeen providers from family medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry participated in in-depth interviews from June to August 2016 about the process they use to evaluate irritability. Data on demographic traits and measures of confidence were also collected.

Results
Primary care (family medicine and pediatrics) participants expressed frustration over the lack of time and specialized knowledge they had to accurately assess children with irritability, even though they were often the first clinician consulted when problems arose. There were clear and sometimes contradictory differences between how practitioners with a general versus specialized practice assessed mental health status in the clinic setting. Input on treatment approaches revealed that medication prescription was more common by primary care participants, and therapy was preferred by the psychiatry participants.

Conclusions
Overall, family medicine and pediatric practitioners were significantly less confident in their ability to evaluate mental health status, while child and adolescent psychiatry participants were supportive of having more initial triage and possible treatment occur at the primary care level, suggesting a need for more training about childhood irritability in the primary care setting.


: This report describes the development of a technique for reduction and fusion of spondylolisthesis that includes posterior mobilization with alartransverse fusion, halo-femoral traction with the patient in some extension, and finally, anterior interbody fusion of the lumbosacral joint. The report emphasizes the technique, which has been employed in the care of 8 patients thus far.


In support of the US Department of Energy`s commitment to the remediation of waste sites throughout its complex, the DOE has recognized that it can accelerate its technology development efforts and leverage the expenditure of available funds through an international cooperation among government entities, private industry, and educational institutions. To support the technology transfer of environmental information, the DOE has sponsored the development of EnviroTRADE -- an international information system that will facilitate the exchange of environmental restoration and waste management technologies worldwide. The system will contain profiles on both environmental restoration/waste management needs and foreign/domestic technologies. Users will be able to identify matches between worldwide needs and available or emerging technologies. Where matches between needs and existing technologies are not found, the system will identify the potential for development of new and innovative technologies to address environmental problems. EnviroTRADE will also provide general information on international environmental restoration and waste management organizations, sites, activities, and contacts.


Aqueous leaf extracts were obtained from the matured leaves of three medicinal plants: namely, bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), Senna alata, and lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus). They were evaluated for their antifungal activity over Fusarium sp, a pathogenic spot fungus of many economic crops. Vegetative growth values for Fusarium sp at 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0% and 3.5 % concentrations were generally low compared with the control; complete inhibition of fungal mycelial growth was exhibited with 3.0% and 3.5% concentrations of Senna alata extract. A statistical evaluation of variance showed a significant difference between mycelial radial growths values recorded on the various plant extracts concentrations used compared with the control. Plant extracts readily available and affordable and environmentally friendly in the control of Fusarium sp. Plant extracts could serve as a reference material in further studies involving other pathogens of economic crops.


Background: Kcnh1 is a voltage-gated potassium channel that is primarily expressed in brain. Results: Knockdown of kcnh1 in zebrafish delays neural development and causes embryonic lethality. Conclusion: Kcnh1 is involved in cell proliferation during early zebrafish development. Significance: The finding that Kcnh1 has basic functions beyond neural signaling will help to elucidate its roles in physiology and cancer formation. The Kcnh1 gene encodes a voltage-gated potassium channel highly expressed in neurons and involved in tumor cell proliferation, yet its physiological roles remain unclear. We have used the zebrafish as a model to analyze Kcnh1 function in vitro and in vivo. We found that the kcnh1 gene is duplicated in teleost fish (i.e. kcnh1a and kcnh1b) and that both genes are maternally expressed during early development. In adult zebrafish, kcnh1a and kcnh1b have distinct expression patterns but share expression in brain and testis. Heterologous expression of both genes in Xenopus oocytes revealed a strong conservation of characteristic functional properties between human and fish channels, including a unique sensitivity to intracellular Ca2+/calmodulin and modulation of voltage-dependent gating by extracellular Mg2+. Using a morpholino antisense approach, we demonstrate a strong kcnh1 loss-of-function phenotype in developing zebrafish, characterized by growth retardation, delayed hindbrain formation, and embryonic lethality. This late phenotype was preceded by transcriptional up-regulation of known cell-cycle inhibitors (p21, p27, cdh2) and down-regulation of pro-proliferative factors, including cyclin D1, at 70% epiboly. These results reveal an unanticipated basic activity of kcnh1 that is crucial for early embryonic development and patterning.


The texture of the highway is one of the major factors to the impact of road quality. The traditional method is to use a skid truck to measure the skid number, but in the course of the measurement, its speed is limited and frequent traffic slow down is inevitable. This paper presents a highway pavement texture detection system using position-sensitive device (PSD) with a laser transmitter. As one of non-destructive test tools, the laser texture sensor that can run at 178 kHz allows high-speed measurement, and is very sensitive to macro and micro texture. In order to reduce the influences from the surrounding area we have designed a PID compensation circuit to help improve the accuracy of the system. The outcomes of several prototype pavement texture devices have proved the measurement system's feasibility and effectiveness. A measurement system with high-speed, high accuracy and low-cost is obtained.


Twenty-six children conservatively treated for fracture of the femoral shaft have been reviewed with regard to differences in limb length seven to ten years after the injury. In nine patients the clinical measurements were checked against radiographic measurements of both femora and tibiae. The following conclusions were reached. Nearly two-thirds of the patients had overgrowth of the femur of 10 millimetres or more. Shortening of 15 to 20 millimetres at the fracture site was well compensated for by accelerated growth. Growth acceleration seemed to take place during the healing period and the difference at the end of healing was permanent. Overgrowth was promoted by comminuted and long oblique fractures and by overriding of the fracture ends, but was not influenced by the age at fracture, the duration of treatment or the level of fracture of the shaft. Growth of the tibia was not affected by the femoral fracture.


Summary The toxic potential of Azadirachta indica, Mimosa tenufflora, and Piptadenia stipulacea to honey bees (Apis mellifera) was evaluated. Newly emerged bees were collected and put into wooden boxes that were kept in an acclimatized chamber at 32°C and 70% humidity. Pollen samples were collected from Azadirachta indica, Mimosa tenuiflora, and Piptadenia stipulacea, and were added to food at doses of 0 (control group), 0.25%, 0.5% and 1.0%. Each dose of plant material was fed to 180 bees, and the bees were observed daily until the last one died. Statistical comparison of the survival curves was performed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The pollen of P. stipulacea significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the survival of honey bees, and only slight toxicity of A. indica pollen to honey bees was observed. The differences between the survival curves of bees fed with different doses of M. tenuiflora were not significant (P>0.05). In conclusion, although arthropods may aid the reproduction of plants through the dissemination of reproductive structures, the pollen of some species may be toxic to bees.


On 7 December 2005 the Minister of Communications and the Minister of Finance signed a decree in accordance with which the Israeli Postal Authority was transformed into Israel Post Ltd., a government-owned company, as of 1 March 2006. Prior to that date, on 31 January 2006, the postal services underwent an important liberalization phase, whereby 50% of the bulk mail were officially opened to competition.The European liberalization process has served as a model for the Israeli legislature. There is however a big difference. The Israeli legislature does not have the benefit (or burden) of the need to comply with the competition rules of the EC Treaty, especially those concerning undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest, which have played a vital role in shaping the liberalization process in Europe. Therefore, despite the similarity in the overall aim to be achieved (better, more efficient and more cost-effective postal services), the debate regarding how this should be done is markedly different and so are the consequences for the liberalization process.This paper critically analyzes, compares and evaluates the role of the legislature, the regulator and the courts in the liberalization process of postal services in the European Union and in Israel.


Serpinin peptides derive from proteolytic cleavage of Chromogranin-A at C-terminus. Serpinin and the more potent pyroglutaminated-serpinin (pGlu-Serp) are positive cardiac β-adrenergic-like modulators, acting through β1-AR/AC/cAMP/PKA pathway. Because in some conditions this pathway and/or other pro-survival pathways, activated by other Chromogranin-A fragments, may cross-talk and may be protective, here we explored whether pGlu-Serp cardioprotects against ischemia/reperfusion injury under normotensive and hypertensive conditions. In the latter condition, cardioprotection is often blunted because of the limitations on pro-survival Reperfusion Injury Salvage Kinases (RISK) pathway activation. The effects of pGlu-Serp were evaluated on infarct size (IS) and cardiac function by using the isolated and Langendorff perfused heart of normotensive (Wistar Kyoto, WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats exposed to ischemic pre-conditioning (PreC) and post-conditioning (PostC). In both WKY and SHR rat, pGlu-Serp induced mild cardioprotection in both PreC and PostC. pGlu-Serp administered at the reperfusion (Serp-PostC) significantly reduced IS, being more protective in SHR than in WKY. Conversely, left ventricular developed pressure (LVDevP) post-ischemic recovery was greater in WKY than in SHR. pGlu-Serp-PostC reduced contracture in both strains. Co-infusion with specific RISK inhibitors (PI3K/Akt, MitoKATP channels and PKC) blocked the pGlu-Serp-PostC protective effects. To show direct effect on cardiomyocytes, we pre-treated H9c2 cells with pGlu-Serp, which were thus protected against hypoxia/reoxygenation. These results suggest pGlu-Serp as a potential modulatory agent implicated in the protective processes that can limit infarct size and overcome the hypertension-induced failure of PostC.


The growth of Sarcoma 180 cells (S-180), whether dependent on the synthesis of purine nucleotides de novo (folate medium) or on preformed purines (amethopterin medium) such as hypoxanthine, adenine, or adenosine, was inhibityed by 50 and 100% at 15-22 and 100 µM N 6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenosine, respectively. This adenosine analogue was shown to accumulate in the cell water in the form of the 5'-monophosphate at 2 mM when the extracellular nucleoside level was 100 µM. In S-180 cells incubated with 100 and 300 µM N 6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenosine and 30 µM [8-14C]adenine the formation of [8-14C]ATP was inhibited by 55 and 64%, respectively, and [8-14C]AMP accumulated at 53 µM as compared with the control, where AMP was undetectable. Under similar conditions the conversion of 100 µM [8-14C]hypoxanthine to ATP and GTP was inhibited by 51 and 65%, respectively. A study was made on the effect of chemically prepared N 6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenosine 5'-monophosphate on several enzymes involved in the metabolism of purine nucleotides, using cellfree extracts of S-180 cells. This compound inhibited adenosine kinase by competing with ATP ( Ki/Km , 1.4), adenine phosphoribosyltransferase by competing with 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate ( Ki/Km , 4.0), AMP kinase by competing with AMP ( Ki/Km , 8.8), IMP dehydrogenase by competing with IMP ( Ki/Km , 15), and adenylosuccinate synthetase noncompetitively with respect to IMP ( Ki , 3.0 mM). This nucleotide analogue was also a moderate inhibitor of 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate synthetase, and a poor inhibitor of adenylosuccinate lyase, hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase, and guanylate kinase. Since the multiplication of S-180 cells in vitro is independent of preformed purines, it appears that the inhibition of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase or of adenosine kinase cannot be the basis for the cytotoxicity of N 6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenosine. The intracellular pools of AMP and IMP were normally quite low (much less than 0.1 mM) as compared with that of N 6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenosine 5'-monophosphate. It appears, therefore, that AMP kinase and IMP dehydrogenase may be the critical sites of action. Inhibition of these enzymatic steps could cause a shortage of ATP and GTP, leading to inhibition of all the synthetic processes requiring these triphosphates and, eventually, to cell death.


Modulation of touch sensitivity in Caenorhabditis elegans Xiaoyin Chen Sensory perception adapts to diverse environment. Although studies in the last few decades have started to address the question of how sensory systems transduce signals, how these systems cross-modulated is largely unknown. In this thesis, I study mechanosensation in the C. elegans touch receptor neurons (TRNs) to understand how sensory systems are modulated and adapt to the environment. I find that the touch sensitivity in the TRNs is modulated by both mechanical and non-mechanical factors. The mechanical factors are transduced directly by a secondary mechanosensory system in the TRNs, and the non-mechanical factors are detected by other neurons and relayed to the TRNs by neuropeptides. Both pathways converge through a common mechanism to regulate the surface expression of the MEC-4 mechanotransduction channels, which are needed for sensing touch. I then explore the consequences of modulation, and show that modulation by mechanical and non-mechanical factors adjusts the balance between the sensitivity to strong mechanical stimuli that predict dangers and sensitivity to weak stimuli that are usually not associated with danger. Such a balance maintains sensitivity to biologically-relevant mechanical stimuli while reducing unnecessary responses to weak stimuli, thus increasing the ability to survive under different conditions. I used neuronal-enhanced RNAi and mosaic analysis to discover two convergent signaling pathways, the integrin/focal adhesion signaling and insulin signaling, that modulate anterior touch sensitivity. Additional genes and pathways are also needed for optimal touch sensitivity in the TRNs, including the RAS/MAPK pathway, RhoGTPases, cytoskeleton genes, and 43 other genes that cause lethality when mutated. The integrins/focal adhesion proteins act cell-autonomously in the TRNs to detect the mechanical environment. The focal adhesion proteins modulate force sensitivity and subsequent calcium signaling, and they are needed for long-term sensitization of touch sensitivity in response to sustained background vibration. Such sensitization maintains normal touch sensitivity under background vibration by partially counteracting the effect of habituation. This sensitization does not require the MEC-4/MEC-10 transduction channel, suggesting that the integrins may act as secondary force sensors. Insulin signaling, however, responds to non-mechanical signals that reduce touch sensitivity by decreasing the expression of insulin-like neuromodulators, including INS10 and INS-22. The reduced touch sensitivity facilitates the completion of other tasks such as chemotaxis under background mechanical stimuli, thus increasing the chance of survival by escaping stressful conditions. Both insulin signaling and integrin signaling converge on AKT-1 and DAF-16, which modulate touch sensitivity by regulating the transcription of mfb-1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase expressed in the TRNs. MFB-1 regulates the amount of MEC-4 channel on the plasma membrane, thus modulating touch sensitivity. Together, these results describe an integrated pathway that transduces both mechanical and non-mechanical signals to modulate touch sensitivity through a common mechanism. These modulation mechanisms maintain optimal sensitivity to mechanical stimuli while avoiding unnecessary responses.


Synchronized phasor measurements can potentially track the system dynamics between two classical state estimations. However, in the PMU configurations available nowadays and in the near future, those measurements are too scarce for the whole system state to be estimated. Therefore, we investigate the possibility to reconstruct coherent, time-synchronized system states from the available PMU data. State reconstruction is formulated as an optimization problem. The objective is to minimize, in the space of bus powers, the distance between the reconstructed state and the last state estimate provided by a standard state estimator. PMU data are imposed as equality constraints. Furthermore, the placement of PMUs near generators is advocated for higher accuracy of state reconstruction. The performance and potential benefits of the approach are illustrated by processing snapshots obtained from detailed time simulation of a test system subject to a disturbance and corrective actions.


BACKGROUND: Cervical radiculopathy can be treated by anterior endoscopic approach to access its target pathology decompressing spinal nerve roots without fusion. The transforaminal anterior percutaneous endoscopic cervical discectomy approach is easy way to transverse process and decompress and remove osteophytes. It preserves spinal motion, stability and reduces risk of vertebral injury. METHODS: A case selected had neck pain radiating toward right arm for 2 month but severe pain from 20 days, neck deformities, head tilted toward right side. Neurological examination showed decreased sensation, weakness over right sided trapezius, biceps and triceps muscles. Eaton sign and Spurling sign were positive. Preoperative dynamic X-ray showed degenerative changes, osteophtyes at C3-4, C5-6, CT -intervertebral foraminal stenosis at C3-4 and C5-6 level, MRI -disc protrusion severely compressing spinal cord at C3/4 level. We operated at most significant level as first successful newer approach for cervical radiculopathy with osteophytes removal, decompression and discectomy by PECD anterolateral (transforaminal approach) under general anesthesia. RESULTS: Blood loss 100 mL. Hospital Stay 3 days. Operative time was 80 minute. There was marked improvement of preoperative VAS score from 7/10 to 3/10. After surgery drain was fixed for 24 hour to collect some residual fluids and avoid hematomas. There were no significant post operative events or surgery-related complication. CONCLUSION: Under percutaneous endoscopic system is easy to visualize proper minute structure, drill, dissect and lessen the chance of iatrogenic injury, decrease risk of vertebral arteries. Anterior transformaminal endoscopic surgical approach can be further developed and trained for treatment of cervical radiculopathy in large population.


Grape pomace is the main by-product of wine production that concentrates bioactive metabolites of polyphenolic nature with antibacterial activity. Since grape pomace composition varied depending on grape variety, climate, vineyard location, and winemaking technology, it is important to study the composition and antibacterial activity of each variety separately. In this study, antibacterial activity against different food pathogens was evaluated and its relation with polyphenols content was determined. Grape pomace from Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah varieties was extracted with methanol/HCl 1% (v/v), followed by sequential extractions with hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate. Ethyl acetate fraction had the highest antibacterial activity determined through the microdilution method, reaching over 90% of inhibition at 500 μg·ml-1 with the exception of Salmonella Typhi (70% of inhibition). Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were the most susceptible strains, exceeding 50% of inhibition at 62.5 μg·ml-1. Ethyl acetate fraction contains the highest phenolic concentration in both Cabernet Sauvignon (132.2 mg of GAE g-1) and Syrah (102.6 mg of GAE g-1) pomace, as determined by the Folin-Ciocalteau method. Antibacterial activity present in grape pomace extracts is in direct relation to the polar phenolic content, in particular that from Cabernet Sauvignon.


Human enteroviruses distributed worldwide are causative agents of a broad spectrum of diseases with extremely high morbidity, including a series of severe illnesses of the central nervous system, heart, endocrine pancreas, skeleton muscles, etc., as well as the common cold contributing to the development of chronic respiratory diseases, and the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The above diseases along with significantly high morbidity and mortality in children, in the high-risk populations (immunodeficiencies, neonates) definitely formulate the chemotherapy as the main tool for the control of enterovirus infections. At present, clinically effective antivirals for use in the treatment of enteroviral infection do not exist, in spite of the lots of work carried out in this field. The main reason for this is the development of drug resistance. The monotherapy courses were the only approach used till now. For the first time in the research for anti-enterovirus antivirals our team introduced the testing of combination effect of the selective inhibitors of enterovirus replication with different mode of action. We studied alongside the process of development of resistance to the strongest inhibitors of enteroviruses, WIN compounds (VP1 protein hydrophobic pocket blockers), especially in the models in vivo, CVB infections in mice. We introduced the tracing of a panel of phenotypic markers (MIC50 value, plaque shape and size, stability at 50o C, pathogenicity in mice) for characterization the drug-mutants (resistant and dependent) as a very important stage in the study of enterovirus inhibitors. Moreover, as a result of VP1 RNA sequence analysis performed on the model of disoxaril mutants of CVB1, we determined the molecular basis of the drug-resistance, two point mutations - M213H and F237L, both in the ligand-binding pocket. The sequence analysis of the drug-dependent mutant showed some reversion to the wild drug-sensitive virus strain. A large-scale study of the combined effect of a series of anti-enteroviral agents with different modes of action resulted in the selection of a number of very effective in vitro double combinations revealing synergistic character of the combination effect and a broad spectrum of sensitive enteroviruses. Two antivirals developed in our previous studies were involved in these studies, PTU-23 and oxoglaucine. The most prospective attainment in our study in this field was the development of a novel scheme for the combined application of anti-enteroviral substances in coxsackievirus B1 neuroinfection in newborn mice. It consisted of a consecutive, alternating and non-simultaneous, administration of the substances in the combination. A triple combination - disoxaril-guanidine.HCl-oxoglaucine (DGO), showing good efficacy was selected. Its effectiveness was expressed in a marked reduction of mortality rate in infected mice as compared both to the placebo group, and to the partner compounds used alone every day, and to the same combination applied simultaneously every day. Studies of the drug sensitivity of viral brain isolates from mice, treated with DGO combination showed not only preserved, but even increased sensitivity to the drugs included in the combination. Obviously, the consecutive alternating administration of anti-enteroviral substances hinders the occurrence of drug-resistance in the course of the experimental enteroviral infections in mice.


The purpose of this recommendation is to provide information that advances an improved position on a wonton waste policy in regards to stingray bow hunting in Alabama. The stingray is the oceans linchpin mesopredator and dramatic population change through excessive bow hunting extraction can push the local bays towards unanticipated environmental and economic transformations. A wonton waste law could help limit the needless disposal of dead stingrays on our beaches, increase public confidence in bay water quality and contribute to research that would aid in setting sustainable limits on stingray bow hunting.


This article examines the dynamics of workplace change in European call centres. Survey data and case studies from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain show large national and sectoral differences in institutional inclusiveness and labour market segmentation. These reflect variation in the institutional constraints and resources available to employers and unions as they adjust to market changes. However, union strategies to organize new groups and close gaps in existing regulations are becoming increasingly important as restructuring undermines traditional forms of bargaining power.


The Songhua River Watershed (SHRW) in China has been challenged by water shortages, water pollution, water leakage, and soil erosion in recent years. In the next few decades, these problems will continue to exist and even worsen, threatening the quality of the regional ecological environment and socio-economic development. These issues must be alleviated through coupled farmland and water resources management (CFWRM) but are challenged by multiple system complexities. To fill this gap, this study developed an Interval Multi-Random Factorial Programming (IMRFP) to eliminate potential problems in SHRW and improve the reliability of the decision support process. A series of systematic CFWRM measures were applied to promote the harmonious SHRW ecological environ¬ment and social economy. For example, due to the significant contribution of agriculture to the regional economy, planting should always be a priority. As a major commercial crop, rice cultivation should be allocated the most irrigation water, followed by corn, potatoes, and soybeans. Therefore, after fully balancing the trade-off between the environment and the economy, policymakers should adopt the most reasonable proposals. Various support policies are needed to fully implement these measures in SHRW. For example, it is suggested to improve and update the construction of the water supply network in the SHRW area and appropriately change taxes and prices to follow the overall crop planting plan. The modeling solution shows that the IMRFP method can systematically optimize the allocation of water resources and farming patterns so that water shortage, water pollution, water leakage, and soil erosion in the SHRW can be alleviated.


This paper presents a novel approach towards dynamic street light control, which combines advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and citizens' involvement and engagement. Our proposal is based on the Citizens' involvement which would strongly increases the efficiency and performance of technological solutions in smart city context. We believe that Serious Games have the potential to strengthen people motivation in this context.