There is a growing body of research and scholarship highlighting the importance of teachers and teaching to children's learning and life opportunities (Bransford, Darling-Hammond and LePage 2005). More specifically what teachers do in classrooms is a function of many things (e.g., content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge) including their belief about students, the subject, and the teaching process (Calderhead 1996). The focus of this research was to understand why young people in Ireland are attracted to teaching physical education and what factors contribute to their decision to enter a teacher education programme. A cohort of 75 physical education teacher candidates wrote brief narratives summarising key factors that influenced their decision to be teachers of physical education. Most of these students chose teaching as a career because of their interests in sport and physical education, love of working with children, and the a number of significant others telling them they would be good at teaching. Their leadership roles on teams (captaincy) and their personal athletic success also promoted a keen sense of wanting to help others be as successful as they had been. While a number of the teacher candidates wrote about negative experiences in physical education or receiving negative comments about a teaching career from teachers, they wanted to be physical education teachers as they believed they could provide positive experiences for pupils when they became teachers. A number of implications for teacher education programme design and delivery are discussed.


We present an analysis of the 2011 February 15 X-class solar flare, previously reported to produce the first sunquake in solar cycle 24. Using acoustic holography, we confirm the first, and report a second, weaker, seismic source associated with this flare. We find that the two sources are located at either end of a sigmoid, which indicates the presence of a flux rope. Contrary to the majority of previously reported sunquakes, the acoustic emission precedes the peak of major hard X-ray (HXR) sources by several minutes. Furthermore, the strongest HXR footpoints derived from RHESSI data are found to be located away from the seismic sources in the flare ribbons. We account for these discrepancies within the context of a phenomenological model of a flux rope eruption and accompanying two-ribbon flare. We propose that the sunquakes are triggered at the footpoints of the erupting flux rope at the start of the flare impulsive phase and eruption onset, while the main HXR sources appear later at the footpoints of the flare loops formed under the rising flux rope. Possible implications of this scenario for the theoretical interpretation of the forces driving sunquakes are discussed.


One-dimensional nanostructures, such as silver nanowires (AgNWs), have attracted considerable attention owing to their outstanding electrical, thermal and antimicrobial properties. However, their application in the prevention of infections linked to bone tissue regeneration intervention has not yet been explored. Here we report on the development of an innovative scaffold prepared from chitosan, composite hydroxyapatite and AgNWs (CS-HACS-AgNWs) having both bioactive and antibacterial properties. In vitro results highlighted the antibacterial potential of AgNWs against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The CS-HACS-AgNWs composite scaffold demonstrated suitable Ca/P deposition, improved gel strength, reduced gelation time, and sustained Ag+ release within therapeutic concentrations. Antibacterial studies showed that the composite formulation was capable of inhibiting bacterial growth in suspension, and able to completely prevent biofilm formation on the scaffold in the presence of resistant strains. The hydrogels were also shown to be biocompatible, allowing cell proliferation. In summary, the developed CS-HACS-AgNWs composite hydrogels demonstrated significant potential as a scaffold material to be employed in bone regenerative medicine, as they present enhanced mechanical strength combined with the ability to allow calcium salts deposition, while efficiently decreasing the risk of infections. The results presented justify further investigations into the potential clinical applications of these materials.


Energy‐banded ions from tens to ten thousands of eV are observed in the low‐latitude auroral and subauroral zones during every large (minimum Dst < −150 nT) geomagnetic storm encountered by the FAST satellite. The banded ions persist for many FAST orbits, lasting up to 12 h, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The energy‐banded ions often have more than six distinct bands, and the O+, He+, and H+ bands are often observed at the same energies. The bands are extensive in latitude (~50–75° on the dayside, often extending to 45°) and magnetic local time, covering all magnetic local time over the data set of storms. The distributions are peaked in the perpendicular direction at the altitudes of the FAST satellite (~350–4175 km), although in some cases the precipitating component dominates for the lowest energy bands. At the same time, for some of the events studied in detail, long‐lasting intervals of field‐aligned energy dispersed ions from ~100 eV to 40 keV are seen in Los Alamos National Laboratory geosynchronous observations, primarily on the dayside and after magnetosheath encounters (i.e., highly compressed magnetosphere). We present both case and statistical studies of the banded ions. These bands are a new phenomenon associated with all large storms, which are distinctly different from other banded populations, and are not readily interpreted using previous models for particle sources, transport, and loss. The energy‐banded ions are an energetically important component of the inner magnetosphere during the most intense magnetic storms.


A number of states have experimented with legislation that would allow unlicensed international medical graduates to become physician assistants. These attempts have failed. The authors conducted a pilot evaluation study in California in response to legislative efforts. They examined the medical knowledge of a group of unlicensed international medical graduates and compared their clinical skills with those of a control group of recent graduates from a physician assistant training program. The unlicensed international medical graduates were below standard in medical knowledge and clinical skills and failed to make critical diagnoses in the tests with standardized patients. The authors conclude that unlicensed international medical graduates need additional training to be incorporated into the U.S. health care system as physician assistants.


Canada has 'two official' languages, but neither one is one of the original languages of this land. As an Indigenous
parliamentarian who speaks Cree, the author believed it was important to be able to make substantive statements
in parliament in this language. This language informed the principle of his worldview and the worldview of
some of his constituents. In 2017, the existing standing orders and policies of the House of Commons prevented
his address in Cree from being translated to his fellow MPs. Despite receiving advice to use one of Canada's two
official languages, the author decided to continue with his speech as planned. Subsequently, he raised a prima
facie case that his rights as a parliamentarian had been violated and worked with the Regulations Committee
(PROC) to change the standing orders. In this article, he explains his thoughts about this issue and reveals how
he came to a decision to challenge the status quo in an effort to be true to himself and his people.


By using sophisticated surgical techniques in combination with the Slim Perimodiolar cochlear implant electrode array a hitherto unattained high rate of residual hearing preservation in cochlear implantation has been observed that makes potential for electric acoustic stimulation. One of the primary aims of cochlear implant system engineering is to promote atraumatic electrode insertion to maintain optimal postoperative hearing sensitivity by protecting and preserving the delicate inner ear structures. The study aimed to collect pre-, and postoperative audiological and surgical results from the experience gained from the applied cochlear implant configuration. About 30 patients (aged 43.32 ± 24 years) with partial hearing loss were supplied with this atraumatic perimodiolar thin electrode which was designed to preserve residual hearing despite intracochlear insertion of an electrode array. All patients were implanted with consentaneous CI system and surgery technique. The use of new electrode array profiles in cochlear implantation plays a fundamental role in minimally invasive soft surgery, taking into individual needs, and providing long-term acoustic hearing preservation. Hearing preservation was achieved in most cases (partial residual hearing preservation) after a long-term follow-up period (preoperation, at least one year).


Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have recently attracted much attention due to their potential to reduce CO2 emissions and transportation costs and can be grouped into entities (aggregators) to provide ancillary services such as frequency regulation. In this paper, the application of aggregators to frequency regulation by making fair use of their energy storage capacity is addressed. When the power grid requires frequency regulation service to the aggregator to adjust the grid frequency, the PEVs participating in providing the service can either draw energy (as it is usually done to charge the vehicle) or deliver energy to the grid by means of the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interface. Under the general framework of optimizing the aggregator profit, different methods, such as state-dependent allocation and the water-filling approach, are proposed to achieve a final state of charge (SOC) of the PEVs that satisfy the desired fairness criteria once the regulation service has been carried out.


Human disease due to food-borne pathogens remains a medical problem worldwide. Campylobacter jejuni is the most common cause of bacterial food-borne diarrhoeal disease, but the mechanisms by which it causes disease remain unclear. This bacterium is also the most common antecedent to the peripheral neuropathies Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and Miller-Fisher syndrome (MFS). The main aim of this project was to compare cytotoxicity of isolates of C. jejuni towards mammalian cells in culture, to purify any cytotoxic activity and to compare strains by plasmid and proteomic analysis. Using the API Campy identification kit, 37 of the 39 strains were identified as C. jejuni jejuni serotype 1 or 2 with identification (ID) scores > 98.3%; and two strains were identified as C. jejuni jejuni 1 with ID scores of 88.3%. GOT (Gamma Glutamyl Transferase) test was the most important test to differentiate between C. jejuni jejuni 1 and 2 which showed negative and positive results, respectively. The cytotoxic activity against Vero and Caco-2 cells of some of the typed strains of C. jejuni was tested. Cytotoxic activity was clearly demonstrated using Vero and Caco-2 cells and these activities peaked after incubation of the cell culture with sample for 16h. Comparison of wild-type strains 81-176 and 11168 with mutants of these strains lacking cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) or putative haemolysin or phospholipase toxins indicated that the toxicity observed was not due to any of these proteins, as cytotoxicity was unaffected by their absence. Some isolates (e.g. C0L12) showed low cytotoxicity while others, especially C. jejuni 81-176, consistently produced high cytotoxin activity which was heat-labile and lethal to tissue culture cells. Cytotoxicity comparisons of inner and outer membrane preparations with a cytoplasmic fraction of C. jejuni strain 81-176 and C0L12 indicated that greatest activity was found in the inner membrane fraction. Proteins in the membrane preparation could not be easily fractionated and cell-free extracts of strains with low (COL12) and high (81-176) cytotoxic effects were chosen for further purification and characterisation studies. Although some differences were detected after DEAE- Sepharose fractionation and two-dimensional electrophoretic (2-DE) separation of proteins, no individual proteins could be clearly related to cytotoxicity. However, proteomic analysis did reveal some interesting properties of the C. jejuni strains. Of the proteins characterised by mass spectrometry after 2-DE, oxidoreductases were the most frequently identified in the virulent strain 81-176, but not in the type strain 11168. There was no apparent correlation between toxin production and clinical symptoms in patients from whom the strains were isolated. The study indicated that not all C. jejuni strains tested produced cytotoxin (s), but that cytotoxin producers seemed to be predominantly human strains. The presence of virB11 and tetO genes carried by plasmids was examined by PCR in the 39 C. jejuni isolates together with strains 81-176 and NCTC 11168. Detection rates for the virB11 and tetO genes in the clinical isolates were 28.2% and 12.82%, respectively.


Abstract The scale on which flexural subsidence has taken place in the North Sea region from the Late Palaeocene is very much greater than the scale on which fault-controlled subsidence and flexural subsidence occurred during the Mesozoic. In addition, uplift of the Scottish Highlands occurred during the Cenozoic on a scale comparable with that of the subsidence in the North Sea region during this time. The Moray Firth, Mesozoic to Tertiary basin is divided into two distinct areas as a consequence of its Tertiary subsidence history, the Inner Moray Firth being uplifted and eroded and the Outer Moray Firth undergoing apparently continuous subsidence. The geometries of the pre-erosional sequences in the Moray Firth area indicate a Cenozoic history of both subsidence and uplift, providing a link between the subsiding North Sea region and the uplifted Scottish Highlands. Using seismic mapping and cross sections constructed therefrom, across the Moray Firth and North Central Graben areas, the relative subsidence and uplift is displayed as part of a unified process of crustal flexuring. It is suggested that the flexural subsidence and uplift in the North Sea region and Scottish Highlands during the Cenozoic is associated with the onset of sea-floor spreading of the North Atlantic to the west. Furthermore it is proposed that the magnitude of Cenozoic subsidence in the North Sea region does not relate to the magnitude of Mesozoic extension which preceded it, the two processes being driven by different mechanisms.


Today, cellular networks have saturated frequencies below 3 GHz. Because of increasing capacity requirements, 5th generation (5G) mobile networks target the 3.5 GHz band (3.4 to 3.8 GHz). Despite its expected wide usage, there is little empirical path loss data and mobile radio network planning experience for the 3.5 GHz band available. This paper presents the results of rural, suburban, and urban measurement campaigns using a pre-standard 5G prototype testbed operating at 3.5 GHz, with outdoor as well as outdoor-to-indoor scenarios. Based on the measurement results, path loss models are evaluated, which are essential for network planning.


Through Basque to Minoan. By F. G. GORDON, M.A., F.S.A. Pp. 83. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press. 1931. Cloth, 10s. od. T H E decipherment of a language of unknown character recorded in a script to which there is no key is a formidable task. Champollion, Rawlinson, Thomsen started with the great advantage that they knew what to look for, Egyptian or Iranian royal names or the grammatical characteristics of a known kindred language. To the decipherment of Minoan there are no analogous stepping-stones. A search among the scanty remains of the language in the hope of finding a recurring group of signs which might turn out to represent ' Minos' or ' Knossos' is not likely to be successful. Evans has compared a number of the Cretan symbols with Egyptian hieroglyphs, but, even if the resemblance is not due to coincidence, we have no means of knowing what value those signs had in Crete. It is very probable that the Greek vocabulary contains a considerable number of Minoan words, but we cannot identify them disguised in Minoan dress. Sundwall, some years ago, plausibly suggested that certain signs, consisting of groups of straight lines, represented numerals ; and that is all that has so far been done by way of deciphering the Minoan language. The old-fashioned linguists are satisfied that the discovery of a bilingual is necessary for farther progress.


Civil construction, nowadays has to deal with comfort and habitability requirements and raw material lack. Thus, it is desired to reuse materials. In this context, the subfloor plays an important role in providing users with comfort, being an interesting object of analysis. Thus, this study aims to design lightweight concrete slabs with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) aggregates for subfloors, with two grain sizes of conventional sand replaced with EVA. The experimental program is composed of four unit mixes, three of them varying the ratio between EVA coarse and natural fine aggregates, and the one with higher quantity of EVA coarse aggregates was replaced sand for EVA fine aggregates. The subfloor slabs were molded with three thickness of 3, 5 and 7 centimeters, and a set of 3cm slabs plus 1cm of conventional coating. Slabs were submitted to specific mass tests and L'nT,w mean standardized impact sound pressure level tests. Results showed a correlation between two variables, being that 7cm thickness slabs with smaller specific mass, with total aggregate replacement, presented noise intensity reductions of 17dB in comparison to 7cm slabs with natural sand and smaller content of EVA coarse aggregate; and 28dB reduction in relation to the reference.


Recently there has been a surge of research on improving the communication efficiency of distributed training. However, little work has been done to systematically understand whether the network is the bottleneck and to what extent. In this paper, we take a first-principles approach to measure and analyze the network performance of distributed training. As expected, our measurement confirms that communication is the component that blocks distributed training from linear scale-out. However, contrary to the common belief, we find that the network is running at low utilization and that if the network can be fully utilized, distributed training can achieve a scaling factor of close to one. Moreover, while many recent proposals on gradient compression advocate over 100x compression ratio, we show that under full network utilization, there is no need for gradient compression in 100 Gbps network. On the other hand, a lower speed network like 10 Gbps requires only 2x-5x gradients compression ratio to achieve almost linear scale-out. Compared to application-level techniques like gradient compression, network-level optimizations do not require changes to applications and do not hurt the performance of trained models. As such, we advocate that the real challenge of distributed training is for the network community to develop high-performance network transport to fully utilize the network capacity and achieve linear scale-out.


This paper presents reconstruction analysis of vehicle trajectory using records of a developed black box, and results of validation tests. For reconstruction of vehicle trajectory, the black box records the longitudinal and lateral accelerations and yaw-rate of vehicle during a pre-defined time period before and after the accident. One 2-axis accelerometer is used for measuring accelerations, and one vibrating structure type gyroscope is used for measuring yaw-rate of vehicle. The vehicle's planar trajectory can be reconstructed by integrating twice accelerations along longitudinal and lateral directions with yaw-rate values. However, there may be many kinds of errors in sensor measurements. The causes of errors are as follows: mis-alignment, low frequency offset drift, high frequency noise, and projecting 3-dimensional motion into 2-dimensional motion. Therefore, some procedures are taken for error compensation. In order to evaluate the reliability and the accuracy of trajectory reconstruction results, the black box was mounted on a passenger car. The vehicle was driven and tested along various specified lanes. Through the tests, the accuracy and usefulness of the reconstruction analysis have been validated.


D-galacturonate, a key constituent of pectin, is a ubiquitous monomer in plant biomass. Anaerobic, fermentative conversion of D-galacturonate is therefore relevant in natural environments as well as in microbial processes for microbial conversion of pectin-containing agricultural residues. In currently known microorganisms that anaerobically ferment D-galacturonate, its catabolism occurs via the galacturonate-isomerase pathway. Redox-cofactor balancing in this pathway strongly constrains the possible range of products generated from anaerobic D-galacturonate fermentation, resulting in acetate as the predominant organic fermentation product. To explore metabolic diversity of microbial D-galacturonate fermentation, anaerobic enrichment cultures were performed at pH 4. Anaerobic batch and chemostat cultures of a dominant Lactobacillus suebicus strain isolated from these enrichment cultures produced near-equimolar amounts of lactate and acetate from D-galacturonate. A combination of whole-genome sequence analysis, quantitative proteomics, enzyme activity assays in cell extracts, and in vitro product identification demonstrated that D-galacturonate metabolism in L. suebicus occurs via a novel pathway. In this pathway, mannonate generated by the initial reactions of the canonical isomerase pathway is converted to 6-phosphogluconate by two novel biochemical reactions, catalyzed by a mannonate kinase and a 6-phosphomannonate 2-epimerase. Further catabolism of 6-phosphogluconate then proceeds via known reactions of the phosphoketolase pathway. In contrast to the classical isomerase pathway for D-galacturonate catabolism, the novel pathway enables redox-cofactor-neutral conversion of D-galacturonate to ribulose-5-phosphate. While further research is required to identify the structural genes encoding the key enzymes for the novel pathway, its redox-cofactor coupling is highly interesting for metabolic engineering of microbial cell factories for conversion of pectin-containing feedstocks into added-value fermentation products such as ethanol or lactate. This study illustrates the potential of microbial enrichment cultivation to identify novel pathways for the conversion of environmentally and industrially relevant compounds.


Distinctive sedimentary structures, textures, and extremely negative δ 13 C carb values from the Ediacaran Doushantuo cap carbonate (ca. 635 Ma) in south China were taken as evidence for a methane hydrate destabilization event, but existing data for a methane-derived δ 13 C carb signature were reported from a single locality in the Yangtze Gorges area. Here we report negative δ 13 C carb values as low as −48‰ (Vienna Peedee belemnite) from two additional sections ~6 km and 55 km from the original locality. These negative δ 13 C carb values were obtained from isopachous cements that fill stromatactis-like cavities, sheet cracks, and fractures, and from partially recrystallized carbonate crusts, consistent with carbonate precipitation at cold methane seeps. The new data support a widespread methane release event following the Nantuo glaciation in south China (ca. 635 Ma), which may have contributed to the origin of unusual sedimentary and isotope features of cap carbonates.


The commercial airframe industry in the US experienced a shakeout from the early 1930s into the post†Second World War period. Unlike shakeouts in automobiles, tyres, or televisions, the commercial airframe industry's early life cycle was affected by external factors, particularly government demand. Using newly digitized data on all planes introduced in the commercial market between 1926 and 1965, we find that commercial airframe manufacturers with bomber contracts during the Second World War were more likely to have postwar market share than firms without such contracts, controlling for plane characteristics and other forms of government contracting. We attribute the effect of bomber contracts to advantages in R&D learning capacity acquired by firms with military airframe contracts. Despite low (or zero) initial presence in the commercial market, these learning capacity advantages allowed such firms to survive the early period of the shakeout, and later to thrive.


Evidence documenting the safety of acid-suppressing drugs in pregnancy is very limited. The authors assessed the prevalence of congenital malformations in first trimester-exposed pregnancies to cimetidine, omeprazole, and ranitidine and compared it with nonexposed pregnancies between 1991 and 1996. Two different sources were used, the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database and the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia Health Database. The final study cohort included 1,179 pregnancies from the United Kingdom and 1,057 from Italy. Abortions or ectopic pregnancies were not included. There were 20 stillbirths and 2,261 live-born babies in both cohorts combined, with 100 offspring identified with a malformation. The overall malformation rate was 4.4%. The relative risks for nongenetic congenital malformations associated with the use of cimetidine, omeprazole, and ranitidine were 1.2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6, 2.3), 0.9 (95% CI: 0.3, 2.2), and 1.4 (95% CI: 0.8, 2.4), respectively, compared with the nonexposed. No specific grouping in the distribution of malformations was observed in any of the three exposed groups. Moreover, no relation was found between drug exposure and preterm delivery or growth retardation. These findings suggest that the use of acid-suppressing drugs during the first trimester of pregnancy is not associated with a major teratogenic risk.


The cathodic reduction of nitrogen (N2) gas in molten chloride was investigated using a porous nickel (Ni) electrode. A LiCl-KCl-CsCl melt containing cathodically formed nitride ion (N3−) was sampled from an electrolytic bath and analyzed quantitatively by ion chromatography. The current efficiency of the cathodic reaction calculated from the ratio of quantity of the produced N3− was approximately 78% on average. The main reason why the measured efficiency did not reach 100% is considered as the amount of N3− increased more in the pores of the gas electrode than in the bulk of the electrolytic bath. © The Electrochemical Society of Japan, All rights reserved.


Murdoch Law School is celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2010, Hence, this is a time for celebration! During the last two decades, there have been many milestones in the rich history of the Law School, most of which are discussed in this commemorative book, These include the establishment of The Southern Communities Advocacy Legal and Education Service (SCALES), the development of the Murdoch Law School as Australia's Global Law School, the creation of an excellent advocacy and mooting programme and the Moot Court Bench (MCB).

The School decided that the 20th Anniversary should be marked with the publication of this book, which highlights the achievements of the School since its beginning in 1990. We are delighted that we have been privileged to edit this volume, which will give our Alumni, staff and readers many hours of reading and viewing pleasure.

There are many people who have assisted in the production of this book. We would like to mention the general staff of the Law School, Ms Miriam Everall. Ms Lyn Tooley and Ms Carla Michan-Ranieri. The School's web designer, Dr Ong Sing Goh collected many photos which appear in this book. The University's photographer, Mr Brian Richards generously provided access to his rich database of Law School pictures. Georgia O'Neill served as the Copy Editor: she saved us from many mistakes and ensured consistency of language throughout the manuscript. A special mention must be made of Murdoch's Senior Graphic Designer, Mr Adam White and Ms Nany Kusumo who were responsible for designing the book. Finally, we would like to thank all those who have contributed to the production of this book or have encouraged us to complete this project in a timely manner, We also thank Diane Evans and Edith Moens, our spouses, who have lived with this project, as much as us, during the best part of 2010.

We dedicate this book to all the people who have made Murdoch Law School into Australia's Global Law School. Professor Philip Evans Professor Gabriel Moens Perth, 1 November 2010.


River dunes are of great importance for the determination of water levels, especially during flood events. They have a large influence on the hydraulic roughness and thereby on water levels. In addition, dune formation could affect the navigability of rivers and propagation of dunes could uncover pipelines or other constructions beneath the river bed. Because fast calculations are essential during an upcoming flood event, there is a need for fast model predictions. The focus of this research is on a parameterized dune model and the cellular automaton dune model (CA model) HR Wallingford is experimenting with. Both models are relatively fast in their calculations but have a fundamentally different approach to predict river dunes. This research reveals the performance of these two models tested under various conditions. The main objective of this research is:
"To compare the performance of the cellular automaton dune model and the parameterized dune model for the prediction of dune dimensions, migration rates and sediment transport in equilibrium state, under flume conditions, similar to low-land river situations like the River Rhine (the Netherlands)."
The first step in this research was the preparation of the CA model for comparison with the parameterized dune model. A sensitivity analysis provided insight in the behaviour of the input parameters used to adjust the model: A length scale was added by assuming a fixed domain and defining the model parameters in a unit of distance instead of a number of cells. Sediment transport was determined by counting all moving slabs and used to implement a time scale. Finally, the input parameters of the model were linked to the flow characteristics. After these adjustments, the model was calibrated using the same data as used for the calibration of the parameterized dune model.
The second step was the comparison of the parameterized dune model and the CA model using a data set containing sixteen experiments. Research has shown that the parameterized dune model is reliable for prediction of dune dimensions, although it seems limited to experiments with a slope between 11*10-4 and 22*10-4. The parameterized dune model overestimates migration with approximately a factor of three. The CA model is tested for the first time in the way as presented in this thesis, by adding time and length scales to the model. Results seem promising and show predictions that are reasonable for five experiments; however in general the predictions are slightly underestimated. The CA model underestimates the migration with approximately a factor of three.
In this research a non-dimensional CA model is made dimensional. The model has potential and recommended improvements are: a) linking the shear velocity to flow characteristics and b) adding an equilibrium state.


Cerebrovascular effects of β-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) inactivation have not been systematically studied. In the present study we employed cultured human brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), BACE1-knockout (BACE1−/−) mice and conditional (tamoxifen-induced) endothelium-specific BACE1-knockout (eBACE1−/−) mice to determine effect of BACE1 inhibition on expression and function of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Deletion of BACE1 caused upregulation of eNOS and glypican-1 (GPC1) in human BMECs treated with BACE1-siRNA, and cerebral microvessels of male BACE1−/− mice and male eBACE1−/− mice. In addition, BACE1siRNA treatment increased NO production in human BMECs. These effects appeared to be independent of amyloid β-peptide production. Furthermore, adenoviral-mediated overexpression of BACE1 in human BMECs down-regulated GPC1 and eNOS. Treatment of human BMECs with GPC1siRNA suppressed mRNA and protein levels of eNOS. In basilar arteries of male eBACE1−/− mice, endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine and endothelium-independent relaxations to NO donor, DEA-NONOate, were not affected, consistent with unchanged expression of eNOS and phosphorylation of eNOS at Ser1177 in large cerebral arteries. In aggregate, our findings suggest that under physiological conditions, inactivation of endothelial BACE1 increases expression of eNOS in cerebral microvessels but not in large brain arteries. This effect appears to be mediated by increased GPC1 expression.


Summary: Xenopus Pitx1 is a homeobox gene whose family members are structurally and functionally conserved in organisms as diverse as Drosophila, chick, mouse, human, and frog. Present as a maternal transcript, the gene is zygotically expressed during gastrulation in a dorsal streak of cells. This streak restricts to a small circular domain underlying the center of presumptive neural plate. Shortly thereafter, a crescent of expression develops at the border of anterior neural ectoderm, and as the central plate domain diminishes, the crescent coalesces to define the presumptive cement gland. Expression remains high throughout cement gland development, and subsequently expands to include ectodermal cells involved in stomodeal invagination. During early organogenesis, expression ensues in developing eye, posterior lateral mesoderm, and first branchial arch derivatives. Ectopic expression of xPitx1 causes head deformities including enlarged cement gland, ectopic cement glands, and posterior deformities or, in extreme cases, inhibition of recognizable structures posterior to the cement gland. Expression of markers such as XCG‐1, xOtx2, xPax6, neuralβ tubulin, and xTwist suggest that increases in cement gland and lower mandibular size are likely at the expense of other head tissues. Paradoxically, overexpression is sufficient to partially rescue embryos that are axially perturbed by ultraviolet irradiation or retinoic acid administration. Ectopic expression of xPitx1 in ectodermal explants directly promotes cement gland development as there was no evidence that mesodermal or neural tissue was present in explants. genesis 29:78–90, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Single stranded RNA (ssRNA) virus infection activates the retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I)- mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) complex, a complex that coordinates the host innate immune response via the NF-κB and IRF3 pathways. Recent work has shown that the IκB kinase (IKK)γ scaffolding protein is the final common adapter protein required by RIG-I·MAVS to activate divergent rate-limiting kinases downstream controlling the NF-κB and IRF3 pathways. Previously we discovered a ubiquitous IKKγ splice-variant, IKKγΔ, that exhibits distinct signaling properties. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined the regulation and function of IKKγ splice forms in response to ssRNA virus infection, a condition that preferentially induces full length IKKγ-WT mRNA expression. In IKKγΔ-expressing cells, we found increased viral translation and cytopathic effect compared to those expressing full length IKKγ-WT. IKKγΔ fails to support viral-induced IRF3 activation in response to ssRNA infections; consequently type I IFN production and the induction of anti-viral interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) are significantly attenuated. By contrast, ectopic RIG-I·MAVS or TNFα-induced canonical NF-κB activation is preserved in IKKγΔ expressing cells. Increasing relative levels of IKKγ-WT to IKKγΔ (while keeping total IKKγ constant) results in increased type I IFN expression. Conversely, overexpressing IKKγΔ (in a background of constant IKKγ-WT expression) shows IKKγΔ functions as a dominant-negative IRF3 signaling inhibitor. IKKγΔ binds both IKK-α and β, but not TANK and IKKε, indicating that exon 5 encodes an essential TANK binding domain. Finally, IKKγΔ displaces IKKγWT from MAVS explaining its domainant negative effect. Conclusions/Significance Relative endogenous IKKγΔ expression affects cellular selection of inflammatory/anti-viral pathway responses to ssRNA viral infection.


In today's tightly connected global economy, traditional management practices that rely on "steady-state" conditions are challenged by chaotic external pressures and turbulent change. Just in the last few years, the world has experienced a string of catastrophic events, including a global economic meltdown, a volcanic eruption in Iceland, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a disastrous tsunami and power blackout in Japan, and political upheavals in Africa and the Middle East. Managing the risk of an uncertain future is a challenge that requires resilience—the ability to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of turbulent change. This research develops a measurement tool titled the Supply Chain Resilience Assessment and Management (SCRAM™). Data gathered from seven global manufacturing and service firms are used to validate SCRAM™, using qualitative methodology with 1,369 empirical items from focus groups reviewing 14 recent disruptions. Critical linkages are uncovered between the inherent vulnerability factors and controllable capability factors. Through mixed-method triangulation, this research identified 311 specific linkages that can be used to guide a resilience improvement process. Pilot testing suggests a correlation between increased resilience and improved supply chain performance.


Abstract When individuals in the United States dial the emergency service telephone number, they immediately encounter some version of the English-language institutional opening "Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?". What happens, though, when the one placing the call is not a speaker of English? How do callers and call-takers adapt to overcome this added communicative barrier so that they are able to effectively assess the emergency situation at hand? The present study describes the structure of a language negotiation sequence, which serves to evaluate callers' entitlement to receive service in a language other than the institutional default—in our case, requests for Spanish in lieu of English. We illustrate both how callers initially design requests for language, as well as how call-takers subsequently respond to those differing request formulations. Interactions are examined qualitatively and quantitatively to underscore the context-based contingencies surrounding call-takers' preference for English over the use of translation services. The results prove informative not only in terms of how bilingual talk is organized within social institutions, but also more generally with regard to how humans make active use of a variety of resources in their attempts to engage in interaction with one another. (Entitlement, discourse/social interaction, conversation analysis, requests, language contact, institutional talk, Spanish (in the US))*


Stringency (low leak) is one of the most important specifications required for genetic circuits and induction systems, but it is challenging to evolve without sacrificing the maximum output level. This problem also comes from the absence of truly tunable negative selection methods. This paper reports that stringently switching variants can sometimes emerge with surprising frequency upon mutations. We randomly mutated the previously generated leaky variants of LuxR, the quorum-sensing transcription activator from Vibrio fischeri, to restore the stringency. We found as much as 10-20% of the entire population exhibited significantly improved signal-to-noise ratios compared with their parents. This indicated that these mutants arose by the loss of folding capability by accumulating de-stabilizing mutations, not by introducing rare adaptive mutations, thereby becoming AHL-dependent folders. Only four rounds of mutagenesis and ON-state selection resulted in the domination of the entire population by the improved variants with low leak, without direct selection pressure for stringency. With this surprising frequency, conversion into the "ligand-addicted folders" should be one of the prevailing modes of evolving stringency both in the laboratory and in nature, and the workflow described here provides a rapid and versatile method of improving the signal-to-noise ratio of various genetic switches.


The accumulation of Copper in organisms can lead to altered functions of various pathways, and become cytotoxic through the generation of reactive oxygen species. In yeast, cytotoxic metals such as Hg+, Cd2+, and Cu2+ are transported into the lumen of the vacuole through various pumps. Copper ions are initially transported into the cell by the copper transporter Ctr1 at the plasma membrane and sequestered by chaperones and other factors to prevent cellular damage by free cations. Excess copper ions can subsequently be transported into the vacuole lumen by an unknown mechanism. Transport across membranes requires the reduction of Cu2+ to Cu+. Labile copper ions can interact with membranes to alter fluidity, lateral phase separation and fusion. Here we found that CuCl2 potently inhibited vacuole fusion by blocking SNARE pairing. This was accompanied by the inhibition of V-ATPase H+ pumping. Deletion of the vacuolar reductase Fre6 had no effect on the inhibition of fusion by copper. This suggests that that Cu2+ is responsible for the inhibition of vacuole fusion and V-ATPase function. This notion is supported by the differential effects chelators. The Cu2+-specific chelator TETA rescued fusion, whereas the Cu+-specific chelator BCS had no effect on the inhibited fusion.


Changes in the rates of oxygen consumption and ammonium excretion, in intra- and extracellular acid-base status and in the rate of H+-equivalent ion transfer between animals and ambient water were measured during environmental hypercapnia in the peanut worm Sipunculus nudus. During exposure to 1 % CO2 in air, intracellular and coelomic plasma PCO2 values rose to levels above those expected from the increase in ambient CO2 tension. Simultaneously, coelomic plasma PO2 was reduced below control values. The rise in PCO2 also induced a fall in intra- and extracellular pH, but intracellular pH was rapidly and completely restored. This was achieved during the early period of hypercapnia at the expense of a non-respiratory increase in the extracellular acidosis. The pH of the extracellular space was only partially compensated (by 37 %) during long-term hypercapnia. The net release of basic equivalents under control conditions turned to a net release of protons to the ambient water before a net, albeit reduced, rate of base release was re-established after a new steady state had been achieved with respect to acid-base parameters. Hypercapnia also affected the mode and rate of metabolism. It caused the rate of oxygen consumption to fall, whereas the rate of ammonium excretion remained constant or even increased, reflecting a reduction of the O/N ratio in both cases. The transient intracellular acidosis preceded a depletion of the phosphagen phospho-l-arginine, an accumulation of free ADP and a decrease in the level of Gibbs free energy change of ATP hydrolysis, before replenishment of phosphagen and restoration of pHi and energy status occurred in parallel. In conclusion, long-term hypercapnia in vivo causes metabolic depression, a parallel shift in acid-base status and increased gas partial pressure gradients, which are related to a reduction in ventilatory activity. The steady-state rise in H+-equivalent ion transfer to the environment reflects an increased rate of production of protons by metabolism. This observation and the reduction of the O/N ratio suggest that a shift to protein/amino acid catabolism has taken place. Metabolic depression prevails, with completely compensated intracellular acidosis during long-term hypercapnia eliminating intracellular pH as a significant factor in the regulation of metabolic rate in vivo. Fluctuating levels of the phosphagen, of free ADP and in the ATP free energy change values independent of pH are interpreted as being correlated with oscillating ATP turnover rates during early hypercapnia and as reflecting a tight coupling of ATP turnover and energy status via the level of free ADP.


Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is characterized by the autoimmune injury of small intrahepatic bile duct. On this basis, it has been suggested that the targeted biliary epithelial cells (BEC) play an active role in the perpetuation of autoimmunity by attracting immune cells via chemokine secretion. To address this issue, we challenged BEC using multiple toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands as well as autologous liver infiltrating mononuclear cells (LMNC) with subsequent measurement of BEC phenotype and chemokine production and LMNC chemotaxis by quantifying specific chemokines, specially CX3CL1 (fractalkine). We submit the hypothesis that BEC are in fact the innocent victims of the autoimmune injury and that the adaptive immune response is critical in PBC.


The health sector is entirely different from other sectors. It is a high priority department with the highest quality of care and quality, regardless of cost. It does not meet social standards even though it absorbs a lot of budget. Health specialists interpret much of the medical evidence. Due to its subjectivity, complexity of images, broad differences among various interpreters and exhaustion, the image interpretation of human experts is very restricted. It also offers an exciting solution with good medical imaging accuracy following in-depth learning in other practical applications and is considered an important tool in future healthcare applications. This chapter addresses the most advanced and optimised deep learning architecture for segmentation and classification of medical pictures. We addressed the complexities of healthcare imaging and open science based on profound learning in the previous segment.
Diabetic retinopathy automated diagnosis is crucial because it is the primary cause of permanent vision loss in working-age people in developed countries. The early identification of diabetic retinopathy is extremely helpful in clinical treatment; although many different methods of extracting functions were suggested, the classification task of retinal images is still quite tedious for even those professional clinicians. Recently, in contrast with previous feature-based image-classification approaches, deep-convolutioned neural networks have demonstrated superior performance in image classification. Therefore in this research, we explored the use of deep-seated neural network techniques to identify diabetic retinopathy automatically with Color Fundus images in our datasets that are superior to classical ones.
Deep convolutionary neural systems have since late been seen better output in the analysed image arrangement than previous components which have combined image order techniques that are focused on the crafting method. In this investigation, we studied the use of profound convolutionary strategy of the neural system to naturally classify diabetic retinopathy, using shading fundus images to achieve high precision in our datasets.


BACKGROUND
The Fukushima Pregnancy and Birth Survey was launched to monitor pregnant mothers' health after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident. Several lines of investigations have indicated that a disaster impacts maternal mental health with childbirth. However, there is no research regarding mental health of mothers with fetal loss after a disaster. In this report, we focus on those women immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima NPP accident and discuss their support needs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data regarding 61 miscarriages, 5 abortions, and 22 stillbirths were analyzed among the women who were pregnant at the time of the accident in the present study. We used a two-item case-finding instrument for depression screening, and compared the childbirth group with the fetal loss groups. We also analyzed mothers' opinions written as free-form text.

RESULTS
Among the three fetal loss groups, the proportion of positive depression screens was significantly higher in the miscarriage and stillbirth group than in the childbirth group. Mothers' opinions were grouped into six categories, with pregnancy-related items being most common, especially in the miscarriage and stillbirth groups.

CONCLUSION
A higher proportion of Fukushima mothers with fetal loss, especially those with miscarriage and stillbirth, had depressive symptoms compared to those who experienced childbirth. Health care providers need to pay close attention to this vulnerable group and respond to their concerns regarding the effects on their fertility.


In this review, we discuss the recent developments of high-performance and improved-stability of indium-oxide-based transparent amorphous-oxide semiconductor (TAOS) thin-film transistors (TFTs) properties. TAOSs are widely explored with the aim of producing high-performance semiconductors suitable for the channel layer of TFTs which enable to survive under light and thermal-bias-induced stress conditions. Numerous TAOSs have been invented with some improved performance characteristics of TFTs such as mobility, light and thermal induced bias stress. However, there has been no clear elucidation of the mechanisms driving these improvements. In this review, we discuss the progression of innovations of high performance indium-oxide-based TAOS TFTs from its first reported amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) to present, and their properties that are correlated with the Lewis acid strength ( L ) and bonding strength of dopant and oxygen as a carrier suppressor and strong binder. The proposed mechanism can be practical to develop novel TAOS TFTs with high mobility and stability.


Genotypic and phenotypic variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation coefficients and path coefficients analysis were done for yield and its contributing characters in 28 genotypes of potato. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean and high genotypic coefficients of variation were observed for number of tubers per plant, yield per plant and average weight of a tuber suggesting selection for these traits would give good response. Genotypic and phenotypic correlation of the number of tubers per plant and weight of tubers per plant were highly significant. Plant vigour, number of compound leaves per plant and number of tubers per plant, average weight of a tuber and dry matter content of tuber had high degree of positive association with tuber yield per plant. As per path analysis, average weight of tuber and total number of tubers per plant contributed maximum direct effect to tuber yield indicating their importance as selection index for yield improvement.


Project management tools like Trac are commonly used within the open-source community to coordinate projects. The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) uses the project management web application Redmine to host mice.rl.ac.uk. Many groups within the experiment have a Redmine project: analysis, computing and software (including offline, online, controls and monitoring, and database subgroups), executive board, and operations. All of these groups use the website to communicate, track effort, develop schedules, and maintain documentation. The issue tracker is a rich tool that is used to identify tasks and monitor progress within groups on timescales ranging from immediate and unexpected problems to milestones that cover the life of the experiment. It allows the prioritization of tasks according to time-sensitivity, while providing a searchable record of work that has been done. This record of work can be used to measure both individual and overall group activity, identify areas lacking sufficient personnel or effort, and as a measure of progress against the schedule. Given that MICE, like many particle physics experiments, is an international community, such a system is required to allow easy communication within a global collaboration. Unlike systems that are purely wiki-based, the structure of a project management tool like Redmine allows information to be maintained in a more structured and logical fashion.


Consumers' interactions with smart objects have a relational nature, and extensive research has supported the "relationship metaphor" as a fruitful way to understand consumer responses to consumption objects. But, smart objects pose unique challenges for considering the emergence of consumer–object relationships, because their degrees of agency, autonomy, and authority lend them their own unique capacities for interaction. We present a new framework for consumer–object relationships based on the circumplex model of interpersonal complementarity and situated in assemblage theory and object-oriented ontology. Consumer–object relationship styles are defined in terms of two foundational dimensions of behavior, agency, and communion, based on the expressive roles played by consumer and object. The overlay of assemblage theory provides a conceptually rich understanding of the space of master–servant, partner, and unstable relationship styles, along with their concomitant positive (enabling) versus negative (constraining) consumer experiences. The model's underlying geometry supports extensive empirical work and provides a powerful managerial framework for measuring and tracking consumer–object relationships and the journeys they take over time.


In three experiments we tested whether nostalgia bolsters meaning in life relative to two other modes of autobiographical thought: imagining a desired future experience and recalling a positive past experience. In Experiment 1 participants thought about a nostalgic or desired future experience and then completed a presence of meaning scale. Thinking about a nostalgic (compared to desired future) experience increased perceived presence of meaning. In Experiment 2 we examined whether nostalgia can additionally reduce the search for meaning. Participants thought about a nostalgic, desired future or recent positive experience, and then completed a search for meaning scale. Nostalgia, relative to both comparison conditions, decreased the search for meaning. Finally we tested whether, by virtue of its capacity to increase meaning, nostalgia can mitigate threats to meaning. In Experiment 3 participants were exposed to either absurd or representational art, under the guise that they would later have to interpret its meaning, and then thought about either a nostalgic or a recent positive experience. Meaning was subsequently measured. The absurd art interpretation condition decreased the perceived presence of meaning but nostalgic reflection attenuated this effect.


Dissipation is sometimes regarded as an inevitable and regrettable presence in the real evolution of a quantum system. However, the effects may not always be malign, although often non-intuitive and may even be beneficial. In this note we we display some of these effects for N-level systems, where N = 2,3,4. We start with an elementary introduction to dissipative effects on the Bloch Sphere, and its interior, the Bloch Ball, for a two-level system. We describe explicitly the hamiltonian evolution as well as the purely dissipative dynamics, in the latter case giving the t → ∞ limits of the motion. This discussion enables us to provide an intuitive feeling for the measures of control-reachable states. For the three-level case we discuss the impossibility of isolating a two-level (qubit) subsystem; this is a Bohm-Aharonov type consequence of dissipation. We finally exemplify the four-level case by giving constraints on the decay of two-qubit entanglement.


Color quantization of still images can be easily stated as a clustering problem. Color quantization of sequences of images becomes a non-stationary clustering problem. In this paper we propose a very simple and effective evolutive strategy to perform adaptively the computation of the color representatives for each image in the sequence. Salient features of the evolutive strategy proposed here are: individuals correspond to individual cluster centres, to approach real-time response we impose one-generation adaptation for each image, only mutation operators are applied and these mutation operators are guided by the actual covariance matrices of the clusters. Experimental results on a sequence of indoor images are presented.


Premise of research. The early Eocene Laguna del Hunco (LH) fossil site, northwestern Chubut Province, Argentina, holds one of the best-preserved and most diverse paleofloras worldwide. The paleoflora comprises ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants. Despite the rapidly growing knowledge of its macrofossil record, little is known about the site's palynological content. Herein, we present the first dispersed spore-pollen assemblages recovered from LH. Methodology. Palynological samples were collected from seven stratigraphic levels of the Tufolitas de LH (Huitrera Formation), of which six yielded palynomorphs. We determine the botanical affinities of fossil morphotypes and provide systematic descriptions of some taxa. In addition, we establish similarities between LH and other Patagonian Eocene localities, and we compare palynological and prior megafloral records from LH. Pivotal results. We identify 56 spore and pollen species and 28 plant families, of which eight (Cyatheaceae, Schizaeaceae, Polypodiaceae, Asteraceae, Chloranthaceae, Nothofagaceae, Rubiaceae, and Ulmaceae) are reliably reported from the site for the first time. Among other Eocene Patagonian palynofloras, the LH assemblage is similar to Pampa de Jones/Nahuel Huapi Este and Confluencia. Conclusions. The LH spore-pollen assemblages augment the plant fossil record for this significant Eocene locality by incorporating new taxa (e.g., Asteraceae, with one morphotype that represents the oldest record of the family in Patagonia). The new data also reinforce the presence of plant families previously reported from macrofossils, such as Juglandaceae, with pollen grains similar to those of the Engelhardia-Alfaroa group, and Fagaceae (Castaneoideae), complementing the macrofossil record of leaves and reproductive structures.


Aim: Obesity has become an important health problem in developed and developing countries. Nowadays, vitamin D deficiency is very common in obese individuals. Vitamin D deficiency and obesity are associated with cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and other diseases. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D deficiency on insulin resistance in obese subjects.
Materials and Methods: A total of 170 individuals, (146 females and 24 males) were included in the study. According to Body Mass Index (BMI), patients were divided into 3 groups. Serum vitamin D was compared with insulin resistance and HbA1c.
Results: It was shown that serum vitamin D levels were statistically decreased according to BMI. There was also a statistically significant increase in Hba1c level due to increased BMI. There is also a positive correlation between BMI and insulin resistance. Positive correlation was found between HbA1C and insulin resistance. There was no statistically significant difference between the levels of insulin resistance among the groups of BMI.
Conclusions: In conclusion, Vitamin D deficiency can be seen in obese individuals. Low serum vitamin D levels may accelerate the development of diabetes in obese individuals. Serum vitamin D levels should be measured in obese individuals and necessary treatment should be performed. This may be helpful in obesity treatment and prevention of diabetes development.


Phytosanitary treatments are used to disinfest agricultural commodities of quarantine pests so that the com- modities can be shipped out of quarantined areas. Ionizing irradiation is a promising phytosanitary treatment that is increasing in use worldwide. Almost 19000 metric tons of sweet potatoes and several fruits plus a small amount of curry leaf are irradiated each year in 6 countries, including the United States, to control a number of plant quarantine pests. Advantages over other treatments include tolerance by most fresh commodities, ability to treat in the final packaging and in pallet loads, and absence of pesticide residues. Disadvantages include lack of acceptance by the organic food industries and logistical bottlenecks resulting from current limited availability of the technology. A regulatory disadvantage is lack of an independent verification of treatment efficacy because pests may be found alive during commodity inspection, although they will not complete development or reproduce. For phytosanitary treatments besides irradiation, the pests die shortly after the treatment is concluded. This disadvantage does not hamper its use by industry, but rather makes the treatment more difficult to develop and regulate. Challenges to increase the use of phytosanitary irradiation (PI) are cost, because commercial use has not yet reached an optimum economy of scale, lack of facilities, because of their cost and current inability to feasibly locate them in packing facilities, lack of approved treatments for some quarantine pests, and concern about the process by key decision makers, such as packers, shippers, and retailers. Methods for overcoming these challenges are discussed.


The glasses (80-x)TeO2·xV2O5·20MO (M=Sn, Bi, Ca, Na and K) had been examined as potential replacements for PbO-based glass frits with low firing temperature. The glasses with TeO2 0-44 mol%, and V2O5 39-82 mol% are not suitable for glass frit since they are easy to crystallize. The glasses with the content of the TeO2 54-74 mol%, and the V2O5 9-29 mol% were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra and fluidity evaluation experiments. The glasses possess appropriate fluidity and do not crystallize in the re-melting process at 723-753 K. The glass transition temperature of the glasses is at 544-578 K. The structure of the glasses is layer upon layer mainly connected by the structure units of [VO4] and [TeO3]. Other modifier ions locate mainly between the layers. The isolated V=O band from the VO5 bipyramids is not occurred in the vitreous structure of the glasses.


Soybean meal (SBM) is a common plant-based protein source in the swine industry. Its crude protein content is 44 to 50%. However, the presence of antinutritional factors such as high molecular weight, difficult to digest proteins, phytate and non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) limit its use in pigs. We aimed to use fermentation approach to improve the nutrient value of SBM. We have screened, from different sources, and identified bacterial strains that secrete cellulase, xylanase and proteinase as candidates for feedstuff fermentation. Further studies revealed that a few of them are capable of breakdown glycinin and beta-conglycinin, the major proteins in SBM that are difficult to digest and often resulted in intestinal upset in monogastric animal. Molecular characterization revealed that isolate 9 is a Bacillus subtilis strain (B. subtilis 9) secreted high level of cellulase, xylanase, and proteinase comparing to the ATCC control strain and other isolates. It grew significantly faster than the control strain. In addition, it also survived a wide range of concentrations salts and pH. When used for SBM fermentation, protein profiling of fermented SBM using SDS-PAGE revealed a significant reduction of high molecular weight proteins, especially those of glycinin and beta-conglycinin, to small peptides. On a dry matter basis, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of the fermented SBM was decreased by 34%; crude protein content was increased from 49 to 57%. Pigs fed with a diet formulated with the fermented SBM as the sole source of crude protein had significantly higher apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of dry matter (80 vs. 72 %), ash (56 vs. 36%), crude protein (84 vs. 78%), NDF (71 vs. 66%), and acid detergent fiber (62 vs. 53%) compared with the control pigs fed with unfermented soybean meal. In addition, we have recently explored the possibility of improving feed stuff fermentation efficiency combining microbial species, the effect of this approach will be discussed.


Limited research has investigated appearance-related attentional biases in men. This study examined the effects of priming on attentional biases in men and whether the biases were associated with body image. The dot-probe task (DPT), a commonly used reaction time-based measure, was adapted to include images between each trial of the task to test the effects of these images on attentional biases for appearancerelated word stimuli. Men (N = 60) completed body image questionnaires online and attended a laboratory session, completing either (a) an appearance-cued DPT, containing images representing the muscular ideal; (b) a neutral-cued DPT, containing images of forests; or (c) a DPT with time delay in place of an image. Attentional biases for positive- and negative-appearance words did not differ for men who completed the three DPT versions. However, for men who completed the appearance-cued DPT, attentional biases for positive-appearance words correlated with a range of state experiences, including greater levels of muscularity and appearance dissatisfaction and poorer confidence and mood. The results suggest that men may experience poorer body image outcomes by automatically attending to the positive attributes of media depictions of the muscular ideal.


: Plasma glucose and insulin levels were measured in the genetically diabetic CHIG/Han and the diabetes-resistant CHIA/Han subline of the Chinese hamster. At 31 +/- 8 wk of age, the CHIG hamsters were grouped into nondiabetic, mildly and severely diabetic, according to their levels of glycemia. Hyperinsulinemia, occurring in nondiabetic and mildly diabetic CHIG hamsters, was attenuated in severely diabetic animals. Light microscopy and immunohistochemistry revealed initial beta-cell hyperplasia, followed by extensive degranulation and loss of immunoreactive insulin in islets of severely diabetic animals. Staining intensity of glucagon-immunoreactive cells was unchanged in nondiabetic and mildly diabetic animals, but was increased in islets from the severely diabetic hamsters. A static incubation system was used to examine the insulin response of pancreatic islets isolated from the diabetic and nondiabetic CHIG hamsters, and the diabetes-resistant CHIA subline. Compared with the nondiabetic CHIG hamsters, islets from mildly and severely diabetic animals displayed increased basal insulin release at 1.5 mmol/l and a deficient response at 10 mmol/l glucose which was associated with 61 and 77% decreases (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001) in the islet insulin content. The addition of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX) enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin release from islets of nondiabetic and mildly diabetic CHIG hamsters, although the response elicited was lower than from CHIA islets. However, IBMX failed to significantly increase the glucose-stimulated insulin response of islets from severely diabetic hamsters. A negative correlation (r = -0.73, p < 0.001, n = 48) was found between islet insulin content and plasma glucose levels. The data suggest that the reduced secretory capacity represents an early islet beta-cell dysfunction, and the decrease in the insulin content contributes to the islet abnormalities in the diabetes-susceptible CHIG hamsters.


The epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 47 patients infected with Shigella in 3436 patients at a primary care clinic during 30 months were reviewed. Most cases were seen during the winter. The prominent clinical features were abdominal pain (91.5%), headaches (72.5%), bloody diarrhea (66%), mucoid stools (63.8%), fever (53.2%) and 75% had 4-10 stools per day. Most patients presented the first day of the illness (75%). S. sonnei has been found the most prevalent among 4 types of shigella. Resistance to ampicillin was complete and to Resprim 95%, but to nalidixic acid and to tetracycline, 4.9%. A third of the patients were treated with oral fluids and an appropriate diet and 2/3 received antibiotics. Children between 1-4 years of age who attend kindergartens are the main risk group for Shigellosis.


Abstract Widowhood involves many practical challenges next to the emotional impact of bereavement. Remarriage to a blood relative of a deceased spouse can often help a bereaved spouse to solve issues related to inheritance, child care, and comfort in a stressful period. A study of 15,540 widowers and 18,837 widows in the Dutch province of Zeeland—of whom about 8,000 men and 5,000 women eventually remarried—which uses genealogical data about their partners and the links family-reconstitution database, finds that the relatively high likelihood of farmers' widows remarrying and doing so with kin may have been a strategy to prevent property from falling into the hands of other families. Notwithstanding that the attractiveness of a widow or widower could also be a factor in opportunities to remarry, older widows and widows with many young children, whose chances on the remarriage market tended to be poor, did not usually have such recourse to kin in remarriage.


Angiokeratoma corporis diffusum (Fabry disease) is an X-linked recessive disease. We had an opportunity to examine a heterozygous female patient with angiokeratoma and cornea verticillata. The patient's serum alpha-galactosidase activity was reported to be about 50% of normal. Skin lesion biopsy specimens were stained with electron microscopic acid phsophatase (ACP), with proper controls. Acid phosphatase activity was demonstrable within membrane-bound inclusions of cutaneous vascular endothelial cells. This suggested that the accumulation of abnormal glycolipids in the vascular cells occurs in the lysosomes.


The purpose of this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled prospective clinical trial was to compare the efficacy of preemptive and postoperative administration of valdecoxib in reducing discomfort caused by initial archwire placement in adults. A total of 56 orthodontic patients aged 18-54 years who were to begin treatment were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) placebo, (2) those who received preemptive valdecoxib 40 mg at least 30 minutes before initial archwire placement, or (3) those who received postoperative valdecoxib 40 mg two hours after initial archwire placement. Patients in the active treatment groups also received continuous valdecoxib therapy for an additional 48 hours. Discomfort levels were recorded on a visual analog scale at zero, two, six, 24, and 48 hours after initial archwire placement. At baseline, no significant differences were detected between the three groups. In the preemptive valdecoxib group, there was no significant increase (P > .05) in discomfort from baseline at any time point. The placebo and postoperative valdecoxib groups showed significant (P < .05) increases in discomfort after six hours, with the peak discomfort at 24 hours. The postoperative group showed a tendency toward decreased discomfort over time, but the changes were not significantly different from the placebo or the preemptive group. Preemptive analgesia with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be an approach to prevent discomfort associated with initial archwire placement in healthy adults.


A method for extracting Ni and other metals from lateritic ores by means of shock heating has been investigated. Shock heating releases some of the metal from its goethitic host. Even though the transformation of pure goethite to hematite is known to occur via intermediate hydroxylated phases, the effect of other metals such as Ni substituting for Fe in goethites on this thermal transformation to hematite is unknown. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap, with the hope that the results will lead to more energy-efficient extraction methods and/or a better understanding of Fe geochemistry in thermally activated soils. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy with EDS, and thermal analysis were used to investigate mineralogical changes in nickeliferous goethites from five oxide-type lateritic nickel ore deposits that had been subjected to shock heating at temperatures in the range 220–800°C. Acicular, nano-sized goethite was the main constituent of the samples with minor to trace amounts of quartz, talc, kaolinite, chromite, maghemite, and Mn oxides. Goethite was partially dehydroxylated to OH-hematite at 340–400°C and had completely altered to well ordered hematite at 800°C. The OH-hematite was characterized by broad XRD peaks for reflections associated with the Fe sublattice. The goethite unit-cell a and b lengths remained almost constant with increasing preheating temperature up to 300°C, while the size of the c axis dimension contracted. The neoformed hematite crystals were larger than the precursor goethite crystals due to development, by sintering and surface diffusion, of regularly ordered hematite domains. The increase (1.5–2.6 fold) in surface area with increasing heating temperature (up to 340–400°C) reflected the development of slit-shaped micropores (∼300°C), which further developed into elliptically shaped micropores (∼400°C) in OH-hematite. With increased heating temperature, well ordered hematite formed with only a few micropores remaining. Such results may contribute to the development of more efficient procedures for extracting Ni from lateritic nickel ores, as the rate of dissolution of goethite in acid in 'heap and pressure' leach facilities will be enhanced by the increases in surface area and microporosity. The results may also provide valuable information on the probable effects of natural heating on pedogenic Fe oxides.


This book provides invaluable assistance to all those facing coursework assignments or examinations in contract law. It provides the student with an easy method of identifying all the main points in a particular area, whilst teaching by illustration the skills needed to write good answers to contract questions. The questions and answers cover all the main areas dealt with in undergraduate and PGDL contract courses.

This edition, which contains several completely new questions, has been fully revised to take account of recent developments. The most important of these are the House of Lords decisions in Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge (No 2) (2001) (undue influence) and Farley v Skinner (2001) (damages for non-pecuniary loss), and the Court of Appeal decision in Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris Salvage (International) Ltd (2002) (mistake). In the area of contract formation, the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and the European Directive on Electronic Commerce 2000 are both fully covered, and the developing area of contracting over the internet is dealt with in detail.


In order to improve the attenuation ability of grinding wheel spindle and manufacturing quality of workpiece, an ultrahigh speed grinding spindle system with a SFD was designed based on the theory of squeeze film damping, and a series of experiments were done. The study results show that the application of SFD technology can effectively restrain vibration which is caused by the imbalance quality when the grinding wheel spindle turning at ultrahigh speed. And the speed of the grinding spindle is higher and the effect of attenuation of SFD to grinding spindle is better. Research works provides a new technology for the design of the ultrahigh speed grinding spindle system.


Although physicians learn about new medical technologies from their peers, the magnitude and source of peer influence is unknown. We estimate the effect of peer adoption of three first-in-class medications (dabigatran, sitigliptin, and aliskiren) on physicians' own adoption of those medications. We included 11,958 physicians in Pennsylvania prescribing anticoagulant, antidiabetic, and antihypertensive medications. We constructed 4 types of peer networks based on shared Medicare and Medicaid patients, medical group affiliation, hospital affiliation, and medical school/residency training. Instrumental variables analysis was used to estimate the causal effect of peer adoption (fraction of peers in each network adopting the new drug) on physician adoption (prescribing at least the median number prescriptions within 15 months of the new drug's introduction). We illustrate how physician network position can inform targeting of interventions to physicians by computing a social multiplier. Dabigatran was adopted by 25.2%, sitagliptin by 24.5% and aliskiren by 8.3% of physicians. A 10-percentage point increase in peer adoption in the patient-sharing network led to a 5.90% (SE = 1.50%, p<0.001) increase in physician adoption of dabigatran, 8.32% (SE = 1.51%, p<0.001) increase in sitagliptin, and 7.84% increase in aliskiren adoption (SE = 2.93%, p<0.001). Peer effects through shared hospital affiliation were positive but not significant, and medical group and training network effects were not reliably estimated. Physicians in the top decile of patient-sharing network peers were estimated to have nearly 2-fold stronger influence on their peers' adoption compared to physicians in the top decile of prescribing volume. Limitations include lack of detailed clinical information and pharmaceutical promotion, variables which may influence physician adoption but which are unlikely to bias our peer effect estimates. Peer adoption, especially by those with whom physicians share patients, strongly influenced physician adoption of new drugs. Our study shows the potential for using information on physician peer networks to improve technology diffusion.


ABSTRACT Liu, X.; Xia, J. (C.); Blenkinsopp, C.; Arnold, L., and Wright, G., 2014. High water mark determination based on the principle of spatial continuity of the swash probability This study presents a model that determines the position of the high water mark (HWM) based on the spatial continuity of inundation probability due to swash for a range of HWM indicators. These indicators include mean high water (MHW), high water line (HWL), and a number of shoreline features, such as the vegetation line. HWM identifies the landward extent of the ocean and is required for cadastral boundary definition, land-use and infrastructure development along the foreshore ,and for planning associated with climate change adaptation. In this paper, shoreline indicators are extracted using an object-oriented image analysis (OOIA) approach. Ten-year hourly swash heights (shoreline excursion length) are fitted into a cumulative distribution function. The probability that swash will reach the various HWM indicators over a 10 y period is then estimated. The spatial continuity distances of the swash probability of HWM indicators are calculated using semivariogram models that measure similarity of swash probability. The spatial continuity distance is defined as the distance between the lower bound of sampling position (the most seaward HWM indicator) and the position where autocorrelation, or the similarity of swash probability of the various HWM indictors, approaches zero. The latter is considered as the HWM position in this study. This HWM determination method is evaluated at two study sites at different latitudes and with distinct coastal features.


As a major strategy to ensure the safety of IT infrastructure, anomaly detection plays a more important role in cloud computing platform which hosts the entire applications and data. On top of the classic Markov chain model, we proposed in this paper a feasible multi-order Markov chain based framework for anomaly detection. In this approach, both the high-order Markov chain and multivariate time series are adopted to compose a scheme described in algorithms along with the training procedure in the form of statistical learning framework. To curb time and space complexity, the algorithms are designed and implemented with non-zero value table and logarithm values in initial and transition matrices. For validation, the series of system calls and the corresponding return values are extracted from classic Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) intrusion detection evaluation data set to form a two-dimensional test input set. The testing results show that the multi-order approach is able to produce more effective indicators: in addition to the absolute values given by an individual single-order model, the changes in ranking positions of outputs from different-order ones also correlate closely with abnormal behaviours.


The long history of the Jewish and Christian use of separatist rhetoric and universal ideals reveals their negative consequences. The Hebrew Bible's rhetoric about Israel as a people separated from the Egyptians and Canaanites is connected to Israel's purity practices in Leviticus 18 and 20. Later communities wielding greater political power, however, employed this same anti-Canaanite pollution rhetoric in their efforts to colonize many different parts of the world. Separatist rhetoric was used to protect small Jewish communities in the early Second Temple period. The Christian New Testament rejected many of these purity practices in order to makes its mission more inclusive and universal. However, its denigration of concerns for purification as typically "Jewish" fueled intolerance of Jews in the form of Christian anti-Semitism. The violent history of both separatist and universalist rhetoric provides a cautionary tale about the consequences of using cultural and religious comparisons for community formation.


An electroactive based bis-iminopyridine ligand has been synthesized by a condensation reaction between (4-(6,7-dimethyldithio-tetrathiafulvalene)-aniline) with 2,6-diformylpyridine. The complexation of this ligand with ZnCl 2 afforded a tetrahedral neutral Zinc metal complex. Nonlinear optical measurements of these structures have given good results in picosecond regime. The nonlinear absorption of the ligand was significantly enhanced upon complexation with ZnCl 2 . This prompted us to conduct the experiment of optical limiting at wavelength 532nm. The nonlinear absorption properties of these structures were studied and compared to the reference material C 60 . Full Text: PDF References V. Rosso, J. Loicp, Y. Renotte, Y. Lion, "Optical non-linearity in Disperse Red 1 dye-doped sol?gel", J. Non-Crystalline Solids 342 (1-3), 140 (2004). CrossRef L. Jiang, Q. Chang, Q.Y. Ouyang, H.B. Liu, Y.X. Wang, X.R. Zhang, et al., "Fabrication and nonlinear optical properties of an ultrathin film with acceptor?donor periodically overlapping structure", Chemical Phys, 324(2-3), 556 (2006). CrossRef B. Sahraoui, X. Nguyen Phu, M. Salle, A. Gorgues, "Electronic and nuclear contributions to the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of new p-N, N?-dimethylaniline tetrathiafulvalene derivatives", Opt. Lett. 23(23), 1811 (1998). CrossRef A. Apostoluk, D. Chapron, C. Fiorini-Debuisschert, G. Gadret, J.-M. Nunzi, P. Raimond, B. Sahraoui, "Quasi-phase-matched gratings printed by all-optical poling in polymer films", Opt. Lett. 27(22), 2028 (2002). CrossRef Ts. Kolev, I.V. Kityk, J. Ebothe, B. Sahraoui, "Intrinsic hyperpolarizability of 3-dicyanomethylene-5,5-dimethyl-1-[2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethenyl]-cyclohexene nanocrystallites incorporated into the photopolymer matrices", Chem. Phys. Lett. 443(4-6), 309 (2007). CrossRef K. Iliopoulos, A. El-Ghayoury, B. Derkowska, A. Ranganathan, P. Batail, D. Gindre, B. Sahraoui, "Effect of the counter cation on the third order nonlinearity in anionic Au dithiolene complexes", Appl.Phys. Lett. 101, 261105 (2012). CrossRef K. Iliopoulos, A. El-Ghayoury, H. El Ouazzani, M. Pranaitis, E. Belhadj, E. Ripaud, M. Mazari, M. Salle, D. Gindre, B. Sahraoui, "Nonlinear absorption reversing between an electroactive ligand and its metal complexes", Opt. Expr. 20, 25311 (2012). CrossRef H. El Ouazzani, K. Iliopoulos, M. Pranaitis, O. Krupka, V. Smokal, A. Kolendo, B. Sahraoui, "Second- and Third-Order Nonlinearities of Novel Push?Pull Azobenzene Polymers", J. Phys. Chem. B 115, 1944 (2011). CrossRef F. Kajar, J. M. Nunzi, Functional Organic and Polymeric Materials (John Wiley and Sons Ltd., New York, 2000). K. Iliopoulos, I. Guezguez, A.P. Kerasidou, A. El-Ghayoury, D. Branzea, G. Nita, N. Avarvari, H. Belmabrouk, S. Couris, B. Sahraoui, "Effect of metal cation complexation on the nonlinear optical response of an electroactive bisiminopyridine ligand", Dyes and Pigments 101, 229 (2014). CrossRef G. Nita, D. Branzea, F. Pop, A. El-Ghayoury, N. Avarvari, "Electroactive Bisiminopyridine Ligands: Synthesis and Complexation Studies", Crystals 2, 338 (2012). CrossRef E. Coronado, J.R. Galan-Mascaros, C.J. Gomez-Garcia, V. Laukhin, "Coexistence of ferromagnetism and metallic conductivity in a molecule-based layered compound", Nature 408, 447 (2000). CrossRef M. Nihei, N. Takahashi, H. Nishikawa, H. Oshio, "Spin-crossover behavior and electrical conduction property in iron(II) complexes with tetrathiafulvalene moieties", Dalton Trans 40, 2154 (2011). CrossRef G.J.P. Britovsek, V.C. Gibson, B.S. Kimberley, P.J. Maddox, S.J. McTavish, G.A. Solan, et al., "Novel olefin polymerization catalysts based on iron and cobalt", Chem. Commun. 7, 849 (1998). CrossRef B.L. Small, M. Brookhart, A.M.A. Bennett, "Highly Active Iron and Cobalt Catalysts for the Polymerization of Ethylene", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 4049 (1998). CrossRef K. Iliopoulos, S. Couris, U. Hartnagel, A. Hirsch, "Nonlinear optical response of water soluble C70 dendrimers", Chem. Phys. Lett. 448, 243 (2007). CrossRef N. Liaros, K. Iliopoulos, M.M. Stylianakis, E. Koudoumas, S. Couris, "Optical limiting action of few layered graphene oxide dispersed in different solvents", Opt. Mat. 36, 112 (2014). CrossRef


Introduction Antimicrobial resistant Neisseria gonorrhoea (NG) is a global public health threat, and it is critical to monitor patterns of resistance and risk factors. The Thailand Ministry of Public Health, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organisation began the Enhanced Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (EGASP) in November 2015. Thailand is the first EGASP country to systematically monitor trends in NG antimicrobial susceptibilities. Methods Surveillance occurs in 2 sites: Bangrak Hospital (BH) and Silom Community Clinic at Tropical Medicine (SCC). Men receiving HIV voluntary counselling and testing were routinely asked about urethral symptoms. Symptomatic men had demographic and clinical data collected and a urethral swab for Gram stain and NG culture. All positive cultures had antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) to determine minimum inhibition concentrations (MICs) for Cefixime (CFM), Ceftriaxone (CRO), Azithromycin (AZI), Gentamicin (GEN), and Ciprofloxacin (CIP) using E-test. Results From November 2015-August 2016, 900 specimens were collected; 713 (79.2%) specimens were from BH and 187 (20.8%) were from SCC. Among the 900 specimens, 479 (53.3%) had NG growth; 478 (99.8%) NG isolates had AST performed. Seventeen men had repeat NG infections. Among the 461 men with at least one infection, 291 (63.1%) had sex with women only, 138 (29.9%) had antibiotic use in the last 2 weeks, and all received treatment for gonorrhoea. The median age of men with NG infection was 29 years (range 14–76 years). All NG isolates were susceptible by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute standards to CFM, CRO, AZI and GEN; 438 of 478 (91.6%) isolates were resistant to CIP. Conclusion We report the first 10 months of data from EGASP Thailand. Most isolates were found to be susceptible to all tested antibiotics except CIP. Surveillance is critical to assess trends and risk factors for NG, and to monitor for emergence of resistance.


The reduction of microbial deterioration in salted
dried fish by application of the food preservatives, sodium
sorbate, sodium benzoate, sodium propionate and sodium
bisulphite was assessed using Aspergillus niger and
A.penicillioides, Halobacterium salinarium and
Staphylococcus sp as test organisms. The two bacteria were
grown on complex halophilic medium (CHM) and salted dried
fish homogenate (SDFH), whilst the moulds were grown in
Czapek Yeast Medium/Malt Extract Medium and 10 % salt-Czapek
Yeast Medium. Effectiveness of the food preservatives was'
also tested on one or two-dimensional gradient diffusion
systems and on salted dried fish samples.
Sodium sorbate was most effective in controlling growth
of A.niger. Growth on both 10 % salt-CYA and 10 % salt-CYB
prevented growth at a level of 0.1 % (w/v). Visible growth
of the mould was delayed for 3 days when 0.2 % sodium
benzoate was combined with 10 % salt. Total dry weight
increase was zero, when 10 % salt-CYB was supplemented with
a concentration of 0.15 % sodium benzoate.
Initiation of A.penicillioides grown on/in 10 % saltMEA
or 10 % salt-CYB, was delayed by sodium bisulphite,
sodium propionate and sodium benzoate at the highest levels
tested (0.04 %, 0.3 %, and 0.2 % respectively). Growth was
significantly inhibited using 0.1 % sodium propionate and
0.1 % sodium benzoate in these systems. Sodium sorbate at a
level of 0.1 % prevented growth of A.penicillioides on 10 %
salt-MEA and in 10 % salt-CYB.
H.salinarium grown on CHM and SDFH was not sensitive to
sodium propionate and sodium bisulphite at the highest
levels tested 0.3 % and 0.03 %, respectively, but sodium
benzoate at a a level of 0.10 % was lethal to the bacterium
grown in the two media. The lag phase was extended for 7
days, in CHM but no growth was observed in SDFH. Salted
dried fish previously dipped in a 1 % solution of either
sodium benzoate or sodium sorbate showed no sign of spoilage
by H.salinarium after 17 days incubation. Sodium sorbate was
also effective against the bacterium grown on SDFH when
growth remained in lag phase until the end of the incubation
period of day 7.
Growth of Staphylococcus sp was totally inhibited
using either 0.05 % sodium sorbate, 0.03 % sodium
bisulphite or 0.15 % sodium benzoate. At the highest level
of 0.3 %, sodium propionate did not significantly inhibit
growth of this bacterium.


Ceramide, a product of sphingomyelin turnover, is a lipid second messenger that mediates diverse signaling pathways, including those leading to cell cycle arrest and differentiation. The mechanism(s) by which ceramide signals downstream events have not been fully elucidated. Here we show that, in Xenopus laevis oocytes, ceramide-induced maturation is associated with the release of intracellular calcium stores. Ceramide caused a dose-dependent elevation in the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) via activation of Gq/11α and phospholipase C-βX. Elevation of IP3, in turn, activated the IP3 receptor calcium release channel on the endoplasmic reticulum, resulting in a rise in cytoplasmic calcium. Thus our study demonstrates that cross talk between the ceramide and phosphoinositide signaling pathways modulates intracellular calcium homeostasis.


This paper discusses the link between community music improvisation and the integration of refugees, asylum seekers and local residents, and proposes a new way of thinking about priority-setting in refugee integration and rehabilitation support schemes. Drawing on observations and interviews with an integrated music group in Wales, we explore the effect of participating in structured musical activities and improvisation in weekly meetings, as well as at public performances in community arts events. We observed that embedding improvisation led to four outcomes. It (i) encouraged individual unscripted performances, instilling confidence in solo performance, (ii) gave individuals who had experienced displacement and marginalisation a chance to lead in a safe, performative space, (iii) gave other participants a chance to follow and accompany this piece instrumentally or vocally, drawing on their own cultural traditions and thus creating innovative cross-cultural pieces; and (iv) provided participants and audience members with a unique and unrepeated, uplifting experience that triggered their imaginations, and prompted questions and further discussion between participants. These findings suggest that the combination of structured musical activity and improvisation may help to foster a sense of wellbeing and social inclusion, shift power dynamics, and create a space for cross-cultural dialogue. These unique outcomes highlight how music can create a community of people from seemingly completely different locations or situations. Furthermore, the well-established Welsh choral traditions and local community arts provided a receptive environment for this diverse group of performers. Therefore, it was not just the musical activities but their connection to the wider local community arts scene that delivered these individual, collective and wider societal benefits.


This paper seeks to explore the possibility of interpreting "jihad" as a holistic approach to the working out of God's mercy in history. Drawing from the works of Mohamed Arkoun and Nasr Abu Zayd, it establishes the nature of revelation as an integral dialogue with God on both transcendent and immanent planes. While the Qur'an constitutes a "closed official corpus," to borrow a phrase from Arkoun, according to Abu Zayd, it engages the ever-active human mind along a path of increased understanding which necessarily entails a constant re-examination of religious teaching and belief in light of greater knowledge. The next stage of the investigation examines jihad in terms of a "human theodicy," as a force of mercy in a pluralistic global culture in which religion is increasingly devoid of geographical barriers. The convergence of various traditions in the same space invites a consideration of the "goals" or "intentions" (maqasid) of the Qur'an regarding human felicity. This implies a larger sphere of action in the modern world since it allows for possible alliance with like-minded groups who have similar goals. An example of this line of thought is found in the work of Farid Esack as he considers the role of Muslims in the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. This study contributes to the notion of jihad, or religious effort, as a constructive force in a pluralistic society. A new vision of jihad as an active and inclusive struggle for human dignity reflecting God's mercy is particularly relevant in an age when political Islam has come to the forefront of the Arab Spring. Rooted in the notion of a divinely-ordained dignity of all humanity, the struggle can prove genuinely liberatory.


ABSTRACT This paper quantifies the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions co-benefits associated with water, waste and transportation usage in certified green commercial office buildings in California. The study compares the measured values of water, waste and transportation usage self-reported by office buildings certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM) to baseline values of conventional California office buildings. The green buildings in the LEED EBOM dataset produced 50% less GHGs due to water consumption than baseline buildings, 48% less due to solid waste management, and 5% less due to transportation. If applied to the entire California office building stock, performance typical of the certified green buildings would save 730,038 MgCO2e/yr (metric tonnes) from transportation, 87,601 MgCO2e/yr from water, and 45,280 MgCO2e/yr from waste, for a total potential savings of about 862,920 MgCO2e/yr relative to conventional construction. In addition, buildings earning additional credits for specified performance thresholds for water and waste in the LEED EBOM code attained performance levels even higher than required by the code provisions, suggesting that such code provisions in other contexts may help incentivize larger GHG emissions reductions than anticipated. Specific recommendations are made for building standards and certification schemes.