Abstract. Marine phytoplankton such as bloom-forming, calcite-producing
coccolithophores, are naturally exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR,
280–400 nm) in the ocean's upper mixed layers. Nevertheless, the effects of
increasing carbon dioxide (CO2)-induced ocean acidification and warming have rarely
been investigated in the presence of UVR. We examined calcification and
photosynthetic carbon fixation performance in the most cosmopolitan
coccolithophorid, Emiliania huxleyi, grown under high
(1000 µatm, HC; pHT: 7.70) and low (400 µatm,
LC; pHT: 8.02) CO2 levels, at 15 ∘C,
20 ∘C and 24 ∘C with or without UVR. The HC
treatment did not affect photosynthetic carbon fixation at 15 ∘C,
but significantly enhanced it with increasing temperature. Exposure to UVR
inhibited photosynthesis, with higher inhibition by UVA (320–395 nm) than
UVB (295–320 nm), except in the HC and 24 ∘C-grown cells, in which
UVB caused more inhibition than UVA. A reduced thickness of the coccolith layer
in the HC-grown cells appeared to be responsible for the UV-induced
inhibition, and an increased repair rate of UVA-derived damage in the
HC–high-temperature grown cells could be responsible for lowered UVA-induced inhibition.
While calcification was reduced with elevated CO2 concentration,
exposure to UVB or UVA affected the process differentially, with the former
inhibiting it and the latter enhancing it. UVA-induced stimulation of calcification was
higher in the HC-grown cells at 15 and 20 ∘C, whereas at
24 ∘C observed enhancement was not significant. The calcification
to photosynthesis ratio (Cal ∕ Pho ratio) was lower in the HC treatment,
and increasing temperature also lowered the value. However, at 20 and
24 ∘C, exposure to UVR significantly increased the Cal ∕ Pho
ratio, especially in HC-grown cells, by up to 100 %. This implies that
UVR can counteract the negative effects of the "greenhouse" treatment on
the Cal ∕ Pho ratio; hence, UVR may be a key stressor when considering the
impacts of future greenhouse conditions on E. huxleyi.


Many studies have reported long-range synchronization of neuronal activity between brain areas, in particular in the beta and gamma bands with frequencies in the range of 14–30 and 40–80 Hz, respectively. Several studies have reported synchrony with zero phase lag, which is remarkable considering the synaptic and conduction delays inherent in the connections between distant brain areas. This result has led to many speculations about the possible functional role of zero-lag synchrony, such as for neuronal communication, attention, memory, and feature binding. However, recent studies using recordings of single-unit activity and local field potentials report that neuronal synchronization may occur with non-zero phase lags. This raises the questions whether zero-lag synchrony can occur in the brain and, if so, under which conditions. We used analytical methods and computer simulations to investigate which connectivity between neuronal populations allows or prohibits zero-lag synchrony. We did so for a model where two oscillators interact via a relay oscillator. Analytical results and computer simulations were obtained for both type I Mirollo–Strogatz neurons and type II Hodgkin–Huxley neurons. We have investigated the dynamics of the model for various types of synaptic coupling and importantly considered the potential impact of Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) and its learning window. We confirm previous results that zero-lag synchrony can be achieved in this configuration. This is much easier to achieve with Hodgkin–Huxley neurons, which have a biphasic phase response curve, than for type I neurons. STDP facilitates zero-lag synchrony as it adjusts the synaptic strengths such that zero-lag synchrony is feasible for a much larger range of parameters than without STDP.


Substituted phenols can be oxidized by singlet oxygen ({sup 1}O{sub 2}), which is formed in sunlit surface waters, and it has been suggested that this reaction may contribute to the environmental fate of phenolic substances. In aqueous solution, the observed rate of phenol disappearance is due to reaction of both the phenolate anion and the undissociated phenol. In order to quantify the effect of substituents on the rates of these reactions, second-order rate constants have been measured for both species for 22 substituted phenols by use of a model system containing the sensitizer rose bengal. Correlation analysis based on half-wave oxidation potentials, E{sub 1/2}, and on {sigma} constants reveals significant quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) for both the undissociated phenols and the phenolate anions. Ortho- and multisubstituted phenols have been included in the correlations. These QSARs are consistent with the rate-limiting formation of a precursor complex with a small amount of charge-transfer character and can be used to predict additional rate constants for a wide range of environmentally significant substituted phenols.


The days of using the square root of three to convert between line-to-line and line-to-neutral voltages and current values are in the past. The proliferation of rectified-input power supplies and other nonlinear loads, along with the increase in single phase IT equipment loads has resulted in increased distortion and imbalance at the equipment load, the point-of-common-coupling, and even some substation levels. Harmonic distortion and imbalance can have a significant effect on some equipment, especially transformers and motors. Measuring and monitoring these parameters accurately is important when trying to maximize asset usage, prolong the life of the equipment, and prevent catastrophic failures.


In the resent times wind power plant vendors have showed increasingly interest in the international standard IEC 61400-25 for communication, monitoring and controlling of wind power plants. Before this vendors had their own specification on how to communicate, monitor and control. But due to rapid marked growth and demands, standardizing in this field is crucial for further expansion. Previous thesis's by Andreas Kargard Olsen, Baris Ozdil and Umutz Korkmaz has done various concept proofing of the IEC 61400-25 standard. This thesis builds on top of these and moves the domain from standard PC's to industrial PC's. The industrial PC being a Brodersen RTU 32 running windows CE v5.0 as an operating system. The implementation language is C# running in .NET compact framework 2.0. The program is a simple server, compiled of various modules ranging from information model, communication profile, client handling and user association verification. The communication part is mapped to web services as of part 4 annex A in IEC 61400-25.
 On the client side a dynamic link library (DLL) act as a configurable proxy stub to all IEC 61400-25 servers implementing web services as communication profile. This DLL is tested by the conformance tests as of part 5 of the IEC 61400-25. The testing method used is based on test driven development, and incorporates unit tests.


Background: Salvia seeds are promite to dietary and healthy oils because they contain essential fatty acids. Salvia seeds frequently produce mucilage on soaking, and this mucilage is used for the treatment of eye diseases in eastern countries. Salvia species studied for medicine, food and cosmetics, have the potential to be used in the various fields. In the present study, selected engineering (geometrical, volumetrical, colour and frictional) properties of 6 Salvia species seeds were determined and compared. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on selected engineering properties of seeds of 6 Salvia species (Salvia viridis L., Salvia aethiopis L., Salvia cryptantha Montbert & Aucher ex Benthan., Salvia tomentosa Mill., Salvia sclarea L., Salvia virgata Jacq.,) cultivated in Turkey. Plants were collected during the vegetation in 2012-2013 (May-Agust). The seeds were cleaned from foreign matter, dirt and broken seeds manually. Results: The average length, width and thickness were found in the range of 2.61 to 3.53 mm, 1.59 to 2.92 mm and 1.14 to 2.52 mm, respectively. Salvia viridis L. specie had the lowest geometric mean diameter and surface area, whereas Salvia cryptantha L. had the least values among these 6 Salvia species for these properties. The bulk density, true density and the porosity were between 296.83 and 702.80 kg m-3, 285.69 and 718.08 kg m-3, 10.27 and 44.05%, respectively. The volume of unit seed and sphericity ranged between 2.56 and 13.64 mm3, 62.90 and 90.40%, respectively. The coefficient of friction of salvia species were largely influenced by the friction surfaces studied, and highest values were found for polywood in the Salvia crytantha L.. In the study, the static friction coefficient and the angle of repose of salvia species changed from 0.477 to 0.955, and from 14.09 to 23.57°, respectively. Conclusion: Determination of geometric, volumetric, colour and frictional properties of Salvia spp. seeds may increase their economic value.


Abstract : In the future, cyber attacks will have a growing effect on the outcome of military operations. The Cyber Fighter Associate (CyFiA) is a decision support program that works with the cyber network modeling and simulation system CyAMS . The CyFiA will allow network security personnel to keep mission integrity through the use of cyber agility maneuvers. The CyFiA is being tested on CyAMS, a tool that uses an ns-3-based large network simulator. A large of amount of information needs to be exchanged between these 2 programs, and an efficient protocol and method for communication is required. A communication protocol utilizing specific ports is described in this report. It is this protocol that enables the CyFiA programs to com-municate and operate in large network simulations.


The financial crisis and the recession that followed caught many people off guard, including experts in the financial sector whose jobs involve predicting market fluctuations. Financial analysis offices in most international banks are supposed to forecast the rise or fall of stock prices, the success or failure of investment products, and even the growth or decline of entire national economies. And yet their predictions are heavily disputed. How do they make their forecasts—and do those forecasts have any actual value? Building on recent developments in the social studies of finance, Stories of Capitalism provides the first ethnography of financial analysis. Drawing on two years of fieldwork in a Swiss bank, Stefan Leins argues that financial analysts construct stories of possible economic futures, presenting them as coherent and grounded in expert research and analysis. In so doing, they establish a role for themselves—not necessarily by laying bare empirically verifiable trends but rather by presenting the market as something that makes sense and is worth investing in. Stories of Capitalism is a nuanced look at how banks continue to boost investment—even in unstable markets—and a rare insider's look into the often opaque financial practices that shape the global economy.


In this article, we discuss the study design and lessons learned from a full-factorial randomised controlled study conducted with beneficiaries of a youth programme in Pretoria, South Africa. The study assesses whether the integration of an economic strengthening intervention with an HIV-prevention education intervention improves economic and health outcomes beyond singular interventions. The selected youth were randomised into four groups: combined economic strengthening and HIV-prevention interventions; economic strengthening intervention only; HIV-prevention education intervention only; or no interventions. We conducted a pre-intervention and two post-intervention assessments with the participants to measure outcomes, including the primary outcome – prevalence of sexually transmitted infections. We discuss our rationale for the study design and the challenges faced when implementing it. We consider how features of the integrated programme, such as how synergy is assessed, and features of context, for example available sample size, determine which methods can be used to test the effectiveness of integrated programming.


The strengths of geomaterials and their variation under different factors are investigated in this paper. First, a general isotropic variation of a strength criterion is proposed for describing the critical state and peak strengths of geomaterials. Second, the proposed criterion is extended to describe the effect of anisotropy on the peak strength. After an analysis of experimental data, the hypothesis is made that the failure of an element of geomaterial generally occurs in a particular plane when the applied shear stress in that plane reaches the shear resistance of the material. Therefore, the variation of the peak strength of anisotropic materials should be described in terms of the stress tensor applied, a vector parameter defining the position of the potential failure plane of the material, and the material properties. A general failure criterion for geomaterials with cross anisotropy is obtained then from the proposed isotropic strength criterion. The proposed criterion is demonstrated to well represent both the isotropic and anisotropic strengths of various geomaterials. Finally, a general anisotropic criterion is introduced.


Background: The global population is ageing. It is estimated that in Europe, the proportion of adults aged over 80 years will increase from 5.1% in 2014 to 12.3% by 2080, an increase from 26.0 million to 63.9 million. Care home residents are arguably some of the most vulnerable service users, with higher levels of frailty, comorbidities and cognitive impairment than those residing in the community. Length of stay before death in European care homes is not well documented, demonstrating a need for representative, internationally comparable research. An understanding of anticipated length of stay is important in healthcare resource allocation, developing care plans, and informing the decisions of residents and their relatives. Aims: This paper has two aims; firstly, it will provide a systematic review of factors associated with length of stay, and summarize the strength of evidence to support them. Secondly, it will reflect upon the methodological challenges of conducting the review, including feasibility and quality of data sources. Methods: To identify factors associated with length of stay after admission to a care home, a systematic review of international literature was conducted. Key databases were searched for potential studies, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Proquest, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, the Campbell Library, SCOPUS and Social Care Online. The review focused on older adults, defined as any adult aged 65 years or above. Studies were included in the review if participants resided in a care home or long term care facility. The review focused on one outcome measure, length of stay, measured as length of stay from admission, or any point post admission, to a care home until death. The review was restricted to observational studies, including prospective cohort, cross-sectional and case control studies. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were obtained, data extracted and assessed for quality using tools specifically developed for the review. All factors identified across the studies were grouped into categories based on their association with length of stay (positive, negative or not statistically significant). These findings were then cross-referenced with the quality assessment score for the study. A factor was classed as having strong evidence to support it if there were consistent findings in at least 75% of studies in at least three high quality studies. Moderate evidence was classed as consistent findings in at least 50% of studies in at least two high quality studies. Weak evidence was classed as findings of one high quality study and at least two moderate to low quality studies or consistent findings (≥75%) in at least four or more moderate to low quality studies. Results: Forty-seven studies were included in the systematic review. Two predictors were identified as being supported by strong evidence; oxygen therapy and shortness of breath. Ten predictors were supported by moderate evidence; being male, older age, cancer, poor general health, poor mobility, low BMI or malnutrition, poor physical functioning, presence of pressure ulcers, increased contact with primary care, and admission to a facility providing nursing care. The findings of this review indicate that although cognitive impairment and dementia may be associated with care home admission, neither are associated with shorter lengths of stay. In contrast, functional impairment and characteristics associated with poor physical functioning, such as mobility and pressure ulcers, were identified as having moderate evidence to support them. Unpacking the terms used to describe a care home, and the services offered, was a challenge in conducting the review. The majority of studies only collected data at baseline, it is possible that changes in time dependent characteristics, such as cognitive impairment, or other diagnoses which may deteriorate, were missed. In addition, the review did not capture a resident's situation prior to admission that may affect the decision to enter a care home. Care home characteristics, such as size and type, were rarely reported. Conclusions: The importance of functional impairment over cognitive impairment in identifying residents with potentially shorter lengths of stay requires further research. Studies which collect data on care home residents prior to admission and continue follow up post admission are required to fully understand the factors which affect length of stay. Few nationally representative observational studies continue to follow up residents post admission, meaning a wealth of data is lost. Research that allows for international comparison will likely progress the understanding of care home residents experience, however a greater appreciation of the national context in which care homes operate is required. This could include reference to local policies, funding for long term care placements and relationships with the wider health care system. In addition, the role of care home characteristics, which may be associated with length of stay, needs exploring.


The domestication process of sugar kelp in the Northeast U.S. was initiated by selective breeding two years ago. In this study, we will demonstrate how obstacles for accelerated genetic gain can be assessed using simulation approaches that inform resource allocation decisions in our research. Thus far, we have used 140 wild sporophytes (SPs) that were sampled from the northern Gulf of Maine (GOM) to southern New England (SNE). From these SPs, we sampled gametophytes (GPs) and made and evaluated over 600 progeny SPs from crosses among the GPs. The biphasic life cycle of kelp gives a great advantage in selective breeding as we can potentially select both on the SPs and GPs. However, several obstacles exist, such as the amount of time it takes to complete a breeding cycle, the number of GPs that can be maintained in the lab, and whether positive selection can be conducted on farm tested SPs. Using the GOM population characteristics for heritability and effective population size, we simulated a founder population of 1000 individuals and evaluated the impact of overcoming these obstacles on genetic gain. Our results showed that key factors to improve current genetic gain rely mainly on our ability to induce reproduction of the best farm-tested SPs, and to accelerate the clonal vegetative growth of released GPs so that enough GP biomass is ready for making crosses by the next growing season. Overcoming these challenges could improve rates of genetic gain more than two-fold. Future research should focus on conditions favorable for inducing spring and early summer reproduction, and increasing the amount of GP tissue available in time to make fall crosses.


title: AGEN1181, an Fc engineered anti-CTLA-4 antibody, demonstrates clinical activity, alone or in combination with balstilimab (anti-PD-1), and broadens the therapeutic potential of CTLA-4 therapy (NCT03860272) Abstract number: 398 Presenting author: Dr. Stephen O'Day ePoster and audio session times: 11/12 4:50-5:20pm; 11/14 1:00-1:30pm Abstract title: Single-agent Zalifrelimab (anti-CTLA-4) Shows Clinical Benefit in Rare Tumors Case Report from Phase 2 Study (NCT03104699) Abstract number: 245 Presenting author: Dr. Cesar Perez ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45pm; 11/13 4:40-5:10pmtitle: Single-agent Zalifrelimab (anti-CTLA-4) Shows Clinical Benefit in Rare Tumors Case Report from Phase 2 Study (NCT03104699) Abstract number: 245 Presenting author: Dr. Cesar Perez ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45pm; 11/13 4:40-5:10pm Abstract title: AGEN2373 is a CD137 agonist antibody designed to leverage optimal CD137 and FcγR co-targeting to promote antitumor immunologic effects Abstract number: 377 Presenting author: Dr. Claire Galand ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45; 11/13 4:40-5:10pmtitle: AGEN2373 is a CD137 agonist antibody designed to leverage optimal CD137 and FcγR co-targeting to promote antitumor immunologic effects Abstract number: 377 Presenting author: Dr. Claire Galand ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45; 11/13 4:40-5:10pm Abstract title: Pseudoprogression Patterns: Analysis from 2 Independent Phase-2 Studies with Immunotherapy for Recurrent Cervical Cancer Abstract number: 267 Presenting author: Dr. David O'Malley ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45pm; 11/13 4:40-5:10pmtitle: Pseudoprogression Patterns: Analysis from 2 Independent Phase-2 Studies with Immunotherapy for Recurrent Cervical Cancer Abstract number: 267 Presenting author: Dr. David O'Malley ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45pm; 11/13 4:40-5:10pm Abstract title: AgenT-797, a novel allogenic and "off-the shelf" iNKT cell therapy promotes effective tumor killing Abstract number: 164 Presenting author: Dr. Burcu Yigit ePoster and audio session times: 11/12 4:50-5:20; 11/14 1:00-1:30pmtitle: AgenT-797, a novel allogenic and "off-the shelf" iNKT cell therapy promotes effective tumor killing Abstract number: 164 Presenting author: Dr. Burcu Yigit ePoster and audio session times: 11/12 4:50-5:20; 11/14 1:00-1:30pm Abstract title: Anti-TIGIT antibodies require enhanced FcγR co-engagement for optimal T and NK cell-dependent anti-tumor immunity Abstract number: 253 Presenting author: Rebecca Ward ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45pm; 11/13 4:40-5:10pmtitle: Anti-TIGIT antibodies require enhanced FcγR co-engagement for optimal T and NK cell-dependent anti-tumor immunity Abstract number: 253 Presenting author: Rebecca Ward ePoster and audio session times: 11/11 5:15-5:45pm; 11/13 4:40-5:10pm Abstract title: Beyond PD-L1: novel PD-1 biomarkers identified by driving T cell dysfunction in vitro Abstract number: 70 Presenting author: Dr. Simarjot Pabla ePoster and audio session times: 11/12 4:50-5:20pm; 11/14 1:00-1:30pmtitle: Beyond PD-L1: novel PD-1 biomarkers identified by driving T cell dysfunction in vitro Abstract number: 70 Presenting author: Dr. Simarjot Pabla ePoster and audio session times: 11/12 4:50-5:20pm; 11/14 1:00-1:30pm There was a premature disclosure of at least one Agenus abstract on the conference website, which reflected data that was only available at the time of abstract submission in August 2020. Updated data will be presented at the conference and will become available on the Agenus website at https://investor.agenusbio.com/events-and-presentations following the presentations on November 9-14, 2020. About Agenus Agenus is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of therapies that engage the body's immune system to fight cancer. The Company's vision is to expand the patient populations benefiting from cancer immunotherapy by pursuing combination approaches that leverage a broad repertoire of antibody therapeutics, adoptive cell therapies (through its AgenTus Therapeutics subsidiary), and proprietary cancer vaccine platforms. The Company is equipped with a suite of antibody discovery platforms and a state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility with the capacity to support clinical programs. Agenus is headquartered in Lexington, MA. For more information, please visit www.agenusbio.com and our Twitter handle @agenus_bio. Information that may be important to investors will be routinely posted on our website and Twitter. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the therapeutic potential of Agenus' product candidates, as well as the anticipated presentation of updated clinical and preclinical data. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the factors described under the Risk Factors section of our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Agenus cautions investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Agenus undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statements, other than to the extent required by law. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Contact: Agenus Inc. Caroline Bafundo 212-994-8209 firstname.lastname@example.com


Integrin receptors containing an alpha 4 subunit mediate cell-cell adhesion by binding to VCAM and MadCAM-1 in addition to supporting cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion by binding to the alternatively spliced V-region of fibronectin (FN). Studies in chick and mouse embryos have implicated these integrins in neural crest migration, myotube formation, heart development, and placentation. Because integrin-FN adhesive interactions have been shown to play essential roles in mammalian development, studies were initiated of integrin alpha 4 in amphibian embryos, which are better suited to experimental analyses of the earliest stages of embryogenesis. Here, the cDNA cloning and pattern of expression of the Xenopus laevis homolog of integrin alpha 4 is reported. Xenopus alpha 4 is 55% identical at the amino-acid level to both its human and mouse counterparts, including conservation of an alpha 4-specific protease cleavage site, 11 potential N-linked glycosylation sites, and 24 cysteine residues. In situ hybridization analysis reveals that transcripts encoding alpha 4 are expressed in epidermis and the branchial arches. Although alpha 4 transcripts can be detected as early as gastrulation, the protein is observed only after tailbud stages of development and is spatially restricted to the epidermis and gills of tadpole stage embryos. From these data it is concluded that Xenopus integrin alpha 4 has structural features in common with other vertebrate alpha 4 homologs, but is detected in a more restricted tissue distribution during development than alpha 4 in other species.


Dynamical systems driven by Gaussian noises have been considered extensively in modeling, simulation, and theory. However, complex systems in engineering and science are often subject to non-Gaussian fluctuations or uncertainties. A coupled dynamical system under a class of Levy noises is considered. After discussing cocycle property, stationary orbits, and random attractors, a synchronization phenomenon is shown to occur, when the drift terms of the coupled system satisfy certain dissipativity and integrability conditions. The synchronization result implies that coupled dynamical systems share a dynamical feature in some asymptotic sense.


The development of a novel method to estimate the state of charge (SOC) with low read‐only memory (ROM) occupancy, high stability, and high anti‐interference capability is very important for the battery management system (BMS) in actual electric vehicles. This paper proposes the square root cubature Kalman filter (SRCKF) with a temperature correction rule, based on the BMS of a common on‐board embedded micro control unit (MCU), to achieve smooth estimation of SOC. The temperature correction rule is able to reduce the testing effort and ROM space used for data table storage (189.3 kilobytes is much smaller than the storage of the MPC5604B, with 1000 kilobytes), while the SRCKF is adopted to achieve highly robust real‐time SOC estimation with high resistance to interference and moderate computing cost (68.3% of the load rate of the MPC5604B). The results of multiple experiments show that the proposed method with less computational complexity converges rapidly (in approximately 2.5 s) and estimates the SOC of the battery accurately under dynamic temperature condition. Moreover, the SRCKF algorithm is not sensitive to the high measuring interference and highly nonlinear working conditions (even with 1% current and voltage measurement disturbances, the root mean square error of the proposed method can be as high as 0.679%).


Bell's palsy is the most common cause of facial paralysis, affecting one in every 60 people in their lifetime. Transcutaneously applied selective electrical muscle stimulation could potentially accelerate recovery from Bell's palsy but this intervention remains controversial. Studies have shown benefit, but concerns for lack of efficacy and potential for worsening synkinesis remain. We performed a prospective controlled trial comparing outcomes at initial recovery and six months later with selective electrical muscle stimulation and usual physical therapy versus usual physical therapy alone in adults with acute Bell's palsy. Outcomes were facial function assessed with the House Brackman and eFACE scales. Outcomes were evaluated at discharge and six months after discharge. Discharge occurred when participants were judged to be fully recovered by their treating therapist and supervisor. 38 adults participated in the study. Participants in the electrical stimulation group achieved maximal recovery twice as fast as the control group (2.5 weeks versus 5.2 weeks) with no significant differences in facial function or synkinesis between groups at any time point. This study is the first human trial of electrical stimulation in Bell's palsy to follow patients 6 months from recovery and supports that selective electrical muscle stimulation accelerates recovery and does not increase synkinesis.


We study the influence of spatial heterogeneity on the antiviral activity of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) infected with influenza A. MEF of type Ube1L−/− are composed of two distinct sub-populations, the strong type that sustains a strong viral infection and the weak type, sustaining a weak viral load. We present new data on the virus load infection of Ube1L−/−, which have been micro-printed in a checker board pattern of different sizes of the inner squares. Surprisingly, the total viral load at one day after inoculation significantly depends on the sizes of the inner squares. We explain this observation by using a reaction diffusion model and we show that mathematical homogenization can explain the observed inhomogeneities. If the individual patches are large, then the growth rate and the carrying capacity will be the arithmetic means of the patches. For finer and finer patches the average growth rate is still the arithmetic mean, however, the carrying capacity uses the harmonic mean. While fitting the PDE to the experimental data, we also predict that a discrepancy in virus load would be unobservable after only half a day. Furthermore, we predict the viral load in different inner squares that had not been measured in our experiment and the travelling distance the virions can reach after one day.


Is mandatory arbitration of shareholder claims desirable? With the blessing of the Supreme Court, mandatory arbitration provisions with class action waivers have become common in contract, consumer, and labor law. Policymakers now consider importing this trend to corporate and securities laws as well. The existing debate centers around consent and compensation: Can shareholders be held to consent to arbitration provisions in the company's corporate governance documents? Are shareholders better off with arbitration, given that litigation currently offers them very little compensation (with high fees)? This Article adopts a different, information-production perspective. It examines how the choice between litigation and arbitration affects the effectiveness of market discipline. Litigation, regardless of the legal outcomes, produces a positive externality: information on corporate behavior. Internal memos, emails, spreadsheets, and transcripts that are exposed in the process give us a glimpse into how the company-in-question is ran. This information helps outside observers reassess their willingness to do business with the parties to the dispute. In other words, litigation shapes the reputations of companies and businesspersons. By shifting from litigation to arbitration, we are likely to save administrative costs, but lose some of the effectiveness of reputational deterrence. While adopting a mandatory arbitration provision can be desirable for a given company, the ex ante effects of allowing such provisions would be overall detrimental to the market.


Summary. The important contributions of sperm‐oocyte interaction to infertility diagnostics is well established. Scientists are urged to search for methods to improve the assessment of gamete interaction. Sperm binding and penetration assays have frequented the literature, reporting on various aspects of sperm‐oocyte interaction using either microbisected or whole human oocytes during the assay procedure. The objective of the study was to evaluate additional zona pellucida sources which can be used during zona binding studies. Hemizonae were obtained from the following oocytes: 1) experiment 1, prophase I oocytes from post‐mortem ovarian tissue from different age groups namely, 7 months, 5 years, 7 years, 12 years and 30 years; 2) experiment 2 used donated immature Prophase I oocytes from the IVF treatment program and 3) experiment 3 evaluated zona binding for hemizonae which were previously used in hemizona assays. Results indicated that, in experiment 1, ovarian age does not have any influence on the zona pellucida's capacity to bind spermatozoa. The mean number of bound sperm among the different age groups did not differ significantly, namely 38.9±17 (7 months), 31.0±27 (5 years), 49.3±21 (7 years), 32.8 ± 18 (12 years) and 39.5 ± 17 (30 years). The pooled mean ±SD binding for all the age groups in experiment 1 was 37.7 ± 7. Likewise, the mean number of sperm bound (experiment 2) to zonae collected from oocytes using different ovulation induction regimes were 31.1±20 (unstimulated), 54.4±12 (HMG/HCG) and 15.3 ± 9 (HMG alone). The pooled binding data for experiment 2 were 33.0 ± 20. Results of experiment 3 indicated metaphase II oocytes with previous exposure to sperm retained its binding capacity indicating that hemizonae can be recycled for at least a second binding experiment. Zonae that had been exposed to sperm and that were subsequently stripped from bound sperm, revealed a mean number of bound sperm after re‐insemination that were significantly higher than the prophase I oocytes namely, 115.0 ± 2.8 versus 35.6±12 (P = 0.0001). In conclusion, the data highlights (i) new sources of human oocytes needed for sperm‐oocyte interaction studies; (ii) the capability of the human zona pellucida to bind sperm after previous exposure and (iii) the importance of nuclear competence to obtain increased zona pellucida binding.


Agriculture is one of the major branches of the economy in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. It employs around 70% of the population and its contribution to the national GDP ranges around 45% (2012). In spite of the fact that most of the area is arable the majority of food, the Nigerian population consumes, comes from imports. The paper attempts to provide in insight to the reasons, why Nigeria could still not achievew self sufficiency from major food crops and livestock. Beyond the rapid growth of the population, one of the major reasons is the rich oil and natural gas reserves, the exploitation and export of which has been providing with the country with "easy cash" for the recent few decades. Another reason is that the agricultural holdings are small and scattered, and farming is carried out with simple tools and techniques. Modern and large-scale farms are not common. The political leadership and economic decision makers of the country already recognized the necessity of the development of the food and agricultural sector, which – contrary to the oil industry – would exercise a deep and positive impact on the rural society as well. Nigerian agriculture is being transformed towards commercialization at small, medium and large-scale enterprise levels.


The behavioral contingency and the metacontingency describe phenomena at different levels of analysis, the former at the individual level, the latter at the group level. The relationship between these levels is similar to the relationship between the physiological and the psychological levels of analysis. Simply stated, behavior is not simply the sum of physiological activity, but is rather more than or qualitatively different from physiological activity. We believe this emergent relationship may be crucial to distinguishing phenomena at different levels of analyses. The term 'emergence' is used in several ways within behavior analysis. Some uses suggest that novel behavior or more complex behavior is emergent upon simpler behavior. The term is also used to suggest that molar patterns of behavior emerge from molecular contingencies of reinforcement. For others, the term is reserved for describing connections between levels of analysis. Our aim in this paper is to contribute to an understanding of the phenomenon of emergence in the interdisciplinary interaction between behavior analysis and sociology. In presenting this analysis, we examine the utility of an interdisciplinary concept of metacontingency and discuss the points of contact and departures between behavior analysis and cultural analysis throughout this process.


This study aimed to determine the differences among four dog breeds as to food selectivity, choice agreement, and the number scores that best evaluate the degree of food choice agreement. For that, 115 food preference tests were analyzed. In each of those tests, 20 dogs were used (eight Beagles, four Labradors, four Siberian Huskies, and four Basset Hounds), in two evaluation days. The medians of intake difference between two diets were calculated for days one, two, and for both days to determine if there were selectivity difference among breeds. A randomized block experimental design was applied, and medians were submitted to the test of Friedmann. Food choice agreement and the degree of agreement among breeds were evaluated by the kappa index, using two different scales. Basset Hounds were the most selective when two different foods were offered, whereas Labradors were the least selective. When performing food preference tests, Siberian Huskies and Basset Hounds are recommended; however, they must be used individually to prevent that the results of one breed could neutralize those of the other breed. The use of a scale of food preference with three scores is recommended in order to obtain results that are more reliable.


A general method was developed for the preparation of various functional rattle-type microspheres possessing a movable inner core with different components and morphologies and a mesoporous silica shell. In this process, the cross-linked poly(methyl acrylic acid) (PMAA) sandwiched layer was used as a sacrificial layer for coating the functional cores as well as the reaction locus for the deposition of the outer silica layer via a sol–gel method in the presence of n-octadecyltrimethoxysilane (C18TMS) as the pore-directing agent for tri-layer microspheres. The mesoporous rattle-type microspheres were produced through calcination of the corresponding tri-layer microspheres at high temperature, during which the rattle-structure microspheres were formed through decomposition of the sandwiched PMAA layer and the meso-pores in the silica shell-layer (mSiO2) were simultaneously afforded by pyrolysis of the pore directing agent. The structure of the rattle-type microspheres can be facilely tuned by adjusting the size of the corresponding layers in the complex multilayer architecture with the silica inner core as an example. Further, these rattle-type microspheres with functional inner cores exhibited unique and novel properties with potential applications. As a result, the Au/mSiO2 rattle-type microspheres revealed a good catalytic performance towards the reduction of nitrophenol. The surface engineering of magnetic iron oxide/mSiO2 (MIO@mSiO2) rattle type microspheres was performed for grafting functional biocompatible poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and tumor targeting agent folic acid (FA) through a silica coupling reaction. The multifunctional rattle-type microspheres were used as a drug carrier with a controlled release property.


The worldwide increase in antibiotic resistance is a concern for public health. When the appropriate antibiotic dosage is determined, the priorities are efficacy and toxicity. The aim of this thesis was to gain knowledge about the most efficient dosing regimens in order to minimize the emergence and selection of antibiotic-resistant mutants. We also wanted to assess the impact of antibiotic selective pressure and host to host transmission for the dissemination of resistance. Escherichia coli bacteria with different levels of cefotaxime susceptibility were competed in an in vitro kinetic model, demonstrating a complex selection of low-level resistance influenced e.g. by the time duration of selective concentrations and the rise of new mutants. We also constructed a mathematical model incorporating biologically relevant parameters and showed its usefulness when assessing the risks of resistance development. When E. coli populations with pre-existing fluoroquinolone-resistant mutants were exposed to simulated serum concentrations, several currently used doses of fluoroquinolones clearly enhanced the development and selection of resistance. The mutant prevention concentration (MPC) was measured for several E. coli isolates with different fluoroquinolone susceptibilities, and because of fluctuating antibiotic concentrations in the human body, the pharmacokinetics was considered when evaluating MPC. Results indicate that the area under the serum concentration time curve in relation to the MPC may be a useful predictor for emergence of resistance. In the commensal flora of healthy human couples we noted a high frequency of trimethoprim-resistant E. coli. There was also an extensive sharing and transmission of E. coli clones. Treating the female with trimethoprim reduced the number of intestinal E. coli which might have facilitated the transmission from the male partner. These findings suggest that the rate of transmission is high and effectively contributes to the spread of both susceptible and antibiotic-resistant E. coli in intrafamilial settings.


The plant mitochondrial electron transport chain is branched such that electrons at ubiquinol can be diverted to oxygen via the alternative oxidase (AOX). This pathway does not contribute to ATP synthesis but can dampen the mitochondrial generation of reactive oxygen species. Here, we establish that transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Petit Havana SR1) cells lacking AOX (AS8 cells) show increased susceptibility to three different death-inducing compounds (H2O2, salicylic acid [SA], and the protein phosphatase inhibitor cantharidin) in comparison with wild-type cells. The timing and extent of AS8 cell death are very similar among the three treatments and, in each case, are accompanied by the accumulation of oligonucleosomal fragments of DNA, indicative of programmed cell death. Death induced by H2O2 or SA occurs by a mitochondria-dependent pathway characterized by cytochrome c release from the mitochondrion. Conversely, death induced by cantharidin occurs by a pathway without any obvious mitochondrial involvement. The ability of AOX to attenuate these death pathways may relate to its ability to maintain mitochondrial function after insult with a death-inducing compound or may relate to its ability to prevent chronic oxidative stress within the mitochondrion. In support of the latter, long-term treatment of AS8 cells with an antioxidant compound increased the resistance of AS8 cells to SA- or cantharidin-induced death. The results indicate that plants maintain both mitochondria-dependent and -independent pathways of programmed cell death and that AOX may act as an important mitochondrial "survival protein" against such death.


Venous thromboembolisms (VTEs) are blood clots that begin in a vein and include deep venous thromboses (DVTs) and pulmonary embolisms (PEs). VTEs will affect an estimated 71 out of every 100,000 individuals yearly, with 100,000 to 300,000 deaths being attributable to VTEs every year, accounting for 10% of all hospital deaths, killing more people than AIDS, cancer, and auto accidents combined. Ultimately, VTEs are considered the most preventable hospital acquired condition. Using Cerner (an electronic health record) based data, this study investigates the impact of standardizing medication administration times (SMAT). A Chi Square test was used to examine the impact of this intervention. Findings suggest that the SMAT intervention both reduced the percent of pharmacological anticoagulation missed doses as well as the relative rate of patient refusals. This study also proposes a comprehensive VTE reeducation initiative, detailing the structure and evaluation of the initiative as well. The reeducation initiative improves two aspects of the iron triangle, namely improving patient quality and containing costs for VTE treatment, illustrating the public health relevance of the study.


Figure 3A (p. 1232) of the report "Homology of cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (IL-10) to the Epstein-Barr virus gene BCRF1" by K. W. Moore et al. (8 June, p. 1230) contained some typographical errors that resulted in inconsistencies between the amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of mouse interleukin-10 (mIL-10). The correct amino acid sequence appeared in the report; corrections to the nucleotide sequences are underlined as follows: 459-TTTCTCCCTGT-470; 517-AAGCTCCAA-525; 1096-TTGATGAT-1103; and 1138-TCATCCCCCAGCCGC-1152. The correct sequence has been deposited at Genbank (accession number M37897) and has been distributed to investigators with the mIL-10 cDNA clone.


Since 2001, community cohesion has become central to discussions, policies and practices concerned with encouraging interaction between different ethnic groups in the UK. Discursively at least, it has signalled a shift from earlier race relations policies aimed at promoting multiculturalism. This paper examines policies of community cohesion alongside an exploration of interethnic and intercultural encounters within everyday spaces. Drawing upon two pieces of ethnographic research in the North of England, we draw attention to the ways in which 'mixing' is gendered and consider this in terms of the opportunities created for meaningful interactions.


An analysis in the work of Martin Kellermans comic "Rocky" of the interaction between the male and female characters and of how each of their gender are portrayed. We are going to find out if it is probable for young adults to be affected by any eventual gender-stereotypes that we can find in "Rocky" or if "Rocky" consolidates a stereotypical image of men and women that young adults might have developed through different media. We conduct this analys by first reading through random seleceted "Rocky" books and present some of the comic strips where men and women interact with each other or discuss the opposite sex.


Erlotinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), shows superior efficacy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring activating EGFR mutations (EGFR Mut+). However, almost all tumors eventually develop resistance to erlotinib. Recently, the Phase II JO25567 study reported significant prolongation of progression-free survival (PFS) by erlotinib plus bevacizumab combination compared with erlotinib in EGFR Mut+ NSCLC. Herein, we established a preclinical model which became refractory to erlotinib after long-term administration and elucidated the mode of action of this combination. In this model, tumor regrowth occurred after remarkable shrinkage by erlotinib; regrowth was successfully inhibited by erlotinib plus bevacizumab. Tumor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was greatly reduced by erlotinib in the erlotinib-sensitive phase but significantly increased in the erlotinib-refractory phase despite continued treatment with erlotinib. Although EGFR phosphorylation remained suppressed in the erlotinib-refractory phase, phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK), phosphorylated AKT, and phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (pSTAT3) were markedly higher than in the erlotinib-sensitive phase; among these, pERK was suppressed by erlotinib plus bevacizumab. MVD was decreased significantly more with erlotinib plus bevacizumab than with each drug alone. In conclusion, the erlotinib plus bevacizumab combination demonstrated promising efficacy in the B901L xenograft model of EGFR Mut+ NSCLC. Re-induction of VEGF and subsequent direct or indirect VEGF-dependent tumor growth was suggested as a major mechanism of erlotinib resistance, and erlotinib plus bevacizumab achieved remarkably prolonged antitumor activity in this model.


BACKGROUND
During ingestible capsule endoscopy, video images are recorded throughout the device's natural propulsion through the digestive system. Shortening the transit time of the wireless video capsule through the stomach and small bowel could reduce the time needed to read and analyze the resultant images, utilize more effectively the short life of the capsule battery (7 +/- 1 hours) and make it possible to image the entire small bowel.

OBJECTIVE
To measure gastric and small bowel transit times, with and without preparation, using capsule endoscopy.

METHODS
Capsule transit times through the stomach, small bowel and colon were evaluated by analysis of the videos generated during the capsule's passage. The study group included 62 patients with small and large bowel pathologies (e.g., iron deficiency anemia, Crohn's disease). The patients were divided into three groups: prepared with polyethylene glycol (Group A, n = 9), prepared with sodium phosphate (Group B, n = 13), and with no preparation (Group C, n = 40).

RESULTS
The gastric emptying times were 20.4 +/- 15.2 minutes in group A, 55.7 +/- 45.1 in group B, and 48.3 +/- 28.7 in group C (P = 0.01). The capsule produced views of the cecum in only 49 of the 62 patients. The mean small bowel transit time for these 49 patients was 238.8 +/- 82.1 minutes, making the mean times for the groups (A,B,C) 148.9 +/- 32.6, 289.4 +/- 77.2 and 249.3 +/- 73.9 minutes respectively (P = 0.0001).

CONCLUSION
Compared to both SP and no preparation, preparation of the colon with PEG significantly shortened the transit time of the capsule through the stomach and small bowel.


In previous studies exposing persons to stressful films, uniformly unpleasant in content, we found a marked tendency toward intrusive and stimulus-repetitive thought. This study was designed to determine if pleasant but arousing films would produce similar effects. In a counterbalanced design, 29 subjects saw both pleasurable and displeasurable films on genital themes. Comparing the results with previous data on the effects of the same displeasurable film and a neutral contrast film, both arousing films were followed by higher levels of intrusive and stimulus-repetitive thought than followed the neutral film. Viewers of the pleasurable and displeasurable films differed significantly in affective responses. The results support the theory of a general tendency towards compulsive repetition of events that arouse strong emotions and ideas of whatever quality.


Plasma adrenomedullin (AM), a novel hypotensive peptide, has been shown to increase in heart failure (HF). This study sought to examine the cardiovascular and renal effects of intravenous infusion of AM in HF rats and sham-operated rats (control) using two doses of AM that would not induce hypotension. Rat AM-(1-50) was intravenously administered at rates of 0.01 (low) and 0.05 (high) microg. kg body wt-1. min-1. Low-dose AM increased urine flow (+21% in HF, +29% in control) and urinary sodium excretion (+109% in HF, +123% in control) without changes in any hemodynamic variables. In contrast, high-dose AM slightly decreased mean arterial pressure (-3% in HF, -5% in control) and significantly increased cardiac output (+20% in HF, +12% in control). Infusion of high-dose AM resulted in significant decreases in right ventricular systolic pressure (-11%) and right atrial pressure (-28%) only in HF rats. High-dose AM significantly increased glomerular filtration rate (+10% in HF, +16% in control) and effective renal plasma flow (+25% in HF, +46% in control) as well as urine flow and urinary sodium excretion. In summary, intravenous infusion of AM exerted diuresis and natriuresis without inducing hypotension and, in the higher dose, produced beneficial hemodynamic and renal vasodilator effects in rats with compensated HF.


Introduction Proximal femoral fracture is associated with high levels of residual physical disability. Quadriceps weakness may be a factor in poor outcome. This research project was an investigation into whether electrical stimulation of the quadriceps of the fractured leg of patients rehabilitating after fixation of proximal femoral fracture increases leg extensor power and decreases disability. Methods A systematic search and structured review of the literature paying explicit attention to study design quality was carried out and a pilot study was undertaken using a case control series design. This was followed by a pragmatically designed, randomised controlled trial of elderly post-surgical proximal femoral fracture patients, that compared 6 weeks of supplementary electrical stimulation (15 patients, mean age 81 years) to standard physiotherapy alone (11 patients, mean age 80 years). The electrical stimulation on: off cycle was 7:23 seconds. The dosage was 36 cycles per session, delivered daily as an in-patient and twice weekly after discharge to the highest intensity patients would tolerate. The primary outcome measure was leg extensor power (Nottingham Power Rig) at 6 weeks (the end of the intervention). Functional mobility (Elderly Mobility Scale), disability (Barthel Index) and perceived health status (Nottingham Health Profile) were also measured. Results The pilot study indicated a potential benefit of the treatment, however the results of the subsequent RCT did not. The RCT sample size had 80% power to detect a significant difference in change in LEP of 0.14W/kg at week 6 compared to baseline. Eleven (73%) of the intervention patients in the RCT tolerated sufficient stimulation intensity to produce only palpable or visible contractions, but no leg movement at initial ES set up. A median of 10 (IQR 6, 17) electrical stimulation sessions were given to those who reached the 6 week assessment (13 (87%)). There were no significant differences in improvement in leg extensor power for either the fractured or non-fractured leg at week 6 or week 14 compared to baseline between the groups. At week 6, the primary end point, the ES group improved fractured leg LEP by a median of 0.20 W/kg (interquartile (IQR) range 0.14, 0.32) compared to 0.22 W/kg (IQR 0.1, 0.43) in the controls. Non-fractured leg LEP improved by a median of 0.18 W/kg (IQR 0.08, 0.38) versus 0.13 w/kg (IQR 0.03, 0.22), respectively. There were no significant differences in change of Elderly Mobility Scale or Barthel score or Nottingham Health Profile between the two groups at any point of assessment. Conclusion ES of quadriceps did not promote increased leg extensor power or reduce disability following proximal femoral fracture. Low stimulation tolerance levels may explain the lack of effect.


"Belief propagation" (BP) is an efficient way to solve "inference" problems in graphical models, such as Bayesian networks and Markov random fields. It has found great success in many application areas due to its simplicity, high accuracy, and distributed nature. This paper is a first attempt to apply BP algorithms in CSMA wireless networks. Compared to prior CSMA optimization algorithms such as ACSMA, which are measurement-based, BP-based algorithms are proactive and computational, without the need for network probing and traffic measurement. Consequently, BP-based algorithms are not affected by the temporal throughput fluctuations and can converge faster. Specifically, this paper explores three applications of BP. 1) We show how BP can be used to compute the throughputs of different links in the network given their access intensities, defined as the mean packet transmission time divided by the mean backoff countdown time. 2) We propose an inverse-BP algorithm to solve the reverse problem of how to set the access intensities of different links to meet their target throughputs. 3) We introduce a BP-adaptive CSMA algorithm to find the link access intensities that can achieve optimal system utility. The first two applications are NP-hard problems, and BP provides good approximations to them. The advantage of BP is that it can converge faster compared to prior algorithms like ACSMA, especially in CSMA networks with temporal throughput fluctuations. Furthermore, this paper goes beyond BP and considers a generalized version of it, GBP, to improve accuracy in networks with a loopy contention graph. The distributed implementation of GBP is nontrivial to construct. A contribution of this paper is to show that a "maximal clique" method of forming regions in GBP: 1) yields accurate results; and 2) is amenable to distributed implementation in CSMA networks, with messages passed between one-hop neighbors only. We show that both BP and GBP algorithms for all three applications can yield solutions within seconds in real operation.


Sleep medicine is a truly multidisciplinary field that covers psychiatric, neurological and respiratory conditions. As the field has developed it has become increasingly clear that there is a great deal of overlap between sleep and psychiatric disorders and it is therefore essential for psychiatrists to have some knowledge of sleep medicine. Even those disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnoea, that may seem to be outside the remit of psychiatry can have complex and important interactions with psychiatric conditions. In this article we give a brief overview of the range of sleep disorders a psychiatrist might encounter, how they are recognised, investigated and treated, and how they relate to psychiatric conditions.


1. The global climate continues to change rapidly compared to the pace of the natural variations in climate that have occurred throughout Earth's history. Trends in globally averaged temperature, sea level rise, upper-ocean heat content, land-based ice melt, Arctic sea ice, depth of seasonal permafrost thaw, and other climate variables provide consistent evidence of a warming planet. These observed trends are robust and have been confirmed by multiple independent research groups around the world. (Very high confidence) 2. The frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heavy precipitation events are increasing in most continental regions of the world (very high confidence). These trends are consistent with expected physical responses to a warming climate. Climate model studies are also consistent with these trends, although models tend to underestimate the observed trends, especially for the increase in extreme precipitation events (very high confidence for temperature, high confidence for extreme precipitation). The frequency and intensity of extreme temperature events are virtually certain to increase in the future as global temperature increases (high confidence). Extreme precipitation events will very likely continue to increase in frequency and intensity throughout most of the world (high confidence). Observed and projected trends for some other types of extreme events, such as floods, droughts, and severe storms, have more variable regional characteristics. 3. Many lines of evidence demonstrate that it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. Formal detection and attribution studies for the period 1951 to 2010 find that the observed global mean surface temperature warming lies in the middle of the range of likely human contributions to warming over that same period. We find no convincing evidence that natural variability can account for the amount of global warming observed over the industrial era. For the period extending over the last century, there are no convincing alternative explanations supported by the extent of the observational evidence. Solar output changes and internal variability can only contribute marginally to the observed changes in climate over the last century, and we find no convincing evidence for natural cycles in the observational record that could explain the observed changes in climate. (Very high confidence) 4. Global climate is projected to continue to change over this century and beyond. The magnitude of climate change beyond the next few decades will depend primarily on the amount of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases emitted globally and on the remaining uncertainty in the sensitivity of Earth's climate to those emissions (very high confidence). With significant reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases, the global annually averaged temperature rise could be limited to 3.6°F (2°C) or less. Without major reductions in these emissions, the increase in annual average global temperatures relative to preindustrial times could reach 9°F (5°C) or more by the end of this century (high confidence). 5. Natural variability, including El Niño events and other recurring patterns of ocean– atmosphere interactions, impact temperature and precipitation, especially regionally, over months to years. The global influence of natural variability, however, is limited to a small fraction of observed climate trends over decades. (Very high confidence) 6. Longer-term climate records over past centuries and millennia indicate that average temperatures in recent decades over much of the world have been much higher, and have risen faster during this time period, than at any time in the past 1,700 years or more, the time period for which the global distribution of surface temperatures can be reconstructed. (High confidence) CSSR 5OD: FINAL CLEARANCE Chapter 1 Subject to Final Copyedit 28 June 2017 38 1. Our Globally Changing Climate 1


Aim—To develop a reliable and valid disease specific quality of life questionnaire (the GO-QOL) for patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), that can be used to describe the health related quality of life and changes in health related quality of life over time as a consequence of disease and treatment. Methods—70 consecutive GO patients (age >18 years) who were referred for the first time to the combined outpatient clinic of the orbital centre and the department of endocrinology completed the 16 questions of the GO-QOL. Additional information on general quality of life and disease characteristics was obtained. Construct validity and internal consistency of the disease specific questionnaire was determined, based on principal component analysis, Cronbach alphas and correlations with MOS-24, three subscales of the SIP, demographic, and clinical measures. Results—The a priori expected subdivision of the questionnaire in two subscales, one measuring the consequences of double vision and decreased visual acuity on visual functioning, and one measuring the psychosocial consequences of a changed appearance, was confirmed in the principal component analysis. Both scales had a good reliability and high face validity. Correlations with other measures supported construct validity. Mean scores (range 0–100) were 54.7 (SD 22.8) for visual functioning and 60.1 (24.8) for appearance (higher score = better health). Conclusion—The GO-QOL is a promising tool to measure disease specific aspects of quality of life in patients with GO and provides additional information to traditional physiological or biological measures of health status. (Br J Ophthalmol 1998;82:773–779) Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), associated with Graves' thyroid disease (GTD), is an incapacitating eye disease, causing disfiguring proptosis, pain, redness, and swelling of the eyelids, grittiness of the eyes, diplopia, and sometimes even blindness. 2 Several studies have shown that visual problems in general can have a major impact on daily functioning and wellbeing. Furthermore, the psychological burden of the progressive disfigurement resulting from GO is well recognised. 8 Bartley et al 9 report that after treatment 61% of the patients believed that the appearance of their eyes had not returned to baseline status, 51% thought their eyes continued to be abnormal in appearance, and 37% were dissatisfied with the appearance of their eyes. Overall, the eVects of GO on physical and psychological functioning have a significant impact on a patient's health related quality of life. The outcomes of GO disease and treatment are mostly assessed with biological and physiological measures—for example, combined in the NO SPECS classification. While these measures provide important information to clinicians, they often correlate poorly with functional capacity and perceived health as experienced by the patient. 13 For example, Prummel et al 14 found a response rate of 50% and 46% respectively to prednisone and radiotherapy measured by the NO SPECS classification, but the benefit of both treatments on the subjective judgment of the eye condition by the patient (expressed in the subjective eye score) was only modest. In a recent study we found low correlations between scores on a general health related quality of life questionnaire and measures of severity and activity of disease. These diVerent outcomes can be regarded as diVerent concepts on a causal pathway from biological and physiological measures to perceived symptoms, then to the functional consequences of these symptoms, and finally to more complex elements such as general health perceptions and overall quality of life. Following on the WHO definition of health, health related quality of life (HRQL) can be defined as the physical, psychological, and social domains of health, as perceived by the patient, which are influenced by a patient's experiences, beliefs, and expectations of their disease and treatment. 17 In general, HRQL measures are among the best predictors of the use of general medical and mental health services as well as strong predictors of mortality. Although implicitly (health related) quality of life always has been an important goal in medicine, it is only quite recently that it became explicitly an outcome measure in medical studies. In 1992, a joint committee of thyroid associations recommended that self assessment of the eye condition by the patient should be included in evaluations of treatments for patients with GO. While a number of studies have assessed Br J Ophthalmol 1998;82:773–779 773 Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands


A new printed circuit board flat fluxgate sensor with integrated coils and amorphous alloy core was developed and its excitation parameters optimized for low-power consumption. The power consumption achieved with 10 kHz, 300 mA p-p pulse excitation with duty cycle 12.5% was only 3.9 mW, which is three times lower than that for sinewave B excitation. The sensor sensitivity reached 94 V/T. The required excitation bridge supply voltage was only 0.47 V. The low-cost low-power sensor has a temperature offset stability of 120 nT in the -20 to +70 degC temperature range and 0.17%/degC open-loop sensitivity tempco due to the use of a new core embedding technique. The perming error due to 10 mT field shock was suppressed below 1.2 muT. The short-time offset stability was 38 nT within 3 h. Thus the developed sensor is more precise and less energy consuming than a periodically flipped anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) sensor. The achieved parameters are sufficient for compass with 0.1deg error


Globalization, governance and economic performance affect each other in very complex mutual relationships. In this Paper, we establish a clear and well-circumscribed hypothesis: 'Is there an effect of globalization on governance?' To test this hypothesis or, even more specifically, to test how openness can affect the quality of domestic institutions, we survey available theoretical explanations of causal relationships between globalization and governance. Microeconomic theory helps us identify trade policy, competition by foreign producers and international investors, and openness-related differences in institution building costs and benefits, as three major transmission mechanisms through which openness affects a country's corruption levels. Examining a large sample of countries covering a 20-year long period, we found robust empirical support for the fact that increases in import openness do indeed cause reductions in corruption, a crucial aspect of governance. The magnitude of the effect is also quite strong. After controlling for many cross-country differences, openness' influence on corruption is close to one third of that exercised by the level of development. Some cautious policy conclusions are derived.


It is well known that scheduling jobs according to the Shortest-Remaining-Processing-Time (SRPT) policy is optimal for minimizing mean response time in a single-server system with online arrivals. Unfortunately, SRPT scheduling requires users to reveal their job size (service requirement), which is not always realistic. This may be because some users are informed, but selfish (or rational): they know their job size but are willing to lie about it if that is to their advantage. Alternatively, users may be uninformed – they may genuinely not know their size. Complicating matters further, the system administrator may not be able to differentiate between users of these two types. This adds significant complications to the management of such systems, as threats that are credible to force informed users to reveal their size may be unfair to uninformed users. This situation is common in supercomputing environments, for example. To cope with such a situation we develop a novel approach for inducing the informed users into selfscheduling themselves according to (an approximation of) SRPT while not, unfairly, penalizing the uninformed users. We achieve this by defining a game that users play, applying priority-boosting tokens to portions of their job. For the informed users, we characterize the features of a unique equilibrium self-scheduling policy. We prove that the equilibrium policy is a dominant strategy, i.e. no user has any incentive to follow any other strategy, regardless of other users' behavior. We show that the optimal strategy of uninformed users is highly complex and may lead to multiple, potentially unstable, equilibria. Then, via queueing-theoretic analysis, we evaluate the effectiveness of our game as a function of job size variability, load, and other system parameters. We find that our game results in a near approximation of SRPT scheduling for informed users when the appropriate number of tokens (which we can determine) is distributed.


Current Georgian speech etiquette, whether formal, neutral, or informal, is abundant in blessing formulas and well-wishing phrases. Quite often in Georgian culture blessings serve as essential elements of the rituals of greeting, leave-taking, thanking, expressing condolences, congratulating, showing sympathy, toasting etc. Moreover, alongside some standard polite formulas the Georgian language employs blessings as their substitutes and emotionally charged equivalents. The paper examines Georgian blessing formulas and well-wishes from the perspectives of face and politeness theories with the aim of stating their cultural specificity and social value. In the study well-wishes are regarded as indirect blessings. For a comprehensive analysis of the data, the following issues have also been discussed: (a) general structural, cognitive, pragmatic, and discoursal peculiarities of Georgian blessings; (b) religious experience and the idea of God as reflected in the data under discussion; (c) types of meaning-function relationship in blessings.


The paper analyzes ethnic data collection pertaining to criminal justice in Hungary. It shows that Hungary's approach to resist ethnic data collection by law enforcement authorities is not a good policy and it causes severe constitutional problems in other, noncriminal legal circumstances, where ethnic data is used in the context of additional rights and affirmative protection provided for ethno-national minorities. The paper follows a twofold analysis. First, it sets forth general problems relating to ethnic data collection, including a brief analysis of a uniquely Hungarian constitutional institution, the minority self-government structure. The focus of scrutiny then shifts to the criminal justice system, in particular the analysis of policing of racially motivated crime, and the question of police ethnic profiling.


Cobalt(III) Schiff base complexes ([Co(acacen)(L)2](+), where L = NH3) inhibit histidine-containing proteins through dissociative exchange of the labile axial ligands (L). This work investigates axial ligand exchange dynamics of [Co(acacen)(L)2](+) complexes toward the development of protein inhibitors that are activated by external triggers such as light irradiation. We sought to investigate ligand exchange dynamics to design a Co(III) complex that is substitutionally inert under normal physiological conditions for selective activation. Fluorescent imidazoles (C3Im) were prepared as axial ligands in [Co(acacen)(L)2](+) to produce complexes (CoC3Im) that could report on ligand exchange and, thus, complex stability. These fluorescent imidazole reporters guided the design of a new dinuclear Co(III) Schiff base complex containing bridging diimidazole ligands, which exhibits enhanced stability to ligand exchange with competing imidazoles and to hydrolysis within a biologically relevant pH range. These studies inform the design of biocompatible Co(III) Schiff base complexes that can be selectively activated for protein inhibition with spatial and temporal specificity.


Author(s): Urban, Thomas | Advisor(s): Giacomini, Kathleen M | Abstract: The novel organic cation transporters (OCTNs) are bifunctional and bidirectional tranporters that are highly expressed at the apical membrane in renal tubular epithelia, and are thought to contribute to both the renal salvage of nutrients and to the active tubular secretion of xenobiotics. We used a genotype-to-phenotype approach to study the importance of OCTN1 (encoded by SLC22A4) and OCTN2 (encoded by SLC22A5) in the disposition of drugs and endobiotics. Resequencing of the coding region of these genes in a large ethnically-diverse sample of human DNA revealed six amino acid-altering nucleotide substitutions in SLC22A4 and eight in SLC22A5. When expressed heterologously, several rare variants of OCTN1 (D165G, R282X) were found to result in complete loss of transport function. Rare OCTN2 variants showed functional differences from the reference protein, including reduced function (V481F) and substrate selectivity differences (Y449D). Functionally significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in OCTN1 (L503F) and OCTN2 (-207GgC and F17L) were also discovered. These common SNPs were tested for functional significance in vivo by recruiting subjects based on genotype at these positions, and testing for quantitative differences between genotype groups in the pharmacokinetics of gabapentin (an OCTN1 substrate) and carnitine (a preferred substrate of OCTN2). OCTN1 genotype was found to be a significant predictor of gabapentin renal clearance, with OCTN1 reference homozygotes showing net active secretion of gabapentin, but L503F homozygotes showing almost no active secretion of this drug. This finding adds the OCTN1-L503F polymorphism to a small list of SNPs known to influence drug disposition. OCTN genotype did not affect carnitine disposition or lipid metabolism. A meta-analysis of protein-altering variants of membrane transporters revealed that, as exemplified by the OCTNs, rare variants are more likely to affect global biochemical function; however, variants with substrate-specific effects (such as the OCTN1-L503F variant) may be relatively common. The results of this research support the hypothesis that OCTN transporters are important determinants of active drug secretion in the kidney, and that prediction of renal clearance of drugs may be improved by renal transporter genotype information. This research may help to inform future pharmacogenetic studies of the OCTN transporters, and renal drug transporters generally.


The thin‐film photovoltaic absorber Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) holds considerable promise for large scale conversion of sunlight into electricity. CZTSSe is composed of Earth‐abundant elements that exhibit low‐toxicities, but improvements in device efficiency have been hampered by difficulties in increasing open circuit voltages (VOC) due, at least in part, to disorder induced band tailing. We present a method to increase VOC through direct modification of the back contact; our approach involves the separation of fully functioning devices from their Mo/glass substrate to reveal the back CZTSSe surface. Formation of a new back contact consisting of a thermally deposited high work function material (MoO3), together with a higly reflective (Au) capping layer, creates an electrostatic field that drives electrons to the front p‐n junction and leads to a decrease in electron‐hole recombination. Model simulations indicating an increase in VOC with decreasing absorber thickness are borne out by experiments with devices of varying thicknesses (0.7–2.0 μm). We report VOC increases of up to 49 mV for a 1 μm thick absorber, with even greater increases up to 61 mV when the back CZTSSe surface is etched with bromine‐methanol.


Real-life cyber-physical systems, such as automotive vehicles, building automation systems, and groups of unmanned vehicles are monitored and controlled by networked control systems. The overall system dynamics emerges from the interaction among physical dynamics, computational dynamics, and communication networks. Network uncertainties such as time-varying delay and packet loss cause significant challenges. This paper proposes a passive control architecture for designing wireless networked control systems that are insensitive to network uncertainties. We describe the architecture for a system consisting of a robotic manipulator controlled by a digital controller over a wireless network and we show that the system is stable even in the presence of time-varying delays. We present simulation results that demonstrate the advantages of the architecture with respect to stability and performance and show that the system is insensitive to network uncertainties.


Two field experiments were conducted under field conditions under a sprinkler irrigation system in the West desert of Iraq, Al-Qaim Area, 400 km west of Baghdad. Underground water was used as a source of irrigation water to study the effect of different rates and different times of boron application on wheat cv. Ibaa99. RCBD with five treatments and three replications was used in this study. Boron dose was 2 kg/ha for soil application method and 0.30 kg/ha for foliar application method. Boron treatments were: 0 (control T1), 2 kg B ha-1 at sowing time (T2), 2 kg B ha-1 at 30 days after sowing (T3), 0.3 kg B ha-1 foliar application at 60 days after sowing (T4) and 0.3 kg B ha-1 for foliar application at 90 days after sowing (T5). Most boron treatments gave a significant increase as compared with control in morphological, physiological and productivity characters of wheat crop. The results revealed that B application treatment at 30 days after sowing time increased significantly the 1000 grains weight (17.6%) while T5 treatment increased significantly the chlorophyll content (12.41%) over control. In most cases, B application treatment at 60 days after sowing time showed the best results and increased significantly the plant height (5.24%), leaf area (9.18%), number of grains spike-1 (30.9 %), number of spike m-2 (18.8%), spike length (65.6%), Grains yield (34.6%) over control. There was evidence that the best dose of boron was 0.3 kg B ha-1 and the best time of B application to the foliage was at 60 days after sowing.


Knocks the final few nails into the coffin which contains the remains of the notion that the theory and practice of control charting depend on assumptions of normality. The subject's creator, Dr Walter Shewhart, denied this as long ago as 1939! His most famous student, Dr W. Edwards Deming, denied it repeatedly thereafter. There appear to be two most crucial arguments as to why the "orthodox" statistician claims that normality is necessary. One is to enable probability interpretations of control limits. The other is to justify the conversion factors which are in common use in control‐chart calculations. The truth is that, even under normality, the usual probability interpretations are meaningless in practice and that, in the latter case, the behaviour of the conventional conversion factors is not at all dependent on normality but is in fact very similar over a wide range of differently‐shaped probability distributions.


Previous studies have shown that indigenous beetle diversity reflects indigenous plant diversity in modified and remnant habitats. This study examines the indigenous: introduced relationship at a locality where degraded pasture has been progressively revegetated. Pitfall traps were used to collect beetles from three revegetated sites of different ages (5, 17 and 100 years) and in a coastal Muehlenbeckia habitat on Matiu-Somes Island (25 ha), Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. A total of 78 morphospecies were found over 12 months. The indigenous: introduced status of 74 species were determined; 67 were classified as 'indigenous', and 7 as 'introduced'. A positive trend was found between the proportion of ground-dwelling indigenous beetle species collected and the proportion of indigenous plant species present at a study site. As the revegetated site matured, the proportion of indigenous beetle species increased. We collected 20 (83%), 37 (88%) and 48 (92%) indigenous beetle species from the 5-year scrubland, 17-year shrubland and 100-year forest, respectively.


The ocean transports vast amounts of heat around the planet, helping to regulate regional climate. One important component of this heat transport is the movement of warm water from equatorial regions toward the poles, with colder water flowing in return. Here, we introduce a framework relating meridional heat transport to the diabatic processes of surface forcing and turbulent mixing that move heat across temperature classes. Applied to a (1/4)° global ocean model the framework highlights the role of the tropical Indo‐Pacific in the global ocean heat transport. A large fraction of the northward heat transport in the Atlantic is ultimately sourced from heat uptake in the eastern tropical Pacific. Turbulent mixing moves heat from the warm, shallow Indo‐Pacific circulation to the cold deeper‐reaching Atlantic circulation. Our results underscore a renewed focus on the tropical oceans and their role in global circulation pathways.


Due to the high attrition rates in drug discovery, the consideration of the molecular properties of screening compounds has become paramount to the pharmaceutical industry. Hence, over the past 20 years, lead- and fragment-based approaches to hit identification have been developed and refined. As guidelines for the molecular and structural properties of leads and fragments have developed, it was realised that dedicated research into the generation of 'lead-like' and 'fragment-like' compounds was needed to enhance lead-like and fragment screening libraries. This reviews details the drivers, definitions and progress in the implementation of lead- and fragment-oriented synthesis. The strategies employed, as well as the synthetic and analytical methodologies developed are outlined and discussed.


Abstract The recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) provides an enabling framework for "Renewable Energy Communities" (RECs) that is being transposed into law by the 27 European Union Member States by June 2021. RECs are majority owned by local members or shareholders who are authorized to share energy within the community, offering the potential to unlock private investment and financing for renewable energy sources and provide social benefits. However, successful implementation and a just energy transition requires the coupling of technological solutions with more open decision making, based on sound analysis, knowledge of engineering, spatial planning, and social science. We argue that financing and ownership models that address renewable energy complementarity, spatial organization of resource potential, demographics, pushback from incumbents, and inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups, are common issues across all Member States that are crucial for the transposition of RED II and a just energy transition. This paper highlights the benefits and challenges of widespread development of RECs, and using examples from the pending transposition process provides policy advice for effective implementation of the RED II with respect to RECs.


Retail sector in India is at the crossroads today. A shift between organized and unorganized retail sector is apparent, especially in the vegetable, fruits and groceries retailing zone. The channel conflict arises when the channel partners such as manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, etc compete against each other for the common sale with the same brand. The small retailers are affected by this conflict. The study was undertaken in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu with aim to assess channel conflicts from various interactions with the small store retailers. The Factor analysis is used to analyze interrelationship among a large number of variable and to variables regarding their common underlying dimensions. The result showed that, six variables under factor coercive source of power explained 67.17 per cent of total variance. Therefore six factors, using factor analysis were identified as main reasons for conflict between small retailers-vendors and small retailers-customers.


Data mining is a method to mine valuable hidden knowledge, patterns and associations from massive and sparse datasets. This process proceeds through various techniques e.g. classification, clustering and association etc. Clustering is an important data mining technique which group similar data items together in a group. In this study comparison is performed with six different clustering techniques using six different datasets. Comparison was performed on the basis of different evaluation parameters. By overall results it is concluded that k-Mean algorithm is best, simplest, produced quality clusters and has high performance amongst all other five algorithms. Performance of EM algorithm is worst amongst all other five algorithms as it took more time to produce inaccurate results. Hierarchical algorithm is best on small datasets but on huge datasets it took more time. Performance of density based Clustered and Canopy algorithm is almost same with slight difference in results. We also compared our study results with existing results and proved that proposed results are quite reasonable and accurate. Our research analysis and results make better understanding for cluster researcher to improve existing techniques and also to analyze more techniques and to propose a new clustering technique.


Soil microorganisms play a leading role in the formation of the nutrient regime of the soil, which determines the level of future crop harvest. A complex system of soil-plant-microorganisms is formed, with the participation of which the creation and decomposition of organic matter, the circulation of substances in nature, the preservation of fertility and the creation of an optimal level of nutrients supply. The number of amonifiers in the rhizosphere of cereals changes under the influence of the plant species. The smallest number of amonifiers was noted in the rhizosphere of the Zorya Ukraine — 183.3  28,52, in the rhizosphere of Kernza® and Khors — 202,6  68,0 and 202,2  66,4, respectively, which exceeded the spelt indicator by 10,3–10,5 %. There were 47,5–48,0 103 CFU/g soil of nitrifiers in the soil of the fallow, Khors and Kernza®, in the Zorya Ukraine — 46,0 103 CFU/g soil due to higher aeration and low soil moisture. The difference between the data on cellulolytic microorganisms of the spelе rhizosphere and wheatgrass hybrids was 6,8–9,2 %. The biological activity of the soil is one of the most important indicators of its fertility and cultivation. The most informative indicator is the level of СО2 emission, On the variant the fallow is — 0,39 mg / dm2 per hour, in other variants 0,26–0,34 mg/dm2 per hour. Cultivation of spelt without fertilization leads decrease intensity of carbon release in the 1,5. The cultivation of perennial cereal crops allows maintaining this indicator at a higher level. The intensity of fiber decomposition in the soil of fallow and wheat-wheatgrass hybrids was 66–69 %, and with spelt — 58 %. The amonification capacity in the Zarya Ukrainy variant — 7 mg N-NH4/kg of soil, and with wheat-wheatgrass hybrids at the fallow level — 8–9 mg N-NH4/kg of soil. The same trend persisted with ratio to the opposite process — nitrification. The results of microbiological analysis of the soil selected for different grain crops indicate that the root exudates of plants create favorable conditions for the vital activity of microorganisms. Comparison of the state of populations from agricultural areas with the microbiota of the biocenosis indicates the importance of including perennial grain crops in the crop rotation, which will increase the number of microorganisms in the rhizosphere and improve the conditions for the passage of soil-forming processes.


AIMS
Multimorbidity is common, yet there are major gaps in research, particularly among younger and indigenous populations. This research aimed to understand patients' perspectives of living with multimorbidity.

METHODS
A qualitative study of 61 people living with multimorbidity, 27 of whom were Māori and a third aged under 65, from urban and rural regions in New Zealand. Six focus groups and 14 interviews were conducted, recorded, transcribed and analysed.

RESULTS
For many participants, living with multimorbidity disrupted their 'normal' lives, posing challenges in everyday activities such as eating and toileting, working and managing medications. Dealing with the health system posed challenges such as accessing appointments and having enough time in consultations. Cultural competency, good communication and continuity of care from healthcare providers were all valued. Participants had many recommendations to improve management, including a professional single point of contact to coordinate all specialist care.

CONCLUSIONS
Living with multimorbidity is often challenging requiring people to manage their conditions while continuing to live their lives. This research suggests changes are needed in the health system in New Zealand and elsewhere to better manage multimorbidity thus improving patient's lives and reducing costs to the health sector and wider society.


Retreat of the grounding lines of West Antarctic ice streams may lead to the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Pine Island Glacier has been pinpointed as an ice stream in which rapid retreat is likely, especially as it is not buttressed by an ice shelf. Radio echo-sounding flights have produced a longitudinal thickness profile for the glacier. The ice presently rests on a bedrock sill which may play a crucial role in controlling the position of the grounding line. The profile can be fitted to a steadystate model but this alone is not adequate to determine steadyor non-steady-state behaviour. Landsat images show that the ice front undergoes periodic calving. Mass-balance calculations suggest that accumulation in the catchment may exceed ablation by a factor of 2. However, accumulation data are poor and there is no firm evidence of a build-up of ice within the Pine Island Glacier drainage basin.


In this article, we present Bio-GO-SHIP, a new ocean observing program that will incorporate sustained and consistent global biological ocean observations into the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP). The goal of Bio-GO-SHIP is to produce systematic and consistent biological observations during global ocean repeat hydrographic surveys, with a particular focus on the planktonic ecosystem. Ocean plankton are an essential component of the earth climate system, form the base of the oceanic food web and thereby play an important role in influencing food security and contributing to the Blue Economy. Despite its importance, ocean biology is largely under-sampled in time and space compared to physical and chemical properties. This lack of information hampers our ability to understand the role of plankton in regulating biogeochemical processes and fueling higher trophic levels, now and in future ocean conditions. Traditionally, many of the methods used to quantify biological and ecosystem essential ocean variables (EOVs), measures that provide valuable information on the ecosystem, have been expensive and labor- and time-intensive, limiting their large-scale deployment. In the last two decades, new technologies have been developed and matured, making it possible to greatly expand our biological ocean observing capacity. These technologies, including cell imaging, bio-optical sensors and 'omic tools, can be combined to provide overlapping measurements of key biological and ecosystem EOVs. New developments in data management and open sharing can facilitate meaningful synthesis and integration with concurrent physical and chemical data. Here we outline how Bio-GO-SHIP leverages these technological advances to greatly expand our knowledge and understanding of the constituents and function of the global ocean plankton ecosystem.


ABSTRACT FT-NIR (Fourier Transform-Near Infrared) spectroscopy has been used for the prediction of properties of various materials. Olive oil solid waste compost (OSWC) can be a good and available source for soil organic matter in Mediterranean countries. This study was aimed at developing a fast and nondestructive method for determining compost carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio, total nitrogen (TN), inorganic nitrogen, total carbon (C), pH and electrical conductivity (EC) using FT-NIR spectroscopy. Composts were sampled weekly and some chemical analyses were performed on the samples using standard methods. Also, reflectance spectra of the same compost were acquired using FT-NIR spectroscopy right after the standard measurements. Organic matter functional groups of OSW and OSWC were compared using 13C-NMR spectroscopy. Calibration models between the standard measurements and the spectral measurements performed on samples were established applying Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. According to prediction models following determination coefficients (R2) of 0.86, 0.82, 0.81, 0.77, 0.75, 0.65 and 0.51 were obtained respectively for nitrate (NO−3), pH, ammonium (NH+4), total N, C/N ratio, total C and EC. With this study, it was shown that FT-NIR spectroscopy has the potential of sensing OSWC parameters nondestructively.