A retrospective study of the patients admitted during the last 8 years with status asthmaticus is reported. We compare the requirement of mechanical ventilation with the beta-agonist therapy received and the type of asthma. About 71 patients admitted, 67% were IgE dependent asthmatic (EDA) children and 31% no-IgE dependent asthmatic (nEDA) ones. They needed intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) in 20 instances; no difference was found between both types of asthma. We studied the ventilatory parameters used. The 33% of EDA children was treated using a continuous IV infusion of hexoprenalina, requiring IPPV in 5 (31%) of them. The rest received a continuous IV of isoproterenol, and only the 16% required IPPV. We found isoproterenol to be more effective than hexoprenalina in the treatment of status asthmaticus. Similar results were obtained with the nEDA group. The Downes score was showed to be a good predictor-index scoring system in many cases.


This research paper presents a software architecture based on services and deployed in a cloud environment that retrieves, analyzes and presents information collected from a closed eLearning environment like the Virtual Worlds. This software architecture is able to gather the user interaction in the digital platform, organize the interaction data and to perform measurements, estimates and basic analysis of the data, in order to give information to the managers and teachers about usage indicators and the resolution degree of the goals that students need to achieve in these scenarios and learning systems. To test this idea, the paper describe the application of the analytics layer of this software architecture on a real case, so it is possible to understand how can help this kind of architectures in the detection of the achievement of the learning goals or in the knowledge discover about users usage within the learning environment.


The financial institutions face risk daily regarding disposition of liquid resources to meet the request from customers, such conflicts found in the information systems potential tools for right decisions. This work present the software architectural design and implementation of information system called Liquidity Risk Management (LRM) helping the collection measures of information in real time for proper risk liquidity management in financial institutions. The paper presents and describe the system architectural components, its functionalities and the implementation of different methods for risk value in a portfolio formed by four portfolios.


The application of expert systems has emerged as a cost efficient tool in civil engineering over the past decades. Use of these tools for decision making in land use will be outlined in this paper. In this study, soil-structure interaction (SSI) is discussed by using expert systems, namely, neural network (NN) approaches. This method provides a new point of view for evaluations of SSI and land use. Data from 58 local sites in California, namely, earthquake, structure, and soil property data, are used. In the expert system approach, two NN architectures are used: the back propagation NN architecture and the general regression NN (GRNN) architecture. There are 21 parameters considered as input and 4 output parameters. The four output parameters chosen are soil-to-structure rigidity ratio, period lengthening, foundation damping, and whether SSI effects can be neglected or not. The results show that the GRNN approaches are more useful and powerful for evaluation of SSI and land use.


roots 4_2009 _In his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, business guru Peter Drucker stated that a new technology is not widely taken up by users unless it provides a 10x improvement over their current methods of work. This is certainly true in dentistry. Incorporating a new concept, technique, or instrument into a fully scheduled day is a huge stressor. It also entails significant training costs for the dentist and staff, as well as high costs for the new inventory needed. Because of this, the most financially successful dentists watch carefully for the point in time at which the benefits of the new technology outstrip the costs of taking it on. Only early adopters, who are driven by wanting to be on the cutting edge of technology, will jump in sooner.


Despite remarkable advances in diagnosis and therapy, ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries. Recent efforts to estimate the influence of genetic variation on IHD risk have focused on predicting individual plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration. Plasma HDL-C concentration (mg/dl), a quantitative risk factor for IHD, has a complex multifactorial etiology that involves the actions of many genes. Single gene variations may be necessary but are not individually sufficient to predict a statistically significant increase in risk of disease. The complexity of phenotype-genotype-environment relationships involved in determining plasma HDL-C concentration has challenged commonly held assumptions about genetic causation and has led to the question of which combination of variations, in which subset of genes, in which environmental strata of a particular population significantly improves our ability to predict high or low risk phenotypes. We document the limitations of inferences from genetic research based on commonly accepted biological models, consider how evidence for real-world dynamical interactions between HDL-C determinants challenges the simplifying assumptions implicit in traditional linear statistical genetic models, and conclude by considering research options for evaluating the utility of genetic information in predicting traits with complex etiologies.


Composition of wheat by-products used as feed stuffs in Costa Rica. This study was conducted to estimate the nutritional content and their variability of different wheat and bakery by products used as feedstuffs in Costa Rica. Wheat shorts, middlings and brand were studied as well as cookies, crackers and bread. Results clearly indicated that wheat shorts had the highest nutritional value, due to its low fiber and ashes content as well as its high protein, non structural carbohydrates and energy values. Wheat shorts protein levels, NDF, NSC and DE for swine were 79.4;29.7; 45.7% and 3.570 Kcal/kg; for wheat brand values were 18.6; 49.7;24.0% and 2.878 Kcal/kg respectively. Bakery by products (crackers and cookies) showed the highest content of nutrients with high fat levels, NSC and DE for swine (13.1; 77.66% and 4.454 Kcal/kg). The greatest variability in the nutrients content was observed in the ether extracts of the bakery by products. Therefore, it was concluded that all these materials are good nutrient sources for swine, but fiber, fat and energy could vary, indicating that quality control of them should be carefully monitored.


Coinduction is a proof rule. It is the dual of induction. It allows reasoning about non--well--founded structures such as lazy lists or streams and is of particular use for reasoning about equivalences. A central difficulty in the automation of coinductive proof is the choice of a relation (called a bisimulation).

We present an automation of coinductive theorem proving. This automation is based on the idea of proof planning. Proof planning constructs the higher level steps in a proof, using knowledge of the general structure of a family of proofs and exploiting this knowledge to control the proof search. Part of proof planning involves the use of failure information to modify the plan by the use of a proof critic which exploits the information gained from the failed proof attempt.

Our approach to the problem was to develop a strategy that makes an initial simple guess at a bisimulation and then uses generalisation techniques, motivated by a critic, to refine this guess, so that a larger class of coinductive problems can be automatically verified.

The implementation of this strategy has focused on the use of coinduction to prove the equivalence of programs in a small lazy functional language which is similar to Haskell.

We have developed a proof plan for coinduction and a critic associated with this proof plan. These have been implemented in CoClam, an extended version of Clam with encouraging results. The planner has been successfully tested on a number of theorems.


Veligers spawned by adults collected from 3 different populations (Georges Bank, Passamaquoddy Bay and Mahone Bay, all on the northeastern coast of North America) of giant scallops Placopecten nlagellanicus were maintained for 2 mo in replicated, 9.5 m deep, polyethylene mesocosms with a 1.5"C thermal gradient at mid-depth and a 12/12 photoperiod. The populations came from varied hydrographic regimes that might require vel~gers to have different vertical migration patterns if they are to be in an appropriate area for settlement when they reach competency. Veligers from all population~ were found in shallower depths at night than during the day, developed strong bio-convective cells when numbers were high at the surface and were seldom found below the thermocline until about 21 d after spawning. Under similar conditions, veligers from the 3 populations exhibited significantly different vertical migration patterns and depth distributions. These patterns of vertical distribution are unlikely to be due to differences in buoyancy, growth rate, food density, settlement preference or mesocosm effect, and they differ substantially from patterns of mussel veligers raised according to the same protocol. Such differences may reflect selection for different behaviors in different populations, arguing for an active and genetically controlled component to vertical movements of scallop veligers. The observed patterns of vertical distribution could produce marked differences in horizontal transport in the various physical regimes; increased self-recruitment seems the most likely explanation for the intense selection required to fix such behavior in populat~ons.


Inferential models have long been used to determine pollutant dry deposition to ecosystems from measurements of air concentrations and as part of national and regional atmospheric chemistry and transport models, and yet models still suffer very large uncertainties. An inferential network of 55 sites throughout Europe for atmospheric reactive nitrogen (N-r) was established in 2007, providing ambient concentrations of gaseous NH3, NO2, HNO3 and HONO and aerosol NH4+ and NO3- as part of the NitroEurope Integrated Project. Network results providing modelled inorganic Nr dry deposition to the 55 monitoring sites are presented, using four existing dry deposition routines, revealing inter-model differences and providing ensemble average deposition estimates. Dry deposition is generally largest over forests in regions with large ambient NH3 concentrations, exceeding 30-40 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1) over parts of the Netherlands and Belgium, while some remote forests in Scandinavia receive less than 2 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1). Turbulent Nr deposition to short vegetation ecosystems is generally smaller than to forests due to reduced turbulent exchange, but also because NH3 inputs to fertilised, agricultural systems are limited by the presence of a substantial NH3 source in the vegetation, leading to periods of emission as well as deposition. Differences between models reach a factor 2-3 and are often greater than differences between monitoring sites. For soluble Nr gases such as NH3 and HNO3, the non-stomatal pathways are responsible for most of the annual uptake over many surfaces, especially the non-agricultural land uses, but parameterisations of the sink strength vary considerably among models. For aerosol NH4+ and NO3-, discrepancies between theoretical models and field flux measurements lead to much uncertainty in dry deposition rates for fine particles (0.1-0.5 mu m). The validation of inferential models at the ecosystem scale is best achieved by comparison with direct long-term micrometeorological Nr flux measurements, but too few such datasets are available, especially for HNO3 and aerosol NH4+ and NO3-.


ABSTRACT This review study synthesises 28 empirical research articles emphasising the learning of morality aspects in the context of addressing socioscientific issues (SSI) in secondary science education. The key interrelated questions we seek to address in this study are how morality is conceptualised in the science classroom in the light of emerging sustainability issues and how it can be developed. We used the Four Component Model of Morality to create a knowledge base for how morality has been conceptualised in the literature on secondary science education and how it can be developed. The findings of this review study show that not all studies have used concrete, explicit conceptualisations of morality and that the role of sense of place and the situatedness of morality have often been neglected. It also emerged that studies focusing on students' moral character and action-taking were underrepresented. We recommend that further research be carried out on the interrelationships between moral character and enacted moral reasoning. The review also reveals a gap between morality research and teaching. Based on the outcomes of this review, we propose a set of recommendations aimed at guiding and encouraging students' morality within secondary science education.


Counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine is a very special strategy in the art of war, which involves significantly different tactics than does conventional warfare. U.S. doctrine for combat against insurgents has gone through several changes, the most dramatic of which occurred after 9/11, when the U.S. military faced a new kind of enemy: a global network of fighters, often described as a "global insurgency." This paper traces the genesis and further development of modern U.S. COIN doctrine. It asks two main questions: How has U.S. COIN doctrine changed after the 9/11 attack? How have its methods, organization and execution changed during the War on Terror? The author assumes that the driving force behind the development of U.S. COIN doctrine is an inter-subjective interpretation of the enemy, the threats and the situation on the battlefield, which can be described as a "strategic culture." This article uses strategic culture to analyze the genesis and development of modern U.S. COIN doctrine. It also traces the changes in military tactics, strategic priorities and operational procedures that have occurred since 9/11. The author suggests that there have been three phases in the development of U.S. COIN doctrine during the War on Terror: Shock and Awe, Population-centric COIN and Targeted COIN. These phases reveal how the U.S. military has reacted to the emerging challenges it faces. Keywords: United States; counterinsurgency; strategic culture; War on Terror; Afghanistan; Iraq DOI: 10.14712/23363231.2017.18


Purpose The oncofertility decision tree was developed by the oncofertility consortium as a tool to support healthcare professionals and patients through the complicated process of deciding the most appropriate fertility preservation strategy for patients with cancer. Various strategies include oocyte retrieval, oocyte donation, use of a gestational carrier and adoption. However, differences in the cultural and legal landscape present serious barriers to utilizing some of these strategies in Japan. Patients and Methods We surveyed Japanese oncofertility stakeholders including 60 cancer survivors, 27 oncology facilities, 78 reproductive medicine facilities and 15 adoption agencies by a questionnaire to characterize awareness among oncofertility stakeholders in Japan about parenting options including adoption to inform work to establish guidelines for decision-making by cancer survivors in an oncofertility. Results Our results indicate that oncologists and reproductive endocrinologists in Japan have an insufficient understanding of adoption that prevents them from adequately informing their patients. Japanese cancer survivors self-describe a lack in confidence in finding a suitable partner and raising a child. Contrastingly, of the 9 adoption agencies which responded, no agency included being a cancer survivor as a criterion for disqualification and 4 of 9 (44%) adoption agencies reported at least 1 adoption to a cancer survivor in the last year. Conclusion Our work demonstrates that a cancer survivor's medical history itself is not a hurdle to adoption and investment in patient-provider education could be a viable strategy to improve the utilization of adoption as a fertility preservation strategy in Japan.


Based on the Al-O-N phase stable diagram and adopting inverse reaction sintering process, corundum-silicon nitride composite refractories were prepared using corundum, silicon nitride, clay and aluminium powder as the main starting materials. The specimens were sintered at 1600 for 3 hours under air atmosphere with different oxygen partial pressure obtained by addition of different amount of aluminium powder. The effects of aluminium powder additions(0, 4wt.%, 8 wt.% and 12 wt.% respectively) on the hot modulus of rupture were investigated .The phase composition and microstructure were tested by means of XRD, SEM and EDAS.The results showed that aluminium would be oxidized, nitrided and displaced as aluminium powder increased during sintering, which reduced the oxygen partial pressure in the specimen. The hot modulus of rupture (HMOR) increased considerably due to large amounts of fibrous sialon formed.


This study expands and modifies the homotopy analysis method to handle differential equations with generalized Caputo-type fractional derivatives. Analytical approximate solutions for such models were successfully provided using the proposed modification. The determination of the valid region of convergence for the proposed method, with respect to the auxiliary control parameter, was discussed when using fractional operators. Then, mainly, the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method was verified through illustrative examples and comparisons with the predictor corrector method and RK4 method. Finally, it is expected that the studied generalized operators and the suggested method can be widely applied in the field of fractional calculus.


In teacher training seems to be a gap between teacher training and practice (Scheeler, 2008). According to Scheeler (2008) this way teachers, who just start work have a limited repertoire of teaching strategies. They have difficulties transferring the obtained teaching techniques into the real classroom and they find it hard to maintain the learned teaching skills and teaching techniques over time (Freiberg, 2002; Scheeler, 2008). Beginning teachers feel not adequately prepared when they start teaching in the real classroom (M.A. van Oudheusden, personal communication, February 26, 2014). Therefore Windesheim University wonders if a simulation can contribute to reduce the gap between teacher training and practice. The selected context for this study is the teacher training institute of Windesheim University in Zwolle. This study is a part of a small scale project at the teacher training institute of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The goal of this study is to identify the content and pedagogical characteristics of a simulation that contribute to the acquisition of the necessary competences need to create a positive and effective learning environment in the classroom.
 The method used for this study is the analysis phase of Educational Design Research. The analysis phase consists of three activities, (1) initial orientation, (2) literature review, and (3) field-based investigation (McKenney & Reeves, 2012). In the initial orientation the problem statement is described. After that, the conceptual framework is described, in which the concepts are explained. The last activity, field-based investigation, consists of a document analysis, focus groups, questionnaire and observations.
 The results show that student teachers have several problems with the six research-based elements of Marzano, Marzano and Pickering (2003), (1) rules, expectations and procedures, (2) disciplinary interventions, (3) teacher-student relationship, (4) mental set, (5) student's responsibility for management, and (6) getting off to a good start. The results showed that student teachers experience less or no difficulties with building up positive teacher-student relationship, with the other five research-based elements they experience more problems. Student teachers and university teachers indicated a few similarities in problems looking at the other research-based elements, such as problems with the consequences of the rules, problems with the pace and alignment, problems with giving positive and negative feedback, problems with giving space to pupils and problems with relying on the power of the pupils. When looking at the needs, the most student teachers and university teachers found that, the teacher education pays sufficient attention to all these points, a few needs are appointed. The PBS approach can be used as a possible framework to overcome these problems. All the PBS-principles could be related to all seven competences of the teacher training institute. To practice solving these problems, a simulation could be developed. The conclusion shows that a simulation could be developed for student teachers to be used during teaching training, taking several content characteristics into account, to respond to the advantages, disadvantages and to connect to the problems and needs of the student teachers and the university teachers. A simulation should be, (1) personalized, (2) motivating, (3) resembling reality, (4) approaching the complexity of the reality of the classroom, (5) cooperation, (6) reflection, (7) levels and, (8) based on a blended learning model. The PBS framework can be used as guiding principles for learning the research-based elements in the simulation, i.c. the pedagogical characteristics.


In conditions of complex food-acquisition behaviour of rabbits, a study was made of the influence of microiontophoretically administered acetylcholine and L-glutamate, putative mediators, on the activity of single cortical neurons. It was found that the drugs changed the total frequency of neurons firing and their activations, related to certain behavioral acts, components of the complex behaviour. They did not change the pattern of neuron spike activity within the limits of the entire food-acquisition behaviour. On the basis of these facts and published data on the influence of microiontophoretically administered acetylcholine and L-glutamate on neuronal metabolism, it is suggested that the hierarchic organization of behaviour is reflected in the organization of metabolic processes in cortical neurons.


In this paper the microstructure evolution of AZ91HP magnesium alloy casts produced under different disturbing treatment conditions such as non-disturbing, argon blowing and mechanical stirring in semi-solid state after holding a short time was studied. The results show that the grains of AZ91HP alloy casts refined, the secondary dendritic arms grown and the dendrites tend to rosette shape with the decrease of holding temperature. External disturbance can accelerate the evolution process, and the spherical primary α phase formed easily under mechanical stirring treatment condition. The formation of non-dendritic structure is owing to ripening of the dendritic arms, refinement of the grains and movement of the primary formed solid phases. Disturbing treatments in semi-solid state induce more equilibrium solidification and decrease the amount of brittle β-Mg17Al12 phase. Blowing argon into the refined and modified magnesium alloy in semi-solid state can obtain homogeneous non-dendritic structure and the net shaped β phase distributed on α-Mg phase boundaries become fine and thin, this may be have a good effect on the mechanical properties of the magnesium alloy casts. Due to the low disturbing strength, argon blowing can maintain the metallurgy quality of the semi-solid slurry well, and also have high efficiency to make it. This technology need not new complex equipments and can be practiced in conventional casting conditions, so it may be used in industrialize manufacture.


In this paper I argue that there exist conventions of a peculiar sort which are neither norms nor regularities of behaviour, partaking of both. I proceed as follows. After a brief analysis of the meaning of 'convention', I give some examples of the kind of phenomena I have in mind: bodily skills, know-how, taste and style, habitus (P. Bourdieu), "disciplines" (M. Foucault). Then I group some arguments supporting my claim: (i) considerations about the identity conditions of precedents (D. Lewis) and about the projectibility of predicates in inductive inference generally (N. Goodman); (ii) thoughts about rule-following (L. Wittgenstein); (iii) an examination of some of J. R. Searle's ideas about the "Background" of intentionality. I conclude with some remarks about the time-honoured antithesis 'nature' v. 'convention'.  The Italian original of this text was published in: Ragion Pratica (2014) 2: 605–632.


OBJECTIVES
This study investigated whether and to what extent constructs of the protection motivation theory of health (PMT)-threat appraisal (perceived vulnerability/severity) and coping appraisal (response efficacy and self-efficacy)-are related to telehealth engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these associations differ by race/ethnicity among middle-aged and older Americans.

METHODS
Data were from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study. Multivariable ordinary least-squares regression analyses were computed adjusting for health and sociodemographic factors.

RESULTS
Some PMT constructs are useful in understanding telehealth uptake. Perceived vulnerability/severity, particularly comorbidity (b = 0.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.11, 0.15], p < 0.001), and response efficacy, particularly participation in communication via social media (b = 0.24, 95% CI [0.21, 0.27], p < 0.001), were significantly and positively associated with higher telehealth uptake during the COVID-19 pandemic among middle-aged and older Americans. Non-Hispanic Black adults were more likely to engage in telehealth during the pandemic than their non-Hispanic White counterparts (b = 0.20, 95% CI [0.12, 0.28], p < 0.001). Multiple moderation analyses revealed the significant association between comorbidity and telehealth uptake was similar across racial/ethnic groups, whereas the significant association between social media communication and telehealth uptake varied by race/ethnicity. Specifically, the association was significantly less pronounced for Hispanic adults (b = -0.11, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.04], p < 0.01) and non-Hispanic Asian/other races adults (b = -0.13, 95% CI [-0.26, -0.01], p < 0.05) than it was for their non-Hispanic White counterparts.

CONCLUSION
Results suggest the potential of using social media and telehealth to narrow health disparities, particularly serving as a bridge for members of underserved communities to telehealth uptake.


The time dependence of the spatial coherence of the combined spectral lines at 23.2 and 23.6 nm from the Ge xxiii collisionally pumped soft-x-ray laser with a double-slab target is examined within a single nanosecond pulse by use of Young's interference fringes and a streak camera. High source intensity is linked with low spatial coherence and vice versa. Calculations of the source intensity, size, and position have also been made; these calculations refer to a single-slab source. Comparison between the observed and calculated intensities, and of the source sizes both calculated and derived from the Young's fringes by interpretation with a Gaussian model of source emission, show good agreement in general trends.


IntroductionThe safe, effective, and efficient use of pharmaceutical health services is a critical area of public health and social policy. Implementation and monitoring studies often use single data sources but require diverse data elements pertaining to patients and health services. Linking multiple data sources may enable more comprehensive studies.
Objectives and ApproachThe objective of this presentation is to describe three applied pharmaceutical health services projects in the United States that use data linkage to support program monitoring. A conceptual model was defined including the following key domains: (1) contextual determinants; (2) pharmacy service availability and coverage by payers; (3) receipt/use of services by patients; and (4) outcomes such as clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and healthcare costs. Applied studies were selected to illustrate data linkage across different domains. For each study, we present the data sources used and the domains addressed by each data source. We also describe the linkage process.
ResultsStudy 1 assesses distance between patients and pharmacies in-network for health plans. It determined pharmacy address and patient ZIP code using several Medicare datasets and calculated driving distance using geocoding software.
Study 2 measures if patients targeted for services receive an intervention designed to prevent adverse drug events and improve patient health outcomes while reducing healthcare costs. Targeted beneficiaries are determined using Medicare administrative data and delivery of services is assessed based on a custom-developed encounter data set, linked by beneficiary.
Study 3 examines the association between prescription drug formulary design, medication use, and cost and health outcomes. For this, formulary data are obtained from a commercial source and utilization/outcomes data from commercial claims data. These datasets are linked by payer.
Conclusion/ImplicationsMany data sources are available for pharmaceutical health services research studies and linkage can be made at the patient, region, or payer level to support program monitoring and evaluation. Data linkage enables the inclusion of multiple domains, although multiple linkages and/or custom data may be needed for more complex studies.


The CEA R&D program on SFRs includes the study of reactor behavior during accidental transients possibly leading to sodium boiling, such as an unprotected loss of flow. To that end, two existing CEA thermal hydraulic codes are being extended to model two-phase sodium flows: CATHARE (system dynamics) and Trio_U MC (subchannel). In the case of the 6-equations CATHARE code, the applicability of its current closure laws to two-phase sodium flow must be evaluated; for the 3-equations MC code, new numerical methods are needed as well. This paper reports simulations with these codes of the GR19 sodium boiling experiments done at CEA Grenoble in the 80's. Simulations of boiling test on this 19-pin out-of-pile mock-up were undertaken in order to provide a preliminary validation of the two codes and to guide future code improvements. The results presented here show that CATHARE can achieve good agreement with the experimental data: however, some closure laws (especially for heat transfer) will still have to be revised to better fit sodium boiling physics. Meanwhile, Trio_U MC is capable of predicting correctly the occurrence and extension of local boiling in boiling steady states: however, further improvements will be needed to correctly model unstable and transient boiling. .


To be able to survive, Helicobacter pylori must adhere to the gastric epithelial cells of its human host. For this purpose, the bacterium employs an array of adhesins, for example, AlpA. The adhesin AlpA has been proposed as a major adhesin because of its critical role in human stomach colonization. Therefore, understanding how AlpA evolved could be important for the development of new diagnostic strategies. However, the genetic variation and microevolutionary patterns of alpA have not been described in Colombia. The study aim was to describe the variation patterns and microevolutionary process of alpA in Colombian clinical isolates of H. pylori. The existing polymorphisms, which are deviations from the neutral model of molecular evolution, and the genetic differentiation of the alpA gene from Colombian clinical isolates of H. pylori were determined. The analysis shows that gene conversion and purifying selection have shaped the evolution of three different variants of alpA in Colombia.


The use of an organic solvent-based gel prepared from polyethylene oxide and a polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel for protein crystallization was investigated. The preparation, properties and application of the gels for protein crystallization are described, and the advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed. The gels are compared with agar, which is a popular aqueous gel used for protein crystallization. The growth behaviour and diffraction quality of crystals prepared in these gel media were evaluated for two model soluble proteins, thaumatin and lysozyme, and for two bacterial membrane proteins, TolC and AcrB.


Laboratory confirmation of infection is an essential component of measles surveillance. Detection of measles specific IgM in serum by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the most used method for confirming measles infection. ELISA formats vary as does the sensitivity and specificity of each assay. Specimens collected within 3 days of rash onset can yield a false negative result, which can delay confirmation of measles cases. Interfering substances can yield a false positive result, leading to unnecessary public health interventions. The IgM capture assay developed at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was compared against 5 commercially available ELISA kits for the ability to detect measles virus-specific IgM in a panel of 90 well-characterized specimens. Serum samples were tested in triplicate using each commercial kit as recommended by the manufacturer. Using the CDC measles IgM capture assay as the reference test; sensitivity and specificity for the commercial kits ranged from 50 to 83% and 86.9 to 98%, respectively. Discrepant results were observed for samples tested with all five commercial kits and ranged from 13.8 to 28.8% of the specimens tested. False positive results occurred in 2.0 to 13.1% of sera while negative results were observed in 16.7 to 50% of sera that were positive by the CDC measles IgM capture assay. Evaluation and interpretation of measles IgM serologic results can be complex, particularly in measles elimination settings. The performance characteristics of a measles IgM assay should be carefully considered when selecting an assay to achieve high quality measles surveillance.


The mechanism that produces tinnitus remains poorly understood. This article reviews possible mechanisms of tinnitus. The evaluation of the structure of disease in the presence of hearing reduction was studied among 2820 patients who applied for otolaryngological aid. Sensor neural deafness of different genesis was revealed in 512 cases. Apart from deafness, earlier manifesting symptom of the disease was pathological noise in the ear leading to anxiety of patients. Audiological characters and course of disease under the influence of symptomatic complex therapy has been studied. The author has detected /discovered/ present mechanism of beginning of the noise in the ear real reason of which is ischemia of cochlear apparatus in the presence of sensor neural loss of hearing, necessity of carrying out therapy as well and searching other methods of.


A domino wave is a well-known illustration of a transition wave, which appears to reach a stable regime of propagation. Nature also provides spectacular cases of gravity driven transition waves at large scale, observed in snow avalanches and landslides. On a different scale, the micro-structure level interaction between different constituents of the macro-system may influence critical regimes leading to instabilities in avalanche-like flow systems. Most transition waves observed in systems such as bulletproof vests, racing helmets under impact, shock-wave driven fracture in solids, are transient. For some structured waveguides a transition wave may stabilize to achieve a steady regime. Here we show that the failure of a long bridge is also driven by a transition wave that may allow for steady-state regimes. The recent observation of a failure of the San Saba Bridge in Texas provides experimental evidence supporting an elegant theory based on the notion of transition failure wave. No one would think of an analogy between a snow avalanche and a collapsing bridge. Despite an apparent controversy of such a comparison, these two phenomena can both be described in the framework of a model of the dynamic gravity driven transition fault.


Some theorists propose that systems of law largely arise spontaneously, as an extension of customary rules. At most, the role of the state is to endorse customarylaws and add some minimal general rules. Some see no essential difference between custom and law. By contrast, this paper argues that law has properties that cannot be reduced to custom or private ordering alone. Customary mechanisms are insufficient to explain adherence to complex systems of law. Furthermore, law proper arose when customs were violated and some higher adjudication was required. We require an explanation of how a system of complex legal rules may be enforced, and why people often obey laws in the absence of obvious incentives or disincentives. Laws and their enforcement depend on stratified social structures within the framework of the state.


The Horn of Africa is a term given to the geographic map in the North East part of the African continent. The region connects Africa to the outside world like the Middle East, Europe and Asia that indicates its geopolitical significance. Despite its geopolitical significance, the region remains one of the most unstable, underdeveloped and security wise volatile than any other region of Africa. These multiple challenges and interlinkages affect not only the region but also the international community in a variety of its forms; like the increased rate of piracy, terrorism, transfer of arms and light weapons, black marketing, and influx of refugee crises are few cases to mention. This calls for the involvement of responsible big powers. Currently, various powers are engaged in the promotion of peace and security in the region, of which China is one. In lieu of this, then, the objective of the paper is to identify and describe the areas where China is contributing its part in addressing regional disruption. Hence, the study has identified China's contribution as plausible in the fight against piracy in the coastal areas of Somalia, peace keeping mission and post conflict peace building in Somalia, and mediating peace process in Sudan and South Sudan. Yet its predicament is found to be its inability to help pressure groups and civil society organization in their effort for same effect. Hence, it is recommended that China need to device ways in how manner best to work with nongovernmental institutions in ameliorating regional disruption.

 Key words: Peace and security, big power responsibility, peacekeeping, pirates.


NEMS Modeling of East Coast Offshore Wind: Examining the Assumptions The Energy Information Administration's (EIA) National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) is widely considered a credible source for domestic energy projections, and is frequently used to inform state and federal policy decisions. The model is used to publish the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO). The 2010 AEO publication suggest that offshore wind development along the eastern seaboard is predicted to grow very little over the next 25 years, yet there are currently over 2.5 GW of proposed offshore projects in this area, with interest growing steadily. This project seeks to determine whether NEMS modeling of offshore wind is based on accurate assumptions and on the current state of the industry. Key factors that shape NEMS results are examined. These factors include the shallow water offshore wind resource off the eastern seaboard, the overnight capital costs assumed by the model, and the way in which transmission and reliability costs associated with offshore wind are treated. The assumptions used by the EIA in their modeling were examined for each of these factors. Modeling scenarios were built to test the sensitivity of the results to changes in these assumptions. This method helped to identify which parameters weigh most heavily in how the model determines whether offshore wind will play a role in the near-term future of renewable energy production. Findings indicate that wind resource estimates are out-dated, but that the wind resource is not a constraint on the offshore development. Capital cost assumptions are in line with accepted industry values, and are the largest factor in how much offshore wind capacity is added over the next twentyfive years. This research suggests that capital costs must decrease by as much as 35% before offshore wind can out-compete other forms of renewable generation. Transmission and reliability cost effects are difficult to assess without more access to model data and the calculations it employs. Recommendations for improving the model include more transparency in assumptions and better documentation of model inputs and outputs.


After 2008 a lot of economists of the past made a comeback. Indeed, after this phase everybody acclaimed John Maynard Keynes's theories (1883-1946). The crisis of 2011, with strong budgetary deficits of different countries, neglected Keynes's theories, not because these ones are wrong, but only because at the moment, they are lacking in applicability. In today's world, we need pragmatism. An author, on the other hand, who should be considered to urge economy during this new crisis is Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950). The experiences examined such as those of Furpile S.p.a. and Rohan S.r.l. or those of Professor Annalisa Romani's Research Centre at the University of Florence showed how Schumpeter's theories on innovation can delineate one of the keys to resolve the crisis.


One of the most watched and a played sport is cricket, especially in South Asian countries. In cricket, umpire has the power for making significant decisions about events in the field. With the growing increase of the utilization of technology in sports, this paper presents the umpire detection and classification by proposing an optimization algorithm. The overall procedure of the proposed approach involves three steps, like segmentation, feature extraction, and the classification. At first, the video frames are extracted from input cricket video, and the segmentation is performed based on Viola-Jones algorithm. Once the segmentation is done, the feature extraction is carried out using Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG), and Fuzzy Local Gradient Patterns (Fuzzy LGP). Finally, the extracted features are given to the classification step. Here, the classification is done using the proposed Bird Swarm Optimization-based stacked auto encoder deep learning classifier (BSO-Stacked Autoencoders), that categories into umpire or others. The performance of the umpire detection and classification based on BSO-Stacked Autoencoders is evaluated based on sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. The proposed BSO-Stacked Autoencoder method achieves the maximal accuracy of 96.562%, the maximal sensitivity of 91.884%, and the maximal specificity of 99%, that indicates its superiority.


Electronic and structural properties of indole are the foundation for analyses of proteins based on the photochemistry and photophysics of the aromatic amino acid tryptophan. As the physiological importance of tryptophyl radicals and radicals of tryptophyl derivatives becomes apparent, the need for detailed information concerning indolyl radical and indolyl radical cation grows. Because of the high reactivity and very short life-span of these species, they are ideal targets for computational examination and prediction of properties to guide experimentalists. We have applied relatively new density functional based methods (SVWN, BLYP and B3LYP) to test their applicability and accuracy for this type of molecule. Although available experimental evidence for comparisons is scarce, our calculations exhibit excellent agreement with photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (p-CIDNP), time-resolved resonance Raman (TR3), and difference Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) experiments. We compare the geometries and vibrational modes of the radicals to the closed shell indole, to each other, and to available tryptophyl radical experimental information. We present the first complete set of assigned vibrational modes for indolyl radical and indolyl radical cation to further the applicability of vibrational spectroscopy for characterizing tryptophan radicals in proteins.


As a Computer Information Systems curriculum, most majors enter corporate America instead of opting for graduate school. Although they are entering industry, many of these students are not prepared for to be instantly productive in commercial software development. To address this short coming, some of the faculty at Stetson University have begun a three-prong approach to incorporate the object oriented paradigm into the undergraduate computer information systems curriculum. The three prongs are 1) the adoption of Java and the Object Oriented paradigm for the introductory courses, 2) self directed, web based courses on software engineering topics, and 3) the formation of a consulting firm to provide real world, hands-on experiences. All three components of the curriculum are needed to help the students (and faculty) to fully realize the power of the object oriented paradigm, since it's part computer programming, part software engineering, and part philosophy. The three prongs of our curriculum address the entire paradigm while providing a hands-on learning experience.


The voltage shielding capacity of a hydrofluoroether type fluid, specifically HFE7500 along with that of Parylene C based conformal surface coatings are explored. Both voltage blocking technologies demonstrated an ability to maintain good voltage blocking capacity even when exposed to field strengths as high as 16.8kV/mm in the case of the dielectric fluid and 33.5 kV/mm for 2μm-thick layers of Parylene C. To potentially improve voltage blocking characteristics while minimizing thermal resistance, this study also explores the combined voltage shielding capacity of HFE7500 coupled with thin Parylene C coatings deposited via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Breakdown tests on point-point electrodes coated with a 10μm film of this coating returned results that showed diminished breakdown voltage compared to bare electrodes. This may be attributed to several factors including the ionization of the coating that initiates breakdown at a reduced field strength.


The distribution of UV-induced DNA repair synthesis within chromatin was measured in confluent human fibroblasts that were pulse-labeled with [3H]dThd (10 or 90 min) immediately after irradiation and chased in nonradioactive medium for different time periods. Initially (i.e., at the end of the pulse period), most of the repair synthesis occurs in staphylococcal nuclease-sensitive regions. With increasing chase times the nucleotides inserted during repair synthesis become progressively more nuclease resistant. Gel electrophoresis data indicate that nuclease resistance is conferred on these nucleotides by their appearance in core DNA. The kinetics of this rearrangement process are biphasic: greater than 85% of the repair synthesis sites undergo rapid rearrangement (4--5 hr); the remaining sites ( less than 15%) rearrange much more slowly, if at all. The time courses of nucleosome rearrangement and repair synthesis are similar, suggesting that nucleosome rearrangement may be induced by the repair process or that the rate of repair synthesis may be regulated by nucleosome rearrangement.


Introduction Irritable bowel syndrome is commonly reported among university students, however few analytical based studies are available on IBS from Pakistan. We investigate the prevalence and pattern of symptoms of IBS along with anxiety among medical students of Karachi. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 360 medical students of Karachi. Data were collected using validated tool "Rome III Criteria" and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire. Diagnosis were made on the criteria that students experiencing abdominal discomfort at least 2–3 days/month, also had high level of Anxiety. Convenient sampling was done to recruit the participants after getting written informed consent. Results The prevalence of IBS was found to be 102 (28.3%) with a predominance of 87 (85.29%) in females than males 15 (14.71%). The psychological symptoms of anxiety were encountered in 57 (55.8%) participants with IBS, among which, male were 15.7% and female 84.2% respectively. Conclusion The medical students of Karachi who suffered more mental stress and anxiety resulted in a high level IBS as compared with previous study reports. There were significantly more women with IBS than men. As a consequence, key health messages and interventions to reduce stress and anxiety among students may help in curtailing the burden of this disease.


Art as a school subject embraces a broad epistemological dornain. It
is quite acceptable for an art teacher to include in a single art
curriculum - in other words, to count as 'Art' - such diverse fields as
art history and ceramics, drawing and metal casting, paper-making and
basic design, furniture design and the making of videos, conceptual
art and weaving, book-binding and body art, computer graphics and
-wood-carving, clay modelling and photography, painting and
perfonnance.
In the light of such a diverse range can it be reasonably asswned that
an art teacher teaches a single discipline? For one may deduce from
the forms listed that Art in schools may comprise not one fom of
knowledge, involving essentially one way of knowing, but that in fact
there may exist instead several forms of knowledge involved in the
subject called 'Art'. Is the art teacher therefore, not a teacher of
one subject but a teacher of many? And what are the possible
implications of the concept (and expectation) of diversity in school
Art curriculum for what a student may actually learn in, and through
the subject, including what he or she may learn about the nature and
purpose of art in society? Tb tackle these questions exclusively from the standpoint of art would
be to deny significant educational considerations, for the questions
are concerned not only with art but also with education. And
conversely, failing to explore struc~ural characteristics of art, conceding (for instance) that normative conditions in schools should
principally determine the content of art curriculum, would also be
patently inadequate, however prevalent such practice may sometimes be
in schools themselves.
The intent of this dissertation is to inquire into that apparent
morass of diverse knowledge in art - into the educational potential of
the various philosophies, ideologies, processes and techniques all of
which can, it seems, legitimately constitute the content of school art
curriculum. Behind this inquiry is a desire on the part of the writer
to simply resolve, if only for himself, a long-held problem: the
problem as to what should count as Art in schools.


In this paper, we present a novel multigrid-based technique for the problem of on-chip power-supply network optimization. The multigrid-based technique is applied to reduce a large-scale network to a much coarser one. The reduced network can be efficiently optimized. The solution for the original network is then quickly computed using a back-mapping process. Due to the adoption of an accurate resistance-inductance-capacitance power-supply network and time-varying switching-current model, our technique is capable of optimizing power grid and decoupling capacitance simultaneously. Experimental results show that large-scale power-supply networks with millions of nodes can be solved in a few minutes. The proposed technique not only speeds up significantly the optimization process, without compromising the quality of solutions, but also brings up a possibility of incorporating the power-supply network optimization into other physical design stages such as signal routing.


The secondary market for private equity has evolved significantly in recent years. Investors in secondary funds, sellers seeking early liquidity on their investments, and existing and prospective portfolio managers have all sharpened their focus on this segment of the asset class. Near-term and long-term factors are driving an everincreasing demand for liquidity from current investors—for both traditional limited partnership interests as well as "synthetic secondary" situations, involving portfolios of direct company investments. Existing buyers and new entrants are attempting to address this demand by expanding their presence in the market. However, the very inefficiencies which make the secondary market an attractive opportunity can conspire to produce uneconomic or unwise investment decisions for investors unfamiliar with its challenges, particularly in volatile financial markets and unpredictable geopolitical environments. This article discusses these challenges and opportunities.


This research aimed to correlate the sedimentary transport with the diagenetic processes in the coastal zone and Amazon Continental Shelf (ACS). Physical and physical-chemical parameters, trace element contents (Cr, Pb, Ni, Zn and Hg), and O2, CO2 and iron flux were determined in sediment and pore water. Sedimentary incubation (96 hours) and algorithms were applied to determine the variation of the activity coefficient (ΔI) and ionic strength (Fi) of the predominant chemical species, and to estimate the net production and mineralization of the organic matter (ΔCO2T) in the system. There are not many studies applying incubation tests to identify the diagenetic processes, especially in fluvial-marines sediments. The results showed a strong zonation associated to the transport and deposition processes, influenced mainly by the grain-size and texture of sediment and fluvial streams. The distribution of trace elements followed the trend of the sedimentary pattern, with higher levels of metals in the deposits of clay minerals and organic matter. A factor of weight (Fw), calculated to establish the degree of importance of each parameter under the distribution and mobility of trace elements, suggests that the mobility of Cr, Ni and Zn is controlled by depth, clay and organic compounds contents, and concentration of dissolved oxygen. The vertical flow of O2 and CO2 and the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio in the pore water suggest a predominance of organic matter oxidation in the sedimentary layer between 0.0 and 0.2 m, with partially anaerobic mineralization of the sediments below 0.4 m. Increases in trace element concentrations were observed in iron reduction zones, indicating processes of desorption of oxides and hydroxides of Fe and mineralization of organic matter. The extrapolation of the results of the incubation test to the studied system allowed to establish three hypotheses related to the diagenetic processes: 1) the flow of marine currents may be allowing the aerobic oxidation in the sandy sediments, with the nitrification route more accentuated than the ammonification route; 2) in the region of the coastal zone and inner continental shelf the routes of oxidation and reduction may be alternating according to the physical-chemical factors and seasonality; 3) in the coastal zone and inner shelf the net mineralization rate exceeded the net production rate of the organic matter (ΔCO2T >0).


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of mergers and acquisitions on stock prices carried out by publicly traded banking companies in 2015-2021. The research method used includes the type of event study research. Data obtained by conducting secondary data search. The analytical method used is a quantitative method, with the data analysis technique used is the paired sample t-test. The results showed a decrease in the average change in stock prices after the announcement of mergers and acquisitions was made. From these results, it has not shown any positive influence from mergers and acquisitions. It can be seen that between 10 days before and 10 days after the announcement of the merger, the results are 0.00000611 and – 0.00129. By using a significant level of 5%, the t-count value in the merger and acquisition is 0.561<2.110 or by looking at the probability shows that 0.562 > 0.05. Thus, there is no Significant Different between 10 days before and 10 days after the announcement of the merger ang acquisition. Suggestions that can be given are to add a longer period of research so that a larger sample allows for better results and it is necessary to consider other variables that affect stock prices, such as interest rates, inflation rates, and other macro influences, and in the end will affect research results.


Evaluating spatial and temporal variation in abundance due to anthropogenic and environmental disturbances is a central aspect of wildlife ecology and management. We conducted an experiment to evaluate the effects of salvage logging on the abundance of 22 avian species and 6 foraging guilds in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests affected by beetle outbreaks, south-central Oregon, USA, 1996–1998. Treatments consisted of the removal of lodgepole pine snags only; live trees and ponderosa pine snags were not harvested. Our hierarchical model requires replicated count data from multiple sample units across several time periods, during which the population is closed, to estimate abundance as a function of logging treatment and management district while accounting for imperfect and variable detection probability. We fit the model to point counts from 12 control and 12 treatment plots with 3 surveys during each breeding season, 1996–1998. We found evidence for a large, but imprecise, effect of salvage logging in all 3 years for only 1 species, the gray flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii). The abundance of the remaining species either did not change or displayed weak positive responses to the treatment. Although 3 foraging guilds increased in total abundance, 2 guilds did not change and the response of 1 guild changed direction in different years. Our results suggest that, unlike most postfire salvage logging prescriptions, selective harvesting after beetle outbreaks may meet multiple management objectives, including the maintenance of avian population sizes comparable to those found in unharvested stands. Future research should consider different sampling programs for those species with large home ranges (e.g., woodpeckers) that may not be sampled adequately using commonly employed programs (e.g., point count stations). © 2012 The Wildlife Society.


The integrity of integrated circuits (ICs), in particular for detecting malicious add-ons like Hardware Trojans (HTs), have been studied in several recent research papers. The main limit of the proposed techniques so far is that the bias induced by the process variations restrict their efficiency and practicality. Most of those techniques compare two ICs' signatures while trying to get rid of the process variations. In this paper we propose a novel approach which in practice eliminates this limit. We first make the assumption that IC infection is done at a lot level, which is more realistic than models where infections are done on individual circuits. We introduce a variation model for the performance of CMOS structures in real designs which are different from test chips dedicated to the measure of process variations. This model is used to create signatures of lots which are independent of the process variations and is used as a base to define methods allowing to detect HTs and counterfeits in a straightforward way. The model and the methods are validated experimentally on 30 FPGA boards.


ABSTRACT Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs aim to improve students' social-emotional competencies in order to enhance their achievement. Although SEL programs typically implement classroom curricula, some programs also include a component for parents. Yet, little is known about the types of parents likely to participate in services, and whether parent participation moderates program effects on student outcomes in low-income urban schools. This article aims to fill these gaps in the literature using data from the randomized trial of the SEL program INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament (N = 435 parent/child dyads), which was conducted in 22 low-income urban elementary schools during children's kindergarten and first-grade year. Descriptive findings revealed that children at lower risk for poor achievement had parents who were more likely to participate in program services. In addition, findings from inverse probability of treatment-weighting models demonstrated larger effects of INSIGHTS on academic, attentional, and behavioral outcomes for children whose parents participated at lower rates. Implications for prevention science and SEL program implementation and scale-up are discussed.


Most bacteria lack membrane-enclosed organelles to compartmentalize cellular processes. In lieu of physical compartments, bacterial proteins are often recruited to macromolecular scaffolds at specific subcellular locations to carry out their functions. Consequently, the ability to modulate a protein's subcellular location with high precision and speed bears the potential to manipulate its corresponding cellular functions. Here we demonstrate that the CRY2/CIB1 system from Arabidopsis thaliana can be used to rapidly direct proteins to different subcellular locations inside live E. coli cells including the nucleoid, the cell pole, membrane, and the midcell division plane. We further show that such light-induced re-localization can be used to rapidly inhibit cytokinesis in actively dividing E. coli cells. Finally, we demonstrate that the CRY2/CIBN binding kinetics can be modulated by green light, adding a new dimension of control to the system.


Besides its direct metabolic effects, insulin induces transcriptional alterations in its target tissues. However, whether such changes are accompanied by epigenetic changes on the chromatin template encompassing insulin responsive genes is unclear. Here, mRNA levels of insulin-responsive genes hexokinase 2 (Hk2), insulin receptor substrate (Irs2), and the PI3K subunit p85β (Pik3r2) were compared in control versus insulin-stimulated L6 myotubes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was performed with antibodies directed to histone H2A, histone variant H2A.Z, acetylated histone H3 on lysines 9/14, and acetylated H2A.Z. Insulin induced a more than 2-fold Hk2 mRNA increase, while Irs2 and Pik3r2 were downregulated. ChIP to H2A and H2A.Z showed higher H2A.Z accumulation around the transcriptional start site (TSS) of these insulin-modulated genes, while H2A.Z accumulation was lower distally to the TSS in the Hk2 promoter. H2A.Z levels and H3K9/14 acetylation correlated on several loci along the Hk2 gene, and H3K9/14 as well as H2A.Z acetylation was enhanced by insulin treatment. On the contrary, reduced H3K9/14 acetylation was observed in insulin-repressed Irs2 and Pik3r2, and recovery of acetylation by treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A reverted insulin-induced Irs2 downregulation. The chromatin regions encompassing selected insulin-responsive genes are thus featured by accumulation of H2A.Z around the TSS. H2A.Z accumulation facilitates insulin-dependent modulation of pharmacologically treatable H3K9/14 and H2A.Z acetylations. Indeed, inhibition of histone deacetylases by TSA treatment reverted insulin induced Irs2 gene downregulation. Dysregulated histone acetylation may thus be potentially targeted with histone deacetylase inhibitors.


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 04 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A wide range of graft transmissible pathogens (GTPs) of viral, viroid and phytoplasma etiology affect apple trees resulting in diseases with adverse effects in orchards around the globe. The significance of diseases caused by these GTPs on tree health, fruit shape and quality has resulted in the imposition of legislation based quarantine measures at both domestic and international front. Losses resulting from viruses in apple often remain unnoticed as the impact of these pathogens on productivity is evident over a period of time. Out of all the viruses infecting apple, ilarviruses infecting apple are of utmost importance because of their worldwide occurrence and latent nature in a number of hosts. Since effective management strategies largely depend on the correct identification of diseases and their etiological agents, diagnosis and detection are the most important aspects of managing viruses in an economically viable apple production system. Early detection of viruses in the propagative material is a pre-requisite for checking their effective spread and to guarantee a sustainable fruit production system. Many quarantine programs are in place to reduce intercontinental spread of viruses during international exchange of germplasm. All these phytosanitary measures are overseen by governments based on agreements produced by international organizations. Additionally, certification schemes applied to fruit trees allow the production of planting material of known variety and plant health status for local growers by controlling the propagation of pathogen-tested mother plants. They ensure to obtain propagative material not only free of quarantine organisms under the national legislation but also of important non-quarantine pathogens. Research carried out on the description of ilarviruses (the most important viruses associated with apple industry) with respect to their geographical distribution, taxonomic position, virion properties, host range, symptomatology, transmission, detection and certification schemes for the production of virus indexed elite planting material of apple has been reviewed and discussed in the preceding paragraphs. K e y w o r d s Graft transmissible pathogens (GTPs), Apple Accepted: 20 March 2018 Available Online: 10 April 2018 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(4): 2444-2462


Buildings are large consumers of energy in all countries. In regions with harsh climatic conditions, a substantial share of energy goes to heat and cool buildings. This heating and air-conditioning lost can be reduced through many means, such as the selection of the building thermal insulation materials. The proper use of thermal insulation material in buildings does not only contribute in reducing the annual energy cost but also helps in extending the periods of thermal comfort without reliance on mechanical heating and air-conditioning. Aerogel is one of the novel insulation these years, thermal conductivities of 0.04 W/mK less can be achieved using it. The paper is concerned with a review of Microporous Aerogel for building applications. And it also provides information about their performance.


By introducing the attractive dipole–dipole interaction, we provide a proposal to buffer the matter-wave soliton in a one-dimensional discrete lattice, which is divided into three parts with different local potentials produced by the external field modulation. Our study shows that, for sufficiently small initial phase tilt of the matter wave and deep enough potential well, the soliton will be trapped in the lattice. Otherwise, the soliton will propagate through the lattice. It appears that under certain conditions such a condensate system acts as a buffer, which can be used to temporarily store the matter wave. Meanwhile, in this buffer, the matter-wave soliton performs an unidirectional propagation, which makes it serve as a matter wave diode. The norm distribution in the lattice with respect to the initial phase tilt of the input wave is discussed, and it suggests there exists a critical phase tilt, below which the soliton will be trapped in the lattice.


To estimate differentiation of water chemistry in reservoirs of swimming pools port in Świnoujście, in time of 2004 - 2008. In arbitrary appointed times 5 physical and chemical indicators of water quality were determined to evaluate general status and water condition - temperature, pH, NO3-, PO43-, Ptot.. Port of Świnoujście is a sea port located on the Gulf of Pomorską, on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, on the islands of Usedom and Wolin. The Port is located at the Świna, in Świnoujście, West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The port can be placed on ships with a maximum length of 42.0 m and width 260,0 m, draught 12.8 m. The tides in the Harbor, but the water level fluctuations are possible with sudden currents entering and outgoing, which depending on the direction of prevailing winds and reaching speeds of up to 1.5 knots. At the entrance to the port at the West breakwater, It is Western.The primary function of the port of Świnoujście is the transshipment of cereals, ores, oil, paper, cellulose, general cargo, coal, iron. Trying to test water were collected by PN/C-04632.03 with a depth of about. 0.5 m below the water surface. The temperature at the place of sampling were numbered, pH.Collected water samples were fixed in accordance with the recommendations in the Polish Standard-PN/C-04632.04. Other indicators for the quality of the waters have been tagged within 24 hours from the moment of download attempts. The quality objectives was evaluated according to the criteria recommended to evaluate inland surface waters referred to in regulation of the Minister of the environment of 11 February 2004 on the classification for the present status of surface water and groundwater, how to conduct monitoring and how to interpret the results and presentation of these waters. Due to the exposure of the docks the port Świnoujście on the pollution associated with cross-what are the cereals, ores, oil, cellulose, carbon, iron, general research evaluation of the water quality of these pools, you can assess the status of water in order to keep these waters.


Background Several studies indicate that 96% of patients with symptomatic C. difficile infection had received antibiotics within 14 days prior to the onset of diarrhoea. Complications include dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, toxic megacolon, hypotension, renal failure, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis and death. Purpose To analyse patients admitted to our hospital testing positive for toxins A + B of C. difficile over 4½ years and to determine the associated mortality. Material and methods Descriptive retrospective study conducted between 1 January 2010 and 30 June 2014 that included all hospitalised patients testing positive for C. difficile toxins A + B. Dara recorded were antimicrobial treatments before detection of toxins, condition for which they were prescribed, treatment to eradicate C. difficile and its duration. The percentage of patients who died during that admission or within 10 days of discharge was also determined. Results Results were positive in 60 samples from 54 patients, 51.7% women and 48.3% men, with a mean age of 76.2 years. The most common pathologies for which antibiotics were prescribed were respiratory infection (36.4%), urinary tract infection (27.3%), intra-abdominal infection (16.4%), unspecified febrile syndrome (7.3%) and others (12.6%). 35 patients (64.8%) received more than one antimicrobial prior to detection of C. difficile, mainly ß-lactams (63.0%) and fluoroquinolones (27.8%). Treatments prescribed for eradication of C. difficile were: Metronidazole (63.3%): <7 days in 4 isolates, 7–10 days in 18 of them, >10 days for 15 and five patients died during treatment. Oral vancomycin (20%): <7 days in 1 patient, 7–10 days in 3 isolates and >10 days for 8 of them. No treatment: 10 patients (16.7%). Of the patients evaluated, 18 died (32.7%). Conclusion The number of patients in whom toxins A + B of C. difficile were positively identified was low, probably due to the low degree of clinical suspicion and not too satisfactory sensitivity of the technique. Prescribing for treatments for eradication was not appropriate in 27.8% of patients (10 received no treatment and 5 for insufficient time). The mortality rates found in our study agree with data from the literature (22–40%). References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


New technologies in the power generation and distribution domain will change the power infrastructure dramatically over the coming years, most significantly increasing efficiency and market penetration of small production units targeted at the end-user market which will lead to a change from a traditionally very centralized power production system to a more distributed production of both heat and power.
 The introduction of small scale production units and distributed generation and energy resources to the power domain brings along an array of advantages, but also many challenges since these small units are not easily integrated into the existing power market. As a solution for integrating small production units into the power market and letting the owners of small production units profit on any contribution to the market, the concept of the Virtual Power Plant has been suggested. The Virtual Power Plant aggregates distributed generation and acts on the traditional power market as one power plant on the power market?
 The definition of the Virtual Power Plant is far from static and keeps changing as more research projects deals with different areas of the concept. What has been missing so far, in this research area, is an IT
 infrastructure that defines which entities the Virtual Power Plant should consist of, the interfaces of these entities and what functionality is needed to provide means of coordination of processes and communication between these entities in order to start realizing the Virtual Power Plant scenario in full scale.
 This project will, based on an analysis of the Nordic power market and the business model behind the Virtual Power Plant, propose a prototype of a software framework that supports state-of-the-art Virtual Power Plant models of today and tomorrow, by providing means of coordination of processes and communication between the stakeholders in the Virtual Power Plant.


A compelling feature of human memory is its striking capacity. Under certain circumstances, subjects can remember large amounts of information even with brief exposure at study. This investigation shows that this ability is preserved even in severely impaired Alzheimer's disease patients, and this holds implications for the clinical management of amnesic patients. To this date, demonstrations of preserved learning and memory capacity in Alzheimer's disease and amnesia have been confined to implicit memory tasks. Since the present results were obtained in an explicit memory task, the finding also holds implications for the understanding of amnesia.


Background Recognition of risk factors for childhood pneumonia as the main cause of mortality and morbidity is essential. We aimed to determine the relationship of pneumonia with parental smoking in hospitalized children under 10 years old in Qom city, Iran. Materials and Methods This case-control study was performed among 240 children under 10 years old in Ayatollah Golpayegani hospital in Qom city, Iran. Patients were recruited by convenience sampling; 120 patients with pneumonia as the case group, and 120 patients without pneumonia as the control group were enrolled. Parents were asked about duration of exposure to cigarette smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked per day by parents, the frequency of the smokers in family of children, parental education, age of exposure to cigarette smoking, location of smoking, frequency of hospitalization, and duration of hospitalization. The parental smoking was assessed and compared across two groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 13.0). Results The mean age in case group was 29.1±30.3 months and in control group was 32.9±31.1 months. In this study it was seen that lower age of smoking exposure was related to pneumonia. In fact significant difference was found between the groups for age of exposure to cigarette smoking (p=0.001), and location of smoking (p=0.048), but the other variables such as duration of hospitalization (day), hemoglobin level, frequency of the smokers in family of children and parental education had no association (P > 0.05). Conclusion Based on the results of this study and comparing with similar studies conducted in this field, it can be concluded that pneumonia is related to parental smoking especially in younger ages.


This multicenter, randomized, parallel treatment, observer-blinded study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of cefpodoxime proxetil (5 mg/kg twice daily for 10 days) compared with penicillin V (13.4 mg/kg three times daily for 10 days) for treatment of Group A streptococcal pharyngitis and tonsillitis in pediatric patients. Clinical and microbiologic results were evaluated before therapy, during therapy (Study Days 3 to 5), at the end of therapy (Study Days 14 to 18) and at long term follow-up (Study Days 30 to 32). Both drugs were well-tolerated in 578 patients evaluable for safety. Mild gastrointestinal complaints were noted in 6.7% of 386 cefpodoxime-treated patients and in 5.2% of 192 penicillin-treated patients. In 413 patients evaluable for efficacy, both treatment regimens resulted in comparably favorable clinical outcome; cure rates were 83.8% for 275 cefpodoxime-treated patients and 77.5% for 138 penicillin-treated patients. However, eradication of S. pyogenes at end of therapy was significantly higher with cefpodoxime (93.1%) than with penicillin (81.2%) (P < 0.01). Cefpodoxime proxetil provides an effective alternative to penicillin V for the treatment of streptococcal pharyngitis and tonsillitis.


Covariate shift relaxes the widely-employed independent and identically distributed (IID) assumption by allowing different training and testing input distributions. Unfortunately, common methods for addressing covariate shift by trying to remove the bias between training and testing distributions using importance weighting often provide poor performance guarantees in theory and unreliable predictions with high variance in practice. Recently developed methods that construct a predictor that is inherently robust to the difficulties of learning under covariate shift are restricted to minimizing logloss and can be too conservative when faced with high-dimensional learning tasks. We address these limitations in two ways: by robustly minimizing various loss functions, including non-convex ones, under the testing distribution; and by separately shaping the influence of covariate shift according to different feature-based views of the relationship between input variables and example labels. These generalizations make robust covariate shift prediction applicable to more task scenarios. We demonstrate the benefits on classification under covariate shift tasks.


Ludwigs angina is a potentially lethal deep neck infection associated with rapid airway obstruction due to swelling of the neck, tongue and submandibular areas. Despite the name, it has no relation to angina pectoris. We report a case of an 80 -year-old gentleman who presented with the unusual symptom of chest pain and previous history of diabetes mellitus and treated lymphoma, who was later diagnosed with Ludwigs angina. Despite of early intravenous antibiotics, airway support and intensive care treatment patient died within 24 hours. This case highlights the need for a high index of suspicion for Ludwigs angina in patients with chest pain and neck swelling, as althoughits lethal conditionbut early, rapid and aggressive intervention can save lives.


We report the results of analyses of galactic outflows in a sample of 45 low-redshift starburst galaxies in the COS Legacy Archive Spectroscopic SurveY (CLASSY), augmented by five additional similar starbursts with Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) data. The outflows are traced by blueshifted absorption lines of metals spanning a wide range of ionization potential. The high quality and broad spectral coverage of CLASSY data enable us to disentangle the absorption due to the static interstellar medium (ISM) from that due to outflows. We further use different line multiplets and doublets to determine the covering fraction, column density, and ionization state as a function of velocity for each outflow. We measure the outflow's mean velocity and velocity width, and find that both correlate in a highly significant way with the star formation rate, galaxy mass, and circular velocity over ranges of four orders of magnitude for the first two properties. We also estimate outflow rates of metals, mass, momentum, and kinetic energy. We find that, at most, only about 20% of silicon created and ejected by supernovae in the starburst is carried out in the warm phase we observe. The outflows' mass-loading factor increases steeply and inversely with both circular and outflow velocity (log–log slope ∼−1.6), and reaches ∼10 for dwarf galaxies. We find that the outflows typically carry about 10%–100% of the momentum injected by massive stars and about 1%–20% of the kinetic energy. We show that these results place interesting constraints on, and new insights into, models and simulations of galactic winds.


It is important to recognize that patients with chest pain and a family history of cardiac diseases along with obvious risk factors might suffer from acute myocardial infarction. Even young females can be affected. We present a history of a 22-year-old woman who was predisposed to cardiac atherosclerosis. Her father and her brother had atherosclerotic changes in coronary arteries. Her BMI was 35 kg/m2 and she was a smoker. Her young age misled the physicians to conclude, with fatal consequence, that her symptoms with chest pain and heavy feeling in both arms were explained by spasms of the cardia.


Background Leukemia stem cells (LSC) are involved in the incidence, drug resistance, and relapse of leukemia while LSC-related antigen CD33, CD96, and DAPK expression in AML and its prognosis is still unclear. This study explored LSC-related antigens expression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its prognosis. Material/Methods A total of 156 cases of AML patients were enrolled in the experiment. The expression of CD33, CD96, and DAPK in CD34+CD38−CD123+ LSC were tested by flow cytometry. The survival curve was established using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Among different subtypes of AML, the positive rate of CD33 was M3> M5> M1> M2> M4; for CD96 it was M5> M4> M2> M3> M1; and for DAPK it was M3> M2> M5> M4> M1. After chemotherapy, the response rate in CD33 and CD96 high expression groups, and DAPK low expression group was significantly lower than the groups with CD33 low expression, CD96 low expression, and DAPK high expression. The median survival time in the CD33 high expression group was markedly lower than the CD33 low expression group (36.5 months). The CD96 high expression group exhibited obviously shorter median survival time than the CD96 low expression group. The DAPK high expression group exhibited longer median survival time than the DAPK low expression group. Conclusions CD33 and CD96 overexpression, and DAPK downregulation in the LSC of AML patients were associated with poor chemotherapy effect and prognosis, and higher recurrence rate.


Abstract:  Background: Cardiac dysfunction remains the major cause of death in beta‐thalassemia. Aim of this study was to assess early myocardial damage in thalassemic patients with no symptoms or echocardiographic evidence of dysfunction at routine monitoring. Methods: Twenty patients (seven females; median 25 yr [first quartile 22,third quartile 28]) with beta‐thalassemia underwent radionuclide angiography (RNA) at rest and during low‐dose dobutamine infusion (5–10 γ/kg/min). Right and left ventricular ejection fractions (EF) were determined by first‐pass method and gated equilibrium acquisition, respectively. Twenty‐four‐hour Holter monitoring with time‐domain heart rate variability (HRV) assessment and echocardiographic follow‐up (21 months [5,27]) were performed. Results: Eleven patients showed regional wall motion abnormalities at RNA; left ventricular EF, HR and diastolic measurements significantly increased after dobutamine infusion. Patients with abnormal RNA right ventricular EF (n = 8, <0.45) showed lower echocardiographic left ventricular EF at the enrolment (0.54 [0.50,0.61] vs. 0.62 [0.56,0.67], P = 0.02) than those with a normal right ventricular EF. Patients with reduced standard deviation of the averages of RR intervals in all 5‐minute periods of entire recording (SDANN) (n = 6, <100 ms), a measure of HRV, had lower echocardiographic left ventricular EF (0.53 [0.49,0.62] vs. 0.62 [0.56,0.66], P = 0.03) and lower fractional shortening (0.28 [0.25,0.32] vs. 0.36 [0.30,0.39], P = 0.003) at the enrolment than those with normal SDANN. No significant association was found between RNA and HRV measurements and follow‐up left ventricular function. Conclusions: Right ventricular dysfunction and abnormal HRV may represent the early features of cardiac disease in thalassemic patients with no evidence of ventricular dysfunction at routine evaluation.


In France, the basement domains are incised by large fluvial valley networks. Recent studies [Lefebvre et al., 1994; Bonnet, 1998; Lautridou et al., 1999; Antoine et al., 2000; Bonnet et al., 2000] show that these networks were cut during the Pleistocene in response to the uplift of western Europe combined with a fall of the base level [Haq et al., 1987; Shackleton, 1987]. The aim of this article is to study one of the rare Pleistocene sedimentary accumulations preserved in the Armorican Massif, the Penestin fluvial channel system in order to: (1) reconstitute the paleogeomorphological parameters and (2) discuss its relationships with recent tectonic movements. The Penestin fluvial system is localized at the top of the cliff of the Mine d'Or beach (west of Penestin, south of the Vilaine estuary, fig. 1). The paleochannel cuts through the Carboniferous micaschists which pass laterally into Tertiary paleoweathering deposits. The paleochannel is deformed by folds and/or by strike-slip faults. Three sectors are identified (fig. 2). Sector 1: a northern undeformed sub-area; sector 2: an intermediate slightly folded sub-area; sector 3 a southern folded and faulted sub-area. Three sedimentological units and seven associated facies are distinguished. Unit I (facies G), containing local matrix-dominated conglomerates characteristic of distal debris flows, suggests a proximal braided river environment, near the transition with alluvial fans [Blair and MacPherson, 1994]. Paleocurrent trends are directed toward N320 (fig. 3). Unit II (facies Sg, Sgm, Sf, Fb and T) is mainly dominated by sandy facies and corresponds to a more distal braided river flooded at the top by the sea (occurrence of inner estuarine deposits). The 2D and 3D megaripple cross-bedding structures indicate paleocurrents trending N320 (fig. 3). Unit III (facies G, Sg, Sgm and Fr) with multiple erosive channels is filled by braided river deposits (facies G, Sg and Sgm) or temporary lake sediments (facies Fr). The 2D and 3D megaripple cross-bedding structures indicate paleocurrents oriented N135 or N180 (fig. 3). Stratigraphically, these three units record two major base level cycles (fig. 6), in the sense of Wheeler [1958]. The first base level fall corresponds to the incision of the paleochannel. Unit I is amalgamated and was deposited during the beginning of the rise, while unit II corresponds to the maximal facies preservation during the maximum rate of rise. The erosion of unit II by unit III corresponds to a moderate base level fall followed by a small rise (little preservation of unit III). The basement, the weathering deposits and the Quaternary sedimentary units are folded and faulted by N050 to N070 strike-slip faults (fig. 2). Two stages of deformation can be characterized. The first stage, taking place before the incision of the paleochannel, corresponds to a southward tilting of the weathering profile. The second stage took place during the paleochannel infilling, producing thickness variations of the bedsets within unit II. The amount of deformation increased during deposition of unit III and is expressed by N050 to N070 strike-slip faults capped by unit III or by a topmost erosive surface. Fault orientation indicates a NNW-SSE compression (fig. 5) consistent with the stress field in northwestern Europe [Muller et al., 1992; Zoback, 1992]. Paleocurrent directions in units I and II seem to indicate a southerly drainage basin. Today, the Vilaine river flows southward. The units I and II do not represent a paleo-Vilaine river, but since unit III shows paleocurrents similar to those of the present Vilaine river and contains red schists in its basin. It could represent a paleo-Vilaine river. Units I and II might represent a paleo-Loire river, the present Loire river following a curve as it passes over the South Armorican shear zone which reorientates it toward the N320 (fig. 7). Tourenq and Pomerol [1995] show that the Loire river was captured many times ago by the Seine river during the Pleistocene. in this way, when the paleo-Loire river was captured, the paleo-Vilaine river deposited unit III. The Penestin paleochannel resulted from the fluviatile incision/filling of a braided river, which was temporarily overlain by estuarine deposits. The rivers filling this paleochannel first flowed out to the north (flow of a paleo-Loire river: units I and II), and then to the south (flow of a paleo-Vilaine river: unit III). The deformation is attributed to a N110 fault, to a set of N050 and N070 faults and to N050 folds.


In recent years nondemographic variability has been shown to greatly affect dynamics of stochastic populations. For example, nondemographic noise in the form of a bursty reproduction process with an a priori unknown burst size, or environmental variability in the form of time-varying reaction rates, have been separately found to dramatically impact the extinction risk of isolated populations. In this work we investigate the extinction risk of an isolated population under the combined influence of these two types of nondemographic variation. Using the so-called momentum-space Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approach and accounting for the explicit time dependence in the reaction rates, we arrive at a set of time-dependent Hamilton equations. To this end, we evaluate the population's extinction risk by finding the instanton of the time-perturbed Hamiltonian numerically, whereas analytical expressions are presented in particular limits using various perturbation techniques. We focus on two classes of time-varying environments: periodically varying rates corresponding to seasonal effects and a sudden decrease in the birth rate corresponding to a catastrophe. All our theoretical results are tested against numerical Monte Carlo simulations with time-dependent rates and also against a numerical solution of the corresponding time-dependent Hamilton equations.


Deletion mutations ending in the 5'-flanking sequences of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SUP4-o gene have been analyzed for their effects on gene expression. This ochre-suppressing tRNATyr gene was cloned into a S. cerevisiae centromeric plasmid, and its level of in vivo expression was monitored by observing the suppressor phenotype of the gene after transformation into S. cerevisiae. A deletion mutant that retains only four base pairs of the 5'-flanking sequence is profoundly deficient in expression; deletion mutants extending to positions -18, -17, -16, or -15 are moderately deficient; deletion mutants extending to positions -36 or -27 are slightly defective; and mutants retaining more than 60 base pairs of the original 5'-flanking DNA are expressed normally. In some cases, the cloning procedure led to the introduction of multiple BamHI linkers at the SUP4-o-vector fusion site, and in one instance, the resulting structure dramatically affects gene function: the presence of three linkers abutting a -18 deletion completely inhibits the in vivo expression of SUP4-o. In contrast, three linkers that abut a -77 deletion have no effect on in vivo expression. The template properties of these plasmids in a homologous in vitro transcription system parallel the levels of in vivo expression, suggesting that the mutations predominantly affect transcription. The data demonstrate that there are significant functional constraints on the 5'-flanking sequences of this RNA polymerase III-transcribed gene. The dramatic effects of the multiple linker insertion at position -18 suggest that there may be extensive melting of the DNA in this region during normal transcription initiation.


Why did capitalism and colonialism arise in Europe and not elsewhere? Why were parliamentarian and democratic forms of government founded there? What factors led to Europe's unique position in shaping the world? Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, "Why Europe?" tackles these classic questions with illuminating results. Michael Mitterauer traces the roots of Europe's singularity to the medieval era, specifically to developments in agriculture. While most historians have located the beginning of Europe's special path in the rise of state power in the modern era, Mitterauer establishes its origins in rye and oats. These new crops played a decisive role in remaking the European family, he contends, spurring the rise of individualism and softening the constraints of patriarchy. Mitterauer reaches these conclusions by comparing Europe with other cultures, especially China and the Islamic world, while surveying the most important characteristics of European society as they took shape from the decline of the Roman empire to the invention of the printing press. Along the way, "Why Europe?" offers up a dazzling series of novel hypotheses to explain the unique evolution of European culture.


The Mozi is a key philosophical work written by a major social and political thinker of the fifth century B.C.E. It is one of the few texts to survive the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.E.) and is crucial to understanding the origins of Chinese philosophy and two other foundational works, the Mengzi and the Xunzi. Ian Johnston provides an English translation of the entire Mozi, as well as the first bilingual edition in any European language to be published in the West. His careful translation reasserts the significance of the text's central doctrines, and his annotations and contextual explanations add vivid historical and interpretive dimensions. Part 1 of the Mozi is called the "Epitomes" and contains seven short essays on the elements of Mohist doctrine. Part 2, the "Core Doctrines," establishes the ten central tenets of Mo Zi's ethical, social, and political philosophy, while articulating his opposition to Confucianism. Part 3, the "Canons and Explanations," comprises observations on logic, language, disputation, ethics, science, and other matters, written particularly in defense of Mohism. Part 4, the "Dialogues," presents lively conversations between Master Mo and various disciples, philosophical opponents, and potential patrons. Part 5, the "Defense Chapters," details the principles and practices of defensive warfare, a subject on which Master Mo was an acknowledged authority. Now available to English-speaking readers of all backgrounds, the Mozi is a rich and varied text, and this bilingual edition provides an excellent tool for learning classical Chinese.


This is the first report of Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope observations of the quasar 3C 454.3, which has been undergoing pronounced long-term outbursts since 2000. The data from the Large Area Telescope, covering 2008 July 7–October 6, indicate strong, highly variable γ-ray emission with an average flux of ∼3 × 10−6 photons cm−2 s−1, for energies >100 MeV. The γ-ray flux is variable, with strong, distinct, symmetrically shaped flares for which the flux increases by a factor of several on a timescale of about 3 days. This variability indicates a compact emission region, and the requirement that the source is optically thin to pair production implies relativistic beaming with Doppler factor δ>8, consistent with the values inferred from Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations of superluminal expansion (δ ∼ 25). The observed γ-ray spectrum is not consistent with a simple power law, but instead steepens strongly above ∼2 GeV, and is well described by a broken power law with photon indices of ∼2.3 and ∼3.5 below and above the break, respectively. This is the first direct observation of a break in the spectrum of a high-luminosity blazar above 100 MeV, and it is likely direct evidence for an intrinsic break in the energy distribution of the radiating particles. Alternatively, the spectral softening above 2 GeV could be due to γ-ray absorption via photon–photon pair production on the soft X-ray photon field of the host active galactic nucleus, but such an interpretation would require the dissipation region to be located very close (≲100 gravitational radii) to the black hole, which would be inconsistent with the X-ray spectrum of the source.


Intelligent opponent behavior makes video games interesting to human players. Evolutionary computation can discover such behavior, however, it is challenging to evolve behavior that consists of multiple separate tasks. This paper evaluates three ways of meeting this challenge via neuroevolution: 1) multinetwork learns separate controllers for each task, which are then combined manually; 2) multitask evolves separate output units for each task, but shares information within the network's hidden layer; and 3) mode mutation evolves new output modes, and includes a way to arbitrate between them. Whereas the fist two methods require that the task division be known, mode mutation does not. Results in Front/Back Ramming and Predator/Prey games show that each of these methods has different strengths. Multinetwork is good in both domains, taking advantage of the clear division between tasks. Multitask performs well in Front/Back Ramming, in which the relative difficulty of the tasks is even, but poorly in Predator/Prey, in which it is lopsided. Interestingly, mode mutation adapts to this asymmetry and performs well in Predator/Prey. This result demonstrates how a human-specified task division is not always the best. Altogether the results suggest how human knowledge and learning can be combined most effectively to evolve multimodal behavior.