Although General Purpose computation on GPU (GPGPU) is widely used for high-performance computing, standard programming frameworks such as CUDA and Open CL are still difficult to use. They require low-level specifications and hand-optimization is a large burden. Therefore we are developing an easier framework named MESI-CUDA. Based on a virtual shared memory model, MESI-CUDA hides low level memory management and data transfer from the user. The compiler generates low-level code and also optimizes memory accesses applying conventional hand-optimizing techniques. However, creating GPU threads is same as CUDA, thread mapping, i.e. Thread indexing and the size of thread blocks run on each streaming multiprocessors (SM), are specified by the user. The mapping largely affects the execution performance and may obstruct automatic optimization of MESI-CUDA compiler. Therefore, the user must find optimal specification considering physical parameters. In this paper, we propose a new thread mapping scheme. We introduce new thread creation syntax specifying hardware-independent logical mapping, which is converted into optimized physical mapping at compile time. Making static analysis of array index expressions, we obtain groups of threads accessing the same or neighboring array elements. Mapping such threads into the same thread block and assigning consecutive thread indices, the physical mapping is determined to maximize the effect of memory access optimization. As the result of evaluation, our scheme could find optimal mapping strategy for three benchmark programs.


Changes of the onset dates, end dates, and duration of the rainy season over central Peruvian Andes (Mantaro river basin, MRB) could severely affect water resources management and the main economic activities (e.g., rainfed agriculture, raising cattle, among others). Nonetheless, these changes have not been documented for the Tropical Andes. To asses that, we used daily datasets of observed rainfall during the 1965–2013 period. For this period, the average onset (end) date of the rainy season over the MRB occurs in the pentad 17 (19–23 September) [pentad 57 (7–11 April)]. The duration of the rainy season mainly is modulated by the onset dates due to it has higher variability than end dates. There is a reduction of 3 days/decade in the duration of wet season over the MRB for the last four decades due to the delay of the onset days. Furthermore, El Nino favors late-onset and early end of the rainy season, while La Nina favors early onset and late end of the rainy season in the MRB. Onset dates are related to the propagation of the convective region of the South American Monsoon System (SAMS), from the Caribbean region toward the central Amazon basin. Early (late)-onset days are associated with a southward (northward) shift of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) and weak (strong) convection over equatorial Atlantic that induces the southernmost propagation (eastward shift) of the SAMS.


A simple, rapid, and sensitive method for isolation and detection of macrolide endectocides (moxidectin, doramectin, selamectin, ivermectin, and eprinomectin) in animal sera and liver is described. Fortified sera or homogenized liver samples were treated with sodium chloride followed by organic solvent extraction. No additional steps were required prior to analysis. Separation of analytes and collection of mass information was achieved by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry with positive atmospheric pressure chemical ionization set in selected ion monitoring mode with each sample analysis complete in 15 minutes. Presence of each compound was confirmed based on 2 separate extracted ion profiles. Detection of avermectins and moxidectin in a range of working standards was achieved at 10, 50, and 100 ppb. Quantitation of these compounds in fortified samples was based on standard calibration curves with R 2 > 0.99. Detection limits of 10 ppb for ivermectin, moxidectin, and doramectin, 50 ppb for selamectin, and 100 ppb for eprinomectin were achieved in spiked sera. Recoveries of avermectins and moxidectin in 500 ppb fortified sera fell between 61 and 89% (±5.7–15.7). Analysis of fortified liver gave comparable results with recovery of selamectin of 83–91% ± 18.3. A complete mass spectral fragmentation pattern of selamectin and affordable screening method for 6 macrolide endectocides are reported. Method comparison for salt treatment and solid-phase extraction of fortified samples is discussed.


Abstract Large ion lithophile element enrichment is a feature of the lithologies affected by mass transfer owing to fluids from the subduction zones (Sorensen et al. 1997), well documented, for example, in mélanges of two subduction complexes: the Franciscan Complex (California) and Samana Metamorphic Complex (Dominican Republic). Here we illustrate a similar style of K–Ba–Rb alteration of various types of eclogites and their host rocks acquired during subduction zone metamorphism and subsequent inclusion in a metamorphosed subduction–accretion mélange complex in the Leaota Massif (South Carpathians). Textural evidence at different scales (knockers-with-rinds structures, phengite and atoll garnet overprints, open cavities) and thermobaric calculations document protracted fluid–rock interaction from near-peak conditions to the retrograde stages during detachment and ascension along the subduction channel. Fluids reverting to the surface along the subduction channel play an important part in the fluid budget of subduction zones.


A Ca2+-activated cysteine proteinase (calpain II) was purified from chicken gizzard smooth muscle by use of isoelectric precipitation, (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B, Reactive-Red 120-agarose and Mono Q. The apparent second-order rate constants for the inactivation of calpain by a series of structural analogues of L-3-carboxy-trans-2, 3-epoxypropionyl-leucylamido-(4-guanidino)butane (E-64) were determined. The fastest rate of inactivation was observed with L-3-carboxy-trans-2, 3-epoxypropionyl-leucylamido-(4-benzyloxy-carbonylamino)buta ne. It was possible to determine the active-site molarity of solutions of calpain by titration with E-64. When incubated with Ca2+, calpain underwent several steps of intermolecular limited proteolysis, via multiple pathways, followed by a slower loss of enzymic activity. The proteolytic steps preceding the loss of activity did not affect the rates of reaction of calpain with E-64 analogues.


The ever-growing literature in biomedicine makes it virtually impossible for individuals to grasp all the information relevant to their interests. Since even experts' knowledge is limited, important associations among key biomedical concepts may remain unnoticed in the flood of information. Discovering those hidden associations is called hypothesis discovery. This paper reports our approach to this problem taking advantage of a triangular chain of relations extracted from published knowledge. We consider such chains of relations as implicit rules to generate potential hypotheses. The generated hypotheses are then compared with newer knowledge for assessing their validity and, if validated, they are served as positive examples for learning a regression model to rank hypotheses. This framework, called supervised hypothesis discovery, is tested on real-world knowledge from the biomedical literature to demonstrate its effectiveness.


Most developing countries strive to improve agricultural productivity by relaxing credit constraints, supplying better inputs, improving marketing and distribution. However the efficacy of these reforms needs to be examined in the context of the behavioral responses of farming households. This study examines gender biases within households that affect short-term investments in agriculture. The study utilizes data from ICRISATs village level studies in India (1975-85) to highlight the effects of child gender on the use of agricultural inputs. The main finding is that households with boys tend to use purchased inputs such as fertilizers and insecticides more intensively compared with households with girls. In general, household with boys also tend to have larger land holdings, and use animal and human labor to a greater extent than household with girls.


Humans, on average, are believed to have the capacity to sustain approximately 150 personal relationships due to social-cognitive limits and time available for relationship investment (Dunbar, 1993). The consequences of attempting to exceed this relational limit have not been investigated. Yet relational-style ministry workers face pressure to increase their number of personal relationships. It is likely that attempting to exceed this relational limit leads to distress. Therefore, relational ministers exceeding typical social network sizes were predicted to experience higher levels of burnout and lower levels of ministry effectiveness. For this study, two hundred thirty-seven relational ministers completed self-report measures. Multiple hierarchical regressions indicated that while total network size was not a significant predictor of outcome variables, nuanced differences among networks predicted burnout and ministry effectiveness. Above average numbers of intimate, high-investment relationships predicted smaller overall network sizes, and subgroups of more intimate relationships may have optimal size ranges that contribute to personal well-being.


Some benthic minute amphipods have been found at abalones'rearing tank, at Lombok Marine Aquaculture Development Center, Sekotong, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The minute amphipod community was found along with Gracillaria verrucosa which was harvested from Sekotong fishpond. There is some vigilance that it might be a pest that interferes the production of abalones. This research aims to reveal the type of the minute amphipod at the rearing tank. Morphological characters were examined to identify the Amphipod. Some slide was made to recognise and identify minute apparatus of the Amphipod. A hundred of Amphipod was reared in a small container to see their immediate behavior such as feeding or reproduction or other/s or its product. Some video were used to record for 30" to 60" to see the behavior of Amphipods. Result show that at least four types of Gammaridea present at the abalone culture pond. Some Amphipod was descent to abalone for some time, hop and perch to Gracillaria. Some Amphipods build a nest from pieces of Gracillaria in a tube form. There are two types of nest, firstly, small tube which were attached to the substrate and secondly, bigger tube which were float with the Gracillaria.


The risk factors for maternal anemia (hemoglobin level less than 110 g/L) were studied in human immunodeficiency virus-negative pregnant women in Benin at the time of first antenatal visit and prior to any prevention. Data for the first 1,005 pregnant women included in a multicentre randomized controlled trial were analyzed. Anemia was common (68.3%), and malaria and helminth infestations were prevalent in 15.2% and 11.1% of the women. A total of 33.3%, 31.3% and 3.6% of the women were iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 deficient, respectively. These parasitic infections and nutrient deficiencies were associated with a high risk of anemia. Twenty-one percent, 15%, 12%, 11% and 7% of anemia were attributable to malnutrition, malaria, iron, folic acid deficiencies, and helminth infestations, respectively. Most anemia was caused by factors that could be prevented by available tools, stressing the need to reinforce their implementation and to evaluate their effectiveness throughout the course of the pregnancy.


A 39-year-old female patient with hepatitis B-related decompensated chronic liver disease underwent living donor liver transplantation. Preoperatively, she had a normal electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiography, and also a negative dobutamine stress echocardiography test. Intraoperative course went uneventful. Two hours postoperatively, she developed hypotension. Initially, hypotension was treated with fluids and blood products after confirming normal echocardiography, but with time, patient's haemodynamics worsened. Repeat echocardiography showed postero-inferior regional wall motion abnormality. Troponin I was significantly elevated, but ECG was normal. Suspecting myocardial infarction coronary angiography was done which was normal. Based on Mayo's criteria, patient was diagnosed with reverse Takotsubo cardiomyopathy since postero-inferior wall was involved. Inotropic support failed to maintain haemodynamics and intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) was placed. Inotropes were gradually tapered and IABP was removed at day 4. Twenty days later, repeat echocardiography was normal and patient was subsequently discharged.


Sufficient conditions for robust closed-loop stability of a class of dynamic matrix control (DMC) systems arepresented. The I,-norm is used in the objective function of the on-line optimization, thus resulting in a linear programming problem. The ideas of this work, however, are expandable to other DMC-type controllers. The keys to the stability conditions are: to use an end-condition in the moving horizon on-line optimization; to have coefficients of the move suppression term in the objective function of the on-line optimization satisfy certain inequalities; and to express the uncertainty as deviations in the unit pulse response coefficients of the nominal plant. These deviations and disturbances must also satisfy certain inequalities. A n off-line tuning procedure for robust stability and performance of a class of DMC controllers is also included, which determines an optimal moving horizon length and optimal values for coefficients of the move suppression term. The applicability of our approach is elucidated through numerical simulations.


The goal of this research was to obtain high-density single-walled carbon nanotube forests (SWNTs) on conductive substrates for different applications, including field emission. For this, dip-coating was chosen as the catalyst deposition method, to subsequently grow SWNTs by Alcohol Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition (AC-CVD). Si (100) was chosen as the substrate, which was then coated with a TiN thin film. By sputtering with Ar, it was possible to generate alternating TiN and Si lanes, with a different wettability and, therefore, a different affinity for the catalysts. As a result, the Mo-Co catalyst was mainly deposited on TiN and not on sputtered-Si, which allowed the selective growth of SWNT forests on the TiN conductive surfaces. These as-synthesized SWNTs were used for field emission measurements in a high vacuum chamber.


ignificance
Zhao et al. have recently developed an interesting mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for real-time hoist rescheduling in a multistage electroplating line. In this letter, we reformulate the hoist movement constraints in their model. Due to this reformulation, we obtain a more compact MILP model in terms of the number of constraints and variables. Computational experiment shows that our improved model can be solved several times faster than Zhao et al.'s model. Such a reduction in computation time is significant in a real-time hoist rescheduling context.


There is a failure of growth in hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency; slow weight gain is marked after the second year of age but is apparent in the birth weights of all eight of our patients for whom we have data. However, head growth and bone development are less affected than weight. A partial defect in the adrenocortical 11 beta-hydroxylation of steroids was demonstrated after ACTH stimulation in all four patients studied. This hydroxylation takes place in mitochondria the function of which is modulated by purine nucleotide concentrations; this may be the link with the enzyme defect. Testicular atrophy at autopsy was found in two pubertal age boys and seven patients aged 12-17 years had no signs of puberty. All five boys aged 3-11 years showed less than the normal mean response of plasma testosterone concentration to human chorionic gonadotrophin despite the normal histological appearance of the testes of one 6-year-old-boy. Follicle stimulating hormone responses to gonadotrophin releasing hormone are probably less than in normal in at least three of the seven prepubertal boys. The absence of the normally high activities of hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase in testes appears to inhibit their ability to respond to gonadotrophin.


The UK and the international community have an increasing interest in the benefits of a hydrogen-based economy. Existing and emerging technologies that are inherently carbon-neutral and potentially carbon-negative are increasingly attractive, given the challenge of meeting climate targets to prevent climate change and build a clean growth strategy. The integration of clean energy technologies across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) can increase the flexibility of the energy system, driving efficiency, cost reduction and enhancing the value of natural resources.
 There are over 250 platforms and 45,000 kilometres of pipeline installed within the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS). As these assets near the end of their economic life oil and gas operators are planning to decommission these facilities in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Current cost forecasts for this activity exceed £58bn with approximately 50% borne by the operators and 50% borne by UK taxpayers.
 The Hydrogen Offshore Production (HOP) project identifies an alternative to decommissioning by providing re-use options for offshore infrastructure while addressing the national challenge of a low carbon energy supply. In doing so, the project will prove the feasibility of several decentralised hydrogen generation, storage and distribution options that collectively provide a scalable offshore hydrogen production solution, whilst offsetting a portion of decommissioning costs that are currently forecast for all offshore assets and infrastructure.
 HOP will tackle the challenge of bulk hydrogen production by (1) proposing viable environmental and economic technology solutions to be deployed offshore, (2) developing a new Industrial Hydrogen Production test site to both prove the industrial benefits and to aid commercialisation of emerging technology and, (3) conducting market analysis and producing the business case for the transformation of existing offshore infrastructure, re-purposing assets and demonstrating the viability for decentralised generation of hydrogen.
 As part of the project, an Industrial Hydrogen Production test site will be established with Flotta (Orkney Islands) being proposed as the location. This will provide a test bed for technology, fast-tracking its development and providing a route for accelerated commercial deployment. Within a region of considerable renewable energy generation, the island of Flotta is ideally placed to benefit from local expertise, existing supply chain and advanced technology solutions. For example, the Industrial Hydrogen Production test site would greatly benefit from lessons learnt at the nearby Orkney Water Testing Centre.


Mathematical modeling combined with experimental measurements have yielded important insights into HIV-1 pathogenesis. For example, data from experiments in which HIV-infected patients are given potent antiretroviral drugs that perturb the infection process have been used to estimate kinetic parameters underlying HIV infection. Many of the models used to analyze data have assumed drug treatments to be completely eecacious and that upon infection a cell instantly begins producing virus. We consider a model that allows for less then perfect drug eeects and which includes a delay in the initiation of virus production. We present detailed analysis of this delay diierential equation model and compare the results to a model without delay. Our analysis shows that when drug eecacy is less than 100%, as may be the case in vivo, the predicted rate of decline in plasma virus concentration depends on three factors: the death rate of virus producing cells, the eecacy of therapy, and the length of the delay. Thus, previous estimates of infected cell loss rates can be improved upon by considering more realistic models of viral infection.


Bacteriological studies in 1968 and 1969 corroborated earlier findings that a municipal watershed which had been closed to public entry since 1917 yielded water with four to six times the coliform count found in an adjacent mountain watershed open to recreational activities. Similarly, chemical investigations showed higher concentrations of most ions in water from the closed area. Physiological differentiation of coliform and enterococcal bacteria revealed similar types of organisms in both animal droppings and stream water, with fecal coliforms accounting for as much as 70% of the coliform counts observed in the closed area in 1969. Opening of the closed drainage for limited recreation and expanded logging operations in the spring of 1970 coincided with an unexpected decrease in bacterial contamination of that stream. It is postulated that these human activities drove from the watershed a large wild animal population which had contributed substantially to the previous bacterial pollution. It would seem that the practice of closing high-mountain watersheds to public entry is questionable if governmental standards for water quality are to be met, and it also seems that the standards themselves should be reexamined.


In feedforward active noise control problems, it is always necessary to optimise both the physical system and the electronic controller. Optimisation of the physical system is principally concerned with determining the optimum location of the control sources and error sensors. Here, genetic algorithms are investigated for this purpose and modifications to the standard algorithm that are necessary for this application are discussed. Optimising the electronic controller is principally concerned with finding the optimal control filter weights that will produce the most noise reduction when the reference signal is filtered and then input to the control sources. Normally, gradient descent algorithms are used for this purpose. However, for nonlinear systems, such as control sources (loudspeakers or shakers) with significant harmonic distortion, the gradient descent algorithm is unsatisfactory. Here a genetic algorithm is developed specifically for control filter weight optimisation. It is able to handle nonlinear filters and requires no cancellation path identification. The disadvantage is that it is relatively slow to converge.


To what extent is U.S. state tax policy affected by corporate political contributions? The 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling provides an exogenous shock to corporate campaign spending, allowing corporations to spend on elections in 23 states which previously had spending bans. Ten years after the ruling and for a wide range of outcomes, we are not able to identify economically or statistically significant effects of corporate independent expenditures on state tax policy, including tax rates, discretionary tax breaks


Historical development toward a universal community of civilization,' said Rosa Luxemburg, 'will, like all social development, take place in the midst of a contradiction...' Indeed, on its face it seems that the simultaneous consolidation and spreading (within a progressing global order) of nationalist particularism, on the one hand, and of the support for democracy, on the other, do constitute such a contradiction. But is this really the case. Are nationalism and democracy mutually exclusive, or are they reconcilable after all. In this project, to paraphrase Rousseau's words at the beginning of The Social Contract, it is my purpose to enquire whether it is possible to reconcile nationalism with democracy, taking nationalism as it is and democracy as it may be. The dissertation shows that both democracy (as we commonly understand it today) and nationalism are strongly embedded in modern conditions (primarily capitalism) and their inherent contradictions, namely, the development of the autonomous self, on the one hand, and the loss of community and prevalence of identity crisis, on the other. Liberal theories of democracy, the thesis suggests, celebrate the development of the autonomous self but largely neglect or ignore the problem of identity crisis, hence contribute precisely to moral and political tendencies they normally reject. Nationalism and its academic sympathisers, though, may supply a solution to identity crisis but too easily or carelessly sacrifice individual liberty and equality on the altar of renewed Gemeinschaft-like communities. What is urgently needed, I argue, is a form of democracy that could transcend the contradictions latent in modern capitalism and deliver a solution to identity crisis and alienation without subverting the values of individual equality and liberty. Such a democracy, it is concluded, must be a socialist one in which the means of identity production are collectively owned.


Purpose: To examine the clinical utility of intratumor microRNAs (miRNA) as a biomarker for predicting responses to platinum-based doublet chemotherapy in patients with recurring lung adenocarcinoma (LADC). Experimental Design: The expression of miRNAs was examined in LADC tissues surgically resected from patients treated with platinum-based doublet chemotherapy at the time of LADC recurrence. Microarray-based screening of 904 miRNAs followed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR–based verification in 40 test cohort samples, including 16 (40.0%) responders, was performed to identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed in chemotherapy responders and nonresponders. Differential expression was confirmed in a validation cohort (n = 63 samples), including 18 (28.6%) responders. An miRNA signature that predicted responses to platinum-based doublet chemotherapy was identified and its accuracy was examined by principal component and support vector machine analyses. Genotype data for the TP53-Arg72Pro polymorphism, which is associated with responses to platinum-based doublet chemotherapy, were subsequently incorporated into the prediction analysis. Results: A signature comprising three miRNAs (miR1290, miR196b, and miR135a*) enabled the prediction of a chemotherapeutic response (rather than progression-free and overall survival) with high accuracy in both the test and validation cohorts (82.5% and 77.8%). Examination of the latter was performed using miRNAs extracted from archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. Combining this miRNA signature with the TP53-Arg72Pro polymorphism genotype marginally improved the predictive power. Conclusion: The three-miRNA signature in surgically resected primary LADC tissues may by clinically useful for predicting responsiveness to platinum-based doublet chemotherapy in patients with LADC recurrence. Clin Cancer Res; 20(18); 4784–93. ©2014 AACR.


This article shows how education, which is the most important form of activity in the social medium, changes the cultural image and awareness of individuals, and shapes and transforms their political attitude toward the surrounding day-to-day realities. A comparison analysis is used to explore a civic education system that forms the national and state identity of a person as a derivative of an "imagined community." This phenomenon will be regarded here as the result of designing social and political values and their internalization in the public consciousness. This approach makes it possible to optimize the process of education for the public sphere which is destined to form an active citizen, to create a sustainable link between an individual and the social medium and is the most important tool of political communication.


This article focuses on the experiences of debordering and deinstitutionalization of regions. It approaches territories as processes and borders as multilayered social constructs. The article utilizes some key ideas on institutionalization and sees regions as 'Leviathans' that are entities 'thick with things', both human and nonhuman. Through 10 focus group discussions, the article discusses the sense of belonging and how a region 'holds onto' both human and nonhuman actants even after it loses its status in the legitimate regional structure. Due to this stickiness, it concludes that deinstitutionalization is never complete in a sense that all regional consciousness would disappear entirely. After their administrative status is removed, regions remain in a state of in betweenness: not quite fully existing, not quite fully extinct. This makes the concept of deinstitutionalization highly contested and one that eludes easy definitions. However, it is useful to understand deinstitutionalization as a process that turns regions into palimpsests or sets of assemblages that vary in time. Relatedly, regions that are officially deinstitutionalized can endure in 'penumbral' form, and can remain meaningful for their inhabitants for a long time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


It has been reported that increased intermittent non-Gaussian uctuations in the instantaneous amplitude of low-frequency heart rate variability (LF-HRV) are related to high mortality risk in cardiac patients. However, little is known about the physiological origin of the amplitude modulation of LF-HRV. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between amplitude modulation of LF-HRV and that of low-frequency blood pressure variability (LF-BPV). Eight normal male subjects performed movie-watching and calculation tasks in a sitting position for 40 min each while electrocardiogram and continuous blood pressure waveforms were recorded. From these signals, we calculated the instantaneous amplitude of the LF-band RR interval (RRILFamp) signal and that of the LF-band systolic blood pressure (SBP) signal (SBPLFamp) via band-pass lter and Hilbert transform. All subjects exhibited signi cant and relatively high positive correlation coef cients between RRILFamp and SBPLFamp in both tasks (mean Pearson correlation coef cient > 0.45). Mean coherence in the 0.01–0.05 Hz band between RRILFamp and SBPLFamp was also signi cant in all but one subject (mean coherence > 0.42). These results indicate a relatively high positive correlation between the amplitude modulation of LF-HRV and that of LF-BPV. We calculated the peak time lags of the cross correlation between RRILFamp and SBPLFamp in the 0.01–0.05 Hz band. A negative peak time lag implies that the amplitude modulation of LF-HRV precedes that of LF-BPV. All subjects exhibited negative peak time lag in the movie-watching task. All but one subject exhibited negative or zero peak time lag in the calculation task. These results imply that the amplitude modulation of LF-HRV precedes that of LF-BPV in the frequency range of 0.01–0.05 Hz.


Abstract Evidence of immiscibility between arsenide and sulfide melts has been observed both in experimental studies and natural samples from several localities worldwide (e.g., Ronda, Spain; Beni Bousera, Morocco; Dundonald Beach South, Canada). Platinum-group elements (PGE) have shown to have a strong affinity for arsenide melts, but little is known about their partitioning behavior between arsenide and sulfide melts. In this study, we experimentally determine the partition coefficients of PGE (Pt, Pd, Ir, Ru, and Os) between both types of melt in As-saturated sulfide systems doped with trace amounts of PGE. Results show that all PGE display a strong preference to the arsenide melt with DPGEAs/sulf melts $D_{\text{PGE}}^{\text{As}/\text{sulf}\text{ melts }}$ranging from 20 to 2700, with Ir and Pt showing a marked preference for arsenide melts. These partition coefficients values are similar to estimates made from natural samples and demonstrate that the separation of arsenide melts from sulfide magmas can be an efficient mechanism to scavenge PGE from magmas and to fractionate Os, Ru, and Pd from Pt and Ir.


A fixed terrestrial broadband wireless system such as MMDS (Multipoint Microwave Distribution System) is a cost effective solution for cable coverage to the immediate surrounding rural area. This wireless system can be operated with the existing cable headend and the same subscriber-end cable modem. Such a system works well with clear line-of-sight transmit/receive antennas. However, in near-line-of-sight transmission where a few foliated trees block the line-of-sight, signal distortion can occur, especially under conditions of high wind. The motion of the trees causes large and rapid signal fading. Measurements were taken on fixed wireless paths blocked with a few trees in the vicinity of the receive antenna. Fading characteristics of a 6 MHz channel centered at 2.545 GHz are provided. The fades are largely flat across the band but with some frequency selective fading. Fading rates under windy conditions ranged from 0.5 to 2 fades/second. The slope of the fades occasionally reached 50 dB/second.


We present a 58-year-old Jamaican man with an eight-month history of an isolated, vegetative, eroded, and crusted plaque on the posterior aspect of the scalp. One month prior to referral to the Charles C. Harris Skin and Cancer Pavilion he developed a few, scattered erosions on the extremities. A biopsy specimen showed suprabasal acantholysis along with deposition of C3 and IgG on a direct immunofluorescence test. Localized pemphigus is a rare variant of pemphigus vulgaris. Localized pemphigus presents with a localized plaque that remains localized for an extended period of time without generalized bullae formation. Our patient represents an unusual case of localized pemphigus of the scalp with vegetative features.


The increasing number of elderly causes problems, especially in terms of health and well-being of the elderly. The existence of the disease affects the condition of one's physical health which is one aspect that determines the quality of one's life. The disease that often affects the elderly is hyperuricemia and hypertension. The purpose of this study is to determine the close relationship between hyperuricemia and the incidence of hypertension in the elderly. The research design used was Observational Analytic with cross sectional approach. The sample amounted to 58 with sampling using random sampling techniques. Data collection method uses uris acid meter and sphygmomanometer then data is analyzed using Chi Square statistical test with Contingency Coefficient. The results of the analysis are the majority of respondents who have hyperuricemia with hypertension (73%), who have hyperuricemia but do not have hypertension (27%), who do not have hyperuricemia but have hypertension (23.8%), and who do not experience hyperuricemia and do not experience hypertension as much (76.2%) The results of the analysis of the two veriabels obtained p value = 0.001, cc = 0.529, and OR = 8.640. The conclusion in this study is that there is a fairly close relationship between hyperuricemia with the incidence of hypertension in the elderly at UPT PSTW Jember. Suggestions for health workers should increase the intensity of providing health education to the elderly through counseling, as well as checking for uric acid and blood pressure regularly.


In the mid-nineteenth century, flavor additives volatile organic chemicals with desirable aromatic qualities began to be used to flavor sugary confections, carbonated beverages, and other mass-marketed delights. By the mid-twentieth century, added flavors had become ubiquitous in processed, packaged foods; a sophisticated, technoscientific, and globe-spanning industry had emerged that specialized in their production. Drawing on history of science and technology, business history, and cultural history, "Flavor Added" investigates the history of synthetic flavor additives, the systems of scientific and technical knowledge that emerged to create these substances, and their social and cultural consequences. Focusing primarily on the United States, "Flavor Added" traces the origins and development of both flavor chemistry and sensory science, illuminating their entangled roots in private industry, regulatory laboratories, USDA research experiment stations, the US military, and academic institutions. Several chapters take on the technologies and tools of flavor creation, including the taste panel, the flavor profile, and the combined gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. This dissertation also documents the professional history of flavorists, the highly specialized scientific craft-workers who develop and design flavor additives. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History and Sociology of Science First Advisor John Tresch


Abstract. The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSM/IS) are satellites that work in passive microwave range. The SSM/I has capability to measure geophysical parameters which these parameters are key to investigate the climate and hydrology condition in the world. In this research the SSMI passive microwave data is used to study the feasibility of monitoring snow depth during snowfall month from 2010 to 2015 using an algorithm in conjunction with ground depth measured at meteorological stations of the National Centre for Environmental Information (NCEI). The previous procedures for snow depth retrieval algorithms uses only one or two passive bands for modelling snow depth. This study enable us to use of a nonlinear multidimensional regression algorithm which incorporates all channels and their related weighting coefficients for each band. Higher value of these coefficients are indicator of the importance of each band in the regression model. All channels and their combination were used in support of the vector algorithm combined with genetic algorithm (GA) for feature selection to estimate snow depth. The results were compared with those algorithms developed by recent researchers and the results clearly shows the superiority of proposed method (R2 = 0.82 and RMSE = 6.3 cm).


E-learning is a modern and effective approach for training in various areas and at different levels of education. This paper gives an overview of SyRoTek, an e-learning platform for mobile robotics, artificial intelligence, control engineering, and related domains. SyRoTek provides remote access to a set of fully autonomous mobile robots placed in a restricted area with dynamically reconfigurable obstacles, which enables solving a huge variety of problems. A user is able to control the robots in real time by their own developed algorithms as well as being able to analyze gathered data and observe activity of the robots by provided interfaces. The system is currently used for education at the Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, and at the University of Buenos Aires, Buenos, Aires, Argentina, and it is freely accessible to other institutions. In addition to the system overview, this paper presents the experience gained from the actual deployment of the system in teaching activities.


This policy brief is based on Kabubo-Mariara J. and Kiriti-Ng'ang'a T. (2013) The Impact of Social Protection on the Welfare of Vulnerable Communities in East Africa: A Case Study from Kenya. Project report presented to IDRC, Nairobi, 2013


Abstract In this article it is argued that Popper's well-known deductive and falsificationistic epistemology is historically rooted in German psychology, notably the work of Otto Selz. Drawing on Popper's early and still unpublished psychological manuscripts it is shown how Otto Selz's psychology of thinking with its emphasis on the guiding role of schematic anticipations gave the impetus to Popper's theory of problem solving, his theory of the Searchlight, and its attendant rejection of empiricism, the so-called Bucket theory of knowledge. In the second part of the article it is argued that Selz's theory of schematic anticipations is rooted in Meinong's Gegenstandstheorie. Because Meinong's theory was partly an attempt to do justice to the objectivity of thinking, this may explain why the anti-psychologist Popper felt nevertheless attracted to the psychology of Selz.


Purpose - Sociologists are discussing whether or not economic growth enhances subjective well-being. To complement their research from a housing perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether aggregate income enhances dwelling satisfaction over time. While cross-sectional studies have only examined the direct influence of income on dwelling satisfaction, this paper suggests that there are additional influences mediated by other social indicators. Design/methodology/approach - Based on data from Germany, correlation and regression analyses examine the impacts of aggregate income and other social indicators on dwelling satisfaction. Path analysis is used to test for the existence of mediated relationships. Findings - The paper finds that aggregate income positively influences dwelling satisfaction. Environmental satisfaction, customer satisfaction and satisfaction with family relations also positively impact dwelling satisfaction and mediate influences of aggregate income. The mediated effects are stronger than the direct effect of aggregate income on dwelling satisfaction. Research limitations/implications - The longitudinal availability of aggregate customer satisfaction data is still limited. Future research on dwelling satisfaction is encouraged to account for customer satisfaction and to reexamine the analyses of this study with future data. Practical implications - Stimulating economic growth is a good strategy to improve dwelling satisfaction. Policies improving the environment, family support and shopping opportunities are also effective. Originality/value - This paper is original in that it examines the impacts of economic growth and customer satisfaction on dwelling satisfaction. While the extant literature has only analysed direct effects of income on dwelling satisfaction, this study also accounts for mediated effects.


Leading Roman Catholic organisations have sued the Obama administration over the requirement that health insurance policies must cover contraception for their workers from 1 August. They claim that the requirement violates their religious beliefs as protected under the first amendment to the US Constitution.

Separate lawsuits were filed on 21 May in a dozen federal courts across the country by 43 prominent Roman Catholic organisations, including the archdiocese of New York and the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

"We do not seek to impose our religious beliefs on others. We simply ask that the government not impose its values on the university when those values conflict with our religious …


This report describes a phase I study of the adoptive transfer of cloned melanoma antigen–specific T lymphocytes for therapy of patients with advanced melanoma. Clones were derived from peripheral blood lymphocytes or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of patients who had received prior immunization with the melanoma-associated antigen, gp100. In response to its cognate antigen, each clone used for treatment secreted large amounts of interferon-&ggr; and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, lesser amounts of interleukin (IL)-2 and tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, and little or no IL-4 and IL-10. Clones also demonstrated recognition of human leukocyte antigen–matched melanomas using cytokine secretion and lysis assays. Twelve patients received 2 cycles of cells alone; 11 patients received additional cycles of cells and were randomized between two schedules of IL-2 (125,000 IU/kg subcutaneously daily for 12 days versus 720,000 IU/kg intravenously every 8 h for 4 days). A total of 51 cycles of cells were administered, with an average of 1 × 10 10 cells per cycle. Peripheral blood samples were analyzed for persistence of transferred cells by T-cell receptor–specific polymerase chain reaction. Transferred cells reached a maximum level at 1 h after transfer but rapidly declined to undetectable levels by 2 weeks. One minor response and one mixed response were observed (both in the high-dose IL-2 arm). This report demonstrates the safety and feasibility of cloned T-cell transfer as a therapy for patients with cancer. The lack of clinical effectiveness of this protocol suggests that transfer of different or additional cell types or that modulation of the recipient host environment is required for successful therapy.


The conventional generalized on-off algorithm (Choi et al. (2002)) requires many bit durations to converge. In order to reduce the processing time, a new algorithm, called the variable on-off (VOO), is proposed. This algorithm carries out the updating for chip duration instead of the bit duration, and performs the adaptation for the different paths at the same time. The latter operation allows us to reduce the processing time by L, where L is the number of paths. When the channel is subject to rapid variations or under high mobility, the angles of arrival change significantly over some symbol intervals. To overcome these problems, the variable step size of the VOO algorithm, which follows power gradient variation, allows the tracking of such an adverse environment, while simultaneously tracking the maximum power.


The present thesis examines the growth of Bengali prose from its experimental beginnings with Carey to its growth into full literary stature in the hands of Vidyasagar. The subject is presented chronologically and covers roughly the first half of the 19th century. Prior to the 19th century there was no literary prose in Bengali. The period falls into certain clearly definable phases, the first phase begins in 1801. It seeds the cultivation of prose for the purpose of writing text-books and translations including the Biblical translations. This phase is associated with Serampore which was the headquarter of the Baptist Missionaries at the time and Fort William College where Carey worked as a teacher of Bengali and Sanskrit. The third and fourth phases belong to the newspaper which came into being in 1818 but there is an intervening phase which overlaps with the first and third and deals with the work of only one author, Rammohan Ray. The newspaper phases are divided into two because the first phase concerns the journalistic activities of many writers who are today unknown. Whereas the second phase of newspaper treats of journalists who are also writers of quality in their own right. The whole period from 1800 to roughly 1856 is the period of text books and of newspaper writing. Some authors wrote text books only, others were journalists but a number including the last and greatest Vidyasagar was both. The divisions into Chapters follows the phase framework outlined above. The first chapter sketches the history of Bengali literature prior to 1757, the social and literary conditions prevailing in Bengal during the 18th century, and the linguistic situation in Calcutta at the time the first experiments were being made in literary prose. It also presents a few specimens of the rudimentary prose prior to 19th century. The second chapter outlines the linguistic problems which confronted Carey and his colleagues. This chapter introduces the method of analysis which is applied to the work of individual authors in the later part of the thesis. The third, fourth and fifth chapters contain an analysis of the prose works produced by Carey, Ramram Basu, Mrityunjay respectively. The sixth chapter is devoted to Rammohan's contribution to the development of Bengali prose. The chapter seven treats of the beginnings of the newspaper and examines journalistic prose produced up to about 1830. The eighth chapter is devoted to the Sambad Prabhakar (1830) and treats particularly of the work of its editor Isvarcandra Gupta. The ninth chapter deals with the Tattvabodhini Patrika (1843). The works of its editor Aksay kumar Datta and of Debendranath, father of Rabindranath Tagore are examined in details. The final Chapter deals with the works of Isvarcandra Bandyopadhyay (popularly known as Vidyasagar) only. Contemporaries of Vidyasagar whose works belong to a later phase in the history of Bengali prose are omitted from the present examination. The analysis of prose presented in Chapters II to X treats of both their linguistic form and literary quality. The criteria adopted in the analysis are defined chapter by chapter as their application becomes relevant.


This article presents a cultural and critical study of 'proportionality review' as a legal knowledge format and practice. The setting for this study is German public law, and in particular a domain of German legal education that is rarely analyzed even in Germany: the classes and materials offered by Repetitoren. These are commercial providers that aim to prepare students for the all-important 'First Juridical Examination'. In this setting, proportionality is presented as a principle that matters, a doctrine that works, and a technique that jurists – lawyers, judges, but especially also law students – can learn to perform. Sustaining the sense that proportionality 'works', however, itself requires work, in particular in the form of largely invisible background constraints on what can count as suitable problems and appropriate solutions. In these processes of making proportionality into a 'doable' technical instrument, the German legal-constitutional order as a whole is presented as a feasible, achievable project. The article looks at how proportionality's success is produced and experienced, and at what its status as a foundational, near-ideal legal instrument means for the character of the German constitutional and legal imagination.


Small RNAs (sRNAs) play a crucial role in the regulation of bacterial gene expression by silencing the translation of target mRNAs. SgrS is an sRNA that relieves glucose-phosphate stress, or "sugar shock" in E. coli. The power of single cell measurements is their ability to obtain population level statistics that illustrate cell-to-cell variation. Here, we utilize single molecule super-resolution microscopy in single E. coli cells coupled with stochastic modeling to analyze glucose-phosphate stress regulation by SgrS. We present a kinetic model that captures the combined effects of transcriptional regulation, gene replication and chaperone mediated RNA silencing in the SgrS regulatory network. This more complete kinetic description, simulated stochastically, recapitulates experimentally observed cellular heterogeneity and characterizes the binding of SgrS to the chaperone protein Hfq as a slow process that not only stabilizes SgrS but also may be critical in restructuring the sRNA to facilitate association with its target ptsG mRNA.


The objective of this study was to determine Salmonella prevalence, antimicrobial-resistant phenotypes, and their genetic relatedness in frozen organic chicken collected at retail level in Turkey.,Retail packs (n = 348) of cut-up chicken parts (breast, leg quarter and drumstick) and whole chicken carcasses were purchased from a central hypermarket in Diyarbakir (Southeast Anatolia Region in Turkey) and from a large online retailer in Turkey. The retail packs were paired by part type, brand, production date, and sell-by date. The chicken samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp., and then isolates were screened for antibiotic susceptibility, class I integron, and genetic similarity.,Salmonella prevalence in retail frozen organic chicken samples was 6.3 percent; however, the prevalence by parts, leg quarter, drumstick, breast, and whole chicken was 2.1 percent, 10.4 percent, 10.4 percent, and 0 percent, respectively. Salmonella prevalence was significantly higher in samples obtained from the hypermarket (9.2 percent) compared to online retailer (3.8 percent). All the isolates were serotype Infantis, genetically similar (highly clonal), and 68.2 percent harbored class I integron. All isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (drug of choice to treat salmonellosis in human), and 86.3 percent of the isolates were multidrug-resistant.,Salmonella prevalence in organic chicken meat, regardless of the retail market source in Turkey, may pose a health risk to consumers especially with the high prevalence of multi-drug resistant phenotypes. Findings inform researchers and the public about the safety of organically produced chicken and the potential health risk to consumers.


The Prisoner's Dilemma is a simple model that captures the essential contradiction between individual rationality and global rationality. Although the one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma is usually viewed simple, in this paper we will categorize it into five different types. For the type-4 Prisoner's Dilemma game, we will propose a selfenforcing algorithmic model to help non-cooperative agents obtain Pareto-efficient payoffs. The algorithmic model is based on an algorithm using complex numbers and can work in macro applications.


We are characterizing atherosclerotic disease in patients and animal models using multiple MR images having different contrasts such as T1-weighted, T2-weigted, and proton density weighted. We use intravascular and surface array coils giving good signal sensitivity but significant inhomogeneity. Because multiple images are obtained, it is desirable to acquire images quickly, limiting the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In human carotid images, bias was corrected using a modified adaptive fuzzy c-mean method with a mechanical membrane model of the bias field [1]. Noise reduction filtering, background segmentation, outlier class identification, and signal normalization were all designed to address specific technical issues such as the noise, steepness of the sensitivity fall-off, and absence of signal near regions of interest due to fat suppression and blood flow compensation. In a synthetic image having a bias field measured from our MR system, variations across an area comparable to a carotid artery were reduced from 60% to < 5% with processing while the misclassification rate was kept below 4% even with a poor SNR of < 7. Human carotid images were qualitatively improved and large regions of skeletal muscle were quantitatively flattened and normalized for inter- and intra-subject variation. The method will facilitate interpretation of artery gray scales for manual plaque characterization and enable computerized plaque classification.


[Excerpt] Historically, the great majority of businesses in this industry have been small, and locally (often family) owned. Sometimes a skilled machinist leaves one firm to set up a new one, with a small bank loan and help from family savings. Some of these locally-owned companies are incorporated, for tax purposes, but the mode of management is essentially the same: personal (even paternalistic) and usually relatively informal. All across the United States, during the late 1960s, there was a wave of conglomerate acquisitions of precisely the most successful of these previously independent or small corporate operations. Giants like Gulf+Western, Textron, Genesco, Litton and a hundred others sent buyers into areas like New England and made offers that those small business owners could not refuse. Every sector of the economy was affected: not only metalworking, but also apparel, shoes, department stores, hotels. In the years following the acquisition, a definite pattern emerged.


Esophagectomy for cancer of the esophagus is increasingly performed using minimally invasive techniques. After the introduction of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) in the early 1990's, robotic-assisted techniques followed after the turn of the millennium. The advent of robotic platforms has allowed the development of robotic-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) over the past 15 years. Although recent trials have shown superior peri-operative morbidity and quality of life compared to open esophagectomy, no randomized trials have compared RAMIE to conventional MIE. This paper summarizes the current literature on RAMIE and provides an overview of expected future developments in robotic surgery.


Computational modeling is essential to understand how the complex dendritic structure and membrane properties of a neuron process input signals to generate output signals. Compartmental models describe how inputs, such as synaptic currents, affect a neuron's membrane potential and produce outputs, such as action potentials, by converting membrane properties into the components of an electrical circuit. The simplest such model consists of a single compartment with a leakage conductance which represents a neuron having spatially uniform membrane potential and a constant conductance summarizing the combined effect of every ion flowing across the neuron's membrane. The Hodgkin-Huxley model introduces two additional active channels; the sodium channel and the delayed rectifier potassium channel whose associated conductances change depending on the membrane potential and that are described by an additional set of three nonlinear differential equations. Since its conception in 1952, many kinds of active channels have been discovered with a variety of characteristics that can successfully be modeled within the same framework. As the membrane potential varies spatially in a neuron, the next refinement consists in describing a neuron as an electric cable to account for membrane potential attenuation and signal propagation along dendritic or axonal processes. A discrete version of the cable equation results in compartments with possibly different properties, such as different types of ion channels or spatially varying maximum conductances to model changes in channel densities. Branching neural processes such as dendrites can be modeled with the cable equation by considering the junctions of cables with different radii and electrical properties. Single neuron computational models are used to investigate a variety of topics and reveal insights that cannot be evidenced directly by experimental observation. Studies on action potential initiation and on synaptic integration provide prototypical examples illustrating why computational models are essential. Modeling action potential initiation constrains the localization and density of channels required to reproduce experimental observations, while modeling synaptic integration sheds light on the interaction between the morphological and physiological characteristics of dendrites. Finally, reduced compartmental models demonstrate how a simplified morphological structure supplemented by a small number of ion channel-related variables can provide clear explanations about complex intracellular membrane potential dynamics.


We show that the effectiveness of redistribution policy in stimulating the economy and improving welfare is directly tied to how much inflation it generates, which in turn hinges on monetary-fiscal adjustments that ultimately finance the transfers. We compare two distinct types of monetary-fiscal adjustments: In the monetary regime, the government eventually raises taxes to finance transfers, while in the fiscal regime, inflation rises, effectively imposing inflation taxes on public debt holders. We show analytically in a simple model how the fiscal regime generates larger and more persistent inflation than the monetary regime. In a quantitative application, we use a two-sector, two-agent New Keynesian model, situate the model economy in a COVID-19 recession, and quantify the effects of the transfer components of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. We find that the transfer multipliers are significantly larger under the fiscal regime—which results in a milder contraction—than under the monetary regime, primarily because inflationary pressures of this regime counteract the deflationary forces during the recession. Moreover, redistribution produces a Pareto improvement under the fiscal regime.


We present a method for acquiring ontological knowledge using search query logs. We first use query logs to identify important contexts associated with terms belonging to a semantic category; we then use these contexts to harvest new words belonging to this category. Our evaluation on selected categories indicates that the method works very well to help harvesting terms, achieving 85% to 95% accuracy in categorizing newly acquired terms.


: Gabon has one of the lowest fertility rates in Central Africa (116 children per 1,000 women); and ectopic pregnancy occurs in 1 per 62.5 live births. We have studied fertility following ectopic pregnancy with a 5 years follow-up in a cohort of 145 women treated for an ectopic pregnancy in the general hospital of Franceville, Gabon. 17% of these women had an intra uterine pregnancy, 10% had a repeat ectopic pregnancy and 73% were infertile 5 years after the ectopic pregnancy. We compared the fertile group and the infertile group after ectopic pregnancy: the main factors for fertility were the fertility of these women before the ectopic pregnancy and the staging of the Fallopian tube and pelvic cavity. Pelvic adhesions following pelvic inflammatory diseases were correlated with infertility. The main causative agent of infertility after ectopic pregnancy were sexual transmitted diseases and their sequelae and late diagnosis.


Despite a plethora of studies on purchasing power parity (PPP), those that take a cointegration approach have found mixed evidence on PPP. The goal of this article is to obviate existing tensions in the PPP literature by using a simple test for cointegration between nominal exchange rate and relative prices that accounts for multiple structural breaks. We find that for 14 out of 15 OECD countries, there is evidence of a cointegration relationship between nominal exchange rate and relative prices at the 5% level. Only for Japan, we find evidence for cointegration at the 2.5% level. These results suggest overwhelming evidence of support for PPP for the OECD countries.


Equine herpesviruses type 1 and 4 (EHV-1 and EHV-4) are ubiquitous in the equine population. One of their main properties is their ability to establish life-long latent infections in their hosts even in those with natural or vaccine-induced immunity. However, effect of vaccination status on prevalence and tissue tropism was not established. In this study, EHV-1 and EHV-4 were detected by polymerase chain reaction and by classical virus isolation from neural, epithelial and lymphoid tissues collected from unvaccinated (33) or vaccinated (23) horses. The percentage of EHV-1- and EHV-4-positive horses between vaccinates and unvaccinates was similar. Both viruses were detected in all tissues of both groups; in particular, lymph nodes draining the respiratory tract, nasal epithelium and nervous ganglia [i.e. trigeminal ganglia (TG)], which represent the main positive sites for EHV-1 and EHV-4. In vaccinated animals, the nervous ganglia (i.e. TG) were less frequently positive than in unvaccinated animals. Detection of positive TG was strongly correlated to the presence of EHV-1 in nasal epithelium.


Based on the hypothesis that states that the underlying cause of the crisis in the euro area is a combination of exchange-rate misalignments with uncoordinated wage policies, we explore different exchange-rate arrangements that may help to reduce imbalances between surplus and deficit countries. These alternative configurations of the eurozone, which imply abandoning the common currency to a greater or a lesser extent, are tested with a theoretical four-country stock-flow consistent model. We find that although the different alternatives of a multi-speed Europe vary in their stability and macroeconomic effects, in all cases they produce better results compared to the one that has been observed since the introduction of the euro.


It has been demonstrated previously that cannabinol (CBN) differentially modulates interleukin-2 (IL-2) protein secretion by T cells with a corresponding change in extracellular signal-regulated kinase activity. The objective of the present studies was to further investigate the molecular mechanism by which CBN enhances IL-2 gene expression using the EL4 T cell line. We demonstrate here that steady-state IL-2 mRNA expression was significantly enhanced by CBN in a concentration-dependent manner in EL4 cells activated with suboptimal concentrations of phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (2-10 nM). Concordantly, a marked increase was observed in nuclear factor of activated T cells (NF-AT) DNA binding activity to the IL-2 distal NF-AT site, but not to nuclear factor for immunoglobulin kappa chain in B cells or activator protein 1 motifs. Transient transfection of EL4 cells with a reporter gene under the control of multiple IL-2 distal NF-AT motifs exhibited increased transcriptional activity by CBN in suboptimally activated cells. In addition, the CBN-mediated enhancement of IL-2 protein secretion and the transcriptional activity of the IL-2 distal NF-AT reporter gene was abrogated by the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase inhibitor KN93, but not by the CB2 receptor antagonist SR144528. Enhancement of IL-2 was also demonstrated with CP55940, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, and cannabidiol, thus suggesting that the phenomenon is not unique to CBN. Collectively, these results suggest that increased IL-2 secretion by CBN is mediated through the enhancement of IL-2 gene transcription by activation of NF-AT in a CB1/CB2-independent manner.


The paper analyses a combined current model-voltage model estimator for flux linkages in permanent magnet synchronous machines, with the capability of converging to exact flux estimation even in presence of mismatches because of magnetic saturation. As a trend in next-generation electric drives, the whole algorithm, including both the flux estimator and the standard field-oriented control, has been implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip. Simulations and experimental tests, along with some figures for the FPGA selection, have been included in the study.


The Roberts Court has sought to clarify the constitutional norms governing personal jurisdiction so as to give defendants greater certainty in arranging their business affairs. The Court's effort has been guided by the implicit assumption that every personal jurisdiction case necessarily rises to the level of constitutional concern. But the only reason that most personal jurisdiction decisions raise constitutional concerns is because the vast majority of states maintain content-less long-arm statutes: in the complete absence of statutory norms, every instance of service of process poses a mini constitutional crisis. With no underlying statutory norms at issue, the Court's constitutional decisions have long been legislating personal jurisdiction rules instead of adjudicating the constitutionality of legislatively enacted rules.

The Court should fix this longstanding separation of powers problem by issuing a simple ruling: the Due Process Clause renders content-less long-arm statutes void for vagueness. That ruling would require state legislatures to enact laws specifying the situations in which service of process over non-residents was authorized. Personal jurisdiction litigation would then turn on statutory questions, with the Constitution held in reserve for particularly egregious power grabs. This approach would lead to differing outcomes in the two Ford Motor Company cases before the Court in the 2020-2021 Term: the Minnesota statute would fail for vagueness, while application of the Montana statute to Ford in the circumstances of that action would obviously not be so egregious as to rise to the level of a constitutional violation. One need not go so far as to say that the Due Process Clause has no role to play in the field of personal jurisdiction to appreciate that it should be cast in a supporting role far narrower than the leading part the Court has handed it for too long.


One decade ago, Bitcoin was introduced, becoming the first cryptocurrency and establishing the concept of "blockchain" as a distributed ledger. As of today, there are many different implementations of cryptocurrencies working over a blockchain, with different approaches and philosophies. However, many of them share one common feature: they require proof-of-work to support the generation of blocks (mining) and, eventually, the generation of money. This proof-of-work scheme often consists in the resolution of a cryptography problem, most commonly breaking a hash value, which can only be achieved through brute-force. The main drawback of proof-of-work is that it requires ridiculously large amounts of energy which do not have any useful outcome beyond supporting the currency. In this paper, we present a theoretical proposal that introduces a proof-of-useful-work scheme to support a cryptocurrency running over a blockchain, which we named Coin.AI. In this system, the mining scheme requires training deep learning models, and a block is only mined when the performance of such model exceeds a threshold. The distributed system allows for nodes to verify the models delivered by miners in an easy way (certainly much more efficiently than the mining process itself), determining when a block is to be generated. Additionally, this paper presents a proof-of-storage scheme for rewarding users that provide storage for the deep learning models, as well as a theoretical dissertation on how the mechanics of the system could be articulated with the ultimate goal of democratizing access to artificial intelligence.


Nowadays, massive amounts of point cloud data can be collected thanks to advances in data acquisition and processing technologies like dense image matching and airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanning. With the increase in volume and precision, point cloud data offers a useful source of information for natural resource management, urban planning, self-driving cars and more. At the same time, the scale at which point cloud data is produced, introduces management challenges: it is important to achieve efficiency both in terms of querying performance and space requirements. Traditional file-based solutions to point cloud management offer space efficiency, however, cannot scale to such massive data and provide the same declarative power as a database management system (DBMS). In this paper, we propose a time- and space-efficient solution to storing and managing point cloud data in main memory column-store DBMS. Our solution, Space-Filling Curve Dictionary-Based Compression (SFC-DBC), employs dictionary-based compression in the spatial data management domain and enhances it with indexing capabilities by using space-filling curves. It does so by constructing the space-filling curve over a compressed, artificially introduced 3D dictionary space. Consequently, SFC-DBC significantly optimizes query execution, and yet it does not require additional storage resources, compared to traditional dictionary-based compression. With respect to space-filling curve-based approaches, it minimizes storage footprint and increases resilience to skew. As a proof of concept, we develop and evaluate our approach as a research prototype in the context of SAP HANA. SFC-DBC outperforms other dictionary-based compression schemes by up to 61% in terms of space and up to 9.4x in terms of query performance.


A two-part multiple case study combining qualitatitive and quantitative data was conducted to explore the effects of reading disabilities in adults' lives. The main purpose of the study was to add to an understanding of the theoretical construct of Matthew Effects in reading which are hypothesized to be the result of deficits in phonological awareness (Stanovich, 1986). The relationship of phonological awareness to adult readers' decoding difficulties was examined. Finally, a comparison was made of the test scores of those with reading disabilities on four measures of phonological awareness and one test of word identification to the scores obtained on the same tests by a group of proficient readers. Interviews were conducted with 10 adult participants with reading disabilities using a semi-structured set of questions. The participants were students at a community college and had previously been assessed and tutored by the researcher in a learning assistance setting. For the purposes of this study, each participant was administered four measures of phonological awareness and one measure of word identification. In addition to their scores on these tests, participants' previous learning skills assessment results on the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery were also analyzed for further understanding of the participant's learning strengths and weaknesses. A second group of adults was selected who were presumed to be proficient readers because of their professional status and the implied reading demand in their respective fields. These participants were also administered the same tests as those given to the group of adults with reading disabilities. Negative effects of reading disabilities, or Matthew Effects, were identified in the participants' interview responses in relation to four areas of concern: self-concept, relationships, education and employment. Some positive effects were also noted, primarily in relation to participants' coping strategies, resilience, and persistence. Phonological awareness and word identification test scores were lower for the adults with reading disabilities compared to those who were proficient readers, particularly on the Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test, Part II (LAC Test) and the Wide Range Achievement Test in Reading (WRAT-Reading). Implications for various groups, institutions, and agencies are discussed, and recommendations are made for program development and further study.


SNOMED CT is a complex ontology; sophisticated browsers are required to make it understandable and useful. We identified 23 SNOMED CT browsers that have been developed, and inspected 17. We enumerate and provide test criteria for a 'master list' of 143 browsing features supported by at least one inspected browser; future work will determine which of these features are implemented by individual browsers. Only 5 features were common to all 17 browsers; 89 were found in less than one third of browsers. We recommend that a core set of browsing features be defined and harmonized across browsers, particularly for text-to-concept search operations.


Time-based strategies are established based on speedy product development that leads to a greater result from market. To overcome the ongoing uncertainties in the market, we could add more knowledge to the literature on market strategies and new product success by studying the relationship between innovation speed and product success under different conditions of technology uncertainty. This research is a cross-sectional quantitative survey research. A sampling frame of 101 biotech products was selected from small and medium Malaysian biotechnology enterprises and a self-administrated questionnaire was adopted from previous researches. Innovation speed is generally associated with new product success and technology uncertainty moderates this relation. Our findings indicate that innovation speed is less importance under low technology uncertainty for product success. Vice versa under high technology uncertainty, speedy development of a new product allows it to gain better results from the market and success the product. Based on the findings recommendations are forwarded, to biotech companies to develop and use the appropriate strategies.


In this article the relationship between music and language is first considered theoretically. Here the ideas and concepts are mainly derived from psychoanalytical theory as well as from its reformulations. A theory on the (early) forms of thinking is presented in which the author grounds the different types of meaning included both in music and language - without forgetting the unique features of them. Upon this, the differences and similarities between music therapy and psychotherapy are considered. It is suggested that instead of many unique characteristics of the therapies, the differences are not necessarily fundamental, and further, both of them have some advantages and shortcomings that can be associated with language - some way or another. After the theory part, the role of free improvisation in the music psychotherapy is considered. The author describes the process "from signs to symbols, from symbols to words" where improvisation in music psychotherapy process can play an important role. Here the role of improvisation analysis is emphasized. A specific "graphic notation" method, developed at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, is presented. Through an example, based on the utilization of this method, the author illustrates what kind of meanings it is possible to "extract" by aid of it. Some suggestions for the clinical interpretations are also made.


Abstract Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Reference standard method to diagnose PH is right heart catheterization. Several non-invasive imaging techniques have been employed in the detection of PH. Among them, computed tomography (CT) is the most commonly used for phenotyping and detecting complications of COPD. Several CT findings have also been described in patients with severe PH. Nevertheless, CT analysis is currently based on visual findings which can lead to reproducibility failure. Therefore, there is a need for quantification in order to assess objective criteria. In this review, progresses in automated analyses of CT parameters and their values in predicting PH and COPD outcomes are presented.


The objective of this study was to characterise the behaviour of cross laminated timber (CLT) panels and the influence of the panel lay-up on the failure strength. Three different panel configurations of thickness, 60 mm, 100 mm, and 120 mm, were loaded in the out-of-plane direction. The 60 mm and 120 mm panel configuration comprised three layers of equal thickness, and the intermediate 100 mm thick panel comprised five layers of equal thickness. The mean and characteristic bending and rolling shear strength of the panels were examined. The results show that the mean bending and rolling shear strength decrease with the panel thickness. The characteristic results have shown that there is an influence because of the number of boards within the panel. The characteristic bending strength values for the five-layer 100 mm thick panel were found to be higher than that of the three-layer 60 mm panel. The characteristic rolling shear values decreased in the five-layer panels, however, the increased number of layers subjected to the rolling shear results in a reduced variability in the rolling shear strength.


The intensities of macrophage inflammatory responses to bacterial components gradually decrease with age. Given that a reduced rate of protein synthesis is a common age-related biochemical change, which is partially mediated by increased phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor-2α (eIF-2α), we investigated the mechanism responsible for the deterioration of macrophage inflammatory responses, focusing specifically on the age-related biochemical changes in middle-aged mice. Peritoneal macrophages isolated from 2-month-old (young) and 12-month-old (middle-aged) male BALB/c mice were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Although LPS-stimulated secretion of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) by the macrophages from middle-aged mice was significantly lower than that from young mice, LPS caused marked increases in levels of TNF-α mRNA in macrophages from middle-aged as well as young mice. Moreover, LPS evoked similar levels of phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in young and middle-aged mice. In contrast, the basal level of phosphorylated eIF-2α in macrophages from middle-aged mice was higher than that in macrophages from young mice. Salubrinal, an inhibitor of the phosphatase activity that dephosphorylates eIF-2α, suppressed the LPS-stimulated inflammatory responses in a murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7. These results suggest that posttranscriptional suppression of macrophage inflammatory responses during middle age requires phosphorylation of eIF-2α.


Kevin and Sadie just want to be together, but it's not that simple. Things are bad in Belfast. Soldiers walk the streets and the city is divided. No Catholic boy and Protestant girl can go out together - not without dangerous consequences...This is the second of Joan Lingard's ground-breaking Kevin and Sadie books.


Geographical distribution patterns of Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, and Arctic cod, Boreogadus saida, have altered during the last decades to large amounts, driven mainly by warming of water masses. Projections of increasing habitat temperature as well as PCO2 concentrations may lead to stronger adverse effects to their abundance in the future. In general, a species' fitness at a certain condition could best be monitored through the physiological parameter growth. However, as this fitness parameter is a sum of net free energy, a basic understanding of what process may ultimately limit a species' performance remains obscure. Within our study we aim to characterize the molecular basis through gene expression patterns that become effective at optimum conditions or critical limits. Farther, we aim to identify gene networks that may contribute to a species robustness or sensitivity. To this end we set up the basis for comparative gene expression analyses by sequencing normalized transcriptomic cDNA libraries for both species. In total, we determined 11,901 orthologous sequences constituting a segment of a shared core-transcriptom. In addition, we found unique sequences that may be responsible for species' specific varying phenotypic plasticity. Based on all sequences we will build a microarray to analyse transcriptomic patterns under different temperatures and PCO2 concentrations. By combining gene expression data with physiological parameters we want to provide a comprehensive view on molecular mechanisms that shape species' vulnerability.


Conditional Mutual Information (CMI) is a measure of conditional dependence between random variables X and Y, given another random variable Z. It can be used to quantify conditional dependence among variables in many data-driven inference problems such as graphical models, causal learning, feature selection and time-series analysis. While k-nearest neighbor (kNN) based estimators as well as kernel-based methods have been widely used for CMI estimation, they suffer severely from the curse of dimensionality. In this paper, we leverage advances in classifiers and generative models to design methods for CMI estimation. Specifically, we introduce an estimator for KL-Divergence based on the likelihood ratio by training a classifier to distinguish the observed joint distribution from the product distribution. We then show how to construct several CMI estimators using this basic divergence estimator by drawing ideas from conditional generative models. We demonstrate that the estimates from our proposed approaches do not degrade in performance with increasing dimension and obtain significant improvement over the widely used KSG estimator. Finally, as an application of accurate CMI estimation, we use our best estimator for conditional independence testing and achieve superior performance than the state-of-the-art tester on both simulated and real data-sets.


This article asks how return migration intentions are shaped by ties to the country of residence on the one hand, and ties to the country of origin on the other. We discuss these two sets of ties in terms of immigrant integration and transnationalism, respectively. A central tenet of the study is that, at the individual level, integration and transnationalism are neither related in a predictable way nor independent of each other. In our analysis we take methodological steps that reflect this argument, and introduce an integration–transnationalism matrix. In the empirical analysis we use quantitative survey data (N = 3,053) on ten large immigrant groups in Norway, collected by Statistics Norway in 2005–06. We find that it is the relative strength of integration and transnationalism that is decisive for return migration intentions.


Patients with symptoms of depression reported a 5.2 "2,1 on the ladder of life (ts5.6, p-0.01), compared to 7.2"3.4 in patients without symptoms of depression. Depression was not related to age but was related to gender (rs0.16, p-0.05). Conclusions: Quality of life and depression are related in patients with HF. Depression has an impact on physical as well as on mental well being of patients with heart failure.


FIBROUS dysplasia is a benign tumor which may involve one, several or many bones. The osseous lesion is basically composed of fibrous connective tissue, throughout which are scattered irregularly shaped trabeculae of primitive bone. This name was first suggested by Louis Lichtenstein1in 1938 in an attempt to clarify the existing confusion regarding fibro-osseous disease. Previous to this time as many as thirty-three different titles had been used to describe this entity. Among the commonest are osteitis fibrosa, giant cell tumor, ossifying fibroma, fibrosarcoma, osteodystrophy, osteoid osteoma, fibroma, fibroseptic disease of bone and a form of von Recklinghausen's disease of bone. From the numerous titles used to describe fibrous dysplasia, it is readily seen that this lesion is not a rarity; however, owing to the comparatively recent recognition of this disease entity, many clinicians are relatively unfamiliar with it. This fact, as well as the fact that only 9


Batu City is one of the tourist cities in Indonesia that has many tourist destinations, so a POSE strategy is needed to promote Batu City tourist destinations. The management of promotional activities is carried out by stakeholders and the Batu City Tourism Office as direct actors who develop and promote tourist destinations. The concepts used are tourism, strategy, marketing, and promotional media. The method used in this research is qualitative, supported by data sources from observations, interviews and literature study. The results of this study indicate that the POSE strategy is carried out through P (paid media), namely, Agropolitan TV (Local TV), Magazines and billboards, O (own media) through the Official Website (www.batukota.go.id), among applications city, calendar of events, while S (social media) via TikTok, YouTube, blog and Instagram. and E (Endoser), namely Tourism Ambassador. The name of the Tourism Ambassador used is Kangmas Nimas Batu City. POSE is carried out in order to promote tourist destinations in Batu City, each party always collaborates and integrates to achieve the same goals, namely to make Batu City a tourism city that can bring in domestic tourists and also foreign tourists. Suggestions for the future always use a new promotional media strategy in order to achieve the goal of developing Batu City tourism in a sustainable manner. Keywords : Implementation, Strategy, Marketing, Media Promotion, POSE


The current status of radiation protection in Canada has been summarized in the present paper, the first of a three-part series. Particular emphasis has been placed on the role of the Radiation Protection Division of the Department of National Health and Welfare. Somatic and hereditary effects of radiation exposure are briefly discussed as a basis for an understanding of the radiation protection standards which have been developed at national and international levels. The rapid increase in use of radioactive materials and x-ray apparatus in medicine, industry and research, and the extensive atmosphere testing of nuclear weapons have led to the development of comprehensive radiation protection activities in Canada, especially in the Department of National Health and Welfare. Well-established lines of communication and liaison exist among the various agencies responsible for these activities.


ABSTRACT Aim: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of endogenous glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) on lipid profile in mice fed a standard diet (STD) or a high-fat diet (HFD). Materials and methods: HFD- and age-matched STD mice were injected once a day with GLP-2 (3–33), a GLP-2 receptor (GLP-2R) antagonist, or vehicle for 4 weeks. Results: HFD mice displayed increased intrahepatic lipid concentration and hepatic steatosis and higher plasma concentrations of cholesterol, LDL, AST, and ALT than STD mice. No difference was observed in lipid fecal elimination. In STD mice, the chronic treatment with GLP-2 (3–33) did not affect any parameter, while in HFD mice, it enhanced plasma triglycerides, cholesterol, ALT, and AST and reduced HDL, it increased intrahepatic lipid concentration, and it worsened the hepatic steatosis degree, without affecting lipid fecal elimination. Conclusions: The present results suggest that GLP-2R antagonism worsens lipid disorders in HFD mice, and endogenous GLP-2 might even exert a defensive role against lipid imbalance.


Evidence exists which supports the hypothesis that electrical stimulation of appropriate parameters can fulfil the fundamental requirements for an effective evoked potential taste stimulus. Nevertheless, it had previously been considered that electrical taste stimulation is inadequate for evoking gustatory brain potentials. Consequently, the majority of the earlier attempts to record gustatory evoked potentials (GEPs) reported in the literature have employed chemical stimulus techniques. The design of an electrical taste stimulator and its interface to an evoked potential recording unit is described. The first human brain potentials recorded with this system are presented, among which are those attributable to taste pathway activation. Following future work to unequivocally confirm that taste evoked brain potentials are achievable with this system, it has potential to become a clinically valuable tool.


ABSTRACT:  This paper examines whether financial statement information can predict future realized equity volatility incremental to market-based equity volatility forecasts. I use an analytical framework to identify accounting-based drivers of realized volatility. My main hypothesis is that accounting-based drivers can be used to forecast future realized volatility incremental to either past realized volatility or option-implied volatility. I confirm this empirically and document abnormal returns to an option-based trading strategy that takes a long (short) position in firms with financial statement information indicative of high (low) future realized volatility. These results suggest that accounting-based volatility drivers may serve as useful indicators of variance risk. Finally, I demonstrate that the incorporation of accounting-based fundamental information into forecasting models yields lower forecast errors relative to models based solely on past realized volatility.


Embryonic stem cells (ESC) have unlimited potential in the field of biological sciences
and regenerative medicine due to their pluripotency and ability to self-renew
indefinitely. With the goal to establish, isolate and culture murine (mESC) as well as
caprine (gESC) embryonic stem cells, in vivo- and in vitro-derived blastocysts were
used as a source in producing mESC and gESC lines. Both mESC and gESC were
cultured in vitro using mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) as feeder cell layer in this
study. The aims of this study were: a) to compare the effects of murine strain, blastocyst
stage and inner cell mass (ICM) isolation techniques on the efficiency of deriving
murine embryonic stem cell (mESC) lines in murine species and b) to compare the
effects of in vivo- and in vitro-derived blastocyst sources as well as to establish effective
technologies to isolate and culture ESC in caprine species. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts
(MEF) were derived from murine foetuses (13.5 to 14.0 d.p.c.), cultured up to Passage 2
(P2), cryopreserved and thawed at each passage to be used as feeder cell layer for
mESC and gESC cultures. In order to obtain the blastocyst sources for production of
mESC and gESC lines, somatic cell nuclear transfer (in vitro) and in vivo flushing were
carried out in this study. For isolation of the inner cell mass (ICM) from blastocyst,
whole blastocyst culture, manual cut and laser dissection were compared among
respective treatment groups to derive mESC and gESC lines. In murine, a total of 71
(ICR), 38 (CBA/ca), 22 (C57BL/6J) mESC lines were produced from 971, 758 and 709
murine blastocysts, respectively. Five blastocyst stages were cultured on the MEF with
3 ICM isolation techniques. ICM outgrowths were disaggregated by trypsin/EDTA
(0.05%) and manual dissociation, cultured on new inactivated MEF in CO2 (5%)
incubator at 37oC. The attachment, primary ICM outgrowth and successful consecutive
passages rates up to P3 were compared among the murine strains, blastocyst stages and
iv
ICM isolation techniques. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in successful
passage rate at P3 between CBA/ca with ICR and C57BL/6J (19.81% vs. 9.00% and
8.50%), respectively, also mESC at Passage 1 (P1) for mid-, expanded- and hatching
blastocyst stages versus early- and hatched blastocyst (45.35%, 52.79% and 43.01% vs.
27.88% and 24.53%), respectively. Manual cut ICM isolation technique consistently
gave the highest attachment, primary ICM outgrowth and successful mESC P2 and P3
rates compared with whole blastocyst culture and laser dissection techniques (78.03%
vs. 66.52% and 71.06%; 78.35% vs. 75.32% and 75.67%; 52.06% vs. 41.62% and
45.06%; 36.52% vs. 25.77% and 30.49%), respectively. In summary, the CBA/ca strain,
expanded blastocyst stage and manual cut for ICM isolation techniques showed the
optimal outcomes obtained in production of mESC lines. A total of 156 and 13 caprine
blastocysts were obtained from in vitro- and in vivo-derived blastocyst, respectively.
The in vivo-derived blastocsyts gave significant difference in production gESC lines at
P3 compared with in vitro-derived blastocysts (91.67% vs. 20.83%). The caprine ICM
outgrowths for gESC production were then disaggregated by trypsin/EDTA (0.05%)
and manual dissociation and cultured on new inactivated MEF feeder cell layer in CO2
(5%) incubator at 37oC. Manual cut for ICM isolation technique consistently gave the
highest successful rates of gESC in P1 and P3 compared with whole blastocyst culture
and laser dissection technique (71.28% vs. 39.58% and 43.89%; 35.04% vs. 12.50%
and 23.33%), respectively. The mESC and gESC were stained to evaluate the
expression of alkaline phosphates (AP) and positive results confirming the pluripotency
of mESC and gESC were obtained. The ICM outgrowths for mESC were also
characterised for Oct 4 and SSEA 1, whereas ICM outgrowths for gESC were
characterised using Oct 4 and SSEA 3 and positive results were detected. It is
concluded that ICM cells could be isolated from in vivo- and in vitro-derived murine
and caprine blastocysts using whole blastocysts culture, manual cut and laser dissection
v
techniques and subsequently cultured to produce mESC and gESC lines as confirmed
by positive expression of AP, Oct 4, SSEA 1 and SSEA 3. It is hoped that the findings
obtained from this research will provide the fundamental information for future studies
regarding establishment of ESC and MEF cell lines that can be potentially applied to
overcome issues in livestock production, wildlife conservation and human regenerative
medicine.


The optimality of the Earliest Deadline First scheduler for uniprocessor systems is one of the main reasons behind the popularity of this algorithm among real-time systems. The ability of fully utilizing the computational power of a processing unit however requires the possibility of preempting a task before its completion. When preemptions are disabled, the schedulability overhead could be significant, leading to deadline misses even at system utilizations close to zero. On the other hand, each preemption causes an increase in the runtime overhead due to the operations executed during a context switch and the negative cache effects resulting from interleaving tasks' executions. These factors have been often neglected in previous theoretical works, ignoring the cost of preemption in real applications. A hybrid limited-preemption real-time scheduling algorithm is derived here, that aims to have low runtime overhead while scheduling all systems that can be scheduled by fully preemptive algorithms. This hybrid algorithm permits preemption where necessary for maintaining feasibility, but attempts to avoid unnecessary preemptions during runtime. The positive effects of this approach are not limited to a reduced runtime overhead, but will be extended as well to a simplified handling of shared resources.


Magnesite is a primary source of magnesium and its compounds. The major problem in its practical use are the impurities such as silicon, iron and calcium carbonate. Some magnesite ores in Turkey cannot be used due to a high amount of CaCO3 (≥3%). In this study, bacterial isolates from magnesite quarries in Mersin were tested by plate assay for their ability to decalcify magnesite. A bacterial strain producing the largest clear zones in the plate assay was identified as Pseudomonas oryzihabitans by 16S rDNA-PCR and applied to magnesite ore. It was found to be effective in decalcifying magnesite ore without significant concurrent dissolution of the magnesium carbonate.