Under normal conditions, the immune system is capable of rapidly detecting and eliminating potentially dangerous entities, including tumor cells. Due to intense selection pressure imposed by the immune response, tumor cells often evolve strategies to avoid elimination in a process known as immunoediting. It is less known how the evolutionary response to immune predation is altered by context. We explore the evolution of immune escape strategies in ductal cancers, a natural case in which to study evolution in different contexts: inside and outside of ducts. We highlight the role of macrophages as a source of "public goods," releasing diffusible factors (reactive oxygen species and growth factors). Immunohistochemistry reveals differences between macrophage densities of invasive ductal carcinomas and non-invasive ductal carcinomas in situ. For the first time, immunohistochemistry (IHC) imaging data comparing DCIS to IDC were used to initialize mechanistic agent-based models of evolutionary dynamics. By using IHC to map the initial conditions of a growing tumor, we show that spatial competition and structure influence transient dynamics during invasion. These dynamics are context-dependent, a conclusion that may be missed from interpreting imaging or non-spatial modeling alone. Before invasion, the presence of macrophages correlate with shorter ductal breach times. After invasion, tumors may employ a "pioneer-engineer" strategy where pioneering immunoresistant cells on the tumor's edge stimulate the release of M1-macrophage-derived reactive oxygen species, degrading surrounding stroma. Behind the invasive edge, the engineering immunosuppressive cells promote the release of M2-macrophage-derived growth factors, providing a long-term immune escape strategy. Together, mathematical modeling and image analysis highlight the crucial role tumor-associated macrophages play in immune escape and invasion, both inside and outside of ducts.


The geochemical signature of freshwater streams can be used to determine the extent and nature of modification to stream water geochemistry due to urban development. This approach used the Gibbs (1970) diagram as a model for evaluation of changes to ionic composition linked to urban development. In this multi-year study, the geochemistry of 21 waterways in the Georges River catchment, Sydney, were monitored and compared with the level of urban development as measured by sub-catchment imperviousness and directly connected imperviousness. The results reflect a strong relationship between the intensity of sub-catchment urban development and stream geochemistry. All major geochemical attributes increased with escalating levels of urban development. The largest increase was for bicarbonate, which increased 18 times from a mean of 6.4 mg L–1 at non-urban streams to a mean of 118 mg L–1 at urban streams. Similarly, mean concentrations of calcium increased by 14 times (from 2 to 27.9 mg L–1). Mean salinity was enriched in the most urban streams, compared with non-urban streams, by more than 6 times. We attribute this, in part, to the influence of urban geology, notably concrete stormwater infrastructure. Changes in stream geochemistry due to urban development are an important element of the urban stream syndrome.


ABSTRACT Wildman RA, Forde NA. 2016. Effect of a moderate-size reservoir on transport of trace elements in a watershed. Lake Reserve Manage. 32:353–365. We assessed the extent to which Grand Lake, Oklahoma (>30 m deep, >80 km long), retains Fe, Mn, P, As, Zn, Pb, and Cd. Filtered water samples and suspended sediment samples were collected upstream of, within, and downstream of the reservoir. We then estimated instantaneous, seasonal, elemental fluxes. In winter and spring, when storms brought high flows to the reservoir, Grand Lake modified flood water minimally. During these seasons, trace element distributions were determined by the passage of storm inflows through the reservoir. In summer, Fe, Mn, P, and As were enriched in anoxic bottom water and exported through the dam, which draws water from below the surface mixed layer. Concentrations of aqueous elements in the water column were lower following autumn overturn, perhaps due to precipitation of metal oxides and settling. Unlike Fe, Zn was retained in Grand Lake during all seasons. Concentrations of Cd and Pb in filtered samples were often below our detection limit. Logistic regression indicated that Zn predicted detectable Cd, and so Grand Lake probably sequesters Cd. Sequestration of Pb was unclear because detectable Pb was predicted by both Zn and Fe. This study shows that watershed hydrology determines the transport of trace elements through a reservoir during times of high flow but that vertical circulation and biogeochemistry dominate during summertime and autumn low flows. Understanding these mechanisms can aid reservoir managers who seek to reduce downstream loads of trace elements.


Recent evidence suggests that arcobacters, especially Arcobacter butzleri, are potential foodborne pathogens, but standardized detection methods have yet to be established. A study was undertaken to determine which of three isolation methods was the most effective for the isolation of Arcobacter spp. from fresh raw poultry. Methods 1 was microaerobic and involved a membrane filtration step followed by plating onto blood agar. Method 2 was also microaerobic and involved enrichment and plating media containing a five-antibiotic cocktail. Method 3 was aerobic and was based on enrichment in a charcoal-based broth containing two antibiotics. Retail poultry samples (n = 50) were obtained from supermarkets in Northern Ireland; the European Community license number was recorded to ensure sample diversity. Presumptive arcobacters were identified using genus-specific and species-specific primers. Methods 1 resulted in the lowest recovery of arcobacters (28% of samples positive). The detection rate for method 2 (68%) was higher than that for method 3 (50%), but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). Modification of method 3 by plating the enrichment broth at 24 h, as well as at 48 h, increased recovery to 68%. Use of methods 2 and 3 together increased the number of positive samples detected by approximately 25% compared with use of either method alone. A. butzleri was the most commonly isolated species using all methods. Method 3 detected Arcobacter cryaerophilus in more samples (n = 3) than did method 1 and 2 (n = 1). Arcobacter skirrowii was detected by only method 3 (n = 1). In terms of sensitivity, ease of use, and diversity of species recovered, modified method 3 was the overall method of choice.


Ionic liquids (ILs) are chemical substances with good solubility and low vapor pressure because they are ionized and therefore charged. ILs may damage ecosystem due to their good water solubility. Toxicological studies for individual ILs. Major constraint in ILs ecotoxicology is that risk cannot be quantified by risk quotient methods because of unavailability of exposure assessment data. At present, only limited information is available about the impacts of ILs to aquatic ecosystems. The main objective of the current work is to use statistical methods to available literature on acute toxicity data of ILs to assess potential ecotoxicological risks when the ILs do come into industrial use. Probabilistic ecotoxicological risk assessment (PETRA) method was adopted by using Chemical Toxicity Distributions (CTDs) and Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSDs). SSDs has been used to derive threshold values below which the ecosystem and its biotic components could be protected from the adverse effect of ILs. CTDs has been used to estimate the probability of finding ILs with an effect below a calculated concentration which is considered to be safe environmental concentration. Acute toxicity data were collected from the literature on the acute toxicity of four bacterial pathogens Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. CTD method was applied to assess the distribution of toxicities of group of IL to individual species. The SSD method was applied to estimate guideline values (GVs) to estimate different level of protection of bacterial species from ILs. Imidazolium chloride and bromide ILs were reported to pose more than 5 % risk towards bacteria. Out of the four bacterial strains, E coli was reported to be potentially at higher risk because of highest sensitivity when exposed towards ILs. The risk posed was five percent which is acceptable level of risk.


The use of digitonin to permeabilize the plasma membrane of Trypanosoma brucei procyclic and bloodstream trypomastigotes allowed the identification of a non-mitochondrial nigericin-sensitive Ca2+ compartment. The proton ionophore carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP) was able to cause Ca2+ release from this compartment, which was also sensitive to sodium orthovanadate. Preincubation of the cells with the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1 greatly reduced the nigericin-sensitive Ca2+ compartment. Bafilomycin A1 inhibited the initial rate of ATP-dependent non-mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and stimulated the initial rate of nigericin-induced Ca2+ release by permeabilized procyclic trypomastigotes. ATP-dependent and bafilomycin A1- and 7-chloro-4-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl)-sensitive Acridine Orange uptake was demonstrated in permeabilized cells. Under these conditions Acridine Orange was concentrated in abundant cytoplasmic round vacuoles by a process inhibited by bafilomycin A1, NBD-Cl, nigericin, and Ca2+. Vanadate or EGTA significantly increased Acridine Orange uptake, while Ca2+ released Acridine Orange from these preparations, thus suggesting that the dye and Ca2+ were being accumulated in the same acidic vacuole. Acridine Orange uptake was reversed by nigericin, bafilomycin A1 and NH4Cl. The results are consistent with the presence of a Ca2+/H(+)-ATPase system pumping Ca2+ into an acidic vacuole, that we tentatively named the acidocalcisome.


The long-term corrosion resistances for the carbon steels have been investigated under high temperature pressurized water atmosphere, in the conjunction with the analysis of nondestructive properties by the ultrasonic wave. The corrosion test for carbon steels was carried out at the temperature of 200 °C under a water pressure of 10 MPa. The corrosion test cycles for carbon steels were changed up to 65 weeks. The mechanical properties of carbon steel suffered from the corrosion cycle were investigated by a tensile test, attaching an acoustic emission sensor on the test sample. The tensile strength of carbon steels greatly decreased beyond the corrosion cycle of 35 weeks, accompanying the increase of weight loss by the creation of corrosion damages. The attenuation coefficient of carbon steels by the ultrasonic wave increased with the increase of corrosion cycles.


Cochlear implant (CI) recipients report severe degradation of speech understanding under noisy conditions. Most CI recipients typically can require about 10-25 dB higher signal-to-noise ratio than normal hearing (NH) listeners in order to achieve similar speech understanding performance. In recent years, significant emphasis has been put on binaural algorithms, which not only make use of the head shadow effect, but also have two or more microphone signals at their disposal to generate binaural inputs. Most of the CI recipients today are unilaterally implanted but they can still benefit from the binaural processing utilizing a contralateral microphone. The phase error filtering (PEF) algorithm tries to minimize the phase error variance utilizing a time-frequency mask for noise reduction. Potential improvement in speech intelligibility offered by the algorithm is evaluated with four different kinds of mask functions. The study reveals that the PEF algorithm which uses a contralateral microphone but unilateral presentation provides considerable improvement in intelligibility for both NH and CI subjects. Further, preference rating test suggests that CI subjects can tolerate higher levels of distortions than NH subjects, and therefore, more aggressive noise reduction for CI recipients is possible.


Scheduling parallel and distributed applications efficiently onto grid environments is a difficult task and a great variety of scheduling heuristics has been developed aiming to address this issue. A successful grid resource allocation depends, among other things, on the quality of the available information about software artifacts and grid resources. In this article, we propose a semantic approach to integrate selection of equivalent resources and selection of equivalent software artifacts to improve the scheduling of resources suitable for a given set of application execution requirements. We also describe a prototype implementation of our approach based on the Integrade grid middleware and experimental results that illustrate its benefits. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In the early 1990s, nearly forty years after Brown v. the Board of Education, three Supreme Court decisions dramatically altered the legal environment for court-ordered desegregation. Lower courts have released numerous school districts from their desegregation plans as a result. Over the same period racial segregation increased in public schools across the country -- a phenomenon which has been termed resegregation. Using a unique dataset, this paper finds that dismissal of a court-ordered desegregation plan results in a gradual, moderate increase in racial segregation and an increase in black dropout rates and black private school attendance. The increased dropout rates and private school attendance are experienced only by districts located outside of the South Census region. There is no evidence of an effect on white student along any dimension.


Fake news, disinformation campaigns, upload filters or even election recommendation apps are no new phenomena. However, the use of AI systems increases their efficiency and significance. In addition, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) does often not meet the transparency requirements of a democratic public and machine action increasingly replaces human action. The discussion about AI is therefore intense and occasionally takes on a "hype character", oscillating between two extremes: far-reaching hopes for better systems on the one hand and diverse fears such as loss of control, surveillance, dependency and discrimination on the other. The debate's "hype character" can be observed in the relationship between democracy and AI – especially with regard to individual opinion-forming in the context of elections.


This study aims to determine the effect of a university elective course focusing on gender on students' gender attitudes, critical thinking dispositions, and media literacy skills. The research design was quasi-experimental, and the study was conducted with a pretest/posttest control group. The sample of the study consisted of 74 students who took a course on gender during the fall semester of the 2016-2017 academic year and 70 students who had similar characteristics but did not receive the course. In the pretest and posttest evaluation conducted in the first week and the last week of the semester, respectively, the Student Information Form, the Gender Roles Attitude Scale (GRAS), the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS), and the Media Literacy Scale (MLS) were administered to the students in both groups. The Course Satisfaction Assessment Form was administered at the end of the term to the students who enrolled for the gender course. The GRAS scores of the experimental group increased at the end of the course (p<0.05). The GRAS total mean scores of both the groups were similar in the pretest, but there was a statistically significant difference between their total mean scores in the posttest (p<0.05). This study recommends more comprehensive and long-term studies on integrating a gender course into the university curriculum, which will help develop students' critical thinking disposition and media literacy skills and raise awareness of gender equality among students.


Treatment results were analyzed in 197 patients with pancreonecrosis. After admission to hospital their clinical course was predicted as non-severe according to APACHE II score (less than 8 points). It is estimated that body temperature lower than 36.6 degrees C, marked abdominal swelling, level of consciousness less that 15 points according to Glasgo scale, leukocytosis higher than 18.109, lymphopenia less than 18%, hypoproteinemia less than 60g/l and presence of portal hypertension are risk factors for lethal outcome in patients with predictable mild clinical course of necrotic pancreatitis. Authors suggest that patients with initially mild clinical course of pancreonecrosis in presence of risk factors must receive the same treatment as patients in poor state.


Background: Asteraceae family contains several cytotoxic compounds bearing genus. Cousinia genus is included in the Asteraceae; it has not been studied phytochemically in detail. Objective: In this study, chemical compositions of four Cousinia species (Cousinia davisiana [CD], Cousinia foliosa, Cousinia ramosissima, and Cousinia stenocephala [CS]) were evaluated according to their cytotoxic and antioxidant effects using bioactivity-guided isolation. Materials and Methods: The cytotoxic effect was investigated with Sulphorhodamine B method against Colo205 (human colon carcinoma), A549 (human non-small cell lung cancer) cell lines, and antioxidant activity tested with 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2'-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid scavenging tests, and β-carotene/linoleic acid co-oxidation test. Purified compounds were elucidated by one-dimensional and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopic techniques. The quantitative and qualitative determination of unpurified compounds within the extracts was carried out by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry. Results: CS methanol extract, dichloromethane subextract, and FR-3 showed more cytotoxicity; isolated compound (ψ-taraxasterol) showed no cytotoxic activity. CD methanol extract and n-butanol subextract showed significant antioxidant activity. Conclusion: This is the first report that these phytochemical compounds were identified in Cousinia genus, and it is thought that these compounds could contribute to the chemotaxonomy of the genus.


The effects of calcium concentrations in the growth medium on oxalate content of leaf blades, petioles and corms and the involvement of guttation in the regulation of oxalate homeostasis were investigated in eddo (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. antiquorum Hubbard & Rehder). The plants were grown hydroponically in solutions containing 0 mM calcium, 1 mM calcium nitrate (control), 15 mM calcium nitrate or 15 mM calcium chloride. Total oxalate content (soluble plus insoluble) of leaf blades, petioles and corms did not differ with the calcium concentration in solutions containing 1 mM or 15 mM calcium nitrate or 0 mM calcium. The soluble oxalate content of these parts decreased as the calcium concentration of the solution was increased. Solutions containing 15 mM calcium nitrate or 15 mM calcium chloride gave a significantly lower proportion of soluble oxalate content to total oxalate content in each part, especially in leaf blades than 0 mM calcium or 1 mM calcium nitrate. In contrast, a positive correlation was found between insoluble oxalate content and calcium concentration in the solution. These results demonstrate that high calcium concentrations in the growth medium reduce soluble oxalate content of the plant. Soluble oxalate was detected in eddo guttation fluid. Soluble oxalate content in this fluid (mg mL−1) and the amount of soluble oxalate exuded by guttation (mg leaf−1 night−1) were significantly lower in the solutions containing 15 mM calcium than in those containing 0 mM and 1 mM calcium. These results indicate that guttation may affect the concentration of soluble oxalate in the plant bodies although not strongly contributing to a decrease in soluble oxalate content in eddo grown under high calcium conditions.


Self-assembled amphiphile systems are utilized in a wide variety of applications including drug delivery and energy storage. Nano-scale physical and chemical interactions govern the packing of self-assembled amphiphilic molecules, resulting in thermodynamically stable phases of defined geometries. Possible phases include micellar, hexagonal, cubic, lamellar and sponge phases. The internal nano-structure of the amphiphile self-assembly materials plays an important role in the properties of these systems and their application. To date small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) has been the most common technique used to characterise their structure. We explore positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) as an alternative and/or complementary technique for this purpose, using the phytantriol/water system. While PALS is a well established technique for characterising many materials, the coexistence of aqueous and hydrophobic regions in a soft self-assembled amphiphile material poses a challenge to the analysis and interpretation of the results. In order to alleviate these difficulties we developed a computer program for general-purpose PALS data analysis called PAScual. Amongst the most salient features of this new code are the possibility to perform bounded fits and the option of using advanced algorithms to provide a more robust and unbiased fit: on the one hand, it incorporates a global nonlinear optimisation routine based on the Simulated Annealing algorithm and, on the other hand it gives information on the reliability of the results by means of a Markov Chain Monte-Carlo Bayesian Inference method. In this work we present the newly developed PALS data analysis techniques as well as the results for the phytantriol/water system, comparing them with additional data obtained from complementary techniques.


The aim of this study was to evaluate of concentrations of nitrate, ammonium and nitrite nitrogen in the water of National Nature Reserve Cicov oxbow during the years 2010 – 2013. The average concentration of nitrate nitrogen in water of National Nature Reserve during the whole monitored period was 3.42 mg*dm-3. Maximum average concentration for the whole monitored period in the month of March and minimum in the month of November was found. Depending on the sampling sites it's the highest average concentrations were recorded in the first side distributary and the sampling place located in the northeastern part of the national nature reserve. Minimum average concentrations of N-NO3- were recorded at sampling sites located in the first and second side distributary of reservation with the low water level. The average concentration of ammonia nitrogen during the whole monitored period was 0.15 mg*dm-3. The highest average concentrations of N-NH4+ for the entire period were in summer period with maximum in month of June and minimum in month of February. Depending on the sampling place its highest average concentrations were in the sampling points located near the mouth of the Ciližsky channel in the northeastern part of reserve. The lowest average concentrations in the sampling point that was located at the first side distributary were measured. The average concentration of nitrite nitrogen during the whole monitored period represented 0.04 mg*dm-3. The lowest average concentration of N-NO2- for the entire monitored period was in month of January and the highest was in month of July. In terms of sampling place in all sampling sites during the entire period the same average concentration of nitrite nitrogen (0.04 mg*dm-3) was measured.


The photocatalytic oxidation of water with molecular or polymeric N-heterocyclic chromophores is a topic of high current interest in the context of artificial photosynthesis, that is, the conversion of solar energy to clean fuels. Hydrogen-bonded clusters of N-heterocycles with water molecules in a molecular beam are simple model systems for which the basic mechanisms of photochemical water oxidation can be studied under well-defined conditions. In this work, we explored the photoinduced H-atom transfer reaction in pyrimidine-water clusters yielding pyrimidinyl and hydroxyl radicals with laser spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and trajectory-based ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. The oxidation of water by photoexcited pyrimidine is unequivocally confirmed by the detection of the pyrimidinyl radical. The dynamics simulations provide information on the time scales and branching ratios of the reaction. While relaxation to local minima of the S1 potential-energy surface is the dominant reaction channel, the H-atom transfer reaction occurs on ultrafast time scales (faster than about 100 fs) with a branching ratio of a few percent.


Welfare is experienced by individual animals, but the quantity and average quality of welfare an individual is likely to experience in their lifetime is bounded by population demography; namely, age-specific survivorship and the ecological forces that shape it. In many species, a minority of the individuals who are born survive to adulthood, meaning that the lives of those we observe in nature are often unrepresentative of the typical individual born into their population. Since only living animals are capable of experiencing welfare, lifespan is effectively an upper bound on the amount of affectively positive or negative experience an animal can accrue. Life history strategies that increase the probability of a long life are therefore more permissive of good welfare; but even holding life expectancy constant, specific patterns of age-specific mortality may enable a larger proportion of individuals to live through periods characterized by above-average welfare. I formalize this association between demography and welfare through the concept of welfare expectancy, which is applied to published demographic models for >80 species to illustrate the diversity of age-specific mortality patterns and entertain hypotheses about the relationship between demography and welfare.


Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the deadliest gynecological cancer in the Western world with a 5-year survival rate of <30% (1). One reason for the EOC high mortality is related to its unusual mechanism of dissemination. Cells detach from the primary tumor site and then aggregate to form free-floating multicellular spheroids.


Tuning pain with a defined microRNA cluster Pain is not something universally enjoyed, especially chronic pain involving nerve damage, referred to as neuropathic pain (1). Pain perception can be modulated in a variety of ways—for example, by focusing attention on the painful stimulus. On page 1168 of this issue, Peng et al. (2) report that pain threshold in dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRG), which relay peripheral sensory information to the central nervous system, can be modulated by mechanisms involving a specific cluster of microRNAs (miRNAs). Remarkably, the same cluster also regulates the threshold of neuropathic pain in DRG neurons that would not be involved in pain under normal conditions. The study provides important new insights into molecular mechanisms that control pain threshold, both in normal and pathological conditions.


Catalytically relevant metal clusters were deposited on metal oxide supports. Palladium and gold were deposited on mixed morphology ZnO, and palladium was deposited on MgO(100). The materials were characterized with electron microscopy, photoluminescent spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The behavior of hydrogen on these materials, as well as bare ZnO, was studied using volumetric isotherms. The isotherms were used to determine the monolayer gas coverage, surface area, and heats of adsorption of hydrogen on these materials over the temperature range of approximately 8-13 K. At the temperatures and pressures studied, hydrogen physically adsorbed onto the materials. Additional investigations with inelastic neutron scattering were conducted on palladium decorated ZnO and bare ZnO. These revealed that hydrogen molecules on bare ZnO act as three dimensional free rotors, but hydrogen on palladium decorated ZnO acts as a two-dimensional planar molecule and undergoes a 6.2% bond length extension.


The purpose of this study was to investigate effect of Jigsaw-1 Cooperative Learning technique on students' understanding and alternative conceptions concerning basic organic chemistry concepts. The study was conducted with a total of 52 9th grade students in a high school in Trabzon. The study used quasi-experimental design (an experimental group and a control group). While experimental group students performed activities based on Jigsaw 1 technique, control group students were taught with traditional approach. The treatment lasted for three lesson hours in both groups. An Organic Chemistry Achievement Test involving 5 open-ended questions was used to collect data. The data obtained from pre- and post-tests of both groups was compared with the independent t-test. The post-test results showed that there was a significant difference between groups in favor of the experimental group. In other words, the experimental group students taught with Jigsaw I technique performed better in the post-test than the control group.


A significant number of mergers and unifications have occurred among U.S. agricultural cooperatives over the last ten years. A recent report from USDA, RBS, summarized over 50 unifications of selected U.S. cooperatives of various types that occurred from 1989 through early 1999. Of the fifty-one cases cited, forty percent involved dairy cooperatives. Several recent mergers have resulted in the creation of the largest dairy cooperatives formed in U.S. history, serving members spread out across the country. The increased occurrence and scope of mergers of dairy cooperatives and the resulting impact on dairy farmer-members warrants additional study. A large body of literature and research exists on mergers of publicly-held corporations. Fewer studies have been conducted on the mergers of agricultural cooperatives. Two recent papers identified the need for further research on the impact and expectations associated with agricultural cooperative mergers and acquisitions. A case study approach was used to analyze two U.S. dairy cooperatives which merged in 1995. Economic and management data for the case studies were collected through comprehensive, structured interviews with the board chairs, advisors, and managers directly involved in making the merger decision. Financial statements were reviewed and financial ratio analysis undertaken to measure the economic impact of the merger. The selection of a cooperative merger partner is influenced by previous, long-term relations with a given cooperative. Having leadership open to the possibility of merging combined with previous positive experiences with mergers are key ingredients in considering future merger options. Driving forces identified for motivating mergers in the dairy industry are: consolidation at the retail and processor levels, potential cost savings from consolidated operations and increased uncertainty over the role of government. The greatest potential benefits mentioned were: cost cutting, avoiding destructive competition, higher returns to members, and increased leverage in the marketplace. The greatest barriers to merging were loss of the identity and control by the predecessor cooperative, and individual decision makers unwilling to take the associated risks of merging. Financial ratios were used to measure pre and post-merger performance in the areas of profitability, debt capacity, returns on equity as well as general and administrative expenses. The newly merged cooperative was able to achieve better financial performance than it=s predecessor cooperatives in regards to improving profitability, increasing returns on equity and decreasing expenses related to administration and marketing on a per hundred weight of milk marketed.


The organization of learning and memory in the brain is widely held to be made of functionally distinct memory systems. It is important to identify how these complex neural systems interact with one another. This thesis investigates the interaction of the systems involved to solve a simple discrimination task. Acquisition of this task can be supported by hippocampal and non-hippocampal systems. The purposes of these experiments are: (1) to identify the non-HPC system supporting picture discrimination, and (2) characterize how the systems interact. Rats received various lesions either before or after training and assessed on acquisition or retention performances. The results indicate that picture discriminations can be acquired by hippocampal or striatal systems, and that the medial prefrontal cortex is not involved in an essential way. Furthermore, the findings suggest that a competitive interaction occurs supporting the idea that the hippocampus interferes with striatal acquisition of the picture discrimination task. iv Table of Contents 1.


The current commentary analyses the Nolan Report (2001) and the Annual Reports (2001-2007) of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and vulnerable Adults (COPCA) formed as a result of the Nolan Report (2001). The commentary determines how wilfully the Catholic Church of England and Wales responded to the Nolan recommendations. This paper explores the success of this first child-safeguarding model (2001 2007) in relation to the deficiencies and structural modifications suggested by the Cumberlege Commission (2007). In conclusion, the commentary identifies a range of shortcomings and difficulties in the establishment of a uniform and secure child protection mechanism within the Catholic Church of England and Wales.


The electronic structures and Kondo insulator state of the Pu monochalcogenides are computationally investigated, using the local density approximation (LDA), the LDA+U and dynamical mean field theory (LDA+DMFT) methods. We show that an enhanced hybridization of the Pu-5f state with the conduction bands occurs through the dynamical effect in the DMFT, which leads to the effective formation of a small energy gap around the Fermi level. Our LDA+DMFT calculations explain quantitatively the anomalous energy gap enhancement under pressure, observed for PuTe. The peculiar change of the energy gap of PuTe with pressure is found to result from a subtle crossover in the k-dispersion of the lowest excited states.


On June 27, 1940, Vera Tiscenko, a Polish actress formerly with the Moscow Arts Theatre, "of her own free will and after due deliberation" embraced the Islamic faith at the Nakoda Mosque at 19 Chowringee Road, Calcutta. Vera Tiscenko's journey from Moscow to colonial Calcutta was a long and tortuous one. Fleeing the country after the revolution, Vera settled in Berlin where she married a Russian émigré, Eugene Tiscenko. Over the next few years they moved across Europe from Nazi Berlin to civil war Spain and finally settled in Mussolini's Rome, where Vera gave birth to a son, Oleg. In 1938, Eugene Tiscenko went to Edinburgh to qualify for a British medical degree, while Vera and her son left Rome for Calcutta after being invited by Professor Shahid Suhrawardy, her former director at the Moscow Arts Theatre. The reason for the separation between the couple remains unclear. Chief Justice Derbyshire was to speculate that Eugene Tiscenko might have intended to settle somewhere in British India after qualifying, but Vera herself admitted that the marriage had been unhappy. Finding "relief and solace in the teachings of Islam," she cabled her husband the news of her conversion and requested that he accept the Islamic faith. Eugene Tiscenko replied that his religious convictions were unshakable and "refused absolutely" to change his faith.


INTRODUCTION
Prechoroidal cleft has been described as a negative prognostic biomarker in patients affected with neovascular age related macular degeneration (nAMD). This peculiar finding consists of a lenticular hyporeflective space located between an outward bowing of Bruch's membrane and the base of a fibrovascular retinal pigment epithelium detachment (PED). Previous studies have reported the partial or complete regression of prechoroidal clefts after treatment with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections.

CASE REPORT
To report a case of complete anatomical regression of an unresponsive prechoroidal cleft after switching to intravitreal Brolucizumab. The patient maintained cleft regression over time and no adverse events (i.e., RPE tears, intraocular inflammation) were observed during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPORTANCE
To our knowledge, this case report is the first to analyze the clinical efficacy of brolucizumab targeting prechoroidal clefts. Clinical implication and pathogenesis of prechoroidal clefts are yet to be fully elucidated.


Purpose: To compare
target coverage and organ at risk (OAR) sparing in the supine and prone positions
with 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), intensity-modulated
radiotherapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) in low- and
high-risk prostate radiotherapy cases. Materials and Methods: Using magnetic
resonance images of five healthy volunteers, six treatment plans (supine 3DCRT,
prone 3DCRT, supine IMRT, prone IMRT, supine VMAT and prone VMAT) were
generated. Planning target volume 1 (PTV1) was defined as the prostate gland
plus the seminal vesicles with adequate margins in a high-risk setting, while
PTV2 was defined as prostate only with margins in a low-risk setting. The
mean dose for both PTV1 and PTV2 was set at 78 Gy. Plans generated by each of
the 3 techniques were compared between the supine and prone positions using
dose-volume histograms (DVHs). Results: For PTV1, prone 3DCRT provided a
significantly higher D98% than did supine 3DCRT, and its homogeneity index
(HI) was significantly better. IMRT and VMAT values did not differ
significantly between the prone and supine positions. For PTV2, no values
differed significantly between the supine and prone positions under any
treatment plan. With respect to OAR, the rectal D mean, D2%, V50, and V60
values of PTV1 were statistically higher in supine 3DCRT than in prone 3DCRT,
while there were no significant differences in rectal values between the
supine and prone positions with IMRT or VMAT. The rectal Dmean, V50, V60, V70,
and V75 values of prone 3DCRT were significantly higher than those of supine
IMRT or supine VMAT. There were no significant differences in any values for
the rectum and bladder for PTV2. Conclusion: Although prone 3DCRT was found to
be superior to supine 3DCRT in terms of rectal sparing in high-risk prostate
cancer, IMRT and VMAT techniques could possibly cover this disadvantage.


The purpose of this research was to prepare poly-(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) particles by an emulsion-diffusion-evaporation method using a blend of poly-(vinyl alcohol) and chitosan derivatives as stabilizers. The chitosan derivatives used were chitosan hydrochloride and trimethyl chitosans (TMC) with varying degrees of quaternization. Particle characteristics-size, zeta potential, surface morphology, cytotoxicity, and transfection efficiency-were investigated. The developed method yields PCL nanoparticles in the size range of 250 to 300 nm with a positive surface charge (2.5 to 6.8 mV). The cytotoxicity was found to be moderate and virtually independent of the stabilizers' concentration with the exception of the highly quaternized TMC (degree of substitution 66%) being significantly more toxic. In immobilization experiments with gel electrophoresis, it could be shown that these cationic nanoparticles (NP) form stable complexes with DNA at a NP:DNA ratio of 3:1. These nanoplexes showed a significantly higher transfection efficiency on COS-1 cells than naked DNA.


Over the last decades, the Arctic regions of the earth have warmed
at a rate 2–3 times faster than the global average– a phenomenon
called Arctic Amplification. A complex, non-linear interplay of physical
processes and unique pecularities in the Arctic climate system is responsible
for this, but the relative role of individual processes remains
to be debated. This thesis focuses on the climate change and related
processes on Svalbard, an archipelago in the North Atlantic sector of
the Arctic, which is shown to be a "hotspot" for the amplified recent
warming during winter. In this highly dynamical region, both oceanic
and atmospheric large-scale transports of heat and moisture interfere
with spatially inhomogenous surface conditions, and the corresponding
energy exchange strongly shapes the atmospheric boundary layer.
In the first part, Pan-Svalbard gradients in the surface air temperature
(SAT) and sea ice extent (SIE) in the fjords are quantified and characterized.
This analysis is based on observational data from meteorological
stations, operational sea ice charts, and hydrographic observations
from the adjacent ocean, which cover the 1980–2016 period. It is revealed
that typical estimates of SIE during late winter range from
40–50% (80–90%) in the western (eastern) parts of Svalbard. However,
strong SAT warming during winter of the order of 2–3K per decade
dictates excessive ice loss, leaving fjords in the western parts essentially
ice-free in recent winters. It is further demostrated that warm
water currents on the west coast of Svalbard, as well as meridional
winds contribute to regional differences in the SIE evolution. In particular,
the proximity to warm water masses of the West Spitsbergen
Current can explain 20–37% of SIE variability in fjords on west Svalbard,
while meridional winds and associated ice drift may regionally
explain 20–50% of SIE variability in the north and northeast. Strong
SAT warming has overruled these impacts in recent years, though.
In the next part of the analysis, the contribution of large-scale atmospheric
circulation changes to the Svalbard temperature development
over the last 20 years is investigated. A study employing kinematic
air-back trajectories for Ny-Alesund reveals a shift in the source regions
of lower-troposheric air over time for both the winter and the
summer season. In winter, air in the recent decade is more often of
lower-latitude Atlantic origin, and less frequent of Arctic origin. This
affects heat- and moisture advection towards Svalbard, potentially
manipulating clouds and longwave downward radiation in that region.
A closer investigation indicates that this shift during winter
is associated with a strengthened Ural blocking high and Icelandic
low, and contributes about 25% to the observed winter warming on
Svalbard over the last 20 years. Conversely, circulation changes during
summer include a strengthened Greenland blocking high which leads
to more frequent cold air advection from the central Arctic towards
Svalbard, and less frequent air mass origins in the lower latitudes
of the North Atlantic. Hence, circulation changes during winter are
shown to have an amplifying effect on the recent warming on Svalbard,
while summer circulation changes tend to mask warming.
An observational case study using upper air soundings from the
AWIPEV research station in Ny-Alesund during May–June 2017 underlines
that such circulation changes during summer are associated
with tropospheric anomalies in temperature, humidity and boundary
layer height.
In the last part of the analysis, the regional representativeness of the
above described changes around Svalbard for the broader Arctic is investigated.
Therefore, the terms in the diagnostic temperature equation
in the Arctic-wide lower troposphere are examined for the Era-Interim
atmospheric reanalysis product. Significant positive trends in diabatic
heating rates, consistent with latent heat transfer to the atmosphere
over regions of increasing ice melt, are found for all seasons over
the Barents/Kara Seas, and in individual months in the vicinity of
Svalbard. The above introduced warm (cold) advection trends during
winter (summer) on Svalbard are successfully reproduced. Regarding
winter, they are regionally confined to the Barents Sea and Fram
Strait, between 70�–80�N, resembling a unique feature in the whole
Arctic. Summer cold advection trends are confined to the area between
eastern Greenland and Franz Josef Land, enclosing Svalbard.


This paper shows a wireless powering system for implantable biomedical devices that does not need a voltage regulator inside the body. The regulated voltage is obtained in the secondary of an inductive link and is controlled by varying the operating frequency of the inductive link. This frequency operation varies between 950 kHz and 1.2 MHz when the distance between the coils varies between 0mm and 40mm. The results show that it is not necessary to elevate the supply voltage of the external circuit to regulate the internal voltage. This scheme eliminates the necessity of a voltage regulator inside the body, reducing the implant operating temperature.


The present paper focuses on transitions from school to work for recent higher education graduates in Catalonia, Spain. In particular, we concentrate on the relationship between mismatch and disappointment with the chosen university career. For that purpose, we employ cross‐sectional survey data provided by The Quality Assurance Agency for the University System in Catalonia, covering a sample of individuals who graduated in the 1997/98 academic year from one of the seven public Catalan universities. The results show that regretting the chosen field of education turns out to be associated with mismatch as well as other factors: personality, ageing, educational characteristics (such as final university grades or the specific field of study) and regretting the attended institution.


The thermal degradation kinetics of ascorbic acid and the inactivation kinetics of pectinesterase were studied experimentally with pH-adjusted orange juice. No simple trends were observed in variation of the kinetic parameters with pH, but both kinetic functions agreed with kinetic compensation relations. An isokinetic temperature was observed for ascorbic acid degradation at pH 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 implying that the same degradation mechanism was valid at these pH values. A large deviation at pH 4.0 from this isokinetic reaction rate implied that the degradation mechanism was different at this pH. There was no isokinetic temperature for pectinesterase inactivation reactions, indicating that pectinesterase was inactivated by different mechanisms at different pH values. The variation of the inactivation mechanism of pectinesterase with pH was attributed to its more complex molecular structure.


The modelling of molecular entanglement in polymeric materials is an old problem, and has evolved gradually over the last 60 years, with two key approaches: the network model of Green & Tobolsky, and the tube model of Edwards and de Gennes. We will show that these models can be merged together in a straightforward manner. The resulting model, called the dual slip–link model, can be handled by computer simulation, and it can predict the linear and nonlinear rheological behaviours of linear and star polymers with arbitrary molecular weight distribution.


Introduction: Urinary tract infection is one of the most common bacterial infections seen in humans and major cause of morbidity. The causative agents for urinary tract infection vary from place to place and they also vary in their sensitivity and resistance pattern with the widespread availability of antimicrobial drugs. UTI is difficult to treat because of appearance of pathogens with increasing resistant pattern to antimicrobial drugs.
Aim: This study is carried out to know the bacteriological profile and its antibiotics sensitivity pattern in patients with UTI at tertiary care hospital, Valsad.
Materials and Method: Total 771 mid-stream urine samples were collected from suspected UTI patients. They were tested for bacterial culture and all Culture positive samples were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by Kirby- Bauer disc diffusion method.
Results: Out of total 771 samples, isolates were detected in 302(39.16%) samples. Incidence of infection was more common in females (55%) as compared to males (45%).  Escherichia coli (36.75%) was the most common pathogens followed by Kleseilla spp. (18.21%), Gram positive organisms (16.22%), Pseudomonas spp. (12.25%) and Candida spp.(8.60%). Isolated pathogenic organism shows high resistance to commonly use antibiotic and sensitive to higher generation of fluroquinolones and carbapenemase.
Conclusion: In this study, females were mostly affected and most common organisms were E.coli and Klebseilla. The commonly isolated pathogens have been changing and increasing resistance pattern is observed due to indiscriminate use of antibiotics and alerting us to update effective empirical treatment regularly.

Keywords: Urinary tract infection, Antimicrobial susceptibility, Resistance pattern


Abstract In managed forests, riparian buffer strips typically are maintained to protect water quality. If properly designed, buffer strips also may act as wildlife reserves. However, forest managers have lacked the information to develop standards for buffer strips to maximize benefits for wildlife species. We assessed the conservation potential of 20-, 100-, and 200-m wide buffers for an area-sensitive songbird in boreal mixed-wood forest in Alberta. We measured abundance, territory characteristics, and pairing success of Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapillus) at treatment and control lakes one year before and after upland timber harvest. After harvest, Ovenbirds were absent from 20-m buffer strips. Harvesting did not significantly influence abundance or territory size in 100-m or 200-m buffers, although territories generally became narrower. Postharvest territory position did not change in 200-m buffers, but territories in 100-m strips shifted lakeward and included more habitat adjacent to the riparian edge than before harvest. Despite this shift in territory position, males that occupied 100-m strips successfully attracted mates. High availability of regional forest cover may have muted the more pronounced effects of habitat alteration observed in other studies. Our research is among the first to evaluate individual behavioral responses to the creation of forest edges. Our data indicate that 20-m buffer strips do not support breeding Ovenbirds, whereas 100- and 200-m buffers retain Ovenbirds during the year following harvest. Long-term harvest effects may differ from those we monitored and require study, particularly as timber extraction increases in the boreal mixed-wood ecoregion.


In 337 patients with primary cancer of the breast, the oestrogen and progesterone receptor concentration was correlated to the metastasis of axillary lymph nodes taking into account the age of the patients and the size of the primary tumour. The frequency of axillary lymph node involvement increases significantly with size, although not quite steadily but rather stepwise within the T classification. Whereas the tumour diameter influences the receptor status only slightly, the age of the patients plays a major role in the oestrogen receptor concentration. In the age group up to 50 years the oestrogen receptor concentration is significantly lower than in the age group over 50 years. There is no comparable influence of age on progesterone receptor concentration. With all 337 breast cancers, no difference in axillary lymph node metastasis is found either between oestrogen receptor positive and oestrogen receptor negative cancers, or between progesterone receptor positive and progesterone receptor negative cancers. In the age group up to 50 years, if looked upon separately, the oestrogen receptor positive cancers do show significantly more often an axillary lymph node involvement, than do oestrogen receptor negative cancers. As this difference exists in the age group up to 50 years only, it is assumed that endogenous oestradiol favours the axillary spread in oestrogen receptor positive cancers. With oestrogen receptor negative cancers the axillary lymph node involvement increases from the younger to the older age group, explaining why in unselected series the oestrogen receptor negative cancers show a more unfavourable course.


The bio-efficacy of different insecticides viz., bifenthrin 10 EC at 80 g a. i. ha-1, fipronil 5 SC at 500 g a.i. ha-1, flubendiamide 480 SC at 60 g a. i. ha-1, quinalphos 25 EC at 350 g a.i ha-1, profenophos 50 EC at 400 g a. i. ha-1 and β-cyfluthrin 25 SC at 18.75 g a.i. ha-1 against leafhopper (Amrasca biguttula biguttula Ishida) of okra was studied in the field conditions at Student's Farm of Agricultural College, Hyderabad during 2012. All the insecticidal treatments were superior over control after second spray where, profenophos (400 g a. i. ha-1) recorded highest population reduction of 68.72 per cent followed by β-cyfluthrin (50.72 %) and bifenthrin (44.19 %). Further, dissipation pattern of profenophos at 400 g a. i. ha-1 was studied by collecting 500 g of okra fruits from the field on zero (1 hr), one, three, five, seven and ten and fifteen days after second spray and analysed at laboratory of AINP on pesticide residues, Hyderabad. An initial deposit of profenophos was recorded to be 1.52 mg kg-1 dissipated to below detectable level on 10th day. The half-life was 2.16 days with waiting period for safe harvest of okra fruit was 5.10 days.


The characteristics of mobile ad hoc networks cause a number of challenges to security design such as lack of infrastructure, shared wireless medium, stringent resource constraints and highly dynamic topology. Key management is a central aspect for security in mobile ad hoc networks. While central servers generate and distribute the keys in traditional wired networks, distributive key management systems are used in mobile ad hoc networks. Trust establishment and management are essential for any security framework of MANETs. Threshold cryptography has proved to be an effective scheme for key management and distribution. In this paper we propose a trust based threshold cryptography key management scheme for MANETs. In the proposed scheme, threshold cryptography supports security association establishment between mobile nodes in a web of trust. It enables the source and the destination nodes to successfully complete a certificate chain discovery even if the number of trusted nodes in the neighborhood of the requesting nodes is very low. The advantages of the proposed scheme are justified through extensive simulations.


Background: Hepatitis B virus infection is a major public health problem accounting to 400 million chronic infections worldwide and great majority of the transmission of Hepatitis B in India and other developing countries occurs by vertical transmission from an infected carrier mother to the neonate, intrapartum or antenatally.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Pregnant Women. Methods: The study was conducted at M.P. Shah Govt. medical college and G.G. hospital, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India during July 2013 to December 2013, including 1810 antenatal women. All of them were evaluated using history, examination, and test for serum HBsAg using Commercial enzyme immunoassay kits.
Result: Of the total 1810 antenatal women, 15 were found to be positive for HBsAg (0.83%). Highest prevalence was found in age group 21-25 years (53.3%) followed by age group 26-30 years (33.3%), age group 17-20 and age more than 30 years (6.7%).
Conclusion: Hepatitis B is highly infectious, associated with maternal complications and transmission to the child. It is mandatory that all the antenatal women should be screened for HBsAg and appropriately managed.


Common symptoms of chronic suppurative lung disease or bronchiectasis in children and adolescents are chronic cough with sputum production, retention of excess secretions in dilated airways, and a history of recurrent infections. Clinical management includes the prescription of airway-clearance techniques (ACTs) to facilitate mucociliary clearance, optimize sputum expectoration, relieve symptoms, and improve well-being. A wide range of ACTs are available for selection, and these strategies may be applied in isolation or in combination. The choice of technique will depend in part on the age of the child, their clinical state, and factors which may influence treatment adherence. While the evidence base for ACTs in children and adolescent with these conditions is not robust, the current available evidence in addition to clinical expertise provides guidance for technique prescription and clinical effect. An overview of the most commonly applied ACTs, including their physiological rationale and discussion of factors influencing prescription in children and adolescents is outlined in this review.


Coolidge's antitrust authorities promoted merger and trade associations. Hoover abruptly reversed course in 1929 and precipitated a three-year struggle over antitrust reform. These shifting policies and the political struggle over antitrust offer an explanation for the 1920s boom and merger wave, the October 1929 Crash and the end of the merger wave, and some of the volatility that followed. For 1919- 1930, quarterly stock returns are negatively related to Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice merger case filings and positively related to merger activity. For the two weeks of the crash, firms that had made acquisitions in 1928 and 1929 lost 4 percent more in value. Finally, the 322 New York Times news articles on antitrust for 1929-32 is linked with an increase in stock market volatility.


Purpose To evaluate the kinetics of serum testosterone (T) recovery following short-term androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), as the understanding thereof is essential for the proper management of prostate cancer (PCa), especially intermittent ADT. Materials and Methods This prospective analysis included male sex offenders who voluntarily received leuprolide acetate in order to alleviate sexual aberrance. Thirty-three and 25 patients who received 3 and 6 months of ADT were assigned to Group A and Group B, respectively. Serum T levels were obtained every week during the on-cycle period, then monthly during the off-cycle period for at least 12 months. Results The kinetics of serum T during the on-cycle period were similar in both groups. After flare reaction at week 2, a nadir of 0.45±0.29 ng/mL was achieved. In Group A, an abrupt rebound-upsurge was observed during the first 2 month off-cycle period, which surpassed the baseline level and reached a plateau level of 8.74±2.11 ng/mL during the flare (p<0.001). This upsurge was followed by a gradual decline back to baseline over the following 10 months. In Group B, a gradual increase was observed, and a baseline level of 7.26±1.73 ng/mL was reached at 5 months. Thereafter, an ongoing upsurge that surpassed baseline levels was observed until 12 months (8.81±1.92 ng/mL; p=0.002). Conclusion The kinetics of serum T recovery during the off-cycle period varied according to the duration of ADT. Serum T should be monitored beyond normalization, as an excessive rebound may improve quality-of-life, but hamper the treatment efficacy of PCa.


The method of encoding communication of agents in a multi-agent system (MAS) is described. The autonomous agents communicate with each other by exchanging messages formulated in a near-to-natural language. Transparent Intensional Logic (TIL) is an expressive system primarily designed for the logical analysis of natural language; thus we make use of TIL as a tool for encoding the semantic content of messages. The hyper-intensional features of TIL analysis are described, in particular with respect to agents' attitudes and anaphoric references. We demonstrate the power of TIL to determine the antecedent of an anaphoric pronoun. By an example of a simple dialogue we illustrate the way TIL can function as a dynamic logic of discourse where anaphoric pronouns refer to entities of any type, even constructions, i.e. the structured meanings of other expressions.


The statistical mechanism ruling the reverberation from the seabed in high-resolution sonar devices is investigated. The signal received from a sonar cell is assumed to arise from the coherent sum of a random number of independent elementary contributions. Under proper conditions regarding the surface roughness and the incidence angle, the observables can be modelled as compound-Gaussian random variables with a nonuniform distribution of phase. A general expression has been found for evaluating the first- and second-order probability density function of the complex observables, and the case corresponding to a gamma distributed texture is investigated. The authors also propose a technique for estimating parameters of the generalised K distribution based on approximating the design distribution with a neighbouring family. Results have demonstrated that the algorithm achieves good performance within the examined range of parameter values.


The genetic structure of horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas) populations were examined using 18 microsatellite markers. Samples were collected from 2 stations of east coast of Peninsular Malaysia and one station from East Malaysia. All the observed allelic frequency showed no significant variation between sampling stations (p>0.05). Mean allelic richness (Ar) was greater in Sarawak population (4.83) followed by Pahang (4.24) and Terengganu (3.57) samples with the overall mean allelic richness of 4.21. Mean inbreeding coefficient (FIS) value was higher in Sarawak population (0.37) followed by Terengganu (0.31) and Pahang population (0.17). The genetic differentiation (FST value) and genetic distance between geographically closer populations was smaller compared to geographically isolated populations. Due to the dwindling population size of horseshoe crabs in Malaysian coast line, present data provides new information in assisting proper management and conservation of this living fossil.


In this letter, a dynamic optical tweezers based assay is proposed and investigated for monitoring early drug resistance with Pemetrexed-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. The validity and stability of the method are verified experimentally in terms of the physical parameters of the optical tweezers system. The results demonstrate that the proposed technique is more convenient and faster than traditional techniques when the capability of detecting small variations of the response of cells to a drug is maintained.


There is a growing awareness among economists that social networks and trust have an important impact on growth and other economic and social outcomes. The essays in The Economic Implications of Social Cohesion examine the potential influence of social cohesion on population, health, the well-being of children, macroeconomic performance, voluntary activity, the role of community institutions, aggregate investment and regional development. By tracing the connections between social cohesion and these specific outcomes, the book contributes to our understanding of the interaction between economic processes and their social framework. Although the authors recognize the complex implications of social cohesion and the possibility of ambiguous effects on economic development, the general conclusion is that social cohesion has significant economic implications and that there are significant potential gains to some types of cohesion and the collective action it enables. Distinct in its subject and approach, The Economic Implications of Social Cohesion covers new ground in an emergent field of study and will provide an invaluable resource for researchers wishing to pursue further work in this area.


The current trends towards the design of lighter cars for high-speed lift systems and multiple car lift systems have encouraged the design of more aerodynamic efficient car geometries. Lighter lift cars are susceptible to aerodynamic drags and piston effects. The issue of piston phenomena affecting smoke control in traditional lift shaft configurations have been studied extensively. Considering the complexity of multiple car, multidirectional shafts and the susceptibility of lighter cars to aerodynamic drag and piston effects, it is important that relevant analysis is developed to determine the aerodynamic effects arising in those systems. With advances in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), it is now possible to compute 3D compressible large eddy simulation for a multi-car lift systems. A better understanding of piston effect in the context of lighter and faster multi-car systems is necessary to further calculate the impact of these forces on lighter structures. In this paper a coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) model is developed based on stiffness and damping of the system and boundary values from transient CFD study. This study will help understand the impact of excitations due to aerodynamic forces and understand the effect of aerodynamic drags and piston forces in the multi-car shaft systems.


Cloud databases achieve high availability by automatically replicating data on multiple nodes. However, the overhead caused by the replication process can lead to an increase in the mean and variance of transaction response times, causing unforeseen impacts on the offered quality-of-service (QoS). In this paper, we propose a measurement-driven methodology to predict the impact of replication on Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) environments. Our methodology uses operational data to parameterize a closed queueing network model of the database cluster together with a Markov model that abstracts the dynamic replication process. Experiments on Amazon RDS show that our methodology predicts response time mean and percentiles with errors of just 1% and 15% respectively, and under operational conditions that are significantly different from the ones used for model parameterization. We show that our modeling approach surpasses standard modeling methods and illustrate the applicability of our methodology for automated DBaaS provisioning.


This study had the objective of assessing the genetic divergence in giant missionary grass (Axonopus jesuiticus x A. scoparius) germplasm based on morphological and agronomic traits. Five accessions were evaluated in the field: V14337, V14403, V14404, V14405 and V14406. Three contrasting groups were formed using the UPGMA clustering method: V14337 and V14404 formed one group, V14403 and V14405 formed another, and V14406 was isolated from the other accessions. The most striking traits for the identification of the accessions were the height of the plant and the change color of the leaf. Only V14406 accession had purplish green leaves. The other four accessions differed with regards to plant height and dry matter production, with superiority of V14337 and V14404 accessions. The high similarity, as assessed by the mean Euclidean distance, suggests that V14337 and V14404 share the same genotype. The genotypic variability among accessions indicates their potential use in breeding programs.


Infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11th, 2020. While most symptoms are those associated with the respiratory system, common symptoms also involve the nervous system. Stroke is a common complication of COVID-19, and it has been stated that future research should investigate the underlying mechanisms of COVID-19 associated thrombosis in order to develop preventative strategies for complications such as ischemic stroke. This is likely because SARS-CoV-2 binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, and decreased activity of ACE2 promotes risk of stroke by causing an imbalance of the renin-angiotensin system. ACE2 is an enzyme that plays a role in the release of neurotrophic factors such as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which plays a critical role in neurogenesis, cognitive function, and neurodevelopment. Earlier, it has been reported that the BDNF-TrkB system is neuroprotective during stroke. BDNF-TrkB signalling acts as a mediator of the renin-angiotensin system in the brain, and this regulatory effect may be disturbed during COVID-19 infection. This review consolidates the existing literature on the extensive role of the renin-angiotensin system and angiogenesis in COVID-19 and stroke with a focus on the BDNF-TrkB pathway. We hypothesize that the risk for stroke is higher in COVID-19 patients due to inhibition of BDNF that results from the downregulation of the ACE2 receptor during infection of SARS-CoV-2. In parallel, this review suggests that BDNF therapy may reduce the risk of stroke events and/or aid post-stroke recovery in COVID-19 patients.


For quantitative estimation of past water temperature of four Holsteinian (MIS 11) palaeolakes from eastern Poland, the oxygen isotope palaeothermometer was applied to shells of the aquatic gastropods Viviparus diluvianus and Valvata piscinalis. The δ 18 O composition of their shells demonstrated the average growth-season water temperatures during the mesocratic stage of the interglacial (Ortel Krolewski Lake), during its climatic optimum – the Carpinus–Abies Zone (Ossowka-Hrud, Roskosz and Szymanowo Lakes), and in the post-optimum (Szymanowo Lake). The calculation was based on δ 18 O Shell values and the δ 18 O Water assumed for the Holsteinian from the modern oxygen isotope composition of precipitation and the expected amount of evaporative enrichment. The mean oxygen isotope palaeotemperatures of Ortel Krolewski lake waters were in the range of 18.1–21.9°C and were uniform for the Taxus and Pinus–Larix zones. Ossowka-Hrud and Roskosz Lakes had mean temperatures of 17.4–21.0°C during the climatic optimum, whereas the temperature of Szymanowo lake waters was estimated at 20.6–21.7°C at that time. These values are concordant with the pollen-inferred July air temperatures noted during the Holsteinian in eastern Poland. Relatively high values of ~25°C in the post-optimum noted at Szymanowo were connected with the presence of a shallow and warm isolated bay indicated by pollen and mollusc records.


We investigate the polarization of supercontinuum generated in nominally non-birefringent silica photonic crystal fibers over the entire spectrum of the source (450-2400 nm). We demonstrate that the degree of polarization varies over the spectrum but that some parts of the spectrum show stable polarization extinction ratios (PER) of over 10 dB. We experimentally demonstrate how the spectrally resolved polarization develops with increasing power and along the length of the nonlinear fiber. The experimental results are compared to numerical simulations of coupled polarization states mimicking the experimental conditions. Subsequently, a single-shot pulse-to-pulse polarization dependent relative intensity noise (PD-RIN) was measured and the noise characteristics were analyzed using long-tailed and rogue wave statistics. To do this, we used a range of 10 nm narrow bandpass filters (BPF) between 550 nm to 2200 nm, and fast photo detectors, to record 800 consecutive pulses. Peaks from these pulses are first extracted, then distribution of their pulse height histogram (PHH) is constructed. Analysis using higher-order moments about the mean (variance, skewness and kurtosis) showed that: (1) around the pump wavelength of 1064nm, the PD-RIN is lowest, PHH exhibits a Gaussian distribution, and higher order moments are zero, (2) further away from pump, PD-RIN increases in parabolic fashion, PHH follows a left-skewed long-tailed Gamma distribution, and higher-order moments increase. Spectrally, the difference of the PD-RIN in the two orthogonal axes increases with PER.


This qualitative study, from the domestic adoptee perspective, reflects the analysis of thirty-seven online stories of adoptee-birth mother/family reunions. The present study contributes to existing literature on adoption reunion and extends understanding of adoption reconnection by focusing on the constitution of its meaning. Studies privileging meaning-making help unravel why certain outcomes emerge and emphasize the importance of communication in studying relationships. Framed by relational dialectics theory and examined using Baxter's newly developed contrapuntal analysis, a dominant discursive struggle of romanticized versus pragmatic reconnection emerged. The discourse of romanticized reconnection emerged from two themes: (a) desire for physical resemblance and (b) immediate connection. Three themes constituted the discourse of pragmatic reconnection : (a) birth family as strangers, (b) desire for health information, and (c) connection not guaranteed. In addition, a hybrid utterance surfaced providing evidence of a phenomenon where new meanings are likely to emerge.


A key motivation for implementing structural health monitoring is to facilitate decisionmaking regarding the operation of a structure throughout its life. The notion of risk has been used to inform decision-making under uncertainty in industries such as nuclear energy and aerospace - formalised in a procedure known as probabilistic risk assessment. The current paper aims to exploit methods used in probabilistic risk assessment to demonstrate a novel risk-based approach to structural health monitoring. The approach utilises a probabilistic graphical model framework in which information is passed from a probabilistic classifier to an influence diagram representing a decision-process via a Bayesian network representation of a fault tree. The risk-based approach is demonstrated on simulated data from a finite element model of a four bay truss.


An online survey of unschooling families (student-directed form of homeschooling) sought to discover whether and how unschooled children experience a social justice curriculum (one that seeks equity between cultures, ethnicities, genders, classes, and sexualities). The 2016 survey asked about unschooled children's relationships with/recognition of people different from themselves, their degree of critical analysis of systems and institutions in society which created, maintain, and perpetuate inequities, and whether they had opportunities to envision and work for a just and equitable society. The philosophical tenets of unschooling complicate this query, and are explored. Findings illustrate that unschooling's educational philosophy of "curriculum-as-lived" (as opposed to "curriculum-as-plan") (Aoki, 2004) has the potential (though not realized by all unschooling families) to provide a unique approach to social justice/multicultural education, allowing unschooled children to learn about minoritized cultures, systems that led to the minoritization, and the possibilities and pathways to a more equitable society.


In this paper the morphology of pollen grains yielded by male Gymnosperm fructifications from the Jurassic flora of Yorkshire is studied and discussed. Several new male fructifications were found and described: Hastystrobus gen. nov. was erected for male cones yielding the Eucommiidites type of pollen grains. This genus is monotypic and the type species Hastystrobus muirii yielded pollen grains that agree with Eucommiidites troedssonii. Hastystrobus muirii very probably has Cycadalean affinities, because the whole abaxial surface of the microsporophylls is covered with sporangia. For the first time the male fructification of Ginkgo huttoni (Heer) Sternberg is described. It resembles in general the male fructification of the recent Ginkgo biloba L., and the pollen grains agree with those of Ginkgo biloba. Male cones associated with Brachyphyllum crucis Kendall have been found and described. They yielded pollen grains that after short maceration were identifiable as Circulina, while after prolonged maceration they could be assigned to Classopollis multistriatus Burger. Brachyphyllum crucis is provisionally assigned to the Hirmerella-group on the basis of its male cone and pollen grains. The cones were compared with other male cones containing Classopollis pollen, which were also attributed to the Hirmerella-group. It is suggested that all members of the Hirmerella-group have an epidermis with a special type of stoma. Masculostrobus harrisii sp. nov. is described. This male cone resembles closely the male cone of Elatides williamsoni (Brgt) Sew., but its pollen grains are of the Inaperturopollenites-type, instead of the Perinopollenites-type. The new species Pityanthus scalbiensis yielding bisaccate pollen grains of a rather primitive type is described; there is almost no saccus infrastructure present. The Czekanowskia-group (including Leptostrobus and Solenites) in all probability does not belong to the Ginkgoales but to the Conifers. An interesting find was that the pollen grains of the Araucariaceous Brachyphyllum mamillare Brgt are of two types: In type 1 the nexine and sexine are attached to each other, while in type 2 the nexine is loose from the sexine and is somewhat shrunk. In the latter type also pollen grains were found that are somewhat trilobate. A similar dimorphism of pollen grains was also found in the recent Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch. The pollen grains from the various male fructifications were compared with those from other male fructifications related to them. If the cones were assigned to recent taxa, the pollen grains were compared with recent pollen grains from those taxa (Cycadales, Ginkgoales and Coniferospermae). The pollen grains were also compared with dispersed pollen grains, mainly from the Jurassic.


We trace directors through time and across firms to study whether acquirers' exposure to non-public information about potential targets through board service histories affects the market for corporate control. In a sample of publicly-traded U.S. firms from 1996 through 2006, we find that acquirers are about five times more likely to buy firms at which their directors once served. These effects are stronger when the acquirer has better corporate governance, the director has a larger ownership stake at the acquirer, or the director played an important role during past service at the target. The findings are robust to endogeneity of board composition and to controls for network connectivity and conventional inter-firm interlocks.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the efficacy and safety of ethyl acetate (EA) extracts of the Chinese herbal remedy Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TWHF) for treatment of patients with a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS
The roots of TWHF were extracted sequentially by ethyl alcohol and ethyl acetate and the content of the extract documented. An open label, dose escalation Phase I study was performed in 1993 in 13 patients with established RA. Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings were examined before and every 4 weeks after starting treatment with the EA extract.

RESULTS
Three patients withdrew from the trial during the first 16 weeks of the dose escalation. These patients received a maximum dosage of 180 mg/day. There were no adverse effects or disease improvement observed in these patients. Nine of the remaining 10 patients tolerated the EA extract up to a dosage of 570 mg/day. There were no withdrawals related to adverse events in the trial except for one patient who developed diastolic hypertension at a dose of 180 mg/day of EA extract. Six of 10 patients treated with 180 mg/day of EA extract showed disease improvement. Eight of the 9 patients who received EA extract at doses > 360 mg/day experienced improvement in both clinical manifestations and laboratory findings. One patient met American College of Rheumatology criteria for remission.

CONCLUSION
The EA extract of TWHF at dosages up to 570 mg/day appeared to be safe, and doses > 360 mg/day were associated with clinical benefit in patients with RA.


Objective Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) are non-invasive precursor lesions that can progress to invasive pancreatic cancer and are classified as low-grade or high-grade based on the morphology of the neoplastic epithelium. We aimed to compare genetic alterations in low-grade and high-grade regions of the same IPMN in order to identify molecular alterations underlying neoplastic progression. Design We performed multiregion whole exome sequencing on tissue samples from 17 IPMNs with both low-grade and high-grade dysplasia (76 IPMN regions, including 49 from low-grade dysplasia and 27 from high-grade dysplasia). We reconstructed the phylogeny for each case, and we assessed mutations in a novel driver gene in an independent cohort of 63 IPMN cyst fluid samples. Results Our multiregion whole exome sequencing identified KLF4, a previously unreported genetic driver of IPMN tumorigenesis, with hotspot mutations in one of two codons identified in >50% of the analyzed IPMNs. Mutations in KLF4 were significantly more prevalent in low-grade regions in our sequenced cases. Phylogenetic analyses of whole exome sequencing data demonstrated diverse patterns of IPMN initiation and progression. Hotspot mutations in KLF4 were also identified in an independent cohort of IPMN cyst fluid samples, again with a significantly higher prevalence in low-grade IPMNs. Conclusion Hotspot mutations in KLF4 occur at high prevalence in IPMNs. Unique among pancreatic driver genes, KLF4 mutations are enriched in low-grade IPMNs. These data highlight distinct molecular features of low-grade and high-grade dysplasia and suggest diverse pathways to high-grade dysplasia via the IPMN pathway.


We attempted to generate continuous in vitro cultures from patients with mycosis fungoides and the Sezary syndrome (cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, CTCL). Using conventional culture techniques without mitogen stimulation. multiple attempts (32 specimens from 25 patients) failed to replicate T cells. but 6 B-lymphoblastoid cultures were established. Athymic nude mice injected by a variety of routes with CTCL cells from 1 3 patients failed to develop tumors; however. the B-lymphoblastoid cultures were tumorigenic. Lymphocytes from 6 healthy donors and CTCL cells from 7 patients were seeded in growth medium supplemented with one of the following mitogens: phytohemagglutinin (PHA). concanavalin A (Con-A). lymphocyte-conditioned medium (LyCM). pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and staphylococcal protein-A. Normal lymphocytes failed to replicate for more than a few days except in LyCM, where viability and replication remained absolutely dependent on the continued presence of the mitogen. In contrast, mitogen-induced proliferation of CTCL cells was variable, and 1 or more of 4 mitogens induced replication in 4 CTCL cultures. There was partial correlation between the ability of mitogens to stimulate CTCL cells in lymphocyte transformation assays and their ability to act as growth factors. CTCL cells were more resistant to the toxic effects of mitogens than lymphocytes from normal donors, permitting the use of mitogens as long-term growth factors. Two long-term CTCL cultures were established. one after stimulation with Con-A, and the other with LyCM. The cultures required mitogens only for initial growth and have proliferated without mitogens for over a year. The cultures retained many of the features of the CTCL cells present in the patients from whom they were derived, but differed from each other in morphology, E-rosette formation. DNA content, and tumorigenicity. Cytochemical studies provided further evidence of their T-ceIl origin. Both cultures released macrophage inhibitory factor.


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Clinicians have become reliant on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules. We encountered several patients who had thyroid cancer at operation despite having had FNAs that never showed malignant or suspicious cells. Hence, we retrospectively studied 100 consecutive patients with histologically proven thyroid cancer who had undergone preoperative FNA. Fourteen of these patients had cancers that were not detected by FNA, three of whom developed widespread disease. The sensitivity of FNA was 79%, the false-negative rate 21%, and the inadequate rate 12%. FNA was less sensitive in detecting follicular and Hürthle cell carcinomas compared to papillary carcinomas. FNAs interpreted by cytopathologists at a major university center were more sensitive than those performed elsewhere. A single false-negative FNA delayed surgical treatment by 28 months, sometimes despite clinical evidence suggesting malignancy. Subjects whose tumors were not detected by FNA experienced delayed treatment, had higher rates of vascular and capsular invasion, and were more likely to have persistent disease at follow up (hazard ratio 2.28). False-negative results remain a concern in the cytologic diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Although FNA is a useful test, clinical findings should overrule cytologic data in order for timely treatment to occur.


This paper examines the services provided by Open Innovation Intermediaries (OIIs) through their web-based platforms, in order to understand how OIIs can effectively support innovation seekers in their innovation processes. Relying on the existing literature exploring the roles and functions of web-based OII platforms, we carried out an exploratory and comparative qualitative study to identify the services available, to classify them by the various phases of the innovation processes in which they can be beneficial, and to link them to general roles and functions. Our analysis of the services provided by OII platforms sheds light on the dynamics of innovation seekers' choices, and gives meaningful insights that can help improve this information and these services, so that OIIs can improve their offer in terms of complementary resources and knowledge for the innovation processes.


Humans are social creatures who need it most and can not live without other people.
Communication. especially interpersonal communication is one requirement that can not be
avoided. Along the development era, communication is not only possible.facetoface, but also
can be done through a specific communication media. One communications media that
developing today is the internet. Internet media presents kinds of communication facilities is one
of social networking sites or a web community like Facebook. facebook one of the sites The
most popular nowadays, where most users are students.
Formulation of the problem in this research is the extent of interpersonal communication through
the media facebook effectiveness majoring in Communication of students University of
Muhammadiyah Malang force 20082009. While the objectives to be achieved in this research is
to know and how to describe how big the efectivity of facebook interpersonal communication
through the media, especially on a student majoring in Communication, University of
Muhammadiyah Malang force from 2008 to 2009.
This research uses descriptive quantitative research methods (Descriptive research) using a
survey approach. Subjects research on this is a student majoring in Communication, University
of Muhammadiyah 20082009 force that amount in total is 740 students. 360 students from the
army in 2008 and 380 students of force, 2009. Sampling technique using Yamane formula with
the percentage of inaccuracy of 10% so we get 88 sample of respondents. Then taken with the
technique judgmental sampling and proportional balance sampling. with details of the 43
respondents from force in 2008 and 45 respondents from the force in 2009. While the techniques
of collecting data in this study was conducted by a questionnaire. Analysis data using the
formula Mean (average total value of respondents' answers were divided by the number of
respondents).
From the results of the analysis determined mean value of 3:33, which means that interpersonal
communication through the medium of facebook on students, especially students majoring in
Communication, University of Muhamadiyah Malang be effective. This is based on the results of
the distribution of interval scale which indicate if the amount of 13 Mean values categorized
ineffective; 3.15 categorized effective. From the distribution of interval scale, we can conclude
that the effectiveness of the media, facebook is very small, the excess above the limit of 0.2
effective scale.


Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is an economically important virus that is transmitted in a persistent propagative manner by its thrips vector, Frankliniella occidentalis. Previously, we found that a soluble form of the envelope glycoprotein G(N) (G(N)-S) specifically bound thrips midguts and reduced the amount of detectable virus inside midgut tissues. The aim of this research was to (i) determine if G(N)-S alters TSWV transmission by thrips and, if so, (ii) determine the duration of this effect. In one study, insects were given an acquisition access period (AAP) with G(N)-S mixed with purified virus and individual insects were assayed for transmission. We found that G(N)-S reduced the percent of transmitting adults by eightfold. In a second study, thrips were given an AAP on G(N)-S protein and then placed on TSWV-infected plant material. Individual insects were assayed for transmission over three time intervals of 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 to 7 days post-adult eclosion. We observed a significant reduction in virus transmission that persisted to the same degree throughout the time course. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis of virus titer in individual insects revealed that the proportion of thrips infected with virus was reduced threefold when insects were preexposed to the G(N)-S protein as compared to no exposure to protein, and nontransmitters were not infected with virus. These results demonstrate that thrips transmission of a tospovirus can be reduced by exogenous viral glycoprotein.


Change never changes. The history of English Language Teaching keeps changing its colour as it is built upon many positive and negative outcomes. The purpose of teaching English aims at making the learners use the language so the usage of the language by the learners has been being assessed and new methodologies have been introduced and implemented. Even though the CLT was considered a better approach during the 80s, the contemporary Linguist criticizes the outcome of the approach. Hence in this study, the author focuses on the different stages and factual errors in CLT that lead to the Context Approach. This article also argues the advantages of the Context Approach and concludes with the radical changes in the approach.


males killed in accidents unconnected with flying. The coronary arteries reviewed have been sectioned transversely, one section being taken from left main, the circumflex and the right main artery and a subjective assessment of the degree of stenosis made. The incidence of CAD among 114 military aircrew, 41 professional pilots and 84 private pilots was determined. "Significant CAD" is taken to include Grade 2 or a greater degree of stenosis and is regarded as a degree of atherosclerosis that could be 'significant' in the context of a possible cause for pilot incapacitation. The occurrence percentage of significant asymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis is given in Table 11.


An Ecology of the Russian Avant-Garde Picturebook takes a new approach to interpreting 1920s and 1930s picturebooks by prominent Russian writers, artists, and intellectuals by examining them within the ecological environment that, first, made them possible and, then, led to their demise. It argues that naturalistic models of the complex interactions of dynamic systems offer effective tools for understanding the fraught interrelations of art and censorship in the early Soviet period. Through illustrative case studies, it mounts a close analysis of word and image and their synergistic interplay in avant-garde picturebooks, while also recontextualizing them within the ecology of their original environment where extraordinary countervailing forces played out a drama of which these books survive as telling artifacts. Ultimately, it argues that the Russian avant-garde picturebook offers a uniquely illustrative example of literary ecology that sheds light on issues of creativity and censorship, politics and art, more broadly as well.


This is a PhD by practice, consisting of a documentary film, Village Tales, and an accompanying thesis; I locate my practice in the context of documentary and participatory filmmaking. In this research I want, as an experienced documentary filmmaker, to bring together the techniques of both ethnographic and participatory filmmaking, with approaches used in documentary production. The former with its emphasis on the voice of, in this case, rural women in India, and the latter with its concern to engage an audience through narrative and imagery. The research question is 'to what extent can a combination of observational documentary techniques, video diaries and participatory filmmaking methods be used to explore the interior and everyday lives of women from another culture?' The thesis covers the period of time from 2008 to 2014, which includes research, filmmaking, scripting, editing and screening the documentary to different audiences. The documentary explores what the anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod (1991) calls 'dailiness'; that is, films built around the exploration of relationships, feelings and experiences. Leslie Devereaux uses the term 'sticking close to experience' when describing this attention to everyday life (1995:72). My documentary is situated in the everyday because the women work primarily as housewives and mothers and the 'everyday' is an important site for the construction, maintenance and challenging of gender roles and power. More specifically, Village Tales is concerned with a regional government community initiative in rural India, set up to train local women as video reporters so they can make films about subjects important to them; these films are then screened to other villagers to raise community awareness. However, my documentary is also about some of these women's daily lives as I asked four of them if they would turn their cameras on to their everyday lives and make video diaries about their own personal concerns. The exegesis charts the creative and intellectual terrain that the documentary project as a whole explores. It includes an historical account of participatory filmmaking in the developing world and the use of video diaries, by broadcast television in the UK. I ask that the accompanying DVD is watched after reading Chapters 1-3 of the thesis.


Connecting the discussions on resilience and governance of social-ecological systems (SESs) with the sociological analysis of social controversies, we explore a major red tide crisis on Chiloe Island, southern Chile, in 2016. Theoretically, we argue that controversies not only are methodological devices for the observation of the complex relations between nature and society in moments of crisis, but also are materially embedded in the SES dynamics and can work for or against systemic resilience. Empirically, we show that Chiloe's SES is an unstable regime prone to sudden shifts and identify the configuration of different lock-in mechanisms expressed in the reproduction of structural fragilities over the last three decades. From the examination of the social controversies on the 2016 red tide crisis, we draw several lessons. First, there is a complex interplay of visible and hidden fragilities of Chiloe's SES that, while being ignored or their resolution postponed to the future, materialize in the daily experience of inhabitants as a series of historical disappointments. Second, the unfolding of Chiloe's social-ecological crises involves epistemic disputes not only over concrete events but also on the very construction of the SES as a social-natural reality. In turn, this creates conditions for the emergence of strategic alignments between local, national, and transnational actors and shows the extent to which the socio-political articulation of knowledge may contribute to either improve or block the governance of the SES. Third, the social resources that came to light with the controversies reveal pathways for improving the governance regime of Chiloe Island's SES. This dimension highlights the normative relevance of commitments to recognize multiple scales of knowledge and articulate a plurality of actors in a nonhierarchical logic of cooperation.


The method of interpolation was used in the process of software compensation of temperature in order to improve the environmental performance of air level posture sensor. Two algorithms including Lagrange interpolation and piecewise linear interpolation were calculated and compared in Matlab software, and then the optimization scheme could be achieved. The result showed that although the curse of Lagrange interpolation included all the given data positions, the Runge phenomenon in polynomial interpolation made the accuracy of interpolation lower. Piecewise linear interpolation reflected the relationship between environment and zero voltage more accurately. Piecewise linear interpolation not only can be used to improve the accuracy of software compensation of air level posture sensor.


Flowing emboli in the circulatory system cause fatal diseases such as stroke or pulmonary embolism. Conventional transcranial Doppler ultrasound for detection of emboli requires precise positioning by experienced examiner. In the present study, an easier emboli detection device by visualizing perspective view of blood vessel is proposed. The perspective image was obtained with continuous wave (CW) Doppler ultrasound from 2-dimensional array probe. CW Doppler signal from each element was focused by novel beam forming algorithm to obtain en face images at arbitrary depth to form perspective image. Flow in arterial phantom was clearly visualized with CW Doppler focusing technique. The measured flow speed was 0.75 m/s (the theoretical flow speed: 0.796 m/s). The device may contribute for non-invasive and easier diagnosis of flowing emboli to prevent fatal embolus diseases at early stage.