The excessive immunological response triggered by microbial superantigens has been implicated in the etiology of a wide range of human diseases but has been most clearly defined for the staphylococcal and streptococcal toxic shock syndromes. Because MHC class II presentation of superantigens to T cells is not MHC-restricted, the possibility that HLA polymorphisms could influence superantigenicity, and thus clinical susceptibility to the toxicity of individual superantigens, has received little attention. In this study, we demonstrate that binding of streptococcal and staphylococcal superantigens to HLA class II is influenced by allelic differences in class II. For the superantigen streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A, class II binding is dependent on DQ α-chain polymorphisms such that HLA-DQA1*01 α-chains show greater binding than DQA1*03/05 α-chains. The functional implications of differential binding on T cell activation were investigated in various experimental systems using human T cells and murine Vβ8.2 transgenic cells as responders. These studies showed quantitative and qualitative differences resulting from differential HLA-DQ binding. We observed changes in T cell proliferation and cytokine production, and in the Vβ specific changes in T cell repertoire that have hitherto been regarded as a defining feature of an individual superantigen. Our observations reveal a mechanism for the different outcomes seen following infection by toxigenic bacteria.


Numerical weather prediction models can be cou- pled with hydrological models to generate streamflow fore- casts. Several ensemble approaches have been recently de- veloped in order to take into account the different sources of errors and provide probabilistic forecasts feeding a flood forecasting system. Within this framework, the present study aims at comparing two high-resolution limited-area meteo- rological ensembles, covering short and medium range, ob- tained via different methodologies, but implemented with similar number of members, horizontal resolution (about 7 km), and driving global ensemble prediction system. The former is a multi-model ensemble, based on three mesoscale models (BOLAM, COSMO, and WRF), while the latter, fol- lowing a single-model approach, is the operational ensem- ble forecasting system developed within the COSMO con- sortium, COSMO-LEPS (limited-area ensemble prediction system). The meteorological models are coupled with a distributed rainfall-runoff model (TOPKAPI) to simulate the discharge of the Reno River (northern Italy), for a recent severe weather episode affecting northern Apennines. The evaluation of the ensemble systems is performed both from a meteorologi- cal perspective over northern Italy and in terms of discharge prediction over the Reno River basin during two periods of heavy precipitation between 29 November and 2 Decem- ber 2008. For each period, ensemble performance has been compared at two different forecast ranges. It is found that, for the intercomparison undertaken in this specific study, both mesoscale model ensembles outperform the global ensemble for application at basin scale. Horizontal resolution is found to play a relevant role in modulating the precipitation distribution. Moreover, the multi-model ensem- ble provides a better indication concerning the occurrence, intensity and timing of the two observed discharge peaks, with respect to COSMO-LEPS. This seems to be ascrib- able to the different behaviour of the involved meteorological models. Finally, a different behaviour comes out at different fore- cast ranges. For short ranges, the impact of boundary con- ditions is weaker and the spread can be mainly attributed to the different characteristics of the models. At longer forecast ranges, the similar behaviour of the multi-model members forced by the same large-scale conditions indicates that the systems are governed mainly by the boundary conditions, al- though the different limited area models' characteristics may still have a non-negligible impact.


This paper focuses on feedback received from a set of qualitative questions that were administered to undergraduate students in the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, as part of a larger mixed methods study. The larger study aims to identify what characteristics, if any, can predict or are related to student success; The "start-stop-continue" method was utilized to assess student perceptions about  their success in the college as a whole. The students were asked: Are there any specific things that you can think of that act/acted as barriers to your success in engineering (stop)? What could the college do/change to make first year more successful for engineering students (start)? Is there anything in your engineering degree so far that you feel is done well and helps students succeed (continue)? Students identified the quality of instruction early in their program as well as adjustment to college workloads and self-directed learning as the most significant barriers to student success.


ABSTRACT Studies in a variety of U.S. clinical laboratories have demonstrated difficulty in detecting intermediate and low-level vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). The misclassification of "at least intermediate resistant isolates" as vancomycin susceptible may have both clinical implications and a negative impact on measures to control the spread of VRE. No published study has assessed the ability of clinical laboratories in Europe to detect VRE. So, the apparent low prevalence of VRE in European hospitals may be, in part, secondary to the inability of these laboratories to detect all VRE. In an effort to assess European laboratories' proficiency in detecting VRE, we identified 22 laboratories in Spain and asked them to test four VRE strains and one susceptible enterococcal strain from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collection. Each organism was tested by the routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing method used by each laboratory. Overall, VRE were correctly identified in 61 of 88 (69.1%) instances. The accuracy of VRE detection varied with the level of resistance and the antimicrobial susceptibility method. The high-level-resistant strain (Enterococcus faecium; MIC, 512 μg/ml) was accurately detected in 20 of 22 (91.3%) instances, whereas the intermediate-resistant isolate (Enterococcus gallinarum; MIC, 8 μg/ml) was accurately detected in only 11 of 22 (50%) instances. Classification errors occurred in 27 of 88 (30.9%) instances. Misclassification as vancomycin susceptible was the most common error (16 of 27 [59.3%] instances). Our study shows that the participating Spanish laboratories had an overall acceptable proficiency in detecting VRE but that a substantial proportion of VRE isolates with low or intermediate levels of resistance were not detected. We recommend that studies be conducted to validate laboratory proficiency testing as an important step in the prevention and control of the spread of antimicrobial resistance.


Introduction To screen the risk factors associated with breast cancer among Chinese women in order to evaluate the individual risk of developing breast cancer among women in China. Material and methods A case-control study on 416 breast cancer patients and 1156 matched controls was conducted in 14 hospitals in 8 provinces of China in 2008. Controls were age- and region-matched to the cases. Clinicians conducted in-person interviews with the subjects to collect information on demographics and suspected risk factors for breast cancer that are known worldwide. Conditional logistic regression was used to derive odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between risk factors and breast cancer. Results Compared with matched controls, women with breast cancer were significantly more likely to have higher body mass index (BMI, OR = 4.07, 95% CI: 2.98-5.55), history of benign breast disease (BBD) biopsy (OR = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.19-2.38), older age of menarche (AOM) (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.07-1.87), stress anticipation (SA), for grade 1-4, OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.26-3.66; for grade 5-9, OR = 3.48, 95% CI: 2.03-5.95) and menopause (OR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.50-3.282) at the level of p < 0.05. Family history of breast cancer (FHBC) in first-degree relatives (OR = 1.66, 95% CI: 0.77-3.59) and use of oral contraceptives (OC) (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 0.83-3.05) were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer at the level of p < 0.20. Conclusions Our results showed that BMI, history of BBD biopsy, older AOM, SA and menopause were associated with increased risk of breast cancer among Chinese women. The findings derived from the study provided some suggestions for population-based prevention and control of breast cancer in China.


We present a method that reconstructs and animates a 3D head avatar from a single-view portrait image. Existing methods either involve time-consuming optimization for a specific person with multiple images, or they struggle to synthesize intricate appearance details beyond the facial region. To address these limitations, we propose a framework that not only generalizes to unseen identities based on a single-view image without requiring person-specific optimization, but also captures characteristic details within and beyond the face area (e.g. hairstyle, accessories, etc.). At the core of our method are three branches that produce three tri-planes representing the coarse 3D geometry, detailed appearance of a source image, as well as the expression of a target image. By applying volumetric rendering to the combination of the three tri-planes followed by a super-resolution module, our method yields a high fidelity image of the desired identity, expression and pose. Once trained, our model enables efficient 3D head avatar reconstruction and animation via a single forward pass through a network. Experiments show that the proposed approach generalizes well to unseen validation datasets, surpassing SOTA baseline methods by a large margin on head avatar reconstruction and animation.


The Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) distinguishes itself not only as the pioneering evangelistic mission in Cameroon but also by its Indirect Administrative chain of command known as the Congregational System. By this system of administration, the central administrative unit shifts virtually all responsibilities including infrastructural, personnel, financial and even evangelistic to affiliated local congregations. In spite of the weighty responsibility required from them, the local congregations of the CBC have not compromised the critical duty of evangelism and church planting. As a corollary to this predilection to spread the gospel, many of these congregations have transformed themselves into Church-planting movements. This has invariably reverberated into mind-blogging surge in the number of CBC Churches in Bamenda, Cameroon in recent years. From this background this paper launches an inquest into the mutualism between the Congregational System of Administration and the multiplicative growth of local CBC congregations since 1946 when the first CBC Congregation was planted in Bamenda. The paper employs oral, written and archival materials to succor its thesis.

Keywords: Cameroon Baptist Convention, Church Planting, Evangelism, Bamenda, Congregationalism.


One of the most important losses in animal husbandry is yield loss of neonatal calves. The first hour of birth and life in newborn neonatal is very important for the survival of life. According to the results of the research, it is reported that the mortality rates of the calves are higher in the beginning of spring and in the winter season. Approximately 50 to 53% of calf defects in the neonatal period occur at birth or within two days of life. The most important cause of calf's losses is the formation of hypothermia in newborns because of the temperature of the environment is much lower than body temperature of calf, the change of air temperature (cold air and strong wind), the calf wetness and the lack of thermoregulation. In this review, detailed information about causes of hypothermia, treatment and prevention of neonatal calf defects will be provided.


The fate of two different kinds of new small arterial substitutes, porous and nonporous, has been compared, particularly with regard to the structure of the luminal surface. Twenty-eight weavenit Dacron pyrolytic carbon coated grafts and 28 glutaraldehyde-tanned human umbilical vein segments were implanted into the carotid arteries of dogs. Grafts were removed at intervals, from ten to 120 days after implantation, and examined by scanning electron microscopy. The cumulative patency rate was 96.4 per cent for Dacron and 85.7 per cent for umbilical vein grafts. Ten days after implantation, the Dacron grafts were uniformly covered by a thin thrombus layer, while the umbilical vein grafts showed a thin network of fibrin on the central portion of the luminal surface of the graft and thrombotic deposits at the anastomoses. Thirty days after implantation, both types of prostheses showed the development of a thin fibrous tissue layer on the inner surface. Finally, at 120 days, an endothelial lining was observed.


This paper traces the re-spacing of pastoral drylands in Africa. We argue that rendering pastoral resources legible and profitable occurs both within and beyond the state. Through a multi-sited case study from Ethiopia's Somali region, we excavate different mechanisms of sedentarization, whereby processes of state territorialization and indigenous commodification become mutually entangled. Sedentarization is not imposed by the state or corporate capital, but by indigenous merchants who capture the frontier's potential resource dividend. Land appropriation in the drylands is co-produced by political claims to territory, capital investment and new technopolitics through which indigenous (pastoral, Somali) merchants and politicians become complicit with the state's project of territorialization and sedentarization in a self-governing fashion. The irony of this situation is that the (Ethiopian) state has failed to consolidate sedentarization through planned interventions. Instead, capital investment by local and transnational Somali merchants has opened up a neoliberal frontier that re-spaces drylands towards increasing sedentarization.


The improvement of file access performance is a great challenge in real-time cloud services. In this paper, we analyze preconditions of dealing with this problem considering the aspects of requirements, hardware, software, and network environments in the cloud. Then we describe the design and implementation of a novel distributed layered cache system built on the top of the Hadoop Distributed File System which is named HDFS-based Distributed Cache System (HDCache). The cache system consists of a client library and multiple cache services. The cache services are designed with three access layers an in-memory cache, a snapshot of the local disk, and the actual disk view as provided by HDFS. The files loading from HDFS are cached in the shared memory which can be directly accessed by a client library. Multiple applications integrated with a client library can access a cache service simultaneously. Cache services are organized in the P2P style using a distributed hash table. Every file cached has three replicas in different cache service nodes in order to improve robustness and alleviates the workload. Experimental results show that the novel cache system can store files with a wide range in their sizes and has the access performance in a millisecond level in highly concurrent environments.


This research aims to identify cultural properties of the Arab District, located in
 Erbil City, Iraq. Being one of the oldest constantly inhabited cities, Erbil City
 has great heritage and cultural values, including its Citadel, which is in
 UNESCO's World Heritage List since 2014. This district was the first inhabited
 area outside the citadel and, similarly to it, has highly influenced the urban
 fabric growth of the city and implemented the same kind of buildings, houses,
 construction materials and ancient techniques as the ones present inside the
 Citadel. However, there is no reliable information about the district neither
 available documents for visitors, researchers or planners to consult. In order to
 address this issue this thesis aims to identify the criteria based on UNESCO
 requirement operational guidelines 2015 and analyse the cultural properties
 present in Arab District, proposing a documentation framework that should be
 archived for the need of future conservation works.
 Using Arab District as a case study, the research adopts a qualitative method
 in order to collect and analyse relevant information, including municipality
 documents, observations, photographs and interviews with authorities and
 specialists to confirm the authenticity of the data collected. In order to better
 understand the cultural properties of the area, factors like historical
 background, urban fabric, buildings and house typologies, are deeply analysed.
 As main findings it is important to highlight the two types of house typologies,
 composed by one or two floors, the three different types of courtyards, where
 they are classified according to their rooms' location and the simplicity of the
 house facades built with bricks covered with shinny straw. It is also important to
 mention the uniqueness of the types of facades elements, where it is possible
 to find unique decorative elements, original voids, carpentry of doors and windows, exterior finishing and even internal facades. Focusing on urban, the
 main findings focus on the urban form of Arab District, which was kept until
 nowadays and represents almost a triangular shape. Narrow streets with high
 spatial enclosure, promotes a higher social interaction. The results must be
 stored in a database and turned available to the public, organized in
 accordance to their nature and type, in an easy way to retrieve, understand and
 consult.


Context. The analysis of solar-like oscillations for stars belonging to a binary system provides a unique opportunity to probe the internal stellar structure and to test our knowledge of stellar physics. Such oscillations have been recently observed and characterized for the A component of the 70 Ophiuchi system. Aims. We determined the global parameters of 70 Ophiuchi AB using the new asteroseismic measurements now available for 70 Oph A and tested the input physics introduced in stellar evolution codes. Methods. Three different stellar evolution codes and two different calibration methods were used to perform a comprehensive analysis of the 70 Ophiuchi system. Results. A model of 70 Ophiuchi AB that correctly reproduces all observational constraints available for both stars is determined. An age of 6.2± 1.0 Gyr is found with an initial helium mass fraction Yi = 0.266± 0.015 and an initial metallicity (Z/X)i = 0.0300± 0.0025 when atomic diffusion is included and a solar value of the mixing-length parameter assumed. A precise and independent determination of the value of the mixing-length parameter needed to model 70 Oph A requires accurate measurement of the mean small separation, which is not available yet. Current asteroseismic observations, however, suggest that the value of the mixing-length parameter of 70 Oph A is lower or equal to the solar calibrated value. The effects of atomic diffusion and of the choice of the adopted solar mixture were also studied. We finally found that the different evolution codes and calibration methods we used led to perfectly coherent results.


In order to further understand the role of fibrillin-1 (FBN1, OMIM 134797) perturbations in the pathogenesis of Marfan syndrome (MFS, OMIM 154700) we studied a Han Chinese family in which MFS was segregating. In the Chinese family with 5 affected members, mutation screening for FBN1 was performed using direct sequencing. A novel non-synonymous mutation in the transforming growth factor beta binding protein-like (TB) domain of the FBN1 gene was found. The missense mutation c.3022T>C (C1008R) located in exon 24. This mutation was present in the proband and in two other affected family members, but in neither unaffected family members nor unrelated control subjects. The novel non-synonymous mutation, c.3022T>C (C1008R) in the TB domain of FBN1 gene, may be involved in the pathogenesis of MFS in a Han Chinese family.


Abstract
Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) from October 2009 to February 2011 the Look Here! project is examining how we build, embed and sustain digitisation practice across the arts higher education sector in the UK. Led by the Visual Arts Data Service, a Research Centre at the University of the Creative Arts, the project consists of the seven partners: the Arts University College at Bournemouth, University of Brighton, the University of the Arts London, University College Falmouth and University of Southampton, and since its inception the project partners have been joined by two unfunded partners: the Royal School of Needlework and the Textile Archive, Bradford College.

The project has three primary objectives: to support the embedding of digitisation practice within partner institutions; to creative a community to share skills and expertise; and to share emerging knowledge with the wider higher education community through a series of case studies, practitioner guides and workshops. It was envisaged that this would be achieved in four stages. The first stage, project initiation, saw the partners examine the Knitting Collections held by the University of Southampton and consider a number of issues relating to the digitisation of the collections, including: image selection, copyright, metadata, funding, hosting options and user requirements. The second stage involved modelling the digitisation processes, identifying replication and inefficiencies in practice, as well as the critical success factors required to embed and sustain practice at an institutional and sectorial level. The third stage, application, involves partners applying and testing the digitisation model within their own institutions, this process would also enable the model to be reviewed and revised as appropriate, and enable partners to identify gaps in knowledge and skills within the sector. The final stage, dissemination, will see the emerging knowledge and practice shared across the wider higher education sector to support the digitisation of images within the predominately text based disciplines.

At the time of writing the project has been running for approximately six months and the partners have already held a series of workshops focusing on image selection, metadata and copyright, further sessions are planned for funding and commercialisation of collection, digitisation practices and sustainability. Community cohesion is high and all the partners are active both within the project and their host institutions sharing and embedding practice and identifying areas of common concern and ways forward.

Longer term, the project is expected to have significant impact on both the partners and the wider higher education community. It will improve institutional capacity and effectiveness to digitise collections to support learning, teaching and research across the arts and, through the creation of the community of experts and the consultancy service, across the sector. Finally, the project will also raise awareness of the need and importance of digitisation processes within institutions and in the wider sector.


Extensional structures that include normal faults whose dip decreases with depth are well known in the West African passive margin. The faults detach on the Aptian-aged Loeme salt layer. Rotation and faulting of the hanging-wall blocks has produced hydrocarbon trap geometries that hold several billion barrels of reserves. Single listric fault systems, including subsidiary faults, are responsible for most structures; however, we have mapped a trend of structures formed by two generations of faulting within the block 0 concession offshore Cabinda, Angola. The resulting geometry of cross-cutting faults has introduced additional trap types not recognized before in the region.


The Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system is a major component of the East Antarctic ice sheet. Few accurate elevation data exist for the system, and many of its important glaciological parameters remain uncertain, including the mass budget and location of the grounding zone. This study uses European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS) radar altimeter waveform data to expand knowledge of the system's structure and surface properties.
Surface elevations are derived by retracking ERS-1/2 altimeter waveforms, making corrections for slope-induced error and tides, and are validated against insitu Global Positioning System (GPS) observations. Elevation differences, at the intersections of the ERS-1 ground tracks with the GPS survey, have a mean of 0.0 ± 0.1 m and RMS of 1.7 m, and are spatially correlated with topographic variations. Two Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are constructed from the calibrated altimeter heights: one on a 1-km grid for the Amery Ice Shelf only (AIS-DEM), which exhibits unprecedented resolution, and another on a 5-km grid for the entire basin (LAS-DEM). The altimeter DEMs allow new insight into the glaciology of the system.
The AIS-DEM is combined with measured ice thicknesses and a simple density model to derive a 'hydrostatic height anomaly' term (i.e., the excess height above that required for buoyancy). Where this term is close to zero indicates floating ice; this occurs over most of the ice shelf and up the trunk of the Lambert Glacier. Significantly positive values of the term occur around the, margins of the floating ice, identifying the location of the grounding zone. A region in the north-west of the shelf, where the ice is known to be afloat, displays anomalous values of the hydrostatic height anomaly term. This is an area of marine ice accretion, where the ice thickness sounder only detected the upper boundary of the accreted layer. These results reveal that the Amery Ice Shelf extends much further south than previously reported, and that the marine ice is up to 200 m thick, oriented along the ice flow direction and restricted to the west of the shelf.
The LAS-DBM is used to define flowlines for the grounded ice within the drainage basin, where the average surface slope determines ice flow direction. These are combined with accumulation distributions to derive balance fluxes for the system. Comparison with flux measurements from a traverse program suggests that the interior of the system has a slightly positive mass budget. The DEMs also provide reference surfaces against which to monitor any future change.
Near-surface snow parameters are estimated from the ERS waveform data using a surface arfd volume scattering model in the retracking. These indicate that surface scattering dominates the altimeter return power over most of the ice shelf, whilst volume scattering predominates elsewhere. Standing water is detected on the ice shelf by the occurrence of specular returns. This melt-water flowed along surface troughs observed in the AIS-DEM. Backscatter observations along a 3-day repeat track of ERS-1 showed variations in meltstream onset, extent and duration between the 1991-92 and 1993-94 summers.
This study, using derived high-precision altimeter products, has quantified many parameters of the Lambert-Amery system that were previously unknown, and provided a reference against which to monitor any future change in the system. The new findings are consistent with observed in situ data and sub-ice shelf model results, and provide credence for the long-term use of altimetric data for ice sheet studies.


As a result of a 2003 SEC regulation intended to increase the transparency of firms' off-balance sheet obligations, tabular data on purchase obligations became available in the MD&A section of firms' 10-Ks. We develop a program to read the text of these disclosures and we create a database to facilitate our examination of the impact of bargaining power on the implications of changes in a firm's purchase obligations for future earnings. We use a variable indicating whether the firm is stressed by current operating losses to proxy for weakness in the firm's bargaining power with suppliers. We find that changes in purchase obligations are positively (negatively) related to the subsequent year earnings changes of firms with current operating profits (losses). We find that financial analysts do not fully impound information about buyer bargaining power when forecasting the future earnings implications of changes in purchase obligations. We do not find that this earnings forecasting inefficiency affects the efficiency of stock prices with respect to information about operating losses and changes in purchase obligations. However, we do find evidence suggesting that stock prices overestimate the future earnings implications of increases in profit firms' purchase obligations.


No therapeutic effectiveness without unwanted side-effects. This well-known problem persists in spite of modern methods for development of new drugs. Therefore no drug-therapy should be initiated without exact risk-benefit-analysis. Especially for drugs introduced recently, effectiveness is better defined than tolerance. In the USA annual costs of 3 million $ due to drug-side-effects have been estimated, indicating an immense socio-economic relevance next to medical or personal aspects. Therefore effective means and strategies should be accepted and used: General reduction of drug consumption, avoidance of polytherapy with respect to known and unknown interaction of side-effects, strict observation of proper indications, amelioration of surveillance for recently introduced drugs and better consideration of special populations at risk.


Wogonin is a main effective component of Scutellaria baicalensis, with a significant anti-cancer activity. Recently, extensive studies focused on anti-cancer pharmacological effects of wogonin, but there were still a few studies on its molecular mechanism. Therefore, the molecular targets of its anti-cancer activity were still unclear. In this study, network pharmacology was applied to investigate the potential targets and molecular pathway of wogonin in inhibiting the growth of colorectal cancer. It indicated that Wnt/β-catenin was a key pathway of wogonin on colorectal cancer. Then, pharmacology and molecular mechanism studies were performed according to network pharmacological results. Pharmacological results revealed that wogonin inhibited significantly the proliferation of SW480(P<0.001), with a concentration-dependent regularity in the range of 12.5-50 μmol·L~(-1). Additionally, wogonin could induce G_1 phase blocking of SW480 cells. Western blot was used to investigate the effect of wogonin on four characteristic proteins of Wnt/β-catenin pathway. CTNNB1(β-catenin), BIRC5(survivin) and GSK3 B were down-regulated significantly, while the expression level of BAX was up-regulated(P<0.05). In conclusion, wogonin could inhibit the proliferation of SW480 cells through Wnt/β-catenin pathway. The feature protein CTNNB1(β-catenin), BIRC5(survivin), GSK3 B and BAX were identified as the potential targets. This study illuminated the anti-cancer molecular mechanism and drug targets of wogonin, which provided a theoretical basis for anti-colon cancer drug discovery and clinical application.


Transfection of mammalian cells with preformed small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) permits a transient and often specific reduction of gene expression. It is possible to rapidly examine the uptake of siRNAs by transfection with fluorescently labeled siRNAs. We examined the apparent uptake of such siRNAs by several leukemic cell lines after electroporation. We show that Cy3 and Cy5-labeled siRNAs cause a significant amount of cell fluorescence, as judged by flow cytometry. In contrast, several fluorescein-labeled siRNAs could not be detected. Nevertheless, such fluoresceinated siRNAs efficiently suppressed a leukemic target gene, demonstrating that siRNA uptake must have taken place. Therefore, for cell electroporation, fluorescein-labeled siRNAs may lead to false negative results and should not be used to examine electroporation-mediated siRNA uptake.


4H-SiC pin diodes were fabricated on epitaxial layers grown by Sandwich Sublimation Method (SSM). I-V and photoemission measurements were conducted on these devices. These measurements show hot spots responsible for a soft breakdown and evidence triangular shape defects previously observed in 4H-SiC pin diodes made on CVD epitaxial layers. These results agree with the morphology studies which indicate that the SSM-grown layers have a higher number of structural defects than their counterparts.


Background: Anaerobic bacterial infections, especially enterotoxemia, are common ruminant disorders. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the toxigenic isolates of Clostridium perfringens in the ruminants of Yazd province. Materials and Methods: In total, 485 fecal and intestinal samples were obtained and analyzed for typing C. perfringens toxovars by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Only 179 bacterial strains passed the biochemical tests and 87 C. perfringens strains were confirmed by multiplex PCR. Results: Interestingly, the predominant C. perfringens toxovar was type A (89.7%), while type D (9.2%) was also identified as a pathogen in the ruminants of Yazd province. Conclusions: Detection of toxigenic C. perfringens isolates with multiplex PCR was performed for the first time in this field. The multiplex PCR used in this study provides a useful and reliable tool for C. perfringens genotyping in routine veterinary diagnostics,a nd epidemiological studies of the prevalent types of C. perfringens in Iran are possible by this technique. Genotyping of C. perfringens is recommended before starting vaccination programs.


This study aims to enhance our understanding of the practice of risk management, and specifically how corporate boards fulfill their responsibilities regarding risk oversight. We draw on a theoretical perspective centered on (dis)comfort and 25 interviews with corporate board members and risk management consultants in Canada to present a view of risk management as a set of activities characterized by tension between actions that engender the feeling of discomfort, and a quest for comfort and reassurance. Our findings provide insights that show how, alongside the functionalist underpinnings, comfort-seeking represents a pervasive imperative that profoundly shapes risk management in action.


Persistent organic pollutants in drinking water impose a substantial risk to the health of human beings, but the evidence for liver toxic effect and the underlying mechanism is scarce. This study aimed to examine the liver toxicity and elucidate the molecular mechanism of organic pollutants in drinking water in normal human liver cell line L02 cells and rats. The data showed that organic extraction from drinking water remarkably impaired rat liver function, evident from the increase in the serum level of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and cholinesterase, and decrease in the serum level of total protein and albumin. Organic extraction dose-dependently induced apoptotic cell death in rat liver and L02 cells. Administration of rats with organic extraction promoted death receptor signaling pathway through the increase in gene and protein expression level of Fas and FasL. Treatment of rats with organic extraction also induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis via increasing the expression level of proapoptotic protein, Bax, but decreasing the expression level of antiapoptotic protein, Bcl-2, resulting in an upregulation of cytochrome c and activation of caspase cascade at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Moreover, organic extraction enhanced rat liver glutathione S-transferases activity and reactive oxygen species generation, and upregulated aryl hydrocarbon receptor and glutathione S-transferase A1 at both transcriptional and translational levels. Collectively, the results indicate that organic extraction from drinking water impairs liver function, with the involvement of death receptor and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in rats. The results provide evidence and molecular mechanisms for organic pollutants in drinking water-induced liver dysfunction, which may help prevent and treat organic extraction-induced liver injury.


The troponin (Tn) complex is a critical regulatory and integrative hub for myofilament post-translational modifications that regulate cardiac contraction. Beta-adrenergic-induced protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylation of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) at Ser-23/24 is a major myofilament cardiac contractile modulator. In addition to this PKA-induced phosphorylation, cTnI can be simultaneously phosphorylated at a number of other residues. To fully understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie cardiac muscle regulation at the myofilament level, cTnI phosphorylations must be studied as integrated events. As an initial step towards understanding the integration of these events, we employed a phosphomimetic approach to investigate the effect of cTnI Ser-150 pseudo-phosphorylation (TnI-S150D) on cTnI PKA pseudo-phosphorylation (TnI-S23/24D) function within the thin filament. The combinatorial effect of these phosphorylation events were determined by measuring the binding of calcium to troponin C in thin filaments reconstituted with human Tn. The steady-state calcium sensitivity of TnC was increased ∼2.3 fold in thin filaments reconstituted with TnI-S150D containing Tn, while TnI-S23/24D containing filaments exhibited an ∼3.9 fold decrease of calcium sensitivity. Importantly, in the presence of both cTnI pseudo-phosphorylations (TnI-S23/24/150D) calcium binding was not different from that of wild-type. Likewise, calcium dissociation from thin filaments reconstituted with TnI-S23/24D was increased by ∼3.5 fold, while TnI-S150D containing filaments demonstrated a decrease in calcium dissociation of ∼2.3 fold compared to wild-type filaments. Interestingly the combined pseudo-phosphorylations of TnI-S23/24/150D only blunted TnI-23/24D calcium dissociation kinetics to ∼1.2 fold of the TnI-S23/24D filaments alone. These findings demonstrate the integrated effects of cTnI site-specific phosphorylation crosstalk to affect the function of cTnI PKA-induced phosphorylation. These data further highlight the importance of understanding the integrated role of Tn phosphorylation crosstalk on cardiac contractile regulation.


This work demonstrates the use of photocleavable cholesterol derivatives to create supported bilayer lipid membrane arrays on silica. The photocleavable cholesteryl tether is attached to the surface by using the reaction of an amine-functionalized self-assembled monolayer (SAM) and the N-hydroxysuccinimide-based reagent 9. The resultant SAM contains an ortho-nitrobenzyl residue that can be cleaved by photolysis by using soft (365 nm) UV light regenerating the original amine surface, and which can be patterned using a mask. The photoreaction yield was approximately 75 % which was significantly higher than previously found for related ortho-nitrobenzyl photochemistry on gold substrates. The SAMs were characterized by means of contact angle measurements, ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Patterned surfaces were characterized with SEM and AFM. After immersing the patterned surface into a solution containing small unilamellar vesicles of egg phosphatidylcholine (PC), supported lipid membranes were formed comprised of lipid bilayer over the amine functionalized "hydrophilic" regions and lipid monolayer over the cholesteryl "hydrophobic" regions. This was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and AFM. FRAP studies yielded a lateral diffusion coefficient for the probe molecule of 0.14+/-0.05 microm(2) s(-1) in the bilayer regions and approximately 0.01 microm(2) s(-1) in the monolayer regions. This order of magnitude difference in diffusion coefficients effectively serves to isolate the bilayer regions from one another, thus creating a bilayer array.


Numerical predictions of pressure effects on natural convective heat transfer characteristics for a non-Boussinesq fluid in a rectangular enclosure are presented. The solution method is developed based on a compressible flow model and is employed to simultaneously determine the absolute pressure, density, temperature, and velocity distributions in the enclosure. Discretization equations are derived from the integral mass, momentum, and energy equations on a staggered grid. The fluid pressure in the enclosure is varied from 20 to 300 kPa such that the flow behavior in a vacuum or pressurized system can be observed. Physical situations investigated also include cases in a wide range of wall temperature difference associated with various length scales, corresponding to an equivalent modified Rayleigh number ranging from 104 to 106. The validity of the incompressible flow model coupled with the Boussinesq approximation for the fluid density, which is commonly used in the existing studies of the buoyant flows, is discussed.


Cephalothin sodium levels in serum, gallbladder bile, gallbladder tissue, and common duct bile were studied in both normal patients and patients with biliary disease. The results show that cephalothin is concentrated in bile in normal patients and patients with gallbladder disease. In the presence of jaundice, results are less conclusive. Following a single dose of the drug, peak level in bile was reached at two hours; the level at eight hours was less than 1μg/ml in patients with biliary drainage through a T tube in the common bile duct. Since the antibacterial spectrum of cephalothin includes a large number of common biliary pathogens, and since the concentration of the drug in bile reaches levels higher than the minimal inhibitory and even bactericidal concentration in the absence of obstructive jaundice, it could be of value in the treatment of biliary infections.


Evaluating a pipe-in-pipe (PIP) system with bulkheads is not explicitly covered by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z662 for oil & gas pipeline systems and refers to the rules in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC Section VIII, Division 2) as alternative reference code. However, the BPVC does not specifically address the pipeline design. Due to the nonlinear nature of the PIP and bulkhead geometry and loading condition, careful modeling and an appropriate interpretation and application of design criteria by BPVC code are required. The current paper addresses the challenges and recommendations for geometric design of the bulkheads, the appropriate modeling of the problem using FEA method, as well as analysis and accurate interpretation of the results based on the BPVC rules. The bulkhead design was checked per ASME B&PV VIII.2, design-by-analysis, and showed that the assembly has met the criteria for protection against 1) plastic collapse, 2) local failure and 3) failure from ratcheting.


This paper presents a novel linearized transconductor architecture working at 1.25 V in a 0.8-/spl mu/m CMOS technology with very low power consumption. The special features of the floating-gate MOS (FGMOS) transistor are combined in weak and strong inversion leading to a simplified topology with fewer stacked transistors and a very low noise floor. The design methodology is thoroughly explained, together with the advantages and disadvantages of working with the FGMOS transistor. Furthermore, second-order effects arising from nonideal behavior of the device are analyzed and limits for the performance are established. Experimental results from a second-order low-pass/bandpass filter that was implemented using the transconductor show a tunability of over one and a half decades in the audio range, a dynamic range of over 62 dB, and a maximum power consumption of 2.5 /spl mu/W. These results demonstrate the suitability of the FGMOS transistor for implementing analog continuous-time filters, while at the same time pushing down the voltage limits of process technologies and simplifying the circuit topologies to obtain significant power savings.


Understanding machine vision can certainly improve our understanding of artificial intelligence as vision happens to be one of the basic intellectual activities of living beings. Since the notion of computation unifies the concept of a machine, computer vision can be understood as an application of modern approaches for achieving artificial intelligence, like machine learning and cognitive psychology. Computer vision mainly involves processing of different types of sensor data resulting in "perception of machines". Perception of machines plays a very important role in several artificial intelligence applications with sensors. There are numerous practical situations where we acquire sensor data for e.g. from mobile robots, security cameras, service and recreational robots. Making sense of this sensor data is very important so that we have increased automation in using the data. Tools from image processing, shape analysis and probabilistic inferences i.e. learning theory form the artillery for current generation of computer vision researchers.
In my thesis I will address some of the most annoying components of two important open problems viz. object recognition and autonomous navigation that remain central in robotic, or in other words computational, intelligence. These problems are concerned with inducing computers, the abilities to recognize and navigate similar to those of humans. Object boundaries are very useful descriptors for recognizing objects. Extracting boundaries from real images has been a notoriously open problem for several decades in the vision community. In the first part I will present novel techniques for extracting object boundaries. The techniques are based on practically successful state-of-the-art Bayesian filtering framework, well founded geometric properties relating boundaries and skeletons and robust high-level shape analyses.
Acquiring global maps of the environments is crucial for robots to localize and be able to navigate autonomously. Though there has been a lot of progress in achieving autonomous mobility, for e.g. as in DARPA grand-challenges of 2005 and 2007, the mapping problem itself remains to be unsolved which is essential for robust autonomy in hard cases like rescue arenas and collaborative exploration. In the second part I will present techniques for merging maps acquired by multiple and single robots. We developed physics-based energy minimization techniques and also shape based techniques for scalable merging of maps. Our shape based techniques are a product of combining of high-level vision techniques that exploit similarities among maps and strong statistical methods that can handle uncertainties in Bayesian sense.


This article analyses the debate associated with the co-impacts of climate change mitigation in developing countries, with a particular focus upon Africa's least developed countries. While these countries' emissions of greenhouse gases are relatively small (and they do not have emission limitation commitments in the current international regime), inattention to the mitigation agenda would mean that developing countries both miss potential funding opportunities and fail to 'climate-proof' their development strategies. A focus, therefore, upon the short-term, local, developmental impacts that serve to change the relative attractiveness of different mitigation options from the perspective of the developing country is in these countries' current strategic interests. In this article, I examine three energy-related climate change mitigation options: improved cookstoves, carbon-free electricity and improved energy efficiency in industry. Following a conventional 'climate analysis' of each, the potential co-benefits and co-costs – drawn from the general literature and then investigated more specifically for the African countries under scrutiny – are identified. This examination reveals that relatively little work focusing explicitly, and simultaneously, upon climate change mitigation and co-impacts has been carried out in Africa's least developed countries. In conclusion, a call for cross-fertilisation of information between heretofore disparate research communities is made. Additionally, the development of an integrated research agenda is identified as a priority, and the basis of this agenda is articulated.


To be able to speak English fluently or native-like for  foreign learners of this language  becomes their expectation to achieve. One of important elements that support successful communication using English is pronunciation. Without sufficient pronunciation skills, the learners may have limit ability to comunicate. The Indonesian language has different system from that of English including the sound system.Therefore, a teaching aid is needed to foster learners to improve their pronunciation skills.Tongue Twisters which consist of a combination of sounds that are hard for the mouth and tongue to manage especially for  non-native learners are meaningful tools to improve pronunciation. In this case, tongue twisters are implemented in pronunciation class of the second semester of English Department Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Slamet Riyadi University. The students reported that they had never used tongue twisters before. They found the drills useful and interesting. The class became fun and active. However, some still found difficulty while using tongue twisters especially the speed and time consuming. Tongue Twisters are useful drills to improve motivation, class condition, and pronunciation skill of the second semester students of English Department Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Slamet Riyadi University.


A series of 3,6-disubstituted 1,2,4–triazolo[3,4-b]-1,3,4-thiadiazoles were synthesized from 3- substituted-4-amino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazoles and 3-substituted 4-carboxypyrazoles. Elemental analyses, IR, 1H NMR and mass spectral data confirmed the structures of all newly synthesized compounds. Most of the newly synthesized compounds were screened for their anticancer activity in hepatic cell lines. Many of the compounds were found to be potent. The perturbations brought by the substituent can affect various parameters of the molecule like its electron density, its steric environment, its bioavailability etc. The thiadiazole with naphthyloxymethyl and fluorophenyl groups as substituents showed excellent antiproliferative effect


The mass of the τ lepton has been measured in the decay mode τ→3πντ using a pseudomass technique. The result obtained from 414fb-1 of data collected with the Belle detector is Mτ=[1776.61±0. 13(stat)±0.35(sys)]MeV/c2. The upper limit on the relative mass difference between positive and negative τ leptons is |Mτ+-Mτ-|/ Mτ<2.8×10-4 at 90% confidence level. © 2007 The American Physical Society.


Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) causes one of the most destructive viral diseases in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] worldwide. Ninety-eight SMV isolates identified in the USA have been classified into seven strain groups (G1-G7). Three independent loci (Rsv1, Rsv3, and Rsv4) have been identified for SMV resistance. Multiple resistance alleles have been reported for the Rsv1 and Rsv3 locus. The objective of this research was to group diverse soybean genotypes on the basis of their differential reactions to SMV strains. SMV strains G1 and G7 were used to characterize the reactions of 212 soybean genotypes to SMV. Fifty-five genotypes were resistant to G1 but susceptible to G7, and virus was detected in G7-inoculated plants. Thirty-one genotypes were resistant to G1 but exhibited stem-tip necrosis following G7 inoculation. These 86 soybean genotypes presumably carry alleles at the Rsv1 locus. Thirty-seven genotypes were resistant to G1 and G7, and SMV was not detected by ELISA, indicating that they probably carry Rsv4, Rsv1-r, or Rsv1-h or a combination of two resistance genes Rsv1Rsv3, Rsv1Rsv4, or Rsv3Rsv4. Seven genotypes were susceptible to G1 but resistant to G7 and may carry alleles at the Rsv3 locus. PI 507389 and PI 61944 developed stem-tip necrosis after inoculation with G1 and a mosaic symptom when inoculated with G7, indicating that PI 61944 may carry the same Rsv1-n gene as PI 507389. Eighty soybean accessions developed mosaic symptoms when inoculated with G1 or G7 because of the lack of SMV resistance genes. The information from this research will be helpful in selecting SMV-resistant parents for crossing in a breeding program.


The design of the cylindrical mixing chamber type ejector described in this article is based on the classical mass flow continuity equations and the momentum theorem. The ejector is first considered as consisting solely of the mixing chamber, which is made long enough to ensure that the whole of the driving flow momentum is transferred to the induced flow. It has been found by experience that the length of the mixer should be of the order of 6 tn 7 times the mixer diameter. This being so, owing to the cylindrical shape of the mixer the momentum transfer can be written straight down without any difficulty, wall friction being ignored. The ejector operating equation is then written in non-dimensionless parameters, relating the induced fluid static and total pressure rises Δp and ΔP respectively to the dynamic pressure of the driving fluid: 1 /2 ρu2 (ω = Δp and ρu2/2 and π = ΔP/ρu2/2) and the mean flow velocity of the total mixed discharge v to the driving or inducing flow injection velocity u [w = (v /u)]. Finally, the dilution rate δ relating the total mass flow (m0 + mα) to the driving mass flow δ = [(m0 + mα)/m0] fits in quite naturally and Figure 1 gives the variations of ωδ and πδ in terms of the variable ω which in this case is considered as the fundamental variable in the design of the ejector. This figure, although it concerns a theoretical case, shows that the mixer cross-section should be made large enough to prevent the flow velocity of the total flow being excessively high, the object being to obtain as high an induced fluid pressure as possible. In practice the mixing chamber is generally followed by a diffuser, the objet of which is to transform part of the fluid's kinetic energy into pressure energy as efficiently as possible. This means that the diffuser head loss coefficient k should be taken into account. The operating equation is then applied to the case of the ejector complete with its diffuser, k being combined with the dilution rate δ to give a non-dimensional number kδ, which is taken as a parameter for the sets of curves representing the functions, πδ = πδ (ω, kδ) and : η = η (ω, kδ) η being the thermodynamic efficiency of the mixing operation (Figs. 2 and 3). These sets of curves show very simply the effect of increasing or the dilution rate δ. It is admittedly well known that the value of the coefficient k should be kept as low as possible but these curves also show very clearly that ejectors working at high dilution rates will have very limited thermodynanuc efficiency, as the latter decreases inversely with the dilution rate. Finally, owing to the simple form of these equations the optimum mixer cross-section can be worked out practically straightaway, the maximum value for the product πδ, for a given set of operating conditions, being precisely the same as the ratio v/u which the mixer design must achieve. Two simple applications of this last remark are given to illustrate the use of the method of calculation described in this article.


Daily newspapers today are under siege. The future viability of traditional daily newspapers is being questions due to the rise of Internet information sources, as well as the current political attacks on the press. This article argues that those predicting "doom and gloom" for the daily newspaper industry are short-sighted, given the continued popularity of high-quality investigative journalism and ever-present need for accountability reporting in our democracy. With many readers consuming daily newspapers' content through their innovative online platforms, the competition of the Internet had increased the quality of newspaper journalism, after a period of declining quality due to aggressive consolidation in the print industry. Discussing the 1970 Newspaper Preservation Act ("NPA"), which was supposed to protect editorial diversity by allowing horizontal economic consolidations, the author observes that it actually led to lower quality journalism and less competitive newspapers. The author argues that the NPA should be repealed, and aggressive competition encouraged between newspapers at both the local and national geographic levels through the rigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws. Newspapers should continue to be analyzed as a distinct product market by antitrust enforcers, and further horizontal mergers and consolidation discouraged, and, if necessary, rejected.


INTRODUCTION The authors of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003 (hereinafter, "CAN-SPAM" or the "Act"), (1) the first United States federal law placing restrictions on the use of unsolicited commercial e-mail ("UCE"), or "spam," were asking for trouble. First, the title of the Act rings of Orwellian doublespeak. Second, its content has drawn ire from all sides except, for the most part, the direct marketers who are the ones being regulated--and that is not a good sign. Despite the considerable fanfare that accompanied the Act's passage, including high profile lawsuits by Internet Service Providers ("ISPs") against unnamed John Doe spammers, (2) the reactions of both anti-spam activists, and of spammers, to the new law suggest that the Act has not had--and will not have--much effect in stemming the rising tide of spam that is clogging e-mailboxes the world over. Some of the apparent weaknesses of CAN-SPAM as an effective tool to thwart spam arise from dubious drafting decisions, while others reflect the endemic shortcomings of any attempts to control spam by national legislation, given the inherent fluidity and anonymity of e-mail distribution through the Internet. In addition, long delay in enacting legislation--even flawed legislation--may well be responsible in part for the enormous explosion of spam that has made its control all the more difficult. Spam is a serious problem on many fronts, but a more sophisticated analysis of spam and its related phenomena, than that performed by the authors of the Act, is necessary. Solving the spam problem requires undertaking philosophical, historical, technological, and economic analyses of the market forces that are at play. Only after considering the dynamic interplay of these factors will it likely prove possible to arrive at an effective solution to the spam problem. I. THE ACT Although Congress had been considering different anti-spam measures for many years, (3) it was slow to pass a legislative response to spam. (4) But in the face of an overwhelming public perception that spam was proliferating at an unacceptable rate, (5) recognizing that spam was imposing massive cumulative costs on American business and consumers, (6) and noting the inconsistent, and often stringent, state laws regulating spam, Congress finally acted in late 2003 to create a national standard for the acceptable use of e-mail solicitations. (7) The Act recited a compelling list of Congressional Findings. Among these were: (1) The rapid growth in the volume of UCE threatened the convenience and efficiency of e-mail; (8) (2) UCEs accounted for more than half of all e-mail traffic; (9) (3) Most UCEs were fraudulent or deceptive; (10) (4) UCE resulted in costs to recipients of UCE, including the costs of storage and costs associated with the time spent accessing, reviewing, and discarding the mail; (11) (5) UCE was costly to ISPs, businesses, and educational institutions because of the need to increase storage or bandwidth or both; (12) (6) The receipt of a large volume of UCE increased the chances that wanted e-mail would be discarded or ignored. (13) (7) Many states had enacted mutually-inconsistent versions of anti-spam legislation that had not alleviated the spam problem and were difficult to enforce. (14) CAN-SPAM attempted to address these identified problems in two ways: (1) by requiring that all commercial e-mail promulgators operate on an "opt out" basis, i.e., they must provide recipients of a commercial message with a reliable means to elect not to receive any future mailings from the particular sender; and (2) by restricting certain common and deceptive practices employed by spammers, so as to provide greater transparency and accountability for senders of commercial e-mail. The "opt out" provisions of CAN-SPAM are provided in Section 5(a) of the Act. …


A double-closured method introduced for Hungate tubes eliminates clamps or special racks to hold the rubber stoppers in place while the tubes are being processed. The system prevents stoppers from being dislodged by gas-producing anaerobes and keeps the stoppers sterile so that the closed system of transfer can be conveniently utilized. Open and closed systems for handling a gas-producing anaerobe were compared. Ten tubes containing Clostridium perfringens were opened; the organism was detected in the air by use of an impingement collector. The gloved hand of the operator also revealed the test organism. A similar trial with culture material removed by the closed system (syringe transfer) resulted in no detectable contamination of the environment.


Ab initio calculations using the perturbed ion model, with correlation contributions included, are presented for nonstoichiometric (NaI) nNa 1 and (CsI) nCs 1 (n<14) cluster ions. The ground state and several low-lying isomers are identified and described. Rocksalt ground states are common and appear at cluster sizes lower than in the corresponding neutral systems. The most salient features of the measured mobilities seem to be explained by arguments related to the changes of the compactness of the clusters as a function of size. The stability of the cluster ions against evaporation of a single alkali halide molecule shows variations that explain the enhanced stabilities found experimentally for cluster sizes n54, 6, 9, and 13. Finally, the ionization energies and the orbital eigenvalue spectrum of two (NaI) 13Na 1 isomers are calculated and shown to be a fingerprint of the structure. @S0163-1829~98!03939-3#


CD30 is an inducible member of the TNFR superfamily that is expressed on activated T and B cells and some lymphoid malignancies. We have previously shown that human CD30 (cid:1) T cells elicited with allogeneic APC are a major source of IFN- (cid:2) and IL-5 production. In the present study we have used alloantigen, as well as anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb stimulation, to further characterize human CD30 (cid:1) T cells with respect to function and the expression of other activation-dependent cell surface molecules, including the related TNFR family members OX-40 and 4-1BB (CD137). Our results indicate that human CD30 (cid:1) T cells are a subset of activated T cells that also express CD25 and CD45RO. Moreover, we observed that allogeneic APC consistently induced a greater proportion of CD30 (cid:1) cells within the activated T cell population than did stimulation with plate-bound anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb or stimulation with soluble anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 and autologous APC. The enhanced induction of CD30 expression by alloantigen was not common to other inducible TNFR family members because anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAbs were far more effective in inducing expression of 4-1BB and OX-40. Furthermore, CD30 expression marked the predominant proliferating T cell population induced by alloantigen as determined by CFSE staining and flow cytometry. These results indicate that CD30, but not 4-1BB or OX-40, is preferentially induced by alloantigen, suggesting that CD30 may be important in human alloimmune responses. The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 169: 1784–1791.


The first half part of this thesis concerns optic-flow (OF) based motion estimation. Recent advances in OF regularisation approaches have emphasised the three important aspects, exploring new motion-integration strategies, looking for improvements or replacements of existing motion spaces, and investigating more suitable motion-distribution priors (MDPs) that can better fit or describe the statistics of a particular motion space. Motivated by that, two motion regularisation approaches, making up the first core contribution of this thesis, have been proposed. First, an oriented geodesic distance based non-local regularisation approach. At the heart of this approach is a novel pairwise feature-affinity measurement. The new non-local OF approach has been demonstrated particular useful in dealing with two situations: accurately recovering object boundary motion and estimating motion for nearby similar-appearance objects. Experimental results, comparing to leading-edge non-local regularisation schemes, have confirmed the superior performance of the proposed approach. Second, a sparsity&non-sparsity constraint based prior-adaptive regularisation approach, the
proposal of which is motivated by that globally fixed MDPs based regularities do not respect local variances of OF statistics. Due to the particular challenge of minimising the involved OF energy functional, a novel Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares (IRLS) and Generalised Cross Validation (GCV) based strategy has also been developed, that
can simultaneously optimise the solutions for the flow field as well as the hyperparameter fields involved. Moreover, an exhaustive literature survey on OF regularisation approaches have been provided. This has finally led to a new generalised regularisation formulation, which has been formally clarified, for the first time, in the literature. The second half part of this thesis focuses on the problem of tracking dense cell populations over phase-contrast image sequences. Quantitative analysis on whole populations of cells, and identification of cell division events plays vital roles in the biomedical research domain. Driven by that, the second major contribution in this work is a model and motion based cell tracking framework. A novel strategy that seamlessly integrates the snake and the OF technique is designed, by enforcing a soft coherence constraint between the model and motion based tracking techniques. And, the directional gradient vector flow technique is, for the first time, applied to the segmentation and tracking of dense cell populations. The outstanding advantages of the proposed approach are reflected in the following aspects: accurately segmenting ambiguous cell boundaries, correctly tracking partially overlapped cells, consistently tracking elongated cells, and the efficient tracking of large displacement
cells. By testing the proposed approach on challenging real cellular datasets, qualitative and quantitative experimental results have indicated that the proposed approach can achieve superior performance, in comparison with the state-of-the-art cell segmentation and tracking approaches. In addition, a third major contribution of this thesis is the development of a motion-occlusion analysis based, automated cell-division detection approach. Through experimentation on different types of cellular datasets, the proposed approach can successfully detect dividing cells with a variety of division behaviour.


Aims. There is compelling evidence for gradient effects of household income on school readiness. Potential mechanisms are described, yet the growth curve trajectory of maternal mental health in a child's early life has not been thoroughly investigated. We aimed to examine the relationships between household incomes, maternal mental health trajectories from antenatal to the postnatal period, and school readiness. Methods. Prospective data from 505 mother–child dyads in a birth cohort in Singapore were used, including household income, repeated measures of maternal mental health from pregnancy to 2-years postpartum, and a range of child behavioural, socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes from 2 to 6 years of age. Antenatal mental health and its trajectory were tested as mediators in the latent growth curve models. Results. Household income was a robust predictor of antenatal maternal mental health and all child outcomes. Between children from the bottom and top household income quartiles, four dimensions of school readiness skills differed by a range of 0.52 (95% Cl: 0.23, 0.67) to 1.21 S.D. (95% CI: 1.02, 1.40). Thirty-eight percent of pregnant mothers in this cohort were found to have perinatal depressive and anxiety symptoms in the subclinical and clinical ranges. Poorer school readiness skills were found in children of these mothers when compared to those of mothers with little or no symptoms. After adjustment of unmeasured confounding on the indirect effect, antenatal maternal mental health provided a robust mediating path between household income and multiple school readiness outcomes (χ 126.05, df 63, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.031, CFI = 0.980, SRMR = 0.034). Conclusions. Pregnant mothers with mental health symptoms, particularly those from economically-challenged households, are potential targets for intervention to level the playing field of their children.


: Several anti-psychotic drugs were found to have an in vitro antisickling effect. A linear relationship was found between the antisickling activity and the inhibition of calmodulin stimulated phosphodiesterase activity. These membrane-interacting compounds produce a "cup-shaped" red blood cell at the concentration where they demonstrate an antisickling effect. The volume of a "cup-shaped" red cell (with chlorpromazine) does not change significantly from that of an untreated control red cell. The anti-sickling mechanism of these membrane-interacting compounds is not known at this point.


This essay is devoted to a short exposition on fear. It derives its inspiration from biblical stories. The reason is that often time when God commissioned a servant, the question of fear came up. In fact, the greater the mission, the more likely God addressed the problem caused by fear, or at least warned against it. To state a simple fact about humans, most of us fear at some point. No one is a stranger to fear. The great thing about fear is that it can help or hobble us. Fear is a God-given emotion that, when rightly operating, helps us, warning us of potential danger. But, like all emotive responses, when it gains mastery over us, when it rules without the influence of reason or wisdom, fear can quench hope and hobble faith. It should be no surprise then that over and over, God tells those he has called to his service to "Fear not." This text will begin by looking at a story that is reported in 2 Chronicles in the 20th chapter. A close scrutiny will illustrate why fear is a double-edged sword. What is important is not the presence of fear but how one responds to fear. The command, "Do not fear" "occurs 365 times in the Bible, one for every day of the year." Another commentator observed that, God specifically told His finest, "Do not be afraid!" A brief look at the Old and New Testament personalities will suffice to show how God dealt with his prophets and disciples.


Background The role of worsening renal function during acute heart failure (AHF) hospitalization is still debated. Very few studies have extensively evaluated the renal function (RF) trend during hospitalization by repetitive measurements. Objectives To investigate the prognostic relevance of different RF trajectories together with the congestion status in hospitalized patients. Methods This is a post hoc analysis of a multi-center study including 467 patients admitted with AHF who were screened for the Diur-AHF Trial. We recognized five main RF trajectories based on serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) behavior. According to the RF trajectories our sample was divided into 1-stable (S), 2-transient improvement (TI), 3-permanent improvement (PI), 4-transient worsening (TW), and 5-persistent worsening (PW). The primary outcome was the combined endpoint of 180 days including all causes of mortality and re-hospitalization. Results We recruited 467 subjects with a mean congestion score of 3.5±1.08 and a median creatinine value of 1.28 (1.00–1.70) mg/dl, eGFR 50 (37–65) ml/min/m2 and NTpro B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) 7,000 (4,200–11,700) pg/ml. A univariate analysis of the RF pattern demonstrated that TI and PW patterns were significantly related to poor prognosis [HR: 2.71 (1.81–4.05); p < 0.001; HR: 1.68 (1.15–2.45); p = 0.007, respectively]. Conversely, the TW pattern showed a significantly protective effect on outcome [HR:0.34 (0.19–0.60); p < 0.001]. Persistence of congestion and BNP reduction ≥ 30% were significantly related to clinical outcome at univariate analysis [HR: 2.41 (1.81–3.21); p < 0.001 and HR:0.47 (0.35–0.67); p < 0.001]. A multivariable analysis confirmed the independently prognostic role of TI, PW patterns, persistence of congestion, and reduced BNP decrease at discharge. Conclusions Various RF patterns during AHF hospitalization are associated with different risk(s). PW and TI appear to be the two trajectories related to worse outcome. Current findings confirm the importance of RF evaluation during and after hospitalization.


Using in vitro cell‐marking experiments and transplantation in tail regenerates, we have recently shown (Benraiss et al., 1996) that clonal cells derived from adult newt spinal cord (SC) cultures could find suitable cues in blastemal mesenchyme to enable them to differentiate into melanocytes or Schwann cells. This led to the question of whether neural crest‐like cell derivatives might emerge from the ependymal tube as tail regeneration proceeded. To address this question we used the biolistic method for in situ transfection of caudal SC cells. These cells were transfected with an alkaline phosphatase marker gene. The potentialities of transfected cell derivatives in tail regenerates were analyzed using histochemistry or immunohistochemistry. As early as eight days after transfection, labeled cells were detected in the regenerating SC and around its "terminal vesicle" (TV). Two to four weeks following transfection, most of the labeled cell derivatives could be identified either by dark granules as melanocytes or by galactocerebroside staining as Schwann cells. Electron microscopic investigations revealed the incompletely organized cytoarchitecture of the TV, suggesting that an exit of cells was possible at this level, at least from its "open" dorsal part. Furthermore, the localization of ciliated cells in the blastemal mesenchyme, especially around the TV, supported this view by suggesting that they might be ependymal cells detached from it. Our findings therefore led us to believe that in the newt, during tail regeneration, neural crest‐like cells emerging from the TV could participate in the formation of the peripheral nervous system, especially by providing Schwann cells and melanocytes. Dev. Dyn. 209:15–28, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Considering predominant aspect-oriented software development (asymmetric AOSD), this paper discusses the application of aspect-oriented UML use case diagrams and formal language AspectZ to part of a classic AOSD case study, the Health-Watcher software system. In addition, this article proposes an extension of AspectZ to reach a new property for asymmetric AOSD which reacts after a schema successfully finishes, or not, showing messages for that situation, with an implicit join point; and a way for generalizing similar operations in a system using AspectZ. Thus, the main goal of this article is to show the application of and differences between asymmetric aspect-oriented formal and non-formal modeling, and to highlight potential advantages of aspect-oriented formal modeling over aspect-oriented non-formal modeling. First, this article describes the main concepts of the classic AOSD paradigm focusing on problems unsolved by previous forms of software development and resolved by AOSD. Second, by applying aspect-oriented UML use case diagrams, this paper highlights the use of dominion classes and extend-relationships. Considering the Health-Watcher case study and an asymmetric AOSD approach, this study found that using extend-relationships in UML use cases does not completely follow the basic principles of the prevailing AOSD approach in which a base element does not know about aspects, whereas an extending use case must explicitly know its extension points. Third, this article shows a formal modeling of the case study using AspectZ. Moreover, extensions of this aspect-oriented formal language are proposed and applied to the same case study to show their practical properties for modeling. These extensions allow showing success or error messages, and inserting or not a new item in a set of elements to take care of invalid situations.


: A patient with short-duration pityriasis rubra pilaris was successfully treated with high-dose, toxic vitamin A (retinol), but the disease subsequently recurred in new areas. Serum levels of vitamin A were highest four hours after treatment and returned to the base level within twelve hours. Fasting blood levels of vitamin A during treatment increased to five times the pretreatment level. Ultrastructural changes in the keratinocytes were notable vacuolation, granularity of the cytoplasm, and a decrease in tonofilament masses, all indications of the cellular effect of the vitamin A. We believe that patients with long-duration pityriasis rubra pilaris should be considered for this treatment.


—Traffic grooming allows efficient utilization of network capacity by aggregating several independent traffic streams into a wavelength. In addition, survivability and impairment-awareness (i.e., taking into account the effect of physical impairments) are two important issues that have gained a lot of research interest in the area of optical networks. In this paper, we consider the survivable impairment- aware traffic grooming problem in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical networks, where the objective is to minimize the cost of traffic grooming and regeneration. Our approach to solve this problem is shown, using data obtained from a realistic network, to significantly outperform a sequential approach, which is usually used by practitioners.


Abstract Hyperbolic materials offer much wider freedom in designing optical properties of nanostructures than ones with isotropic and elliptical dispersion, both metallic or dielectric. Here, we present a detailed theoretical and numerical study on the unique optical properties of spherical nanoantennas composed of such materials. Hyperbolic nanospheres exhibit a rich modal structure that, depending on the polarization and direction of incident light, can exhibit either a full plasmonic-like response with multiple electric resonances, a single, dominant electric dipole or one with mixed magnetic and electric modes with an atypical reversed modal order. We derive conditions for observing these resonances in the dipolar approximation and offer insight into how the modal response evolves with the size, material composition, and illumination. Specifically, the origin of the magnetic dipole mode lies in the hyperbolic dispersion and its existence is determined by two diagonal permittivity components of different sign. Our analysis shows that the origin of this unusual behavior stems from complex coupling between electric and magnetic multipoles, which leads to very strong scattering or absorbing modes. These observations assert that hyperbolic nanoantennas offer a promising route towards novel light–matter interaction regimes.


[1] As integral capability within an end-to-end observatory for the Columbia River estuary-plume-shelf system, we routinely create simulation databases of 3-D baroclinic circulation with unstructured grid models SELFE (Semi-implicit Eulerian-Lagrangian Finite Element) and ELCIRC (Eulerian-Lagrangian Circulation). Here, 1999―2006 SELFE simulations are used to study plume variability at multiple temporal scales: interannual, seasonal, and event scale. Time series of plume metrics, together with climatology and anomalies of surface salinity, suggest that simulations usefully capture key features of plume dynamics. In particular, simulations capture seasonal variability around two known trends: a coastally attached northward winter plume and a detached southward summer plume. Results show significant interannual variability of the plume orientation and extent, with potential implications on the variability of productivity in the system. An empirical orthogonal function analysis confirms that a bidirectional plume is prevalent in summer, showing that the result holds true regardless of interannual variability. Short-term bidirectional plumes, previously observed or modeled only in summer, can also occasionally develop in winter as a result of episodically strong upwelling-favorable winds. Across years, the predominantly coastal attached northward plume in late fall and winter is found to separate frequently from the coast, during wind relaxation events or weak wind reversals. Multiple skill scores are used to evaluate the quality of the simulations against earlier circulation databases and data. Analysis of root-mean-square error and bias suggests overall superiority of SELFE-generated over ELCIRC-generated simulation databases, but the generality of the conclusions is limited by (1) models not being the only difference between simulation databases and (2) no model prevailing across all error metrics.


1. The effect of the extracellular Ca concentration on the frequency of miniature end-plate potentials (min. e.p.p.s) at the frog neuromuscular junction was studied. 2. In saline containing elevated K (5 or 11 mM), the frequency of min. e.p.p.s increased as Ca concentration was increased from 0-1 to 1-3 mm. However, with further increases of Ca concentration up to 10 mM, min. e.p.p. frequency declined. 3. In saline containing the normal concentration ofK (2 mM), increasing Ca concentration from 0to 10 mm produced a slight, monotonic increase in mm. e.p.p. frequency. 4. The non-monotonic effect of Ca on min. e.p.p. frequency in preparations depolarized by elevated K is consistent with the existence of two opposing effects of Ca on transmitter release. Firstly, raising the external concentration of Ca increases the electrochemical potential for Ca entry, which tends to increase Ca influx and transmitter release. Secondly, increasing external Ca concentration increases electrostatic screening of fixed negative charges on the outer surface of the nerve terminal membrane. Such an increase in screening of charges near voltage-sensitive Ca gates would produce a hyperpolarization across the gates and they would tend to close, an effect which would tend to decrease Ca influx. The monotonic increase in min. e.p.p. frequency with increasing Ca concentration in 2 mM-K is consistent with the voltage insensitivity of the Ca gates at potentials close to the normal resting potential.


Zr70Ni16Cu6Al8 bulk metallic glass (BMG) exhibited clear tensile plastic deformation at room temperature. The tensile plastic deformation was induced by the specimen sliding along one main shear band, which completely penetrated the specimen. Also, it was surmised that there is a viscous medium in a main shear band. Therefore, it can be considered that the viscous medium in the shear band plays an important role in the mechanical properties of the BMG under tensile loading. In this study, tensile tests of the Zr70Ni16Cu6Al8 BMG were carried out at the temperatures of 293 and 133 K to investigate the effect of the viscous medium in the shear band on the mechanical properties of the BMG. As the results, it was found that the strength of the BMG at 133 K was 21% higher than that at 293 K. Furthermore, at 133 K, highly denser, longer, and many branching and curving shear bands were observed over a wide area of the specimen surface in comparison with those at 293 K. In addition, at 133 K, a few main shear bands were observed on the fracture surface.


We are concerned with general third-order nonlinear boundary value problems. An existence theorem of solution is given under weaker conditions. In the meantime, an iterative algorithm with global convergence is presented. The higher order derivatives of approximate solution is obtained by using this method can approximate the corresponding derivatives of exact solution well.


This chapter examines how geographical setting shapes the conduct of war. It first provides an overview of the ways that physical geography influences the tactical identities of armed forces as well as their strategic effects, focusing on practices that lie at the heart of 'joint' warfare — in which land, sea, and air forces cooperate to their collective advantage. The discussion highlights the strategic possibilities presented by warfare in different physical environments — that is, land warfare, naval warfare, and air warfare. The chapter also considers the strengths and weaknesses of forces that fight on land and sea and in the air, unconventional warfare fought on land, the maritime strategy employed by navies, theory vs. practice of air power, and coercive bombing. Finally, it analyses the strategic potential of space war, the expansion of war into cyberspace, and the use of 'cyber' weapons in information warfare.


The activity of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) was enhanced with different strength of high voltage electric field. The results have shown that Ultraviolet-Visible spectra have been changed obviously. Experimental results indicate that the conformation of HRP can be changed by electric field. The study also showed that the activity index of HRP was increased by the certain strength of electric field. The activity index increase possibly was caused by the conformation variations of HRP. The result of this study has important meaning to explain the macroscopical electrostatic biological effects.


This paper sheds light on Swiss franc Libor futures, which are often used to measure interest rate expectations. We show that the differences between Libor futures and realized rates (excess returns) are, on average, positive over the last 25 years. Using interest rate surveys, we decompose excess returns into a (forward) term premium and forecast errors. The decomposition reveals that the bulk of excess returns arises from forecast errors, while the term premium is time varying but on average zero. We find that the term premium positively correlates with the business cycle, interest rate developments, and in absolute values increases with interest rate uncertainty. Our findings suggest that Libor futures should be adjusted by the term premium to extract risk-neutral interest rate expectations.


The Windermere Supergroup of NW England was deposited in a foreland basin on the northern margin of Eastern Avalonia and preserves an almost complete Ashgill to Pøídolí sequence. It was ideally positioned to record provenance changes associated with the closure of the Iapetus Ocean. Petrographic, geochemical and Nd isotopic parameters show distinct and concordant temporal trends. The late Ashgill to early Llandovery is characterized by progressive hemipelagic dilution of material derived from the underlying Borrowdale Volcanic Group. From the Llandovery onward, petrographic and geochemical data indicate supply from a recycled orogen source: input from the Scandian orogen may be inferred. No conclusive evidence is recorded of Laurentian input into the basin. By the late Wenlock a unified sedimentary system probably spanned the Iapetus ocean. An abrupt reversal in provenance trends towards the end of the Ludlow records basin inversion, the occlusion of the Iapetus seaway and concomitant cannibalization of older foreland basin sediments. Provenance data derived from upper Wenlock to Pøídolí sediments aid the characterization of marine foreland basins.


Almost all countries worldwide closed schools at the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis. I document that schooling time dropped on average by -55% in the US and -45% in Germany from the onset of the crisis to the summer of 2021. In the US, schools were closed longer in richer than in poorer areas, while in Germany the regional variation is much smaller. However, Germany exhibited substantial variation by grade level, with a strong U-shaped patterns that implies that children attending middle school faced the longest closures. A structural model of human capital accumulation predicts that the US school closures on average lead to a reduction of life-time earnings of –1.8% for the affected children. While the overall losses are likely somewhat smaller in Germany, the socio-economic gradient in the losses could be larger than in the US, leading to increased inequality and decreased intergenerational mobility.


Reduction of interference is one of the major tasks in a communication system. Jamming sources and clutter are the two major sources of interferences. The interferers are generally estimated by Direction of arrival (DOA) techniques and then they are suppressed by introducing nulls in those directions. Suppression of interference leads to higher Signal to Noise ratio and superior data rates. Clutter enters through the sidelobes. Therefore sidelobe reduction reduces the effect of clutter. Null Steering Algorithm generally estimate weights which are then multiplied with weights generated for sidelobe suppression. This paper focuses on introduction and steering of nulls in any desired direction and sidelobe suppression.


The Bit formation using atomic force microscopy (AFM) was studied on 270-nm-thick 〈111〉 preferentially oriented Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3 (PZT) films prepared by the sol-gel process. To minimize the cantilever-sample capacitive force interaction, the experiment was carried out at or near the sample edge. Bit formation was investigated by calculating the electric field in AFM-tip/PZT film/bottom electrode configuration. It was found both experimentally and theoretically that the bit size is linearly dependent on the pulse voltage and the logarithmic value of the pulse width. The linear dependence of the bit size on the logarithmic value of pulse width was explained from the relationship between the switching time and electric field. It was found that the minimum bit size of a fully penetrating domain equals the film thickness.


In an English auction, a bidder's strategy depends on the prices at which his competitors drop out, because these convey information on the value of the object on sale. A ring of colluding bidders can strategically manipulate the information transmitted through its members' bids, in order to mislead other bidders into bidding less aggressively and thus allow a designated bidder to bid more aggressively. Collusion increases the probability that the ring wins the auction and reduces the price it pays. The presence of a ring harms other bidders (as well as the seller) and reduces efficiency.


Increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that people with alexithymia present, together with a lack of symbolic function, a dreaming component disorder. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between alexithymia and dreaming correlates amongst undergraduates. Data on alexithymia and dreaming component were collected from 100 undergraduates from the degree course in Psychology and 100 from the degree course in Economy and Trading using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Dreaming Questionnaire (DQ). Total score for alexithymia and the mean scores for the three factors of the two scales were calculated. We then compared the total alexithymia scores and the three subscales of the TAS-20 with those of the three factors of the DQ. Economy and Trading undergraduates obtained higher scores for alexithymia than Psychology undergraduates. We also found a significant correlation between the three subscales of the DQ and TAS-20 total scores. Significant correlations were also found between the three TAS-20 subscales and DQ subscales.  Our results extend previous research by suggesting an association between alexithymia and altered dreaming content as expression of lack of affect regulation which emerges through conscious cognitive activity and dreams.


In the March 2014 issue of J Neurointerv Surg , I read an article entitled 'A history of detachable coils: 1987–2012',1 in which the progressive development of detachable coils over the past 25 years was described. The article was interesting and gave the reader a sense of how, starting from a basic 'game changer' idea,2–6 events progressed in a steady fashion over time, in an effort to offer the best possible treatment to patients harboring brain aneurysms. However, on page 1 of the article, in the paragraph entitled 'The first coil', there are some comments, statements, and information that need to be corrected.

1. As the inventor of the detachable coils (which is rightfully acknowledged by the authors), I was the first to test them.3 ,4 As such, I can state that the title of the article is incorrect and, for the sake of historical accuracy, should be changed to 'A history of detachable coils: 1989–2012'. In other words, the 'beginnings' occurred in 1989 (not in …


Vehicle detection station is the premise of planning other issues of it. In order to reasonably and practically solve the actual location problem of vehicle detection station, considering the influence of the changing of the number of detection vehicles and the different area road conditions, the expected value issue for vehicle detection station location problem with random detection demand and different transportation cost is introduced. In addition, genetic algorithm based on stochastic simulation is used to solve the established expected value model. The above study provides some guidelines for the actual decision-making of vehicle detection station.


High-resolution photoluminescence (PL) measurement was carried out for copper aluminum disulfide (CuAlS2) powder at 12 K. Several sharp PL lines were observed in the range from 3.580 to 3.320 eV. The emission peaks at photon energies from 3.566 to 3.459 eV were attributed to free-exciton (FE) and bound-excitons (BE). The several weak emissions at below 3.476 eV were clarified to be phonon replicas (PR) by Raman scattering and in the viewpoint of exciton-phonon interaction. We observed the one, two and three-phonon replicas related to E(LO, TO) and B2(LO, TO) vibrational modes in chalcopyrite structure. It was suggested that the strong interaction between excitons and optical phonons took place in obtained CuAlS2 powder.


The efficacy of T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for solid tumors has been limited by insufficient CAR T cell expansion and persistence. The use of virus-specific T cells (VSTs) as carriers for CARs may overcome this limitation since CAR-VSTs can be boosted by viral vaccines or oncolytic viruses. However, there is limited understanding of the optimal combination of endodomains and their influence on the native T cell receptor (TCR) in VSTs. We therefore compared the function of GD2.CARs expressing the TCR zeta chain (ζ) alone or combined with endodomains from CD28 and 4-1BB in varicella zoster virus-specific (VZV) T cells. VZVSTs expressing GD2-CARs recognized VZV-derived peptides and killed GD2-expressing tumor cells. However, after repeated stimulation through their native TCR, the expansion of GD2-CAR.CD28ζ-VZVSTs was 3.3-fold greater (p < 0.001) than non-transduced VZVSTs, whereas GD2-CARζ- and GD2-CAR.41BBζ inhibited VZVST expansion (p < 0.01). Compared to control VZVSTs, GD2-CAR.ζ VZVSTs showed a greater frequency of apoptotic (p < 0.01) T cells, whereas prolonged downregulation of the native αβ TCR was observed in GD2-CAR.41BBζ VZVSTs (p < 0.001). We confirmed that CD28ζ can best maintain TCR function by expressing GD2.CARs in Epstein-Barr virus-specific T cells and CD19-CARs in VZVSTs. In response to CAR stimulation VSTs with CD28ζ endodomains also showed the greatest expansion (6 fold > GD2-CAR.41BBζ VZVSTs (p < 0.001), however anti-tumor efficacy was superior in GD2-CAR.41BBζ-VZVSTs. These findings demonstrate that CAR signaling domains can enhance or diminish the function of the native TCR and indicate that only CD28ζ may preserve the function of the native TCR in tonically signaling CAR-VSTs.


A technique of total intravenous anaesthesia using etomidate by bolus intravenous (IV) injection for induction and by continuous intravenous infusion for maintenance of anaesthesia, with supplementary intravenous fentanyl analgesia, is described. Muscle relaxation was provided by competitive neuromuscular blockade, allowing controlled ventilation of the lungs with oxygen-enriched air. Arterial blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm remained stable throughout the procedure. Few complications were encountered of which the most significant was a 13% incidence of nausea and/or vomiting. Pain on injection, abnormal muscular movements on induction, and post operative venous sequelae were uncommon. Patients were easily rousable shortly after termination of drug infusion. The technique proved acceptable to the patient, surgeon and experienced anaesthetist and, thereby, would appear to offer a reasonable alternative to the more conventional inhalational anaesthetic technique.