Awiki is a type of website that can be edited by visitors using only their web browser. 1 The name comes from the word "wiki-wiki" that means quick in the Hawaiian language and is an apt name for these sites that can be quickly and easily modified. Wikis are useful for collaborative document creation because the document viewing and editing are integrated on-line. In a typical wiki, a visitor to the website can edit a page by clicking on the appropriate link. The page content is edited in simple markup language and saved. The changes to the wiki are stored in a database on a webserver and are immediately visible to visitors; all of the pages on the wiki website are generated by the server using the information stored in the database. Because it is so easy to change a wiki website, a record of all changes is also stored in the database so that older versions of the site's pages can be restored.


BACKGROUND
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth generates endogenous ethanol production both in experimental animals and humans. Patients with cirrhosis have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, but endogenous ethanol production has not been studied in them.

AIM
To investigate endogenous ethanol production in patients with cirrhosis, altered intestinal motility and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Eight patients with cirrhosis of different etiologies and altered gastrointestinal motility, consisting in changes in the migrating motor complex, were studied. All had also small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, measured by means of the H2 breath test with lactulose. Plasma ethanol levels were measured by gas liquid chromatography in fasting conditions and 120 min after a carbohydrate rich meal.

RESULTS
In fasting conditions, no patient had endogenous ethanol production. Alter the meal, ethanol in concentrations of 11.3 and 8.2 mg/del were detected in two patients. Negligible amounts of ethanol were detected in 4 patients and two patients had undetectable alcohol levels.

CONCLUSIONS
A low endogenous production of ethanol was demonstrated in six of eight patients with cirrhosis.


Enzymes produced by plant and microorganisms are crucial to soil functions as they decompose insoluble macromolecules organic compound to smaller, soluble molecules which can be assimilated by cells. The enzymes are spatial and temporal heterogeneously distributed in soil as affected by microbial and root activity. It is imperative to measure biotic and abiotic factors affected the spatial and temporal distribution of enzyme activity in order to reveal complex interactions between enzymes, macromolecules organic compound decomposition and plant, microbial nutrient acquisitions. Among various factors we selected three biotic factors: root morphology (root hairs and root radius), root architectures (lateral root and taproot), and plant development and two abiotic controls: phosphorus availability and temperature. Therefore, this thesis aimed to visualize and localize distribution of various enzymes activities in two hotspheres in soil: rhizosphere, root-detritusphere depending on biotic and abiotic controls.
Directly soil zymography were established to investigate: 1) the root morphology (root hairs and root radius) and root architectures (taproots and lateral roots) effects on the spatial distribution of enzyme activity in the rhizosphere; 2) plant development (reproductive stage and vegetative stage) effects on the spatial distribution and temporal dynamic of enzyme activity in two legume species; 3) the temperature effects on hotspot areas of enzyme activity and the duration of hot moments in the root-detritusphere. Beside, zymography was combined with enzyme kinetics to test the substrate turnover in the rhizosphere of maize with and without root hairs zone and in the root-detritusphere under a series of temperatures. Moreover, zymography was combined with pH planar optode to investigate the spatial distribution phosphatase activity and pH in the rhizosphere of lupine in response to phosphorus availability and cluster root formation.
The abiotic effects: root morphology (root hairs and root radius) and architectures (lateral root and taproots) and plant development influenced the in situ and the spatial distribution of enzyme activity as well as the substrate turnover in the rhizosphere: 1) the rhzosphere extent of enzyme activity and the substrate turnover depended on the root hairs: the rhizosphere extent of β-glucosidase activity in wheat root regions with hairs was 1.5-fold broader and substrate turnover was 2 times faster than in root regions without hairs; 2) the rhizosphere extent relative to root radius and the enzyme activity per root surface area in plant with thin root (wheat) were higher than in plant with thick root (maize): the rhizosphere extents relative to root radius of β-glucosidase and phosphatase activity in wheat were nearly 2 times broader than in maize; and the leucine aminopeptidase activity per root surface area in wheat was 7 times higher than that in maize; 3) the rhizosphere extent relative to root radius and enzyme activity per root surface area in plant with long and dense root hairs (lupine) was significantly higher than in plant with short and sparse root hairs (lentil): the rhizosphere extent relative to root radius of acid phosphatase in lupine was 1.5 times broader than in lentil; the β-glucosidase and cellobiohydrolase activity per root surface area in lupine was 2-3 times higher than in lentil; 4) the rhizosphere volume per root length was 30-70 times higher and enzyme activity per root surface area was 6-14 fold higher for lateral roots than for taproots; 5) the spatial distribution of enzyme activity in situ in the rhizosphere depended on plant development and growth stage: Lentil kept as vegetative growth and the rhizosphere extent was constant; lupine entered reproductive growth in the 7th week after planting companied with broader rhizosphere extent, however, the enzyme activity decreased by 10-50% compared to the vegetative stage.
Moreover, the spatio-temporal patterns of phosphatase activities and pH in the rhizosphere depending on biotic and abiotic interaction effects such as P availability and cluster root formation: 1) before cluster root formations, phosphorus deficiency increased acid phosphatase activities by 20%, decreased pH by 0.8 units and broadened the rhizosphere extent by about 0.4 mm around taproot; 2) after cluster root formation, the rhizosphere extent of phosphatase activity around taproot of lupine was 0.2 mm narrower, while the hotspot areas of alkaline phosphatase activity was 40% larger for lupine grown under P-deficiency than amended with Ca(H2PO4)2. These indicate that lupine used various strategies to conquer P deficiency during growth: increased phosphatase activity, soil acidification and broaden their rhizosphere extent around taproot are the mechanisms before cluster root formation. After cluster root development, the main mechanism is increase of hotspot area of phosphatase activity to explore larger soil volume for P acquisition.
Beside, abiotic factors such as temperature affected the enzyme activity hotspot area formation, the duration of hot moment, enzyme kinetics and the substrate turnover: 1) the hotspot areas increased by 2-24 times from 10 to 30 °C, however, the hotspots area decreased by 5-73% for all enzymes at 40 °C compared to at 30 °C; 2) Vmax increased with temperature from 10 to 30 °C by 1.5-6.6 times but decreased at 40 °C ; 3) The turnover time of all substrates were shorter at warm compared to cold temperatures: the turnover time of substrates decomposed by phosphatase, cellobiohyrolase and leucine-amino peptidase at 30 °C were 1.7-6.7 folds faster than at 10 °C.
Overall, this thesis developed new concepts and developed numbers of approaches dedicated to investigate the abiotic and biotic effects on spatial distribution, hotspot area formation of soil enzyme activities. The effect of abiotic and biotic controls on spatial distribution of the enzyme hotspots has important consequences not only for soil science, but also for ecology, plant-soil-microbial interactions, nutrients and element cycles.


In patients with hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HyperKPP), attacks of muscle weakness or paralysis are triggered by K+ ingestion or rest after exercise. Force can be restored by muscle work or treatment with β2-adrenoceptor agonists. A missense substitution corresponding to a mutation in the skeletal muscle voltage-gated Na+ channel (Nav1.4, Met1592Val) causing human HyperKPP was targeted into the mouse SCN4A gene (mutants). In soleus muscles prepared from these mutant mice, twitch, tetanic force, and endurance were markedly reduced compared with soleus from wild type (WT), reflecting impaired excitability. In mutant soleus, contractility was considerably more sensitive than WT soleus to inhibition by elevated [K+]o. In resting mutant soleus, tetrodotoxin (TTX)-suppressible 22Na uptake and [Na+]i were increased by 470 and 58%, respectively, and membrane potential was depolarized (by 16 mV, P < 0.0001) and repolarized by TTX. Na+,K+ pump–mediated 86Rb uptake was 83% larger than in WT. Salbutamol stimulated 86Rb uptake and reduced [Na+]i both in mutant and WT soleus. Stimulating Na+,K+ pumps with salbutamol restored force in mutant soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL). Increasing [Na+]i with monensin also restored force in soleus. In soleus, EDL, and tibialis anterior muscles of mutant mice, the content of Na+,K+ pumps was 28, 62, and 33% higher than in WT, respectively, possibly reflecting the stimulating effect of elevated [Na+]i on the synthesis of Na+,K+ pumps. The results confirm that the functional disorders of skeletal muscles in HyperKPP are secondary to increased Na+ influx and show that contractility can be restored by acute stimulation of the Na+,K+ pumps. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) restored force in mutant soleus but caused no detectable increase in 86Rb uptake. Repeated excitation and capsaicin also restored contractility, possibly because of the release of endogenous CGRP from nerve endings in the isolated muscles. These observations may explain how mild exercise helps locally to prevent severe weakness during an attack of HyperKPP.


Vietnam in 2017 continued rapid economic growth and consolidated its role in APEC. US withdrawal from the TPP harmed growth prospects, but Vietnam and other trading partners pushed ahead with other agreements. Industrial production continued to boom, and real wages rose substantially. The ruling party consolidated its hold on national politics and stepped up repression of activists.


Both researchers and practitioners are increasing their attention to the multitasking demands of contemporary work contexts, and previous work suggests polychronicity plays a central role in the motivation of individuals to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. However, our detailed examination of existing literature reveals a wide range of conceptualizations and operationalizations of this construct, as well as incongruent results concerning the effects of polychronicity on behavior and performance. In this article, we develop recommendations for defining and measuring polychronicity more precisely, we examine and compare existing work on predictors of polychronicity, and we address the equivocal relationship between polychronicity and performance. We conclude with implications for future research.


The reduction of upstream end-of-queue (EOQ) crashes at work zone lane closures has been a focus of the Texas Department of Transportation, Austin, for several years. An ongoing widening effort on Interstate 35 through central Texas prompted officials to examine and implement technologies to mitigate the impacts of EOQ warning crashes. An EOQ warning system was established, which consisted of a highly portable work zone intelligent transportation system of easily deployable radar speed sensors linked to one or more portable changeable message signs and highly portable transverse rumble strips. The EOQ system was deployed upstream of nighttime lane closures, where queues were expected to develop. Although the sample sizes were relatively small, the trends did suggest that the systems were having a positive effect to reduce crashes. Overall, the EOQ warning system was estimated to have reduced crashes 44% from what they otherwise would have been if the system had not been used. The crashes that did occur were less severe, which was most likely because fewer of them were of the high-speed, rear-end-collision variety. With traditional societal crash cost values updated to 2014 dollars, the use of the EOQ warning system at nighttime lane closures reduced crash costs by $1.36 million over the analysis period. This figure equated to $6,313 in crash cost savings per night of deployment. Compared with the approximate costs of procurement and deployment of these systems, a break-even point was achieved after 95 to 190 nights of use.


On its original publication in 1919, The Place of Science in Modern Civilization was recognized as a major contribution, and today Veblen continues to command attention and respect. This volume includes some of his most seminal work, essays that have critical, almost devastating implications for capitalist society and mainstream economic theory as well as Marxism and socialism in general. The continuing power of Veblen's work derives both from the penetration and range of his analysis and the arguable failure of modern society and social science theory to change in any material respect since he worked. The continuing relevance of his topics and ideas is manifest. In this volume in particular, Veblen addresses controversies over the relations of deduction and induction and efforts to produce truth, belief systems, and language, disputes about the significance of business mergers and acquisitions, and questions about the historical meaning and status of socialism. All of these are subjects of continuing interest and concern. The first six essays are fundamental contributions to the study of the preconceptions that drive thought and modern science and their origins. The next nine essays apply Veblen's thinking to critiques of other economists and capitalism. Three of these nine essays represent fundamental components of Veblen's view of capitalism and its problems are of lasting interpretive and analytic value. The final three essays in the book, and in particular the last two, are examples of a genre of thinking which, while not uncommon among social scientists of the period in which Veblen worked haven been discredited and certainly have no lasting value, being conjectural history using such concepts as natural selection. As Warren Samuels notes in his stimulating introduction to this new edition, "Veblen was heterodox, iconoclastic, sardonic, caustic, and satiric. He also was brilliant, penetrating, original, courageous, literarily dramatic, and unique, as well as intellectually distant." This collection will be of interest to economists and other social scientists interested in the specific topics addressed here, as well as researchers in the history of ideas.


To better understand plant-pathogen interactions in Huanglongbing disease and develop control strategies we investigated a novel approach known as chemical genomics with Tomato "Psyllid Yellows", caused by Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous (CLps), as a model of HLB. Chemical genomics involves three key stages starting with designing and performing high-throughput chemical screening, identifying chemicals inducing desired effects and dissecting the genetic targets of the candidate chemical. Our study has been focused on developing a high throughput chemical screen assay using model plants such as tomato and Arabidopsis that can be infected by Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous (Clps). The key objective is to identify chemicals that induce plant defense against CLps infection or its transmission via psyllids. We evaluated Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato in different media such as MS sterile media and hydroponic culture, however qPCR results indicated very low and inconsistent numbers of CLps positive plants. We designed a modified detached leaf assay for tomato based on the citrus detached leaf assay (Eldesouky Ammar, USDA-ARS) that has resulted in consistently high (80-85%) number of CLps-positive leaf petioles. We are currently evaluating application of the detached leaf assay in screening chemicals using a tomato CaBP22-GUS transgenic line. This line was developed by Dr. Isgouhi Kaloshian and Dr. Thomas Eulgem (University of California, Riverside) based on a transgenic Arabidopsis reporter line with the promoter CaBP22-333 promoter fused to GUS (Knoth et.al. 2009). The Arabidopsis transgenic line has been used successfully in many high-throughput chemical screens to identify chemicals inducing defense responses. In our study, we will test chemical uptake and its effect on the transgenic tomato line using GUS expression by RT-PCR. To develop methods to test responses to candidate chemicals in citrus, we are testing gene expression of sweet orange seedlings following exposure to four chemicals known to induce defense responses in other plants.


Abstract. Publicly available benchmark data and metric evaluation approaches have been instrumental in enabling research to advance state of the art methods for remote sensing applications in urban 3D modeling. Most publicly available benchmark datasets have consisted of high resolution airborne imagery and lidar suitable for 3D modeling on a relatively modest scale. To enable research in larger scale 3D mapping, we have recently released a public benchmark dataset with multi-view commercial satellite imagery and metrics to compare 3D point clouds with lidar ground truth. We now define a more complete metric evaluation pipeline developed as publicly available open source software to assess semantically labeled 3D models of complex urban scenes derived from multi-view commercial satellite imagery. Evaluation metrics in our pipeline include horizontal and vertical accuracy and completeness, volumetric completeness and correctness, perceptual quality, and model simplicity. Sources of ground truth include airborne lidar and overhead imagery, and we demonstrate a semi-automated process for producing accurate ground truth shape files to characterize building footprints. We validate our current metric evaluation pipeline using 3D models produced using open source multi-view stereo methods. Data and software is made publicly available to enable further research and planned benchmarking activities.


OBJECTIVE
This case-based, mixed-methods study was undertaken to understand the perspectives and mental health needs of rural children exposed to parental methamphetamine abuse.

METHOD
Participants were 23 children involved with a state child protective agency because of parental methamphetamine abuse. A semistructured interview provided information on children's perspectives of their families. Information on children's mental health needs was obtained from the Child Behavior Checklist and Trauma Symptom Checklist. Case records and caseworker reports provided information on children's family experiences.

RESULTS
Children described emotional pain; few social resources for coping with emotions, problem solving, or talking about their experiences; and avoidant or passive coping skills. Sixty-five percent of children evidenced significant dissociative or posttraumatic symptoms on standardized assessments; 57% had other significant emotional and behavioral problems. Challenges to understanding children's perspectives included children's perceptions that talking about methamphetamine abuse was taboo and underreporting of significant symptoms on the Trauma Symptom Checklist.

CONCLUSIONS
The high rate of mental health problems suggests the need for nontraditional strategies for services delivery in rural areas that are targeted toward these vulnerable children. Early identification and treatment of mental health problems should be a priority. Clinicians should be alert to the complexities in assessing children's mental health needs.


In this paper a tool for Enterprise Architecture Decision-making is proposed and its usage is described. Firstly, the Enterprise Architecture Analysis Tool (EAAT), which has been developed by the Industrial Information and Control Systems (ICS) department of KTH, is described. This tool has been used during a case study at a large Nordic company in order to create present and future state models for measuring service availability. These models, which are based on a metamodel, enable us to analyze service availability and identify bottlenecks of the company's Enterprise Architecture. Subsequently the results of the case study are presented, showcasing that the changes proposed are beneficiary for company's Enterprise Architecture. Finally it can be concluded that the case study validated that the tool is very helpful in decision making for Enterprise Architecture, but, nevertheless, some improvement suggestions are proposed.


We describe the construction and implementation of a stochastic Navier–Stokes solver. The solver combines a spectral stochastic uncertainty representation scheme with a finite difference projection method for flow simulation. The uncertainty quantification scheme is adapted from the spectral stochastic finite element method (SSFEM), which is based on regarding uncertainty as generating a new dimension and the solution as being dependent on this dimension. In the SSFEM formalism, the stochastic dependence is represented in terms of the polynomial chaos system, and the coefficients in the corresponding spectral representation are obtained using a Galerkin approach. It is shown that incorporation of the spectral uncertainty representation scheme into the projection method results in a coupled system of advection–diffusion equations for the various uncertainty fields, and in a decoupled system of pressure projection steps. This leads to a very efficient stochastic solver, whose advantages are illustrated using steady and transient simulations of transport and mixing in a microchannel.


We have recently proposed that superconductivity may be understood as driven by the undressing of quasiparticles as the superconducting state develops. Similarly we propose here that ferromagnetism in metals may be understood as driven by the undressing of quasiparticles as the ferromagnetic state develops. In ferromagnets, the undressing is proposed to occur due to the reduction in bond charge caused by spin polarization, in contrast to superconductors where the undressing is proposed to occur due to the reduction in site charge caused by (hole) pairing. The undressing process manifests itself in the one and two-particle Green's functions as a transfer of spectral weight from high to low frequencies. Hence it should have universal observable consequences in one- and two-particle spectroscopies such as photoemission and optical absorption.


In this paper, we propose an adversarial model for producing furniture layout for interior scene synthesis when the interior room is rotated. The proposed model combines a conditional adversarial network, a rotation module, a mode module, and a rotation discriminator module. As compared with the prior work on scene synthesis, our proposed three modules enhance the ability of auto-layout generation and reduce the mode collapse during the rotation of the interior room. We conduct our experiments on a proposed real-world interior layout dataset that contains 14400 designs from the professional designers. Our numerical results demonstrate that the proposed model yields higher-quality layouts for four types of rooms, including the bedroom, the bathroom, the study room, and the tatami room.


The surface properties of biomaterials are crucial at controlling biological interactions. Cells or tissues sense different stimuli from surfaces and respond accordingly. A number of studies have reported that fabricating complex stimuli-presenting surfaces is beneficial for mimicking and understanding the in vivo scenario where multi-physicochemical cues are present. Biological responses toward these surfaces could be either negative, such as immune responses, or positive, such as tissue regeneration. An ideal material surface should, therefore, be multifunctional, triggering the desired biological process and suppressing the unwanted side effects. The methods for material surface decoration can be very sophisticated, depending on the applications such as biosensors, medical devices, and/or implants. To date, decorating material surfaces with complex chemistries and topographies is still challenging, and methods are not straightforward. The majority of the methods require multiple steps and combinational approaches that include mask-based techniques, lithography, wet or dry etching, wet chemistry, or vapor-based coatings, among others. Although these methods have been established in the laboratory, easy-to-access and straightforward approaches need to be explored. This Review summarizes the state-of-the-art techniques for generating patterned multichemical and multitopographic signals on material surfaces, and the potential of having these surfaces in biointerface applications.


We introduce a simple lattice model with Ising spins to explain recent experimental results on spin freezing in a hollandite-type structure. We argue that geometrical frustration of the lattice in combination with nearest-neighbour antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions is responsible for the appearance of a spin-glass phase in presence of disorder. We investigate this system numerically using parallel tempering. The model reproduces the magnetic behaviour of oxides with hollandite structure, such as $\alpha-\text{MnO}_2$ and presents a rich phenomenology: in absence of disorder three types of ground states are possible, depending on the relative strength of the interactions, namely AFM ordered and two different disordered, macroscopically degenerate families of ground states. Remarkably, for sets of AFM couplings having an AFM ground state in the clean system, there exists a critical value of the disorder for which the ground state is replaced by a spin-glass phase while maintaining all couplings AFM. To the best of our knowledge this is the only existing model that presents this kind of transition with short-range AFM interactions. We argue that this model could be useful to understand the relation between AFM coupling, disorder and the appearance of a spin-glass phase.


Objective:Surface activity of pulmonary surfactant is impaired by exposure to syringes lubricated with silicone oil (SO). These syringes are used daily in clinical practice. Design:In vitro experiments were used for detection of SO, determination of surface activity, and semiquantitative measurement of surfactant protein (SP)-B and -C in SO/surfactant mixtures. Randomized, controlled animal studies were applied for determination of in vivo activity. Setting:University research laboratory. Interventions:Mass spectrometry of SO originating from syringes with and without surfactant was performed. The surface activity of SO plus surfactant phospholipids (PLs) or modified natural surfactant (Curosurf) was measured. SO/Curosurf preparations were further analyzed for changes in the content of SP-B and SP-C using immunoblotting. Neonatal rabbits received mixtures of SO/Curosurf (ratio 0–1.3 mg/mg PL) intratracheally and were then ventilated with a standardized sequence of peak insufflation pressures. Tidal volume curves were recorded, gas volumes of excised lungs were measured, and histologic analysis was performed. Measurements and Main Results:Dissolved SO was found after rinsing syringes with organic solvents or Curosurf. Surface activity of Curosurf was significantly reduced after addition of 0.13–1.3 mg SO/mg PL. Immunoblotting revealed interference of SO with SP-B, but not with SP-C. With increasing SO/Curosurf ratios, patchy alveolar air expansion was observed, lung gas volumes were reduced, and time to inflate the lungs was increased, whereas compliance and tidal volumes remained unimpaired. Conclusions:In vitro SO impairs surface activity of Curosurf and leads to interference with SP-B. SO contamination of exogenous surfactant impairs lung function in animal studies and should be avoided.


Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) either selfrenew or differentiate into spermatogonia that further develop into spermatozoa. Self-renewal occurs when residing in a specific micro-environment (niche) while displacement from the niche would tip the signalling balance towards differentiation. Considering the cystic type of spermatogenesis in fish, the SSC candidates are single type A undifferentiated (Aund) spermatogonia, enveloped by mostly one niche-forming Sertoli cell. When going through a self-renewal cell cycle, the resulting new single type Aund spermatogonium would have to recruit another Sertoli cell to expand the niche space, while a differentiating germ cell cyle would result in a pair of spermatogonia that remain in contact with their cyst-forming Sertoli cells. In zebrafish, thyroid hormone stimulates the proliferation of Sertoli cells and of type Aund spermatogonia, involving Igf3, a new member of the Igf family. In cystic spermatogenesis, type Aund spermatogonia usually do not leave the niche, so that supposedly the signalling in the niche changes when switching from self-renewal to differentiation. Recombinant zebrafish (rz) Fsh downregulated Sertoli cell anti-mullerian hormone (amh) mRNA levels, and rzAmh inhibited differentiation of type Aund spermatogonia as well as Fsh-stimulated steroidogenesis. Thus, for Fsh to efficiently stimulate testis functions, Amh bioactivity should be dampened. We also discovered that Fsh increased Sertoli cell Igf3 gene and protein expression; rzIgf3 stimulated spermatogonial proliferation and Fsh-stimulated spermatogenesis was significantly impaired by inhibiting Igf receptor signaling. We propose that in zebrafish, Fsh is the major regulator of testis functions and, supported by other endocrine systems (e.g. thyroid hormone), regulates Leydig cell steroidogenesis as well as Sertoli cell number and growth factor production to promote spermatogenesis.


Possessing multiple stellar populations has been accepted as a common feature of globular clusters (GCs). Different stellar populations manifest themselves with different chemical features, e.g. the well-known O−Na anti-correlation. Generally, the first (primordial) population has O and Na abundances consistent with those of field stars with similar metallicity; while the second (polluted) population is identified by their Na overabundance and O deficiency. The fraction of the populations is an important constraint on the GC formation scenario. Several methods have been proposed for the classification of GC populations. Here we examine a criterion derived based on the distribution of Galactic field stars, which relies on Na abundance as a function of [Fe/H], to distinguish first and second stellar populations in GCs. By comparing the first population fractions of 17 GCs estimated by the field star criterion with those in the literature derived by methods related to individual GCs, we find that the field star criterion tends to overestimate the first population fractions. The population separation methods, which are related to an individual GC sample, are recommended because the diversity of GCs can be taken into consideration. Currently, more caution should be exercised if one wants to regard field stars as a reference for the identification of a GC population. However, further study on the connection between field stars and GCs populations is still needed.


Abstract. We describe the Max Planck Institute Carbon Cycle Data Assimilation System (MPI-CCDAS) built around the tangent-linear version of the JSBACH land-surface scheme, which is part of the MPI-Earth System Model v1. The simulated phenology and net land carbon balance were constrained by globally distributed observations of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR, using the TIP-FAPAR product) and atmospheric CO2 at a global set of monitoring stations for the years 2005 to 2009. When constrained by FAPAR observations alone, the system successfully, and computationally efficiently, improved simulated growing-season average FAPAR, as well as its seasonality in the northern extra-tropics. When constrained by atmospheric CO2 observations alone, global net and gross carbon fluxes were improved, despite a tendency of the system to underestimate tropical productivity. Assimilating both data streams jointly allowed the MPI-CCDAS to match both observations (TIP-FAPAR and atmospheric CO2) equally well as the single data stream assimilation cases, thereby increasing the overall appropriateness of the simulated biosphere dynamics and underlying parameter values. Our study thus demonstrates the value of multiple-data-stream assimilation for the simulation of terrestrial biosphere dynamics. It further highlights the potential role of remote sensing data, here the TIP-FAPAR product, in stabilising the strongly underdetermined atmospheric inversion problem posed by atmospheric transport and CO2 observations alone. Notwithstanding these advances, the constraint of the observations on regional gross and net CO2 flux patterns on the MPI-CCDAS is limited through the coarse-scale parametrisation of the biosphere model. We expect improvement through a refined initialisation strategy and inclusion of further biosphere observations as constraints.


Extracellular ATP rendered the plasma membrane of transformed mouse fibro‐blasts permeable to normally impermeant molecules. This permeability change was prevented by increasing the ionic strength of the isotonic medium with NaCl. Conversely, the cells exhibited increased sensitivity to ATP when the NaCl concentration was decreased below isotonicity, when the KCl concentration was increased above 5 mM while maintaining isotonicity, and when the pH of the medium was raised above 7.0. These conditions as well as the addition of ATP itself caused cell swelling. However, the effect of ATP was independent of cell volume and dependent upon the ionic strength and not the osmolarity of the medium since (1) addition of sucrose to isotonic medium did not prevent permeabilization although media made hypertonic with either sucrose or NaCl caused a decrease in cell volume; and (2) addition of sucrose or NaCl to hypotonic media caused a decrease in cell volume, but only NaCl addition decreased the response to ATP. Conditions that have been shown to inhibit plasma membrane proteins that play a reciprocal role in cell volume regulation had reciprocal effects on the permeabilization process, even though the effect of ATP was independent of cell volume. For example, inhibition of the Na+, K+‐ATPase by ouabain increased sensitivity of cells to ATP while conditions which inhibit Na+, K+, Cl−‐cotransporter activity, such as treatment of the cells with the diuretics furosemide or bumetanide or replacement of sodium chloride in the medium with sodium nitrate or thiocyanate, inhibited permeabilization. The furosemide concentration that inhibited permeabilization was greater than the concentration that inhibited Na+, K+, Cl−‐cotransporter‐mediated 86Rb+ (K+) uptake, suggesting that the effect of furosemide on the permeabilization process may not be specific for the Na+, K+, Cl−‐cotransporter.


Guided exploration with expert demonstrations improves data efficiency for reinforcement learning, but current algorithms often overuse expert information. We propose a novel algorithm to speed up Q-learning with the help of a limited amount of imperfect expert demonstrations. The algorithm avoids excessive reliance on expert data by relaxing the optimal expert assumption and gradually reducing the usage of uninformative expert data. Experimentally, we evaluate our approach on a sparse-reward chain environment and six more complicated Atari games with delayed rewards. With the proposed methods, we can achieve better results than Deep Q-learning from Demonstrations (Hester et al., 2017) in most environments.


ABSTRACT Microbes in biofilms face the challenge of substrate limitation. In particular, oxygen often becomes limited for cells in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms growing in the laboratory or during host colonization. Previously we found that phenazines, antibiotics produced by P. aeruginosa, balance the intracellular redox state of cells in biofilms. Here, we show that genes involved in denitrification are induced in phenazine-null (Δphz) mutant biofilms grown under an aerobic atmosphere, even in the absence of nitrate. This finding suggests that resident cells employ a bet-hedging strategy to anticipate the potential availability of nitrate and counterbalance their highly reduced redox state. Consistent with our previous characterization of aerobically grown colonies supplemented with nitrate, we found that the pathway that is induced in Δphz mutant colonies combines the nitrate reductase activity of the periplasmic enzyme Nap with the downstream reduction of nitrite to nitrogen gas catalyzed by the enzymes Nir, Nor, and Nos. This regulatory relationship differs from the denitrification pathway that functions under anaerobic growth, with nitrate as the terminal electron acceptor, which depends on the membrane-associated nitrate reductase Nar. We identified the sequences in the promoter regions of the nap and nir operons that are required for the effects of phenazines on expression. We also show that specific phenazines have differential effects on nap gene expression. Finally, we provide evidence that individual steps of the denitrification pathway are catalyzed at different depths within aerobically grown biofilms, suggesting metabolic cross-feeding between community subpopulations. IMPORTANCE An understanding of the unique physiology of cells in biofilms is critical to our ability to treat fungal and bacterial infections. Colony biofilms of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa grown under an aerobic atmosphere but without nitrate express a denitrification pathway that differs from that used for anaerobic growth. We report that the components of this pathway are induced by electron acceptor limitation and that they are differentially expressed over the biofilm depth. These observations suggest that (i) P. aeruginosa exhibits "bet hedging," in that it expends energy and resources to prepare for nitrate availability when other electron acceptors are absent, and (ii) cells in distinct biofilm microniches may be able to exchange substrates to catalyze full denitrification.


The enhancer of JC virus restricts its gene expression to the brain. In a previous study, we demonstrated an enhancer element, nuclear factor I (NFI) motif, in the middle of the enhancer. Here, we demonstrate that the NFI motif is a tissue-specific element. We further present a new tissue-specific element, SacI motif, just upstream from the NFI motif. These motifs showed transcriptional enhancement both in vitro and in vivo and acted upon a heterologous adenovirus major late promoter. DNase I footprint analyses demonstrated that the SacI motif bound to a brain nuclear factor, and that its binding region overlapped with the NFI motif. Gel shift experiments with the SacI motif revealed that the populations of SacI motif factors in the brain and HeLa cell extracts were different. Together with our previous findings about tissue-specific NFI-like factor(s), cooperation of NFI motif and SacI motif factors may be required for the strong brain specificity of the viral gene expression.


Background The pericardial tissue is commonly used to produce bio-prosthetic cardiac valves and patches in cardiac surgery. The procedures adopted to prepare this tissue consist in treatment with aldehydes, which do not prevent post-graft tissue calcification due to incomplete xeno-antigens removal. The adoption of fixative-free decellularization protocols has been therefore suggested to overcome this limitation. Although promising, the decellularized pericardium has not yet used in clinics, due to the absence of proofs indicating that the decellularization and cryopreservation procedures can effectively preserve the mechanical properties and the immunologic compatibility of the tissue. Principal Findings The aim of the present work was to validate a procedure to prepare decellularized/cryopreserved human pericardium which may be implemented into cardiovascular homograft tissue Banks. The method employed to decellularize the tissue completely removed the cells without affecting ECM structure; furthermore, uniaxial tensile loading tests revealed an equivalent resistance of the decellularized tissue to strain, before and after the cryopreservation, in comparison with the fresh tissue. Finally, immunological compatibility, showed a minimized host immune cells invasion and low levels of systemic inflammation, as assessed by tissue transplantation into immune-competent mice. Conclusions Our results indicate, for the first time, that fixative-free decellularized pericardium from cadaveric tissue donors can be banked according to Tissue Repository-approved procedures without compromising its mechanical properties and immunological tolerance. This tissue can be therefore treated as a safe homograft for cardiac surgery.


This is a timely publication following John Logan's earlier collection, The New Chinese City (2002), in the same book series, "Studies in Urban and Social Change". Not a simple continuation of the previous book, this volume moves forward to examine the multidimensional changes and challenges faced by the Chinese city, with much richer theoretical discussion and debate. Considering China's complex, unique, and fast-changing urban society, readers would best be served by learning about its intriguing urban changes through multiple perspectives and comparative analyses. This is precisely what this volume offers. The authors seek to interpret urban changes through comparative studies built upon a combination of multiple theories, that is, modernization, world system/dependency, the developmental state, and market transition. Not only offering a comprehensive understanding of the latest changes in urban China, this volume also aims to apprehend general global changes in the twenty-first century by making sense of the most prominent shifts in China. The excellent introduction by John Logan and Susan Fainstein gives a broad view of urban changes in China during market transition and manifests the merits of multiple theoretical prisms and comparative studies. The authors rightly point out that singular explanations are insufficient for grasping the complexity of urban changes in China. One distinct feature of this volume is that the four theoretical prisms running through the book help to organize a range of highly diverse topics and to stimulate rich theoretical debates based on empirical studies. In explaining a certain aspect of China's urban and social changes, some theoretical frameworks are more relevant than others. For instance, Appleton and Song find modernization and market transition perspectives particularly useful in understanding changing income inequality and urban poverty. They estimate income growth among the poorest groups and predict declining income inequality associated with steady economic growth. Liang, Luong, and Chen suggest that modernization and dependency theories are most relevant to understand urbanization patterns and regional variations in China and Vietnam, while Zhou and Cai consider the theories of the developmental state and postsocialist transition most useful in explaining the social exclusion of rural migrants in Chinese cities, which is most saliently manifested in their housing patterns. Other authors found that none of these theories can fully explain the Chinese experience. For instance, Fan and Regulska recommend introducing a feminist perspective


Unusual electronic transport properties have been found in the rhombohedral beta'-phase of the complex metallic alloy Mg2Al3. The magnetoresistance (MR) is 2 orders of magnitude larger than in the related cubic beta-Mg2Al3-phase and Kohler's rule is strongly violated in the beta'-phase at higher temperatures. Above about 100 K the Hall coefficient R-H of the beta- and beta'-phases are similar and free-electron-like, while in the beta'-phase, R-H changes sign with decreasing temperature at low fields. We have inquired into the sources of these transport anomalies, but have not been able to clearly identify the grounds. Several conventional mechanisms for a large magnetoresistance are discussed, and found not to be applicable. The different properties in the beta- and the beta'-phases are puzzling since the magnitudes of the electrical resistivities are similar and omega(c)tau (cyclotron frequencyxscattering time) is equally small in both phases. The similar temperature range in which anomalies occur in the beta'-phase in the resistivity, the Hall effect, and the magnetoresistance indicates an electronic transition or a change of the electron structure in this phase below about 100 K.


A measurement is presented of decay-time-dependent CP violation in the decays $B^0 \to J/\psi K^0_S$ and $B^0 \to \psi(2S) K^0_S$, where the $J/\psi$ is reconstructed from two electrons and the $\psi(2S)$ from two muons. The analysis uses a sample of pp collision data recorded with the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 $fb^{−1}$. The CP -violation observables are measured to be
$C(B^0 \to J/\psi K^0_S) = 0.12 \pm 0.07 \pm 0.02,$
$S(B^0 \to J/\psi K^0_S) = 0.83 \pm 0.08 \pm 0.01,$
$C(B^0 \to \psi(2S) K^0_S) = −0.05 \pm 0.10 \pm 0.01,$
$S(B^0 \to \psi(2S) K^0_S) = 0.84 \pm 0.10 \pm 0.01,$
where C describes CP violation in the direct decay, and S describes CP violation in the interference between the amplitudes for the direct decay and for the decay after $B^0 − \overline{B}^0$ oscillation. The first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The two sets of results are compatible with the previous LHCb measurement using $B^0 \to J/\psi K^0_S$ decays, where the $J/ψ$ meson was reconstructed from two muons. The averages of all three sets of LHCb results are
$C(B^0 \to [c\overline{c}]K^0_S) = −0.017 \pm 0.029,$
$S(B^0 \to [c\overline{c}]K^0_S) = 0.760 \pm 0.034,$
under the assumption that higher-order contributions to the decay amplitudes are negligible. The uncertainties include statistical and systematic contributions.


We present a feasibility study of a power-reduction scheme that reduces the thermal power of processors by lowering frequency and voltage in the context of high-performance computing. The study revolves around a 16-processor Opteron-based Beowulf cluster, configured as four nodes of quad-processors, and shows that one can easily reduce a significant amount of CPU and system power dissipation and its associated energy costs while still maintaining high performance. Specifically, our study shows that a 5% performance slowdown can be traded off for an average of 19% system energy savings and 24% system power reduction. These preliminary empirical results, via real measurements, are encouraging because hardware failures often occur when the cluster is running hot, i.e, when the workload is heavy, and the new power-reduction scheme can effectively reduce a cluster's power demands during these busy periods


Semi-synthesis of vanillin from eugenol can be divided into two step reactions namely, isomerization of eugenol into isoeugenol, and cleavage oxidation of isomerization product into expected reaction product (vanillin). In this work isomerization of eugenol or eugenyl acetate into isoeugenol or isoeugenyl acetate has been done via the following reactions: (1) Sigmatropic hydrogen (1,3) thermalic rearrangement reaction: direct heating of eugenol or eugenyl acetate at 220oC for 8 hours can produce 52.2% of isoeugenol or 65.7% of isoeugenyl acetate (both chemical yields are measured by means nmr-spectrometer), where products are viscose yellow-brownish liquid as mixture of unseparated starting material and isomerization product. (2) Prototropic (1,3) rearrangement catalyzed by phase transfer catalyst (PTC): (18)-crown ether-6 at room temperature can be afforded 71.4% of isoeugenol as light yellow liquid (mixture of unseparated starting material and isomerization product). Without any separation of mixture between isomerization product and starting material followed by subsequent cleavage oxidation using KMnO4 as oxidator in neutral condition catalyzed by phase transfer catalyst: (18)- crown ether-6 at room temperature for 3 hours can be yielded 16.5-22.9% of vanillin (from the starting material; eugenol or eugenyl acetate). The spectroscopical data of synthetical vanillin is not rather different with the spectroscopical data of authentical natural vanillin. Keywords: Eugenol, isoeugenol, vanillin, sigmatropic, prototropic


This paper investigates the effects of investments on energy efficiency performance using data from Colombian manufacturing industries. These industries were analysed as a whole and as energy intensive sectors and non-energy intensive sectors between 1998 and 2005. Using a simple factor demand model, we estimate the structural parameters of the model using both time-series and cross-sectional dimensions of the data, and we include the effect that investments have on energy efficiency in Colombian manufacturing industries. The results showed that in Colombian manufacturing industries overall, as well as in non-energy intensive sectors, the main variables that determine energy efficiency performance are energy prices, machinery and equipment investments and foreign investments. Whereas electricity prices show lower significance levels, investments in research and development (R&D) are not statistically significant. In contrast, for energy intensive sectors, only energy prices and foreign investments are statistically significant. Therefore, these results demonstrate the close relationship between energy prices and investments with respect to energy efficiency improvements in Colombian manufacturing industries. These findings have important implications for policy makers aiming to encourage governments to adopt strategies that combine energy prices and technological change, as well as those policy makers wishing to strengthen foreign investment in order to improve technology development, productivity and energy efficiency in manufacturing industries.


Context: Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs) comprise a spectrum of prevalent disorders affecting social, communication, activity, attention, motor coordination and literacy and numeracy skills. NDDs are highly heritable, frequently co-occur, predominantly persist throughout life and are commonly associated with adverse psychological and psychosocial outcomes for both the individual and their family. However, these features of NDDs are rarely acknowledged or considered within research (including burden-of-illness studies) or by healthcare and educational professionals.
Review: We summarise up-to-date UK and USA prevalence information and compare the relative co-occurrence rates both among NDDs and between NDDs and other psychiatric and medical conditions. We then catalogue the known psychosocial outcomes for individuals with NDDs, their parents and siblings and their children, including considering the heritability of NDDs. We also discuss population groups where NDDs are currently under-diagnosed and consider cases where NDDs may be mis-diagnosed.
Conclusions & Recommendations: We offer suggestions to advance our knowledge of the burden of NDDs and shape the future research agenda to develop interventions, management plans and policies to address the burden. This is of vital importance to ensure individuals with NDDs and their families receive the best possible care.


: Bacterial abortive agents such as Brucella spp., Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Listeria spp. cause serious infections that lead to significant economic losses in cattle and sheep breeding. These bacteria can be easily cultured under in vitro laboratory conditions. Abortions caused by intracellular bacteria such as Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii), Chlamydophila abortus (C. abortus) and Francisella tularensis (F. tularensis) are less prevalent in abortive cases and the diagnosis of these bacteria, many of which need to cell culture for cultivation and biosafety level-3 laboratory facilities for safe working, can be made by PCR. In this study, it was aimed to determine the molecular prevalence of C. burnetii, C. abortus and F. tularensis agents, which were neglected during the diagnosis of abortions, in cattle and sheep collected from different regions of Türkiye. A total of 395 clinical materials were analyzed via agent-specific commercial Real-Time PCR. As a result, the molecular prevalence of F. tularensis, C. burnetii and C. abortus was determined as 14%, 2.9% and 2.28%, respectively. F. tularensis in cattle clinical samples and C. burnetii in sheep clinical samples were not found. This is the first report that F. tularensis was found as an agent in an abortive material in Türkiye. Although it differs in terms of prevalence, it has been determined that these microorganisms, which are neglected in routine diagnosis, can be spread with aborted materials, especially vaginal discharge, which may pose a risk of transmission.


April 2022. Abstract. Dersita, Rambey R, Muhtadi A, Onrizal O, Mamurung VR, Hasibuan JS, Tamba IS. 2022. Biodiversity of nekton in the Barumun Watershed, South Labuhanbatu District, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 2426-2432. Biodiversity is a very valuable source of germplasm for science and sustainable development. Therefore, research on freshwater biodiversity is very important to support the sustainability of this development. The research investigated three rivers in South Labuhanbatu District, North Sumatra, Indonesia: Barumun, Tasik, and Titi Kembar rivers. This investigation aims to ascertain the composition, distribution, and variety of nekton. From April to August 2020, the trial lasted five months. Nekton samples were collected with the aid of nets and fishing nets. While installed in the afternoon, the nets are removed the following day. Additionally, at each observation point, stocking nets were operated three times. The investigation discovered 38 fish species and one shrimp species. Two species of fish discovered, are protected by the government of the Republic of Indonesia. Both fish species are Tenualosa terubuk, a fish with little protection, and Fluvitrygon signifer , a ray fish with complete protection. The study site's sole shrimp species was the gigantic prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii in the Barumun river. The index of nekton diversity discovered in the three rivers was not identical. Compared to other rivers, the Tasik river station has a high diversity. This makes the Tasik river rich in fish compared to the Barumun and Titi Kembar rivers. The Tasik river is recommended as water suitable for fish life from


The prairie stone is a rock that is indigenous to Minnesota, and it is also the stone used to create the mortar and pestle. So when it came to naming their new Minneapolis-based pharmacy chain, the company's three partners found it a no-brainer. They dubbed it PrairieStone Pharmacy.


In 2001 China embarked on an ambitious program to improve water quality through creation of the Clean Bohai Sea Program (CBSP). It is the first regional ocean governance program in China. The joint conference of central and local government units directed CBSP under the leadership of the State Environment Protection Administration. To meet the environmental objectives established by the joint conference local governments must pay for the program and operate it, but to date they have not been able to fully fund the effort. Although data indicate a decline of polluted discharges to the Bohai, one tabulation shows that the area of the sea that is polluted has increased each year from 2001 to 2005. Future enhancement of CBSP depends on revising incentives to better link local environmental programs and development, establishing funding mechanisms to equitably spread costs throughout watersheds, and creating comprehensive monitoring programs to better appraise program results.


Objective: Fish is a valuable food source and employment in developing countries. However, par¬asitic infections pose a threat to fish cultivation and fish health. This study is aimed at assessing intestinal parasites associated with marine fishes.
Materials and Methods: A total of 30 frozen marine fishes, comprising 10 Clupea harengus (her¬rings), 10 Scomber scombrus (mackerel), and 10 Micromesistius poutassou (blue whiting) of dif¬ferent sizes and weights, were examined for intestinal parasites.
Results: The results revealed Eimeria spp. and Goussia spp. as parasitic protozoa in M. poutassou and S. scombrus, respectively. Grillotia smarisgora was the only parasitic cestode in M. poutas¬sou. At the same time, Hemiurus spp. and Anisakis spp. were parasitic trematode and nematode observed in both C. harengus and S. scombrus fishes, respectively. Anisakis spp., a parasitic nema¬tode, was the most common intestinal parasite among the marine fishes with 70%, 80%, and 90% occurrence in S. scombrus, C. harengus, and M. poutassou, respectively.
Conclusion: Parasitic infection is one of the factors undermining fish production. Therefore, fish sellers should be enlightened to improve sanitation in handling and processing fish.


Background Many instruments exist to assess mental disorders and anxiety, such as the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Nothing has been evaluated on the HADS factor structure for use with orthopedic trauma patients. The aim of this study was to validate the underlying structure of the HADS. Specifically, we sought to understand which of the factor structures found in the literature is appropriate for the orthopedic trauma patient population. Methods This study included 348 patients with an average age of 49.8 years (SD: 18.4; range: 18 - 95). Confirmatory data analysis was performed to analyze the latent structure of the HADS. Akaike information criterion (AIC) was used to compare all the models, with the lowest AIC being the best fitting model. Results We found that both the anxiety and the depression factors were highly correlated (with Pearson correlations greater than 0.700). After removing one item from each subscale, we found that a two-factor model was the best fitting one (AIC: 8,298.901); all other models had an AIC over 10,000. Conclusion Our results support a satisfactory two-factor structure for the HADS in the orthopedic trauma patients. Further studies are needed to test for higher factor structures in larger samples and in a different population.


Anaerobic soils released more phosphate to soil solutions low in soluble phosphate and sorbed more phosphate from soil solutions high in soluble phosphate than did aerobic soils. The difference in behavior of phosphate under aerobic and anaerobic conditions is attributed to the change brought about in ferric oxyhydroxide by soil reduction. The probably greater surface area of the gel-like reduced ferrous compounds in an anaerobic soil results in more soil phosphate being solubilized where solution phosphate is low and more solution phosphate being sorbed where solution phosphate is high.


1. STRATEGIES FOR LOWERING BARRIERS FOR NANO-TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION: THEORY AND RESULTS OF AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN EUROPE Robin Kleer, RWTH Aachen University, Germany Florian U. Siems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany ABSTRACT This paper analyses the nanotechnology industry with respect to the application of open innovation. By analyzing different open innovation practices first in a theoretical discussion, we identified the broadcast search mechanism as the open innovation method with a great potential to overcome the commercialization barrier in nanotechnology. First, broadcast search aims at a better directed, target oriented research and second, it helps to improve matching between supply and demand of research. The characteristics of nanotechnology as a platform industry make matching a very crucial element of improving commercialization efficiency. Based on these theoretical results, we conducted a more detailed industry analysis of nanotechnology. In a large scale quantitative survey, we addressed success factors and barriers to commercialization, including a detailed assessment of open innovation. Our survey on nanotechnology firms shows further that external cooperation is already a central element in some firms' research strategy, however, organized absorption and in particular dissemination of knowledge is still neglected. Additionally, we see that higher readiness levels (with respect to technology, organization, manufacturing and investment) are positively associated with open innovation and that large firms in nanotechnology are more open towards external cooperation. There are no significant differences across European countries or branches.


We investigate the trading behaviour of a large set of single investors trading the highly liquid Nokia stock over the period 2003–2008 with the aim of determining the relative role of endogenous and exogenous factors that may affect their behaviour. As endogenous factors, we consider returns and volatility, whereas the exogenous factors are the total daily number of news articles and a semantic variable based on a sentiment analysis of the news. Linear regression and partial correlation analysis of the data show that different categories of investors are differently correlated to these factors. Governmental and non-profit organizations are weakly sensitive to news and returns or volatility, and, typically, they are more correlated with the former than with the latter. Households and companies, on the contrary, are very sensitive to both endogenous and exogenous factors, and volatility and returns are, on average, much more relevant than the number of news articles and sentiment, respectively. Financial institutions and foreign organizations are intermediate between these two cases, in terms of both the total explanatory power of these factors and their relative importance. We explicitly consider the role of overnight news and overnight returns on the successive trading activity and trading balance of the different categories of investors. We observe the role of the overnight news, which is weaker than the ones observed between synchronous variables. By performing a vector autoregression (VAR) analysis, we show that the flux of news of the previous day affects the trading activity of companies, households and foreign investors and the dynamics of volatility. VAR is not detecting any role of the lagged sentiment in the successive values of the difference between the number of buying and selling investors for each category of investors.


During experiments to prepare heavy-metal derivatives of the crystallizable human IgG1 (k) immunoglobulin Dob, it became apparent that this protein has several unusual features. (1) Instead of the four labile interchain disulfide bridges ordinarily found in IgG1, the Dob protein has only a single interchain disulfide bridge, which connects its two light chains. (2) The Dob heavy chain appears to be slightly smaller than a control gamma1 chain, as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate and by gel filtration in guanidine. (3) The Dob heavy chain has three fewer residues of half-cystine than expected in gamma1 chains. (4) The Dob IgG is relatively resistant to digestion with papain and trypsin; however, it is readily digested with pepsin, although at an unusual site. These findings suggest that some or all of the gamma1 hinge region is missing in Dob. To localize the deletion, we prepared an F(ab')2 fragment consisting of two heavy-chain pieces (Fd') noncovalently associated with the light-chain dimer. The Fd' piece was isolated and digested with trypsin. The sequence of the C-terminal tryptic peptide was Val-Ala-Pro-Glu-Leu-Leu-Gly-Gly-Pro-Ser-Val. Positions 2-11 of this peptide are identical with residue positions 231-240 of the gamma1 chain. The N-terminal valine could be either Val-211 or Val-215 of the gamma1 sequence. A tryptic peptide, Val-Asp-Lys-Lys, was also isolated from Dob Fd'; this sequence is not found in the variable region of the Dob heavy chain [Steiner, L. A., Garcia Pardo, A., & Margolies, M. N. (1979) Biochemistry (following paper in this issue)] but corresponds to positions 211-214 of the gamma1 constant region. Therefore, the deletion cannot include these residues and must begin after Val-215; normal gamma1 sequence resumes at Ala-231. The same 15-residue deletion has been found in two other IgG1 proteins, Mcg [Fett, J. W., Deutsch, H. F., & Smithies, O. (1973) Immunochemistry 10, 115] and Lec [Rivat, C., Schiff, C., Rivat, L., Ropartz, C., & Fougereau, M. (1976) Eur. J. Immunol. 6, 545]. Possible explanations for the occurrence of identical hinge-region deletions in three different immunoglobulins are suggested by recent experiments demonstrating that the three constant domains and the hinge region of mouse gamma1 chains are each encoded by separate segments of DNA [Sakano, H., Rogers, J. H., Hüppi, K., Brack, C., Traunecker, A., Maki, R., Wall, R., & Tonegawa, S. (1979) Nature (London) 277, 627].


Occupational stress (OS) presents a significant threat to teachers' wellbeing. High levels of OS can impact multiple areas, including teachers' health, job-performance, schools' financial resources, and pupils' wellbeing. Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) play a critical role in coordinating provision for pupils with special educational needs, and represent a group that have received little research attention in relation to OS and wellbeing.

This research adopted a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design to explore the extent, causes, and means of effectively managing OS in the SENCO role. The role that educational psychologists (EPs) can play in supporting SENCOs to manage OS was also explored. 38 practicing SENCOs from a local authority in the West Midlands, England, participated in the study. Participant views were gathered using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, and were analysed via descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. 84% of participants reported to find the role 'moderately stressful', 'very stressful' or 'extremely stressful'. Factors which were perceived to cause OS a.) most frequently, and b.) to the greatest extent were identified. These were diverse and included those related to workload and resource availability, as well as those related to the status of the role, and relational and emotional factors.

Approaches that enabled participants to cope well with OS, despite facing high workplace demands were also identified, as were means through which educational psychologists could support SENCOs in managing OS. Participants' beliefs about the role, relationships, cognitive resources, and the culture and systems within their school were instrumental in coping with OS. It was perceived that EPs could support SENCOs in managing OS through contact, working in a child and school-centred manner, and through facilitating problem-solving. Findings are discussed in relation to extant literature, and implications for theory and educational psychology practice are also highlighted.


Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a growing concern for agricultural producers given increased pressure from government, consumers and retail purchasers. This study addresses the changes in greenhouse gas emissions in cotton over time (using years 1997, 2005 and 2008) due to changing production methods including tillage and seed technology. Time series data in this study comes from a single farm in Arkansas with detailed records of seed used, all inputs used (e.g. fertilizers, agrochemicals, irrigation), as well as machinery and tillage type for each of over 121 fields over 11 growing seasons. Results indicate yields increased dramatically (68%) over that time, due primarily to seed technology. At the same time, agrochemical use and fuel use decreased in 2008, primarily due to Bollgard II ® Roundup Ready ® Flex seed technology and the resulting reduced tillage. Reduced inputs can result in lower costs for producers, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing yields with reduction in input use reduces the overall greenhouse gas emissions per pound of cotton produced, resulting in benefits to producers, consumers who demand such traits, and the environment. However, due to the proliferation of glyphosate-resistant pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri), the decreases in greenhouse gas emissions per pound of cotton that were observed over the past decade may be reversed.


Desertification and Land Degradation have constantly affected the global environment over the years. Land degradation is a reduction or loss of productivity over land due to natural processes, climate change and human activities. It involves complex set of processes, which interacts over space to decrease in land productivity. In the present study, regional desertification vulnerability assessment was carried out for Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, India. A vulnerability is a basic concept which explains the flaw in any structure of a system. A vulnerability may also refer to any type of shortcoming in systems, sub system parameters or processes, or in anything that leads the system to be exposed to a threat. Fuzzy Logic (FL) method combined with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques has several advantages for assessing vulnerability. Technically FL combines the intricate classical analytic hierarchy process and grey clustering method for estimation of coefficients. Climate, soil, vegetation and land use play a significant role in desertification of any area, hence, in this work, several indices have been generated. However, man's intervention leads to significant changes in the environment, making socio-economic factor as a major input to assess vulnerability for desertification. Thus in this study FL has been integrated with both natural and socioeconomic factors for understanding the vulnerability to desertification in Bhavnagar region.


Abstract Simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SBTKA) increases the rates of procedure-related complications and mortality compared with unilateral TKA. There are no well-defined guidelines for selecting patients to avoid mortality and proposing an upgrade treatment to decrease complication rates. This study aimed to evaluate whether optimal perioperative management could improve the safety of SBTKA. From 2005 to 2017, 1,166 cases of SBTKA were identified from 14,209 TKA procedures. We retrospectively examined the SBTKA patients' demographics, comorbidity profiles, procedure-related complications, and perioperative management during two time periods. Optimal perioperative workup for managing SBTKA significantly decreased the incidences of major complication from 6.2 to 2.4% (p = 0.001) and minor complications from 28.9 to 21.5% (p = 0.004) during period I and period II, respectively. The efficiency of less tourniquet use along with intraarticular tranexamic acid injection was demonstrated by the decreases of hemoglobin (Hb) change in the first 2 days after surgery (p = 0.005) and blood transfusion requirement (p = 0.035) during the SBTKA. Furthermore, the less tourniquet use group had less thigh pain (visual analog scale decreased from 6.0 to 4.2, p = 0.003), shorter duration of hospital stay (decreased from 7.8 to 7.1, p < 0.001), and lower coagulation time (decrease from 3.5 to 2.9, p < 0.001) than the routine tourniquet use group. Patient's screening must be performed carefully for cardiopulmonary compromise in patients aged >80 years and with an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of 3. Additionally, hospitalists should consider developing methods for the eligibility, testing, and perioperative monitoring of patients who undergo SBTKA with the aim of avoiding complications and improving outcomes.


Rejection sampling is a technique for sampling from difficult distributions. However, its use is limited due to a high rejection rate. Common adaptive rejection sampling methods either work only for very specific distributions or without performance guarantees. In this paper, we present pliable rejection sampling (PRS), a new approach to rejection sampling, where we learn the sampling proposal using a kernel estimator. Since our method builds on rejection sampling, the samples obtained are with high probability i.i.d. and distributed according to f. Moreover, PRS comes with a guarantee on the number of accepted samples.


Titan s organic aerosols play a significant role in the physico-chemical mechanisms of the Titan s atmosphere and heat transfer to the Titan s surface They also contribute to the physico-chemical properties of the Titan s surface and more particularly to its reflectance as they can have accumulated at the surface fro a long period However the amount of direct data dealing with the Titan s aerosols is quite low and the data recovered by the Cassini and Huygens probes remain difficult to interpret without any reference data This is the reason why we developed a laboratory experiment which simulates the Titan s atmosphere chemistry and produces analogues of Titan s aerosols with the aim to study the properties of the Titan s aerosols and their way of formation In this experiment the Titan s chemistry is simulated by a low pressure Radio Frequency plasma discharge in a N2-CH4 gas mixture In this device aerosols are produced in the gas phase without interaction with the reactor walls The aim of this paper is to present recent results obtained with this experiment Chemical composition physical properties morphology of the produced particles will be presented as well as their dependence on the plasma conditions Moreover the properties of the plasma characterized by optical and eletrcial diagnostics will also be presented A correlation of the solids particles properties and the plasma characteristics will be attempted We will finally attempt to correlate these laboratory results with the known properties of the Titan s aerosols in order to try to bring additional information on the Titan's aerosols properties and their way of formation.


The problem of joint power and admission control (JPAC) is a critical issue encountered in underlay cognitive radio networks (CRNs). Moving forward towards the realization of Fifth Generation (5G) and beyond, where optimization is envisioned to take place in multiple performance dimensions, it is crucially desirable to achieve high sum throughput with low power consumption. In this work, a multi-objective JPAC optimization problem that jointly maximizes the sum throughput and minimizes power consumption in underlay CRNs is formulated. An enhanced swarm intelligence algorithm has been developed by hybridizing two new enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) variants, namely two-phase PSO (TPPSO) and diversity global position binary PSO (DGP-BPSO) variants employed to optimize the multi-objective JPAC problem. The performance of the enhanced swarm intelligence algorithm in terms of convergence speed and stability, while optimizing both the sum throughput and power consumption, is investigated under three different operational scenarios defined by their single objective priorities, which translate to sum throughput and power consumption preferences. Simulation results have proven the effectiveness of the enhanced swarm intelligence algorithm in achieving high sum throughput and low power consumption under the three operational scenarios when the network includes an arbitrary number of primary and secondary users. Comparing the hybrid SPSO approach and the proposed approach, the proposed scheme has shown its effectiveness in increasing the sum throughput to 7%, 16%, and 31% under the multimedia, balanced and power saving operational scenarios, respectively. In addition, the proposed approach is more power efficient as it can provide additional power savings of 3.58 W, 2.48 W, and 1.6741 W under the aforementioned operational scenarios, respectively.


This paper present a research project that tries to extend the MOOC ecosystems by integrating external tools like social networks. This integration is developed by using a software architecture that mediate between the different systems and platforms establishing communication workflows and analyzing the information retrieved. This kind of system is applied in a real case, and it allows teachers and managers of the MOOC platform to get enhanced information and insights about users interaction with contents and MOOC tools, as well as some metrics impossible to retrieve or calculate manually in this kind of eLearning platforms with high amounts of users.


Polypyrrole actuators may represent time varying and nonlinear dynamics as the solvent evaporation continuously affects their performance. Linear models can be used to design controllers for polypyrrole actuators to some extent but their performance may not be sufficient in order to comply with the requirements for applications where high precision is necessary. This paper proposes a Fuzzy Logic controller to improve the tracking performance of a trilayer polypyyrole conducting polymer actuator. As the fuzzy controller does not require a model for the system, the nonlinearities and uncertainties can be handled effectively. Experimental results show that fuzzy control improves the tracking performance compared to the conventional PID controller which is designed based on a linear model of the polypyrrole actuator.


This paper is a part of study about the impact of the microclimate on the space use and the user's behaviours. The purpose of our study is to get an in-depth understanding of how people use out door public spaces in different climatic conditions, how their behaviour and perception of the space change with the climatic variations. We have employed a multi-method approach which combines a "qualitative" and "quantitative" analysis. Three squares were chosen as a setting for either video observations, climatic measurement and interviews with the users. The whole investigations were conducted one day in winter 2009 and one day in summer 2010. The result of the qualitative and the quantitative analysis revealed that the climate variables played very different roles in predicting the use mode and density of the three squares in the two seasonal periods.


Abstract Since the 1980s the rise of so-called 'populist parties' has given rise to thousands of books, articles, columns and editorials. This article aims to make a threefold contribution to the current debate on populism in liberal democracies. First, a clear and new definition of populism is presented. Second, the normal-pathology thesis is rejected; instead it is argued that today populist discourse has become mainstream in the politics of western democracies. Indeed, one can even speak of a populist Zeitgeist. Third, it is argued that the explanations of and reactions to the current populist Zeitgeist are seriously flawed and might actually strengthen rather than weaken it.


Although instructional explanations are commonly provided when learners are introduced to new content, they often fail because they are not integrated into effective learning activities. The recently introduced active-constructive-interactive framework posits an effectiveness hierarchy in which interactive learning activities are at the top; these are then followed by constructive and active learning activities, respectively. Against this background, we combined instructional explanations with different types of prompts that were designed to elicit these learning activities and tested the central predictions of the active-constructive-interactive framework. In Experiment 1, N = 83 students were randomly assigned to one of four combinations of instructional explanations and prompts. To test the active < constructive learning hypothesis, the learners received either (1) complete explanations and engaging prompts designed to elicit active activities or (2) explanations that were reduced by inferences and inference prompts designed to engage learners in constructing the withheld information. Furthermore, in order to explore how interactive learning activities can be elicited, we gave the learners who had difficulties in constructing the prompted inferences adapted remedial explanations with either (3) unspecific engaging prompts or (4) revision prompts. In support of the active < constructive learning hypothesis, we found that the learners who received reduced explanations and inference prompts outperformed the learners who received complete explanations and engaging prompts. Moreover, revision prompts were more effective in eliciting interactive learning activities than engaging prompts. In Experiment 2, N = 40 students were randomly assigned to either (1) a reduced explanations and inference prompts or (2) a reduced explanations and inference prompts plus adapted remedial explanations and revision prompts condition. In support of the constructive < interactive learning hypothesis, the learners who received adapted remedial explanations and revision prompts as add-ons to reduced explanations and inference prompts acquired more conceptual knowledge.


In the current era, consumers are living in a multi-channel shopping environment. Retailers are expanding their business channels to get the most out of their ongoing multi-channel businesses and to create a sustainable shopping environment for consumers. The extant literature is quite elaborative about the impact of new online channels on retailers, but a very limited part of the said literature discusses the impact of adding both new online/offline channels to the retailers' existing business channels and the perceived benefits they create for consumers. This paper makes the comparison of multi-channel additions and their impacts on consumer benefits in creating a sustainable retailer–consumer business environment. This dimension of research is quite new regarding the subject of multi-channel shopping. In this paper, a simulated experimental design is adopted to analyze the impact of the multi-channel structure with a mix of different product types (experience and search) and the perceived benefit to consumers (perceived variety, perceived convenience, and perceived risk). The results show that, compared to the newly added offline channels, newly added online channels can make consumers more aware of the overall variety, increase perceived convenience, and reduce perceived risk. However, for retailers selling search products, the newly added online channel does not create any significant difference to the consumers' overall perceived variety of the retailers.


The depositional and diagenetic history of the Permian Quartermaster Group of western Kansas Joseph James Pritt Permo-Triassic red beds and evaporites can be found in a variety of locations around the world. Largely deposited once the supercontinent Pangea formed, many of these units have historically been interpreted as marine to marginal marine deposits due to their association with evaporites. Evaporites, however, can also form in continental settings. Recent studies of red beds and evaporites within the Leonardian-Guadalupian Nippewalla Group of Kansas suggest some red beds and evaporites were deposited in acid saline lakes and associated environments. The middle to late Permian Quartermaster Group, which overlies the Nippewalla Group, has not been as extensively studied. The main goal of this thesis was to determine the depositional and diagenetic history of the Quartermaster Group of Kansas. This research focused on the Whitehorse Sandstone, Day Creek Dolomite, and Big Basin Formation of the Quartermaster Group as observed in the Amoco Rebecca K. Bounds core no. 1 from Greeley County, west-central Kansas. Petrography and mineralogical identification were used to characterize the depositional and diagenetic features of these rocks. Field observations from south-central Kansas (Clark and Barber Counties) provided supplementary data. Sedimentary features observed in the Quartermaster Group suggest the Whitehorse Sandstone, Day Creek Dolomite, and Big Basin Formation were deposited in continental settings. The Whitehorse Sandstone consists of red sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone with observable ped structures, root features, ripple cross-stratification, mud drapes, mudcracks, and soil slickensides. These features suggest deposition in mudflats and fluctuating water tables in adjacent soils. The Day Creek Dolomite consists of bedded gypsum/anhydrite and finely laminated red siltstones. Ripple cross-stratification, mudcracks, and planar laminae observed in bedded gypsum/anhydrite indicate deposition in ephemeral saline lake environments while ripple cross-stratification, mud drapes, soil slickensides, and root features in red siltstones indicate mudflats and soils. The Big Basin Formation consists of dark red sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone characterized by soft sediment deformation, ripple cross-stratification, mudcracks, and soil slickensides. These features suggest deposition in mudflats and the development of paleosols. In general, early and late diagenetic features observed within the Quartermaster Group suggest substantial influence from wetting and drying processes at or near the surface. Evidence for acidity in the Quartermaster Group is based on suspect to problematic criteria. Acid saline lake deposition is postulated from indirect criteria such as unusual yellow hues observed in halite and other evaporites within bedded gypsum/anhydrite layers of the Day Creek Dolomite. Additionally, the absence of carbonates, abundance of red beds, and similarities to the underlying Nippewalla Group, a known acid system, suggest that units within the Quartermaster Group were likely influenced by acid lake waters and groundwater. The Quartermaster Group signifies deposition in an arid to semiarid continental setting. Comparisons between these units and the underlying Nippewalla Group suggest conditions became more humid and less saline towards the end of the Permian. Additional use of highly recoverable core in future studies will help to refine understanding of the stratigraphy, nomenclature, paleogeography, depositional environments, and diagenetic history of other red bed and evaporite sequences in Kansas and throughout the western midcontinental United States.


Eight extra-long staple (ELS) upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) germplasm lines, TAM A106-15 ELS (Reg. No. GP-894, PI 654359), TAM A106-16 ELS (Reg. No. GP-895, PI 654360), TAM B147-21 ELS (Reg. No. GP-896, PI 654361), TAM B182-33 ELS (Reg. No. GP-897, PI 654362), TAM C66-16 ELS (Reg. No. GP-898, PI 654363), TAM C66-26 ELS (Reg. No. GP-899, PI 654364), TAM C147-42 ELS (Reg. No. GP-900, PI 654365), and TAM C155-22 ELS (Reg. No. GP-901, PI 654366), were developed by the Cotton Improvement Laboratory, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas AgriLife Research (Texas A&M University, College Station), and released in 2008 as part of an ongoing effort to create germplasm with combinations of improved fiber quality parameters, especially upper half mean (UHM) length and fiber bundle strength. All ELS lines exhibited high volume instrument (HVI) UHM fiber length greater than 32.0 mm, which is the minimum UHM to be classified as ELS upland according to Cotton Incorporated. Seven of the eight lines equaled or exceeded the minimum UHM length of 34.8 mm for pima (G. barbadense L.) in the USDA 2007 pima loan schedule in at least one performance trial. Fiber bundle strengths of the eight lines were equal to or higher than 'Fibermax 832'.


This paper presents the implementation of a Hierarchical Scheduling Framework (HSF) on an open source real-time operating system (FreeRTOS) to support the temporal isolation between a number of applications, on a single processor. The goal is to achieve predictable integration and reusability of independently developed components or applications. We present the initial results of the HSF implementation by running it on an AVR 32-bit board EVK1100. The paper addresses the fixed-priority preemptive scheduling at both global and local scheduling levels. It describes the detailed design of HSF with the emphasis of doing minimal changes to the underlying FreeRTOS kernel and keeping its API intact. Finally it provides (and compares) the results for the performance measures of idling and deferrable servers with respect to the overhead of the implementation.


Effective January 1, 2012, the European Union (EU) instituted the first emissions trading scheme (ETS) for aviation which affected the domestic and international commercial airline industry flying into and out of the EU. The EU established the ETS to counter the global aviation sector's role in releasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; however, such movement was met with heavy opposition by foreign countries, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), various commercial airlines and the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). This paper analyzes the legality of the EU's unilateral ETS approach with respect to the commercial airline industry, examines the subsequent development of the ICAO's global market based members (MBM) program, reviews strategic political strategies implemented by foreign nations to counter the EU's unilateral action, evaluates the ICAO's recent developments in instituting a global trading scheme to reduce GHG emissions, and proposes policy issues with respect to the ICAO's MGM program as it applies to the EU ETS.


The paper concern is determination of eight pesticides in food products samples. The target compounds are: Lindane, Heptachlor, Aldrin, o,p-DDE, Dieldrin, Endrin, p,p'-DDT, and Methoxychlor. The compounds quantities were performed from chromatographic area obtained in full scan GC/MS mode after baseline separation and by comparation with surrogate internal standard area (Diphenylamine). The samples were concentrated by extraction with organic solvents (acetone) by Solid-Liquid Extraction (SLE) procedures the recovery factors being better than 80% except for Heptachlors. The coefficient of correlation of detector response function was better than 0.913 and LOQ under 0.015 μg/g. The method enables to determine pesticides at low μg/g in food supplements.


This Comment argues that United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez signals an unwarranted limitation on constitutional protections which may present disturbing ramifications for aliens in U.S. courts. Part I of this Comment examines the line of cases that extend constitutional protections to citizens beyond U.S. borders and to aliens within U.S. territory. Part II discusses the factual and procedural background of the Verdugo-Urquidez case. Part III discusses the reasoning of the plurality, concurring, and dissenting opinions. Part IV analyses the plurality opinion and suggests that United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez reverses a trend extending constitutional protection outside the United States. This Comment concludes that Verdugo-Urquidez may foreshadow a limitation of constitutional protections for new classes of individuals. UNITED STATES V. VERDUGO-URQUIDEZ: RESTRICTING THE BORDERS OF THE FOURTH AMENDMENT


Quantitative integrated ground models are a requirement for proper cost optimal site characterization, for offshore renewables, coastal activities and O&G projects. Geotechnical analyses and interpretations often rely on isolated 1D boreholes. On the other hand, geophysical data are collected in 2D lines and/or 3D volumes. Geophysical data therefore provides the natural link to re-populate geotechnical properties found in the 1D boreholes onto a larger area and thereby build a consistent and robust ground model. The geophysical data can be used to estimate geotechnical data and, as of today, there are a few methods available that can reliably map the dynamic properties from the seismic data (stratigraphic information, P-wave velocities, amplitudes, and their attributes) into geotechnical or geomechanical properties, particularly for shallow sub-surface depth. Being able to predict soil properties away from boreholes is important, as often the field layout changes during the development phase, and hence, information at the specific foundation locations may not be readily available.
 We have developed a workflow to build quantitative ground models following three approaches: (i) a geometric model in which the seismic data interpretations guide the prediction of geotechnical properties; (ii) a geostatistical approach in which in addition to the structural constraints, we used the seismic velocities to guide the prediction; and (iii) a multi-attribute regression using an artificial neural network (ANN). We apply it to a set of publically available data from the Holland Kust Zuid wind farm site in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. The result of the workflow yields maps or sub-volumes of geotechnical or geomechanical properties across the development site that can be used in further planning or engineering design.
 In this study, we use the tip resistance from a CPT as an example. The tip resistance derived using all methods generally give good results. Validation against randomly selected CPT shows good correlation between predicted and measured tip resistance. The ANN performs better than the geostatistical approach. However, these two approaches require good data quality and a rather large dataset to be effective. Therefore, using a global dataset not restricted to the Holland Kust Zuid site may improve the prediction. Moreover, using existing empirical correlation and calibration through laboratory testing or by training another ANN model, the geotechnical stiffness/strength parameters such as angle of friction or undrained shear strength could be derived.
 The next step is to use the results and their uncertainty into a cost assessment for the given foundation concepts.


We consider an interacting system of massless scalar and electromagnetic fields, with the Lagrangian explicitly depending on the electromagnetic potentials, i.e., interaction with broken gauge invariance. The Lagrangian for interaction is chosen in such a way that the electromagnetic field equation acquires an additional term, which in some cases is proportional to the vector potential of the electromagnetic field. This equation can be interpreted as the equation of motion of photon with induced nonzero rest-mass. This system of interacting fields is considered within the scope of Bianchi type-I (BI) cosmological model. It is shown that, as a result of interaction the isotropization process of the expansion takes place.


We assessed thein vivo efficacy of Flt3-ligand (Flt3-L) treatment in C57BL/6 mice bearing a well-established MHC class I-negative prostate carcinoma TRAMP-C1. Flt3-L immunotherapy was initiated approximately 30 days after tumor inoculation, a time when>80% of the mice had palpable TRAMP-C1 tumors. Treatment with Flt3-L at 10 mg/day for 21 consecutive days suppressed TRAMP-C1 tumor growth and induced tumor stabilization (P 5 0.0337). Enhanced tumor regression was demonstrated at a higher dose of 30 mg/day (P < 0.0001). Tumors excised from mice treated with Flt3-L were smaller than carrier-treated controls and contained a more pronounced mixed inflammatory cell infiltrate primarily composed of m F. In regressor mice, tumors reappeared at the site of injection when Flt3-L therapy was terminated. When the experiment was repeated with MHC class I-positive TRAMP-C1 cells, tumor stabilization and/or regression was again observed after treatment (P < 0.0001); however, once again, tumors reappeared after the termination of therapy despite an extended treatment schedule (35 days). MHC class I-negative variants were present in tumors isolated from carrierand Flt3-L-treated mice, and this phenotype could be reversed by IFNg treatment in vitro. Thus, Flt3-L treatment of mice with preexisting transplantable prostate tumors results in tumor regression that is dose-dependent and accompanied by a pronounced mixed-cell inflammatory tumor infiltrate. However, disease relapse was invariably observed after the termination of therapy, which suggests that Flt3-L treatment of advanced MHC prostate cancers will require adjuvant modalities to achieve a durable response.


The amorphous FeCuNbSiB ribbons were first annealed at the temperature of 450 oC and 540 oC, respectively. Then, these annealed ribbons were milled into flake particles with the same condition. The different annealing temperature made the ribbons have the different crystallinities, which caused the milled particles have the different structures, morphologies, and magnetic properties. As for the flake particles by milling the ribbons annealed at 540 oC, they had higher crystallinity, smaller size, lower coercivity, and higher complex permeability compared with those by milling the annealed ribbons at 450 oC.