Author(s): Yen, Priscilla Kimberly | Advisor(s): Wong, Weng Kee | Abstract: The design phase of a randomized controlled clinical trial is critical to its success. With many non-adaptive designs and an explosive number of adaptive designs introduced to the research community, the number of designs from which a statistician can select has the potential to be overwhelming. At times, a statistician may be uncertain how a newer adaptive design will perform in a particular setting of interest. While regulatory agencies have originally treated adaptive designs with resistance, recent years have seen more acceptance if there is extensive simulation work that shows good control of Type I error.There are many adaptive designs, and it is important to understand and compare characteristics of competing designs before implementation. However, the overall lack of understanding of the performance of adaptive designs with regard to several design characteristics and the lack of an effective tool to measure overall design quality may have led to clinical trial statisticians implementing traditional designs rather than adopting more innovative methods. Yet adaptive designs have many appealing features that can benefit both the clinical trial sponsor, who funds the trial, and the clinical trial subjects. These strengths include early completion of a trial due to overwhelming efficacy and minimizing the number of subjects assigned to an inferior treatment arm.The aim of this dissertation is to introduce methodology that provides statisticians and other clinical trial stakeholders with a tool that can measure the overall quality of a design and thereby facilitate comparison across competing designs. The methodology utilizes desirability functions to measure various statistical and non-statistical features that contribute to the quality of a design. Specifically, individual desirability functions evaluate a library of components including statistical considerations, such as treatment group size imbalance, probability of covariate imbalance, accidental bias, control for chronological bias, Type I error and power, and ethical considerations, such as minimizing the expected number of failures and total sample size needed in the whole trial. The proposed strategy is to compute an overall desirability score for each design, use it to rank the clinical trial designs of interest, and select the most relevant and efficient design for the trial's various objectives. To facilitate use of the proposed methodology, the project includes the development of an online interactive tool for the user to incorporate input before desirability functions are generated to help the user select the most appropriate design for the trial.


We present the analysis and design of an inductorless wide-band SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor low-noise amplifier (LNA) using a resistive feedback scheme for application in ultra-wideband systems. Multiple feedback loops enable sufficient gain and low noise figure, and is competitive with conventional narrow-band cascode LNAs using an emitter degeneration inductor. Measurement results show 20-dB gain with 1-dB variation over 3-10 GHz, and a matched input and output with less than -10-dB reflection. The minimum noise figure is 3.05 dB at 3 GHz and increases to 4.5 dB at 10 GHz. For the analysis and design of such wide-band amplifiers, analytical expressions describing the basic performance tradeoffs are derived and verified with simulation and measurements. General design procedures are also given in this paper in order to better understand the roles of the various critical components in the amplifier.


With an unprecedented increase in mobile phone and tablet usage, we are witnessing a rapid increase in internet users accessing the World Wide Web from these devices. Since a good user experience is paramount to ensure the visitor will enjoy the website, it is necessary to take steps to adapt the website to the various device screen sizes the users use. The same applies to the navigation and interaction on the said website. The flow of content and the whole user experience must feel natural and simple across all web capable devices, which is not particularly easy to achieve. Not so long ago, the go-to method was to create an additional website that would be served to mobile users, which has lately been replaced with a more dynamic approach dubbed Responsive Web Design. The main difference between the two is that the latter takes into account the whole spectrum of different screen resolutions and allows for the website to adjust its content and design accordingly and not just statically serve content specifically designed for a very narrow selection of devices.
The focus of the present thesis will be on technologies making up Responsive Web Design, different accepted methods and emerging development guidelines that will be presented in a case study of the ongoing redesign of the mladi.net website. The changes and improvements on the website will be also evaluated.


In most developing and industrial countries, infrastructure services have traditionally been provided by government enterprises, but in developing countries at least, these enterprises have often proven to be inefficient, unable to provide much-needed investments, and manipulated to achieve political objectives. By contrast, many studies have shown that over the past 30 years, private (or privatized) enterprises in developing countries have, on average, delivered superior performance and needed investments. Explanations differ on why this discrepancy exists. Private enterprises are driven by a desire for profits and may have more professional know-how in management, operating procedures, and use of appropriate technology. But perhaps the most important reason for their stronger performance is that privatization makes intervening in enterprise operations difficult for governments and politicians, so government manipulation is less likely. However, the issue, in general, has been how to ensure that the improved performance and efficiency gains are passed through to the users through lower tariffs and increased coverage, while allowing firms to earn a fair rate of return on their investments.


It is well-known that deciding consistency for normal answer set programs (ASP) is NP-complete, thus, as hard as the satisfaction problem for propositional logic (SAT). The exponential time hypothesis (ETH) implies that the best algorithms to solve these problems take exponential time in the worst case. However, accounting for the treewidth, the consistency problem for ASP is slightly harder than SAT: while SAT can be solved by an algorithm that runs in exponential time in the treewidth k, ASP requires exponential time in k · log(k). This extra cost is due to checking that there are no self-supported true atoms due to positive cycles in the program. In this paper, we refine this recent result and show that consistency for ASP can be decided in exponential time in k · log(ι) where ι is a novel measure, bounded by both treewidth k and the size of the largest strongly-connected component of the positive dependency graph of the program. We provide a treewidth-aware reduction from ASP to SAT that adheres to the above limit.


Abstract:  Reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage biomolecules, accelerate aging, and shorten life span, whereas antioxidant enzymes mitigate these effects. Because mitochondria are a primary site of ROS generation and also a primary target of ROS attack, they have become a major focus area of aging studies. Here, we employed yeast genetics to identify mitochondrial antioxidant genes that are important for replicative life span. In our studies, it was found that among the known mitochondrial antioxidant genes (TTR1, CCD1, SOD1, GLO4, TRR2, TRX3, CCS1, SOD2, GRX5, PRX1), deletion of only three genes, SOD1 (Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase), SOD2 (Manganese‐containing superoxide dismutase), and CCS1 (Copper chaperone), shortened the life span enormously. The life span decreased 40% for Δsod1 mutant, 72% for Δsod2 mutant, and 50% for Δccs1 mutant. Deletion of the other genes had little or no effect on life span.


The development of biomass has been assumed as an important issue in the past several decades and would remain to be attractive in the future due to its clean, renewable, and carbon–neutral properties. Biomass is one of the most important renewable energy resources in the world. In recent decades, the utilization of biomass has dramatically increased. There were many reasons. First, biomass is a renewable resource, because of the availability of biomass is unlimited, and its regenerative process runs well. Second, the extraction of biomass energy can be carried out more flexible. The biomass can be burned directly without high technology. Biomass bio-briquettes are often used as an energy source for cooking purpose and in some industries. The bio-briquettes are produced by densification of waste biomass using various processes. In this, the study manual densification of bio-briquettes was tested by three different binding agents; cassava flour, sago flour, and starch flour. The objective of this study was to compare different binding materials in the production of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) bio-briquettes between binders. The binder is used as a mixture on the EFB fiber. Three types of the binder are cassava flour, sago flour and starch flour are used as comparators to obtain high heating value. The percentage of binder in each sample is 2%. The ratio of the use of water as a diluent between the fiber and the adhesive is 1: 5. Samples of solid cylindrical shape diameter 4 cm and 5 cm high and density sample is 0.8 g/cm3. The pressure is used to generate samples specified in the mold volume. The volume of the cylinder is 62.8 cm3. The adhesive cassava with a percentage of 2% can provide power to the sample mechanically by a drop test at the height of 1.20 m. The result shows that the binder cassava has fuel calorific value average is 3661 cal/g, a binder of starch 3584 cal/g and sago 3537 cal/g. Results indicated that sample binder cassava flour has calorific fuel value higher than sago and starch flour.


This book provides a contribution on the theories, techniques, and methods on multimodality and mobile devices for pervasive services. It consists of 24 chapters that provide an in-depth investigation of new approaches, methods, and trends. Humans communicate using their five senses in a synergistic manner expressing key-concepts involving different modalities and/or two or more modalities simultaneously. Indeed, human-human communication involves, in a synergistic manner, several communication channels; it can use gesture, sketch drawing, handwriting, facial expressions, gaze, and speech or their combination. Multimodal interaction systems can combine visual, auditory, and other kinds of information in a flexible and powerful dialogue manner, enabling users to choose one or more interaction modalities. The use of multimodality combined with mobile devices allows a simple and intuitive communication approach everywhere and every time. The synergistic approach in using more than one modality to interact with computers—or more generally with other devices such as mobile devices–makes dialogue and communication flexible, natural, and robust also for its closeness with the human-human one. Effectiveness and naturalness of communication is particularly relevant for services. The great diffusion of mobile devices, along with the development of multimodal interaction, presents a new challenge for telecommunication companies and all organizations that can be involved in providing new services using mobile devices. One requirement for these services is that they and their information have to be accessible to every mobile situation. Even if in the last years several efforts have been carried out to provide computer and mobile devices interfaces with a similar flexibility, naturalness, and robustness, a lot of theoretical and technological problems need to be faced when designing and implementing very natural, flexible, and robust multi-modal human computer interaction approaches. Naturalness, flexibility, and robustness of interaction approaches are key elements to produce new and pervasive services for people. In developing multimodal pervasive services, it is essential to consider perceptual speech, audio, and video quality for the optimum communication system design, the effective transmission planning, and management respect to the customer requirements. The book aim is to provide theoretical and practical scenarios, concepts, methodologies, standards, definitions , and applications used to design and develop multimodal systems, focusing on mobile devices and pervasive services. It gives an overview of the existing works in this sector, discussing the different strategies adopted for the fusion input process, optimization processes on mobile devices, ambiguity and error handling related to one or more modalities, the fission …


Long-read RNA sequencing techniques are quickly establishing themselves as the primary sequencing technique to study the transcriptome landscape. Many such analyses are dependent upon splice alignment of reads to the genome. However, the error rate and sequencing length of long-read technologies create new challenges for accurately aligning these reads. We present an alignment method uLTRA that, on simulated and synthetic data, shows higher accuracy over state-of-the-art with substantially higher accuracy for small exons. We show several examples on biological data where uLTRA aligns to known and novel isoforms with exon structures that are not detected with other aligners. uLTRA is available at https://github.com/ksahlin/ultra.


: Skeleton of cows living in the zone of Kiev Polesye (Woodlands), a comparatively safe area of radioactive pollution, as compared with 1960, was found to have practically the same content of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, copper; the content of potassium decreased, that of zinc was greater; the increased content of magnesium, manganese, strontium and lead was statistically valid. An increased incorporation of magnesium, zinc and manganese and a decreased fixation of iron and potassium were mainly due to changed conditions of feeding and maintenance of the animals, while the increased content of strontium and lead was a result of the increased pollution of the environment.


Background: Concomitant lesions of the heart and lung are uncommon, but when present they pose a challenge for cardiac and thoracic surgeons. Patients with lung cancer and heart disease are at a high risk for postoperative death or severe cardiovascular complications. Aim of the study: To report our results of concomitant cardiac surgery and lung resection. Material and methods: From 1994 to 2012, 18 patients with cardiac disorders and lung cancer or another lung disease were operated on. Twelve patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, 3 patients underwent aortic valve replacement and 3 patients underwent another cardiac surgery procedure. The pulmonary resections consisted of pneumonectomy in 1 patient, lobectomy in 6 patients and wedge excision in 10 patients. Follow-up was obtained for all 18 patients (mean follow-up 70.6 months; range 224 to 0.7 months). Results: The pathologic examination confirmed lung malignancy in 12 patients. Five patients were operated on due to a non-oncologic pathology and 1 patient underwent lung volume resection. Overall late survival was 88% and 67% at 1 and 5 years, respectively. Conclusions: Lung resection carried out concomitantly with cardiac surgery is safe and effective. A combined procedure avoids the need for a second major thoracic procedure and may improve clinical outcome.


Abstract The role of cerebral blood flow (CBF) on a maximal breath-hold (BH) in ultra-elite divers was examined. Divers (n = 7) performed one control BH, and one BH following oral administration of the non-selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin (1.2 mg/kg). Arterial blood gases and CBF were measured prior to (baseline), and at BH termination. Compared to control, indomethacin reduced baseline CBF and cerebral delivery of oxygen (CDO2) by about 26% (p < 0.01). Indomethacin reduced maximal BH time from 339 ± 51 to 319 ± 57 seconds (p = 0.04). In both conditions, the CDO2 remained unchanged from baseline to the termination of apnea. At BH termination, arterial oxygen tension was higher following oral administration of indomethacin compared to control (4.05 ± 0.45 vs. 3.44 ± 0.32 kPa). The absolute increase in CBF from baseline to the termination of apnea was lower with indomethacin (p = 0.01). These findings indicate that the impact of CBF on maximal BH time is likely attributable to its influence on cerebral H+ washout, and therefore central chemoreceptive drive to breathe, rather than to CDO2.


In many processes where hydrogen may be released from below a liquid surface, there has been concern regarding how such releases might ultimately disperse in an ullage space. Knowledge of the extent and persistence of any flammable volume formed is needed for hazardous area classification as well as for validation of explosion modelling or experiments. Following an initial release of hydrogen, the overall process can be subdivided into three stages (i) rise and possible break-up of a bubble in the liquid, (ii) formation and bursting of a thin gas-liquid-gas interface at the liquid surface and (iii) dispersion of the released gas. An apparatus based on a large glass sided water tank has been constructed which employs two synchronised high-speed imaging systems to record the behaviour of hydrogen bubble release and dispersion. A high-speed digital video system records the rising of the bubbles, and the formation and bursting of the gas-liquid-gas interface at the liquid surface. An additional schlieren system is used to visualise the hydrogen release as bubbles burst at the liquid surface. The bubble burst mechanism can clearly be described from the results obtained. Following the nucleation of a hole, surface tension causes the liquid film to peel back rapidly forming a ring/torus of liquid around the enlarging hole. This process lasts only a few milliseconds. Although some hydrogen can be seen to be expelled from the bubble much seems to remain in place as the film peels away. To assess the extent of the flammable plume following a bubble burst, the apparatus was modified to include an electric-arc igniter. In order to identify plumes coincident in space with the igniter, a schlieren system was built capable of recording simultaneously in two orthogonal directions. This confirmed that clouds undetected by the schlerien imaging could not be ignited with the electric arc igniter.


Chemotherapy is proven to play a central role in the adjuvant management of pancreatic cancer. A number of studies have validated its small but significant survival benefit to patients following surgical resection, but many questions about the optimal adjuvant chemotherapeutic management of pancreatic cancer still persist. Currently, the benefits of both the chemotherapeutic agents gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil have been validated as adjuvant options, with a preference for gemcitabine emerging based on its greater tolerability. Methods to individualize the selection of an adjuvant agent based on an individual tumor's characteristics are being explored, and additional novel agents and regimens are actively being investigated. In the studies that established chemotherapy's adjuvant benefit, a controversy simultaneously developed as to the role of the concurrent use of adjuvant radiation therapy in addition to chemotherapy, leading to the development of a conflicting consensus on how to adjuvantly manage pancreatic cancer patients. Chemotherapy given concurrently with radiation therapy has emerged as the preferred adjuvant approach in the United States, whereas chemotherapy alone is preferred in Europe. In addition to the debate over modality, a separate debate of treatment timing has emerged from studies of neoadjuvant therapy, which has demonstrated a survival benefit in the management of pancreatic cancer, but has not been directly compared with postsurgical adjuvant therapy. This review discusses the evidence for chemotherapy in the adjuvant management of pancreatic cancer, including both the choice of agent and value of concurrent radiation therapy, as well as future directions with novel agents and regimens, techniques of response prediction, and timing to postsurgical adjuvant versus neoadjuvant therapy.


Video quality retrieval is an important issue in reconstruction video sequences. The amounts of transmission bitstreams are very large to achieve high video quality reconstruction. Thus, high video quality retrieval is still a challenge problem. The aim of this paper is to reduce the transmission bitstreams and raise reconstruction video quality. In this paper, we propose a scalable block compensation with index selection mechanism using eigenvalue and local variance statistics for each group of pictures (GOP), which are regarded as the feature parameters for compensating motion blocks for each video frame from low-resolution to high-resolution sequences at the receiver ends. To reduce transmission overhead, the index selection technique is then applied to those selective compensation blocks to have variances larger than a threshold. The results of index numbers from index selection are regarded as reconstruction information. Simulation results show the percentage of noncompensation blocks is nearly 30% saving for Mobile, 36% saving for Foreman, and 48% saving for News. These results indicate that the proposed algorithm offers a more efficient way to decrease the percentage of compensation blocks about 30~48%. The proposed algorithm, on average, outperforms H.264/AVC about 2.8~9.8 dB from 100 kbps to 1 Mbps.


Polyacrylamide-based friction reducers (FRs) are widely used in hydraulic fracturing to reduce friction created within fluid as it flows through tubulars or other restrictions. These polymers generally add viscosity to the fluid to reduce the turbulence induced as fluid flows. Type and amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) in source water have significant impact on performance of FRs. This study investigates these effects and evaluates various types of FRs applied to the Marcellus Shale region.
 It was found that increase in salinity often causes significant performance degradation (Mantell et al., 2011). This is especially critical for application of FRs in Marcellus shale that is known for challenging brine contents. This effect is more pronounced for some divalent cations than for monovalent ones. Addition of surfactant systems can improve FR performance by extending the salt tolerance. Overall, it can be concluded that FR optimization for given water content and proppant can be done by adjusting FR type and/or concentration. For special applications, when higher proppant loading is desired, applying Viscosifying Friction Reducers (VFRs) and High Viscosity Friction Reducers (HVFRs) are proven to be preferable. It was demonstrated that slickwater viscosity tend to increase exponentially with VFR concentration increase. At the same time VFRs should be breakable to ensure high regained proppant conductivity and minimization of formation damage. Such result would further justify the transition from traditional gelled fluids to FR-based viscous slickwater.
 This comprehensive review explores the application of various types of FRs for Marcellus shale region. It defines the critical TDS levels, and types of cations that require changes in FR type or dosage. This data can benefit operators in (1) optimizing performance of the FR-based completion fluid; (2) avoiding formation damage associated with usage of unjustified additives; and (3) comparing/qualifying FRs based on their optimal range of application and economical dosage.


The use of recombinant retroviruses for gene transfer into the haematopoietic tissue in vivo is still a new area of research. The initial results of in vitro studies were very exciting. In contrast, the early in vivo studies in mice were somewhat disappointing because of the transient and low levels of expression of the transferred gene. Recently, however, better results have been obtained in the murine system in vivo. New packaging cell lines have been constructed, which are safer and still efficient. Better vectors have been designed. Thus, significant levels of expression of the transgene have been achieved in murine long-term transplant recipients. However, the results obtained so far in large animal studies are still disappointing. It should be emphasized that further progress must be based on a simple overall strategy involving better understanding of the functioning of the gene to be transferred by gene expression studies, design of vectors carrying a fully active and correctly regulated minilocus and better knowledge of the biological properties of the target cells, the haematopoietic stem cells.


This volume is an attempt to tackle the topic of transnationalization of Japanese culture in Asia in the domains of drama, music, and the arts. Along the way, the contributors generate questions as they develop the themes of the hybrid and the reactionary, the localizing and accommodating in film and art, even nostalgia for a place that--imagined by strangers and outsiders--becomes a landscape and at once a performance stage.


This study investigated the role of verbal working memory on bilingual lexical disambiguation. Spanish–English bilinguals read sentences that ended in either a cognate or noncognate homonym or a control word. Participants decided whether follow-up target words were related in meaning to the sentences. On critical trials, sentences biased the subordinate meaning of a homonym and were followed by targets related to the dominant meaning. Bilinguals with high span were faster at rejecting unrelated targets when the sentences ended in a homonym, whereas bilinguals with low span were slower. Furthermore, error rates for bilinguals with low span showed cognate inhibition, while bilinguals with high span showed no effects of cross-language activation. Results demonstrated that bilinguals with high span benefit from shared lexical codes whether these converge on to a single semantic representation (cognates) or not (homonyms). Conversely, bilinguals with low span showed inhibition from the competing lexical codes, even when they converge onto a single semantic representation.


The light absorbing performance of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanohole arrays partially filled with metallic gold is investigated using analytical methods. As a plasmonic generation element on one-dimensional (1D) TiO2, the shape and distribution of Au nanoparticles can be microfabricated controllably in 1D TiO2 nanohole arrays rather than randomly loaded on their top surface. Results indicate that strong absorption enhancement and a large reception angle in the visible light region (λ = 700 - 850 nm) are induced due to the waveguide coupling within the nanohole arrays and surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) at the interface between TiO2 and gold fillings. By varying the thickness of TiO2 array or gold disks and the periodicity of nanohole array, a significant difference in plasmonic resonance wavelength and light absorption enhancement can be expected. Due to the symmetric configuration of the nanohole structure, the enhancement is insensitive to the polarization of the incoming light and the same enhancement factor can be achieved for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes. This model offers an approach to precisely control a 1D nanomaterial based plasmonic effect and can be adapted to other materials used in microelectromechanical systems industry.


XMM-Newton archival data for the Small Magellanic Cloud have been examined for the presence of previously undetected X-ray pulsars. One such pulsar, with a period of 202 s, is detected. Its position is consistent with an early B star in the SMC and we identify it as a high mass X-ray binary (HMXB). In the course of this study we determined the pulse period of the possible AXP CXOU J010043.1-721134 to be 8.0 s, correcting an earlier report (Lamb et al 2002b) of a 5.4 s period for this object. Pulse profiles and spectra for each of these objects are presented as well as for a recently discovered (Haberl & Pietsch 2004) 263 s X-ray pulsar. Properties of an ensemble of 24 optically identified HMXB pulsars from the SMC are investigated. The locations of the pulsars and an additional 22 X-ray pulsars not yet identified as having high mass companions are located predominately in the young (ages ≤ 3 × 10 7 years) star forming regions of the SMC as expected on the basis of binary evolution models. We find no significant difference between the distribution of spin periods for the HMXB pulsars of the SMC compared with that of the Milky Way. For those HMXB pulsars which have Be companions we note an inverse correlation between spin period and maximum X-ray flux density. (This anti-correlation has been previously noted for all X-ray binary pulsars by Stella, White & Rosner 1986). The anti-correlation for the Be binaries may be a reflection of the fact that the spin periods and orbital periods of Be HMXBs are correlated. We note a similar correlation between X-ray lumi-nosity and spin period for the Be HMXB pulsars of the Milky Way and speculate that exploitation of the correlation could serve as a distance indicator.


Kenaf fiber was treated with alkaline to reduce lignin content and tested under Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). FTIR result showed that peak at 1146 cm-1 which is acetyl group of lignin was reduced in treated fiber while disappearing of carbonyl group in treated kenaf fiber at 1750cm-1 was significantly shown compared to untreated kenaf fiber. Treated fiber undergoes mechanical size decrement process by high pressure homogenizer with 500bar pressure and 60 passes. Transmission Electron microscopy (TEM) was used to determine size and distribution of fiber. Moreover, morphology of nanofiber was observed under scanning electron microscope (SEM). Nanofiber (3%, 5%, 8% and 10%) was mixed with PLA using internal mixer and then compressed with hot pressed to produce specimen for tensile test. Tensile strength and tensile modulus of nanocomposite with 10% of nanofiber increased by 30% and 85% respectively compared to pure PLA.


Textiles can be coated with the biopolymer chitosan and thus made water-repellent by binding hydrophobic molecules. The good thing is that this can also replace toxic and petroleum-based substances that are currently used for textile finishing. In the last few years the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and partners in the HydroFichi project have researched how this can be done: A technology has been developed to provide fibers with the desired properties using biotechnological processes and chitosan.


: A prospective study of 72 limbs treated with phenol sympatholysis for inoperable peripheral arterial occlusive disease was carried out in order to determine which factor or combination of factors could most accurately be used to predict the success or the failure of the sympathetic interruption. Seven variables were recorded prior to phenol sympatholysis and the patients were followed up to 3 years in order to determine the degree of success or failure of the sympathectomy. The results of discriminant function analysis of these data showed that the most important variables in predicting the outcome were (1) the level of ankle systolic pressure, (2) the presence or absence of a neuropathy, and (3) the extent of the ischemic damage. The correct outcome was predicted in 87% of the cases. Using these three variables, multiple regression analysis was performed to construct a table showing the percentage chance of a successful outcome from a sympathectomy. The results show that a phenol sympathectomy is likely to be successful in the management of a patient with peripheral arterial occlusive disease if there is no evidence of a somatic (and hence autonomic) neuropathy, if the ankle systolic pressure is above 30 mm Hg, and if the tissue damage is not too extensive (i.e., only rest pain, night pain, or digital gangrene is present).


In recent decades, China has undergone an impressive development, which has produced increasing human pressures including coastal degradation. Bohai Bay, located in the west of the Bohai Sea (north of China), has been affected by various human pressures, including waste water discharges, land reclamation and oil exploitation. To monitor the effects of these pressures on this ecosystem, benthic macroinvertebrates and environmental variables (dissolved oxygen, nutrients, metals, etc.) were sampled in 2009 and 2011. To assess the ecological status of the benthic communities, the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and multivariate-AMBI (M-AMBI) were used, including both density and biomass in the calculation. This is the first research in which M-AMBI based on biomass (M-bAMBI) is applied. Both methods showed that the nearshore areas, especially close to the Haihe and Jiyun estuaries, were affected by human pressures, with a clear gradient of decreasing impacts offshore. The ecological status as assessed using density and biomass was quite similar. Significant relationships were also found between both methods and environmental variables. The use of AMBI and M-AMBI, based upon density and biomass, in assessing the ecological status of water bodies in China seems to be promising.


This paper presents an interactive implementation of graphic statics, which can be integrated into a CAD environment. Graphic statics is a well-known design and analysis method for two-dimensional discrete structures that relies on geometrical rather than analytical representation of the relation between the structure's geometry and the equilibrium of its internal forces. The method was formalised in the 19th century, but slowly disappeared from structural engineering practice over the 20th century. Recent developments have introduced Algebraic Graph Statics (AGS), which formulates the geometrical relationship between the graph representations of the reciprocal form and force diagrams in graphic statics using linear algebra. AGS and its extensions enable automatic construction of force diagrams from given form diagrams, and allow a few basic modifications of the force diagram from which the form diagram is updated. This paper builds on the previous work of AGS by implementing a real-time, bidirectional workflow allowing users to impose various constraints, and perform geometrical modifications in either the form or force diagram from which the other is automatically updated by using an iterative geometric solver. The presented implementation of interactive AGS provides a robust computational back-end to harness the advantages of traditional graphic statics for geometry-based teaching and design of structures.


Pressure ulcer is a common complication in hip fracture surgery and convalescence. Earlier prevalence studies have demonstrated a lower prevalence in Southern Europe than in Northern Europe. In patients with hip fractures, specific risk factors for developing pressure ulcers, apart from those included in standardised risk assessment are not fully understood. Correct classification of Category I pressure ulcers is a prerequisite for planning preventive measures. It is also mandatory for the reliability of prevalence studies. Until now subjective tests such as finger-press test and visual assessment have been utilised in clinical practice. An objective method has hitherto been lacking. Planning and delivering good nursing care to patients who are at risk of, or already have, manifest pressure ulcers should be built on proper documentation. Degree of documentation of pressure ulcer prevalence and risk factors in patients with hip fractures versus elective hip replacement surgery has hitherto not been investigated. Scrutiny of medical records for these diagnoses and identification of potential differences should therefore be of interest.Aim: - To investigate prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers upon arrival and at discharge from hospital, and to identify potential intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for the development of pressure ulcers in patients admitted for hip fracture surgery. To establish the inter-rater reliability between blanching and non-blanching erythema, assessed by two independent assessors. The secondary purpose was to investigate potential correlations between risk factors and pressure ulcers. - To explore if a non-invasive objective method could differentiate between blanching/nonblanching erythema in the sacral area of patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. - To investigate the degree of documentation regarding risk assessment, preventive measures taken, prevalence and severity of pressure ulcers, in patients undergoing surgery for hip fractures or elective hip replacements at admission and during hospital care at an orthopaedic unit.Results: The prevalence of pressure ulcers in Southern Europe was lower compared to Northern Europe. Specific risk factors such as dehydration (p=.005), moist skin (p=.004), pulmonary disease (p=.006) and diabetes (p=.005) were identified. The finger-press test and visual assessment of Category I pressure ulcers were both unreliable methods with low interrater reliability. The proportion of patients with persistent discoloration differed significantly between the assessors from Day 1 to Day 5 (p = .013). Reflectance spectrophotometer used was proven to deliver high precision regarding classification of non-blanchable erythema (Category I pressure ulcers). Documentation of pressure ulcers, risk assessment, body mass index and prevention at admittance was unsatisfactory in patients undergoing hip surgery.


This report provides our initial experience on islet isolation and intrahepatic allotransplantation in 20 patients. In Group 1, 10 patients underwent combined liver-islet allotransplantation following upper-abdominal exenteration for cancer. One patient underwent pancreatic islet allograft after near total pancreatectomy for chronic pancreatitis. In Group 2, 3 Type I diabetic patients received a combined liver-islet allograft for cirrhosis and diabetes. In Group 3, 7 Type I diabetic patients received 8 combined cadaveric kidney-islet grafts (one retransplant) for end stage renal disease. The islets were separated by a modification of the automated method for human islet isolation and the preparations were infused into the portal vein. Immunosuppression was with FK-506 (Group 1) plus steroids (Groups 2 and 3). Six patients in Group 1 did not require insulin treatment for 5 to >16 mo. In Groups 2 and 3 none of the patients became insulin-independent, although ongoing C-peptide secretion, decreased insulin requirement and stabilization of diabetes were observed. Our results indicate that islet transplantation is most effective in pancreatectomy induced diabetes. However, rejection is still a major factor limiting the clinical application of islet transplantation in patients with Type I diabetes mellitus. Other factors such as steroid treatment may contribute to deteriorate islet engraftment and/or function.


In this case study we analyzed the traces of spontaneous reactions of Youtube users when confronted with the short clip 'You wouldn't Steal a Car', that was used by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to influence people not to download copyrighted material from the Internet. This film has become an important cultural icon, which to a certain degree has shaped a whole generation of film viewers. The aim of this study was to provide an example of how anti piracy initiatives are received and understood by the receivers of the message. This was performed by collecting and analyzing the users spontaneous reactions as entered as comments on the Youtube page for the clip by qualitatively categorizing the contents using a bottom up approach. The results suggest that people practicing Internet-based culture consumption (IBCC) do this in more nuanced ways than is assumed in the film, where they are polarized as either "common thieves" or "good citizens".


Australian Defence workers interact within a complex Defence Community that is predicted to evolve further over the near future. This chapter considers the potential of cyber capability within the Defence Community workplace evolution, with a view to how this may influence Defence worker capacity over the next few decades.

In order to contextualise the future Defence Community, the first section of this chapter introduces the 'CUSSLASHEPT architecture', to account for the various Defence domains, namely the Cyber, Under Sea, Sea, Land, Air, Space, Human, Economic, Political and Temporal (time) Domains. This CUSSLASHEPT architecture forms the conceptual foreground of this chapter and, whilst this acronym and architecture may still appear complicated, it strives to simplify the complex context that future Defence workers will require the capacity to operate within. It is necessary to appreciate this CUSSLASHEPT perspective of the Defence Community in order to contemplate the two subsequent sections.

The second section of the chapter highlights the potential centrality of Cyber Domain capability within the CUSSLASHEPT architecture context. The impact of Cyber Domain capability on the capacity of Australian Defence workers has increased over the past decade, documented in a suite of publications (Table 10-1), implemented through a network of technologies and refined through the learning by doing experiences of operations. It is contended that, as cyber capability develops further, the Cyber Domain will gain recognition as the central domain within the CUSSLASHEPT architecture.

The final section outlines how these future Cyber Domain centrality developments may influence Defence worker capacity over the next few decades. In particular, it is considered that all Defence workers will require 'cyber savvy skills' to operate within the future CUSSLASHEPT Defence Community architecture. Also, the concept of 'orchestration' is considered, whereby each individual's capacity with the various Defence Community domain instruments can be conducted for combined effects greater than the sum of the parts. Overall, the chapter concludes that cyber centrality within the CUSSLASHEPT architecture of the future Defence Community will continue to evolve, and that future Defence worker capacity must also continue to evolve to match it.


Agritourism can be a great source of entertainment, income, and education. In order to model the key factors that affect its adoption among small farmers in North Carolina, a case study approach is employed to set the tone for further analysis of the subject area. Anthropological characteristics such as age, gender, household income before taxes, ethnicity, educational background and operational factors such as total acreage, geographical information, and economic situation of the farm are identified as recurring elements. Four farms were interviewed in the case study to identify the choices and challenges of operating an agritourism enterprise. The most common primary challenges are expenses, access to capital and liability issues. The most common goal for engaging agritourism is income generation and less common goals include educating the public about agriculture as well as family heritage.


The production of pro-atherogenic trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is dependent on the gut microbiota metabolism of quaternary amines (i.e., choline) into trimethylamine (TMA). Nutritional strategies that target microbial conversion of choline into TMA could reduce cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis burden by reducing subsequent formation of TMAO. This study aimed to evaluate (1) whether beverages rich in known inhibitors of TMA production (chlorogenic acid, catechin and epicatechin) can reduce TMA formation and (2) the effect of upper gastrointestinal digestion on efficacy. To do this, either raw or digested coffee, tea and cocoa beverages were evaluated for their TMA-d9 production inhibition in our ex vivo-in vitro fermentation model with human fecal slurries and choline-d9 substrate. Results showed that digestion was required to unlock the TMA-d9 production inhibition potential of coffee and cocoa beverages, and that teas did not possess a strong inhibition potential either digested or undigested. By fractionating digested bioactive beverages, we determined that those fractions rich in chlorogenic acid were the most bioactive. Overall, this study suggests that regular cocoa and coffee consumption could be a nutritional strategy able to reduce TMAO levels. In vivo studies should be carried out to confirm the potential of these beverages as strategies to inhibit TMA production.


The pyrolysis of biomass is a thermal treatment that results in the production of charcoal, liquid, and gaseous products. Among the liquid products, methanol is one of the most valuable products. Methanol can be used as one possible gasoline replacement for conventional gasoline and diesel fuel. Methanol can be produced by pyrolysis of biomass. Methanol mainly arises from methoxyl groups of uronic acid and from the breakdown of methyl esters and/or ethers from decomposition of pectin-like plant materials. The maximum methanol yields (12.19% at 825 K) for hazelnut shell was obtained from a Na2CO3 (30% of dried sample) catalytic flash pyrolysis run. The yields of liquid products from the samples increased with an increasing of the amount of Na2CO3 from 10% to 30%. The maximum liquid yield from yellow pine was 51.2% at 875 K. The yields of liquid products from the samples depended on the amount of K2CO3 and the temperature. The maximum liquid yield from yellow pine was 49.5% from a 30% K2CO3 catalytic run at 875 K. The catalytic effect of Na2CO3 was slightly higher than that of K2CO3 for hazelnut shell, tea waste, and yellow pine samples.


This paper proposes a simple modulation approach for symmetrical and asymmetrical cascaded multilevel converters, suitable for operation under normal and fault conditions. Initially, the set of all possible converter common-mode voltages for linear operation is derived, considering the status of each converter cell. It is demonstrated that the methods previously described in the literature belong to the derived set. By properly selecting the common-mode voltage, the entire converter voltage synthesis capability can be achieved under any fault condition. The proposed modulation approach has been applied for both symmetrical and asymmetrical cascaded multilevel converters. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed modulation approach and validate the theoretical analysis.


Nudges are behavioral interventions to subtly steer citizens' choices toward "desirable" options. An important topic of debate concerns the legitimacy of nudging as a policy instrument, and there is a focus on issues relating to nudge transparency, the role of preexisting preferences people may have, and the premise that nudges primarily affect people when they are in "irrational" modes of thinking. Empirical insights into how these factors affect the extent to which people are susceptible to nudge influence (i.e., "nudgeable") are lacking in the debate. This article introduces the new concept of nudgeability and makes a first attempt to synthesize the evidence on when people are responsive to nudges. We find that nudge effects do not hinge on transparency or modes of thinking but that personal preferences moderate effects such that people cannot be nudged into something they do not want. We conclude that, in view of these findings, concerns about nudging legitimacy should be softened and that future research should attend to these and other conditions of nudgeability.


High density wide-azimuth Ocean Bottom Cable acquisitions have proven their efficiency to better image complex structures in the North Sea. Yet conventional pre-processing sequences have not taken into account the full potential offered by such acquisitions (Soudani et al. 2006). In this paper, we demonstrate the advantages of a true wide-azimuthal pre-processing regarding noise attenuation on data where the low signal to noise ratio is a main challenge. Following Soudani et al. (2006), a decomposition of the common receiver gathers into the 3D -px-py domain is used to filter out linear noise. A specific two-step sequence is proposed to attenuate the artefacts produced by the strongly aliased direct wave with acceptable run-time effort and data storage. Our results are compared, before and after pre-stack depth migration, with those derived from a more conventional processing approach.


The present study investigates how the framing of information on the environmental impact of vehicles affects consumers' preferences for identical improvements in car quality. In online choice experiments, the effects of two metrics (fuel consumption vs. CO2 emissions) and three scales of one metric (CO2 in kg/km vs. g/km vs. g/100 km) are examined. First, from a technical perspective, fuel consumption (FC) and CO2 emissions are linearly connected by a constant factor and are thus isomorphic in describing the environmental friendliness of a car. Second, rescaling identical information should not change consumer decisions. However, as this study demonstrates, the type of information presented to consumers significantly affects consumers' valuation of environmental benefits from a reduction in FC or CO2. The study's contribution lies in quantifying the differences in consumers' preferences for two measures of the same information that have not been previously directly compared. Additionally, the differences in the framing effects are explored for diesel and gasoline vehicles. The estimation accounts for heterogeneity in the tastes, environmental attitudes and knowledge of the respondents. The insights of this study serve to guide policy makers and car manufacturers on how to present information on car offers. JEL classification: D12, D90, M31, Q51.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this paper is to examine what is known about the nurse workforce and nursing education in China in order to assess the likely potential for nurse migration from China in the future.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
There is a severe shortage of nurses in China (only one nurse per thousand in population), but at the same time there is a very high level of unemployment and underemployment of nurses. China's nursing education system is huge in size (about 500,000 nursing students in 2005), but weak in quality and career development.

CONCLUSIONS
As a result of lack of limited job opportunities, low salary, and low job satisfaction, many talented Chinese nurses intend to switch occupation or work outside China. Commercial recruiters have expressed a strong interest in recruitment of nurses in China, but to date there are few examples of successful ventures. Even if the Chinese government were to implement health care financing reforms that led to an increase in nursing jobs and improved work conditions, some level of surplus will remain. As such, it is likely that China will become an important source of nurses for developed nations in the coming years.


The first weather observations within the modern territory of Belarus go back to ancient times and are found as mentions of weather conditions in chronicles. Hydrometeorology in those times was not a defined science but connected to the everyday needs of people in different regions. In the period from 1000 to 1800, there were first efforts to document outstanding weather conditions and phenomena. They are stored in chronicles, books, and reports.
 The first instrumental observations started in the early 1800s. They have varying observing practices and periods of observations. The hydrometeorological network saw the active expansion of observations in the following century, but the network was destroyed at the beginning of the civil war (1917–1922). Five years later, hydrometeorological activity resumed, and the foundation of meteorological services of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was initiated. The next years saw a complicated Belarusian hydrometeorological service formation and reorganization.
 The meteorological bureau was formed in 1924, and this year is considered the official date of the Hydrometeorological Service of Belarus foundation, despite multiple changes in title and functions during its course. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) people's courage and efforts were directed to saving the existing network of hydrometeorological observations and providing weather services for military purposes. The postwar period was characterized by the implementation of new methods of weather forecasting and new forms of hydrometeorological information. Later decades were marked by the invention and implementation of new observational equipment. The Hydrometeorological Service of Belarus in this period was a testing ground within the Soviet Union for the development of meteorological tools and devices.
 The current Hydrometeorological Service of Belarus is described as an efficient, modern-equipped, and constantly developing weather service.


Environmental contamination with hexavalent chromium (CrVI) is a growing problem both in the United States and developing countries. Hexavalent chromium is widely used in numerous industries. Environmental exposure to CrVI adversely affects pregnancy outcomes and subsequent health of 2 generations, resulting in higher pregnancy loss, spontaneous abortion and low birth rate. Pregnant women exposed to CrVI through occupational settings experience increased risk of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, preterm birth, and neonatal death. Children of the CrVI exposed women experience respiratory problems, perinatal jaundice, and increased birth defects. Because placental dysfunction may have a role in such adverse pregnancy outcome, we tested the hypothesis that environmental Cr exposure in pregnant women results in Cr accumulation in the human placenta, which could increase placental oxidative stress by disrupting antioxidant machinery and inducing apoptosis. Studies using frozen, deidentified human term placenta samples indicated that: (1) Cr accumulates in human term placenta tissues and (2) increase in Cr accumulation is positively correlated with oxidative stress and apoptotic markers, and altered antioxidants levels. Interestingly, there was a sexual dimorphism in the correlation between Cr accumulation and oxidative stress, and expression of apoptotic and antioxidant markers. Mechanistic in vitro studies using human trophoblast cells BeWo confirmed the detrimental effects of Cr in altering antioxidant genes. For the first time, this study provides evidence in support of a positive correlation between Cr accumulation in the human placenta and accelerated oxidative stress, with a gender bias toward the male sex.


Broadcasting has been used widely in wired and wireless networks to understand the data and topology information. There are various routing protocols in MANETs rely on a flooding mechanism to broadcast data and control packets over the entire network for establishing routes between source destination pair. The simplest way of broadcasting a packet to all nodes in the network is basic flooding or blind flooding which allows each node to retransmit a packet to its neighbours, in case it has not received broadcast packet during earlier transmission. This work proposes a modified version of AODV termed as AODV_HPR where certain nodes are assumed to be high energy transmission nodes known as High Power Routing (HPR) nodes, utilized for routing. The route is established only through HPR nodes which are capable of communicating to long distance. Keywords— AODV-HPR, Flooding, etc.


This paper investigates that from last several years, it became a question mark for the literature of academic and trade circles, why manufacturers are less powerful as compared to retailers. Our study provides a fresh fuel in the existing fire over the United States largest retailing corporation. However, our research provides a new dimension through innovative strategies and theories adopted by Wal-Mart and how retailers become more powerful. For this purpose, we take Wal-Mart as a case study in order to investigate several quarries. What are the reasons which make Wal-Mart so successful, unique, mergence and acquisition innovative capabilities? It also highlights the literary work done by historians on Wal-Mart and to examine the progress and different strategies of Wal-Mart in term of its success in retailing business. It is observed that most of expansion of Wal-Mart Inc. was through joint ventures; however in some countries such as Germany and Canada, it was by acquisition. Moreover, Globalization had a positive effect on Wal- Mart's success and supply chain management system which plays a major role in its business growth and making it a market leader.


Purpose: The c-MET receptor tyrosine kinase plays important roles in the formation, progression, and dissemination of human cancer and presents an attractive therapeutic target. This study describes the preclinical characterization of INCB28060, a novel inhibitor of c-MET kinase. Experimental Design: Studies were conducted using a series of in vitro and in vivo biochemical and biological experiments. Results: INCB28060 exhibits picomolar enzymatic potency and is highly specific for c-MET with more than 10,000-fold selectivity over a large panel of human kinases. This inhibitor potently blocks c-MET phosphorylation and activation of its key downstream effectors in c-MET–dependent tumor cell lines. As a result, INCB28060 potently inhibits c-MET–dependent tumor cell proliferation and migration and effectively induces apoptosis in vitro. Oral dosing of INCB28060 results in time- and dose-dependent inhibition of c-MET phosphorylation and tumor growth in c-MET–driven mouse tumor models, and the inhibitor is well tolerated at doses that achieve complete tumor inhibition. In a further exploration of potential interactions between c-MET and other signaling pathways, we found that activated c-MET positively regulates the activity of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) and HER-3, as well as expression of their ligands. These effects are reversed with INCB28060 treatment. Finally, we confirmed that circulating hepatocyte growth factor levels are significantly elevated in patients with various cancers. Conclusions: Activated c-MET has pleiotropic effects on multiple cancer-promoting signaling pathways and may play a critical role in driving tumor cell growth and survival. INCB28060 is a potent and selective c-MET kinase inhibitor that may have therapeutic potential in cancer treatment. Clin Cancer Res; 17(22); 7127–38. ©2011 AACR.


We have measured the translational energy release for methyl radical photofragments with zero and one quantum of umbrella vibration, which were produced by the ultraviolet dissociation of azomethane. Translational en ergy distributions exhibit bimodal structure and are similar for both methyl radical vibrational states and for two dissociation wavelengths (355 nm and 330 nm). Compared to earlier non-state-selective measurements, these distri butions exhibit a stronger preference for high kinetic energies. We have also observed that the appearance times for both methyl radical vibrational states are fast compared to the experimental time resolution, thus resolving an out standing mechanistic disagreement. These observations are consistent with a previously proposed mechanism in which a concerted three-body dissociation follows randomization of parent internal energy.


Background: People with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) often have arm weakness resulting in restricted independence and challenges with activities of daily living. An upper extremity (UE) orthosis, the Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton (WREX), which augments arm movement by providing gravity assistance, was provided to a small cohort of subjects for 1 year. Resulting changes in the subjects' performance were assessed. Method: Five subjects with SMA were asked to use the WREX system for 1 year. Data were collected at baseline and at 6-month intervals. Evaluation tools used were UE range of motion (ROM), the Box and Block Test, the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), and the reachable surface area (RSA) using a Microsoft Kinect Sensor. Results: There were no significant changes in UE ROM without the device over time and no significant changes in dexterity after long-term use of the WREX. There were clinically meaningful changes in active ROM while wearing the device compared to without it and clinically meaningful changes in performance and satisfaction while wearing the device. The RSA software did not yield usable results for this population. Conclusion: Wearing bilateral WREX devices resulted in immediate improvements in ROM and function; however, the subjects experienced several barriers, which prevented consistent long-term use.


The importance of the role of peer and self-assessment in developing formative and sustainable assessment practice in higher education is increasingly becoming evident. PeerWise is an online software tool that engages students in contributing to their own and others' learning by authoring, answering and providing feedback on multiple choice questions. Using a mixed methods approach, 20 students responded to discussion questions and an online survey about their perceptions of using PeerWise compared to online quizzes as part of the blended delivery of a postgraduate psychology unit. Students considered both authoring and answering questions in PeerWise to equally benefit their learning. Answering questions in PeerWise was perceived to be more helpful for learning than questions on a Moodle quiz. This advantage was evident across more complex cognitive skills, understanding, applying, evaluating and creating information, although only significant for facilitating understanding. PeerWise and online quizzes were seen to be equally helpful in facilitating recall. Despite the perceived benefits of PeerWise, students preferred quiz questions to be set by an expert if used as recognition of progress. Introducing PeerWise was effective in promoting engagement with peers; however, refinements to the model should focus on increasing student confidence in their own and peers' capabilities.


In 2008 the European Commission put forward proposals for a European Private Company (SPE), following up on the adoption of the European Public Company legislation of 2001. Although speedy adoption of the SPE proposals was initially hoped for, subsequent negotiations among the member states have stalled, despite at least two revised drafts of the proposals having been produced by the Presidency of the European Council. This article seeks to identify the challenges posed to the national company laws of the member states by the Commission's proposals for a 'simple and flexible' Community form of incorporation. It seeks to argue that the discussions among the member states have revolved mainly around the question of the appropriate role for mandatory rules in modern company law. Member states have been reluctant to see the SPE freed from mandatory rules to which their national companies are subject, because of the competition to their national laws which the SPE would generate. On the other hand, member states with few mandatory rules in their domestic law have been reluctant to see the SPE burdened with mandatory rules which do not apply to domestic companies, because otherwise their businesses will be deterred from taking up the new European form and obtaining its advantages. The article predicts that, of the possible legislative solutions to this conflict, referring more of the rules applicable to the SPE to the national law of the state in which the SPE is registered is likely to be the dominant one, even though this will undermine both the uniformity and flexibility goals of the proposed legislation. It also considers how effective the 'national law' strategy is likely to be in the light of the Treaty provisions on freedom of establishment.


The interaction of the alpha subunit with the beta2 subunit of tryptophan synthase is known to be necessary for the activation of each subunit and for the catalytic efficiency of the alpha2beta2 complex. To elucidate the roles of hydrogen bonds in the interaction site between the alpha and beta subunits for subunit association, eight mutant alpha subunits at five hydrogen bonding residues (N104D, N104A, N108D, N108A, E134A, E135A, N157D, and N157A) were constructed, and the thermodynamic parameters of association with the beta subunit were obtained using a titration calorimeter. The N104D and N104A mutations remarkably decreased the stimulation activities, the association constants, and the association enthalpies. Although the association constant and the stimulation activities of E134A were reduced in the absence of salt, the change in the association enthalpy was relatively small, and the addition of salt could repair its defects. The substitutions at positions 135 and 157 did not affect the stimulation activity and decreased the Gibbs energy of association corresponding to the defect in 1 mol of hydrogen bond. The present results suggest that the alpha subunit which has a mutation at position 104 cannot fold into an intact conformation upon complex formation, resulting in reduced stimulation activities. The hydrogen bond with Asn-104, which is a conserved residue among 16 microorganisms, was especially important for alpha/beta interaction and mutual activation.


Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are likely to transform the therapeutic and diagnostic fields in biomedicine during the coming years. However, the fragmented vision of their side effects and toxicity in humans has proscribed their use as nanomedicines. Most studies agree that biocompatibility depends on the state of aggregation/dispersion of CNTs under physiological conditions, but conclusions are confusing so far. This study designs an experimental setup to investigate the cytotoxic effect of individualized multiwalled CNTs compared to that of identical nanotubes assembled on submicrometric structures. Our results demonstrate how CNT cytotoxicity is directly dependent on the nanotube dispersion at a given dosage. When CNTs are gathered onto silica templates, they do not interfere with cell proliferation or survival becoming highly compatible. These results support the hypothesis that CNT cytotoxicity is due to the biomimetics of these nanomaterials with the intracellular nanofilaments. These findings provide major clues for the development of innocuous CNT-containing nanodevices and nanomedicines.


The gain-lever-effect has been assessed in both multiple quantum well (MQW) and bulk active region lasers having a range of lengths and split ratios in the top contact. Compared with a conventional single-contact laser, a 500-/spl mu/m MQW FP device with a top-contact split ratio of 8:1 exhibited >15-dB improvement in AM efficiency and a signal-to-noise ratio improvement of 7.5 dB. With proper impedance matching, these figures may be improved. A reduced noise figure is obtained at the expense of dynamic range with an additional nonlinearity seen experimentally due to thermal and carrier leakage when compared with simulations carried out using a harmonic balance model. Used carefully, these gain-lever lasers are useful components for future analogue fiber-optic systems. >


Statement of the Problem: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is one of the most serious pregnancy pathologies. Its frequency increases in the presence of somatic diseases. The pathogenesis and treatment of the combined complications of pregnancy with PE and anemia remain unresolved. Activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines in pregnant women at the systemic and local level indicates their involvement in the pathogenesis of PE. The use of immunosuppressants in the prevention of PE is pathogenetically substantiated. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effect of progesterone for the prevention of preeclampsia in pregnant women with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Methodology & Theoretical Orientation. 44 pregnant women with IDA were examined. Blood progesterone level was determined by ELISA using a reagent company Human (Germany). For immunocorrection, micronized progesterone-utrozhestan was prescribed. Results. In treated pregnant women, a significant increase in blood progesterone was observed from 4.8 ± 2.7 to 63.6 ± 11.2 pmol/ L (p<0.05); they had no cases of PE, one child was born prematurely. In pregnant women with IDA and mild PE after treatment, the level of progesterone in the blood was significantly higher than the control (p<0.05). Mild preeclampsia progressed only in 1 (6.7%) case, preterm delivery was not observed. In pregnant women with IDA and severe PE,who did not receive preventive hormonetherapy, a significant low serum progesterone and a high birth rate of premature babies. Conclusion. The ability to prevent the development of preeclampsia in chronic IDA is indicative of the effectiveness of using micronized progesterone from an early gestation period, it can be stopped itsdevelopment of severe PE and reduce the number of cases of preterm delivery.


In recent decades spur dike has been one of the methods for bank protection and sediment deposition in rivers. In fact the spur dikes decrease the erosion and sediment potential rate of flow between them by improving the flow hydraulic conditions and controlling the shear velocities. Spur dike construction creates new conditions in river, which causes scour around the spur dike. Having knowledge about the amount of scour and sedimentation patterns around the spurs, helps for better and improved design of dikes. Therefore in this study the scour and sedimentation patterns around a Series of permeable and impermeable spur dikes is investigated. The experiments were carried out under the conditions of clear water and the percent of permeability of 0%(closed)to 50% in a flume with 0.56m-wide,7.3m- long and 0.6m-depth. The results show that the maximum depth of scour around the series of spur dikes and the amount of deposition between spurs reduced with increasing the spur permeability.


In this thesis we investigate the double obstacle problem for p-harmonic functions on metric spaces. We minimize the p-energy integral among all functions which have prescribed boundary values and lie between two given obstacles. This is a generalization of the Dirichlet problem for p-harmonic functions, in which case the obstacles are —∞ and ∞. We show the existence and uniqueness of solutions, and their continuity when the obstacles are continuous. Moreover we show that the continuous solution is p-harmonic in the open set where it does not touch the continuous obstacles. If the obstacles are not continuous, but satisfy a Wiener type regularity condition, we prove that the solution is still continuous. The Holder continuity for solutions is shown, when the obstacles are Holder continuous. Boundary regularity of the solutions is also studied. Furthermore we study two kinds of convergence problems for the solutions. First we let the obstacles and the boundary values vary and show the convergence of the solutions. We also consider generalized solutions for insoluble obstacle problems, using the convergence results. Moreover we show that for soluble obstacle problems the generalized solution coincides, locally, with the standard solution. Second we consider an increasing sequence of open sets, with union Ω, and fix the obstacles and the boundary values. We show that the solutions of the obstacle problems in these sets converge to the solution of the corresponding problem in Ω.


With the rapid development of pervasive intelligent devices and ubiquitous network technologies, new network applications are emerging, such as the Internet of Things, smart cities, smart grids, virtual/augmented reality, and unmanned vehicles. Cloud computing, which is characterized by centralized computation and storage, is having difficulty meeting the needs of these developing technologies and applications. In recent years, a variety of network computing paradigms, such as fog computing, mobile edge computing, and dew computing, have been proposed by the industrial and academic communities. Although they employ different terminologies, their basic concept is to extend cloud computing and move the computing infrastructure from remote data centers to edge routers, base stations, and local servers located closer to users, thereby overcoming the bottlenecks experienced by cloud computing and providing better performance and user experience. In this paper, we systematically summarize and analyze the post-cloud computing paradigms that have been proposed in recent years. First, we summarize the main bottlenecks of technology and application that cloud computing encounters. Next, we analyze and summarize several post-cloud computing paradigms, including fog computing, mobile edge computing, and dew computing. Then, we discuss the development opportunities of post-cloud computing via several examples. Finally, we note the future development prospects of post-cloud computing.


Sixty-five eyes in 52 patients with open-angle glaucoma were treated with argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT). Although a majority of the eyes showed a decrease in intraocular pressure (IOP) of 5 mm Hg or more, eight eyes required filtering surgery within one year of treatment, and extensive peripheral anterior synechiae and persistent elevation of IOP developed in an additional two eyes that did not undergo surgery. In four of six eyes with juvenile glaucoma that were treated with ALT, complications developed and/or filtering surgery was required. A rise in IOP more than a year after treatment was noted in two eyes that had shown an initial satisfactory response to ALT. Although ALT seems to be a valuable addition to glaucoma therapy, the potential exists for both early and late complications and failures.


It is often thought that Africans, and the Igbo in particular, are disposed to abandoning their local lifeworld in preference for western systems of life. In recent times, it is generally believed among the Igbo that there is an erosion of cultural values, especially those that constituted a veritable source of human existence in the past thus giving rise to a somewhat cultural crisis in the Igbo society. It would be assumed that one of the things that distinguish humans from all other creatures is their ability to symbolize memories, imaginations and religious experience. A symbol operates because it bears a relationship with the symbolized and this places a limit upon its use. The Igbo as an ethnic group in Nigeria are influential in a number of ways: while their population constitute one of largest (among the Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups in Nigeria), their entrepreneurial spirit has been widely acknowledged across Nigerian ethnicities. Igbo culture is replete with symbols of varying significances. This paper therefore aims to give clear identification and definition of Igbo cultural symbols and their significance to Igbo modern life. In the course of this research, a descriptive method of research was adopted where I interacted and interviewed some Igbo people across age, class and gender. The result obtained lends insight into the significance of symbolism in Igbo everyday existence while also mitigating the negligence of cultural observances and its aftermath in the event of discordant modernities in contemporary life.


In Philadelphia, Penn Fruit was one of the earliest grocery stores to adopt the supermarket model and remained an innovator in the grocery business from its founding in 1927 until it declared bankruptcy in 1975. Max Zimmerman, editor of Super Market Merchandising and founder of the Super Market Institute considered it a "recognized leader" in the field, highlighting it as one of the "outstanding operations in the country" in his 1955 book, Super Markets. In the 1950s its per-store sales were over three times the national average, and the company's distinctive stores, with their arched rooflines and sparkling glass facades were immediately recognizable throughout Philadelphia and its rapidly growing suburbs. There are approximately forty former Penn Fruit supermarkets still standing, scattered throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The iconic barrel vaulted structures have been converted into other supermarkets, auto supply stores, car dealerships and office buildings. Each Penn Fruit, because of its location, condition and history poses a different preservation problem. This thesis traces the history of Penn Fruit, focusing on its main supermarket building campaign during the 1940s and 50s and includes preservation recommendations for remaining structures, particularly the Frankford and Pratt location.


1Medical Center of Ultrasound, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, People's Republic of China Purpose: Early and accurate preoperative diagnosis of central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) is crucial to improve surgical management of patients with clinical lymph nodenegative papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Towards improving diagnosis of CLNM, we assessed the value of combining preoperative clinical characteristics, conventional ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in preoperative prediction of CLNM of different sized PTCs. Patients and Methods: Patients were divided according to tumor size: a PTC group (>10 mm) and a papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) group (≤10 mm). We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and ultrasonographic features of 120 PTC patients and 165 PTMC patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen independent risk factors and establish prediction models. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the best cut-off values for continuous variables and assess the performance of prediction models. Results: Independent risk predictors of CLNM for the PTC group were extrathyroidal extension in CEUS (OR=7.923), tumor size >14 mm (OR=5.491), and multifocality (OR=3.235). For the PTMC group, the independent risk factors were the distance from the thyroid capsule =0 mm (OR=4.629), male (OR=3.315), tumor size >5 mm (OR=3.304), and microcalcification (OR=2.560). The predictive model of combined method had better performance in predicting CLNM of PTC compared with models based on CEUS and conventional ultrasound alone (area under the curve: 0.832 vs 0.739, P=0.0011; 0.832 vs 0.678, P=0.0012). For PTMC, comparing with CEUS, the combined method and conventional ultrasound performed better than CEUS alone in predicting CLNM (area under the curve: 0.783 vs 0.636, P=0.0016; 0.738 vs 0.636, P=0.0196). Conclusion: The predictive models of combined method obtained from significant preoperative clinical and ultrasonographic features can potentially improve the preoperative diagnosis and individual treatment of CLNM in patients with PTC and PTMC. CEUS may be helpful in predicting CLNM of PTC, but CEUS would be ineffective in predicting CLNM of PTMC.


Objective: To identify the most potent sub fractions(s) of the different extracts of the leaves of Murraya koenigii for the anthelmintic property. Methods: The dried leaves were subjected to soxhlet extraction using methanol, fractionated using n-hexane, chloroform, n-butanol and water. Preliminary phytochemical analysis was done using standard techniques. The potent fractions were subjected to TLC and the appropriate solvent was selected for flash chromatographic separation of the extract. The sub fractions were tested for their anthelmintic activity in vitro using egg hatch assay and larval motility assay on Haemonchus contortus eggs and the most potent fraction was found out. Results: Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of phenolic, tannins and saponins in all extracts and the effect of the extracts could be due to these components. On TLC, toluene: ethyl acetate in 9:1 ratio was found to be the best mobile phase for hexane and chloroform fractions whereas cyclohexane: ethyl acetate at 6:4 was found suitable for butanol fraction. Of the sub fractions (SF), SF 3 and 11 of chloroform fraction showed better ovicidal activity whereas SF 2,6,7,32 and 37 showed best larvicidal activity. The larvae that were used for testing the larvicidal activity, were found to be sluggishly motile after half an hour incubation with the extract and were progressively dead on a dose dependent manner. Conclusion: The chloroform extract of Murraya koenigii and its sub fractions 2, 3,6, 7, 11, 32 and 37 possessed good anthelmintic activity and the isolation of active molecules is necessary for development of a novel anthelmintic.


Two Tsigai sheep populations exist in Serbia: the Old type, called Cokan, and the New type. It is assumed that the New type results from upgrading Tsigai sheep with exotic genetic material. We investigated genetic diversity and differentiation of these types by analysing 23 autosomal microsatellites. Tests for Hardy-Weinberg proportions, linkage equilibrium between genotypes across loci and the calculation of inbreeding coefficients were performed and the deficiency in the number of alleles within the Tsigai types was examined using a Wilcoxon sign-rank test. The New type displayed a higher level of genetic variability than the Cokan in terms of allele numbers, but the New Tsigai showed a pattern of heterozygosity deficiency. The positive f value for the Cokan suggests the occurrence of inbreeding in this type. The proportion of linkage disequilibrium was below that expected by chance. Exclusion of two loci in Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium did not alter our conclusions based on the entire data set i.e. the two Tsigai types are clearly differentiated and the New Tsigai type has been influenced by crossbreeding. Therefore, the Cokan Tsigai should be considered as a distinct endangered breed in the FAO classification.


ABSTRACT At the present time the need for individual people increasingly diverse, starting from basic needs, needs support to non-basic needs. Clothing is one of the basic needs that are essential in human survival. Large consumption rate becomes positive in the clothing industry, especially industrial development. The human need for clothing is growing into its own business opportunities for industry players. Merchandise Disneck is one of the local brand that sells items related to the world of fashion. At first, Diseneck Merchandise making sales through online media such as social media Twiiter, Faceebook, blackberry massager and buy-sell website. By looking at the number of sales of Disneck Merchandise which continues to grow from year 2010 - 2013 about 11.1% - 15.2% and to increase consumer trust to the brand of Diseneck Merchandise, Diseneck Merchandise planning to open its first store in Bandung city. Before making Disneck Merchandise Toko, feasibility analysis whether Disneck Merchandise Toko will make decent views of aspects of the market, aspects technical, financial aspects and management aspects. From the distribution of questionnaires, researchers get the percentage of the potential market is 96%, 92% and available market target market of 1.67%. for the financial aspects of investment expenditure and revenue estimates obtained by using the results of the analysis of the calculations have been done before. The period set for the financial projections is 5 years with MARR = 12%. Results of calculation of the value of the investment is NPV = Rp. 238 928 917, IRR = 64.48% and PBP = 2,050 years. Development of Toko DisneckMerchandise declared eligible for IRR value is greater than the value of MARR and the NPV is positive. Keywords: Feasibility Analysis, NPV, IRR, PBP, Disneck Merchandise store.


Significance For more than three decades since the discovery of HIV-1, AIDS remains a major public health problem affecting greater than 35.3 million people worldwide. Current antiretroviral therapy has failed to eradicate HIV-1, partly due to the persistence of viral reservoirs. RNA-guided HIV-1 genome cleavage by the Cas9 technology has shown promising efficacy in disrupting the HIV-1 genome in latently infected cells, suppressing viral gene expression and replication, and immunizing uninfected cells against HIV-1 infection. These properties may provide a viable path toward a permanent cure for AIDS, and provide a means to vaccinate against other pathogenic viruses. Given the ease and rapidity of Cas9/guide RNA development, personalized therapies for individual patients with HIV-1 variants can be developed instantly. AIDS remains incurable due to the permanent integration of HIV-1 into the host genome, imparting risk of viral reactivation even after antiretroviral therapy. New strategies are needed to ablate the viral genome from latently infected cells, because current methods are too inefficient and prone to adverse off-target effects. To eliminate the integrated HIV-1 genome, we used the Cas9/guide RNA (gRNA) system, in single and multiplex configurations. We identified highly specific targets within the HIV-1 LTR U3 region that were efficiently edited by Cas9/gRNA, inactivating viral gene expression and replication in latently infected microglial, promonocytic, and T cells. Cas9/gRNAs caused neither genotoxicity nor off-target editing to the host cells, and completely excised a 9,709-bp fragment of integrated proviral DNA that spanned from its 5′ to 3′ LTRs. Furthermore, the presence of multiplex gRNAs within Cas9-expressing cells prevented HIV-1 infection. Our results suggest that Cas9/gRNA can be engineered to provide a specific, efficacious prophylactic and therapeutic approach against AIDS.


For teacher candidates and the programs that prepare them, student teaching is a visible experience. For candidates, it culminates their investment of time and money and represents the completion of a significant, albeit early, career goal: becoming a certified, licensed teacher. For the university, the performance of their student teachers reflects program quality. When all goes as planned, both the candidates and program relish their successes. When all does not go as planned, where does the responsibility lie? Is it always an issue of individual candidate performance? At what point should the program assume some level of ownership? This article outlines one secondary education program's on-going journey to resolve these questions. After examination of the issue, the program identified the need to improve its pre-student teaching field experiences. Using the framework of instructional coaching, the program is redesigning its field experience addressing critical issues of supervision, duration, and connections to course content.


The adsorption characteristics of cadmium ions from aqueous solutions onto two organo-ceramic adsorbents synthesized in our laboratories were studied. The main species participating in the adsorption process, determined from the chemical equilibrium, is Cd2+. Formation of a bidentate cadmium−thiol complex is proposed to explain the experimental isotherms. The kinetics of adsorption onto the sol−gel-synthesized adsorbent was studied in a differential batch reactor with recycle. Two kinetic models were tested with experimental data:  chemical reaction and film/pore mass-transfer resistances. The results indicate that either model can be used to explain the adsorption process as observed from the AARD values and from the F-test. The values of fitted parameters are k1 = 0.0021 L·g/mmol2·min, Dp = 1.4 × 10-7 cm2/s, and τ = 5.0. The last two parameters can be used to satisfactorily predict the breakthrough curve in a fixed bed by the film/pore diffusion model. A sensitivity analysis shows that pore diffusion re...


The current study is aimed at identifying the needs of grade-7 students of the junior high school in terms of English teaching and learning contexts and developing the appropriate listening lesson materials and media for the seventh grade students of the junior high school. The study belongs to Research and Development (R&D) research. The subjects of the study were grade-7 students of the junior high school in the academic year of 2016/2017. The procedure adapted the ADDIE research design (Branch, 2010). The steps of research were: (1) conducting needs analysis, (2) designing a course grid, (3) developing listening materials and media, (4) evaluating the developed materials and media, and (5) revising the final draft of the materials. The needs analysis was conducted by distributing questionnaires to the students and interviewing the English teacher. Data were in the forms of quantitative data from the questionnaires and qualitative data from the interview. The results were then used to develop a course grid as the guideline to develop the units of materials and media. The developed products were then validated using expert judgment questionnaires. The questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the semi-structured interview was transcribed and interpreted. The findings reveal that the students need more relevant materials and media to help them learn listening skills. The research products are listening materials and learning multimedia which contain video recordings for the students and teachers in the listening lesson. Each unit covers pre-listening, extensive listening, intensive listening and post-listening. The topics are derived from Curriculum 2013: self-introduction and information about public buildings and jobs. The task settings are varied from individual to group discussions including monologue and dialogue videos, audio recordings, and the listening activities which can be used autonomously. The overall results of the evaluation show that the mean value is 3.54 which falls into the category of "Very Good". It implies that the developed materials and media are appropriate to be implemented in the listening lesson process for grade VII students.


Abstract The author argues that significant aspects of electronic music performance have been diminished in the rush to incorporate the latest, often discreet (as in intentionally unobtrusive) technologies. He identifies these aspects as agency, ritual and, to a lesser extent, serendipity and mess. Using references to his own work, he suggests that applying an understanding of how actors create totems to present agency and affordance is essential to regain, and possibly acclimate, these tools and practices so they are relevant to live electronic music performance practice in a contemporary technology environment.


Cerebral ischaemia is a dynamic process triggered when an intracranial artery is acutely occluded, normally due to an embolism from the heart or from arteriolosclerotic lesions of more proximal arteries. Urgent rerouting of these arteries and early reperfusion of the cerebral tissue, neuroprotector therapies that intervene in the ischaemic cascade and prevention of recurrence are the therapeutic aims in the acute phase of ischaemic stroke. Thrombolytic treatment pursues the lysis of the dot occluding the intracranial artery. At present, the only approved thrombolytic treatment is the intravenous Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator (rtPA). Its safety and efficacy within the first three hours of evolution of the ischaemic stroke have been demonstrated. Establishment of this treatment involves a profound change in the health structures and the training of the personnel responsible. The small therapeutic window and the limitations of this medicine in daily practice have led to the urgent exploration of new strategies: we review the reconsideration of exclusion criteria (especially in the elderly and in minor neurological deficits or those of rapid improvement), the widening of the therapeutic window beyond 3 hours with the selection of patients by multimodal image, the possibility of thrombolysis combined with antithrombotic drugs or with enhancement through ultrasound. We also review the new thrombolytics that are appearing and the intra-arterial thrombolysis approach and therapies of endovascular mechanical reperfusion.


This work proposes a method of efficiently modeling the hysteresis of ferroelectric materials, such that the finite element analysis of complex structures will be possible. Our approach includes the additive combination of a reversible and an irreversible portion of the polarization and strain, respectively. Whereas the reversible parts correspond to the common piezoelectric linear equations, the irreversible parts are modeled by hysteresis operators. These operators are based on Preisach and Jiles-Atherton hysteresis models which are well-established tools in ferromagnetic modeling. In contrast to micro-mechanical approaches, a Preisach or a Jiles-Atherton hysteresis operator can be efficiently numerically evaluated. A comparison of the resulting simulations to measured data concludes the paper.


This study explored the relationship between lipid composition and bacterial commu- nity structure during growth of natural bacterial communities in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. Experiments examined the effect of the addition of protein, glucose and site-specific >1 kDa ultra- filtered DOM (dissolved organic matter) on bacterial fatty acids and bacterial community structure determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). We examined 3 environments over an estuarine gradient comprising a freshwater marsh, the anoxic waters of the central Chesapeake Bay channel, and the Lower Delaware Bay, to encompass a range of bacterial communities and to deter- mine how each community might respond to varying DOM sources in terms of both community structure and lipid signatures. The results demonstrated that fatty acids produced by bacteria depend on carbon source, with consistent trends regardless of physical environment and initial community structure. In contrast to the fatty acid signatures, the FISH results suggested that no single group of bacteria responded consistently to the addition of DOM, either as individual substrates or as complex natural material. The results suggest that while fatty acid synthesis appears strongly associated with dissolved substrates, assignments of specific bacterial groups to fatty acid signatures are not possible at broad phylogenetic levels.


Infections and Defense Bacteria secrete effectors to suppress immunity in plant and animal hosts resulting in an evolutionary arms race between bacteria and their eukaryotic hosts. One important aspect of plant immunity against bacteria is based on disease resistance protein complexes, which recognize specific bacterial effectors and activate signal transduction. A strain of the bacteria Pseudomonas that infects tomato and Arabidopsis plants injects its effector protein, AvrPtoB, into plant cells. Two plant protein kinases, Fen and Pto, then stimulate disease defense responses that may restrain or halt the infection. Ntoukakis et al. (p. 784) show that the balance between resistance and susceptibility triggered by AvrPtoB is determined by the kinase activity Pto within a disease resistance complex. An enzyme in tomato targets bacterial virulence to change the outcome of infection from susceptibility to immunity. Plant pathogenic bacteria secrete effector proteins that attack the host signaling machinery to suppress immunity. Effectors can be recognized by hosts leading to immunity. One such effector is AvrPtoB of Pseudomonas syringae, which degrades host protein kinases, such as tomato Fen, through an E3 ligase domain. Pto kinase, which is highly related to Fen, recognizes AvrPtoB in conjunction with the resistance protein Prf. Here we show that Pto is resistant to AvrPtoB-mediated degradation because it inactivates the E3 ligase domain. AvrPtoB ubiquitinated Fen within the catalytic cleft, leading to its breakdown and loss of the associated Prf protein. Pto avoids this by phosphorylating and inactivating the AvrPtoB E3 domain. Thus, inactivation of a pathogen virulence molecule is one mechanism by which plants resist disease.


This multi-method study of managers in a grocery chain identifies a novel mechanism by which threats of gender stereotypes undermine women's ability to be effective managers. I find that women managers face a task bind, a dilemma that managers experience as they try to disprove a negative group stereotype by doubling down on one set of tasks at the expense of other essential tasks. My analysis of interview, observational, and archival data reveals that, compared to men, women do more tasks in front of subordinates—in this setting, supervisory tasks "on the floor" of the store—in order to showcase their qualifications as managers. In doing so, they forgo attention to other tasks that are less public but no less important to being effective managers—in this setting, planning tasks in the office of the store. Neglecting office tasks ultimately undermines the profitability of women managers' departments. This study's identification of the task bind has implications for theory and practice related to stereotype threat and women leaders, showing how the threat of negative gender stereotypes, prompted here by concern about subordinates' perceptions, can affect managers' behaviors in ways that detract from the performance of managers themselves and that of their organizations.


We present the first search for dark matter-induced delayed coincidence signals in a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber, using the 224.6 live days of the XENON100 science run II. This very distinct signature is predicted in the framework of magnetic inelastic dark matter which has been proposed to reconcile the modulation signal reported by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration with the null results from other direct detection experiments. No candidate event has been found in the region of interest and upper limits on the WIMP's magnetic dipole moment are derived. The scenarios proposed to explain the DAMA/LIBRA modulation signal by magnetic inelastic dark matter interactions of WIMPs with masses of 58.0 GeV/c2 and 122.7 GeV/c2 are excluded at 3.3 σ and 9.3 σ, respectively.