We report on the experimental spectral observations of barium in parallel electric and magnetic fields. The laser pulse is linearly polarized along or perpendicular to the fields, leading to the states m = 0 and the states m = ±1 populated,respectively, by one photon excitation. By sweeping the electric field, we observe the linear and nonlinear splitting of the diamagnetic spectrum as the electric field increases. The spectral anticrossing is induced by the atomic core effect. The Stark spectrum also shows an obvious nonlinear quadratic behavior when the applied magnetic field varies strongly. All spectra are well explained by the full quantum calculation after taking the quantum defect effects of the channel ns up to nf into account.


The all-relevant problem of feature selection is the identification of all strongly and weakly relevant attributes. This problem is especially hard to solve for time series classification and regression in industrial applications such as predictive maintenance or production line optimization, for which each label or regression target is associated with several time series and meta-information simultaneously. Here, we are proposing an efficient, scalable feature extraction algorithm for time series, which filters the available features in an early stage of the machine learning pipeline with respect to their significance for the classification or regression task, while controlling the expected percentage of selected but irrelevant features. The proposed algorithm combines established feature extraction methods with a feature importance filter. It has a low computational complexity, allows to start on a problem with only limited domain knowledge available, can be trivially parallelized, is highly scalable and based on well studied non-parametric hypothesis tests. We benchmark our proposed algorithm on all binary classification problems of the UCR time series classification archive as well as time series from a production line optimization project and simulated stochastic processes with underlying qualitative change of dynamics.


Background Preoperative screening for nasal S. aureus carriage, followed by eradication treatment of identified carriers with nasal mupirocine ointment and chlorhexidine soap was highly effective in preventing deep-seated S. aureus infections. It is unknown how cost-effectiveness of this intervention is affected by suboptimal S. aureus screening. We determined cost-effectiveness of different preoperative S. aureus screening regimes. Methods We compared different screening scenarios (ranging from treating all patients without screening to treating only identified S. aureus carriers) to the base case scenario without any screening and treatment. Screening and treatment costs as well as costs and mortality due to deep-seated S. aureus infection were derived from hospital databases and prospectively collected data, respectively. Results As compared to the base case scenario, all scenarios are associated with improved health care outcomes at reduced costs. Treating all patients without screening is most cost-beneficial, saving €7339 per life year gained, as compared to €3330 when only identified carriers are treated. In sensitivity analysis, outcomes are susceptible to the sensitivity of the screening test and the efficacy of treatment. Reductions in these parameters would reduce the cost-effectiveness of scenarios in which treatment is based on screening. When only identified S. aureus carriers are treated costs of screening should be less than €6.23 to become the dominant strategy. Conclusions Preoperative screening and eradication of S. aureus carriage to prevent deep-seated S. aureus infections saves both life years and medical costs at the same time, although treating all patients without screening is the dominant strategy, resulting in most health gains and largest savings.


Despite remarkable anti-tumor activity of ibrutinib in CLL, some patients develop resistance due to acquired mutations. By adding drugs which target survival pathways and the CLL protective microenvironmental interactions, we aim to increase ibrutinib efficacy and to prevent ibrutinib resistance. The three PIM kinases are involved in important disease mechanisms in CLL, with PIM1 regulating CXCR4 surface expression impacting the interaction with the protective microenvironment, and PIM2/3 affecting the apoptotic machinery by regulating BAD.
 Here, we investigated the effect of the Pan-PIM kinase inhibitor LGB321 in CLL in vitro and in vivo and its cooperative effect with ibrutinib. LGB321 was highly effective in inducing apoptosis in primary CLL cells, independent of prognostic factors or microenvironmental interactions, and reduced pBAD and total BAD protein levels in CLL. In vitro combination of ibrutinib and LGB321 demonstrated strong additive effects with doubled apoptosis rates compared to single treatment. Further, LGB321 treatment blocked the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis by dephosphorylating the CXCR4 receptor on Ser339, by reducing total CXCR4 protein levels, and by blocking the externalization of the CXCR4 receptor. Concordantly, LGB321 blocked CXCR4 functions regarding migration towards a CXCL12 gradient and homing of LGB321-pretreated primary CLL cells towards the bone marrow of NOG mice.
 In vivo experiments confirmed the efficacy of LGB321 in 5 different CLL xenograft studies. Transplantation of primary CLL cells into NOG mice and treatment with LGB321 for 2 weeks strongly reduced WBC counts, spleen size and spleen infiltration with human CLL cells in all 5 CLL cases, and blocked BAD as well as CXCR4 phosphorylation also in vivo.
 Xenograft studies combining ibrutinib with LGB321 demonstrated much faster reduction of WBC counts than ibrutinib single treatment and strongly reduced disease burden in the double treated mice, confirming the cooperative effects of those two inhibitors also in vivo.
 Our results demonstrate that LGB321 might be an effective treatment option for CLL patients by impairing PIM2/3 mediated CLL-cell survival, and by blocking the PIM1/CXCR4-mediated interaction of CLL cells with the protective microenvironment. Furthermore, LGB321 enhances ibrutinib treatment effects and might help to increase its efficacy and to avoid the development of ibrutinib resistance.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Solar originating events are continually evident in galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux registered at the ground by neutron monitors. We analyze time intervals of sporadic Forbush decreases
 (Fd) observed by neutron monitors (NM) during the first half of solar cycle 24. We consider NMs data, as well as, solar, heliospheric and geoma - gnetic activity parameters, around those
 periods, using different mathematical tools. Subsequently, an impact of space weather phenomena on energy infrastructure is well known, in the further step we consider logs from one of the
 Polish transmission lines operators during the time intervals of Fds. Based on the data from the Ins- titute of Meteorology and Water Management-Polish National Research Institute we exclude
 from the analysis the weather-related failures. We found that the increase in the superposed averaged number of failures appears around Forbush decreases.


Ellipse fitting is widely applied in the fields of computer vision and automatic industry control, in which the procedure of ellipse fitting often follows the preprocessing step of edge detection in the original image. Therefore, the ellipse fitting method also depends on the accuracy of edge detection besides their own performance, especially due to the introduced outliers and edge point errors from edge detection which will cause severe performance degradation. In this paper, we develop a robust ellipse fitting method to alleviate the influence of outliers. The proposed algorithm solves ellipse parameters by linearly combining a subset of ("more accurate") data points (formed from edge points) rather than all data points (which contain possible outliers). In addition, considering that squaring the fitting residuals can magnify the contributions of these extreme data points, our algorithm replaces it with the absolute residuals to reduce this influence. Moreover, the norm of data point errors is bounded, and the worst case performance optimization is formed to be robust against data point errors. The resulting mixed l1-l2 optimization problem is further derived as a second-order cone programming one and solved by the computationally efficient interior-point methods. Note that the fitting approach developed in this paper specifically deals with the overdetermined system, whereas the current sparse representation theory is only applied to underdetermined systems. Therefore, the proposed algorithm can be looked upon as an extended application and development of the sparse representation theory. Some simulated and experimental examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed ellipse fitting approach.


ABSTRACT The regression kink (RK) design is an increasingly popular empirical method for estimating causal effects of policies, such as the effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment duration. Using simulation studies based on data from existing RK designs, we empirically document that the statistical significance of RK estimators based on conventional standard errors can be spurious. In the simulations, false positives arise as a consequence of nonlinearities in the underlying relationship between the outcome and the assignment variable, confirming concerns about the misspecification bias of discontinuity estimators pointed out by Calonico, Cattaneo, and Titiunik. As a complement to standard RK inference, we propose that researchers construct a distribution of placebo estimates in regions with and without a policy kink and use this distribution to gauge statistical significance. Under the assumption that the location of the kink point is random, this permutation test has exact size in finite samples for testing a sharp null hypothesis of no effect of the policy on the outcome. We implement simulation studies based on existing RK applications that estimate the effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment duration and show that our permutation test as well as inference procedures proposed by Calonico, Cattaneo, and Titiunik improve upon the size of standard approaches, while having sufficient power to detect an effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment duration. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


ABSTRACT After decades of reluctance, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are now more engaged within the global sustainability agenda. Though they historically sought to coordinate strategies, differences in environmental diplomacy and participation modes currently exist. This article examines these differences and links diplomacy to political and economic considerations during different eras. It maps positions, activism in multilateral agreements, and investigates recent changes in light of increased domestic pressures and the rise of formalised national visions. The increased global environmental engagement of GCC countries can yield better outcomes, but environmental pillars do not feature highly in their current visions.


The effects of alloy disorder on the Schottky barriers at semiconductor-alloy\char21{}metal interfaces are investigated within the defect model of Schottky-barrier formation. The deep levels and the associated wave functions for surface antisite defects, which are believed to be responsible for the barriers considered here, were previously calculated for various III-V semiconductor alloys using the theory of deep levels and treating the alloy host in the virtual-crystal approximation. In the present paper, perturbation theory is used to treat the effect of the random local environment of each defect on these deep levels. For the cation and anion antisite defects at the (110) surfaces of six different III-V semiconductor alloys, the inhomogeneous broadening of the associated deep levels is found to range from nearly 0 to about 0.3 eV, depending on the alloy composition and the material considered. The corresponding effect on the Schottky-barrier heights which result from Fermi-level pinning by these deep levels should be a slight bowing with composition. Typically, this bowing effect is estimated to be of the order of 0.1 eV at intermediate alloy compositions.


The kinetics of 4-anilino-5-methoxydioxybenzene-1,2 (AMOBQH2) autoxidation in biochemical systems possessing the superoxide dismutase activity were studied. The autoxidation of AMOBQH2 is affected by superoxide dismutase, which is indicative of participation of the superoxide radical in this process. The main kinetic effect of superoxide dismutase consists in a decrease of the effective rate constant for AMOBQH2 autoxidation. Peroxidase releases the superoxide dismutase inhibition of AMOBQH2 autoxidation. The data obtained are discussed in terms of a biochemical mechanism of action of biologically active aminoaromatic derivatives of o-benzoquinone.


Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibers with a high amount of phase crystal structure were prepared by melt spinning. With this technique, the cold drawing process is critical and efficient when aiming for a high amount of phase. During the cold drawing process, more than 80% of the originally formed phase crystal structure was converted into the phase structure. In addition, the incorporation of 0.01 wt % of amino-modified double wall carbon nanotube (NH2-DWCNT) could further enhance the phase content in the PVDF fibers. FTIR and DSC studies showed that the addition of NH2-DWCNT to PVDF fibers could increase both the total crystallinity and phase fraction in PVDF. The addition of nanoclay was found to be less efficient in this respect


Abstract The Paddington railway collision may be regarded as the most serious railway accident on Britain's railway system. The accident occurred on 5 October 1999. Thirty-one people were killed and many more were injured. An immediate and 'direct' cause of the collision was the fact that a train that belonged to Thames Trains had passed a signal at red and collided with a First Great Western High Speed Train at Ladbroke Grove Junction, near Paddington, London. Following this and several other accidents that have occurred since privatization of the railways (1994), there has been a large amount of public debate about safety management on the British railways. This article presents the results of a preliminary systemic analysis of the accident. The approach has been to compare the features of the Paddington railway accident with the characteristics of a railway systemic safety management system model, which has been constructed employing the concepts of systems. A number of discrepancies have come to light. Further analysis would be expected to reveal more. It is hoped that this systemic analysis will help to identify 'learning points', which are relevant for preventing accidents on the railways.


Over the last decade, there has been considerable interest in the development of immunoelectrochemical assays, mainly due to the advantages offered by the combination of the selectivity of immunoassays with the great sensitivity and simplicity of modern electroanalytical techniques. However, immunoelectrochemical assays have not yet been exploited commercially, as transitions from the laboratory bench to large-scale manufacturing has proved difficult.

The system described is an amperometric peroxide biosensor prepared by electrochemical deposition of horseradish peroxidase on an electroactive polymer, polyaniline. Polyaniline brings about mediatorless redox coupling between the electrode and biomolecular components attached to the surface. This assay will be the stepping-stone to developing an immunoelectrochemical method for the analysis of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and other female hormones. The assay initially utilises glassy carbon electrodes for preliminary data, before being replaced with a commercially available electrode Euroflash TM, produced by Inverness Medical Limited TM. This electrode was utilised with a view to producing an electrochemical assay that complies with manufacturing requirements.


In this study, the frequency response of rectangular sandwich plates with multi-layer face sheets and electrorheological (ER) fluid cores is investigat-ed. The assumed electro-rheological fluid as a core is capable of changing the stiffness and damping of structures. To model the sandwich panel, for the first time, first-order shear deformation theory and the second Frost-ig's model are applied for the face sheets and thick cores, respectively. The studied sandwich panel is supposed to simply support boundary in all edg-es, and the Galerkin approach is implemented for discretizing the problem. In the result section, impacts of various parameters such as electric field, aspect ratio, the thickness of the ER layer, and thickness ratio on vibra-tional characteristics of the structure are discussed in detail. The obtained results highlight the notable effects of the electric field on natural frequen-cies which can make the structure flexible within the desired range. It is al-so pointed out that the dynamic behavior and stability of the system can be controlled by changing the magnitude of the ER fluid layer.


Print ISSN: 0022-1767 Online ISSN: 1550-6606. Immunologists, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2016 by The American Association of 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3994. The American Association of Immunologists, Inc., is published twice each month by The Journal of Immunology at U iv of Illois-C hago L ib of H lth Scerials U it M C 63 on Feruary 3, 2016 hp://w w w jim m unl.org/ D ow nladed from


BACKGROUND
In the last few decades, cancer immunotherapy has been extensively researched, and novel checkpoint signaling mechanisms involving programmed death (PD)-1 and PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) receptors have been targeted. The PD-1/PD-L1 binding and interaction play a critical role in the development of malignancies.

OBJECTIVE
The present review focuses on recent patents on the pharmacological and biological cancer-regulating properties of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors involved in immunotherapeutic cancer drug development.

METHODS
Thorough patent literature search published during the last seven years, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO®), United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO®), Espacenet®, and Google Patents, to identify PD-1/PD-L1-targeting small molecule immunomodulators.

RESULTS
Several small molecule PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors were patented for regulation of tumor progression by academic and industry-associated investigators. Most of the claimed patents have been validated and confined to in vitro and in vivo mouse models limiting their entry into clinical settings. Majority of the patents are claimed by the researchers at Aurigene Ltd. (India) on novel peptidomimetic compounds. Macrocyclic and heterocyclic derivatives were more efficient in regulating the PD-1/PD-L1 protein-protein binding and interaction compared to those of the approved monoclonal antibodies.

CONCLUSION
PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors show significant anti-cancer responses as stand-alone agents and in combination with other cancer therapies. More efficient experimental studies and clinical trials are necessary to evaluate the host-tumor cells' interactions. Understanding the cancer microenvironment, identifying specific biomarkers and X-ray crystalline structures of PD-1/PD-L1 complexes, including molecular and genomic signature studies are essential to determine the feasibility of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors for development into drug-like cancer immunotherapeutics.


We establish that there are large and persistent differences in final transaction prices for identical new cars, and that demographic characteristics explain at least 20% of the observed variation. Older consumers perform progressively worse in negotiations, and the age premium is greater for women than for men. Our results suggest that the complex nature of vehicle transactions leads to price dispersion in this market, and that the worst performing groups—older women—have the lowest rates of market participation. We conjecture that the results are driven by the sharp increases in women's education and labor force participation in recent decades.


The aim of this thesis was to explore the factors that aid or hinder implementation of evidence-based psychotherapy treatments. The literature review was a meta-analysis of
studies which investigated the effectiveness of eLearning strategies for training in empirically supported psychotherapy treatments. Across the nine studies reviewed, moderate and small effect sizes were found for the improvement in learners' knowledge and skills, respectively,
following training via eLearning strategies, Outcome was moderated by type of comparison group. No significant differences were found between eLearning and traditional forms of instruction. The empirical study examined the survivability of DBT programmes and the factors that aid or hinder its implementation into routine healthcare settings. Survival curve analysis revealed no differences in the probability of survival between early and late adopters
of the DBT model. Differences in the probability of survival were found for site of training. Programmes trained off-site from their service setting had a higher probability of survival than teams trained on-site. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the number of teams compared within each, which limits the conclusions that can be drawn from this finding. A number of barriers and aids to implementation were identified. The most strongly endorsed barriers were practitioner turnover and financing. The most frequently
cited aids to implementation were quality of the DBT evidence base and practitioner skills. It is recommended that future research explores predictive models of implementation to understand what works where, and why. A concluding discussion highlights other areas for future research and theory development, as well as implications for clinical practice.


This article reports an investigation of the influence of process parameters on the obtainable dimensional accuracy when drilling glass using abrasive jet machining. In particular, holes were drilled out of glass sheets, and the effects of standoff distance, nozzle diameter, particle grain size and applied pressure on the kerf taper were examined. An artificial neural network technique was used to establish a precise model of kerf taper as a function of the process parameters. The proposed model was then optimised, and the conditions to minimise the kerf taper were identified using a genetic algorithm. The results revealed that standoff distance has a major effect on kerf taper, and it proved possible to substantially reduce the kerf taper by applying an axial feed to the nozzle so that the standoff distance is kept constant during the machining process.


During 1998–2012, climate change and sea level rise (SLR) exhibit two notable features: a slowdown of global surface warming (hiatus) and a rapid SLR in the tropical western Pacific. To quantify their relationship, we analyze the long‐term control simulations of 38 climate models. We find a significant and robust correlation between the east‐west contrast of dynamic sea level (DSL) in the Pacific and global mean surface temperature (GST) variability on both interannual and decadal time scales. Based on linear regression of the multimodel ensemble mean, the anomalously fast SLR in the western tropical Pacific observed during 1998–2012 indicates suppression of a potential global surface warming of 0.16° ± 0.06°C. In contrast, the Pacific contributed 0.29° ± 0.10°C to the significant interannual GST increase in 1997/1998. The Pacific DSL anomalies observed in 2015 suggest that the strong El Niño in 2015/2016 could lead to a 0.21° ± 0.07°C GST jump.


Graphs have been widely used as modeling tools in Natural Language Processing (NLP), Text Mining (TM) and Information Retrieval (IR). Traditionally, the unigram bag-of-words representation is applied; that way, a document is represented as a multiset of its terms, disregarding dependencies between the terms. Although several variants and extensions of this modeling approach have been proposed, the main weakness comes from the underlying term independence assumption; the order of the terms within a document is completely disregarded and any relationship between terms is not taken into account in the final task. To deal with this problem, the research community has explored various representations, and to this direction, graphs constitute a well-developed model for text representation. The goal of this tutorial is to offer a comprehensive presentation of recent methods that rely on graph-based text representations to deal with various tasks in Text Mining, NLP and IR.


Heterotrophic culturing of microalgae is of great interest as it has the potential to produce feedstock for added-value bioproducts. The general expectation is to develop a method that can help screen for different media compositions and batch fermentation settings more easily and faster. In the current study, an indirect impedance microbiological technique was used to test the effects of various carbon and nitrogen sources on the growth of Chlorella sorokiniana. It was found that this technique has great potential to screen for heterotrophic cultivation conditions of microalgae as the metabolic rate of microorganisms can be determined by measuring the amount of CO2 produced. The BacTrac 4100® was proven to be a suitable instrument to compare several different small-scale culturing settings. Considering the relative changes in impedance observed, the initial cell cumber exhibits an inverse linear correlation with the detection time. Chlorella sorokiniana exhibited an enhanced degree of growth on yeast extract and tryptone, and preferred glucose over acetate or glycerol. An optimum rate of growth at a glucose concentration of 20 gL-1 was also determined. Our novel approach in the field of heterotrophic cultivation of microalgae envisages great prospects for the method in terms of the design of experiments in the field of media optimization.


Death is a subject which has long inspired extraordinary art, music and literature. Currently, in one form or another, it dominates our television screens and our cinematic experiences. It continues to preoccupy, fascinate, confront, repel and terrify us. Contemporary necrographers, sociologists of death and scholars on palliative care have highlighted the extent to which in the aftermath of the two World Wars and in the era of institutionalisation and medicalisation of death we have a different, more removed relationship with our ancient foe - western communities are alienated from death like no previous civilisation. But that does not detract from the reality of grieving, bereavement and the need to try to learn how in future to prevent preventable deaths. These responses to the phenomenon of death and its appurtenances play an important role in the dynamics that generate our perceived needs for investigation of deaths which are sudden, unexplained or otherwise not readily accountable. We need to understand the causes of such deaths; to set the public record straight about them; to take criminal and civil action against malefactors, where appropriate; to learn the lessons that are to be learned from tragedies; and to avoid avoidable deaths. Traditionally, our principal means to these various ends has been the institution of the coroner. This address scrutinises the roles of the coroner in the context of the 1 July 2007 commencement of the Coroners Act 2006 (NZ), the latest in an extensive series of reforms of the contemporary role of the coroner. It argues that the most recent reforms are an important consolidation of the evolving role of the coroner but that further consideration needs to be given to the changing relationship between coronership and public health and safety.


We have studied productivity elements soil moisture, agro-physical properties, soil disturbance, edaphic volume and the root system in the conservative non-tillage system as compared to the traditional system ploughing. The experiments included 7 soles and 3 agrocoenoses winter wheat, maize as a repeated culture (34 years), rotation of maize and beans. The soil from the studied agricultural ecosystem is sandy loam carbonate chernozem, the content of physic loam (<0.01 mm) is 22-25%. It was stated that soil moisture in the conservative no-tillage system is directly influenced by agrocoenoses, the stage of plant development and more compact horizons (20-30 cm) greatly favour the location of the root system closer to the surface, which causes the inhomogeneity of water content available on the soil profile. The data showed that we should study water on the whole humified profile in the conservative tillage system. We found out that the no-tillage conservative system increases water reserves in soil during the periods subject to pedologic droughts. It is more evident, when cultivated crops, such as maize, are planted. There was identified a close correlation between penetration resistance and bulk density of the ecosystem soil winter wheat (r = 0.73-0.78). We have also noticed that the weight of winter wheat roots in the conservative tillage system is 1266 g/m, as compared to the traditional ploughing (1017 g/m). In the farming year 2014-2015, a year of great droughts according to hydrothermal indices (Seleaninov), the agricultural ecosystem of winter wheat, preceded by winter barley showed a higher level of productivity (2809 kg/ha) in the no-tillage system as compared to the ploughing ( 1789 kg/ha). We have found out that crop productivity and moisture in agrocoenoses are influenced by a forecrop, tillage system and conditions of the root system.


Centerline wakes of ships in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images were modeled in 2-D with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Fluent and a radar-imaging algorithm. We initialized the model with a pair of vortices generated by a ship hull and applied wind stress perpendicular to the ship wake. Results of the CFD simulation using a nonhydrostatic model have demonstrated ship-wake asymmetry with respect to the wind-stress direction relative to the ship course. Due to the wind stress, flow convergence increased on the upwind side of the centerline wake and reduced on the downwind side of the wake. The radar-imaging algorithm processed with the surface velocity field produced by the CFD model revealed ship-wake asymmetry relative to the wind direction. These results are qualitatively consistent with SAR images from the TerraSAR-X satellite and representative statistics of photographic images of the ship wake collected from a volunteer observing ship.


In this issue of AJDC , Sotomayor and colleagues present their experience during an eight-year period with the missed or delayed diagnosis of pertussis in young infants. 1 One might ask, "So what's new? Why accept and publish the obvious? Doesn't everyone know that some people miss this diagnosis?" We elected to publish this report for the very reason that inspires such questions. Pertussis in young infants continues to be missed, and we should not become complacent about it. Classic pertussis, once seen, is unlikely to be mistaken for any other respiratory infection in infancy. The severely ill infant with paroxysmal cough, struggling to breathe against the thick, abundant mucoid discharge that fills the airway, creates an image in one's mind that resists forgetting. The characteristic whoop, often with vomiting and the suffused, cyanotic facies that accompany it, likewise leave an indelible impression. However, this typical picture


One of the fundamental issues in Grid decentralised resource discovery services is high communication overheads that affect the Grid system's performance significantly. The rationale is that Grid resources are geographically distributed across the world through a wide area network under various virtual organisations. To address the issue, a significant amount of effort has been made by proposing various decentralised overlay algorithms with semantic solutions. Current Grid literature reveals that when semantic features are added into discovery services, the probability of finding resources is enhanced and communication overheads could be better. However, most of the existing decentralised resource discovery models utilise a domain-based semantic ontology with First Come First Serve (FCFS) basis scheduling for allocating Grid resources that can cause job rejection at run time and can pick resources that are far from the user nodes. As a result, communication overheads of the models are affected as the proximity criterion is not being considered in the selection process. To overcome these issues and enhance the application performance, we propose a Unification of Proximity and Semantic similarity for Appropriate Resource Selection (UPSARS) algorithm in a decentralised resource discovery model by using a sub-domain ontology structure for Grid computing environments. The purpose of this unification is to get optimised resources for user jobs (Gridlets) so that Grid brokers could select optimum resources in terms of proximity with high semantic relevancy. The algorithm considers both semantic and proximity criteria and selects the nearby nodes resources and reduces the communication overheads in terms of proximity and latency. We design and implement the model using the GridSim and the FreePastry simulation and modelling toolkits. The experimental results provide promising outcomes to reduce communication overheads and enhance resource allocation performance.


In this chapter, I bridge rhetoric and pragmatics, both of which concern themselves with language-in-use and meaning-making beyond formal syntax and semantics. Previous efforts to link these fields have failed, but Sperber and Wilson's relevance theory (RT), an approach to experimental pragmatics grounded in cognitive science, offers the bridge. I begin by reviewing Gricean pragmatics and its incompatibility with rhetoric and cognitive science. I then sketch RT, but importantly, I identify revisions to RT that make it a powerful tool for rhetorical analysis, a cognitive pragmatic rhetorical (CPR) theory. CPR theory strengthens RT by clarifying what it means to be relevant—and irrelevant—in relevance-theoretic terms. Meanwhile, it provides rhetoric a set of principles for its functioning grounded in cognitive science. I conclude with sample CPR-theoretic analyses.

(Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110472509. Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110472509-004)


This project is focused on increasing productivity of cultivated trees in Haiti in response to the over-exploitation of native forests and conversion of forested lands to agriculture demands.


Dynamic Capabilities are often considered as the factor justifying the different degrees of success of organizations in turbulent environment. In this pa-per we investigate whether companies that have achieved a Digital Data Genesis dynamic capability hold an IT-based competitive advantage. Further, we evaluate whether environmental turbulence has a moderating effect on this relationship. We based our findings on a survey of 92 Italian companies gathering data in 2011 and 2012. We find that Digital Data Genesis Dynamic Capability has a positive influ-ence on IT-based competitive advantage and that environmental dynamism mod-erates such relationship.


Glypressin is a vasopressin derivative which is used in the present study to stop pulmonary bleeding. The effects of endobronchially versus intravenously applied glypressin were examined during diagnostic fibreoptic bronchoscopy in 27 patients. Transcutaneously measured blood gases and haemodynamics were analysed after 1 mg glypressin was given. The glypressin plasma level was 251 fold higher after the intravenous than after the endobronchial administration. After endobronchial application no significant changes were observed for blood pressure, heart rate or blood gases. Following the intravenous glypressin application there was a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure. The bronchial mucosa pallor appeared earlier after topical than after systemic glypressin application. The haemostyptic effect was similar for both routes of application.


The alpha-scattering experiment aboard soft-landing Surveyor VI has provided a chemical analysis of the surface of the moon in Sinus Medii. The preliminary results indicate that, within experimental errors, the composition is the same as that found by Surveyor V in Mare Tranquillitatis. This finding suggests that large portions of the lunar maria resemble basalt in composition.


The most important contributor to improved oil recovery on mature fields is drilling of infill wells. Managed–pressure drilling (MPD) and continuous–circulation–system (CCS) techniques can be used for improved control of bottomhole pressure when drilling wells in depleted fields with narrow pressure windows, but rig heave is a challenge when drilling from floating drilling units. Rig heave, caused by sea waves, induces downhole pressure oscillations that could exceed the operational pressure window. These oscillations are called "surge and swab," and occur during tripping in and tripping out of the borehole, as well as during drillpipe connections, while the drillstring is suspended in the slips. Downhole choking was introduced as a method to reduce downhole pressure oscillations induced by the rig heave, and the concept was tested at laboratory scale and using computer simulations (Kvernland et al. 2018). The simulations were performed using a purpose–developed software that uses such input variables as wave height, pump flow, drillpipe movements, rig characteristics, and drilling–fluid properties, along with well design, drillpipe, and bottomhole–assembly (BHA) data, to simulate downhole pressure induced by rig heave. The simulator is designed to model dynamic interactions between the drilling fluid and the drillstring in a rigorous manner, which gives it the ability to accurately predict rapid downhole changes, such as those induced by ocean waves.
 In this paper, we provide an overview of the surge–and–swab simulator, describing its capabilities and limitations. Data from drilling a North Sea well are then used to validate the simulations performed using the software. The well used as an example in this paper was drilled conventionally from a floating rig. The downhole pressure variations recorded during three different drillpipe connections are compared with simulated downhole pressure. The simulations are performed on the basis of the recorded rig heave as well as the actual drilling–fluid, well–design, and drillpipe data. Results show that there is a good correlation between simulated and actual measured downhole pressure. The surge–and–swab simulation software is then used to simulate the same drillpipe connections using three different techniques and combinations of techniques used for improved downhole pressure control: (1) MPD, (2) MPD combined with CCS, and (3) MPD combined with CCS and a downhole choke. Results show that rig heave–induced downhole pressure variations are reduced to a level that is considered acceptable for drilling a well with a narrow pressure window for the last two cases, whereas use of backpressure MPD alone is not sufficient. The combination of MPD and CCS reduced surge and swab for two out of three drillpipe connections. For the third and deepest connection, the surge–and–swab pressure increased. The largest reduction in significant downhole pressure variations occurs when MPD and CCS are combined with downhole choking.
 Future work will consist of further developing the surge–and–swab simulator so that it will be possible to use it in well planning and as real–time decision support during drilling operations. The simulator will also be developed to include the possibility of simulating various well completion operations such as running casing and liners. The next hardware development phase consists of designing and building a complete downhole tool for testing in a well.


: A patient with severe meningoencephalitis has been treated using a combination of generalized and local mechanisms of antibacterial drug delivery to the inflammation focus, detoxication and brain circulation improvement. The management results have been analysed. Positive neurological dynamics, homeostasis recovery and shorter period of the patient's stay in an intensive care unit proved the efficacy of management. It is assumed that the improvement of brain perfusion is an important pathophysiological mechanism.


Up to the eve of the unveiling of ASEAN Regional Integration in 2015, cases of ethnic and racial discrimination have been reported within ASEAN member countries, with the persecution of the Rohingya of Myanmar being just one of many. This study is a preliminary look at how negative race and ethnic relations between ASEAN nationals have not abated, coloring their view of regional integration. It looks at how race relations between ASEAN member countries have developed alongside the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint in 2007 up to the present. Based on a review of the structure of the ASEAN and a tally of racial conflicts within five Southeast Asian countries, we offer two observations. First, the situation in Southeast Asia parallels the growth of an anti-regionalist sentiment in Europe due to supposed violations of national sovereignty. Second, and perhaps more importantly, due to the fraught histories and conditions of nation-state consolidation experienced by the ASEAN member countries, they do not fit in the scheme of cross-national integration as framed by the ASEAN itself.


Abstract The nematode communities of Antarctica are considered simple. The few species present are well adapted to the harsh conditions and often endemic to Antarctica. Knowledge of Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems is increasing rapidly, but nematode communities remain to be explored in large parts of Antarctica. In soil samples collected at Byers Peninsula (Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 126), Livingston Island we recorded 37 nematode taxa but samples showed great variation in richness and abundance. Nematode richness decreased with increasing soil pH, whereas total abundances, and the abundance of several trophic groups, were greatest at intermediate pH (around 6.5–7). Moreover, the community composition was mainly related to pH and less so to soil moisture. Trophic group, and total nematode, rotifer and tardigrade, abundances were generally positively correlated. Byers Peninsula is thus, by maritime Antarctic standards, a nematode biodiversity hotspot, and the presence of several previously unrecorded genera indicates that nematode species richness in maritime Antarctica is probably underestimated. Our results indicate that abiotic factors influence nematode communities with little evidence for biotic interactions. The unexplained heterogeneity in community composition is probably related to variation in microclimate, vegetation, topography and unmeasured soil properties, but may also be contributed to by biological processes.


In niacin deficient rats, it was performed a kinetic and morphometric study of jejunal epithelium. It was observed that the deficient animals showed less villosity (515.1 mu x 570.1 mu; p less than 0.008), enterocyte (35.3 mu x 38.5 mu; p less than 0.004) and mitotic index (4.4% x 5.7%; p less than 0.001) and bigger crypt (238.0 mu x 186.1 mu; p less than 0.001) and cellular renovation time (22.9h x 17.8h; less than 0.001) according to control animals. It is suggested that NAD (nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide) deficiency can be responsible for the observed alterations.


Advanced Manufacturing and Prototyping Integrated to Unlock Potential (AMP-IT-UP) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded K-12 Math & Science Partnership (MSP) project with a goal of promoting math, science, and engineering learning through STEM integration-focused curricula. As part of this project, curriculum writers developed one-week modules providing instruction on a set of STEM practices within the context of the appropriate grade-level content. These STEM practices are Experimental Design, Data Visualization, and Data-Driven Decision Making; the emphasis of each of these practices is, respectively, the collection of data, the representation of data, and the use of data to support complex decision-making. Nine of these one-week modules were created in the science domain, one focused on each practice at grade levels 6, 7, and 8. A parallel set of nine modules in the math domain were also created. In this paper, we will focus on our assessment of the implementation of these modules across four middle schools. We will present our methodology for assessing this complex instructional effort. Data sources included online implementation surveys, teachers' on-line posts, as well as classroom observations. Findings were triangulated across these multiple data sources to provide detailed insights into curriculum functioning and teacher experiences. We will also provide some results from pre-post assessments of student learning, which were written for a subset of the science modules. Overall, the results indicate positive teacher experiences as well as significant increases in student learning in some modules. Findings from these data sources were used by curriculum developers to inform later iterations of the modules.


When rock is converted to weathering products, the involved processes can be fingerprinted using the stable isotope ratios of metals (for example Li, Mg, Ca, Fe, Sr) and metalloids (B, Si). Here we construct a framework for interpreting these "novel" stable isotope ratios quantitatively in the compartments of the weathering zone in a geomorphic context. The approach is applicable to any novel stable isotope system and is based on a simple steady-state mass balance model that represents the weathering zone from the scale of a soil column to that of entire continents. Our model is based on the assumption that the two main processes associated with isotope fractionation are formation of secondary precipitates such as clays, and uptake of nutrients by plants. The model results show that the isotope composition of a given element in the weathering zone compartments depends on (1) the ratio between the release flux to water through primary mineral dissolution and the erosion flux of isotopically fractionated solid material, consisting of secondary precipitates and organic matter; (2) the isotope fractionation factors associated with secondary mineral precipitation and uptake by plants. A relationship is established between isotope ratios, isotope fractionation factors, and indexes for chemical weathering [such as chemical depletion fractions (CDF) and elemental mass transfer coefficients (τ)] derived from simple elemental concentration measurements. From this relationship, isotope fractionation factors can be calibrated from chemical and isotope data measured on field material. Furthermore, we show how the ratio of solid export to dissolved export of a given element from the weathering system can be estimated from the comparison of the isotope composition between bedrock, water, and sediment. This calculation can be applied to samples from soils, from rivers, and from the sedimentary record, and does not require knowing the isotope fractionation factors involved in the reactions. Finally, we apply the model to the oceanic Li isotope record reconstructed from marine carbonate sediments in order to discuss changes in global geomorphic regimes through the Cenozoic.


Soft condensed matter is a vast field of interdisciplinary science for which the basic
concepts of equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics can be applied to systems
in which the constituent particles broadly obey Newtonian dynamics. The subject
matter of my thesis is the theoretical study of polyelectrolyte (PE) gels, a sub-topic
of soft matter and polymer science, which are crosslinked structures of polymer chains
containing free and bound ions. Owing to their elastic and viscous properties, these
polymeric gels can retain and release a large amount of solvent in response to ambient
conditions. In addition, the electrostatic repulsion and ion pressure allow the PE gels
to swell to enormous sizes. In my thesis work we study both the equilibrium properties
of such phases and kinetics of transition among them. The major focus of this thesis
has been to calculate the kinetics of isothermal swelling of polymer gels by developing a
theory to address the large deformations of the gels away from Hookean limits. In the
process, equipped with the basic understanding of equilibrium properties of polymeric
and polyelectrolyte (PE) gels, we theoretically solve the equation of motion for elemental
gel volumes undergoing swelling in a salt-free solvent. Before embarking on the swelling
kinetics, we first explore further the equilibrium phase behaviour of gels in terms of
volume phase transition and two-phase coexistence. We chose the room temperature for the isothermal swelling to avoid the critical slowing down of any kinetic process at the
critical temperature, which was well below the swelling temperature for the chosen set of
parameters. The mean-field free energy has been modified to include partial ionizability,
suitable for many recent experiments. In addition, we derived an analytical expression of
charge of the PE gel in the expanded state. Equipped with the free energy, we proceeded
with the two methods to solve the constitutive equation of motion for swelling kinetics,
which are the Bulk Modulus Method (BMM) that uses a linear stress-strain relationship,
and the Stress Relaxation Method (SRM) that uses a phenomenological expression of
osmotic stress. These two methods for the swelling kinetics are explored in both the
spherical and Cartesian geometries. The calculation provides the spatial and temporal
profiles for the displacement variable, polymer density, osmotic stress, and degree of ionization,
along with the time evolution of the gel-front location. Comparing the profiles
of the same variables obtained from BMM and SRM we estimated the bulk modulus of
the PE gel as functions of different ambient conditions. We note that this dynamical
method to calculate the elastic modulus is valid only for small deformations. Consequently,
an analytical expression of the elastic modulus from the linearized expression
of osmotic stress (in the small deformation limit) is derived. To check the applicability
of our model, we match the gel-front locations with the experimental data, taken from
the measurements of charged RAFT gels, to show an increase in gel-size with charge,
and we also match the same for PNIPAM (uncharged) and imidazolium-based (charged)
minigels. The agreement between our theoretical analysis and the experiments confirm
the decrease of the gel modulus value with the increase of the charge. In addition to the
dependency of charge, we further calculate the dependencies of the equilibrium size, total
swelling time, and elastic modulus of the PE gel on solvent quality and crosslink density.
We then applied SRM, which captures the non-linearities in the osmotic stress, for large
deformations of the PE gel, and obtained the total swelling time of such gels with large
strains. This result is beyond the scope of traditional linear theories. Intriguingly, a
universal power-law dependency of the swelling time on charge and crosslink density is
observed for all deformations. Results show that the linear theory underestimates the swelling time, and its deviation progressively increases with the degree of deformation.
Further, the effective diffusivity for the swelling PE gels with the same initial polymer
density is found to increase with the charge content in line with experiments. We
match the time evolution of the gel-front locations for super-adsorbent, partially ionizable
hydrogels tuning minimum number of parameters, the dielectric inhomogeneity,
in our non-linear model (SRM). The agreement between experimental and theoretical
results continues to confirm general diffusive behaviour for swelling of PE gels with a
decreasing bulk modulus with increasing degree of ionization (charge). Finally, we study
the swelling kinetics around the critical point and capture the deswelling process at a
metastable state. Results show a dilation of swelling time at the critical point and a
qualitative deviation of all the dynamical profiles for the critical isotherm compared to
those from isotherms well-above the critical temperature.


Objectives: In patients with breast cancer, Human Epidermal Growth Factor is over expressed until 30%. Monoclonal antibodies was an alternative detection cancer in molecular level. The aim of the experiment was protein recombinant of anti-HER2 scFv was constructed from the gene encoding single chain variable fragment of anti-HER2 antibody wich was fused with Histag and can be expressed in the Eschericia coli BL21(DE3) to be used as a diagnostic protein for breast cancer cells. Methods: The recombinant pJ401express_anti-HER2 scFv fused with histaq was transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) and expressed as recombinant anti-HER2 scFv protein with various inducer concentration. Then, those protein was purified with the nickel polyhistidine tag (Ni-NTA) affinity chromatography using imidazole concentration i.e 100 and 150 mM. Finally, the existence of this recombinant protein was determined with anti histaq antibody in western blot assay. Results: Plasmid isolation from E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells revelaed the existence of the recombinant pJ401express_anti-HER2 scFv. The optimum condition for using IPTG as inducer for the intracellular expressed anti-HER2 scFv gene was 1 mM IPTG which was entered into broth medium at the 3.5th hr of growth time of E. coli BL21(DE3). Then, the higher amout of more purified anti-HER2 scFv was obtained using imidazole at 150 mM. The recombinant protein was also bound to anti histaq antibody in western blot assay. Conclusion: the recombinant pJ401express_anti-HER2 scFv was successfully expressed as anti-HER2 scFv protein.


A mathematical model for the output waveform of SPWM VSI (voltage source inverter) is created specific to the harmonic problem of SPWM voltage source inverter. Through theoretical analysis and calculation, we can get the distribution regularity of the output harmonic wave in the process of frequency conversion and voltage transformation. Utilizing the matlab to verify the simulation, we can get such results like "frequency conversion will lead to the shift of the harmonic wave's distribution center", "voltage transformation will cause the valuable change of the harmonic wave and the valuable change direction of harmonic wave is opposite to that of the fundamental wave". All of these will have significant guide meaning to the application of SPWM.


Peoples' participation has been at the centre-stage of the resource conservation and rural development efforts in the developing countries. The study on peoples' participation in watershed development programmes in Rajasthan has revealed that a very low proportion of beneficiaries is contributing at different stages of the programme in terms of either labour or finances or both. The determinants of participation have been identified using Tobit regression. The institutional effectiveness has been found as the key factor towards guaranteeing involvement of people in the watershed programmes. The other factors positively related with peoples' participation are training of farmers, age, and frequency of the visit of extension workers. A negative relationship has been found between participation and off-farm income. Therefore, efforts should be made for developing effective local institutions, capacity building through training of farmers and providing off-farm employment opportunities in the countryside itself for safeguarding the livelihoods of people in the rainfed areas.


Recent years have seen a major increase in the application of predictive analytics to the service delivery domain as more and more service providers rely on such analytics for proactive risk management. At the pre-contract stage, identifying potential project risks accurately is of vital importance since it allows service providers to avoid profit erosion through proactive risk management. This paper describes a data-driven approach to project failure prediction of complex information technology (IT) projects. We introduce a novel theoretical framework of Latent Trait Analysis (LTA), whose original form was first developed in psychometrics. We take as the input questionnaire data of risk assessment reviews in the quality assurance (QA) process of IT projects before contract signing, and attempt to predict the project health in the delivery phase after contract signing. The idea is to explicitly capture the human cognitive process through LTA, and estimate the latent project failure tendency hidden behind the questionnaire answers collected by QA experts. Using real QA data of an IT service provider, we demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing approaches in project failure prediction while providing practical information on the usefulness of individual question items.


Abstract The present note reports a new record of Rosalinda incrustans (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) since its last reliable record in the Mediterranean Sea in 1958. Several colonies were recorded on the spider crab Anamathia rissoana off the Balearic Islands. The taxonomic history of R. incrustans, considered a putatively extinct species in a recent paper, is reviewed.


Pervasive computing brings a lots challenge for software architecture. This paper improves an architecture of business process driven application integration, towards the pervasive computing environments. Firstly, in the architecture, there is no central management organization, and application nodes are equal and autonomic and can communicate with each other directly; second, the application node which accepts the request is the manager, and every node have the ability to select next executive node; then, when designating the work, it considers users' personal preference and context; finally, users can ask for service through wireless devices like PDA or mobile phone. Therefore, this architecture takes a great step forward the pervasive computing environments


This research is located in the aftermath of Argentina's economic collapse in December 2001. In broad terms, it questions how subaltern or marginalised populations contest disadvantage in an environment of economic meltdown. Following the economic crash, unprecedented levels of unemployment, poverty and social marginalisation generated a variety of organic 'survival' responses. These initiatives took various forms and adopted differing approaches, including confrontational activity of piquetero organisations, whilst more institutional or structured actions of co-operative projects formed from workplace recovery. A further response was cartoneo, the practice of gathering and selling recyclable waste. Working as a cartonero, or waste gatherer was generally adopted as a last resort strategy by desperately poor, marginalised individuals from predominantly informal and semi-formal settlements in peripheral areas of the Greater Buenos Aires Province (GBA) and other urban areas nationally. Possibly taking their lead from the broader trends in co-operative organisation, numbers of waste gatherers, or cartoneros, banded together to form co-operatives. The subject of this thesis is one such project, the Tren Blanco co-operative, established in Villa Independencia, an impoverished shanty town in Jose Leon Suarez, San Martin department, GBA.

The topic was selected on the basis of the opportunity it afforded to present a subaltern study and bottom–up account of the event from the perspective of the protagonists. Appropriate to this aim, the focal aspect of the study was obtained by a qualitative oral approach of informal and semi-structured interviews combined with ethnographic observation conducted between July and August 2007. Secondary resource materials, including academic literature and other media sources, were used to provide a contextualisation of the event within both the broader context of Argentina's socio-economic history and the more specific context of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century history. Literature on the subject of social responses to Argentina's economic crisis is limited. Research into the specific phenomenon of cartonero co-operatives is even sparser. As such, this study contributes to the body of Argentine socio-economic history in both the broad and more specific sense. This work is valuable in that it provides an alternative reading to traditionally top-down recording common to some historiographical traditions and accounts. However, the core value of this research is that it provides an original contribution to knowledge by considering the meaning and human relevance of work and co-operative organisation in a marginal community in the chronological and geographical context of early twenty-first-century Argentina.


This paper provides a vision of what we term 'fluid learning' through which autonomous learners make choices about their own learning. This vision is critical because it equips European citizens to live in a global context where knowledge and work is changing so rapidly that people have to learn continually. Fluid learning is suited to a world that has seen a radical change in cultural perceptions of learner agency and learner-teacher roles, associated with changes in technology. After completing compulsory education, the focus of each learner moves from learning pre-defined knowledge to filling gaps between areas of knowledge, integrating different areas of expertise, as well as learning new knowledge. People do not turn automatically to formal institutions for large blocks of learning. Instead they consider it natural to make use of open learning resources and open courses, making their own decisions about what to learn, when and how. Learners naturally employ open learning practices, creating new knowledge for future learners to benefit from. They expect to contribute to the learning of others as well as learning themselves, viewing themselves as the experts in their own situation. In some cases they may elect to take a short formal course, but this is always for a specific reason rather than as a cultural norm. Rather than managing multiple identities in the different groups/communities to which they belong, they see their unique identity as a unifying factor that integrates their activities in various groups, including work and leisure groups that they move easily between. In doing so they accrue new knowledge, integrating it with their current understanding, such that their expertise changes dynamically to match their current needs. The vision requires significant cultural change in European society by 2030.


A novel microscale device has been developed to enable the one-step continuous flow assembly of monodisperse nanoscale liposomes using three-dimensional microfluidic hydrodynamic focusing (3D-MHF) in a concentric capillary array. The 3D-MHF flow technique displays patent advantages over conventional methods for nanoscale liposome manufacture (i.e., bulk-scale alcohol injection and/or sonication) through the on-demand synthesis of consistently uniform liposomes without the need for post-processing strategies. Liposomes produced by the 3D-MHF device are of tunable size, have a factor of two improvement in polydispersity, and a production rate that is four orders of magnitude higher than previous MHF methods, which can be attributed to entirely radially symmetric diffusion of alcohol-solvated lipid into an aqueous flow stream. Moreover, the 3D-MHF platform is simple to construct from low-cost, commercially-available components, which obviates the need for advanced microfabrication strategies necessitated by previous MHF nanoparticle synthesis platforms.


In this paper we use data from Mexico to identify Dornbusch's (1976) exchange rate overshooting hypothesis. We specify and estimate a structural cointegrated VAR that considers explicitly the presence of a set of long-run theoretical relations on macroeconomic variables (a purchasing power parity, an uncovered interest parity, a money demand, and a relation between domestic and U.S. output levels). We then impose a recursiveness assumption to identify the response of domestic variables to a monetary policy shock. The long-run restrictions embedded in the model are themselves identified, estimated, and tested using an ARDL methodology that is robust to the degree of persistence of the time series and, in particular, to whether they are trendor first-difference stationary. With this approach, we are able to find that the response of the exchange rate to monetary policy shocks is consistent with Dornbusch's model.


The only three sizeable populations of Uniola paniculata (sea oats) on the Louisiana coast west of the Mississippi River delta were studied to determine if these populations were in a state of expansion or deterioration. The populations have become established in areas with a mean water-table depth of 129 cm, which although shallow is sufficiently deep to alleviate any signs of water-logging stress. Soil nutrient concentrations and pH were generally lower inside the populations compared to adjacent unvegetated areas. Despite very low sand accretion within the populations (<0.1 m yr -1 ), vegetative lateral expansion (lateral spread) exceeded 1 m yr -1 during years with mild weather conditions, whereas years with severe overwash events resulted in a net loss of population area. The mean rate of lateral expansion of the populations over three years was 0.58 m yr -1 with the greatest mean migration being to the northwest (away from the eroding coast) at a rate of 0.85 m yr -1 . Since seed production rates in these populations are very low, colonization of new sites is extremely improbable and any population expansion is believed to be solely the result of vegetative lateral expansion. The extremely limited distribution of this species along the Louisiana coast is best explained by its reliance on vegetative reproduction, which although at rates comparable to areas where Uniola is dominant, is often not sufficient to keep pace with the rate of coastline retreat along the highly erosional, low elevation Louisiana coast.


Neurological disease may affect breathing cycles and rhythms.1 Several classic central periodic breathing patterns have been described. Biot's breathing—also known as ataxic breathing—is a breathing pattern in patients with acute neurological disease, but is rarely mentioned in the neurological literature. It can be contrasted with Cheyne–Stokes breathing (periodic stereotypical crescendo–decrescendo hyperpnoea followed by apnoea) and apneustic breathing (periodic prolonged inspiratory hold). Biot's breathing may be a rare phenomenon or just not noticed. Biot's contribution is discussed here.

Camille Biot was born in Chatenoy-le-Royal (Saone-et-Loire), France, on 19 December 1850. He made his seminal observations while an intern in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Lyon, France. After his residency, he practised medicine in Macon in 1875. He wrote on other diverse medical topics unrelated to breathing, as well as articles about Greco–Roman–Maconne archeology. He became a member of L'Academie de Macon (Societe des arts, sciences, belles lettres archeology, agriculture et encouragement au bien de Saone-et-Loire, fig 1). He died in Macon in 1918.2

 Figure 1
 Dr Camille Biot.

Biot wrote two main articles on breathing patterns. One large exploratory work focused on his observations on Cheyne–Stokes breathing.3,4 In each paper, he described patients who were admitted to the Hotel Dieu Hospital with Cheyne–Stokes respiration, his major interest. In his first article, curiously in a postscript, he described a patient who had respiratory movements that gradually decreased and increased but were irregular (fig 2), …


All spacecraft in orbit are susceptible to high velocity impact by meteoroid and space debris. Pressure vessels are the most critical components onboard spacecraft. Impacts of meteoroid or space debris on pressure vessels can indeed lead to the rupturing failure of the vessel and terminate prematurely spacecraft mission. The aim of this work is to explore experimentally the condition and the limit between simple perforation and rupturing damage of pressure vessels under high velocity impacts. Preliminary results are presented from high-velocity impact tests on thin-walled aluminum and steel cylindrical pressurized vessels filled with different percent volume of water and different pressure of gas. Damage patterns and mechanisms leading to rupturing failure are discussed.


Mini-EUSO is a mission of the JEM-EUSO program flying onboard the International Space Station since August 2019. Since the first data acquisition in October 2019, more than 35 sessions have been performed for a total of 52 hours of observations. The detector has been observing Earth at night-time in the UV range and detected a wide variety of transient sources all of which have been modeled through Monte Carlo simulations. Mini-EUSO is also capable of detecting meteors and potentially space debris and we performed simulations for such events to estimate their impact on future missions for cosmic ray science from space. We show here examples of the simulation work done in this framework to analyze the Mini-EUSO data. The expected response of Mini-EUSO with respect to ultra high energy cosmic ray showers has been studied. The efficiency curve of Mini-EUSO as a function of primary energy has been estimated and the energy threshold for Cosmic Rays has been placed to be above 10 21 eV. We compared the morphology of several transient events detected during the mission with cosmic ray simulations and excluded that they can be due to cosmic ray showers. To validate the energy threshold of the detector, a system of ground based flashers is being used for end-to-end calibration purposes. We therefore implemented a parameterization of such flashers into the JEM-EUSO simulation framework and studied the response of the detector with respect to such sources.


: Herein described is a profile of the specific knowledge and abilities of the productive home care RN that nurse managers can use in maintaining and developing an RN staff that is efficient and effective. This article describes the profile and shows how it can be used in the hiring process, during orientation, and on a day-to-day basis to manage and improve the productivity of current staff members.


Because of the relative simplicity of its nervous system, Caenorhabditis elegans is a useful model organism to study learning and memory at cellular and molecular levels. For appetitive conditioning in C. elegans, food has exclusively been used as an unconditioned stimulus (US). It may be difficult to analyze neuronal circuits for associative memory since food is a multimodal combination of olfactory, gustatory, and mechanical stimuli. Here, we report classical appetitive conditioning and associative memory in C. elegans, using 1-nonanol as a conditioned stimulus (CS), and potassium chloride (KCl) as a US. Before conditioning, C. elegans innately avoided 1-nonanol, an aversive olfactory stimulus, and was attracted by KCl, an appetitive gustatory stimulus, on assay agar plates. Both massed training without an intertrial interval (ITI) and spaced training with a 10-min ITI induced significant levels of memory of association regarding the two chemicals. Memory induced by massed training decayed within 6 h, while that induced by spaced training was retained for more than 6 h. Animals treated with inhibitors of transcription or translation formed the memory induced by spaced training less efficiently than untreated animals, whereas the memory induced by massed training was not significantly affected by such treatments. By definition, therefore, memories induced by massed training and spaced training are classified as short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM), respectively. When animals conditioned by spaced training were exposed to 1-nonanol alone, their learning index was lower than that of untreated animals, suggesting that extinction learning occurs in C. elegans. In support of these results, C. elegans mutants defective in nmr-1, encoding an NMDA receptor subunit, formed both STM and LTM less efficiently than wild-type animals, while mutations in crh-1, encoding a ubiquitous transcription factor CREB required for memory consolidation, affected LTM, but not STM. The paradigm established in the present study should allow us to elucidate neuronal circuit plasticity for appetitive learning and memory in C. elegans.


Communication with physicians and patients is critical to successfully marketing technology," says Mr. Bouchard, author of a new handbook for radiology managers. In this section from his book, he describes the components of a successful marketing plan and tries to dispel several myths about marketing. He also describes benchmarks for success, and provides a sample plan to promote mammography services.


Knowledge brokering has been explored in the innovation literature to understand how different innovation tasks are organised toward technological development. This paper reflects upon the role of different organisations as knowledge brokers in regulatory policy processes towards putting biosciences research into use. It identifies a practical function-based typology that describes four categories of policy brokers who perform different tasks, with the potential to impact biosciences regulatory policy change. The paper concludes with a brief exploration of how policy can support the different functions of regulatory policy brokerage to enhance the translation of biosciences research into use for the benefit of the poor. Using regulatory policy-making in Kenya as an example, it contributes to growing scholarship that seeks to link knowledge emanating from research with policy-making and economic development, particularly in an African context.


A bloodstream infection (BSI) is the most common serious infectious complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). BSI promotes an inflammatory state, which exacerbates acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We investigated whether a Gram-negative rod bloodstream infection (GNR-BSI), which develops early after allo-HSCT, affected the onset or exacerbated acute GVHD in 465 patients who underwent allo-HSCT from 1995 through 2015 at a single institution. Eighty-eight patients (19%) developed BSI during the study period. Among the cultures, 50 (57%) were Gram-positive cocci (GPC) and 31 (35%) were GNR. Of the 465 patients, 187 (40%) developed acute GVHD of grade II or higher within the first 100 days post-allogeneic HSCT: 124 (27%) had acute GVHD grade II, 47 (10%) had grade III, and 16 (3%) had grade IV. Multivariate analysis revealed that GNR-BSI was a significant risk factor for grade II-IV acute GVHD (grade II-IV: hazard ratio [HR] 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-2.97; grade III-IV: HR 2.37, 95% CI 1.03-5.43). These results suggest that GNR-BSI may predict the onset and exacerbation of acute GVHD.


Biosafety has always been an important aspect of daily work in any research institution, particularly for cytometry Shared Resources Laboratories (SRLs). SRLs are common‐use spaces that facilitate the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and ideas. This sharing inescapably involves contact and interaction of all those within this working environment on a daily basis. The current pandemic caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 has prompted the re‐evaluation of many policies governing the operations of SRLs. Here we identify and review the unique challenges SRLs face in maintaining biosafety standards, highlighting the potential risks associated with not only cytometry instrumentation and samples, but also the people working with them. We propose possible solutions to safety issues raised by the COVID‐19 pandemic and provide tools for facilities to adapt to evolving guidelines and future challenges.


Quantum dots are fluorescent nanoparticles used to detect and image proteins and nucleic acids. Compared with organic dyes and fluorescent proteins, these nanocrystals have enhanced brightness, photostability, and wavelength tunability, but their larger size limits their use. Recently, multidentate polymer coatings have yielded stable quantum dots with small hydrodynamic dimensions (≤10 nm) due to high-affinity, compact wrapping around the nanocrystal. However, this coating technology has not been widely adopted because the resulting particles are frequently heterogeneous and clustered, and conjugation to biological molecules is difficult to control. In this article we develop new polymeric ligands and optimize coating and bioconjugation methodologies for core/shell CdSe/Cd(x)Zn(1-x)S quantum dots to generate homogeneous and compact products. We demonstrate that "ligand stripping" to rapidly displace nonpolar ligands with hydroxide ions allows homogeneous assembly with multidentate polymers at high temperature. The resulting aqueous nanocrystals are 7-12 nm in hydrodynamic diameter, have quantum yields similar to those in organic solvents, and strongly resist nonspecific interactions due to short oligoethylene glycol surfaces. Compared with a host of other methods, this technique is superior for eliminating small aggregates identified through chromatographic and single-molecule analysis. We also demonstrate high-efficiency bioconjugation through azide-alkyne click chemistry and self-assembly with hexa-histidine-tagged proteins that eliminate the need for product purification. The conjugates retain specificity of the attached biomolecules and are exceptional probes for immunofluorescence and single-molecule dynamic imaging. These results are expected to enable broad utilization of compact, biofunctional quantum dots for studying crowded macromolecular environments such as the neuronal synapse and cellular cytoplasm.


Summary 1. Changes in the frequency of extreme events, such as droughts, may be one of the most significant impacts of climate change for ecosystems. Models predict more frequent summer droughts in much of England: this paper investigates the impact on different types of plants in an ex-arable grassland community. 2. A long-term experiment simulated increased and decreased summer precipitation. Substantial interannual variation allowed the effects of summer drought to be tested in combination with wet and dry weather in other seasons. This is important, as climate models predict increased winter precipitation. 3. Total cover abundance in early summer increased with increasing water supply in the previous summer; there was no effect of winter precipitation. Productivity is therefore likely to decrease with more frequent summer droughts, with no mitigating effect of wetter winters. 4. The percentage cover of perennial grasses declined during a natural drought in 1995‐97; this was exacerbated by the experimental drought treatment and reduced by supplemented rainfall. Simultaneously, short-lived ruderal species increased; this was greatest in drought treatments and least with supplemented rainfall. 5. These trends were subsequently reversed during several years of unusually wet weather, with perennial grasses increasing and short-lived forbs decreasing. This occurred even in experimentally droughted plots, and we propose that it resulted from rapid coverage of gaps during wet autumns and winters. 6. Deep-rooted species generally proved to be more drought resistant, but there were exceptions. 7. We conclude that increased frequency of summer droughts could have serious implications for the establishment and successional development of ex-arable grasslands. Increased winter precipitation would moderate the impact on species composition, but not on productivity.


The following text analyzes corporate identity from a dynamic perspective. Its aim is to know if brands turn corporate values into behaviours that meet stakeholders' expectations. Firstly, the essay explains how corporate identity is a key concept in the management of intangible assets because it can generate brand value and reputation. In order to explain this point, authors underline best practices in managing corporate vision and values. Secondly, the paper explores content and commu- nication platforms used by corporate and commercial brands. Lastly, the text sets out how brands should develop a dialogue and co-creation between company and stakeholders, genera- ting consumer participation. Listening to stakeholders and offering them a dialogue plat- form allows companies to obtain insights about its behaviours  and expectations. Therefore, brands can offer relevant and accurate products, experiences and content to its stakeholders. Managing brand identity from a co-creation point of view creates differentiation and competitiveness. Nevertheless, it presents a set of challenges, especially when companies have to choose between the expectations of the stakeholders and the corporate identity.


We report the identification of multitarget anti-Alzheimer compounds designed by combining a naphthoquinone function and a tacrine fragment. In vitro, 15 compounds displayed excellent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory potencies and interesting capabilities to block amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregation. The X-ray analysis of one of those compounds in complex with AChE allowed rationalizing the outstanding activity data (IC50 = 0.72 nM). Two of the compounds showed negligible toxicity in immortalized mouse cortical neurons Neuro2A and primary rat cerebellar granule neurons. However, only one of them was less hepatotoxic than tacrine in HepG2 cells. In T67 cells, both compounds showed antioxidant activity, following NQO1 induction. Furthermore, in Neuro2A, they were able to completely revert the decrease in viability induced by Aβ. Importantly, they crossed the blood-brain barrier, as demonstrated in ex vivo experiments with rats. When ex vivo results were combined with in vitro studies, these two compounds emerged to be promising multitarget lead candidates worthy of further pursuit.


In most sectors of today's industry, there is the requirement to manufacture work pieces with accuracy in micron range. However, maintaining this accuracy can be considerably impeded by thermally induced displacements which arise in the production process. Thermally induced errors cause large parts of residual machining errors on modern machine tools. Using climate control systems for whole workshops can counteract these errors. Yet, this method is extremely cost and energy intensive. To increase machine accuracy and meet the industrial demands in a more efficient way, research offers various methods to minimize this error. These methods differ greatly in their approaches and requirements. Some intervene in the machine structure, while others are based on thermomechanical models and need to be integrated into the software of the control system as correction algorithms. Since machine tools also vary in their kinematic structure and complexity, it is difficult for potential users to select suitable solutions and estimate the effort required to implement them with the available resources. This paper presents a systematization and taxonomy of such methods, which was elaborated based on solutions developed in the project CRC/TR 96. By conducting semi-structured expert interviews, the functional principle, prerequisites and resources required for the application of each solution were recorded, categorized and evaluated in terms of their effort. Based on the presented systematization, it is possible to compare these different methods and evaluate them regarding their implementation effort and flexibility. This is the first step towards a user-specific evaluation of these methods in the future and towards facilitating the transfer of this fundamental research into industrial application.


BACKGROUND
The present study examined, among weight-stable overweight or obese adults, the effect of increasing doses of exercise energy expenditure (EEex) on changes in total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), total body energy stores, and body composition.

METHODS
Healthy, sedentary overweight/obese young adults were randomized to one of 3 groups for a period of 26 weeks: moderate-exercise (EEex goal of 17.5 kcal/kg/wk), high-exercise (EEex goal of 35 kcal/kg/wk), or observation group. Individuals maintained body weight within 3% of baseline. Pre/postphysical activity between-group measurements included body composition, calculated energy intake, TDEE, energy stores, and resting metabolic rate.

RESULTS
Sixty weight-stable individuals completed the protocols. Exercise groups increased EEex in a stepwise manner compared with the observation group (P < .001). There was no group effect on changes in TDEE, energy intake, fat-free mass, or resting metabolic rate. Fat mass and energy stores decreased among the females in the high-exercise group (P = .007).

CONCLUSIONS
The increase in EEex did not result in an equivalent increase in TDEE. There was a sex difference in the relationship among energy balance components. These results suggest a weight-independent compensatory response to exercise training with potentially a sex-specific adjustment in body composition.


For all the talk lately about privilege, few have commented on the moral obligations associated with having privilege. Those who have commented have not gone much beyond the idea that the privileged should be conscious of their privilege and should listen to those who do not have it. Here we want to go further and build an account of the moral obligations of those with a particular kind of privilege: race privilege. In this paper, we articulate an understanding of race privilege, show how a person can know when she has it and argue that a race-privileged person has obligations to offset her privilege. We make concrete suggestions for how she can, at least approximately, do this. We use particular racial-group disparities in the United States as our running example throughout the paper, although our conclusions generalize.


We consider the question of designing concurrently self-composable protocols in the plain model. We first focus on the minimal setting where there is a party P1 which might interact with several other parties in any unbounded (polynomial) number of concurrent sessions. P1 holds a single input x which it uses in all the concurrent sessions. An analogy is a server interacting with various clients at the same time. In this "single input" setting, we show that many (or even most) functionalities can be securely realized in the plain model. More precisely, we are able to realize all ideal functionalities except ones which are a (weak form of) cryptographic pseudorandom functions. We complement our positive result by showing an impossibility result in this setting for a functionality which evaluates a pseudorandom function. Our security definition follows the standard ideal/real world simulation paradigm (with no super polynomial simulation etc). There is no apriori bound on the number of concurrent executions. We also show interesting extensions of our positive results to the more general setting where the honest parties may choose different inputs in different session (even adaptively), the roles that the parties assume in the protocol may be interchangeable, etc. Prior to our work, the only positive results known in the plain model in the fully concurrent setting were for zeroknowledge.


Neuronal excitability depends upon the activation of voltage-gated Na+ channels. Various neuromodulators reduce Na+ channel availability (and thus neuronal excitability) through the activation of heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated signaling pathways that lead to channel phosphorylation. Carr et al. used a combination of electrophysiological and pharmacological analysis to show that the reduction in Na+ channel availability produced by GPCR activation closely resembled slow inactivation--a slow, voltage-dependent state that occurs in response to prolonged depolarization and during repetitive firing. The authors investigated the kinetics and voltage dependence of changes in Na+ channel availability in mouse prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons in response to treatment with the 5-HT2a/c (5-hydroxytryptamine) receptor agonist 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine hydrochloride (DOI). The effects of receptor stimulation were voltage-dependent, and DOI accelerated the development and extent of slow inactivation without affecting the time constant of recovery. Moreover, the effects of DOI, like slow inactivation, were inhibited by increases in the extracellular Na+ concentration. Similarly, direct pharmacological activation of protein kinase A and protein kinase C promoted a slow inactivation-like state. The voltage dependence of phosphorylation-dependent channel inactivation occurred after phosphorylation, and mutational analysis indicated that channel phosphorylation was not required for depolarization-dependent development of slow inactivation. DOI accelerated the elevation of threshold that occurs during sustained firing (when the interspike membrane potential remains somewhat depolarized) and led to early failure of action potential generation. Thus, GPCR stimulation, by promoting a slow inactivation-like state, can selectively modulate sustained neuronal activity to produce a novel form of neuronal plasticity. D. B. Carr, M. Day, A. R. Cantrell, J. Held, T. Scheuer, W. A. Catterall, D. J. Surmeier, Transmitter modulation of slow, activity-dependent alterations in sodium channel availability endows neurons with a novel form of cellular plasticity. Neuron 39, 793-806 (2003). [Online Journal]


The categorisation of the childhood epilepsies into a number of different syndromes has allowed greater insight into the prognosis, not only with regard to seizure control but also in relation to cognitive and behavioural outcome. The role of genetics in determining both the syndrome and the behavioural outcome remains promising, although the promise is still largely unfulfilled. The behavioural/psychiatric outcome of a selection of the large number of childhood epilepsy syndromes is presented. The rate of autism in West syndrome, particularly in children who have tuberous sclerosis with temporal tubers, is high. In Dravet syndrome there is a loss of skills, with an associated increase in behavioural problems. The frequency of both subtle and overt seizures in the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome almost certainly accounts for the apparent poor motivation; however, a marked improvement in seizure control with treatment can also result in behavioural problems, probably as a result of the "release phenomenon". A number of cognitive problems can arise in the so-called "benign" syndrome of epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) and the rate of ADHD is high. Autistic features and ADHD have been described in the Landau-Kleffner syndrome and other syndromes associated with electrical status epilepticus of slow-wave sleep (ESES). Early effective treatment may reverse some of these features. There is clear evidence for a behavioural syndrome in relation to juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), in which both clinical descriptions and functional neuroimaging indicate frontal lobe deficits.


The availability of both anatomical connectivity and brain-wide neural activity measurements in C. elegans make the worm a promising system for learning detailed, mechanistic models of an entire nervous system in a data-driven way. However, one faces several challenges when constructing such a model. We often do not have direct experimental access to important modeling details such as single-neuron dynamics and the signs and strengths of the synaptic connectivity. Further, neural activity can only be measured in a subset of neurons, often indirectly via calcium imaging, and significant trial-to-trial variability has been observed. To address these challenges, we introduce a connectome-constrained latent variable model (CC-LVM) of the unobserved voltage dynamics of the entire C. elegans nervous system and the observed calcium signals. We used the framework of variational autoencoders to fit parameters of the mechanistic simulation constituting the generative model of the LVM to calcium imaging observations. A variational approximate posterior distribution over latent voltage traces for all neurons is efficiently inferred using an inference network, and constrained by a prior distribution given by the biophysical simulation of neural dynamics. We applied this model to an experimental whole-brain dataset, and found that connectomic constraints enable our LVM to predict the activity of neurons whose activity were withheld significantly better than models unconstrained by a connectome. We explored models with different degrees of biophysical detail, and found that models with realistic conductance-based synapses provide markedly better some


[1] During geomagnetic activities, perturbed electric fields at middle and low latitudes of the ionosphere may result from the effect of prompt penetration from high latitudes and the disturbance dynamo mechanism, respectively. The polarity of penetration electric fields depends on the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz, and that of electric fields associated with the disturbance dynamo is almost opposite to that in the quiet time condition. Although a few hours are required to build up the perturbed electric fields through the disturbance dynamo mechanism, the dynamo electric fields can persist for several hours after geomagnetic activities cease. It turns out that the low‐latitude electric field disturbances associated with the disturbance dynamo mechanism should be more persistent than that associated with the direct penetration from the polar cap, especially for the period in the recovery phase. Model results show a significant, westward disturbance dynamo electric field at period close to sunset, but it seems not important in the empirical model. This perturbed electric field at sunset will weaken the intensity of the prereversal enhancement and of the following fountain effect in the storm time. Relative to the quiet time condition, it produces an enhancement in the total electron content. This phenomenon is seasonal. It only occurs at period close to equinox, when the hemispheric wind (summer to winter) is minimal. These theoretical results have been substantiated by model results of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model and by the global integration and modeling in this study. Both results show that the positive phase of the ionospheric storm at the magnetic equator close to sunset is produced by the westward disturbance dynamo electric field.


The retrofit of the most energy-intensive buildings represents an opportunity to improve their energy efficiency or to reduce their energy demand. This paper proposes combining computer-aided design (CAD) modeling and the use of energy efficiency software to build a methodology for calculating, visualizing and analyzing building parameters in order to provide retrofit scenarios. Five retrofit scenarios were implemented using the energy software, including the initial operating cost, capital cost and payback period to be evaluated. At the same time, a three-dimensional CAD model was created to perform daylighting and shading simulations to visualize and design the role of building orientation under actual use conditions. These retrofit scenarios were evaluated individually and then combined to examine their performance in terms of cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency. The simulation results show the importance of the building's orientation, as this directly affects the thermal properties of the walls and openings, as well as the daylighting areas. The simulation results were also used to define the parameters that affect the interoperability of the retrofit solutions. Finally, in addition to the significant reduction in calculation time, the coupling of the CAD software with the energy efficiency software allowed access to information that was not available at the outset.


ABSTRACT Widowhood becomes increasingly common with advancing age, and spousal bereavement is likely to present additional challenges for adults in very late life. However, previous studies have not considered the potential heterogeneity of the experience of widowhood for different age cohorts. This study provided a novel examination of the experience of social resources during widowhood in the fourth age. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 widowed older men and women in the fourth age, i.e. aged 85 years and older. Participants were asked about their access to, and mobilisation of, social resources during widowhood in the fourth age. The role that these resources play in adjustment to spousal loss was also explored. During this phase, widowhood was associated with diminished social networks and concurrent challenges related to ageing and health which impacted upon support needs and social participation. Despite requiring and receiving increasing levels of social support, participants strove to maximise independence. Males and those widowed during the fourth age were more likely to experience social isolation, loneliness and unwanted informal support. Through the mobilisation of social resources many oldest-old widowed adults continue to lead socially engaged and meaningful lives. The implications of the findings for future policy and practice are discussed, including the need for programmes to promote the continuing independence, self-directedness and social engagement of widowed individuals experiencing advanced ageing.