The Clp protease is conserved among eubacteria and most eukaryotes, and uses ATP to drive protein substrate unfolding and translocation into a chamber of sequestered proteolytic active sites. The main constitutive Clp protease in photosynthetic organisms has evolved into a functionally essential and structurally intricate enzyme. The model Clp protease from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus consists of the HSP100 molecular chaperone ClpC and a mixed proteolytic core comprised of two distinct subunits, ClpP3 and ClpR. We have purified the ClpP3/R complex, the first for a Clp proteolytic core comprised of heterologous subunits. The ClpP3/R complex has unique functional and structural features, consisting of twin heptameric rings each with an identical ClpP33ClpR4 configuration. As predicted by its lack of an obvious catalytic triad, the ClpR subunit is shown to be proteolytically inactive. Interestingly, extensive modification to ClpR to restore proteolytic activity to this subunit showed that its presence in the core complex is not rate-limiting for the overall proteolytic activity of the ClpCP3/R protease. Altogether, the ClpP3/R complex shows remarkable similarities to the 20 S core of the proteasome, revealing a far greater degree of convergent evolution than previously thought between the development of the Clp protease in photosynthetic organisms and that of the eukaryotic 26 S proteasome.


This study investigated the impact of water quality changes on the ecological structure of macro invertebrates in a tropical river. The macro-fauna was expected to change with changes in water characteristics. River Gatharaini was selected as the study area and several sampling stations were selected along its gradient. Selection of the sampling stations was based on the prominent land use immediately upstream which could discharge pollutants into the river either directly or indirectly through erosion. Major land use systems considered are arable/mixed farming, coffee plantations, industry (Kamiti Tannery factory) and housing estates. The water parameters studied include TDS, EC, pH, DO, temperature and turbidity. A core sampler was used in sampling of macro invertebrates. This study was carried out for 7 months at a sampling interval of 28 days. The results indicated significant seasonal and station variations in all the water quality parameters except temperature. Macrozoobenthic diversity trends also showed significant spatial temporal variation in water quality characteristics shows extreme pollution making it void of fauna life. With decreased pollution levels, the river showed signs of recovery several kilometers downstream where pollution tolerant species predominate. This suggests that a self-purification process was in place.


Rampant fraud' (mostly by sellers) is being committed on eBay, the most successful online auction house and marketplace. Online auction fraud is growing like a festering cancer because much of the fraud goes undetected, unreported, or unprosecuted. Moreover, even when credible evidence of fraud becomes available to eBay or the law enforcement community, little (if any) action is taken to remedy the problem. Therefore, to establish the Internet as a truly viable and stable commercial community, minimum guidelines and regula-


Snake venom is a critical evolutionary innovation enabling venomous snakes to become successful limbless predators; it is therefore vital that snakes possess a highly efficient venom production system to maintain their predatory arsenal. The dynamics of venom synthesis and the regulatory mechanisms by which the expression of venom protein-encoding genes is controlled are little understood. The overarching aim of the work described in this thesis was to investigate the dynamics of venom synthesis in terms of the production of venom in juvenile snakes from birth and in the immediate replenishment of depleted venom stores using the African Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) as a model viperid species. We also aimed to investigate the underlying control mechanisms which regulate venom production
Initial studies revealed a remarkable degree of intra-species variation in the protein profile, immunoreactivity and enzyme activity of venom between B. arietans specimens originating from different geographical origins across sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia, and within the same geographical origin. Variation was most evident in the snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs); toxins with a primary role in the haemorrhagic and tissue-necrotic pathologies suffered by envenomed victims. Our findings are of therapeutic importance as observations could translate into variations in the clinical manifestation of B. arietans envenoming and affect the patient response to antivenom treatment.
To monitor the synthesis of venom proteins, we exploited the unusual stability of messenger RNA in lyophilised snake venoms as an alternative source of transcriptionally active mRNA to venom gland tissues, thus avoiding the requirement to sacrifice specimens for transcriptome analysis. Our optimised approach was used to quantitatively track changes in expression of venom protein-encoding genes. Our results showed that the gene expression, protein composition and functional activity of juvenile B. arietans venom did not appear to significantly change over time from birth to four years indicating that some aspects of venom are genetically hard-coded. We also showed that venom resynthesis triggered by venom expulsion peaked between days 3-7 following depletion of venom, with different protein families expressed in parallel. It appeared that venom production in both adult and juvenile specimens occurs very rapidly, presumably to ensure that venomous snakes retain their ability to efficiently predate and remain defended from predators.
Our findings suggest that highly regulated mechanisms may be in place to ensure the rapid synthesis of venom. As it appeared that different venom protein families shared similar expression levels during venom replenishment, we investigated whether venom genes also showed similarities in their genomic location, organisation and structure, and regulatory elements responsible for controlling expression levels. We have taken the first steps to begin to investigate the genomic structure and organisation of genes encoding venom protein families expressed in B. arietans venom.


A novel human ferritin-based nanocarrier, composed of 24 modified monomers able to auto-assemble into a modified protein cage, was produced and used as selective carrier of anti-tumor payloads. Each modified monomer derives from the genetic fusion of two distinct modules, namely the heavy chain of human ferritin (HFt) and a stabilizing/protective PAS polypeptide sequence rich in proline (P), serine (S), and alanine (A) residues. Two genetically fused protein constructs containing PAS polymers with 40- and 75-residue lengths, respectively, were compared. They were produced and purified as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli at high yields. Both preparations were highly soluble and stable in vitro as well as in mouse plasma. Size-exclusion chromatography, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy results indicated that PASylated ferritins are fully assembled and highly monodispersed. In addition, yields and stability of encapsulated doxorubicin were significantly better for both HFt-PAS proteins than for wild-type HFt. Importantly, PAS sequences considerably prolonged the half-life of HFt in the mouse bloodstream. Finally, our doxorubicin-loaded nanocages preserved the pharmacological activity of the drug. Taken together, these results indicate that both of the developed HFt-PAS fusion proteins are promising nanocarriers for future applications in cancer therapy.


This paper presents a Lyapunov design for the stabilization of collective motion in a planar kinematic model of N particles moving at constant speed. We derive a control law that achieves asymptotic stability of the splay state formation, characterized by uniform rotation of N evenly spaced particles on a circle. In designing the control law, the particle headings are treated as a system of coupled phase oscillators. The coupling function which exponentially stabilizes the splay state of particle phases is combined with a decentralized beacon control law that stabilizes circular motion of the particles.


Much has been written in the West on the history of the Soviet space program but few Westerners have read direct first-hand accounts of the men and women who were behind the many Russian accomplishments in exploring space.The memoirs of Academician Boris Chertok, translated from the original Russian, fills that gap.Chertok began his career as an electrician in 1930 at an aviation factory near Moscow.Twenty-seven years later, he became deputy to the founding figure of the Soviet space program, the mysterious Chief Designer Sergey Korolev. Chertok s sixty-year-long career and the many successes and failures of the Soviet space program constitute the core of his memoirs, Rockets and People. These writings are spread over four volumes. This is volume I. Academician Chertok not only describes and remembers, but also elicits and extracts profound insights from an epic story about a society s quest to explore the cosmos. In Volume 1, Chertok describes his early years as an engineer and ends with the mission to Germany after the end of World War II when the Soviets captured Nazi missile technology and expertise. Volume 2 takes up the story with the development of the world s first intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM) and ends with the launch of Sputnik and the early Moon probes. In Volume 3, Chertok recollects the great successes of the Soviet space program in the 1960s including the launch of the world s first space voyager Yuriy Gagarin as well as many events connected with the Cold War. Finally, in Volume 4, Chertok meditates at length on the massive Soviet lunar project designed to beat the Americans to the Moon in the 1960s, ending with his remembrances of the Energiya-Buran project.


Significance This unique research on the chemical composition of organic balms of food mummies completes the trilogy of mummy types known from Ancient Egypt, complementing previous investigations of human and animal mummies. Our findings show that the Ancient Egyptians prepared the food offerings they made to their dead using preservation techniques at least as exotic as those used in embalming human and animal mummies. The discovery of the precious Pistacia resin on a beef rib mummy is especially noteworthy because the use of this substance is rare even in human mummies. The funeral preparations for ancient Egyptian dead were extensive. Tomb walls were often elaborately painted and inscribed with scenes and objects deemed desirable for the afterlife. Votive objects, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and importantly, food including bread, cereals, fruit, jars of wine, beer, oil, meat, and poultry were included in the burial goods. An intriguing feature of the meat and poultry produced for the deceased from the highest levels of Egyptian society was that they were mummified to ensure their preservation. However, little is known about the way they were prepared, such as whether balms were used, and if they were used, how they compared with those applied to human and animal mummies? We present herein the results of lipid biomarker and stable carbon isotope investigations of tissues, bandaging, and organic balms associated with a variety of meat mummies that reveal that treatments ranged from simple desiccation and wrapping in bandages to, in the case of the tomb of Yuya and Tjuia (18th Dynasty, 1386–1349 BC), a balm associated with a beef rib mummy containing a high abundance of Pistacia resin and, thus, more sophisticated than the balms found on many contemporaneous human mummies.


Selection pressure restrains the selection of individuals from the current population to produce a new population in the next generation. It gives individuals of higher quality a higher probability of being used to create the next generation so that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) can focus on promising regions in the search space. An evolutionary learning process is dynamic and requires different selection pressures at different learning stages in order to speed up convergence or avoid local optima. Therefore, it is desirable for selection mechanisms to be able to automatically tune selection pressure during evolution. Tournament selection is a popular selection method in EAs, especially genetic algorithms and genetic programming (GP). This paper focuses on tournament selection and shows that the standard tournament selection scheme is unaware of the dynamics in the evolutionary process and that the standard tournament selection scheme is unable to tune selection pressure automatically. This paper then presents a novel approach which integrates the knowledge of the fitness rank distribution (FRD) of a population into tournament selection. Through mathematical modeling, simulations, and experimental study in GP, this paper shows that the new approach is effective and using the knowledge of FRD is a promising way to modify the standard tournament selection method for tuning the selection pressure dynamically and automatically along evolution.


ABSTRACT Crinoids and brachiopods are described from the Silurian Uzyan Formation of the Zilair Zone in the southern Urals. The occurrence of the graptolites Coronograptus praedeubeli suggests a late Homerian (Wenlock) age for the strata. A new disparid crinoid, Cicerocrinus gracilis Donovan sp. nov., is the oldest known member of this genus. It has a long, flexible and homeomorphic column, and a tall bryozoan palaeontology terminology (IBr2) (second primibrachial) axillary. All species of Cicerocrinus described previously have been limited to the Ludlow of the British Isles, Sweden and Estonia, and the Pridoli of Estonia. The poorly preserved brachiopod fauna is represented by small atrypid (Atrypa? sp.) and dalmanellid brachiopods (Levenea? sp.). The reported assemblage generally inhabited deep-water environments.


Background Low back pain is a costly healthcare problem and the leading cause of disability among adults in the United States. Primary care providers urgently need effective ways to deliver evidence-based, nonpharmacological therapies for chronic low back pain. Guidelines published by several government and national organizations have recommended nonpharmacological and nonopioid pharmacological therapies for low back pain. Objective The Pain eHealth Platform (PEP) pilot trial aims to test the feasibility of a highly innovative intervention that (1) uses an electronic health record (EHR) query to systematically identify a phenotype of obese, older adults with chronic low back pain who may benefit from Web-based behavioral treatments; (2) delivers highly tailored messages to eligible older adults with chronic low back pain via the patient portal; (3) links affected patients to a Web app that provides education on the efficacy of evidence-based, nonpharmacological, behavioral pain treatments; and (4) directs patients to existing Web-based health treatment tools. Methods Using a three-step modified Delphi method, an expert panel of primary care providers will define a low back pain phenotype for an EHR query. Using the defined low back pain phenotype, an EHR query will be created to identify patients who may benefit from the PEP. Up to 15 patients with low back pain will be interviewed to refine the tailored messaging, esthetics, and content of the patient-facing Web app within the PEP. Up to 10 primary care providers will be interviewed to better understand the facilitators and barriers to implementing the PEP, given their clinic workflow. We will assess the feasibility of the PEP in a single-arm pragmatic pilot study in which secure patient portal invitations containing a hyperlink to the PEP Web app are sent to 1000 patients. The primary outcome of the study is usability as measured by the System Usability Scale. Results Qualitative interviews with primary care providers were completed in April 2019. Qualitative interviews with patients will begin in December 2019. Conclusions The PEP will leverage informatics and the patient portal to deliver evidence-based nonpharmacological treatment information to adults with chronic low back pain. Results from this study may help inform the development of Web-based health platforms for other pain and chronic health conditions. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/14525


Almond leaf scorch disease (ALSD) caused by Xylella fastidiosa is potentially a serious threat to the almond industry in San Joaquin Valley of California. Knowledge of X. fastidiosa behaviour in the plant host under field conditions is important for disease control and this issue is being addressed in this project. Occurrence of ALSD is strongly influenced by environmental factors. In 2006, the earliest leaf scorching symptoms were observed in June, whereas in 2007, the earliest occurrence of leaf scorching symptoms was in July, a delay of 1 month. In both years, PCR detected X. fastidiosa 1 month before of symptom expression. PCR was slightly more sensitive than cultivation method for early bacterial detection. However, uneven bacterial distribution and random sampling errors may have contributed to the differences among the assays. Correlation between cultivation and PCR detection was greater than 90%. During the processing of a large number of samples, we noticed occasional failures in PCR amplifications of some samples, interfering result interpretation. We developed an array-PCR protocol using primers from seven housekeeping genes to correct the deficiency.


BACKGROUND
To date, the use of meshes in repairing abdominal wall defects has brought many advantages, especially in terms of recurrence prevention, but it is not exempt from complications, such as chronic pain, entero-cutaneous fistulas and intestinal obstruction. Here we report a case of intestinal obstruction in a patient with a large umbilical hernia treated laparoscopically by means of a composite polypropylene mesh, six year before.

CASE REPORT
A 49-year-old man came to our care with a 3-day history of central and right lower abdominal quadrant pain and a clinical picture of intestinal obstruction. Six years before the patient underwent a laparoscopic intervention to repair his umbilical hernia, with the positioning of a polypropylene coated mesh. Abdominal ultrasonography (US) confirmed the obstruction and demonstrated adhesions between an intestinal loop and the mesh. Intraoperatively, obstruction was confirmed and an intestinal segment had to be resected.

CONCLUSIONS
Small bowel obstruction is an uncommon but possible late complication after laparoscopic hernia repair with coated polypropylene mesh.


The aim of this study was to determine whether metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) are associated with outcomes in Stage I lung cancer patients treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Thirty-eight patients underwent [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) within 60 days before SBRT at our institution between January 2001 and December 2011. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), MTV2, MTV4, MTV6, TLG40%, TLG50% and TLG60% were calculated. Prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and local control (LC) were analyzed using Cox's proportional hazards model, and survival curves were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves of PET parameters for OS and LC were calculated. The median follow-up period for survivors was 37.7 months. Three-year OS and LC rates were 56.4% and 70.5%, respectively, and 5-year OS and LC rates were 36.8% and 70.5%, respectively. In univariate analyses, tumor diameter (P = 0.019), single dose ≥10 Gy (P = 0.017), MTV2 (P = 0.030) and MTV4 (P = 0.048) were significant predictors for OS. Tumor diameter (P < 0.001), single dose ≥10 Gy (P = 0.007), SUVmax (P = 0.035), MTV2 (P < 0.001), MTV4 (P = 0.003), MTV6 (P = 0.017), TLG40% (P < 0.001), TLG50% (P = 0.001) and TLG60% (P = 0.003) were significant predictors for LC. SUVmax was not a significant predictor for OS. We made the ROC curves at PET parameters, and the largest area under the curve value for OS was MTV2 and for LC was TLG40%. Tumor diameter, single dose ≥10 Gy, MTV2 and MTV4 are prognostic factors for OS and LC rates and MTV2 is a better prognostic factor for OS than other PET parameters.


Background and Objectives: Balint seminars began in London in 1950 on a voluntary basis for general practitioners wishing to explore psychological problems in their practice. By 1964, there was a 36% early dropout rate among the 223 physicians who participated. This study sought to determine if those who leave Balint training during their residency, versus those who continue, have different psychological characteristics. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 206 Medical University of South Carolina family practice residents from 1982 to 1999 was completed. All residents participated in 6 months of required Balint training and then could leave the Balint group or continue for the remaining 2 years. We examined gender and personality attributes, comparing residents who completed 2 years of weekly Balint training and residents who left after 6 months. Personality attributes were measured with the Myers-Briggs Inventory, the Work Environmental Preference Schedule, the Internal-External Locus of Control, the Fundamental Interpersonal Relationship Orientation Behavior test, and the Personal Orientation Inventory. Results: A total of 132 residents completed 2 years of weekly Balint training, and 74 discontinued training after 6 months. Two-year attendees were significantly more intuitive on the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory (MBTI). There were no significant differences on other MBTI items, nor were there significant differences in gender or in scores on the other psychological tests. Conclusions: Based on the rate of discontinuation of Balint training in our sample, Balint work does not appear to be suited to all physicians. With the exception of one MBTI characteristic, no significant differences could be demonstrated between those who did and did not continue participating. Further study is necessary to define other attributes characterizing Balint group attendees and nonattendees.


As commercial aerospace companies advance toward manned spaceflight, they must overcome many hurdles – not only technical, but also human. One of the greatest human challenges they face is food. Throughout the history of human spaceflight, astronauts have primarily eaten food developed by government space agencies. Now, with manned commercial flights on the horizon, astronauts will be provided with an entirely new diet – one comprised of commercially available, ready-to-eat food. Yet will this diet keep astronauts nourished, satisfied with their diet, and both psychologically and physically healthy? The purpose of this parallel crossover design study was to evaluate (a) nutrient intake, (b) food satisfaction, (c) psychological health, and (d) physical health in commercial aerospace employees (N = 7) as they ate a diet of commercial, ready-to-eat food for four days, as compared to eating as normal for four days. Findings from this study showed that the ready-to-eat diet did not lead to any significant changes in caloric intake, psychological health, or physical health, aside from weight loss. It is not clear whether this weight loss was due to the loss of body fat, muscle, or water. When eating the ready-to-eat food, participants reported being slightly less satisfied with the variety, reported lower cravings for sweets, and reported the food was slightly less hedonically rewarding. In post-study interviews, participants reported they wanted to see more meats, fruits, vegetables, and desserts added to the ready-to-eat diet, so as to provide more meal-like structure. Overall, these findings show the diet could be used in commercial spaceflight after making simple changes. The diet could also be used by individuals in remote areas on Earth and to provide food assistance to individuals in disaster or emergency situations. Due to the increasing popularity of ready-to-eat food around the world, these findings also provide knowledge about the potential consequences of modern eating trends.


with the rapid development of digital printing, the method and standard of quality detection for digital printing become focus of research. The main work and innovations in this paper include: ①Computer image analysis method was applied to ink-jet printing quality detection for the first time; ②Compared with traditional printing quality test, ink dot, line, color patch and MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) were selected as measurement and control elements. And the test proofs for detecting printing quality were designed; ③The detection algorithm and the overall detection process were put forward in this paper. The result of the experiment demonstrates: the detection method based on capturing measurement and control elements by CCD can accurately accomplish the objective quality evaluation for ink-jet printing. Detection method of print was improved to extend the scope of detection by this research, which could be generalized as a standard method for the detection of ink-jet printing quality.


In this paper, we demonstrate an effective method to compensate the temperature effect of long period fiber grating (LPFG). First it is found that the resonant wavelength of LPFG showes a right shift when the temperature increases while it has an opposite shift when the applied strain increases. On the basis of the characteristic, plexiglass is used to compensate the shift of the resonant wavelength induced by the tempera-ture change. The temperature characteristic of compensated LPFG has been performed. And the compensa-tion experimental result shows the temperature sensitivity of the resonance wavelength of LPFG is reduced from 55.71pm/°C to 3.7pm/°C. It is found that the method to compensate temperature is effective and prac-tical.


This paper aims at understanding Latino youth challenges and concentrates on: 1) an assessment of the demographic transformation which highlights the importance of studying the Latino population in general; 2) an examination of the role of Latino youth in the changing national context; 3) an overview of Latino youth in terms of the official definition of who they are and a discussion of the growing debate over Latino identity and Hispanicity; and 4) an examination of Latino diversity and unity. The authors also discuss the reasons why national policies like immigration and welfare reform heighten awareness of Latinos. They also examine some troubling socioeconomic indicators that challenge Latinos as a whole, such as problems with low income, education, unemployment, deviance, juvenile crime, etc. They found that Latino youth are not achieving the type of education that prepares them for better paying, high skill, professional jobs. They are facing problems of poverty, family dysfunction, and deviant behavior, at least on par with other ethnic groups or even to a greater degree. They also found that despite these concerns, most Latino youth possess the skills ideally suited for a global world, namely the skills of being bilingual, multicultural, and acute awareness of social changes within local communities. The authors argue that Latino youth represent a critical part of this nation's future leaders and workers and are increasingly needed by an aging population in a global world of more trade and international competition. They call for a full-scale blueprint investment in Latino youth and their future. University Outreach and Engagement Julian Samora Research Institute


This thesis examines the influence which Calvinism has had on Scottish literature, directly as a theme in itself and indirectly as a social influence on the history of the nation. We have concentrated on a small group of novels, written between 1816 and 1824, which represent the peak of Calvinism as a literary influence in the historical theme of the Covenanting movement and the theological theme of hyper-Calvinism, which themes we treat separately. Before our main critique, we examine in Part One of this thesis the theological and historical background of the novels concerned. In Section I, we trace the development of Calvinism from the works of Calvin himself to a hyper-Calvinism which Calvin would scarcely have recognised, then give an account of the historical background to the Covenanting movement, that the literature may be fully appreciated and understood in its historical and theological context. Section II sketches the influences which came to the fore in the Enlightenment, which provide the immediate cultural background for the writers whose work we examine. We give special attention here to the influence of Robert Burns, who, we argue, made possible the theological debate which we examine in Parts Two and Three by tackling theological themes in his work. Part Two examines over six sections the literary portrayals of the Covenanters and the Killing Times in selected works of Scott, Hogg and Galt. Section I explains briefly how the novels came to be written and how they were seen to relate to each other; Sections II, III and IV in turn give theological critiques of Scott's Old Mortality, Hogg's The Brownie of Bodsbeck and Galt's Ringan Gilhaize. We also demonstrate in Section IV how Galt portrays the social and theological changes in Scotland during the Enlightenment period. Section V examines the various novels' distinct portrayals of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, equally lambasted as "Bloody Clavers" and lauded as "Bonnie Dundee"; his characterisation is a key element to understanding each author's sympathies and prejudices. Section VI examines how the novels portray the prevailing superstition of the times and in light of this ponders how well established Reformed theology was in Scotland and the implications for the claim that Scotland was a Covenanted nation. In Part Three, we examine the portrayal of hyper-Calvinism in the psychological novel. While we note Scott's portrayal of the psychological turmoil of Jeannie Deans and her father in The Heart of Midlothian as they confront a crisis of faith, we mainly give a critique of Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner as an exposition of the consequences of the extrapolation of a certain theological thesis to its logical conclusion. Part Four highlights the decreasing influence of Calvinism and theology in general after the first quarter of the 19th century. We give an overview of our findings in our Conclusion; our personal considerations on the relevance of Calvinism in Scottish life and literature today we reserve for a Postscript.


With the ever growing demands of power and bandwidth by users, energy and spectral efficiency emanated as key criteria for designing future wireless networks. Therefore, in this thesis energy harvesting (EH) aided device-to-device (D2D) communication is designed for improving both the key design criteria, which is an intricate journey from the realm of individual analysis of EH and D2D communication to that of amalgamating the two techniques. Specifically, with the widespread use of energy hungry smart devices, these devices become dis-functional due to outage of batteries, which can be avoided by introduction of EH capability at these nodes. In this context, an energy efficient successive relaying based network is conceived using rechargeable source and relay nodes having limited buffers for both their energy and data storage. An optimal and sub-optimal transmission policies are designed for the maximisation of the network throughput with non-causal knowledge of energy arrivals by the deadline. On the other hand, for exploiting the spectrum efficiently, D2D communication is invoked which brings in new interference scenarios that may be circumvented by incorporating fractional frequency reuse (FFR) or soft frequency reuse (SFR) in OFDMA cellular networks. By carefully considering the downlink resource reuse of the D2D links, beneficial frequency allocation schemes are proposed, when the macrocell has employed FFR or SFR. The coverage probability and the capacity of D2D links are analytically derived under the proposed schemes. It is imperative to integrate the benefits of EH and D2D communication aided systems for creating unparalleled opportunities in emerging applications. Therefore, a system is designed that comprises of EH aided D2D links relying on downlink resource reuse with the goal of maximizing the sum-rate of the D2D links, without degrading the quality of service (QoS) requirement of the MUs. A pair of joint resource block and power allocation algorithms are proposed for the D2D links, when there is non-causal (off-line) and causal (on-line) knowledge of the EH profiles at the D2D transmitters. For the sake of further accentuating design flexibility and alleviating the demands of increased spectral resources, previously designed EH aided D2D communication is investigated in conjunction with heterogeneous network (HetNet). An algorithmic solution is proposed with the aim of maximising the sum-rate of these D2D links in the downlink of two-tier HetNet without unduly degrading MU's throughput, when two tiers share spectrum under following regimes: (a) orthogonal, (b) co-channel and (c) the proposed coorthogonal. Low complexity heuristic methods are also proposed, which demonstrate that the optimization of the D2D-MU matching is indeed crucial for the system considered.


The top‐seeded solution growth method is a promising technique for growing high‐quality silicon carbide single crystal. Some inherent issues in this growth process, such as morphological instability, polycrystalline growth, and low growth rate, should be clarified. A high temperature difference between the seed and the crucible wall in this system is needed to enhance growth. However, such a high temperature gradient makes the radial growth rate profile non‐uniform due to the effect of Marangoni convection below the seed crystal, which leads to poor crystal quality. In the present work, the effects of crucible size and crucible rotation are numerically investigated to minimize the effect of Marangoni convection. The possibilities of the occurrence of growth‐rate non‐uniformity and undesired impurity incorporation are examined. A smaller crucible (in radius) leads to a more uniform growth rate profile. However, it gives rise to a higher possibility of impurity incorporation. It is also predicted that crucible rotation is ineffective in suppressing the Marangoni flow near the seed edge. This leads to a flow stagnation in the center of the melt, and consequently, it does not enhance the carbon transport below the seed. It also does not reduce the possibility of undesired impurity incorporation.


PL02-03 Treatment resistance and a poor prognosis characterize glioblastoma, with a median survival of less than 15 months. Based on the recent findings in the randomized trial conducted by the EORTC and the NCIC (Stupp et al. N Engl J Med, 2005). concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) and radiotherapy has become the new standard of care for newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients. In order to identify patients benefiting from the addition of the alkylating drug TMZ the epigenetic inactivation of the O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT)gene was evaluated in a candidate gene approach. MGMT is a repair enzyme known to rapidly revert the highly toxic O6-methylguanine to its native state, guanine, in a suicide reaction. Hence, blunting most of the treatment effect of the alkylating drug. Here we tested the relationship of MGMT silencing by promoter methylation with outcome in patients randomized either to initial therapy with the alkylating agent TMZ and radiotherapy (RT) or RT only. The benefit from TMZ was mainly confined to patients whose tumors carried a methylated MGMT gene. At 2 years, 46% of the patients treated with TMZ/radiotherapy and whose tumors had a methylated MGMT promoter survived, compared with only 14% for the patients with an unmethylated MGMT status (overall log-rank P=0.0001). In concordance with the mechanistic link to proficient repair, survival analysis of the non-methylated cases indicated only a marginal temozolomide derived benefit for patients (p=0.062, borderline, logrank test). The MGMT status is under prospective evaluation for prediction of benefit from TMZ therapy. Due to the prominent role of MGMT in resistance to therapy it has become a prime target. Efforts aim at depleting the protein from the tumor cells by non-toxic inhibitors such as O6-benzyl guanine, or by a dose dense schedule of TMZ therapy.
 However, even in the cohort of patients with a methylated MGMT overall survival remains unsatisfactory and extremely variable, indicating additional mechanisms of treatment resistance. Glioblastoma gene expression profiles have identified new independent mechanisms of resistance to this treatment that may be targeted as part of an improved trial design.
 To date, the test for the MGMT-methylation status is the only tool available that may direct the choice for alkylating agents in glioblastoma patients, and thus, promote individually tailored therapy. For patients with an un-methylated MGMT gene, unlikely to respond, alternative treatments should be proposed.


Discussions in the United States have been accelerating over the past year about the possible adoption of a nationwide emissions trading scheme and how to address issues concerning the competitiveness of American industries, as well as the related problem of carbon leakage. The discussions are likely to become even more intense in 2009 with the advent of a new Congress and new Administration. The purpose of this report is to inform those discussions and to advance understanding of the issues in other countries. It does so by focusing on the potential role of one of the mechanisms to address the competitiveness and leakage concerns, namely the use of border adjustment measures. The analysis addresses a wide range of issues concerning border adjustment measures - including elements in proposed US legislation and the prospects for passage of cap-and-trade legislation; questions about design features of border adjustment measures in discussions in the US and their prospects for inclusion in possible future legislation; the compatibility or incompatibility of proposed legislation with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and obligations; a comparison of the debates in the EU and US about the adoption of border adjustment measures; and the prospects for international coordination among the EU, US and other countries in the development of the post-2012 climate regime.


: Several techniques have been used to treat chronic dislocation of the mandible. Most of these techniques represent attempts at reducing the mobility of the TMJ. The eminectomy procedure is an attempt at restoring normal joint function without reducing mobility of the joint. We have presented two cases of chronic dislocation of the mandible that were treated successfully by removal of the articular tubercle and the lateral portion of the temporal bone. Although surgery of the TMJ area may be hazardous if approached without caution, we feel that the complications associated with this procedure are minimized if adequate care is taken in flap design and tissue dissection. On the basis of the excellent results of the eminectomy procedures reported in the literature and of our own experience with this procedure, we feel that this is the preferred treatment for chronic dislocation of the mandible.


This paper explores how far the expectations of and the practices and technologies used by academics in management roles in UK higher education at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries appear to differ from those used in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The system of higher education in the UK is explained and then concepts of new managerialism and academic knowledge work are discussed. Next, the changing policy context of UK higher education since the 1960s is examined. The paper then uses illustrations of perceptions of contemporary changes to changing expectations about the roles of academics in management roles in UK universities from a recent UK Economic and Social Research Council funded project on 'New Managerialism and the Management of UK Universities'. Finally, using research and insider accounts of university management and governance from the 1960s onwards, the paper examines the extent to which so-called new forms of management of higher education may have predated the 1990s. It is suggested that whilst some elements of the management of universities remain intact (role titles, leadership of academics, oversight of teaching and research) from the 1960s and 1970s, radical policy changes from the 1980s onwards have meant that major shifts in what was expected of academics in management roles began in the early to mid-1980s.


Ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems are increasingly being used for the detection and location of buried objects within the upper regions of the earth's surface. The antenna is the most critical component of such a system. This thesis presents a comprehensive study of resistor-loaded planar dipole antennas for GPR applications using both theory and experiments. The theoretical analysis is performed using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique.The analysis starts with the most popular planar dipole, the bow-tie. A parametric study is done to find out how the flare angle, length, and lumped resistors of the antenna should be selected to achieve broadband properties and good target detection with less clutter. The screening of the antenna and the position of transmitting and receiving antennas with respect to each other and ground surface are also studied. A number of other planar geometrical shapes are considered and compared with the bow-tie in order to find what geometrical shape gives the best performance. The FDTD simulations are carried out for both lossless and lossy, dispersive grounds. Also simulations are carried out including surface roughness and natural clutter like rocks and twigs to make the modeling more realistic.Finally, a pair of resistor-loaded bow-tie antennas is constructed and both indoor and outdoor measurements are carried out to validate the simulation results.


This paper describes the 3D spherical antenna measurement system for a passive antenna measurement, CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) OTA (Over The Air) testing and characterizing of mobile MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) terminals. The measurements of the monopole box are performed for the calibration of the proposed measurement system. Finally, the proposed system is able to measure the experimental model of MIMO terminal with adapting the diversity antenna system.


As of 2021, it has been reported that around 90% of data breaches occur on ac- count of phishing, while about 83% of organizations experienced phishing attacks [1]. Phishing can be defined as the cybercrime in which a target is contacted through e-mail, telephone or text message by someone impersonating a legitimate institution [2]. Through psychological manipulation, the threat actor attempts to deceive users into providing sensitive information, thereby causing financial and intellectual property losses, reputational damages, and operational activity disruption. In this light, this paper presents a comprehensive review of eyetracking in association with phishing cyberattacks. To determine their impact on phishing detection accuracy, this work reviews 20 empirical studies which measure eye-tracking metrics with respect to different Areas of Interest (AOIs). The described experiments aim to produce simple cognitive user reactions, examine concentration, perception and trust in the system; all in which determine the level of susceptibility to deception and manipulation. Results suggest that longer gaze durations on AOIs, characterized by higher attention control, are strongly correlated with detection accuracy. Eye-tracking behavior also shows that technical background, domain knowledge, experience, training, and risk perception con- tribute to mitigating these attacks. Meanwhile, Time to First Fixation (TTFF), entry time and entry sequence data yielded inconclusive results regarding the impact on susceptibility to phishing attacks. The results aid in designing user-friendly URLs, visual browsing aids, and embedded and automated authentication systems. Most importantly, these findings can be used to establish user awareness through the development of training programs. be used to establish user awareness through the development of training programs.


Bacillus subtilis is a spore-forming bacterium that can persist for years in a resistant state. When faced with starvation, bacteria instead enter the complex developmental pathway of spore formation. Gonzalez-Pastor et al. (see the Perspective by Engelberg-Kulka and Hazan) have found that bacteria en route to sporulation produce a toxin (sporulation-killing factor) similar to peptide antibiotics that lyses sibling cells not committed to sporulation. The killing operon also produces its own export pump and confers resistance to the killing peptide. The nutrient boost from the lysed cells allows the surviving cells to postpone sporulation, to escape its energetic costs, and to continue replication. A signaling factor (sporulation-delaying protein) mediates this escape from sporulation via a transcription factor that stimulates lipid oxidation and adenosine 5′-triphosphate production to restore energy reserves. J. E. González-Pastor, E. C. Hobbs, R. Losick, Cannibalism by sporulating bacteria. Science 301, 510-513 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text] H. Engelberg-Kulka, R. Hazan, Cannibals defy starvation and avoid sporulation. Science 301, 467-468 (2003). [Summary] [Full Text]


A 6 GHz Type-I fractional-N PLL with noise-cancelling DAC and discrete-time sample and hold loop-filter is presented. The 1 MHz bandwidth PLL utilizes an inherently linear PFD and noise-cancelling charge-pump DAC circuit to reduce quantization noise by more than 25 dB. The worst case near-integer in-band spur is measured at -61 dBc and the integrated RMS phase error is - 42 dBc. The measured in-band phase noise at 300 kHz offset from the 6.12 GHz carrier is -102 dBc/Hz and out-of-band phase noise at 3 MHz offset is -130 dBc/Hz. The PLL loop settling time for an accuracy of 0.01 ppm and a frequency step of 60 MHz is less than 11 ¿ s. The synthesizer is fabricated in a 0.18 ¿m CMOS technology with 6 metal layers and consumes 26 mA from a 1.8 V power supply.


UNVEILING SPANISH UNEMPLOYMENT PERSISTENCE BY OUTPUT GAP: A TIME-VARYING PARAMETER APPROACH AYDIN, DİLAN M.S., Department of Economics Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Dilem Yıldırım Kasap September 2018, 76 pages This paper investigates the persistence of Spanish unemployment by incorporating the output gap over the period of 1972-2015. Unlike to the existing literature which identifies labor market rigidity as the triggering factor of high unemployment, we utilize output gap extracted by Kalman filter in order to discriminate between impacts originated from (demand side) shocks and labor market institutions. Time-varying parameter approach allowing for both abrupt and smooth structural changes of parameters facilitates to explore the evolution of the persistence in the country whose history is full of crises and labor market reforms. The presence of lags between the implementation of the policy and its influence on the economy and the interactions between the shocks induce direction towards the gradual changes in Spain. Moreover, the model enables to scrutinize the natural rate or hysteresis hypothesis for each period without restricting the analysis into a dichotomous framework. Estimation results providing evidence in favor of hysteretic effects during the late 1970s and the early 1980s reveal a declining (rising) coefficient for lagged unemployment (output gap) in the subsequent years. Whereas abrupt changes of coefficients after 1984 and 1994 reforms coincided with the start of recovery phases, smooth transition of persistence coefficient after 2008 underlies different dynamics.


A submarine eruption in Cumberland Bay, Robinson Crusoe Island, was reported by Thomas Sutcliffe, the former British Governor, shortly after the earthquake that struck the coast of Chile on 20 February 1835. This episode was described by Charles Darwin in his Voyage of the Beagle and extensive mention has been made since then, especially stimulated by a renowned painting by J.M. Rugendas. Because of the apparent causal relation, this event has also been widely cited as an example of remote tectonically triggered eruption. However, there are inconsistencies that pose doubts about the actual occurrence of an eruption. Here we present evidence against the hypothetical eruption based on both the absence of any geological evidence and a reinterpretation of the historical accounts. We first observe that no bathymetric anomaly is present immediately below the place of the depicted 'eruptive column'. We also note the absence of any deposit or recent volcano morphology and then unravel some incompatibility between the expected volcanological parameters and the featured column. In addition, we analyse the historical records and conclude that they are compatible with a tsunami entering the bay. By means of numerical simulations we further demonstrate that the accounts well match with the expected behaviour of a distant earthquake-triggered tsunami. We infer that some tsunami-related processes (sound waves, rockfalls, lightning) may have been misunderstood at that time. The latter corresponds to the current knowledge of natural processes but also could have been deliberatively amplified in Sutcliffe's report. Our multidisciplinary approach provides full consistent geographical evidence of a fact that did not happen. This finding is relevant from the hazard's perspective, but also for the science of earthquakes and eruptions, or the knowledge of processes that control the late secondary volcanism at oceanic islands and seamounts.


Habitat for Humanity International Global Village recruits and sends volunteers to work on various construction Habitat for Humanity construction projects around the world. The village of Khobili in the Mulanje District of Malawi, Africa was selected as the location to construct three homes for villagers that had lost their homes during severe flooding. For me this was an incredible opportunity to come together with a team of other volunteers to build homes for orphans and their caretaker in a rural Malawian village. The Habitat team worked with skilled local masons to build safe, durable and comfortable houses from the foundation up. This was an extraordinary building opportunity to put my three years of Cal Poly Construction Management education to work. In addition, the families and their neighbors welcomed us into the community, and we became immersed in the daily life of their village. We were invited to see homes which were still standing, and toured the entire village of 1,000+ residents. After the Habitat volunteer team finished building the houses, local Habitat for Humanity staff provided the children with health education, legal assistance, along with community and educational support.


Schwartz's theory of human values, as operationalized using different instruments such as the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), was confirmed by multiple studies using Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). Because of its success, a short version of the PVQ was introduced in the European Social Survey (ESS). However, initial tests using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) pointed to low discriminant validity of the 10 basic values: The correlations between values next to each other in the two-dimensional space described by SSA were close to or greater than 1. In response, one research stream suggested combining the factors with low discriminant validity. Another stream suggested that the problem was not low discriminant validity but rather misspecifications in the model. Analyses of the short Portrait Values Questionnaire of the ESS confirmed the latter view.
This paper demonstrates that the problems of the short version of the PVQ exist in the full 40-item PVQ as well. Based on SEM analyses of the items of the full PVQ, we propose that it can provide measures of 15 more narrowly defined values with good discriminant validity. Our proposal respects the conceptual complexity of the values theory while avoiding contamination of composite scores. It can be expected that the improved measurement of 15 values will increase their predictive power. The presence of some single items suggests the extension of the value theory and scales to encompass more than 15 values. Implications for further development of the scale are drawn.


The Hoek-Brown failure criterion for rock masses is widely accepted and has been applied in a large number of projects around the world. While, in general, it has been found to be satisfactory, there are some uncertainties and inaccuracies that have made the criterion inconvenient to apply and to incorporate into numerical models and limit equilibrium programs. In particular, the difficulty of finding an acceptable equivalent friction angle and cohesive strength for a given rock mass has been a problem since the publication of the criterion in 1980. This paper resolves all these issues and sets out a recommended sequence of calculations for applying the criterion. An associated Windows program called "RocLab" has been developed to provide a convenient means of solving and plotting the equations presented in this paper.


Two new chalcones, artocarpusins A and B (1 and 2), one new flavone, artocarpusin C (3), one new 2-arylbenzofuran derivative, artocarstilene A (4), and 15 flavonoids were isolated from the twigs of Artocarpus heterophyllus. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. Compounds 9 and 16 showed moderate inhibitory activity on the proliferation of the PC-3 and H460 cell lines.


Electron beam tomography (EBT) directly competes with other non-invasive imaging modalities, such as multislice computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and echocardiography, in the diagnostic assessment of cardiac diseases. EBT is the gold standard for the detection and quantification of coronary calcium as a preclinical sign of coronary artery disease (CAD). Its standardized examination protocols and the broad experience with this method favor EBT. First results with multislice CT indicate that this new technology may be equivalent to EBT for coronary calcium studies. The principal value of CT-based coronary calcium measurements continues to be an issue of controversy amongst radiologists and cardiologists due to lack of prospective randomized trials. Coronary angiography with EBT is characterized by a high negative predictive value and, in addition, may be indicated in some patients with manifest CAD. It remains to be shown whether coronary angiography with multislice CT is reliable and accurate enough to be introduced into the routine work-up, to replace some of the many strictly diagnostic coronary catheterizations in Germany and elsewhere. Assessment of coronary stent patency with EBT is associated with several problems and in our opinion cannot be advocated as a routine procedure. EBT may be recommended for the evaluation of coronary bypasses to look for bypass occlusions and significant stenoses, which, however, can be equally well achieved with multislice CT. Quantification of myocardial perfusion with EBT could not replace MRI or other modalities in this field. EBT has proven to be accurate, reliable and in some instances equivalent to MRI, which is the gold standard for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of cardiac function. Some disadvantages, not the least of which is the limited distribution of electron beam scanners, favor MRI for functional assessment of the heart.


Small angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) measures comprehensive distance information on a protein's structure, which can constrain and guide computational structure prediction algorithms. Here, we evaluate structure predictions of 11 monomeric and oligomeric proteins for which SAXS data were collected and provided to predictors in the 13th round of the Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP13). The category for SAXS‐assisted predictions made gains in certain areas for CASP13 compared to CASP12. Improvements included higher quality data with size exclusion chromatography‐SAXS (SEC‐SAXS) and better selection of targets and communication of results by CASP organizers. In several cases, we can track improvements in model accuracy with use of SAXS data. For hard multimeric targets where regular folding algorithms were unsuccessful, SAXS data helped predictors to build models better resembling the global shape of the target. For most models, however, no significant improvement in model accuracy at the domain level was registered from use of SAXS data, when rigorously comparing SAXS‐assisted models to the best regular server predictions. To promote future progress in this category, we identify successes, challenges, and opportunities for improved strategies in prediction, assessment, and communication of SAXS data to predictors. An important observation is that, for many targets, SAXS data were inconsistent with crystal structures, suggesting that these proteins adopt different conformation(s) in solution. This CASP13 result, if representative of PDB structures and future CASP targets, may have substantive implications for the structure training databases used for machine learning, CASP, and use of prediction models for biology.


Zinc supplementation is used to reduce diarrhea incidence in piglets and it has been shown in vitro that the antisecretory effects are maximal after basolateral zinc application. To examine whether the application site and dose of zinc also influence passive ion permeability and viability, porcine (IPEC‐J2) and human (Caco‐2) intestinal epithelial cells were treated with increasing zinc concentrations (0–200 μM) at either the apical or basolateral side. Transepithelial electrical resistance and viability decreased and expression of metallothionein and the efflux zinc transporter 1 increased most prominently when zinc was added in high concentrations at the basolateral side of IPEC‐J2 cells. Zinc transporter 4, a zinc importer, was not affected. Heat shock protein 70 mRNA expression increased only after basolateral addition of 200 μM zinc in IPEC‐J2 cells. Thus, zinc can elicit toxic effects especially when added at the basolateral side, with IPEC‐J2 cells being more susceptible than Caco‐2 cells.


Indian insurance markets have changed radically and deeply in the last countable years. Deregulation, globalization of insurance institutions, intensified competition, electronic commerce, banc assurance, and the emergence of new risks are among the challenges confronted by insurance markets. These trends pose both global and local challenges for insurance firms as key advancement in insurance and financial services markets influence insurance markets on a global scale. The paper endeavored to link insurance investment decisions with underwriting activities of insurance companies.Although, underwriting and investment are two important and related business activities of insurance companies, impact of underwriting activities on investment for life insurers has not been rigorously examined in the literature. Using a sample of public life insurer, this article conducts an empirical investigation of how underwriting impact investment in the period of 2004–2017. The result of study suggests that premium and claim is significantly influenced the investment of insurance sector. In the aftermath ofexpanding liberalization in the insurance industry together with the worldwide financial crisis has posed a great deal of challenges for insurance regulatory authorities in monitoring investment of insurance companies.Researcher believes the current paper provides some helpful bits of knowledge in this vein.


The United States and China are keeping an eye on Indonesia's artificial intelligence potential given the country's innovation-driven national strategy and flourishing AI industry. China views Indonesia as an anchor for its economic, digital, and political inroads in Southeast Asia and has invested aggressively in new partnerships. The United States, with robust political and economic relations rooted in shared democratic ideals, has an opportunity to leverage its comparative advantages and tap into Indonesia's AI potential through high-level agreements.


The rate and pattern of activity and temperature reentrainment was determined after 3-, 6-, and 9-h phase advances and phase delays in two groups of Octodon degus for whom phase response curves (PRCs) to light and dark pulses and free-running periods (tau) in constant darkness and constant light had previously been determined [T.M. Lee and S. E. Labyak. Am. J. Physiol. 273 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 42): R278-R286, 1997.]. We predicted that individuals with light-pulse PRCs containing both significant phase delay and phase advance regions would phase delay more rapidly than individuals lacking significant phase delays after light pulses. We also expected that animals without a phase delay region in the light-pulse PRC would demonstrate more temporary circadian abnormalities during the period of reentrainment (periods of masking, bimodal patterns of activity, and abnormal phase relationships between activity and temperature). Degus with light-pulse PRCs containing both a significant phase-delay and -advance region reentrained significantly faster and with fewer disrupted patterns of entrainment after 6- and 9-h phase delays than degus without phase-delay regions in the PRC. The rate of reentrainment after phase advances did not differ between animals with the two types of PRC except for temperature after a 6-h phase shift. Because animals with and without phase-delay regions in the light-pulse PRC had equivalent tau s, the interindividual variation in reentrainment is best explained by the fundamental differences in the light-pulse PRCs. The variation of rate and pattern of reentrainment for both groups of animals were reasonably predicted or explained by knowledge of the light-pulse and dark-pulse PRCs.


Abstract The BIG'95 debris flow affected 2,200 km2 of the Ebro continental slope and rise in the western Mediterranean Sea. The resulting deposit of sandy and silty mud has a volume of 26 km3 and is up to 150 m thick. Dating yields a minimum failure age of ca. 11,500 cal yr BP. Swath bathymetry data, very-high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, side-scan sonographs, and sediment cores indicate that the debris flow consisted of two main components: relatively coarse, more mobile material, which was mostly remolded during flow; and finer, more cohesive material, which moved as independent blocks and partially kept its internal coherence. These blocks were partially buoyant and were pushed and dragged up to 15 km by the mobile material. During transport the blocks broke into smaller fragments. The more mobile material kept on flowing, reaching almost 2,000 m water depth in the Valencia Channel after traveling ~ 110 km. In this paper, a conceptual and numerical model of the BIG'95 debris flow is investigated. The more mobile component has been modeled as a Bingham fluid with assigned rheological properties. The more cohesive material has been idealized as consisting of rigid blocks. Using a simplified end-member scenario, the blocks are modeled as being at rest and then moved by interaction with the mobile material. As the mobile material comes into contact with the blocks, the latter are subjected to interaction forces: the impact force, static earth-pressure force, shear force, and water drag, in addition to gravity and the Coulomb friction with the seafloor. Theoretical values for the internal friction angle of the blocks and the yield strength of the mobile material were adjusted to reproduce the observed run-outs of 15–20 km for the blocks and 70 km for the mobile material. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed conceptual model is physically possible with input values of the order of 1° for the Coulomb frictional angle and 800 Pa for the yield strength. Such values, even if certainly low, are in line with recent estimates for other subaqueous debris flows, and might be explained by processes aiding mobilization such as hydroplaning and entrapment of more mobile material underneath the blocks. Alternatively, it might imply that the blocks were already in motion before the impact of the mobile material took place.


Objective: To assess the prevalence types and consequences of sexual harassment/victimization of female students in the University. Methodology: This was a cross sectional descriptive study. Using a cluster sampling method 295 female students resident in the four campuses of the university were recruited and interviewed with a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Results: One hundred and eight (36.7%) of the respondents had experienced sexual harassment/victimization at least once on campus. Out of this 35 (32.4%) were forced sexual intercourse while 73 (67.6%) were other forms of unwanted sexual contact including indecent touch romance and kisses. Majority 53 (49.1%) of the perpetrators were fellow students. Similarly majority 55 (50.9%) of the harassment/victimization took place in the students residence 27 (25.0%) took place at staff offices while 26 (24%) took place in other venues including hotels. The most common adverse consequence of the sexual harassment/victimization was psychosocial distress (89.8%) followed by poor academic performance (56.5%) and sexually transmitted infection (6.5%). However 12 (11%) of the victims claimed that the harassment resulted to an improved academic performance. Being older (= 30 years) and being married were significantly more associated with being victimized. Conclusions: About a third of female students in Ebonyi State University had been sexually victimized or harassed. Fellow students were responsible for most of the incidents followed by academic staff and other university employees. Most incidents occurred in the students hostels or residences and older students and those who were married had higher risk of being harassed.


This paper proposes a new algorithm to extract the rectangle in images. It's goal is to meet the requirement of the truck's compartment positioning and assure that some work are done inside the truck's compartment. Firstly, the Canny operator is used to calculate the edge of the image, because it is sensitive to the image texture features. Secondly, the Canny edge is transformed with the Hough transform algorithm. The peak points in the Hough parameter space indicate the straight lines which may be the elements of the compartment. The sides of the rectangle are the straight lines which meet the conditions of the actual size of the compartment. Finally, the four vertices of the rectangle are solved in accordance with the geometric constraint of rectangle. The simulation experiment shows that the algorithm is effective.


Measuring the dependence of data plays a central role in statistics and machine learning. In this work, we summarize and generalize the main idea of existing information-theoretic dependence measures into a higher-level perspective by the Shearer's inequality. Based on our generalization, we then propose two measures, namely the matrix-based normalized total correlation and the matrix-based normalized dual total correlation, to quantify the dependence of multiple variables in arbitrary dimensional space, without explicit estimation of the underlying data distributions. We show that our measures are differentiable and statistically more powerful than prevalent ones. We also show the impact of our measures in four different machine learning problems, namely the gene regulatory network inference, the robust machine learning under covariate shift and non-Gaussian noises, the subspace outlier detection, and the understanding of the learning dynamics of convolutional neural networks, to demonstrate their utilities, advantages, as well as implications to those problems.


Two female Yorkshire terrier puppies were presented with generalized tonic-clonic seizures and ataxia. MRI revealed bilaterally symmetrical, diffuse regions of gray matter hyperintensity on T2-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequences. Urinary organic acids were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and were consistent with a diagnosis of L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria (L2HGA). The L2HGDH gene encodes for the enzyme L-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase, which helps break down L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid. In both puppies described in this report, a homozygous mutation at the translation initiation codon of the homolog canine L2HGDH gene was detected (c.1A.G; p.Met1?), confirming the diagnosis of L2HGA at the DNA level. Canine L2HGA is caused by more than one mutation of L2HGDH, as reported in humans. ( JA m Anim Hosp Assoc 2012; 48:366–371. DOI 10.5326/JAAHA-MS-5967)


Background/Aims The aim of the study was to ascertain frequency of glucose screening in children and adolescents, in predefined age, gender, BMI, and race strata. Methods Study subjects included 68,322 individuals age 3–17 years at cohort entry and followed for a median of 37 months. Subjects had at least one office visit at HealthPartners Medical Group (HPMG). Subjects had their laboratory data examined for date and results of any fasting or random glucose, glycated hemoglobin (A1c), or oral glucose tolerance tests done in an outpatient setting. We report descriptive statistics on rate of glucose testing and rate of tests indicating pre-diabetes by age, gender, BMI, race/ethnicity group, and calendar year. Results Overall rate of glucose screening was 10.7% (7278/68322). Rates increased in recent years compared to earlier years, were similar in males and females, and were greater in older subjects, those with obesity, and those of minority race or Hispanic ethnicity. The test rate was 4.4% (1145/26245) per year in 2007 compared to 19.7% (1687/8563) in 2010. Glucose screening was most often done with fasting or random glucose, but 7.7% (560/7278) of tests were glycated hemoglobin (A1c). About 13.9% (1013/7278) of tests showed results indicating pre-diabetes. Of the 1013 with a test result indicating pre-diabetes, 79.1% (801/1013) were age 12 and older, 60% (608/1013) were of minority race or Hispanic ethnicity, and 30.9% (313/1013) were obese. Diabetes diagnosis (250.xx) was present in 2.2% (161/7278) of the subjects with one or more glucose/A1c tests. Conclusions Rates of glucose testing are highest in demographic subgroups with the highest risk, and have increased markedly in recent years. As the rate of screening increases further, it is likely that the proportion that screen positive for pre-diabetes or diabetes will decline. A substantial number of adolescents have recently been identified as having pre-diabetes, and further work is needed to characterize care subsequently provided to these subjects, and to characterize other CV risk factors.


The aim of this work was to assess the effect of intrasplenic liver cell transplantation (ILCT) on hepatic insufficiency induced by a terminolateral portocaval shunt (PCS) in rats. Thirty syngenic Wistar Furth rats were divided up into three groups: (a) rats with PCS (n = 10); (b) rats with PCS then ILCT of 10(7) liver cells isolated from the livers of syngenic rats (n = 10); (c) operated control rats (n = 10). Double-blind behavior tests were carried out two weeks, two months and six months after surgery. The spontaneous motor activity and the exploring activity of each rat were studied in automated cages fitted with infrared diodes. Each interruption of the infrared beam was automatically recorded by a computer and converted into an activity score (number/hour). The spontaneous motor activity and the exploring activity were poor in the rats with PCS. The ILCT significantly increased the spontaneous motor activity and the exploring activity 2 months and 3 weeks after transplantation, respectively. Three months after transplantation, the spontaneous motor activity and the exploring activity in the PCS/ILCT group were not significantly different from those of the control rats. This study shows that ILCT can correct the neurological signs of hepatic encephalopathy in an experimental model of chronic hepatic insufficiency, and suggests that ILCT may produce therapeutic benefits in chronic hepatic insufficiency.


Optimizing chemical molecules for desired properties lies at the core of drug development. Despite initial successes made by deep generative models and reinforcement learning methods, these methods were mostly limited by the requirement of predefined attribute functions or parallel data with manually pre-compiled pairs of original and optimized molecules. In this paper, for the first time, we formulate molecular optimization as a style transfer problem and present a novel generative model that could automatically learn internal differences between two groups of non-parallel data through adversarial training strategies. Our model further enables both preservation of molecular contents and optimization of molecular properties through combining auxiliary guided-variational autoencoders and generative flow techniques. Experiments on two molecular optimization tasks, toxicity modification and synthesizability improvement, demonstrate that our model significantly outperforms several state-of-the-art methods.


ANALYSIS OF PARALLEL ITERATIVE GRAPH APPLICATIONS ON SHARED MEMORY SYSTEMS Funda Atik M.S. in Computer Engineering Advisor: Özcan Öztürk January 2018 Graph analytics have come to prominence due to their wide applicability to many phenomena of real world such as social networks, protein-protein interactions, power grids, transportation networks, and other domains. Despite the increase in computational capability of current systems, developing an effective graph algorithm is challenging due to the complexity and diversity of graphs. In order to process large graphs, there exist many frameworks adopting different design decisions. Nonetheless, there is no clear consensus among the frameworks on optimum design selections. In this dissertation, we provide various parallel implementations of three representative iterative graph algorithms: Pagerank, Single-Source Shortest Path, and Breadth-First Search by considering different design decisions such as the order of computations, data access pattern, and work activation. We experimentally study the trade-offs between performance, scalability, work efficiency of each implementation on both real-world and synthetic graphs in order to guide developers in making effective choices while implementing graph applications. Since graphs with billions of edges can fit in memory capacities of modern shared-memory systems, the applications are implemented on a shared-memory parallel/multicore machine. We also investigate the bottlenecks of each algorithm that may limit the performance of shared-memory platforms by considering the micro-architectural parameters. Finally, we give a detailed road-map for choosing design points for efficient graph processing.


BACKGROUND
We studied diagnostics and stabilizing surgery in severely injured patients transferred from local hospitals to a university hospital. The purpose was to identify a potential for improvement of regional trauma care.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The material comprises all severely injured patients (Injury Severity [ISS] Score > 15) transferred from local hospitals to the University Hospital of Northern Norway in the period 01.01.2006 - 31.12.2007. Information about diagnostics, extent of injury and treatment during the first 24 hours after transferral was recorded by retrospective chart review. Emergency surgical interventions are defined according to plans for a national trauma system.

RESULTS
6/74 patients underwent emergency surgery at the local hospital (chest tube insertion, external fracture fixation); eight after arrival at the university hospital (chest tube insertion, hemostatic packing of the abdomen and pelvis, external fracture fixation). 66/74 were CT-scanned locally; 37 with a CT multitrauma series (CT caput, neck, thorax, abdomen and pelvis). Of the 62 who had head CT scans performed at a local hospital, the cervical spine was not imaged for 10. For eight of 55 patients who had CT scans of the thorax/abdomen/pelvis intravenous contrast agent was not administered.

INTERPRETATION
Trauma care at local hospitals may be improved by more systematic imaging, a lower threshold for emergency surgery, and early communication with the university hospital.


To characterize coastal change, historical maps and complementary records were compiled including: topographic sheets (T-sheets), hydrographic sheets (H-sheets, smooth sheets), shorelines, and bathymetric soundings surrounding the Mississippi (MS) barrier islands over several time periods (1916-1920, 2008-2009 and 2016). One goal of this work was to create a time-series of bathymetric change maps around the islands. Datasets include 1916 through 1920 soundings collected by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as downloaded H-sheets and some digitized soundings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2008 to 2009 soundings collected by the United States Geological Survey St. Petersburg and Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS SPCMSC and WHCMSC, respectively), and 2016 soundings collected by the USGS SPCMSC in the nearshore environment of Ship, Horn, and Petit Bois Islands. This USGS data release includes three digital elevation models (DEMs) for 1916 to 1920, 2008 to 2009, and 2016; however, this metadata file pertains only to the 1916 to 1920 DEM (1916_1920_MS_NAD83NAVD88g12B_50m.tif). This work was completed in cooperation with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Mobile, Alabama) and the National Park Service as part of the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP).


Murals and graffiti are part of the landscape of the cities and villages of Timor-Leste. Some portray violent events and their legacy from the Indonesian occupation; others celebrate the achievement of independence and Timorese identity. During the 2006 crisis the walls 'shouted' words of frustration at the political leadership of the country due to the political violence which ensued after the dismissal of petitioner soldiers' from the armed forces. Visual analysis of street art in Timor-Leste is part of the initial stage of a PhD research project on Intergenerational perceptions of human rights in Timor-Leste, which will use focus groups as the primary methodology. This research project aims to contribute to a comprehensive knowledge about the East Timorese understandings of human rights and the ways in which they are being translated into a vernacular form. The factor of 'generations' is central in this research, reflecting the fact that issues of history, memory and commemoration are vital in Timor-Leste's contemporary society. The visual analysis research method was chosen due to the observation that the walls are one of the most accessible and far-reaching means of communication in Timor-Leste, especially among the young people. Also, we consider that the sensory nature of visual arts creates a place for expressing emotional and embodied experiences of colonialism and on-going debates about identity. The collection of photographs from murals and graffiti analysed here is based on a published book about street art in Timor-Leste (Parkinson 2010) and also in photographs taken between 2003 and 2011 by various authors.


PURPOSE
Data accrued after two years of longitudinal observation of oral soft tissue lesions in a cohort of HIV-infected children and comparisons to a group of uninfected controls is presented.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
One hundred and four HIV-positive subjects were enrolled from an inner city pediatric HIV clinic and HIV-negative household peers served as control. Oral exams were performed at six-month intervals while laboratory data of interest were obtained from the children's medical records.

RESULTS
HIV-positive children had significantly more oral soft tissue lesions than their HIV-negative peers. In particular, the prevalence of candidiasis, linear gingival erythema and median rhomboid glossitis were high. However, oral lesions were not good predictors of mortality and only candidiasis was associated with a low CD4 count.

CONCLUSIONS
Oral soft tissue lesions were common among HIV-positive children. While candidiasis was correlated with advanced disease, oral lesions were not good predictors of mortality.


This study is a critical reflection on two music projects that I conducted in my home area of Ipswich, Australia, prior to undertaking this research. The music projects involved participatory action research to investigate the music heritage and culture of the rural Ipswich region. The purpose of this study is to review and analyse the creative processes that I used in the rural Ipswich music projects in order to develop suitable practice frameworks for similar projects in future. The first music project was a collaborative investigation of the music history of Purga in rural Ipswich (2003-2005). Local people and those who used to live in the area were invited to come back to share memories of the music from the area with one another. People collaborated creatively: This allowed me to write The Purga Music Story and Harold Blair (2005), an inter-generational community education package. In 2003, we established the Purga Music Museum as a meeting place where the music heritage and culture of our neighbourhood is performed and displayed. The second music project (2006) was a study of contemporary music in rural Ipswich that resulted in community consultation and the development of a Music Action Plan for the area. I continued facilitating community music in rural Ipswich, as the curator of the Purga Music Museum, until 2008. Both music projects presented different challenges in the establishment of processes that would be effective for the needs and interests of people from various cultural groups. The work was fraught with complex decisions and ethical dilemmas about representation and music cultural heritage management because our neighbourhood previously contained the Purga Aboriginal Mission (1915-1948). The findings therefore relate to the struggles of the 'Stolen Generation'-- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were taken away from their families and forced to live in government-controlled residential situations. New, respectful approaches had to be found, conducive to the health and well-being of all concerned. For this reason, participatory action research methods were developed and a 'Community of Discovery' approach was used. Throughout this study, I investigate issues that arose as people told their music stories, and passed on music heritage and culture from one generation to the next. The key question is "What are appropriate frameworks of culturally engaged community music practice for rural Ipswich?" This study also draws on findings from the music projects to address the sub-questions, "How did community music practice function in the past in rural Ipswich?" "What is the current situation regarding contemporary community music practice in rural Ipswich?" and "What can be done to enhance future community music practice for rural Ipswich?" Aspects of music and health practice complement each other in this study. As a dual qualified music and health professional, I draw on expertise from both of these areas. Ethnographic methods were used to record and review the findings from each music project. The analysis is grounded in review of literature and other sources, creative display and performance, analysis of music history, community consultation, and critical reflection on my own community music practice. Finally, this evidence-based process of professional reasoning leads to the development of appropriate practice frameworks that transform the way that I intend to deliver services in future, and will hopefully inspire others. The thesis has five parts. The context and rationale for the research are outlined in Part 1. This is followed by description of the two music projects in Part 2. Part 3 is an exploration of how my music practice is situated in relation to scholarly literature (and other sources) and outlines the chosen theoretical constructs or models. This prepares for critical analysis and discussion of specific issues that arose from reflection on practice in Part 4. The conclusions of the research, presented in chapter 9, outline the creative processes, underlying principles, and the philosophy of my practice. The study concludes with an epilogue, which is a consideration of the present situation and suggested future directions for service provision and research.


The Jersey City-based New Jersey International & Network Distribution Center (NJ NDC), the largest United States Postal Service mail facility, was dealing with the dilemma of providing reliable power for the trailer-truck-location-sensors-system, referred to as the Yard Management System (YMS). This system is critical to daily operations as it allows personnel to track parcel movements throughout the expansive facility. In 2006 the NJ NDC explored the possibility of furnishing temporary power to sixteen (16) location sensors (LS) that were located in the truck yard, which were determined to be cost-prohibitive and time consuming. In order to minimize downtime, short-term temporary power from various parking-lot-lighting towers was utilized. This option ultimately generated more issues for the facility with damaged circuits and lost service. Subsequently, USPS assessed a solar power option, and on June 10, 2011, switched two (2) LS to solar power and turned off the local utility source. By implementing this cost-effective and safety enhancing solution, the USPS is expected to slash its maintenance and operating costs associated with the yard management system, and increase overall operational reliability and reduce risk for employees in replacing the temporary solution.


In the 1990 case Hodgson v. Minnesota, the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., upheld Minnesota statute 144.343, which required physicians to notify both biological parents of minors seeking abortions forty-eight hours prior to each procedure. The US Supreme Court determined that a state could legally require physicians to notify both parents of minors prior to performing abortions as long as they allowed for a judicial bypass procedure, in which courts could grant exceptions. The Supreme Court's decision in Hodgson v. Minnesota allowed for the enforcement of Minnesota statute 144.343, which changed minors' abilities to access abortions in Minnesota by requiring parental notification by a physician forty-eight hours prior to each abortion [3].


Ultrasound is becoming increasingly important in medicine both as a diagnostic tool, as a therapeutic modality and surgery. Most medical applications of ultrasound are based on the properties of longitudinal waves in the frequency range 1-15 MHz. Ultrasonic waves travel at similar velocities (about 1500 m s �1 ) in most biological tissues, and are absorbed at a rate of about 1 dB cm �1 MHz �1 . Absorption occurs chiefly due to relaxation processes. It leads to thermal effects in biological systems. Mechanical effects, such as streaming and cavitations, are also important in certain situations, particularly at low frequencies. Highly focused ultrasound is used in neurosurgery; it is the only method for producing trackless damage deep in the brain. Diagnostic imaging using ultrasound finds applications in all tissues. Although u1trasound has been used in medicine since the 1930's, it is only recently that these techniques have been widely used and their potential fully recognized. Medical ultrasonics is now in a period of rapid growth and is on the verge of making a significant impact on clinical medicine. This field offers an open proving ground to many technologies developed for other applications, gives inspiration to the development of new technological advances, and provides a host of challenging and important problems that are unique to medicine and biology. The future of ultrasound in medicine depends upon talented people from medicine and the physical sciences working in close collaboration and upon the emergence of a new breed of research scientist trained in both medicine and engineering and dedicated not to the technology of destruction but rather to the preservation of life and humanity. The object of this paper is to present a review of the principles of medical ultrasonics and an introduction to a variety of its applications.


The paper describes the University of Cape Town's submission to the constrained track of the WMT22 Shared Task: Large-Scale Machine Translation Evaluation for African Languages. Our system is a single multilingual translation model that translates between English and 8 South / South East African Languages, as well as between specific pairs of the African languages. We used several techniques suited for low-resource machine translation (MT), including overlap BPE, back-translation, synthetic training data generation, and adding more translation directions during training. Our results show the value of these techniques, especially for directions where very little or no bilingual training data is available.


Animal bites in humans are an important public health problem. Most of these bites are dog bites. The first step in preventing this kind of accident is to identify the associated risk factors. The present article reviews the most important published articles on the incidence of dog bites, their risk factors, and preventive measures. Concerning victim profiles, features such as age, sex, location, and the severity of the wounds are reviewed. Regarding dogs, the most frequent breeds involved and the dog's previous history of aggression are described. In addition, the different contexts in which bites occur are reported. Thus, factors such as dates, number of dogs, places, victim-dog relationship and interaction, and the distinct involved categories of aggression of the canine ethogram are reviewed. The most frequent recommendations found in the literature to reduce and prevent dog bites in the human population are also described.


Objective Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex disease with numerous pathological mechanisms resulting in a heterogeneous patient population. Using biomarkers for particular disease mechanisms may enrich a homogeneous subset of patients. In this study, we quantified chitotriosidase (Chit-1) and chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1), markers of glial activation, in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma and determined the cell types that express CHI3L1 in ALS. Methods Immunoassays were used to quantify Chit-1, CHI3L1 and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain levels in longitudinal CSF and matching plasma samples from 118 patients with ALS, 17 disease controls (DCs), and 24 healthy controls (HCs). Immunostaining was performed to identify and quantify CHI3L1-positive cells in tissue sections from ALS, DCs and non-neurological DCs. Results CSF Chit-1 exhibited increased levels in ALS as compared with DCs and HCs. CSF CHI3L1 levels were increased in ALS and DCs compared with HCs. No quantitative differences were noted in plasma for either chitinase. Patients with ALS with fast-progressing disease exhibited higher levels of CSF Chit-1 and CHI3L1 than patients with slow-progressing disease. Increased numbers of CHI3L1-positive cells were observed in postmortem ALS motor cortex as compared with controls, and these cells were identified as a subset of activated astrocytes located predominately in the white matter of the motor cortex and the spinal cord. Conclusions CSF Chit-1 and CHI3L1 are significantly increased in ALS, and CSF Chit-1 and CHI3L1 levels correlate to the rate of disease progression. CHI3L1 is expressed by a subset of activated astrocytes predominately located in white matter.


Elucidation of the function and meaning of the protein networks can be useful in the understanding of many pathological processes and the identification of new therapeutic targets. This unit describes an approach to discover protein-protein interactions by coupling surface plasmon resonance to mass spectrometry. Briefly, a protein is covalently bound to a sensor chip, which is then exposed to brain extracts injected over the surface via a microfluidic system. This allows the monitoring in real-time of the interactions between the immobilized ligand and the extracts. Interacting proteins from the extracts are then recovered, trypsinized, and identified using mass spectrometry. The data obtained are searched against a sequence database using the Mascot software. To exclude nonspecific interactors, control experiments using blank sensor chips, and/or randomized peptides, are performed. The protocol presented here does not require specific labeling or modification of proteins and can be performed in <4 days.


Available Again! Long before the "shock and awe" campaign against Iraq in March 2003, debates swarmed around the justifications of the U.S.-led war to depose Saddam Hussein. While George W. Bush's administration declared a just war of necessity, opponents charged that it was a war of choice, and even opportunism. Behind the rhetoric lie vital questions: when is war just, and what means are acceptable even in the course of a just war? Originally published in 1991, in the wake of the first war against Iraq, Just War Theory explores this essential dilemma. With a new preface by the editor, the essays in this indispensable collection move beyond the theoretical origins of just war theory to examine issues faced by military strategists, politicians, social theorists, and anyone concerned with the provocations and costs of military action. Popular wisdom once claimed that notions of just war would become obsolete with the onset of "total warfare," characterized by attacks on civilians and undiscriminating weapons of mass destruction. While the last decade has been ripe with brutality, just war theory is more critical than ever to the future of international relations and public discourse. This readable collection is an invaluable introduction to the debate.


In this work, we have investigated the evolution of diffusive pattern formation in a predator–prey model under type-III functional response. Using stability analysis, we receive the significant specifications for Turing instability (diffusive-driven instability), and with the help of these conditions, recognize the corresponding realm in the region of interest. Moreover, we present a qualitative analysis of growth and development actions that involves species distribution and their interplay of the spatially distributed populace with diffusion and obtain the conditions for spatial patterns like spots, spot-stripe, and stripes. Using weakly nonlinear analysis, we derive the equations of amplitude for slow modulation near the Turing boundary. By the series of numerical simulations, we receive intricate spatial patterns, particularly spot, stripe, and spot-stripe in the Turing realm. The consequences of this paper are general in the real world and can be used to investigate the impact of self-diffusion on other predator–prey systems. It will improve our understanding to understand the dynamical behavior of realistic models..


The preceding discussion has characterized the various types of viral hepatitis, both common and unusual, that can lead to subfulminant hepatic failure. Whenever specific medical therapy exists, it is preferred. If the disease has progressed sufficiently to prohibit survival inspite of medical therapy, OLT is indicated under the umbrella of continuing specific medical therapy. Conversely, if no medical therapy exists, OLT is the only possible therapy but should be used only if extrahepatic disease processes do not prohibit survival. Hopefully, with better and more effective means of immunosuppression, immunosuppression monitoring and the development of additional medical therapies for viruses, OLT will be used less often in cases of subfulminant viral hepatitis in the future.


The output of Terfenol-D is nonlinear and hysteretic under the effect of magnetic field and prestress. The nonlinear constitutive relation between magnetostriction and magnetization with magneto-stress coupling was built in consideration of the magnetostriction saturation and the prestress correlation. Then, the hysteresis behavior of Terfenol-D was modeled based on the Jiles-Atherton model. The error of magnetostriction between simulations and experimental data is less than 6%. This result indicates that the model can adequately predict the nonlinear hysteresis and magneto-stress coupling character of Terfenol-D.