The "epilimnion" is the surface layer of a lake typically characterised as well-mixed and is decoupled from the 15 "metalimnion" due to a rapid steep change in density. The concept of the epilimnion, and more widely, the three-layered structure of a stratified lake, is fundamental in limnology and calculating the depth of the epilimnion is essential to understanding many physical and ecological lake processes. Despite the ubiquity of the term, however, there is no objective or generic approach for defining the epilimnion and a diverse number of approaches prevail in the literature. Given the increasing availability of water temperature and density profile data from lakes with a high spatio-temporal resolution, 20 automated calculations, using such data, are particularly common, and have vast potential for use with evolving long-term, globally measured and modelled datasets. However, multi-site and multi-year studies, including those related to future climate impacts, require robust and automated approaches algorithms for epilimnion depth estimation. In this study, we undertook a comprehensive comparison of commonly used epilimnion depth estimation methods, using a combined 17 year dataset, with over 4700 daily temperature profiles from two European lakes. Overall, we found a very large degree of 25 variability in the estimated epilimnion depth across all methods and thresholds investigated and for both lakes. These differences, manifest over high-frequency data, led to fundamentally different understandings of the epilimnion depth. In addition, estimations of the epilimnion depth were highly sensitive to small changes in the threshold value, complex thermal water column structures and vertical data resolution. These results call into question the custom of arbitrary method selection, and the potential problems this may cause for studies interested in estimating the ecological processes occurring 30 within the epilimnion, multi-lake comparisons or long-term time series analysis. We also identified important systematic differences between methods, which demonstrated how and why methods diverged. These results may provide rationale for future studies to select an appropriate epilimnion definition in light of their particular purpose and with awareness of the limitations of individual methods. While there is no prescribed rationale for selecting a particular method, the method which defined the epilimnion depth as the shallowest depth where the density was 0.1 kg m -3 more than the surface density, was 35 shown to be overall less problematic than the other methods. may be particularly useful as a generic method.


We examine two sets of economies, (19th century U.S. states and 20th century less developed countries) where growth rates are positively correlated with initial levels of development to document how these dynamic increasing returns operate. We find that open economies do not display a positive connection between initial levels and later growth; instead, closed economies do display this positive correlation (i.e. divergence). This evidence suggests that increasing returns operate by expanding the extent of the market (as in the big push theories of Murphy, Shleifer and Vishny (1989)). For U.S. states, we also find that larger markets enhance growth by increasing the division of labor. Among LDCs, while more diversified production increases growth, diversification is negatively associated with openness for the poorest economies (as in the quality ladder theories of Boldrin and Scheinkman (1988), Young (1991) and Stokey (1991)). However, and despite the negative effect that openness has on the diversity of production and, thus, on growth, we find that openness still substantially increases growth for these poorer economies.


ABSTRACT There is currently much debate in the United Kingdom policy and practice literature about how best to respond to the care and accommodation needs of people as they retire and grow older. Against a policy background which espouses the benefits of 'lifetime homes and lifetime neighbourhoods', the growth of purpose-built segregated retirement villages looks somewhat contradictory and is set to transform the housing scene. Whilst there has been considerable research into these environments in countries like the United States of America and Australia, we know comparatively little about what it is like to live in British retirement communities, how they evolve over time and whether they enhance people's lifestyle aspirations and quality of life. This paper examines these issues through the lens of 'community' and in the context of Denham Garden Village: a purpose-built retirement village in Buckinghamshire. Drawing on a range of qualitative data (from individual and group interviews, diaries and directives), we focus on how 'community' was conceptualised, experienced and understood both 'then' (in the early days of the village) and 'now' (subsequent to its redevelopment). The findings enable us to examine the extent to which 'community' evolves over time and raise important questions about how socially cohesive, or not, such retirement villages are.


This thesis presents observational studies of long-term and extreme variability of stars with the Digital Access to a Sky Century@Harvard (DASCH) project. Stellar variations over decades are poorly explored. With the unique 100 years coverage of DASCH, for the first time, we are able to study the variable sky over long timescales in a systematic way. I have developed photometric calibration and variable search algorithms for DASCH. I have discovered exciting new types of long-term variables, which do not match any of the common classes, and studied the physical processes involved. Following a brief introduction on variable stars and DASCH in the first chapter, I describe my work on DASCH pipeline, including photometric development and defect filtering in chapter 2. I present our discovery of a group of peculiar long-term K giant variables with ∼ 1 mag variations over decades in chapter 3. Follow-up observations show that they consist of two subgroups, including a subgroup of RS CVn binaries with strong magnetic activity, and another subgroup of single stars. In both cases, the variation amplitudes and timescales are abnormal, and may be related to either ultra strong star spots, or novel dust formation processes. In chapter 4, I present the discovery of a 5 yr dip around 1900 in the eclipsing binary KU Cyg consisting of a F star and a K giant, which is related to the accretion disk surrounding the F star. It showed a slow fading (∼ 4 yr), which is probably iv caused by increases in dust extinction in the disk, and a relatively fast brightening (∼ 1 yr), which may be due to the evaporation of dust transported inward through the disk. The extinction excess which caused the fading may arise from an increased mass transfer rate in the system or from dust clump ejections from the K giant, in accordance with K giant "dimming" as discussed above. In chapter 5, I present a 10 yr nova-like outburst in a peculiar symbiotic system. With P = 119 days, it is interestingly located in the period gap region between classical novae and symbiotic novae. The most probable explanation of the outburst is hydrogen shell-burning on the white dwarf (WD) without significant mass loss, which suggests a promising new channel for Type Ia Supernovae (SNe). In chapter 6, I present the DASCH light curves of Kepler planet-candidate host stars. We found no variation for these host stars. In chapter 7, I present my variable search algorithms and the resulting DASCH variable catalog for the Kepler field. The conclusion is presented in chapter 8.


News. The globalization process has been accelerated by the explosion of information technologies entering into the work of social, production and education enterprises. Thus, in terms of systemic approach, the company is not a production of goods or services tailored to market requirements, but is equally an information unit producing knowledge. Purpose. The fundamental feature of these processes is applied once that the primary element of information processing is generated always in the information system, the information processed and interpreted in its final form as a resource of the management system. Methods. The article exposed the theoretical and methodological organization of information system of market relations and the role of information as a valuable element of business processes. Results. In the modern knowledge-based economy, increasing information needs at all levels of economic units that generate the emergence of new information products, enhancement of the productive resource and service information and transporting it by modern computerized channels.Information as a productive resource and service as the raw material for creating an active instrument of scientific management and virtual education in Moldova.


We propose a novel way to train ranking models, such as recommender systems, that are both effective and efficient. Knowledge distillation (KD) was shown to be successful in image recognition to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency. We propose a KD technique for learning to rank problems, called ranking distillation (RD). Specifically, we train a smaller student model to learn to rank documents/items from both the training data and the supervision of a larger teacher model. The student model achieves a similar ranking performance to that of the large teacher model, but its smaller model size makes the online inference more efficient. RD is flexible because it is orthogonal to the choices of ranking models for the teacher and student. We address the challenges of RD for ranking problems. The experiments on public data sets and state-of-the-art recommendation models showed that RD achieves its design purposes: the student model learnt with RD has less than an half size of the teacher model while achieving a ranking performance similar tothe teacher model and much better than the student model learnt without RD.


Total amounts of plant nutrients in biomass: humus and mineral soil were determined in two old Norway spruce ecosystems in central (Garpenberg) and northern Sweden (Flakatrask). Measurements were repeated 1. 4, 10 and 16 years after clearfelling on plots on which slash was retained, removed or burnt. Half of each plot was planted with Norway spruce, half with Scots pine. Both total and plant-available nutrient elements were determined in the mineral soil to 50cm depth. Different analytical methods for plant available nutrients were used and the relationship between them was calculated. Total amounts of nitrogen in the humus layer and biomass had decreased by ca. 840 kg ha-' four years after clearfelling on plots with retained slash at Garpenberg, and by ca. 840 kg ha-' on burnt plots. Corresponding losses at Flakatrask were ca. 50 kg and 340 kg N ha-'. Losses of total phosphorus at Garpenberg were ca. 42 and at Flakatrask 17 kg ha-' on plots with retained slash, ca. 39 and 35 kg ha-' on burnt plots. During thy first four years after clearfelling at Garpenberg, losses of potassium were ca. 100 kg ha both on plots with retained slash and on burnt plots. Corresponding losses at Flakatrask were ca. 60 and 100 kg ha-'. More than 70% of potassium was lost from burnt plots during the first year after clearfelling at both sites. Clearfelling significantly increased pH (95% confidence) in many humus samples and most samples of mineral soil at both sites. pH generally increased less on plots with slash removed than on those with slash retained, but differences were not significant. Time required for litter to lose its structure in the mor layer was estimated as the quotient between amounts of litter ocularly identified in the mor layer, and litterfall. For needle litter this was 1.7 years at Garpenberg and 4.1 years at Flakatrask. Thus the litter disintegration rate far exceeded that from other investigations of mass loss of spruce litter in litterbags incubated on the forest floor. Residence times of soil organic carbon, estimated as a quotient between total soil carbon to 50 cm depth and carbon in annual above- and belowground litter production. were 9.5-28 years at Garpenberg and 16.5-42 years at Flakatrask. Belowground litter production was estimated from literature concerning the quotient between below- and aboveground litter production. Other literature estimates of residence times for organic carbon in forest soils were higher than those obtained in the present investigation. Four years after clearfelling, the carbon pool had decreased by ca. 18 Mg C ha-' at Garpenberg and 13 Mg C ha-' at Flakatrask for plots with retained slash. For burnt plots, decreases were ca. 20 and 28 Mg C ha-' at Garpenberg and Flakatrask, respectively.


This study aims at investigating the suitability of the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis and the Speech Learning Model in describing young Swedish learners' L2 phonology difficulties. It also explores what L1 sounds they replace L2 sounds with, and whether spelling has any influence on pronunciation. 15 Swedish students aged 9-10 were interviewed and recorded reading a word list containing minimal pairs, a text passage, and free speech. The focus was on initial and final / ʃ / and / tʃ /, initial and medial / s / and / z /, and initial / ð / and / θ /. The recordings were analysed with spectrograms and compared to a native speaker. The results were that the SLM has an advantage over the CAH. The results show that / z / was replaced by / s / 100% of the time, / tʃ / was mostly replaced by / ʃ /, but also by / k /; and that / θ / and / ð / were replaced by many different sounds that were not anticipated. The results also showed that orthography affects pronunciation for / θ /, / ð / and / tʃ /, but not for / z /. Some students had nearly established new categories for some of the new sounds, but their daily encounters with English through TV, music, and school does not seem to have had a significant part in this.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gather data from first- and second-year dental hygiene students concerning their perceptions of the benefits and possible impediments to effective patient communication. Additionally, the students were asked to theorize as to the impact emerging communication technologies could have on oral health promotion, practice administration and patient/provider communication.Methods: A self-administered questionnaire of 6 open-ended queries was employed. Thematic analysis was conducted to reveal themes related to their perceived ability to effectively communicate, perceived barriers to communication, possible solutions to lessen or eliminate these barriers, and the impact of emerging technologies on interpersonal communication.Results: The questionnaire was completed by 63 of 68 students (93%). Patient apathy and patient unwillingness to change detrimental health-related habits were the most frequently cited barriers to effective communication. Of the students having patient contact, many stated that they were less sure of their ability to communicate effectively if the patient differed from themselves, such as being elderly or being from another culture. While most of the students believed their fundamental communication skills were good, many noted that improving their higher-order skills, such as conveying empathy or displaying a nonjudgmental attitude, were essential to being more effective communicators. Many students felt emerging technologies such as universal translators could potentially assist them in overcoming some of their perceived deficiencies.Conclusion: While perceived inadequacies will likely diminish as the students gain more experience in school and later in private practice, dental hygiene programs may wish to consider implementing additional structured educational experiences to better prepare students to address patient apathy and to effectively convey a sense of personal compassion. Promoting student involvement in community outreach activities and providing a variety of service learning opportunities, including foreign travel, may broaden student experiences and deepen their awareness and appreciation of verbal and nonverbal communications displayed by differing cultures.


Many fruit growers see flying-foxes such as the Grey-headed Flying-fox as a threat to their livelihood. Understandably, when large numbers of the animals suddenly enter orchards and cause significant damage, growers start to talk of "population explosions" of the animals. In this paper we describe the seasonality, longevity and low reproductive potential of flying-foxes, and show that rapid expansion of their populations, at rates comparable to those of small rodents, simply is not possible. Sudden incursions of large numbers of flying-foxes into orchards reflect migration of animals into a food source from elsewhere. The "natural" longevity of flying-foxes and low reproductive rate of only one offspring per female per year reflects the environment in which these bats evolved - one in which they suffered a low annual mortality and could afford a low reproductive rate. We show that the major factor which determines the rate at which flying-fox populations increase or decline is mortality, and that an additional annual mortality of 10%, "imposed" (for example by "culling") upon the animals' "natural" mortality, could lead the entire Grey-headed Flying-fox population into decline. Because of the animals' mobility, localised culling (as in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens) will not solve problems caused by the bats and, if continued, will act as a pteropucidal black hole, attracting to their deaths a continuing stream of animals from far afield. If the community wishes to protect flying-foxes, then it must recognise the genuine concerns of growers for their livelihoods, subsidise non-lethal modes of protecting crops, and provide support for research into cheaper and more effective means of protection.


Undertaking youth-led participatory action research is an increasingly popular approach to advancing adolescent engagement and empowerment. This research - led by adolescents themselves - promotes social change and improves community conditions for healthy development. This brief reviews the theoretical and empirical rationales for youth-led participatory action research, its key principles, phases, practical implications and ethical issues.The brief is one of seven on research methodologies designed to expand and improve the conduct and interpretation of research on adolescent health and well-being in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Building on the recent Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, these briefs provide an overview of the methodological quality of research on adolescents. They cover topics including: indicators and data sources; research ethics; research with disadvantaged, vulnerable and/or marginalized populations; participatory research; measuring enabling and protective systems for adolescent health; and economic strengthening interventions for improving adolescent well-being.


A properties of atomic models of structure of eukaryotic triple complex eRF1 . mRNA . tRNAPhe containing human class-1 polypeptide release factor eRF1 at the A-site of human 80S ribosome, mRNA and P-site tRNAPhe, obtained before, are considered. The stricture of the complex is described using high resolution NMR structure of eRF1 M-domain. The structural properties of distribution of chemical cross-links are investigated, which allows us to choose correct model of positioning of the eRF1 molecule in ribosome A-site relative to stop codon of mRNA. A distributions of crosslinks between photoactivatable perfluoroaryl azide group of modified nucleotides of mRNA analogues and eRF1 molecule are modeled via molecular dynamics method. Twelve different mRNA analogues with modified nucleotides of stop signal in positions +4 to +9 with respect to the first nucleotide of the P-site codon are modeled. It was shown that only one of the two models of complex eRFI . mRNA . tRNA gives cross-link distribution in a good agreement with experimental data. A new features of the final structure of triple complex eRF1 . mRNA . tRNA is spatial proximity of stop-codon nucleotides to the C-domain of the eRF1, which explains previously obtained cross-link experimental data.


ABSTRACT Miocene reef and platform carbonates exposed along the Red Sea coast at Gebel Abu Shaar and West Gemsa are entirely dolostone while exhibiting all the textures and fabrics of a metastable suite of carbonate sediments that has undergone meteoric diagenesis. The microfabrics of former Mg calcite fibrous marine cements and bioclasts and calcite particles are well preserved and commonly mimetically replaced. Originally aragonitic components typically illustrate little to no microfabric retention or are leached, yielding moldic to vuggy porosity. Dolomite cement and replacement crystals have inclusion-rich or dissolved cores and relatively inclusion-free rims. Most crystals are anhedral, and many have an irregular microtopography generated by leaching of crystal surfaces. Carbon and oxygen isotope values vary widely. Many samples have the low positive values characteristic of marine precipitates, but others are depleted in 13C and 180, reaching minimum 13C and 18O values of -8.9 and -8.0%0 (PDB), respectively. The origin of these dolostones can be explained by two hypotheses. The first is dolomitization of a partially stabilized or unaltered Mg calcite and aragonite sediment in a zone of mixed freshwater and seawater. Following dolomite formation, the progressive lowering of sea level and resultant freshening of the mixing zone caused leaching of dolomite crystal cores and corrosion of crystal faces. The second hypothesis invokes two dolomitization events--an earlier, pervasive dolomitization by marine or hypersaline waters, followed by recrystallization in meteoric or hydrothermal fluids, and then selective dissolution. Both hypotheses are consistent with the geologic setting of these sediments, but the pervasive nature of the dolostone favors the recrystallization hypothesis. Vadose calcite cement, ferric oxide/hydroxide crusts, and secondary evaporite cement are the latest precipitates, although they occlude only a minor amount of primary and secondary porosity.


A movable mass spectroscopy gas sampling apparatus has been established and a straight-line fit of silane depletion fraction f is proposed. The spatial density distributions of SiHn (n = 0–3) radicals in silane radio frequency glow discharge have been measured by a mass spectrometer. The experimental results demonstrate that the densities of the neutral radicals have the peak value near the middle position of electrodes, and the densities of SiH2 and SiH3 are higher than those of Si and SiH in silane plasma. This reveals that SiH2 and SiH3 may be the primary precursors in forming the a-Si:H film.


This article presents an analysis of the multilateral system, arguing that multilateralism is going through a profound set of changes as a result of: (1) the emergence of new multilateral actors; (2) the development of new multilateral playing fields; and (3) the rise of new concepts of multilateralism. This has consequences for world politics: the world is moving from unipolarity towards a networked form of multipolarity. This article proposes to grasp these changes through the 'Web 2.0' metaphor, as the existing multilateral system is contrasted with the emerging 'Mode 2.0' of which the main characteristics are: (1) the diversification of multilateral organisations; (2) the growing importance of nonstate actors such as substate regions and supranational regional organisations; (3) the increased interlinkages between policy domains; and (4) the growing space for citizen involvement. The main upshot is that the multilateral system is moving from a closed to an open system. Both states and international organisations will have to adapt to this new reality.

Policy Implications

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 Policy makers and scholars need to be aware that the multilateral system is undergoing radical changes that affect global policy making.

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 These changes bring with them new potentials for an increased efficiency and legitimacy of multilateralism.

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 Multilateral organisations, regional organisations and states will have to adapt to the new reality and join forces to further shape the 'Mode 2.0' of multilateralism.


We demonstrate the realization of the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like transmission in a metamaterial plasmonic waveguide with double side defects based on transmission lines. The waveguide with a single side defect works as a plasmon resonator and the resonance wavelength is determined by the Fabry-Perot resonance of surface plasmon. While in a waveguide with double side defects, a transmission peak appears between the two resonators frequencies because of the destructive interference between the resonance modes of the two resonators, which indicates a pronounced EIT phenomenon. The experiment results agree well with simulations in microwave frequencies.


Beta adrenoceptor function in central airway smooth muscle of patients with chronic airflow obstruction was investigated by radioligand binding studies and isoprenaline relaxation experiments. Receptor characteristics were determined in tracheal smooth muscle preparations obtained at necropsy from 12 patients and in bronchial tissue obtained at thoracototomy from 21 patients with chronic airflow obstruction. Receptor characteristics were compared with those obtained in airway tissue preparations from 65 control subjects without chronic airflow obstruction. The number of beta adrenoceptors, their binding affinity for the radioligand [125I]-(-)-cyanopindolol, and the tissue binding characteristics of isoprenaline were similar in tissue from patients with chronic airflow obstruction and from control subjects. Isoprenaline induced relaxation of tracheal smooth muscle without precontraction by methacholine showed slightly (though not significantly) less sensitivity to isoprenaline in patients with chronic airflow obstruction than in control subjects (mean (SEM) pD2--the negative logarithm of the concentration producing 50% relaxation--6.32 (0.16) v 6.62 (0.15)). The same pattern of pD2 values was found in segmental bronchial strips without precontraction by methacholine (chronic airflow obstruction 6.55 (0.27), control 7.14 (0.12)). Isoprenaline relaxation in segmental bronchial strips when contracted maximally was significantly less in the patients with airflow obstruction than in the control subjects (pD2 value 5.99 (0.18) v 6.45 (0.07)). These results suggest that beta adrenoceptors in airway smooth muscle of patients with chronic airflow obstruction are not abnormal in number or in binding affinity but that there is less effective coupling between components of the relaxant system distal to the beta adrenoceptor. The possibility that the reduced isoprenaline sensitivity is a consequence of previous bronchodilator treatment cannot be excluded.


The World Bank is often portrayed by human rights scholars as a 'legal black hole' where the workings of international law have been suspended. In a recognizable routine of human rights activism, consistent attempts are therefore made to throw out the normative net of international law over this institutional domain. A familiar response by the institution is the assertion of its autonomous international legal status and constitutional limitations. Rather than reaffirming a specific position in this deadlocked doctrinal debate, this article enquires into the performative effects of this jousting routine between human rights activists and the World Bank. The account points to the potentially problematic political effects indirectly and unwillingly engendered by repeated enactments of these deeply engrained juridical juxtapositions. This analysis provides an innovative, relational understanding of international law with analytical value beyond the scope of this particular debate.


This dissertation is about reading instruction in six mixed-aged classes, called child schools, with six and seven year old children. The overall questions of this study were: How did the teachers in child schools organise work in general and reading instruction in particular? How did they handle for example the increasing range of variation concerning knowledge and skills that goes together with increasing variation of age? With respect to reading the investigation also examined the content of reading instruction and the extent to which teachers took into account those factors that, according to reading research, are important for the acquisition of reading skills? Overall the research aimed to examine how the reading ability of the pupils developed during their first years at school. Six child schools were included in the study. The data collection extended over three years and contained field studies, interviews with the staff and reading tests with the pupils. Reading theories were used to analyse the form of the reading instruction and Basil Bernstein's theory of visible and invisible pedagogy was used to analyse pedagogical practice in its context. With one exception a visible pedagogy dominated in all the child schools. During lessons designated "my own work" the pupils were allowed to plan their work. This weak framing allowed the pupils to sort themselves into groups of more or less successful learners. In reading instruction, elements of two different models for instruction were combined, e.g. the whole language and the basal reading approach. My conclusion is that this combination is effective in a mixed-age group. Pupils at different competence levels benefit from different approaches. The reading comprehension of the child school pupils did not differ from the levels obtained with comparable pupils in national surveys. The test results, like the learning conditions varied between the schools. In my view the test results were not merely a consequence of the instruction, but also of other circumstances that interacted with the pedagogy.


We have investigated the magnetoresistance (MR) in a series of Zn doped (p-type) GaAs nanowires implanted with different Mn concentrations. The nanowires with the lowest Mn concentration (∼0.0001%) exhibit a low resistance of a few kΩ at 300 K and a 4% positive MR at 1.6 K, which can be well described by invoking a spin-split subband model. In contrast, nanowires with the highest Mn concentration (4%) display a large resistance of several MΩ at 300 K and a large negative MR of 85% at 1.6 K. The large negative MR is interpreted in terms of spin-dependent hopping in a complex magnetic nanowire landscape of magnetic polarons, separated by intermediate regions of Mn impurity spins. Sweeping the magnetic field back and forth for the 4% sample reveals a hysteresis that indicates the presence of a weak ferromagnetic phase. We propose co-doping with Zn to be a promising way to reach the goal of realizing ferromagnetic Ga1−xMnxAs nanowires for future nanospintronics.


Lewis acid zeolites including Zr-, Sn-, and Ti-BEA were examined for tandem [4 + 2] Diels–Alder cycloaddition of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and ethylene to oxanorbornene with subsequent dehydration to produce biorenewable p-xylene. Zr-BEA (Si/Zr = 168) exhibited superior performance with improved recalcitrance to deactivation, which was attributed to its low activity for the hydrolysis of DMF to 2,5-hexanedione and subsequent condensation. Zr-BEA also achieved the highest selectivity to p-xylene of 90% at 99% conversion of DMF. For low catalyst loading within a three-phase reactor, the reaction rate to form p-xylene was linearly proportional to the number of Lewis acid sites, while high catalyst loading exhibited zero order dependence on Lewis acid sites. A maximum achievable reaction rate was shown to be consistent with a transition in rate-limiting reactions from dehydration of oxanorbornene, the Diels–Alder product, to the Diels–Alder cycloaddition of DMF and ethylene.


For all the time invested in meetings, very little of the wealth of information that is exchanged is explicitly preserved. In this paper, we propose a novel platform for meeting transcription using cellular phones for recognition. As most meeting participants carry cellular phones with them, this platform will allow meetings to be transcribed wherever they take place, without requiring any additional infrastructure. In this paper, we intro-duce our proposed platform, and compare three approaches for combining audio from multiple devices: microphone selection, either at signal or feature level, and combination of decoder outputs via confusion network combination. We evaluated the effectiveness of our cellular phone based platform on speech collected in a meeting environment, and found that the early microphone selection at signal level obtained a 16% improvement in speech recognition accuracy compared to using a single recording device. Moreover, this approach offered a comparable performance to multi-system confusion network combination, while requiring significantly lower computational cost.


Piecewise orthogonal signal correction (POSC), an algorithm that performs local orthogonal filtering, was recently developed to process spectral signals. POSC was shown to improve partial least-squares regression models over models built with conventional OSC. However, rank deficiencies within the POSC algorithm lead to artifacts in the filtered spectra when removing two or more POSC components. Thus, an updated OSC algorithm for use with the piecewise procedure is reported. It will be demonstrated how the mathematics of this updated OSC algorithm were derived from the previous version and why some OSC versions may not be as appropriate to use with the piecewise modeling procedure as the algorithm reported here.


The conveyor chain link failed by fracturing through a fabrication weld after some time in service. The link was made of cast low-alloy steel heat treated to a hardness of 285 HRB. The fabrication weld was made using E7018 electrodes. The fracture surfaces were almost entirely covered with beach marks, indicating fatigue cracking. The beach marks emanated from a 6.4 mm (1/4 in.) wide band of unusual appearance running across the center of the fracture. Saw cuts were made perpendicular to both of the fracture surfaces and across the unusual-looking bands. The cut surfaces were ground and etched with ammonium persulfate solution revealing that complete penetration had not been achieved at the weld root. The band observed in the fracture was apparently part of the unfused weld-preparation surface at the root of the weld. This failure was caused by fatigue that initiated at an incomplete penetration defect at the root of the fabrication weld. As a result of this failure, steps were taken to ensure that good welding practice (back-gouging) would be followed in the future fabrication of these links.


Many computer science departments have chosen to hire faculty to teach in a teaching-track position that parallels the standard tenure-track position. These teaching-track positions include the possibility for promotion, longer-term contracts and greater pay as demonstrated by excellence in teaching, educational material development, and service. Since this type of position is relatively new in CS departments, the expectations and responsibilities for such faculty varies from one university to another, but they certainly differ from the traditional tenure-track positions. This birds-of-a-feather is designed to gather educators who are currently in such a position to share their experiences as members of the faculty of their departments and schools, and to provide opportunities for schools considering such positions to gather information. In past sessions, we have laid the groundwork for keeping this community together through online discussions and consolidating information about teaching-track positions at various universities together into an online database.


Conflicts of interest within hierarchic government organizations regarding the importance of fiscal discipline create the need for institutions that curb the bargaining power of units in charge of implementing policy and align their incentives to the interests of the whole organization. We examine this general public sector problem by collecting unique data on budget institutions and conflicts of interest within the Swedish municipalities. Our estimations suggest that institutions pertaining to both the planning stage and the implementation stage of the budget process are important for fiscal performance. The fiscal surplus is higher in municipalities that have centralized their budget process to some degree, and where local committees are allowed to carry over surpluses or forced to carry over deficits between fiscal years. The associations however differ between municipalities with different degrees of conflicts of interests, calling for further research to understand the incentives given by the result carry-over rules. We further find that the fiscal surplus is higher in municipalities where local managers face a relatively high risk of dismissal as a consequence of budget deficits.


Since 2015, NHERI, or the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, began research operations supported by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) as a distributed, multi-user national facility that provides the natural hazards research community with access to a powerful research infrastructure. NHERI is comprised of separate research infrastructure awards for a Network Coordination Office (NCO), Cyberinfrastructure, a Computational Modeling and Simulation Center, eight Experimental Facilities, and CONVERGE (an initiative to advance social sciences and interdisciplinary research). Awards made for NHERI contribute to NSF's role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program of the United States. The mission of NHERI is to provide the earthquake, wind, coastal engineering, and social sciences communities with access to research infrastructure, education, and community outreach activities focused on improving the resilience and sustainability of the civil infrastructure against earthquakes, windstorms, and associated natural events such as tsunami and coastal storm surge. In this paper, the role and key NHERI activities are described for the NCO, which is led by Purdue University, along with partner institutions—the University of Texas at San Antonio, North Carolina State University, Texas Tech University, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The NHERI NCO serves as a focal point and leader of a multi-hazards research community, and maintains a community-based NHERI science plan. It manages scheduling for partner NHERI Experimental Facilities and coordinates all components to ensure effective and fair governance, efficient testing, and user support within a safe environment. Another important role of the NCO is to lead NHERI-wide educational and outreach activities: the network facilitates educational experiences ranging from summer programs for undergraduates to workshops for post-docs and early-career faculty that also both involve development of K-12 lesson plans. The NCO works to develop strategic national and international partnerships and to coordinate NHERI activities with other awardee components to form a cohesive and fully-integrated global natural hazards engineering research infrastructure that fosters collaboration in new ways.


Research in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) throughout the last decade has largely focused on sharing and reusing educational resources and data. This effort has led to a fragmented landscape of competing metadata schemas, such as IEEE LOM or ADL SCORM, and interface mechanisms, such as OAI-PMH, SQI and REST-ful services in general. More recently, semantic technologies were taken into account to improve interoperability. However, so far Web-scale integration of resources is not facilitated, mainly due to the lack of take-up of shared principles, datasets and schemas. On the other hand, the Linked Data approach has emerged as the de facto standard for sharing data on the Web and is fundamentally based on established W3C standards. This paper presents results of the European Commission-funded project mEducator, which exploits Linked Data principles for (1) semantic integration and (2) social interconnecting of educational data, resources and actors. We describe a general approach to exploit the wealth of already existing educational data on the Web by allowing its exposure as Linked Data and by taking into account automated enrichment and interlinking techniques to provide a rich and well-interlinked graph for the educational domain. Additionally, the paper presents an evaluation of our work with respect to a set of socio- semantic dimensions. Experimental results demonstrate improved interoperability and retrievability of the resulting resource descriptions as part of an interlinked resource graph.


Game-based learning isn't just for kids! Video games are increasingly used in higher and further education contexts to enrich the learning experience. Whether it's designed to elucidate taught material, or intended to develop students' skills and competencies, game-based learning has a role in play at university and college. In this session, participants will be invited to share their practice of using games in HE and FE. Examples will also be drawn from The Educator Perspective chapter of the recently published Graduate Skills and Game-Based Learning, which features interviews with educators who have used games in higher education. The author will also answer (and perhaps ask!) questions relating to game-based learning in HE, drawing on his research in this area.


The porcelains are ceramics whose properties are strongly influenced by the microstructure developed after sintering. This microstructure can be changed, either by changing the composition as in the sintering conditions. New sintering methods, have allowed a greater control of the ceramics properties as a consequence of the final microstructure greater control. Microwave sintering is one of these techniques that have aroused a high interest in ceramics process because this method led to higher densification and the fine microstructure in much shorter time duration compared to conventional procedures. In this work it was studied the porcelain ceramics sintered under microwave and traditional heating conditions. Porcelains disks were prepared under a uniaxial pressure. One set of samples was sintered at in a conventional muffle furnace at range of 1250°C and 1300°C for 2 h. Another set of disks was sintered using a custom-made 2.45 GHz furnace at 1200°C temperature between 15 and 45 minutes. Density and microstructure information were obtained on microwave and convention processed samples by Archimedes principle and SEM (scanning electron microscope, JSM-5510 LV), respectively. Microwave sintering of porcelains promoted densification in much shorter time duration when compared to conventional method. The microstructure was strongly influenced by microwave heating, promoting an abnormal grain growth of the primary mullite.


Objective: To obtain social and cultural data about factors affecting the development of Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMS-C) in La Paz, Bolivia. The points-of-view of potential consumers and providers were sought. Methods: A Rapid Assessment Procedure (RAP) was conducted. RAP is a qualitative ethnographic technique that permits delineation of social, cultural, and behavioral themes about a population based on members' lived experience. In-depth interviews and participant-observation provide rapid information and enhance the likelihood of successful implementation of interventions and services before major investments in infrastructure. Results: Information collected from providers, administrators, and consumers revealed 4 themes affecting EMS-C: (1) Nature of injuries and illnesses in the Emergency Department-root causes were held to be related to the physical and emotional effects of poverty; (2) "Inappropriate" use-health care providers and consumers differed in their identification of valid reasons for utilizing EMS-C; (3) Coordination, organization, and standardization of care-both groups keenly felt their absence; and (4) Training and specialization-particularly the provider respondents felt that EMS-C would require radical changes in the training system. An expected theme, Prevention and Advocacy, did not emerge; respondents did not appear to feel that health care providers had any role in affecting public policy. Conclusions: RAP methodology provided a detailed picture of current EMS-C in La Paz, including viewpoints from all major stakeholders. This information will be used to support the development of Emergency Medicine programs that are locally driven, culturally appropriate, and socially feasible.


Based on the aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) induced by the acetylcholinesterase-catalyzed hydrolysis reaction, we have developed a novel highly sensitive enzyme mediated AuNP assembly based colorimetric method for the ultrasensitive detection of hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV). The change of the AuNP color could be observed with the naked eye directly, and the detection limit achieved was as low as 10−13 g mL−1 anti-HCV, which was an improvement of 3 orders of magnitude compared to the conventional ELISA method. The developed method is sensitive and affordable, which will be useful for HCV disease monitoring and control in remote areas and resource-constrained countries.


The evolution of parent-offspring communication was mostly studied from the perspective of parents responding to begging signals conveying information about offspring condition. Parents should respond to begging because of the differential fitness returns obtained from their investment in offspring that differ in condition. For analogous reasons, offspring should adjust their behavior to cues/signals of parental condition: parents that differ in condition pay differential costs of care and, hence, should provide different amounts of food. In this study, we experimentally tested in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia) if cues of maternal condition affect offspring behavior in terms of sibling cannibalism. We experimentally manipulated female condition by providing them with different amounts of food, kept nymph condition constant, allowed for nymph exposure to chemical maternal cues over extended time, quantified nymph survival (deaths being due to cannibalism) and extracted and analyzed the females' cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC). Nymph survival was significantly affected by chemical cues of maternal condition, and this effect depended on the timing of breeding. Cues of poor maternal condition enhanced nymph survival in early broods, but reduced nymph survival in late broods, and vice versa for cues of good condition. Furthermore, female condition affected the quantitative composition of their CHC profile which in turn predicted nymph survival patterns. Thus, earwig offspring are sensitive to chemical cues of maternal condition and nymphs from early and late broods show opposite reactions to the same chemical cues. Together with former evidence on maternal sensitivities to condition-dependent nymph chemical cues, our study shows context-dependent reciprocal information exchange about condition between earwig mothers and their offspring, potentially mediated by cuticular hydrocarbons.


Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) plays an important role, in presenting foreign pathogens to our immune system, there by eliciting early immune responses. HLA genes are highly polymorphic, giving rise to diverse antigen presentation capability. An important factor contributing to enormous variations in individual responses to diseases is differences in their HLA profiles. The heterogeneity in allele specific disease responses decides the overall disease epidemiological outcome. Here we propose an agent based computational framework, capable of incorporating allele specific information, to analyze disease epidemiology. This framework assumes a SIR model to estimate average disease transmission and recovery rate. Using epitope prediction tool, it performs sequence based epitope detection for a given the pathogenic genome and derives an allele specific disease susceptibility index depending on the epitope detection efficiency. The allele specific disease transmission rate, that follows, is then fed to the agent based epidemiology model, to analyze the disease outcome. The methodology presented here has a potential use in understanding how a disease spreads and effective measures to control the disease.


Over three hundred mutations in the molecular motor, myosin, cause a variety of cardiac and skeletal myopathies. One of our goals is to understand the functional implications of these mutations on the myosin molecule. Because myosin motors require a muscle cell context to be functional, the expression system for producing these proteins involves infecting differentiated muscle cells with recombinant adenoviruses. However, the growth of these adenoviruses in nonmuscle cells is limited by an apparent toxic effect of myosin-production in HEK 293 cells during viral expansion. Thus adenovirus generation is the rate-limiting step in this process. To ameliorate this low adenovirus yield, we designed a system of repressing transgene expression in the virus packaging cell line by incorporating microRNA targets into the 3' UTR of the myosin transgene. As a proof of principle, using the kidney-specific miRNA, miR-192, multimers of the miR-192 target were introduced into a luciferase reporter through cloning. Subsequent experiments using the miR-192 reporter indicated an unexpectedly low expression of miR-192 in HEK 293 cells. Here, we use miR-192 and an artificial miRNA, miR-1-1sc to optimize the transgene repression in HEK 293 cultures through miRNA expressing cell lines. We expect transgene repression in this new miRNA-expressing, virus-packaging cell line will restore virus yields for generating sufficient β-myosin in vitro.


This article considers the policy settings of the Safe Haven Enterprise visa ('SHEV'). It considers the merits of linking renewal of the visa to particular work requirements, and argues that the current requirements place visa holders in a position of extreme vulnerability both in the Australian workforce and in relation to their general health and well-being. The article outlines possible avenues for reform of the visa, ultimately concluding that there is a strong case for its repeal.


Only a limited number of experimental and analysis reports exist concerning bolted flange connections under bending loading. In order to investigate the complex nonlinear phenomena, three dimensional elasto-plastic finite element analyses are performed. In those analyses, frictional contact model with small sliding option is applied between contacting pair surfaces of all connecting elements. Bolt pretension force is introduced in the initial step of analysis. From this study, the following results are obtainted:1) proposed finite element analysis method can be applicable to estimate complex nonlinear behavior of bolted flange type connections; 2) There is a sharp change in bending stiffness during loading, and lateral slip between two jointed flanges cause the bolt to carry shear load. The design of bolted joints should consider the interaction among cylinders, flanges and bolts.


[eng] Isabel Georges - Company type and career paths in telemarketing in Brazil. Using an examination of a particular field of work which reveals the current trends in the Brazilian employment market, this article focuses on elements that give structure to professional careers of operational staff in telemarketing, which appear to be in disarray. The employment terms and conditions are observed to be diversified and fragmented. This finding, in a more general background of globalization of production and trade, raises questions concerning the real weight of individual practices in professional careers and, more broadly, the loss of meaning of the concepts of work and employment.


Barium chloride was administered to isolated preparations of dog heart and rat atrium and to trypsinized embryonic chick heart cells cultured in vitro. Transmembrane action potentials recorded from pacemaker, specialized conductive and contractile fibers of the dog heart, and atrial fibers of rat heart showed a slowing in the rising and falling phases of the action potential and a prominent negative after-potential. The action potential of the Purkinje fiber of the dog heart showed in addition a depolarization during diastole. A decrease in resting potential was observed later. The isometric tension developed by the rat atrium showed a significant increase which was greater at the higher concentractions (greater than 3.5 × 10−4M) of barium chloride. The cultured embryonic heart cells were appreciably more sensitive to barium than the mature heart cells. An increase in rate of beat of the embryonic heart cells was observed at concentrations of 10−6M whereas a change in heart rate was first observed in the adult heart at concentrations above 10−4M. The induction of beating in cell communities previously quiescent is due to a local automatic activity rather than to a propagated activity from an adjacent cell community. The slowing in rise time of the action potential can be attributed to a depression of the sodium-carrying system. The slowing of repolarization can be ascribed to a decrease in potassium conductance. The pronounced negative after-potential can be explained on the basis of sustained impermeability of the membrane to potassium. The mechanism by which barium produces a positive inotropic effect in the rat atrium is open to conjecture. It cannot be attributed solely to a prolongation of the duration of the action potential nor can a direct effect on the contractile proteins be excluded. The presence of extracellular calcium is essential in order to obtain a positive inotropic effect in the rat atrium when barium is added.


Water temperature is a primary physical factor regulating the persistence and distribution of aquatic taxa. Considering projected increases in air temperature and changes in precipitation in the coming century, accurate assessment of suitable thermal habitats in freshwater systems is critical for predicting aquatic species' responses to changes in climate and for guiding adaptation strategies. We use a hydrologic model coupled with a stream temperature model and downscaled general circulation model outputs to explore the spatially and temporally varying changes in stream temperature for the late 21st century at the subbasin and ecological province scale for the Columbia River basin (CRB). On average, stream temperatures are projected to increase 3.5 °C for the spring, 5.2 °C for the summer, 2.7 °C for the fall, and 1.6 °C for the winter. While results indicate changes in stream temperature are correlated with changes in air temperature, our results also capture the important, and often ignored, influence of hydrological processes on changes in stream temperature. Decreases in future snowcover will result in increased thermal sensitivity within regions that were previously buffered by the cooling effect of flow originating as snowmelt. Other hydrological components, such as precipitation, surface runoff, lateral soil water flow, and groundwater inflow, are negatively correlated to increases in stream temperature depending on the ecological province and season. At the ecological province scale, the largest increase in annual stream temperature was within the Mountain Snake ecological province, which is characterized by migratory coldwater fish species. Stream temperature changes varied seasonally with the largest projected stream temperature increases occurring during the spring and summer for all ecological provinces. Our results indicate that stream temperatures are driven by local processes and ultimately require a physically explicit modeling approach to accurately characterize the habitat regulating the distribution and diversity of aquatic taxa.


Rice farmers in Sidamukti, West Java plant several varieties of rice, sometimes planting twoor three varieties together in one plot of land. The decision to plant a specific variety is strongly influenced by farmers' agricultural knowledge, such as knowledge of varieties of rice, periods of maturation, tastes, characteristic of specific varieties, as well as knowledge of environmental conditions, including soil conditions, the need of fertilizer and seasonal changes. The author suggest that this knowledge, as a basis for decision making is at a pre-attentive stage that has become patterned, and its nearly or perhaps entirely out of conscious consideration. In fact, external situational factors operating at the start of planting play a dominant role in the decision to plant a specific variety of rice. A multitude of factors - such as pressure from village authorities to plant certain varieties in keeping with development programs; to supply of grain, fertilizers and water for irrigation; the desire to experiment, and the demands of landowners - often become significant determinants. The author arrives at the conclusion that studies of decision making processes that view knowledge systems as recipes or patterns for behavior must be supplemented by close observation and understanding the context and situation in which behavior is generated.


Ordered mesoporous structures were successfully introduced into Nafion membranes via a soft micelle templating method, using a nonionic block copolymer surfactant, PEO127-PPO48-PEO127 (Pluronic F108). The mesoporous Nafion or meso-Nafion membranes were characterized by the AFM, SAXS, TGA and conductivity measurements. The results show that the meso-Nafion has a very high water retention capability. The proton conductivities of meso-Nafion are also much higher than that of Nafion 115 membranes particularly at reduced relative humidity (RH) and elevated temperatures. At 80˚C and 40%RH, the conductivity of meso-Nafion is 0.07 Scm-1, more than 3 times better than Nafion 115. At 60%RH and 80˚C, the cell with meso-Nafion reached a stable power output of 0.63 Wcm-2, more than 2 times higher than the cell with pristine Nafion 115 under identical experimental conditions. The cells with meso-Nafion membrane also demonstrate much better stability at elevated temperature of 120˚C and reduced humidities.


Abstract : This thesis further defines the position of greatest fuel savings benefit for the trail aircraft flying in a two-ship formation. The HASC95 vortex lattice code was used for the examination. Investigations of a similar formation of F-16 aircraft and a dissimilar formation of a lead KC-135 aircraft and a trail F-16 aircraft were conducted. The analyses determined the effects of varying airspeed on the optimal position. In addition, flight control surface deflections were taken into account during the analyses. Both investigations trimmed the aircraft in the yaw and roll axes to determine the optimal savings. The similar analysis was conducted at an altitude of 20,000 feet and three airspeeds: cruise speed of 300 knots, maximum range airspeed of 271 knots, and maximum endurance airspeed of 211 knots. The savings for the trail aircraft were determined to be 16%, 21%, and 34%, respectively, at a constant wing tip overlap of 13.5% of the wingspan. The dissimilar formation was completed at an altitude of 20,000 feet and 300 knots airspeed. This resulted in a 26% savings for the trail aircraft with a wing tip overlap of 16.7% of its wingspan. A flight test was flown for the similar formation profile of F-16s. The flight test investigated the change in vertical positioning and lateral spacing from the first analysis and captured data at 300 knots. The results of the flight test were inconclusive. However, the determined area of apparent savings was bounded by 7.9% to 19.9% wing tip overlap and -3.2% to -7.3% vertical separation. At the bounds, fuel savings of 12% and 13% +/-7% were observed. The drag savings profile had the capability to increase the range of existing airframes, providing the benefit at no cost. The analytical study was conducted at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB. The flight test was conducted at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB, California.


Gasification plays an important role for converting coal and biomass to syngas. These product gases can be applied to many processes, for example, power generation or methane production. There are a number of the mathematic models that can predict the
composition of the product gas from the different type of gasification processes and feedstock, but these models are not compact and can be employed for just the specific type of gasification. In many cases, the collected experimental data are not sufficient to reliably identify the parameter estimates. In this case, the identification of all parameters without distinction reduces dramatically the prediction capabilities of the mathematical models and potentially to unreliable mathematical models. The estimablility approach was proven to be an effective way to improve the model prediction compatibility using the available experimental data. This approach was successfully implemented to gasification mathematical models and provides a methodology that helps exploit optimally the available experimental measurements. If the experimental data are not sufficient, additional experiments could be designed to improve the estimability potential of a specific parameter. As a demonstration of the methodology, the estimability framework was implemented and validated using the biomass gasification process. The results show that this method can provide the most influential parameter according to the different cut-off value, so the model parameters are able to be validated very effectively. This modified dynamic model has the potential to predict the gas composition produced from the biomass gasification process.


Network analysis is one of the most widely used techniques in many areas of modern science. Most existing tools for that purpose are limited to drawing networks and computing their basic general characteristics. The user is not able to interactively and graphically manipulate the networks, select and explore subgraphs using other statistical and data mining techniques, add and plot various other data within the graph, and so on. In this paper we present a tool that addresses these challenges, an add-on for exploration of networks within the general component-based environment Orange.


sessions focus on development of a small-scale autonomous car, incrementally enhancing the sensors, software, and control algorithms to culminate in a demonstration in a realistic outdoor operating environment. Students will learn basic physics and modeling; controls design and analysis in Matlab and Simulink; software implementation in C and Python; sensor systems and filtering methods for IMUs, GPS, and computer vision systems; and path planning from fixed map data. Prerequisite: If course requirement met, of instructor transformations, Lyapunov stability criteria, eigenvalues conditions and input-output stability analysis. Applications involving the topics of controllability, observability, realizability, minimal realization, controller and observer forms, linear feedback, and state feedback stabilization are included, as time permits. Open to graduates and undergraduates who have taken undergraduate courses in linear algebra and differential equations.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
The goal of this study was to elucidate the risk factors for duodenal stump leakage after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. In addition, the management of duodenal stump leakage is reviewed.

METHODOLOGY
From January 2002 through December 2012, 1,195 patients with gastric cancer who underwent gastric R0 resection were enrolled in this study. The clinicopathologic features, postoperative outcomes (i.e., operation time, hospital stay, surgical procedures, method of duodenal stump closure, retrieved lymph nodes), and the risk factors of duodenal stump leakage were analyzed.

RESULTS
Of the 1,195 patients, 13 patients (1.1%) suffered duodenal stump leakage. Most of the patients with duodenal stump leakage were male (92.3%). Nine patients underwent a subtotal gastrectomy with Billroth- II or Roux-en-Y anastomosis; the other four patients underwent a total gastrectomy with a Roux-en-Y anastomosis. There were two mortalities. With univariate and multivariate analysis, age was the most predictable factor for duodenal stump leakage (p= 0.034, p=0.044) CONCLUSIONS: Duodenal stump leakage was affected by the age. For older patients who undergo a radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer, the surgeon must pay meticulous attention to the transection and mobilization of the duodenum in order to prevent duodenal stump leakage.


In the UK, fine art education is argued to be an instrumentalised system that is preoccupied with learning outcomes and quality process. The author argues that this is detrimental to the education of students, especially given the unpredictable, translocated global nature of employment in the contemporary knowledge economy. This article describes a project called 'Occupation Workplace', inspired by the 'occupy movement', which attempts to disrupt the normal processes of fine art education in the hope of engaging students in new forms of conversation with their learning experience. Contemporary fine art can take many forms, such as a performance, an action, a song, an event or a conversation. This project proposes an alternative to the studio-based model of fine art education to introduce students to these dialogic, relational, collaborative practices in a non-hierarchical environment. The article narrates some of the success and limitations of the project and makes recommendations for future work.


In this study, we examined how the Drosophila developmental control gene even-skipped (eve) represses transcription. Tissue culture cells were used to show that eve contains domains which inhibit transcriptional activators present at the Ultrabithorax (Ubx) proximal promoter when bound up to 1.5 kb away from these activators. Different portions of eve were fused to a heterologous DNA binding domain to show that three adjacent regions of eve contribute to silencing. There appear to be two mechanisms by which eve protein represses transcription. In this study, we used in vitro transcription and DNA binding experiments to provide evidence for one of these mechanisms. Repression in vitro correlates with binding of eve protein to two low-affinity sites in the Ubx proximal promoter. Occupancy of these low-affinity sites is dependent upon cooperative binding of other eve molecules to a separate high-affinity site. Some of these sites are separated by over 150 bp of DNA, and the data suggest that this intervening DNA is bent to form a looped structure similar to those caused by prokaryotic repressors. One of the low-affinity sites overlaps an activator element bound by the zeste transcription factor. Binding of eve protein is shown to exclude binding by zeste protein. These data suggest a mechanism for silencing whereby a repressor protein would be targeted to DNA by a high-affinity element, which itself does not overlap activator elements. Cooperative binding of further repressor molecules to distant low-affinity sites, and competition with activators bound at these sites lead to repression at a distance.


Effective delivery of therapeutic agents to tumour cells is essential to the success of most cancer treatment therapies except for surgery. The transport of drug in solid tumours involves multiple biophysical and biochemical proc- esses which are strongly dependent on the physicochemical properties of the drug and biological properties of the tumour. Owing to the complexities involved, mathematical models are playing an increasingly important role in identifying the factors leading to inadequate drug delivery to tumours. In this study, a computational model is developed which incorpo- rates real tumour geometry reconstructed from magnetic resonance images, drug transport through the tumour vasculature and interstitium, as well as drug uptake by tumour cells. The effectiveness of anticancer therapy is evaluated based on the percentage of survival tumour cells by directly solving the pharmacodynamics equation using predicted intracellular drug concentrations. Computational simulations are performed for the delivery of doxorubicin through different administration modes and doses. Our predictions show that continuous infusion is far more effective than bolus injection in maintaining high levels of intracellular drug concentration, thereby increasing drug uptake by tumour cells. On the other hand, bolus injection leads to higher extracellular concentration in both tumour and normal tissues compared to continuous infusion, which is undesirable as high drug concentration in normal tissues may increase the risk of associated side effects.


On the capacitarian account responsibility tracks capacity - i.e. reductions in a person's agency-relevant mental capacities entail reductions in the degree of their responsibility. This entails that if the mental capacity to (e.g.) empathise was necessary for moral agency, then a person that commits murder but who lacks this capacity should be at least partially excused. The capacitarian account also allows that if neuroimaging scans could reveal people's mental capacities then such scans could play some role in assessing responsibility. However, viewed from another angle, a person who lacks the capacity to empathise could also be described as cold blooded killer - i.e. as a bad rather than a mad person - and under this description it seems more appropriate to condemn rather than to excuse them. Although this might seem to challenge the capacitarian account, and with it the idea that neuroscience might have some role to play in helping us to assess people's responsibility, I will argue that this challenge is illusory. On my account, this challenge rests on a conflation of two different kinds of culpability, and on a failure to notice that each of these kinds of culpability plays a role at a different stage in the criminal trial.


Lagocephalus sceleratus is one of the worst invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea migrated from Red Sea and has been spreading throughout the area. The aim of this study is focusing on the potential nutritional use of this species. The long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are beneficial for health of humans. A good natural source of these fatty acids is seafood, especially fish. In this study, total lipid content and fatty acid composition of L. sceleratus were determined. Total lipid content of dorsal muscle was found as 1,82 %. Levels of EPA (6,08%) and DHA (15,68%) were found high. These results may mean that muscle of L. sceleratus has good nutritional value. After solving the toxicity problem of L. sceleratus, consuming this species as a food source may help to prevent the ecosystem againts this invasive species.


Optical frequency combs offer unprecedented combination of broad bandwidth and high resolution and their coupling to enhancement cavities provides high sensitivity for spectroscopic measurements. Here we use a frequency-comb-based Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) to measure the narrow resonances of a high-finesse cavity over a bandwidth of 100 nm around 1.55 μm and derive the group delay dispersion (GDD) of the cavity mirrors with precision below 1 fs2 from the cavity resonance frequencies. We do this using a method that allows precise sampling of the comb intensities using an FTS with nominal resolution matched to the comb repetition rate (frep) [1, 2], and we demonstrate that sub-MHz resolution is achieved.


AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine the superoinferior extension of the post-levator aponeurosis fat pad in the upper eyelids of Japanese cadavers. Twenty-six upper eyelids (12 right and 14 left) from 15 Japanese cadavers (6 men and 9 women; average age at death, 82.1 years) were used in this experimental anatomical study. After an orbital exenteration, the tissues were cut sagittally through the center of the orbit, and the superoinferior extension of the post-levator aponerosis fat pad was microscopically examined on the sections. Consequently, the fat pad superiorly reached the myotendinous junction between the levator aponeurosis and the levator palpebrae superioris (LPS) muscle in 17 eyelids with the nonbranching LPS muscle. The fat pad extended to the roots of the superior and inferior branches of the LPS muscle in the other 9 eyelids with the branching LPS muscle. Inferiorly, the fat pad was limited to the conjunctival fornix in 13 eyelids, but reached the tarsal plate in the other 13 eyelids. This study showed anatomical variation in the superoinferior extension of the post-levator aponerosis fat pad in Japanese cadavers.


Abstract In this study, the mechanical behavior of composite pipes joined with embedded and non-embedded adhesive layers is investigated. Due to their high resistance, corrosion resistance, repair and lightness, composite materials have been used in industry increasingly. In general, composite pipes are used for the transport of pressurized liquids and gases. Joining processes are performed using many different methods. This study is intended to facilitate the joining process of composite pipes and to increase their applicability. In this study, the development of various bonding methods were investigated using composite pipes and double reinforced structural adhesives. Likewise stress behavior was analyzed. Generally, models with patch and patch quality are found in the literature.In this study by contrast, joining operations will be made easier by means of composite pipe joining models designed using glue without a patch. As a result, time and extra cost savings can be achieved.


Coupled contradirectional mode equations are derived to describe Hermite-Gaussian beam interactions in corrugated thin-film waveguides when the grating teeth are curved and/or tilted. Coupling coefficients are evaluated for identical and hybrid modes. The problem of focusing a guided Gaussian beam by reflection from a curved grating is considered. It is shown that the grating curvature should serve to match the phase fronts of the contradirectional Gaussians and the grating should extend axially to include the region where the two beam widths are approximately equal.


We derive a criterion for the onset of chaos in systems consisting of two massive, eccentric, coplanar planets. Given the planets' masses and separation, the criterion predicts the critical eccentricity above which chaos is triggered. Chaos occurs where mean motion resonances overlap, as in Wisdom's pioneering work. But whereas Wisdom considered the overlap of first-order resonances only, limiting the applicability of his criterion to nearly circular planets, we extend his results to arbitrarily eccentric planets (up to crossing orbits) by examining resonances of all orders. We thereby arrive at a simple expression for the critical eccentricity. We do this first for a test particle in the presence of a planet and then generalize to the case of two massive planets, based on a new approximation to the Hamiltonian. We then confirm our results with detailed numerical simulations. Finally, we explore the extent to which chaotic two-planet systems eventually result in planetary collisions.


The effects of test environments (dry versus wet) on estimation of genetic parameters in seedling traits were studied in 160 open‐pollinated families of Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) from southwestern Oregon. Seedlings from four populations were grown in two test environments for two growing seasons. Between test environments, ‐9 bars of water potential difference were created in both growing seasons. Estimated genetic variances in most growth and phenology traits were considerably higher for seedlings grown in the wet environment than for those in the dry. Estimated genetic correlations between the same traits measured in different test environments indicated that most seedling traits studied for two growing seasons are genetically stable in both environments—i.e., suggesting that genotype by environment interaction in these traits are weak. However, the effect of test environment on estimation of genetic parameters in seedling traits, especially in adaptive seedling traits, should b...


The excitation function of freeze-out time, average freeze-out temperature and freeze-out energy density of (multi-) strange baryons created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is investigated in the framework of a microscopic transport model. We find that the Ω on average freezes out earlier than the nucleon, Λ and Ξ. The average freeze-out temperature and energy density, as well as the spread between the different baryonic states, increase monotonically with increasing beam energy and should approach a universal value in the case of a hadronizing quark-gluon plasma.


Desaturation of a fatty acid first involves the enzymatic removal of a hydrogen from a methylene group in an acyl chain, a highly energy-demanding step that requires an activated oxygen intermediate. Two types of desaturases have been identified, one soluble and the other membrane-bound, that have different consensus motifs. Database searching for these motifs reveals that these enzymes belong to two distinct multifunctional classes, each of which includes desaturases, hydroxylases, and epoxidases that act on fatty acids or other substrates. The soluble class has a consensus motif consisting of carboxylates and histidines that coordinate an active site diiron cluster. The integral membrane class contains a different consensus motif composed of histidines. Biochemical and structural similarities between the integral membrane enzymes suggest that this class also uses a diiron cluster for catalysis. Soluble and membrane enzymes have been successfully re-engineered for substrate specificity and reaction outcome. It is anticipated that rational design of these enzymes will result in new and desired activities that may form the basis for improved oil crops.


ABSTRACT An unusual freshwater-diatom-bearing pyroclastic-debris-flow deposit is present within the shallow-marine upper Eocene to Oligocene Pittsburg Bluff Formation of northwestern Oregon. The subaerially generated pyroclastic-debris flow rapidly debouched into the shallow-marine environment. The flow formed a wedge-shaped deposit, up to 3.5 m thick, that is mappable over several square kilometers. Thickness and maximum clast size decrease offshore; near the distal margins the debris flow mixed with seawater and became a high-density shelf turbidity current. Where emplaced above storm wave base, the deposit was locally reworked to form a thin lag conglomerate. Thalassinoides burrows are present in the upper 30 cm of the deposit. The rhyodacite chemical and mineral composition, regional geologic setting, and thickness and clast-size variations indicate a nearby highly explosive calcalkaline volcanic source to the northeast (i.e., Western Cascade are). This deposit documents the earliest known Cascade arc explosive event that directly affected sedimentation in the Tertiary forearc basin of western Oregon. A sanidine- and biotite-bearing ash fall tuff 3 m above the debris-flow deposit was derived from a backarc eruptive source (e.g., Oligocene John Day Formation). This tuff yielded an 40Ar/39Ar date of 29.83 Ma. The well-preserved diatom flora within the debris-flow deposit matrix extends the geologic range of some genera (e.g., Gomphonema) and widens the geographic distribution of others (e.g., Gomphopleura). Possible scenarios to explain the presence of exclusively freshwater diatoms in the debris-flow deposit in this shallow-marine section include: (1) a primary pyroclastic debris flow may have passed through a diatom-rich lake between the site of eruption and its entrance into the sea; (2) freshly erupted pyroclastics temporarily blocked a river drainage, creating an alpine lake that produced the debris flow upon dam failure; (3) primary pyroclastic debris may have been vented directly through a caldera or crater lake rich in diatomaceous sediment.


This article evaluates the meaningful engagement doctrine in the education rights jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in the light of a set of normative principles developed by Susan Sturm for evaluating participatory public law remedies. It commences by identifying four principles for evaluating participatory remedies appropriate to South African constitutional law and jurisprudence. Thereafter the relevant jurisprudence is analysed and evaluated in the light of these principles. The article concludes by making proposals for the development of meaningful engagement as a participatory remedy in educational rights disputes. These proposals seek to ensure a better alignment between the meaningful engagement remedy and the four remedial principles identified.


An efficient morphologic characterization of plants includes evaluation of forage traits. The objective was to analyze morphologic diversity in native populations of blue grama grass [Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Steud.] in Chihuahua. In 2006, 173 ecotypes were collected in Chihuahua and transplanted in La Campana Experimental Site. Ecotypes were evaluated through morphological traits and their population structure was defined. Principal component and cluster analysis were used for data analysis. The three first principal components explained 57.3 % of total variation. The PC1, PC2 and PC3 explained 35.3 %, 12.4 % and 9.52 % of the global variation, respectively. Most important variables for PC1 were forage yield, stem density, and plant height; for PC2 were spikelet width, inflorescence length and spikelet number; and for PC3, stem diameter, leaf width and spikelet length. The PC1 included variables related to growth capacity. The PC2 grouped variables associated to propagation and dispersion. The PC3 included variables related to biomass accumulation. Also, four groups were obtained from the 145 established ecotypes. Groups 1, II, III, and IV included 59, 24, 19, and 43 ecotypes, respectively. A high morphological diversity was observed and ecotypes with high forage potential were detected according to their morphological trails. Genetic variability in blue grama grass from Chihuahua is readily available and specimens having excellent forage characteristics could be used in range improvements programs.


A steady-state fluorescence technique was employed to study the swelling of κ-carrageenan gels at various temperatures. Pyranine was used as a fluorescence probe. The fluorescence intensity of pyranine was measured during the insitu swelling process of κ-carrageenan gels. The fluorescence intensity increased exponentially as the swelling time increased. The increase in the fluorescence intensity was modeled with the Li–Tanaka equation, from which the swelling time constants and cooperative diffusion coefficients were determined. The swelling time constants decreased and the cooperative diffusion coefficients increased as the swelling temperature was increased. The swelling activation energies were measured to be 47.05 kJ/mol. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007


Sarcoidosis-associated fatigue is globally recognised as a disabling symptom. Fatigue has been reported in up to 50–70% of sarcoidosis patients, causing impaired quality of life. The aetiology of this troublesome problem remains elusive and is usually multifactorial. Fatigue can be a consequence of treatment itself, including as a complication of corticosteroid therapy. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue requires an extensive evaluation to identify and treat potentially reversible causes. Granuloma formation and cytokine release may be involved in its aetiology. However, despite adequate sarcoidosis treatment, many patients continue to experience fatigue. Comorbidities associated with sarcoidosis, including depression, anxiety, hypothyroidism and altered sleep patterns, may all contribute to fatigue. Despite an exhaustive search for treatable clinical causes of fatigue, most patients' complaints of fatigue are not correlated with clinical parameters of disease activity. Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of various neurostimulants, including methylphenidate, for the treatment of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue. These and other agents may be useful adjuncts for the treatment of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue. Obviously, there is a need for studies evaluating the causes and new therapeutic options of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue. Psychological interventions should also be examined.


Liver metastases occur in approximately 60% of patients with colorectal cancer. Liver resection is currently the only treatment that offers long-term survival. The 5-year survival rates range from 25 to 40%; however, less than 20% of patients are candidates for resection. The prognosis for the remaining patients is grim, since palliative chemotherapy and symptomatic care are the only available options. The ability to transfer therapeutic genes to target cells in vivo has opened up unprecedented possibilities for the management of metastatic liver cancer. A large number of genes with therapeutic potential have been cloned. Families of genes currently used can be classified as "suicide", cytokine, anti-angiogenic, tumour-suppressor, and oncogenes. Physico-chemical and, more commonly, viral vectors can be used to enhance gene transfer into tumours. The delivery systems for gene therapy continue to improve as minimally invasive techniques are combined with recent vector technology. Encouraging results, such as tumour destruction and long-term protective immunity against metastatic disease, have been obtained in different animal models. This article discusses several recent phase I and II clinical trials. The results of these combined laboratory and clinical studies are expected to define optimal means of incorporating gene therapy into the treatment of liver metastasis.


Per-survivor processing (PSP) is now seen as an attractive approach to performing maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) over mobile radio channels that are rapidly time varying. An optimal PSP strategy incorporates statistical channel modeling and Kalman filtering. For severely time-dispersive channels, this approach becomes prohibitively complex. A novel filtering algorithm is presented to approximate Kalman PSP. MLSE with the new scheme offers a large reduction in computational complexity, and achieves performance close to the optimal Kalman approach and superior to existing PSP schemes in rapidly fading channels. The exact expressions presented for the pairwise error probability of MLSE with Kalman PSP may be used to predict the detector performance without resorting to lengthly simulations.


A critical review is given of the tests available for the assessment of the action of anticoagulants, such as heparins, oral anticoagulants and direct thrombin inhibitors, in patients under antithrombotic therapy. The principle of action and the performance of the thromboplastin time (PT), the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), the whole blood clotting time, the thrombin time, the ecarin clotting time and the endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) is discussed, as well as the evidence behind the accepted therapeutic ranges. The two most common tests, PT and aPTT, respond in an essentially different way to clinically effective anticoagulation with heparin and with oral anticoagulants. This means that they covariate with, but do not themselves represent the essential parameter influenced by anticoagulation. The experimental basis for the widely accepted two times prolongation of the aPTT as an indicator for adequate anticoagulation is shown to be meagre in the case ofunfractionated heparin and lacking for the other anticoagulants. Common sources for error in the interpretation of anti-factor Xa-and anti-thrombin activity of heparins are indicated. Extensive experience with new tests like the ecarin clotting time and the ETP is still lacking. On the basis of preliminary data and in view of the importance of the enzymatic action of thrombin in the pathogenesis of thrombosis, the ETP is considered a possible candidate for a common parameter to assess different types of anticoagulants


Gynostemma pentaphyllum (G. pentaphyllum) is widely used as a traditonal chinese medicine with anti-metabolic syndrome properties in Asian countries, however, the critical mechanism with the metabolic benefits of G. pentaphyllum remained unclarified. Herein, we performed metabolomic analysis (LC-MS/MS) of samples from obese mice treated with G. pentaphyllum, and identified 2α-OH-PPD (GP2) may be the principal bioactive constituent responsible for the anti-metabolic syndrome effect of G. pentaphyllum. In mouse model of high fat diet-induced obesity, GP2 prevented diet-induced obesity, along with hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance after 5 weeks treatment. The metabolic benefits of GP2 treatment were abrogated in the antibiotic treated DIO mice, which indicated GP2 improves metabolic syndrome dependent on gut microbiota remodeling. Mechanically, GP2, play as an inhibitor of bile salt hydrolase (BSH) in the gut microbiota, increased the bile acid tauro-α/β-muricholic acid (Tα/βMCA) and tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) in the gut through decrease in level of the genus Clostridium, but not the genus Lactobacillus (LefSe Analysis for gut microbiota composition). The expression of FGF-15 and shp gene were dramatically decreased in the ileum, and the expression of pro-glucagon in the L cell and glucose induced GLP-1 secretion were markedly increased in the GP2 treated mice, which were accompanied by farnesoid X receptor (FXR) signaling inhibition in the intestine. Finally, after transplanted the fecal microbiota of mice treated by GP2 into recipient mice pretreated with antibiotics, the mice reflected much more GLP-1 secretion after glucose stimulated and high Tα/βMCA level in the gut than the mice received control microbiota. These results indicated that GP2 as well as G. pentaphyllum improved metabolic syndrome in part through intestinal FXR inhibition induced by gut microbiota remodeling. Disclosure Z. Xie: None. L. Hu: None. J. Li: None. J. Li: None. Funding National Natural Science Foundation of China


Abstract The Phanerozoic history of life has been interrupted by at least 17 different stage-level episodes of elevated extinction intensity. These range from major turnovers that affected the majority of the Earth's extant biota (e.g. the Tatarian, Ashgill, and Maastrichtian events) to much smaller and perhaps more geographically localized disruptions. Review of available stage-level stratigraphic evidence suggests that bolide impacts do not exhibit a compelling correspondence to the Phanerozoic record of marine invertebrate extinctions. A much stronger case can be made for the repeated association of extinction events and episodes of long-term eustatic sea-level fall and/or major episodes of continental flood basalt volcanism. Moreover, during the last 250 Ma particularly severe extinction events have occurred during times of simultaneous continental flood basalt eruption and eustatic sea-level fall (e.g. Tatarian, Norian, Maastrichtian). Attempts to employ patterns of extinction selectivity to infer the physical cause of extinction events have foundered on the non-specificity of biological predictions as well as the seemingly unique biotic nature of each event. Although a few high-resolution biostratigraphic analyses have demonstrated that largely progressive patterns of faunal turnovers are consistent with co-extinction models under certain assumptions, this does not constitute a strong confirmation of the co-extinction model as a necessary or sufficient general explanation for Phanerozoic extinction events. In all likelihood, the nature of the fossil record precludes precise identification of extinction causal mechanisms. Nevertheless, comparative studies are able to evaluate the role both large and small extinction events have played in altering the long-term course of Earth's biological history.


The Sonoma Range of north-central Nevada exposes lower Paleozoic rocks of the Roberts Mountains allochthon that were thrust from east to west over Upper Triassic shelf strata in Jurassic time. Also present are Roberts Mountains allochthon rocks that were autochthonous in the Jurassic. Structural analysis of Jurassic allochthonous vs. Jurassic autochthonous rocks of the Harmony Formation indicates that both packages have the same east-verging Paleozoic deformation history: recumbent isoclines (F1), shallowly inclined tight folds (F2), then upright folds (F3). Three generations of Jurassic folds (F4, F5, F6) are present in the Jurassic allochthonous Harmony Formation, whereas the Jurassic autochthonous Harmony Formation has only the youngest Jurassic phase (F6). First Jurassic folds (F4) in the Jurassic allochthonous Harmony Formation are synemplacement major fault-bend folds. F4 folds F1-F3 and does not fold F5 and F6. F5 folds are markedly different from Paleozoic deformations and the younger Jurassic folds (F6) present in both the Jurassic allochthonous and Jurassic autochthonous Harmony Formation (major, upright, west-verging). Recognition of F5 folds in rocks of the Roberts Mountains allochthon north and east of the Sonoma Range may help define the geographic extent of Jurassic deformation in northern Nevada. These boundaries cannot be established by traditional means because of the absence of exposure of Upper Triassic to Middle Jurassic rocks in the region.


Sound travelling through a gas propagates at different speeds and its intensity attenuates to different degrees depending upon the composition of the gas. Theoretically, a real-time gaseous composition sensor could be based on measuring the sound speed and the acoustic attenuation. To this end, the speed of sound was modelled using standard relations, and the acoustic attenuation was modelled using the theory for vibrational relaxation of gas molecules. The concept for a gas composition sensor is demonstrated theoretically for nitrogen-methane-water and hydrogen-oxygen-water mixtures. For a three-component gas mixture, the measured sound speed and acoustic attenuation each define separate lines in the composition plane of two of the gases. The intersection of the two lines defines the gas composition. It should also be possible to use the concept for mixtures of more than three components, if the nature of the gas composition is known to some extent.


A highly conserved histidine-rich region with unknown function was recognized in the large subunit of [NiFe] hydrogenases. The HxHxxHxxHxH sequence occurs in most membrane-bound hydrogenases, but only two of these histidines are present in the cytoplasmic ones. Site-directed mutagenesis of the His-rich region of the T. roseopersicina membrane-attached Hyn hydrogenase disclosed that the enzyme activity was significantly affected only by the replacement of the His104 residue. Computational analysis of the hydrogen bond network in the large subunits indicated that the second histidine of this motif might be a component of a proton transfer pathway including Arg487, Asp103, His104 and Glu436. Substitutions of the conserved amino acids of the presumed transfer route impaired the activity of the Hyn hydrogenase. Western hybridization was applied to demonstrate that the cellular level of the mutant hydrogenases was similar to that of the wild type. Mostly based on theoretical modeling, few proton transfer pathways have already been suggested for [NiFe] hydrogenases. Our results propose an alternative route for proton transfer between the [NiFe] active center and the surface of the protein. A novel feature of this model is that this proton pathway is located on the opposite side of the large subunit relative to the position of the small subunit. This is the first study presenting a systematic analysis of an in silico predicted proton translocation pathway in [NiFe] hydrogenases by site-directed mutagenesis.


This thesis describes the grammatical structure of Ekpeye, an unwritten language of Eastern Nigeria. In the first chapter, there is an introduction to the Ekpeye language and people, and to the linguistic theory underlying this description, together with an outline of the analysis. Chapter 2 provides details of the transcription used in the thesis, and other phonological points. Chapters 3 to 13 contain the main body of the grammatical description, with units described in descending order of rank. The Sentence is outlined in chapter 3, and the Clause with its four classes and five types, in chapter 4, Chapters 5 to 7 deal with Phrase rank, a separate Phrase class being considered in each chapter. Chapter 5 contains the Nominal Phrase class with its five types, chapter 6 the Verbal Phrase class with its five types, and chapter 7 the Adverbial Phrase class with its single type. Chapters 8 to 11 describe Word rank in terms of four hyperclasses. Chapter 8 handles the Nominal hyperclass with its nine classes, and chapter 9 the Verbal hyperclass with its three classes and the three types found within one of the classes. Chapter 10 treats the Adverbial hyperclass with its three classes, and chapter 11 the Particle hyperclass with its eight classes. Stem rank is described in chapter 12, and Morpheme rank, with its two hyperclasses, in chapter 13. Chapter 14 contains an Ekpeye text fully analysed in accordance with the preceding description, and the thesis closes with a short bibliography.