Analysis of topography and new swath bathymetry as well as geophysical data provides information about aerial and submarine morphological features and mass transfer processes on Montserrat. The island has a characteristic shallow (<100 m) submarine shelf, interpreted as having been formed through erosion with a depth controlled by glacio-eustatic sea-level variation. Several debris avalanche deposits are identified on the lower submarine flanks of Soufrière Hills volcano, and there is evidence of lateral collapses at the older volcanic centres. The morphological evolution of Montserrat is interpreted in terms of three stages. The first stage comprises submarine growth. The second stage, subaerial growth, is represented by the active South Soufrière Hills–Soufrière Hills volcanic centre. During the current eruption of Soufrière Hills volcano (1995–2002) more than half of the lava erupted was transported into the sea. Flank collapses occurred several times during this stage, such as the English's Crater event (c. 4000 years ago) or the Boxing Day event during the current eruption (26 December 1997). Montserrat's older volcanic centres, the Centre Hills and Silver Hills, illustrate the third stage of evolution, extinction and erosion. Magma production, long-term erosion and total sedimentation rates on Montserrat have been estimated as 0.17 km3 ka−1, 0.0125 km3 ka−1 and 0.11 km3 ka−1 (i.e. 1.1 cm ka−1), respectively.


Objective—To determine the changes in the endocrine mechanisms of fluid balance after cardiopulmonary bypass in children. Design—Prospective study; analysis of numbered plasma samples performed blind with respect to clinical data. Setting—Regional paediatric cardiothoracic unit. Patients—Nine patients, median age 4, range 2 to 9 years, five males. Patients under the age of 1 year were excluded because of the frequent blood sampling involved. Main outcome measures—Plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), arginine vasopressin, plasma renin activity, aldosterone, noradrenaline and adrenaline, and urinary concentrations of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) as measured by radioimmunoassay. Results—After 30 minutes of cardiopulmonary bypass plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) decreased from (mean (SEM)) 151 (71) pg/ml to 52 (44) pg/ml (NS), and urinary production of its second messenger cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) decreased from 1286 (600) pmol/ml to 151 (414) pmol (p < 0·05). Other plasma concentrations of hormones studied did not change significantly although arginine vasopressin, adrenaline, and noradrenaline increased whereas aldosterone and plasma renin activity decreased. After cardiopulmonary bypass stopped there was an immediate and significant rise in plasma ANP, but within the next 24 hours plasma ANP declined significantly (p < 0.05), decreasing from 294 (49) pg/ml to 64 (29) pg/ml at 22 hours. In the postoperative period there was a significant correlation between plasma ANP and both mean fluid balance (r = 0·96, p < 0·001) and mean urine output (r = 0·97, p < 0·001). Plasma aldosterone peaked (p < 0·05) at 22 hours after operation, and argine vasopressin peaked (p < 0·05) at two hours and then declined (p < 0·05) to a trough at 24 hours. Plasma renin activity, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and urinary cGMP concentrations, and mean central venous pressure did not change significantly in the postoperative period. Conclusion—The changes documented show the differing pattern of release of water balance hormones invoked by cardiopulmonary bypass. The central role of ANP is shown by its strong correlation with urinary output and its similarly strong relation to fluid balance.


Two species of Crepidotus are recorded from cloud forest in the central region of Veracruz State (eastern Mexico): Crepidotus rubrovinosus sp. nov. and Crepidotus septicoides. The latter species was known previously only from the type locality in Brazil and from one record in tropical rain forest in southern Veracruz (as C. longicystis s. str. Singer). Descriptions, illustrations and discussions for both taxa are provided. A type study of C. fusisporus var. longicystis from USA is included, and it is concluded that the collection supporting this variety belongs to C. luteolus.


Till now, the building of a reserve fund for the public pension system has appeared precluded in Italy, due to the difficult public finance situation. However, resources could be found in several ways. Two possible sources are a wage component called TFR (peculiar to Italy) and the sums pension funds transfer to the insurance companies that issue the annuities in favor of the retired. This would not require to modify the size and ways currently workers benefit from the TFR, nor it would mine the development of private pension funds, rather favoring it. The envisaged reserve fund would allow to finance a substantial part of the public pension expenditure increase expected till 2033. Some resources could also be used to make future pensions more adequate, as they will drop sharply due to the notional defined contribution system introduced in 1995.


By ways of national celebrations and commemorations national cohesion is believed to be enlarged. It is unknown however who participates in these activities. In this contribution we address the question to what extent socialization by the parents and schools, and integration into religious organizations affect participation in national celebrations and commemorations. We also hypothesize that this form of national participation is affected by one's nationalistic attitudes. Our findings show that these forms of participation are affected by patriotic attitudes, and not by chauvinistic attitudes. Moreover, parental examples are crucial for participation in the national celebrations and commemorations. Schooling and religiosity only affect specific forms of national celebrations and commemorations. Patriotic attitudes do not provide an interpretation for the effects from parents, schools and churches. The strong effect of parental transmission is neither moderated by the socializing role of the school, nor by integration into religious organizations


Tether retrieval is an important stage in many projects using space tether systems. It is known that uniform retrieval is an unstable process that leads to the winding of the tether on a satellite at the final stage of retraction. This is a serious obstacle to the practical application of space tethers in the tasks of climbing payloads to a satellite and docking the spacecraft with a tethered satellite after its capture. The paper investigates the plane motion of a space tether system with a massless tether of variable length in an elliptical orbit. A new control law that ensures the retrieval of the tether without increasing the amplitude of oscillations at the final stage is proposed. The asymptotic stability of the space tether system's controlled motion in an elliptical orbit is proved. A numerical analysis of tether retrieval is carried out. The influence of the eccentricity of the orbit on the retrieval process is investigated. The results of the work can be useful in preparing missions of the active space debris removal and in performing operations involving tether retrieval.


A close reading of both patristic and modem exegetes points towards the existence of two main schools of thought, and the aim of this short paper is to introduce the main proponents of each school, stating both the basic notion of each and the biblical evidence serving as the basis for their subsequent argumentation. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further discussion What did Simeon mean when he referred to the child Jesus in Luke 2:34b, as the downfall and rise of many in Israel? A close reading of both patristic and modem exegetes points towards the existence of two main schools of thought 1. The prophecy of Simeon 'has usually been interpreted as the fall of some and the rising of others, that is a process of self-judgement in which men determine the verdict to be passed on their lives, by tile response they make to the coming of the Messiah' (Caird 1979:64). One very typical commentary within this school of thought is for example the following by Fritz Rienecker (1977:69): Es zeugt von einem tiefen Blick des alten Simeon, dass er die Verheis-sung des Jesaja (Kap  8,13-15) in  Christus sich erftillen sieht. Alle mussen in Israel an Ihm vorbei und keiner kann Ihn unbeachtet lassen. Israel ist 'Wie ein Strom, der sich an Christus, dem Felsen, brechen und zwiegeteilt weiterstromen wird. Dem einen zum Fall, dem andem zum Reil.


Having accurate and detailed information on PPP projects is essential for good management of PPP risks and related contingent liabilities. This document presents an analytical description and comparative analysis of main existing international and national databases on PPPs for a sample of seven countries: four LAC countries (Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay) and three leading countries regarding the development of PPP projects from outside the region (Australia, South Africa, and UK). Although existing international databases on PPPs provide relevant information for research purposes and national databases on PPPs have significantly contributed to improving transparency regarding PPPs in several countries in the region, it is concluded that there is still a long road ahead with respect to improving available information on PPP projects in LAC. In particular, there is great heterogeneity among countries regarding available information on PPP projects and international databases on PPPs provide incomplete information. Enhancing and standardizing available information on PPPs among countries would facilitate the carrying out of cross-country comparisons, which is necessary for the generation of technical knowledge and the development of good practices regarding PPP risk management.


One way to generate useful information, for both the schooling sector and higher education institutions, about students who continue their studies after school is to assess students' perceptions of themselves. Once reliable profiles of these students have been established and related to student performance, analyses may assist to predict factors associated with the persistence of first-year students and retention rates in higher education. First-year student perceptions were measured at one South African university, using the Alpha Baseline Questionnaire. Applying Tinto's Student Integration Model, the potential effect of first-year students' perceptions of their academic, general and social competence on their academic persistence potential was then determined. It was found, inter alia, that entry-level university students seem to underestimate time requirements of out-of-class work. Students at a lower level of school performance proved to be over-optimistic about their potential to persist and seemed to be over-confident about their academic self-image compared to school leavers who performed at higher academic levels at school. In areas of general and social self-image this pattern continued. The results of the study are important for school counsellors, teachers in both schooling and higher education, and for academic developers in higher education. Findings indicated the need to prepare school leavers to have more realistic expectations of higher education programmes and to support lower level school achievers more effectively for improved retention rates in higher education. South African Journal of Education Vol.24(2) 2004: 119-125


Serotonin (5-HT) is a neurotransmitter that is mainly expressed in brain where serves a wide array of physiological and behavioural functions. Literature described that some mediators of inflammation (i.e. cytokines) have been implicated in the modulation of monoaminergic response and this may be associated with pathophysiology of depression and in the responsiveness of antidepressant treatment in both humans and animals (Capuron and Miller, 2011). A hypothesis suggests that cytokines may affect the serotonergic system through p38 MAP kinase dependent mechanisms particularly at the serotonin transporters (Zhu et al., 2006) and 5HT7 receptors (Lieb et al., 2005; Mahe et al., 2005). The aim of this study was to show the interaction of Interleukin 1β (IL-1β) or p38 MAP kinase on serotonin transporter (SERT) and 5HT7 receptors in cells lines and native tissue, highlighting the biochemical mechanism of this system. The IL-1β and p38 MAP kinase activator, anisomycin, did not show any effect on 5-HT uptake and p38 MAPK activation in rodent native brain tissue, in human platelets and in cell lines in contrast to literature reports (Zhu et al.,2010). A different method was then used in which a release of cytokines was induced directly in the rat brain through an i.c.v. LPS treatment. Although proinflammatory cytokines involved in the change of animal mood, such as IL-1s and TNFα, showed a significant increase in cortex and striatum, a modulation of SERT activity in term of Km and Vmax was not detected, confirming again that no interaction between cytokines, p38 MAP kinase and SERT function in vitro nor in vivo was evident. In contrast, this study revealed a positive interaction between 5HT7 receptors and p38 MAP kinase in glia cells. However, this pathway was not present in cortical neurons where 5HT7 receptors did not activate p38 MAP kinase but instead increased the AMPAR subunit, GluR1 and CREB phosphorylation. The effect on GluR1 was reversed by the specific 5HT7 antagonist, SB258719, and the PKA inhibitor, H89, confirming the specificity of response for 5HT7 receptors and the involvement of PKA in the mediation of GluR1 phosphorylation. In conclusion, this study displayed a lack of interaction between IL-1β and p38 MAP kinase on rat SERT while highlighting the effect of 5HT7 receptors on p38 MAP kinase, with different functions between glial and neuronal cells. Noteworthy, this is the first report that showed a positive interaction between 5HT7 receptors and AMPA which stimulates new investigation into the role of 5HT7 receptors in neuronal plasticity.


Abstract. In order to leverage and profit from unlabelled data, semi-supervised frameworks for semantic segmentation based on consistency training have been proven to be powerful tools to significantly improve the performance of purely supervised segmentation learning. However, the consensus principle behind consistency training has at least one drawback, which we identify in this paper: imbalanced label distributions within the data. To overcome the limitations of standard consistency training, we propose a novel semi-supervised framework for semantic segmentation, introducing additional losses based on prior knowledge. Specifically, we propose a lightweight architecture consisting of a shared encoder and a main decoder, which is trained in a supervised manner. An auxiliary decoder is added as additional branch in order to make use of unlabelled data based on consensus training, and we add additional constraints derived from prior information on the class distribution and on auto-encoder regularisation. Experiments performed on our concrete aggregate dataset presented in this paper demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, outperforming the segmentation results achieved by purely supervised segmentation and standard consistency training.


Background: Hematological disorder has been shown to be one of the leading manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This could be from the virus itself or the accompanying opportunistic infections including malignancies. The manifestations include among others, anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia as well as assessing the relationship between antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen and anemia. Materials and Methods: The study was a prospective study among HIV-infected children and adolescents aged 2 years to <18 years receiving ART at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia Nasarawa State. A total of 263 clients were recruited consecutively. Known sickle-cell disease patients, those with ongoing sepsis and or those recently transfused were excluded from the study. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0 through a univariate and multivariate analysis, and reporting was done in tables and figure. Results: There are slightly more males than females, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.02:1. Children aged between 2 and 9 years accounted for over two-third of the study population. The prevalence of anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia was 32.7%, 11.4%, and 3.04%, respectively. More than two-third of the participants was on zidovudine-based regimen, and there is a statistically significant association between anemia and the use of zidovudine-based ART regimen. Conclusion: Anemia is the most common hematological abnormality among HIV-infected children and adolescents. There is an association between the use of zidovudine and occurrence of anemia. The use of alternative drug to zidovudine is advocated.


It is not known whether a human papillomavirus (HPV)-induced oropharyngeal precancerous lesion could be identified by screening with a pap test equivalent or whether one even exists. In this issue of the journal (beginning on page 1378), Fakhry and colleagues report their results showing that cytologic evaluation of the oropharynx, although useful in detecting invasive oropharyngeal cancers, may have limited utility as a screening modality for detecting precancer. These findings argue against the potential for secondary prevention of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers through screening for and preventing the progression of precancer and highlight the opportunity for primary prevention through prophylactic HPV vaccination, if proven efficacious and cost-effective. Cancer Prev Res; 4(9); 1346–9. ©2011 AACR.


We have developed and tested a new technique for calibration of seismometers using continuous recordings of ground noise. The method is founded on analytic techniques recently developed for estimation of transfer functions in magnetotellurics. We find that the technique can produce precise, absolute calibration measurements on sensors that do not have calibration coils. The data used are obtained by placing two sets of sensors close enough together that we can assume they record the same ground motion. It is further assumed that one of the sensors has a known, absolute calibration. One then records ground noise of sufficiently high amplitude to guarantee that one is recording above the amplifier noise floor across the entire frequency band of interest. Data are recorded for a time period that depends upon the lowest frequency that is to be resolved. The data is then divided into a series of N partially overlapping time windows, transfer-function estimates are calculated from each of these N time windows, and finally a robust mean estimation procedure is used to produce transfer-function estimates at a set of discrete frequencies. We applied this technique to produce calibration estimates for four different types of sensors (GS-13, triaxial 4.5-Hz L-28, STS-2, and triaxial L4) in various recording arrangements. We found that the technique worked extremely well in every case at frequencies above the point where the sensor output dropped into the instrument noise floor. Problems were consistently encountered above some high-frequency limit that depended upon the site and sensor being tested, and, as a result, we conclude that obtaining reliable results at higher frequencies requires more care in the experimental procedure. We show results from 4.5- and 1-Hz passive sensors plastered onto the same pier, which show nearly perfect coherence out to 100 Hz, and excellent agreement with theoretical predictions between 0.03 and 20 Hz. However, above 20 Hz, a systematic phase error plagues our results. Other cases were comparable when care was taken in the experimental procedure, but differed in detail. We argue that there are fundamental problems recording ground noise at these higher frequencies as a result of the following three experimental problems that can be difficult to control: (1) coupling of sensors to a common, stable platform, (2) contamination by acoustic and pier resonances in typical recording vaults, and (3) resonances of the sensor-pier-ground system.


Since the rise of the Internet one of the most important factors of information technology and communication has been the security of information. A special case of information hiding is digital watermarking. Digital watermarking is the process of embedding information into digital multimedia content such that the information (the watermark) can later be extracted or detected for a variety of purposes including copy prevention and control. Among numerous cryptographic solutions proposed in the past few years, secret sharing schemes have been found sufficiently secure to facilitate distributed trust and shared control in various communication applications. In this paper, a new image watermarking algorithm is developed using (n,n) secret sharing scheme for copyright protection. The proposed method embeds the copyright image into original image and is to be shared among n participants. Then the copyright image could be recovered using simple XOR operations without any loss. Experimental simulations are provided using MATLAB 7.1 to demonstrate the efficient performance of the developed technique in terms of reliability of watermark embedding and extraction. The scheme contains three phases: the copyright image embedding phase, embedded image secret sharing phase, copyright image extraction phase. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme can resist several attacks such as JPEG compression, resize and


Shannon's theory of information for communication channels is used to assess the performance of line-scan and sensor-array imaging systems and to optimize the design trade-offs involving sensitivity, spatial response, and sampling intervals. Formulations and computational evaluations account for spatial responses typical of line-scan and sensor-array mechanisms, lens diffraction and transmittance shading, defocus blur, and square and hexagonal sampling lattices.


A major worldwide social health issue is suicide and suicidal behavior. Recently, research has been undertaken in order to support the theory that there is a definitive link between certain genetic factors and the prevalence of suicide. It is estimated be the World Health Organization (WHO), that suicide is responsible for approximately 2% of annual worldwide deaths. Unfortunately, the etiology of this has proven to be exceptionally complex, but the studies carried out have pointed towards genetic factors as a possible leading cause. Suicidal Attempters (SA) and suicidal behavior is considered complex due to the interaction between various environmental as well as genetic factors. These factors being: alcohol and substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, stress, among other features.


The Indonesian Arc represents the subduction of the Indian-Australian plate beneath Asia. It has been the scene of catastrophic tectonic activity, including the recent 2004 M=9.1 Aceh earthquake and resulting Indian Ocean tsunami. We have dated planktonic forams associated with historic tephras (Tambora, 1815 and Krakatau, 1883) in marine sediment cores to determine radiocarbon reservoir ages for 2 locations along the arc. Our best estimates for 19th century regional reservoir corrections ( Δ R) are +90 ± 40 yr for surface-dwelling species and +220 ± 40 yr for mixed planktic assemblages containing some upper thermocline species, but scatter in the data suggests that past surface reservoir ages may have varied by about ±100 yr. We used the results of this study to investigate a proposed very large AD 535 eruption at or near Krakatau. We find no evidence for ash from such an eruption, and although this is negative evidence, we consider it sufficiently strong to rule out any possibility that one took place. DOI:  10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16384


The study assesses farmers' perceptions and willingness to pay for a biopesticide developed from Metarhizium anisopliae a fungi. A sample of 400 conventional and organic cotton producers was randomly selected in cotton producing zones in Benin and interviewed for their perceptions on the efficacy of the biopesticide and the likely prices they are willing to pay for the product to control a major pest like Helicoverpa armigera or cotton bollworm causing substantial crop losses. An econometric model (Logit) is used to identify factors highly likely to affect farmer's willingness to purchase the product. The results show that Helicoverpa armigera or cotton bollworm is perceived by farmers as the most severe pest with losses reaching up to 100%. Farmers attribute the current pest intensity to a number of factors including ineffectiveness of chemical pesticides, delay in access to input mainly fertilizers and the development of refuge host plants for cotton pests. The results also show that most cotton producers and their households members are exposed to chemical insecticides without adequate protection devices during the pest control sprays. Both organic and conventional cotton producers have expressed a significant interest in the use of Metarhizium to control Helicoverpa on cotton. Both types of farmers willing to pay more for any pest control product that would improve cotton product quality for higher cotton price. Three variables influencing farmers' willing to pay for biopesticides from Metarhizium were efficacy, agro-ecological zone and broad spectrum.


We present a study of the consequences of an initial mass function that is stochastically sampled on the main emission lines used for gas-phase metallicity estimates in extra-galactic sources. We use the stochastic stellar population code SLUG and the photoionisation code Cloudy to show that the stochastic sampling of the massive end of the mass function can lead to clear variations in the relative production of energetic emission lines such as [OIII] relative to that of Balmer lines. We use this to study the impact on the Te, N2O2, R23 and O3N2 metallicity calibrators. We find that stochastic sampling of the IMF leads to a systematic over-estimate of O/H in galaxies with low star formation rates (< $10^{-3}$ M$_\odot$/yr) when using the N2O2, R23 and O3N2 strong-line methods, and an under-estimate when using the Te method on galaxies of sub-solar metallicity. We point out that while the SFR(Ha)-to-SFR(UV) ratio can be used to identify systems where the initial mass function might be insufficiently sampled, it does not provide sufficient information to fully correct the metallicity calibrations at low star formation rates. Care must therefore be given in the choice of metallicity indicators in such systems, with the N2O2 indicator proving most robust of those tested by us, with a bias of 0.08 dex for models with SFR = $10^{-4}$ M$_\odot$/yr and solar metallicity.


In the present work, a kinetic study based on a diffusion model was performed by use of both kinetics and thermodynamic data as input parameters, it was possible to evaluate the kinetic constant at each phase interface for a biphase configuration FeB and Fe2B grown over the surfaces of Armco Fe and Fe-Cr binary alloys at 0.5 and 4wt. %Cr by powder- pack boriding. The simulated values of the kinetics constants by the model were compared to those found in the literature and a good agreement was observed. For the Fe-4wt. %Cr alloy, it was found by simulation that the layer thickness ratio between the FeB and Fe2B phases is very sensitive to the increase of temperature and surface boron content.


With the current trend of the ever increasing detector coverage, more precise measurement results of an observed object in space are provided to the scientists. This trend implies also higher data rates and amount of data to be processed by Data Processing Units (DPUs). Classical ground processing steps need to be performed on-board of spacecrafts with the demand by the scientist to be adapted to mission specific requirement. With today high logic density SRAM-based FPGAs, proven solutions for space applications are provided and permit in-flight and dynamic partial reconfigurability in space. For such an enhanced system the system qualification has to be carefully considered to retain the achieved high reliability. With SEU induced errors and glitch effects during dynamic partial reconfiguration the system qualification in a bus-based architecture cannot be guaranteed. Therefore an enhanced architecture is required which provides guaranteed system qualification and supports a high performance DPU architecture. The Network-on-Chip (NoC) approach based SoCWire architecture has been developed to provide these enhanced design goals. This paper presents the SoCWire architecture verification, test and results for safe dynamic partial reconfiguration in space applications. Radiation induced errors and glitch-effects in SRAM-based FPGAs are described and the limitations of bus-based communication architectures are outlined. The NoC paradigm is introduced and its advantage for dynamic reconfigurable systems. The SoCWire architecture will be presented and results of the architecture verification are outlined.


Purpose of review This review aims to summarize the latest evidence of medical and surgical treatment options for patients with relapsing testicular germ cell tumors. Recent findings Depending on International Germ Cell Cancer Classification Group risk classification 10–50% of patients with metastatic TGCT develop relapse which needs further multimodality treatment. With regard to therapy, early relapses are stratified according to their prognostic risk profile which results in a 3-year overall survival between 6% in the very high to 77% in the very low risk group. Prognostic risk score dictates systemic therapy which might be second line chemotherapy (TIP, PEI) or high dose chemotherapy. Any residual masses following salvage chemotherapy need to be completely resected due the presence of viable cancer and/or teratoma in more than 50% of cases. Targeted therapy in men with druggable mutations is for individualized cases only. Patients with late relapses developing more than 2 years after first-line chemotherapy are best managed by surgery. Desperation surgery is reserved for those patients with rising markers during or immediately after chemotherapy and good risk factors such as rising alpha-fetoprotein, <3 metastatic sites and complete resectability. Multimodality treatment will result in long-term cure of 25% to 60%. Due to the complexity of treatment, chemotherapy as well as surgery should be performed in highly experienced centres only. Summary Multimodality treatment to salvage relapsing patients with metastatic testis cancer requires extensive experience for both systemic therapy and surgery. If done properly, it will result in moderate to high cure rates. Personalized therapeutic options are currently evaluated in clinical trials.


: A tracheostomy was performed in a 4-month-old girl with Crouzon's syndrome because of upper respiratory obstruction. During the procedure the absence of tracheal rings was observed. These findings were confirmed by postoperative bronchoscopy. Subsequent surgical correction of the patient's craniofacial anomalies enabled decannulation when the patient was 10 months old. Complete cartilaginous trachea is very rare and is always associated with craniosynostotic syndromes. Tracheobronchial anomalies should be investigated in patients whose respiratory symptoms are not due to upper airway obstruction.


We develop a quasiclassical theory of Andreev interferometers with three superconducting electrodes. Provided the tunneling interface resistance between one superconducting electrode and the normal metal strongly exceeds two others, significant current sensitivity to the external magnetic flux is observed only at subgap voltages. If all barrier conductances are comparable, multiple Andreev reflection comes into play and substantial current modulation can be achieved in both subgap and overgap voltage regimes. Our analysis reveals a large variety of interesting features, which can be used for performance optimization of Andreev interferometers.


Leishmaniosis caused by Leishmania infantum is an endemic zoonosis present in the Mediterranean area. Canidae (dog and fox) constitute the main reservoir hosts for the parasite, whilst wild rodents or the cat can be carriers of the protozoan and are considered as secondary potential reservoirs. This paper describes a case of disseminated feline leishmaniosis with cutaneous (ulcerative), visceral (spleen and lymph nodes) and blood involvement in a FIV-FelV positive cat. The microscopic identification of the Leishmania infection was initially made on a skin biopsy of the temporal area, where a squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed. The diagnosis of the disease was achieved by several serological techniques (ELISA, IFAT and Western-blot). The strain was obtained by blood culture, characterized by electrophoresis of isoenzymes and identified as Leishmania infantum zymodeme MON-1. Since the infection due to L. infantum is a zoonosis, the potential feline reservoir should be more investigated. Serological analysis by Western blot on domestic cats provides a useful tool. In veterinary practice, feline leishmaniosis should be systematically included in the differential diagnosis when compatible cutaneous lesions are present, especially in the endemic areas of canine leishmaniosis.


This paper explores the connections between gender and the independency Christian ideology in the formation of new social relations as well as affirmation of traditional relations of domination between men and women. To aid in the analysis of these issues a case study is used, that of the Nomiya Luo Church, whose history and tenets are discussed. This church developed within a semi patriarchal set up hence we analyse male dominance and its persistence in church. Some ofthe religious doctrines, beliefs and value systems and their impact on the roles and values concerning women are considered. Roles ofwomen in independent churches, the opportunities for leadership, their roles as healers and patients and in relation to their background and concerns of daily life are discussed. Moreover, as the rank and the file members of such movements, women also possess their own hidden sub-cultures and practices, which definitely influence the groups. The intention is to establish the gender roles and attitudes in this church.


Rosiglitazone is a thiazolidinedione used to treat insulin resistance in diabetes. Although thiazolidinediones may also exert cardiovascular effects, contrasting results were reported. Favorable effects were shown for pioglitazone, whereas adverse reactions were suspected for rosiglitazone. Therefore, a reassessment of the molecular effects of rosiglitazone on vascular cells is required. We tested the effects of rosiglitazone on the proteome of human endothelial cells grown under either normal or high glucose levels. Protein profiles were analyzed in both membrane and cytosolic fractions. About 150 cytosolic proteins, and approximately 100 membrane proteins, were detected. Two-thirds of the proteins significantly altered by high glucose were also modulated by rosiglitazone in an antagonistic way. Half of these proteins are involved in apoptosis. Using an independent assay of apoptosis based on nucleosome quantification, an approximately 20% stimulation by high versus normal glucose was shown (p < 0.05). Conversely, rosiglitazone reduced apoptosis by approximately 30-50% in cells exposed to either glucose conditions (p < 0.001). In addition, rosiglitazone differently modulated cytoskeleton and energy metabolism-related proteins. Our data show novel, potential sites of action of rosiglitazone through protein expression of endothelial cells. These mechanisms may foster new investigations on the overall vascular effects of this compound, and help to discriminate between desired and adverse effects.


In the 1890s the political and artistic ambitions of the neo-impressionist artist Paul Signac were embodied by a series of decorative projects. This article contends that Signac, inspired by anarcho-communist discourse and the prospect of revolution, attempted to synthesize in these works the didactic logic of propaganda and "purely aesthetic emotion." This synthesis was epitomized by the explicit deployment of two systems, divisionism and decorative pattern. With these systems, Signac hoped to initiate contemporary viewers into the aesthetic and social harmony of an anarcho-communist future. In the interest of addressing larger audiences, particularly among workers, he imagined proletarian spaces for his work. But the didactic elements of Signac's painting met with critical resistance, and public sites he envisioned never materialized. Faced with this lack of recognition, and with a diminished revolutionary outlook in the wake of the Procès des Trente, Signac focused his painting on atemporal landscapes. This trajectory has been read as one of aesthetic liberation; this article seeks to retrieve the extent to which it was also one of constraint, tied to the frustration of Signac's political aspirations.


This study began with the observation that international marketing research (IMR) lacked a human face. A literature search. confirmed this view. The review " was thus widened to include international marketing (IM) studies of culture, cognition, and communication, since they were thought to underpin all human interactions. This step, it was believed, would help clarify marketing scholars' understanding ofthese encounters. Analysis established that not only were there few studies in these areas., but they also focused on dyads, prediction; and control. To establish how this research had evolved in this way and how it could b~st be extended, an exploration of how knowledge is created followed. This culminated in my understanding that the culture in mainstream marketing circles was responsible for the lack of development ofIM relationship research. A decision was therefore made to study this area from an alternCl;tive perspective to the positivist approach . typically adopted. An interpretive study of small business· in a.developing country and their overseas buyer was undertaken to that end. In total, more than eleven months fieldwork was conducted in Indonesia. The resulting interpretation was compared to the existing IM relationship research. The literature was then again extended to examine non~marketing studies that may help explain field findings that could not be explained by existing IMR. It was suggested that IM scholars needed to question whether the values and assumptions underlying their research, are appropriate in a global context.


: The concept of the 'regional obstetrician' is defined as an alternative role model for an obstetrician and gynaecologist working in an obstetric base hospital in a small town or rural area. The results of the implementation of this role model in the area served by Eshowe Hospital in Zululand are described. Overall perinatal mortality for all the institutions in the region dropped from 49.9/1,000 to 34.9/1,000 over a period of 3 years. A plea is made for the identification of all rural hospitals which function as base hospitals, and for the co-operation of the health authorities in each region served by such hospitals in the appointment of regional obstetricians to co-ordinate and develop the obstetric services in these regions.


Syrian society has been affected by one of the most complex modern conflicts for the last
six years. Alongside participation in protests and riots, Syrian citizens took advantage of
developing technology and access to social media, recording as many events as possible
and sharing them with the world. The revolution has been an opportunity for the Syrian
citizens to try to redeem their freedom, but also the power to represent themselves,
showcase their life in Syria and also raise awareness of their protests through
photography. Social media is the channel that offered them this chance and they have
used it intensively since the start of the unrest. Still, the internet and photography are
tools used by both oppressors and the oppressed in Arab countries where the unrest turned
into a visual conflict as well as a military one.

This thesis analyzes the visual discourse developed by various parties involved in the
Syrian conflict and considers how the immediacy of modern technologies allowed these
images to be created and disseminated through social media platforms like Facebook.

Digital photography and social media have definitely changed the way we comprehend the
authority of documentary photography as fundamentally realistic. Deeper understanding
of the subjectiveness of the photographic medium could make us (photographers,
spectators, publishers) recognize alternative photographic practices to express our own
subjectivities, assimilate the subjectivities of others and acknowledge documentary
photography as a creative treatment of reality.


A novel high-K gate stack structure with HfON/Si02 as dual tunneling layer (DTL), AIN as charge storage layer (CSL) and HfAIO as blocking layer (BL) is proposed to prepare the chargetrapping type of MONOS non-volatile memory device by employing in-situ sputtering method. The memory window, program/erase and retention properties are investigated and compared with similar gate stack structure with ShNJSi02 as DTL, Hf02 as CSL and Ah03 as BL. Results show a large memory window of 3.55 V at PIE voltage of +8 V/-I5 V, high program/erase speed and good retention characteristic can be achieved using the novel Au! HfAIO/AIN/(HfON/Si02)/Si gate stack structure. The main mechanisms lie in the enhanced electron injection through the high-x HfON/Si02 DTL, high trapping efficiency of the high-K AIN material and effective blocking role of the high-K HfAIO BL.


Malaysia and Indonesia are implementing their own education system in developing their human resources for nation development. This paper discusses the systems in the countries limited to the main framework of education namely the philosophy of education; curriculum and its implementation; and assessment of students learning. From the philosophy of education point of view, divinity is the underlying aspect of education in Malaysia as well as in Indonesia, with students as the subject of education. Students of today are future human capital for the nation. Therefore education is necessary to develop students' natural potential to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious in line with the purpose of the human existence as inheritors of the earth. From the curriculum point of view, both countries are implementing a standard curriculum which is integrated and dynamic parallel with current needs and global challenges. The content of the curriculum includes knowledges, skills and values with innovations from time to time dynamically. From the aspect of students' learning, the quality of process and the quality of learning outcomes are based on competencies. The assessment of learning does not just focus to final examination results but also ensures the quality of students' learning process. Generally, it is undeniable that there are some similarities between the two countries in developing their human resources through education. On a positive note, the similarities should be viewed in terms of the benefit to both countries. As the global challenges keep on changing, one day it might become ideas to have mutual collaborations between the two countries in generating higher quality of human resources through education.


A novel imaging technique is proposed for fully digital detection of phase and intensity of light. A fully integrated camera implementing the new technique was fabricated in a 0.35 mum CMOS technology. When coupled to a modulated light source, the camera can be used to accurately and rapidly reconstruct a 3D scene by evaluating the time-of-flight of the light reflected by a target. In passive mode, it allows building differential phase maps of reflection patterns for image enhancement purposes. Tests show the suitability of the technique and confirm phase accuracy predictions.


Elaborated the concept of health and Healthy Housing residential health assessment criteria, focusing on the "Health Stone" Healthy Housing development and application. "Health Stone" Healthy Housing in the original basis of healthy housing, and further enrich the connotation of the health concept, its 8 advantages, making it competitive with other types of housing in good stead. The rational use of new technologies and new materials, will bring its more extensive and broad space for development.


Food analysis is requiring rapid, accurate, sensitive and cost-effective methods to monitor and guarantee the safety and quality to fulfill the strict food legislation and consumer demands. In our study, a nano-materials enhanced multipurpose paper based microfluidic aptasensor was demonstrated as a sensing tool for accurate detection of food allergens and food toxins. Graphene oxide (GO) and specific aptamer-functionalized quantum dots (QDs) were employed as probes, the fluorescence quenching and recovering of the QDs caused by the interaction among GO, aptamer-functionalized QDs and the target protein were investigated to quantitatively analyze the target concentration. The homogenous assay was performed on the paper based microfluidic chip, which significantly decreased the sample and reagent consumptions and reduced the assay time. Egg white lysozyme, ß-conglutin lupine and food toxins, okadaic acid and brevetoxin standard solutions and spiked food samples were successfully assayed by the presented aptasensor. Dual-target assay was completed within 5 min, and superior sensitivities were achieved when testing the samples with commercial ELISA kits side by side.


The authors discuss contradictions between the principal branches of the modern physical picture of the universe. Space and time have been shown in the Unitary Quantum Theory (UQT) not to be connected one with the other, unlike in the Special Theory of Relativity. In UQT, time becomes Newtonian again, and the growth of the particle's mass with growing speed proceeds from other considerations of physics. Unlike the quantum theory, the modern gravitation theory (the general theory of relativity) is not confirmed by experiments and needs to be considerably revised.


The serum adiponectin/leptin ratio (A/L ratio) is a surrogate marker of insulin sensitivity. Pre-eclampsia (PE) is associated with maternal metabolic syndrome and occasionally impaired fetal growth. We assessed whether the A/L ratio in first-trimester maternal serum was associated with PE and/or birth weight. Adiponectin and leptin were quantitated in first-trimester blood samples (gestational week 10+3–13+6) from 126 women who later developed PE with proteinuria (98 mild PE; 21 severe PE; 7 HELLP syndrome), and 297 controls, recruited from the Copenhagen First-Trimester Screening Study. The A/L ratio was reduced in PE pregnancies, median 0.17 (IQR: 0.12–0.27) compared with controls, median 0.32 (IQR: 0.19–0.62) (p < 0.001). A multiple logistic regression showed that PE was negatively associated with log A/L ratio independent of maternal BMI (odds ratio = 0.315, 95% CI = 0.191 to 0.519). Adiponectin (AUC = 0.632) and PAPP-A (AUC = 0.605) were negatively associated with PE, and leptin (AUC = 0.712) was positively associated with PE. However, the A/L ratio was a better predictor of PE (AUC = 0.737), albeit not clinically relevant as a single marker. No significant association was found between A/L ratio and clinical severity of pre-eclampsia or preterm birth. PE was associated with a significantly lower relative birth weight (p < 0.001). A significant negative correlation was found between relative birth weight and A/L ratio in controls (β = −0.165, p < 0.05) but not in PE pregnancies), independent of maternal BMI. After correction for maternal BMI, leptin was significantly associated with relative birth weight (β = 2.98, p < 0.05), while adiponectin was not significantly associated. Our findings suggest that an impairment of the A/L ratio (as seen in metabolic syndrome) in the first trimester is characteristic of PE, while aberrant fetal growth in PE is not dependent on insulin sensitivity, but rather on leptin-associated pathways.


Several eastern European countries have reported outbreaks of oak die-back during the 1980's. Species of Ophiostoma Syd. were isolated from diseased trees and have been suggested to be the possible causal agents of the die-back, but this view have generally not been accepted. In order to monitor the post-outbreak region of oak die-back and to consider the possible role of Ophiostoma spp. in the syndrome, research has been conducted in the Tellerman forest, Voronezh region, Russia between 2005 and 2011. Our study resulted in the isolation of ophiostomatoid fungi from Quercus robur L. trees displaying external signs of desiccation. Fungi were identified based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequence comparisons. Three species of Ophiostoma were identified including O. grandicarpum (Kowalski & Butin) Rulamort, a species closely related to O. abietinum Marm. & Butin, O. fusiforme Aghayeva & M.J. Wingf. and O. lunatum Aghayeva & M.J. Wingf. representing a poorly understood species complex, and most commonly O. quercus (Georgev.) Nannf. Pathogenicity of these fungi was tested using artificial inoculations on Q. robur trees. The fungi were shown to be non-pathogenic and unlikely to play any role in oak die-back. These fungi are most likely only components in a complex of abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors that have contributed to a die-back of Quercus spp. in Russia.


The application of engineering principles and techniques to biopotential recording has resulted in a continual improvement both in the type and the quality of recorded signals. Physical placement of electrodes has enabled improved discrimination of the biopotential of interest (such as the ECG) from unwanted biopotentials (such as the EMG). Understanding that the major motion artifact in ECG recording arises from the skin and not the electrode has resulted in techniques that reduce this artifact, such as skin abrasion and mechanical stabilization. However, skin abrasion makes the skin more subject to irritation, so mild gels are required. The development of the floating silver/silver chloride electrode has eliminated motion artifact and noise caused by the electrode. The development of the driven-right-leg circuit has greatly reduced interference due to power lines. Adaptive filters have reduced the difficult-to-eliminate interference due to spark-gap electrosurgical units.


2015 represents the golden anniversary of the publication of a most significant document for soil science in Fiji. The Soil Resources of the Fiji Islands, 2 Volumes, by Ian T. Twyford and A. Charles S. Wright was published in 1965 by the government printer in Suva. This was the result of intensive field work with accompanying laboratory studies and a detailed inventory of land use in the colony (as it was then) in the 1950s and early 1960s. The publication consisted of a descriptive and interpretative volume (Volume 1, 570 p) and an accompanying set of maps (Volume 2). The set was originally sold for 7 guineas (£77-0). Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Morrison, J. & Leslie, D. M. (2015). A golden anniversary for soil science in Fiji. Soil Science Australia, (177), 23-23. This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/3216 Presidents Message Tim Overheu CPSS-2 Federal President Soil Science Australia


Roller hemming is an operation used in the construction of vehicle body parts and follows on from deep drawing, trimming and folding the flange to produce a metal-formed joint between the outer skin part and the inner part of vehicle body parts. The roll-in and the appearance of the hem can be pre-examined and optimized if necessary by means of the finite element method (FEM). This enables process planning and the commissioning process to be supported at an early stage. Alongside the targeted simulation-based investigation of individual processes, it is possible to conduct virtual FEA tests according to the methods of the "design of experiments" (DoE). As a result of study, an empirical model can be derived which quantitatively describes the correlation between the influencing factors investigated and the target figures (e.g. rollin). This article describes the development of a response surface model on the basis of a quadratic regression approach and a neural network between FEA simulation results of certain factor combinations from pre-strain, geometry, flange length, rolling direction and pre-hemming robot paths. With the aid of this model, roll-in should be determined by means of known boundary conditions of different components, as well as the outer radius of the hem. The results from the empirical models are tested for applicability with the results of experimental tests using the example of a door.


Olive trees (Olea europaea L.) are commonly grown in the Mediterranean basin where prolonged droughts may occur during the vegetative period. This species has de- veloped a series of physiological mechanisms, that can be observed in several plants of the Mediterranean macchia, to tolerate drought stress and grow under adverse climatic con- ditions. These mechanisms have been investigated through an experimental campaign carried out over both irrigated and drought-stressed plants in order to comprehend the plant re- sponse under stressed conditions and its ability to recover. Experimental results show that olive plants subjected to wa- ter deficit lower the water content and water potentials of their tissues, establishing a particularly high potential gradi- ent between leaves and roots, and stop canopy growth but not photosynthetic activity and transpiration. This allows the continuous production of assimilates as well as their ac- cumulation in the various plant parts, so creating a higher root/leaf ratio if compared to well-watered plants. Active and passive osmotic adjustment due to the accumulation of carbohydrates (in particular mannitol and glucose), proline and other osmolytes have key roles in maintaining cell tur- gor and leaf activities. At severe drought-stress levels, the non-stomatal component of photosynthesis is inhibited and a light-dependent inactivation of the photosystem II occurs. Finally, the activities of some antioxidant enzymes involved in the scavenging of activated oxygen species and in other biochemical pathways increase during a period of drought. The present paper provides an overview of the driving mech- anisms adopted by olive trees to face drought stress with the aim of better understanding plant-soil interactions.


Neighbor knowledge construction is the foundation for the development of cooperative query answering systems capable of searching for close match or approximate answers when exact match answers are not available. This paper presents a technique for developing neighbor hierarchies at the attribute level. The proposed technique is called the evolved pattern-based knowledge induction (ePKI) technique and allows construction of neighbor hierarchies for nonunique attributes based upon confidences, popularities, and clustering correlations of inferential relationships among attribute values. The technique is applicable for both categorical and numerical (discrete and continuous) attribute values. Attribute value neighbor hierarchies generated by the ePKI technique allow a cooperative query answering system to search for approximate answers by relaxing each individual query condition separately. Consequently, users can search for approximate answers even when the exact match answers do not exist in the database (i.e., searching for existing similar parts as part of the implementation of the concepts of rapid prototyping). Several experiments were conducted to assess the performance of the ePKI in constructing attribute-level neighbor hierarchies. Results indicate that the ePKI technique produces accurate neighbor hierarchies when strong inferential relationships appear among data.


Defining and re-defining identity is important for any profession, particularly so for tertiary learning advisors (TLAs) in the increasingly uncertain tertiary education environment in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the past ten years, two national surveys of learning centres in tertiary institutions sketched the professional status of TLAs, based on data from managers; there has been little research, however, on individual TLAs' perspectives of their professional status. This special issue, 'Identity and Opportunity', reports on a project designed to address that gap, in three parts: building a professional profile, acknowledging learning advisors' contribution, and rewards and challenges of the role. The findings indicate that TLAs are highly qualified and experienced but – for many – their skills and experience are not adequately recognised by institutions. There are significant barriers to progression within their institution, stemming mainly from organisational policies. Despite that lack of clear career opportunities, and other frustrations, overall satisfaction with the TLA role is high. Underpinning the findings, however, are issues of identity and recognition that should be addressed to ensure a resilient profession.
Keywords: professional identity, tertiary learning advisor, higher education, career, job satisfaction


This paper focuses on the expected difference in borrower's repayment when there is a change in the lender's credit decisions. Classical estimators overlook the confounding effects and hence the estimation error can be magnificent. As such, we propose another approach to construct the estimators such that the error can be greatly reduced. The proposed estimators are shown to be unbiased, consistent, and robust through a combination of theoretical analysis and numerical testing. Moreover, we compare the power of estimating the causal quantities between the classical estimators and the proposed estimators. The comparison is tested across a wide range of models, including linear regression models, tree-based models, and neural network-based models, under different simulated datasets that exhibit different levels of causality, different degrees of nonlinearity, and different distributional properties. Most importantly, we apply our approaches to a large observational dataset provided by a global technology firm that operates in both the e-commerce and the lending business. We find that the relative reduction of estimation error is strikingly substantial if the causal effects are accounted for correctly.


Distributed and Real-Time Simulation represents a solid and effective approach to manage the ever-increasing complexity of modern systems. The IEEE 1516–2010 for Modeling and Simulation (M&S) High Level Architecture (HLA) is an interoperability standard for Distributed Simulation (DS) used to support analysis, engineering and training in different research and industrial domains. Using HLA, simulation entities (called Federates) can interact (that is, to publish and/or subscribe ObjectClasses and InteractionClasses, to communicate data, and to synchronize actions) with other Federates in a common simulation environment (called Federation) through the services provided by the Run-Time Infrastructure (RTI) that abstract and hide the details of the computing infrastructures making them communicable. In today's HLA-DS systems, in which simulation entities are highly concurrent, distributed, and the interactions among them are asynchronous, great benefits can derive from the exploitation of reactive approaches, tools and techniques so as to reactively manage the Federates' communication flow instead of handling it through HLA Callbacks. In this context, the paper presents a solution for defining reactive HLA Federates along with the RxHLA software framework that aims at defining and building reactive, concurrent, and distributed time/event-driven simulation components (Federates) in a reactive fashion.


A finite impulse response filter, which shifts the focal plane in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, is proposed. Since several OCT images with the focal plane in various positions can be fused into one image with increased lateral resolution, such a filter facilitates the creation of an OCT system with numerically increased lateral resolution, operating in real-time, i.e. showing one OCT B-scan with increased lateral resolution while collecting data for the next B-scan. Since the proposed real-time resolution enhancement method is phase-sensitive, the method for estimating and compensating phase shifts between consecutive B-scans during data acquisition is also discussed.


ȠApplying transformational critical advocacy research in college instruction can be a powerful way to engage students in challenging inequity in society and promoting positive changes. Few studies systematically measure the impact of such pedagogy on the development of college students' beliefs about advocacy. In this mixed methods study, we worked with 21 preservice teachers through advocacy letter writing activities and collected data from pre/post surveys and focus group discussions to explore the impact of such pedagogy. The findings indicated that advocacy letter writing was a meaningful activity for preservice teachers, allowing them a professional opportunity to voice their concerns about personally meaningful issues to entities in power. A significant correlation was found between baseline advocacy experiences and baseline advocacy beliefs, suggesting that the teaching of advocacy, when combined with opportunities for meaningful practice, can contribute to shifts in belief about the importance of advocating.


(2010). Integrating multiple document features in language models for expert finding. Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online's data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. Abstract. We argue that expert finding is sensitive to multiple document features in an organizational intranet. These document features include multiple levels of associations between experts and a query topic from sentence, paragraph, up to document levels , document authority information such as the PageRank, indegree, and URL length of documents, and internal document structures that indicate the experts' relationship with the content of documents. Our assumption is that expert finding can largely benefit from the incorporation of these document features. However, existing language modeling approaches for expert finding have not sufficiently taken into account these document features. We propose a novel language modeling approach, which integrates multiple document features, for expert finding. Our experiments on two large scale TREC Enterprise Track datasets, i.e., the W3C and CSIRO datasets, demonstrate that the natures of the two organizational intranets and two types of expert finding tasks, i.e., key contact finding for CSIRO and knowledgeable person finding for W3C, influence the effectiveness of different document features. Our work provides insights into which document features work for certain types of expert finding tasks, and helps design expert finding strategies that are effective for different scenarios. Our main contribution is to develop an effective formal method for modeling multiple document features in expert finding, and conduct a systematic investigation of their effects. It is worth noting that our novel approach achieves better results in terms of MAP than previous language model based approaches and the best automatic runs in both the TREC2006 and TREC2007 expert search tasks, respectively.


Understanding the regulation of gene activities depending on DNA methylation has been the subject of much recent study. However, although polymorphisms of the HTR2A gene have been associated with both obesity and psychiatric disorders, the role of HTR2A gene methylation in these illnesses remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of HTR2A gene promoter methylation levels in white blood cells (WBC) with obesity traits and depressive symptoms in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS) enrolled in a behavioural weight loss programme. Analyses were based on 41 volunteers (mean age 49 ± 1 year) recruited within the RESMENA study. Depressive symptoms (as determined using the Beck Depression Inventory), anthropometric and biochemical measurements were analysed at the beginning and after six months of weight loss treatment. At baseline, DNA from WBC was isolated and cytosine methylation in the HTR2A gene promoter was quantified by a microarray approach. In the whole-study sample, a positive association of HTR2A gene methylation with waist circumference and insulin levels was detected at baseline. Obesity measures significantly improved after six months of dietary treatment, where a lower mean HTR2A gene methylation at baseline was associated with major reductions in body weight, BMI and fat mass after the treatment. Moreover, mean HTR2A gene methylation at baseline significantly predicted the decrease in depressive symptoms after the weight loss treatment. In conclusion, this study provides newer evidence that hypermethylation of the HTR2A gene in WBC at baseline is significantly associated with a worse response to a weight-loss intervention and with a lower decrease in depressive symptoms after the dietary treatment in subjects with MetS.


An important component of achieving language understanding is mastering the composition of sentence meaning, but an immediate challenge to solving this problem is the opacity of sentence vector representations produced by current neural sentence composition models. We present a method to address this challenge, developing tasks that directly target compositional meaning information in sentence vector representations with a high degree of precision and control. To enable the creation of these controlled tasks, we introduce a specialized sentence generation system that produces large, annotated sentence sets meeting specified syntactic, semantic and lexical constraints. We describe the details of the method and generation system, and then present results of experiments applying our method to probe for compositional information in embeddings from a number of existing sentence composition models. We find that the method is able to extract useful information about the differing capacities of these models, and we discuss the implications of our results with respect to these systems' capturing of sentence information. We make available for public use the datasets used for these experiments, as well as the generation system.


: Twenty years of treatment records were searched for cases of serious decompression sickness (DCS). Spinal cord DCS was the most common presentation. The efficacy of various treatment tables were compared. Oxygen tables were found to be as effective as long air tables in treating cases presenting within 12 h of the onset of symptoms and were superior for cases presenting later. Using RN 61 (USN 5) to treat serious decompression sickness resulted in a high post-treatment relapse rate. Other inappropriate practices such as in-water air treatment and nontreatment of spontaneously recovering cases resulted in a high incidence of deterioration or relapse.


In order to keep products and systems attractive to consumers, developers have to do what they can to meet growing customers' requirements. These requirements could be direct demands of customers but could also be the consequence of other influences such as globalization, customer fragmentation, product portfolio, regulations and so on. In the manufacturing industry, most companies are able to meet these growing requirements with mechatronic and interdisciplinary designed and developed products, which demand the collaboration between different disciplines. For example, the generation of a virtual prototype and its simulation tools of a mechatronic and multi-disciplinary product or system could require the cooperation of multiple departments within a company or between business partners. In a simulation, a virtual prototype is used for testing a product or a system. This virtual prototype and test approach could be used from the early stages of the development process to the end of the product or system lifecycle. Over years, different approaches/systems to generating virtual prototypes and testing have been designed and developed. But these systems have not been properly integrated, although some efforts have been made with limited success. Therefore, the requirement exists to propose and develop new technologies, methods and methodologies for achieving this integration.
In addition, the use of simulation tools requires special expertise for the generation of simulation models, plus the formats of product prototypes and simulation data are different for each system. This adds to the requirements of a guideline or framework for implementing the integration of a multi- and inter- disciplinary product design, simulation software and data management during the entire product lifecycle.
The main functionality and metadata structures of the new framework have been identified and optimised. The multi-disciplinary simulation data and their collection processes, the existing PLM (product lifecycle management) software and their applications have been analysed. In addition, the inter-disciplinary collaboration between a variety of simulation software has been analysed and evaluated. The new framework integrates the identified and optimised functionality and metadata structures to support and manage multi- and inter-disciplinary simulation in a PLM system environment.
It is believed that this project has made 6 contributions to new knowledge generation: (1) the New Conceptual Framework to Enhance the Support and Management of Multi-Disciplinary System-Simulation, (2) the New System-Simulation Oriented and Process Oriented Data Handling Approach, (3) the Enhanced Traceability of System-Simulation to Sources and Represented Products and Functions, (4) the New System-Simulation Derivation Approach, (5) the New Approach for the Synchronisation of System Describing Structures and (6) the Enhanced System-Simulation Result Data Handling Approach.
In addition, the new framework would bring significant benefits to each industry it is applied to. They are: (1) the more effective re-use of individual simulation models in system-simulation context, (2) the effective pre-defining and preparing of individual simulation models, (3) the easy and native reviewable system-simulation structures in relation to input-sources, such as products and / or functions, (4) the easy authoring-software independent update of system-simulation-structures, product-structures and function-structures, (5) the effective, distributed and cohesive post-process and interpretation of system-simulation-results, (6) the effective, easy and unique traceability of the data which means cost reductions in documentation and data security, and (7) the greater openness and flexibility in simulation software interactions with the data holding system.
Although the proposed and developed conceptual framework has not been implemented (that would require vast resources), it can be expected that the benefits in 7 above will lead to significant advances in the simulation of new product design and development over the whole lifecycle, offering enormous practical value to the manufacturing industry.
Due to time and resource constraints as well as the effort that would be involved in the implementation of the proposed new framework, it is clear there are some limitations to this PhD thesis. Five areas have been identified where further work is needed to improve the quality of this project: (1) an expanded industrial sector and product design and development processes, (2) parameter oriented system and production description in the new framework, (3) the improved user interface design of the new framework, (4) the automatic generation of simulation processes and (5) enhancement of the individual simulation models.


Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and the most common cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. The rising global incidence, morbidity and mortality from breast cancer have led to intensified efforts in search for etiological factors of the disease. Present study tried to find out the significance of apoptotic enzyme granzyme H in breast cancer patients. Methods: It was a cross sectional study. Fifty women with pre/post menopausal status were included in the study. Their physiological characteristics including age at menarche, menopause, life style and receptor status including oestrogen, progesterone and HER 2-neu were recorded. Level of serum granzyme H was estimated. Results: It was observed that there is a variation in physiological characteristics. Level of serum granzyme was increased in patients before chemotherapy that may be decreased after treatment but not as much decreased as in normal control subjects. Conclusion: Increased level of granzyme H after chemotherapy may indicate the response of treatment. A direct relationship of oestrogen with granzyme H was also observed. However further study is suggested to reach a better conclusion.


Cycle-level micro architectural simulation is the de-facto standard to estimate performance of next-generation platforms. Unfortunately, the level of detail needed for accurate simulation requires complex, and therefore slow, simulation models that run at speeds that are thousands of times slower than native execution. With the introduction of sampled simulation, it has become possible to simulate only the key, representative portions of a workload in a reasonable amount of time and reliably estimate its overall performance. These sampling methodologies provide the ability to identify regions for detailed execution, and through micro architectural state check pointing, one can quickly and easily determine the performance characteristics of a workload for a variety of micro architectural changes. While this strategy of sampling simulations to generate checkpoints performs well for static applications, more complex scenarios involving hardware-software co-design (such as co-optimizing both a Java virtual machine and the micro architecture it is running on) cause this methodology to break down, as new micro architectural checkpoints are needed for each memory hierarchy configuration and software version. Solutions are therefore needed to enable fast and accurate simulation that also address the needs of hardware-software co-design and exploration. In this work we present a methodology to enhance checkpoint-based sampled simulation. Our solution integrates hardware virtualization to provide near-native speed, virtualized fast-forwarding to regions of interest, and parallel detailed simulation. However, as we cannot warm the simulated caches during virtualized fast-forwarding, we develop a novel approach to estimate the error introduced by limited cache warming, through the use of optimistic and pessimistic warming simulations. Using virtualized fast-forwarding (which operates at 90% of native speed on average), we demonstrate a parallel sampling simulator that can be used to accurately estimate the IPC of standard workloads with an average error of 2.2% while still reaching an execution rate of 2.0 GIPS (63% of native) on average. Additionally, we demonstrate that our parallelization strategy scales almost linearly and simulates one core at up to 93% of its native execution rate, 19,000x faster than detailed simulation, while using 8 cores.


DIVERTICULOSIS of the vermiform appendix, as of the colon proper, is characterized by the formation of pouches or pockets leading off from the lumen. They may be congenital or acquired. The congenital variety is rare and is characterized by the presence of all the layers of the appendiceal wall. The walls of acquired diverticula are formed by mucosa and submucosa, but the muscularis is absent or very attentuated. These diverticula are produced after an abnormal increase in muscular activity with increase in intra-appendicular pressure. Acquired diverticulum of the appendix was first described by Kelynak 1 in 1893. In 1926, Spriggs and Marxer 2 recorded the first case in which the diagnosis was made radiologically. Most of the cases reported or described in the literature have been found accidentally, at operation or during routine autopsy examination. In 1946, Gilmore and Mahan 3 reported another case in which the diagnosis was made


The authors use a comprehensive data set of working conditions and wage compliance in Cambodia's exporting garment factories to explore (1) the impact of foreign ownership on wages and working conditions, (2) whether the relationship between wages and working conditions within these exporting factories more closely resembles efficiency wage or compensating differential theory, and (3) whether the wage-working conditions relationship differs between domestically owned and foreign-owned firms. They find that foreign ownership increases compliance on both wages and working conditions, contradicting the contention that higher wages in foreign-owned firms compensate workers for worse working conditions. In addition, they find that a robust positive relationship between wages and working conditions in the sample as a whole, suggesting that efficiency wages or a similar theory more accurately explains the behavior of these exporting firms than compensating differentials. Working Paper 257 URL: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1425198


Analyzing sequence data has become increasingly important recently in the area of biological sequences, text documents, Web access logs, etc. We investigate the problem of clustering sequences based on their sequential features. As a widely recognized technique, clustering has proven to be very useful in detecting unknown object categories and revealing hidden correlations among objects. One difficulty that prevents clustering from being performed extensively on sequence data (in categorical domain) is the lack of an effective yet efficient similarity measure. Therefore, we propose a novel model (CLUSEQ) for sequence cluster by exploring significant statistical properties possessed by the sequences. The conditional probability distribution (CPD) of the next symbol given a preceding segment is derived and used to characterize sequence behavior and to support the similarity measure. A variation of the suffix tree, namely probabilistic suffix tree, is employed to organize (the significant portion of) the CPD in a concise way. A novel algorithm is devised to efficiently discover clusters with high quality and is able to automatically adjust the number of clusters to its optimal range via a unique combination of successive new cluster generation and cluster consolidation. The performance of CLUSEQ has been demonstrated via extensive experiments on several real and synthetic sequence databases.


This article outlines the evidence base and current psychotherapeutic treatment approaches for individuals with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). It examines the application of a particular theoretical approach, derived from attachment theory and its linked concept of mentalization, to these individuals. In particular, the authors discuss the application of mentalization-based treatment (MBT) (Bateman, A.W., & Fonagy, P. (Eds.). (2004). Mentalization-based understanding of borderline personality disorder. In Psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: Mentalization-based treatment (Chap. 2, pp. 11–28). Oxford: Oxford University Press) to this group. The treatment approach, methodology and preliminary results of an outpatient pilot study of MBT in a group of men with a diagnosis of ASPD are presented.


In recent years, urban transformations have required new work approaches and roles for architects and designers. These expand beyond the design of physical objects, buildings or urban plans, to include the mediation of more complex and controversial processes and collaborations. Negotiation among various kinds of actors has become central, and this challenges traditional expert roles and power relations in architecture and design. This paper draws upon two cases of professional experience and 'research through design' to elaborate the role and work of architects/ designers in mediating the temporary use of space. Temporary use is becoming a central and strategic component of urban development today, and it involves direct engagement of citizens and various local actors. In recent research, the importance of 'mediators' or 'agents' for temporary use has been identified but not explored in greater detail. We draw on participatory design and architecture discourses to conceptualize the architect/designer's role in mediating temporary use, taking the concept of 'urban agent' as a point of departure.


cdc2 and severa1 related genes encode the catalytic subunits of cyclin-dependent kinases, which have been implicated in a number of cellular processes, including control of cell division. As a first step in exploring their function in plants, we isolated four cdc2-related genes from Antirrhinum. Two genes, cdc2a and cdc26, encode proteins that contain a perfectly conserved PSTAIRE motif characteristic of cdc2 homologs, whereas the products of the two remaining genes, cdc2c and cdc2d, appear to represent a new subclass of proteins that have so far only been identified in plants. Transcripts of these nove1 genes were localized in isolated cells dispersed throughout actively dividing regions of the inflorescence. This localization is consistent with accumulation that is specific to particular phases of the cell cycle. Correlating cell labeling with nuclear condensation and double-labeling experiments using cdc2 and histone H4 as probes indicated that cdc2c transcripts accumulate during S phase as well as during the 62 and M transition, whereas cdc2d expression was specific to the G2 and M phases. All cells labeled with cdc2d also contained cdc2c label, indicating that expression of cdc2d completely overlapped with that of cdc2c. Transcripts of cdc2a and cdc26 were detected in all cells within actively dividing regions, but at levels that were only slightly higher than those observed in nondividing areas. These transcripts did not appear to accumulate in a cell cycle-specific fashion. The genes cdc2a and cdc2b were able to partially complement a yeast cdc2 mutation, although all four genes appeared to interfere with the sizing mechanism of yeast cells. We propose that plants contain at least two classes of cdc2-related genes that differ in structure, expression, and perhaps function.


This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narrowed their work towards output monitoring and employee supervision. Following Carchedi, these changes are conceptualised as strengthening the function of capital performed by managers, and weakening their role within the labour process.


Abstract Hyposmia is a neglected symptom in patients with rhinitis. We studied 25 patients presenting with perennial rhinitis. Fifteen patients expressed hyposmia as a significant symptom. University of Pennsylvania smell identification test (UPSIT) and visual analogue scales (VAS) were used to score the symptoms of hyposmia, nasal obstruction and nasal discharge before and after six weeks treatment with betamethasone sodium phosphate drops. Those patients with initial symptoms of hyposia significantly improved their UPSIT scores (p = 0.00009) and their VAS scores for hyposmia (p = 0.00133). Despite a significant decrease in the sensation of nasal obstruction, the non-hyposmics showed no increase in UPSIT scores after betamethasone therapy. There was no clear correlation between UPSIT results and other symptom scores. The judicious use of betamethasone drops in the treatment of rhinogenic hyposmia can be recommended.


Physical unclonable function (PUF) is regarded as an emerging solution for reliable cryptography. Rather than storing secret keys in memories, the information of a PUF is extracted through amplification of the physically uncontrollable process variations and therefore, can uniquely authenticate each die to counteract counterfeit, piracy or sabotage. Classically, PUF architectures have exploited process variations affecting transistor-level active device performances such as process-dependent gate delays and interconnect delays, SRAM and inverter maximum gain points, and ring oscillator frequencies [1]–[6]. While active device variations have been exploited to generate PUF signatures, they are susceptible to noise, external perturbations and aging. Since the resultant process variant responses are typically normally distributed, to spread the variance of the distribution and decrease the number of challenges near the unstable decision region, we propose a method to exploit passive variations within the chip in addition to active device variations. While lithographic variations in the smallest metal features may not influence the electrical performance drastically, their effects can be amplified at optical frequencies with wavelengths comparable to the minimal feature size. In fact, before the concept of electronic PUFs were demonstrated in silicon, one of the first implementations of strong PUFs was demonstrated in the optical domain, which exploited speckle-patterns of a random scattering medium in the presence of a laser light. In this work, we present the first CMOS-based opto-active PUF, which not only utilizes the active variations, but also amplifies the lithographic variation of passive metal structures through process-sensitive copper-based CMOS integrated photonic crystals. The measured CMOS chip achieves a native Inter-PUF/Intra-PUF Hamming Distance (HD) ratio of 198X without any post-operation.


Abstract:The articles in this issue are based on talks given at "Querelles des femmes: French Women Writers of the 15th and 16th Centuries," an intimate colloquium held in the French section of the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, November 8, 2014. Our primary purpose in organizing this colloquium was to put scholars of medieval and Renaissance French in dialogue with one another, and to stress the common culture, concerns, and literary genres and techniques shared by writers from both periods. To facilitate this conversation, our speakers focused primarily on two seminal women writers, Christine de Pizan and Marguerite de Navarre, who bear a number of striking similarities to one another: both are widely acknowledged as proto-feminists who use their writing to challenge the misogynistic tropes and discourse common in both their respective periods, both simultaneously draw heavily on and react strongly against the corpus of courtly love literature and its authoritative texts (particularly Jean de Meun and Alain Chartier), and both reflect on what it means to write as a woman, and on how women writers must present themselves to their readers. As such, we deliberately avoided grouping our speakers according to whether they focused on Christine or Marguerite, instead opting to mingle médiévistes and seiziémistes so as to underscore these commonalities.


The average of the product of two Gaussian Q- functions having arguments as different scaled versions of the same Nakagami distributed fading gain magnitude is derived in closed-form. Both the cases when (1) the fading parameter is an integer, and (2) the fading parameter is an odd multiple of one-half, are considered. The results are applied to evaluating in closed-form (a) the symbol error probability (SEP) of rectangular quadrature amplitude modulation with maximal-ratio combining in independent Nakagami fading, and (b) the outage probability of a two-user synchronous code-division multiple-access system having signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) imbalance among users in Nakagami fading. It is found in application (a) that with increase in the degree of fading, the robustness to decision distance imbalance between in-phase and quadrature signals increases. In addition, there exists an optimum decision distance ratio at which the SEP has a minimum. In application (b), we find that the outage probability increases sharply with SNR imbalance factor at low SNR imbalance and tends to reach saturation as the imbalance increases.


The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm has been recently introduced in the non--linear programming, becoming widely studied and used in a variety of applications. Starting from its original formulation, many variants for improvement and specialization of the PSO have been already proposed, but without any definitive result, thus research in this area is nowadays still rather active. This paper goes in this direction, by proposing some modifications to the basic PSO algorithm, aiming at enhancements in aspects that impact on the efficiency and accuracy of the optimization algorithm. In particular, variants of PSO based on fuzzy logics and Bayesian theory have been developed, which show better, or competitive, performances when compared to both the basic PSO formulation and a few other optimization algorithms taken from the literature.


User interfaces are evolving beyond bitmaps to include animation and special effects that utilize powerful graphics hardware. Unfortunately, the APIs used to implement these features are often not programmer friendly and can result in verbose code that is written in multiple languages. This paper describes our experience in improving UI library usability through lightweight domain specific languages (DSL) that are limited in scope to ease the use of library features rather than whole libraries. Lightweight DSL code is evaluated without meta-programming by using a hosting language's conventional extensibility mechanisms such as operating overloading and automatic conversions. As a result, lightweight DSLs are easy to implement while their code can easily be modularized and manipulated by host language abstractions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique through two C# lightweight DSLs for expressing databinding and pixel shading in Microsoft's WPF UI library.


Hyperaldosteronism and hypertension were major side effects observed in clinical trials with Torcetrapib (TORC), a CETP inhibitor that increases HDL. Reasons for this are unclear. Given that CETP inhibitors accumulate in adipose tissue and that adipocytes are a source of aldosterone, we questioned whether CETP inhibitors, TORC and Dalcetrapib (DALC), influence adipocyte aldosterone production. Putative mechanisms underlying this were also explored. Human adipocytes, expressing CETP were studied and compared to mouse adipocytes, which lack CETP gene. Human SW872 and 3T3-L1 adypocites were treated with TORC and DALC (1-30 μM). Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production was evaluated by lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence. Aldosterone levels were evaluated by ELISA. Gene expression for Mineralocoricoid Receptor (MR), PPARγ, aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and glucorticoid synthase (CYP11B1) were evaluated by real time PCR. In human adipocytes, TORC and DALC induced 2- and 1.5-fold increase respectively in ROS production after 5 min (p<0.05). Aldosterone production was observed after 5h stimulation for both drugs (TORC: 72.9 pg/mL; DALC: 78 pg/mL vs cont 49.7 pg/mL, p<0.05). DALC increased mRNA expression of CYP11B1 (40%), CYP11B2 (40%), GR (80%), MR (80%) and PPARγ (90%) (p<0.05). TORC increased the mRNA expression for CYP11B2 (37%) and PPARγ (41%) (p<0.05) and did not change the mRNA for CYP11B1 or MR. In mouse adipocytes, TORC and DALC induced aldosterone production (120 pg/mL and 117 pg/mL vs cont 79 pg/mL, p<0.05) but only DALC induced ROS production, 1.6-fold increase (p<0.05 vs cont). Both drugs induced aldosterone production in adipocytes and exerted different effects regarding adypocyte gene expression. These effects may not be related to CETP inhibition, since they were also observed in mouse cells. Our findings indicate that CETP inhibitors influence adipocyte function and stimulate adipocyte-derived aldosterone production. We also show that off-target activities of TORC and DALC are not necessarily due to CETP inhibition and might be dependent on ROS production. These novel findings have important clinical significance and may explain, in part, the aldosteronism/hypertension reported in CETP clinical trials.


Currently, within the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) (birth-8 years) in England, a conflict exists between the need to respect children's rights and the 'pernicious paradigm of school effectiveness' (Fielding 2001: 134) which is now infiltrating early years' settings. Despite apparently laudable intentions to positively affect children's access to high quality provision (DCSF 2009), in practice the focus on standards disrespects our children by imposing on them irrelevant external top-down pressures. These pressures distract from processes which might support children's genuine learning and development needs. This short paper considers the context of children's rights and school effectiveness in England before considering how outcomes might be discarded in favour of more meaningful processes as a measure of high quality provision that is genuinely respectful of our children's rights


This study explored the use of conservation agriculture (CA) as a climate adaptation strategy among smallholder farmers in Eastern Zambia. Using 761 household interviews and 33 focus group discussions (FGDs) with smallholder farmers from six districts, data was collected on how smallholder farmers in the region experience climate change, what CA practices they had adopted, and benefits and challenges associated with CA practice. Results show that men and women farmers had similar experiences of climate change, namely late onset of a shortened rainy season, intra-seasonal drought and higher temperatures. Farmers' perceptions of gender-mediated effects of climate change had important nuances. The three most cited effects of climate change on women mentioned by women were lower crop yields, outbreaks of armyworms and reduced livestock fodder. The men thought women were most affected by increased hunger, lower crop yields and reduced domestic water sources. According to the women FGDs, men were most affected through reduced crop yields, increases in livestock diseases and increased hunger. The men self-reported reduced crop yields, reduced water for livestock and outbreaks of armyworms. Both men and women saw CA as having climate change adaptation benefits. For the women, men most benefitted from CA through the high moisture holding capacity of basins, higher crop yields and reduced labor requirements through use of oxen ripping. The men most appreciated the high crop yields, improved soil fertility and reduced costs as less fertilizer is used. The women cited the high moisture holding capacity of basins, high crop yields and improved soil fertility as benefits they most commonly derived from CA, while the men thought the women most benefitted from CA through the higher crop yields, improved soil fertility and crop tolerance to droughts. The study concludes that there is room for CA to serve as a climate smart agricultural system for both men and women smallholder farmers in Eastern Zambia. However, this will require addressing important challenges of high weed pressure, high labor demands, and low access to manure, and CA farming implements. The CA package for Zambia should include access to timely climate information and climate informed crop choices.