Robertsonian translocations resulting in fusions between sex chromosomes and autosomes shape karyotype evolution in animals by creating new sex chromosomes from autosomes. These translocations can also reverse sex chromosomes back into autosomes, which is especially intriguing given that autosomes and sex chromosomes differ in gene regulation and chromatin environment. While researchers are beginning to understand X chromosomes reversals to autosomes at a genomic level, it is difficult to study reversals of Y chromosomes because of their rapid sequence turnover and high repeat content. To gain insight into the genomic events following a Y chromosome reversal, we investigated an autosome-Y translocation in a well-studied and tractable organism, Drosophila pseudoobscura. About 10-15 Mya, the ancestral Y chromosome fused to a small autosome (the dot chromosome) in an ancestor of D. pseudoobscura. We used single molecule real-time sequencing reads to assemble the genic part of the D. pseudoobscura dot chromosome, including this Y-to-dot translocation. We find that the intervening sequence between the ancestral Y and the rest of the dot chromosome is only ~78 Kb and has a low repeat density, suggesting that the centromere now falls outside, rather than between, the fused chromosomes. The Y-to-dot region is 100 times smaller than the D. melanogaster Y chromosome, owing to repeat landscape changes. Previous studies suggest that recurrent selective sweeps favoring shorter introns helped to shrink the Y-to-dot following the translocation. Our results suggest that genetic drift and a small ancestral Y chromosome may also help explain the compact size of the Y-to-dot translocation.


The embedded portion of a mooring line plays an important role for efficient and economic design of an overall mooring system. This paper presents a methodology for numerical simulation of the behaviour of an embedded anchor chain as it cuts through the soil, focusing on the tensioning of a catenary mooring. The Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach within ABAQUS is used to capture the interaction between the embedded chain (Lagrangian structure) and the soil (Eulerian material). The anchor chain is simulated by a series of rigid cylindrical segments connected together by LINK connectors.
 Before analysing the global behaviour of an embedded chain, a calibration exercise is undertaken where a straight multi-link portion of the chain is displaced normally and axially in soil. The resulting normal and frictional resistances (per unit length) are compared with those adopted in general practice, in order to calibrate the relationship between the diameter of the cylindrical segments and the bar diameter of the chain. After that, the tensioning process of an anchor chain is simulated, starting from an initial configuration with a 9 m length embedded vertically (attached to a fixed padeye), with the remaining length lying on the seabed. Horizontal tensioning of the chain causes it to cut through the soil until it forms an inverse catenary with an angle of just under 35 degrees to the horizontal at the padeye (and zero degrees at the mudline).
 The loading curve, and also the inverse catenary profile of the chain for different angles at the padeye, are shown to agree well with the Neubecker-Randolph closed-form analytical solution. However, the ratio of the tensions at the padeye and the mudline from the CEL results differs significantly from the analytical solution. Insights from the CEL results indicate that this is because the frictional soil resistance is not fully mobilised, particularly for the portion of the chain in the stronger soil at depth, near the padeye, where the axial displacements are small. This result has significant implications for the geotechnical design of anchoring systems that involve a (nominally) fixed padeye. The simulation methodology also has considerable potential for exploring the creation of an open trench adjacent to a fixed anchor due to monotonic and cyclic perturbations of the anchor chain.


AIM
Determination of epidemiologic features of genital HPV infection in women living in the Republic of Belarus, and detection of phylogenetic features of HPV-16.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
1035 samples of epithelial cervix smears from patients with benign pathology, pre-cancer and cervix cancer were included into the study. 35 samples containing HPV-16 type DNAwere selected for sequencing. HPV L1 gene sequencing (300 n.p.) was performed by using 3100-Avant (Applied Biosystems). Sequencing results analysis was performed by using ClustalX (1.8) and BioEdit. MEGA 4.1 was used for phylogenetic analysis of the fragments obtained and tree construction.

RESULTS
HPV-16 type is a dominant genotype that is responsible for the development of cervix cancer, its frequency of occurrence is 56.7% among patients with the specified pathology living in the Republic of Belarus. Predominance of East-Asian and European HPV-16 subtypes that can be attributed to a single evolutionary branch are the territorial features. At the same time detection of HPV-16 subtypes that have 0.003 - 0.007 p-distance between probes may indicate the presence of the several progenitors circulating in the country. A unique HPV-16 subtype was sequenced in the Gomel Region that could be one of the progenitors of HPV-16 circulating on the European continent.

CONCLUSION
Further studies performed in the field of molecular epidemiology will allow to give a qualitative characteristic of the epidemic process, determine the direction and time of introduction of the virus into the country, control the circulation of the virus in the population.


Blended learning is a well-known and successful instructional model used in higher education and K-12 schools (International Association for K-12 Online Learning, 2012; Watson, 2012). It is estimated that about 37 percent of school districts in the United States had students enrolled in technology-supported distance education courses during the 2004/2005 school year (Zandberg & Lewis, 2008). An increased student population, coupled with the need to reduce educational costs, has led to a high demand for virtual instruction (Watson, 2010). Blended learning is a hybrid of traditional face-to-face and online learning in which instruction occurs through both classroom and online formats, with the online component being a natural extension of traditional classroom learning (Colis & Moonen, 2001). As such, the process may involve a combination of instructional technology formats (e.g., videotape, CD-ROM, Web-based training, film) and face-to-face instructor-led instruction (Driscoll, 2002). Despite its hybrid nature and the potential it holds for transforming classroom instruction, to date, little research exists that examines trends in blended learning and the challenges and possibilities of utilizing this method of instructional delivery at the K-12 level. Further, even less is known about best practices in K-12 blended learning and instruction (Ferdig, et al., 2009). Given these considerations, in this chapter, the authors first explore trends in blended learning in K-12 schools. Subsequently, they examine the benefits and challenges of K-12 blended learning. In the final phases of the chapter, the authors highlight possible solutions to the challenges, discuss recommendation, and identify directions for future research. Alex Kumi-Yeboah Dalton State College, USA Patriann Smith University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, USA


At national policy level in Sweden, the importance of development of wind power is emphasized. However, the actual implementation is highly dependent on local permit giving for windmills. The legislation governing the permit giving has been revised in an attempt to make the local processes faster and to shift the permit process towards a more regional environmental process as opposed to a more plan-based municipal process. By tradition in Sweden, the local, municipal level has had a strong mandate in land use planning which is often referred to as the "the municipal planning monopoly", which means that there is a tension whenever a legal proposal seeks to diminish this "plan monopoly". The legal investigation suggesting changes in the law on permit-giving stressed the need for strengthening the regional assessment, which led to a compromise called the "municipal veto-right", where the regional environmental permit needs a formal approval from the municipality for the permit process to continue. This study investigates both the legal development of the so-called veto-right as well as what it empirically has led to, and how it is perceived by the industry as well as concerned parties. For this reason, a sample of 30 regional permit cases has been collected, and a limited number of interviews have been conducted with judges in appeal courts and regional handling officers assessing turbine applications. The results indicate that the industry sees the "veto" as leading to problematic uncertainty in the process at regional level and, therefore, prefer to keep the applications at a level that entitles them to use the municipal permit system which is determined by height and number of turbines. This is a consequence directly opposite to what the legal commission aimed for when revising the legal system.


Dithizone, since its discovery in 1878, has become essential in colorimetric assays for numerous transition metal ions. However, despite it being a vital reagent its coordination chemistry is not fully understood. Here we give insight into the binary complexes of dithizone, which contain two different metal ions, and the secondary complexes with Cu(II) which can either involve reduction of the metal ion or double deprotonation of dithizone giving the self-assembled [(H-DPTC)8Cu8] and [(DPTC)4Cu4] species respectively.


Morphometry and flow cytometry for intraepithelial lymphocyte phenotyping were used to determine the changes in duodenal mucosae after administration of low doses of deoxynivalenol in chickens. Moreover, functions of phagocytes and immunocompetent cells in peripheral blood were evaluated by flow cytometry. In total, sixty chickens of Ross hybrid broilers 308 were used in this experiment. Two experimental groups of 20 birds were continually fed for 14 days a diet containing deoxynivalenol at a dose of 1 and 3 mg·kg-1; 20 birds of the control group were fed uncontaminated diet. Morphometry showed only tendency to decrease the height of villi and surface area of duodenal mucosae in chickens fed the diet supplemented with 3 mg·kg-1 deoxynivalenol. Phenotyping of intraepithelial lymphocytes showed a decrease of CD45+ (P < 0.034) in duodenum of birds fed diets supplemented with deoxynivalenol. Examination of white blood cells showed a decrease of monocytes (P < 0.020) in chickens fed 3 mg·kg -1 of deoxynivalenol. Both experimental groups revealed higher metabolic burst of peripheral blood heterophils (P < 0.001). Phenotyping of immunocompetent cells showed an increase (P < 0.003) of CD3+ and a decrease (P < 0.001) of MHC II+ cells in peripheral blood of chickens fed with 3 mg·kg -1 dose of deoxynivalenol. The experimental feeding of chickens with deoxynivalenol resulted in immunomodulation of immunocompetent cells in duodenum and blood with mild atrophy of intestinal villi, mainly after the feeding of the dose of 3 mg·kg -1 . We proved that even low doses of deoxynivalenol can cause changes in haemathological, immunological and morphological profiles already during two weeks, and lead to the activation of compensatoryadaptive mechanisms with unfavourable impact on health and performance of birds.


The aim of this paper is to generalize to color images the topological gradient method for the restoration problem. First, we consider a simple extension from grey-level to color images, by considering a channel by channel method. Then, as there should be some coupling between the different channels, we propose considering a tensorial approach: the Di Zenzo gradient. We derive an asymptotic expansion of this gradient with respect to the insertion of a small crack in the image, and we propose a new algorithm based on the topological gradient for the color image restoration problem. Finally, we illustrate these two approaches with numerical results.


The positive feedback-based anti-islanding scheme has become a common anti-islanding protection technique for inverter-based distributed generators (DGs). This paper investigates the scheme's impact on the small-signal stability of multiple inverter-based DGs installed in power distribution systems during grid-connected operation. The interactions among multiple-DGs due to the anti-islanding scheme are also addressed. An index is proposed to quantify the destabilizing effect of the aggregated positive feedback activities of multiple DGs. This paper further introduces a DG power transfer limit versus islanding detection time curve to reveal the conflicting requirements of anti-islanding protection speed and the maximum power transfer of multi-DG systems.


Condensed clusters of hydrolyzed tetramethylorthosilicate (TMOS), methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS), as single precursors or in combination, were studied using complementary approaches: (i) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy; (ii) solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and (iii) density functional theory calculations of energies, structural and vibrational and 29Si NMR chemical shift data of pertinent TMOS, MTMS and VMTS hydrolysis products, and species with different numbers of silicon atoms and different structures/conformations (linear, cyclic, and cage), performed at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) and B3LYP/IGLO-III (for NMR) levels of theory. The calculated versus experimental (FTIR and solid-state NMR spectra) analysis of the aerogel derived from a single precursor shows that: (i) the TMOS-derived aerogels are mostly made of linear and/or cyclic elements with silicon environments of types Q4, Q3 and Q1, which have four, three and one Si–O–Si bridges, respectively; (ii) the MTMS-derived aerogels are mainly based on cyclic and/or cage structures with silicon of types T3, T2 and T1; (iii) VTMS-based aerogels exhibit the same type of silicon environments as MTMS (T3, T2 and T1), but incorporate structures that can be linear/cyclic/cage-like. The 29Si NMR spectra of the aerogels prepared with the mixtures of TMOS, MTMS and VTMS allowed the quantification of the relative percentages of the constitutive precursor components in the gels, i.e. the final composition of the aerogel is in line with the composition of the prepared solutions. This result is of utmost importance as the composition of the gel affects its final properties. The integrated experimental and computational investigation on the targeted nanostructured materials reported here provides a new understanding of both the microstructures of aerogels and the condensation stage of sol–gel polymerization.


Cloud computing is in demand in recent portion of decades as data transaction and storage it is exponentially increases as far as web based systems are concern. Also Cloud provides dynamic storage space and can handle big data dealing complexities. Though they can manage cloud big data complexities, it is also semi trusted entity. Cloud shows secure but snooping behaviour hence integrity of data and security is major part of concern. Also replication of data is required to improve data availability on cloud. Hence data replication process is provided by the cloud. Also there are cloud data auditing processes that keep the trace of data integrity. To do auditing process, complete dataset retrieval is not required. There are existing data auditing schemes that has flaws when concern to big data. These flaws can be like time consuming process of multiple replica update when verification is done, problem is simultaneous operations of authentication and auditing etc. Hence to rectify these problems proper solution can be developed for auditing process. To address these problems with big data in current public auditing, we proposed a multi-replica dynamic public auditing approach for shared user. For time problem we introduced SHA-1 algorithm instead of previous algorithm that gives significance time improvement that can bridge the gaps mentioned in above discussion.


1. The response of major food-web constituents to combinations of nutrient addition and zooplanktivorous fish abundance was tested during two subsequent years in the shallow charophyte-dominated lake Naardermeer in the Netherlands, using in situ enclosures. 2. Treatment effects differed sharply between study years. In 1998, when the summer temperature was low (1721 °C), high algal biomass only developed at high nutrient levels in the presence of fish, but with no major effect on Chara biomass. In 1999, when the summer temperature was relatively high (2025 °C), algal blooms occurred at high nutrient levels regardless of fish abundance, and were associated with a drastic decline in Chara biomass. 3. Differences between years in temperature and initial zooplankton composition and biomass were likely to contribute to the varying relative importance of top-down and bottom-up effects in these enclosure experiments. 4. The results suggest that when nutrient loads are increased towards levels where the macrophyte-dominated state is being destabilised, a 'switch' is more likely to occur in warm summers. [KEYWORDS: enclosures ; multiple stable states ; shallow lakes ; submerged macrophytes ; turbidity]


Food companies worldwide must constantly engage in product development to stay competitive, cover existing markets, explore new markets, and meet key consumer requirements. This ongoing development places high demands on achieving quality at all levels, particularly in terms of food safety, integrity, quality, nutrition, and other health effects. Food product research is required to convert the initial product idea into a formulation for upscaling production with ensured significant results. Sensory evaluation is an effective component of the whole process. It is especially important in the last step in the development of new products to ensure product acceptance. In that stage, measurements of product aroma play an important role in ensuring that consumer expectations are satisfied. To this end, the electronic nose (e-nose) can be a useful tool to achieve this purpose. The e-nose is a combination of various sensors used to detect gases by generating signals for an analysis system. Our research group has investigated the scent factor in some foodstuff and attempted to develop e-noses based on low-cost technology and compact size. In this paper, we present a summary of our research to date on applications of the e-nose in the food industry.


Using information theory as a foundation, this paper defines virtuosity in the context of laptop performance, outlines a number of challenges that face laptop performers and software designers, and provides solutions that have been implemented in the author's own software environment. A summary of the argument is that by creating a multi-dimensional environment of Sonic Vector Spaces (see page 17) and implementing a method for quickly traversing that environment, a performer is able to create enough information flow to achieve laptop virtuosity. At the same time, traversing this multi-dimensional environment produces a perceptible sonic language that can add structural signposts for the listener to latch on to in performance. Specifics of the author's personal approach to this problem, a software environment coded in SuperCollider, are then shared. Lastly, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow psychology is applied to the three stages of creation in the laptop performance process - software design, patch design, and performance.


Signal segmentation is a crucial stage in the activity recognition process; however, this has been rarely and vaguely characterized so far. Windowing approaches are normally used for segmentation, but no clear consensus exists on which window size should be preferably employed. In fact, most designs normally rely on figures used in previous works, but with no strict studies that support them. Intuitively, decreasing the window size allows for a faster activity detection, as well as reduced resources and energy needs. On the contrary, large data windows are normally considered for the recognition of complex activities. In this work, we present an extensive study to fairly characterize the windowing procedure, to determine its impact within the activity recognition process and to help clarify some of the habitual assumptions made during the recognition system design. To that end, some of the most widely used activity recognition procedures are evaluated for a wide range of window sizes and activities. From the evaluation, the interval 1–2 s proves to provide the best trade-off between recognition speed and accuracy. The study, specifically intended for on-body activity recognition systems, further provides designers with a set of guidelines devised to facilitate the system definition and configuration according to the particular application requirements and target activities.


Every day, thousands of ordinary Americans receive unwelcome faxes, text messages, and prerecorded telephone calls (frequently referred to as "robocalls"). The proliferation of these unwelcome messages has increased at an astronomical rate. In 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that it received approximately 150,000 complaints each month. This dramatic increase occurred despite Congress's enactment of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in 1991, which was meant to restrict dramatically such unwelcome calls, texts, and faxes, and to protect the privacy interests of consumers. Because the recovery under the TCPA is limited to $500 per violation, many consumer suits under the TCPA are filed as class actions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The Rule 23 class action mechanism appears to be tailored to such small regulatory actions. However, defense counsel, confronted by the increasing number of class actions filed against their clients, searched for an effective response to fend off these class actions aggressively and advocate for their clients. Defense counsels' "weapon of choice" appears to be Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68. Rule 68 permits defense counsel to serve an offer of judgment on the opposing party. The rule is a procedural one, intended to encourage settlement and avoid litigation. The rule achieves these goals by shifting costs: "If the judgment that the offeree finally obtains is not more favorable than the unaccepted offer, the offeree must pay costs incurred after the offer was made." One thing not addressed by the language of Rule 68 is the effect, if any, of an unaccepted offer on the justiciability of the plaintiff's claim under the Constitution's Case or Controversy Clause. In TCPA class actions, one strategy used by defense counsel to fend off suits has been to make a Rule 68 offer of judgment to the named class representative for the statutory maximum that a plaintiff could recover on his individual claim, prior to plaintiff's filing of a motion for class certification, in order to moot the named representative's individual claim and the entire class action. In other words, defense counsels' position is that when the named plaintiff is offered all that he could possibly receive from suit and has not yet moved to certify a class, there is no longer a case or controversy under Article III, and the case is moot. In Gomez v. Campbell-Ewald Co., the Supreme Court attempted to resolve a Circuit Court split as to whether a Rule 68 offer of judgment, made before a plaintiff moves to certify the class, moots the named plaintiff's claim and the entire class action. However, rather than resolving the split, the Court's opinion only provided a temporary solution, and the Court postponed a definitive resolution of the matter for another day. The Gomez majority noted: "[w]e need not, and do not, now decide whether the result would be different if a defendant deposits the full amount of the plaintiff's individual claim in an account payable to the plaintiff, and the court then enters judgment for the plaintiff in that amount." This Article takes the position that both Article III and the Supreme Court's precedent compel the conclusion that a defendant's Rule 68 offer of complete relief, when made before the plaintiff moves for class certification, moots not only the plaintiff's individual claim, but also the entire action. The article maintains a contrary conclusion would run afoul of Article III and undermine the "personal stake" requirement set forth in the Supreme Court's Article III jurisprudence. Because this Article was in final production at the time the Supreme Court issued its recent decision in Gomez, the Court's decision is addressed in the Author's Addendum, provided at the end of the Article.


This article discusses the multifaceted topic of tail risk. Topics include tail-risk perception, portfolio and enterprise management, and mitigation. We start by summarizing the key insights of the authors who have contributed to this special issue on tail risk and the applications of this work. We then propose a simple rule of thumb to evaluate tail-risk exposure and the viability of hedging strategies in the portfolio context. We add to the menu of these strategies by introducing the idea of whether protection on idiosyncratic risk is a cost-effective hedge against systemic risk. Empirical evidence and the dynamics that unfold during a systemic crisis appear to collectively indicate that the market may misprice the systemization of idiosyncratic risk. The evidence is compelling enough to warrant further research into the basis between idiosyncratic and systemic risk amid stress.


Forest management (thinning and clearcutting) can reduce evapotranspiration and increase catchment runoff. By summarizing data on the increase in annual runoff (ΔQ) due to forest management at various sites and analysing data using linear regression, traditional studies have reported large unexplained variability among data for different sites. To improve the predictability of ΔQ, it might be useful to model ΔQ for specific species and regions while considering underlying processes. This study performed such modelling for Japanese cedar and cypress plantations in Japan. Model 1 predicts ΔQ assuming that ΔQ equals the decrease in canopy interception loss (ΔEi), which was further modelled by stem density using 46 data for interception loss. Model 2 predicts the potential maximum of ΔQ (ΔQmax) assuming that ΔQmax equals the sum of ΔEi and the decrease in canopy transpiration (ΔEt). Here, ΔEt was calculated using a model developed in our previous study. ΔQ predicted using Model 1 approximated ΔQ observed for seven catchments, and the errors in prediction were less than those derived from traditional linear‐regression analysis. ΔQmax predicted using Model 2 was greater than the observed ΔQ for all catchments. Thus, Models 1 and 2 would be respectively useful in assessing the effectiveness and limitations of managing Japanese cedar and cypress plantations to secure water resources, which have been controversial in Japan. Furthermore, the concept of the models gives implications for studies on other species and regions, because the models have demonstrated how to improve predictability of ΔQ considering underlying processes with the input of commonly available data. © 2015 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.


Presenting a full and precise description of all legal ties between landlord and tenant in early modern England, "Agrarian Problems in the Sixteenth Century and After" re-examines one of the key issues in English agrarian history - the question of the legal security of the copyholder. Comparing historical records and literary evidence, "Agrarian Problems in the Sixteenth Century and After" reprints much of the important 1969 edition of the book, and asserts that: * customary tenants enjoyed legal security in and before the sixteenth century * enclosures proceeded legally, without oppression, and in much the same form (whether ratified in parliament or not) throughout the whole period * depopulation was less extensive than sometimes supposed and that such depopulation as there was often proved economically profitable and not without social benefit. When first published in 1969, this fascinating book represented a unique viewpoint that affected, and in some cases reversed, much accepted opinion. As a landmark work in a highly important area of English agrarian history, it still has considerable impact today.


Typical for non-passerine birds, the spermatozoa of the turkey, chicken and guinea fowl were vermiform with a maximum width of 0.5-0.7 micron and lengths of 90 microns for chicken sperm, and 75-80 microns for those of the turkey and guinea. An acrosome, nucleus, midpiece and flagellum could be distinguished by SEM. The acrosomal cap projected over a perforatorium surrounded by granular material. At its base, the cap encircled apical projections of the nucleus. The nucleus consisted of dense chromatin, and formed a concave implantation fossa where it joined the midpiece of the tail. For turkey and chicken spermatozoa, the neck region of the midpiece consisted of a proximal centriole and its pericentriolar processes oriented perpendicularly to an elongated distal centriole, but guinea sperm contained only a single elongated centriole and associated pericentriolar projections. The centrioles plus their projections to the implantation fossa constituted the non-striated connecting piece. The distal centriole served as the precursor of the flagellum and was longest for turkey sperm. Enveloping the distal centriole and extending to the annulus were 25-30 helically arranged mitochondria. Flagellum ultrastructure consisted of the typical 9 + 2 microtubular axonemal complex but outer dense fibers were absent. A hypertonic diluent immobilized the sperm, condensing the flagellar matrix and obliterating the radial links. Variations in ultrastructure of the above structures between sperm of the three species is discussed and compared with sperm ultrastructure from other non-passerine birds.


Four state-of-the-science numerical weather prediction (NWP) models were used to perform mountain wave- (MW) resolving hind-casts over the Drake Passage of a 10-day period in 2010 with numerous observed MW cases. The Integrated Forecast System (IFS) and the Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) model were run at Δx ≈ 9 and 13 km globally. TheWeather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and the Met Office Unified Model (UM) were both configured with a Δx = 3 km regional domain. All domains had tops near 1 Pa (z ≈ 80 km). These deep domains allowed quantitative validation against Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) observations, accounting for observation time, viewing geometry, and radiative transfer.
All models reproduced observed middle-atmosphere MWs with remarkable skill. Increased horizontal resolution improved validations. Still, all models underrepresented observed MW amplitudes, even after accounting for model effective resolution and instrument noise, suggesting even at Δx ≈ 3 km resolution, small-scale MWs are under-resolved and/or over-diffused. MWdrag parameterizations are still necessary in NWP models at current operational resolutions of Δx ≈ 10 km. Upper GW sponge layers in the operationally configured models significantly, artificially reduced MW amplitudes in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere. In the IFS, parameterized GW drags partly compensated this deficiency, but still, total drags were ≈ 6 time smaller than that resolved at Δx ≈ 3 km. Meridionally propagating MWs significantly enhance zonal drag over the Drake Passage. Interestingly, drag associated with meridional fluxes of zonal momentum (i.e. ) were important; not accounting for these terms results in a drag in the wrong direction at and below the polar night jet.


Software-as-a-service (SaaS) offers the consumer to utilize the provider"s applications working on a cloud infrastructure. All the applications are easily reached from different client devices from a client interface like a web browser. With the Software-as-a-service model, the consumer has slight or no authority how input information is computed, but must be capable to contain confidence in the cloud provider"s liability and fulfilment or can organize which input he/she provides to a Software-as-a-service. Firstly user can avoid providing sensible data to the SaaS. Secondly user might be capable to safeguard the sensible data before providing it as input to Software-as-a-service. In the existing system the attackers can escape the detection if they attack only a few service functions. So, in order to overcome this limitation the proposed system will limit the attack scope using integrity attestation on the service components by doing this it will be difficult to attack the popular service functions. By doing this the attackers can be easily pinpointed. Using integrity attestation on service components will improve privacy and the computation time will be reduced to greater extent. The proposed system will also provide result auto correction to automatically correct compromised results to improve the result quality.


IN The Killing Terraces, a documentary by Nepali filmmaker Dhruba Basnet, there is an interview with a small boy who hud dles over a fire in a dank mud hut, cooking a simple meal for his two younger siblings. At age ii, the boy finds himself as the family caretaker, the head of the household. His father and mother were killed by the police. He is not sure why. He glares at the camera, fighting back tears, and announces that he will join the Maoists when he is old enough. He says he wants to "drink the blood of the police" who killed his parents. It is a chilling moment, the inno cence of childhood wiped clear from his face, replaced by an anger greater than his years should allow. A 12-year-old boy in the southern plains of Nepal told Human Rights Watch a similar tale. On September 5,2003, he woke up to the sound of the door of his two-room hut being forced down. His father, a local politician, was beaten by Maoists. His mother, who tried to intervene, was beaten and thrown to the floor. When they saw the boy, one of the Maoists held a gun to his chest and threatened to kill him if he tried to help his father. The men then dragged his father away. His father has not been heard from since. These stories are at odds with most people's impressions of Nepal. The country conjures up images of Mount Everest and Sir Edmund Hillary, of backpackers trekking along the Annapurna trail, or of plucky Gurkhas serving with the British army. Few are aware of the intensity of the civil war gripping this isolated Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China. Since 1996,


This examination experimentally explores the most powerful components of all out total quality management (TQM) (top management support, customer focus, employees' participation, training and education, continuous process improvement, strategic planning, effective communication, and decision-making based on data and information ) on the non-financial organizational performance measurements (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee's creativity). The investigation involved 121 employees from different hotels, which are classified within the Saudi Commission for Tourism and national Heritage (SCTH) in Najran Region. Using multiple regression analysis, findings indicated that Effective communication followed by Top management support, Continuous process improvement, Employee participation, Decision-making based on information, Strategic planning, Training and education and finally by customer focus. Thusly, this current investigation's results can be prescribed to expand acknowledgment of the significance of human resource metrics in organizational performance.


By comparing the Chinese CECS 146:2003, the American ACI 440.2R-02 and the Canadian ISIS Design manual No.4, discussion is extended in terms of ways to improve the performance of concrete structures. Although the Chinese code treats only carbon fibers, the basic concepts for FRP strengthening are common to all three examined design. However, safety factors differ because of the different backgrounds and application experience. The ACI 440.2R-02 goes into great detail concerning FRP materials and utilization where creep and fatigue are important factors. The ISIS manual No.4 gives many design examples and promotes the use of FRP through easy-to-use design charts. The CECS 146:2003 also mentions applications for seismic resistance. Further improvement in the area of design stipulations for use of FRP laminates will include standardization of safety factors, and also promotion of these guides for a wide use around the industry.


Continued range expansion into physiologically challenging environments requires invasive species to maintain adaptive phenotypic performance. The adrenocortical stress response, governed in part by glucocorticoid hormones, influences physiological and behavioural responses of vertebrates to environmental stressors. However, any adaptive role of this response in invasive populations that are expanding into extreme environments is currently unclear. We experimentally manipulated the adrenocortical stress response of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) to investigate its effect on phenotypic performance and fitness at the species' range front in the Tanami Desert, Australia. Here, toads are vulnerable to overheating and dehydration during the annual hot–dry season and display elevated plasma corticosterone levels indicative of severe environmental stress. By comparing unmanipulated control toads with toads whose adrenocortical stress response was manipulated to increase acute physiological stress responsiveness, we found that control toads had significantly reduced daily evaporative water loss and higher survival relative to the experimental animals. The adrenocortical stress response hence appears essential in facilitating complex phenotypic performance and setting fitness trajectories of individuals from invasive species during range expansion.


By means of electron microscope it was demonstrated that photosynthetically-grown Rhodopseudomonas palustris exhibits an intracytoplasmic membrane system (Figure 1a), which is not observed in aerobically-dark grown bacteria (Figure 1b). The content of bacteriochlorophyll alpha and the enzyme activity of succinil-CoA-synthetase, ALA-sinthetase and ALA-dehydratase in several media grown Rhodopseudomonas palustris could be measured. Aerobically-dark grown cells do not synthetize bacteriochlorophyll alpha and the activity of ALA-synthetase is lower than in photosynthetically-grown cells (Table 1), suggesting a possible regulatory role for this enzyme in the pigment biosynthesis. Some inhibitors of electron transport and uncouplers of photophosphorylation inhibit both the bacterial growth and bacteriochlorophyll alpha biosynthesis (Table 2), while the levels of ALA-synthetase are not affected. If the incubation in the presence of these kinds of compounds is prolongated, the effects disappear. Although the regulatory role of ALA-synthetase should be very important, apparently it would not be the unique regulatory factor for bacteriochlorophyll alpha biosynthesis in Rhodopseudomonas palustris.


Robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) procedures have been increasingly performed at various centers worldwide. Considerable proficiency and thorough preoperative evaluations are required to fully take advantage of RATS. Surgical simulation could help fulfill these preconditions through surgical training, preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation. We reviewed current publications of surgical simulations in RATS and discuss their benefits in patient safety. Overall, the current studies demonstrated that surgical simulation experienced a potential benefit in RATS in terms of rationalization of surgical design, accurate preoperative and intraoperative confirmation of anatomical structure, and improvement of clinical performance, all of which improved the surgical outcome and patient safety. More multicenter prospective studies are required to further prove the benefits of surgical simulation in improving patient safety in RATS.


In this paper, we proposed an efficient numerical method based on un iform Haar wavelet for the numerical solutions of two parameter singularly perturbed boundary value problems. Such type of problems arise in various field of science and engineering, such as heat transfer problem with large Peclet numbers, Navier-Stokes flows with large Reynolds numbers, transport phenomena in chemistry and biology, chemical reactor theory, aerodynamics, reaction-diffusion process, quantum mechanics, optimal control theory etc. In present study more accurate solutions have been obtained by wavelet decomposition with multiresolution analysis. An extensive amount of error analysis has been carried out to obtain the convergence of the method. Four test problems are considered to check the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method. The numerical res ults are found in good agreement with exact and existing solutions in literature.


Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is the major predictor of future ischemic stroke risk. However clinical diagnosis of TIA is extremely inaccurate. We aimed to investigate whole brain perfusion CT as a screening tool for TIA.

 Methods:
 Patients presenting to the John Hunter Hospital with a clinical diagnosis of TIA were scanned within 6 hours of symptom onset with 320 slice CT, which allows whole brain perfusion (CTP). Patients then underwent diffusion weighted MRI within 24 hours of symptom onset. A pixel based analysis was undertaken to determine perfusion based anomalies, and correlate findings to the 24 hour DWI lesion.

 Results:
 156 patients with a clinical diagnosis of TIA were enrolled in the study. Whole brain perfusion imaging in 79 patients was normal, 35 patients had a delay time hypoperfusion lesion (>2 seconds compared to normal tissue) > 10mL, and 44 showed hyperperfusion at a threshold of Cerebral blood flow >120% . The volume of the delay 2 seconds lesion was strongly correlated to the acute NIHSS r=0.769 p=0.05. 44 patients had a DWI lesion of >5mL. Most patients with an acute delay 2 seconds lesion would develop a DWI infarct at 24 hours (41 patients, p=0.01).

 Discussion:
 Clinical assessments of resolving or mild neurological symptoms are poorly sensitive, and as a result imaging is required. We have shown that acute perfusion imaging findings are a sensitive and specific marker for recent (<24 hours) TIA.


This paper presents the digital design of Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) for synchronous buck converter for high switching frequency and low power application. The buck converter is designed for a voltage mode control with PWM technique having switching frequency of 3MHz. It will step down the input voltage of 3.6V to output voltage of 0.9V with duty ratio of 25% and maximum load current of 800mA. The buck converter output voltage is maintained constant irrespective of load variations. The digital SMC is implemented on Spartan 3E FPGA Kit using Xilinx System Generator Tool. Using digitally controlled SMC, an Undershoot of 0.33% for load variations of 0.4A to 0.6A and 1.11% for load variations of 0.4A to 0.8A with very fast Settling Time of 2.5μs is achieved.


Diarrheal diseases are a major cause of illness and death in young children in most developing countries, with recent estimates attributing nearly 5 million deaths/year to children under 5 in developing countries excluding China. Because diarrheal disease mortality can be effectively reduced at reasonable cost by oral rehydration and possibly other measures, it is a priority target for primary health care programs in many countries. Other interventions are needed in addition to oral rehydration to lessen the impact of probable operational constraints on oral rehydration programs, to reduce mortality from chronic or dysenteric diarrheas in which oral rehydration is of limited use, and to reduce diarrhea morbidity rates. The Diarrhoeal Diseases Control (CDD) Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) advocates a 4-part strategy for diarrhea control consisting of improved case management, improved maternal and child health care, improved use and maintenance of drinking water and sanitation facilities and improved food hygiene, and detection and control of epidemics. The CDD program has undertaken a systematic review of the effectiveness, feasibility, and cost of available antidiarrheal interventions and has developed a classification of interventions to guide the review process. Each intervention will be reviewed using a standard format and assigned to 1 of 3 categories: 1) those shown to be effective, feasible, and affordable, for which the CDD program will develop guidelines for implementation within primary health care programs and promote any additional operational research needed; 2) those believed on theoretical grounds to be effective but in which insufficient field experience has been gained will receive further field testing; and 3) those shown to be too costly, ineffective, or unfeasible will not be recommended by the CDD. The classification of possible interventions has 4 categories: 1) case management, including oral rehydration therapy at home or at a medical facility, promoting appropriate feeding during diarrheal episodes, and chemotherapy at home or in a medical facility; 2) increasing host resistence to infection through various programs of maternal nutrition, child nutrition, immunization, or chemoprophylaxis; 3) reducing transmission of the pathogenic agents through control of water supply and excreta disposal, personal and domestic hygiene, food hygiene, control of zoonotic reservoirs, or fly control; and 4) controlling or preventing diarrhea epidemics.


Naming latencies for words, objects and faces have been shown to be affected by the age at which an item is acquired (AoA). Originally, this effect was explained in terms of differential access to name representations. However, a number of recent studies have found AoA effects in tasks which do not require access to names (e.g. Brysbaert, Van Wijnendaele, & De Deynes, 2000; Lewis, 1999; Moore, Smith Spark, & Valentine, 2004; Moore & Valentine, 1999). Ellis and Lambon Ralph (2000) propose an alternative account of AoA, predicting that the effect should arise in any task where previously stored information is retrieved. The current study explored the effect of AoA on an object-name verification task. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that early acquired objects were verified significantly faster than later acquired objects. A third experiment collected naming latencies for the same picture stimuli in order to allow a comparison of the magnitude of the AoA effect for object verification and naming. The implications of these findings for accounts of AoA and its locus of effect are discussed.


Mobile agent technique involves distributed control if communication among different types of network, especially when it can migrate from station to station. Mobile agent technology' has the ability to travel from host to host in a network and to places of their own choosing at times. If motivates force in reducing network traffic and overcoming network latency and their ability to operate asynchronously and independently of the process that create it. Those efficiencies of mobile agent can be implemented in collaborative distance learning environment. Collaborative learning is achieved either between the student and the tutor or inside a group of learner interaction with the human tutor. It enables separate users to effectively facilitate remote access for distance learning. In this paper, we present the agent approach for the development of collaborative learning. Our propose framework use mobile agent as a personal agents to assist the students and the human tutor. An artificial tutor agent partially tries to replace the human during student interaction. Our propose approach potentially solves most of the learning solutions that exist in the real world learning system. Thus, this approach offers the novel workflow of MACL framework to enhance the learning process


The end of the Cold War changed Germany's political geography and increased its international clout. Germany's reunification and its easier access to the political and economic space of Central and Eastern Europe enhanced Germany's overall power within the European Union. With its increasing economic strength and robust exporting capacity, it was poised to emerge as an even greater international actor in the global arena, although its strengths were markedly different from those of traditional great powers such as Russia and the United States. The new Germany's global capacity led to the redefinition of its external relations with many countries including Iran. This article attempts to analyze Germany's evolving geopolitical power dynamic and its implications for relations between the EU and Iran which in turn experienced a similar upsurge in potential opportunities with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regaining of access to Central Asia and the Caucasus which had been integral parts of the Persian Empire until the first quarter of the 19 century.


Background: Yeast sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) are proteolytically activated by a mechanism distinct from that of mammals. Results: Site-directed mutagenesis studies define structural requirements for yeast SREBP cleavage. Conclusion: Yeast SREBP cleavage requires a novel conserved glycine-leucine motif. Significance: Understanding SREBP structural requirements aids mechanistic dissection of SREBP cleavage essential for fungal pathogenesis. Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) are central regulators of cellular lipid synthesis and homeostasis. Mammalian SREBPs are proteolytically activated and liberated from the membrane by Golgi Site-1 and Site-2 proteases. Fission yeast SREBPs, Sre1 and Sre2, employ a different mechanism that genetically requires the Golgi Dsc E3 ligase complex for cleavage activation. Here, we established Sre2 as a model to define structural requirements for SREBP cleavage. We showed that Sre2 cleavage does not require the N-terminal basic helix-loop-helix zipper transcription factor domain, thus separating cleavage of Sre2 from its transcription factor function. From a mutagenesis screen of 94 C-terminal residues of Sre2, we isolated 15 residues required for cleavage and further identified a glycine-leucine sequence required for Sre2 cleavage. Importantly, the glycine-leucine sequence is located at a conserved distance before the first transmembrane segment of both Sre1 and Sre2 and cleavage occurs in between this sequence and the membrane. Bioinformatic analysis revealed a broad conservation of this novel glycine-leucine motif in SREBP homologs of ascomycete fungi, including the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus where SREBP is required for virulence. Consistent with this, the sequence was also required for cleavage of the oxygen-responsive transcription factor Sre1 and adaptation to hypoxia, demonstrating functional conservation of this cleavage recognition motif. These cleavage mutants will aid identification of the fungal SREBP protease and facilitate functional dissection of the Dsc E3 ligase required for SREBP activation and fungal pathogenesis.


The socio-economic structure of the breeding farms of Franches-Montagnes horses (FM) in Switzerland is evaluated on the basis of an investigation carried out in 2002 by the Swiss FM breeding federation. Questionnaires were sent to 3500 of its members and the results include data from 968 breeding enterprises, housing a total of 3965 FM. The quality of the husbandry of FM varies according to factors such as the altitude and the geographical situation of the farms and studs. Socio-economic parameters, such as the role of FM in the business, their use (breeding, driving, riding) and the age and level of professional education of the owners may also have an effect on standards of husbandry. The results show that the owners for whom FM represent a source of income more frequently keep their horses in standing stalls, but give them more time to exercise at liberty than the horses belonging to amateur breeders. Younger and better educated breeders are more likely to house their animals in groups.


In telephone-based speaker verification, the channel conditions can be varied significantly from sessions to sessions. Therefore, it is desirable to estimate the channel conditions online and compensate the acoustic distortion without prior knowledge of the channel characteristics. Because no a priori knowledge is used, the estimation accuracy depends greatly on the length of the verification utterances. This paper extends the Blind Stochastic Feature Transformation (BSFT) algorithm that we recently proposed to handle the short-utterance scenario. The idea is to estimate a set of prior transformation parameters from a development set in which a wide variety of channel conditions exists in the verification utterances. The prior transformations are then incorporated into the online estimation of the BSFT parameters in a Bayesian (maximum a posteriori) fashion. The resulting transformation parameters are therefore dependent on both the prior transformations and the verification utterances. For short (long) utterances, the prior transformations play a more (less) important role. We referred the extended algorithm to as Bayesian BSFT (BBSFT) and applied it to the 2001 NIST SRE task. Results show that Bayesian BSFT outperforms BSFT for utterances shorter than or equal to 4 seconds.


Highly-trained athletes are accustomed to varied and high-volume based exercise stimuli and eliciting adaptation in individuals already possessing the necessary physiology to compete at the highest level is difficult. Therefore, identifying novel, potent and time efficient methods of achieving cumulative training stress is a continual quest for coaches and exercise scientists. This thesis examined the acute and chronic effects of manipulating exercise and recovery during brief all-out sprint cycling on adaptive responses favouring enhanced endurance capacity. Chapter 3 highlighted that low-volume non-work matched all-out sprint cycling, whether it be interval- (4 x 30 s bouts) or continuous based (1 x 2 min bout) provides a similarly potent stimulus for the acute induction of cell signalling pathways and key growth factors associated with mitochondrial biogenesis and angiogenesis in trained individuals. In line with manipulating recovery and in attempting to identify a novel and potent exercise intervention capable of giving athletes more return on their training investment, Chapters 4-6 investigated the efficacy of combining sprint interval training with post-exercise blood flow restriction (BFR). Firstly, it was demonstrated that BFR potentiates HIF-1α mRNA expression in response to SIT, tentatively suggesting an enhanced stimulus for hypoxia- and/or metabolic-mediated cell signalling associated with mitochondrial biogenesis and angiogenesis over SIT alone. Secondly, four weeks of SIT combined with post-exercise BFR provides a greater training stimulus over SIT alone in trained individuals to enhance VO2max (4.7 v 1.1 % change) and MAP (3.8 v 0.2 % change), but not 15-km TT performance. Finally, in response to four weeks of SIT combined with post-exercise BFR, an international female track sprint cyclist increased her CP and W by 7 and 2 % and VO2max and absolute MAP by 3 and 4 %, respectively. Through a combination of an acute in vivo molecular experiment, a training study and an athlete case study, this thesis has introduced a potentially potent and novel training concept that appears capable of augmenting aerobic capacity.


RIZAL, M., HERDIS, A. BOEDIONO, A.S. AKU and YULNAWATI. 2006. Role of various sugars in improving frozen semen quality of Garut ram. JITV 11(2): 123-130. Ram spermatozoa are sensitive to extreme changes in temperature during the freeze-thawed process. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of addition of various sugars in Tris extender on sperm cryosurvival of Garut ram. Semen was collected using an artificial vagina from three mature rams once a week. Immediately after initial evaluation, semen was divided into five parts and diluted with Tris extender (control), Tris extender + 0.4% dextrose, Tris extender + 0.4% raffinose, Tris extender + 0.4% trehalose, and Tris extender + 0.4% sucrose, respectively. Semen was loaded in to 0.25 ml mini straw with the concentration of 200 million or 800 million motile spermatozoa per ml. Semen was equilibrated at 5C for three hours, then frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen for seven days. Quality of processed-semen including percentages of motile spermatozoa (MS), live spermatozoa (LS), intact acrosome cap (IAC), and intact plasma membrane (IPM) were evaluated after dilution, equilibration, and thawing, respectively. Data were analyzed using completely randomized design with five treatments and six replicates. Means were compared significant difference test at 0.05 significant level. Results of this research showed that there was no significantly difference (P>0.05) between treatments for all sperm quality parameters after dilution and equilibration. Mean percentages of post thawing MS, LS, IAC, and IPM for dextrose (54.00; 68.00; 66.60, and 57.83%), raffinose (50.00; 64.33; 61.80, and 61.75%), trehalose (50.83; 65.67; 61.40 and 57.75%), and sucrose (49.00; 66.80; 58.50 and 58.50%) were significantly (P<0.05) higher than control (40.83; 52.67; 54.60, and 49.40%) respectively. In conclusion, addition of 0.4% dextrose, raffinose, trehalose or sucrose in Tris extender are effective in improving frozen semen quality of Garut ram.


Dynamic queries offer continuous feedback during range queries, and have been shown to be effective and satisfying. Recent work has extended them to datasets of 100,000 objects and, separately, to queries involving relations among multiple objects. The latter work enables filtering houses by properties of their owners, for instance. Our primary concern is providing feedback from histograms during dynamic query. The height of each histogram bar shows the count of selected objects whose attribute value falls into a given range. Unfortunately, previous efficient algorithms for single object queries overcount in the case of multiple objects if for instance, a house has multiple owners. This paper presents an efficient algorithm that with high probability closely approximates the true counts.


Recent and future advances in population genetics will have a significant impact on health care practices and the economics of health care provision only if a spectrum of patient‐tailored, effective methods of DNA screening for sequence alterations has been developed. Genetic screening by capillary electrophoresis‐single strand conformation polymorphism (CE‐SSCP), which is based upon the differences in electrophoretic mobilities of wild‐type and mutant DNA species, offers an important complement to other presently available techniques such as Sanger sequencing and DNA hybridization arrays due to its simplicity, versatility, and low cost of analysis. A two‐part review of CE‐SSCP that discusses its advantages and limitations is presented. Emphasis is placed on technological aspects of CE‐SSCP (including such rarely addressed issues as sample preparation protocols and the nature of the polymeric DNA separation matrix) as well as on the potential of CE‐SSCP for routine genetic analysis. An attempt is made to organize and present the information in sufficient detail to allow the use of SSCP for routine genetic screening even by those inexperienced in CE. Some discussion of CE‐based heteroduplex analysis (HA) is also presented.


PURPOSE
To compare corneal sensitivity and tear production in horses with keratitis to horses with other ocular disease.

METHOD
Retrospective medical record review was used to identify equine patients presented during a 1-year period for an ocular complaint who had Schirmer Tear Test (STT) or Corneal Touch Threshold (CTT) measured. Variables studied included patient age and sex; affected eye; category of presenting ocular complaint (keratitis vs. other ocular complaint); STT; and CTT. Patients with a complaint of ulcerative keratitis, immune-mediated keratitis, and stromal abscess were categorized in the keratitis group. Patients with a complaint of uveitis, as well as lid, lens, or retinal disease, were categorized in the group having other ocular disease. For patients presenting more than once in 2013, only the first visit at which STT or CTT was measured was included. For patients with bilateral disease, STT and CTT of both eyes were averaged.

RESULTS
A total of 108 patients were included, 45 with keratitis and 63 with other ocular disease. Average age was 13.65 years, with more males (77) than females (31). Adjusted for age, STT in affected eyes did not differ significantly between the two groups (keratitis = 29.92 mm/min; other ocular disease = 27.96 mm/min), but CTT was significantly lower in patients with keratitis (33.78 mm) than in patients with other ocular disease (40.10 mm).

CONCLUSIONS
Corneal sensitivity may be decreased in patients with keratitis. It is not known whether this is a cause or an effect of corneal disease.


Comparative studies of fluorescent antibody procedure and a cultural method for the detection of Salmonella were made on 1,013 feed and feed-ingredient samples. The agreement between the two methods was 92.1%. There were more false positives (5.7%) than false negatives (2.2%). Of the 22 false negatives, 15 (68%) were obtained on meat meal. Of the total number of samples, 37% were meat meal. An additional study of 73 samples of meat meal indicated that correlation between methods was better than correlation between samples.


A CO(1-0) on-source spectrum of the well-known carbon star IRC+10216 taken with the IRAM 30m telescope in June 1996 shows excess emission between -18.3 and -14.3 km/s at the red wing of the underlying profile. The excess emission is confirmed in January 1997 but is absent in April 1997 and June 1998 IRAM spectra. Such a transient feature has not been seen before in this star or any other AGB star. In April 1997 we mapped the circumstellar shell out to 110". Both the J = 1-0 and J = 2-1 spectra show ``spikes'' or components which vary in strength with position in the envelope. One of these components corresponds to the velocity interval mentioned above. An immediate conclusion is that the circumstellar shell is not spherically symmetric, contrary to what was believed based on lower spectral resolution data. We are probably seeing emission from a complex geometrical structure. Neither a disk structure nor a double-wind structure seem to be able to explain the observations. The on-source transient behaviour of the red excess emission can reasonably well be explained by a single large (about 5 x 10^{13} cm) blob, that expands due to internal motion.


Several taxonomic characters, including the number of trunk myomeres, proportional body measurements and patterns of external and internal pigmentation, have been investigated in populations of ammocoetes belonging to the three species of lampreys found in British rivers. Petromyzon marinus can be readily distinguished by the pigmentary pattern in the tail and on the oral hood, and by the much higher number of trunk myomeres. Although no character can be used to separate with certainty the larvae of Lampetra fluviatilis and Lampetra planeri, significant differences were found between the mean number of trunk myomeres in the two species. Moreover, the values for ammocoetes were virtually identical to those of the respective post-larval stages, at which phase in the life cycle the two Lampetra species are clearly distinguishable. The incidence of pigmentation on the tongue precursor was much higher in larval populations of L. fluviatilis than in those of L. planeri and there was also a difference in the rate of change in the relative length of the trunk and tail. Where comparisons can be made, the results in this paper are in agreement with those of most other European and North American workers. The data differ markedly, however, from that contained in the only other previous detailed systematic study on British larval lampreys, which was subsequently used as the basis for taxonomic keys.


The study examined the genetic predisposition to the development of glutensensitive celiac disease (CD). Were analyzed samples of peripheral blood of 17 adult patients diagnosed with CD, as well as samples of umbilical cord blood of 1700 newborns of healthy children. HLA-typing was performed using two basic methods of molecular typing--SSO and SSP. The studies revealed the specificity of HLA-B*08; HLA-DRB1*2003; HLA-DRB1*07 and HLA-DQB1*02, which are the genetic markers of CD. Was identified a combination of HLA-markers of CD, each of which is a genetic marker for CD: HLA-B*08; HLA-DRB1*2003; HLA-DQB1*02 and HLA-DRB1*2007; HLA-DQB1*02/HLADQB1*03. In addition, negative associations were identified with CD specificity of HLA-DQB1*05. Thus, the results indicate the possibility of individual risk predicting of CD developing in a healthy population and in families of patients with CD.


Abstract. Benchmarking model performance across large samples of catchments is useful to guide future model development. Given uncertainties in the observational data we use to drive and evaluate hydrological models, and uncertainties in the structure and parameterisation of models we use to produce hydrological simulations and predictions, it is essential that model evaluation is undertaken within an uncertainty analysis framework. Here, we benchmark the capability of multiple, lumped hydrological models across Great Britain, by focusing on daily flow and peak flow simulation. Four hydrological model structures from the Framework for Understanding Structural Errors (FUSE) were applied to over 1100 catchments. Model performance was then evaluated using a standard performance metric for daily flows, and more novel performance metrics for peak flows considering parameter uncertainty. Our results show that simple, lumped hydrological models were able to produce adequate simulations across most of Great Britain, with median Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency scores of 0.72–0.78 across all catchments. All four models showed a similar spatial pattern of performance, producing better simulations in the wetter catchments to the west, and poor model performance in Scotland and southeast England. Poor model performance was often linked to the catchment water balance, with models unable to capture the catchment hydrology where the water balance did not close. Overall, performance was similar between model structures, but different models performed better for different catchment characteristics and for assessing daily or peak flows, demonstrating the value of using an ensemble of model structures. This research demonstrates what conceptual lumped models can achieve as a performance benchmark, as well as providing interesting insights into where and why these simple models may fail. The large number of river catchments included in this study makes it an appropriate benchmark for any future developments of a national model of Great Britain.


Review of case histories of 10 pilots treated for extensive myocardial infarction revealed that before manifestation of the disease each of them had been qualified by Flight Certification Boards. When compared with the control group, more often than not the clinical progress of disease was characterized by absence of anginal anamnesis in the past. Moreover, spurious negative results of the veloergometer test were also a matter of fact. This circumstance must be considered in the practice of flight certification examination and upgrading the procedures of functional testing the flight personnel.


This study aimed at investigating the effects of two pre-reading activities, namely Contextual Redefinition and Graphic Organizer, on the reading comprehension of preintermediate and advanced Brazilian EFL students. Based on Schema Theory (RUMELHART, 1980; ANDERSON; PEARSON, 1998), both pre-reading activities were expected to have a positive effect on students' reading comprehension. Using a repeated-measures design, participants' reading comprehension was tested via written free recall and comprehension questions. Quantitative analysis revealed that treatment with the pre-reading activity Contextual Redefinition weakened pre-intermediate students' reading comprehension. Contrastingly, it had a positive effect on advanced students' reading comprehension as measured by comprehension questions. In turn, the Graphic Organizer had a positive effect on pre-intermediate students' reading comprehension whereas it decreased advanced students' reading comprehension as measured by written free recall and had no effect when measured by comprehension questions.


This study aims to analyze the determinants of vertical integration (ownership and contracting) among peasant farmers in Northern Algeria. The choice of asset control is between ownership and a simple contracting. Thus, the integration of vertical stages of agricultural production leads to higher gross margins, influences the choice of marketing and supply channels, and improves market participation of farmers. Three different regression models were used to determine the likelihood of a peasant household to integrate vertically (and horizontally) in its enterprise. Data were collected from 635 smallholder farmers in Northern Algeria. Farm structure, farm size, farmers' age, farmers' level of education, seasonality, and geographical location were assumed to be the key factors in accounting for a household's likelihood to vertically integrate in its farming enterprise. These key factors affect the household's likelihood of horizontal integration. The study, then, carries the implication that policy-makers should develop increased awareness of farm structure, its scale, seasonal and spatial nature of agricultural production, as well as of some farmers' social characteristics in order to be able to improve the agricultural productivity.


Background: In systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients, dry eye syndrome (DES) is the most frequent ocular feature. The aim of this study was to investigate ocular DES-related SSc patients and to establish any correlation with the severity of the disease. Methods: Retrospectively, data from 60 patients with SSc underwent ophthalmic examination, where non-invasive film tear break-up time (NIF-TBUT), tear film lipid layer thickness (LLT), anesthetic-free Schirmer test I, tear osmolarity measurement (TearLab System), and modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) data were collected. The visual analog scale (VAS) and Symptom Assessment in Dry Eye (SANDE) methods were utilized. The results were correlated with mRSS and the duration of SSc. Results: Severe DES occurred in 84% of cases, and was more severe in women. The eyelids were involved in 86.6%, secondary to meibomian gland disease (MGD). A direct correlation was found between the tear osmolarity (mean 328.51 ± 23.8 SD) and skin score (mRSS) (r = 0.79; p < 0.01). Significantly reduced NIF-TBUT, LLT, and Schirmer test I values were observed in the case of severe skin involvement. Conclusions: SSc patients show lipid tear dysfunction related to the severity and duration of the disease due to inflammation and the subsequent atrophy of the meibomian glands.


This paper aims to identify the likely determinants for cryptocurrency value formation, including for that of bitcoin. Due to Bitcoin's growing popular appeal and merchant acceptance, it has become increasingly important to try to understand the factors that influence its value formation. Presently, the value of all Bitcoins in existence represent approximately $7 billion, and more than $60 million of notional value changes hands each day. Having grown rapidly over the past few years, there is now a developing but vibrant marketplace for bitcoin, and a recognition of digital currencies as an emerging asset class. Not only is there a listed and over-the-counter market for bitcoin and other digital currencies, but also an emergent derivatives market. As such, the ability to value bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies is becoming critical to its establishment as a legitimate financial asset.Using cross-sectional empirical data examining 66 of the most widely used cryptocurrencies, a regression model was estimated that points to three main drivers of cryptocurrency value: the level of competition in the network of producers, the rate of unit production, and the difficulty of algorithm used to "mine" for the cryptocurrency. These amount to relative differences in the cost of production of one digital currency over another at the margin, pointing to differences in relative cost of production – electricity goes in, cryptocurrency comes out. Using that as a starting point, a no-arbitrage situation is established for Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies followed by the formalization of a cost of production model to determine the fair value of a bitcoin.


The growth hormone releasing hormone receptor (GHRHR) was mapped in the pig for study as a potential candidate gene in controlling pig quantitative growth and carcass characteristics. Primers were designed from the pig GHRHR sequence to amplify a 1.65-kb intronic fragment between exons 6 and 7. By using a pig-rodent somatic cell hybrid panel, GHRHR was mapped to pig chromosome 18 (SSC18) with 100% concordance, and the regional assignment was SSC18q24 with 89% concordance. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLPs) with MseI and TaqI were developed to confirm this assignment with linkage analysis by using the European Pig Gene Mapping Project (PiGMaP) reference families. Pig GHRHR was mapped with strong linkage to SSC18 markers S0062 and S0120 (lod > 8). The GHRHR and IGFBP3 were found to map near to each other on human chromosome 7 (HSA7), and the pig IGFBP3 gene has been mapped to SSC18 by others. Our mapping of pig GHRHR increases the comparative information available on the SSC18 maps and further confirms the synteny conservation between HSA7 and SSC18.


Abstract. We offer experimental and theoretical evidence that the auction method for initial public offerings (IPOs) may be improved through the use of hybrid auctions with separate retail tranches or 'public pools'. Such hybrids, which combine a price-setting tranche (an auction or book building) with a separate tranche that allows investors to place orders without specifying a price (the public pool), have been used for IPOs around the world. We develop theory, then run laboratory experiments to examine the effects of a public pool on multi-unit uniform price auction IPOs. Our experimental auction design incorporates key features of the IPO process such as endogenous bidder entry, costly information acquisition, differing capacity constraints and uncertainty with respect to the intrinsic value. Simulations are used to characterize the Symmetric Bayesian Nash Equilibria (SBNE) for both pure and hybrid auctions in a model that is calibrated to key parameters from our experimental data, generating predictions for the remaining variables. As predicted, a public pool tranche improves auction performance by increasing proceeds, lowering price volatility, reducing price error and reducing the incentive for small bidders to free ride by submitting extremely high bids. Underpricing occurs in both treatments but is less severe with the public pool. We also show that in collusive-seeming multiunit auction equilibria, it may be optimal for informed, rational bidders to place clinching bids strictly above the expected value per unit, leading to very steep demand curves. Overall, our results imply that both IPO auctions and crowdfunding may be improved by restricting retail investors to a separate, non-price-setting tranche.


Collaborative tagging is one of the most popular services available in social networks, and it allows user to classify either online or offline resources based on their feedback, deliver in the form of tags. Although tags may not be secret information the wide use of collaborative tagging services increases the risk, thereby seriously compromising user privacy. In this paper, we make a contribution towards the development of a privactivey-preserving collaborative tagging service, by showing how a specific privacy-enhancing technology, namely tag suppression, can be used to protect end-user privacy.In most group key management protocols, group members are authenticated by the group leader "one by one." That is, n authentication messages are required to authenticate n group members. Then, these members share one common group key for the group communication. In our batch authentication protocols, users are simultaneously authenticated by the requester that is, one authentication message is required to authenticate n session peers.Spam is commonly defined as irrelevant comments or text, the goal of spam is to distinguish between irrelevant and relevant comments. Naive Bayes classifiers are among the most successful known algorithms for learning to classify text documents.Bayesian spam filtering has become a popular mechanism to distinguish illegitimate spam texts from legitimate texts


In this work we first define semi-commutative (invertible) masking structures which present a simple abstraction to capture the various examples of protocol design that are based on exponentiation-only style operations (such as discrete logarithm and isogeny based cryptography). We discuss two possible instantiations of our structure: The first is based on commutative group actions and captures both the action of exponentiation in the discrete logarithm setting and also the action of the class group of commutative endomorphism rings of elliptic curves, in the style of the CSIDH key-exchange protocol; the second is based on the semi-commutative action of isogenies of supersingular elliptic curves, in the style of the SIDH key-exchange protocol. We then design two oblivious transfer protocols using this structure and prove that they securely UC-realise the standard OT-functionality in the Random-Oracle-hybrid model against passive adversaries with static corruptions. This paper thus introduces the first oblivious transfer protocol based on supersingular isogenies that is proven secure in the UC framework.


Pioglitazone provides one of several add-on therapy options for patients with unsatisfactory glycaemic control treated with insulin. Although pioglitazone has the beneficial feature of low hypoglycaemia risk, it has an overlapping adverse event profile with insulin in terms of oedema (with the potential to exacerbate heart failure) and weight gain, leading to possible concern over their use in combination. Fortunately, subgroup analyses from the PROspective pioglitAzone Clinical Trial In macroVascular Events (PROactive) have provided valuable insights into the efficacy and safety profile of pioglitazone in patients on established insulin therapy. Pioglitazone improved glycaemic control and lipids, while enabling patients to reduce their insulin requirements. Oedema and weight were predictable with no excess exacerbation of heart failure with the combination. Importantly, pioglitazone had a good macrovascular safety profile (with a trend towards benefit), consistent with the overall population. This article provides an overview of the results from the insulin-treated subgroup in PROactive and highlights some of the clinical implications for pioglitazone–insulin combination therapy.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology is characterized by the presence of diffuse and dense-core (neuritic) amyloid plaques in specific areas of the brain. The origin of these plaques and the relationship between them is poorly understood. Current methods to identify clearly these types of plaques in the AD brains are largely dependent upon morphological characteristics. Dense-core amyloid plaques in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus of AD brains might arise from the lysis of neurons overburdened by excessive intracellular deposition of amyloid beta1-42 (Aβ42) peptide. The local release of active lysosomal enzymes, which persist within these plaques, might degrade most of the released intracellular proteins, leaving behind only those that are resistant to proteolytic digestion, such as ubiquitin, tau, neurofilament proteins and amyloid. To test the possibility that proteins that are sensitive to proteolysis may be degraded selectively in plaques, we used immunohistochemistry to examine the distribution of microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2), a protein localized primarily in neuronal dendrites and known to be sensitive to proteolysis. Uniform MAP-2 immunolabeling was detected throughout the somatodendritic compartment of neurons in age-matched control cortical brain tissues as well as throughout areas of Aβ42-positive diffuse plaques in AD brains. In contrast, analysis of serial sections revealed that MAP-2 was absent from Aβ42-positive dense-core plaques in AD brains. Our results indicate that this differential MAP-2 immunolabeling pattern among plaques may be employed as a reliable and sensitive method to distinguish dense-core plaques from diffuse plaques within AD brain tissue. Furthermore, this biochemical distinction indicates that dense-core and diffuse plaques are formed by different mechanisms.


We consider a wireless sensor network, sampling a bandlimited field, described by a limited number of harmonics. Sensor nodes are irregularly deployed over the area of interest or subject to random displacement; in addition sensors measurements are affected by noise. Our goal is to obtain a high quality reconstruction of the field, with the mean square error (MSE) of the estimate as performance metric. In particular, we analytically derive the performance of several reconstruction/estimation techniques based on linear filtering. For each technique, we obtain the MSE, as well as its asymptotic expression in the case where the number of field-harmonics and the number of sensors grow to infinity, while their ratio is kept constant. Through numerical simulations, we show the validity of the asymptotic analysis, even for a small number of sensors. We provide some novel guidelines for the design of sensor networks when many parameters, such as field bandwidth, number of sensors, reconstruction quality, and sensor displacement characteristics, to be traded off.


This article proposes a new base generation account of free constituent order. Scrambling as movement is incompatible with central assumptions of the Minimalist Program: it cannot involve the checking of strong categorial features. Concentrating on German, the article refutes the standard empirical arguments for scrambling and shows that free constituent order is a base-generated phenomenon. The article proposes that O-role assignment is a by-product of checking the formal features of arguments. When checking features are strong, word order is fixed; when checking features are weak, free constituent order arises owing to a relativized interpretation of the Minimal Link Condition.


In the present work, films based on Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and composite films based on PVAand Xanthan Gum(XG) were synthesized in acidic, neutral and alkaline conditions using Epichlorohydrin as cross linker. The effect of pHduring synthesis and the ratio of PVA: XG in the composite film on the equilibrium swelling ratio of the composite films were investigated. The in vitro release study on the synthesized films was carried out at 7.4 pH and 37°C (±1°C) using uric acid as model drug. The swelling capabilities of PVA/XG composite films were found to be lesser than PVAfilms and the equilibrium swelling ratio decreased with an increase in the XG content in the composite films. It was observed that the films synthesized at pH 9.0. The observed experimental data on uric acid were fitted to different kinetic models available in the literature and based on the minimumrelative quadratic error it was found that the drug release data was well represented by first order kinetics.


Introduction Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a neuropeptide hormone that suppresses Th1 immunity and inhibits antiviral immunity. Decreased Th1 immunity is problematic for allogeneic bone marrow transplant (allo-BMT) patients requiring T-cell immunity against blood cancers (Graft-versus-Tumor) and against secondary infections such as CMV. VIPhyb, a modified VIP peptide, is a VIP receptor antagonist that decreases VIP signaling. VIP-knockout mice and mice treated with VIPhyb after allo-BMT are known to have better antiviral immunity and survival after CMV infection without increasing GvHD (Li et al. PLoS One. 2013 May 27;8(5):e63381) (Li et al. Blood. 2013 Mar 21;121(12):2347-51.), thus making VIPhyb of interest for pharmacological use in humans to improve the efficacy of allo-BMT

The effects of VIPhyb on T-cell immunity are not yet fully profiled. This study aimed to analyze the effects of VIPhyb on CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell proliferation and activation in order to better understand the mechanistic implications of VIP inhibition on T-cell adaptive immunity. This study also aimed to show that mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLRs), an in vitro allo-BMT model, could be used to provide rapid and reliable results that are consistent with in vivo data. It was hypothesized that VIPhyb would increase T-cell immunity as profiled by: increased T-cell proliferation, CD69 and PD1 co-upregulation in early T-cell activation, and PD1 downregulation in T-cells after initial activation.

Methods Splenocytes from two histoincompatible mice were cultured together at 37°C in a 1:1 ratio in a one-way MLR. BALB/c splenocytes (stimulators) were irradiated at 20Gy, and Pepboy splenocytes (responders) were labeled with CFSE to trace proliferation. VIPhyb was added daily to the cell cultures in doses of 0.1μM, 0.3μM, 1μM, or 3μM. Treatment groups were compared to a PBS control. Proliferation, CD69, and PD1 were assessed by flow cytometry on the BD FACSAria. All results are shown as mean ± SEM (n=3). One-way ANOVA tests with Dunnett post-tests were calculated using Prism software. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; \***|p < 0.001

Results VIPhyb increased CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell proliferation : 3, 5, and 7 days after initiating a one-way MLR, CFSE expression of Pepboy responder T-cells was assessed using flow cytometry ([Figure 1][1]). As the VIPhyb dose increased, the percentage of initial splenocytes that underwent proliferation increased in both CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells.

![Figure 1][2]

Figure 1
VIPhyb increased T-cell proliferation

VIPhyb increased early T-cell CD69 expression and abrogated later PD1 upregulation in CD8+ T-cells : 3, 5, and 7 days after initiating a one-way MLR, expression levels of CD69 and PD1 on Pepboy responder T-cells were assessed by flow cytometry. Significant upregulation of CD69 on CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells on day 3 occurred with increasing VIPhyb doses ([Figures 2A][3] and [2B][3]). PD1 was co-upregulated with CD69 during early activation, and VIPhyb significantly decreased PD1 expression on CD8+ T-cells on days 5 and 7 ([Figures 2C][3] and [2D][3]).

![Figure 2][2]

Figure 2
VIPhyb increased early CD69 expression and abrogated PD1 upregulation in CD8+ T-cells

Conclusions VIPhyb increased T-cell proliferation; CD8+ T-cells were affected more significantly. VIPhyb increased early co-upregulation of CD69 and PD1 in all T-cells and significantly decreased later CD8+ T-cell PD1 expression, indicating that VIPhyb increases T-cell activation. We hypothesize that the decreased PD1 expression will be critical for understanding the pathways involved in VIP inhibition. Importantly, since it has been shown in vivo that VIPhyb does not increase GvHD, then it can be assumed that the VIPhyb-induced T-cell proliferation and activation will increase GvL and adaptive immunity without increasing alloreactivity. Notably, these results are consistent with published in vivo data, which demonstrates that the MLR can be used as a faster method of analyzing pharmacological compounds than in vivo experiments. Given these results, VIPhyb is still of interest as a potential therapy for allo-BMT patients.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 [1]: #F1
 [2]: pending:yes
 [3]: #F2


This essay reconstructs one important context for images published by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW): the testimonial practices of anti-war veterans. First in small rap sessions, and then in unofficial public hearings, anti-war veterans recollected their war experiences in an effort to inform civilians about the US war in Vietnam, and mobilise them to oppose it. Photographs of introspective veterans – lost in memory – provide a visual idiom for the experience of 'flashing back' that was the basis for veterans' testimony. If these photographs signify the central role of self-reflection in veterans' anti-war organising, they also imply a distrust of graphic war photography – both images disseminated by the mainstream media and atrocity photographs taken by soldiers themselves. Anti-war veterans worried that war photographs catered to a consumerist appetite for intense, vicarious experience and provoked only a fleeting sense of revulsion. Compounding this distrust of graphic imagery was the circulation of war souvenirs, atrocity photographs taken by soldiers of their dead and wounded victims. Exploring portraiture as an alternative to photojournalism, this essay situates images of introspective veterans in relation to the pioneering activism of the VVAW and allies them with images produced by other activists working in the visual field, focusing on Martha Rosler's 'Empty Boys'.


Container packages experience diverse forms of mechanical excitations during their transportation and handling. Some of these excitations can damage the goods and make them reach their final destination with defects. Early detection of damages to container packages during their transport on a container truck can allow the truck driver to take the necessary steps to avert larger damages and thus cause significant cost savings. Sensor based approaches are being investigated to provide this early detection capability. This paper presents an approach that uses wireless vibration sensors based on Zigbee protocol to monitor the integrity and safety of packages during transportation. T-mote Sky wireless nodes integrated with two 2-axis MEMS accelerometers were used to monitor the integrity of the packages. Experiments were conducted to discern the vibration patterns resulting from some common modes of mechanical stability losses, such as wobbling, tilting, colliding and sliding. The experiments used a 1:32 scaled version of RC truck and a proportionately sized container. The vibration patterns under multiple stability loss modes were captured. It was observed that each type of stability loss can be clearly classified based on the patterns in the vibration data collected. Extraneous signal components were suppressed using a wavelet analysis, and fidelity of the signals capturing the pattern associated with the stability loss events was enhanced. Thus, each stability loss is associated with a specific set of abnormal (out-of-control) behavioral patterns exhibited by the processes vibration signals. An interrogation and detection procedure was developed based on this wavelet analysis to detect in realtime the stability loss as well as the times and identities of the specific modes of stability loss that occurred during the span of time over which the measured data is collected. The results show that the multi-scale monitoring facilitated by the wavelet analysis of signals from the wireless vibration sensor tags can be useful for accurate detection of stability loss events.


We present a general model for the Prisoner's Dilemma in which variable degrees of cooperation are possible, and payo!s are scaled accordingly. We describe a continuous strategy space, and divide this space into strategy families. We derive the payo! function for these families analytically, and study the evolutionary outcome when a wide range of strategies play against each other. Our results show that the initial degree of cooperation o!ered by a strategy is a decisive factor for evolutionary robustness: the most successful strategies in our model o!er full cooperation as an initial move, but thereafter cooperate fully only if their opponent does the same. These strategies gradually raise the stakes when playing a strategy which is initially reticent to cooperate, but di!er from the strategies predicted by other continuous models in that they are not only generous, but are also consistently optimistic and uncompromising.


Macrofossils of the late Ediacaran Period (c. 579–539 Ma) document diverse, complex multicellular eukaryotes, including early animals, prior to the Cambrian radiation of metazoan phyla. To investigate the relationships between environmental perturbations, biotic responses and early metazoan evolutionary trajectories, it is vital to distinguish between evolutionary and ecological controls on the global distribution of Ediacaran macrofossils. The contributions of temporal, palaeoenvironmental and lithological factors in shaping the observed variations in assemblage taxonomic composition between Ediacaran macrofossil sites are widely discussed, but the role of palaeogeography remains ambiguous. Here we investigate the influence of palaeolatitude on the spatial distribution of Ediacaran macrobiota through the late Ediacaran Period using two leading palaeogeographical reconstructions. We find that overall generic diversity was distributed across all palaeolatitudes. Among specific groups, the distributions of candidate 'Bilateral' and Frondomorph taxa exhibit weakly statistically significant and statistically significant differences between low and high palaeolatitudes within our favoured palaeogeographical reconstruction, respectively, whereas Algal, Tubular, Soft-bodied and Biomineralizing taxa show no significant difference. The recognition of statistically significant palaeolatitudinal differences in the distribution of certain morphogroups highlights the importance of considering palaeolatitudinal influences when interrogating trends in Ediacaran taxon distributions. Supplementary material: Supplementary information, data and code are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5488945 Thematic collection: This article is part of the Advances in the Cambrian Explosion collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/advances-cambrian-explosion


Abstract. Surfactant layers with viscoelastic properties floating on the water surface damp short gravity-capillary waves. Inspired by the known virtue of fish oil to still angry seas, a laboratory study has been made on wind wave generation and on the interaction between wind-waves, paddle-waves and airflow in a tank containing a thin fish oil film uniformly spread on the water surface. According to the Marangoni resonance-type damping mechanism, for oily surfaces the energy dissipation process is quite selective in wavenumbers, but its effects are not, since it spreads (although to a lesser extent) towards longer and shorter waves via nonlinear interactions and modification of the airflow profile. With a thin layer of oil on the surface, it is rather peculiar that in the wind-only condition (no paddle waves) the wave field does not grow from the rest condition. This equilibrium was altered by paddle (longer) waves, the generation and evolution of short waves (in clean water and with oil) being modified by their interaction with the orbital velocity of the longer waves and their effect on the airflow. Paddle waves did grow under the action of wind, how much being similar in clean and oily water conditions, a fact we ascribe to the similar distortion of the wind profile in the two cases. We have also found that wind-supported stress on the oily water surface was able to generate a surface current, whose magnitude turns out to be comparable to the one in clean water. Our results expand previous investigations on the same topic. We stress the benefit of experiments with surfactants to explore in detail the physics at, and the exchanges across, the wavy and no-wavy air-water interface.


This paper provides a contribution to theorizing information and communication technology (ICT) and development by applying a livelihoods approach. This is found to provide the basis not only for an information-centered understanding of ICTs but also a means for broad and systematic analysis of poverty. The specific development issue analyzed is the role of ICT in microenterprise because microenterprise represents a viable route out of poverty through increased and more diversified income streams for poor households. A case study of Botswana is presented to demonstrate how the livelihoods framework can be applied. This suggests that ICT applications may only bring marginal direct benefits for poverty reduction. Viewed from the perspective of a livelihoods approach, greater benefits for the poor may be derived from ICTs if they are applied to strengthen a broader range of social and political assets and if they are able to assist in building more effective structures and processes that favor the poor. The livelihoods approach is therefore able to identify information and ICTs as only one part of a much broader development picture, and it avoids the overemphasis on technology that can beset some development informatics/ICT for development (ICT4D) research. Mainstream application of livelihoods ideas tends not to engage explicitly with either information or ICT issues but the framework developed in this paper shows how such engagement can occur. It identifies both an analytical role for information/ICTs that helps understand livelihoods of the poor, and a functional role that uses these assets within livelihood strategies.