There are inherent safety risks associated with inactive lithium ion batteries leading to greater restrictions and regulations on shipping and inactive storage. Maintaining all cells of a lithium ion battery at near zero voltage with an applied fixed load is one promising approach which can lessen (and potentially eliminate) the risk of a lithium ion battery entering thermal runaway when in an inactive state. However, in a conventional lithium ion cell, a near zero cell voltage can be damaging if the anode electrochemical potential increases to greater than the potential where dissolution of the copper current collector occurs (i.e. ∼3.1 V vs. Li/Li+ at room temperature). Past approaches to yield lithium ion cells that are tolerant to a near zero volt state of charge will be reviewed and their anticipated tradeoffs discussed. Additionally, the present work introduces a novel method to prevent the anode potential from increasing to greater than ∼3.1 V vs. Li/Li+ during near zero volt storage by modifying the amount of reversible lithium in a conventional cell using a pre-lithiated anode. Specifically, LiCoO2/MCMB pouch cells fabricated with a pre-lithiated anode maintained 99% of their original capacity after three, 3 day and three, 7 day storage periods at near zero volts under fixed load. A LiCoO2/MCMB pouch cell fabricated with a pre-lithiated anode also maintained its original discharge performance after three, 3 day storage periods under fixed load at 45 °C. Thus, modifying the amount of reversible lithium in a cell with anode pre-lithiation is a promising concept to achieve lithium ion cells with high tolerance to near zero volt storage without modification to typical cell construction parameters or use of unconventional materials.


The insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) controls somatic growth and exerts profound anabolic effects in most tissues, including the skeleton. In this study, I investigated interactions between the IGF-I system and several important pathways involved in growth and differentiation of cartilage and bone. In the first study, I explored the mechanisms responsible for transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) induced inhibition of chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophic differentiation in mouse metatarsal organ cultures. Specifically, I sought to determine the involvement and fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and IGF-I as mediators of TGF-β's effects. My results demonstrate that IGF-I increases chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophic differentiation whereas FGF-2, decreases these parameters, in a perichondrium dependent manner. In addition, TGF-β interacts with components of both the IGF and FGF systems but seems to exert most of its inhibitory effects by upregulating FGF signaling. To study the action of IGF-I in different phases of osteoblast differentiation, I developed an in vitro system to disrupt the type I IGF receptor (IGF-IR) by introducing adenoviral Cre vector in primary osteoblast cultures prepared from IGF-IR fl/fl mice. This study demonstrates that disruption of IGF-IR at onset of osteoblast differentiation inhibits differentiation and calcified nodule formation in association with decreased expression of Runx-2, osteopontin and osteocalcin. Knockdown of the IGF-IR in mature, differentiated osteoblast resulted in decreased calcified nodule formation accompanied by a significant decrease in the expression of several factors known to be involved in the process of mineralization including, phosphate transporter Pit-1, Phex, alkaline phosphatase and dentin matrix protein-1. Sodium dependent phosphate (Pi) uptake, an initial and essential event in mineralization, was also decreased in the absence of IGF-I signaling in the differentiated osteoblasts. However, restoration of Pi uptake in the osteoblasts by reexpressing Pit-1 was unable to correct the mineralized nodule formation. Nevertheless, these findings indicate that IGF-I signaling is critical for normal expression of several factors required for matrix mineralization.


The atmosphere plays a fundamental role in transporting airborne prokaryotes across the oceans and land. Despite the harsh atmospheric conditions, a considerable fraction of the airborne prokaryotic microorganisms survive the journey and remain viable upon deposition, and can affect the receiving environment. Here, we provide the first estimate of potential viability proxy for airborne prokaryotic cells at the Southeastern Mediterranean coast in 22 events during 2015, representing marine and terrestrial air-mass trajectories and a significant dust storm event. This was assessed using sequence amplicons of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rRNA) jointly with other complementary measurements. To estimate the relative viability in our dataset we used the ratio between the abundance of the bacterial SSU rRNA transcripts in a given sampling date and the lowest measured value (23.7.2015) as a measure of a relative viability proxy. The abundance of prokaryotes SSU rRNA transcripts ranged from ∼500 to 11,000 copies m3, with ∼2-fold higher relative viability proxy in marine-origin aerosols than predominantly terrestrial atmospheric trajectories. The relative viability proxy of prokaryotes was low during the peak of an intense and prolonged dust storm, and increased by ∼1.5-fold in the subsequent days representing background conditions (<1700 ng Al m−3). Furthermore, we show that anthropogenic/toxic trace-metals (Cu/Al, Pb/Al) negatively correlates with potentially viable airborne prokaryotes in marine trajectory aerosols, whereas mineral dust load (Al, Fe proxy) positively affect their potential viability proxy. This may suggest that airborne prokaryotes associated to marine trajectories benefit from a particle-associate lifestyle, enabling relatively higher humidity and supply of nutrients attributed to mineral dust particles.


Although some clinical trials have shown the promise of antiretroviral-based topical and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) products in the prevention of HIV-1 sexual transmission, other studies have achieved inconsistent results. Drug exposure in the cervicovaginal tissues, colorectal tissue, and immune cells positively correlates with PrEP effectiveness, and there is an urgent need to identify critical physiologic determinants of drug exposure in these relevant tissues and cells, to inform product optimization. Drug transporters are important regulators of antiretroviral pharmacokinetics. This dissertation aims to examine the expression, regulation, and function of drug transporters in human cervicovaginal and colorectal tissues, as well as in the animal models and cell lines utilized in PrEP product testing.

Multiple efflux and uptake transporters, including P-gp, BCRP, MRP4, 5, 7 and ENT1, were found to be positively expressed in the cervicovaginal and colorectal tissues of humans, macaques, rabbits, and mice. A smaller panel of transporters were positively detected in three epithelial cell lines (End1/E6E7, Ect1/E6E7, VK2/E6E7) derived from human endocervix, ectocervix, vagina, and a T cell line (PM1). Menstrual cycle, exogenous hormones, contraceptives, and proinflammatory cytokines were found to impact transporter expression in mice and/or cell lines. The protein expression of P-gp, BCRP, and MRP4 was demonstrated using immunohistochemical staining, in the cervicovaginal and colorectal tissues of humans, macaques and mice. The transporters were found to localize at multiple cell types along the cervicovaginal tract, and the protein abundance and localization of transporters were affected by menstrual cycle and hormone/contraceptive use in a mouse model. In a Depo-Provera synchronized mouse model, the co-administration of MRP4 inhibitor MK571 with TFV vaginal gel or intraperitoneal TFV solution significantly increased TFV concentration, in tissues and fluids relevant to HIV transmission. However, MK571 exerted differential effects on the distribution of vaginally administered TFV, when MK571 was given via different routes. Collectively, these studies have shown that antiretroviral drug-related transporters are positively expressed in tissues and cells relevant to HIV-1 sexual transmission, and their expression can be regulated by hormones and cytokines. Further, the studies have provided proof of concept on Mrp4 function in TFV exposure in cervicovaginal and colorectal tissues.


This article discusses instances of knowledge dissemination in the nineteenth century, a time when vocabulary appears to have expanded more than at any other point in the history of English, mainly on account of the discoveries, inventions and innovations that characterized those decades. My investigation will start from an overview of the most frequently quoted sources of new vocabulary in the Oxford English Dictionary. It will then focus on documents addressed to lay audiences, relying in particular on a specially-compiled corpus of articles published in dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and periodicals both in the UK and in the US, and combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Titles, illustrations (where available), and intertextual references, i.e. the textual features that may be deemed to play a significant role in the maintenance of the readers' interest, will be discussed.


We look at geometric limits of large random non-uniform permutations. We mainly consider two theories for limits of permutations: permuton limits, introduced by Hoppen, Kohayakawa, Moreira, Rath, and Sampaio to define a notion of scaling limits for permutations; and Benjamini-Schramm limits, introduced by the author to define a notion of local limits for permutations. The models of random permutations that we consider are mainly constrained models, that is, uniform permutations belonging to a given subset of the set of all permutations. We often identify this subset using pattern-avoidance, focusing on: permutations avoiding a pattern of length three, substitution-closed classes, (almost) square permutations, permutation families encoded by generating trees, and Baxter permutations. We explore some universal phenomena for the models mentioned above. For Benjamini-Schramm limits we explore a concentration phenomenon for the limiting objects. For permuton limits we deepen the study of some known universal permutons, called biased Brownian separable permutons, and we introduce some new ones, called Baxter permuton and skew Brownian permutons. In addition, for (almost) square permutations, we investigate the occurrence of a phase transition for the limiting permutons. On the way, we establish various combinatorial results both for permutations and other related objects. Among others, we give a complete description of the feasible region for consecutive patterns as the cycle polytope of a specific graph; and we find new bijections relating Baxter permutations, bipolar orientations, walks in cones, and a new family of discrete objects called coalescent-walk processes.


BACKGROUND
symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is a major concern of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for ischaemic stroke. Asians are considered more vulnerable to ICH than non-Asians. Reports on safety of IVT for Asian octogenarians and nonagenarians are limited.

AIMS
the aims of our study were to compare the safety of IVT between octogenarians and nonagenarians and between Asian and Western patients.

METHODS
patients receiving IVT for ischaemic stroke were prospectively registered from four hospitals in Taiwan. Octogenarians and nonagenarians were recruited for analysis. The primary safety outcome measure was symptomatic ICH. The secondary outcome measure was 3-month mortality. We searched the literature on IVT for ischaemic stroke for comparison.

RESULTS
from January 2007 to December 2012, a total of 186 (18.3%) ischaemic stroke patients aged 80 and older, including 166 octogenarians and 20 nonagenarians, were recruited from 1,018 patients receiving IVT. Nine (4.8%) of recruited patients had symptomatic ICH, all in the octogenarian group (5.4%). Three-month mortality was 14.1% in recruited patients and without difference between the two age groups (P = 0.558). The results were comparable with reports on Western octogenarians and nonagenarians in the literature.

CONCLUSION
octogenarians and nonagenarians receiving IVT have a similar safety outcome. Asian octogenarians and nonagenarians receiving IVT for ischaemic stroke are not at higher risk of symptomatic ICH and mortality than Western patients.


In a practice in an industrial area a cervical cytology service was offered to women, and in the years 1967-70 280 cervical smears were carried out. In 1971 all women born between 1 January 1920 and 31 December 1935 who had not had a cervical smear taken in the preceding four years were sent a letter explaining the service and inviting them to attend. Those who did not attend received a second letter and, if necessary, a visit by a nurse in an effort to persuade them to do so. Eventually 88·4% of the women in this age group who could be traced attended, and 16 abnormal cervical smears were reported. As a result of cone biopsy 12 women were found to have carcinoma in situ.


Schools are increasingly hiring full-time, unarmed school security professionals (SSPs), who are different from School Resource Officers (SROs), to help facilitate safe and supportive school climates. However, there is a paucity of literature about how they describe and engage with social emotional learning (SEL), particularly equity-focused or transformative SEL. The current study is a secondary data analysis using qualitative responses to content embedded in two online professional development (PD) modules created for school security: SEL and cultural competence (CC). Forty-eight SSPs completed the SEL module and 18 of these SSPs also completed the CC module. Informed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning's transformative SEL literature, researchers sought to understand how SSPs describe SEL and how they apply transformative SEL in their work. A qualitative transcript analysis was performed, and transformative SEL's five subthemes were identified through this iterative process: working collaboratively, equity and inclusion, cultural humility, ties to identity, and advocacy. Findings demonstrated that SSPs who completed the modules apply transformative SEL principles in various, overlapping ways, illustrating their capacity to support student SEL. However, some SSPs struggled to make ties to their own identity, highlighting the need for widespread training and additional emphasis on self-awareness in transformative SEL PD.


This text is about "Virginia Woolf": the face that sells more postcards than any other at Britain's National Portrait Gallery, the name that Edward Albee's play linked with fear, the cultural icon so rich in meanings that it has been used to market everything from the "New York Review of Books" to Bass Ale. Brenda Silver analyzes Virginia Woolf's surprising visibility in both high and popular culture, showing how her image and authority have been claimed or challenged in debates about art, politics, anger, sexuality, gender, class, the canon, feminism, race and fashion. From Virginia Woolf's 1937 appearance on the cover of "Time" magazine to her roles in theatre, film and television, Silver traces the often contradictory representations and the responses they provoke, highlighting the recurring motifs that associate Virginia Woolf with fear. By looking more closely at who is afraid and the contexts in which she is perceived to be frightening, Silver illustrates how Virginia Woolf has become the site of conflicts about cultural boundaries and legitimacy that continue to rage at the end of the 20th century.


The paper examines the antecedents of intentions to quit, job search, and actual job switches during a five-year follow-up period. We use a representative random sample of all Finnish employees (N = 2800). The data both contain information on intentions to quit and on-the-job search from a cross-section survey and records employees' actual job switches from longitudinal register data that can be linked to the survey. Specifically, we study the contribution of adverse working conditions (harms, hazards, uncertainty, physically and mentally heavy work), work organization (promotion prospects, discrimination, supervisor support) and ease-of-movement factors (mental health, wage level, regional unemployment). According to the estimates, adverse working conditions, poor promotions prospects, discrimination, poor supervisor support and mental health symptoms are positively related to unwillingly staying in a job, since these variables increase the probability of turnover intentions or job search but not actual job switches.


The nucleation and growth model, which is usually applied to switching phenomena, is adapted for explaining surface potential measurements on the P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer obtained in a constant current corona triode. It is shown that the growth is one-dimensional and that the nucleation rate is unimportant, probably because surface potential measurements take much longer than the switching ones. The surface potential data can, therefore, be accounted for by a growth model in which the velocity of growth varies exponentially with the electric field. Since hysteresis loops can be obtained from surface potential measurements, it is suggested that similar mechanism can be used when treating switching and hysteresis phenomena, provided that account is taken of the difference in the time scale of the measurements. Jntroduction


Recent analysis of the bovine genome revealed an expanded suite of β-defensin genes that encode what are referred to as antimicrobial or host defense peptides (HDPs). Whereas primate genomes also encode α- and θ-defensins, the bovine genome contains only the β-defensin subfamily of HDPs. β-Defensins perform diverse functions that are critical to protection against pathogens but also in regulation of the immune response and reproduction. As the most comprehensively studied subclass of HDPs, β-defensins possess the widest taxonomic distribution, found in invertebrates as well as plants, indicating an ancient point of origin. Cross-species comparison of the genomic arrangement of β-defensin gene repertoire revealed them to vary in number among species presumably due to differences in pathogenic selective pressures but also genetic drift. β-Defensin genes exist in a single cluster in birds, but four gene clusters exist in dog, rat, mouse, and cow. In humans and chimpanzees, one of these clusters is split in two as a result of a primate-specific pericentric inversion producing five gene clusters. A cluster of β-defensin genes on bovine chromosome 13 has been recently characterized, and full genome sequencing has identified extensive gene copy number variation on chromosome 27. As a result, cattle have the most diverse repertoire of β-defensin genes so far identified, where four clusters contain at least 57 genes. This expansion of β-defensin HDPs may hold significant potential for combating infectious diseases and provides opportunities to harness their immunological and reproductive functions in commercial cattle populations.


The authors have studied the therapeutic effect of barbiturate coma following middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion in primates. The relationship of the efficacy of barbiturate protection to the presence or absence of recirculation was examined. Barbiturate therapy was begun 30 minutes after MCA occlusion. The findings were as follows: 1) barbiturate-induced coma, with its attendant monitoring, was safely tolerated by primates for 96 hours; 2) 6 hours of MCA occlusion followed by recirculation resulted in a neurological deficit that was worse than the neurological deficit produced by permanent MCA occlusion; 3) barbiturate-induced coma for 96 hours, initiated 30 minutes after the onset of MCA occlusion, in the absence of reperfusion, was in fact detrimental; 4) barbiturate-induced coma for 96 hours, initiated 30 minutes after MCA occlusion, with the establishment of reperfusion at 6 hours, provided nearly complete protection from ischemic damage.


Volcanic hotspots and mid-ocean ridge spreading centers are the surface expressions of upwelling in Earth's mantle convection system, and their interaction provides unique information on upwelling dynamics. I investigated the influence of the Iceland hotspot on the adjacent mid-Atlantic spreading center using phase-delay times of seismic surface waves, which show anomalous polarization anisotropy—a delay-time discrepancy between waves with different polarizations. This anisotropy implies that the hotspot induces buoyancy-driven upwelling in the mantle beneath the ridge.


Large Scale multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems have recently emerged as a promising technology for 5G communications. While they have been shown to offer significant performance benefits in theoretical studies, the large scale MIMO transmitters will have to be deployed in the limited physical space of today's base stations (BSs). Accordingly, this paper examines effects of deploying increasing numbers of antennas in fxed physical space, by reducing the antenna spacing. We focus on the resulting performance of large-scale MIMO transmitters using low complexity closed form precoding techniques. In particular, we investigate the combined effect of reducing the distance between the antenna elements with increasing the number of elements in a fxed transmitter space. This gives rise to two contradicting phenomena: the reduction of spatial diversity due to reducing the separation between antennas and the increase in transmit diversity by increasing the number of elements. To quantify this tradeoff, we investigate densely deployed uniform antenna arrays modelled by detailed electromagnetic simulation. Our results show the somewhat surprising result that, by reducing the separations between the antennas to signifcantly less than the transmit wavelength to ft more antennas, the resulting system performance improves.


Abstract The coral reef in Tutum Bay, Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea, is exposed to the vigorous discharge of hydrothermal fluids (up to 98°C). This study investigates eight Porites lobata samples that were collected throughout the area of active venting at varying distances from vent sites. A sample from a "non-hydrothermal" coral (C-29), collected 10 km north of Tutum Bay, was analyzed for comparative purposes. Density banding is moderately well developed in these corals and subannual bands are common. For corals from Tutum Bay, δ13C ranges from −4.5 to −1.0‰ and δ18O from −6.0 to −3.8‰, which are relatively depleted values for shallow water Porites. The comparison sample, C-29, has δ13C values ranging from −1.8 to −0.5‰, and δ18O values of −5.4 to −4.6‰. Concentrations of As, Co, Cr, Ga, Ge, Mo, Nb, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, W, Y and Zr were always below their respective proton probe detection limits. Ba, Br, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn were detected in some samples. Sr was detected in all samples and concentrations ranged from 6970 to 8240 ppm. Strontium isotope ratios of selected samples (C-5, C-8 and C-29) are very close to seawater, but Tutum Bay corals (C-5 and C-8) have lower 87Sr/86Sr values than the "non-hydrothermal" sample (C-29). The observed isotope patterns indicate that the hydrothermal input into Tutum Bay influences the physico-chemical conditions in the surrounding coral reef. Tutum Bay Porites lobata show distinctly different δ13C and 87Sr/86Sr records when compared to the "non-hydrothermal" sample and other corals from Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. Direct and indirect synergistic effects, including temperature, isotopic and chemical composition of vent fluids and the influence of pCO2 on the expression of photosynthetic and kinetic stable isotope fractionation factors, are the most likely explanation for the "hydrothermal" signal seen in these corals. The δ18O values are significantly correlated with the estimated amounts of hydrothermal exposure.


Accurate prediction of evaporative water loss from dryland agricultural soils requires knowledge of diffusive resistance. Our objective was to experimentally determine the effective vapor diffusion coefficients and the diffusive resistances for water vapor through wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) residue layers. A laboratory diffusion chamber was designed to investigate the effects of wheat residue type (straw vs. chaff), residue amount (2, 4, 8, and 12 Mg ha -1 ), and residue orientation (horizontal vs. vertical straw) on vapor diffusion. The diffusion chamber consisted of two well-stirred chambers separated by a residue layer. In one chamber, a constant saturated water vapor pressure was maintained, while in the other chamber, vapor pressure increased with time due to the diffusion of vapor through the residue layer. Vapor pressure was measured with a humidity sensor. The diffusion equation was used to obtain the effective diffusion coefficient from the measured data by inverse modeling. Results showed that for both straw and chaff residue, increasing the quantity of residue did not necessarily decrease the effective diffusion coefficient but did increase the diffusive resistance. For the same quantity of residue, chaff had a lower effective diffusion coefficient than straw, but the diffusive resistances were similar. The diffusive resistances were in the order of 800 to 3700 s m -1 for 2 to 12 Mg ha -1 residue treatments. The factor affecting the diffusive resistance the most was the thickness of the residue layer: the thicker the residue layer, the larger the diffusive resistance.


In this paper, we propose and analyze novel and efficient cross-layer designs involving joint optimization of physical, link, and TCP layers in wireless. Particularly, we investigate the design of symbol mapping diversity (SMD) schemes using M-QAM at the physical layer for optimal goodput performance at the TCP layer. We present the design and TCP goodput analysis of two SMD schemes, one applying SMD at the TCP packet level, termed as full packet SMD (FP SMD), and the other applying SMD at the link layer (LL) packet level, termed as LL ARQ SMD. We show that although the LL ARQ SMD scheme offers good TCP goodput at high SNR, it performs poorer compared to the FP SMD scheme at low SNR because of increased delays incurred due to increased LL retransmissions at low SNR. We therefore propose and analyze a hybrid SMD scheme which adaptively switches modes (between LL ARQ SMD and FP SMD) based on measured LL packet error rate. We show that the hybrid SMD scheme combines the best TCP performance of both LL ARQ SMD and FP SMD under varying channel conditions.


Despite significant global growth in both trade and foreign investment volumes during the past 40 years, many developing nations and their domestic firms still struggle to realize the development benefits of this economic expansion. Although the Asian Tigers—China, India and a few others—have achieved significant increases in income per capita and reductions in poverty rates, most developing countries remain woefully short of their development goals notwithstanding a major shift in the composition of developing country exports from resource-based products to manufactured goods and a significant increase in developing country manufactures as a percentage of total global manufactures. One factor contributing to these disappointing development results is the now dominant organization of global production through disaggregated, geographically disbursed, nonproprietary supply chains governed increasingly by concentrated "buyer" firms, which I term "supply chain capitalism."
In this essay, I will suggest how the organization of global production into supply chain capitalism limits the bargaining powers and innovative capacity of many (if not most) developing states and their domestic firms, as well as their ability to capture an equitable share of the rents from participation in global trade. In addition, I will describe ways in which supply chain capitalism complicates national trade and development policymaking and makes it more difficult for many developing countries to achieve sustainable development benefits from global trade.
In the face of these challenges, standard progressive prescriptions for development through trade seem insufficient: for developing country firms, focus on innovation and upgrade your position in global supply chains; for national development policymakers, secure sufficient domestic policy space to support your firms and their access to the chains. If the goal is a more equitable global distribution of power and resources, we will need a much richer understanding of the complex of norms and institutional formations that underpin the allocations of power and resources within supply chain capitalism. The traditional tools for national trade policy—tariffs, subsidies, strategic liberalization, industrial policy—and the global trade rules that govern them will be part of the story but not the most significant part. Explicating the key legal and institutional drivers that enable, facilitate, reinforce and sustain supply chain capitalism should bring into focus the significance of numerous legal regimes—national and transnational, public and private—beyond trade law and policy that constrain the bargaining power, policy choices and development outcomes of much of the developing world. Such a shift in focus should also illuminate new legal tools and policy strategies to enable developing countries and firms to gain greater advantage in the global economy.
At the same time, a more informed and clear-eyed analysis of the challenges and opportunities for achieving sustainable and equitable growth through supply chain capitalism may lead progressive trade theorists and development policymakers to question whether competitive participation in global markets remains a promising (or even viable) pathway to development for many countries. Perhaps more plausibly, it may prompt trade theorists and development policymakers to consider the possibility that the greatest challenge to equitable distribution and global prosperity is not the trade effects of protectionism by nation-states but the unacknowledged power of dominant firms governing global commerce through their supply chains.


Filled or un-filled multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) used in this study have been synthesized by the floating catalyst method and fixed catalyst method, respectively. The thermal stability of filled/un-filled carbon nanotubes has been investigated by using Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) analysis. In this report, we have developed a methodology to distinguish between filled and un-filled carbon nanotubes. Filled-CNTs are found to be more resistant to oxidation than the un-filled carbon nanotubes. The calculated activation energy of as-grown filled CNTs, by using differential method, determined to be 3.29 ± 0.04 eV, which is higher than that of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). Carboneous impurities; amorphous carbon, catalyst and CNT of different diameter, which are structurally different, are identified by their reactivity and the resistance to oxidation. Copyright © 2016 VBRI Press.


The aim of the research described in the thesis was i) to gain insight into the significance of phosphatidylcholine (PC) for the functioning of the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase Gut2 and the proline oxidase Put1 in yeast mitochondria, and ii) to advance the understanding of acyl chain remodeling of the specific mitochondrial lipid cardiolipin (CL). Based on the prominent labeling of Gut2 by the photoactivatable PC analogue TID-PC, it was hypothesized that Gut2 activity depends on PC. Such a dependence might serve to align carbon/energy and lipid metabolic pathways. From in vivo and in vitro experiments with PC-biosynthetic mutants, it was concluded that PC is most likely involved in binding Gut2 to the membrane, rather than in stimulating its activity. A role of PC in modulating Gut2 activity to regulate glycerol-3-phosphate availability for lipid synthesis was deemed unlikely. Since it could not be excluded that residual PC remaining after PC depletion was sufficient for Gut2 activity, the use of PC-free systems is suggested to clarify the significance of the Gut2-PC interaction further. Subsequently, the focus was on the possible role of PC in the utilization of proline as nitrogen source, involving the mitochondrial proline oxidase Put1. The investigation was mainly based on the finding in an mRNA profiling study that the transcript levels of the PUT1 and GAP1 genes (encoding Put1 and the general amino acid permease Gap1, respectively) were increased in PC-depleted cells. In vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that PC indeed plays a role in proline utilization. Although a reduced proline uptake appeared to be the bottleneck for growth of opi3 cells in the absence of choline, PC depletion was also found to impact proline metabolism. Intriguingly, the presumed precursor of Put1 gradually accumulated in cells subjected to PC depletion unlike precursors of other mitochondrial proteins. In the second part of the thesis, acb1 mutants (lacking the acylCoA-binding protein Acb1) were exploited to gain insight into CL remodeling, triggered by the finding that CL from Acb1-depleted cells contains elevated levels of acyl chains shorter than C16. The experimental data demonstrated that the CL remodeling system in S. cerevisiae does not strive for the removal of those shorter chains, but rather, that it specifically focuses on the replacement of C16:0 chains in CL molecules. The CL remodeling mechanism proposed (selective outflow of acyl chains via the CL-specific lipase Cld1 followed by non-selective inflow via the transacylase Taz1) is able to account for the CL profile observed in S. cerevisiae including those in taz1 and acb1 cells, and for the accumulation of MLCL in the former and not in the latter mutant strain. In spite of years of research, not much is known about the biological significance of CL remodeling. It is speculated that remodeling aims to increase the non-bilayer propensity of CL in order to enhance mitochondrial functioning and/or efficiency.


The annual consumption of fishery products, particularly sea squirt (Halocynthia roretzi), per person has steadily increased in South Korea. However, the quantitative risk of Vibrio parahaemolyticus following intake of sea squirt has not been analyzed. This study focuses on quantitative predictions of the probability of consuming sea squirt and getting of V. parahaemolyticus foodborne illness. The prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus in sea squirt was evaluated, and the time spent by sea squirt in transportation vehicles, market displays, and home refrigerators, in addition to the temperature of each of these, were recorded. The data were fitted to the @RISK program to obtain a probability distribution. Predictive models were developed to determine the fate of V. parahaemolyticus under distribution conditions. A simulation model was prepared based on experimental data, and a dose-response model for V. parahaemolyticus was prepared using data from literature to estimate infection risk. V. parahaemolyticus contamination was detected in 6 of 35 (17.1%) sea squirt samples. The daily consumption quantity of sea squirt was 62.14 g per person, and the consumption frequency was 0.28%. The average probability of V. parahaemolyticus foodborne illness following sea squirt consumption per person per day was 4.03 × 10. The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of foodborne illness caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus following sea squirt consumption in South Korea.


Human lymphocytes were exposed in vitro to ultrasound from two clinical devices, one of which was previously reported to have increased the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges. The ultrasonic exposures had no significant effect on the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges from three blood donors. Exposure to ultrasound also had no effect on cell cycle progression. A concomitant positive control (mitomycin C) resulted in a significant increase in sister chromatid exchanges.


This paper briefly describes the operation curves of some PV modules under actual irradiance conditions and temperature in 10 Colombian cities. Those curves were obtained from a Virtual Instrument (VI) developed in LabVIEW®. With the collected information from the VI, the cities were classified taking into account 5 parameters: solar irradiance, temperature, variability of solar resource, maximum power point and Photovoltaic (PV) modules efficiency in the cities. From the VI, an analytical methodology was developed to identify the technical potential of some regions for the implementation and development of grid connected PV systems. Additionally, users were able to get information on the solar irradiance potential, helping to achieve an accurate design of the PV systems.


Although oil-based drilling fluids are of paramount practical and economical interest, they represent a serious source of pollution, once released into the environment as drill cuttings. The aim of this study is to assess the capability of isolated microorganisms to degrade gasoil fuel. The commonly used physicochemical and biodegradation remediation techniques of petroleum contaminated soil were both investigated. The study revealed that natural biodegradation is favorable. Even though, the presence of heavy metals, the moisture level of (8.55%) and nutrient deficiencies put severe constrains on microorganisms' survival ranges inhibiting the biodegradation process. The selected strains were able to degrade the diesel fuel at significantly high rates (around 98%). Keywords—Biodegradation, Gasoil, Pollution, Microbial strains, Hydrocarbon, soil pollution


This study, which was part of a larger data gathered in 2014, utilized an experimental research design to investigate whether students from three learning environments (Passive, Active, Lecture) will have significantly different gains in terms of achievement test scores. Students in the passive learning environment were simply made to watch Knowledge Channel (KC) videos. Students in the active learning environment watched KC videos with the teacher facilitating the processing of the contents of the video. Students in the lecture learning environment were taught using the transmissive lecture mode of instruction without using the KC videos. For each school, five subject areas (English, Math, Science, Filipino and Social Studies) were included. A total of 926 students participated in this study and these students were randomly assigned to each of the three learning environments. A 15-item achievement test for each subject area was developed. To compare the mean scores of students across the three learning environments, independent samples t-test and factorial ANOVA were employed. Results revealed that the mean gain scores for each of the learning environments yielded significantly positive results, with posttest scores > pretest scores. Students in the Active learning environment had the highest gain score, with the use of KC videos with teachers' processing accounting for the 74.15% increase in the students' posttest scores. Post-hoc analysis of pairwise comparisons show that there is significant difference between the gain scores of the students in the Active learning environment and the gain scores of the students in either the Passive or the Lecture learning environment.


Abstract In this article, we rely on a census of French residents in 1942 to conduct a quantitative micro-history of the French community in the wake of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai. On the basis of this snapshot, we examine this group from the perspective of long-term demography combined with a spatial approach drawing on the geospatial resources built over a decade in Shanghai. We argue that the system of power in the French Concession shaped the structural traits of the French population as a self-contained community. It created a politically, culturally and linguistically defined space where French nationals were presented with opportunities and even privileges. It sheds light on the social characteristics of foreign communities in a transcolonial city and on the spatial patterns they created in a non-western urban setting. Methodologically, we harness Geographical Information System tools to bridge demography and spatial history.


The theoretical framework of quasi-optical propagation power absorption and driven current of a Gaussian beam of electron cyclotron (EC) waves in a general tokamak equilibrium implemented in the code GRAY is presented. Within the framework of the complex eikonal approach, the propagation of a general astigmatic Gaussian beam is described in terms of a set of coupled rays, allowing for diffraction effects. The computation of the EC wave absorption and current drive is performed for each ray of the beam, by means of a relativistic dispersion relation for EC waves and of a neoclassical response function for the current. The code has been designed and tested for calculations of propagation, power absorption, and current drive of realistic EC beams in ITER.


Ketamine's pharmacological profile makes it an interesting and useful drug to challenge treatment-resistant-depression (TRD). Emerging adverse events associated with single-slow-sub-anaesthetic doses for the treatment of depression are common, although generally transient and self-limited. Nevertheless, data on the safety of this practice are scarce. Thus, it seems timely before ketamine is used for clinical treatment of depression to recommend careful monitoring and reporting of all potential adverse events related to ketamine administration. Here, we describe a case of apnea during slow sub-anaesthetic infusion of intravenous ketamine for the treatment of resistant depression. As far as we are concerned, this is an uncommon, previously unreported, and potentially severe adverse event that clinicians should be aware of, and specific management measures should be implemented.


Purpose
Pet-friendly hotels are growing rapidly. The prevalence of pet adoption has largely resulted from the loneliness due to social distancing that happened during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Many hotels around the world aim to become pet-friendly to satisfy the growing demand. Hoteliers believe that the popularity of pet-friendly hotels will continue, as pet owners often treat pets as their kids. This study aims to investigate how pet-friendly hotels need to design and manage pet-friendly services and policies.

Design/methodology/approach
Using grounded theory methodology, this research conducts interviews with 25 pet-friendly hotel managers from Hong Kong (HK). The study includes hotels from different hotel categories and classifications. It examines the conceptualization of pet-friendly service design, drawing on a service blueprint.

Findings
Building on the service marketing and service blueprint literature, this research provides a synthesis that reflects how pet-friendly hotels can serve both guests with and without pets. The findings reveal that pet-owner's service expectations are formed on anthropomorphism, that is, an inclination of attributing human features to nonhuman entity. Hotel managers, and particular those who have pets personally understand better how pet-friendly service can be adapted to meet the expectations and requirements of pet owners while accommodating guests without pets. The market of pet-friendly hospitality is growing, with high profit potential from pet owners who are willing to spend generously.

Research limitations/implications
Data were collected from selected pet-friendly hotels in HK through interviews with pet-friendly service providers. The research is qualitative and exploratory in nature. It aims to explore and examine the multilevel pet-friendly hospitality service design from a managerial perspective. This research enriches the literature on anthropomorphism theory, the design of pet-friendly services and the application of service blueprint.

Practical implications
The research offers explicit suggestions for the design of pet-friendly hospitality services. A pet-friendly hotel service blueprint is developed. This can help managers to develop essential pet-friendly policies and service collaborations between internal departments and with external specialist organizations, maximizing the value for all stakeholders.

Originality/value
The study explores a rapidly emerging market and scrutinizes its specific design requirements. It extends theoretical insights by enriching the anthropomorphism theory and broadening the conceptualizations of service blueprint based on anthropomorphism theory.


Introduction: Non destructive testing (NDT) is a procedure to assess the internal components without disassembling the outer components. Industrial imaging uses high energy x-rays to penetrate materials while x-rays used in medical imaging has exposure limitation. The purpose of this paper is to determine the optimum technical factors (kVp, mAs, and SID) used in medical imaging Computed Radiography (CR) system suitable for industrial imaging application to inspect lead acid battery. Methods: Lead acid battery is exposed to radiation with predetermined technical factors utilized in medical imaging. The kVp, mAs, and SID are varied throughout the experiment. The optimum technical factors obtained are further used to expose the battery at six different angles for inspection of lead plates. The sizes of lead plates are measured using imageJ software and the measured length is compared to the actual sizes of lead plates. Results: At 15 mAs, two values with the smallest difference to the original size of the lead plates are produced which is at 75 kVp and 125 kVp. Based on the technical factors used in this experiment, it is concluded that 15 mAs is the optimal mAs that can be used to provide the measurement with the least difference when compared to the original size of the lead plates. All measurement with the smallest difference when compared to the original sizes of lead plates are obtained at 125 kVp which is 4.19 cm (plate C when mAs at 5), 4.23 cm (plate C when mAs at 10), and 4.23 cm (plate C when mAs at 15). This indicates that 125 kVp is suitable to be used for inspection. The accurate measurement of lead plates is achieved when 100 cm SID is used. When exposed, white lead sulphate is seen coating the lead plates. Conclusion: X-rays used in medical imaging can be applied in industrial imaging for lead acid battery inspection as it also possess high energy and penetrating power. APPLICATION OF MEDICAL IMAGING COMPUTED RADIOGRAPHY IN INDUSTRIAL IMAGING... INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES, 2(2), 357-366 358


Adaptation is a salient property of sensory processing. All adaptational or gain control mechanisms face the challenge of obtaining a reliable estimate of the property of the input to be adapted to and obtaining this estimate sufficiently rapidly to be useful. Here, we explore how the primate retina balances the need to change gain rapidly and reliably when photons arrive rarely at individual rod photoreceptors. We find that the weakest backgrounds that decrease the gain of the retinal output signals are similar to those that increase human behavioral threshold, and identify a novel site of gain control in the retinal circuitry. Thus, surprisingly, the gain of retinal signals begins to decrease essentially as soon as background lights are detectable; under these conditions, gain control does not rely on a highly averaged estimate of the photon count, but instead signals from individual photon absorptions trigger changes in gain. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00467.001


Aim: Elevated level of serum triglyceride (TG) is a characteristic of type 2 diabetes. We evaluated the clinical significance of intervention for the serum TG levels in the fasting and postprandial states in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Fifty patients with type 2 diabetes, treated with statins, were selected and divided into two groups. One group was treated with a combination of fenofibrate and ezetimibe (F/E group) and the other group with statins (statin group) for 12 weeks. The lipoprotein profile of both groups was compared using high-performance liquid chromatography, and the vascular function was assessed using flow-mediated dilation (FMD) at the forearm. Results: The levels of very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol, malondialdehyde low-density lipoprotein (MDA-LDL), total TG, chylomicron-TG, VLDL-TG, and HDL-TG decreased in the F/E group, whereas those of HDL cholesterol increased. Furthermore, the peak particle size of LDL increased, but that of HDL decreased in the F/E group. The combination treatment significantly improved the FMD. The change in the cholesterol level in a very small fraction of HDL was a significant independent predictor for determining the improvement of FMD (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Compared with the treatment with statins, the treatment with the combination of fenofibrate and ezetimibe effectively controlled the LDL cholesterol and TG levels, increased the HDL cholesterol level, especially in its small fraction, and improved vascular function of patients with type 2 diabetes.


There are increasing conflicts arising between humans and elephants throughout Africa and Asia. The Republic of Botswana, which has one of the world's largest elephant populations, is no exception. One strategy for improving relations between humans and elephants may be participatory and community-based environmental education initiatives. Thus the goal of my project was to work with the non-governmental organization "Living With Elephants Foundation" (LWE) and local Batswanan communities to apply participatory research methods to the collaborative development of an elephant educational outreach program in Botswana. This study describes the process and the results of efforts to collaboratively develop, test and modify educational programming that aimed to contribute to a sustainable relationship between people and elephants. The study had three phases. Phase I involved reviewing academic and non governmental organization literature and determining needs of the elephants and people of Botswana through conducting key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Phase II began with an analysis of the initial emergent themes in the data collected in the previous phase in order to develop the goal and objectives and the first draft of the LWE Education Outreach Program. Phase II also involved an evaluation of this version of the program, and was based on student, teacher and community feedback, and the collection of drawings from Botswana students participating in the LWE outreach program. This phase created a space for further revisions, development of follow-up activities, and identification of further needs. Phase III occurred in Canada where I reviewed all the data collected, conducted further analysis as needed and wrote the thesis. This thesis was shared with LWE and a summary will be provided to all interested stakeholders.


Hedonic regression models aim at decomposing the price of a dwelling in dependence of building characteristics, common amenities and households' income distribution, usually by the use of the ordinary least squares (OLS). However, this method assumes spatial-invariant and linear relationships between rents and the covariates, which might be inappropriate when modelling real estate prices over space. Several methods have been introduced over the last decades to account for spatial and non-linear effects and throughout provided evidence for a significant decrease in the error forecasting variance. This paper tests thus the prediction accuracy and asymptotic properties of two innovative methods proposed along the hedonic debate: The geographically weighted regression (GWR) and the generalized additive model (GAM). Based on a sample with more than 500'000 observations across German residential markets, the results show that OLS estimates fail at explaining rents due to skewed errors, whereas the proposed methods lead to a significant increase in the forecasting performance. The paper provides furthermore evidence that rents across Germany do respond to spatial and non-linear effects, remarking potential value increases in the valuation of institutional residential portfolios.


Integration and expression of exogenous genetic material – in particular, transgenes – into the genomes of model organisms, cell lines or patients is widely used for the creation of genetically modified experimental systems and gene therapy. However, loss of transgene expression due to silencing is still a major hurdle which remains to be overcome. Judicious selection of integration loci can help alleviate the risk of silencing; in recent years the ability to efficiently and specifically target transgene integration has been improved by the advent of site-specific nucleases (SSNs). SSNs can be used to generate double strand breaks (DSBs) in a targeted manner, which increases the efficiency of homologous recombination (HR) mediated transgene integration into predetermined loci. In this work I investigate four human genomic loci for their potential to act as transgene integration sites which will support robust long term expression: the adeno-associated virus (AAV) integration site 1 (AAVS1); the human homologue of the mouse Rosa26 locus (hROSA26); the inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (IMPDH2) gene and the eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha 1 (EEF1A1) gene. I also investigate the potential of creating a novel drug-selectable transgene integration system at the IMPDH2 locus to allow for rapid and specific selection of correctly inserted transgenes. In addition to their ability to drive targeted transgene integration, SSNs can be harnessed to specifically disrupt gene function through indel formation following erroneous repair of the induced DSB. Using this strategy, I aimed to answer some important biological questions about eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha (eEF1A); eEF1A is responsible for providing aminoacylated tRNAs to the ribosome during the elongation phase of protein synthesis. Humans and other vertebrates express two isoforms, eEF1A1 and eEF1A2 (encoded by EEF1A1 and EEF1A2 respectively). During development eEF1A1 is replaced by eEF1A2 in some tissues. The reasons for this remain elusive, but one explanation may lie in the moonlighting functions of eEF1A1, which may not be shared by eEF1A2. Additionally, eEF1A2 can act as an oncogene, while there is no evidence that eEF1A1 is overexpressed in tumours. To begin to untangle these issues I targeted EEF1A1 using SSNs with the aim of making a cell line expressing only the eEF1A2 isoform. This work suggests


Introduction:  Early childhood caries (ECC) is the presence of more than one decayed (non-cavitated or cavitated lesions), missing due to decay or filled tooth surface in any primary tooth in a child 71 months old or younger. This indicates a particularly virulent form of caries, which starts soon after teeth erupt and proceeds rapidly. Materials and Methods:  The research has been made by comparing different textbook sources in pediatric dentistry and scientific databases. ECC is a result of an interaction between all the factors involved in the development of typical lesion. When feeding via a nursing bottle while the infant sleeps, the liquids pool around the teeth surfaces and this causes severe destruction. A necessary factor for developing a lesion is the colonization of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus spp. Salivatory flow is decreased during sleep so the clearance of the liquid and carbohydrates from the oral cavity is very slow. The anatomy of teeth can be a cariogenic factor for certain teeth. Results: From the earliest gynecological examinations during pregnancy the mother should be informed about all the nutrients she should take for normally developed permanent and deciduous dentitions. After the baby is born, all the examinations are done by a pediatrician. If there are some visual problems such as brown and white lesions or teeth destruction the child must be referred to a pediatric dentist. Parents should follow strictly all the recommendations from the specialists. The first visit to the dentist is very important because the dentist must explain how to maintain a good oral hygiene to the parents. Conclusion:  ECC is a disease not only of the teeth but it also affects the overall health of children. As the treatment of ECC is difficult and expensive, all participating specialists should make an effort in preventing the disease and its early detection.


CONN is a Matlab-based cross-platform software for the computation, display, and analysis of functional connectivity in fMRI (fcMRI). Connectivity measures include seed-to-voxel connectivity maps, ROI-to- ROI connectivity matrices, graph properties of connectivity networks, generalized psychophysiological interaction models (gPPI), intrinsic connectivity, local correlation and other voxel-to-voxel measures, independent component analyses (ICA), and dynamic component analyses (dyn-ICA). CONN is available for resting state data (rsfMRI) as well as task-related designs. It covers the entire pipeline from raw fMRI data to hypothesis testing, including spatial coregistration, ART-based scrubbing, aCompCor strategy for control of physiological and movement confounds, first-level connectivity estimation, and second-level random-effect analyses and hypothesis testing.


The cost of sleepiness-related accidents runs into tens of billions of dollars
per year in America alone (Leger, 1994), and can play a contributing role in
motor vehicle accidents and large-scale industrial disasters (Reason, 1990).
Likewise, the effects of an ill-timed distraction or otherwise lack of attention to
a main task can be the difference between elevated risk, or simply a lack of
productivity. The interaction between sleepiness and distraction is poorly
researched, and little is known about the mechanisms and scale of the
problems associated by this interaction. Therefore, we sought to determine
the effects of sleepiness and distraction using overnight and daytime
sleepiness with various levels of distraction on three tasks ranging from a
simple vigilance task to a challenging luggage x-ray inspection task.
The first and second studies examined overnight sleepiness (7pm to 7am) for
twenty-four healthy participants (m = 23.2yrs old - same for both studies)
using a psychomotor task compared to a systems monitoring task, while also
manipulating peripheral distraction through a television playing a comedy
series. The results showed significant effects of sleepiness on the
psychomotor task and evidence for interactive effects of distraction, whereas
the systems monitoring task showed no changes with either sleepiness or
distraction. Subjects were far more prone to distraction when sleepy for both
tasks, and EEG findings suggest that the alpha frequency (8-13Hz) power
increases reflect impairments of performance. There is a decaying .
exponential relationship between the probability of a subject's eyes being
open as the response time increases, such that longer responses above three
seconds are 95% likely to have occurred with the eyes closed.
The third study used a sample of twelve young (m = 20.8yrs) and twelve older
(m = 60.0yrs) participants, and examined the effects of sleep restriction «
5hrs vs normal sleep) with three levels of distraction (no distraction, peripheral
in the form of television and cognitive distraction as a simulated conversation
by means of verbal fluency task). The task used was an x-ray luggage search
simulator that is functionally similar to the task used for airport security
screening. The practice day showed that speed and accuracy on the task
improved with successive sessions, but that the older group were markedly
slower and less accurate than the younger group even before the
experimental manipulations. There was no effect of daytime sleep restriction
for either the younger or older groups between the two experimental days.
However, distraction was found to impair the performance of both young and
old, with the cognitive distraction proving to be the most difficult condition.
Overall, it is concluded that overnight sleepiness impairs performance in
monotonous tasks, but these risks can be diminished by making tasks more
engaging. Distractions can affect performance, but may be difficult to quantify
as subjects create strategies that allow themselves to attend to distractions
during the undemanding moments of a task. Continuous cognitive distraction
does affect performance, particularly in older subjects, who are less able to
manage concurrent demands effectively. Humans appear capable of coping
Sleepiness and Distraction iv
with a 40% loss of their usual sleep quota or 24-hours of sleep restriction on
complex tasks, but performance degrades markedly on monotonous tasks.
Performances for simple and complex tasks are impaired by distracters when
the effect of distraction is large enough, but the magnitude of impairment
depends on how challenging the task is or how well the subject is able to cope
with the distractions.


The author and reviewer have no relationships with pharmaceutical companies or manufacturers of products to disclose. This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents for the treatment of disease. Some uses of these agents have not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.


CO(2) partial pressure (pCO(2)) in industrial cell culture reactors may reach 150-200 mm Hg, which can significantly inhibit cell growth and recombinant protein production. The inhibitory effects of elevated pCO(2) at constant pH are due to a combination of the increases in pCO(2) and [HCO(-) (3)], per se, and the associated increase in osmolality. To decouple the effects of pCO(2) and osmolality, low-salt basal media have been used to compensate for this associated increase in osmolality. Under control conditions (40 mm Hg-320 mOsm/kg), hybridoma cell growth and metabolism was similar in DMEM:F12 with 2% fetal bovine serum and serum-free HB GRO. In both media, pCO(2) and osmolality made dose-dependent contributions to the inhibition of hybridoma cell growth and synergized to more extensively inhibit growth when combined. Elevated osmolality was associated with increased apoptosis. In contrast, elevated pCO(2) did not increase apoptotic cell death. Specific antibody production also increased with osmolality although not with pCO(2). In an effort to understand the mechanisms through which elevated pCO(2) and osmolality affect hybridoma cells, glucose metabolism, glutamine metabolism, intracellular pH (pHi), and cell size were monitored in batch cultures. Elevated pCO(2) (with or without osmolality compensation) inhibited glycolysis in a dose-dependent fashion in both media. Osmolality had little effect on glycolysis. On the other hand, elevated pCO(2) alone had no effect on glutamine metabolism, whereas elevated osmolality increased glutamine uptake. Hybridoma mean pHi was approximately 0.2 pH units lower than control at 140 mm Hg pCO(2) (with or without osmolality compensation) but further increases in pCO(2) did not further decrease pHi. Osmolality had little effect on pHi. Cell size was smaller than control at elevated pCO(2) at 320 mOsm/kg, and greater than control in hyperosmotic conditions at 40 mm Hg.


Fuel cells have a high potential to store a higher amount of energy in comparison to lithium ion accumulators and other secondary batteries. About all this euphoric assessment of the potential of this technology sometimes the cost and state of the art facts fail in oblivion. On this we look carefully on prices and requirements from the applications point of view to develop successful mass and niche products with energy supply from fuel cells. In the discussion there was shown some application specification and opportunities for fuel cells at the company. It is necessary to provide an advantage for a new and reliable energy source in applications to the customer. High efficiency of the fuel cell is only one interesting feature of this technology that is demonstrated. The possibilities are marked up to make notebook computers wireless with fuel cell systems, to provide energy for a full working day or to make a handicapped person independent from the charging times at the power grid and be a range extender for a long day trip in the environment. It's not the intend to replace batteries in total. We prefer to set up hybrid systems that give an opportunity to combine the advantages of the different technologies to improve the energy solution for different products designs. The fuel cell technology must be competitive with existing solutions of secondary batteries in view of supply with energy, cost and energy density. For this a design to cost and a removal of the lack of infrastructure is indispensable. A proved concept and standardised components like the adapter of the fuel is a milestone for a successful product launch. The legislation to use and refill the fuel must be clarified for a product. The regulation for the approval of fuel cell products must be worked out and confirmed to bring products to the European or world market. The application of fuel cells makes sense if an advantage for the products is obvious to justify the cost drawbacks above the premium sector


The Bukit Ibam orebody was the largest single body of iron-ore exploited by the Rompin Mining Co. Ltd. between the years 1962 and 1970. The orebody was inter calated in a sequence of volcanic rocks close to a small granodiorite body. On a regional scale the igneous rocks formed part of an assemblage of volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks of unknown but probably pre-Jurassic age, cut by numerous small intermediate to basic plu tonic bodies. A number of other iron ore bodies of smaller size were mined in the surround ing area which formed a minor iron ore province. The prima ry iron orebody could be divided into two di st inct zones, an upper oxidized and iron-enriched zone which furnished high grade haematite-magnetite ore after simple processing, and an underlying protore containing mainly magnetite in a complex magnesium silicate gangue which required upgrading by magnetic separation to yield a saleable product. Massive limonite ore of slightly lower grade formed a distinct zone along the hangingwall and and contributed largely, together with the haematite, to a mantle of secondary boulder ore on the flanks of the main hill. Copper, zinc and bismuth were present in minor amounts and constituted the main commercially significant impurities in the ore. Copper (average concentration 0.08 %) was markedly concentrated into the limonitic ore a long the hangingwall and in a zone of second ary sulphide enrichment near the ore-protore boundary. Zinc (average concentration 0.07 %) was markedly concentrated in the hard limonite ores. It was also present in chloritic rocks a long the hangingwall and in manganiferous concentrations. Bismuth was concentrated in the more friable zones of the high grade haematite-magnetite ore and averaged about 0.06 % overall . The principal non-metallic deleterious impurity was sulphur, which occurred as pyrite in the lower unoxidized protore zone. The ore zone lies within a sheath of sheared and chloritized rocks between a hangingwall of deeply weathered unmetamorphosed acid volcanics and a footwall of hard siliceous pyritic hornfels. A short distance into the footwall, but never les s than 200 feet fro m the ore, is the granodiorite. Substantial shearing occurs along the footwall of the ore and along parts of the hangingwalI, and at least one strong fault zone cuts obliquely through the ore. Mineralization of a distinct type followed this fault in the hangingwa ll rocks. The orebody may have originated contemporaneously with the volcanic series as an ex hal ative-sedimentary deposit over an intrusive at shallow depth. Subsequent folding and fracturing with further rise of the granodiorite to close below the ore caused considerable thermal metamorphism of the footwall rocks and shearing and recrystallization of the ore zone, with some redistribution of the copper and sulphur. The high grade ore was formed subsequently by supergene processes which upgraded the iron content by removal of mag nesium, silicon and sulphur and oxidation of magnetite to haematite and pyrite and chlorite to limonite.


The present decade has seen much soul searching about employment policies in developing countries. Several aspects have been the subjects of intensive debate: appropriate technology, small-scale enterprise, rural industries, farm mechanization, and the employment and distributive aspects of small-scale farming and agrarian reform. In writings on these matters, it is common to find some reference to China's experience. China's emphasis on labor-intensive methods of raising agricultural output, supported by its rural industries program, and the resulting effects on the regional dispersion of industry provide valuable insight, both for countries that have not opted for this as one of the elements of an employment and growth policy and for others that have or are in the throes of doing so. As the author concludes, even if China's political, social, and economic system is radically different, there are many examples of how knowledge of its experience can enrich the understanding of those concerned with employment policy elsewhere.


Recent research has shown that the bilingual experience has positive effects on non-linguistic cognition ( Bialystok 2009 ; Costa and Sebastian-Galles 2014 ) but also negative effects on language, for example on vocabulary size and lexical fluency ( Pearson et al. 1993 ). While most of the linguistic 'disadvantages' of bilingualism have been discussed in the lexical domain, this question is scaled up here to the sentence level and a novel theoretical framework is proposed which explicitly connects psychological and linguistic research. It is suggested that the bilingual experience may (a) affect the r eciprocal interactions between language and general cognition, and (b) modulate the relation between components of executive functions. These effects may in turn influence the processing of particular linguistic structures, such as anaphoric expressions, and lead to bilingual-monolingual differences that could be regarded as 'disadvantages' but are in fact the result of normal adaptive changes due to the bilingual experience. Future experimental research validating this proposal may benefit both linguistic models of anaphora resolution and psychological models of cognitive control in monolinguals and bilinguals.


Advanced lung diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are chronic diseases that cause significantly high morbidity and mortality. As a result, patients can undergo some psychological changes leading to a poor quality of life and depression. Diagnosis of depression is often obscured because fatigue and apathy, two common symptoms of depression, frequently overlap with PAH and ILD. Healthcare providers are sometimes reluctant to ask or mistakenly believe that these symptoms are part of the ongoing disease process, rather than a serious condition like depression. Screening tools are available for physicians to be well positioned in recognizing clinical depression in PAH and ILD. A MedLine/PubMED search was performed identifying all relevant articles with "PAH", "ILD", "screening tools" and/or "Depression" in the title. The aim of this review is to provide a brief description of some of the instruments used to screen patients and classes of psychotropic medications accessible to physicians. While pulmonary rehabilitation programs can have a positive impact on patients, physicians should also utilize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as part of regular care.


Various ring- and nitrogen-substituted benzenesulphonamides have been prepared and tested as potential inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase. N-Methoxysulphonamides showed no inhibitory activity, as predicted by the classic work of Krebs on N-substituted inhibitors. By contrast, N-hydroxysulphonamides proved to be very effective inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase. Using 111Cd-NMR it has been possible to analyse the molecular interaction of 4-fluoro-N-hydroxybenzenesulphon[15N]amide, with 111Cd-substituted bovine carbonic anhydrase. A large cadmium-111:nitrogen-15 spin-coupling shows that this inhibitor is directly bound to the metal via its nitrogen rather than through an oxygen atom. The mode of this binding is similar to that for the unsubstituted sulphonamide inhibitor, 4-fluorobenzenesulphon[15N]amide. The 111Cd-chemical shift of the signal for the inhibited enzyme shows that the N-hydroxysulphonamide is bound as its anion. From the relative intensities of free and complexed enzyme signals it can be deduced that the cadmium enzyme complex with the N-hydroxysulphonamide has a longer life-time than that formed with the unsubstituted sulphonamide. By contrast, native zinc-containing bovine carbonic anhydrase shows similar I50 values with both of these sulphonamides. Attempts to monitor the binding using 15N-NMR were unsuccessful, possibly due to a very long relaxation time for the nitrogen nucleus in the N-hydroxysulphonamide when bound to the enzyme leading to loss of the 15N signal.


Purpose: To report a patient with orbital pseudotumor masquerading as orbital cellulitis Case report: A 42-year-old woman was referred to orbit and oculoplastic clinic with 6 days history of left orbital pain, proptosis, lid edema and fever. Clinical finding included severe lid edema, chemosis, conjunctival injection and severe restriction in extraocular motility. She was diagnosed as orbital cellulitis and hospitalized for treatment with intravenous antibiotics. Because of no improvement, on the fifth day after admission, systemic corticosteroid, was prescribed. Diagnosis of orbital pseudotumor was made after significant response to systemic corticosteroids. Antibiotics were discontinued and systemic corticosteroid was tapered slowly during the 4 months. Conclusion: Orbital pseudotumor is an ophthalmologic condition that may mimic a variety of pathologic processes. Despite complete physical examination and appropriate imaging, sometimes correct diagnosis of the disease would be difficult.


Increasing use of mobile devices for information access brings with it a demand for robust speech recognition. An important way in which speech recognition system performance can be improved is through use of dialogue strategies to handle the situation in which the system fails to recognise the user's utterance. In the work described here, the case is made for combining multiple speech recognisers and appropriate dialogue strategies to handle poor recognition results. Two implemented systems are discussed as examples.


Most existing vision-language pre-training (VLP) approaches adopt cross-modal masked language modeling (CMLM) to learn vision-language associations. However, we find that CMLM is insufficient for this purpose according to our observations: (1) Modality bias: a considerable amount of masked tokens in CMLM can be recovered with only the language information, ignoring the visual inputs. (2) Underutilization of the unmasked tokens: CMLM primarily focuses on the masked token but it cannot simultaneously leverage other tokens to learn vision-language associations. To handle those limitations, we propose EPIC (lEveraging Per Image-Token Consistency for vision-language pre-training). In EPIC, for each image-sentence pair, we mask tokens that are salient to the image (i.e., Saliency-based Masking Strategy) and replace them with alternatives sampled from a language model (i.e., Inconsistent Token Generation Procedure), and then the model is required to determine for each token in the sentence whether it is consistent with the image (i.e., Image-Token Consistency Task). The proposed EPIC method is easily combined with pre-training methods. Extensive experiments show that the combination of the EPIC method and state-of-the-art pre-training approaches, including ViLT, ALBEF, METER, and X-VLM, leads to significant improvements on downstream tasks. Our coude is released at https://github.com/gyhdog99/epic


We studied the postnatal development of the radial glial scaffold in the dentate gyrus of reeler mice, lacking the extracellular matrix protein Reelin, in scrambler mice, deficient in the intracellular adaptor protein disabled1 (Dab1), which is required for the transmission of the Reelin signal into the cell, and in mutant mice lacking the Reelin receptors apolipoprotein receptor 2 (ApoER2) and/or the very low density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR), known to transmit the Reelin signal via Dab1. By immunolabeling for the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), we show that a regular dentate radial glial scaffold fails to form in mutants deficient of Reelin, Dab1, and VLDLR and ApoER2. Mutant mice lacking only one of the Reelin receptors, VLDLR or ApoER2, display a gradual expression of the radial glial defects seen in mutants that lack both receptors. Our results suggest that Reelin signaling via ApoER2, VLDLR, and Dab1 is required for the formation of a regular radial glial scaffold in the dentate gyrus. J. Comp. Neurol. 460:56–65, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is the most widely applied type of microbial pesticide due to its high specificity and environmental safety. The activity of Bt is largely attributed to the insecticidal crystal protein encoded by the cry genes. Different insecticidal crystal proteins of Bt have different bioactivity against distinct agricultural insect pests, and combination of these proteins not only increases insecticidal activity, but also overcomes and delays development of resistance. A Bt strain, S185, was isolated from a soil sample collected in Songfeng Shan district, Heilongjiang Province, China. Bt S185 has highly specific insecticidal activity against Coleoptera, and was determined to contain cry8-type genes by peptide mess fingerprint (PMF) analysis. Application of polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) analysis further determined the genotype due to the high homology of cry8Ea1 and cry8Fa1 genes. Through the full-length primers design, two insecticidal crystal protein genes cry8Ca and cry8Ea were obtained. Using prokaryotic cloning vectors, the recombinant plasmids pEB-cry8Ca and pEB-cry8Ea were transferred into expression host strain Escherichia coli Rosetta, thus the two genes were successfully expressed in heterologous bacteria.


Malignant tumors involving maxilla is rather rare. This comprises about 1% of all malignant tumors seen in humans. This tumor constitutes roughly 3% of all head and neck malignancies. This article discusses our experience in managing patients with malignant tumors of maxilla. All our patients underwent total maxillectomy followed by post operative irradiation. Mean survival rates of our patients ranged from 2.5 years to 3 years. Survival rates were also dependent on the histology of the tumor. This is a retrospective study of patients who presented to our Institution between 2006-2010. In our study we found that surgery had a definitive role despite the staging. Even advanced cases had a definite improvement in the quality of life. All our patients received post operative irradiation (full course) following total maxillectomy.


Background: Obesity is an important risk factor for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and other non-communicable diseases. India is passing through nutrition transition and prevalence of obesity and hypertension is on the rise.

Objectives: The present study was carried out with the aim to determine the prevalence of hypertension and association with obesity in a rural population of Jharkhand.

Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a rural area of Ranchi district of Jharkhand. In total, 500 study subjects were included in the study after assessing their eligibility for the study. Cluster sampling was done. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Statistical analyses were carried out by SPSS software.

Results: Out of 500 study subjects, 99 (19.8%) were found to be hypertensive. Around one-third (171; 34.2%) of the subjects were overweight, and 21 (4.2%) subjects were obese. Central obesity was found to be higher among female subjects (54.9%) as compared to male subjects (16.3%) in the present study. The prevalence of hypertension was found to be higher among subjects having higher BMI. This association was found to be statistically significant (p-value = < 0.001). Central obesity was found to be significantly associated with hypertension among male subjects statistically significant (p-value = < 0.001) whereas this association was not found among female subjects (p-value = 0.204).

Conclusion: Obesity was found to be significantly associated with hypertension in the present study.


The new approach of homogeneous robust control systems synthesis, both linear, and nonlinear and non-stationary is offered. The control is carried out, providing the given phase constrains varied in acceptable limits, in view of constrains on its value and incompleteness of the information about functioning disturbances. The approach is based on introduction of auxiliary integral surfaces, on which the initial moving is projected. As a result the reduced equivalent moving is forming, described by the scalar equation which in many important cases can be integrated directly. On the basis of the obtained equation solving of a synthesis task is carried out and can be reduced to algebraic or integral inequalities. The final relations defined for linear equivalent moving are presented.


In the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in compensating thermally induced errors to improve the manufacturing accuracy of modular tool systems. These modular tool systems are interfaces between spindle and workpiece and consist of several complicatedly formed parts. Their thermal behavior is dominated by nonlinearities, delay and hysteresis effects even in tools with simpler geometry and it is difficult to describe it theoretically. Due to the dominant nonlinear nature of this behavior the so far used linear regression between the temperatures and the displacements is insufficient. Therefore, in this study we test the hypothesis whether we can reliably predict such thermal displacements via nonlinear temperature-displacement regression functions. These functions are estimated first from learning measurements using the alternating conditional expectation (ACE) algorithm and then tested on independent data sets. First, we analyze data that were generated by a finite element spindle model. We find that our approach is a powerful tool to describe the relation between temperatures and displacements for simulated data. Next, we analyze the temperature-displacement relationship in a silent real experimental setup, where the tool system is thermally forced. Again, the ACE algorithm is powerful to estimate the deformation with high precision. The corresponding errors obtained by using the nonlinear regression approach are 10-fold lower in comparison to multiple linear regression analysis. Finally, we investigate the thermal behavior of a modular tool system in a working milling machine and again get promising results. The thermally induced errors can be estimated with 1-2 microm accuracy using this nonlinear regression analysis. Therefore, this approach seems to be very useful for the development of new modular tool systems.


First aid skills are the important part of medical's competency. The set of instructions for first aid operations are officially approved by the state. This instruction texts are the algorithms. Medical students are studying these algorithms in the special course.
First of all, we convert the instructions from text to the graphical flowcharts (according to ISO 5807-85 standard) for checking the ambiguity and possible misunderstanding.
The execution process of such algorithms is one of typical "complex open ended assignments". We have the classification of typical user errors. On the base of this errors we construct the set of alternative choices for all steps of algorithm. Every such set will convert to the answers for multiple choice question (MCQ). There are repeated cyclic question for student (executor): "what you will do?" or "what is your next operation?"
We plan to build the special environment for gamification of the learning process. Short version will have only one right way - sequence of answers. Every wrong answer will lead the error message - "your patient is dead" and explanation why it happened. In the more complex model we evaluate the patient state and student can read the comments and the errors list only after the end of the algorithm execution.
This year (2020) we plan to make the first iteration: text-based online adventure game, one content set, based on the first aid instructions that are approved in Ukraine. The next iteration will use first aid instructions that are accepted in other countries, starting from countries of EU.
We suppose future development of this game will be like a well-known history of evolution of computer games.

This project will be part of the second co-author PhD thesis


The cause of many myocardial infarctions is occlusive thrombosis, or a blood clot that stops blood flow in a coronary artery. Hemostasis involves a complex system of factors, which normally form and degrade blood clots, that work within a delicate balance. Emerging evidence suggests that some hemostatic factors, including factor VII, fibrinogen, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Accumulating evidence suggests a relationship between dietary fatty acids and emerging hemostatic CVD risk factors, although much of this evidence is incomplete or conflicting. Dietary supplementation with marine n-3 fatty acids prolongs bleeding time and may decrease risk for thrombosis. Factor VII coagulant activity modestly decreases with reductions in saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake and thereby may contribute to the beneficial effects of low SFA diets. Large triglyceride-rich particles formed during postprandial lipemia can support the assembly and function of coagulation complexes and seem to play a role in the activation of factor VII, and thus may partially explain increased CVD risk associated with increased postprandial triglyceridemia. As our understanding of the role of dietary fatty acids and hemostasis evolves, it is likely that we will be able to make specific dietary recommendations to further decrease CVD risk. At this juncture, however, increasing marine n-3 fatty acids and decreasing certain SFAs are leading strategies to reduce hemostatic CVD risk factors. An array of dietary strategies that target multiple CVD risk factors could have a greater impact on CVD than a single risk factor intervention strategy.


This article focuses on an adaptive fuzzy dynamic event-triggered tracking control for nonlinear time-delay systems with unmodeled dynamics via a command filter method. Fuzzy logic systems are utilized to address the unknown nonlinear functions. The upper bound of the approximation error is allowed to be unknown and can be compensated by skillfully introducing a hyperbolic tangent function to the design of the adaptive laws. Meanwhile, without requiring any assumptions, time delays can be handled by appropriately incorporating the delayed nonlinear functions into the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional. Then, a dynamic event-triggered control mechanism is designed to dynamically adjust the threshold parameter. Finally, a new adaptive controller is constructed such that all states of the closed-loop system are bounded. The system output is demonstrated to follow the desired signal. Two examples are given to illustrate the validity of the presented method.


The paper develops a Bayesian skew factor model to measure the return-risk performance of publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts (REITs). We show that the skew factor contributes in all REITs' returns. The skew factor significantly impacts the performance measurement of REITs portfolio and this factor is different from the market return factors (REITs index and stock market index) and Fama-French three factors. We compare the skewness-aware asset allocations (Low, Pachamanova and Sim 2012) using typical non-parametric method and our skew factor model. We find that the skew factor model provides better out-of-sample performance comparing to its non-parametric counterpart.


We present a first-principles computational approach to calculate thermoelectric transport coefficients via the exact solution of the linearized Boltzmann transport equation, also including the effect of nonequilibrium phonon populations induced by a temperature gradient. We use density functional theory and density functional perturbation theory for an accurate description of the electronic and vibrational properties of a system, including electron-phonon interactions; carriers' scattering rates are computed using standard perturbation theory. We exploit Wannier interpolation (both for electronic bands and electron-phonon matrix elements) for an efficient sampling of the Brillouin zone, and the solution of the Boltzmann equation is achieved via a fast and stable conjugate gradient scheme. We discuss the application of this approach to $n$-doped silicon. In particular, we discuss a number of thermoelectric properties such as the thermal and electrical conductivities of electrons, the Lorenz number and the Seebeck coefficient, including the phonon drag effect, in a range of temperatures and carrier concentrations. This approach gives results in good agreement with experimental data and provides a detailed characterization of the nature and the relative importance of the individual scattering mechanisms. Moreover, the access to the exact solution of the Boltzmann equation for a realistic system provides a direct way to assess the accuracy of different flavors of relaxation time approximation, as well as of models that are popular in the thermoelectric community to estimate transport coefficients.


Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are defined by two main properties of self-renewal and their multipotency to differentiate into virtually all cell types of the body, including endothelial cells. ESCs have been widely regarded as an unlimited source of cells in regeneration medicine and also an ideal in vitro model to investigate complex developmental processes. Here, we report a simple and efficient in vitro model to derive a nearly pure population of endothelial cells from a murine ESC line. CCE ES cells are exposed to alpha-MEM medium containing 10% FBS for 4 days and then cultured in endothelial basal-2 medium containing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and 2% FBS for 42 days. The cells acquired a relatively uniform endothelial cell morphology and were able to propagate and expand in culture. When murine ES cell-derived endothelial cells (MESDECs) were cultured on Matrigel and incubated for 48 h, vessel-like tube structures consisting of CD31 (PECAM-1) or BS-1 immunoreactive cells were developed. Immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR analyses revealed that MESDECs express endothelial cell-specific marker proteins such as Flk-1, PECAM-1, Tie-1, and Tie-2, in which the expressions persist for long periods of time after differentiation. The cells were also capable of taking up acetylated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in culture. Our data suggest that MESDECs could provide a suitable in vitro model to study molecular events involved in vascular development and open up a new therapeutic strategy in regeneration medicine of cardiovascular disorders.


Rashba spin–orbit coupling together with electron correlations in the metallic interface between SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 can lead to an unusual combination of magnetic and orbital ordering. We consider such phenomena in the context of the recent observation of anisotropic magnetism. Firstly, we show that Rashba spin–orbit coupling can account for the observed magnetic anisotropy, assuming a correlation driven (Stoner type) instability toward ferromagnetism. Secondly, we investigate nematicity in the form of an orbital imbalance between dxz/dyz orbitals. We find an enhanced susceptibility toward nematicity due to the van Hove singularity in the low-electron-density regime. In addition, the coupling between in-plane magnetization anisotropy and nematic order provides an effective symmetry breaking field in the magnetic phase. We estimate this coupling to be substantial in the low-electron-density regime. The resulting orbital ordering can affect magneto transport.


Content-Based searching and retrieval of video data has become a challenging and important issue among the search engines. Mostly videos were retrieved based on keyword from a large collection of videos. Given a text query by users, the system then returns a series of approximately relevant video shots by matching the input text with the text documents associated with the video shots. Users are usually interested in the top ranked portion of returned search results and therefore it is crucial for search engines to achieve accuracy on the search results. In this paper content based video searching re-ranking and retrieval framework is proposed to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the search engines. Here input is given as a video, where the video is converted into frames and key frames are extracted. Motion estimation, Colour, edge and texture features are extracted for the key frames. Initial ranking on the search results is done for distinct features. Then features are Fused and finally re-ranked to form a unified accurate search result.


Over the past several decades, it has become increasingly clear that women have distinct cardiovascular profiles compared to men. In this review, our goal is to provide an overview of the literature regarding the influences of female sex and reproductive hormones (primarily estradiol) on mechanisms of cardiovascular control relevant to regulation of blood pressure, body temperature, and cerebral blood flow. Young women tend to have lower resting blood pressure compared with men. This sex difference is reversed at menopause, when women develop higher sympathetic nerve activity and the risk of systemic hypertension increases sharply as postmenopausal women age. Vascular responses to thermal stress, including cutaneous vasodilation and vasoconstriction, are also affected by reproductive hormones in women, where estradiol appears to promote vasodilation and heat dissipation. The influence of reproductive hormones on cerebral blood flow and sex differences in the ability of the cerebral vasculature to increase its blood flow (cerebrovascular reactivity) are relatively new areas of investigation. Sex and hormonal influences on integrative blood flow regulation have further implications during challenges to physiological homeostasis, including exercise. We propose that increasing awareness of these sex‐specific mechanisms is important for optimizing health care and promotion of wellness in women across the life span.


The pigments used by the ancient Egyptians constitute the most diverse pigment palette of the ancient world. This review discusses the pigments and binders which were used, arranged principally in terms of the colours themselves, namely, the white, green, grey, black, brown, blue, red, orange, and yellow pigments. The chemical identity of these pigments is discussed with some details regarding the artefacts or time periods from which the pigment concerned has been identified. Combinations of pigments were used for creating some colours, especially: greens, pinks, blues, yellows, and a variety of pale hues by mixing primary colours with a white addition, such as calcite. The identification of ancient Egyptian pigments is often aggravated by chemical interactions between pigment and binder media, or between the pigment and environmental pollutants, or both. The nature of the binders and varnishes used in ancient Egypt is briefly discussed. The identification of green pigments from ancient Egypt is often difficult, and some of the recent research concerning the topic is reviewed. In addition to including relevant details from older literature, this review provides a synopsis of recent studies which have appeared since the last major review carried out by Lee and Quirke in 2000.


Diverse cellular processes that underlie plant development and response to environmental cues rely on a dynamic interplay between membranes and the cytoskeleton. The original research and review articles assembled in this Research Topic provide a valuable insight into our current understanding of how actin filaments and microtubules physically and functionally interact with membranes and cell wall and vice versa.


The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft has been conducting a two-band thermal infrared survey to detect and characterize asteroids and comets since its reactivation in Dec 2013. Using the observations collected during the fourth and fifth years of the survey, our automated pipeline detected candidate moving objects which were verified and reported to the Minor Planet Center. Using these detections, we perform thermal modeling of each object from the near-Earth object and Main Belt asteroid populations to constrain their sizes. We present thermal model fits of asteroid diameters for 189 NEOs and 5831 MBAs detected during the fourth year of the survey, and 185 NEOs and 5776 MBAs from the fifth year. To date, the NEOWISE Reactivation survey has provided thermal model characterization for 957 unique NEOs. Including all phases of the original WISE survey brings the total to 1473 unique NEOs that have been characterized between 2010 and the present.