A large number of classes of modified theories of gravity have been developed for a long time. They have attracted much attention from physicists, since they show different aspects concerning gravitational interaction. In fact, these aspects may extend the role of gravity not only at large scales but at microscopic regimes, so that they have been systematically related to fundamental issues such as the occurrence of space-time singularities, the loss of renormalizability or the origin of the accelerated expansion of the universe, among others. Despite the successful predictions and the highly tested accuracy of General Relativity (GR) in describing the gravitational phenomena, the absence of an appropriate explanation for these issues has stimulated the investigation of new alternative models of gravitation. The extension of the conventional approach can be addressed by the introduction into the gravitational action of higher order corrections depending on the metric tensor alone. Such a procedure preserves the geometric structure of the space-time and potentially yields new propagating degrees of freedom related to metric, which means that not only the phenomenological compatibility with GR must be considered by the new framework but also the viability of its stability conditions. On the other hand, it is also possible to define a more complex geometry by the modification of the affine connection. Namely, the Levi-Civita connection of GR is subject to the fulfillment of two independent constraints: the conservation of the metric tensor under parallel transport and the vanishing of its antisymmetric component. Hence, in this case there is an increase in the number of degrees of freedom contained in the connection, which can involve new geometrical and dynamical effects in the space-time. From a theoretical point of view, the resulting post-Riemannian geometry can be related to the existence of a new fundamental symmetry in nature by applying the gauge principles. This scheme leads to the appearance of new theories of gravitation, such as the Metric-Affine or the Poincare Gauge theory. In the present thesis, we use these notions to investigate the nature and the implications of the space-time torsion in the framework of the Poincare Gauge theory, providing new bases and methodologies to describe and measure its possible existence in the universe. Since this quantity appears to be directly connected to the intrinsic angular momentum of elementary particles, it is expected to generate negligible effects at macroscopic scales. Therefore, the focusing on extreme gravitational systems that may intensify such effects is especially relevant to overcome these observational issues.


A rogue Chinese scientist announced on 25 November, 2018, that he had produced the world's first two babies in whom CRISPR had been used deliberately to alter their genomes in a heritable manner, with at least one more already on the way. His purpose was ostensibly to protect them against HIV transmission from an infected father, but his actions ignored nearly universal principles militating against such applications unless no other remedies were available, which was not the case. This precipitated an instantaneous global firestorm of condemnation and concern by scientists and thought leaders in reaction. Numerous concerted efforts were launched to make sure such miscarriages of scientific capability do not recur, and the powerful potential of this technology to benefit humanity is not undermined by further ill-considered adventurism. Key developments and analyses are compiled in this post, frequently updated to provide a reliable and current overview of the landscape.


We have investigated the importance of two small nested genes (p19 and p22) located near the 3' end of the genome of tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) for infectivity in several hosts. Our results show that both genes are dispensable for replication and transcription and that the p19 gene encodes a soluble protein, whereas the p22 gene specifies a membrane-associated protein. Assays using TBSV derivatives that have the beta-glucuronidase gene substituted for the capsid protein gene demonstrate that p22 is required for cell-to-cell movement in all plants tested. Mutations inactivating p19 ameliorate the severe necrotic systemic symptoms elicited by wild-type TBSV in Nicotiana benthamiana and Nicotiana clevelandii, but p19 does not obviously affect movement in these hosts. However, in some local lesion hosts p19 influences the lesion diameter, which suggests that it has an auxiliary host-dependent role in movement. This notion is supported by the observation that p19 is required for long-distance spread of TBSV in spinach and for systemic infection of pepper plants. Thus, movement of TBSV is regulated by two nested genes; p22 governs cell-to-cell movement and p19 has a host-specific role in systemic invasion.


Computational modeling of biological systems, or in silico biology, is an emerging tool for understanding structure and order in biological tissues. Computational models of the behavior of epithelial cells in monolayer cell culture have been developed and used to predict the healing characteristics of scratch wounds made to urothelial cell cultures maintained in low- and physiological [Ca/sup 2+/] environments. Both computational models and in vitro experiments demonstrated that in low exogenous [Ca/sup 2+/], the closure of 500-/spl mu/m scratch wounds was achieved primarily by cell migration into the denuded area. The wound healing rate in low (0.09 mM) [Ca/sup 2+/] was approximately twice as rapid as in physiological (2 mM) [Ca/sup 2+/]. Computational modeling predicted that in cell cultures that are actively proliferating, no increase in the fraction of cells in the S-phase would be expected, and this conclusion was supported experimentally in vitro by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assay. We have demonstrated that a simple rule-based model of cell behavior, incorporating rules relating to contact inhibition of proliferation and migration, is sufficient to qualitatively predict the calcium-dependent pattern of wound closure observed in vitro. Differences between the in vitro and in silico models suggest a role for wound-induced signaling events in urothelial cell cultures.


Scientific research now shows that humans are pervasive in earth ecosystems, and have been so for many thousands of years. So it may seem strange to argue against a concept that has been so hard won and is now empirically incontrovertible. What is starting to seem stranger is that, to paraphrase anthropologist Tim Ingold, the best way we have to describe our role in the world is to take ourselves out of it. As human influence on the Earth and its processes increases, we face the profound paradox that most of our intellectual weapons in the environmental area — from prehistoric fire debates to projections of climate change — have maintained a separation of humans and nature. This is an argument based not on semantics but on false separations that are adversely affecting the quality of our research and practice, including the ways we attempt to integrate archaeology and palaeoecology. While `human impacts' may be applicable to a subset of human activities, it is neither conceptually nor empirically strong enough for the detailed networks of human and non-human others now evident. We need to articulate a broader concept of agency, both human and otherwise, and to develop explanations that focus on associations and relationships rather than separations and essentialisms.


Drawing in the landscape creates an awareness of place that is a distinct form of information gathering and of understanding the landscape setting. To illustrate this point, the author first establishes a difference between the terms environment and landscape, a key step toward achieving an authentic sense of landscape. The act of awareness in drawing involves our imaginative perception of space, as reflected in our cultural identity and with our physical senses. For instance, the perception of space, how we frame a view, and how we define its boundaries are critical dimensions in design. But drawing is also just as much a response to our cultural identity. Thus, each drawing is a unique re-construction of one's perception of space, a critical aspect of how one proceeds with visual research. The author illustrates these points with personal sketches drawn in the last three years and concludes with comments about drawing and education. Although considered a more traditional means of expression, drawing involves a form of commitment that is closer to that of design (place, process, or research) than any other medium of representation. The author suggests ways to reintegrate drawing in studio and in travel, not only as a mode of representation, but rather as one of perception, interpretation, and reflection.


This book provides a perspective on where India could be in the year 2039, if it maintains the economic growth rates it has experienced recently. In addition to emphasizing the virtuous cycle between growth and poverty reduction, the book outlines the salient challenges that India must overcome to achieve this end. These challenges include: Addressing structural inequalities that lie at the core of poverty and exclusion of the most vulnerable groups. The provision of education and health services, and infrastructure services to rural and urban populations. Ensuring an improved environment—clean air, clean water and sanitation etc. Launching an energy revolution, with a view to reducing the economy's carbon intensity. Overcoming critical infrastructure bottlenecks. Improving the quality of education and access to secondary and tertiary education. Improving the business environment to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. Taking on the role of a responsible global citizen. The book proposes that India could be one of the top three global economic powers in 30 years. It presents a persuasive case that if India succeeds in sustaining its recent economic success over the longer term (as many East Asian economies have done in the past), India can realistically aspire to become an affluent society—with a GDP per capita of $22,000 (PPP terms and no poor people–within one generation. India 2039 assesses the many hurdles – political, social, policy and institutional – that India must overcome to realize its vision to become a modern, affluent, inclusive society and lift millions of Indians from relative poverty within 30 years. It provides an agenda of intergenerational issues that are central to India avoiding the middle income trap—where countries stagnate at middle income levels and are unable to achieve high income status– that so many other countries have fallen into. The recommendations emphasize a pro-active stance on the climate change agenda, because itis in India's self-interest. In addition, the authors provide recommendations on the measures required to enhance India's global competitiveness based on improving the business environment, strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship, and building the required physical, technological and information infrastructure. Importantly, the recommendations also covered cross-cutting issues such as: Improving governance at the national, state and municipal levels. Reform of the bureaucracy, civil service, and judiciary. Measures to address structural inequities, such as those based on ethnic and religious differences that affect the most vulnerable populations.


E-learning is transforming the learning landscape. This paper focuses on photomedia participatory inquiry in an e-feed learning culture. It harnesses the bene ts of artful inquiry and elaborates on interactive re ective opportunities when using participatory research methods. Student e-learning journal examples and the teacher re ective voice demonstrate how artful inquiry accommodates critical and re ective actions for new creative outcomes. The methods described and analyzed may have relevance to educators considering applying multi-semiotic learning approaches within e-learning journals as digital platforms become central to digital learning and communication of ideas.


The surgical removal of lower third molars endangers both the lingual and inferior alveolar nerves. Patients sustaining an injury to either of these nerves must be managed correctly, and this requires a diagnosis of the injury type and regular monitoring of the recovery of sensation. Surgical intervention for a damaged inferior alveolar nerve is not usually indicated but may be undertaken: if the nerve is completely divided and the severed ends are misaligned; if a bony fragment has compressed the mandibular canal; or if the patient suffers from persistent neuropathic pain. In contrast, after injury to the lingual nerve, if sensory testing demonstrates no neural recovery within 3-4 months, exploration of the injury site and microsurgical repair of the damaged nerve is indicated.


The major thrust of this research project is to elucidate detailed dynamics of simple elementary reactions that are theoretically important and to unravel the mechanism of complex chemical reactions or photochemical processes that play important roles in many macroscopic processes. Molecular beams of reactants are used to study individual reactive encounters between molecules or to monitor photodissociation events in a collision-free environment. Most of the information is derived from measurement of the product fragment energy, angular. and state distributions. Recent activities are centered on the mechanisms of elementary chemical reactions involving oxygen atoms with unsaturated hydrocarbons, the dynamics of endothermic substitution reactions, the dependence of the chemical reactivity of electronically excited atoms on the alignment of excited orbitals, the primary photochemical processes of polyatomic molecules, intramolecular energy transfer of chemically activated and locally excited molecules, the energetics of free radicals that are important to combustion processes, the infrared-absorption spectra of carbonium ions and hydrated hydronium ions, and bond-selective photodissociation through electric excitation.


High-resolution data collected from several programs have greatly increased the spatiotemporal resolution of pCO2(sw) data in the Bering Sea, and provided the first autumn and winter observations. Using data from 2008 to 2012, monthly climatologies of sea-air CO2 fluxes for the Bering Sea shelf area from April to December were calculated, and contributions of physical and biological processes to observed monthly sea-air pCO2 gradients (?pCO2) were investigated. Net efflux of CO2 was observed during November, December, and April, despite the impact of sea surface cooling on ?pCO2. Although the Bering Sea was believed to be a moderate to strong atmospheric CO2 sink, we found that autumn and winter CO2 effluxes balanced 65% of spring and summer CO2 uptake. Ice cover reduced sea-air CO2 fluxes in December, April, and May. Our estimate for ice-cover corrected fluxes suggests the mechanical inhibition of CO2 flux by sea-ice cover has only a small impact on the annual scale (<2%). An important data gap still exists for January to March, the period of peak ice cover and the highest expected retardation of the fluxes. By interpolating between December and April using assumptions of the described autumn and winter conditions, we estimate the Bering Sea shelf area is an annual CO2 sink of ?6.8 Tg C yr?1. With changing climate, we expect warming sea surface temperatures, reduced ice cover, and greater wind speeds with enhanced gas exchange to decrease the size of this CO2 sink by augmenting conditions favorable for greater wintertime outgassing.


Abstract Dual-energy measurements are presented utilizing a novel slot-scan digital radiographic imaging detector, operating on gaseous solid state ionization principles. The novel multimedia detector has two basic functional components: a noble gas-filled detector volume operating on gas microstrip principles, and a solid state detector volume. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential use of this multimedia detector for enhanced dual-energy imaging. The experimental results indicate that the multimedia detector exhibits a large subtracted signal-to-noise ratio. Although the intrinsic merit of this device is being explored for medical imaging, potential applications of the multimedia detector technology in other industrial areas, such as aerospace imaging, aviation security, and surveillance, are also very promising. Abstract— Dual-energy measurements are presented utilizing a novel slot-scan digital radiographic imaging detector, operating on gaseous solid state ionization principles. The novel multimedia de- tector has two basic functional components: a noble gas-filled detector volume operating on gas microstrip principles, and a solid state detector volume. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential use of this multimedia detector for enhanced dual-en- ergy imaging. The experimental results indicate that the multimedia detector exhibits a large subtracted signal-to-noise ratio. Although the intrinsic merit of this device is being explored for medical imaging, potential applications of the multimedia detector technology in other industrial areas, such as aerospace imaging, aviation security, and surveillance, are also very promising.


We estimate the possible effects on poverty and income distribution of the crisis unleashed by Covid-19 on a group of Latin America and Caribbean countries, representing 80% of the total population in the region: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. We use household survey data from pre-crisis national household surveys and, based on prospective scenarios of vulnerability to the shock, we compute the impact that income losses may have on a country's poverty levels and inequality. Our vulnerability scenarios are based on the national policies used to prevent the rapid expansion of the Coronavirus. Additionally, for a sub-sample of 6 countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru) we use Input-Output linkages to estimate direct and indirect shocks to consider how the differences of the productive structures, economic linkages, and labor market characteristics of each country could result in different effects on poverty and inequality. We find a significant increase on poverty headcount ranging from 25% to 33% percent in our different estimations. The results show heterogeneity on the exposure to the shocks. Two main factors explain differences across countries: their level of specialization in activities labeled as essential (e.g., agriculture, public sector, food retail) and their level of employment protection and stability (i.e., type of contract and employment in larger firms). We find a higher vulnerability to the propagation of the shocks in countries with a bigger agricultural sector, and less vulnerability in countries with bigger firms, and lower informality.


In this paper, we study an opportunistic power scheduling problem in relay-based OFDMA cellular networks. In most previous works on relay-based cellular networks, scheduling at relay stations (RSs) is not allowed. Hence, each RS should immediately transmit all the received data from the base station (BS) in the first phase in a time-slot to mobile stations (MSs) in the second phase in the same time-slot. In this strategy, the effective data rate of the two-hop transmission (BS-RS and RS-MS) is limited to the rate of the link with worse channel state among two links. Hence, in those systems, even though opportunistic scheduling is allowed in the BS, time-varying channel state of each link cannot be fully exploited, which may result in wastes of radio resources. However, if opportunistic scheduling is allowed not only at the BS but also at each RS, the BS and each RS can fully exploit time-varying channel state of each link, so that more efficient radio resource allocation is possible. We formulate a stochastic optimization problem that aims at maximizing the average sum-rate of relay-based networks where the time-varying wireless channel is modeled as a stochastic process. By solving the problem, we develop an optimal power scheduling algorithm which can be implemented in a distributed manner at the BS and each RS. Simulation results show that by allowing opportunistic scheduling at both the BS and RSs, we can improve system performance more significantly.


This article focuses on the clinical training aspects of a distance counselor education program and highlights what clinical courses look like in an online synchronized classroom. Using three courses as examples, including group counseling, child and adolescent counseling, and practicum and internship, the authors share unique challenges they have encountered and solutions they have adopted when training distance students on counseling skills. The authors further discuss pedagogy, teaching strategies, and assessments that have been utilized to engage diverse distance learners in synchronized class meetings in order to maintain equivalent quality and learning outcomes with traditional clinical training methods. Finally, the authors provide recommendations for future research to increase and solidify the reality of distance clinical training in counselor education programs.


This paper presents an analysis and design of a repetitive control (RC) system for discrete time MIMO plants. The structure of the proposed RC system does not require the a prior decoupling of the MIMO plant. With the use of non-causal terms, which are allowed in the design of RC systems, a matrix function called the phase cancellation inverse (PCI) is defined. The PCI operates on the open-loop matrix transfer function by cancelling the the phase lag in the diagonal elements and eliminating the off-diagonal elements. It is shown that the PCI always satisfies the stability condition for the MIMO repetitive controller. Using a factorization method, the design technique is expanded to include non-squared plants with more inputs than outputs. The repetitive controller is applied experimentally to a non-minimum phase MIMO system. The results show that the new design yields superior performance when compared to a single-input single-output repetitive controller design.


SYSTEMIC infection by Torula histolytica was first clearly recognized by Stoddard and Cutler in 1916.1In their exhaustive monograph they reported 2 cases in man and established the criteria for differentiation of Torula histolytica (a term which they introduced) from Blastomycosis hominis and Coccidioides immitis, with which it previously had been confused. The chief means of distinguishing these organisms is by their manner of growth on artificial media; Torula organisms reproduce by budding only; Blastomyces organisms form arthrospores, and Coccidioides organisms form endospores. In clinical practice Torula organisms have been overlooked because of the failure to culture them on suitable media or for sufficiently long periods of time. They have also been mistaken for white blood cells in examination of the spinal fluid. The problem of their identification has been reviewed recently by Holt.2 In 1937, Levin3reviewed the literature up to that time, summarizing the clinical


The structure of the second extracellular loop region (EL2) of the kappa-opioid receptor has been explored in an effort to understand the structural basis for dynorphin A binding and selectivity. Application of secondary structure prediction methods and homology modeling resulted in a turn-helix motif for the N-terminal region of kappa-EL2. A similar motif was not predicted for EL2 of either delta or mu opioid receptors. The EL2 helix was further shown to be amphiphilic and complementary to the helical component of dynorphin A. Using a model of the kappa-receptor (Metzger et al. Neurochem. Res. 1996, 21, 1287-1294), including the newly predicted EL2 turn-helix domain, a binding mode is proposed based on helix--helix interactions between hydrophobic residues of EL2 and the helical component of dynorphin A-(1-10). Molecular simulations of the receptor--ligand complex yielded structures in which the tyramine moiety or opioid "message" of dynorphin is bound within a conserved aromatic pocket in the transmembrane domain while the helical portion contacted residues in EL2 and in the extracellular end of transmembrane helices 6 and 7. The model is in general agreement with site-directed mutagenesis data and chimera studies that have identified binding domains in both the EL2 and transmembrane regions of dynorphin A. The results confirm the importance of the opioid "message" displayed by many opioid ligands but also suggest a potential mechanism of receptor activation that may be mediated by EL2 through interactions with the "address" component of dynorphin A.


Motion tracking has become an important technology in various applications like surveillance, non-cooperative biometrics, virtual reality, etc. We propose a novel approach for motion tracking using only thermal images. We exploited two types of data association (spatial and temporal data association) in the proposed approach in order to reduce the false decisions. In addition to these, Wigner distribution was applied to the difference image for reducing the fluctuation in threshold image in terms of false object detections. The results obtained with this algorithm when applied to six image sequences of about 2500 images each, show its robustness for person tracking in thermal images.


Activating mutations of the ras protooncogene is the most frequent and an early genetic alteration associated with pancreatic cancer. To examine the link between mutant ras oncogenes and exocrine pancreatic cancer, and to develop mouse models of PanINs and also of lesions that progress to malignancy, we generated transgenic mice expressing either Kras or Hras in pancreas. The tetracycline transactivator system expression was targeted to the pancreatic acinar cells via the elastase promoter element. The transactivation target ras genes were placed under the control of the tetracycline-response element. Most double transgenic founder mice displayed perinatal pancreatic acinar cell hyperplasia and dysplasia. However, only adult mice expressing Hras displayed preinvasive pancreatic neoplastic lesions with ductal morphology. Therefore, these Kras and Hras models each represent useful models in which either the lesion histotype and agressiveness (Hras) or the initiating genetic alteration overlap with the human disease (Kras). More recently, we have developed and are characterizing the contributions of expressing enhancer of zeste 2 homolog (EZH2), a histone methyl transferase and key regulator of cell differentiation and tissue regeneration, in modifying aggressiveness of mutated ras genes in vivo. Our findings suggest that ras mutations are associated with development of early stage duct-like lesions in pancreas, which vary in severity depending on the mutated ras gene expressed and the stage of development and growth of pancreas tissue. Citation Format: Jayne Ellis, Eric P. Sandgren, Paul J. Grippo, Marxa L. Figueiredo. Contributions of Ras and EZH2 in acinar to ductal metaplasia and ductal carcinoma in transgenic mouse pancreas. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment; May 18-21, 2014; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(13 Suppl):Abstract nr B16.


Paleocene orthophragminids from the American bioprovince were studied from the Nonsuch Formation in Jamaica and the Salt Mountain Limestone in Alabama, the latter being the type locality of Discocyclina blanpiedi (Vaughan) and Discocyclina cookei (Vaughan). Species traditionally assigned to Athecocyclina Vaughan, Neodiscocyclina Caudri and Hexagonocyclina Caudri are redescribed and a new systematic classification of American orthophragminids is proposed based on the newly discovered microspheric forms of Paleocene species of Hexagonocyclina and Neodiscocyclina and Eocene Stenocyclina Caudri. Hexagonocyclina, questionably placed in Orbitoclypeidae Brönnimann in previous works, possesses an orbitoclypeid-type microspheric juvenarium justifying its placement in this family, whereas Stenocyclina and Pseudophragmina are transferred to Discocyclinidae Galloway after identifying the discocyclinid-type microspheric juvenarium. The genus Proporocyclina Vaughan & Cole is considered invalid and is assigned to Pseudophragmina. The genus Neodiscocyclina Caudri, possessing an orbitoclypeid-type juvenarium, is interpreted as a junior synonym of Orbitoclypeus Silvestri, a genus widely occurring in the Tethys. Athecocyclina has a typical discocyclinid-type microspheric juvenarium and is characterized by the development of immature radial subdivisions in the annular chambers, which never form complete septula. An evolutionary lineage for Orbitoclypeus weaveri consisting of O. weaveri blanpiedi and O. weaveri weaver is established for the first time herein. The Hexagonocyclina cristensis lineage, consisting of H. cristensis cristensis and H. cristensis meandrica, and the Athecocyclina stephensoni lineage, consisting of A. stephensoni macglameriae and A. stephensoni stephensoni, are provisionally suggested based on the morphometry and early chamber arrangement of megalospheric forms. The superposition of the two subspecies in the Orbitoclypeus weaveri lineage is shown from the Salt Mountain Limestone. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:493F043E-22D3-49CD-A427-D5159F249BD2


Objective GH insensitivity (GHI) is caused in the majority of cases by impaired function of the GH receptor (GHR). All but one known GHR mutation are in the coding sequence or the exon/intron boundaries. We identified and characterised the first intronic defect occurring in the polypyrimidine tract of the GHR in a patient with severe GHI. Design We investigated the effect of the novel defect on mRNA splicing using an in vitro splicing assay and a cell transfection system. Methods GHR was analysed by direct sequencing. To assess the effect of the novel defect, two heterologous minigenes (wild-type and mutant L1-GHR8-L2) were generated by inserting GHR exon 8 and its flanking wild-type or mutant intronic sequences into a well-characterised splicing reporter (Adml-par L1–L2). 32P-labelled pre-mRNA was generated from the two constructs and incubated in HeLa nuclear extracts or HEK293 cells. Results Sequencing of the GHR revealed a novel homozygous defect in the polypyrimidine tract of intron 7 (IVS7-6T>A). This base change does not involve the highly conserved splice site sequences, and is not predicted in silico to affect GHR mRNA splicing. Nevertheless, skipping of exon 8 from the mutant L1-GHR8-L2 mRNA was clearly demonstrated in the in vitro splicing assay and in transfected HEK293 cells. Conclusion Disruption of the GHR polypyrimidine tract causes aberrant mRNA splicing leading to a mutant GHR protein. This is predicted to lack its transmembrane and intracellular domains and, thus, be incapable of transducing a GH signal.


Chronic hypoxia is the most common cause of secondary pulmonary hypertension, for which the mechanisms are still unclear. Recent studies implicated an important role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in hypoxia-mediated responses in various cellular processes, including cell apoptosis and proliferation. Therefore, we hypothesized that these regulatory molecules might be implicated in the etiology of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. Here we show that miRNA-328, a posttranscriptional regulator, was drastically downregulated in the pulmonary artery (PA) after a hypoxic assault. PA rings, Western blot, quantitative real-time PCR, in situ hybridization, and luciferase assay were used to investigate the role of miRNA-328 in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. We found that hypoxia produced a significant inhibition of miRNA-328 expression, which was involved in PA vasoconstriction and remodeling. Overexpressing miRNA-328 in the transgenic mice remarkably decreased the right ventricular systolic pressure and PA wall thickness under both normoxia and hypoxia. MiRNA-328 inhibited L-type calcium channel-&agr;1C expression through a miRNA-328 binding site within the 3′ untranslational region of L-type calcium channel-&agr;1C. The L-type calcium channel-&agr;1C inhibition attenuated the PA response to KCl. Furthermore, miRNA-328 suppressed the insulin growth factor 1 receptor, ultimately leading to apoptosis of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells. The posttranscriptional repression of L-type calcium channel-&agr;1C and insulin growth factor 1 receptor was further confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. These results showed that miRNA-328, an important protecting factor, plays a significant role in PA constriction and remodeling by regulating multiple gene targets in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension.


Summary Magnesium deficiency is associated with a high frequency of cardiac arrhythmia, hypertension and sudden ischemic death. We investigated the in vivo effects of intravenous magnesium administration in a rat model of chemically induced (FeCl3) carotid thrombosis. The infusion of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) before the topical application of FeCl3 prevented thrombus formation at concentrations of 0.3 M and 0.6 M, and delayed it even at 0.15 M. Similar results were obtained with MgCl2. The infusion of MgSO4 0.6 M seven minutes after FeCl3 application delayed but did not prevent thrombus formation. MgSO4 slightly reduced platelet aggregation ex vivo without affecting plasma clotting tests, but in vivo blood clotting time was markedly prolonged (tail transection method), thus indicating profoundly impaired coagulation. These data provide a rationale for the use of magnesium as an anti-thrombotic agent, but its pharmacological effect critically depends on the timing of administration.


Reaction pathways and kinetics governing the Ru-catalyzed hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) in the aqueous phase to form γ-valerolactone (GVL) were considered in a packed bed reactor. GVL can be produced by two distinct hydrogenation pathways; however, over Ru/C at temperatures below 423 K, it forms exclusively via intramolecular esterification of 4-hydroxypentanoic acid (HPA). Over Ru/C, reasonable hydrogenation rates of LA to HPA were observed at near-ambient temperatures (e.g., 0.08 s–1 at 323 K), but GVL selectivities are poor (<5%) under these conditions. Apparent barriers for LA hydrogenation and HPA esterification are 48 and 70 kJ mol–1, respectively, and GVL selectivity improves at higher temperatures alongside increasing mass transfer limitations in 45–90 μm catalyst particles. Reactivity and selectivity trends in LA hydrogenation below 343 K are well-described by an empirical kinetic model capturing sequential hydrogenation and esterification. Coupling stacked beds of Ru/C and Amberlyst-15 de...


To explore high priority landing sites and to prepare for eventual human exploration, future Mars missions will involve rovers capable of traversing tens of kilometers. However, the current process by which scientists interact with a rover does not scale to such distances. Specifically, numerous command cycles are required to complete even simple tasks, such as, pointing the spectrometer at a variety of nearby rocks. In addition, the time required by scientists to interpret image data before new commands can be given and the limited amount of data that can be downlinked during a given command cycle constrain rover mobility and achievement of science goals. Experience with rover tests on Earth supports these concerns. As a result, traverses to science sites as identified in orbital images would require numerous science command cycles over a period of many weeks, months or even years, perhaps exceeding rover design life and other constraints. Autonomous onboard science analysis can address these problems in two ways. First, it will allow the rover to transmit only "interesting" images, defined as those likely to have higher science content. Second, the rover will be able to anticipate future commands. For example, a rover might autonomously acquire and return spectra of "interesting" rocks along with a high resolution image of those rocks in addition to returning the context images in which they were detected. Such approaches, coupled with appropriate navigational software, help to address both the data volume and command cycle bottlenecks that limit both rover mobility and science yield. We are developing fast, autonomous algorithms to enable such intelligent on-board decision making by spacecraft. Autonomous algorithms developed to date have the ability to identify rocks and layers in a scene, locate the horizon, and compress multi-spectral image data. Output from these algorithms could be used to autonomously obtain rock spectra, determine which images should be transmitted to the ground, or to aid in image compression. We will discuss these and other algorithms and demonstrate their performance during a recent rover field test.


The adsorption of H 2 O on Fe(100), Fe(110) and Fe(111) crystal surfaces were studied by first principles. The calculation results indicate that H 2 O monomers bind preferentially at top sites and lie nearly flat on the three crystal surfaces. The results of adsorption energy and geometry structure show that the effect of H 2 O adsorbed on three iron crystal surfaces is different. The strongest interaction occurred between H 2 O and Fe(111) crystal surface and the weakest interaction is between H 2 O and Fe(110) crystal surface. Such relationship is related to the different surface atoms density. The similar conclusion can be drawn from the calculation results of electronic structure and Mulliken analysis. The Mulliken analysis also indicates that when H 2 O is adsorbed on the iron surface, charge exchange between O atom and Fe atom make the iron surface negatively charged and reduce the surface potential, which promote the electrochemical corrosion of iron surfaces.


Abstract Aqueous two-phase partitioning system (ATPS) was used to extract and purify catalase from Bacillus pumilus. The system parameters for effective purification of catalase were optimized. The best catalase recovery (123%) with a 4.6-fold purification was obtained in the bottom phase of ATPS including the mixture of 15% (w/w) PEG4000, 10% (w/w) Na2SO4 and 3% (w/w) NaCl at pH 5.0. The purified enzyme was characterized regarding its activity and stability. The highest enzyme activity was observed at pH 7.0 and 37 °C on hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme was quite stable at temperatures between 30 and 55 °C and a pH range of 7.0–9.0. The Km and Vmax values were determined from Lineweaver–Burk plot as 11 mM and 1667 µmole ml−1 min−1, respectively. Overall, it can be said that ATPS is a rapid, reasonable, straightforward and cost-effective process for catalase purification in comparison to the chromatographic methods.


This paper attempts to analyze the review on mechanism of flood disaster management in Asia. Flood is amongst the most common of natural disasters and its impact is one of the most significant disasters in the world. In this paper, we have discussed the flood disaster management some selected countries in Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Japan and China. For these countries, we tried to explore the flood disaster risk, pre- and post-disaster program and participants, emergency response and recovery, flood mitigation and management, relief and preparedness machinery, flood forecasting and warning system, policy, planning as well as strategic etc. This paper can make for the above countries disaster management system better respond and handle to disasters risk, and reduce the social and economic losses of disasters caused. It also required to improve data availability and evaluation, and possibly to combine with other types of information in view of increasing usefulness for policy making


The decoupling of fossil-fueled electricity production from atmospheric CO2 emissions via CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) is increasingly regarded as an important means of mitigating climate change at a reasonable cost. Engineering analyses of CO2 mitigation typically compare the cost of electricity for a base generation technology to that for a similar plant with CO2 capture and then compute the carbon emissions mitigated per unit of cost. It can be hard to interpret mitigation cost estimates from this plant-level approach when a consistent base technology cannot be identified. In addition, neither engineering analyses nor general equilibrium models can capture the economics of plant dispatch. A realistic assessment of the costs of carbon sequestration as an emissions abatement strategy in the electric sector therefore requires a systems-level analysis. We discuss various frameworks for computing mitigation costs and introduce a simplified model of electric sector planning. Results from a "bottom-up" engineering-economic analysis for a representative U.S. North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region illustrate how the penetration of CCS technologies and the dispatch of generating units vary with the price of carbon emissions and thereby determine the relationship between mitigation cost and emissions reduction.


We synthesize online scheduling algorithms to optimally assign a set of arriving heterogeneous tasks to heterogeneous speed-scalable processors under the single threaded computing architecture. By using dynamic speed-scaling, where each processor's speed is able to dynamically change within hardware and software processing constraints, the goal of our algorithms is to minimize the total financial cost (in dollars) of response time and energy consumption (TCRTEC) of the tasks. In our work, the processors are heterogeneous in that they may differ in their hardware specifications with respect to maximum processing rate, power function parameters and energy sources. Tasks are heterogeneous in terms of computation volume, memory and minimum processing requirements. We also consider that the unit price of response time for each task is heterogeneous because the user may be willing to pay higher/lower unit prices for certain tasks, thereby increasing/decreasing their optimum processing rates. We model the overhead loading time incurred when a task is loaded by a given processor prior to its execution and assume it to be heterogeneous as well.
Under the single threaded, single buffered computing architecture, we synthesize the SBDPP algorithm and its two other versions. Its first two versions allow the user to specify the unit price of energy and response time for executing each arriving task. The algorithm's second version extends the functionality of the first by allowing the user or the OS of the computing device to further modify a task's unit price of time or energy in order to achieve a linearly controlled operation point that lies somewhere in the economy-performance mode continuum of a task's execution. The algorithm's third version operates exclusively on the latter. We briefly extend the algorithm and its versions to consider migration, where an unfinished task is paused and resumed on another processor. The SBDPP algorithm is qualitatively compared against its two other versions. The SBDPP dispatcher is analytically shown to perform better than the well known Round Robin dispatcher in terms of the TCRTEC performance metric. Through simulations we deduce a relationship between the arrival rate of tasks, number of processors and response time of tasks.
Under the Single threaded, multi-buffered computing architecture we have four contributions that constitute the SMBSPP algorithm. First, we propose a novel task dispatching strategy for assigning the tasks to the processors. Second, we propose a novel preemptive service discipline called Smallest remaining Computation Volume Per unit Price of response Time (SCVPPT) to schedule the tasks on the assigned processor. Third, we propose a dynamic speed-scaling function that explicitly determines the optimum processing rate of each task. Most of the simulations consider both stochastic and deterministic traffic conditions. Our simulation results show that SCVPPT outperforms the two known service disciplines, Shortest Remaining Processing Time (SRPT) and the First Come First Serve (FCFS), in terms of minimizing the TCRTEC performance metric. The results also show that the algorithm's dispatcher drastically outperforms the well known Round Robin dispatcher with cost savings exceeding 100% even when the processors are mildly heterogeneous. Finally, analytical and simulation results show that our speed scaling function performs better than a comparable speed scaling function in current literature.
Under a fixed budget of energy, we synthesize the SMBAD algorithm which uses the micro-economic laws of Supply and Demand (LSD) to heuristically adjust the unit price of energy in order to extend battery life and execute more than 50% of tasks on a single processor (under the single threaded, multi buffered computing architecture). By extending all our multiprocessor algorithms to factor independent (battery) energy sources that is associated with each processor, we analytically show that load balancing effects are induced on hetergeneous parallel processors. This happens when the unit price of energy is adjusted by the battery level of each processor in accordance with LSD. Furthermore, we show that a variation of this load balancing effect also occurs when the heterogeneous processors use a single battery as long as they operate at unconstrained processing rates.


The purpose of this study was to investigate ROCK2 activation in squamous cell carcinogenesis and assess its co-operation with rasHa and fos oncogene activation together with loss of PTEN mediated AKT regulation. The analysis of ROCK deregulation with these genes in the MAP Kinase and PI3K pathways, two of the most commonly deregulated signalling systems, employed a well-characterised, transgenic mouse skin model of multi-stage carcinogenesis. A major goal was to study co-operation between these genes in the conversion of benign tumours to malignancy and investigate subsequent progression to aggressive carcinomas, given these are the most significant clinical stages of carcinogenesis from a patient's viewpoint; and also investigated effects of ROCK2 deregulation on the processes of normal epidermal differentiation.

ROCK2 is an effector protein of RhoA, which is a member of the ras superfamily and ROCK2 activation has been associated with tumour progression via an increase in tissue stiffness mediated by changes in actomyosin cytoskeleton leading to increased cellular motility. Thus, ROCK2 expression is commonly associated with the later events in cancer. Furthermore, there are many studies investigating ROCK2 in cancer given that it may be a useful therapeutic target in being downstream of oncogenic ras signalling. Yet, relatively few studies have explored the possibilities of a definite link that confirms the co-operation status of ROCK2 activation with ras/MAPK/fos and /or PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathways in SCC aetiology. Thus, questions exist as to exactly when does ROCK2 activation become causal; and what are the collaborating genes involved in the mechanism that drive the early or late stage events in carcinogenesis.

To begin to answer these questions, inducible ROCK2 activation has been introduced into a well-characterised transgenic mouse skin carcinogenesis model that expressed a combination of ras and fos activation, driven by a modified human keratin 1 vector (HK1). Thus, exclusive epidermal expression of activated rasHa and fos oncogenes, in proliferative basal layers, gave hyperplasia and papillomatogenesis; but with no evidence of spontaneous malignant conversion. This stability of phenotype is thus ideal to assess roles for multiple transgene co-operations in the development of benign tumours and their conversion to malignancy. Hence, ROCK transgenic mice that expressed a conditionally active, 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4-HT)-regulated of human ROCK2 transgene were crossed with mice expressing activated rasHa and /or fos exclusively in epidermal transit amplifying keratinocytes (HK1.ras, HK1.fos). Inducible PTEN tumour suppressor gene mutation via exon 5 ablation (K14.Cre/D5PTENflx) and thus loss of AKT regulation was also incorporated into this model. This was achieved via deletion of exon 5 employing the RU486-mediated cre/loxP system, driven by keratin K14 promoter expression in basal layer keratinocytes. Therefore, to facilitate this investigation, a new and unpublished inducible ROCK2 system was employed in order to target the identical keratinocytes as PTEN loss. This new transgenic line of lsl.ROCKer transgenic mice employed the same 4-HT inducible ROCKer transgene but now driven by a generic CAG promoter following cre mediated ablation of the stop cassette once treated with RU486.

In bi-genic K14.ROCKer/HK1.ras1205 mice, synergism between ROCK2 activation and (wound-promotion) sensitive HK1.ras1205 line showed direct co-operation and achieved malignant conversion of benign papillomas to well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (wdSCCs) histotypes (12 weeks of 4-HT treatment). This placed ROCK2 activity as the causal event driving malignant conversion, but in the absence of a wound promotion stimulus (loss of ear tag), papillomas did not convert. The correct papilloma context was required for ROCK to become causal proved to be the case on employing the wound insensitive HK1.ras1276 line. Here, K14.ROCKer/HK1.ras1276 mice failed to exhibit any papillomas and required the constitutive promotion stimulus from additional fos activation. Interestingly, following cessation of 4-HT, two intriguing observations were recorded. Firstly, that once bi-genic ROCK/ras1205 achieved malignancy, exogenous ROCKer expression appeared to show no involvement once squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) progressed to poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas (pdSCCs), given the elevated expression of endogenous ROCK upon malignant progression. Secondly, the rapid growth of papilloma appeared upon cessation of 4-HT with highly intense p21 expression indicated the requirement of exogenous ROCK2 for malignant conversion and the possibility of a papilloma inhibition by 4-HT anti-cancer activity.

Another major novel finding demonstrated ROCK2 activation could act as an initiator in co-operation with fos activation. Direct co-operation between ROCK2 and fos activation produced benign squamous papillomas yet, whereas ROCK2 activation alone induced hyperplasia as did fos activation alone at this time point, given papilloma formation in HK1.fos mice occur over 4-5 months. However, unlike deregulation of MAP Kinase signalling in bi-genic ROCK/ras1205 mice, in bi-genic ROCK/fos mice, no malignant conversion was observed due to high levels of compensatory p53/p21 expression. Thus, this bi-genic K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/HK1.fos model suggests the requirement of additional mutation event for malignant conversion. An unexpected result appeared in bi-genic ROCK/Δ5PTENflx co-operation experiments where K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/Δ5PTENflx cohorts exhibited epidermal hyperplasia with folded papillomatous appearance to the epidermis, but without papillomatogenesis even after seven month of period. This either indicates a weak co-operation between ROCK2 and Δ5PTENflx which may be due to the unexpected low levels of p-AKT from a compensatory increased p21 expression; and additional events needed to fill in the oncogenic gap in this bi-genic ROCK/Δ5PTENflx model, or may possibly highlight redundancy in the oncogenic hits provided by ROCK and PTEN. This latter suggest similar links exist between their normal roles in the epidermis which may be accountable for the alterations observed in keratinocyte differentiation. In both in vitro and in vivo experiments, K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/Δ5PTENflx cohorts showed alterations in epidermal differentiation via anomalous K1 and low levels of K6 expression.

Interestingly, activated ROCK2 appeared to induce or accelerate differentiation activity in K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer keratinocytes via increased K1 (early differentiation marker) and reduced K6 (proliferation marker) expression profiles. These results were consistent with in vivo data where K6 was expressed in low levels in K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer hyperplasia histotypes. In contrast, in K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/Δ5PTENflx keratinocytes, inactivation of PTEN-mediated AKT activity may be accountable for restored keratin K6 and anomalous keratin K1 expression; as keratin K1 was expressed in a similar fashion of normal keratinocytes in K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/fos keratinocytes.

Interestingly, all tri-genic cohorts: K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/ras1276/fos, K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/fos/Δ5PTENflx and K14.cre/lsl.ROCKer/ras1276/Δ5PTENflx synergisms exhibited malignant conversion and /or malignant progression in all animals highlighting a novel role of ROCK2 activation. Further, the stage-specific consequences in each model in this study were shown to be influenced by p53/p21 status, where typically p53 expression disappeared in late stage papillomas yet, p21 expression persisted. This demonstrated the importance of compensatory p53/p21 expression in modulating tumour pathogenesis in all these models. Given that this study incorporated PTEN mutation, the influence of AKT activity was investigated in the SCC progression of tri-genic ROCK/ras1276/PTENflx and ROCK/fos/PTENflx cohorts; revealing a crucial antagonism between p21 and AKT. However, this study revealed that the malignancy in tri-genic ROCK/ras1276/fos cohorts was not influenced by p-AKT expression, and as this tri-genic model achieved wdSCCs only. This suggests that as the roles of ROCK in altering cytoskeletal organisation leading to increase in tissue stiffness are overlaid onto both MAP Kinase and AKT deregulation, the outcome is a very aggressive pdSCC. Thus, suggesting ROCK signalling to be a potential therapeutic target for ras/MAPK/fos pathway in carcinogenesis. Overall, this study showed the involvement of ROCK2 activation in the initiation stage for papillomatogenesis with fos oncogene, and demonstrated ROCK2 as a converter again and also in malignant progression with ras/fos/Δ5PTENflx mutations. This indicates the link of ROCK2 signalling with both MAPK and PI3K pathways, thus targeting ROCK2 would aid in development of cancer therapy.


ABSTRACT Treatment with music has shown effectiveness in the treatment of general behavioural and cognitive symptoms of patients with various types of dementia. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of treatment with music on the memory of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: A systematic search was performed on PubMed (Medline), Cochrane Library, PsycINFO and Lilacs databases up to June 2017 and included all randomized controlled trials that assessed memory using musical interventions in patients with AD. Results: Forty-two studies were identified, and 24 studies were selected. After applying the exclusion criteria, four studies involving 179 patients were included. These studies showed the benefits of using music to treat memory deficit in patients with AD. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review focusing on randomized trials found in the literature that analysed the role of musical interventions specifically in the memory of patients with AD. Despite the positive outcome of this review, the available evidence remains inconsistent due to the small number of randomized controlled trials.


Quasi atomic layer deposition method has been successfully used to coat detonation nanodiamonds with ultrathin silicon film from decomposition of gaseous monosilane. Transmission electron microscopy observation indicates a continuous silicon coating could be obtained on every individual particle of nanodiamonds. The changes in the microstructural property of silicon thin films deposited at the temperatures of 400, 450, 500, 550, and 600 °C have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Energy dispersive spectroscopy techniques. The results show the phase transition of as-deposited silicon from a crystalline to an amorphous then to a crystalline phase with the temperature increase.


This paper studies the impact of credit rating agency (CRA) announcements on the value of the Euro and the yields of French, Italian, German and Spanish long-term sovereign bonds during the culmination of the Eurozone debt crisis in 2011-2012. The employed GARCH models show that CRA downgrade announcements negatively affected the value of the Euro currency and also increased its volatility. Downgrading increased the yields of French, Italian and Spanish bonds but lowered the German bond's yields, although Germany's rating status was never touched by CRA. There is no evidence for Granger causality from bond yields to rating announcements. We infer from these findings that CRA announcements significantly influenced crisis-time capital allocation in the Eurozone. Their downgradings caused investors to rebalance their portfolios across member countries, out of ailing states' debt into more stable borrowers' securities.


The voltage regulation in Fortum Distributions medium voltage network in Stockholm does not work satisfactory. This results in too high distribution voltages with many customer complaints as a consequence. The reason is the model responsible for compensating for voltage drops in the distribution network. Despite several adjustments Fortum has not been able to find the source of the high voltages and has therefore appointed an investigation in the form of a thesis work.The aim of this investigation is to locate the error and to produce a proposal regarding the solution of this error using the existing system, common industrial knowledge, state of the art research and the option to use voltage readings from the different substations.The conclusion of this master thesis is that the largest contribution to the high voltage levels is made by the large compensation for distribution loses. Furthermore an additional error in the model has been found. Therefore this master thesis recommends Fortum to abandon the existing system and instead utilize the option to use voltage readings from the different substation.


The family business is the simplest, easiest and oldest business form in India. A family business may be company, partnership firm or any other form of business owned, controlled and operated by members of family. In India, by virtue of law, businesses or properties may be held in the name of Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). HUF is assessed for income tax purpose as a separate person under Section 2(31) (ii) of the Income Tax Act 1961. Many companies that are now widely held company were once upon a time founded as family business either as proprietary concern, HUF or partnership. HUF is not required to be registered with any authority and is the result of birth and marriage of co- parcner in a family. HUF may be a partner in a partnership firm or member/shareholder in a company. Family businesses are the major form of enterprise in India and across the world, viz. Corporation houses like Suzlon, Tata, Birla, Bajaj, Reliance, Ford Motor, Tetra Pak, Wal- Mart, DuPont, Cadbury, Acer Computers were started as family business. Several studies indicate that family business carry the weight of economic wealth creation in all economies. As per prudent estimates, the proportions of all worldwide business enterprises that are owned or managed by families are in range of 65 to 80% (Gersick, Davis, Hampton, & Lansberg). It is estimated that 40% of the Fortune 500 are family owned or controlled (Gersick et al, 1997). Large family businesses play a major role in OECD economies. Family-run businesses account for more than 85% of all firms in OECD countries (2006). Moreover, family businesses dominate many developing economies as well as figure prominently in certain developed economies. Sir Cadbury (2000) has also concluded that family businesses are one of the foundations of the world's business community. This paper discusses issues of corporate governance in family controlled business houses.


This article discusses possible policies to realize a low-carbon society at the local level, focusing on population, housing and transport in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Within this context, in order to substantially reduce local demand for automobile based transport in the long term, it may be important both to influence commuting patterns and to increase the population density of the city. Compared with the price elasticity of gasoline consumption in overall Japan, Shiga's elasticity is high. Thus, revising the automobile fuel tax system in some areas can drastically reduce fuel consumption and alter travel patterns. Whilst this may limit travel demand through commuting, we also recognize that residents of densely populated areas are often dissatisfied with the limited living space and with the lack of contact with nature. Policies to attract and promote the construction of apartment houses with adequate living space and that have increased amenity access to the natural environment are therefore important. This is the case both from the perspective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and from the perspective of securing the vitality of the city. Based on our estimation and analysis, Shiga prefectural government has been setting up several policy measures to promote the formation of a compact city, to provide for public transportation and to promote bicycle use. However, the momentum fuelling urban sprawl and an automobile-dependent lifestyle are difficult to change in reality. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


We look at the development and transformation of the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s financial system since the start of economic and financial reforms in 1978. We describe how despite the rapid development of capital markets since the 1990s, the PRC's financial system continues to be dominated by bank lending. Reforms have not eliminated the credit expansion impetus of large commercial banks, while the effectiveness of capital-based constraints and administrative measures is far below potential. Large state-owned banks have become important players in bond and equity markets, as well as important sources of liquidity provision for smaller commercial banks and a range of non-bank financial institutions through a combination of inter-bank funding activities, wealth management products, and shadow banking/grey capital market activities. The importance of non-bank financial institutions has also continued to grow. Off-shore markets have increased the overseas holdings of financial assets, but their potential remains limited by capital controls and the fragility of the domestic financial system. An unintended consequence of this is that although the PRC's state run financial system has become more complex and more interconnected domestically, foreign participation remains low.


The developmental expressions of cytochrome b5 (b5), 17 alpha-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase cytochrome P450 (P450c17), and 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase were examined in primate fetal adrenals by immunocytochemistry from 50-160 d gestation. The expression of b5 was evident at 50 d in the developing fetal zone (FZ), but decreased markedly through midgestation, then increased again from 150 d to term. Similar changes in the temporal expression was observed for P450c17. Whereas P450c17 was induced largely in the transitional zone (TZ; outer-most FZ), b5 expression was strongest in FZ cells further from the capsule, although overlap between these regions involved a narrow band of cells beneath the TZ that may represent the developing zona reticularis. Thus, the induction of b5 in the FZ and of P450c17 in the TZ of the fetal adrenal late in gestation coincided temporally with the prepartum rise in dehydroepiandrosterone previously reported. These data are consistent with the proposed role of b5 in supporting 17,20-lyase activity of P450c17. However, the lack of cytochrome b5 and P450c17 expression in the FZ of the developing macaque adrenal cortex for much of the second and third trimesters distinguishes it from the mature zona reticularis seen in adult animals.


Comprehensive bacteriological investigation indicates Shigellae as the probable aetiological bacteria in one endemic enteric disease situation. One species and four serotypes have been detected. In vitro antibiotic sensitivity spectra have been determined. Epidemiology, pathology and pathogenesis in relation to the experimental animal situation and experimental results are considered. A rationale for treatment and control is suggested.


A structural investigation into a series of transition metal complexes forms the basis of Chapter 1. Specifically, this work focuses on the co-ordination chemistry of two bipodal ligand frameworks, L and L. Each ligand contains a ketone moiety which, in the case of L, has been shown to undergo hemi-ketal formation upon complexation in some instances, yielding dinuclear complexes of the form M2{(2-bipy)2C(OMe)0'}2 C104 2 (M = Fen or Zn11). Chapters 2 and 3 take a detailed look at a series of transition metal complexes formed by the tripodal bipyridine-based ligand frameworks, L - L. The tris-bipyridyl ligand, L, has been shown to enforce a predominantly trigonal prismatic co-ordination environment around a metal centre, even in cases where the metal has a strong stereoelectronic octahedral preference. For each ligand, the relationship between octahedral and trigonal prismatic character as the d-electron configuration of the metal centre is varied has been examined. Using the Cartesian co-ordinates obtained from crystallographic data sets, continuous shape mapping analysis (CShM) has been employed to assist in the quantification of the distortions away from these two ideal geometries. Chapters 4 and 5 report the protonation and stability constants for a series of potential MRI contrast agents which are based upon a tripodal ligand scaffold with a tris-pyridine core (L6 o - L ). This work examines how modifying the denticity of the ligands from four to six by changing the number of peripheral binding functions affects overall complex stability and the nature of species in solution. Chapter 6 investigates the efficacy of a series of gadolinium complexes as potential MRI contrast agents. This has been accomplished by measuring Tl relaxivities using a fast field- cycling (FFC) relaxometer.


Purpose: The study investigated the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on poverty and if education enhanced the influence of ICT in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). Design/Approach/Methodology: Fixed effects, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) were used with data ranging from 1994 to 2015. Findings: ICT was found to have alleviated poverty only under the fixed effects approach whilst education had a reduction effect on poverty across all the three econometric estimation techniques used. Although not statistically significant, ICT and the interaction term were found to have reduced poverty under both the pooled OLS and FMOLS. Moreover, consistent with others education was found to be important in enhancing the impact of ICT on poverty alleviation under the fixed effects in BRICS nations. Practical Implication: BRICS nations are therefore urged to invest more in strengthening education and ICT systems in order to disentangle the people from the vicious cycle of poverty. Originality/Value: The study is unique because to the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first paper to explore the effect of the complementarity between ICT and education on poverty alleviation. The paper is also unique in the sense that it considered the dynamic characteristics of poverty data, commonly referred to as the vicious cycle of poverty.


CAPP(computer aided process planning) is a key technology for integration of CAD and CAM. Process planning relies on manufacturing knowledge and CAPP is characterized with multi-knowledge resources, multi-task, multi-level and multi-constrain so process planning is hard to automate. This paper introduces the artificial neural network for unstructured manufacturing knowledge modeling, knowledge is represented as neural network weight value matrix, and then form ANN database to support intelligent CAPP. Example about cutting force modification is presented to test the feasibility of this approach. As Intelligent CAPP is knowledge based and structure of CAPP varies with types of knowledge representation, this paper presents the system structure of intelligent CAPP system. This system employs the black-board inference, unified manufacturing resource and part model, multi-knowledge database to realize the process planning automatically.


The Black church in the United States has historically functioned as a bastion for civil rights; however, it may also be a source of pain and suffering for sexual minorities. To examine the influence of individual and congregational variables on attitudes toward same-sex sexuality in the Black church, we collected a sample of 219 participants from 15 randomly selected congregations. Results of three hierarchical linear models indicated that congregation- and individual-level variables emerged as equally important predictors of individuals' attitudes toward same-sex sexuality. Individual-level religiousness and congregation-level education emerged as significant predictors of homonegativity. Our results suggest that congregations may play a role in enacting homonegative attitudes. We encourage counseling psychologists working with religious Black sexual minority clients to help clients consider characteristics of congregations (e.g., education) and individual religious practices (e.g., overzealous service attendance) that may signal homonegativity. We encourage further work examining the influence of congregational factors on congregants' attitudes.


PREDICTION OF LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR COMPONENTS OF CUTTER DEFLECTION IN END MILLING TOOLS by Kimberly C. Nazimek In this study, cutter length, cutter diameter, depth of cut, and magnitude of the instantaneous force vector are examined to determine their effects on cutter deflection during end milling. Their contributions to both linear and non-linear cutter deflection are examined. Models are developed to compute deflection for both flat and ball end mills. These models are evaluated to determine the contribution of each type of deflection encountered during a variety of milling conditions. A discussion on the transfer of deflection data to an estimation of machining accuracy is then presented. PREDICTION OF LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR COMPONENTS OF CUTTER DEFLECTION IN END MILLING TOOLS


Deep sequence analysis of the IgH repertoires of common variable immune deficiency patients highlights phenotypic features of the disorder and potential disease mechanisms. Not immune to memory problems Although elderly patients typically lament loss of memory, Roskin et al. now highlight a different kind of memory problem plus developmental difficulties that bedevils the immune systems of children and young adults with common variable immune deficiency (CVID). These aberrations may drive a variety of outcomes, including impaired antibody responses to foreign antigens, generation of autoimmune responses, and lymphoid cancers. As the most common symptomatic primary immune deficiency, CVID affects nearly one in 25,000 persons, but the biological basis for the constellation of clinical phenotypes remains hazy. Genetic recombination in the V(D)J regions of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes, which occurs in developing lymphocytes during the early stages of B cell maturation, gives rise to the diverse repertoire of antibodies produced by activated B lymphocytes. This so-called Ig gene rearrangement—a seminal component of the adaptive immune system—gives rise to a broad range of amino acid sequences in the antigen-binding regions of Igs, which permits the recognition of antigens from many pathogens and abnormal cells (such as cancer cells) and subsequent activation of the immune response. The authors first used high-throughput genomic DNA sequencing to explore Ig heavy chain gene rearrangements in B cells from CVID patients versus control subjects. CVID patients displayed abnormal VDJ rearrangement and thus abnormal formation of complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3), which are part of the Ig variable chains and central to the ability of B cells to recognize a wide range of antigens. The authors then sorted B cell populations to retrieve, specifically, the naïve and memory B cells. They detected decreased selection against antibodies with long CDR3 regions in CVID memory repertoires and fewer of the antibody gene mutations that accompany the formation of immune memory. The unmutated naïve B cell pool displayed decreased diversity and abnormal clonal expansion. Together, these alterations could explain the immune deficiencies and autoimmune reactions detected in CVID patients, and suggest that CVID phenotypes stem from aberrant generation and selection of B cell repertoires. Common variable immune deficiency (CVID) is the most common symptomatic primary immune deficiency, affecting ~1 in 25,000 persons. These patients suffer from impaired antibody responses, autoimmunity, and susceptibility to lymphoid cancers. To explore the cellular basis for these clinical phenotypes, we conducted high-throughput DNA sequencing of immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangements from 93 CVID patients and 105 control subjects and sorted naïve and memory B cells from 13 of the CVID patients and 10 of the control subjects. The CVID patients showed abnormal VDJ rearrangement and abnormal formation of complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3). We observed a decreased selection against antibodies with long CDR3s in memory repertoires and decreased variable gene replacement, offering possible mechanisms for increased patient autoreactivity. Our data indicate that patient immunodeficiency might derive from both decreased diversity of the naïve B cell pool and decreased somatic hypermutation in memory repertoires. The CVID patients also exhibited an abnormal clonal expansion of unmutated B cells relative to the controls. Although impaired B cell germinal center activation is commonly viewed as causative in CVID, these data indicate that CVID B cells diverge from controls as early as the pro–B stage, cell and suggest possible explanations for the increased incidence of autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, and lymphoma CVID patients.


The effective practice of medicine requires narrative competence, that is, the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence, called narrative medicine, is proposed as a model for humane and effective medical practice. Adopting methods such as close reading of literature and reflective writing allows narrative medicine to examine and illuminate 4 of medicine's central narrative situations: physician and patient, physician and self, physician and colleagues, and physicians and society. With narrative competence, physicians can reach and join their patients in illness, recognize their own personal journeys through medicine, acknowledge kinship with and duties toward other health care professionals, and inaugurate consequential discourse with the public about health care. By bridging the divides that separate physicians from patients, themselves, colleagues, and society, narrative medicine offers fresh opportunities for respectful, empathic, and nourishing medical care.


The eighteenth century saw the emergence of Britain as a pre-eminent imperial, mercantile and maritime power. At home, the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland, and the advances in communications stimulated new opportunities for artists working inside and outside of London. Overseas, the aftermath of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) in particular, saw the spectacular growth of Britain�s world-wide interests through imperial expansion. Britain�s triumph over France resulted in impressive territorial gains which opened up a wealth of commercial possibilities and generated new markets for artistic goods and a demand for British artists. My approach is focused on the following major hubs of artistic activity in the period: the provinces and London, Edinburgh and America. Through a series of case studies, the different modes of artistic mobility demonstrated by British portrait painters are recovered to explore how they negotiated the locations� distinct characters (metropolitan, provincial and colonial) in relation to their respective markets for artistic goods, their cultivation of patron networks, artistic connections and their artistic identity. This thesis, by engaging with the artistic mobility of eighteenth-century British portrait painters, seeks to challenge the standard narratives of the visual arts in this period, which have tended to concentrate on London in isolation. In doing so it raises the question whether our conceptions of the British art produced in the period may be better understood in terms of a broader circulation of artists and goods across and between interconnecting art worlds, and visual cultures.


Overview Capitol Valley Ranch, a one-acre home site situated on a larger working cattle ranch, is nestled into a rural high-altitude Colorado landscape. The design for the property required an integration of functions. A working ranch with horses, stables, and a barn coexists with a residence, thereby retaining traditional practices that preserve regional culture and open space values. The intimate and social spaces conducive to outdoor living and entertaining assimilate with the architecture and echo the site's naturalistic setting at 8,000 ft above sea level. In order to preserve the agricultural heritage of the valley, the design limited site disturbance, adhered to historical stormwater drainage patterns and ditch locations, and utilized native vegetation. Through careful site planning, the home makes use of passive solar energy to heat the swimming pool with solar panels. Bioclimatic design strategies, such as the use of vegetation to mitigate wind and sun exposure, produce comfortable outdoor spaces for three-season use.


Allocation of public health resources should be based, where feasible, on objective assessments of health status, burden of disease, injury, and disability, their preventability, and related costs. In this article, we first analyze traditional measures of the public's health that address the burden of disease and disability and associated costs. Second, we discuss activities that are essential to protecting the public's health but whose impact is difficult to measure. Third, we propose general characteristics of useful measures of the public's health. We contend that expanding the repertoire of measures of the public's health is a critical step in targeting attention and resources to improve health, stemming mounting health care costs, and slowing declining quality of life that threatens the nation's future.


Three groups of activities taking place in the recovery room are separately analyzed and compared with the same done on the wards. It is concluded that all three of them are preferably done in the recovery room. When these principles are followed, mortality in the direct postoperative period can be reduced to an absolute minimum. Data from 50,000 cases confirmed this statement.


BACKGROUND
Brain tumor surgery near the motor cortex requires careful planning to achieve the optimal balance between completeness of tumor resection and preservation of motor function. Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) can be used to map functionally essential motor areas preoperatively.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate how much influence, benefit, and impact nTMS has on the surgical planning for tumors near the motor cortex.

METHODS
This study reviewed the records of 73 patients with brain tumors in or near the motor cortex, mapped preoperatively with nTMS. The surgical team prospectively classified how much influence the nTMS results had on the surgical planning. Stepwise regression analysis was used to explore which factors predict the amount of influence, benefit, and impact nTMS has on the surgical planning.

RESULTS
The influence of nTMS on the surgical planning was as follows: it confirmed the expected anatomy in 22% of patients, added knowledge that was not used in 23%, added awareness of high-risk areas in 27%, modified the approach in 16%, changed the planned extent of resection in 8%, and changed the surgical indication in 3%.

CONCLUSION
nTMS had an objective benefit on the surgical planning in one fourth of the patients and a subjective benefit in an additional half of the patients. It had an impact on the surgery itself in just more than half of the patients. By mapping the spatial relationship between the tumor and functional motor cortex, nTMS improves surgical planning for tumors in or near the motor cortex.


OBJECTIVE
To describe 5 cases of conservative management of substantial esophageal perforation in dogs.

SERIES SUMMARY
Five dogs presented with an esophageal foreign body (EFB) and resultant esophageal perforation. Clinical signs at presentation included tachycardia, tachypnea, and increased respiratory effort. Thoracic radiography was performed in all cases, and in each case, pleural and mediastinal effusion was present, suggesting esophageal perforation prior to endoscope-guided removal. A full thickness esophageal defect was visualized after foreign body removal in 4/5 cases. Treatment included IV crystalloid fluid therapy, IV antimicrobials, analgesia, and proton pump inhibitors in all cases. Two dogs had a percutaneous endoscopically placed gastrostomy feeding tube placed and 1 dog received prednisolone sodium succinate IV because of marked pharyngeal inflammation. Complications after EFB removal included pneumothorax (n = 2) and pneumomediastinum (n = 4). Four of the 5 dogs survived to discharge and did not have complications 2-4 weeks following discharge. One dog was euthanized as result of aspiration pneumonia following EFB removal.

NEW OR UNIQUE INFORMATION PROVIDED
Traditionally, surgical management of esophageal perforations has been recommended. This can be a costly and invasive procedure and requires a high degree of surgical skill. In this report, conservative management of substantial esophageal perforation in 5 dogs is described; medical management may be a viable treatment option in dogs with perforation of the esophagus due to EFB.


The Little Leather Library Collection consists of 101 books, 3-1/4" x 4," published by the Little Leather Library Corporation of New York. The miniature books are brownish green in color, of imitation leather, and characteristic of the Redcroft edition published between 1920-1924. There were over 100 miniature book titles published in the various editions of the Little Leather Library, but it is not known if all of these titles were included in the Redcroft edition. The collection was donated in 2008. Extent: The Little Leather Library Collection consists of 101 books, 3-1/4" x 4," and is housed in two flat boxes.


The papers in this volume were written by experts from Central and Eastern Europe and constitute the core of the material presented at the international workshop on "Macroeconomic Stabilization of Economies in Transition" held in Prague, Czech Republic from 22 to 24 April 1993.

The purpose of the workshop was to assemble policy-makers and interested scholars from Central and Eastern European countries, as well as western experts to thoroughly discuss the accumulated experience with macroeconomic stabilization during economic reforms in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, former Czechoslovakia and its successors the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Those who presented papers and those who commented drew attention to problems now explicit and urgent in countries which pioneered reform to convert from communist central planning to a pluralist market system. The late-comers to the transition process are very likely to face similar complications and dilemmas. Organizers of the workshop firmly believed that dissemination of experience from more rapidly advancing reform countries could contribute to a better understanding of burdensome stabilization tasks and to a future improvement and refinement of stabilization policies and tools, particularly for the benefit of the transitional laggards.

The results of the workshop inferred that the stabilization of a post-socialist economy is a difficult but attainable goal. The character of stabilization policies underwent many modifications and adjustments. Their initial stringency was abandoned and replaced by more adaptive policies in some countries. The workshop participants generally also agreed that regardless of the approach utilized to implement the stabilization effort (shock versus gradual approach), countries face similar problems after the stabilization phase: they comprise long-term and painful restructuring of industries; budget imbalances; extensive restructuring of the public sector; enlarging the scope of currency convertibility; time-consuming privatization; and so forth. Recognition of the dynamic changes in the recent past, as well as the decisions facing policy-makers in post-communist countries in contemplating how to proceed where from each unique position already attained, guided us to choose "Stabilization Policies at Crossroads?" as the title of this volume.


In this paper, a functionally graded polymer nanocomposite (FGPNC) was arranged via mixing the Alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles (50 – 100 nm) with an epoxy matrix through five layers of 1.2 mm thickness for each layer using hand lay–up technique. Different volume fractions were taken (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) % of the used nanoparticles and were cast in molds made from acrylic for creating the graded composite sheet in the thickness direction. The prepared isotropic specimen was tested by tensile and compressive test. The results showed that the (4% Vf of Al2O3) has the best enhancement of the ultimate tensile strength (85.25% from neat epoxy) and decreased thereafter. Flexural properties of three different types of functionally graded materials (FGMs), including FGM1, FGM2 and FGM3, isotropic nanocomposite (2% Al2O3) and pristine epoxy were obtained. Flexural strength and flexural modulus of the functionally graded polymer nanocomposite for each type of FGMs enhanced by (51.7%) and (67%), respectively for the FGM1 loaded from the neat epoxy side, whereas for the FGM1 loaded from the (4%) side, the improvement in these properties was (17.8%) and (29.4%), correspondingly over those for the neat epoxy. For FGM2, the improvement in the flexural strength was (27%) and (71.8%) for the flexural modulus as compared with pristine epoxy. The enhancement in the flexural strength of FGM3 was (27%) and flexural modulus (57.7%). Design Modeler (ANSYS Workbench) was used to verify the experimental flexural test results. A very good agreement was found between the experimental and numerical results with a maximum error of (3.92%) in the flexural modulus for FGM1 loaded from the composite side.


Humans understand language based on the rich background knowledge about how the physical world works, which in turn allows us to reason about the physical world through language. In addition to the properties of objects (e.g., boats require fuel) and their affordances, i.e., the actions that are applicable to them (e.g., boats can be driven), we can also reason about if-then inferences between what properties of objects imply the kind of actions that are applicable to them (e.g., that if we can drive something then it likely requires fuel).
In this paper, we investigate the extent to which state-of-the-art neural language representations, trained on a vast amount of natural language text, demonstrate physical commonsense reasoning. While recent advancements of neural language models have demonstrated strong performance on various types of natural language inference tasks, our study based on a dataset of over 200k newly collected annotations suggests that neural language representations still only learn associations that are explicitly written down.


: [ Objective ] This research proposes a selection scheme for the big data application to monitor the Internet financial platforms, which is verified by the real world cases. [ Methods ] First, we adopted a big data model to integrate multi-source heterogeneous data from the Solarbao platform. Second, we utilized the CHAID decision tree to summarize multi-dimensional monitoring indicators based on analysis of each project's investment risks. Finally, we employed the R-Q factor analysis method to extract the key investment risks. [ Results ] We got 8 indicators to track the investment risks, which could be identified by the other 10 indicators for the photovoltaic projects. [ Limitations ] More research needs to be done with indicators of the R-Q factor analysis, which also requires a dynamic update mechanism. [ Conclusions ] The proposed scheme could help investors assess the risks of individual projects and then select the appropriate ones. It will also support the risk management work of the regulatory agencies.


ABSTRACT Can information close socioeconomic gaps in parents' postsecondary aspirations for their children? We administer a survey experiment to a nationally representative sample of U.S. parents, who are also asked whether their child is academically prepared for college. We inquire whether parents prefer their child to pursue a four-year degree, two-year degree, or no further education. Some parents are also randomly told the costs of college for an individual in their state and income bracket; local labor-market returns to a degree; or both costs and returns. Information closes socioeconomic aspiration gaps only if parents believe their child is ready for college.


Ear weight is one of the most important agronomic traits considered necessary in maize (Zea mays L.) breeding projects. To determine its genetic basis, a population consisting of 239 recombinant inbred lines, derived from the cross Mo17 x Huangzao4, was used to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for ear weight under two nitrogen regimes. Under a high nitrogen fertilization regime, one QTL was identified in chromosome bin 2.08-2.09, which explained 7.46% of phenotypic variance and an increase in ear weight of about 5.79 g, owing to an additive effect. Under a low nitrogen regime, another QTL was identified in chromosome bin 1.10-1.11; it accounted for 7.11% of phenotypic variance and a decrease of 5.24 g in ear weight, due to an additive effect. Based on comparisons with previous studies, these two QTLs are new loci associated with ear weight in maize. These findings contribute to our knowledge about the genetic basis of ear weight in maize.


In order to fulfil its mission to ensure and promote the global comparability of measurements, the BIPM operates laboratories in the fields of physical metrology, time, ionizing radiation and chemistry. These laboratories act as centres for scientific and technical collaboration between Member States providing capabilities for international measurement comparisons on a shared-cost basis. They coordinate international comparisons of national measurement standards agreed to be of the highest priority, and they establish and maintain appropriate reference standards for use as the basis of key international comparisons at the highest level and provide selected calibrations from them. In the following sections, we provide highlights of the work they have undertaken during 2019.


The development of software nowadays
is getting more complex due to the need to use software programs to accomplish more elaborated tasks.
Developers may have a hard time knowing what could happen to the software when
making changes. To
support the developer in reducing the uncertainty of the impact on the software
run behavior due to changes in the source code, this paper presents a tool
called IMPEX which analyzes the differences in the source code and differences
on the run behavior of two subsequent software versions, in the entire
repository, demonstrating to the developer the impact that a change in the
source code has had on the software run, over the whole software history. This
impact helps the developers in knowing what is affected during execution due to
their changes in the source code. This study verifies that the software runs
that are most impacted by a given change in the source code, have higher
chances in being impacted in the future whenever this part of the code is
changed again. The approach taken in this paper was able to precisely predict
what would be impacted on the software execution when a change in the source
code was made in 70% of the cases.


Abstract. We introduce the coupled model of the Greenland glacial system IGLOO 1.0,
including the polythermal ice sheet model SICOPOLIS (version 3.3) with hybrid
dynamics, the model of basal hydrology HYDRO and a parameterization of
submarine melt for marine-terminated outlet glaciers. The aim of this glacial
system model is to gain a better understanding of the processes important for
the future contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea level rise under
future climate change scenarios. The ice sheet is initialized via a
relaxation towards observed surface elevation, imposing the palaeo-surface
temperature over the last glacial cycle. As a present-day reference, we use
the 1961–1990 standard climatology derived from simulations of the regional
atmosphere model MAR with ERA reanalysis boundary conditions. For the
palaeo-part of the spin-up, we add the temperature anomaly derived from the
GRIP ice core to the years 1961–1990 average surface temperature field. For
our projections, we apply surface temperature and surface mass balance
anomalies derived from RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios created by MAR with
boundary conditions from simulations with three CMIP5 models. The hybrid ice
sheet model is fully coupled with the model of basal hydrology. With this
model and the MAR scenarios, we perform simulations to estimate the
contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to future sea level rise until the
end of the 21st and 23rd centuries. Further on, the impact of
elevation–surface mass balance feedback, introduced via the MAR data, on
future sea level rise is inspected. In our projections, we found the
Greenland ice sheet to contribute between 1.9 and
13.0 cm to global sea level rise until the year 2100 and between 3.5 and 76.4 cm until the year
2300, including our simulated additional sea level rise due to
elevation–surface mass balance feedback. Translated into additional sea
level rise, the strength of this feedback in the year 2100 varies from 0.4 to
1.7 cm, and in the year 2300 it ranges from 1.7 to 21.8 cm. Additionally,
taking the Helheim and Store glaciers as examples, we investigate the role of
ocean warming and surface runoff
change for the melting of outlet glaciers.
It shows that ocean temperature and subglacial discharge are about equally
important for the melting of the examined outlet glaciers.


Based on long-term fieldwork in Jordan, this paper discusses two marriage registration practices that have become topics of public debate and locus for intervention projects of development organizations: the early registration of marriages among Palestinian camp residents, and the non-registration of marriages among Syrian refugees. This paper shows how the narratives around marriage registration play a role in the production of identity and senses of belonging and provides insight into the overlaps and gaps between the discourses of development organizations and the concerns of those involved in these practices. In the Palestinian case, the early registration of marriage provides the couple with a limited but important space to get acquainted before the wedding. Women's organizations and NGOs, however, often blame this practice for the increase in divorce rates before consummation. In the Syrian case, organizations focus on the negative legal and social consequences of not registering a marriage with the state, while conversations with Syrians reveal the obstacles they face while navigating the Jordanian legal system and their need to legitimize their non-registration of marriages.


Wind-wave hybrid power generation systems have the potential to become a significant source of affordable renewable energy. However, their strong interactions with both wind- and wave-induced forces raise a number of technical challenges for modelling. The present study undertakes a numerical investigation on multi-body hydrodynamic interaction between a wind-wave hybrid floating platform and multiple wave energy converters (WECs) in a frequency domain. In addition to the exact responses of the platform and the WECs, the power take-off (PTO) mechanism was taken into account for analysis. The coupled hydrodynamic coefficients and wave exciting forces were obtained from WAMIT, the 3D diffraction/radiation solver based on the boundary element method. The overall performance of the multiple WECs is presented and compared with the performance of a single isolated WEC. The analysis showed significant differences in the dynamic responses of the WECs when the multi-body interaction was considered. In addition, the PTO damping effect made a considerable difference to the responses of the WECs. However, the platform response was only minimally affected by PTO damping. With regard to energy capture, the interaction effect of the designed multiple WEC array layout is evaluated. The WEC array configuration showed both constructive and destructive effects in accordance with the incident wave frequency and direction.