Solid state materials such as metal and chemical hydrides have been proposed and developed for high energy density automotive hydrogen storage applications. As these materials are implemented into hydrogen storage systems, developers must understand their behavior during accident scenarios or contaminated refueling events. An ability to predict thermal and chemical processes during contamination allows for the design of safe and effective hydrogen storage systems along with the development of appropriate codes and standards. A model for the transport of gases within an arbitrary-geometry, reactive metal hydride bed (alane, -AlH3) is presented in this paper. We have coupled appropriate Knudsen-regime permeability models for flow through packed beds with the fundamental heat transfer and chemical kinetic processes occurring at the particle level. Using experimental measurement to determine and validate model parameters, we have developed a robust numerical model that can be utilized to predict processes in arbitrary scaled-up geometries during scenarios such as breach-in-tank or contaminated refueling. Results are presented that indicate the progression of a reaction front through a compacted alane bed as a result of a leaky fitting. The rate of this progression can be limited by; 1) restricting the flow of reactants into the bed through densification, and 2) maximizing the rate of heat removal from the bed.


Computer-aided diagnosis tools for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) base their decisions on handcrafted retinal features that highly correlate with expert diagnoses, such as arterial and venous curvature, tortuosity and dilation. Deep learning leads to performance comparable to those of expert physicians, albeit not ensuring that the same clinical factors are learned in the deep representations. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the handcrafted and the deep learning features in the context of ROP diagnosis. Average statistics on the handcrafted features for each input image were expressed as retinal concept measures. Three disease severity grades, i.e. normal, pre-plus and plus, were classified by a deep convolutional neural network. Regression Concept Vectors (RCV) were computed in the network feature space for each retinal concept measure. Relevant concept measures were identified by bidirectional relevance scores for the normal and plus classes. Results show that the curvature, diameter and tortuosity of the segmented vessels are indeed relevant to the classification. Among the potential applications of this method, the analysis of borderline cases between the classes and of network faults, in particular, can be used to improve the performance.


: Based on the analysis of 1188 medical histories of patients with multiple sclerosis, 532 ones of those with various kinds of encephalopathies in the presence of chronic vertebrobasilar insufficiency, 90 records of patients with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, about 300 medical histories of patients with lateral amyotrophic sclerosis and various kinds of myopathies and amyotrophies during the period of 1987-1992, clinical features were singled out characteristic of each of the above medical conditions. Knowledge of clinical course of these permits a correct diagnosis to be made in a timely fashion. It is of interest to practitioners neuropathologists, surgeons-endocrinologists.


The study was undertaken to evaluate the antidepressant activity of aqueous extract of Cymbopogon
citratus leaves in albino mice using forced swim and tail suspension test. The study comprised of five treatment
groups all with six animals in each group. Group I was normal control, group II was imipramine (10mg/kg) and
group III, IV and V received Cymbopogon citratus orally at the dose of 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg
respectively. Drugs were given one hour before the experiment in acute study, whereas for chronic study drugs
were given for 14 days and experiment was carried out one hour after administration of the drug on the 14th
day. The duration of immobility was compared between groups. At the end of the study, in forced swim test,
acute and chronic treatment with Cymbopogon citratus at all three doses showed a significant reduction in
duration of immobility when compared to normal control. In tail suspension test, acute treatment with
Cymbopogon citratus did not show significant reduction in duration of immobility when compared to normal
control at all three doses. But in chronic study, 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg groups showed a significant decrease
in duration of immobility when compared to normal control.


This brief proposes a simple control approach for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown time delays in strict-feedback form. That is, the dynamic surface control technique, which can solve the ldquoexplosion of complexityrdquo problem in the backstepping design procedure, is extended to nonlinear systems with unknown time delays. The unknown time-delay effects are removed by using appropriate Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals, and the uncertain nonlinear terms generated by this procedure as well as model uncertainties are approximated by the function approximation technique using neural networks. In addition, the bounds of external disturbances are estimated by the adaptive technique. From the Lyapunov stability theorem, we prove that all signals in the closed-loop system are semiglobally uniformly bounded. Finally, we present simulation results to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


The "fruit trade chain" is a commonly accepted term used in the industry to describe the system of trading fresh fruit. The fruit trade chain includes procurement, production, packaging, shipment and delivery to the consumer. Within this chain, numerous components are involved: picking, grading, packing, terminals, depots, exporters, importers, and more (FPEF Advanced Manual, 2010). Within each component, failure or mismanagement of one element can affect the chain as a whole. Different commodities may contain differing components within the chain. These operations typically involve separate organizations, each accruing some margin, which is inevitably subsidized by the consumer. Even though each operation adds additional cost to the consumer, logistics are coordinated by specialists within in that commodity, allowing for the best quality of fruit to reach consumer outlets. Recently the market, specifically the fresh fruit trade chain, is encountering the possibility of restructure through the declared intentions of mass retail merchandisers such as Wal-Mart. Through backward integration, a process that will allow for the control of all, or most, of the stages in the production and sales of their products, Wal-Mart is actively increasing its presence while also removing cost accruing players from the chain. With, potentially, a larger share of the market, one needs to ask whether these mass merchandisers have the capacity to implement a similar process over a variety of commodities. If so, what would be the potential benefits of this channel? If there are possible benefits, are they experienced both up and down-stream? For the local industry, if undertaken successfully, what consequences will this transformed chain have on the existing logistic infrastructure? The question of the frequency of transactions and the effect of significant relationships within the chain amidst these transactions is also explored.


A dimethacryl amide functionalized perylene bisimide monomer was synthesized. Such a polymerizable monomer can self-assemble into a one dimensional rod-like structure with a mean diameter of ca. 100 nm and a length of several micrometers. The preformed supramolecular assemblies were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM, FE-SEM, X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. In situ free radical polymerization was then performed in the organized state to maintain the assembly structures, and the nanorods retained their original shapes after polymerization. A significant result is that the long-range π-electron delocalization enables enhancement of the electrical conductivity of these polymeric nanorods, which facilitates the construction of electronic devices.


British folklore reveals a history of werewolf sightings in places where there were once wolves. I draw on theories of the weird and the eerie and on the turbulence of England in the era of late capitalism in my analysis of the representation of werewolves in contemporary urban myths. Werewolves are deliberately excluded from Mark Fisher's notion of the 'weird', because they behave in a manner that is entirely expected of them. I contradict this by interrogating the werewolf as spectre wolf, bringing it within the realms of the weird. In examining the Hull Werewolf, I put forward the suggestion that he represents not only our belief in him as a wolf phantom, but our collective guilt at the extinction of an entire indigenous species of wolf. Viewed in this way, he can reawaken the memory of what humans did to wolves, and redeem the Big Bad Wolf of our childhood nightmares.


We propose a CRM specificity enhancer (CSE) capable of information assurance through specifying CRM evidence. We use Dempster and Shafer's theory to process nonspecific customers attributes and their nonspecific purchase behaviors collected by the CRM data and technology components. Customer segmentation is performed while minimizing information conflicts in strategic marketing information generated by the CRM system and used by marketing management to send out marketing offers to targeted customer groups. CRM information assurance, through the CSE model, achieves information confidentiality, data integrity, and system availability. Because information inconsistencies are a great source of information corruption, then CRM integrity will be enhanced by minimizing information conflicts. Also with the absence of such specificity capability then marketing management cannot target the right customers and may hence rely of junk mail and spam to reach more customers. However the more untargeted marketing offers are sent through spam or junk mail the more company information is leaked to the external world. Leaking valuable information about a company's marketing product and strategies violates the confidentiality security goal set by the CRM security policy. Moreover, because the CSE model works in a real time manner by classifying new customers as they arrive, any denial of service by some components of the CRM system will not oblige customers to reject marketing offers but will instead default to the last marketing offers communicated to marketing management before the CRM system is affected by the denial of service incident.


This study is an investigation of the career experiences of women primary teachers who job share. It explores how job sharing fits into overall working patterns and examines whether it fulfils the personal and professional needs of teachers. It investigates how successful job sharing is seen as being in practice and explores the potential advantages and disadvantages of job sharing for teachers and for schools. The study examines the claims made for job sharing as a means of advancing the cause of equality in the workplace. Data were gathered through indepth interviews with twenty women primary teachers who job shared. The role of job sharing in their careers was examined and the extent to which it satisfied personal and professional expectations explored. The career experiences of job sharing teachers were further investigated through a questionnaire sent to a sample of teachers who had previously job shared. This provided a retrospective and longer term account. All of these experiences were then situated within the wider contexts in which teaching operates. For this, documentary and policy analysis were undertaken, and semistructured interviews were conducted with headteachers and parents, and key informants at local and national level. The research found that job sharing is successful in meeting the personal needs of the women primary teachers. Teachers spoke of the balance in their lives which this working arrangement helped them to achieve. In terms of the professional dimension, the study found that experiences of job sharing in practice were positive. For teachers the affective rewards of being with children and feeling competent and skilled in daily work were high. Feelings of acceptance within the workplace culture were positive; building and sustaining relationships with parents and, in particular, with colleagues, which was viewed as a salient part of the job of primary teaching, was possible whilst job sharing. As a result, schools were seen to be gaining by employing experienced and motivated individuals who were able to make positive contributions. However, some difficulties were found with the professional and career development of job sharing teachers. The study concludes that job sharing is not deleterious to women teachers' careers. It is far less harmful than other forms of part-time teaching although, as yet, it is not challenging full-time teaching as the dominant work model.


This paper presents results of experiments designed to test several of the hypotheses present in the theoretical literature on "optimal" economic search. First we test whether the subjects (searchers) actually search for wages in ways that are consistent with setting an optimal reservation wage. We then proceed to determine experimentally the effects of risk aversion, increased search costs, changes in risk (brought about by a mean-preserving transformation of the distribution of wage offers), the presence or absence of recall, the existence of a finite horizon, and the searcher's state of knowledge about the underlying distribution of wages. In general, we find that the searchers exhibit behavior that is consistent with that predicted by theory. Differences between risk neutral and risk averse searchers are found, and the responses of both groups to changes in search costs, in the degree of risk, or in the state of knowledge are consistent with theoretical predictions.


The carbohydrate reserves were quantified in five morphological parts of guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) during regrowth after defoliation. Plants were grown in controlled environment facilities and were defoliated twice before beginning the experiment. At the time of the third defoliation, the roots accounted for 49% of the total plant dry matter (DM). After seven days' regrowth, root DM had declined by 36% of its original weight but subsequently increased. The DM of the stem-base also declined, as DM in crown, stem-sheath and leaf samples increased. Total available carbohydrates (TAC) were primarily stored in roots (39% of TAC in the plant) and stem-base (23%), and declined in both tissues during regrowth. Alcohol-soluble carbohydrates (ASC) comprised at least 50% of TAC and accounted for the majority of the TAC mobilized during regrowth. The polysaccharide fraction increased in all tissues after defoliation, except in the root where the polysaccharides declined by 25%. The root of guinea grass apparently serves as the major carbohydrate storage organ and ASC are its main source of reserve carbohydrates.


The cellular changes induced by heterologous protein expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been analysed on many levels and found to be significant. However, even though high‐level protein production poses a metabolic burden, evaluation of the expression host at the level of the metabolome has often been neglected. We present a comparison of metabolite profiles of a wild‐type strain with those of three strains producing recombinant antibody variants of increasing size and complexity: an scFv fragment, an scFv–Fc fusion protein and a full‐length IgG molecule. Under producing conditions, all three recombinant strains showed a clear decrease in growth rate compared with the wild‐type strain and the severity of the growth phenotype increased with size of the protein. The levels of 76 intracellular metabolites were determined using a targeted (semi) quantitative mass spectrometry based approach. Based on unsupervised and supervised multivariate analysis of metabolite profiles, together with pathway activity profiling, the recombinant strains were found to be significantly different from each other and from the wild‐type strain. We observed the most prominent changes in metabolite levels for metabolites involved in amino acid and redox metabolism. Induction of the unfolded protein response was detected in all producing strains and is considered to be a contributing factor to the overall metabolic burden on the cells.


The aim of this article is to present five new examples of modular rigid Calabi-Yau threefolds by giving explicit correspondences to newforms of weight 4 and levels 10, 17, 21, and 73.


The paper presents optimization model of the chilled water based data center cooling system. The optimization procedure includes system technological and mathematical model, limiting conditions and optimization criterion, which in this case is annual power consumption minimum. The cooling system model is defined by constant parameters and decision variables and consists of aircooled chiller, independent external freecooling heat exchanger (drycooler), computer room air handling unit (CRAH) and constant flow chilled water system with circulation pump. Influence of the server racks architecture (open or closed rack aisle), server inlet temperature and chilled water regime on the annual power consumption of the cooling system has been shown. Case study calculation based on the described model has been presented, including optimum variant designation and power usage effectiveness ratio of mechanical system calculation.


Most temperature control measurement methods are based on artificial work with anti-cracking during concrete construction. Automatic temperature control model proposed to implement computer control technology in concrete structural construction temperature control with anti-cracking to create an automatic concrete temperature control model. The model is based on temperature sensation technology, wireless transmission technology, water-pipe cooling technology, numerical simulation for the concrete structure of dynamic simulation and real-time monitoring. It can implement concrete inner temperature control to prevent temperature stress from producing cracks in concrete structure.


Electrical
stimulation has shown to be a promising approach for promoting osseointegration
in bone-anchored implants, where osseointegration defines the biological
bonding between an implant surface and bone tissue. Bone-anchored implants are
used in the rehabilitation of hearing and limb loss, and extensively in
edentulous patients. Inadequate osseointegration is one of the major factors of
implant failure that could be prevented by accelerating or enhancing the
osseointegration process by artificial means. In this article, we reviewed the
efforts to enhance the biofunctionality at the implant-bone interface with
electrical stimulation using various approaches such as different electrode
configurations, power sources, and waveform-dependent stimulation parameters
tested in different in vitro and in vivo models. We reviewed and compared
studies from the last 45 years and found nonuniform protocols with disparities
in cell type and animal model, implant location, experimental timeline, implant
material, evaluation assays, and type of electrical stimulation. The reporting
of stimulation parameters was also found to be inconsistent and incomplete throughout
the literature. Studies using in vitro models showed that osteoblasts
were sensitive to the magnitude of the electric field and duration of exposure,
and such variables similarly affected bone quantity around implants in in
vivo investigations. Most studies showed benefits of electrical stimulation
in the underlying processes leading to osseointegration, and therefore we found
the idea of promoting osseointegration by using electric fields to be supported
by the available evidence. However, such an effect has not been demonstrated
conclusively nor optimally in humans. We found that optimal stimulation
parameters have not been thoroughly investigated and this remains an important
step towards the clinical translation of this concept. In addition, there is a
need for reporting standards to enable meta-analysis for evidence-based
treatments.


Due to the globalization, warehousing activities are now becoming significantly crucial to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency of receiving, storing and handling of goods and materials in the manufacturing firms.Thus it creates the pivotal roles of logistics support in exporting the goods to other destination and also as an excellent hub with accurate information of timely delivery, receiving of materials and goods through efficient MIS networking. The objectives of this paper are to see whether there is any relationship between the warehousing operation (WO) and warehouse efficiency (WE), to examine the mediating effect of warehousing MIS (WM) in the relationship between warehousing operations and warehouse efficiency and to determine whether there is any relationship between the warehousing operations and warehousing MIS.This paper would
focus only on Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) Manufacturing sector in Peninsular Malaysia, registered
under the Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (SMIDEC).Overall 187 SMEs were involved
in this study. Questionnaires (42 questions) were given to owners, factory managers or warehouse managers or
warehouse section heads.All the SMEs involved came from various sectors such as food & beverages, metal & metal products, wood & wood products, paper and printing publication, machinery & engineering, plastics products, electrical & electronics, non-metallic mineral product, petro chemical and chemical, transport equipment, rubber & rubber products, and leather.Findings showed that, there is a strong relationship between WO and WE with its correlation coefficient 0.772.Based on p-value 0.00, the study found that it is very significance.Based on the Sobel, Aroian and Goodman tests showed that the results are significant, p < 0.05. It had confirmed that the Warehousing MIS mediates the relationship between the Warehousing Operations and Warehouse Efficiency. Finally there is a strong relationship between WO and WM with the significance correlation 0.375 and correlation coefficient based on p-value 0.00. The results indicate the important of
warehouse efficiency in the manufacturing firms.The warehouse operations and MIS are the main basic variables for process management improvement in making the warehouse to be efficient and firm performance achievable.It is through the warehousing MIS mediation to the warehousing operations that mediate positively to its relationship over the warehouse efficiency.


James Cook University (JCU), Australia established a Multifaith Chaplaincy in 1994. Through our work at the Chaplaincy in recent years, we have personally witnessed the social interactions of students as they passed each other in the corridor on their way to their respective prayer rooms – e.g. Christians (fundamental, contemplative and charismatic), Muslims, Buddhists, Bahais, Humanists, Agnostics, Self-Realisation Fellowship and Amnesty International members. A post-graduate student from Egypt commented that "if I had not seen people of different faiths greeting each other in this friendly manner, I would not have believed it possible". From this statement, and our own desire to have conversations with, and learn from students of different faiths, grew the idea of providing opportunities for members of the JCU community to socialise, interact and talk to people of other faiths in a way they might not have experienced before. This idea also grew from conversations with the JCU Conflict Management and Resolution Program, who were supportive of the initiative as a way to develop participants' conversation skills, experience engaging with diversity and the potential for individuals to contribute to peace building through their interactions. If widely embraced, interfaith dialogue and consequently students' religious literacy, has the potential to positively affect not only levels of conflict on campus but also positively impact how students engage in social change and responsible citizenship (Holland, 2016). These are important goals for the current global climate and are vital for establishing and embracing diversity on our campuses and in our societies.


This edited volume explores how we frame the subjects and objects of contemporary European Union (EU) law. The inquiry as to the subjects and objects of public international law is one long scorned upon as fruitless (e.g. Higgins, 1994). Nevertheless, it is a more revealing inquiry in EU law, which has explicitly sought to differentiate itself as a new legal order of public international law with a distinctive framing of its subjects and objects. As the EU's internal and external competences have evolved, significant changes surround the subjects and objects of contemporary EU law. It may increasingly capture a broader range of actors and interests, intentionally and otherwise. The subjects and objects of EU regulatory frameworks thus raise fundamental issues as to the rule of law as well as the EU's legitimacy in the wider world. While there may be hundreds of years of work across disciples on the self as subject, the object as an entity often appears as a neglected field of inquiry. The EU treaties and EU law jurisprudence alike reveal a quantifiable panoply of interests, actors, objects and subjects, scattered across them. The collaborative research effort presented in this volume is linked to three primary motifs or considerations in how we frame the subjects and objects of EU law: transformations, the external-internal nexus and crises as to EU law. This edited volume confronts the question how should we understand the dialectic between the subjects and objects in contemporary EU law? Can the objects of EU law so readily become its subjects? What are the normative parameters of the shift from subject to object and object to subject? How are new narratives understood within this dialectic.


Four pondweed designs were made, using fractal dimension as a measure of complexity to obtain some a priori control of the habitat architecture. Weed designs differed in complexity but total surface area of each of the shapes was the same. Recent theory suggests that abundance of invertebrate taxa and individuals will increase with increasing fractal complexity. Invertebrate colonization of the design was followed in two trials, firstly all four weed designs together in the same pond, secondly two of the designs in separate pools. In the first trial total numbers of individuals, total taxa and numbers of several species increased markedly with increased design complexity. in the second trial colonization of pools by the larvae of a Cyphon sp. (Coleoptera) was monitored in detail. Significantly higher numbers were found on the more complex weed design. Results generally support the hypothesis, though erratic colonization of pools was also important.


The Lutheran reformation transformed not only theology and the church but law and the state as well. Beginning in the 1520s, Luther joined up with various jurists and political leaders to craft ambitious legal reforms of church, state, and society on the strength of Luther's new theology. These legal reforms were defined and defended in hundreds of monographs, pamphlets, and sermons published by Lutheran writers from the 1520s to 1550s. They were refined and routinized in hundreds of new reformation ordinances promulgated by German cities, duchies, and territories that converted to the Lutheran cause. By the time of the Peace of Augsburg (1555)--the imperial law that temporarily settled the constitutional order of Germany--the Lutheran Reformation had brought fundamental changes to theology and law, to church and state, marriage and family, education and charity.

Critics of the day, and a steady stream of theologians and historians ever since, have seen this legal phase of the Reformation as a corruption of Luther's original message of Christian freedom from the strictures of human laws and traditions. But Luther ultimately realized that he needed the law to stabilize and enforce the new Protestant teachings. Radical theological reforms had made possible fundamental legal reforms. Fundamental legal reforms, in turn, would make palpable radical theological reforms. In the course of the 1530s onwards, the Lutheran Reformation became in its essence both a theological and a legal reform movement. It struck new balances between law and Gospel, rule and equity, order and faith, structure and spirit.


A hybrid storage system combining optical disks and magnetic disks is proposed and evaluated via mathematical models. Unlike most current applications of optical disk technology, which consider static databases or deferred update, this research considers environments with a moderate level of near real-time updates. An example of such an environment is databases for administrative decision support systems (DSS). The proposed hybrid storage system uses a write-once, read-many optical disk device (ODD) for the database and a conventional magnetic disk (MD) for storage of a differential file. Periodically, the differential file is used to "refresh" the ODD file by writing updated records to free space on the ODD. When available free space on the ODD is exhausted, the file is written to new ODD media a "reorganization" operation. Models of storage cost are developed to determine the optimum refresh cycle time, t*, and optimum reorganization cycle time, T*. Parameters of the model include data file volatility, file size, device costs, and costs for refresh and reorganization. Numerical results indicate that the hybrid system is attractive for a broad range of database environments.


Industrial communication systems (ICS) are specifically designed for deterministic communication between sensors, actuators, programmable logic controllers, monitoring systems, and operator workstations. These networks are traditionally based on wired technology and a deterministic medium access control. Nowadays, the emerging trend is the availability of wireless technology for ICS, since this leads to more flexible and mobile equipments at reduced cost. This article presents a performance analysis of wireless ICS based on the IEEE 802.11g standardized technology, considering the infrastructure mode with both distributed and point coordination functions. The time-critical messages are handled during the contention free period. The performance analysis allows to validate the ability of 802.11g technology to support time-critical traffic required by wireless ICS, being given the scheduling and characteristics of the messages. In addition, the configuration parameters of access points can be easily derived from the performance analysis


Among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), verbal learning and memory are areas of weakness compared with other cognitive domains (e.g., visuospatial memory). In this study, previously deployed military veterans completed clinical assessments of word memory and vocabulary (n = 243) and a laboratory task measuring encoding, free recall, repetition priming, and recognition of words (n = 147). Impaired verbal memory was selectively related to reexperiencing symptoms of PTSD but was not associated with other symptom groupings or blast-induced traumatic brain injury. Implicit priming of response times following word repetition was also unrelated to clinical symptoms. Instead, slowed response times during encoding explained associations between reexperiencing and memory performance. These findings are consistent with alterations in attentional control explaining PTSD-related verbal-memory deficits. Such findings have implications for understanding trauma-focused psychotherapy and recovery, which may depend on efficient attentional processing of words to alter posttraumatic reexperiencing symptoms.


Introduction Predicting prognosis following aortic valve replacement (AVR) in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) remains challenging. Current guidelines recommend that surgery should be offered when ejection fraction (EF) is <50%. We sought to investigate the prognostic significance of EF calculated by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the long term survival of patients following AVR. Methods 80 patients (69 ± 11 years old at time of surgery; 55 male) scheduled for AVR underwent CMR assessment. 52 patients had severe AS (area <1cm2), 28 patients had moderate AS (area 1.0–1.5cm2) and other qualifying reasons for AVR. 44 patients had additional coronary artery disease.Patients were categorised into three groups according to EF prior to surgery: Group 1 (EF <50%; n = 26), Group 2 (EF of 50–70%; n = 26) and Group 3 (EF >70%; n = 28). A median 5.0 ± 1.8 years follow-up was completed using the National Strategic Tracing Scheme and hospital notes. Results Univariate analysis of all cause mortality using the Kaplan-Meier estimator demonstrated significantly higher mortality in patients with Group 1 (EF <50%) compared to those in group 3 (EF >70%; .03).There was no statistical difference between group 2 (EF of 50–70%) and the remaining 2 groups. Abstract 93 Figure 1 Kaplan-Meier survival curve of all cause mortality in Group 1 (EF <50%), Group 2 (EF 50–70%) and Group 3 (EF >70%) Conclusion Pre-operative EF is a significant predictor of mortality following AVR. Patients with EF <50% have the worst prognosis whereas those with EF >70% have the best prognosis. We aim to incease the sample size to determine whether a progressive decrease in EF per se even when above 50% should initiate consideration for AVR.


Recognition of DNA as the carrier of information created a new fundamental dimension for viewing the natural world. Historians have the luxury of looking back at human endeavor over long periods of time, but most scientists are too busy working in the present and thinking anxiously about the future and have no time to view their work in the context of what has gone before. I once remarked that all graduate students in biology divide history into two epochs: the past 2 years and everything else before that, where Archimedes, Newton, Darwin, Mendel—even Watson and Crick—inhabit a time-compressed universe as uneasy contemporaries. It seems remarkable that historians once thought that science progressed by the steady addition of knowledge, building the edifice of scientific truth, brick by brick. In his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn argued that progress occurs in revolutionary steps by the introduction of new paradigms, which may be new theories—new ways of looking at the world—or new technical methods that enhance observation and analysis.


Analysis of endogenous X-tropic BALB/c retrovirus-specific RNAs in a BALB/c mouse tissue containing mostly non-driving cells (liver), in two normal tissues having significant proportions of dividing cells (20-h regenerating liver and 12-day embryo) and in cells of a lymphosarcoma of BALB/c mice were carried out by determining the extent to which the RNAs from these tissues hybridized to the virus 3H-cDNA probe and by their relative sedimentation values in a sucrose gradient. RNAs from 20-h regenerating liver, 12-day embryo and lymphosarcoma, each containing a significant proportion of proliferating cells, showed 8 to 21 % higher hybridization values than normal liver RNA. Differences in the exact size classes of virus-specific RNAs and, in their relative proportions were found to exist in the four different tissue types examined and no correlation between a specific RNA size-profile and the proliferating activity of a tissue could be detected.


This thesis includes four self-contained essays on budget deficits and productivity fluctuations:ESSAY I evaluates the effects of budget deficits on several key macroeconomic variables of the Swedish economy by estimating a vector autoregression model. The main finding is that - apart from a positive transitory real interest rate effect associated with a shock in the deficit - neither actual nor unexpected movements in deficits have any significant explanatory power for the determination of real non-fiscal variables. The Ricardian equivalence theorem may explain the absence of real effects following budget deficits.ESSAY II investigates empirically the effects of aggregate demand and supply shocks on the level of multi-factor productivity in Swedish manufacturing. In theory, recessions may be beneficial to long-run growth by speeding up the allocation of resources in the economy. The results indicate that demand shocks have positive long-run effects on the level of productivity, i.e. demand-driven recessions improve productivity in the long run. ESSAY III attempts to discriminate between two different explanations of observed procyclical average labour productivity. The frequency of injuries in Swedish manufacturing is used as a proxy variable for unobserved labour-utilisation, and is shown to be positively correlated with output growth. Thus, unobserved labour-utilisation may explain some of the pro-cyclicality of labour productivity.ESSAY IV estimates the structural budget balance, as well as the cyclical component of output for Sweden using an unobserved components model. The results are compared with the OECD's calculations of the output gap and of the structural budget balance. One result is that the model's cyclically adjusted budget balance is uncorrelated with the actual budget balance, which is in sharp contrast to the OECD's findings. The unobserved components model is also estimated for 12 OECD countries in Europe, and tentative results for these economies are also presented.


Background: Malnutrition is very common in chronic kidney disease patients and it starts from predialytic stage. The purpose of our project is to investigate the relationship between volume and malnutrition. Materials and method: A total of 109 chronic kidney disease patients were included in the study. Three groups have been created in patients according to their subjective global assessment (SGA) and malnutrition situation; SGA A: well feed group, SGA B: mild to moderate malnutrition, SGA C: severe malnutrition. Anthropometric measurements of all patients have been made (Body mass index, mid arm circumference, mid arm muscle circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, biceps skinfold thickness). Albumin, total chlosterol, triglyceride, serum amino acid leves have evaluated in blood samples of all patients. 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was made for all patients. Results: According to results average age of patients was 59.92 year and average GFR was 23.56 mL/min. 22.01 percent of patients was evaluated as SGA A and 77.98 percent of patients was evaluated as SGA B and C. We found negative correlation between albumin, body mass index, mid arm circumference, mid arm muscle circumference, triceps skinfold thickness measurements and SGA scores. At the same time a positive correlation was found between NTSBP (Night time systolic blood pressure) and SGA scores. Discussion: Malnutrition and hypervolemia are significant cardiovascular risk factors for chronic kidney disease patients. In this study we examine the relationship between malnutrition and hypervolemia in predialysis patients. This study was cross sectional and only ambulatory blood pressure measuring used as a volume parameter so cause and effect relationship between hypervolemia-malnutrition should not be inferred. This study should be taken into consideration because it's the first study that examines the relationship between ambulatory blood pressure and malnutrition in prediyalisis patients. Also our data shows statistically significant relationship between amino acid levels and blood pressure parameters and this study is the first reported data in this topic.


* The chapter is free to read on the publisher website. First we reviewed studies examining the role of climate on physical activity (PA) behavior. This highlights the limited knowledge and guidelines currently exist on the moderating influence of a tropical or hot climate on the PA behaviors of individuals. Secondly, we examined the role climate on PA in children and clinically obese individuals. Contrary to previous findings from Caucasian young children, our data on habitual PA levels in Hong Kong primary school-aged children seem to suggest no seasonal variations. From the Chinese medicinal perspective, 'sweating' was considered as a sign of good health as expressed by the Hong Kong young children we recently interviewed. Therefore, Hong Kong children and parents may regard PA in the heat as beneficial to health. Alternatively, the increasing physiological evidence indicates that young children's thermoregulatory ability during exercise in the heat is not necessarily inferior to that of adults, thus biologically, children's habitual PA may not be prone to climatic changes in the tropics as commonly believed. Given the possible subjective climatic constraints, Hong Kong young children appear to favor indoor sporting options like swimming and activities that are likely to generate 'breeziness'. All of the above arguments appear to lend support to human's adaptiveness to their environmental demands. Finally we discuss the difficulties and barriers to exercise of morbidly obese women in thermally comfortable conditions. We will extrapolate findings to tropical conditions, examining the likelihood of exercising with severe obesity in the tropics. We conclude that humans adapt to their environmental demands. However, there is a need to examine the influence of humid tropical conditions on physical activity and exercise behavior and develop evidence based guidelines for these environmental conditions. © 2014 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.


The influence of thyroxine on activity of enzymes of energy metabolism (hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, laktate dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, NADP-isocytrate dehydrogenase, cytochrome-c oxidase ) and antioxidative system (glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase) of neonatal piglet neutrophils was investigated. It has been found, that after durable injections of hormone (4 mg/kg body weight ) the increase of glycolytic enzymes activities as well as aerobic energy pathway catalyzators took place. Simultaneously the augmentation of superoxide dismutase reaction occured after the thyroxine treatment. Such effect might represent an important link in compensatory mechanism, which prevents the distructive action of reactive oxygen species.


We conducted a systematic literature review of the current state of research on the social perceptions of invasive species, aiming to provide guidance towards transdisciplinary research and participatory decision making. In order to detect patterns regarding publication trends and factors determining social perceptions of invasive species, we applied qualitative content as well as quantitative data analysis. By applying content analysis, we identified five main categories of influence on the perception of invasive species: ecological conditions, social conditions, values and beliefs, impacts, and benefits. The disciplinary focus of the research was predominantly interdisciplinary, followed by a social sciences approach. Our review revealed a disproportionate use of quantitative methods in research on social perceptions of invasive species, yet quantitative methods were less likely to identify benefits as factors determining the perception of invasive species. However, without the understanding of perceived benefits, researchers and managers lack the socio-cultural context these species are embedded in. Our review also revealed the geographical, methodological and taxonomic bias of research on perceptions of invasive species. The majority of studies focused on the local public, whereas fewer than half of the studies focused on decision-makers. Furthermore, our results showed differences in the social perceptions of invasive species among different stakeholder groups. Consensus over the definition and terminology of invasive species was lacking whereas differences in terminology were clearly value-laden. In order to foster sustainable management of invasive species, research on social perceptions should focus on a transdisciplinary and transparent discourse about the inherent values of invasion science.


The main objective of this study was to establish the behavioural factors influencing individual investors' decisions at the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The study was guided by the following specific objectives, that is, to find out the effect of risk aversion on investment decisions in Kenyan stock market, to investigate whether prospecting influences decision making in stock market investments, to establish the effect of anchoring on investment decision in Kenyan stock market and to determine the effect of herding on Investment decisions in Kenyan stock market. The target population of this study was 17 investment banks with a sample size of 34 respondents and relied on primary data sources. The study found that the investors in their organizations invest due to herding effect, this has resulted the investment banks to experience emotional biases and congruity. Further the study established that prospecting influences the investment decision making in stock market, however, most of the organizations engage in advising inventors' on the ways to invest. The study finally found that anchoring influences the investment decision in Kenyan stock market. Availability of the information about stock market investment facilitates inventors' to reach investment decision. However, investors tend to buy shares when stock price has fallen. The study concluded herding effect, risk aversion, prospecting and anchoring influences the investment decision making in stock market. The study recommended that the investment banks should give their investors the relevant information on prevailing market and economic situations and ensure investment in the stock market is well chosen. The investors should be presented with information in unbiased context and should be offered with the right information at the right time.


The negative income tax proposed by Milton Friedman represents one of the fundamental ideas of modern welfare policy. However, the academic literature has raised two difficulties with it, one challenging its purported work incentives and the other suggesting the possible superiority of work requirements. In addition, work requirement approaches have gained ground in actual U.S. welfare policy over the last 30 years and the number of different programs has proliferated, another development counter to the negative income tax. On the other hand, the Earned Income Tax Credit has produced a negative-income-tax-like program on a vast scale.


Diatoms are key primary producers and therefore make an important contribution to carbon export. These phytoplankton utilise dissolved silica (DSi), sourced from riverine, atmospheric, sedimentary and hydrothermal inputs, and convert it to biogenic silica (bSiO2). Some of this bSiO2 dissolves in the water column, regenerating the DSi pool, whereas the remaining fraction settles out to the sediments (e.g. via aggregates) to form bSiO2 accumulations. These occur primarily in the Southern Ocean and provide a sedimentary archive regarding export production over hundreds to millions of years. Although atmospheric inputs of soluble Si to the surface ocean contribute to nutrient DSi, findings in this thesis reveal that they represent just ~0.2 – 0.4% of total DSi inputs to the Global Ocean. It is also shown that aerosol Si inputs originate primarily from Saharan dust, but that the soluble fraction is small (0.12% - 0.29%) in comparison to total aerosol Si. These solubilities are an order of magnitude lower than that used in an existing hypothesis that proposed a global dust increase of 2 – 8 times present values could explain glacial - interglacial pCO2 transitions. Hence, it is shown that supply would actually need to increase by a factor of 50 – 300 for this hypothesis to hold. Data obtained during the CROZEX cruise showed that DSi supports high diatom productivity to the north of the Crozet islands in the Southern Ocean, where iron inputs from underlying sediments/plateau relieves High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) conditions. Results presented in this thesis show that a phytoplankton bloom in October 2004 was characterised by large, heavily silicified diatoms. As nutrients were depleted there was a shift towards smaller and more lightly silicified cells that dissolved within the euphotic zone. In contrast, more silicified cells tended to be exported, often as aggregated bSiO2, particularly to the south of the plateau where Fe limitation meant that low productivity was characterised by heavily silicified diatoms typical of HNLC conditions. The importance of aggregation, diatom species, physiological state and temperature in bSiO2 dissolution was investigated experimentally. Findings presented in this thesis revealed that i) the rate of dissolution of aggregates formed using the highly silicified, typically HNLC diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis was significantly lower than that for the lesser silicified Chaetoceros debilis, ii) dissolution increased markedly with temperature, and iii) dissolution of exponentially grown C.debilis aggregates began with ~14 day lag in comparison to their senescent counterparts.


No longer the exclusive domain of national governing bodies (NGBs), an increasing number of coaches now engage in professional development through higher education (HE) routes. One educational approach that has gained a recent foothold in the HE sector is heutagogy, or the focus on self-determined learning by the learner. The aim of the present study, which was underpinned by a realist-inspired research philosophy, was to explore one particular student-coach's success (Ellie) on a sports coaching Bachelor degree module that was underpinned by a heutagogical approach to learning. Asynchronous email interviews provided insight into the development and understanding of Ellie's personal circumstances, resources and goals. This insight was then used to shape and conduct a realist interview. Data were analysed using an adaptive theory approach, resulting in three causal arguments that attempt to explain what worked for Ellie, how and why: (a) self-regulation (b), self-driven and (c) characteristics of the module tutor. The findings offer both philosophical and practical implications for coach education programme designers, deliverers and researchers.


Direct electrochemical reduction of iron ore in concentrated NaOH electrolyte has been proposed as a potential route to substantially reducing the global steel industry's CO2 emissions. Here, we report the solid-state electro-reduction of sintered pellets formed from titanomagnetite ironsand. This commercial iron ore contains ∼4 wt.% Ti which is directly incorporated within the magnetite lattice. At 110 °C, these pellets are electrochemically reduced and exhibit a well-defined reaction front which moves into the pellet as the reaction progresses. The electro-reduction process selectively produces iron metal, whilst the Ti content is not reduced. Instead, Ti becomes enriched in segregated oxide inclusions, which are subsequently transformed to a sodium iron titanate phase through taking up Na+ from the electrolyte. These inclusions adopt an elongated shape and appear to exhibit locally preferential alignment. This suggests that they may nucleate from the microscopic titanohematite lamellae which naturally occur within the original ironsand particles. The expulsion of contaminant Ti-oxides from the final reduced metal matrix has implications for the potential to development of an industrial electrochemical iron-making process utilising titanomagnetite ore.


Increasing local production and savings in foreign exchange is important that local rice producers are supplied with quality seed in a timely manner. The overall goal of the research was to assess the seed-rice production potential amongst rice farmer groups in Ghana. A two-stage sampling technique was deployed in the sampling process. Analysis of data was mainly by mean, frequencies and percentages, while the Kendall's coefficient of concordance was used to rank opportunities and challenges. The stochastic frontier approach using the Cobb-Douglas model was used in determining production technical efficiency. Empirical results disclosed that high group cohesiveness among rice member groups helps to attain individual goals and ensure member commitment. The most important production opportunities for rice production were identified as timely extension contacts, suitability of production agroecology and access to production inputs. Lack of production and processing equipment, however, was a key constraint. Overall, rice farmers within all the study groups were technically efficient. The study recommends that government, stakeholders, and rice farmer groups should invest into timely agricultural extension services, and equipment such as planting equipment


This paper deals with environment perception for automobile applications. Environment perception comprises measuring the surrounding field with onboard sensors such as cameras, radar, lidars, etc., and signal processing to extract relevant information for the planned safety or assistance function. Relevant information is primarily supplied using two well-known methods, namely, object based and grid based. In the introduction, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods and subsequently present an approach that combines the two methods to achieve better results. The first part outlines how measurements from stereo sensors can be mapped onto an occupancy grid using an appropriate inverse sensor model. We employ the Dempster-Shafer theory to describe the occupancy grid, which has certain advantages over Bayes' theorem. Furthermore, we generate clusters of grid cells that potentially belong to separate obstacles in the field. These clusters serve as input for an object-tracking framework implemented with an interacting multiple-model estimator. Thereby, moving objects in the field can be identified, and this, in turn, helps update the occupancy grid more effectively. The first experimental results are illustrated, and the next possible research intentions are also discussed.


Seismic data are rich in information about subsurface formations and their pore content. This information can be retrieved from the amplitude or frequencies of seismic signals. Spectral decomposition is a seismic interpretation technique that enables interpreters to decompose the broadband of seismic signals into constituent frequencies. Likewise, amplitude components analysis (ACA) is an approach proposed to compute amplitude constituent components as a function of offset. The approach uses amplitude-variation-with-offset approximations to extract amplitude components that compose the amplitudes in stacked sections. ACA can be used to screen seismic data for possible hidden anomalies that may be associated with hydrocarbons. ACA also helps predict seismic responses at angles where data are not recorded or are of poor quality. Because abnormal expressions associated with hydrocarbons can be observed in clastic and carbonate formations, the approach can look for the expressions in both types of reservoir rocks.


Parasitoid wasps are important components of insect food chains and have played a central role in biological control programs for over a century. Although the vast majority of parasitoids exploit insect herbivores as hosts, others parasitize predatory insects and arthropods, such as ladybird beetles, hoverflies, lacewings, ground beetles, and spiders, or are hyperparasitoids. Much of the research on the biology and ecology of parasitoids of predators has focused on ladybird beetles, whose parasitoids may interfere with the control of insect pests like aphids by reducing ladybird abundance. Alternatively, parasitoids of the invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis may reduce its harmful impact on native ladybird populations. Different life stages of predatory insects and spiders are susceptible to parasitism to different degrees. Many parasitoids of predators exhibit intricate physiological interrelationships with their hosts, adaptively manipulating host behavior, biology, and ecology in ways that increase parasitoid survival and fitness. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology, Volume 68 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


This paper investigates the informal information and communication technology (ICT) sector in Senegal with a view to developing indicators that could be used to improve the understanding of the innovation process. Three approaches are used to gather the information needed for the analysis: a review of literature; a questionnaire to collect data; and, a life story to provide context to the research. The analysis provides examples of innovation in the informal ICT sector and examines the relationship of social factors to these examples. As the informal sector dominates the Senegalese economy, the paper contributes to the understanding of innovation driven economic growth in that sector, and to the factors linked to transition of economic activity from one sector to another.


Since 2008 most older people in England have benefited from unlimited area-wide free travel by bus after the morning peak period. The official policy rhetoric supporting implementation of the measure drew significantly on the need to reduce social exclusion amongst older people. However, despite a substantial increase in the number of concessionary journeys in England and the associated cost liabilities for local authorities and possibly also operators, there is currently only limited understanding of the wide ranging effects on bus use of providing a free pass, and in particular to whom benefits from the policy accrue. In part, this circumstance results from a methodological focus by evaluation studies hitherto that has emphasised aggregate-level data, often at the expense of the very rich contextual information about how the individual benefits from using a pass. This article presents insights into the perceptions, motivations and decisions relating to use of free bus passes, highlighting the existence of both tangible and intangible benefits which arise. It offers a fresh insight into previously undefined uses and benefits derived from possessing and using a concessionary bus pass. This article concludes by noting possible policy implications of the research in the context of the UK's ageing population and for other international contexts where the transport intervention of free bus travel is being considered.


Objective: To describe short term patterns of smoking acquisition exhibited by adolescent smokers. Design: Interview records from the prospective development and assessment of nicotine dependence in youth study were examined retrospectively. Interviews were conducted three times per year over 30 months. Subjects: 164 students in grades 7–9 (ages 12–15 years, 86 girls, 78 boys) who had used cigarettes at least twice. Main outcome measures: A continuous timeline of smoking activity, beginning with the subject's first use of tobacco and continuing through follow up, was translated into six patterns—abstinent, sporadic, occasional, daily, escalating, and intermittent. Outcome measures were the proportion of subjects starting/ending in each pattern, and the number of transitions per subject between patterns. Results: There was a general but discontinuous progression from infrequent to more frequent use, with many interspersed periods of not smoking. Escalation to daily smoking was common after the development of dependence symptoms, but was rare among those who did not have symptoms. After the appearance of symptoms, both transitions to heavier daily smoking and attempts at cessation increased. Conclusions: Movement to heavier, more frequent smoking is generally unidirectional, although many youths attempt to quit one or more times. The appearance of any symptom of dependence altered the subsequent pattern of smoking behaviour. Future investigators might consider using more frequent data points and a continuous timeline to track smoking behaviour.


Introduction: Over half of COPD patients hospitalised for exacerbations have elevated blood glucose. Acute hyperglycaemia is associated with increased risk of death and prolonged hospital stay [Baker et al Thorax;61:284-9]. We investigated the effect of acute hyperglycaemia and insulin therapy on systemic inflammation.

Methods: 8 stable COPD patients (4male, 66±8yrs, FEV1 44±16%predicted) and 8 volunteers (8male, 24±5yrs, FEV1 89±12%) with fasting glucose <7mM received an octreotide infusion to inhibit pancreatic function. Glucose and insulin were infused for 4 consecutive 60min periods to achieve: Low glucose (fasting), low insulin (0.3mU.kg-1.min-1); high glucose (10mM above fasting levels), low insulin; high glucose, high insulin (1.5mU.kg-1.min-1); low glucose, high insulin. Cytokines were measured in blood sampled at the end of each 60min period using a Bio-Plex system (Bio-Rad).

Results: In COPD, high glucose, low insulin increased IP10 by 48 (12-181)% (median (interquartile range)), TNFa by 28 (8-54)% and IL-12 by 16 (2-34)% from low glucose, low insulin (p<0.05). IP10 increased significantly more in COPD than in volunteers (p=0.009). Subsequently, low glucose, high insulin suppressed IP10, TNFa and IL-12 to starting concentrations (p<0.05). Additionally low glucose, high insulin suppressed IL-1a, IL-1b, IL-16 and IL-4 by 4 to 26% (p<0.05). Suppression of IP10 and TNFa was significantly greater in COPD patients than in volunteers (p=0.038).

Conclusion: Acute hyperglycaemia amplifies systemic inflammation in COPD, which could be detrimental during exacerbations. The anti-inflammatory potential of blood glucose control with insulin for exacerbations requires further investigation.


Background Fuel poverty – whereby households are unable to keep warm at reasonable cost – is an on-going problem within the UK. There are known health impacts of living in cold homes, and a number of free or subsidised interventions are available to help address fuel poverty. There is however concern that such interventions are not being taken up by those in greatest need. A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) was therefore conducted to explore barriers and solutions to take up of interventions to address fuel poverty in England, in order to make policy recommendations to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Methods In line with the HIA steps of screening; scoping; profiling; evidence gathering and appraisal; and making recommendations; we formed a steering group of staff from the Department of Health and DECC to set the scope of the HIA. We used data from the 2010 English Housing Survey to explore the socio-demographic profile of fuel poor households, and reviewed the evidence on the health impacts of fuel poverty on different population sub-groups. We conducted a literature review to explore barriers and potential solutions to take up of fuel poverty interventions, and used the findings from the HIA to develop policy recommendations. Results While there are known health impacts of outdoor and indoor cold, the relationship between fuel poverty and health is complex, with a lack of evidence for specific impacts on population sub-groups such as those with disabilities and the elderly. Barriers to take up of existing fuel poverty interventions include lack of perception of need; lack of knowledge about options and their benefits; difficulty accessing further information; and unwillingness or inability to take action. A number of initiatives have tried to promote take up of interventions, however none have been robustly evaluated, meaning little is known about which are most effective. Conclusion The findings from the HIA led to policy recommendations for improving the understanding of the relationship between fuel poverty and health, including the relationship between fuel poverty and excess winter deaths; improving the match between fuel poor households and those who are eligible for interventions to address fuel poverty; collecting data on the characteristics of households that do not take up interventions they are eligible for; addressing the known barriers to take up of interventions to address fuel poverty; evaluating the effectiveness of programmes that aim to address low take up of interventions; and ensuring on-going cross-government working.


There are many aspects of environmental influences that must be considered when evaluating power production methods. Over the course of a six-month literature review this study covered the environmental impact and sustainability of four different power production methods: coal, solar, wind, and nuclear. This study then used the information gathered to create a set of criteria by which each would be evaluated. The goal of this study was to determine the power production method that would deliver the most energy with the least amount of environmental impact. Further, the scope of this study is limited to the midwestern states of the USA. This is important because in the current environmental situation it is crucial that the power that our cities run on comes from a source that is doing as little damage to the environment as possible, essentially lengthening the life of our resources and ultimately our planet. By comparing the pollution created, land required, maintenance required, average annual power production, and miscellaneous other environmental impacts of the considered methods, it was determined that the nuclear power plant provided the most power with the least amount of environmental impact.


The gene aeg-46.5, which is expressed under anaerobic condition, has putative triple -10 regions and four transcription start sites. The mRNA transcription level and its start point change depending on the aerobic/ anaerobic growth condition. RNA polymerase and its regulatory proteins must choose which of three -10 region to use. The putative triple 10 region was mutated to make only one of them function with consensus -10 region sequence (TATAAT) and the other two as non-functional region. The results show that the second and third -10 regions are used for the aerobic/anaerobic expression. The third -10 region is responsible for the high aerobic to anaerobic switch ratio. This suggests that only the last two of the putative triple -10 region have functions on aeg-46.5 gene expression switch control. The phenotype of the mutated promoter was tested in the wild type cell and narL - cell. The results indicate that the control by NarL is independent from the selection of -10 region. The expression patterns on multi-copy plasmids and on single-copy chromosome were compared. These results show that the aerobic/anaerobic switch control of aeg-46.5 is through the choice of -10 region. The mechanism of choosing different -10 region remains to be seen.


The work performed here studies particle dynamics in local two-dimensional simulations of self-gravitating accretion discs with a simple cooling law. It is well known that the structure which arises in the gaseous component of the disc due to a gravitational instability can have a significant effect on the evolution of dust particles. Previous results using global simulations indicate that spiral density waves are highly efficient at collecting dust particles, creating significant local over-densities which may be able to undergo gravitational collapse. This thesis expand on these findings, using a range of cooling times to mimic the conditions at a large range of radii within the disc. The PENCIL Code is used to solve the 2D local shearing sheet equations for gas on a fixed grid together with the equations of motion for solids coupled to the gas solely through aerodynamic drag force. The work contained here shows that spiral density waves can create significant enhancements in the surface density of solids, equivalent to 1-10cm sized particles in a disc following the profiles of Clarke (2009) around a solar mass star, causing it to reach concentrations several orders of magnitude larger than the particles mean surface density. These findings suggest that the density waves that arise due to gravitational instabilities in the early stages of star formation provide excellent sites for the formation of large, planetesimal-sized objects. These results are expanded on, with subsequent results introducing the effects of the particles self-gravity showing these concentrations of particles can gravitationally collapse, forming bound structures in the solid component of the disc.


The purpose of this research is to investigate the social status of Library and Information Science from the point of view of librarians of public libraries in Guilan province, Iran. This research is an applied research and has been conducted through a survey method. The statistical population of the study consisted of 199 librarians working in public libraries of Guilan province, Iran. Using Morgan's table, 127 subjects were selected as sample size and 124 of them responded to the questionnaire. In order to assess the validity of the questionnaire, professors' and library managers' opinions were used and for reliability purposes, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used which had an acceptable reliability of 0.96. Findings showed that based on the views of librarians of public libraries, the social status of Library and Information Science is at weak and moderate levels. There is also a significant difference between the views of librarians on their social status in terms of gender and level of education. According to the results of this research indicating the low level of the social status of the Library and Information Science profession, it seems that the authorities and policymakers of this profession, on the one hand, and the librarians themselves, on the other hand, need to take more effective steps and decisions in order to promote the status of the field.


the living figure and movement of the man, the flashes of his < eyes, the intonations of that marvelous voice-touching every note in the gamut of human emotions-how much more impressive, convincing, overwhelming do these utterances become. The reader who has heard him can supply these elements of power, which the printed page cannot convey; and the one who has not will yet feel, though in reduced measure, the force of a most remarkable personality-and be moved to a deeper love of Jesus Christ. C. S. GARDNER.


The design, development, and testing of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with automated capabilities is described: searching a prescribed area, identifying a specific building within that area based on a small sign located on one wall, and then identifying an opening into that building. This includes a description of the automated search system along with simulation and flight test results. Results include successful evaluation at the McKenna Military Operations in Urban Terrain flight test site.


This talk will focus on the directed assembly of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on various substrates into highly organized structures that include vertically and horizontally oriented arrays, ordered fibers and porous membranes. The concept of growing such architectures is based on growth selectivity on certain surfaces compared to others. Selective placement of ordered nanotube arrays is achieved on patterned templates prepared by lithography or oxide templates with well-defined pores. Growth of nanotubes is achieved by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using hydrocarbon precursors and vapor phase catalyst delivery. The new technique developed in our laboratory allows enormous flexibility in building a large number of complex structures based on nanotube building units. The talk will provide an insight into the creation process of the longest (single walled) nanotube strands. We will also discuss some of our recent efforts in creating nanotube circuits selectively and controllably and on the spatially resolved electronic properties of nanotubes.


Recent updates of the Bluetooth specification have introduced significant changes in the Bluetooth protocol stack, including optional flow control. When the Bluetooth piconet is used to carry TCP traffic, complex interactions between TCP congestion control mechanisms and data link layer controls of Bluetooth will occur. In this paper, we model the performance of the piconet with TCP traffic, expressed through segment loss probability, round-trip time, and goodput, through both probabilistic analysis and discrete-event simulations. We show that satisfactory performance for TCP traffic may be obtained through proper dimensioning of the Bluetooth architecture parameters. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The expectation that aerodynamic drag will force the solids in a gas-rich protoplanetary disk to spiral in toward the host star on short timescales is one of the fundamental problems in planet formation theory. The nominal efficiency of this radial drift process is in conflict with observations, suggesting that an empirical calibration of solid transport mechanisms in a disk is highly desirable. However, the fact that both radial drift and grain growth produce a similar particle size segregation in a disk (such that larger particles are preferentially concentrated closer to the star) makes it difficult to disentangle a clear signature of drift alone. We highlight a new approach, by showing that radial drift leaves a distinctive "fingerprint" in the dust surface density profile that is directly accessible to current observational facilities. Using an analytical framework for dust evolution, we demonstrate that the combined effects of drift and (viscous) gas drag naturally produce a sharp outer edge in the dust distribution (or, equivalently, a sharp decrease in the dust-to-gas mass ratio). This edge feature forms during the earliest phase in the evolution of disk solids, before grain growth in the outer disk has made much progress, and is preserved over longer timescales when both growth and transport effects are more substantial. The key features of these analytical models are reproduced in detailed numerical simulations, and are qualitatively consistent with recent millimeter-wave observations that find gas/dust size discrepancies and steep declines in dust continuum emission in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks.


AIMS
We have previously reported that nano-selenium quantum dots (SeQDs) prevented endothelial dysfunction in atherosclerosis. This study is to investigate whether amorphous SeQDs (A-SeQDs) increase endogenous tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis to alleviate pulmonary arterial hypertension.

RESULTS
Both A-SeQDs and C-SeQDs were stable under physiological conditions, while the size of A-SeQDs was smaller than C-SeQDs by high resolution-transmission electron microscopy scanning. In monocrotaline-injected mice, oral administration of A-SeQDs was more effective to decrease pulmonary arterial pressure, compared to C-SeQDs and organic selenium. Further, A-SeQDs increased both nitric oxide productions and intracellular BH4 levels, upregulated dihydrofolate reductase activity in lungs, and improved pulmonary arterial remodeling. Gene deletion of dihydrofolate reductase abolished these effects produced by A-SeQDs in mice. Finally, the blood levels of tetrahydrobiopterin and selenium were decreased in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

CONCLUSION
A-SeQDs increase intracellular tetrahydrobiopterin to prevent pulmonary arterial hypertension through recoupling endothelial nitric oxide synthase.

METHODS
Two polymorphs of SeQDs and A-SeQDs, and a crystalline form of SeQDs (C-SeQDs) were prepared through self-redox decomposition of selenosulfate precursor. Mice were injected with monocrotaline to induce pulmonary arterial hypertension in vivo. Pulmonary arterial pressure was measured.


The Gianotti-Crosti syndrome is a relatively common children dermatosis characterized by a monomorphous erythematous papular rash limited to the face and extensor surface of the arms and legs. Although the pathogenesis is still unclear, infections are considered as the most important factor. Human β-defensins are cationic antimicrobial peptides closely related to bacterial and viral infections of many epithelia. We herein report a case of Gianotti-Crosti syndrome in a 7-year-old Caucasian girl presented with prominent eruption consisting of dome-shaped lichenoid papules on her upper and lower extremities, with spontaneous resolution. Skin biopsy revealed a dense lichenoid lymphohistiocytic infiltrate and showed strong cytoplasmic immunopositivity for human β-defensin-4 in the stratum corneum, stratum granulosum, and stratum spinosum. Considering that β-defensins have been described to be induced by infections, we investigated the expression of human β-defensin-4 by immunohistochemistry in a case of Gianotti-Crosti syndrome, in order to demonstrate that it represents a cutaneous response to skin infections.


Even though the vision 2030 framework recognizes the micro, small and medium enterprises' sector as a key driver to achievement of middle income status in Kenya, their contribution to the achievement of this goal especially within Wajir County is dismal. In Wajir County, the 2016 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises report showed that many of the businesses in the county were stuck at the micro level where only 14 businesses had graduated to medium scaled businesses. It was also among the counties with the lowest change in number of employees when comparing the inception period and the survey period recording a change of 1.4%. The report showed that besides lack of adequate operating funds, limited knowledge and information and poor strategic management skills were the major constraints to the performance of these enterprises. Hence, the county government of Wajir had stepped in to address this challenge by setting up the Wajir County Revolving Fund whose main mandate was to promote the development in Wajir County by providing different kinds of support to these businesses. Nevertheless, studies assessing the impact of the strategic activities/practices under the fund on the performance of the businesses in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the fund were conspicuously missing. This study therefore sought to investigate the effect of the strategic revolving fund practices on the performance of the micro and small businesses in Wajir County. The specific focus was to establish the effect of stakeholder support, strategic training, knowledge transfer and strategic leadership development on the performance of micro and small retail enterprises in Wajir County. The study was guided by the resource based view theory, the theory of constraints, the social capital or social network theory and the balanced scorecard model. The study applied a descriptive survey research design. The study targeted the 855 beneficiaries (business groups and individual businesses) who had benefitted from the fund as at 2018. The study applied stratified random sampling in selecting the sample. The study used semi-structured questionnaires which were administered to the chairpersons for the group businesses and the owners for individual businesses. In analyzing the information from the open ended questions, themes emerging from the responses given were coded and simple summaries generated. The quantitative data analysis was aided by the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out. A multiple linear regression model was used to show the relationship between strategic revolving fund practices and the performance of micro and small retail businesses in Wajir County. The study found that stakeholder support, strategic training, knowledge transfer and strategic leadership development had positive and significant effect on the performance of the micro and small businesses. The study noted that knowledge transfer had the largest effect on the performance of these businesses. The study concluded that the county revolving fund through various strategic practices/activities under taken under the fund had transformed the performance of micro and small businesses in Wajir County. Several recommendations were made among them the Wajir County government through the department of trade and cooperatives should identify, form networks and present proposals to various parties in diverse industries/sectors whose support can tremendously transform the county revolving fund initiative. The study also recommends that this department should develop a concrete strategy for planning how stakeholders attached to the fund and beneficiary businesses interact and communicate and hold regular consultative meeting with these parties to ensure that they are actively engaged in the activities of the beneficiaries. The study also recommended that training teams attached to the fund should ensure that the concepts of business strategy and other strategic business concepts are deeply enshrined in the training sessions offered to beneficiary businesses.


By using Fab'-enzyme labelled immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at a sensitivity of picogram (10(-12) g or pg) level, M-type pyruvate kinase (M-PyK) in the plasma was determined in 47 healthy adults and 26 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. The upper limits of M-PyK in the normal male and female were 1.1 and 1.4 ng/ml. The plasma M-PyK in HCC patients was significantly increased about 5 fold of the average normal level with a positive rate of about 95%. In 6 cases of subclinical small hepatocarcinoma and 7 cases of HCC with normal serum alpha-fetoprotein level, the plasma M-PyK was increased, whereas the plasma M-PyK levels were normal in acute or chronic hepatitis and the other benign diseases. After tumor resection, the plasma M-PyK returned to the normal value, but increased again in cases with recurrence, suggesting that the increased M-PyK in the plasma of HCC patients originates from M2-type PyK in HCC tissue. The plasma M2-PyK also increased in patients with carcinoma of the digestive tract, so M2-PyK may become a new marker of malignant tumors.


ABSTRACT Candida parapsilosis is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with increasing incidence in hospital settings worldwide; however, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms promoting its virulence and drug resistance. Bergin et al. systematically quantify the frequency and effect of copy number variation (CNV) across 170 diverse clinical and environmental isolates of C. parapsilosis (Bergin SA, Zhao F, Ryan AP, Müller CA, Nieduszynski CA, Zhai B, Rolling T, Hohl TM, Morio F, Scully J, Wolfe KH, Butler G, 2022, mBio, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01777-22). Using a combination of both short- and long-read whole genome sequencing techniques, they determine the structure and copy number of two CNVs that arose recurrently throughout the evolution of these isolates. Each CNV predominantly amplifies one coding sequence (ARR3 or RTA3); however, the amplitude and recombination breakpoints are variable across the isolates. Amplification of RTA3 correlates with drug resistance and deletion causes drug susceptibility. This study highlights the need for further research into the mechanisms and dynamics of CNV formation and the impact of these CNVs on virulence and drug resistance across diverse fungal pathogens.


The 2015 Schrems decision established that for an adequacy decision authorizing personal data transfers from the European Union (EU) to a third country, that third country has to have a level of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms 'essentially equivalent' to that in the EU. Since May 2018, the European Commission (Commission) has the exclusive competence not only to assess third countries for an adequacy decision in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) but also in relation to the Law Enforcement Directive (LED). However, so far, no LED adequacy decision has been adopted.
The absence of any LED adequacy decisions and the presence of GDPR adequacy decisions (the latest concerning Japan) invites a comparative analysis of adequacy decisions under both EU instruments, also to assess whether GDPR adequacy decisions could serve as orientation for the adequacy assessment under the LED as suggested by the Commission. Having conducted this comparison, I argue that actually LED adequacy decision would have to be properly separated from GDPR adequacy decisions, as even though they aim to achieve the same standard of essential equivalence, their system of protection for issues connected to the processing of personal data in a law enforcement context differs.
Adequacy decisions, law enforcement, LED, international personal data transfers, fundamental rights, standard of essential equivalence, GDPR


Objectives Perforation is the most serious complication associated with endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). We propose a new classification for the appearance and integrity of the muscularis propria (MP) after EMR including various extents of deep mural injury (DMI). Risk factors for these injuries were analysed. Design Endoscopic images and histological specimens of consecutive patients undergoing EMR of colonic laterally spreading lesions ≥20 mm at a large Australian tertiary referral endoscopy unit were retrospectively analysed using our new DMI classification system. DMI was graded according to MP injury (I/II intact MP without/with fibrosis, III target sign, IV/V obvious transmural perforation without/with contamination). Histological specimens were examined for included MP and patient outcomes were recorded. All type III–V DMI signs were clipped if possible, types I and II DMI were clipped at the endoscopists' discretion. Results EMR was performed in 911 lesions (mean size 37 mm) in 802 patients (male sex 51.4%, mean age 67 years). DMI signs were identified in 83 patients (10.3%). Type III–V DMI was identified in 24 patients (3.0%); clipping was successfully performed in all patients. A clinically significant perforation occurred in two patients (0.2%). Only one of the 59 type I/II cases experienced a delayed perforation. 85.5% of patients with DMI were discharged on the same day, all without sequelae. On multivariable analysis, type III–V DMI was associated with transverse colon location (OR 3.55, p=0.028), en bloc resection (OR 3.84, p=0.005) and high-grade dysplasia or submucosal invasive cancer (OR 2.97, p 0.014). Conclusions In this retrospective analysis, use of the new classification and management with clips appeared to be a safe approach. Advanced DMI types (III–V) occurred in 3.0% of patients and were associated with identifiable risk factors. Further prospective clinical studies should use this new classification. Trial registration number NCT01368289; results.


Agriculture is the means of livelihood for most rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order for small-scale farmers to meet the basic needs of their families and semi-large-scale farming for trading purposes, rural farmers seek to expand their output. To this end, the kind of input employed in the crop production process is very important. In terms of labour, most rural farmers employ their children or other family members and or members of the community where they use traditional farming tools. The use of energy and for that matter, electricity is very little. What happens when rural farmers have access to electricity? What happens if their homes and farms had a constant supply of electricity? Would the farmers spend more time on the farm knowing that they could increase their output and finish household tasks later in the evening when it gets dark because they have access to electricity? The purpose of this thesis is to test the impact of rural electrification on agricultural output. More precisely, I focus on rural household access to electricity on a macro level. I also try to draw a link between a country's institutional quality and the impact of electrification. I make use of data drawn from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Bank Development Indicators Aklin, S. P., & Urpelainen (2018) and the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, using date from 1990 to 2016. To do this, I employ a simple Cobb-Douglas production function approach where agricultural output is a function of labour, capital, electrification and other inputs such as rainfall, temperature and land. I later introduce a variable which measures the quality of institution for a country. The study concludes that rural electrification does have a positive effect on agricultural output; the interaction between electrification and institutions has a significant positive effect on agricultural output; and the efficiencies of labour and land also have a positive effect on agricultural output. For this reason, I suggest that governments and policymakers should focus on providing electricity to their rural communities to increase yield in agriculture.


In this article, I explore the questions why we think and how that works, and for that we need to go back to where it all began. We know that evolution is a process of adaptation, and if my assumptions about thoughts being quanta of moments of awareness within our sensory system, being observed by the dispassionate observer at the level of Mahat are correct, then there is not very much adaptation required for those moments in which we are aware of our thoughts to become what we call Mind. Earlier I noted that mind is always busy and therefore always occupied with one thought or another. Through evolution our sense of self, ego, would become a viewpoint attached to every thought, further reinforcing the idea that I am thinking and with it the notion of a mind.


This article describes the determination of the internal structure of heterogeneous nanoparticle systems including inverted core-shell (CdS core and CdSe shell) and alloyed (CdSeS) quantum dots using depth-resolved, variable-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A unique feature of this work is the combination of photoelectron spectroscopy performed at lower X-ray energies (400-700 eV), to achieve surface sensitivity, with bulk sensitive measurements at high photon energies (>2000 eV), thereby providing detailed information about the whole nanoparticle structure with a great accuracy. The use of high photon energies furthermore allows us to investigate nanoparticles much larger than those studied thus far. This capability is a consequence of the much-increased mean free path of the photoelectron achieved at high excitation energies. Our results show that the actual structures of the synthesized nanoparticles are considerably different from the nominal, targeted structures, which can be post facto rationalized in terms of the reactivity of different constituents.


Long before the tragic events of September 2001, Afghanistan presented one of the rare cases of U.S.-Russia active bilateral cooperation on a regional security problem. This intensifying cooperation on Afghanistan ranked as a notable exception in the general context of troubled relations between the two states in key issue areas ranging from strategic arms control to human rights to regional conflict management, especially in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and in the post-Soviet space, where the list of disagreements sometimes seemed to be even broader than during the Cold War. The forms of U.S.Russia cooperation on Afghanistan were varied: including pressure to force the Taliban, the country's de facto government, to change its policies on terrorism and narcotics; UN sanctions; and a bilateral working group with a focus on terrorist threats coming from Afghanistan. Even prior to September 2001 and the political and military aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States, this atypical cooperation on a regional security problem had provoked both political and academic interest as to the factors that were wielding major influences on this process.


The design and optimization of a high-speed low-voltage CMOS flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are presented. The optimization procedures used during the design give the needed specifications of the different building blocks. Also, an extensive description of the implemented digital error correction technique is described. The used analog power supply is only 1.8 V. The maximum sampling speed is 1.3 GHz. The signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio (SNDR) at 133 kHz is 33.2 dB, and the SNDR at 500 MHz is 32 dB. The total power consumption of the converter at full speed is 600 mW and the total active area is only 0.13 mm/sup 2/. The ADC is implemented in a 0.25-/spl mu/m pure digital CMOS technology.


The importance of 'Renaissance Cultural Crossroads' lies in its appreciation and promotion of the multi-faceted reach of translation in Britain from the arrival of printing until the outbreak of the civil war, highlighting the impressive number and wide variety of works translated.


Recent regulatory incentives (E911) and numerous location-based services and applications currently require accurate urban and indoor positioning ? challenging environments for GNSSes. This article investigates a means for enhancing positioning through the use of signals-of-opportunity based on the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation. The authors describe the use of digital video broadcast-terrestrial signals to develop and test a pseudorange estimation method employing real signals and presents testing results that confirm previously identified theoretical results.


Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a heterogeneous clonal disorder of haematopoietic cells that primarily affects the elderly. Previously, our laboratory identified y-catenin as significantly overexpressed in AML. y-Catenin shares close structural and functional homology with the more intensively studied /3-catenin. Both catenins have dual roles in cell adhesion complexes and in transcription. Their transcriptional role is regulated by Wnt signalling which is critical for normal development and is one of the most frequently dysregulated processes in AML. In spite of this, little is known regarding the specific role of y-catenin in normal haematopoiesis or AML pathology. This study devised an intracellular flow cytometric staining assay to characterise the expression of y-catenin in normal haematopoietic subsets. y-Catenin exhibited a similar expression profile to /3-catenin. Expression was relatively high in haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSC/HPC) and showed increased expression in myeloid differentiated cells (granulocytes and monocytes) while expression was lower in lymphoid cells and undetectable in red blood cells. Studies of subcellular distribution by confocal imaging showed reciprocal localisation of catenins in CD34+ cells, with /3-catenin predominantly nuclear translocated and y-catenin nuclear excluded. Conversely, in granulocytic and monocytic cells nuclear y-catenin levels were relatively high whilst nuclear /3-catenin levels were reduced. A small subset of the CD14+ monocyte population exhibited heavily nuclear translocated y-catenin. Subsequent knock-down studies of y-catenin showed this protein to be required for normal haematopoietic development in vitro, evidenced by the inhibition of macrophage differentiation and apparent reprogramming of committed monocyte progenitors for granulocytic development. In AML patients, y- catenin mRNA expression conferred a reduced complete remission rate arising from resistant disease, however discordance was found between mRNA and protein level, implying post-translational control of y-catenin expression in AML. In primary AML blasts (undifferentiated) y-catenin was aberrantly localised to the nucleus suggesting a transcriptional role in AML pathology. A correlation was identified between y- and (3-catenin protein expression in primary AML blasts and an association between nuclear levels of these proteins. To determine whether this association was causal, y-catenin was ectopically expressed in normal human CD34+ haematopoietic progenitor cells but had no significant influence on /3-catenin expression or localisation even following subsequent differentiation. In contrast, overexpression of y-catenin in leukaemic cell lines stabilised /3-catenin protein and promoted its translocation to the nucleus suggesting that the influence of y-catenin on /5-catenin is a feature of leukaemic cells but not normal cells. Phenotypically, overexpression of y-catenin had little effect on normal progenitor cells but was able to block agonist-induced differentiation of AML cell lines, probably via stabilisation of jS-catenin. In summary, this study indicates a role for y-catenin in the regulation of normal haematopoietic development and that its nuclear translocation is strictly regulated independently of /3-catenin in normal haematopoiesis. In leukaemic cells, however, this control is dysfunctional allowing y-catenin to promote the stabilisation and translocation of /3-catenin. This relationship may represent a pathological mechanism active in AML blasts to block myeloid differentiation and promote a leukaemic phenotype.