The This paper presents a detailed overview of the development and present situation within positive psychology, a trend that has recently emerged in psychology. The appearance of this trend was determined by the post-war skew in the psychological knowledge: the quantity of studies in negative emotions was significantly prevailed overgreater than those studies of positive ones. The author demarcates the stages in development of this trend and discusses its problems, challenges, and topics presently under debate, differentiates positive and humanistic psychology, and considers the three-level model of positive life by M. Seligman. Particular attention is given to debunking some of the myths that surround positive psychology. The author shows the dynamics of the way positive human functioning has been conceptualized, gradually moving from the superficial to the profound, from one-sided to integral and dialectic ways. One of the main challenges of this movement is seen as forming a metapsychological perspective on the basis of synthesis of positive and negative aspects of human experience and functioning. Positive psychology is viewed as a proving ground for new approaches in general psychology that correspond to the tasks and challenges of the new century. The article reproduces the pPoints of view of various researchers about major breakthroughs in, and the limitations of, positive psychology are reproduced. In conclusion, the author notes that this trend did not and does not long seek to oppose the rest of psychology and all the morenor to devalue it, was never aimed intended to range positive phenomena against negative ones, and never craved to "sell happiness". On the contrary, positive psychology aims to consolidate various fields of psychology, continues continuing to move from the surface to the depths, trying to remain just a science.


For structural monitoring applications, the use of remotely deployable Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) inspection platforms offer many advantages, including improved accessibility, greater safety and reduced cost, when compared to traditional manual inspection techniques. The use of such platforms, previously reported by researchers at the University Strathclyde facilitates the potential for rapid scanning of large areas and volumes in hazardous locations. A common problem for both manual and remote deployment approaches lies in the intrinsic stand-off and surface coupling issues of typical NDE probes. The associated complications of these requirements are obviously significantly exacerbated when considering aerial based remote inspection and deployment, resulting in simple visual techniques being the preferred sensor payload. Researchers at Bristol Robotics Laboratory have developed biomimetic tactile sensors modelled on the facial whiskers (vibrissae) of animals such as rats and mice, with the latest sensors actively sweeping their tips across the surface in a back and forth motion. The current work reports on the design and performance of an aerial inspection platform and the suitability of tactile whisking sensors to aerial based surface monitoring applications.


The isoantibodies anti-A and anti-B which are described differ in several respects from those occurring in normal human serum. This type of antibody has first been observed in the serum of an Rh negative woman who exhibited a history of erythroblastosis. Her husband belonged to the subtype Rh1 and to the blood group A. The patient's serum completely neutralized with A and B substances still agglutinated strongly the husband's cells provided normal human serum replaced physiological saline solution as a diluent for all dilutions. The impression was thus created that an Rh blocking antibody was responsible for the agglutination observed. It could be shown, however, that the abnormal antibody present in this patient's serum was not an Rh antibody at all but instead, an antibody directed against the A property. This type of anti-A antibody resembles the Rh blocking antibody in many respects. It becomes manifest only if undiluted human serum is used as a diluent. Surprisingly enough this antibody agglutinated cells of group A, although the amount of AB substances added to the serum was sufficient to neutralize completely the isoagglutinin anti-A under normal conditions in which saline solution is used as a diluent. This anti-A antibody therefore cannot be neutralized as easily as the normal isoagglutinin anti-A. For its neutralization much larger amounts of the blood group specific substances are apparently necessary. The patient's serum fixed complement when mixed with material containing water soluble A substance, in contrast to the normal isoantibody anti-A which failed to do so. The titer of isoantibodies found in the patient's serum upon titration in saline solution was not extensively high and, as a matter of fact, was average. It is therefore felt that an extremely high titer is neither a necessary requirement nor proof of isoimmunization toward the A and B factors. Another interesting characteristic of the peculiar anti-A antibody occurring in our patient's serum was the fact that it was essentially an anti-A1 antibody. The difference in agglutination between A1 and A2 cells respectively becomes manifest if normal serum is used as a diluent instead of saline solution. This difference becomes even more marked after neutralization of the patient's serum with A and B substances.

During the course of Mrs. Bong's pregnancy the special anti-A antibody described did not increase but rather decreased in strength. However, even after delivery the antibody was demonstrable for at least several weeks although we had no opportunity to examine the patient's serum further. That one must be very careful in contributing any pathological significance to isoantibodies anti-A or anti-B, even of the type described, is evident from the fact that the patient was delivered of a perfectly normal baby belonging to the blood group O and being Rh negative. Whether the difficulties experienced by the patient in previous pregnancies were due to sensitization toward the Rh factor or to the A factor cannot be decided.

Antibodies anti-A and anti-B of the type reported were also found in the sera of patients who had received large amounts of pooled plasma or O blood conditioned with A and B specific substances. Again the anti-A antibody occurring in the serum of these patients was mainly directed against the A1 property. Under the experimental conditions described in this paper, such a serum can be used for the differential diagnosis of the subgroups A1 and A2 and constitutes a sensitive reagent for the recognition of the differences occurring within the A factor. With the aid of such a serum only 10 per cent of A cells were found to belong to subgroup A2, 75 per cent to A1, and 15 per cent were considered to be of the intermediate type. No subgroups were found so far in human cells of group B.


We discuss proving correctness and completeness of definite clause logic programs. We propose a method for proving completeness, while for proving correctness we employ a method that should be well known but is often neglected. Also, we show how to prove completeness and correctness in the presence of SLD-tree pruning, and point out that approximate specifications simplify specifications and proofs. We compare the proof methods to declarative diagnosis (algorithmic debugging), showing that approximate specifications eliminate a major drawback of the latter. We argue that our proof methods reflect natural declarative thinking about programs, and that they can be used, formally or informally, in everyday programming.


Rapid digital transformations and the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly changed the future of work. Higher cognitive skills, digital competence, and socio-emotional intelligence have become important more than ever. To sustain the relevance of physics education, it is imperative to align what is being learned to what is needed in the future. This presentation discusses indicators of durable physics competencies. It talks about specific pedagogies and assessments that teachers can adopt to strengthen learners' competencies for the future.


In this research report, algorithms for automatic real-time detection of FISH images of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) cases were explored. The use of a MATLAB environment was adopted for development. Two techniques, the first using watershed segmentation and the other using an existing colour filter, were implemented. Both aimed to segment the required CML colour image using different colour filtering techniques in order to analyse the images. The project was extended by combining the strengths of the two to develop an overall algorithm. This final designed prototype was tested on 100 images. For the purpose of this study, the problem was simplified by excluding superimposed chromosomes. The results were compared to the diagnosis made by a trained cytogeneticist operating a currently installed professional system, which was treated as the reference method. The results on this limited dataset showed a sensitivity of 0.86 and a specificity of 0.97. This study suggests that an image processing approach of the type developed in this project may be feasible. However this would need to be refined and developed further to allow, for example, its extension to include causes of false positives that were excluded for the purpose of this study. Suggestions for enhancements and future developments which could approach the performance of existing systems and achieve the required performance for diagnostic use, are discussed in light of these findings.


This paper presents a novel incremental learning algorithm for pedestrian motion prediction, with the ability to improve the learned model over time when data is incrementally available. In this setup, trajectories are modeled as simple segments called motion primitives. Transitions between motion primitives are modeled as Gaussian Processes. When new data is available, the motion primitives learned from the new data are compared with the previous ones by measuring the inner product of the motion primitive vectors. Similar motion primitives and transitions are fused and novel motion primitives are added to capture newly observed behaviors. The proposed approach is tested and compared with other baselines in intersection scenarios where the data is incrementally available either from a single intersection or from multiple intersections with different geometries. In both cases, our method incrementally learns motion patterns and outperforms the offline learning approach in terms of prediction errors. The results also show that the model size in our algorithm grows at a much lower rate than standard incremental learning, where newly learned motion primitives and transitions are simply accumulated over time.


The present study is aimed to follow the start-up in the Italian and European framework of an American biotechnology for environmental decontamination and it focused on field testing stage for air treatment application, in parallel with a bench/pilot scale application on industrial wastewater treatment.
The biotechnology applied is based on immobilized cell bioreactors, where air is ventilated and water is recirculated to provide the optimal conditions for the development of a mixed bacteria consortium, growing on contaminants captured from contaminated media (i.e. air or wastewater).
The technology proposed has been studied from different perspectives, i.e. emission risk, overall sustainability and remediation performance.
Several pilot installations have been accomplished for air treatment application, in different areas of interest. In particular, in the healthcare sector (hemodialysis unit, operatory room, intensive care unit and anatomo-pathological laboratory), where the protection against microbial and chemical agents is perceived as a necessity, both for operators and patients, the biotechnology displayed remarkable results, particularly on VOCs and bacterial count.
In order to try and address one of the most challenging issue for air treatment, i.e. odor containment, two major pilot applications have been performed, on waste and wastewater treatment plant, with promising, but still unsteady results.
A new opportunity for application was envisaged in radioactivity contaminated indoor environments and a preliminary impact assessment has been outlined, based on results obtained in different fields.
For wastewater treatment, a single pilot scale plant was implemented and silk manufacturing effluent was object of the experimental remediation attempted. In a cost-effective perspective, the implementation of this system appears to be suitable for several solutions, i.e. within the framework of a multi-stage treatment process or as independent and easily implementable wastewater technology for cottage-scale manufacturing or small communities.


This paper reports a systematic investigation of high speed grinding of hard-to-machining of titanium alloys. The ground surfaces were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, and the effects of different grinding parameters on roughness were discussed. A numerical model was established to predict surface roughness based on the evolutionary neural network optimized by Genetic Algorithm (GA). The modeled results were in good agreement with the experimental results.


Analyzing the challenges and the future scenario of Family Medicine is a priority to address challenges such as the reduction of benefits granted by social security; to adapt their practice to the changing health profile; and to curb demand for specialized services and contain the high costs of care in the second and third level. The program is aimed at three professional roles: medical care, research, and education. It is imperative review these in the light of changing demographic conditions, the type of health needs arising from new social determinants, the public expectations for greater participation in their care, and the evolution of the health system itself with the advancement of technology and a variety of organizational options with frequently limited resources. For primary care, as the core of a health system that covers principles of equity, solidarity, universality, participation, decentralization, and intra- and inter-sectorial coordination, it is necessary to put at the center of the primary care team the family doctor and not an administrator, who plays an important role in supporting the care team, but can not take the lead.


Metabolic networks supply the energy and building blocks for cell growth and maintenance. Cells continuously rewire their metabolic networks in response to changes in environmental conditions to sustain fitness. Studies of the systemic properties of metabolic networks give insight into metabolic plasticity and robustness, and the ability of organisms to cope with different environments. Constraint‐based stoichiometric modeling of metabolic networks has become an indispensable tool for such studies. Herein, we review the basic theoretical underpinnings of constraint‐based stoichiometric modeling of metabolic networks. Basic concepts, such as stoichiometry, chemical moiety conservation, flux modes, flux balance analysis, and flux solution spaces, are explained with simple, illustrative examples. We emphasize the mathematical definitions and their network topological interpretations.


Although research from a developmental/psychological perspective indicates that many children do not have a scientific understanding of living things, even by the age of 10 years, little research has been conducted about how students learn this science topic in the classroom. This exploratory research used a case-study design and qualitative data-collection methods to investigate the process of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectives when Year 1 (5- and 6-year-old) students were learning about living things. Most students were found to think about living things with either stable, nonscientific or stable, scientific framework theories. Transitional phases of understanding also were identified. Patterns of conceptual change observed over the 5-week period of instruction included theory change and belief revision as well as reversals in beliefs. The predominant pattern of learning, however, was the assimilation of facts and information into the students' preferred framework theory. The social milieu of the classroom context exposed students' scientific and nonscientific beliefs that influenced other individuals in a piecemeal fashion. Children with nonscientific theories of living things were identified as being least able to benefit from socially constructed, scientific knowledge; hence, recommendations are made for teaching that focuses on conceptual change strategies rather than knowledge enrichment. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 449–480, 2004


We present here the first synthesis of organometallic complexes derived from the nonsteroidal antiandrogen nilutamide, bearing a ferrocenyl substituent at position N(1) or at C(5) of the hydantoin ring; for comparison, we also describe the C(5) p-anisyl organic analogue. All of these complexes retain a modest affinity for the androgen receptor. The N-substituted complexes show a weak or moderate antiproliferative effect (IC 50 around 68 microM) on hormone-dependent and -independent prostate cancer cells, while the C(5)-substituted compounds exhibit toxicity levels 10 times higher (IC 50 around 5.4 microM). This strong antiproliferative effect is probably due to a structural effect linked to the aromatic character of the ferrocene rather than to its organometallic feature. In addition, it seems connected to a cytotoxic effect rather than an antihormonal one. These results open the way toward a new family of molecules that are active against both hormone-dependent and hormone-independent prostate cancer cells.


Self –organized InAs quantum wires (QWRs) were fabricated on the step edges of GaAs (331)A surface by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The atomic force microscopy (AFM) results show that the lateral size of InAs QWRs is 90 nm while the size along the step lines increasing with the thicknesses of InAs layers, amounting to 1100nm. The height of InAs QWRs varies from 7.9nm to 13nm. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements on the two samples were explored and an obvious PL peak around 967 nm was observed at 25 K. The PL intensity decreases as the temperature increases, and it will vanish above 60 K. However, the QWR sample with thicker InAs layer emits a long emission of 1100 nm -1400 nm as the temperature rises above 50 K, and a longer emission of 1400-1600nm as the temperature approaches to 100 K. We considered that the complex photoluminescence spectra were originated from the multiple energy steps. The carrier migration among the different QWRs structures intensified with temperature, and the chance rate from the higher energy levels to the lower ones which generated a stronger emission of long wavelength. The carrier dynamics of QWR samples were measured by using time resolved PL (TRPL) spectra from 25 K to 100 K. The PL decay time in the QWR structure at longer emission was found to be independent of the temperature as T<100 K, showing a typical dynamical behavior of the localized excitons.


Transmission and reflection of Gaussian beams from a general anisotropic multilayer structure are investigated. The principal axes of the layers are oriented arbitrarily with respect to each other and with respect to a fixed reference coordinate system. The Gaussian beam is assumed to have an arbitrary angle of incidence and linear polarization orientation. Two numerical examples are presented: a single slab of uniaxial calcite and a multilayer structure of biaxial 4-(N, N-dimethylamino)-3-acet amidonitrobenzene with antireflection coatings on the input and output faces. Results show the distortions of the beam caused by the anisotropy of the structure.


This paper proposes an approach to an ANN-based temperature controller design for a plastic injection moulding system. This design approach is applied to the development of a controller based on a combination of a classical ANN and integrator. The controller provides a fast temperature response and zero steady-state error for three typical heaters (bar, nozzle, and cartridge) for a plastic moulding system. The simulation results in Matlab Simulink software and in comparison to an industrial PID regulator have shown the advantages of the controller, such as significantly less overshoot and faster transient (compared to PID with autotuning) for all examined heaters. In order to verify the proposed approach, the designed ANN controller was implemented and tested using an experimental setup based on an STM32 board.


Preferred orientation of AlN film has been changed from random to c-axis textured by inserting the ultra-thin Pt/AlN underlayer. The ultra-thin Pt underlayer also exhibits the same effect on the preferred orientation control of AlN film. According to intensity distributions of diffracted X-ray collected as the function of 2θ and ψ on these films, it is clearly shown that c-axis of AlN is altered from titled to the surface normal. AlN film and AlN films with underlayers demonstrate tensile stress, and it can be reduced by inserting underlayers. The effects of underlayers on the development of the preferred orientation and the reduction of stresses are similar to that of decreasing sputtering gas pressure.


Digital pen technology has allowed for the easy transfer of pen data from paper to the computer. However, linking handwritten content with the digital world remains a hard problem as it requires the translation of unstructured and highly personal vocabularies into structured ones that computers can easily understand and process. Automatic recognition can help to this direction, but as it is not always reliable, solutions require the active cooperation between users and recognition algorithms. This work examines the use of portable touch-screen devices in connection with pen and paper to help users direct and refine the interpretation of their strokes on paper. We explore four techniques of bi-manual interaction that combine touch and pen-writing, where user attention is divided between the original strokes on paper and their interpretation by the electronic device. We demonstrate the techniques through a mobile interface for writing music that complements the automatic recognition with interactive user-driven interpretation. An experiment evaluates the four techniques and provides insights about their strengths and limitations.


An assignment of wait-free consensus numbers to object types results in a wait-free hierarchy. Herlihy was the rst to propose such a hierarchy, but Jayanti noted that Her-lihy's hierarchy was not robust. Jayanti posed as open questions the robustness of a hierarchy he deened and the existence of a robust, wait-free hierarchy. In this paper, we examine a number of object parameters that may impact on a hierarchy's robustness. In addition, we study a subset of Jayanti's hierarchy introduced by Afek, Weisberger, and Weisman called common2 and extend this subset to include the seemingly powerful 2-bounded peek-queue. Finally, we introduce a property called commonness and examine its applications to wait-free hierarchies and their robustness.


An examination of the linkages between the emerging stock markets in Warsaw and Budapest and the established markets in Frankfurt and the U.S. By using a four-variable asymmetric GARCH-BEKK model, we find evidence of return and volatility spillovers from the developed to the emerging markets. However, as the estimated time-varying conditional co-variances and the variance decompositions indicate limited interactions among the markets, the emerging markets are weakly linked to the developed markets. The implication is that foreign investors will benefit from the reduction of risk by adding the stocks in the emerging markets to their investment portfolio.


In this paper, we investigate the usefulness of high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery for classification of urban and suburban areas and present a fuzzy logic methodology to improve classification accuracy. Panchromatic and multispectral IKONOS image datasets are analyzed for two urban locations in this study. Both multispectral and pan-sharpened multispectral images are first classified using a traditional maximum-likelihood approach. Maximum-likelihood classification accuracies between 79% to 87% were achieved with significant misclassification error between the spectrally similar Road and Building urban land cover types. A number of different texture measures were investigated, and a length-width contextual measure is developed. These spatial measures were used to increase the discrimination between spectrally similar classes, thereby yielding higher accuracy urban land cover maps. Finally, a hierarchical fuzzy classification approach that makes use of both spectral and spatial information is presented. This technique is shown to increase the discrimination between spectrally similar urban land cover classes and results in classification accuracies that are 8% to 11% larger than those from the traditional maximum-likelihood approach.


Cybersecurity intrusions aimed at extracting trade secrets are an unfortunate feature of the 21st century business landscape. In response, many companies have made cybersecurity a top priority, and their networks and systems have become much more secure as a result.However, while improving security is a critical goal, it should not be the only goal. Companies also need to give attention to what might be called corporate cybersecurity elephant in the room: How does the inevitability that their networks will sometimes be compromised impact best practices for handling trade secrets despite those breaches? This paper aims to provide some answers to that question.As discussed herein, companies should 1) "segment" not only their networks but also the trade secret information on those networks, thereby limiting the impact of any single cybersecurity breach, 2) avoid overreliance on NDAs, since over-disclosure can lead to increased exposure to cyber-enabled trade secret theft, 3) act more quickly on patentable inventions in light of recent changes to U.S. patent law that can increase the incentives driving trade secret theft, 4) ensure that cybersecurity considerations are be part of patent/trade secret decisions, and 5) be aware of — and, as appropriate, take advantage of — new changes to U.S. patent law the increase the potential benefits of early commercial use of trade secrets.


The DNA content of 12 small hepatocellular carcinomas (SHCC, less than 3 cm in diameter) and 26 large hepatocellular carcinomas (LHCC) was quantitatively determined by means of TV-image analysis. The results showed that 8 patients (66.7%) with SHCC had DNA stem lines in diploid (2C), and 24 (92.3%) with LHCC had DNA stem lines in aneuploid (AN) (P less than 0.01). The incidences of tumor capsule breaking and cancerous thrombosis were 16% and 20% respectively in SHCC, significantly lower than 84% and 80% in LHCC (P less than 0.01). The 5-year survival rate was 75% in patients with SHCC after operation, much higher than 46.2% in patients with LHCC. No relations were found between DNA content, tumor size, pathological grading and serum AFP values of HCC. The results suggest that SHCC less than 3 cm in diameter reflects the early changes of biological characteristics; HCC of 3 cm in size may be at an important period when the changes of DNA stem lines and biological characteristics would occur; SHCC is possible to be determined by serum AFP values; and that the survival rate of the patients can be further improved by early finding and treatment of SHCC less than 3 cm in diameter.


In this study we tested relations among personality characteristics, social network properties, and perceived social support both concurrently and prospectively. A sample of 294 men in treatment at a Department of Veterans Affairs Alcohol Treatment Unit was assessed during treatment and 3 months after discharge. Results of the cross-sectional structural equation analyses indicated that the personality characteristics of extraversion and neuroticism were related to both social network properties and perceived social support. Characteristics of the alcoholic's social network were also related to perceived availability of support. Longitudinal analyses of perceived social support after treatment indicated that two social network properties (size of the network and the proportion of confidants) were predictive net of initial levels of social support. Extraversion and neuroticism were found to be indirectly related to perceived social support at Time 2 through their effects on social network properties and perceived social support during treatment. Implications of these findings for models of the nature and determinants of perceived social support are discussed.


The absence of alloantibodies is a feature of transplantation tolerance. Although the lack of T cell help has been evoked to explain this absence, herein we provide evidence for B cell-intrinsic tolerance mechanisms. Using a murine model of heart tolerance, we showed that alloreactive B cells were not deleted but rapidly lost their ability to differentiate into germinal center B cells and secrete donor-specific antibodies. We inferred that tolerant alloreactive B cells retained their ability to sense alloantigen because they continued to drive T cell maturation into CXCR5+PD-1+ T follicular helper cells. Unexpectedly, dysfunctional alloreactive B cells acquired the ability to inhibit antibody production by new naive B cells in an antigen-specific manner. Thus, tolerant alloreactive B cells contribute to transplantation tolerance by foregoing germinal center responses while retaining their ability to function as antigen-presenting cells and by actively suppressing de novo alloreactive B cell responses.


Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinicoradiological entity presented with different symptoms such as visual disturbances, headaches, seizures, severe hypertension and altered mental status. It has been recognized in a different pathological conditions, although preeclampsia/eclampsia is the most common cause of PRES. The pathogenesis of PRES is still not fully understood, but it seems that failure of cerebrovascular autoregulation causing vasogenic edema, cerebral vasoconstriction, and disruption of the blood brain barrier plays an important role. Cortical blindness, hypertensive retinopathy, serous retinal detachment (SRD), central retinal artery and vein occlusions, retinal or vitreous hemorrhages, anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) and Purtscher's retinopathy are ophthalmic disorders that may occur in PRES associated with preeclampsia. Among these, cortical blindness is the best documented complication of preeclampsia. Magnet resonance imaging (MRI) is a gold standard to establish the diagnosis of PRES because clinical findings are not sufficiently specific. Typically, there are bilateral cortical occipital lesions with hyperdensity on T2-weighted MRI. Blindness due to occipital lesions is reversible and the vision loss is usually regained within 4 h to 8 days.


: The number of revision total hip arthroplasties performed on an annual basis continue to increase and are a direct and consequent result of the ever increasing number of primary total hip arthroplasties. The operative procedure is extremely demanding and complex, especially with respect to removal of the polymethylmethacrylate. This article reviews current available techniques and instrumentation for removal of polymethylmethacrylate. It is incumbent upon the orthopedic surgeon to determine which of these techniques and instruments can be used to facilitate removal of the polymethylmethacrylate while maximally preserving bone stock.


Summary: This research represents the first age-based demographic assessment of pearl perch, Glaucosoma scapulare (Ramsay, 1881), a highly valued species endemic to coastal waters off central eastern Australia. The study was conducted across the species' distribution that encompasses two state jurisdictions (Queensland in the north and New South Wales in the south) using data collected approximately 10 years apart in each state. Estimates of age were made by counting annuli (validated using marginal increment ratios) in sectioned sagittal otoliths. The maximum estimated age was 19 years. Pearl perch attained approx. 12 cm fork length (FL) after one year, 21 cm FL after 2 years and 29 cm FL after 3 years. Fish from the southern end of the species' distribution grew significantly more slowly than those from the northern part of its range. Commercial landings in the north were characterized by greater proportions of larger (>40 cm FL) and older (>6 years) fish than those in the south, with landings mainly of fish between 3 and 6 years of age. The observed variations in age-based demographics of pearl perch highlight the need for a better understanding of patterns of movement and reproduction in developing a model of population dynamics and life-history for this important species. There is a clear need for further, concurrent, age-based studies on pearl perch in the northern and southern parts of its distribution to support the conclusions of the present study based on data collected a decade apart. © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In recent years, with the rapid development of African economies, the 'new colonialism' tag on China's aid to Africa has been frequently reported in media. It has evoked continuous debates among scholars and critics on this issue. China's substantial aid and investments in Africa is actually for extracting natural resources to enrich China itself. Journalists have warned about the danger of the economic empire China is now building in Africa. The critics see China's aid only as a tool for intentionally further reaping the benefits of resource rich Africa. This paper examines a number of facts about China's moves in Africa and how it actually helps the development of Africa over the years by direct aid, credit lines and reasonable contracts. Because of the help from China, Africa has made immense progress in the area of politics, trade and economy, public health, culture, technology and education. Contrary to some of the media opinion, China shows no sign of serving just its own national interest and instead, it makes efforts to help create a win-win cooperation tie on Sino-African relationship. Problems emerging from the mutual cooperation and recommendations will also be discussed. Keywords: Chinese business, China politics, African development, Sino-African relatioship FRIENDLY COOPERATIVE RELATIONS OVER THE 50 YEARS The History of Cooperation China and Africa have a long history of trade relations which could date back to the days of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Chinese admiral Zheng He and his fleet visited the east coast of Africa three times. Since 1949, the importance of establishing and developing friendly relations with African countries was emphasized in the Chinese foreign policy. Sharing similar historical experience and facing similar tasks and problems, China and Africa have all along sympathized and supported with each other in the struggle for national liberation and formed a solid foundation in mutual cooperative relations. In 1956, there was establishment of diplomatic relations via a bilateral trade agreement with Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Morocco and Sudan. This marked the forming of formal ties that China has created with African countries and the beginning of China's aid to Africa. The Wide-Range Cooperation In the economic field, China is now actively engaging with 54 African countries on trading, investment, lending money and providing aid, covering the areas of transportation, infrastructure, agriculture, education, health and technical guidance, of which 800 projects have already been completed by 2000. Billions of dollars from China have been poured in as aid and loans for upgrading roads, ports, railways, telephone lines, power stations and other key infrastructure across Africa. This has greatly boosted local economies and infrastructure, created jobs and improved local people's living conditions. Founded in 2007 and as an equity fund dedicated to supporting Chinese investors in Africa -the China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) has granted six investment projects in Africa involving more than $90 million since 2008. At the same time, the Chinese government encourages Chinese enterprises to establish businesses and enlarge investment in Africa and this winwin cooperation mode has also been widely welcomed among African countries. There's a great need to expand field of operations and achieve mutual development for the strong complementary between the two sides-Africa has abundant resources while China has technology and development experience. In addition, closer political ties have been created between China and Africa. Frequent high-level exchanges of visits and close political dialogue have been conducted in various forms over the past 50 years. For over 20 years, African countries have been the top priority and first destination for Chinese foreign ministers visits at the beginning of every year. Between April 2006 and February 2007, the president and premier from China paid visits to 20 African counties in total and 49 highlevel delegations from African governments were present in the 2007 FOCAC summit in Beijing. …


Abstract Electro-conductive (EC) yarns can be woven into a hybrid fabric to enable electrical current to flow through the fabric from one component A to another component B. These hybrid fabrics form the bases of woven e-textiles. However, at the crossing point of an EC yarn in warp and in weft direction, there is a contact resistance and thus generation of heat may occur in this area. Both phenomena are inseparable: if the contact resistance in the EC contact increases, the generated heat will increase as well. Predicting this electrical and thermal behavior of EC contacts in hybrid woven fabrics with stainless steel yarns is possible with a mathematical model based on the behavior of a metal oxide varistor (MOV). This paper will discuss in detail how this can be achieved.


The importance of number sense lies in its relationship with mathematical
proficiency. Consequently, number sense is increasingly emphasised in
curriculum documentation related to mathematics. The Primary School
Curriculum: Mathematics (Government of Ireland, 1999b) is no exception.
It implicitly stresses the importance of number sense and draws teachers'
attention to a range of key aspects. My study is premised on the belief that
young children's number sense is developed as a result of their everyday
experiences with numbers, and these experiences form the basis on which
further development of number sense, both in and out of school, takes place.
Two questions are investigated: What number sense do young children
demonstrate on entry to school?; What is the congruence between young
children's number sense and the curriculum for the first year of primary
school?
The first question is explored through individual experience-based flexible,
focused interviews with fourteen children (eight boys and six girls) early in
their first term at primary school. The age-range of the children was 4 years,
1 month to 5 years, 1 month. The second question is addressed by means of
an analysis of relevant curriculum documentation and then linking that
analysis to the data analysis.
A framework for exploring number sense in young children was developed.
This included four aspects: Pleasure and interest in number; Understandings
of the purposes of number; Quantitative thinking; and
Awareness/Understanding of numerals.
Affective issues emerged as centrally important in the development of
children's number sense. Counting purposes were most transparent for
children, with generic, communicative and label purposes also identified by
them. There were striking differences in the ways in which girls and boys
constructed their metacognitive framework in relation to number. Children's
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Elizabeth Dunphy R 5148637
responses to quantification tasks provided interesting insights into how
children perceived such tasks. The process of estimation appears to be
challenging for many four-year-old children.
A number of areas of omission were identified in the teacher guidelines that
accompany the curriculum documents. Implications were drawn with
respect to how aspects of children's number sense, for example estimation,
are developed at school. Implications for teacher education are also
discussed.


Since haemoglobins of all animal species have the same haem group, differences in their properties, including oxygen affinity, electrophoretic mobility and pH sensitivity, must result from the interaction of the prosthetic group with specific amino-acid residues in the primary structure. For this reason, fish globins have been the subject of extensive studies in recent years, not only for their structural characteristics, but also because they offer the possibility to investigate the evolutionary history of these ancient molecules in marine and freshwater species living in a great variety of environmental conditions. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the structure, function and phylogeny of haemoglobins of notothenioid fishes. On the basis of crystallographic analysis, the evolution of the Root effect is analysed. Adaptation of the oxygen transport system in notothenioids seems to be based on evolutionary changes, involving levels of biological organization higher than the structure of haemoglobin. These include changes in the rate of haemoglobin synthesis or in regulation by allosteric effectors, which affect the amount of oxygen transported in blood. These factors are thought to be more important for short-term response to environmental challenges than previously believed.


We recently showed that substrate contact sites in living fibroblasts are specifically targeted by microtubules (Kaverina, I., K. Rottner, and J.V. Small. 1998. J. Cell Biol. 142:181–190). Evidence is now provided that microtubule contact targeting plays a role in the modulation of substrate contact dynamics. The results are derived from spreading and polarized goldfish fibroblasts in which microtubules and contact sites were simultaneously visualized using proteins conjugated with Cy-3, rhodamine, or green fluorescent protein. For cells allowed to spread in the presence of nocodazole the turnover of contacts was retarded, as compared with controls and adhesions that were retained under the cell body were dissociated after microtubule reassembly. In polarized cells, small focal complexes were found at the protruding cell front and larger adhesions, corresponding to focal adhesions, at the retracting flanks and rear. At retracting edges, multiple microtubule contact targeting preceded contact release and cell edge retraction. The same effect could be observed in spread cells, in which microtubules were allowed to reassemble after local disassembly by the application of nocodazole to one cell edge. At the protruding front of polarized cells, focal complexes were also targeted and as a result remained either unchanged in size or, more rarely, were disassembled. Conversely, when contact targeting at the cell front was prevented by freezing microtubule growth with 20 nM taxol and protrusion stimulated by the injection of constitutively active Rac, peripheral focal complexes became abnormally enlarged. We further found that the local application of inhibitors of myosin contractility to cell edges bearing focal adhesions induced the same contact dissociation and edge retraction as observed after microtubule targeting. Our data are consistent with a mechanism whereby microtubules deliver localized doses of relaxing signals to contact sites to retard or reverse their development. We propose that it is via this route that microtubules exert their well-established control on cell polarity.


A theoretical study of the electromechanical transient after switch-on at standstill of an induction motor with rotor asymmetry is carried out. Purpose of this study is to assess the influence of the motor parameters on the amplitude and the duration of the electrical and the mechanical transient. Subsequently the influence of the transient characteristics as well as of the applied current time-frequency analysis technique on the detectability of the rotor asymmetries is examined.


Nowadays modern organizations move in an incredible speed and have to be flexible and adaptable to constantly changing circumstances. Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) have been proved to be one of the means to handle this challenge. While it is said that GVTs bestow an organization with flexibility and enhanced creativity, research proves that the managing of these teams is quite challenging. The modern work stress factor time pressure is said to be omnipresent in nowadays organizations and therefore undoubtedly connected to this. However time pressure within teams has until now been somewhat "under-researched". This study therefore aims to explore how time pressure is related to the main challenges of GVTs. The qualitative research is based on empirical data collected through 15 interviews with students who participated in a global virtual competition. The main findings show that time pressure affects GVTs and their functioning on several dimensions as well as the challenges connected to the teams can also cause time pressure.


A high-efficiency nanocube-like composite, Ag@AgCl/CaSn(OH)6 (Ag@AgCl/CSH), was successfully synthesized via an ultrasonic-assisted deposition-photoreduction method. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), elemental mapping, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), BET analysis, photoluminescence emission spectroscopy (PL), and photocurrent (PC) methods. Photodegradation experiments for the decomposition of single dye, multiple dyes, and colorless organic pollutants, such as tetracycline (TC) and bisphenol A propane (BPA), were carried out under visible-light irradiation. Among the as-synthesized samples, the Ag@AgCl(20.5 wt%)/CSH composite exhibited optimal photocatalytic activities. The experimental conditions, including solar light and water source, were also considered to study their effects on photodegradation. The trapping experiment was carried out to clarify the possible mechanism of enhanced photocatalytic performance, which could be attributed to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects via the introduction of Ag@AgCl nanoparticles. After five recycling experiments, highly efficient photocatalytic activity was still maintained, demonstrating that the as-synthesized composite possessed excellent reusability and stability. It can be anticipated that the Ag@AgCl/CSH composite will have great potential in real applications such as in the treatment of wastewater.


: Pulse pressure may be potentially useful for selecting effective cardiac treatment strategies. This study aimed to assess the association between the cardiac treatment strategies and risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD), based on low or high levels of pulse pressure. We analyzed data from the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes trial and calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for MACE with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) using the Cox proportional hazard model. The risk of MACE in patients with type 2 diabetes and CAD was compared between the early revascularization and medical therapy groups separately in patients with pulse pressures b 60 mmHg (n = 1378) and ≥ 60 mmHg (n= 916). During a maximal follow-up of 6 years, 389 patients experienced MACE. In patients with pulse pressure b 60 mmHg, the risk of MACE was significantly higher in the early revascularization group (HR: 1.37, 95%CI: 1.04– 1.81, P = 0.02) and was specifically and significantly higher in the percutaneous coronary intervention group (HR: 1.66, 95%CI: 1.17–2.34, P = 0.004) than in the medical therapy group. In contrast, the risk of MACE in patients with pulse pressure ≥ 60 mmHg was significantly lower in the early revascularization group (HR: 0.72, 95%CI: 0.53–0.96, P = 0.02) and was specifically lower in the coronary artery bypass graft surgery group (HR: 0.49, 95%CI: 0.30–0.82, P =0.006) than in the medical therapy group. Pulse pressure may be used to determine optimal cardiac treatment strategies in patients with type 2 diabetes and CAD.


Traditionally, carbon nanotube (CNT) growth involves the use of transition metal nanoparticles as a catalyst. However, the integration of CNT synthesis based on metal catalysts with CMOS technology is very problematic due to the detrimental effect of transition metals on silicon device performance. Transition metals, such as Ni or Fe, create deep level defects in the silicon band gap and result in unwanted trap states [1, 2]. Other drawbacks include the high propensity of silicon-metal inter-diffusion, leading to the formation of silicides. In order to reap the benefits of silicon very-large-integration (VLSI) technology, an alternate approach is required. This work reports metal free-growth of carbon nanotubes, with a process compatible with current silicon VLSI technology, using chemical vapour deposition of CNTs on germanium nanoparticles. Various approaches to germanium catalyst preparation, based upon standard CMOS processes, are compared in terms of density of growth and quality of synthesized nanotubes. These approaches include thermal treatment of silicon-germanium islands [3] and germanium Stranski-Krastanow quantum dots, germanium colloidal nanoparticles and germanium nanoparticles formed by ion implantation. Scanning electron microscopy measurements indicate that a good density of growth is achievable using this methodology. Raman measurements have identified the synthesized nanotubes as single walled and, in terms of graphitisation and structure, of a high quality. Extensive atomic force microscopy characterisation of the catalyst has been undertaken in order to ascertain the influence of morphology on the ability of germanium to catalyse CNT growth. Experimental evidence has shown that this technique offers a commercially scalable method of reliably growing metal-free CNTs for various applications, while opening the prospect of merging CNT devices with silicon electronics.


Background: Although immunotherapy has emerged as the "next generation" of cancer treatments, it has not yet been shown to be successful in the treatment of patients with prostate cancer, for whom therapeutic options remain limited to radiotherapy and androgen (hormone) deprivation therapy. Previous studies have shown that priming natural killer (NK) cells isolated from healthy individuals via co-incubation with CTV-1 cells derived from an acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) enhances their cytotoxicity against human DU145 (metastatic) prostate cancer cells, but it remains unknown to what extent NK cells from patients with prostate cancer can be triggered to kill. Herein, we explore the phenotype of peripheral blood NK cells in patients with prostate cancer and compare the capacity of CTV-1 cell-mediated priming and IL-2 stimulation to trigger NK cell-mediated killing of the human PC3 (metastatic) prostate cancer cell line. Methods: The phenotype of resting, primed (co-incubation with CTV-1 cells for 17 h) and IL-2 activated (100 IU/ml IL-2 for 17 h) NK cells isolated from frozen-thawed peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) preparations from patients with benign disease (n = 6) and prostate cancer (n = 18) and their cytotoxicity against PC3 and K562 cells was determined by flow cytometry. Relationship(s) between NK cell phenotypic features and cytotoxic potential were interrogated using Spearman Rank correlation matrices. Results and Conclusions: NK cell priming and IL-2 activation of patient-derived NK cells resulted in similar levels of cytotoxicity, but distinct NK cell phenotypes. Importantly, the capacity of priming and IL-2 stimulation to trigger cytotoxicity was patient-dependent and mutually exclusive, in that NK cells from ~50% of patients preferentially responded to priming whereas NK cells from the remaining patients preferentially responded to cytokine stimulation. In addition to providing more insight into the biology of primed and cytokine-stimulated NK cells, this study supports the use of autologous NK cell-based immunotherapies for the treatment of prostate cancer. However, our findings also indicate that patients will need to be stratified according to their potential responsiveness to individual therapeutic approaches.


In modes excitation problem of anisotropic waveguides attention should be paid to the case of excitation sources with longitudinal components. In such case the usage of the basis of membrane functions of normal modes for the solution of the excitation problem may not lead us to unequivocal results because only transverse components of modes fields form a complete set of orthonormal basis on the waveguide cross section. In this paper it is shown that in the presence of longitudinal currents it appears the additional terms in the excitation integral caused with as anisotropy of medium as the transversal derivatives of longitudinal currents. >


nJakarta is one of metropolitan that is occupied by the people with have high mobility, thus requiring public transportation convenient, safe, and fast. Transjakarta is one type of public transport which is widely used for everyday activities. Since it has been starting operation by Transjakarta there has beenn many passengers. PT Transportation Jakarta which known as Transjakarta is an institution which taking over responsibility for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or better known as the Busway.Research have purpose for knowingn the evalution of win-win transportation solution factors which one of strategies that have been designed for reforming all of policy based on market segmentation, or user transportation, it has purpose for developing efficiency with reduct some of deviation from customer or user transportation choices and how to stimulate the mobility of transportation. The research use Causalitative and Quantitative methode, and the sampling of this research are user public transportation especially or the user of busway as a transportation, meanwhile for the analysis of Customer satisfaction which is expectated by customer, for this research use the Importance –Performance Analysis(IPA)approach.This reselt of research can be described that from amount of win-win solution transportation can be reduct until four factors consist of concrate These, Keep Up The Good Work, Low Priority, Possible Overkill which have been got by Rotation Factor Value.
n
Keywords: Satisfaction, win-win transportation Solution.


We present the FARGO3D code, recently publicly released. It is a magnetohydrodynamics code developed with special emphasis on the physics of protoplanetary disks and planet–disk interactions, and parallelized with MPI. The hydrodynamics algorithms are based on finite-difference upwind, dimensionally split methods. The magnetohydrodynamics algorithms consist of the constrained transport method to preserve the divergence-free property of the magnetic field to machine accuracy, coupled to a method of characteristics for the evaluation of electromotive forces and Lorentz forces. Orbital advection is implemented, and an N-body solver is included to simulate planets or stars interacting with the gas. We present our implementation in detail and present a number of widely known tests for comparison purposes. One strength of FARGO3D is that it can run on either graphical processing units (GPUs) or central processing units (CPUs), achieving large speed-up with respect to CPU cores. We describe our implementation choices, which allow a user with no prior knowledge of GPU programming to develop new routines for CPUs, and have them translated automatically for GPUs.


Competition to bind microRNAs induces an effective positive crosstalk between their targets, therefore known as 'competing endogenous RNAs' or ceRNAs. While such an effect is known to play a significant role in specific situations, estimating its strength from data and, experimentally, in physiological conditions appears to be far from simple. Here we show that the susceptibility of ceRNAs to different types of perturbations affecting their competitors (and hence their tendency to crosstalk) can be encoded in quantities as intuitive and as simple to measure as correlation functions. We confirm this scenario by extensive numerical simulations and validate it by re-analyzing PTEN's crosstalk pattern from TCGA breast cancer database. These results clarify the links between different quantities used to estimate the intensity of ceRNA crosstalk and provide new keys to analyze transcriptional datasets and effectively probe ceRNA networks in silico.


Title of Document: CHALLENGING PRESERVICE TEACHER BELIEFS ABOUT THE PAST: THE INFLUENCE OF A COURSE DESIGNED TO SHIFT WAYS OF KNOWING ABOUT HISTORY TEACHING AND LEARNING. Kimberly Reddy, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Directed By: Professor Bruce VanSledright, Department of Reading and Elementary Education "School history" has long since been characterized by teacher-centered lectures and student passivity, which deviates substantially from the inquiry-based and rigorous methodology historians use to actively reconstruct the past. While recent efforts have been made to move toward a more investigative approach in classrooms, little if any progress has been made beyond the superficial reading of primary source documents. When trying to understand why the disconnect between disciplinary approaches to history and school history continues, researchers have speculated that the knowledge bases, from which prospective teachers develop beliefs about the meaning and processes of history, are foundationally weak. This study examines the influence of a college course designed to specifically address the teacher knowledge problem in history. Participant beliefs were targeted and intentionally challenged to elicit shifts toward more criterialist ways of knowing. It contributes to the literature on the teaching and learning of historical thinking as well as epistemic beliefs in history. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from participants over the course of one college semester through questionnaires, interviews, and coursework artifacts. Analysis was completed on two subscales: beliefs about history and beliefs about history teaching and learning. Consistent with some previous studies, this research found that once surfaced, participant beliefs did begin to shift toward a more expert way of knowing following explicit instruction and practice with authentic disciplinary tasks. While beliefs about the knower, what can be known, and the procedural strategies necessary to create knowledge shifted at varying levels of consistency and stability, the shifts appeared to have an associative relationship often moving in concert rather than independently. Additionally, results indicate that participants whose initial beliefs were more stable made greater shifts toward criterialism suggesting that those who were able to spend less time understanding new ideas were able to spend more time thinking about how to take those ideas and put them into practice. Implications of this research raise questions about what teacher educators need to know in order to expertly prepare preservice history educators along with considerations for the content and instruction of teacher education programs. CHALLENGING PRESERVICE TEACHER BELIEFS ABOUT THE PAST: THE INFLUENCE OF A COURSE DESIGNED TO SHIFT WAYS OF KNOWING ABOUT HISTORY TEACHING AND LEARNING


Received on: 13.09.2018 Revised on: 25.12.2018 Accepted on: 28.12.2018 The current study was conducted in the Department of Biological Sciences / Faculty of Science / University of AlQadisiyah and in collaboration with the Genetic Diseases of the blood center in the city of Diwaniya for the period from (1/12/2017) until 1/6/2018, 30 male samples were taken and aged between 20 and 45 years were divided into two groups The first included 20 samples of males with thalassemia the second group consisted of (10) samples non-infected male representing the control group. (5ml) was withdrawn for the purpose of examining blood parameters and level (Ferritin) as well as measuring the level of male sex hormones Lh and Fsh for both the patient group and control. The results showed a significant decrease of p <0.05 for all blood and hormone parameters for the group of patients compared with the control group, with a significant increase in the level of iron stock for patients compared to control group.


Reed-Muller codes are some of the oldest and most widely studied error-correcting codes, of interest for both their algebraic structure as well as their many algorithmic properties. A recent beautiful result of Saptharishi, Shpilka and Volk showed that for binary Reed-Muller codes of length $n$ and distance $d = O(1)$, one can correct $\operatorname{polylog}(n)$ random errors in $\operatorname{poly}(n)$ time (which is well beyond the worst-case error tolerance of $O(1)$).
In this paper, we consider the problem of `syndrome decoding' Reed-Muller codes from random errors. More specifically, given the $\operatorname{polylog}(n)$-bit long syndrome vector of a codeword corrupted in $\operatorname{polylog}(n)$ random coordinates, we would like to compute the locations of the codeword corruptions. This problem turns out to be equivalent to a basic question about computing tensor decomposition of random low-rank tensors over finite fields.
Our main result is that syndrome decoding of Reed-Muller codes (and the equivalent tensor decomposition problem) can be solved efficiently, i.e., in $\operatorname{polylog}(n)$ time. We give two algorithms for this problem:
1. The first algorithm is a finite field variant of a classical algorithm for tensor decomposition over real numbers due to Jennrich. This also gives an alternate proof for the main result of Saptharishi et al.
2. The second algorithm is obtained by implementing the steps of the Berlekamp-Welch-style decoding algorithm of Saptharishi et al. in sublinear-time. The main new ingredient is an algorithm for solving certain kinds of systems of polynomial equations.


The quest for circular designs and ways to reuse polymer materials demands further advances in the development of reversible chemistries. Stimuli-responsive systems incorporated into polymer materials that enable the formation and cleavage of covalent bonds, hold great potential to reversibly decompose materials into their original building blocks. [2π+2π] photocycloadditions, for which the addition and reversion mechanism can be triggered by disparate wavelengths, stand as an attractive platform for triggering such controlled and reversible photoligation towards achieving renewable polymer materials. This perspective highlights the potential of this type of photochemistry to incorporate solid polymer materials and generate reversible polymerizations. The design of effective photoresponsive materials with specific functions requires the consideration of a number of parameters. Following a bottom-up approach – from molecular chemistry to macromolecular functionality – this perspective provides a recipe of the key aspects to consider in the design of such advanced renewable materials. Furthermore, examples of the state of the art in the field are highlighted and an overview of the fundamental challenges that remain is provided. Finally, an outlook on the next frontiers to cross is proposed.


Although interest in possible structural substrates of epilepsy has been high since anatomical abnormalities in autopsy material were first noted, a clear pathognomic picture has yet to emerge for subtypes other than temporal lobe epilepsy. While identification of anatomical features unique to the diseased brain does not ensure that a cure will be found (viz. Alzheimer's disease), such knowledge can certainly guide researchers who must search out both the necessary and sufficient etiologic agent. Such investigation is hampered by the difficulty of separating cause from effect in clinical material, where the patient may have a history of drug use or of poorly controlled seizures. For instance, the cell-density depletion noted in temporal-lobe epileptics could follow from, or be a cause of, seizures. An experimental approach to isolating the structural substrates of epilepsy requires establishing several "levels" of epilepsy of varying duration, and observing the evolution of anatomical change. Such manipulation is, of course, possible only when an animal model is used, and it is for this reason, among others, that researchers have developed several of these. In general, there are two types of animal model: one where an exogenous agent (for example, a neurotoxin) or treatment (kindling) is applied, and another that relies on a strain of animal bred to exhibit seizures. Anatomical findings in this latter case have been reported infrequently, although the approach, which is not confounded by central nervous system (CNS) damage, seems promising as a model for certain types of epilepsy. Rodents have been among the best-researched genetic preparations, and several such reports appear in this volume. We have investigated one such strain, the Mongolian gerbil, which has been bred in UCLA's animal colony to exhibit seizures (the SS strain). Another strain (SR) has been bred to be seizure-free. Our initial study compared adult SS and SR animals with respect to two morphometric parameters in hippocampal region CA3. We found that the SS adult gerbil had fewer dendritic spines than its nonseizuring counterpart. Dendritic spines are considered the locus of excitatory synapses, and their density has been correlated with a variety of functional states in other paradigms. Our next set of questions concerned the development of these strain differences, and we accordingly set up four different age groups, bracketing the age at which seizures first appear in the gerbil. Again, spine-density differences appeared between SS and SR animals, but in the opposite direction from the adult case.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


As individuals increasingly rely on the Internet to access product information, search engines have become an important navigation tool to enhance information collection efficiency. Although there are plenty of user-generated reviews to help consumers evaluate product quality, individuals often seek further information using search engines such as Google before making a purchase, especially for experience products. With the accelerated pace of economic activities and the development of the internet and mobile technologies, consumers' shopping dynamics have been intensified. Therefore, it is of both theoretical and practical significance to track the shifts in customer interest with minimum time delay. Unlike previous studies that have used monthly or weekly data, we focus on the near-term relationship between Google search and product sales. The search requests recorded by Google Trends provide us an ideal database to learn the collective attention of potential customers in a timely fashion. Combined with the hotel data collected from Expedia.com, this study first investigates the relationship between Google search volumes and the related product sales with 48-hour time-lag intervals. The results confirm a two-way positive effect between these two factors. We further explore the influence of price discounts on consumer search behaviors and the moderate effect of retailers' online reputations. The results suggest that offering a price discount has a positive impact on the Google search volume of the promoted product, however the retailer's online reputation negatively moderates this influence. The findings not only have significant practical implications for the hotel industry but also benefit the experience products industry in general. Moreover, the findings contribute to the literature on consumer behavior in the online market as well as on online WOM.


Introduction HIV late diagnosis is one of three key indicators on sexual health in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. The British HIV Association (BHIVA) Standards of Care for People Living with HIV advocates the use of 'look backs' in the case of late and very late diagnosis of previous engagement with health care services to identify missed opportunities and areas for shared learning and development. Methods Further to the look-back exercise undertaken on late and very late diagnoses presenting 2012–2016, we extended the use of the standardised look-back tool to ALL new diagnoses from late 2016 onwards. Results In addition to anticipated missed opportunities being identified in the late and very late presentations, we identified 2 missed opportunities in much earlier presentations from within our own service! They related to failure to repeat the HIV test at test of cure (TOC) for gonorrhoea and subsequent Hepatitis vaccination appointments. In both cases the initial negative HIV test had been within the potential window period. Discussion As a result of the look-back exercise we have learnt a valuable lesson about the fallibility of our own service and shared the learning within our multi-disciplinary team. We have encouraged all to remember to re-visit the sexual history and timing of sex in relation to testing at 'quickie' follow up visits for vaccination or TOC and repeated education about window periods. We shall continue to utilise the look-back tool in all new HIV presentations and encourage colleagues to do likewise to maximise on identifying learning opportunities.


We used a combination of behavioral, computational vision and fMRI methods to examine human brain activity while viewing a 386 s video of a solo Bharatanatyam dance. A computational analysis provided us with a Motion Index (MI) quantifying the silhouette motion of the dancer throughout the dance. A behavioral analysis using 30 naive observers provided us with the time points where observers were most likely to report event boundaries where one movement segment ended and another began. These behavioral and computational data were used to interpret the brain activity of a different set of 11 naive observers who viewed the dance video while brain activity was measured using fMRI. Results showed that the Motion Index related to brain activity in a single cluster in the right Inferior Temporal Gyrus (ITG) in the vicinity of the Extrastriate Body Area (EBA). Perception of event boundaries in the video was related to the BA44 region of right Inferior Frontal Gyrus as well as extensive clusters of bilateral activity in the Inferior Occipital Gyrus which extended in the right hemisphere towards the posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (pSTS).


The relationship between the consideration of future and immediate consequences (CFC) and consumer preference for gasoline, cellulose-based and corn-based ethanol fuels was investigated using data from a representative panel of U.S. consumers. A panel of U.S. consumers completed the consideration of future consequences-14 scale, and made a series of choices in fueling scenarios. Results showed that the CFC score was positively associated with the choice for alternative transportation fuels. As the CFC score increases from its minimum to maximum, the predicted probability of choosing cellulose- and corn-based ethanol fuels increases from 14% to 61%, and 22% to 30%, respectively, and the probability of choosing gasoline drops from 64% to below 10%. Additional analyses showed that the CFC-Future and CFC-Immediate subscales were unique predictors of preference for biofuels. Implications for marketing of biofuels are discussed.


Abstract : Two studies were conducted employing both innocent and guilty Ss. the guilty condition was established by having Ss play the role of an enemy espionage agent (courier). Innocent and guilty Ss were separately tested in groups of six or seven Ss. Both relevant-irrelevant (RI) and peak of tension (PT) methods were employed. GSR response to each question was separately recorded for each S. In addition, a composite GSR was also derived from all the Ss in each group. In the first study, separate subgroups were given differential feedback of information regarding the polygraph's effectiveness during a preliminary phase of the interrogation. Results indicated that those Ss receiving information that the polygraph was effective in detecting their lies were detected more readily during the subsequent actual interrogation than were those Ss receiving information that the polygraph was ineffective. In the second study, no differential treatment of innocent and guilty Ss was included in the design in order to provide a clearer interpretation of the effectiveness of the courier paradigm itself. The design was also modified to allow a more adequate comparison of RI and PT methods of interrogation. In addition, information was sought relative to the question of whether a S can be detected when he is informed that his responses are not being evaluated. Results of the second study confirmed the findings of the previous experiment relative to the effectiveness of both the courier paradigm and the group GSR.


The joint UHF MILSATCOM Technical Working Group (TWG) is in the process of updating the demand assigned multiple access (DAMA) waveform standards that specify operation over 5-kHz and 25-kHz UHF military satellite channels. While the existing waveform standards have greatly increased the number of communication services supported by UHF SATCOM, the transition from using UHF resources on a dedicated-channel basis to DAMA operation is proceeding very slowly. One factor that has slowed the switch to DAMA operation is that there are many UHF communication requirements that cannot be efficiently supported by the existing waveform standards. The existing standards define protocols primarily for the transmission and reception of serial (streaming) data. However, there is a growing demand for a datagram-transfer protocol capable of supporting a wide variety of protocols at higher layers, including Internet protocols. This paper examines distributed and centralized control of datagram transfers and discusses characteristics of typical UHF terminal architectures, such as the red-black interface, that place restrictions on the datagram-transfer protocol. Considering these factors, this paper proposes a data link protocol that provides control over the use of a DAMA time slot, and a network protocol that supports a local area network (LAN) connection to baseband equipments. Incorporation of these protocols into the updated standards would allow new and updated terminals to provide efficient support for a wide variety of higher-layer data connectivity protocols. Finally, this paper provides a discussion of the improved link performance made possible by use of the proposed protocols.


Developing nations were greatly hit due to the spread of coronavirus as majority of their population belong to the lower-income groups. It was primarily due to the lack of proper medical and healthcare facilities available for the public. To restrict the rapid spread of the disease, most of the nations had declared an emergency lockdown of their respective countries. Due to the economic constraints leading to the lack of food and uncontrollable spread of disease faced by several economically backward people, governments decided to reopen the markets in a planned manner. Many nations faced two faced wars- the pandemic on one hand and global hunger on the other. India too announced the unlocking of the nation on 1st June 2020. Soon after the unlocking was done to some extent, the number of active cases of coronavirus began rising. India had 0.007% of its people under the influence of the virus when the unlocking was done but soon within a month, the active cases rose to 0.016% of the total population of India which marked the rise of 57.35% cases. Similar cases were seen in many developing countries around the world. In this paper, a comparison on the CoVID-19 situation, post- upliftment of the lockdown has been provided with a few of the selected countries.


An important issue involved in kernel methods is the pre-image problem. However, it is an ill-posed problem, as the solution is usually nonexistent or not unique. In contrast to direct methods aimed at minimizing the distance in feature space, indirect methods aimed at constructing approximate equivalent models have shown outstanding performance. In this paper, an indirect method for solving the pre-image problem is proposed. In the proposed algorithm, an inverse mapping process is constructed based on a novel framework that preserves local linearity. In this framework, a local nonlinear transformation is implicitly conducted by neighborhood subspace scaling transformation to preserve the local linearity between feature space and input space. By extending the inverse mapping process to test samples, we can obtain pre-images in input space. The proposed method is non-iterative, and can be used for any kernel functions. Experimental results based on image denoising using kernel principal component analysis (PCA) show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for solving the pre-image problem.


Author(s): Nissen, Kelly Elizabeth | Advisor(s): Guthrie, Christine | Abstract: During eukaryotic gene expression, non-coding intron sequences are removed from the protein-coding exon sequences of pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) by the process of splicing. Splicing is carried out by the spliceosome, a macromolecular ribozyme that assembles de novo on every intron. It has been established that the spliceosome assembles co-transcriptionally while the nascent pre-mRNA is attached to the elongating RNA polymerase II (RNAP II). However, mechanisms that enforce the coupling of splicing to transcription and the chromatin landscape remain poorly understood. Here, I describe our work to gain further insight into the regulation of co-transcriptional pre-mRNA splicing by employing genetic and molecular biology approaches. Using the traditional splicing model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we interrogated the mechanism of a rapid splicing block at the ribosomal protein genes (RPGs) that occurs in response to amino acid starvation stress. By creating chimeric gene constructs, we show that an RPG promoter sequence element, and not the intron sequence, is both necessary and sufficient to confer a transcript-specific splicing response. This study reveals a mechanism whereby in response in stress RNAP II becomes de-enriched near the 3´splice site and early splicing factor recruitment is delayed, consistent with an environmentally-responsive splicing-dependent polymerase checkpoint, and underscoring the highly coordinated nature of splicing and transcription.We further expanded our studies of splicing regulation into Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a emerging model organism that shares many splicing features with mammalian systems, such as abundant non-consensus splice sites, multi-intron containing genes, and conserved trans-acting splicing factors. In our work with the S. pombe system, we developed techniques for probing splicing factor association with chromatin. Starting from a genome-wide genetic screen, we characterized interactions between the spliceosome and Swr1 complex, which deposits the highly conserved histone variant H2A.Z. We identified H2A.Z's requirement in efficient splicing at introns with weak splice sites, supporting a growing hypothesis of chromatin-dependent splicing checkpoints. Taken together, these studies reveal an unappreciated role of the promoter and its proximal nucleosome composition in transcript-specific pre-mRNA splicing regulation. We expect these results to provide foundational insights into the interconnectedness of gene expression processes and have important implications in human disease.


LSST and similarly deep surveys have to deal with ~40% of all objects being blended with others. The classical deblending approaches are often insufficient for high-quality measurements of galaxy properties. Their failures are related to simplifying assumptions about the galaxy shape or massive parameter degeneracies for complex galaxy models, and the reliance on single-band imaging.

I will present a new algorithm (Melchior et al., in prep.) that is natively represented in multi-band data, i.e. it considers the SED the fundamental unit of measurement instead of per-band fluxes, and constrains the galaxy morphologies in a non-parametric fashion to avoid unstable results and model biases. The resulting constrained optimization problem is efficiently solved with a novel deterministic proximal algorithm (Moolekamp & Melchior, in prep.) with guaranteed convergence. I will show results from simulations and deep HSC imaging, and discuss the substantial gains from combining ground- and space-based imaging.


Elastography is an emerging functional imaging technique of current clinical research interest due to a direct relation between mechanical material parameters, especially the tissue stiffness, and tissue pathologies such as cancer. Digital Image Elasto-Tomography (DIET) is a new method that aims to develop elastographic techniques and create a simplified, improved breast cancer screening process. The elastic material information of breast tissue is reconstructed in the DIET concept from mechanically excited steady-state harmonic motion observed on the surface of the breast. While this inversion process has been traditionally approached using finite element methods, this surface-orientated problem is naturally suited to the use of Boundary Element Methods (BEMs) requiring the discretization only on the surface of the domain and on the interface of a potential inclusion. As only approximate information is available about breast tissue material parameters, this thesis presents the development of BEM based inverse problem algorithms suitable for the reconstruction of all material parameters in a proportionally damped isotropic linear elastic solid, where only the material density is known. The highly nonlinear identification process of a potential inclusion is treated through the combination of a systematic Grid-Search with gradient descent techniques. This algorithm is extended to a three-step algorithm that performs a background material parameter estimation before the subsequent identification of an inclusion and thus provides a confident indication for the differentiation between cancerous and healthy breast tissue. The development of these algorithms is illustrated by several simulation studies highlighting important reconstruction behaviors relevant to the elastographic inverse problem. A first experimental test on a silicon based breast phantom is presented.


Research Question/Issue
From an agency perspective, we investigate whether family ownership and control configurations are systematically associated with a firm's choice of auditor. Our analysis focuses on three different characteristics of family ownership and control: family ownership (cash flow rights), disparity between cash flow and voting rights held by family owners (cash–vote divergence), and the family identities of CEOs.

Research Findings/Insights
Our findings suggest that different family ownership and control configurations lead to different agency effects. The alignment effect prevails in family firms with greater family ownership, founder CEOs, and professional CEOs, whereas the entrenchment effect prevails when there is greater cash–vote divergence. Despite the presence of two distinct types of agency effects, regardless of differences in family ownership and control configurations, none of these firms are inclined to appoint higher-quality auditors.

Theoretical/Academic Implications
This study advances our understanding of the varied agency effects arising from family ownership, cash–vote divergence, and the family identities of CEOs, as well as the impact of family ownership and control features on auditor choice. Our empirical evidence provides a unique insight, showing that higher-quality auditors do not tend to be appointed in firms where family alignment with outside investors is relatively strong, as this lowers demand for such auditors. In addition, although family entrenchment may create greater outside investor demand for higher-quality auditors, such demand is difficult to realize.

Practitioner/Policy Implications
Auditors are an important external governance mechanism. This study offers insights for policy makers, family owners, auditors, and other capital market participants, with regard to the varied effects of different family ownership and control features on auditor choice.


Stream programming model has been productively applied to a number of important application domains. Software pipelining is an important code scheduling technique for stream programs. However, the multicore evolution has presented a new dimension of challenges: that is how to orchestrate the best software pipelining schedule in the face of resource constrained architectures (e.g., number of cores, available memory, and bandwidth)? In this paper, we proposed a new solution methodology to address the problem above. Our main contributions include the following. A unified Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation has been proposed that combines the requirement of both rate-optimal software pipelining and the minimization of intercore communication overhead. Next, an extended formulation has been proposed to formulate the schedule under memory size constrained systems. It orchestrates the rate-optimal software pipelining execution for stream programs with strict memory, processor cores, and communication constraints. A solution testbed has been implemented for the proposed problem formulations. This has been realized by extending the Brook programming environment with our software pipelining support-named DFBrook. An experimental study has been conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.


In this paper our intention is to examine the relationship between culture, human rights, in particular cultural rights, and development and to suggest possible indicators to measure and qualify this relationship. Being fully aware that a lot of material has been produced on this theme, our objective is to build on existing results and materials and study the possibility of producing understandable and quantifiable indicators. In this context we will concentrate on the cultural dimension of several specific human rights as included in international human rights instruments accepted by a large majority of States. Overarching the relationship between culture, human rights and development are the principles of equality, access and participation. These human rights are not only moral issues; they are legal obligations that should guide States in all policy-planning, including the drafting of cultural policies. Cultural policies should not be seen as a 'charity' or as derived from voluntarism; they are based on rights of people and the legal obligations of States. In this paper we plead for an integrated approach, whereby the legal framework provides the basis for the development of policies, giving them more continuity and coherence.


The One Belt One Road initiative is seen as China's challenge to Western hegemony in higher education. The strength of OBOR is that it has no formal institutional structure. Projects are negotiated on a bilateral arrangement between government entities at all levels and also between government and private sectors. OBOR is multifold, encompassing economic, political and social aspects of cooperation. As such, a multi-pronged approach is needed to reap the full benefits of education cooperation within the framework agreement on OBOR. The promotion of educational exchanges will be further deepened with the opening of Chinese universities branch campuses or provision of scholarships to international students. The deepening of educational exchanges between China and participating countries can be viewed as a threat to Western universities interests in Asia despite China's assurance that it adopted the attitude of no challenges to the existing world system. This paper covers the efforts of China to internationalize its educational system, with an emphasis on collaboration with Malaysian universities. It concludes that Malaysian universities have much to gain from the OBOR initiative, not only in terms of academic exchanges, investments, co-operations in projects but also in the influence of Confucian value systems.


Submitted 2020-06-22 | Accepted 2020-07-20 | Available 2020-12-01 https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020.23.mi-fpap.347-352 In this study, 68 genotyped purebred cows and bulls of Charolais cattle were used to determine runs of homozygosity (ROH) for evaluation of selection effect on the genome structure. ROH analysis was performed for 41,153 SNPs, and homozygous segments considering a minimum of 15 consecutive SNPs. The aim was to identify if regions of the genome with a high frequency of SNPs in ROH include signatures of selection. The most significant outlier SNPs were found on BTA2, 5, 7 and 19 (11 regions), with a sum of ROH length of 15.85 Mb. These regions contained genes included in various biological processes associated with the functioning of the immune system, growth, reproduction and metabolism. Various quantitative traits loci (QTLs) which affected the characteristics of meat production and reproduction have been identified in these regions. Overall, obtained results suggest that the Charolais cattle genome includes selection signatures reflecting the improvement of meat production and reproduction in accordance to breeding objecives. Keywords: artificial selection, autozygosity, beef, bovine, candidate genes References Aspatwar, A. et al. (2014). Carbonic anhydrase related proteins: molecular biology and evolution. Subcell. Biochem. 75: 135–156. Biscarini, F. et al. (2019). detectRUNS: an R package to detect runs of homozygosity and heterozygosity in diploid genomes. The R Project. Retrieved June 8, 2019 from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/detectRUNS/vignettes/detectRUNS.vignette.html Dixit, S. P. et al. (2020). Genome-Wide Runs of Homozygosity Revealed Selection Signatures in Bos indicus. Front. Genet. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.00092 Gaudet, P. et al. (2011). Phylogenetic-based Propagation of Functional Annotations Within the Gene Ontology Consortium. 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Genomic Response to Natural Selection within Alpine Cattle Breeds. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 63(4):136-143. https://doi.org/10.17221/62/2017-CJAS Onzima, R. B. et al. (2018). Genome-Wide Characterisation of Selection Signatures and Runs of Homozygosity in Ugandan Goat Breeds. Front. Genet. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00318 Patel, A. B. et al. (2017). Identification of single nucleotide polymorphism from Indian Bubalus bubalis through targeted sequence capture. Current Science, 112(6): 1230. ISSN 0011-3891 Pomichal. (2009) The breeding program of Charolais cattle. The Slovak Beef Breeders Association, cooperative. Retrieved June 8, 2019 from http://www.zchmd.eu/charolais Purfield, D.C. et al. (2012). Runs of homozygosity and population history in cattle. BMC Genet., 13, 70. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2156-13-70 Purfield, D.C. et al. (2017). The Distribution of Runs of Homozygosity and Selection Signatures in Six Commercial Meat Sheep Breeds. 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Mine Residue Areas (MRAs) describe general mine waste associated mainly with gold-mining. In a recent study compiled by the Gauteng Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (GDARD), 374 Mine Residue Areas were identified in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) of South Africa (SA). Of these, only 25km of the total 321km covered by MRAs can be rehabilitated at a low cost. Insufficient mine closure plans have created a mining landscape legacy that is scattered across the GCR, serving as a constant reminder of how concepts of sustainability were not part of past mining responsibilities and still appear to slip through the cracks of SA's environmental and mining legislation. MRAs affect air and water quality, present geo-technical safety concerns for communities and create physical barriers to the movement of people, presenting challenges for spatial redevelopment and integration programmes. It is predicted that these challenges will only be exacerbated as a result of climate change, which predicts increased variability in weather extremes. This paper provides an overview government mining policy around MRAs and the environment and evaluates how these policies align with strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change to create a more sustainable region. This paper identifies potential risks of exposing MRAs to changing climatic variables, informing the management of MRAs within the GCR. These findings will assist with clarifying appropriate mitigation and adaption strategies to ensure infrastructure and communities, infrastructure and the environment are not further affected.


Galen is criticized for combining Plato's tripartition-cum-trilocation of the soul, in which each part constitutes its own source of motivation, with the demand that the faculty of voluntary motion is limited to the rational part, being the only one located in the brain and having access to the relevant nerves. While scholars have concentrated on small nerves as connective organs, this paper focuses on the pneuma, blood and innate heat. When the latter is increased, the irrational parts can affect the brain's function to such an extent that the rational part's volitions are reduced to their own desires.