Several plasma membrane alterations have been described in diabetes mellitus. Data reported in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) suggested that these alterations might be present before the onset of overt metabolic derangement. On the basis of these data it is tempting to hypothesize that the reduction in the sodium pump activity might be due to a genetic factor acting at the membrane level before the onset of diabetes. In order to verify this hypothesis 11 insulin-dependent diabetic patients, 15 first degree relatives of the patients and 10 healthy subjects with a negative family history for diabetes mellitus were studied. Fluidity, Na+/K(+)-ATPase activity and membrane cholesterol content (C) were evaluated on plasma membranes obtained from red blood cells (RBCs). Na+/K(+)-ATPase activity was reduced with a contemporary increase in membrane fluidity in RBCs from IDDM patients in comparison to either relatives and controls. The same alterations were observed also in RBCs from the relatives in comparison to controls. We did not find any significant difference in the C content among the three groups. Data herein reported provide evidence that a reduction in the Na+/K(+)-ATPase activity is present in the plasma membrane of relatives of diabetic subjects. Furthermore, the present work suggests that the change in enzymatic activity might be related to modifications in membrane fluidity.


Context. Water is a key molecule in the physics and chemistry of star and planet formation, but it is difficult to observe from Earth. The Herschel Space Observatory provided unprecedented sensitivity as well as spatial and spectral resolution to study water. The Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel (WISH) key program was designed to observe water in a wide range of environments and provide a legacy data set to address its physics and chemistry.
Aims. The aim of WISH is to determine which physical components are traced by the gas-phase water lines observed with Herschel and to quantify the excitation conditions and water abundances in each of these components. This then provides insight into how and where the bulk of the water is formed in space and how it is transported from clouds to disks, and ultimately comets and planets.
Methods. Data and results from WISH are summarized together with those from related open time programs. WISH targeted ~80 sources along the two axes of luminosity and evolutionary stage: from low- to high-mass protostars (luminosities from <1 to > 105 L⊙) and from pre-stellar cores to protoplanetary disks. Lines of H2O and its isotopologs, HDO, OH, CO, and [O I], were observed with the HIFI and PACS instruments, complemented by other chemically-related molecules that are probes of ultraviolet, X-ray, or grain chemistry. The analysis consists of coupling the physical structure of the sources with simple chemical networks and using non-LTE radiative transfer calculations to directly compare models and observations.
Results. Most of the far-infrared water emission observed with Herschel in star-forming regions originates from warm outflowing and shocked gas at a high density and temperature (> 105 cm−3, 300–1000 K, v ~ 25 km s−1), heated by kinetic energy dissipation. This gas is not probed by single-dish low-J CO lines, but only by CO lines with Jup > 14. The emission is compact, with at least two different types of velocity components seen. Water is a significant, but not dominant, coolant of warm gas in the earliest protostellar stages. The warm gas water abundance is universally low: orders of magnitude below the H2O/H2 abundance of 4 × 10−4 expected if all volatile oxygen is locked in water. In cold pre-stellar cores and outer protostellar envelopes, the water abundance structure is uniquely probed on scales much smaller than the beam through velocity-resolved line profiles. The inferred gaseous water abundance decreases with depth into the cloud with an enhanced layer at the edge due to photodesorption of water ice. All of these conclusions hold irrespective of protostellar luminosity. For low-mass protostars, a constant gaseous HDO/H2O ratio of ~0.025 with position into the cold envelope is found. This value is representative of the outermost photodesorbed ice layers and cold gas-phase chemistry, and much higher than that of bulk ice. In contrast, the gas-phase NH3 abundance stays constant as a function of position in low-mass pre- and protostellar cores. Water abundances in the inner hot cores are high, but with variations from 5 × 10−6 to a few × 10−4 for low- and high-mass sources. Water vapor emission from both young and mature disks is weak.
Conclusions. The main chemical pathways of water at each of the star-formation stages have been identified and quantified. Low warm water abundances can be explained with shock models that include UV radiation to dissociate water and modify the shock structure. UV fields up to 102−103 times the general interstellar radiation field are inferred in the outflow cavity walls on scales of the Herschel beam from various hydrides. Both high temperature chemistry and ice sputtering contribute to the gaseous water abundance at low velocities, with only gas-phase (re-)formation producing water at high velocities. Combined analyses of water gas and ice show that up to 50% of the oxygen budget may be missing. In cold clouds, an elegant solution is that this apparently missing oxygen is locked up in larger μm-sized grains that do not contribute to infrared ice absorption. The fact that even warm outflows and hot cores do not show H2O at full oxygen abundance points to an unidentified refractory component, which is also found in diffuse clouds. The weak water vapor emission from disks indicates that water ice is locked up in larger pebbles early on in the embedded Class I stage and that these pebbles have settled and drifted inward by the Class II stage. Water is transported from clouds to disks mostly as ice, with no evidence for strong accretion shocks. Even at abundances that are somewhat lower than expected, many oceans of water are likely present in planet-forming regions. Based on the lessons for galactic protostars, the low-J H2O line emission (Eup < 300 K) observed in extragalactic sources is inferred to be predominantly collisionally excited and to originate mostly from compact regions of current star formation activity. Recommendations for future mid- to far-infrared missions are made.


International collaboration between research institutes and universities is a promising way to reach consensus on hydrological model development. Although model comparison studies are very valuable for international cooperation, they do often not lead to very clear new insights regarding the relevance of the modelled processes. We hypothesise that this is partly caused by model complexity and the comparison methods used, which focus too much on a good overall performance instead of focusing on a variety of specific events. In this study, we use an approach that focuses on the evaluation of specific events and characteristics. Eight international research groups calibrated their hourly model on the Ourthe catchment in Belgium and carried out a validation in time for the Ourthe catchment and a validation in space for nested and neighbouring catchments. The same protocol was followed for each model and an ensemble of best-performing parameter sets was selected. Although the models showed similar performances based on general metrics (i.e. the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency), clear differences could be observed for specific events. We analysed the hydrographs of these specific events and conducted three types of statistical analyses on the entire time series: cumulative discharges, empirical extreme value distribution of the peak flows and flow duration curves for low flows. The results illustrate the relevance of including a very quick flow reservoir preceding the root zone storage to model peaks during low flows and including a slow reservoir in parallel with the fast reservoir to model the recession for the studied catchments. This intercomparison enhanced the understanding of the hydrological functioning of the catchment, in particular for low flows, and enabled to identify present knowledge gaps for other parts of the hydrograph. Above all, it helped to evaluate each model against a set of alternative models.


The derivation of a completely adaptive polarimetric coherent scheme to detect a radar target against a Gaussian background is presented. A previously proposed Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT) polarimetric detector is extended to the case of a general number of channels; this exploits the polarimetric characteristics of the received radar echoes to improve the detection performance. Together with the fully adaptive scheme, a model-based detector is derived that has a lower estimation loss. A complete theoretical expression is derived for the detection performance of both proposed polarimetric detectors. They are shown to have Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) when operating against Gaussian clutter, but to be sensitive to deviations from the Gaussian statistic. The application to recorded radar data demonstrates the performance improvement achievable in practice.


Diabetic macular oedema (DMO) is the leading cause of vision loss in working aged individuals. Macular laser photocoagulation was the primary DMO treatment for several decades, but has recently been replaced by intravitreal injections of corticosteroids and drugs that inhibit the actions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In Phase III trials, anti-VEGF drugs improve best corrected visual acuity by a mean of +12 letters, but up to 40% of patients have sub-optimal responses to therapy. The new anti-VEGF drugs abicipar and brolucizumab may possess extended durations of action in Phase III neovascular age-related macular degeneration trials, and DMO trials are being planned. Angiopoietin-2 inhibitors, both as co-formulations with anti-VEGF drugs and as bispecific antibodies, are in Phase II trials for DMO. Drugs that stimulate the Tie2 receptor are administered via subcutaneous injections. Intravenously administered antibodies that decrease diabetes-mediated inflammation, such as tocilizumab and teprotumumab, are entering early phase studies. Other drugs with topical (mecamylamine) and oral (minocycline) delivery routes are being developed. Several of these drugs may become available to patients within the next 5–10 years.


Pyruvate kinase is known as the glycolytic enzyme catalyzing the final step in glycolysis. In mammals, two different forms of it exist, i.e., pyruvate kinase M1/2 (PKM) and pyruvate kinase L/R (PKLR). Also, PKM has two isoforms, i.e., PKM1 and PKM2. These genes have tissue-specific distribution. Namely, PKM1 is distributed in high-energy-demanding organs, such as brain and muscle. Also, PKM2 is distributed in various other organs, such as the colon. On the other hand, PKLR is distributed in liver and red blood cells (RBCs). Interestingly, PKM2 has been recognized as one of the essential genes for the cancer-specific energy metabolism termed the "Warburg effect". However, the mechanism(s) underlying this fact have remained largely unclear. Recently, we found that some organ-specific microRNAs (miRNAs, MIR) regulate PKM isoform expression through direct targeting of polypyrimidine tract binding protein 1 (PTBP1), which is the splicer responsible for PKM2-dominant expression. In this study, we examined whether this machinery was conserved in the case of other PTBP1- and PKM-targeting miRNAs. We focused on the MIRs 122, 137, and 206, and investigated the expression profiles of each of these miRNAs in tissues from mouse and human organs. Also, we examined the regulatory mechanisms of PKM isoform expression by testing each of these miRNAs in human cancer cell lines. Presently, we found that brain-specific MIR137 and muscle-specific MIR206 predominantly induced PKM1 expression through direct targeting of PTBP1. Also, liver-specific MIR122 suppressed the expression of both PKM1 and PKM2, which action occurred through direct targeting of PKM to enable the expression of PKLR. Moreover, the expression levels of these miRNAs were downregulated in cancer cells that had originated from these tissues, resulting in PKM2 dominance. Our results suggest that the organ-specific distribution of miRNAs is one of the principal means by which miRNA establishes characteristics of a tissue and that dysregulation of these miRNAs results in cancer development through a change in the ratio of PKM isoform expression. Also, our results contribute to cancer diagnosis and will be useful for cancer-specific therapy for the Warburg effect in the near future.


In Sweden, each year approximately 700 children develop Type 1 diabetes. Living with the illness is a challenge for youth and requires adjustments to lifestyle, and to manage school. The aim was to describe youths' experiences of living with Type 1 diabetes in relation to school. A qualitative research design was used and interviews were performed with eight girls and five boys with Type 1 diabetes. The interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis. Three themes were identified: to be friends with the diabetes, striving for normality and receiving support from others. Results showed a need to increase the understanding of T1D and diabetic competence within the Swedish school system and knowledge of youths' own experiences is vital in this work. Living with T1D was a struggle for normality, independency and the youth needed to be friends with diabetes to handle everyday self-management. Although there are demanding life and school circumstances, it eventually becomes possible for the youth to handle the illness and to integrate and manage diabetes in school.


A sequence $\left(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_{2n}\right)$ of even length is a repetition if $\left(x_1,\ldots,x_n\right) = \left(x_{n+1},\ldots,x_{2n}\right)$. We prove existence of a constant $C < 10^{4 \cdot 10^7}$ such that given any planar drawing of a graph $G$, and a list $L(v)$ of $C$ permissible colors for each vertex $v$ in $G$, there is a choice of a permissible color for each vertex such that the sequence of colors of the vertices on any facial simple path in $G$ is not a repetition.


We conducted three studies with contemporary music composers at IRCAM. We found that even highly computer-literate composers use an iterative process that begins with expressing musical ideas on paper, followed by active parallel exploration on paper and in software, prior to final execution of their ideas as an original score. We conducted a participatory design study that focused on the creative exploration phase, to design tools that help composers better integrate their paper-based and electronic activities. We then developed InkSplorer as a technology probe that connects users' hand-written gestures on paper to Max/MSP and OpenMusic. Composers appropriated InkSplorer according to their preferred composition styles, emphasizing its ability to help them quickly explore musical ideas on paper as they interact with the computer. We conclude with recommendations for designing interactive paper tools that support the creative process, letting users explore musical ideas both on paper and electronically.


This paper has focused on specific aspects of the law concerning the 3rd paragraph of The Care of Young Persons Act (1990:52), LVU. The purpose of this study was to examine the prerequisite other social destructive behaviour in four cases where youths has been under compulsory institutional care because of their computer gaming. The study was composed on a legal dogmatic method and a legal sociologist perspective. The legal dogmatic method implies to examine the law and its elaboration, the legal sociologist perspective focus on the consequences and causes of the court of law. The study shows that problematic computer gaming is an increasing problem in society and that other social destructive behaviour is a wide prerequisite that need new amendment in order to ensure citizens certainty.


We have developed a new standardized method for the post-embedding immunoelectron microscopy using the same fixation, antigen retrieval and image contrasting procedures. Tissues were fixed with 4% formaldehyde containing 2.5 mM CaCl(2), 1.25 mM MgCl(2) in a 0.1 M 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) buffer (pH 7.4) for 2 h and then with the same fixative composition in 0.1 M HEPES buffer (pH 8.5) overnight at room temperature. Vehicle osmolarity of fixatives was adjusted to 300-330 mOsm by adding glucose. The specimens were dehydrated with dimethylformamide on ice and embedded in LR-White resin. Ultrathin sections were heated in a 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 9.0) for 1-2 h at 95 degrees C. After immuno-gold labeling, the sections were treated with 2% glutaraldehyde containing 0.05% tannic acid in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 5.5) for 5 min and with a 1% OsO(4)/0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) for 5 min, and then they were double stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate. The standardized method yielded strong and reproducible immunoreactions for soluble, membrane-bound and filamentous proteins showing an excellent image contrast without destruction of the fine structures.


This article takes a practitioner's view that the developments in the market for collateral imply that transparency and stress-testing would probably not have been enough to prevent last year's economic crisis. For instance, understanding individual manager risks would not have produced an understanding of the systemic risks being run by the community as a whole. Hedge fund advisors would have had great difficulty discovering the proliferation of copycat trades that pervaded the books of hedge funds and their bank and broker-dealer counterparts. Furthermore, it is almost inconceivable that more complete knowledge of managers' portfolios or great stress-testing would have predicted the massive increase in risk estimates embraced by banks and broker-dealers in the September-October period. At the very least, governmental policymakers must recognize the viewpoint of actual market participants in determining their own solutions.


Refrigerated gases have been used to store energy with limited success. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of how the behavior of fluids compressed to high pressures can be used to increase the efficiency of refrigeration cycles and one possible application for renewable energy. This research presents the results of thermodynamic modeling and analysis of a novel Carbon Dioxide (CO2) cycle to be used for alternative energy production. The thermodynamic computational simulations are carried out in MATLAB and use the NIST REFPROP database for modeling the high pressure (on the order of 1000 MPa) CO2 state points. Preliminary results show that the maximum energy that can be recovered using the proposed high pressure cycle in on the order of 11,043 J, for each mole of CO2 flowing in the cycle. Thus the Coefficient of Performance is COP = 2.22, and the efficiency of the cycle is estimated as η = 35%. Future work will focus on the development of equipment such as the cryogenic turbo-expander that can operate at the ultra-high pressures studied.


Alcoholic and aqueous extracts were obtained from red sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L. ) by different methodologies to evaluate their cytotoxic, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Alcoholic extracts (MFP, MSd, SFP, SDP, SSd) from fresh red sweet pepper (FP) and dry pulp (DP) and seed (Sd) were obtained by maceration (M) and Soxhlet (S) equipment using methanol as extraction solvent; whereas aqueous extracts (LFP, LSd) were obtained by decoction followed by lyophilization (L). Human tumoral cell lines from breast (MCF-7 and SKBr3), prostate (PC3) and cervix (HeLa), and fibroblasts (as control) were used to determine the cytotoxic properties by the MTT assay. Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties were determined by DPPH and disc diffusion method, respectively. The extracts SDP and SFP showed the higher cytotoxic activity. The SDP extract had a significant (P < 0.05) in-vitro effect on HeLa (1.9 ± 1.4 µg/mL) and PC3 (< 1 µg/mL) cells with a moderated impact on fibroblasts (26.1 ± 1.2 µg/mL); whereas, SFP had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on MCF-7 cell line (2.1 ± 1.2 µg/mL) with a moderated impact on fibroblasts (25.9 ± 1.0 µg/mL). The higher antioxidant activity was found for MFP (80.3 ± 0.2%) and SFP extracts (75.5 ± 0.5%). Mild antimicrobial activity was only observed for alcoholic extracts. The results showed the potential of red sweet pepper ( C. annuum L.) as a source of antioxidant and cytotoxic compounds, and suggest the need of further studies to isolate and characterize the bioactive compounds that impart those properties.


Based on the emerging literature on positivity in behavioural and organizational sciences, this thesis conceptualizes the phenomenon of Vitality at Work (VAW). The concept is based on the interdependence of individual and organizational health which exist in a symbiotic relationship. VAW is an integrative, over-arching framework combining individual health and well-being with positive work attitudes and positive social interactions. These have not been brought together within a single construct in the literature. The thesis also explores the concept of Subjective Career Plateau (SCP), a subjective state where an individual believes that the probability of future career advancement, both in terms of hierarchical progression and lateral diversification are low. Data are presented which examine the effect of Subjective Career Plateau on Vitality at Work. The study presents data from the UK Higher Education Sector with responses collected from academics working in top-ranking UK universities. The study employs a survey methodology and quantitative methods for data analysis. Using 365 valid responses, the study validates the concept of Vitality through Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis confirms a clear structure of the suggested factors and validates the measurement model for Vitality. A measurement model is also confirmed for measuring Subjective Career Plateau through CFA. Regression analysis is employed to test the hypothesis between SCP and VAW and the results confirm that Subjective Career Plateau has a significant effect on Vitality. The thesis makes a contribution to theory and knowledge by developing an important organizational concept and exploring its relationship with Subjective Career Plateau. Based on the findings, recommendations are offered to managers, practitioners and policy-makers for an increased focus on individual health and well-being, development of a positive and energizing work environment and provision of opportunities for career development and diversification. Finally, the thesis discusses the possible future opportunities for research.


The ubiquitination process is vital to maintain the protein homeostasis in the cell. With high specificity it regulates degradation of proteins by tagging them with a small protein called ubiquitin. Four proteins are involved to perform the process and in this thesis one of these proteins is studied. This protein is called Ro52 and belongs to the TRIM protein family. It posses E3 ligase activity because of a N-terminal RING-domain and therefore it is responsible for the last step in the ubiquitination process. The structure of Ro52 is not totally solved and the function of the protein's four domains is not fully understood.In this thesis three constructs of two domains from Ro52 (RING and B-box) is investigated by circular dichroism (CD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and auto-ubiquitination assay by Western blot. The goal was to gain deeper insight in structural and functional properties of these domains.In the end only two constructs were investigated because of time limitations. It was shown by NMR that one construct has similar structure as the wild type but lower stability, possibly due to shorter N-terminal region. Comparison of the results from CD measurements showed that the constructs were well structured but did not reveal any significant differences in secondary structure between the constructs. Functional analysis by Western blot encountered unexpected problems and no results were obtained.The current thesis provides a basis for further investigation of variant constructs jointly expressing the RING-B-box domains, and shows that even small changes may alter structure and stability in ways that might affect functional properties.


Background: Moderate to severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects 8%–20% of premenopausal women and causes substantial levels of impairment, but few modifiable risk factors for PMS have been identified. Adiposity may impact risk through the complex interaction of hormonal and neurochemical factors, but it is not known if adiposity increases a woman's risk of developing PMS. We have addressed these issues in a prospective study nested within the Nurses' Health Study 2. Methods: Participants were a subset of women aged 27–44 and free from PMS at baseline, including 1057 women who developed PMS over 10 years of follow-up and 1968 controls. Body mass index (BMI), weight change and weight cycling were assessed biennially via questionnaire. Results: We observed a strong linear relationship between BMI at baseline and risk of incident PMS, with each 1 kg=m increase in BMI associated with a significant 3% increase in PMS risk (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.011.05). After adjustment for age, smoking, physical activity, and other factors, women with BMI 27.5 kg=m at baseline had significantly higher risks of PMS than women with BMI <20 kg=m ( ptrend1⁄4 0.003). A large weight change between age 18 and the year 1991 was significantly associated with PMS risk, whereas weight cycling during this period was not. BMI was positively associated with specific symptoms, including swelling of extremities, backache, and abdominal cramping (all p< 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that maintaining a healthy body mass may be important for preventing the development of PMS. Additional studies are needed to assess whether losing weight would benefit overweight and obese women who currently experience PMS.


Data mining is a concept that is taking off in the commercial sector as means of finding useful information and patterns out of gigabytes of data. In this project we are going to use various Data Mining techniques to carry out productive results i.e. predictions about performance of different departments in industry. This will be carried out by recognizing a pattern in the database with the help of data mining Algorithms. This will help in improving overall quality performance of industry. This will provide an application which can calculate overall equipment efficiency of industry. It will be possible to identify problems in manufacturing process and make suggestions for improvements. Resource monitoring focuses on maximizing the use of all resources in an organization, everything from managing people and machinery to office supply.


The effect of strain of Holstein-Friesian and level of feed allowance on milk composition, individual milk proteins, and minerals was examined in a seasonal calving pastoral dairying system. The trial included two high genetic merit strains of either North American (OS90) or NZ (NZ90) genetics, and one strain representing NZ 1970's genetics (NZ70). Each strain was farmed under systems designed to provide total feed allowances of 4.5 to 7.0 t DM/cow/year. Milk composition was affected by strain of cow and by feed allowance. Strain of cow influenced crude protein (P<0.05), true protein (P<0.01) and casein (P<0.01) concentrations, with the NZ90 and OS90 strains having higher concentrations than the NZ70 strain. Increased feed allowance resulted in increased crude protein (P<0.05), true protein (P<0.05) and casein (P<0.05) concentrations. Strain, but not increased feed allowance affected the protein:fat ratio, with the OS90 strain having a higher ratio (P<0.05) than the NZ strains. Strain altered concentrations of α-casein (P<0.05), with NZ90 having the highest concentrations and NZ70 the lowest concentrations. No consistent effect of strain or feed allowance was determined on whey proteins except for β-lactoglobulin (P<0.027), where the OS90 strain had higher concentrations than the NZ strains. No consistent effect of strain or increasing feed allowance was seen on milk mineral concentrations. These results demonstrate that different selection and breeding policies have influenced major milk components which may influence milk processing and product characteristics.


This research was done to examine the interaction of lectins with glycoconjugates expressed on Primary CNS tumors using lectins from marine algal Bryothamnion seaforthii(BSL) and seeds of Erythrina velutina (EVL) Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled. Samples of different tumor types obtained from the Neurology Service of Sobral-Brazil were processed for histopathologic analysis. Samples were marked with complex lectin-FITC as follows: without any marking (G-I); or incubated with BSA-FITC (G-II), EVL-FITC (G-III), BSL-FITC (G-IV), EVL-FITC + 0.1 M galactose (G-V) or BSL-FITC denatured by heat (G-VI). The quantification of tumor marking was performed by fluorescence intensity. EVL-FITC became the images, more fluorescent than the negative control. There was difference (p  0.05) when comparing G-II/G-V or G-IV/G-VI. These lectins have a potential as prognostic marker in primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor.

 Key words: Marine algal lectins, central nervous system (CNS) tumor, protein-carbohydrate interactions.


Current antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reduced morbidity and mortality from HIV-1 infection, but the long-term efficacy of ART is limited by selection of HIV-1 drug-resistant variants. Most HIV-1 drug resistance mutations that have been studied are located in the polymerase domain of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and this region of RT is sequenced in genotyping tests used clinically to guide ART. Recently, attention has focused on the connection and RNase H domains of RT as locations of drug resistance mutations, but the prevalence, molecular mechanisms, and impact of such mutations on response to ART are uncertain. We therefore performed a series of studies to address this uncertainty, including in vitro selection of HIV-1 resistant to 3'-azidothymidine (AZT), drug susceptibility studies, biochemical assays and genotype analysis of clinical samples to identify and characterize resistance mutations in the RT connection and RNase H domains. From this work, we provide several lines of evidence that connection and RNase H domain mutations emerge with ART and impact nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) susceptibility. First, the connection domain mutation A371V and the RNase H domain mutation Q509L are selected in vitro with AZT and confer > 50-fold AZT resistance and low-level cross resistance to lamivudine, abacavir and tenofovir when in the context of thymidine analog mutations (TAMs) in the polymerase domain of RT. Second, we show that mutation Q509L in the RNase H domain promotes dissociation of RT from RNA/DNA template/primer bound in an RNase H competent mode, thereby decreasing secondary RNase H cleavage and destruction of the template/primer. As a consequence, template/primer binds in a polymerase competent mode allowing AZT-monophosphate excision, DNA polymerization and AZT resistance. Third, the connection domain mutation A360V emerges in patients after prolonged exposure to AZT monotherapy and increases resistance to AZT in the context of 3 or more TAMs. Fourth, connection and RNase H domain mutations are not more frequent at virologic failure in HIV-1 subtype B infected patients treated with 2 NRTI plus efavirenz when failure is defined as a small increase in plasma HIV-1 RNA. However, the connection domain mutation N348I emerges frequently at virologic failure in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients in South Africa who were treated with efavirenz/lamivudine/stavudine or nevirapine/lamivudine/stavudine when virologic failure is defined as confirmed plasma HIV-1 RNA > 1,000 copies/mL. This work provides strong evidence that RT connection and RNase H domain mutations emerge in HIV-1 infected patients treated with ART and these mutations are missed with currently available genotype tests. Mutations missed by routine genotyping tests pose a potential public health threat if left undetected and transmitted to others.


: Cardioacceleration produced by operant conditioning was associated with elevation of plasma renin activity. This study suggests that emotional stimuli, which produce cardioacceleration, may also cause increased renin secretion, thus providing a mechanism by which factors operating through the mind and sodium intake could summate in the production of hypertension.


Establishing the factors that correlate with the distribution of invasive species on islands provides a means of evaluating invasion potential and pathways, and enables the invasion risk for specific areas to be predicted. These island risk profiles then provide a basis for conservation managers to prioritise conservation areas, and to create appropriate monitoring regimes. In New Zealand, stoats (Mustela erminea) are invasive predators responsible for numerous local extinctions of birds, and they present a significant invasion risk for offshore islands. Here we examine the distribution of stoats on New Zealand's offshore islands in order to establish what factors are correlated with their distribution, and predict which islands display a high invasion risk. Data on the distribution of stoats were compiled, along with the characteristics of New Zealand's islands and their settlement history. The distribution of stoats on these islands was regressed on island characteristics using a logistic generalised linear model. Species interactions were examined by including the distribution of a range of other introduced mammalian species. The distribution of stoats was found to be strongly affected by the distance offshore and by the area of the island. No significant correlations with the extent of human settlement or the presence of other animals were detected. The model indicates that the invasibility of islands by stoats has been underestimated. Islands within 1 km of the mainland have a very high stoat invasion risk, which is consistent with known invasions, and for large islands (≥ 500 ha) there remains a significant risk to at least 3 km offshore. This model provides a framework for assessing risks of stoat incursion and makes specific predictions of islands with a significant invasion risk that have not had stoats detected before.


Although Spanish students start EFL lessons at a very early age, several studies at a national and European level highlight the low competence of Spanish speakers in general and of Spanish students in particular in spoken English. In this context, we set to design a comprehensive questionnaire on the process of teaching and learning oral skills in Secondary Education, which was administered to both teachers and students of English in a representative sample of Secondary Schools in the region of Aragon (Spain), the total number of answers being 2,073 (2,010 from students and 63 from teachers). Our aim was to ascertain whether students perceive themselves as progressively more skilled in speaking and interacting as they advance through the 6-year Secondary Education period. We considered possible differences depending on the type of school students attend: rural or urban, private, state-run or state-subsidised, and non-bilingual or bilingual. In addition, we explored the possible effect of the teachers' reported methods of assessment of oral skills on the students' perceived and achieved competence. The results derived from this survey can provide a good diagnosis of the current situation of the teaching and learning of oral skills in Spanish EFL Secondary School classrooms.


The investigation and control of quantum degrees of freedom (DoFs) of carriers lie at the heart of condensed-matter physics and next-generation electronics/optoelectronics. van der Waals heterostructures stacked from distinct two-dimensional (2D) crystals offer an unprecedented platform for combining the superior properties of individual 2D materials and manipulating spin, layer, and valley DoFs. $\mathrm{Mo}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$/graphene heterostructures, harboring prominent spin-transport properties of graphene, giant spin-orbit coupling, and spin-valley polarization of $\mathrm{Mo}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$, are predicted as a perfect venue for optospintronics. Here, we report the epitaxial growth of commensurate $\mathrm{Mo}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$ on graphene with high quality by chemical vapor deposition, and demonstrate robust temperature-independent spin-valley polarization at off-resonant excitation. We further show that the helicity of B exciton is larger than that of A exciton, allowing the manipulation of spin bits in the commensurate heterostructures by both optical helicity and wavelength. Our results open a window for controlling spin DoF by light and pave a way for taking spin qubits as information carriers in the next-generation valley-controlled optospintronics.


The capacity of the Gaussian wiretap channel model is analyzed when there are multiple antennas at the sender, intended receiver and eavesdropper. The associated channel matrices are fixed and known to all the terminals. A computable characterization of the secrecy capacity is established as the saddle point solution to a minimax problem. The converse is based on a Sato-type argument used in other broadcast settings, and the coding theorem is based on Gaussian wiretap codebooks. At high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the secrecy capacity is shown to be attained by simultaneously diagonalizing the channel matrices via the generalized singular value decomposition, and independently coding across the resulting parallel channels. The associated capacity is expressed in terms of the corresponding generalized singular values. It is shown that a semi-blind "masked" multi-input multi-output (MIMO) transmission strategy that sends information along directions in which there is gain to the intended receiver, and synthetic noise along directions in which there is not, can be arbitrarily far from capacity in this regime. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the secrecy capacity to be zero are provided, which simplify in the limit of many antennas when the entries of the channel matrices are independent and identically distributed. The resulting scaling laws establish that to prevent secure communication, the eavesdropper needs three times as many antennas as the sender and intended receiver have jointly, and that the optimum division of antennas between sender and intended receiver is in the ratio of 2:1.


In 32 patients with acute and subacute intracerebral hemorrhage confirmed by CT scans, the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was determined by using 133Xe inhalation method. The results showed that the mean cerebral blood flow (mCBF) of the patient group was significantly lower than that of the control group (t = 9.1287, P less than 0.001), while the difference of mCBF between the hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic hemisphere in the patients was not significant (P less than 0.1). In the hemorrhagic hemisphere, the mCBF was negatively correlated with the volume of hematoma (r = -0.4866, P less than 0.005).8 of the patients were examined in recovery stage, the mCBF was found to be elevated obviously, but the value was still lower than that of the normal controls. The authors are of the opinion that cerebral hemorrhage may have different mechanisms from cerebral infarction with regard to the decrease of rCBF.


Mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours is associated with life-threatening complications, which can cause prolonged hospital stay, disability and even death. There are recommended guidelines for prevention of mechanical ventilation complications, but prevention of mechanical ventilation complications is still poorly understood. Auxillia Madhuvu's study explores how these life-threatening complications were prevented in ICU. It examines the nurses' knowledge and adherence of nurses and doctors to the available recommended guidelines. Auxillia's study shows that factors such as education, availability of resources, unit culture, workplace stress can influence the use of evidence-based guidelines to prevent mechanical ventilation complications.


A biopic is neither a documentary nor a fiction film. Each biopic will find its own path in a hybrid territory between these two ways of organizing speeches.Fiction and documentary are different tracks, but not entirely separate. All films are fictional, said Christian Metz. After filming the documentary Nanook, Flaherty reflected: "it is necessary to add fiction so that the real becomes more evident". But also, as Odin argued, all films can be considered documentaries, because the camera records everything that is placed in front of it, streets, houses, bodies, faces, which are used but not created by the filmmaker.Nowadays, when most fictional films show in the trailer and credits the guarantee "inspired by real events", it is not surprising that there is a resurgence of biopics, apparently more obliged to be faithful to someone's biography, but in which the cultural context plus the narrative and dramaturgical needs make it necessary 1) to chose between the facts 2) to invent when there are unknown areas and 3) to make sense of all those choices, often made from our own projections. As Stierle argued, the world is the horizon of fiction and fiction is the horizon of the world as a hypothesis of another world.With a practice-based research approach, we will try to reflect on this genre based on our choices when writing and making the 2017 biopic Zeus.


A set of rat-human and rat-rat chimeric mAb has been created, all possessing V regions identical in their specificity for the mouse CD8 Ag. In vitro all antibodies were able to block cell-mediated lysis but varied greatly in their capacity to utilize rabbit complement. We examined the ability of these chimeric antibodies to deplete in vivo and established a clear hierarchy. Of the human IgG subclasses, only IgG1, 2, and 3 could fix complement in vitro, yet all (IgG1-4) were remarkably potent at depleting CD8+ PBL in vivo. In contrast, human IgA2 and IgE were ineffective at clearing CD8+ PBL. The vector system used to create these antibodies together with the small doses of antibodies required to deplete in vivo make this a simple and rapid system for testing the effects of different antibody isotypes and mutants. We have shown that a mutant of human IgG1, which is incapable of fixing complement, depletes perfectly well in vivo, whereas an aglycosyl IgG1 mutant is rendered inactive. Our model provides a unique opportunity to study effector functions and motifs that are used by mAb in vivo and will help in the design of improved antibodies for human therapy.


School Sector Development Plan (SSDP, 2016-2023) has envisaged the establishment and operation of 'model schools' to demonstrate improved management and teaching-learning therein. One thousand secondary schools representing all provinces and districts are planned to be developed as model schools, and three hundred and five have already been selected for initiating the project in 2017/18. Model School Guideline has been developed in the framework of SSDP; and in accordance with that, the selected schools are provided with certain financial support for building infrastructure, improving classroom delivery and instructional activities, and bringing efficiency in school management. Based on the fieldwork in four sample schools of Nepal, this study has unraveled how these 'model' schools have understood, experienced and enacted with English language space (ELS) in the course of model school construction. The analysis of the field data especially derived from school observation, qualitative research interviews and Focus Group Discussions with teachers, School Management Committee members and students unpacks how English language, which is often defined as the key for students' and parents' choice of school, is equally associated with confusion and ambivalence in the construction of model schools in Nepal. The analysis shows that the confusion and ambivalence concentrate around three major constructs: ELS as instrumental to school sustainability, ELS as a conflicting zone, and ELS as the educultural reality in the current educational discourses.


Unsupervised style transfer aims to change the style of an input sentence while preserving its original content without using parallel training data. In current dominant approaches, owing to the lack of fine-grained control on the influence from the target style, they are unable to yield desirable output sentences. In this paper, we propose a novel attentional sequence-to-sequence (Seq2seq) model that dynamically exploits the relevance of each output word to the target style for unsupervised style transfer. Specifically, we first pretrain a style classifier, where the relevance of each input word to the original style can be quantified via layer-wise relevance propagation. In a denoising auto-encoding manner, we train an attentional Seq2seq model to reconstruct input sentences and repredict word-level previously-quantified style relevance simultaneously. In this way, this model is endowed with the ability to automatically predict the style relevance of each output word. Then, we equip the decoder of this model with a neural style component to exploit the predicted wordlevel style relevance for better style transfer. Particularly, we fine-tune this model using a carefully-designed objective function involving style transfer, style relevance consistency, content preservation and fluency modeling loss terms. Experimental results show that our proposed model achieves state-of-the-art performance in terms of both transfer accuracy and content preservation.


This article is on alcohol and drug abuse as predictors of risk taking behaviour among secondary school students in Kajiado North Sub-County. The area has numerous drug and alcohol ecological factors that could influence the behaviour of adolescents. Since the area is home to a lot of the working population of the adjacent Nairobi City County, people from various backgrounds have immigrated there. As such, the societal values held by the inhabitants of the area are not easy to define. In this context, adolescents are prone to indulge in drug and alcohol abuse that could impact their lives negatively. This is particulars o since it alcohol and drug abuse encourages unprotected sex among students and by extension abortion, gang behaviour as students look for money to sustain the risky behaviours among others. The arguments of this article are guided by the ecological Systems Theory. Information is obtained from a descriptive survey of 267 students and 15 principals that was I undertook in 2017. The sample was obtained using stratified proportionate sampling and total population sampling techniques in the 15 public secondary schools in Kajiado North Sub-County. Data from students was collected using questionnaires while the principals were interviewed. The findings show that alcohol and drug abuse risk-taking behaviour in adolescents are higher in the wake of poor family stability, negative peer influence, breakdown of societal values and weak government measures. As such, it is recommended that it is important to ensure that cohesiveness in the families is encouraged so as to reduce alcohol and drug abuse behaviours among students. Teachers should also be at the forefront for checking alcohol and drug abuse in schools so as to protect the spread of risky taking behaviours among peers. Members of the society who sell alcohol to students should be identified and punished as per the existing law. The government should strengthen its programs (in schools and in the mass media) to guide students on the dangers associated with alcohol and drug abuse among students. This article is organized into Introduction, Literature Review and discussions.


Using mobile services for e-government opens a new way of interaction between governments, citizens and businesses as well as within the public administration. However, governments face different drivers and inhibitors in their adoption behaviour. In this paper we investigate the question why public sector organizations differ in their adoption of mobile government innovations. Based on 12 in-depth interviews with municipal IT decision makers, we apply grounded theory and content analysis to derive a framework for drivers and inhibitors of m-government adoption. Further, we utilize this framework to analyze four cases in detail and identify the contextual differences in such municipalities. Finally, we isolate the effects in the way IT is governed and derive the concept of transformational IT governance to explain the differences in municipal m-government adoption.


The availability of comprehensive and reliable information on the movement of freight is increasingly seen as an important element in the effective planning for the sector, both by those providing infrastructure and those providing services. However, the main source of data on freight movements, the Ministry of Transport's National Freight Demand Study, was based on data that is now outdated. Given the substantial changes that have subsequently taken place, there is a need to consider how this might be updated. This should be undertaken in a way that as far as possible minimises the burden to data providers and is easily repeatable. The purpose of this current study was to identify ways this updating might be achieved. In particular, it was recognised that new methods of collecting data on freight movements have developed since 2008, and the extent to which these might be used formed a part of the investigation. The study was conducted in New Zealand from 2011 to 2013. Based on a review of the approaches used both in New Zealand and overseas, it was concluded that a hybrid approach that draws data together from a number of sources would be the most appropriate and would provide the best opportunity to update the earlier work most effectively.


We study the inverse problem for a differential equation of order $2b$ with a Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative over time and given Schwartz-type distributions in the right-hand sides of the equation and the initial condition. The generalized (time-continuous in a certain sense) solution $u$ of the Cauchy problem for such an equation, the time-dependent continuous young coefficient and a part of a source in the equation are unknown.
In addition, we give the time-continuous values $\Phi_j(t)$ of desired generalized solution $u$ of the problem on a fixed test functions $\varphi_j(x)$, $x\in \mathbb R^n$, namely $(u(\cdot,t),\varphi_j(\cdot))=\Phi_j(t)$, $t\in [0,T]$, $j=1,2$.
We find sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the generalized solution of the inverse problem throughout the layer $Q:=\mathbb R^n\times [0,T]$ and the existence of a solution in some layer $\mathbb R^n\times [0,T_0]$, $T_0\in (0,T]$.


The first stage of testing new pharmaceuticals in humans is referred to as a phase I clinical trial. The purpose of these studies is to test the safety of the drugs and to establish appropriate doses that can later be given to patients. Most of these studies are conducted under controlled, in-patient conditions using healthy volunteers who are paid for their participation. To explore healthy volunteers' experiences in clinical trials, an ethnographic study was conducted at six in-patient phase I clinics in the USA. In addition to the observation of clinic activities (from informed consent procedures to dosing to blood draws), 268 semi-structured interviews were conducted, 33 with clinic staff and 235 with healthy volunteers. Drawing on this dataset, this article explores healthy volunteers' exchange of contemporary legends about phase I clinical trials. In addition to potentially scaring the listener and communicating distrust in the medical community, these incredible stories help participants cope with perceived stigma and establish a gradient of risk of trial participation, creating potential boundaries to their participation in medical research. The article argues that contemporary legends play a productive role in society, shaping how people view themselves and others and influencing their decisions about risky activities.


Alterations in the order, or fluidity, of cellular membranes in response to variations in environmental temperature are well known. The mussel Mytilus californianus, a common inhabitant of mid-intertidal regions along the Pacific coast of North America, can experience large (20 °C or more) and cyclic (every 6 h) changes in body temperature (Tb ) during tidal cycles. In the present study, we explore membrane order during seasonal and tidal temperature cycles and find that vesicles prepared from gill phospholipids exhibit significant seasonal differences in order that are consistent with homeoviscous adaptation and suggest winter-acclimatization to mean Tb values and summer-acclimatization to upper extreme Tb values or to large cyclic thermal fluctuations, despite repeated resubmergence in sea water at 10 °C during both seasons. Phospholipid vesicles prepared from the gills of mussels acclimated for 6 weeks to constant high or low temperatures in the laboratory fail to exhibit temperature-compensatory differences in order. In addition, during the summer, mussels inhabiting high intertidal sites, but not those from low sites, possess the ability to alter membrane order rapidly (within hours). This alteration of order appears to represent a mechanism designed to offset the thermal variations encountered during the tidal cycle. Thus, M. californianus have the ability to adjust membrane order on seasonal as well as hourly time scales and do so on the basis of their height in the intertidal region.


Several theories have sought to explain the motivations for handgun possession and the relationship with personality. Perception of handguns also has cultural variations. The aim of the study is to evaluate handgun license applicants' personality profiles. 109 handgun license applicants were included in the study. Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) scores of the applicants were recorded. Scores were compared with Turkish and American normative data for the Inventory. The study group had significantly lower subscores on novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and higher subscores on reward dependence and persistence compared to Turkish norms and significantly lower subscores on novelty seeking, reward dependence, and self-directedness compared to American norms. Results indicate that Turkish handgun license applicants' personality features are more similar to American norms.


The article focuses on the research into the evaluation of the socio-economic efficiency of selected brownfield revitalization projects. Revitalization of brownfields has become the focus of urban planning in recent decades not only in the Czech Republic. The city of Brno has also been involved in the development of these areas for a long time, and the proposal for a new zoning plan, which is currently under discussion, should significantly facilitate the development of such areas. Spatial planning documentation aims at determining the urban concept, the concept of landscape layout and the concept of public infrastructure, it defines the built-up areas, other areas, and corridors and sets the conditions for their use. Regarding the fact that a significant part of these development areas is located in strategically important parts of the city, their use is crucial for their further development. It is therefore appropriate to consider what land-use alternatives are allowed by the zoning plan and how these alternatives can contribute to the effective use of the area in the context of its surroundings and in connection with strategic urban development plans. The main goal of the research is to define a procedure for evaluating individual alternatives of the use of a given area in order to find an optimal solution for both the investor and the city (public). To reach this goal, the HABU method was chosen, which evaluates the development of the area from the point of view of being legally accessible, physically possible, financially feasible and maximally productive, further supplemented by specific elements of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) so as to evaluate the impact of revitalization projects on the broader public space. The output of the research described in this article is a methodical procedure for the evaluation of alternative solutions for the development of brownfields.


From the Publisher:
One of the most popular books available today, Technician's Guide to Programmable Controllers, 4th Edition includes complete explanations, examples readers can relate to, plus a writing style well-suited to electrical students as well as journeyman and apprentice technicians, make. Its systematic approach enables readers without prior knowledge to gain a comprehensive understanding of what a programmable logic controller is, how it works, plus how it is programmed and installed. Numerous and varied troubleshooting techniques are also introduced, making this book a valuable reference for professional maintenance electricians and plant engineers. Fully updated, the fourth edition now reflects use of personal computers for programming devices, including detailed programming information on both the Allen-Bradley SLC-500 and the MicroLogix family of programmable logic controllers. Supplemental information on logic gates has also been added to assist readers in gaining an understanding of programming and the symbols used.


Understanding the European Content Industries is an international and multidisciplinary reader with a clear focus on multimedia economics and content. The reader covers two main fields of analysis: (a) the economic perspectives of the European content industry and its impact on the market development, including new business models; and (b) the cultural and educational contexts of multimedia. A number of articles are based on academic papers from researchers with various backgrounds in media & communication research, sociology, computer sciences, and education, whereas other contributions from industry advisers and practitioners provide 'market reports' on specific issues.


While the performance of crowd counting via deep learning has been improved dramatically in the recent years, it remains an ingrained problem due to cluttered backgrounds and varying scales of people within an image. In this paper, we propose a Shallow feature based Dense Attention Network (SDANet) for crowd counting from still images, which diminishes the impact of backgrounds via involving a shallow feature based attention model, and meanwhile, captures multi-scale information via densely connecting hierarchical image features. Specifically, inspired by the observation that backgrounds and human crowds generally have noticeably different responses in shallow features, we decide to build our attention model upon shallow-feature maps, which results in accurate background-pixel detection. Moreover, considering that the most representative features of people across different scales can appear in different layers of a feature extraction network, to better keep them all, we propose to densely connect hierarchical image features of different layers and subsequently encode them for estimating crowd density. Experimental results on three benchmark datasets clearly demonstrate the superiority of SDANet when dealing with different scenarios. Particularly, on the challenging UCF_CC_50 dataset, our method outperforms other existing methods by a large margin, as is evident from a remarkable 11.9% Mean Absolute Error (MAE) drop of our SDANet.


British schools are teeming with cultural richness and have long been at the heart of a celebration of heritage.   However, the riots in the north of England in 2001 exposed fractures in community cohesion, a loss of economic opportunity for marginalised groups and a rise in far-right activity.  The London bombings of 2005 revealed deep fault lines across communities and by 2012 the government had implemented the 'Hostile Environment' and Immigration Laws of 2014 and 2016 which saw citizens assume the mantle of 'border enforcer.' The Windrush scandal of 2017 was an expression of this environment, and coupled with a resurgent nationalism, the UK voted to leave the EU.   Schools, nested within diverse communities across the country, negotiate societal issues and tensions in the quotidian spaces of the school day and head teachers, charged with ensuring the Prevent Duty is enacted and British values promoted, determine the ethos and approach of their respective schools.  Drawing on literature from school leadership, this research engages with head teachers in schools in England to explore the leadership styles they employ when enacting the requirements of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (Home Office, 2015) and the Teachers' Standards (DfE, 2012) and navigating the civic nationalist turn.


In advance of the proposed development of parts of the western section of Brewer Street, Oxford, Oxford Archaeology have undertaken assessment and recording of a number of boundary and other walls likely to be affected by these development proposals, to ascertain the age and significance of these structures. The work has included assessing free-standing boundary walls and external walls from some standing buildings. Numbers 7 and 8, Brewer Street are both grade II listed buildings and are therefore not included in the present development plans or in the current study.
The walls on the site divide into three distinct groups: i) modern walls (eg No.s 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 17, 18); ii) surviving elements from historic or former buildings (5, 7, 8, 19); iii) potentially historic boundary walls (1, 4, 14, 15, 16). Other than Wall 1 the potentially old boundary walls are all either side of a long plot to the rear of No 6a Brewer Street which is the only plot on the site to remain largely intact from Brewer Street to Rose Place (formerly the Trill Mill). Loggan's map from 1673 suggests that this plot had been established by this date and the boundary layouts are likely to be significantly older than this. Although there is an element of uncertainty with interpreting early maps it is possible to pinpoint this plot with reasonable confidence on the Loggan map as there is a long north to south range (stables?) shown on the plot immediately to the west (to the rear of No.7 Brewer Street).
Although the layout of this plot and the alignment of the boundary walls are likely to be old it is very difficult to accurately assess the date of construction for the actual walls either side of the plot today. As with any similar rubble stone walls this is partly due to the lack of
diagnostic features found in timber framed or brick constructions and well-weathered, later 19th-century rubble stone walls can sometimes appear very similar to 16th or 17th century walls. It is also difficult because the walls show areas of repair, patching and rebuild so that even if there are old elements they cannot reliably be classed as old walls. Boundary walls such as these are relatively basic constructions which would be very likely to require periodic rebuilding and it is significant to note that part of Wall 16 has collapsed and requires rebuilding.
It is likely that most of the fabric in these stone walls dates to a construction not earlier than the 18th century (albeit possibly reusing older stones). However, due to the difficulties with dating these structures we cannot be certain of this and there is the possibility that sections do survive from the 17th century or earlier.
They are relatively basic constructions but the interest of boundary walls and tenement plots is usually not so much in their fabric than as topographical features and particularly when they survive as well-preserved groups of adjacent plots. The proposed development site does not represent a coherent well-preserved block of tenement plots and this fragmentary nature reduces the significance of the walls (as does their generally poor condition. Rev Salters map of the medieval tenements in Oxford suggests that the block to the south of Brewer Street was filled with north to south tenements almost as far east as St Aldates. Immediately to the east of the development site these tenements have been lost by the construction of Campion Hall and at the west end of this block (partially within the development site) they have been replaced by east to west plots facing Littlegate. These plots at the west end are well shown on the 1673 map. The plot referred to above to the south of No 6a Brewer Street, together with the partially surviving plot to the rear of No. 7 are the only plots which survive in this area.
Apart from the boundary walls there also survives sections of wall from two buildings of some interest. These include the rear and east gable walls of property number 6 which appear to survive from a significant, heavily rebuilt building which may have been of 17th or 18th century date. This structure warrants further investigation and recording prior to its possible demolition to determine whether the roof or any internal walls survive from the older building. The rebuilt brick gable in the east wall would suggest that the roof was probably reconstructed in the 19th or 20th-century. Also of interest are surviving stone fragments from a former malthouse along the southern boundary of the site and further recording of this (possibly during its demolition/dismantling) would be of value.
It is not considered that any of the walls are of such significance as to require their preservation in-situ in the project development although it would be desirable to retain some of the older fragments where they can be practically incorporated into the new design. There is probably greatest scope for this along the edge of the site and particularly the corner of the former malthouse. In addition if the condition of the wall dictates that it must be taken down then it could be rebuilt on the same alignment reusing some stones such as the larger blocks which form the quoin. The interest of these surviving fragments from the malthouse is increased due the historic use of the area by Breweries and by the name Brewer Street. Two sections of the potentially old stone boundary walls are also located along the edge of the development boundary (Walls 1 and 4) so these property divisions will remain.


In recent years the understanding about the mechanism of development of wheezing in children has
 improved and various management strategies were tried by different researchers. A search was made
 in PubMed by putting search term 'Recurrent Wheezing in Children Diagnosis and Management' and
 'Recurrent Wheezing in Children'.
The respiratory syncytial virus induced bronchiolitis and rhinovirus infection in preschool children
 may lead to recurrent wheezing in preschool children. In infant immune system is immature and
 depends mainly on TLR ligation and maternal derived antibodies. Anti-inflammatory cytokines such
 as IL-10 and TGF beta are more common. RSV NS1 and NS2 proteins target RLR and TLR 3
 dependent signaling and suppress the cellular response to RSV replication .This can lead to Th2 like
 response leading to asthma and allergy. CDHR3 acts as receptor in rhinovirus C infection. RV
 infection causes increase in IL 25 and IL 33 both induce Th2 type of immunity by increasing IL5 and
 IL 13
Daily Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICS) have been found useful in preventing exacerbations. Evidence is
 inconclusive about intermittent inhaled corticosteroids, intermittent montelukast and daily
 montelukast in recurrent wheezing. Azithromycin started early may decrease duration of wheezing
 episode. About intravenous magnesium sulfate and hypertonic saline evidence is inconclusive.
 Vitamin D supplementation in preterm babies for 6 months and avoidance of cow's milk for first three
 days of life may be useful in prevention of recurrent wheezing in preschool children.


Pruritus, better known as itch, is 'an unpleasant cutaneous sensation provoking the desire to scratch'.1 It is typically caused by pruritogens that activate nerve endings in cutaneous and transitional tissues (eg, conjunctivae, anal mucosa) and serves a protective function against noxious stimuli.

Itch can also occur with diseased or malfunctioning pruritogenic neurones in the absence of a pruritogen—a symptom termed neuropathic pruritus or neuropathic itch.2 Neuropathic pruritus is a well described but under-recognised symptom of neurological disorders. The site of involvement may be (i) peripheral nerve and root, (ii) spinal cord or (iii) brain. It may accompany a variety of peripheral and central neurological disorders, including postherpetic neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, trigeminal neuralgia, traumatic nerve injury, complex regional pain syndrome, multiple sclerosis and stroke.3

Neuromyelitis optica is a relapsing inflammatory astrocytopathic disorder affecting predominantly the optic nerves and spinal cord. It is associated with antiaquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G (AQP4-IgG) in up to 70% of patients. Spinal cord involvement typically presents as a longitudinally-extensive transverse myelitis with associated sensorimotor and sphincter dysfunction. Sensory symptoms such as numbness, dysaesthesia, pain and tonic spasms are common.4 This report highlights neuropathic pruritus as an under-recognised feature of neuromyelitis optica.

A 45-year-old woman with no previous medical history presented with a 4-day history of unexplained nausea, vomiting, hiccup and vertigo. On the fourth day, she developed bilateral forearm itching. Over the following 3 days, she developed rapidly progressive weakness from the chest down, ultimately resulting in complete paraplegia, sensory loss and loss of both bladder and bowel function. She also developed weakness in both arms, worse on the left side.

She was admitted 3 days after the onset of her nausea and vomiting, which subsided a day later. However, the itching …


This article is about analysing two issues of pornography and hate speech in the context of political theory and Malaysian politics. This article examines both issues from liberals arguments and it shows that although liberalism supports the right for free speech, since the 1970s many liberals feel that pornography and hate speech should not be part of free speech doctrine because both are not contributing for the public good in democratic system and they are also detrimental to the society. By using the cultural arguments of Asian values, Malaysia totally rejects these practices because they are not suitable in a cultural and religious conscious Malaysian multiracial society. Although many are sceptic about the use of Asian values for the rejection and the uses of hate speech by people including the government, opposition and NGOs for political gain, in principle, Malaysians are in consensus of rejecting both issues for the good of society.


In pattern recognition, the k-nearest neighbor classifier (k-NN) is a non-parametric approach for classifying test cases based on closest training set elements in the given dataset. k-NN belongs to the category of instance-based learning, or lazy learning where the function is estimated locally and all computation is delayed until classi- fication. The k-nearest neighbor algorithm is supposed to be easiest of all machine learning algorithms, in which an object is classified by a bulk vote of its neighbors, with the object being allotted to the class most common amongst its k nearest neigh- bors. If k = 1, then the object is merely assigned to the class of its nearest neighbor. Nearest Neighbor classifier and its variants like k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier are popular because of their simplicity and good performance. But one of the major limitations of KNN is that it has to search the entire training set in order to classify a given pattern which proves to be very expensive when a big sized training set is given or dimension of training set is high. In this paper, a generalized k-nearest leader follower classification algorithm is presented, which is an improvement over k-nearest neighbor rule. It can find the class of a test dataset in less time with respect to tra- ditional Nearest-neighbor and KNN. The method is to find a set of leaders with the concept of clustering using a pre- defined minimum distance between two leaders as tou. After finding leaders set, rest of the remaining training set is classified into follower set, with a group of followers assigned to each leader. Now the k-nearest leaders will be found out of the obtained leader set by finding the distance of a given test set from the leader set. And finally using these k-nearest leaders and their corresponding followers, class of the dataset is found. The algorithm is empirically tested with some standard data sets and a comparison is made with some of the earlier classifiers.


Plane mirror interferometer is a common way for the precision displacement measurement. However, during the measurement, it still suffers from disturbances such as misalignments, rotations and air refractive index fluctuations, which lead to poor accuracy. Traditional error analysis is rather limited in the static state and separation of the disturbances. In this paper, displacement measurement errors are analyzed, which are caused by the disturbed factors for a plane mirror interferometer. Then error modeling, which based on the geometric optical paths, is carried out by the partial differentiation theory. Moreover, the characteristics of the error are discussed by using this model. It is suggested that this model can release the measurement accuracy reduction brought by coupling effects between adjustment factor of the optical paths and the rotary error of the measured object (e. g. a guideway).


Esophageal cancer has been associated with tobacco smoking, and nitrosamines are possible causative agents for this cancer. The present study investigated the metabolism of the tobacco carcinogens N'-nitrosonornicotine (NNN), 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), as well as the presence of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in human esophageal tissues from individuals in the United States and Huixian, Henan Province, China (a high-risk area for esophageal cancer). All esophageal microsomal samples activated NNN and the metabolic rate was 2-fold higher in the esophageal samples from China than the USA. All microsomal samples activated NDMA. However, most of the microsomal samples did not activate NNK. Troleandomycin (an inhibitor of cytochrome P450 3A) decreased the formation of NNN-derived keto acid by 20-26% in the esophageal microsomes. The activities for NADPH: cytochrome c reductase, ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase, NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase and glutathione S-transferase were present in the esophageal samples. Coumarin 7-hydroxylase (a representative activity for P450 2A6) activity was not detected in the esophageal microsomal samples. The activities for nitrosamine metabolism and xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes were decreased (by 30-50%) in the squamous cell carcinomas compared with their corresponding non-cancerous mucosa. The presence of activation and detoxification enzymes in the esophagus may play an important role in determining the susceptibility of the esophagus to the carcinogenic effect of nitrosamines. Our results suggest that P450s 3A4 and 2E1 are involved in the activation of NNN and NDMA, respectively, in the human esophagus.


Expression in the majority of fra(10)(q25) cases is either induced or enhanced by the presence of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) in the culture medium. BrdU is known to exert its effects on cells via two primary mechanisms: substitution-dependent and concentration-dependent. BrdU incorporation into DNA and BrdU concentration in the culture medium can be resolved as independent variables. The results of such experiments indicate that at three fixed levels of BrdU substitution, 100-fold variation of BrdU concentration had little or no effect on fra(10)(q25) expression. At a fixed BrdU concentration, the level of fra(10)(q25) expression rises as a function of increased BrdU substitution, approaching 100% expression at 100% substitution. Thus, BrdU induction or enhancement of fra(10)(q25) expression is clearly substitution-dependent. Iododeoxyuridine, another halogenated pyrimidine, has a similar effect. The critical time of incorporation is between 8 and 9 hrs before mitosis. After this time, removal of BrdU (and fluorodeoxyuridine [FdU]) from the culture medium followed by addition of deoxythymidine does not reverse the BrdU effect on fra(10)(q25) expression.


Data from many experiments has shown that serotonin2C (5-HT2C) receptor plays a role in the control of orofacial activity in rodents. Purposeless oral movements can be elicited either by agonists or inverse agonists implying a tight control exerted by the receptor upon oral activity. The effects of agonists has been related to an action of these drugs in the subthalamic nucleus and the striatum, the two input structures for cortical efferents to the basal ganglia, a group of subcortical structures involved in the control of motor behaviors. The oral effects of agonists are dramatically enhanced in case of chronic blockade of central dopaminergic transmission induced by neuroleptics or massive destruction of dopamine neurons. The mechanisms involved in the hypersensitized oral responses to 5-HT2C agonists are not clear and deserve additional studies. Indeed, while the oral behavior triggered by 5-HT2C drugs would barely correspond to the dyskinesia observed in humans, the clinical data have consistently postulated that 5-HT2C receptors could be involved in these aberrant motor manifestations.


Chelsea Football Club has been home to numerous football legends - Jimmy Greaves, Ray Wilkins, Peter Osgood, Gianfranco Zola and Frank Lampard, to name just a few. This South London institution will be 100 years old in 2005 and we are delighted to bring you this glorious celebration of all things Blue. Acclaimed football writer and Chelsea insider Harry Harris has the inside track on everything at Stamford Bridge and, in this unique book, he examines the birth of the club, the goals, the glory, the international influence and, of course, will bring us right up to date with the recent sweeping changes brought about by owner Roman Abramovich. He'll also take a look at the 2004/5 season, set to be a landmark one for the club. A must-have for any fan.


The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of universities and other institutions in successful entrepreneurship. Insights are obtained following a literature review approach. Case studies from the United States (New York startup), Spain (Mondragon), and Germany provide strong evidence that universities are very instrumental in the creation, design and implementation of entrepreneurial initiatives by providing new and ongoing entrepreneurs with human capital training, fundamentals, and theoretical and empirical models to contribute to lasting businesses. Results from university research on gender and risk-issues lead to believe that women are more risk averse than men to work and invest in star-up businesses. Other institutions, such as governments, are critical to provide with the necessary incentives to launch start-up businesses, including tax cuts, seed capital funding, investment in human capital, etc. While the evidence supporting the links between education and entrepreneurial outcomes is promisi g it is not yet definitive. In addition to providing a review of existing research, this paper suggests an integrative framework for future research.


Abstract:Quite a few popular books that explain Dao, such as certain translations of the Daode jing and The Tao of Pooh, have been heavily criticized by Western scholars as colonialist appropriations of Chinese culture, and thus as examples of a "false" Dao. However, such critiques are presented without considering the view in China, after all the birthplace of the concept of Dao. This paper aims to add a Chinese perspective to this discussion.First, I analyze the high-frequency words and contents of these popular texts, showing that Dao in these books not only possesses similarities with its Chinese counterpart, but also does not conflict with the serious Dao as defined in Western academics. Next, I suggest that Western scholars declare popular Dao as false, because they judge it based on their own ideas and Western religious conceptions. They ignore the special manifestations of Dao in China, such as its infiltration into daily life, where it does not necessarily manifest as religious practices or rites. Last, combining the manifestation of Dao in the Chinese tradition and its contemporary Chinese understanding with the American Dao, I conclude that the popular Dao is in fact worthy of recognition as Dao and deserves to be studied further. After all, Dao by definition has no rigid form or fixed boundaries and must be inclusive.


We hypothesize that enhancing computer tutors to respond to student uncertainty over and above correctness is one method for increasing both student learning and self-monitoring abilities. We explore this hypothesis using data from an experiment with a wizarded spoken tutorial dialogue system, where tutor responses to uncertain and/or incorrect student answers were manipulated. Our results suggest that monitoring and responding to student uncertainty has the potential to improve both cognitive and metacognitive student abilities. Copyright © 2009, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. All rights reserved.


The major purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of flipped classroom on pre-service English teachers' Advanced Writing achievement. The study also aims at exploring whether flipped classroom approach makes a difference, if any, on the self-regulated learning of the participants. The participants of this study were selected by convenience sampling method and consisted of fifty-five (N=55) pre-service ELT teachers attending Advanced Writing course and studying at English Language Teaching Department (ELT) at a foundation university in the fall semester of 2017-2018 academic year. Two intact classes were selected as control (N=28) and experimental group (N=27). The control group was exposed to traditional lecture based instruction, whereas the experimental group received the flipped classroom approach. In this quasi-experimental study, data were gathered through pre-post-tests of advanced writing and self-regulated learning scale. Mixed ANOVA analysis was used for data analysis. The obtained results demonstrated that the implementation of flipped classroom approach resulted in better writing achievement, yet self-regulated learning showed no significant difference between groups. Based on these findings, the study provides pedagogical implications and suggestions for integrating flipped classroom approach in the undergraduate programs.


This thesis is a qualitative study of chronic benign low back pain (CBLBP).
Psychological factors play an important role in the genesis and maintenance of
CBLBP but the processes involved are poorly understood. The meaning of the pain
for the sufferer is considered to be important and more research into this area that
takes an idiographic approach is recommended in the literature. Three empirical
studies are reported which employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to
explore the personal experience of CBLBP. A range of themes are discussed that
capture the meaning of the pain for the sufferer and help to understand the dynamic
relationship between the pain sensation, distress and disability. The first study is
exploratory, the participants' struggle to make a coherent sense of their pain is
revealed along with the related personal and social implications. In the second study
the experience of pain itself is focused on more closely in the context of a simple
intervention. Descriptions of the pain are given which reveal its threatening aspect
and suggest that the participants' self-appraisal in the face of this threat is important.
The factors underlying change are discussed and the contribution of contextual factors
is emphasised. The first two studies indicated that the self-concept was worthy of
further study and it became the explicit focus of the third study. The relevance of the
self was highlighted and it was shown to be indivisible from the lived experience of
CBLBP. The three studies reveal the multi-dimensional complexity of CBLBP and
highlight how its inherent `unpleasantnessr'e presentsm ore than a noxious sensory
experience but unfolds within a dynamic personal and social context. The emergent
themes are reviewed and discussed in relation to the literature and implications for
further research and clinical practice are suggested.


Introduction
 Primary mediastinal large B cell lymphoma (PMBCL) is a rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) with a female predominance; often presenting with a large anterior mediastinal mass. Though PMBCL has clinical and molecular features overlapping with Hodgkin lymphoma, it is a distinct entity defined by the World Health Organization classification. PMBCL is heterogeneously treated, and most patients receive front line therapy with either rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (R-CHOP) with radiotherapy (RT), or the more intensive etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin with rituximab (EPOCH-R) regimen. Diagnosis of PMBCL is made using clinicopathologic criteria and radiographic imaging, however gene expression profiling (GEP) studies reveal a characteristic genotypic signature distinct from diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Molecular classification of PMBCL using the Lymph3Cx assay from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPE) is feasible, reproducible, and highly concordant in a training and validation cohort (Mottok et al. Blood 2018). Using a multicenter cohort of patients, we sought to estimate the rate of mis-match among patients with a clinical diagnosis of PMBCL using Lymph3Cx, and describe treatment selections and outcomes for each group.
 Methods
 Patients were identified from a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed NHL from the University of Iowa and Mayo Clinic Molecular Epidemiology Resource, and the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes cohort. Patients were enrolled between 2002-2019, and included if they had clinically defined PMBCL. FFPE was retrieved from hematopathology archives of participating academic centers. All diagnoses of PMBCL were based on expert hematopathology review at the time of therapy, and all cases underwent classification by GEP using the Lymph3Cx assay.
 Lymph3Cx was performed in the clinical lab at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona: Contiguous unstained sections were deparaffinized and macrodissected to enrich for tumor content before RNA isolation;100-200 ng of total RNA was used in an nCounter Elements XT, hybridized, and processed the following day using the nCounter FLEX system. Raw counts were processed through the Lymph3Cx algorithm and results reported as probability of PMBCL (≥0.90 as PMBCL, ≤0.10 as DLBCL all other results "Unclear PMBCL/DLBCL") (A. Mottok et al, Blood, 2018). For cases classified as DLBCL, the Lymph2Cx cell-of-origin classifier results was reported (Scott et al, JCO, 2016).
 Time to event endpoints were described with Kaplan-Meier plots by groups defined by mismatch status and compared with a logrank test. Binary outcomes will be presented with 90% exact confidence intervals.
 Results
 Fifty patients were identified. Median age was 35 years (range 19-70). Sixty four percent were women. Median follow up was 47 months. Treatments included R-CHOP (44%), EPOCH-R (44%), and MACOP-B [methotrexate with leucovorin rescue, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, and bleomycin] (6%), other (4%). Ten patients (20%) had events (defined as progression or death). Three patients in the entire cohort (6%) died. The Kaplan-Meier estimated survival at 47 months (median follow-up) is 92%.
 The Lymph3Cx assay yielded gene expression data of sufficient quality in 47/50 cases (94%, 90% CI=85.2, 98.3%). Of 47 cases clinically identified as PMBCL, 5 unclear were DLBCL/PMBCL and 1 was Germinal Center B cell subtype of DLBCL. Among these 6 patients, 4 received R-EPOCH (66%), 1 received R-CHOP (16.6%). One patient had missing treatment data. One patient had an event requiring subsequent therapy; all patients remain alive.
 Conclusions
 Using 47 patients with PMBCL defined by histology, clinical and radiographic findings, and molecular features, we demonstrate high concordance between clinical phenotype and molecular genotype of PMBCL by Lymph3Cx. Among the 6 patients not classified as PMBCL, most received R-EPOCH. Differences in outcome by mis-match status await longer follow-up and further accrual of subjects to our data base. Our data suggest molecular genotyping may have a role in mediastinal presentations of large cell lymphoma to optimize treatment decision making.

 Maurer: Nanostring: Research Funding; Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene / BMS: Research Funding; Morphosys: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Kite: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Cerhan:BMS/Celgene: Research Funding; NanoString: Research Funding. Flowers:AbbVie: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kite: Research Funding; Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Research Funding; Genentech, Inc./F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: Consultancy, Research Funding; Denovo Biopharma: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas: Research Funding; TG Therapeutics: Research Funding; Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group: Research Funding; V Foundation: Research Funding; Bayer: Consultancy; National Cancer Institute: Research Funding; Millennium/Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Gilead: Consultancy, Research Funding; Acerta: Research Funding; Spectrum: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics/Janssen: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy; OptumRx: Consultancy; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BeiGene: Consultancy. Friedberg:Acerta Pharma - A member of the AstraZeneca Group, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.: Other; Astellas: Consultancy; Bayer: Consultancy; Kite Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Portola Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Roche: Other: Travel expenses; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding.


Ginsenoside Rg1, a protopanaxatriols saponin, is one of the major active constituents from Panax ginseng and possesses various biological activities. A recent study reported that insulin resistance in skeletal muscle is a major contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We examined the effects of ginsenoside Rg1 on glucose uptake and the associated molecular mechanisms of the glucose transport system in insulin‐resistant muscle cells. The insulin resistance of the muscle cell was induced by treatment of differentiated C2C12 cells with chronic insulin. The results showed that chronic treatment of insulin resulted in reduced glucose uptake in the muscle cells. The treatment of ginsenoside Rg1 significantly enhanced glucose uptake in the differentiated muscle cells and the relative abundance of GLUT4 through the adenosine‐monophosphate‐activated protein kinase pathway. These results suggest that ginsenoside Rg1 improved the insulin resistance in C2C12 muscle cells, which might be useful for prevention of T2DM and metabolic syndromes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


IT/business alignment has constantly been among the top priorities for IT executives. From a prescriptive, design research perspective, our analysis of related work shows that neither is IT/business alignment sufficiently specified to allow systematic artifact construction, nor are existing approaches situational to reflect the diversity of IT/business alignment problems in the real world. We use goal decomposition to characterize IT/business alignment by qualities from (i) the IT systems, (ii) the business, and (iii) the IT governance perspective. A survey-based exploratory study among 174 professionals from various European countries is conducted that helps to identify four distinct IT/business alignment situations. This knowledge can now be used to construct methods and models that do not only operationalize alignment, but also can be adapted to the different situational needs.


In this paper we consider redistribution of radiation defects, which were generated during radiation processing, in a multilayer structure with porous epitaxial layer. It has been shown, that porosity of epitaxial layer gives a possibility to decrease quantity of radiation defects.


. There is a scarcity of contextual information on the current status and challenges facing the sustainable management of mangroves. Using a literature review, this study explores this problem in the case of Kenya's mangrove sites, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the strategies needed to promote their sustainable conservation and management. The results indicate that Kenya's mangrove forests span approximately 62,459.8 hectares, accounting for roughly 3.0% of the overall natural forest cover or less than 1.0% of the country's total land area. The majority of mangroves, constituting about 59%, are found in Lamu County. The country has nine species of mangroves, with Rhizophora mucronata and Ceriops tagal (Perr.) C.B. Rob. being the dominant species. Even though these resources provide many ecosystem goods and services, mangroves are still being threatened by human-induced changes. Fortunately, the government appears to be strongly committed to conserving these critical resources and has established a positive environment for restorative actions. The development of the National Mangrove Ecosystem Management Plan (2017-2027) and the recognition of private sector-led incentive-based Payment for Ecosystem Services initiatives such as the Mikoko Pamoja Project provide renewed impetus for improved management of mangroves. Even though more studies are required, the success of the Mikoko Pamoja project serves as an inspiring example to the world of how community involvement in innovative incentive-based approaches can contribute to the preservation and sustainable use of mangroves.


California's health care reform effort may have been one of the first casualties of the national economic downturn. Yet the conditions that gave rise to the initiative did not disappear when the plan failed, and other states are pushing ahead with proposals to expand health coverage. So it remains useful to reflect on the California experience. In particular, it will be helpful to understand the proposed funding sources, how they would have interacted with California's revenue system, and what alternative funding streams might have withstood the politics of reform. In this policy brief, we analyze the options for financing expanded health insurance coverage in California and offer our own preferred solution in light of the state's fiscal and political constraints.


The State Library has one of the best shipping and maritime history collections in Australia. It includes books, periodicals, newspapers, shipping registers and several substantial pictorial collections.


Mīr Ḥusayn al-Maybudī (d. 909/1504) wrote a Persian treatise on philosophy titled The World-Revealing Cup ( Jām-i gītī-numā ), in which he provided a survey of the views of recent philosophers on various worldly matters. This work of Maybudī acquired some fame in both the Safavid and the Ottoman empires. This is evident from numerous extant manuscripts of it and from the Persian commentary on it written by the Ottoman scholar ʿUmar al-Challī (fl. 1077/1666). What is more, the text attracted the attention of some European scholars. Sometime after March 1619, a Scottish traveller and Orientalist, George Strachan, who traveled to Isfahan, made an interlinear Latin translation in his own copy of the work. Some years later, a Maronite scholar of Arabic literature, Abraham Ecchellensis (d. 1664), translated the text based on an Arabic version of it available to him, and then in Paris, in 1641, he published the dual Arabic-Latin translation. This article endeavors to demonstrate the significance of this work based on the broad nature of its reception.


Three softwood species, spruce (Picea abies Karst.), fir (Abies alba Mill.), and larch (Larix decidua Mill.), and five hardwood species, oak (Quercus petraea Liebl.), ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.), beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), cherry (Prunus avium L.), and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) were treated at high temperatures under vacuum conditions with Termovuoto® technology. All of the wood species were treated at different temperatures (from 160 to 220°C), different times (from 45 minutes to 5 hours), and under different pressure conditions (160, 210, and 330 mbar). The treated material was characterized in terms of mass loss, color changes, and equilibrium moisture content. Results showed dissimilar behavior of various wood species and their different sensitivities to treatment schedules. Consequently, the series of tests performed allowed a detailed characterization of the Termovuoto® process and its effect on product quality.