In recent years, the researchers intend to discover new renewable energy resources and technologies because of the decrease of fossil fuel stocks of the Earth (such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc.). The current trend in the alternative fuel studies emphasizes the amount of biomass in the energy sources. The diesel fuel based on biomass, which is called biodiesel, is a candidate to be an alternative fuel for petroleum-based diesel. It was observed that the blends of biodiesel and diesel (B20 + D80 etc.) exhibit better performance than the pure version of biodiesel. On the other hand, in order to minimize the loss of performance related to the use of biodiesel as the engine fuel, system modelling of the engine should be established. A test bed is needed to conduct experiments to examine the parameters of the system and performance correlation. For this purpose, a classic single-cylinder diesel engine, Lombardini LDA 450, is modified. In this new R&D engine system, the number of injections, injection timing, duration and injection pressure (600–1600 bar) are adjustable and controllable. Preliminary experiments have shown promising results.


S-duct intake component for a highly loaded turboprop engine was investigated considering its installation on a channel wing of an active high-lift aircraft using computational fluid dynamics. The objective is to observe the interaction effects of the propeller-nacellewing on the S-duct intake aerodynamics, especially when the intake is positioned at different azimuth angles with respect to rotation axis. Single scoop wrap-around type S-duct was integrated into a representative nacelle body. The propeller was modeled as an actuator disc for the slipstream effects. Steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations were run using negative Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. Although the results showed that the reference S-duct position at Φ= 270° had the relatively higher recovery than the other variations, significant improvements in total pressure distortion and intensities were achieved at Φ= 0° and 90° positions. Up to 3% decrease in swirl coefficient levels was observed when the wrap-around S-duct was positioned at Φ = 90° in comparison to reference position.


The comparative levels of indigenous and foreign alcoholic beverages in the urine of 24 University students after drinking a cup or shot of the beverages have been reported. The Fourier Transform infrared  spectroscopy was used for the analysis. From the results, the percentage content of alcohol (%v/v) in burukutu, palmwine, beer, Ogogoro, gin and ethanol (standard) were 3.2, 6.8, 7.0, 40.0, 41.0 and 96.0 respectively. Similarly, the average levels of alcoholic beverages in the urine (mg/dL) of the students were 120, 200, 210, 220 and 230mg/dL respectively. In conclusion, the present work has shown that there is a relationship between the levels of alcohol consumed and those excreted. Secondly, the study has provided a scientific basis that some of our local beverages such as palmwine, and ogogoro can serve as good substitutes for some of the foreign beverages such as beer and gin respectively.


Results: Of all 206 women, 9 had a cesarean for fetal distress and were excluded. The remaining 197 had a mean age of 28.6 (15–41). Most were nulliparas (n = 112; 56.9%). Mean gestational age was 40.8 (37–41). Major indications for labor induction were postdates pregnancy (n = 163; 82.7%), gestational diabetes (n = 29; 14.7%) and pre-eclampsia (n = 5; 2.6%). Cesarean section was performed in 31 cases (15.7%). Mean birthweight was 3485 g (2390–4650). ROC curves indicated that the best cut-off of cervical lenght for predicting Cesarean delivery was > 30 mm (sensitivity 68%, specificity 55%, positive predictive value (PV) 22%, negative PV 90%) and for Bishop score was < 5 (sensitivity 84%, specificity 48%, positive PV 23%, negative PV 94%). On univariate analysis nulliparity, cervical length > 30 mm and Bishop score < 5 were all significantly associated with Cesarean delivery (P values of 0.001; 0.023; 0.001 respectively). When patients were selected according to parity, there was found a significant association of Bishop score and cervical length with Cesarean delivery for nulliparas, but not for multiparas. Bishop score < 5 had 83% sensitivity, 39% specificity, 31% positive PV and 88% negative PV for Cesarean delivery (P = 0.027). Cervical length > 30 had 67% sensitivity, 58% specificity, 54% positive PV and 84% negative PV for Cesarean delivery (P = 0.034). Conclusions: Our results suggest that Bishop score and cervical length provide a significant contribution in the prediction of labor induction in postterm pregnancies.


This work deals with the modelling and simulation of the air bubble injection effect in a water reservoir. The water phase is modelled by a Navier-Stokes quation in which we integrate the air bubble effect by a source term. This one depends on probability density function described by a kinetic model. For the numerical aspects we used particular method for kinetic equation and mixed finite elements method for Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, we present some numercial results to illustrate the used method.


Get a comprehensive research-based look at real life hospitality industry issues from leaders in the field Global Cases on Hospitality Industry is a comprehensive examination into hospitality issues around the world. This detailed look at the industry's dynamics uses an international perspective that provides reader understanding by spanning several strategic and functional areas in management practices. Leading academics, trainers, and consultants from around the globe offer research-based perspectives on real life issues in this competitive industry. This important text extensively explores various aspects of the industry from both Asian and Western countries, providing important insights into policymaking, research, consulting, and teaching. Global Cases on Hospitality Industry presents extensively-researched illustrative case studies and accounts of revealing management practices from experts around the world. This book explains both the positive and negative impact of certain real life policy and management decisions in various aspects of the industry. This text discusses topics such as marketing, human resources, strategy, entrepreneurship, the use of technology, and ethics, using inside looks into different hospitality and travel and tourism companies. The book includes numerous figures and tables to clearly illustrate research data. Topics in Global Cases on Hospitality Industry include: * consumer marketing research * price promotions * consumer behaviors * bed and breakfast expectation analysis * assessment of service quality * company organizational structure * labor productivity * human resource issues * franchise restaurants impact around the world * tour operator strategies * similarity of problems between the hospitality and tourism industries * heritage tourism * societal effects of tourism development * ethical challenges * and much more!Global Cases on Hospitality Industry is essential reading for hospitality management educators, students, trainers, and researchers in services management.


The adaptability of alloplasmatic lines of wheat and their hybrids with wheat-alien amphyploid and wheat was studied. The influence of nuclear genome and interaction of nuclear and cytoplasm genomes on adaptability of wheat and its hybrids has been established. For an estimation of adaptability it is necessary to use a complex of attributes (morphological, cytogenetic, resistance to abiotic and biotic factors of environment).


The bitch has reproductive peculiarities that differentiate it from other species. Several experiments have been conducted to establish efficient protocols for maturation; however, the results appear to be unsatisfactory. In this respect, the reproductive female donor should be considered, since it can be a factor of variability of findings in this species. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the estrous cycle phases – phase diestrus and anestrus on canine oocyte in vitro maturation (IVM). The ovaries were transported in sodium chloride 0.9% solution, and were cut into phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and the cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) selected in tissue culture medium (TCM), supplemented with 199 HEPES. A total of 469 grade 1 oocytes were collected from bitches in anestrus and diestrus. These selected oocytes were transferred to the maturation medium for a period of 72 hours, then subjected to hyaluronidase solution and stained with Hoechst 33342 to assess nuclear configuration. The comparison of anestrus and diestrus phase showed no differences (p > 0.05) between the nuclear maturation stages. Thus, the phase of the estrous cycle did not influence the in vitro maturation of canine oocytes, increasing the rates of M-II in this species.


We present structural characterization of the wurtzite crystal structure of GaP nanowires, which were recently shown to have a direct electronic band gap. The structural parameters of the wurtzite phase do consist of two lattice parameters and one internal degree of freedom, determining the Ga-P bond length along the c direction. Using density functional theory calculations, we study the influence of the internal degree of freedom on the band structure. By synchrotron x-ray diffraction studies near the Ga-K edge we determine the lattice parameters a = 3.8419 ° A and c = 6.3353 °A as well as the internal degree of freedom u = 0.37385 with high accuracy. We find that different Ga-P bond lengths are not equal, in contrast to the case in the zinc blende bulk phase. As a result, a spontaneous polarization is predicted for wurtzite GaP.


This article approaches, from a critical perspective, the study of two of the most frequently used science and gender indicators: the glass ceiling index and the dissimilarity index. The former places at a disadvantage those science and technology systems where more women are present, sometimes providing measurements that go against an intuitive interpretation of the data. The measurements provided by the latter index depend on the level at which the indicator is applied, (ISCED levels 5 or 6, or women researchers). The most surprising result is that populations that are initially heterogeneous become homogenous over time. Finally, we propose using as an indicator the number of years needed in each country to achieve equality at each stage of an academic career. The formula combines the growth rate and the percentage of women in each group. This indicator is especially useful in international comparisons. To carry out the analysis, real data were used from various European Union countries, including Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany.


Certain developments that occurred consecutively in the field of Turkish Trademark Law have rendered the outcome of the violation of the obligation to use a trademark, which exists since the Decree No.556 on Protection of Trademarks (the "Trademark Decree"), debatable. As is known, the non-use of a trademark for a period of five years leads to the sanction of revocation pursuant to the Trademark Decree art. 14 and the Industrial Property Law art. 9. The Paris Convention and TRIPS Agreement also regulate this sanction optionally. The problem at hand arose due to a gap of mere four days between the revocation of the Trademark Decree Art. 14 via Constitutional Court decision, and the date when IPL came into force and said provision was re-enacted through IPL art. 9. As a result of the Constitutional Court's decision, as of 06.01.2017, the obligation to use the trademark cannot be imposed on the proprietor. As a consequence of the principle of non-retroactivity of laws, IPL art. 9 imposes an obligation to use beginning from the enforcement date of this law. Consequently, since there was no obligation to use for proprietor on the enforcement date, the obligation to use would have commenced on 10.01.2017. This situation is in favor of proprietors who seek to obtain rights based on the trademark they do not use, however to the detriment of an aggrieved party. Although the scholars have different opinions and solution proposals, these proposals seem to be inadequate, unless a provision governing enforcement is added to IPL and it is stated that the five-year period will be calculated considering the period before the enforcement date of the IPL.


Propolis is a complex mixture used by bees to seal off hives, or use as a chemical weapon against intruders. Propolis is mainly composed of plant resins and beeswax so that its chemical composition, and consequently biological activity, varies with collection sites. Therefore propolis is generally classified as "poplar-type" in temperate zones vs "green Brazilian", "Clusia", "Macaranga" or Mediterranean-type in tropical zones [1].  The antiglycation potential of an organic poplar-type propolis sample had been already evaluated by our team. This study revealed that a DCM extract exhibited a strong anti-AGEs activity (IC50 28 µg/mL vs 90 µg/mL for the reference i.e. an EtOH extract of Styphnolobium japonicum) [2]. A bioassay-guided fractionation highlighted the major anti-AGEs components of this extract as pinobanksine derivatives and prenyl cafeate. The present workaims to show that the associated inhibition mechanism is directly related to their trapping ability of reactive dicarbonyl species such as methylglyoxal, an intermediate component in AGEs formation (Figure 1). Fig. 1.  The Maillard reaction - Schematic formation of AGEs. Rapid identification of chemical markers is an important issue in propolis studies. A fast dereplication analysis of the propolis DCM extract, using a Laser Desorption Ionization (LDI) MS technique [3], allowed us to instantly identify 25 polyphenol derivatives previously identified by classical methods [2,4]. The results clearly show that LDI-MS represents a fast and powerful method to characterize propolis extracts and identify their origin. References: [1] Salatino A, Fernandes-Silva CC, Righi AA, Salatino MLF. Propolis research and the chemistry of plant products. Nat Prod Rep 2011; 28: 925–936
[2] Boisard S, Le Ray A-M, Gatto J, Aumond M-C, Blanchard P, Derbre S, Flurin C, Richomme P. Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Anti-AGEs Activities of a French Poplar Type Propolis. J Agric Food Chem 2014; 62: 1344–1351
[3] Le Pogam P, Schinkovitz A, Legouin B, Le Lamer A-C, Boustie J, Richomme P. Matrix-Free UV-Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry as a Versatile Approach for Accelerating Dereplication Studies on Lichens. Anal Chem 2015; 87: 10421-8
[4] Boisard S, Le Ray A-M, Landreau A, Kempf M, Cassisa V, Flurin C, Richomme P. Antifungal and Antibacterial Metabolites from a French Poplar Type Propolis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2015; e319240.


The enzymatic pathway responsible for the production and metabolism of cyclic ADP-ribose (cADP-R) in small bovine coronary arteries was characterized, and the role of cADP-R and ADP-ribose (ADP-R) in the regulation of the activity of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+(KCa) channels was determined in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) prepared from these vessels. We found that cADP-R and ADP-R were produced when the coronary arterial homogenates were incubated with 1 mM β-NAD. The time course of the enzyme reactions showed that the maximal conversion rate (1.37 ± 0.03 nmol ⋅ min-1 ⋅ mg protein-1) of β-NAD to cADP-R was reached after 3 min of incubation. As incubation time was prolonged, the production of ADP-R was increased to a maximal rate of 3.66 ± 0.03 nmol ⋅ min-1 ⋅ mg protein-1, whereas cADP-R production decreased. Incubation of the homogenate with cADP-R produced a time-dependent increase in the synthesis of ADP-R. Comparison of coronary arterial microsomes with cytosols shows that the production of both cADP-R and ADP-R in microsomes was significantly greater. In excised inside-out membrane patches of single coronary SMC, the KCa channels were activated when β-NAD, the precursor for both cADP-R and ADP-R, was applied to the internal surface. This effect of β-NAD may be associated with the production of ADP-R, because the KCa-channel activity was increased by ADP-R in a concentration-dependent manner. The open-state probability of the KCa channels increased from a control level of 0.08 ± 0.03 to 0.17 ± 0.05 even at the lowest ADP-R concentration (0.1 μM) studied. However, cADP-R reduced the KCa-channel activity, and the threshold concentration of cADP-R that decreased the average channel activity of the KCa channels was 1 μM. These results provide evidence that cADP-R is produced and metabolized in the coronary arterial smooth muscle and that a cADP-R/ADP-R pathway participates in the control of the KCa-channel activity in vascular SMC.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact on the medicines budget of the introduction of new treatments in colorectal cancer, as monoclonal antibodies cetuximab and bevacizumab and oxaliplatin in the adjuvant setting, for the Catalan health public system in 2006. METHOD: In advanced stages of the disease, the medicines budget impact of the introduction of cetuximab and bevacizumab in relation to the standard treatment (FOLFIRI and FOLFOX regimes) was evaluated. In adjuvant treatment stage II-III, the medicines budget impact of the utilization of FOLFOX regime compared to the combination of fluorouracil and folinic acid was evaluated. RESULTS: The medicines budget impact of the new therapies is evaluated at 27.9 million euros and 18.3 million euros in advanced stages of the disease and the adjuvant setting, respectively. In the adjuvant setting, the impact assessed depends on the number of new cases estimated. CONCLUSIONS: The impact on the health budget in Catalonia will be of great magnitude, and it could be higher considering these drugs are just only an example. Health policy should take this impact into account when future costs of health care are assessed in the public sector.


Studies of the migration of benzophenone from inks and of model ink components incorporated deliberately into cartonboard have been carried out at low temperature and during microwave heating. Benzophenone was found in the packaging of four of seven frozen foods examined and this was attributed to its use as a photoinitiator for UV-cured ink. Benzophenone was found to migrate to the packaged food even from polyethylene-coated board, and this was attributed in part to the fact that polyethylene is rather permeable to low molecular weight substances and is not a good barrier to migration. Additional studies were conducted with two other frozen foods by incorporating model ink components into their cartonboard packaging. The substances were benzophenone, benzylbutyl phthalate, butyl benzoate, chlorodecane and dimethyl phthalate. Migration was readily detected after storing the food at -20°C for 1 week in the impregnated cartonboard. Migration levels in the food increased only slowly thereafter, up to 1 year, except for the most volatile substances used. Subsequent heating of the frozen food using a microwave oven decreased the concentration of some migrants by volatilization, but increased the concentration of other, less volatile substances by heat-accelerated migration. It is concluded that for inks used to print food contact materials, if the content of low molecular weight volatiles is controlled and if transfer of higher molecular weight components via set-off is controlled also, then migration levels could be kept low in these conditions.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the use of vitrectomy with perfluorocarbon liquids (Perfluoro-DK-line) (PFCL) to refloat the luxated lenses of surgical etiology. Follow-up complications are considered.

METHODS
The cases with vitreous posteriorly luxated lenses were reviewed between 1989 and 1999. 8 cases were found, all had similar surgery with vitrectomy and PFCL performed by the same surgeon. In two cases an anterior chamber IOL and in 6 cases a posterior chamber IOL sulcus fixated were used.

RESULTS
The average age of the 8 cases with unilateral vitreous luxated lenses of no surgical etiology was 64.5 years. 3 of them were myopic with a history of spontaneous luxation with a duration of 5.9 and 10 years respectively. The other 5 cases reported a history of ocular trauma with a shorter time of luxation (between 1 week and 3 years). 7 cases (87.5%) had ocular hypertension, 6 cases (75%) showed epithelial corneal edema and one case retinal detachment preoperatively. Vitrectomy with PFCL normalized IOP and corneal edema. The complications related with decreased final VA were cystoid macular edema (1 case), macular atrophy (1 case) and retinal detachment (1 case). Only in one case a postsurgical retinal detachment was found likely to be iatrogenic.

CONCLUSION
As vitrectomy with PFCL simplifies surgical technique with good results and modern sulcus fixated IOL may be used during the same surgery offering visual restoration, we believe this combined technique must be recommended always after posterior lens dislocation, to prevent complications and to preserve visual acuity.


Existing studies applying a motivation-based segmentation of Airbnb users are still limited and mainly concentrated in the US; even less are studies applied in the European context. This paper applies an exploratory mixed method approach in Italy, where no study has been published around this research area so far. A qualitative study based on 26 in-depth interviews was carried out to verify if Italians are driven by the same motivations that have been identified by existing literature. Qualitative findings were then used to inform, complemented with a review of the existing literature, to design a survey instrument to collect data. Hence, a factor-cluster analysis was run to profile a sample of 247 Italians based on their motivations to use Airbnb, and a series of chi-square tests was run to investigate whether significant differences exist among clusters based on socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, marital status, level of education, employment status, and annual income). Three clusters were identified ("Enthusiastic Airbnb lovers", "Pragmatic Airbnb users" e "Pragmatic authenticity seekers") with significant differences only based on marital status, level of education and employment status. Contributions to the body of knowledge and managerial implications are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.


Introduction Many years ago, while engaged in field work in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, the writer became interested in the geomorphic features there displayed and, after considerable study, became satisfied of the presence, some distance below the highest points in the landscape, of rather extensive remnants of a peneplain which, in all probability, was much younger than the Schooley (Kittatinny) peneplain that Davis and Wood2 had recognized farther east and described a few years previously, but he found no reliable data for a more accurate determination of its age. At that time little or no geomorphic work had been done in the western part of the State—Davis's activities having been largely confined to the region east of the Allegheny Front and to the northern part of New Jersey—and no one had attempted to correlate the surface features east of the Allegheny Front with those in the coal . . .


OBJECTIVE
The inflammatory process plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular complications in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). YKL-40/chitinase 3-like protein 1 is a novel biomarker of systemic inflammation. This study aimed to investigate whether carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), a useful marker for early atherosclerosis, is associated with serum YKL-40/chitinase 3-like protein 1 levels in patients with normotensive and nondiabetic OSAS.

METHODS
The study included 40 OSAS patients and 40 age- sex- and body mass index-matched healthy controls. Serum YKL-40 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. CIMT was measured by B-mode ultrasound.

RESULTS
The patients with OSAS had significantly increased CIMT and higher YKL-40 and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels than those of the controls. CIMT was strongly correlated with serum YKL-40 levels (r=0.694, p<0.001), hsCRP (r=0.622, p<0.001), age (r=0.525, p=0.001), and weakly correlated with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) (r=0.365, p=0.021) and the percentage of recording time spent (PRTS) of oxygen saturation<90% (r=0.488, p=0.001). Moreover, it was detected that serum YKL-40 levels were strongly correlated with AHI (r=0.617, p<0.001), and weakly correlated with SaO2<90% of PRTS (r=0.394, p=0.012) and hsCRP (r=0.486, p=0.001). In multiple regression analyses, age and serum levels of YKL-40 and hsCRP were found to be independent predictors of CIMT.

CONCLUSION
In patients with OSAS, CIMT was increased. This increase was associated with serum YKL-40 level. Increased serum level of YKL-40 may be an early predictor of atherosclerosis development in patients with OSAS.


Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex that adds telomeric DNA repeats to the ends of most eukaryotic chromosomes. The reverse transcriptase subunit of telomerase (TERT) differs from retroviral reverse transcriptases in having a long basic amino-terminal extension. We made a large library containing random mutations in the amino terminus of the EST2 gene, which encodes the Saccharomyces cerevisiae TERT, and selected functional alleles by their ability to rescue senescence of telomerase-negative cells. Through analysis of 265 mutations, the amino terminus of Est2p was found to contain at least four essential regions. This domain structure was verified by a combination of deletion and alanine-block mutations. Mutations within two essential domains of the protein reduced RNA binding, suggesting that the amino terminus of Est2p makes important contacts with the intrinsic RNA component of telomerase. A mutant close to the amino terminus retained RNA binding and in vitro enzymatic activity but was defective in vivo, suggesting a role in interaction with other macromolecular components of telomerase.


France HADRON is a French national collaboration that brings together 26 teams in nine different French cities (Lyon, Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Paris-Orsay, Nice, Toulouse, Marseille, Strasbourg and Grenoble). This infrastructure was created in 2013 and follows the ETOILE and ARCHADE projects; it is presently funded by public money. Ten teams, from different scientific background, using a wide range of approaches, participate in radiobiology researches upon protons and carbon ion therapy in comparison with photons used in classical radiation oncology. These approaches combine the use of multiple biological models of radioresistant tumors and healthy tissue critical for treatment tolerance. Thus, the determinants of the radioresistance of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSSC), high-grade gliomas, sarcomas including chondrosarcomas and the ubiquitous endothelial cells and fibroblasts are studied. Multiple methodological approaches are implemented. In particular, these include: the extraction of tumor stem cell populations and their radiobiological comparison with the differentiated tumor cells; the studies in hypoxic and normoxic conditions; the development and the use of models of 3D cell cultures that highlight important differences in cell behaviors; the cell biology with the analysis of typical neoplastic mechanisms such as invasive and cell migration processes, as well as late recovery of irradiated tumor cells that reenter proliferation; the molecular biochemistry with analysis of resistance signaling pathways, telomerase regulation and genomic analysis of predictors of radioresistance in retrospective and prospective series of patients (gliomas, HNSSC, sarcomas) and finally the oxidative stress, genotoxicity and inflammatory measurements in normal human cells at early and late times after irradiation. This work allows a better understanding of the mechanisms of cellular and tumor radioresistance, normal tissue toxicity, but they also enable pre-clinical and clinical approaches. Thus, experimental approaches of combinations of pharmacological treatments acting on the identified resistance or toxicity mechanisms with the different types of radiation studied are developed. The comparison between stem cells and differentiated cells is very interesting in this respect. This information, combined with phenomenological data on survival and relative biological effectiveness (RBE), contributes to the adjustment and parameterization of bio-mathematical predictive models of the cellular response such as the Nanox ® model. This work enables, on the one hand, to suggest hypotheses of clinical trials aimed at acting on tumor radioresistance; and, on the other hand, to integrate into studies associated with prospective transnational clinical research protocols, comparing carbontherapy vs. photon or proton radiotherapy, in collaboration with the European carbontherapy centers, in particular the Heidelberg Ion Therapy (HIT) in Germany and Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica (CNAO) in Italy. The potential of France HADRON in radiobiology is important and can make a useful contribution to this field of research, in particular by pursuing a convergence approach of the methods, the models and the topics investigated


In this work we have investigated the concept of "restraining bolt", inspired by Science Fiction. We have two distinct sets of features extracted from the world, one by the agent and one by the authority imposing some restraining specifications on the behaviour of the agent (the "restraining bolt"). The two sets of features and, hence the model of the world attainable from them, are apparently unrelated since of interest to independent parties. However they both account for (aspects of) the same world. We have considered the case in which the agent is a reinforcement learning agent on a set of low-level (subsymbolic) features, while the restraining bolt is specified logically using linear time logic on finite traces f/f over a set of high-level symbolic features. We show formally, and illustrate with examples, that, under general circumstances, the agent can learn while shaping its goals to suitably conform (as much as possible) to the restraining bolt specifications.1


High-level musical qualities (such as emotion) are often abstract, subjective, and hard to quantify. Given these difficulties, it is not easy to learn good feature representations with supervised learning techniques, either because of the insufficiency of labels, or the subjectiveness (and hence large variance) in human-annotated labels. In this paper, we present a framework that can learn high-level feature representations with a limited amount of data, by first modelling their corresponding quantifiable low-level attributes. We refer to our proposed framework as Music FaderNets, which is inspired by the fact that low-level attributes can be continuously manipulated by separate "sliding faders" through feature disentanglement and latent regularization techniques. High-level features are then inferred from the low-level representations through semi-supervised clustering using Gaussian Mixture Variational Autoencoders (GM-VAEs). Using arousal as an example of a high-level feature, we show that the "faders" of our model are disentangled and change linearly w.r.t. the modelled low-level attributes of the generated output music. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the model successfully learns the intrinsic relationship between arousal and its corresponding low-level attributes (rhythm and note density), with only 1% of the training set being labelled. Finally, using the learnt high-level feature representations, we explore the application of our framework in style transfer tasks across different arousal states. The effectiveness of this approach is verified through a subjective listening test.


Distinctive electronic and spectral attributes of taurine derivatives are useful for designing a novel anti-Zika virus drug design and architecture. In this view, we introduced some exotic functional chemical compounds that may act as potential inhibitors of Zika virus attack via the NS3 protease which in turn responsible for virus replication inside the host cell. The proposed structures were derived from the natural compound taurine (already existed in the human body) which conjugated to tetra-peptide sequences for NS2A/NS2B junction. Optimization and infrared vibration analysis confirmed the validity of the structure. Electronic configuration was studied using B3LYP approach with 6-31G** basis set to evaluate each proposed compound. Infrared spectral analysis follows each optimization at the same level of method. The introduced compounds show more stability and reactivity than that for taurine. This indicates the important role of tetra-peptide sequences to increase the stability of suggested compounds and may give the compounds good inhibition activity against Zika virus NS3 protease. Computational studies were implemented on Shaheen supercomputer under operation of Gaussian 16 program.


The genus Epilobium (Onagraceae) comprises about 200 species, but is best represented at relatively high latitudes. Only eight species of the genus occur in Malesia, but they are interesting phytogeographically and shed considerable light on the overall patterns of differentiation in the genus. Further, it is of particular interest to review this assemblage of species for the following reasons. The only comprehensive treatment of the genus Epilobium is that of Carl Haussknecht, who in 1884 published his Monographie der Gattung Epilobium. At the time Haussknecht wrote, not a single collection of the genus had been made in Malesia, although three of the eight species in the area had been described from material obtained elsewhere. There has been no attempt to review the species of Epilobium found in Malesia as a whole or in any of its subdivisions, although of course new species have been described from the area from time to time. Of the eight species of Epilobium found in Malesia, four are endemic to the area. All of these endemic species are found in New Guinea, but one (E. prostratum) also occurs in Celebes and Central Ceram. As might be expected, this is the species which occurs at the lowest elevations in New Guinea, and is the least restricted to alpine grasslands, occurring also in moist, disturbed areas that are moderately shaded, as on roadbanks and along streams. This group of four New Guinea species shows evident affinities with some of those found in the Australasian region. Thus there are four groups of the genus currently recognized as occurring in New Zealand and Australia, all essentially endemic to the Australasian area [Allan, Fl. N. Zealand 1 (1961) 254—281]. Three of the New Guinea species — E. detznerianum, E. hooglandii, and E. prostratum — belong to the group Microphyllae, the fourth — E. keysseri — to the group Similes. Another species of Australia and New Zealand, E. cinereum, ranges northward to east Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands (and is also shown in this paper to be introduced in the Hawaiian Islands of Maui and Hawaii).


During the latest Cretaceous-early Paleogene Laramide orogeny, the lithosphere beneath the southernmost Sierra Nevada batholith and the adjacent Mojave Desert region batholith was sheared off and displaced deeper into the mantle. The lithosphere beneath the greater Sierra Nevada batholith to the north was left intact until mid-Miocene time, when fragments of it were entrained as volcanic xenoliths. The Laramide slab was evidently segmented into a shallow flat segment to the south and a deeper segment to the north. Shearing off of the upper mantle to the south was followed by the tectonic underplating of schists derived from Franciscan subduction complex and possibly forearc basin protoliths. The overlying batholithic crust was deformed, deeply denuded, and tectonically breached westward across its forearc region while the schists were underplated. Westward breachment resulted from a combination of west-directed thrusting and extensional collapse. The westernmost breached rocks were tectonically removed by a combination of trench linked transform and subduction erosion processes. Subsequent tectonic erosion by the Neogene San Andreas transform has left the Salinia and the San Gabriel terranes as dispersed residual fragments of the westward breached arc segment. The shallow slab segment appears to have been ;500 km in width, measured along the plate edge. To the south, the slab descent appears to have remained deep beneath the Peninsular Ranges batholith. Classic Laramide structures of the craton are concentrated in a corridor that corresponds to the shallow slab segment as de†E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. fined by plate edge relations and the corresponding trajectory of Farallon–North American relative plate motions when viewed on a pre-Neogene palinspastic base. The plate interior is suggested to have been deformed first by end loading as the shallow slab segment initially descended beneath the plate edge, and then by greater basal traction components as the shallow segment progressed beneath the cratonic region. The subcontinental mantle lithosphere beneath the cratonic deformation zone remained intact through Laramide time. Similar segmented slab topologies have been resolved beneath the modern Andean orogen where the shallow segments are correlated with the subduction of aseismic ridges. A number of researchers have suggested that the Laramide orogeny arose from the subduction of a counterpart of the Hess-Shatsky large igneous province of the northwest Pacific basin. Fragments of rock assemblages that are correlative to the Hess-Shatsky province that were accreted to the Franciscan complex in Laramide time support this view. Recognition of the resulting shallow slab segment and its trajectory beneath North America explains the geographic focusing of Laramide deformation, relative to the rest of the Cordilleran orogen, and the relationships between plate edge and plate interior deformational regimes.


"The IMF's Role in the Prevention and Resolution of Sovereign Debt Crises" provides a guided narrative to the IMF's policy papers on sovereign debt produced over the last 40 years. The papers are divided into chapters, tracking four historical phases: the 1980s debt crisis; the Mexican crisis and the design of policies to ensure adequate private sector involvement ("creditor bail-in"); the Argentine crisis and the search for a durable crisis resolution framework; and finally, the global financial crisis, the Eurozone crisis, and their aftermaths.


Adaptive implementations of two previously proposed block-iterative algorithms; referred to as fixed-window constant modulus algorithms (FWCMA), are developed. Their transient behavior, in relation to the delay at which the user sequence is recovered, is discussed and compared with other existing variations of CMA. The adaptive FWCMA-2 appears to be particularly promising, attaining convergence with little data. It retains the merits of its batch counterpart, namely, fast convergence, robustness to ill-conditioning, no required step-size tuning, and relatively low complexity. The built-in control over the converged delay translates into more reliable and predictable transient behavior. Equalizer calculation can be initiated from any initialization, and at any time instant, to attain convergence instantaneously without storing any received data. Thus, different initializations can be used to easily obtain multiple equalizers recovering the signal at different delays or recovering distinct users under a near-far simulation.


A novel transmitted-light differential interference contrast(DIC)system is used for nondestructive measurement of the refractive-index profile(RIP) of an optical fiber. By means of this system the phase of a measured light beam can be modulated with an analyzer. and the phase distribution of a fiber is obtained by calculation of the various interference patterns. The measurement theory and structure and some typical applications of this system are demonstrated. The results of measuring RIPs in graded-index are presented. Both the experimental results and theoretical analysis show that the system takes the advantage and high index resolution and of sufficient measurement analysis show that the system takes the advantage of high index of the optical fiber. The system has strong ability to overcome environmental disturbance because of its common-path design. Moreover, one can use the system to measure the RIP along the fiber axis and acquire an image of the three-dimensional RIP of the fiber.


The review deals with analysis and generalization of the data obtained by authors on abnormalities in hormonal signal systems in diabetes mellitus (DM)--in rats with experimental models of DM of the types 1 and 2, in patients with DM, and in invertebrates (mollucs) with experimental diabetes-like state. Changes of functional state of hormonal signal systems regulated by different hormones, including biogenic amines and peptides of the insulin group, in a wide spectrum of tissues are discussed. The conclusion is made that disturbances in hormonal signal systems are the key molecular causes of physiological and metabolic abnormalities occurring in the types 1 and 2 DM. A concept on polyhormonal genesis of DM and the systemic nature of disturbances in the hormone-regulated signaling cascades under conditions of DM is formulated.


Wide-Area Measurement Systems (WAMS) are being implemented in order to help increase situational awareness within the electric grid. These systems use Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), devices which can measure the voltage and current within the power system. One kind of PMU is the Frequency Disturbance Recorder (FDR), which measures voltage magnitude, frequency, and phase angle at 10 data samples per second. These measurements are taken at the 120V level, resulting in a relatively low-cost, rapidly deployable alternative to other PMUs. This paper presents an approach to distribution system event detection and classification using voltage data obtained from FDRs installed around the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This model-free classification of events will use pattern recognition techniques to help identify features that may be unique to these disturbances. Analysis will be applied to a sliding window of voltage data, and the results from each window are compared against one another in order to help determine what kind of event occurred.


We report preferential orientation control in photochromic gadolinium oxyhydride (GdHO) thin films deposited by a two-step process. Gadolinium hydride (GdH2-x) films were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering, followed by oxidation in air. The preferential orientation, grain size, anion concentrations and photochromic response of the films were strongly dependent on the deposition pressure. The GdHO films showed a preferential orientation along the [100] direction and exhibited photochromism when synthesized at deposition pressures of up to 5.8 Pa. The photochromic contrast was larger than 20% when the films were deposited below 2.8 Pa with a 0.22 H2/Ar flow ratio. We argue that the relation of preferential orientation and the post deposition oxidation since oxygen concentration is known to be a key parameter for photochromism in rare-earth oxyhydride thin films. The experimental observations described above were explained by the decrease of the grain size as a result of the increase of the deposition pressure of the sputtering gas, followed by a higher oxygen incorporation.


The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the performance of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tool Xpert MRSA/SA SSTI test (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) on periprosthetic samples from a cohort of patients with suspected prosthetic joint infection (PJI). Seventy adult patients were included in this prospective study. On the basis of the preoperative evaluation, 39 patients were clinically considered to have a PJI, whereas 31 were presumed to suffer from an aseptic mobilization of the implant. Xpert MRSA/SA SSTI identified 4 out of 4 MRSA, 7 out of 7 MSSA, and 14 out of 16 methicillin resistant CoNS. Among the 31 patients not having a PJI, the rapid PCR did not find any bacteria among those identifiable, thus demonstrating an excellent performance in terms of specificity. Statistical analysis of the analytical performance showed a high correlation (p<0.001) between the result of Xpert MRSA/SA SSTI and culture. Xpert MRSA/SA SSTI assay is a novel, yet well known, rapid and accurate method for the identification of different species of staphylococci. The test can be used with peri-operative samples thus dramatically improving the diagnostic sensitivity. In addition, thanks to the very short turnaround time the use of Xpert assay can modify the clinical management of patients suffering from PJI during the ongoing operative procedure.


Integrated delivery systems and their components are evolving rapidly, as are Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax-exemption rulings and standards affecting these entities. A common concern addressed by two recent IRS tax-exemption rulings centered on the impact of physician involvement on a hospital's tax-exempt status.


The sole purpose of the heart is to pump blood through the body. In order to achieve this, it is important that the rhythm is regular and controlled, that the contractile force of the muscle is sufficient, and that the macrostructure of the heart retains the right balance, between for example wall thickness and volume of the lumen. Remarkably, calcium plays an important role in all these processes. This multifaceted role of calcium in the heart is mirrored in what happens in pathology. Disturbances in calcium balance can lead to disruption of the cardiac rhythm (arrhythmias), it can lead to reduced contraction or insufficient relaxation, and it can induce unbalanced, pathological hypertrophy. Because, of this, calcium is a tempting target. But, as it is involved in multiple facets of cardiac function, it will also be difficult to influence one calcium-dependent factor, without influencing other calcium-sensitive processes as a side effect. In this thesis, we nonetheless tried to target cardiac calcium while preventing negative secondary effects. In the preface of this thesis the rationale behind this research is laid out, while in the following chapter physiological excitation-contraction and impulse propagation is described, as well as an overview of arrhythmogenic mechanisms, with an emphasis on triggered activity. Chapter 3 gives an in depth insight into physiological ventricular remodeling, especially focused on the chronic atrioventricular block dog. This model is used in the following chapter to research the effects of the calcium-dependent protein CaMKII in long-QT dependent arrhythmias and compensated hypertrophy. It turned out that CaMKII was more activated in compensated hypertrophy, but not more expressed. Nonetheless, acute inhibition proved to be an effective anti-arrhythmic strategy. In chapter 5 we used a mouse model with chronic CaMKII inhibition and decompensated hypertrophy accompanied by reduced conduction velocity and arrhythmias. Although chronic inhibition did not prevent arrhythmias, inhibition was able to rescue conduction velocity. In the subsequent chapter another mouse model with decompensated hypertrophy and arrhyhmias was used as the research tool, namely mice with overexpression of calcineurin, another calcium-sensitive signalling protein. In this case chronic CaMKII inhibition was ineffective in rescuing conduction velocity related parameters like connexin and sodium channel expression. The thesis takes a different route in chapter 7, where it is described what the problem is with verapamil and other calcium blockers: a negative side effect of reduced cardiac contractility. We believed we could circumvent this side effect by using a combined blocker of the LTCC and NCX, as described in chapter 8. This indeed seemed to be the case. Compared to verapamil it was just as anti-arrhythmic, but with negligible effects on left ventricular pressure. Chapter 9 comprises the general discussion, which tries to resolve a number of confusing findings, and gives a general appraisal of the combined data of the thesis. Conclusion The original hypothesis was partially confirmed. It was indeed possible to acutely inhibit cardiac arrhythmias by targeting calcium without reduced cardiac contraction. However, chronic modulation of calcium-sensitive signalling pathways to prevent pathological cardiac remodelling turned out not to be so straightforward. In all, it must be concluded that the acute effects of calcium in excitation and contraction are sufficiently known to warrant optimism in the near term, but that the chronic effects of calcium-dependent signalling will need further elucidation before reliable predictions can be made on the effects of targeting these pathways.


Synapse formation is a dynamic process essential for neuronal circuit development and maturation. At the synaptic cleft, trans-synaptic protein-protein interactions constitute major biological determinants of proper synapse efficacy. The balance of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission (E-I balance) stabilizes synaptic activity. Dysregulation of the E-I balance has been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorders. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying E-I balance remain to be elucidated. Here, we investigate Neuroligin (Nlgn) genes that encode a family of postsynaptic adhesion molecules known to shape excitatory and inhibitory synaptic function. We demonstrate that Nlgn3 protein differentially regulates inhibitory synaptic transmission in a splice isoform-dependent manner at hippocampal CA1 synapses. Distinct subcellular localization patterns of Nlgn3 isoforms contribute to the functional differences observed among splice variants. Finally, single-cell sequencing analysis reveals that Nlgn1 and Nlgn3 are the major Nlgn genes and that expression of Nlgn splice isoforms are highly diverse in CA1 pyramidal neurons.


Background—Recent investigations suggest that ventricular premature beats during exercise (EVPBs) are associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in asymptomatic individuals, but mechanisms underlying the association are unclear. Method and Results—We evaluated 2885 Framingham Offspring Study participants (1397 men; mean age, 43 years) who were free of cardiovascular disease and who underwent a routine exercise stress test; 792 participants (27%) had development of EVPBs (median, 0.22/min of exercise). Logistic regression was used to evaluate predictors of EVPBs. Cox models were used to examine the relations of infrequent (less than or equal to median) and frequent (greater than median) versus no EVPBs to incidence of hard coronary heart disease (CHD) event (recognized myocardial infarction, coronary insufficiency, or CHD death) and all-cause mortality, adjusting for vascular risk factors and exercise variables. Age and male sex were key correlates of EVPBs. During follow-up (mean, 15 years), 142 (113 men) had a first hard CHD event and 171 participants (109 men) died. EVPBs were not associated with hard CHD events but were associated with increased all-cause mortality rates (multivariable-adjusted hazards ratio, 1.86, 95% CI, 1.24 to 2.79 for infrequent, and 1.71, 95% CI, 1.18 to 2.49 for frequent EVPBs versus none). The relations of EVPBs to mortality risk were not influenced by VPB grade, presence of recovery VPBs, left ventricular dysfunction, or an ischemic ST-segment response. Conclusions—In our large, community-based sample of asymptomatic individuals, EVPBs were associated with increased risk of death at a much lower threshold than previously reported. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings and to clarify the underlying mechanisms.


Previous attacks that link the sender and receiver of traffic in the Tor network ("correlation attacks") have generally relied on analyzing traffic from TCP connections. The TCP connections of a typical client application, however, are often accompanied by DNS requests and responses. This additional traffic presents more opportunities for correlation attacks. This paper quantifies how DNS traffic can make Tor users more vulnerable to correlation attacks. We investigate how incorporating DNS traffic can make existing correlation attacks more powerful and how DNS lookups can leak information to third parties about anonymous communication. We (i) develop a method to identify the DNS resolvers of Tor exit relays; (ii) develop a new set of correlation attacks (DefecTor attacks) that incorporate DNS traffic to improve precision; (iii) analyze the Internet-scale effects of these new attacks on Tor users; and (iv) develop improved methods to evaluate correlation attacks. First, we find that there exist adversaries who can mount DefecTor attacks: for example, Google's DNS resolver observes almost 40% of all DNS requests exiting the Tor network. We also find that DNS requests often traverse ASes that the corresponding TCP connections do not transit, enabling additional ASes to gain information about Tor users' traffic. We then show that an adversary who can mount a DefecTor attack can often determine the website that a Tor user is visiting with perfect precision, particularly for less popular websites where the set of DNS names associated with that website may be unique to the site. We also use the Tor Path Simulator (TorPS) in combination with traceroute data from vantage points co-located with Tor exit relays to estimate the power of AS-level adversaries who might mount DefecTor attacks in practice.


Teacher–student interaction in classrooms is perceived to be crucial for learning. Previous research has compared the interaction in classrooms where a second language is used as the medium of instruction (MoI) with those where the mother tongue is used. This has been done mainly via qualitative impressions. The current study adopted a mixed method design to examine objectively and comprehensively the classroom interaction in a sample of Hong Kong secondary schools that used Chinese as the MoI from Grade 7 to 9, but then switched to English from Grade 10 onwards (i.e. MoI-switching schools). By doing so, this study aimed to identify the possible effect of a change in the MoI on classroom interaction and its potential for learning. Sixty lessons were observed in Grade 9 and 10 in three MoI-switching schools and compared to two schools where English was used throughout all the grades. The results show that, when the MoI changed from students' first to second language, lessons tended to become more teacher-centred and there were fewer opportunities for negotiation of meaning and scaffolding. These findings have significant implications for the relationship between the MoI and classroom interaction and provide important insights into pedagogy and teacher development.


�The Government of one country by another inevitably leaves its mark on both ruler and ruled.1

The 1947 partition which accompanied the independence of India and Pakistan was a colonial tragedy which as yet has not been fully explored. The extent of the violence
which accompanied the division of Bengal and Punjab has invited recourse to explanations which emphasise its exceptionalism. This thesis uses a case study of
British Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.) officers in 1930s and 40s Punjab to challenge this representation, and suggest how the mentality of late colonial rule accepted violence as
a fundamental aspect of Indian nature. The sources used are memoirs, recounting brief colonial careers after several decades of subsequent work back at 'home' in Britain or
elsewhere in Britain's declining empire. These experiences shape a collective memory of colonial Punjab which is transmitted as a remarkably cohesive narrative form. The
unity of message gives important insights into the mind-set of the I.C.S. at district level, and its surviving esprit de corps beyond the colonial environment. Collective memory
alongside fictional representations have disseminated an image of the I.C.S. which emphasises its power and prestige; this thesis challenges the extent of that authority to suggest how reliance upon local networks of control facilitated continuity in styles of local governance in Punjab post-1947. The memoirs in this thesis have attracted previous attention in nostalgic histories of the Raj and its lifestyles. Whilst this has led to them being overlooked by historians in the past, this thesis argues that the use of these accounts in popular representations of empire in Britain has made them vital to
understanding the idealised, romantic imagery of empire which still survives today.


In the present work, the heat transfer behavior during induction heating of a cylindrical aluminum billet is performed numerically. The heating process is represented by the energy conservation equation where the heat generation during heating is added as a volumetric source term. The evolution of latent heat during melting is also added as a volumetric source term. The continuity and the momentum conservation equations are considered to represent the flow field after melting starts. These governing equations are solved based on the control volume method. The enthalpy update scheme is used for evolution of melt-fraction during heating. The work predicts the evolution of temperature during heating, the distributions of temperature and melt-fraction in the domain. Subsequently, a parametric study is also performed.


This paper deals with the calculation of the force and the stiffness between two ring permanent magnets whose polarization is axial. Such a configuration corresponds to a passive magnetic bearing. All the calculations are determined by using the Coulombian model. The paper also discusses the optimal ring dimensions that provide a large force or stiffness between the rings. Such properties are commonly sought in passive magnetic bearings. We propose a three-dimensional method for optimizing these parameters. An important result is established in this paper: the exact relative position of the rings for which the force is the strongest depends on the air gap dimension. As the expressions in this paper give this exact relative position, manufacturers can easily optimize their passive magnetic bearings. This result is new because the curvature effect is taken into account. Such semianalytical expressions are more precise than the numerical evaluation of the magnetic forces obtained with the finite-element method. In addition, semianalytical expressions have a low computational cost whereas the finite-element method is computation-intensive. Such calculations make it easy to optimize quadripolar lenses and other devices utilizing permanent magnets.


ABSTRACT Over the recent decades, a many oak tree-ring width chronologies have been used for archaeological, climatological and ecological studies, particularly across western, southern and central Europe. However, a general summary of research in the easternmost distribution of European oaks, represented mainly by Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl., has been missing. Therefore, we herein overview the current state-of-the-art of oak dendrochronology in Eastern Europe. Many tree-ring width chronologies were created across this area mostly from living trees and applied in the investigation of climate-growth relationships or dendroecological studies, especially in Baltic States. In contrast, dendrochronological dating is fairly rare in the Baltic area because of a low occurrence of oak wood in historical constructions. The only long multi-centennial tree-ring width (TRW) chronology compiled using living trees as well as historical buildings exists in western Ukraine, though many preserved historical buildings still remain unexplored in some regions (e.g. Transcarpathia). The general lack of long and well-replicated TRW chronologies resulted in usage of radiocarbon methods or TRW chronologies representing distant regions for dating purposes. Nevertheless, some regions show great dendrochronological potential for compilation of long tree-ring width chronologies and its usability in dendroarchaeology or paleo-climatology.


squint identified by programmes to screen expensive drug combinations should be resisted.' the measurement of binocular function is quoted as children's vision before they start school.' Bolger For many years the standard treatment has been one of the advantages of screening by orthoptists and colleagues rightly suggest that the effectiveness castration by surgical orchidectomy or, more compared with screening by clinical medical of treatment should be assessed by a randomised recently, analogues of luteinising hormone releasofficers, no data are provided. Did many of the controlled trial. I suggest that very many children ing hormone. children with 6/9 and 6/12 vision have good would have to be entered into such a trial to have Oral oestrogen treatment has been largely binocular function? Were they amblyopic at all? any hope of clarifying this issue in a reasonable abandoned because of the thromboembolism and Many of the children we see who have been time and that a multicentre trial would be necesfluid retention that attend the use of conventional referred with 6/9 or 6/12 vision turn out to have sary. As some form of preschool vision screening doses necessary to suppress testosterone concenonly slight ametropia. In the absence of good is, unfortunately, already being carried out in some trations in all patients to the castrate range. Yet the longitudinal studies of such children the parents districts, would it not be sensible for some official castrate range of plasma testosterone concentration cannot be counselled properly, and it may not be body, such as the British Orthoptic Society, to in the context of subtotal androgen blockade was true to say that these children inevitably become coordinate collection of the results of treatment in only arbitrarily chosen, long ago, as the lowest amblyopic. the form of a randomised trial? that could be conveniently achieved. A smaller The economic analysis provided is too simple. In Bolger and colleagues report false positive reduction of plasma androgen concentrations may most areas patients are referred to consultant referrals, but their study did not extend to identifywell provide optimal palliation.' As thromboophthalmologists for further assessment, and in a ing false negative referrals-that is, children who, embolic complications are dose dependent a lower cash limited service this means that fewer patients having "passed" their preschool test, present after dose of oestrogen will often control prostatic from other sources of referral can be seen. In school entry with amblyopia and squint. These cancer with less risk of such complications. addition, it ignores the additional cost to the children undoubtedly exist,2 and it will be necessary Clinical trials by the Veterans Administration parents of a further screening visit to see the for any trial to take account of them. and more recently the European Organisation for orthoptist. R M INGRAM Research Against Cancer (trial number 30805) (P Most screening programmes have to satisfy the Kettering and District General Hospital, Whelan et al, personal comimunication) have following criteria: the disease should be economicKettering, shown that survival statistics for treatment with ally important, early detection should be possible, Northamptonshire NN16 8UZ 1 mg stilboestrol daily are similar to those for and an effective form of treatment should be IBle G twr-rw L ecmeE trukA treatment with a larger dose or surgical orchiavailable. These criteria have not yet been satisfied 1 isBonger P,Sewart-Bronprscol Nechimden EcoStarbuck A. dectomy. In a recent study I found that only 30% for preschool vision screening. Given the serious orthoptists and clinical medical officers as primary screeners. of patients taking 1 mg stilboestrol had mean underprovision of resources in ophthalmology BMJ7 1991;303:1291-4. (23 November.) testosterone concentrations in the castrate range. we cannot support considerable investment in a 2 Ingram RM, Holland WW, Walker C, Wilson JM, Arnold PE, Sustained tumour suppression was frequently national programme for orthoptic vision sreig Daily S. Screening for visual defects in pre-school children. achieved with testosterone concentrations near to until the existing programmes have been properly Br Ohalo1967162.


We propose two types of iterative semi-blind receivers for coded multicarrier code-division multiple-access (MC-CDMA) uplink systems in the presence of both intracell and intercell interference. The first is based on the minimum mean-square error criterion, and the second is a hybrid scheme, consisting of parallel interference cancellation and linear multiuser detection. These iterative receivers utilize known users' information for the computation of log-likelihood ratios (LLR) while blindly suppressing unknown interference. The LLR are refined successively during the iterative process through decoding of all known users. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed iterative semiblind methods offer substantial performance gain over conventional noniterative and nonblind iterative receivers.


The macroscopical breakage and nature change of material usually originate in nanometer scale, and the nature of some materials depends on temperature strongly. So it is extremely important for the research of heat transfer in micro-scale and nanometer technology to understand and control the influence of temperature on the nature of material, and developing advanced measuring technique can also improve our knowledge on theories involved in such problem. Due to the usage of variable-temperature sample stage, utilizable range of temperature is widely extended, and thus topography images of materials changing with temperature can be observed so that the thermal properties of materials can be studied further. Accordingly, the theoretical basis of heat-transfer and the influence of temperature on tunneling current owing to temperature variation should be presented. In the view of microscale heat-transfer, this paper describes the problem that heat current transfers from surface of sample to tip of probe through layer of air by means of Boltzmann theory, which can be expressed by the hyperbolic equation of heat conduction when the time is nearly equivalent to slack time and the scale is much larger than the characteristic scale of local thermodynamic equilibrium. The mode of heat-transfer on probe is also analyzed and the analytical solution is obtained in the paper. In addition, the influence of temperature increment of sample on tunneling current is discussed in detail and the change trend of tunneling current with temperature is also obtained in a limited temperature range. Due to such factors, which are possible to disturb the topography images of sample, there is no doubt that many difficulties will be brought to developing new technology such as detecting displacement and strain of materials at microscale by using the images of sample heated and unheated. To understand and control such factors has important advantage for making progress in the advanced scientific fields.


OBJECTIVE
Novel hemostasis strategies, including PreludeSYNC DISTAL, Merit Medical Systems, Inc. South Jordan, UT, USA (PSD) radial compression device for distal radial artery (DRA) access, have been described for radial access protocols. This study aimed to compare the safety profile of PSD and Terumo radial (TR) Band®.

METHODS
This prospective interventional study was conducted on patients who underwent coronary interventions via either the DRA or forearm radial artery (FRA). Patients with an arterial diameter of <2 mm, requiring dialysis, with unstable acute coronary syndrome, failed radial cannulation, and sheath insertion were excluded. PSD and TR Band® were used for hemostasis after DRA and FRA access, respectively. The time to hemostasis and complications, including minor/major hematoma, radial artery occlusion (RAO), and neurological symptoms (after 20 days) were recorded. The mean and standard deviation were calculated for age and hemostasis duration. Frequency and percentages were calculated for categorical variables. Independent t-test and Chi-squared test were performed to determine the significance of the differences between the two groups. A p-value of <0.05 was significant.

RESULTS
Of 139 participants, TR Band® and PSD were used in 76 and 63 patients, respectively. The mean age of the participants was 58.70±10.00 years, and the majority of the patients were men (67.60%). The hemostasis time of both devices was similar (p>0.490). Compared with PSD, TR Band® had more complications (52.63% vs. 23.81%; p=0.020), particularly RAO [odds ratio (OR), 3.17; p=0.018] and neurological problems (OR, 5.33; p=0.005).

CONCLUSIONS
Although, PSD seems safer in patients with coronary interventions, the device should further be explored in crossover trials for the two access types to determine the overall safety profile.


A patient with a 12 hour history of headache, breathlessness and hypotension developed acute renal failure necessitating haemodialysis for 12 days. During recovery she developed hypertension, tachycardia and facial flushing. Investigations revealed a right adrenal phaeochromocytoma. Whilst postural hypotension is common in phaeochromocytoma, profound shock with acute renal failure is rare. This may have been precipitated by concomitant drug therapy, myocardial necrosis or by necrosis within the tumour.


Radioactive waste management facility siting has often been surrounded by political controversy. By attempting to overcome accusations of technocracy, radioactive waste management organisations are reframing the problem in terms of socio‐technical issues requiring the integrative assessment of complex scientific, political and ethical issues and establishing analytic‐deliberative decision‐making processes involving public and stakeholder involvement. One important aspect of a publicly supportable radioactive waste management strategy is that adequate ethical assessment is incorporated throughout the process. There are, however, certain incompatibilities between pluralistic public and stakeholder‐led engagement processes and the types of ethical justification stemming from normative ethical theory and the input of ethical expertise. An evaluation of previous work on ethics by the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management highlights some of the pitfalls of utilising these types of 'top‐down' inputs in a primarily 'bottom‐up' decision‐making process. This paper then proposes the development of a new approach inspired by John Rawls's concept of 'reflective equilibrium', to better bridge the divide between pluralistic analytic‐deliberative decision‐making and ethical assessment.


It is now known that when a massive star collapses under the force of its own gravity, the final fate of such a continual gravitational collapse will be either a black hole or a naked singularity under a wide variety of physically reasonable circumstances within the framework of general theory of relativity. The research of recent years has provided considerable clarity and insight on stellar collapse, black holes and the nature and structure of spacetime singularities. We discuss several of these developments here. There are also important fundamental questions that remain unanswered on the final fate of collapse of a massive matter cloud in gravitation theory, especially on naked singularities which are hypothetical astrophysical objects and on the nature of cosmic censorship hypothesis. These issues have key implications for our understanding on black hole physics today, its astrophysical applications, and for certain basic questions in cosmology and possible quantum theories of gravity. We consider these issues here and summarize recent results and current progress in these directions. The emerging astrophysical and observational perspectives and implications are dicussed, with particular reference to the properties of accretion discs around black holes and naked singularities, which may provide characteristic signatures and could help distinguish these objects.


570 Giant cell tumor of bone (GCT) is a locally aggressive osteolytic tumor with metastasic potential. Its name is derived from the osteoclast-like multinucleated giant cells that are present in the tumor. In addition, two other cell types are present within GCT: mononucleated spindle-like stromal cells of osteoblastic origin, and round, CD68-positive monocytes. The stromal cells are considered the neoplastic component of GCT and are thought to promote the formation of the multinucleated giant cells. The latter have classically been implicated in bone destruction due to their morphological resemblance to osteoclasts. Evidence suggests that proteases, including members from the family of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), are involved in the collagen-degrading activity of the tumor. Type I collagen constitutes approximately 90% of the bone microenvironment, and the type I collagenases, MMP-1, MMP-8 and MMP-13 are capable of degrading the intact triple-helix of type I collagen, whereas other members of the MMP family are not. Here we report that the stromal cells of GCT produce type I collagenases and are capable of degrading type I collagen independent of the giant cells. GCT samples from primary tissue were collected with patient consent and stromal cells were isolated and grown in culture through a process of selective trypsinization. PCR, western blot analysis, and the use of a multiplex protein assay system revealed the presence of type I collagenases. Immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue samples confirmed the presence of these collagenases in the stromal cells in vivo. The activity of these collagenases was determined by standardized collagenase degradation assays using stromal cell conditioned media. These results suggest that, contrary to popular belief, the stromal cells of GCT play a key role in bone destruction and that these cells act through an MMP-mediated mechanism that can be targeted to improve the clinical management of these tumors.


Novel derivatives of Imidazo[1,2-a] pyrimidines(3a-3n) were synthesized by the ring opening of 4-Arylidine-2- Phenyl-Oxazole-5-Ones with 2-Amino Pyrimidines. The compounds obtained were identified and characterized by their physical, spectral and elemental analysis data. In vitro anti-proliferative activity of some of the synthesized compounds was carried out on A549 (Lung cancer) cell lines by employing MTT assay. In silico screening of these derivatives was carried out by molecular docking techniques using Schrodinger(Glide) and Auto dock softwares to find potent B-Raf Kinase inhibitors among the synthesized compounds. It was observed that compounds 3d and 3h with IC 50 values < 10 μM demonstrated good anti-proliferative activity on cell lines and are comparable with the respective docking G-Scores and mmGBSA values.


Background

Previous studies have examined consistent condom use correlates in South Africa, focusing on sociodemographic factors, HIV risk perceptions, relationship conflict, multiple sexual partners, and masculinity. However, the effect of family financial support, HIV testing, partner communication and self-efficacy for HIV prevention is less studied. We drew from a cross-sectional survey to address this gap and highlight the key barriers and facilitators of consistent condom use among young people.

Methods

We analysed data obtained from 631 unmarried sexually active male and females students selected using stratified sampling from a university in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Consistent condom use was defined as regular use of condoms in all sexual encounters in the past year. We used an open-ended question to probe the reasons for inconsistent condom use. Adjusted and unadjusted regression analysis were fitted to examine factors associated with consistent condom use.

Results

The prevalence of consistent condom use was 39.3% (CI: 35.5%-43.2%), with no significant gender and age differences. After adjusting for relevant covariates, living with foster parents (AOR; 1.80 95% CI; 1.09-2.97), adequate family financial support (AOR; 2.49 95% CI; 1.71-3.62), partner knew status (AOR; 1.91 95% CI; 1.09-3.37) and feeling confident in one's ability to prevent HIV (AOR; 1.77 95% CI; 1.09-2.86) were associated with increased odds of consistent condom use. However, self-report of low condom self-efficacy (AOR; 0.58 95% CI; 0.40-0.85) and alcohol use (AOR; 0.83 95% CI; 0.58-1.19) were associated with lower odds of consistent condom use. Young people who inconsistently used condoms reiterated that sex is often unplanned and condoms are not always available. The desire for maximum pleasure, partner's objection, trust, and use of hormonal contraceptives were further reasons others inconsistently use condoms.

Conclusions

Inconsistent condom use remains a challenge among unmarried sexually active young people in South Africa. Education of young people on the need for partner communication about HIV, HIV testing uptake, and condom use should happen more rigorously in school and through the media to improve their consistent use of condoms.


In this paper, we study and analyze the algebraic structure of the circular cone. We establish a new efficient spectral decomposition, set up the Jordan algebra associated with the circular cone, and prove that this algebra forms a Euclidean Jordan algebra with a certain inner product. We then show that the cone of squares of this Euclidean Jordan algebra is indeed the circular cone itself. The circular cones form a much more general class than the second-order cones, so we generalize some important algebraic properties in the Euclidean Jordan algebra of the second-order cones to the Euclidean Jordan algebra of the circular cones.


BACKGROUND
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality during critical illness especially in very old patients admitted to intensive care units.

OBJECTIVES
To identify prognostic markers for AKI patients.

METHODS
This single-center retrospective study was based on a patient registry of a medical intensive care unit. Hospital records of patients aged 80 years or older admitted between 2005 and 2015 were examined. Patients who developed AKI according to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines within 4 days of admission were included in this study.

RESULTS
The study comprised 96 patients with AKI and 81 age- and sex-matched controls without AKI. Mean acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score was 30 with an ICU mortality of 27% in very old patients with AKI. The odds ratio of hospital mortality for these patients was 5.02 compared to controls (49% vs. 16%). APACHE II score and fluid balance in the first 2 days of ICU admission were the strongest predictors of ICU mortality with an area under the receiver operating characteristic of 0.76. Of the 47 patients with AKI who survived hospital admission, 30 were discharged home.

CONCLUSIONS
Mortality was increased in very old ICU patients with AKI. Among survivors, two-thirds returned home.


Background and objectives It has been recently reported that telocytes, a stromal cell subset involved in immune surveillance and tissue homeostasis, are hampered in the target organs of inflammatory/autoimmune disorders. Previous studies demonstrated a marked reduction in telocytes in the skin and in other organs targeted by the fibrotic process of systemic sclerosis patients and a disappearance of telocytes was observed in intestinal wall biopsies of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. As far as salivary glands (SGs) are concerned, to date the only study available described telocyte distribution in normal parotid glands. Since no data concerning telocytes in minor SGs (MSGs) are currently available, aim of the study was to evaluate telocyte distribution in human MSGs with normal architecture, non-specific chronic sialadenitis (NSCS) and primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS)-focal lymphocytic sialadenitis. Methods Twelve pSS patients and 16 sicca non-pSS subjects were enrolled and serial sections of MSGs were evaluated. Haematoxylin and eosin staining was employed to assess focus score and Tarpley biopsy score. Cellular infiltrate and lymphoid organisation were characterised by immunofluorescence with double staining for CD3 and CD20 (T/B cell segregation) and single staining for CD21 (germinal centre –(GC)-like structures). Telocytes were identified by CD34 immunohistochemistry and double immunofluorescence staining for CD34 and CD31 (CD34-positive/CD31-negative stromal cells). A double staining for CD34 and CD21 was also performed to co-localise telocytes and GC-like structures. Results In normal-MSGs telocytes were numerous and their long cytoplasmic processes surrounded vessels and formed an almost continuous layer encircling both the excretory ducts and the secretory units. In NSCS-MSGs, despite the presence of a certain degree of inflammation, telocytes were normally represented. Conversely, telocytes were markedly reduced in pSS-MSGs compared to normal- and NSCS-MSGs. Such a decrease was associated with both worsening of glandular inflammation and progression of ectopic lymphoneogenesis. In fact, telocyte reduction was more pronounced in severe FLS infiltrates with clear T/B cell segregation compared with milder FLS infiltrates without T/B cell segregation. In addition, no telocytes could be detected around ducts surrounded by inflammatory foci displaying GC-like structures. Conclusion Our findings suggest that telocytes may be involved in MSG homeostasis and therefore in the pathogenesis of pSS. The specific pro-inflammatory cytokine milieu of pSS-MSGs may be one of the causes of telocyte loss.


Suboptimal interaction with patient data and challenges in mastering 3D anatomy based on ill-posed 2D interventional images are essential concerns in image-guided therapies. Augmented reality (AR) has been introduced in the operating rooms in the last decade; however, in image-guided interventions, it has often only been considered as a visualization device improving traditional workflows. As a consequence, the technology is gaining minimum maturity that it requires to redefine new procedures, user interfaces, and interactions. The main contribution of this paper is to reveal how exemplary workflows are redefined by taking full advantage of head-mounted displays when entirely co-registered with the imaging system at all times. The awareness of the system from the geometric and physical characteristics of X-ray imaging allows the exploration of different human-machine interfaces. Our system achieved an error of 4.76 ± 2.91mm for placing K-wire in a fracture management procedure, and yielded errors of 1.57 ± 1.16° and 1.46 ± 1.00° in the abduction and anteversion angles, respectively, for total hip arthroplasty (THA). We compared the results with the outcomes from baseline standard operative and non-immersive AR procedures, which had yielded errors of [4.61mm, 4.76°, 4.77°] and [5.13mm, 1.78°, 1.43°], respectively, for wire placement, and abduction and anteversion during THA. We hope that our holistic approach towards improving the interface of surgery not only augments the surgeon's capabilities but also augments the surgical team's experience in carrying out an effective intervention with reduced complications and provide novel approaches of documenting procedures for training purposes.


Proteolytic enzymes are a useful class of biomolecules due to their ubiquity and the plethora of physiological roles they play in living systems. These enzymes are esponsible for the breakdown of proteins to peptides and have several applications in food, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, photographic, waste treatments, bioremediation, and in the textile industry. Cell-envelope proteinases (CEPs) are a special class of industrially relevant extracellular proteolytic enzymes obtained from lactic acid bacteria. In the food industry, CEPs have been known to improve the texture and organoleptic characteristics of dairy products and also have the potential to release bioactive peptides encrypted in dairy proteins. However, research is lacking on detailed optimisation of fermentation parameters essential for the generation of CEPs of organisms in the genera Lactobacillus. The proteolytic system and CEPs from lactobacilli are also not fully characterized and further; the use of free CEPs in industrial processes is currently suboptimal and presents certain drawbacks such as poor operational stability. Regulatory requirements such as that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization demand the separation of enzymes from certain food and pharmaceutical products when enzymes are involved in the production process. This is difficult to do, if not impossible, for soluble enzymes. These make soluble CEP-based process economically unfeasible, especially when combined with the usual challenges associated with the use of most soluble enzymes, i.e. high cost, poor stability, and lack of multiple utility. This study therefore explored the production of CEPs expressed in Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis 313 (LDL 313) in a cost effective manner. Immobilization techniques were also deployed for the design and production of cheap, reusable and stable biocatalysts of LDL 313 CEPs, for use in protein degradation. LDL 313 was an understudied bacterium, thus, initial work considered it's growth characterization for the purpose of CEP production. As expected, cell growth was dependent on fermentation conditions such as temperature and initial pH. However, cell growth rates under anaerobic conditions were markedly higher than growth under microaerophilic conditions. The caseinolytic specificity of LDL 313 CEPs was also identified. Being proteolytic for for β -casein and κ-casein, CEPs from LDL 313 were classified as class I CEP (CEPI)of the lactococcal proteinase classification system. Studies were also done to optimize the batch culture conditions that enhance CEPs expression. Using a combination of conventional sequential techniques, the batch growth conditions (inoculum concentration, culture agitation speed, incubation temperature, starting pH, and carbon/nitrogen ratio of production medium) were optimized, for the first time, to ensure profuse CEP production in LDL 313. Moreover, since CEPs are cell-envelope-bound enzymes they are relatively easy to extract from lactic acid bacteria cells. When CEP extraction was studied with different extraction agents, 5 M LiCl was observed to be the most suitable. Sub-cellular localization studies also showed that about 95% of CEP activity was detected in cell-wall fractions implying that CEPs in LDL 313 are located in the peptidoglycan cell-wall. Together, these results provide insights into conditions and parameters that ensure optimum cell growth, high CEP yields and extraction protocol to release high levels of CEPs. Following this, two different strategies for making stable biocatalysts from CEPs were explored, namely, the immobilization of enzymes onto a fabric carrier, and, cross-linking enzyme aggregates. Firstly, CEPs and trypsin (as a model enzyme in comparison with CEP) were immobilized in a simple, cheap and quick approach onto polyester via support functionalization with ethylene diamine and cross-linking with glutaraldehyde. Secondly, cross-linked enzyme aggregates were prepared from CEPs via coupled precipitation/cross-linking with ammonium sulphate and glutaraldehyde respectively. The immobilized biocatalysts had good activity characteristics and properties. For example, immobilized enzymes had good recovered activity (85% for CEP immobilized on polyester; and ~ 22% and ~ 41% respectively for CLCEPA prepared in the absence and presence of proteic feeders). They also had the ability to be used at other than usual conditions such as high temperatures (40 - 70 °C); and organic solvent conditions (CLCEPA still retained activity in 20 – 100 % ethanol/buffer mixtures). Both immobilized enzymes had the ability to be recycled (CLCEPA retained ~ 22% initial activity whereas CEPs immobilized on polyester retained ~ 41% when recycled 5 times. Additionally, both immobilized biocatalyst had proteolytic properties, effectively hydrolysing several macromolecular proteins substrates (casein, bovine serum albumin, whey protein isolate, β-lactoglobulin, skimmed-milk protein and chicken egg albumin). The immobilized CEPs biocatalysts could be utilized for protein degradation to obtain two streams of industrially relevant products namely protein/peptide-rich product mixture from casein; and whey protein/peptide-based surface active foams – both of which can be used for food applications. In summary, the potential of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis 313 to produce cell-envelope proteinases was explored and the development of stable forms of these enzymes was studied, optimized and tested with several food proteins. The outcome is a whole systems approach to developing and establishing an enzyme framework for protein degradation in a cheap cost-effective manner. This therefore has the potential for various industrial applications in protein degradation and/or peptide production.


Communicative competence has been a fundamental issue for foreign/second language teaching methodology and a cornerstone of language classrooms for about four decades. Its two essential components sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences, though ubiquitously acknowledged as crucial for language teaching/learning, are not adequately, according to modern methodological requirements, taught and learned. The present article aimed to succinctly review the main aspects of the two competences as presented by linguists and educators, to draw a line between language performance and competence, to revisit the major forms of testing and assessing language learners' sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences, corresponding performance and oral proficienc . It was intended to test sociolinguistic and pragmatic knowledge and performance of L2 learners; to assess the learners' overall oral proficiency in the target language and to compare the results of the two above procedures. The aim of the undertaking was to define what relationship exists between the three tested and assessed phenomena, i.e., whether or not acquiring the competence in the target language entails performance and enhances learners' fluenc . Implementing all the tasks scheduled enabled the researcher to elicit the necessary data and to draw conclusions concerning the interdependence between language competence and performance/pro�ciency; to suggest recommendations for refinement of L2 learner evaluation practice, for improving language programs in terms of teaching/ learning communicative competence and its components and for better understanding of cognitive processes which take place in L2 learners when dealing with performance and competence in the target language.


The sociology of culture seeks to locate the world of the arts within the broader context of the institutions and ideology of society. This wide-ranging set covers the sociology of dance, literary taste and cinema. Taking into account also the cultural context of play and child-rearing, this is important reading for students and researchers in Cultural Studies.


ABSTRACT Intracellular poly[d-(−)-3-hydroxybutyrate] (PHB) depolymerases degrade PHB granules to oligomers and monomers of 3-hydroxybutyric acid. Recently an intracellular PHB depolymerase gene (phaZ1) from Ralstonia eutropha was identified. We now report identification of candidate PHB depolymerase genes from R. eutropha, namely, phaZ2 and phaZ3, and their characterization in vivo. phaZ1 was used to identify two candidate depolymerase genes in the genome of Ralstonia metallidurans. phaZ1 and these genes were then used to design degenerate primers. These primers and PCR methods on the R. eutropha genome were used to identify two new candidate depolymerase genes in R. eutropha: phaZ2 and phaZ3. Inverse PCR methods were used to obtain the complete sequence of phaZ3, and library screening was used to obtain the complete sequence of phaZ2. PhaZ1, PhaZ2, and PhaZ3 share ∼30% sequence identity. The function of PhaZ2 and PhaZ3 was examined by generating R. eutropha H16 deletion strains (ΔphaZ1, ΔphaZ2, ΔphaZ3, ΔphaZ1ΔphaZ2, ΔphaZ1ΔphaZ3, ΔphaZ2ΔphaZ3, and ΔphaZ1ΔphaZ2ΔphaZ3). These strains were analyzed for PHB production and utilization under two sets of conditions. When cells were grown in rich medium, PhaZ1 was sufficient to account for intracellular PHB degradation. When cells that had accumulated ∼80% (cell dry weight) PHB were subjected to PHB utilization conditions, PhaZ1 and PhaZ2 were sufficient to account for PHB degradation. PhaZ2 is thus suggested to be an intracellular depolymerase. The role of PhaZ3 remains to be established.


Clinical researchers make use of experimental models for mental disorders. In many cases, these models use stimuli that are relevant to the disorder under scrutiny, which allows one to experimentally investigate the factors that contribute to the development of the disorder. For example, one might use spiders or spider-like stimuli in the study of specific phobia. More broadly, researchers often make use of real-world stimuli such as images of animals, geometrical shapes or emotional words. However, these stimuli are often limited in their experimental controllability and their applicability to the disorder in question. We present a novel set of animal-like stimuli, called Fribbles, for use within behavioural research. Fribbles have desirable properties for use in research because they are similar to real-world stimuli, but due to their novelty, participants will not have had previous experience with them. They also have known properties that can be experimentally manipulated. We present an investigation into similarity between Fribbles in order to illustrate their utility in research that relies on comparisons between similar stimuli. Fribbles offer both experimental control and generalisability to the real world, although some consideration must be made concerning the properties that influence similarity between Fribbles when selecting them along a dimension of similarity.


The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The final publisher version can be found by following the DOI link.


A congestion detection on mobile networks becomes the main challenge of cellular carriers and mobile network providers because the mobile network quality easily degrades when many users concentrate on a limited place. Especially when a large-scale event is held, a heavy network congestion interferes with the communication of the participants and local residents. Therefore, the congestion detection process has been performed by several network providers, but has been executed on a high-performance computing resource in a centralized manner, which markedly increases the computing cost. On the other hand, with the wide spread of a large-scale distributed computing environment (e.g., cloud computing), a Complex Event Processing (CEP) system has recently been made available for several purposes. The CEP is a distributed computing system which can identify meaningful events by analyzing a large amount of data stream (e.g., sensor data) in real time. Here, the congestion detection can be considered as a suitable application for the CEP system, where a large amount of traffic logs (i.e., data streams) should rapidly be analyzed in order to detect network congestions (i.e., meaningful events). Therefore, in this study, we propose a new system structure of the CEP-based congestion detection system using distributed computing resources. In the proposed system, processing components are deployed on multiple resources, and execute independent tasks that are carefully extracted from a system procedure of the congestion detection. Through experimental evaluation using computing resources on a popular cloud service (Amazon EC2), it is disclosed that the CEP-based system contributes to achieve the real time detection of congestions on the mobile networks.


We analyse a discrete-time queueing model with packet arrivals that are either classified as delay-sensitive (type 1) or delay-tolerant (type 2). The queue has a single server and each packet requires a service time of exactly one slot. The prominent feature of this model is its reservation-based queueing discipline, which has the purpose of reducing the queueing delay perceived by the 1-packets at the cost of allowing higher delays for the 2-packets. Our suggestion is to introduce a total of N reserved spaces in the queue, intended for future arrivals of type 1. Specifically, whenever a 1-packet enters the queue, it takes the position of the most advanced reservation and creates a new reservation at the end of the queue. Type 2 arrivals on the other hand, are always stored in the usual FIFO (First-In First-Out) manner. This way, it is possible for a 1-packet to jump over already queued 2-packets, resulting in the desired prioritisation of type 1 over type 2 packets. The amount of stochastic delay difference between 1- and 2-packets can be controlled smoothly by the parameter N. As a result of our analysis, we obtain the probability generating function, the mean value and the tail distribution of the delay experienced by both 1- and 2-packets. In each case, fast computational algorithms are provided, as well as some numerical examples.


We have compiled and analyzed 263 promoters with known transcriptional start points for E. coli genes. Promoter elements (-35 hexamer, -10 hexamer, and spacing between these regions) were aligned by a program which selects the arrangement consistent with the start point and statistically most homologous to a reference list of promoters. The initial reference list was that of Hawley and McClure (Nucl. Acids Res. 11, 2237-2255, 1983). Alignment of the complete list was used for reference until successive analyses did not alter the structure of the list. In the final compilation, all bases in the -35 (TTGACA) and -10 (TATAAT) hexamers were highly conserved, 92% of promoters had inter-region spacing of 17 +/- 1 bp, and 75% of the uniquely defined start points initiated 7 +/- 1 bases downstream of the -10 region. The consensus sequence of promoters with inter-region spacing of 16, 17 or 18 bp did not differ. This compilation and analysis should be useful for studies of promoter structure and function and for programs which identify potential promoter sequences.