Abstract. Wetlands are a major emission source of methane (CH4) globally. In this study, we evaluate wetland emission estimates derived using the UK community land surface model (JULES, the Joint UK Land Earth Simulator) against atmospheric observations of methane, including, for the first time, total methane columns derived from the SCIAMACHY instrument on board the ENVISAT satellite. Two JULES wetland emission estimates are investigated: (a) from an offline run driven with Climatic Research Unit–National Centers for Environmental Prediction (CRU-NCEP) meteorological data and (b) from the same offline run in which the modelled wetland fractions are replaced with those derived from the Global Inundation Extent from Multi-Satellites (GIEMS) remote sensing product. The mean annual emission assumed for each inventory (181 Tg CH4 per annum over the period 1999–2007) is in line with other recently published estimates. There are regional differences as the unconstrained JULES inventory gives significantly higher emissions in the Amazon (by ~36 Tg CH4 yr−1) and lower emissions in other regions (by up to 10 Tg CH4 yr−1) compared to the JULES estimates constrained with the GIEMS product. Using the UK Hadley Centre's Earth System model with atmospheric chemistry (HadGEM2), we evaluate these JULES wetland emissions against atmospheric observations of methane. We obtain improved agreement with the surface concentration measurements, especially at high northern latitudes, compared to previous HadGEM2 runs using the wetland emission data set of Fung et al. (1991). Although the modelled monthly atmospheric methane columns reproduce the large-scale patterns in the SCIAMACHY observations, they are biased low by 50 part per billion by volume (ppb). Replacing the HadGEM2 modelled concentrations above 300 hPa with HALOE–ACE assimilated TOMCAT output results in a significantly better agreement with the SCIAMACHY observations. The use of the GIEMS product to constrain the JULES-derived wetland fraction improves the representation of the wetland emissions in JULES and gives a good description of the seasonality observed at surface sites influenced by wetlands, especially at high latitudes. We find that the annual cycles observed in the SCIAMACHY measurements and at many of the surface sites influenced by non-wetland sources cannot be reproduced in these HadGEM2 runs. This suggests that the emissions over certain regions (e.g. India and China) are possibly too high and/or the monthly emission patterns for specific sectors are incorrect. The comparisons presented in this paper show that the performance of the JULES wetland scheme is comparable to that of other process-based land surface models. We identify areas for improvement in this and the atmospheric chemistry components of the HadGEM Earth System model. The Earth Observation data sets used here will be of continued value in future evaluations of JULES and the HadGEM family of models.


As the number of vehicles increases significantly, traffic congestion has become a major social problem in recent years. Such a situation can be alleviated effectively with the emerging of vehicular ad hoc network (VANET)-based real-time path planning systems. However, existing systems face the challenges of poor anti-congestion capability and high complexity. To address the related issues, an road side unit (RSU)-based architecture is proposed in this paper, in which a city is divided into different areas, each with an RSU. Based on the architecture, a decentralized and hierarchical real-time path planning algorithm is proposed. The path planning problem is formulated from two layers, i.e., area path selection in upper layer and intra-area routing in bottom layer, both of which target to minimize the average travel time. Numerical results show that, our proposed algorithm inherits the anti-congestion capability and owns the advantage of low complexity, as compared with the shortest path algorithm and centralized algorithm.


One of the grand goals of materials science is to be able to design, build, and understand functional materials with a precision that is equal to the size of
the smallest possible entity, i.e. the size of an atom. This atomic‐scale
engineering of materials is a difficult, if not impossible, feat to achieve in
three dimensions. In two dimensions, it is already challenging enough. The large‐scale, controlled positioning, application, and patterning of individual
atoms and molecules on a substrate remains an elusive goal to this day Several
techniques exist, but each has its drawbacks with respect to homogeneity of
the fabricated structures, the defect density, or other relevant properties.
In this work, we explore a novel approach to the functionalization of
substrates. The noncovalent patterning and functionalization of substrates is
investigated to establish its effectiveness for future applications. The aim
of our work is to directly image the formation of the patterns, and to expose
and quantify the relevant thermodynamic growth parameters. Features that are
relevant to the positioning of the self‐assembling entities can also be
identified through this approach. In the formation of the final patterns, we
aim to exploit long‐range interactions that are normally present in
self‐assembling systems.


Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a major complication of solid‐organ transplantation. With human immunodeficiency virus infection (an analogous immunosuppressive state), elevated kappa and lambda immunoglobulin free light chains (FLCs) in peripheral blood are associated with increased risk of lymphoma. To assess the role of B‐cell dysfunction in PTLD, we measured circulating FLCs among Canadian transplant recipients, including 29 individuals with PTLD and 57 matched transplant recipients who were PTLD‐free. Compared with controls, PTLD cases had higher kappa FLCs (median 1.53 vs. 1.07 times upper limit of normal) and lambda FLCs (1.03 vs. 0.68). Using samples obtained on average 3.5 months before PTLD diagnosis, cases were more likely to have polyclonal FLC elevations (i.e. elevated kappa and/or lambda with normal kappa/lambda ratio: odds ratio [OR] 4.2, 95%CI 1.1–15) or monoclonal elevations (elevated kappa and/or lambda with abnormal ratio: OR 3.0, 95%CI 0.5–18). Strong FLC‐PTLD associations were also observed at diagnosis/selection. Among recipients with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA measured in blood, EBV DNAemia was associated with FLC abnormalities (ORs 6.2 and 3.2 for monoclonal and polyclonal elevations). FLC elevations are common in transplant recipients and associated with heightened PTLD risk. FLCs likely reflect B‐cell dysfunction, perhaps related to EBV‐driven lymphoproliferation.


How might a tertiary English teacher use Garth Boomer's ideas on 'teaching against the grain' to challenge the rules and assumptions that dominate the Academic Language and Learning (ALL) industry in the university sector today? How might such a teacher use Boomer's ideas to enact 'emancipatory pedagogies' (or something like them) in an otherwise conservative landscape? In this paper I endeavour to imagine an alternative teaching identity and an alternative pedagogy by re-reading and re-appropriating some of Boomer's ideas of the late 1980s and applying them, selectively, to a twenty-first century context. To challenge the status quo, Boomer advocates a revolution in 'explicitness' and 'honesty' - even 'perversity' and 'courage' - to call education at all levels as it is. This paper responds to Boomer's call to critical arms and critical perversity by imagining as a means to enacting. After all, as Boomer (1988) suggests, 'Making out is a forerunner to making changes' (p. 69). And who better to start this habit-shattering praxis than Boomer himself.


7 Precise Total Electron Content (TEC) are required to produce accurate spatial and temporal resolution of Global Ionosphere 8 Maps (GIMs). Receivers and Satellites Differential Code Biases (DCBs) are one of the main error sources in estimating precise 9 TEC from Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data. Recently, researchers are interested in developing models and algorithms 10 to compute DCBs of receivers and satellites close to those computed from the Ionosphere Associated Analysis Centers 11 (IAAC). Here we introduce a MATLAB code called Multi Station DCB Estimation (MSDCBE) to calculate satellites and 12 receivers DCBs from GPS data. MSDCBE based on spherical harmonic function and geometry free combination of GPS 13 carrier phase and pseudo-range code observations and weighted least square were applied to solve observation equations, to 14 improve estimation of DCBs values. There are many factors affecting estimated value of DCBs. The first one is the 15 observations weighting function which depending on the satellite elevation angle. The second factor concerned with estimating 16 DCBs using single GPS Station Precise Point Positioning (PPP) or using GPS network. The third factor is the number of GPS 17 receivers in the network. Results from MSDCBE were evaluated and compared with data from IAAC and other codes like 18 M_DCB and ZDDCBE. The results of weighted (MSDCBE) least square shows an improvement for estimated DCBs, where 19 mean differences from Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) (University of Bern, Switzerland) less than 0.746 20 ns. DCBs estimated from GPS network shows a good agreement with IAAC than DCBs estimated from PPP where the mean 21 differences are less than 0.1477 ns and 1.1866 ns, respectively. The mean differences of computed DCBs improved by 22 increasing number of GPS stations in the network. 23


Prunus mongolica Maxim, which is widely established in the Gobi Desert, shows extreme tolerance to drought. However, there is a lack of available transcriptomic resources for this species related to its response to water deficiency. To investigate the mechanisms that allow P. mongolica to maintain growth in extremely arid environments, the response of P. mongolica seedlings to drought stress was analyzed using morphological, physiological, biochemical and high-throughput sequencing approaches. We generated 28,713,735 and 26,650,133 raw reads from no-stress control and drought-stressed P. mongolica seedlings, respectively. In total, we obtained 67,352 transcripts with an average length of 874.44 bp. Compared with the no-stress control, 3,365 transcripts were differentially expressed in the drought-stressed seedlings, including 55.75% (1,876 transcripts) up-regulated and 44.25% (1,489 transcripts) down-regulated transcripts. The photosynthesis response showed a decreasing tendency under drought stress, but the changes in the levels of hormones (auxins, cytokinins and abscisic acid) resulted in the closing of stomata and decreased cell enlargement and division; these changes were effective for promoting P. mongolica survival in Gobi Desert. Next, we analyzed the aquaporin and superoxide dismutase gene families due to their importance in plant resistance to drought stress. We found that all of the plasma membrane intrinsic protein transcripts were down-regulated in the drought-stressed treatment, whereas drought did not affect the expression of nodulin intrinsic protein or small basic intrinsic protein transcripts in P. mongolica seedlings. In addition, activation of iron superoxide dismutase transcription and enhanced transcription of manganese superoxide dismutase were observed in P. mongolica to promote tolerance of drought stress. This study identified drought response genes in P. mongolica seedlings. Our results provide a significant contribution to the understanding of how P. mongolica responds to drought stress at the transcriptome level, which may help to elucidate molecular mechanisms associated with the drought response of almond plants.


BACKGROUND
The effectiveness of phosphate binders in daily practice is directly related to therapeutic compliance (TC) by the patient. The goal of this study was to analyse the TC of haemodialysis patients with hyperphosphatemia and its influence on serum phosphorus for 6 months follow up.

METHODS
181 patients were included, who had mean initial phosphate levels (P) >5mg/dl. TC with different phosphate binders was evaluated, considering non-adherent patients those who had <75% of TC, SMAQ scale score of "non-adherent"(Table 1), and P>5mg/dl. Patients who were adherent at baseline visit (BV) left the study, the rest continued to V5 (6 months). TC at baseline and during the follow up (V1-V5) was analysed. Phosphate binders and the evolution of phosphataemia based on treatment were assessed.

RESULTS
103 male and 78 female patients were evaluated, with a mean age of 59.9 (21-86) years. Of these, 39.2% (n=71) were adherent in the BV. Patients older than 60 years of age were more adherent than younger ones (P=.019).Table 6 specifies the causes of non-compliance. The remaining 60.8% of patients (n=110), were non-adherent and continued through to the end of the study. An average of 27.2% of these patients became adherent during the course of the study. Table 7 shows the relative levels of P with TC over successive visits. At the end of the study, mean P levels had decreased by 1.26mg/dl (P<.0001).

CONCLUSION
Among HD patients with poor P level control, there is a low level of adherence with phosphorus binder treatment, at 39.2%. Compliance and phosphataemia are improved with different strategies. The decrease of P is higher in adherent patients than in non-adherent patients.


The causes of what has emerged from 30 years of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) can only be understood through understanding the factors that have shaped its evolution. The OPP was established by Akhtar Hameed Khan whose experience-based thinking and theorization has shaped the project philosophy and methodology. Situated in Orangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan, the project has motivated local communities to finance and build their own neighborhood infrastructure while encouraging the local government to build the off-site infrastructure such as trunk sewers and treatment plants. The project expanded to other areas of Pakistan with the OPP's Research and Training Institute, training local communities in surveying, estimating materials and labor required for construction works, and motivating communities in building their sanitation systems and negotiating with local government to build the off-site infrastructure. The project methodology has been adopted by local governments and bilateral and international development agencies. The philosophy and methodology have also become a part of universities' and bureaucratic training institutions' curriculum. So far, households on over 15,560 lanes all over Pakistan have built their sanitation systems by investing 412 million rupees (Rs). According to the OPP 153rd quarterly report in 2018, the total number of households in these lanes is 272,506. The model shaped the sanitation policy of the government of Pakistan and also influenced policies on housing and informal development, which has results in the upgrade in a much greater number of households in urban areas such as Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Kasur, Narowal, Sargodha, Nowshera, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Rawalpindi, Muzaffargarh, Swat, Lodhran, Kehror Pakka, Dunyapur, Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Jalah Arain, Yazman, Vehari, Uchh, Multan, Alipur, Gujranwala, Jampur, Sanghar, Amanullah, Parhoon, Mithi, and Sinjhoro, as well as 128 villages.
 The project suffered a major blow with the assassination of its director and one of its workers and an attempt on the life of its deputy director in 2013. Due to the resulting insecurity, project programs and various linkages with government and international agencies and nongovernmental organizations suffered. However, due to the OPP's reputation of capability and its roots within the community, the project has survived (against all predictions) and is in the process of expanding its work and expertise.


In the summer of 2017, the National Basketball Association reduced the number of total timeouts, along with other rule changes, to regulate the flow of the game. With these rule changes, it becomes increasingly important for coaches to effectively manage their timeouts. Understanding the utility of a timeout under various game scenarios, e.g., during an opposing team's run, is of the utmost importance. There are two schools of thought when the opposition is on a run: (1) call a timeout and allow your team to rest and regroup, or (2) save a timeout and hope your team can make corrections during play. This paper investigates the credence of these tenets using the Rubin causal model framework to quantify the causal effect of a timeout in the presence of an opposing team's run. Too often overlooked, we carefully consider the stable unit-treatment-value assumption (SUTVA) in this context and use SUTVA to motivate our definition of units. To measure the effect of a timeout, we introduce a novel, interpretable outcome based on the score difference to describe broad changes in the scoring dynamics. This outcome is well-suited for situations where the quantity of interest fluctuates frequently, a commonality in many sports analytics applications. We conclude from our analysis that while comebacks frequently occur after a run, it is slightly disadvantageous to call a timeout during a run by the opposing team and further demonstrate that the magnitude of this effect varies by franchise.


The effect of steady and transient state responses of a power system on its performance evaluation has been investigated. Retention of all buses from the original power system has been noteworthy along with the modeling of frequency-dependent load buses. Inputs to the system are regarded as small perturbations in the operational characteristics of transmission lines and system loads. This type of perturbation is modeled by a Gaussian stationary process with constant spectral density. The mean first passage time of a dynamic system from its domain of attraction has been considered as the performance index. The sensitivity of this index to the variation of different system parameters has been investigated, and several design criteria have been examined to determine the effect of system configuration on the system performance evaluation. The proposed concept has been implemented on a 30-bus system consisting of six generating buses, 24 load buses, and 41 transmission lines.<<ETX>>


Xylanases have numerous applications in various fields, thus presenting an immense interest in studying. The sources for these enzymes include bacteria, fungi, yeast and others, the most important producers being fungi. The focus of this study was on enhancing the fungal strain ability to produce xylanase using random mutagenesis. Several mutants from Aspergillus brasiliensis and Penicillium digitatum were obtained through physical and chemical mutagenesis from strains previously selected as xylanase producers. The Petri plates with the fungal spores were exposed to UV light for physical mutagenesis at the distance of 10 cm and for 5-50 minutes. The chemical mutagenesis involved the use of Nmethyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and ethyl methane sulfonate, by adding in the Petri plates with the fungal spores 150 μg/ml mutagen (N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine or ethyl methane sulfonate). After both physical and chemical mutagenesis, several mutant strains were randomly selected and subjected to a qualitative and quantitative screening for their ability to produce xylanase. For the qualitative screening, the selected strains were cultivated on selective xylan agar medium with 0.8% oat spelt xylan as the only carbon source. The plates were analysed at every 24 h for the occurrence and evaluation of the hydrolysis area, using Congo red staining. Based on the measurements of the halo diameter, several strains were selected for a quantitative screening, using the DNS assay for reducing sugars to determine the xylanase activity. In order to determine the specific enzymatic activity, the protein assay was carried out. The comparison of the studied strains showed that there are differences concerning the production of xylanase between the mutant strains and the original ones.


Book description: During the Soviet era, blat-the use of personal networks for obtaining goods and services in short supply and for circumventing formal procedures-was necessary to compensate for the inefficiencies of socialism. The collapse of the Soviet Union produced a new generation of informal practices.

In How Russia Really Works, Alena V. Ledeneva explores practices in politics, business, media, and the legal sphere in Russia in the 1990s-from the hiring of firms to create negative publicity about one's competitors, to inventing novel schemes of tax evasion and engaging in "alternative" techniques of contract and law enforcement. She discovers ingenuity, wit, and vigor in these activities and argues that they simultaneously support and subvert formal institutions. They enable corporations, the media, politicians, and businessmen to operate in the post-Soviet labyrinth of legal and practical constraints but consistently undermine the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. The "know-how" Ledeneva describes in this book continues to operate today and is crucial to understanding contemporary Russia.


Twenty M protein-positive and eight M protein-negative strains of group A streptococci were investigated with respect to surface hydrophobicity and amount of lipoteichoic acid (LTA). Surface hydrophobicity as determined in polymer two-phase systems varied substantially between individual strains and there was no correlation to the presence of antiphagocytic M protein. The amount of LTA on the surface of the bacteria varied with hydrophobic affinity of the cells. Strains with a high content of surface LTA were found among both M-positive and M-negative streptococci. Cellular and extracellular LTA was estimated on six strains by the ability of hot phenol extracts and culture fluids to sensitize erythrocytes and by rocket immunoelectrophoretic quantitation. Differences in content of surface LTA did not correlate to differences in the total amount of cellular LTA. Pepsin digestion of M-positive group A streptococci at suboptimal pH resulted in a loss of M antigen whereas surface LTA and the hydrophobic interaction liability was retained. The results indicate that the degree of surface hydrophobicity as measured by two-phase partitioning is not correlated to either the type-specific or the antiphagocytic moiety of M protein. The results support the correlation between surface LTA and surface hydrophobicity of group A streptococci.


This paper discusses theoretical constructs from various domains to explore emergency response management. Using the Piper Alpha disaster as an example, we argue that applying a communities of practice lens can inform understandings of safety cultures, shared situation awareness, and tacit knowledge. First, we briefly outline the Piper Alpha event and detail communities of practice theory with a critical analysis of how it can be applied to emergency response events with respect to safety cultures. Then, we connect the development and maintenance of situation awareness and tacit knowledge to our argument as it relates to actions performed in relation to the emergency event. Finally, we provide a concluding discussion of the Piper Alpha disaster in order explore implications for emergency response management.


The aerobic catalase-negative gram-positive cocci included in this chapter form a taxonomically diverse group of bacteria that are isolated infrequently as opportunistic agents of infection. The genera Abiotrophia and Granulicatella accommodate organisms previously known as nutritionally variant or satelliting streptococci. Most of the genera described here are catalase-negative facultative anaerobes, but Aerococcus viridans are classified as a microaerophile that grows poorly, if at all, under anaerobic conditions. Some strains of Aerococcus may exhibit weakly positive catalase reactions due to nonheme catalase activity. Commercially available identification kits or systems offering a more comprehensive array of phenotypic tests are improving in their ability to identify many of the organisms discussed in the chapter. Serologic response to the organisms described in this chapter has not been extensively investigated. Antimicrobial susceptibility studies on the organisms mentioned in the chapter have generally employed dilution testing methods. The lack of standardized methods and interpretive criteria and the relatively small collections of isolates for some of the genera discussed in the chapter make it difficult to accurately assess antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Efforts to identify the gram-positive cocci included in the chapter should be made only when isolates are considered to be clinically significant, since the organisms may also appear in clinical cultures as contaminants or constituents of the normal microbiota. More extensive phenotypic testing using commercially available identification systems and molecular methods should be employed for definitive identification.


In neurosurgical practice, the operative treat-ment of deep or infected wounds caused by auto-mutilation is quite rare, especially in the neurocranium. We present an extraordinary case of an auto-aggressive 51-year-old female su ff ering from a deeply ulcerated wound on the right frontal skull with consecutive brain abscess, caused manually with needles and forceps over a period of 8 months. The clinical course is present ed together with a description of the conservative and surgical regimen and is illustrated with photographs and CT and MRI images.


The authors propose the markup of Web services in the DAML family of Semantic Web markup languages. This markup enables a wide variety of agent technologies for automated Web service discovery, execution, composition and interoperation. The authors present one such technology for automated Web service composition.


In "Interpersonal Human Rights" we developed a theory of the jus gentium privatum: the normative DNA of private law, which transcends its domestic instantiations and is thus key to the legal treatment of transnational wrongs. Professors Roxana Banu, Evan Fox-Decent, Mitchel Lasser, Ralf Michaels, and Horatia Muir Watt offer fascinating comments on this account and we are grateful for their rigorous engagement with our work and for their penetrating insights. In this short Response we focus on the three main challenges they raise, dealing with the conception of the state implicit in our theory, the proper role of politics, and the way in which our theory may actually make a difference.


In this paper, we address the problem of estimating transport surplus (a.k.a. matching affinity) in high-dimensional optimal transport problems. Classical optimal transport theory specifies the matching affinity and determines the optimal joint distribution. In contrast, we study the inverse problem of estimating matching affinity based on the observation of the joint distribution, using an entropic regularization of the problem. To accommodate high dimensionality of the data, we propose a novel method that incorporates a nuclear norm regularization that effectively enforces a rank constraint on the affinity matrix. The low-rank matrix estimated in this way reveals the main factors that are relevant for matching.


This paper presents a guide to identify optimal damper location to reduce vibration on built-up structures. The guide is derived from simulation studies carried out on a set of benchmark models. Optimization is carried out using genetic algorithm. Optimal location is found using found using Generic algorithm and the hybrid method. The hybrid modelling method combines the finite element method (FEM) and Statistical energy analysis (SEA) to provide an efficient response predication for mid-high frequencies. The guide to find optimal damper location is tested on a fuselage model of Boeing 737. The fuselage model is developed using VA One software. Good agreement is seen for the optimal locations using the simple guide and result from VA One.


The basic framework of Roman policy towards the Jews and Judaism, initiated at the time of Julius Caesar, until before the time of Claudius, was quite permissive, allowing the Jews considerable religious freedom and privileges. There were of course occasional different applications of the policy depending on the Emperors or procurators in the regions. Nonetheless, Judaism in the first half of the first century to some degree infiltrated into the Roman Empire and the range of the social status of the constituents was wide, from low class to high. There were considerable numbers of gentile adherents to Judaism and also of proselytes: among them were Roman adherents and proselytes and some of them were even members of the royal house. The pragmatic policy of Rome towards the Jews and their religion, the wide range of Jewish infiltration into various classes of people, and in particular the numerous cases of conversion among the Romans do not exclude the possibility of the conversion of a Roman officer, despatched to the province in approximately AD 39, to a sect of the Jewish religion.


Pyomyositis of the obturator muscles is a rare condition, characterised by pain in the hip and features of systemic infection. It may follow minor trauma to the hip, sometimes in the presence of an apparently innocuous infective source. All previously reported cases have been diagnosed conclusively on the initial CT or MR scan. We present a case of obturator pyomyositis in a 21-year-old football player in which the first MR scan was misleading. A radiolabelled, white blood cell scan was also negative and the resultant delay in diagnosis proved dangerous. The crucial importance of careful and repeated clinical examination is emphasised.


A sensitive and specific liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and valid ated for identification and quantification of zolmitriptan. The liquid chromatographic separation was performed with Symmetry C18 packed column (3.5 μm, 2.1 × 50 mm) using a mixture of Acetonitrile-Water-Formic acid (70 : 30 : 0.1) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. Detection was performed on a single quadrupole mass spectrometer by selecting ion monitoring (SIM) mode via electrospray ionization (ESI ) source. In positive mode, zolmitriptan produced a protonated precursor ion at m/z 289.41 and a corresponding product ion at m/z 244.35. Linearity was established for the range of concentrations 30-1000 ng/mL, with a coefficient of determination(r) of 0.994 and good back calculated accuracy and precision. The inter and intraday precision (R.S.D %) were lower than 5% and accuracy ranged from 95-110%. The lo wer limit of quantifica tion was identifiable and reproducible at 1 ng/mL. The proposed method enab les the unambiguous identification and quantification of zolmitriptan.


This paper uses production frontier model to generate and analyse the technical efficiency scores for the banks in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries. A sample of 52 banks is selected for the study. Three stages of analysis are adopted. At the first stage, the technical efficiency is analysed between countries to derive variations of between banks from one country to another. It's found that Kuwaiti and Emirati banks are regionally best performers. At the second stage of the analysis, banks are analysed within country. The within-country analysis shows that Saudi banks are the best performers and they face intense within-country competition, as their technical efficiency gaps from the country's best performer to others are lowest compared to that of other countries. At the final stage of the analysis, the papers investigates possible determinants of bank technical efficiency, and it finds that unsystematic risks of the banks and the monetary policy uncertainty do influence the level of bank technical efficiency.


English as a Lingua Franca for EFL Contexts is an innovative book containing a compendium of chapters on the implementation of the notion of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. In other words, it suggests an ELF-aware approach to English language teaching. The book starts with an introduction by the editors (Nicos Sifakis and Natasha Tsantila) in which they set the grounds for the concepts of ELF and EFL from a critical perspective. This introduction includes a brief theoretical review of the topic and also reflects on the implications of ELF research for language teaching and its connections with EFL practice.


Labour mobility is a characteristic of the first decade of the 21st century. Individuals, employers, regulators and governments are all involved. In Canada, these efforts are framed by the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. The framework describes processes to support international labour mobility. It defines benchmarks and service standards related to the recruitment of internationally educated individuals. The framework acknowledges and addresses barriers faced by immigrants to Canada. International labour mobility is one of the strategies being used in the health sector to respond to demands for health services. Various programs and actions have been put in place in the health sector to facilitate international recruitment; these programs and actions are the focus of this paper.


Soil fertility was studied in the Great Konya Basin, as part of the study carried out by the Department of Tropical Soil Science of the Agricultural University at Wageningen. The purpose was to find the agricultural value of the soils, to learn about the main factors governing soil fertility, and to work out regional fertilizer recommendations for winter wheat, the main crop in dry farming. The study was in the field, greenhouse and laboratory. Because of results already available from Turkish scientists, only nitrogen and phosphorus were examined. In 1966-7 and 1967-8 a total of about thirty trial fields were laid out on the most important soils suitable for crops, mainly Terrace, Bajada, and Marl soils. The trials were carried out on farmers' fields in the common wheat-fallow rotation. As rainfall is low (about 300 mm per year), the land is fallowed each alternate year to conserve moisture for the next crop. To study the significance of this fallow year, the course of soil moisture content was observed during the trial years. In the greenhouse, short-term trials (3 weeks) were used. A technique was developed, by which young wheat plants could take up nutrients simultaneously from the studied soil and from a nutrient solution (Fig. 11). If a nutrient is omitted in the solution, plants can take up that nutrient from the soil only. The availability of that nutrient in the soil is indicated by the 'sufficiency quotient', the ratio between the relative growth rates of plants on deficient and complete solutions (S QN and S QP for nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively). In the laboratory, several physical and chemical soil characteristics were determined; also grain and straw samples from the field trials were chemically analysed. Wheat yields of the field trials ranged from 300 to 3000 kg grain per ha. The response to fertilizers varied with precipitation and soil unit. There was a reasonable relation between crop data in May (height and growth stage) and final dry-matter production in July. The yield factors moisture, nitrogen and phosphorus were studied in more detail. The amount of water stored in soil at sowing proved to depend mainly on precipitation in the preceeding fallow period and slightly on soil unit. There Was a clear connexion between the amount of stored water and maximum dry-matter production. Because of differences in spring rainfall, the relation was not the same for 1967 as for 1968. Between transpiration and maximum dry-matter production, a linear relation was found; it was used to calculate transpiration from each field, so quantifying moisture supply. The different characteristics for nitrogen status in soil, namely organic nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and SQN , corresponded well with each other. Yield increase with nitrogen fertilizer, nitrogen content of grain and nitrogen withdrawal from soil depended on soil nitrogen and on moisture supply. If grain nitrogen exceeded 2.0-2.2%, there was no yield increase with nitrogen fertilizer. Nitrogen recovery, the percentage of applied nitrogen absorbed by the crop, varied from 0 to 30%. The results of soil phosphorus determinations by P-Olsen did not correspond with SQP . Both parameters, as well as phosphorus content in the crop, indicated a very poor phosphorus status of all soils. The interrelations between soil, crop, and fertilizer phosphorus were complex and were governed by moisture conditions. Phosphorus withdrawal from soil was low, did not depend on soil properties and was determined almost entirely by moisture supply. Phosphorus recovery, low for all soils, was lowest on Marl soils, probably because of the fine texture and the high content of carbonate. On some fields, soil slaking, profile depth and slope were factors influencing yield. Yield increments from the factors moisture, nitrogen and phosphorus were effected mainly by increased tillering. The greater number of tillers could cause moisture shortage later in the season to become more severe, and could sometimes cause decrease of seed set and of 1000-grain weight. Phosphorus did not much change the grain/straw relation; longer culms were associated with more grains per ear. Differences in productivity and in response to fertilizers between the soil units could be ascribed to differences in content of organic matter and in moisture supply. Since those factors have been included partly directly, partly indirectly in many units of de Meester's soil map, a fertilizer recommendation map could be drawn. For recommendations, the profit- maximizing combinations of nitrogen and phosphorus were determined by an algebraic and a graphical method. For the algebraic method, regression equations were used that had been calculated for the statistical analysis of field results. The graphical method was based on the construction of 'maps' with iso-profit lines. On these 'maps' the optimum combination of fertilizers as well as financial consequences of non-optimum rates, can easily be found. Appendix I gives details of the developed technique of greenhouse trials, discusses the course of relative growth rate and its consequences for the determination of S QN and SQP and shows that reference soils are needed.


Non-thermal gas discharge plasmas have significant potential as novel sterilization/decontamination agents in medical device manufacturing, and such agents may well be accepted by regulatory agencies. A number of aspects of plasma technology are currently under active investigation by many institutions and companies in order to obtain a thorough understanding of plasma sterilization as an alternative to conventional sterilization methods for heat sensitive medical devices. This paper focuses on the use of plasmas in microbial inactivation in medical-device manufacturing, describing some of the opportunities and microbial assessment strategies, as well as a possible surrogate for assessing microbial inactivation by plasma.


Objective: Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by recurrent oral and genital aphthous ulcers, uveitis and skin lesions. Oxidative stress and inflammation have important role in the pathogenesis of BD. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of Nigella sativa (NS) oil administration on malondialdehyde (MDA), total anti-oxidant capacity (TAC), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-10 and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs- CRP) levels in patients with BD. Materials and Methods: In this randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trial, 96 BD patients were randomly assigned to NS or placebo groups. Study groups received 1000 mg/day NS oil and placebo soft gels for 8 weeks. Serum levels of TNF-α, IL-10, hs-CRP, MDA and TAC were measured before and after treatment. Results: Eighty-nine individuals completed the study. Significant decreases in the serum levels of MDA and increases in the serum levels of TAC were found in the NS group. However, differences in the changes of MDA and TAC in the NS and placebo groups were not significant. Pre- and post-intervention changes of TNF-α, IL-10 and hs-CRP levels in the NS group were non-significant. Conclusion: NS 1000 mg per day is probably not effective in reducing the inflammatory and oxidative markers in BD.


There are countless books, articles, and resources available which attempt to identify the competencies and qualities of effective leaders. Traditionally, leaders have been at the center of a community, be it work, church, or social groups. In these communities, face-to-face meetings and close personal interaction have dominated the way leaders interact with their members. However, with the advent of the internet and the host of communication tools that followed, teams today are becoming increasingly dispersed and diverse. Studies are now being done to understand how leadership has or should evolve in order to meet the changing needs and demands of these new and different communities. Some argue that leadership in the virtual environment is simpler as fewer tools are available to virtual leaders. Others may argue that access to fewer tools makes virtual leadership more complex and challenging than traditional leadership. This paper will explore leadership in virtual settings and how it's changing as more teams move away from traditional team environments. I'll review the responsibilities and roles of virtual leaders in an effort to better highlight the core competencies needed in today's virtual settings. I'll also look at competencies required of global virtual leaders and I'll address how these competencies can be cultivated to ensure leaders are more effective in leading teams in these new environments.


How would you like to share files with another user without having to explicitly place them in a designated external location? The recent successes of (and controversies surrounding) Napster, Gnutella, and FreeNet have drawn attention to peer-to-peer computing, which allows precisely such interactions between information and service providers and their customers. The author takes a brief look at peer-to-peer computing, or P2P, and its main variants, both those that are popular and those that ought to be. P2P can be defined most easily in terms of what it is not: the client-server model, which is currently the most common model of distributed computing. In the client-server model, an application residing on a client computer invokes commands at a server. In P2P, an application is split into components that act as equals. The client-server model is simple and effective, but it has serious shortcomings, which are discussed. P2P is by no means a new idea. The distributed computing research community has studied it for decades. Networks themselves demonstrate P2P in action: Ethernet is nothing if not a P2P protocol, and network routing operates through routers acting as peers with other routers. The difference in the recent focus on P2P seems to be that it has finally caught the imagination of people building practical systems at the application layer; and for good reason.


The harshness of punishment society chooses to impose on crime offenders is mandated by law. However, the quality of life in prison can make this punishment harsher. This creates a variation in the severity of punishment which is not legislated and may differ from society's taste for penalties. Indicators of in prison violence and conflicts seem to be appropriate proxy variables for prison conditions. Using indicators of in prison violent behavior, we use an exogenous source in education participation in educational programs in order to asses the effect of education on such measures of conflict. Applying instrumental variables techniques to census data for Argentine prisons, we find that educational programs significantly reduce indicators of property damages in prison. Such reductions amounts to a 60 percent decrease relative to the mean level of property damages.


Structural health monitoring (SHM) has been applied to huge and important civil structures. Its role is for obtaining readings of sensors, analysis for data, and estimation of structural behavior and service life. Essential element is to obtain the accurate and many measurements of sensors attached to structural members for estimating reliable structural behavior and avoiding sudden collapse. Although technologies for new type of sensor and data process have been grown, there are still members those are not monitored or exactly estimated. The representative examples are the present prestress force in strand and fastening state of bolt connection. Despite the fact that failure of prestressed strand and bolt may lead a catastrophe by sudden failure, monitoring for them has not been performed fully due to the lack of practical, economic, and quantified ways. In this paper, two sensing systems were introduced. One is anchor head load cell able to measure present prestress force and another is detecting system for the loosening of bolt connection. With these sensing systems, connected members with prestressed tendon or bolt connection can be maintained successfully.


This article examines the evolution of western policy towards the idea of pursuing negotiations with the Taliban, or �reconciliation�, in Afghanistan and the role that research and expert opinion played in that process. The official western position has evolved iteratively from initial rejection to near complete embrace of exploring the potential for talks. It is widely assumed that the deteriorating security situation was the sole determinant of this major policy reversal, persuading decision-makers to rethink what had once been deemed unthinkable. Moreover, given the politicized and sensitive nature of the subject, we might expect the potential for outside opinion to influence decision-makers to be low. Nevertheless, this article demonstrates that it would be a mistake to underestimate the role that research and expert knowledge played�the story is more nuanced and complex. Research coalesced, sometimes prominently, with other key drivers to spur and shape policy change. Importantly, it often took experts to make sense of events on the ground, especially where the failure of the military approach was not recognized, understood or palatable to those in official circles. Research interacted with changing events, policy windows, the emergence of new personalities and the actions of various intermediaries to shape emerging positions. More broadly, the case of reconciliation in Afghanistan reveals the difficulties and challenges, but also the variety of opportunities and techniques, for achieving research influence in conflict-affected environments.


The activities of the mammalian G1 cyclins, cyclin D and cyclin E, during cell cycle progression (G1/S) are believed to be regulated by cell attachment and the presence of growth factors. In order to study the importance of cell attachment and concomitant integrin signaling on the expression of G1 cyclins during the natural adhesion process from mitosis to interphase, protein expression was monitored in cells that were synchronized by mitotic shake off. Here we show that in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and neuroblastoma (N2A) cells, expression of cyclin E at the M/G1 transition is regulated by both growth factors and cell attachment, while expression of cyclin D seems to be entirely dependent on the presence of serum. Expression of cyclin E appears to be correlated with the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein, suggesting a link with the activity of the cyclin D/cdk4 complex. Expression of the cdk inhibitors p21(cip1/Waf1) and p27(Kip1) is not changed upon serum depletion or detachment of cells during early G1, suggesting no direct role for these CKIs in the regulation of cyclin activity. Although inhibition of cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity has been reported previously, this is the first time that cyclin E expression is shown to be dependent on cell attachment.


Sex hormone-binding globulin (Shbg) is an important vertebrate blood carrier protein synthetized in the liver and involved in the transport and local regulation of sex steroids in target tissues. A novel shbg gene (shbgb) with a predominant ovarian expression was recently characterized. Being initially found only in salmonids, this shbgb was originally thought to result from the Salmonid-specific whole genome duplication. Using updated transcriptomic and genomic resources we identified Shbgb orthologs in non-salmonid teleosts (European eel, arowana), holosteans (spotted gar, bowfin), polypteriformes (reedfish), agnatha (sea lamprey) and in amphibians, and found that the classical Shbg gene (Shbga) displays a predominant hepatic expression whereas Shbgb has a predominant gonadal expression. Together, these results indicate that these two Shgb genes most likely originate from a whole genome duplication event at the root of vertebrate evolution, followed by numerous and independent losses and by tissue expression specialization of Shbga and Shbgb paralogs. Highlights Phylogeny, synteny and expression analyses shed new light on Shbg evolution in vertebrates. Shbg diversity originates from a duplication event at the root of vertebrate evolution. This duplication was followed by many independent losses of Shbg paralogs in vertebrates. Shbg paralogs have acquired different tissue expression patterns.


Spiroplasma citri naturally infects plants representing several dicotyledonous families in the southwestern U.S., where it is commonly found in Old World brassicaceous weeds and cole crop plants as well as in citrus. Of its leafhopper vectors, it is most frequently found in Circulifer tenellus (Baker). It is rarely found in field-collected Scaphytopius nitridus (DeLong), one of two species of Scaphytopius capable of transmission from plants in the laboratory. Spiroplasmas presumed to be S. citri have been isolated several times from field-collected Ollarianus strictus (Ball), a leafhopper that, like several other common California leafhoppers, can acquire S. citri from plants under laboratory conditions but apparently cannot transmit it. In California, several plants commonly are doubly infected with S. citri and either the aster yellows agent or a C. tenellus-transmitted agent that causes floral virescence. In the Southwest, S. citri has been found throughout the year in naturally infected perennial and annual plants and in C. tenellus. Its isolation from C. tenellus and from cultivated turnip plants in Washington, from C. tenellus in Utah, and from citrus and other plants in Arizona, indicates a wide geographical distribution in the western U.S.


We propose a method of autonomous learning of target decision strategies for coordination in the continuous cleaning domain. With ongoing advances in computer and sensor technologies, we can expect robot applications for covering large areas that often require coordinated/cooperative activities by multiple robots. We focus on the cleaning tasks by multiple robots or by agents which are programs to control the robots in this paper. We assumed situations where agents did not directly exchange deep and complicated internal information and reasoning results such as plans, strategies and long-term targets for their sophisticated coordinated activities, but rather exchanged superficial information such as the locations of other agents (using the equipment de- ployed) for their shallow coordination and individually learned appropriate strategies by observing how much dirt/dust had been vacuumed up in multi-agent system environments. We will first discuss the preliminary method of improving the coordinated activities by autonomously learning to select cleaning strategies to determine which targets to move to clear them. Although we could have improved the efficiency of cleaning, we observed a phenomenon where performance degraded if agents continued to learn strategies. This is because so many agents overly selected the same strategy (over-selection) by using autonomous learning. In addition, the preliminary method assumed information given about which regions in the environment easily became dirty. Thus, we propose a method that was extended by incorporating the preliminary method with (1) environmental learning to iden- tify which places were likely to be dirty and (2) autonomous relearning through self-monitoring the amount of vacuumed dirt to avoid strategies from being over-selected. We experimentally evaluated the proposed method by comparing its performance with those obtained by the regimes of agents with a single strategy and obtained with the preliminary method. The experimental results revealed that the proposed method enabled agents to select target decision strategies and, if necessary, to abandon the current strategies from their own perspectives, resulting in appropriate combinations of multiple strategies. We also found that environmental learning on dirt accumulation was effectively learned.


This study aims at examining the determinants of the financial performance of private commercial banks in Ethiopia. The study uses secondary data for eight private banks which are in the industry for more than ten years. These banks are chosen from sixteen private commercial banks which are currently functional in Ethiopia banking industry. The data for this study is obtained from annual reports of the banks, minutes and the national bank report. Correlation and multiple linear regressions of panel data for the eight banks for the years 2007 to 2016 is analyzed using random effect model. E-Views 9 software was used for analyzing the data. Return on Asset and Return on Equity are the selected dependent variables while non-performing loan, capital adequacy ratio, bank size, leverage ratio, credit interest income ratio, loan loss provision ratio and operation cost efficiency were the independent variables. Results show that Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Credit Interest Income (CIR) and Size of the bank (SIZE) have positive and statistically significant effect on financial performance. Non-performing Loans (NPLs), Loan Loss Provision (LLP), Leverage Ratio (LR) and Operational Cost Efficiency (OCE) have negative and statistically significant effect on banks' financial performance. The study suggests that Ethiopian commercial banks are advised to manage their loan loss, be cost efficient, and fix their leverage ratio at maximum level to enhance their profitability. Key words: Ethiopia, commercial banks, determinants, financial performance.


Background Early diagnosis and institution of appropriate treatment are key to improving outcomes from encephalitis. This study aimed to review the management of children with encephalitis in South East England. Methods A retrospective review of clinical notes and electronic patient records (EPR) was conducted in between April 2013 and January 2014 across four hospitals (3 district general and 1 tertiary). Children aged 0–17 years who were admitted between 2008 and 2012 and had a discharge diagnosis of encephalitis were identified through the clinical coding department. Data on clinical features, investigation and treatment were collected. Findings Medical records of thirty-four children were reviewed. A lumbar puncture was performed in 31 (91%) cases. A complete CSF order set (defined as CSF: white cell count, red blood cell count, gram stain, paired CSF and serum glucose and protein level) was requested in 21/30 (70%) cases. A complete PCR panel (CSF sent for the 3 main viral causes of encephalitis: enterovirus, herpes simplex and varicella zoster virus) was performed in 20/30 (67%) cases. The median time to performing a brain CT scan was 24 h (range 23–168) and 48 h (range 24–240) for brain MRI scan. The first dose of intravenous aciclovir was administered within 48 h for thirty-three (97%) cases. The prescribed aciclovir dose was incorrect in fifteen (44%) cases. The median duration of aciclovir treatment for children with enteroviral (EV) encephalitis was 5 days (IQR 2.5–5). The median length of hospital stay for the EV encephalitis group was 6 days (IQR 5.8–7.3). Six children with EV encephalitis received aciclovir treatment beyond 48 h due to non-availability of PCR test result. Children with EV encephalitis had a further median stay of 1.5 days (IQR 1.0–3.8) after availability of PCR result. Conclusion The management of childhood encephalitis is heterogeneous. The recently published UK guidelines may help standardise practice. Widespread availability of PCR testing across hospitals and improved turnaround time could lead to early diagnosis and substantial cost saving from reduced hospital stay for infants with enteroviral encephalitis. Urgent steps are needed to reduce intravenous aciclovir prescribing errors.


In this thesis, I set out to render Seneca's ostensibly anti-Stoic tragedies consistent with the practical ends of Senecan Stoicism. I do this by reconstructing Seneca's approach to poetics and by situating this approach within a longer tradition of philosophical criticism hospitable to poetry. I then apply this hermeneutic approach to Seneca's paradigmatic tragedy, Medea.
On my view, the Stoicism of Senecan drama lies in the meta-reflexivity Seneca invests within the phenomenon of aesthetic response. Through engagement with tragedy, the reader/auditor acquires self-knowledge instrumental to progressing along the Stoic path. Spectator response serves as a kind of diagnostic tool through which the subject learns about their disposition to allocate their care in the world, and against which they determine their alignment with Stoic doctrine.


The incorporation of (2-14C) acetate into the diacylglycerol and triacylglycerol fatty acids of three aortic layers and of the coronary arteries of the dog was investigated. In all tissues of the health animals, 50-60% of the label was found in the fatty acids greater than C16. This percentage was significantly higher in the diacylglycerols of the aortic media than in the adjacent layers or in the triacylglycerols of the media preparation. Under the influence of an atherogenic diet rich in cholesterol, incorporation of the label into the long chain fatty acids of the acylglycerols was markedly elevated in the aortic media and in the coronary artery. These results are interpreted in terms of metabolic alterations due to hypoxia in the normal aortic media and under hypercholesterolemic conditions. An active metabolic role of the diacylglycerols without net accumulation in the aortic media is discussed. In addition, the present data lend support to recent results on the coronary arteries and their susceptibility to atherogenesis.


A 34-year-old, single Japanese woman with active Takayasu's disease presented with stenosed bilateral common carotid arteries, subtotal occlusion of the left subclavian artery, and complete occlusion of the ipsilateral proximal vertebral artery, as demonstrated by angiography. A right subclavian-left vertebral bypass using an autologous saphenous vein graft was successfully performed after 36 days of corticosteroid therapy. Subsequently, warfarin was administered in addition to prednisolone. After 32 months of treatment with a gradual reduction from 50 to 3.75 mg of prednisolone daily, angiography revealed a functioning bypass graft and regression of bilateral common carotid stenoses.


The authors explain how continuously increasing demands are imposed on medium voltage switchgear. Both SF/sub 6/ and modern air insulated switchgear meet these demands. A new development in the category of air-insulated switchgear is introduced here, which exhibit interesting features in the case of a cubicle as well as for the newly developed vacuum circuit breaker. A description of an integrated power system control and protection system with promising characteristics shows that a substation can be described as completed only when it includes a suitable control and monitoring system. >


Crystalline Cu(II)-MOP 1 was employed for the first time in the catalytic conversion of trans-ferulic acid to vanillin. The generation of uncoordinated Cu(II) metal sites within MOP 1 by activation as well as sonication, revealed its catalytic potential that afforded a reaction yield of 60%. Complementary cyclic voltammetry experiments (CVs) demonstrated the formation of the complex Cu–H2O2, which supported the reaction mechanism proposed here.


Between 1980 and 2002, world trade has more than tripled while world output has "only" doubled. The rise in trade relative to output is common across countries and regions, although the relative growth in trade and output varies greatly. This article attempts to explain why the ratio of world trade to output has increased over recent decades. It provides a brief review of the key determinants of trade growth and identifies proxies that will enable us to quantify the relative importance of the different channels. We estimate this across a panel of ten developed countries. This will allow us to understand better the path of world trade and thus the demand for UK exports. Furthermore this approach will help us to distinguish between long-run trends in trade growth and cyclical movements around it.


An analytical method for the simultaneous determination of four biological marker compounds including bisabolangelone, oxypeucedanin, imperatorin, and isoimperatorin extracted from Ostericum koreanum has been developed by HPLC-UV detection at a wavelength 254 nm. Moreover, biological active compounds have been identified by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). In ESI-MS/MS spectra, these compounds produced several characteristic ions through collisional-induced dissociation, enabling to clarify these compounds. HPLC chromatographic separation was successfully achieved with a Develosil RPAQUEOUS C 30 (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 μm) column and a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (60:40, v/v). This developed analytical method was validated with specificity, selectivity, accuracy and precision. The method was deemed satisfactory by inter- and intra-day validation and exhibited both high accuracy and precision (relative standard deviation < 9.2%). Overall limits of quantitation and detection were approximately 0.03-0.05 μg/mL at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3 and were about 0.10-0.25 μg/mL at a S/N of 10. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the analytical data of 14 different Ostericum koreanum samples in order to classify samples collected from different regions. This method has been successfully applied to quality control of Ostericum koreanum extracts.


This article concerns the application of the Mixture of Local Expert Models (MLEM) technique to predict the daily prices of the Sugar No. 14 contract in the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT). The MLEM technique can be seen as a Data Mining tool that performs data exploratory analysis and mathematical modeling simultaneously. Given a set of input-output data points, the basic idea is as follows: 1) firstly, considering only the input side of the training data, a Kohonen Neural Network is used to divide the data into non-overlapping clusters of points, 2) several modeling techniques are then used to construct competing models for each cluster, considering only the data points in that cluster, 3) the best model for each cluster is then selected and called the Local Expert Model. Finally, the output of all Local Expert Models are combined by a so-called Gating Network (a Radial Basis Function) that considers: a) the distance of the input data point to the center of the cluster of data points used to generate each Local Expert Model, and b) the size of the region of the input space taken by each cluster of training data points. The following modeling techniques were used to develop the Local Expert Models: Artificial Neural Networks, Multiple Regression and Carbon Copy. For comparison purposes, the same modeling techniques are also evaluated when acting as Global Experts, i.e., when the technique uses the entire data set without any clustering.


Identifying and evaluating climate expenditures in the public sector, known as budget tagging, has generated increasing attention from multiple stakeholders, not only to assess the governments climate change policy, but also to monitor fiscal risks associated with increasing and unpredictable climate change impacts. This paper explores the issues raised by climate change budget tagging in the context of a broader discussion on the connections with fiscal and environmental statistical classification systems. It argues that, for climate change budget tagging efforts to be successful, the definitions and classifications of climate change expenditures must be consistent with statistical standards currently in use, such as the Government Finance Statistics Framework and the System of National Accounts.


The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is one of the world's most lethal pests, accounting for over a million deaths per year. 90% of cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa, 85% in children under five. For over 50 years, the main tool for controlling the malaria parasite has been chloroquine, a synthetic derivative of the plant-based extract quinine. Chloroquine acts as both prophylactic and cure and has the advantage of very low cost ($0.10 per treatment), but unfortunately in much of Africa as well as South-East Asia it is no longer effective due to the emergence of resistant strains of the malaria parasite. The best hope for a replacement treatment lies with drugs based on artemisinin, a chemical extracted from the leaves of the plant Artemisia annua. Artemisia annua is an annual shrub indigenous to China, but able to grow in a wide range of sub-tropical and temperate environments. Its use in treating malaria has been known in China for over 2000 years. The active ingredient, artemisinin, was isolated by Chinese scientists in 1972. Derivatives which are more effective than artemisinin itself have been developed over the last 20 years. Attempts to produce synthetic and semi-synthetic artemisinin are ongoing, but the viability of this approach is not yet clear. Resistance to artemisinin drugs will inevitably appear in time, but the plant-based extract is still believed to have a useful life of at least 10 years. This article describes programmes for expanding cultivation of Artemisia annua in Africa and Asia, and analyses prospects for extraction, manufacture and distribution of artemisinin-based anti-malarial drugs in the light of the WHO target of halving the incidence of malaria by 2015 and eliminating the disease thereafter.


Presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best celebrates the Latino experience in an outstanding work of literature for youth.


The potentialities of using the magnetic Barkhausen noise measurement in characterization of metallurgical transformations have been highlighted in multi-phase High Strength (HS) steels. This kind of steels are composed of different metallurgical constituents, such as ferrite, bainite, martensite or residual austenite. Recently, we found that it was possible to assess the proportion of phases in ferrite-martensite steels and in industrial Dual-Phase steels too. In this work, we show that the Barkhausen noise measurements can be also suitable to follow bainitic transformation in a TRIP steel.


To a large extent, trust determines expected utility derived from business transactions where the trusting party is dependent upon others, but lacks control over them. In many instances, this typifies the relationship between clients and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) customization vendor. This exploratory study examines how trust is built during an ERP implementation, and the relative weight of this trust compared with the perceived qualities of the implemented ERP itself in determining clients' assessment that the business relationship with the vendor is worthwhile. The data, collected from companies that were involved in the process of implementing a new ERP with the on-site assistance of a certain customization vendor, show that all three trust antecedents suggested by Zucker's seminal study of trust-- process-based, characteristic-based, and institution-based mechanisms--contribute significantly to client trust. The data also show that client trust in this customization vendor and the perceived usefulness of the ERP both contribute to client assessment that their business relationship with the vendor is worthwhile, showing that both getting the job done and creating a trust-based relationship contribute to this assessment. The implications of the importance of creating trust in ERP implementation and the means of doing how to do so are discussed.


To investigate mechanisms of reactive hyperemia, single arterioles of the hamster cheek pouch were occluded for periods of 1 s-3 min. Arteriolar diameters were measured upstream and downstream from the occlusion. O2 availability to the tissue was controlled by equilibrating the suffusate with low (0% O2) or high (10% O2) O2 gas mixtures. After very brief occlusions downstream sites dilated transiently, but upstream diameters did not change. Upstream and downstream diameters both increased during longer occlusions with O%-O2 and 10%-O2 suffusion. Microvascular pressure decreased at downstream sites and increased at upstream sites within 1-2 s of occlusion. During 0%-O2 suffusion tissue and periarteriolar O2 tensions (PO2's) began to decrease within 2 s of occlusion and had decreased halfway to their minimum value by 7 s. PO2's decreased only slightly during 10%-O2 suffusion. Calculated first-order rate constants for arteriolar diameter recovery decreased and total recovery time increased as occlusion duration was prolonged. This study suggests that multiple mechanisms (metabolic, myogenic, and passive) contribute to reactive hyperemia.


The use of CASE and structured methods continues to evolve. This paper examines the extent to which this is reflected in the update of both technologies within the UK. To do this, a comparison is made between the results obtained from a survey carried out in 1990 and a second carried out in 1994. The issues discussed include the use of methods, the use of CASE, tool support for methods, and users' satisfaction with CASE. The key findings were that CASE usage has increased over this period, while in-house method use has begun to predominate.<<ETX>>


Abstract Performance of Compton positron emission tomography (PET) is studied in this paper using qualitative and quantitative methods. Lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO), lutetium-gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (LGSO), and CdZnTe (CZT) materials are used for Compton PET. LYSO is widely used for conventional PET, and LGSO is a prospective scintillator material for PET detectors. CZT is one of the semiconductor materials that have high energy and position resolution. For conventional PET, only the photoelectric effect is considered a valid interaction for image reconstruction. However, Compton scattering tracing technology is applied for our Compton PET to additionally use Compton scattering events for image reconstruction. It is relatively difficult to use multiple layers for PET made of scintillators, as electronic circuits must be attached to each layer. For this reason, conventional PET generally uses only one layer for each detector module and limits the spatial resolution in the depth direction. In contrast, it is possible for a CZT detector to measure a depth of interest based on the cathode-to-anode signal ratio or electron drift time with relatively simple electronic circuits. Furthermore, CZT materials have high spatial and energy resolutions. Therefore, the position and energy information of the radiation interactions in the detector module can be precisely calculated to determine the interaction sequence, and hence, the information from the Compton scattering can be used for image reconstruction in PET. For this reason, the reconstructed image of CZT PET can show better quality than those of scintillator PETs. The detection efficiency and quality of the reconstructed image are significantly increased by including the Compton scattering effect as a valid interaction process for image reconstruction because Compton scattering has twice the interaction probability of the photoelectric effect at 511 keV. In this paper, the effectiveness of including Compton scattering events for PET reconstruction was evaluated for scintillators and CZT semiconductor detectors. The maximum likelihood expectation and maximization reconstruction method was applied for conventional and Compton PET reconstruction, and the qualities of the reconstructed images were evaluated.


The protection of information against electromagnetic penetration has huge significance. Different solutions, technological or organizational, are used to protect the information-limiting levels of unintentional emissions. In particular, technological solutions are implemented in commercial devices to limit levels of electromagnetic emissions. Nevertheless, such solutions cannot always be used. This is connected with the construction of these devices. Very often the devices do not have enough space on the inside to install new elements such as lters, electromagnetic shielding, and others. In the paper a new solution is proposed. The solution does not change the construction of the devices (e.g., printers, screens). The new method is based on computer fonts called TEMPEST fonts (safe fonts). In contrast to traditional fonts (e.g., Arial or Times New Roman), the new fonts are devoid of distinctive features. Without these features the characters of the new fonts are similar each other. At the output of the information infiltration channel the characters of the TEMPEST fonts limit the possibilities of recognition of characters that appear on the reconstructed image. The image is reconstructed based on an electromagnetic emission, which is correlated with the process information. In this paper the dominance of the TEMPEST fonts over the traditional fonts and Sang Mun fonts in the protection of information against electromagnetic penetration is demonstrated. The TEMPEST fonts have wider use. They are also resistant to optical character recognition programs. The use of the TEMPEST fonts in special systems allows the safe processing of data while displaying them on the screen as well as printing them on laser printers, especially on laser printers with LED slats.


Indoor air samples are usually collected in Tenax TA™ adsorbent tubes and analyzed using a thermal desorption cold trap injector combined with GC/MS‐ and/or GC/FID‐ techniques. Often only selected sample tubes can be analyzed using rather expensive GC/MS equipment for compound identification. The identification and quantitation method described here employs a two‐channel high resolution gas Chromatograph equipped with a thermal desorption cold trap injector and two flame ionization detectors. Separation of sample compounds is done using two capillary columns of different polarity stationary phases. Identifications are made by two‐channel retention index monitoring (RIM) using a pattern recognition software for automatic assignment of selected n‐alkane standards from among sample peaks. RIM is suitable for analyzing indoor air samples when (I) preliminary results are needed immediately, (II) the amount of the different sample compounds are on a same concentration level, and (III) tens of similar samples fr...


Three-dimensional ice flow modelling requires a large number of computing resources and observation data, such that 2-D simulations are often preferable. However, when there is significant lateral divergence, this must be accounted for (2.5-D models), and a flow tube is considered (volume between two horizontal flowlines). In the absence of velocity observations, this flow tube can be derived assuming that the flowlines follow the steepest slope of the surface, under a few flow assumptions. This method typically consists of scanning a digital elevation model (DEM) with a moving window and computing the curvature at the centre of this window. The ability of the 2.5-D models to account properly for a 3-D state of strain and stress has not clearly been established, nor their sensitivity to the size of the scanning window and to the geometry of the ice surface, for example in the cases of sharp ridges. Here, we study the applicability of a 2.5-D ice flow model around a dome, typical of the East Antarctic plateau conditions. A twin experiment is carried out, comparing 3-D and 2.5-D computed velocities, on three dome geometries, for several scanning windows and thermal conditions. The chosen scanning window used to evaluate the ice surface curvature should be comparable to the typical radius of this curvature. For isothermal ice, the error made by the 2.5-D model is in the range 0–10 % for weakly diverging flows, but is 2 or 3 times higher for highly diverging flows and could lead to a non-physical ice surface at the dome. For non-isothermal ice, assuming a linear temperature profile, the presence of a sharp ridge makes the 2.5-D velocity field unre-alistic. In such cases, the basal ice is warmer and more easily laterally strained than the upper one, the walls of the flow tube are not vertical, and the assumptions of the 2.5-D model are no longer valid.


This thesis aimed at developing a better understanding on how mice perceive their own emotional state. Next to extending on previous research on the adaptive capacities laboratory mice, we aimed at approaching the emotional perceptions of mice by establishing a behavioural test for the assessment of judgement bias. Adaptive behaviour translates into the waning of a behavioural response over time (i.e. behavioural habituation). Evaluation of behavioural habituation therefore offers a valuable "behavioural tool" to investigate changes in emotional assessments of a given stimulus in animals. The results of this thesis show that mice differ significantly regarding their ability to adapt to challenging conditions. Further, to better understand whether such behaviour might reflect the animals' perception of its own emotional state we aimed at developing a judgement bias test for mice. A judgement bias results from an either more positive or more negative interpretation of an ambiguous stimulus (a stimulus with uncertain value).Negative emotional states induce a more negative interpretation while positive emotional states induce a more positive interpretation of the same stimulus: the glass is either half full or half empty. This thesis supports the idea that odour conditioning tests can be useful in investigating judgement bias in mice, although some methodological issues remain to be solved in future experiments. In addition to behavioural observations, different physiological and central nervous parameters were investigated in order to get a first indication of the underlying mechanisms that may regulate emotional perception in mice. From both the findings on mouse behaviour and at the central nervous level in the present thesis and previous work it can be concluded that a lack of behavioural habituation might be the result of an impaired cognitive control of emotional processes. Such a characteristic seems to have a clear genetic component since environmental challenges alone did not result in a persistent impairment of habituation in mice. From that it can be concluded that impaired habituation might be indicative of exceeded adaptive capacities and might be a valuable "behavioural tool" to investigate emotional dysfunctions in animals. In addition, brain area's related to emotion and cognition seem to be involved in the expression of judgement biases as well, supporting the notion that the measurement of judgement biases in mice might provide more information on the animals' perception of its own emotional state and, thus, first steps have been taken in establishing methods for gaining a better understanding of the (dys)regulation of emotions in mice and, hence in the management of their welfare.


Virtual project teams are spontaneous group configurations that endeavor to overcome spatial and temporal restrictions in bringing together distant experts to create just-in-time knowledge sharing coalitions. Due to their time-constrained nature and anonymity among members, we argue for team goal commitment as a more pertinent factor driving task performance. We then hypothesize that members' perceived distributive, interactional, and procedural justice are viable antecedents leading to the inducement of team goal commitment among virtual project team members. Empirical findings from a longitudinal field experiment reveals that: (1) distributive justive has a positive and consistent effect on members' team goal commitment across time; (2) interactional justice has a positive effect on members' team goal commitment which increases over time, and; (3) procedural justive has differential effects on members' team goal commitment across time depending on whether it deals with general working conditions or conflict resolution. Based on our analytical results, implications for both theory and practice are highlighted.


The authors describe a rare case of congenital dysplasia of the left ventricle. Clinical findings were suggestive of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. The left ventricle showed areas of endocardial fibroelastosis, with an abnormal and unusually fine, sometimes lacy, filigreelike trabeculation of the internal surface of the endocardium. The endocardium resembled a mat of webbing on the endocardial surface. Many of these fine bands traversed the ventricular cavity from wall to wall. The abnormal Q waves seen on the electrocardiogram may have been caused by an abnormal depolarization process that may have been taking place in the left ventricular trabecular net. Experimental embryologic work in the chick embryo demonstrated that the development of trabecular sheaths in the primitive ventricle that are oriented in a dorsoventral direction are an essential step in ventricular formation. The authors speculate that perhaps an arrest or delay in the full fusion of some trabecular sheaths may give rise to the intracavitary trabeculations demonstrated here.


In this paper a new approach to 3D human body tracking is proposed. A
sparse 3D reconstruction of the subject to be tracked is made using a structured light system consisting of a precalibrated LCD projector and a camera. At a number of points-of-interest, easily detectable features are projected. The resulting sparse 3D reconstruction is
used to estimate the body pose of the tracked person. This new estimate of the body pose is then fed back to the structured light system and allows to adapt the projected patterns, i.e. decide where to project features. Given the observations, a physical simulation is used to estimate the body pose by attaching forces to the limbs of the body model. The sparse 3D observations are augmented by denser silhouette information, in order to make the tracking more robust.
Experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach and show that the high speeds that are required due to the closed feedback loop can be achieved.


ABSTRACT High-level azole resistance in the Darlington strain ofCandida albicans was investigated by gene replacement inC. albicans and expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We sequenced the ERG11 gene, which encodes the sterol C14α-demethylase, from our copy of the Darlington strain. Both alleles contained the histidine for tyrosine substitution at position 132 (Y132H) reported in Darlington by others, but we also found a threonine-for-isoleucine substitution (I471T) not previously reported in the C. albicans ERG11. The encoded I471T change in amino acids conferred azole resistance when overexpressed alone and increased azole resistance when added to the Y132H amino acid sequence in an S. cerevisiae expression system. Replacement of one copy of ERG11 in an azole-susceptible strain of C. albicans with a single copy of the Darlington ERG11 resulted in expression of the integrated copy and a modest increase in azole resistance. The profound azole resistance of the Darlington strain is the result of multiple mutations.


Morphogenesis is the process which will define the final form of an organism by a series of complex cellular events such as cell division, shape changes and migration, events that require the coordinated modification of the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is mainly regulated by the Rho family of small GTPases. The Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor, DRhoGEF2, is an activator of Rho 1 and it is essential for morphogenetic cell shape changes. Signalling through DRhoGEF2 seems to be restricted to a specific area in the cell. One major question in the field is the mechanism by which the activity of RhoGEFs is spatially and temporally limited. The multidomain nature of DRhoGEF2 provides the framework for a tight regulation and the participation in a protein network. The activity of the distinct structural elements of DRhoGEF2 has not been completely elucidated. This thesis investigates the role of the PDZ domain for the function of DRhoGEF2. Preliminary results indicate that the PDZ domain acts as a positive regulator. In addition, an interaction has recently been discovered between the DRhoGEF2 PDZ domain and the novel protein DMec2. This thesis explores the functional significance of DMec2 and in particular its putative contribution to morphogenesis through its interaction with DRhoGEF2. Overexpression and elimination of DMec2 does not alter the actin nor microtubule cytoskeleton and ectopic expression does not produce any obvious phenotypes therefore its role remains obscure. Furthermore, DMec2 binds to the PDZ domain however there is no indication of a functional relevance of this interaction. This work suggests further study to explore the integration of signals by the PDZ domain of DRhoGEF2.


We report the synthesis and kinetic study of PEGylated, water-soluble aminyl radical 2. The radical possesses four mPEG-3 groups replacing four methyl groups in the tert-butyl groups at the 3- and 6-positions of 1,3,6,8-tetra-tert-butyl carbazyl (TTBC). This structure is designed to mitigate the rapid decomposition of the radical via intramolecular 1,5-hydrogen atom transfer (1,5-HAT) that was observed in its constitutional isomer 1-H with four mPEG-3 groups in the vicinity of the nitrogen-centered radical (1- and 8-positions of TTBC). In dry, degassed acetone at 295 K, the radical 2 has a half-life, τ1/2 = 49 h (ΔH‡ = 17.9 ± 0.8 kcal mol-1), which is 3 orders of magnitude longer than that for 1-H, which decays via 1,5-HAT (τ1/2 = 48 s, ΔH‡ = 10.0 ± 0.3 kcal mol-1). Aminyl radical 2 aggregates at ambient conditions in water and has a half-life, τ1/2 = 2 h.


In order to find out the influence trend and the impact factor of different process parameters for die-roll of gear shape and smooth-shear surface, the forming process to characteristics of FPG fine-blanking that based on fine-blanking theory was simulated by using Deform-3D. The best scheme suitable for FPG fine-blanking was obtained, which was also validated by the simulation test. The results showed that the processes were feasible and thus provided the basis to improve the die life and the forming quality for fine-blanking of FPG.


In the present paper, the numerical modeling of an innovative latent thermal energy storage unit, suitable for direct integration into the condenser or evaporator of a heat pump is presented. The Modelica language, in the Dymola environment, and TIL libraries were used for the development of a modular model, which is easily re-usable and adaptable to different configurations. Validation of the model was carried out using experimental data under different operating modes and it was subsequently used for the optimization of a design for charging and discharge. In particular, since the storage unit is made up of parallel channels for the heat transfer fluid, refrigerant, and phase change material, their number and distribution were changed to evaluate the effect on heat transfer performance.


We present two systems for simulating and designing agents, respectively. The first, the Abstract Force Simulator (AFS), is a domain-general simulator of agents applying forces; many domains can be characterized in this way. The second, Hierarchical Agent Control (HAC), is a general toolkit for designing an action hierarchy. It supports action abstraction, a multilevel computational architecture, sensor integration, and planning. It is particularly well suited to controlling large numbers of agents in dynamic environments. Together, AFS and HAC provide a very general framework for designing and testing agents.


Aim  A debate exists as to whether present-day diversity gradients are governed by current environmental conditions or by changes in environmental conditions through time. Recent studies have shown that latitudinal richness gradients might be partially caused by incomplete post-glacial recolonization of high-latitude regions; this leads to the prediction that less mobile taxa should have steeper gradients than more mobile taxa. The aim of this study is to test this prediction.

Location  Europe.

Methods  We first assessed whether spatial turnover in species composition is a good surrogate for dispersal ability by measuring the proportion of wingless species in 19 European beetle clades and relating this value to spatial turnover (βsim) of the clade. We then linearly regressed βsim values of 21 taxa against the slope of their respective diversity gradients.

Results  A strong relationship exists between the proportion of wingless species and βsim, and βsim was found to be a good predictor of latitudinal richness gradients.

Main conclusions  Results are consistent with the prediction that poor dispersers have steeper richness gradients than good dispersers, supporting the view that current beetle diversity gradients in Europe are affected by post-glacial dispersal lags.


The objectives were to identify the distribution channels, to characterize the Agents involved, as well as its role in marketing of cattle for slaughter in the Papaloapan´s region of Veracruz. Five sources of information were used: Producers, Introducers, Municipal slaughter house, Butcher and Consumers all groups were surveyed. The study was carried at seven municipalities, which are the largest cattle stock in the region (63,6%). Program SAS (2003) was utilized to calculate measures of central tendency, dispersion, frequencies and contingency tables between agents. Producers were the most agest (53 ±13 years old) and more experienced in the activity (24±14 years) group. The Introducers had the highest level of study (8±5 years) and years of service of the slaughterhouses were 51±10 years. The Producers send cattle to the slaughter by three channels: Introducer (34,8%), Butcher (58,8%) or him self (6,4%). The distribution of the 27 introducers at the region was non proportional among municipalities. Four "Mataderos" and three Municipal slaughter house with different levels of operation (269 to 7466 head per year) were identified. The 58,4% of butcher acquire cattle for slaughter in vivo, 34,0% purchasing carcasses of meat. We found a "new" component called "retailer", who buy meat at butcher's shop to resell in Mini-mart. The consumer show a half preference for meat consumption (42,0%) and a frequency of consumption of one to three times per week. The cattle breed intended for slaughter was (91,4%) crosses Brown Swiss x Cebu (75,4%).


Dyadic synchrony has been broadly conceptualized as the quality of the parent-child dyadic relationship from infancy to the school-age period. It has been theorized as a molar construct that captures features of parent-child interaction that are beyond individual attributes. A sample of 120 mother-son dyads from a high-risk, low-income sample were observed at age two years during a series of interactions and coded for their dyadic synchrony. It was hypothesized that characteristics of the child, maternal psychological resources and aspects of parenting would be associated with synchrony. It was also hypothesized that synchrony would be associated with concurrent externalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms at a 1-year follow-up. Results of a series of bivariate correlations found that synchrony was associated with mother, child and parenting attributes. However, results of a series of hierarchical regression analyses found that synchrony was not associated with concurrent or later externalizing symptoms. While synchrony did not moderate the association between most child characteristics and maternal attributes, synchrony was found to moderate the relationship between maternal depression and later externalizing symptoms. These findings suggest that synchrony is associated with multiple measures of child and maternal functioning; however, in this sample of low-income, high-risk samples where rates of synchrony are generally low and rates of externalizing problems are somewhat higher, an association between externalizing symptoms and synchrony may not be present.


The present work deals with the use of multiple-step procedures to obtain valuable sub-products, including nanocellulose, from rice husk. Each sub-product was characterized after every step by analyzing the chemical composition (mainly based on thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transformed infrared spectra, and X-ray diffraction) and morphology (using visual observations and scanning electron microscopy). The results clearly showed that the selected procedure gave the possibility to separate silica in the first step and then to purify the resultant material, leading to nanocellulose production. All acquired sub-products can be used as additives and fillers in a very wide range of applications. The obtained results will be useful both from technological and academic points of view, mainly for people working in the field of biocomposites. The final material could give added value to a raw biomass material source such as rice husk.


We analyzed the rapid aperiodic X-ray variability of the recently discovered millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. The power density spectrum is dominated by a strong band-limited noise component, which follows a power law with index 1.0-1.3 at high frequencies with a break that varies between 0.25 and 1.6 Hz, below which the spectrum is relatively flat. Superimposed on this, a broad bump is present with a centroid frequency that varies well correlated with the break frequency between 2.4 and 12.0 Hz. These characteristics are very similar to what is commonly seen in other low-luminosity low-mass X-ray binaries. Between 100 and 400 Hz, a third broad noise component is present similar to that recently reported in the low-luminosity low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1728-34 (Ford & van der Klis). We find a similar high-frequency noise component also in other low-luminosity neutron star systems. We conclude that at any given epoch, the rapid aperiodic X-ray variability of the millisecond X-ray pulsar is indistinguishable from that of other low-luminosity neutron star systems. However, contrary to what has been found in those sources, the break frequency of the band-limited noise does not have a strict correlation with mass accretion rate. With decreasing mass accretion rate, the break frequency first decreased, then increased again. This previously unobserved behavior could be typical for the very low mass accretion rates we observe near the end of the outburst of SAX J1808.4-3658, or it could be related to its being a pulsar.


Several factors are thought to contribute to the iron-deficiency anemia of infancy. Included among these are decreased dietary iron, inadequate iron stores at birth, and excessively rapid growth. This study was undertaken to evaluate the relative importance of these factors. Methods and Materials The peripheral blood was studied in all infants, as previously described, 1 with the exception of some hemoglobin determinations, which were measured with use of a modification of the cyanomethemoglobin method. 2 Serum iron and iron-binding capacity were measured by the method of Peters et al. 3,4 as modified from the Barkan and Walker procedure. 5 Seventy-seven infants with iron-deficiency anemia were studied during the years 1954 to 1956. The general physical condition of the infants was evaluated. Where possible, careful histories were taken, with special reference to age, sex, race, birth weight, present weight, diet, and blood loss. Inquiries were also made into maternal history of


Coherent exchange of single photons is at the heart of applied quantum optics. The negatively-charged silicon vacancy center in diamond is among most promising sources for coherent single photons. Its large Debye–Waller factor, short lifetime and extraordinary spectral stability is unique in the field of solid-state single photon sources. However, the excitation and detection of individual centers requires high numerical aperture (NA) optics which, combined with the need for cryogenic temperatures, puts technical overhead on experimental realizations. Here, we investigate a hybrid quantum photonics platform based on silicon-vacancy center in nanodiamonds and metallic bullseye antenna to realize a coherent single-photon resource that operates efficiently down to low NA optics with an inherent resistance to misalignment.


Legendary fencing instructor Maitre Bac H Tau described what he called the 'six essentials that are in a fencer's mind': 'The first is called spirit; The second, rhythm; The third, thought; The fourth, technique; The fifth, tactic, and the last is strategy.' As a fencer you can fight with spirit, experience rhythm, think your way around problems, and develop technique, tactic and strategy by training with top-flight fencing masters. But there is more. Modern fencing is a highly competitive speed and endurance sport and the 'seventh essential' in a high-performance fencer's mind is how to prepare themselves physically and mentally to fence. In High Performance Fencing: The Seventh Essential, Ed Rogers covers every aspect of the preparation required by a fencer competing at the highest level. The book provides sound practical advice and is based on tried-and-tested training principles that have repeatedly proved successful.