Background : Fracture shaft femur is one of the most common fracture treated at tertiary level centre's requiring adequate radiological assistance. Providing distal locking zig arm support in the nail has made it possible to treat fracture shaft femur at primary level with acceptable locking, without the additional support of IITV with added benefits on surgeons part of less expertise, less surgery time, and good to excellent union rates and at the same time on patients part, avoidance of radiological exposure, being economical availability at the next door itself Methods : One hundred and eight fractures of shaft of femora in 104 patients were treated at tertiary level with interlocking nails. Open nailing without IITV was done in 62 and closed nailing under IITV using proximal and distal locking zigs was done in 46 patients). All cases were operated within 24-48 hrs of injury. Results: The union rate at 12 months period was 93% in closed nails and 87.87% in open nails locked with distal zig averaging to 87% overall. Complications were the same as seen with closed interlocking nail involving limb length discrepancy malrotoation infection with added complication failure to lock distal end in few cases. Conclusion : Benefits so derived from open interlocking of fracture long bones can be applied at the very basic level of Indian health infrastructure where the facilities of IITV and surgical expertise are still lacking. Considering the over increasing load of fracture long bones, the results are comparable to that of closed nailing and has benefits on surgeon and patients more suiting to the Indian health infrastructure


In this paper, the capacitated location-routing problem with fuzzy demands (CLRP-FD) is considered. The CLRP-FD is composed of two well-known problems: facility location problem and vehicle routing problem. The problem has many real-life applications of which some have been addressed in the literature such as management of hazardous wastes and food and drink distribution. In CLRP-FD, a set of customers with fuzzy demands should be supplied by a fleet of vehicles that start and end their tours at a single depot. Moreover, the vehicles and the depots have a limited capacity. To model this problem, a fuzzy chance-constrained programming is designed based on fuzzy credibility theory. To solve the CLRP-FD, a hybrid heuristic algorithm (HHA) including two main phases is proposed. In the first phase, an initial population of solutions is generated by the greedy clustering method (GCM) obtained from the literature of the problem, while in the second phase, a genetic algorithm is applied for further improvement of the solutions of first phase. While the first phase of the HHA consists of four steps, the second phase includes two main steps. To achieve the best value of the major parameter of the model, named dispatcher preference index, and to analyze its influence on the changes of the final solution, numerical experiments with different sizes on the number of customers and candidate depots are carried out. The computational results show that the HHA is efficient so that it has improved all solutions that obtained from the GCM. Finally, performance of the proposed model to the similar model exists in the literature is evaluated by several standard test problems of the CLRP.


Introduction Our Trust has a well-established STT service to reduce the wait until a definitive diagnostic test in patients with LGI symptoms. STT receives routine18 Week Wait (18 WW) referrals through Choose and Book with a patient- controlled 3 week window. GPs, therefore, currently refer non-target patients to the service. Patients referred on the pathway wait an average of 31 days for procedure (range 13–44). However, it was found from triage assessment that some patients needed to be fast-tracked and investigated within 2 weeks due to the onset and severity of their symptoms, particularly patients with symptoms suggestive of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods Routine referrals are vetted and prioritised by specialist colorectal nurses using information from the GP referral letter and patient-reported history during telephone assessment. Triage is based on a structured algorithm following 2 Week Wait (2 WW) and National Institute of Clinical Evidence (NICE) guidelines and a symptom questionnaire is completed. A prospective database captures patients' symptoms, outcomes of triage, procedures and demographic details. Patients with red flag symptoms referred on a routine pathway were expedited and their outcomes documented. Chi Square statistics were applied to test for significance of findings. Results 569 patients have been triaged since we began formally fast-tracking (August 2014) .Of those patients, 104 (18%) have been expedited following telephone assessment. 57% of those fast-tracked were female and the mean age was 58 years (range 18–88 yrs). 79% underwent colonoscopy, 3% had a flexible sigmoidoscopy, 1% were referred for an ultrasound scan and 17% were directed for an initial clinic review. The mean number of days from triage to test was 5, which is a 96.5% time-saving on the 18 WW pathway. Of all the patients fast-tracked, 65% had pathology, of which 14% had IBD (age range 18–57 yrs with mean of 39 yrs), compared to 45% pathology findings in routine referrals (p-value < 0.01 ), of which 5% had IBD. The chart below shows the findings at endoscopy:Abstract PWE138 Figure 1 Conclusion These data suggest that there is a benefit to having a comprehensive history taken by a colorectal specialist nurse in determining the patient pathway in a timely way for diagnosis and start of treatment. With 14% of patients expedited found to have new-onset IBD, the result was prompt treatment of symptoms, and potential avoidance of a hospital admission. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The square-wave electromagnetic flowmeter was used to assess the upstream sampling dye-dilution technic for quantitating aortic regurgitation by simultaneous determinations of the regurgitant fraction by flowmeter, as given by the ratio of regurgitant volume to total stroke volume (RV/TSV) and the identical ratio of regurgitant flow to total forward flow (QR/QF), and the regurgitant fraction by dye curve, as given by the ratio of the areas of the immediately appearing portion of the left ventricular curve to the area of the femoral artery dye curve (LVA/FAA), after injection of indicator approximately 1 cm downstream to the aortic valve. A good correlation (r = 0.91) was found between these two independent methods which can be represented by the regression equation QR/QF = 0.82 (LVA/FAA). This correlation indicates that the concept that the regurgitant fraction of indicator (LVA/FAA) is proportionate to the regurgitant fraction of blood (RV/TSV) is valid. The observed systematic difference between flow-meter and dye-curve regurgitant fractions may be due to the fact that time-average rather than volume-average concentrations of the indicator are obtained by sampling of blood through eatheters. Two different and independent calibration technics were used to establish a calibration factor for converting recorded flowmeter deflections to volumetric units for measurement of rates and volumes of blood flow in the ascending aorta. The first technic involved simultaneous recording of dye-dilution curves and velocity pulses in the ascending aorta by the flowmeter before the production of aortic regurgitation. The second involved bidirectional perfusion of the isolated aorta at known rates of blood flow with simultaneous flowmeter recordings at the termination of each experiment. The data obtained validated the use of the flowmeter for measurements of total stroke volume and regurgitant stroke volume. The close correspondence between flowmeter recordings of the regurgitant flow and hydraulic estimates of regurgitant flow, based on the size of the defect in the aortic valve measured at necropsy and continuous records of the pressure gradient across the valve, also lent strong support to the validity of these measurements. The relationship QR = QS (QR/QF)/(1 − QR/QF) can be used to estimate regurgitant flow from values of the regurgitant fraction (QR/QF) and the systemic flow (QS). The mathematical relationship of the regurgitant fraction to regurgitant flow, determined by the dilution-curve technic, plus the variability obtained between simultaneous flowmeter and dilution-curve estimates of regurgitation, indicate that the error in the estimation of regurgitant flow by the dye-dilution technic is least for small-to-moderate degrees of regurgitation and increases progressively with the severe degrees of regurgitation associated with regurgitant fractions of greater than 0.6. On the basis of 231 simultaneous determinations by the indicator-dilution and flowmeter technics carried out in nine dogs, and assuming that the flowmeter values were uniformly correct, it was estimated that the standard deviation of the errors in measurement of regurgitant flow by the upstream sampling dye-dilution method in these experiments was 0.15 L per minute for regurgitant fractions below 0.6. and that this variability increased so that the standard deviation was 1.3 L per minute at regurgitant fraction levels of 0.9 to 1.0. The results of determinations carried out over a range of heart rates from 39 to 216 beats per minute indicate that the indicator-dilution method is applicable over a wide range of heart rates. The observed changes in aortic regurgitation with variation in heart rate correlated closely with the changes estimated by hydraulic equations based on the hydrodynamics of steady flow through an orifice. The increase in regurgitant stroke volume with increased duration of diastole at slow heart rates was disproportionately greater than the increase in total stroke volume, so that the effective forward (systemic) flow fell to extremely low levels at slow heart rates, particularly in dogs with large defects in the aortic valve. The applicability of the upstream sampling indicator-dilution technic to the detection and estimation of the severity of aortic regurgitation in human beings merits further study.


Nearest Neighbor (NN) searching is a challenging problem in data management and has been widely studied in data mining, pattern recognition and computational geometry. The goal of NN searching is efficiently reporting the nearest data to a given object as a query. In most of the studies both the data and query are assumed to be precise, however, due to the real applications of NN searching, such as tracking and locating services, GIS and data mining, it is possible both of them are imprecise. So, in this situation, a natural way to handle the issue is to report the data have a nonzero probability —called nonzero nearest neighbor— to be the nearest neighbor of a given query. Formally, let P be a set of n uncertain points modeled by some regions. We first consider the following variation of NN searching problem under uncertainty. If both the query and the data are uncertain points modeled by distinct unit segments parallel to the x-axis, we propose an efficient algorithm that reports nonzero nearest neighbors under Manhattan metric in O(n^2 α(n^2 )) preprocessing and O(logn+k) query time, where α(.) is the extremely slowly growing functional inverse of Ackermann's function. Finally, for the arbitrarily length segments parallel to the x-axis, we propose an approximation algorithm that reports nonzero nearest neighbor with maximum error L in O(n^2 α(n^2 )) preprocessing and O(logn+k) query time, where L is the length of the query.


There is a body of literature that describes the geometry and the physics of filopodia using either stochastic models or partial differential equations and elasticity and coarse-grained theory. Comparatively, there is a paucity of models focusing on the regulation of the network of proteins that control the formation of different actin structures. Using a combination of in-vivo and in-vitro experiments together with a system of ordinary differential equations, we focused on a small number of well-characterized, interacting molecules involved in actin-dependent filopodia formation: the actin remodeler Eps8, whose capping and bundling activities are a function of its ligands, Abi-1 and IRSp53, respectively; VASP and Capping Protein (CP), which exert antagonistic functions in controlling filament elongation. The model emphasizes the essential role of complexes that contain the membrane deforming protein IRSp53, in the process of filopodia initiation. This model accurately accounted for all observations, including a seemingly paradoxical result whereby genetic removal of Eps8 reduced filopodia in HeLa, but increased them in hippocampal neurons, and generated quantitative predictions, which were experimentally verified. The model further permitted us to explain how filopodia are generated in different cellular contexts, depending on the dynamic interaction established by Eps8, IRSp53 and VASP with actin filaments, thus revealing an unexpected plasticity of the signaling network that governs the multifunctional activities of its components in the formation of filopodia.


Agriculture is recognized as a critical sector in the world economy and contributing 24 percent GDP input and provision of employment to 1.3 billion people. Considering such the importance; the current study proposes to investigate the socio-economic factors that affect farm yield in Tando Allahyar District. To asses this problem, the conceptual model as developed for such research work. On the basis of the prevalent literature; some hypotheses formulated for such the study. A survey questionnaire employed as the central tool for data collection. In total, 190 farmers contacted individually and got filled the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire noticed as 0.789 that is stated as good reliability. By employing the path model, the findings resulted as a positive and significant impact of farmers' income; education; experience and farmers' family labor to farm yield. This study may be beneficial for local and national policymakers to develop policies to alleviate food security insufficiencies and boost up better agriculture approaches based on the social-economic characteristics of the regions as farmers increase the production of food.


ABSTRACT  Light gradients within leaves are not included in the model of Farquhar, although a steep light gradient does exist within leaves. For a bifacial  leaf, the model shows good agreement with measured data, but for an isobilateral leaf the model may underestimate photosynthesis measured by conventional gas exchange. Isobilateral leaves easily developed when plants were grown in growth chambers where some light were reflected from the growth chamber metal base onto the lower surface of the leaves during growth, resulting in adjustment of the photosynthetic capacity inside the leaves. This could also happen in the  field when canopy is very sparse and lower surface of leaves was exposed to reflected light from soil surface.  Complications occurred when fitting the light response curves of the electron transport rate, due to the interaction between the quantum yield of electron transport (a2) and the curvature factor (Θ). It is suspected that there may be an interaction with the light gradient  within the leaf. This manuscript discusses the effect of a light gradient inside a soybean leaf on the estimation of Θ. It is shown in the manuscript how the light curves of the isobilateral leaves (at different degree) responded when measured using conventional gas exchange and  how it affected the estimation of  Θ and the electron transport capacity, Jmax. An experiment was conducted to prove the hypothesis that this "out of ordinary" estimate of Θ (and hence Jmax) was due to the unmatched distribution of photosynthetic capacity with distribution of absorbed light.  Keywords :  light gradient / photosynthetic capacity (Jmax) / curvature factor (Θ) / gas exchange


Influenza A virus is an important human pathogen causing severe respiratory disease. The virus has evolved several strategies to dysregulate the innate immune response and facilitate its replication. ABSTRACT The NS1 protein of the influenza A virus plays a critical role in regulating several biological processes in cells, including the type I interferon (IFN) response. We previously profiled the cellular factors that interact with the NS1 protein of influenza A virus and found that the NS1 protein interacts with proteins involved in RNA splicing/processing, cell cycle regulation, and protein targeting processes, including 14-3-3ε. Since 14-3-3ε plays an important role in retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) translocation to mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS) to activate type I IFN expression, the interaction of the NS1 and 14-3-3ε proteins may prevent the RIG-I-mediated IFN response. In this study, we confirmed that the 14-3-3ε protein interacts with the N-terminal domain of the NS1 protein and that the NS1 protein inhibits RIG-I-mediated IFN-β promoter activation in 14-3-3ε-overexpressing cells. In addition, our results showed that knocking down 14-3-3ε can reduce IFN-β expression elicited by influenza A virus and enhance viral replication. Furthermore, we found that threonine in the 49th amino acid position of the NS1 protein plays a role in the interaction with 14-3-3ε. Influenza A virus expressing C terminus-truncated NS1 with a T49A mutation dramatically increases IFN-β mRNA in infected cells and causes slower replication than that of virus without the T-to-A mutation. Collectively, this study demonstrates that 14-3-3ε is involved in influenza A virus-initiated IFN-β expression and that the interaction of the NS1 protein and 14-3-3ε may be one of the mechanisms for inhibiting type I IFN activation during influenza A virus infection. IMPORTANCE Influenza A virus is an important human pathogen causing severe respiratory disease. The virus has evolved several strategies to dysregulate the innate immune response and facilitate its replication. We demonstrate that the NS1 protein of influenza A virus interacts with the cellular chaperone protein 14-3-3ε, which plays a critical role in retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) translocation that induces type I interferon (IFN) expression, and that NS1 protein prevents RIG-I translocation to the mitochondrial membrane. The interaction site for 14-3-3ε is the RNA-binding domain (RBD) of the NS1 protein. Therefore, this research elucidates a novel mechanism by which the NS1 RBD mediates IFN-β suppression to facilitate influenza A viral replication. Additionally, the findings reveal the antiviral role of 14-3-3ε during influenza A virus infection.


: This paper collects a serie of examples and counterexamples encountered in the study of the algorithmics of Network Calculus operations. Network Calculus is a deterministic queuing theory which aims at providing bounds on the performances of communication networks thanks to a nice formalization in (min ; +) algebra. Often presented as a (min ; +) (cid:12)ltering theory by analogy with the (+ ; (cid:2) ) (cid:12)ltering of traditional system theory, it makes use a well-de(cid:12)ned set of operations. Their algorithmic aspects have not been much addressed. For this reason, we describe and analyze in [2] a set of algorithms implementing these Network Calculus operations for a well-chosen class of functions. During this work, we had to construct some examples and counterexamples in order to draw the limits of our results or to illustrate them. Many of them have been omitted in [2], and are now presented in this companion-paper.


Context. Bridging the gap between heliospheric and solar observations of eruptions requires the mapping of interplanetary coronal mass ejection (CME) footpoints down to the Sun's surface. But this not straightforward. Improving the understanding of the spatio-temporal evolutions of eruptive flares requires a comprehensive standard model. But the current model is only two-dimensional and cannot address the question of interplanetary CME footpoints.
Aims. Existing 3D extensions to the standard model show that flux-rope footpoints are surrounded by curved-shaped quasi-separatrix layer (QSL) footprints that can be related with hook-shaped flare-ribbons. We build upon this finding and further address the joint questions of their time-evolution, and of the formation of flare loops at the ends of the flaring polarity inversion line (PIL) of the erupting bipole, which are both relevant for flare understanding in general and for interplanetary CME studies in particular.
Methods. We calculated QSLs and relevant field lines in an MHD simulation of a torus-unstable flux-rope. The evolving QSL footprints are used to define the outer edge of the flux rope at different times, and to identify and characterize new 3D reconnection geometries and sequences that occur above the ends of the flaring PIL. We also analyzed flare-ribbons as observed in the extreme ultraviolet by SDO/AIA and IRIS during two X-class flares.
Results. The flux-rope footpoints are drifting during the eruption, which is unexpected due to line-tying. This drifting is due to a series of coronal reconnections that erode the flux rope on one side and enlarge it on the other side. Other changes in the flux-rope footpoint-area are due to multiple reconnections of individual field lines whose topology can evolve sequentially from arcade to flux rope and finally to flare loop. These are associated with deformations and displacements of QSL footprints, which resemble those of the studied flare ribbons.
Conclusions. Our model predicts continuous deformations and a drifting of interplanetary CME flux-rope footpoints whose areas are surrounded by equally evolving hooked-shaped flare-ribbons, as well as the formation of flare loops at the ends of flaring PILs which originate from the flux-rope itself, both of which being due to purely three-dimensional reconnection geometries. The observed evolution of flare-ribbons in two events supports the model, but more observations are required to test all its predictions.


The purpose of this study was to determine the level of service quality from the point of customers' view using the services of institutions offering social insurance, and also to present how important is to measure service quality at insurance market. SERVQUAL method was applied with a seven-point Likert scale. The SERVQUAL method also took into account the extended minimum size. The study was conducted among the customers of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) and the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS) in north-eastern Poland. For five tested areas (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) 20 questions were assigned. Actual, expected, and minimum quality of provided services was determined. Additionally, the gaps were defined which allowed organizations to evaluate the service in terms of efficient and effective customer service policy. The gaps identify the areas on which the company should pay a particular attention. According to the respondents, assurance area plays a major role among the dimensions mentioned. However, the research shows that empathy area was rated as the highest by the respondents. In turn, customers have the highest expectations in relation to the area of assurance. The biggest gap was observed in the dimension of responsiveness. In general it can be stated that quality of insurance services provided by the surveyed institutions were assessed at the good level. In many areas, the amendments should be introduced indicated in the next part of the article. Moreover, customers were grouped by demographic and social variables, depicting that older and better educated customers are more satisfied with the insurance service quality. Scientific contribution of the authors is preparation of the research questionnaire measuring the quality of insurance services that can be used by studied institutions to make good decisions. The conclusion briefly describes the potential for appication of customer satisfaction research and customer service strategies in the social insurance sector. Due to the study carried out, market institutions can properly identify customer needs in the services they provide and see occurring discrepancies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.25.1.5115


The PMo12-PPy heterogeneous cathode was synthesized electrochemically. In doing so, the PMo12 redox-active material was impregnated throughout the conductive polymer matrix of the poly(pyrrole) nanowires. All chemicals and reagents used were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. Anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) purchased from Whatman served as the porous hard template for nanowire deposition. A thin layer of gold of approximately 200nm was sputtered onto the disordered side of the AAO membrane to serve as the current collector. Copper tape was connected to the sputtered gold for contact and the device was sealed in parafilm with heat with an exposed area of 0.32 cm2 to serve as the electroactive area for deposition. All electrochemical synthesis and experiments were conducted using a Bio-Logic MPG2 potentiostat. The deposition was carried out using a 3-electrode beaker cell setup with a solution of acetonitrile containing 5mM and 14mM of the phosphomolybdic acid and pyrrole monomer, respectively. The synthesis was achieved using chronoamperometry to apply a constant voltage of 0.8V vs. Ag/AgCl (BASi) to oxidatively polymerize the pyrrole monomer to poly(pyrrole). To prevent the POM from chemically polymerizing the pyrrole, an injection method was used in which the pyrrole monomer was added to the POM solution only after the deposition voltage had already been applied. The deposition was well controlled by limiting the amount of charge transferred to 300mC. Following deposition, the AAO template was removed by soaking in 3M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for 20 minutes and rinsed several times with water. After synthesis, all cathodes underwent electrochemical testing to determine their performance using cyclic voltammetry and constant current charge-discharge cycling in 0.1 M Mg(ClO4)2/PC electrolyte. The cathodes were further characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).


The energy budget is limited in remote applications of Wireless Vision Sensor Network (WVSN). It imposes strict constraints on both the processing energy consumption and transmission energy consumption of the Vision Sensor Nodes (VSN). Transmitting the raw images to the Central Base Station (CBS) consume substantial portion from the energy budget of each of the VSN. The consequence of greater transmission energy consumption due to transmitting raw images is the reduced lifetime of the VSN. Image compression standards effectively reduce the transmission energy consumption by compressing the images. But the computational complexity of a compression method has also a significant effect on the energy budget and lifetime of each of the VSN. This paper investigates the impact of the computational complexity and communication energy consumption of three chosen compression methods on the lifetime of the VSN. Both statistically generated images and the real captured images are used for evaluating the energy consumption of the three chosen image compression methods. We have determined the improvement in the lifetime of the VSN based on the computational complexity and compression ratio of the three selected binary image coding methods. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eie.23.3.18334


Nowadays, most universities have policies for internationalization, and in such policies, attention is increasingly given to internationalization as an aspect of students' learning. However, there have so far been limited efforts to study how such student-centered internationalization can be carried out in practice. This article explores linkages between policy and practice, and it reports on a case study of how local policy goals of internationalization are carried out at the classroom level in a university in Sweden. Through fine-grained analyses of classroom interactions, it is demonstrated how a teacher and his students put policy goals into practice and what aspects stimulate them to do so. More generally, the results contribute to knowledge of how internationalization of higher education can be encouraged and practiced in local learning settings in the form of social actions and how it is carried out in a certain context at a certain time.


Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) belongs to the family of cast irons whose mechanical properties are altered using austempering heat treatment process. The objective of this paper is to study the effects of heat treatment parameters on manganese alloyed ADI. Hence, austenitization temperature, austempering temperature and austempering time are taken as the control variables along with the manganese content in the material. The effects of heat treatment are studied by measuring the ultimate tensile strength and the hardness of the material.  The regression equations are developed to relate the various parameters under study. The microstructures of the specimen reveal that retained austenite content increases with increase in manganese and results in decrease in hardness of the material. The statistical analyses indicate that the austempering temperature is the major factor affecting the variation in hardness and tensile strength with 74.5 % of contribution within the range of values whereas,  variation in manganese content does not have significant effect on hardness within the investigated composition range in the material.


IntroductionIn Swedish compulsory school, the mandatory school subject Home- and Consumer Studies (HCS) is an opportunity to educate students about Food Safety. It is defined in the Curriculum-2011 as "Hygiene and cleaning in handling, cooking and storage of food". By having Food Safety knowledge, the students might influence their future health. In Sweden it has been estimated that approximately five percent of the population get Food-borne infected each year, which has an impact on public health.PurposeTo investigate Food Safety as a part of HCS education by providing insights regarding perception and behavior connected to Food Safety among students in the 9:th grade in Swedish Compulsory School.MethodsA national questionnaire survey was conducted in autumn 2013 among 529 students in the 9:th grade, at 18 schools in different parts of Sweden by using a Student Response System. The content of the questionnaire focused on Curriculum 2011 and the hygiene Hot Spots summarized in the four C's: Cooking, Cleaning, Cooling and Cross-contamination.ResultsThe results indicates positive behavior regarding hand washing, cooking and best before date, while there were uncertainties associated with reheating, cross-contamination, minced meat and dishcloths. Mother was considered the largest source of knowledge and trust, while HCS education was an important source for those who do not get the opportunity to cook at home, which was more common among boys. The students were uncertain regarding what can be considered as an appropriate refrigerator temperature.SignificanceEven if mother is suggested to be the most important source of knowledge related to Food Safety this study indicates that HCS education fulfills an important function, especially for boys who seemed to more rarely get their knowledge from home. Present data indicates that some issues e.g. to avoid Cross-contamination and Cooling need to be more highlighted in HCS education, especially from a health perspective.


Energetic benefits provided by sharing a nest were investigated by measuring resting metabolic rate in the lesser mouse lemur ( Microcebus murinus ), a nocturnal solitary primate that usually groups in a nest during its diurnal rest. Resting metabolic rate was measured on 32 individuals maintained either alone or grouped with one, two, or three conspecifics originating from the same social group. In this seasonal breeder, individual resting metabolic rate varied significantly from 1.08 ± 0.03 to 1.47 ± 0.05 ( SE ) ml O2 h™1g™1 for nonbreeding and breeding seasons, respectively. During the breeding season, both sexes reduced their energetic expenditure by 20% when grouped in pairs, and maximal energetic benefit (40%) was achieved when three animals nested together. During the nonbreeding season, maximal energetic gain was observed when as few as two animals nested together because resting metabolic rate was already decreased. Finally, when three or four animals shared the same nest, resting metabolic rate was minimal, independent of sex and season, at 0.88 ml O2 h™1g™1, suggesting that nest-sharing in this solitary primate is an important strategy to minimize energetic costs to cope with seasonal shortage of food.


A minimal group study examined the effect of peer group norms on children's direct and indirect bullying intentions. Prior to an inter-group drawing competition, children (N = 85) aged seven and nine years were assigned to a group that had a norm of out-group dislike or out-group liking. Results indicated that, regardless of group norms, the children's attitudes were more positive towards the in-group vs. the out-group. Children's bullying intentions were greater when the in-group had a norm of out-group dislike vs. out-group liking, the children were younger rather than older, and the bullying was indirect vs. direct. A three-way interaction showed that the in-group norms had a larger effect on the younger children's direct rather than indirect bullying intentions, but a larger effect on the older children's indirect rather than direct bullying intentions. Implications for understanding school bullying intentions and behaviour are discussed.


Narratives are fundamental to our perception of the world and are pervasive in all activities that involve the representation of events in time. Yet, modern online information systems do not incorporate narratives in their representation of events occurring over time. This article aims to bridge this gap, combining the theory of narrative representations with the data from modern online systems. We make three key contributions: a theory-driven computational representation of narratives, a novel extraction algorithm to obtain these representations from data, and an evaluation of our approach. In particular, given the effectiveness of visual metaphors, we employ a route map metaphor to design a narrative map representation. The narrative map representation illustrates the events and stories in the narrative as a series of landmarks and routes on the map. Each element of our representation is backed by a corresponding element from formal narrative theory, thus providing a solid theoretical background to our method. Our approach extracts the underlying graph structure of the narrative map using a novel optimization technique focused on maximizing coherence while respecting structural and coverage constraints. We showcase the effectiveness of our approach by performing a user evaluation to assess the quality of the representation, metaphor, and visualization. Evaluation results indicate that the Narrative Map representation is a powerful method to communicate complex narratives to individuals. Our findings have implications for intelligence analysts, computational journalists, and misinformation researchers.


Summary. The use of biometrics in studies of migratory connectivity is still relatively infrequent in Europe. This is partly due to the fact that biometrics is a less accurate tool when compared to ringing recovery data, or such techniques as stable isotope analyses, use of geolocators or satellite telemetry. Combination with one of these (recovery data) allows us to test the usefulness of biometrics in connectivity analyses, as well as to evaluate/quantify the influence of migratory behaviour on phenotypic traits such as flight morphology. We used historical recovery data, together with flight morphology data obtained from a consistent collection protocol during a three-year ringing programme carried out at seven sites in Spain (within the eastern half of Iberia), to test the usefulness of flight morphology for analysing spatio-temporal distribution patterns of migrants at a population scale. Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla were used as our avian model. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) whether migrant blackcaps use the shortest flyways between their breeding and non-breeding areas, so that blackcaps entering Iberia through more eastern flyways come from breeding regions further east, and (2) whether the species is a leap-frogging migrant, in which populations from more northerly regions overwinter further south than those of more southerly origin. Blackcaps entering Spain through the western Pyrenean flyway (WF) had more westerly origins than those entering through the eastern Pyrenean flyway (EF). Blackcaps captured in the WF had more rounded and shorter wings as well as relatively longer tails than those from the EF, indicating a more marked long-distance migration morphology in the EF. However, blackcaps from the EF did not come from more distant regions, so flight morphology was not linked to distance travelled from the region of origin. The fact that both recovery data and biometrics differed between flyways suggests that here flight morphology is an adequate tool with which to study population-associated connectivity patterns. No evidence of leap-frog migration was detected in the study area where biometric data were obtained.


In Ireland there is an unprecedented policy focus on education and care for children
in the years before compulsory schooling. This policy focus is warranted. Studies
have demonstrated that for young children, particularly those living with the
injustice of poverty, high quality education and care leads to measurable gains in
thinking and social skills. These gains are primarily determined by the quality of
educator-child interactions. However, due to a dearth of research on these
interactions in Ireland, there is little knowledge of the actual pedagogical practices
to support children's learning being implemented in early education and care
settings. There is, therefore, a lack of insight into how learning and development
opportunities might be maximised in those contexts.
Drawing from socio-cultural theory, contextualised within educational inequality,
the study is qualitative in nature, informed by an interpretive paradigm and employs
a case study research strategy. The focus of this thesis is on scheduled small group
learning experiences, with a particular emphasis on the interactions between three
educators and three to four year old children in three selected early childhood
education and care settings, in urban areas designated as disadvantaged. Research
in Ireland has highlighted the link between educational inequality, variation in
language use and success in primary school. Early childhood settings, in areas of
disadvantage, have a significant role in providing the kinds of language experiences
that will support children to engage with and make the kinds of meanings that are
expected at school. These kinds of language experiences can be acquired through
extended purposive conversations between educators and children.
The findings suggest that the educators established warm reciprocal
relationships with the children and engaged in interactions that could be seen as
enhancing social and emotional development. However, they may need to
emphasise interaction strategies such as open-ended questioning to engage
young children in extended purposive conversations. The fuel for such
conversations could be in enriching, cognitively challenging and meaningful
scheduled small group learning experiences. The findings have implications for
the implementation of the Free Pre-School Year, implementation of the
Workforce Development Plan and the content of early childhood education and
care tiaining programmes.


Slovenia implements its rural development policy through Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 (RDP). In this programming period is within four development axes implemented 21 measures in total amount of 1,177 millions €. The main objective of the paper is to analyse the implementation of rural development policy measures in Slovenia in period 2007-2010 and to give proposals which will increase the efficiency of implementation in the next programming period. An analysis of the implementation shows that there is great imbalance between the strategic goals and actual implementation of the programme. In the first four years of the implementation majority of the funds were allocated to the measures which pursuing economic and environmental components of sustainable development but at the level of implementation especially social and spatial issues are not adequately addressed.


This paper addresses the novel problem of automatically synthesizing an output image from a large collection of different input images. The synthesized image, called a digital tapestry, can be viewed as a visual summary or a virtual 'thumbnail' of all the images in the input collection. The problem of creating the tapestry is cast as a multi-class labeling problem such that each region in the tapestry is constructed from input image blocks that are salient and such that neighboring blocks satisfy spatial compatibility. This is formulated using a Markov random field and optimized via the graph cut based expansion move algorithm. The standard expansion move algorithm can only handle energies with metric terms, while our energy contains non-metric (soft and hard) constraints. Therefore we propose two novel contributions. First, we extend the expansion move algorithm for energy functions with non-metric hard constraints. Secondly, we modify it for functions with "almost" metric soft terms, and show that it gives good results in practice. The proposed framework was tested on several consumer photograph collections, and the results are presented.


The objective of the study was to investigate the possible role of the rs759853 and rs9640883 polymorphisms of the AKR1B1 gene by comparing the distribution of genotypes and alleles in the control group and in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy (DR). A total of 302 patients were involved in this study, where 98 patients were in the control group; Group 1 – 76 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus showing no visible changes in the fundus; Group 2 – 64 patients with non-proliferative DR and Group 3 – 64 patients with proliferative DR. The analysis of polymorphic loci was performed using unified TaqMan Mutation Detection Assays Thermo Fisher Scientific test systems (USA). Statistical analysis of the results of studies was performed using SPSS 11.0, Medstat, MedCalc (MedCalc SoftWare bvba, 1993-2013). It was determined that there was a significant increase in the frequency of the G/A heterozygote of the rs759853 polymorphism in type 2 diabetes mellitus as compared to the control group, whereas the development of DR was associated with an increase in the frequency of the mutant A/A homozygote, especially in proliferative DR. In case of progressive DR, a significant decrease in the G allele frequency and an increase in the A allele frequency of the rs759853 polymorphism of the AKR1B1 gene were detected. In case of progressive DR, there were also found an increase in the G allele frequency and a decrease in the A allele frequency of the rs9640883 of the AKR1B1 gene. The homozygous genotype of the mutant A/A allele of the rs9640883 polymorphism was not detected in patients with DR at all, and this justified the idea of the protective effect of the minor A allele in the development of DR. The study showed the role of the rs759853 and rs9640883 polymorphisms of the AKR1B1 gene. The main factors contributing to the progression of DR included the increased frequence of the A allele of rs759853 and G allele of rs9640883; the protective role was played by the A allele and A/A genotype of rs9640883.


The economics profession, as a whole, has a gravely confused understanding of opportunity cost, a concept widely regarded as one of the most fundamental ideas of economics. The muddle arises because of the existence of two contrary conceptions of opportunity cost which are presumed to be the same but only one of which is correct. Conceptually, the problem is serious because, while the correct idea leads to analytical coherence, the incorrect one generates incoherence and chaos. The incorrect definition, which is arguably more prevalent, introduces mistakes into the treatment of opportunity cost in top-selling mainstream texts used in the US and in their offshoots in other countries. Fortunately, the problem can be eliminated by some judicious reconstruction. Full coherence can be restored to the conceptual framework by the retention of the term opportunity cost for the referent of the correct definition, and the introduction of a new term, trade-off cost, for the referent of the incorrect definition. The argument is based on a survey of the treatment of opportunity cost and its applications in well-known US texts written by prominent economists and experienced economics educators – thirteen introductory texts, five intermediate texts, four graduate texts and one applied research work. In those texts that mention opportunity cost, none work solely with the correct definition, a majority deploy both definitions simultaneously as if they were identical, and a minority are based entirely on the incorrect definition. The result is that millions of economics students and graduates world-wide are being given confused and deficient understandings of opportunity cost.


According to current international climate change regime countries are responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which result from economic activities within national borders, including emissions from producing goods for exports. At the same time imports of carbon intensive goods are not regulated by international agreements. In this paper emissions embodied in exports and imports of Russia were calculated with the use of inter-country input-output tables. It was revealed that Russia is the second largest exporter of emissions embodied in trade and the large portion of these emissions is directed to developed countries. The reasons for high carbon intensity of Russia's exports are obsolete technologies (in comparison to developed economies) and the structure of commodity exports. Because of large amount of net exports of carbon intensive goods the current approach to emissions accounting does not suit interests of Russia. On the one hand, Russia, as well as other large net emissions exporters, is interested in the revision of allocation of responsibility between producers and consumers of carbon intensive products. On the other hand, current technological backwardness makes Russia vulnerable to the policy of "carbon protectionism", which can be implemented by its trade partners.


In typography form , the counterform is the area of a letter that is entirely or partially enclosed by a letter form or a symbol (the counter-space/the hole of). Letters containing closed counters include A, B, D, O, P, Q, R, a, b, d, e, g, o, p, and q. Lettersم, ه, ص,ض,ط,ظ,ف,ق, containing open counters include c, f, h, i, s etc.ب,ت,ث ,ج,ح,خ,د,ذ,ر,ز,س,ش,ع.غ.ک,ل, ن, ى  The digits 0, 4, 6, 8, and 9 also possess a counter. the aperture is the opening between an open counter and the outside of the letter. Typography form and counter form means negative and positive space in typography studies. Different typeface styles have different tendencies to use open or more closed apertures. although the letter typically functions as part of a word, individual letters are frequently combined into new forms and many configurations which can use especially in posters or printed ads Because of the conditions of the ease of the readability and the look. The Research is Aim to highlight the value of using typography form and counterform in printed ads, sometimes the designer may be unable to use typography form and counterform with its former knowledge of its basics in design.  The Research is A theoretical framework, followed by a practical design experiment for a set of posters and newsletters to study the relation between figure & the ground through the form & counterform in Typography as an application of Binary Opposition theory in design which aims to create a visual contrast between the spaces in the presence of interrelated relations between the forms that combine harmony and contrast in color, size and shapes.  The study problem can be demonstrated in the following two questions: To what extent the designer can use the typography form and counterform in printed ads? What is the visual relation between figure & the ground through the form & counterform in Typography as an application of Binary Opposition theory in design?  It reached to the result that the using of typography form and counterform is one of the most prolific tools in designing printed ads. it assured that using of form & counterform of typography in design can create different visual rhetoric which can help to attract the attention of the audience.


Mechanical milling was employed to prepare the nanocomposite precursors for the catalytic growth of carbon nanostructures. For alumina substrates, our study showed that mechanical-millingderived catalyst precursors possessed high hydrogen reduction efficiency that in turn enabled the high yield of CNTs. The alloying effects presented by the mechanical milling could accelerate the substitutional reactions between the parent oxides and thus the quality of CNTs was apparently improved. In addition, by using water-soluble substrates such as NaCl, we realized large-scale formation of carbon-encapsulated metal nanoparticles (CEMNs) that can be completely separated by a simple washing process. It was found that the morphologies of as-obtained carbon nanostructures were strongly dependent on the substrate effects. By selecting different salt substrates, we can strategically change the morphologies of the as-obtained nanostructures, from CNTs to CEMNs and the intermediate state between CNTs and CEMNs, such as quasi-nanocages.


Recent large-scale commercial agriculture projects in developing countries have raised concerns about the effects on natural resource-based livelihood activities of local people. A significant weakness in the emerging literature is the lack of a gender perspective on implications for agrarian livelihoods. This article explores the gendered aspects of land transactions on livelihood prospects in the Northern Region of Ghana. Drawing on qualitative research from two commercial agriculture projects, the article examines how pre-existing gender inequalities in agrarian production systems, as well as gender biases in project design, are implicated in post-project livelihood activities. The article concludes that a good business model of a land deal, even one that includes local communities in production and profit sharing, is not sufficient to protect women's livelihood prospects if projects ignore pre-existing gender inequalities and biases, which limit access to opportunities.


The defeat of the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish referendum on 12 June 2008 has sent shock waves throughout the European Union (EU). It is still premature to attempt to evaluate the full consequences of this referendum defeat. Whatever the legal and political merits of the Treaty itself, it is clear that Ireland's standing within the EU has been diminished. Nor, as a matter of political reality, is Ireland in the position of either France or the Netherlands following the defeat of the European Constitution in those jurisdictions in the summer of 2005. For a start, the Lisbon Treaty was a further compromise – even if it did contain much of what had hitherto been in the ill-fated European Constitution – and the appetite for a wearisome further round of institutional reflection on the part of the Member States had diminished further. Just as critically, even if many voters in Ireland were in denial on this point, there is a difference in terms of realpolitik between a negative decision on the part of two key founder Member States on the one hand and a rejection in a small, peripheral country such as Ireland on the other. Again, irrespective of what one thinks of the merits of the Lisbon Treaty, in practical terms, it is hard to see how one small Member State can refuse to ratify a Treaty deemed essential by the other twenty-six Member States, at least without jeopardizing huge reserves of goodwill.
Ireland has, of course, been in this situation before following the first (negative) referendum vote on the Nice Treaty in June 2001. That defeat was highly embarrassing for both the Government and the country. We were the only country to hold a referendum on an innocuous treaty designed to facilitate the accession of new entrants, most of whom had suffered the yoke of communism and Soviet domination. The referendum did not engage the public; the quality of debate was poor and the turnout – 34% – unimpressive. A combination of domestic and EU pressures saw a successful second referendum in the Autumn of 2002. On that occasion, the Government campaign was much better, as was the quality of the political debate. The second referendum passed comfortably with a significantly higher turnout.
So far as the Lisbon referendum was concerned, many were of the view that that turnout would prove to be the key. On this occasion, the turnout at 54% was sufficiently high so as to remove the question of turnout as a factor in the defeat of the referendum. And yet despite an active – if at times uninspiring – campaign on the part of the Government and the main opposition parties, the referendum was defeated by 53% to 47%.


The "Grain for Green Project" is a country-wide ecological program to converse marginal cropland to forest, which has been implemented in China since 2002. To quantify influence of this significant vegetation change, Guansihe Hydrological (GSH) Model, a validated physically-based distributed hydrological model, was applied to simulate runoff responses to land use change in the Guansihe watershed that is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River basin in Southwestern China with an area of only 21.1 km2. Runoff responses to two single rainfall events, 90 mm and 206 mm respectively, were simulated for 16 scenarios of cropland to forest conversion. The model simulations indicated that the total runoff generated after conversion to forest was strongly dependent on whether the land was initially used for dry croplands without standing water in fields or constructed (or walled) paddy fields. The simulated total runoff generated from the two rainfall events displayed limited variation for the conversion of dry croplands to forest, while it strongly decreased after paddy fields were converted to forest. The effect of paddy terraces on runoff generation was dependent on the rainfall characteristics and antecedent moisture (or saturation) conditions in the fields. The reduction in simulated runoff generated from intense rainfall events suggested that afforestation and terracing might be effective in managing runoff and had the potential to mitigate flooding in southwestern China.


This paper investigates the dimensions of private vehicles' trips on national roads between neighboring cities in Indonesia using the spatial lag model and the spatial error model approach to reveal the spatial correlations among cities. Private vehicles are defined as privately owned automobiles and motorcycles, and vehicle trips or usage levels are defined in terms of vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) for both types of private vehicles. The paper finds that motorcycle trips are characteristically local because there is no sign of a spatial correlation with neighboring cities for those trips; by contrast, automobile trips often cross city boundaries, although the models constructed in this study demonstrate only weak spatial correlations among neighboring cities for automobile trips. The models also indicate that the road capacity, gasoline prices, gross domestic regional product per capita, population density, city size, number of public buses, and worker resident density have a significant effect on VKT for both cars and motorcycles. Therefore, these findings suggest that in general, the design of urban transportation policies on national roads could be less complex in Indonesian cities because local solutions may be effective for solving traffic problems in individual cities.


Germline mutations in fumarate hydratase (FH) gene at 1q43 predispose to hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC) syndrome. In HLRCC, the most common clinical features are leiomyomas of the skin and uterus, and in a subset of the families, renal cell cancer (RCC) and uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS) occur frequently at young age. This study was conducted to evaluate the possible contribution of FH mutations in a population‐based series of early onset (≤45 years) ULMSs. Eighty‐one cases were identified through the national cancer registry, and samples from 67 cases (83%) were available for FH mutation screening and analysis of allelic imbalance (AI) at the FH locus. Seventeen percent of tumors showed AI. In the mutation analysis, a novel missense mutation K424R was found. The mutation was also found from the patient's normal tissue. To study whether this variant has functional consequences, FH enzyme activity assay was performed in a cell model. The activity of the mutated protein was significantly reduced as compared to wild type (p = 0.009). This study shows that FH germline mutations can occur in seemingly nonsyndromic cases of ULMS (1/67, 1.5%). It appears that on the population level hereditary FH defects do play a role in pathogenesis of sporadic early onset ULMSs, albeit rarely. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A three-dimensional computational study based on the finite volume method is carried out for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells with a Nation 117 membrane and an interdigitated flow field on the cathode. Emphasis is placed on obtaining a fundamental understanding of fully three-dimensional flow in the air cathode and how it impacts the transport and electrochemical reaction processes. For the first time, fully three-dimensional results of the flow structure, species profiles and current distribution are presented for PEM fuel cells with the interdigitated flow field. The model results show that forced convection induced by the interdigitated flow field in the backing layer substantially improves mass transport of oxygen to, and water removal from, the reaction zone thus leading to a higher cell current density as compared to that of the serpentine flow field. The computations also indicate a need to account for water condensation and ensuing gas-liquid two-phase flow and transport in the porous cathode at high current densities. The present computer model can be used as a design or diagnostic tool for fuel cell cathodes with complex structural flow fields.


INTRODUCTION
Men with diabetic erectile dysfunction (ED) often have severe endothelial dysfunction and respond poorly to oral phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors.

AIM
To examine whether and how freshly isolated stromal vascular fraction (SVF) promotes cavernous endothelial regeneration and restores erectile function in diabetic animals.

METHODS
Eight-week-old C57BL/6J mice were used. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. SVF was isolated from epididymal adipose tissues of green fluorescence protein transgenic mice. At 8 weeks after the induction of diabetes, the animals were divided into six groups: controls, diabetic mice, and diabetic mice treated with a single intracavernous injection of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or SVF (1 × 10(4) cells, 1 × 10(5) cells, or 2 × 10(5) cells/20 µL, respectively).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Two weeks later, erectile function was measured by cavernous nerve stimulation. The penis was stained with antibodies to CD31, CD34, phosphohistone H3, phospho-endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). We also performed Western blot for phospho-eNOS and eNOS, and determined cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) concentration in the corpus cavernosum tissue.

RESULTS
Significant improvement in erectile function was noted in diabetic mice treated with SVF at concentrations of 1 × 10(5) and 2 × 10(5) cells, which reached up to 82% of the control values. Local delivery of SVF significantly increased cavernous endothelial cell proliferation, eNOS phosphorylation, and cGMP expression compared with that in the untreated group and the PBS-treated diabetic group. Intracavernous injection of SVF increased cavernous VEGF-A expression and induced recruitment of CD34(+)CD31(-) progenitor cells. Some SVF underwent differentiation into cavernous endothelial cells. SVF-induced promotion of cavernous angiogenesis and erectile function was abolished in the presence of VEGF-Trap, a soluble VEGF-A neutralizing antibody.

CONCLUSION
The results support the concept of cavernous endothelial regeneration by use of SVF as a curative therapy for diabetic ED.


This dissertation reconfigures our knowledge about antebellum temperance activism, the origins and inflections of antebellum women's rights, and the role of women in antebellum political culture. It charts women's grassroots temperance activism over the 1840s and 1850s. Focusing on the Midwest, and also on the Northeast, it recovers a story that we have not known—one that revises a significant number of settled academic conclusions. First, where the historiography posits that women, because they weredisenfranchised, played only auxiliary roles in temperance after it shifted in the 1840s from moral suasion to legislative pressure, this dissertation finds just the opposite. In fact,as women grew disillusioned with men's political ineptitude, they seized control of political temperance, launching robust political pressure campaigns that were highlyeffective. Moreover, they inflected temperance with a different set of concerns, centering a gendered analysis that focused on women's legal and political disabilities. Secondly, where the historiography sees antebellum women's rights growingalmost exclusively out of abolition (the campaign to end chattel slavery), this dissertation finds that an antebellum women's rights movement grew just as powerfully out oftemperance activism. In fact, numerous temperance women began demanding the vote in 1846, a full two years before the supposed origin of that demand in 1848. At the sametime, temperance women across the Midwest also innovated and secured various forms of married women's property rights—something that has remained completely unseen. Midwestern women's rights organizations were also heavily populated by temperance women, who remained committed to both causes throughout the 1850s. Thirdly, where the historiography depicts antebellum women as genteelsupplicants, this dissertation recasts them as militant, aggressive, and violent political actors. Exasperated with men's inaction and legislative failures, women took matters into their own hands. They bodily threatened and assaulted saloon owners, swung hatchets and destroyed liquor barrels, and leveled entire buildings. Over and over again. This coordinated, political violence waged by women in massive numbers upends our ideas about women's roles in antebellum politics. And it situates women squarely within the violent political culture of the 1850s, something usually reserved to men.


Stainless steel (SS) powders are used in the preparation of sintered SS products. One of the applications of sintered SS products is as filters in the petrochemical and food processing industries. In these industries, the SS filters are subject to severe conditions associated with the removal of solid particles from the fluid. Hence, SS filters should have adequate mechanical strength and high corrosion resistance. Welding can be used to manufacture SS filters. In this study, sintered AISI 316L specimens were welded using the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) process. The weld joints were examined by optical microscopy and by scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical polarization measurements were carried out to evaluate the influence of welding on the corrosion resistance of sintered filters.


Shepherding problem asks how the movement of an agent (e.g., predator, policeman, or sheepdog) can push a group of agents (e.g., prey, crowd, or sheep) from one position to another. The shepherding problem has many important and practical applications in security, environmental protection, agriculture, education and more. While much research has focused on simulating coordinated group behaviors, the shepherding problem has not received as much attention as it should be. This work investigate the possibility of addressing the shepherding problem using motion planning strategies. From an algorithmic point of view, the shepherding problem is extremely challenging due to its extremely large state space. It is clear that the existing motion planning methods cannot provide an efficient way to solve the problem. Instead, we propose an approach that incorporates computer-human interaction techniques with algorithmic robotics: an interactive motion planning method. In our experimental results, we have shown that this combination indeed provides performance improvement over the human-only and the computeronly approach. Although the proposed work shows promising initial results from our first prototype system, there are still a long way to go before we can have a better understanding of the interactive method for motion planning and the shepherd-


Recently observed quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) membranes have a potential for achieving high accessibility and controllability thanks to the lower spatial dimension. Moreover, these objects naturally have a high sensitivity to vibrations of the hosting membrane due to its low mass density and high elasticity modulus. Here, we propose and analyze a spin-mechanical system based on color centers in a suspended hBN mechanical resonator. Through group theoretical analyses and ab initio calculation of the electronic and spin properties of such a system, we identify a spin doublet ground state and demonstrate that a spin-motion interaction can be engineered which enables ground state cooling of the mechanical resonator. We also present a toolbox for initialization, rotation, and readout of the defect spin qubit. As a result the proposed setup presents the possibility for studying a wide range of physics. To illustrate its assets, we show that a fast and noise resilient preparation of a multicomponent cat state and a squeezed state of the mechanical resonator is possible; the latter is achieved by realizing the extremely detuned, ultrastrong coupling regime of the Rabi model, where a phonon superradiant phase transition is expected to occur.


Within the world of professional wrestling, the blurred boundaries of the live event and physical nature of the sport intersect with the dramatized storytelling of this entertainment experience. As such, this chapter considers how audiences and fans interact with professional performers to co-produce the cultural practices of professional wrestling. The author uses ethnographic research at live professional wrestling events in Sweden to explore how different types of cultural practices enforce and legitimate each other, shaping the affective structure of sports entertainment. The chapter examines how the intersections within sports entertainment highlight the particularities of power made visible through the collective practices of wrestlers and audience members. In the process, this analysis contrasts with Henry Jenkins' arguments regarding power in a participatory culture, in which media producers retain power over and through the affective economies of convergence culture. (Less)


Introduction Inducible 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase (iPFK-2; PFKFB3) has been found to be overexpressed by the neoplastic cells of human solid tumors, required for human leukemia growth in athymic mice and to be a transcriptional target of hypoxia inducible factor 1, a protein required for the survival and growth of tumors. Based on these observations, the substrate (fructose-6-phosphate) binding site of iPFK-2 is an attractive target for the identification of pharmacophore-based compounds as antineoplastic agents. Methods/Results The x-ray structures of human liver and rat testes PFKFB isozymes served as input homologue sequences and structural templates for the determination of structurally conserved regions and the fructose-6-phosphate (F6P) binding site of iPFK-2. The Advanced Chemical Directory (v.2002-2) then was computationally screened for high fit molecules of the F6P binding site of iPFK-2 and 45 compounds were identified. We exposed Jurkat human T cell leukemia cells to 6 of the compounds (termed MT1-6) at concentrations of 100 nM-1 mM, and then enumerated live and dead cells by propidium iodide exclusion staining after 48-72 hours of exposure. Whereas 5 compounds exhibited cytotoxic effects at a concentration of 1 mM, compound MT3 was cytotoxic at a concentration of 10 μM and cytostatic at a concentration of 1 μM in vitro. Growth inhibitory properties of MT3 were also observed against A459 human lung adenocarcinoma cells, mouse Lewis lung carcinoma cells, and mouse B16 melanoma cells. Exposure of MT3 to Jurkat cells suppressed (i) the product of iPFK-2, F2,6BP; (ii) lactate secretion; and (iii) incorporation of glucose-derived carbons into pyrimidine but not purine riboses via the pentose shunt. Toxicity studies in C57BL/6 mice indicated that daily intraperitoneal administration of 0.5 mg of compound MT3 was well tolerated. We subcutaneously injected 8 × 105 Lewis lung carcinoma cells (in 100 μL PBS) into C57Bl/6 mice and, after tumors were established, administered 0.5 mg MT3 or vehicle i.p. every 24 hours. After 14 days we observed a reduction in tumor growth in mice that were administered daily MT3 (1042.8 ± 192.5 mm3) compared to vehicle alone (2034.78 ± 395.18 mm3; p value < .0001). Conclusions We conclude that pharmacophore targeting of the substrate binding site of iPFK-2 may prove to be a useful strategy in the development of novel antineoplastic agents. The selective reduction of 13C-glucose incorporation into pyrimidine riboses suggests that MT3 may decrease the availability of aspartate, a product of the citric acid cycle (via oxaloacetate) and a precursor of the pyrimidine ring.


This paper presents a probabilistic formulation of music language modelling based on the generative theory of tonal music (GTTM). GTTM is a well-known music theory that describes the tree structure of written music in analogy with the phrase structure grammar of natural language. To develop a computational music language model incorporating GTTM and a machine-learning framework for data-driven music grammar induction, we construct a generative model of monophonic music based on probabilistic context-free grammar, in which the time-span tree proposed in GTTM corresponds to the parse tree. We derive supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms based on the maximal-likelihood estimation, and a Bayesian inference algorithm based on the Gibbs sampling. We found that the model automatically acquires music grammar from data and reproduces time-span trees of written music as accurately as an automatic analyser that required elaborate manual parameter tuning.


Background: Disruption of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a common ligamentous injury of the knee. The choice of graft for (ACL) reconstruction remains controversial. This prospective, randomized clinical trial aimed to compare clinical results of bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) grafts and four-strand semitendinosus-gracilis (ST) grafts for ACL reconstruction over a 3-year follow-up interval. Methods: Seventy-one patients with an average age of 29± 4.5yearswere treated for torn ACL between 2008 and 2009. Forty-sixpatients underwent reconstruction with BPTB autograft, and 41 were treated with ST autograft. At the time of final follow-up, 37 patients in patella group and 34 patients in hamstring group were evaluated in terms of return to pre-injury activity level, pain, knee stability, range of motion, IKDC (International Knee Documentation Committee) score and complications. Results: At 36thmonth of follow-up, 34 (92%) and 28 (82%) patients in BPTB and ST group, respectively had good-to-excellent IKDC score (p > 0.05). The activity levels were higher in BPTB group (p> 0.05). At 3rd yearof follow up, the Lachman test was graded normal, for 23 (62%) and 11 (32%) patients in BPTB and ST group, respectively (p=0.019). Regarding the pivot-shift test, 29 (79%) and 15 (44%) patients in patella and hamstring group, respectively had normal test at the latest follow-up (p=0.021).There were no significant differences in terms of thigh circumference difference, effusion, knee range of motion, pain and complications. Conclusion: The results indicate a trend toward increased graft laxity and pivot-shift grades in patients undergoing reconstruction with hamstring autograft compared with patella tendon. However, the two groups had comparable results in terms of activity level and knee function.


This report presents a method for modelling a computer system from a security perspective. The questions that are going to be treated are:• What defines a secure system and how does the company relate to these factors?• What are the threats today based on hardware/software, human factors and company routines/policies?• What measures should be taken for the organisation to reach a higher level of security for their systems?• How do we develop a method for classification of security and what components should it contain?• What changes are reasonable and necessary with the respect to the company's resources?The report has been done through interviews and analysis of existing systems on Flakt Woods AB. From analysis of material, the aspects judged relevant to the subject and to the company's needs, have been compiled to a document. It is a model for guidelines to work with security classification of IT-systems.The combination of the method for information and the security classification has been clear through the work on the rapport. The method that has been developed for work with security classification of IT systems can therefore not be used as an isolated occurrence to reach the wanted results but should be integrated with the existing classification of information.Our conclusions are reflected by the complexity of the project together with the fact that computer security is a topic that includes all parts in an IT- supported organisation. The analyses have given us a good picture of the threats to an organisation. It has clearly been shown, that much security related problems are based on direct organisational problems such as the lack of resources and requirements of system specific guidelines and policies.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neuromotor disorder that results in a progressive deterioration of balance and motor abilities with a consequent increase of the risk of falls and a reduction of quality of life.
Physical therapy revealed to be fit for the symptomatic treatment of the disease and the adoption of biofeedback signals showed to be effective in prolonging the benefits of the therapy.
Thus, this doctoral project has been designed to assess the benefits that wearable technologies for biofeedback generation could have in physical therapy. To further improve the developed biofeedback-based system, the assessment of new methods for the objective evaluation of balance control was included into the study.
The dissertation is divided into three different set of studies, respectively aimed at: 1) presenting new wearable systems specifically designed for biofeedback-based rehabilitation; 2) assessing proprioceptive impairments in PD subjects through the adoption of a robotic platform to destabilize the base of support; 3) discussing new methods for the evaluation of balance preceding the execution of voluntary movements.
The efficacy of the main proposed solution was assessed in a 6-months RCT study by comparison of subjects with PD trained with the biofeedback system and patients that received usual care. Both clinical and instrumental outcomes supported the higher efficacy of the biofeedback-based approach. The developed instrumented tests showed good sensitivity in discriminating patients and in detecting changes induced by physical therapy.
The results reported in this thesis lead to the conclusion that the adoption of biofeedback based physical rehabilitation systems is promising in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The availability of a set of fast, easy-to-manage tests for the evaluation of balance and motor control might be useful in the design of home-delivered, user-tailored exercises for both healthy elderly and neurological subjects.


By the fourteenth century Winchester had lost its former eminence, but in trades, manufactures, and population, as well as by virtue of its administrative and ecclesiastical role, the city was still one of the major provincial centres in England. This Survey is based on a reconstruction of the histories of the houses, plots, gardens, and fields in the city and suburbs between c. 1300 and c. 1540, although in many instances both earlier and later periods are also covered. The reconstruction takes the form of a gazetteer (Part ii) of 1,128 histories of properties, together with accounts of 56 parish churches and the international fair of St. Giles, all illustrated by detailed maps. There is also a biographical register (Part iii) concerning more than 8,000 property-holders, most of whom lived in Winchester. This is the first time that it has been possible to piece together such a precise and detailed picture of both the topgraphy and the inhabitants of a medieval town. Part i of the book contains a full discussion of the significance of this material and, in a manner relevant to an understanding of life in medieval towns in general, describes and defines such matters as the evolution of the physical environment, housing, land-tenure, property values, the parochial structure, the practice and organization of trades, and the ways in which the citizens of Winchester adapted to the declining status of their city.


When Charles Darwin set out to relate his theory of evolution by natural selection to humans he discovered that a complementary explanation was needed to properly understand the great variation seen in human behavior. The resulting work, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, laid out the defining principles and evidence of sexual selection. In brief, this work is best known for illuminating the typically male strategy of intrasexual competition and the typically female response of intersexual choice. While these sexual stereotypes were first laid out by Darwin, they grew in importance when, years later, A. J. Bateman, in a careful study of Drosophila mating strategies, noted that multiple mating appeared to provide great benefit to male reproductive success, but to have no such effect on females. As a result, female choice soon became synonymous with being coy, and only males were thought to gain from promiscuous behavior. However, the last thirty years of research have served to question much of the traditional wisdom about sex differences proposed by Darwin and Bateman, illuminating the many ways that women (and females more generally) can and do engage in multiple mating.


In this thesis we consider two problems related to algebraic curves in prime characteristic. In the first part, we study curves defined over the finite field Fq. We prove that for each sufficiently large integer g there exists a curve of genus g with prescribed number of degree r points for r = 1,..., m. This leads to the existence of a curve whose L-polynomial has prescribed coefficients up to some degree. In the second part, we consider curves defined over algebraically closed fields K of odd characteristic. We show that a plane smooth curve which has a K-automorphism group of order larger than 3(2g2 + g)([square root]8g + 1 + 3) must be birationally equivalent to a Hermitian curve.


In 1960, E. P. Wigner, a joint winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize for Physics, published a paper titled On the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences [61]. This paper can be construed as an examination and affirmation of Galileo's tenet that "The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics". To this effect, Wigner presented a large number of examples that demonstrate the effectiveness of mathematics in accurately describing physical phenomena. Wigner viewed these examples as illustrations of what he called the empirical law of epistemology, which asserts that the mathematical formulation of the laws of nature is both appropriate and accurate, and that mathematics is actually the correct language for formulating the laws of nature. At the same time, Wigner pointed out that the reasons for the success of mathematics in the natural sciences are not completely understood; in fact, he went as far as asserting that "… the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious and there is no rational explanation for it."


Functional tags represent the role of syntactic constituents such as noun phrases and verb phrases in a tree. Functional-tag labeling has been studied for languages such as English and Chinese. In this paper, we present a new system for tagging Vietnamese sentences functionally. We used maximum entropy model for this task with six tree-based features. Besides, a new feature based on word cluster has also been made use of. Our experiments on Vietnamese tree bank showed that the system achieved a good performance and the word cluster feature brought a significant improvement.


PURPOSE
This study aimed to develop supplementary material about the electronic fetal monitoring for nursing students, and to test the effects on electronic fetal monitoring related knowledge and confidence on nursing performance in delivery room.

METHODS
Totally 58 nursing students were recruited either experimental group (n=30) or a control group (n=28). A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was employed to test the effects on fetal monitoring related knowledge and confidence on nursing performance in delivery room. The supplementary material about the electronic fetal monitoring was developed based on Analysis, Design, Development, Implement and Evaluation (ADDIE) model. Fetal monitoring related knowledge and confidence on nursing performance in delivery room were self-reported by the scales that author developed. Data were collected at pre-test and after the 6-week intervention.

RESULTS
There was significant difference in confidence on nursing performance in delivery room between two groups after intervention.

CONCLUSION
These findings suggest the importance of the supplementary material about the electronic fetal monitoring for nursing students to improve confidence on nursing performance in delivery room.


In the run up to the 2015 elections, Nigeria the witnessed an alarming surge in hate speeches that were deliberately designed to inflict injuries on individuals and political parties. Through speech, broadly understood to include print and electronic media, as well as public speaking, group targeted violence were perpetrated. This paper examines the link between hate speech and psychic injury in terms of how it influenced voter behaviour and electoral outcome in the run up to the 2015 elections. The paper argues that the instrumentalisation of hate speech as a tool for the mobilisation of support for politicians and political parties, contributed significantly in sowing the seed of disharmony in a country where political affiliations and loyalty are viewed along religious and ethno-regional faultlines.


It has been shown in the past that the zero-sequence current spectrum can be reliably used to detect broken bar faults in induction motors. Previous work was carried out with extensive FEM analysis. Although it allows detailed study of spatial and time-dependent electromagnetic characteristics of induction motors, FEM is a heavily time-consuming tool and this limits full study. So, in this work, extensive experimental testing has been performed to validate the zero sequence current spectrum for detecting rotor asymmetries. Three identical induction motors have been used: one healthy, one with a broken rotor bar, and one with two broken rotor bars. The motors were tested under different voltage supply levels and with different mechanical loads. The zero-sequence current spectrum was calculated after measuring the three phase currents. It is for the first time experimentally shown that this approach offers greater diagnostic potential than traditional MCSA.


: The crystallographic refinement of pepsin structure at 2 A resolution is described. Real space refinement and Jack and Levitt methods were used. As a result, the refined atomic coordinates of 2436 nonhydrogen atoms were obtained. Values of crystallographic R-factor and conformational energy are 29.2% and -1347 kcal/mol correspondingly. The most important and interesting features of pepsin structure are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Cyclosporine for the treatment of psoriasis constitutes a new approach. Alternative systemic cyclosporine derivatives have been studied to find an immunosuppressive drug with fewer adverse effects. Tacrolimus is one of these new immunosuppressive drugs. Systematically, it has been proven effective in treating psoriasis. A topical formulation of tacrolimus is attractive because it has fewer adverse effects and is useful for a large group of patients. We report for the first time on the efficacy of nonocclusive topical tacrolimus in the treatment of psoriasis.

OBSERVATIONS
After a washout phase of 2 weeks, patients were randomized to receive 0.005% calcipotriol ointment twice daily, placebo ointment once daily, or 0.3% tacrolimus ointment once daily. One psoriatic plaque was treated with a surface area of 40 to 200 cm2. Efficacy was estimated using the local psoriasis severity index. The reduction in the local psoriasis severity index score after 6 weeks was 62.5% in the calcipotriol group, 33.3% in the tacrolimus group, and 42.9% in the placebo group.

CONCLUSIONS
There was no statistically significant difference between the efficacy of tacrolimus and placebo ointment (P = .77). Calcipotriol ointment, applied twice daily, had a better effect than tacrolimus ointment and placebo ointment once daily.


The class of online protocols which exhibit deterministic properties in spite of a lack of global knowledge are considered. Such protocols (e.g. tree protocols) yield computable bounds on the duration of collision resolution. The authors show that combining such deterministic properties with feasibility tests, such as those developed in real-time scheduling, permits the design of provably correct hard real-time protocols. The authors extend a centralized real-time problem to a decentralized context using the idea of extra cost. The applicability of the results is then illustrated with the CSMA-DCR (Ethernet with deterministic collision resolution) protocol, which is currently used in real settings.<<ETX>>


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the key factors that influence the adoption of agrochemicals on plantain farms in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs probit estimation using data from a stratified random sample of 249 farmers in four districts in Ghana. Findings - The results show that adoption of agrochemicals is positively associated with: being literate, older than 40 years of age, having higher income from sales, living in villages distant to Accra (capital of Ghana), having access to hi-tech machinery, being migrant, and being linked to extension services and financial institutions. Contrary to expectation, a farmer's gender and association with farmer-based organizations (FBO) and non-governmental organizations (NGO) did not make a difference. Practical implications - The results suggest that there are no exclusions to innovation systems such as agrochemical adoption based on gender or living in rural areas; women are just as technologically empowered as men, while rural farmers have an option to retain their indigenous management practices or adopt new and improved practices such as using agrochemicals. Major efforts to improve access to agrochemical adoption lie with government extension officers, as the functions of FBO and NGO have yet to make a significant difference. More needs to be done to bring young, illiterate, low income and indigene farmers into inclusive plantain science techniques and applications in Ghana. Originality/value - The paper reveals how vulnerable groups such as rural populations and women plantain farmers are being included in systems that support agrochemical adoption.


Background:Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been major problem in the developed and developing countries and its burden in these countries is overwhelming. There is a dearth of literature and data on the prevalence and patterns of CVD in developing countries, especially Nigeria. Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the most common cardiovascular disorder, the mostly affected age and sex groups and annual increase/decrease between 2001 and 2005 in Northwestern Nigeria. Methods: Our study reviewed the pattern and incidence of CVD in North western Nigeria. Case notes of patients in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital were reviewed between 2001 and 2005. These two teaching hospitals provide tertiary health care services to six out of seven states that form north western Nigeria with a population of 29,720,322 Nigerians. Results: A total number of 4103 case notes of CVDs were reviewed out of which 2159(52.69%) were males while 1944(47.40%) were females. A steady rise in the incidence of CVD between 2001-2005 was observed. Hypertension (39.1%) was the most prevalent CVDs while congenital heart disease (1.1 %) had the lowest. Conclusion: It was concluded that hypertension was the most prevalent CVD while congenital heart disease was the lowest. A steady increase in the incidence of CVD was observed during the period under review.


This study investigated the efficacy of deadlifts and box squats, with a combination of traditional and accommodating resistance, as a postactivation potentiating stimulus of standing broad jumps (SBJ) in a multiple-set contrast protocol. Twelve professional rugby league players (21.4 [2.5] y; 181.3 [8.3] cm, 91.9 [8.8] kg; 1-repetition-maximum [1RM] back squat/body mass 1.59 [0.21]; 1RM deadlift/body mass 2.11 [0.25]; ≥3-y resistance-training experience) performed baseline SBJ before a contrast postactivation potentiating protocol involving 2 repetitions of 85% 1RM box squat or deadlifts, loaded with a combination of traditional barbell weight (70% 1RM) and elastic-band resistance (∼15% 1RM), followed by 2 SBJs. Exercises were separated by 90 s, and 4 contrast pairs were performed in total. Using a repeated-measures design, all subjects performed the squat followed by the deadlift and finally the control (SBJ only) condition in the same order across consecutive weeks. Changes from baseline in SBJ distance were moderate for the box squat (effect size [ES] = 0.64-1.03) and deadlift (ES = 0.80-0.96) and trivial in the control condition (ES = 0.02-0.11). The magnitude of differences in postactivation potentiating effect were considered moderate (d = 0.61) for set 1, trivial for set 2 (d = 0.10) and set 3 (d = 0.05) in favor of box squats, and moderate for set 4 (d = 0.58) in favor of deadlifts. Accommodating resistance in either box squats or deadlifts is an effective means of potentiating SBJ performance across multiple sets of a contrast protocol with only 90-s rest.


Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis-Ekbom disease, is one of the most common neurological disorders that significantly affects quality of life and sleep. It manifests itself in involuntary movements of the lower limbs due to the feeling of discomfort and restlessness that patients feel in their lower limbs. RLS is of great interest to the experts in various fields of medicine, especially to neurologists, general practitioners, internists and psychiatrists. Numerous clinical conditions and diseases play a role in the pathophysiology of RLS. Some of them are pregnancy, some kidney and stomach diseases, iron deficiency and some disorders of the metabolism. Moreover, iron is a very important micronutrient in the human body. It is involved in many metabolic processes and, in addition to RLS, it is also associated with other diseases such as hemochromatosis and anemia. This neurological disorder has wide therapeutic choices, which include lifestyle changes, dopaminergic agonists, opioids and iron therapy. Many non-anemic patients with RLS showed reduced levels in brain iron levels compared to healthy control groups in several research. The best course of treatment for this group of patients is iron supplementation. Oral iron supplementations are the first choice of therapy for patients with low serum ferritin levels. However, when serum ferritin levels are normal or high or when oral iron is not tolerated, intravenous iron is a better choice. There are many intravenous iron formulations, but low molecular weight dextran and ferric carboxymaltose have very efficient effects on the treatment of RLS. (Pulic * J. Restless Legs Syndrome and Iron. SEEMEDJ 2020; 4(1); 55-62)


The long-term carbon cycle is vital for maintaining liquid water oceans on rocky planets due to the negative climate feedbacks involved in silicate weathering. Plate tectonics plays a crucial role in driving the long-term carbon cycle because it is responsible for CO2 degassing at ridges and arcs, the return of CO2 to the mantle through subduction, and supplying fresh, weatherable rock to the surface via uplift and orogeny. However, the presence of plate tectonics itself may depend on climate according to recent geodynamical studies showing that cool surface temperatures are important for maintaining vigorous plate tectonics. Using a simple carbon cycle model, I show that the negative climate feedbacks inherent in the long-term carbon cycle are uninhibited by climate's effect on plate tectonics. Furthermore, initial atmospheric CO2 conditions do not impact the final climate state reached when the carbon cycle comes to equilibrium, as long as liquid water is present and silicate weathering can occur. Thus an initially hot, CO2 rich atmosphere does not prevent the development of a temperate climate and plate tectonics on a planet. However, globally supply limited weathering does prevent the development of temperate climates on planets with small subaerial land areas and large total CO2 budgets because supply limited weathering lacks stabilizing climate feedbacks. Planets in the supply limited regime may become inhospitable for life and could experience significant water loss. Supply limited weathering is less likely on plate tectonic planets because plate tectonics promotes high erosion rates and thus a greater supply of bedrock to the surface.


Permanent vascular catheterization for intravascular access is one of the most commonly applied techniques used on rodents in pharmacology studies. However, use of the intravascular catheters is complicated by nontolerance due to thromboembolic disease and sepsis. We have undertaken an extensive pathologic and clinical analysis of an intravascular catheterization model in Wistar Han and Sprague-Dawley rats, with a particular focus on carotid artery catheterization with or without jugular vein catheterization, in order to define the pathologic mechanisms behind nontolerance and define clinical end points to ensure maximal animal welfare. Further, we have explored various potential solutions to increase the tolerance of the procedure. In these studies, indwelling catheters were found to cause a high degree of thromboembolic disease with infarction in the brain, cecal tip, and kidneys being the primary causes of nontolerance. Loss of greater than 10% body weight was determined to be the most sensitive indicator of nontolerance and was closely correlated with degree of renal parenchymal loss. Sepsis was noted as a very rare complication, indicating that routine aseptic surgical techniques are adequate for preventing this complication.


Low-temperature biohydrometallurgy is implicated in metal recovery in alpine mining areas, but bioleaching using microbial consortia at temperatures <10°C was scarcely discussed. To this end, a mixed culture was used for chalcopyrite bioleaching at 6°C. The mixed culture resulted in a higher copper leaching rate than the pure culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans strain YL15. High-throughput sequencing technology showed that Acidithiobacillus spp. and Sulfobacillus spp. were the mixed culture's major lineages. Cyclic voltammograms, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy unveiled that the mixed culture enhanced the dissolution reactions, decreased the corrosion potential and increased the corrosion current, and lowered the charge transfer resistance and passivation layer impedance of the chalcopyrite electrode compared with the pure culture. This study revealed the mechanisms via which the mixed culture promoted the chalcopyrite bioleaching.