How can the study of comparative criminal justice avoid the opposite dangers of ethnocentrism and relativism? The problem is examined taking as an example Cavadino and Dignan's recent analysis of differences in prison rates. The case is made that more attention needs to be given to understanding how different criminal justice systems actually produce prison rates as well as to interpreting the ideas and values that animate those inside and outside the system.


The phytopathogen Spiroplasma phoeniceum was isolated from diseased plants of Madagascar periwinkle [Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don]. Here, we report the nucleotide sequence of the 1,791,576-bp circular chromosome and three plasmids of strain P40T. ABSTRACT The phytopathogen Spiroplasma phoeniceum was isolated from diseased plants of Madagascar periwinkle [Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don]. Here, we report the nucleotide sequence of the 1,791,576-bp circular chromosome and three plasmids of strain P40T. This information serves as a resource for comparative analyses of spiroplasmal adaptations to diverse ecological niches.


In recent difficult economic times, the efficiency with which a charity spends the funds entrusted to it has become an increasingly important aspect of charitable performance. Transparency on efficiency, including the reporting of relevant measures and information to understand, contextualise and evaluate such measures, is suggested as important to a range of stakeholders. However, using a novel framework for the analysis of efficiency reporting in the context of transparency and stakeholder theory, this research provides evidence that reporting on efficiency in UK (United Kingdom) charities lacks transparency, both in terms of the extent and manner of disclosure. It is argued that efficiency reporting in UK charities is more concerned with legitimising these organisations rather than providing ethically-driven accounts of their efficiency.


The spirit of inquiry within research, which encourages curiosity and wonder, is a promising approach to information literacy instruction. This sort of commitment to wonder and the spirit of inquiry also has a lot of theological promise and potential. As we participate in the formation of present and future faith leaders, promoting the value of wonder and the spirit of inquiry cannot be overstated as an invaluable skill. We also must remain reflective, humble, and imitative in our practice. The author presents this approach in a very compelling, approachable way, and this resource is a very succinct introduction or reminder. Librarians who are engaged in teaching research will likely find this approach promising and provocative.


Stephan Merl, Professor of East European History at Bielefeld University, Germany, is the author of several monographs on the history of collectivization and kolkhoz peasants, as well as essays on the Soviet policy of de-Stalinization, Soviet consumer culture, corruption as a feature of the Soviet system, and Soviet elections. He has now published a new brief study on political communication in dictatorial regimes. In this essay, as he calls it (as the text economizes on footnotes and lacks references to archival documents), the author undertakes a comparative look at Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, on the one hand, and the GDR and the post-Stalin Soviet Union, on the other. The reader should, however, expect not a systematic comparison but rather an analysis based on the Soviet case, which also offers occasional glimpses of German examples.


This paper presents an extended diffuse field model for estimating the energy-time relationships in a room with an electroacoustic system. Discrete-time room impulse responses are used with a direct sound pulse and an exponentially weighted white-noise sequence modeling the reverberation tail. Transducer directivities and electronic finite impulse response (FIR) filters are included as model parameters. It is shown that the convolution of two exponentially weighted noise sequences is expressed as t exp(−δt). Early and total energy levels can easily be estimated and it is demonstrated that when direct sound components are omitted, this impulse response model results in the classical value of total energy supplied to a room by an electroacoustic system with feedback. Comparisons of such estimates with measurements in an auditorium with a single electroacoustic channel are presented. Four configurations were examined, including close and far microphone positions, combined with a single electronic delay or an FIR filter pattern. In the 500-Hz and 1-kHz octave bands, the early energy contribution from the electroacoustic channel spanned a 15-dB range. Predictions were reasonable, coming within 2 dB of the measured values for all four configurations.This paper presents an extended diffuse field model for estimating the energy-time relationships in a room with an electroacoustic system. Discrete-time room impulse responses are used with a direct sound pulse and an exponentially weighted white-noise sequence modeling the reverberation tail. Transducer directivities and electronic finite impulse response (FIR) filters are included as model parameters. It is shown that the convolution of two exponentially weighted noise sequences is expressed as t exp(−δt). Early and total energy levels can easily be estimated and it is demonstrated that when direct sound components are omitted, this impulse response model results in the classical value of total energy supplied to a room by an electroacoustic system with feedback. Comparisons of such estimates with measurements in an auditorium with a single electroacoustic channel are presented. Four configurations were examined, including close and far microphone positions, combined with a single electronic delay or an...


Many existing tools in nonlinear control theory for establishing stability or safety of a dynamical system can be distilled to the construction of a certificate function that guarantees a desired property. However, algorithms for synthesizing certificate functions typically require a closed-form analytical expression of the underlying dynamics, which rules out their use on many modern robotic platforms. To circumvent this issue, we develop algorithms for learning certificate functions only from trajectory data. We establish bounds on the generalization error - the probability that a certificate will not certify a new, unseen trajectory - when learning from trajectories, and we convert such generalization error bounds into global stability guarantees. We demonstrate empirically that certificates for complex dynamics can be efficiently learned, and that the learned certificates can be used for downstream tasks such as adaptive control.


This study aims to determine the language acquisition of children aged 4-5 years. This research was conducted at TK Dhinukum Zholtan Medan which was conducted on March 4, 2020 with 4 students, 2 students aged 4 years and 2 students aged 5 years. In this study, researchers used the method of observation and also a questionnaire to collect data. Based on the description above, it can be concluded that children aged 5 and 4 years have different mastery. In addition to clear pronunciation, 5 year olds have mastery of more vocabulary and are able to describe things. Meanwhile, children aged 4 years have less vocabulary, have not been able to describe something and are not able to pronounce it clearly. This difference occurs because 5 year olds have already taken part in learning compared to 4 year olds. So that children aged 5 years are better able to communicate well, because they often interact with teachers and peers at school.


Aims
Treatment decisions in patients with scimitar syndrome (SS) are often challenging, especially in patients with isolated SS who are often asymptomatic and who might be diagnosed accidentally. We queried a large multi-institutional registry of SS patients to evaluate the natural history of this condition and to determine the efficacy of surgical treatment in terms of survival and clinical status.

Methods and results
We collected data on 485 SS patients from 51 institutions; 279 (57%) patients were treated surgically (STPs) and 206 (43%) were clinically monitored (CMPs). Median age at last follow-up was 11.6 years (interquartile range 4-22 years). Overall survival probability at 30 years of age was 88% [85-92% confidence intervals (CI)] and was lower in patients with associated congenital heart disease (CHD) (P < 0.001) and pulmonary hypertension (P < 0.001). Most patients were asymptomatic at last follow-up (279/451, 62%); STPs were more frequently asymptomatic than CMPs (73% vs. 47%, P < 0.001), with fewer cardiac [odds ratio (OR) 0.42, 95% CI 0.22-0.82] and respiratory symptoms (OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.02-0.28). Many STPs (63/254, 25%) had stenosis/occlusion of the scimitar drainage, and this was associated with a younger age at surgery (OR 0.4, CI 0.21-0.78).

Conclusion
Patients with SS have a high overall survival. Survival probability was lower in patients with associated CHDs and in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Surgical treatment of SS is beneficial in reducing symptoms, however, given the significant risk of post-operative scimitar drainage stenosis/occlusion, it should be tailored to a comprehensive haemodynamic evaluation and to the patient's age.


Hodgson, G. A., and Whiteley, H. J. (1970).Brit. J. industr. Med.,27, 160-166. Personal susceptibility to pitch. During the years 1957 to 1963, 59 cases of hyperplastic squamous lesions were referred to us from a local patent fuel works where ovoids were made by fusing coal dust and pitch together by steam heat. We carried out a survey of all the personnel exposed to the pitch hazard and at the same time examined a control group of men of the same age group. The pitch workers examined totalled 144 and they were re-examined after a period of two years. The control group consisted of 263 persons selected from dermatological out-patients. The clinical findings were classified into six main groups: (1) benign proliferative lesions; (2) pre-malignant and malignant epidermoid lesions; (3) pitch acanthoma (pitch warts); (4) photo-sensitivity; (5) acneiform lesions; and (6) scrotal changes. 1. Benign proliferative lesions: There was little difference between the incidence of these lesions in the pitch workers and in the control group. 2. Pre-malignant and malignant epidermoid lesions: (a) Squamous keratoses were slightly more common in the pitch workers (12%) than in the controls (10%). (b) Chronic tar dermatosis was found in 5% of pitch workers who had an exposure to pitch ranging from 30 to 50 years. No controls showed these changes. (c) Squamous-cell carcinoma incidence was 2·8% in pitch workers compared with 0·4% in the controls. 3. Pitch acanthoma: At the initial examination the incidence of pitch acanthoma in the pitch workers was 3·5% compared with 2·7% in the controls. However, on the two-year follow-up there was an increase in incidence in the pitch workers of 15·7%. Only 10·4% of all pitch workers developed pitch acanthoma. The incidence was related not only to the duration of exposure but also to the degree of pitch contamination of the skin. The highest incidence was recorded in those with the greatest skin contamination, 24% compared with 3·2% in those with low exposure. Spontaneous regression was noticed in 26% of cases. 4. Photo-sensitivity: 57 (4%) pitch workers recorded photo-sensitivity (`smarts'). There was no relationship between the incidence of `smart' and pitch warts or acne. 5. Acneiform lesions: All acneiform lesions were much more common in the pitch workers (93%) than in the controls (31%). 6. Scrotal changes: 13·5% of all the pitch workers showed one or more of our recorded lesions. There was a 3·5% incidence of kerato-acanthoma and there was one squamous carcinoma. In this series there is an increased susceptibility to some proliferative lesions, either premalignant or malignant, in pitch workers when compared with the controls. Only 10·7% of the working population were affected with pitch acanthoma and of these 50% had multiple warts. Even though there is an increasing incidence with increased exposure, this is not absolute and our findings suggest that there is also a personal susceptibility to pitch.


Respiratory activity phasically alters membrane potentials of preganglionic vagal and sympathetic motoneurones and continuously modulates their responsiveness to stimulatory inputs. The most obvious manifestation of this 'respiratory gating' is respiratory sinus arrhythmia, the rhythmic fluctuations of electrocardiographic R-R intervals observed in healthy resting humans. Phasic autonomic motoneurone firing, reflecting the throughput of the system, depends importantly on the intensity of stimulatory inputs, such that when levels of stimulation are low (as with high arterial pressure and sympathetic activity, or low arterial pressure and vagal activity), respiratory fluctuations of sympathetic or vagal firing are also low. The respiratory gate has a finite capacity, and high levels of stimulation override the ability of respiration to gate autonomic responsiveness. Autonomic throughput also depends importantly on other factors, including especially, the frequency of breathing, the rate at which the gate opens and closes. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is small at rapid, and large at slow breathing rates. The strong correlation between systolic pressure and R-R intervals at respiratory frequencies reflects the influence of respiration on these two measures, rather than arterial baroreflex physiology. A wide range of evidence suggests that respiratory activity gates the timing of autonomic motoneurone firing, but does not influence its tonic level. I propose that the most enduring significance of respiratory gating is its use as a precisely controlled experimental tool to tease out and better understand otherwise inaccessible human autonomic neurophysiological mechanisms.


This paper presents the progress made towards developing an equitable predictive model for admission success to an online Master's program with a large pool of applicants. The overarching goal of this project is to help the future development of a systematic evaluation tool for programs with large applications. In the first phase of the project, we collected and processed data on 9,044 applications and have trained a predictive model using applicants' profile information such as demographic data, academic background, and test scores. In an ongoing phase, we seek to expand the applicants' database by incorporating the information in the letters of recommendation (LORs) and statements of purpose (SOPs) that are essential components of the application package for graduate programs and are extensively used to make decisions on granting admission. In this study, we assess various aspects of the LORs and SOPs using natural language processing to extract a comprehensive list of text features that are used to develop a classifier. We implement machine-learning algorithms such as Gradient Boosting to predict admission status and to identify the text features with the highest weight on the applicants' success. This work provides an understanding of the level of significance of a variety of text features that eventually helps the development of a comprehensive predictive model.


Performance analysis of data services is studied in CDMA network in presence of soft handoff (HO) and packet combining. Packet combining in conjunction with soft handoff is found to enhance throughput, reduce delay and packet delay variation (PDV) significantly. A stop and wait automatic repeat request (ARQ) scheme has been assumed. Two different packet combining schemes for packet data service, one based on log likelihood ratio (LLR) and another based on equal gain combining (EGC) have been studied. A cross layer interactions between ARQ and packet combining at link layer and soft HO in physical layer has been shown.


The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) has integrated information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in all its functions in order to improve delivery of its services. Significant investment has been made by OUT management and donors in providing electronic library services to ensure distance learners have access to academic information and other related services. However, past studies show the library resources and services are underutilized. The aim of this study was to investigate the utilization of ICTs by distance learners in accessing academic information and suggest a model to improve access and use of ICTs by distance learners. The objectives of the study were to: examine how distance learners in Tanzania use ICTs when seeking information resources for their academic endeavours; determine the perceptions of distance learners towards ICTs; establish the ICT knowledge and skills of distance learners; explore the ICTs utilized by distance learners at OUT library; determine factors which hinder better utilization of ICTs; and suggest measures for improving access and use of ICTs by distance learners at the OUT library, and propose a framework for improved ICTs use at OUT library. The study was informed by Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) developed by Venkatesh et al. (2003). Qualitative research methods were employed with some quantitative techniques, using a case study research approach. A combination of purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were employed to obtain 60 postgraduate students, 100 undergraduate students and five key informants. Data was collected through semi-structured interview schedules complimented by self-administered questionnaires and observation. Qualitative data was analysed thematically based on the objectives and research questions while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and presented using frequency distribution tables and bar charts. The findings revealed that distance learners; used internet-search engines more than the library webpage when searching online information, had positive perception towards the use and value of e-resources, had low level of awareness about availability OUT e-library, had limited access to computers and internet, had limited ICT skills and relied on study/course materials. The study concludes that despite the availability of e-resources at OUT library, a number of challenges have inhibited them to be utilized by students in an optimal manner. The following recommendations were made; an improvement of ICT infrastructure and facilities,increased marketing strategies, continuous training in ICT and information skills, and continuous collaboration between librarians and instructors in encouraging distance learners to utilize e-library resources.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE
To investigate the feasibility of brain-computer interface (BCI) with patients on an inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI) unit. Research Method/Design: This study included 25 participants aged 18-64 who sustained traumatic or nontraumatic SCI and did not have severe cognitive or psychiatric impairment. Participants completed a variety of screening measures related to cognition, psychological disposition, pain, and technology experience/interest. The Emotiv electroencephalography system was used in conjunction with a cube rotation and manipulation game presented on a laptop computer.

RESULTS
The majority of participants successfully completed the BCI game and reported enjoyment of the experience. Outside of a mild trend of lower performance among participants with a past or present head injury, there were no demographic variables, injury variables or screening measures significantly associated with BCI performance.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS
The BCI paradigm demonstrated feasibility and safety across participant age range, educational and vocational background, and level of injury. Despite the rapid integration of technology into rehabilitation health care settings, there are few evidence-based studies regarding the feasibility of technology with specific inpatient populations. Clinical implications and challenges of using this technology in a rehabilitation setting are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record


In this paper we propose a new approach to designing a large scale wireless sensor network (WSN) with a cluster-tree topology. Sensors in each cluster communicate directly with their associated cluster head (CH) through contention-based transmissions, and communications between CHs use contention free transmissions. The objective is to balance the energy consumptions of all the CHs, while providing satisfactory throughput. Given the network coverage and throughput requirement, we find the total number of levels of the cluster tree, number and coverage area of the clusters in each level, and amounts of time for contention-based and contention free transmissions at each CH. Our results show some interesting observations about traffic load distribution among the clusters and the CH timeline allocations.


Porous silicon is a material with a coral-like structure which has a fractal surface. To study these aspects of porous silicon and its relationship with the luminescence property, we have used atomic force microscopy (AFM). Samples were prepared using either pure HF or HF diluted with ethanol. From the results of AFM, distinct structural difference was observed from samples prepared by these two etchants. If we relate the structures to their respective photoluminescence spectra, it appears that finer structure produced shorter wavelength peak photoluminescence. However, the columns of the samples were too large for one to attribute the luminescence to quantum confinement only. Hence, an alternative model may be required to explain the luminescence mechanism. We have also observed that the composition of the etchant can also affect the evolution of the fractal dimension with respect to etching time. Probing of the surfcace electron states was performed using photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS). In order to ensure that only porous silicon layer was probed, free-standing films of various porosity were produced for the PDS measurement. The probe energy range was from 0.56 eV to 2.5 eV so that both the bulk states and the surface states were probed. The results showed that there is a clear blueshift of the energy band gap with respect to porosity, and the absorption coefficient decreases with porosity increase at a fixed photon energy. Overtones of hydrides and fluorides of silicon were also observed.


The Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEx-SM10) was carried out in Saskatchewan, Canada, from 31 May to 16 June, 2010. Its main objective was to contribute to Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission validation and the prelaunch assessment of the proposed Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) mission. During CanEx-SM10, SMOS data as well as other passive and active microwave measurements were collected by both airborne and satellite platforms. Ground-based measurements of soil (moisture, temperature, roughness, bulk density) and vegetation characteristics (leaf area index, biomass, vegetation height) were conducted close in time to the airborne and satellite acquisitions. Moreover, two ground-based in situ networks provided continuous measurements of meteorological conditions and soil moisture and soil temperature profiles. Two sites, each covering 33 km × 71 km (about two SMOS pixels) were selected in agricultural and boreal forested areas in order to provide contrasting soil and vegetation conditions. This paper describes the measurement strategy, provides an overview of the data sets, and presents preliminary results. Over the agricultural area, the airborne L-band brightness temperatures matched up well with the SMOS data (prototype 346). The radio frequency interference observed in both SMOS and the airborne L-band radiometer data exhibited spatial and temporal variability and polarization dependency. The temporal evolution of the SMOS soil moisture product (prototype 307) matched that observed with the ground data, but the absolute soil moisture estimates did not meet the accuracy requirements (0.04 m3/m3) of the SMOS mission. AMSR-E soil moisture estimates from the National Snow and Ice Data Center more closely reflected soil moisture measurements.


Animal experiments still play a central role in the quality control of vaccines. Generally, performance of these experiments is provided by law and laid down in the European Pharmacopoeia. Classical vaccines, the efficacy of which is calculated in International Units, require a very high number of experimental animals for quality control testing. The testing mainly consists of infection and intoxication experiments causing extreme suffering of the animals involved. This classical product group includes clostridial vaccines which are used to a great extent in veterinary medicine in particular. Within the last years, considerable efforts have been made to reduce the number of animal experiments in this field, lower the number of animals, and decrease the suffering of the animals during testing. Several research projects for the development and validation of alternative methods have been initiated. Furthermore, the 3R Concept (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) is increasingly taken into consideration when developing or revising legal provisions. This led to various improvements regarding animal welfare in the quality control of clostridial vaccines.


Affordable, high-performance graphics mean virtual reality is finding new applications across the entire product lifecycle. As a result, there is now a broad consensus that CAD-linked VR systems can provide an outstanding return on investment when integrated into the whole of PLM (product lifecycle management). Also, CAD-derived VR models are now enhanced with the addition of simple user interfaces, so that, for example, future users and maintainers of equipment can be trained prior to delivery and installation.


The Old Testament accounts of the Exodus contain various indications of the routes taken by the Israelites and the so-called wilderness itineraries appear to be very precise. From the earliest times, students of the Bible have tried to relate references in the texts to place names known in their own day. In this monograph Dr Davies traces the beginnings of such studies as they emerge from Jewish, Christian and Arabic writings and reviews both these and more recent theories in the light of modern biblical scholarship and archaeological exploration. In the process he finds it necessary to look again at major problems of bibliographical geography such as the identity of the 'Red Sea' and the location of Mount Sinai. Old Testament scholars will not be alone in finding this monograph of interest. Archaeologists, historical geographers and ancient historians will value it as a background to their own work on the period and Dr Davies' presentation ensures that this book may usefully be studied by the non-specialist.


Abstract
The first 50 patients who underwent arthroscopic surgery as a half-day procedure in Doncaster Royal Infirmary were studied: 22 patients underwent an arthroscopic meniscectomy and 6 patients had other procedures. The mean return-to-work time for meniscectomy patients was 23.9 days. The cost improvement per patient, when compared with a two-night stay in hospital, was pounds 432.84 per patient. Not only is this a comparatively comfortable operation for the patient, but a rapid return to work is possible. The saving to the Department of Health and Social Security, when assessed on a national scale, could be very considerable.


Abstract Glioblastoma is characterized by diffuse infiltration into the normal brain. Invasive glioma stem cells (GSCs) are an underlying cause of treatment failure. Despite the use of multimodal therapies, the prognosis remains dismal. New therapeutic approach targeting invasive GSCs is required. Here, we show that neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from CRISRP/Cas9‐edited human‐induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) expressing a suicide gene had higher tumor‐trophic migratory capacity compared with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), leading to marked in vivo antitumor effects. High migratory capacity in iPSC‐NSCs was related to self‐repulsive action and pathotropism involved in EphB‐ephrinB and CXCL12‐CXCR4 signaling. The gene insertion to ACTB provided higher and stable transgene expression than other common insertion sites, such as GAPDH or AAVS1. Ferroptosis was associated with enhanced antitumor immune responses. The thymidylate synthase and dihydroprimidine dehydrogenase expressions predicted the treatment efficacy of therapeutic hiPSC‐NSCs. Our results indicate the potential benefit of genome‐edited iPS cells based gene therapy for invasive GSCs. Furthermore, the present research concept may become a platform to promote clinical studies using hiPSC.


Empirical data serve as the foundation to computational modeling in the initial stages of the wind turbine design process. In case of aerodynamic simulations, the empirical input is comprised of lift and drag data obtained in quasi two-dimensional wind tunnel tests. In the simulations, the global flow over an entire blade is finally approximated as a spatial summation of the obtained 2-D data, which stands in strong contrast to the true operation of a wind turbine and consequently leads to a higher level of uncertainty. Especially, the near-root region of the blade experiences highly three-dimensional flow conditions, particularly in regions of the blade where the flow separates from the airfoil. This study aims to accentuate the difference between airfoil data obtained in quasi two-dimensional wind tunnel tests compared to airfoil data from a wing with an imposed three-dimensional spanwise pressure gradient. For this, a geometrically altered wing section with a spanwise twist is tested in a wind tunnel and compared to CFD computations.


In this letter, a compact bandpass filter is proposed based on the hybrid microstrip/defected ground structure (DGS) cells with an interdigital-coupled (IC) scheme. The hybrid cell can employ two functions for the filter: 1) dual-resonances operation and 2) two close transmission zeros around the resonances. With a proper coupled scheme (i.e., the IC scheme), the narrow-band coupling for the passband enhancement of high selectivity and wide stopband can be achieved. Then, a filter operated at 2.455 GHz (i.e., f0) is fabricated, which shows the strong attenuation slope with 427.2 dB/GHz in the lower and 779.1 dB/GHz in the upper transition bands and a wide stopband up to 3.56f0 .


This treatment of modern topics related to mathematical systems theory forms the proceedings of a workshop, Mathematical Systems Theory: From Behaviors to Nonlinear Control, held at the University of Groningen in July 2015. The workshop celebrated the work of Professors Arjan van der Schaft and Harry Trentelman, honouring their 60th Birthdays. The first volume of this two-volume work covers a variety of topics related to nonlinear and hybrid control systems. After giving a detailed account of the state of the art in the related topic, each chapter presents new results and discusses new directions. As such, this volume provides a broad picture of the theory of nonlinear and hybrid control systems for scientists and engineers with an interest in the interdisciplinary field of systems and control theory. The reader will benefit from the expert participants' ideas on exciting new approaches to control and system theory and their predictions of future directions for the subject that were discussed at the workshop.


Anergic/suppressive CD4+CD25+ T cells have been proposed to play an important role in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Here we demonstrate that in humans these cells suppress proliferation to self antigens, but also to dietary and foreign antigens. The suppressive CD4+CD25+ T cells display a broad usage of the T cell receptor Vβ repertoire,suggesting that they recognize a wide variety of antigens. They reside in the primed/memory CD4+CD45RO+CD45RBlow subset and have short telomeres, indicating that these cells have the phenotype of highly differentiated CD4+ T cells that have experienced repeated episodes of antigen‐specific stimulation in vivo. This suggests that anergic/suppressiveCD4+CD25+ T cells may be generated in the periphery as a consequence of repeated antigenic encounter. This is supported by the observation that highly differentiated CD4+T cells can be induced to become anergic/suppressive when stimulated by antigen presented by non‐professional antigen‐presenting cells. We suggest that besides being generated in the thymus, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells may also be generated in the periphery. This would provide a mechanism for the generation of regulatory cells that induce tolerance to a wide array of antigens that may not be encountered in the thymus.


Metal gaskets have been used in bolted flanged connections under high pressure and high temperature conditions. However, it is difficult to estimate an amount of leakage from the metal contact interfaces in the connections. Recently, it has been noticed that a tiny leakage occurs from the gasket interfaces in bolted flanged connections. Thus, it is necessary to study on the sealing characteristics of the metal to metal contact gasket in the connections under internal pressure and high temperature.In the present paper, for clarifying the characteristic of the metal gaskets, some experiments were conducted at room temperature. The gaskets are used aluminum, copper and mild steel flat gaskets. Firstly, according to JIS B 2490, the sealing behavior was measured taking account the surface roughness of the metal gaskets. The gaskets were compressed using a material testing machine while the amount of leakage was measured. Secondly, the amount of leakage was measured for bolted flanged connections with metal gaskets. The flange nominal diameter used was 2″. Finally, the contact gasket stress distributions in the connection were analyzed using 3-D FEM analysis. Using these results, discussion was made on the sealing behavior of the metal gaskets. In the result, it is found that plastic strain is important for the sealing performance of the metal gasket.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


How can the medieval ideas and concepts of alchemy be translated into a body of contemporary ceramic work? The term alchemical transmutation can be used to describe an action on the physical level (the purification and transformation of metals) as well as an action on the metaphysical level (the purification of the spirit and thetransformation of mankind). The realm of alchemy is one of corresponding duality, from its very definition to the related symbol structures and allegories. Various initiatory aspects of the artist's own life provided inspiration forfulfilling the metaphysical aspect of transmutation, while the medium of ceramics, which undergoes a transformation from common earth into lasting work, mimics the act of physical transformation. Alchemical allegories are explored through obsessive and repetitive acts of creation in ceramics, leading to the development of personal symbols and a deeper understanding of self.


In this paper, optimization of the first blade of a new test rig is pursued using a hybrid model comprising the genetic algorithm, artificial neural networks and design of experiments. Blade tuning is conducted using three-dimensional geometric parameters. Taper and sweep angle play important roles in this optimization process. Compressor characteristics involving mass flow and efficiency, and stress and eigenfrequencies of the blades are the main objectives of the evaluation. Owing to the design of blade attachments and their dynamic isolation from the disk, the vibrational behavior of the one blade is tuned based on the self-excited and forced vibration phenomenon. Using a semi-analytical MATLAB code instability, the conditions are satisfied. The code uses Whitehead's theory and force response theory to predict classical and stall flutter speeds. Forced vibrational instability is controlled using Campbell's theory. The aerodynamics of the new blade geometry is determined using multistage computational fluid dynamics simulation. The numerical results show increasing performance near the surge line and improvement in the working interval along with a 4% increase in mass flow. From the vibrational point of view, the reduced frequency increases by at least 5% in both stall and classical regions, and force response constraints are satisfied.


Shock and vibration testing of an Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) supported energy storage flywheel is presented. The flywheel is under development at the University of Texas - Center for Electromechanics (UTCEM) for application in a transit bus. The flywheel is gimbal mounted to reduce the gyroscopic forces transmitted to the magnetic bearings during pitching and rolling motions of the bus. The system was placed on a hydraulic terrain simulator and driven through pitch, roll and shock motions equivalent to 150% of maximum expected bus frame values. Although the AMB control approach was originally developed specifically to ensure rotordynamic stability, relative rotor/housing motion was typically less than half of the backup bearing clearance under all tested conditions. Test results are presented and compared to analytical predictions for the 35,000 rpm nominal operating speed. The impact of the AMB control algorithm is discussed relative to the input forcing function.


Monitoring of industrial gas turbines is of vital importance, since it gives valuable information for the customer about maintenance, performance, and process health. The performance of an industrial gas turbine degrades gradually due to factors such as environment air pollution, fuel content, and ageing to mention some of the degradation factors. The compressor in the gas turbine is especially vulnerable against contaminants in the air since these particles are stuck at the rotor and stator surface. The loss in compressor performance, due to fouling, can partially be restored by an on-line/off-line compressor wash. If the actual health state of the gas turbine is known, it is possible to efficiently plan the service and maintenance and thereby reduce the environmental impact and the fuel cost for the customer. A thermodynamic gas turbine modeling package, called GTLib, is developed in the equation-based object-oriented modeling language Modelica. Using the GTLib package, a gas turbine model can be constructed. The gas turbine model can be used for performance calculation and as a base when diagnosis tests are generated. These tests can be used in a diagnosis and supervision system to detect compressor fouling and abrupt sensor faults. One of the benefits with using GTLib is the ability to model a lean stoichiometric combustion at different air/fuel ratio. Using the air/fuel ratio concept, an arbitrary number of gas species in the in-coming air can be considered. The number of equations is reduced if the air/fuel ratio concept is considered instead of modeling each gas species separately. The difference in the number of equations is significant if many gas species are considered. When the gas turbine components deteriorate, a mismatch between the nominal performance model and the measurements increase. To handle this, the gas turbine model is augmented with a number of estimation parameters. These estimation parameters are used to detect slow deterioration in the gas turbine components and are estimated with a Constant Gain Extended Kalman Filter (CGEKF). The state estimator is chosen using structural methods before an index reduction of the model is performed. Experimental data is investigated and it is shown that the performance degradation due to compressor fouling can be estimated. After the compressor is washed, the performance of the compressor is partially restored. An abrupt sensor fault of 1% of the nominal value is introduced in the discharge temperature of the compressor. The sensor fault can be detected using the CUSUM algorithm for change detection. Finally, the overall thesis contribution is the calculation chain from a simulation model used for performance calculation to a number of test quantities used in a diagnosis and supervision system. Since the considered gas turbine model is a large non-linear DAE model that has unobservable state variables, the test construction procedure is automatically performed with developed parsers.


Several case reports indicate that carbapenem antibiotics, especially meropenem, may decrease the plasma concentrations of valproic acid (VPA), thus decreasing its therapeutic activity. To investigate the onset, severity, and dose dependency of the interaction between meropenem and VPA, the authors carried out a retrospective evaluation of data collected during 24 months from patients hospitalized in a tertiary medical center. The analysis included 36 patients. VPA mean ± SEM plasma concentration decreased from of 50.8 ± 4.5 μg/mL to 9.9 ± 2.1 μg/mL (P < .001) following meropenem administration. After discontinuation of meropenem, VPA plasma concentrations remained low for 7 days and then gradually increased after 8 to 14 days, reaching values comparable to those before meropenem initiation. Different daily VPA doses showed a similar pattern of decreased VPA concentrations. The mean decrease in individual plasma VPA concentration was 82.1% ± 2.7%. The mean VPA plasma concentration of patients in whom samples were drawn within 24 hours of meropenem initiation was 9.9 ± 3.2 μg/mL. In conclusion, the interaction between meropenem and VPA causes a significant decrease in VPA plasma concentration, apparently within 24 hours. As the therapeutic effects of VPA are plasma concentration dependent, the data suggest that these drugs should not be administered concomitantly.


This report presents an evaluation of the Open Learning Design Studio MOOC (OLDS MOOC) that took place between January and March 2013. This evaluation focuses on the experience of those who registered, participated and actively contributed in the public course space. In particular the evaluation focuses on participant expectations, a detailed analysis of participation rates, use of the course space and technologies, and the effectiveness and challenges presented by collaborative group working. The evaluation also looks at how participants understood and used the series of nine badges on offer. Throughout, a broad evidence base of qualitative and quantitative information is used including data from pre- and post-course surveys, from page view and contributions data available in the public spaces and from hundreds of participant blog, discussion forum and social media posts.


Partially observed Markov process (POMP) models, also known as hidden Markov models or state space models, are ubiquitous tools for time series analysis. The R package pomp provides a very flexible framework for Monte Carlo statistical investigations using nonlinear, non-Gaussian POMP models. A range of modern statistical methods for POMP models have been implemented in this framework including sequential Monte Carlo, iterated filtering, particle Markov chain Monte Carlo, approximate Bayesian computation, maximum synthetic likelihood estimation, nonlinear forecasting, and trajectory matching. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of these methodologies using some simple toy problems. We also illustrate the specification of more complex POMP models, using a nonlinear epidemiological model with a discrete population, seasonality, and extra-demographic stochasticity. We discuss the specification of user-defined models and the development of additional methods within the programming environment provided by pomp.


A detector of a spatially distributed target in white Gaussian noise is developed. A reasonable distribution for the a priori target scatterer density is assumed, and a detector that incorporates this a priori knowledge is given. A simple detector form results, whose detection performance is robust over different scattering densities.


To control a quantum system via feedback, we generally have two options in choosing control scheme. One is the coherent feedback, which feeds the output field of the system, through a fully quantum device, back to manipulate the system without involving any measurement process. The other one is the measurement-based feedback, which measures the output field and performs a real-time manipulation on the system based on the measurement results. Both schemes have advantages/disadvantages, depending on the system and the control goal, hence their comparison in several situation is important. This paper considers a general open linear quantum system with the following specific control goals; back-action evasion (BAE), generation of a quantum non-demolished (QND) variable, and generation of a decoherence-free subsystem (DFS), all of which have important roles in quantum information science. Then some no-go theorems are proven, clarifying that those goals cannot be achieved by any measurement-based feedback control. On the other hand it is shown that, for each control goal, there exists a coherent feedback controller accomplishing the task. The key idea to obtain all the results is system theoretic characterizations of BAE, QND, and DFS in terms of controllability and observability properties or transfer functions of linear systems, which are consistent with their standard definitions.


We model the mass distribution of long gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies given recent results suggesting that GRBs occur in low-metallicity environments. By utilizing measurements of the redshift evolution of the mass–metallicity relationship for galaxies, along with a sharp host metallicity cutoff suggested by Modjaz and collaborators, we estimate an upper limit on the stellar mass of a galaxy that can efficiently produce a GRB as a function of redshift. By employing consistent abundance indicators, we find that subsolar metallicity cutoffs effectively limit GRBs to low-stellar mass spirals and dwarf galaxies at low redshift. At higher redshifts, as the average metallicity of galaxies in the Universe falls, the mass range of galaxies capable of hosting a GRB broadens, with an upper bound approaching the mass of even the largest spiral galaxies. We compare these predicted limits to the growing number of published GRB host masses and find that extremely low-metallicity cutoffs of 0.1 to 0.5 Z☉ are effectively ruled out by a large number of intermediate mass galaxies at low redshift. A mass function that includes a smooth decrease in the efficiency of producing GRBs in galaxies of metallicity above 12+log(O/H)KK04 = 8.7 can, however, accommodate a majority of the measured host galaxy masses. We find that at z ∼ 1, the peak in the observed GRB host mass distribution is inconsistent with the expected peak in the mass of galaxies harboring most of the star formation. This suggests that GRBs are metallicity-biased tracers of star formation at low and intermediate redshifts, although our model predicts that this bias should disappear at higher redshifts due to the evolving metallicity content of the universe.


In many animal species, parents provide care for their offspring, but the parental roles of the two sexes differ considerably between and within species. Here, we use an individual-based simulation approach to investigate the evolutionary emergence and stability of parental roles. Our conclusions are in striking contrast to the results of analytical models. In the absence of initial differences between the sexes, our simulations do not predict the evolution of egalitarian care, but either female-biased or male-biased care. When the sexes differ in their pre-mating investment, the sex with the highest investment tends to evolve a higher level of parental care; this outcome does not depend on non-random mating or uncertainty of paternity. If parental investment evolves jointly with sexual selection strategies, evolution results in either the combination of female-biased care and female choosiness or in male-biased care and the absence of female preferences. The simulations suggest that the parental care pattern drives sexual selection, and not vice versa. Finally, our model reveals that a population can rapidly switch from one type of equilibrium to another one, suggesting that parental sex roles are evolutionarily labile. By combining simulation results with fitness calculations, we argue that all these results are caused by the emergence of individual variation in parental care strategies, a factor that was hitherto largely neglected in sex-role evolution theory.


This study deals with evaluation of Thespesia populnea stems bark powder for wound healing activity. But already Thespesia populnea has been analyzed for anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal activities. Since wound healing activity of this part of plant has not been reported so far, though extensively used in folklore medicine. This made me to attempt this study. Stems bark powder of Thespesia populnea was experimented in 250g of wistar albino rats. The animals were divided into 3 groups of 3 each. The animals of Group 1 were left untreated and considered as control. Group 2 served as standard and received Cloxacilline powder. Group 3 was considered as test and treated with prepared test drug with stems bark powder of Thespesia populnea. Powder of test drug and standard drug were topically applied every day starting from the day of operation, till complete epithelialization. Wounds were measured in width and length by ruler once in three days. The size of wound was reported as per Bates-Jensen Wound assessment Tool. Exudation type and amount were observed.After got average of them. The result of the study suggests tested powder of stems bark of Thespesia populnea has the significant power of wound healing activity. Wound contraction and wound recovery ability of this powder was found to be higher than the standard drug. Wound recovery had been attained within 6 days to tested drug where as to standard drug 9 days. Accelerated wound healing activity was observed in test group of animals. It concluded that theapplication of Thespesia populnea stems bark powder showed excellent wound healing activity. Keywords Thespesia populnea; excision; wound; Bates-Jensen wound assessment


Abstract: Semi-arid areas are particularly susceptible to the loss of biodiversity as a consequence of global change. Species functional traits are key drivers of functioning and resilience of ecosystems, thus monitoring of functional trait diversity is urgently needed. The assessment of functional diversity requires the quantification of species and/or their traits in the field, though there is no consensus on the best plant-sampling method to be used. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the point-intercept (PT) method with two area-based approaches, the modified-Whittaker (MW) and Dengler (DE) methods, to assess functional diversity in semi-arid areas. The herbaceous community of a savanna-like Mediterranean woodland was surveyed at the two extremes of a regional precipitation gradient (dry to wet). Efficiency in the quantification of species/ traits, precision of cover estimates, and their effect on functional diversity metrics computed for eight functional traits were compared. Results showed that the examined methods differed in their efficiency in quantifying species/traits in both sites. With the DE method, fewer species were detected than with the MW and PT methods, which yielded similar values. The PT method had a higher precision in the quantification of both dominant and non-dominant species/traits. It also had a higher community evenness, mainly in the wet location, which allowed the analysis of a greater number of species/traits within the 80% "dominance" threshold (i.e., species representing 80% of the relative cover of community), a critical aspect of functional diversity assessments. In addition, the PT method yielded higher estimates for multi-trait functional evenness, as well as different estimates (either higher or lower than MW and DE) of single-trait community weighted means (for N-fixing ability and flowering onset), functional dispersion (for N-fixing ability and specific leaf area), and functional evenness (for height and flowering onset). In spite of the observed differences among methods in the assessment of functional diversity, the PT approach demonstrated important advantages in the non-destructive, fine-scale monitoring of semi-arid areas, where "less dominant" species may play a critical role.


Celecoxib, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, has been shown to inhibit Akt and prevent cardiac remodeling in aortic banding-induced failing heart in mice. However, it may be difficult to use celecoxib for the treatment of heart failure because of thromboembolic adverse reactions. Since 2,5-dimethyl (DM)-celecoxib, a derivative unable to inhibit COX-2, has been also reported to inhibit Akt, we attempted to examine whether DM-celecoxib retains the ability to prevent cardiac remodeling and improve cardiac functions using a mouse model of inherited dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). DM-celecoxib as well as celecoxib administered daily for 4 weeks inhibited Akt and subsequent phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β and mammalian target of rapamycin. Furthermore, both celecoxib and DM-celecoxib inhibited the activities of nuclear factor of activated T cell and β-catenin and the expression of TCF7L2 (T-cell-specific transcriptional factor-7L2) and c-Myc, downstream mediators related to cardiac hypertrophy. Functional and morphological measurements showed that these compounds improved left ventricular systolic functions (ejection fraction: vehicle, 34.7 ± 3.9%; 100 mg/kg celecoxib, 50.3 ± 1.1%, p < 0.01; 100 mg/kg DM-celecoxib, 49.8 ± 0.8%, p < 0.01), which was also evidenced by the decrease in β-myosin heavy chain and B-type natriuretic peptide, and prevented hypertrophic cardiac remodeling (heart/body weight ratio: vehicle, 10.4 ± 0.7 mg/g; 100 mg/kg celecoxib, 8.0 ± 0.3 mg/g, p < 0.01; 100 mg/kg DM-celecoxib, 8.2 ± 0.1 mg/g, p < 0.05). As a consequence, both compounds improved the survival rate (vehicle, 45%; 100 mg/kg celecoxib, 75%, p < 0.05; 100 mg/kg DM-celecoxib, 70%, p < 0.05). These results suggested that not only celecoxib but also DM-celecoxib prevents cardiac remodeling and reduces mortality in DCM through a COX-2-independent mechanism involving Akt and its downstream mediators.


Children infected with COVID-19 have a critical part in community-based viral transmission. This study aimed to evaluate knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behaviors of parents of pediatric dental patients on COVID-19 and to present required actions to prevent its spreading. A total of 524 parents took part in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared for determining sociodemographic characteristics and socioeconomic status of parents, along with their COVID-19-related knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behaviors. In total, 90.6% of parents were unaware that disease may show no symptoms; 61.1% and 32.6% did not know roles of "close contact with asymptomatic patients" and "dentistry practices" in transmission, respectively; 30.2% thought it could be transmitted to their children at dental clinics, and only 16.4% stated their children as carriers. Parents need to be informed on COVID-19 transmission through contact with asymptomatic individuals, risks associated with dentistry practices, and role of children in transmission.


In The Tact of Teaching bestselling author Max van Manen offers teachers at every stage an original and inspiring interpretation of the notion of pedagogy, one that searches for its roots in the experience of in loco parentis. Using dozens of anecdotes and scenes taken directly from life in classrooms, including many from the often-neglected domain of high school, The Tact of Teaching explicates the meaning of pedagogical moments, the conditions of pedagogy, the relation between pedagogy and politics, the nature of pedagogical experience, and the practical forms of pedagogical understanding. The author: -Presents experiential analysis of the relation between pedagogical reflection and action-Explores how pedagogical tact manifests itself, what tact accomplishes, and how tact does what it does-Speaks of hope and humane practice in an era of schooling often given over to mindless technocracy or fashionable despair


—This paper presents a novel approach for implementing power-efficient finite-impulse response (FIR) filters that requires less power consumption than traditional FIR filter implementation in wireless embedded systems. The proposed schemes can be adopted in the direct form FIR filter and achieve a large amount of reduction in the power consumption. By using a combination of proposed methods, balanced-modular techniques with retiming and separated processing data-flow scheme with modified canonical signed digit (CSD) representation, experimental results show that the proposed scheme reduce 76% power consumption of the original direct-form structure with slight area overhead.


Extensive production and use of nanomaterials (NMs), such as titanium dioxide (TiO2), raises concern regarding their potential adverse effects to humans. While considerable efforts have been made to assess the safety of TiO2 NMs using in vitro and in vivo studies, results obtained to date are unreliable, possibly due to the dynamic agglomeration behavior of TiO2 NMs. Moreover, agglomerates are of prime importance in occupational exposure scenarios, but their toxicological relevance remains poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the potential pulmonary effects induced by TiO2 agglomerates of different sizes at the air–liquid interface (ALI), which is more realistic in terms of inhalation exposure, and compare it to results previously obtained under submerged conditions. A nano-TiO2 (17 nm) and a non-nano TiO2 (117 nm) was selected for this study. Stable stock dispersions of small agglomerates and their respective larger counterparts of each TiO2 particles were prepared, and human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells were exposed to different doses of aerosolized TiO2 agglomerates at the ALI. At the end of 4h exposure, cytotoxicity, glutathione depletion, and DNA damage were evaluated. Our results indicate that dose deposition and the toxic potential in HBE cells are influenced by agglomeration and exposure via the ALI induces different cellular responses than in submerged systems. We conclude that the agglomeration state is crucial in the assessment of pulmonary effects of NMs.


A novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) has been designed using flexible docking and molecular dynamics in computer simulation. Six kinds of representative functional monomers have been screened to obtain the optimal one, as well as optimizing its ratio to the template amlodipine (AML). Two MMIPs have been prepared with the most suitable functional monomer methacrylic acid (MAA) along with acrylamide (AM) as a comparison, in the ratio of 4 to AML. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometery (VSM) were used to characterize the structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the MMIPs. A static adsorption study was carried out with the help of response surface methodology (RSM) and in addition, adsorption kinetics and isotherms were studied to further explain the adsorption behavior. Three dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (DHP-CCBs) as structural analogues and non-structural analogue penicillin V potassium were chosen for the selectivity study. The results showed that MMIP using MAA as functional monomer had a large adsorption capacity (53.77 μg mg−1) as well as a large imprinting factor (more than 2) and the adsorption behavior was in accordance with a pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich isotherm model. Due to the excellent properties of the polymer: good magnetic properties, large adsorption capacity and great selectivity for DHP-CCBs, a magnetic molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction with ultraviolet detection (M-MISPE-UV) method had been established, validated and applied to the analysis of AML in urine sample.


This study examines the effects of individualism on the social norms of marriage and cohabitation, how people feel about intimate relationships and how important these relationships are for the experienced wellbeing and happiness. Four European countries, all with varying degrees of individualistic influence, have been compared by using data from the European Social Survey to determine if there is any difference in how important it is perceived to beliving together with someone. It is already established that marriage has a positive effect on wellbeing and happiness, but what is studied here is whether the effect differs according to different social values in different countries. The result shows that there is a difference in experienced wellbeing and happiness, depending on which country you live in, however, there is not much that supports that individualism as a phenomenon is something that makes people less interested in getting married or living with a partner.


Abstract:I argue that theories about the success of experienced candidates that were developed in the context of US elections provide insights into electoral success in a developing country. I use well-established predictors of electoral victories in the United States to analyze election outcomes in Belize. Belize offers a good test case because even though the two countries have similar electoral systems for their national legislative bodies, they are very different in terms of land area, population, wealth, and several other dimensions. I hypothesize that factors that have been found to predict US election outcomes similarly influence Belizean elections. I look at the specific variables of incumbent vulnerability, the experience level of challengers, and campaign spending (there are no unopposed incumbents in the data). I examine election outcomes in ten national and twelve municipal elections in Belize in the period 1965–2008. Results indicate that these variables are significant predictors of the vote shares of candidates.


Abstract We consider identification of systems with a parallel serial (cascade) structure with multiple-input and multiple-output signals. The statistical properties of estimated models are studied with respect to input signals and possible sensor locations. The quality of the estimates are analyzed by means of the asymptotic covariance matrix of the estimated parameters. This is an extension of previous work on identification of cascaded linear systems. The key result concerns systems where the sub-systems have common dynamics. An interesting observation is that for this case the variance for the parameters belonging to the unmeasured subsystem always is larger than for the other sub-systems. This is not true for general parameters. The variance results can be used for optimal input and sensor location design. The results are illustrated by some simple FIR examples and numerical evaluations.


Extracting keywords from requirements has been done for various modelling purposes, e.g. for defining object-oriented analysis and design models, but it has not been done for mapping requirements directly to (executable) component-based systems. In this paper we argue that the latter is possible if the underlying component model provides suitable encapsulation and hence separation of key elements of component-based systems. We show how we can extract keywords that correspond to elements of a component model that we have defined.


It is widely believed that the main function of B cells is antibody secretion, but not cellular cytotoxicity. Recently we found that human B cells activated with interleukin 21 (IL-21) and antibodies to the B cell receptor (BCR) or immunostimulatory oligonucleotides (CpG ODN) develop a phenotype similar to that of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. B cells treated in such a way start to secrete large amounts of granzyme B (GrB) instead of antibodies and, as in the case of B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), acquire the capability to induce apoptosis in bystander B-CLL cells in a GrB-dependent manner. Using FACS and ELISpot analyses we could now demonstrate that GrB is actively secreted by B cells in a time-dependent manner and that IL-21 is not the only cytokine that induces GrB in B cells. Also cytokine combinations such as IL-10 and IL-4 as well as IL-10 and IFN-alpha induce GrB in normal B cells and various B cell lines including MEC-1 (CLL), ARH-77 (plasma cell leukemia) and Namalwa (Burkitts lymphoma). We conclude that IL-21 and further cytokines can induce B cells to produce functional granzyme B. Further studies are required to elucidate the interactions with B lymphocytes of cells producing these cytokines such as CD4+ T cells, regulatory T cells, NKT cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Our unexpected findings could have significant implications on our understanding of the role of B cells in immune regulation and for a variety of immune phenomena including auto-, cancer and infectious immunity.


Received wisdom concerning elite sports participation in Britain during the period before the First World War suggests that this was an activity pursued by men, and occasionally women, who eschewed the systematic training regimes and a reliance on professional coaching epitomised by their American counterparts in favour of the moral values associated with amateurism. The concept of amateurism, however, was always more fluid than is sometimes assumed and this paper explores the background of some of those who accompanied the British team to the Olympic Games at Stockholm in 1912 to illustrate that professional trainers played an essential supporting role across a number of sports. Particular attention is paid to athletic trainers Alec Nelson and Bill Thomas, who were closely related to Cambridge and Oxford Universities respectively during the 1920s and 1930s, and to swimming trainers Walter Brickett and Mrs. Jarvis. It appears that the high status amateurs who represented their country at the Games were just as appreciative of the input of these specialists as were athletes from other nations.


This dissertation examines the conception and performance of masculinities amongst two groups of Russian men, half of whom live in Russia and the other half in the United Kingdom. A total of forty in-depth biographical interviews were carried out, twenty in each country, with men of different ages and highly different social backgrounds. On the basis of these interviews, the thesis portrays contemporary Russian masculinities as a complex, socially and historically constructed phenomenon, situated within large-scale social and political processes. It explores the most prominent reference points and social hierarchies employed by the respondents in order to negotiate their individual gender projects, and shows how these are culture-specific, context-specific, and rooted both in individual life history and in the social, economical and political realities of different historical periods. While the respondents play an active role in defining and constructing their own masculinities, they do so within the macro-parameters laid down by the state, in accordance with broader socio-cultural and political factors. Shifts in the macro-parameters (such as the collapse of the Soviet Union or migration to another country) change the environment in which an individual lives and give rise to new resources for negotiating masculinity. Like the reference points and social hierarchies referred to above, these new resources are rooted in specific historical, cultural, political and personal events. Each resource belongs to a particular social topography that orients people towards the places, practices and discourses which they need to realise their masculinity. The main empirical findings in the thesis are ordered in accordance with the contexts, reference points and hierarchies for making masculinity which were referred to by the research participants themselves. The dissertation is structured around four contexts which emerged from the data: (i) the Soviet past; (ii) the first post-Soviet decade (the 1990s); (iii) the second post-Soviet decade (the 2000s); (iv) the immigration period. I explore different masculinity construction strategies and the reference points on which they rely as the site of a socio-cultural power struggle that offers a unique prism through which to understand how Russian masculinities and gender relations are validated and contested, and how they change.


Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has spent substantial financial resources on various rehabilitation and maintenance treatments to minimize pavement distresses and improve pavement life. Such treatments include, but are not limited to, chipseal, crack seal, micro-surfacing, thin and thick overlays, and structural overlays. Unfortunately, DOTD has not conducted a full scale performance assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis of all the aforementioned treatments. A recent study completed by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) regarding the pavement management system (PMS) and performance modeling emphasized the importance of developing treatment performance and selection models. In this regards, the LTRC initiated a three-phase research study that addresses such needs by developing rigorous treatment performance and selection models that are specific to the mission and management strategies of DOTD. The following are the three phases. Phase I- Review and Project Selection; Phase II- Performance Modeling and Costs and Benefits of Treatments; and Phase III- Model Integration and Training. This final report focuses on the results of Phase I and Phase II of the study. Phase I is related to review of district pavement treatment practices and project selection for the development of pavement treatment performance models. Phase II deals with the performance modeling and costs and benefits of treatments. The data obtained from the Phase I was used to develop cost-effective pavement treatment performance and treatment selection models during Phase II of this study. Trigger values for optimum timing of pavement treatments and an approach to use the performance models cost effectively were established. All these findings will be integrated in the software development and training for DOTD staff to be completed during Phase III of this study.


This study investigated the factors affecting different group sizes of Maasai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) in the Serengeti-Ngorongoro ecosystem. The study was motivated to test the following hypotheses: 1) in a given group, the sex ratio of males to females with calves is related to group size; 2) group size affects vigilance behaviour; 3) illegal hunting influences group size and vigilance behaviour; and 4) group size differs in different habitats, being larger in woodlands during the wet season and in riverine habitats during the dry season. A negative relationship between the ratio of the proportion of adult males to females with calves and group size was observed, whereas the proportion of females and calves increased with group size. The proportion of vigilant individuals decreased with an increase in group size. Habitat, risk of illegal hunting and proportion of calves in the group was found to be significant contributors to an increase in vigilance behaviour. However, the results do not support the hypotheses that seasonality and habitat preference affect group sizes of the Maasai giraffes. Emphasis should be put on antipoaching efforts on males and nursery groups, especially in areas with a high risk of illegal activities.


Purpose – In this study, 37 English Language Teaching (ELT) teacher trainees from a Malaysian university conducted an action-research project to determine whether journals kept during their fieldwork in primary schools located in an area close to the university allowed them to reflect on their beliefs and behaviors in the classroom. Methodology – Themes were revealed using emergent coding in their journals. Van Manen's (1977) three-stage model (practical, technical and critical) was used to determine the issues raised and the level of critical reflection reached in the journal entries Findings – The findings indicated that the teacher trainees demonstrated practical and technical level thinking, but rarely rose to the critical level of reflection. Nonetheless, they also demonstrated changes in their beliefs and behaviours, essential for professional development.Significance – Reflective thinking is critical to teaching and is important in the United States and in countries striving to replicate its pedagogical tools and techniques. However, many Western practices associated with the nurturing of critical thinking are not familiar to Malaysian teacher trainees.We conclude that prospective teachers here do use their journals to reflect on their educational practice, but not at the deepest levels of insight. Critical thinking must be taught to Malaysian teacher trainees and filtered through the local culture if it is to improve teaching and learning in the nation's classrooms.


Jet impingement is a technique for removing heat efficiently. A liquid jet impingement on a cone heat sink was investigated numerically to explore the effect of filet profiles at the top and bottom edge of conical protuberances on fluid flow and heat transfer. An adopted turbulence model was validated through an experiment as described in the literature. Numerical results of pressure coefficient and Nusselt number were obtained for cases with and without filet profiles for variable jet Reynolds numbers and conical angles. Results showed that the flow and heat transfer of conical protuberances with small tip filet profiles are similar to that of the original cone. Pressure coefficient curves are similar to that of convex surfaces, and the average heat transfer slightly increases when the radius of the tip filet profiles exceeds 1 mm. A small filet profile of a conical bottom edge can improve the average Nusselt number. A secondary jet that enhanced the overall heat transfer was demonstrated, and the heat transfers of convex surfaces, as the comparison, with small angles were enhanced in most cases.


: The reproductive performance of 941 female specimens of black rockfish Sebastes inermis collected from four sites (from north to south, Ayukawa, Shichigahama, Yuriage and Haragama) along Sendai Bay, northern Japan from October 2000 to March 2001, was analyzed. Mature female S. inermis ranged from 2 to 9 years in age, from 15 to 29 cm in total length and from 80 to 496 g in total weight. Mean gonadosomatic index ranged from 0.42 to 14.6, showing a similar tendency in all locations, increasing from October, peaking around early December, and decreasing thereafter. The same pattern was observed in ovary weight, ranging from 0.72 to 33.74 g. Seasonal fluctuation in the percentage of occurrence of four development stages of ovaries (ripe, fertilized, eyed and spent) indicated that parturition season extended from late December to early March in Sendai Bay. However, parturition shifted on both a temporal and spatial scale, that is, the extrusion began and finished later, the more northerly was the site. There were significant differences in the age of spawners as extrusion season progressed, with older female S. inermis (approx. 5 years old) occurring at the beginning and younger ones (approx. 2 years old) occurring at the end of the season. A similar tendency was also observed in size, weight and ovary weight in most ovarian developmental stages.


Precision medicine, applying knowledge of breast cancer's molecular subtypes, has improved the disease's prognosis. However, recurrence and chemoresistance are critical issues for breast cancer patients. PTPN4, a new potential therapeutic target, has not been studied sufficiently in breast cancer, and the potential role of PTPN4 in the prognosis of breast cancer patients is still unknown. In our study, data from 140 invasive breast cancer patients were retrospectively collected to identify the association between PTPN4 expression and clinical outcomes of these patients. The expressions of PTPN4 were detected by immunohistochemical analysis. Breast hyperplasia tissues showed higher expression of PTPN4. We found that PTPN4 expression was lower in breast cancer patients with relapse than in patients without relapse. Patients with an increased PTPN4 level had a significantly longer relapse-free survival and overall survival time. Decreased PTPN4 expression was an independent factor associated with relapse-free survival and overall survival, as shown by multivariate Cox regression analysis. The study found that PTPN4 is an attractive prognostic biomarker for predicting the clinical outcome and effective disease management of breast cancer patients.


Testicular cancer (TC) is the most common cancer in males aged 20-40 years, with a worldwide incidence of 7.5 per 100,000, but the rates vary considerably between countries and ethnic groups and there is evidence also for an increasing incidence in last decades. About 95% of all TCs are represented by testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), which include seminoma and non-seminoma histological types. It is generally assumed that the development of TGCT is under endocrine control. In particular, unbalanced androgen/estrogen levels and/or activity are believed to represent the key events for TGCT development and progression. Furthermore, recent evidence has suggested genetic association of TGCT with variations in genes involved in hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis and steroidogenic enzymes. This recent evidence expands the current knowledge on the role of genetic contribution in testicular cancer susceptibility, and supports the hypothesis that variations in hormone metabolism genes might change the hormonal environment implicated in testicular carcinogenesis. Therefore, hormonal carcinogenesis is an important and controversial area of current research in TGCT, and further attention is given to genetic factors influencing hormone-related cancer risk. The genetic component to TGCT is in general strong. In fact, although environmental factors clearly contribute to TGCT development (and probably to its increasing incidence in some geographical areas), the proportion of TGCT susceptibility accounted for by the genetic effects is estimated at 25%. TGCT has high familial risks compared with most other cancer types that are generally no more than two-fold: brothers of individuals with TGCT have an 8- to 12-fold increased risk of disease, and sons of affected individuals have a 4- to 6-fold increased risk. Despite this strong familial relative risk, early results from linkage studies identified a limited relationship with genetic factors, suggesting that TGCT is a genetically complex trait. However, more recently, four genome-wide association studies (GWAS) from the UK and USA have reported association of TGCTs with six new loci (KITLG, SPRY4, BAK1, DMRT1, TERT, and ATF7IP). The strongest association for TGCT susceptibility was found for SNPs in KITLG (ligand for the membrane-bound receptor tyrosine kinase KIT) gene with a greater than 2.5-fold increased risk of disease per major allele, which is the highest reported for any cancer to date. These studies are being now replicated by other researches and attention is given to the relationship between these genetic variations, TGCT risk and frequently associated anomalies of the reproductive tract, such as cryptorchidism and infertility. Finally, over the past few decades, TCGT research has focused also on external environmental causes acting mainly as endocrine disrupters of androgen and oestrogen pathways, even during the foetal development of the testis. It is well known that the testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) hypothesis, proposed ten years ago, suggests that disturbed testicular development in fetal life may result in one or more of four disorders postnatally, named cryptorchidism, hypospadias, poor semen quality, and TGCT. These four disorders are therefore considered as one clinical entity and are linked together by epidemiological and pathophysiological relations. The relative contribution of genetics and environment in TGCT development, and the interactions between endocrine disruptors and variations in genes involved in hormonal carcinogenesis is therefore another interesting area of research.


An important problem for oxide confined vertical cavity surface emitting laser is current crowding at the edge of the aperture, which leads to extra losses and excitation of unwanted higher-order transverse modes. In this study, the results of selfconsistently three dimensional electrical, optical and thermal simulations of 980 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser are presented. Effect of oxide aperture size on current crowding of the device is investigated theoretically. Then the effects of the current crowding on the internal laser performance are discussed.


Even before the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the rhetoric of "welfare reform" debate blamed recipients for their poverty while diverting attention from structural problems of our society. Proponents of "reform" argued that by withholding welfare benefits, government could change recipients' behavior, transform present recipients into "productive members" of society, and solve the intractable problems of poverty. This article analyzes two of the most popular behavior-modification models, Learnfare and Family Cap, and contends that these "reform" efforts were driven by a New Right agenda, an "ideology of division" that manipulated public opinion by highlighting racial and gender biases.


In the global environment where industrial enterprises strive for competitiveness, the ability to adjust quickly to changing conditions is important. This global industrial context challenges the companies to develop new capabilities. Capacity flexibility is an important measure of competitiveness and one important capability for improving productivity and effectiveness. Available resources contribute to capacity (output) and influence capacity flexibility. Thus, the way resources are managed is important. One way to manage resources within the manufacturing system is to choose resources that are the most suitable for the task performed by adopting task allocation. Task allocation between human and technology therefore becomes central for design of workplaces with optimal performance. This becomes the challenge of automation. However, to make the right decisions on automation and the skills required for the handling of tools and technology is a complex process of decision making for managers.

In the light of this, the objective of this thesis is to develop a methodology for analysing and choosing levels of automation with the purpose to formulate automation strategy in manufacturing systems. The analysis is based on measurement of levels of automation and alignment between levels of automation and the business and manufacturing strategies. The application area of the research is the manufacturing industry and in particular assembly lines or cells because of the mixture of human and technological resources.

As indicated by the objective, the outcome of this thesis is a structured methodology that analyses possible alternatives of levels of automation weighted against competitive priorities. The methodology consists of five stages: (1) preparation, (2) business and manufacturing strategy, (3) estimation of levels of automation for critical subtasks, (4) analysis of levels of automation, and (5) completion. The methodology supports visibility of results. Depending on where the company has its greatest improvement potential, different starting points in the methodology can be applied. Validation of the methodology indicates that usefulness, use, and satisfaction with the methodology can be seen as good.

The issue of considering both humans and technology is critical for the success of the system, as it builds the resources of the manufacturing function. Overcoming barriers in measuring LoA and in aligning resources with market needs is crucial for developing long term automation strategies. Certain criteria of the manufacturing system influence the choice of LoA. Those criteria are production volume and specific product characteristics. Proposed improvements for formulating manufacturing strategy involve a focus on communication and knowledge sharing, introducing measures for learning and knowledge, enhancing interactions between inside and outside partners, and closing knowledge gaps. Those improvements should be seen primarily as research opportunities in the area of manufacturing strategy processes.


A useful anticipation of defense economics must rest upon the dramatic, continuing, and confusing upheaval in the functions of military forces in the world of the coming century. This essay tries to reflect the staggering array of new features which impact on the provision of national defense and international security; as these profoundly shape the discipline of "defense economics," they will elevate in importance the social, cultural, developmental, and legal interactions between economics and defense so that the subject will fit far more comfortably into the realm of political economy than it did when it originated decades ago. With this perspective in mind, this introduction is focused on categories defining the core of "defense economics" in the coming decades.


Abnormalities in the connectivity and activity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the cause of many of the symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. The PFC relies on a complex regulation of network activity and synaptic plasticity for healthy PFC function. These fundamental processes can be modulated by the neuromodulator acetylcholine, acting at α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7 nAChRs), a system also compromised in neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite the evidence that α7 nAChRs are essential for healthy PFC function relatively little is known about how activity at this receptor can modulate the fundamental network activity and synaptic plasticity within the PFC. This thesis aims to address some of these issues by using brain slice electrophysiology to measure network activity and synaptic plasticity in response to α7 nAChR activity within the prelimbic cortex (PrL) of C57BL/6J mice. Extracellular field recordings revealed that the selective α7 nAChR antagonist MLA, can reduce and enhance the levels of stimulus- induce long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) respectively. In contrast global activation of α7 nAChRs with the selective α7 nAChRs agonist PNU-282987 and positive allosteric modulator PNU-120596 also reduced the levels of LTP. To provide a mechanism for these observations, whole-cell patch clamp recordings were carried out. These experiments revealed that α7 nAChRs reside presynaptically on glutamate inputs and somatodendritically on non-fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons enabling them to enhance both excitation and inhibition in a dynamic way. Further work demonstrated that tonic endogenous ACh acting at α7 nAChRs preferentially enhances excitation rather than inhibition. To further investigate if presynaptic α7 nAChRs were expressed selectively on a subset of the many afferent fibres connecting to the PrL, optogenetic methodologies were used to selectively evoke glutamate release from discrete afferent inputs, these experiments revealed α7 nAChRs may potentially reside on thalamic inputs to the PrL.


Considering the importance of epistemological beliefs in students' learning process and how students reach knowledge; this study explored contributions of metacognitive awareness level to students' scientific epistemological beliefs. Discipline Focused Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire and Metacognitive Awareness Inventory were administrated to 250 eight graders. Correlation analysis indicated that both knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition dimensions of Metacognition related with certainty/simplicity of knowledge, source of knowledge, attainability of truth dimensions of epistemological beliefs. Multiple Regression Correlation analysis, however, revealed that the model that includes regulation of cognition reached statistical significance and explained 11% of the variation in certainty/simplicity of knowledge; (F= 14.772, p  .05) and 7% of variation in attainability of truth (F= 8.396, p  .05). The positive beta values indicated that students controlling all aspect of their learning tended to see scientific knowledge as more certain, simple as well as more attainable.


Abstract Interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues is at an all-time high. However, academic research is still relatively nascent, often leading us to apply gut feel on the grounds that ESG is too urgent to wait for peer-reviewed research. This paper highlights how the insights of mainstream economics can be applied to ESG, once we realize that ESG is no different to other investments with long-term financial and social returns. A large literature on corporate finance studies how to value investments; asset pricing explores how the stock market prices risks; welfare economics investigates externalities; optimal contracting considers how to achieve multiple objectives; private benefits analyze manager and investor preferences beyond shareholder value; and agency theory helps ensure that managers pursue shareholder preferences, including non-financial preferences. I identify how conventional thinking on ten common ESG myths is overturned when applying the insights of mainstream economics.


Regional water scarcity has motivated the South Central Texas Regional Water Planning Group to actively develop water management plans to address long-/short-term regional water needs. This study, therefore, develops an integrated Edwards Aquifer groundwater and river system simulation model to determine the "best" choice of regional water management plans using mixed-integer linear programming. The economic, hydrologic, and environmental consequences of the "best" choice of regional and other water management plans and options are evaluated and compared. Results indicate a tradeoff between the economic and environmental benefits. A slight decrease in economic benefit results in a substantial increase in environmental benefit.


This thesis is an exploratory study into the decision-making process of Latin American migrants in the United Kingdom identifying common trends in the factors that drive the formation of migrant enclave economies, including the decisions to migrate, start a business and strategies to resource it from within the network. For the past fifteen years Latin American migration to the UK has steadily grown in numbers and unlike their predecessors who came to the UK as political refugees, these individuals are mostly economic migrants attracted by the low levels of unemployment and earnings which they can remit to their families in their countries of origin. This community like many other new migrant groups in the UK remains largely under-researched and 'invisible' therefore vulnerable to exclusion, discrimination and exploitation.
Using a qualitative methodological approach including 20 in-depth interviews and 113 completed surveys, this research found evidence in the Latin American migrants of a process of arrival and settlement in which there is a dependency on informal networks through migration, business formation, and access to economic and financial resources. The research found that Latin American migrants followed a 'herding' attitude in terms of their dependency on the networks for information, resources and decision-making in general. This reduced the risks involved in migration and the difficulties finding sources of income.
Outside of the network's span of control Latin American migrants were found to have perceptions of discrimination given the economic opportunities available to them mostly in low-wage, manual service jobs. Their common assumption is that this is due to local indifference towards their overseas references and accreditations, their limited English skills or heavily accented pronunciation, or in a few cases prejudices towards foreigners. While the network played a central role in providing information and resources for the decisions, the herding effect caused by perceptions of barriers to opportunities both at their home country and destination were found to be the key driver for migrating, starting a business, and finding the necessary resources.
The findings of this research are limited by the 'invisibility' of the Latin American community in the UK: the representativeness of the sample is unknown given there are no records or data on the overall number of Latin American merchants in the UK. Also, since the migration and legal status of these individuals and their ventures is also unknown, it is difficult to validate the information provided by the subjects interviewed and surveyed.
The key conclusion for policy makers from these limited findings is that immigration into the UK from Latin America appears to be a process driven by group decisions and shaped by the information and resources of transnational informal networks. To influence it, they must first engage the community in the UK and manage the expectations of potential migrants by taking a more active role in the transfer of information through informal networks.


Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) is an Alphaherpesvirus infecting not only horses but also other equid and non-equid mammals. It can cause respiratory distress, stillbirth and neonatal death, abortion, and neurological disease. The different forms of disease induced by EHV-1 infection can have dramatic consequences on the equine industry, and thus the virus represents a great challenge for the equine and scientific community. This report describes the progress of a major EHV-1 outbreak that took place in Normandy in 2009, during which the three forms of disease were observed. A collection of EHV-1 strains isolated in France and Belgium from 2012 to 2018 were subsequently genetically analysed in order to characterise EHV-1 strain circulation. The open reading frame 30 (ORF30) non-neuropathogenic associated mutation A2254 was the most represented among 148 samples analysed in this study. ORF30 was also sequenced for 14 strains and compared to previously published sequences. Finally, a more global phylogenetic approach was performed based on a recently described Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) method. French and Belgian strains were clustered with known strains isolated in United Kingdom and Ireland, with no correlation between the phylogeny and the time of collection or location. This new MLST approach could be a tool to help understand epidemics in stud farms.


IL-17 plays an important role in host defense and autoimmunity via the induction of proinflammatory gene expression, particularly in combination with TNF-α. The molecular mechanisms by which IL-17 regulates such expression are not well understood. Using the mouse chemokine CXCL1 (KC) gene as a model, we have examined the effects of IL-17 alone or in combination with TNF-α on transcriptional and posttranscriptional events. Although treatment of mouse embryonic fibroblasts with IL-17 alone only modestly increased KC expression, the combination of IL-17 with TNF-α induced a synergistic response. IL-17 treatment exerted a strong posttranscriptional effect by extending the t1/2 of the highly unstable, TNF-α-induced KC mRNA. Using a tetracycline-regulated transgene in HeLa cells, we determined that IL-17 treatment alone promoted stabilization of KC mRNA in the absence of TNF-α. IL-17 treatment exerted little effect on KC transcription or NF-κB activation, suggesting that it primarily acts posttranscriptionally. We identified a number of other mRNAs whose t1/2 are prolonged in response to IL-17, suggesting that this is a common mechanism by which IL-17 promotes enhanced gene expression. Finally, activator of NF-κB1 protein (Act1), an adaptor protein recently implicated in IL-17 signaling, was necessary for IL-17-induced stabilization, and overexpression of Act1 resulted in stabilization of KC mRNA, indicating that events downstream of Act1 are sufficient to initiate this process. Thus, the synergy between TNF-α and IL-17 reflects their independent actions on KC gene expression; TNF-α serves as a stimulus to initiate transcription through activation of NF-κB, whereas IL-17 drives mRNA stabilization through an Act1-dependent pathway.


The results of an experiment are presented in which the presence of interference structure in the light scattered from a thin transparent plate is demonstrated. These results, in analogy with those obtained in a similar, previously reported x-ray scattering experiment, are analyzed in terms of the coherent interference between the components of the radiation nonspecularly scattered at the two surfaces of the transparent plate.


Risk perception and communication are amongst the most critical topics of our time, if governance is to be successful in helping to circumnavigate the identified complex risks and "wicked" problems. But is there significant dissent within the scientific community about the pressing global environmental issues and energy challenges? Are the related risks perceived differently even amongst specialists from the northern and southern hemispheres, such as Europe and Australasia? We argue that there is a strong agreement within the scientific community on the problems that we face and that we share a similar vision for the challenges that should be prioritised. So why is the broader community so slow to respond? Clearly there is a discrepancy between "us" and "them" in the risks perceived. It is our responsibility as well-informed scientists to bridge the gap and faithfully communicate with governments, industry and the public worldwide so that we can promote good governance and evidence-based decision-making.