ABSTRACT Vesicular sand is composed of air bubbles trapped in sand. The vesicles flatten with depth due to the weight of overburden. This paper describes a method of studying the degree of compaction with depth. To quantify sphericity vesicles were compared with the Rittenhouse visual estimation chart and a division between vesicles and non-vesicles (channel-pores) made. The vesicles were divided by the chart into spherical, ellipsoidal, or flattened vesicles. Size of vesicles was taken to be a function of density--the smaller the size, the more vesicles per unit area. Degree of compaction was quantified by recording decreasing mean sphericity of the vesicles with depth, decreasing percentages of vesicles to channel pores and of spherical to flattened vesicles with depth. Flattening occurred s ddenly rather than steadily with depth, due to the strength of the vesicles being overcome by the sediment load. The lower level of vesicle existence was due, however, not to destruction by weight of overburden but through poorly-aerated saturated sand inhibiting vesicle formation.


Coastal reclamation is becoming a popular mode of expanding the landmass for economic activity in Southeast Asian cities. However, this activity comes at a price in terms of its adverse impact to the environment which mainly arises from landfill, sand quarrying and construction process.
Current land development scenario has shown that there is no stopping point to coastal development and reclamation. Reclamation on coastal land usually confronted with issues such as marine and wetland pollution, coral reef ecosystem disturbances, aquatic resource depletion, degradation of
natural scenery and coastal activities for recreation, housing and industrial developments. These issues will be continuously of great concern to all relevant people especially to environmentalists, planners and developers.
To achieve a sustainable development and enhancing the ecosystem service, it is important to understand the process of coastal reclamation and its impacts to the environment so that any negative consequences could be
minimized. The paper reviews the subject matter based on the records from local and international publications especially from Department of Environment Malaysia. As such, it highlights findings from the review based
on two fundamental frameworks for coastal reclamation which explain coastal reclamation impacts to physical environment and community living in it. The study implicates that knowledge on the coastal reclamation is able to contribute to a better planning and design of built environment.


Using first principles calculations combined with the quasiharmonic approach, we study the effects of temperature on the elastic constants, generalized stacking fault energies, and generalized planar fault energies of Ni3 Al. The antiphase boundary energies, complex stacking fault energies, superlattice intrinsic stacking fault energies, and twinning energies decrease slightly with temperature. Temperature dependent anomalous yield stress of Ni3 Al is predicted by the energybased criterion based on elastic anisotropy and antiphase boundary energies. It is found that p increases with temperature and this can give a more accurate description of the anomalous yield stress in Ni3 Al. Furthermore, the predicted twinnablity of Ni3 Al is also decreasing with temperature.


The RuO2 thin films have been deposited onto glass substrates by rf reactive magnetron sputtering at different deposition conditions, such as different substrate temperatures, different sputtering pressures and different reactive gas pressures, using a metallic target. The deposited films have been characterized by the X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. By analysis of data of the X-ray diffraction, it has been found that all the films are subject to a compressive stress. The residual stress in these films can be released by increasing the substrate temperature. In addition, the films, which have been prepared at the oxygen partial pressure higher than 1 x 10-3 mbar and at the total pressure lower than 6 x 10-3 mbar, show a quite high residual stress because the films peeled off automatically from the substrates when they were moved out from the vacuum chamber. Three Raman models (Eg, A1g and B2g) have been observed in all the Raman spectra. These Raman spectra have shown a strong relation with the residual stress in the films. As the residual stress increases, the Raman peaks move toward to the low wavenumber comparing to the standard value. In addition, the residual stress also results in the disappearance of the A1g Raman mode. In this work, these phenomena will be discussed.


Despite the recent success of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), training GNNs on large graphs remains challenging. The limited resource capacities of the existing servers, the dependency between nodes in a graph, and the privacy concern due to the centralized storage and model learning have spurred the need to design an effective distributed algorithm for GNN training. However, existing distributed GNN training methods impose either excessive communication costs or large memory overheads that hinders their scalability. To overcome these issues, we propose a communication-efficient distributed GNN training technique named $\text{{Learn Locally, Correct Globally}}$ (LLCG). To reduce the communication and memory overhead, each local machine in LLCG first trains a GNN on its local data by ignoring the dependency between nodes among different machines, then sends the locally trained model to the server for periodic model averaging. However, ignoring node dependency could result in significant performance degradation. To solve the performance degradation, we propose to apply $\text{{Global Server Corrections}}$ on the server to refine the locally learned models. We rigorously analyze the convergence of distributed methods with periodic model averaging for training GNNs and show that naively applying periodic model averaging but ignoring the dependency between nodes will suffer from an irreducible residual error. However, this residual error can be eliminated by utilizing the proposed global corrections to entail fast convergence rate. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets show that LLCG can significantly improve the efficiency without hurting the performance.


This article examines the relationship between Shakespeare and Marlowe as it has been portrayed in biographical forms in the early twenty-first century. Just six months before the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Katherine Duncan-Jones's biography of Shakespeare, entitled Ungentle Shakespeare, burst on the scene and the political landscape was as altered as the biographical renderings of the two playwrights. I begin my survey with a brief review of Duncan-Jones's book, before focusing on biographical works which followed hers to show how twenty-first-century biography has already re-written the relationship.


This paper investigates the relationship between emotion and European energy forward prices of oil, gas, coal and electricity during normal times and periods of extreme price movements relying on the biorhythm approach. To this end, we use the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) variable to study the impact of emotion on energy market dynamics. Estimating OLS and quantile regressions, we find that seasonal patterns have a significant impact during extreme volatility periods only. Further investigations reveal that the SAD affect is significant during periods of price decrease, but insignificant during priceincrease. The out-of-sample predictive ability properties are also investigated and show that our "SAD model" outperforms significantly the pure "macroeconomic one".


Over several years, there have been intensive discussions about the importance of knowledge management (KM) within the business community. Effectively implementing a sound KM strategy and becoming a knowledge‐based company is seen as a mandatory condition of success for organizations as they enter the era of the knowledge economy. However, standardized metrics are needed to quantify knowledge and to fully convince management and stakeholders as to the value of KM initiatives. Development of KM metrics has begun in recent years and these metrics are being applied by some organizations, but more research is needed to better define these measures and to make them universal. The purpose of this research is to survey and report the current measures of knowledge assets or intellectual capital, as well as the methods that are popularly being followed by organizations to measure the performance of KM strategies. The research findings should: assist organizations in identifying the measures that are appropriate and suitable for them, for improving the quality of metrics they use for measuring KM effectiveness; and assist researchers in identifying future research needs toward the standardization of KM measurement metrics.


Silicon-on-insulator films were formed by ion implantation of oxygen and were treated with various annealing cycles at peak temperatures of 1150 °C, 1200 °C, and 1250 °C in a conventional diffusion furnace. The objective of this study was to examine the structural effects on samples with similar oxygen diffusion lengths (from 17 to 33 μm) achieved by annealing at different times and temperatures. The oxygen and silicon distributions, as well as the residual damage and precipitate size and distribution, were measured by Auger electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. In agreement with previous findings, higher temperatures produced a larger and less defective, "precipitate-free" superficial Si region. The buried oxide layer thickened from 0.33 μm to a maximum of 0.43 μm as some precipitates were incorporated into the buried oxide while others adjacent to the buried oxide grew in size (up to 47 nm) and decreased in relative number. A new result of this systematic study of annealing conditions was that the peak temperature has a greater effect on the morphology and crystal quality of the superficial Si structure than does time at temperature. Structural changes for longer anneals at 1150 °C are not equivalent to shorter anneals at 1250 °C even though the diffusion length of oxygen for these treatments is the same.


Polarized neutron scattering has been used to determine the changes in the distribution of unpaired electrons which take place in the martensitic transition in Ni2MnGa. Ni2MnGa is a ferromagnetic Heusler alloy which undergoes a reversible transition at about 220 K from a high temperature cubic phase to a low temperature tetragonal one. It has been suggested, on the basis of band structure calculations, that the structural phase transition is driven by a band Jahn-Teller distortion involving redistribution of electrons between 3d sub-bands of different symmetries. The results of the neutron scattering experiments show that the transition from the cubic to the tetragonal phase is accompanied by a transfer of magnetic moment from Mn to Ni. The unpaired electrons in the cubic phase have overall eg symmetry. In the tetragonal phase, the degeneracy of the eg and t2g bands is raised and the unpaired electrons are redistributed in such a way that the sub-bands based on orbitals extending towards the c-axis are preferentially occupied. Although the experimental moments differ in detail from those expected from band structure calculations, the change in symmetry of the magnetization distribution is consistent with a band Jahn-Teller origin for the phase transition.


A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was formed using an inorganic polymer by a sol-gel process. The monomers which were used to synthesize the inorganic polymer were tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), triethoxymethylsilane (MTES), and triethoxyphenylsilane (PTES). Caffeine was chosen as a template for the molecular imprinting, and theophylline was chosen as the analogous counterpart compound. The discriminating ability of the synthesized MIP to these two-compounds was estimated in this study. The MIP showed the highest discriminating ability when the ratio of TEOS:MTES: PTES in the synthesis of the inorganic polymer was 1:1:3, the reaction temperature was 50?C, and the pH of the reaction system was ~6.5.


Abstract Indochina is a biodiversity hot spot and harbors a high number of endemic species, most of which are poorly studied. This study explores the genetic structure and reproductive system of the threatened endemic timber species Dalbergia cochinchinensis and Dalbergia oliveri using microsatellite data from populations across Indochina and relates it to landscape characteristics and life‐history traits. We found that the major water bodies in the region, Mekong and Tonle Sap, represented barriers to gene flow and that higher levels of genetic diversity were found in populations in the center of the distribution area, particularly in Cambodia. We suggest that this pattern is ancient, reflecting the demographic history of the species and possible location of refugia during earlier time periods with limited forest cover, which was supported by signs of old genetic bottlenecks. The D. oliveri populations had generally high levels of genetic diversity (mean H e = 0.73), but also strong genetic differentiation among populations (global GST = 0.13), while D. cochinchinensis had a moderate level of genetic diversity (mean H e = 0.55), and an even stronger level of differentiation (global GST = 0.25). These differences in genetic structure can be accounted for by a higher level of gene flow in D. oliveri due to a higher dispersal capacity, but also by the broader distribution area for D. oliveri, and the pioneer characteristics of D. cochinchinensis. This study represents the first detailed analysis of landscape genetics for tree species in Indochina, and the found patterns might be common for other species with similar ecology.


ABSTRACT This article proposes a temporal perspective for understanding the dynamics of political mobilisation around narratives and counter-narratives of European 'union', which extends back to the Cold War period. As a starting point, it focusses on the narratives by far left and far right Groups about European 'union' in the European Parliament during the 1980s. Analysing narrative entrepreneurs and their storytelling during six debates on reforming the European Communities in the mid-1980s, it shows that the far right at the time latched three functional purposes on to its pro-integration narratives: reducing immigration, facilitating economic reform, and providing security against the communist threat. In contrast, large parts of the far left opposed further integration with counter-narratives. It seems that under changing scope conditions like the end of the Cold War and the transformation of the EC into the EU, narrative entrepreneurs were subsequently able to reappropriate their relatively stable narratives for very different functional needs.


The SENTIERI Project represents the first comprehensive analysis of the health impact of residence in National Priority Contaminated Sites (NPCSs). For the first time, it considers three distinct health outcomes: mortality (2003-2010), cancer incidence (1996- 2005) and hospital discharges (2005-2010). The Report includes a commentary explaining methodology and approach, as well as remarks on the causal association between environmental exposures and investigated health outcomes based on the a priori assessments of the epidemiological evidence; the main implications for public health and scientific research priorities are also presented. The approach put forward by SENTIERI was among those sanctioned by the World Health Organization to conduct an initial description of the health status of residents of contaminated sites. Results relating to individual diseases that can be traced back to a single agent, such as asbestiform fibres, can be easily analysed. The Biancavilla NPCS (where the fluoro-edenite asbestiform fibre was found) displays excesses of pleural mesothelioma and its proxy, malignant pleural tumours, as does Priolo, where asbestos coexists with other pollutants. Increased risk was also recorded in NPCSs adjacent to the coast hosting harbour areas (such as Trieste, Taranto and Venice) or comprising industrial areas specialising in the production of chemicals (Laguna di Grado e Marano, Priolo and Venezia) and steel (Taranto, Terni, Trieste). Increases of pathologies, such as cancer and respiratory diseases, connected to more than one agent, in industrial sites with multiple and diverse sources of exposures, prove harder to interpret. There are also more complex cases in which results do not appear consistent in the three databases or by gender (such as lung cancer in Venice, where mortality and hospital discharges have only increased among women). In order to adequately examine these we must consider factors such as the appropriateness of the health outcome showing the increase, considering latency and the length of the observation period. Of further interest are results relating to diseases of the urinary tract such as kidney failure in the NPCSs of Basso bacino del fiume Chienti, Taranto, Milazzo and Priolo. Overall, the results discussed above are consistent with the previous findings pertaining to mortality for 1995-2002. The present analysis also introduces a new element - the study of cancer incidence and hospital discharges - which can tell us a great deal about diseases with high survival rates or non lethal ones. The first is the case of thyroid cancer, which presents increases in both databases and for both genders in a number of NPCSs (Brescia-Caffaro, Laghi di Mantova, Milazzo, Sassuolo- Scandiano and Taranto). The study of cancer incidence and hospital discharges also revealed cancer excesses for melanoma, breast cancer and non Hodgkin lymphoma in Brescia-Caffaro NPCS where PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyl) are the site's main pollutant. PCBs, according to the 2013 evaluation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, are ascertained human carcinogens for melanoma and probable carcinogens for breast cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The results pertaining to cancer incidence in the 17 NPCSs can also be presented using rankings by area or disease analyzed by a multivariate hierarchical Bayesian model. These rankings reveal an overlapping of credibility intervals, such that it is not possible to speak of a limited number of cancer sites or of certain NPCSs as being particularly affected. Every NPCS, therefore, must be considered individually and ordering them by ranking of cancer incidence wouldn't be appropriate. Data collected concerning some of the NPCSs in the context of the SENTIERI Project is so conclusive that remediation measures can immediately be put in place. This is the case in the Biancavilla and Brescia-Caffaro NPCSs. A similar conclusion can be drawn for complex locations such as Taranto, where, based on the results of SENTIERI Projects and the whole available information, we can safely conclude that exposure to environmental agents played an important role, allowing us to set in place 'Integrated evaluation of environmental and health impact procedures'. SENTIERI approach does not allow definitive causal assessments. However, as stated above, these results do provide a topic for further study without getting in the way of initiatives promoting urgent environmental remediation.


Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) can be divided into subgroups of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and unstable angina. ACS carries significant morbidity and mortality and the prompt diagnosis, and appropriate treatment is essential. STEMI diagnosis and management are discussed elsewhere. NSTEMI and Unstable angina are very similar, with NSTEMI having positive cardiac biomarkers. The presentation, diagnosis, and management of NSTEMI are discussed below.[1][2][3]


A survey and assessment of noise level with its impact on mill workers were conducted in two Jute Mills of Chittagong city. These industries are highly noise producers; the workers of such mills are highly prone to noise pollution effect, especially hearing problems. Higher noise level in different working sections of the Jute Mill was recorded which includes the siren played, noise from the main entrance, mill's gate and inside the factory. These high levels of noise are much higher than standard and acceptable noise level. The hearing loss of mill workers were determined by producing artificial noise from various distances (5 to 200 feet) and the listening power of different workers was measured. Workers having longer working periods (from 6 months to 2, 5, 10 and 20 years) were not able to hear noise as compared to a normal or less working period person (6 months or new). The experiment suggests that the workers are obviously affected by high noise production of the mills and gradually losing their ability to listen.

 Key words: Noise pollution, hearing loss, jute mills.


The proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) has been linked to sphingolipid‐cholesterol microdomains (rafts). However, the raft proteases that may be involved in APP cleavage have not yet been identified. In this work we present evidence that the protease plasmin is restricted to rafts of cultured hippocampal neurons. We also show that plasmin increases the processing of human APP preferentially at the α‐cleavage site, and efficiently degrades secreted amyloidogenic and non‐amyloidogenic APP fragments. These results suggest that brain plasmin plays a preventive role in APP amyloidogenesis. Consistently, we show that brain tissue from Alzheimer's disease patients contains reduced levels of plasmin, implying that plasmin downregulation may cause amyloid plaque deposition accompanying sporadic Alzheimer's disease.


In this study, the performance of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) cell enhanced by using double layer microchannel heat sink (DL-MCHS) with nanofluid is investigated. Pure ethanol and 0.2 % Vol. Al2O3-ethanol are utilized to reduce the solar cell temperature under indoor solar concentration ratio of 5.7 Suns. The designed DL-MCHS is monolithically fabricated from Maraging steel using 3D metal printer. The experimental results showed that using parallel flow (PF) operation mode of the designed DL-MCHS is favourable for cooling the CPV system compared with the counter flow (CF) operation mode. In the cooled CPV using PF mode, the open circuit voltage enhancement is about 12.7% in comparison to the uncooled case. The nanofluid results also showed a reduction in the solar cell temperature in comparison with the pure coolant. The current results can be used as a validation step for accurate numerical modelling of nanofluid applications in CPV system cooling.


To solve the problem of detecting the permeability of the textile machinery, a dedicated test system has been developed based on the pressure difference measuring method. The established system has a number of advantages including simple, fast and accurate. The mathematical model of influencing factors for permeability is derived based on fluid theory, and the relationship of these parameters is achieved. Further investigations are directed towards the inherent characteristics of the control system. Based on the established model and measuring features, an information fusion based clustering control system is proposed to implement the measurement. Using this mechanical structure, a PID control system and a cluster control system have been developed. Simulation and experimental tests are carried out to examine the performance of the established system. It is noted that the clustering method has a high dynamic performance and control accuracy. This cluster fusion control method has been successfully utilized in powder metallurgy collar permeability testing.


Patients with breast cancer and bone destruction were found to have a pattern of calcium metabolism which was broadly similar to that found in other malignancies, but different from that in primary hyperparathyroidism. Thus, they tended to have reduced absorption of calcium from the intestine, elevated endogenous faecal calcium and normal or reduced urinary cyclic AMP excretion. Since prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors have been shown to inhibit breast cancer-induced osteolysis in vitro we have attempted to reduce bone destruction and serum calcium in patients with hypercalcaemia complicating breast cancer using these agents. High doses failed to reduce the serum calcium or the urinary hydroxyproline: creatinine ratio in ten patients with skeletal metastases, four of whom had hypercalcaemia.


Since the introduction of online HTTP-cookies, the technology has been widely discussed, both in terms of its actual function, as well as what it can do to users' behaviors on the Internet. Cookies are small unique text files found within websites on the Internet that can collect and store personal information in order to enhance the users' experience, as well as to provide the website with essential information about the user.By a literature review that was conducted on the subject, an unawareness among Internet users of how websites use cookies was found. Most users do not know what kind of information a cookie can store and how their privacy today can be violated.With this in mind, we conducted a internet based survey and a focus group interview to study journalism students and media and communication students knowledge about websites usage of cookies and furthermore, how the students opine the technology. This, since they are expected to have a higher knowledge than the general student about the subject since they are studying to assumably work within branches where they may have important parts regarding ICT in the future.By applying Michel Foucault theory Panopticon, Jurgen Habermas The Public Sphere and Sandra Petronio's Communication Privacy Management Theory to the result of the study, we could see that there is a general unawareness among the students about what kind of information a cookie can collect. Also, the students express negative opinions regarding this harvesting of information, yet little effort is made to obstruct or deny web sites' use of cookies.


Objective: Infections with Borrelia burgdorferi can cause Lyme disease with multiorganic involvement such as (myo)carditis or joint manifestations. Musculoskeletal complaints possibly mimicking some of these symptoms are common among elite athletes. This study aimed to determine seroprevalence and incidence of B. burgdorferi antibodies in professional football players. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: Healthy professional football players. Participants: Five hundred thirty-five men in the first and second German league. Interventions: Two screening assays were used to examine immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) against B. burgdorferi: an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and a chemiluminescence assay (CLIA). In case of a positive or equivocal result, an immunoblot including in vivo antigens was performed. Main Outcome Measures: Course of IgM and IgG against B. burgdorferi in overall 1529 blood samples. Results: A total of 96.4% of all results were concordant between EIA and CLIA. Considering only samples with identical results in both assays, prevalence was 1.6%. A positive IgM was detected in 2.3%. No player showed any symptoms of Lyme disease. A seroconversion to IgG was not found. Three players developed a positive IgM corresponding to an incidence of 1032/100 000 person-years. Depending on the assay, 49% to 75% of positive or equivocal screening results could not be confirmed by immunoblot. Conclusions: Seroprevalence and incidence of B. burgdorferi among healthy male professional football players are low. Therefore, infections with B. burgdorferi have to be regarded a rare differential diagnosis in professional football in Central Europe. The low confirmation rate of positive screening assays points to an unspecific immune activation.


INTRODUCTION
Despite increased heated tobacco product (HTP) marketing in the US, little is known about HTP perceptions and correlates of HTP use and use intentions among young adults.

METHODS
Using 2020 cross-sectional data from 2,470 young adults (ages 18-34) from 6 US metropolitan areas, we conducted exploratory factor analysis to identify factors regarding perceived utility/appeal of HTPs, specifically IQOS, and examined these factors in relation to lifetime HTP use and use intentions, using multivariable logistic and linear regression, respectively.

RESULTS
19.1% had heard of HTPs and 4.1% ever used HTPs; 14.7% had heard of IQOS specifically and 2.8% were ever-users. Use intentions were low (M=1.27, scale: 1=not at all to 7=extremely). Factor analysis identified 5 perceived utility/appeal factors: innovation (M=3.17, scale: 1=not at all to 7=extremely), cigarette substitute (M=2.99), and youth appeal (M=2.82), e-cigarette/nicotine substitute (M=2.36), and fashionable (M=2.04). Controlling for sociodemographics and other tobacco use, perceiving IQOS as more fashionable and e-cigarette substitutes positively correlated with lifetime HTP use (aOR=1.60, 95%CI=1.17, 2.17; aOR=1.48, 95%CI=1.11, 1.97, respectively) and use intentions (β=0.26, 95%CI=0.21, 0.30; β=0.14, 95%CI=0.09, 0.18); perceiving IQOS as cigarette substitutes negatively correlated with ever use (aOR=0.74, 95%CI=0.56, 0.97) and use intentions (β=-0.06, 95%CI=-0.10, -0.03). Correlation patterns were similar among past-month cigarette, e-cigarette, and any-tobacco users.

CONCLUSIONS
Although HTP awareness and use were low, monitoring HTP perceptions and reasons for use as HTPs become more prominent is critical in anticipating their potential impact, particularly as more products seek FDA authorization to use reduced risk or exposure marketing claims.

IMPLICATIONS
Awareness, ever use, and intentions to use heated tobacco products (HTPs) were low among US young adults in 2020. Perceiving IQOS as fashionable and an e-cigarette substitute were positively correlated with ever use and intention to use HTPs. In addition, perceiving IQOS as a cigarette substitute was negatively correlated with ever use of HTPs and HTP use intentions. Continued surveillance on perceptions and use behaviors is needed to better understand use patterns, intentions to use, and reasons for using HTPs.


There was the objective to improve the results of treatment in patients, suffering hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with vena cava invasion by the tumor. In the main group a hepatic resection with the portal vein resection and portoplasty was performed in 21 patients, suffering HCC with vena cava invasion by the tumor of second-third degree (according to J. Shi, 2007); in a control group in 61 patients, suffering the portal vein tumoral invasion of first degree, the hepatic resection only was done. The mortality have constituted 9.5% in the main group and 8.1%--in a control one. The 5-year survival index have constituted 11.5%--in the main group and 25.3%--in a control one. The aggressive surgical tactics application for HCC with portal vein tumoral invasion permits to enhance the indices of the patients far-remote survival.


Chinese C2C market grows rapidly. However, it is plagued by serious trust fraud problems. The level of price dispersion in C2C platforms is relatively high. The mixed interaction between "lemons market" problem and high level of price dispersion makes it hard for buyers to identify trustworthy sellers with low price. We are interested in the generation of initial trust and purchase intention when the buyers search a product and receive a list of widely distributed prices, rather than a list of narrowly distributed prices. However, limited knowledge can be gained from previous studies regarding this issue. This study puts forward a theoretical model to explain how price dispersion interacts with other important factors in C2C purchase (e.g. initial trust, perceived risk, perceived value and purchase intention). Product type (hightouch/low-touch) is taken into consideration as well since the level of uncertainty faced by buyers is different. A proposal for experiment is described. This research-in-progress has the potential to lead to various theoretical and practical implications. For example, the results will enhance the literature on trust, help buyers do better purchase decision, assist sellers in designing pricing strategy, and be utilized by platforms to propose new mechanisms.


Character size has a significant impact on the task completion performance of the touch operator, and the long voyage has an impact on the cognition of the operator. Based on the interface display design requirements, this study took characters in the interface as the object to explore the influence of different character display sizes (5, 8, 13, 20.5, 33 pounds) on the operation performance of operators under the background of long voyage. The results show that the click response time of different character sizes has a significant effect on the long voyage background, and the character display of information system needs a larger size in the middle of the long voyage


The representation of the distribution of knowledge guides information gathering, help seeking, and communication. The research aimed to explore adults' and 4-year-olds' representation of the distribution of common (conventional and procedural) knowledge and expert knowledge associated with five occupations in their community. In addition, we examined estimates of occupation-related everyday (nonexpert) knowledge. Both groups estimated that common knowledge is more widely held than expert knowledge, with everyday knowledge in between. For adults, but not children, the distribution of expert knowledge was correlated with estimates of the proportion of people in each occupation.


Ozone (O3), a major component of photochemical air pollution, is a strong oxidizing agent and highly toxic. Resident alveolar macrophages (AM) play an important immunomodulatory role in the lung via suppression of lymphocyte proliferation, thus limiting the magnitude and duration of local immune responses. Nitric oxide (NO) plays a crucial role in the immunosuppressive activity of AM. However, during immunoinflammatory responses, microenvironmental changes within the alveoli inhibit this AM function, permitting full expression of local T-cell-mediated immune responses. We hypothesize that similar changes in AM function may occur during inflammation induced by exposure to inorganic air pollutants, such as O3. In order to test this hypothesis, in the present study, we investigated (1) whether O3 exposure of rats might affect the immunosuppressive activity and NO production of bronchoalveolar lavage cells (BAL cells) and (2) whether changes in the microenvironment of the alveoli induced by O3 exposure can affect the immunosuppressive activity and NO production of AM. AM-mediated immunosuppressive activity was measured as inhibition of concanavalin A (Con A)-induced proliferation of lymph node cells (LNC). Bronchoalveolar lavage was used to sample the alveolar microenvironment, and the resulting fluid (BALF) was tested for capacity to modulate AM activity in the cultures. BALF and BAL cells from rats exposed to 1 ppm O3 or filtered air for 3 days were used. The present results demonstrate that BAL cells isolated from O3-exposed rats suppressed Con A-induced LNC proliferation and produced NO in the same manner as BAL cells (AM) from air-exposed rats. AM-mediated suppressive activity of LNC proliferation and NO production were markedly inhibited by BALF from O3-exposed but not from air-exposed rats. These results suggested that AM-mediated immunosuppressive activity in vivo may be inhibited by the O3-induced release of soluble factors which inhibit NO production by AM.


The diagnosis of keratoma in 7 horses and their treatment and outcome were evaluated. Horses were 2 to 20 years old, of various breeds, and were intact or castrated males. All were lame, and 6 horses had had previous injuries of the affected hoof that had not responded to prior treatments. Only 1 hoof was affected in each horse. Keratomas were beneath the hoof wall (6 horses) or sole (1 horse). Radiographically, a circular or semicircular defect with a discrete margin was present in the distal portion of the third phalanx in 3 horses. Grossly, keratomas were firm solitary masses (1.5 to 5 cm diameter); gray, tan, or yellow; and oval or conical. Keratomas were excised from beneath the hoof wall by removing a section of hoof wall (5 horses) or by undermining the wall beginning at its junction with the sole (1 horse). A keratoma beneath the sole in 1 horse was excised by excavating the sole to the level of the palmar surface of the third phalanx. Keratoma was verified microscopically by the presence of characteristic rings of squamous epithelial cells with abundant keratin. Purulent exudate and inflammatory infiltrate often were present concurrently, reflecting an associated localized infection. Aftercare included daily application of an antiseptic iodine solution and foot bandages, and shoeing with a treatment plate several weeks after surgery. Hoof and sole defects healed completely between 6 months and 1 year. By 1 year after surgery, 6 horses were sound, and keratoma had not recurred.


This report presents the results of a partly explorative and partly hypotheses based interview study with eight renowned Information Systems researchers. The study was performed with the objective to re-construct the development and status of the discipline taking advantage of the diverse perspectives and experiences of respected researchers. They have been in the field from its beginning and have not only observed the field's development but have shaped it, for example through the initiation of conferences and associations, curriculum efforts and by establishing new Information Systems departments. The research results show, that the young Information Systems discipline aimed at overcoming the initial lack of academic legitimacy by adhering to business schools' requirements for "scientific" research. Today, academic credibility to a certain extent has been achieved through highly respected journals and business school support has increased. However, no significant research results that impacted practice could be identified and the Information Systems discipline is – by related disciplines – still not understood as having a valuable academic assignment.


As CMOS feature size is reaching atomic dimensions, unjustifiable static power, reliability, and economic implications are exacerbating, thereby prompting for conducting research on new materials, devices, and/or computation paradigms. Within this context, graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), owing to graphene's excellent electronic properties, may serve as basic structures for carbon-based nanoelectronics. In this paper, we make use of the fact that GNR behavior can be modulated via top/back gate contacts to mimic a given functionality and combine complementary GNRs for constructing Boolean gates. We first introduce a generic gate structure composed of a pull-up GNR performing the gate Boolean function and a pull-down GNR performing its complement. Then, we seek GNR dimensions and gate topologies required for the design of 1-, 2-, and 3-input graphene-based Boolean gates, validate the proposed gates by means of SPICE simulation, which makes use of a non-equilibrium Green's function Landauer formalism based Verilog-A model to calculate GNR conductance, and evaluate their performance with respect to propagation delay, power consumption, and active area footprint. Simulation results indicate that, when compared with 7 nm FinFET CMOS counterparts, the proposed gates exhibit <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{6}\times$</tex-math></inline-formula> to 2 orders of magnitude smaller propagation delay, 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower power consumption, and necessitate 2 orders of magnitude smaller active area footprint. We further present full adder (FA) and SRAM cell GNR designs, as they are currently fundamental components for the construction of any computation system. For an effective FA implementation, we introduce a 3-input MAJORITY gate, which apart of being able to directly compute FA's carry-out is an essential element in the implementation of error correcting codes codecs, which outperforms the CMOS equivalent carry-out calculation circuit by 2 and 3 orders of magnitude in terms of delay and power consumption, respectively, while requiring 2 orders of magnitude less area. The proposed FA exhibits <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{6.2}\times$</tex-math></inline-formula> smaller delay, 3 orders of magnitude less power consumption, while requiring 2 orders of magnitude less area, when compared with the 7 nm FinFET CMOS counterpart. However, because of the effective carry-out circuitry, a GNR-based <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$</tex-math></inline-formula>-bit ripple carry adder, whose performance is linear in the carry-out path, will be <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{108}\times$</tex-math></inline-formula> faster than an equivalent CMOS implementation. The GNR-based SRAM cell provides a slightly better resilience to dc-noise characteristics, while performance-wise has a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{3.6}\times$</tex-math></inline-formula> smaller delay, consumes 2 orders of magnitude less power, and requires 1 order of magnitude less area than the CMOS equivalent. These results clearly indicate that the proposed GNR-based approach is opening a promising avenue toward future competitive carbon-based nanoelectronics.


Acute low pressure assists lung function, specially the impaired ones. COPD cases have been observed, studied. Ease of expiration occurs due to low pressure {cyclones}, which in turn becauses relief, that wanes with the pass of the cyclone. K + disregulation has been suggested as the cause of anoxia and acute pulmonary distress in asthma. Low pressure also assists labor. A reduction in central core pressure of the order 40 mb (hPa) is always noted with very sever cyclones. A unique ever present low pressure region is reported from India. It has a coastal location (Dahod-Gujarat-western India) and fair weather-with rainlessness. On ground co-relation is done and ease of labor is noted as collinear phenomena. On geographical basis Dahod is compared with another location (Sambalpore-Odisa) on the eastern sea board of India. The contrast is presented in tabulated form based on 30 yrs. average. Numerous interesting and fruitful observations have been adduced. Globally 1st time report. Will assist numerous such studies.


Abstract. With the ongoing warming of the globe, it is important to quantify changes in the recent behaviour of extreme events given their impacts on human health, infrastructure and the natural environment. We use the sub-daily, multi-variate, station-based HadISD dataset to study the changes in the statistical distributions of temperature, dewpoint temperature and wind speeds. Firstly, we use zonally averaged quantities to show that the lowest temperatures during both day and night are changing more rapidly than the highest, with the effect more pronounced in the northern high latitudes. Along with an increases in the zonally-averaged mean temperature, the standard deviation has decreased and the skew increased (increasing positive tail/decreasing negative tail) over the last 45 years, again with a stronger, more robust signal at higher latitudes. Changes in the distribution of dewpoint temperature are similar to those of temperature. However, changes in the distribution of wind speeds indicate a more rapid change at higher speeds than at lower. Secondly, to assess in more detail the spatial distribution of changes as well as across seasons and hours of the day we study each station individually. For stations which show clear indications of change in the statistical moments, the higher the statistical moment, generally the more spatially heterogenous the patterns of change. The standard deviation of temperatures are increasing in a band stretching from Europe through to China, but are decreasing across North America and in the high northern latitudes, indicating broadening and narrowing of the distributions respectively. Large seasonal differences are found in the change of standard deviations of temperatures over North America and eastern China. Temperatures in Eastern Asia also have increasing skew in the winter in contrast to the remainder of the year. The dewpoint temperatures show smaller variation in all of the moments, but similar patterns to the temperatures. For wind speeds, apart from the USA, standard deviations are decreasing across the world, indicating a decrease in variability. Finally, we use quantile regression to show changes in the percentiles of distributions over time. These show an increase of high quantiles of temperature in eastern Europe during the summer, and also in northern Europe for low quantiles in the winter, also indicating broadening and narrowing of the distributions respectively. In North America, the largest changes are at the lower quantiles in northern latitudes for autumn and winter. Quantiles of dewpoint temperature are changing most in the autumn and winter, especially in the northern parts of Europe.


©Copyright 2021 by the International Society for Pelviperineology / Pelviperineology published by Galenos Publishing House. 67 Pelviperineology 2021;40(2):67-75 Objective: Pelvic Floor Muscle Group Therapy (PFMGT) is an effective treatment option in the general population. However, the effect of therapy during pregnancy and shortly thereafter is unclear. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of PFMGT in peri-partum women with UI compared to care-as-usual. Materials and Methods: Two randomized controlled trials: study 1: pregnant women and study 2: 6 weeks post-partum women, were performed. The primary outcome was UI severity based on the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short form (ICIQ-UI SF). Secondary outcomes were the Global Impression of Severity (GPE) measuring patient's self-reported improvement and the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 (IIQ-7), measuring UI impact. Descriptive and univariate analysis were reported and the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare differences between groups. Results: Inclusion numbers could not be met, and therefore all women received individual Pelvic floor muscles training (PFMT). Study 1 showed no significant results regarding the prevalence of UI (ICIQ-UI SF), GPE and IIQ-7 at any measurement moment. As compared to baseline, study 2 showed a significant improvement for prevalence of UI and impact of UI at 4 months post-partum, however there was no significant difference between groups at other measurement moments. Significant subjective improvement was seen at 4 and 9 months post-partum, in favor of the PFMT group (p=0.02). Conclusion: PFMT, started after childbirth, demonstrated improved UI and quality of life with a lower number of complaints at the 4 months post-partum assessment. However, the full potential of effectiveness of PFMT could not be established due to insufficient inclusions.


Sepsis, as a complex entity, comprises multiple pathophysiological mechanisms which bring about high morbidity and mortality. The previous studies showed that the gastrointestinal tract is damaged during sepsis, and its main symptoms include increased permeability, bacterial translocation (BT), and malabsorption. BT is the invasion of indigenous intestinal bacteria via the gut mucosa to other tissues. It occurs in pathological conditions such as disruption of the intestine's ecological balance and mucosal barrier permeability, immunosuppression, and oxidative stress through transcellular/paracellular pathways and initiate an excessive systemic inflammatory response. Thereby, recent clinical and preclinical studies focus on the association between sepsis and intestinal barrier dysfunction. This chapter overviews the current knowledge about the molecular basis of BT of the intestine, its role in the progress of sepsis, detection of BT, and actual therapeutic approaches.


Over the past fifteen years, the agricultural biotechnology industry has exhibited cyclical behavior in concentration and consolidation. This paper provides a theoretical model of endogenous R&D, in which industry concentration exhibits cyclical behavior. The model also generates additional testable hypotheses, and policy implications.


For joint liability problems concerning tort law, a legal compensation scheme may be based on lower and upper bounds of compensation for injury and on case-system consistency. Introducing several properties inspired from this observation, we analyze compensation schemes axiomatically under the situation where causation of the cumulative injury appears in multiple sequences of wrongful acts. These sequences are described by a rooted-tree graph. We show that there is a unique compensation scheme that satis…es three axioms, one about lower bounds of individual compensations, one about upper bounds of individual compensations, and one about case-system consistency. This unique compensation scheme is the Nucleolus of an associated liability game. JEL Classi…cation Number : C71; D63; K13; K49


These notes aim at providing a pedagogical and pedestrian introduction to the subject and assume no previous knowledge apart from that of general relativity. We shall first recall the "frame" formulation of the later theory, then particularize it to three dimensions, and will end those preliminaries by reviewing the formulation of three-dimensional gravity as a gauge theory governed by a Chern-Simons action. An analogous path is then followed for higher-spin fields at the free level. Once the equivalent Chern-Simons action is established thereof, it is then explained how one can formulate three-dimensional higher-spin theories at the non-linear level by considering higher-spin Lie algebras. We then move on to commenting on what has already been done in the context of these theories and what interesting areas of research are currently under investigation.


In principle, every company has one goal, which is to make a profit. Whether it's a trade industry or a service. Profit earned activities are carried out by sales activities, transactions made in cash will result in cash receipts. A credit sale will increase receivables. This makes the company's assets increase and can support the development of the company. This research method uses primary data and secondary data, where the object of this study is the original Java herbal medicine UMKM. Using the quantitative method of deskriftive and the sign test method. Based on the results of the interview conclusion with the conclusion of the theory can be known that the application of the internal control system of trade receivables in the original Java herbal medicine MSMEs is still very simple, because the medium to upper business is still small, so there are still many systems that have not been implemented. The data above shows that the test sign test value of 0.065 < 0.05 that H1 is accepted so there is a significant difference between internal control activities in MSMESherbal medicine asli mbak Sum before and after being given the effectiveness of the internal control system.


Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes can be considered serious competitors to turbo codes in terms of performance and complexity and they are based on a similar philosophy: constrained random code ensembles and iterative decoding algorithms. We consider the encoding problem for LDPC codes. More generally we consider the encoding problem for codes specified by sparse parity-check matrices. We show how to exploit the sparseness of the parity-check matrix to obtain efficient encoders. For the (3,6)-regular LDPC code, for example, the complexity of encoding is essentially quadratic in the block length. However, we show that the associated coefficient can be made quite small, so that encoding codes even of length n/spl sime/100000 is still quite practical. More importantly, we show that "optimized" codes actually admit linear time encoding.


Contemporary urban planning with linear administrative processes, based on the ideals of predictability and control, have come to its end. Even public participatory planning has struggled to incorporate the input of engaged citizens to urban development and the co-governance of common resources. Self-organized actions of urban activist and mundane everyday life have not been sufficiently addressed in the participatory urban planning processes. However, local initiatives and even the temporary use of urban space have been seen as a contribution to urban development. The problem is that so far we do not have much knowledge about the co-operation ecosystem required for new approaches to urban planning, such as the Expanded urban planning. In this article, I examine two case studies, on the basis of which a co-operation ecosystem for Expanded urban planning is outlined. I argue that such an ecosystem for co-operation can significantly help cities integrate self-organized citizen initiatives to urban and community development. It might, however, also require planners to take a stronger role in enhancing a culture of participation.


Summary Glucose 6-phosphate isoenzyme patterns and chromosomes were studied in 25 primary liver tumors of the rat in order to determine whether the isoenzyme pattern and chromosomes change dependently upon neoplastic transformation, and whether certain changes in the isoenzyme patterns correlate with definite chromosomal changes. Tumors were induced in livers of male rats fed 3′-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene for the first 3 months and then a normal diet. Out of 19 tumors whose chromosomes were analyzed, ten were eudiploid, one tetraploid, and two mosaics of eudiploid and eutetraploid cells; the remaining six were aneuploid. Although the enzyme activity varied considerably in different tumors, 20 of the 25 tumors exhibited isoenzyme patterns of either the normal male or female type. Loss of some molecular forms of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenases was observed in 5 others, including one chromosomally normal tumor. A similar feature was noted in nontumorous portions of livers from two primary tumor-bearing rats. Both changes in the isoenzyme pattern and chromosomes observed in the tumors appeared to be independent of the initial neoplastic change.


Alcohol taxation plays an important role in the alcohol policies of countries in the European Union. Alcohol excise duties are not a very significant part of government budgets; however, they form consumer behaviour, limit access to alcohol products and correct market externalities.
The paper analyses the level and structure of alcohol excise duties in European countries. In the EU, the levels of alcohol excise duties are harmonized across the member states. Nevertheless, there is significant variety in the alcohol tax rates. The paper highlights the correlations between alcohol tax rates and interprets alcohol tax rate design across EU countries


After a distinguished career as a collaborator of Prof. Hugo de Vries, the famous geneticist, Karel Bernard Boedijn (born June 29, 1893, at Amsterdam) became a mycologist, and it is in this latter capacity that he will be primarily remembered. He had already started to pay attention to the fungi during his Amsterdam period when C. van Overeem, Miss D. M. G. de Haas (who later married van Overeem), and Boedijn banded together and called themselves the "Mycologisch Museum te Weesp". They started building up a collection which, however, never became very big. After some years van Overeem accepted a position in the Herbarium of the Botanic Gardens at Buitenzorg (now Bogor) in Java, where he died after a short but active period (1921-1927). The collections on liquid of the "Mycologisch Museum" are now at the "Hugo de Vries-Laboratorium", Amsterdam, while the dried material, taken to Java by van Overeem, will be found in the collections of Herbarium Bogoriense.


Admittance data on transverse edge slots in RG-96/U waveguide can be obtained by a technique called the moving lossy short technique. By this technique the radiation attenuation of a test section of identical slots can be determined. It is then possible to specify both the slot inclination angle and the slot depth of cut required to yield any conductance with in the range of measurements. These data were used to design an experimental 30-slot array with a 25-db Taylor aperture distribution. This array was successful, yielding sidelobes near -23 db. Subsequently, the same data were used in designing an 8-foot array with 432 edge slots having the same aperture distribution. This array had a half-power beamwidth of 14 minutes and sidelobes of the order of -24 db. These results compared favorably with design objectives.


PURPOSE
What constitutes effective leadership in a collaborative effort to achieve enduring curricular and student career changes? This question was investigated as part of a larger evaluation of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Community Partnership Health Professions Education, a five-year initiative involving projects at seven sites. The goal was to produce more primary care health providers by making enduring curricular change.

METHOD
Data were collected from participants with respect to predictors of project success and leaders' use of 16 behaviors via telephone interviews, mailed surveys, and focus groups. Focus groups also gathered project leaders' views of skills and knowledge necessary for effective leadership.

RESULTS
Leadership strategies associated with positive outcomes were: consistent leader; use of multiple cognitive frames, especially a human resource frame; use of a broad range of leadership behaviors, particularly participative governance and cultural influence; and a majority of community representatives on the partnership board. The primary leader, compared with a leadership team, is most influential in achieving positive outcomes.

CONCLUSION
Effective leaders use a broad array of behaviors, but particularly emphasize the use of participative governance and culture/value-influencing behaviors. In addition, the more frequent use of these behaviors compared with the use of organizational power behaviors is important. It is helpful to perceive the project from a human-relations frame and at least one other frame. Using a leadership team can be helpful, especially in building coalitions, but the importance of the primary leader's behaviors to project outcomes is striking.


External electric field effects on absorption and fluorescence spectra of 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(trimethylsilyl)pyrene and 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(trimethylsilylethynyl)pyrene (TMSPy and TMS(E)Py, respectively) have been examined in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film at various concentrations at various temperatures. TMS(E)Py preferentially forms an aggregate in a PMMA film, as the concentration increases, indicating that the acetylenic groups enhance the pi-pi interactions between pyrene molecules. The change in molecular polarizability following excitation has been determined both for the monomer and for the aggregate, based on the electroabsorption spectra. The change in molecular polarizability following emission has also been determined in both compounds, based on the electrofluorescence spectra. TMSPy exhibits two excimer fluorescence emissions at high concentrations which are ascribed to the partially overlapping excimer and the sandwich-type excimer, respectively, besides the monomer fluorescence emitted from the locally excited state. The sandwich-type excimer fluorescence as well as monomer fluorescence is quenched by an electric field, whereas the fluorescence of the partially overlapping excimer is enhanced by an electric field. Excimer fluorescence of TMS(E)Py, which arises from the sandwich-type excimer, is quenched by an electric field at any temperature. Only one species of the partially overlapping excimer is confirmed in TMSPy, while no partially overlapping excimer is confirmed in TMS(E)Py.


The extant literature on family-controlled firms in the U.S. presents a mixed picture on how family control affects opacity and value creation. In this study, we show that the mixed results arise from the differences among family firms with regard to the presence of founders and the extent of decision rights held by them. Specifically, we find that family firms in which founders are present and have significant decision rights (influence), are more transparent and have higher valuations, compared to similar non-family firms. In further analysis, we show that founders improve the operating efficiency of their firms and this partly explains the additional value creation in founder firms. We find all these effects to be stronger when founders have greater decision rights (influence). In contrast, non-founder family firms are more opaque than their non-family counterparts. Furthermore, we document cross-sectional variations in the impact of Founder-CEOs on opacity and value based on their tenure and horizon. For Founder-CEOs, firm opacity increases (decreases) and value decreases (increases) with founder tenure (founder horizon).


Objective Identifying components of immuneparesis, a hallmark of chronic liver failure, is crucial for our understanding of complications in cirrhosis. Various suppressor CD4+ T cells have been established as potent inhibitors of systemic immune activation. Here, we establish the presence, regulation and mechanism of action of a suppressive CD4+ T cell subset expressing human leucocyte antigen G (HLA-G) in patients with acute decompensation of cirrhosis (AD). Design Flow cytometry was used to determine the proportion and immunophenotype of CD4+HLA-G+ T cells from peripheral blood of 20 healthy controls (HCs) and 98 patients with cirrhosis (28 with stable cirrhosis (SC), 20 with chronic decompensated cirrhosis (CD) and 50 with AD). Transcriptional and functional signatures of cell-sorted CD4+HLA-G+ cells were delineated by NanoString technology and suppression assays, respectively. The role of immunosuppressive cytokine interleukin (IL)-35 in inducing this population was investigated through in vitro blockade experiments. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and cultures of primary human Kupffer cells (KCs) were performed to assess cellular sources of IL-35. HLA-G-mediated T cell suppression was explored using neutralising antibodies targeting co-inhibitory pathways. Results Patients with AD were distinguished by an expansion of a CD4+HLA-G+CTLA-4+IL-35+ immunosuppressive population associated with disease severity, clinical course of AD, infectious complications and poor outcome. Transcriptomic analyses excluded the possibility that these were thymic-derived regulatory T cells. IHC analyses and in vitro cultures demonstrate that KCs represent a potent source of IL-35 which can induce the observed HLA-G+ phenotype. These exert cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4-mediated impaired responses in T cells paralleled by an HLA-G-driven downregulation of T helper 17-related cytokines. Conclusion We have identified a cytokine-driven peripherally derived suppressive population that may contribute to immuneparesis in AD.


Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LA

A key challenge posed by personalized medicine is the ability to functionally characterize specific mutations identified in human tumors in order to guide treatment decisions. Transgenic approaches in zebrafish offer an opportunity to model individual patient tumors in order to develop personalized models. To test this concept, we performed a genetic characterization of a patient with thyroid carcinoma and created an in vivo personalized thyroid cancer model in zebrafish. Our studies suggest that this approach can be used to build preclinical models suitable for chemical-genetic studies.

Chromosomal rearrangements in RET often lead to chimeric in-frame fusions of its kinase domain with one of several partners, resulting in ectopic, ligand-independent activation of RET. RET/PTC1 encodes a CCDC6 - RET fusion and results in ectopic transcriptional activation of RET in thyrocytes and is associated with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Cabozantinib, a selective RET inhibitor, restricts growth of RET/PTC1 cell lines and shows marked activity in patients with RET -mutant medullary thyroid cancer. However, its efficacy is limited due unknown mechanisms of resistance. Genetic analysis of the index patient's tumor revealed a RET/PTC1 rearrangement, alterations in the TERT promoter and a focal loss of TP53 . We performed molecular analyses of the index patient at distinct points throughout disease to generate a genomic timeline of disease and identify putative landmarks and molecular subtypes of disease.

To functionally assess genetic alterations in the index patient, we transiently expressed RET/PTC1 in zebrafish thyroid follicular cells using a zebrafish thyroglobulin promoter. We observed tumor growth by 14 days post fertilization (dpf) in transgenic larvae, with histopathologic characteristics consistent with PTC. A transcriptional profile of RET/PTC1 transgenic zebrafish tumors revealed a set of genes associated with thyrocyte differentiation, as well as transcriptional signatures associated with cell proliferation and cAMP signaling in human thyrocytes. Ex vivo treatment of zebrafish RET/PTC1 tumors with cabozantinib, blocks RET activation and downstream signaling. As a whole, these studies provide proof-of-concept data to develop a transgenic zebrafish platform for patient specific models of thyroid carcinoma and other solid tumors.

Citation Format: Jacques A. Villefranc, Chantal Pauli, Viviana Anelli, Sagar Chhangawala, Rohan Bareja, Theresa Scognamiglio, Andrea Sboner, Mark A. Rubin, Yariv Houvras. Building personalized genetic models of human cancer in zebrafish to predict response to therapy and characterize disease mechanisms. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-030.


Stepfamilies are culturally significant in Britain on account of their media and mythical profile. Through increased rates in separation, divorce and repartnering they have also become increasingly socially significant. Yet this significance is only partially reflected
in the research literature. Public versions of stepfamily life have tended to construct the ties of stepkinship in terms of fragility and contingency, assuming they cannot be
counted upon in ways that arise 'naturally' through ties of blood. By talking directly to parents in stepfamilies this project seeks to understand how they themselves understand
these issues. The research question is: how do parents reformulate their family relationships in the light of separation, divorce and repartnering, and what implications
does this have for their handling of contact and inheritance? Central to its concerns are parents' understandings of the qualitative differences in their relationships with their biological and stepchildren, and how these differences maybe accounted for.

The study used qualitative research methods and was based on semi-structured interviews with thirty parents living in married and cohabiting couple stepfamilies. Respondents were chosen using theoretical sampling methods. The aim was to select a sample with a range of characteristics and experiences which would enable key comparisons to be made about how stepfwnily life 'works' under different social conditions. Although interviews focussed specifically on issues of 'contact' and inheritance, respondents were also able to discuss issues of most importance to them.

Analysis showed clearly that ties and solidarities between stepparents and stepchildren can be strong and enduring. Concerns were expressed by almost all stepparents that
their stepchildren and biological children should be treated equally - whether this be on a day-to-day basis or in more lasting terms of inheritance. It also emerged that the experience of growing up as a stepchild provided a useful resource for those who, as adults, themselves moved into the role of stepparent.


In this study, the fork length (FL), weight (W) growth and the fork length-weight relationships of Capoeta capoeta angorae Hanko 1924 from the upper water systems of the River Ceyhan, Turkey were investigated. For this purpose, for growth curves of the fork length and weight, spline interpolation functions, alternative modeling passing to exactly all data points with respect to widely used models such as logistic and Gompertz models, applied to growth data set were be submitted and then for the fork length-weight relationships, spline interpolation functions with respect to the described model w=m(FL) n applied to fork length-weight data set were be submitted. These interpolation functions and growth models used were examined separately for female and male. These interpolation models used are linear spline, quadratic spline and cubic spline functions. The growth curves of the fork length and the weight of spline interpolation functions with widely used logistic and Gompertz models were shown on the same graph, respectively and then the curves of the fork length-weight relationships of spline interpolation functions and the models, w=m(FL) n , were shown on the same graph. Thus, the differences in these models have been observed. The estimates for some intermediate values were done by using spline interpolations, logistic and Gompertz models. By using spline interpolations, the investigator is shown to obtain new ideas and interpretations in addition to the information of the well-known classical analysis.


This article describes the poor environmental and living conditions in Mexico City due to its huge size. Mexico City's size is a challenge to sustainability, and the outcome is unknown. Mexico City and the geographic basin surrounding it included about 18.5 million population in 1995. The basin and surrounding volcanic ranges include nine major environmental zones. Urban growth followed four stages. Different cultures applied different solutions to water supply problems. The basin shifted from self-sufficiency to reliance on 31% of supplies from external watersheds. The water table is declining and canals are polluted. Irrigated agriculture is disappearing. There is an average water deficit of over 800 million cubic meters per year. Mexico City is actually sinking due to groundwater exploitation. There is bacterial contamination of wells due to improper seals. About 75% of the population has access to wastewater treatment and sanitation, but sewage treatment plants operate at under 50% efficiency and treat only about 7% of the total wastewater. Atmospheric pollution from suspended particles has been a problem for decades. Ozone was the most significant air contaminant in 1994. Lead was the most harmful pollutant in 1986. Air pollutants may be the source of submucosal inflammations. Industrial areas are contaminated with suspended particles and sulfur dioxide. High traffic areas have high carbon monoxide levels. Atmospheric pollution has affected the quality of the rainwater. The city survives by importing food, energy, wood, water, building materials, and other products. The development model aims to improve quality of life. The city has been the center of political power since Aztec times, and its preeminent position forces government action. The author concludes that there are limits to urbanization, which the city is approaching rapidly.


Studies of the ablation rate, particle size distribution and signal intensities from NIST 610 and zircon 91500 were carried out using UV-ns LA-ICP-MS to investigate the limitations for non-matrix matched quantification of the Pb and U system. All major elements (Zr, Si, Hf) as well as Pb and U were measured in both matrices using different crater diameters. The results indicate two different laser ablation dominated sources of fractionation which prohibit non-matrix matched calibration for accurate age determination. Selective loss of Pb (crater diameter independent) and crater diameter dependent retention of U through phase change in the crater during the ablation of zircon are the two sources of fractionation which occur. However, at certain operating conditions the loss of Pb and the retention of U within the crater are equal. This leads to ages, which randomly agree with the reference age.


An N,S-codoped TiO2/Montmorillonite nanocomposite, as a photocatalyst, was synthesized in the sol-gel method and used for the degradation of ciprofl oxacin (Cip) in an aqueous solution. N,S-codoped TiO2/Montmorillonte was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse refl ectance spectroscopy (DRS), fi eld emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray fl uorescence (XRF) analyzes. A central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the variables for the removal of Cip by the N,S-codoped TiO2/Montmorillonite. A maximum decomposition of 92% of Cip was achieved in optimum conditions. The band gap value for the nanocomposite was 2.77 eV. Moreover, with the use of nanocomposite in the four consecutive runs, the fi nal removal effi ciency was 66%. The results show that the N,S-codoped TiO2/ Montmorillonite under simulated sunlight irradiation can be applied as an effective photocatalyst for the removal of Cip from aqueous solutions.


The present paper uses a sample of 66 US Dollar-trading Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS or sometimes-called Newcits) to find that the risk-adjusted performance of some strategies (i.e., Equity Long-biased, FOF, Fixed Income and Sector specific) outperformed the corresponding traditional hedge fund indices over the January 2006 - March 2010 period. However, with the exception of the Fixed Income strategy all other strategies produced a volatility that was higher than that of the corresponding index. The Funds of Funds (abbreviated FOF) classification had a risk similar to that of the corresponding index. More worryingly, during the crisis it appears that some strategies (i.e., Emerging Markets and Equity Long/Short) delivered a lower risk-adjusted performance than that of their benchmarks. Further evidence shows that Sector specific strategies produced stronger risk-adjusted returns than their benchmarks albeit at a higher cost of volatility. Overall, the Fixed Income and FOF Newcits delivered superior risk-adjusted performance at a lower or comparable risk to that of similar traditional hedge funds.


One of the key requirements for almost every technical device is its reliable, safe and economical operation. All these requirements can only be fulfilled by the appropriate choice of the individual elements of a technical device and their appropriate constructional arrangement concept. The choice of the elements of a technical device and their constructional arrangement must be done as a matter of priority when designing it, and with respect to maximization of the operation reliability and safety. At the same time, its operation should also be economically efficient while preserving the required functions and operating parameters given by technical conditions for the given type of a technical device. Operating parameters of a technical device must be optimized due to its economical operation. The aim of this paper is therefore to describe the process of choosing a favourable operating mode of the melting furnace KOV 010/1998 for melting of Aluminium alloy AlSi7Mg0.6 based on the optimization of its operating parameters. The optimization was focused mainly on achieving as short time as possible for a single melting cycle with the lowest possible natural gas consumption.


We use longitudinal data from over 1.5 million Italian students to examine differences in the mathematics and reading achievement of students who completed primary and lower secondary school in 2020 – 21 (COVID cohort) and those who completed it in 2018 – 19 (non-COVID cohort). We also examine the evolution of in- equalities by gender, socio-economic condition, and prior academic achievement during the pandemic. On average, the primary school COVID cohort experienced a small increase in reading achievement and a drop in mathematics achievement compared to the non-COVID cohort. The lower secondary school COVID cohort experienced a large reduction in mathematics achievement and a smaller reduction in reading achievement compared to the non-COVID cohort. Previously middle-achieving students suffered the most from the pandemic, while high achievers gained. Socio-economic inequalities in achievement remained stable for secondary school students and somewhat decreased for primary school students between the non-COVID and COVID cohorts. Gender disparities were broadly reduced across domains and school levels, except for primary school math


Plasmodiophorid sporosori (aggregations of resting spores) reach their most complex form in Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea, the biotrophic plant pathogen which causes the economically important disease powdery scab of potato ( Solanum tuberosum ). Resting spores are the perennation life cycle stage of plasmodiophorids, allowing them to survive for long periods and infect subsequent host generations. Light microscopy was used to measure resting spores and sporosori of Sp. subterrane a, and enumerate resting spores in individual sporosori. Mean resting spore diameters differed for two sporosorus collections, being 4.0 μm (from New Zealand) and 4.3 μm (from Switzerland). Counts of resting spores in 4 μm thick serial sections of sporosori from one collection gave a mean of 667 (range 155 to 1,526) resting spores per sporosorus. Number of resting spores per sporosorus was closely related to sporosorus volume, and could be accurately estimated using the formula; number of resting spores = 0.0081 × sporosorus volume (assuming sporosori to be spheroids). Using this formula, mean numbers of resting spores in sporosori from 37 Sp. subterranea collections from field-grown potato tubers from 13 countries were determined to range from 199 to 713. Differences in numbers of resting spores between the collections were statistically significant (P < 0.05), and independent of country or host cultivar of origin, indicating that enumeration should be carried out for individual sporosorus collections to accurately quantify inoculum. Morphology, using scanning electron microscopy, also showed that between 2 and 51% (average 20%) of resting spores released zoospores after exposure to roots of host plants. The formula for resting spore enumeration validated in this study can be used to standardise Sp. subterranea resting spore inoculum for plant pathology studies, and possibly to assist determination of soil inoculum potential for disease risk evaluations.


Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of leader-member exchange social comparison (LMXSC) perceptions in triggering the instigation of uncivil behavior in the workplace. This study also explores the intervening role of envy and the buffering role of aggression-preventive supervisor behavior within the proposed relationship.

Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in two phases separated by an interval of four weeks. The final sample consisted of 224 full-time white-collar employees working in five large pharmaceutical manufacturing organizations in India.

Findings
The findings indicate that employees' subjective perceptions of being involved in poorer-quality LMX relationships than their workgroup members generate envy, which, in turn, evokes them to instigate uncivil behaviors onto those higher-LMX counterparts. The indirect effect of LMX social comparison on instigated workplace incivility through envy gets attenuated when supervisors engage in aggression-preventive behavior.

Practical implications
To protect organizations from the financial and productivity losses associated with incivility, supervisors are encouraged to exhibit aggression-preventive behavior if they form differentiated exchange relationships with the subordinates in their teams. Supervisors are further advised to avoid the altogether neglect of lower-LMX subordinates as doing so may give rise to negative emotions (envy) and behavior (incivility) among them.

Originality/value
This study expands the limited body of knowledge on the antecedents of uncivil employee behavior in the workplace. Specifically, it unveils that incivility toward coworkers may be stemming from unfavorable LMX social comparisons and ensuing negative emotions such as envy. It also offers insights on reducing uncivil behavior by highlighting that the impact of LMXSC and envy on incivility instigation gets buffered in the presence of aggression-preventive supervisor behavior.


Cybercriminology combines knowledge from criminology, psychology, sociology, computer science, and cybersecurity to provide an in-depth understanding of cybercrime. Cybercrime and cybersecurity are interconnected across many places, platforms, and actors. Cybercrime issues are continuously and expeditiously changing and developing, especially with the advent of new technologies. The International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime (IJCIC) aims to contribute to the growing field of cybercriminology and cybersecurity. The IJCIC is eager to work with scholars, policy analysts, practitioners, and others to enhance theory, methods, and practice within cybercrime and cybersecurity at the regional, national, and international levels.


Background and Aims: Fecal bile acids (BAs), short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and gut microbiome may be implicated in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) pathophysiology. Our aim was to compare fecal organic acids between IBS with constipation (IBS-C), IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), and controls.
Methods: Stool samples were collected from 17 controls, 5 IBS-C, and 5 IBS-D volunteers during a 4-day high fat diet. Aliquots were stored for future analysis of the fecal microbiota. Fecal SCFA and BA analyses were conducted at the Metabolite Profiling Facility at Purdue University and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic. We compared SCFA and BA levels among groups using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Gamma and linear regression were used to compare SCFAs and BAs adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI).
Results: Fecal acetate levels (mean+SD, µg/mg) were higher in IBS-C (11.3±7) than in controls (6.1±3.3) or IBS-D (7.7±2), although not statistically significant (p=0.19). Total fecal BAs (median [IQR], %) were higher in IBS-D (675 [484-778]) than in controls (342 [130-640]) or IBS-C (321.5 (34.5-718); however, differences were not significant. No significant differences were observed in BAs or SCFAs between groups in multivariate analyses.
Conclusion: We are unable to show significant differences in organic acid levels in IBS and controls. Lack of association may be due to small sample size. Future investigation of larger patient numbers with incorporation of transit and microbiome analyses may shed further light on the role of organic acids in IBS to identify new biomarkers and treatment targets.


This paper sets out to study the views of key stakeholders on the issue of cloud information security within institutions of Higher Education. A specific focus is on understanding trust and the adoption of cloud computing in context of the unique operational requirements of South African universities. Contributions are made on both a methodological and theoretical level. Methodologically the study contributes by employing an Interpretivist approach and using Thematic Analysis in a topic area often studied quantitatively, thus affording researchers the opportunity to gain the necessary in-depth insight into how key stakeholders view cloud security and trust. A theoretical contribution is made in the form of a trust-centric conceptual framework that illustrates how the qualitative data relates to concepts innate to cloud computing trust and adoption. Both these contributions lend credence to the fact that there is a need to address cloud information security with a specific focus on the contextual elements that surround South African universities. The paper concludes with some considerations for implementing and investigating cloud computing services in Higher Education contexts in South Africa.


Use of adaptive simulation is intended to improve the fidelity and robustness of important core attribute predictions such as core power distribution, thermal margins, and core reactivity. Adaptive simulation utilizes a selected set of past and current reactor measurements of reactor observables, i.e., in-core instrumentation readings, to adapt the simulation in a meaningful way. A meaningful adaption will result in high-fidelity and robust adapted core simulator models. To perform adaption, we propose an inverse theory approach in which the multitudes of input data to core simulators, i.e., reactor physics and thermal-hydraulic data, are to be adjusted to improve agreement with measured observables while keeping core simulator models unadapted. At first glance, devising such adaption for typical core simulators with millions of input and observables data would spawn not only several prohibitive challenges but also numerous disparaging concerns. The challenges include the computational burdens of the sensitivity-type calculations required to construct Jacobian operators for the core simulator models. Also, the computational burdens of the uncertainty-type calculations required to estimate the uncertainty information of core simulator input data present a demanding challenge. The concerns however are mainly related to the reliability of the adjusted input data. The methodologies of adaptive simulation are well established in the literature of data adjustment. We adopt the same general framework for data adjustment; however, we refrain from solving the fundamental adjustment equations in a conventional manner. We demonstrate the use of our so-called Efficient Subspace Methods (ESMs) to overcome the computational and storage burdens associated with the core adaption problem. We illustrate the successful use of ESM-based adaptive techniques for a typical boiling water reactor core simulator adaption problem.


Obesity is a leading problem in modern civilization. It is also the main risk factor of metabolic disorders like insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Numerous studies indicate in obesity the aberrant profile of various genes expressions like insulin signaling, adipokines, and cytokines genes as well as transcription factors regulating adipocytes development and metabolism. One of the reasons that might lead to dysregulation in genes expression is epigenetic changes in chromatin. In our study, we compared the global and site-specific DNA methylation and histones modifications (activate expression: H3K4me3 and H3K9ac, responsible for chromatin repression: H3K9me3) between subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral (VAT) adipose tissue from patients in a wide range of BMI with equal distribution of sex and in similar age. We have displayed a slight difference between epigenetic marks between SAT and VAT of enrolled patients, however, when classified into two groups according to BMI (lean group 2 and obese group ≥25 kg/m 2 ) the difference in analyzed epigenetic markers were major. We found that global DNA methylation was increased in the obese group compared to lean, both in SAT and VAT. What is more, a similar correlation occurs in the case of site-specific methylation. The increased methylation of CpG islands was observed within promotor of the two important genes - PPARγ and CEBPα, transcription factors that regulate numerous genes in adipocytes metabolism, including insulin pathway. The observed epigenetic modifications in obesity may suggest a role of epigenetic regulation in the development of obesity. In addition, in the obese group, apart from increased methylation within DNA, we also observed disorders in the level of expression of genes which are important for the metabolic pathway, including the insulin pathway. These results may suggest a potential mechanism with an epigenetic regulation basis, which is responsible for the coexistence of metabolic disorders with obesity. Disclosure A. Alama: None. D. Pawe?ka: None. A. Myszczyszyn: None. M. Malodobra-Mazur: None. Funding National Science Centre, Poland (2016/21/D/NZ5/00155)


The Internet supports three communication paradigms. The first, unicast, is the point-to-point flow of packets between a single source (client) and destination (server) host. Web browsing and file Me transfer are unicast applications. The next, multicast, is the point-to-multipoint flow of packets between a single source host and one or more destination hosts. Broadcast-style videoconferencing, for example, employs IP multicast. Anycast is the point-to-point flow of packets between a single client and the "nearest" destination server identified by an anycast address. The idea behind anycast is that a client wants to send packets to any one of several possible servers offering a particular service or application but does not really care which one. Any number of servers can be assigned a single anycast address within an anycast group. A client sends packets to an anycast server by placing the anycast address in the packet header. Routers then attempt to deliver the packet to a server with the matching anycast address.


We have read with interest the recently published paper of Espigol-Frigole et al 1 in which the authors confirmed that interleukin (IL)-17 is highly expressed in giant cell arteritis (GCA) lesions.1–3 They also demonstrated for the first time that IL-17 expression in temporal artery biopsies (TABs) was correlated with a better outcome. Among other interesting results, the identification of Foxp3+IL-17+ T cells by confocal microscopy in TAB made the authors to hypothesize that these cells could be induced regulatory T cells (Treg) that may facilitate the remission of the disease under steroid therapy. …


Variation in dopamine receptor levels has been associated with different facets of impulsivity. To further delineate the neural substrates underlying impulsive action (inability to withhold a prepotent motor response) and impulsive choice (delay aversion), we characterised rats in the Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of Responding task and a delay discounting task. We also measured performance on an effort‐based discounting task. We then assessed D1 and D2 dopamine receptor mRNA expression in subregions of the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens using in situ hybridisation, and compared these data with behavioral performance. Expression of D1 and D2 receptor mRNA in distinct brain regions was predictive of impulsive action. A dissociation within the nucleus accumbens was observed between subregions and receptor subtypes; higher D1 mRNA expression in the shell predicted greater impulsive action, whereas lower D2 mRNA expression in the core predicted greater impulsive action. We also observed a negative correlation between impulsive action and D2 mRNA expression in the prelimbic cortex. Interestingly, a similar relationship was present between impulsive choice and prelimbic cortex D2 mRNA, despite the fact that behavioral indices of impulsive action and impulsive choice were uncorrelated. Finally, we found that both high D1 mRNA expression in the insular cortex and low D2 mRNA expression in the infralimbic cortex were associated with willingness to exert effort for rewards. Notably, dopamine receptor mRNA in these regions was not associated with either facet of impulsivity. The data presented here provide novel molecular and neuroanatomical distinctions between different forms of impulsivity, as well as effort‐based decision‐making.


State-of-the-art technologies of GaN-based power switching transistors are reviewed, in which normally-off operation and heat spreading as technical issues. We demonstrate a new operation principle of GaN-based normally-off transistor called Gate Injection Transistor (GIT). The GIT utilizes hole-injection from p-AlGaN to AlGaN/GaN hetero-junction which increases electron density in the depleted channel resulting in dramatic increase of the drain current owing to conductivity modulation. The fabricated GIT on Si substrate exhibits the threshold voltage of +1.0V with high maximum drain current of 200mA/mm. The obtained on-state resistance (Ron·A) and off-state breakdown voltage (BVds) are 2.6mΩ·cm2 and 800V, respectively. These values are the best ones ever reported for GaN-based normally-off transistors. In addition, we propose the use of poly-AlN as surface passivation. The AlN has at least 200 times higher thermal conductivity than conventional SiN so that it can effectively reduce the channel temperature.


I. THE PROBLEM OF ECOLOGICAL DESIGN 1. Introduction: The Design of Culture and the Culture of Design 2. Human Ecology as a Problem of Ecological Design II. PATHOLOGIES AND BARRIERS 3. Slow Knowledge 4. Speed 5. Verbicide 6. Technological Fundamentalism 7. Ideasclerosis 8. Ideasclerosis, Continued III. THE POLITICS OF DESIGN 9. None So Blind: The Problem of Ecological Denial (with David Ehrenfeld) 10. Twine in the Baler 11. Conservation and Conservatism 12. The Politics Worthy of the Name 13. The Limits of Nature and the Educational Nature of Limits IV. DESIGN AS PEDAGOGY 14. Architecture and Education 15. The Architecture of Science 16. 2020: A Proposal 17. Education, Careers, and Callings 18. A Higher Order of Heroism V. CHARITY, WILDNESS, AND CHILDREN 19. The Ecology of Giving and Consuming 20. The Great Wilderness Debate, Again 21. Loving Children: The Political Economy of Design Bibliography Index


Malware is one of the most popular cyber-attack methods in the digital world. According to the independent test company AV-TEST, 350,000 new malware samples are created every day. To analyze all samples by hand to discover whether they are malware does not scale, so antivirus companies automate the process e.g., using sandboxes where samples can be run, observed, and classified. Malware authors are aware of this fact, and try to evade detection. In this paper we describe one of such evasion technique: unprecedented, we discovered it while analyzing a ransomware sample. Analyzed in a Cuckoo Sandbox, the sample was able to avoid triggering malware indicators, thus scoring significantly below the minimum severity level. Here, we discuss what strategy the sample follows to evade the analysis, proposing practical defense methods to nullify, in our turn, the sample's furtive strategy.


This study uses 10 different scenarios in order to determine the risks of oil rigs which are planned to be conducted at Black Sea on coastal area or in marine environment. The Black Sea, which is among the most remarkable water basins in the world, is a unique ecosystem including endangered species and also other endemic and economic species detected by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Only accident scenarios to be developed under variable conditions can help us to foresee such irrevocable damages against this important ecosystem. Taking stand from this point, an assessment on possible scenarios related to an area during the studies of oil exploration and oil rigs will minimize any damage on sensitive coastal system. Furthermore, 2 emergency intervention regions were determined in case of accidents.


Translocation of captive-bred individuals to reinforce wild populations may be an important conservation approach for some species, but can be detrimental when employed to boost exploited wild populations, particularly where repeated long-term reinforcement aims to compensate for repeated unregulated offtake. We review evidence that captive breeding alters multiple physiological, life-history and temperamental traits through founder effects, genetic drift and unintended adaption to captivity, degrades learnt behaviours, and compromises biogeography, population structure and viability through introgression. We highlight these risks for the globally threatened African houbara Chlamydotis undulata and Asian houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii, two bustard species hunted throughout much of their ranges and now subject to multiple large-scale captive-breeding programmes and translocations. In eastern Morocco, annual releases of captive-bred African houbara are 2‒3 times higher than original wild numbers, but no investigation of their potentially deleterious effects has, to our knowledge, been published although most wild populations may now have been replaced by captive-bred domestic stock, which are reportedly not self-sustaining. Despite multiple decades of reinforcement, we are not aware of any analysis of the contribution of captive breeding to African houbara population dynamics, or of the genomic consequences. Asian houbara release programmes may also be promoting rather than preventing declines, and need to contextualise themselves through rigorous analyses of wild population numbers, demographic rates and threats, maintenance of phylogeographic concordance of released with supplemented populations, profiling of traits crucial to survival, and the measurement and modelling of the impacts of reinforcement on physiological and behavioural fitness of wild populations.


ABSTRACT In 2007, the Australian federal government introduced a 'new' graduate visa scheme, the 485 visa sub-class. This visa facilitates the transition from student to worker for overseas graduates from Australian higher education institutions, with the potential to significantly increase their numbers in the country. At the same time, local governments have introduced various policies designed to attract and retain human capital in rural areas to address the shortfall of highly skilled individuals. This paper redresses the current lack of research into the spatial dynamics of overseas human capital in Australia and their relation to the new visa scheme in combination with shifts in rural development policies. Drawing on survey data of graduates describing the 'before' (2005) and 'after' (2008) periods of the introduction of the 485 visa scheme, this paper shows that the propensity of overseas graduates to move between Australia's regions has increased substantially. In particular, there have been an increasing proportion of overseas graduates moving to major cities despite rural development policy efforts to attract human capital to rural areas. However, these policy efforts appear to have attracted overseas graduates with particular qualifications (education and health) to work in such locales.