Activation of the nitric oxide (NO) and guanosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) signaling pathway stimulates fluid secretion by the Drosophila melanogaster Malpighian tubule. The neuropeptide cardioacceleratory peptide 2b (CAP2b) has been previously shown to stimulate fluid secretion in this epithelium by elevating intracellular cGMP levels. Therefore, it was of interest to investigate if CAP2b acts through NO in isolated tubules and thus presumably through stimulation of a tubule NO synthase (NOS). We show here by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction that Drosophila NOS (dNOS) is expressed in Malpighian tubules. Biochemical assays of NOS activity in whole tubules show that CAP2b significantly stimulates NOS activity. Additionally, fluid secretion and cyclic nucleotide assays show that CAP2b-induced elevation of intracellular cGMP levels and fluid secretion rates are dependent on the activation of a soluble guanylate cyclase. Treatment of tubules with a specific NOS inhibitor abolishes the CAP2b-induced rise in intracellular cGMP levels. These data indicate that CAP2b stimulates NOS and therefore, endogenous NO production, which, in turn, stimulates a soluble guanylate cyclase. This is the first demonstration of stimulation of an endogenous NOS by a defined peptide in Drosophila.


DISEASE imposes considerable constraints on the productivity and profitability of the livestock industry. Pig producers have probably suffered more than other sectors from the devastating effects of a succession of infectious disease outbreaks over the past 30 years. Many of these have been highly contagious viral diseases, including transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE), swine influenza (SI), Aujeszky's disease (AD), and porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS). Postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), which is linked to porcine circovirus (PCV-2) infection, has challenged the very survival of the pig industry in Britain and elsewhere. Even long established endemic diseases, such as enzootic pneumonia (EP) and swine dysentery (SD), still cause significant losses if introduced into naive herds. The recent reappearances of classical swine fever (CSF) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Britain were timely reminders that there is no place for complacency in disease prevention programmes at both national and herd level. The concept of biosecurity, which gained prominence in Britain during the FMD epidemic, encompasses the full range of measures aimed at disease prevention. In fact, it is one of the cornerstones of the Government's Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain, which aims to promote biosecurity to a livestock industry that, in the past, has not always given it high priority. This article reviews the most important sources of disease on pig units — and, thus, the key areas for consideration in terms of farm biosecurity.


Mathematicians, crystallographers, engineers, chemists, and physicists were among the first admirers of Escher's graphic art. Escher felt closer to people in the physical sciences than he did to his fellow artists because of the praise he received from them. Some of Escher's artwork was done more like an engineering project using ruler and comPass than in a free spirit mode. Mathematicians continue to promote his work, and they continue to use his periodic patterns of animal figures as clever illustrations of symmetry.


In this paper we construct the gl(2, 2|4)(1) affine gauged WZW action of type IIB Green-Schwarz superstring in the AdS5 ×S5 coset space. From this gauged WZW action we obtain the super Lax connection. Further, in terms of torsion relation we get the pure Bose Lax connection and argue that the IIB Green-Schwarz superstring embedded in AdS5 × S is the CP conformal affine Toda model. We review how the position μ of poles in the Riemann-Hilbert formulation of dressing transformation and how the value of loop parameters μ in the vertex operator of affine algebra determines the moduli space of the soliton solutions, which describes the moduli space of the Green-Schwarz superstring. We show also how this affine SU(4) symmetry affinize the conformal symmetry in the twistor space, and how a soliton string corresponds to a Robinson congruence with twist and dilation spin coefficients μ of twistor. ∗ Email:email@example.com † Email:email@example.com, ‡ Email:email@example.com, § Email:firstname.lastname@example.com


Although much of what we know about the genetic basis of herbicide resistance has come from detailed investigations of monogenic adaptation at known target-sites, the importance of polygenic resistance has been increasingly recognized. Despite this, little work has been done to characterize the genomic basis of herbicide resistance, including the number and distribution of involved genes, their effect sizes, allele frequencies, and signatures of selection. Here we implement genome-wide association (GWA) and population genomic approaches to examine the genetic architecture of glyphosate resistance in the problematic agricultural weed, Amaranthus tuberculatus. GWA correctly identifies the gene targeted by glyphosate, and additionally finds more than 100 genes across all 16 chromosomes associated with resistance. The encoded proteins have relevant non-target-site resistance and stress-related functions, with potential for pleiotropic roles in resistance to other herbicides and diverse life history traits. Resistance-related alleles are enriched for large effects and intermediate frequencies, implying that strong selection has shaped the genetic architecture of resistance despite potential pleiotropic costs. The range of common and rare allele involvement implies a partially shared genetic basis of non-target-site resistance across populations, complemented by population-specific alleles. Resistance-related alleles show evidence of balancing selection, and suggest a long-term maintenance of standing variation at stress-response loci that have implications for plant performance under herbicide pressure. By our estimates, genome-wide SNPs explain a comparable amount of the total variation in glyphosate resistance to monogenic mechanisms, indicating the potential for an underappreciated polygenic contribution to the evolution of herbicide resistance in weed populations.


The proposed approach evaluates complexity of the cardiovascular control and causality among cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms from spontaneous variability of heart period (HP), systolic arterial pressure (SAP) and respiration (RESP). It relies on construction of a multivariate embedding space, optimization of the embedding dimension and a procedure allowing the selection of the components most suitable to form the multivariate embedding space. Moreover, it allows the comparison between linear model-based (MB) and nonlinear model-free (MF) techniques and between MF approaches exploiting local predictability (LP) and conditional entropy (CE). The framework was applied to study age-related modifications of complexity and causality in healthy humans in supine resting (REST) and during standing (STAND). We found that: 1) MF approaches are more efficient than the MB method when nonlinear components are present, while the reverse situation holds in presence of high dimensional embedding spaces; 2) the CE method is the least powerful in detecting age-related trends; 3) the association of HP complexity on age suggests an impairment of cardiac regulation and response to STAND; 4) the relation of SAP complexity on age indicates a gradual increase of sympathetic activity and a reduced responsiveness of vasomotor control to STAND; 5) the association from SAP to HP on age during STAND reveals a progressive inefficiency of baroreflex; 6) the reduced connection from HP to SAP with age might be linked to the progressive exploitation of Frank-Starling mechanism at REST and to the progressive increase of peripheral resistances during STAND; 7) at REST the diminished association from RESP to HP with age suggests a vagal withdrawal and a gradual uncoupling between respiratory activity and heart; 8) the weakened connection from RESP to SAP with age might be related to the progressive increase of left ventricular thickness and vascular stiffness and to the gradual decrease of respiratory sinus arrhythmia.


Due to small size, low cost, and many other attractive features of sensor nodes, sensor networks have become adapted to a vast array of applications in both military and civil sectors, such as military surveillance, smart homes, and remote environment monitoring.
To enable the usage of sensor networks in these applications, network dependability is the basic requirement. Specifically, a sensor network must successfully detect the phenomenon of interest, and transmit the generated data to the users reliably. However, this is a challenging task due to the harsh working environment and the extremely limited capability of sensor nodes.
In this thesis, I have presented a number of protocols that are designed to improve the dependability of sensor networks. One fundamental requirement for a dependable sensor network is a suitable coverage, since a sensor network is deployed to sense a target environment, and coverage determines how well it can detect the phenomena of interest. Given such a requirement, the first step of my thesis research is to efficiently deploy sensor nodes to achieve required coverage. After the initial deployment, the dependability of the network may be degraded due to node failure, malfunction or compromise. To keep a sensor network dependable during its lifetime, I address both fault tolerance and security issues. In particular, the second step of my thesis research is two-fold: Self-healing in response to node malfunction; and security mechanisms to protect communication. Extensive simulation has shown that our schemes are effective in improving the dependability of sensor networks in an efficient way.


This paper provides an examination and analysis of two roughly synonymous aspectual markers in Korean, pelita and malta, that developed from the transitive verbs 'throw away' and 'stop', respectively. Based on electronic corpora, it is shown that these markers are distributed divergently: malta is strongly preferred to pelita in passive, non-volitional and resistant contexts. The divergent distributions of pelita and malta can be more clearly understood in terms of transitivity. I propose that the transitivity difference of their lexical sources is reflected in constraints on their grammaticalisation and contemporary uses. The low vs. high transitivity of the lexical verbs malta and pelita has persisted in grammaticalisation and brought about differences between their grammaticalised forms. This paper suggests that the gradient notion of transitivity can be used as an explanatory principle that generalises differences between synonymous grammatical words that developed from different lexical verbs.


Background Collaborative reasoning occurs in clinical practice but is rarely developed during education. The computerized virtual patient (VP) cases allow for a stepwise exploration of cases and thus stimulate active learning. Peer settings during VP sessions are believed to have benefits in terms of reasoning but have received scant attention in the literature. Objective The objective of this study was to thoroughly investigate interactions during medical students' clinical reasoning in two-party VP settings. Methods An in-depth exploration of students' interactions in dyad settings of VP sessions was performed. For this purpose, two prerecorded VP sessions lasting 1 hour each were observed, transcribed in full, and analyzed. The transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis, and short clips from the videos were selected for subsequent analysis in relation to clinical reasoning and clinical aspects. Results Four categories of interactions were identified: (1) task-related dialogue, in which students negotiated a shared understanding of the task and strategies for information gathering; (2) case-related insights and perspectives were gained, and the students consolidated and applied preexisting biomedical knowledge into a clinical setting; (3) clinical reasoning interactions were made explicit. In these, hypotheses were followed up and clinical examples were used. The researchers observed interactions not only between students and the VP but also (4) interactions with other resources, such as textbooks. The interactions are discussed in relation to theories of clinical reasoning and peer learning. Conclusions The dyad VP setting is conducive to activities that promote analytic clinical reasoning. In this setting, components such as peer interaction, access to different resources, and reduced time constraints provided a productive situation in which the students pursued different lines of reasoning.


Maritime cyber security is emerging as a field as reports of cyber attacks against computerized maritime systems have started arriving. Modern vessels are equipped with computerized systems for navigation employing the Global Positioning System (GPS), known as Integrated Navigation Systems (INS) and Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS). This paper describes a proof-of-concept attack on an INS and its integrated ECDIS, and reports on a demonstration of the attack on a vessel. The attack includes malware that acts as a man-in-the-middle intercepting and manipulating GPS coordinates. Furthermore, the paper discusses the feasibility of the attack, as well as countermeasures.


Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a heritable systemic disorder of the connective tissue. Dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI), which is sometimes an accompanying symptom of OI, belongs to a group of genetically conditioned dentin dysplasias and is characterized clinically by an opalescent amber appearance of the dentin. Although the teeth of DI cases wear more easily and excessively compared to normal teeth, they do not appear to be more susceptible to dental caries than normal teeth. Two cases of DI associated with OI are presented in this paper, with 1 case suffering from nursing bottle caries. The purposes of this paper are to present the dental and skeletal characteristics of moderately and mildly involved DI associated with OI, and to discuss the possible methods of dental treatment. Patients with OI and opalescent teeth should be evaluated as soon as the deciduous teeth erupt; immediate dental involvement and oral hygiene instruction can be of help in reducing the necessity of extensive dental care.


Sequential injection or bouncing has a number of properties which can lead to a reduction of the analysis accuracy if no appropriate measures are taken. A special injection system has been developed in order to eliminate these shortcomings. The influence of source glitches or instabilities on the measured isotopic ratio is substantially reduced by a high cycling frequency. A fast beam-blanking unit guarantees the needed accuracy of the injection periods. Background currents are avoided by synchronizing the current measurement for the stable isotopes with their injection periods. To achieve the required speed and precision of the gated measurement, new instrumentation was developed. The elimination of background contributions allows an efficiency for radiocarbon counting as high as 95% at a cycling frequency of 100 Hz.


The fundamental principles and experimental implementations of multipass cells used as a platform for nonlinear optics are reviewed. Embedding a nonlinear medium in a multipass cell allows for a distribution of the nonlinearity over large interaction distances, while the beam goes through multiple foci, conferring on the beam a robustness with respect to spatio‐spectral coupling effects. Most of the research so far has been focused on temporal compression based on self‐phase modulation, with excellent performances especially in terms of energy scaling and throughput. However, other nonlinear phenomena and functions are being increasingly investigated, such as supercontinuum generation, spectral compression, or Raman scattering. Nonlinear optics experiments in multipass cells bear some similarities with the work done in optical fibers over several decades, while allowing straightforward energy scaling potential, and unlocking engineering possibilities through the design of the cell mirrors, geometry, and nonlinear medium.


Author(s): Wueste, Elizabeth Wueste | Advisor(s): Hallett, Christopher H | Abstract: This dissertation examines the material evidence of honorific statue monuments of the administrative elite throughout the Roman world from the third through sixth centuries CE. This includes the extant portrait heads, statue bodies, and inscribed bases, and their significance as indicators of and participants in the larger socio-cultural conversation about the relationship between religion and politics during Late Antiquity. What was the effect of Christianity on local and imperial politics during this transitional period? Were members of the administrative elite pressured to convert to Christianity and advertise their conversion because of imperial pressure? What social benefits and/or liabilities were involved in publically proclaiming religious affiliation? How is material evidence involved in the projection of religious self identity, especially in public arenas and visual form? How were these visual messages communicated, understood, and received by the viewing audience? I argue that the honorific monuments of the late antique elite reveal a surprising tension between politics and Christianity, and while neither the honorands nor the honorers fully proclaim their religious affiliations, they are not entirely silent either. I argue we should adopt a more nuanced conception of Christianity's role in the political landscape during this transitional period precisely because ambiguity, religious fluidity, and a broad, if vague, public appeal was politically and socially useful. Previous scholarship has tended to isolate either the sculptures or the inscribed bases of honorific monuments and examine them separately, that is, art historically or epigraphically, respectively. Removed from the archaeological, spatial, and historical contexts, these approaches are fundamentally flawed in that they ignore at least half of the monuments as a whole, and therefore do not consider the most immediate display context. When components are found and studied in isolation, as is overwhelmingly the case, it may indeed appear that portrait heads are divinely inspired by a Christian god, statue bodies are wearing priestly costumes and holding attributes loaded with religious meaning, and honorific inscriptions are overrun with Christian crosses and direct appeals to God. However, the components of honorific monuments were deliberately combined by a single agent and were intended to be received as a single statement, and thus should be similarly studied together for full comprehension. This project draws its dataset of portrait heads, statue bodies, and inscribed bases from the excellent database of the Last Statues of Antiquity project, directed by R.R.R. Smith and Bryan Ward-Perkins at Oxford University. My dataset includes evidence from across the Roman world, dating from 284 to 550 CE. This chronological range encompasses the primary core of the late antique statue habit. In order to more closely study the interactions between politics and religion, the identity of the honorands has been restricted to isolate the main players in late antique politics. Therefore, monuments honoring women, athletes, deities, personifications, and heroes, emperors, and the imperial family have been excluded. My examination of the religious and political imperatives communicated by late antique honorific monuments is divided into three sections. In the first section, I examine the physical evidence independently by component: portrait heads (Chapter II), statue bodies (III), and inscribed bases (IV). This is appropriate as they are most often found alone and detached from the other parts of the honorific monument, and very few of them can be positively and reliably reattached to their constituent components. While similar studies have already been conducted on portraits and bodies, the compilation of the honorific inscriptions from this period is novel, and has yielded surprising insights into late antique administration, linguistics, and social structure. In the second section, I examine the only six monuments Empire-wide that can be reliably reconstructed with head, body, and base as test cases against the much larger corpus of disassembled pieces (V). The combination of complementary and contrasting identities, the mix of new and reused materials, and the varied historical and social contexts they represent produce complex and surprising composites. In the last section, I extend the results of the six test cases to the larger body of disarticulated elements in order that they might be understood and examined as a cohesive body of evidence, within their literary, archaeological, and especially historical and religious contexts (VI). This dissertation reaches three main conclusions: 1) while the disparate components of honorific monuments are almost always found separately, sheer numbers indicate that they were all part of the same honorific dialogue and should therefore be studied as a cohesive whole; 2) when the components are recombined, the late antique honorific monument was overwhelmingly political in nature, and was not concerned with openly telegraphing religious affiliation, but rather tends to avoid the question; and 3) elite players may not have immediately chosen sides because they were not actively devoted to one religion over another, or more interestingly, because religious ambiguity was socially and politically useful. Contrary to the traditional scholarship that still posits religious extremism and the cultural crush of Christianity across all realms of life, I argue that the landscape was less polarized and more mediated, and that religious identity was more fluid than we once might have thought.


This work seeks to present a biogeographically study aiming the proposition of a wildlife corridor in the Serra da Penanduba area (Ceará, Brazil), as an important alternative to mitigate the isolation effects among the conservation units and, mostly, the environmental impacts on this region. To this end, this work is divided into three parts: the first is a previously established planning conduction (laboratory), the second is the performing of fieldwork (observation, collection and herbarizing) and the third is the produced data analysis. The main results shows that Serra da Penanduba presents, in its slopes, a preserved vegetation of Arboreal Caatinga in its top, typical species of Dry Forests besides being a transition between the Caatinga Enclaves Moist Forest and the Caatinga of Sertaneja Surface, characterizing itself as a propitious environment to the flora conservation, to the fauna protection and to the proposition of a wildlife corridor.


In tandem with the accelerating effects of climate change, efforts to increase agricultural productivity to feed the growing population are still being extensively rolled out in Africa. That notwithstanding, a large population in the continent remains food and nutrition insecure; rendering malnutrition the biggest public health challenge. Coupled with the increased incidences of abiotic stresses, developing countries are particularly in dire need to seek options that will sustain both yield and nutritional value of their food crops. Presently, nutritional quality deserves more attention than yield alone, hence factors perturbing it are of an immense importance. While the effects of abiotic stresses on agricultural productivity are unequivocal, their influence on nutritional quality of food crops is still hazy. In the simplest presentation of the synergy between humans, plants and the environment; man gets nutrients from plants, which source nutrients from the soil (environment). We hypothesized that abiotic factors are a double-edged sword with unclear plausible consequences on nutritional status of food crops and consequently humans. In a multifaceted approach, this review concisely presents an overview of malnutrition in Africa, intimate synergy between agriculture and nutrition, and unravels the effects of abiotic stresses on the nutrition status of harvested crops. While the effects are dynamic under many factors, the present work uncovers that abiotic stresses predominantly increase antioxidants, proteins and carbohydrates due to their contributory role in abiotic stress tolerance. It further acknowledges the promising interventions that have been implemented in this light, but in order to impact significantly on human nutrition, we call for a more collaborative approach cognizant of the complexity of this phenomenon.

 Key words: Abiotic stresses, nutrition, agriculture, antioxidants, climate change, breeding.


PURPOSE
To determine whether primary care-oriented (generalist) admission practices at U.S. medical schools address physician workforce diversity issues by resulting in the admission of more members of underrepresented-minority populations or more women.

METHOD
The authors performed cross-sectional, secondary analyses of databases from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The independent variables were four generalist admission practices: generalist admission committee chair, greater representation of generalists on admission committee, offering preferential admission to likely generalists, and having a premedical recruitment activity targeting likely generalists. The control variable was public/private school ownership. The dependent variables were the mean ages of the matriculating classes and the proportions of students at each school who were African American, (total) underrepresented minorities, women, and married.

RESULTS
Ninety-five percent of medical schools completed the AAMC's Survey of Generalist Physician Initiatives in either 1993 and 1994; 94% of matriculants replied to the AAMC's 1994 Matriculating Student Questionnaire. In multivariable analyses, no admission practice was associated with percentages of African Americans, total underrepresented minorities, or women.

CONCLUSIONS
Schools with primary care-oriented admission practices did not admit greater percentages of underrepresented-minority students or women. Additional efforts may be required to attract and admit minority and female applicants.


The assessment of the seismic response of historical masonry buildings represents a subject of considerable importance but, at the same time, of very difficult task. Refined finite element numerical models, able to predict the non-linear dynamic mechanical behavior and the degradation of the masonry media, require sophisticated constitutive law and a huge computational cost that makes these methods nowadays not suitable for practical application. In the past many authors developed simplified or alternative methodologies that, with a reduced computational effort, should be able to provide numerical results that can be considered sufficiently accurate for engineering practice purposes. However most of these methods are based on simplified hypotheses that make these approaches inappropriate for monumental buildings. In this paper a three dimensional discrete element model, able to predict the nonlinear behaviour of masonry shell elements, is presented as an extension of a previously introduced spatial discrete-element conceived for the simulation of both the in-plane and the out-of-plane behavior of masonry plane elements. The new macro-element enriches a larger computational framework, based on macro-element approach, devoted to the numerical simulation of the seismic behaviour of historical masonry structures.


We study the properties of 2D fibre clusters and networks formed by deposition processes. We first examine the growth and scaling properties of single clusters. We then consider a network of such clusters, whose spatial distribution obeys some effective pair distribution function. In particular, we derive an expression for the two-point density autocorrelation function of the network, which includes the internal structure of a cluster and the effective cluster-cluster pair distribution function. This formula can be applied to obtain information about nontrivial correlations in fibre networks.


Abstract. Voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDI) is a key neurophysiological recording tool because it reaches brain scales that remain inaccessible to other techniques. The development of this technique from in vitro to the behaving nonhuman primate has only been made possible thanks to the long-lasting, visionary work of Amiram Grinvald. This work has opened new scientific perspectives to the great benefit to the neuroscience community. However, this unprecedented technique remains largely under-utilized, and many future possibilities await for VSDI to reveal new functional operations. One reason why this tool has not been used extensively is the inherent complexity of the signal. For instance, the signal reflects mainly the subthreshold neuronal population response and is not linked to spiking activity in a straightforward manner. Second, VSDI gives access to intracortical recurrent dynamics that are intrinsically complex and therefore nontrivial to process. Computational approaches are thus necessary to promote our understanding and optimal use of this powerful technique. Here, we review such approaches, from computational models to dissect the mechanisms and origin of the recorded signal, to advanced signal processing methods to unravel new neuronal interactions at mesoscopic scale. Only a stronger development of interdisciplinary approaches can bridge micro- to macroscales.


The present paper describes the application of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to large eddy simulation (LES) of the T106A low-pressure-turbine profile with unsteady incoming wakes at two different flow conditions. Conventional data analysis applied to time averaged or phase-locked averaged flow fields is not always able to identify and quantify the different sources of losses in the unsteady flow field as they are able to isolate only the deterministic contribution. A newly developed procedure allows such identification of the unsteady loss contribution due to the migration of the incoming wakes, as well as to construct reduced order models that are able to highlight unsteady losses due to larger and/or smaller flow structures carried by the wakes in the different parts of the blade boundary layers. This enables a designer to identify the dominant modes (i.e., phenomena) responsible for loss, the associated generation mechanism, their dynamics, and spatial location. The procedure applied to the two cases shows that losses in the fore part of the blade suction side are basically unaffected by the flow unsteadiness, irrespective of the reduced frequency and the flow coefficient. On the other hand, in the rear part of the suction side, the unsteadiness contributes to losses prevalently due to the finer scale (higher order POD modes) embedded into the bulk of the incoming wake. The main difference between the two cases has been identified by the losses produced in the core flow region, where both the largest scale structures and the finer ones produces turbulence during migration. The decomposition into POD modes allows the quantification of this latter extra losses generated in the core flow region, providing further inputs to the designers for future optimization strategies.


Abstract. Males of the South American spider genus Mecolaesthus Simon, 1893 are characterised by a dorsally 'inflated' prosoma or hump. Here we describe the first representatives of the genus from Ecuador. A phylogenetic analysis of molecular sequence data suggests that the new species are part of an Amazonian-West Indian clade. Whether this clade is sister to 'true' (northern Venezuelan) Mecolaesthus or not remains unclear. The two clades occupy different major Neotropical biogeographic regions. Our phylogenetic reanalysis of Mecolaesthus and related genera greatly expands the taxon sampling compared to previous analyses (from 9 to 46 species representing the 'Venezuelan clade' of genera) but remains ambiguous regarding the monophyly of Mecolaesthus. In addition, we present first micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) data of the unique prosoma 'inflation', showing that these 'inflations' are tightly packed with muscles inserted at the leg coxae, mainly of legs 2 and 3. Male (but not female) leg length is negatively correlated with body size and this is highly unusual in Pholcidae. We predict that male–male fights in Mecolaesthus rely on powerful leg movements of legs 2 and 3 rather than on using legs 1 to assess the opponent's body size. Finally, we document structural genital asymmetry in females of three of the four new species and in M. putumayo Huber, 2000 (of which the female is newly described). This constitutes the fourth known case of structural genital asymmetry in Pholcidae. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3110BCD6-BA65-45E2-A758-71F2767BD6E4


This study investigated whether pupils hold personal beliefs and attitudes which could affect their performance in mathematics lessons in such a way as to either facilitate or impede learning. There were four parts to the study which took place over three years. In the first part, personal constructs about all school subjects were elicited from a group of pupils in their first year of comprehensive school. The interviews were recorded and provided background data for the study. One year later, the same pupils were asked to rate eighteen mathematics topics on the constructs of like/dislike; easy/difficult and useful/not useful. The interviews were again recorded and used to develop categories of pupil beliefs. These were used to develop a number of questions which were later put to the same group. Six weeks later the pupils divided into groups of three and took part in videorecorded problem solving sessions. This provided triangulated observational and oral data to corroborate or refute data from other parts of the study. Finally, approximately one year later, each pupil was asked the questions developed from the second interview categories. These were posed in an open ended form and were also used to develop belief categories. These final categories provided the information on which to compare the beliefs of the study group pupils. The basis for comparison was the pupils' mathematical setting and their positions in yearly examinations. Data from across the study were used to provide case studies of three pupils. The main conclusions were that beliefs and attitudes do affect mathematics performance, but that the effect was not the same for high and low settings; that problem solving ability correlated poorly with setting, and that for individuals it was necessary to examine a constellation of beliefs rather than any single ones.


In this study, chitosan ascorbate (CHAA) was synthesized through the Schiff base reaction and characterized with Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the solubility of CHAA in distilled water was greatly improved. The antioxidant activity of CHAA compared to chitosan (CH) was performed by four different analytical assays (DPPH, TBARS, NO, H2O2); the results showed that CHAA exhibited a higher antioxidant activity than that CH. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of CH and CHAA against five bacteria (E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. Typhimurium, L. monocytogenes, S. aureus) were tested; the antibacterial efficacy of CHAA is lower than that of CH because of the consumption of some amine groups on chitosan during the grafting process. However, CHAA still possesses antibacterial efficacy against both bacteria. Combining chitosan and ascorbic acid improve the antioxidant activity of CH, and still possesses antibacterial efficacy against both bacteria.


the red cells play a part in sedimentation I think he should be assured that pathologists in this country have never doubted it, and it was demonstrated by a simple experiment by Dr. G. Day in 1939. Perhaps Dr. Terry includes that among what he calls Day's "rather obscure experiments" In the course of the correspondence stimulated by the article, Dr. Terry writes (January 27, p. 189) that I advocate manipulation of the blood for anaemia. This is very disappointing, as I have spent the last 14 years imploring people to report sedimen.ation as it occurs naturally-; I do not even like the word " rate" used. I have, however, no wish to interfere with pathologists doing as they please for their own interest, and my suggestion was that for special cases and research the blood might be adjusted to a standard cell concentration. I pointed out that the manipulation had only a presumptive counterpart in nature, but I still think that such experiments can be fruitful and would not merit Dr. Terry's epithet " obviously fallacious" unless they were misconstrued or misapplied. I am not personally in favour of ",correction" for routine work at present, but I see no reason why a pathologist who has studied sedimentation should not give a clinician his opinion on the possible effect that an alteration of red cell count (not Hb concentration) may have in particular cases. Dr. Terry's figures are a welcome addition of fact to the literature on sedimentation.-I am, etc.,


Abstract. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) values from 17 CMIP5 models are compared with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) derived AODs over India. The objective is to identify the cases of successful AOD simulation by CMIP5 models, considering satellite-derived AOD as a benchmark. Six years of AOD data (2000–2005) from MISR and MODIS are processed to create quality-assured gridded AOD maps over India, which are compared with corresponding maps of 17 CMIP5 models at the same grid resolution. Intercomparison of model and satellite data shows that model-AOD is better correlated with MISR-derived AOD than MODIS. The correlation between model-AOD and MISR-AOD is used to segregate the models into three categories identifying their performance in simulating the AOD over India. Maps of correlation between model-AOD and MISR-/MODIS-AOD are generated to provide quantitative information about the intercomparison. The two sets of data are examined for different seasons and years to examine the seasonal and interannual variation in the correlation coefficients. Latitudinal and longitudinal variations in AOD as simulated by models are also examined and compared with corresponding variations observed by satellites.


Changes in the rate at which biological evolution proceeds are widespread and common. Advancements in methodology make it possible to characterize such historical evolution more accurately and reveal complex scenarios where rates vary among organismic groups
and even between individual lineages. The work presented here embraces such complexity, seeking to exploit phenotypic rate variation to reconstruct patterns and
processes of evolution deep in time with unprecedented accuracy. Chapters 1 and 2 demonstrate for the first time that it is possible to reveal historical, directional trends in morphology that played out over millions and millions of years using only data from living species. These trends arose as a consequence of rapid and repeated instances of directional evolutionary change and the approach employed to detect them may be the only way to study historical adaptive trends in morphology that cannot otherwise be observed in the fossil record. Where evolution is fastest, natural selection has acted more
strongly; this idea is developed further in Chapter 3 which presents a novel way to characterize an exceptional subclass of rates of morphological evolution that can be
defined as positive phenotypic selection. In both Chapters 3 and 4 it is shown that such intense episodes of natural selection have punctuated the evolution of diverse groups including plants, dinosaurs and hominins. Chapter 5 demonstrates that it is possible to uncover explicit underlying causes of positive phenotypic selection and takes us one step closer to being able to truly understand the drivers of natural diversity. As a complete work, this thesis harnesses and exploits phenotypic rate heterogeneity to inform inferences about patterns and processes of evolution deep in time and to understand how natural selection has acted to sculpt morphology, giving rise to the diversity we observe
today both in living species and the fossil record.


Purpose – Perceptual inhibitors to instructional leadership are based on disagreements with the premises of instructional leadership. This study explored how the paradoxical approach, which advocates "both/and" approach to conflicting demands, may moderate the influence of the perceptual inhibitors of instructional leadership. Design/methodology/approach – The current study is qualitative in nature. Study participants were 30 Israeli school principals, representing the larger body of Israeli principals in terms of sex, age, years of experience, education and school level. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis included a two-step theory-driven coding process. Findings – This study found that the paradoxical approach allowed school principals to hold conflicting perspectives on instructional leadership simultaneously. Thus, it has reduced the effect of the perceptual inhibitors of instructional leadership, as it permitted principals to delay the decision between the expectation to fulfill the role of instructional leader and their disagreements with it. Originality/value – Despite prolonged pressures, school principals demonstrate limited involvement in instructional leadership, in part because of perceptual inhibitors. The findings of this study can be used in dealing with these inhibitors.


Changes in crystal phase and electrical properties of oxides composed of Mn, Co, and Ni with the molar ratios of 5:2:1 and 3:3:1 were investigated. Starting oxides were fired from 250°C to 800°C, then maintained at prescribed temperatures for 3 h in air. In the 5:2:1 specimen, a monophase consisting of a cubic spinel oxide that is important to electrical conductivity was obtained at firing temperature of 800°C. In the 3:3:1 specimen, the monophase was obtained at temperatures ranging from 600°C to 800°C. Electrical resistance decreased exponentially with increasing temperature for all specimens fired at temperatures ranging from 250°C to 800°C, indicating that the oxides have intrinsic thermistor characteristics with negative temperature coefficient (NTC). The temperature dependence of the thermistor constant (B value) necessary for practical application was considered to be related to the existence ratio of cubic spinel-type and ilmenite-type structures and the lattice constant of the cubic spinel-type structure. The electrical conduction was stabilized by annealing at prescribed temperatures for more than 720 minutes.


The successful invasiveness of Parthenium hysterophorus (parthenium) is attributed to its competitive ability and high allelopathic potential. The compound, parthenin, has been implicated as a major allelochemical in the plant. A fi eld trial was established in Kruger National Park (South Africa) to investigate the inter ference between parthenium and 3 indigenous grass species, namely: Eragrostis curvula, Panicum maximum and Digitaria eriantha. Grass seedlings were transplanted from a glasshouse into fi eld plots after failure to establish the seed in situ. Parthenium seedlings were introduced at densities of 5 and 7.5 plants/m2 from areas adjacent to the fi eld trial. P. maximum displayed best overall growth performance and was able to completely suppress parthenium growth with time. The other 2 grass species performed less favourably, in terms of both growth rate and ability to suppress parthenium. The ability of P. maximum to interfere effectively with parthenium growth indicates that this species has good potential for use as an antagonistic or rehabilitative species in containing the spread of the weed. In a laboratory study, seeds of the 3 grass species were exposed to pure parthenin in a germination bioassay. Based upon germination and early radicle development, E. curvula was the least sensitive and P. maximum the most sensitive to parthenin. Therefore, if P. maximum was to be used in a control or rehabilitation program, it might be diffi cult to establish P. maximum stands from seed in areas already infested with parthenium. While transplanting seedlings of the grass would avoid the seed germination problem and give the grass a head-start, the practicality of this method on a large scale is open to question.


Maize (Zea mays L.) coleoptile segments loaded with 45Ca released about 50% of the ion after 1 h when treated with indoleacetic acid (IAA). In contrast, fusicoccin (FC) had no effect. The same relation was found when ATP-dependent Ca2+ transport, measured as 45Ca uptake, was determined in a plasmalemma-rich membrane vesicle fraction isolated from coleoptiles treated or untreated for 1 h with IAA or FC. In fact, IAA-treated membranes showed an increase in ATP-dependent 45Ca uptake by more than 30% with respect to the control and the FC treatment. Ca2+ uptake in IAA-treated membranes was only slightly affected (+27%) by supplying calmodulin (Cam) exogenously. However, Ca2+ uptake in membranes from the control and FC-treated coleoptiles were stimulated (+80%) by exogenous Cam. Calmidazolium, a Cam antagonist, inhibited Ca2+ uptake in the IAA treatment (-48%) to a greater extent with respect to the control and FC treatment (-33 and -29%, respectively). A possible relationship between the effect of IAA on the ATP-dependent Ca2+ transport activity, the involvement of Cam, and their effect on growth are discussed.


The present paper refers to the results from the evaluation of rural development programmes (RDPs) of five German states. It is focussed on two issues. The first is to develop a methodological approach for determining the implementation costs (ICs). The second is the discussion of their relevance in the context of the implementation of rural development policies presenting selected empirical results. The cost-impact synopsis (CIS) is a wider approach to relate the measure-specific implementation costs and disbursed funds, based on implementation cost classes, with achieved impact levels. The principles guiding the discussion are two theses: (1) High implementation costs increase the overall cost of the programme and thus reduce funding efficiency, (2) High implementation costs increase the use efficiency of the programmes because they are associated with more targeted, more effective measures. Sample analytical results for different study levels show that the empirical results lie somewhere between these two extremes.


A technique is described to generate an optimum set of points beyond the boundary of a finite-difference model; points which can be used for finite-difference operations, and which eliminate reflections from that boundary. The rationale is explained, the mathematics are developed, and the final formulae are given. Examples are shown for the case of a two-dimensional elastic pressure wave. The limitations of the technique are shown to be consistent with the general limitations of simulating continuous waves by finite-difference techniques.


Guidance on how to complete your Dissertation/Final Year Project and make the most of Library and IT Services and Resources


To discuss subjectivity in relation to ethics is difficult because such a focus necessarily invokes ideas of difference, and difference as a theoretical term has many definitions in a variety of critical conversations. On the one hand, poststructuralism–the work of Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan and Gilles Deleuze–theorizes difference in terms of linguistic instability and textual indeterminacy. Alternatively, in many contemporary social fields, difference is the political recognition of the sexed, gendered and raced variety of a nation's citizenship. As theoretical and political vocabularies mix, each different use of the word difference hijacks each of its alternative meanings; each new use attempts to change the criteria of ethical judgment. On this uncertain ground we in the United States arrive at a place where difference stands as a significant measure of moral reasoning at the same time its theoretical uncertainty hinders our ability to know the subjects of inquiry. What follows is the disappearance of the other that our concern with difference set out to locate, and with that erasure comes the isolation of the individual subject. The impossibility of knowing the other, that is, the death of the subject, is well established; and yet the impossibility of the impossibility of the subject is equally clear, for as soon as the universal subject disappears, individual subjectivity, our own particularity, takes its place. Evidently, once we recognize the impossibility of any stable self or any fixed meanings, we are cast back onto the self we thought abandoned, namely, the particular physiological and philosophical body we carry around with us (or that carries us around) each day.


Summary The literature on potential outcomes has shown that traditional methods for characterizing surrogate endpoints in clinical trials based only on observed quantities can fail to capture causal relationships between treatments, surrogates, and outcomes. Building on the potential‐outcomes formulation of a principal surrogate, we introduce a Bayesian method to estimate the causal effect predictiveness (CEP) surface and quantify a candidate surrogate's utility for reliably predicting clinical outcomes. In considering the full joint distribution of all potentially observable quantities, our Bayesian approach has the following features. First, our approach illuminates implicit assumptions embedded in previously‐used estimation strategies that have been shown to result in poor performance. Second, our approach provides tools for making explicit and scientifically‐interpretable assumptions regarding associations about which observed data are not informative. Through simulations based on an HIV vaccine trial, we found that the Bayesian approach can produce estimates of the CEP surface with improved performance compared to previous methods. Third, our approach can extend principal‐surrogate estimation beyond the previously considered setting of a vaccine trial where the candidate surrogate is constant in one arm of the study. We illustrate this extension through an application to an AIDS therapy trial where the candidate surrogate varies in both treatment arms.


Corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) is a novel technique for increasing corneal tissue strength and rigidity, which involves polymerisation of stromal fibres by the combined action of the photosensitiser riboflavin (vitamin B2) and ultraviolet A (UVA) rays.1 The main indication for CXL in the ophthalmology arena has been the management of corneal ectasia, such as halting the progression of keratoconus.2 In addition, CXL has been proposed as a treatment modality for iatrogenic keratectasia,3 infectious corneal ulcers,4 bullous keratopathy5 and progressive myopia.6 CXL is the only available treatment that is directed to treat the underlying pathology in keratoconic corneas, which is stromal imbalance. Since its introduction, other surgical procedures, such as topography-guided photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), intracorneal rings and phakic intraocular lens (IOL) surgery, are being added to CXL to correct the visual consequences of keratoconus.7 Lorelei and Boxer Wachler in this issue ( see page 1597 ) have carried out a study in which they showed that Intacs and crosslinking on the same day as an approach to treat keratoconus benefited most those patients with worse best-corrected visual acuity and spherical equivalent to gain a greater postoperative best-corrected visual acuity improvement.8 This may be helpful in comprehensive counselling during the initial evaluation.

Due to the corneal epithelial tight junctions resulting in incomplete penetration of riboflavin macromolecules, the standard procedure starts with abrasion of the corneal epithelium out to 7–8 mm, under topical anaesthesia. The de-epithelisation exposes the …


Intellectual Property - group of rights used to protect literary, artistic and industrial property.

Generally separated into the categories of:

• Copyright
• Trade marks
• Designs
• Patents

But also extends to specific subject matter of plant variety rights and circuit layouts and general information that is confidential such as trade secrets and protection of goodwill and reputation through the action of passing off.

New information, be it a new computer program or novel device, developed by an organisation is valuable to it. So too is the organisation name and reputation. While some protection is automatic, like copyright, other protection and rights must be obtained under various legislation. When dealing with employees and third parties, ownership of existing and new rights needs to be clearly established so that rights are not lost.

Obligations in relation to the use of certain property and any confidential information must also be clearly established...


1. At the present time, streptomycin represents a tremendous advance in the treatment of patients with these lesions. Streptomycin undoubtedly will he improved upon and superseded by some other agent in the future, giving us better control of this disease and possibly enabling us to eradicate it.
2. In closed lesions streptomycin, in dosages of 90 grams in a period of ninety days, has failed to arrest the tuberculous process permanently.
3. Failure of treatment with streptomycin suggests strongly the presence of a sequestrum, a thick-walled abscess, or inadequate surgery.
4. Healing seems to be related to the duration of administration of streptomycin and not to the total dosage.
5. In patients having sinuses, streptomycin should be continued after healing for a period at least half as long as the healing period itself.
6. Surgical ankylosis, or resection of non-weight-bearing joints, is apparently as necessary now as it ever has been, but is much safer and more effective. Indeed, at times surgical attack is made possible only by the use of streptomycin.


Norman' peach ( Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) trees were trained to the central- leader or open-vase form and were planted at high (740 trees/ha), or low (370 trees/ha) density. A third density treatment was a HIGH → LOW density, where alternate trees in high-density plots were removed after 6 years to produce a low-density treatment. From 3 to 5 years after planting, trunk cross-sectional areas (TCA) increased most for low- density trees. After 9 years, TCA was greatest for low-density and least for high-density trees. Because of differences in tree training, central-leader trees were taller than open- vase trees and tree spread was greater for low-density than for high-density trees. Annual yield per hectare was 15% to 40% greater for high-density treatments than for low-density treatments, but tree form had little influence on yield. Average fruit weight tended to be greater for low-density than for high-density treatments, but cumulative marketable yield was greatest for high-density and lowest for HIGH → LOW treatments. Income minus costs for 9 years was nearly $4200/ha higher, and net present value was about $2200/ha higher, for open-vase than for central-leader trees ( P = 0.08). Cumulative net present value for the 9 years was about $2660/ha higher for high- than for low-density trees ( P = 0.36).


Advancements in signal processing may allow for improved imaging and analysis of complex geologic targets found in seismic reflection data. A recent contribution to signal processing is the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) which combines with the Hilbert transform as the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT). The EMD empirically reduces a time series to several subsignals, each of which is input to the same time-frequency environment via the Hilbert transform. The HHT allows for signals describing stochastic or astochastic processes to be analyzed using instantaneous attributes in the time-frequency domain. The HHT is applied herein to seismic reflection data to: (1) assess the ability of the EMD and HHT to quantify meaningful geologic information in the time and time-frequency domains, and (2) use instantaneous attributes to develop superior filters for improving the signal-to-noise ratio. The objective of this work is to determine whether the HHT allows for empirically-derived characteristics to be used in filter design and application, resulting in better filter performance and enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. Two data sets are used to show successful application of the EMD and HHT to seismic reflection data processing. Nonlinear cable strum is removed from one data set while the other is used to show how the HHT compares to and outperforms Fourier-based processing under certain conditions.


The role of various types of lattice flaws is discussed in their bearing on melting and crystal structure. Freezing-point determinations on lattices of a single molecule indicate the presence of such flaws in the crystals of poly methylene compounds. Freezing-point determinations on composite lattices of ketone + paraffin and ketone + ketone emphasize the importance of the rotation of the CO group for melting, and indicate that lattice holes are easily formed, without marked lowering of the freezing-point. Ordered composite lattices are formed when the number of holes does not exceed 12 % of all the methylene groups. The results emphasize the importance of co-operative effects in lattice flaws. In the equilibrium state of a crystal, such flaws might arise both from energy effects at 0° K, expecially in metals, and from energy and entropy effects at higher temperatures. A picture of melting is suggested in which a network of co-operative flaws breaks up the crystal into a mosaic, or aggregate of crystalline micelles, and in which the solid-liquid transition is comparable with a gel-sol transition.


Behaviour can be a key component of animal population ecology, yet the population consequences of behavioural decisions are poorly understood. We conducted a behavioural and demographic study of the bitterling Rhodeus sericeus, a freshwater fish that spawns in live unionid mussels. We used a population model incorporating game theory decisions and measurements of demographic parameters in order to provide predictions of population size among 13 populations of this fish. Our model predicted that the observed behavioural spawning decisions, while maximizing individual fitness, cause a significant 6% reduction in population size compared with randomly distributed spawnings. We discuss our findings in the context of the population consequences of adaptive behaviour.


Small hydropower stations as renewable resources of energy have noticeable potential in the world and with increasing energy demands, using such potentials is a need especially in many developing countries. The major problems of installing the new small hydropower stations are their high specific cost expressed in $/kW installed capacity and maintenance expenses. Part of the solution of these economic problems is to substitute the conventional turbines by simple and inexpensive machines such as reversible pumps. In this present work, an axial pump is simulated in reverse mode by computational fluid dynamics using different turbulence models and Characteristic curves of the reverse pump are obtained for each turbulence model and are compared with experimental data. The results show that Spalart-Allmaras model is preferred for investigation of operation of the axial reverse pump. In the next step, the effects of blades position and impeller size reduction on characteristic curves are considered. The results show that the axial pump can be easily run as a low-head turbine. Also it can be applied in the wide range by combination of blades angle adjustment and impeller size reduction. But the efficiency of turbine mode is low.


Using Apple's Screen Time application to obtain reported actual iPhone and social media (SM) use, we examined the accuracy of retrospective estimates of usage, how inaccuracies bias associations between use and psychosocial well-being (depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction), and the degree to which inaccuracies were predicted by levels of well-being. Among a sample of 325 iPhone users, we found that (a) participants misestimated their weekly overall iPhone and SM use by 19.1 and 12.2 hours, respectively; (b) correlations between estimated use and well-being variables were consistently stronger than the correlations between reported actual use and well-being variables; and (c) the degree of inaccuracy in estimated use was associated with levels of participant well-being and amount of use. These findings suggest that retrospective estimates of digital technology use may be systematically biased by factors that are fundamental to the associations under investigation. We propose that retrospective estimates of digital technology use may be capturing the construct of perceived use rather than actual use, and discuss how the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of perceived use may be distinct from those of actual use. Implications of these findings are discussed in view of the ongoing debate surrounding the effects of digital technology use on well-being.


This paper outlines a methodology for modeling photovoltaic systems in embedded hardware. This methodology uses the HiLeS platform to transform SysML models in Petri nets and generate VHDL code. The proposed methodology is intended for Hardware-in-the-Loop simulations of power converters and PV panels in microgrids. In addition, this methodology allows the design of MPPT controllers for their direct implementation in FPGA.


A steering knuckle used on an earthmover failed in service. The component fractured into a flange portion and a shaft portion. The flange was 27.9 cm (11 in.) in diam around which there were 12 evenly spaced 16 mm diam bolt holes. The shaft was hollow with a 10.5 cm (4 in.) OD and a wall thickness of 17 mm. The steering knuckle was made of 4340 steel and heat treated to a hardness of about 415 HRB (yield strength of about 1069 MPa, or 155 ksi). The vehicle had been involved in a field accident six months before the steering knuckle failed. Several components, including portions of the frame, had been damaged and replaced, but there was no observed damage to the steering. Analysis supported the conclusion that the fracture was the result of the prior accident, the most likely explanation being that the shaft was bent and that continued use caused a crack to initiate and propagate to fracture. No evidence of a defective design, improper microstructure, high inclusion count, or other stress-raising condition was observed. No recommendations were made.


Context. The X-ray background (XRB) is generated by various classes of objects and a variety of emission mechanisms. Relative contribution of individual components depends on energy. Aims. The goal is to assess the integral emission of the major components of the soft XRB (extragalactic discrete sources dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN), galactic plasma, and the Warm/Hot Intergalactic Medium [WHIM]), investigating the angular structure of the background. Methods. Fluctuations of the background are measured using the auto-correlation function of the XRB determined in 5 energy bands between 0. 3a nd 4.5 keV. The investigation is based on the extensive observational data set selected from the XMM-Newton archives. Results. Amplitudes of the auto-correlation functions calculated in three energy bands above ∼1 keV are consistent with the conjecture that the background fluctuations result solely from clustering of sources which produce the background. At energies below 1 keV the relative fluctuation amplitude decreases indicating that a fraction of the soft XRB is associated with a smooth plasma emission in the Galaxy. It is shown, however, that the mean spectrum of extragalactic discrete sources steepens in the soft X-rays and is not well represented by a single power law in the energy range 0.3−4.5 keV. The WHIM contribution to the total background fluctuations is small and consistent with the WHIM properties derived from the cross-correlation of the XRB with galaxies.


This thesis studies the career of Geoffrey Blainey, both as a historian and controversialist. It considers what factors contributed to his success as a writer of works of history and how he became a high-profile public figure. When he commented on the issue of Asian immigration in 1984, this profile ensured that his views made front page news and led to a situation where his historical writing was read through the prism of his political views by friend and foe alike. The thesis takes issue with simplistic post-1984 categorisations of Blainey as a "conservative historian". It argues that, in his desire to find material explanations for historical events, Blainey has often seemed closer to the materialists of the Left, such as Marxists or the Annales school, than to the traditional conservative conception of history being driven by politics, wars and 'great men'. There also needs to be a renewed recognition that at the time of its publication in 1975 Blainey's Triumph of the Nomads was regarded as the most prominent progressive treatment of Aboriginal history to have been written to that time. This focus on materialist factors in history was also evident in Blainey's ongoing interest in economic issues. He was an active participant in the big economic policy debates in the 1980s and 1990s, something which has received little attention from other historians, but which is crucial to understanding his later writing on Australian history. Blainey has never been a typical professional historian. He started his adult working life as a freelance historian and he has always maintained the belief that the research and writing of history should happen in the marketplace as much as in the academy. A utilitarian approach that history is about finding out interesting things about the past and then sharing them with as broad an audience as possible has been a constant feature of his historical method. For three decades the differences were accommodated but the evolution of Blainey's outlook, and more significant changes in the dominant views of the history academy, meant that by the 1980s a schism had developed between Blainey and other historians. Understanding how and why that schism occurred not only sheds light on Blainey's career, but also on the practice of history in Australia.


Transition metal phosphides, especially Ni2P, are of great interest as promising battery-type electrode materials for hybrid supercapacitors, but their poor electrical conductivity and porosity limit their application. Here, for the first time, the synthesis of carbon-incorporated Janus-type Ni2P/Ni hollow spheres (Ni2P/Ni/C) was reported via simultaneous carbonization and phosphorization of Ni-based metal–organic frameworks (Ni-MOFs). Their unique structural merits include the incorporated carbon content, Janus-type Ni2P/Ni nanocrystals, and high-porosity hollow structure, thus endowing them with a high specific surface area, good electrical conductivity and low density. As a result, the optimized Ni2P/Ni/C exhibits a remarkable specific capacitance of 1449 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 in 2 M KOH aqueous electrolyte in a three-electrode system. A hybrid supercapacitor device was fabricated by using Ni2P/Ni/C as the positive electrode and active carbon as the negative electrode, and it achieves a very high energy density of 32.02 W h kg−1 at a power density of 700 W kg−1 and a remarkable cycling stability (about 99% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles). The Ni2P/Ni/C should be one of the most promising electrode materials for hybrid supercapacitor application.


The agricultural intensification strategies represented by the Green Revolution have since the mid-1960s had a very positive impact on food-grain production in Asia. Presently, however, a post-Green Revolution phase of declining growth in output and productivity is experienced in many of the areas where intensification took place. Partly, this can be explained by a number of environmental problems facing the intensive production systems. One central question concerns the equity implications of the emerging sustainability problems. This work describes and analyses the background and emergence of one set of environmental sustainability problems in Asian intensive rice agriculture, namely the problems of weeds and other pests. In a case study of five villages in a typical Green Revolution area, the Muda irrigation scheme in Malaysia, the distributional implications of weed problems are analysed. The development of an analytical model for the weed problem is based on the assumption that any attempt to understand farmers' weed problems must incorporate social and economic data in the analysis. Central for the model is that the analysis of the weed problem must take into account the impact of factors related to other geographical levels (village, region, nation) than the field and farm levels. The study shows that, during the dry season, weeds caused significant economic losses among a third of the sample households due to a combination of yield reduction and increased production costs The problems were, however, not evenly distributed among villages and farm units. In the two villages most severely affected certain farmers were able to successfully control weed infestations while a majority of the households experienced high weed densities. Analysing both the intra- and the inter-village differences in weed infestation the study shows that differences in economic resources is the most important factor in explaining differences within the villages and that this factor combines with advantageous bio-physical and institutional factors to produce marked inter-village differences. (Less)


Entitled "Robbie Woods and his Merry Men", this text is part of the "Treetops" series of fiction with built-in progression for pupils aged seven to 11. Specially written for children who need the support of carefully monitored language levels, the stories are accessible, motivating, and humorous. The series is organized into "Oxford Reading Tree" stages (from stage ten to stage 14), with each stage introducing more complex narrative forms, including: flashbacks and changes in viewpoint; descriptive writing; extended reading vocabulary; and more pages, more text, and fewer illustrations. Each stage is supported by a teacher's guide, which offers guidance on using "Treetops" to assess children's reading ability, and includes a variety of activities (comprehension, writing for a range of audiences and in different forms, discussion and role play) many on photocopiable sheets.


This paper presents robust evidence that retirement causally improves overall life satisfaction which is subsequently explained by improvements in satisfaction with one's financial situation, free time, health, and participation in local community activities. Furthermore, while the positive wellbeing impact of retirement is sizable initially, it fades after the first 3 years. We find that the improvements in financial satisfaction upon retirement are only observed for low-income individuals. However, the wellbeing impact of retirement does not differ by gender, educational, occupational, economic or marital backgrounds. We also explore several potential explanations for our findings. This paper employs a fixed effect instrumental variable model, which exploits the discontinuity in the eligibility ages for state pension to construct an instrument for retirement, and 18 waves of high-quality Australian panel data. The results also suggest that failing to adequately account for the endogeneity of retirement would result in a downward-biased estimate of a positive wellbeing impact of retirement.


Feigning a psychiatric or neurological disorder may be an attractive strategy to obtain all sorts of privileges or disability benefits. In the criminal arena, feigning memory loss for a crime (crime-related amnesia) may be a way for defendants to gain sympathy or to promote a diminished capacity defence. Although crime-related amnesia may, under some circumstances, be genuine, in many cases it is more likely to be malingered. Malingered memory problems are a subtle form of deception and what is true for deceptive behaviour in general is also true for malingering memory loss: on the basis of clinical intuition alone, it is difficult to detect. Fortunately, there are methods and tools to evaluate the authenticity of memory problems. It is important that forensic and clinical psychologists familiarize themselves with these techniques.


Tests were carried out on five manual assembly departments in a variety of different factories, in order to assess the risks associated with the onset of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and to describe the prevalence of this disorder among exposed workers. The application of the risk analysis method proposed by the EPM Research Unit in Milan (Italy) demonstrated the presence of numerous jobs featuring both a high frequency of actions per minute and a total lack of recovery times, in addition to a variety of incongrous upper limb postures. The clinical and instrumental investigation diagnosed 76 cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome among the 170 exposed workers. 62% of the cases was bilateral and 24% was associated with Guyon Channel Syndrome. In two of the five departments reviewed, the carpal tunnel disorders detected were endemic, and featured unusually high prevalence. The situation had been seriously underestimated by the company technical and medical staff, resulting in a failure to call for the urgent adoption of individual protection and collective prevention measures. The authors recommend that an extensive and adequate occupational risk assessment analysis be performed: the local occupational health services could play a critical role in identifying the highest risk industries and the diseases diagnosed in a hospital environment.


Increased consumption of foods containing plant sterols has the potential to reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and thus reduce costs associated with treating that disease in a significant way. This paper reports the results of an investigation of the potential monetary benefits of allowing foods enriched with plant sterols to be marketed in Canada. The objective of this research was to estimate the annual savings that would accrue to Canada's single-payer publicly funded health care system if plant sterols were approved for use. If foods containing plant sterols are consumed at a sufficient rate, a reduction in CHD should follow. This research employs a variation of traditional cost-of-illness analysis entailing four steps: (i) estimation of a "success rate" (proportion of persons who would consume plant sterols at the necessary rate); (ii) presumption of blood cholesterol reduction due to plant sterol consumption; (iii) assumption of reduction in CHD that follows from blood cholesterol reduction; (iv) calculation of cost savings associated with reduced incidence of CHD. Calculations were carried out for four scenarios: ideal, optimistic, pessimistic, and very pessimistic. It was estimated that between $38 million (very pessimistic scenario) and $2.45 billion (ideal scenario) could be saved annually by Canada's health care system with plant sterol enriched food products being made available for sale.


In this Thesis, the composite converter is modified with the attempts of improving the converter efficiency using series injection. The composite converter was introduced as a DC transformer consisting of a buck, boost, and dual active bridge (DAB) converter that is bidirectional in nature [1]. Few studies since the introduction of the composite converter have attempted to improve the converter design, while the application of the composite converter itself is more common [3,7]. However, studies have been done to improve the performance of the DAB Converter. Series injection is a technique that improves the efficiency of the DAB converter with the use of a series transformer that improves the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of the DAB. The proposed series injected DAB converter replaces the traditional DAB converter in the composite converter design with the intent of improving the overall composite converter efficiency. The modified circuit is validated via a comparison of converter efficiencies upon a variety of voltage and switching mode combinations modeled via computer simulation.


AIM
Several clinical trials have indicated that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) reduces coronary events associated with atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to examine the inhibitory effect of DHEA on atherosclerosis and the mechanisms involved.

METHODS
Apolipoprotein E-knockout (apoE-KO) mice were fed an atherogenic high-cholesterol diet with or without 0.4% (w/w) DHEA for 12 weeks.

RESULTS
Although the plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels were not decreased by DHEA, atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic sinus showed a 45% reduction in area with DHEA treatment versus untreated mice (0.19 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.10 +/- 0.02 microm(2); p<0.05). Accumulation of macrophages in aortic lesions was also markedly reduced in the DHEA group, and the macrophage-positive area decreased to 0.33 +/- 0.06 microm(2) from 0.67 +/- 0.07 microm(2) (p<0.01). Furthermore, DHEA suppressed the expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in the vessel wall. Thus, inhibition of macrophage infiltration by DHEA reduced the formation of atherosclerotic lesions in apoE-KO mice.

CONCLUSIONS
DHEA might be an effective agent for clinical management of atherosclerosis, but a larger controlled trial is necessary for confirmation.


In this paper, the results of the bird counting during the period of 1998-2017 in High-mountains of Daghestan have been presented. The species composition and ecological structure of the avifauna from the study area have been described for the first time. Using cluster analysis I found that the avifauna patterns of the most key sites have similar features. In these areas, high heterogeneity of biotopes and faunal diversity can be seen which formed under the conditions of sufficient moisture. Data showed that high-grass meadows in the south-eastern highlands are used by some species as a substitute of the forest habitats, typical for the forested central and north-western parts of the high-mountainous province.


Osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR) is a costimulatory receptor implicated in osteoclast differentiation, with soluble and membranous forms.1 Its natural ligand appears to be collagen.2 Since the involvement of OSCAR in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been suggested,3 the present work assessed the levels of soluble OSCAR (sOSCAR) in RA and a possible link with disease severity and risk of cardiovascular events (CVE).4

sOSCAR was measured by indirect ELISA in 136 plasma samples from RA patients randomly selected from a large database according to the level of joint destruction at a 1:1 ratio and paired for sex and age. Clinical markers of disease severity and incidence of CVE are summarised in table 1. CVE (myocardial infarction, acute limb ischaemia, stoke, etc) were collected from the hospital chart and with a questionnaire to the patient and/or family physician. Only patients with CVE during the RA course were included. …


With a population of about 1.1 billion, India is expected to overtake China as the world's most populous country by 2030. India's economy ranks as Asia's third largest, after Japan and China, and is now one of the world's fastest growing. While growth has led to significant reductions in poverty, India still ranks among the world's low income countries in terms of income per capita. Nevertheless, economic growth has resulted in a burgeoning middle-class. India's agriculture sector accounts for 18% of GDP, and employs around 60% of the workforce. Rice, wheat, cotton, oilseeds, jute, tea, sugarcane, milk and potatoes are India's major agricultural commodities. With its growing urban middle-class and increasing influence in global affairs, India's policies have important implications not only for its own economic development but also for global agricultural markets and trade. This note first reviews India's macro reforms, followed by discussion of the competitiveness of Indian agriculture. The evolution of India's major agricultural policies is then described, and new policy directions and emerging challenges are discussed. The note closes with some of the prospects for India's agri-food.


PURPOSE
Late failure, which occurs after successful osseointegration, is usually attributed to prosthodontic determinants. Corrosion of metallic suprastructures and incorrectly handled materials are often primary causes of late implant failure. In this study, 6 implants whose failure was related to suprastructure metal corrosion and adjacent bone were investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Six implants as well as their suprastructures were analyzed for surface corrosion using light and scanning microscopy. Metal alloys and soldering compounds were analyzed using energy-dispersive x-ray analysis. Bone adhering to the implants was removed and analyzed for metal content using atom absorption spectroscopy.

RESULTS
Extensive corrosion lesions and areas of oxidation were detected on all 6 of the implants and inner crown surfaces. Bone tissue collected from 5 of the implants showed higher contents of metal ions in comparison to physiologic baseline values detected in healthy bone.

DISCUSSION
In spite of the high gold content of the suprastructure, corrosion occurred. Bonding oxides necessary for the process of fusing porcelain to gold will initiate corrosion. Apparently, once corrosion is initiated it rapidly progresses at the gap crevices, and toxic metal ions are released. These toxic ions diffuse into the peri-implant bone, causing bone structure breakdown and hastening osseodisintegration.

CONCLUSION
Biocompatible metals, alloys, and ceramics should be used for implant-supported suprastructures. It is also essential that gaps between the implant and its suprastructure be avoided by cementing the suprastructure or sealing the gap.


Objective To assess frequency, duration and costs of Medicaid conversions that occur when severe injury causes patients to enrol in Medicaid to pay their hospital bills. Once enrolled, Medicaid pays all their medical bills, not simply their injury bill. Data sources 2000–2005 West Virginia Medicaid claims data and 2000–2006 eligibility data for new enrollees under the age of 65. To model national costs, published Medicaid conversion rates across 14 states for 2003 and 2008 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Program Nationwide Inpatient Sample data. Methods We identified enrollees who had hospital inpatient claims for injury within 30 days of enrolment, then tabulated eligibility duration and payments by year and in aggregate. For those with open-ended eligibility, we assumed future annual claims payments would equal average payments in eligibility years 5–6. We multiplied the mean payments data adjusted to national prices with the estimated conversions nationally. Results Overall, 5.4% of hospitalised patients with injury in West Virginia converted to Medicaid, with 17% of conversions on Medicaid 7 years post injury. In 2010 dollars, Medicaid payments averaged $93 900 per conversion for non-injury medical care before the age of 65. Conversions added an estimated $87 in payments for non-injury care to governments' medical payments per medically treated injury in the USA. They added 14% to governments' gunshot and assault medical payments, 7.5% to its road crash medical payments and 6% to its total injury medical payments. Conclusions These findings increase the rationale for governments to partner in injury prevention efforts.


Life histories are presented for Trirhabda virgata and T. borealis, two closely related leaf beetles that co-occur on goldenrod (Solidago spp.) in central New York. Eggs and larvae of the two species were indistinguishable, although T. virgata larvae were significantly larger. Life cycles were similar except for a slight difference in phenology; all stages of T. borealis appeared 1 to 2 weeks earlier in the season than those of T. virgata. Females of T. virgata possess more ovarioles/ovary and laid more eggs/cluster than T. borealis females. Invertebrate natural enemies of Trirhabda included 18 species in 10 families; most common were the host-specific tachinid, Aplomyiopsis xylota (Curran), the generalist coccinellid, Hippodamia glacialis (F.), and the nabid, Nabicula subcoleoptrata (Kirby). Trirhabda distribution and abundance in central New York were determined by surveying 23 old field sites. Mean beetle density was 7.6 ? 1.4 individuals/sweep. Trirhabda virgata, present in all sites, was the dominant species, typically accounting for 90% of the beetles collected per field. Densities of the two species varied independently among sites. Spatial autocorrelation analysis did not detect any geographic pattern associated with either species' abundance. Possible explanations for the relative rarity of T. borealis are proposed.


In this era of globalization, network integration has received great attention, as it certainly has implications for the competitiveness in international manufacturing. A key issue in integration is to coordinate activities of dispersed facilities in a way to align the target of locating abroad and the priorities to be competitive. This study explores and clarifies the effect of competitive priority and focus of dispersed facilities on coordinating the activities in intra-firm network manufacturing. Based on a multiple case study involving four different companies manufacturing in globally dispersed facilities, the results confirm that both competitive priorities and specific focus of global manufacturing are important for selecting mechanisms to coordinate overseas facilities, with the competitive priorities 'quality' and 'flexibility' being the more important. Furthermore, the findings reveal that companies place emphasis on informal mechanisms to coordinate the low-cost focused facilities. In turn, the importance of formal mechanisms seems equal for coordinating both low-cost focused facilities and those focused on capturing a local market. Finally, the findings of this paper suggest that elements of competitive priority, as well as the focus of dispersed facilities, should be considered towards making the choice for mechanisms of coordination. The findings bear important implications for the effective coordination of activities in international manufacturing.


Selection of a drug for formulary inclusion involves evaluation of safety, efficacy, and cost. The colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) sargramostim and filgrastim have a broad range of potential indications and represent a costly formulary addition when acquisition price alone is considered; their comparative safety is unclear. These factors suggest that the CSFs should be closely scrutinized prior to formulary addition. In the absence of direct comparative studies, an assessment of the safety of CSFs involves evaluation of information provided in the product circular, official drug compendia, adverse biologic reports submitted to the United States Food and Drug Administration, and data from key clinical trials. Data in the product circulars report on adverse events in small numbers of patients treated for chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (filgrastim) or neutropenia subsequent to bone marrow transplantation (sargramostim). The official compendia and clinical trials include experience with CSFs produced in a variety of expression systems; these data are not limited to sargramostim and filgrastim. Importantly, there was a similar incidence of adverse events in patients who received sargramostim or filgrastim and in those who took placebo reported in the product circulars and the pivotal trials, suggesting that the underlying disease may have an important role in determining the side-effect profile of these agents. Adverse biologic reports represent experience with sargramostim and filgrastim obtained under actual clinical conditions and suggest that the same types of adverse events are seen with sargramostim as with filgrastim. This analysis suggests that a decision to select filgrastim over sargramostim for formulary inclusion based on the safety profile is not appropriate because currently available data are equivocal and that such decisions would more appropriately be based on efficacy and cost.


Abstract The app economy is largely reliant on data collection as its primary revenue model. To comply with legal requirements, app developers are often obligated to notify users of their privacy practices in privacy policies. However, prior research has suggested that many developers are not accurately disclosing their apps' privacy practices. Evaluating discrepancies between apps' code and privacy policies enables the identification of potential compliance issues. In this study, we introduce the Mobile App Privacy System (MAPS) for conducting an extensive privacy census of Android apps. We designed a pipeline for retrieving and analyzing large app populations based on code analysis and machine learning techniques. In its first application, we conduct a privacy evaluation for a set of 1,035,853 Android apps from the Google Play Store. We find broad evidence of potential non-compliance. Many apps do not have a privacy policy to begin with. Policies that do exist are often silent on the practices performed by apps. For example, 12.1% of apps have at least one location-related potential compliance issue. We hope that our extensive analysis will motivate app stores, government regulators, and app developers to more effectively review apps for potential compliance issues.


Background The last decade has witnessed dramatic improvements in whole-genome sequencing capabilities coupled to drastically decreased costs, leading to an inundation of high-quality de novo genomes. For this reason, continued development of genome quality metrics is imperative. The current study utilized the recently updated Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) genome and annotation to evaluate a proteomics-based metric of genome accuracy. Results Proteomic analysis of six tissues provided experimental confirmation of 10 402 proteins from 4 711 protein groups, almost 1/3 of the possible predicted proteins in the genome. There was an increased median molecular weight and number of identified peptides per protein using the current T. truncatus annotation versus the previous annotation. Identification of larger proteins with more identified peptides implied reduced database fragmentation and improved gene annotation accuracy. A metric is proposed, NP10, that attempts to capture this quality improvement. When using the new T. truncatus genome there was a 21 % improvement in NP10. This metric was further demonstrated by using a publicly available proteomic data set to compare human genome annotations from 2004, 2013 and 2016, which had a 33 % improvement in NP10. Conclusions These results demonstrate that new whole-genome sequencing techniques can rapidly generate high quality de novo genome assemblies and emphasizes the speed of advancing bioanalytical measurements in a non-model organism. Moreover, proteomics may be a useful metrological tool to benchmark genome accuracy, though there is a need for reference proteomic datasets to facilitate this utility in new de novo and existing genomes.


Obesity is a major risk factor for several metabolic disorders including insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Chronic imbalance of calorie intake and expenditure results in storage of excess unused energy resulting in obesity and related metabolic dysfunctions. While most obesity therapies are focused on reducing the calorie intake and exercise, recent studies suggest that targeting cellular energy expenditure could be a fascinating alternative approach. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) not only has a remarkable calorie burning capacity, but it could also promote triglyceride clearance and glucose disposal. Induction of brown adipose mass and activity in relevant tissues are linked to relieve symptoms of various metabolic disorders such as diabetes, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular diseases. Follistatin (Fst), an extracellular protein that binds and antagonizes several members of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)/myostatin (Mst) superfamily, promotes brown adipose characteristics in both white and brown adipose tissues by targeting distinct molecular pathways. Inhibition of Mst, on the other hand, leads to significant upregulation of adipose browning in white adipose tissues. This chapter will summarize most recent developments in targeting adipose tissue and their functional characteristics to explore therapeutic potential of Fst and TGF-β/Mst signaling to modulate adipose tissue metabolic functions to combat obesity and related metabolic syndromes.


The tautomeric properties of favipiravir were investigated experimentally for the first time by using molecular spectroscopy (UV–Vis absorption, fluorescence and NMR), as well as DFT quantum–chemical calculations. According to the obtained results, the enol tautomer is substantially more stable in most of the organic solvents. In the presence of water, a keto form appears to be favored due to the specific solute–solvent interactions. Upon the addition of alkaline-earth-metal ions, deprotonation and complexation occurred simultaneously, giving the formation of 2 : 1 ligand : metal complexes. According to the theoretical simulations, the metal ion is captured between the carbonyl groups as a result of the size–fit effect.


Nuclear lamin B1 (LB1) is a major structural component of the nucleus that appears to be involved in the regulation of many nuclear functions. The results of this study demonstrate that LB1 expression in WI-38 cells decreases during cellular senescence. Premature senescence induced by oncogenic Ras also decreases LB1 expression through a retinoblastoma protein (pRb)-dependent mechanism. Silencing the expression of LB1 slows cell proliferation and induces premature senescence in WI-38 cells. The effects of LB1 silencing on proliferation require the activation of p53, but not pRb. However, the induction of premature senescence requires both p53 and pRb. The proliferation defects induced by silencing LB1 are accompanied by a p53-dependent reduction in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can be rescued by growth under hypoxic conditions. In contrast to the effects of LB1 silencing, overexpression of LB1 increases the proliferation rate and delays the onset of senescence of WI-38 cells. This overexpression eventually leads to cell cycle arrest at the G1/S boundary. These results demonstrate the importance of LB1 in regulating the proliferation and senescence of human diploid cells through a ROS signaling pathway.


Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematologic malignancy characterized by recurrent chromosomal translocations. Patients with t(4;14)(p16;q32) are the worst prognostic subgroup in MM, although the basis for this poor prognosis is unknown. The t(4;14) is unusual in that it involves 2 potential target genes: fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) and multiple myeloma SET domain (MMSET). MMSET is universally overexpressed in t(4;14) MM, whereas FGFR3 expression is lost in one-third of cases. Nonetheless, the role of MMSET in t(4;14) MM has remained unclear. Here we demonstrate a role for MMSET in t(4;14) MM cells. Down-regulation of MMSET expression in MM cell lines by RNA interference and by selective disruption of the translocated MMSET allele using gene targeting dramatically reduced colony formation in methylcellulose but had only modest effects in liquid culture. In addition, MMSET knockdown led to cell-cycle arrest of adherent MM cells and reduced the ability of MM cells to adhere to extracellular matrix. Finally, MMSET knockdown and knockout reduced tumor formation by MM xenografts. These results provide the first direct evidence that MMSET plays a significant role in t(4;14) MM and suggest that therapies targeting this gene could impact this particular subset of poor-prognosis patients.


The environment tested by globalization
One of the most negative images associated with the People's Republic of China certainly revolves around environmental issues. There are good reasons for this, if one considers the intensity of Pollution a Canton. Creative Commons CC0.Chinese growth and the magnitude of the damage it is inflicting on the environment. Indeed, the open policy launched in 1978 unleashed an unprecedented industrialization and urbanization process. In four decades China has experienced the same environmental impacts that took two centuries to unfold in Europe, North America, and Japan. As China has legitimately prided itself for its growth, which has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty, access to development has translated into intensive use of natural resources (land, water, raw materials) and high energy consumption. Chinese modernization has strongly tested the environment.