Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to comment on Peter Ping Li's understanding of Zhong-Yong balancing, presented in his article titled "Global implications of the indigenous epistemological system from the East: How to apply Yin-Yang balancing to paradox management." Seeing his understanding of Zhong-Yong balancing being incorrect and incomplete, the author proposes an alternative perspective on Zhong-Yong as dynamic balancing between Yin-Yang opposites. Design/methodology/approach – The author first explain why Peter P. Li's "asymmetry" and "superiority" arguments are flawed by referring to the original text of the classical book of Zhong-Yong (中庸) and a comparison between Zhong-Yong and Aristotle's doctrine of the mean. The author then propose an alternative approach to Zhong-Yong balancing that is embedded in the original text Zhong-Yong but somehow has been neglected by many Chinese scholars. The author concludes the commentary by unifying the two alternative approaches to Zhong-Yong balancing under the inclusion-selection-promotion-transition (ISPT) framework of Zhong-Yong balancing. Findings – There are three main findings. First, as the original text of Zhong-Yong does not prescribe asymmetry, Peter P. Li's notion of "Yin-Yang balancing" is ironically unbalanced or anti-Zhong-Yong due to his emphasis on asymmetry to the exclusion of symmetry. Second, due to the equivalency between Zhong-Yong and Aristotle's doctrine of the mean, Peter P. Li's assertion that "Yin-Yang balancing" is superior as a solution to paradox management is flawed. Third, his "Yin-Yang balancing" solution is only (the less sophisticated) one of two alternative approaches to Zhong-Yong balancing, i.e., ratio-based combination of Yin-Yang opposites. What Peter P. Li and many other Chinese have neglected is another approach to Zhong-Yong that is embedded in the original text of Zhong-Yong, which I call "analysis plus synthesis." Research limitations/implications – As it is a commentary there are no specific limitations except for what can be covered in the space available. Practical implications – The "analysis plus synthesis" approach to Zhong-Yong can be adopted by practitioners who are demanded to balance between opposite forces in daily life and work. Social implications – The rejection of the "Yin-Yang balancing being superior" assertion facilitates reduction of friction and non-cooperation between intellectual traditions. Originality/value – This commentary contributes to the "West meets East" discourse by debunking Peter P. Li's assertion that Yin-Yang balancing is superior as a solution to paradox management and his prescription that balancing between Yin-Yang opposites must be asymmetric. It also contributes to the Chinese indigenous management research by identifying a largely neglected approach to Zhong-Yong balancing (i.e. "analysis plus synthesis") that is alternative to the commonly understood ratio-based combination approach (e.g. "Yin-Yang balancing"). In addition, it contributes to the management literature by proposing the ISPT framework of Zhong-Yong balancing.


The production and storage of food crops in different countries is affected by aflatoxins contamination, which are known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic to human beings and domestic animals. This study investigated on the occurrence of aflatoxins in maize products and the effects of cooking preparation processes on their concentrations. The maize samples were collected from fields, farmers' stores and markets of selected locations in Tanzania (i.e., Kongwa and Njombe districts). Extracted samples were analyzed for aflatoxins using high performance liquid chromatography. The concentrations of aflatoxins in maize and maize products ranged from below detection limit to 9.99 ± 1.43 µg/kg and 9.99 ± 0.14 µg/kg for Njombe and Uwemba wards, respectively. Whereas those collected from Kibaigwa ward in Kongwa district ranged from 2.87 ± 0.02 µg/kg to 10.26 ± 0.46 µg/kg. The levels in cooked maize products were lower than the uncooked maize products. The mean concentrations of total aflatoxins in cooked maize products were 0.45 ± 0.05 µg/kg for stiff porridge prepared from dehulled maize flour, 1.39 ± 0.02 µg/kg for stiff porridge prepared from undehulled maize flour, and 0.584 ± 0.06 µg/kg for maize meal (kande). Generally, the levels of aflatoxins were below the maximum acceptable limits set by WHO except for some samples from Kibaigwa market which were slightly above the set limits.


The migration of profile sub-peaks identified in time-monitored optical emission lines of Wolf-Rayet (WR) star spectra provides a direct diagnostic of the dynamics of their stellar winds via a measured ∆vLOS/∆t, a line-of-sight veloc- ity change per unit time. Inferring the associated wind acceleration scale from such an apparent acceleration then relies on the adopted intrinsic velocity of the wind material at the origin of this variable pattern. Such a characterization of the Line Emission Region (LER) is in principle subject to inaccuracies arising from line optical depth effects and turbulence broadening. In this paper, we develop tools to quantify such effects and then apply these to reanalyze the LER properties of time-monitored WR stars. We find that most program lines can be fitted well with a pure optically thin formation mechanism, that the ob- served line-broadening is dominated by the finite velocity extent of the LER, and that the level of turbulence inferred through Line Profile Variability (lpv) has only a minor broadening effect in the overall profile. Our new estimates of LER velocity centroids are systematically shifted outwards closer to terminal velocity compared to previous determinations, now suggesting WR-wind acceleration length scales βR∗ of the order of 10−20 R� , a factor of a few smaller than previously inferred. Based on radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of the line-driven-instability mechanism, we compute synthetic lpv for C5696 A for WR 111. The results match well the measured observed migration of 20-30 m s −2 , equivalent to βR∗ ∼ 20 R� . However, our model stellar radius of 19 R� , typical of an O-type supergiant, is a factor 2-10 larger than generally expected for WR core radii. Such small radii leave inferred acceleration scales to be more extended than expected from dynamical models of line driving, which typically match a "beta" velocity law v(r) = v∞(1 − R∗/r) β , with β ≈ 1−2; but the severity of the discrepancy is sub- stantially reduced compared to previous analyses. We conclude with a discussion of how using lines formed deeper in the wind would provide a stronger constraint on the key wind dynamics in the peak acceleration region, while also potentially providing a diagnostic on the radial variation of wind clumping, an issue that remains crucial for reliable determination of O-star mass loss rates.


The deaths of public figures can produce a variety of emotional reactions. While bereavement research has explored mourning family or close friends, this literature does little to address the experience of grief for public figures. Similarly, research on how people relate to public figures provides an incomplete picture of the symbolic associations people can form with those figures. This study relies on interviews with individuals who had a memorable reaction to the death of a public figure to explore how these individuals related to that figure. Results suggest two ideal type reactions: Grief, characterized by disruption and sharp pain, and Melancholy, characterized by distraction and dull ache. Respondents reported symbolic associations between the figure and some meaning they had incorporated into their cognitive framework. I argue that emotional reactions to the death of a public figure are an affective signal of disruption to the individual's cognitive functioning caused by the loss of meaning maintained by the figure. The key difference in kind and intensity of reaction is related to the cognitive salience of the lost meaning. This research highlights how individuals use internalized cultural objects in their sense-making process. More broadly, by revealing symbolically meaningful relationships that shape cognitive frameworks, this analysis offers cognitive sociological insights into research about the function of role models, collective memories, and other cultural objects on the individual's understanding of their world.


Urea was used as a marker body water. Twelve catheterized dairy cows were injected with urea for 3 consecutive days. Equilibrium between injected and endogenous urea was obtained at 35.9 min over the 3 d. Different models to estimate urea space (EU) were compared with body water estimated at slaughter. The standard error was minimum when using the mean of EU on the 3 daily estimates obtained at 20 min. However, repeatability of EU measurement was low.


Doppler centroid is a key focusing parameter of Doppler beam sharpening (DBS) imaging. According to the locked relationship between Doppler centroid error and image entropy, a minimum-entropy Doppler estimator (MEDE) is proposed. The algorithm breaks the conventional algorithms' assumption that the shape of echo signal's power spectrum is symmetrical, and the proposed method can circumvent the problem of low estimation precision using conventional algorithms to process the echo signal from high-scene contrast. The new algorithm based on entropy minimization has high estimation precision in the case of low- and high-scene contrast. MEDE has been successfully applied to a DBS real-time imaging processor of airborne radar and verified by flight experiments.


The performance of a ground-station-to-space laser uplink with a Gaussian-beam wave model subject to turbulence and beam wander effects is the topic of the present study. The modulated gamma distribution is used to describe the combined effect of the above two deteriorating factors. At first, a versatile expression of the above probability density function is deduced. We then derive novel closed-form expressions for its cumulative distribution function and the moment-generating function. The scintillation index and the probability of fade are hence readily evaluated. The analysis is completed with the evaluation of the bit error rate assuming heterodyne detection with differential phase-shift keying. In order to attain an adequate error rate target, we incorporate diversity at the satellite receiver. A proper simulation scenario is adopted, and numerical results are provided to verify the accuracy of the derived expressions.


The efficiency and productivity of Zakat institution have widely discussed, it is an organization based on social which looks after economic disparities. Most recently, Indonesia made a standardization policy and system of zakat institution, so that the zakat institution in Indonesia can reach the same quality or higher rather than other countries. It called Zakat Core Principles. Therefore, this research will focus on the zakat institution in Indonesia and Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the efficiency and productivity using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), which is a non-parametric and deterministic methodology for determining the relative efficiency and productivity. The result of this research shows, The first quadrant is the best efficient and productive institutions gained by zakat institution in Indonesia namely Sinergi Foundation and 3 zakat institutions in Malaysia namely Kedah, Melayu Perak, and Selangor. The second quadrant is highly productive but low efficient achieved by zakat institutions in Indonesia namely Baznas, RZ, Dompet Dhuafa and 1 zakat institution in Malaysia namely Jawhar. The third quadrant is high efficient but low productive didn't achieve by any zakat institution in Indonesia or Malaysia. The fourth quadrant is low efficient and low productive reached by 1 zakat institution in Indonesia namely PKPU and 3 zakat institution in Malaysia namely Kelantan, PPZ and Pahang. The implication in this study is describing the position of zakat institution in Indonesia and Malaysia so that it is known which zakat institution could be a role model or benchmarking for other zakat institution.


Reliable navigation is a very important part of an autonomous mobile robot system. This means for instance that the robot should not lose track of its position, even if unexpected events like wheel slip and collisions occur. The standard approach to this problem is to construct a navigation system that is robust in itself. This paper proposes that detecting faults can also be made outside the normal navigation system, as an additional fault detector. Besides increasing the robustness, a means for detecting deviations is obtained, which can be important for the rest of the robot system, for instance the top level planner. The method uses two or more sources of robot position estimates, and compares them to detect unexpected deviation without getting deceived by drift or different characteristics in the position systems it gets information from. Both relative and absolute position sources can be used, meaning that existing positioning systems already implemented can be used in the detector. For detection purposes, an extended Kalman filter is used in conjunction with a CUSUM test. The detector is able to not only detect faults, but also give an estimate of when the fault occurred, which is useful for doing fault recovery. The detector is easy to implement, as it requires no modification of existing systems. Also the computational demands are very low. The approach is implemented and demonstrated on a mobile robot, using odometry and a scan matcher as sources of position information. It is shown that the system is able to detect wheel slip in real-time


Oligomerization and/or aggregation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) triggers α-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. It is known that α-Syn can spread in the brain like prions; however, the mechanism remains unclear. We demonstrated that fatty acid binding protein 3 (FABP3) promotes propagation of α-Syn in mouse brain. Animals were injected with mouse or human α-Syn pre-formed fibrils (PFF) into the bilateral substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Two weeks after injection of mouse α-Syn PFF, wild-type (WT) mice exhibited motor and cognitive deficits, whereas FABP3 knock-out (Fabp3−/−) mice did not. The number of phosphorylated α-Syn (Ser-129)-positive cells was significantly decreased in Fabp3−/− mouse brain compared to that in WT mice. The SNpc was unilaterally infected with AAV-GFP/FABP3 in Fabp3−/− mice to confirm the involvement of FABP3 in the development of α-Syn PFF toxicity. The number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)- and phosphorylated α-Syn (Ser-129)-positive cells following α-Syn PFF injection significantly decreased in Fabp3−/− mice and markedly increased by AAV-GFP/FABP3 infection. Finally, we confirmed that the novel FABP3 inhibitor MF1 significantly antagonized motor and cognitive impairments by preventing α-Syn spreading following α-Syn PFF injection. Overall, FABP3 enhances α-Syn spreading in the brain following α-Syn PFF injection, and the FABP3 ligand MF1 represents an attractive therapeutic candidate for α-synucleinopathy.


We investigated two factors that predict students' achievement and behaviour in undergraduate mathematics: gender and personality. We found that gender predicted students' achievement and behaviour when considered in isolation, but ceased to be predictive when personality profiles were taken into account. Furthermore, personality accounted for significantly more variance in undergraduates' achievement and behaviour than did gender, but the converse was not the case. We therefore argue that personality provides the more productive lens through which to understand the behaviour of undergraduate mathematics students. We relate this finding to recent research emphasising gender differences in mathematics education, and suggest that researchers wishing to promote equity in participation at and beyond the undergraduate level should consider shifting their focus to individual differences in personality.


Sediments and rocks recovered in CRP-2/2A coring operations contain relatively little organic matter (average TOC=0.28%) and very small amounts of solvent-soluble organic matter. Because Early Oligocene sediment included significant amounts of coal detritus, TOC values are higher in Early Oligocene rocks than in younger rocks. TOC values are highest in the fine-grained rocks deposited as part of the highstand systems tract (HST) and TOC values decrease from the bottom to the top of the HST. The TOC:TN ratios observed in the CRP-2/2A core typically exceed 10, and are strong evidence that the preserved organic matter comprises a mixture of detrital coal and aquatic organic matter. Solvent-soluble organic matter comprises autochthonous bitumen derived from aquatic organic matter, allochthonous bitumen derived from deeper sedimentary rocks, and recycled bitumen derived from coal detritus.


As stated, this thesis is organised in two parts. Part I comprises the first five
chapters, part II the latter four. Chapter one is an introductory chapter that examines the
origins of the Cumann na nGaedheal party, founded in December 1922 and launched in
April 1923. It looks at the new cultural nationalism emerging at the turn of the twentieth
century and the eclipse of the Irish party after 1916. This chapter draws on the work of
Laffan and Garvin in helping to understand that Sinn Fein was united for four years and
that the different sides in 1922 represented, to a certain extent, different factions of the
superficially united revolutionary party. Chapter two outlines Cumann na nGaedheal's
national structures and its performance in general elections during the period 1923-33.
As such, the chapter paves the way for the following three which chart the party
organisation's fortunes in three representative constituencies.
Chapters three, four and five focus exclusively on party life in the three
constituencies of Clare, Longford/Westmeath and Dublin North. Clare was chosen
because the western county was the bailiwick of Eamon de Valera and Cumann na
nGaedheal struggled for support there, only ever winning one of the five seats available.
Longford/Westmeath was chosen because it lies in the midlands, was a two-county
constituency and represented something of a middle ground in terms of Cumann na
nGaedheal support.28 In three of the five elections between 1923 and 1933, the party
won one seat in Longford/Westmeath before gaining a second in September 1927, which
was successfully defended as the party lost power in 1932. The third constituency,
Dublin North was selected because it was an urban constituency representing the
northern portion of the capital. Moreover, it was something of a Cumann na nGaedheal
stronghold for much of the period, returning four Cumann na nGaedheal deputies to the
Dail in 1923 and September 1927 and three in the elections of June 1927, February 1932
and January 1933. In addition, Dublin North and Longford/Westmeath witnessed byelections
in this period while the locations of the three constituencies provide the study
with something of an even geographical balance.
Chapter six provides an overview of political, social and economic change in
Europe from 1918 to 1933. This chapter draws heavily on secondary sources (mentioned
above) and is designed to set a wider, international context to Irish policy choices that
are described in chapters seven and eight. Parallels between events in Ireland and Europe
are noted as are various points of contrast. Chapter seven documents the first period of
Cumann na nGaedheal government, 1923 to 1928, stopping short of the generally
accepted date for the onset of the Great Depression in 1929.29 The chapter charts the
government's attempts to place the new state's finances on a firm footing arguing that its
policy preferences largely corresponded with the dominant 'gold standard orthodoxy' of
the period. Chapter eight looks at Free State government policy between 1929 and 1933.
As such the chapter scrutinises the last years of Cumann na nGaedheal administration
and the first year of de Valera's government. The chapter charts the downturn in the
Irish economy from about 1930 as trade collapsed and recognises that the Cumann na
nGaedheal cabinet, like most European governments, were slow to realise their mistake
in simply continuing to pursue deflationary policies. New approaches were needed and
governments across Europe fell to more radical or extremist alternatives usually
encompassing some form of economic nationalism as international cooperation all but
came to an end in the early 1930s. The chapter argues that Fianna Fail, as the Irish
advocate of protectionism and economic nationalism, found itself coming to power in
1932 at a time when its policy was beginning to carry weight internationally.
In the thesis that follows, it will be seen that there was more to the Cumann na
nGaedheal party's organisation and policy than has been depicted to date. The party took
the reins of government at a very difficult time as the country emerged from a
destructive civil war into statehood as the international economy creaked. On losing
their two leaders, Collins and Griffith in 1922, Cosgrave and his colleagues were
charged with leading the country through those turbulent years. Having taken the less
glamorous side in the Treaty division, the political initiative for change would rest
ultimately with their opponents and recruitment of a mass party membership was neither
a priority, nor an easy task, for a government facing such gargantuan difficulties.
However, in the pages that follow it is hoped that the reader will gain some fascinating
new insights into pro-Treaty mobilisation in the years 1923-33.


X-ray satellites since Einstein have empirically established that the X-ray luminosity from single O-stars scales linearly with bolometric luminosity, Lx ~ 10^{-7} Lbol. But straightforward forms of the most favored model, in which X-rays arise from instability-generated shocks embedded in the stellar wind, predict a steeper scaling, either with mass loss rate Lx ~ Mdot ~ Lbol^{1.7} if the shocks are radiative, or with Lx ~ Mdot^{2} ~ Lbol^{3.4} if they are adiabatic. This paper presents a generalized formalism that bridges these radiative vs. adiabatic limits in terms of the ratio of the shock cooling length to the local radius. Noting that the thin-shell instability of radiative shocks should lead to extensive mixing of hot and cool material, we propose that the associated softening and weakening of the X-ray emission can be parametrized as scaling with the cooling length ratio raised to a power m$, the "mixing exponent". For physically reasonable values m ~= 0.4, this leads to an X-ray luminosity Lx ~ Mdot^{0.6} ~ Lbol that matches the empirical scaling. To fit observed X-ray line profiles, we find such radiative-shock-mixing models require the number of shocks to drop sharply above the initial shock onset radius. This in turn implies that the X-ray luminosity should saturate and even decrease for optically thick winds with very high mass-loss rates. In the opposite limit of adiabatic shocks in low-density winds (e.g., from B-stars), the X-ray luminosity should drop steeply with Mdot^2. Future numerical simulation studies will be needed to test the general thin-shell mixing ansatz for X-ray emission.


OBJECTIVES
We examined the relationships among depressive symptoms, physician diagnosis of depression, and charges for care.

STUDY DESIGN
We used a prospective observational design.

POPULATION
Five hundred eight new adult patients were randomly assigned to senior residents in family practice and internal medicine.

OUTCOMES MEASURED
Self-reports of health status assessment (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36) and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) were determined at study entry and at 1-year follow-up. Physician diagnosis of depression was determined by chart audit; charges for care were monitored electronically.

RESULTS
Symptoms of depression and the diagnosis of depression were associated with charges for care. Statistical models were developed to identify predictors for the occurrence and magnitude of medical charges. Neither depressive symptoms nor diagnosis of depression significantly predicted the occurrence of charges in the areas studied, but physician diagnosis of depression predicted the magnitude of primary care and total charges.

CONCLUSIONS
A complex relationship exists among depressive symptoms, the diagnosis of depression, and charges for medical care. Understanding these relationships may help primary care physicians diagnose depression and deliver primary care to depressed patients more effectively while managing health care expenditures.


This study examined the inhibition of Hydroides elegans larval settlement by brown algal phlorotannins as well as 2 related compounds, tannic acid and phloroglucinol. Two mechanisms have been suggested to explain the antifouling effects of natural compounds: natural compounds may target macrofoulers directly, or they may regulate the growth of microfoulers, such as bacteria, which in turn affects larval settlement. We hypothesized that phlorotannins, phloroglucinol and tannic acid inhibit H. elegans larval settlement through both mechanisms. In this study, we investigated (1) the LC5, of the 3 compounds on H. elegans larvae, (2) the EC,,, for inhibition of H. elegans larval settlement by the 3 compounds, (3) antibacterial activity of the 3 compounds, and (4) settlement of H. elegans larvae on both monospecies and multispecies bacterial films. Twelve different strains of marine bacteria were isolated for antibiosis assays and larval settlement assays. Our results indicated that phlorotannins, tannic acid, and phloroglucinol were inhibitory to H. elegans larval settlement and to the growth of certain marine bacteria. Assays of larval settlement on bactenal films revealed that H. elegans larvae settled differentially on different species of bacteria. Changes in either bacterial species or ratio of bacterial species in multispecies bacterial films also affected H. elegans larval settlement. An integration of results from the antibiosis assays together with those from the assays of larval settlement on bacterial films revealed that phlorotannins and the related compounds were inhibitory to some of the bacterial species that induced high levels of H. elegans larval settlement; however, some of the bacteria that induced low levels of H. elegans larval settlement were resistant to the compounds. Therefore, we speculate that the bacteria which induce high level of H. elegans larval settlement may be lacking in a biofilm that is developed under the influence of the compounds, and the niches become available to the phenolic-resistant bacteria that cause low levels of H. elegans larval settlement. Consequently, the phenolic-treated biofilm may become unfavorable to H. elegans larval settlement.


This thesis explores the relationship between French and British painting in the decade 1858-1868, a period in which progressive artistic practices in both France and Great Britain were concurrently transformed in style and subject matter. The scholarly literatures concerning the visual cultures of both nations in the mid-nineteenth century are substantial, yet comparatively few attempts have been made to reconcile their narratives of vanguardist practice in the 1860s. The thesis demonstrates that existing accounts of the development of early modernist painting in England and France may be more closely aligned by attention to the contemporary discourse of industrial art. The significance of this cultural apparatus, or 'dispositif', has hitherto been largely obscured both by modernism's disputed claims for painting's discovery of its own medium and by the fragmentation of the polyvalent activities of industrial art amongst many modern academic disciplines. By identifying a pattern of pictorial phenomena evident simultaneously within the works of English and French painters and by describing this pattern as a contiguous, international discursive formation, the thesis proposes the existence of a coherent configuration of knowledge and state power that modified progressive practices in similar ways in both countries. Four case-studies are presented that map the characteristics of this discourse as it can be inferred from formal and iconographic relationships within and between paintings. The research suggests that international state collaborations in exhibition, museology and photography served to construct a universalist and predicative model of stylistic change that was subsequently appropriated by a distinctive but similarly international vanguardist grouping, here identified as the Manet-Whistler Circle, within which the materials of industrial art came to inform a range of innovative critical positions. The discursive object thus identified has not previously been considered a theoretically-coherent determinant on early modernist painting.


Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This paper aims to examine the determinants that influence companies to report material sustainability information in their corporate annual reports. Design/Methodology/Approach: To validate the determinants influencing materiality disclosure, content analysis was conducted on the annual reports of the top 113 Malaysian public listed companies in 2016, and the smart partial least squares technique was employed to examine the proposed relationships. Research findings: The empirical results indicate that board activity and board independence play a significant role in the determination of materiality disclosure. The results also reveal that board size, company size, profitability, leverage and industry are insignificant predictors of materiality disclosure. The results indicate that many listed companies in Malaysia disclose some amount of material sustainability information. However, the level of disclosure remains relatively low. Theoretical contribution/Originality: Notwithstanding that materiality is regarded as a key reporting principle in the preparation of sustainability reports, research on the application of the materiality concept in sustainability reporting remains to be an unexplored theme in Malaysia. This work sheds light on materiality disclosure in sustainability reporting of large companies operating in Malaysia through the combined views of the stakeholder and legitimacy theories. Practitioner/Policy implications: The results should be of great interest to policymakers who are concerned with formulating sustainability policies to achieve greater materiality disclosure. It also provides strategic insights to companies that board characteristics, such as board activity and board independence, influence materiality disclosure. Board members are urged to consider the importance of the reporting materiality determination process; otherwise, poor reporting may result in conflict with major stakeholder groups who do not see the material issues disclosed in the sustainability reports. Research limitation/Implications: The results are limited to the context of Malaysia. Future researchers can compare materiality disclosure with other countries, such as Singapore and Thailand, to enrich the sustainability reporting literature.


The paper seeks to explore aspects of transhumanist art, starting from philosophical and theological perspectives on the future of humanity in the 21st century: body/soul/mind relationship, the problem of death and immortality, as well as questions about the nature of the beings that are emerging from technological developments. In the first part, we are looking at the things that unite and separate posthumanism and transhumanism in terms of their origins and current orientation. We are going to review some Eastern and Western Christian perspectives concerning the technological embrace, the challenge to revisit the definition of the human beings brought by transhumanism, and the pressure it puts on theological thinking. In the second part, we analyze some tendencies in transhumanist art practices and the emergence of new forms of artistic creations. We relate to the promises that transhumanism makes with regards to body prosthetics, cyborgism, and transspeciesism. At the same time, we identify religious thinking in the deification of the artist within the context of the new definitions of art in the digital age. Finally, as humans meditate on the future of humanity, we argue for the need to introduce art perspectives into the ongoing dialogue between philosophy, theology, and science.


The aim of this article is to reflect on the dialectic of the individual's life and death in terms of Adorno's moral philosophy, specifically through a thorough reading of his Negative Dialectics and other key works on the subject. I hold that there are two aspects of the dialectic of life within the context of Adorno's "nonidentity": one involves exploring the false identification, due to the reification of modern society, of the individual's life experience with her or his death experience, while the other involves preserving the dialectical and irreducible tension between the theoretical contemplation of life and of historical conditions, as well as specific social systems. Heidegger's ontological philosophy concerning Dasein and Kant's categorical imperative will also be discussed in order to fully understand Adorno's moral philosophy and his idea of nonidentity. From my point of view, Adorno's moral philosophy is the prime motivator of his unique concept of nonidentity, and has influenced contemporary political philosophical concepts such as biopolitics (cf. G. Agamben).


[1] The Mekong River ranks within the top ten rivers of the world in terms of water discharge and sediment load to the ocean, yet its organic matter (OM) composition remains unstudied. This river is experiencing anthropogenically forced changes due to land use and impoundment, and these changes are expected to intensify in the future. Accordingly, we monitored the composition (including vascular-plant signatures) of Mekong River fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) over a one-year period. Autochthonous production comprises a greater proportion of FPOM during the dry season than in the rainy season, as demonstrated by higher percent organic carbon values (7.9 � 2.4 versus 2.2 � 0.4%), lower yields of lignin normalized to carbon (0.40 � 0.05 versus 1.1 � 0.3 mg (100 mg OC) � 1 ), and an increase in N:C ratios toward phytoplankton values during the dry season (from 0.06 to 0.12). Changes in the lignin-phenol composition of FPOM suggest that gymnosperms contribute more toward FPOM composition during the dry season, with angiosperms dominating in the wet season. This is supported by calculations of the lignin phenol vegetation index of riverine FPOM, which increases between the dry to wet seasons (dry: 29.4 � 15.0 versus wet: 74.6 � 17.3). These changes likely reflect seasonal differences in the proportion of flow that is coming from the Upper and Lower Basin, corresponding to compositional differences between the vegetation of these regions. Therefore, this work provides a baseline understanding of FPOM variability that can be used to assess how future change will affect this river.


This study explores a qualitative understanding regarding Vietnamese adolescents and parents' conception of autonomy and perception of parental autonomy support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students at a middle school in Ho Chi Minh City and their parents respectively. The results indicate that Vietnamese adolescents and parents perceived autonomy as responsibility, self-expression, self-sufficient and decision making. Parental autonomy support implies control (in standards setting meaning), communication and support for decision making.


Software systems are increasingly present in every aspect of our society, as their deployment can be witnessed from seemingly trivial applications of light switches, to critical control systems of nuclear facilities. In the context of critical systems, software faults and errors could potentially lead to detrimental consequences, thus more rigorous methodologies beyond the scope of testing need be applied to software systems. Formal verification, the concept of being able to mathematically prove the correctness of an algorithm with respect to a mathematical formal specification, can indeed help us prevent these failures. A popular specification language for these formal specifications is temporal logic, due to its intuitive, yet precise expressions that can be utilized to both specify and verify fundamental properties pertaining to software systems. Temporal logic can express properties pertaining to safety, liveness, termination, non-termination, and more with regards to various systems such as Windows device drivers, kernel APIs, database servers, etc. This dissertation thus presents automated scalable techniques for verifying expressive temporal logic properties of software systems, specifically those beyond the scope of existing techniques. Furthermore, this work considers the temporal sub-logics fair-CTL, CTL∗, and CTLlp, as verifying these more expressive sub-logics has been an outstanding research problem. We begin building our framework by introducing a novel scalable and high-performance CTL verification technique. Our CTL methodology is unique relative to existing techniques in that it facilitates reasoning about more expressive temporal logics. In particular, it allows us to further introduce various methodologies that allow us to verify fair-CTL, CTL∗, and CTLlp. We support the verification of fair-CTL through a reduction to our CTL model checking technique via the use of infinite non-deterministic branching to symbolically partition fair from unfair executions. For CTL∗, we propose a method that uses an internal encoding which facilitates reasoning about the subtle interplay between the nesting of path and state temporal operators that occurs within CTL∗ proofs. A precondition synthesis strategy is then used over a program transformation which trades nondeterminism in the transition relation for nondeterminism explicit in variables predicting future outcomes when necessary. Finally, we propose a linear-past extension to CTL∗, that being CTLlp, in which the past is linear and each moment in time has a unique past. We support this extension through the use of history variables over our CTL∗ technique. We demonstrate the fully automated implementation of our techniques, and report our benchmarks carried out on code fragments from the PostgreSQL database server, Apache web server, Windows OS kernel, as well as smaller programs demonstrating the expressiveness of fair-CTL, CTL∗, and CTLlp specifications. Together, these novel methodologies lead to a new class of fully automated tools capable of proving crucial properties that no tool could previously prove in the infinite-state setting.


This study examines cognitive and social processes in group interactions that shape collaborative learning in science classrooms. Three small groups of students were observed while working collaboratively on explaining the burning of a candle under a jar. The learning environment served as a context for examination of conceptual convergence, a process wherein students construct shared meanings for science concepts through gradual refinement of ambiguous, partial meanings presented in group space. Despite engaging in the same activity with very similar instructional supports, the groups displayed very different patterns of interaction and achieved varied degrees of conceptual convergence. One group collaborated effectively and displayed evidence of individual conceptualizations of science content converging to establish a more well-informed shared conceptualization. The other groups were not as successful, each for unique reasons. Problems demonstrated in one group included lack of self-confidence, poor monitoring of group learning, and active avoidance of potentially fruitful conceptual conflicts. The other group struggled primarily because of a combative social context. The major educational significance of this study was the identification of social context and interactive patterns, group approaches to conceptual conflicts, and instructors' roles in collaborative activities as crucial aspects of productive group learning. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 634–658, 2008


Computer Graphics technologies have developed considerably over the past decades. Realistic virtual environments can be produced incorporating complex geometry for graphical objects and utilising hardware acceleration for per pixel effects. To enhance these environments, in terms of the immersive experience perceived by users, the human's sense of touch, or haptic system, can be exploited. To this end haptic feedback devices capable of exerting forces on the user are incorporated. The process of determining a reaction force for a given position of the haptic device is known as haptic rendering. For over a decade users have been able to interact with a virtual environment with a haptic device. This paper focuses on the haptic rendering algorithms which have been developed to compute forces as users manipulate the haptic device in the virtual environment.


Some estimates for the transverse Single Spin Asymmetry, A_N, in the inclusive processes l p(transv. Pol.) --> h X, given in a previous paper, are expanded and compared with new experimental data. The predictions are based on the Sivers distributions and the Collins fragmentation functions which fit the azimuthal asymmetries measured in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) processes (l p(transv. Pol.) --> l' h X). The factorisation in terms of Transverse Momentum Dependent distribution and fragmentation functions (TMD factorisation) -- i.e., the theoretical framework in which SIDIS azimuthal asymmetries are analysed -- is assumed to hold also for the inclusive process l p --> h X at large P_T. The values of A_N thus obtained agree in sign and shape with the data. Some predictions are given for future experiments.


To study the oxidative alkaline-degradation products of PQS (Panax quinquefolium saponin), two compounds were isolated from the crude product of oxidative alkaline-degradation by silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and recrystallized methods. On the basis of spectroscopic analysis, their structures were established as (12R, 20S, 24R)-20, 24; 12, 24-diepoxy-24-deisopropyl-dammarane-3beta-ol (1) and (20S, 24R)-20, 24-epoxydammarane-3beta3, 12beta, 25-triol (2). Compounds 1 and 2, dammarane type triterpene with cyclization at the side chain, were obtained for the first time from alkaline-degradation products of total ginsenosides of Panax quinquefolium L., compound 1 is a new compound.


Background and Aims : Formaldehyde is used as a chemical solvent in many industries, including anatomical and pathological specimens' processes, antimicrobial agent and pesticides in agriculture. According to it's irritant properties and also chronic respiratory tract disease production is of interest., The main purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of its acute and chronic respiratory effects on the workers who have exposed with low levels of formaldehyde on their pulmonary functional. Materials and Methods: This Cross-sectional study was conducted at a resin producing plant. The study's population consisted of 62 workers (40 were exposed and 22 were non-exposed). In order to assess worker's atmospheric concentration exposure with formaldehyde, it was measured at different locations of the plant. Demographic information and respiratory symptoms were collected by a spirometer. Then the parameters of pulmonary function (Vital Capacity, Forced Vital Capacity, Forced Expiratory Volume in first second, Ratio Forced Vital Capacity to Forced Expiratory Volume in first second,and Maximum Expiratory Flow) were all measured during exposure and a few days after exposure ceased. Results : Atmospheric concentration of formaldehyde showed higher threshold level value (TLV=0.75). Some parameters of pulmonary function (VC, FVC, FEV1) in exposed workers (at work time and after exposure) were noted less than the reference group (p<0.05). However, during a few days after rest, comparative improvement was observed in pulmonary function as well. Also exposed workers had higher occurrence rates of cough, phlegm, rhinorrhea, and throat irritation. Conclusion : The findings of this study indicate that exposure to formaldehyde could cause respiratory symptoms and respiratory disease. Key words : Respiratory disease, Formaldehyde, Occupational exposure


Fluorescence imaging is a mainstay of biomedical research, allowing detection of molecular events in both fixed and living cells, tissues and whole animals. Such high resolution fluorescence imaging is hampered by unwanted signal from intrinsic background fluorescence and scattered light. The signal to background ratio can be improved by using extrinsic contrast agents and greatly enhanced by multispectral imaging methods. Unfortunately, these methods are insufficient for deep tissue imaging where high contrast and speedy acquisition are necessary. Fluorescence lifetime (FLT) is an inherent characteristic of each fluorescent species that can be independent of intensity and spectral properties. Accordingly, FLT-based detection provides an additional contrast mechanism to optical measurements. This contrast is particularly important in the near-infrared (NIR) due to relative transparency of tissue as well as the broad absorption and emission spectra of dyes that are active in this region. Here we report comparative analysis of signal distribution of several NIR fluorescent polymethine dyes in living mice and their correlations with lifetimes obtained in vitro using solution models. The FLT data obtained from dyes dissolved in serum albumin solution correlated well with FLTs measured in vivo. Thus the albumin solution model could be used as a good predictive model for in vivo FLT behavior of newly developed fluorescent reporters. Subsequent experiments in vivo, including monitoring slow release kinetics and detecting proteinuria, demonstrate the complementary nature of FLT for fluorescence intensity imaging.


Objective: This study was conducted to compare the cardiac output by using Electrical Cardiometry (EC), a noninvasive method of continuous cardiac output monitoring during cardiac surgery with pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) derived cardiac output. Design: Prospective observational clinical study. Setting: Cardiac surgery operating room of a tertiary care cardiac center. Participants: Twenty five patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Measurements and Main Results: A total of 150 double data of cardiac output were compared with Thermodilution Cardiac Output (TDCO) and Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEBCO). The TDCO value ranges from 1.8-6.9 litre·min-1 with a mean of 4.39 ± 1.16 litre·min-1 and TEBCO ranges from 1.8-7.1 litre·min-1 with a mean of 4.21 ± 1.16 litre·min-1. The averaged Bland-Altman analysis for TDCO and TEBCO revealed that a mean bias was 0.18 and limit of agreement was -1.25 - 0.89 litre·min-1 and the percentage error (PE) ranged from 22%-32%. The precision for the TDCO was measured to be ±16.2% and the precision for TEBCO was ±19.6%. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis between TDCO and TEBCO with a cutoff of 15% shows a sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 63 and area under ROC curve of 0.80. Mountain plot between TDCO and TEBCO shows that a median percentile is 0.25 and value of 97.5 percentile is 1.525. Conclusions: The present study indicates that the electric cardiometry device yields numerically comparable results to cardiac outputs derived from the PAC during the cardiac surgery. Therefore, electrical cardiometry can be used to evaluate haemodynamic variables with clinically acceptable accuracy, when invasive methods are to be avoided or not available.


ABSTRACT The tritium inventory of an experimental fusion reactor like ITER is determined by a broad range of influential factors. The tritium retention in the vacuum system is one important contribution to the overall tritium inventory. The high vacuum system for ITER is based on a set of cryogenic pumps, and sees the whole spectrum of tritiated gas species. The cryopumps are accumulation pumps; thus, the semi-permanent tritium inventory present in them is governed by the effectiveness of pump regeneration. Moreover, a permanent inventory background must also be envisaged. This paper delineates the staggered pump concept and a multi-stage regeneration scheme as main measures for step-wise minimisation of the tritium inventory in the high vacuum pump system and outlines the different contributions which add to it. By these methods, the 268 g of tritium inventory present after nominal long pulse operation of ITER, depending on the chosen fuelling case, can be reduced to 6 g in the pumps themselves, plus up to 100 g of codeposited tritium needing recovery clean-up.


Bacterial community structure and some biogeochemical parameters were studied in the sediment of two Pacific oyster farming sites, Aber Benoît (AB) and Rivière d'Auray (RA) in Brittany (France), to examine the ecological impact of oysters and to evaluate the emission of sulfide and ammonia from sediment. At AB, the organic matter accumulated in the sediment beneath the oyster tables was rapidly mineralized, with strong fluxes of ammonia and sulfide that reached 1014 and 215 μmol m(-2) h(-1), respectively, in June 2007. At RA, the fluxes were about half as strong on average and better distributed through the year. The ammonia and sulfide concentrations in the overlying water never reached levels that would be toxic to oysters in either site, nor did hypoxia occur. Total culturable bacteria (TCB) varied greatly according to the temperature: from 1.6 × 10(4) to 9.4 × 10(7) cell g(-1) sediment. Inversely, the bacterial community structure remained surprising stable through the seasons, marginally influenced by the presence of oysters and by temperature. Bacterial communities appeared to be characteristic of the sites, with only one common phylotype, Vibrio aestuarianus, a potential oyster pathogen. These data refine the hypothesis of seawater toxicity to oysters because of ammonia and sulfide fluxes and show that the measured environmental factors had only a weak influence on bacterial community structure.


Nowadays, therapeutic plasma exchange (PE) is the most common apheresis procedure. Plasma is separated from corpuscular blood constitutents and replaced with a substitution fluid. Thus, PE is a non‐specific treatment modality. Its therapeutic effect is based on the removal of circulating, pathogenic immune factors, including autoantibodies. To date, PE is well established for several immune mediated neurological disorders. Whilst the first experience was acquired in acute life‐threatening conditions, such as the treatment of Guillain–Barré syndrome or myasthenic crisis, therapeutic success was later achieved in other chronic autoimmune diseases; PE was applied successfully in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, paraproteinaemic polyneuropathy, stiff‐person syndrome and might also be tried in autoimmune diseases of paraneoplastic origin. From a novel aspect, PE was also established as an escalation therapy for steroid unresponsive relapses of multiple sclerosis, and thus has gained even more widespread attention. Humoral disease mechanisms dominate even more in neuromyelitis optica, as a subtype of MS, and usually respond to PE. Adding to its increasing application in clinical practice, the procedure is usually well tolerated. Possible adverse reactions of PE arise from the large‐size vascular access site, the use of replacement fluids and the need for anticoagulation. (Clin. Exp. Neuroimmunol. doi: 10.1111/j.1759‐1961.2010.0010.x, 2010)


Crawford's essay raises questions about simple, direct observation in medical practice and research by considering how audiences view two of William Dieterle's films, The Story of Louis Pasteur, and Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet. Through a reading of optical practices as well as a close look at the two films, Crawford points out how medicine and its ethics are enmeshed in medicine's optical technologies and its practitioners' ways of seeing.


College tuition has been steadily increasing in America throughout the past two decades as demand for a higher education has continued to rise. A college education is invaluable and is inevitably essential in obtaining a successful career. As a result, more and more students have been depending on student loans to finance their way through college. The average college student loan debt has reached about $30,000 per student upon graduation nowadays. Because of these skyrocketing debt amounts, several life goals and aspirations have been impacted, including future employment, further enrollment, family formation, homeownership, and net worth. The objective of this project is to determine where there are significances between student loan debt and postgraduate life decisions, specifically continued education, homeownership, and family formation. The main purpose is to further add to existing data explaining the burdens of college loan debt and how something as simple as obtaining an education can be so impactful on one's finances and life decisions. A survey was conducted among Bryant University alumni where the data was used to run various regression and t-test models to determine the correlations between student loan debt and postgraduate decisions. As a result, it was determined that student loan debt does in fact negatively impact one's decision to pursue postgraduate enrollment and homeownership, however, family formation has proven to be not impacted by loans, although, this could be a result of many other factors.


Offshore platforms and windmills are constructed by assembling huge mechanical structures transported by heavy lift vessels. The construction process comprises two interconnected operations, the dynamic positioning (DP) of the vessel and the lifting of heavy loads. The DP system is commonly designed and tuned for the case that there is no load or for the case that the heavy load is free-hanging (mode 1). During the transition from the free-hanging to the case that the vessel is connected to a heavy load which is mounted to the platform (mode 2), the DP system may not be able to preserve the position stability of the vessel, jeopardizing human and system safety. The goal of this work is to design an intelligent monitoring system for the early detection of the transition between the two construction modes by adopting a nonlinear state estimation approach. Simulation results are used for illustrating the effectiveness of the proposed construction mode detection system.


Living cells and tissues experience mechanical forces in their physiological environments that are known to affect many cellular processes. Also of importance are the mechanical properties of cells, as well as the microforces generated by cellular processes in their microenvironments. The difficulty associated with studying these phenomena in vivo has led to alternatives such as using in vitro models. The need for experimental techniques for investigating cellular biomechanics and mechanobiology in vitro has fueled an evolution in the technology used in these studies. Particularly noteworthy are some of the new biomicroelectromechanical systems (BioMEMs) devices and techniques.

This study describes cellular micromechanical techniques and methods that have been developed for extit{in vitro} studies. Improvements made to a passive array of vertical microcantilevers, for detecting cellular microforces and studying in vitro cell mechanics are presented. A new technique that uses poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as a lift-off agent to attach structures to the microcantilevers, thereby providing a means to actively move the microcantilevers is introduced. The use of the improved microcantilever array platform as a potential assay for cardiac myofibrillogenesis will also be described.

Finally the use of cryogenic etching techniques for making master molds for the microcantilever arrays is described, and subsequent arrays are used to investigate the biological responses of mesenchymal stem cells to forces generated by post deflections.


In this study, the effects of some physical and chemical soil properties on the growth of hybrid poplar were investigated in the Terme-Gölard› region where a poor growth of trees was observed. Soil samples were taken from both poor and good growth areas. Chemical soil properties such as pH, exchangeable Na, K, Ca and Mg content, CEC, phosphorus content and salinity were determined. Physical soil properties such as field capacity, permanent wilting point, water holding capacity and available water were measured. Ground water depth was measured in the field during soil sampling. Clay and Mg content and pH of the soils showed a significantly negative correlation while phosphorus and sand content of the soils had a positive correlation with the growth of hybrid poplar. Mg, K, and ground water depth explained 43% of the variation of mean annual height growth. The results indicated that soil conditions had a strong influence on the growth of hybrid poplar in the Terme-Gölard› region.


Knowledge of health and community psychology in health professionals influences psychosocial and community determinants of health and promoting participation in disease prevention at the community level. This paper appraises the potential of knowledge on psychology in health care professionals and its contribution to community empowerment through individual behavior change and health practice. The authors proposed a schematic model for the use of psychological knowledge in health professionals to promote participation in health interventions/disease prevention programs in developing countries. By implication, the paper provides a vision on policies towards supporting breast cancer secondary prevention efforts for community health development in Asian countries.


In recent grammaticalization studies, the notion of "context types" has been employed to describe the successive diachronic stages that are associated with grammaticalization processes. It has been shown that a new grammatical function does not arise homogenously in all uses of the linguistic item concerned, but in its origin is bound to specific linguistic "contexts" or "constructions". However, the notions of "context" as well as "construction" differ greatly among scholars, and research into the impact of constructions in grammaticalization scenarios, and into ways to formalized context types and constructions for diachronic purposes has only begun. The present study advances in this direction as it links the notion of context types of grammaticalization studies with central concepts of construction grammar. Using diachronic data from grammaticalization phenomena of German, successive types of contexts, i.e. critical contexts and isolating contexts, which are typically found in grammaticalization processes, are analyzed as specific types of idiomatic constructions in the sense the term is used in construction grammar.


In trying to bring about e-business transformation, companies have paid too much attention to technology ? as if adding the right software or hardware could, on its own, bring about miracles. But systems do not work in a vacuum, and senior managers would do well to recognize the complementary nature of technology, business processes and e-business readiness throughout the value chain, from their suppliers to their customers. By taking a more holistic view, executives can turn these facets of a company's operations into the drivers of e-business excellence.

To help company leaders see the bigger picture, authors Anitesh Barua, Prabhudev Konana, Andrew B. Whinston and Fang Yin of the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business developed a research-backed model of e-business value creation. The model's premise is deceptively simple: that proper development of e-business drivers will lead to operational excellence, which will, in turn, generate improved financial performance. The authors explain that if managers are to lead a successful digital transformation, they must carefully track such e-business operational measures as the percentage of goods purchased online from suppliers and the percentage of customer-service requests handled through the Web site. Companies that scored high on those (and other) measures in the authors' study also enjoyed significant increases in revenue per employee, gross profit margin, return on assets and return on investments.

Once managers understand their company's relative degree of e-business operational excellence, they can develop the drivers that will raise those scores. The authors guide readers through the eight drivers their research uncovered, from mastering supplier-related processes to optimizing IT applications aimed at customers.


Correspondence identification is a critical capability for multi-robot collaborative perception, which allows a group of robots to consistently refer to the same objects in their own fields of view. Correspondence identification is a challenging problem, especially caused by non-covisible objects that cannot be observed by all robots and the uncertainty in robot perception, which have not been well studied yet in collaborative perception. In this work, we propose a principled approach of regularized graph matching that addresses perception uncertainties and non-covisible objects in a unified mathematical framework to perform correspondence identification in collaborative perception. Our method formulates correspondence identification as a graph matching problem in the regularized constrained optimization framework. We introduce a regularization term to explicitly address perception uncertainties by penalizing the object correspondences with a high uncertainty. We also design a second regularization term to explicitly address non-covisible objects by penalizing the correspondences built by the non-covisible objects. The formulated constrained optimization problem is difficulty to solve, because it is not convex and it contains regularization terms. Thus, we develop a new samplingbased algorithm to solve our formulated regularized constrained optimization problem. We evaluate our approach in the scenarios of connected autonomous driving and multi-robot coordination in simulations and using real robots. Experimental results show that our method is able to address correspondence identification under uncertainty and non-covisibility, and it outperforms the previous techniques and achieves the state-of-the-art performance.


A beam diagnostics system is vitally important to operate all accelerator-based facilities. The system provides information about beam characteristics and enables requested beam parameters to be achieved. The main parameters, such as beam energy, current, emittance, and beam position, must be diagnosed and controlled during the operation of an accelerator. Beam position monitors (BPMs) are an essential tool for diagnosing a system of accelerators. They are used to define the position of the beam traversing through the beam pipe at relativistic speed. These tools can be used to achieve the required beam quality as well as protecting the entire system against any beam loss or radiation damage. In this study, we present the bases of BPM front-end electronics designed for the Turkish accelerator and radiation laboratory (TARLA) facility, which is a linear electron accelerator proposed to drive a free electron laser.


This paper presents details of a coded target system that employs a polar coordinate transform and segment matching to automatically recognise and identify the targets in digital images. The code system is based on a square surrounding the central circular target and is described at a level of detail that would allow the system to be readily duplicated. Pre-detection processes, developed to improve the success rate under unfavourable conditions, and the tests conducted to validate a correct target match are described. Finally, the paper includes some examples of the use of the coded targets, drawn from a variety of calibration and measurement applications.


We present a novel sampling algorithm for characterization and uncertainty quantification of heterogeneous multiple facies reservoirs. The method implements a Bayesian inversion framework to estimate physically plausible porosity distributions. This inversion process incorporates data matching at the well locations and constrains the model space by adding a priori information about the sub-surface structure using a seismic impedance volume. The new framework improves predictive performance and the geological realism of the assimilated ensemble through an efficient parameter estimation. The new parameter estimation process enables conditioning data assimilation to characterize the main features of geological uncertainty such as structural, stratigraphic, facies, and petrophysical properties.
 The proposed workflow uses an ensemble-based Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach combined with sampling probability distributions that are physically meaningful. Moreover, the method targets geostatistical modeling to specific zones in the reservoir. Accordingly, it improves fulfilling the inherent stationarity assumption in geostatistical simulation techniques. Parameter sampling and geostatistical simulations are calculated through an inversion process. In other words, the models fit the known porosity field at the well locations and are structurally consistent within main reservoir compartments, zones, and layers obtained from the seismic impedance volume. The new sampling algorithm ensures that the automated history matching algorithm maintains diversity among ensemble members avoiding underestimation of the uncertainty in the posterior probability distribution.
 We evaluate the efficiency of the sampling methodology on a synthetic model of a waterflooding field. The predictive capability of the assimilated ensemble is assessed by using production data and dynamic measurements. Also, the qualities of the results are examined by comparing the geological realism of the assimilated ensemble with the reference probability distribution of the model parameters and computing the predicted dynamic data mismatch. Our numerical examples show that incorporating the seismically constrained models as prior information results in an efficient model update scheme and favorable history matching.


This report presents a study of the engagement and proxy voting practices of the ten largest Sovereign Wealth Funds, as well as general analysis of the level of transparency with which they operate. During the past two years, there has been an ongoing debate about the risks and opportunities related to the influence of the Sovereign Wealth Funds on the global capital markets. However, no systematic attempts have yet been made to evaluate the actual impact of the Sovereign Wealth Funds through analyzing their behavior and practices.


Energy and resources are limited whereas human wants are unlimited. Hence the need arises for the usage of renewable energy. Reliable electricity in recent days around the world is provided by renewable energy. The consequence of it is the evolution from dirty, coal-burning power generating plants that harm public health, causing imbalance in our ecosystem. We heed towards cleaner, more sustainable sources of electricity by utilizing the renewable energy. The world can pursue this clean energy transformation by the recent, modern technologies, while maintaining a dependable and inexpensive electricity system. The dispersion of PV systems as distributed generators in low-voltage grid has drawn enough attention. In addition, the need for overall grid efficiency and reliability has boosted the interest in the micro grid concept. High-efficiency PV-based microgrids require maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllers to maximize the harvested energy due to the nonlinearity in PV module characteristics. Modified P and O MPPT technique helps in achieving adaptive tracking. There are no steady-state oscillations around the MPP and hence there is no need for predefined system-dependent constants. Resultant of it provides a generic design in providing a generic core design.


High-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has previously been used to study intracellular detail, including chromatin. It has, however, been commonly carried out either on cellular subfractions or following extraction methods to visualize detail. In the work presented here, intracellular detail of neurons of the dorsal root was visualized in situ by viewing freeze-fracture faces obtained after hypotonic expansion. This procedure permits the detailed resolution, by SEM, of juxtanuclear and intranuclear detail to a degree impossible without hypotonic dispersal. In agreement with work previously reported, nuclear chromatin of these interphase cells presents largely as 30-nm fibers, with a next higher hierarchical structure imparted by swelling in magnesium chloride. Detailed analyses showed that particles as small as 10-nm nucleosomes comprising the 30-nm chromatin fiber could be resolved, with "end-on" views of such fibers showing 5 nucleosomes per helical turn of the fiber. Chromatin fibers positioned subjacent to nuclear pores, or associated with "nuclear spaces" communicating with nuclear pores, were frequently found to be resolved as clusters, in an apparently more decondensed conformation, rather than tightly coiled into the 30-nm fiber. In addition, details of the nuclear envelope, including nuclear pores and perinuclear filaments as well as membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum, decorated with ribosomes, were clearly resolved.


Water scarcity is a critical environmental issue worldwide, especially in arid and semiarid regions. In those regions, climate change projections suggest further reductions in freshwater supplies and increases of the recurrence, longevity and intensity of drought events. At present, one important question for policy debate is the identification of water management policies that could address the mounting water scarcity problems. Suitable policies should improve economic efficiency, achieve environmental sustainability, and meet equity needs. This paper applies an integrated hydro-economic model that links a reduced form hydrological component, with economic and environmental components to such issues. The model is used to make a direct comparison of three water management alternatives, water markets, water pricing and institutional policies, based on their economic, environmental and equity outcomes. The analysis is performed in the Jucar Basin of Spain, which is a good natural experiment for studying the policies to confront water scarcity and climate change. Results indicate that both institutional and water market policies are good instruments to smooth the economic damage costs of droughts, achieving almost the same social benefits. However, the environmental effects of water markets are worrying. Another important finding is that water pricing is the worst policy option not only in terms of private and environmental benefits but also in terms of equity.


Abstract The 21st Annual Latin American Symposium presented by the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) was held as part of the 77th Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA, in March 2011. The principal objective, as for the previous 20 symposia, was to promote participation in the AMCA by vector control specialists, public health workers, and academicians from Latin America. This publication includes summaries of 55 presentations that were given orally in Spanish or presented as posters by participants from 4 countries in Latin America and the USA. Topics addressed in the symposium included: surveillance, chemical and biological control, and insecticide resistance associated with Aedes aegypti; distribution, behavior, and control of Culex; bionomics, ecology, and chemical and biological control of Anopheles vectors of malaria; insecticide resistance; and studies of dengue, West Nile virus, and Triatoma spp.


Purpose: To report a post hoc analysis performed to evaluate 1-year safety and efficacy of the IN.PACT Admiral drug-coated balloon (DCB) for the treatment of femoropopliteal lesions in subjects with critical limb ischemia (CLI) enrolled in the IN.PACT Global study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01609296). Materials and Methods: Of 1535 subjects enrolled in the study, 156 participants (mean age 71.8±10.4; 87 men) with CLI (Rutherford categories 4,5) were treated with DCB angioplasty in 194 femoropopliteal lesions. This cohort was compared to the 1246 subjects (mean age 68.2±10.0 years; 864 men) with intermittent claudication (IC) treated for 1573 lesions. The CLI cohort had longer lesions (13.9±10.6 vs 11.9±9.4 cm, p=0.009) and a higher calcification rate (76.8% vs 67.7%, p=0.011). Major adverse events [MAE; composite of all-cause mortality, clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), major (above-ankle) target limb amputation, and thrombosis at the target lesion site], lesion and vessel revascularization rates, and EuroQol-5D were assessed through 1 year. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival, CD-TLR, and amputation events; estimates are presented with the 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Estimates of 12-month freedom from major target limb amputation were 98.6% (95% CI 96.7% to 100.0%) in subjects with CLI and 99.9% (95% CI 99.8% to 100.0%) in subjects with IC (p=0.002). Freedom from CD-TLR through 12 months was 86.3% (95% CI 80.6% to 91.9%) in CLI subjects and 93.4% (95% CI 91.9% to 94.8%) in IC subjects (p<0.001). The MAE rate through 12 months was higher in CLI subjects (22.5% vs 10.7%, p<0.001), and CLI patients had poorer overall survival (93.0%, 95% CI 88.9% to 97.2%) than IC subjects (97.0%, 95% CI 96.0% to 97.9%, p=0.011). Health status significantly improved in all domains at 6 and 12 months in both groups. Conclusion: Treatment of femoropopliteal disease with DCB in CLI patients is safe through 12-month follow-up, with a low major amputation rate of 1.4%. The rates of MAE and CD-TLR were higher in CLI subjects and reinterventions were required sooner. Additional research is needed to evaluate long-term outcomes of DCB treatment for femoropopliteal lesions in CLI patients.


Background Adolescence is a unique period of development where individuals transition from childhood to adulthood, and where they are at heightened risk for developing mental health problems and engaging in risky behaviours. In addition, adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) must learn to cope with challenges related to the biological impact of a chronic condition, adhering to lifelong treatment, and managing HIV-related psychological and social challenges. Mental wellness as a precursor to mental wellbeing, is vital to facilitate persistent adherence and engagement in care for optimal treatment outcomes for ALHIV. However, little is known about how ALHIV understand and talk about mental wellness in the context being on HIV treatment. Methods We conducted a photovoice study with 12 groups, consisting of 43 ALHIV, aged 15–19 years, and receiving HIV treatment at three public primary health care facilities in the Western Cape Metropole in South Africa. Results Through discourse analysis, we identified six themes that depicted mental wellness concepts that were prominent in their experiences, namely, connectedness, spirituality and mindfulness, social coherence and awareness, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and sense of coherence. In addition, the adolescents gave accounts of six mental wellness behaviours namely, self-efficacy, coping, resilience, life purpose, engagement in enjoyable life activities and physical functioning. Discussion These concepts and behaviours are similar to those identified in targeted interventions aimed at ALHIV. These mental wellness concepts and behaviours are critical to improving health outcomes for ALHIV and should be targeted in the delivery of youth friendly services and integrated HIV care in public healthcare facilities in South Africa and the sub-Saharan African continent.


Statins are well known lipid lowering agents that inhibit the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. They also activate drug metabolism but their exact receptor-mediated action has not been proven so far. The aim of this study was to test if atorvastatin and rosuvastatin are direct ligands of human CAR. We measured binding activities of atorvastatin and rosuvastatin to the human CAR/RXRα-LBD heterodimer with surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Additionally, three-dimensional models of CAR/RXRα-LBD were constructed by ligand-based and structure-based in silico modelling. Experiments and computational modeling show that atorvastatin and rosuvastatin bind to the human CAR/RXRα-LBD heterodimer, suggesting both can modulate the activity of CAR through direct interaction with the LBD of this receptor. In conclusion, we confirm that atorvastatin and rosuvastatin are direct ligands of CAR. The clinical consequences of CAR activation by statins are in their potential drug-drug interactions, and changes in glucose and energy metabolism.


Diamond-like carbon (DLC) film composed of microscopically insulation but microscopically a mixture of conducting (sp2) and insulating (sp3) phases was discussed on the local modification with a conductive atomic force microscope (C-AFM). Especially, a topographic change was observed when a direct current (DC) bias-voltage was applied to the DLC film. Experimental results show that a nanoscale pit on DLC surface was formed when applying a positive 25 V on DLC film. According to the interacting force between CoCr-coated microelectronic scanning probe (MESP) tip and DLC surface, as well as the Sondheimer oscillation theory, the "scalewing effect" of the pit was explained. Electromechanical coupling on DLC film suggested that the depth of pits increased with an increase of load applied to surface when the cantilever-deflected signal was less than a certain threshold voltage.


The photophysical properties of a complex based on diphenylphosphanoethane (DPPE) fluorescent ligands linked to a europium ion have been investigated by different spectroscopic methods. Upon complexation with europium, the interaction of the phosphane oxide group with europium leads to a red shift of the absorption spectrum and a strong quenching of the ligand emission. The typical sensitized emission of Eu(3+) is observed upon excitation of the ligand with a fluorescence quantum yield of 1%. Time-resolved absorption and emission experiments have been performed in order to investigate the photophysical mechanism involved in this complex. Photophysical studies show that an energy-transfer mechanism occurs from both the first excited singlet and triplet states of the ligand, and the population of the europium ion to the (5)D(1) state takes place, from which the (5)D(0) state is populated. Additionally, electron transfer from the excited singlet state of the ligand to the europium ion appears as a very efficient process.


The future success of many electronics companies will depend to a large extent on their ability to initiate techniques that bring schedules, performance, tests, support, production, life-cycle-costs, reliability prediction and quality control into the earliest stages of the product creation process. Earlier papers have discussed the benefits of an integrated analysis environment for system-level thermal, stress and EMC prediction. This paper focuses on developments made to the stress analysis module and presents results obtained for an SMT resistor. Lifetime predictions are made using the Coffin-Manson equation. Comparison with the creep strain energy based models of Darveaux (1997) shows the shear strain based method to underestimate the solder joint life. Conclusions are also made about the capabilities of both approaches to predict the qualitative and quantitative impact of design changes.


There is in science and technology studies a perceptible new interest in matters of 'ontology'. Until recently, the term 'ontology' had been sparingly used in the field. Now it appears to have acquired a new theoretical significance and lies at the centre of many programmes of empirical investigation. The special issue to which this essay is a contribution gathers a series of enquiries into the ontological and reflects, collectively, on the value of the analytical and methodological sensibilities that underpin this new approach to the make-up of the world. To what extent and in what sense can we speak of a 'turn to ontology' in science and technology studies? What should we make of, and with, this renewed interest in matters of ontology? This essay offers some preliminary responses to these questions. First, we examine claims of a shift from epistemology to ontology and explore in particular the implications of the notion of 'enactment'. This leads to a consideration of the normative implications of approaches that bring 'ontological politics' to centre stage. We then illustrate and pursue these questions by using an example – the case of the 'wrong bin bag'. We conclude with a tentative assessment of the prospects for ontologically sensitive science and technology studies.


This paper examines the systematic risk in those banks that participated as issuers of securitization transactions in the Spanish market. Using event study methodol- ogy and allowing systematic risk to change gradually within the event window, this paper provides empirical evidence that securitization has a positive impact on Spanish bank's systematic risk (beta) from the beginning to the end of the event window. Additionally, we assess how much of the beta effect is due to volatility and how much to market cor- relation. The increase in beta is solely due to an increase in banks' correlations, improving portfolio diversification. The empirical results presented in this paper show important informative implications for the different agents related to banks. This creates a challenge for financial regulation, which has typically focused on individual institutions.


The dynamic displacement ductility and ultimate load-carrying capability of three partially prestressed concrete (PPC) and unbonded beams, has been experimentally investigated by applying impact load to their middle with falling hammers. The typical measurement wave curves are described. Influences of a falling hammer's gravitational potential energy on the dynamic properties of the PPC beam are analyzed. Based on the analog simulation theory, the impact-load carrying capability of the actual unbonded PPC beam with span 12 m is gained. Results indicate that the unbonded PPC beams have favorable performance of anti-impact properties fragile destruction will not happen, and the unbonded PPC beams can be used in wide-span underground structures.


The World Health Organization (WHO) defines intracholecystic papillary neoplasms (ICPNs) as gallbladder lesions of intraductal papillary neoplasms of the bile duct (IPNB). We present a case of ICPN that was incidentally diagnosed following a cholecystectomy for cholecystitis and cholelithiasis. Abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography showed thickening of the gallbladder wall and cholelithiasis but were not specific for a gallbladder tumor. Histopathological examination revealed an intracholecystic papillary-tubular neoplasm associated with a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. J Curr Surg. 2021;11(2):35-38 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jcs408


High resolution remote sensing data can provide worldwide images rapidly contrasted with conventional strategies for information accumulation. Therefore tiny objects like cars can be easily detected. Automatic vehicles enumeration research domain plays an important role in various applications including traffic monitoring and management. In this paper, we propose autonomous vehicle detection and classification approach in highway environment. Proposed approach consists mainly from three stages: (i) first, preprocessing operations are applied in order to eliminate noisy objects including soil, vegetation, water. (ii) Then, built-up area index is utilized to detect and delineate road networks. (iii) Finally, Multi-thresholding segmentation is implemented, resulting in vehicle detection and classification, where detected vehicles are classified into cars and trucks. Quality percentage assessment is carried over different study areas, illustrating the great efficiency of the proposed approach especially in highway environment.


This project investigates the manufacturing flow variability in order to stabilize the factory process flow. Nowadays, in manufacturing production lines and particularly in modern front end semiconductor lines, processes and equipments are very complex. Any disturbance of the process creates variability in the line, and causes substantial losses in productivity for manufacturing corporations. These disturbances are unpredictable, difficult to control and result in long recovery times. Variability occurring in a production system disturbs the whole processing flow and results in long product cycle times. Hence, a range of sources of variability was determined from the literature and analyzed. This lead with the cooperation of factory managers to the development of four main objectives:

(1) Determine a proper metric to measure the variability in the production system.
(2) Determine the effect of batching and tool availability on the process flow.
(3) Understand the interaction between operations.
(4) Develop a release strategy in order to stabilize the production flow.

First, from the observation of real production data, a difference metric was developed and operations creating or removing variability were identified. The propagation of variability can be followed using a correlation coefficient. Nevertheless, the data were not detailed enough to explain the origin of the variability. Consequently, several simulation models were created to investigate variability.

The simulations' results show that the release strategy should be adjusted as a function of batch, tool availability and constraint parameters, in order to stabilize the flow of items in the line and control cycle time and cycle time variability. The notion of critical availability is introduced and defined. Improvement of the line performance is obtained through a tighter control of the availability of high capacity operations.

This lead to the development of a new hybrid push pull release strategy, named CONFLOW, to regulate the flow of items reaching the constraint operation. CONFLOW was tested under many simulating conditions (batching, parallel processing, and different line length). Compared to a push system, CONFLOW release strategy results, into significant improvement (up to 80%) in cycle time, cycle time standard deviation and WIP level at the cost of 13% reduction in throughput. CONFLOW performances were compared to common TOC strategies (SA and DBR). The results are encouraging. In the specific conditions considered, CONFLOW performances are similar to SA and slightly better than DBR.


The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) has been linked to the accumulation and comparison of perceptual evidence for decision making independent of sensory and response modalities. We investigated the possible neural dynamics underlying the role of dlPFC in perceptual decision making, through a combination of noninvasive neurostimulation in humans and computational modeling. First, we used an established and biophysically realistic model of a decision making network that employs competition between neural populations. Simulation of depolarizing noninvasive brain stimulation in this model decreased decision time, while hyperpolarizing stimulation increased it. This behavioral effect was caused by an increase in the rate of neural activity integration via recurrent connections, as well as changes in the susceptibility of the network to noisy background inputs which modulated population firing rate differences prior to the onset of the stimulus. These pre-stimulus differences biased the response to one or the other option, thus speeding or slowing decisions. We then tested these model predictions in healthy participants performing a perceptual decision making task while receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dlPFC, analogous to our simulated network stimulation. We found a striking match between model predictions and experimental results: depolarizing (inward) currents reduced and hyperpolarizing (outward) currents increased response times, but accuracy remained unaffected. Our results provide interventional evidence for the role of left dlPFC in perceptual decision making, and suggest that this region integrates and compares sensory evidence through competitive interactions between pyramidal cell populations which are selective for each response option. Mechanistically, our model suggests that stimulation of this region changes the rate at which evidence can be accumulated through recurrent activity and its susceptibility to background noise. More generally, our approach demonstrates that a linkage between computational modeling and noninvasive brain stimulation allows mechanistic accounts of brain function to be causally tested.


Toyo Suyemoto is known informally by literary scholars and the media as ""Japanese America's poet laureate."" But Suyemoto has always described herself in much more humble terms. A first-generation Japanese American, she has identified herself as a storyteller, a teacher, a mother whose only child died from illness, and an internment camp survivor. Before Suyemoto passed away in 2003, she wrote a moving and illuminating memoir of her internment camp experiences with her family and infant son at Tanforan Race Track and, later, at the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah, from 1942 to 1945. A uniquely poetic contribution to the small body of internment memoirs, Suyemoto's account includes information about policies and wartime decisions that are not widely known, and recounts in detail the way in which internees adjusted their notions of selfhood and citizenship, lending insight to the complicated and controversial questions of citizenship, accountability, and resistance of first- and second-generation Japanese Americans. Suyemoto's poems, many written during internment, are interwoven throughout the text and serve as counterpoints to the contextualizing narrative. A small collection of poems written in the years following her incarceration further reveal the psychological effects of her experience.


Beam-column joints are recognized as the critical and vulnerable zone of a Reinforced Concrete (RC) moment resisting structure subjected to seismic loads. During an earthquake, the global response of the structure is mainly governed by the behaviour of the joints. If the joints behave in a ductile manner, the global behaviour generally will be ductile, whereas if the joints behave in a brittle fashion then the structure will display a brittle behaviour. The joints of old and non-seismically detailed structures are more vulnerable and behave poorly under the earthquakes compared to the joints of new and seismically detailed structures. Therefore, more often than not, the joints of such old structures require retrofitting in order to deliver better performance during earthquakes. Various researchers have proposed different methods to retrofit the beam-column joints of existing RC structures. This paper reports a few experimental investigations carried out for seismic retrofitting of RC beam-column joints using different techniques. The concepts behind each of them and their practical usefulness have been brought out.


The way people understand cancer is essential to national policy making as well as individuals' attitude and behavior toward the disease. Earlier this year, therefore, I wrote an Op‐Ed in The New York Times [1] that challenged the rationale of the Obama administration's initiative for a "Cancer Moonshot" [2]. Contrary to the President's call on America to "cure cancer once and for all" (State of the Union Address, 2016), I argued that we cannot treat ourselves out of the cancer epidemic. Cancer is a natural consequence of aging, and the better medical science gets at keeping people alive, the more cancer there will be in the population. Whether I am right or not is open to debate. What is just as interesting, however, is how people reacted to this message.

> Cancer is a natural consequence of aging, and the better medical science gets at keeping people alive, the more cancer there will be in the population

The New York Times gave my Op‐Ed the provocative headline, "We Won't Cure Cancer", for the printed paper, and "Obama's Pointless Cancer Moonshot", for the online version, which assured broad distribution in the social media. Responses were communicated through the newspaper's online comment section, Letters to the Editor, Facebook, Twitter, and my personal e‐mail account. They communicated the voices of cancer experts and non‐experts and represent a rich material of how people understand the problem of cancer. In order to share this insight and structure further debate, I here present a summary of the approximately 200 meaningful responses, organized as seven different ways of framing the issue.

### Readers' responses

1. This is hurting . Cancer causes a lot of physical and psychological pain [3], and an article that presents cancer development as a natural consequence of aging may appear as …


Abstract Freshwater mollusk shell morphology exhibits clinal variation along a stream continuum that has been termed the Law of Stream Distribution. We analyzed phylogenetic relationships and morphological similarity of two freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae), Obovaria jacksoniana and Villosa arkansasensis, throughout their ranges. The objectives were to investigate phylogenetic structure and evolutionary divergence of O. jacksoniana and V. arkansasensis and morphological similarity between the two species. Our analyses were the first explicit tests of phenotypic plasticity in shell morphologies using a combination of genetics and morphometrics. We conducted phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA (1416 bp; two genes) and morphometric analyses for 135 individuals of O. jacksoniana and V. arkansasensis from 12 streams. We examined correlations among genetic, morphological, and spatial distances using Mantel tests. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed a monophyletic relationship between O. jacksoniana and V. arkansasensis. Within this O. jacksoniana/V. arkansasensis complex, five distinct clades corresponding to drainage patterns showed high genetic divergence. Morphometric analysis revealed relative differences in shell morphologies between the two currently recognized species. We conclude that morphological differences between the two species are caused by ecophenotypic plasticity. A series of Mantel tests showed regional and local genetic isolation by distance. We observed clear positive correlations between morphological and geographic distances within a single drainage. We did not observe correlations between genetic and morphological distances. Phylogenetic analyses suggest O. jacksoniana and V. arkansasensis are synonomous and most closely related to a clade composed of O. retusa, O. subrotunda, and O. unicolor. Therefore, the synonomous O. jacksoniana and V. arkansasensis should be recognized as Obovaria arkansasensis (Lea 1862) n. comb. Phylogenetic analyses also showed relative genetic isolation among drainages, suggesting no current gene flow. Further investigation of in-progress speciation and/or cryptic species within O. arkansasensis is warranted followed by appropriate revision of conservation management designations. In this study, we found Obovaria jacksoniana and Villosa arkansasensis are synonomous. We suggest that morphological differences between the two species are caused by ecophenotypic plasticity, where V. arkansasensis is the upstream morphotype and O. jacksoniana is the downstream morphotype of a single species.


Feeding in Aplysia provides an amenable model system for analyzing the neuronal substrates of motivated behavior and its adaptability by associative reward learning and neuromodulation. Among such learning processes, appetitive operant conditioning that leads to a compulsive-like expression of feeding actions is known to be associated with changes in the membrane properties and electrical coupling of essential action-initiating B63 neurons in the buccal central pattern generator (CPG). Moreover, the food-reward signal for this learning is conveyed in the esophageal nerve (En), an input nerve rich in dopamine-containing fibers. Here, to investigate whether dopamine (DA) is involved in this learning-induced plasticity, we used an in vitro analog of operant conditioning in which electrical stimulation of En substituted the contingent reinforcement of biting movements in vivo. Our data indicate that contingent En stimulation does, indeed, replicate the operant learning-induced changes in CPG output and the underlying membrane and synaptic properties of B63. Significantly, moreover, this network and cellular plasticity was blocked when the input nerve was stimulated in the presence of the DA receptor antagonist cis-flupenthixol. These results therefore suggest that En-derived dopaminergic modulation of CPG circuitry contributes to the operant reward-dependent emergence of a compulsive-like expression of Aplysia's feeding behavior.