OBJECTIVES
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the neck and shoulder regions are common among carpet weavers. Working for prolonged hours in a static and awkward posture could result in an increased muscle activity and may lead to musculoskeletal disorders. Ergonomic workstation improvements can reduce muscle fatigue and the risk of musculoskeletal disorders.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The aim of this study is to assess and to compare upper trapezius and middle deltoid muscle activity in 2 traditional and improved design carpet weaving workstations. These 2 workstations were simulated in a laboratory and 12 women carpet weavers worked for 3 h. Electromyography (EMG) signals were recorded during work in bilateral upper trapezius and bilateral middle deltoid. The root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) values were calculated and used to assess muscle load and fatigue. Repeated measure ANOVA was performed to assess the effect of independent variables on muscular activity and fatigue. The participants were asked to report shoulder region fatigue on the Borg's Category-Ratio scale (Borg CR-10).

RESULTS
Root mean square values in workstation A are significantly higher than in workstation B. Furthermore, EMG amplitude was higher in bilateral trapezius than in bilateral deltoid. However, muscle fatigue was not observed in any of the workstations.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of the study revealed that muscle load in a traditional workstation was high, but fatigue was not observed. Further studies investigating other muscles involved in carpet weaving tasks are recommended.


To determine how self-tolerance can alter the ability of the immune system to respond against tumor-associated Ags that are also expressed by normal tissue, we designed experiments in which the same protein was expressed both as a tumor Ag and as a transgene product. Unlike conventional BALB/c mice that rejected renal carcinoma cells transfected with the influenza virus hemagglutinin (Renca-HA), transgenic mice that are tolerant of HA due to its expression as a self-Ag on pancreatic islet beta cells, (Ins-HA mice) supported progressive growth of these tumor cells. However, when Ins-HA mice were immunized with a recombinant strain of vaccinia virus expressing the dominant H-2Kd peptide epitope of HA before receiving Renca-HA cells, they too were able to reject the tumor cells. Rejection of Renca-HA cells by immunized Ins-HA mice was found to be associated with the generation of CTL having much lower avidity for target cells presenting the KdHA epitope than CTL from immunized conventional BALB/c mice. Significantly, we show that self-tolerance to the HA Ag is quantitative rather then absolute, and that vaccination of Ins-HA mice can activate low avidity KdHA-specific CD8+ T cells that are able to reject tumor cells expressing high levels of HA, yet these mice remain tolerant of pancreatic islet beta cells expressing HA.


ABSTRACT Trichomonas vaginalis is the agent of a highly prevalent sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can result in vaginitis, urethritis, and preterm birth. Traditional methods of diagnosis, including wet preparation, can be unreliable. In this study, we describe the adaptation of an existing PCR method for specific detection of T. vaginalis DNA into a rapid real-time PCR assay based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probe chemistry. The FRET-based assay described demonstrated high sensitivity with a detection limit of 1.06 organisms, as well as a high specificity. A total of 253 urine samples collected prospectively from both men and women were tested for T. vaginalis DNA with both the FRET-based assay and a previously validated PCR assay. When the validated PCR assay was used as the "gold standard" and after discrepancies had been resolved, our FRET-based assay demonstrated an analytical sensitivity and specificity of 90.1 and 100%, respectively. Overall results suggest that FRET-based assays can provide rapid, accurate, and high-throughput detection of T. vaginalis and may prove useful in clinical settings and for large-scale screening programs.


The facies variety of the sulphate deposits in the Zechstein of the Holy Cross Mts. reflects distinct sedimentary conditions in the peripheral part of the evaporitic basin. where the cyclic sedimentation of PZl, PZ2, PZ3, and PZ4 was largely affected by input of terrigenous material. In this area two sectors, southern and northern, may be distinguished on the basis of facies zonation. During the evaporite sedimentation, a major area north-west of the Holy Cross Mts. was exposed and affected by intense denudation at low sea level stands. In the marginal zone, evaporites are lacking and their facies equivalents are siliciclastic deposits. Palaeogeographic and facies patterns were controlled mainly by climatic and tectonic factors.


Euplotes eurystomus is a hypotrichous ciliate containing a transcriptionally active macronucleus (MAC) and a transcriptionally inactive micronucleus. Soluble MAC chromatin contains a normal complement of inner histones, an H1-like protein which is very sensitive to proteolysis, and a considerable proportion of non-histone proteins. A combination of N-Tosyl lysine chloromethyl ketone (TLCK) and PMSF was found to be most effective in preventing proteolysis. Microccocal nuclease digestion yielded an average nucleosome repeat length of 187 +/- 25 bp for soluble chromatin; and 190 +/- 9 bp for isolated macronuclei. Thermal denaturation profiles of MAC chromatin in 0.25 mM EDTA display two main transitions at about 76 and 83 degrees C, resembling the melting of soluble chicken erythrocyte chromatin. Circular dichroic spectra of MAC chromatin were compared to soluble chicken erythrocyte chromatin under the same ionic strength conditions and were found to be very similar. 2D chromatin/DNA agarose gel electrophoresis resulted in a diagonal line of DNA staining, which establishes a strict correlation between DNA and chromatin electrophoretic mobility.


Trends in digital technologies and new social practices are calling for innovative models of learning in education. A recent development in the learning sciences, which conceptualises learning activity as networked learning, can offer deeper insight into how digital learning spaces influence the ensuing activity of learners. The networked approach coupled with social semiotics is applied in the analysis of Peep – a computer-based platform with social networking features that supports an undergraduate design course. This article illustrates how the networked learning approach and social semiotics reveal elements of the platform that enable design learning and foster social connections amongst students and lecturers. The article also examines the distribution of students' activity and changes in their patterns of interaction over time. Published : 3 April 2018 Citation : Research in Learning Technology 2018,  26 : 2006 -  http://dx.doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v26.2006


The cultivation and genetic manipulation of Treponema denticola, a Gram-negative oral spirochaeta associated with periodontal diseases, is still challenging. In this study, we formulated a simple medium based on a commercially available one, and established a transformation method with high efficiency. We then analyzed proteins in a membrane fraction in T. denticola and identified 16 major membrane-associated proteins, and characterized one of them, TDE2508, whose biological function was not yet known. Although this protein, which exhibited a complex conformation, was presumably localized in the outer membrane, we did not find conclusive evidence that it was exposed on the cell surface. Intriguingly, a TDE2508-deficient mutant exhibited significantly increased biofilm formation and adherent activity on human gingival epithelial cells. However, the protein deficiency did not alter autoaggregation, coaggregation with Porphyromonas gingivalis, hemagglutination, cell surface hydrophobicity, motility, or expression of Msp which was reported to be an adherent molecule in this bacteria. In conclusion, the major membrane protein TDE2508 regulates biofilm formation and the adhesive potency of T. denticola, although the underlying mechanism remains unclear.


Aluminum-Lithium alloys were developed as major replacements for existing aluminum alloys to reduce the weight of aircraft and aerospace structures. Mechanical properties of Al-Li alloys greatly depend on solidification conditions. Other than reducing the microsegregation, homogenization treatment has other effects on the microstructure of Al-Li ingots. In this research, effects of homogenization treatment at constant temperature (500°C) on the precipitation in the microstructure of Al-1Li-3Cu-0.1Zr (wt %) and Al-2Li-3Cu- 0.1Zr (wt %) specimens have been investigated. Results show that homogenization at 500°C for 24 hours not only increases the hardness and phases precipitating in grain but also reduces microsegregation of Fe in grain boundaries.


Statistical machine translation (SMT) systems for spoken languages suffer from conversational speech phenomena, in particular, the presence of speech disfluencies. We examine the impact of disfluencies from broadcast conversation data on our hierarchical phrasebased SMT system and implement automatic disfluency removal approaches for cleansing the MT input. We evaluate the efficacy of proposed approaches and investigate the impact of disfluency removal on SMT performance across different disfluency types. We show that for translating Mandarin broadcast conversational transcripts into English, our automatic disfluency removal approaches could produce significant improvement in BLEU and TER.


Many technologies based on cells containing alkali-metal atomic vapor benefit from the use of antirelaxation surface coatings in order to preserve atomic spin polarization. In particular, paraffin has been used for this purpose for several decades and has been demonstrated to allow an atom to experience up to 10 000 collisions with the walls of its container without depolarizing, but the details of its operation remain poorly understood. We apply modern surface and bulk techniques to the study of paraffin coatings in order to characterize the properties that enable the effective preservation of alkali spin polarization. These methods include Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, atomic force microscopy, near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We also compare the light-induced atomic desorption yields of several different paraffin materials. Experimental results include the determination that crystallinity of the coating material is unnecessary, and the detection of C[Double Bond]C double bonds present within a particular class of effective paraffin coatings. Further study should lead to the development of more robust paraffin antirelaxation coatings, as well as the design and synthesis of new classes of coating materials.


This Wireless Mobile Battery Charger project is using technique of inductive coupling. The basic concept of his technique was applied in transformer construction. With this technique, the power from AC or DC can be transfer through the medium of magnetic field or air space. In this project, the method is divided into two major activities which is to purpose circuit construction and to fabricate the prototype. The result is to evaluate the distance of power that can be transferred using technique of inductive coupling.


This book offers a powerful response to what Varner calls the "two dogmas of environmental ethics"-the assumptions that animal rights philosophies and anthropocentric views are each antithetical to sound environmental policy. Allowing that every living organism has interests which ought, other things being equal, to be protected, Varner contends that some interests take priority over others. He defends both a sentientist principle giving priority to the lives of organisms with conscious desires and an anthropocentric principle giving priority to certain very inclusive interests which only humans have. He then shows that these principles not only comport with but provide significant support for environmental goals.


Objective: The importance of firm survival in a highly competitive business environment cannot be over emphasized. Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) is however considered to be one of the fundamental behavioural initiatives that can help firms achieve sustainable survival in the midst of economic turbulence as organisations now depend on their employees for success. Recent studies on the sustainability of firms shows that many Nigerian manufacturing firms are into extinction and few operate at a sustainable level as a result of the operating environment of business occasioned by global capitalism which has been unpredictable, complex and competitive. The main objective of this study is to explore extant studies on OCB and its influence on firm survival specifically in the Nigerian manufacturing sector.
Methods: In order to fill this lacuna, this study explored reputable data bases of both empirical and non-empirical extant studies on OCB between 2009 and 2019. Studies were selected from business, management, Industrial/organisational psychology and human resource data bases. OCB was observed to have many dimensions which are overlapping and were re-categorized based on their objectives and characteristics.
Results: OCB dimensions identified have significant effect on positive behavioural outcomes. It is therefore recommended that organisations should challenge their employees by providing them with positive work climate that will foster extra role behaviour in order to ensure organisational survival. Also, a proposed study model integrating the dimensions of OCB was developed which is expected to serve as hypothetical basis for future research and practice. More so, some theoretical frameworks were linked to OCB and positive employee behavioural outcomes that can foster firm survival.


The application of Pd/Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) for the adsorption of sulfathiazole (STZ) from urine samples prior to high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection was studied. Pd/Fe3O4 NPs were synthesized using plant extract. Possible impact parameters in the extraction process such as magnetic adsorbents amount, extraction time, sample pH, and desorption conditions were investigated and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the detection and quantification limits were 10 and 30 ng mL-1, respectively. The relative standard deviation for five measurements of 100 ng mL-1 of STZ was 5.8 %. The proposed method was used for the analysis of different urine samples, and acceptable recoveries in the range of 87.6 - 101.3% were obtained. These results indicated that biosynthesized Pd/Fe3O4 NPs can be used as an efficient adsorbent for extraction of sulfathiazole from urine samples.


I shall argue that it is Kant's philosophical and political ambition to outline a theory of perpetual peace, which can on the one hand refute the presupposition that there is a human inclination towards war; and on the other hand, to provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving perpetual peace. However, we should bear in mind that Kant is not prescribing any kind of recipe or guidance on the basis of which we can achieve peace. Rather, what Kant is concerned about in the essay is to outline the arguments why we, as political and moral agents, are not committed to bring about peace, since we ought to follow the moral maxims that should not contradict our political principles. Thus, he is not concerned about the question of how we should bring about peace. The argument advanced here will
be mainly based not only on Kant's basic premise that nature guarantees perpetual peace, but also on the most problematic and perplexing issue, though less debated in the literature, of the disagreement between morals and politics and the establishment of their harmonious coexistence.


(UNRC). A BSTRACT . Interspecific competition may influence demographic parameters and affect population sizes of competing species. In this study, we evaluated the effect of Akodon azarae abundance on demographic parameters of other assemblage species through capture-mark-recapture data (CMR). In addition, we assessed the effects of time fluctuation, anthropogenic disturbances (burning), climate (rainfall and temperature) and endogenous variables (sex and abundance) on those parameters. The study was carried out in a railway bank in central Argentina through monthly CMR surveys from November 2011 to May 2014. We estimated species abundance using Pradel's closed population models throughout a robust design. We modeled recapture and survival probabilities by Cormack Jolly Seber models and seniority probabilities and population growth rates by Pradel's models. Akodon azarae abundance showed an inverse pattern to Mus musculus and Calomys musculinus abundance. Population numbers of A. azarae declined after fire, whereas M. musculus and C. musculinus increased their numbers and became the most abundant species. Akodon azarae abundance did not affect any demographic parameters of the other species. Instead, time fluctuations, sex and temperature explained those parameters. Even though burning changed species population numbers for a short period of time, it did not affect demographic parameters of any species. Although A. azarae is considered a dominant species, we did not find evidence that its abundance affects the demography of other small mammal species. Railway banks would offer shelter and food for all species during the year, allowing them to avoid competition for available resources. However, anthropogenic disturbances can produce changes in the composition of small mammal assemblage since they affect habitat quality and allow invasive species such as the Mus musculus to


Market retribution's service is an effort that Semarang Local Government do to increase the income Original Local Government Revenue of Semarang City. The importance of collecting the local retribution in Semarang city is an effor of local government in directing tax's collect and dicipline in administration, tight controll along with that chance to participate in giving founding to society to raise their awareness in paying the retribution and pay attention for the things that influence retribution's acceptance. In this research, writer choose the case about implementation of market retribution's service in Karangayu Market, Semarang City. The method used in this research is qualitative – descriptive type, with informants form Head of Income Section in Trade Department Semarang City, Technical Implementing Service Unit of Karangayu Market, Head od Karangayu Market that concern in market retribution's service policy in Karangayu Market dan the seller in Karangayu Market. The purpose of this research are for analyze about implementation of market retribution's service and it is analyzed using 5 accuracy theory by Riant Nugroho, and describe the factors that influence results the policy's implementation using Edward III theory. The result of the research shown that in the implementation of market retribution's policy that implemented in Karangayu Market, there are some problems which is about facilities and service which isn't good yet; the rejection from seller that not fully suporting the market retribution's service policy. The constraint factors are about the resources, the rejection from the seller in Karangayu Market and the tax levied which still not appropiate with the SOP. The reccomendation earned from this research are; the local government doing intensify's socialization, the addition of the resources, correcting tax system of retribution, and giving more education to the seller in Karangayu Market


ABSTRACT Since May 2022, the number of monkeypox virus infections has sharply increased in countries where the disease has not been previously endemic. At present, most reports refer to low-severity cases. Herein, we present a severe case of the disease with disseminated skin lesions that progressed to death in an immunosuppressed patient in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.


Skin diseases are common in the UK, especially in children where 34% suffer from such diseases at some point. Wound care and management is also a significant burden to the UK healthcare system, estimated at an annual cost of £5.3 billion. Epidermal pH gives an indication of the physiological condition of the skin and the healing progress of wounds. An effective pH-sensing dermal patch would provide non-invasive skin and wound monitoring, aiding treatment. The aim of this work was to develop a fibre-based flexible electrode to measure skin/wound pH. This will facilitate point-of-care analysis and allow appropriate care to be administrated by medical professionals.

Highly conductive wet-spun poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) fibres, a prior concept developed by Reid et al., were adopted for pH analysis. With an optimised polyaniline (PANi) coating, these fibres displayed Nernstian responses (in a solid-state sensor containing a fabricated quasi-reference electrode) across a pH range of 3.0 to 9.0 when in contact with both pH-adjusted artificial sweat matrix and human plasma; the fibres had additional desirable antibacterial and biocompatible properties. To date, wet-spun PEDOT:PSS fibres have not been adopted in a chemical sensing capacity. This invention provides opportunities for future wearable, fibre-based sensors capable of real-time, on-body pH sensing (to monitor wound healing and skin disease). However, a primary limitation was poor tensile strength (32 ± 11 MPa), which could lead to fibre breakages in real-life wearable applications. To overcome this limitation, another substrate, modified electrically conductive cotton, was explored.

A simple and effective "dipping and drying" approach involving cotton yarns in a dispersion of PEDOT:PSS and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) resulted in the development of a flexible, highly conductive cotton fibre. Subsequent PANi deposition yielded electrodes with significant biocompatible and antibacterial properties that could be fabricated (alongside quasi-reference electrodes) into a solid-state wearable pH sensor, which achieved rapid, selective, and Nernstian responses (-61 ± 2 mV pH-1) over a wide pH range (2.0 – 12.0), even in pH-adjusted artificial sweat matrix and human plasma. To date, there is no prior published research that reports on this combination of conductive materials and cotton in such a sensing capacity. Furthermore, few previous reports have described conducting cotton threads with low enough electrical resistances to allow the electrodeposition of functional polymers, like PANi, whilst retaining the necessary flexibility for wearable applications. Thus, this development represents an important progression towards the realisation of real-time, on-body, wearable sensors.


Sensitivity of the glanders causative agent to 20 antibiotics representing different groups is described. The results of the in vitro studies showed that most of the antibiotics were not active against the glanders causative agent, except for polymyxin M, levomycetin and their combination. Some relative activity was observed with neomycin. The "indicators" method used by the authors for determination of the M. mallei sensitivity to the antibiotics allowed the shortening of the time of the test by 8 to 10 hours.


Most solid waste management schemes minimally consider low concentration biodegradable agricultural waste management, though the environmental impact of this waste category is significant over a time frame. The column-mode study seeks to address the issue by suggesting potential utilisation of post-harvest waste for heavy metal sequestering. Locust beans husk char of 100 and 200 g was employed to inspect removal efficiency, isotherm and kinetic models of some heavy metals at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min contact time. Elemental composition of the biosorbent was investigated using the SEM-EDX machine. The results obtained depict that over 85% aluminium and nickel removal was achieved at 150 min detention time. The Freundlich isotherm well described most of the sorbates sorption (R 2 ≥ 0.91). The sorption rate equally fitted into the second-order pseudo kinetic model (R 2 ≥ 0.88). Ion exchange took place during the sorption. Locust beans husk has promising adsorption potential in heavy metal ions removal from fouled surface water. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.71.4.13081


The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges faced in quality service delivery to Turkana Central Sub-county citizens of Turkana County. The study used cross-sectional survey design. The sample size selected for the study was 261.  Data was collected using questionnaires and interview guides. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and presented in tables and figures for ease interpretation. The major findings of the study show that devolved governance faces some challenges. For instance the devolved governance is faced with corruption, lack of transparency and accountability and inadequate funds. This adversely   affects quality service delivery to its citizens. The findings of the study would inspire policy makers at the county and national government level to come up with appropriate strategies to mitigate the challenges identified in order to improve the quality of services offered by the county governments.


This study examines generational patterns of parenting styles, the relationships between parenting styles and adolescent well-being among youth of Mexican origin, and the role of generational parenting style patterns in explaining generational patterns in youth behavior (delinquency and alcohol problems) and psychological well-being (depression and self-esteem). This study uses two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The proportion of teens with permissive parents increased with generation; other parenting styles declined. The rate of youth with behavioral problems increased with generation. Self-esteem improved with generation; depression scores did not. Bivariate generational patterns of behavioral and psychological outcomes are a function of the patterns seen for youth with permissive parents, coupled with the increase in the proportion of permissive parents with each successive generation. In contrast, these outcomes did not worsen with generation for youth with authoritative parents.


Proton anisotropy in velocity space has been generally accepted as a major parameter for exciting electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves. In this study, we estimate the proton anisotropy parameter as defined by the linear resonance theory using data from the Van Allen Probes mission. Our investigation uses the measurements of the inner magnetosphere (L < 6) from January 2013 to February 2018. We find that the proton anisotropy is always clearly limited by an upper bound and it well follows an inverse relationship with the parallel proton β (the ratio of the plasma pressure to the magnetic pressure) within a certain range. This upper bound exists over wide spatial regions, AE conditions, and resonance energies regardless of the presence of EMIC waves. EMIC waves occur when the anisotropy lies below but close to this upper bound within a narrow plasma β range: The lower cutoff β is due to an excessively high anisotropy threshold and the upper cutoff β is possibly due to the predominant role of a faster‐growing mirror mode instability. We also find that the anisotropy during the observed EMIC waves is unstable, leading to the linear ion cyclotron instability. This result implies that the upper bound of the anisotropy is due to nonlinear processes.


Diffusion models have demonstrated remarkable progress in image generation quality, especially when guidance is used to control the generative process. However, guidance requires a large amount of image-annotation pairs for training and is thus dependent on their availability and correctness. In this paper, we eliminate the need for such annotation by instead exploiting the flexibility of self-supervision signals to design a framework for self-guided diffusion models. By leveraging a feature extraction function and a self-annotation function, our method provides guidance signals at various image granularities: from the level of holistic images to object boxes and even segmentation masks. Our experiments on single-label and multi-label image datasets demonstrate that self-labeled guidance always outperforms diffusion models without guidance and may even surpass guidance based on ground-truth labels. When equipped with self-supervised box or mask proposals, our method further generates visually diverse yet semantically consistent images, without the need for any class, box, or segment label annotation. Self-guided diffusion is simple, flexible and expected to profit from deployment at scale.


The objective of the present study is to examine the interplay between information, trading volume and volatility in Short Sterling futures. More specifically, the paper concentrates on the role of liquidity variables as conduits of information arrival and whether such variables could be an exclusive platform of the market's information set. The analytical framework employed, to examine the interaction among those factors, is based on the conditional volatility family of techniques. The approach is well suited as it naturally leads to examine the interaction among volatility and sources of information. In an attempt to identify proxies of information and their role in determining volatility four main conclusions have emerged. First, the empirical findings suggest that both volume and open interest exhibit a positive correlation with volatility. Second, based on the current methodology one can observe the persistence and importance of GARCH effects after accounting for liquidity. Third, both liquidity variables remain significantly exogenous compared with other studies. Finally, although both liquidity variables are found significant, their role as vehicles of transmitting information is proved to be weak with respect to the information itself.


Family carers play an important role supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) into adulthood. Funders of services often desire this ongoing involvement by family members yet they rarely collect data about family carers. As policy makers and planners are increasingly recognizing the need for information related to indicators of system performance, a scoping review was conducted to identify system-wide information needed about family carers of adults with I/DD that would help improve the quality of service provided. A final review of 87 research articles was organized in terms of service use, service need, and permanency planning by family carers of adults with I/DD. Service use and need were associated with the presence of challenging behaviors among individuals with I/DD as well as carer demographics and health status. In addition, carers' subjective view of how well they think they can provide for their child in the future was an important determining factor of service need. Permanency planning was associated with child level of functioning as well as parent income, social support, and compound caregiving demands. Studies highlighted the importance of measuring family carers' mental and physical health and their perceptions of the adequacy of services received. Considered also were methodological limitations, highlighting considerations for future system monitoring. Methodological limitations of studies reviewed include reliance on cross-sectional data, samples consisting of families already receiving at least some services, and little information about the process of seeking and obtaining services. Areas to target in future system monitoring include information on who needs services, what services are needed, families' perceptions of the caregiving experience and families' experiences waiting for services over time. Understanding the experiences of family carers as seekers of formal services can help inform policy and practice.


The European Employment Strategy (EES) aims to promote convergence of domestic labour market policies by soft law instruments. Previous studies on the impact of the EES are mainly focused on active labour market policies. The present study aims at explaining cross national variation in national passive labour market policies and unemployment benefit levels. Building on the most recent measures and pooled time series data, the empirical findings reveal the presence of a convergence process among the most advanced economies regarding passive labour market policy efforts, with the EES fostering this trend even further. Furthermore, our findings support the argument that the EES creates pressure on governments to reform domestic labour market policies, but this pressure varies across countries and over time. The results suggest that the recommendations from the European Council have contributed to unemployment benefit reform processes.


"Human rights" as a fundamental issue in the present century has been a major parts of legal researches as well as one of the main features of democratic governments. Although it was theoretically first raised in the West but provoked various reactions from Islamic countries. In Iran, after the Constitutional Revolution, these issues were addressed. In a division, Shiite political thought can be divided into four sub-categories: political philosophy, political mysticism, political literature, and political jurisprudence. Because in Iran, Shiite jurists have always played a decisive role in various political, social, economic and cultural issues, it is necessary to refer to their opinion in this issue as well. Shiite jurists have also viewed Western human rights from three perspectives: denial, proof, and modification. Among Shiite jurists, the views of Allameh Jafari are interesting due to their special focus on this issue and the coherence of the issues raised by them. The main question pursues in this research is what is Allameh Jafari's view on human rights? This paper hypothesis is that Allameh Jafari, like most modern Shiite jurists, while accepting human rights issues, tries to adjust them according to religious sources and texts.


In this paper we prove two results, one semi-historical and the other new. The semi-historical result, which goes back to Thurston and Riley, is that the geometrization theorem implies that there is an algorithm for the homeomorphism problem for closed, oriented, triangulated 3-manifolds. We give a self-contained proof, with several variations at each stage, that uses only the statement of the geometrization theorem, basic hyperbolic geometry, and old results from combinatorial topology and computer science. For this result, we do not rely on normal surface theory, methods from geometric group theory, nor methods used to prove geometrization.
The new result is that the homeomorphism problem is elementary recursive, i.e., that the computational complexity is bounded by a bounded tower of exponentials. This result relies on normal surface theory, Mostow rigidity, and bounds on the computational complexity of solving algebraic equations.


We report the first synthesis of Mo2C-supported Au and Au–Pd catalysts (nominal Au/Pd = 10 and 30) obtained from colloidal nanoparticles stabilised by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Equivalent Au/Al2O3 and Au–Pd/Al2O3 were prepared and served as benchmarks. Residual PVA was removed by thermal treatment in N2, which was monitored by thermogravimetric analysis. The catalysts were characterised in terms of temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), BET surface area, H2 chemisorption, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements. The reduced catalysts exhibited an equivalent metal particle size range (1–8 nm) and mean size (4–5 nm). The carbide samples showed greater H2 chemisorption capacity than the Al2O3 systems where inclusion of Pd enhanced H2 uptake. XPS measurements suggest electron transfer from Al2O3 to Au while the Au binding energy for the carbide samples is close to that of the metallic Au reference. The catalysts were tested in the gas phase hydrogenation of nitrobenzene, p-chloronitrobenzene and p-nitrobenzonitrile and delivered 100% selectivity to the target amine in each case. Inclusion of Pd served to increase selective hydrogenation rates where Au–Pd/Mo2C outperformed Au–Pd/Al2O3, a response that is attributed to increased surface hydrogen.


The cause and prevention of electrical arcs have been explored since the early 1960s. Engineering design, construction of equipment enclosure, modifications with structural protections and, more recently, requirements for employee safe work practices have all targeted the risks of electrical arc hazards. Yet arcs accompanied by explosions continue to occur in electrical systems. Both human factors and equipment malfunctions contribute to the unexpected release of explosive electrical energy in the workplace. This paper presents experimental results of staged tests simulating the participation of workers in the test scene. Observations regarding the intensities of electrical arc flash events, variances between predicted and observed measurements and implications for safety management are discussed. The intent is to improve the understanding of how people are exposed to electrical hazards in industrial settings so that prevention strategies may be enhanced.


This essay looks at the world of cyber Islamic commerce and the marketing of new forms of hijab through tracing the connections between the British Muslim entrepreneur Wahid Rahman who runs a website called HijabShop.com and the Dutch designer Cindy van den Bremen, designer of a new form of sports head covering known as Capsters. It considers the lifestyles of these two individuals, their diverse philosophies and their personal involvement in the promotion of Islamic fashion for women and how cyberspace has provided them with an opportunity for a business partnership. The essay explores some of the representational challenges inherent in the reframing of hijab as fashion, showing how those involved in this niche market navigate complex tensions between different Muslim interpretations of the relationship between beauty and modesty, fashion and faith.


Three distinct calmodulin (CaM)-encoding cDNAs were isolated from a reptile, the Japanese tortoise (Clemmys japonica), based on degenerative primer PCR. Because of synonymous codon usages, the deduced amino acid (aa) sequences were exactly the same in all three genes and identical to the aa sequence of vertebrate CaM. The three cDNAs, referred to as CaM-A, -B, and -C, seemed to belong to the same type as CaMI, CaMII, and CaMIII, respectively, based on their sequence identity with those of the mammalian cDNAs and the glutamate codon biases. Northern blot analysis detected CaM-A and -B as bands corresponding to 1.8 kb, with the most abundant levels in the brain and testis, while CaM-C was detected most abundantly in the brain as bands of 1.4 and 2.0 kb. Our results indicate that, in the tortoise, CaM protein is encoded by at least three non-allelic genes, and that the 'multigene-one protein' principle of CaM synthesis is applicable to all classes of vertebrates, from fishes to mammals.


A 2007 food-borne illness incident involving peanut butter is linked with structural change in consumer demand. Compensated and uncompensated own- and cross-price elasticities and expenditure elasticities were calculated for leading brands before and after the product recall using the Barten synthetic model and weekly time-series data from 2006 through 2008. Statistically significant differences in price elasticities for the affected brand, Peter Pan, were absent. After a period of 27 weeks, this brand essentially recovered from the food safety crisis. Significant differences in price elasticities were evident among non-affected brands. Hence, spillover effects and heightened competition are associated with the recall.


The survival of Lewis rats with D-galactosamine-induced fulminant hepatic failure was prolonged if they were given intraperitoneal injections of single-cell suspensions of liver or bone marrow cells from normal rats. Suspensions of liver cells were also effective in prolonging the survival of rats with ischemia-induced hepatic necrosis. The liver cells did not act by repopulating the recipient liver.


The 19th and 20th century in the history of Poland was primarily a time of foreign domination by neighbouring countries, mainly Russia and Germany. Except for the inter-war period of 1918–1939 when there was an attempt to rebuild an independent country, Polish culture in its social and economic dimension underwent a vicious destruction for almost 2 centuries. For that reason, political changes initiated in Poland in 1989 resulted in the emergence of new hope for the revival of its sovereignty and
its restoration as a sovereign and democratic country. After years of enslavement the regenerated Poland was economically weak in almost all its dimensions. Due to decisions made in the 1990s and the first years of the 21st century there was a hope for a clear acceleration of social and economic growth. The activities required the necessity of implementation of economic and rational procedures in financial management as well as the allocation of huge financial resources mainly for investment in the area of public utilities, and also for the implementation of modern technologies and methods in nearly all areas of economic and social life. The article is dedicated to the problem of the financial security of the country in relation to the burdens of debt of local authorities, particularly those at the lowest level of the governance structure of the country. Assuming that local authorities in the Polish legal system are public-legal unions equipped with a legal identity that act in their own name and at their own responsibility, it is the members of organisations who are directly responsible for an excessive indebtedness which can affect not only the financial security of the whole public-legal union which is a local self-government, but also the financial security of citizens.


Abstract Autophagy is essential for protein degradation, nutrient recycling, and nitrogen remobilization. Autophagy is induced during leaf ageing and in response to nitrogen starvation, and is known to play a fundamental role in nutrient recycling for remobilization and seed filling. Accordingly, ageing leaves of Arabidopsis autophagy mutants (atg) have been shown to over-accumulate proteins and peptides, possibly because of a reduced protein degradation capacity. Surprisingly, atg leaves also displayed higher protease activities. The work reported here aimed at identifying the nature of the proteases and protease activities that accumulated differentially (higher or lower) in the atg mutants. Protease identification was performed using shotgun LC-MS/MS proteome analyses and activity-based protein profiling (ABPP). The results showed that the chloroplast FTSH (FILAMENTATION TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE H) and DEG (DEGRADATION OF PERIPLASMIC PROTEINS) proteases and several extracellular serine proteases [subtilases (SBTs) and serine carboxypeptidase-like (SCPL) proteases] were less abundant in atg5 mutants. By contrast, proteasome-related proteins and cytosolic or vacuole cysteine proteases were more abundant in atg5 mutants. Rubisco degradation assays and ABPP showed that the activities of proteasome and papain-like cysteine protease were increased in atg5 mutants. Whether these proteases play a back-up role in nutrient recycling and remobilization in atg mutants or act to promote cell death is discussed in relation to their accumulation patterns in the atg5 mutant compared with the salicylic acid-depleted atg5/sid2 double-mutant, and in low nitrate compared with high nitrate conditions. Several of the proteins identified are indeed known as senescence- and stress-related proteases or as spontaneous cell-death triggering factors.


We study the distribution of the imaginary parts of zeros near the real axis of quadratic L-functions. More precisely, let K(s) be chosen so that |K(1/2 ± it)| is rapidly decreasing as t increases. We investigate the asymptotic behaviour of as D → ∞. Here denotes the sum over the non-trivial zeros p = 1/2 + iγ of the Dirichlet L-function L(s, χd), and χd = () is the Kronecker symbol. The outer sum is over all fundamental discriminants d that are in absolute value ≤ D. Assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, we show that for


Proceedings of 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illinois, 2015. Evidence suggests that computer game-based learning (GBL) environments are effective in increasing students' motivation and supporting learning (de Freitas, 2013; Kiili, Ketamo, Koivisto, & Finn, 2014; Spires, Rowe, Mott, & Lester, 2011). Many intelligent tutoring systems and advanced learning technologies are designed as educational games (Aleven, Beal, & Graesser, 2013; Conati, Jaques, & Muir, 2013; Rodrigo, et al., 2012). This paper presents the lessons learned during the design, implementation and evaluation of an educational game, Heroes of Math Island, for students in grades five through seven. The game was designed and implemented with the purpose of researching (1) affective states that are relevant to learning during gameplay and (2) methods that are better suited for design of engaging educational games. This paper focuses on the second objective.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the risk factors of neurological complications of posterior vertebral column resection in the treatment of severe rigid congenital spinal deformities.

METHODS
The clinical data of 88 patients with severe rigid congenital spinal deformities who underwent PVCR in Department Of Orthopaedics, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University from June 2007 to November 2012 were collected. There were 39 males and 49 females at the average age of 16.9 years (range 6-46 years). To measure the Cobb angle and balance at preoperative, postoperative and follow up, and to record the operation report, neurological complications and at follow up. The relevant factors of neurological complications were analyzed by one-way analysis, including: age, Cobb angle, operation time, body mass index, pulmonary function, blood volume loss, resection level, number of vertebrae fixed, number of vertebrae resected, usage of cage or titanium mesh, preoperative neurologic function, the type of deformity and combination of spinal canal deformity, and further analyzed by multiariable Logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS
The average follow up was 42 months (range 19 to 83 months). The number of resected vertebrae average 1.3 (range 1 to 3), operative time average 502.4 min (range 165.0 to 880.0 min), estimate blood loss average 2,238 ml (range 100 to 11,500 ml) for an average 69.3% blood volume loss (range 9% to 299%). The average preoperative major coronal curve of 93.6° corrected to 22.2°, at the final follow-up, the coronal curve was 22.2° with a correction of 76.8%. The average preoperative coronal imbalance (absolute value) was 2.5 cm decreasing to 1.3 cm at the final follow-up. The average preoperative major sagittal curve of 88.2° corrected to 28.7°, at the final follow-up, the sagittal curve was 29.2°, average decrease in kyphosis of 59.0°. The average preoperative sagittal imbalance (absolute value) was 3.1 cm decreasing to 1.2 cm at the final follow-up. There were 12 patients (13.6%) developed a neurological complications. High rate of neurological complications was occurred in patients with operative time greater than 480 min, pulmonary dysfunction, blood volume loss greater than 50%, T7-T99 osteotomy and preoperative neurologic compromise (P=0.046, 0.000, 0.000, 0.033, 0.043).

CONCLUSIONS
Posterior vertebral column resection can achieve satisfactory efficacy in treatment of severe spinal deformities. Pulmonary dysfunction and blood volume loss greater than 50% were significant risk factors of neurological complications.


It has long been thought that chaperones are primarily attracted to their clients through the hydrophobic effect. However, in in vitro studies on the interaction between the chaperone Spy and its substrate Im7, we recently showed that long-range electrostatic interactions also play a key role. Spy functions in the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria, which is surrounded by a permeable outer membrane. The ionic conditions in the periplasm therefore closely mimic those in the media, which allowed us to vary the ionic strength of the in vivo folding environment. Using folding biosensors that link protein folding to antibiotic resistance, we were able to monitor Spy chaperone activity in Escherichia coli in vivo as a function of media salt concentration. The chaperone activity of Spy decreased when the ionic strength of the media was increased, strongly suggesting that electrostatic forces play a vital role in the action of Spy in vivo.


The conformational changes of the bovine lens protein "α‐crystallin" have been investigated in the presence of the photosensitizer Rose Bengal (RB), in the dark as well as after visible light irradiation. Absorption and fluorescence emission spectra of RB [5 × 10−6 m] and Fourier transform‐IR spectra of α‐crystallin [5 mg mL−1] were significantly altered upon RB α‐crystallin complex formation. RB was found to bind to α‐crystallin in a molecular pocket characterized by a low polarity, with Trp most likely involved in this interaction. The binding constant (Kb) has been estimated to be of the order of 2.5 (mg/mL)−1. The intrinsic fluorescence of α‐crystallin was quenched through both dynamic and static mechanisms. Light‐induced photosensitized effects showed structural modifications in α‐crystallin, including tertiary and secondary structure (an increase in unordered structure) alterations. Notwithstanding those photoinduced structural variations detected in α‐crystallin when complexed with RB, the protein still retains its ability to play the role of chaperone for β‐crystallin.


Proper losses (or proper scoring rules) have been used for over half a century to elicit users' subjective probability from the observations. In the recent machine learning community, we often tackle downstream tasks such as classification and bipartite ranking with the elicited probabilities. Here, we engage in assessing the quality of the elicited probabilities with different proper losses, which can be characterized by surrogate regret bounds to describe the convergence speed of an estimated probability to the optimal one when optimizing a proper loss. This work contributes to a sharp analysis of surrogate regret bounds in two ways. First, we provide general surrogate regret bounds for proper losses measured by the L 1 distance. This abstraction eschews a tailor-made analysis of each downstream task and delineates how universally a loss function operates. Our analysis relies on a classical mathematical tool known as the moduli of convexity, which is of independent interest per se. Second, we evaluate the surrogate regret bounds with polynomials to identify the quantitative convergence rate. These devices enable us to compare different losses, with which we confirm that the lower bound of the surrogate regret bounds is Ω( ε 1 / 2 ) for popular loss functions.


Direct knowledge of crystal defects and their perturbation of magnetic flux lines is essential to understanding pinning and to devising approaches that enhance critical currents in superconductors with high critical temperatures (Tc). Atomic force microscopy was used to simultaneously characterize crystal defects and the magnetic flux-line lattice in single crystals of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. Images show that surface defects, which are present on all real samples, pin the flux-line lattice. Above a critical height, the pinning interaction is sufficiently strong to form grain boundaries in the bulk flux-line lattice. These results elucidate the structure of the defects that pin flux lines and demonstrate that surface pinning, through the formation of grain boundaries, can determine the bulk flux-line lattice structure in high-Tc materials. The implications of these results to the bulk flux-line lattice structure observed in previous experiments and to enhancing critical currents are discussed.


Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a promising magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modality with wide applications in diagnosis of different types of diseases such as prostate cancer. DWI provides a large amount of imaging data which often makes it difficult to interpret accurately, mainly due to the fact that much of information in diffusion imaging cannot be deciphered by human experts alone. Computational diffusion MRI (CD-MRI) aims to leverage computational means to generate imagery from diffusion signals which are easier to interpret by human experts. Recently, a new CD-MRI modality called correlated diffusion imaging (CDI) has been proposed which takes advantage of the joint correlation of diffusion signal attenuation across multiple gradient pulse strengths and timings to improve the separability of cancerous and healthy tissues. In this paper, we propose a new CD-MRI modality called Sparse CDI (sCDI) where an optimally sparse subset of diffusion signals contributes to the formation of the final diffusion signal leading to further separation of cancerous and healthy tissue in prostate gland compared to CDI and conventional DWI.


This paper uses data of international iron ore trade in 2009, which cover 61 countries and 134 trade relationships, to evaluate the bargaining power of both export and import countries from the perspective of social network. The countries' positions in the iron ore trade network and their bargaining power are examined through analysis of their Freeman degree centralities, Bonacich powers, betweenness centralities, and flow centralities. The results of these analyses identify prominent exporters, importers and brokers with great bargaining power, and countries with potential to improve their bargaining positions. The results also reveal the reason why the international negotiations of iron ore trade were almost always in favor of exporters.


Grassroots exploration has led to discovery of 10 porphyry copper prospects in the previously unexplored Jurassic arc of southeastern Ecuador. The prospects are located in steep, wet, jungle-covered terrain in the Pangui area, part of the Cordillera del Cóndor. The exploration program, initially mounted in search of gold in the Oriente foreland basin, employed panned-concentrate drainage sampling. Follow-up of the resulting anomalies utilized soil sampling combined with rock-chip sampling and geologic mapping of the restricted creek outcrops. Scout and infill drilling of two of the prospects, San Carlos and Panantza, has shown hypogene mineralization averaging 0.5 to 0.7 percent Cu overlain by thin (averaging <30 m) zones of chalcocite enrichment or oxidized copper mineralization.
 The prospects are centered on small, composite granocliorite to monzogranite porphyry stocks that cut the Zamora batholith or, in one case, a satellite pluton. The batholith is emplaced into Jurassic volcanosedimentary formations, which concealed Triassic extensional half-grabens before being incorporated into the Subandean fold-thrust belt along the western margin of the Oriente basin. North- and northwest-striking normal faults in the hanging wall of a major north-striking fault zone controlled the locations of most of the porphyry centers.
 K silicate and variably overprinted intermediate argillic alteration, containing chalcopyrite as the principal sulfide mineral, characterize the central parts of most of the porphyry prospects and grade outward to pyrite-dominated propylitic halos. Overprinted sericitic alteration is generally less widely developed, although apparently shallower erosion at the Warintza and Wawame prospects resulted in preservation of extensive pyrite-rich sericitic zones. All the prospects contain appreciable (60–250 ppm) molybdenum, but gold tenors are low except at Panantza and Wawame (~0.15 and 0.2 g/t, respectively). Supergene oxidation and chalcocite enrichment zones are immature because of inhibition by the rapid erosion prevalent in the Pangui area. Supergene profiles attain their maximum development on ridge crests but are essentially absent along major creeks.
 Discovery of the Pangui belt, along with other recently defined porphyry copper systems in northern Perú, Indonesia, and the Philippines, underscores yet again the efficacy of drainage geochemistry as an exploration technique in tropical and subtropical arc terranes as well as the outstanding potential for additional exposed deposits in poorly explored parts of the circum-Pacific region.


Abstract : The cost of fixing system vulnerabilities and the risk associated with vulnerabilities after system deployment are high for both developers and end users. While there are a number of best practices available to address the issue of software security vulnerabilities, these practices are often difficult to reuse due to the implementation-specific nature of the best practices. In addition, greater understanding of the root causes of security flaws has led to a greater appreciation of the importance of taking security into account in all phases in the software development life cycle, not just in the implementation and deployment phases. This report describes a set of secure design patterns, which are descriptions or templates describing a general solution to a security problem that can be applied in many different situations. Rather than focus on the implementation of specific security mechanisms, the secure design patterns detailed in this report are meant to eliminate the accidental insertion of vulnerabilities into code or to mitigate the consequences of vulnerabilities. The patterns were derived by generalizing existing best security design practices and by extending existing design patterns with security-specific functionality. They are categorized according to their level of abstraction: architecture, design, or implementation.


Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Recently, 2 expert committees provided evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of PsA. Anti-TNF-α drugs are indicated in all forms of PsA resistant to traditional therapeutic approaches. Anti-TNF-α infliximab (IFX) is an immunoglobulin G-1 antibody that binds to soluble and cell membrane-bound TNF-α with its inactivation. Confirming previous open-label studies, 2 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, IMPACT and IMPACT2, have provided evidence of the efficacy and safety of IFX in the treatment of PsA as evaluated by American College of Rheumatology (ACR)20, ACR50, and ACR70 response rates. At Week 16, a significant proportion of 51 IFX-treated patients achieved ACR20, ACR50, and ACR70 responses compared to the 51 patients of the placebo arm in the IMPACT trial. In the IMPACT2 study, 58% of the IFX-treated patients and 11% of placebo patients achieved an ACR20 response (p < 0.001), and 41% and 27% of patients in the IFX group were ACR50 and ACR70 responders, compared with 4% and 2% of placebo patients, respectively. Of note, a significant inhibition of radiographic disease progression was observed in the IFX-treated group. In both trials, psoriasis improvement was recorded in more than 80% of patients receiving IFX, with a significant difference compared to placebo group. IFX was well tolerated, with no difference compared to placebo in terms of adverse events. The extension phase of these studies showed the sustained efficacy and safety of the drug.


The trilateral coordinated anti-piracy ship patrols in the Strait of Malacca and of Singapore (Straits)—codenamed Operation MALSINDO—by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, which commenced on July 20, 2004 to combat the menace of piracy have completed more than five successful years. The regional states have jointly developed a unique mechanism for ensuring safety and security in the Straits. The littorals, mindful of their sovereign sensitivities, have consistently declined offers of assistance from India and other user states in the security patrols. Meanwhile, the security situation in the Indian Ocean region is evolving fast, throwing up fresh challenges. The number of piracy attacks doubled in 2009 from a year ago, with the largest number of attacks taking place in the Indian Ocean. Not surprisingly, a majority of the G20 navies are currently deployed in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy patrols. In the prevailing scenario, is the Malacca Strait Security Initiative (MSSI) geared to address future security challenges, when the maritime resources of the littorals have been stretched too far? Is the issue of sovereign rights of the littorals being taken too far at the cost of jeopardising the security of world shipping? This article provides an overall assessment of the current safety and security initiatives in the Straits and examines the emerging trends and challenges in combating non-traditional threats in the Indian Ocean region. The author concludes that the evolving security scenario offers many opportunities for regional states to cooperate with the Indian Navy in ensuring security of the Straits.


Background The current accountability climate prioritizes identifying features of "effective teaching." One approach has to been to outline a set of "high-leverage practices," defined as teaching moves that are research-based, have the potential to improve student achievement, and support students in learning central academic concepts. But which practices qualify as "high leverage," and based on what criteria? This article raises several issues involved in identifying "high-leverage" teaching practices based on their relationships with different types of student outcome measures. Purpose The study addresses the following research questions: What practices are associated with student achievement gains on high- and low-stakes assessments? How do teachers use these teaching practices in their classrooms? Population Participants in this study were 103 fourth grade teachers from a single district who volunteered to have their classroom instruction recorded as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project. Research Design The research involved analysis of multiple data sources: video records of practice, qualitative observation notes, quantitative measures of math teaching, and student outcomes on two math assessments, one high stakes comprised entirely of multiple-choice questions and the other low stakes and focused on open-ended problem solving. Data Analysis A standardized observation tool designed to code language arts instruction, PLATO, was modified for reliable scoring of math teaching. More than 300 math lessons were scored using four PLATO scales. Logistic regressions were used to look at relationships between PLATO scores and teacher value-added measures computed from high- and low-stakes student assessments. A stratified, purposive sample of lessons was analyzed qualitatively. Findings/Results Scores on two practices, modeling and procedural strategy instruction, predicted value-added based on the high-stakes state test, but had no relationship with value-added on the low-stakes test. Qualitative analyses demonstrate instruction was explicitly oriented toward success on the state test. Teachers taught test-taking strategies and modeled how to eliminate "silly" answers listed in multiple-choice format. Two other practices, orchestrating classroom discourse and conceptual strategy instruction, had no relationship with value-added on either test. Scores on these two scales were positively skewed, with very few instances of high-scoring instruction. Conclusions/Recommendations Discussion focuses on potential limitations of labeling teaching practices as "high leverage" based on their relationship with high-stakes standardized assessments and the importance of sampling teachers with a full range of enactment of high-leverage practices.


in dependence upon a given geometric configuration, an actual or forecasted number of vehicles arriving at an intersection can turn left or right, otherwise proceed straight through it. this article can be placed in between a research working paper, and a kind of informational brief report. indeed, it deals with forecasting techniques for estimation of intersection turning movements. such issue is crucial, both in network planning and in traffic engineering, while its applications span from traffic safety and environmental impacts, to signal timing, roundabout design and setting of traffic control strategies. the number of vehicles making each movement on an existing intersection can be manually collected, especially when operational analyses are undertaken. nevertheless, when the intersection is at the planning or design stage, an estimation process is required. in its first part, this paper provides a brief literature review of some of theoretical and practical methods focused to forecast the intersection turning movements. such a review is limited on methods used to distribute the incoming and exiting traffic volumes within the different intersection branches, then generating an estimation of the so-called intersection o/d matrix of turning flows. the second part of the paper is experimental. two different, but similar, heuristic procedures have described. then, they have successively applied to some selected intersection real traffic data sets, and the respective computational performances were compared. namely, the first one is known as proportion methods, while the second one is called as the difference, or deviation, method. each method of these two starts from an initial matrix, and through iterative steps it reaches the best estimate of the matrix of turning flows, with respect to a given distribution model. test intersections with their related set of real traffic data have been used as input, and each of the two procedures, as described in advance, was applied to the same numeric instances. the obtained values were compared in respect to few selected performance indicators. finally, the computational results were displayed and discussed. on this basis, some insights are drawn and useful remarks for application and future research have been addressed.


Author(s): Yapp, Hentyle | Advisor(s): Jackson, Shannon | Abstract: In our globalized moment, cultural production emerging from China and other non-Western locations has become of central concern for critical theory, art history, and cultural studies. In order to counteract previous decontextualized and over-universalizing discussions of contemporary Chinese art, most art history, theatre, and performance studies scholars have emphasized how art and culture emerged within specific historical and political contexts. However, by repeatedly relying on contextualization, the Chinese are reproduced as lacking imagination, contradictions, and complexity. By examining the historical emergence of this discourse, I demonstrate the limits of past approaches in order to explore other methodological possibilities. In contrast to other scholars who have situated contemporary Chinese performance and art within over-determined modes of contextualization, this dissertation locates alternative methodological possibilities in affect and feelings. This project argues that historical contextualization reproduces presumptions around the Chinese state as authoritarian and its subjects as conscious actors. Thus, I develop a method called minor China that privileges the realms of affect, fantasy, and the immaterial over such presumptions. The minor, akin to the musical structure that feels melancholic and less prevalent than the major, focuses on such contours to direct attention to the assumptions that frame how we write about Chinese culture and the state. I develop the minor from the recent theoretical turns towards minor feelings and affects, from scholars such as Lauren Berlant, Sianne Ngai, Steven Shaviro, and Eve Sedgwick. As I engage these analytics for their methodological capabilities, I situate minor contours to understand what they offer for cultural and political economic analyses of China.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) has helped to improve the treatment of patients with leukemia. At present MRD testing in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is not applied as a standard diagnostic or prognostic method.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using patient-specific TaqMan probes together with LightCycler technology was performed to quantify minimal residual disease in MM. Relative levels of clonotypic cells were assessed as IgH/2beta-actin ratios with a sensitivity of 10(-4) to 10(-5).

RESULTS
Following stem cell transplantation, a significant reduction of clonotypic cells was observed in bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples of 11 patients, comparing pre-treatment values with those of best response (median: 13% to 0.09% and 0.03% to 0%, respectively). In 5 patients with ongoing clinical remission IgH/2beta-actin ratios remained stable at a low level, while in 6 patients an increase to 2% in BM and 0.4% in PB was associated with progression of the disease. In 4 of these 6 patients the increase of clonotypic cells in PB was detectable a median of 3 months (range: 0.5-6) before relapse. Furthermore, time-to-progression of patients with pre-transplantation IgH/2b-actin ratios > 0.03% in BM was significantly shorter than that of patients with lower MRD levels.

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
MRD in patients with MM can be quantified reliably using TaqMan chemistry adapted to the LightCycler system. Residual tumor cell levels before transplantation as well as results of sequential molecular monitoring are predictive of relapse.


This paper is a polemical critique of the current orthodoxy that the world is changing at an even faster rate, that organizations must adapt to this change in order to survive, and that change management techniques enable organizations to do this. There is no basis to evaluate the proposition that we face unprecedented rates of change, and change is not something to which organizations must respond, but is instead an outcome of organizational actions. Change management initiatives are largely failures, and the usual explanations for these failures are inadequate.


Clefts of the orofacial region are among the most common congenital defects, caused by abnormal facial development during gestation. Non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCLP) is a complex trait most probably caused by multiple interacting loci, with possible additional environmental factors. As facial clefts form part of more than 300 syndromes, one strategy for identifying the genetic causes of NSCLP could be to study candidate genes responsible for clefting syndromes. Three genes were selected for this investigation: TP63, which codes for the tumour protein p63 and causes Ectrodactyly-Ectodermal dysplasia-orofacial Cleft syndrome; JAG2, a downstream gene of TP63; and MID1, which is responsible for Opitz syndrome. A linkage disequilibrium investigation was performed with intragenic single nucleotide polymorphisms on each of these genes in a sample study of 239 patients/parents trios. Evidence which suggests that JAG2 and MID1 may play a role in NSCLP was obtained.


The paper reports an experimental investigation into using shape memory alloy (SMA) as a deployment actuator. SMA specimens were heated and pulled to failure or pulled and heated to failure, thus developing an environmental and structural operating envelope for application as deployment mechanisms. The experimental results strongly suggest that SMAs can be implemented as deployment actuators. Recorded data shows that SMA fracture is possible over a wide range of temperatures and strains, filling a material performance gap not found in the literature. The obtained information allows design engineers to appropriately size SMAs given the design requirements for achieving the desired deployment effects. The major conclusion of the reported work is that SMAs as actuators are strong competitors to typical existing deployment efforts that use explosive or non-explosive actuators having implementation drawbacks such as the expense associated with special handling and the volume encountered in mounting the devices.


Three patients suffering from a treatment-resistant depression were being treated with a monoamine oxidase (mao-)inhibitor and received lithium augmentation to achieve better recovery. One patient showed significant improvement of depressive symptoms within 24 hours, one patient showed very little respons and one patient did not respond at all. Literature research led to other casereports, where adding lithium to mao-inhibitors had also been effective. The growing amount of arguments of a positive effect of lithium augmentation to mao-inhibitors asks for more research to collect more evidence and a better understanding of this new, potentially effective treatment.


This thesis deals with the development of catalytic oxidation reactions utilizing hydrogen peroxide as terminal oxidant. The main focus has been to find flavin catalysts that are easy to handle and stable to store but still able to perform the desired reaction. A variety of dihydroflavins were prepared and the electrochemical oxidation potentials were measured and compared with their catalytic activity.A flavin catalyst was applied in the sulfoxidation of allylic and vinylic sulfides by H2O2. This transformation was highly chemoselective and the sulfoxides were obtained without formation of other oxidation products. The scope of the reaction was demonstrated by applying the method on substrates with a wide range of functional groups such as a tertiary amine. Another flavin catalyst was immobilized in the ionic liquid [BMIm]PF6 and used for sulfoxidations by H2O2. The chemoselectivity was maintained in this system and the catalyst-ionic liquid system could be recycled several times.Finally two bimetallic catalyst systems for the dihydroxylation of alkenes by H2O2 were immobilized in the ionic liquid. These systems employed either vanadium acetylacetonate VO(acac)2 or methyl trioxorhenium (MTO) as co-catalysts together with the substrate-selective osmium catalyst. Good to excellent yields of the diols were obtained.


The main objective of this research is the index of profitability on the capital structure of listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Tehran. Statistical population consisted of all above companies that 138 companies were selected in time zone of 2011-2014 after screening method (systematic elimination). The research method is descriptive and correlation and study variable is profitability index that was tested by statistical techniques. Research findings indicate that there is a significant inverse relationship between indicators of profitability and capital structure. Also, there is a significant inverse relationship between short-term and long-term profitability and debts


The aim of this chapter is to systematically review the research exploring the relationship between TBI and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. A literature search was conducted using Google Scholar, Ovid Medline (1946 Dec 2013), PsycINFO (1806 Dec 2013), CINAHL plus (1937 Dec 2013), Cochrane database (2005 – Dec 2013) and Embase (1946 – Dec 2013). The search returned 346 articles, and 11 of these met the inclusion criteria. Anxiety disorders were often found to be a negative outcome following childhood TBI, with a higher incidence of disorders including GAD, ASD, PTSD, PD, OCD, simple/specific phobia, social phobia and SAD found in children following their injury. In most cases, this relationship was strongest for children with severe TBI who sustained their injury at a younger age. Psychosocial adversity was found to be a consistently significant predictor for the likelihood of children developing anxiety following TBI. It is concluded that children who have suffered from a TBI (mild, moderate or severe), are at a higher risk of developing subsequent anxiety disorders, even 1 year following the injury event, and children with more severe injuries, greater psychosocial adversity, and younger age at injury are considered to be the most vulnerable.


Hypervisors are widely deployed by cloud computing providers to support virtual machines, but their growing complexity poses a security risk, as large codebases contain many vulnerabilities. We present SeKVM, a layered Linux KVM hypervisor architecture that has been formally verified on multiprocessor hardware. Using layers, we isolate KVM's trusted computing base into a small core such that only the core needs to be verified to ensure KVM's security guarantees. Using layers, we model hardware features at different levels of abstraction tailored to each layer of software. Lower hypervisor layers that configure and control hardware are verified using a novel machine model that includes multiprocessor memory management hardware such as multi-level shared page tables, tagged TLBs, and a coherent cache hierarchy with cache bypass support. Higher hypervisor layers that build on the lower layers are then verified using a more abstract and simplified model, taking advantage of layer encapsulation to reduce proof burden. Furthermore, layers provide modularity to reduce verification effort across multiple implementation versions. We have retrofitted and verified multiple versions of KVM on Arm multiprocessor hardware, proving the correctness of the implementations and that they contain no vulnerabilities that can affect KVM's security guarantees. Our work is the first machine-checked proof for a commodity hypervisor using multiprocessor memory management hardware. SeKVM requires only modest KVM modifications and incurs only modest performance overhead versus unmodified KVM on real application workloads.


Rapid advances of IT have encouraged many software startups to enter the market place. Our research seeks to investigate the little-studied phenomenon of software startup survival. The research is based on the resource-based view and on dynamic capabilities. We present a research model that investigates factors affecting software startup survival by examining how startups survive in their competitive environment. First, we categorize the resources of software startups into three areas based on socio-technical theory. Specifically, we view entrepreneurial resources as influencing both IT innovation and environmental resources. Second, we view dynamic capabilities as mediating the relationship between interactions among resources and software startup survival. Finally, we investigate the effect of competitive actions in moderating the relationship between dynamic capabilities and software startup survival. Our research seeks to contribute to extant research by proposing the first empirical study of which we are aware that addresses factors influencing software startup survival.


Due to the high bandwidth of light, optical fibers are being used extensively in data communication systems, and more recently have found applications in sensors capable of monitoring environmental changes such as stress, displacement, temperature, and chemical concentrations. An active region consisting of a Fabry–Perot cavity inside a nonlinear polymer optical fiber, called a Mesoscopic Photomechanical Unit (MPU), has been studied that has applications in both sensing and vibration isolation. These devices consist of a PMMA core doped with DR1 organic dye. It has been shown that the length of these MPUs has a series of stable states, the stability of which is dependent on the intensity of guided light inside the fiber. Preliminary data show that a vibration sensor incorporating an MPU as its sensing element has the advantage of having an intensity‐dependent response. This effect could be used to include all‐optical logic within the device, making external electronics unnecessary. [Research supported by ...


Since 2000, overt resistance to democratization in Serbia has been rare. However, illiberal actors and networks have persisted within the formal framework of democracy itself; coopting formal institutions to their own particularist interests and adapting to the constraints and opportunities of electoral competition. Though rooted in domestic political culture, this process can only be understood as part of a dynamic interaction with international policy. The project of liberal democracy in Serbia has thus become transnational; both underpinned and undermined by the actions and policies of external actors.  Serbia has become a country where political contention is vigorous, but illiberal forces have shown an ability to adapt to the new conditions.


The paper presents the literature review on judicial decision making process and focuses particularly on sentencing decisions. The first paragraph has been devoted to legal directives that should inform the judge decisions about the decision weight of particular perpetrator/offence features in sentencing. Whatsoever the system of sentencing is immensely complicated even for judges: the definitions of the above mentioned directives seem to be fundamentally contentious and it remains obscure how much weight is and should be given to each of them. This situation makes different judges give different sentences for the same offence. Furthermore, the judicial practice reveals some turns-out-to-be aggravating factors that should never be taken into consideration in sentencing. Thus, in the same paragraph, the authors present methods which may help to identify the true factors and their weight in sentencing process. In the second paragraph the authors discuss the influence of judges' cognitive dispositions (deeply rooted in psychophysics as well in heuristic reasoning) on sentencing decisions. The roles of Weber's law and anchoring heuristic have been highlighted. Finally a discussion follows on the influence of dispositions rooted in Prospect Theory on parties' propensity toward reaching a compromise even before the trial.


This paper considers whether the COVID-19 pandemic, the governmental responses thereto, and actions taken by companies in connection with both of these constitute a "Material Adverse Effect" (MAE) under a typical MAE clause in a public company merger agreement. Although in any particular case everything will depend on the exact effects suffered by the company and the precise wording of the MAE clause, this paper concludes that, under a typical MAE clause, given the current tremendous contraction in economic activity, most companies will have suffered a material adverse effect as such term in used in the base definition of most MAE clauses. The question thus becomes whether the risks of a pandemic or of governmental responses thereto have been shifted to the acquirer under exceptions to the base definition. This paper considers some of the difficult causal questions that would arise in answering this question, including the relation of actions taken by the company to remain solvent while suffering the effects of COVID-19 and governmental lockdown orders, and concludes that, in some instances, a company will have suffered an MAE even if the MAE clause contains exceptions for pandemics, changes in law, or both.


Graphene coated gold nanoparticles (GGNPs) have attracted great attention in recent years because of their high thermal stability and unique optical properties. In this paper, we study photothermal properties of GGNPs using the Mie and Gans theories combined with the Pennes bioheat equation. The effect of various sizes and different shapes of GGNPs such as nanosphere, nanorod and nanodisc are taken into account. The extinction efficiency and temperature distribution in tumor tissue show that graphene coated gold nanorods, because of the high temperature rise during laser irradiation, are more suitable candidates for photothermal therapy (PTT) applications. Also, we show that the extinction peak of graphene coated gold nanorods can be adjusted in the biological windows by increasing the graphene shell thickness and/or by changing their aspect ratio. Finally, we investigated the effect of the number of graphene layers upon the temperature rise in the tumor and found that the temperature rise increases with increasing number of graphene layers. Our findings introduce a new class of nanoagents which can be used in PTT applications.


Recent studies of M31, the Galactic Centre (GC), and galaxy clusters have made tentative detections of an X-ray line at similar to 3.5 keV that could be produced by decaying dark matter. We use high-resolution simulations of the Aquarius project to predict the likely amplitude of the X-ray decay flux observed in the GC relative to that observed in M31, and also of the GC relative to other parts of the Milky Way halo and to dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We show that the reported detections from M31 and the GC are compatible with each other, and with upper limits arising from high galactic latitude observations, and imply a decay time tau similar to 10(28) s. We argue that this interpretation can be tested with deep observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies: in 95 per cent of our mock observations, a 1.3 Ms pointed observation of Draco with XMM-Newton will enable us to discover or rule out at the 3 sigma level an X-ray feature from dark matter decay at 3.5 keV, for decay times tau < 0.8 x 10(28) s.


Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concepts of Health and Illness is a unique exhibition on view at Newman Library from September 16, 2016 through October 25, 2016. Event details


The history of opiate treatment in the United Kingdom (UK) since the early 1980s is a rich source of learning about the benefits and pitfalls of drug treatment policy. We present five possible lessons to be learnt about how factors outside the clinic, including government, charities and researchers can influence treatment and outcomes. First, do not let a crisis go to waste. The philosophical shift from abstinence to harm reduction in the 1980s, in response to an HIVoutbreak in injecting users, facilitated expansion in addiction services and made a harm reduction approach more acceptable. Second, studies of drug-related deaths can lead to advances in care. By elucidating the pattern of mortality, and designing interventions to address the causes, researchers have improved patient safety in certain contexts, though significant investment in Scotland has not arrested rising mortality. Third, collection of longitudinal data and its use to inform clinical guidelines, as pursued from the mid-1990s, can form an enduring evidence base and shape policy, sometimes in unintended ways. Fourth, beware of the presentation of harm reduction and recovery as in conflict. At the least, this reduces patient choice, and at worst, it has caused some services to be redesigned in a manner that jeopardises patient safety. Fifth, the relationship between the third and state sectors must be carefully nurtured. In the UK, early collaboration has been replaced by competition, driven by changes in funding, to the detriment of service provision.


Scribner's American History and Culture on CD-ROM, Release 1.0. New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1998. Price: $650 (ISBN: Windows 0-684-80584-7; Mac 0-684-80614-2). Unlimited networking w/in a single building; WAN price negotiable. Requirements: (Windows) IBM PC 486 or higher; Windows 3.1 or 95; CD-ROM drive; 16 MB RAM; VGA color monitor. (Mac) Mac 68040 (Power PC recommended); Mac OS 7.X (Mac OS 8.X recommended); 32 MB RAM; 40 MB free hard disk space; 8X CD-ROM drive (16X CD-ROM drive recommended). Scribner's American History and Culture on CD-ROM contains the full text of the following Scribner's publications: Dictionary of American History (1976) and its two-volume supplement (1996), The Presidents: A Reference History (1996), and the Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993, with 1998 updates). The product also contains the eleven hundred biographies in supplements nine and ten of the Dictionary of American Biography. A total of approximately eight thousand articles are on the disc. The titles listed above form the basic navigation device of the disc. Users can select one of the products and then navigate via an alphabetical or chronological list (as appropriate). A useful "Timeline" feature organizes nearly all the disc's contents in chronological order. A sophisticated full-text search tool allows access by keyword (with Boolean, phrase, and various limiting functions) to any article in the text. The "Photo Gallery" allows the user to browse chronologically through all images on the disc. The "Research Topic" section that presents twelve categories ("Causes of the Civil War," "Civil Rights," "Entertainment and Recreation," "Scandals," "Business," etc.) with appropriate links to the disc's contents will interest the high school student or lower-level undergraduate. This quick summary of articles on the selected topic will help with those last minute term-paper questions. The ease of cutting and pasting whole sections of text also will be a temptation during late nights at the computer. The inclusion of supplements nine and ten only of the Dictionary of American Biography leads to certain incongruities. For example, one may read an extensive article about minor film actress Pier Angeli but find no entry for Henry Ford. In the cases of the other publications, supplements and updates to the original publications are included. New article, s are added, but the old articles are not updated except in selected instances. A potentially useful feature, "Selected Historical Documents," suffers from the inclusion of truncated documents and the occasional typo (in the first line of the Gettysburg Address! …


Perforates are used for noise control in automotive mufflers and aircraft engine liners as well as for other vehicles and machines. Their acoustic properties and noise reduction are known to depend on the mean flow field and other parameters such as temperature and acoustic excitation level. It is therefore of interest to understand how the properties of perforates varies with the level of acoustic excitation. This paper gives an overview of high level nonlinear effects on the acoustic properties of perforates. It includes semiempirical models as well as experimental studies. Methods for studying nonlinear effects and harmonic interaction effects, for perforates, using single tone excitation and Poly-harmonic distortion models or nonlinear scattering matrices are discussed. These techniques typically require measurements with a number of different acoustic loads. It would be more attractive to directly be able to extract the nonlinear acoustic properties from a more limited set of experiments using either random or periodic excitation. Multi input – single output techniques for nonlinear system identification using broadband random excitation has been tried with limited success. One reason is the mixing of the sound pressure signal incident from the acoustic source with the sound pressure transferred to higher frequencies by nonlinear effects at the perforate sample. The present paper includes an attempt to combine band-limited broadband excitation with Poly-harmonic distortion models or nonlinear scattering matrices describing the nonlinear transfer of energy to higher frequencies.


This study aims to untangle the role of risk propensity as a predictor of self-employment entry and self-employment survival. More specifically, it examines whether the potentially positive effect of risk propensity on the decision to become self-employed turns curvilinear when it comes to the survival of the business. Building on a longitudinal sample of 4,973 individuals from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we used event history analyses to evaluate the influence of risk propensity on self-employment over a 7-year time period. Results indicated that whereas high levels of risk propensity positively predicted the decision to become self-employed, the relationship between risk propensity and self-employment survival followed an inverted U-shaped curve.


Biliary tract cancer occurs frequently in patients with pancreaticobiliary maljunction (PBM), although no details of its clinicopathological characteristics have been reported. Here we describe a case of bile duct (BD) cancer that developed in association with PBM. This BD cancer involved the common channel, extended to the main pancreatic duct (MPD) via the common channel, and invaded the pancreatic parenchyma, where its growth and spread, and features of its recurrence, were similar to those of ductal carcinoma of the pancreas. We assumed that MPD extension of BD cancer via the common channel was the reason for its deep spread to the pancreas, since BD cancer usually spreads along the BD and rarely reaches the common channel of the ampulla of Vater. During the follow‐up of patients with PBM, attention should be paid to involvement of the common channel by BD cancer and also to cancer developing silently in the pancreas after extrahepatic BD resection.


Petri nets are widely used in modeling, analysis, and control of discrete event systems arising from manufacturing, transportation, computer and communication networks, and web service systems. However, Petri net models for practical systems can be very large, making it difficult to apply such models to real-life problems. System Modeling and Control with Resource-Oriented Petri Nets introduces a new resource-oriented Petri net (ROPN) model that was developed by the authors. Not only does it successfully reduce model size, but it also offers improvements that facilitate effective modeling, analysis, and control of automated and reconfigurable manufacturing systems. Presenting the latest research in this novel approach, this cutting-edge volume provides proven theories and methodologies for implementing cost and time-saving improvements to contemporary manufacturing systems. It provides effective tools for deadlock avoidancedeadlock-free routing and deadlock-free scheduling. The authors supply simple and complex industrial manufacturing system examples to illustrate time-tested concepts, theories, and approaches for solving real-life application problems. Written in a clear and concise manner, the text covers applications to automated and reconfigurable manufacturing systems, automated guided vehicle (AGV) systems, semiconductor manufacturing systems, and flexible assembly systems. Explaining complex concepts in a manner that is easy to understand, the authors provide the understanding and tools needed for more effective modeling, analysis, performance evaluation, control, and scheduling of engineering processes that will lead to more flexible and efficient manufacturing systems.


Handling Editor: Shawn Leroux Abstract 1. Tropical rainforests are populated by large frugivores that feed upon fruit-producing woody species, yet their role in regulating the cycle of globally important biogeochemical elements such as nitrogen is still unknown. This is particularly relevant because tropical forests play a prominent role in the nitrogen cycle and are becoming rapidly defaunated. Furthermore, frugivory is not considered in current plant-large herbivore-nutrient cycling frameworks exclusively focused on grazers and browsers. 2. Here we used a long-term replicated paired control-exclusion experiment in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, where peccaries and tapirs are the largest native frugivores, to examine the impact of large ground-dwelling frugivores on modulating soil nitrogen cycling, considering their effects across a gradient of abundance of a hyper-dominant palm. 3. We found that both large frugivores and dominant palms play a substantial role in modulating ammonium availability and nitrification rates. Large frugivores increased ammonium by 95%, which also increased additively with palm abundance. Nitrification rates increased with palm abundance in the presence of large frugivores, but not on exclosure plots. Large frugivores also stimulated the regulation of the functions of soil-nitrifying microorganisms, and modulated the landscapescale variance in nitrogen availability. Such joint effects of large frugivores and palms are consistent with the notion of 'fruiting lawns'. 4. Our study indicates that frugivory plays a pivotal role in zoogeochemistry in tropical forests by regulating and structuring the nitrogen cycle, urging to accommodate frugivory in plant-large herbivore-nutrient cycling frameworks. It also indicates that defaunation, deforestation and illegal palm and timber harvesting seriously affect nitrogen cycling in tropical forests, that play a prominent role in the global cycle of this nutrient.


The 3'-5' riboexonuclease Rrp6p, a nuclear component of the exosome, functions with other exosome components to produce the mature 3' ends of 5.8S rRNA, sno- and snRNAs, and to destroy improperly processed precursor (pre)-rRNAs and pre-mRNAs. Rrp6p is a member of the RNase D family of riboexonucleases and displays a high degree of homology with the active site of the deoxyriboexonuclease domain of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I, the crystal structure of which indicates a two-metal ion mechanism for phosphodiester bond hydrolysis. Mutation of each of the conserved residues predicted to coordinate metal ions in the active site of Rrp6p abolished activity of the enzyme in vitro and in vivo. Complete loss of Rrp6p activity caused by the Y361F and Y361A mutations supports the critical role proposed for the phenolic hydroxyl of Tyr361 in the reaction mechanism. Rrp6p also contains an helicase RNase D C-terminal (HRDC) domain of unknown function that is similar to domains in the Werner's and Bloom's Syndrome proteins. A point mutation in this domain results in Rrp6p that localizes to the nucleus, but fails to efficiently process the 3' ends of 5.8S pre-rRNA and some pre-snoRNAs. In contrast, this mutant retains the ability to degrade rRNA processing intermediates and 3'-extended, poly(A)+ snoRNAs. These findings indicate the potential for independent control of the processing and degradation functions of Rrp6p.