The reversible inhibition of three ripening-related processes by high-temperature treatment (38[deg]C) was examined in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv Daniella) fruit. Ethylene production, color development, and softening were inhibited during heating and recovered afterward, whether recovery took place at 20[deg]C or fruit were first held at chilling temperature (2[deg]C) after heating and then placed at 20[deg]C. Ethylene production and color development proceeded normally in heated fruit after 14 d of chilling, whereas the unheated fruit had delayed ethylene production and uneven color development. Levels of mRNA for 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase, phytoene synthase, and polygalacturonase decreased dramatically during the heat treatment but recovered afterward, whereas the mRNA for HSP17 increased during the high-temperature treatment and then decreased when fruit were removed from heat. As monitored by western blots, the HSP17 protein disappeared from fruit tissue after 3 d at 20[deg]C but remained when fruit were held at 2[deg]C. The persistence of heat-shock proteins at low temperature may be relevant to the protection against chilling injury provided by the heat treatment. Protein levels of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase and polygalacturonase also did not closely follow the changes in their respective mRNAs. This implied both differences in relative stability and turnover rates of mRNA compared to protein and nontranslation of the message that accumulated in low temperature. The results suggest that high temperature inhibits ripening by inhibiting the accumulation of ripening-related mRNAs. Ripening processes that depend on continuous protein synthesis including ethylene production, lycopene accumulation, and cell-wall dissolution are thereby diminished.


SAGIN provides great strength in extending the capability of ground wireless networks. On the other hand, with rich spectrum and computing resources, ground networks can also assist spaceair networks in accomplishing resource-intensive or power-hungry missions, enhancing the capability and sustainability of the space-air networks. Therefore, bidirectional mission offloading can make full use of the advantages of SAGIN and benefits both space-air and ground networks. In this article, we identify the key role of network reconfiguration in coordinating heterogeneous resources in SAGIN, and study how network functions virtualization (NFV) and service function chaining (SFC) enable agile mission offloading. A case study validates the performance gain brought by bidirectional mission offloading. Future research issues are outlooked as the bidirectional mission offloading framework opens a new trail in releasing the full potential of SAGIN.


The qipao ceased to be worn for everyday occasions afer the 1950s in the PRC and the late 1960s in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. But it has powerfully re-emerged in the last few years. This is puzzling considering the swiftness and broad scale of the re-emergence, and the qipao's recent history of being marginalized. Are the political and cultural elites responsible and what motivated them? Besides political and cultural nationalism, are there other reasons that have led a large number of people to resume wearing the qipao? This study finds that the state did not play a significant role in the qipao's re-emergence, that cultural producers and celebrities contributed much to it, and that the symbolic meanings of the modern historical qipao have been repackaged and now cater to a variety of consumers for very different reasons.


— Grinding is usually the last finishing operation to be completed on the work piece and hence any deviations in quality such as geometrical errors and surface finish cannot be passed onto the next operation. Grinding is classified as a machining process that removes material from the work piece using similar principles to that of milling or turning. However, instead of having the one large cutting edge, there are numerous small cutting edges by way of grits on the grinding wheel surface, with all of them working together at extremely high speeds. One of the main problems in grinding is the growing vibration (Chatter) between wheel and work piece during the process. Many studies and tests have been made in order to detect and avoid this dynamic phenomenon which affects a number of parameters including wheel wear and work piece quality. However, a possible method to prevent this type of chatter is to apply a periodic disengagement of the wheel from the work piece and periodic variation of the work speed. This paper present a review of vibration assisted grinding. A development a controller for single axis vibration in grinding technology is reveal. A system calibration and experiment result including the forces, Power, grinding Coefficient, specific removal arte and specific energy software based control system is illustrated together with some results.


Nervous systems coordinate effectors across the body during movements. We know little about the cellular-level structure of synaptic circuits for such body-wide control. Here we describe the whole-body synaptic connectome and cell-type complement of a three-segmented larva of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. We reconstructed and annotated over 1,500 neurons and 6,500 non-neuronal cells in a whole-body serial electron microscopy dataset. The differentiated cells fall into 180 neuronal and 90 non-neuronal cell types. We analyse the modular network architecture of the entire nervous system and describe polysynaptic pathways from 428 sensory neurons to four effector systems – ciliated cells, glands, pigment cells and muscles. The complete somatic musculature and its innervation will be described in a companion paper. We also investigated intersegmental differences in cell-type complement, descending and ascending pathways, and mechanosensory and peptidergic circuits. Our work provides the basis for understanding whole-body coordination in annelids.


This paper explores the problem of feedback coding for a channel whose output is simultaneously used for two purposes: it is decoded to establish reliable communication, and it is used to control a dynamical system. In general, there is a tradeoff between the rate of communication and the accuracy of control. An intuitive communication and control strategy is analyzed and shown to be optimal in several cases of interest. Using methods from stochastic control, a corresponding upper bound is derived on the rate for a given cost, and this bound can be applied to find the capacity for an interesting class of channels. Under certain regularity conditions, the capacity has a simple characterization, and a series of examples is provided to demonstrate how it can be calculated.


Purpose This study was initiated to identify causal mutations responsible for autosomal recessive congenital cataracts in consanguineous familial cases. Methods Affected individuals underwent a detailed ophthalmological and clinical examination, and slit-lamp photographs were ascertained for affected individuals who have not yet been operated for the removal of the cataractous lens. Blood samples were obtained, and genomic DNA was extracted from white blood cells. A genome-wide scan was completed with short tandem repeat (STR) markers, and the logarithm of odds (LOD) scores were calculated. Protein coding exons of CRYAB were sequenced, bi-directionally. Evolutionary conservation was investigated by aligning CRYAB orthologues, and the expression of Cryab in embryonic and postnatal mice lens was investigated with TaqMan probe. Results The clinical and ophthalmological examinations suggested that all affected individuals had nuclear cataracts. Genome-wide linkage analysis suggested a potential region on chromosome 11q23 harboring CRYAB. DNA sequencing identified a missense variation: c.34C>T (p.R12C) in CRYAB that segregated with the disease phenotype in the family. Subsequent interrogation of our entire cohort of familial cases identified a second familial case localized to chromosome 11q23 harboring a c.31C>T (p.R11C) mutation. In silico analyses suggested that the mutations identified in familial cases, p.R11C and p.R12C will not be tolerated by the three-dimensional structure of CRYAB. Real-time PCR analysis identified the expression of Cryab in mouse lens as early as embryonic day 15 (E15) that increased significantly until postnatal day 6 (P6) with steady level of expression thereafter. Conclusion Here, we report two novel missense mutations, p.R11C and p.R12C, in CRYAB associated with autosomal recessive congenital nuclear cataracts.


The effect of aspirin, ibuprofen, and nimesulide the three nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs on cell growth of MCF-7 human malignant breast tumour cells was investigated. The results demonstrated that the drugs exerteda preferential cytotoxic effect on actively proliferating cells but to different extents. The Inhibitory effect of aspirin i.e. acetyl salicylic acid was around two to four times more pronounced than those produced by the Ibuprofen and nimesulide. The IC 5 0 obtained with aspirin was 5 μg/ml whereas those of ibuprofen and nimesulide were 13.5 μg/ml and 28 μg/ml respectively. Further the inhibitory effects were dose and time dependent. These effect of acetyl salicylic acid appeared to arise from a clear antiproliferative shift towards a reduced percentage of cells at the S and G 2 /M phases, together with an Increased percentage of cells at the G 1 phase. Aspirin could be more effective on MCF-7 than K-562 erythroleukemic cells and also as an inclusion compound with the advantage of oral administration and a greater bioavailability of the compound. Using the Chick chorioallantoic membrane model, the aspirin loaded pellets release sufficient acetyl salicylic acid to produce vascular regression and inhibition of angiogenesis.


Abstract Although the sex ratios of many groups conform to Fisher's (1930) prediction that parents should invest equally in daughters and sons, a number of taxa are characterized by excesses of one gender. A variety of mechanisms may lead to sex ratio biases, but in organisms that reproduce clonally as well as sexually, gender differences in the rate of cloning could drive the development of sex‐ratio biases. In this study, I demonstrate that males of the clonal brittle star Ophiactis savignyi were significantly more likely to divide than females and that the magnitude of this difference was sufficient to explain the consistent and significant excess of males in natural populations. Females were significantly more likely to lose sexual reproductive capabilities following division, and this greater cost associated with division may explain why females are less likely to divide. Gender differences in mortality rates are unlikely to explain the excess of males in this species. Because of their potential influence on the operational sex ratio, gender differences in division rates may have important ecological and evolutionary implications including effects on the direction and strength of selection.


bear it very well, and no trouble of digestion is occasioned; on the contrary, it is a valuable remedy in some forms of gastric catarrh. Moreover, other disinfectant gargles (prepared with carbolic and salicylic acids) fot the oral and pharyngeal cavities, were adopted in this and in the other cases. Against the fever, I administered salicylate of soda, and in one of the later cases, salicylic acid. Benzoate of soda was given in doses from a drachm and a half to three drachms daily. I have not seen any disagreeable effects follow its administration. Some of the patients who had received ten-grain doses three or four times daily as a prophylactic, observed that it improved their appetite, and that they became stronger under its use. They thought, therefore, that it acted as a tonic.


Scientists test new drugs by giving them to volunteers. In spite of every precaution, the drug may harm the volunteer. Under Canadian law, can he recover damages against any of the persons connected with the test? He cannot succeed against the scientist if the latter had made complete disclosure of the risks and had then obtained the volunteer's free consent. Where the subject of a test is a child or one of unsound mind, the guardian's consent probably does not protect the scientist from a possible claim by the subject. Where a married woman is a volunteer, her husband's consent is unnecessary. The volunteer cannot succeed against his family physician who referred him to the scientist unless the physician took an active part in an experiment that was conducted negligently or without a proper consent. The volunteer cannot succeed against the maker unless he has negligently prepared the drug or given misleading information.


As the rate of obesity and type-2 diabetes is constantly increasing, there is a need to develop new therapeutic approaches with better effects and lower side effects at lower prices. The use of traditional foods with beneficial health properties could be a solution. Lupin, a legume rich in proteins, exerts a hypoglycemic effects and positively modifies proteins involved in glucose homeostasis, in both animals and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effects of lupin flour supplementation on glucose homeostasis using an in vivo model. The condition of insulin resistance (IR) was induced by diet containing corn oil (4%). Ten-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were given ad libitum access to a corn bean meal diet for 9 weeks (CD) or a cornbean meal diet enriched with 2% lupine flour (LC). Food intake was evaluated daily and body weight was measured weekly. Intra-peritoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) was performed to assess the body's ability to metabolize glucose. Food was removed 15 h before the start of IPGTT, and mice body weights after food deprivation were used to calculate glucose doses. Blood glucose and plasma insulin concentrations were measured. The quantity of food ingested was similar between groups. At the 9 th week of treatment, the time-course of glucose clearance in both groups remained elevated for 120 min after glucose administration, indicating a glucose intolerance state. However, HOMA-IR was significantly lower (p=0.02) in LC than in CD group: the LC group showed significantly lower plasma insulin (2.09 ± 0.53 ng/mL) (p = 0.002) than the CD group (3.34 ± 0.56 ng/mL) while plasma glucose did not differ between groups (140 ± 24.9 mg/dL vs. 138 ± 35.5 mg/dL). These biological effects of lupine flour strengthen its promising potential as a new therapeutic agent of treatment for human insulin resistance conditions. Disclosure I. Terruzzi: None. F. Vacante: None. P. Senesi: None. A. Montesano: None. R. Codella: None. L. Luzi: Speaker9s Bureau; Self; A. Menarini Diagnostics, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company. Research Support; Self; Gelesis. Consultant; Self; McKinsey & Company. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Menarini Group, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.. Research Support; Self; Novartis AG. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Research Support; Self; Sunstar Foundation. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Smith & Nephew.


Background. Large-scale population-based seroprevalence studies of SARS-CoV-2 are essential to characterize the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and to extrapolate the prevalence of presumptive immunity at the population level. Objective. The objective of our survey was to estimate the cumulative population immunity for COVID-19 and to identify individual characteristics associated with positive serostatus. Materials and Methods. This was a clustered cross-sectional study conducted from July 12 to August 20, 2021, in households in the city of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. Information regarding demographic characteristics (age, gender, and place of residence), and comorbidities (chronic diseases) was collected. A venous blood sample was obtained from each participant to determine the level of total anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using a WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Ab ELISA kit. Results. All up, 799 participants were surveyed. The average age was 27 years, and 45.8% of the respondents were male (sex ratio: 0.8). The overall proportion of respondents with positive serostatus was 74.1%. Participants over 20 years of age were twice as likely to have positive serostatus, with an OR of 2.2 (95% CI: [1.6, 3.1]). Interpretation. The results of this survey revealed a high cumulative level of immunity in Bangui, thus indicating a significant degree of spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the population. The public health implications of this immunity to SARS-CoV-2 such as the post-vaccination total antibody kinetics remain to be determined.


SUMMARY
We report a rare case of a 30-year-old man, with Peutz-
Jeghers syndrome who was admitted to our clinic with
recurrent occlusion episodes of the small intestine and
underwent operations three times due to intestinal
intussusception. The enteroscopic visualization of multiple
sessile and peduncular polyps throughout the small
intestine was the reason why combined surgical and
endoscopic treatment was decided on to the remove the
hamartomatous polyps from the intestine. A review of the
relevant literature is cited.


Although internal conflicts are recurrent phenomena in the history of mankind, their regulation by international law has been very slow. The usual explanation of this state of affairs is that such events touch directly on the survival of established Governments or even the existence of the State itself.

States view with suspicion, fear and even hostility any attempt at the international level to regulate their conduct vis-`a-vis their local enemies.

They use the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention as a shield against any effective regulation of such tragic events by humanitarian law.

However, no serious attempt has been made by international lawyers to study the issue of the influence of those two principles on the development of humanitarian law applicable in internal conflicts.

This study tries to establish with exactitude how and where sovereignty and non-intervention have been resorted to, in order to hinder such regulation, and how other considerations (especially the concept of human rights) have opened the way to such regulation.

In this respect the study, after clarifying in the first two chapters the meaning, the limitations and the place in the practice of states of the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention, has concentrated on their influence on three main issues raised by internal conflicts, namely:

1. The definition of internal conflicts. In this sphere, the question of the criteria or thresholds of internal conflicts to which humanitarian law is to be applied and the question of which authority has the power to decide the existence of an internal conflict, are dealt with in the context of customary law, common Article 3 and Protocol II of 1977. It is asserted that the claims of sovereignty and non-intervention have been used extensively to restrict any real progress in this area.

2. The protection of the victims of internal wars. In this important area the study tries to trace the development of specific legal norms for the protection of the victims and to determine whether the concept of human rights has contributed in any way to better protection of those victims.

3. Compliance and implementation of humanitarian law in internal conflicts. In this context, it is established beyond any doubt that the claims of sovereignty and non-intervention have been used extensively, both in 1949 and also 1974-1977 to stop all attempts to institute measures for the control of application of humanitarian law, especially those measures which would involve third party supervision. However, it is asserted that human rights machinery may be used to fill this loophole as the UN practice shows.


Forming. Shifting. Shaping. The envelope of one's physiological body extends outwards in multiple shells, layer by layer. The versions of this envelope exist in the interstitial moment between clothing and architecture; ever forming and being
formed, they shift and shape the circulation and happenings of the body on one side and the world on the other. The study of garments lends architecture recognition of various visible and invisible forces that create space and envelope. When space becomes dress, body specificity and movement is emphasized, and the geometries of the physiological body and what it means to experience space as an individual becomes primary, achieving a qualitative, sensory experience extending from the powers of kinaesthetic sense. Oscillating between scales and acts of making, model experimentation invents new ways to conceive and create architecture — a soft architecture finds itself operating here: on the liminal edge of body, envelope, and space


Abstract. Over the past decades, range managers have devoted extensive efforts to conserve and restore rangelands and sustain their exploitation but these efforts are more focused on the classic sciences and the exploiters' knowledge and experience have been neglected in the process. Therefore, current study was done to deal with the prioritizing and comparing factors affecting rangeland exploitation based on four criteria involving the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to determine the degree of consistency and difference between the experts and pastorals' viewpoints. To assess the factors affecting rangeland exploitation, SWOT analysis was used. Factors identified using the questionnaire set based on Likert spectrum items and AHP analysis were prioritized and compared by the pastorals and experts. Results of comparing the factors' prioritization showed that three factors including the lack of coordination and trust between experts and pastorals, existence of feudalism in husbandry system, opportunities for revenue expansion from livestock production had the same prioritization from the experts and pastorals' viewpoints. Also, comparisons of weighted mean differences revealed that the factors' regional rangeland potential for forage species planting of strength criteria, salt affected and swampy rangelands with weakness criteria, greater use of the expertized capacity and specialized knowledge and opportunities for revenue expansion from livestock production in the opportunity criteria and dual ownership of the rangelands by pastorals and government in the threat criteria had the highest weighted mean differences. So, it can be inferred that there is a vast gap between pastorals and experts' viewpoints in prioritizing the factors affecting the rangeland exploitation. Results emphasized the importance of pastorals and local communities' knowledge and experience in the rangeland management and their exploitation improvement.


The goal of this study was to identify areas in which an influenza immunization campaign for seniors, sponsored by a health maintenance organization (HMO), could be improved. This study was conducted at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (GHC), serving approximately 470,000 enrollees in Washington State. A survey was administered to two groups of seniors drawn at random--those who received influenza vaccine and those who did not, during the fall and winter of 1991. Immunization rates were almost 75 percent for "well" seniors and 85 percent for "chronically ill" seniors. Bivariant analysis showed that two activities of the influenza campaign were associated with vaccine compliance: a provider-generated recruitment letter and exposure to an immunization article in the enrollee newsletter. Using a broader framework for predicting vaccine compliance, logistic regression showed that vaccine compliance was associated positively with previous immunizations and belief that "my doctor wants me to get a shot," and negatively with fear of adverse reaction and belief that the vaccine is ineffective. There were few suggestions for improving the immunization program, among both vaccinated and unvaccinated enrollees. Approximately two-thirds of unvaccinated enrollees said there was nothing GHC could do to convince them to be vaccinated. These findings suggest high vaccine compliance and satisfaction with an HMO-sponsored influenza campaign. Strategies and potential to further increase vaccination rates are discussed.


Experiment research on the air flow rate measurement using tracer gas method in a 300mm internal diameter and 90° elbow duct are presented, which CO and air are selected as tracer gas and gas stream. Results show that the relative errors between the flow rate measured by tracer gas method and turbine flowmeter are varied in the range of -2.15%~1.69% when the injection point is upstream of the elbow on 7D~13D (D is the internal diameter of the duct), and the sampling point is downstream of the elbow on 10D~14D. The further distances of the injection point and sampling point are apart, the less relative errors of the gas flow rate measured by tracer gas method and turbine flowmeter are made. The injection flow rate of tracer gas should be matched with the gas flow rate in the duct. It is a simple and effective method that gas flowmeter online calibration with tracer gas method on the large diameter industrial gas pipeline transportation.


what not a few people consider an unworkable and inherently invidious and corrupting system. This is because there can never be objectivity about it. There can be degrees of objectivity, but the fact is that this money is subtracted out of the total pool available to the whole hospital consultant side of the profession; it also affects their retirement salaries and so on. Therefore to give the chosen their extra amounts of money in fact involves it coming out of a pool which is available for the whole profession. A scrutiny of the tables of distribution seems to show that those in the most power on these committees and historically strongest find it right to issue the largest proportion of awards to their specialties. This is not surprising and no doubt is felt with the strongest justification to be right. This whole matter of attributing distinction is extremely difficult. Of course some people are better than others, but the selection of the favoured may often be determined by personal acquaintance, lobbying, and advertising. On the other hand should people already doing very well with private practice and so on have these extra sums artificially added on at others' expense ? The fact of the matter is that in a society that is still to some extent free those consultants who do good work become well known and their private practice increases. This is as it should be and is a genuine reflection of people's feelings about results achieved. It is fair as opposed to the system of committees distributing these moneys. Naturally they will tend to distribute these to people they know well and consider excellent. There may be others who do not publicise themselves who may be doing just as good work. The system is never going to work fairly for all these reasons and it breeds corruption in the sense of self-pushing in at least a few cases and all that goes with any system of awards by privileged courts. It breeds division in the hospital side of the profession which their general practitioner brothers have not had to put up with. In my view the general practitioners have had a nobler sense of what is right and proper even though those with the drive to power had to forgo the power to distribute money and prestige to chosen colleagues. Although one realises that it makes one highly unpopular with the establishment, I feel that one has a duty to the future health of medicine in the UK to continue to attack a system that one feels is squalid; and not for base reasons. HARRY JACOBS


Thomas Tweed introduces this photo-reprint of the 1817 fourth edition of Hannah Adams' pioneering harbinger of the scholarly study of religion. The book surveys the diversity of religion, mostly of historical and contemporary Christian sects and movements but with significant inclusions of Jewish, Muslim and &dquo;heathen&dquo; religious groups, so far as information was available to her. While she relies on secondary sources, including other compendia, her particular contribution was the self-conscious effort to treat all religious groups on the same level and to avoid explicit or implicit judgments. She preferred to use self-descriptions where she had them. It is this non-normative approach that gives the book its historical value.


1. The erythrocyte factor in the blood sedimentation phenomenon is not influenced by changes in size or shape of the erythrocytes unless the surface is altered by a hemolytic agent. 2. The erythrocyte factor varies considerably in health and disease. It is depleted when blood is stored under refrigeration. 3. Egg lecithin emulsions and particles of cinnabar covered with lecithin are flocculated by gelatin solutions. The phenomenon is similar to the formation of rouleaux in gelatin solutions. 4. An attempt to explain rouleau formation as a flocculation reaction between plasma proteins and the lecitho-protein surface of the erythrocyte is made.


This article explores the possible causal pathways through which neighborhoods might affect health and then reviews the existing evidence. Although methodological issues make the literature inconclusive, the authors offer a provisional hypothesis for how neighborhoods shape health outcomes. They hypothesize that neighborhoods may primarily influence health in two ways: first, through relatively short-term influences on behaviors, attitudes, and health-care utilization, thereby affecting health conditions that are most immediately responsive to such influences; and second, through a longer-term process of "weathering," whereby the accumulated stress, lower environmental quality, and limited resources of poorer communities, experienced over many years, erodes the health of residents in ways that make them more vulnerable to mortality from any given disease. Finally, drawing on the more extensive research that has been done exploring the effects of neighborhoods on education and employment, the authors suggest several directions for future research.


Drugs and personal care products that are excreted from or washed off the body naturally end up in the sewage that flows into sewer systems and septic tanks, but where do they go from there? Scientists are beginning to monitor the extent of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in the aquatic environment and their consequences. What they're finding is that, through leaching from septic tanks and escaping intact through sewage treatment processes, some of these substances are ending up back in the drinking water. Germany has been at the forefront of PPCP monitoring. Studies conducted there during the past 10 years confirmed the presence of PPCPs in treated and untreated sewage e f f l u e n t , surface water, groundwater, and drinking water. Most commonly found were anti-inflammatory and pain-killing drugs, cholesterol-lowering drugs, anti-convulsants, and sex hormones from oral contraceptives. Samples from 40 German rivers and streams turned up residues of 31 different PPCPs, according to a report presented at the March 2000 American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco, California, by Thomas Ternes, a chemist at the Institute for Water Research and Water Technology in Wiesbaden. Researchers worldwide have discovered more than 60 different PPCPs in water sources, according to Christian Daughton, chief of the Environmental Chemistry Branch of the U.grances such as synthetic musks. Most PPCPs are detected at concentrations ranging from parts per trillion to parts per billion , and originate in treated and untreated sewage, says Daughton, who coauthored an article on PPCPs in the December 1999 issue of EHP Supplements. North American researchers are just beginning to look at the issue of PPCPs. Studies presented at the June 2000 Emerging Issues Conference sponsored by the National Ground Water Association, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, indicate that the problem exists here, too. For example , environmental scientist Chris Metcalfe of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, detected the drugs aspirin, ibupro-fen, indomethacin, bezafibrate (a cholesterol regulator), and carbamazepine (an anticon-vulsant) in 10 pre-and post-treatment samples from sewage treatment plants in eastern Canada. The sewage treatment process in place removed some drugs that were easily biodegradable or more amenable to removal by activated charcoal, degradative microbes, or sand filtration , but others were resistant to degradation. Metcalfe is just beginning to analyze the effects of cholesterol-lowering drugs, estrogens, and anti-convulsants on fish in the Great Lakes. All three drug types can potentially interfere with normal …


Maize is a major staple food crop in southern Africa and stress tolerant improved varieties have the potential to increase productivity, enhance livelihoods and reduce food insecurity. This study uses big data in refining the geospatial targeting of new drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Results indicate that more than 1.0 million hectares (Mha) of maize in the study countries is exposed to a seasonal drought frequency exceeding 20% while an additional 1.6 Mha experience a drought occurrence of 10–20%. Spatial modeling indicates that new DT varieties could give a yield advantage of 5–40% over the commercial check variety across drought environments while crop management and input costs are kept equal. Results indicate a huge potential for DT maize seed production and marketing in the study countries. The study demonstrates how big data and analytical tools enhance the targeting and uptake of new agricultural technologies for boosting rural livelihoods, agribusiness development and food security in developing countries.


Abstract Even when bilinguals learn both languages from birth and achieve high levels of proficiency, they rarely use their languages to the same degree. Recent findings suggest that individual differences in bilingual profile such as the usage of the bilingual's different languages could affect the way they retrieve and analyse linguistic information, with greater use of linguistic mechanisms from the dominant language. One of the linguistic areas where a wide variety of bilingual performance has been reported is morphosyntax. The present study tests whether language usage can account for a certain amount of the individual variability in morphosyntactic feature extraction. Basque-Spanish simultaneous bilinguals with a range of language dominance profiles were asked to judge the grammatical gender of Spanish nouns the ending of which could provide a reliable cue to gender (i. e., transparent) or not (i. e., opaque). Results showed that the more bilinguals used Basque (i. e., an agglutinative language) on a daily basis, the faster they were at detecting the presence of transparent morphemes relative to opaque nouns. These findings suggest that simultaneous bilinguals have different ways of retrieving grammatical gender depending on their language profile. Language usage can contribute to explaining the presence of individual differences in morphosyntactic feature retrieval.


Language-based programming environments provide some or all of the functionality of a compiler, an interactive debugger, a browser, and a configuration manager behind a unified user interface based on an editing paradigm. As the user edits a program, the changes are processed incrementally, allowing for low-latency updates to derived information. This information can be made available to interactive environment services, such as browsing, navigation, and "real time" error-reporting.
In this dissertation, we address an important subproblem in the construction of such environments, the generation of static semantic analyzers that operate in an incremental mode. Our work is embodied in the Colander II system, which introduces both a new metalanguage for the declarative specification of static semantic analyses and new techniques for generating an incremental analyzer from these specifications automatically.
Our specification metalanguage melds the advantages of traditional attribute grammars, including amenability to extensive generation-time analysis, with the expressiveness and client-independence characteristic of Ballance's Logical Constraint Grammars. In comparison to traditional attribute grammars, our metalanguage allows much more of the incrementality inherent in a particular analysis task to be exposed within the formalism itself, where it can be exploited automatically by our implementation.
Our incremental analysis algorithms exploit the attributed objects and function-valued attributes provided by our metalanguage, mapping these expressive notations onto a fine-grained incremental implementation. We are thus able to automatically generate incremental analyzers that handle long-distance dependencies and aggregate attributes efficiently. Our methods allow unusual freedom to control the granularity of incremental evaluation, allowing performance tradeoffs to be chosen as demanded by the needs of the application rather than as dictated by the a priori requirements of the algorithms.
We have also developed a static analysis and transformation on attribute grammars that accommodates a useful class of circular attribute dependencies, automating the "backpatching" method used in hand-coded compilers. The transformation is employed in Colander II, but is applicable to attribute grammars in general.
We have used the Colander II system to create a static semantic analyzer for the programming language Modula-2, which has revealed both strengths and weakness in our specification paradigm. Interestingly, the most significant difficulty that we encountered applies equally to traditional attribute grammars, but has not been widely appreciated in the attribute grammar literature.
Our work was performed in the context of the Ensemble project at UC Berkeley, which is constructing a prototype integrated multilingual language-based software development environment based on the editing of structured multimedia documents.


This PhD research project builds on thirteen years of enquiries as an academic practitioner, developing/critiquing interactive audio-visuals. This approach interweaves theory and practice so that both build on each other. It responds to the need for principles that inter-relate people, digital technologies and environments. The concept of "responsive environments" (RE) is offered as a starting point for the development of
principles focusing on people within these environments. A responsive environment is "responsive" in the sense that some form of computer technologies are present and sensing/recording/reacting to people, and an "environment" in the sense that these activities are located in a place and that that place matters in terms of setting the scene, housing the technology and providing a context for the users/visitors. Common
themes were extracted from the literature review to draw together previous and, for the most part, separate attempts at theory/practice relating to RE. These themes were complemented by research into contemporaneous activities in the areas of Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and Locative Media to provided enhancements to the development of three practice projects. These enhancements together with the incorporation of Moore and Anderson's concepts of "patient", "actor", "reciprocator" and "referee" as roles available to those encountering REs led to specific research questions regarding roles, positions, opportunities for repurposing content, learning experiences, the use of sound, visuals and presence, and the assessment of values represented in and through a responsive environment. In each case these questions shift the emphasis of the research towards the experiencing of REs and what they enable rather than the technologies used only. The use of Schwartz and Halegoua's concept of the "spatial self" further focuses attention of the value in connecting digital expression with real spaces through an RE. This has led to a proposed conceptual framework and principles of practice that can be
applied in the area of study of RE to nurture opportunities for participants and protagonists. The latter term is proposed as a means of acknowledging opportunities to make content/concepts in an RE as well as obtain and use them by participation. These opportunities are supported by both synchronous and asynchronous interactions through
digital layers using online social media platforms. These platforms enable the archiving of content in a digital layer and/or possibilities for continued social interaction through a digital social layer in relation to the responsive environment. The incorporation of synchronous and asynchronous interactions through digital layers is a major contribution
to the concept of REs. A further contribution is the use of the pioneering work of Gordon Pask in both the practice and theory of cybernetics as informing the concept of REs. Pask provided a formulation that expressed how content/concepts could be produced through relationships between people, computers and environments. This approach has been
mirrored in other disciplines thus giving additional credence to its value. This discovery provides the impetus for further research, by academic practitioners and others, in this developing area of study.


Social technology is quickly becoming a vital tool in our personal, educational, and professional lives. However, while social networking helps the world stay connected, its use must be further examined in order to determine any possible pitfalls associated with the use of this technology.

Implications of Social Media Use in Personal and Professional Settings investigates the paradoxical nature of social networking in our personal lives and in the workplace. Highlighting emergent research and psychological impacts, this publication is an indispensable reference source for academics, researchers, and professionals interested in the application of social media, as well as the positive aspects and detrimental effects of the usage of these technologies.


Reliable information on the starting and ending of growing season as well as its length will greatly assist in appropriate planning for rainfed agriculture farming practices. The objective of this study is to determine the start, end and length of growing season, based on dependable rainfall during wet (20%), normal (50%) and dry (80%) years, which were retrieved from historical rainfall records analysis of seven stations in Gedarif state for the period 1985 to 2014. The seven studied stations were categorized into two groups according to the total seasonal rainfall. During wet years, Group I had about 900 mm/year and Group II about 700-790 mm/year. In normal years, Group I had about 660-700 mm/year and Group II had 515-570 mm/year. During dry years, Group I had 490-550 mm/year and Group II had 350-425 mm/year. The results showed consistent trend of starting dates of the growing seasons; regardless of the high seasonal variability and variation in amount and distribution of rainfall among the stations and seasons. Similar results were obtained using the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) for three different years representing different probability levels (2013, dry; 2000, Normal; 2007, wet). Groups I and II in normal and wet years had 70 to 90% of the total annual rainfall during the growing season. In dry years, Group I had 70 to 80% of the total rainfall during the growing season, while Group II had only 50 to 65%. The two groups have indicated different seasonal characteristics (start of growth season, end of growth season and length of growth season) in the dry, normal and wet years. Length of the growth season increases with early start of the season and in wetter years.

 Key words: Season start, season end, sowing date, dry season, normal season, wet season.


In this study of Rosa canina L. (Rosehip) species naturally occurring in Turkey, the importance of forestry and public health were examined. The plant diversity of our country is largely within the borders of the forest ecosystem. Forest ecosystems cover 28.6% of the country's land area of 78 million hectares. A species of distribution model studies is with demonstrated potential for spreading Rosa canina's Turkey's forests. Accordingly, the ecological valence of a very large Rosehip, Turkey was determined that spread in all the forest.
Rosa canina is of great importance in terms of economic, ecological and social aspects. Fruits  is  that contain ascorbic acid, flavonoids, dimethyl sulfide, protein, tannin, Na, K, P, Mn, Mg, vitamins C, A, B, K, P, flavon, malic acid, pectin, stronelol, etc. The core contains vanillin. In public are known that berries are known to be used blood-calming, strengthening, whooping cough, colds, cough and painkiller, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, prevent gastritis and ulcers, against diabetes, leaves are known to be used against constipation and malaria. The fruit is dried and tea is used. Flowers and berries are used in the production of jam, syrup, marmalade and liquor. According to the results of in vitro and in vivo studies; antimicrobial, antioxidant, antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory agents are reported. There is also information about the use of a kind of drug used in the treatment of rabies in the past. The medical importance of Rosa canina is confirmed in pharmacopoeias of different countries. With these features, it is the most easily accessible medicinal plant in rural areas in terms of public health. Rosa canina that is one of the most important non-wood forest products is on sustainability of forest ecosystems and biodiversity conservation, is conservation in forest areas is of great importance.


Multidrug resistance in Chinese hamster ovary cells is associated with the Mr 170,000 surface glycoprotein. Using our monoclonal antibody to this protein, we have isolated a complementary DNA clone from an expression vector library. This complementary DNA recognizes a 4.5-kilobase mRNA in drug-resistant but not-sensitive Chinese hamster ovary cells; it also recognizes a 5.0-kilobase mRNA in our Adriamycin-resistant subline of the MDA-231 human breast cancer cell line which is not expressed in the drug-sensitive parent line. Southern blot analysis shows that the P-glycoprotein sequences are greatly amplified in resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells but not in the resistant human breast cancer cells, indicating that amplification and expression of the Mr 170,000 P-glycoprotein gene are not necessarily coordinate events. Amplification of this gene may not be required for multidrug resistance in human cells.


Claudins regulate paracellular permeability, contribute to epithelial polarization and are dysregulated during inflammation and carcinogenesis. Variants of the claudin-binding domain of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (cCPE) are highly sensitive protein ligands for generic detection of a broad spectrum of claudins. Here, we investigated the preferential binding of YFP- or GST-cCPE fusion proteins to non-junctional claudin molecules. Plate reader assays, flow cytometry and microscopy were used to assess the binding of YFP- or GST-cCPE to non-junctional claudins in multiple in vitro and ex vivo models of human and rat gastrointestinal epithelia and to monitor formation of a tight junction barrier. Furthermore, YFP-cCPE was used to probe expression, polar localization and dysregulation of claudins in patient-derived organoids generated from gastric dysplasia and gastric cancer. Live-cell imaging and immunocytochemistry revealed cell polarity and presence of tight junctions in glandular organoids (originating from intestinal-type gastric cancer and gastric dysplasia) and, in contrast, a disrupted diffusion barrier for granular organoids (originating from discohesive tumor areas). In sum, we report the use of cCPE fusion proteins as molecular probes to specifically and efficiently detect claudin expression, localization and tight junction dysregulation in cell lines, tissue explants and patient-derived organoids of the gastrointestinal tract.


When presented with Out-of-Distribution (OOD) examples, deep neural networks yield confident, incorrect predictions. Detecting OOD examples is challenging, and the potential risks are high. In this paper, we propose to detect OOD examples by identifying inconsistencies between activity patterns and class predicted. We find that characterizing activity patterns by Gram matrices and identifying anomalies in gram matrix values can yield high OOD detection rates. We identify anomalies in the gram matrices by simply comparing each value with its respective range observed over the training data. Unlike many approaches, this can be used with any pre-trained softmax classifier and does not require access to OOD data for fine-tuning hyperparameters, nor does it require OOD access for inferring parameters. The method is applicable across a variety of architectures and vision datasets and, for the important and surprisingly hard task of detecting far-from-distribution out-of-distribution examples, it generally performs better than or equal to state-of-the-art OOD detection methods (including those that do assume access to OOD examples).


The origin of the enormous catalytic power of enzymes has been extensively studied through experimental and computational approaches. Although precise mechanisms are still subject to much debate, enzymes are thought to catalyze reactions by stabilizing transition states (TSs) or destabilizing ground states (GSs). By exploring the catalysis of various types of enzyme–substrate noncovalent interactions, we found that catalysis by TS stabilization and the catalysis by GS destabilization share common features by reducing the free energy barriers (ΔG‡s) of reactions, but are different in attaining the requirement for ΔG‡ reduction. Irrespective of whether enzymes catalyze reactions by TS stabilization or GS destabilization, they reduce ΔG‡s by enhancing the charge densities of catalytic atoms that experience a reduction in charge density between GSs and TSs. Notably, in TS stabilization, the charge density of catalytic atoms is enhanced prior to enzyme–substrate binding; whereas in GS destabilization, the charge density of catalytic atoms is enhanced during the enzyme–substrate binding. Results show that TS stabilization and GS destabilization are not contradictory to each other and are consistent in reducing the ΔG‡s of reactions. The full mechanism of enzyme catalysis includes the mechanism of reducing ΔG‡ and the mechanism of enhancing atomic charge densities. Our findings may help resolve the debate between TS stabilization and GS destabilization and assist our understanding of catalysis and the design of artificial enzymes.


The emergence of constitutional review in France has attracted substantial attention from scholars of public law. Yet little has been written about the political implications of the expansion of rights-based review on the part of France's highest administrative jurisdiction, the Conseil d'Etat. The argument is made in this article that repeat litigation by French lawyers defending the cause of immigrants is an important site for observing the symbolic power of legal forms. The analysis focuses on cases challenging immigration-related administrative regulations and shows how the process of repeatedly adjudicating these issues has focused attention away from litigants and their claims at the same time that it has reinforced the centrality of the Conseil d'Etat and its formalist jurisprudence in administrative governance. This detailed examination of the practical operation of France's highest administrative jurisdiction leads to the surprising conclusion that this distinctly nonadversarial form of adjudication has contributed over the long term to institutionalizing a juridification of immigration-related administrative policy making.


The ability of cells to adapt to environmental stresses undergoes a progressive reduction during aging. NF-κB-mediated signaling is a major defensive system against various environmental challenges. The aim of this study was to find out whether replicative senescence affects the response of the NF-κB signaling pathway to UVB light in human WI-38 and IMR-90 fibroblasts. The exposure of early passage fibroblasts to UVB light inhibited the proliferation and induced a flat phenotype similar to that observed in replicatively senescent fibroblasts not exposed to UVB light. The UVB radiation dose used (153 mJ/cm2) did not induce apoptosis in either early or late passage WI-38 fibroblasts. UVB exposure induced a prominent activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway both in early and in late passage WI-38 and IMR-90 fibroblasts. Interestingly, the response to UVB light was significantly attenuated in late passage fibroblasts. This attenuation was most prominent in DNA binding activities of nuclear NF-κB complexes. Similar senescence-related attenuation was also observed in the DNA binding activities of nuclear AP-1 and Sp-1 factors after UVB treatment. Immunoblotting and -cytochemistry showed an increase in nuclear localization of p50 and p65 components of NF-κB complexes. Supershift experiments showed that the specific NF-κB complexes contain p50 and p65 protein components but not p52 and c-Rel proteins. Cytoplasmic IκBα showed a marked decrease at protein level but an increase in phosphorylation after UVB treatment. Transient transfection assays with TK5-CAT and TK10-CAT plasmids carrying NF-κB-responsive sites of the TNFα promoter were used to analyze the functional activity of the NF-κB complexes. Results showed that UVB exposure induced an increase in NF-κB-driven CAT expression both in early and in late passage fibroblasts though the response was significantly stronger in early passage fibroblasts. Our results show that the induction of NF-κB-mediated signaling by UVB light is highly attenuated in senescent fibroblasts. This attenuation may reduce the stress resistance during cellular senescence.


The transfer of spleen cells from (C3H x C57Bl/6) F1 mice, capable of responding to (T,G)-A--L, into irradiated C3H parental recipients, normally incapable of responding to (T,G)-A--L, transfers the ability to make either a primary or secondary immune response to this synthetic polypeptide antigen. This localizes the genetic control of the ability to respond to the spleen cell population and indicates that the genetic control is exerted upon a process directly related to antibody formation. Studies with congenic strains of mice and linkage studies in segregating backcross populations show that the ability to respond to (T,G)-A--L and (H,G)-A--L is linked to the H-2 locus and can thus be localized to the IXth mouse linkage group. Note Added in Proof: Of the three possible recombinant animals noted in Tables IV and V, two were infertile. The third animal was not a recombinant, since progeny testing and reimmunization showed that this animal was an H-2 2/H-2 k heterozygote capable of responding well to (T,G)-A--L.


Among many strategies for financial trading, pairs trading has played an important role in practical and academic frameworks. Loosely speaking, it involves a statistical arbitrage tool for identifying and exploiting the inefficiencies of two long-term, related financial assets. When a significant deviation from this equilibrium is observed, a profit might result. In this paper, we propose a pairs trading strategy entirely based on linear state space models designed for modelling the spread formed with a pair of assets. Once an adequate state space model for the spread is estimated, we use the Kalman filter to calculate conditional probabilities that the spread will return to its long-term mean. The strategy is activated upon large values of these conditional probabilities: the spread is bought or sold accordingly. Two applications with real data from the US and Brazilian markets are offered, and even though they probably rely on limited evidence, they already indicate that a very basic portfolio consisting of a sole spread outperforms some of the main market benchmarks.


Across the panorama of education throughout the world, the phenomenon of private lessons is joined to an increase in mass schooling and educating towards distinctive qualities so as to gain a place on an increasingly competitive labour market. Countries are examined in which private lessons are quite widespread and appeal to the expectations of success by children born into middle and upper-middle class families.In Cyprus and in Greece, excessive private lessons encroach on the monthly family income. It is taken for granted that the work done in school is insufficient to learn enough. The school seems not to be able to assure the level of excellence and the success of the entrance examination.The private lessons are functioning as process of inclusion in the society of knowledge insofar as they are providing the necessary competences to deal with the academic achievement. Moreover, the private lessons have the result of providing children with intellectual and instrumental tools useful to exercise the active citizenship. We discuss the contradiction between the concept of democracy which should give consistency to the public school system and the concept of private tuition which means failure to pursue the target of equal opportunity for all in the state educational system.A kind of double schooling with an education, parallel to official standard, is emerging also in Italy where families are slowly moving towards the Cypriot and Greek model of private lessons at home.Problematic discussion consider the critical situation of school as context in which on principle all students can find good conditions of learning and in practice many students are unsatisfied with the teaching methods.


SUMMARY: This study examines Big N auditors' client risk management strategy in response to the risk of upward (i.e., income-increasing) earnings management in the post-SOX era. Specifically, we empirically study the relation between clients' signed discretionary accruals and subsequent audit pricing and auditor resignation decisions. We find that audit fees and resignations are positively associated with the risk of upward earnings management. We document a pecking order of auditor responses and find that auditors are more likely to respond in the order of charging higher abnormal audit fees if the trade-off between upward earnings management risk and return is within an acceptable level, and then resign if the risk is more severe and exceeds the auditors' tolerance level. Our results are robust to alternative accruals measures, controlling for clients' internal control quality and corporate governance characteristics.


A nation-wide Rh prevention programme was started in Finland in 1969. Before that, a control series of approximately 1000 Rh-negative mothers giving birth to an Rh-positive child was collected to estimate the number of mothers with antibodies at either three, six, or nine months post partum. During the three-and-a-half year period altogether 14,980 Rh-negative patients were given 250 μg of anti-D immunoglobulin prepared from Finnish raw material in the Central Laboratory of the Dutch Red Cross. Out of those treated before the end of June 1972, 12,720 (97%) were tested four to six months post partum. Seventeen or 0·13% had detectable antibodies; in five of them the infant was ABO incompatible. The number of protected mothers with a subsequent Rh-positive infant was 1017; 10 had formed antibodies before the delivery of the second child. The risk of primary immunization initiated during a single pregnancy was estimated to be 0·35%. In addition, there was approximately a 0·60% risk of forming antibodies by the next Rh-positive pregnancy. The effect of prevention on the prevalence of haemolytic disease was calculated and compared with observed figures.


Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a promising large-scale, renewable power generation and energy storage technology, yet limited by the material properties of the heat transfer fluid. Current CSP plants use molten salts, which degrade above 600°C and freeze below 220°C. A dry, particle-based heat transfer fluid (pHTF) can operate up to and above 1,000°C, enabling high-efficiency power cycles, which may enhance CSP's commercial competitiveness. Demonstration of the flow and heat-transfer performance of the pHTF in a scalable process is thereby critical to assess the feasibility for this technology.
 In this study, we report on a first-of-a-kind pilot system to evaluate heat transfer to/from a densely flowing pHTF. This process unit circulates the pHTF at flowrates up to 1 tonne/h. Thermal energy is transferred to the pHTF as it flows through an electrically heated pipe. A fluidization gas in the heated zone enhances the wall-to-pHTF heat transfer rate. We found that the introduction of gas mixtures with thermal conductivities 4.6 times greater than that of air led to a 65% increase in the heat transfer coefficient compared to fluidization by air alone. In addition to the fluidization gas, the particle size also plays a critical role in heat transfer performance. Particles with an average diameter of 270 μm contributed to heat transfer coefficients that were up to 25% greater than the performance of other particles of the same composition in size range of 65 to 350 μm. The considerations for the design of an on-sun system are also discussed. Moreover, the collective work demonstrates the promise of this unique design in solar applications.


We investigate the radiation characteristics of the Peano antenna, i.e., a single antenna made of a thin wire, patterned after a special type of space-filling curve known as the Peano curve. We use a moment-method-based simulation code to study various properties of this antenna, namely, the radiation pattern, impedance bandwidth, current distribution, cross-polarization level, radiation efficiency, and the feed location for achieving an electrically small matched antenna. As in the case of the Hilbert antenna, the radiation patterns of a Peano antenna resemble those of a linear dipole; however, this antenna has a lower cross-polarization level than the Hilbert antenna and, for a matched Peano antenna, the resonant frequency is lower than the same order matched Hilbert antenna at the expense of a smaller input-impedance bandwidth.


An immune pathophysiology for acquired aplastic anemia (AA) has been inferred from the responsiveness of the patients to immunosuppressive therapies and experimental laboratory data. To address the transcriptome of hematopoietic cells in AA, we undertook GeneChip analysis of the extremely limited numbers of progenitor and stem cells in the marrow of patients with this disease. We pooled total RNA from highly enriched bone marrow CD34 cells of 36 patients with newly diagnosed AA and 12 healthy volunteers for analysis on oligonucleotide chips. A large number of genes implicated in apoptosis and cell death showed markedly increased expression in AA CD34 cells, and negative proliferation control genes also had increased activity. Conversely, cell cycle progress–enhancing genes showed low expression in AA. Cytokine/ chemokine signal transducer genes, stress response genes, and defense/ immune response genes were up-regulated, as anticipated from other evidence of the heightened immune activity in AA patients' marrow. In summary, detailed genetic analysis of small numbers of hematopoietic progenitor cells is feasible even in marrow failure states where such cells are present in very small numbers. The gene expression profile of primary human CD34 hematopoietic stem cells from AA was consistent with a stressed, dying, and immunologically activated target cell population. Many of the genes showing differential expression in AA deserve further detailed analysis, including comparison with other marrow failure states and autoimmune disease. (Blood. 2004;103:325-332)


Amélie Nothomb's novels may be divided into two large categories, the semi-autobiographical and the purely fictive. In each of these two rubrics, her novels follow a similar plot structure in which each member of a couple torments the other to the point that one of the two cracks and ruptures the pair, usually through an act of violence, either real or imagined. In the two nonautobiographical novels to be considered in this article, Hygiène de l'assassin (1992) and Cosmétique de l'ennemi (2001), there is also, either in the foreground or background of the plot, a heterosexual couple that is violently broken up by the murder of the woman by the man. In two autobiographical novels written around the same time period, Le Sabotage amoureux (1993) and Stupeur et tremblements (1999), a homosexual pairing is eventually broken apart by the progressively more serious self-abasement by one of the two women. In each of these examples, violence is intimately associated with desire and pleasure. Because of the dual nature of this violence (inflicted in order to create pain and pleasure, against the self and other), this article aims to consider whether its representation in Nothomb's work reinforces or reinterprets gender stereotypes, taking as a theoretical basis Hélène Cixous 's understanding of desire in the "masculine" economy and Julie Kristeva's reading of the abject.


PD-L2, a newly identified member of B7 family, plays a role in down-regulating T cell responses. The common PD-L2 mRNA (type Ⅰ) is the splicing product containing all 6 exons. We report here the identification of two human PD-L2 splice variants in activated leukocytes. One splice variant (type Ⅱ) isgenerated through splicing out exon 3 encoding Ig constant-like domain; it retains all other regions without a frame shift. The other variant (type Ⅲ) is created by splicing out exon 3 to an alternative acceptor site 5bp downstream of the canonical acceptor site, leading to a frame shift. Consequently, the translated protein should be a soluble form. Furthermore, type Ⅰ isoform is expressed on the plasma surface whereas type Ⅱ isoform showed a pattern of intracellular membrane distribution in the transiently transfected K562 cells. In addition, the expression patterns of PD-L2 splice variants are variable in different individuals and distinctcellular status. These results suggest that PD-L2 expression may be controlled by posttranscriptional regulation through alternative splicing, and modulation of PD-L2 isoform expression may influence the outcome of immune response.


This study is to re-examine the language phenomenon which occurred in Japan. Japan had undergone a linguist phenomenon called Lou Go ('Lou language') between 2006 and 2007. Lou Go had been analysed its basic grammar rule and the use of vocabulary when it was in trend. However, the analysis was not linguistically studied and its implication was unknown. The objective of this study is to investigate Lou Go from linguistic perspectives and consider its implications. The research method of Lou Go 's characteristics was analysed using a Lou Go text and Katakana (English borrowing words) text both quantitatively and qualitatively. Two key findings were observed. The first was that the use of English borrowing words and relexification of the word class were different, although both Lou Go and Katakana texts seems to share similarities. The relexification of Katakana text used only pronouns or nouns while Lou Go text consisted of relexification of nouns, verbs and adjectives. The second finding was that Lou Go users were usually Japanese native speakers and they did conscious code-switching which means they intentionally chose to replace certain Japanese nouns, verbs and adjectives into English. From these results, it may be possible to conclude that Lou Go was not an extension of existing Katakana and that Lou Go was not an alternative name of foreigners' Japanese. Implication of Lou Go phenomenon is that its success may be due to a combination of globalisation and Japanese educational policy at the right time and the right place.


The in-beam dual head positron camera BASTEI (Beta+ Activity meaSurements at the Therapy with Energetic Ions) is used to monitor and control the applied dose distributions simultaneously to tumor irradiations with carbon ion beams at the experimental heavy ion therapy facility at GSI Darmstadt. Therefore, the PET system has been mounted directly at the treatment site. A fully 3D reconstruction algorithm based on the Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization algorithm has been developed and adapted to a spatially varying imaging situation. The scatter and attenuation correction is applied to the measured list mode data before each iterative step. This requires an attenuation map containing the information on the tissue composition and densities. This information is derived from the X-ray computed tomograms (CT) of the patient and the patient fixation system including the head rest. The scatter correction is included into the forward projection step of the Maximum Likelihood image reconstruction. The normalization of scattered events relative to the unscattered events is done by a global scatter fraction factor. The results are presented.


In the context of Dung's argumentation framework, we propose a general recursive schema for argumentation semantics, based on decomposition along the strongly connected components of the argumentation framework. We introduce the fundamental notion of SCC-recursiveness and show that all Dung's admissibility-based semantics are SCC-recursive, and therefore a special case of our schema. The space of SCC-recursive semantics provides a basis for the investigation of novel proposals: starting from the analysis of several examples where Dung's preferred semantics gives rise to counterintuitive results, we introduce four novel SCC-recursive semantics, able to overcome the limitations of preferred semantics, while differing in other respects. Among them, the CF 2 semantics, which more radically departs from the traditional notion of admissibil-ity, turns out to be the most satisfactory in all cases and, in particular, is able to correctly deal with the thorny problem of self-defeating arguments.


Many field studies have demonstrated that soil temperature explains most of the temporal variation in soil respiration (SR). However, there is increasing evidence to suggest that SR is also influenced by current, or recent, photosynthate. Accordingly, seasonal changes in SR nominally attributed to temperature may, in part, be due to seasonality in photosynthesis. Within a mixed coniferous–deciduous temperate forest, we measured SR and used the process model SECRETS to test whether seasonal changes in photosynthesis influence seasonal differences in SR. Measurements were made in six adjacent plots (from pure evergreen to pure deciduous) that exhibited a gradient in the seasonality of photosynthesis. Within all six plots, we found strong correlations between the basal rate of SR (BR; defined as the SR at 10°C) and modeled photosynthesis (i.e. gross primary productivity; GPP). Moreover, we observed larger seasonal changes in BR in those plots that exhibited larger seasonal changes in photosynthesis, as compared with plots with smaller changes in photosynthesis. This is relevant because estimates of the Q10 of SR (Q10 is the relative change in a process rate per temperature change of 10°C) typically assume a constant BR. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that differences in the apparent Q10 of SR (apparent Q10=Q10 derived from field measurements of SR and temperature) among studies may, in large part, be related to seasonal differences in photosynthesis. We suggest that variation in stand structure and species composition and, thus, in the photosynthetic signatures, induce different seasonal changes in BR via differences in the belowground supply of labile carbon. If these seasonal changes in BR are not properly accounted for, fitted apparent Q10 values may not express the temperature response of respiratory processes in the soil.


Recent investigations of the atmospheric transmittance in the 15- to 25-μm spectral region have produced experimental results of the absorption of the water vapor continuum. From these results it is evident that the excessive absorption of the water vapor (the water continuum) cannot be explained simply by the theoretical continuum model based on the modified impact theory and the Van Vleck-Huber model of line broadening. The measured continuum absorption has spectral features similar to those roughly predicted by the water dimer theory. A quantitative agreement between the experimental results and the prediction according to the dimer theory was found.


This article focuses on the presence of Latin American businesses in Elephant & Castle (E&C), a deprived area in the centre of London that is undergoing an ambitious program of urban redevelopment that will see the area developed into the new 'thriving quarter of Central London'. The purpose of this article is to uncover the circumstances under which Latin American retailers re-negotiate their place in E&C and to document and understand their involvement and engagement with the local government. The meaning of places, scales of locality and local identity are central to the argument that Elephant and Castle's location is an asset to the vision of London as a global city with desirable city dwelling near global financial and commercial districts. The article interrogates attempts to raise Elephant and Castle's position within the urban hierarchy of London and considers the impact of these changes for Latin American retailers.


Objectives: To assess youth perceptions of the causes and consequences of violence generally, the causes and consequences of fighting specifically, and to determine how best to approach fighting in the context of violence prevention activities. Methods: Thirteen structured focus group interviews with youths from three high violence urban settings: a large, urban high school, a training center for disadvantaged youths, and a school for adjudicated youths. Participants were 120 urban, predominately African-American youths and young adults ages 14–22 years (mean: 17.2 years). Seven focus groups were conducted with females, and six with males. Results: Adolescents identified the causes of violence on multiple levels including: individual, family, interpersonal, and community level factors. Most youths (89%) had been in a physical fight. Participants felt that fighting was not "right", but identified situations in which it was necessary. Specifically, fighting was used as a problem solving tool, and could prevent escalation of violence. Youths felt that the adults in their lives, including physicians, were generally ill equipped to give advice about violence, as adults' experiences were so removed from their own. Participants looked to experienced role models to offer problem solving and harm reduction strategies. Youths were open to receiving anticipatory guidance about violence and fighting from primary care physicians they felt comfortable with, and who showed respect for their experiences. Conclusions: Interventions that include blanket admonitions against fighting should be reassessed in light of youth perceptions that fighting plays a complex role in both inciting and preventing more serious violence.


We conducted a 13-year study to determine bird species richness and abundance in field edges maintained in conservation buffers and mowed field edges on two agricultural experiment stations in Mississippi. Both experiment stations were intensively managed for agricultural row crop and dairy production with field edges managed with frequent mowing and herbicide application. Habitat reclamation and management on 41 ha of field edges was initiated on each farm in 1988 and included selective spraying herbicides to control agronomic grasses, cessation of annual mowing, protec- tion from livestock access, and planting legumes and shrubs. We surveyed birds from 1 May through 15 June on permanently established, fixed-width transects in three conservation buffer and three mowed field edges adjacent to row crops on each experimental farm from 1989 through 2001. We de - tected 25 bird species on mowed field edges and 51 species on edges maintained in conservation buffers on both farms. Mean species richness and bird abundance were higher (P < 0.05) on conservation buffers than on mowed field edges on both farms. We attributed higher bird species richness and abundance in conservation buffers to a more diverse habitat structure and increased food plant availability created by native plant succession and shrub plantings. These results support the concept that creation and maintenance of conservation buffers in field edges along row crops can increase bird spe - cies richness and abundance on agricultural lands.


Semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off polarized He is studied in a non-relativistic framework, using a distorted spin-dependent spectral function for He to take care of the final state interaction between the observed pion and the remnant. A simple procedure is shown to be valuable for the extraction of Sivers and Collins asymmetries for the neutron from the corresponding asymmetries for He .To extend this study in a relativistic framework, a novel approach for a Poincaré covariant description of nuclear dynamics is presented, based on the light-front Hamiltonian dynamics. The key quantity is the light-front spectral function, where both normalization and momentum sum rule can be satisfied at the same time. Preliminary results are discussed for an initial analysis of the role of relativity in the EMC effect in He, and the generalization of the procedure for the extraction of neutron asymmetries within the light-front dynamics is outlined.


This article is about Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld's famous analysis of one of the most basic concepts used in law and in ethics: the concept of a right. Hohfeld urged that usages of the term "right" are ambiguous between two senses of the word: persons have rights to do things and rights to have things done for them. Although Hohfeld died 100 years ago, he remains today one of the world's most influential legal theorists, and his systematic analysis of the two concepts of a right remains importantly relevant today. This article seeks both to celebrate Hohfeld's achievement exactly a century after his death in October of 1918, and to inspire a new generation's interest in his work and in the issues that his work timelessly informs. The article thus: (1) systematically explicates the Hohfeldian analysis of rights, explicating both logical extensions of what Hohfeld himself wrote, as well as relations of the Hohfeldian system to the modern deontic logic not available to Hohfeld during his day; (2) defends the Hohfeldian analysis from two forms of criticism popular in the rights literature that have developed over the past century; and (3) critiques the Hohfeldian analysis by rejecting one of its most central tenets and replacing it with an alternative logic of rights that is not vulnerable to this critique. These three tasks correspond to the three major subdivisions of the article. The article concludes with a split verdict on Hohfeld: an acceptance of the Hohfeldian analysis of the rights we have to others doing things for us, and a partial rejection and replacement of the Hohfeldian analysis of the rights we have to do things.


Bioenergetics played critical roles for the chemical emergence of life where
available energy resources drove the generation of primitive polymers and
fueled early metabolism. Further, apart from information storage, the catalytic
roles of primitive nucleic acid fragments have also been argued to be important
for biopolymer evolution. Herein, we have demonstrated the non-equilibrium generation
of catalytic supramolecular polymers of a possible proto-RNA building block (melamine)
driven by a thermodynamically activated ester of low molecular weight. We
utilized reversible covalent linkage to install a catalytic imidazole moiety in
the polymer backbone. This resulted in energy dissipation via hydrolysis of the
substrate predominantly from the assembled state and subsequent disassembly,
thus installing kinetic asymmetry in the energy consumption cycle. Non-catalytic
analogues led to kinetically stable polymers while inactivated substrates were
unable to drive the polymerization. The non-equilibrium polymers of the pre-RNA
bases were capable to spatiotemporally bind to a model cofactor. Notably, presence
of an exogenous aromatic base augmented the stability of the polymers, reminiscent
to what the molecular midwives did during early evolution.


The elections of 2011 are over, and the new IEEE Power & Energy (PES) leadership is in place. At the beginning of each new two-year cycle, it is time to reflect on accomplishments, things that have been done right (or wrong), and goals for the times ahead. At the beginning of this new term for PES leadership, our membership is growing, our finances are solid, and our plans are ambitious. At the same time, the economic situation in the world is offering more uncertainty than at any point in the recent past (except for 2008). It is suggested that to protect, preserve, and grow the momentum of our development and quality of our benefits and services, we will need to continue to rely on a well-trained professional PES staff that has been instrumental in introducing and maintaining the ongoing programs, forward-looking volunteer leadership to formulate and inaugurate many new activities, and a widely disseminated network of enthusiastic volunteers worldwide to spread the benefits and services of PES across the globe.


We investigated the phylogeography of the closely related relict leopard frog Rana onca (=Lithobates onca) and lowland leopard frog Rana yavapaiensis (=Lithobates yavapaiensis) – two declining anurans from the warm-desert regions of south-western North America. We used sequence data from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to assess 276 individuals representing 30 sites from across current distributions. Our analysis supports a previously determined phylogenetic break between these taxa, and we found no admixing of R. onca and R. yavapaiensis haplotypes within our extensive sampling of sites. Our phylogeographic assessment, however, further divided R. yavapaiensis into two distinct mtDNA lineages, one representing populations across Arizona and northern Mexico and the other a newly discovered population within the western Grand Canyon, Arizona. Estimates of sequence evolution indicate a possible Early Pleistocene divergence of R. onca and R. yavapaiensis, followed by a Middle Pleistocene separation of the western Grand Canyon population of R. yavapaiensis from the main R. yavapaiensis clade. Phylogeographic and demographic analyses indicate population or range expansion for R. yavapaiensis within its core distribution that appears to predate the latest glacial maximum. Species distribution models under current and latest glacial climatic conditions suggest that R. onca and R. yavapaiensis may not have greatly shifted ranges.


List of Figures and Tables. Editora s Preface. Introduction and Acknowledgements. 1. Media and Language. 1.1. Why Study Media Language?. 1.2. Media Language Research and the disciplines. 1.3. Themes of the book. 2. Researching Media Language. 2.1. Universe and sample. 2.2. Whata s news: defining genres. 2.3. News outlets. 2.4. News outputs. 2.5. Pitfalls, shortcuts and the wrong way round. 2.6. The media react to research. 3. The Production of News Language. 3.1. Many hands make tight work. 3.2. Producer roles in news language. 3.3. The news assembly line. 3.4. Embedding in the news text. 4. Authoring and Editing the News Text. 4.1. Constructing the news text. 4.2. How news is edited. 4.3. Why edit?. 5. The Audience for Media Language. 5.1. Disjunction and isolation. 5.2. Multiple roles in the audience. 5.3. Audience embedding. 5.4. Communications as audience. 6. Stylina the News: Audience Design. 6.1. Style in language. 6.2. Style and audience status in the British press. 6.3. Audience design in New Zealand radio. 6.4. Editing copy for style. 7. Talking Strange: Referee Design in Media Language. 7.1. Taking the initiative. 7.2. The referees. 7.3. Television advertisements as referee design. 8. Telling Stories. 8.1. News stories and personal narratives. 8.2. News values. 8.3. News as stories. 8.4. The structure of news stories. 9. Makeup of the News Story. 9.1. The lead. 9.2. Headlines. 9.3. News stories and actors. 9.4. Time and place in the news. 9.5. Facts and figures. 9.6. Talking heads. 10. Telling It Like It Isna t. 10.1. Approaches to media miscommunication. 10.2. Misreporting: the climate case change. 10.3. Misediting international news. 11. (Mis)understanding the News. 11.1. Recall and comprehension. 11.2. The public misunderstand climate change. Notes. References. Index.


In this paper the ball burnishing as a finishing process for sculptured surfaces is studied. This technique is a quick, easy and economical process for a significant improvement of high-end parts. Aiming at the burnishing of complex parts, different strategies are possible. In this case two strategies are presented: continuous burnishing (CB) using 5-axis interpolation and patch burnishing (PB) using 3+2 axis interpolation. Two parts have been previously machined in five-axis and then finished using ball burnishing techniques. The first one is an AISI 1045 hemisphere and the second one is a DIN 1.2379 part (64 HRC). Surface quality has been evaluated for both strategies obtaining a significant improvement of surface roughness and hardness.


We have studied diastereomeric chiral interactions within sols, gels and xerogels of silicas and derivatized silicas (20% phenylated and 10% octadecylated silicas) doped with the chiral surfactant (−)-N-dodecyl-N-methylephedrinium bromide (DMB). Two spectral methods – new in the context of chiral sol–gel materials – have been used for that purpose. In the first method, we were able to detect the diastereomeric interactions between DMB and each of the pure enantiomers of co-doped 1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diyl hydrogenphosphate using 31P-NMR spectroscopy. In the second method, we were able to obtain an induced circular dichroism (ICD) signal from the achiral dye Congo Red co-doped with DMB. NMR and ICD are complementary in understanding the way in which the chiral surfactant creates chiral environments inside the sol–gel materials. In particular, we provide ICD evidence that the silica network itself becomes chiral due to the entrapment of the chiral surfactant.


Time series analysis for hydrological phenomena hasan important role in water resources engineering. In this study,seven models of ARIMA family are tested for forecasting themonthly discharge at Hit station on Euphrates river in Iraq. Thestatistical analyses were done for models with help of IBM SPSSstatistics 21 software, The number of observations used is equalto 480 reading, start from October 1932 and end at September1972, this period represents the near-natural stream flow of theriver before the construction of dams in Syria and Turkey.Statistical tests such as T-test and F-test were used to detect anychange in Mean and Variance at 95% significant probabilitylevel. Results showed that the best model is (2,0,1)×(0,1,1)12which gives a minimum error and good agreement betweenobserved and forecast discharge.


It is shown that in the SU(2) Yang Mills Higgs theory with broken gauge symmetry a flux tube solution filled with a color longitudinal electric field exists. The origin of the gauge symmetry breakdown for this case is discussed.


This report examines the complex relationship between cities, displacement and stranded migrants, taking as a focus the recent social, political and demographic transformations in North Africa. Specifically it considers the population displacements in and out of Libyan and Tunisian cities during this period, which left many already vulnerable migrants without protection and in a situation of de facto statelessness. This report recommends policy interventions at regional, national and municipal levels that are resilient in times of humanitarian crisis and beyond, given that the region and its cities have long been, and will continue to be, places where diverse flows of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees converge.


Two dozen leading tuberculosis (TB) clinicians and researchers have written to a leading TB charity to question the US's approval of the antibiotic pretomanid, which was hailed by trialists three months ago as a "watershed" moment.

In August the United States Food and Drug Administration approved pretomanid, the third new anti-TB drug in over 40 years.1 Pretomanid is used alongside bedaquiline and high dose linezolid in the "BPaL regimen," which is also called Nix-TB when this combination is used for six months.

Francesca Conradie, principal investigator of the trial that supported pretomanid's application, greeted the announcement by saying that treatment of TB would be measured as before and after pretomanid, much as "the annals of time are measured before and after Christ."2

Pretomanid was announced as a fast acting oral therapy that improved the success rates of removing drug resistant TB from the sputum of patients after six months from 34% to 89%, citing data submitted to the FDA from the Nix-TB trial.3

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), the not-for-profit innovator of the drug, said that it would haul medieval and toxic treatment of …


Deferasirox is an iron chelating drug of oral intake. It is main use is to decrease iron overload in patients who are receiving blood transfusions for a long time in conditions such as beta-thalassemia and other chronic anemias. This study was aimed to determine the benefit of the oral chelating agent (Deferasirox) and it is a side effect in thalassemia patients. Fifty patients with a provisional diagnosis of thalassemia major and transfusional iron in Aldiwaniya province /Iraq in the period (August 2015 –April 2017). Most of the patients were managed according to the own protocol with the target hemoglobin levels around 9.5-10.5 mg/dl before blood transfusion. Serum ferritin estimation was advised after at least ten packed red cell transfusions. The oral chelating was started to inform of deferasirox oral tablet in doses of 10 to 20 mg per kg per day if ferritin levels in serum reached > 1000 ng per ml and 20-40mg/kg if serum ferritin more than 1500ng/ml. Those patients were switched to deferasirox, as an oral chelating agent without used any other chelator. The patients were classified based on the age groups (less than and above 10 years) and according to gender. The average level of ferritin in the serum of these group at the initiation of the study was 2678.83 ng/ml before treatment and 2255.43ng/ml after deferasirox commenced. The study group recorded a good compliance in 70% and poor in 30%. Patients treated with deferasirox showed some gastrointestinal symptoms like abdominal cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea in 12% of cases and skin rash in 2% and increase in a liver enzyme in 4%. Deferasirox is well affordable with long-term treatment and the adverse effects are minimal with this medication; therefore optimum treatment is needed to produce the good clinical result and decrease or no adverse effects in a good acceptable dose; however the occurrence of therapy-related adverse effect decreases with time and the common therapeutic complications reported are related to gastrointestinal symptoms and skin rash in some patients and increase in liver enzyme .The availability of this therapy (oral iron chelators), like deferasirox, may take part to produce good satisfaction, especially among young child and school-age patients in which the compliance is a very big problem.
Keywords: Deferasirox; Ferritin; Oral chelating agent


learning of mathematics for educational development in Nigeria. This study adopted descriptive design of survey type. It involves 1000 secondary school teachers selected from the three senatorial districts in Ekiti State using purposive random sampling technique. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVAat 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the use of ICT significantly influence teaching and learning of Mathematics in secondary schools. There was significant influence of teachers' attitude on the use of ICT for teaching and learning of Mathematics. The use of ICT in teaching and learning of Mathematics was found in the study to improving educational development in Nigeria. It promotes and enhances independent and self-study, bridges the gap between teachers and students, globalised mathematical skills and knowledge thereby changed students' practices positively, helps the physically challenged to move freely to have access to the learning of mathematics and helps those in the remote area to have access to learning. It is therefore recommended that secondary school students should be provided and given access to one computer each during the teaching and learning of mathematics to enable them develop their full capacity and potential in the use of computer for learning, teachers and instructors of mathematics should be given or have access to computer and all other instructional media with proper orientation on how to use them for teaching and learning process.There should be regular training and re-training for Mathematics teachers in public schools on the use of computer so as to improve on their method of teaching the subject.


Stroke is the third largest cause of death after cardiovascular disease and cancer in industrial countries and a major factor in permanent disability. Acute stroke care requires rapid assessment, including patients 'medical history and accurate diagnostics: "time is brain". The putative advantages of telemedicine are improvements in the quality of stroke care and increased use of tPA, which is associated with better health outcomes. The objective of this report is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and treatment delivery reliability of telemedicine systems in acute stroke management. A secondary aim is to explore the feasibility and acceptability of telerehabilitation interventions in stroke management. Telestroke interventions can bring therapeutic benefits, which are currently mainly available in specialized stroke centers. Telemedicine associations were associated with an increased delivery of systemic tPA, which improved patients' health outcomes. Economic studies on telemedicine interventions in stroke management are lacking. Studies of higher methodological quality are needed to explore the potential cost-effectiveness of telemedicine technologies in stroke management. It is difficult to draw conclusions from the small sample of telerehabilitation studies included in this report. The few identified articles show promising results in terms of improving stroke patients' and/or caregivers' well-being. More research is necessary to determine the impact of telerehabilitation services. Several programs have been identified as being at the forefront of telestroke. The lack of standardized measuring and reporting of resources and health outcomes constrain comparisons between telestroke networks and the determination of best practices. More research is needed to accurately measure the clinical and economic impact of telemedicine technologies in stroke management to support policy makers in making informed decisions. Quality indicators for evaluation of telestroke projects are proposed.


The tongue is one of the few organs with high mobility in the case of severe spinal cord injuries. However, most tongue-machine interfaces (TMIs) require the patient to wear obtrusive and unhygienic devices in and around the mouth. This paper aims to develop a TMI based on the glossokinetic potentials (GKPs), i.e. the electrical signals generated by the tongue when it touches the buccal walls. Ten participants were recruited for this research. The GKP patterns were classified by convolutional neural network (CNN) and support vector machine (SVM). It was observed that the CNN outperformed the SVM in individual and average scores for both raw and preprocessed datasets, reaching an accuracy of 97~99%. The CNN-based GKP processing method makes it easy to build a natural, appealing and robust TMI for the paralyzed. Being the first attempt to process GKPs with the CNN, our research offers an alternative to the traditional brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which suffers from the instability and low signalto-noise ratio (SNR) of electroencephalography (EEG). Received: 11 April 2019 Accepted: 29 July 2019


Abstract Understanding the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies represents one of the most exciting frontiers in astronomy. Since the universe was filled with neutral hydrogen at early times, the most promising method for observing the epoch of the first stars is using the prominent 21-cm spectral line of the hydrogen atom. Current observational efforts are focused on the reionisation era (cosmic age t ~ 500 Myr), with earlier times considered much more challenging. However, the next frontier of even earlier galaxy formation (t ~ 200 Myr) is emerging as a promising observational target. This is made possible by a recently noticed effect of a significant relative velocity between the baryons and dark matter at early times. The velocity difference suppresses star formation, causing a unique form of early luminosity bias. The spatial variation of this suppression enhances large-scale clustering and produces a prominent cosmic web on 100 comoving Mpc scales in the 21-cm intensity distribution. This structure makes it much more feasible for radio astronomers to detect these early stars, and should drive a new focus on this era, which is rich with little-explored astrophysics.