Earthquake history shows that the Sunda subduction zone of the Indonesian margin produces great earthquakes offshore Sumatra, whereas earthquakes of comparable magnitude are lacking offshore Java and the Lesser Sunda islands. Morphological structures in multibeam bathymetric data across the forearc relate with the extent of the seismogenic zone. Its updip limit corresponds to the slope break, most distinct off Java and Lesser Sunda islands, where we find coincident narrow, uniform, continuous outer arc ridges. Their landward termination and a shallow upper plate mantle mark the downdip limit of the seismogenic zone. In contrast the outer arc ridges off Sumatra are wider and partly elevated above sea level forming the forearc islands. The downdip limit of the seismogenic zone coincides with a deeper upper plate mantle. Sunda Strait marks a transition zone between the Sumatra and Java margins. We find the differences along the Sunda margin, especially the wider extent of the seismogenic zone off Sumatra, producing larger earthquakes, to result from the interaction of different age and subduction direction of the oceanic plate. We attribute a major role to the sediment income and continental/oceanic upper plate nature of Sumatra/Java influencing the composition and deformation style along the forearc and subduction fault.


The recent outbreaks of widespread, drought-related forest and range fires in the Western United States have increased interest in reducing fire danger and damage. One possible approach that deserves serious assessment is the application of cloud seeding to convective clouds over the fire-prone areas. Such clouds may form naturally, especially over mountainous terrain, or may be produced or enhanced by the fires themselves. This note examines a September 1988 afternoon with fire-induced convective clouds as viewed with digital satellite data. It is recommended that similar studies be made of the entire 1988 fire season in the West to determine the frequency of clouds possibly suitable for seeding.


Transformative learning is a fundamental component of the higher education experience. Transformative educational experiences are those in which students are engaged in sustained and critically reflective discourse that challenges their own and others' assumptions and beliefs. The role of the educator is critical for designing and facilitating a learning environment that is conducive to for this type of critical thinking and learning to occur. In this literature review, I sought to investigate instructional strategies that could be used to promote critical and reflective thinking in asynchronous online discussions to inform future research and practice. The literature review was qualitative and systematic, and it was focused specifically on summarizing strategies that were effective in fully-online higher education contexts. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize the findings and conclusions from the various studies into recurrent themes and subthemes. The results of the analysis indicated that practitioners should employ a multi-step approach to facilitating critical thinking and reflection in AODs. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.


THE DEPARTMENT of obstetrics and gynecology of the University of Nebraska Hospital was organized in 1931. Since that date, 72 patients with carcinoma of the fundus uteri have been admitted to the service for study and therapy. Inasmuch as the university hospital is available only to those who are indigent, many of the patients were in the advanced stage of the disease process. Many were from areas which are some distance from the hospital. Follow-up therapy has been difficult in many instances because of the distance of travel involved and the expense of transportation. The method of therapy for each particular case has been varied or modified in relation to the general condition of the patient, the extent of the disease process and the type of radiotherapy available. The program of treatment of cancer of the body of the uterus with radium and high voltage roentgen irradiation in the Department of Radiology


This work introduces smart reader by using Raspberry Pi. The system consists of a camera interfaced with computer which receives the printed or hand written text. This work proposes the novel implementation of smart book reader with raspberry pi controller. The system consists of a webcam interfaced with raspberry pi which accepts a page of printed text. The experimental results are done with the help of raspberry pi controller. Controller coding for the Raspberry pi is done through PYTHON language. The audio output is obtained after the captured image is converted to text. The image captured by the camera is converted to text and displayed in the form window and then the text is obtained as audio output. Raspberry pi has the audio port where the output can be heard through the headphone or the speaker. Once the image is converted to text raspberry pi takes few milliseconds to convert it as a voice output. This system is validated with both simulation and experimental verification it achieves the text document is converted with speech for the use of visually impaired people.


We investigate the task of performance prediction for language models belonging to the exponential family. First, we attempt to empirically discover a formula for predicting test set cross-entropy for n-gram language models. We build models over varying domains, data set sizes, and n-gram orders, and perform linear regression to see whether we can model test set performance as a simple function of training set performance and various model statistics. Remarkably, we find a simple relationship that predicts test set performance with a correlation of 0.9997. We analyze why this relationship holds and show that it holds for other exponential language models as well, including class-based models and minimum discrimination information models. Finally, we discuss how this relationship can be applied to improve language model performance.


Introduction: Developing and promoting healthcare services that engage and empower people requires research to focus on areas of relevance to key stakeholders. To engage with key stakeholders, we conducted a research prioritisation process with people with diabetes, health professionals and policy makers to identify the most important topics to research in diabetes in Ireland. Key stakeholders identified low attendance at structured education for Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) as a priority area for research in Ireland. Despite evidence that structured education programmes can support self-care and improve clinical, lifestyle and psychosocial outcomes in T2DM, attendance rates in Ireland are low. The aim of this study was to address this proprity by exploring barriers and facilitators to attendance at T2DM structured education programmes in Ireland. Methods: People with T2DM who had attended, or been invited to attend, at one of the three structured education programmes (CODE, DESMOND and X-PERT) available in Ireland and educators from each of the programmes took part in semi-structured telephone interviews. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: 15 people with T2DM and 14 educators were interviewed. People with T2DM who attended programmes were overwhelmingly positive about their experience. Reasons for non-attendance included not knowing programmes were available, not appreciating the potential benefits, and not wanting to admit to the reality of diabetes. Analysis also identified innovations to increase attendance developed by educators in different areas, and the role of healthcare professionals in promoting structured education. Conclusions: People with T2DM see clear benefits of structured education after attending but need information and encouragement from their healthcare team to support attendance. Healthcare professionals have a key role in promoting structured education and empowering people to self-care. The innovative strategies developed by educators across the country to promote structured education could be better communicated and standardised nationally. Lessons learned: It is possible to engage a diverse group of stakeholders to identify targets for research. Engaging key stakeholders facilitated recruitment to this study as the topic developed from a need identified by stakeholders. We hope that engaging with people with diabetes, healthcare professionals and policy makers from the beginning of our programme of research will maximise the potential for the future translation of findings into practice. Limitations: Our interviews were conducted with people with diabetes who had attended at structured education programmes. Exploring reasons for non-attendance with people who had not attended is also important, but was not included in the current study. Suggestions for future research: The findings from this study will inform the development of an intervention to increase attendance at structured education programmes in Ireland.


Author(s): Comstock, Lindy B | Advisor(s): Schumann, John H | Abstract: Prosody and formulaic phrases are phenomena that bridge gradient and categorical classification. They carry systematic linguistic meaning, but may also act as a pragmatic resource. While linguistic meaning is invariant, pragmatic resources tolerate idiosyncratic use, through which speaker intent is revealed. My dissertation investigates how second language and heritage speakers bridge this distinction between gradient and categorical implementations of prosody and formulaic phrases, challenging studies that predict prosody is one of the most difficult skills for second language learners to acquire and problematizing the assumptions of speech accommodation within intercultural interactions.Speech accommodation and sociolinguistic theory predict that when speakers affiliate, they will mirror socially salient features of their interlocutor's speech in their own production. Yet a speaker's ability to accurately reproduce phonological phenomena may be linked to the critical period of language acquisition. Native-like articulation of prosody has been associated with age of acquisition, whereas the ability to learn lexical items continues to grow into adulthood. Thus, prosody and lexical items are theorized to differ in their degree of perceptual salience for late second language and heritage speakers. When attempting speech accommodation, the perceptual abilities of the two classes of speakers may render the former a preferred resource for heritage speakers, and the latter for late second language speakers. Political interviews often center around polarizing issues that evoke a display of stance through pragmatic cues. Therefore, this genre serves as an ideal setting for the study of intercultural speech accommodation. Russian-American political discourse shows how ready and able political actors may be to engage in accommodation, yet without a sound knowledge of linguistic systematicity in their second or heritage language, attempts at reproducing the linguistic strategies of a foreign interlocutor will ultimately fail to convey a similar meaning, generating repercussions for the effectiveness of their communication.This dissertation analyzes which linguistic phenomenon—prosody or formulaic phrases—are preferentially assimilated by Russian and American political actors when speaking their second or heritage language to a native audience. Case studies reveal a preference for prosodic accommodation among all subjects and support a disassociation between traditional measures of linguistic proficiency and the ability to reliably reproduce prosodic phenomena. Stressful interviews place greater cognitive demands on speakers and may differentially inhibit linguistic processing of prosodic and lexical phenomena.Utilizing a novel method for detecting speech accommodation, findings document cross-cultural speech accommodation patterns and discuss the theoretical and pedagogical implications for second language and heritage intonational phonology, second language acquisition, linguistic processing, and intercultural pragmatics.


Next generation lithium battery materials will require a fundamental shift from those based on intercalation to elements or compounds that alloy directly with lithium. Intermetallics, for instance, can electrochemically alloy to Li4.4M (M = Si, Ge, Sn, etc.), providing order‐of‐magnitude increases in energy density. Unlike the stable crystal structure of intercalation materials, intermetallic‐based electrodes undergo dramatic volume changes that rapidly degrade the performance of the battery. Here, the energy density of silicon is combined with the structural reversibility of an intercalation material using a silicon/metal‐silicide multilayer. In operando X‐ray reflectivity confirms the multilayer's structural reversibility during lithium insertion and extraction, despite an overall 3.3‐fold vertical expansion. The multilayer electrodes also show enhanced long‐term cyclability and rate capabilities relative to a comparable silicon thin film electrode. This intercalation behavior found by dimensionally constraining silicon's lithiation promises applicability to a wide range of conversion reactions.


An approximate method is presented for the calculation of the external lift, moment, and pressure drag of slender open-nose bodies of revolution of supersonic speeds. The lift, moment, and pressure drag of a typical ram-jet body shape are calculated at Mach numbers 1.45, 1.60, 1.75, and 3.00; and the lift and moment results are compared with available experimental data. The agreement of the calculated lift and moment data with the experimental data is excellent. The pressure-drag comparison was not presented because of the uncertainty of the amount of skin-friction drag present in the experimental results.


Observations of an unprecedented quality made by ALMA on the Red Rectangle of CO(3–2) and CO(6–5) emissions are analysed jointly with the aim of obtaining as simple as possible a description of the gas morphology and kinematics. Evidence is found for polar conical outflows and for a broad equatorial torus in rotation and expansion. Simple models of both are proposed. Comparing CO(6–5) and CO(3–2) emissions provides evidence for a strong temperature enhancement over the polar outflows. Continuum emission (dust) is seen to be enhanced in the equatorial region. Observed asymmetries are briefly discussed.


This paper summarizes the experimental evidence for a transient system deficit in specific reading disability. Differences have been found between controlled readers and specifically disabled readers in measurements of visible persistence, pattern contrast sensitivity and temporal or flicker contrast sensitivity. This transient system deficit was found in approximately 75% of the specifically reading disabled subjects tested. A further series of experiments failed to demonstrate differences in sustained system function between the two groups. Evidence is also presented which suggests that the visual system deficit precedes the reading disability. Possible mechanisms of the impact of a transient system deficit on reading are discussed.


The k-opioid receptor (KOR) is thought to play an important therapeutic role in a wide range of neuropsychiatric and substance abuse disorders, including alcohol dependence. LY2456302 is a recently developed KOR antagonist with high affinity and selectivity and showed efficacy in the suppression of ethanol consumption in rats. This study investigated brain penetration and KOR target engagement after single oral doses (0.5–25 mg) of LY2456302 in 13 healthy human subjects. Three positron emission tomography scans with the KOR antagonist radiotracer C-LY2795050 were conducted at baseline, 2.5 hours postdose, and 24 hours postdose. LY2456302 was well tolerated in all subjects without serious adverse events. Distribution volume was estimated using the multilinear analysis 1 method for each scan. Receptor occupancy (RO) was derived from a graphical occupancy plot and related to LY2456302 plasma concentration to determine maximum occupancy (rmax) and IC50. LY2456302 dose dependently blocked the binding of C-LY2795050 and nearly saturated the receptors at 10 mg, 2.5 hours postdose. Thus, a dose of 10 mg of LY2456302 appears well suited for further clinical testing. Based on the pharmacokinetic (PK)-RO model, the rmax and IC50 of LY2456302 were estimated as 93%and 0.58 ng/ml to 0.65 ng/ml, respectively. Assuming that rmax is 100%, IC50 was estimated as 0.83 ng/ml.


Site-selective C–H alkynylation of arenes to produce aryl alkynes is a highly desirable transformation due to the prevalence of aryl alkynes in various natural products, drug molecules and in materials. To ensure site-selective C–H functionalization, directing group (DG) assisted C–H activation has been evolved as a useful synthetic tool. In contrast to DG-assisted ortho-C–H activation, distal meta-C–H activation is highly challenging and has attracted significant attention in recent years. However, developments are majorly focused on Pd-based catalytic systems. In order to diversify the scope of distal meta-C–H functionalization, herein we disclosed the first Rh(i) catalyzed meta-C–H alkynylation protocol through the inverse Sonogashira coupling reaction. The protocol is compatible with various substrate classes which include phenylacetic acids, hydrocinnamic acids, 2-phenyl benzoic acids, 2-phenyl phenols, benzyl sulfonates and ether-based scaffolds. The post-synthetic modification of meta-alkynylated arenes is also demonstrated through DG-removal as well as functional group interconversion.


Background The aim of this study was to develop an optimized solid self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) formulation for sirolimus to enhance its solubility, stability, and bioavailability. Methods Excipients used for enhancing the solubility and stability of sirolimus were screened. A phase-separation test, visual observation for emulsifying efficiency, and droplet size analysis were performed. Ternary phase diagrams were constructed to optimize the liquid SMEDDS formulation. The selected liquid SMEDDS formulations were prepared into solid form. The dissolution profiles and pharmacokinetic profiles in rats were analyzed. Results In the results of the oil and cosolvent screening studies, Capryol™ Propylene glycol monocapry late (PGMC) and glycofurol exhibited the highest solubility of all oils and cosolvents, respectively. In the surfactant screening test, D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (vitamin E TPGS) was determined to be the most effective stabilizer of sirolimus in pH 1.2 simulated gastric fluids. The optimal formulation determined by the construction of ternary phase diagrams was the T32 (Capryol™ PGMC:glycofurol:vitamin E TPGS = 30:30:40 weight ratio) formulation with a mean droplet size of 108.2 ± 11.4 nm. The solid SMEDDS formulations were prepared with Sucroester 15 and mannitol. The droplet size of the reconstituted solid SMEDDS showed no significant difference compared with the liquid SMEDDS. In the dissolution study, the release amounts of sirolimus from the SMEDDS formulation were significantly higher than the raw sirolimus powder. In addition, the solid SMEDDS formulation was in a more stable state than liquid SMEDDS in pH 1.2 simulated gastric fluids. The results of the pharmacokinetic study indicate that the SMEDDS formulation shows significantly greater bioavailability than the raw sirolimus powder or commercial product (Rapamune® oral solution). Conclusion The results of this study suggest the potential use of a solid SMEDDS formulation for the delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs, such as sirolimus, through oral administration.


The inquiry-based learning model can facilitate students' understanding of scientific concepts. Scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) are related to students' beliefs about the nature of the process of knowledge in science education. However, whether the "prediction-observation-explanation" (POE) inquiry-based learning model can facilitate fifth graders' concept achievement and SEBs in science education has not been extensively studied. This study selected the unit of Light Refraction to explore the effects of POE learning on fifth graders' science concept achievement and SEBs. The Light Refraction Test and Scientific Epistemological Beliefs measurement were applied to the two groups prior to and following the experiment. The experimental group (N=86) participated in POE inquiry-based learning, whereas the control group (N=88) participated without POE inquiry-based learning. The results revealed a significant difference between the two groups, with the experimental group learners performing better than the control group in the concept achievement. In addition, the results showed better positive effects of POE on experimental group learners' SEBs in the scales of Source and Certainty. Findings suggested that learners achieved better concept achievements and SEBs with the approach of POE inquiry-based learning, which pointed to certain implications for inquiry-based teaching, as well as in education of future science instructors.
Keywords: inquiry-based learning model, light refraction, prediction-observation-explanation, science education, scientific epistemological beliefs


In this work, the performance analysis of a dual-hop relay transmission system composed of asymmetric radio-frequency (RF)/free-space optical (FSO) links is presented. This work is based on the fact that FSO links are cost-effective, license-free and can provide even higher bandwidths compared to the traditional RF links. More specifically, in this work, we build on the cumulative distribution function presented in [1] to derive new exact closed-form expressions for the probability density function, moment generating function, and moments of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio. We then capitalize on these results to offer new exact closed-form expressions for the higher-order amount of fading, average error rate for binary and M-ary modulation schemes, and ergodic capacity, all in terms of Meijer's G functions. Our new analytical results were also verified via computer-based Monte-Carlo simulation results.


Geomechanical assessment is a very vital step in geological CO2 storage project to minimize the potential risk for CO2 leakage through fracture pathways and fault re-activation caused by CO2 injection. A good monitoring system of geomechanical properties such as in-situ stress, rock stiffness and strength could actually control the potential CO2 leakage pathways. Moreover, a safe and successful storage practice requires wise selection of suitable wells, especially in mature oil field.


DNA methylation plays a vital role during development in gene expression and chromatin organization. DNA methyl transferases catalyze the transfer of a methyl group to bases within the DNA helix. Plants differ from animals in having methylation at the sites of CHG and CHH. In plant, there are at least four classes of cytosine methyltransferase: MET1, CMT3, DRM and DNMT2. They show distinct expression patterns and levels in tissues and developmental stages and differential activity on cytosines in different sequence contexts. Mutations that cause severe loss of DNA methylation often leads to abnormal development. In the present review, we summarized recent findings of the three major DNA methyltransferases mutants playing vital role in development of Arabidopsis thaliana . Keywords: DNA methylation, epigenetics, methyltransferase, mutant


Over 800 academics in eight higher education institutes in the Dublin region responded to the 2010 - 2011 online survey 'Voices of Academics in Ireland'. The survey was conceived in part to provide direction to the academic development programme of the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance. I discuss findings from the open-ended question:'How would you promote good teaching in higher education'.The answers were coded in line with qualitative thematic analysis with three themes emerging: 1) Institutional frameworks; 2) Structure of academic development provision; 3) Epistemological beliefs towards teaching. From those three themes and their respective subcategories I attempt to build a model to describe the phenomenon of academics engaging/disengaging in professional development related to teaching. The model outlines possible individual and institutional barriers and motivations that may influence whether or not an academic invests time and resources into improving their teaching practice.


Active du/dt is a new output-filtering method to mitigate motor overvoltages. The inverter pulse pattern edges are broken down into narrower pulses, which control the filter LC circuit. This results in an output voltage that does not have to exhibit the overshoot typically seen in common LC circuits in output-filtering applications. Furthermore, the shape of the output-voltage edge has properties well suited for output-filtering applications. An appropriate filter rise time is selected according to the motor-cable length to eliminate the motor overvoltage. The basis of the active du/dt method is discussed in brief. Considerations on the application of the active du/dt filtering in electric drives are presented together with simulations and experimental data to verify the potential of the method.


The impact of high-temperature superconductor (HTS) technology on future aerospace systems is considered. HTS applications for filters, phase shifters, oscillators, and feeds for phased arrays are discussed. It is felt that the greatest payoff for HTS is in the corporate and Butler feeds and matching networks of phased arrays. Another benefit is the drastic reduction of volume and weight in multiplexers.<<ETX>>


Experienced dowsers were able to localize radiesthetically defined zones with statistically highly significant accuracy in blind and double-blind experiments. The transition from neutral to active zones and vice-versa could be demonstrated electromyographically on various arm muscles of sensitive persons. Thus, there is most likely a relationship between an active zone and certain functions of the human body. This project deals with basic research, it does not examine possible causes of diseases. Nevertheless, the often postulated influence of active zones on health is part of the background of the project.


The high-fidelity detection of labile zinc is of central importance for understanding the molecular mechanisms that link zinc homeostasis and human pathophysiology. Fluorescence ratiometric sensors are most suitable for the detection and trafficking of intracellular zinc ions. Here, we report the development of fluorescence ratiometric zinc sensors (HN1 and HN2) based on two-fluorophore platforms. The sensor constructs include blue fluorescent umbelliferone and an energy-accepting chromophore that absorbs the blue fluorescence. Zinc binding was found to promote fluorescence turn-on of the umbelliferone emission by suppression of intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer, thereby facilitating resonance energy transfer to the energy acceptors. The net observables were the fluorescence ratiometric changes, the extent of which depended strongly on the chemical structures of the acceptors. Photophysical investigations, including steady-state and transient photoluminescence spectroscopy, suggested a mechanism for the fluorescent zinc response that involved a combination of the intramolecular electron transfer and the interchromophoric energy transfer. The zinc probes displayed sensing capability that is suitable for the detection of biological zinc ions, with good selectivity, pH tolerance, and appropriate Kd values. Finally, zinc detection was demonstrated by fluorescence ratiometric visualization of exogenously supplied zinc ions in live HeLa cells. The probes enabled the reliable monitoring of zinc equilibration across the cell membrane.


Information society, or network society as it is also called, requires an infrastructure facilitating citizens' large and structurally ever changing (!) variety of informational interactions (sign exchanges). However, developments now labeled as electronic government usually frustrate rather than promote such an infrastructure at the appropriate scale of society as a whole. At least, that is the author's informed analysis of Dutch society. Its government is still failing to adapt to, and genuinely adopt, the general perspective of social dynamics. In actual practice, it prefers instead to continue to rely on its separate agencies (municipalities, provinces, national ministries, et cetera) to improve so-called services, only taking citizens as their respective clients. The literally one-sided emphasis on government services has all but eliminated seriously attending to the public interest. Often, an explicit appeal to public interest promoted development of infrastructure based on earlier technologies. It may have been misrepresented all along, though, as a selected history of infrastructure shows. In this paper, it is argued that a balanced concept of public interest essentially connects it to interoperability as equitable potential for interactions. Indeed, infrastructure is government's key responsibility.


Abstract : A nonlinear, aeroelastic analysis of a low aspect, delta wing modeled as a plate of constant thickness demonstrates that limit cycle oscillations (LCO) of the order of the plate thickness are possible. The structural nonlinearity arises from double bending in both the chordwise and spanwise directions. The present results using a vortex lattice aerodynamic model for a low Mach number flow complement earlier studies for rectangular wing platforms that showed similar qualitative results. The theoretical results for the flutter boundary (beyond which LCO occurs) have been validated by comparison to the experimental data reported by other investigators for the low aspect ratio delta wings. Also the limit cycle oscillations found experimentally by previous investigators (but not previously quantified prior to the present work) are consistent with the theoretical results reported here. Reduced order aerodynamic and structural models are used to substantially decrease computational cost with no loss in accuracy. Without the use of reduced order models, calculations of the LCO would be impractical. A wind tunnel model is tested to provide a quantitative experimental correlation with the theoretical results for the LCO response itself.


Devices for performing polymerase chain reactions (PCR) have been developed for use with photolithographed silicon. Microchambers capable of holding between 5.0 and 10 microL of PCR reagents were constructed by etching specific areas of rectangular silicon chips (17 x 15 mm), which were then capped with Pyrex glass. These silicon devices (PCRChips), which were etched to depths of 40-80 microns, permitted free flow of fluids in the microchannels and microchambers. Access to the microchambers was through holes in the silicon. Thermal cycling of the PCR reagents was achieved by placing the disposable PCRChip in a small holder containing a computer-controlled Peltier heater-cooler. Successful amplification was demonstrated by electrophoresis of products in agarose gel containing ethidium bromide, and the migration of the product was compared with that obtained in a commercially available thermal cycler. The thermal characteristics of the silicon, coupled with the high surface area to volume ratio in the new devices, are particularly advantageous features for amplification by PCR.


1. An axon which, in addition to the single excitatory axon, innervates the anterior coxal adductor muscles of locusts and grasshoppers causes peripheral effects, some of which are comparable to those of crustacean peripheral inhibitory axons. Tetanus tension is reduced by the axon. 2. The axon was termed the inhibitory-conditioning axon (I-C). Resting tension was reduced in a few preparations by the action of the axon, and the relaxation rate was markedly increased. 3. In some preparations, however, the axon caused a slight contraction of the muscle, and paradoxically enhanced twitch tension. 4. It was found by intracellular recording that in some muscle fibres the electrical response to I-C is polarizing, but in others it is depolarizing. 5. A few (but variable number) of the muscle fibres in each preparation showed slow, summating, after-depolarizations following termination of the excitatory junctional potentials. This is a new phenomenon, and suggests that these fibres, or their neuromuscular junctions, have special properties. 6. A study was made of the reflex and spontaneous discharges of the excitatory and I-C axons in the nearly intact animal, and in preparations, in an attempt to determine the function of I-C. 7. No evidence was found that I-C is actually used as a peripheral inhibitor and its natural function remains enigmatical.


Background Clusterin (apolipoprotein J) is an extracellular chaperone involved in the number of biological processes, such as inflammation and apoptosis. Recent data suggest its protective role in autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to analyse the serum levels of clusterin and its expression in skeletal muscle specimens in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) vs healthy controls, and to investigate the association of clusterin with disease activity. Materials and methods Clusterin serum levels were measured by ELISA (Biovendor) in 65 patients with IIM (27 dermatomyositis (DM), 28 polymyositis (PM), 10 immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM)) and in 54 healthy individuals. Clusterin mRNA expression was analysed in skeletal muscle samples obtained from muscle biopsy (mini-invasive Bergstrom technique) in 10 patients with IIM (DM/PM) and 10 healthy controls by RT-PCR. Disease activity was assessed using myositis disease activity assessment visual analogue scales (MYOACT), myositis intention to treat index (MITAX), health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) and global disease assessment evaluated by patient and doctor. Data are presented as mean ± SD. Results Serum concentrations of clusterin were significantly higher in all patients with IIM compared with healthy controls (87.1±22.8 vs 68.4±12.4, p<0.0001). There were no differences in the clusterin levels among particular myositis subtypes. Clusterin levels in all IIM patients positively correlated with MITAX (r=0.357, p=0.004), MYOACT (r=0.337, p=0.008) and doctor global disease assessment (r=0.309, p=0.015), but not with muscle enzymes. Moreover, mRNA expression of clusterin in muscle tissues was almost three-times higher in patients with IIM than in healthy individuals (p=0.029). Conclusions We demonstrate here for the first time increased clusterin expression in myositis patients than in healthy subjects and its association with clinical disease activity. Acknowledgement Supported by the project of MHCR for conceptual development of research organisation 00023728 and project NV16-33746A.


This exploratory study takes a new look at the tax systems of countries in the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We measure a country's tax system using time-series cross-sectional data on tax collection variables as well as a cross-sectional metric assessing tax administration and enforcement. More specifically, we examine the countries' (i) overall tax burden, (ii) income tax reliance, and (iii) fiscal decentralization as well as some "non-rate†variables related to tax administration and enforcement. The purpose is to compare European Union (EU) member states and those countries in the eurozone with other OECD countries and over time in order to test (1) whether EU member states and eurozone countries have tax systems that are more similar to each other than to other countries, and (2) whether some tax harmonization is taking place - within the EU (eurozone) and other countries. The descriptive analysis and graphical representation, as well as first empirical tests, show that the tax systems of EU member states and eurozone countries are significantly different from other countries'tax systems. Yet, we do not find much tax harmonization in the EU (eurozone) countries over time. Future research might delve more into the question what drives harmonization with the intention of eventually formulating policy strategies.


Abstract Dipolar electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy (DEER and other techniques) enables the structural characterization of macromolecular and biological systems by measurement of distance distributions between unpaired electrons on a nanometer scale. The inference of these distributions from the measured signals is challenging due to the ill-posed nature of the inverse problem. Existing analysis tools are scattered over several applications with specialized graphical user interfaces. This renders comparison, reproducibility, and method development difficult. To remedy this situation, we present DeerLab, an open-source software package for analyzing dipolar EPR data that is modular and implements a wide range of methods. We show that DeerLab can perform one-step analysis based on separable non-linear least squares, fit dipolar multi-pathway models to multi-pulse DEER data, run global analysis with non-parametric distributions, and use a bootstrapping approach to fully quantify the uncertainty in the analysis.


Information systems (IS) flexibility has been studied as a key capability to adapt and change organisations. Several definitions have covered technical and human factors to assess the IS flexibility. Technical factors have measured Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, its efficiency, standards and designs (modular or monolithic). Human factors have assessed the skills of the team, its commitment and the leadership's skills. Indeed, these factors affect the capability to change an organisation, but it is not clear how information systems should support the capability of organisations to change, maintaining their functions and dynamic.
This research proposes a methodology named Information Systems Flexibility by Organisational Semiotics and Autopoiesis (ISFOSA), which uses a metaphor from living systems and the process to maintain the life (autopoiesis). This metaphor states the significance of the boundary to keep a living system alive, so this method uses organisational semiotics to identify the boundary of the human organisation and how this boundary can affect the focal Information system. ISFOSA consist of fives phases: Problem and context identification, boundary analysis, focal system analysis, identification of flexibility, and design and implementation. The phase one identifies the context of the problem, proposing stakeholders that can affect the human organisation. The second phase develops ontology charts and norm analysis to identify the affordances that can affect the boundary. The third phase analyses a focal information system, which is the information system to enhance the IS flexibility. This phase uses semantic and norm analysis, but their focus is on the dynamic inside the human organisation. Phase four proposes requirements of flexibility by identifying norms of the organisation that can affect the norms in the focal system. This comparison leads to a scenario analysis that can repeat semantic and norms analysis under a possible situation of change. The scenario analysis uses the previous phases and the strategies of IS flexibility to propose requirements.
Design science research and case study research guide the process to develop the method. Firstly, a gap in the identification of requirements is identified as a research problem to address the propositions of previous researches about IS flexibility. Then a theoretical proposition uses a metaphor of autopoiesis to propose a focus on the boundary of the organisation to analyse the flexibility. A retrospective case study is conducted to refine the first two phases of the method, using the change from a good-dominant (GD) logic to a service-dominant (SD) logic of Rolls-Royce. An evaluative case study is conducted to illustrate ISFOSA's methodology to propose a system to track people in underground mines. Also, the method is enhanced with the feedback obtained from interviews from IS professionals. This feedback validates the overall result obtained from the second case study.
v
This research postulates contributions from the theoretical, methodological and practical perspective. The theoretical proposition asserts that organisations behave as living systems from organisational semiotics. From the methodological perspective, this research can guide the application of retrospective case studies with design science. In practice, this model can provide guidelines to identify socio-technical requirements of organisations. Therefore, information professionals can integrate this model with existing methods for IT projects, identifying requirements and defining elements that the design of information systems should cover to enhance the IS flexibility.


Stone is widespread in its use as a building material and artistic medium. One of its most remarkable qualities is that it changes appearance as it interacts with the environment. These changes are mainly confined to the surface but involve complex volumetric effects such as erosion and mineral dissolution. This paper presents an approach for the modeling and rendering of changes in the shape and appearance of stone. To represent stone, we introduce a sl bdata structure, which is a surface-aligned volume confined to a narrow region around the boundary of the stone. Our weathering model employs a simulation of the flow of moisture and the transport, dissolution, and recrystallization of minerals within the porous stone volume. In addition, this model governs the erosion of material from the surface. To render the optical effects of translucency and coloration due to the composition of minerals near the surface, we simulate the scattering of light inside the stone using a general subsurface Monte Carlo ray tracer. These techniques can capture many aspects of the time-dependent appearance of stone. We demonstrate the approach with models of granite and marble statues, as well as a sandstone column. CR Categories: I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism; I.6.3 [Simulation and Modeling]: Applications. Additional


A reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) has been developed for the estimation of valacyclovir in bulk drug and pharmaceutical dosage form. The quantification was carried out using C18 column and mobile phase consisting of 0.067 M phosphate buffer at pH 6.5: acetonitrile : methanol (70:20:10 % v/v), at flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The separation was performed at ambient temperature. Eluents were monitored by UV detector set at 244 nm. The method was statistically validated for the linearity, precision, accuracy, LOD and LOQ. The linearity was found to be in the range of 5-30 μg/mL. The proposed method was found to be simple, precise, accurate, rapid, economic and reproducible for the estimation of valacyclovir in bulk drug and tablet.


Crossover is a core genetic operator in many evolutionary algorithms (EAs). The performance of such EAs on a given problem is dependent on properly configuring crossover. A small set of common crossover operators is used in the vast majority of EAs, typically fixed for the entire evolutionary run. Selecting which crossover operator to use and tuning its associated parameters to obtain acceptable performance on a specific problem often is a time consuming manual process. Even then a custom crossover operator may be required to achieve optimal performance. Finally, the best crossover configuration may be dependent on the state of the evolutionary run. This paper introduces the Self-Configuring Crossover operator encoded with linear genetic programming which addresses these shortcomings while relieving the user from the burden of crossover configuration. To demonstrate its general applicability, the novel crossover operator was applied without any problem specific tuning. Results are presented showing it to outperform the traditional crossover operators arithmetic crossover, uniform crossover, and n-point crossover on the Rosenbrock, Rastrigin, Offset Rastrigin, DTrap, and NK Landscapes benchmark problems.


The most radical global change, involving the biology, chemistry and physics of life, occurred near and at the stratigraphical level of the boundary between the Neoproterozoic System (Precambrian) and the Cambrian System. This stratigraphical level is held by consensus to be the Proterozoic Eonothem-Phanerozoic Eonothem Boundary, and is regarded as being of fundamental importance. Research has involved not only archaeocyathans, shelly small problematica, earliest trilobites, stromatolites and algae, trace fossils, soft-bodied metazoans, microphytolites and acritarchs, but also physical and chemical aspects: radio-isotope dating, carbon, strontium and oxygen isotope stratigraphy, polar wandering relating to palaeogeography and magnetostratigraphy. A selected bibliography (1985-1990) is appended to enable further reading of the extensive research contributions.


In the middle of the twentieth century, legal realist Karl Llewellyn largely persuaded the legal community that the canons of construction are indeterminate, and judges use them to justify reasoning by other means. Toward the end of the twentieth century, however, the canons enjoyed a strong revival, both with the federal judiciary and across a surprisingly broad range of legal academies. This essay offers a hypothesis about the canons' revival. Llewellyn is justly regarded as a lion of the realist movement, and his critique of the canons is one of the most influential realist works of the last century. But the early success of his critique may, in fact, relate to the declining post-World War II fortunes of legal realism in statutory interpretation theory. In the same period in which he made his critique of the canons, most judges and legal scholars came to the view judges could meaningfully resolve textual ambiguity by consulting the legislature's intent or purpose, to be derived in no small part from legislative history. Conversely, the impact of Llewellyn's critique of the canons impact began to wane in the 1980s, when influential textualist and pragmatist scholars revived (for quite different reasons) broader realist claims about the inaccessibility and unreliability of legislative intent or purpose as organizing principles in statutory construction. In economists' terms, canons of construction and intent or purpose may be substitutes, rather than complements, in determining statutory meaning. On that view, the canons' revival may simply be the flip side of the growing perception that the early realists were correct in arguing that it is hard to get inside "Congress's mind." The essay elaborates on this point and then briefly suggests preliminary implications of this conclusion.


Recently, the scale of interest for application of crop growth models has extended to the region or even globe with time frames of 50-100 years. The application at larger scales of a crop growth model originally developed for a small scale without any adaptation might lead to errors and inaccuracies. Moreover, application of crop growth models at large scales usually gives problems with respect to missing data. Knowledge about the required level of modelling detail to accurately represent crop growth processes in crop growth models to be applied at large scales is scarce. In this thesis we analysed simulated potential yields, which resulted from models which apply different levels of detail to represent important crop growth processes. Our results indicated that, after location-specific calibration, models in which the same processes were represented with different levels of detail may perform similarly. Model performance was in general best for models which represented leaf area dynamics with the lowest level of detail. Additionally, the results indicated that the use of a different description of light interception significantly changes model outcomes. Especially the representation of leaf senescence was found to be critical for model performance. Global crop growth models are often used with monthly weather data, while crop growth models were originally developed for daily weather data. We examined the effects of replacing daily weather data with monthly data. Results showed that using monthly weather data may result in higher simulated amounts of biomass. In addition, we found increasing detail in a modelling approach to give higher sensitivity to aggregation of input data. Next, we investigated the impact of the use of spatially aggregated sowing dates and temperatures on the simulated phenology of winter wheat in Germany. We found simulated winter wheat phenology in Germany to be rather similar using either non-aggregated input data or aggregated input data with a 100 km × 100 km resolution. Generation or simulation of input data for crop growth models is often necessary if the model is applied at large scales. We simulated sowing dates of several rainfed crops by assuming farmers to sow either when temperature exceeds a crop-specific threshold or at the onset of the wet season. For a large part of the globe our methodology is capable of simulating reasonable sowing dates. To simulate the end of the cropping period (i.e. harvesting dates) we developed simple algorithms to generate unknown crop- and location-specific phenological parameters. In the main cropping regions of wheat the simulated lengths corresponded well with the observations; our methodology worked less well for maize (over- and underestimations of 0.5 to 1.5 month). Importantly, our evaluation of possible consequences for simulated yields related to uncertainties in simulated sowing and harvesting dates showed that simulated yields are rather similar using either simulated or observed sowing and harvesting dates (a maximum difference of 20%), indicating the applicability of our methodology in crop productivity assessments. The thesis concludes with a discussion on a proposed structure of a global crop growth model which is expected to simulate reasonable potential yields at the global scale if only monthly aggregates of climate data at a 0.5° × 0.5° grid are available. The proposed model consists of a forcing function, defined in terms of sigmoidal and quadratic functions to represent light interception, combined with the radiation use efficiency approach, and phenology determining the allocation of biomass to the organs of the crop. Within the model sowing dates and phenological cultivar characteristics are simulated. Based on the proposed model the thesis finally derives directions for future research to further enhance global crop growth modelling.


Quantification of characteristics that govern intergranular fracture initiation and propagation of this fracture micromechanism in competition with cleavage one is main aim of the paper. A NiCr steel of commercial quality and the same steel with an increased content of impurity elements, Sn and Sb, were used. Step cooling ageing was applied in order to induce intergranular embrittlement. Standard and pre-cracked Charpy type specimens were both tested in three-point bending to determine fracture toughness characteristics. In order to characterise the quantitative differences in fracture surfaces roughness a fractal analysis was applied. A boundary level of fractal dimension has been determined to be 1.12: fracture surface roughness with a higher value reflects high level of intergranular embrittlement and thus fracture resistance degradation.


The government of Ecuador plans to build the Manduriacu Dam in the northwest region of Los Manduriacos. The state has echoed the recent global consensus that successful development must be sustainable and equitable. This consensus emerged amidst a long-standing debate between the proponents and opponents of large-scale dams—between those in favor of a dominant, neoliberal approach to development versus those in favor of alternative approaches. A case study was conducted in the region to be impacted by the Manduriacu Dam in order to assess whether or not the emergence of reformist approaches within major development agencies have delivered sustainability, local participation, and gender equity for impacted peoples. Comparatively, this study examines local, alternative approaches to development in the region and reviews projects completed in Ghana and Indonesia in order to derive comparisons and recommendations regarding the attainment of sustainable and just outcomes. Research found the Manduriacu Dam Project to lack greatly in the fulfillment of social rights, particularly Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Furthermore, women and other vulnerable peoples would bear a disproportionate amount of the health and safety hazards associated with the project. However, findings surrounding local initiatives in Los Manduriacos, and projects in Ghana and Indonesia, conclude that locally driven, asset-based approaches that mobilize women are some of the most effective ways to achieve sustainability. This suggests that such approaches should be integrated into large infrastructure projects, including dams, in order to achieve just and sustainable development.


The detailed description of cattle chromosomes has been achieved by using the RBA technique that has been found to be faster, more reliable, and offers better resolution than either the G- or Q-banding procedures. The use of this technique for routine analysis of cattle chromosomes is, therefore, strongly recommended. The adoption of a common system of nomenclature also is desirable to avoid misclassification of chromosomes involved in structural abnormalities as well as to trace evolutionary relationships among the Bovidae.


Systematic errors in Global Positioning System (GPS) were related to the atmosphere, imprecise orbit, satellite distribution geometry, multipath, satellite and receiver clock, and selective availability (SA). Using DGPS corrections prediction can reduce these errors to a certain extent, with the exception of SA. This makes it possible to enhance the accuracy of GPS positioning by a factor of twenty five. This paper presents a recurrent wavelet neural network (RWNN) for improving positioning accuracy. Method validity is verified with experimental data from an actual data collection, before and after SA The results show very clearly the dramatic change in the error value. It also shows that by using proposed method over a long period of time, 0.7 m GPS accuracy can be achieved. Also, it is shown that RWNN outperforms single WNN and RNN.


During the last glaciation, most of the British Isles and the surrounding continental shelf were covered by the British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). An earlier compilation from the existing literature (BRITICE version 1) assembled the relevant glacial geomorphological evidence into a freely available GIS geodatabase and map (Clark et al. 2004: Boreas 33, 359). New high‐resolution digital elevation models, of the land and seabed, have become available casting the glacial landform record of the British Isles in a new light and highlighting the shortcomings of the V.1 BRITICE compilation. Here we present a wholesale revision of the evidence, onshore and offshore, to produce BRITICE version 2, which now also includes Ireland. All published geomorphological evidence pertinent to the behaviour of the ice sheet is included, up to the census date of December 2015. The revised GIS database contains over 170 000 geospatially referenced and attributed elements – an eightfold increase in information from the previous version. The compiled data include: drumlins, ribbed moraine, crag‐and‐tails, mega‐scale glacial lineations, glacially streamlined bedrock (grooves, roches moutonnées, whalebacks), glacial erratics, eskers, meltwater channels (subglacial, lateral, proglacial and tunnel valleys), moraines, trimlines, cirques, trough‐mouth fans and evidence defining ice‐dammed lakes. The increased volume of features necessitates different map/database products with varying levels of data generalization, namely: (i) an unfiltered GIS database containing all mapping; (ii) a filtered GIS database, resolving data conflicts and with edits to improve geo‐locational accuracy (available as GIS data and PDF maps); and (iii) a cartographically generalized map to provide an overview of the distribution and types of features at the ice‐sheet scale that can be printed at A0 paper size at a 1:1 250 000 scale. All GIS data, the maps (as PDFs) and a bibliography of all published sources are available for download from: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/staff/clark_chris/britice.


Abstract Mutation rates and fitness costs of deleterious mutations are difficult to measure in vivo but essential for a quantitative understanding of evolution. Using whole genome deep sequencing data from longitudinal samples during untreated HIV-1 infection, we estimated mutation rates and fitness costs in HIV-1 from the dynamics of genetic variation. At approximately neutral sites, mutations accumulate with a rate of 1.2 × 10−5 per site per day, in agreement with the rate measured in cell cultures. We estimated the rate from G to A to be the largest, followed by the other transitions C to T, T to C, and A to G, while transversions are less frequent. At other sites, mutations tend to reduce virus replication. We estimated the fitness cost of mutations at every site in the HIV-1 genome using a model of mutation selection balance. About half of all non-synonymous mutations have large fitness costs (>10 percent), while most synonymous mutations have costs <1 percent. The cost of synonymous mutations is especially low in most of pol where we could not detect measurable costs for the majority of synonymous mutations. In contrast, we find high costs for synonymous mutations in important RNA structures and regulatory regions. The intra-patient fitness cost estimates are consistent across multiple patients, indicating that the deleterious part of the fitness landscape is universal and explains a large fraction of global HIV-1 group M diversity.


We introduce the BDA dynamics and explore the associated applications in renewable energy sector with a focus on data-driven innovation. Our study draws on the exponential growth of renewable energy initiatives over the last decades and on the paucity of literature to illustrate the use of BDA in the energy industry. We conduct a qualitative field study in the UK with stakeholder interviews and analyse our results using thematic analysis. Our findings indicate that no matter if the importance of the energy sector for 'people's well-being, industrial competitiveness, and societal advancement, old fashioned approaches to analytics for organisational processes are currently applied widely within the energy sector. These are triggered by resistance to change and insufficient organisational knowledge about BDA, hindering innovation opportunities. Furthermore, for energy organisations to integrate BDA approaches, they need to deal with challenges such as training employees on BDA and the associated costs. Overall, our study provides insights from practitioners about adopting BDA innovations in the renewable energy sector to inform decision-makers and provide recommendations for future research.


This article argues that the temporality of the financial economy ought to be seen as radically synchronistic. 'Synchronism' refers to both an epistemological and practical approach that addresses finance neither with a view to the past nor to the future, but is instead focused on the moment that a financial transaction is settled (i.e., the horizon of trading). From this perspective, the article expands the scope of current social theorizing on financial markets, which is characterized by a preoccupation with the futurity of financial markets and products. It suggests that financial synchronism can be traced back to certain developments in economic theory since the so-called 'marginalist revolution', which enabled the transfer of a certain optics informing market theories into financial practices. On these terms, financial synchronism is interpreted as a powerful social imaginary that crucially mediates the way contemporary societies face the contingency of the future.


ABSTRACT School-based programs are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote mental health for young people. However the effectiveness of such programs varies, and there are multi-level challenges to embedding mental health education in schools. Further, critical scholarship has focused on the ways in which such programs can contribute to neoliberal goals, rather than empowering students meaningfully. Our research used focus group interviews to capture the perspectives and experiences of teachers and children participating in a school-based program in Hong Kong. We applied Bernstein's theory of pedagogic practices to analyze the interview data, in particular the concepts of boundaries and framing. We identified rigid boundaries between classrooms, the wider school, and home. Boundaries between academic and wider learning, and between school leaders and teachers, hindered cultural change towards mental wellbeing in schools. The program in this study reduced boundaries between students, and between students and teachers. This enhanced students' communication, and bonding with peers and teachers. School culture about mental health education was found to have weak framing, with students having more influence on the learning process in this program than they currently do in other subjects. We argue that understanding boundaries and framing underpins development of better pedagogic practices in mental health education. When rooted in careful analysis of power relationships with school cultures, mental health promotion is not necessarily aligned with dominant values in society that privilege academic success over wellbeing. School-based programs can provide co-learning spaces for teachers and students, that encourage learning about mental health.


Context: Central sensitization (CS) has been proposed as a common underlying pathophysiology to explain poorly understood pain-related syndromes. This is termed under central sensitivity syndromes (CSSs), for which no specific organic cause has been found. Aims: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether there is an association between the CS Inventory (CSI) score, pain-related symptoms, pain-related disability, health-related quality of life (QOL), and poorly understood pain-related syndromes and whether they differed by disease type. This study also evaluated the association between severity of CS and the associated CSSs. Methods: A total of seventy patients who attended a pain clinic (chronic pain outpatient department) were assessed randomly. CSI score, CSSs, EuroQOL-5 Dimension-5 Level, Brief Pain Inventory, and Fibromyalgia (FM) Severity Scale were assessed and compared. Statistical Analysis: Univariate correlation analysis was performed in each group to evaluate: (1) severity of CS, (2) presence/absence of CSSs, (3) pain intensity and pain interference, and (4) CSI score and FM Severity Scale. Results: CSI score has a significant association with CSSs, pain-related symptoms such as pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression, mood, and sleep. Conclusions: In our study, CS has been shown to have a significant impact on mean pain score and QOL by strongly impacting mobility, mood, and sleep. CS is the underlying root cause of various CSSs. This study concludes that CS should be evaluated as a routine in all chronic pain patients.


BACKGROUND
Surgery is often considered the best treatment option in women with symptomatic endometriosis. However, extent and duration of the therapeutic benefit are still poorly defined.

METHODS
The best available evidence on surgery for endometriosis-associated pain has been reviewed to estimate the effect size of interventions in the most frequently encountered clinical conditions.

RESULTS
Methodological drawbacks limit considerably the validity of observational, non-comparative studies on the effect of laparoscopy for stage I-IV disease. As indicated by the results of three RCTs, the absolute benefit increase of destruction of lesions compared with diagnostic only operation in terms of proportion of women reporting pain relief was between 30% and 40% after short follow-up periods. The effect size tended to decrease with time and the re-operation rate, based on long-term follow-up studies, was as high as 50%. In most case series on excisional surgery for rectovaginal endometriosis, substantial short-term pain relief was experienced by approximately 70-80% of the subjects who continued the study. However, at 1 year follow-up, approximately 50% of the women needed analgesics or hormonal treatments. Major complications were observed in 3-10% of the patients. Medium-term recurrence of lesions was observed in approximately 20% of the cases, and around 25% of the women underwent repetitive surgery.

CONCLUSIONS
Pain recurrence and re-operation rates after conservative surgery for symptomatic endometriosis are high and probably underestimated. Clinicians and patients should be aware that the expected benefit is operator-dependent.


This new report, published in association with the IPI is the first wide-ranging analysis of the economic studies done on intellectual property laws. It concludes that there are some benefits from intellectual property protection; but that strengthening such protection may not always boost economic welfare and might even reduce it, even in developed countries.


Neisseria gonorrhoeae lipooligosaccharide (LOS) undergoes antigenic variation at a high rate, and this variation can be monitored by changes in a strain's ability to bind LOS-specific monoclonal antibodies. We report here the cloning and identification of a gene, lsi-2, that can mediate this variation. The DNA sequence of lsi-2 has been determined for N. gonorrhoeae 1291, a strain that expresses a high-molecular-mass LOS, and a derivative of this strain, RS132L, that produces a truncated LOS. In the parental strain, lsi-2 contains a string of 12 guanines in the middle of its coding sequence. In cells that had antigenically varied to produce a truncated LOS, the number of guanines in lsi-2 was altered. Site-specific deletions were constructed to verify that expression of a 3.6-kDa LOS is due to alterations in lsi-2.


Abstract Question: How do broad-leaved ravine forests in SE Europe differentiate phytogeographically? Do they differ from analogous European forests? What is their distribution pattern? Location: southeastern Europe, Apennine-Balkan province. Methods: The initial data set of 2189 relevés was stratified geographically and phytosociologically; 614 relevés remaining after stratification were classified with a TWINSPAN and cluster analysis, wich resulted in four clusters and eight subclusters. Average Pignatti indicator values for relevés of each subcluster were subjected to PCA to show ecological relationships among the clusters. The spectra of geoelements and sociological species groups of individual subclusters were calculated to show phytogeographical and sociological relationships between them. The diagnostic species combination was calculated by a fidelity measure (φ-coefficient) and presented in a synoptic table. Results: Broad-leaved ravine forests in southeastern Europe form a separate group within the European broad-leaved ravine forests. They are well differentiated by the species with a southeast European distribution, as well as by many other species that reflect their different ecological affinities. Conclusions: The phytosociological and phytogeographical relationships between the Apennines and the Balkan peninsula that have already been recognized for other vegetation types have been confirmed for broad-leaved ravine forests. According to the numerical analysis, two suballiances of broad-leaved ravine forests in southeastern Europe are proposed, both belonging to the alliance Tilio-Acerion: an amphi-Adriatic xerothermophilous suballiance Ostryo-Tilienion platyphylli suball. nova and a mesophilous suballiance Lamio orvalae-Acerenion suball. nova, the latter appearing only on the Balkan Peninsula. Nomenclature: Tutin et al. (1964–1980); except Stellaria montana Pierrat and Dryopteris affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenkins. Fagus moesiaca is included in Fagus sylvatica; syntaxonomy follows Mucina et al. (1993), except for the syntaxa under consideration. New names are based on the nomenclature rules in Weber et al. (2000).


This book examines the complex relationship between politics and hate speech laws, domestic and international. How do political contexts shape understandings of what hate speech is and how to deal with it? Why do particular states enact hate speech laws and then apply, extend or reform them in the ways they do? What part does hate speech play in international affairs? Why do some but not all states negotiate, agree and ratify international hate speech frameworks or instruments? What are some of the best and worst political arguments for and against hate speech laws? Do political figures have special moral duties to refrain from hate speech? Should the use of hate speech by political figures be protected by parliamentary privilege? Should this sort of hyperpolitical hate speech be subject to the laws of the land, civil and criminal? Or should it instead be handled by parliamentary codes of conduct and procedures or even by political parties themselves? What should the codes of conduct look like? Brown and Sinclair answer these important and overlooked questions on the politics of hate speech laws, providing a substantial body of new evidence, insights, arguments, theories and practical recommendations. The primary focus is on the UK and the US but several other country contexts are also explored and compared in detail, including: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, India, China, Japan, Turkey, Germany, Hungary, and Italy. Methodologically, the two authors draw on approaches and concepts from a range of academic disciplines, including: law and legal theory, political theory, applied ethics, political science and sociology, international relations theory and international law.


Learning sparse combinations is a frequent theme in machine learning. In this paper, we study its associated optimization problem in the distributed setting where the elements to be combined are not centrally located but spread over a network. We address the key challenges of balancing communication costs and optimization errors. To this end, we propose a distributed Frank-Wolfe (dFW) algorithm. We obtain theoretical guarantees on the optimization error $\epsilon$ and communication cost that do not depend on the total number of combining elements. We further show that the communication cost of dFW is optimal by deriving a lower-bound on the communication cost required to construct an $\epsilon$-approximate solution. We validate our theoretical analysis with empirical studies on synthetic and real-world data, which demonstrate that dFW outperforms both baselines and competing methods. We also study the performance of dFW when the conditions of our analysis are relaxed, and show that dFW is fairly robust.


—Objective: The coupling between neuronal populations and its magnitude have been shown to be informative for various clinical applications. One method to estimate functional brain connectivity is with electroencephalography (EEG) from which the cross-spectrum between different sensor locations is derived. We wish to test the efficacy of tensor factorisation in the estimation of brain connectivity. Methods: An EEG model in the complex domain is derived that shows the suitability of the PARAFAC2 model. Complex tensor factorisation based on PARAFAC2 is used to decompose the EEG into scalp components described by the spatial, spectral, and complex trial profiles. A connectivity metric is also derived on the complex trial profiles of the extracted components. Results: Results on a benchmark EEG dataset confirmed that PARAFAC2 can estimate connectivity better than traditional tensor analysis such as PARAFAC within a range of signal-to-noise ratios. MVAR-ICA outperformed PARAFAC2 for very low signal-to-noise ratios while being inferior in most of the range, and in contrast to our method MVAR-ICA does not allow the estimation of trial to trial information. The analysis of EEG from patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease showed that PARAFAC2 identifies loss of brain connectivity agreeing with prior pathological knowledge. Conclusion: The complex PARAFAC2 algorithm is suitable for EEG connectivity estimation since it allows to extract meaningful coupled sources and provides better estimates than complex PARAFAC and MVAR-ICA. Significance: A new paradigm that employs complex tensor factorisation has demonstrated to be successful in identifying brain connectivity and the location of couples sources for both a benchmark and a real-world EEG dataset. This can enable future applications and has the potential to solve some the issues that deteriorate the performance of traditional connectivity metrics.


Genetic mapping of 2 mutations designated as rif5 and rif8 determining different levels of rifampicin resistance in Saccharopolyspora erythraea, an organism producing erythromycin, was performed. The mutations were inherited as chromosomal markers and localized in the same region of the chromosome restricted by ura1 and met1 loci. No close linking of rif5 and rif8 with any of the auxotrophic property markers in S. erythraea was detected. There were observed differences in the indices of correlation between the inheritance of rif8, rif5 and the chromosomal markers between which they were located. The data indicated that mutations rif5 and rif8 probably occurred in different genes.


Abstract In this paper we document that married individuals face a lower unemployment rate than their single counterparts. We refer to this phenomenon as the marriage unemployment gap. Despite dramatic demographic changes in the labor market over the last decades, this gap has been remarkably stable both for men and women. Using a flow-decomposition exercise, we assess which transition probabilities (across labor force states) are behind this phenomenon: For men, the main driver is the higher job losing probabilities faced by single workers. For females, the participation margin also plays a crucial role.


Background Whether endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is superior to standard medical treatment (SMT) for stroke patients with acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) is uncertain. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of EVT with SMT for treating BAO patients. Methods Papers were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases. The primary outcome of this meta-analysis was favorable functional outcomes at 3 months (defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of ≤3). A random effect model was used to calculate risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) per outcome. Results Five articles, including two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and four observational cohort studies, comprising 1484 patients (1024 in the EVT group and 460 in the SMT group), were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated no significant differences between the EVT and SMT groups in achieving favorable functional outcomes at 3 months (RR=1.63, 95% CI 0.90, 2.96; p=0.11). However, patients in the EVT group had higher rates for symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (RR=6.22, 95% CI 2.06 to 18.76; p=0.001) but lower mortality at 3 months (RR=0.72, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.91; p=0.007) than patients in the SMT group. Conclusion Among patients with BAO, EVT and SMT did not differ significantly in achieving favorable functional outcomes at 3 months, but BAO patients treated with EVT might have lower mortality at 3 months. RCTs are warranted to further assess the efficacy and safety of EVT for BAO patients.


Plays for Today contains three outstanding plays by three of the Caribbean's greatest playwrights, brought together for the first time in one volume. Ti-Jean and his Brothers is an uplifting St Lucian folk-tale. It tells the story of a poor family who dwell on the edge of a magical forest haunted by the devil's spirits. An Echo in the Bone is set during a traditional Nine-Night Ceremony held to honour the spirit of the dead. Shattering the sequential time in a series of dreamlike episodes, the play takes us back to the time of plantations and slavery - and the savage murder of the white estate owner. Who killed Mr Charles? The answers lie deep in the racial memory, they 'echo in the bone'. And Man Better Man is set in the giddy atmosphere of carnival. It is a rumbustuous, colourful comedy musical about stickfighters. With dance and song the battling troubadours and the calypsonian weave a tale of bravery, superstition and fraudulence.


Lanthanides, holmium(iii), dysprosium(iii), and terbium(iii), were coordinated to an amphiphilic DOTA bis-coumarin derivative and then further assembled with an amphiphilic europium(iii) DTPA bis-coumarin derivative into mono-disperse micelles. The self-assembled micelles were characterized and assessed for their potential as bimodal contrast agents for high field magnetic resonance and optical imaging applications. All micelles showed a high transverse relaxation (r2) of 46, 34, and 30 s-1 mM-1 at 500 MHz and 37 °C for Dy(iii), Ho(iii) and Tb(iii), respectively, which is a result of the high magnetic moment of these lanthanides and the long rotational correlation time of the micelles. The quantum yield in aqueous solution ranged from 1.8% for Tb/Eu to 1.4% for Dy/Eu and 1.0% for the Ho/Eu micelles. Multi-photon excited emission spectroscopy has shown that due to the two-photon absorption of the coumarin chromophore the characteristic Eu(iii) emission could be observed upon excitation at 800 nm, demonstrating the usefulness of the system for in vivo fluorescence imaging applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example reporting the potential of a holmium(iii) chelate as a negative MRI contrast agent.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to derive a pilot clinical decision tool with 100% negative predictive value for testicular torsion based on prospectively collected data in children with acute scrotal pain.

METHODS
This was a prospective cohort study of a convenience sample of newborn to 21-year-old males evaluated for acute (72 hours or less) scrotal pain at an urban children's hospital emergency department (ED). A pediatric emergency medicine fellow or attending physician documented history and examination findings on a standardized data collection form. The study investigators used ultrasound (US), operative reports, or clinical follow-up to identify patients who had testicular torsion. Pearson's chi-square test and odds ratios (OR) were used to identify factors associated with the diagnosis of testicular torsion. The authors also used a recursive partitioning model to create a low-risk decision tool for testicular torsion.

RESULTS
Of the 450 eligible patients, 228 (51%) were enrolled, with a mean (± SD) age of 9.9 (± 4.1) years, including 21 (9.2%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 5.8% to 13.7%) with testicular torsion. The derived clinical decision tool consisted of three variables: horizontal or inguinal testicular lie (OR = 18.17, 95% CI = 6.2 to 53.2), nausea or vomiting (OR = 5.63, 95% CI = 2.08 to 15.22), and age 11 to 21 years (OR = 3.9, 95% CI = 1.27 to 11.97). These variables had a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI = 98% to 100%) and negative predictive value of 100% (95% CI = 98% to 100%) for the diagnosis of testicular torsion.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on a decision tool derived with recursive partitioning, study patients with all of the following characteristics had no risk of testicular torsion: normal testicular lie, lack of nausea or vomiting, and age 0 to 10 years. Future research should focus on externally validating this tool to optimize emergent evaluation when testicular torsion is likely, while minimizing routine sonographic evaluation when patients are unlikely to have a serious condition requiring immediate management.


Cooperative information embedding deals with the problem of embedding unperceived information into some cover signal by different users or partners, cooperatively. It models applications in which embedded signals, or watermarks, transmitted over wireless networks need to be reinforced in order to withstand channel impairments. In cooperative information embedding, each embedder that can reinforce the embedded signal may or may not know the original cover signal. In this paper, we concentrate on the two user cases: (1) an initial embedder and (2) an assisting embedder or helper collaborate to embed some watermark into given digital media content which is transmitted over a wireless network. One important application is that of infrastructure-aided information embedding, a case in which the network provider plays the role of a helper and contributes to securing the distribution of the media, not only by blocking unauthorized signals but also by reinforcing the watermarks in legitimate signals. We investigate the two scenarios in which the helper does or does not know the cover signal. For each scenario, we derive lower and upper bounds on channel capacity. Furthermore, we also design implementable coding schemes and derive the embedding rates practically allowed by these schemes, for both scenarios. Among others, the performance characterization shows that for cooperative information embedding to be effective, careful code design is required at the initial embedder and the helper. The careful design concerns the joint conception of the embedded codes and the exploitation of the knowledge of the cover signal, if any.


There is a substantial decrease in blood pressure (BP) in late pregnancy in the laboratory rat. It is so pronounced that manipulations that produce sustained elevations in BP in nonpregnant animals have little or no effect during pregnancy. It is commonly believed that this decrease in BP is a consequence of a large decrease in total peripheral resistance resulting from the passive combination of the placental vasculature with a preexisting maternal vasodilation. An alternative view is presented here. We suggest that, in small mammals like the laboratory rat, pregnancy severely challenges the ability of the maternal cardiovascular system to meet its metabolic demands, so that during the last stages of maturation of the low-resistance placental circulation delivery of vital metabolic or nutritional substances to the maternal vasculature becomes marginal. When the so-called maternal hemodynamic preservation threshold is reached, a pronounced and wide-spread vasodilation occurs to maintain adequate perfusion of maternal organs. The late-gestational decrease in BP thus reflects a dynamic interaction between the maternal and placental circulations rather than reflecting their passive combination. The hypothesis provides a framework for the integrated discussion of a number of important phenomena: the fact that hypertensive rats exhibit a larger decrease in BP in late gestation than normotensive rats; the existence of a positive association between litter size and the magnitude of the late-gestational decrease in BP; and, finally, the well-established ability of the food-restricted pregnant rat to compartmentalize its nutritional resources.


Case 1 A 26-year-old housewife presented with four months' diarrhaea without blood or mucus and an episode of erythema nodosum. Colicky abdominal pain developed before admission. The abdomen was distended and tender without peritonism. Sigmoidoscopy showed reddening; straight X-ray showed large bowel distention and irregularity of the wall, and barium enema confirmed ulcerative colitis. She was treated with salazopyrin and predsol enemata, without improvement. After thirty-six hours peritonism developed; laparotomy showed dilated and vascular large bowel. Total colectomy, ileorectal anastomosis and temporary ileostomy were performed. Recovery was uneventful. Histology confirmed acute toxic megacolon due to ulcerative colitis.


Abstract 'In the 1990s, it has become protocol to distinguish "black" (that is, African Caribbean) and "Asian" groupings in Britain' Ashwani Sharma and others have recently noted. 4 I take this quotation as emblematic of a moment in British cultures where alliances between distinct black British groups have become more difficult and where diversity is emphasized. It stems from a study which responds to a growing presence and commodification of 'Asian' musical production in Britain such as bhangra, Southall beat, northern rock bhangra and house bhangra. This increased visibility of an Asian cultural presence is true for the arts generally; think of the soaring success of the sculptor Anish Kapoor's work; think of writers such as Hanif Kureishi, Meera Syal, and, obviously, Rushdie, or younger ones like Bidishas or Atima Srivastava. There are the fields of fashion to be considered, or food, or TV with programmes like Goodness Gradous. While limiting my inquiry to the field of writing, I'm pursuing the larger question of the politics of 'Asian' cultural production vis-a-vis the older and overarching denomination 'Black British'. This paper


With the overarching goal of developing user-centric Virtual Reality (VR) systems, a new wave of studies focused on understanding how users interact in VR environments has recently emerged. Despite the intense efforts, however, current literature still does not provide the right framework to fully interpret and predict users' trajectories while navigating in VR scenes. This work advances the state-of-the-art on both the study of users' behaviour in VR and the user-centric system design. In more detail, we complement current datasets by presenting a publicly available dataset that provides navigation trajectories acquired for heterogeneous omnidirectional videos and different viewing platforms—namely, head-mounted display, tablet, and laptop. We then present an exhaustive analysis on the collected data to better understand navigation in VR across users, content, and, for the first time, across viewing platforms. The novelty lies in the user-affinity metric, proposed in this work to investigate users' similarities when navigating within the content. The analysis reveals useful insights on the effect of device and content on the navigation, which could be precious considerations from the system design perspective. As a case study of the importance of studying users' behaviour when designing VR systems, we finally propose a user-centric server optimisation. We formulate an integer linear program that seeks the best stored set of omnidirectional content that minimises encoding and storage cost while maximising the user's experience. This is posed while taking into account network dynamics, type of video content, and also user population interactivity. Experimental results prove that our solution outperforms common company recommendations in terms of experienced quality but also in terms of encoding and storage, achieving a savings up to 70%. More importantly, we highlight a strong correlation between the storage cost and the user-affinity metric, showing the impact of the latter in the system architecture design.


Safety in Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) is a bottleneck to HRC-productivity in industry. With robots being the main source of hazards, safety engineers use over-emphasized safety measures, and carry out lengthy and expensive risk assessment processes on each HRC-layout reconfiguration. Recent advances in deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) offer solutions to add intelligence and comprehensibility of the environment to robots. In this paper, we propose a framework that uses deep RL as an enabling technology to enhance intelligence and safety of the robots in HRC scenarios and, thus, reduce hazards incurred by the robots. The framework offers a systematic methodology to encode the task and safety requirements and context of applicability into RL settings. The framework also considers core components, such as behavior explainer and verifier, which aim for transferring learned behaviors from research labs to industry. In the evaluations, the proposed framework shows the capability of deep RL agents learning collision-free point-to-point motion on different robots inside simulation, as shown in the supplementary video.


A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of Gd-DTPA-enhanced MR to differentiate active from inactive demyelinating lesions of the cervical spinal cord. Five patients with elongated high-signal-intensity lesions in the cervical cord on long TR/TE spin-echo MR images and a clinical suspicion of demyelinating disease had MR before and after IV Gd-DTPA. Delayed contrast enhancement (after 45-60 min) of the lesions was seen on short TR/TE images in two patients with clinically active disease, but no enhancement could be detected in three patients with stable disease. The patients with active disease underwent repeated MR examinations until the enhancement disappeared. The decrease in Gd-DTPA enhancement paralleled a decrease in clinical signs and symptoms of cervical myelopathy. MR is useful in evaluating patients suspected of having demyelinating disease. The MR finding of asymptomatic lesions in the brain lends support to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Other possible causes of myelopathy, such as spinal cord compression and intramedullary tumor, can be excluded with the use of MR.


lncRNAs actively regulate gene expression. They contribute to chromosomal interactions at close or distant genomic regions, which, in turn, regulate transcription [1]. Ariel et al [2] reveal in a recent study a new molecular mechanism of the Arabidopsis lncRNA APOLO. The authors extend previously reported functions of APOLO in cis‐regulation of chromosomal looping and transcription of its neighbor gene to a set of distant genes involved in auxin‐induced molecular pathways controlling lateral root development. Noteworthy, APOLO recognition of multiple trans‐modulated targets occurs through a novel mechanism involving R‐loop formation.


China Digital Library is a federated digital library, which is composed of library components such as: local digital libraries, publishing companies, and so on. The objective of the federated digital library is to share resources and services of its components, therefore users can access distributed information transparently. The immense distributed electronic information available in the federated digital library raises two problems: how to find all information that the user needs accurately; and how to provide information that the user is interested. The personalized index service system presented in this paper holds the promise of resolving these problems, which is composed of an index service system and a personalized service system. The former facilitates federated resource discovery. The latter learns a model of the user's interests and uses the model to push interesting information and sort the search results, so that users are able to easily and quickly find interesting objects. The personalized service system learns the model of the user's initial interests after the user provides his/her interests, and the system updates the model according to user's access log and feedback to the search results.


Three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures are emerging as promising building blocks for a large spectrum of applications. One critical issue in integration regards mastering the thin, flat, and chemically stable insulating layer that must be implemented on the nanostructure network in order to build striking nano-architectures. In this letter, we report an innovative method for nanoscale planarization on 3D nanostructures by using hydrogen silesquioxane as a spin-on-glass (SOG) dielectric material. To decouple the thickness of the final layer from the height of the nanostructure, we propose to embed the nanowire network in the insulator layer by exploiting the planarizing properties of the SOG approach. To achieve the desired dielectric thickness, the structure is chemically etched back with a highly diluted solution to control the etch rate precisely. The roughness of the top surface was less than 2 nm. There were no surface defects and the planarity was excellent, even in the vicinity of the nanowires. This newly developed process was used to realize a multilevel stack architecture with sub-deca-nanometer-range layer thickness.


Although a large quantity of research examines women's victimisation by men in intimate relationships, little is known about the experiences of women who are university students. This is despite intimate partner aggression (IPA) being most prevalent in young people. This qualitative study sets out to address this gap by examining the experiences and associated help seeking of women attending a New Zealand university who have experienced harm from a male intimate partner. Five women voluntarily responded to an advert emailed to clients enrolled with the university student counselling service and took part in in-depth, individual semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. This analysis identified four themes related to the women's experiences of IPA and help seeking. The first theme of A prior vulnerability comprised of three subthemes each representing a factor which contributed to the women's vulnerability to entering an aggressive relationship. These were 1) a lack of life experience and understanding of partner aggression, 2) pre-existing challenges, and 3) a whirlwind relationship. The second theme Stuck described the barriers that the women faced which kept them in the relationship. These barriers were 1) a controlling environment, 2) not recognising abuse, 3) excusing the behaviour, 4) problem solver, 5) barriers to leaving the relationship, 6) barriers to help seeking and disclosure, and 7) the disempowering nature of negative help seeking experiences. The third theme Becoming unstuck comprised of four subthemes describing how the women were able to overcome the barriers and leave the relationship. These were 1) underlying resilience, 2) knowledge is power, 3) the importance of self-realisation and autonomy, and 4) the validating nature of positive help seeking experiences. The fourth theme The aftermath comprised of three subthemes demonstrating the short term and ongoing impacts of IPA. These were 1) double edge sword of freedom, 2) ongoing negative impact, and 3) healing over time. The findings highlight the importance of understanding young people's aggression within the context of the developmental stages of adolescence. Importantly the results highlight the insidious nature of control and psychological aggression and its negative impact upon young women. In addition, it highlights how the young women's lack of understanding and education about IPA kept them stuck, and how gaining knowledge was instrumental in empowering them to leave. Thus it is argued that prevention and early intervention efforts need to enhance this understanding at a societal level to improve women's help seeking experiences. These findings contribute to a wider understanding of IPA and inform university service and policy design.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is commonly diagnosed at the advanced stage and has a high mortality rate. Tripartite Motif Containing 29 (TRIM29) is an oncogene in numerous malignancies including CRC. However, the molecular mechanism of TRIM29 is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the biological functions of TRIM29 and the underlying mechanisms. The expression of TRIM29 and Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2) was predicted using the bioinformatic analysis and measured using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemical assay. The biological functions of TRIM29 were analyzed using a cell counting kit-8, EdU and transwell assays, scratch test, and flow cytometry. The interaction between TRIM29 and EZH2 was assessed using protein immunoprecipitation. The stability of EZH2 was evaluated by treating it with cycloheximide. Our results indicated that TRIM29 levels were upregulated in CRC. Overexpression of TRIM29 promoted CRC cell proliferation and migration and suppressed apoptosis. The opposite result was obtained when TRIM29 was silenced. TRIM29 interacted with EZH2 mechanically and enhanced the protein stability of EZH2. Depletion of EZH2 reversed the effects of TRIM29, regarding its biological behaviors. Moreover, downregulation of TRIM29 inhibited tumor growth and improved the histopathological prognosis. In conclusion, EZH2 interacted with silenced TRIM29 to suppress its stability, thereby inhibiting cell proliferation, migration, and tumor growth, and promoting apoptosis in CRC. Our findings suggested that TRIM29 is a promising target for CRC therapy.