A noisy disc brake vibrates in a wavelike manner with a diametral mode of vibration. The mode shape exhibits antinodes with angular spacing of a specific size related to the noise frequency and mode order. The sizes of the antinodes vary slightly with brake pressure which causes a slight change in noise frequency. If the angular spacing of the callipers is arranged such that an integer of antinodes between the callipers is not possible then the disc is inhibited from vibrating in a given mode and noise at that frequency is prevented. The paper demonstrates that at particular angular settings of the callipers certain frequencies exist yet as the angular settings are changed the disc mode order and related frequency changes. It is shown that the frequencies can be related to the angular spacing between the callipers and the free mode angular spacing of the disc waveform antinodes. An analysis of the geometry allowed the brake noise frequency to be predicted for a certain angular setting of the callipers and specific angular settings to be predicted when the brake would be quiet. It is shown that this analysis was successfully applied in practice on the test rig and on the problematic vehicle. It is shown that the theory may be extended to single calliper brakes and adjustment of the pad/disc interface geometry. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E113232.


The Legend of Lord Eight Deer is a retelling of the great epic saga of the Mixtec people of Mexico recorded in pictographs painted on deer-hide codices more than 500 years ago. The legend begins with the mysterious murder of three princes and unfolds as Lord Eight Deer embarks on a quest to rule his kingdom that takes him to the gates of the Sun God himself. It is a story of breathtaking beauty-a story of gods and kings, heroes and princesses, thieves and holy men, and the betrayal of love. John Pohl's vivid retelling and dazzling illustrations brings to life the last great flowering of Mesoamerican civilization. "The Story Behind the Story," an illustrated section immediately following the retelling, offers a dynamic look at the history, religion, warfare, and daily life of the Mixtec people, the ancient codices, and the legacy of the tale today.


The Area Studied During the last four years of war the British military base in France has included practically all the seaports from Calais to Le Havre, and the roughly triangular area between this coast and the part of the front held by them was traversed by their lines of communication and occupied by base depots, training camps, hospitals, rest camps, railway construction troops, and other auxiliary forces to an extent which involved a very large temporary increase in its normal population. It is nearly all underlain by the chalk formation, with the exception of Jurassic areas around Boulogne and to the southwest of Amiens, a Tertiary area which covers the Belgian part of the front and extends nearly as far west as Calais, and another between the Somme and Canche rivers to the north of Amiens. To the south of the line of highlands which runs southeastwardly from Cape Gris Nez the . . .


The most important and celebrated chapter in the history of Bangladesh is its nine-month long Liberation War (Muktijuddho in Bengali) of 1971. My research explores the ways in which memories and histories of the war are shaped by the gender dynamics of nationalism in different periods through examining war-themed films of Bangladesh. By covering both mainstream and alternative war films produced just before, during and after the war, from 1970 to 2011, I trace the various ways in which men and women are represented in war films and construct the idea of nation. I also aim to unpack the politics and aesthetics of war films, contextualizing them as they intersect with the socio-historical contexts. Employing textual and visual analyses with using solid theoretical scholarship, both from the East and the West, concerning cinematic representation of the past, women and nation, I argue that the different power structures of men and women constructed in war films are in accordance with the dominant ideology of the society.
 The Liberation War was a people's war, involving manifold participation of both men and women from different classes, religions and localities. Despite this reality, cinematic representations of the War have always portrayed the combat experience as an exclusively masculine enterprise. By contrast, women have been constructed in the films as passive victims or in subordinate roles. Woman is valorized in one instance, in her idealized portrayal as the 'mother-nation'; this iconic projection of woman, however, highlights men's heroic defence of their motherland. On the other hand, female rape victims in the war are framed as shame or dishonour for the nation and are offered a customary exclusion by suicide, death or occasionally by some other means at the end of the war films. I have argued that war films exclude the raped women from the narratives in order to maintain a perceived purity of the nationalist discourse, following the national politics, culture and historiography of Bangladesh.


Plasmodium resistance of antimalarial drugs has been a major public health threat worldwide. New treatments are urgently required to harness and eradicate malaria in developing countries. One of the ways to overcome this issue is to develop new therapy from medicinal plants. The purpose of this study is to determine antiplasmodium activities from bark extract of Delonix regia and leaf extract of Carica papaya L., also to compare each ratio combination to find the most effective bioactivity. The experimental design was examined in eleven groups of mice, consisted of the positive control, negative control, Delonix regia bark extract with three different doses (4.80, 9.75, and 15.5 mg/g body weight/body weight of mice), Carica papaya leaves extract with three different doses (4.80, 9.75 mg/g, 15.5 mg/g body weight/BW of mice), and three combinations of Delonix regia and Carica papaya L., with ratio of 1:1, 1:3, and 3:1, respectively. The extract treatments were given daily for five days and on each day the parasite density were evaluated. Parasitemia examination was performed on before and after the treatment by performing blood smear preparation stained with Giemsa stain. The results showed that the plant extracts increased a drastically inhibition in combination of Delonix regia and Carica papaya L with ratio of 1:1 by showing its efficacy in rectifying immune conditions in Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. Meanwhile, each single dose of Delonix regia and Carica papaya L in 9.75 mg/g showed the highest inhibition rate compared in 4.80 and 15.5 mg/g, respectively. Histological examination of liver tissues of treated and untreated mice further supports the potential antimalaria of this plant. This examination validates the traditional use of this plant for the treatment of malaria.


Background/Aims: Subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD) improves motor symptoms and quality of life (QOL). Because depression is a potent correlate of QOL, and STN-DBS may be associated with changes in mood, this study sought to determine whether QOL improvement is a direct or indirect consequence of motor improvement. Methods: 26 patients with PD, free of dementia and major depression, who consecutively underwent bilateral, microelectrode-guided STN-DBS, underwent preoperative and 3-month postoperative neuropsychological evaluation, including measures of QOL (PD Questionnaire –39) and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory). Results: Motor score in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS Part III) improved significantly with STN-DBS relative to preoperative 'on' and 'off' scores, as did QOL and depressive symptoms. Extent of QOL improvement tended to be associated with improvement in motor score from presurgical on to postsurgical on stimulation and on medication state. QOL improvement was significantly related to amelioration of depressive symptoms. Partial correlations revealed that the association between QOL improvement and depression remained significant when influence of motor improvement on QOL and depression was controlled for. The motor-QOL association was no longer significant when effects of depression were controlled for. Conclusions: Significant QOL improvements after STN-DBS are associated with improved motor 'on' state and depressive symptoms. The influence of motor improvement on QOL may be largely indirect by reducing depression.


The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contains an extracellular thread conserved in vertebrates, the Reissner fiber, which controls body axis morphogenesis in the zebrafish embryo. Yet, the signaling cascade originating from this fiber to ensure body axis straightening is not understood. Here, we explore the functional link between the Reissner fiber and undifferentiated spinal neurons contacting the CSF (CSF-cNs). First, we show that the Reissner fiber is required in vivo for the expression of urp2, a neuropeptide expressed in CSF-cNs. We show that the Reissner fiber is also required for embryonic calcium transients in these spinal neurons. Finally, we study how local adrenergic activation can substitute for the Reissner fiber-signaling pathway to CSF-cNs and rescue body axis morphogenesis. Our results show that the Reissner fiber acts on CSF-cNs and thereby contributes to establish body axis morphogenesis, and suggest it does so by controlling the availability of a chemical signal in the CSF.


Samples were taken at each stage of brewing (malt, milling, mashing, wort separation, hop addition, boiling, whirlpool, dilution, fermentation, warm rest, chill-lagering, beer filtration, carbonation and bottling, pasteurization, and storage). The level of antioxidant activity of unfractionated, low-molecular-mass (LMM) and high-molecular-mass (HMM) fractions was measured by the 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation (ABTS*+) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) procedures. Polyphenol levels were assessed by HPLC. The LMM fraction (<5 kDa) was responsible for ∼80% of the level of antioxidant activity of the unfractionated malt and beer samples. In the unfractionated samples, significant decreases (P < 0.001) in antioxidant activity levels were observed after milling and beer filtration, with the decrease after beer filtration being accompanied by a significant decrease (P < 0.001) in catechin and ferulic acid levels. Increases in antioxidant activity levels were observed after mashing, boiling, fermentation, chill-lagering, and pasteurization, in line with previous studies on lager. Additionally, increases in the level of antioxidant activity occurred after wort separation and carbonation and bottling and were accompanied by increases in levels of most monitored polyphenols. Data from the ABTS*+ and FRAP assays indicated that the compounds contributing to the levels of antioxidant activity responded differently in the two procedures. Levels of ferulic, vanillic, and chlorogenic acids and catechin accounted for 45–61% of the variation in antioxidant activity levels.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) gene variation is associated with a range of important estrogen-dependent characteristics, including responses of lipid profile and atherosclerotic severity to hormone replacement therapy, coronary heart disease risk, and migraine. The roles that reproductive steroids play in cerebrovascular pathophysiology and ischemia are an important area of investigation. Given that there is a significantly higher risk of myocardial infarction among men with the CC genotype (PP of PvuII) of c.454-397T>C (rs2234693), we asked whether this genotype is associated with a higher risk of stroke.

METHODS
Relative risk of stroke by genotype was determined in 2709 participants of the Second Northwick Park Heart Study, white males with a mean baseline age 56 years and follow up 10.5 years.

RESULTS
Compared with participants with the ESR1 c.454-397CT or TT genotype, those with the CC genotype had a relative risk of stroke of 1.92 (95% confidence interval, 1.06 to 3.48, P=0.03) after adjustment for age, primary care practice; additional adjustment for body mass index, serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking status. Exclusion of stroke cases with coronary heart disease gave results that were essentially unchanged.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, subjects with the common ESR1 c.454-397CC genotype have a substantial increase in risk of stroke. In another publication, other ESR1 variation was associated with migraine. We thus hypothesize that estrogen receptor variation may provide a basis for the established relationship among estrogens, migraine, and stroke.


The present reference drugs for the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia are imipramine and alprazolam. The latter decreases performance and cognitive functioning. No study of such functions in panic/agoraphobia is available. Fifty four out-patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PAG), taking part in a parallel groups controlled trial of imipramine (mean dose ±SEM 114±9 mg), clomipramine (50±4 mg) and propanteline (active placebo) over 8 weeks, were studied. A test battery of psychomotor and memory tests was administered at baseline, and after 1, 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. Their results were compared (at baseline and at the end of the trial) with those of a control group of 57 normal untreated subjects. There was no difference between treatments, and no drug effect on any test at any time. No consistent difference between patients and controls was detected. Given its apparently higher potency, and the absence of deleterious effects on cognitive measures known to be affected by benzodiazepines, we conclude that clomipramine is better than imipramine or alprazolam as a reference drug for panic/agoraphobia.


Cyanobacteria constitute a unique group of eubacteria, possessing outer and plasma membranes as well as internal thylakoid membranes, the site for both photosynthesis and respiration. The combination of sucrose density centrifugation and two-phase partitioning methods leads to purification of different membranes from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (referred to as Synechocystis). The standard proteomics methods, based on 1D- and 2D-gel electrophoresis, followed by protein digestion and MALDI-TOF MS, led to identification of 76 thylakoid and 51 plasma membrane proteins. In order to increase the number of identified proteins a shotgun proteomics approach was employed. Proteins were digested in complex mixtures, followed by LC separation of obtained peptides coupled to MS/MS. This approach led to identification of 379 different thylakoid and plasma membrane proteins, of which 124 were integral membrane proteins. The complex membrane organization of Synechocystis requires a unique system for transport and sorting of proteins into extracytosolic cell compartments. Obtained gel-based and shotgun proteomics data as well as results of the multivariate sequence analysis of both soluble and integral membrane proteins allowed to suggest a new mechanism for membrane organization and protein sorting in Synechocystis. The plasma and thylakoid membranes are proposed to be dynamically connected and both soluble and integral membrane proteins are inserted into connection points. The Synechocystis genome possesses two genes encoding leader peptidases. Proteomic studies revealed that Sll0716 is localized in the thylakoid membrane (LepT), whereas Slr1377 in the plasma membrane (LepP). The BN/SDS-PAGE of the total membranes from mutant LepT revealed that LepT is directly involved in the processing of several photosynthetic and lumenal subunits, required for the assembly and function of PSI and maintaining of the thylakoid membrane organization in Synechocystis.


Results from the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) on victimization show that of the 19.2 million Canadians in the provinces who had a current or former spouse or common law partner, about 4% (760,000 individuals) reported having been physically and/or sexually abused by their partner during the preceding five years. This was significantly fewer than what was reported a decade earlier in 2004 (7%).


SUMMARY: We present BlastPhyMe (BLAST, Phylogenies, and Molecular Evolution) a new application to facilitate the fast and easy generation and analysis of protein-coding sequence datasets. The application uses a portable database framework to manage and organize sequences along with a graphical user interface (GUI) that makes the application extremely easy to use. BlastPhyMe utilizes several existing services and applications in a unique way that save researchers considerable time when building and analyzing protein-coding datasets. The application consists of two modules that can be used separately or together. The first module enables the assembly of coding sequence datasets. BLAST searches can be used to obtain all related sequences of interest from NCBI. Full GenBank records are saved within the database and coding sequences are automatically extracted. A feature of particular note is that sequences can be sorted based on NCBI taxonomic hierarchy before export to MEGA for visualization. The application provides GUIs for automatic alignment of sequences with the popular tools MUSCLE and PRANK, as well as for reconstructing phylogenetic trees using PhyML. The second module incorporates selection analyses using codon-based likelihood methods. The alignments and phylogenetic trees generated with the dataset module, or those generated elsewhere, can be used to run the models implemented in the codeml PAML package. A GUI allows easy selection of models and parameters. Importantly, replicate analyses with different parameter starting values can be automatically performed in order to ensure selection of the best-fitting model. Multiple analyses can be run simultaneously based on the number of processor cores available, while additional analyses will be run iteratively until completed. Results are saved within the database and can be exported to publication-ready Excel tables, which further automatically compute the appropriate likelihood ratio test between models in order to determine statistical significance. Future updates will add additional options for phylogenetic reconstruction (eg, MrBayes) and selection analyses (eg, HYPHY). BlastPhyMe saves researches of all bioinformatics experience levels considerable time by automating the numerous tasks required for the generation and analysis of protein-coding sequence datasets using a straightforward graphical interface. AVAILABILITY: Installation package and source code available from blastphyme.codeplex.com CONTACT: email@example.com


We are recently experiencing an unprecedented explosion of available data coming from the Web, sensors readings, scientific databases, government authorities and more. Such datasets could benefit from the introduction of rule sets encoding commonly accepted rules or facts, application- or domain-specific rules, com-monsense knowledge etc. This raises the question of whether, how, and to what extent knowledge representation methods are capable of handling huge amounts of data for these applications. In this paper, we consider inconsistency-tolerant reasoning in the form of defeasible logic, and analyze how parallelization, using the MapReduce framework, can be used to reason with defeasible rules over huge datasets. We extend previous work by dealing with predicates of arbitrary arity, under the assumption of stratification. Moving from unary to multi-arity predicates is a decisive step towards practical applications, e.g. reasoning with linked open (RDF) data. Our experimental results demonstrate that defeasible reasoning with millions of data is performant, and has the potential to scale to billions of facts.


Interacting with a smartwatch is difficult owing to its small touchscreen. A general strategy to overcome the limitations of the small screen is to increase the input vocabulary. A popular approach to do this is to distinguish fingers and assign different functions to them. As a finger identification method for a smartwatch, we propose FingMag, a machine-learning-based method that identifies the finger on the screen with the help of a ring. For this identification, the finger's touch position and the magnetic field from a magnet embedded in the ring are used. In an offline evaluation using data collected from 12 participants, we show that FingMag can identify the finger with an accuracy of 96.21% in stationary geomagnetic conditions.


Medical service is one of the crucial policies and decent medical service is required by the population in every country. There are three main obstacles which prevent people from obtaining proper medical cares and treatments. First, the deficiency of medical staffs especially physicians which occur even in the developed countries. Second, regarding an important demographic issue, an increase in the number of the elderly makes the medical services more demanding. Finally, geographical aspect also plays a major role in healthcare inequality. The population dwelling in rural or remote areas struggle from accessing proper medical services. Information and communication technologies have become an important infrastructure upon which several domains can build in order to achieve more effective solutions. Integrating such technologies into the medical discipline results in telemedicine which is currently available across the globe. This article describes telemedicine in three key aspects including current state, challenges and opportunities based upon existing studies and implementations.


: The study is concerned with development of equipment for forming circular compression intestinal anastomosis using the "form memory" effect and super-elasticity of titanium nickelide. A sequence of technological operations is suggested, experimental tests and clinical trials carried out and immediate and end-results for anterior resection in rectal cancer are evaluated. Compression equipment for forming colorectal anastomosis proved reliable in long-term operation.


In this section authors from various European countries report the recent case law in their jurisdiction in the field of private patrimonial law, that is decisions on the law of property, juridical acts, the law of obligations, contract law and prescription. The ERPL started this section in 2003. The section aims to give readers an overview of what is happening in the most recent European case law. We have asked the national reporters to report the juridical essence of the decisions given by the highest courts in their country. These national reports are integrated in one general report that arranges the decisions by subject, so that readers can easily find out whether decisions on their special interest were given in any European jurisdiction or whether decisions on one subject have been taken in various European jurisdictions. In principle, this section does not relate the facts of the decision, nor the personal opinion of the reporter. One can find discussions of the most important decisions of European courts in ERPL?s case note section.


Inappropriate use of chemical pesticide in horticultural production is an emerging problem causing undesirable human health and environmental effects in developing countries including Kenya. Thus, objective of this study is to evaluate the determinants of the intensity of uptake of alternative pest control methods among small-scale tomato farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 384 tomato farmers. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire administered by trained enumerators. Alternative pest control methods which were identified during the survey were categorized into four groups using principal component analysis. Determinants of the intensity of uptake of alternative pest control methods were estimated using multivariate tobit model. Group membership, age, education and number of training increased the intensity of uptake of alternative methods. Participation in off-farm activities and farm size decreased the intensity of uptake of alternative methods. These results indicate that farmers' awareness that involves comprehensive training programs and enhancing the capacity of farmer groups as change agents is warranted. Moreover, these research findings could also inform policymakers while formulating and implementing targeted interventions aimed at promoting the use of alternative pest control methods that minimize negative health and environmental effects from overuse of pesticides.

 Key words: Alternative pest control, pesticides, intensity, food safety, multivariate tobit model.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the 2nd leading cause of cancer related-death in Canada. Clinical responses of metastatic (m)CRC to first-line treatment range from 35 to 60%, but even responders inevitably develop therapeutic resistance. Studies aiming at understanding mechanisms of resistance have largely investigated primary tumors. However, selective pressures during therapy can lead to the expansion of resistant clones and tumor heterogeneity. This highlights the need to characterize the molecular changes of metastasis and plasma over time of treatment and response to decipher tumor evolution and therapeutic resistance mechanisms. In this multicenter study, 52 tissue samples from liver metastasis were collected at baseline (pre-biopsies) and at the time of resistance (post-biopsies) in responder and non-responder mCRC patients (n=44) undergoing the same standard first-line treatments. Multiple post-biopsies also have been harvested in 4 patients, to allow the assessment of tumor heterogeneity and as well as the evolution of the genomic complexity after treatment exposure. Analyses were carried out across multiple omic platforms to identify resistant signatures and characterize molecular changes during treatment. Biopsies were profiled using exome and transcriptome sequencing as well as high-density SNP array analysis to capture chromosomal anomalies, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and copy number variations (CNV). Additionally, serial blood samples were collected for proteomic, ctDNA and cytokine analysis. Our preliminary analysis of transcriptomes performed on serial biopsies from a set of 11 patients identified genes consistently overexpressed at resistance. Cytogenetics analysis showed similar genomic profiles of matched pre- and post-biopsies and allowed the establishment of LOH and CNV catalogues of liver metastasis, while exome sequencing revealed cumulative somatic mutations over time of treatment, which suggests subclonal and acquired "driver" mutations of resistance. Plasma-derived ctDNA analysis was performed to investigate the mutational status during treatment and whether they correlate with their relative levels in biopsies. Immune gene expression analysis of a test set of 27 metastases revealed strong clustering of 7 metastases due to overexpression of transcripts related to active immune response, allowing to define novel subgroups of patients based on immune response status. Our study, using a multi-omic strategy and integration of independent molecular platforms to profile liver metastasis samples of responder and non-responder mCRC patients, constitutes an innovative approach to identify clinical biomarkers and molecular signature of resistance, which may enhance individualization of cancer medicine and customized therapy. Citation Format: Karen Gambaro, Maud Marques, Ryan Morin, Claudia Kleinman, Michael Witcher, Simon Turcotte, Benoit Samson, Bernard Lesperance, Yoo-Joung Ko, Richard Dalfen, Eve St-Hilaire, Lucas Sideris, Felix Couture, Sabine Tejpar, Ronald Burkes, Mohammed Harb, Francine Aubin, Thierry Alcindor, Errol Camlioglu, Adriana Aguilar, Mathilde Couetoux du Tertre1, Suzan McNamara, Adrian Gologan, Petr Kavan, Gerald Batist. Integrating multiomics discovery approaches to identify biomarkers of therapeutic resistance in metastatic colorectal cancer through analyses of multiple sequential tumor and liquid biopsies; Qcroc01: NCT00984048 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2795. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2795


BACKGROUND: The duodenal ulcer always represented a very prevalent pathology among the gastrointestinal tract diseases worldwide. The average prevalence is approximately 10% of the world population. In the 90s the literature (both European and North American) begin to show a crescent reduction of this prevalence in many countries. AIM: To show through a retrospective analysis the annual prevalence of the duodenal ulcer in the last 10 years in a Digestive Endoscopy Service which is referred to public medical system in Porto Alegre and its suburban area and countryside of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The data analyzed is from March 1996 to December 2005. Specific data: transversal retrospective study with documented analysis of endoscopic diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the diagnosis of the 13.130 procedures of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy between 1996 and 2005. The Sakita classification was used to verify the duodenal ulcer activity taking into consideration the patients who have lesions on A1 to S1 levels. To verify if there was a statistical significant results, a linear regression test was done (linear regression model). RESULTS: A gradate decrease of the prevalence percentuals was observed, year after year, it began with 8.3% of prevalence in 1996 and finished with 3.3% in the beginning of 2006. The average annual reduction of this prevalence was calculated following the regression test and it was placed in the 1.3% a year in the studied period of time. In 2003, in an isolated way, it was an exception in the decrease of the percentage because it presented a prevalence increase of (6.5%) comparing to the first 6 years of study. CONCLUSION: In this study it was observed a decrease of duodenal ulcer prevalence, 1.3% a year to be more accurate in 10 years of study, showing a statistical significance in the linear regression test.


Under contract with the Public Transit Office of the FLorida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) has conducted a performance evaluation of Florida's transit systems. This report is based on data from federally-required National Transit Database reports, which are submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for each fiscal year by systems receiving Section 9 funding. FTA, which has required these data since 1979, provides extensive documentation on how the data are to be collected and reported, and requires auditor certification of the submitted data. NTD reports are the best single source of data for reviewing transit system performance because these data are standardized, undergo extensive review, and are the result of a substantial data collection and reporting process by the transit systems. Some NTD data are used by FTA and by states and localities for calculating formulae for the allocation of funding to transit systems. As a result, the data are extremely important to transit agencies.


The focus of this paper is to review the financial position of panchayats in India. The analysis is based on the secondary sources of information. It reveals that the panchayats have very little fiscal autonomy. The locally raised revenues are very negligible. The funds flow from higher level governments are very low and lack any devolution design or principles. The transfers are made at the convenience and mercy of such governments.


How much have we learnt about krill since the Discovery era? The recent decades have further allowed various multi-disciplinary studies, technological development and new modelling approaches and revealed various exciting and interesting lifestyle of krill. After browsing through the literature, topics on krill link to ice, their depth distribution or krill ecology in different trajectories, interestingly, despite having flows of new findings it seems that almost 100 years of krill research the view on these topics in the end have not changed much. One good example is the myth "krill (adults and Larvae) feeding on ice algae during mid-winter". The majority of observations at this time of the year do not support this view for adult krill and also on larvae it is not conclusive. However, when it comes to hypothesis on krill overwintering the community tends to omit these facts. Why?? In this talk I outline these almost contrasting views, try to find explanations why myths and legends are so resistant in the science community and that this fact strongly impede opening new avenues in krill research and funding opportunities.


Pregnant mothers in Bangladesh are exposed to very high and worsening levels of ambient air pollution. Maternal exposure to fine particulate matter has been associated with low birth weight at much lower levels of exposure, leading us to suspect the potentially large effects of air pollution on stunting in children in Bangladesh. We estimate the relationship between exposure to air pollution in utero and child stunting by pooling outcome data from four waves of the nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey conducted between 2004 and 2014, and calculating children's exposure to ambient fine particulate matter in utero using high resolution satellite data. We find significant increases in the relative risk of child stunting, wasting, and underweight with higher levels of in utero exposure to air pollution, after controlling for other factors that have been found to contribute to child anthropometric failure. We estimate the relative risk of stunting in the second, third, and fourth quartiles of exposure as 1.074 (95% confidence interval: 1.014–1.138), 1.150 (95% confidence interval: 1.069–1.237, and 1.132 (95% confidence interval: 1.031–1.243), respectively. Over half of all children in Bangladesh in our sample were exposed to an annual ambient fine particulate matter level in excess of 46 µg/m3; these children had a relative risk of stunting over 1.13 times that of children in the lowest quartile of exposure. Reducing air pollution in Bangladesh could significantly contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing child stunting.


Abstract. Rhythmic seismicity associated with spine extrusion is a well-documented phenomenon at a number of dome-forming volcanic systems. At Unzen volcano, Japan, a 4-year dome-forming eruption concluded with the emplacement of a spine from October 1994 to February 1995, offering a valuable opportunity to further investigate seismogenic processes at dome-forming volcanoes. Using continuous data recorded at a seismic station located close to the dome, this study explores trends in the seismic activity during the extrusion of the spine. We identify a total of 12 208 volcano-seismic events in the period between October 1994 and February 1995. Hourly event counts indicate cyclic activity with periods of ∼ 40 to ∼ 100 h, attributed to pulsatory ascent defined by strain localisation and faulting at the conduit margins. Waveform correlation revealed two strong clusters (a.k.a. multiplets, families) which are attributed to fracturing along the margins of the shallow, ascending spine. Further analysis indicates variable seismic velocities during the spine extrusion as well as migration of the cluster sources along the spine margins. Our interpretation of the results from seismic data analyses is supported by previously published field and experimental observations, suggesting that the spine was extruded along an inclined conduit with brittle and ductile deformation occurring along the margins. We infer that changes in stress conditions acting on the upper and lower spine margins led to deepening and shallowing of the faulting sources, respectively. We demonstrate that the combination of geophysical, field and experimental evidence can help improve physical models of shallow conduit processes.


The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the use of social media (SM) as a relationship marketing tool (RM) in the context of professional sport in North America. The specific objectives are (i) to explore the use of social media in meeting relationship marketing goals within the context of professional sport, (ii) to explore how professional sport teams' managers see the opportunities of social media in meeting relationship marketing goals, (iii) to explore how professional sport teams' managers see the challenges of social media in meeting relationship marketing goals, and (iv) to examine the benefits of social media, if any, in enhancing long-term relationships with their favourite sport team from the perspective of fans of professional sport teams. Guided by a pragmatist philosophical worldview, the project adopted a multi-domain qualitative research approach. The multi-domain approach reflects the three data sources (i.e., the medium-SM platform, organization-professional teams, and consumers-sport fans). Putting an individual emphasis on each of these three data sources, three different but interrelated studies are conducted to accomplish the overall purpose of the dissertation using an article-based format. The first study, guided by the relationship marketing theoretical framework, adopted a netnographic method to investigate professional sport teams' use of Twitter as an RM tool. Specifically, the study focused on the three core components of RM: communication, interaction, and value. The netnography is based on data gathered from the official Twitter account of 20 professional sport teams from the four major leagues from August 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016. Results outline seven emergent communication types, six interaction practices, and ten values (co)created by the teams or/and fans. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as impetus for future research are identified. SOCIAL MEDIA AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING IN SPORT iii The second study aimed at obtaining a first-hand and an in-depth understanding of the role, opportunities, and challenges of SM in meeting RM goals from the perspective of senior managers of professional sport teams. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 managers from the four major leagues professional sport teams in North America. Results outline the platforms adopted, six intended objectives, seven opportunities and seven challenges of SM as an RM medium. A list of theoretical and practical implications, and impetus for future research is provided. The purpose of the third study was to first gain an empirically supported understanding of the role and benefits of SM as an RM tool from the perspective of professional sport fans and, following that, to identify, specify, verify, and refine the emergent benefits. The study employed an adaptation of the focus group method, dubbed the 'sequential funnel-based focus group', which is a multiphase, step-wise version of the established method. The sequential funnel-based focus group is conceptualized, developed, described, and used in this work as a research method. The adaptation allowed the identification of benefits of SM as a medium that enhances long-term relationships through a series of funnel-based focus group discussions in three sequential phases. A total of 10 focus groups with 81 participants took part in the study. The work identified seven major benefits (and 15 sub-categories of benefits) that fans see as opportunities presented by SM as a medium to enhance long-term relationship with their team. Theoretical contributions, practical recommendations, and directions for future research are provided. The findings from the three studies are integrated to construct a multi-dimensionally informed and comprehensive understanding of the use of SM in RM in professional sport. In general, data gathered from the perspective of the three domains (i.e., medium/SM platform, organizational/ professional teams, and consumers/sport fans) informed that SM is providing new directions to RM, making it an effective and affordable channel in realizing RM goals in SOCIAL MEDIA AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING IN SPORT iv professional sport context. The thesis also produced empirical evidence of the opportunities that SM presents and the challenges that it poses in terms of meeting RM goals in the context of professional sport. Informed by the studies data, the dissertation also extended Grönroos's (2004) RM process model through the lens of SM in professional sport context. Contributions to scholarship, practical recommendations, directions for future research, and the limitations of the dissertation are provided. SOCIAL MEDIA AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING IN SPORT v


This paper aims to explore how housing allowances and mortgage interest tax relief have evolved in recent years, against the background of falling disposable incomes and rising housing costs. The analysis focuses on seven EU countries (Greece, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK), covering a range of housing market developments and housing policy responses. The first part of the paper provides an overview of housing market trends over the period following the financial crisis and examines recent changes in housing policies in the countries concerned. The next part discusses the main features of two specific housing policy instruments, housing allowance and mortgage interest tax relief, also exploring recent changes there and the motives behind these. The last part estimates the distributional impact of housing allowances and mortgage tax relief in 2016 as compared with 2007 using the European tax-benefit model EUROMOD. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and of the policy implications.Â


Longitudinal relaxation time in the rotating frame (T1ρ) was measured using continuous wave irradiation in normal and infarcted mouse myocardium in vivo. Significant increase in T1ρ was found after 7 days of infarction when compared with reference myocardium or in myocardium before infarction. Cine MRI and histology were performed to verify the severity of infarction. The time course of T1ρ in the infarct fits better with granulation and scar tissue formation than necrosis and edema. The results of the study show that T1ρ could potentially be a noninvasive quantitative marker for tissue remodeling after ischemic damage. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Physical systems with very large number of variables (saywith tens of thousands of variables) may be solved with already available digital computers by tearing the system apart into a large number of small subdivisions, solving each subdivision separately, afterward interconnecting the partial solutions by a set of transformations to obtain outright the exact solution of the original system, Among the many advantages of the tearing (or tensorial) method is the red 3 ction of the amount of original calculations to a small fraction of about 2/n 9 where n is the number of subdivisions. Another advantage is the reduction of the number of elements in inverse matrices to a fraction smaller than l/fi.


We examined the effects of a 12‐week program of Nordic hamstring exercises (NHE), administered before or after football training, upon eccentric hamstring strength, muscle activity, and architectural adaptations. Amateur soccer players were randomized into three groups. The control group (CON; n=11) undertook core stability exercises, whereas a periodized NHE program was delivered either before (NHEBEF; n=10) or after (NHEAFT; n=14) biweekly training sessions. Outcome measures included peak torque and concomitant normalized peak surface electromyography signals (sEMG) of the biceps femoris (BF) and medial hamstring (MH) muscles during knee flexor maximal eccentric contractions, performed at 30°·s−1. Ultrasonography was used to determine BF muscle thickness, muscle fiber pennation angle, and fascicle length. Performing the NHE derived likely moderate peak torque increases in both NHEBEF (+11.9%; 90% confidence interval: 3.6%‐20.9%) and NHEAFT (+11.6%; 2.6%‐21.5%) vs CON. Maximum sEMG increases were moderately greater in the BF of both NHE training groups vs CON. There were likely moderate increases in BF muscle thickness (+0.17 cm; 0.05‐0.29 cm) and likely small pennation angle increases (+1.03°; −0.08° to 2.14°) in NHEAFT vs CON and NHEBEF. BF fascicle length increases were likely greater in NHEBEF (+1.58 cm; 0.48‐2.68 cm; small effect) vs CON and NHEAFT. A 12‐week eccentric hamstring strengthening program increased strength and sEMG to a similar magnitude irrespective of its scheduling relative to the football training session. However, architectural adaptations to support the strength gains differed according to the timing of the injury prevention program.


This paper presents a new direct active and reactive power control (DPC) of grid-connected doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)-based wind turbine systems. The proposed DPC strategy employs a nonlinear sliding-mode control scheme to directly calculate the required rotor control voltage so as to eliminate the instantaneous errors of active and reactive powers without involving any synchronous coordinate transformations. Thus, no extra current control loops are required, thereby simplifying the system design and enhancing the transient performance. Constant converter switching frequency is achieved by using space vector modulation, which eases the designs of the power converter and the ac harmonic filter. Simulation results on a 2-MW grid-connected DFIG system are provided and compared with those of classic voltage-oriented vector control (VC) and conventional lookup table (LUT) DPC. The proposed DPC provides enhanced transient performance similar to the LUT DPC and keeps the steady-state harmonic spectra at the same level as the VC strategy.


AIMS
Heart failure (HF) is characterized by an overactivation of β-adrenergic signaling that directly contributes to impairment of myocardial function. Moreover, β-adrenergic overactivation induces adipose tissue lipolysis, which may further worsen the development of HF. Recently we demonstrated that adipose tissue-specific deletion of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) prevents pressure-mediated HF in mice. In this study, we investigated the cardioprotective effects of a new pharmacological inhibitor of ATGL, Atglistatin, predominantly targeting ATGL in adipose tissue, on catecholamine-induced cardiac damage.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Male 129/Sv mice received repeated injections of isoproterenol (ISO, 25 mg/kg BW) to induce cardiac damage. Five days prior to ISO application, oral Atglistatin (2 mmol/kg diet) or control treatment was started. Two and twelve days after the last ISO injection cardiac function was analyzed by echocardiography. The myocardial deformation was evaluated using speckle-tracking-technique. Twelve days after the last ISO injection, echocardiographic analysis revealed a markedly impaired global longitudinal strain, which was significantly improved by application of Atglistatin. No changes of ejection fraction were observed. Further studies included histological-, WB-, and RT-qPCR-based analysis of cardiac tissue, followed by cell culture experiments and mass spectrometry-based lipidome analysis. ISO application induced subendocardial fibrosis and a profound pro-apoptotic cardiac response, as demonstrated using an apoptosis-specific gene expression-array. Atglistatin treatment led to a dramatic reduction of these pro-fibrotic and pro-apoptotic processes. We then identified a specific set of fatty acids (FAs) liberated from adipocytes under ISO stimulation (palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid and oleic acid), which induced pro-apoptotic effects in cardiomyocytes. Atglistatin significantly blocked this adipocytic FA secretion.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrates cardioprotective effects of Atglistatin in a mouse model of catecholamine-induced cardiac damage/dysfunction, involving anti-apoptotic and anti-fibrotic actions. Notably, beneficial cardioprotective effects of Atglistatin are likely mediated by non-cardiac actions, supporting the concept that pharmacological targeting of adipose tissue may provide an effective way to treat cardiac dysfunction.

TRANSLATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The pharmacological inhibition of ATGL activity in adipose tissue improves heart function in a murine model of catecholamine-induced myocardial damage, via significant reduction of cardiac apoptosis and fibrosis. Our data strongly support the role of an adipose tissue-heart communication in the development of cardiac diseases, associated with increased sympathetic-tone. Atglistatin beneficial actions were only mild, when applied after the catecholamine-induced damage in a therapeutic manner. However, when given prior to the event in a preventive manner, Atglistatin strongly protected against cardiac damage. These data suggest that an Atglistatin-based therapy may be more suitable as a new pharmacological option in cardiovascular prevention.


BACKGROUND
Patient temperature during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is commonly managed by dedicated heating units (HUs) that are integrated into ECMO circuitry. Currently, no HU has received approval for ECMO by the FDA in the United States. Older FDA-approved HUs have been implicated in life-threatening patient infections and are no longer manufactured or available for use in the United States.

METHODS
We performed laboratory tests to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Micro-Temp and the HTP-1500 HU systems that are potentially suitable for use in ECMO and describe our initial experience with the HTP-1500 HU after being placed in clinical service.

RESULTS
Both units demonstrated similar heating efficacy, with the HTP-1500 achieving steady-state temperature approximately 5 h earlier than the Micro-Temp. Microorganisms were detected in the water compartment of all HUs prior to and after performing the manufacturer's recommended cleaning procedure, and after implementation of the HTP-1500 into clinical use we observed a decrease in the rate of bloodstream infection/ECMO days which did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSION
Based on the results of this analysis and our institutional experience, we believe that integration of the HTP-1500 HU, an easily replaceable HU, into ECMO systems may reduce the risk of bacterial contamination and thus nosocomial infection when the devices are cleaned and maintained according to manufacturer's guidelines.


Metastatic gastric tumors (MGTs) mean the tumor cells that attack the stomach and grow there through blood vessel, lymph vessel, and other pathway, consistent with the primary tumor in phenotype, which are clinically uncommon, and information on MGTs is generally limited to single case reports. Here we present a clinical series of 8 cases with MGTs, in attention to discuss the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment, and prognosis of MGTs. Our data showed that MGTs are rare, with a male predominance, and the cause of death was multiple organ metastases in most cases. Heterochromous MGTs showed a significantly better prognosis than simultaneous MGTs, and a long interval between initial radical excision of the primary tumor and appearance of gastric metastasis was found to be associated with good prognosis.


Developing expertise in professional noticing of students' mathematical thinking takes time and meaningful learning experiences. We used the LessonSketch platform to create a learning experience for secondary preservice teachers (PSTs) involving an approximation of teaching practice to formatively assess PSTs' noticing skills of students' mathematical thinking. Our study showed that approximations of teaching practice embedded within platforms like LessonSketch can enable mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) to carry out effective formative assessment of PSTs' professional noticing of students' mathematical thinking that is meaningful for both PSTs and MTEs. The experience itself as well as its design features and framework used with the assessment can be applied in the work of MTEs who develop teachers' professional noticing skills of students' mathematical thinking.


Using the clinical quantification of the neurologic symptomatology the authors made observations and avaliated the action of Ciba 34.647-Ba, a GABA derivative, in 12 patients suffering from spasticity and motor incapacity due to spinal cord lesions. The results are reported emphasizing the effects of the drug on the main components of spasticity (hypertonus, hyperactivity of the deep reflexes, clonus and automatisms). Some theories explaining the mechanism of action of the drug are mentioned. References are made about doses, duration of action, tolerance and side-effects.


Line mixing effects have been calculated in various parallel and perpendicular bands of self-broadened PH3 lines and compared with recent experimental data. The theoretical approach is an extension to symmetric tops with high inversion barrier of the formalism previously developed for NH3 [Q. Ma and C. Boulet, J. Chem. Phys. 144, 224303 (2016)]. The model takes into account the non-diagonality of the scattering operator within the line space as well as, in a correct way, the double degeneracy of the j, k levels when k ≠ 0. Transitions between such levels should be considered as doublets whose components may be coupled by the line mixing process. It has been shown that, at low pressure, the inversion of the experimental data will strongly depend on the splitting between the two components of a doublet. When it is significant, one can measure independently both the width of one component and the intra-doublet coupling matrix element. Otherwise, one can only measure the sum of these two elements. Comparisons with measurements show that the present formalism leads to accurate predictions of the experimental line shapes.


We studied the effects of RRR-alpha-tocopherol and RRR-beta-tocopherol in smooth muscle cells from rat (line A7r5) and human aortas. RRR-alpha-Tocopherol, but not RRR-beta-tocopherol, inhibited smooth muscle cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations in the range from 10 to 50 mumol/L. RRR-beta-Tocopherol added simultaneously with RRR-alpha-tocopherol prevented growth inhibition. The earliest event brought about by RRR-alpha-tocopherol in the signal transduction cascade controlling receptor-mediated cell growth was the activation of the transcription factor AP-1. RRR-beta-tocopherol alone was without effect but in combination with RRR-alpha-tocopherol prevented the AP-1 activating effect of the latter. Protein kinase C was inhibited by RRR-alpha-tocopherol and not by RRR-beta-tocopherol, which also in this case prevented the effect of RRR-alpha-tocopherol. Calyculin A, a protein phosphatase inhibitor, prevented the effect of RRR-alpha-tocopherol on protein kinase C. The data can be rationalized by a model in which a tocopherol-binding protein discriminates between RRR-alpha-tocopherol and RRR-beta-tocopherol and initiates a cascade of events at the level of cell signal transduction that leads to the inhibition of cell proliferation.


Abstract. In the OOMPH (Ocean Organics Modifying Particles in both Hemispheres) project a ship measurement cruise took place in the late austral summer from 01 to 23 March 2007. The French research vessel Marion Dufresne sailed from Punta Arenas, Chile (70.85° W, 53.12° S), to Reunion island (55.36° E, 21.06° S) across the South Atlantic Ocean. In situ measurements of hydrogen peroxide, methylhydroperoxide and ozone were performed and are compared to simulations with the atmospheric chemistry global circulation model EMAC (ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry). The model generally reproduces the measured trace gas levels, but it underestimates hydrogen peroxide mixing ratios at high wind speeds, indicating too-strong dry deposition to the ocean surface. An interesting feature during the cruise is a strong increase of hydrogen peroxide, methylhydroperoxide and ozone shortly after midnight off the west coast of Africa due to an increase in the boundary layer height, leading to downward transport from the free troposphere, which is qualitatively reproduced by the model.


The Thai-Burma railway, built under Japanese command by Allied prisoners of war and Asian labourers in 1942-43, can lay claim to being a cultural route, even though nearly three quarters of its physical infrastructure has been demolished. Not only are its archaeological remains evident in the landscape but over the years its memory has progressively transcended national boundaries. Its heritage has also been shaped not only by the Thais, on whose territory much of its remains reside, but also by cross-cultural links and interventions by other national groups with their own wartime memories. Yet, much of this heritage remains fragile and as the generation who experience World War II ages and dies, the future of the railway as a cultural route will be contingent on the emergence of new shared memories across its multinational stakeholders with an interest in its commemoration and heritage.


Based on a simple overlapping generations model with endogenous fertility, we show that the effectiveness of childcare support and social security reform depends much on the openness of the economy, altruism, and initial fertility. For example, introducing a child allowance, which is often expected to mitigate demographic pressures, might be ineffective in a closed economy. Downsizing a social security system, even with new taxes required to compensate for existing pension liabilities, could be welfare-improving in a closed economy. Altruistic bequests tend to offset intergenerational income transfer caused by policy changes, but a higher level of initial fertility makes the outcome indeterminate.


Solid particles in protoplanetary discs can grow by direct vapour deposition outside of ice lines. The presence of microscopic silicate particles may nevertheless hinder growth into large pebbles, since the available vapour is deposited predominantly on the small grains that dominate the total surface area. Experiments on heterogeneous ice nucleation, performed to understand ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere, show that the formation of a new ice layer on a silicate surface requires a substantially higher water vapour pressure than the deposition of water vapour on an existing ice surface. In this paper, we investigate how the difference in partial vapour pressure needed for deposition of vapour on water ice versus heterogeneous ice nucleation on silicate grains influences particle growth close to the water ice line. We developed and tested a dynamical 1D deposition and sublimation model, where we include radial drift, sedimentation, and diffusion in a turbulent protoplanetary disc. We find that vapour is deposited predominantly on already ice-covered particles, since the vapour pressure exterior of the ice line is too low for heterogeneous nucleation on bare silicate grains. Icy particles can thus grow to centimetre-sized pebbles in a narrow region around the ice line, whereas silicate particles stay dust-sized and diffuse out over the disc. The inhibition of heterogeneous ice nucleation results in a preferential region for growth into planetesimals close to the ice line where we find large icy pebbles. The suppression of heterogeneous ice nucleation on silicate grains may also be the mechanism behind some of the observed dark rings around ice lines in protoplanetary discs, as the presence of large ice pebbles outside ice lines leads to a decrease in the opacity there.


The in vivo progenitor of culture‐expanded mesenchymal‐like adipose‐derived stem cells (ADSC) remains elusive, owing in part to the complex organization of stromal cells surrounding the small vessels, and the rapidity with which adipose stromal vascular cells adopt a mesenchymal phenotype in vitro. Immunohistostaining of intact adipose tissue was used to identify three markers (CD31, CD34, and CD146), which together unambiguously discriminate histologically distinct inner and outer rings of vessel‐associated stromal cells, as well as capillary and small vessel endothelial cells. These markers were used in multiparameter flow cytometry in conjunction with stem/progenitor markers (CD90 and CD117) to further characterize stromal vascular fraction (SVF) subpopulations. Two mesenchymal and two endothelial populations were isolated by high speed flow cytometric sorting, expanded in short term culture, and tested for adipogenesis. The inner layer of stromal cells in contact with small vessel endothelium (pericytes) was CD146+/α‐SMA+/CD90±/CD34−/CD31−; the outer adventitial stromal ring (designated supra adventitial‐adipose stromal cells, SA‐ASC) was CD146−/α‐SMA−/CD90+/CD34+/CD31−. Capillary endothelial cells were CD31+/CD34+/CD90+ (endothelial progenitor), whereas small vessel endothelium was CD31+/CD34−/CD90− (endothelial mature). Flow cytometry confirmed these expression patterns and revealed a CD146+/CD90+/CD34+/CD31− pericyte subset that may be transitional between pericytes and SA‐ASC. Pericytes had the most potent adipogenic potential, followed by the more numerous SA‐ASC. Endothelial populations had significantly reduced adipogenic potential compared with unsorted expanded SVF cells. In adipose tissue, perivascular stromal cells are organized in two discrete layers, the innermost consisting of CD146+/CD34− pericytes, and the outermost of CD146−/CD34+ SA‐ASC, both of which have adipogenic potential in culture. A CD146+/CD34+ subset detected by flow cytometry at low frequency suggests a population transitional between pericytes and SA‐ASC. © 2009 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry


Developed in this thesis is a full pose kinematic calibration method for modular reconfigurable robots (MRRs). This method is based on a nonlinear formulation as opposed to the conventional linear method that has a number of critical limitations. By avoiding linearization of the nonlinear robot forward kinematic equations, these nonlinear equations are directly used to identify the robot calibration parameters. A hybrid search method is developed to solve the nonlinear error equations by combining genetic algorithms with Monte Carlo simulations to ensure a global search over the robot workspace with good accuracy. A number of comparisons are made between the proposed method and the conventional linear method, indicating the advantages of the former over the latter by eliminating two critical limitations. The first one is the orthogonality sacrifice that leads to ill-conditioning of the Jacobian used in the linear method. The second one is quadrant sensitivity during the determination of the (Tait) Bryan angles from inverting the rotation matrix.


Background and Objective: The parasitic infections are a public health problem in developing country especially foodborne intestinal trematodes infection that estimated about 40-50 million people worldwide.  Echinostomes is one of popular foodborne intestinal trematodes that can be found in Southeast Asia countries, including Thailand. Indoplanorbis exutus snails are one of the intermediate hosts of echinostome, can be found in several water reservoirs in Thailand.   Therefore, we investigated the current status of echinostome infection in fresh water snail, Indoplanorbis exutus in rainy, cool-dry and hot dry seasons. Materials and Methods: Indoplanorbis exutus snails were collected from seueral water reservoirs in  Khon Kaen province. Metacercariae were collected and counted under the light microscope, then 50 metacercariae were used to infect in hamsters.  Adult worms were collected, stained and then identified the species. Results: The prevalence of echinostome infection in Indoplanorbis exutus snail during rainy, cool-dry and hot, dry seasons was 96.21%, 83.95%, and  67.35% respectively.  All adult worms were observed the branches testes that were identified as Echinostoma malayanum . Conclusion: This results suggests that the highest prevalence of echinostome infection was  in the rainy season.  Most of echinostome were Echinostoma malayanum .


The growth of socio-demographic and material-resource problems puts the state in front of the need to involve non-state organizations in providing the population with social welfare services. New principles and tools used in the social welfare sphere are consonant with the theory of Good Governance. Based on the cases of three Russian regions - leaders in the process of diversifying the social welfare service sector (Bashkortostan, Perm, Ugra) - the article assesses the effectiveness of the development of social welfare services, which is based on the analysis of regional registers of social welfare services providers and other materials of federal ministries and regional authorities.The authors proceeded from the assumption that different models of institutionalization of new service providers are possible in the regions, which correlates with their resource potential, as well as with management approaches implemented by regional elites.The following models are distinguished: institutional substitution - transformation of state and municipal institutions into non-governmental organizations (mainly Bashkortostan); Institutional inclusion - Inclusion in social welfare services of existing small business entities (mainly Perm); Primary institutionalization - the emergence of new actors in the market of social welfare services, initially focused on activities in this area (mainly Ugra).It is concluded that the model of institutional substitution is least intended for developing a competitive market of social welfare services and thus correlates with the principal of Good Governance.


Abstract Although Permian fossils have been known from the Parnaíba Basin for two centuries, and some faunal and flora elements are well known worldwide, research on the fossil assemblages from this basin has lagged relative to other, more accessible basins. In the last decade, however, there has been a significant increase in the study of fossils from the two Permian units of the basin: the Pedra de Fogo and Motuca formations. The goal of this contribution is to synthesize and update the existing data on the Permian macrofossils from these formations, and to use them to address biostratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical questions. The Pedra de Fogo and Motuca formations are likely to be Cisuralian in age. Contrary to previous reports, there is more than one stratigraphic interval that preserves petrified fossil plants. The possible marine influence proposed for the Pedra de Fogo Formation must be reassessed based on the strongly terrestrial character of its fossil assemblages. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions are inferred to be wetter than is typically predicted for this region of the globe based on climatic modelling. Despite sharing some taxa with the Euramerican and Gondwanan biogeographical provinces, the Parnaíba Basin was likely to have been part of a distinct biogeographical province, as indicated by the high degree of endemism displayed by its Permian floras and faunas.


ABSTRACT Gonads and accessory ducts of 140 live, captive-raised juvenile Erymnochelys madagascariensis (72–375 g body mass) of 1–3 years of age as well as those of some wild, larger turtles were investigated by endoscopy. The gonads of all examined turtles could be visualized by endoscopy and unambiguously identified as testes or ovaries. Of the captive-raised juveniles, 75% were females and 25% males. One-year-old females have small, thin, transparent ovaries with transparent, whitish follicles and thin oviducts. Follicles in 2-year-old females increase in number and appear as transparent, whitish flat discs and the oviducts become broader and transparent-whitish to whitish. Three-year-old females have yellowish-whitish follicles and whitish oviducts. Juvenile females over 0.5 kg body mass have yellow follicles and white oviducts. A 1-year-old male and 2 small 2-year-old males show testes of rose pink-whitish color and transparent epididymes. Other 2-year-old males have yellowish-orange testes and in males > 130 g body mass, the epididymes turn transparent-whitish. Three-year-old males have yellow-orange testes that are thicker and rounder, and whitish epididymes with meandering ducti epididymides. The developmental changes of juvenile reproductive tracts seem to depend more on age than on size.


Shape Memory Alloys have been used in fields of assistive engineering, robotics, medicine and space industry for many years. This paper elaborates the possibility of a hand exoskeleton primarily designed using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) as actuators and conceptualized around its notable structural transformation characteristics which have been displayed with an electrically induced change of temperature. In this study, an orthotic device was designed to enable hand gripping. The mechanical design of the orthotic device has been modeled in CATIA and electrical schematics have been made on Psim. Many exoskeletons have been developed using electro-mechanical actuators making them bulky. This study is concentrated on making the design simple without compromising on its functionality. The system utilizes two SMA wires, along with an indigenous mechanism to selectively actuate one of them and thus, making the process of gripping easy to perform for the user. The concept proposed removes the requirement of feedback sensors thereby, making the system compact and light. Keeping in mind the one way property of SMA, a retraction link has been included to make the system a two way process. Due to the reliance of SMA on heat to transform, this paper also provides a feasible solution for improving response time of actuators. The mechanism can be tailored to perform other hand postures like fist and point. Also the proposed concept can be used on other joints of the human anatomy and thus, helping in rehabilitation.


For at least half a century, catalogers have struggled with how to catalog and classify Native American and Indigenous peoples materials in library, archive, and museum collections. Understanding how colonialism works can help those in the field of knowledge organization appreciate the power dynamics embedded in the marginalization of Native American and Indigenous peoples materials through standardization, misnaming, and other practices. The decolonizing methodology of imagining provides one way that knowledge organization practitioners and theorists can acknowledge and discern the possibilities of Indigenous community-based approaches to the development of alternative information structures.


This paper investigates the relationship between scanning and planning, planning and TQM practices, and scanning and TQM practices by collecting primary data from 54 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) through questionnaire in the Republic of Botswana. Being explanatory in nature, the study used only descriptive statistics to analyze the data and indicate the nature and direction of the relationship. The study found a statistically significant relationship between scanning and planning; and between planning and TQM practices. However, scanning is indirectly related to TQM and has a moderating impact on TQM practices. Important implications of the findings for practitioners, future research and SME support agencies are also provided.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of regular intake of cranberry juice beverage on bacteriuria and pyuria in elderly women.

DESIGN
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

SUBJECTS
Volunteer sample of 153 elderly women (mean age, 78.5 years).

INTERVENTION
Subjects were randomly assigned to consume 300 mL per day of a commercially available standard cranberry beverage or a specially prepared synthetic placebo drink that was indistinguishable in taste, appearance, and vitamin C content but lacked cranberry content.

OUTCOME MEASURES
A baseline urine sample and six clean-voided study urine samples were collected at approximately 1-month intervals and tested quantitatively for bacteriuria and the presence of white blood cells.

RESULTS
Subjects randomized to the cranberry beverage had odds of bacteriuria (defined as organisms numbering > or = 10(5)/mL) with pyuria that were only 42% of the odds in the control group (P = .004). Their odds of remaining bacteriuric-pyuric, given that they were bacteriuric-pyuric in the previous month, were only 27% of the odds in the control group (P = .006).

CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that use of a cranberry beverage reduces the frequency of bacteriuria with pyuria in older women. Prevalent beliefs about the effects of cranberry juice on the urinary tract may have microbiologic justification.


The WHO released a report that provides an overview on the antibacterial agents in clinical development. It is a follow-up action related to the list of priority antibiotic resistance pathogens that was drawn up as part of WHO's Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. The report shows a serious lack of new antibiotics, since most of the drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are thus short-term solutions.

The analysis focused on 62 antibacterial products (51 antibiotics and 11 biologicals) that were as of May 2017 in phases I–III of clinical development and had not yet received a market authorisation for human use. In addition, to classifying the antibacterial products by type, pathogen category, phase of clinical development and expected activity against priority pathogens, the report also analysed their innovativeness. Only 8 out of the 33 antibiotics that are being developed for priority pathogens fulfilled at least one of the four criteria that were used to assess innovativeness. These criteria include (1) absence of cross-resistance to existing antibiotics, (2) new chemical class, (3) new target and (4) new mechanism of action.

Overall, the report shows that the antibacterial agents currently in clinical development are insufficient to mitigate the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Consequently, more investment is needed in basic science, drug discovery and clinical development. Furthermore, the report calls for more innovative products as these are required against pathogens with no cross-resistance or co-resistance to existing classes.

In addition to the presentation of the findings, the report also highlights the important role of antimicrobial stewardship. The development of new antibiotics is not sufficient to mitigate the threat of AMR, wherefore it needs to go hand in hand with infection prevention and control activities. As outlined in the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists' …


In the last five years there has been great public interest in Hollywood's "gender problem," namely its unequal representation of women in key creative roles such as director, producer, and studio head. Yet, in the long history of women in film and television, comedians have had the greatest success and degree of agency over their work. From silent film comediennes like Mabel Normand to Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and more recently Tina Fey and Amy Schumer, women comedians have resoundingly had success behind-the-screen as well as in front of it. In order to comprehend the disjuncture between the data and the women comedians' success, we must account for the women at the center of contemporary popular culture who seem to have successfully navigated highly gendered structures of media. This dissertation offers an extension of the existing scholarship on the industrial practices of women mediamakers. This dissertation offers a historical production study of gender. This dissertation opens up ways of exploring the range and complexity of gendered practices in Hollywood. It shows how these actions operate within discursive frames and institutional frameworks that generally serve to perpetuate the exclusion of women. I suggest that cultural industries like film and television, when examined simultaneously as creative spaces and business enterprises using a political economy approach blended with cultural studies, offer revelatory sites for the study of gendered labor practices in Hollywood.


Radiofrequency Electric Field Heating of Conductive Media: Understanding Aqueous and Nanoparticle Heating Mechanisms and a Method for Heating Optimization by Nadia Chantal Lara Use of radiofrequency (RF) electric fields coupled with nanoparticles to enhance non‐invasive hyperthermia in cancer cells and tumors sparked debate over the RF heating mechanisms of nanoparticles and the role of salts in heating. Under RF field exposure at 13.56 MHz, aqueous systems including electrolyte solutions, buffers, and blood, were shown to heat according to bulk material properties, regardless of composition. This universal aqueous heating behavior extended to suspensions of nanoparticles such as gold nanoparticles, full‐length and ultra‐short single‐walled carbon nanotubes, and water‐soluble fullerene derivatives. These suspensions displayed the same RF heating properties as saline solutions of the same conductivity, indicating that these nanoparticles themselves do not contribute to RF heating by any unique mechanism; rather, they modulate bulk conductivity, which in turn affects bulk RF heating. At 13.56 MHz, peak heating for an aqueous system occurs at a conductivity of 0.06 S/m, beyond which increases in conductivity result in reduced heating rates. Biologically relevant materials, such as blood, intra‐ and extracellular fluids, and most human tissues, exceed this peak heating conductivity, precluding the use of conductive materials for RF heating rate enhancement. Instead, kosmotropic or water‐structuring materials, including sugars, glycols, zwitterionic molecules, and a water‐soluble fullerene derivative, when added to blood or phosphate buffered saline reduced the bulk conductivity of these materials and enhanced their heating rates accordingly. A dielectric heating rate model taking into account the geometry of the sample under RF exposure was used to explain the experimental RF heating behavior of aqueous solutions and semi‐aqueous materials, which generated distinct RF heating curves due to differences in bulk dielectric and physical properties.


Some new chalcones, 2-4 bis (tetrahydro- 1,4-oxazine)-6-[4'-{3''-(substituted phenyl) -2''- propenon-1''-yl} phenyl amino]-s-triazine (6a-f) have been achieved by the reaction between 2- 4-bis- tetrahydro- 1,4-oxazine -6-(4'-acetylphenylamino)-s-triazine (5) and different aromatic, which on cyclisation with hydrazine hydrate in presence of acetic acid give acetyl pyrazolines (7a-f). Chalcones (6a-f) on cyclisation with guanidine hydrochloride in presence of alkali give aminopyrimidines (8a-f). The characterization of newly synthesised compounds has been done on the basis of IR, 1H NMR spectral data as well as elemental analysis.


Our goal is to design an IEEE 802.11e/AFDX (WiFi with QoS/Avionics Full DupleX switched Ethernet) hybrid network. More precisely the aim is to guarantee the QoS requirements of AFDX traffics transmitted on an IEEE 802.11e wireless network, for on-ground maintenance applications. The AFDX requirements are related to the temporal constraints (latency and jitter). The use of IEEE 802.11e induces several constraints due to the wireless communication medium (QoS, non-deterministic access method, high packet loss rate, transmission errors). In this paper, we present a HCCA (HCF Controlled Channel Access) scheduling algorithm named AWS (AFDX Wireless Scheduler) which improves the performance of the HCCA Reference Scheduler (RS) in order to convey AFDX traffics on an IEEE 802.11e wireless network. AWS is based on the classification of flows, on the retransmission management of frames and on the guarantee of deadline and maximum jitter of frames. We also present, in this paper, an optimized version of AWS (OAWS) which uses the available bandwidth of TXOP periods for transmitting frames near of their deadline and frames in retransmission. Performance evaluation results show that a very large reduction of dropped packets and a better throughput are obtained with AWS compared to RS. The performance of the optimized version of AWS (OAWS) are better than those of AWS.


On February 26, 1997, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission imposed sanctions upon Japanese shipping carriers for allegedly restrictive port practices that existed in Japan. The Federal Maritime Commission imposed the sanctions under Section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. Section 19 gives the Federal Maritime Commission authority to make rules and regulations where conditions unfavorable to shipping in the foreign trade exist. However, the Japanese Government does not control the port practices in Japan. The Japan Harbor Transportation Authority, a private conglomeration of labor unions, shippers, and other shipping entities in Japan, regulates port practices through collective-bargaining negotiations. By using Section 19 authority to force a change in Japanese port practices, the U.S. Government unilaterally interfered in internal labor-management relations within a foreign country. Such action is unfair, in light of the fact that such collective-bargaining agreements would be considered valid labor agreements in the United States. In the future, the United States should pursue other alternatives, such as the World Trade Organization's multilateral dispute resolution mechanism, to provide a fairer method of resolving such disputes.


S.G Cast iron is defined as a high carbon containing, iron based alloy in which the graphite is present in compact, spherical shapes rather than in the shape of flakes, the latter being typical of gray cast iron . As nodular or spheroidal graphite cast iron, sometimes referred to as ductile iron,constitutes a family of cast irons in which the graphite is present in a nodular or spheroidal form.The graphite nodules are small and constitute only small areas of weakness in a steel-like matrix. Because of this the mechanical properties of ductile irons related directly to the strength and ductility of the matrix present—as is the case of steels.One reason for the phenomenal growth in the use of Ductile Iron castings is the high ratio of performance to cost that they offer the designer and end user. This high value results from many factors, one of which is the control of microstructure and properties that can be achieved in the ascast condition, enabling a high percentage of ferritic and pearlitic structure.Heat treatment is a valuable and versatile tool for extending both the consistency and range of properties of Ductile Iron castings beyond the limits of those produced in the as-cast condition. Thus, to fully utilize the potential of Ductile Iron castings, the designer should be aware of the wide range of heat treatments available for Ductile Iron, and its response to these heat treatments.The most important heat treatments and their purposes are:Stress relieving - a low-temperature treatment, to reduce or relieve internal stresses remaining after casting Annealing - to improve ductility and toughness, to reduce hardness and to remove carbides Normalizing - to improve strength with some ductility Hardening and tempering - to increase hardness or to give improved strength and higher proof stress ratio Austempering - to yield bainitic structures of high strength, with significant ductility and good wear resistance Surface hardening - by induction, flame,or laser to produce a local wearresistant hard surface1 Although Ductile Iron and steel are superficially similar metallurgically, the high carbon and silicon levels in Ductile Iron result in important differences in their response to heat treatment. The higher carbon levels in Ductile Iron increase hardenability, permitting heavier sections to be heat treated with lower requirements for expensive alloying or severe quenching media.These higher carbon levels can also cause quench cracking due to the formation of higher carbon martensite,and/or the retention of metastable austenite. These undesirable phenomena make the control of composition, austenitizing temperature and quenching conditions more critical in Ductile Iron. Silicon also exerts a strong influence on the response of Ductile Iron to heat treatment. The higher the silicon content, the lower the solubility of carbon in austenite and the more readily carbon is precipitated as graphite during slow cooling to produce a ferritic matrix. Although remaining unchanged in shape, the graphite spheroids in Ductile Iron play a critical role in heat treatment, acting as both a source and sink for carbon. When heated into the austenite temperature range, carbon readily diffuses from the spheroids to saturate the austenite matrix.On slow cooling the carbon returns to the graphite "sinks",reducing the carbon content of the austenite. This availability of excess carbon and the ability to transfer it between the matrix and the nodules makes Ductile Iron easier to heat treat and increases the range of properties that can be obtained by heat treatment.Austempered Ductile Irons (ADI) are the most recently developed materials of the DI family. By adapting the austempering treatment initially introduced for steels to DI, it has been shown that the resulting
metallurgical structures provide properties that favorably compare to those of steel while taking advantage of a near-net-shape manufacturing process.


A unified constitutive modeling approach based on the disturbed state concept (DSC) provides improved characterization of thermomechanical response of joining (solders), ceramics and printed wire board (PWB) materials in electronic packaging. Various versions in the DSC approach are calibrated and validated with respect to laboratory test data, and are implemented in a nonlinear finite element (FE) procedure. The hierarchical nature of this procedure permits the user to choose a constitutive model, simple (elastic) to sophisticated (elastovisco-plastic with disturbance), depending upon the material and need. The FE is used to analyze thermomechanical behavior of two typical problems: (1) leadless ceramic chip carrier (LCCC) package; (2) solder ball connect (SBC) package. The FE results under cyclic thermal loading are compared with experimental data for the two packages, and with a previous FE analysis for the SBC package. In conjunction with the idea of critical disturbance at which thermal fatigue failure can occur, the analyzes allow identification of cycles to failure, N/sub f/, and evaluation of reliability of the package. In the case of the SBC package, the analysis permits an evaluation of ball spacing on the thermomechanical behavior. The DSC approach can provide an integrated and improved procedure compared to available models for elastic, plastic, creep strains, and microcracking leading to degradation of strength and fatigue failure for a wide range of problems in electronic packaging under thermomechanical loading.


Bauhinia vahlii has been reported for several medicinal properties, such as tyrosinase inhibitory, immunomodulatory and free radical scavenging activities. Bauhinia tomentosa and Bauhinia racemosa also possess anti-diabetic, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-obesity and antihyperlipidemic activities. Therefore, the correct identification of these plants is critically important. The aim was to investigate the comparative morpho-micrometric analysis of 3 species of Bauhinia belonging to the family Leguminosae (Fabaceae) by using conventional as well as scanning electron microscopy to support species identification. In B. racemosa , epidermal cells are polygonal with anticlinical walls; whereas wavy walled cells are found in B. tomentosa and B. vahlii. Anisocytic stomata are present in B. racemosa, while B. tomentosa shows the presence of paracytic stomata and anomocytic stomata in B. vahlii. Stomatal numbers and stomatal indices were found to be more in B. vahlii than B. tomentosa and B. racemosa. On the other hand, uniseriate, unicellular covering trichomes are found in B. racemosa and B. tomentosa but B. vahlii contains only uniseriate, multicellular covering trichomes. Based on these micromorphological features, a diagnostic key was developed for identification of the particular species which helps a lot in pharmaceutical botany, taxonomy and horticulture, in terms of species identification.


When people and groups with different backgrounds and experiences are brought together to cooperate, a shared perspective is often regarded as a prerequisite for coordinated action, i.e. that the people involved must have a mutual understanding regarding the aims of their work. However, previous research has not been able to conclude empirically whether a shared perspective is essential for bringing about joint action or not. This report highlights the results of a study inquiring into the relationship between coincident meaning and coordinated action in situations characterized by heterogeneity and equivocality. How does coordinated action originate in such circumstances? The empirical case reported concerns "ForetagsNara", a collaboration project between the municipality of Norrkoping and the local branch of the state employment agency. The purpose of the venture was to coordinate the efforts of measures aimed at trade and industry development with labor market measures, in order to contribute to a decrease of the unemployment rate in the city of Norrkoping. Based on a longitudinal field study, a narrative of clashing meanings, and a striving for mutual perspectives unfolds. The longitudinal approach of the study contributes to an understanding the complexity involved in developing a shared perspective. The case of ForetagsNara shows that the creation of meaning takes on different expressions during different stages of the process. A battle of diverging interpretations arises about the matter of the purpose of ForetagsNara. The connection between developing a shared perspective and joint action is more complex than previous research has suggested. There is no clear connection between coincident meaning and coordinated action. The results of the study are of both theoretical relevance and practical importance.


Titanium dioxide powder was synthesized by the hydrothermal route with the starting precursors as titanium isopropoxide, ammonium hydroxide and nitric acid. The final of pH value of mixed solution was 1 and treated in the hydrothermal PTFE vessel at 80-100 °C for 3h. The phase of titanium dioxide was characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The morphology of titanium dioxide was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The chemical composition of titanium dioxide was examined by energy dispersive X-ray spectrophotometer (EDXS). The photocatalytic degradation of geosmin by titanium dioxide was determined by gas chromatograph coupled with flame ionization detector (GC-FID).


In this paper, we propose a model-based approach that uses periodic end-end probes to identify whether a "dominant congested link" exists along an end-end path. Informally, a dominant congested link refers to a link that incurs the most losses and significant queuing delays along the path. We begin by providing a formal yet intuitive definition of dominant congested link and present two simple hypothesis tests to identify whether such a link exists. We then present a novel model-based approach for dominant congested link identification that is based on interpreting probe loss as an unobserved (virtual) delay. We develop parameter inference algorithms for hidden Markov model (HMM) and Markov model with a hidden dimension (MMHD) to infer this virtual delay. Our validation using ns simulation and Internet experiments demonstrate that this approach can correctly identify a dominant congested link with only a small amount of probe data. We further provide an upper bound on the maximum queuing delay of the dominant congested link once we identify that such a link exists.


Two OBP genes, BodoOBP1 and BodoOBP2, were cloned from Bradysia odoriphaga, a major agricultural pest of Chinese chives. The amino acid sequence alignment of both BodoOBPs showed high similarity. Fluorescence competitive binding assays revealed that both BodoOBPs have a moderate binding affinity to dipropyl trisulfide. Tissue expression profiles indicated that both BodoOBPs are antennae-specific and more abundant in the male antennae than in the female antennae. Developmental expression profile analysis indicated that expression levels of both BodoOBPs were higher in the male adult stage than in the other developmental stages. Both BodoOBPs also showed differential expression in pre- and postmating adults. RNAi assays indicated that ability of dsOBPs-treated males to detect females was significantly reduced compared to controls. Attraction of plant volatile dipropyl trisulfide to dsOBPs-treated adults was also significantly lower than in the control. Our findings indicate that both BodoOBPs are involved in host-seeking behavior and in detecting sex pheromones.


Social network analysis and agent-based modeling are two approaches used to study biological and artificial multi-agent systems. However, so far there is little work integrating these two approaches. Here we present a first step toward integration. We developed a novel approach that allows the creation of a social network on the basis of measures of interactions in an agent-based model for purposes of social network analysis. We illustrate this approach by applying it to a minimalist case study in swarm robotics loosely inspired by ant foraging behavior. For simplicity, we measured a network's inter-agent connection weights as the total number of interactions between mobile agents. This measure allowed us to construct weighted directed networks from the simulation results. We then applied standard methods from social network analysis, specifically focusing on node centralities, to find out which are the most influential nodes in the network. This revealed that task allocation emerges and induces two classes of agents, namely foragers and loafers, and that their relative frequency depends on food availability. This finding is consistent with the behavioral analysis, thereby showing the compatibility of these two approaches.


In a many-body perturbation treatment of electronic excitations, one has to solve the so-called Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) for the kernel (vertex) describing the interaction between electrons. In general, the BSE exhibits a non-local and frequency-dependent screened interaction and consequently it is extremely difficult to solve. We have developed a scheme that solves the BSE equation iteratively, including dynamically screening, by considering the change in the electron self-energy upon applying a time-dependent field. The BSE is obtained from the self-energy in the GW approximation (GWA) using the Schwinger functional technique. We apply our formalism to a simple model system and discuss briefly changes in the charge response, when dynamical screening is taken into account.


Intermittent fetal tracheal occlusion is considered one actual therapeutic option for a severe isolated congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). 1 To reduce maternal risks such as maternal hemorrhage, premature rupture of membranes, and preterm labor, minimally invasive procedures with extremely thin endoscopes have been introduced. 1,2 The thinnest cannula used up to now was 3.3 mm with an endoscope of 1.2 mm.' This procedure is usually guided by conventional 2-dimensional ultrasonography (2DUS). Recently, 4-dimensional ultrasonography (4DUS) was used to guide invasive obstetric procedures such as amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, and cordocentesis, 3,4 as well as cauterization of an umbilical cord in twin-twin transfusion syndrome.5 The advantage of 4DUS may be related to the reduction of procedure time and the ability to use thinner endoscopes. We report another possible contribution of 4DUS in the guidance of introduction of a thinner fetoscope (1.0 mm) into the fetal oral cavity.


Zoonotic foodborne parasites often represent complex, multi host life cycles with parasite stages in the hosts, but also in the environment. This manuscript aims to provide an overview of important zoonotic foodborne parasites, with a focus on the different food chains in which parasite stages may occur. We have chosen some examples of meat-borne parasites occurring in livestock (Taenia spp., Trichinella spp. and Toxoplasma gondii), as well as Fasciola spp., an example of a zoonotic parasite of livestock, but transmitted to humans via contaminated vegetables or water, covering the 'farm to fork' food chain; and meat-borne parasites occurring in wildlife (Trichinella spp., Toxoplasma gondii), covering the 'forest to fork' food chain. Moreover, fish-borne parasites (Clonorchis spp., Opisthorchis spp. and Anisakidae) covering the 'pond/ocean/freshwater to fork' food chain are reviewed. The increased popularity of consumption of raw and ready-to-eat meat, fish and vegetables may pose a risk for consumers, since most post-harvest processing measures do not always guarantee the complete removal of parasite stages or their effective inactivation. We also highlight the impact of increasing contact between wildlife, livestock and humans on food safety. Risk based approaches, and diagnostics and control/prevention tackled from an integrated, multipathogen and multidisciplinary point of view should be considered as well.