The growing complexity of distributed systems makes their management a challenge. Manual management of these systems is costly and time consuming. Autonomic computing has been proposed to reduce the cost of maintaining complex systems by developing computer systems capable of self-management. A self-managed system consists of multiple autonomic managers and multiple management units. This thesis explores the potentials of autonomic computing for management of existing distributed systems. The management units in the autonomic approach proposed in this thesis are system behaviours. For a self-managed system to be able to recognise and solve a large portion of its malfunctions on its own, it needs to have knowledge about its own behaviours. As this knowledge is mainly specified in use-case notations during the software design and development phase, this thesis proposes to reuse the use-case notations for self-management purposes. Use-cases are usually expressed in a semi-formal way. They must be expressed in a formal language to be processable and understandable by software modules (autonomic managers). For this purpose, a management model (the way an autonomic manager manages a use-case realisation and the way multiple autonomic managers cooperate with each other) and a system model (the way a managed system provides its functionalities and description of the internal structure of a managed system) are proposed and constructed. All knowledge included in these generic models is represented in formal knowledge representation languages (the Semantic Web languages OWL and SWRL). A self-management framework based on the management and system models is designed and implemented. The framework provides an execution environment for autonomic managers to manage behaviours of an existing distributed system. Furthermore, the framework can be used to generate code for the autonomic managers, based on declarative behaviour descriptions.


Bertha Wilson was the first woman to be appointed to Canada's Supreme Court in 1982. Her appointment capped off a career of firsts. She had been the first woman lawyer and partner at a prominent Toronto law firm and the first woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. Her career and passing in 2007 have provoked reflection on her contributions to Canadian society and caused many to reflect on the question she herself posed: what difference do women judges make? What follows is an excerpt from the introduction to the book. The chapters of the book explore a broad range of Justice Wilson's contributions, including her contributions to the evolution of research departments in law firms, judicial education, commercial and contract law, alongside her more controversial and famous decisions in constitutional, family, and criminal law.


The paper describes recent progress in the design, simulation, implementation and characterisation of photonic crystal (PhC) GaAs-based quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). The benefits of applying active PhC confinement around a QCL cavity are explained, highlighting a route to reduced threshold current operation. Design of a suitable PhC has been performed using published bandgap maps; simulation results of this PhC show a wide, high reflectivity stopband. Implementation of the PhC for the device is particularly difficult, requiring a very durable metallic dry etch mask, high performance dry etching and a low damage epilayer-down device mounting technique. Preliminary shallow etched PhC QCLs demonstrated the viability of current injection through the metal etch mask and the device mounting technique. Development of the etch mask and dry etching have demonstrated a process suitable for the manufacture of deep etched PhC structures. All the necessary elements for implementing deep etched PhC QCLs have now been demonstrated, allowing for the development of high performance devices.


Supporting standard text-based protocols in embedded systems is challenging because of the often limited computational resources that embedded systems provide. To overcome this issue, a promising approach is to build parsers directly in the hardware. Unfortunately, developing such parsers is a daunting task for most developers as it is at the crossroads of several areas of expertise, such as low-level network programming or hardware design. In this letter, we propose Zebra, a generative approach that drastically eases the development of hardware parsers and their use in network applications. To validate our approach, we used Zebra to generate hardware parsers for widely used protocols, including HTTP, SMTP, SIP, and RTSP. Our experiments show that Zebra-based parsers are up to 11 times faster than software-based parsers.


Abstract Supported by policy-makers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), coffee farmer organizations obtain organic and Fairtrade certifications to upgrade their coffee and, thus, increase returns to their members. Whether this and other upgrading strategies fit into the business model of the cooperative and lead to success are often not considered. This research aims to identify similarities and differences between conventional and certified cooperatives and the resultant impact on farmers' incomes. We analyze the business models, upgrading strategies, and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of seven conventional, organic and Organic-Fairtrade certified coffee cooperatives and link these to members' coffee gross margins. We use data from over 100 in-depth qualitative interviews and a household survey of 327 cooperative members in northern Nicaragua. Results indicate that cooperatives often apply the same upgrading strategies despite very different business models and SWOT. There are also many commonalities of SWOT among cooperatives but no clear-cut differences between conventional, organic and Organic-Fairtrade certified cooperatives. The qualitative comparison of coffee gross margins among the cooperatives shows no clear income effect from participating in certified coffee production and certified cooperatives. It indicates, rather, dependence of gross margins on yield levels, the business model and upgrading strategies of the cooperatives. Upgrading through certification seems only successful with a suitable business model and other upgrading strategies. Policies should focus on (i) increasing as well as stabilizing coffee yields, and (ii) on the institutional framework of cooperatives by offering strategic support, credit access, external auditing of cooperatives and the establishment of a functional national coffee institute.


The vast majority of clinical samples are still archived using a decades-old technique of fixation with formaldehyde and embedding in paraffin wax to generate so-called formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks. This process of fixation and embedding, as well as long-term storage, can result in severe degradation of nucleic acids in the tissue. The fixation process itself causes cross-linkage between nucleic acids and proteins, as well as covalent modification of nucleic acids by monomethylol (-CH 2 OH) addition to the bases. Millions of FFPE blocks form the foundation of many tissue archives worldwide, and are essential to clinical research for exploring disease pathways and developing novel therapies. The inherent challenges of obtaining useable nucleic acids from difficult sample types such as these can be overcome by using the latest technologies and procedures to provide meaningful results throughout the next-generation sequencing workflow, from initial extraction of DNA/RNA to sample quantification, sample quality control, and library preparation. View the Webinar


Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), the majority of which occur in the oral cavity, remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A major limitation in HNSCC research has been the paucity of animal models to test the validity of current genetic paradigms of tumorigenesis and to explore the effectiveness of new treatment modalities and chemopreventive strategies. Here, we have developed an inducible oral-specific animal tumor model system, which consists in the expression of a tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombinase (CreER(tam)) under the control of the cytokeratin 14 (K14) promoter (K14-CreER(tam)) and mice in which the endogenous K-ras locus is targeted (LSL-K-ras(G12D)), thereby causing the expression of endogenous levels of oncogenic K-ras(G12D) following removal of a stop element. Surprisingly, whereas K14-CreER(tam) can also target the skin, K14-CreER(tam)/LSL-K-ras(G12D) mice developed papillomas exclusively in the oral mucosa within 1 month after tamoxifen treatment. These lesions were highly proliferative but never progressed to carcinoma. However, when crossed with p53 conditional knockout (p53(flox/flox)) mice, mice developed SCCs exclusively on the tongue as early as 2 weeks after tamoxifen induction, concomitant with a remarkable activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. The availability of this ras and p53 two-hit animal model system recapitulating HNSCC progression may provide a suitable platform for exploring novel molecular targeted approaches for the treatment of this devastating disease. Indeed, we show here that mTOR inhibition by the use of rapamycin is sufficient to halt tumor progression in this genetically defined oral cancer model system, thereby prolonging animal survival.


The complexity of parsing with synchronous context-free grammars is polynomial in the sentence length for a fixed grammar, but the degree of the polynomial depends on the grammar. Specifically, the degree depends on the length of rules, the permutations represented by the rules, and the parsing strategy adopted to decompose the recognition of a rule into smaller steps. We address the problem of finding the best parsing strategy for a rule, in terms of space and time complexity. We show that it is NP-hard to find the binary strategy with the lowest space complexity. We also show that any algorithm for finding the strategy with the lowest time complexity would imply improved approximation algorithms for finding the treewidth of general graphs.


This study aims to investigate a vertical reflection's beneficial or detrimental contribution to subjective preference compared with perceived change in timbral and spatial attributes. A vertical reflection was electro-acoustically simulated and evaluated through subjective tests using musical stimuli in the context of listening for entertainment. Results indicate that the majority of subjects preferred audio reproduction with the addition of a reflection. Furthermore, there is a potential relationship between positive preference and the perceived level of both timbral and spatial differences, although this relationship is dependent on the stimuli presented. Subjects also described perceived differences where the reflection was present. These descriptors provide evidence suggesting a link between timbral descriptions and preference. However, this link was not observed between preference and spatial descriptions.


Existing research on electronic markets has focused largely on analyzing their efficiency and welfareenhancing properties, treating these markets as isolated entities. In reality, however, electronic markets coexist with traditional, land-based firms. They compete not only with similar rivals, but also with firms with different competencies, information technology, channel characteristics, and business cultures. The interaction between these different firms involves complex and interesting competitive dynamics, which cannot be captured by isolated models of electronic markets. This paper models competition between firms that sell their products purely through electronic channels, firms whose primary retailing outlets are traditional land-based channels, and hybrid firms—those selling both offline and online. A game-theoretic spatial differentiation model is used to analyze the impact of the coexistence of new, emerging technology-driven distribution channels with conventional retail channels, and the possible strategic interactions between these two vastly different retail environments. The features of market equilibria, and their sensitivity to different technological and channel parameters are studied, and the results of the model are compared with the benchmark case where the electronic markets are independent of traditional markets. Results show that the profits of firms in competing channels increase as they differentiate themselves as much as possible from each other, and by differentiating themselves based on the characteristics over which consumers have the maximum variety in relative valuations. The choice of the factors of differentiation, however, is crucial, as are the relative sizes of the online and offline markets. The results also indicate that neglecting the impact of traditional markets on online firms risks oversimplification, and might lead to incorrect prescriptions to offline, online, and hybrid firms.


Literature data of long-term cytogenetic follow-up of people exposed to radiation as a results of different radiation accidents are considered for the purpose of discussing of some problems of biological dosimetry. The results obtained for mammals are also presented. Of particular interest is a decrease in the level of dicentrics and symmetrical translocations in peripheral blood lymphocytes with the time after acute exposure depending on the dose of irradiation. The frequency of dicentrics decreases in accordance to the exponential law passing the fast and slow phases of elimination. In different radiation situations the values of the parameter which defines the half-life period of lymphocytes characterizing 50% reduction of cells with dicentrics markedly vary. However a general regularity is a decrease in the parameter value as the exposure dose increases. The level of stable translocations estimates by the EISH method remains relatively constant at doses below 1-2 Gy. At higher doses their level in peripheral blood lymphocytes declines with time due to which the retrospective dose appears to be underestimated. The reasons of such regularity, the role of various factors affecting the scoring of translocations, criteria of analysis of the given chromosome aberrations are discussed in the context of common agreements between leading European laboratories on the use of FISH for improving biological dosimetric estimates.


According to the Swedish Health and Medical Service Act, healthcare is to be provided to the population according to need, on equal terms, and be accessible, a part of healthcare that has been criticized. With the aim of improving accessibility, Sweden's municipalities, county councils, and government have agreed to introduce a national care guarantee (non statutory) with effect from 2005-11-01. In spite of economic investment and reduced waiting times, it is however felt to be uncertain that the guarantee will reduce waiting times in the long-term. A deconstructive reading is made of the fundamental assumptions underlying the care guarantee. There is also a reading of what it does and does not encompass, as well as its relationship with the concept of prioritization. The care guarantee, in contrast to political promises, does not encompass the entire chain of care since examinations and investigations conducted prior to an appointment or treatment are not counted as part of the time limits. Therefore the care guarantee thus does not constitute  complete offer of healthcare within a certain period of time. What also seems clear when reading the care guarantee is that it does not encompass a quality dimensions.


BACKGROUND
Despite its ubiquity, hangover has received remarkably little systematic attention in alcohol research. This may be due in part to the lack of a standard measure of hangover symptoms that cleanly taps the physiologic and subjective effects commonly experienced the morning after drinking. In the present study, we developed and evaluated a new scale, the Hangover Symptoms Scale (HSS), to potentially fill this void.

METHODS
Participants were 1230 currently drinking college students (62% women, 91% Caucasian). They were administered a self-report inventory in which they reported the frequency of occurrence of 13 different hangover symptoms during the past 12 months. Participants also reported their history of alcohol involvement, alcohol-related problems, and family history of alcohol-related problems.

RESULTS
On average, participants experienced 5 out of 13 different hangover symptoms in the past year; the three most common symptoms were feeling extremely thirsty/dehydrated, feeling more tired than usual, and headache. Higher scores on the HSS were significantly positively associated with the frequency of drinking and getting drunk and the typical quantity of alcohol consumed when drinking, a personal history of alcohol-related problems, and a family history of alcohol-related problems. After controlling for sex differences in alcohol involvement, women had higher scores on the HSS than men.

CONCLUSIONS
The HSS appears to capture a reasonably valid set of adjectives describing common hangover effects. It is hoped that the availability of a brief, valid hangover assessment such as the HSS will encourage further study of hangover's frequency, correlates, and consequences. Future research is needed to explore the performance of a re-worded HSS in laboratory settings, which may help bridge the gap between laboratory and survey investigations of hangover.


What is referred to as the "A-B" therapist variable has been extensively studied as a possible predictor of therapist effectiveness in psychotherapy. We reviewed the clinical studies of Whitehorn and Betz and other authors and found several factors which cast doubt on the validity of the hypothesis that type A therapists are more effective with schizophrenic patients. Methodological weaknesses, such as the use of many different noncongruent scales for categorization of therapists and impressionistic global ratings as measures of outcome, accounted for some of the confusion in data interpretation. Several studies not only did not confirm the hypothesis but also yielded contradictory results. There seemed to be a tendency of some investigators to interpret their findings so as to amend, rather than refute, the A-B hypothesis. We studied three measures of the A-B variable for a group of psychiatric residents and psychology interns who treated psychiatric inpatients with psychotherapy. These and several other therapist variables were correlated with independent measures of improvement scored on four-factor, analytically based summary symptom scales. For all the items studied, there were no more statistically significant correlations than would have been expected by chance alone. There were no significant correlations between the three A-B measures of improvement either for the schizophrenic patients only or for the total group of patients. Only two A-B variables had correlations of any magnitude with improvement measures and both were in the opposite direction from the expected. This study adds weight to the other evidence presented that the A-B scale is not useful in attempting to account for therapists' effectiveness in the treatment of schizophrenic patients.

http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/biometrics/Publications/Biometrics Archives PDF/404-1972 Bowden, Endicott, %26 Spitzer0001.pdf


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Objective: There are no current effective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) drug therapies. An important limitation of most preclinical studies is that they test the effect of drugs on AAA formation rather than AAA progression. The aim of this study was to systematically review AAA mouse model studies that have tested the effect of interventions in limiting the progression of preestablished AAA. Approach and Results: The literature search identified 35 studies meeting eligibility, and 30 (n=935 mice) contributed to the meta-analyses. AAAs were induced with angiotensin II (n=745 mice), calcium chloride (n=91 mice), or elastase (n=99 mice). Anti-inflammatory drugs (standardized mean difference [SMD], 1.62 [95% CI, 0.93–2.30]), protease inhibitors (SMD, 1.23 [95% CI, 0.52–1.95]), stem cells (SMD, 1.64 [95% CI, 1.05–2.24]), antiplatelet or anticoagulant drugs (SMD, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.63–1.22]), and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (SMD, 1.45 [95% CI, 0.58–2.33]) reduced AAA diameter. Interventions initiated soon after model induction commenced were more likely to reduce AAA diameter (R2, 16%; P=0.007). Funnel plots suggested possible publication bias. Most studies did not report blinding or sample size calculations, and the risk of bias was considered medium or high in 20 (57%) of the 35 studies. Conclusions: There is low-quality evidence that a range of drugs are effective in limiting AAA progression when administered early after AAA induction in mouse models. Some of these drugs, such as antiplatelet and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors, have been reported to be ineffective in clinical trials.


The kinetics of thermal decomposition of hexadecane was studied in a flow tubular reactor from stainless steel. The experiments were performed in the temperature range of 700 to 780 °C for the mass ratio of steam to hydrocarbon 3 : 1. The hexadecane pyrolysis took place according to the first-order reaction with a frequency factor of 3.5 . 10 9 s -1 and an activation energy of 162 kJ mol -1 . In the pyrolysis products there were above all 1-alkenes. From alkanes, methane and ethane and less propane were formed in a higher degree. The prevailing compounds are ethene and propene whose amount increases with increasing temperature and residence time. The content of 1-alkenes higher than 1-pentene decreases with increasing conversion which gives evidence of their decomposition owing to their lower stability in comparison with the lighter 1-alkenes. The formation of dienes (1,3-butadiene and propadiene) and benzene also confirmed the course of secondary reactions. The observed higher formation of hydrogen results from the reaction of steam with coke deposited on the walls of the reactor or with hydrocarbon radicals. The evidence of the coke formation is given also by the presence of carbon oxides whose amount grew with the pyrolysis severity. The high content of 1-hexene in comparison with the other higher 1-alkenes is probably caused by the isomerization of alkyl radicals by 1,5-hydrogen transfer.


Glucocorticoids (GCs) are commonly prescribed to patients with a variety of inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). GCs mediate their immunomodulatory effects through many different mechanisms and target multiple signaling pathways. The GC dexamethasone downmodulates innate and adaptive immune cell activation. IBD is the manifestation of a dysregulated immune response involving many different immune cells. Group 3 innate lymphocytes (ILC3s) have critical roles in mucosal inflammation. ILC3s secrete high levels of the cytokine IL-22, promoting epithelial proliferation, antimicrobial peptides, and mucins. In this study, we examined the effects of dexamethasone on IL-22 production by ILC3s. We found that dexamethasone suppressed IL-23–mediated IL-22 production in human and mouse ILC3s. This was mediated in part through dexamethasone modulation of the NF-κB pathway. Inhibition of NF-κB signaling with a small molecule inhibitor also downmodulated IL-23– and IL-1β–mediated IL-22 production in ILC3s. These findings implicate NF-κB as a regulator of IL-22 in ILC3s and likely have repercussions on GC treatment of IBD patients.


Pressure to assess student learning more carefully and systematically is clearly mounting. Federal and state agencies are increasingly calling for solid, compelling evidence of student learning, while higher education leaders are challenging faculty to improve the quality of curricula and pedagogies. Efforts to assess student learning thus serve two ends: one, to demonstrate the worth of our programs to external constituents and, two, to inform our understanding of the effectiveness of our teaching strategies.


OBJECTIVE. To determine the safety and efficacy of intramyocardial autologous blood stem cell injection for cardiomyopathy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. Between May 2005 and February 2010, 126 consecutive patients underwent intramyocardial cell injection. Fifty two were dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 74 were ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM). Mean age was 59.2 ± 12.4 years. The stem cells are isolated from the patient's own blood and cultured. The final product is called angiogenic cell precursors (ACPs). The number of cells prior to injection was 46.1 ± 36.5 million cells. ACPs were injected into all areas of the left ventricle in DCM patients, and into the non-viable myocardium and hypokinetic segments in ICM patients. Combined coronary artery surgery and cell injection were performed in 33.8% of ICM cases.

RESULTS. There was no new ventricular arrhythmia. The 30-day mortality rate was 3.8% (2/52) and 4.1% (3/74) in DCM and ICM, respectively. New York Heart Association (NYHA) class improved from 3.0 ± 0.6 to 2.0 ± 0.9 at 485.8 ± 370.3 days (p < 0.001) in DCM and improved from 2.7 ± 0.6 to 1.9 ± 0.8 at 419.6 ± 345.5 days (p < 0.001) in ICM. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) increased from 23.3 ± 7.0% to 27.7 ± 11.3% at 409.7 ± 352.4 days (p = 0.03) in DCM and increased from 23.6 ± 7.7% to 31.5 ± 10.0% at 400.6 ± 350.1 days (p < 0.001) in ICM. Quality of life evaluated at 3 months has significantly improved for physical function, rolephysical, general health and vitality domains in DCM. For ICM, physical function, role-physical, general health and social function domains were also improved.

CONCLUSION. Intramyocardial ACPs injection is feasible and safe in both DCM and ICM. NYHA, quality of life and LVEF had significantly improved in both DCM and ICM.


Comprehensive Spacecraft Flight Software requirements verification is essential to the success of deep space missions. NASA's Solar Probe Plus (SPP) Spacecraft Flight Software and requirement verification activities are being implemented by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) located in Laurel, MD. JHU/APL's software development process for a critical mission requires an independent verification of all Spacecraft Flight Software requirements. The complexity of SPP's Spacecraft Flight Software and the number of critical requirements mandates an efficient process to build, maintain and execute a comprehensive test suite. In addition, detailed reports must contain relevant information on test execution steps for post-execution analysis verification and for test artifact dissemination to external reviewers (NASA Independent Verification and Validation). The Van Allen Probes mission (launched in 2012) implemented the initial Test Framework currently being used to conduct post-launch regression verification of Spacecraft Flight Software releases. The simplistic Test Framework design consists of following a set of conventions for procedure development and the use of specific routines from a procedure library. The procedures are used to create and write relevant information to report files and to verify different types of spacecraft data points. The basic philosophy of the Test Framework design is each test must continue to execute even when a test execution failure is encountered. The SPP Mission Operations ground system and supported test procedure development language are the same as used on Van Allen Probes. Therefore, SPP can reuse the core of the Test Framework infrastructure with minor modifications. A major enhancement in the SPP Test Framework is the feature to allow the test engineer to tailor the test suite to target a specific subset of tests. Scheduling selected tests to launch during non-peak work hours provides an efficient method to maximize test environment usage. Easy access to the test execution reporting system via an Intranet web interface offers another benefit to the cognizant test engineer for post-execution debugging and analysis. Additionally, the SPP Test Framework provides an efficient method to automate the configuration control system check-out process of test procedures and the check-in process of test execution artifacts. Supplemental procedures have also been incorporated into the SPP Test Framework to perform routine error analysis of ground system logs to reduce manual verification and to assist in troubleshooting problems encountered during test execution. The paper will detail the SPP Test Framework and benefits to critical Spacecraft Flight Software requirements verification. The discussion in the paper will include the enhancements in the SPP Test Framework to address the lessons learned from the Van Allen Probes Spacecraft Flight Software requirements verification program. Atlassian Bamboo tool configuration was used as the test harness for the SPP Test Framework to provide the test selection, schedule and automatic launch features to support execution of the SPP Spacecraft Flight Software test suite.


The first part of this work deals with the interactions of amino acids and neutral macrocyclic ligands (18-crown-6 and cryptand 222). Solubilities and Gibbs energies of solution of several amino acids and their complexes with 18-crown-6 in acetonitrile, as well as of some amino acid ester salts in chloroform have been determined at 298.15 K. An increase in the solubility data for the amino acid complexes relative to the free amino acids has been found, as a result of the interactions of the guest molecules with the macrocyclic ligands. Stability constants, Gibbs energies, enthalpies and entropies of complexation of a series of L- and D-amino acids with 18-crown-6 and with cryptand 222 in methanol at 298.15 K were obtained by titration calorimetry. The similar Gibbs energies of complexation found for these systems are the result of an enthalpy-entropy compensation effect. No significant differences have been found between the thermodynamic parameters of complexation of the L- and D-amino acids with these ligands in this solvent with corresponding data previously reported for DL- amino acids and the same macrocycles in methanol. 1H NMR studies on these systems have been carried out to gain a better understanding of the interactions involving amino acids with 18-crown-6 or with cryptand 222 in methanol. These NMR data are the first reported for these systems. The second part of this thesis concerns the interactions of calixarene macrocycles with organic solvents (neutral species). Solubilities and Gibbs energies of solution of p-tert-butylcalix(n)arenes (n = 4,6,8) in various solvents at 298.15 K are reported. Derived transfer Gibbs energy data from acetonitrile to various solvents reflect that the parent calixarenes are better solvated in most reaction media considered than in the reference solvent. Structural studies on calix(4)arene esters in chloroform, acetonitrile, benzonitrile and acetone at 298 K suggest that among these solvents, acetonitrile is likely to be included in the hydrophobic cavity of the calixarene esters. The final part of this thesis concerns conductimetric, thermodynamic and structural studies on the interactions of parent calixarenes and amines in benzonitrile. An important consequence of amine-calixarene interactions in solution is the generation of new electrolytes, as a result of a proton transfer reaction from the calixarene to the amine. Thermodynamic and structural studies reflect the distinctive properties of cryptands relative to cyclic and aliphatic amines; suggesting that cryptand 222 and cryptand 22 are likely to host the proton released from the calixarene in the cavity of the former ligand or in the hole of ciyptand 22. To conclude, the extraction of amines from aqueous solution by calixarenes is presented. It is shown that the transfer of amines from water to benzonitrile is favoured by the presence of calixarenes in the organic phase. Although the ion-pair formation in benzonitrile gives the main contribution to the extraction process, the selective extraction of amines by calixarenes is mainly controlled by the transfer Gibbs energies of these amines from water to the organic medium.


Author(s): Pan, Yuchen | Advisor(s): Herr, Amy E | Abstract: Biomolecular binding interactions underpin life sciences tools that are essential to fields as diverse as molecular biology and clinical chemistry. Merging needs in life science research entail fast, robust and quantitative binding reaction characterization, such as antibody selection, gene regulation screening and drug screening. Identification, characterization, and optimization of these diverse molecular binding reactions demands the availability of powerful, quantitative analytical tools.Among modern analysis tools well-suited to such characterizations are the techniques of electrophoresis. Electrophoretic separations physically separate molecules based on electrophoretic mobility differences among species, with mobility differences functions of molecular size, charge, and conformation. All three characteristics can depend on binding state.Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) are one type of electrophoretic separations that detect binding-induced mobility changes of target analytes. In EMSAs, a probing molecule reacts with a target analyte and the binding interaction induces a change in the physicochemical properties of the target that then results in a detectable mobility shift.EMSAs benefit from microfluidic adaption. The use of high separating electric field and miniaturized formats greatly enhance assay throughput and reduce sample consumption. Further, the precision of microfluidic control of transport and reaction confers a level of quantitation and reproducibility that are difficult (if not impossible) to achieve with conventional tools. Our group has previously introduced a microfluidic EMSA (μMSA) assay that reduces reagent consumption ten-fold and processing time a hundred-fold. While a notable advance, microchip based EMSAs suffer from equipment-heavy infrastructure needs and serial electrophoresis implementations, limiting throughput and scale-up potential.To surmount these limitations of microfluidic EMSAs, our group has pioneered "open-microfluidic" electrophoresis arrays that support g384 concurrent polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) separations. The PAGE molecular sieving gels are photo-patterned directly on a planar substrate – not inside of enclosed microfluidic channels. The adaption of EMSAs to such a PAGE gel array format reduces infrastructure demands and affords parallel operation, thereby overcoming the shortcomings of in-channel glass devices.Here we report on the design, development, characterization, optimization, and application of free-standing polyacrylamide gel (fsPAG) EMSAs to answer questions about molecular binding fundamental to molecular biology research and the biotechnology industry. We harness the open, multiplexed nature of the fsPAG format, the quantitative precision of fine fluidic control and the small sample volume requirements to yield two sets of analytical contributions. The first set of contributions centers on discerning both form and function during RNA riboswitch binding to metabolites. Not only does the RNA riboswitch bind to certain metabolites, the molecule takes on a compact conformation if that binding event is functional. This compact conformation results in an electrophoretic mobility shift versus the non-function RNA riboswitch. We first developed a microchip based rapid in-vitro cyclic-di-GMP biosensor. This assay builds on the previously reported riboswitch μMSA technology and enables fast (30 min) cyclic-di-GMP concentration determination in cell extracts with high detection sensitivity. Our work is the only "minimalist cyclic-di-GMP biosensor" reported so far, which performs direct concentration measurements with no need for complex riboswitch derivative construction.We then characterized fsPAG EMSAs for riboswitch binding analysis. We detailed the fundamental physical properties of the open microfluidic gel array and utilized the analytical tool for HTP riboswitch binding analysis. fsPAG EMSAs offer a throughput (10 data/min) that is 30 times higher than our own previously reported μMSA and 1000 higher than the canonical slab-gel EMSAs.In a second set of contributions, we applied the precision quantitation capability of fsPAG EMSAs to report binding kinetics of fragment antigen-binding antibody reagents. We integrated the open-microfluidic fsPAG with an acoustic sample delivery system and developed a novel automated binding affinity measurement tool for fragment antigen-binding fragment (Fab) molecules. To date, the assay offers the highest reported throughput. Important to such throughput and to reproducibility, the assay eliminates the cumbersome manual sample loading previously involved in performing fsPAGE and greatly improves the electrophoretic uniformity of the assay. The equilibrium constants of 6 Fab were simultaneously measured on a 384-plex fsPAG device.In a more speculative and forward-looking contribution, we designed and prototyped an fsPAG western blot assay; a departure from in-channel design strategies our laboratory has pursued in the past. A critical contribution of the protype assay is sample stacking during transfer from the PAGE separation to the blotting step; with the stacking enhancing the detection sensitivity and reduceing the assay time. The fsPAG western blot benefits from using the molecular binding interactions we have characterized earlier, but now in open-microfluidic format.Taken together, we have designed, developed, and applied high-throughput molecular binding analysis platforms with open-microfluidic polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis tools to both detection of functional riboswitch binding events and quantitative characterization of antibody fragment binding kinetics. Fundamental and design findings offer new understanding and capabilities in parallelized binding reaction analyses and affinity based molecular screening, fulfilling two sets of unmet needs in bioanalytical technology.


ABSTRACTIn order to analyze the characteristics and long-term trend levels of PM2.5 in Tainan City, Taiwan, Mesoscale Modeling System Generation 5 (MM5) and Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (MM5-CMAQ) modelling as well as box plots and time series analysis, were utilized in this study. The long-term trend analysis shows that the levels of PM2.5 (averaged at 38.3 µg m–3 and ranged between 33.1 and 41.9 µg m–3) in Tainan City for ten years (2005–2014) were above the yearly average standards of 15 µg m–3, showing non-attainment status. Overall, the results show a decreasing trend (from 41.9 µg m–3 in 2005 to 35.0 µg m–3 in 2014) in the levels of PM2.5 in Tainan atmosphere in the ten year period. The results of the MM5-CMAQ air quality modeling, indicate that the highest contribution on PM2.5 in Tainan City was from trans-boundary pollution from neighbouring cities (34.2%), while long-range transport and local emissions from Tainan each contributed a fraction of approximately 32.9%. In terms of local sources, the highest influence is from area sources (18.6%), followed by line sources (7.7%) and point sources (6.6%). Thus, to control PM2.5 in Tainan City, the focus should be on construction, road dust, and residential activities.


Both the results of our investigations and published data on mammalian radioresistance, biological characteristics and ecological factors which modify it are generalized in this paper. The described diversity among large taxa in radioresistance is based on the data obtained on the rodents from the Old and the New Worlds (totally 51 samples from 22 genera of four families--Sciurudae, Muridae, Cricetidae, Heteromyidae). It was found that radioresistance substantially depended on which family the species belonged. The main biological characteristics and ecological factors (body size, nutrition type, biotopical restriction) were revealed; in sum they determined 40% of radioresistance of small mammals.


Prospective investors and lenders should understand that some companies in hot water try to hide the fact with "creative accounting" techniques that provide a distorted picture of their financial health. Other companies, not on the skids, can be tempted to paint a rosier picture than justified by the facts. Fortunately, there are equally sophisticated methods for spotting the signs of accounting chicanery in virtually any financial condition. This book provides investors and lenders with 50 powerful tools for uncovering accounting gimmicks to get a true reading of a company's financial condition. This no-nonsense guide draws on eye-opening case histories of major companies whose recent accounting "shenanigans" brought in millions of investment dollars before they were exposed. Building on the specific lessons learned from these cases, "Financial Shenanigans" shows investors, lenders, auditors, regulators and others how to immediately spot such misleading accounting tricks as: recording revenue prematurely; recording bogus revenues; boosting income artificially with one-time gains; shifting current expenses to a later period; failing to record or disclose major liabilities; shifting current income to a later period; and shifting future expenses to the current period. Plus there are tips on checking the balance of inventory, sales, and receivables, scrutinizing statements of cash flows, and more.


The dynamic study of the microflora of bullet wounds in 32 patients was carried out. In cases of mass hospitalization coccal microflora (staphylococci and streptococci) was mainly isolated from wounds, at the period of treatment hospital infections with enterobacteria, Pseudomonas and Enterococcus occurred. Before cleaning the wound a decrease in the contamination rate for all microbial species was observed. As the disease progressed an increase in the amount of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains was registered. The results of sanitary microbiological investigations made in the wards where the wounded patients were treated correspond to the structure of the causative agents of purulent processes in patients.


In this paper, we propose a joint data-hiding and compression scheme for the images using the compression method that is side match vector quantization (SMVQ) and image in painting. Here we are going to use two functions as data hiding and image compression can be integrated into one module. Then on the sender side, except for the blocks which are in the leftmost and topmost of image, and then by raster scanning each residual block is being embedded with the compress simultaneously by the SMVQ and in painting image and according to current bit. And the VQ that is vector quantization is done only for the complex block that it controls the distortion and diffusion error which causes by compression. Then at receiver side, after segmenting the image which was having compressed codes into the section of series by bits of indicator, so at the receiver it achieves the decompression and extraction the secret bits successful that is by the process of index value used in section of segmentation. The results will demonstrate the propose scheme.


ABSTRACT A comparison is presented of three methods currently used to measure particle settling velocity beyond Stokes' range. Contrasting natural sediments are analyzed in a settling tube and in a modified bottom withdrawal tube, and velocities which are estimated to represent single-particle behavior are calculated empirically from separate measures of particle size, and density and shape. Velocities calculated empirically for aggregated sediments are lower than measured by either sedimentation method, due primarily to aggregate breakdown that occurs during measurement of size by a wet-sieve method. For all sediment types, multi-particle velocities measured in a settling tube are very close to calculated single-particle velocities, but multi-particle velocities measured in a modified bottom withdrawal tube are higher. The increased velocities measured during this "progressive" or "batch" settling are attributed primarily to "hydrodynamic wake capture" that occurs at Reynolds' numbers > 0.1 when particles of different sizes and velocities settle together in a polydisperse suspension. For particles that settle in a polydisperse suspension, temperature correction based on single-particle behavior appears to be inadequate.


The detailed analysis of Species Abundance Distributions ("S.A.D.s") can shed light on how member-species organize themselves within communities, provided that the complete distribution of species abundances is made available first. In this perspective, the numerical extrapolation applied to incomplete "S.A.D." can effectively compensate for S.A.D.s incompleteness, when having to deal with substantially incomplete samplings. Indeed, almost as much information can be released from extrapolated "S.A.D.s" as would be obtained from truly complete "S.A.D.s", although the taxonomic identities of unrecorded species remain of course ignored by numerical extrapolation. To take full advantage of this new approach, a recently developed procedure allowing the least-biased numerical extrapolation of "S.A.D.s" has been applied to three partially sampled gastropods communities associated to coral-reef in Mannar Gulf (S-E India). The following main results were derived from the three numerically completed "S.A.D.s": (i) once completed, all three numerically "S.A.D.s" fairly well comply with the log-normal model, suggesting that, in all three communities, the process of hierarchical structuration of species abundances likely involves the combined contributions of many independent factors; (ii) moreover, the same holds true for each of the two coexisting feeding guilds (primary and secondary consumers) considered separately; (iii) when compared to secondary consumers, the guild of primary consumers has a much lower species richness but, on the other hand, exhibits a more strongly structured distribution of species abundances, which materializes not only in term of the apparent unevenness of species abundances but also after having disentangled the genuine intensity of the underlying process driving the hierarchical structuration. All the preceding features are shared in common by the three communities studied, in line with the similarity of their environmental contexts. Only minor features can actually slightly distinguish between communities, reflecting the difference in distances between them.


Species distribution models, or SDMs, have become important decision support tools by answering fundamental questions about where species, including invasive species, are likely to survive and thrive based on environmental conditions. For an inexperienced modeller or model reviewer, the terminology and technical aspects of SDMs can be overwhelming, and even well‐trained modellers can struggle to understand the implications of various modelling choices. Here, I outline some key considerations with respect to SDMs, focusing on their application to forest insects. Foremost, I assert that a model should be developed and evaluated with attention to relationships between an insect and its hosts, as those relationships determine much about the places the insect may occupy. In my view, the most successful models are constructed carefully and incorporate honest assessments of their limitations, sources of error and uncertainty, and the degree of linkage between the model and the real‐world circumstances it is meant to portray.


Colleges and universities are beginning to invest in active learning (AL) classrooms in an effort to replace the traditional lecture style pedagogy that is frequently used by many professors in higher education (Eagan et al., 2014). This is a quantitative research study conducted at a medium-sized Midwestern university. Students were given the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Survey in three different classes. The research study compared students' perceptions of Teaching Presence (TP), Social Presence (SP), and Cognitive Presence (CP) differences from classes first taught in a traditional auditorium lecture-style format, then taught in an AL classroom. This study shows that it is not the physical structure of AL classrooms that had an impact on students' levels of TP, SP, and CP, but the instructional design of these classes that had an impact in these areas. The study also shows that when implementing AL classrooms, instructors need to make intentional design decisions to keep the levels of TP at high levels.


Thermochronologic dates of partially reset detrital grains are often difficult to interpret because of the potential for variation in inherited predepositional dates and kinetic behaviors of grains from diverse source terrains. In this study, we present several examples of complex detrital zircon (U-Th)/He date distributions from sedimentary rocks that have been heated to temperatures in or near the zircon He partial retention zone, leading to several types of date-eU correlations caused by variations in predepositional inherited age and radiation-damage–induced He diffusion kinetics. These examples are from three subvertical transects in mountain ranges in central Utah: the Wasatch Range near Provo, Utah, the Oquirrh Mountains, and the Stansbury Mountains. Each range lies in the hanging wall of one of three major thrust sheets that compose part of the Charleston-Nebo salient, a segment of the Cretaceous Sevier fold-and-thrust belt. Zircon grains from two of these transects (the Stansbury and Oquirrh Mountains) show large date variations that can be at least partially understood with a radiation-damage–based model for He diffusion in zircon. We combine the output from this model with a new approach for understanding partially reset data sets that relies upon the concept of an "inheritance envelope." The transect from the Wasatch Range is relatively simple and does not require an inheritance-based interpretation. We document a pulse of 5 km of exhumation in this range at ca. 100 Ma. Time-temperature ( t - T ) constraints from inheritance envelopes in the Oquirrh Mountains transect suggest a pulse of exhumation beginning at either 110 or 100 Ma. Finally, for the Stansbury transect, the inheritance envelope approach yields inconclusive results; some aspects of the model generate inheritance envelopes that match the measured data set, whereas others do not. Despite their complexity, the t - T histories for these nonideal data sets represent some of the only in situ constraints on the timing of Cretaceous exhumation of Sevier-style deformation in the U.S. Cordillera. In the case of the Oquirrh and Wasatch Range data sets, these direct measurements of thrust sheet t - T histories offer some insight into the evolution of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt of central Utah.


Centrifugal pump characteristics at different pump operating speeds are important for the successful operation of pumps in various areas of technology. In paper the pump characteristics are discussed to calculate the characteristic functional curves H = f (Q), Pw = f (Q), Pf = f (Q), η = f (Q) of given type of pump, specific work and flow of fluid at different frequencies of rotation, to demonstrate the connection of centrifugal pumps in serial and parallel, to product map of characteristic curves with an ISO efficiency curve and to verify the similarity rules for pumps. Using calculation focused analyses the behavior of individual characteristic curves of the pump, to find how the ISO efficiency curve can be applied for the determination of the most efficient frequency of a pump rotation. Based on calculation will be decided when to connect the pumps in series or in parallel.


A numerical study is performed in order to evaluate the capability of the mono-dispersed multiphase model in ANSYS CFX to predict the flow of liquid-gas mixture in radial pumps. A radial research pump with annulus casing and low rotational speed is investigated for different operation points. The drag force is approximated by the Schiller Nauman model. No other interfacial forces are considered. Both, liquid and gaseous phase are treated incompressible. The inlet gas volume fraction is varied up to 7 %. The comparison of a full-geometry model and a single blade model shows that the single blade model predicts the head sufficiently accurate. A grid study is performed for single-phase flow. Head as well as blade pressure profiles are compared to experimental data. For IGVF up to 3 % the head is predicted with a good accuracy. While the experimental blade pressure profiles indicate that the accumulation of gas is located close to the blade surface, the simulation predicts their location rather in the channel center. This mislocation of large gas zones leads to an even qualitatively wrong head drop in the simulation for IGVF > 3 % and high flow rates. It can be concluded that the accuracy of the multiphase model needs to be improved, particularly by the consideration of lift force and bubble interaction, for a reliable simulation of liquid-gas flow in radial pumps, in particular at higher IGVF.


Dynamic service function chains (SFC) are enabled by network function virtualization on general purpose servers. The emergence of programmable data planes (PDP) has offered a new way for the deployment of SFC. However, the implementation of network functions is constrained by resource limitations in PDPs (e.g., compute and memory resource). Moreover, most of existing works do not consider the optimization of state information (e.g., registers), which is essential for stateful network functions. In this paper, we propose pSFC which provides a fine-grained SFC deployment scheme in the PDP to tackle the problem. We first model network functions as control flow graphs (CFG) and the process of deployment as a one big switch (OBS) problem, and then propose an ILP (Integer Linear Programming) model for resource optimization for the OBS problem, which is NP-hard. To solve this problem efficiently, pSFC first composes multiple SFCs for eliminating redundant resources, decomposes the compound CFG based on the resource limitation per stage, and finally maps OBS into the substrate network. We have implemented pSFC in both bmv2 software switch and P4 hardware switch (i.e., Intel Tofino). Evaluation shows that pSFC reduces switch costs 45.7% and average latency 15% while providing the correctness of the process of SFC.


Lactate Dehydrogenase-A (LDH-A) is up-regulated in a broad array of cancers and is associated with poor prognosis. Involved in the hypoxic response, LDH-A is a HIF-1 target and is responsible for the enzymatic reduction of pyruvate to lactate. This is important for several reasons, chiefly (1) the regeneration of NAD+ which feeds back into earlier glycolytic stages and (2) the depletion of intracellular pyruvate concentrations. High intracellular pyruvate is known to inhibit HDACs and is associated with increased apoptosis. LDH-A is also known to be controlled by oncogenes such as c-Myc suggesting an oncogenic role. Studies have shown that the knock-out of LDH-A reduces proliferation and tumourgenicity, and stimulates the mitochondria. This thesis therefore had three aims: firstly, to validate LDH-A inhibition and elucidate its full nature in terms of the implications for tumour survival; secondly, to ascertain the role of LDH-B in order to determine whether selectivity towards LDH-A would be a necessary feature of any small molecule; lastly, to recapitulate siRNA mediated LDH-A inhibition with small molecule inhibitors that had the potential for clinical application. The thesis examined both clinical data and a broad panel of cultured cancer cell types in order to select appropriate model in which to validate siRNA mediated inhibition of LDH-A and LDH-B. After it was demonstrated that LDH-A inhibition reduced the growth of cultured cells, a range of techniques were used to quantify this reduced growth in terms of cell death and changes in metabolism. Further to this, literature studies had proposed a role for LDH-B in maintaining lactate fuelled tumour growth; however, this thesis shows that in the cell lines studied, lactate-fuelled tumour growth was an LDH-A dependent phenomenon. Finally, a high throughput assay system was designed and validated and a library of small molecules was selected, synthesized, and screened in order to identify selective inhibitors of LDH-A.


Course of Grief Response, Influencing Factors, Satisfaction with treatment, Need for Psychotherapeutic Support: The emotional response to a late miscarriage or a stillbirth was examined retrospectively in a systematic study involving 51 patients. The women had lost a child either by stillbirth (beyond the 20th week of gestation) or shortly after delivery. We assessed the long-term course of possible determinants of grief, a complicated grief response, as well as the patients' satisfaction with the treatment and their need for further psychotherapeutic support. The mourning response was complicated by a depressive reaction in 22%. Major risk factors were individual disposition, lack of partner and professional support. The findings reveal that the course of the grief response is positively influenced by: 1. open discussion (thematisation) with the skilled personnel and the patients' families, 2. direct or indirect contact with the deceased child (concretisation) and 3. the patients concerned being extensively informed as to place and circumstances of the funeral (whereabouts of the child).


Drawing on novel survey data, this study maps the distribution of neighborhood and network disadvantage in a population of Milwaukee renters and evaluates the relationship between each disadvantage and multiple social and health outcomes. We find that many families live in neighborhoods with above average disadvantage but are embedded in networks with below average disadvantage, and vice versa. Neighborhood (but not network) disadvantage is associated with lower levels of neighborly trust but also with higher levels of community support (e.g., providing neighbors with food). Network (but not neighborhood) disadvantage is associated with lower levels of civic engagement. Asthma and diabetes are associated exclusively with neighborhood disadvantage, but depression is associated exclusively with network disadvantage. These findings imply that some social problems may be better addressed by neighborhood interventions and others by network interventions.


Miscible and/or near miscible gas injection processes are among the most widely used enhanced oil recovery techniques. The successful design and implementation of a miscible gas injection project is dependent upon the accurate determination of minimum miscible pressure (MMP), the pressure above which the displacement process becomes multi-contact miscible. Analytical methods, which are inexpensive and quick to use, have been developed to estimate MMP for complex fluid characterizations. However, many problems still existed in the analytical calculation, which will lead to the failure of calculation, or wrong result. This paper shows how the initial tie line could be calculated when the component of injection gas doesn't included in the crude oil. And moreover, how to get a complete set of initial value for the equations of crossover tie lines, and the influence of EOS for the result of key tie lines is analyzed simultaneously.


Cloud computing needs tomanage a large number of computing resources, while resources scheduling strategy plays a key role in determining the efficiency of cloud computing. It is an important issue how to allocate computing resources reasonably and schedule tasks run effectively which can reduce the complete time and cost of all tasks.this paper built a optimization model for Resources Scheduling of cloud computing system and proposed an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm for the builtmodel. Finally, the result of the experiment indicates that the scheduling systemcan improve the efficiency of dispatching resource and the utilization ratio in the Cloud Computing system.


There has been a growing interest in the use of natural materials as a delivery mechanism for antimicrobials and coatings in foods. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of pullulan coatings to improve internal quality and shelf-life of fresh eggs during 10 wk of storage at 25 and 4 °C. Three treatments of eggs were evaluated as follows; non-coated (control; C), coated with pullulan (P), and coated with pullulan containing nisin (N). The effects of the pullulan coatings on microbiological qualities, physical properties, and freshness parameters were investigated and compared with non-coated eggs. For non-coated eggs, as storage time increased, yolk index, albumen index, and Haugh unit value decreased and weight loss increased. However, pullulan coatings (P or N) minimized weight loss (<1.5%) and preserved the albumen and yolk quality of eggs (with a final B grade) 3 wk longer than non-coated eggs at 25 °C. At 4 °C, both P- and N-coated eggs went from AA to A grade after 9 wk and maintained the grade for 10 wk (4 wk longer than that of non-coated eggs). This study is the first to demonstrate that pullulan coatings can preserve the internal quality, prolong the shelf-life, and minimize weight loss of fresh eggs.


In this paper, we propose a scheme for the remote preparation of a three-particle Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger class state by a two-particle entangled state and a three-particle entangled state. It is shown that, by this scheme, only two classical bits and one two-particle projective measurement are enough for such preparation.


Sexual transmission is now the predominant mode of HIV transmission in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. It is mostly males who are affected. HIV prevalence is increasing steadily particularly among persons practising high-risk behaviour. The cumulative number of reported cases in the Region since the start of the epidemic is just over 3 000 which is much less than the actual number; the number of identified HIV positives is less than 10 000 cases. The estimated cumulative number of cases of HIV infection in the Region is between 1 00 000 and 150 000. The course of the epidemic in the Region could be made less dramatic than it has been elsewhere by building on and promoting prevailing social values which teach people morality and self-respect in addition to other strategies for prevention and control. (author's)


The widespread occurrence of antibiotic resistance among human pathogens is a major public health problem. Conventional antibiotics typically target bacterial killing or growth inhibition, resulting in strong selection for the development of antibiotic resistance. Alternative therapeutic approaches targeting microbial pathogenicity without inhibiting growth might minimize selection for resistant organisms. Compounds inhibiting gene expression of streptokinase (SK), a critical group A streptococcal (GAS) virulence factor, were identified through a high-throughput, growth-based screen on a library of 55,000 small molecules. The lead compound [Center for Chemical Genomics 2979 (CCG-2979)] and an analog (CCG-102487) were confirmed to also inhibit the production of active SK protein. Microarray analysis of GAS grown in the presence of CCG-102487 showed down-regulation of a number of important virulence factors in addition to SK, suggesting disruption of a general virulence gene regulatory network. CCG-2979 and CCG-102487 both enhanced granulocyte phagocytosis and killing of GAS in an in vitro assay, and CCG-2979 also protected mice from GAS-induced mortality in vivo. These data suggest that the class of compounds represented by CCG-2979 may be of therapeutic value for the treatment of GAS and potentially other Gram-positive infections in humans.


PURPOSE
High levels of glutamate can be toxic to retinal ganglion cells. Effective buffering of extracellular glutamate by retinal glutamate transporters is therefore important. This study was conducted to investigate whether glutamate transporter changes occur with two models of optic nerve injury in the rat.

METHODS
Glaucoma was induced in one eye of 35 adult Wistar rats by translimbal diode laser treatment to the trabecular meshwork. Twenty-five more rats underwent unilateral optic nerve transection. Two glutamate transporters, GLAST (EAAT-1) and GLT-1 (EAAT-2), were studied by immunohistochemistry and quantitative Western blot analysis. Treated and control eyes were compared 3 days and 1, 4, and 6 weeks after injury. Optic nerve damage was assessed semiquantitatively in epoxy-embedded optic nerve cross sections.

RESULTS
Trabecular laser treatment resulted in moderate intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation in all animals. After 1 to 6 weeks of experimental glaucoma, all treated eyes had significant optic nerve damage. Glutamate transporter changes were not detected by immunohistochemistry. Western blot analysis demonstrated significantly reduced GLT-1 in glaucomatous eyes compared with control eyes at 3 days (29.3% +/- 6.7%, P = 0.01), 1 week (55.5% +/- 13.6%, P = 0.02), 4 weeks (27.2% +/- 10.1%, P = 0.05), and 6 weeks (38.1% +/- 7.9%, P = 0.01; mean reduction +/- SEM, paired t-tests, n = 5 animals per group, four duplicate Western blot analyses per eye). The magnitude of the reduction in GLT-1 correlated significantly with mean IOP in the glaucomatous eye (r(2) = 0.31, P = 0.01, linear regression). GLAST was significantly reduced (33.8% +/- 8.1%, mean +/- SEM) after 4 weeks of elevated IOP (P = 0.01, paired t-test, n = 5 animals per group). In contrast to glaucoma, optic nerve transection resulted in an increase in GLT-1 compared with the control eye (P = 0.01, paired t-test, n = 15 animals). There was no significant change in GLAST after transection.

CONCLUSIONS
GLT-1 and GLAST were significantly reduced in an experimental rat glaucoma model, a response that was not found after optic nerve transection. Reductions in GLT-1 and GLAST may increase the potential for glutamate-induced injury to RGC in glaucoma.


The complexity of the information systems field often lends itself to classification schemes, or taxonomies, which provide ways to understand the similarities and differences among objects under study. Developing a taxonomy, however, is a complex process that is often done in an ad hoc way. This research-in-progress paper uses the design science paradigm to develop a systematic method for taxonomy development in information systems. The method we propose uses an indicator or operational level model that combines both empirical to deductive and deductive to empirical approaches. We evaluate this method by using it to develop a taxonomy of mobile applications, which we have chosen because of their ever-increasing number and variety. The resulting taxonomy contains seven dimensions with fifteen characteristics. We demonstrate the usefulness of this taxonomy by analyzing a range of current and proposed mobile applications. From the results of this analysis we identify combinations of characteristics where applications are missing and thus are candidates for new and potentially useful applications.


D QSAR viz. 3 descriptor quantitative structure and activity relationship studies for a series of compounds i.e. Schiff base derivatives using their semi-empirical quantum chemical descriptors and their laboratory reported activities against pathogen viz. .Ralstonia solanaecearum (ITCC NO -B1- 0002 ) have been carried out and reported in the present paper. Graphs between observed and predicted activities, both in the terms of p(MIC)cal and p(MIC) obs. are also being reported on the basis of which this may be concluded that some parameters/descriptors have a positive contribution towards the activity. The method has been proved to be useful tool for such type of studies.


Six solid formulations of emamectin benzoate (one wettable powder (WP) blend, one wettable dispersible granule (WG), and four soluble granules (SG)) were compared with an emulsifiable concentrate (EC) formulation for their residual effectiveness at controlling tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.), beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner), and cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), in three glasshouse tests. Emamectin benzoate was applied to plants at two rates in each trial (8.4 and 0.084 g ai/ha). Results from the glasshouse studies showed that most formulations were comparable at controlling all lepidopterous pests tested. Four field trials conducted in Florida confirmed that all formulations were comparable in their effectiveness at controlling populations of lepidopterous pests on vegetables, including diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), on cabbage, southern armyworm, Spodoptera eridania (Cramer), on pepper, and T. ni and S. exigua on celery. These studies identified a novel SG formulation of emamectin benzoate that was comparable to the EC formulation in its effectiveness at controlling lepidopterous pests, but superior to the EC in terms of safety to man and the environment. This novel SG formulation is currently being developed for control of lepidopterous pests on a variety of crops.


The paper describes the design and performance of a solid-state area-array CCD sensor coupled to a fiber-optic slab. The sensor uses a fra,e transfer organization and has 512 lines of 512 photoelements, each of 18.5 μm x 23.5 μm dimensions, giving, a total active area of 9.472 mm x 12.032 mm. This area being entirely photo-sensitive (no memory zone), the device operates in a single-field mode. The on-chip amplifier allows a readout frequency (pixel frequency) of over 10 MHz. The sensor is coupled to a fiber-optic slab, of unity magnification, overlying the entire photosensitive surface. The elementary fiber diameter is 5.5 μm. A new method of coupling through a gluing process ensures an excellent dimensional stability and immunity to mechanical stresses (vibrations, accelerations ...). The assembly forms a single unit with a metallic centring disk, to facilitate mounting and positioning in equipment. The good performance of the combined sensor and fiber-optic faceplate : low noise (300 μV, wide dynamic range (6500:1) and high illumination response (12 V/μJ/cm2 at λ 550 nm) opens many applications, for example - low-light-level imaging by coupling with an LII tube : nighttime surveillance, astronomy ...) - oscilloscope trace sensing, transient and high-speed phenomena analysis - laser imaging - medical imaging. Furthermore, the 512 x 512 pixel image format is particularly well suited to digital image acquisition and processing. This product was developed as part of a research project for the French Coumissariat A l'Energie Atomique.


In addition to being extremely non-linear, modern machine learning problems require millions if not billions of parameters to solve or at least to get a good approximation of the solution, and neural networks are known to assimilate that complexity by deepening and widening their topology in order to increase the level of non-linearity needed for a better approximation. However, compact topologies are always preferred to deeper ones as they offer the advantage of using less computational units and less parameters. This compactness comes at the price of reduced non-linearity and thus, of limited solution search space. This thesis proposes the N-Dimensional Polynomial Neural Network (NDPNN) model that uses automatic polynomial kernel estimation for N-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Networks (NDCNNs) and introduces a high degree of non-linearity from the first layer which can compensate the need for deep and/or wide topologies. We first theoretically formalized the 1DPNN model which can process 1-dimensional signals and we demonstrated that its inherent non-linearity enables it to yield better results with less computational and spatial complexity than a regular 1DCNN on various classification and regression problems related to audio signals, even though it introduces more computational and spatial complexity on a neuronal level. The experiments were conducted on three publicly available datasets and demonstrate that the proposed 1DPNN model can extract more relevant information from the data than a 1DCNN in less time and with less memory. We subsequently extended the theoretical foundation of the 1DPNN to NDPNN which can process 2D signals such as images and 3D signals such as videos. Also, we theoretically created a general polynomial degree reduction formula that we used to develop a heuristic algorithm, which enables the degree reduction of any pre-trained NDPNN. This algorithm compresses an NDPNN without altering its performance, thus making the model faster and lighter. Following that, we used 2DPNNs and 3DPNNs to tackle the problem of plant species recognition on a publicly available plant species recognition dataset composed of 40,000 images with different sizes consisting of 8 plant species. As a result, we created a novel method, called Variably Overlapping Time—Coherent Sliding Window (VOTCSW), that transforms a dataset composed of images with variable size to a 3D representation with fixed size that is suitable for convolutional neural networks, and we demonstrated that this representation is more informative than resizing the images of the dataset to a given size. We theoretically formalized the use cases of the method as well as its inherent properties and proved that it has an oversampling and a regularization effect on the data. By combining the VOTCSW method with 3DPNNs, we were able to create a model that achieved a state-of-the-art accuracy of 99.9% on the considered dataset, surpassing well-known architectures such as ResNet and Inception. Furthermore, we established that the currently available plant species dataset could not be used for machine learning in its present form, due to a substantial class imbalance between the training set and the test set. Hence, we created a specific preprocessing and a model development framework that enabled us to improve the accuracy from 49.23% to 99.9%. The contributions of this thesis are the creation of a novel generic model called NDPNN that can extract more information from data than a NDCNN with less computational and spatial complexity, the evaluation of the performance of NDPNNs on audio signals, images and videos, the creation of a general direct polynomial reduction formula, the design of a heuristic algorithm for NDPNN compression that generates faster and lighter models, the formalization of an image transformation method that circumvents image resizing without altering fine-grained information, and the production of a state-of-the-art 3DPNN for plant species recognition.


During the 2000s, social indicators showed significant improvement, and by the end of the decade a remarkable shift in poverty and income inequality was seen. In 2012, 30.4 million Brazilians were considered poor while extreme poverty touched 10.1 million individuals, and the Gini index decreased to 0.53. The reduction in poverty as well as the improvement on income distribution—both unparalleled in Brazilian history—are attributable to a number of events such as the several social policies adopted in the period and the growth experienced by the Brazilian economy during the first decade of the 21st century.


Abstract Very important points (VIPs) and important points and edges (IPEs) methods have been compared in accordance with the TINs obtained by: (1) Delaunay triangulation using DEM points determined by VIP and (2) constrained Delaunay triangulation using DEM points and triangle edges determined by IPE. It was ensured that the number of points in each TIN was approximately equal to the number calculated by Töpfer's formula, and that the vertical error of each TIN was less than the error calculated by Koppe's formula. According to the results, (1) both methods are quality prioritized, (2) IPE is more sensitive to local surface changes, (3) important triangle edges determined by IPE make a significant contribution to the TIN, (4) some of the points selected by IPE are more important points than that of VIP, and (5) IPE-based TINs are more structural fidelity than VIP-based TINs.


This paper investigates the determinants of intra-household time allocation in post-war Rwanda. A decade after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda still bears the demographic impact of the war, in which at least 800,000 people died and the majority of casualties were adult males. The paper explores two unique features: exogenous variation in household types and large variation in regional cohort-specific sex ratios. Results indicate that, first, exposure to violence and male death can be a trigger of change in gender roles. Second, there is little flexibility to negotiate responsibilities within the household. Third, the local marriage market impacts the division of labor. Young, unmarried women engage more intensely in typical female activities when the shortage of men is severe. Conforming to the female gender role may be a strategy to improve their chances to marry.


This paper extends the debate on the effects of client influence on external valuations. We augment prior research based on interview or experimental evidence by analysing the UK real estate downturn starting in 2007. This period forms a natural experiment of valuation influence in that different groups of investors had divergent interests in the outcome of portfolio valuations. In particular, open ended funds redeeming at NAV had an incentive to drive valuations downwards, while, by contrast, closed end funds with high leverage had an incentive to boost valuations. If such divergent pressures did affect supposedly independent valuations, this might be observable in biases in the valuation performance of real estate held by different fund types. Prior research (Crosby et al., 2010) addressed this issue using aggregated data for fund types from IPD. However, the level of aggregation in that paper opens the possibility that the biases observed result from composition effects. In contrast, this paper focuses on individual asset level data from IPD. Hedonic analyses of the behaviour of individual properties are conducted with ownership type variables augmenting property characteristic and time variables. We test whether there are significant differences in the behaviour of assets held by different types of investors. The findings shed light on the cyclical dynamics of commercial real estate markets in cyclical downturns and the information content of appraisal based indices.


In the aviation safety research domain, cause identification refers to the task of identifying the possible causes responsible for the incident described in an aviation safety incident report. This task presents a number of challenges, including the scarcity of labeled data and the difficulties in finding the relevant portions of the text. We investigate the use of annotator rationales to overcome these challenges, proposing several new ways of utilizing rationales and showing that through judicious use of the rationales, it is possible to achieve significant improvement over a unigram SVM baseline.


The role of the state through BUMN becomes so important when it is formulated in a provision as formulated in Article 33 Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the State of the Republic of Indonesia, where the production branches which are important for the State and which affect the livelihood of the public must be controlled by Country. Here it indicates the authority of the State to participate in economic activities through the operation of production branches that can be categorized as important for the State and considered vital and strategic for the interest of the State.This is based on the reasons as formulated in the explanatory section of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of the State of the Republic of Indonesia, so that the benefits of the production branches do not fall into the hands of individuals, the State actively takes the role to cultivate it because the production branch is considered important and which control the livelihood of the people for the greatest prosperity of the people. State-Owned Enterprises is formed with the aim of contributing to the development of the national economy in general and the state's revenue in particular; The pursuit of profit; To hold general benefit in the form of providing goods and / or services of high quality and adequate for the fulfillment of the livelihood of the public; Pioneering business activities that have not yet been implemented by the private sector and cooperatives and actively providing guidance and assistance to weak economic entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and communities.SOEs are given the right to monopoly in the economic field which is considered to control the livelihood of many people.


In this paper, the content of English language newspaper articles from countries such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States and South Africa from 1986 to 2004 was examined. Thus, pre and post the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in England and Wales which legally recognised the rape of male victims. The newspaper analysis focused on the gender of rape victims, journalists and narrative style (judgmental, sympathetic or myth-laden). The key findings were (i) that male rape victims are treated more sympathetically than female rape victims who have historically been described using a myth-laden and judgemental narrative style by the press) at a parallel time frame regarding the level of social and academic awareness of the phenomenon of male rape; (ii) that the term 'rape victim' is treated as inherently female; and (iii) the gender of the reporter did not influence the narrative style of the article. These findings suggest that lessons may have been learned as a result of feminist criticisms of past misrepresentations and stereotypical portrayals of the female rape victim in the press hence a more sensitive approach is now being taken by print journalists. The televisual and film media's portrayal of male rape victimisation with illustrative examples will also be critically considered. Posing the question, as to why it is so unusual to see a depiction of adult male sexual violation on our screens? Particularly, when considering the frequency of the portrayal of adult female sexual victimisation which may be contributing to a normalisation of this type of crime.


The purpose of this research was to determine if perception of fit in jeans will vary by target wearer, sex, educational background, political-social attitudes, and brand name. One hundred and sixteen usable questionnaires were completed by students enrolled in the 1987 spring semester at a university in North Texas. The questionnaire gathered data about perception of fit in jeans, social-political attitudes, clothing interest, and jeans consumption. No differences were found between perception of fit by sex or target wearer. Factors found to affect perception of fit were educational background, political-social attitudes, brand name, and clothing interest. Subjects indicated fit was the most important factor considered when purchasing jeans.


Four boys with Fanconi's anaemia and growth hormone (GH) deficiency are reported. Case 1 had isolated GH deficiency and responded to HGH and to oxandrolone treatment. Case 2, his brother, had milder haematological and dysmorphic manifestations and maintained a low-normal growth rate without treatment in spite of laboratory evidence of GH deficiency. Case 3 had multiple hypothalamopituitary defects, including deficiencies of GH, ACTH, and gonadotrophins. Case 4 had isolated GH deficiency and responded moderately well to HGH treatment. 3 of the 4 patients had bilateral cryptorchidism, 2 with increased plasma gonadotrophins, indicating primary testicular failure. We conclude that GH deficiency, isolated or combined with other hypothalamopituitary defects, and primary testicular failure with cryptorchidism are frequent but not constant features of Fanconi's anaemia.


: The patients were observed by a reanimation-hematological team of the Leningrad emergency service. It has been established that the hemorrhagic syndrome is the main one deterimining the unity of pathogenesis and clinical picture of the hemotransfusional complication. Phase character of the changes in the homeostasis system during the transfusion of incompatible blood was noted. The express diagnosis of the disorders and a scheme of the sequence of administration of hemostatic drugs are proposed. Mortality among such patients was reduced.


Palm wine was assessed for its antimicrobial property. The antimicrobial property was assayed on five bacteria: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aureginosa and a Bacillus sp with one fungus Candida albicans. The minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration of palm wine on these organisms were determined using agar well diffusion method. The antimicrobial activity on these organisms was then compared with the action of methylated spirit, a known commercial disinfectant. Palm wine was found to be more active against the gram negative organisms (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aureginosa and Proteus mirabilis) than the gram positive organisms (Bacillus sp and Staphylococcus aureus). The action was bactericidal on the gram negative organisms while it was bacteristatic on the gram positive. It was found out that palm wine had no inhibitory or cidal action on Candida albicans which is one of its resident organism. The antimicrobial action was also found to compare favorably with methylated spirit a known commercial disinfectant.


Abstract. Classification of urban materials using remote sensing data, in particular hyperspectral data, is common practice. Spectral libraries can be utilized to train a classifier since they provide spectral features about selected urban materials. However, urban materials can have similar spectral characteristic features due to high inter-class correlation which can lead to misclassification. Spectral libraries rarely provide imagery of their samples, which disables the possibility of classifying urban materials with additional textural information. Thus, this paper conducts material classification comparing the benefits of using close-range acquired spectral and textural features. The spectral features consist of either the original spectra, a PCA-based encoding or the compressed spectral representation of the original spectra retrieved using a deep autoencoder. The textural features are generated using a deep denoising convolutional autoencoder. The spectral and textural features are gathered from the recently published spectral library KLUM. Three classifiers are used, the two well-established Random Forest and Support Vector Machine classifiers in addition to a Histogram-based Gradient Boosting Classification Tree. The achieved overall accuracy was within the range of 70–80% with a standard deviation between 2–10% across all classification approaches. This indicates that the amount of samples still is insufficient for some of the material classes for this classification task. Nonetheless, the classification results indicate that the spectral features are more important for assigning material labels than the textural features.


Dr Stoller has made major contributions to our understanding of the development of masculinity and femininity and in this, the second volume of a trilogy, he extends the observations reported in vol 1, Sex and Gender. As a psychoanalyst he relies more on the intensive study of the individual and his family than on epidemiological data, and consequently there is a richness of clinical detail not to be found in other studies. He examines and questions Freudian theory, particularly with regard to the theory of bisexuality and of the oedipal situation. In reviewing the evidence for prenatal androgenisation as a necessary precursor to masculine development he argues that environmental factors can achieve primacy over biological forces. His critical review of orthodox views of homosexuality and transvestism contrasts these conditions with transsexualism, and he develops his basic hypothesis that "the degree of femininity that develops in a boy and the forms it takes will vary according to exactly (not approximately) what is done to him in earliest childhood." He details a family constellation, which he regards as invariably associated with true transsexualism, in which the interaction between a beautiful male infant and his bitter depressed mother, previously isolated by her unfeminine mother and a distant husband results in a blissful symbiosis characterised by prolonged close body contact, freedom from conflict, and the remorseless development of extreme femininity in the boy. The family vignettes are persuasive and corsistent, even with material derived from other sources supporting the basic hypothesis. Yet these families differ considerably from those studied in this country. Dr Stoller calls for greater precision in diagnosis, and it may be that his cases are a "core group" in which family dynamics are of paramount importance, but his own observations support the view that there may be several pathways to femininity. His recognition of psychopathic traits in most transsexuals, his conviction that female transsexualism has a different genesis from that in the male, and his awareness of the increasing volume and diversity of individuals seeking "sex change" probably as a consequence of public discussion and increasingly permissive attitudes will be recognised by those with experience of these difficult patients. Unfortunately the opportunity for controlled in contrast to natural experiment in the management of these disorders may well have been lost as a result of the haphazard growth of surgical intervention. We remain profoundly ignorant of the natural history of gender disorders, and while exercising caution in deriving our understanding of the normal from the grossly deviant Dr Stoller has once again offered important insights in this tendentious area.


In this paper, we give a double twist to the problem of planning under uncertainty. State-of-the-art planners seek to minimize the localization uncertainty by only considering the geometric structure of the scene. In this paper, we argue that motion planning for vision-controlled robots should be perception aware in that the robot should also favor texture-rich areas to minimize the localization uncertainty during a goal-reaching task. Thus, we describe how to optimally incorporate the photometric information (i.e., texture) of the scene, in addition to the the geometric one, to compute the uncertainty of vision-based localization during path planning. To avoid the caveats of feature-based localization systems (i.e., dependence on feature type and user-defined thresholds), we use dense, direct methods. This allows us to compute the localization uncertainty directly from the intensity values of every pixel in the image. We also describe how to compute trajectories online, considering also scenarios with no prior knowledge about the map. The proposed framework is general and can easily be adapted to different robotic platforms and scenarios. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated with extensive experiments in both simulated and real-world environments using a vision-controlled micro aerial vehicle.


The human heart normally exhibits robust beat-to-beat heart rate variability (HRV). The loss of this variability is associated with pathology, including disease states such as congestive heart failure (CHF). The effect of general anesthesia on intrinsic HRV is unknown. In this prospective, observational study we enrolled 100 human subjects having elective major surgical procedures under general anesthesia. We recorded continuous heart rate data via continuous electrocardiogram before, during, and after anesthesia, and we assessed HRV of the R-R intervals. We assessed HRV using several common metrics including Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA), Multifractal Analysis, and Multiscale Entropy Analysis. Each of these analyses was done in each of the four clinical phases for each study subject over the course of 24 h: Before anesthesia, during anesthesia, early recovery, and late recovery. On average, we observed a loss of variability on the aforementioned metrics that appeared to correspond to the state of general anesthesia. Following the conclusion of anesthesia, most study subjects appeared to regain their normal HRV, although this did not occur immediately. The resumption of normal HRV was especially delayed on DFA. Qualitatively, the reduction in HRV under anesthesia appears similar to the reduction in HRV observed in CHF. These observations will need to be validated in future studies, and the broader clinical implications of these observations, if any, are unknown.


Background: Dietary essential omega-6 (n-6) and omega-3 (n-3) 18 carbon (18C-) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), linoleic acid (LA) and α-linolenic acid (ALA), can be converted (utilizing desaturase and elongase enzymes encoded by FADS and ELOVL genes) to biologically-active long chain (LC; >20)-PUFAs by numerous cells and tissues. These n-6 and n-3 LC-PUFAs and their metabolites (ex, eicosanoids and endocannabinoids) play critical signaling and structural roles in almost all physiologic and pathophysiologic processes. Methods: This review summarizes: (1) the biosynthesis, metabolism and roles of LC-PUFAs; (2) the potential impact of rapidly altering the intake of dietary LA and ALA; (3) the genetics and evolution of LC-PUFA biosynthesis; (4) Gene–diet interactions that may lead to excess levels of n-6 LC-PUFAs and deficiencies of n-3 LC-PUFAs; and (5) opportunities for precision nutrition approaches to personalize n-3 LC-PUFA supplementation for individuals and populations. Conclusions: The rapid nature of transitions in 18C-PUFA exposure together with the genetic variation in the LC-PUFA biosynthetic pathway found in different populations make mal-adaptations a likely outcome of our current nutritional environment. Understanding this genetic variation in the context of 18C-PUFA dietary exposure should enable the development of individualized n-3 LC-PUFA supplementation regimens to prevent and manage human disease.


Abstract : This report presents the results of studies on the stiffness variation effects to the structures such as ship, missile and airplane subjected to an axial or a vertical impact load. The theoretical studies were carried out for a simply supported beam under an axial compressive load and a cantilever beam under a vertical load. A transient analyses for beams and cylindrical shells were performed, and the results were evaluated. It was also investigated the effect of frequency variation of an impact load on the response of structures. A finite element modeling and a numerical analysis were performed by MSC/PATRAN and MSC/NASTRAN program.