Since the major seagrass loss in the 1930s, the former extensive seagrass beds (Zostera marina) in the Wadden Sea (North Sea) are now exclusively limited to the intertidal area and are dominated by Z. noltii. We hypothesised that intertidal seagrass beds are important spawning areas for common North Sea fishes. To study the role of Z. noltii beds as a spawning ground in general, dif- ferent investigative approaches had to be used with respect to the biology of fish species and the timing of field investigation within the spawning processes. In situ spawning experiments combined with comparisons of fish activity and abundance on vegetated and non-vegetated tidal flats indicated the importance of intertidal seagrass beds as spawning grounds for the garfish Belone belone. The tidal migration of B. belone was found to be specifically directed to intertidal Z. noltii beds for spawn- ing; furthermore, the seagrass plants were found to be significantly more effective in adhering eggs than alternative plant substrates such as the brown algae Fucus vesiculosus. Besides being found in Z. noltii beds, eggs of herring Clupea harengus were also found attached to F. vesiculosus associated with man-made constructions for coastal protection located in the upper intertidal zone. However, comparisons of egg numbers in relation to plant biomass m -2 revealed that densities of herring spawn were about 20 times higher in seagrass beds than in brown algal patches. Disguised nests of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus could only sporadically be observed within the intertidal seagrasses canopies. Since over 50% of the female individuals of G. aculeatus captured within Z. noltii beds carried ripe ovaries, we proposed that intertidal seagrasses are suitable spawn- ing grounds for small species such as G. aculeatus, which have distinct parental care behaviour.


Abstract. In many coastal and delta cities land subsidence now exceeds absolute sea level rise up to a factor of ten. A major cause for severe land subsidence is excessive groundwater extraction related to rapid urbanization and population growth. Without action, parts of Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and numerous other coastal cities will sink below sea level. Land subsidence increases flood vulnerability (frequency, inundation depth and duration of floods), with floods causing major economic damage and loss of lives. In addition, differential land movement causes significant economic losses in the form of structural damage and high maintenance costs for (infra)structure. The total damage worldwide is estimated at billions of dollars annually. As subsidence is often spatially variable and can be caused by multiple processes, an assessment of subsidence in delta cities needs to answer questions such as: what are the main causes? What is the current subsidence rate and what are future scenarios (and interaction with other major environmental issues)? Where are the vulnerable areas? What are the impacts and risks? How can adverse impacts be mitigated or compensated for? Who is involved and responsible to act? In this study a quick-assessment of subsidence is performed on the following mega-cities: Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka, New Orleans and Bangkok. Results of these case studies will be presented and compared, and a (generic) approach how to deal with subsidence in current and future subsidence-prone areas is provided.


DISTRIBUTED, VISION-BASED CONTROL LAWS FOR MOTION COORDINATION IN MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS Nima Moshtagh Supervisor: Ali Jadbabaie From ecology and evolutionary biology to social sciences, and from systems and control theory to statistical physics and computer graphics, researchers have been trying to develop an understanding of how a group of moving objects such as flocks of birds, schools of fish and crowds of people can perform collective tasks such as reaching a consensus or moving in a formation without centralized coordination. Researchers in the fields of robotics and control theory have also become interested in cooperative control of multiple autonomous robots because of tremendous military and civilian applications. First, novel ways are introduced to generate collective behaviors within a team of mobile robots using only visual sensing. The proposed distributed control laws do not rely on the communication or measurement of heading or distance information among neighbors, but instead require measurements of bearing, optical flow and time-to-collision, all of which can be measured using simple vision sensors. The effectiveness of the control laws are demonstrated on a group of mobile robots. Secondly, the consensus approach is used to generate distributed motion coordination control laws for a team of robots with dynamics of each robot evolving on SE(3) (flying formations) and SO(3) (satellite attitudes). A series of distributed control laws for collective behaviors such as parallel, circular and line formations of a team of robots are presented. Using Lyapunov techniques the stability of relative equilibria are studied. In all cases, ideas from graph theory and control theory are merged to synthesize the desired control laws and analyze their stability.


ABSTRACT Hydrogen peroxide is generated during aerobic metabolism and is capable of damaging critical biomolecules. However, mutants ofEscherichia coli that are devoid of catalase typically exhibit no adverse phenotypes during growth in aerobic media. We discovered that catalase mutants retain the ability to rapidly scavenge H2O2 whether it is formed internally or provided exogenously. Analysis of candidate genes revealed that the residual activity is due to alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (Ahp). Mutants that lack both Ahp and catalase could not scavenge H2O2. These mutants excreted substantial amounts of H2O2, and they grew poorly in air. Ahp is kinetically a more efficient scavenger of trace H2O2 than is catalase and therefore is likely to be the primary scavenger of endogenous H2O2. Accordingly, mutants that lack Ahp accumulated sufficient hydrogen peroxide to induce the OxyR regulon, whereas the OxyR regulon remained off in catalase mutants. Catalase still has an important role in wild-type cells, because the activity of Ahp is saturated at a low (10−5 M) concentration of H2O2. In contrast, catalase has a high Km, and it therefore becomes the predominant scavenger when H2O2 concentrations are high. This arrangement is reasonable because the cell cannot provide enough NADH for Ahp to rapidly degrade large amounts of H2O2. In sum,E. coli does indeed generate substantial H2O2, but damage is averted by the scavenging activity of Ahp.


Approximately 98 % of the industrial wastewater that SART receives comes from offshore activities. Unlike municipal waste water, this wastewater contains relatively high Total Organic Carbon (TOC), and very little Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P). The objective is to reduce TOC, and therefore nutrients N and P are added to the biological reactor. For the chemical and the biological processes, Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) units are coupled with activated sludge. Combining chemical and biological processes is effective in reducing harmful components in the wastewater. In order to follow biodegradation on samples with different TOC concentrations, three laboratory bench tests were considered. Sludge washing of activated sludge and flocculation tests on selected water samples was done before start up of the bench tests. Samples before start up and at the end of each bench test were sending externally for Hydrocarbon (HC) analyses. During bench experiments more than 90 % of the initial DOC concentration was degraded within 3 days showing good effectiveness of activated sludge process. GC/MS results showed that most of the compounds identified before cycles belonging to glycol and glycol ethers that are known to be rapidly degraded. Overview of Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) for treating slowly biodegradable components is given.


Abstract : The effect of magnetogasdynamic (MGD) interactions on flow acceleration and thrust in a scramjet accelerator/nozzle are examined numerically at a free-stream flight condition of Mach 8. The parameters of conductivity pattern and load factor are varied in both inviscid and viscous flow regimes with the intent of increasing axial force exerted on the flow through a scramjet accelerator. The numerical code solves the Navier-Stokes equations with additional source terms for the MGD forces and energy interactions. An accelerating Lorentz force is applied to the flow resulting from a constant magnetic field and an electric field produced by two continuous side wall electrodes. The specific thrust across the accelerator/nozzle is improved in the MGD solutions over the non-MGD solutions when the load factor is increased and an electron beam type ionization pattern is used. The largest increase in specific thrust is observed in viscous and inviscid flow regimes with a load factor of 1.8 producing 226% and 154% thrust increases, respectively. Flows showing increases in specific thrust with higher load factors also show significant increases in temperature due to the energy interaction term.


The Supports Intensity Scale – Children's Version (SIS-C) was translated into Italian using a committee approach to translation. Latent modeling approaches enabled the leveraging of the large standardization sample from the U.S. (n = 4,015) to generate translation-specific norms from data collected in Italy (n = 435) for children and youth ranging ages 5-16 years placed in six evenly distributed age groups by country. Findings indicated the structure of the SIS-C (i.e., seven support need domains organized under an overall support needs construct), was supported in the Italian context. However, there were age-related differences in the U.S. and Italian samples. In the Italian sample, norms were established for the 5-8 years, 9-10 years, and 11-16 years age groups. Moreover, the Italian sample also differed from other European samples and SIS-C translations. The importance of understanding cultural contexts in interpreting findings from the SIS-C is discussed, along with ways in which SIS-C findings can be used to inform policy and practice in the Italian context.


Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity is believed to be related to the generation of reactive oxygen species by at least two mechanisms: enzymatic reduction of the quinone with subsequent redox cycling and/or formation of an iron-anthracycline complex capable of intramolecular reduction and redox cycling. Both pathways may lead to the production of superoxide anions and highly reactive metabolites, such as hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide. As a result, membrane lipid peroxidation may ensue, producing damage in tissues like the heart, which have low antioxidant defenses (superoxide dismutase glutathione and especially, glutathione-peroxidase). Pharmacologic methods of interrupting this cycle have involved numerous antioxidants, such as the sulfhydryls N-acetylcysteine and cysteamine, and the lipophilic vitamin alpha tocopherol. Unfortunately, none of these compounds has been proven to be cardioprotective in patients receiving doxorubicin. In contrast, the water-soluble d-isomer of the iron chelator razoxane, dexrazoxane or ICRF-187, has been shown to reduce doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy. This has afforded greater cumulative doses of doxorubicin to be safely administered. The cytoprotective effect is apparently limited to the heart since there is no effect on antitumor efficacy and, unfortunately, no reduction in gastrointestinal toxicity, and with a slight increase in myelosuppression. More recent preclinical studies have also demonstrated cardioprotective activity for the aminothiol amifostine (WR-2721). In vitro, this agent has been shown to scavenge superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals, the latter effect mediated by the active (dephosphorylated) metabolite, WR-1065. In tumor-bearing mice, amifostine reduces the lethality of high doses of doxorubicin without affecting antitumor activity. Finally, in vitro studies in neonatal rat heart cells have shown direct evidence of anthracycline cardioprotection for both amifostine and WR-1065. Cytoprotective drug levels of either agent were limited to 2.0 microg/mL, which is one tenth of the achievable peak plasma levels in humans. At this concentration, a 15-minute sulfhydryl pretreatment significantly prevented doxorubicin-induced depressions of myocyte adenosine triphosphate levels. Overall, these studies suggest that amifostine may have cytoprotective activity against doxorubicin-induced cardiac damage. Animal studies in a chronically dosed doxorubicin model are indicated; if positive, clinical trials testing this hypothesis will be warranted.


Child Health Services (CHS) form a strategic arena for Swedish health promotion, from a societal as well as individual perspective. The present study focuses on district nurses´ health counselling in CHS. The aim is to improve understanding of what is important in shaping and accomplishing health promotion, and to generate theory useful in a CHS context. Data were collected at CHS in primary health care. Data sources consist of video-observations with recalled interviews, field notes, notes from group discussions, individual interviews and data from my earlier study of health counselling. Data analysis followed the classic Grounded Theory (GT) method. Empirical data indicated that health promotion in CHS has two approaches, a population approach and an individual approach. District nurses thus have two missions: a public health mission (a government demand based on families as parts of the population), and a family health mission (a request from individual families). District nurses' main concern in CHS is to synthesise these two opposing missions and approaches in their practical work at the CHC (Child Health Centres). The category Population-individualisation evolved as the core category. Four dynamic fields between public and family health missions and four patterns for synthesis evolved. Through the generating analysis a substantive theory could be formulated. The generated theory grounded in empirical data within the context of CHS provides us with knowledge that can help district nurses understand and manage their main concern for synthesising these two missions. This theory may also contribute to increased awareness among administrators, decision makers and nurse- and health promotion educators with regard to the double mission in health promotion and the strategies for coping with it. In this way, generated theory should be able to contribute to improve health promotion and health counselling in CHS.


The quality of learning process in a traditional classroom is dependent on the activity level of students and teacher that are involved, also on more complex factors, such as different background of students, keeping up-to-date with new knowledge or information, experiences, and tasks.Knowledge management can be applied to handle learning
process in a traditional classroom and improve the
knowledge communication and sharing processes. This
paper proposes a model of knowledge management system
(KMS) that is merged into OASIS, to enhance knowledge
communication and sharing process in a traditional
classroom.


Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) species are widely used to prevent and treat ulcerative colitis (UC). In this study, phylogenetic and pan-genomic characterization of 122 B. longum strains was performed on the basis of 936 core genes; among these, four strains from different branches of the phylogenetic tree were selected for an evaluation of anti-inflammatory and immune modulatory activities in a DSS-induced colitis mouse model. Among the tested B. longum strains (B. longum FBJ20M1, B. longum FGDLZ8M1, B. longum FGSZY16M3, and B. longum FJSWXJ2M1), B. longum FGDLZ8M1 was found to most effectively alleviate colitis by reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, restoring the colon length, and maintaining the mucosal integrity. The anti-inflammatory mechanisms of B. longum FGDLZ8M1 were related to the inhibition of NF-κB signaling. Genomic analysis indicated that these protective effects of B. longum FGDLZ8M1 may be related to specific genes associated with carbohydrate transport and metabolism and defense mechanisms (e.g., tolerance to bile salts and acids). Correlation analysis indicated that gastrointestinal transit tolerance was the most strongly associated factor. Our findings may contribute to the rapid screening of lactic acid bacterial strains with UC-alleviating effects.


Background: Increasing risk of healthcare associated infections especially polymicrobial wound infections is a major problem in healthcare settings in Sri Lanka. Proper use of antiseptics and disinfectants may be useful in reducing the magnitude of such infections. Objectives: To determine the efficacy of bactericidal activity in recommended concentrations and lower concentrations of selected antiseptics and disinfectants. Methods: Bactericidal activity of 40%, 50% and 60% isopropyl alcohol, 1%, 5% and 10% povidone iodine, 1%, 2% and 4% chlorhexidine gluconate, 1.22%, 1.42% and 1.62% peracetic acid, 1.9% and 2.9% hypertonic saline and 1.5%, 2% and 2.5% of the mixture of 2-aminoethanol, didecyldimethylammonium chloride, potassium carbonate and bis (3-Aminopropyl) dodecylamine was evaluated with 9 standard strains of American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and 13 clinical isolates of bacteria. Reduction of growth of methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Streptococcus pyogenes, Enterococcus faecalis, Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL and carbapenem resistant), Pseudomonas aeruginosa was assessed with contact times of 1 minute, 15 minutes and 24 hours by counting colonies comparing with test control which contains same volume of distilled water instead of antiseptic or disinfectant solution. Results: All chemicals except hypertonic saline showed 100% bactericidal activity in all concentrations against all tested bacteria in stated contact times. Hypertonic saline in 1.9% and 2.9% showed significant reduction of Gram positive bacteria and Acinetobacter baumannii only after 24 hours. Acinetobacter baumannii was inhibited by1.9% and 2.9% of hypertonic saline in 67.48% and 68.20% of respectively; however, other Gram negative bacteria were not inhibited. Conclusion: Recommended concentrations of antiseptics and disinfectants have an accepted bactericidal activity against tested standard strains and clinical isolates. Hypertonic saline is only effective to inhibit Gram positive bacteria after 24 hours of contact time. Acknowledgement: Staff of Department of Microbiology, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital and Colombo South Teaching Hospital.


The Military Intelligence (Research) department of the British War Office was tasked in 1940 with encouraging and supporting armed resistance in occupied Europe and the Axis-controlled Middle East. The major contention of this paper is that, in doing so, MI(R) performed a key role in British strategy in 1940–42 and in the development of what are now known as covert operations. MI(R) developed an organic, but coherent doctrine for such activity which was influential upon the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and its own sub-branch, G(R), which applied this doctrine in practice in East Africa and the Middle East in 1940–41. It was also here that a number of key figures in the development of covert operations and special forces first cut their teeth, the most notable being Major Generals Colin Gubbins and Orde Wingate.


The relationship between force and velocity of shortening and between power and velocity were examined for myotomal muscle fibre bundles from the dogfish. The maximum velocity of shortening, mean value 4.8 ± 0.2 μms −1 half sarcomere −1 (±S.E.M., N = 13), was determined by the 'slack step' method (Edman, 1979) and was found to be independent of fish length. The force-velocity relationship was hyperbolic, except at the high-force end where the observations were below the hyperbola fitted to the rest of the data. The maximum power output was 91 ± 14 W kg −1 wet mass (±S.E.M., N = 7) at a velocity of shortening of 1.3 ± 0.13μms −1 halfsarcomere −1 (±S.E.M., N = 7). This power output is considerably higher than that previously reported for skinned fibres (Bone et al . 1986). Correspondingly the force-velocity relationship is less curved for intact fibres than for skinned fibres. The maximum swimming speed (normalized for fish length) predicted from the observed power output of the muscle fibres decreased with increasing fish size; it ranged from 12.9 to 7.8 fish lengths s −1 for fish 0155–0.645m in length.


We used traps baited with fruit to examine how the temporal variation of butterflies within primary forest in Sabah, Borneo differed between species. In addition, we compared patterns of temporal variation in primary and selectively logged forest, and we tested the hypothesis that selective logging has different recorded impacts on species diversity of adults during the wet monsoon period and the drier remaining half of the year. Species of Satyrinae and Morphinae had significantly less-restricted flight periods than did species of Nymphalinae and Charaxinae, which were sampled mainly during the drier season, especially in primary forest. Species diversity of adults was significantly higher during the drier season in primary forest, but did not differ between seasons in logged forest. As a consequence, logging had opposite recorded impacts on diversity during wetter and drier seasons: primary forest had significantly higher diversity than logged forest during the drier season but significantly lower diversity than logged forest during the wetter monsoon season. The results of this study have important implications for the assessment of biodiversity in tropical rain forests, particularly in relation to habitat disturbance: short-term assessments that do not take account of seasonal variation in abundance are likely to produce misleading results, even in regions where the seasonal variation in rainfall is not that great.


Background Youth gymnastic athletes have high risk for knee, ankle, spine and shoulder injury. Specific preventive programs could reduce injury incidence and sports time loss, which may reflect positively in an athlete's performance. Objective Compare injury incidence rate before and after the implementation of a tailored preventive intervention in youth gymnastic athletes. Design Prospective study. Setting All athletes were followed-up over a three-year period at Minas Tenis Clube. The tailored preventive intervention was implemented only in the third year. Patients (or Participants) 82 female and male gymnastic athletes participated in this study; the mean for age was 10.59±2.69 years; body mass, 33.36 ±12.86 kg; and height 136.99±15.98 cm. Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) After a preseason assessment a tailored preventive intervention was developed, including: 1) thoracic spine, shoulder, hip and ankle mobility; 2) core and scapular stabilization; 3) hip external rotation, eccentric lower limb and intrinsic foot muscle strengthening; 4) breathing exercises associated with core muscles. This preventive program was applied four times a week for 20 min supervised by the coaches and two times a week was executed by the sports physiotherapist. Main Outcome Measurements Injury incidence rate by 1000 hours of exposure and days of time loss were calculated each year. Results during the first two years without preventive intervention the injury incidence was 8.8 and 8 injuries/1000 h, respectively. The third year with preventive intervention had an incidence rate of 3.8 injury/1000 h. The average time loss of the two years was 902 days and in the third year was 345 days. T-test revealed statistical difference pre and post intervention (p<0,02). Conclusions This study has shown that a tailored preventive intervention was effective to reduce the injury incidence rate in youth gymnastic athletes.


The pika, Ochotona princeps , spends a considerable amount of time during summer caching vegetation. These caches (haypiles) have been suggested to function as the mainstay of diet in winter, as a source of food for intermittent periods when the animal is unable to forage elsewhere, or in nonfood functions, e.g., nest sites. I investigated the haying behavior of a population of pikas on the West Knoll of Niwot Ridge, Colorado. In addition to directly measuring sizes of haypiles of pikas on West Knoll, I also estimated, using data from the literature, sizes of haypiles of another population of pikas. Haypiles that were excavated immediately after construction revealed that pikas from West Knoll stored 350 days of food, more than that required for winter. Initial contents of haypiles, discounted for decay and spring leftovers, indicated that pikas from West Knoll consumed at ≥175 days of food from their haypile during winter 1992–1993. Sizes of haypiles based on behavioral data collected on a different population of pikas corroborated the large size of haypiles found on West Knoll. Given these data, the primary function of haypiles appears to be to provide the major source of sustenance for pikas during winter.


Psycholinguistics is concerned with how a person acquires a language, produces and perceives both spoken and written language. Moreover, Psycholinguistics is a branch of cognitive science and one of the major issues of cognitive science is "mind". Knowing what interactions in the memory of the learner will happen when teaching foreign languages, what problems will happen in the process of memorization; memory capacity, short-term memory structure, working memory, long-term memory, semantic memory, and so on can be helpful for educators and designers of instructional books and facilitate and accelerate the process of teaching and learning foreign languages. Therefore, the aim of the present article is to overview psycholinguistic awareness and its contributions on English language learning (ELL) and English language teaching (ELT). This paper also attempts to critically and profoundly present the major research findings in the role of psycholinguistics and its implications and pedagogic contributions to the area of language learning and teaching, in an endeavor to shed light on the current successful and influential practices in this area of research which are incremental to second language learning development.


Anomalous diffusion, which shows a deviation of transport dynamics from the framework of standard Brownian motion, is involved in the evolution of various physical, chemical, biological, and economic systems. The study of such random processes is of fundamental importance in unveiling the physical properties of random walkers and complex systems. However, classical methods to characterize anomalous diffusion are often disqualified for individual short trajectories, leading to the launch of the anomalous diffusion (AnDi) challenge. This challenge aims at objectively assessing and comparing new approaches for single trajectory characterization, with respect to three different aspects: the inference of the anomalous diffusion exponent; the classification of the diffusion model; and the segmentation of trajectories. In this article, to address the inference and classification tasks in the challenge, we develop a WaveNet-based deep neural network (WADNet) by combining a modified WaveNet encoder with long short-term memory networks, without any prior knowledge of anomalous diffusion. As the performance of our model has surpassed the current 1st places in the challenge leaderboard on both two tasks for all dimensions (6 subtasks), WADNet could be part of state-of-the-art techniques to decode the AnDi database. Our method presents a benchmark for future research, and could accelerate the development of a versatile tool for the characterization of anomalous diffusion.


Distribution of population and activity in space, called as spatial planning in development literature, is the main factor of balance and development in national and regional scale. This paper aims to evaluate the policy of small cities in regional development, the position of small cities in the western area of Zagros in population distribution, and job creation. Research method is descriptive-analytical based on documentary data that were qualified in GIS and Excel soft wares. The results indicated that population distribution and job opportunities are imbalanced between urban classes and are not in line with regional balance. 68percent (9 percent of cities) of population live in few large and medium cities and only 32 percent of urban population live in small cities network and rural–urban commuting areas (RUCAs) forming 91 percent of urban areas. Spatial structure of urban occupation is imbalanced. As a result, urbanization system of the area confronts with maximum population and activity concentration, infrastructures, and types of occupation capacities focusing on service and industry sectors in in large and medium cities vis-à-vis maximum distribution in the majority of this area and its small cities. Even though regional development policies emphasize on small cities approach, urbanization changes of the area, unlike mentioned policies, have resulted in centralization and dominated by high levels of urban system, and the role of small cities has been less considered in reducing inequality and creating regional development and balance.


This paper presents one method for fault diagnosis of power distribution lines by using a decision tree. The conventional method, using a decision tree, applies only to discrete attribute values. To apply it to fault diagnosis of power distribution lines in practice, it must be revised in order to treat attributes whose values range over certain widths. This is because the sensor value or attribute value varies owing to the resistance of the fault point or is influenced by noise. The proposed method is useful when the attribute value has such a property, and it takes into consideration the cost of acquiring the information and the probability of the occurrence of a fault. >


The passion of bodybuilding athletes for a symmetric, lean, heavily muscled body leads them to carry out exhausting exercise programs and restrictive eating regimens, sometimes resulting in disordered eating behaviors. This study investigates potential exacerbators on the development of disordered eating in bodybuilding and strength athletes. The study involved 103 Cypriot bodybuilding athletes of both sexes, performing at three levels: professional, recreational and strength athletes. The Eating Attitude Test 26 (EAT-26) and The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21) were used to evaluate disordered eating and eating behaviors respectively. The current study was performed under the auspices of the Hellenic Center of Education & Treatment of Eating Disorders (KEADD). The degree of deviation between the perceived ideal body weight and the actual body weight was associated with increased risk of eating disorder. Athletes who desired a lower body weight recorded higher scores on EAT-26 overall, and the subscales of dieting and bulimia. Cognitive restraint and emotional eating scales of TFEQ-R21 were more pronounced in the non-professional athletes. The emotional eating score was higher in women. There is a need for appropriate sport-specific, gender-specific preventive intervention to deescalate the risk of eating disorder, in both professional and non-professional bodybuilding athletes.


CONTEXT
Other than weight reduction by dieting or physical activity, there are no well-documented medical treatments for fatty liver disease.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of the add-on Gynostemma pentaphyllum (GP) in research subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

DESIGN
A randomized, single-blind, controlled clinical trial.

SETTING
Hospital-based clinic.

PATIENTS
Fifty-six research subjects who were diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver by abdominal ultrasound scanning.

INTERVENTIONS
The treatment group and the control group followed a controlled diet for 2 months. After 2 months, the treatment group continued to diet and received 80 mL GP extraction for 4 months; the control group continued to diet and received a placebo capsule for 4 months.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Body mass index (BMI), biochemistry data, and fatty liver score were measured at baseline, at 2 months, and at 6 months.

RESULTS
After 2 months of dieting, BMI and most biochemistry data decreased in both study groups. There were no significant differences in BMI or biochemistry data at month 2 between the 2 study groups. At month 6, BMI, triglyceride, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, insulin (ALP), insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), and fatty liver score were reduced in both groups. The treatment group saw significant reductions in BMI, AST, ALP, insulin, and HOMA-IR, however. Changes in uric acid levels in the 2 groups from month 2 to month 6 were statistically significant (P = .028)

CONCLUSION
GP is an effective adjunct treatment to diet therapy for patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.


A computer model of controlling the uniarticular motion of a limb is described. The model is based on the principle of equilibrium point, which is realized via the central parameterization of the stretch reflex. The ranges of parameter changes providing steady-state control are specified. Three main operating regimes of the model. (without feedback, with feedback with respect to position without rate control, and with feedback with respect to rate) are distinguished. A comparison of model experiments with natural motions is made in order to estimate the adequacy and universality of the principle underlying the control of arbitrary motions.


With the question of Ozone Depression Potential and Global Warming Potential popping out day by day, the Freon refrigerant alternative has become one of the current research contents of refrigerant. Based on the given Freon refrigerant R22, R134a and natural refrigerant CO2, the differences of their properties were compared, and the relevant alternative refrigerants conducted an investigation. The results show that the natural refrigerant CO2 instead of Freon refrigerant has good application prospects; it provides basic data to develop new products, which enhance the COP of air conditioner and heat pump.


Estimates of the seasonal absorbed fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) and net primary productivity (NPP) are compared among four production efficiency models (PEMs) and seven terrestrial biosphere models simulating canopy development. In addition, the simulated FPARs of the models are compared to the FASIR‐FPAR derived from NOAA‐AVHRR satellite observations. All models reproduce observed summergreen phenology of temperate deciduous forests rather well, but perform less well for raingreen phenology of savannas. Some models estimate a much longer active canopy in savannas than indicated by satellite observations. As a result, these models estimate high negative monthly NPP during the dry season. For boreal and tropical evergreen ecosystems, several models overestimate LAI and FPAR. When the simulated canopy does respond to unfavourable periods, the seasonal NPP is largely determined by absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR). When the simulated canopy does not respond to unfavourable periods, the light use efficiency (LUE) influences the seasonal NPP more. However, the relative importance of APAR and LUE can change seasonally.


Phytochemical investigation of the aerial parts of Artemisia kopetdaghensis led to isolation and characterization of 5 compounds including 9-Oxo-tournefortiolide (1), 2,6,10-Trimethyl-2,5epidioxy-7,10-epoxydodeca-3,11-dien-5-acetoxy (2), 6-Demethoxy-5,7-dihydroxy-4'-Omethylcapillarisin (3), Eupatilin (4) and 5, 7, 5'-trihydroxy-6, 2 ́, 4 ́-trimethoxyflavone (5). The chemical structures of these compounds were identified by spectroscopic analysis. The antioxidant activities of the pure compounds were evaluated using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assays and also the antimicrobial capacity were tested against gram positive and gram negative bacteria and fungi using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method.


Increased awareness of the impact of food consumption on health and lifestyle today has given rise to novel data-driven food analysis systems. Although these systems may recognize the ingredients, a detailed analysis of their amounts in the meal, which is paramount for estimating the correct nutrition, is usually ignored. In this paper, we study the novel and challenging problem of predicting the relative amount of each ingredient from a food image. We propose PITA, the Picture-to-Amount deep learning architecture to solve the problem. More specifically, we predict the ingredient amounts using a domain-driven Wasserstein loss from image-to-recipe cross-modal embeddings learned to align the two views of food data. Experiments on a dataset of recipes collected from the Internet show the model generates promising results and improves the baselines on this challenging task. A demo of our system and our data is available at: foodai.cs.rutgers.edu.


This paper compares two different models in a common environment. The first model has liquidity constraints in that consumers save a single asset that they cannot sell short. The second model has debt constraints in that consumers cannot borrow so much that they would want to default, but is otherwise a standard complete markets model. Both models share the features that individuals are unable to completely insure against idiosyncratic shocks and that interest rates are lower than subjective discount rates. In a stochastic environment, the two models have quite different dynamic properties, with the debt constrained model exhibiting simple stochastic steady states, while the liquidity constrained model has greater persistence of shocks.


The opportunistic pathogen Bacteroides fragilis is a symbiotic organism that inhabits the human gastrointestinal tract where it utilizes dietary and host-derived polysaccharides as carbon and energy sources. If abdominal injury occurs this otherwise commensal organism can migrate from the anaerobic environment of the large intestine to the more aerobic peritoneum. In this new extraintestinal environment B. fragilis frequently contributes to the development of intra-abdominal abscesses and is often the most common isolate from such anaerobic infections which can lead to systemic infections and death if left untreated. The organism's ability to shift from commensalist to pathogen is inextricably linked with the complex oxidative stress response (OSR) it has evolved. The studies described in this thesis have focused on the characterization of the promoter for the oxidative starch utilization operon osu and the identification of regulatory sequences involved in transcription activation during growth in maltose or exposure to oxygen. The results of this promoter deletional analysis study have demonstrated that the osu promoter is indeed responsive to both maltose and oxygen and that regulatory regions important for activation of transcription in response to both stimuli are likely found within the same 50 bp region of the promoter. Consistent with this observation was the discovery of a LacI-type binding region in this site. In addition studies demonstrated that there is the possibility of an additional weak oxygen-responsive promoter that exists in a separate region of the osu promoter. The previously identified transcriptional activator OsuR may also play a critical role in transcription activation of the osu promoter regardless of whether the inducing agent is maltose or oxygen. The mechanism of osu protection during oxidative stress is not fully understood but results of this thesis offer a more complex model of transcriptional activation of the osu operon than was initially theorized. More studies will be necessary to further elucidate the role of osu in maintaining the OSR of B. fragilis during oxygen exposure.


Magnesium and its alloys are attractive candidates for automotive and aerospace applications due to their relatively high strength and low density. However, their low ductility determined by hcp structure of material results in limitation of plastic deformation processing. In order to improve ductility as well as mechanical properties, structure refinement processes can be used. It is well known that effective refining of the material structure can be achieved by increasing the cooling rate during casting procedures, hence rapid solidification process (RSP) has been experimented for the fabrication of magnesium alloys. The present paper reports an experimental investigation on the influence of rapid solidification on the mechanical properties of AM60 magnesium alloy. In order to obtain RS material melt spinning process was applied in protective atmosphere, resulting in formation of RS ribbons. Following consolidation of the RS material is necessary to obtain bulk material with high mechanical properties, as so hot extrusion process was applied. It was noticed that application of plastic consolidation by hot extrusion is the most effective process to achieve full densification of material. For comparison purposes, the conventionally cast and hot extruded AM60 alloy was studied as well. The purpose of the present study was to investigate in detail the effect of rapid solidification and extrusion temperature on the structure and mechanical properties of the materials.


The time has come to find common ground between environmentalism and Mormon belief. The perceived divide between the two has all but shut down the possibility of dialogue. Some Mormons dismiss the political causes of environmentalists as being the fears of faithless hedonists, just as otherwise responsible environmental scholars and activists sometimes perpetuate myths and inaccuracies about what they perceive to be the antiecological stance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But Mormon belief has more than enough in common with environmentalism to promote genuine and productive change in our environmental behavior. Not only is Mormon doctrine environmentally friendly, but it also provides powerful moral incentives for ecologically sustainable living. Furthermore, Mormon principles contain striking parallels with recent work by ecotheologians and other religiously minded environmentalists.


In the middle of a 1945 review of Bucklin Moon's Primer for White Folks, Ralph Ellison proclaims that the time is right in the United States for a "new American humanism." Through exhaustive research in Ralph Ellison's Papers at the Library of Congress, I contextualize Ellison's grand proclamation within post-World War II American debates over literary criticism, Modernism, sociological method, and finally United States political and cultural history. I see Ellison's "American humanism" as a revitalization of the Latin notion of litterae humaniores that draws heavily on Gilded Age American literature and philosophy. For Ellison, American artists and intellectuals of that period were grappling with the country's primary quandary after the Civil War: an inability to reconcile America's progressive vision of humanism with the legacy left by chattel slavery and anti-black racism. He saw writers like Mark Twain, Stephan Crane, Henry James, George Washington Cable and others attempting to represent a different version of the human in literature while confronting the various forces that the Civil War unleashed upon American life.As the Cold War and Civil Rights era reached their crescendo, Ellison's attachment to the Gilded Age ossified. By the late 60s, it took the romantic form of aesthetic and political conservatism. This process is part of his participation in what Francis Saunders called the "Cultural Cold War" against communism. For many - including Ellison - this participation made their aesthetic investment in modernism commensurate with their anti-communist ideology. In foregrounding the Cold War, I want to emphasize that the US State's intervention into the sphere of culture is a watershed moment in America's conceptualization of Western humanism. The CIA and the State Department's role in funding academic literary and cultural periodicals, art festivals, fellowships and other institutions of knowledge during the Cold War is a chapter of American intellectual life that shaped Ellison's world as well as those of his contemporaries. Just as importantly, this moment illuminates the key roles African-American intellectuals played in America's pursuit of humanism.


We analyze the profit efficiency of the Colombian banking industry during theperiod 2001 - 2013. Unlike previous studies, we estimate revenue and cost efficiencyseparately and then compute profit efficiency as a composite measure of both costand revenue efficiency. This approach overcomes the mis-specification problems ofthe traditional nonstandard profit function approach used in most of the literatureregarding profit efficiency. We find that profit efficiency improved during the periodunder analysis mainly because gains in revenue efficiency. In addition, and in contrastwith previous studies but in line with economic intuition, we find that while revenue andcost efficiency tend to be negatively correlated, each correlates positively with profitefficiency. Thus, improving either revenue efficiency or cost efficiency has a positiveimpact on profit efficiency.


Recently several papers studied resampling approaches to determine the number of clusters in prototype-based clustering. The core idea underlying these approaches is that with the right choice for the number of clusters basically the same cluster structures should be obtained from subsamples of the given data set, while a wrong choice should produce considerably varying cluster structures. In this paper we investigate whether these approaches can be transferred to fuzzy clustering. It turns out that they are applicable to fuzzy clustering as well, but that not all relative cluster evaluation measures that work for crisp clustering can also be used for fuzzy clustering.


The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded LMP1 protein is an important component of the process of transformation by EBV. LMP1 is essential for transformation of B lymphocytes, most likely because of its profound effects on cellular gene expression. Although LMP1 is expressed in the majority of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tumors, the effect of LMP1 on cellular gene expression and its contribution to the development of malignancy in epithelial cells is largely unknown. In this study the effects of LMP1 on the expression and tyrosine kinase activity of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) were investigated in C33A human epithelial cells. Stable or transient expression of LMP1 in C33A cells increased expression of the EGFR at both the protein and mRNA levels. In contrast, expression of the EGFR was not induced by LMP1 in EBV-infected B lymphocytes. Stimulation of LMP1-expressing C33A cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF) caused rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of the EGFR (pp170) as well as several other proteins, including pp120, pp85, pp75, and pp55, indicating that the EGFR induced by LMP1 is functional. LMP1 also induced expression of the A20 gene in C33A epithelial cells. In C33A cells, LMP1 expression increased the proliferative response to EGF, as LMP1-expressing C33A cells continued to increase in number when plated in serum-free media supplemented with EGF, while the neo control cells exhibited very low levels of viability and did not proliferate. Immunoblot analysis of protein extracts from nude mouse-passaged NPC tumors also demonstrated that the EGFR is overexpressed in primary NPC tumors as well as those passaged in nude mice. This study suggests that the alteration in the growth patterns of C33A cells expressing LMP1 is a result of increased proliferative signals due to enhanced EGFR expression, as well as protection from cell death due to LMP1-induced A20 expression. The induction of EGFR and A20 by LMP1 may be an important component of EBV infection in epithelial cells and could contribute to the development of epithelial malignancies such as NPC.


Malay has reached the glorious stage some time ago to be the lingua franca and the language of science. However, Patani Malay dialect started to change since the launch base Siamisasi Thai kingdom, namely Kempen improve the culture of the call Ratthaniyom Thai. The use of textbooks and exams will be determined by the Thai Ministry of Education, when all religious teachers let registered in line with ministry rules. Stakeholders are expected to get involved in this effort. Measures for restoring to make the language great and Patani Malay language needs to happen on a regular basis. Starting from parents which is a prelude to nurture and sow the seeds to childhood onwards by an educational system that fingering a role in this. Thus, let the new generation of heavy slump speak the mother tongue and love language of our ancestors so that the Malay language continued in use until the children and grandchildren and will reach the stage of a glorious future.


We draw on concepts in medical ethics to consider how computer science, and AI in particular, can develop critical tools for thinking concretely about technology's impact on the wellbeing of the people who use it. We focus on patient autonomy---the ability to set the terms of one's encounter with medicine---and on the mediating concepts of informed consent and decisional capacity, which enable doctors to honor patients' autonomy in messy and non-ideal circumstances. This comparative study is organized around a fictional case study of a heart patient with cardiac implants. Using this case study, we identify points of overlap and of difference between medical ethics and technology ethics, and leverage a discussion of that intertwined scenario to offer initial practical suggestions about how we can adapt the concepts of decisional capacity and informed consent to the discussion of technology design.


Social allostasis is a mechanism of adaptation that permits individuals to dynamically adapt their physiology to changing physical and social conditions. Oxytocin (OT) is widely considered to be one of the hormones that drives and adapts social behaviours. While its precise effects remain unclear, two areas where OT may promote adaptation are by affecting social salience, and affecting internal responses of performing social behaviours. Working towards a model of dynamic adaptation through social allostasis in simulated embodied agents, and extending our previous work studying OT-inspired modulation of social salience, we present a model and experiments that investigate the effects and adaptive value of allostatic processes based on hormonal (OT) modulation of affective elements of a social behaviour. In particular, we investigate and test the effects and adaptive value of modulating the degree of satisfaction of tactile contact in a social motivation context in a small simulated agent society across different environmental challenges (related to availability of food) and effects of OT modulation of social salience as a motivational incentive. Our results show that the effects of these modulatory mechanisms have different (positive or negative) adaptive value across different groups and under different environmental circumstance in a way that supports the context-dependent nature of OT, put forward by the interactionist approach to OT modulation in biological agents. In terms of simulation models, this means that OT modulation of the mechanisms that we have described should be context-dependent in order to maximise viability of our socially adaptive agents, illustrating the relevance of social allostasis mechanisms.


To date, there have been no reports of Dalmatian toadflax serving as a host for cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Infestations of Dalmatian toadflax may serve as a reservoir of CMV, thereby facilitating aphid transmission of CMV to both agricultural crops and native plants. The goal of this study was to determine whether Dalmatian toadflax is a host for CMV. Dalmatian toadflax seedlings were randomly assigned to two treatments (18 replicates/treatment): no inoculation (control) and inoculation with CMV (Fast New York strain). The Dalmatian toadflax seedlings were inoculated by standard mechanical methods and tested for the presence of CMV using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Ten of the 18 CMV-inoculated toadflax plants tested positive for the virus; 6 of the 18 displayed systemic mosaic chlorosis and leaf curling. All control plants tested negative. Transmission electron microscopy obtained from CMV-positive plants confirmed the presence of CMV based on physical properties. To verify CMV infestation, tobacco plants were assigned to the following treatments (six replicates/treatment): no inoculation (control), CMV-negative (control) inoculation, and a CMV-positive inoculation. Plants were inoculated by standard methods. Five of the 6 tobacco plants treated with the CMV-positive inoculum tested positive for CMV using ELISA. All control plants tested negative for the virus. Nomenclature: Dalmatian toadflax, Linaria dalmatica (L.) Mill. LINDA, tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L, cucumber mosaic virus


Financial innovations, spurred by the growth of information technology, have transformed the consumer lending industry. Today lenders have unfettered access to a wider spectrum of borrowers and are better able to assess the likelihood that these borrowers will repay the debt they incur. Consequently, the level of consumer household debt has risen dramatically in the past three decades, and will continue to rise, which will lead naturally to an increase in bankruptcy filings. Although our initial intuition tells us that bankruptcies are bad, the author advances the idea that this development is inevitable and that instead of focusing on amending bankruptcy laws, reformers should ask instead whether regulations can help consumers make better borrowing decisions.


Glycosylation is an important form of protein post-translational modification where a glycan is attached to a protein via an enzymatic process. Experimental verification of glycosylation using wet lab techniques is expensive and time-consuming. While a number of computational prediction tools are available, none are trained using plant proteins. Since the mechanisms of glycosylation in plant and animal cells are known to differ, there is a need to develop a plant-specific predictor. In this thesis, we create such predictors of N-linked glycosylation using support vector machines and binary profile patterns derived from protein sequence windows as input feature data. The final classifier achieves a recall of 80.0% and 79.0% precision, as measured using a 10-fold cross-validation test. Our plant-specific classifier is more accurate on plant proteins than are other classifiers developed here and elsewhere. Finally, we have developed a web server to make the tool available to the research community.


1. Phosphoprotein phosphatases with activity towards the inhibitory subunit of troponin (troponin I), phosphorylase a and lysine-rich histone (fraction F1) have been fractionated from rat skeletal muscle by chromatography on Sephadex G-200 and polylysine-Sepharose. Six separate fractions were identified on the basis of substrate specificity and behaviour during chromatography. 2. All fractions showed similar Km values for any given protein substrate. The Km for troponin I (5 muM) was significantly lower than that previously reported. 3. Phosphatase activities towards troponin I and hosphorylase a did not show a requirement for bivalent-metal ions. Two of the fractions with only minor activity towards histone were activated by Mn2+. 4. Discontinuous polyacrylamide-gel-electrophoresis studies indicated that several of the fractions contained more than one phosphatase activity, and additionally showed that several of the activities could exist in different aggregation states. On the basis of these studies at least two phosphatases with activity only towards troponin I were identified. In addition, phosphorylase phosphatase (which has considerable activity towards troponin I) and a general phosphatase with activity towards all three substrates were found. 5. A fraction with mol.wt. of 150000 could be activated by freezing with 2-mercaptoethanol or by heating to 55 degrees C. This activation was accompanied by a decrease in mol.wt. to 25000. 6. The total amount of phosphatase with activity towards troponin I which was extracted would be sufficient to dephosphorylate all the troponin I present in skeletal muscle in approximately 10s.


vulnerability. The fact that these people share the environment with animals promotes the establishment of zoonotic parasitic infections, as well as the resultant parasitic cycles. Thus, parasites present in the environment must be identified, so that control measures can be recommended. In this context, this study's objective was to evaluate environmental contamination by parasitic forms in a socially vulnerable community in southern Rio Grande do Sul. A total of 100 soil samples collected from the community were processed by a sodium dichromate centrifuge-flotation technique and analyzed by a compound microscope (40X objective) for the identification of parasite eggs, oocysts and cysts. All points were positive for two or more parasites, with the identification of 33.59% non-identified coccidian oocysts, Strongylida (25.4%), Ascaridida (21.31%), Trichuris spp. (8.19%), Toxocara spp. (3.27%), Amoebas (4.08%), Dioctophyma renale (2.45%), and Giardia spp. (1.63%). The presence of parasitic forms in all points analyzed surpasses other studies of environmental contamination carried out in the southern region of Brazil. In addition, the identification of several parasitic forms with zoonotic potential is concerning, since it shows the possibility of parasitic transmission to humans and other animals. In view of the results, the conclusion is that the environment analyzed is contaminated by parasitic forms, constituting a serious public health problem. Therefore, implementing educational and preventive measures in the community to control parasites is of crucial importance.


Objective: To determine the effectiveness of Ischemic Compression and Passive Stretching for the treatment of Myofascial trigger point in the Upper Trapezius muscle.
Methods: Fifty four female jail survivors were recruited for the study. Subjects were healthy individuals, diagnosed with active Myofascial trigger point in the upper trapezius muscle following palpation criteria given by Travell & Simons. Subjects were randomly placed into two groups: Group 1, which received Ischemic compression treatment for Myofascial trigger point; Group 2 received Passive Stretching for Myofascial trigger point. The data was recorded at baseline data, and after one week of intervention. Outcome measures were active range of motion of cervical (measured with Goniometer), pain (measured with Visual analogue scale)  and ADLs limitation (measured by using Neck Disability index).
Results: There were 27 patients in Group 1 and 27 patients Group 2. Base line VAS score of group 1 was 7.56 while group 2 was 7.30. Base line NDI score of group 1 was 66.67 while group 2 was 63.56. Analysis of baseline data regarding VAS, NDI and cervical ROM showed that there was no significant difference between groups at baseline.
After 1 week of treatment VAS score in group 1 decreased to 4.37 while in group 2 it decreased to 3.78. After 1 week of treatment NDI score in group 1 decreased to 32.81 while in group 2 it decreased to 33.63. Cervical ROM was increased in both groups in all planes. Within group analysis showed significant differences in both groups on all three outcome measures. Between group analysis showed no significant differences between groups (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Both Ischemic compression and Passive Stretching techniques are effective in the treatment of Myofascial trigger point of trapezius muscle.


Citrus is the most extensively produced fruit tree crop in the world (FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009). There are two clearly differentiated markets: fresh fruit and processed juice. In 2007, the main citrus fruit-producing countries were China (17.9%), Brazil (17.8%), the Mediterranean countries (17.1%), and the United States (8.5%) (FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009). These areas account for more of two-thirds of the total production of citrus fruits. In the Mediterranean area, citrus fruits are primarily produced for the fresh fruit market. Spain is the principal producer in the area with a total planted area of 330,000 ha and a production 6.3 million tons. Seedlessness is one of the most important characteristics for mandarin on the fresh fruit market, because consumers do not accept seeded fruits. Parthenocarpy is an essential trait for seedless fruit production, and this characteristic is present in citrus germplasm. Triploidy gives rise to seedless commercial cultivars. However, triploid plants have very low fertility, are generally sterile, and do not induce seeds in other cultivars by crosspollination (Frost and Soost, 1968). Several methods have been developed to obtain triploid citrus (Navarro et al., 2002; Ollitrault et al., 2008). One exploits natural events of polyploidization such as 2n gametes using embryo rescue and flow cytometry to select triploids in 2x · 2x crosses. Second meiotic division restitution has been proposed for diploid megagametophyte development in clementine (Luro et al., 2004), whereas Chen et al. (2008) proposed first meiotic division restitution in sweet oranges. In Spain, the structure of mandarin cultivars poses several problems. Mandarins include satsumas, clementines, and mandarin hybrids. Satsumas are harvested from the beginning of September until the beginning of November. They are cultivars with a high degree of parthenocarpy and have sterile pollen and ovules. Clementines are the most representative cultivars of mandarin in Spain. They are picked from mid-September until mid-February. They are self-incompatible, but pollen and ovules are viable, being able to pollinate and to be pollinated by other cultivars. Mandarin hybrids, like 'Nova' [C. clementina · (C. paradisi · C. tangerina)], 'Fortune' (C. clementina · C. tangerina), and 'Ortanique' tangor (natural hybrid between mandarin and C. sinensis), were introduced in the Spanish citriculture to cover the demand of late-season mandarins by international markets. They enable the harvesting period to be extended until May. These hybrids are also self-incompatible, but pollen and ovules are viable and cross-pollinate with clementines, producing fruits with seeds in both groups of cultivars. A triploid breeding program has been carried out in Spain since 1996 based on sexual hybridization, embryo rescue, and ploidy analysis by flow cytometry (Navarro et al., 2002). The objective is to produce new high–quality, late-season and seedless triploid mandarin hybrids. In this article, we describe 'Garbi' mandarin, a new triploid hybrid developed within this program characterized by its high-quality, late-season ripening and seedless fruits.


Purpose: Simple, accurate, precise and economical spectroscopic method for determination of Etodolac in pure and its tablet dosage form by first order derivative method has been developed for the routine analysis. Methodology: Spectroscopic method development for the estimation of Etodolac by first order derivative method was carried out using ethanol as solvent and Shimadzu 1800 Spectronic UV Visible Spectrophotometer. Findings: The absorbance maximum in first derivative spectrum was measured at 273 nm and selected as analytical wavelength. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 10-50 μg/ml. The recovery studies ascertained the accuracy of the proposed method and the results were validated as per ICH guidelines. The results were found satisfactory and reproducible. Research application: The method was applied successfully for the estimation of Etodolac in pure drug and tablet dosage form. Industrial application: The method can be applied for routine analysis. Research Value: The newly developed method is a good alternative for HPLC methods and better than zero orders UV methods. Conclusion: The method is simple, rapid, accurate, precise and economic method which can be used without the interference of impurities for the determination of Etodolac in solid dosage forms.


Built in the 12th c., the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet is one of the largest and most
complete Cistercian abbey's and among the biggest monasteries in Spain. Located in the municipality
of Vimbodi i Poblet in Catalonia,the monastery of Santa Maria of Poblet has served during the cross of
the centuries as a military complex, royal palace, residence and pantheon except from its main
function as monastery. It is upon notable that many alterations and disasters have affected and left
their signs on the structure.
The present work is concentrated on the structural analysis of the church of the Poblet Monastery. At
its current state the church presents damage affecting mostly the main and lateral naves, including
cracking in the vaults and deformation of structural elements such as the piers. At the first part of this
dissertation a historical research on the different construction stages of the church and the monastic
complex is presented. A description of the damage of the church, reported with in-situ inspection, is
following.
For the investigation of the structural integrity of the church and the causes of the damage, a 3D finite
element model of the deformed geometry of the 5th bay of the church was designed. A tensioncompression
damage model considering smeared crack approach has been used for the
representation of the non-linear material characteristics. The FE model was analysed under dead load
including different assumptions concerning the structural role of its consisting parts (i.e type of infill in
the lateral vaults) and variable possible scenarios that could alternate its equilibrium (i.e differential
settlements) causing the observed damage. Moreover, a correlation between the graphic statics
solution provided by the limit analysis and the finite element solution is discussed.The seismic performance of the structure is evaluated with a nonlinear static analysis. The purpose of
this analysis is the identification of possible damage produced by a past earthquake event. Finally, the
significance of the material properties is stressed out with a sensitivity analysis for both the cases of
the action of the self-weight and the lateral seismic load. The dissertation ends with a conclusion over
the present state of the structure, the possible sources of damage obtained from the performed
analyses and proposals regarding future studies on the church.


To the Editor.— Patients with generalized skin disease may have abnormal response to infection. Report of a Case.— About two months before admission, a generalized desquamative skin disease that was diagnosed as generalized pyoderma with "id reaction" developed in a previously well and working 63-year-old boatman. He was given iodochlorhydroxyquin (vioform-hydrocortisone 1%) cream over his entire body for two weeks with no improvement. On the 17th hospital day, his temperature was 32.7 °C. He went into a coma on the 19th hospital day because of septicemia from the skin. Blood cultures grew Pseudomonas , and his blood pressure dropped to 70/60 mm Hg. Gentamicin and penicillin G sodium were administered and a warming blanket was used to maintain his temperature at 36 °C. He appeared to have abdominal pain that was aggravated by palpation. The amylase level was 319 Somogyi units/dl (normal, 30 to 200 Somogyi units/dl). Nasogastric suction was started.


Model compression is an essential technique for deploying deep neural networks (DNNs) on power and memory-constrained resources. However, existing model-compression methods often rely on human expertise and focus on parameters' local importance, ignoring the rich topology information within DNNs. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-stage graph embedding technique based on graph neural networks (GNNs) to identify DNN topologies and use reinforcement learning (RL) to find a suitable compression policy. We performed resource-constrained (i.e., FLOPs) channel pruning and compared our approach with state-of-the-art model compression methods. We evaluated our method on various models from typical to mobile-friendly networks, such as ResNet family, VGG-16, MobileNet-v1/v2, and ShuffleNet. Results show that our method can achieve higher compression ratios with a minimal fine-tuning cost yet yields outstanding and competitive performance.


Scorzonera amasiana Hausskn. and Bornm. was described from type specimens collected by J.F.N. Bornmueller in 1889 but it was not collected again until 1993, when it was found near Amasya, Turkey. Populations of S. amasiana were quite small at that limited locations and were vulnerable to human impacts. Therefore, suitable conservation strategies should be developed immediately in order to protect the species from probable extinction. Here, an additional three small populations are reported. Brief history, morphology, habitat and ecology of this endemic species have been discussed. Its current conservation status was reevaluated with respect to the latest IUCN criteria. A key to distinguish it from the other closely related Turkish species is also provided and its distribution map is appended.


This essay uses the case of scientific psychology to explore modes of description and the broader objectives underlying these modes, reporting on both the complexities and potentials of psychological description. It examines the description techniques of the classic Milgram experiment and offers a redescription of the resulting data to show both how psychology's practices of description entail more than objective accounts of observed behavior and how these descriptions can influence the social world and our understandings of ourselves. The case of Stanley Milgram's experiments in obedience suggest the material and social powers of the descriptions psychologists "give away" for human benefit.


Calcareous or salty soils are the soils which are containing highly dissolved sodium or calcium salts in natural conditions. The dissolution of salts increases with temperature, atmospheric pressure, in addition to the acidity of the dissolves solution. Calcareous soil is stiff and very hard if it is in a dry phase; it becomes collapsible and very week when wetted with water. It is very dangerous for structures when constructing on such soil especially when high stresses are applied on it. Oil tanks or pipes may damage from any reason, and the oil products may leak from these structures to the soil and infiltrate through soil skeleton and may cause leaching to CaCO3 salt particles in some regions in Iraq, as example the Baiji Oil Station or Al-Mosel Dam, CaCO3 percent reaches more than 40%.This study shines the lights about the behavior of Calcareous soil subjected to three oil derivatives (kerosene oil, crude oil, gas oil and a sample wetted with water to make good comparison ,and study effect of addition of this products on the collapsibility.A laboratory model included soil with 70% and 50% CaCO3 compacted to 11 kN/m3. Fix stress system was used which applies 50 kN/m2, the loading frame was manufactured in a way that keeping the weights over footing stable without tilting. Three oil derivatives (Kerosene, Gasoil and crude oil) were used for laboratory model tests; by wetting Calcareous soil with it. One sample was wetted with water for comparison; the settlement was recorded with soaking time at a constant stress level.The results of laboratory model tests shows that the settlements results from specimens soaked with lubricating oil, Gasoil and Kerosene, are much less than the settlements that belong to soaking with water (reduce settlement to about one third) and considered high improvement of such problematic soil by wetting with oil derivatives.


Deploying the Shared Last-Level Cache (SLLC) is an effective way to alleviate the memory bottleneck in modern throughput processors, such as GPGPUs. A commonly used scheduling policy of throughput processors is to render the maximum possible thread-level parallelism. However, this greedy policy usually causes serious cache contention on the SLLC and significantly degrades the system performance. It is therefore a critical performance factor that the thread scheduling of a throughput processor performs a careful trade-off between the thread-level parallelism and cache contention. This article characterizes and analyzes the performance impact of cache contention in the SLLC of throughput processors. Based on the analyses and findings of cache contention and its performance pitfalls, this article formally formulates the aggregate working-set-size-constrained thread scheduling problem that constrains the aggregate working-set size on concurrent threads. With a proof to be NP-hard, this article has integrated a series of algorithms to minimize the cache contention and enhance the overall system performance on GPGPUs. The simulation results on NVIDIA's Fermi architecture have shown that the proposed thread scheduling scheme achieves up to 61.6% execution time enhancement over a widely used thread clustering scheme. When compared to the state-of-the-art technique that exploits the data reuse of applications, the improvement on execution time can reach 47.4%. Notably, the execution time improvement of the proposed thread scheduling scheme is only 2.6% from an exhaustive searching scheme.


Similarity plays a fundamental role in many areas, including data mining, machine learning, statistics and various applied domains. Inspired by the success of ensemble methods and the flexibility of trees, we propose to learn a similarity kernel called rpf-kernel through random projection forests (rpForests). Our theoretical analysis reveals a highly desirable property of rpf-kernel: far-away (dissimilar) points have a low similarity value while nearby (similar) points would have a high similarity}, and the similarities have a native interpretation as the probability of points remaining in the same leaf nodes during the growth of rpForests. The learned rpf-kernel leads to an effective clustering algorithm--rpfCluster. On a wide variety of real and benchmark datasets, rpfCluster compares favorably to K-means clustering, spectral clustering and a state-of-the-art clustering ensemble algorithm--Cluster Forests. Our approach is simple to implement and readily adapt to the geometry of the underlying data. Given its desirable theoretical property and competitive empirical performance when applied to clustering, we expect rpf-kernel to be applicable to many problems of an unsupervised nature or as a regularizer in some supervised or weakly supervised settings.


Implementing an appropriate drug dispensing system in hospitals is essential to ensure the safe and rational use of drugs. This study aimed to assess the unit-dose drug dispensing system (DDS) and the ward-stock DDS utilized in Gaza hospitals to ascertain which system is more beneficial. The quantitative, comparative cross-sectional design utilized structured interviews with pharmacists and head nurses, missing drug registration sheets and drug administration observation checklists. The number of missing units per drug item dispensed (mean 3.4 and 1.8 respectively) and medication administration errors per patient (mean 1.8 and 0.9 respectively) were statistically significantly lower in the hospital using the unit-dose DDS than the ward-stock DDS. The unit-dose DDS appeared to be safer, with fewer missing drugs, was more positively perceived by staff and was more supportive of good clinical pharmacy practice. Its use in other hospitals in the Gaza Strip is recommended.


A rifted arc-ophiolite assemblage and over-lying volcaniclastic rocks, all of late Middle Jurassic age, represent a fragment of the frontal-arc margin of a back-arc basin, now exposed on Cedros Island in Baja California (Mexico). Ophiolite generation was immediately followed by progradation of a deep- marine volcaniclastic apron (Gran Cannon Formation) contemporaneous with the growth of island-arc volcanoes. This back-arc apron shows relatively simple, uniform sedimentation patterns that may be recognizable in other back-arc basins isolated from terrigenous sediment influx.

The progradational back-arc apron sequence includes, from base to top, (1) the tuff lithofacies—thin-bedded, well-sorted, laterally continuous tuffs that thicken into basement paleo-lows. These were deposited from dilute sediment gravity flows generated by eruptions from a deeply submerged, nascent arc. (2) the lapilli tuff-tuff breccia lithofacies—medium- to very thick-bedded lapilli tuffs and tuff breccias. These were deposited from debris flows on proximal parts of the apron, and high-density turbidites were deposited on more distal parts. This lithofacies records increasing generation and resedimentation of scoriaceous and hyaloclastic debris as the summits of the arc volcanoes grew nearer to sea level. (3) the primary volcanic lithofacies—monolithologic dacite pyroclastic flows were produced during the eruption of differentiated magmas, which climaxed the growth of the island arc. Basalt lava flows were fed from fissures that extended down the apron within the back-arc basin.

Pyroclastic rocks of the back-arc apron were blanketed with silty basinal turbidites (epiclastic facies) that record abrupt cessation of volcanism and erosion of the arc within about 10 m.y. of ophiolite generation, reflecting the temporal episodicity of back-arc basins.

It is predicted from this study that the frontal-arc side of back-arc spreading centers is preferentially preserved in the geologic record relative to the center of the basin. It is suggested that the "hot" frontal-arc side of the basin is prone to intra-plate volcanism but is unaffected by faulting subsequent to basin initiation. Several factors lead to slumps occurring more frequently on the arc flank of back-arc basins than in any other tectonic setting, except perhaps intra-arc marine basins.


Dysplastic Barrett's esophagus is a condition that offers multiple diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. The diagnosis of dysplasia within Barrett's esophagus currently relies on periodic endoscopic surveillance with multiple biopsies, a methodology limited by random sampling error, inconsistent histopathologic interpretation and delay in diagnosis. Optical spectroscopic and imaging techniques have the potential to identify dysplastic or early neoplastic lesions in real-time. These diagnostic modalities are needed to enhance the endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's esophagus in the future as well as help to define lesions for endoscopic therapy. Esophagectomy has been the standard of care for Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia although it is a procedure associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Minimally invasive endoscopic ablative therapies are attractive and less morbid alternatives to esophagectomy, with promising results obtained from the use of light-activated drugs (i.e., photodynamic therapy). The combination of novel optical diagnostic techniques and therapies will provide the endoscopist with much needed tools that can considerably enhance the management of patients with Barrett's esophagus. This article reviews the current status and future prospects of optical-based modalities for diagnosis and therapy of dysplastic Barrett's esophagus.


A national survey has found that 22 947 people in England under the age of 18 years have diabetes, the vast majority of whom have type 1 diabetes.

The survey was carried out as part of ongoing efforts to improve the care of people with diabetes and is one of the developments reviewed in the sixth annual report, published this week, on the national service framework for diabetes.

The data are needed to improve the provision of diabetes services, the report says. They show that 20 488 of the 21 136 young people who gave the classification of their diabetes had type 1 diabetes, 328 had type 2 diabetes, and 320 had other types.

Commenting on the findings, the health minister Ann Keen said, "For the first time we now know how many children and young people have diabetes in England, and the results of the study we undertook to provide this information will be central to understanding the variability in provision of care for this group."

The report calls for more action to improve the control of blood glucose in children and young people with diabetes, after figures for 2007-8 …


Knowledge workers who want to apply knowledge visualization have to determine which visualization tool is suitable for their needs. To support knowledge workers in this sophisticated problem a systematic approach is presented that matches typical tasks in knowledge management to visualization techniques that support these tasks. Knowledge workers are provided with a three-dimensional decision matrix that enables them to easily identify a suitable visualization technique for a certain knowledge problem. To be able to systematically evaluate and identify adequate visualization techniques a set of evaluation criteria is introduced.


In this paper, the exact forms of integrals in the meshless local boundary integral equation method are presented and applications were demonstrated for fracture mechanics. A weak form for a set of governing equations with a unit test function or polynomial test functions is transformed into local integral equations. Each node has its own support domain and is surrounded by a local integral domain with different shapes of boundaries. The meshless approximation based on the Radial Basis Function (RBF) is employed for the implementation of displacements. For cracked plate, opening displacement on the crack surface can be obtained with satisfactory accuracy without special treatment for stresses singularities at crack tip.


Changing employees' behaviour to be more environmentally friendly, as a means to increase environmental performance of a business, is a widely accepted strategy in organisations. However, as many organisations can report, it is not always a panacea. Whilst technological solutions are simple and uncomplicated, they are often expensive and, with the continuous increase in resource use, many organisations encourage their employees to adjust their behaviour. Aiming to help organisations understand how employees decide to adopt pro-environmental behaviour, researchers of workplace pro-environmental behaviour have attempted to answer this question through the development of conceptual workplace frameworks and quantitative behavioural analysis. But, despite this contribution this body of research currently suffers from the fact that no systematic effort has been made to establish, which of the multitude of factors within these framework and models have the biggest impact on employee pro-environmental behaviour. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to understand the factors that impact pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace by testing an integrated model that encompasses all key variables, that originate from general and workplace pro-environmental literature. The integration of these variables will enable the researcher to draw conclusions on the impact of each variable and therefore confirming the key factors that explain pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace. The first stage of this study involved a review of the literature on general and workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Using inductive theory building, this study developed a theoretical framework of pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace; incorporating the findings of the previously reviewed literature. The model consists of intra, inter, motivational and external factors, all of which have potential to impact pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace. After having established the theoretical framework, quantitative methods were utilised to test the hypothesised model. An online questionnaire was distributed to a panel with a representative sample of the UK workforce. The questionnaire was further distributed to two higher educational institutions in order to collect additional data that could act as a source of rich detail and aid interpretation of the results from the representative sample. Through statistical analysis, including multiple regression, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, the final structural model confirmed some of the initial hypothesis. The conclusion drawn is that human behaviour is driven by employee's confidence in the ability to exert control over their own motivation and behaviour. Employees with high confidence in their own abilities also take responsibility for their actions, particularly if they are aware of environmental issues. It is the workplace's responsibility to foster this behaviour by creating an environment that encourages work satisfaction and ease of behaviour.


We investigate the scope for cooperation within a community engaged in repeated reciprocal interactions. Players seek the help of others and approach them sequentially according to some fixed order, that is, a ranking pro file. We study the ranking pro files that are most e ffective in sustaining cooperation in equilibrium, that is, pro files that support full cooperation in equilibrium under the largest set of parameters. These are the profi les that spread the costs of helping others equally among the members of the community. We show that, generically, these socially optimal ranking profi les correspond to Latin squares - profiles in which each player appears in a given position exactly once in other players' list. In addition, we study equilibria with bilateral enforcement in which only the victims punish non-cooperating deviators. We show that the Latin squares in which every two players rank each other at the same position can sustain cooperation for the widest range of parameters in this case.


We evaluate an immigrant workplace introduction program aimed at helping individuals considered employable but at the same time expected to experience substantial difficulties in finding work. Using supported employment methods, the SIN program may influence outcomes through several channels. We use in-dividual data and a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effects of the program. The results suggest that the program increased transitions from unemployment to work experience schemes, and improved future employment probabilities for those who entered these schemes.


All descriptions of the Lambert–Eaton syndrome are based on symptomatic patients. We incidentally encountered electromyographic evidence of this syndrome in a patient being studied for another reason. The patient had controlled hypothyroidism and smoked for 9 pack‐years but never had symptoms of weakness or had evidence of cancer. Methods: Detailed electrophysiological and serological evaluations were undertaken in this study. Results: Neuromuscular transmission tests were consistent with a presynaptic disorder. Autoantibodies specific for P/Q‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels (VGCC) were detected in the serum and persisted throughout 7 years of follow‐up. Multiple IgG markers of thyrogastric autoimmunity also were detected. Conclusions: This demonstration of asymptomatic Lambert–Eaton syndrome persisting for 8 years provided novel insight into the natural history of the disorder. It is plausible that patients with a subclinical syndrome would have abrupt neuromuscular decompensation when challenged with medications that compromise the safety factor for synaptic transmission. Muscle Nerve 49: 764–767, 2014


As technology and data access continue to evolve, research ethics in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and social computing are becoming increasingly complex. Despite increasing interest among researchers, there is still a lack of consistent community norms around ethical gray areas. One charge of the SIGCHI ethics committee is to help develop these norms by facilitating open conversations with different stakeholders. This panel will be an opportunity to develop a collective understanding of diverse perspectives on ethics, and to gather input from the GROUP research community around the ethical challenges we face as researchers who study social and collaborative computing systems and those who use these systems.


Results from previous investigations indicate that the implication-realization (I-R) model (Narmour, 1990) of expectancy in melody may be overspecified and more complex than necessary. Indeed, Schellenberg9s (1996) revised model, with two fewer predictor variables, improved predictive accuracy compared with the original model. A reanalysis of data reported by Cuddy and Lunney (1995) provided similar results. When the principles of the I-R model were submitted to a principal- components analysis, a solution containing three orthogonal (uncorrelated) factors retained the accuracy of the model but was inferior to the revised model. A separate principal-components analysis of the predictors of the revised model yielded a two-factor solution that did not compromise the revised model9s predictive power. Consequently, an even simpler model of melodic expectancy was derived. These results provide further evidence that redundancy in the I-R model can be eliminated without loss of predictive accuracy.


How much forward-looking information do public companies disclose, including on ESG themes? Do they provide targets and KPIs on themes key to long-term value creation? In this paper, we analyze the accessibility, quantity, and time frame of forward-looking information disclosed by the 25 constituents in the S&P 500 Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences GICS industry classifications.

Using an updated version of CECP's Long-Term Plan ("LTP") Framework, we assess four key disclosure channels (annual reports/10-K, stand-alone sustainability reports, proxy statements, and investor day transcripts) and find that forward-looking information is dispersed, and locating it is complex and time-consuming. In addition, the amount of forward-looking disclosure varies across the LTP Framework's nine themes, with the most found across the themes of Competitive Positioning and Trends. We find that near-term disclosures are most common.

We conclude with a practical set of executive-ready recommendations for corporate managers focused on setting targets, increasing transparency, refreshing materiality, and providing commentary on ESG disclosures.


The coming into force in 2007 of Law 39/2006 about promotion of personal autonomy and care for people in a situation of dependency has created the right of everyone in these circumstances to be served by public services. This law involves an expansion and complement of the protective action of the State and Social Security System. To date these people have been treated by state, regional and local services by Plans of Action for People with Disabilities or Plans for Older People, and also by the Social Security System through some benefits of it. Social Services Area of the city councils has also been rendering a service in the basic benefits in terms of available resources. The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) has supported the execution of a project to implement a cost system in the municipalities. Some municipalities have joined this project in partnership with several universities. We have studied different areas of the municipalities, including Social Services, where we have identified: assistance, required activities, consumed resources and a set of activity, cost, environment and budget indicators. The analysis by the people in charge of Dependency Law of the information in the Social Service Area that this project can provide could help them to make efficient and effective decisions on the allocation of limited resources.


Abstract The Cambrian basin of the mainland Northwest Territories has been of considerable economic interest since gas was first discovered in Mount Clark Formation sandstones in 1974. A recently completed assessment by the Geological Survey of Canada has estimated that the Cambrian Clastics play contains almost a billion barrels of oil and 10.7 TCF of gas. The play's reservoirs, seals and source rocks are all of Cambrian age, making the understanding of the basin's evolution and contents critical to any exploration effort. The basin is a semi-enclosed, epicontinental marine basin, bordered by positive elements and open to a subsiding continental shelf and margin, and represents the eastern portion of a much larger deposystem that developed after the breakup of Laurentia. A multi-disciplinary study of a large regional reflection seismic grid, supported by borehole and potential field data, shows the basin to have evolved in three stages: 1) Early Cambrian pre-rift regional subsidence of the area lying inland of the Mahony and Bulmer arches, and a newly identified high that pre-dated the Mackenzie Trough. It was during this period that the Mount Clark Formation was deposited; 2) A middle Cambrian rift phase during which a graben system, about 50 km wide and over 400 km long, developed in the basin's core. The grabens are deepest in south Mackenzie Trough where rifting began, and are progressively shallower and younger to the north and northeast. Mount Cap was deposited during this phase and it is expected that the grabens received finer-grained clastics than did the shallower areas on their flanks; 3) A post-rift subsidence phase that began with deposition of the Saline River Formation during the Late Cambrian and continued, with interruptions, until the middle of the Devonian. Throughout Cambrian time, sediment onlapped the basin's flanks and its internal arches, each layer advancing further than its predecessor. It was not until the latest Cambrian that the internal arches were completely covered by beds of the lower Franklin Mountain Formation. A previously undocumented Cambrian age graben (herein named McConnell Graben) lies in the hanging wall of the unnamed Laramide thrust fault that emerges from the east flank of the McConnell Range. The fault began as a Cambrian normal fault that separated the Bulmer and Mahony arches on the east from McConnell Graben on the west. The present day 'St. Charles' range developed in a similar manner. A preliminary exploration risk analysis, based on the predicted distribution of reservoir, seal and source rocks, reveals two attractive areas for exploration. The larger one, centred on Lac des Bois, is about 150 km wide and extends on a NW-SE trend for about 300 km across the Aubry and Good Hope depocentres. The smaller area (less than 50 × 100 km in extent) lies within Mackenzie Plain depocentre.


In the present paper, the origin of midrib in lenticular martensite is clarified by examining the similarity between midrib and thin plate martensite in detail and studying the stress-induced growth behavior of thin plate martensite at various temperatures. Although lenticular martensite, especially midrib, exhibits a zigzag array in general, some martensite plates which are branched or kinked were also observed as thin plate martensite. The substructure of midrib is completely twinned and the orientation relationship of midrib with respect to austenite is close to Greninger–Troiano relationship. These morphology, substructure and crystallographic features of midrib in lenticular martensite are quite similar to those of thin plate martensite. Furthermore, stress-induced growth behavior of thin plate martensite changes with deformation temperature. Thermally-transformed thin plate martensite grows keeping a thin plate shape when deformed at temperature close to the Ms temperature. However, it grows into a lenticular shape accompanying a substructure with a high density of dislocations after deformation at temperature much higher than Ms temperature. Therefore, it is concluded that midrib in lenticular martensite is thin plate martensite itself. The difference between lenticular martensite and thin plate martensite is only in their growth behaviors. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MRA2007296]


Nowadays, the available data to describe real world problems grows in considerable manner, due to the amount of measurable characteristics (features) that can be collected. Machine learning techniques are widely used to extract valuable knowledge from data, but their performance might decrease when the proper features are not selected. Feature selection is introduced to search relations to disclose possible redundant or irrelevant features in a case study; this search is performed either in a supervised or unsupervised manner. In the present work, we propose an unsupervised feature selection algorithm using: (1) relative dependency to search similarities between features, (2) a clustering algorithm to group similar features, and (3) a procedure to select the most representative feature to obtain a reduced feature space. The relative dependency degree between pairs of attributes is used to compute a similarity measure. This measure is used by a clustering algorithm to perform attribute clustering through KNN and prototype based clustering. The proposal is tested with well-known benchmarks, and compared with classic supervised and unsupervised feature selection techniques. Additionally, a real world application in fault diagnosis for rotating machinery is evaluated by our proposal.


The events of erythropoiesis in cultured embryonic mouse spleens isolated on the 12th day of gestation were compared with those occurring in spleens of corresponding gestational days in vivo. It was found that the development of erythroid precursors in the cultured spleen depended on the presence of erythropoietin in the culture medium. A progressive increase in the number of erythroid precursors, with a marked shift to mature cells, was observed in spleens cultured with erythropoietin. Although the origin of the hemocytoblasts in the spleen isolated in the earliest stage of its development remains obscure, the present study provided evidence that erythropoiesis in the embryonic mouse spleen was indigenous to this organ and did not result from colonization of erythroid precursors originating in the liver.