Introduction The placenta plays a unique role in supporting the fetal allograft throughout gestation, protecting against immune rejection whilst also serving to supply oxygen and nutrients to, and remove carbon dioxide and waste products from, the fetus. As the nutrient interface between mother and fetus, the placenta may passively or actively transfer nutrients to the fetus or metabolise them en route. In addition the placenta produces a variety of peptide and steroid hormones that affect placental, maternal and fetal metabolism and development. The developmental origins of health and adult disease hypothesis proposes that alterations in fetal development, or adaptations of the fetus to alterations in the normal amount or pattern of substrate supply across the placenta, lead somehow to cardiovascular and metabolic disease in adult life. There is now abundant evidence both from human epidemiological studies and from animal studies that maternal nutrition may 'programme' the offspring for adult disease. This effect may be direct but it is more likely to be mediated in some manner by placental structure and/or function regulating the amount or composition of nutrients transferred. Does the placenta therefore play an active or a passive role in programming? Reduced fetal and placental weights are both associated with fetal programming. However, it is argued that, rather than reduced placental weight (and function) being linked to reduced fetal weight in a cause-and-effect relationship, reduced weight(s) might be a surrogate marker for an adverse intrauterine experience.


Abstract The polyphagous moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) is among the major constraints to the horticultural industry in East Africa. In a search of sustainable control methods, the pathogenicity of the dry conidia of 17 Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) and five Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) (Vuill.) isolates were tested against T. leucotreta moths. The conidial uptake by a single moth, horizontal transmission, and effect of fungal inoculant on egg-laying and hatchability for the pest were also assessed. The findings from this study showed that tested fungi were virulent to the moths, with 12 isolates causing mortality that ranged between 58.8 and 94.2% for M. anisopliae and three isolates between 57.6 and 84.6% for B. bassiana. The entomopathogenic fungi isolates, M. anisopliae ICIPE 69 and B. bassiana ICIPE 279 were highly virulent with low lethal times to 50% mortality (LT50) of 3.81 and 5.13 d, respectively. The isolate, ICIPE 69 conidia acquisition by a single moth were approximately 4.58 × 106 and 3.51 × 106 for males and females, respectively. The lowest survival rate (3.33 %) caused by inoculum transmission was recorded in donor males compared to 16.67% in recipient males. Fecundity was reduced by 33.6 and 25.9% for donor and recipient females, respectively. The pest can acquire conidia from the treated substrate and transmission is then possible between adults. ICIPE 69 is virulent and reduces the reproduction potential of the pest after transmission. The findings are discussed in the prospects of microbial control of this pest using an autodissemination technique.


OBJECTIVE Migration and proliferation of kidney cancer cells are critical factors affecting effective treatment. Abnormal gene expression exists during cancer pathogenesis. The study showed certain effects of PIK3R1 gene on migration and proliferation of kidney cancer cells, although a few studies have been performed regulatory mechanism of microRNA on PIK3R1 gene. Previous sequencing of PIK3R1 gene found the existence of mir-455 binding site. This study confirmed the regulation of PIK3R1 gene expression in kidney cancer cells of mir-455 by in vitro assay, and analyzed its effects on migration or proliferation of kidney cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS mir-455 agonist and inhibitor sequences were designed and synthesized to transfect kidney cancer cell line CAKI-1, which were further divided into agonist, inhibitor, and control group. qRT-PCR was used to test expression of mir-455 and PIK3R1 at 12 h, 24 h and 48 h after transfection. PIK3R1 protein expression was measured by Western blot. MTT and cell scratch assay were employed to measure cell proliferation and migration potency. RESULTS 12 h after transfection with mir-455, no significant difference of the level of PIK3R1was found among the three groups (p>0.05). However, at 24 h and 48 h post-transfection, PIK3R1 expression in agonist group was significantly elevated, along with weakened cell proliferation or migration potency (p<0.05 with significant between-group comparison). By contrast, the level of PIK3R1 was statistically decreased in inhibitor group, in which cell proliferation and migration were enhanced (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS In kidney carcinoma cell CAKI-1, mir-455 expression regulation can positively alter PIK3R1 gene expression. Over-expression of PIK3Ra gene could reduce the proliferation or migration potency of CAKI-1 cells.


The work in this thesis is concerned with the progress and development of the
Gumbel distribution by the introduction of a new parameter namely, the shape
parameter. Generalization of the Gumbel distribution is established. The work is also
concerned with the investigation of the finite sample performance of asymptotic
inference procedures using the likelihood function based on the modified
distributions. The study includes investigating the adequacy of asymptotic inferential
procedures in small samples. The maximum likelihood estimator of the parameters of
modified distributions is not available in closed form. Thus a simulation study is
conducted to investigate the bias, asymptotic variance (ASV), finite sample variance
(FSV), and the mean square error (MSE) of the maximum likelihood estimator of the
parameters of the modified distribution. Exact testing hypothesis procedures for the
modified distribution are intractable. Therefore three standard large sample statistics
based on maximum likelihood estimator were considered, which are the likelihood
ratio, the Wald, and the Rao statistics. Their performances in finite samples in terms
of their sizes and powers are investigated and compared. Confidence intervals based on the likelihood ratio, the Wald, and the Rao statistics were studied. The
performances in terms of the attainment of the nominal error probability and
symmetry of lower and upper probabilities were investigated and compared.
The main findings of the simulation studies of the inference procedures for the
parameters of the modified Gumbel distribution indicate that the estimate of the
shape parameter is nearly unbiased, while estimates of the location and scale
parameters tend to be slightly biased for small sample size of the univariate
distribution, while for bivariate models, estimate of the scale and shape parameters
performance are satisfactory in terms of bias and variance in all the situations
considered.
In the hypothesis testing o f the m odified d istribution, the 1 ikelihood ratio statistic
appears to perform better than the Wald and the Rao statistics. Interval estimates for
the scale parameter based on Wald and Rao statistics are highly symmetric and tend
to be slightly anticonservative, while intervals based on the likelihood ratio statistics
are in general symmetric and attain the nominal error probability. For the shape
parameter, all intervals tend to be symmetric in the lower and upper error
probabilities.
Results of the simulations also indicate that the modified extreme value models can
contribute meaningfully in solving several problems of the environmental data,
particularly the air pollution data.


Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), an active remote sensing technology, is becoming an essential tool for geoinformation extraction and urban planning. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) point clouds segmentation and accurate classification are challenging and crucial to produce different geo-information products like three-dimensional (3D) city designs. This paper introduces an effective data-driven approach to build roof superstructures classification for airborne LiDAR point clouds with very low density and imbalanced classes, covering an urban area. Notably, it focuses on building roof superstructures (especially dormers and chimneys) and mitigating nonplanar objects' problems. Also, the imbalanced class problem of LiDAR data, to the best of our knowledge, is not yet addressed in the literature; it is considered in this study. The major advantage of the proposed approach is using only raw data without assumptions on the distribution underlying data. The main methodological novelties of this work are summarized in the following key elements. (i) At first, an adapted connected component analysis for 3D points cloud is proposed. (ii) Twelve geometry-based features are extracted for each component. (iii) A Support Vector Machine (SVM)-driven procedure is applied to classify the 3D components. (iv) Furthermore, a new component size-based sampling (CSBS) method is proposed to treat the imbalanced data problem and has been compared with several existing resampling strategies. In this study, components are classified into five classes: shed and gable dormers, chimneys, ground, and others. The results of this investigation show the satisfying classification performance of the proposed approach. Results also showed that the proposed approach outperformed machine learning methods, including SVM, Random Forest, Decision Tree, and Adaboost.


Granitic groundwaters are important resources in arid regions. However, they are not always pure due to having appreciable amounts of trace elements. The present study was conducted to investigate chemical compositions for finding controls on distribution of heavy metals and natural radioelements (U and Th) in groundwater resources of Shir-Kuh granitoid aquifer (SGA), central Iran. Thirty water samples were collected and analyzed for major and trace elements. The average values of electrical conductivity (EC) and pH are 624 μs/cm and 7.5, respectively. The dominant groundwater type is Ca-HCO3, as a result of the calcite dissolution and biotite weathering. Principal component analysis in support of mass balance studies recognizes dissolution of fracture-filling sediments and rock mineral weathering as the main factors enhancing major ions in SGA. These processes also release trace elements in decreasing order of Sr > Ba > Sn > W > Cu > U > Zn > Th. Weathering of biotite enclosing accessory minerals of monazite and zircon is introduced as the main source of radio-trace elements in SGA. Health concerns are currently related to U in drinking groundwater, as the maximum concentration (13.6 μg/L) approaches the Iranian drinking standard of 15 μg/L, in response to the oxidizing nature of the groundwater, calcite dissolution-related mobilization, and the degree of the water–rock interactions.


Understanding conceptual change is an important problem in modeling human cognition and in making integrated AI systems that can learn autonomously. This paper describes a model of explanation-based conceptual change, integrating sketch understanding, analogical processing, qualitative models, truth-maintenance, and heuristic-based reasoning within the Companions cognitive architecture. Sketch understanding is used to automatically encode stimuli in the form of comic strips. Qualitative models and conceptual quantities are constructed for new phenomena via analogical reasoning and heuristics. Truth-maintenance is used to integrate conceptual and episodic knowledge into explanations, and heuristics are used to modify existing conceptual knowledge in order to produce better explanations. We simulate the learning and revision of the concept of force, testing the concepts learned via a questionnaire of sketches given to students, showing that our model follows a similar learning trajectory.


Long-term and sustainable engineering education reform requires a pipeline for educating future engineering faculty and professionals interested in pursuing careers in K-12 teaching and administration. Purdue University is evaluating the development of new M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs in engineering education to meet these very needs. It is envisioned that students with Bachelor of Science degrees in engineering and other technical fields will be eligible to participate in the M.S. and Ph.D. programs. These programs will combine advanced courses in engineering and education with research in engineering education. Graduates of such programs will be well-positioned for faculty careers at the K-12, community college, or university level as well as a variety of other careers. Proposed criteria for admission into the M.S. and Ph.D. engineering education programs, descriptions of the programs and program coursework, and anticipated job opportunities for graduates of such programs are discussed. Vision for Research and Discovery in Engineering Education The call for engineering education reform is driving the need for the establishment of the field of engineering education as a scholarly endeavor. This call for reform is exemplified in the 1994 joint project report on Engineering Education for a Changing World by the Engineering Deans Council and Corporate Roundtable of the American Society for Engineering Education, the 1995 Report by the Board on Engineering Education of the National Research Council, and the recent call for change by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) leadership. The other significant development has been the adoption by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) of Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000), a new set of program accreditation standards that replace the former focus on counting credits with an emphasis on formulating and assessing educational outcomes. These standards have intensified an interest in assessment reflected in a number of papers on the topic in engineering education journals. Moreover, as faculty members have come to recognize that changes in pedagogy will be needed to achieve the varied outcomes specified in EC 2000, many of them have undertaken the development and assessment of new methods designed to meet those outcomes. Thus, while EC 2000 does not P ge 957.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education directly require the scholarship of teaching, its adoption has led to a substantial increase in the number of engineering faculty members engaged in this form of scholarship, which has in turn led the engineering education journals to increase their sizes to accommodate dramatic increases in the number of papers submitted. The National Science Foundation has supported educational scholarship in engineering since the late 1980's through the Division of Undergraduate Education and the Engineering Education Coalitions program. Today, NSF support for engineering related education reform is in excess of $200M per year. Such support "has increased the status of educational research in faculty performance reviews, improved its quality by demanding appropriate assessment of results, attracted additional engineering professors into the arena, and increased collaborations between engineering professors and professors in disciplines like education and psychology." Scholarly Activities in Engineering Education In Scholarship Reconsidered, Boyer noted that mention of being "scholarly" brings to mind individuals involved in publication of basic research. And yet he notes that the term research only entered the vocabulary of American higher education in 1906. Until then, scholarship brought to mind a variety of different forms of creative work. Boyer called for a return to a broader definition of scholarship, which included the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, and the scholarship of teaching. He concluded that knowledge is acquired through research, through synthesis, through practice, and through teaching. Within the field of engineering education, the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, and the scholarship of teaching are all relevant and seamlessly bound. To focus only on teaching is to trivialize the work and contributions of leaders in this field and the potential for the field to catalyze significant engineering education reform. While the term scholarship of teaching has come to mean more than the knowledge gained from preparing for and participating in one's classes and the earning of a reputation for excellence in the classroom, it does not reflect the breadth of scholarly activity that occurs under the engineering education umbrella. These scholarly activities include but are not limited to: • Quantitative and qualitative research on student learning and learning environments focusing on the abilities and skills engineering and pre-engineering students need to develop to be successful at each stage of their academic careers and beyond. • Development, implementation, and assessment of new instructional models, materials, and learning environments. • Dissemination of research results to a wide variety of audiences including engineering colleagues; math, science, and technology educators; and policy makers. • Preparation of the next generation of faculty and professionals wishing to pursue work in the field of engineering education. • Seeking and securing funding to support research activities. Why in Engineering? P ge 957.2 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education The history of efforts to bring the scholarship of teaching and learning of science, engineering, and mathematics into the content departments has been plagued the question "Why can't this work be done in the School of Education?" Education research done by faculty in the Schools of Education tends to focus on the problems of teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms. Research in chemistry education, for example, has provided useful insight into the problems children have understanding heat and temperature or the problems high school students have when trying to master the task of balancing a chemical reaction. While this research is potentially useful for those who teach in the elementary, middle and high schools in the U.S. and abroad, it does not necessarily address the problems that faculty face when teaching sophisticated topics in science, engineering, and mathematics at the university level. For examples of research that does address sophisticated topics focused at the university level, consider several projects recently completed by graduate students working towards a Ph.D. in chemical education at Purdue University in the Department of Chemistry. One graduate student completed a Ph.D. based on interviews that probed the conceptual understanding of thermodynamics by advanced undergraduates and graduate students in the Department of Chemistry. Another student built on this foundation to examine the problems that students in chemistry and chemical engineering encounter when studying quantum mechanics at the junior level. Although this work used methodology similar to the used by colleagues in the School of Education, it required a basic understanding of physical chemistry that is far beyond that commonly found among either faculty or graduate students in education. Engineering education as a field of scholarly activity needs to be pursued by engineers. Because they are the heavy users of mathematics, science, and technology in problem solving and design contexts, engineers possess knowledge, understandings, and skill sets that characterize what is needed for success beyond school in the 21st century. Therefore, engineers are well positioned to take a leadership role in renewing, diversifying, and nurturing a cadre of talented leaders to guide the expansion of engineering education in K-12 and improve student learning across K-16. Current Graduate Programs and Training in Engineering Education While institutions are beginning to move toward developing Engineering Education programs and several engineering education centers have been developed (see Appendix I), no formal or institutionalized graduate programs in engineering education exist. While no formal programs currently exist, graduate student are currently earning graduate degrees linking engineering and education. The Educational Research Methods (ERM) Division sponsors an Apprentice Faculty Grant (AFG) program annually for graduate students and new faculty who are interested in a career in educational research related to engineering. This program has attracted many students who are involved in engineering educational research and has provided anecdotal evidence of a Purdue University is evaluating the development of a School of Engineering Education which will offer M.S. and Ph.D. programs in engineering education. Virginia Tech is developing a Department of Engineering Education that will offer graduate courses in engineering education. P ge 957.3 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education how this is being accomplished nationally. Most of these students and graduates come from institutions that were part of the NSF Coalitions or that currently have an Engineering Education Center. The majority of graduate students who receive degrees through a college of engineering are from those where the subject matter loosely fits the department's traditional research areas. For example, Industrial Engineering has had studies of a user design where the users were students and/or teachers as well as studies on teaming in education. A significant number o


This research discusses the importance of Islamic education in social interactions in order to realize the civil society in Soppeng Regency. The type of research used is a qualitative descriptive method. The research approach uses theological normative, social, and pedagogical approaches. The informants from this research were the community of the Soppeng Regency, by prioritizing community figures, religious figures, and educational figures. The results of the research found that the relation of social interaction of the people in Soppeng Regency was divided into two, namely: 1) contractual relations in urban communities whose lifestyles began to be influenced by modern lifestyle patterns, and 2) emotional relations based on cultural in rural communities who maintained cultural and traditional lifestyle patterns. The roles of Islamic community figures in the social interaction of the people in Soppeng Regency are founder and manager of Islamic education institutions; as a government partner; providing information on Islamic teaching; give decisions and solutions to community problems. The position of Islamic education in social interaction is very important in order to realize the civil society in Soppeng Regency. This can be seen in the growth of community tolerance, democratic governance that makes events and ceremonies of traditional and religious a work program, even raising the awareness of citizens to resolve their conflicts peacefully on the principle of deliberation based on Islamic teachings fairly without looking at one's social background or stratification.


Simon and Baxter (1993) demonstrated that secure individuals report using more assurances and romance to maintain their romantic relationships than do dismissive individuals. The present study extends Simon and Baxter's work by investigating a wider range of prosocial maintenance behaviors as well as two key dimensions underlying attachment style—anxiety and avoidance. Results from 189 couples who completed questionnaires showed that secure individuals reported using more assurances, romantic affection, and openness than did dismissive individuals. Fearful avoidant men also reported relatively low levels of prosocial maintenance behaviors, and preoccupied men and women reported relatively high levels of assurances, openness, and comfort/support. Respondents also reported using certain prosocial behaviors less when they had a preoccupied partner. In terms of attachment-style dimensions, respondents reported using less assurances when they were avoidant and their partner was anxious. One's own level of avoidance also associated negatively with romantic affection, openness, and social networking, whereas one's own level of anxiety associated negatively with task sharing, comfort/support, and social networking. Implications for future work on relational maintenance and attachment theory are discussed.


Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) communication systems offer huge performance focal points in perspective on their low probability of block, improved performance in multipath fading situations and their capacity to stay away from interference by spreading the signal over a wide bandwidth subsequently conveying the power. For the transmitted sequence to be effectively received and demodulated, the spreading sequence utilized at the receiver ought to be like that utilized in the transmitter. This paper uses MATLAB Simulink to show a technique for synchronizing the code clock at the receiver with the code clock at the transmitter. This fine arrangement procedure is known as code tracking.


Fast routing is one of the bottlenecks affecting the fast manufacturing of electronic equipments. The three-dimensional auto-routing system ( 3DRS) of electronic equipment is designed on the of unigraphics ( UG ) which is a three-dimensional(3D) modelling software. 3D weighed grid is applied to mesh the 3D routing space of electronic equipment, the labyrinth algorithm based on grid is used to search the route of wire. In order to describe the non-structure questions of 3D cabling space of the electronic equipment, a routing knowledge base which contains EMC analysis primarily is also designed in the system to guide routing. Based on the powerful 3D modelling ability of UG. the system is developed using Visual C++6.0 which is a visible programming tool.


Prefetching is a well-known technique for mitigating the von Neumann bottleneck. In its most rudimentary form, prefetching simplifies to sequential lookahead. Unfortunately, large classes of applications exhibit file access patterns that are not amenable to sequential prefetching. More general purpose approaches often use models to develop an appropriate prefetching strategy. Such models tend to be large, thus preventing a kernel implementation which would lead to user transparency and more efficient execution. This work applies the target cache approach of pathbased branch target prediction to file system prefetching to combat these deficiencies. The feasibility and worth of such a design are evaluated against a number of parallel applications popular in the scientific community.


Background and Aim: The coexistence of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in the course of chronic hepatitis B virus infection increases liver-related morbidity. A positive correlation was found between positive hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) and the risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in MAFLD. The relationship between anti-HBc positivity and MAFLD progression to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver-related outcomes was determined. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study including 242 patients with biopsy-proven MAFLD, 130 patients with clinically diagnosed MAFLD-related cirrhosis, and 62 patients with MAFLD-related or cryptogenic HCC. Anti-HBc antibody results were compared with clinical outcomes. Results: Anti-HBc positivity was associated with fibrosis severity (p=0.005). Anti-HBc was positive in 19 (20.2%), 33 (25.8%), 53 (35.3%), and 27 (43.5%) patients with F0–F1 fibrosis, F2–F3 fibrosis, cirrhosis (F4), and HCC, respectively. Median steatosis score was grade 3 in anti-HBc positive patients and grade 2 in negative patients (p=0.07). Anti-HBc positivity was not associated with significant fibrosis (≥F2), cirrhosis, and any liver related complications including HCC. Conclusion: Higher anti-HBc positivity was found in MAFLD patients with advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis compared to patients with early stage fibrosis. No relation was found between anti-HBc positivity and development of cirrhosis, HCC or other liver related complications.


Processing of pears as a fresh-cut product could offer added value and introduce a product into the market that offers greater convenience and health benefits for consumers. Cultivar selection is one of the most important considerations for fresh-cut fruit processing because characteristics such as flesh texture, skin colour, and browning potential can vary greatly among cultivars. Four pear cultivars ('Flor de invierno', 'Passe-Crassane', 'Ercolini' and 'Conference') and four antioxidant treatments, that is, (NS) 50 g L-1 NatureSeal® AS1 (Agricoat) solution, (AsAc) 20 g L-1 ascorbic acid + 10 g L-1 citric acid + 10 g L-1 calcium chloride solution, (CaAs) 20 g L-1 calcium ascorbate + 10 g L-1 calcium chloride solution and (NaAs) 20 g L-1 sodium ascorbate + 10 g L-1 calcium chloride solution, were tested to obtain a high-quality fresh-cut pear. For the selected cultivar and treatment, the nutritional changes and physicochemical, microbial and sensorial quality were evaluated under conditions that simulated commercial application followed by storage at 4 °C and a simulated cold chain break at 8°C. The 'Conference' pear was selected as the best cultivar based on its physicochemical characteristics (high levels of soluble solids content and low acidity), low increase in browning index, and visual acceptance after 7 days of storage. The results demonstrated that CaAs maintained the fresh-cut pear quality after 8 days of storage at 4°C and also after a cold chain break. Furthermore, application of the selected treatment produced an increase in the ascorbic acid content, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of minimally processed pear samples. These values were reduced during shelf life, but the total phenolic content at the final sampling point was higher than that of fresh-cut pears after processing without treatment.


Bacterial spot of tomato, caused by Xanthomonas spp., is a common disease in tomato fields that causes significant economic losses. Due to the difficulty with control of bacterial spot by conventional methods, new techniques such as biological control and induction of resistance are gaining prominence. This study aimed to select saprobe fungi from semi-arid regions of the Brazilian Northeast for the biological control of bacterial spot of tomato. To select the best isolates to control bacterial spot, a greenhouse experiment was initially conducted. Tomato plants ('Santa Cruz Kada') were treated with filtrates of 25 saprobe fungi and inoculated three days later with Xanthomonas euvesicatoria. Filtrates of Memnoniella levispora, Periconia hispidula, Zygosporium echinosporum, and Chloridium virescens var. virescens were selected as the most effective. Filtrates and volatile compounds from these four isolates were tested for their antibacterial activity in cultures of X. euvesicatoria and in tomato plants ('Santa Cruz Kada') inoculated with X. euvesicatoria. In vitro, the addition of nonvolatile fungal metabolites into the culture medium at 5% and 50% (v/v) inhibited bacterial growth by 28.9% and 53.8%, respectively. The volatile compounds produced by C. virescens var. virescens reduced the number of colony-forming units of X. euvesicatoria by 25.9%. In vivo, all treatments reduced from 62.4 to 71.3% the area under bacterial spot progress curve, showing the same control efficacy as the commercial resistance inducer used as a positive control (acibenzolar-S-methyl). Systemicity of the fungal filtrates was confirmed in a separate experiment, where application of the treatments exclusively to the third leaf decreased the severity of the disease on the fourth leaf (except for C. virescens var. virescens). These results show that M. levispora, P. hispidula, Z. echinosporum, and C. virescens var. virescens are potential biocontrol agents against bacterial spot of tomato. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the disease control mechanisms of saprobe fungi.


Catalytic reactions of cyclohexene, benzene, n-hexane, 2-methylpentane, 3-methylpentane, and 1-hexene on platinum catalysts were monitored in situ via sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy and gas chromatography (GC). SFG is a surface specific vibrational spectroscopic tool capable of monitoring submonolayer coverages under reaction conditions without gas-phase interference. SFG was used to identify the surface intermediates present during catalytic processes on Pt(111) and Pt(100) single-crystals and on cubic and cuboctahedra Pt nanoparticles in the Torr pressure regime and at high temperatures (300K-450K). At low pressures (<10{sup -6} Torr), cyclohexene hydrogenated and dehydrogenates to form cyclohexyl (C{sub 6}H{sub 11}) and {pi}-allyl C{sub 6}H{sub 9}, respectively, on Pt(100). Increasing pressures to 1.5 Torr form cyclohexyl, {pi}-allyl C{sub 6}H{sub 9}, and 1,4-cyclohexadiene, illustrating the necessity to investigate catalytic reactions at high-pressures. Simultaneously, GC was used to acquire turnover rates that were correlated to reactive intermediates observed spectroscopically. Benzene hydrogenation on Pt(111) and Pt(100) illustrated structure sensitivity via both vibrational spectroscopy and kinetics. Both cyclohexane and cyclohexene were produced on Pt(111), while only cyclohexane was formed on Pt(100). Additionally, {pi}-allyl c-C{sub 6}H{sub 9} was found only on Pt(100), indicating that cyclohexene rapidly dehydrogenates on the (100) surface. The structure insensitive production of cyclohexane was found to exhibit a compensation effect and was analyzed using the selective energy transfer (SET) model. The SET model suggests that the Pt-H system donates energy to the E{sub 2u} mode of free benzene, which leads to catalysis. Linear C{sub 6} (n-hexane, 2-methylpentane, 3-methylpentane, and 1-hexene) hydrocarbons were also investigated in the presence and absence of excess hydrogen on Pt(100). Based on spectroscopic signatures, mechanisms for catalytic isomerization and dehydrocyclization of n-hexane were identified. The structure sensitivity of benzene hydrogenation on shape controlled platinum nanoparticles was also studied. The nanoparticles showed similar selectivities to those found for Pt(111) and Pt(100) single-crystals. Additionally, the nanoparticles have lower activation energies than their single-crystal counterparts.


Proteolytic enzymes increase the sensitivity of the bronchial system against acetylcholine when inhaled as aerosols. These experiments were performed on 33 dogs in order to localize the area of sensitivity in the bronchial system responsible for bronchoconstriction. Pronase given in a small dosage as proteolytic enzyme aerosol only to the upper part of the airtract sensitises the lower part of the airways against acetylcholine. Pronase aerosol given to the lower part of the airways needs higher dosages for sensitization to acetylcholine. This effect assumes an interaction between the upper sensoric part in the reflex way of airway obstruction and the lower airways. Changes caused by proteolytic enzymes in the upper part of the airtract can cause increased reactivity of the lower airways.


The outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) resulted in the severe destruction of coral reefs in a large number of Indonesia's marine ecosystem, especially in the western part. At the moment, control efforts are proven to be ineffective because of its high cost and labor intensive. Recent research found that A. planci contain saponins that act as cytotoxic compound and can be used as an environment-friendly insecticide to eradicate Kalotermitidae pest. Saponins extracted by maceration using ethanol 96.0% with a total yield of saponins 9.04% and 4.66% for two test. Purification of saponin was achieved by utilization of activated carbon with a mass of carbon:volume sample 1:2 (w/v) and stirred for 20 minutes. Sapogenin can be isolated by hydrolyzing using hydrochloric acid, and thus 168.4 mg sapogenin is obtained. In addition to saponins, A. planci also contains collagen Type I. Collagen isolation by multistage extraction began with extracting the collagen with alkaline solvent, with water, NaOH 0.1 M, and Ca(OH)2 0.2 M as the solvent variations. The second step is acid-enzymatic extraction by pepsin digestion in 0.5 M acetic acid. Collagen extract will be further purified by salting out and dialysis method to obtain pure collagen yield called Pepsin Solubilized Collagens (PSC). Characterization of PSC consists of quantitative and qualitative analysis such as Lowry method, gel electrophoresis, UV spectroscopy, amino acid composition analysis, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The result shows Ca(OH)2 0.2 M as the best extraction solvent with 2.26% yield of PSC.


of phenelzine than is commonly prescribed, and one of them had treatment for rather a long period. In hospital practice it is easy to control treatment, since slight changes of mood are detected quickly and manic reactions are not seen so frequently now as they were formerly. Out-patient psychiatry has a great many advantages, but it is important to recognize that risks are run, although in the main the benefits of out-patient treatment appear to outweigh its occasional disadvantages.-I am, etc.,


The vast majority of crop and revenue insurance policies sold in the United States are singlecrop policies that insure against low yields or revenues for each crop grown on the farm. But, increasingly, producer income is based more on the value of crops that have been converted into a value-added product such as ethanol. Moreover, the recent increases in energy and commodity price levels and volatilities emphasize the importance of risk management to ethanol investors. This paper uses an insurance approach to outline a risk management tool which mimics the gross margin level of a typical corn-based ethanol plant. The gross margin, premium, and indemnity levels are calculated on a per bushel basis to enable producers/investors to utilize the product based on their ownership share in the production facility. The fair premium rates are shown to be quite sensitive with respect to corn and energy price levels and volatilities.


This paper summarises my research on mathematical sculpture and offers the latest version of my proposed classification. The introduction to the study of this kind of sculpture in higher education requires a taxonomy to classify mathematically all its different types. From our point of view, this taxonomy had never been arranged in depth. The first version of the classification (with Professor Javier Barrallo) was shown at ISAMA BRIDGES 2003 Meeting Alhambra [1]. It was a preliminary starting point in which we suggested nine categories, based on mathematical concepts. Since then, I have improved taxonomy structure until it has adapted to a mathematical classification. The best way for categorising mathematical sculpture consists in establishing general groups for the different areas of Mathematics and then subdividing these groups according to the main mathematical concepts used in the sculpture design. As it has happened in the past, I would be pleased to receive suggestions from the art and mathematics community in order to improve this taxonomy.


When cells enter mitosis, they become spherical and mechanically stiffen. We used MCF10A cell lines as a model system in which to investigate the effect of induced oncogene expression on mitotic entry. We find that activation of oncogenic RasV12, for as little as five hours, changes the way cells divide. RasV12-dependent activation of the MEK-ERK signalling cascade alters acto-myosin contractility to enhance mitotic rounding. RasV12 also affects cell mechanics, so that RasV12 expressing cells are softer in interphase but stiffen more upon entry into mitosis. As a consequence, RasV12 expression augments the ability of cells to round up and divide faithfully when confined underneath a stiff hydrogel. Conversely, inhibition of the Ras-ERK pathway reduces mitotic rounding under confinement, resulting in chromosome segregation defects. These data suggest a novel mechanism by which oncogenic Ras-ERK signalling can aid division in stiff environments like those found in tumours.


ABSTRACT This study assessed 266 young children's (mean age = 55.41 months, SD = 4.70 month) writing skills (name writing and letter writing), and decoding skills (letter knowledge, letter-word identification, and phonological awareness), and investigated whether children learn letter writing from their own names, and whether children's gender is related to their early writing. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses show that among children who wrote recognizable letters in both name writing and letter writing tasks, children wrote a significantly higher percentage of dictated name letters than non-name letters. Letter knowledge was related to both name writing and letter writing skills. There was evidence that once children had developed basic writing skills, earlier gender differences in writing skills were no longer significant. This study provides support for the classroom instructions that integrate children's own names and decoding knowledge into writing activities.


While the balance between individual privacy and government monitoring or corporate surveillance has been a frequent topic across numerous disciplines, the issue of privacy within the family has been largely ignored in recent privacy debates. Yet privacy intrusions between parents and children or between adult partners or spouses can be just as profound as those found in the more "public spheres" of life. Popular access to increasingly sophisticated forms of electronic surveillance technologies has altered the dynamics of family relationships. Monitoring, mediated and facilitated by practices of both covert and overt electronic surveillance, has changed the nature of privacy within the family. Parents are tracking children via GPS-enabled cell phone tracking software and are monitoring the Internet use of family members. Parents, siblings, and children are also posting information about their family members online, often without consent, and are creating social media profiles for others online. Prior scholarly work in philosophy and law has primarily addressed the privacy of children from third parties, usually commercial entities, and in the context of making medical decisions. Less attention has been directed at exploring a more general right of privacy of one family member against parents, siblings, children, or spouses. In this article, we do just that. We consider several moral rules that determine appropriate privacy boundaries within the family. More specifically, we will consider when overt or covert surveillance of a child, spouse, or partner by an adult family member is morally permitted.


In October 2012 Oxford Archaeology East undertook an earthwork survey and desk-based assessment to examine the available historical and archaeological resources relating to a 1.68ha plot of land at the Anglian Water Pulloxhill water treatment works at Sand Lane, Silsoe, Bedfordshire (centred on TL 0803 3353). The site lies 1.5km to the south of the village of Silsoe and 1.7km to the east of Pulloxhill. The work was commissioned by Anglian Water before a planning application had been submitted. The aim of the assessment was to define the archaeological potential of the site in advance of potential redevelopment. The desk-based assessment will be used to determine whether an archaeological evaluation of the area is required.
The assessment consisted of consultation of all data held in the Central Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record (HER) with in 1km of the site, an analysis of aerial photographs and historic mapping and a survey of the extant earthworks on the site. Two HER entries relate directly to the site: HER3322 refers to medieval ridge and furrow cultivation; HER16353 refers to the water treatment works building itself.
Analysis of aerial photographic evidence shows that ridge and furrow covered the entire plot prior to the construction of the water treatment works in the mid 20th century.
The earthwork survey was carried out between the 17th and 18th October in order to assess the character and survival of any earthworks on the site. The survey consisted of topographic and interpretive elements and conformed to the English Heritage Level 2 survey standard.
The site is separated into two plots, front and rear, by a modern fence. Extant medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, present on 17% of the plot, was located on both parts of the site surviving to a maximum height of 0.5m and a maximum length of 89m. It is concentrated in two areas; north centre of the front plot and the central area of the rear plot. No other archaeological features were identified. Features associated with activity relating to the water treatment works were identified in both the front and rear plots. These features cover or truncate any archaeological remains.


Constitutive photomorphogenic 1 (COP1) is a p53-targeting E3 ubiquitin ligase that is downregulated by DNA damage through mechanisms that remain obscure. Here, we report that COP1 is not downregulated following DNA damage in 14-3-3σ null cells, implicating 14-3-3σ as a critical regulator in the response of COP1 to DNA damage. We also identified that 14-3-3σ, a p53 target gene product, interacted with COP1 and controlled COP1 protein stability after DNA damage. Mechanistic studies revealed that 14-3-3σ enhanced COP1 self-ubiquitination, thereby preventing COP1-mediated p53 ubiquitination, degradation, and transcriptional repression. In addition, we found that COP1 expression promoted cell proliferation, cell transformation, and tumor progression, manifesting its role in cancer promotion, whereas 14-3-3σ negatively regulated COP1 function and prevented tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model of human cancer. Immunohistochemical analysis of clinical breast and pancreatic cancer specimens demonstrated that COP1 protein levels were inversely correlated with 14-3-3σ protein levels. Together, our findings define a mechanism for posttranslational regulation of COP1 after DNA damage that can explain the correlation between COP1 overexpression and 14-3-3σ downregulation during tumorigenesis.


The effects of the cations calcium, iron, manganese and zinc on the uptake of cadmium by the alga C. pyrenoidosa and on the toxicity of cadmium were studied. Calcium at a level of 16 mg 1-1 reduced the short- term uptake and, in dilute cultures, the long-term uptake as well and caused a modest reduction in cadmium toxicity. Iron at a level of 1 mg I-1 greatly reduced cadmium toxicity and reduced both phases of uptake in dilute cultures. Manganese at a concentration of 0.5 mg I-1 had no consistent effect on uptake and tended to enhance cadmium toxicity. Zinc at a concentration of 3 mg I-1 reduced short-term uptake, had no consistent effect on long-term uptake, and exerted a toxic effect that was additive to that of cadmium. Factors such as coprecipitation and the physiological state of the culture were found to have an important bearing on the nature of the interaction of nutrient cations with cadmium.


LaDora V. Thompson. Electron paramagnetic resonance reveals age-related myosin structural changes in rat skeletal muscle fibers. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 280: C540–C547, 2001.—We tested the hypothesis that low specific tension (force/cross-sectional area) in skeletal muscle from aged animals results from structural changes in myosin that occur with aging. Permeabilized semimembranosus fibers from young adult and aged rats were spin labeled site specifically at myosin SH1 (Cys-707). Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was then used to resolve and quantify the structural states of the myosin head to determine the fraction of myosin heads in the strong-binding (force generating) structural state during maximal isometric contraction. Fibers from aged rats generated 27 6 0.8% less specific tension than fibers from younger rats ( P , 0.001). EPR spectral analyses showed that, during contraction, 31.6 6 2.1% of myosin heads were in the strong-binding structural state in fibers from young adult animals but only 22.1 6 1.3% of myosin heads in fibers from aged animals were in that state ( P 5 0.004). Biochemical assays indicated that the age-related change in myosin structure could be due to protein oxidation, as indicated by a decrease in the number of free cysteine residues. We conclude that myosin structural changes can provide a molecular explanation for age-related decline in skeletal muscle force generation. spectroscopy; specific


Exposure to fungal aerosols is of concern in indoor environments. However, sampling limitations have previously made it difficult to assess exposures accurately, especially long-term exposures. A prototype personal aerosol sampler, based on cyclone principles and using a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube as a particle collection receptacle has been designed and fabricated. Collection efficiency for aerosol particles in the size range of fungal spores has been evaluated for different types of microcentrifuge tubes, together with the effect of a polyethylene glycol coating on the inside of the tube and the effect of adding water to the tube. Monodisperse, fluorescently tagged polymer microspheres with median diameters of 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, and 16 μm were used to evaluate sampler performance with particle diameter. The microcentrifuge-tube sampler was tested at flow rates of 2 and 4 liters per minute (l/min). Experimental results indicate that the microcentrifuge-tube sampler has an aspiration efficiency of 100% in calm air for particles up to 16 μm. At 4 l/min, the microcentrifuge-tube sampler is able to collect nearly 100% of particles greater than 3 μm and > 90% of particles between 2.5 and 3 μm. The 50% cutoff size is 1.5 μm. The performance of the sampler did not vary with the different brands of tubes tested or with the presence or absence of a coating on the tube surface. Furthermore, the addition of water to the tube resulted in a slight increase in collection efficiency. A sampling time of 5 h was feasible at 45–50% relative humidity before evaporation led to significant water loss. The cutoff size of 1.5 μm is comparable to many commercially available bioaerosol samplers. Besides being easy to use, simple to fabricate, and inexpensive, this novel sampler has several advantages over conventional samplers: long-term samples are possible (the limitation of impaction methods); there is no sample transfer loss since the transfer step has been eliminated (the limitation of filter cassettes); laboratory analyses are not dependent solely upon a single analysis method (the limitation of impaction methods), and there is no sampler adherence loss (the limitation of trying to wash microorganisms from filters). In addition, use of the sampler would be applicable in a variety of occupational settings from low bioaerosol concentrations (i.e., indoor environments) to high bioaerosol concentrations (i.e., agricultural setting) by varying sampling time periods and using sensitive analytical methods.


Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds provide users with the ability to easily and quickly provision servers. A recent study found that one in three data center servers continues to consume resources without producing any useful work. A number of techniques have been proposed to identify such unproductive instances. However, those approaches adopt the strategy to identify idle cloud instances based on resource utilization. Resource utilization as indicator alone could be misleading, which is especially true for enterprise cloud environment. In this paper, we present Pleco, a tool that detects unproductive instances in IaaS clouds. Pleco captures dependency information between users and cloud instances by constructing a weighted reference model based on application knowledge. To handle cases of insufficient application knowledge, Pleco also supplements its dependency results with a machine learning model trained on resource utilization data. Pleco gives a confidence level and justification for each identified unproductive instances. Cloud administrators can then take different actions according to the information provided by Pleco. Pleco is lightweight and requires no modification to existing applications.


Law in great parts of the world ban child labour. In Sweden of today, a general idea of childhood seems to be that childhood is and should be a phase of life free from work. Labour laws regulate children-s access to the labour market and compulsory school attendance places children in demarcated school areas. From a societal point of view, children are -out of place- when it comes to work. However, investigations and research show that children often work in their spare time outside of school. Children deliver papers, hand out advertisement leaflets, and go around from door to door selling various things etc. It has been shown that children-s work in Sweden creates considerable profit to the companies that employ children. Despite this, children are seldom categorised as workers and their activities seldom as work. This paper is based on an ongoing ethnographic study of children and work in two Swedish communities and provides an analysis of children-s experiences of work. In this paper, I use the children-s perspectives and argue that working children are not out of place. Rather participation in work is a common and natural part of childhood.


Affective disorders and impulsivity are quite common when using anabolic substances, in this case-study one of the rather rare cases of a psychotic disorder following the abuse of androgenic steroids is described. A 30-year old formerly healthy white male was admitted as inpatient to psychiatric hospital showing symptoms of anxiety and paranoid ideation. In the last 1.5 years he had consumed androgenic steroids, directly before the onset of the first psychotic symptoms 8 weeks before admission he had received an i.m.-injection of nandrolone. Under therapy with neuroleptics the patient recovered completely within 2 months.


This article presents a procedure for how to relate fire performance of fibre-reinforced polymer composite structures to the fire safety regulations in Safety of Life at Sea II-2. It can be used as basis when performing a fire risk assessment to demonstrate that the degree of safety is at least equivalent to that provided by prescriptive requirements. A key issue is that requirements and test methods are based on the use of steel structures, which requires seeking the safety level implied by the regulations. This was demonstrated for the regulations and introduced hazards affecting the growth stage of a fire. The safety implied by regulations was related to fire performance of fibre-reinforced polymer composite by reference to fire tests involving typical materials and some relevant safety measures. Ignition was described as uncritical, while the fire growth on a fibre-reinforced polymer composite surface can be rapid. Flammability requirements are generally not achieved by an untreated panel but different means can be used for protection. A fire protective coating can be used to prevent ignition, and sprinkler is effective for both fire prevention and extinguishment on interior and external surfaces. For interior spaces, it can be relevant with a coating or thermal insulation also to hinder increased generation of smoke and toxic gases during fire evacuation. In all, it is shown that fire hazards during the fire growth stage are manageable, and a foundation is lain out for a well-structured fire risk assessment.


The era of High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider will pose unprecedented challenges for detector design and operation. The planned luminosity of the upgraded machine is $5$x$10^{34} $ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$, reaching an integrated luminosity of more than 3000 fb$^{-1}$ by the end of 2037. CMS Tracker detector will have to be replaced in order to fully exploit the delivered luminosity and cope with the demanding operating conditions. The new detector will provide robust tracking as well as input for the first level trigger. This report is focusing on the replacement of the CMS Outer Tracker system, describing new layout and technological choices together with some highlights of research and development activities.


Cryomassage and its combination with low-intensity infra-red laser radiation have been introduced as a novel treatment of facial nerve neuropathy (FNN) in 32 patients. Electrophysiological investigations (facial thermography, classical electrodiagnosis, electromyography of the mimic muscles) and clinical data including those of long-term follow-up show that neither cryomassage nor infra-red laser radiation studied promote transformation of facial tissues in FNN patients. Use of the above factors is effective in a preclinical stage of forming contracture of the mimic muscles. Special techniques of application of local hypothermia and laser radiation can be used in multimodality treatment of both the established contracture and sluggish paresis of the facial muscles.


High speed multi pass wet wire drawing has become very common for production of high carbon steel cord because of the increase in customer demand and production rates in real industrial fields. Although the wet wire drawing is preformed at a high speed usually above 1000 m/min, greater speed is required to improve productivity. However, in the high carbon steel wire drawing, the wire temperature rises greatly as the drawing speed increase. The excessive temperature rise makes the wire more brittle and finally leads to wire breaks. In this study, the variations in wire temperature during wet wire drawing process were investigated. A multi pass wet wire drawing process with 21 passes, which was used to produce steel cord, was redesigned by considering the increase in temperature. Through a wet wire drawing experiment, it was possible to increase the maximum final speed from 1000 m/min to 2000 m/min.


Objectives To determine whether there is a significant stress response to the Newborn Life Support airway test (NLSAT) among healthcare professionals in the UK. Design Quantitative study measuring both stress and anxiety of candidates on Newborn Life Support (NLS) courses measuring salivary cortisol levels along with validated anxiety questionnaires (State Trait Anxiety Inventory). Setting UK NLS course centres. Participants 80 healthcare professionals (nurses, doctors and midwives) on NLS courses. Interventions Stress levels measured (cortisol swabs and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)) at baseline, immediately before and 20 min after starting the NLSAT. Results Cortisol measurements failed to detect any significant rise in stress levels as a result of the NLSAT. Significant anxiety was induced by the NLSAT based on STAI scores. STAI scores rose significantly in all professionals from baseline to post-NLSAT, with the greatest change detected for midwives (+11.82 (SD 7.64, p<0.001)) compared with nurses (+8.86 (SD 12.1, p<0.001)) and doctors (+7.96 (SD 2.9.69, p<0.001)). Experience had no impact on stress levels. Conclusions Anxiety levels induced by the NLSAT are significant and should be considered when instructing and developing the NLS course.


Background: Factor VII deficiency (FVIId) is a rare inherited bleeding disorder whose prevalence is estimated to be 1 in 300,000 - 500,000 in general population. In India, the epidemiological data on factor VII (FVII) disorder are scarce. Serious arthropathy is observed in cases which are severely affected with spontaneous bleeding and hemarthrosis. In such cases, orthopedic surgery is required. Fresh frozen plasma, prothrombin complex concentrates, factor VII concentrates - plasma derived and recombinant factor VII (rFVII) are different types of preparations which are available as therapeutic options in treatment for bleeding occurring during or after surgery in FVIId patients. The main objective of our study was to give a result of the treatment protocol for FVIId patients undergoing orthopedic surgery in our hospital and compare its results with other studies conducted around the world. Methods: A retrospective study on patients admitted during 2008 - 2014 was carried out with 10 patients diagnosed with FVIID, of whom six undergone surgery at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, west coastal region of southern India. Results: FVII baseline plasma levels were less than 10 IU/dL in our patients. Three patients underwent complete hip replacement, while rest of the three patients underwent various other arthroscopic procedures. rFVII was administered every 8 hours on the surgery day, followed by ever 12 - 24 hours for subsequent days in hospital depending on the type of surgery that the patient underwent. FVII levels in plasma were determined once before and once after the surgery, but the dosing of rFVII was not dependent on it. Dosing of rFVII on the day of surgery was 10 - 25 μg/kg and on following days, it was 15 - 30 μg/kg. The number of dosing on patients ranged from 16 to 31. None of our patients developed serious bleeding episode, thus no blood transfusion was required. Conclusion: Our study results show that when rFVII is administered according to our treatment regimen, it is effective for patients with arthropathy. It also proves that rFVII is the best hemostatic agent for FVII patients. J Hematol. 2016;5(3):94-98 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jh296e


*These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: To explore the effect of berberine (BBR) on skeletal muscle mass and metabolism and the possible mechanism. Methods: Eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks to establish the insulin resistance obesity model. Then, mice were randomly divided into two groups (normal chow diet (NCD) and HFD), while NCD and HFD were further classified into two groups respectively, which were NCD+CS (Carmellose Sodium), NCD +BBR, HFD+CS and HFD+BBR. After the BBR intervention, insulin tolerance test (ITT) and glucose tolerance test (GTT) were carried out. Metabolic parameters and inflammatory biomarkers were detected. Various parts of adipose tissue and gastrocnemius were separated and measured. The gastrocnemius muscle was selected for tissue staining. The mRNA expression of myostatin (Mstn) was tested by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR). Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of Mstn, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), small ribonucleoprotein particle protein 2 (Smd2), small ribonucleoprotein particle protein 3 (Smd3), and small ribonucleoprotein particle protein 4 (Smd4). Results: Both body weights (P<0.01) and various parts of fat mass (P<0.001) were decreased significantly, while muscle mass was increased in the HFD group after being treated with BBR. Meanwhile, the glucose and lipid metabolic disorders as well as inflammation status were improved. RT-PCR and Western blotting analysis showed that, after being fed with HFD the expression of Mstn mRNA and Mstn were significantly increased, and decreased after being treated with BBR. Western blotting analysis also showed that, compared with the NCD group, the expressions of Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4 were all increased in the HFD group, but after being treated with BBR, the expressions of Smad3 and Smad4 were decreased. Conclusion: Our study revealed that BBR could improve metabolic disorders and inflammation status, decrease Mstn expression, and increase skeletal muscle mass, which was associated with the Smad pathway.


The Data Stewardship project is a new initiative from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. Its aim is to create mature working practices and policies regarding research data management across all TU Delft faculties. The novelty of this project relies on having a dedicated person, the so-called 'Data Steward', embedded in each faculty to approach research data management from a more discipline-specific perspective. It is within this framework that a research data management survey was carried out at the faculties that had a Data Steward in place by July 2018. The goal was to get an overview of the general data management practices, and use its results as a benchmark for the project. The total response rate was 11 to 37% depending on the faculty. Overall, the results show similar trends in all faculties, and indicate lack of awareness regarding different data management topics such as automatic data backups, data ownership, relevance of data management plans, awareness of FAIR data principles and usage of research data repositories. The results also show great interest towards data management, as more than ~80% of the respondents in each faculty claimed to be interested in data management training and wished to see the summary of survey results. Thus, the survey helped identified the topics the Data Stewardship project is currently focusing on, by carrying out awareness campaigns and providing training at both university and faculty levels.


The WWTP of Garmerwolde treats the waste water produced by the citizens of Groningen. When cleaning polluted water, sludge is produced as a byproduct. In Garmerwolde the sludge is dewatered by a chamber filter press and the resulting sludge cake with a dry solid content of 22.5% is dried by Swiss Combi with the use of natural gas. The resulting granulates are sold to several other companies to be used as fuel. The cost of sludge cake handling is very expensive and makes the price of drinking water higher.
Garmerwolde wants to lower the sludge cake handling cost by the following things:
- By using coal powder in the dewatering process. This will create a sludge cake with a higher dry solid content (around 40%) and therefore Swiss Combi has to remove less water.
- It is suggested that ferric chloride isn't needed anymore when using coal powder. Not using any ferric chloride in the process will reduce the sludge cake handling costs.
- Swiss Combi uses an expensive way of drying the sludge cake by using natural gas. What is the effect on the drying process if coal powder and ferric chloride are used?
In this report the objective is to see whether the above things were indeed a way to improve the dewater ability of the sludge cake and if the sludge cake could be dried by using normal air. The methods used are lab scale experiments to study the effect of coal powder and ferric chloride on the dry solid content of the sludge. The produced sludge cake was then used to obtain sorption isotherms. By measuring sorption isotherms we could see what the effect of different additives (ferric chloride and coal powder) was on the drying process of the sludge cake.
The results of the experiments within this research show that adding coal powder has an positive effect on the dewatering process. Dry solid contents of 40% weren't reached only when using undigested sludge. It was also shown that ferric chloride isn't needed anymore when using coal powder. In the currently setup used at Garmerwolde, a combination of coal powder and ferric chloride gives the best dewatering results. Lastly it was shown by the sorption isotherm experiments the different additives (coal powder and ferric chloride) didn't affect the drying process of sludge.
A higher mass of water per mass of dry sludge is removed, which results in a higher dry solid content of the sludge. Since less water has to been evaporated in the drying process, this positively effects the reduction in costs.


Pipe bending process needs special attention because it makes different mechanical properties. Increasing hardness cause materials brittle. The purpose of this study was to analyze the distribution of force on the part of the pipe as a result of the heating curves and 8000C 6700c with bending angle 900 and 1800. SA 335 is a pipe specimen with the size of outside diameter 44.5 mm and a thickness of 8 mm. At first, the two pipes is heated to the temperature 6700c and 2 other pipes that are heated to 8000C temperature, then 2 pipes bended at each heating temperature 900 and 1800. After that cut pipes to grab third in replication in each condition 4 pipe. From the test results found that the bending angle effect on hardness values. The greater the bending angle, the higher the hardness value. Keywords: bending, hardness, pipe, heating.


This paper presents an overview of kinematic simulations in grinding. Up to now the simulations are carried out under the assumption of an ideal cutting process. Therefore, the simulation results are not exactly identical to the experimental results. For this reason, the simulation needs to be enhanced with the plastic material flow during cutting. To explain this behavior, single grain scratch experiments were conducted to detect the different sources of influence on the plastic deformation and on the pile-up. First, in the experiments the grain shapes as well as the cutting speeds were varied. To take the effect of different grain shapes into account, three different grains were used. The effect of the cutting speed was investigated at cutting speeds ranging from 60 to 120 m/s. The results were evaluated with a confocal microscope. To quantify the results of the efficiency of the cutting process, the relative chip volume parameter was used.


: An HIV information exchange was established to provide district health authorities (DHAs) with current demographic and epidemiological data on residents infected with HIV. Reporters in each DHA in the Thames regions were asked to collect information about all HIV infected individuals treated within their districts during 1993. The information was collated at the PHLS AIDS Centre and summary tables were distributed to the DHAs involved describing their residents. We received reports of 7760 people infected with HIV and who were treated in the Thames regions in 1993. Thirty-five per cent were treated outside the region where they lived, 22% were treated within their region but outside their district of residence, and 43% were treated in the DHA where they lived. For 30 of the 38 DHAs the number of resident patients exceeded the number treated within the district. This exchange of information between DHA of treatment and DHA of residence showed that it is possible to provide summaries of current HIV case loads based on place of residence without compromising confidentiality. It also confirmed that many patients choose to be treated away from their area of residence.


Seventy years on from the liberation of Auschwitz, the contributions collected in this volume each attempt, in various ways and from various perspectives, to trace the relationship between Nazi-occupied spaces and Holocaust memory, considering the multitude of ways in which the passing of time impacts upon, or shapes, cultural constructions of space.

Accordingly, this volume does not consider topographies merely in relation to geographical landscapes but, rather, as markers of allusions and connotations that must be properly eked out. Since space and time are intertwined, if not, in fact, one and the same, an investigation of the spaces – the locations of horror – in relation to the passing of time might provide some manner of comprehension of one of the most troubling moments in human history. It is with this understanding of space, as fluid sites of memory that the contributors of this volume engage: these are the kind of shifting topographies that we are seeking to trace. This book was originally published as a special issue of Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History.


Cased hole gravel pack (CHGP) is the most popular method for controlling production of formation sand in oil or gas cased hole wells. CHGP involves the packing of screen and casing annulus, and perforations to inhibit production of formation sand. Success of a CHGP depends on various factors such as perforation packing, cleanliness of completion brine, perforation strategy and minimizing drawdown. Quality of perforation packing aids in minimizing drawdown of gravel pack completions. This led to popularization of high-rate water packs (HRWPs), an evolved sand control method for cased hole wells. HRWPs involve pumping above fracture extension rate and placing gravels outside casing into the critical matrix. This paper discusses maturation process in design, execution, and evaluation methodology devised from a campaign of 16 HRWPs, which included two formation breakdown acid injections, one slim hole completion, two re-stresses and one top-off.
 Naharkatiya fields of Oil India Limited, in Assam-Arakan basin are characterized with high degrees of unconsolidated formation sand. Elements of heterogeneity like formation sand ingression rate, PSD, mineralogy and well-profile in these two fields, where most of the HRWP treatments were executed, demanded case-specific pre-gravel-pack workover operations. Installation of screens and pumping of HRWP treatment presented many challenges, such as formation sand ingression, high circulation pressures, uneven slack/pull weights and issues in tool operations. All these challenges were tackled in unique ways and successful HRWP treatments were completed. A holistic approach was developed towards execution of a High Rate Water Pack treatment, by analyzing all interlinked elements such as perforations, cores, cement bond, reservoir saturation, water cut and offset well history. Post-treatment evaluation of HRWPs using bottomhole gauges identified a sequence of downhole events and potential issues during execution phase. Correlating each new HRWP candidate with learnings from previous ones allowed the operator to better plan workover steps towards execution of the sand control treatment. Contingency plans were devised to tackle issues learned from previous wells, and many were successfully tested in the campaign. Production rates and choke strategies were optimized by analysis of offset wells.
 This paper presents data analysis of wells while correlating with their offsets. Post-treatment analysis has been discussed and correlations between suspected issues during execution with signatures in bottom-hole gauge data have been presented. Recommendation are further provided for drilling and completion operations. Evolution in design and execution process for case wells has been presented, which can be used as a reference literature for designing case specific sand control treatment program.


This research aims to identify the success factors of founding entrepreneurs in Malaysia contributing to their companies' venture growth. Specifically this study was initiated to examine the relationship between venture growth and the following factors, namely personal initiative, human capital, areas of focus on competency and government support programs. From this research, it has been made clear that a large number of entrepreneurs affirmed personal initiative as one of the major key to success. Entrepreneurs with high personal initiative will naturally overcome the disadvantages or weaknesses in them with their self-starting and proactive attitude. The study found that the entrepreneurs' education level, working experience and whether their parents own business have a positive relationship with their success. The research has also provided a clear indication as to which area of competency the entrepreneurs should focus on. On the whole the findings of this study serve as a guideline for founding entrepreneurs to succeed in their attempt to achieve superior venture growth.


The record industry is undergoing substantial change from Internet-enabled file sharing. There is a heated debate surrounding how record labels should react to file sharing. This paper provides a rigorous economic analysis to identify the profit-maximization behavior for record labels. Using two widely accepted economic models of vertical differentiation, where competing products are priced according to their relative quality, this paper investigates the record labels' profit-maximizing behavior under the current industry structure. It is assumed that the quality of the music experience using a file sharing service is inferior to that of purchased music. This methodology provides valuable insight into current practices, as well as recommendations for the record industry. The most surprising result is that, consistent with the labels' behavior, introducing a fee-based, downloadable, music service usually does not increase profits. In addition, closing music sharing services, suing ISPs and universities who are complacent about sharing, and "polluting" the pool of available music are all in the labels' best interest. However, a number of results also contradict current practices. On the one hand, prices for CDs should decline with the introduction of music sharing services, recognizing that users have an alternative to purchasing CDs. On the other hand, the record labels should aggressively introduce content exclusively for CD purchasers to increase the quality of CDs. Sound economic analysis is key for companies evaluating how to respond to the challenges of the Internet.


IEEE MTT-S and IEEE AP-S have come together and signed a MoU for combining two flagship conferences of the respective societies in India (IMaRC and InCAP) to a single conference: Microwave, Antennas, and Propagation Conference (MAPCON). The first edition of MAPCON is planned to be organized in Bangalore, India during Dec 12-16, 2022. MAPCON 2022 will create an international platform for Microwave, Antenna and Propagation experts and technologist from Industry, Academia and Startup ecosystem to collaborate and share their vision, expertise and knowledge. MAPCON 2022 will include technical sessions, poster sessions, special sessions, invited talks, workshops, tutorials, focused track on Young Professionals, Women in Engineering and SIGHT. Eminent professionals from International Space Agencies, Defense Establishments, National Research Organizations, Academia, and Industries will deliver expert talks and tutorials and organize special sessions related to recent developments.


The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between laboratory based teaching methods on science education and student success, by using meta-analysis. This paper used the research results which were reported from 2000 to 2012 years in Turkey which analyzing the effects of laboratory based teaching methods on student success. By the meta-analysis methods, one PhD dissertation, 17 Master's theses and 12 published articles were the main sources of this paper used to demonstrate the influence of laboratory based teachings on science education. Thalheimer also showed that laboratory based teaching in a significant degree affects academic success. The results demonstrate that laboratory based teaching methods significantly influence academic success +2,8729 size.


Traditional teaching methods of sciences, where students assume a passive role as mere recipients of knowledge, are still  strongly established in many countries, as Spain. This perception of teaching became obsolete with the appearance of educational currents supporting gamification and the use of digital technologies as web 2.0. Consequently, teaching experiences supported by verified research can favor these technologies to be permanently adopted by formal education. It is likewise required to perform new studies to assess whether the interest of students for the web contents is increased when displayed in an attractive and playful context. In this paper we present an educative proposal to teach biology in upper secondary school from a ludic point of view by means of a web 2.0 development. Taking elements from cinema and videogame fields, this based on gamification proposal attempts to make use of challenge and engagement of students to improve their motivation for scientific disciplines. With the goal of encouraging the implementation of these methodologies a pilot scheme has been carried out using some of the activities displayed at the website, whose qualitative outcomes are shown in this article.


The provision of water supply, sanitation and wastewater services generates substantial benefits for public health, the economy and the environment.

Benefits from the provision of basic water supply and sanitation services such as those implied by the millennium development goals are massive and far outstrip costs. Benefit-to-cost ratios have been reported to be as high as 7 to 1 for basic water and sanitation services in developing countries.

Wastewater treatment interventions can generate significant benefits for public health, the environment and for certain economic sectors such as fisheries, tourism and property markets, although these benefits may be less obvious to individuals and more difficult to assess in monetary terms.

Finally, protecting water resources from pollution and managing water supply and demand in a sustainable manner can deliver clear and sizeable benefits for both investors in the services and end water users. Investments in managing water resources are going to be increasingly needed in the context of increasing water scarcity at the global level.

The full magnitude of the benefits of water services is seldom considered for a number of reasons. Non-economic benefits that are difficult to quantify but that are of high value to the concerned individuals and society, i.e. non-use values, dignity, social status, cleanliness and overall well-being are frequently under-estimated. In addition, benefit values are highly location-specific (depending on the prevalence of water-related diseases or the condition of receiving water bodies, for example) and cannot be easily aggregated

This title belongs to OECD Report Series .

ISBN: 9781780406053 (eBook)

ISBN: 9781780400112 (Print)


On June 7, 2010, UK media outlets reported that 9-month-old twins living in East London had been rushed to hospital following a "suspected fox attack": the babies had been seriously injured. This story received sustained coverage for several months, and became the focus of debate over the behavior of urban foxes, and how they and humans should coexist. Using textual analysis to unravel the various discourses surrounding this moment, this paper discusses how the incident became such a prominent "media event." Alongside the contexts of the "silly season" and a period of political transition, we argue that this incident breached a series of spatial boundaries that many societies draw between people and the "natural world," from the "safest space" of a child's cot, to the categorizations made about animals themselves. We discuss the consequences of such boundary breaches, pointing to a deep confusion over the assignment of responsibility for, and expertise about, the figure of the "urban fox."


To a two-echelon supply chain system consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer under random demand, the game models about decentralized decision and centralized decision are constructed in which the manufacturer is the leader and the retailer is the follower. The retailer's optimal purchasing strategies about two conditions above are given and the supply chain expected total profits under unique purchasing strategies of the retailer are compared with. Then the relations of supply chain expected total profit between with applying the revenue-sharing contracts situation and with the centralized decision situation are discussed. And the conditions to realize the supply chain perfect coordinating are defined. Finally, numerical analysis shows that applying the revenue-sharing contract in the decentralized supply chain could not only achieve the maximal overall expected performance but also allow both parties to benefit from it.


We investigate systematically the effect of small-scale biological and physical processes on the generation of plankton patchiness, and on the biological production averaged over scales much larger than those of the patches. We use an excitable reaction-diffusion model with one physical dimension and two biological compartments: zooplanktonic predators Z and phytoplanktonic prey P. It is assumed that the assimilation efficiency is of order 0.1. With sinusoidal initial conditions, the maximum in domain-averaged P is about six times that which would be estimated assuming spatial homogeneity. With random initial conditions similar enhancement factors are obtained and patches emerge of characteristic size, proportional to the square root of the diffusivity as in classical work on simpler systems. Both the patch size and the production show large variances across ensembles of integrations initialized randomly but with the same mean. For both sinusoidal and random initial conditions, the most extreme effect is obtained when the phytoplankton growth rate is between one and four times the rate of diffusion, and when the mean initial condition lies close to the excitation threshold; the effect of varying the initial conditions is also considered. A bi-stable version of the plankton dynamics produces a quasi-stable patchy state of the model with mean properties far from those of either equilibrium. These results illustrate both the desirability of high-resolution observations of plankton, and that caution is required in using 'mean field' plankton dynamics in large-scale biophysical models of the ocean.


: The article covers data of endoscopy, histologic and bacteriologic study of gastric lavage in 55 vibration disease patients (random select). Duodenal peptic ulcer was found in 1 patient, gastric polyp--in 1 patient, erosive gastroduodenitis in 14 (25.45%) patients, chronic gastroduodenitis without destruction of mucosa--in 39 (70.91%) patients. Contamination with Helicobacter pylori appeared in 97% of cases, being significant and subject to therapy only in 35.29% of patients.


Loyalty is an important for tourists' destination. This research aims to know the influence of social media and the quality of service either directly or indirectly against loyalty through the satisfaction of tourists at nature tourism destination in Blitar District. The population in this study amounted to 202,990 people. The sample in this research totaled 123 respondents and purposive sampling method using the samples. The data analysis in this study using analysis of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method.


Abstract: The effect of the acute morphine treatment on histamine (HA) pools in the brain and the spinal cord was examined in mice. Morphine (1–50 mg/kg, s.c.) administered alone caused no significant change in the steadystate levels of HA and its major metabolite, tele‐methylhistamine (t‐MH), in the brain. However, depending on the doses tested, morphine significantly enhanced the pargyline (65 mg/kg, i.p.)‐induced accumulation of t‐MH and this effect was antagonized by naloxone. A specific inhibitor of histidine decarboxylase, α‐fluoromethylhistidine (α‐FMH) (50 mg/kg, i.p.), decreased the brain HA level in consequence of the almost complete depletion of the HA pool with a rapid turnover. Morphine further decreased the brain HA level in α‐FMH‐pretreated mice. Morphine administered alone significantly reduced the HA level in the spinal cord, an area where the turnover of HA is very slow. These results suggest that the acute morphine treatment increases the turnover of neuronal HA via opioid receptors, and this opiate also releases HA from a slowly turning over pool(s).


The abdominal pelvic cavity has always been regarded as one of the most vulnerable regions of the body. Injuries to this part have been known to be very serious. Based on this a  retrospective study was performed on postmortem cases with abdominal and pelvic trauma from 1 October 2002 to 1 January 2003 at the Forensic Institute, Hospital Kuala Lumpur to determine the common pattern of abdomino-pelvic injuries, the injury's relationship to epidemiological and socio-economic factors, risk organ within the abdominopelvic region and relationship between injuries and survival period. A total of 122 cases abdomino-pelvic were obtained stemming from medico legal postmortems procedures. Results indicated that those aged between 21 to 30 years (38.5%) had the highest incidence of this type of injury. Categorization based on gender showed that males (90.2%) dominated most of the cases. Prevalence based on socio-economic status showed that lower socioeconomy class (52.5%) had the highest incident. This was followed by the middle income (39.3%) and finally the higher income group. The most numerous type of trauma was non-penetrating trauma (94.3%). It was also found that victims with low injury severity score (ISS) had a longer survival period as compared to those with high ISS. It was also noted that victims with two or more region injuries either were spot dead or brought dead. The most common combination of injuries was abdomen, pelvic, chest and limb. In most blunt trauma cases majority of victims had one or two organ involvement while penetrating injuries were difficult to asses. The most common organ involved in this type of trauma was liver (72.1%), pelvic bone (47.5%) and spleen (43.4%). In conclusion, abdomino-pelvic injury is a serious condition and should not be overlooked. Proper attention towards their diagnosis and management is important and so any patient of head injury with coma must be considered as having intra-abdominal injury until proven otherwise.


The use of fibre-reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites as an externally-bonded tension reinforcement is an effective technique for the strengthening of under-performing concrete structures. The FRP-based strengthening design processes are significantly more conservative than the conventional norm in structural design. For example, the safety factors prescribed on FRP material properties could be up to 3 times as high than those typically prescribed on structural concrete. It is believed that such an approach will account for the considerably greater extent of uncertainties comprising of those inherent to the existing structure as well as those arising from the lack of knowledge and time-testimony of using FRP composites for structural strengthening. However, FRP composites involve substantially peculiar characteristics compared to steel when used as a tension reinforcement. Therefore, the design processes for strength (for new RC structures) and additional strength (for strengthening the existing RC structures) have conflicting design requirements and objectives. Thus, an approach of prescribing significantly higher factors of safety will not only be against the economic and environmental sustainability requirements, but can also fall short in providing the required safety margins and could instigate negative implications and undesirable side-effects under some design scenarios. This paper summarises important design conflicts arising from differential treatments in uncertainty, mechanics, failure mode, detailing and reliability management within the safety formats prescribed by various strengthening design standards. The implications of these conflicts, on the course and quality of strengthening design solutions, and that on their resultant safety-contents are discussed.


This study uses behavioral genetics to examine the contributions of environmental and genetic influences to the sex-typed behaviors and attitudes of adolescent males and females. Data were drawn from 1,301 sibling pairs ranging from monozygotic twins to half-sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The measure used was a probability score of being a male based on responses to 16 behavioral and attitudinal items. Using this scale, separate covariance matrices were computed across different levels of zygosities and fit to behavioral genetic models. It was estimated that for males, 25% of the variance was accounted for by genetic influences and 75% by nonshared environmental influences and measurement error. For females, 38% of the variance was accounted for by genetic influences and the remaining 62% by nonshared environmental influences and measurement error. No shared environmental influences were found for either sex's sex-typed behaviors and attitudes.


Although various corporate governance models have developed over the last 75 years the problems of information/ incentive asymmetry still exist and lead to corporate fraud, the abuse of managerial power, absence of transparency, and social responsibility issues. These problems remain unsolved around the world irrespective of the size of the country, type of economy, or the nature of business operations. This article suggests an alternative model, based on the multiplier effects of venture capital (VC) financing, to see whether information/incentive asymmetry ceases to exist and complete transparency emerges from resorting to venture capital financing (i.e., by both categories of entrepreneurs-venture capitalists as well as the assisted business units). An overview of venture capital financing over the last 60 years throws some light on an otherwise unexplored area in corporate governance. Various models proposed for efficient corporate governance support the initial argument and lead to the integration of venture capital financing in identifying the role of venture capital in corporate governance. To support and supplement the argument for the new model, future research areas have been identified.


We consider the general problem of industrial production in a set of countries subject to a common environmental regulation that limits the emissions of specific sectors. Due to these restrictions, the problem is treated as a generalized non-cooperative game where players (countries) have joint (environmental) constraints caused by the necessity of a common and compulsory emission regulation. The problem is to find a natural mechanism for attaining the corresponding generalized equilibrium state. We suggest a share allocation method, which yields a suitable decomposition type procedure and replaces the initial problem with a sequence of non-cooperative games on Cartesian product sets. We also show that its implementation can be simplified essentially after application of a regularized penalty method. In the case study, we take inspiration from the European Union Emission Trading System (EU-ETS) and we introduce an environmental regulation that restricts the carbon emissions of energy, cement, and steel sectors in some European countries. Our results confirm the important role played by energy sector in reducing carbon emissions.


As the human body does work, energy is released in the form of heat. The ability to perform the same action repeatedly and at the same intensity requires energy to be maintained. By preserving energy in sports, a reduction of injuries and an increase in performance duration would most likely be observed. More specifically in sports, for 200 years of baseball history, the pitcher has attempted to keep their arm warm during resting intervals of a game, in belief this would help sustain their level of performance. This study attempted to overturn this view.

 I hypothesized that by cooling their arm between innings, pitchers' power and energy levels would be preserved and that their accuracy would be maintained. In this experiment, the levels of performance were quantified by measuring the velocity of a thrown baseball and recording whether it entered the target net. Players were observed and velocity recorded as they threw a set number of pitches and then rested with a thermoregulating upper body garment.

 Three test subjects threw for five innings from a flat ground into a net behind home plate. Each inning the subject threw 17 pitches and then rested. During this 10.5 minute resting interval (average time of rest between innings), 8.5 minutes were used to run chilled (≈ 8˚C) water through the garment, 1.5 minutes for water at normal physiological temperature (≈ 35.2˚C), and 0.5 minutes were used to put on and take off the garment. For the noncooling treatment, water at normal physiological temperature was run through the garment for 10 minutes.

 Average pitch speed per inning for cooling and noncooling was compared along with an accuracy component of whether or not the pitch entered the net. For the first subject, cooling appeared to indicate that velocity decreased at a lower rate while accuracy was worse. For the second subject, the non-treatment seemed to elicit a slower decline in velocity over the pitched innings while the cooling treatment showed a higher rate of accuracy. However, the slopes of the lines of best fit for the velocity and accuracy graphs of the first and second test subjects fell within the standard deviations per inning, indicating no effect. For the final test subject, cooling did not demonstrate an effect for velocity or accuracy. In summary, this study did not illustrate a positive effect of cooling the arm during resting intervals to prolong endurance or accuracy. Another study involving more subjects with a sleeve made of a thinner material with a higher concentration of tubing in the arm, shoulder, and elbow area only would further evaluate the use of cryotherapy for pitching in baseball.


Spatial data is the fundamental of borderland analysis of the geography, natural resources, demography, politics, economy, and culture. As the spatial region used in borderland researching usually covers several neighboring countries' borderland regions, the data is difficult to achieve by one research institution or government. VGI has been proven to be a very successful means of acquiring timely and detailed global spatial data at very low cost. Therefore VGI will be one reasonable source of borderland spatial data. OpenStreetMap (OSM) has been known as the most successful VGI resource. But OSM data model is far different from the traditional authoritative geographic information. Thus the OSM data needs to be converted to the scientist customized data model. With the real world changing fast, the converted data needs to be updated. Therefore, a dynamic integration method for borderland data is presented in this paper. In this method, a machine study mechanism is used to convert the OSM data model to the user data model; a method used to select the changed objects in the researching area over a given period from OSM whole world daily diff file is presented, the change-only information file with designed form is produced automatically. Based on the rules and algorithms mentioned above, we enabled the automatic (or semiautomatic) integration and updating of the borderland database by programming. The developed system was intensively tested.