Ribosomally-synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are an ascendant class of natural products with diverse structures and functions. Recently, we identified a wide array of RiPP gene clusters that are regulated by quorum sensing and encode one or more radical S-adenosylmethionine (RaS) enzymes, a diverse protein superfamily capable of catalyzing chemically difficult transformations. In this work, we characterize a novel reaction catalyzed by one such subfamily of RaS enzymes during RiPP biosynthesis: installation of a macrocyclic carbon-carbon bond that links the unactivated δ-carbon of an arginine sidechain to the ortho-position of a tyrosine-phenol. Moreover, we show that this transformation is, unusually for RiPP biogenesis, largely insensitive to perturbations of the leader portion of the precursor peptide. This reaction expands the already impressive scope of RaS enzymes and contributes a unique macrocyclization motif to the growing body of RiPP architectures.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used to systematically monitor the amount of copper in the matrix of various age hardenable Al-Cu alloys as a function of ageing treatment. These NMR results were used to compare the measured amount of copper residing in the matrix during microstructural evolution with that suggested from the equilibrium phase diagrams. Our results indicate that the matrix copper composition for under- and peak-aged microstructures is generally far from equilibrium, with much more copper in solution than expected based on equilibrium phase diagrams. NMR is shown to be a sensitive and efficient metallurgical characterization technique to monitor the partitioning of solute in both non-equilibrium and equilibrium phases.


The enterprise perimeter has exhibited gradual trust degradation owing to a succession of connectivity decisions involving Web, email, virtual private networking, exceptions, and mobile networks as well as a succession of threats including malware and advanced persistent threats (APTs). The author proposes restoring trust to the enterprise by focusing protection strategies on a set of prioritized assets. The protections center on three zones: a client zone, a network zone with network-based carrier protection services, and a cloud zone with third-party attested security heavily indexed toward identity and access management services. The resultant enterprise network is more resilient to leakage attacks such as APTs.


SUMMARY The 1998‐1999 volcanic unrest of Iwate volcano, northeastern Japan, was marked by 350 deep low-frequency earthquakes (DLFs) and 120 intermediate-depth low-frequency earthquakes (ILFs), as well as an intense swarm of shallow volcanic earthquakes that began during 1998 April. The rate of occurrence of the DLFs increased approximately 5 d before that of the shallow volcanic earthquakes increased, and the number of ILFs gradually increased from the middle of 1998. To investigate the relationship between the shallow volcanic activity and the activities of the DLFs and ILFs, we determined their precise hypocentres and source mechanisms by analysing waveform data recorded by a dense seismic network of 47 threecomponent seismometers located on and around the volcano. The hypocentres of DLFs are concentrated within three regions: the first region is at depths from 31 to 34 km, approximately 10 km south of the summit, the second is at depths from 32 to 36 km approximately 10 km northeast of the summit and the third is at a 37 km depth, approximately 7 km northeast of the summit. In contrast, ILFs are located within a vertical pipe-like region just beneath the summit and sometimes show a vertical migration of the focal depth. Our moment tensor inversion using spectral ratios of body waves indicates that the source mechanisms of the DLFs and ILFs have a significant double couple and a compensated linear-vector dipole component. It is also found that a significant volumetric change is included in the source mechanisms for some DLFs. Such source mechanisms of DLFs and ILFs can be explained by the motion of a tensile crack coupled either with a shear crack or with an oblate spheroid magma chamber. However, the orientations and polarities of the crack motions are not the same in each region of DLFs and ILFs. These results suggest that a complex magma system is present at the source regions of the DLFs and ILFs.


This thesis is an explorative study of resilience in emergency management, including different actors' experiences with, and expectations to, interaction by use of collaboration technology in situations of emergency. The study is comprised of interviews with important actors within the Norwegian petroleum industry, i.e. operators, contractors, authorities, and other relevant informants. Further, a literature review is presented upon the theme trust among distributed actors. The findings in this study show that there is a small degree of IO (Integrated Operations) concepts between the different external actors within emergency management. However, there is a somewhat higher utilization of these concepts between the company's internal actors. This study recommends that the operator companies should turn to the organizations which offer to handle the 2nd line emergency management, and analyze what kind of collaboration technologies they utilize with respect to information sharing during an emergency. It is not possible to anticipate every possible scenario, meaning that the actors should focus on being prepared to be unprepared and thereby rely on their improvisation skills. Further, in order to make the emergency management more resilient, it is necessary to implement more of the IO concepts which are available today while, at the same time, trusting the technology to a greater extent. Another important factor is that the contractor companies wants to be more involved at the operator's emergency management planning and training events. As mentioned in this thesis, my opinion is that the inclusion of contractor companies is something which the industry should take into consideration. Such a contribution may, along with implementation of IO concepts, make the emergency management more resilient and render possible to react on early warnings such that emergencies could be avoided.


Abstract Acquired haemophilia A is a severe bleeding disorder caused by an autoantibody to factor VIII. Previous reports have focused on referral centre patients and it is unclear whether these findings are generally applicable. To improve understanding of the disease, a two year observational study was established to identify and characterise the presenting features and outcome of all patients with acquired haemophilia A in the UK. This allowed a consecutive cohort of patients, unbiased by referral or reporting practice to be studied. A total of 172 patients with a median age of 78 years were identified, an incidence of 1.48/million/year. The cohort was significantly older than previously reported series, but bleeding manifestations and underlying diseases were similar. Bleeding was the cause of death in 9% of the cohort and remained a risk until the inhibitor had been eradicated. There was no difference in inhibitor eradication or mortality between patients treated with steroids alone and a combination of steroids and cytotoxics. Relapse of the inhibitor was observed in 20% of the patients who had attained first complete remission. The data provide the most complete description of acquired haemophilia A available and are applicable to patients presenting to all centres.


This doctoral thesis presents new analysis tool for observer design of flexible mechanical systems described by partial differential equations (PDEs). This work focuses especially on designing of natural observers. Particularly, observer design for flexible mechanical systems described by the beam equation and the string equation are extensively studied.Observer design and contraction analysis for a class of distributed-parameter systems are considered.Observer design for a motorized Euler-Bernoulli beam is studied. Based on measurements at the boundaries, exponential stable observers are designed.Observer design for towed seismic streamer cables is studied. Utilizing the properties of the hydrodynamic dragforces, an exponential stable observer is designed.Most of the results in this thesis have been presented at international conferences.


At the present, Portland cement-water glass double solution grouting materials have many problems, such as the instability of gelation time and of products, and poor groundwater-corrosion resistance performance, etc. A way to improve the performances of double solution grouting materials was studied by adding metakaolin into the systems. Based on the rapid gelation performance of Portland cement-water glass and the durability of alkali-activated salic cementitious materials, an ideal structural model of the novel anti-aqueous dispersion and anti-aqueous dissolution grouting material (AAGM) was established. Series of experiments were prepared to verify the Na+ solidification and water-corrosion resistance performance of the metakaolin-water glass double solution grouting materials which combined with cement. The results indicated that the compact structure of AAGM was composed of a dominant ingredient of (Na,Ca)-Si-Al-H zeolite gel and a minor part of C-S-H. Moreover, it was shown that the AAGM had hydrated product of low solubility and compact microstructure tested by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (SEM), which proved the well anti-aqueous dispersion and anti-aqueous dissolution performance.


This study found non-chiral polyamines to be effective in inducing chiral frameworks. Four zinc gallophosphates with a chiral UCSB-7 topology were generated from the use of four different linear-chain polyamines as templates. In the structure, helical inorganic strands and templates appeared to fuse into a double helix-like arrangement. Notably, they are the first chiral frameworks to display optical analogues and intriguing photoluminescence properties.

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An eight week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of earthworm meal supplementation in various cassava based products in growing rabbit diets. Nine isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were formulated such that each diet contained a constant amount of Soybean Meal, SBM (50%) and Cassava Leaf Meal, CLM (25%) as part of the protein component. The remaining 25% protein of animal origin was supplied by Fish Meal (FM) and Earthworm Meal (EWM) in varying proportions as follows: Diet 1 (100% whole cassava root meal (WCRM), 12.5% FM protein, 12.5% EWM protein); Diet 2 (50% WCRM, 50% cassava peel meal (CPM), 12.5% FM protein, 12.5% EWM protein); Diet 3 (50% WCRM, 50% cassava chaff meal (CCM), 12.5% FM protein, 12.5% EWM protein); Diet 4 (25% WCRM, 75% CPM, 12.5% FM protein, 12.5% EWM protein); Diet 5 (25% WCRM, 75% CCM, 12.5% FM protein, 12.5% EWM protein); Diet 6 (50% WCRM, 50% CPM, 6.25% FM protein, 18.75% EWM protein); Diet 7 (50% WCRM, 50% CCM, 6.25% FM protein, 18.75% EWM protein); Diet 8 (25% WCRM, 75% CPM, 6.25% FM protein, 18.55% EWM protein); Diet 9 (25% WCRM, 75% CCM, 6.25% FM protein, 18.55% EWM protein). Twenty seven (27) growing rabbits of mixed breeds and sexes were allotted to the nine dietary treatments such that each was replicated three times and were fed and watered ad libitum. Data collected included feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, as well as carcass characteristics, organ weights and gut dimension. Results showed that feed intake was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by dietary treatments but weight gain and FCR were both enhanced (P<0.05). Treatment effects on carcass characteristics, organ weights and gut dimensions were not significant. The results suggested that EWM protein can replace 50% of FM protein in rabbit diets without any adverse effects.


We further study the effect of odd cycle inequalities in the description of the polytopes associated with the p-median and uncapacitated facility location problems. We show that the obvious integer linear programming formulation together with the odd cycle inequalities completely describe these polytopes for the class of restricted Y-graphs. This extends our results for the class of Y-free graphs. We also obtain a characterization of both polytopes for a bidirected path.


Data-driven System Design in Service Operations Yina Lu The service industry has become an increasingly important component in the world's economy. Simultaneously, the data collected from service systems has grown rapidly in both size and complexity due to the rapid spread of information technology, providing new opportunities and challenges for operations management researchers. This dissertation aims to explore methodologies to extract information from data and provide powerful insights to guide the design of service delivery systems. To do this, we analyze three applications in the retail, healthcare, and IT service industries. In the first application, we conduct an empirical study to analyze how waiting in queue in the context of a retail store affects customers' purchasing behavior. The methodology combines a novel dataset collected via video recognition technology with traditional point-of-sales data. We find that waiting in queue has a nonlinear impact on purchase incidence and that customers appear to focus mostly on the length of the queue, without adjusting enough for the speed at which the line moves. We also find that customers' sensitivity to waiting is heterogeneous and negatively correlated with price sensitivity. These findings have important implications for queueing system design and pricing management under congestion. The second application focuses on disaster planning in healthcare. According to a U.S. government mandate, in a catastrophic event, the New York City metropolitan areas need to be capable of caring for 400 burn-injured patients during a catastrophe, which far exceeds the current burn bed capacity. We develop a new system for prioritizing patients for transfer to burn beds as they become available and demonstrate its superiority over several other triage methods. Based on data from previous burn catastrophes, we study the feasibility of being able to admit the required number of patients to burn beds within the critical three-to-five-day time frame. We find that this is unlikely and that the ability to do so is highly dependent on the type of event and the demographics of the patient population. This work has implications for how disaster plans in other metropolitan areas should be developed. In the third application, we study workers' productivity in a global IT service delivery system, where service requests from possibly globally distributed customers are managed centrally and served by agents. Based on a novel dataset which tracks the detailed time intervals an agent spends on all business related activities, we develop a methodology to study the variation of productivity over time motivated by econometric tools from survival analysis. This approach can be used to identify different mechanisms by which workload affects productivity. The findings provide important insights for the design of the workload allocation policies which account for agents' workload management behavior.


Two commercially available blood collection systems (Venoject and Vacutainer) were investigated for their effect on the plasma concentrations of a variety of drugs. Vacutainer tubes adversely affected the following drugs: propranolol, penbutolol and quinidine, whereas Venoject tubes had no effect on the plasma concentrations of these drugs. Neither collection system had any effect on the plasma concentrations of the following drugs: acebutolol, the main metabolite of acebutolol (DL-1-(2-acetyl-4-acetamidophenoxy)-2-hydroxy-3-isopropylaminopropane), diazepam, N-demethyldiazepam, digoxin, ethosuximide, salicylic acid, valproic acid, warfarin and carbamazepine.


Widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a screening tool has led to an increased incidence of biopsy-proven prostate cancer, as well as a shift toward more cases with clinically confined disease (stage T1 to T2). The two traditional therapeutic modalities, radical prostatectomy and external-beam radiation therapy, have undergone technical refinements. Other modalities, such as brachytherapy and cryosurgery, are also being used to treat early-stage disease. Comparisons between treatment results are difficult. Biochemical failure, based on PSA findings, is currently used to measure treatment efficacy, but the precise definition and clinical relevance of biochemical failure have yet to be established. The author presents current analyses of biochemical failure, cause-specific survival, distant metastasis, and morbidity rates following various treatment modalities.


This paper draws upon the methodological aspect of my thesis project completed in June 2007. At the center of the research problem was the question: How do history teacher educators (HTEs) in Bahir Dar University comprehend the sources and nature of historical knowledge? Phenomenological approach to research was employed in an attempt to explicate invariant structures of their epistemic assumptions of history as a school subject. Accordingly, with six purposefully selected educators as research participants, in the two-month time field work, in-depth interview and essay questions for personal text were used to gather qualitative data. Then, the data were analyzed thematically using an adapted six-phase model and interpretive themes emerged as findings of the study. And it was learnt that the educators have a very muddled conception and unquestioned assumptions on the nature and sources of historical knowledge. With this, also phenomenological enquiry, with difficulties and rewards of its own, was found to be an appropriate strategy to understand personal meaning and beliefs of the educator with regard to disciplinary knowledge of history. The paper, therefore, describes the way I employed phenomenological research approach to understand the case, and presents my personal experience of it as a beginner education researcher.


The South American Monsoon System (SAMS) is characterised by intense convective activity and precipitation during austral summer. This study investigates changes in the onset, demise and duration of SAMS during 1948–2008. The results show a significant change in these characteristics in the early 1970s. Onset becomes steadily earlier from 1948 to early 1970s and has occurred earlier than 23–27 October after 1972–1973. Demise dates have remained later than 21–25 April after the mid‐to‐late 1970s. SAMS duration shows a statistical changepoint in the summer of 1971–1972 such that the mean duration was ∼170 days (1948–1972) and 195 days (1972–1982). Vertically integrated moisture flux is used to diagnose changes in mean state and reveal statistically significant increases over South America after 1971–1972. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society


Abstract
Creativity and innovation are important for fulfilling organizational goals. In understanding ways to enhance creativity research has moved on from understanding individual creativity, to an organizational analysis of successful firms that encourage creativity. However, an additional source of creativity stems from direct and indirect leadership and the decisions leaders make to enhance creativity throughout the organization. This chapter examines creativity in film and television as influenced by leadership activities at the organization, team, and individual level and describes lessons learned.


. We consider a novel variant of the heterogeneous vehicle routing problem (VRP) in which each customer has different availability time windows for every vehicle. In particular, this covers our motivating application of planning daily delivery tours for a single vehicle, where customers can be available at different times each day. The existing lit-erature on heterogeneous VRPs typically distinguishes properties of the vehicle fleet such as costs or capacities, but apparently, windows of customers have only been regarded in a homogeneous fashion thus far. To solve the problem, we employ a branch-and-price framework based on a set partitioning formulation together with a parallelizable labeling algorithm. The heterogeneous time window structure yields notable computational gains by allowing to decompose the pricing problem as well as to utilize a customer-vehicle assignment branching rule. We show that this branching rule leads to more balanced search trees than the usual arc flow branching, and demonstrate its efficiency in numerical experiments.


This paper deals with a design problem of flow patterns control at the level of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching nodes. The bursty character of traffic patterns in ATM networks is modelled as multicommodity flows for multiple origin-destination networks and since the usual Markovian assumptions are unrealistic for ATM flow patterns, general distributions for the traffic streams and service times have to be considered. The Gaussian neural networks are used to approximate the dynamic map between the probability space of the general distributions (describing the flow clusters) and a finite set of parameters controlling the quality of service in the ATM network.


The issue of academic freedom has received substantial attention in the United States in recent years. There seems to be a fairly general agreement among scholars, with substantial public concurrence, that academic freedom is a necessary part of higher education. Academic freedom also has as important a role in the developing nations although it has been a good deal less secure in these nations than in many of the industrially advanced countries. It can be argued that the quality of university life is even more important in the developing areas than in the advanced nations because of its crucial role in modernization and in technical training. Because academic freedom is a key element in determining the tone of academic life and is generally agreed to be an important component of scholarly research, it is a vital issue in any consideration of higher education and the progress of democracy in the developing nations. Latin America offers a particularly interesting example of the relationship of academic freedom to the emergence of an adequate system of higher education because of its combination of economic and social traditionalism and a strong background of Western higher education. In this article, I want to consider some aspects of academic freedom in this area as they affect the prospects for modernization in the Latin American nations. The ideas discussed here are largely a set of observations which hopefully will be elaborated by some of the empirical research concerning education at all levels which is now under way in Latin America.' Initially it should be stated that it is impossible to have complete academic freedom without freedom for the rest of so-


The electoral model of democracy holds the ideal of citizens who are well informed about politics, and regards it as a task of news media to provide citizens with political information. Against this ideal, the quality of political news in online news outlets is highly contested. While pessimists point out the dangers of increased competition online, optimists emphasize the potential benefits of unlimited space and interactivity. To see which view holds true, this paper compares political news in popular and elite print newspapers and their respective online editions during the 2013 National Election Campaign in Austria. Findings show that online editions score better than paper editions regarding the amount of political news, (party) diversity, and emotionalization, but differences between newspaper types were notable. Whereas elite newspapers cover politics online more extensively than in print, the reverse is true for popular newspapers. Leader focus is also strong in popular papers online. We conclude that the gap in quality between political news in elite and in popular newspapers is larger online. This might contribute to a wider gap between a well-informed elite audience and a lesser-informed popular news audience, when audiences switch from print to online news.


A character split into two bodies: the real Arthur Cravan, an eccentric character who moved in the intellectual and artistic circles of the first decades of the 20th century, and Frank Nicotra, the one in charge of interpreting him at the beginning of the second millennium. Both fighters and poets, although separated by decades of difference. Isaki LaCuesta offers a hybrid of documentary and fiction where Cravan's character engulfs Nicotra's until the line that separates one from the other is lost. This communication studies the strategies used by its director to achieve this symbiosis between the two main protagonists. The use of recreations of a past time to visualize the life of Oscar Wilde's nephew in contemporary times to the making of the film and the maneuvers that Lacuesta follows to blur past and present not only in the main characters, but in the rest of the cast are the objective of this article. The forms of acting in this non-fiction film will also be studied according to the Thomas Waugh's theories and it will be analyzed whether the characters are part of the borderline individuals typical of postmodern cinema that Gérard Imbert has studied.


Cancer is a serious pathological condition of abnormal cells are gathered in tumors in the body's tissues or organs. Due to their accelerated metabolism, cancer cells require a great demand for energy, protein (cell structure substrates), and metabolic enzyme activity. If the body does not respond adequately to this demand, the metabolic processes of cancer cells will be hampered, and their growth will be limited or even stopped. It is possible to control the metabolic processes of the cancerous tumors by performing one or more of the following approaches: stopping the energy and cell structure substrate supply, inhibiting enzymic activity, and/or destroying cancer cells with external agents (such as radiation and/or chemicals). These approaches have been investigated either in single or combination modes, but so far the results obtained have not been on par with expectations. In this paper, we propose a method of cancer treatment which entails the use of a radioisotope instead of stable metal to break down the structure of metal co-factor enzyme and to deactivate its catalytic function. With a judicious choice of the metal radioisotope, this method is even able to perform all the above-mentioned approaches, and at the same time, giving a much better efficacy in cancer treatment.


Dusty! Queen of the Postmods. By Annie Janeiro Randall. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 240 pp. Annie Randall's groundbreaking book on Dusty Springfield has now been in print for over three years, but you wouldn't know it. Although this review appears many months after the book's publication in 2008, in many ways Randall's work still feels timely to me, as Dusty! Queen of the Postmods continues to have startlingly topical relevance. It speaks to an article I read last week and to a radio interview I heard last night. Its theoretical turn to female camp and identity discourses in the final chapter resonates strongly with the post-postfeminist critique that has emerged in the last two years highlighting what Natasha Walters calls the New Sexism and the New Determinism, which I will be teaching next semester. And while the book was published during a miniwave of popular interest in 1960s women--the Victoria and Albert Museum's Story of the Supremes exhibit touring the world; a whole host of British recording talents reimagining the sounds of sixties' girl groups; high-couture and high-street fashion alike mimicking the colors and lines of vintage Carnaby Street--at this remove it is possible to see that Randall's sense of Dusty's lasting legacy still has currency, even though retro trends have moved on. Even by virtue of its subject matter, Dusty! Queen of the Postmods is unusual: there are just not very many well-considered books on female popular singers around. As a musicological document, it is doubly rare, for--in the face of the still-prevalent rockism of popular music journalism and musicology--it is a full-length study of a female pop singer, giving value to a genre and style that still rest on the margins of intellectual respectability. What makes the book groundbreaking is that it is not a biography or tribute, authorized or otherwise, nor even a "life and works" text but a well-theorized, academically minded enterprise: part discourse analysis, part cultural narrative, part microhistory. That it is written with clear affection and admiration for its subject does not take away from its scholarly achievement. Dusty! Queen of the Postmods is relatively compact: under two hundred pages (excluding the bibliography and index), it has an introduction, four chapters, and two appendices detailing a time line and a dramatis personae. Rather than presenting a strictly chronological view of Dusty's achievements, Randall chooses to interrogate Dusty and her anything-but-fixed identity in four themed chapters that nonetheless have a broadly chronological structure, using one or more methodological approaches in each chapter to examine the material. The introduction itself opens with an autobiographical anecdote that acts as a qualifier for all that follows: for instance, while summarizing the third chapter--a performance analysis of Dusty's uber-produced ballads--in a deft mirroring of Dusty's own deliberate use of visual and vocal hyperbole, Randall embraces her inner narrative ethnographer and explains, "If the tone of my observations seems overheated, it is purely intentional and based on my own and many other fans' reactions to Dusty's pop arias" (8). The first chapter, "Dusty's Hair," introduces the reader to the main discourses of identity that Dusty and her audiences negotiated together, both visually and aurally, at the start of her career: gender, race, nationality, class, and sexual orientation. Randall outlines the parameters of Dusty's "hyperfemininity," which acted as a masquerade, enabling her to participate in transgressive, destabilizing appropriations of subjectivities that opposed her "real" white, feminine, gay, middle-class identity. In this chapter, Randall also coins the word "Dustifyin(g)"--referring to Henry Louis Gates's concept of signifyin(g) in African American music--to encapsulate the troping process of knowing allusion and re-vision that Springfield applied not just to the repertoire she adopted from American soul artists bur also to her own compositions and those she created with her backup singers. …


Bi12SiO20 single crystals have attracted interest due to their remarkable photorefractive characteristics. Since bandgap and refractive index are related theoretically to each other, it takes much attention to investigate temperature dependency of bandgap energy to understand the behavior of photorefractive crystals. The present study aims at investigating structural and optical characteristics of photorefractive Bi12SiO20 single crystals grown by the Czochralski method. The structural characterization methods indicated that atomic composition ratios of constituent elements were well-matched with the chemical compound Bi12SiO20, and grown crystals have a cubic crystalline structure. Optical properties of crystals were investigated by room temperature Raman spectroscopy and temperature-dependent transmission measurements between 10 and 300 K. The analyses of transmittance spectra by absorption coefficient and derivative spectrophotometry techniques resulted in energy bandgaps decreasing from 2.61 to 2.48 eV and 2.64 to 2.53 eV as temperature was increased from 10 to 300 K. The Varshni model was applied to analyze temperature-bandgap energy dependency.Bi12SiO20 single crystals have attracted interest due to their remarkable photorefractive characteristics. Since bandgap and refractive index are related theoretically to each other, it takes much attention to investigate temperature dependency of bandgap energy to understand the behavior of photorefractive crystals. The present study aims at investigating structural and optical characteristics of photorefractive Bi12SiO20 single crystals grown by the Czochralski method. The structural characterization methods indicated that atomic composition ratios of constituent elements were well-matched with the chemical compound Bi12SiO20, and grown crystals have a cubic crystalline structure. Optical properties of crystals were investigated by room temperature Raman spectroscopy and temperature-dependent transmission measurements between 10 and 300 K. The analyses of transmittance spectra by absorption coefficient and derivative spectrophotometry techniques resulted in energy bandgaps decreasing from 2.61 to 2.48 e...


The main objective of the research is to make a comparative study among the five categories of stress a student of a tertiary level faces or is supposed to face based on the questionnaire designed by and make a categorical study for analysis of Academic Stress Scale among the students' state of stress prevailing in that level of study in Bangladesh. A random sample of 44 students had been selected from different tertiary level institutions throughout the tertiary level institutions of Bangladesh to conduct the research. Among the 44 respondents, 23 were male whereas 21 were female respondents. A quantitative method has been used in gathering the data by the use of Ordinal Scale (ASS) and mixed methods had been used in analyzing the data. For the purpose of this study, questionnaires had been distributed to students who had been and were receiving tertiary education (the tertiary level student has been dignified as the students in the Original Research Article Phillips et al.; AJARR, 8(4): 1-16, 2020; Article no.AJARR.53335 2 ranges from Honors First year to Honors Third year in Bangladesh). The responses were classified and stratified in order to measure frequency and then the findings were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed to rate the level of stress the students feel in the tertiary level of Bangladesh.


Digital micro fluidic (DMF) biochips have recently emerged as a very new technology for health-care and biochemical laboratory applications, as they are inexpensive, sensitive, fully-automated, integrated systems. In a DMF biochip, on-chip and automatic solution preparation requires solving of some algorithmic problems. In this paper, we present some results of our proposed algorithms for on-ship solution preparation using DMF biochips.


The potential speedup of a standard cell global router using a general-purpose multiprocessor is investigated. LocusRoute, a global routing algorithm for standard cells, and its parallel implementation are presented. The uniprocessor speed and quality of LocusRoute is comparable to modern global routers. LocusRoute compares favorably with the TimberWolf 5.0 global router and a maze router that searches the same space more completely. Two successful methods of parallel decomposition of the router are presented. The first, in which multiple wires are routed in parallel, uses the notion of chaotic parallelism to achieve significant performance gains by relaxing data dependencies, at the cost of a minor loss in quality. Using iteration and careful assignment of wires to processors, this degradation is reduced. The approach achieves measured speedups from 5 to 14 using 15 processors. The second parallel decomposition technique is the evaluation of different routes for each wire on separate processors. It achieves speedups of up to 6 using 10 processors. It is demonstrated that when these two approaches are combined, the aggregate speedup is the product of the individual approaches' speedup, and, using an improved scheduling approach, it can be even greater. With a simple model based on these results, speedups of more than 75 using 150 processors are predicted. >


The efficacy of oil blends containing zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZnDTP) and molybdenum (Mo)-complex additives to improve the tribological properties of boundary-lubricated steel surfaces was investigated experimentally. The performance of oil blends containing three different types of Mo-complex additives of varying Mo and S contents with or without primary/secondary ZnDTP additions were investigated at 100°C. The formation of antiwear tribofilms was detected in situ by observing the friction force and contact voltage responses. Wear volume and surface topography measurements obtained from surface profilometry and scanning electron microscopy studies were used to quantify the antiwear capacity of the formed tribofilms. The tribological properties are interpreted in terms of the tribofilm chemical composition studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results demonstrate that blending the base oil only with the Mo-compound additives did not improve the friction characteristics. However, an optimum mixture of Mo complexes and ZnDTP additive provided sufficient amounts of S and Mo for the formation of antiwear tribofilms containing low-shear strength MoS 2 that reduces sliding friction. In addition, the formation of a glassy phosphate phase due to the synergistic effect of the ZnDTP additive enhances the wear resistance of the tribofilm. This study shows that ZnDTP- and Mo-containing additives incorporated in oil blends at optimum proportions improve significantly the tribological properties of boundary-lubricated steel surfaces sliding at elevated temperatures. Review led by Paul Bessette *Deceased.


The objective of this study was to estimate some economic values of Mud Lake, a managed, lacustrine wetland on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. Several outputs of Mud Lake were identified and an economic value was estimated for each. Flood control was valued at approximately $440 per acre, based on dollar damages prevented; water supply, using public utility revenues, was valued at $94 per acre; fish/wildlife habitat, recreation, and aesthetics were valued at about $21 per acre using the Contingent Valuation Method; and corrective expenditures were used to evaluate water quality at a negative per acre value of $180. When capitalized at 6 percent, the estimated total annual value of these four outputs is $6,250 per acre. These values can assist managers and policy makers in making decisions regarding the opportunity costs of Mud Lake management options or of wetland alterations or preservation. These snapshot values of Mud Lake "at the margin" are estimated under the assumption that all other wetlands and water resources in the region are unchanged.


The objective of this study was to convert γ-cyclodextrin to a polymer and further to investigate the potential of using the polymer for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. The sorption properties of γ-cyclodextrin polymer (γ-CDP) toward MB were investigated. The effects of contact time, sorption temperature and initial MB concentration were discussed. Batch sorption studies and kinetic studies have also been performed to understand the MB extraction ability of the γ-CDP. Results of experiments showed that γ-CDP exhibited some sorption capacities toward MB. It was found that kinetics followed Ho and McKay equation and isotherm fitted Langmuir model. The negative values of free energy change indicted the spontaneous nature of sorption.


Cancer is a significant disease burden worldwide. Chemotherapy is the mainstay of cancer treatment. Clinically used chemotherapeutic agents may elicit severe side effects. Remarkably, most of cancer cells develop chemoresistance after a period of treatment. Therefore, it is imperative to seek more effective agents without side effects. In recent years, increasing research efforts have attempted to identify natural agents that may be used alone or in combination with traditional therapeutics for cancer management. Resveratrol is a natural polyphenolic phytoalexin that can be found in various foods including blueberries, peanuts, and red wine. As a natural food ingredient, resveratrol possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective properties. Moreover, resveratrol exhibited promising effects in suppressing the initiation and progression of cancers. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been universally accepted as vital regulators in cancer pathogenesis. The modulation of miRNAs and lncRNAs by resveratrol has been described. Thus, the mechanism involving the domination of ncRNA function is one of the keys to understand the anticancer effects of resveratrol. In this review, we focus on the antagonistic effects of resveratrol on cancer progression through regulation of miRNAs and lncRNAs. We also discuss the potential application of resveratrol in cancer management.


This is the first complete transcription and publication of the York Masses (York, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, MS
Mus 1). The original collection is fragmentary, the 22 leaves representing only about a quarter of the choirbook copied in the
early part of the 16th century. The music in the York Masses comprises three- and four-part settings of the Ordinary of the
Mass, and all pieces are unique to this collection. Two pieces – a fragmentary Kyrie and the Mass 'Venit dilectus meus' – are
attributed to Horwod and Johannes Cuke respectively; the remainder are anonymous. The music itself is stylistically
representative of its period, and ranges from the simpler style of early Taverner to the florid and rhythmically intricate polyphony
such as that found in the Eton Choirbook.

Context:
The York Masses are arguably the last substantial collection of late medieval English music to have been neglected by editors,
partly because of the fragmentary nature of many of the movements. This edition presents a full transcription of the music, as
well as an introduction and critical commentary. It is a performance edition in that it translates elements of the original notation
that would be unfamiliar to modern singers, includes plainchant intonations and verses, gives advice on performance practice,
and is available in a number of formats. However, it is primarily a detailed, critical edition of an English musical repertory that
has not previously been available in publication.


In this paper, we analyse immigrant women's entrepreneurship in the care sector in Sweden. Twenty in-depth interviews with care entrepreneurs in the Stockholm region are analysed regarding the motives and entrepreneurial processes, against the background of the gender and 'racially' divided labour market. We conclude that the interviewed women are motivated by complex reasons, like a wish to create better care and better conditions for their personnel. In an act of transformation they turn negative reactions into actions and become entrepreneurs in order to make space for better care, at the margin of a subordinated sector of the economy. We conclude that they cross gendered and racialised lines in their identification as entrepreneurs, even though they are not seen as entrepreneurs by others. We find no evidence for the women being motivated to become entrepreneurs in order to escape unemployment.


1. To elucidate the peripheral contribution to "echo" processing in the auditory system, we examined the characteristics of auditory nerve responses to click-pair stimuli in unanesthetized, decerebrate cats. We used equilevel click pairs at peak levels of 45, 65, and 85 dB SPL re 20 microPa. The interclick intervals ranged from 1 to 32 ms. This study reports results from 78 auditory nerve fibers in 7 cats. The fibers were divided into 2 groups: 33 low- and 45 high-spontaneous rate (SR), with SRs less than and > or = 20 spikes/s, respectively. A method was introduced to quantify the second-click response, and its recovery was examined as a function of the interclick interval. 2. In general, auditory nerve fibers showed a gradual recovery of the second-click response as interclick interval was increased. Noticeable differences in the second-click response recovery functions emerged among fiber populations that were related to the SR. Low-SR fibers showed little change in the recovery functions of the second-click response as the click level was increased from 45 to 85 dB SPL. In contrast, high-SR fibers showed slower recoveries with increasing click level from 45 to 85 dB SPL. At 45 and 65 dB SPL, the recovery functions of the two SR groups were similar. At 85 dB SPL, high-SR fibers exhibited slower recovery than low-SR fibers, regardless of fiber characteristic frequency. The interclick intervals at 50% second-click response ranged from 1 to 6 ms (mean, 1.4 ms) among low-SR fibers. The interclick intervals at 50% second-click response for high-SR fibers, whereas similar to those for the low-SR fibers at 45 and 65 dB SPL, ranged from 2 to 16 ms (mean, 3 ms) for high-SR fibers, at 85 dB SPL. 3. We also examined auditory nerve compound action potentials (CAPs) evoked by click-pair stimuli for various interclick intervals and click levels. With increasing interclick interval, the amplitude of the second-click CAP increased, and with increasing level, the second-click CAP showed slower recovery. At 45 dB SPL, the recovery functions of the second-click CAP were similar to those of the high- and low-SR fibers. At higher levels, the CAP exhibited lower second-click response values than both high- and low-SR fiber populations for interclick intervals < 4-8 ms. At 85 dB SPL, as interclick interval increased, between 8 and 16 ms, the CAP second-click response converged with that of the high-SR fibers, and by 32 ms, the second-click response values were similar for the CAP, high- and low-SR fibers. 4. The present results are consistent with those of forward masking studies at the level of the auditory nerve in that both demonstrate a short-term reduction of the neural responses. However, the two results differ in that we observed that high-SR fibers exhibited slower recovery than low-SR fibers in response to click-pair stimuli, opposite of the trend observed in the forward masking studies of responses to pure-tone bursts. 5. The present results on auditory nerve fiber responses to click-pair stimuli provide a reference for comparison with responses of central auditory neurons to similar stimuli. This information should serve to elucidate the peripheral contribution to the processing of echoes in the auditory system.


ABSTRACT In Indonesia has been increasingly widespread practice of corruption and even to all aspects of life, both at central and local levels. Corruption is referred to as a crime against humanity because it has resulted in poverty and misery of the people. Corruption practices often followed by the Money Laundering Practice, money laundering practices today are very often carried out on the money earned from the evil of corruption. Corruption with Money Laundering has a relationship or association which is very fundamental. It can clearly be seen in article 2, paragraph 1 of Law - Law No. 8 of 2010 on the prevention and eradication of money laundering. In the Act itself known with a term called "predicate offenses" (predicate crime). The results showed that the effective way to make the process of proving the corruption as predicate money laundering Crime Crime is by incorporating (concursus) an indictment , because in addition to looking for financial losses caused by the state Anti-Corruption, Public Prosecutor should also be able to prove that assets - assets and property owned by the defendant obtained by using the proceeds of the Corruption, which is done in various ways which are elements of the Crime of money Laundering, it is intended to provide a more deterrent effect to the defendant. Keywords : Corruption , Money Laundering, Concursus


Words that are rated as acquired earlier in life receive shorter fixation durations than later acquired words, even when word frequency is adequately controlled (Juhasz & Rayner, 2003; 2006). Some theories posit that age-of-acquisition (AoA) affects the semantic representation of words (e.g., Steyvers & Tenenbaum, 2005), while others suggest that AoA should have an influence at multiple levels in the mental lexicon (e.g. Ellis & Lambon Ralph, 2000). In past studies, early and late AoA words have differed from each other in orthography, phonology, and meaning, making it difficult to localize the influence of AoA. Two experiments are reported which examined the locus of AoA effects in reading. Both experiments used balanced ambiguous words which have two equally-frequent meanings acquired at different times (e.g. pot, tick). In Experiment 1, sentence context supporting either the early- or late-acquired meaning was presented prior to the ambiguous word; in Experiment 2, disambiguating context was presented after the ambiguous word. When prior context disambiguated the ambiguous word, meaning AoA influenced the processing of the target word. However, when disambiguating sentence context followed the ambiguous word, meaning frequency was the more important variable and no effect of meaning AoA was observed. These results, when combined with the past results of Juhasz and Rayner (2003; 2006) suggest that AoA influences access to multiple levels of representation in the mental lexicon. The results also have implications for theories of lexical ambiguity resolution, as they suggest that variables other than meaning frequency and context can influence resolution of noun-noun ambiguities.


This technical note introduces the basic structure of what we call the Three-Paned Model. The model is essentially just an "opening up" of the closed-economy IS/LM Model, with the main pane being the IS/LM Model (modified only slightly to allow for international trade) and two additional panes that determine the amount of capital inflows, net exports, and the exchange rate. This note is not a substitute for the more in-depth presentation of these models found in textbooks, but should be used to complement each textbook's richer treatment of the theoretical and technical aspects of these models.


Dendritic cells (DCs) harbor an active mitochondrion-dependent cell death pathway regulated by Bcl-2 family members and undergo rapid turnover in vivo. However, the functions for mitochondrion-dependent cell death of DCs in immune regulation remain to be elucidated. In this article, we show that DC-specific knockout of proapoptotic Bcl-2 family members, Bax and Bak, induced spontaneous T cell activation and autoimmunity in mice. In addition to a defect in spontaneous cell death, Bax−/−Bak−/− DCs were resistant to killing by CD4+Foxp3+ T regulatory cells (Tregs) compared with wild-type DCs. Tregs inhibited the activation of T effector cells by wild-type, but not Bax−/−Bak−/−, DCs. Bax−/−Bak−/− DCs showed increased propensity for inducing autoantibodies. Moreover, the autoimmune potential of Bax−/−Bak−/− DCs was resistant to suppression by Tregs. Our data suggested that Bax and Bak mediate intrinsic spontaneous cell death in DCs, as well as regulate DC killing triggered by Tregs. Bax- and Bak-dependent cell death mechanisms help to maintain DC homeostasis and contribute to the regulation of T cell activation and the suppression of autoimmunity.


We present an algorithm to find the optimal point of a variational inequality problem. The domain of the function that defines the variational inequality is a convex set, determined by convex inequality constraints and affine equality constraints. The algorithm is based on a discrete variable structure closed-loop control system which presents sliding mode trajectories on the boundary of the feasible set until the optimal point is reached. The update law is designed using control Liapunov function (CLF), which guarantees the decrease of a discrete Liapunov function inside and outside the feasible set. The step size is optimized using Liapunov optimizing control (LOC).


The organization of spatial behaviour is anchored in the architecture of the body as shaped by gravity and antigravity forces in the course of evolution. The general lay-out of the nervous system mirrors the architecture of the body. Behaviour is controlled movement. The nervous system is the organ of control. The cerebral control loops under consideration are external loops in which the body and the environment are taking part. The outside world is represented in the nervous system as a vector map (biological space). The nervous system controls control loops. Therefore, it is a hierarchical control system. Spatial perception can be understood as a perceptual transformation of biological space.


The usefulness of some cells cultures (BSC-I, VERO, MDSK) for isolation and study of reproduction of influenza A viruses was explored. Out of 50 clinical specimens examined, in 16 cases the virus was isolated both in chick embryos and in MDSK cell cultures. MDSK cultures were found to be highly sensitive to influenza A viruses, which produced cytopathic effect and hemagglutinin accumulation. The plaques formed by freshly isolated strains under an agar overlay containing trypsin were markedly polymorphous. MDSK cells may be recommended for use in virus isolation studies. Examinations of virion morphology revealed their diversity both in size and shape.


: Antibodies against (15s)-15-methyl prostaglandin F2alpha (15-MF) were produced in rabbits immunized with a 15-MF bovine serum albumin conjugate. Tritium labeled 15-MF was prepared from (15S)-15-methyl prostaglandin E2 by reduction with tritiated sodium borohydride. Antiserum specificity and label specific activity (12 Ci/mM) were sfficient to enable development of a sensitive, accurate and relatively specific radioimmunoassay for this prostaglandin analog. The assay can detect as little as five picograms of 15-MF in 100 mul of unextracted blood plasma. Endogenous concentrations of PGF2alpha should not cause a significant blank using current assay conditions, as cross reactivity with this molecule was less than one percent. There is, however, significant affinity (45%) for the C-1 methyl ester of 15-MF. This makes the assay also applicable for measuring this molecule, although no distinction can be made between it and the free acid when neat plasma is assayed. Plasma samples from human and monkey studies were assayed for 15-MF before and after recipients were treated with pharmacologically active doses of this compound. Blank values (0 Hour) of less than 0.1 nanograms per ml were found for all pre-treatment samples while post-treatment samples contained detectable levels. Results of the human study was compared and found to be in excellent agreement with values that were obtained using a gas-liquid chromatographic - mass spectrographic assay.


The reinforcement of coatings with diamond particles results in superior tribological performance for automotive applications. In addition to improving the coating's bulk properties, sliding of diamond on metallic counter bodies contributes to improved tribological performance. Therefore, in order to design better diamond reinforced coatings, it is imperative to understand the atomistic mechanisms at sliding metal/diamond interfaces. Here, we investigate the interfacial tribo-chemical mechanisms leading to low friction in lubricated tungsten/diamond sliding contacts by combining reactive atomistic simulations with on-line tribometry experiments linked to chemical analysis. Reactive classical molecular dynamics simulations reveal the dehydrogenation of hexadecane lubricant molecules between tungsten/diamond contacts by proton transfer from the hexadecane to octahedral sites of the tungsten surface. Subsequent chemisorption of the radicalized hexadecane on dangling C-bond sites of the diamond surface leads to the formation of low-density hydrocarbon films, which significantly lower frictional resistance in the tribo-contact. Quasi-static density functional theory calculations confirm the classical molecular dynamics results and reveal that radicalized hydrocarbon molecules can also bond via C-O bonds on a WO3 layer covering the tungsten counter surface. The on-line tribometry experiments confirm the reduction of friction under hexadecane lubrication and ex situ chemical analysis by means of XPS, AES and EELS provide evidence of the formation of a carbon-rich tribofilm on the diamond and tungsten-oxide surfaces as predicted by the atomistic simulations.


Ultrasonic motors (USM) possess heavy nonlinear, and load dependent characteristics such as dead-zone and saturation reverse effects, which vary with driving conditions. These properties have made the position/velocity control of USM a difficult and challenging task. In this paper, a generalized model predictive (GPC) controller for precise USM position control is suggested. Simulation results indicate improved performance of the motor for both set point tracking and disturbance rejection. Since the motor and the controller both are of type one, the applied saturation would cause in wind up phenomenon. This drawback is removed by implementing the Quadratic GPC controller.


1. IntroductionWithin this paper the authors will explain the importance of including IT ethics within the Management Information Systems (MIS) and Computer Science (CS) curricula. It is our contention that in today's environment, students of MIS or CS should understand the importance of acknowledging and dealing with ethical issues is in their work. No longer can this subject be ignored since ethical issues are as critical to the success of IT projects as are design and technical issues. Consequently IT professionals (whom our students hope to become) must know how to view what they are doing or being asked to do from an ethical perspective. In what follows we give our definition of IT ethics, discuss the importance of ethics to organizations and to the IT curriculum, and how ethics could be incorporated within the curriculum, and finally provide some ethics resources educators can use as they start to deal with ethics in their curricula.2. Defining IT EthicsAccording to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2006), "ethics" can be defined as follows:The field of ethics, also called moral philosophy, involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. ... Normative ethics takes on a more practical task, which is to arrive at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. ... Finally, applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues. ...In addition to this three-part definition of what ethics is, it is useful to stress what ethics is not. The study of ethics need not be connected to religion, although individuals may find their inspiration to be ethical from a religious tradition, and many religions share moral views that are compatible with many ethical traditions (Wikipedia, 2007). "Ethical" is not the same as "legal," although the study and development of laws is often intertwined with the study and development of ethics (LegalEthics.com, 2006).IT ethics is an applied study of how ethics and Information Technology interact. It is our contention that the study of ethics is of growing importance to IT education. We expect that applied IT ethics will be central to this study, although metaethics is useful as a foundation for the applied ethics. We also expect that another significant theme will be normative ethics, especially as it is reflected in codes for IT professionals.3. Ethics and OrganizationsThe importance of ethics to organizations and management has escalated in the last few years and is now seen as critical. Within this section we will discuss why ethics is important in organizations, who is responsible for an ethical climate in an organization, and how this climate can be encouraged.3.1 Ethics-Importance to OrganizationsThere is a fear that when organizations allow too much short-term focus on making maximum profit, ethics will be ignored in favor of doing whatever it takes to improve the bottom line. However, recent events have forced organizations to place a much higher emphasis than before on operating in an ethical manner. As Bottorff(2006) states, "...poor ethics has finally been recognized as a leading killer of organizations."An initial reason why it is important for organizations to consider ethics is due to changes in laws and regulations that govern business operations. In the last few years legislative and regulatory agencies have made a number of changes in expectations in terms of an organization's ethics. The U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. As part of this legislation, companies are required to adopt a code of ethics or explain why they have not developed one. Additionally, the Sentencing Commission, in 2004, recognized the need for organizational cultures that encourage ethical conduct (Sears, 2006). …


The Discipline of Health Promotion at NUI, Galway delivers a Postgraduate Diploma and Master's course in Health Promotion. A core 'Research Methods' module incorporates some teaching of evaluation research in health promotion. This project arose from a recognition of the need to further develop the evaluation component into a stand alone module that would provide students with a greater understanding of the relationship between the evidence-base and research practice of evaluation in health promotion. The aim of this project was to develop and deliver a creative, research-based module on evaluation practice using an enquiry-based approach that incorporates new learning technologies. A primary objective was to progress from the theoretical aspects of evaluation to incorporate evaluation research practice into delivery of the module.Specific objectives of the project were to pilot a template for future development of blended learning within modules integrating the use of the online Wiki tool via Blackboard. Workshop and tutorial-based elements were developed to deliver theoretical basis and models employed in the evaluation of health promotion interventions. Peer assessment of the group work as one element of student assessment was developed. A guide incorporating blended learning on 'The development and delivery of a competency-based module in health promotion' was produced to enable transfer of elements of the evaluation module to other competencies in the field.The process and outcome of the evaluation module was evaluated using pre and post survey instruments, reflective practice and feedback from stakeholders. The planning, delivery, and resources of the evaluation module will be presented in the context of evaluation findings.


2 The T cell repertoire is shaped by the processes of positive and negative selection. During development, the TCR binds self peptide-MHC complexes in the thymus, and the kinetics of this interaction are thought to determine the thymocyte's fate. For development of CD8 1 T cells, the data supporting such a model have been obtained using fetal thymic organ culture. To confirm the fidelity of this model in vivo, we studied development of OT-I TCR-transgenic mice that expressed different individual K b binding peptides in thymic epithelial cells under the control of the human keratin 14 promoter. We used a system that allowed TAP-independent expression of the peptide-MHC complex, such that the ability of given peptides to restore positive selection in TAP o mice could be assessed. We found that transgenic expression of a TCR antagonist peptide (E1) in vivo efficiently restored positive selection of OT-I T cells in TAP o mice. An unrelated transgenic peptide (SIY) did not restore selection of OT-I T cells, nor did the E1-transgenic peptide restore selection of an unrelated receptor (2C), showing that positive selection is peptide specific in vivo, as observed in organ cultures. Neither E1 nor SIY transgenes increased the polyclonal CD8 T cell repertoire size in non-TCR-transgenic animals, arguing that single class I binding peptides do not detectably affect the size of the CD8 T cell repertoire when expressed at low levels. We also observed that OT-I T cells selected in TAP o -E1 mice were functional in their response to Ag; however, there was a lag in this response, suggesting that the affinity of the TCR interaction with MHC-self peptide can result in fine-tuning of the T cell response. The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 166: 6602–6607. only TCRs self-MHC-restricted


Abilities make up the most tangible part of a competence, where components of knowing, meaning, theory and practice merge. Following education policy documents and pedagogical practice, the cardinal groups of abilities have been identified, which are ranged by educators in the following order: abilities to communicate with learners, to diagnose achievements, to organise learning, to work in a team, to plan educator's activity. The abilities of teaching to learn as well as abilities to perceive learners' condition and to show respect to everybody as a personality are expressed strongest and meet the modern education paradigm. Teachers find abilities to work in teams and international groups or with other educators less important. This shows that new education strategies are not taking deep roots in practical activity. Other components of competence, such as knowledge and value-based principles, are mainly linked with abilities to communicate, plan educational activity and to diagnose achievements. Such links reveal a contact of them (knowledge and value-based principles) with the real education process. It was established that professional qualification and working experience have little effect on pedagogical abilities. Senior educators and those with a working experience from 1 to 10 years have a more positive attitude towards these indicators. Gender has a more relevant influence on formation of abilities. Women tend to be better at establishing favourable relations and at selecting most important material. However evaluations of abilities to share responsibilities, to work in teams or international groups are similar.


The aim of Belief Merging is to aggregate possibly conflicting pieces of information issued from different sources. The quality of the resulting set is usually considered in terms of a closeness criterion between the resulting belief set and the initial belief sets. The notion of distance between belief sets is thus a crucial issue when we face the merging problem. The aim of this paper is twofold: introducing a syntactical way to calculate distances and proposing the use of a distance based on prime implicants and prime implicates that considers the importance of each propositional symbol in the belief set.


Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world. Hypercholesterolemia, characterized by elevated blood low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations, is a risk factor for CVD. A growing body of research suggests that LDL-C levels and CV risk are linked. Despite the fact that the majority of current epidemiologic studies show no substantial link between eating one egg per day and blood cholesterol levels or cardiovascular risk, proponents of a positive link remain. The goal was to look at intervention trials that looked at the impact of cholesterol on LDL levels in people. In addition, eggs and dietary cholesterol affect serum cholesterol in many ways. The importance of decreasing cholesterol levels with probiotics, dietary fiber, plant sterols, and nutraceuticals was also discussed.


Ring and rotor spinning predominate the cotton spinning market with ring spinning dominating globally while United States (U.S.) spinners prefer rotor because of its production speed and high automation level. Newer and faster spinning technologies such as "air jet" spinning, exemplified by Murata Vortex Spinning (MVS), are being deployed. Rotor spinning produces yarn five times faster than ring, and the MVS produces 100 % cotton yarn over 20 times faster than ring spinning. Fiber quality improvements will be necessary for Upland cotton to be competitive with other fibers on MVS. Texas A&M Agrilife Research has released improved fiber quality germplasm lines and cultivars that equal or exceed the fiber quality parameters associated with the New Mexico Acala germplasm pool, which is considered the elite quality among Upland breeding pools. Two improved quality Texas A&M germplasm lines were compared with Acala 1517-08 for High Volume Instrument (HVI) and Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) fiber quality parameters plus yarn strength and appearance parameters. These genotypes were grown in 2017 and 2019 at Weslaco, Texas under irrigated culture. The three genotypes were similar in all fiber quality measurements except lengh and fiber strength. TAM 06WE-621 and TAM KJ-Q14 produced stronger yarns with improved yarn appearance when spun on either ring or air jet spinning technologies. Data suggest that the Texas A&M quality germplasm pool can be used to develop Upland cotton cultivars that will produce fibers competitive for the emerging MVS technology.


In this research, the principle of diamagnetic levitation is described briefly. The application perspectives of diamagnetic levitation and its advantages are as well discussed. By utilizing the magneto-Archimedes Effect to lift different seeds, the experimental procedures and parameters are provided which include magnetic characteristics of magnets and ratios of magneto-Archimedes solution. The theoretical derivation and finite elements simulation of force when the seeds suspend are conducted. These resolving formulas, methods of numerical simulation as well as means of experiments are meaningful as reference to the researches in this field.


Cilostazol, a phosphodiesterase-III inhibitor, reportedly exhibits positive effects against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced injury in several models. However, its potential role against the renal I/R insult has not been elucidated. To test whether the PPAR-γ (of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma) pathway is involved in the cilostazol effect, rats were randomized into sham, I/R, cilostazol (50 and 100 mg/kg per day, orally), pioglitazone (3 and 10 mg/kg per day, orally) and their combination at the low dose levels. Drugs regimens were administered for 14 days prior to the I/R induction. Pretreatment with cilostazol or pioglitazone provided significant protection against the I/R-induced renal injury as manifested by the attenuated serum levels of creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and cystatin C. Both drugs have also opposed the I/R-induced elevation in tissue contents/activity of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (Κim-1), nuclear factor-κB, interleuκin-18, caspase-1, as well as malondialdehyde, iNOS, myeloperoxidase, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. Nevertheless, the drugs increased both the PPAR-γ transcriptional activity and the content of glutathione. Furthermore, combining the two low doses of both drugs produced effects comparable to that of the high dose level of either drug, advocating the fortification of pioglitazone renoprotective effect when given concomitantly with cilostazol. In conclusion, cilostazol purveyed conceivable novel renoprotective mechanisms and alleviated incidents associated with acute renal injury either alone or in combination with pioglitazone partially via the elevation of PPAR-γ besides the amendment of the aforementioned biomarkers.


22 cases of primary involvement of the appendix in Crohn's disease are reported in the literature. During the last 3 years we observed 4 cases. In three patients typical clinical signs of acute appendicitis were present. One case was found occasionally. The follow-up was 5-30 months. During this time none of our patients showed symptoms of granulomatous enterocolitis in other regions of the bowel. Reviewing the literature 3 of 26 patients (11.5%) showed lesions typical for Crohn's disease elsewhere in the intestine 3-48 months after appendectomy. But two cases had a follow-up of 5 years which time is considered indispensable before one can admit that the disease is really limited to the appendix.


This study focuses on the topic of energy efficiency for railway application. A case study extrapolated from a real system was approached. An entire railway infrastructure, constituted by an alternating current (AC) primary grid, a direct current (DC) railway system and some AC/DC railway electrical substations (ESSs), was observed. The considered system was represented to study the operation of the railway infrastructure in terms of energy. A method, based on an AC/DC power flow approach, was formulated to calculate the efficiency in the use of electrical energy, during the motion of a fleet of trains. The method reports the solution vector (i.e. the AC and DC voltages and currents) as a function of the scheduling of the railway service. The results of the numerical simulations focused on the energy amounts at the ESS. The discussion gives evidence to the impact of alternative operating solutions in terms of energy efficiency strategies.


RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
This cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted to investigate any difference in liver stiffness measurements (LSM), evaluated by transient elastography, between patients affected by β thalassaemia major, with and without hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and healthy blood donors (controls). Secondary aim was to assess any correlation between transient elastography and serum ferritin, liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2* or superconductive quantum interference device (SQUID) liver susceptometry values.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study involved three centers. Transient elastography and MRI T2* examinations were performed in all centers. SQUID liver susceptometry was performed in center1 and center2. T-test for independent data or Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyse differences between two groups. Univariate Pearson's r coefficient was used to test correlations between liver stiffness measurements and all other variables.

RESULTS
In a study with 119 patients and 183 controls, patients who had never been infected with HCV showed significantly higher LSMs than controls [5.7 (95% CI, 5.2-6.2) kPa vs. 4.3 (95% CI, 4.1-4.4) kPa, p < 0.0001]. A moderate correlation between LSMs and ferritin values, adjusted for gender and age, was found in patients (r = 0.49, p < 0.0001) but not in controls (r = -0.22, p = 0.6). No correlation between LSMs and MRI T2* or SQUID liver susceptometry values was observed. In conclusion, compared to controls β thalassaemia major patients had a significant increase in LSMs independently from HCV infection.


Abstract Blue supergiant stars of B and A spectral types are amongst the visually brightest non-transient astronomical objects. Their intrinsic brightness makes it possible to obtain high quality optical spectra of these objects in distant galaxies, enabling the study not only of these stars in different environments, but also to use them as tools to probe their host galaxies. Quantitative analysis of their optical spectra provide tight constraints on their evolution in a wide range of metallicities, as well as on the present-day chemical composition, extinction laws and distances to their host galaxies. We review in this contribution recent results in this field.


The sensation of touch, gravity, and sound all rely on dedicated ion channels that transduce mechanical stimulus forces into electrical response signals. The functional workings and molecular identities of these mechanotransducer channels are little understood. Recent work shows that the mechanotransducers for fly and vertebrate hearing share equivalent gating mechanisms, whereby this mechanism can be probed non-invasively in the mechanics of the Drosophila ear. Here, we describe how this mechanics can be used to evaluate the roles of identified proteins in the process of mechanosensation and, specifically, their contributions to mechanotransduction.


Melanoma is a type of cancer occurs in melanocytes. Approximately 90% of melanoma occurs in skin (cutaneous melanoma) but can rarely arise from the mucosal surfaces or areas which neural cells migrate. Examples are eye, intestine and mouth [Eur. J. Cancer, 69: 39-42 (2016)]. 76,380 of new cases and 10,130 number of deaths are expected in 2016 in the USA due to melanoma [http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/melan.html (11/05/2016)]. Atypical PKCs contains two structurally and functionally distinct isozymes in human which are PKC-ι (iota) and PKC-ζ (zeta). They are believed to be involved in cell cycle progression, tumorigenesis, cell survival and cell migration. We believe that atypical PKCs play an important role in cell motility of melanoma by involving the signaling pathways which induces EMT-type III (Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition). In normal melanocytes, PKC-ζ was found in low levels and PKC-ι was not detected. But both proteins are detected in very high levels in malignant melanoma [Melenoma Res. 12:201-209 (2002)]. In the current study, we have investigated the effects of novel atypical PKC inhibitors [4-(5-amino-4-carbamoylimidazol-1-yl)-2, 3-dihydroxycyclopentyl] methyl dihydrogen phosphate (ICA-1) which is specific to PKC-ι and 8-hydroxy-1, 3, 6-naphthalenetrisulfonic acid (Compound-50) which is specific to PKC-ζ on the cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell migration of two malignant melanoma cell lines (SK-MEL-2 and MeWo) compared to a normal melanocyte cell line (PCS-200-013). We showed that both inhibitors can decrease the levels of total and phosphorylated levels of PKC-ζ and PKC-ι. Furthermore, both inhibitors increased the levels of E-cadherin and decreased the levels of Vimentin which is a mesenchymal marker associated with EMT. Treatments with inhibitors altered the levels of CD44, a cell-surface glycoprotein involved in cell-cell interactions, cell adhesion, migration and tumor cell homing during metastasis. These results suggest that both PKC-ι and PKC-ζ are involved in signaling pathways which upregulate EMT and which can be effectively suppress using ICA-1 and Compound-50. Furthermore we established that treatment with ICA-1/Compound-50 induced apoptosis as shown by increasing Caspase-3 levels and decreasing Bcl-2 levels. Citation Format: Wishrawana Sarathi Ratnayake, Mildred Acevedo-Duncan. Atypical protein kinase c inhibitors can repress epithelial to mesenchymal transition (type III) in malignant melanoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 862. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-862


Background: Monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL) is a benign expansion of clonal B lymphocytes that can be found in the blood of healthy adults, and it has the potential for evolution to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). MBL is commonly found among elderly population. We aimed to study the frequency among 200 healthy elderly adults who were chosen from general practice, ophthalmology, gynecology, cardiology, dermatology, and orthopedic preoperative patients. The selected individuals had normal hematologic parameters with no evident history of malignant disease. Methods: Blood samples were collected on EDTA, the leukocytes were stained by CD5/CD19 and kappa/lambda/CD19, and then MBL cells were searched for using flow cytometry to detect CD19-positive B-cell population with abnormal kappa/lambda immunoglobulin light chain ratio (> 3 or < 0.3) or disease-specific immunophenotype (IPT), i.e., co-expression of CD5/CD19. Results: The frequency of MBL among the studied samples was 5.5% without significant difference between males and females. The detected frequency found may be related to the sensitivity of the method used. Higher frequencies may be detected if more colors were used to detect more antigens. Conclusion: The study suggested that MBL can be identified through routine hospital investigations among elderly subjects and that monoclonal proliferation of B lymphocytes can be detected in an increasing number depending on the progressive improvements in the flow cytometric techniques. J Hematol. 2016;5(2):54-59 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jh269w


This paper presents results and analysis of experiments carried out on a vehicle platoon control system developed in the PATH program. The objective of this project is to assess the feasibility of applying currently available technology to the concept of vehicle platoon control. It is estimated that the vehicle platoon system could increase highway traffic capacity by a factor of two or three. The Integrated Platoon Control System (IPCS) includes a control system, communication system, data acquisition system, and various sensors including a radar system. The initial experiments using two Ford cars showed successful results. In the field tests, the automated following vehicle successfully followed the manually driven lead vehicle through several different kinds of maneuvers. This project is a joint effort by U.C.Berkeley, Caltrans and VORAD, with vehicles provided by Ford.


Alibaba is moving toward one of the most efficient cloud infrastructures for global online shopping. On the 2017 Double 11 Global Shopping Festival, Alibaba's cloud platform achieved total sales of more than 25 billion dollars and supported peak volumes of 325,000 transactions and 256,000 payments per second. Most of the cloud-based e-commerce transactions were processed by hundreds of thousands of Java applications with above a billion lines of code. It is challenging to achieve comprehensive and efficient performance troubleshooting and optimization for large-scale online Java applications in production. We proposed new approaches to method profiling and code warmup for Java performance tuning. Our fine-grained, low-overhead method profiler improves the efficiency of Java performance troubleshooting. Moreover, our approach to ahead-of-time code warmup significantly reduces the runtime overheads of just-in-time compiler to address the bursty traffic. Our approaches have been implemented in Alibaba JDK (AJDK), a customized version of OpenJDK, and have been rolled out to Alibaba's cloud platform to support online critical business.


In petroleum fields, the essence of well placement is to develop and maintain petroleum reservoirs in order to achieve maximum production for economic benefit. Maximum production can be achieved with more oil wells, but few optimal numbers of wells in good location reduces economic costs and increase recovery. The best location for the placement of oil, gas or water wells depends on reservoir and fluid properties, well and surface equipment specifications, as well as economic parameters [1]. The objective of the study is to determine the net present value from few well placements in the Norne C-segment reservoir by either obtaining the same or more oil production/recovery compared to the base case wells. New well placement in a reservoir simulation model uses an industrial standard ECLIPSE reservoir simulator. Manually simulation approach is used to locate high oil saturation grids for the new well placement. From the base case simulation result, a total number of thirteen wells were discovered, nine producers and four injectors. The production and injection wells were classified with a suffix according to the production templates B, D, K and injection template C respectively. The base case wells removed and new well placed from exhaustive simulation runs for two different scenario cases. A total number of ten wells, six producers and four injectors were placed in each scenario. In order to obtain maximum oil recovery, the producers are placed horizontally while injectors remain the same as those from the base case. The new well placements in the scenario cases are identified with the suffix "P-H" for producers and "I-H" for injectors. Simulation results, the total oil produced for wells in each field case from the start year 1997 to December 2015, (end of production) can be seen in Table 10, 11 and 12 in chapter 6. The cumulative oil produced from each field case is the same as the total oil produced from all the wells in each case. The cumulative field oil and gas production from the start of production, November 1997 to December 2015 is 41.3 million Sm3 oil and 260 million Sm3 of gas for base case, 42.8 million Sm3 oil and 269 million Sm3 of gas for scenario 1 case, 43.2 million Sm3 oil and 272 million Sm3 of gas for scenario 2 case. The recovery factor for base case is 28%, scenario 1 & 2 are 29.0% and 29.3%. Each field case uses drive mechanisms, gas injection and water injection to support oil production and maintain pressure in the each field case. The total gas and water injected in the base case field were 9.6 billion Sm3 and 78.8 million Sm3 respectively. In scenario 1, a total of 8.6 billion Sm3 of gas and 81.6 million Sm3 of water was injected and in Scenario 2, 8.6 billion Sm3 of gas and 81.3 million Sm3 of water was injected. The Net present values for the three cases were calculated taking into account the economic costs such as well cost, cost of gas and water injection. Sensitization was done on the oil price ($25, $35 and $45). The NPV results from Table 19 prove that all case projects are acceptable, but scenario 2 is the most economical as it has the highest NPV of $4,026 million based on $35-medium oil price that was considered.


admission cars, apartments and houses sold . . . jewelleryappropriated ... by the loving entourage which has tended the old person', the practical management of sexuality in the elderly, of insomnia and much more besides. The parallel he draws with certain paediatric problems is interesting, and his solutions are often (and rightly) reminiscent of those of John Howells. This book should be read by all psychiatric trainees, senior psychiatrists and geriatricians, and all psychiatric libraries should have several copies. The effectiveness of a cohesive multidisciplinary team needs more emphasis and one fears that Dr Comfort's recollections of British practice may have become a little romantic since he left the United Kingdom. This book is scholarly and packed with profound and original comments.


The purpose of this study was to provide individuals with online tutorials to help participants generate strategies to achieve their academic goals and clarify their academic values to assess the additive effects of values clarification training to an online goalsetting training procedure on (1) measures of academic performance and (2) student retention. Psychology majors in their second year or beyond were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three groups prior to the study to receive access to one of two training modules (i.e., a goal-setting alone or a goal-setting plus values-clarification training module). The study consisted of three parts delivered approximately one month apart. Individuals responded to three brief questionnaires in Part 1. During Part 2, participants received training with one additional assessment. Training included a presentation of relevant content delivered via media clips and text with questions covering the material presented. In Part 3, participants responded to the same four questionnaires they took in Parts 1 and 2 and were then asked follow-up questions regarding their experiences in this study. Between and within-group analyses demonstrated the additive component of values-clarification training to goal-setting training significantly improved GPAs and was related to improved retention rates overall.


With the purpose to obtain the more useful tyrosinase assay for the monophenolase activity of tyrosinase between the spectrofluorometric and spectrophotometric continuous assays, simulated assays were made by means of numerical integration of the equations that characterize the mechanism of monophenolase activity. These assays showed that the rate of disappearance of monophenol (VssM,M) is equal to the rate of accumulation of dopachrome (VssM,DC) or to the rate of accumulation of its oxidized adduct, originated by the nucleophilic attack on o-quinone by a nucleophile such as 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone (MBTH), (VssM, A−ox), despite the existence of coupled reactions. It is shown that the spectrophotometric methods that use MBTH are more useful, as they do not have the restrictions of the L-tyrosine disappearance measurement method, of working at pH = 8 and not having a linear response from 100 μM of L-tyrosine. It is possible to obtain low LODM (limit of detection of the monophenolase activity) values with spectrophotometric methods. The spectrofluorimetric methods had a lower LODM than spectrophotometric methods. In the case of 4-hydroxyphenil-propionic acid, the LODM obtained by us was 0.25 U/mL. Considering the relative sensitivities of 4-hydroxyanisole, compared with 4-hydroxyphenil-propionic acid, LODM values like those obtained by fluorescent methods would be expected.


The heart and lungs work closely to meet the tissues' oxygen demands. If the balance between oxygen demand and supply becomes disturbed in critical illness, tissue hypoxia and cell death can rapidly result. An essential part of critical care is to maintain cardiopulmonary function with the help of pharmacotherapy, fluid management, and respiratory support. Paradoxically, interventions aimed at improving the function of one system can sometimes have undesirable effects on the other and, although the pulmonary consequences of cardiac disease are well recognised, the influences of changes in pulmonary physiology on cardiac function are less well appreciated.

Cardiopulmonary interactions (the effects of spontaneous and mechanical ventilation on the circulation) were first documented in 1733, when Stephen Hales showed that the blood pressure of healthy people fell during spontaneous inspiration.1 Over a century later Kussmaul described pulsus paradoxus (the inspiratory absence of the radial pulse) in patients with tuberculous pericarditis.2

Cardiopulmonary interactions are present in health, and can be exaggerated or abnormal in the presence of disease. This article will provide an overview of this broad topic. By emphasising the underlying physiological principles and the influence of disease states upon these, we hope that respiratory support will then be tailored to the individual patient.

Spontaneous and mechanical ventilation induce changes in intrapleural or intrathoracic pressure and lung volume, which can independently affect the key determinants of cardiovascular performance: atrial filling or preload; the impedance to ventricular emptying or afterload; heart rate and myocardial contractility. Changes in intrathoracic pressure are transmitted to the intrathoracic structures: namely the heart and pericardium, and the great arteries and veins. Spontaneous inspiration produces a negative pleural pressure, and the reduction in intrathoracic pressure is transmitted to the right atrium. In contrast, intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) produces inspiratory increases in intrathoracic pressure and therefore …


The metal(II)-ion catalysed hydrolysis of some pencillin and cephalosporin derivatives in water at 30° shows saturation kinetics. A 1 : 1 complex is formed between the metal ion and penicillin which is attacked by hydroxide ion up to 108 fold faster than the unco-ordinated compound. The site of co-ordination of the penicillins and copper(II) ions is the β-lactam nitrogen and the carboxylate group. The association constants for the cephalosporins and metal ions are greater than those for the penicillins but the transition states for the cephalosporin reaction with hydroxide ion bind less tightly to metal ions. The order of rate enhancement brought about by the metal ion is CuII > ZnII > NiII∼ CoII. The metal ions are thought to stabilise the tetrahedral intermediate formed by hydroxide ion attack on the β-lactam. Some comments are made about metal ions as electrophilic catalysts in enzymes.


The effective use of existing Finite Element Codes in the direct simulation of hypervelocity impacts by projectiles is limited by the dependence of the size of localized failure regions on the mesh size and alignment. This gives rise to a non-physical description of the penetration and perforation processes. A micromechanical constitutive model that couples the anisotropic thermo-viscodamage mechanism with the thermo-hypoelasto-viscoplastic deformation will be presented as a remedy to this situation. Explicit and implicit microstructural length scale measures, which preserve the well-posed nature of the differential equations, are introduced through the use of the viscosity and gradient localization limiters. Simple and robust numerical algorithms for the integration of the constitutive equations will be also presented. The proposed unified integration algorithms are extensions of the classical rate-independent return mapping algorithms to the rate-dependent problems. A simple and direct computational algorithm is also used for implementing the gradient-dependent equations. This algorithm can be implemented in the existing finite element codes without numerous modifications as compared to the current numerical approaches for integrating gradient-dependent models. Model capabilities are preliminarily illustrated for the dynamic localization of inelastic flow in adiabatic shear bands and the perforation of Weldox 460E steel plates with various thicknesses by a deformable blunt projectile at various high impact speeds.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Distributed storage systems utilize erasure codes to reduce their storage costs while efficiently handling failures. Many of these codes (e. g., Reed-Solomon (RS) codes) rely on Galois Field (GF) arithmetic, which is considered to be fast when the field characteristic is 2. Nevertheless, some developments in the field of erasure codes offer new efficient techniques that require mostly XOR operations, and are thus faster than GF operations. Recently, Intel announced [1] that its future architecture (codename "Ice Lake") will introduce new set of instructions called Galois Field New Instruction (GF-NI). These instructions allow software flows to perform vector and matrix multiplications over GF (28) on the wide registers that are available on the AVX512 architectures. In this paper, we explain the functionality of these instructions, and demonstrate their usage for some fast computations in GF(28). We also use the Intel® Intelligent Storage Acceleration Library (ISA-L) in order to estimate potential future improvement for erasure codes that are based on RS codes. Our results predict $\approx 1.4\mathrm{x}$ speedup for vectorized multiplication, and 1.83x speedup for the actual encoding.


The effects of packaging materials, low-dose irradiation, and subsequent storage on inactivation of pathogen
were studied. UV-sterilized meat surfaces were inoculated with approximately 5 to 6 log10 CFU/cm2 E. coli O157:H7 or
approximately 6 to 7 log10 CFU/cm2 Salmonella Typhimurium, wrapped in plastic sheets of polyethylene, polylactic acid
(PLA), polynylon, polypropylene, or low-density polyethylene (LDPE), sealed and vacuum packaged, and subjected to
irradiation doses ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 kGy in a60 Co irradiator. Samples were analyzed for remaining bacterial populations
immediately after irradiation and after 7 days of refrigerated storage (4°C). For S. Typhimurium, both the effect of packaging
material and storage period were significant as compared to untreated samples (p < 0.05). Higher log10 reductions were
observed following irradiation at all doses after refrigerated storage period than for day 0 samples. In general, irradiation
resulted in higher log10 reduction of E. coli O157:H7 than S. Typhimurium at the same dose. The following conditions
demonstrated maximum log10 reductions in this study: 2.0 kGy irradiation dose, 7-day refrigerated storage at 4°C, LDPE
plastic for E. coli O157:H7, and PLA plastic for S. Typhimurium. However, there were no significant differences between the
mechanical strength of irradiated and unirradiated plastics (p > 0.05).


Ultra thin silicon ICs with a remaining thickness of less than 30 /spl mu/m are investigated with respect to their manufacturing technology and mechanical behavior. Thin wafers which were diced using a standard sawing process reveal low fracture resistance when a bending force is applied to single chips. To eliminate influence of micro-cracks induced by sawing extremely thin wafers, the new concept of "dicing by thinning" was developed and is explained in the paper. The concept allows manufacturing of 10-30 /spl mu/m thin wafers and includes self-acting die separation during the thinning procedure. Best results are achieved when dicing lines between chips are prepared at the front side of wafer by dry etching methods. Initial analysis results of mechanical reliability of thin silicon samples are presented and discussed.


We report the design and fabrication of third generation ultrasmall PEGylated gold nanoparticles based platform (AuRad™) optimized for applications in radiation therapy. The AuRad™ nanoplatform has the following key features: (I) surface coating of hetero-bifunctional-PEG with amine, carboxyl, methoxy functional groups, which make this a versatile nanoplatform to conjugate various moieties like fluorophores, peptides, drugs, radiolabels; (II) size that is optimized for longer circulation, higher tumor uptake and modulated clearance; (III) high radiation enhancement. We have synthesized ultrasmall 2-3 nm gold nanoparticles, followed by attachment of hetero-bifunctional PEG and further conjugation of fluorophore AlexaFlour 647 for optical imaging, with a stability of more than 6 months. Confocal bioimaging with HeLa cells showed robust uptake of biocompatible nanoparticles in cells. Irradiation experiments X-rays showed greater than 2.8-fold cell kill enhancement as demonstrated by clonogenic survival assays. The results indicate that AuRad nanoplatform can act as potential theranostic agent in radiation therapy.