Phenomena in ecosystems such as forest fires, oil spills, tornados, etc., are complex processes both in time and space. Understanding their dynamics in order to predict their future states is a challenging procedure involving the propagation of several events concerning, e.g. the transfer of energy or material. A common solution used to study such phenomena is the utilization of discrete event models and simulators. Among the phenomena studied by researchers so far, of particular interest and importance, is the forecasting of forest fire propagation since life on earth is greatly depended on healthy forests. In this paper, we investigate simulator models applicable in forecasting forest fire propagation. These simulator models appear to be very useful and user friendly, and except for the investigation of a fire, they could also be used for teaching in a university lab.


An increasing number of Web-based systems, including brainstorming, decision-making, and negotiation support systems, are being developed to aid users in solving particular types of problems in various contexts. These systems can be effectively used in language teaching providing learning experience in an authentic setting. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the value of integrating Inspire, a Web-based negotiation support system, to augment conventional teaching of communication and academic skills in second language courses. Inspire provides a platform and tools for negotiators to work together to resolve their differences. The preparation for the negotiation and the conduct of the negotiation in an asynchronous mode are designed to give the users control over the process and the outcome of their negotiations. Exchange of offers, counteroffers and messages creates a framework for a meaningful interaction, where results depend on the users' decisions and their ability to communicate effectively. Going through different phases of the negotiation, the students develop analytic, cognitive and linguistic skills, albeit some better than others. The paper argues that systems oriented on solving problems in a group setting lend themselves to the communicative approach to language teaching embedded in the theory of second language acquisition. It also discusses issues related to its adoption, and suggests strategies for its diffusion.


We address the problem of routing mobile agent with fusion cost in WSN under two scenarios: all source nodes, and a part of source nodes to be visited, respectively. Two objective functions in terms of minimizing transmission and fusion energy expenditure in the two scenarios are formulated, and proved to be NP-complete. Furthermore, we propose a two-level encoding based genetic algorithm (GA) to compute a suboptimal solution for the first scenario, and for the second scenario, we propose two computation paradigms to obtain a suboptimum: three-level encoding based GA, and two-step GA which consists of a two-level encoding GA and a simple GA. Simulation results show that proposed GA outperforms local closest first method (LCF) with different unit fusion costs and data reduction ratios in the first scenario. In the second scenario, simulation results with different conditions show that proposed algorithms are feasible, and three-level encoding based GA outperforms two-step GA in solution quality but the latter has superior performance in convergence speed.


Sixty-five sheep flocks were studied in Santa Catarina State to determine parasites resistance to anthelmintics based on ivermectin (0.2mg/kg), levamisole (10mg/kg), closantel (10mg/kg) and albendazole (10 mg/kg). The evaluation was carryed out when a particular sheep flock showed a control group with EPG (eggs per gram) level above 500. Larvae culture was also performed to allow the parasite identification. Four randomized groups of 10 animals were formed and treated with one of the four anthelmintic products. Faecal samples were collected of each group seven to ten days after the treatment, aiming to perform the eggs count and larvae identification. These results were compared with results of the control group. The anthelmintics were considered to present evidence of parasite resistance when the efficacy of the product was lower than 95%. From the total of 65 sheep flock studied, seventy-seven percent presented parasite resistance to ivermectin, with Haemonchus larvae only (100%); sixty-five percent to albendazole, with Haemonchus (74%), Ostertagia (15%) and Trichostrongylus (11%); thirteen percent to closantel, with Haemonchus (100%); and fifteen percent to levamisole, with Thichostrongylus (44%), Ostertagia (39%) and Haemonchus (17%). The results detected the presence of a multi-resistance to anthelminthics in the great majority of the sheep flocks of Santa Catarina State.


This article is focused on pollen morphology of some of the most abundant fossil pollen types from late Miocene sediments in Sofia Basin (Southwest Bulgaria). The investigation includes detailed morphological characteristic of the pollen types using observations under light and scanning electron microscope. Materials from the C-14 core near the village of Katina are the subject of this study. The age was determined as middle and upper Pontian on the basis of molluscs and mammals. Three pollen types from gymnosperm plants (Glyptostrobus type, Pinus diploxylon type and Tsuga canadensis type) and ten pollen types from angiosperm plants (Alnus sp., Betula sp., Carpinus sp., Corylus sp., Quercus robur type, Ulmus sp., Liquidambar sp., Juglans sp., Carya sp., Chenopodiaceae gen. ind.) have been described.


In pediatric patients Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection may have miscellaneous neurological manifestations. Children with acute viral encephalopathy may present prolonged electrographic seizure activity consistent with non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). NCSE condition is difficult to diagnose due to absence of motor seizures, presenting only changes in behavior and consciousness. In this report we present a clinical case of EBV infection in 3.5-year-old girl. On admission she suffered of confusional state and irritability after an episode of motor partial complex seizure being in good health. The condition evolved twenty five days after an episode of respiratory infection diagnosed as bacterial tonsillitis by the family physician and treated with antibacterials. Laboratory blood evaluation as well as chest radiography, urinalysis, bleeding time, fibrinogen were within the normal range. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spinal cord revealed a subcortical increased signal in the left occipital lobe on T2-weighted image. Electroencephalography (EEG) pattern revealed non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). EBV infection was revealed by serum antibody test. The present case emphasizes the importance to evaluate the role of EBV in acute neurological syndromes in pediatric patients, in particular, in presence of behavioral changes with EEG evidence of seizures. NCSE in children denotes electrographic seizures without convulsive activity and often manifests as altered mental status. It may be difficult to diagnose in pediatric patients in whom changes of behavior and consciousness may not be as easily recognized as in adults.


Abstract. This work concerns the validation of the Kyoto-Kagaku thorax anthropomorphic phantom Lungman for use in chest radiography optimization. The equivalence in terms of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was established for the lung and mediastinum regions of the phantom. Patient chest examination data acquired under automatic exposure control were collated over a 2-year period for a standard x-ray room. Parameters surveyed included exposure index, air kerma area product, and exposure time, which were compared with Lungman values. Finally, a voxel model was developed by segmenting computed tomography images of the phantom and implemented in PENELOPE/penEasy Monte Carlo code to compare phantom tissue-equivalent materials with materials from ICRP Publication 89 in terms of organ dose. PMMA equivalence varied depending on tube voltage, from 9.5 to 10.0 cm and from 13.5 to 13.7 cm, for the lungs and mediastinum regions, respectively. For the survey, close agreement was found between the phantom and the patients' median values (deviations lay between 8% and 14%). Differences in lung doses, an important organ for optimization in chest radiography, were below 13% when comparing the use of phantom tissue-equivalent materials versus ICRP materials. The study confirms the value of the Lungman for chest optimization studies.


A novel chiral poly(amide imide) containing L-alanine was synthesized by direct polycondensation reaction of newly synthesized N,N'-(4,4'-diphthaloyl)-bis-L-alanine diacid with 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether in a medium consisting of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), triphenylphosphite (TPP), calcium chloride (CaCl2), and pyridine. The new chiral diimide-diacid monomer was synthesized by direct reaction of 3,3'-4,4'-Biphenyl tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride with L-alanine in acetic acid under refluxing conditions. The resulting compounds were obtained in quantitative yields and high purity. The synthetic diacid monomer was characterized by elemental analysis, 1H-NMR spectroscopy, FT-IR techniques and specific rotation, the obtained polymer was characterized by FTIR techniques, specific rotation and solubility testing.


: Specific features of motor activity disorders were studied in 87 patients before and after removal of a parasagittal meningioma. Motor disorders are most severe in localization of the tumor in the region of the middle third of the superior sagittal sinus and falx and less severe when the tumor is found in the posterior parts of the anterior third of the superior sagittal sinus. The disorders are more marked after operation with extensive resection of areas of the superior sagittal sinus involves in the tumor and with occlusion of the formed venous drainage passages. The motor disorders are particularly severe after removal of parasagittal meningiomas and are often bilateral with multiple components (including disturbances in the pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems, afferent regulation of movements, and coordinated work of both hemispheres in the formation of motor acts). Not only the direct effect of the pathological focus on the cerebral motor zones situated at different levels but disorders of cerebral and peripheral circulation are of importance in the pathogenesis of these disturbances.


Lithium–sulfur batteries are promising electrochemical devices for future energy conversion and storage. Its theoretical capacity is 1675 mA h g−1, much higher than that of conventional lithium-ion batteries. However, it suffers from rapid capacity decay and low energy efficiency. In this work, we introduce a novel dual core–shell structured sulfur composite with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and polypyrrole (PPy), MWCNTs@S@PPy, as a cathode material for Li–S batteries. The composite is synthesized via a facile one-pot method. In the structure, MWCNTs and PPy work as a combined conductive framework to provide access to Li+ ingress and egress for reaction with sulfur, and to inhibit the diffusion of polysulfide out of the cathode, and hence reduce the capacity decay. Meanwhile, LiNO3 additive is added into the electrolyte to improve the coulombic efficiency. The as-designed MWCNTs@S@PPy composite shows excellent rate capability and cyclability. The initial discharge specific capacity is as high as 1517 mA h g−1, and remains at 917 mA h g−1 after 60 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g−1. Even at a high current density of 1500 mA g−1, the composite still shows a good cycle performance with a capacity of 560 mA h g−1 after 200 cycles.


Objective- This survey was accomplished to describe the hepatic artery and portal vein indices in healthy domestic cats by color Doppler ultrasonography technique. Design- Retrospective experimental study. Animals- Twenty domestic short hair (DSH) cats (10 males and 10 females). Procedures- Doppler indices of liver vascular (portal vein and hepatic artery) such as PSV, EDV, RI, PI, MV, VF and the spectral wave forms were measured in the studied cat's population (two equal groups of ten each). Results- The mean and deviation of portal vein were as follow: PSV: 40.68 ± 9.82' EDV: 23.38 ± 5.78' RI: 0.48 ± 0.10' PI: 0.72 ± 0.26' MV: 2.49 ± 0.64, VF: 25.81 ± 5.04 and for hepatic artery were included PSV: 49.79 ± 9.45' EDV: 31.92 ± 5.05' RI: 0.59 ± 0.09' PI: 0.85 ± 0.20' VF: 34.73 ± 5.47 and MV: 3.03 ± 0.44 respectively.Conclusion and clinical relevance- The obtained results showed that there was not a significant difference between males and females for indices of liver vascular (p>0.05). These data can be used for comparison with the various hepatic diseases in cats. It should be noted that the importance of hepatic blood flow is more in cats than dogs, due to defect in liver enzymes.


Objectives Program directors have noted that first-year residents struggle with many of the patient care responsibilities they assume as they enter the US graduate medical education system. A national description of medical students' patient care experience in advance of graduation has not been published. We sought to describe the experience of US medical students during their clinical training by surveying the student representatives of each school. Methods We developed a mixed-methods survey that was delivered to representatives of 82 schools via an e-mail link to an online survey. Results Our response rate was 54% (44/82). Of those responding, 28% reported that students do not write any patient care orders at their institution and 34% reported not receiving pages related to patient care. Only 26% of institutions provide an increased patient load to students during their final year of training. Students identified many areas to improve the role of fourth-year medical students, including writing patient care orders, answering pages, increasing autonomy, defining their role better, and providing them with a longer subinternship experience. Conclusions Our survey suggests that students are graduating from the undergraduate medical education system and moving to the graduate medical education system in the United States without a guarantee of having answered a page related to patient care or having placed a patient care order. Further studies of students' experiences should be conducted to explore whether exposure to these skills improves first-year resident performance.


Wide-area networks and the Internet-based World Wide Web allow developers to provide intelligent knowledge servers. Expert systems running on servers can support a large group of users who communicate with the system over the network. In this approach, user interfaces based on Web protocols provide access to the knowledge servers. Users do not need special hardware or software to consult these services with appropriate Web browsers.


We consider how repetition blindness and the attentional blink might arise from prior assumptions about the occurrence of task-relevant states of the world. Repetition blindness and the attentional blink are behavioral deficits in the identification of items during rapid serial visual presentation at varying delays after identifying the first "target." Here we propose that both of these effects are explained by rational inference given prior expectations about the timing of task-relevant world transitions. While such expectations would be helpful in the natural world, they may result in unanticipated biases in laboratory settings. We show that a rational model using prior expectations of the timing of task-relevant information captures the basic repetition blindness and the attentional blink effects, and also the specific distributions of errors made during the attentional blink.


New palaeomagnetic data from the Caledonides of western Ireland indicate that the Silurian rocks of South Mayo underwent oroclinal bending, following folding, in Siluro-Devonian time. Bending was accommodated on faults cutting the Silurian sequence, and was driven by strike slip motion across the Antrim-Galway Line, a recently recognized major curvilinear lineament. We propose that the Silurian rocks in the east of the region suffered up to 30° clockwise rotation, increasing towards the west to approximately 70°. This newly inferred differential rotation of the Silurian rocks, about a sub-vertical axis, implies that the underlying Dalradian rocks of the Connemara Massif to the south must also have undergone clockwise rotation in late Silurian/early Devonian time. This is consistent with published palaeomagnetic data from the Connemara Gabbro and accounts for the swing in strike of the Caledonian orogen in this part of western Ireland. From this we deduce that the swing in strike of the Caledonian rocks elsewhere on the west coast of Ireland might have a similar explanation.


Although the number of patients with heart failure is increasing, a sufficient treatment agent has not been established. Oxidative stress and inflammation play important roles in the development of myocardial remodeling. When thioredoxin (Trx), an endogenous anti-oxidative and inflammatory modulator with a molecular weight of 12 kDa, is exogenously administered, it disappears rapidly from the blood circulation. In this study, we prepared a long-acting Trx, by fusing human Trx (HSA-Trx) with human serum albumin (HSA) and evaluated its efficacy in treating drug-induced heart failure. Drug-induced cardiomyopathy was created by intraperitoneally administering doxorubicin (Dox) to mice three times per week. A decrease in heart weight, increased myocardial fibrosis and markers for myocardial damage that were observed in the Dox group were suppressed by HSA-Trx administration. HSA-Trx also suppressed the expression of atrogin-1 and myostatin, myocardial atrophy factors in addition to suppressing oxidative stress and inflammation. In the Dox group, a decreased expression of endogenous Trx in cardiac tissue and an increased expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor were observed, but these changes were restored to normal levels by HSA-Trx administration. These findings suggest that HSA-Trx improves the pathological condition associated with Dox-induced cardiomyopathy by its anti-oxidative/anti-inflammatory and myocardial atrophy inhibitory action.


Throughout its existence, the Red Army was viewed as a formidable threat. By the end of the Cold War, however, it had become the weakest link in the Soviet Union's power structure. Always subordinate to the Communist Party, the military in 1991 suddenly found itself answering instead to the president of a democratic state. Dale Herspring closely examines how that relationship influenced the military's viability in the new Russian Federation. Herspring's book is the first to assess the relationship between the Russian military and the political leadership under Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. He depicts an outmoded and demoralized military force still struggling to free itself from Cold War paradigms, while failing to confront not only debacles in Afghanistan and Chechnya but also a rise in crime and corruption within the ranks. He reveals how Gorbachev neglected the military to save Russia from internal collapse and how Yeltsin reneged on continuing promises of support. And, while Putin claims a better understanding of the armed forces, he has severely tightened his control over the military while monitoring its struggle toward modernization. Herspring argues that presidential leadership - or a significant lack thereof - has been the key variable determining the kind of military Russia puts in the field. It has been up to the president to ensure that the high command makes a successful transition to the new polity - otherwise combat readiness will decline and generals and admirals could become politicized. By focusing on how the high command has reacted to each president's decisions and leadership style, Herspring shows that, in spite of the continued importance of the military's bureaucratic structure, personality factors have assumed a much more important role than in the past. "The Kremlin and the High Command" provides the most complete analysis to date of the Russian president's influence on the Russian officer corps, the soldiers they lead, and their army's combat readiness. It also suggests how the often fraught relationship between the president and the high command must evolve if the Russian Federation is to become a truly democratic nation.


Relations between China and the West have been difficult for some time. Recently, however, one issue in particular has made the headlines: rare earths. Vital for the production of low-carbon products such as hybrid cars and wind turbines, consumer goods and sensitive military hardware like cruise missiles and smart bombs, rare earths are indispensable for high-tech industries and emerging technologies. With China responsible for the production of almost 97% of these rare earth elements (REE), recent Chinese reductions in exports, coupled with increasing export taxes, are causing jitters not only in the markets but also politically. Roderick Kefferputz, Associate Research Fellow at CEPS, takes a look at China's long march towards dominance of this all-important market and, ahead of the European Commission's publication of its Raw Materials Strategy, considers options for the future.


It is accepted that depression during adolescence is a highly prevalent yet mostly an under recognized mental health problem. Studies carried out in diverse cultures report prevalence rates ranging from 1% to 50% for adolescent depression. Presence of depression during adolescence, effects the development negatively and creates a tendency towards high-risk behaviors as alcohol, tobacco use and substance abuse. Current research points out that although there is a biological tendency for the development of adolescent depression, psychological and social factors also play an important role. Therefore intervention programs, focusing on particularly psychosocial factors, gain attention for the prevention and control of adolescent depression. The findings from school based studies which aim to prevent adolescent depression through utilizing cognitive behavioral techniques are promising. This paper discusses the burden and the factors influencing the development of depression during adolescence, as well as the objectives, methods, findings and the effectiveness of prevention programs which focus on psychosocial factors. ERGENLERDE DEPRESYON: ONLEME VE KONTROL STRATEJILERINDEKI GELIŞMELER VE GELECEĞE YONELIK HEDEFLER


Abstract How is linguistic communication possible? How do we come to share the same meanings of words and utterances? One classical position holds that human beings share a transcendental "platonic" ideality independent of individual cognition and language use (Frege 1948). Another stresses immanent linguistic relations (Saussure 1959), and yet another basic embodied structures as the ground for invariant aspects of meaning (Lakoff and Johnson 1999). Here we propose an alternative account in which the possibility for sharing meaning is motivated by four sources of structural stability: 1) the physical constraints and affordances of our surrounding material environment, 2) biological constraints of our human bodies, 3) social normative constraints of culture and society, and 4) the local history of social interactions. These structures and constraints interact in dynamical ways in actual language usage situations: local dialogical and social dynamics motivate and stabilize the profiling of a conceptual space already highly structured by our shared biology, culture, and environment. We will substantiate this perspective with reference to recent studies in experimental pragmatics and semiotics in which participants interact linguistically to solve cooperative tasks. Three main cases will be considered: The dynamic grounding of linguistic categories, the construction of conceptual models to relate entities in a scene, and the construction of shared conceptual scales for assessing and appraising subjective experiences.


Continuous extrusion under the large expansion ratio is an advanced forming process for manufacturing copper strip, preventing mould structure, die structure, expansion chamber structure and the shape of the billet section is important process paraments of deformation. Based on the characteristic of the forming process, the model of rigid-plastic FEM on DEFORM-3D is established and the numerical simulation of continuous extrusion forming process of the copper strip is carried. The metal flow regularity and the mean-square deviation of velocity with the different process paraments is analyzed. As the result, when using the drum form of preventing mould with promote flow angle and the die with variable calibrating strap, the mean-square deviation of velocity is 0.58. When the second extending angle is 134°, the mean-square deviation of velocity is 0.23. When size of billet is 30 x 1.64 mm2, the mean-square deviation of velocity is only 0.19.


This paper introduces a multicarrier communication receiver for broadband applications based on analog to digital conversion (ADC) of the received signal in the frequency domain. The samples of the spectrum of the received signal are used in the digital receiver to estimate the transmitted symbols through a matched filter operation in the discrete frequency domain. The proposed receiver is aimed at the reception of high information rates in a multicarrier signal with very large bandwidth. Thus, the receiver architecture provides a solution to some of the challenging problems found in the implementation of conventional wideband multicarrier receivers based on time-domain ADC, since It efficiently parallelizes the A/D conversion reducing the sampling speed requirements. We show that the sampling rate requirements are relaxed as the number of frequency samples is increased, which introduces a trade-off between complexity and sampling rate. The new receiver possesses additional advantages, including scalability with increasing frequency samples, the possibility of optimally allocating the available number of bits for the ATD conversion across the frequency domain samples which potentially reduces the distortion introduced by the high-speed ADC, narrowband interference suppression that can be directly carried out in the frequency domain, and inherent robustness to frequency offset which makes it an attractive solution when compared with traditional multicarrier receivers. We also investigate how the proposed receiver responds to common multicarrier communication receiver problems such as phase noise and channel frequency selectivity.


The auditory biology and acoustic behavior of Arctic seals are incompletely understood, in large part due to the significant challenges of studying ice-living seals in natural habitats. Consequently, many questions regarding their perception of acoustic cues in the marine environment, and the ways in which increasing anthropogenic noise may influence their ability to detect biologically relevant sounds, remain unanswered. This dissertation describes a series of behavioral studies conducted in the laboratory to characterize the auditory capabilities of trained spotted (Phoca largha, Pallas 1811) and ringed seals (Pusa hispida, Schreber 1775) in quiet conditions, in the presence of controlled noise, and in real-world listening scenarios. The first two chapters comprise a set of three standard audiometric studies for each species, including aerial audiograms, underwater audiograms, and critical ratio measurements in both media. The results presented in Chapter 1 are the first hearing data available for spotted seals, and provide insight into the acoustic ecology of this minimally studied species. The results presented in Chapter 2 are the most comprehensive hearing data available thus far for ringed seals, and offer an updated perspective on the auditory capabilities of this species relative to historical data. Chapter 3 builds upon these standard examinations of hearing to investigate auditory performance in more complex acoustic environments—specifically, habitats altered by seismic noise from geophysical exploration. Taken together, these experiments provide fundamental knowledge about the sensory biology of spotted and ringed seals, which can be applied to management decisions for these species in an increasingly human-influenced Arctic environment.


This paper presents a predictive model of a simple, but important, data entry task. The task requires participants to perceive and encode information on the screen, locate the corresponding keys for the information on different layouts of the keyboard, and enter the information. Since data entry is a central component in most human-machine interaction, a predictive model of performance will provide useful information that informs interface design and effectiveness of training. We created a cognitive model of the data entry task based on the ACT-R 5.0 architecture. The same model provided good fits to three existing data sets, which demonstrated the effects of fatigue with prolonged work, repetition priming, depth of processing, and the suppression of subvocal rehearsal. The model also makes predictions on how performance deteriorates with different delays after training, how different amounts of rehearsal during training affect retention, and how re-training helps retention of skills.


Direct volume rendering (DVR) algorithms do not generate intermediate geometry to create a visualization, yet they produce countless variations in the resulting images. Therefore, comparative studies are essential for objective interpretation. Even though image and data level comparison metrics are available, it is still difficult to compare results because of the numerous rendering parameters and algorithm specifications involved. Most of the previous comparison methods use information from the final rendered images only. We overcome limitations of image level comparisons with our data level approach using intermediate rendering information. We provide a list of rendering parameters and algorithm specifications to guide comparison studies. We extend Williams and Uselton's rendering parameter list with algorithm specification items and provide guidance on how to compare algorithms. Real data are often too complex to study algorithm variations with confidence. Most of the analytic test data sets reported are often useful only for a limited feature of DVR algorithms. We provide simple and easily reproducible test data sets, a checkerboard and a ramp, that can make clear differences in a wide range of algorithm variations. With data level metrics, our test data sets make it possible to perform detailed comparison studies. A number of examples illustrate how to use these tools.


The formations of host-guest complexes between cucurbit[7]uril and a series of N-substituted N-methylpiperidinium, N-methylpyrrolidinium, and N-methylmorpholinium cations in aqueous solution have been investigated using (1)H NMR spectroscopy and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Dications comprising the N-methylheterocyclic head groups, bridged by a decamethylene chain, form sequential 1 : 1 ([2]pseudorotaxanes) and 2 : 1 host-guest complexes with cucurbit[7]uril. The cucurbituril initially resides over the decamethylene chain, however with further additions of the host molecule a translocation of the hosts to the cationic N-heterocyclic head groups occurs. The order of the magnitude of the cucurbituril host-guest stability constants, determined by competitive (1)H NMR binding experiments, follows the trend in the hydrophobicity of the quaternary ammonium cations.


The nursing community recently lost a prominent member in the death of Haydée Guanaes Dourado, who died April 10. Dr Haydée Guanaes Dourado was the first director of the Nursing School at Bahia Federal University. She contributed strongly to the Brazilian Nursing Association and its journal. She was active throughout her career and a leadership in the ethical and legislative issues related to creation of the National Nursing Board and the Professional Nursing Act. The OBJN knows that her contributions and impact on the nursing profession will maintain alive the Haydée Guanaes Dourado ́s memory.


Experimental design without replication, such as Federer's augmented block design, allows us to determine productivity, adaptability and stability in multi-environment trials. This work aimed to select productive wheat lines with high adaptability and stability in preliminary trials. The grain yield of 140 homozygous wheat lines was measured in 2015 at three locations. The cultivar TBIO Mestre was used as a check. Genetic parameters were evaluated by mixed models, and selection was based on the harmonic mean of the relative performance of the genetic values (HMRPGV) using models 74 (individual analysis) and 75 (joint analysis) of Selegen software. In the joint analysis, 33 wheat lines stood out in terms of productivity, adaptability and stability. These lines have the potential to be evaluated in Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) trials for future release of new wheat cultivars.


Since their invention in mid-nineteenth century Britain, modern sports have traveled: first, as they were exported to all regions of the world, often piggybacking on colonial projects; second, as sports are often brought to troubled economies and states in the context of development and reconciliation projects; and third, as athletes moved across national and other borders to play and seek a livelihood by playing. Athlete mobility is more alive than ever in the contemporary world, and Pacific Islanders' participation in this mobility is disproportionate to the visibility of their nations on the global stage. Understanding the meaning of sport in the region, however, raises important questions whose implications reach beyond the confines of sport: the workings of power in a world in which bodies become commodities; the conflicts that arise between different epistemologies of development and resource use; and the clashes between different conceptualizations of the future.


Proof assistants and the programming languages that implement them need to deal with a range of linguistic expressions that involve bindings. Since most mature proof assistants do not have built-in methods to treat this aspect of syntax, many of them have been extended with various packages and libraries that allow them to encode bindings using, for example, de Bruijn numerals and nominal logic features. I put forward the argument that bindings are such an intimate aspect of the structure of expressions that they should be accounted for directly in the underlying programming language support for proof assistants and not added later using packages and libraries. One possible approach to designing programming languages and proof assistants that directly supports such an approach to bindings in syntax is presented. The roots of such an approach can be found in the mobility of binders between term-level bindings, formula-level bindings (quantifiers), and proof-level bindings (eigenvariables). In particular, by combining Church's approach to terms and formulas (found in his Simple Theory of Types) and Gentzen's approach to sequent calculus proofs, we can learn how bindings can declaratively interact with the full range of logical connectives and quantifiers. I will also illustrate how that framework provides an intimate and semantically clean treatment of computation and reasoning with syntax containing bindings. Some implemented systems, which support this intimate and built-in treatment of bindings, will be briefly described. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Proof theory, Theory of computation → Automated reasoning, Theory of computation → Higher order logic


UV lasing is studied in nitrogen and the N2 — SF6 mixture pumped by a volume discharge initiated by a runaway-electron preionised diffuse discharge (REPDD) produced in an inhomogeneous electric field. It is shown that lasing at a wavelength of 337.1 nm is observed at pressures up to 2.5 atm without any preionisation source. At a pressure of 0.5 atm with the use of blade electrodes and the N2:SF6=10:1 active medium of length ∼ 6 cm, the output laser energy of ∼ 2 mJ was achieved for the pulse power of 0.55 MW. The REP DD pumping regime is compared with the regime of pumping by a volume discharge produced by a preionisation source.


Abstract—In early 70 one computer requires one whole room and now a days we kept commuter in our pockets, how this happens? This happens because we did tremendous revaluation in VLSI field. We rapidly decrease size of transistors. After decades of continuous improvements and shrinking feature sizes, the development of conventional computing technologies faces enormous challenges. In particular, power dissipation in today's computer chips becomes crucial. Reversible computation is a promising alternative to these technologies, where power dissipation can be reduced or even eliminated. Reversible logic has become very promising for low power design using emerging computing technologies. A number of good works have been reported on reversible combinational circuit design. However, only a few works reported on the design of reversible latches and flip-flops on the top of reversible combinational gates and suggested that sequential circuits be built by replacing the latches and flip-flops and associated combinational gates of the traditional irreversible designs by their reversible counter parts. This replacement technique is not very promising, because it leads to high quantum cost and garbage outputs. In this paper we design reversible synchronous sequential circuit such as counter. This design technique is directly from reversible gates using Pseudo Reed-Muller Expressions. This technique shows very much improved results In terms of quantum cost and garbage outputs. Keywords—Reversible logic, Quantum cost, Garbage output, Ancilla inputs, Gate Level


The application of the Milwaukee brace during adolescence is indicated not only in scoliosis, but also in severe forms of Scheuermann's kyphosis. In Basel between 1970 and 1979, 55 patients with severe thoracic kyphosis were treated with the Milwaukee brace. 45 of these patients were followed for a longer period of time. The results of the measurements of the kyphotic angles and of the angles of the wedges vertebral bodies are presented in detail. In those children who were followed to adulthood an average curvature correction from 40 degrees to 32 degrees was found. This represents a correction exceeding 50%, if a physiological angle of 25 degrees is presumed. Also, measurements showed erection of the wedged vertebral bodies after completion of growth. Consequently, the use of the Milwaukee brace for rigid thoracic kyphosis of more than 35 degrees in adolescents is advised.


Remotely sensed vegetation indices have been widely used to estimate live fuel moisture content (LFMC). However, marked differences in vegetation structure affect the relationship between field-measured LFMC and reflectance, which limits spatial extrapolation of these indices. To overcome this limitation, we explored the potential of random forests (RF) to estimate LFMC at the subcontinental scale in the Mediterranean basin wildland. We built RF models (LFMCRF) using a combination of MODIS spectral bands, vegetation indices, surface temperature, and the day of year as predictors. We used the Globe-LFMC and the Catalan LFMC monitoring program databases as ground-truth samples (10,374 samples). LFMCRF was calibrated with samples collected between 2000 and 2014 and validated with samples from 2015 to 2019, with overall root mean square errors (RMSE) of 19.9% and 16.4%, respectively, which were lower than current approaches based on radiative transfer models (RMSE ~74–78%). We used our approach to generate a public database with weekly LFMC maps across the Mediterranean basin.


To analyse the requirements of the police training in the unifying Europe first of all means the necessity to establish the basis for the concepts that cross the boundaries of national states. A question arises then whether we agree and should agree with common European principles of the police training in the West and in the East. We should also assess how the concept might look like after estimation of regional safety, development of the police of European states, distinct police ethics and culture, multicultural aspects and the apparent development trends as determinant conditions. What consequences can this variety raise and what influence it has on general understanding of profession of the European police? The answers to these questions could be the bases of the police training in Europe. Successful co-operation among the police of European countries depends not only on the whole complex of actual and legal factors but also the comprehension of the significance of the functions carried out by the police. Citizens' confidence in the police is also extremely important. First of all the outlooks, evaluations and professional competence are considered. Therefore, the requirements for the police training programmes are given priority. Higher qualification of the police will be indispensable after the internationalisation of many branches of the police. The police actions reflect the political and national culture of the state. Especially, it is the uniformed officer that by his behaviour symbolises the hopes and expectations of citizens. First of all this concerns young East European states experiencing reforms. More often than before, the police stands as a representative and indicator of current political culture. In all the European democracies, political culture is closely related to the police culture. Humane politics bared on the aspirations to European integration, peace, morals and education should act as the ground for the police-training concept. These are the aims of political institutions and a necessary condition for efficient functioning of the police in Europe. The principles of the police training also have to reflect the society's and economy's development trends in Europe. The aim of the police training is not only to confer knowledge. It is important to provide both professional qualification and develop personal and social viewpoints. Training should contribute to the evolution of European unity, which can exist together with close national and regional links. Not merely the principles outlined by the state but also every police officer's personal preparation to foster one's personality have most considerable influence on the training of the police of a state of the rule of law. The most important characteristics of a policeman should be honesty and tact, ability to retain self-control in stressful conditions, friendly collectiveness, but not complicity, professional correctness, but not legalised narrow-mindedness, healthy ambitions but not seeking honour or careerism, courage and devotion but not recklessness.


Objective: Medicare beneficiaries are eligible to receive free Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs) for assessing preventive care needs, identifying care resources, and scheduling visits. We previously reported that AWVs are associated with increased use of preventive care for patients with diabetes. In this study, our objective is to conduct a case-control study to examine whether AWVs are associated more strongly with preventive care use in the Diabetes Belt than in surrounding areas.
 Methods: We used a sample of ∼900,000 Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries who lived in the Diabetes Belt and surrounding areas in 2014 - 2015. We identified patients who have used an annual foot exam, eye exam, A1c test, and microalbuminuria (MA) test and those who did not in 2015. We used the dates of service receipt and the last day of the year (12/31) as the event date for users and non-users, respectively. We looked one full year before the event date to identify any AWVs. We used propensity-score stratification to estimate log odds of 4 preventive care use of annual foot exam, eye exam, A1c test, and MA test.
 Results: For all four services, AWV users had significantly higher preventive care use compared to non-users. In 3 preventive services, AWVs were more strongly associated with preventive care use in the Belt than in the surrounding areas (foot exam, ORs = 2.38 vs 2.16, p < 0.001; A1c test, ORs = 1.44 vs. 1.36, p = 0.002; MA test, ORs = 1.70 vs. 1.44, p < 0.001; eye exam, ORs 1.22 vs. 1.19, p=0.063) .
 Discussion: AWVs appear to have stronger effects on preventive care use for patients with diabetes in the more healthcare resource-poor Diabetes Belt than in the surrounding areas. AWVs may help to reduce disparities in the use of recommended preventive care for patients with diabetes.

 M.Sohn: None. T.L.Mcmurry: None. H.Kang: None. S.Kim: None. J.M.Lobo: n/a.

 NIDDK R01DK113295


A class of inhomogeneous elastic halfspaces with the shear velocity and density given by V2S(x2) = V2S∞ + (V2S0 - V2S∞) e-ex2, ρ(x2) = ρ∞ + (ρ0 - ρ∞) e-ex2, x2Є[0, ∞] are considered. Integral expressions for the surface displacements due to periodic point loads are obtained by directly solving the stress equations of motion of elasticity. Integration over the horizontal wave number E is carried out by numerical evaluation along a contour in the complex E-plane and the response to a pulse type of source is computed by means of the fast Fourier transform (f.F.t.). Theoretical seismograms display a clear refracted P arrival and normally dispersed Rayleigh waves although the onset of S waves is not distinct. An arrival closely following the refracted P wave is observed and seems to fit the characteristics of the pseudo P wave described by Gilbert & Laster (1962). Density variation appears to have little effect on the seismograms, thus indicating that assumptions of constant density in theoretical studies is perhaps reasonable.


We investigate the spectral properties of the Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical perfect matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary conditions. In the case of the anisotropic-medium PML formulation, we analyze the analytical properties of the constitutive PML tensors on the complex /spl omega/-plane. In the case of the complex-space PML formulation (complex coordinate stretching formulation), we analyze the analytical properties of field solutions directly. We determine the conditions under which the PMLs satisfy (or do not satisfy) causality requirements in the sense of the real-axis Fourier inversion contour. In the case of the noncausal PML, we point out the implications on the dynamic stability of time-domain equations and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. The conclusions have impact both on the design of PMLs for practical FDTD simulations and on the use of PML's as a physical basis for engineered artificial absorbers on nonplanar (concave or convex) surfaces. Numerical results illustrate the discussion.


Traumatic kidney injuries are the most frequent causes of retroperitoneal hematoma. The intensity of hematuria among other symptoms does not always correspond to the severity of the lesion. Apart from the i.v. urogram as the first screening test, angiography is the most important diagnostic criterion for the estimation of the degree of severity of the injury and in deciding whether or not surgery is necessary. Hemorrhage makes immediate surgery necessary in 10 - 20% of kidney ruptures. In contrast to the combined urohematoma, the simple hematoma is usually absorbed. Secondary complications make drainage or nephrectomy essential. The rupture of the venal vascular peduncle and ruptures of renal arterial aneurysms are seen seldom and are usually fatal. The mortality rate for urohematomas caused by rupture of the bladder/urethra increases, the longer corrective surgery is postponed. Clinically relevant retroperitoneal hematomas after kidney biopsies, operations on the renal parenchyma, and after vascular injuries resulting from angiography are relatively infrequent and require a specific therapy, according to the individual case.


The creation of an ideal learning environment is always a challenge, but when the environment is online and the learners are a diverse group of adults in a specialized content area, the challenges become even more complex. This best practices study used the intersection of the importance of the learner, Knowles' andragogy concepts, and the Dick and Carey instructional design model to make continuous needs assessment the cornerstone of three, graduate-level online courses during a single summer session. By active engagement in recursive learner analysis, the instructor was able to provide a personal and practical level of engagement in the asynchronous courses that ultimately benefited the students.


A novel dual-polarized microstrip patch antenna is presented. The antenna uses proximity-coupled microstrip feed lines along the patch corners and covers the full WCDMA/UMTS band with only a single radiating patch. The corner-fed patch arrangement results in two orthogonal linear polarizations along the patch diagonals with high isolation. The presented antenna can be applied in dual-slant polarized base station antenna arrays. The measured input matching of both ports at TX&RX bands of 1920-1980 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz is below -13.8 dB and the polarization isolation is more than 30 dB. Measured gain is about 10 dBi, and half-power beamwidths in the horizontal plane about 45deg -55deg . Cross-polarization is better than -22.5 dB.


In Robot-Soccer games, the intelligent referee system which is used to replace the human referee can perfectly simulate the thinking of human being. This paper presents an intelligent referee system, where we employ the conditional event algebra theory to make intelligent decision. In our system, we first estimate the single purpose of robots and overall purpose by searching the maximal probability of scheduled rules. Then we estimate the overall situation by calculating the favorable value according to the position and direction of ball, the home robots and the opponent robots. Combining the single and overall purpose with the field situation, we give the final results. In the experiments, the intelligent referee system based on conditional event algebra outputs satisfactory results.


Rainfall is the primary and most important component of any hydrological event. There is some amount of uncertainty in the future prediction of rainfall. The purpose of using SCL is the quantification of uncertainty involved in the prediction of rainfall. In the last few decades a considerable variation in the rainfall of the northern Pakistan has occurred. This might be due to the increase in temperature which is going to be threat for the water resources of Pakistan. So there is need to estimate the uncertainties involved in the estimation of the rainfall. In this paper an effort is being carried out to quantify the uncertainties in the average monthly rainfall for UIB using SCL (Stochastic Climate Library). In this paper an effort is being done to quantify the uncertainty involved in the average monthly rainfall data of rain gauge in Astor. Using the SCL the stochastic data is generated based upon the previous average monthly rainfall data of Astor from (1954 to 2000). Several statistics (annual and monthly) are computed to determine the behavior of the model and to compare them with the stochastic data produced.


Polydimethylsiloxane-block-polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-b-PS-b-PDMS) was synthesized by the radical polymerization of styrene using a polydimethylsiloxane-based macroazoinitiator (PDMS MAI) in supercritical CO2. PDMS MAI was synthesized by reacting hydroxy-terminated PDMS and 4,4′-azobis(4-cyanopentanoyl chloride) (ACPC) having a thermodegradable azo-linkage at room temperature. The polymerization of styrene initiated by PDMS MAI was investigated in a batch system using supercritical CO2 as the reaction medium. PDMS MAI was found to behave as a polyazoinitiator for radical block copolymerization of styrene, but not as a surfactant. The response surface methodology was used to design the experiments. The parameters used were pressure, temperature, PDMS MAI concentration and reaction time. These parameters were investigated at three levels (−1, 0 and 1). The dependent variable was taken as the polymerization yield of styrene. PDMS MAI and PDMS-b-PS-b-PDMS copolymers obtained were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy. The number- and weight-average molecular weights of block copolymers were determined by gel permeation chromatography. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry


The book brings together both the biological and engineering aspects of cereals in a very competent manner. Since the subject matter is tackled from a global point of view, it will find relevance in any part of the world, especially as this edition covers sorghum and millet in addition to rice and maize. It is an ideal textbook for any student in food science or technology as well as agriculture, agricultural engineering, nutrition and biology. It contains a very useful list of references at the end of every chapter, and bristles with facts, figures and statistics. The largest section of the book deals with wheat in terms of production, processing, food products, nutrition and food technology. Many of the techniques for both food and drink products are referred to including extrusion, fermentation and bread making, although little detail is given of on-farm storage and handling technology. Other cereals are covered in much less depth which makes the book more appropriate to the reader from temperate climates, but nevertheless to find a book which covers such a wide range of crops in this detail is most unusual. It is a very useful reference book and, although not unique in its field, is certainly one of the best. B. Clarke


Climatic effects of black carbon (BC) deposition on snow have been proposed to result from reduced snow albedo and increased melt due to light-absorbing particles. In this study, we hypothesize that BC may decrease the liquid-water retention capacity of melting snow, and present our first data, where both the snow density and elemental carbon content were measured. In our experiments, artificially added light-absorbing impurities decreased the density of seasonally melting natural snow. No relationship was found in case of natural non-melting snow. We also suggest three possible processes that might lead to lower snow density.


For fitting of ordered plane data by B-spline curve with the least squares, the genetic algorithm is generally used, accompanying the optimization on both the data parameter values and the knots to result in good robust, but easy to fall into local optimum, and without improved fitting precision by increasing the control points of the curve. So what we have done are: combining the particle swarm optimization algorithm into the B-spline curve fitting, taking full advantage of the distribution characteristic for the data, associating the data parameters with the knots, coding simultaneously the ordered data parameter and the number of the control points of the B-spline curve, proposing a new fitness function, dynamically adjusting the number of the control points for the B-spline curve. Experiments show the proposed particle swarm optimization method is able to adaptively reach the optimum curve much faster with much better accuracy accompanied less control points and less evolution times than the genetic algorithm.


A meta-analysis was carried out on the studies of chemotherapy of non small cell bronchial cancer published over the last fifteen years and this has demonstrated that the initial extent of the tumour was a significant prognostic factor in the response to treatment. A total of 6,247 patients were eligible for analysis: 1,435 with limited disease and 4,812 with disseminated disease. The objective and complete response levels for the overall group for those with limited disease and those with disseminated disease were respectively 25 and 3%, 34 and 5% and 22 and 3%. These differences were highly significant. The response level was significantly lower in cases of monotherapy when compared to combinations of cytostatic agents. In polychemotherapy, it was those combinations containing cisplatin, vindesine, vinblastine, mitomycin C and ifosfamide which were associated with the best results. An elevated dose of cisplatin (greater than or equal to 100 mg/m2) was also associated with a better response than those on the lower dose (less than or equal to 70 mg/m2). These differences were most clearly shown in those with limited disease.


The production of complex compounds from technically convenient microorganisms is an emerging route to the chemical diversity found in the surrounding environment. In this study, the antibiotic compound erythromycin A is produced from Escherichia coli as an alternative to native production through the soil bacterium Saccharopolyspora erythraea. By doing so, there is an opportunity to apply and refine engineering strategies for the manipulation of the erythromycin biosynthetic pathway and for the overproduction of this and other complex natural compounds. Previously, E. coli‐derived production was enabled by the introduction of the entire erythromycin pathway (20 genes total) using separately selectable expression plasmids which demonstrated negative effects on final biosynthesis through metabolic burden and plasmid instability. In this study, improvements to final production were made by altering the design of the expression plasmids needed for biosynthetic pathway introduction. Specifically, the total number of genes and plasmids was pruned to reduce both metabolic burden and plasmid instability. Further, a comparison was conducted between species‐specific (E. coli vs. S. coelicolor) protein chaperonins. Results indicate improvements in growth and plasmid retention metrics. The newly designed expression platform also increased erythromycin A production levels 5‐fold. In conclusion, the steps outlined in this report were designed to upgrade the E. coli erythromycin A production system, led to improved final compound titers, and suggest additional forms of pathway engineering to further improve results from heterologous production attempts. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 29:862–869, 2013


Abstract. A next-generation biogeochemical model was developed to
explore the impact of the native water source on microbially induced
desaturation and precipitation (MIDP) via denitrification. MIDP is a
non-disruptive, nature-based ground improvement technique that offers the
promise of cost-effective mitigation of earthquake-induced soil liquefaction
under and adjacent to existing structures. MIDP leverages native soil
bacteria to reduce the potential for liquefaction triggering in the short
term through biogenic gas generation (treatment completed within hours to
days) and over the longer term through calcium carbonate precipitation
(treatment completed in weeks to months). This next-generation
biogeochemical model expands earlier modeling to consider multi-phase
speciation, bacterial competition, inhibition, and precipitation. The
biogeochemical model was used to explore the impact of varying treatment
recipes on MIDP products and by-products in a natural seawater environment.
The case study presented herein demonstrates the importance of optimizing
treatment recipes to minimize unwanted by-products (e.g., H2S
production) or incomplete denitrification (e.g., nitrate and nitrite
accumulation).


The thesis is a study of archaeology viewed from a perspective informed by (a) social constructionist theory and pragmatism; (b) techniques of Belief and Knowledge Representation developed by Artificial Intelligence research and (c) the conception of history and historical practice propounded by the philosopher, historian and archaeologist, R.G. Collingwood. It is argued that Gibsonian affordances and von Uexkull's notion of the Umwelt, recently discussed by Rom Harre, provide the basis for a description and understanding of human action and agency. Further, belief and knowledge representation techniques embodied in Expert Systems and Intelligent Tutoring Systems provide a means of implementing models of human action which may bridge intentionality and process and thereby provide a unifying learning environment in which the relationships of language, social action and material transformation of the physical world can be explored in a unified way. The central claim made by the thesis is that Collingwood's logic (dialectic) of Question & Answer developed in 1917 as a hermeneutic procedure, may be seen as a fore-runner of Newell and Simon's Heuristic Search, and thereby amenable to modem approaches to problem solving. Collingwood's own approach to History/ Archaeology is grounded on many shared ideas with pragmatism and a social constructionist conception of mind and is conducted within a problem solving framework. Collingwood is therefore seen as a three-way bridge between Social Psychology, Artificial Intelligence and Archaeology. The thesis concludes that Social Psychology, Artificial Intelligence and Archaeology can be integrated through the use of Intelligent Tutoring Systems informed by a Collingwoodian perspective on Archaeology, Mind and History - construed as Mind's self-knowledge.


Mark-to-future aggregation is a key component of counterparty credit risk analysis in the IBM Algorithmics software. Its computation exhibits complex memory access and control flow patterns, and is hard to accelerate. The prior effort to improve performance takes a "pre-compiled" approach that aims to reduce the overhead and inefficiencies primarily through compiler techniques. While combined with other optimizations, the performance is improved by 3 to 5 times, many extra lines of code are dynamically generated. Maintenance and testing become a challenge. In our study we take a parallelism centric approach guided by hardware counter based profiling. Minimal modifications are made to the code and about 10 times speedup is achieved. We also study the behavior of mark-to-future aggregation on a NUMA platform. We evaluate the impact of architectural choices on the performance. Our study sheds some light on accelerating mark-to-future aggregation on current and emerging architectures.


Achalasia is usually a primary disorder of esophageal motility, but has been described in association with other pathological processes, such as malignancy. A 79-year-old man with achalasia secondary to gastric adenocarcinoma is presented. The differential diagnosis of secondary achalasia includes infectious and infiltrative disease and neuropathy, but mainly malignant diseases. The clinical criteria found for achalasia secondary to malignancy included older age at diagnosis, brief duration of symptoms, and weight loss. While upper gastrointestinal x-rays and computerized tomographic scanning may be helpful, the most reliable diagnostic tool is esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy. This is a terminal disease with short life expectancy. Yet making the correct diagnosis can save the patient from futile treatment with muscle relaxants and endoscopic balloon dilatation, the accepted therapeutic measures in primary achalasia.


Materials that catalyze efficient electrochemical N2 fixation would open up the possibility of using an N2/NH3 cycle to store and utilize energy from diffuse renewable sources. In such a cycle, N2 and H2O would be electrolytically transformed to NH3 and O2 in an electrolyzer powered by a renewable electricity source. With existing technologies, NH3 can be utilized in solid oxide fuel cells or combustion engines to generate electricity or work and regenerate N2 and H2O. In contrast to H2, which has received the most attention for fuel-based renewable energy storage, NH3 is easy to store in solid form by complexation with earth-abundant salts. Despite the attraction of an N2/NH3 cycle, to date no suitable electrocatalysts have been developed for this reaction. Moreover, there is no reliable dataset available that characterizes the activities of common electrode materials under any set of conditions. A principal obstacle to studying electrochemical N2 fixation and progressing towards a useful catalyst has been the lack of a sensitive and rapid method for NH3 quantification. Conventional spectrophotometric methods are cumbersome and prone to false positives from the presence of metal ions or other sample impurities. We have addressed this analytical problem by developing a device that quantifies NH3 liberated from an aqueous solution. This device accurately quantifies NH3 content in solutions with as little as a few hundred ppb of NH3 and reaches a saturation response within minutes. Because NH3 is removed from a solution prior to detection, this method is completely immune to interference from metal ions or other electrolyte impurities that impair spectrophotometric methods. Using this unique analytical tool, we have begun determining the N2 reduction activity of a large collection of metal electrodes in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes. We have also constructed electrolysis cells suitable for evaluating catalysts in gas diffusion electrodes that provide much higher concentrations of N2 at the catalyst surface. The information available from these studies will provide the foundation for the subsequent discovery and development of catalysts that are suitable for use in an electrolytic device.


Posttraumatic social interactions are among the most robust predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following trauma, but social interactions have been widely defined and quantified in the literature. This study explored whether negative social interactions were more strongly associated with PTSD symptoms than positive interactions among adults recently exposed to a traumatic event, as well as factors that moderate these associations. Participants (N = 149) were assessed by the clinician-administered PTSD scale and completed self-reported measures of social interactions and disclosure style. Only negative social interactions, specifically general societal disapproval and disapproval from family and friends, emerged as significant predictors of PTSD severity in a multiple regression analysis. Sex, trauma type, and dysfunctional disclosure style did not moderate relationships between negative social interactions and PTSD severity. Findings imply that negative social interactions may be more integral to trauma recovery than positive ones. Clinical implications are discussed.


The use of metallic heads articulating with metallic cups could solve the problem of polyethylene (PE) wear in total hip replacement (THR) with metal-on-PE bearings. A conspicuous release of metal ions from new models of metal-on-metal bearings has been found in the short-term, but it is yet unclear whether the medium-term corrosion rate is high or, on the contrary, it becomes negligible, because of the continuous surface finishing. Our purpose was to compare the serum ion values (nanograms per milliliter) in 15 patients with metal-on-metal stable prosthesis (Group A), in the short-term (subgroup A(1); mean follow-up: 24 mo) and medium-term (subgroup A(2); mean follow-up: 52 mo), in order to determine whether the ion release decreased with time of implant. Chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo) and aluminum (Al) were analyzed. Twenty-two presurgical patients were used for comparison (Group B). The reference range was obtained from a population of 27 healthy subjects (Group C). Co and Cr levels in the medium-term (subgroup A(2)) were not decreased in comparison with the short-term values (subgroup A(1)) and were significantly higher (p < 0.001) than presurgical and reference values. Otherwise, Mo and Al concentrations were not significantly increased in comparison with reference values. In conclusion, despite the apparent advantage of metal-on-metal coupling, especially in younger patient populations, there is a major concern about the extent and duration of the relevant "internal" exposure to Cr and Co ions. This exposure should be carefully monitored, in order to clarify the biologic effects of ion dissemination and, consequently, to identify risks concerning long-term toxicity of metals.


Movement of pesticides from fields in runoff water and on sediment can degrade surface waters. Research typically found that because of the high water-to-sediment ratio, the total amount of pesticide in water greatly exceeded that associated with sediment. These observations suggested that erosion control would have little effect in reducing pesticide transport from the field. A laboratory study was conducted in a miniature furrow system to determine whether reduction in erosion would contribute to a reduction of napropamide [2-α-naphthoxy)-N,N-diethylpropionamide] transport. Variable erosion was created by polymer addition to the water combined with using variable water flow rates. Bromide was used as a nonsorbing independent tracer. Napropamide transport was linearly related to the amount of fine soil particulates eroded. Bromide transport was independent of the amount of erosion, and the percentage of the applied Br - removed in the runoff was less than that of napropamide. The results indicate that reduction in erosion of fine particulates will result in reduced transport of sorbed pesticides from the field.


The suggested uses of relaxation given by the technique of Freud coupled with the findings of Jacobson, Ferenczi and Bagchi have prompted the investigator to make some observations of the function of relaxation in rational psychotherapy. This presupposes that relaxation is used with considerable discretion. The investigation has been stimulated by a growing tendency in the Fort Hays Kansas State College Psychological Clinic to treat patients from the standpoint of the whole individual until specific traumata can be discovered In considering the value of relaxation, it may be well to think of the individual in much the same manner as does Lewin in setting forth the principles of topological psychology. The investigator considers the individual as a complex system of tensions operating in a topological field of forces. Anything which affects the individual affects more or less the entire individual and his adjustment toward the forces which limit his activity. In the mentally and physically healthy individual, all of these tensions and forces are in balance. When the system is thrown out of balance, it seems well to suppose that the first step in restoring the healthy balance is to reduce to a minimum the tens ions surrounding the individual. It is indicated that the real tension or disturbing factor can be more easily discovered if all extraneous tensions are removed. The system probably cannot be restored to complete balance, however, until the real trauma is removed or adjusted to.


The generation of the set of all ground actions for a given set of ADL operators, which are allowed to have conditional effects and preconditions that can be represented using arbitrary first-order formulas is a complex process which heavily influences the performance of any planner or pre-planning analysis method. The paper describes a sophisticated instantiation procedure that determines so-called inertia in a given problem representation and uses them to perform simplifications of formulas during the instantiation process. As a result, many inapplicable actions are detected and ruled out from the domain representation yielding a much smaller search space for the planner.


In this paper, we consider the problem of finding the minimum entropy coloring of a characteristic graph under some conditions which allow it to be in polynomial time. This problem arises in the functional compression problem where the computation of a function of sources is desired at the receiver. The rate region of the functional compression problem has been considered in some references under some assumptions. Recently, Feizi et al. computed this rate region for a general one-stage tree network and its extension to a general tree network. In their proposed coding scheme, one needs to compute the minimum entropy coloring (a coloring random variable which minimizes the entropy) of a characteristic graph. In general, finding this coloring is an NP-hard problem (as shown by Cardinal et al.). However, in this paper, we show that depending on the characteristic graph's structure, there are some interesting cases where finding the minimum entropy coloring is not NP-hard, but tractable and practical. In one of these cases, we show that, having a non-zero joint probability condition on RVs' distributions, for any desired function f, makes characteristic graphs to be formed of some non-overlapping fully-connected maximal independent sets. Therefore, the minimum entropy coloring can be solved in polynomial time. In another case, we show that if f is a quantization function, this problem is also tractable.


Posture assessment aims to determine the risk associated with poor posture and thus avoid injury in subjects. Upper-body posture assessment from images offers an attractive alternative to manual methods by directly extracting relevant features for classification. A deep convolutional neural network is proposed to extract structured features from different body parts and learn shared features that are used to determine the appropriate assessment. The structured features are learned with triplet-based rank constraints based on head and torso separately. The shared feature and assessment function are learned with soft-max constraints based on posture risk measurements. Experimental evaluation on a self-collected upper-body posture dataset has verified the efficacy of the proposed method and network architecture.


Background— The calibration of several cardiac clinical prediction models has deteriorated over time. We compare different model fitting approaches for in-hospital mortality after cardiac surgery that adjust for cross-sectional case mix in a heterogeneous patient population. Methods and Results— Data from >300 000 consecutive cardiac surgery procedures performed at all National Health Service and some private hospitals in England and Wales between April 2001 and March 2011 were extracted from the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research clinical registry. The study outcome was in-hospital mortality. Model approaches included not updating, periodic refitting, rolling window, and dynamic logistic regression. Covariate adjustment was made in each model using variables included in the logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation model. The association between in-hospital mortality and some variables changed with time. Notably, the intercept coefficient has been steadily decreasing during the study period, consistent with decreasing observed mortality. Some risk factors, such as operative urgency and postinfarct ventricular septal defect, have been relatively stable over time, whereas other risk factors, such as left ventricular function and surgery on the thoracic aorta, have been associated with lower risk relative to the static model. Conclusions— Dynamic models or periodic model refitting is necessary to counteract calibration drift. A dynamic modeling framework that uses contemporary and available historic data can provide a continuously smooth update mechanism that also allows for inferences to be made on individual risk factors. Better models that withstand the effects of time give advantages for governance, quality improvement, and patient-level decision making.


The second-generation air-Q® intubating laryngeal airway is a newer commercially available supraglottic airway device. In this retrospective review, we describe our initial clinical experience of 70 insertions. The ease and number of insertion attempts, airway leak pressure, device positioning, duration of use, success of fibreoptic-aided intubation and oropharyngeal morbidity were recorded. The intubating laryngeal airway was successfully inserted in all 70 patients and functioned adequately as a primary airway in all 57 patients in which it was used. The median airway leak pressure was 25 and 30 cmH2O for the single-use and reusable devices (P=0.001), respectively. Fibreoptic-aided intubation using the intubating laryngeal airway as a conduit was successful in 12/13 (92%) cases. One in four (26%) patients complained of mild sore throat postoperatively before discharge. In our series, the intubating laryngeal airway performed adequately as a primary airway during anaesthesia with respect to ease of insertion, adequacy of airway maintenance, and as a conduit for intubation in both anticipated and unanticipated difficult airways. Further investigation is warranted regarding the role of the intubating laryngeal airway as a conduit for both blind and fibreoptic-aided intubation. In addition, the incidence of postoperative throat complaints deserves further scrutiny.


Introduction This innovative and ground breaking DVD will help people with learning disabilities become more comfortable around talking about dying. People with learning disabilities are often marginalised and excluded from conversations about their own and others' wishes around dying, death and bereavement and this can cause great pain and anger. We want to change this. Aims The DVD aims to: ▶ Demonstrate that people with learning disabilities can be fully involved in talking about dying, understanding choice and planning for things during their life. ▶ Inspire other people with learning disabilities to make their choices and preferences clear about issues around dying, death and bereavement. Methods The DVD includes the views, ideas and hopes of people with a learning disability, and other people involved in their lives. The project team devised games and exercises focused on "Things to do before you die" and "Things you want to be remembered for". Filming and editing were carried out by a community based company, and the whole team worked together to produce the final version. Results People with learning disabilities responded magnificently to this opportunity to engage in discussions and voice their own wishes. It demonstrates the huge potential for such a resource to be used by people with learning disabilities on their own, or with others as a prompt for conversations. Discussion The attempts by individuals and organisations to be "gatekeepers" and protect their clients from getting involved in this project highlighted the need for it. Conclusion This film demonstrates that people with learning disabilities can be fully involved in discussions about dying, death and bereavement. We hope it will be widely to ensure that people with learning disabilities can live well to the very end of their lives.


Da'wa recently can be done with various ways and media. One of them is via television, especially television cinema (sinetron). Sinetron becomes attractive program for audience because of its combination of colour design, lighting, picture configuration and sound that makes audience more pleasant. More over, sinetron tries to reveal the real life of human being. This article is to analyze the sinetron Misteri Ilahi Kabut Dosa. Which was broadcast by Indosiar in the first week of March 2007. Kabut Dosa is the sinetron containing massages of da 'wa such as that forbidden to muslim to permitted all things blindly.


A new polyconitid rudist, Magallanesia canaliculata gen. et sp. nov., of probably late Albian age, is described from the Pulangbato area, central Cebu Island, the Philippines in the western Central Pacific and Takuyo‐Daini Seamount, now located in the Northwest Pacific. It is similar to Praecaprotina Yabe and Nagao, 1926, a Japanese–Central Pacific endemic genus of late Aptian – early Albian age, but differs in having canals that developed by partitioning of the large ectomyophoral cavity in the posterior part of the left valve. Its discovery strengthens the evidence for Pacific endemism in Albian times. Several other clades of canaliculate rudists flourished or evolved at the same time in different regions of the Tethyan Realm, suggesting the presence of common global biological and/or environmental factors stimulating the evolution of the canals despite such endemism. Furthermore, the finding of a canaliculate polyconitid provides evidence in favour of the evolutionary hypothesis of a polyconitid origin for the Late Cretaceous canaliculate rudist family Plagioptychidae Douvillé, 1888.


This paper proposes an offline solution for global path provisioning in new-generation optical networks based on the generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) paradigm. This solution is based on a multilayer approach, which involves both the optical and the electrical layers and optimizes the network configuration and traffic routing. The proposed global provisioning solution can be easily combined with dynamic routing solutions, providing the network with the possibility of reacting promptly to traffic changes. Data flows are assumed to be structured into label switched paths (LSPs), which represent the connection in a GMPLS-based network, at any hierarchical level. The global provisioning issue is a difficult optimization problem. As a solution, we propose a new heuristic algorithm based on the shortest path computation and a mathematical programming approach, which makes use of the optimization solver CPLEX. A large computational study shows the effectiveness of the former, in terms of quality of the solutions. The advantages of the multilayer provisioning strategy are analyzed in a relevant case study by evaluating the network congestion.


Objective: Endocrinopathies are a commonly occurring entity, particularly those of the thyroid gland, however there is death of scientific literature from Afghanistan, a country with very limited health care facilities and resources. This is the first study aimed to describe the frequency of occurrence and factor associated with thyroid dysfunction in Afghan population. The aim of this study is to estimate the frequency and to identify factors associated with thyroid dysfunction among individuals coming to a tertiary care facility in Kabul, Afghanistan.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to Sep 2018 at the Department of Clinical Pathology, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, Afghanistan. Blood samples were obtained, serum TSH levels were analyzed, and the patients were divided into three diagnostic categories according to their serum TSH concentrations: 1) Hypothyroidism 2) Hyperthyroidism 3) normal.Results: A total of 127 individuals were included in the final analysis. Majority study participants (77%) were females. A large number of the participants (92%) did not have family history of thyroid dysfunction. (74%) participants in the study had normal TSH levels classified as normal thyroid function, (14%) had lower TSH levels and (12%) higher TSH levels (Table 1) classified as hyper and hypothyroid respectively.Conclusion: The findings of the current study showed a high frequency of thyroid dysfunctions from a single center. Further large scale studies are needed to find out the prevalence and document this entity for better health outcomes in the country.


Mars Mission profile options and mission requirements data are presented for earth-Mars opposition and conjunction class round-trip flyby and stopover mission opportunities. The opposition-class flyby and sprint mission uses direct transfer trajectories to and on return from Mars. The opposition-class stopover mission employs the gravitational field of Venus to accelerate the space vehicle on either the outbound or inbound leg in order to reduce the propulsion requirement associated with the opposition-class mission. The conjunction-class mission minimizes propulsion requirements by optimizing the stopover time at Mars. Representative interplanetary space vehicle systems are sized to compare and show sensitivity of the initial mass required in low earth orbit to one mission profile option and mission opportunity to another.


The most general supersymmetric model with minimal particle content and an additional discrete Ƶ(_3) symmetry, which allows lepton number violating terms, is considered. In this model, we calculate at the level of one-loop the resulting Majorana neutrino masses and the flavour violating radiative decays of charged leptons, ﺎ→ﺎ'γ. We first study the neutral scalar sector of the model, performing a calculable rotation of the scalar fields to a basis in which the sneutrino vacuum expectation values are zero. Lagrangian parameters are initialised without recourse to assumptions concerning trilinear or bilinear terms, CP-conservation or intergenerational mixing and one-loop corrections to the neutrino masses are analysed. We present scenarios in which the experimental data are reproduced. We find that with bilinear lepton number violating couplings in the superpotential of the order 1MeV the atmospheric mass scale can be reproduced. Certain trilinear superpotential couplings, usually of the order of the electron Yukawa coupling can give rise to either atmospheric or solar mass scales and bilinear supersymmetry breaking terms of the order 0.1 GeV(^2) can set the solar mass scale. Taking parameters which correctly describe the neutrino sector, we consider their repercussions in flavour violating radiative lepton decays. Such decays have not been observed and upper bounds on their branching ratios exist. We note that certain parameter sets, which correctly describe the neutrino sector, will also generate observable branching ratios and suggest four such sets as Benchmarks scenarios. We present as Appendices the full set of Feynman Rules for the general super- symmetric standard model with minimal particle content and details of the loop calculations in the Weyl spinor notation.


Positioning on Mars is one of the critical aspects of every planetary mission. Current complex planetary exploration systems (orbital and surface) rely on complex navigation and positioning systems, which make these systems complicated, expensive and their missions dangerous. The project of the global navigation satellite system for Mars (proposed system name – FATIMA) can make this and even future manned missions more safe, less expensive and the whole positioning in real time more reliable. The GNSS can be used by more systems or users simultaneously. In this research paper we focus on possible positioning errors when such a system is used. This research is focused on the GDOP – Geometric Dilution of Precision as one of the main factors influencing the GNSS.


Background: This article outlines the role of cooperatives in local economic development (LED) within participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) approach in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), South Africa. The Department of Trade and Industry acknowledged the inadequacy of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of cooperatives. This lack of M&E of cooperatives' role in LED has also affected cooperatives in BCMM. Aim: The study sought to establish the contributory role of cooperatives in promoting LED outcomes and to determine the extent to which the PM&E was capable of capacitating cooperatives. Setting: The study is based in East London and the target population is primary cooperatives. Primary cooperatives are defined by Buffalo City Integrated Cooperative Development Strategy (ICDS) as cooperatives that have at least five members, with an aim of providing employment to members. Methods: The research design for the study is exploratory and inductive. The study adopted qualitative research approach that combines participatory action research (PAR) and PM&E. Two sets of data collection such as focus group interviews (FGIs) and e-mailed questionnaire (EQ) were used. Results: It was established that cooperatives have not yet achieved their contributory role of promoting LED, specifically in terms of job creation. Conclusion: Based on the findings it was recommended that capacity building and training with regard to M&E should not focus on conventional M&E, but rather on PM&E, where cooperatives become involved in the M&E of their business.


Background: Marital commitment and marital burnout are general evaluations of the value system in spouses marital or romantic relationship, which relate to different factors. The present study was conducted with the aim to investigate the relationship between value system, and marital commitment and marital burnout. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive correlational study. The study population included all married nurses working in the hospitals of Tehran, Iran. The sample included 340 nurses selected using multistage cluster sampling method. In this study, marital commitment was evaluated using Adams and Jones Marital Commitment Survey, burnout and its dimensions using Pines Couple Burnout Measure, and value system using Schwartz Value System Questionnaire. For data analysis, the Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression were used. Results: According to the results, the variables of value system had a significant relationship with marital commitment (r = 0.7, P less-than 0.05) and they completely explained 0.48% of the variance of marital commitment. The predicted model was significant (f = 32.73, P less-than 0.05). The results showed that the variables of value system and marital burnout had a significant relationship (r = 0.46, P less-than 0.05). Moreover, value system completely explained 0.18% of the variance of marital burnout; hence, the predicted model was significant (f = 8.88, P less-than 0.05). Conclusions: It can be concluded that the value system can raise commitment and reduce marital burnout, and its components will eventually cause stability in the family.


In this thesis different systems of education at the time of the Second Industrial Revolution are compared. The systems of eudcation of Britain, Germany and the Netherlands are compared. An analysis is being made of how differences in these systems of education affected economic and industrial development in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands at the time of the Second Industrial Revolution.


Herein, we report adsorption kinetic and adsorption isotherm studies on indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) and madder (Rubia tinctorum) colorants for dyeing wool in one and two dye baths. Two kinetic equations, pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order equations, were employed to investigate the adsorption rate. The pseudo-second-order model provided the best fit to the experimental data. This suggests that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model closely describes the sorption process of indigo and madder colorants for dyeing wool in one and two dye baths. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted using the Nernst, Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin isotherm models. The adsorption behavior was also in good agreement with the Temkin−Nernst model. However, the pseudo second rate constants obtained for both dyes [K(indigo)=1.543 g.g -1 .min -1 and K(madder)=0.078 g.g -1 .min -1 ] and their optimal dyeing conditions are significantly different. Moreover, the magnitude of the Temkin parameter (BT) of indigo (BT=-3.621) is lower than that obtained for madder (BT=-0.122) for dyeing in two dye baths, which indicates the best coverage of wool fibres by indigo. These results suggest that indigo and madder are not compatible and cannot be mixed in a single dye bath. The complexity of the adsorption isotherms indicates the formation of stronger bonds between the dyes and wool fibres. This indicates that the both dyeing methods (mixed dyeing in one and two dye baths) achieve rigid fixation and an excellent degree of washing fastness.


Literature has indicated that, experimentally, solvent fronts in hybrid solvent recovery processes progress more rapidly than what can be predicted using current approximations and more rapidly than thermal processes alone. Research using finite differences to model the nonlinear advection, diffusion and dispersion (ADD) equation suggests that nonlinear mass transfer effects are important in predicting the rate of solvent advance. Nonlinearities can be ascribed to both diffusion and flow velocity functionality. Earlier work using linear concentration dependent diffusion and log-linear velocity behaviour confirmed the importance of nonlinear effects when compared to linear theory that uses constant diffusion, dispersion and velocity coefficients. The mathematical nature of the nonlinear ADD equation further suggests that the shape of concentration dependent diffusion and flow velocity will affect the shape of the solvent concentration profiles, and influence the rate of propagation of the solvent front. This research focuses on results obtained using finite differences to explore the effects of various diffusion and velocity functionalities that affect the solvent rate propagation using a nonlinear ADD equation. The results obtained from this analysis indicate that these functionalities determine the shape of the solvent concentration profile. The concentration dependent diffusion and velocity functions were chosen according to recent literature which proposes experimentally obtained functions to more accurately model solvent penetration in the media. Preliminary results from this study suggest that the velocity functionality has more influence on the process at both the lab and field scales for the parameters considered in this study. The shapes of the concentration profiles are affected by both diffusion functionality and velocity functionality.


Despite persistent uninformed and unscientific beliefs, the status of sign languages as proper languages has been deeply recognised by contemporary research. However, from the point of view of modern Linguistics, the peculiar properties of sign languages pose a challenge to some traditional notions which have been employed so far to describe linguistic phenomena. The present paper explores some key-concepts in Linguistics which should be redefined, such as phonetics, channel, and the relationship between signifier and signified, and suggests ways in which these notions could be reconceptualized in order to be 'descriptively inclusive' of all natural languages.


Cordelia and her beloved T. rex, Rex, take to the beach in this latest installment of Idle's unfailingly charming Rex series (Camp Rex, BCCB 5/14, etc.). Continuing the ironic relationship between gently guiding prose and whimsical images that subvert textual advice, Idle provides plenty of humor, with, for instance, a giggle-inducing view of Rex sporting a pool float around his waist and a tiny sailor's hat on his head amidst the hijinks caused by seagulls, cannonball jumps, and little brothers. The dynamic illustrations, rendered in color pencil on vellum, make the most of a sunny, retro-toned palette, with pinks, corals, and shades of blue sweeping the page in both snapshot-like panels and immersive double-page spreads. With the addition of dino buddies—a sunbathing, salmon-colored triceratops, a lifeguarding, tangelo-toned pterodactyl, and a snorkeling, cerulean stegosaurus—Idle raises the endearing level. A perfect primer for summer fun, this is a sweet and silly readaloud. AA


In February 2017, the Lombardy Region (Italy) provided some indications for the surveillance of invasive bacterial diseases, including the need to perform molecular tests together with culture and other diagnostic tests. Starting from September 2017, the Microbiology and Virology Unit of ASST Lecco has acquired the FilmArray system (BioMérieux, Marcy-l'Étoile, France) which includes the Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) panel, able to identify 14 common pathogens responsible for community acquired meningitis or encephalitis including virus, bacteria and yeast with molecular technology directly from cerebrospinal fluid (CFS). In 2018, the organizational model implemented has provided to use of the FilmArray system by the TSLB dedicated to microbiology during routine hours (8.00-16.30) and by the TSLB of Clinical Pathology on active guard from 16.30 to 8.00 with validation of the analysis by the Manager available. The new organization, which involved the use of the FilmArray ME h 24 panel by the TSLB who works belonging to Clinical Pathology and Microbiology and Virology, has allowed a considerable reduction of response times in case of suspected meningitis.


Bioeroding sponges erode and live in calcium carbonate substrates such as coral skeleton. The most obvious reason for this lifestyle is shelter from grazers and predators, but this has never been conclusively shown. To investigate this we collected Siphonodictyon mucosum Bergquist, 1965 and Cliothosa auri villii (Lindgren, 1898), 2 lesser-studied bio eroding sponges common in coral rock at Orpheus Island, central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. During sampling we broke up blocks of dead coral that contained the sponges and ob served post-fracture healing processes. Even though both sponges produce large erosion chambers and their endolithic tissue is soft and easily ruptured, they initially displayed early signs of healing, showing some scarring after only 3 to 4 days. However, endo lithic tissue of S. mucosum specimens exposed to direct sunlight did not continue to heal, but rotted away, while shaded tissue fully healed, toughened and turned brown-black like the external fistules. Likewise, endolithic tissue of C. aurivillii showed signs of healing by contracting, toughening and flattening, but after about 2 wk, some C. aurivillii individuals nevertheless began to rot and had patches of orange sediment underneath them. Their undersides were teeming with copepods. A closer investigation re vealed that the copepods had orange stomach contents the colour of the sponge tissue and produced rust-coloured faeces collecting underneath the sponges. Hence, being endolithic has multiple sheltering functions beyond the obvious escape from grazers and predators, very likely in cluding shading, shielding from parasites and disease, and saving on maintenance costs.