loss of mobility he has always displayed the euphoria which as a student I learnt was characteristic of disseminated sclerosis. On 14 August I dropped in to see him and was struck by the fact that he was depressed and quite unlike his usual self. I do not have television in my house and knew nothing of the programme. It was only when I was leaving the house that his wife told me that this change came on after he had seen the programme on the Friday night. The programme was apparently called "Pioneers of Hope" but I gather it was what he learnt about possible bladder complications which destroyed any hope he might have had. Is it really a good thing for the general public to see and hear a layman putting questions to doctors who do not know the certain answers and have different opinions about possible theoretical solutions ? R N RUTHERFURD


Numerous studies report that standard volatility models have low explanatory power, leading some researchers to question whether these models have economic value. We examine this question by using conditional mean-variance analysis to assess the value of volatility timing to short-horizon investors. We find that the volatility timing strategies outperform the unconditionally efficient static portfolios that have the same target expected return and volatility. This finding is robust to estimation risk and transaction costs.


Breast cancer (BC) in young adult patients (YA) has a more aggressive biological behavior and is associated with a worse prognosis than BC arising in middle aged patients (MA). We proposed that differentially expressed miRNAs could regulate genes and proteins underlying aggressive phenotypes of breast tumors in YA patients when compared to those arising in MA patients. Objective: Using integrated expression analyses of miRs, their mRNA and protein targets and stromal gene expression, we aimed to identify differentially expressed profiles between tumors from YA-BC and MA-BC. Methodology and Results: Samples of ER+ invasive ductal breast carcinomas, divided into two groups: YA-BC (35 years or less) or MA-BC (50–65 years) were evaluated. Screening for BRCA1/2 status according to the BOADICEA program indicated low risk of patients being carriers of these mutations. Aggressive characteristics were more evident in YA-BC versus MA-BC. Performing qPCR, we identified eight miRs differentially expressed (miR-9, 18b, 33b, 106a, 106b, 210, 518a-3p and miR-372) between YA-BC and MA-BC tumors with high confidence statement, which were associated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics. The expression profiles by microarray identified 602 predicted target genes associated to proliferation, cell cycle and development biological functions. Performing RPPA, 24 target proteins differed between both groups and 21 were interconnected within a network protein-protein interactions associated with proliferation, development and metabolism pathways over represented in YA-BC. Combination of eight mRNA targets or the combination of eight target proteins defined indicators able to classify individual samples into YA-BC or MA-BC groups. Fibroblast-enriched stroma expression profile analysis resulted in 308 stromal genes differentially expressed between YA-BC and MA-BC. Conclusion: We defined a set of differentially expressed miRNAs, their mRNAs and protein targets and stromal genes that distinguish early onset from late onset ER positive breast cancers which may be involved with tumor aggressiveness of YA-BC.


ERP systems have great influence on the tax auditing in enterprises implemented by the taxation authorities. This paper analyzes the influence caused by ERP on tax auditing and the countermeasures can be taken by the tax auditors. The major influence caused by ERP on tax auditing is as follows. The visible tax auditing clues reduce. The emphases of tax auditing should be changed. And the data collection of tax auditing becomes more difficult. In order to deal with the influence caused by ERP systems, the tax auditors should take the following countermeasures: Strengthen the controls before the establishment and during the operation of ERP Systems. Restrict enterprise's financial activities and tax behaviors according to the law. Choose tax auditing method carefully in ERP Systems. And develop tax auditing software adapted to the ERP environment.


Un-promoted and promoted Co/SiO2 catalysts with ZrO2 and Ru were prepared and the catalytic performances for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis were investigated. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption/desorption, and X-ray absorption techniques. XRD suggested that the cobalt species presence in all prepared catalysts was Co3O4. Promoted catalyst with ZrO2 and Ru showed high distribution of cobalt on silica surface resulted in smaller Co3O4 crystalline size than un-promoted ones. From the reaction testing, the obtained products of C1 to C9 from un-promoted and promoted Co/SiO2 were studied.


What and how much an individual eats largely defines his/her health. The most used dietary intervention models target individuals' concern for personal health, thereby undermining the interdisciplinary trajectory of the nutrition field. The purpose of this study was to compare the food choice motives of students enrolled in an interdisciplinary learning community (LCOM) to students enrolled in a non-integrated nutrition course and gain insight into student experiences with interdisciplinary nutrition education. A two-phase sequential mixed methods design was used. The first phase compared the personal health and ethical concern motives of the LCOM (n = 13) and non-integrated students (n = 60). The secondary phase employed a web-based interview to explore the LCOM experiences. Both groups highly valued the ability of food to improve personal health. There was no statistically significant difference in the ethical concern motives between the two groups however, interview responses revealed that LCOM participants made dietary changes as a result of ethical concern. The study concluded that participants made dietary choices based on personal health, regardless of the type of nutrition education received, and the LCOM was effective in developing a greater value for ethical concern. The learning community framework could provide a rich education experience that helps students develop an improved sense of social responsibility and initiate behavior change. Recommendations included how health and nutrition departments could integrate related disciplines into nutrition curricula. Future research examining the longevity of motives is needed to explore the effectiveness of this educational framework in producing lasting behavior change.


Living with chronic diseases has an enormous impact in patient's daily life. Those who feel that impact on their day-to-day especially regarding with the management of the disease itself, often end up getting solutions to overcome the difficulties becoming both "User Innovator" and "User Patient". If we associate to this detail, the professional experience as a "User Designer" then, we can probably reduce the step's number during the iterative Design Process that is used to develop a digital system, as the research we are covering. We intend to analyze these problems concerning the model "Human-Social Interaction model for e-health interfaces" presented on this paper. We include three axes and their specifications. "User Innovator" with personal experience (Own needs, motivation and recognize news sets of designs); "User Designer" with Interaction Design skills (Interaction design, usability tests and wireframe); "User Patient" with Cronic Disease (Experience, patient perspective and social integration).


: The article presents the analysis of data of "Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health, 2007-2010" (SAGE) concerning subjective judging of health, prevalence of ischemic heart disease under different levels of arterial pressure in similar age groups. An attempt is made to evaluate spectrum of pharmaceuticals applied in treatment of patients with arterial pressure in hospital at the level of oblast hospital. According official statistics of Minzdrav of Russia, in 20102 prevalence of diseases characterized by higher arterial pressure amounted to 10.5% in adult population and to 22.3% in population older than able-bodied age. At the same time, according SAGE data, prevalence of various forms of hypertension disease in population older than 50 years amounted to 52.8%. That is, this pathology is often missed in conditions of mass medical network. Thereafter, patients receive no necessary medicinal therapy. The one or another treatment was provided to almost 94% of patients with hypertension disease diagnosed by physician. At that, among patients received treatment the normal levels of both systolic and diastolic pressure were established in less than 20% of patients with hypertension. Therefore, the issue of effectiveness of applied methods of correction of arterial hypertension become a matter of interest. The appropriate treatment of hypertension is a mean to decrease complications and as a result to diminish mortality of diseases of circulatory system.


An accurate temperature gradient calculation is essential for displacement ventilation (DV) system design, since it directly relates to the calculation of supply air flow rate. Several simplified nodal models were developed and implemented in the various building simulation programmes in order to estimate the temperature stratification in rooms with displacement ventilation. However, the most commonly used models do not count the types and locations of the typical heat loads in rooms with displacement ventilation. As a result, the calculated air temperature in the occupied zone can defer from the real one, which causes poor thermal comfort and inadequate sizing of the ventilation system. In the present study, five simplified nodal models are analysed and validated with the experimental results in two measurement setups. In addition, the effect of the room heights and locations of the indoor heat sources were studied for the typical office environment. The experiments demonstrate that displacement ventilation provides even temperature gradient throughout the simulated office room spaces. The influence of the room height on the vertical temperature gradient is significant in the cases with high-level heat loads. The novel nodal model demonstrates an accurate calculation of the temperature gradient for the typical heat loads office layouts.


Abstract:
 In order to identify the distinctive traits of old-growth forests in a Mediterranean context, deadwood occurrence and forest stand structures were investigated in remote forests not subject to anthropogenic disturbance over the past few decades. Five study sites in south-central Italy were selected, and structural parameters were recorded in 1-ha plots. Living trees, deadwood, types, and decay stages were inventoried in the selected sites. Living tree volumes and amounts of deadwood indicated large variability among the investigated forest stands, ranging from 363 to 702 m3·ha_1 for living trees and from 17 to 143 m3·ha_1 for deadwood. Downed deadwood was the most abundant component, due to the natural mortality occurring in the stands. Stumps were the least common among the types of deadwood. All the decay classes were present in each study site. The main structural features useful for characterizing these old-growth forest stands included a multi-sized diameter distribution of living trees, the presence of small-scale gap dynamics, tree height heterogeneity, and high values of living volume and basal area. A ratio of dead to living wood not lower than 10%, downed deadwood much more abundant than standing deadwood, and a large range of deadwood size and decay classes across all the deadwood components are useful traits for tracking old-growth stages in these Mediterranean forests.


The application of seismic, DC geoelectric and GPR technique in combination with CPT-surveys has been tested in order to describe the subsurface structures of construction sites for traffic and transportation systems more effectively and reliable. First field tests are carried out at a test site. 15 CPT surveys were done along a profile of 700 m length. The results show that the field is characterized by a channel structure of different sediment and a changing stiffness of material in the deeper underground. Afterwards a seismic survey was done with a land-streamer (4.5 Hz geophones). The data were generated into shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles by MASW (Multi Channel Analysis of Surface Waves). The analysis of shear waves display the layering in the shallow underground and the changing of stiffness in the deeper ground. The DC geoelectric and GPR are more sensitive for the anomaly caused by the channel. The results show that the applied geophysical methods are suitable to display geotechnical relevant structures at our test side. In future, geophysical investigations will be evaluated as a prerequisite for reliable and less expensive geotechnical surveys. Furthermore, the derivation of geotechnical parameters from geophysical investigation will be tested.


The contemporary protective structures are now critical elements of the floating units, military, public and other objects. Their task is to weaken the effects of a terrorist action against selected areas with the use of explosives or projectiles. The knowledge of material behaviour at high strain rates is essential for designing the ballistic shields. The hull external shells of the Polish Navy ships now in service do not meet the requirements of ballistic anti-terrorist shields against small arms shooting or the rocket and shell splinters. This is a significant problem in the case of defending a ship against terrorist attack threats. Therefore, there is a tendency for building internal and external ballistic shields in the ship hull structure to protect the critical compartments and action stations. The paper presents investigations of materials subjected to high strain rates, with the 10GHMBA E-620 bainitic steel as an example. The experiments were carried out on the MTS 810.12 testing machine, rotary impact testing hammer, the Taylor test stand and on the ballistic pendulum. In the final part of the paper, some numerical simulations are presented allowing to analyse the fast-changing processes arising during loading the structure by an impact of high velocity bodies.


Purpose. Posture induced torsional eye movements have rarely been investigated. The current study made use of digital imaging technology to measure the cycloduction resulting from postural change. The effect of cycloduction on reading performance was also investigated. Methods. Thirty subjects were recruited and pictures of the right eye were captured using a digital camera at three postures, i.e. sitting, 90 degrees tilted to the right and 90 degrees tilted to the left. With the identification of a conjunctival landmark, torsional eye movement was measured. The subjects were then required to read a custom designed near chart while in those three postures, the reading card being rotated 90 degrees clockwise or 90 degrees anti-clockwise, to match with the tilting of the head. The reproducibility of the torsional eye movement and reading performance measure was determined in 12 of those 30 subjects. Results. Incycloduction was induced when tilting to the right and excycloduction when tilting to the left. This method was found to be reproducible with the 95% confidence limits of 0.80° between visits. The mean incycloduction induced was 6.50° (SD 1.51°) and 6.41° (SD 1.46°) for excycloduction. No significant difference in amount was demonstrated (paired t-test: t = 0.624, P = 0.538). No significant difference was found in the reading scores at various postures (Repeated measures ANOVA: df = 2, F = 1.881, P = 0.162). Conclusions. The results presented here demonstrate that we have developed an objective and instantaneous method with good precision, which could be applied in other studies that require the measurement of torsional eye movements. The induced cycloduction did not affect the reading performance.


SEAN is freely distributed, object-oriented, extensible software for research and development in host ATM signaling. SEAN includes a complete source-level release of the host native ATM protocol stack, and implements the ATM user network interface, compliant to the ITU Q.2931 specification for point-to-point calls, the ITU Q.2971 extension for point-to-multipoint calls, and the ATM Forum extension UNI-4.0 for leaf initiated join calls, SEAN provides APIs to the programmers writing application programs that require ATM signaling. Developers can easily modify and extend SEAN, using the framework library released together. This paper describes essential parts of SEAN's architecture and guides the users and protocol developers.


This study aimed to elucidate the effects of repeated pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) treatment for oestrous synchronization (ES) on ovarian gene expression and reproductive parameters in Xinong Saanen dairy goats, the dominant breed of dairy goat in China. The experiment was carried out at the Research Station of Northwest A&F University (NWAFU), China (34°16'N, 108°4'E). Forty-one does were randomly assigned to groups receiving ES treatments thrice every fortnight (3-PMSG group; n = 19), or ES treatment only once simultaneously with the third ES treatment in the 3-PMSG group (1-PMSG group; n = 22) during middle of the breeding season from late July (14 hr light) until late September (12 hr light). ES treatment was performed via intravaginal insertion of a controlled internal drug release (CIDR) device impregnated with 300 mg progesterone (P4), followed by 300 IU PMSG injections 48 hr before CIDR withdrawal. Oestrus was monitored using vasectomized bucks. Ovaries of three goats in oestrus from both groups were harvested for morphological examination and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Then, all the oestrous goats in the 1-PMSG (n = 21) and 3-PMSG (n = 11) groups were artificially inseminated twice. The 3-PMSG group showed reduced oestrous rate (57.89%), pregnancy rate (31.58%) and litter size (1.17) compared, respectively, with 95.45%, 68.18% and 1.67 for 1-PMSG group (p < 0.05). However, no differences were found in the ovarian morphology between the 1-PMSG and 3-PMSG groups (p > 0.05). RNA-Seq revealed 114 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the ovaries of the 3-PMSG group, among which GCG, FSTL3, TET3 and AQP3 were deemed novel and promising candidate genes for regulating fertility. The present study indicates that the three-time PMSG treatment dysregulated several ovarian genes, thereby reducing reproductive performance.


Indian jute sacking played an essential role in Australian life for over 150 years, yet its contribution to Australian development and its Indian origins have been barely recognised in Australian public collections. What has Australian history gained by this erasing of jute from public memory? Wool, sugar and hop sacks are displayed in public collections as evidence of an Australian national story, but their national dimension depends on the cultural invisibility of jute and jute's connections to the stories of other communities in other places. Developing an awareness of the contribution of Indian jute to the development of Australia requires an awareness not simply that jute comes from India but that the construction of national identity by collecting institutions relies on forgetting those transnational connections evident in their own collections. Where jute sacks have been preserved, it is because they are invested with memories of a collective way of life, yet in attempting to speak on behalf of the nation, the public museum denies more multidimensional models of cultural identity that are less linear and less place-based. If Indian jute is to be acknowledged as part of 'the Australian story', the concept of an Australian story must change and exhibitions need to explore, rather than ignore, transnational networks.


The Internet is witnessing a rapid increase in video traffic. Due to the scalability and the cost-savings offered by cloud-computing, Internet video service providers are increasingly delivering their content from multi-tenant cloud data centers. One of the major challenges faced by such a video service provider is the management of the Quality-of-Experience (QoE) of the end-users in the presence of Variable Bit Rate (VBR) video flows, time varying network conditions in the Internet, and the bounded egress bandwidth provided by the data center. To this end, we present InSite, a light-weight and easy-to-deploy solution for managing the QoE of a set of video flows of a service provider, which are served from a data center. InSite is deployed at the egress of a data center, between the video servers and the clients, and manages the video flows that are transmitted over TCP. The solution uses a novel generalized binary search technique to concurrently search for the appropriate flow rates for a set of flows, with the goal of maximizing the QoE-fairness across the flows, as opposed to TCP-fairness. The search takes into account the total egress bandwidth allocated for the set of video flows at the data center, the unknown and possibly time-varying capacities of any remote bottleneck links, and the playout buffer sizes of the video flows. The solution is also designed to operate with minimal modifications to the video servers and the clients. In our evaluations using extensive ns-3 simulations and a testbed implementation for serving videos over TCP, we observe that deploying InSite achieves several folds reduction in playout stalls over a system without InSite.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by persistent neutrophilic inflammation of the airways, which is associated with enhanced neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation of airway neutrophils [1–3]. NETs are web-like extracellular structures consisting of neutrophil DNA components and degradative enzymes (e.g. neutrophil elastase and myeloperoxidase) which are released from azurophilic granules by activated neutrophils [4]. Initially found to immunoregulate host defence responses during bacterial infections, emerging data indicate that exaggerated NET formation and/or delayed NET clearance may inflict tissue damage and organ dysfunction in a range of human inflammatory diseases independent of infections [5, 6]. Recently, we found NET formation of sputum neutrophils and extracellular DNA levels in sputum supernatant to be significantly enhanced in patients with stable COPD irrespective of the current smoking state or the purulence of the sputum samples [1]. Several studies, including our own, show that the amount of NET formation and/or level of extracellular DNA in patients with stable COPD correlate with the airflow limitation, suggesting that NET formation by airway neutrophils may contribute to the lung tissue damage observed in COPD [1–3]. However, the underlying mechanisms inducing NET formation in COPD neutrophils are largely unexplored. Furthermore, it is unknown whether neutrophils undergo NETosis following migration into the lung tissues or whether neutrophils are constitutively poised to undergo this response in circulation during COPD-related inflammation. It is notable that there is an increase in the release of cell-free DNA and myeloperoxidase that are active constituents of NETs in peripheral blood in COPD patients [7–9]. Here, we aimed to compare NET formation in autologous neutrophils derived from peripheral blood and sputum from COPD patients ex vivo. We also investigated whether the selective CXCR2 antagonist AZD5069, that has been shown to block trafficking of neutrophils from blood into airways in bronchiectasis patients [10] and more recently in a small cohort of neutrophilic asthma patients [11], could dampen NET formation in COPD-derived neutrophils ex vivo. CXCR2 might have a crucial role in neutrophil extracellular trap formation in COPD neutrophils http://ow.ly/LRst30iE1Bw


The aim of this thesis was to investigate the role of childhood maltreatment (CM) and witnessing intimate partner violence (W.IPV) on childhood behaviour and mental health (MH). The complex interaction of risk, protection and mediating factors are considered in the ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Part I of the thesis provides a systematic examination of the literature. Chapter 1 considered the strengths and weaknesses of existing meta-analytical reviews on the association between childhood sexual abuse and adult psychopathology. This highlighted the need to address issues of study validity. Chapter 2 reviews the link between CM and childhood behavioural and emotional difficulties, concluding that the same vulnerability to these difficulties exists in childhood as in adulthood. The ecological model provides a structure for understanding how a combination of contextual levels influences a child's vulnerability. Part II investigates the relationship between CM and MH outcomes. Chapter 3 examines the effect of CM and/or W.IPV in a community sample, highlighting the mediating properties of emotion regulation and pro-social behaviour. In a clinical sample, concurrent W.IPV/CM was associated with more adverse outcomes at pre-treatment (Chapters 4,5,7) and post-treatment (Chapter 5), as well as recurrent re-referrals to MH services (Chapter 6). Parental nationality (Chapter 4, 5), maternal economic/housing difficulties (Chapters 5, 6), and peer friendship difficulties (Chapters 4, 5, 6) were consistently found to have a short-term, rather than a long-term effect, on a child's well-being. The results of the thesis are discussed in terms of policies and practical implications for future research.


Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been so far the golden standard to study the functional aspects of the cerebellum. In this paper, a low-cost alternative imaging, i.e. functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is demonstrated to achieve successful measurements of the cerebellar hemodynamics towards the challenging observation of motor and cognitive processes at the cerebellar level. The excitation and reception optodes need to be properly placed to circumvent a major hindering from the shielding by the neck muscles. A simple experimental protocol, i.e. finger tapping task, was implemented to observe the subject's engagement and the presence of functional asymmetries. Marked differences among subjects with different levels of lateralization were clearly noticed in terms of activation and latencies, together with peaks in the hemodynamic response following neural activation. These preliminary results suggest also differences in the hemodynamic behavior between the brain and the cerebellum and encourage future and extended analysis in this direction.Clinical Relevance—This establishes the possibility to use a novel technique (fNIRS) to study cerebellar hemodynamics instead of fMRI.


The purpose of the research investigation is to consider the potential opportunities through which corporate governance may be developed to better suit the developing commercial culture within Poland. In order to do this, I formulate the following research questions: 'What are the weaknesses of the Polish corporate governance system?', 'What changes should be made to corporate governance in Poland?', and 'Is a hybrid corporate governance model a choice for Poland?' The concept of hybridisation is fairly new, and involves combining different approaches to corporate governance, eg it embraces combining elements of the board management and monitoring models. I examine several changes to corporate governance that can be called hybrid. They were implemented in South Africa, Japan, Malaysia, the UK and the US. The main focus, however, is put on Polish corporate governance, which I investigate from the angle of those changes. Doctrinal research is combined with a set of interviews conducted with business practitioners in Poland. Interviewees are asked to express their opinion about corporate governance in Poland. Questions are asked in the context of changes that were made to corporate governance in countries mentioned above. The interviews produce results that overlap with the doctrinal research. Polish companies have a highly consolidated share ownership structure, which has a negative influence on the allocation of power between corporate organs. The supervisory board is an organ through which the controlling shareholders extend their power. Under the Company Code 2000, the supervisory board usually appoints and removes members of the management board, and instructs them in the decision making process. The statutes might give a broader scope of powers to the supervisory board. All this results in various forms of expropriation in companies, such as, for example, stealing of profits by governing bodies, overpaying executives, or installing unqualified family members in managerial positions. In general, interviewees are pleased with the currently binding corporate governance in Poland. The majority of them are pessimistic about implementing such large changes in Poland as, for example, a one-tier board system. A significant number of interviewees propose minor changes to the Polish system of corporate governance. It should be highlighted that several non-managerial interviewees turn out to have more liberal approaches to potential changes to corporate governance in Poland. The research fills a gap in knowledge on hybrid corporate governance, as this issue has hardly been touched by the Polish legal doctrine. It also systematises and develops knowledge on hybrid corporate governance worldwide, and develops knowledge on legal transplant.


The general objective of this dissertation is to elaborate on methods and techniques for exploring and progressively refining large volumes of heterogeneous information, through the provision of appropriate models of interaction and visualization techniques. The goal is to support advanced in accuracy and completeness answers, appropriate for supporting decision making, while the user is not obliged to formulate complex queries or to use specific user profiles. Instead, it will be attempted to provide user with "all" beneficial options to adjust or restrict the information received, in a summarized, concise and intuitive manner. The navigation should provide appropriate data visualization techniques, in order to exploit the ability of the human brain for rapid understanding and perception of visual information, and the ability to discover standards and relationships through it.


In the preceding article in this issue of Proteins, an empirical energy function consisting of 4 statistical potentials that quantify local side‐chain–backbone and side‐chain–side‐chain interactions has been demonstrated to successfully identify the native conformations of short sequence fragments and the native structure within large sets of high‐quality decoys. Because this energy function consists entirely of interactions between residues separated by fewer than 5 positions, it can be used at the earliest stage of ab initio structure prediction to enhance the efficiency of conformational search. In this article, protein fragments are generated de novo by recombining very short segments of protein structures (2, 4, or 6 residues), either selected at random or optimized with respect this local energy function. When local energy is optimized in selected fragments, more efficient sampling of conformational space near the native conformation is consistently observed for 450 randomly selected single turn fragments, with turn lengths varying from 3 to 12 residues and all 4 combinations of flanking secondary structure. These results further demonstrate the energetic significance of local interactions in protein conformations. When used in combination with longer range energy functions, application of these potentials should lead to more accurate prediction of protein structure. Proteins 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract The article studies the inelastic seismic response assessment of structures with spatially varying material properties via the stochastic finite element method. This is a problem with a complex response function due to stochastic variability and material nonlinearity. Existing formulations either assume linear-elastic behaviour, or use dense models in order to capture both stochasticity and inelasticity. This results to models that require excessive computational resources. The article shows that for material nonlinear problems, the stochastic variability can be taken into consideration using flexibility-based models which allow performing repeated time-history simulations within a reasonable computational time, without loss of accuracy. The interpolation can be adjusted through a user-defined parameter, thus avoiding the need for a dense FE mesh. Contrary to past research, the modelling proposed has many applications in structural engineering, since it allows nonlinear, static or dynamic, simulations of real-scale frame structures with stochastic properties. The proposed method is demonstrated in the framework of the spectral representation method combined with Monte Carlo simulations, but it can be combined with any other method for the description of the stochastic field. A generic single-storey steel frame and a six-storey reinforced concrete frame are considered in order to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed modelling.


: This study analyzes the effect of corporate governance on a firm value on the Indonesian stock exchange and Islamic stocks in Indonesia. We conducted this study because it is still very rare to research by adding Islamic stock variables as a moderating variable. Many studies on the influence of corporate governance on firm value have been carried out, but there are inconsistencies in the results. Corporate governance, in this case, the ownership structure is assessed by the ownership structure. This study uses 150 manufacturing companies listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange during 2002 - 2005 as a sample with 600 observations. The hypothesis is tested using regression analysis. Firm value is measured using Tobin's Q. The results show that institutional ownership has no significant effect on firm value. significant effect on firm value due to the development of the Indonesia Stock Exchange in terms of the development of the LQ45 stock index performance increasing, not proven. However, managerial ownership has a significant and positive effect on firm value. What is known from the analysis of this research is (1) the development of the Indonesia Stock Exchange as seen from the growth in the performance of the LQ45 stock index, (2) the growth of sharia shares, (3) the comparison of the LQ45 stock index performance scheme with the JII stock index performance is known to have a slight difference in the growth of the Stock Exchange. Indonesia is seen from the growth in the performance of the LQ45 stock index. And in terms of the development of the JII stock index performance.


BACKGROUND
Cancer stem cells (CSC) are subpopulation within the tumor that acts a part in the initiation, progression, recurrence, resistance to drugs and metastasis of cancer. It is well known that epigenetic changes lead to tumor formation in cancer stem cells and show drug resistance. Epigenetic modulators and /or their combination with different agents have been used in cancer therapy.

OBJECTIVE
In our study we scope out the effects of combination of a histone deacetylases inhibitor, valproic acid (VPA), and Cu(II) complex [Cu(barb-κN)(barb-κ2N,O)(phen-κN,N')]·H2O] on cytotoxicity/apoptosis in a stem-cell enriched population (MCF-7s) obtained from parental breast cancer cell line (MCF-7).

METHODS
Viability of the cells was measured by the ATP assay. Apoptosis was elucidated via the assessment of caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18 (M30 ELISA) and a group of flow cytometry analysis (caspase 3/7 activity, phosphatidylserine translocation by annexin V-FITC assay, DNA damage and oxidative stress) and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate staining.

RESULTS
The VPA combined with Cu(II) complex showed anti proliferative activity on MCF-7s cells in a dose- and time-dependently. Treatment with combination of 2.5 mM VPA and 3.12 μM Cu(II) complex induces oxidative stress in a time-dependent manner, as well as apoptosis that is evidenced by the increase in caspase 3/7 activity, positive annexin-V-FITC, and increase in M30 levels.

CONCLUSION
The results suggest that the combination therapy induces apoptosis following increased oxidative stress, thereby making it a possible promising therapeutic strategy that further analysis is required.


In this paper, we present a practical system for enhancing the quality of Low Dynamic Range (LDR) videos using High Dynamic Range (HDR) background images. Our technique relies on the assumption that the HDR information is static in the video footage. This assumption can be valid in many scenarios where moving subjects are the main focus of the footage and do not have to interact with moving light sources or highly reflective objects. Another valid scenario is teleconferencing via webcams, where the background is typically over-exposed, not allowing the users to perceive correctly the environment where the communication is happening.


The effects of four surface modification (acid-etching, alkaline treatment, acid-etching /alkaline treatment, and sandblasting) of commercially pure titanium (cpTi) on the early cellular responses of osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells were investigated. MTT assay was used to measure the levels of cell attachment to the different surface specimens after 1-, 2-, and 3-hr cell incubation. All data were submitted to two-way analysis of variance. Cell morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed that initial adhesion of osteoblast-like cells was independent on the surface of cpTi modified with different method.


Two bacteria, one motile and one nonmotile, were tested for their ability to seek out nutrients
using sectioned petri dishes containing glucose yeast extract (GYE) agar and water agar. As
hypothesized, only the motile bacterium was able to migrate from the nutrient-free environment
(water agar) to the nutrient-rich one (GYE). Since there was no such migration from GYE to water
agar, it can be concluded that chemotaxis, rather than random motion, propels motile bacteria toward
nutrients.


We compute effective properties (i.e., permeability, hydraulic tortuosity, and diffusive tortuosity) of three different digital porous media samples, including in-line array of uniform shapes, staggered-array of squares, and randomly distributed squares. The permeability and hydraulic tortuosity are computed by solving a set of rescaled Stokes equations obtained by homogenization, and the diffusive tortuosity is computed by solving a homogenization problem given for the effective diffusion coefficient that is inversely related to diffusive tortuosity. We find that hydraulic and diffusive tortuosity can be quantitatively different by up to a factor of ten in the same pore geometry, which indicates that these tortuosity terms cannot be used interchangeably. We also find that when a pore geometry is characterized by an anisotropic permeability, the diffusive tortuosity (and correspondingly the effective diffusion coefficient) can also be anisotropic. This finding has important implications for reservoir-scale modeling of flow and transport, as it is more realistic to account for the anisotropy of both the permeability and the effective diffusion coefficient.


Factor investing has failed to live up to its many promises. Its success is compromised by three problems that are often underappreciated by investors. First, many investors develop exaggerated expectations about factor performance as a result of data mining, crowding, unrealistic trading cost expectations, and other concerns. Second, for investors using naive risk management tools, factor returns can experience downside shocks far larger than would be expected. Finally, investors are often led to believe their factor portfolio is diversified. Diversification can vanish, however, in certain economic conditions when factor returns become much more correlated. Factor investing is a powerful tool, but understanding the risks involved is essential before adopting this investment framework.


Human performance on diverse tests of intellect are impacted by a "general" regulatory factor that accounts for up to 50% of the variance between individuals on intelligence tests. Neurobiological determinants of general cognitive abilities are essentially unknown, owing in part to the paucity of animal research wherein neurobiological analyses are possible. We report a methodology with which we have assessed individual differences in the general learning abilities of laboratory mice. Abilities of mice on tests of associative fear conditioning, operant avoidance, path integration, discrimination, and spatial navigation were assessed. Tasks were designed so that each made unique sensory, motor, motivational, and information processing demands on the animals. A sample of 56 genetically diverse outbred mice (CD-1) was used to assess individuals' acquisition on each task. Indicative of a common source of variance, positive correlations were found between individuals' performance on all tasks. When tested on multiple test batteries, the overall performance ranks of individuals were found to be highly reliable and were "normally" distributed. Factor analysis of learning performance variables determined that a single factor accounted for 38% of the total variance across animals. Animals' levels of native activity and body weights accounted for little of the variability in learning, although animals' propensity for exploration loaded strongly (and was positively correlated) with learning abilities. These results indicate that diverse learning abilities of laboratory mice are influenced by a common source of variance and, moreover, that the general learning abilities of individual mice can be specified relative to a sample of peers.


Monetary economic crisis occurred on July 1997 affects anything alteration in the firm condition. At the time, Sosro have the swell the price of bottled tea Sosro because most components of bottled tea Sosro still use important material. In addition, at the economical crisis Sosro faces new problem is that decreasingly consumer?s capacity to buy it?s produc and there are many competitor firms, Hi-Ci Tea, Kita Tea, Bintang Tea, Giju Tea, and 2 Tang Tea, that threatens Sosro market in way of trying to enter Sosro distribution line. This research aims to know the effect economic crisis toward sale volume of bottled tea Sosro and to knoe the tactic and strategy performed, also to know the distribution performed in the crisis by Sosro at PT. Saranasangga Mekarluhur-Bandung. This research uses purposive technique sampling to the sources of Marketing Department at PT. Saranasangga Mekarluhur-Bandung and also uses direct observation in Bandung. From research result, the observation at PT. Saranasangga Mekarluhur as Sosro representative in Bandung still defends the product, fcuses of marketing activity on dominated consumers, Furthermore, Sosro marketing is also focused on the effort of enduring the existed consumers wit certain tactic and strategy. Besides, Sosro always observes the outlets of Sosro from competitor influnces that wants to exchange bottled tea Sosro. Keyword : STRATEGI; TAKTIK; PERUSAHAAN TEH BOTOL SOSRO Link terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/57/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2005-aidaoctafi-2846-Pendahul-n.pdf


The recent development of camera sensors, the manufacturing of lenses and the accurate algorithms of photogrammetric software allow today to acquire point clouds similar to those generated from a laser scanner. The results are similar: numerical models that contain a variety of information, useful for the final data synthesis. Thanks to the automatic points recognition of photogrammetric algorithms, it is now possible to revise part of digital data previously acquired and use them in new computing strategies. Emblematic is the example of the crusader castle of Wu'Ayra, an important medieval fortress located in the Petra valley in Jordan. Since 2000, in collaboration with the international mission of the University of Florence, a number of surveys aimed at detecting the whole monumental area, the archaeological site, the settlement and the defensive system of the castle were performed by the research team of the Italian ITABC-CNR. Different survey techniques were used during the acquisition step, in order to enhance the main information of the archaeological site and the geomorphology of an extended area particularly complex to be defined. In these 15 years, the team tested several techniques. Thanks to recent software, the team has revised old data, created a defined numerical model of Wu'Ayra, updated and improved the documentation. The Authors illustrate the results of these elaborations and compare them with the other systems used, highlighting the differences and updating the graphic documentation of an important site in the history of the Petra valley. Furthermore, latest data of the architectural structures of the formworks acquired with laser scanner will be presented.


Alois Jungbauer is Professor at the Department of Bio technology of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, since 1997 and holds a visiting professorship at Bioprocessing Technology Institute in Singapore since 2006. Since 2001 he is Head of the research group working on downstream processing and the Christian Doppler Laboratory of Receptor Biotechnology. He also became a group leader at the Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology. His main research interest is in the field of recombinant protein, plasmid, virus and virus-like particle production, characterization of proteins and engineering principles of bioprocessing. He has more than 200 international publications and 15 patents in the field of biochemical engineering science.


China has dramatically increased its virtual water import over recent years. Many studies have focused on the quantity of traded virtual water, but very few go into analysing geographic distribution and the properties of China's virtual water trade network. This paper provides a calculation and analysis of the crop-related virtual water trade network of China based on 27 major primary crops between 1986 and 2009. The results show that China is a net importer of virtual water from water-abundant areas of North America and South America, and a net virtual water exporter to water-stressed areas of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Virtual water import is far larger than virtual water export, and in both import and export a small number of trade partners control the supply chain. Grain crops are the major contributors to virtual water trade, and among grain crops, soybeans, mostly imported from the US, Brazil and Argentina, are the most significant. In order to mitigate water scarcity and secure the food supply, virtual water should actively be incorporated into national water management strategies. And the sources of virtual water import need to be further diversified to reduce supply chain risks and increase resilience.


Increasing research
shows that income growth has a less than substantial impact on people's
well-being. In contrast, environmental factors are found to have non-negligible
impact on people's well-being. The research raises the question of whether more
can be done to improve the well-being of the public through government spending
on the environment. We conducted pair comparison surveys using the variance
stable rank method on preferences for public expenditure on education, environment
and transportation in Singapore. Both aggregate preference rankings as well as
rank ordered logitregression analysis on individuals' rankings reveal that
respondents perceive larger improvements in well-being from increasing public
expenditure on environment goods compared to an equivalent increase in public
expenditure on education goods.


Objective: A few studies have examined the longitudinal association of blood pressure (BP) with arterial stiffness progression, and the results were inconsistent. The objective of this study was to investigate the roles of initial BP and its longitudinal change on the progression of arterial stiffness measured using brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Method: Study participants (n = 656) were from population-based samples of healthy men aged 40–49 years at baseline (213 White Americans, 47 African-Americans, 152 Japanese Americans and 244 Japanese in Japan). BP measures, baPWV and other factors were examined at baseline and 4–7 years later. General linear regression was applied for statistical analyses. Result: Annual change in SBP (standardized coefficient: 0.33, P < 0.001), but not its baseline level (standardized coefficient: 0.03, P = 0.495), had a positive significant association with the progression of baPWV after adjusting for a wide range of standard cardiovascular risk factors. Similarly, annual changes in DBP (standardized coefficient: 0.35, P < 0.001), pulse pressure (standardized coefficient: 0.15, P = 0.001) and mean arterial pressure (standardized coefficient: 0.37, P < 0.001) were positively associated with the progression of baPWV. None of the baseline measures were related to the progression of baPWV. Conclusion: Our findings imply that, regardless of initial BP, effective monitoring and controlling of BP is important to slow down arterial wall stiffening and hence reduce cardiovascular risk.


As the first phase of a two-phase prospective cohort study to assess the acceptability of the diaphragm as a potential HIV/STI prevention method, we conducted a 2-month prospective study and examined the effect of a male and female condom intervention on female condom (FC) use among 379 sexually active women in Harare, Zimbabwe. Reported use of FC increased from 1.1% at baseline to 70.6% at 2-month follow-up. Predictors of FC uptake immediately following the intervention included interest in using FC, liking FC better than male condoms, and believing one could use them more consistently than male condoms. Women reported 28.8% of sex acts protected by FC in the 2 weeks prior to last study visit. Though FC may not be the preferred method for the majority of women, with access, proper education, and promotion they may be a valuable option for some Zimbabwean women.


Alginate has been widely used in industrial field because of its natural properties as gelling agent. Brown seaweed, especially Sargassum and Turbinaria as the alginate sources are widely grown in Indonesia; but unfortunately there has yet to be any alginate industry in Indonesia. Alginate content in Sargassum is considered quite large, about 35%, whereas alginate content in Turbinaria is only around 20-25%. In this research, sodium alginate was isolated from dried brown seaweed (Sargassum sp.) which first passed through the acid treatment using 0,5%-b/v HCl and alkaline treatment using 0,5%-b/v NaOH. Extraction was done in batch, using 2%-b/v Na2CO3 solvent. The chosen post-treatment method was through the Ca-alginate path with experimental design Reponse Surface Methods-Central Composite Design with 5 center point. The varied variable was the concentration of CaCl2 (0,11 – 2,09 M) and the ratio of CaCl2 solution/alginate extract (0,48 – 4,02 g/g). The result showed that higher concentration of CaCl2 increased the yield, viscosity, and ash content. As the ratio of CaCl2/alginate extract got higher, the viscosity had the tendency to decrease and the ash content increased. Yield of the obtained sodium alginate powder was 6,95 -30,7%; 1,48 – 11,85 cP viscosity; ash content about 18,46 – 52,65%; and water content around 6,14 – 8,32%. The optimum condition was obtained at CaCl2 concentration of 1,02 M and the ratio of CaCl2/alginate extract about 2,01 g/g with 27,72% yield, 11,38 cP viscosity, 19,56% ash content, and 6,14-8,32% water content of sodium alginate.


The paper reports an unusual pathogenetic mechanism of the cerebral circulation disorder in hypertensive crisis. Cerebellar infarction developed as a result of compression in great occipitae foramen of the inferior posterior cerebellar artery which was a complication of a severe hypertensive crisis with cerebral edema and a shift of stem structures into the great occipitae foramen. Of great importance in the parthogenesis of infarction was a rarely occuring variant of the course of the right inferior posterior cerebellar artery.


In this note we give a correspondence between three kinds of pictures. First, we consider pictures with the "Droste-effect": a scaling symmetry. These are drawn on a plane with a special point, which is the center of the scaling symmetry. Then we use the complex exponential map to transform these pictures to doubly periodic pictures, commonly known as wallpaper pictures, which are drawn on the entire plane. By rolling up the plane according to the periods, we get pictures drawn on a compact Riemann surfaces of genus 1: donut surfaces. As an application, we show the how the notion of a "Dehn twist" on a donut gives rise to a continuous interpolation between the straight world and the curved world of Escher's 1956 lithograph Print Gallery.


While self-learning methods are an important component in many recent domain adaptation techniques, they are not yet comprehensively evaluated on ImageNetscale datasets common in robustness research. In extensive experiments on ResNet and EfficientNet models, we find that three components are crucial for increasing performance with self-learning: (i) using short update times between the teacher and the student network, (ii) fine-tuning only few affine parameters distributed across the network, and (iii) leveraging methods from robust classification to counteract the effect of label noise. We use these insights to obtain drastically improved state-of-the-art results on ImageNet-C (22.0% mCE), ImageNet-R (17.4% error) and ImageNet-A (14.8% error). Our techniques yield further improvements in combination with previously proposed robustification methods. Self-learning is able to reduce the top-1 error to a point where no substantial further progress can be expected. We therefore re-purpose the dataset from the Visual Domain Adaptation Challenge 2019 and use a subset of it as a new robustness benchmark (ImageNet-D) which proves to be a more challenging dataset for all current state-of-the-art models (58.2% error) to guide future research efforts at the intersection of robustness and domain adaptation on ImageNet scale.


Knowledge of the structural properties of mantle phases is critical for understanding the enigmatic seismic features observed in the Earth's lower mantle down to the core–mantle boundary. However, our knowledge of lower mantle phase equilibria at high pressure (P) and temperature (T) conditions has been based on limited information provided by powder X-ray diffraction technique and theoretical calculations. Here, we report the in situ single-crystal structure determination of (Mg,Fe)SiO3 postperovskite (ppv) at high P and after temperature quenching in a diamond anvil cell. Using a newly developed multigrain single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis technique in a diamond anvil cell, crystallographic orientations of over 100 crystallites were simultaneously determined at high P in a coarse-grained polycrystalline sample containing submicron ppv grains. Conventional single-crystal structural analysis and refinement methods were applied for a few selected ppv crystallites, which demonstrate the feasibility of the in situ study of crystal structures of submicron crystallites in a multiphase polycrystalline sample contained within a high P device. The similarity of structural models for single-crystal Fe-bearing ppv (∼10 mol% Fe) and Fe-free ppv from previous theoretical calculations suggests that the Fe content in the mantle has a negligible effect on the crystal structure of the ppv phase.


The effect of various types of support elimination (actual zero-g, water immersion, and head-down tilt) on the strength-velocity properties and tone of leg muscles was investigated. With all the exposures used, there was a high correlation between the tone decrease and the strength potential of antigravitational muscles, as well as the degree of support elimination (immersion and bed rest). This suggests that the tonic changes associated with the decrease of the support input are the major factor responsible for motor disorders during short-term exposures to zero-g.


NETs (neuroendocrine tumors) constitute a heterogeneous group of epithelial-type neoplasms with a predominantly neuroendocrine differentiation. Although the most common locations are the pancreas, digestive tract, and lung, this type of neoplasm can arise in virtually any organ in the body. They are rare tumors with a wide variety of clinical presentations. Symptomatic tumors are more frequent in younger patients and present at more advanced pathological stages. We present the case of a 42-year-old male with idiopathic splenomegaly and bicytopenia (anaemia and thrombocytopenia) under study by haematology department who was admitted due to an episode of melena and hemoglobin of 4.5 mg/dl. Isolated gastric varices (IGV1) with red spots were confirmed at gastroscopy and endoscopic variceal obturation using cyanoacrylate was performed in two sessions. An endoscopic ultrasonography was performed, showing thrombosis of the splenic vein extending towards the splenoportal confluence with anechoic serpiginous structures outside and inside the gastric wall suggestive of collateral circulation with gastric varices (GV). An increase in portal caliber was observed, with no signs of liver cirrhosis. Computed tomography confirms the findings. Two months/week/days later he was readmitted with rebleeding signs after starting anticoagulant treatment, so it was decided to perform a splenectomy due to failure of the endoscopic treatment. Histology revealed infiltration of the spleen by a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor (NET). Gallium PET/CT and Octreotid scan showed uptake in the body and tail of the pancreas with positivity for somatostatin receptors previously undetected by other means. Finally, treatment was completed with distal pancreatectomy and splenoportal axis trombectomy with vascular esplenic resection and the patient was discharged from hospital.


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BACKGROUND
Peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with hematological malignancies or solid tumors, such as renal cell carcinoma or prostate cancer, display epigenetic aberrations (loss of synchronous replication of allelic counterparts) and genetic changes (aneuploidy) characteristic of the cancerous phenotype. This study sought to determine whether such alterations could differentiate breast cancer patients from cancer-free subjects.

METHODS
The HER2 locus-an oncogene assigned to chromosome 17 whose amplification is associated with breast cancer (BCA)-and the pericentromeric satellite sequence of chromosome 17 (CEN17) were used for replication timing assessments. Aneuploidy was monitored by enumerating the copy numbers of chromosome 17. Replication timing and aneuploidy were detected cytogenetically using fluorescence in situ hybridization technology applied to phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes of 20 women with BCA and 10 control subjects.

RESULTS
We showed that both the HER2 and CEN17 loci in the stimulated BCA lymphocytes altered their characteristic pattern of synchronous replication and exhibited asynchronicity. In addition, there was an increase in chromosome 17 aneuploidy. The frequency of cells displaying asynchronous replication in the patients' samples was significantly higher (P < 10(-12) for HER2 and P < 10(-6) for CEN17) than the corresponding values in the control samples. Similarly, aneuploidy in patients' cells was significantly higher (P < 10(-9)) than that in the controls.

CONCLUSIONS
The HER2 and CEN17 aberrant replication differentiated clearly between BCA patients and control subjects. Thus, monitoring the replication of these genes offers potential blood markers for the detection and monitoring of breast cancer.


PURPOSE
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is increasingly administered to patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), yet its impact on the tumor immune microenvironment is incompletely understood.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
We employed quantitative, spatially-resolved multiplex immunofluorescence and digital image analysis to identify T-cell subpopulations, macrophage polarization states and myeloid cell subpopulations in a multi-institution cohort of up-front resected primary tumors (n=299) and in a comparative set of resected tumors after FOLFIRINOX-based neoadjuvant therapy (n=36) or up-front surgery (n=30). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate associations between the immune microenvironment and patient outcomes.

RESULTS
In the multi-institutional resection cohort, immune cells exhibited substantial heterogeneity across patient tumors and were located predominantly in stromal regions. Unsupervised clustering using immune cell densities identified four main patterns of immune cell infiltration. One pattern, seen in 20% of tumors and characterized by abundant T cells (T cell-rich) and a paucity of immunosuppressive granulocytes and macrophages, was associated with improved patient survival. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a higher CD8:CD4 ratio, greater M1:M2-polarized macrophage ratio, and reduced CD15+ARG1+ immunosuppressive granulocyte density. Within neoadjuvant-treated tumors, 64% showed a T-cell-rich pattern with low immunosuppressive granulocytes and macrophages. M1-polarized macrophages were located closer to tumor cells after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and colocalization of M1-polarized macrophages and tumor cells was associated with greater tumor pathologic response and improved patient survival.

CONCLUSION
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFIRINOX shifts the PDAC immune microenvironment towards an anti-tumorigenic state associated with improved patient survival.


The paper gives an overview of the history of evolution and mitigation of the Macesnik landslide in N Slovenia. It was triggered in 1989 above the Solcava village, but it enlarged with time. In 2005, the landslide has been threatening a few residential and farm houses, as well as the panoramic road, and it is only 1000 m away from the Savinja River and the village of Solcava. It is 2500 m long and up to more than 100 m wide with an estimated volume in excess of 2 million m(3). Its depth is not constant: on average it is 10 to 15 m deep, but in the area of the toe, which is retained by a rock outcrop, it reaches the depth of 30 m. The unstable mass consists of water-saturated highly-weathered carboniferous formations. The presently active landslide lies within the fossil landslide which is up to 350 m wide and 50 m deep with the total volume estimated at 8 to 10 million m3. Since 2000, the landslide has been investigated by 36 boreholes, and 28 of them were equipped with inclinometer casings, which also serve as piezometers. Surface movements have been monitored geodetically in 20 cross sections. This helped to understand the causes and mechanics of the landslide. Therefore, landslide mitigation works were planned rather to reduce the landslide movement so that the resulting damages could be minimized. The construction of mitigation works was made difficult in the 1990s due to intensive landslide movements that could reach up to 50cm/day with an average of 25 cm/day. Since 2001, surface drainage works in the form of open surface drains have mainly been completed around the circumference of the landslide as the first phase of the mitigation works and they are regularly maintained. As a final mitigation solution, plans have been made to build a combination of subsurface drainage works in the form of deep drains with retaining works in the form of concrete vertical shafts functioning as deep water wells to drain the landslide, and as dowels to stop the landslide movement starting from the slide plane towards its surface. Due to the length of the landslide and its longitudinal geometry it will be divided into several sections, and the mitigation works will be executed consecutively in phases. Such an approach proved effective in the 800 m long uppermost section of the landslide, where 3 parallel deep drain trenches (250 m long, 8 to 12 m deep) were executed in the autumn of 2003. The reduction of the movements in 2004 enabled the construction of two 5 in wide and 22 m deep reinforced concrete shafts, finished in early 2005. In Slovenia, this sort of support construction, known from road construction, was used for the first time for landslide mitigation. The monitoring results show that the landslide displacements have been drastically reduced to less than I cm/day. As a part of the stepwise mitigation of the Macesnik landslide, further reinforced concrete shafts are to be constructed in the middle section of the landslide to support the road crossing the landslide. At the landslide toe, a support construction is planned to prevent further landslide advancement, and its type is still to be defined during the procedure of adopting a detailed plan of national importance for the Macesnik landslide.


Reflexive monism is, in essence, an ancient view of how consciousness relates to the material world that has, in recent decades, been resurrected in modern form. In this paper I discuss how some of its basic features differ from both dualism and variants of physicalist and functionalist reductionism, focusing on those aspects of the theory that challenge deeply rooted presuppositions in current Western thought. I pay particular attention to the ontological status and seeming "outthereness" of the phenomenal world and to how the "phenomenal world" relates to the "physical world", the "world itself", and processing in the brain. In order to place the theory within the context of current thought and debate, I address questions that have been raised about reflexive monism in recent commentaries and also evaluate competing accounts of the same issues offered by "transparency theory" and by "biological naturalism". I argue that, of the competing views on offer, reflexive monism most closely follows the contours of ordinary experience, the findings of science, and common sense.


The rate of displacement of the chloride ligands by three neutral nucleophiles (Nu) of different steric demands, namely thiourea (TU), N,N'-dimethylthiourea (DMTU) and N,N,N,'N-tetramethylthiourea (TMTU) in the complexes viz; [Pt(II)(bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine)Cl]ClO 4 , ( Pt1 ), [Pt(II){N-(2-pyridinylmethyl)-8-quinolinamine}Cl]Cl, ( Pt2 ), [Pt(II)(bis(2-pyridylmethyl)sulfide)Cl]Cl, ( Pt3 ) and [Pt(II){8-((2-pyridylmethyl)thiol)quinoline}Cl]Cl, ( Pt4 ) was studied under pseudo first-order conditions as a function of concentration and temperature using a stopped-flow technique and UV-Visible spectrophotometry. The observed pseudo first-order rate constants for substitution reactions obeyed the simple rate law . The results have shown that the chloro ligand in Pt(N^S^N) complexes is more labile by two orders of magnitude than Pt(N^N^N) complexes due to the high trans labilizing effect brought by the S-donor atom . The quinoline based Pt(II) complexes ( Pt2 and Pt4 ) have been found to be slow than their pyridine counterparts Pt1 and Pt3 due to poor π-acceptor ability of quinoline. Second-order kinetics and large negative activation entropies support an associative mode of activation. Key words : Substitution, nucleophiles, pseudo first-order, associative, entropy


University of Sebelas Maret (UNS) selects new students every year. The selection process usually appears in three ways, known as National Selection for University Entry (SNMPTN), Local Selection for University Entry (SBMPTN), and New Students Admission Selection (SPMB). Every year UNS also passes students through four periods of graduation. From this process, UNS has graduation data that increases every period. These data has not yet been used efectively and left to accumulate unorderly. Necessary technique is needed to process the data that can give standardized and satisfying results, thus by using data mining indeed can solve the problem. In this research, the algorithm used is Iterative Dichotomiser 3 (ID3). ID3 algorithm is a method of learning that will build a decision tree that becomes model in finding solution of the problem. This algorithm in a greedily procedure searches  every possibility of the decision tree. ID3 can be used to process graduation data of UNS bachelor's degree students that can give an significant information categorized in a 12 class structure bases on grade point average and graduation time. This group designed based on attribute gender, faculty, high school origin, enrollment process, parents' salary, and parents' job and this information can be used to determine new students acceptance in University. From the tree model formed, then it tested by using measuring precision and recall. This testing were done by using data testing. Form the overall data 1066, used 95% for data training. Data testing used 5% from the overall data that is tested ten times randomly. From the testing result, it can be concluded that the implementation of ID3 algorithm on graduation data of UNS bachelor's degree students has average maximum precision 63.96% and average maximum recall 62.47%  of data testing in a ten times testing.


This article investigates the possible negative effects of bovine somatotropin (bST) and antibiotic use in cows on fluid-milk consumption in New York State. Based on data from a consumer survey, the potential change in milk consumption due to bST and antibiotic use is estimated. In addition, the current perceptions of consumers about bST and antibiotics are measured, and the significant socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal characteristics of consumers that are related to their milk-consumption response to bST are identified. Depending upon consumer awareness of bST, the results indicate that milk consumption in New York State could decrease by 5.5% to 15.6% if bST is approved. The results also suggest that antibiotic use in cows could decrease milk consumption by 1.6% to 7%, depending upon consumer awareness. A major implication is that education will likely play an important role in influencing consumers' attitudes and perceptions about both bST and antibiotics.


Effect of Memory 2 An investigation of age differences in memory performance for list and text recall was conducted in the context of a training manipulation. It was hypothesized that there would be age differences in performance, measures of self-efficacy, and attributional style, but that training in memory strategies would have an effect on those differences. The training manipulation appeared to be more effective for the list portion of the experiment, and improvements in performance and changes in . attributions were induced. The text portion of the experiment revealed the predicted age differences, but training failed to elicit any of the other predicted effects. The findings give support to the effectiveness of brief training manipulations in evoking changes in older adults' performance and beliefs about performance.


The expression of novel TrkB receptor transcripts has been characterized to understand the potentially diverse roles of brain- derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the developing avian visual system. In situ localization with an extracellular domain probe common to all TrkB transcripts labeled a sub-population of large retinal ganglion cells as well as many associated visual nuclei, including the neuronal layers within the tectum that receive retinal innervation. Because of the potential for structurally and functionally distinct receptors derived from the TrkB gene locus, cDNA cloning and reverse transcription-PCR analysis were used to further analyze receptor isoform expression in the retina and tectum. Receptor isoforms were sequenced that contained a deletion of the N terminus, a deletion in the putative ligand-binding domain, or a deletion in the cytoplasmic juxtamembrane (JM) domain. Two novel JM insertion sequences also were identified, one of which exhibits weak homology to beta-actin and was found in both kinase-containing (TK+) and kinase deletion (KD) receptor isoforms. In the developing retina, TK+ receptor mRNA is upregulated during the period of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death, consistent with the proposed role of BDNF as a tectal-derived survival factor for RGCs. However, the expression of TK+ transcripts in the tectum indicates that this structure also contains cells responsive to BDNF throughout development. Because BDNF is expressed in both the retina and tectum, it is conceivable that TrkB also mediates autocrine/paracrine signaling within these structures or anterograde retinotectal trophic support.


Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) offer great promise in improving fuel economy. In this paper, we analyze why, how, and by how much vehicle hybridization can reduce energy consumption and improve fuel economy. Our analysis focuses on efficiency gains associated solely with vehicle hybridization. We do not consider such other measures as vehicle weight reduction or air- and tire-resistance reduction, because such measures would also benefit conventional technology vehicles. The analysis starts with understanding the energy inefficiencies of light-duty vehicles associated with different operation modes in US and Japanese urban and highway driving cycles, with the corresponding energy-saving potentials. The potential for fuel economy gains due to vehicle hybridization can be estimated almost exclusively on the basis of three elements: the reducibility of engine idling operation, the recoverability of braking energy losses, and the capability of improving engine load profiles to gain efficiency associated with specific HEV configurations and control strategies. Specifically, we evaluate the energy efficiencies and fuel economies of a baseline MY97 Corolla-like conventional vehicle (CV), a hypothetical Corolla-based minimal hybrid vehicle (MHV), and a MY98 Prius-like full hybrid vehicle (FHV). We then estimate energy benefits of both MHVs and FHVs over CVs on a performance-equivalent basis. We conclude that the energy benefits of hybridization vary not only with test cycles, but also with performance requirements. The hybrid benefits are greater for ''Corolla (high) performance-equivalent'' vehicles than for ''Prius (low) performance-equivalent'' vehicles. An increasing acceleration requirement would result in larger fuel economy benefits from vehicle hybridization.


Suicide in the US military has been the recent focus of controversy and misunderstanding. The disappointing lack of valid and generalizable epidemiologic research from which to confidently ground clinical and policy decisions has only helped to fuel debates about the magnitude and causes of the problem and how best to approach it. Military suicides are sometimes characterized as epidemic in proportion, and many observers appear to assume that the incidence is escalating out of control as a consequence of prolonged combat and associated stress. Although a worrisome increase in the rate of military suicide has occurred since 2005, suicide in the military remains rare, a fact that leads to many challenges when trying to predict, study, and prevent suicide.


Since the declaration of Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was clear that vaccination is the best way to overcome it. Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Pfizer were the first vaccines introduced to defeat it. To recognize the short-term adverse effects among Iraqi health care workers (HCWs) after vaccination, the three COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available in Iraq were compared. An online survey was distributed to Iraqi HCWs who had received at least one of the COVID-19 vaccines as part of a retrospective cross-sectional study. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS. The total number of participants was 843. The majority of the participants (85.9%) were under 39 years old, with 78.8% of them being females. Around 60% of individuals had received the Pfizer vaccine. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had infected 46.7% of the total participants. A total of 628 out of 843 participants experienced adverse effects after receiving the vaccine, accounting for 74.49% of the overall respondents. After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the vast majority of respondents who received the three vaccines experienced pain at the injection site (n = 800), while other side effects like headache, myalgia, tiredness and fever mainly appeared with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. Most of the reported adverse effects were tolerable and self-limited and they were linked to the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.


This study shows the recent trend and future opportunities in green finance in the emerging India. A group of pioneering cities have demonstrated that energy efficiency conserves natural resources, strengthens resilience to meteorological disruptions, and leads to substantial savings in fossil fuel. Co-operations across the governments at various levels are most important. The national government can support the cities by increasing the funding which suites the energy saving and also locally administrated. The different mandates, expertise, and the multijurisdictional fluidity of most environmental problems, collaboration amongst neighboring municipalities, regions, and the national government, is of paramount importance. By suggesting new policies to the local authorities for the issuance of emission permits and/or for monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions. Perhaps the most common obstacle to the growth of the "green city", especially during the current economic crisis, is the lack of funding for environmentally friendly infrastructure. Urban climate change policies will have consequences for city's budgets for which new solutions are required. The sustainable local development can be made through the Green taxes so that more incentives can be provided and also to perform the existing program in an innovative manner. The government can be fiscally sound and innovative programmes and also environmentally good the in the practice of purchasing the green procurement. But also the climatic source of energy plays a vital role. In that water plays a major role because many cities around the world are already facing the importance of water stresses due to large amount of demands. So this paper implicates the valuable suggestions to meet the above all mentioned crises pertaining in our country.


This book will be a great help to a variety of organizations figuring out how best to implement CMMI, including large and small enterprises, even if their starting point is not Agile. All-in-all, this contains pearls of wisdom that will make a much-appreciated contribution to the software engineering community. Mike Konrad, Chief Architect, CMMI, Software Engineering Institute; coauthor, CMMI: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement, Second Edition This book will challenge many of your (mis)understandings about both Agile delivery and CMMI. Paul thoughtfully applies his years of practical experience to help bridge two disparate communities who are working towards the same goalimproving an organizations IT productivity. Its about time someone wrote a book like this. Scott W. Ambler, Chief Methodologist for Agile and Lean, IBM Rational; author, Agile Modeling; and coauthor, Enterprise Unified Process Many organizations that have improved process maturity through Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) now also want greater agility. Conversely, many organizations that are succeeding with Agile methods now want the benefits of more mature processes. The solution is to integrate CMMI and Agile. Integrating CMMI and Agile Development offers broad guidance for melding these process improvement methodologies. It presents six detailed case studies, along with essential real-world lessons, big-picture insights, and mistakes to avoid. Drawing on decades of process improvement experience, author Paul McMahon explains how combining an Agile approach with the CMMI process improvement framework is the fastest, most effective way to achieve your business objectives. He offers practical, proven techniques for CMMI and Agile integration, including new ways to extend Agile into system engineering and project management and to optimize performance by focusing on your organizations unique, culture-related weaknesses.


Sacrococcygeal teratoma is the most common tumor in infants. About 80% of these tumors are types 1 and 2, and are unlikely to cause metastases whose incidence is 10% in the neonatal period, against nearly 100% at the age of 3 years. These tumors can acquire huge and contain large proportions depriving blood flows to the developing fetus, the tumor hypervascularity generates a hyperdynamic state in the fetus, and that as the tumor grows, it increases its flow to behave as a short circuit and to be similar to that of the lower limbs of the fetus, increasing venous return and cardiac output, heart failure causing fetal and maternal eclampsia.


In this paper, we study the pooled data problem of identifying the labels associated with a large collection of items, based on a sequence of pooled tests revealing the counts of each label within the pool. In the noiseless setting, we identify an exact asymptotic threshold on the required number of tests with optimal decoding, and prove a phase transition between complete success and complete failure. In addition, we present a novel noisy variation of the problem, and provide an information-theoretic framework for characterizing the required number of tests for general random noise models. Our results reveal that noise can make the problem considerably more difficult, with strict increases in the scaling laws even at low noise levels. Finally, we demonstrate similar behavior in an approximate recovery setting, where a given number of errors is allowed in the decoded labels.


Analyses the Bureau of Municipal Research′s (BMR) role in the 1912 New York City School Inquiry to show the democratic orientation of key people trying to transfer scientific management to government. Because much modern public administration literature portrays scientific management as authoritarian, some people assume its proponents wanted to shut the populace out of public‐sector decision making by transfering power from elected officials to experts. The School Inquiry case shows how important reformers committed to scientific management sought to maximize the control that elected officials had over a key administrative function. The BMR stressed this democratic point of view until threats from its principal financial backer forced it to downplay its voice on educational issues and its innovative concept of efficient citizenship.


Agricultural activities have many effects on the environment, including effects on soil and air quality, water quality and quantity, contamination, and wildlife habitat. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has calculated a set of science-based agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) to provide information on environmental conditions in agriculture and their trends. The indicators are based on models developed from scientific understanding of the interactions between agriculture and the environment and are calculated using mathematical models to integrate information on soils, climate, and landscape with agricultural activity or practice information from the Canadian Census of Agriculture. Several AEIs were selected to explore the effects of climate change on agri-environmental sustainability. Based on the analysis in this study, those indicators that would likely decrease in their performance in the future include: risks of soil erosion from wind and water, soil salinization, water quality, nitrogen contamination, phosphorous contamination, pesticide contamination, and particulate matter emission rate. The one indicator found to likely improve with climate change was the greenhouse gas budget. In addition, the impacts of climate change were difficult to assess for several indicators as their values are more affected by both agricultural and non-agricultural factors, as well as lack of knowledge. AEIs are important tools to measure climate impacts and to indicate the success of adaptation to those impacts. This research is only emerging, however, and many knowledge gaps exist.


This article addresses the distinction amongst adpositions between those adpositions which are lexical and those which are functional. The article uses a corpus linguistic approach to address outstanding questions: whether there are two distinct subclasses of adposition, whether the distinction is a continuum amongst adpositions, and how— by what properties— lexical and functional adpositions are distinguished. The article argues for a primarily semantic, multifaceted distinction amongst adpositions, best understood as a continuum. The distinction is argued to be quite small, such that lexical and functional adpositions are not strongly differentiated and an argument is made in support of the more functional status of adpositions generally. A "bottom up" approach is used, which builds from the observable differences between two adpositions, one lexical, and one functional, to characterizations about the nature of the lexical versus functional distinction amongst adpositions. The adpositions used as the basis for this approach are Old English of OE and its present-day English counterpart of PDE . Of in the history of English offers a uniquely ideal case-study for an investigation into lexical and functional adpositions, given the uncontroversial functional status of of PDE and the accepted lexical status of of OE . The article identifies differences between of OE and of PDE primarily in semantics, in the number of available semantic relations. Syntax, morphophonology, and the possible replacement of an adposition by case are found not to represent areas of major difference between the adpositions. Instead, there is continuity between the adpositions in syntax and semantics. The historical evidence provides an opportunity to explore the grammaticalization of an adposition from lexical to functional. The comparative findings have consequences for the retention of meaning in semantic expansion and contradict notions of coevolution between syntax and semantics in grammaticalization. The context-specific nature of grammaticalization is also questioned on the basis of the comparison between the adpositions.


Context. The most striking feature of the cosmic star formation history (CSFH) of the Universe is a dramatic drop in the star formation (SF) activity after z ~ 1.Aims. In this work we investigate whether the very same process of assembly and growth of structures is one of the major drivers of the observed decline in the Universe's SF activity.Methods. We study the contribution to the CSFH of galaxies in halos of different masses. This is done by studying the total SF rate-halo mass-redshift plane from redshift 0 to redshift ~1.6 in a sample of 57 groups and clusters by using the deepest available mid- and far-infrared surveys conducted with Spitzer MIPS and Herschel PACS and SPIRE, on blank (ECDFS, CDFN, and the COSMOS) and cluster fields.Results. Our results show that low mass groups (Mhalo ~ 6 × 1012−6 × 1013M⊙) provide a 60−80% contribution to the CSFH at z ~ 1. This contribution has declined faster than the CSFH in the past 8 billion years to less than 10% at z 6 × 1013M⊙) provide only a marginal contribution ( 50%) of very massive, highly star-forming main sequence galaxies. Below z ~ 1 a quenching process must take place in massive halos to cause the observed faster suppression of their SF activity. Such a process must be a slow one, though, since most of the models implementing a rapid quenching of the SF activity in accreting satellites significantly underpredict the observed SF level in massive halos at any redshift. This would rule out short time-scale mechanisms such as ram pressure stripping. Instead, starvation or the satellite's transition from cold to hot accretion would provide a quenching timescale of 1 to few Gyr that is more consistent with the observations.Conclusions. Our results suggest a scenario in which, owing to the structure formation process, more and more galaxies experience the group environment and the associated quenching process in the past 8 billion years. This leads to the progressive suppression of their SF activity so that it shapes the CSFH below z ~ 1.


The analysis of the structure and dynamics of the main indicators of the Russian telecom- munication services market shows the achievement of saturation state of this market and the exhaustion of extensive sources of growth. Given the presence of a complex of negative socioeconomic factors, the source of maintaining the market positions of telecommunication companies is the customization of the services offered. For this purpose, the concept of the service products can be applied, involving the inclusion of the additional, accompanying and derivative services into the customer service package. The prerequisites for the applica- tion of the concept of the service product in the telecommunication field are the availability of the multiattribute properties and interdependence of elements in the product of that field. On the telecommunication market we can consider three types of service products. Customization of the Russian market of telecommunication services is carried out taking into account its strong state protectionism, which is conditioned by the strategic importance and the high social significance of the telecommunication industry. Saturation of the market in the conditions of oligopoly and sophistication of consumers stimulate the telecommunication companies to include in their market offer the service products of all three types.


In Arabic speech communities, there is a diglossic gap between written/formal Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and spoken/casual colloquial dialectal Arabic (DA): the common spoken language has no standard representation in written form, while the language observed in texts has limited occurrence in speech. Hence the task of developing language resources to describe and model DA speech involves extra work to establish conventions for orthography and grammatical analysis. We describe work being done at the LDC to develop lexicons for DA, comprising pronunciation, morphology and part-of-speech labeling for word forms in recorded speech. Components of the approach are: (a) a two-layer transcription, providing a consonant-skeleton form and a pronunciation form; (b) manual annotation of morphology, part-of-speech and English gloss, followed by development of automatic word parsers modeled on the Buckwalter Morphological Analyzer for MSA; (c) customized user interfaces and supporting tools for all stages of annotation; and (d) a relational database for storing, emending and publishing the transcription corpus as well as the lexicon.


Author(s): Rezaee, Janna Marie King | Advisor(s): Gailmard, Sean | Abstract: Given gridlock in Congress, presidents and subunits of Congress are increasingly pursuing their policy goals in the executive branch. Yet we know little about how they go about doing so. In Chapter 1, I introduce the broad notion of positive agenda control by the president. Up until this point, the existing literature has been narrowly focused on presidents' negative agenda control over agencies (Moe 1985; Nathan 1983) and has only recognized positive agenda control in terms of executive orders (Moe and Howell 1999; Howell 2003). I argue that presidents direct their resources toward allied agencies to strengthen, pass, and implement policies the president supports. Using a newly collected dataset, I look at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the most important innovation in presidential power in 35 years, and I show that Presidents Clinton and Obama were disproportionately likely to use OIRA to review the policies of relatively more liberal agencies and President George W. Bush was disproportionately likely to use OIRA to review the policies of relatively more conservative agencies. This finding differs from the conventional wisdom that OIRA is a presidential watchdog and it changes how we think about presidential power in administrative oversight.In Chapter 2, together with Abby Wood and Sean Gailmard, I turn to congressional committees and their pursuit of policy goals in the executive branch. We introduce the theory that congressional committees use oversight of bureaucracy as a means to mitigate agency problems they face with the bureaucracy. Up until this point, scholars have not systematically connected the oversight activity of Congress to the democratic problems created by delegation. The landmark analysis of Aberbach 1990 placed oversight in a framework centered on Congress and the broad contours of the national policymaking environment, without taking into account agency policymaking activity. In contrast, we present a principal-agent model of oversight and find support in a newly-collected dataset of on-the-record legislative hearings for the model's three observable implications: legislative oversight is increasing in agency policymaking activity, increasing in the amount of ideological conflict between committees and agencies, and increasing in the amount of ideological conflict between House and Senate committees during divided Congresses. Our results provide evidence that committees oversee agencies not merely to position-take for the next campaign cycle, but to influence actual policy outcomes. In Chapter 3, I return to a focus on the president and I treat limiting lobbyist influence as a policy goal in its own right. I argue that lobbyists going "offensive" in their lobbying strategies combined with underwriting some of the work of under-resourced agencies puts lobbyists in a position to set the agenda in the executive branch. I contribute a bargaining model in which an agency, the president, and a lobbyist each have agenda-setting power some of the time. I derive the conditions under which the president, so long as he or she is not perfectly ideologically aligned with the agency, can limit the influence of the lobbyist on the agency's policies by acting as a "tough" bargaining agent. This model reveals a tradeoff from the standpoint of the agency between working with an ideologically aligned president (an ally on policymaking goals) and working with an ideologically unaligned president who can help limit lobbyist influence.


The primary immunoglobulin (Ig) repertoire is further diversified during secondary Ig diversification in germinal centre B cells. The secondary Ig diversification via somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination in humans and mice or by Ig gene conversion in some farm animals like chickens is based on the induction of DNA damage by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), an enzyme that deaminates cytidine to uracil. These DNA lesions can either be repaired in an error-prone mode in the Ig loci or in an error-free manner, which is favoured in other cellular genes. However, the molecular mechanism of this differential repair fidelity is unknown to date. Maintenance of the integrity of the entire genome is essential for cancer prevention and activation of two different checkpoint signalling axes plays an important role in triggering cell cycle arrest and improved DNA repair. In case of long single stranded regions as a result of stalled replication forks or single strand breaks, ATR is activated, which phosphorylates the checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1). On the other hand, DNA double strand breaks activate ATM, which phosphorylates the checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2). Given the extensive DNA damage caused by AID during Ig diversification, activation of checkpoint control is likely, but not much is known about the effects of checkpoint signalling on secondary Ig diversification processes. In this work, we could show that the two checkpoint kinases are involved and oppose each other in the regulation of somatic hypermutation, Ig gene conversion and class switch recombination. Our results suggest that Ig diversification depends on a highly regulated interplay of the two checkpoint kinases, as Chk2 is required for efficient somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination, while Chk1 activity may contribute to the prevention of B cell lymphomas.


Corrective Transmission Switching can be used by the grid operator to relieve line overloading and voltage violations, improve system reliability, and reduce system losses. Power grid optimization by means of line switching is typically formulated as a mixed integer programming problem (MIP). Such problems are known to be computationally intractable, and accordingly, a number of heuristic approaches to grid topology reconfiguration have been proposed in the power systems literature. By means of some low order examples (3-bus systems), it is shown that within a reasonably large class of "greedy" heuristics, none can be found that perform better than the others across all grid topologies. Despite this cautionary tale, statistical evidence based on a large number of simulations using IEEE 118-bus systems indicates that among three heuristics, a globally greedy heuristic is the most computationally intensive, but has the best chance of reducing generation costs while enforcing N-1 connectivity. It is argued that, among all iterative methods, the locally optimal switches at each stage have a better chance in not only approximating a global optimal solution but also greatly limiting the number of lines that are switched.