Output signals of neural circuits, including the retina, are shaped by a combination of excitatory and inhibitory signals. Inhibitory signals can act presynaptically on axon terminals to control neurotransmitter release and regulate circuit function. However, it has been difficult to study the role of presynaptic inhibition in most neural circuits due to lack of cell type-specific and receptor type-specific perturbations. In this study, we used a transgenic approach to selectively eliminate GABAA inhibitory receptors from select types of second-order neurons – bipolar cells – in mouse retina and examined how this affects the light response properties of the well-characterized ON alpha ganglion cell retinal circuit. Selective loss of GABAA receptor-mediated presynaptic inhibition causes an enhanced sensitivity and slower kinetics of light-evoked responses from ON alpha ganglion cells thus highlighting the role of presynaptic inhibition in gain control and temporal filtering of sensory signals in a key neural circuit in the mammalian retina.


This study investigates the use of earnings components in setting CEO compensation and explores how persistence and controllability affect it. The results indicate that compensation committees do accord differential treatment to earnings components based on their persistence and controllability. Among above the line items, income from continuing items, the most persistent item, also receives the most weight, followed by special items, which have smaller persistence. Furthermore, these weights vary across firms in different stages of life cycle in a manner that mirrors variations in their informativeness and persistence. Weights on special items also exhibit contextual sensitivity based on their type and frequency. Among below the line items, discontinued items, which are at least under partial control of the CEO, receive a positive weight. Except extraordinary items, which are largely uncontrollable, we find no evidence that CEOs are shielded from the income-decreasing effects of any of the earnings components.


Meningococcal disease is an acute bacterial infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis and is characterized by sudden onset with fever, intense headache, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck and confusion. Formerly, the case-fatality ratio exceeded 50%, but early diagnosis, modern therapy, and supportive measures have lowered the case-fatality ratio to about 10% in developed countries. Among survivals, 11-19% develop long-term sequelae, including hearing loss, neurological disability or limb loss. Meningococcal meningitis occurs globally and is usually sporadic, but occasionally breaks into devastating epidemics. There are 12 sero-groups of N. meningitidis but only 4 cause epidemics. In African meningitis belt and in eastern African region, 90% of the recurrent meningococcal meningitis epidemics are caused by sero-group A and C. In the past 20 years, other sero-groups such as Y, X or W135 have been detected in the West African countries. Between January and April 2006, there was meningitis outbreak in West African Countries (Burkina Faso & Niger) also in the eastern Africa region including Uganda, southern Sudan and Kenya. These outbreaks may be associated with mutation or new circulating N. meningitidis strains. The main aim of this study was to isolate, carry out antimicrobial susceptibility test and characterize N. meningitidis from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens of patients from West Pokot Kenya and southern Sudan in order to understand the diversity of the circulating strains for effective management. The specimens from the field were collected in Trans-Isolate Media and plain sterile test tubes then transported to the AMREF Laboratory at room temperature for culture on solid media. Molecular typing by PCR of all the CSF specimens was performed and characterization by Multi-locus Sequence Typing (MLST) was carried out for the CSF specimens that showed growth (positive culture). The specimens were analyzed at the AMREF laboratory and at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No.3 (NAMRU) in Cairo, Egypt. The study results showed the first outbreak of sero-group X meningococcal disease in Kenya; whereas the isolates from southern Sudan were of sero-group A, meningococcal meningitis. The most affected age group was children under 10 years in both countries. Also the study showed that the N. meningitidis strain in Kenya had resistance to sulphanomide drug whereas the strain in southern Sudan showed intermediate susceptibility. Molecular epidemiology is recommended for recognizing new strains in outbreaks and determining the suitable vaccine. This may call for inclusion of sero-group X in the new vaccine.


Analysis of data on mental health service providers indicates that in 1971 the private sector accounted for 34% of inpatient days, 86% of outpatient visits, 44% of expenditures by source of funds, and 51% of expenditures by receipt of funds. The author believes that mental health professionals must familiarize themselves with the economic interests influencing national health insurance proposals and with public policy making processes if they are to help preserve appropriate roles for the public and private sectors in mental health service delivery.


Purpose: To evaluate and compare the topographic and topometric parameters, thickness profile data, and data from enhanced elevation maps of thin non-keratoconic, subclinical keratoconic, and mild keratoconic corneas with the Pentacam Scheimpflug corneal tomography and to study the usefulness of different parameters to differentiate keratoconus from topographically normal thin corneas. Methods: The study included 30 eyes with subclinical keratoconus, 30 eyes with mild-stage keratoconus, and 54 healthy eyes with minimal pachymetry ≤500 µm, with a mean age of 21.19 ± 2.97, 21.75 ± 1.93, and 21.5 ± 2.95 years, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves was used to analyze the diagnostic significance of the Pentacam parameters. Results: The anterior and posterior corneal elevations, pachymetric progression, the percentage of thickness increase measurements, overall D value, and topometric indices were statistically significantly higher in subclinical and mild keratoconic corneas than in normal eyes with thin cornea (p < 0.05). All these parameters had sufficient strength (area under the receiver operating characteristic curves >0.90) to differentiate clinical keratoconus. Posterior elevation showed the excellent area under the receiver operating characteristic curves with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for this purpose. However, among all parameters studied, the anterior elevation (0.935) showed the excellent area under the receiver operating characteristic curves to differentiate subclinical keratoconus, followed by posterior elevation (0.897), index of height decentration (0.887), and D value (0.882). Conclusion: The parameters derived from the Scheimpflug device, such as corneal elevations and overall D value, can effectively differentiate subclinical and clinical keratoconus from non-keratoconic thin cornea eyes. However, the specificity levels of these parameters were relatively limited in the diagnosis of subclinical keratoconus.


In the society of high-speed operation and extreme uncertainty nowadays, innovation becomes a pivotal contributor to enable us to keep up with the advancement of the changing world. In China's universities, how to cultivate innovative talents has become a focus of education. Since the university is the place where instructors may be the most direct influence factor in the process of student training, their abilities in teaching innovation, which is affected by various factors including leaders who are the key decision-maker, are worthy of attention. Nevertheless, leaders, in reality, tend to place themselves in the secondary position of teaching innovation and neglect to provide necessary resources to support the learning. This paper infers the crucial role of university leaders in improving teaching innovation by analyzing the connotation, the importance, the influencing factors of teaching innovation, and recommendations. The recommendations provided for the university leaders to support instructors in consolidating the importance and procedure of teaching innovation through "GISS", a guide of action that includes goal-setting, implementation, supporting, and sharing.


This retrospective study was conducted to assess the safety, efficacy, and long-term results of multi-modality therapy including radio-frequency thermal ablation (RFA) and radiotherapy as an additional cytoreductive method for eliciting the marked effects of chemotherapy in treating unresectable lung metastases from colorectal cancer. Total of 21 patients with lung metastasis from colorectal cancer were included. They were treated with modified pharmacokinetic modulating chemotherapy (PMC). Eleven were also treated with RFA and/or radiotherapy (multi-modality group), and 10 were treated with chemotherapy alone (chemotherapy group). Characteristics and survival of patients in the multi-modality group were compared with those of the chemotherapy group. The median survival of all patients was 38.6 months after the initial PMC. The cumulative 3-year survival rate of patients in the multi-modality group was 87.5% compared with 33.3% in the chemotherapy group (p=0.0041). The course of multi-modality therapy was uneventful except for pneumothorax in those who received RFA. Although pneumothorax developed in 4 of 11 patients (36.4%) treated with RFA, all were able to receive chemotherapy within 2 weeks after RFA. In conclusion, multi-modality therapy combined with modified PMC, radiation and RFA is a feasible choice of treatment associated with reasonable morbidity and mortality in patients with inoperable lung metastases from colorectal cancer.


Galactose conjugation of antibodies causes them to be recognized by the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor and therefore cleared very rapidly from the blood. In these investigations, some effector functions of galactose-conjugated antibodies were assayed, and several applications to experimental tumors in vivo were demonstrated. Galactose conjugation did not interfere with two antibody functions in addition to antigen binding, namely complement-mediated cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. This conjugation procedure was originally developed for its potential use in localized immunotherapy, such as i.p. Injection of galactose-antibody conjugates i.p. demonstrated, more conclusively than other methods that have been used, that the presence of ascites causes prolonged retention of antibody in the peritoneal cavity and that this effect is correlated with the volume of ascites present. In mice bearing i.p. tumor xenografts, i.p. injection of galactose-antibody conjugates resulted in high tumor/nontumor ratios at 28 h after antibody injection, with values of 40:1, 43:1, 77:1, and 11:1 for the blood, kidney, lung, and spleen, respectively, although the ratio was only 4:1 for the liver. Control experiments demonstrated that i.p. injection of unconjugated antibody or a galactose-conjugated nonreactive antibody produced much lower tumor/nontumor ratios. In investigations of possible systemic application of galactose-antibody conjugates, we found that injection of large amounts of an inhibitor that binds competitively to the hepatic receptor, asialo-bovine submaxillary mucin, can block clearance of galactose-conjugated antibodies for 2-3 days. In this way, high blood levels of antibody can be maintained for 2-3 days, thus allowing penetration and binding to solid tumors, followed by very rapid blood clearance. With this approach, using a human carcinoma growing s.c. in nude mice, high tumor/nontumor ratios were obtained 4 days after injection, with mean values of 43:1, 18:1, 17:1, and 15:1 for the blood, kidney, lung, and spleen, respectively, although the ratio for the liver was only 1.7:1. The blood level at this time was 0.04 +/- 0.02% (SD) of the injected dose/g, while the tumor level was 1.69 +/- 1.29% of the injected dose/g. In conclusion, galactose-conjugated antibodies appear to have diverse applications in regional or systemic immunotherapy.


Real-time 3D reconstruction from RGB-D sensor data plays an important role in many robotic applications, such as object modeling and mapping. The popular method of fusing depth information into a truncated signed distance function (TSDF) and applying the marching cubes algorithm for mesh extraction has severe issues with thin structures: not only does it lead to loss of accuracy, but it can generate completely wrong surfaces. To address this, we propose the directional TSDF—a novel representation that stores opposite surfaces separate from each other. The marching cubes algorithm is modified accordingly to retrieve a coherent mesh representation. We further increase the accuracy by using surface gradient-based ray casting for fusing new measurements. We show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art TSDF reconstruction algorithms in mesh accuracy.


This paper aims to analyze the square beyond an architectural element in the city, but weaves this blank slate, with its contemporary socio political atmosphere as a new paradigm. As a result, this research investigates the historical, social and political concept of Meydan – a term which has mostly applied for the Iranian and Islamic public squares. This interpretation, suggested the idea of Meydan as the core of the projects in the city, which historically exposed in formalization of power relations and religious ideologies. In this sense, studying the spatial transformation of Iranian public squares introduces the framework, which is adaptable to contemporary urban context.


Treatment of complement component C4 with C1(-)s and methylamine induces a series of conformation changes such as to generate functional binding sites. A monoclonal antibody (mAb), Al 121/6, which does not inhibit the haemolytic activity of C4 was found to bind to native C4 and C4d, but not to C4b and methylamine-treated C4, unless these C4 derivatives were denatured. These results suggested that a linear epitope for mAb Al 121/6 in the C4d domain is originally located at the surface of C4 and becomes hidden as a result of conformational changes induced by C1(-)s or methylamine treatment. The hidden linear epitope was exposed again upon further cleavage of C4b into C4c and C4d. Trypsin digestion of C4d and its chemical modification with phthalic anhydride suggested that the epitope is located at the C-terminal 13 kDa region of C4d and that lysine residues are involved in the epitope. There is a single lysine residue at 1259 in the 13 kDa C-terminal side of C4d and the synthetic undecapeptide Leu1254-Asp1264 was found to inhibit the binding of C4 to mAb Al 121/6, suggesting that the epitope for mAb Al 121/6 is involved in the sequence. The N-terminal portion of the peptide is partly overlapping, with a highly hydrophobic amino acid sequence spanning residues Ala1249-Leu-Leu-His-Leu-Leu-Leu1255. The surface hydrophobicity of C4 has been reported to decrease upon treatment with C1(-)s and methylamine. So it appears that the hydrophobic sequence spanning Ala1249-Leu1255 may be hidden, together with the linear epitope, into the inner region of C4 upon treatment with C1s and methylamine.


A 35-amino acid peptide corresponding to the putative "zinc finger" sequence of primase was prepared to study its zinc binding properties. When zinc was added to the peptide, it was found that the fluorescence quantum yield of the single tyrosine increased by 46% and the average lifetime by 34%. The binding stoichiometry was one zinc per peptide. Below pH 6.0 and above pH 8.5, the zinc-peptide binding affinity was less than 1 microM and could be accurately determined. Interpolation from those binding constants suggested that the affinity at pH 7.5 was between 10 and 100 nM. The absorption spectrum of the cobalt(II)-peptide complex was consistent with tetrahedral metal coordination by three sulfur and one imidazole nitrogen ligands. The peptide affinity for cobalt was less than for zinc, indicating metal specificity. Analysis of the fluorescence intensity pH profile, circular dichroism spectra, the effect of extrinsic quenchers indicated that at neutral pH (1) the free peptide up into a structure to place the tyrosine in an environment protected from solvent, (2) the peptide bound zinc via its three cysteines and one of its histidines resulting in little change to the polypeptide secondary structure or to the tyrosine solvent accessibility, and (3) when the peptide bound zinc, it bound directly to or caused the immobilization of the groups that had been intramolecularly collisionally quenching the tyrosine which resulted in the observed increases in tyrosine quantum yield and lifetime.


The paper sets itself three key tasks. Firstly, to set post compulsory education and training in its socio-economic context, and secondly, this then enables an analysis of the impact of New Labour policy upon the sector. Thirdly, the paper addresses the connection between the lived experience of educational relations and the articulation of these to class formation. In so doing, questions of individualisation, complexity and class are explored. This encourages an analysis that stresses the salience of class in educational analyses and that also works with an expansive notion of practice that calls for a politicised understanding of PCET.


Nineteenth-century Europeans visiting Southeast and South Asia eulogised teak trees (Tectona grandis) for their value and beauty. Diplomatic diaries, travel memoirs, literary descriptions and geography books for children described the teak as a universal sovereign of the sylvan world, the regal "lord" of the forests. With dwindling supplies of oak in Britain, British elites saw teak as a vital component of the country's global naval supremacy in the nineteenth century. The fear of a dwindling supply of teak during the late eighteenth to the mid nineteenth centuries encouraged the creation of forestry departments and laws in British India that attempted to preserve the finite amount of teak in the sub-continent. Yet the finite ecologies of India and Burma could not supply all the teak required to fuel expanding demand. Britain would have to look beyond its formal empire in Asia to find more teak.


Homoepitaxial growth on 4° off-axis substrates with different off-cut directions, i.e. [11-20] and [1-100], was investigated using a commercial CVD reactor. The characteristics of the growth process on substrates with different off-cut directions were determined with respect to applicable C/Si ratio, growth rate and n- and p-type doping range. Stable step flow growth was achieved over a broad range of C/Si ratio at growth rates ~ 15 µm/h in both cases. The n-type doping level of epilayers can be controlled at least in the range from 5  1014 cm-3 to 3  1017 cm-3 on both types of substrates. Highly p-type epilayers with p = 2  1019 cm-3 can also be grown on [1-100] off-cut substrates. Hence, the growth process for standard substrates was successfully transferred to [1-100] off-cut substrates resulting in epilayers with similar doping levels. The dislocation content of the grown epilayers was investigated by means of defect selective etching (DSE) in molten KOH. For both off-cut directions of the substrates, similar densities of threading edge dislocations (TED), threading screw dislocations (TSD) and basal plane dislocations (BPD) were found in the epilayers. Epilayers with very low BPD density can be grown on both kinds of substrates. The remaining BPDs in epilayers are inclined along the off-cut direction of the substrate. The surface morphology and roughness was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The epilayers grown on [1-100] off-cut substrates are smoother than those on standard substrates.


Clinical management of patients with acute cerebral blood flow depends on the cause and location of violation, clinical manifestations of the disease. Acute stroke patients during the course conducted in specialized intensive care and neurological departments of hospitals. The most frequent problems in patients who have had a stroke, is a violation of the motor and koordinatornye functions, language, vision and sensitivity, loss of skills and self-service moves. It is with these effects occur patients after discharge from hospital.


Optimal transport (OT) and maximum mean discrepancies (MMD) are now routinely used in machine learning to compare probability measures. We focus in this paper on \emph{Sinkhorn divergences} (SDs), a regularized variant of OT distances which can interpolate, depending on the regularization strength $\varepsilon$, between OT ($\varepsilon=0$) and MMD ($\varepsilon=\infty$). Although the tradeoff induced by that regularization is now well understood computationally (OT, SDs and MMD require respectively $O(n^3\log n)$, $O(n^2)$ and $n^2$ operations given a sample size $n$), much less is known in terms of their \emph{sample complexity}, namely the gap between these quantities, when evaluated using finite samples \emph{vs.} their respective densities. Indeed, while the sample complexity of OT and MMD stand at two extremes, $1/n^{1/d}$ for OT in dimension $d$ and $1/\sqrt{n}$ for MMD, that for SDs has only been studied empirically. In this paper, we \emph{(i)} derive a bound on the approximation error made with SDs when approximating OT as a function of the regularizer $\varepsilon$, \emph{(ii)} prove that the optimizers of regularized OT are bounded in a Sobolev (RKHS) ball independent of the two measures and \emph{(iii)} provide the first sample complexity bound for SDs, obtained,by reformulating SDs as a maximization problem in a RKHS. We thus obtain a scaling in $1/\sqrt{n}$ (as in MMD), with a constant that depends however on $\varepsilon$, making the bridge between OT and MMD complete.


This presentation will be on the use of adaptive optics (AO) with direct wavefront sensing for biological imaging. Adaptive optics have been used in ground based astronomy to correct image aberrations caused by refraction as light passes through Earth's turbulent atmosphere. As shown on the left in Figure One, light from the telescope has a distorted wavefront, as indicated by the wavy lines. A wavefront sensor measures these distortions and applies the opposite shape on an adaptive mirror using a feedback control system. After reflection from the adaptive mirror a corrected wavefront is generated and is recorded by a high-resolution camera. An image of the planet Neptune before and after AO correction is shown on the right in Figures 1(a) and 1(b). After correction the cloud structure on Neptune can be resolved in 1(b).


Menstrual cycle activity predisposes to ovarian epithelial tumors based on numerous epidemiological studies. We showed that the hormones involved in menstrual cycle regulation modulate cell cycle activity in these tumors in an accompanying paper. We investigated whether such hormones could also influence angiogenesis, an important determinant of tumor progression, in the same tumors. Treatment with progesterone (P4) stimulated VEGF protein secretion in 4 of 5 ovarian carcinoma cell lines examined. Northern blot analyses performed in MCV50 cells showed that this effect was accompanied by increased VEGF mRNA levels. P4 also stimulated VEGF promoter activity in these cells. Estradiol (E2) showed a similar, but substantially smaller effect on VEGF secretion which was additive to that of P4. Conditioned medium from P4-treated cells strongly stimulated angiogenesis on chicken chorio-allantoic membranes. Incubating the conditioned medium with a neutralizing anti-VEGF antibody, but not with non-specific immunoglobulins abolished this effect. Angiogenic activity was not altered by treatment of the membranes with P4 directly. We conclude that P4 can stimulate angiogenic activity via induction of VEGF secretion in some ovarian epithelial tumors. Therapeutic use of progestins may be most effective when administered in combination with an anti-angiogenic agent, at least against a subset of ovarian carcinomas.


Background Each year in the UK there are ∼ 49 000 incident cases of breast cancer, ∼ 12,000 deaths from breast cancer, and 2.6 million women are invited for screening by the UK National Health Service Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP). The NHSBSP aims to reduce mortality from breast cancer through earlier diagnosis and treatment. In the NHSBSP trained mammography readers read more than 5000 cases per year, searching for early signs of cancer. This is a monotonous task, requiring high levels of skill and vigilance and readers require breaks. Readers recall women for further tests if a mammogram is considered suspect. Tests are invasive and can cause anxiety and distress. Only 18% of those recalled have a positive diagnosis. Objective To measure how mammography readers' performance (recall rate) varies with time of day and time after a break. Methods Data were extracted for 170 000 cases read by 7 readers 2007–2010 from NHSBSP records at one breast screening centre. Time and date stamps from the records were used to group cases into time slot within which they were read. Time and date stamps were used to calculate when breaks of over 1 h were taken, and for each case when it was read in relation to a break. Results Recall rate for mammography readers varied between readers, but did not vary significantly by time of day. Recall rate was 2.3% higher for the first ten cases than for the second ten read since a break (t(6)=4.6, p=.004, 95% CI of difference = 1.0% to 3.5%). Conclusions Systematic variation in recall rates with time since a break are worrying since they are unlikely to be due to underlying levels of pathology, and therefore may result in both over-and under-diagnosis of true cancer. Vigilance decrements are well recognised in other fields but have not been systematically investigated in screening practice. Developments in breast screening include a planned age-extension of the NHSBSP to 47–73 years without a planned concomitant increase in staffing and the potential worldwide introduction of computer aided detection (CAD) systems which may artificially increase the number of 'breaks' experienced by readers as they investigate CAD reports. Both of these have the potential to decrease rather than improve the NHSBSP's screening performance. Further investigation in a larger number of breast screening centres is necessary.


Gravity dam foundation failure progress is always associated with its deformation development. So dam foundation deformation should be paid more attention in gravity dam stability analysis. Key node plays an important role in analyzing the dam foundation deformation development. But how to select key node is worth researching. A gravity dam foundation stability is studied by the development of plastic zone and key nodes' displacements in dam foundation. The problem of key node selection is researched and a key node selection method is brought up also in this paper.


To examine the anti-obesity effects of tea catechins in humans, a trial study using healthy male subjects (27-47 years). Comprising in equal number a low dose catechin (LDC) group (n=11) and high dose catechin (HDC) group (n=12). The groups were administered catechins at 118.5 mg and 483.0 mg a day for 12 weeks, respectively. At 4 and 12 weeks, effect evaluation was made based on change in weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, body fat ratio and abdominal fat as determined by computed tomography (CT) and triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, free fatty acid, glucose, insulin and total plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in serum. In the HDC group, at 12 weeks, weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat ratio, abdominal fat and total cholesterol, glucose, insulin, PAI-1 in serum were noted to have significantly decreased from values at 0 week. In the LDC group, only weight, BMI and insulin had changed. In the HDC group, BMI had decreased significantly in 25≤BMI subjects compared to 25>BMI subjects. In the 25≤BMI subjects, BMI decreased significantly more in the HDC group. Tea catechins are thus shown here for the first time to have the anti-obesity effects in humans.


The present study evaluated offender characteristics associated with completion of halfway house placement by the inclusion of additional offender characteristics for analysis in addition to those studied in previous research, the analysis of a large number of representative cases, and the use of statistics allowing clear conclusions upon which to base decision making. Data analysis was done in three steps. The first Step was to identify offender characteristics which were associated with completion in halfway house placement. The second step was to see how accurate the offender characteristics identified were in predicting completion of an offender's halfway house stay. The third step was to identify any possible factors which underlie the offender characteristics identified. Discriminant analyses identified ten offender characteristics which were associated with completion of halfway house placement for 521 male offenders and four offender characteristics which were associated with halfway house completion for the group of 33 female offenders studied. These offender characteristics resulted in 75.38 percent correctly classified cases for the male offender group and 96.9 7 percent correctly classified cases for the group of female offenders. Factor analyses resulted in the identification of four factors for the group of male offenders and two factors for the female offender group. Suggestions for future research included replications of the present study leading to the identification of offender groups based on probabilities of successful halfway house completion, and the establishment of halfway house programs tailored to offenders identified as having high or low probabilities of completion.


This work concern about finding the best effective way to optimizing therapeutic characteristics of gabapentin, by retarding neuronal and gastrointestinal adverse effects through masking of carboxyl group chemically, and increase its analgesic This is achieved by design and synthesis different types of ester derivatives of gabapentin as mutual pro drugs with some of phenolic and alcoholic antioxidants. Pro moieties like; thymol and eugenol, umbilliferon and some other types of phenolic and alcoholic antioxidant ,with the aim of getting synergistic effect as these antioxidants considered as natural analgesic having analgesic and antiinflammatory activity. The chemical structures of these compounds were confirmed and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 1H-NMR spectroscopy and some physicochemical parameters . The synthesized final compounds (3a–3g) were tested to evaluate their antiinflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial activity against gram negative and gram positive bacteria. Anti-inflammatory activity in rats using egg-white induced edema method of inflammation . All of the synthesized compound showed antiinflammatory activity compared to the control group (dimethyl sulfoxide) and gabapentin ; however eugenol conjugate (3f) and thymol conjugate (3a) demonstrate more significant anti-inflammatory activity than the other derivative. The antibacterial and antifungal activity for these compounds evaluated by well diffusion method and the results revealed that compound 3a have the best antibacterial and antifungal activity


Studies in the Bos taurus cattle have shown the gut morphology to be affected by diet, but there is a paucity of such information in the Bos indicus cattle. A study was conducted to evaluate the morphology of digestive tract of the Tanzanian Short Horn Zebu (TSHZ) cattle under different dietary treatments. A total of 54 TSHZ cattle aged 2-3 years were randomly allocated to six dietary treatments. Animals under treatment 1 (T1) were grazed on natural pasture, while those of T2-T6 were fed ad libitum basal diet of hay supplemented with rations consisting of varying amounts of agro-processing by-products for 90 days. The animals were slaughtered, rumen samples taken and length and breadth of the rumen papillae measured. Rumen papillae and intestinal villi length of the cattle in T3 (hominy feed with molasses) measured 16.1± 0.7 mm and 780±19 μm respectively, and were significantly longer (P<0.05) than those of the other treatments. The average crypts depth of animals fed on T3 was 297±14 μm and was significantly (P<0.05) deeper than those of the other treatments, except in those on T2. The results indicate that the increases of both the length of the rumen papillae and the height of villi were attributed to the molasses, hominy feed and cotton seed cake in the treatment rations. It is concluded that the use of agro-processing by-products in feedlot production, enhances development of papillae and villi growth of TSHZ, expected to lead into increased absorptive surface areas of the rumen and small intestine. Keywords : diet, papillae, villi development, TSHZ cattle


According to FAO, shrimp production in India increased by 10% in 2018, due to the suitable climatic conditions and development of the fishery. Arabian red shrimp (Aristeus alcocki) is one of the important crustacean resources found in Indian seas. It has inhabited in the deep-sea regions and is widely distributed along the south-east and south-west coast of India with the depth of 200-3100 m. This shrimp is a highly perishable product in the export market, which has a shorter lifespan (6-7 years), compared to fishes, as a result, presence of high volume of free amino acids and other soluble nonnitrogenous substances. During earlier days, the landings of this shrimp was observed in more than ten major fishing harbours along the Indian coast, however in the later years, it is noticed only in Kerala and Tamil Nadu coasts. Conversely even now, more than 80% landings of this deep sea shrimp were observed from Sakthikulangara harbour of Kerala and there is no landing was noticed in Mumbai, Mangalore and Visakhapatnam coasts. The landing of recent years (2008 - 2017) were indicate that, the A. alcocki is the major species in order of biomass among the deep-sea penaeoid catch from the whole Indian coast. However trend in catch rates of the A. alcocki was showed declining phase during year of 2015-2016. The present study on "Investigation of genetic diversity and stock structure of Aristeus alcocki populations in the Indian coast" is providing baseline information, which is useful for the policy development and sustainable management of the resources in the future.


The term clear wood corresponds with the macroscopic scale, where the orthotropic elastic model is commonly used. This model is defined by a compliance matrix composed of nine parameters. The current experimental standard methods for obtaining these parameters are time consuming, as different specimen configurations and a careful preparation for a specific grain orientation are needed. The optical digital measurements (ODM) are improving those traditional procedures. For the specific case of clear wood, they have the additional advantage of properly link the experimental data with the assumed theoretical macro scale model. This work presents a new method for determining the compliance matrix of clear wood using just one rectangular prism as a specimen with an orientation of the grain that does not coincide with the axes defined by its edges. The specimen is loaded in the three mutually perpendicular directions defined by the prism, and their corresponding elongations and angular distortions are measured simultaneously by using 3D ODM, ARAMIS® (5 Mpixels). The method was initially validated on ash. Reasonable results, according the used resolution, were obtained; even though a higher resolution is needed for getting a proper accuracy. Keywords: material characterization, optical measurements, elastic orthotropic model.


The market developments in international air transportation have led to the dominance of three global airline alliances – Star, SkyTeam and oneworld. At the same time, members of these alliances receive increasingly more freedom in coordinating various aspects of joint operations, including scheduling and pricing decisions as well as the right to form revenuesharing joint ventures in international markets. Although the significant consumer benefits generated by airline cooperation are undisputed, the recent developments raise antitrust concerns. Against this background, the paper aims at comparing the identified key competitive effects of airline alliances and antitrust immunity with the economic lines of reasoning in recent policy actions to develop recommendations for a full-fledged assessment of antitrust immunity for airline alliances.


Microtubules are used as targets for anticancer drugs due to their crucial role in the process of mitosis. Recent studies show that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be classified as microtubule-stabilizing agents as they interact with protein microtubules (MTs), leading to interference in the mitosis process. CNTs hold a substantial promising application in cancer therapy in conjunction with other cancer treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In the current study, a size-dependent model is developed for the stability analysis of CNT-stabilized microtubules under radial and axial loads. A nonlocal shell theory with strain gradient effects is employed to take size influences into account. Moreover, Van der Waals interactions between CNTs and MTs are simulated. An excellent agreement is observed between the present model and reported data from experiments on protein MTs. In addition, the effects of taxol, as another stabilizing agent, on the stability of microtubules are studied. It is found that both nonlocal and strain gradient effects are essential to accurately obtain the stability capacity of MTs. Furthermore, CNTs have an increasing effect on the critical loads of microtubules while the critical loads reduce in the presence of taxol.


Abstract The mechanism of Coomassie interaction with proteins was being studied. Under certain conditions the range of detectible polypeptides can be wider. For protein analysis in mitochondria we have suggested a new component ratio for the Bradford reagent. A correction for mitochondrial protein was determined, which should be made on using bovine serum albumin as a standard.


Although overall chemical fertilizer use has grown steadily in Nepal in the past two decades, much of that growth has occurred in the Terai agroecological belt while use has stagnated in the Hills and the Mountains regions. Differences in chemical fertilizer use intensity between the Terai and the latter regions are typically pronounced among medium-to-large-size farmers. Using three rounds of the Nepal Living Standards Survey as well as secondary data, we examine the determinants of inorganic fertilizer (urea and DAP) use, as well as the marginal income returns from fertilizer use at the farm-household level. Similarities in soil and climate between farm locale and Agriculture Research Station locale seem to increase demand for fertilizer — even after controlling for distance to those stations. Most important, demand for chemical fertilizer is affected by the real fertilizer price (particularly since the 2003 NLSS survey), but the price response is relatively weaker in the Hills and Mountains, suggesting that returns to fertilizer may be generally low in those regions, and that reducing fertilizer price through subsidies on fertilizer or transportation may not substantially increase fertilizer use. This is confirmed by assessment of the returns to chemical fertilizer use estimated through generalized propensity score matching and ordinary propensity score matching. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of fertilizer subsidies as an instrument for stimulating chemical fertilizer use in Nepal, particularly among medium-to-large-scale farmers in the Hills, and point toward alternative measures like increased research and development into technologies that raise overall returns to chemical fertilizer.


Introduction: When implementing interventions in primary care, tailoring implementation strategies to practice barriers can be effective, but additional work is needed to understand how to best select these strategies. This study sought to identify clinicians' contributions to the process of tailoring implementation strategies to barriers in clinical settings. Methods: We conducted a modified nominal group exercise involving 8 implementation scientists and 26 primary care clinicians in the WWAMI region Practice and Research Network. Each group identified implementation strategies it felt would best address barriers to using a cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk calculator previously identified across 44 primary care clinics from the Healthy Hearts Northwest pragmatic trial (2015 to 2018). These barriers had been mapped beforehand to the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) domains. We examined similarities and differences in the strategies that 30% or more of each group identified (agreed-on strategies) for each barrier and for barriers in each CFIR domain. We used the results to demonstrate how strategies might be tailored to individual clinics. Results: Clinicians selected 23 implementation strategies to address 1 or more of the 13 barriers; implementation scientists selected 35. The 2 groups agreed on at least 1 strategy for barriers in each CFIR domain: Inner Setting, Outer Setting, Intervention Characteristics, Characteristics of Individuals, and Process. Conducting local needs assessment and assessing for readiness/identifying barriers and facilitators were the 2 most common implementation strategies chosen only by clinicians. Conclusions: Clinician stakeholders identified implementation strategies that augmented those chosen by implementation scientists, suggesting that codesign of implementation processes between implementation scientists and clinicians may strengthen the process of tailoring strategies to overcome implementation barriers.


The very spread of the word "design" from daily objects to cities and ecosystems, is taken here as a symptom of an interesting switch in the theory of action that has been typical of modernism. The paper review five connotations of the verb "to design" and analyze them as an alternative to the notion of "construction" and "fabrication". It then presents the work of Peter Sloterdijk has a crucial contribution to the philosophy of design. It shows especially how Sloterdijk' notion of explicitation allows to reconsider materiality (a materiality to which design has always been sensitive) but freed from naturalization as well as from the balancing act between form and function. Finally, it offers a challenge to the design theorists for inventing the tools that could allow this philosophy of design to "draw together" matters of concern.


State-wide, high-risk hearing screening is made possible in Utah through the use of a questionnaire designed for maternal response during hospitalization. The mothers of those determined high risk are sent a follow-up questionnaire when the infant is 6 to 8 months of age, and a determination is made for audiological testing on the basis of her response. Questionnaires (26352) were received on 50,700 live births, of which 4,591 (17.4%) were categorized high risk. Of the high-risk infants, 181 (3.9%) were determined at risk after follow-up, and 54 (20.8%) of these were found hearing impaired. Questionnaire item analysis is presented. Concerns regarding response validity and low return rate are discussed as is the pilot use of the birth certificate as the initial screening device.


SUMMARY Crinoids from the marine succession near the base of the Namurian (Pendleian, Mississippian) of NE England remain poorly known. Robust crinoid pluricolumnals from the Rookhope Shell Beds Limestone, exposed in the banks of the River Tees near Winston, Co. Durham, are identified as Rhabdocrinus sp. cf. R. swaledalensis Wright. The broad, cyclocyclic pluricolumnals consist of low, heteromorphic N1 columnals that are unlikely to have been derived from any other English Pendleian crinoid. However, the dististele of R. swaledalensis sensu stricto remains unknown, hence the specimens from Winston remain in open nomenclature. Attachment was distal with a dendritic radice; large radice scars are common on some specimens. Evidence shows that Rhabdocrinus spp. had long stems, certainly hundreds of mm in length in the species from Winston.


We revisit many aspects of the syntactic relations between (variants of) classical linear logic (LL) and (variants of) intuitionistic linear logic (ILL) in the propositional setting. On the one hand, we study different (parametric) "negative" translations from LL to ILL: their expressiveness, the relations with extensions of LL and their use in the proof theory of LL (cut elimination and focusing). In particular, this bridges the intuitionistic restriction on sequents (at most one conclusion) and the focusing property of linear logic. On the other hand, we generalise the known partial results about conservativity of LL over ILL, leading for example to a conservativity proof for LL over tensor logic (TL).


Deep neural networks (DNNs) have enabled astounding progress in several vision-based problems. Despite showing high predictive accuracy, recently, several works have revealed that they tend to provide overconfident predictions and thus are poorly calibrated. The majority of the works addressing the miscalibration of DNNs fall under the scope of classification and consider only in-domain predictions. However, there is little to no progress in studying the calibration of DNN-based object detection models, which are central to many vision-based safety-critical applications. In this paper, inspired by the train-time calibration methods, we propose a novel auxiliary loss formulation that explicitly aims to align the class confidence of bounding boxes with the accurateness of predictions (i.e. precision). Since the original formulation of our loss depends on the counts of true positives and false positives in a mini-batch, we develop a differentiable proxy of our loss that can be used during training with other application-specific loss functions. We perform extensive experiments on challenging in-domain and out-domain scenarios with six benchmark datasets including MS-COCO, Cityscapes, Sim10k, and BDD100k. Our results reveal that our train-time loss surpasses strong calibration baselines in reducing calibration error for both in and out-domain scenarios. Our source code and pre-trained models are available at https://github.com/akhtarvision/bpc_calibration


Interleaved echo-planar imaging (EPI) has already been widely used for many magnetic resonance (MR) clinical examinations to reduce the scan time without compromising spatial image resolution. Jn each repetition interval using an oscillatory read-out gradient waveform for image data sampling, this imaging technique obtains multiple phase encoded (PE) read-out echoes, which can correspond to multiple k-space PE lines. Since these PE data lines are from echos at different echo times (E), they often cany different phase errors and signal amplitude rising from the local magnetic field inhomogeneity and spin relaxation. In order to form an image free of artifacts, such as blurring, ghosting, geometrical distortion, both amplitude and phase errors need to be compensated properly in the image reconstruction process. To address this issue, we have developed a general image reconstruction technique, which is capable of accomplishing 2-dimensional (2D) phase correction for image reconstruction of interleaved EPI data. In the new technique, we formulated the image reconstruction as a problem of finding a solution to a set of linear algebraic equations corresponding to an imaging measurement. The phase errors as well as other image constraints can be incorporated into these linear equations. The final solution has been obtained by inverting the coefficient matrix of the equation via a standard complex singular value decomposition (SVD) procedure, totally free of data gridding. Numerical simulations have been used to validate the technique. A 2D phase corrected human brain image was successfully reconstructed using a set of image data acquired on a clinical MRI system. This is a most flexible general image reconstruction method, in which 2D phase correction can be accomplished for segmented k-space EPI acquisition in further improving the resulting image quality of the interleaved EPI technique.


The proportions and constituents of the essential oils of flowers and leaves of Primula veris subsp. columnae were determined, and the antioxidant and the antimicrobial (antibacterial and antifungal) properties of their methanol extracts were investigated. Percentage ratios and main components of the Primula veris subsp. columnae plant, which grows naturally, were detected by extracting flower and leaf volatile oils. The components of the volatile oil were identified with Gas Chromatography Mass Detector-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-MS/FID). A total of 62 compounds were identified in flower volatile oil, and methyl 4-methoxysalicylate (37.1%) was determined as the main compound. While defining the structure of 50 compounds in leaf essential oil, linoleic acid (40.1%) was established as the main compound. As the result of the extraction of flowers and leaves with methanol, the extractive substance was obtained as 34.5% in flowers and as 28.8% in leaves. Methanol extraction and the antioxidant properties of the Primula veris subsp. columnae plant were quite high. In the antifungal and antibacterial activity test conducted on the volatile oils and methanol extracts of flowers and leaves of the Primula veris subsp. columnae species, only flower volatile oil showed weak inhibition properties.


Abstract The experimental and epidemiological evidence demonstrating that Ca inhibits Fe absorption was reviewed, with the objectives of estimating the potential impact of variations in Ca intake on dietary Fe bioavailability and of providing some guidelines for predicting the effects on Fe status of recent recommendations for higher dietary Ca intake. In animal models Ca salts reduced both haem- and non-haem-Fe absorption, the effect being dependent on the amount of Ca administered rather than the Ca:Fe molar ratio; dairy products had a variable effect; factors other than Ca may have been important. In single-meal human absorption studies, both haem- and non-haem-Fe absorption was inhibited by Ca supplements and by dairy products, the effect depending on the simultaneous presence of Ca and Fe in the lumen of the upper small intestine and also occurring when Ca and Fe were given in the fasting state. The quantitative effect, although dose dependent, was modified by the form in which Ca was administered and by other dietary constituents (such as phosphate, phytate and ascorbic acid) known to affect Fe bioavailability. The mechanism by which Ca influences Fe absorption has not been elucidated. The effects of factors that modulate Fe bioavailability are known to be exaggerated in single-meal studies, and measurements based on several meals are more likely to reflect the true nutritional impact. The results of most multiple-meal human studies suggest that Ca supplementation will have only a small effect on Fe absorption unless habitual Ca consumption is very low. Outcome analyses showed that Ca supplements had no effect on Fe status in infants fed Fe-fortified formula, lactating women, adolescent girls and adult men and women. However it should be noted that the subjects studied had adequate intakes of bioavailable Fe and, except in one study, had relatively high habitual Ca intakes. Although cross-sectional analyses in Europe have shown a significant inverse correlation between Ca intake (derived primarily from dairy foods) and Fe stores, the quantitative effect was relatively small. The general conclusion is that dietary Ca supplements are unlikely to have a biologically significant impact on Fe balance in Western societies unless Ca consumption is habitually very low; however, increased consumption of dairy products may have a small negative effect that could be functionally important in pregnancy if Fe supplements are not taken. It is uncertain whether the inverse relationship between consumption of dairy products and Fe status is due entirely to increased Ca intake; substitution of milk proteins for meat may also have negative effects on Fe balance.


Recently, Aochi and Fukuyama (2000, in preparation) proposed the dynamic rupture model of the 1992 Landers earthquake based on a non-planar fault simulation in 3D elastic medium. A simple setting of local tectonics and friction laws could reproduce the qualitative feature of the earthquake, however there still remains uncertainty in the parameters, especially the spatial distribution of frictional parameters. Comparing with the observation and the results of other studies, we discuss the assumption we used and point out its limit of applicability.


This thesis initiates a diachronic reconsideration of the English literary title. Unlike previous critical studies of titling practices, which focus almost exclusively on modern printed works, the thesis turns to the titling practices of manuscripts, addressing the different forms, functions and meanings of premodern titling. The overlapping of theoretical and material concerns necessitates a new multidisciplinary approach which combines critical theories of titology with codicological and bibliographical modes of enquiry. The introductory chapter contrasts different titling practices of contemporary and premodern literary cultures. Chapter two identifies shortcomings in current titological theories. The third chapter opens with a consideration of the meanings and uses the word title specific to the premodern era and the possible influences ancient and early medieval approaches to identifying and defining texts may have had on later medieval titling. Chapter four considers the growth in external and internal forms of vernacular titling practice evident in selected manuscripts of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The fifth chapter moves the discussion into the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as witnessed by three important codices from this time: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 86; Scotland, National Library, Advocates 19. 2. 1 (Auchinleck); and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. a.1 (Vernon). The conclusion affirms that titling practices did have currency in premodernity though the identification of texts was a practice that exhibits great diversity, and in that feature, as well as in many others, what may appear superficially to be recognisable as titling stands a significant distance apart from modern concepts of the title and involves many other contemporary assumptions, about (para)texts, authors and readers, which are essential to an understanding of what medieval authors and scribes meant when they gave identity to texts


A Thesis Submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Award of Master of Science Degree in Organic Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
Faculty of Science
Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria, Nigeria.


Archived data from the WSR-88D network of weather radars in the US hold detailed information about the continent-scale migratory movements of birds over the last 20 years. However, significant technical challenges must be overcome to understand this information and harness its potential for science and conservation. We present an approximate Bayesian inference algorithm to reconstruct the velocity fields of birds migrating in the vicinity of a radar station. This is part of a larger project to quantify bird migration at large scales using weather radar data.


Cutaneous melanoma accounts for 75%of skin cancer deaths. Standard treatment is surgical excision with a safety margin some distance from the borders of the primary tumour. The purpose of the safety margin is to remove both the complete primary tumour and any melanoma cells that might have spread into the surrounding skin. Excision margins are important because there could be trade-off between a better cosmetic result but poorer long-term survival if margins become too narrow. The optimal width of excision margins remains unclear. This uncertainty warrants systematic review.


Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the least understood components of the water cycle, particularly in data scarce areas. In a context of climate change, evaluating water vapour fluxes of a particular area is crucial to help understand dynamics in water balance. In data scarce areas, ET modelling becomes vital. The study modelled ET using the Penman-Monteith- Leuning (PML) equation forced by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) leaf area index (LAI) and MODIS albedo with ancillary meteorological data from an automatic weather station. The study area is located on the Albany Thicket (AT) biome of South Africa and the dominant plant species is Portulacaria afra. The biggest challenge to the implementation of the PML is the parameterisation of surface and stomatal conductance. We tested the use of volumetric soil water content (fswc), precipitation and equilibrium evaporation ratio (fzhang) and soil drying after precipitation (f) approaches to account for the fraction (f) of evaporation from the soil. ET from the model was validated using an eddy covariance system (EC). Post processing of eddy covariance data was implement using EddyPro software. The fdrying method performed better with a root mean square observations standard deviation ratio (RSR) of 0.97. The results suggest that modelling ET over the AT vegetation is delicate owing to strong vegetation phenological control of the ET process. The convergent evolution of the vegetation has resulted in high plant available water than the model can detect. It is vital to quantify plant available water in order to improve ET modelling in thicket vegetation.


O ver the years we have featured articles on politics and culture in various issues: four issues on African Americans, three on Hispanics, a two-volume publication on Catholics in a non-Catholic World, two volumes on regionalism, two volumes on Catholics and social reform, and festschrifts for James Hennesey, S.J., Philip Gleason, Jay Dolan, Msgr. George Higgins, and David O'Brien. We are pleased to publish this first issue dedicated to U.S. Catholicism and politics. It is a fine collection of distinctive articles on American Catholicity's political engagement in ethnic conflicts, in the breakdown of miscegenation, in the struggle against Nazi anti-Semitism, and in the encounter of presidents and popes. On occasion, we publish a symposium review of a significant book related to the theme of an issue. E. J. Dionne's seminal study, Souled Out, is a perfect fit for this issue symbolized by its subtitle, Reclaiming Faith & Politics after the Religious Right. We are grateful to our contributors. Heath W. Carter is a doctoral student in history at the University of Notre Dame. William Dinges is professor of theology and religious studies in the area of religion and culture at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. James F. Garneau, a pastor, dean, and the director of the diaconate program in the diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina. He is also an adjunct professor of history at Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, North Carolina. Sharon M. Leon is director of public projects and research assistant professor at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Maria Mazzenga is education archivist in the American Catholic Research Center and University Archives at The Catholic University of America. Kristin Cheasty Miller is a doctoral candidate in the History Department at the University of Texas at Austin. David O'Brien is emeritus professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. Charles T. Strauss is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Notre Dame. Leslie Woodcock Tentler is professor of history at The Catholic University of America.


We propose an analytical framework based on stochastic geometry (SG) formulations to estimate a radar's detection performance under generalized discrete clutter conditions. We model the spatial distribution of discrete clutter scatterers as a homogeneous Poisson point process and the radar cross-section of each extended scatterer as a random variable of the Weibull distribution. Using this framework, we derive a metric called the radar detection coverage probability as a function of radar parameters such as transmitted power, system noise temperature and radar bandwidth; and clutter parameters such as clutter density and mean clutter cross-section. We derive the optimum radar bandwidth for maximizing this metric under noisy and cluttered conditions. We also derive the peak transmitted power beyond which there will be no discernible improvement in radar detection performance due to clutter limited conditions. When both transmitted power and bandwidth are fixed, we show how the detection threshold can be optimized for best performance. We experimentally validate the SG results with a hybrid of Monte Carlo and full wave electromagnetic solver based simulations using finite difference time domain (FDTD) techniques.


Huang-mian soil and brown soil are typical soils in Loess Plateau and Yimeng mountainous area, respectively. The differences of surface runoff and sediment loss between the two soils are important to special environmental protection management in two areas. In order to study the impacts of rainfall intensity on surface runoff and sediment from Huang-mian soil and brown soil, four simulated rainfalls were applied on fields with different soils on a laboratory scale. Huang-mian soil under 60×10-3 m hr-1 had the shortest runoff occurrence time, while brown soil under 30×10-3 m hr-1had the longest time; Huang-mian soil under 30×10-3 m hr-1 had the most sediments; Huang-mian soil has less loss of phosphorus (P) in concentration than brown soil, which explains why Loess Plateau has more soil and water loss but less eutrophication than the Yimeng mountainous area. Under the same rainfall intensity, Huang-mian soil had more runoff volume than brown soil; however, higher rainfall intensity decreased the difference. Increasing rainfall intensity had more impact on sediment content in brown soil than Huang-mian soil. It also had more impact on nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) content in brown soil than ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) loss content in Huang-mian soil. Finally, suggestions were provided to reduce the harm of N and P loss in Huang-mian soil and brown soil regions.


The following is a selective list of resources that focus on the curriculum and interests of the students and faculty of the Feik School of Pharmacy.


Recorded in Ithaca, NY by Cornell University., Speaker(s): Professor of sociology at the Frankfurt School, West Germany., Lecture, September 11, 1984.


Networks can be combined in various ways, such as overlaying one on top of another or setting two side by side. We introduce "network models" to encode these ways of combining networks. Different network models describe different kinds of networks. We show that each network model gives rise to an operad, whose operations are ways of assembling a network of the given kind from smaller parts. Such operads, and their algebras, can serve as tools for designing networks. Technically, a network model is a lax symmetric monoidal functor from the free symmetric monoidal category on some set to $\mathbf{Cat}$, and the construction of the corresponding operad proceeds via a symmetric monoidal version of the Grothendieck construction.


The phytochemical profiles and bioactivities of red, white and pink globe amaranth (Gomphrena haageana K., Gomphrena globosa var. albiflora and Gomphrena sp., respectively), much less studied than the purple species (G. globosa L.), were compared. The chemical characterization of the samples included the analysis of macronutrients and individual profiles of sugars, organic acids, fatty acids, tocopherols, and phenolic compounds. Their bioactivity was evaluated by determining the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities; the absence of cytotoxicity was also determined. Red and pink samples showed the highest sugar content. Otherwise, the white sample gave the highest level of organic acids, and together with the pink one showed the highest tocopherol and PUFA levels. Quercetin-3-O-rutinoside was the major flavonol in white and pink samples, whereas a tetrahydroxy-methylenedioxyflavone was the major compound in the red variety, which revealed a different phenolic profile. The pink globe amaranth hydromethanolic extract revealed the highest antioxidant activity, followed by those of red and white samples. The anti-inflammatory activity was more relevant in red and pink varieties. None of the samples presented toxicity in liver cells. Overall, these samples can be used in bioactive formulations against inflammatory processes and in free radical production.


An improved two-dimensional constitutive model for shape memory alloys (SMAs), which can describe both the shape memory effect (SME) and super elasticity effect (SE) of the SMAs, is developed in the paper based on the previous work of Boyd and Lagoudas, who used the thermodynamics theories of free energy and dissipation energy to derive the constitutive law of the SMAs. The improved model, which will combine the ideas of Brinsion's one-dimensional constitutive law and the concepts of Boyd and Lagoudas' two-dimensional one, has a simple but accurate expression. Two examples are used to numerically validate the efficiency of the improved model and the results of the simulations show that the developed constitutive model can qualitatively describe the thermo-mechanical behaviors of two-dimensional SMAs.


Improved compatibility of blends of polystyrene and an amorphous polyamide was achieved by lightly sulfonating the polystyrene. Hydrogen bonding between amide groups and either sulfonic acid or metal sulfonate groups lowered the interfacial tension between the two polymers, which led to a much finer dispersed phase size in blends involving the sulfonated polystyrene. At relatively high sulfonate to amide ratios, the two polymers formed a miscible blend. Improved mixing of the phases was verified by shifts in the glass transitions, and the specific interactions that occurred were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.


Protein denaturation studies of champedak galactose-binding (CGB) lectin were carried out in order to understand its folding mechanism as it occurs in situ. Urea denaturation (0−9.0 M urea) of CGB lectin was studied using different spectral probes such as far-UV CD spectral signal, fluorescence intensity, emission maximum and ANS fluorescence intensity. CGB lectin showed a two-step, three-state transition in the presence of urea. The first transition (marked by the increase in the spectral signals) started at ~2.0 M urea and ended at ~4.5 M urea, while the second transition (characterized by the decrease in the spectral signals except emission maximum) showed the start- and the end-points at ~5.75 M and ~7.5 M urea, respectively, when analyzed by the emission maximum probe. Transformation of tetramer into monomer represented the first transition, whereas the second transition reflected the unfolding of monomer. Conformational analysis of the native, 5.0 M urea-denatured and 9.0 M urea-denatured states of CGB lectin was made using far-UV CD, Trp fluorescence and ANS fluorescence spectra. The hemagglutinating activity of the lectin gradually decreased with increasing urea concentrations and was completely lost at ~4.0 M urea. Acid denaturation (pH 7.0−1.0) of CGB lectin was studied using intrinsic fluorescence and ANS fluorescence measurements. The lectin remained stable up to pH 5.0 and showed local disordering in the vicinity of the protein fluorophores within the pH range, 5.0−3.5. Decrease in the pH from pH 3.5 to pH 2.5 led to structural transition, which can be ascribed to the dissociation of the tetrameric lectin into monomeric form. Further decrease in the pH up to pH 1.5 produced another transition, which specified the unfolding of monomers. Characterization of the conformational states obtained at pH 7.0, pH 2.5 and pH 1.5 based on intrinsic and ANS fluorescence spectra, gel chromatographic behavior and thermal denaturation confirmed the existence of the folded monomeric form at pH 2.5 and the unfolded state at pH 1.5. However, the acid-denatured state of CGB lectin at pH 1.5 retained significant residual structure, as evident from the greater loss of both secondary and tertiary structures in the presence of 6.0 M guanidine hydrochloride at pH 1.5. Anion-induced refolding below pH 1.5 was also evident from the ANS fluorescence results. Thermal denaturation of the acid-denatured states of CGB lectin resulted in formation of non-native β-structures. The influence of different polyols (ethylene glycol, erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol) on the acid-denatured states of CGB lectin at pH 2.5 and pH 1.5 was studied using ANS fluorescence, Trp fluorescence and far-UV CD measurements. The acid-denatured states of CGB lectin were stabilized against thermal denaturation in the presence of erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol as reflected by the shift of the thermal transition curves towards higher temperatures. On the other hand, ethylene glycol destabilized these states by shifting the thermal transition curves towards lower temperatures. Presence of erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol in the incubation mixture was found to stabilize the CGB lectin at both pH 2.5 and pH 1.5, as evident from the burial of the hydrophobic clusters and decreased polarity around Trp residues. Based on the spectral data, both sorbitol and erythritol appeared to exude relatively better stabilizing effect towards the secondary and tertiary structures of the acid-denatured states of CGB lectin. On the other hand, ethylene glycol was shown to destabilize it.


Metal-oxide heterostructures have been attracting considerable attention in recent years due to various technological applications. We present results of electronic structure and transport calculations for the Au-MgO-Au (metal-insulator-metal) heterostructure based on density-functional theory and the nonequilibrium Green's functions method. The dependence of the conductance of the heterostructure on the thickness of the MgO interlayer and the interface spacing is studied. In addition, we address the effects of O vacancies. We observe deviations from an exponentially suppressed conductance with growing interlayer thickness caused by Au-O chemical bonds. Electronic states tracing back to O vacancies can increase the conductance. Furthermore, this effect can be enhanced by enlarging the interface spacing as the vacancy induced Mg states are shifted toward the Fermi energy.


Both the impacts of financial incentives and health on transitions into retirement and inactivity by older workers have been studied extensively in a variety of contexts but far less is known about their interaction. Guided by the option value framework, we use Spanish data from the European Community Household Panel to compare the impact of the public pension system incentives on the retirement behaviour of workers who experienced health shocks and those who remained in good health. Our evidence suggests that the impact on retirement of forward-looking incentive measures such as the peak value is conditional on being in good health. These findings imply that many of the currently proposed and enacted pension reforms aimed at modifying financial incentives may only be effective for people in sufficiently good health.


Introduction Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is essential for human wellbeing, influenced by a complex interplay of factors, and is reported lower in women than men. We aimed to evaluate which factors were the most important for HRQoL in a middle-aged general population. Methods This was a cross-sectional, multi-centre study of 29,212 men (48%) and women (52%) aged 50–64 in the general population in Sweden. Physical and mental HRQoL (0–100) was assessed using the Short Form 12 questionnaire, and association was evaluated for 356 variables including demographics, lifestyle, symptoms, physiological measurements, and health conditions. Using machine learning, each variable´s importance for HRQoL was measured by an importance score, comparable to effect size, and summarised in 54 factors, in men and women separately. Results Men and women had similar mean and standard deviation (SD) scores for physical HRQoL (53.4 [SD 8.1] vs 51.4 [9.7]) and mental HRQoL (37.1 [5.0] vs 37.3 [5.4]). The most important factors for physical HRQoL were (importance score) physical activity (40), employment (36), pain (33), sleep (33), and sense of control (26). The most important factors for mental HRQoL were sense of control (18), physical activity (12), depression (12), pain (6), and employment (5). Conclusions The factors important for HRQoL identified by this study are likely to be amenable to interventions, and our findings can support prioritising interventions. The identified factors need to be a target even before middle-age to lay the foundation for long and happy lives.


Ultrasonic effect is widely applied in biomaterial treatment and this process will happen in ultrasonic reaction kettle of which physical parameters directly affect the treatment effect. This paper introduces a kind of monitored control system of ultrasonic reaction kettle and mainly presents the realization method of key units. Depending on embedded technology, this system includes three layers control unit: ARM central control layer, PC control layer and bottom CAN intelligent node layer which has sensors and actuators. Linux operating system has been transplanted on ARM processor as the software platform. Through the practical hardware arrangement and software design, it can be proved that this system can effectively and accurately monitored control the parameters of ultrasonic reaction kettle.


A robotic system with an X-ray-translucent end-effector and a passive failsafe mechanism is proposed for percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). The proposed system consists of a puncture robot with five degrees of freedom, a workstation for the navigation system, and an optical tracking device. The end-effector of the robot is partially X-ray translucent to allow the needle insertion process to be monitored by an X-ray fluoroscope. The robot has a passive failsafe mechanism for safety purposes. A needle assembly is attached to the robot by four asymmetric contacting parts supported by four springs. To evaluate the puncture accuracy of the system, puncture tests were conducted on 50 pedicles of five polyurethane phantoms simulating human lumbar vertebrae from L1 to L5. Pre-operative computed tomography (CT) volumes were acquired for the respective phantoms and segmented. Surgical plans were made for the respective pedicles by a surgeon. After the system was placed at the experimental table's side and the phantom was fixed on the table, robot calibration and phantom registration were performed. During the experiments, no needles were found to be protruding from the pedicles. The positioning accuracy measured by the optical tracking device was 0.64 mm root-mean-square (RMS) and 1.09° RMS (error range = 0.1-0.98 mm, 0.96-1.36°). After the tests, postoperative CT volumes of the respective phantoms were acquired and the puncture trajectories were analyzed. The puncture errors between the planned and actual trajectories were 1.66 mm RMS and 1.62° RMS (error range = 0.13-4.21 mm, 0.36-2.73°). The results demonstrate the feasibility of safe and accurate punctures with the proposed system.


For the current analytical method of the leakage current on the insulator, the online monitoring system could not be used to accurately judge the contamination severity on the surface of insulators, and a novel method, syntactical pattern recognition, was proposed in this paper. The geometric primitives were extracted by piecewise linearization from the leakage current signals. In accordance with the given grammar, these primitives are constituted into a language recognition unit with the name of finite automaton, where after the finite automaton, the leakage current signals were judged to be the corresponding pattern. The syntactical pattern-recognition module was embed into the "Acqs" software, and a series of experiments for validating this method's performance were made under the following three different conditions: 1) the leakage current of polluted insulators under the different humidity degrees; 2) the leakage current under the different voltage values with moderate humidity; and 3) the polarity effect. The results showed that the structure information of the leakage current could be roundly obtained by the syntactical pattern-recognition method. Consequently, the surface discharge characteristics of insulators could be deeply grasped and the polarity effect of the leakage current of insulators could be accurately and fully recognized.


Given a finitely supported refinement mask on Zs with irrational coefficients, in many applications, we need to truncate the irrational coefficients in the refinement mask to rational numbers. This note provides a sharp error estimate in the Lp (1 ≤ p ≤ ∞) norm sense of a multivariate subdivision scheme caused by truncation of an original refinement mask. Examples are provided to illustrate that the estimate in this note is optimal. Finally, we partially extend this estimate to the case when a refinement mask has infinite support. §


In this study, we estimate earnings differentials for knowledge of thirteen minority languages in Canada's three largest urban areas. We find that conditional on knowledge of a majority language, knowledge of a minority language is associated with lower earnings. However, the negative differential diminishes for those languages with large local populations. This suggests a positive human capital effect which is for the most part swamped by a negative factor. We argue that this factor is a reflection of ethnicity operating either through ethnolinguistic labor market enclaves or labor market discrimination against minorities.


Species within the genus Botryosphaeria include some of the most widespread and important pathogens of woody plants, and have been the focus of numerous taxonomic studies in recent years. It is currently accepted that anamorphs of Botryosphaeria belong to two distinct genera, Fusicoccum and Diplodia. Species within the genus Fusicoccum commonly produce aseptate, hyaline conidia. In the present study, fungi were isolated from foliage and wood of Eucalyptus in native forests and plantations in Australia. Although these fungi produced Dichomera anamorphs in culture, they clustered within the Fusicoccum clade of Botryosphaeria based on their ITS sequence data. Four species, Botryosphaeria dothidea, B. parva, B. ribis and B. australis produced Dichomera conidia in culture. The Dichomera synanamorphs are described for these four species of Botryosphaeria. In addition, falling within the Fusicoccum clade of Botryosphaeria, two species were found to be distinct from previously described Botryosphaeria spp. based on their ITS sequences, but synonymous with D. versiformis and D. eucalypti. These observations are currently unique to isolates from host trees within the genus Eucalyptus in Australia, and the pleoanamorphic nature of these species is discussed.


BACKGROUND
In many countries, a general shortage of nurses is a public health problem, and retention of nurses in active work is a challenge. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the same individual factors, working conditions and health problems had led to increased probability of both leaving jobs and prolonged sickness absence in a cohort of Swedish nurses over a period of 3 years.

METHODS
A baseline questionnaire was answered by 2293 nurses, representing a response rate of 86%. Exposed and unexposed nurses were compared with regard to two outcomes. During the 3-year follow-up, exposed and unexposed nurses were compared with regard to two outcomes: resigning and having at least one sick leave spell that lasted 28 days or longer.

RESULTS
We found that 18% of the nurses left their employment, and 16% had sick leave spells > or =28 days. Work in geriatric care, being socially excluded by superiors and/or workmates, negative effects of organizational changes and poor self-rated general health were factors that increased the likelihood of both leaving jobs and long-term sick leave.

CONCLUSIONS
The present results underline the importance of improving working conditions and supporting sustainable health in order to prevent high turnover and prolonged sick leave among nurses. Resigning and moving to another institution can be interpreted as a way to actively cope with an unhealthy work environment.


The disadvantaged and marginalized groups in Nepal, and particularly
 women and Dalits, face grave hurdles to acquire post secondary education. Lack of educational
 access has deprived the rural and marginalized groups of opportunities to realize their full
 potential as citizens. Further, the larger society is not able to utilize the potential
 contribution of all citizens for socio-economic development. NRNA and CFFN are proposing to
 support the establishment of an Open University in Nepal which by creating an open admission
 process can substantially improve the educational access for the disadvantaged groups. The
 Government of Nepal has already initiated the planning to establish such a university. The
 government has also carried out the initial scoping for this project and clear need is well
 established for such an institution. NRNA and CFFN wish to provide solid collaborative services.
 This paper provides an assessment of need for an Open University of Nepal and discusses several
 aspects of planning for the university. It provides an outline of the pedagogical areas, a
 preliminary business plan, and a vision of management and administration of the institution.
 This paper also identifies the core proponents of the initiative, potential institutional
 collaboration and an initial plan of action.


Ed is absolutely right: these are the best of times and the worst of times for the software industry. Indeed, if you are part of any one of the many new software companies that have sprung up of late and are madly burning through Other People's Money without a worry of posting a profit anytime this millennium, all the while unfettered by any silly requirements for backward compatibility to existing operations, then the future looks quite pleasant. However, for software developers at established organizations, caught in the cross-fire of the language wars, the operating system wars, the platform wars, the middle-ware wars, and the browser wars, laboring to push yet another release out the door under compressed schedules, weighed down by the millstone of legacy code, and torn asunder by the ravages of ill-conceived and ever-changing requirements, then the future looks grim-to put it mildly. Modesty prevents me from using the adjectives most commonly applied by developers toiling under such circumstances. Being among those inside the tornado, as was Dorothy, I prefer to think of these times as, well, "interesting."


Find out what books and films influenced the young writer, his first idea for a story and the true life tale that inspired Carrie. For the first time, here's an intimate autobiographical portrait of his home life, his family and his traumatic recent accident. Citing examples of his work and those of his contemporaries, King gives an excellent masterclass on writing - how to use the tools of the trade from building characters to pace and plotting as well as practical advice on presentation. And King tells readers how he got to be a No. 1 bestseller for a quarter of a century with fascinating descriptions of his own process, the origins and development of, e.g. Carrie and Misery.


Effect of weaning time on the larval performance of golden pompano Trachinotus ovatus was studied in the experimental condition. The same weaning regime started on four different days of posthatch (DPH): 13 DPH (W13), 16 DPH (W16), 19 DPH (W19) and 22 DPH (W22), respectively. Growth, survival, RNA/DNA ratios and mid-gut cell height of fish were assessed in each weaning regime over time. Growth and survival rates of fish larvae weaned in the W19 and W22 regimes were significantly higher than those in the W13 and W16 regimes. No significant differences were found either between W19 and W22, or between W13 and W16 treatments. Fish showed a decrease in the RNA/DNA ratio in W13, but a trend of increase in W16, W19 and W22. Weaning time significantly affected the mid-gut cell height in larval golden pompano. On 24 DPH, the mid-gut cell height of fish in the W13 and W16 treatments was significantly thinner than those in the W19 and W22 treatments. Based on fish growth, survival, RNA/DNA ratio and mid-gut cell height, weaning can be started on 13 DPH in golden pompano larvae, but we recommend that the best weaning window be 16-22 DPH. These results are supported by histological and nutritional evidence and would guide the weaning process for golden pompano larvae, and offer a useful approach to explore the weaning protocol in larval fish rearing.


A total of 51 patients with the subclavian steal-syndrome (SSS) were examined for the clinical picture comparatively to the angiography and ultrasound dopplerography (USDG) data. The clinical manifestations of cerebral circulatory disorders were studied not only in the isolated SSS but also in its different variants realized in association with concomitant lesions of the other branches of the aortic arch. Rarely occurring variants of the SSS were revealed; some of them were discovered for the first time. The types of collateral circulation to compensate for arm blood supply in the SSS were specified using the authors' material. The studies have confirmed that USDG is a fairly informative method of diagnosing the SSS.


Inflation degrades the function of the U.S. dollar as a storehouse of value. The goods and services which constitute the cost of living become more expensive in dollar terms. Commodities, and gold in particular, are often recommended to hedge that risk. Our work casts that popular advice into doubt, showing that inflation hedging with commodities is difficult, risky, and ultimately unreliable. Buy and hold strategies are impractical for many, and inflation hedging with commodities requires bold and successful management, together perhaps with good luck. Examining fifty-three years of spot prices for forty-five commodities and fourteen commodity aggregate indices, we find that owning certain things – specific commodities – rather than dollars would have been a better storehouse of value in the inflationary 1970s and in the brief period of high inflation from 1989-90. However, various commodities performed very differently in different periods, and some of the best in one period proved to be the worst in another. A basket of commodities to protect against inflation would be difficult to construct and in result. Furthermore, the precious metals, while often cited as inflation hedges, carry significant timing risks. Finally, a diversified basket of energy commodities has performed well under historical inflation, but carries its own risks.


A new species of Platycoelostoma Morrison (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Margarodidae) is described from the Tasmanian endemic conifer, Diselma archeri (Cupressaceae), growing in alpine heathland. Its sister species, P. compressa (Maskell), occurs in alpine and subalpine New Zealand on Libocedrus bidwilli (Cupressaceae). Vicariance dating provides a minimum age for Platycoelostoma of about 80 Ma. Cladistic analysis of morphological data from adult females and first‐instar nymphs suggests that Platycoelostoma is the sister genus of Callipappus Guérin‐Méneville and also is more closely related to members of subfamilies Margarodinae and Xylococcinae than to the New Zealand and South American genera of Coelostomidiinae, to which Platycoelostoma traditionally has been linked. The analysis also indicates that most traditional tribal groupings within Margarodidae are monophyletic, but that three (Coelostomidiinae, Margarodinae and Xylococcinae) of the five subfamilies in the widely used higher classification of Morrison may be either paraphyletic or polyphyletic as currently defined. Only Monophlebinae and Steingeliinae have adequate support from morphological characters. Relationships among subfamilies and many tribes are unresolved. These results lend some support to the classification previously proposed by Koteja, in which all margarodid subfamilies and a few tribes are elevated to the rank of family. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that Marchalini and Monophlebinae (in which all immature female instars have well developed appendages) are derived with respect to other margarodids and thus development via legless intermediate female instars ('cyst' form) may be plesiomorphic within margarodids. This hypothesis is weakly supported and requires corroboration from independent data. Platycoelostoma is transferred to tribe Callipappini, which is redefined, but the subfamily placement of this tribe must remain uncertain until the higher classification and rank of the various margarodid taxa can be re‐evaluated. A revised generic description of Platycoelostoma, based on the adult and intermediate female instars and the first instar of both species, and a key to separate the female instars of both species are provided. The first‐instar nymph, all female instars and the third‐instar male (the prepupa) of Platycoelostoma tasmanicum sp.n. are described and illustrated. Scanning electron micrographs depict the unusual cuticular features of the third‐instar female.


Economic relations between CARICOM and Canada have a long history and the p olitical relationship has always been positive. However, much of Canada's foreign relations with CARICOM is focused on development aid. While Canadian companies do significant business in CARICOM, for decades there has been little real growth or diversific ation in the region's exports to Canada. There is clear need to find ways of fitting Caribbean firms into new global value chains in which Canada is engaged. The cultural and social ties between the two are quite significant and Caribbean immigrants in Can ada contribute in various spheres to that society. But there are significant issues like increasing crime in CARICOM states which Canada could better address. In recent years, the bilateral relationship has become a bit stale. In order to re relationship it is necessary to introduce new ideas and strategic thinking on how to better harness the complementarities between CARICOM and Canada. The current negotiations towards a comprehensive trade and investment agreement provide an opportunity to address long-standing economic issues but should also seek afresh to re-kindle the "special relationship." However, Canada must not try to impose its usual template for free trade agreements on CARICOM; both sides need to be creative and innovative in te of designing a new framework for bilateral economic, political, social and cultural relations for their mutual benefit.


The Solanaceae family of flowering plants possesses a type of self-incompatibility mechanism that enables the pistil to reject self pollen but accept non-self pollen for fertilization. The pistil function in this system has been shown to be controlled by a polymorphic gene at the S-locus, termed the S-RNase gene. The pollen function is believed to be controlled by another as yet unidentified polymorphic gene at the S-locus, termed the pollen S-gene. As a first step in using a functional genomic approach to identify the pollen S-gene, a genomic BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) library of the S2S2 genotype of Petunia inflata, a self-incompatible solanaceous species, was constructed using a Ti-plasmid based BAC vector, BIBAC2. The average insert size was 136.4 kb and the entire library represented a 7.5-fold genome coverage. Screening of the library using cDNAs for the S2-RNase gene and 13 pollen-expressed genes that are linked to the S-locus yielded 51 positive clones, with at least one positive clone for each gene. Collectively, at least 2 Mb of the chromosomal region was spanned by these clones. Together, three clones that contained the S2-RNase gene spanned approximately 263 kb. How this BAC library and the clones identified could be used to identify the pollen S-gene and to study other aspects of self-incompatibility is discussed.


Abstract Hearts in which the arterial trunks arise from the morphologically appropriate ventricles, but in a parallel manner, rather than the usual spiralling arrangement, have long fascinated anatomists. These rare entities, for quite some time, were considered embryological impossibilities, but ongoing experience has shown that they can be found in various segmental combinations. Problems still exist about how best to describe them, as the different variants are often described with esoteric terms, such as anatomically corrected malposition or isolated ventricular inversion. In this review, based on our combined clinical and morphological experience, we demonstrate that the essential feature of all hearts described in this manner is a parallel arrangement of the arterial trunks as they exit from the ventricular mass. We show that the relationship of the arterial roots needs to be described in terms of the underlying ventricular topology, rather than according to the arrangement of the atrial chambers. We then discuss the importance of determining atrial arrangement on the basis of the morphology of the appendages, following the precepts as set out in the so-called "morphological method" and distinguished according to the extent of the pectinate muscles relative to the atrioventricular junctions as opposed to basing diagnosis on the venoatrial connections. We show that, when approached in this manner, the various combinations can be readily diagnosed in the clinical setting and described in straightforward way.


Declines in biodiversity resulting from anthropogenic disturbance to ecosystems have focused attention on the role of biodiversity in ecosystem functioning. However, the high level of complexity of ecosystems has made this a difficult topic to investigate. Much simpler model systems incorporating small-scale, spatially delimited, artificial assemblages of species have been widely used recently to address the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF). Their simplicity lends tractability to these systems, but has also resulted in much criticism in the literature over their relevance. Here, we examine the strengths and limitations of model systems and examine how useful these systems might be in addressing several issues that are likely to represent future challenges to understanding BEF: spatial scale, multiple trophic levels, variation, environmental stochasticity and the choice of representative combinations of species. We find that model systems have already played an important role in enhancing our understanding of BEF and are likely to con- tinue this role in the future. However, they do have important limitations, and it is essential to take these into account when putting results into the broader context of ecosystems and to improve the level of integration of results with those from other methodologies.


An oversupply of Phosphorus in water bodies accelerates growth of algae and higher forms of plant life to produce
undesirable impacts on overall water quality. Phosphorus inputs to surface waters arise from a variety of point and nonpoint sources. However much of the P is contributed by agricultural runoff and outfall of treated (or untreated)
wastewater in receiving water-bodies. Point sourced-P inputs to waters have considerably decreased in recent years, at
least partly driven by regulatory requirements, e.g. the EU Water Framework Directive. This has largely been achieved
by removing P from treated wastewaters at sewage treatment works (STWs). Studies have shown that introducing an
additional treatment step ("P-stripping") can significantly reduce P in STW outfalls. Given P deposits are depleting,
there is much interest in phosphorus recovery from wastewaters. A few STWs have already started to recover P as
struvite (NH4MgPO4.6H2O) mineral – a substitute for commercially produced P-fertilizers. This requires major
investment and is not economically viable at small STWs. Nonetheless it is a major breakthrough in terms of P recovery
and its use.
Effluents from sewage treatment works (STW) can often contain a complex mixture of residual microcontaminants, not removed during wastewater treatment. Organic micro-pollutants have been found in rivers receiving
STW effluents. Such residual contaminants have become the focus of an emerging field of water quality study and are
collectively referred to as pharmaceuticals and other personal healthcare products, PPHCPs. Many of these chemicals
have the ability to effect the hormonal signaling of organisms and are called endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC).
Such chemicals have shown some of the most damaging biological effects in aquatic organisms. Biological effects in the
aquatic environment are typically related to the development of intersex in fish. Recent research shows the use of STW
practices such as upgrading from using a combined trickling filter contact process to activated sludge treatment,
ozonation, membrane filtration and use of suspended biofilm reactors reduces the amount of EDCs in waste effluent. It
is thus possible to remove contaminants from STW effluents, but it will not be possible without major infrastructure
improvements. This paper presents the challenges and prospects of P and micro-organic pollutants in surface waters.