Pediatric patients are at elevated risk of adverse drug reactions, and there is insufficient information on drug safety in children. Complicating risk assessment in children, there are numerous age-dependent changes in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of drugs. A key contributor to age-dependent drug toxicity risk is the ontogeny of drug metabolism enzymes, the changes in both abundance and type throughout development from the fetal period through adulthood. Critically, these changes affect not just the overall clearance of drugs, but exposure to individual metabolites as well. In this study, we introduce time-embedding neural networks in order to model population-level variation in metabolism enzyme expression as a function of age. We use a time-embedding network to model the ontogeny of 23 drug metabolism enzymes. The time-embedding network recapitulates known demographic factors impacting 3A5 expression. The time-embedding network also effectively models the non-linear dynamics of 2D6 expression, enabling better fit to clinical data than prior work. In contrast, a standard neural network fails to model these features of 3A5 and 2D6 expression. Finally, we combine the time-embedding model of ontogeny with additional information to estimate age-dependent changes in reactive metabolite exposure. This simple approach identifies age-dependent changes in exposure to valproic acid and dextromethorphan metabolites and suggests potential mechanisms of valproic acid toxicity. This approach may help researchers evaluate the risk of drug toxicity in pediatric populations.


UK The Supreme Court handed down its judgment in Halliburton v. Chubb in November 2020. The case addressed the test for apparent bias and the issue of arbitrators' duties of disclosure in English-seated arbitrations. The authors of this article represented the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) as interveners in the Supreme Court appeal.
This article explores the key points arising out of the judgment and takes stock of the current position under English law. The authors discuss certain issues that remain open following the judgment, including the relationship between the duties of disclosure and confidentiality. They explore the extent to which parties' adoption of institutional rules can modify the English law position, and comment on the extent to which English law is now in line with that of other jurisdictions.
The article notes that Halliburton v. Chubb is one of a number of recent cases globally concerning the scope of arbitrators' duties. It concludes that while the decision of the Supreme Court provides a welcome degree of clarity as to the English law position, and a necessary confirmation that the English courts take a robust approach to such issues, the judgment itself was necessarily confined to relatively narrow facts. As such, questions relating to arbitrators' duties are likely to return to the spotlight in future cases, and English law is likely to continue to develop as the relevant principles are applied to different fact patterns and as new norms emerge amongst arbitrators.
Halliburton v. Chubb, Arbitrators' duties, Duty of disclosure, Apparent bias, Conflicts of interest, Impartiality, Challenges to arbitrators, Arbitration Act 1996, Confidentiality, Supreme Court


In this letter, the characteristics of positive bias temperature instability (PBTI) and hot carrier stress (HCS) for the lowtemperature poly-Si thin-film transistors (LTPS-TFTs) with HfO2 gate dielectric are well investigated for the first time. Under room temperature stress condition, the PBTI shows a more serious degradation than does HCS, indicating that the gate bias stress would dominate the hot carrier degradation behavior for HfO2 LTPSTFT. In addition, an abnormal behavior of the Imin degradation with different drain bias stress under high-temperature stress condition is also observed and identified in this letter. The degradation of device's performance under high-temperature stress condition can be attributed to the damages of both the HfO2 gate dielectric and the poly-Si grain boundaries.


Passage of the 1996 Farm Bill marked a dramatic departure in federal farm policy as the longstanding deficiency payment program was replaced with non‐risk responsive transition payments. In light of the departure, subsidized savings has been proposed as a mechanism to provide risk protection to agricultural producers. Using Canada's National Income Stabilization Account (NISA) program as an example of a subsidized savings program, a stochastic programming model of income stabilization is developed. The model is then used to investigate the optimizing behavior of a typical Midwestern crop producer. The results suggest a fair amount of program design flexibility exists, and that the government can use this flexibility to stimulate initial and continual participation while minimizing capital outlays.


Albay, Philippines is a province located along the eastern coast of the country, facing the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean. With a land area of 2, 552 square kilometres, it is considered the second largest in the Bicol Region. Aside from being the second largest province in the region, Albay is also known as the "Vatican of Disasters" of the Philippines. Various natural phenomena such as typhoons, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis have plagued the area. As a result, the people of Albay have been vulnerable to persistent poverty, low economic income, and climatic and geological hazards.


Dietary restriction (DR) extends lifespan in many organisms, through unknown
mechanisms that may or may not be evolutionarily conserved. Currently, different diets
and techniques exist in different laboratories to implement DR in the fruit fly, Drosophila
melanogaster. Furthermore, DR is often implemented by food dilution, a technique that
potentially enables flies to compensate for reduced nutrition by increasing their food
intake. Thus, findings from DR experiments may not be strictly comparable because of
these methodological differences and uncertainties. In this thesis, I examined the ability
of DR to extend life in D. melanogaster with different genotypes and on different diet
compositions. I demonstrate that many of the different diets used in different
laboratories are inappropriate for DR and propose an optimised protocol to insure that
DR studies are standardised. I also demonstrate, by combining two available feeding
assays, that D. melanogaster do not compensate their food intake when exposed to DR by
food dilution. The optimised feeding assay in this thesis provides a useful tool for
researchers to measure fly total feeding, which is fundamental to studies involving their
behaviour, nutrition and/ or drug administration. I demonstrate with this method that
food intake is not altered in the lifespan extending mutation chico, the receptor substrate
of the insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) pathway. IIS is a highly conserved pathway
responsible for growth, development, stress resistance, metabolic homeostasis,
reproduction, and recently, single gene mutations in the pathway have been shown to
extend lifespan. One component of the pathway, dAkt, has yet to be established as a
regulator of lifespan and fecundity in D. melanogaster. Although there is sufficient
literature regarding its role in growth and development in fly larvae, it is much less
understood in adults. Using viable dAkt mutants, I establish that for lifespan benefits to
occur, the appropriate level of IIS reduction is required.


Generalizable Neural Radiance Fields (GNeRF) are one of the most promising real-world solutions for novel view synthesis, thanks to their cross-scene generalization capability and thus the possibility of instant rendering on new scenes. While adversarial robustness is essential for real-world applications, little study has been devoted to understanding its implication on GNeRF. We hypothesize that because GNeRF is implemented by conditioning on the source views from new scenes, which are often acquired from the Internet or third-party providers, there are potential new security concerns regarding its real-world applications. Meanwhile, existing understanding and solutions for neural networks' adversarial robustness may not be applicable to GNeRF, due to its 3D nature and uniquely diverse operations. To this end, we present NeRFool, which to the best of our knowledge is the first work that sets out to understand the adversarial robustness of GNeRF. Specifically, NeRFool unveils the vulnerability patterns and important insights regarding GNeRF's adversarial robustness. Built upon the above insights gained from NeRFool, we further develop NeRFool+, which integrates two techniques capable of effectively attacking GNeRF across a wide range of target views, and provide guidelines for defending against our proposed attacks. We believe that our NeRFool/NeRFool+ lays the initial foundation for future innovations in developing robust real-world GNeRF solutions. Our codes are available at: https://github.com/GATECH-EIC/NeRFool.


There was found just one preference for alternative or controversial sources that Babiš designated as permanently liked media sources on FB. Surprisingly, Babiš did not even "like" permanently any of those media that he purchased a few years earlier and put into the governance of a special foundation while acting like a politician. Babiš preferred quality economic business magazines and journals. He liked only one media source that could be considered alternative media – Internet TV XTV. However, not even this online TV can be seen as a traditional alternative/disinformation medium, but rather as a borderline case. Andrej Babiš on FB also liked pages of NGOs, cultural institutions, and some other rather unusual non-political activities.


The end user experience of service quality is critical to the success of a service provider's IPTV deployment program. A key element involved in validating IPTV quality of experience (QoE) is how quickly and reliably users can change TV channels, often referred to as channel zapping. Currently there is no knowledge about the explicit relation between zapping time and the user perceived quality as expressed as a Mean Opinion Score (MOS). We have proposed a model where the MOS depends on the zapping time on a logarithmic scale. In order to validate our model we have conducted a number of subjective tests in order to get insight in this relation. The tests were performed by 21 test subjects at TNO and at Acreo. It turns out that the correlation between the subjective data and the perceptive model is very high (0.99). Therefore we conclude that our perceptive model is very useful for assessing the perceived quality of zapping. The result is not limited to IPTV but applies to any type of TV service with channel switching times that are not instantaneous, regardless whether it is terrestrial or satellite based.


This research compares cities between and within the United States and Europe with respect to their dimensionality and degree of immigrant incorporation. Based on theoretical perspectives about immigrant incorporation, structural differentiation and national incorporation regimes, we hypothesize that more inclusionary (MI) cities will show more dimensions of incorporation and more favorable incorporation outcomes than less inclusionary (LI) places, especially in regard to labor market and spatial variables. We use data from recent major surveys of young adult second-generation groups carried out in Los Angeles, New York, and 11 European cities to assess these ideas. The findings indicate that second-generation immigrants in New York (MI) and in European MI places (i.e. cities in the Netherlands, Sweden and France) show greater dimensionality of incorporation (and thus by implication more pathways of advancement) respectively than is the case in Los Angeles (LI) or in European LI places (i.e. cities in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland). We discuss the significance of these results for understanding how the structures of opportunity confronting immigrants and their children in various places make a difference for the nature and extent of their integration.


This paper pRisents nwneric:a.l analysis of the incompressible turbulent flow field in a single cavity of the stepped multi-cavity seal. The dimensionless bulk pressure drop for the cavity with and without groove has been investigated for four different Reynolds numbers and three different shaft ro~ating speeds. SIMPLER algoritlun is applied to solve the NavierStokes equation and lowReynolds number ke equation which takes turbulent flow into account For the constant Reynolds number, it was found th3t the dimensionless pressure drop is proportional to shaft speed. Especially, the increment is higher at the low Reynolds number and lower at the high Reynolds nwnber. At no shaft ro~ation, the dimensionless bulk pressure drop is increased linearly with Reynolds number. When the axial speed is relatively high in comparision with the circumferential speed, the groove in a cavity creates high pressure drop giving low leakage. NOMENCLATURE c :annular clearance cl 'c2' <;: empiric:a.l tuzbulent model conslants k :turbulent kinetic energy K : dimensionless turbulence kinetic energy , klu!. p :pressure P :dimensionless pressure, plpu!, Re: Reynolds number, 2u mC I u, R,: turbulent Reynolds nwnber, k I'IJ1£ U :o (U, V, W) dimensionless timemean velocity , u/u m u = (u,v,w) time-mean velocity (in X, r, 8 direction) Urn : il.ltial entrance velocity u' : flucruation velocity X , r , 6 : axial, IlldiaJ and circumferential coordinates X,R : dimensionless axial and circumferential coordinates, x/c and r/c.respectivel y e : energy dissipation rare e· : dimensionless energy dissipation rate, e/ (u!. I c) u'; dimensionless dynamic viscosity ' 1l I u mC 1l • : effective dynan:Uc viscosity, 1l 1 + 1l , u,: dynamic viscosity 'll,: turbulent dynamic viscosity, c. k I e p: density l!k : Prandti-Schmidt number fork c,: Prandti-Scbmidt number fore


A set of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor devices has been investigated using step-stress testing, and representative samples of undegraded, source-side-degraded, and drain-side-degraded devices were examined using electron microscopy and microanalysis. An unstressed reference sample was also examined. All tested devices and their corresponding transmission electron microscopy samples originated from the same wafer and thus received nominally identical processing. Step-stressing was performed on each device and the corresponding current–voltage characteristics were generated. Degradation in electrical performance, specifically greatly increased gate leakage current, was shown to be correlated with the presence of crystal defects near the gate edges. However, the drain-side-degraded device showed a surface pit on the source side, and another region of the same device showed no evidence of damage. Moreover, significant metal diffusion into the barrier layer from the gate contacts was also observed, as well as thin amorphous oxide layers below the gate metal contacts, even in the unstressed sample. Overall, these observations emphasize that gate-edge defects provide only a partial explanation for device failure.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the short-term outcomes of hemorrhoidectomy performed using the LigaSure vessel sealing device (Valleylab, Boulder, Colorado) or the conventional approach.

DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE, EMBASE, Ovid, and Cochrane databases for studies published between 2002 and 2006.

STUDY SELECTION
Randomized controlled trials published between 2002 and 2006 comparing short-term outcomes for LigaSure vs conventional hemorrhoidectomy.

DATA EXTRACTION
Operative parameters, short-term complications, and postoperative recovery. Trials were assessed using a modified Jadad score. Random-effects meta-analytical techniques were used in the analysis.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Nine randomized controlled trials with matched selection criteria reporting on 525 patients, of whom 266 (50.7%) underwent LigaSure and 259 (49.3%) underwent conventional hemorrhoidectomy. Operative time (weighted mean difference [WMD], - 8.67 minutes; 95% confidence interval [CI], - 15.34 to - 2.00 minutes), blood loss (WMD, - 23.08 mL; 95% CI, - 27.24 to - 18.92 mL), and pain the day after the operation measured by the visual analog scale (WMD, - 2.31; 95% CI, - 3.37 to - 1.26) were significantly reduced following LigaSure hemorrhoidectomy. There was a decrease in time taken to return to work or normal activity (WMD, - 3.49 days; 95% CI, - 7.40 to 0.43), which was of marginal significance (P = .08). Incidence of postoperative hemorrhage was comparable as was incidence of anal stenosis and fecal and flatus incontinence between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONS
LigaSure hemorrhoidectomy results in a significant reduction in operative time and blood loss, but it may not confer any advantage over the conventional operation in terms of postoperative pain, length of hospital stay, or time taken to return to work or normal activity. The expediency of the device must be weighed against its additional cost. Long-term evaluation of outcomes and morbidity are still needed.


'Acridine' along with its functional analogue 'Acridone' is the most privileged pharmacophore in medicinal chemistry with diverse applications ranging from DNA intercalators, endonuclease mimics, ratiometric selective ion sensors, and P-glycoprotein inhibitors in countering the multi-drug resistance, enzyme inhibitors, and reversals of neurodegenerative disorders. Their interaction with DNA and ability of selectively identifying numerous biologically useful ions has cemented exploitability of the acridone nucleus in modern day therapeutics. Additionally, most derivatives and salts of acridine are planar, crystalline, and stable displaying a strong fluorescence which, when coupled with their marked bio selectivity and low cytotoxicity, enables the studying and monitoring of several biochemical, metabolic, and pharmacological processes. In this review, a detailed picture covering the important therapeutic aspects of the acridone nucleus and its functional analogues is discussed.


A hybrid test statistics was proposed in the literature to analyze matched studies with non-normally distributed outcomes. In this article, we investigated and compared the hybrid statistic with the metaanalysis t test under commonly used interim analysis settings in clinical trials. We estimated the empirical powers and the empirical type I errors among the 10,000 simulated datasets with different sample sizes, different effect sizes, different correlation coefficients for matched pairs, and different data distributions, respectively, in the interim and final analysis with 4 different group sequential methods. Results from our simulation study show that, compared to the meta-analysis t-test commonly used for data with normally distributed observations, the hybrid statistic almost keeps the powerfor data observed from normally distributed random variables and generally achieves greater power for log-normally, and multinomially distributed random variables with matched and unmatched subjects as well as with outliers. Powers rose with the increase in sample size, effect size, and correlation coefficient for the matched pairs. In addition, lower type I errors were observed by using the hybrid statistic in most of the cases studied, which indicates that this test is also conservative for data with outliers in the interim analysis of clinical trials.


This fascicle is based on data from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD 1998-2010) which is being conducted by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (Québec Institute of Statistics) in collaboration with various partners (listed on the back cover). The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of the trajectories which, during early childhood, lead to children's success or failure in the education system.


Abstract : This report describes a methodology for automated ship and wake detection in space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. The methodology incorporates a multistage approach involving several algorithms which can be applied according to requirements, computational resources, and scene composition. We suggest that the localized K-distribution be used for scene segmentation and identification of regions containing probable targets. For a more detailed quantitative scene analysis and accountability for probabilities of occurrence of targets in conjunction with other oceanic features, a coupled neural-networks/Dempster-Shafer detection system is used. The mathematical morphology algorithm is better suited for SAR imagery with low signal-to-clutter ratios, as it incorporates neighbouring information and signal amplitudes for target detection. The methods are tested on several RADARSAT images with different imaging geometry and beam modes. On the basis of our findings, concerning the use of different RADARSAT imaging modes, we demonstrate conclusively that the STANDARD beam is far superior to SCANS AR-NARROW beam for automatic ship detection.


Translucent concrete is a building material with light-transmitting properties, due to embedded light optical elements in its mixture; and has the advantage of energy saving in addition to providing nice view to a building. The present study investigated the use and properties of translucent concrete mixture as a construction material with light admittance. The work includes two parts: in the first part many trail mixes are designed and tested to produce self-compact mortar (SCM).Then the obtained mixture is used to prepare a new type of translucent composites with plastic optical fibers POF embedded in the SCM mixture. The second part investigates some of the mechanical properties of translucent concrete by using three concentration of (POF) and three different diameters. The tested results indicate that it is possible to use SCM to produce translucent concrete contain plastic optical fiber (POF) with compressive strength between 31.1 to 40.4 MPa and flexural strength between 5.89 to 8.12MPa for different POF volume fraction content and diameter size at 28 days age.


Fear of losing the teeth is common among patients presenting with gingival recession. This report describes a case in which unusual gingival recessions were caused by lip piercing. Periodontal treatment involved removal of the causative agent, hygiene instruction, scaling and root planing, and coverage of the root with a subepithelial connective tissue graft. The therapeutic measures applied in this case yielded satisfactory root coverage, an increase in the width of the keratinized gingiva, improvement in hygiene status and absence of dental hypersensitivity.


Abstract Since research has shown that high quality preschool education is associated with improved school readiness, better school performance, higher graduation rates, lower crime and delinquency and decreased welfare dependency then it is worth knowing how much is spent on such an educational programme per child per annum. One thousand parents of kindergarten pupils during the period 2004/2005 session formed the sample of this study. The study adopted the ex post facto research design. Simple percentage, averages and rank order were the statistical tools adopted for the analysis of data. The study prima facea revealed that parents spent N46, 450 (forty six thousand, four hundred and fifty naira) in order for their children to get kindergarten one education (KG 1) per child per annum in private schools. KG II was N48, 150 and KG. III was N50, 380. In all the programmes, school fees ranked first among the items of cost constituting over 30% of the total private cost. Also revealed is that among the three classes of KG I, II and III, academic costs were higher than incidental costs. The paper recommends the need for government to appropriate a percentage of the Education Tax Fund (ETF) to pre-school education to enable her make pre-school education affordable for all the children.


TCs have caused death and great economic loss every year across the coastal area of the western North Pacific (WNP). Therefore it is important to improve the understanding of the climatology of TCs over this region and their modulation by natural climate variability and large-scale circulation systems. It is also important to improve our ability to predict possible changes in TC activity over the WNP under climate change conditions. The most appropriate approach to study this is to use numerical models. However, high model resolution is required to resolve the complex physical structure of TCs so that realistic climatologies of TCs can be produced.
In this thesis, regional climate model (RCM) simulations, from the Unified Model of the UK Met Office (MetUM) with resolutions of 25 and 12km and two different dynamical cores, are used to project the future change in TC activity over Vietnam, Philippines and the South China Sea (SCS). These simulations are driven by data from the ERA-Interim reanalysis for the period 1990-2005 and the HadGEM2-ES global climate model covering the historical period (1961-2005) and a future period (2069-2099) under two IPCC greenhouse gas emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) to investigate the impact of anthropogenic warming on TCs in the study region. An objective algorithm is used to identify and track the simulated TCs. First, the ability of the RCM to simulate TCs and their associated large-scale environments, for a current climate period of 1990-2005, with different model resolutions is evaluated. For the period of 1961-2005, the downscaled HadGEM2-ES simulations are also used to evaluate the model's ability to reproduce the modulation of TC activity associated with El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Both the 25 km and 12 km models can reasonably simulate the TC activity over the SCS compared with the observed TCs. The associated large-scale environments are found to be simulated correctly compared with the ERA-Interim reanalysis. The observed weakened TC activity during El Nino events is also captured by the downscaled HadGEM2-ES. Compared with the 25 km model, the 12 km model has a better ability to simulate the large-scale environments and generally improves the simulation of the spatial distribution and structure of TCs. Improved simulated TC-ENSO response (in terms of TC frequency, track density, intensity, structure and associated large-scale environments) is also found in the 12 km model. However, the 12 km model does not produce stronger 10-m maximum wind speeds of TCs compared with the 25km model. For the projections towards the end of the 21st century, the downscaled HadGEM2-ES at both 25 km and 12 km resolution present an insignificant decrease in TC frequency with rates of -0.001 per year and -0.007 per year for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 respectively. The Had2-25km projection shows a more than 3% increase of the intense (10 m wind speed >35 mS-1) TCs over the South China Sea, while weak TCs (wind speed >25 ms-1) decrease by 10% under RCP8.5. Also, both the RCMs simulate a seasonal shift of TC activity in a warming climate, with an increase in TCs during winter related to the more favourable large-scale conditions and a decrease in TCs is projected in summer.


With the increase of power demand and the progress of power industry deregulation, the transmission and distribution systems will have more complicated problems by the influence of curtailing investment and the NIMBY phenomena in overall power systems. [(Pierluigi, L and Andrea, M, 2002) and (Siberglitt, R, et al., 2002)] It is expected that the route length per MW demand of South Korea will decrease gradually from 0.6[C-km/MW] to 0.53[C-km/MW] in 2010. (KEPCO, 2002) This comes up to a real serious problem from system planning and operation viewpoints. HTS technologies related to power system have properties to solve these complex transmission and distribution constraints, especially for metropolitan area, in the future. As the HTS technology has developed, the HTS cable technology can be the most effective alternative to solve the future expected power network constraints. This paper describes the application methodology of developing 22.9 kV HTS cable by CAST for practical distribution system. 22.9 kV HTS cable under development with step-by-step application methodology can substitute the existing and planning conventional 154 kV cable. (YOON, 2002, 2003) If this scheme is applied, part of downtown 154 kV substation of metropolitan city such as Seoul can be changed into 22.9 kV switching station. Additionally, it can give huge economic, environmental benefits to all of the concerned authorities.


This chapter informs faculty on the purpose and use of diversity initiatives on UNC Charlotte's campus. As North Carolina's urban research university, UNCC is accessible and affordable and attracts students from all social backgrounds. We promote a learning environment that contributes to the understanding of inclusion and equity in society. UNCC is committed to diversity and is purposeful in the recruitment, retention, and support of minority faculty, students, and staff. Faculty are strongly encouraged to acknowledge the cultural, social, and economic diversity and disparities present in our multicultural classrooms. We address the unique challenges and issues that minority students face and provide faculty with pedagogical approaches and campus resources to address those challenges to foster student success.


Prokaryotic microfossils, found in early Archaean rocks, implies that the earliest life forms on Earth probably date from between 3.5 3.8 Ga ago, when living conditions on Mars were similar to those on early Earth. Therefore it is legitimate to assume that life on Mars emerged as well as on Earth. Accepting that first life on both planets was determined by complex microbial communities, the Martian life must have adapted to drastically changing environmental conditions or become again extinct. One possibility for survival of Martian primitive life might be subsurface lithoautotrophic ecosystems. Comparable environments exist in permafrost regions on Earth.The current ESA (European Space Agency) mission Mars Express determined existence of water as ground ice on Mars, which is fundamental requirement for life. Furthermore, Mars Express demonstrated for the first time the presence of CH4 in the Martian atmosphere, which due to the lifetime of CH4 could be only originated from active volcanism or biological sources. This finding may have important implications for the possibility that microbial life could exist on Mars.Methanogenic archaea colonising terrestrial permafrost, are highly specialized organisms from the view point of metabolism. The capability of these organisms to lithoautotrophic growth under strictly anaerobic conditions, tolerance to low temperatures and survival under extreme conditions of permafrost for several millions of years make methanogens one of the most suitable keystone organism for the investigation of possible Martian life.Within the scope of a project in the DFG (German Research Foundation) Priority Program Mars and the Terrestrial Planets we study the tolerances of methanogens under unfavourable life conditions of terrestrial or extraterrestrial permafrost (Mars simulation). The borders of growth influenced by desiccation, temperature extremes, radiation and high salt concentration were analyzed for the organisms in pure cultures obtained from permafrost soils as well as in their natural environment of Siberian permafrost.First results represent high survival potential of methanogenic archaea under tested extreme conditions. Methanogens revealed CH4 production under in situ temperature conditions (0 to 2°C) and salt concentration up to 6 mol with a rate of about 0.077 0.009 nmol CH4 h-1 g 1. Incubation of pure cultures with different salt concentration (0.1 to 6 mol) showed a significant CH4 production rate as well even at salt concentration of 6 mol (0.013 0.022 nmol CH4 h-1). Additionally, the influence of temperature on the salt tolerance of methanogens was analyzed. The organisms showed better adaptation to high salt concentration at temperatures of 4°C, with a CH4 production of 0.019-0.026 nmol CH4 h-1 compared to the activity at 28°C (0.012-0.014 nmol CH4 h-1).The comparative system studies will serve to understand the modern Mars cryosphere and other extraterrestrial permafrost habitats. This knowledge represents an essential basis for searching and understanding of extraterrestrial life, if present, especially concerning possible protected niches on present Mars.


This study was aimed at recognizing and comparing the inspection conditions of the Hospital Infection Control Programs (HICP) through agents of two Technical Groups of Health Surveillance, in 2002, with the use of questionnaires. The results show that the agents have some knowledge about HI, but most of them did not inspect HICPs, were not trained to do so and did not follow specific guidelines nor used other resources. The most mentioned type of inspection was the inspection of physical structure, followed by HICP meeting records and statistics. It was concluded that the main difficulties in HICP inspection are concentrated on the lack of personnel, resources, motivation and technical capacity. It was also observed in the results a heterogeneity between the groups.


The accession of ten new EU members in 2004 with an orderly queue forming for 2007 and thereafter has been changing the pattern of trade and therefore distribution in Europe for a decade or more. New and growing markets place a great strain upon supply chains that have not been optimized for the purpose. This paper looks at the new geography of Europe from the perspective of the creation of distribution hubs. Using low-level output and population data it draws out a spatial model that identifies sub-regions most suitable for distribution uses and compares the findings with available market data to identify opportunities.


This review focuses on the role of Aβ in AD pathogenesis in Down syndrome and current approaches for imaging Aβ in vivo. We will describe how Aβ deposits with age, the posttranslational modifications that can occur, and detection in biofluids. Three unique case studies describing partial trisomy 21 cases without APP triplication, and the occurrences of low level mosaic trisomy 21 in an early onset AD patient are presented. Brain imaging for Aβ includes those by positron emission tomography and ligands (Pittsburgh Compound B, Florbetapir, and FDDNP) that bind Aβ have been published and are summarized here. In combination, we have learned a great deal about Aβ in DS in terms of characterizing age of onset of this pathology and it is exciting to note that there is a clinical trial in DS targeting Aβ that may lead to clinical benefits.


We describe a patient with papilledema due to pseudotumor cerebri that was seen unilaterally following normalization of intraocular pressure (IOP) and discontinuation of systemic acetazolamide therapy following trabeculectomy. We hypothesize that the lamina cribrosa sclerae serves as a flexible barrier between intracranial pressure (ICP) and IOP and that alterations of the normal ICP/IOP ratio may lead to papilledema. To our knowledge, there have been no reports describing the development of unilateral papilledema following surgical reduction in IOP. Report of a Case. A 41-year-old obese white woman with a 9-year history of juvenile primary open-angle glaucoma underwent uncomplicated trabeculectomy in the left eye with supplemental 5-mg subconjunctival injections of 5-fluorouracil (50 mg/mL) because of progressive glaucomatous cupping. Preoperative IOP was 23 mm Hg in the right eye and 35 mm Hg in the left eye while receiving acetazolamide sequels, 500 mg twice daily, plus a combination of timolol maleate 0.5% and


This paper has proposed an architecture of optimised SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) feature detection for an FPGA implementation of an image matcher. In order for SIFT based image matcher to be implemented on an FPGA efficiently, in terms of speed and hardware resource usage, the original SIFT algorithm has been significantly optimised in the following aspects: 1) Upsampling has been replaced with downsampling to save the interpolation operation. 2) Only four scales with two octaves are needed for our image matcher with moderate degradation of matching performance. 3) The total dimension of the feature descriptor has been reduced to 72 from 128 of the original SIFT, which leads to significantly simplify the image matching operation. With the optimisation above, the proposed FPGA implementation is able to detect the features of a typical image of 640×480 pixels within 31 milliseconds. Therefore, compared with the existing SIFT FPGA implementation, which requires 33 milliseconds for an image of 320×240 pixels, a significant improvement has been achieved for our proposed architecture.


We here consider a generalization of the Klein-Gordon scalar wave equation which involves a single arbitrary function. The quantization may be viewed as allowing $\hbar$ to be a function of the momentum or wave vector rather than a constant. The generalized theory is most easily viewed in the wave vector space analog of the Lagrangian. We need no reference to spacetime. In the generalized theory the de Broglie relation between wave vector and momentum is generalized, as are the canonical commutation relations and the uncertainty principle. The generalized uncertainty principle obtained is the same as has been derived from string theory, or by a general consideration of gravitational effects during the quantum measurement process. The propagator of the scalar field is also generalized, and an illustrative example is given in which it factors into the usual propagator times a "propagator form factor."


It is quite clear that we have come to, or are rapidly approaching, the end of a special epoch in the industrial West ¿ characterized by sprawling urban-suburban complexes, massive interlinked highway systems, rich high-technology industries, and profligate consumerism, and fostered by an economic structure that favors an energy-extravagant society. It has been an epoch in which the individual automobile has been the technological heart. Perhaps for this reason, and also for many other reasons, those who are concerned with cities seem to be reformulating basic or root questions: ¿What is a city?¿ ¿Why does it work, why does it not work?¿ Dependent upon one's answers to these questions will be the kind of ¿solution¿ one poses for the problems with which our cities are palpably afflicted.


Sir.—Dr McAnarney1forsees an increasing oversupply of pediatricians. I agree with her. She suggests that some pediatricians shift to geriatric medicine. I disagree with this and instead suggest an alternative closer to her own subspecialty—the medical care of those between their late teens and 30s ("young adults"). I base this recommendation on my experience with this group in private practice from 1978 through 1985 and on demographic and epidemiologic data and projections. Consider the following: (1) Young adults are numerous, but no physician group focuses particularly on them; (2) they are the most logical focus for preventive health measures; (3) the medical problems they have are by and large the same as those of the adolescent or older child; (4) pediatricians have the greatest experience of any group in dealing with these persons, since they more commonly visit a physician as parents than as patients; and (5) the


Intellectual capital has gained increasing attention concerning both research and more practically oriented applications during the past five years. Intellectual Capital and other knowledge management tools are topics that have emerged in the light of a broader trend of redirecting the foundation of competitive advantage from the company's tangible assets to its intangibles such as knowledge base, brands and the content and structure of computer‐based systems. In this paper, the concept of intellectual potential is introduced. Intellectual potential is a further development of intellectual capital, using four principles: strategy basis; management orientation; process orientation; and context sensitivity. The concept is a tool for the strategic management of an organisation's intangible assets in order to increase its long‐term revenue‐generating capabilities. The case of Alfa Laval is used as an illustration of how intellectual potential can add value as a management tool.


Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the patterns of leukemia in Northern Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted in King Khalid hospital, Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) including records of leukemia from 2008 to 2016. Results: The overall Crude Incidence Rate (CIR) of leukemia was 7.45 per 100.000 person-year, including patients diagnosed with different patterns of leukemia in Northern Saudi Arabia. The mean age of patients was 45.4 years with a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 107 years old. Around 43 (59%) were males and 30 (41%) were females. Conclusion: The incidence rates of leukemia are relatively higher in Northern Saudi Arabia, with an increase of all subtype.


In this article, I present a newly discovered, late-sixteenth-century design drawing for the chapel of the Collegio Borromeo, in Pavia, Italy, and investigate it in the context of contemporary Catholic ecclesiastical architecture. Historiographically, the period is dominated by the church of the Gesu, in Rome, interpreted as a typological paradigm characterized by austere architecture and restrained decoration. This view is called into question by the Collegio9s chapel. The initial design (represented by the drawing) drew from ancient sources in order to achieve spatial complexity. The realized chapel is spatially simpler, but ornately ornamented and decorated. The chapel differs from what is considered the norm, but is the chapel an anomaly, or are traditional understandings of the Gesu invalid? On investigation, it becomes evident that patrons may have established a number of criteria for their churches, but architects had a degree of freedom in designing them. In few if any contemporary cases, however, was architectural severity a goal for Catholic churches. With the example of the Collegio9s chapel, these findings take on greater significance: the patron, Carlo Borromeo (1538-1584), was one of the most important in the history of ecclesiastical architecture. The chapel9s architect, Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596), restored, renovated, and built numerous sacred spaces for Borromeo. What they achieved demonstrates that Catholic reformers of the latter half of the sixteenth century sought architectural magnificence for buildings dedicated to the worship of God.


A universally designed mobile application, MeetUp, that assists users to meet up is designed and implemented for blind and sighted users. The Android application MeetUp was originally designed for blind users, but a visual interface was added so it could become usable by sighted users as well. The system design and user interactions with the application are described.


FPGAs have typically achieved high speedups for 3D Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) due to the presence of hard floating point units, low latency specialized pipelines, and support for complex connectivity among processing elements. Previous implementations have relied on FFT IP cores for performing the computation due to the complexity of manually developing and maintaining/upgrading efficient pipelines in HDL. These IP cores, however, are bulky and cannot be fully tuned for specific FFT sizes due to use of generic architectures. HLS tools, such as OpenCL, offer a more customizable alternative but have suffered from worse performance than HDL in previous work. In this paper we show that, using a set of code structure optimizations, OpenCL designs can be compiled to Radix-2 FFT pipelines which outperform IP core based designs for the same throughput. We further show that the HDL generated by the OpenCL compiler can be isolated and seamlessly integrated into existing 3D FFT shells to reduce implementation effort. Our single device design, tested on the Altera Arria10X115 FPGA, achieves an average speedup of 29x vs CPU-MKL, 4.1x vs GPU cuFFT and 1.1x vs IP Core FFT implementations for 163, 323 and 643 FFTs. Moreover, OpenCL generated compute pipelines for 83, 163, 323 and 643 FFTs use an average of 7.5x fewer ALMs and 1.6x fewer DSPs than corresponding IP core versions.


In this work, silicon coatings were deposited using VPS and APS technologies. Their structure and composition were characterized using XPS, SEM, and XRD. The porosity and surface-roughness of coatings were evaluated. The results showed that the VPS silicon coating possessed lower porosity compared with the APS silicon coating. The APS silicon coating surface was almost all covered by many small particles whose size is about 100 nm. The Si 2p XPS spectra indicated that silicon oxide existed in both coatings. The oxidation may have occurred during the plasma spray process. However, the VPS process could inhibit silicon from being oxidated.


BACKGROUND
Recently, endogenous glucocorticoid excess has been identified as a risk factor for VTE. Whether exogenous use of glucocorticoids is associated with an increased risk of VTE is unclear. We aimed to quantify the risk of symptomatic pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients using corticosteroids.

METHODS
A case-control study using the PHARMO Record Linkage System, a Dutch population-based pharmacy registry, was conducted. Cases were 4,495 patients with a first hospital admission for PE between 1998 and 2008. Control subjects were 16,802 sex- and age-matched subjects without a history of PE. International Classification of Diseases codes for hospitalization were used to retrieve information on underlying conditions.

RESULTS
The risk of PE was highest in the first 30 days of glucocorticoid exposure (adjusted OR, 5.9; 95% CI, 2.3-3.9) and gradually decreased with increasing duration of use (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3-2.9) for long-term users (> 1 year). Low-dose glucocorticoid use (prednisolone daily dose equivalent < 5 mg) carried a twofold increased risk of PE (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3-2.4), whereas a 10-fold increased risk was observed for the highest dose of glucocorticoids (prednisolone > 30 mg) (OR, 9.6; 95% CI, 4.3-20.5). Stratification for both duration and dose of glucocorticoid showed the highest risk of PE in recently started users compared with long-term users at the time of PE, irrespective of the dose.

CONCLUSION
Patients treated with oral glucocorticoids may be at an increased risk of PE, especially during the first month of exposure. This hypothesis requires confirmation in future studies.


Visualization of topography can be greatly facilitated by the illuminated contour method. This method, popularized in a hand-drafted map by Tanaka, uses a gray background with black and white contours. A direction of illumination is assumed, and white contours represent illummated topography, while black contours represent non-illuminated or shaded areas. Additionally, thickness of contours varies with the cosine of the angle between the azimuth of maximum slope (i.e., aspect) and the azimuth of illumination. We modified Tanaka's method by basing thickness of contour lines on twice the cosine of the angle between the surface normal and the illumination vector. The cosine of this angle is most commonly used in analytical hill shading. In addition, we present maps with changes in other visual variables and offer our evaluations. Lines with gray tones instead of black and white lines do not improve the illumination effect. We believe variations in the colors of contours and background with elevation can visually enforce information regarding topography. Our use of colors for aspect and variations in the width of contours for slope adds information to the map but does not assist with visualization of topography.


Treatment of BALB/c mice with purified pig antiidiotype to 11-4.1 (anti- H-2Kk) monoclonal antibody has been found previously to induce the appearance of idiotype-bearing molecules (Id') in the serum of these mice, in the absence of detectable antigen-binding activity. In the present study we examined the effect of subsequent immunization of such antiidiotype-primed mice with the original H-2Kk antigen. Skin grafting of virgin BALB/c mice with BALB.K skin did not generate any detectable Id' antibodies when tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In contrast, grafting of antiidiotype-primed mice with BALB.K skin specifically boosted ther serum level of Id' molecules. Challenge of antiidiotype-primed mice with either B10.D2 or rat skin had no effect on the production of such Id' molecules. Absorption studies demonstrated that the majority of Id' molecules induced by H-2Kk antigenic stimulus and detected in ELISA are antigen-nonbinding molecules, thus indicating specific restimulation by the original H-2Kk antigen of nonbinding idiotype-positive B cell clones. The relevance of these findings to the existence of network interactions in the immune response to H-2 antigens is discussed.


We are building Deco, a comprehensive system for answering declarative queries posed over stored relational data together with data gathered from the crowd.
In this paper we present Deco's query processor, building on Deco's data model and query language presented earlier.
In general, it has been observed that query processing over crowdsourced data must contend with issues and tradeoffs involving cost, latency, and uncertainty that don't arise in traditional query processing.
Deco's overall objective in query execution is to maximize parallelism while fetching data from the crowd (to keep latency low), but only when the parallelism will not issue too many tasks (which would increase cost).
Meeting this objective requires a number of changes from traditional query execution.
First, Deco's query processor uses a hybrid execution model, which respects Deco semantics while enabling our objective.
Our objective also requires prioritizing accesses to crowdsourced data, which turns out to be an interesting NP-hard problem.
Finally, because Deco incorporates resolution functions to handle the uncertainty in crowdsourced data, query execution bears as much similarity to incremental view maintenance as to a traditional iterator model.
The paper includes initial experimental results, focusing primarily on how our query execution model and access prioritization scheme maximize parallelism without increasing cost.


Prior ecological research has shown that spatial processes can enhance the temporal stability of populations in fluctuating environments. Less explored is the effect of dispersal on rapid adaptation and its concomitant impact on population dynamics. For asexually reproducing populations, theory predicts that dispersal in fluctuating environments can facilitate asynchrony among clones and enhance stability by reducing temporal variability of total population abundance. This effect is predicted when clones exhibit heritable variation in environmental optima and when fluctuations occur asynchronously among patches. We tested this in the field using artificial ponds and metapopulations composed of a diverse assemblage of Daphnia pulex clones. We directly manipulated dispersal presence/absence and environmental fluctuations in the form of nutrient pulses. Consistent with predictions, dispersal enhanced temporal asynchrony among clones in the presence of nutrient pulses; this in turn stabilized population dynamics. This effect only emerged when patches experienced spatially asynchronous nutrient pulses (dispersal had no effect when patches were synchronously pulsed). Clonal asynchrony was driven by strong positive selection for a single clone that exhibited a performance advantage under conditions of low resource availability. Our work highlights the importance of dispersal as a driver of eco-evolutionary dynamics and population stability in variable environments.


Rockwell hardness (HR) is a valuable and widely used indentation hardness test for evaluating mechanical properties of metallic materials. For the Rockwell scales that use a ball indenter, either a steel or tungsten carbide (WC) ball indenter is permitted to be used in the test method standards of ASTM International and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). However, significant differences occur in Rockwell hardness tests depending on whether a steel or WC ball is used. In this paper, finite element analysis (FEA) is used to simulate the HR indentation process. The effects of four different sizes of steel and WC ball indenters on different Rockwell hardness scales are studied and compared with experimental measurements. This study provides important approximations of the differences between the performance of steel and WC Rockwell hardness indenters.


The presence of Urgonian foraminifers in a sample of limestone containing Coscinophragma cribrosum, which had been labeled "?Cenomanian", from the north slope of Regenbolshorn, Bern canton, Switzerland, proves that the limestone is Urgo-Aptian in age. C. cribrosum is the only valid species of the genus and differs from other normally sessile arenaceous foraminifers by having a truly cribrate aperture.


As women belong to a minority in computer science, this work aims to provide possible K-12 STEM education initiatives how computer science faculties can contribute to increasing the proportion of women in computer science by using robots. Through applying these initiatives, faculties can help to reduce the gender imbalance, increase diversity and the amount of computer science specialists, who are requested immensely. Based on the results of conducted requirements elicitation a concept for programming an application with the NAO robot which trains vocabularies, as well as a concept with the Cozmo robot which piles up cubes, were developed. First tests were performed with female and male high school students. Either concept consists of an introduction of possible robotics application fields, a presentation explaining the Python program code of the concept as well as corresponding exercises with the robot and Python. Evaluation of the workshop concepts through questionnaires showed that both concepts have the potential to increase the proportion of women and to motivate female as well as male students for computer science. Moreover, recommendations for further robotics projects with respect to motivating young women for STEM can be made based on the insights of the requirements elicitation and the evaluation of the concepts. Nevertheless, further refinement and validation has to be undertaken. Long-term as well as short-term initiatives are feasible with the developed concepts. All participating schools showed high interest in both types of initiatives and further cooperation.


The paper aims to discuss the role that visual anthropology and subaltern cultural medias play among the considered indigenous peoples in the Chinese speaking world, and particularly in the four cross-Strait territories of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. This paper suggests a semantic and historic analysis of the terms of indigenous, while retracing the arrival of these western concepts in Greater China as well as the manipulations and translations along history which are subjects of the present research. The western discipline of visual anthropology, together with cultural medias find their equivalences in these Chinese speaking territories, and are used for multiple purposes, which are not always clear. An analysis of their presence and use in these four territories by their respective administrations or by the indigenous themselves may allow us also to have a more precise understanding of the ties that each of these governments maintains with its constitutionally and potentially indigenous peoples. Finally, it will be stressed the fact that the reappropriated western labeling of the indigenous may not necessarily work in the specific theoretical context of the Chinese speaking world while attention should be paid to potentially subaltern groups in individual cases.


We present a pre-processing strategy including imaging, segmentation, and model reconstruction that is well suited for previously published GPU-accelerated techniques for surgical simulation. In particular we describe these modeling steps as a prerequisite for our virtual open heart surgery simulator. A short description including relevant references is presented for each of the steps.


The control of women is at the center of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, a misogyny of domination that is easily apparent. Less apparent in previous literature on Vertigo is the connection to a history of violence against women that threads through key scenes, where the expression "the freedom and the power" is spoken by the wife-murderer Gavin Elster, an authority on San Francisco history, and John "Scottie" Ferguson, who stalks and obsesses over what becomes three women: Madeleine Elster, Carlotta Valdez, and Judy Barton. The freedom and the power is something men once had, but they are slowly losing it, and there emerges the paranoia, the real vertigo. This phrase and its connotation, that of controlling women, connects both freedom and power to the mechanisms of patriarchy. One such mechanism in Vertigo is the deployment, in Foucaultian terms, of a myth: that Carlotta Valdez, thrown away by a rich man nearly 100 years ago, haunts Gavin Elster's wife Madeleine. This myth, the spurned woman, covers up the darker violence underneath, that of uxoricide. Foucault's repressive hypothesis, a deployment in discourse on the freedom and power of sexuality, can be mapped onto the myth of Carlotta Valdez and the killing of women that lies below its surface.


ABSTRACT Super resolution (SR) refers to generation of a high-resolution (HR) image from a decimated, blurred, low-resolution (LR) image set, which can be either a single-frame or multi-frame that contains a collection of images acquired from slightly different views of the same observation area. In this study, two convolutional neural network (CNN)-based deep learning techniques are adapted in single-frame SR to increase the resolution of remote sensing (RS) images by a factor of 2, 3, and 4. In order to both preserve the colour information and speed up the algorithm, first an intensity hue saturation (IHS) transform is utilized and the SR techniques are only applied to the intensity channel of the images. Colour information is then restored with an inverse IHS transformation. We demonstrate the results of the proposed method on RS images acquired from Satellites Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) or Earth-observing satellites and Pleiades satellites with different spatial resolution. First synthetic LR images are created by downsampling, then structural similarity (SSIM) Index, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and Erreur Relative Globale Adimensionnelle de Synthese (ERGAS) values are calculated for a quantitative evaluation of the methods. Finally, the method, with better performance results, is tested within a real scenario, that is, with original LR images as the input. The obtained HR images demonstrated visible qualitative enhancements.


Trigeminal Neuropathy Six patients aged 33 to 66 years with various connective tissue diseases developed trigeminal neuropathy. They were not a homogenous group. Three had progressive -systemic sclerosis (PSS), two had systemic lupus ery-thematosus (SLE) with features of PSS, and one had -dermatomyositis. All noted numbness over the involved -area of the face, and in some the tongue and buccal mucosa were affected. In some patients this was preceded by pain and in one pain was a feature for a year after the onset of the lesion. The onset was subacute and took up to one month to reach maximum development. Subsequently the signs have remained unchanged for periods of up to 6 years. The involvement varied in dis- tribution but usually followed the divisions of the trigeminal nerve. In one case there was bilateral involvement, but in the remainder the involvement was largely uni-lateral, affecting one, two, or three divisions. The blink reflex was recorded in three patients: one showed a normal response, one showed an increase in latency, and in one there was virtual absence of the first component. There was a similar delay in response to supraorbital stimulation, suggesting that the delay is in nerve conduc-tion. Evidence from these cases suggests that trigeminal neuropathy is a consequence of the connective tissue diseases but that the association is rare.


In the article, the motions of the magpies inside the fibrous material are studied in the presence of an elastic bonding force and the force of dry friction. It is assumed that the volatility of raw cotton in the form of a ball hits the initial velocity about the grate, and after the impact the velocity of the center of mass of the volatility is zero. Until the moment of impact, the mote is located along the beam, which tilts to the horizon and has the same velocity with the center of the fly, and after the impact it moves along this ray. The case is considered when the coefficients of dynamic rigidity, adhesion strength and coefficient of friction depend on the temperature difference between the initial and the current, and it is assumed that these parameters decrease with increasing temperature difference. Accordingly, in the equation of motion of the mote, the sign of the speed of movement of the magpies is taken into account in the direction of the force of contact between it and the fibrous mass. Different stages of the motion of the speck along the ray are considered. On the basis of the equations obtained, the trajectories and the geometric locations of the points of location of the magpies located along the ray are established.


Metal accumulation by Juncus maritimus and the role of this plant on the physical and chemical composition of sediments, from the Douro river estuary (NW Portugal), were investigated. The contents of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were determined (by atomic absorption spectrophotometry) in sediments, rhizosediments (those among plant roots and rhizomes), and different plant tissues (roots, rhizomes, leaves, and stems). Metal fractionation in sediments through sequential extraction was carried out and used for interpretation of sediment/J. maritimus interactions. Two estuarine sites with different characteristics were studied: site I displayed sandy sediment with lower organic matter and metals more weakly bound to it than site II sediment, which was muddy. At both sites, higher metal contents were observed in rhizosediments than in the surrounding sediment, but metals were more weakly bound to rhizosediment. Therefore, J. maritimus markedly influenced the sediments among its roots and rhizomes, changing metal distribution and speciation. Different patterns of both metal uptake and metal distribution among J. maritimus tissues were observed at the two sites. Plant bioaccumulation was only observed for Cd, Cu, and Zn, being similar for Cd atthe two sites and significantly higher for Cu and Zn (9 and 4 times higher, respectively) at site I. In conclusion, J. maritimus was shown to have potential for phytoextraction (or phytostabilization) of Cd, Cu, and Zn in estuarine environment. However, an eventual application of J. maritimus for this purpose will require a periodic removal of the plants together with their own rhizosediment.


Various strategies for coping have surfaced in the uncertain, arduous, and frequently faltering struggle by black Americans for equality of opportunity, coping strategies characterized variously as carefully considered judgments or mere reactions devoid of ideological commitment. These efforts have engaged the attention of historians, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and other scholars motivated by a perceived obligation to explicate the nature of the struggle and articulate viable modes for ameliorating the effects of discrimination. Literary artists have also manifested a similar interest by using the medium of imaginative literature to illuminate and dramatize the realities of the historical situation.


A study was made of the tissue and humoral immunity in 276 persons with prenosological and nosological signs of chronic bronchitis among the indigenous population as well as in newcomers living under the conditions of ultracontinental climate. Seasonal fluctuations of indices of the cellular and humoral immunity were more noticeable in the former than in the latter. Persons with prenosological signs of bronchitis were characterized by less pronounced tension of the cellular immunity in autumn than healthy people whereas considerable inhibition of the cellular immunity and change in the rhythm of its seasonal fluctuations were noted in patients with chronic bronchitis.


The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate, describe, and understand the current
provision of music education in post-primary (secondary) schools in Ireland as reported by school
principals. Data included a large-scale national survey (n = 410) with a 59% response rate and 17
follow-up face-to-face interviews. The findings revealed how music instruction was provided for, in
addition to principals' expectations of music programs and music teachers. Using a systems ecological
framework, factors influencing principals' support of music in schools were also identified.
It was found that music education practices are inconsistent throughout post-primary schools to the point
of insidious decline in many schools, as principals are not all exercising the autonomy granted to them to
develop equitable curricula and music-making opportunities. Music programs tended to exist less
frequently in all-boys' schools and in smaller schools.
Based on the degree to which principals demonstrated commitment to the implementation of music in
their curricula, three distinct types of principals emerged and were categorized as the Progressives
(managing schools with exemplar music programs), the Maintainers (struggling to develop music in their
schools) and the Disinclined (unwilling or unable to implement music in their schools).
The majority of principals articulated high expectations for music in the school and communicated the
importance of music in the curriculum for aesthetic, utilitarian, and extra-curricular benefits. However,
principals' glowing endorsements of music education did not necessarily translate into action and
implementation. Principals highlighted that the vibrancy of a music program is contingent upon
recruiting competent, committed, and positive music teachers who act as evangelists for music. The
absence of a clear and cohesive framework for principals from centralized government, the Department
of Education and Skills (DES), is inimical to the development of music in schools; whereas creative
funding, scheduling, and recruitment strategies facilitate the support of music in schools.
The primary recommendation resulting from this study is that a pyramidal governance structure is
required so that the DES takes a stronger leadership role by developing relevant and cogent music
education guidelines for principals and music teachers.


A large precursory change in seismic body-wave velocities occurred before the earthquake in San Fernando, California. The discovery that this change is mainly in the P-wave velocity clearly relates the effect to the phenomenon of dilatancy in fluid-filled rocks. This interpretation is supported by the time-volume relation obtained by combining the present data with the data from previous studies. The duration of the precursor period is proportional to the square of an effective fault dimension, which indicates that a diffusive or fluid-flow phenomenon controls the time interval between the initiation of dilatancy and the return to a fully saturated condition which is required for rupture.


The Magellan Extreme Adaptive Optics (MagAO-X) Instrument is an extreme AO system coming online at the end of 2019 that will be operating within the visible and near-IR. With state-of-the-art wavefront sensing and coronagraphy, MagAO-X will be optimized for high-contrast direct exoplanet imaging at challenging visible wavelengths, particularly H α. To enable high-contrast imaging, the instrument hosts a vector apodizing phase plate (vAPP) coronagraph. The vAPP creates a static region of high contrast next to the star that is referred to as a dark hole; on MagAO-X, the expected dark hole raw contrast is ∼4  ×  10  −  6. The ability to maintain this contrast during observations, however, is limited by the presence of non-common path aberrations (NCPA) and the resulting quasi-static speckles that remain unsensed and uncorrected by the primary AO system. These quasi-static speckles within the dark hole degrade the high contrast achieved by the vAPP and dominate the light from an exoplanet. The aim of our efforts here is to demonstrate two focal plane wavefront sensing (FPWFS) techniques for sensing NCPA and suppressing quasi-static speckles in the final focal plane. To sense NCPA to which the primary AO system is blind, the science image is used as a secondary wavefront sensor. With the vAPP, a static high-contrast dark hole is created on one side of the PSF, leaving the opposite side of the PSF unocculted. In this unobscured region, referred to as the bright field, the relationship between modulations in intensity and low-amplitude pupil plane phase aberrations can be approximated as linear. The bright field can therefore be used as a linear wavefront sensor to detect small NCPA and suppress quasi-static speckles. This technique, known as spatial linear dark field control (LDFC), can monitor the bright field for aberrations that will degrade the high-contrast dark hole. A second form of FPWFS, known as holographic modal wavefront sensing (hMWFS), is also employed with the vAPP. This technique uses hologram-generated PSFs in the science image to monitor the presence of low-order aberrations. With LDFC and the hMWFS, high contrast across the dark hole can be maintained over long observations, thereby allowing planet light to remain visible above the stellar noise over the course of observations on MagAO-X. Here, we present simulations and laboratory demonstrations of both spatial LDFC and the hMWFS with a vAPP coronagraph at the University of Arizona Extreme Wavefront Control Laboratory. We show both in simulation and in the lab that the hMWFS can be used to sense low-order aberrations and reduce the wavefront error (WFE) by a factor of 3  −  4  ×  . We also show in simulation that, in the presence of a temporally evolving pupil plane phase aberration with 27-nm root-mean-square (RMS) WFE, LDFC can reduce the WFE to 18-nm RMS, resulting in factor of 6 to 10 gain in contrast that is kept stable over time. This performance is also verified in the lab, showing that LDFC is capable of returning the dark hole to the average contrast expected under ideal lab conditions. These results demonstrate the power of the hMWFS and spatial LDFC to improve MagAO-X's high-contrast imaging capabilities for direct exoplanet imaging.


The sequence of 1383 nucleotides of the DNA encoding 16S rDNA was determined for strains of human intestinal spirochaetes, comprising an unnamed isolate and "Brachyspira aalborgi" NCTC 11492. A phylogenetic tree was inferred from aligned sequence comparisons between the intestinal spirochaetes, representatives of the Spirochaetales and Escherichia coli. The type strain of Brachyspira aalborgi, though related to the Serpulina spp. at approx. 96.5% sequence similarity was distinct and separated from the unnamed human intestinal isolate, HIS Oman, N26. The latter formed a separated and novel lineage that bisected the Spirochaetales.


Computer models, especially conceptual models, are frequently used for catchment hydrology studies. Teaching hydrological modeling, however, is challenging, since students have to both understand general model concepts and be able to use particular computer programs when learning to apply computer models. Here we present a new version of the HBV ( Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenavdelning ) model. This software provides a user-friendly version that is especially useful for education. Different functionalities, such as an automatic calibration using a genetic algorithm or a Monte Carlo approach, as well as the possibility to perform batch runs with predefined model parameters make the software interesting especially for teaching in more advanced classes and research projects. Different teaching goals related to hydrological modeling are discussed and a series of exercises is suggested to reach these goals.


The use of poison baits is an effective method for controlling feral cats. However, take of baits by non-target animals may place those animals at risk of poisoning and also reduces the availability of baits to the target animal, feral cats. Therefore, techniques that reduce non-target take of baits are desirable. Earlier trials have suggested that suspending baits might prevent most non-target animals from removing the baits while maintaining their attractiveness and availability to feral cats. This paper assesses the efficacy of a bait-suspension device to provide a relatively simple means of controlling feral cats (across age and sex classes). In addition, it confirms the high target specificity of the bait-delivery mechanism on Australia's Christmas Island, where non-target species would have posed a problem with baits laid on the ground. The technique may have potential application on other islands where similar non-target species are threatened by baiting programs or at specific sites on the mainland where aerial or on-track deployment of feral cat baits may pose an unacceptable risk to non-target species.


The conventional explanation for the inclusion the grant of diversity jurisdiction (i.e., federal court jurisdiction in cases between citizens of different states) in the Constitution and the first Judiciary Act is that it was necessary to prevent state-court discrimination against out-of-staters. However, the weight of the historical evidence supports the conclusion that diversity jurisdiction was also aimed at the application of parochial state laws, particularly state debtor protection enactments. This second purpose of diversity jurisdiction cuts against the Supreme Court's 1938 decision in Erie Railroad v. Tompkins which held that federal courts exercising diversity jurisdiction must apply the same substantive law as their state court counterparts. This article proposes a partially implementing diversity jurisdiction by over-ruling the Supreme Court's 1941 decision in Klaxon v. Stentor Electric which held that the Erie principle also requires federal courts to adhere to state choice-of-law rules. If diversity courts were to apply an independent choice-of-law approach they could avoid the forum-law bias that pervades most of state choice-of-law doctrine.


Projection is widely used as a diagnostic for presupposition, but many expression types yield projection even though they do not have standard properties of presupposition, for example appositives, expressives, and honorifics (Potts 2005). While it is possible to analyze projection piecemeal, clearly a unitary explanation is to be preferred. Yet we show that standard explanations of projective behavior (common ground based theories, anaphoric theories, and multi-dimensional theories) do not extend to the full range of triggers. Instead, we propose an alternative explanation based on the following claim: Meanings project IFF they are not at-issue,

where at-issueness is defined in terms of the Roberts' (1995) discourse theory. Thus, and despite their apparent heterogeneity, projective meaning triggers emerge as a natural class on the basis of the not at-issue status of their projective inference.


BACKGROUND: Intravenous leiomyomatosis is a rare tumor originating from the uterus that spreads through vessels. This tumor, while histologically benign, can cause fatal cardiovascular symptoms resulting from growth within the heart cavity. CASE: A 51-year-old woman with chronic hypertension was found to have a murmur. Echocardiogram, magnetic resonance imaging, and clinical evaluation revealed an intravenous leiomyomatosis extending to the right ventricle. The appropriate therapy for intravenous leiomyomatosis is complete resection. In this patient, one-stage cardiotomy with laparotomy resulted in successful radical removal of the tumor. CONCLUSION: Our patient underwent successful radical therapy for an intravenous leiomyomatosis extending to the heart, which involved complete resection of the tumor by one-stage cardiotomy with laparotomy.


In 1999, a revised edition of the 1989 Guide to the International Archives and Collections at the IISH, Amsterdam (hereafter GIA) was published. This was the last printed GIA. From 1998 onwards, annual supplements to this GIA have been published in Issue 2 of the International Review of Social History (IRSH). In recent years, all information on archival holdings at the IISH has become available online and appears in the institute's online catalogue under search.socialhistory. org. In addition to listing papers and archives, this catalogue features descriptions of collections containing audiovisual and library materials. Audiovisual materials include audio cassettes, videos, photographs, slides, negatives, and posters. Library materials include books, periodicals, and brochures. The archives may be consulted in the IISH reading room in Amsterdam and increasingly online as well. Requests for access to the physical documents or for digital reproductions may be submitted via the online catalogue. For additional information about rules for access and consultation (including procedures for handling the material and making photocopies), please consult the website socialhistory.org/en/services or contact the IISH information service e-mail: email@example.com). Each entry offers a summary comprising the following:


We present Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) data for 44 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) obtained during three GALEX observing cycles between 2004 and 2008. This is the largest homogeneous data set on the UV photometric properties of Galactic GCs ever collected. The sample selection and photometric analysis are discussed, and color–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) are presented. The blue and intermediate-blue horizontal branch is the dominant feature of the UV CMDs of old Galactic GCs. Our sample is large enough to display the remarkable variety of horizontal branch shapes found in old stellar populations. Other stellar types that are obviously detected are blue stragglers and post-core-He burning stars. The main features of UV CMDs of Galactic GCs are briefly discussed. We establish the locus of post-core-He burning stars in the UV CMD and present a catalog of candidate asymptotic giant branch (AGB), AGB-manqué, post early-AGB, and post-AGB stars within our cluster sample.


We study braided Hochschild and cyclic homology of ribbon algebras in braided monoidal categories, as introduced by Baez and by Akrami and Majid. We compute this invariant for several examples coming from quantum groups and braided groups.


We report two unusual cases of septic sacroiliitis resulting from intravenous Subutex abuse that initially masqueraded as low back pain. Both patients, a 48-year-old Malay man and a 30-year-old Malay woman, presented with chills, rigor and progressive lower back pain, and eventually experienced difficulty in ambulating. The Malay woman also developed severe pain in her left elbow, with swelling and restriction of movement. Blood investigations and cultures revealed an infective process. Imaging of the pelvis and lower back confirmed the diagnosis of septic arthritis of the sacroiliac joints. The first patient underwent computed tomography-guided drainage of the abscess and was administered intravenous antibiotics via a peripherally-inserted central catheter (PICC) line. The second patient underwent an arthrotomy for her elbow and her left sacroiliac joint was managed conservatively with intravenous antibiotics, also via a PICC line. The diagnostic difficulty and the need for a high index of suspicion are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the resistance to oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) from patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and primary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) compared with healthy controls.

METHODS
Plasma LDL were isolated from patients with diffuse cutaneous and limited cutaneous SSc (dcSSc and lcSSc, respectively), patients with primary RP, and healthy control subjects. The lipoproteins were assessed for their resistance to oxidation in the presence of cupric ions, using spectrophotometric assays.

RESULTS
LDL from patients with dcSSc and lcSSc were more susceptible to oxidation than were those from healthy control subjects or patients with RP.

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that free radicals may play a role in the pathology of SSc.


In collaborative design, it is very important to effectively express complex parts information. In this paper, the several expressions for parts information are analyzed, the expressions are parts information expressions of geometry-oriented model, the multi-view expressions of parts information, the exchange of parts information between heterogeneous systems, and share of parts information geographically distributed. And the expressions are used to describe the parts information.


Isolation and enumeration of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from human blood has a huge significance in diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. Utilization of the unique microscale flow phenomena called microfluidics offers ability to efficiently isolate CTCs from other haematological cells. The improvement in microfluidic technology allows time and cost efficient isolation of CTCs in a continuous manner utilising only up to nano- or micro-litres samples. This technology could potentially lead to the fabrication of cheap, disposable and transparent devices for sorting and molecular examination of even single cell. Additionally, the potential to physically entrap and capture rare CTCs in microfluidic devices can eliminate the need of expensive antibodies normally used for immune capturing of these rare cells which would further reduce the cost of operation. During the last few years, several innovative and intricate microfluidic designs to isolate and capture these extremely rare cells from the whole blood samples without using specific antibodies have been published. Herein, we review the recent literature on exploiting physical characteristics of tumour cells to efficiently isolate them from billion other cells and discuss the intricate design perspective of microfluidic devices for efficient in vitro cancer diagnosis and prognosis.


In order to study the geomagnetic secular variation in Britain during the past 10000 years six metre and one metre long cores of post -Glacial sediment have been collected from three British lakes. Magnetic measurements were made on both the whole cores and on sub samples from them. The natural remanent magnetization is stable, and records well defined declination and inclination swings of 40 -50° and 15 -20 o peak -peak amplitudes respectively. There is also much between swing detail. Both the major swings and many finer details are readily correlated from core to core and lake to lake. Thirty radiocarbon age determinations, pollen analyses and correlations with observatory and archaeomagnetic records have been combined to derive a detailed time scale. This time scale has been transferred to all the ' cores by means of magnetic susceptibility and lithological correlations. Fourier analyses of declination and inclination, separately and combined as a complex pair, show that the variations are not simply periodic, nor is their spectrum constant with time. The geomagnetic vector has been looping in a clockwise sense for most of the past 10000 years. The records have been compared with other lacustrine and archaeomagnetic results from other countries, and various models for the non dipole field are discussed in the light of all these records. Attempts to retrieve palaeointensities from the sediments have shown that ARM may provide an effective normalization parameter in some, but by no means all cases. Determining the suitability of sediments for palaeointensity, studies is complicated. Field tests were carried out to investigate the magnetic minerals in the soils of the drainage basin of one lake; soil and lake sediment samples were further analysed in the laboratory. In addition to magnetite an impure form of maghaemite appears to play some part in carrying the NRM of this lake sediment. Continental shelf sediment cores have also been collected from the Firth of Clyde. These have been correlated with each other by their susceptibility logs, and dated by correlation of their secular variation records with the lake sediment record.


We tackle the image reassembly problem with wide space between the fragments, in such a way that the patterns and colors continuity is mostly unusable. The spacing emulates the erosion of which the archaeological fragments suffer. We crop-square the fragments borders to compel our algorithm to learn from the content of the fragments. We also complicate the image reassembly by removing fragments and adding pieces from other sources. We use a two-step method to obtain the reassemblies: 1) a neural network predicts the positions of the fragments despite the gaps between them; 2) a graph that leads to the best reassemblies is made from these predictions. In this paper, we notably investigate the effect of branch-cut in the graph of reassemblies. We also provide a comparison with the literature, solve complex images reassemblies, explore at length the dataset, and propose a new metric that suits its specificities.


The Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition, used to be called J2EE) platform is a multi-layer, distributed application framework that provides system level services to facilitate application development. This paper discusses the best practice of enterprise computing using the lightweight Java EE architecture and its applications in the development of a Cartoon Resource Management System. The system manages not only cartoon resources such as models created with Tools such as PhotoShop, 3D Max, and Autodesk, but also maintains related views of the model, thus, provides the user with visual aids when managing the resources.


A cervical rib, also known as a "neck rib" or "supernumerary rib in the cervical region," is a congenital overdevelopment of the transverse process of a cervical spine vertebra. Cervical ribs tend to occur in approximately 0.5 to 1% of the population. They are commonly attached to the seventh cervical vertebra. They vary in size, shape, attachment sites, and can occur unilaterally or bilaterally. Most cervical ribs go unnoticed throughout life and are clinically irrelevant. However, in some cases, they can cause localized pain and compress surrounding structures, leading to necessary intervention.


In the last few years, rapid advancements in instant broadband networks happen to be driving the actual evolution regarding communication and network systems towards upcoming generation all-pervasive computing circumstances. To comprehend the all-pervasive environments, a seamless handover criteria between heterogeneous instant networks is one of the most critical techniques. The heterogeneous instant networks include wireless particular, local, and broadband systems. Among a number of candidate technologies to the numerous instant broadband systems, IEEE 802. 16-operated WiMAX indicates promising possibilities.


Background: Food spoilage and foodborne diseases are two important problems in the food industry. On the other hand, consumers' tendency to use natural additives is increasing. Hence, plant essential oils (EOs) can be safe alternatives in this regard. Objective: The objectives were to determine the chemical composition and to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Cymbopogon citratus EO against some foodborne bacteria alone and in combination with Origanum majorana and Caryophyllus aromaticus EOs. Materials and Methods: Chemical composition of C. citratus EO was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Further, antibacterial activity of the EO against foodborne bacteria was assessed using disk diffusion method. In addition, the minimum inhibitory concentration of the EO was determined by microdilution broth method and then the minimum bactericidal concentration value was determined. Checkerboard synergy testing was also performed to determine the fractional inhibitory concentration index. Finally, time-kill curves were drawn based on the bacterial population (CFU/mL) against time (h). Results: The major compounds of C. citratus EO were isothymol, thymol, trans-caryophyllene, and cymene. The most and the least sensitive foodborne bacteria to C. citratus EO were Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of C. citratus EO against all the evaluated bacteria were 0.1% and The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values ranged between 0.1 and >2% (v/v). The combination of C. citratus and O. majorana EOs showed a synergistic activity against Salmonella typhimurium and partial synergism against B. subtilis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, S. aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes. Moreover, the combination of C. citratus and C. aromaticus EOs demonstrated partial synergism against S. aureus and L. monocytogenes, and additive interaction against S. typhimurium; however, the combination was indifferent against E. coli O157:H7 and B. subtilis. Furthermore, C. citratus plus O. majorana EOs and C. citratus plus C. aromaticus EOs showed a bactericidal effect against S. typhimurium after 24 hours in the time-kill assay. Conclusion: In general, the synergism, partial synergism, and additive effects of C. citratus in combination with C. aromaticus and O. majorana EOs strengthen the antimicrobial activity, expand the spectrum of activity, reduce the concentrations required, decrease the side effects, and prevent the alteration of organoleptic properties of food.


BACKGROUND
Aquacultured green lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) is the New Zealand export leader of seafood in terms of weight. Different treatments shrink mussel meat differently and affect the consumer perception of half-shelled mussels. In order to quantify this, digital images of half-shelled green lipped mussels subjected to two postharvest treatments (ultrahigh pressure (UHP) and heat treatment (HT)) and raw controls were taken. The ratio of the view area of the meat to that of the shell (labelled as 'visual condition index' (VCI)) was measured using image analysis. A polygonal region of interest was defined on the image to depict the boundary of the meat and to calculate the view area.

RESULTS
Raw mussels had a VCI of 85%. HT mussels had a much reduced VCI of 41%, indicating shrinkage of the meat due to heat. UHP treatment used as a shucking method resulted in a VCI of 83%. Since VCI is one measure of quality for the consumer, this quantitative method can be used in the optimization of shucking treatment (HT or UHP).

CONCLUSION
VCI can be used to optimize postharvest treatments to minimize meat shrinkage. This method can also be applied to other shellfish such as oysters and clams.


In realistic materials, multiple scattering takes place and average field intensities or energy densities follow diffusive processes. Multiple P to S energy conversions by the random inhomogeneities result in equipartition of elastic waves, which means that in the phase space the available elastic energy is distributed among all the possible states of P and S waves, with equal amounts in average. In such diffusive regimes, the P to S energy ratio equilibrates in a universal way independent of the particular details of the scattering. We study the canonical problem of isotropic plane waves in an elastic medium and show that the Fourier transform of azimuthal average of the cross correlation of motion between two points within an elastic medium is proportional to the imaginary part of the exact Green's tensor function between these points, provided the energy ratio ES / EP is the one predicted by equipartition in two and three dimensions, respectively. These results clearly show that equipartition is a necessary condition to retrieve the exact Green's function from correlations of the elastic field. However, even if there is not an equipartitioned regime and correlations do not allow to retrieve precisely the exact Green's function, the correlations may provide valuable results of physical significance by reconstructing specific arrivals.


Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by short attention span, hyperactivity and impulsiveness and affects both children and adults. Its social and economic significance can hardly be overrated, with a recent literature review estimating a worldwide prevalence of more than 5% (Polanczyk et al., 2007). With importance comes controversy, and the biological basis of ADHD, its diagnostic criteria and its treatments continue to divide opinions. Neuroscientists have tackled ADHD at several levels. Brain imaging has revealed abnormalities in ADHD patients, particularly in the neural networks linking the frontal cortex to the basal ganglia (Cubillo et al., 2011). The genetic factors underlying ADHD are also being unravelled. Several lines of research point to an involvement of the dopaminergic system, and the dopamine transporter (DAT) in particular. DAT polymorphism is correlated with ADHD (Gizer et al., 2009). Intriguingly, abnormalities of the DAT and its pharmacology may explain the apparent paradox that stimulants such as amphetamine and methylphenidate (Ritalin), which inhibit DAT activity and increase extracellular dopamine, are effective (and widespread) treatments for ADHD symptoms. Given these findings, the use of animal models of ADHD carrying mutations in the DAT gene holds great promise. In a study published in this issue of EJN, Castelli et al. (2011) used a knock-in transgenic mouse in which a mutant version of the DAT gene results in a protein that becomes insensitive to cocaine, while retaining at least in part its functionality (Chen et al., 2006). These DAT mutant mice are hyperactive and respond paradoxically to both cocaine and methylphenidate: these drugs, which induce hyperlocomotor states in normal mice, reduce motor activity in the DAT mutants (Tilley & Gu, 2008). Castelli et al. (2011) focused on the endocannabinoid system in the striatum of these DAT mutant mice. There are good reasons to investigate in this direction. Dopamine promotes endocannabinoid release in the striatum (Yin & Lovinger, 2006) and striatal dopamine levels are elevated in DAT mutant mice. In normal animals, striatal projection neurons release endocannabinoids in response to ionotropic and metabotropic receptor activation. Endocannabinoids then act as retrograde messengers, diffusing in the extracellular space and binding presynaptic CB1 receptors located on glutamatergic and GABAergic terminals. In both cases, this decreases neurotransmitter release. Castelli et al. (2011) found that endocannabinoid signalling is dramatically impaired in DAT mutant mice. Surprisingly, the mice present a specific deficit of the endocannabinoid-mediated control of GABA release, while control of glutamate is unaffected. The potential implications of these findings are fascinating: the striatum, whose intrinsic circuits are mostly GABAergic, is involved in the action selection process (Kimchi & Laubach, 2009). Thus, the inability of striatal projection neurons to suppress inhibition may be directly linked to abnormal action selection – a cardinal feature of ADHD. This is one of several changes induced by the mutated DAT gene in the striatal network, including those of dopamine signalling previously described by the same group (Napolitano et al., 2010). However, this is the first indication that the endocannabinoid-mediated control of synaptic inhibition may be selectively impaired in ADHD, and raises the possibility that drugs able to restore this process may prove effective in its treatment.


Aims. We use 9.5-yr of BiSON Sun-as-a-star data to search for dependence of solar-cycle parameter changes on the angular degree, l, of the data. The nature of the Sun-as-a-star observations is such that for changes measured at fixed frequency, or for changes averaged across the same range in frequency, any l dependence present carries information on the latitudinal distribution of the agent (i.e., the activity) responsible for those changes. Methods. We split the 9.5-yr timeseries into contiguous 108-d pieces, and determine mean changes in the damping of, power in, and energy supplied to the modes through the solar cycle. We also apply a careful correction to account for the deleterious effects of the ground-based BiSON window function on the results. Results. From our full analysis we obtain a marginally significant result for the damping parameter, where the mean change is found to be weakest at l = 0. The other parameters show hints of some dependence in l. Conclusions. Our main conclusion is that the mean fractional solar-cycle change in the l = 0 damping rates is approximately 50% smaller than was previously assumed. It had been common practice to use an average over all low-l modes; our downward revision of the radial-mode value has implications for comparisons with models of the global solar cycle changes, which are usually based on a spherically symmetric geometry.