Summary. The in-vitro susceptibility to host immune defence mechanisms of Campylobacter pyloridis was investigated. C. pyloridis was sensitive to antibodydependent complement-mediated bactericidal activity of ,serum. The bacteria were phagocytosed and efficiently killed by polymorphonuclear neutrophils in the presence of serum opsonins. Serum opsonin depletion studies indicated that an intact classical complement pathway was required for optimal phagocytic killing.


Despite the numerous existing design tools developed to support practitioners achieve energy performing buildings, practical use of those tools remains limited, in particular due to their restricted integration into the design process. This project is motivated in particular by the lack of interactive design-oriented tools able to provide guidance at the early design stage of urban districts. The proposed approach consist in the development of a support methodology based on improving the solar potential of an urban district design, considering the inter-building influence. By progressively proposing modifications of key variables (e.g. orientation) leading to a better performance as in a dialogue with a 'virtual consultant', the user shall gain insight into the energy considerations of the design.


This paper proposes a methodology to avoid biased estimations of generator rotor speeds under network topology changes. The algorithm is based on deep neural networks and executes topology processing considering the relevant branches for rotor speed estimations. The proposed technique uses the measurements from the same phasor measurement units (PMUs) needed to carry out generator rotor speed estimations; thus, it does not imply an additional cost for the transmission system operator. The proposed methodology is demonstrated with a centralized and distributed approach, using a modified version of the New England test system and the IEEE 118-bus test system, respectively. The numerical results on both test systems demonstrate the reliability and the low computational burden of the proposed algorithm.


Effective and efficient use of sources is inarguably one of the big issues of public administration studies and within this scope, one of the key concepts of reconstruction studies' have been strategic planning. Strategic planning, which affects administrations as a natural reflection of new public management, can be described as part of a strategic management approach. With the increasing population, demands, and needs of the citizens; responsibilities of the municipalities offering urban services have also increased. As of the beginning of the 2000s, the process of strategic management efforts in municipalities in Turkey has accelerated to provide effective and efficient services to citizens. Strategic planning has become an obligation both in metropolitan municipalities such as Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir and after 2005, with Article 41 of the Municipality Law No., 5393 imposed the obligation of preparing a strategic plan to the municipalities with a population of over 50.000. The aim of the study is to examine the strategic plans prepared by metropolitan municipalities in terms of participation, representation of diversities, institutional cooperation, and adaptation to planning principles. In this context, strategic plans of metropolitan municipalities were considered. First of all, a general structure of strategic plans was introduced. After that, the preparation process, an assessment of the mission, vision and key values were carried out. Monitoring criteria and evaluation methods of the strategic plans were examined, and total score charts were prepared. Therefore, strategic plans of metropolitan municipalities were analyzed by making comparisons in terms of basic subjects such as preparation method, participation status, and future objectives.


Six adult monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were trained to switch on a lamp by pressing the lever, to hold the lever for not less than 1 s (the lamp being switched on), and get a portion of food. After reaching a learning criterion, the delay between the lever pressing and food reinforcement was increased to 2.5 s. The experimental procedure was repeated in three experimental sessions with 2-month between-session intervals. It was shown that the retraining process after the uneven change in the delay duration developed in three stages: (1) stage of emotional hyperreactivity that reflected a mismatch between the cation and absence of the expected result; (2) stage of intermediate stabilization, when the percent of efficient attempts was the same as under conditions of 1-s delay; (3) stage of purposive instrumental lever holding till the moment of reinforcement presentation.


We study the role of density-dependent low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interactions in describing the anomalously long beta decay lifetime of 14C. We approach this problem both from the perspective of chiral effective field theory, in which genuine three-body forces generate an effective density-dependent two-body interaction, as well as from the perspective of Brown-Rho scaling, in which the masses and form factor cutoffs in one-boson-exchange interactions are modified in a dense nuclear medium due to the partial restoration of chiral symmetry. The beta decay transition of 14C to the ground state of 14N is calculated within the shell model using a model space consisting of two 0p-shell holes within a closed 16O core. The effective 0p-shell interaction is calculated up to second order in perturbation theory with single-particle energies extracted from experiment. We find that both three-nucleon forces and Brown-Rho scaling medium modifications give qualitatively similar results not only for the ground state to ground state Gamow-Teller transition but also for Gamow-Teller transitions from excited states of 14C to the ground state of 14N. In this way, it is observed that at a low-momentum scale of V_(low-k) = 2.1 fm-1, medium-modifications of the nuclear force play an essential role in increasing the lifetime of 14C from a few minutes to an archaeologically long one of 5730 years.


The Influence of Mission Valence and Intrinsic Incentives on Employee Motivation by Darren Christle MPA, University of Victoria, 2012 BA, University of Waterloo, 2008 Proposal Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy Walden University May 2019 Abstract Worker motivation is relevant to public sector leaders because motivated workers are more efficient and productive, demonstrate positive behaviors, and are happier. Scholars have focused on differing approaches on how to incentivise public service employees using extrinsic or intrinsic incentives. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the value and effectiveness of mission valence and other intrinsic means used to influence employee motivation and productivity. Using Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory as a guide, a homogeneous group of key participants was interviewed with the intent of answering research questions. The research questions focused on mission valence deployment and on the incentive preferences of 11 purposely selected members of a public sector executive management team. The study incorporated the Giorgi method of data analysis. Following inductive coding procedures, the findings were synthesised into five themes. Findings suggested that mission valence has theoretical appeal to public service leaders, but the antecedent conditions, such as current mission statements have not been implemented. Thus, mission valence within PSGD is a conceptual intrinsic incentive at this point in time. Public service leaders prefer fluidity in crafting blended extrinsic and intrinsic incentive models that are unique to each employee. Consequently, opportunities exist for development of targeted skills development training to supplement existing leadership skills. This aligns with the implications for positive social change because the findings of this study yielded information concerning social, psychological, and motivational nuances and learning that may shape the next generation of public service leaders.Worker motivation is relevant to public sector leaders because motivated workers are more efficient and productive, demonstrate positive behaviors, and are happier. Scholars have focused on differing approaches on how to incentivise public service employees using extrinsic or intrinsic incentives. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the value and effectiveness of mission valence and other intrinsic means used to influence employee motivation and productivity. Using Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory as a guide, a homogeneous group of key participants was interviewed with the intent of answering research questions. The research questions focused on mission valence deployment and on the incentive preferences of 11 purposely selected members of a public sector executive management team. The study incorporated the Giorgi method of data analysis. Following inductive coding procedures, the findings were synthesised into five themes. Findings suggested that mission valence has theoretical appeal to public service leaders, but the antecedent conditions, such as current mission statements have not been implemented. Thus, mission valence within PSGD is a conceptual intrinsic incentive at this point in time. Public service leaders prefer fluidity in crafting blended extrinsic and intrinsic incentive models that are unique to each employee. Consequently, opportunities exist for development of targeted skills development training to supplement existing leadership skills. This aligns with the implications for positive social change because the findings of this study yielded information concerning social, psychological, and motivational nuances and learning that may shape the next generation of public service leaders. The Influence of Mission Valence and Intrinsic Incentives on Employee Motivation by Darren Christle MPA, University of Victoria, 2012 BA, University of Waterloo, 2008 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy and Administration Walden University May 2019


Devising appropriate policy measures for the integration of refugees is high on the agenda of many governments. This paper focuses on the social integration of families seeking asylum in Germany between 2013 and 2016. Exploiting differences in services availability across counties as an exogenous source of variation, we evaluate the effect of early education attendance by refugee children on their parents' integration. We find a significant and substantial positive effect, in particular on the social integration of mothers. The size of the estimate is on average around 52% and is mainly driven by improved language proficiency and employment prospects.


Abstract Post-COVID, the renewed emphasis on indigenisation in India calls for a fresh, in-depth examination of the entire range of issues and policies pertaining to the development of a capable domestic base for the defence industry and technology. This study opens up the field of inquiry, first, by adapting the well-known Delphi method for the indigenous development and manufacture of bullet-proof jackets and then in trying to examine all the elements of the decision-making process—from framing requirements by the armed forces to final procurement by the government, through an elaborately structured, multi-stakeholder consultative process. The approach can possibly be tailored to examine more complex systems that require indigenisation.


A NAND flash memory senses a cell current in the range of tens of nA, which is smaller than other nonvolatile memories in the read operation. Because of the small cell current, it is difficult to improve the latency and accuracy of the read operation. The improvement of read latency has been a major challenge for the all-bit-line (ABL) sensing architecture because the BL coupling capacitance caused by the off cell limits the BL pre-charge time. In this paper, a high-speed BL pre-charge scheme with an off-cell-like BL locking (OCBLL) is proposed to reduce the BL coupling capacitance between the off-cell BL and the adjacent BL. The deviation of the latch trip voltage caused by the variations in process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) presents another challenge because the deviation increases the read error owing to the small cell current. A sense-out-node amplification (SOA) scheme is proposed to amplify the voltage of the sense-out-node according to the cell current. The SOA scheme generates a large voltage difference despite the small cell current difference. In the simulation with HSPICE models under the same BL-to-BL coupling ratio, it is found that the proposed schemes improve the speed of the BL pre-charge operation by 75% and reduce the read error by 57%.


The ability of cells to undergo cell cycle arrest or apoptosis after acquiring malignant alterations is of fundamental importance to our normal surveillance mechanisms that are designed to prevent tumor progression. The tumor suppressor protein p53 is a critical component of this response by regulating diverse pathways of genes that control the cell cycle, angiogenesis, DNA repair, senescence and cell death depending upon the nature and extent of cellular stress. The most common anti‐apoptotic alteration detected in human cancer cells is inactivation of the p53 pathway. p53 is a sequence‐specific DNA‐binding protein that regulates the expression of a wide variety of genes as either a transcriptional activator or repressor. After DNA damage or other forms of genotoxic stress p53 is stabilized by dissociation from its negative regulator, Mdm2, and its protein levels increase dramatically. p53 target genes can be divided into groups that control specific cellular processes. Induction of cell cycle arrest (at G1‐S) by p53 is mediated mostly by transcriptional activation of the p21 gene, an inhibitor of cyclin‐dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2). Arrest at G2‐M is achieved by inhibiting Cdc2 through expression of 14‐3‐3, Reprimo , and GADD45 . The molecular events that lead to p53‐dependent apoptosis are more complex and occur through p53 induction of numerous apoptotic genes that activate the death‐receptor pathway ( Fas/APO1, Killer/DR5 ) or the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway ( PUMA, Bax, Noxa ). A critical issue that remains to be elucidated is how p53 chooses which of its multiple target genes to activate or repress in response to a given stress. In this regard, an important source of p53 functional diversity that could contribute to selective gene regulation and cell fate choice is in the core promoters of p53 target genes. The core promoter is defined as the DNA sequence required to direct accurate transcriptional initiation by the RNAP II complex. It contains the region around the initiation site and one or more conserved sequence motifs such as the TATA box, initiator (Inr), TFIIB recognition element (BRE), and downstream core promoter element (DPE) which impose different requirements for transcription initiation. The series of regulatory events that direct the activity of p53 target promoters must ultimately relay through the basal RNAP II machinery. Thus it is important to understand not only the relationship of p53 to the RNAP II complex but also how architectural diversity among its promoters affects this relationship and contributes to the overall stress‐induced transcriptional program. We have examined the in vivo assembly of the transcriptional machinery on various p53 target genes after induction by dissimilar types of cellular stress. These studies demonstrate that distinct stress‐ and promoter‐specific mechanisms exist as shown by differences in the composition and assembly of basal transcription initiation and elongation components. Far from being a latent protein, p53 has a high intrinsic affinity for its recognition sequences within chromatin‐assembled p21 genes and is already bound to its target promoters in vivo even before DNA damage. We find that in unstressed cells, basal levels of p53 are required to establish a gradient of paused RNAP II occupancy on 11 different target promoters, which correlates with their respective kinetics of stress‐induced expression. After DNA damage, p53 controls the selective association and dissociation of key transcription components such as TAFII250, TFIIB, Cdk9, and RNAP II to pro‐cell cycle arrest and pro‐apoptotic genes in a stress‐specific manner to coordinately regulate the p53 response and determine cell fate. These studies reveal that the specialized functions of initiation complexes that are uniquely assembled on structurally diverse promoters are an important feature of the multiple levels of regulation imposed upon p53. One of the most intriguing ways that the p53 response can be activated is by pharmacological agents that inhibit cellular mRNA synthesis, which is perceived as a form of stress. Several seminal studies have shown that blockage of global transcription by cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitors (Cdki) roscovitine (Seliciclib, CYC202), DRB (5,6‐dichloro‐1‐b‐D‐ribofuranosylbenzimidazole), and Flavopiridol results in nuclear accumulation of p53, induction of p53 target genes, and apoptosis. These Cdk inhibitors act by competing for the ATP binding site on the kinase and have somewhat broad‐spectrum substrate specificities, including Cdk2/cyclin E, Cdk7/cyclin H and Cdk9/cyclin T. Inhibition of Cdk7 and Cdk9 abolishes RNAP II phosphorylation within its carboxyl‐terminal domain (CTD) and prevents elongation. It has been proposed that the transcription machinery itself may be a pivotal stress sensor that directs cell fate decisions by gauging the severity of damage. On this basis, selective interference of transcription has become an active area of pursuit for the development of potential anti‐tumor therapeutics. Clearly, a greater understanding of which specific cyclin‐dependent kinases need to be inhibited by Cdki small‐molecules to promote apoptosis through transcription interference is required to extend the therapeutic efficacy of this class of drugs. We have examined the basis for the apparent paradox of how transcription of p53 target genes is preserved in cells treated with the Cdk inhibitors DRB and Flavopiridol, which abolish RNAP II activity and global mRNA synthesis. Our studies demonstrate that in human colon cancer cells (HCT116) treated with DRB the p21 gene is actively transcribed even in the complete absence of Ser 2 phosphorylated RNAP II (Ser 2P‐CTD) traversing the coding region. Under these conditions p21 mRNA is efficiently cleaved and polyadenylated, processes that on most genes require conversion of Ser 5P RNAP II to the Ser 2P form by P‐TEFb/Cdk9. Our data also reveal that only a subset of p53 target genes, including p21 and PUMA , is activated by DRB‐treatment while other genes remain sensitive to Cdk inhibition. Expression of DRB‐insensitive genes, representing a specific utilization of the p53 program, is sufficient to induce apoptosis of DRB‐treated HCT116 cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate the existence of a "bypass" pathway that presumably operates on some critical genes to preserve the transcriptional stress response even when most other genes have been inactivated by loss of RNAP II phosphorylation. Insight gained into the composition of "bypass" transcription components and how they function on p21 and other "privileged" genes will be applied to our understanding of how deleterious genes may also utilize this transcription mechanism under conditions of cellular stress. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):ED07-03.


Purpose To assess the benefits of the cilioretinal artery on macular function in high myopia using the quantitative contrast sensitivity function (qCSF) method. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Eye and Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital of Fudan University. In total, 137 highly myopic patients (with axial length [AL] ≥ 26.00 mm) were enrolled and divided into cilioretinal artery absent and present groups based on their fundus photographs. One eye in each patient was randomly selected. Choroid thickness was measured using macular optical coherence tomography. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was evaluated by Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study charts, and the area under the log CSF (AULCSF), CSF acuity, and CS at six spatial frequencies were evaluated with the qCSF method. Results Although no significant BCVA difference was found between the cilioretinal artery absent (97 patients) and present (40 patients) groups, choroid thickness, AULCSF, CSF acuity, and CSF at low and intermediate spatial frequencies (1–6 cycles per degree) were all significantly higher in the cilioretinal artery present group than in the absent group (all P < 0.05). In addition, eyes with temporal cilioretinal arteries exhibited significantly higher AULCSF, CSF acuity, and CSFs at 3 and 6 cycles per degree (all P < 0.05) than those with a nasal one (all P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that better AULCSF was associated with the presence of cilioretinal artery and the interaction of AL and choroid thickness. Conclusions The cilioretinal artery may associate with the larger choroid thickness in highly myopic eyes and may play a role in preserving qCSF outcomes, which are more sensitive than chart-based acuity tests.


This thesis reports on investigations into the potential uses of the perfluorinated ionexchange polymer NAFION as a catalyst support and as a Bronsted acid co-catalyst. Research has been undertaken with the aim of supporting complexes which are active homogeneous catalysts as well as investigating the formation of metal particle catalysts within NAFION. Four methods of immobilizing potential catalysts based on ionic interactions or physicalli entrapment have been tested and found successful. These were:

(i) immobilization of Pd(N N) 2 2+ species by simple ion-exchange,

(ii) activation of Ni[P(OEt)3]4 with NAFION-H+ to yield the cationic hydride
species HNi[P(0E0 3]4+,

(iii) replacement of Br and a PPh3 in Ni(o-toly1)Br(PPh3)2 with pyridine to
produce the cationic Ni(o-toly1)(py) 2PPh3+ species, and

(iv) immobilization of metallic Pt within NAFION by in-situ reduction of
Pt(NH3 )42+.

Complexes of the type Pd(N N)2X2, where N N is a chelating nitrogen donor ligand, e.g. 1,10-phenanthroline, and X is a non-coordinating anion, have previously been found to dimerize ethene. Such Pd complexes are easily supported within NAFION by ion-exchange. Attempts to use the supported Pd complexes as ethene dimerization catalysts initially met with limited success with activities being about 10 % of similar homogeneous catalyst activities. However, after undertaking further studies it was found that activities comparable with the homogeneous catalyst could be obtained by decreasing the catalyst loading in NAFION. The effects of ligand, solvent, temperature and pressure on catalytic activity have also been studied.

The use of acid-NAFION as a Bronsted acid co-catalyst and support has been investigated. The Ni[P(OEt) 3]4complex was previously reported to isomerize 1-butene when activated with a BrOnsted acid. The proposed catalytic species is the HNi[P(OEt)3] 3+ cation. Experiments were undertaken in which 1-octene and 1-butene were isomerized by acid-NAFION / Ni[P(OEt)3]4systems. The NAFION not only functioned as the co-catalyst, but also supported the active catalyst. Diffusion restrictions were found to severely limit the 1-octene isomerization rate using the NAFION supported catalyst.

The use of organonickel species activated by alkylaluminiums as oligomerization catalysts is an area which has received much attention in the past. It is however possible to activate organonickel species containing halides by treatment with Ag+ or T1+ salts to remove the halide anion. The replacement of the halide anion in such species by a neutral ligand, e.g. pyridine, has also produced a cationic Ni species. Immobilization of a cationic organonickel species using this method was successfully achieved. Catalytic testing was undertaken but the use of chlorobenzene as solvent prevented the NAFION from swelling and resulted in the activity of the supported catalyst being much less than the homogeneous species.

Platinum particles have been immobilized in NAFION and have shown activity as hydrogenation catalysts. Characterization of the particles was difficult as determination of the metal dispersion was not possible using techniques such as chemisorption of CO, adsorption of r from solution or using cyclic voltammetry. TEM and X-ray line broadening analysis did however indicate that the Pt was distributed as a thin layer along the NAFION edge with the average particle size ca. 40 A. A plot of cyclohexene hydrogenation rate vs Pt loading in NAFION suggested that above 2.5 % wt/wt Pt the additional Pt was inaccessible.


associated with an increased incidence of ventricular extrasystoles. The study was not designed to establish a causal link and could not have done so. Such a link rests on a large body of evidence, referred to by the authors, establishing an electrophysiological basis for the known initiation of arrhythmias by hypokalaemia. The study showed that the serum potassium concentration was related to the ventricular extrasystolic counts when all patients were considered, that extrasystoles were commoner in those taking thiazides in the long term study, and that complex rhythm abnormalities were commoner in patients receiving bendrofluazide. Correlations were not found when decremental potassium changes were analysed. Nor were correlations found in some of the subgroups studied, but the authors themselves point out that the numbers of patients in these subgroups were small (eight to 19). A further confounding factor is that the serum potassium concentration was measured only once before the 24 hour tape recordings were obtained. The authors comment that in skeletal muscle only a weak relation exists between a low serum potassium concentration and reduced intracellular potassium concentration. Cardiac muscle is different. A net potassium loss from the body caused by diuretics or diet does not change intracellular potassium concentration in the heart despite a large fall in serum potassium concentration and a loss of potassium from skeletal muscle (for references see refs 1 and 2). Diuretics in therapeutic concentrations do not have a direct effect on potassium exchange.' If conducting tissues in the heart are similar to myocardial cells then it is the serum and not the intracellular potassium concentration that is more important in the genesis of ventricular extrasystoles in the presence of hypokalaemia. No doubt many factors contribute to the initiation of extrasystoles, including serum potassium and magnesium concentrations, pre-existing but undiagnosed coronary artery disease, and neurogenic factors. It is impressive that in a relatively small group of patients (155 in the long term study, 228 in all) the MRC study has shown an association between ventricular extrasystoles and hypokalaemia. I do not know what the authors expected from their study and how tight the correlations were expected to be, but the negative interpretation of the results seems curious and inappropriate. The results would be equally compatible with, and provide evidence for, the view that hypokalaemia induced by thiazides was an important causative factor in the initiation of ventricular extrasystoles.3


In this paper, an efficient algorithm to implement loop partitioning is introduced and evaluated. We start from results of Agarwal et al. (1995) whose aim is to minimize the number of accessed data throughout the computation of a tile; this number is called the cumulative footprint of the tile. We improve these results along several directions. First, we derive a new formulation of the cumulative footprint, allowing for an analytical solution of the optimization problem stated by Agarwal et al.. Second, we deal with arbitrary parallelepiped-shaped tiles, as opposed to rectangular tiles. We design an efficient heuristic to determine the optimal tile shape in this general setting and we show its usefulness using both examples of Agarwal et al. and a large collection of randomly generated data.


This article focuses on the democratic debate in Dutch society and the interventions made by one particular writer. After a review of studies on the intellectual tradition, the paradox of the public intellectual is addressed: s/he has to present universal ideas and seriousness of critique and is supposed to popularize knowledge in order to reach and influence the audience. Subsequently, the work of Bas Heijne is scrutinized. By writing essays and reflecting on topics such as populism, identity and community in an era of globalization, Heijne takes up the position of the traditional and morally conscious intellectual wielding cultural authority.


The mechanical properties of coir fiber/line low density polyethylene (LLDPE) bio-composites were studied and micrographs of fracture surface of impact specimens for the composites were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The flexural and impact strength of the composite with a compatilizer were higher than that of the composite without a compatilizer. The results of interface morphology of the composites with a compatilizer show better interfacial adhesion than that of the composites without one by SEM. That compatibility between the fiber and LLDPE resin is improved on, which is essential reason of rigidity and toughness increase of the composites.


Globalisation of learning, digitalisation of learning are part of new learning environments. Such evolutions are significant as it alters the way education is delivered and supported (Fahey, 2014). For many educators, this move to digitisation of learning is a natural progression, a decision, a choice. While for others it is a requirement incorporated as part of changing pedagogy and plans within an organisation inducing some educators to feel that it is imposed upon them. Using a self-study methodology, supported by naturalistic diaries and analysed through the process of content data analysis, this research study explored this journey with four academics who have moved from a traditional classbased lecturing methodology to one where online learning, and in particular synchronous delivery, is a requirement for the programmes they deliver. While findings acknowledge the potential that this learning platform provides to participants and their students, they also articulate the fears and anxieties that such a change brought with it for educators. This extended not only to their practices and their pedagogy but most surprisingly, to their professional identity in its totality. Forcing them to explore and ask questions about their roles as professional educators within a higher education space.


A thermodynamic analysis of high-temperature and low-pressure unfolding of proteins using a coarse-grained multiscale simulation combined with a liquid-state density-functional theory is presented. In this study, a hydrophobic polymer chain is employed as a probe molecule for investigating qualitative changes in a hydration free energy surface acting on proteins with changes in temperature and pressure. When water is heated so that its vapor pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure, it boils. Long-ranged dewetting or drying caused by a hydrophobic planar wall and a large hydrophobic solute surface is significantly enhanced as it approaches the liquid-vapor coexistence curve of water. In this study, we demonstrate that high-temperature and low-pressure unfolding of the polymer chain is interpreted as dewetting-induced unfolding that occurs as it approaches the liquid-vapor coexistence. The unfolding of proteins due to high-temperature and low-pressure denaturation enhances the long-ranged dewetting or drying around them. The long-ranged dewetting phenomenon is considered to be originating from positive changes in both volume and entropy due to the high-temperature and low-pressure denaturation of the proteins.


Author(s): Zhivun, Elena | Advisor(s): Budker, Dmitry | Abstract: The main focus of this dissertation is investigation of vector AC Stark shifts (light shifts) in evacuated 133Cs paraffin-coated cells. Although light shifts in alkali atoms have been investigated since 1960s, the effect of laser-induced vector light shifts (VLS) in paraffin-coated cells is little explored in literature. The works considering light shift effects primarily focus on transitions relevant for atomic clocks, or magnetometers using buffer gas cells, or magnetometers using broad-spectrum alkali metal lamps. This work, on the other hand, focuses on light shifts in a setup shared by finite-field optical magnetometers that use paraffin-coated sensor cells, as well as on their impact on sensitivity and accuracy of these devices.Along with describing the light shifts, this work presents several techniques that take advantage of the VLS to improve atomic magnetometers as a tool. The proposed techniques eliminate the need for oscillating radio-frequency magnetic fields and replace them with well contained laser beams. This can benefit applications where non-magnetic sensors are needed and stray fields are highly undesirable, such as the search for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron.This dissertation includes two such projects, the all-optical vector magnetometer and the rf magnetometer driven by a fictitious magnetic field. In the first project a finite-field optical magnetometer, which is normally a scalar sensor, is augmented with two power-modulated orthogonal laser beams that provide the directional sensitivity. The sensor exhibits a demonstrated rms noise floor of 50 fT/√Hz in measurement of the field magnitude and 0.5 mrad/√Hz in the field direction. Elimination of technical noise would improve these sensitivities to 12 fT/√Hz and 5 μrad/√Hz, respectively. In the second project, the atomic precession in a scalar 133Cs magnetometer is driven by an effective oscillating magnetic field provided by the AC Stark shift of an intensity-modulated laser beam. The demonstrated sensitivity of this magnetometer is 40 fT/√Hz rms, which is equivalent to the conventional coil-driven scalar magnetometer we built sharing the same setup.The Appendix includes documentation on the custom-built polarimeter used in the experiments and the frequency response of the magnetic sensor head.


Abstract It is estimated that people in the developed world spend more than 85-90% of their time indoors. Of this, most is spent in homes. To minimize health risks from pollutants occurring in homes, exposures should be controlled. The most effective way to achieve this is to control sources of pollutants and to reduce emissions. Often, especially in existing buildings, this strategy is difficult to implement, in which case exposures are controlled by providing sufficient, presumably clean, outdoor ventilation air to dilute and remove the contaminants. The present paper attempts to find out how much ventilation is needed in existing homes to reduce health risks. This is achieved by reviewing the published scientific literature investigating the association between measured ventilation rates and the measured and observed health problems. The paper concludes that, generally, there are very few studies on this issue and many of them suffer from deficient experimental design, as well as a lack of proper characterization of actual exposures occurring indoors. Based on the available data, in the reviewed studies, it seems likely that health risks may occur when ventilation rates are below 0.4 air changes per hour in existing homes. No data were found indicating that buildings having dedicated natural ventilation systems perform less well than the dwellings in which mechanical ventilation systems are installed. Newly installed mechanical ventilation systems were observed to improve health conditions. In homes with existing ventilation systems this positive effect was less evident, probably due to poor performance of the system (too low ventilation rates and/or poor maintenance). Studies are recommended in which exposures are much better characterized (by for example measuring the pollutants indicated by the WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality and improving ventilation measurements). Exposures should also be controlled using different ventilation methods for comparison. Future studies should also advance the understanding of how ventilation systems should be operated to achieve optimal performance. These data would create further input and support to the guidelines for ventilation based on health developed currently in the framework of the HealthVent project (www.healthvent.eu).


This paper presents a method of prognosis of organic matter content evolution in a plane agricultural surface soil, using the information obtained by initial scanning with spectrophotometrical techniques. The scanning result – map of organic matter content distribution – is used as initial moment distribution for calculating the evolution of soil organic matter content in terms of time. In order to calculate the evolution in time of organic matter quantity, mathematical models described by differential equations known in specialty literature are used: Willigen et al. (2008 are used. .Knowing this evolution, we are able to evaluate the optimum moment applying and the fertilizer quantity necessary for obtaining the appropriate parameters of soil nutrients. Therefore, this method aims at predicting the evolution of organic matter content in an agricultural soil, on a plane surface, for being able to add in due time the chemical fertilizers treatments needed.


The advancement of click-functionalized hydrogels in recent years has coincided with rapid growth in the fields of mechanobiology, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Click chemistries represent a group of reactions that possess high reactivity and specificity, are cytocompatible, and generally proceed under physiologic conditions. Most notably, the high level of tunability afforded by these reactions enables the design of user-controlled and tissue-mimicking hydrogels in which the influence of important physical and biochemical cues on normal and aberrant cellular behaviors can be independently assessed. Several critical tissue properties, including stiffness, viscoelasticity, and biomolecule presentation, are known to regulate cell mechanobiology in the context of development, wound repair, and disease. However, many questions still remain about how the individual and combined effects of these instructive properties regulate the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing physiologic and pathologic processes. In this review, we discuss several click chemistries that have been adopted to design dynamic and instructive hydrogels for mechanobiology investigations. We also chart a path forward for how click hydrogels can help reveal important insights about complex tissue microenvironments.


In recent decades the mouse has become the primary animal model of a variety of lung diseases. In models of emphysema or fibrosis, the essential phenotypic changes are best assessed by measurement of the changes in lung elasticity. To best understand specific mechanisms underlying such pathologies in mice, it is essential to make functional measurements that can reflect the developing pathology. Although there are many ways to measure elasticity, the classical method is that of the total lung pressure-volume (PV) curve done over the whole range of lung volumes. This measurement has been made on adult lungs from nearly all mammalian species dating back almost 100 years, and such PV curves also played a major role in the discovery and understanding of the function of pulmonary surfactant in fetal lung development. Unfortunately, such total PV curves have not been widely reported in the mouse, despite the fact that they can provide useful information on the macroscopic effects of structural changes in the lung. Although partial PV curves measuring just the changes in lung volume are sometimes reported, without a measure of absolute volume, the nonlinear nature of the total PV curve makes these partial ones very difficult to interpret. In the present study, we describe a standardized way to measure the total PV curve. We have then tested the ability of these curves to detect changes in mouse lung structure in two common lung pathologies, emphysema and fibrosis. Results showed significant changes in several variables consistent with expected structural changes with these pathologies. This measurement of the lung PV curve in mice thus provides a straightforward means to monitor the progression of the pathophysiologic changes over time and the potential effect of therapeutic procedures.


Behavioral patterns prediction in the context of Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) has been receiving increasing attention due to enabling on-demand, intelligent traffic analysis and response to real-time traffic issues. One of these patterns, sequential patterns, are a type of behavioral patterns that describe the occurence of events in a timelyordered fashion. In the context of VANETs, these events are defined as an ordered list of road segments traversed by vehicles during their trips from a starting point to their final intended destination, forming a vehicular path. Due to their predictable nature, undertaken vehicular paths can be exploited to extract the paths that are considered frequent. From the extracted frequent paths through data mining, the probability that a vehicular path will take a certain direction is obtained. However, in order to achieve this, samples of vehicular paths need to be initially collected over periods of time in order to be data-mined accordingly. In this thesis, a new set of formal definitions depicting vehicular paths as sequential patterns is described. Also, five novel communication schemes have been designed and implemented under a simulated environment to collect vehicular paths; such schemes are classified under two categories: Road Side Unit-Triggered (RSU-Triggered) and Vehicle-Triggered. After collection, extracted frequent paths are obtained through data mining, and the probability of these frequent paths is measured. In order to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed schemes, extensive experimental analysis has been realized. From the results, two of the Vehicle-Triggered schemes, VTB-FP and VTRD-FP, have improved the vehicular path collection operation in terms of communication cost and latency over others. In terms of reliability, the Vehicle-Triggered schemes achieved a higher success rate than the RSU-Triggered scheme. Finally, frequent vehicular movement patterns have been effectively extracted from the collected vehicular paths according to a user-defined threshold and the confidence of generated movement rules have been measured. From the analysis, it was clear that the user-defined threshold needs to be set accordingly in order to not discard important vehicular movement patterns.


We show how the standard domain wall action can be simply modified to allow arbitrarily exact chiral symmetry at a finite fifth dimensional extent. We note that the method can be used for both quenched and dynamical calculations. We test the method using smooth and thermalized gauge field configurations. We also make comparisons of the performance (cost) of the domain wall operator for spectroscopy compared to other methods such as the overlap-Dirac operator and find both methods are comparable in cost.


The massive urbanization process registered since 1950s and projected to continue for the coming decades is posing a crucial issue for the management of existing cities and the planning of future ones. Smart cities are often envisioned as ideal urban environments where the different dimensions of a city, such as economy, education, energy, environment, finance, etc., are managed in an effective and proactive way. Nevertheless, in order to reach this remarkable and challenging objective, analysis tools are required to create scenarios that are able to inform policy makers' decisions. Focusing on energy, this paper proposes an analysis method, based on exergy, to support smart city planning. It may help the decision makers to assess the energy-smartness of different scenarios, and to address urban energy policies. Possibilities and limitations of the analysis method are discussed via the application to the cities of London, Milan, and Lisbon that committed to become smart cities. Practical application: The paper summarizes a study on the possibilities and limitations of adopting an assessment technique, based on exergy, in order to evaluate the energy-smartness of policies in existing and future smart cities. As highlighted in the paper, building's energy uses have a huge share of many cities' energy breakdown. Thus, professionals in the building industry will be interested in the paper not only because it refers to smart cities, but because the built environment plays a pivotal role in them. Professionals may also refer to this study to perform a similar analysis in other urban environments to support decision makers.


Abstract Focusing on imaginaries of the ideal city is an important method to illustrate the power of ideas, imagination, representations and even visions, and how these dimensions influence the way in which cities are organized and lived. In this article, we argue that one current and important city imaginary in a Swedish context is the gender-equal city. In this imaginary, the gender-equal city becomes a symbol for the open, tolerant, bustling, safe city, a city aiming to attract the middle and creative classes. However, at the same time, the imaginary of the ideal, gender-equal city is highly ambiguous. This ambiguity will be discussed throughout the article. Based on present planning projects in the city of Umeå in Sweden, we will discuss how the imaginary of the gender-equal city is presented, filled with meaning and used in place marketing, with the overall ambition of discussing the possibilities and pitfalls of what we call the gender-equality planning strategy. The aim of the article is to study how the city of Umeå is acting to create a gender-equal city and what kind of imaginaries these practices build on. The material consists primarily of a case study focusing on projects that aim to create an equal city, and also includes analyses of policy documents and media reports. This study illustrates how imaginaries are produced through local projects and different imaginaries provide different spaces for politicizing gendered power relations.


In the present paper, we consider the problem of joint bandwidth (subcarriers) and power allocation for the downlink of a multi-user multi-cell OFDM cellular network. This resource allocation problem is formulated as a power minimization problem, subject to meeting the target rates of all users in the network. We develop a distributed solution to find the globally optimal allocation which determines the subcarrier and power allocation dynamically. In addition, we investigate the impact of reducing the complexity by reducing the number of degrees of freedom available in the optimization. In particular, we consider a static bandwidth allocation scheme, and a static power allocation scheme. The numerical results show that the penalty on network performance due to the reduction in the available degrees of freedom is not significant.


Nursing students report higher levels of anxiety than the overall population of college students, in part due to competition for entrance into programs, course structure, long hours of clinical experiences, and working with very sick persons. Excessive anxiety in nursing students can have negative health, academic, economic, and patient care outcomes, as well as impact future role transition into professional practice; including burnout and poor job performance. This 2013 study examined the type of anxiety that is experienced by baccalaureate nursing students, the timing, and severity of anxiety within the program of study. The results showed that a significant number of nursing students experienced state and trait anxiety at alarmingly high levels compared to the overall norm for college students. Contrary to the literature, anxiety did not increase in the study population over time spent in the program, rather students beginning clinical nursing courses (midway through the program of study) experienced the most alarming levels of state and trait anxiety. In order to recruit and retain healthy nurses essential to the future of the profession; nurse educators, administrators, and policy makers must become aware of the factors contributing to and the implications of anxiety in student and novice nurses. Anxiety reduction strategies should be implemented at every level to maintain positive learning and working environments.


This paper describes the application of the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technique for the determination and monitoring of the volatile profile of minimally-processed pineapple fruit stored at various temperatures (-12 °C, 4 °C and 25 °C) for different periods (1, 4 and 10 days). The SPME fiber coating composed of Car/PDMS presented the best performance. The optimal extraction conditions obtained through a Doehlert design were 60 min at 35 °C. The profiles for the volatile compounds content of the fruit at each stage of storage were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The variation in the volatile profile over time was greater when the fruit samples were stored at 25 °C and at -12 °C compared to 4 °C. Thus, according to the volatile profiles associated with the storage conditions evaluated in this study, packaged pineapple retains best its fresh fruit aroma when stored at 4 °C.


Dried Serratia marcescens ATTC 14014 and Escherichia coli ATTC 4157 cells were exposed to various partial pressures of purified water vapor. The colony-forming ability of the S. marcescens was unimpaired when the dried organisms were stored in water-vapor atmosphere such that P/P0 < 0.55 or P/P0 = 1.0 (where P is the pressure of the water vapor in contact with the organisms, and P0 is vapor pressure of pure water at 25 C). During storage under water-vapor atmospheres with P/P0 between 0.6 and 1.0, the colony-forming ability of the dried S. marcescens was destroyed. The inactivation by water vapor followed the expression — ln N/N0 = Kt1/2, where N0 and N are the number of viable organisms before and after exposure, respectively, t is time, and K is a pseudo constant which is dependent upon the partial pressure of the water vapor at 25 C. Similar results were obtained with dried E. coli. The addition of solutes to the suspending media before freeze-drying was found to influence the stability of the organisms during exposure to water vapor.


Renal failure (RF) occurs in approximately 20-30% of multiple myeloma (MM) patients at diagnosis and in more than 50% of patients with advanced disease. The pathogenesis of RF is related to the production of monoclonal light chains that can damage either the tubule (myeloma kidney) or the glomeruli (light chain deposition disease or amyloid light-chain amyloidosis). In the past, the prognosis of patients with MM and RF was considered poor due to the limited number of effective and non-nephrotoxic drugs that were available. At present, novel drugs acting both on MM clone and on bone marrow microenvironment have been introduced into clinical practice; among them, bortezomib-containing regimens have proved to be the most effective. High-dose myeloablative therapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue can also be proposed in younger patients with no other relevant comorbidities.


We examine the thermomechanical tradeoffs in a novel technology for high-density interconnect substrates. Fabricated from silicon (Si) wafers with planar cavities of highly filled composite encapsulant, the technology leverages established Si photolithography but offers improved mechanical properties. Modules are subject to thermomechanical stress during encapsulant cure, assembly reflow, module fabrication, and operation. We show that improvements in junction-to-ambient sinking offset the heat density increase in such systems and low expansion encapsulants prevent failure during cure and subsequent processing. We employ finite element modeling and materials testing to show the effect of wafer design and material selection on the in-plane and through-plane stresses in the module.


Assessing the Effectiveness of Wayfinding Directions Alycia Hund Illinois State University Amanda Padgitt Illinois State University Abstract: Our goal was to assess people's responses to wayfinding directions. Ninety college students rated the effectiveness of route descriptions through the basement of a university building. They also provide open-ended re- sponses regarding wayfinding preferences and completed wayfinding anxiety, wayfinding strategy, and environmental familiarity self-report measures and a sense of direction exercise. The primary goal was to specify the descriptive features contained in effective and ineffective wayfinding descriptions. The best-rated route descriptions included more cardinal features, landmarks, left-right, distance, number, straight, and miscellaneous information than did the worst-rated route descriptions. Moreover, positive mentions of landmarks and negative mentions of cardinal directions were very frequent. As expected, women reported significantly higher spatial anxiety than did men. Men preferred orientation strategies more than did women, whereas women preferred route strategies more than did men. Women also reported poorer sense of direction and made larger sense of direction errors than did men.


In this paper we present a frequency multiplexed optical coherence tomography imaging method in which simultaneous
data acquisition is enabled by a multiplexer. The multiplexer is based on a pair of Bragg cells, simultaneously driven at
several frequencies that enable multiple paths in the reference arm. Multiple beams are created in the multiplexer and
then recombined again so that the resulting beam multiplex can be inserted into a single mode fiber. In this paper we
discuss the design principles for a multiplexer that supports the reflectivity measurements as well as polarization
sensitive imaging at several different depths. We show how to design a system with a low footprint, while allowing
broad optical bandwidth to be used for imaging in multiple channels with little crosstalk between adjacent channels.


This study uses a Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies methodology to provide the first systematic analysis of how trust is discursively constructed in crypto-drug markets. The data come from two purpose-built corpora. One comprises all the forum messages posted on the flag ship crypto-drug market Silk Road during the years in which it traded on the hidden net (c. 250 million words). The other corpus comprises all the reports published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) during the same period (c. 153,000 words). Our analysis of trust focuses on the identities of those buying and selling drugs. The findings reveal that the Silk Road community members (a) regularly discussed vendors' identities alongside a continuum of trust–risk calculation, explicitly identifying both 'good' and 'bad' practices and hence engaging in self-regulatory discourses, and (b) mainly constructed drug users' identities in relation to values of expertise, integrity and benevolence. The findings also suggest that hard law enforcement activity, such as crypto-drug market closure, may encourage technological innovation within these markets. Moreover, our results show a disconnect between the discursive reality of the policy-making documents we examined and the very crypto-drug markets that they seek to legislate.


An increasing number of people are realiz-
ing the advantages of bicycling, which has caused bicy-
clist safety concerns and awareness to rise accordingly.
This study aims to investigate the capability of combin-
ing Virtual Reality technology and bicycle simulation for
bicyclist behavior studies. An immersive interactive bi-
cycle simulation was developed to explore how subject
performance is influenced by virtual road environments
through a well-controlled experiment with Oculus Rift
headset. 30 people from 18-25 years old were chosen to
be subjects, as they are in the highest injury rate per-
centile. Results showed that the existence of bike lanes
influences cyclist reactions, causing earlier and more
braking to occur. Road hazard simulation and "Distance
to Brake to Stop" measurement can provide useful in-
sight into individual cyclist reactions to different types
of road hazards. This study has provided evidence that
given the nature of cycling on roads, virtual reality tech-
nology can serve as both a safe and effective method to
conduct more in-depth behavior studies.


This project is about developing a spreadsheet for maintenance activity on the lathe
machine in Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka. Maintenance for the machine is important because to prevent breakdown as
well as to increase the life time of the machine. Thus, Total Productive Maintenance
(TPM) plays a big role in that process developed of the spreadsheet and to carry out
the maintenance work effectively. The objective of the project is to develop a total
productive maintenance spreadsheet for the lathe machine in UTeM laboratory. The
TPM spreadsheet based programming to improve the maintenance system in
machine shop. An observation done to find the suitable maintenance activity that
need to carry out on the lathe machine in order to developed a effective spreadsheet
for the maintenance. However, the scope of the project is performed to develop the
TPM spreadsheet on the lathe machine at the laboratory in the Faculty of
Manufacturing Engineering, UTeM. The spreadsheet used Microsoft excel VBA
(Visual Basic for Application) 2003 and the project just focusing the inspection and
maintenance.


. Since photorealistic faces can be readily generated by facial manipulation technologies nowadays, potential malicious abuse of these technologies has drawn great concerns. Numerous deepfake detection methods are thus proposed. However, existing methods only focus on detecting one-step facial manipulation. As the emergence of easy-accessible facial editing applications, people can easily manipulate facial components using multi-step operations in a sequential manner. This new threat requires us to detect a sequence of facial manipulations, which is vital for both detecting deepfake media and recovering original faces afterwards. Motivated by this observation, we emphasize the need and propose a novel research problem called Detecting Sequential DeepFake Manipulation ( Seq-DeepFake ). Unlike the existing deepfake detection task only demanding a binary label prediction, detecting Seq-DeepFake manipulation requires correctly predicting a sequential vector of facial manipulation operations. To support a large-scale investigation, we construct the first Seq-DeepFake dataset, where face images are manipulated sequentially with corresponding annotations of sequential facial manipulation vectors. Based on this new dataset, we cast detecting Seq-DeepFake manipulation as a specific image-to-sequence ( e.g. image captioning) task and propose a concise yet effective Seq-DeepFake Transformer ( SeqFakeFormer ). Moreover, we build a comprehensive benchmark and set up rigorous evaluation protocols and metrics for this new research problem. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of SeqFakeFormer. Several valuable observations are also revealed to facilitate future research in broader deepfake detection problems.


Background SYNERGY, a bioabsorbable polymer-based, everolimus-eluting stent (BP-DES), recently received regulatory approval in the USA for use in percutaneous coronary interventions. Yet, information on the safety of BP-DES in routine clinical practice is limited. Our aim was to compare the safety of the recently approved BP-DES with current durable polymer drug-eluting stents (DP-DES) by analyzing adverse events, namely, stent thrombosis (ST), reported to the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database. Materials and methods The MAUDE database requires nationwide mandatory notification for adverse events on devices approved for clinical use. This database was searched for adverse events reported between 1 October 2015 and 25 December 2016, encountered after the placement of either BP-DES or DP-DES. Only those adverse events were included where the exposure period to the stents was comparable after the index procedure. Of all the adverse events reported, the event of interest was ST. Results A total of 951 adverse events were reported. ST occurred in 48/951 of all events, 31/309 and 17/642 when BP-DES or DP-DES were used, respectively (P=0.00001). Of the 31 ST events with BP-DES, 68% (21/31) occurred within less than or equal to 24 h of the index procedure and 52% (16/31) occurred within less than or equal to 2 h. Conclusion Our results raise the possibility of an increased risk of ST, particularly early ST (within 24 h), with the recently approved BP-DES. However, because of the inherent limitations of reporting within the MAUDE database, these data merely highlight a potential need for additional surveillance and randomized trials to assess further the safety of the bioabsorbable platform.


Evensen, Bruce J. God's Man for the Gilded Age: D.L. Moody and the Rise of Modern Mass Evangelicalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.256 pp. $29.95. Although scholars have long recognized religion's and media's influences on our culture, rarely do they explore the symbiotic relationship between the two and the subsequent impact on society. Bruce J. Evensen, a journalism professor at DePaul University and a former journalist, examines the life and career of nineteenth-century evangelist Dwight L. Moody to illustrate the numerous ways that journalism and religion intermingled to achieve their ends. The publicity methods generated by Moody and his supporters created a template for future interaction between religious leaders and the press. Moody is often referred to as "the Billy Graham" of his day, but he broke new ground in his use of mass media, challenging the prevailing evangelical thinking. In the mid-to-late 180Os, revivalists shunned the secular press, and many criticized him for deigning to work with reporters and use the new medium of advertising. Yet his vision of the press as a mass evangelizing tool helped paved the way for modern preachers. When he died on the eve of the twentieth century at sixty two, Moody had revolutionized evangelicalism and religion's relationship with the press. At his death, newspapers of the time wrote glowing editorials, praising his ministry and honoring him as a man of God. It was only fitting. Newspapers helped him achieve the enormous popularity that drew an estimated 100 million to his revivals during his more than a quarter of a century revivalism crusades in Britain and the United States. The secular and religious needs of society merged during this time, and city officials as well as newspaper editors and owners saw in Moody a way in which to advance their agendas. During a period of economic depression, increased crime, hunger, destitution, and political corruption, leaders welcomed Moody as a savior who would return society to its moral roots and also create good publicity for their cities, their nation, and their publications along the way. Moody offered more than spiritual salvation. he offered a tired populace means for civic renewal. At a time when cities boasted numerous papers, competition was stiff and editors saw Moody as a guaranteed means to increase circulation and street sales. Just as weekly news magazines today sell out every time a religious story appears on their covers, so it was in his time. Newspapers recognized Moody's ability to boost sales, and they played his stories prominently and often. However, like presentday evangelists and religious leaders, there was a raw edge to his relationship with the press. …


The Earth's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate due to increasing use of fossil fuels and widespread deforestation. This means that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing, elevating mean global temperatures. In addition, the oceans act as a huge carbon sink and are absorbing more carbon dioxide than they have in the last 650, 000 years causing the oceans to become more acidic. At the beginning of this study the guidelines stated that the control pCO2 concentration for laboratory studies should be 380 µatm (Meehl et al., 2007), concordant with the then current atmospheric pCO2. Four years later, the most recent literature reports that current concentrations of atmospheric pCO2 have now risen to 400 µatm (IPCC, 2013). This demonstrates the unprecedented speed at which our climate is changing and highlights the urgency for research into the potential implications that this change may have on marine systems. In many coastal marine systems calcifying organisms construct biogenic formations that can underpin the ecosystem and form biodiversity hotspots. Calcifying algae and cold water corals are two such organisms. These habitats are economically, politically and socially important. However our knowledge of how these keystone marine organisms may respond in the future is still ambiguous. In general marine calcifiers are likely to be negatively affected, although within some taxa there is considerable variability in their response during climate change studies (e.g. coralline algae and corals). Furthermore, natural variability will overlay the environmental changes associated with anthropogenic global climate change, and as such is likely to significantly influence the response of marine biota to the projected environmental changes. Currently, there are few studies that consider global climate change in the context of natural variability and/ or run long enough to assess acclimatisation potential. Thus, this research aims to provide a better understanding of the impact global climate change may have on key marine calcifiers in the context of natural variability and acclimatisation. This was achieved through a number of laboratory- and field-based studies, utilising well established and adapted techniques.
This research focused primarily on red coralline algae. Projected changes in seawater carbonate chemistry mean that marine organisms that utilise dissolved inorganic carbon species as a substrate for multiple physiological processes (i.e. photosynthesis and calcification) are likely to be amongst those most greatly impacted by environmental change. Chapter 3 is the longest laboratory study (24 months), to date, investigating the effects of global climate change on a marine calcifier. Results suggest that seasonal variability in environmental conditions will greatly impact the response of coralline algae to elevated temperature and pCO2. In addition, while calcification may be maintained or increase in response to elevated temperature and/ or pCO2 (chapter 3 and 5) and despite evidence of acclimatisation potential, overall growth was significantly hampered by elevated temperature in the long term. This supports the hypothesis that dissolution may in fact be the primary threat to marine calcifiers, as opposed to impaired calcification.
Irradiance is key in coralline algal photosynthesis yet the role of light availability on mediating coralline algal responses to multiple stressors remains scant. The present study examined net photosynthesis and photosynthetic characteristics in the free-living coralline algae, Lithothamnion glaciale in response to sub-diel changes in irradiance in algae exposed to elevated temperature and pCO2 (chapter 4). Observations suggest that light availability will mediate the response of coralline algae to global climate change in the future, as optimal light for photosynthesis increases with increasing temperature and pCO2 (chapter 3, 4 and 5).
Cold-water corals make up some of the most heterogeneous, biologically diverse, three-dimensional ecosystems known in the deep sea. However, due to the difficulty in accessing these habitats, to date there is little information about how these organisms may respond to global climate change. The present study provides evidence of intraspecific variability in the response of cold water corals to global climate change that may be dependent upon their prior environmental experience (chapter 7). In situ acclimatisation to variable and low pH may provide cold water corals with the physiological flexibility to acclimatise and adapt to global climate change in the future. Evidence of intraspecific differences in physiology and morphology were also observed in situ in the brown partially calcifying alga, Padina gymnospora between algae located on the reef crest and more environmentally variable reef flat (chapter 6).


Abstract An exceptionally simple and effective DNA detection methodology based on latex microsphere and gold nanoparticle probes has been developed. The latex and gold particle probes, which were functionalized with separate oligonucleotide sequences, undergo hybridization in the presence of target strands that are complementary to both of the probes. Duplex formation thus results in linking of gold nanoparticles to the latex microspheres and a corresponding white-to-red color change, which, because of the particularly large extinction coefficient of the gold nanoparticles, is clearly visible to the naked eye. Background signal caused by unbound gold nanoparticles is significantly reduced by filtering the solution containing the sample and probes through a size-selective cellulose acetate membrane. The unbound gold probes move freely through this membrane while the larger latex particles are trapped. Therefore, if the latex and gold nanoparticles are joined together via the target oligonucleotides, the membrane appears red, indicating a positive test result. If no hybridization takes place, the membrane appears white, indicating a negative result. The lower detection limits for this system are 500 pM for a 24 base single-stranded target and 2.5 nM for a duplex target oligonucleotide.


Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by recurrent episodes of facial flushing, erythema, papules, pustules, and telangiectasia. More than half of all rosacea patients may have ocular symptoms. Rosacea is associated with certain digestive diseases, such as gastritis, hypochlorhydria, or a number of jejunal mucosal abnormalities, and many patients have Helicobacter pylori infection. The role of Helicobacter pylori has often been a subject of investigation; these studies show conflicting results. Here we present results of the effects of treatment given for H. pylori eradication in seven patients with ocular rosacea that, at the same time, had clinical and serological evidence of H. pylori infection. Six weeks after completion of the treatment, all patients experienced improvement of their rosacea symptoms. Ocular disease responded better than cutaneous rosacea.


Author(s): Wiedmann, Anna | Advisor(s): Komeili, Arash | Abstract: AbstractThe Role of Two HtrA/DegP Family Proteases, MamE and MamO, in Protein Sorting and Biomineralization in Magnetospirillum magneticum str AMB-1byAnna WiedmannDoctor of Philosophy in Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Arash Komeili, ChairMagnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are a diverse group of bacteria capable of synthesizing magnetosomes, membrane-bound prokaryotic organelles that biomineralize magnetic minerals. Magnetosomes allow cells to align passively with geomagnetic field lines. This is thought to facilitate a bacterium's search for favorable environments, a process referred to as magnetotaxis. To execute biomineralization, a specific set of proteins needs to be localized to the magnetosomes. I have taken both a candidate and a global approach to understanding how these magnetosome proteins (MPs) are sorted to the magnetosome. In a global approach I attempted to identify magnetosome sorting signals by assaying magnetosome localization of N-terminal truncations of MPs. To carry out this approach I unsuccessfully attempted to optimize magnetosome purification protocols to separate inner membrane proteins from magnetosome membrane proteins. In the more successful candidate approach, I show that the HtrA/DegP family protease MamE is essential for localization of several soluble, as well as membrane bound MPs. Using site-directed mutagenesis, I show that MamE's role in protein sorting is independent of its protease activity, but that protease activity is essential for a novel 20nm crystal size transition step. Site-directed mutagenesis also revealed that the protease activity of a second HtrA/DegP family protease, MamO, is essential for biomineralization. Furthermore, these studies suggest that MamE and MamO's additional functional domains, not usually found in HtrA/DegP family proteases, are required for magnetosome formation. Lastly, this work highlights the step-wise assembly of magnetosomes, illustrates that several levels of control underlie magnetosome formation, and proposes that by modulating MamE's protease activity, cells could potentially exert control over their degree of magnetism and thus magnetotaxis.


Home is the first institution of a child that have significant relationships with students' overall life. Current study have investigated the relationship of home enviornemnt with secondary school students performances. The focus of the study was to findout the relationship of home interactions, physcial facilities and students academic performances. Secondary school students were the population of the study. Data were colleted through a questionnaire and was analyzed with the help of SPSS. Percentage, mean scores, standard devaition and pearson correlation were applied to the collected data. Reuslts obtained from analysis illustrated that a substantail majority of respondents are lacking separate study rooms at their homes, have a very low interactional oppportnuties at home in home related matters, but still majority of them were satisfied with their home envionment. Based on the results it was recommended students need to be involved in domestic issues, they might be provided separate rooms for study and all the other facilities needed for educational progress of students.


As micromachined commercial products with mechanical features today exploit only the integration capabilities microfabrication technologies allow (for mass-production of reliable products), there is room for innovative products making the most of micrometer-sized objects, which are very specific from the mechanical point of view for two reasons:
- Their surface/volume ratio is much larger than for the objects mechanical engineers are used to deal with. The consequence is that strong surface couplings have been evidenced, translating changes in the (electro-) chemical environment into mechanical deformation.
- the geometric margins (compared to the dimensions) and the material homogeneity resulting from the usual processing techniques are very poor.
As a consequence, studying the mechanical behavior of micrometer-sized objects requires to overcome two main barriers:
- To identify material constitutive laws at the micrometer scale and to quantify the role of the environment on the behavior;
- To model chemo-mechanical couplings when materials are heterogeneous and structures are poorly defined.
Moving forward along these two lines requires the development of a dedicated instrumentation and the use of identification techniques suited both to the available experimental data and to the proposed mechanical descriptions. As a consequence:
- The full-field measurements techniques proposed within the last few years for the mechanical characterization at the micrometer scale are presented, and the various extensions of scanning microdeformation microscopy toward a quantitative local characterization of anisotropic thin-film materials are detailed.
- The various experimental tools developed to measure and control chemo-mechanical surface couplings are first described, and two proposed frameworks for modeling these surface couplings (based on asymptotic analysis and on second-strain gradient elasticity) are detailed.


Although historically by no means an unknown phenomenon, the social and cultural sciences are rediscovering multi-local living and residence. Research on residential multi-locality focuses especially on practices of multiple local daily life management, appropriations and their contextualisation, attachment, exchange, mobility and interactions between social relationships at different locations. Aside from quantitative approaches, research attempts to open up empirically observable dynamics and new qualities of multi-local life at a deep level. The consideration of the development of multi-local living arrangements in contemporary societies raises conceptual as well as methodological questions, and demands new and revised methods for investigating the phenomenon. After a phenomenological outline of residential multi-locality, the paper formulates requirements to be met by research designs, then outlines, with reference to a study of multi-locality of the family, how the subject may be treated in the framework of qualitative methodology and indicates potentials and limitations of the suggested approach.


PURPOSE
To assess personal and parental human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination acceptance and how it is influenced by demographic factors prior to (2005-2010) and during (2011-2016) the economic crisis in Greece.

METHODS
During 2005-2016, 6,401 women aged 18-65 years, living in different areas of Greece filled in a questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, knowledge of HPV infection's natural history and its consequences and assessing their intention to receive the HPV vaccine for themselves and their children.

RESULTS
Women's intention to get vaccinated before the economic crisis was higher (86.2%) than during it (82.8%). In addition, the intention of women to vaccinate their children was higher for girls during 2005-2010 (78.3%), while there was no statistically significant difference concerning boys. HPV vaccination acceptance per year showed a statistically significant variation. The initially high acceptance decreased following vaccine's release, mainly due to fear of side effects, increased following objective public education, and declined again. Demographic characteristics affected HPV vaccination acceptance at the time period before the economic crisis in Greece, but not during it.

CONCLUSION
Demographic factors affecting a woman's attitude towards vaccination prior to the economic crisis in Greece, stopped playing a significant role during the crisis, reflecting its devastating effect on most parts of the population.


Two different porosimetry methods are presented in two successive papers. Inspiration for the development came from the rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT) approach used in robotics. The novel methods are applied to virtual cementitious materials produced by a modern concurrent algorithm-based discrete element modeling system, HADES. This would render possible realistically simulating all aspects of particulate matter that influence structure-sensitive features of the pore network structure in maturing concrete, namely size, shape and dispersion of the aggregate and cement particles. Pore space is a complex tortuous entity. Practical methods conventionally applied for assessment of pore size distribution may fail or present biased information. Among them, mercury intrusion porosimetry and 2D quantitative image analysis are popular. The mathematical morphology operator "opening" can be applied to sections and even provide 3D information on pore size distribution, provided isotropy is guaranteed. However, aggregate grain surfaces lead to anisotropy in porosity. The presented methods allow exploration of pore space in the virtual material, after which pore size distribution is derived from star volume measurements. In addition to size of pores their continuity is of crucial importance for durability estimation. Double-random multiple tree structuring (DRaMuTS), introduced earlier in IA&S (Stroeven et al ., 2011b) and random node structuring (RaNoS) provide such information.


Stress granules (SGs) are formed in the cytoplasm in response to various toxic agents, and are believed to play a critical role in the regulation of mRNA metabolism during stress. In SGs, mRNAs are stored in an abortive translation initiation complex that can be routed to either translation initiation or degradation. Here, we show that G3BP, a phosphorylation-dependent endoribonuclease that interacts with RasGAP, is recruited to SGs in cells exposed to arsenite. G3BP may thus determine the fate of mRNAs during cellular stress. Remarkably, SG assembly can be either dominantly induced by G3BP overexpression, or on the contrary, inhibited by expressing a central domain of G3BP. This region binds RasGAP and contains serine 149, whose dephosphorylation is induced by arsenite treatment. Critically, a phosphomimetic mutant (S149E) fails to oligomerize and to assemble SGs, whereas a nonphosphorylatable G3BP mutant (S149A) does both. These results suggest that G3BP is an effector of SG assembly, and that Ras signaling contributes to this process by regulating G3BP dephosphorylation.


Voltage and capacity fading of layer structured lithium and manganese rich (LMR) transition metal oxide is directly related to the structural and composition evolution of the material during the cycling of the battery. However, understanding such evolution at atomic level remains elusive. On the basis of atomic level structural imaging, elemental mapping of the pristine and cycled samples, and density functional theory calculations, it is found that accompanying the hoping of Li ions is the simultaneous migration of Ni ions toward the surface from the bulk lattice, leading to the gradual depletion of Ni in the bulk lattice and thickening of a Ni enriched surface reconstruction layer (SRL). Furthermore, Ni and Mn also exhibit concentration partitions within the thin layer of SRL in the cycled samples where Ni is almost depleted at the very surface of the SRL, indicating the preferential dissolution of Ni ions in the electrolyte. Accompanying the elemental composition evolution, significant structural evolution is also observed and identified as a sequential phase transition of C2/m → I41 → Spinel. For the first time, it is found that the surface facet terminated with pure cation/anion is more stable than that with a mixture of cation and anion. These findings firmly established how the elemental species in the lattice of LMR cathode transfer from the bulk lattice to surface layer and further into the electrolyte, clarifying the long-standing confusion and debate on the structure and chemistry of the surface layer and their correlation with the voltage fading and capacity decaying of LMR cathode. Therefore, this work provides critical insights for design of cathode materials with both high capacity and voltage stability during cycling.


The authors suggest that the coefficient, representing the ratio between the sizes of the small pelvis section and fetal head section, be used for the prediction of labor outcome for the fetus in women with a contracted pelvis. When the coefficient values K1-K4 were lower than 1.32, 1.35, 0.68, and 0.79, more than 90% of the newborns developed signs of cerebral circulation disorders, this prompting the use of cesarean section for this group of pregnant women. Timely correction of the policy of labor management with due consideration for the anatomical features of the pelvis helped reduce the perinatal mortality in multigravidae to 5/1000, mainly at the expense of carrying out planned cesarean section and monitoring in labor.


The development of a micro-electro-kinetic-actuator (MEKA) array for the study and control of the viscous sublayer of a turbulent boundary layer is presented. Several generations of such MEKA arrays have been fabricated that explore the use of non-conventional MEMS materials such as quartz, polymers or mylar and are combined where needed with conventional MEMS design and fabrication processes. The present study is the first attempt to exploit the potential advantages of using the electrokinetic principle as the basis for a new class of microscale actuators suitable for active sublayer control. Among such advantages are that these actuators have no moving parts, and that they achieve the flow rates required for this type of flow control. Moreover, the inherent problem of matching the length and time scales between microactuators and the physical system being controlled makes the viscous sublayer a natural choice for these types of actuators. The electrokinetic drivers are fabricated inside microchannels, 250 mm to 2 mm in diameter, using a liquid-phase polymerization process that generates 1 µm doped pores. This process greatly simplifies the fabrication of a large number of actuators, and using this technique we are able to fill 100% of the 25 600 microchannels that form the typical MEKA 5 array. The array is fabricated using a novel three-layer design that contains (i) a top layer with the actuator nozzles, electrodes and leadouts, (ii) a center layer containing the individually addressable electrokinetic driver channels in which electrolyte pumping occurs in response to a time-varying electric field that will induce volume displacement in the sublayer and (iii) a bottom layer containing an electrolyte reservoir and common electrode. The functionality incorporated in this three-layer design with independent unit cells demonstrate all the elements needed for turbulent boundary layer control.


This article identifies some discursive processes by which White, middle-class, native-English-speaking, U.S.-born college students draw on a monolingualist ideology and position themselves and others within a language–race–nationality matrix. These processes construct the speakers' Whiteness and nativeness in English as unmarked and normal; mark nonnative speakers of English as non-White and foreign; and naturalize connections between language, national origin, and race. I argue that dominant ways of talking about race in the United States persist as templates for creating arguments about language. Ideological models are projected onto each other, recursively reproducing a hierarchical social order in which U.S.-born citizens, native English speakers, and Caucasians retain a privilege widely perceived to be a natural outcome of certain characteristics thought to be intrinsic to American-ness, nativeness (in English), or Whiteness.


The objective of this book is to make and to analyze BRIS soils improvement for sustainable crop production from perspectives of soil science. This book is expected to provide a useful guidance for beneficiaries and stakeholders in landuse planning of BRIS soils which are the most appropriate, integrated, site-specific as well as implementable. Based on the results of research and literature review, it can be summarized some conclusions as follows:
1) BRIS soils has two main functions, i.e. ecological functions (biomass production, filtering, buffering and transforming and biodiversity providers) and non-ecological functions (physical media, sources of energy and raw materials)
2) Landuse conflicts are natural, inevitable, rational, reasonable and even desirable as well as planned under certain conditions. We need only to keep "such conflicts in harmony and balanced condition" in order to support human life
3) The common causes of the conflict are induced by "dominant differences" in terms of the "Information Sufficiency" and "Sources of information". Both components will give character and view specifically in terms of perception, main goals, value and belief, mindset, competition of scarce land resources, and rejection (refusal) or loss of recognition or status
4) Three tips of BRIS soils management priorities for sustainable crop production, namely: (1) Adjust with the Nature, not Against the Nature, (2) Cultivations of BRIS Soils is recommended if We Have Already Complete Information, and (3) Completing Information about BRIS Soils
5) BRIS soils improvement for sustainable crop production can be operationally done through: (1) Soil and Water Technology, (2) Land Resource Analyses and Planning, and (3) Land and Water Management
6) Package of land resource management can be implemented with two ways, namely the development of sensitive models and analysis systems, modeling, and model simulation.
It is suggested to make some measurable indicators for strategy and package of landuse planning for BRIS soils, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches bringing together technical, ecological, cultural, social and economic sciences. Indicators based on this approach can bridge between science and technology on one side and stakeholders, decision making and politics on the other side, thus sharing knowledge between those who have it and those who need it.


Determinants of a well-functioning market-based home-financing system for MENA
Housing finance is a cross-cutting topic of major economic, social, and political significance. It enables middle-class households and other targeted people to turn need for housing into effective demand by extending finance to buy their homes. Housing finance in Middle East and North African (MENA) countries is underdeveloped compared with countries of a similar level of income and stage of development. Existing literature cites many causes for this underdevelopment, among which is path dependency and culture. The study aims to address the path dependency issue by identifying attributes of a well-functioning housing finance system with the objective of contributing to the design of housing finance systems in MENA countries.
To fulfil its objectives, the study uses primary and secondary research. Using comparative case analysis, firstly, housing finance systems in nine developed and emerging economies were assessed. Secondly, housing finance supply in nine countries in MENA were evaluated using a framework of analysis developed as part of the research. By conducting a survey in three MENA countries, the study attempts to understand people in terms of beliefs and attitudes towards housing finance, and characteristics of demand for housing finance.
The findings of the study demonstrate the pivotal role of governments, and the significant influence of private financial institutions in the evolution and performance of any HFS. MENA countries have a fragmented supply of housing finance rather than a system, mainly due to a performance gap of players, lack of diversity in products, and self-exclusion of people from housing finance. Generally, people prefer finance from friends and family members and lack proper understanding of Islamic finance in Muslim dominated population.
In conclusion, transferability and development of a well-functioning market-based housing finance system necessitates adoption of right public policies; regulators who supervise and enable financial institutions. Product diversifications is crucial to tailor to the needs of consumers, while engaging people by spreading awareness and protecting consumers.


6Contemporary science and culture show more and more extended and meaningful signs about the increasing explaining power of evolutionary paradigm. This power overcomes the field of the history of living species. We consider "On the Origin of Species" of 1859 by Charles Darwin as the establishment of this paradigm, but this original and fruitful idea has received the several and different contributions from near and (seemingly) far scientific fields. This process happened according distinguishable waves and leaded the evolutionary theory very far from its starting point, making it something wider and different. The current knowledge of this theory involves many kinds of scholars: biologists, zoologists, botanists, development biologists, genetics/genomics scholars and also scholars of many other disciplines, as statistics, mathematics, ecology, environmental sciences, physics, chemistry, linguistics, sociology, neuro-sciences, epidemiology, informatics, immunology. During the end of XX Century, the study of complexity, of self-organization and of emerging properties has been a decisive factor to extend evolution until beyond the boundaries of Biology. These phenomena, or properties, or features, that are shown by "living" and "not-living" systems (so called basing ourselves on traditional definitions), have deeply modified even the "properly" biologic evolution itself and besides this has demonstrated that, mutatis mutandis, evolutionary processes or phenomena happen also out of biologic dominion, referring "biologic" to "wet-ware world". This is to say the class of evolutionary phenomena is more widely and more inclusively extended than our opinion. We can mean this as a revolution (according to Kuhn's definition) that imposes us to restructure the definition of evolution itself and even to redraw the boundaries and the map of Biology itself. Aiming to establish a name of this field of study we propose "PanEvolutionary Theory" (PanEvo Theory). No doubt Prigogine offered an important contribution to this area. The thinking and the work of Enzo Tiezzi can be placed seen in the same perspective. Disregarding direct connections and contacts with the Nobel Prize Prigogine, however the studies of Enzo Tiezzi are neither a fully unexpected work nor a theory lacking of important potentialities: it is not a strange or eccentric academic exercise. Except the close contact and the dense exchanges with Prigogine, we collocate Enzo Tiezzi in the same context of Gregory Chaitin, of Rachel Carson, of John Harte and Robert H. Socolow, of James Paul Wesley, of Sertorio, of Oort and Peixoto, just to cite the most strictly related. Our Academy had the privilege and the honor of having Enzo Tiezzi in its ranks. We think that merits and developments of the thinking of this scholar have to produce important and lasting fruits in the future.


In recent years, there has been an effort to develop new technologies for measuring gene expression and sequence information from thousands of individual cells. Large data sets that were obtained using these 'single cell' technologies have allowed scientists to address fundamental questions in biomedicine ranging from stems cells and development to cancer and immunology. Here, we provide a brief review of recent developments in single-cell technology. Our intention is to provide a quick background for newcomers to the field as well as a deeper description of some of the leading technologies to date.


ABSTRACT Salvation Army officers often work in stressful situations which are likely to impact on wellbeing. No research has examined the buffering effects of the officers' strong religious and spiritual beliefs on this relationship. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between quality of life (QoL) and religious and spiritual beliefs among current and retired Salvation Army officers from the Australian Eastern Territory. Two hundred and seventy officers aged between 30 and 93 years (153 males and 102 females) completed the WHOQOL-BREF1 and the WHOQOL-SRPB.2 The results of the analyses revealed positive relationships between religious and spiritual QoL, the eight facets of the WHOQOL-SRPB, overall QoL and each of the four WHOQOL-BREF domains. The results showed that the facets of religious and spiritual QoL made differential contributions to QoL, and the QoL domains. Hope and optimism was the only facet to predict physical and environment QoL in regression analyses. It was also a significant predictor, along with inner peace and meaning and purpose in life, of psychological QoL. Wholeness and integration, spiritual strength and faith significantly predicted the social relationship domain. However, the relationship with spiritual strength and social relationships was mediated by wholeness and integration. Spiritual connection did not significantly predict any of the QoL domains. Religious and spiritual beliefs are important for Salvation Army officers maintaining a high level of QoL in the face of stressful work environments. However, the different facets of religion and spirituality play different roles in this relationship and need to be examined individually. This is particularly important given that religious and spiritual beliefs may help officers cope with stressful work situations.


Named Entity Recognition (NER) is a fundamental task in Natural Language Processing, concerned with identifying spans of text expressing references to entities. NER research is often focused on flat entities only (flat NER), ignoring the fact that entity references can be nested, as in [Bank of [China]] (Finkel and Manning, 2009). In this paper, we use ideas from graph-based dependency parsing to provide our model a global view on the input via a biaffine model (Dozat and Manning, 2017). The biaffine model scores pairs of start and end tokens in a sentence which we use to explore all spans, so that the model is able to predict named entities accurately. We show that the model works well for both nested and flat NER through evaluation on 8 corpora and achieving SoTA performance on all of them, with accuracy gains of up to 2.2 percentage points.