ABSTRACTBecause seas and coastlines are shared between states, the formulation and implementation of marine spatial planning (MSP) should be transboundary by nature. The main argument of this paper is that MSP should be organized as a transboundary policy-making process, but this is hampered by the conceptual and institutional fragmentation MSP is facing. Based on an analysis of four transboundary planning processes in different European seas, the paper gives insight into the possibilities to develop and implement transboundary marine spatial planning (TMSP). To overcome the conceptual and institutional challenges, TMSP should be developed as a reflexive governance arrangement, in which the actors involved are able to change the rules of the game and to challenge the existing (national-oriented) MSP discourses. The paper develops four forms of reflexivity (unreflectiveness; performative reflectiveness; structural reflectiveness; and reflexivity) to assess TMSP processes and to formulate conditions which a...


Distributed Denial of Service attacks against high-profile targets have become more frequent in recent years. In response to such massive attacks, several architectures have adopted proxies to introduce layers of indirection between end users and target services and reduce the impact of a DDoS attack by migrating users to new proxies and shuffling clients across proxies so as to isolate malicious clients. However, the reactive nature of these solutions presents weaknesses that we leveraged to develop a new attack - the proxy harvesting attack - which enables malicious clients to collect information about a large number of proxies before launching a DDoS attack. We show that current solutions are vulnerable to this attack, and propose a moving target defense technique consisting in periodically and proactively replacing one or more proxies and remapping clients to proxies. Our primary goal is to disrupt the attacker's reconnaissance effort. Additionally, to mitigate ongoing attacks, we propose a new client-to-proxy assignment strategy to isolate compromised clients, thereby reducing the impact of attacks. We validate our approach both theoretically and through simulation, and show that the proposed solution can effectively limit the number of proxies an attacker can discover and isolate malicious clients.


Abstract. Bedload sediment transport and erosion processes in channels are important components of water induced natural hazards in alpine environments. A raster based distributed hydrological model, TOPKAPI, has been further developed to support continuous simulations of river bed erosion and deposition processes. The hydrological model simulates all relevant components of the water cycle and non-linear reservoir methods are applied for water fluxes in the soil, on the ground surface and in the channel. The sediment transport simulations are performed on a sub-grid level, which allows for a better discretization of the channel geometry, whereas water fluxes are calculated on the grid level in order to be CPU efficient. Several transport equations as well as the effects of an armour layer on the transport threshold discharge are considered. Flow resistance due to macro roughness is also considered. The advantage of this approach is the integrated simulation of the entire basin runoff response combined with hillslope-channel coupled erosion and transport simulation. The comparison with the modelling tool SETRAC demonstrates the reliability of the modelling concept. The devised technique is very fast and of comparable accuracy to the more specialised sediment transport model SETRAC.


A successful co-op program is a partnership between university, student and employer. At the University of Ottawa, we have chosen to use an Employer Evaluation form as a critical component of graduate attribute assessment. We also created a new first year course that introduced students to professional communication and responsibility in order to adequately prepare them for their first work term. The graduate attributes from both the coop work experience and the new course are imported into the Graduate Attributes Information Analysis system (GAIA) we have developed. We show the historical trend analysis at both the course level and the program level generated and provide a sample of how we are using these results to guide improvement of our overall program, as well as the co-op experience of students and employers.


Individuals, endowments and trusts face uncertain lifetimes. When the planning horizon of an entity is stochastic and Pareto distributed, hyperbolic discounting and time-varying consumption rates are optimal. We derive expressions for the optimal rate of consumption (draw-down) from wealth for family trusts facing positive probabilities of extinction at each generation. Using birth statistics for the UK, we compute family extinction probabilities and show that they are well-approximated by a Pareto distribution, hence family trusts will discount hyperbolically. Numerically optimised consumption paths for family trusts with CRRA preferences are decreasing but always higher than for infinitely-lived trusts.


The main objective of the research presented in the paper is to examine the impact of the COVID pandemic on the volume of passenger and freight traffic and the quality of the services provided by Sofia Airport, as well as to examine the factors influencing the demand for air freight transport and the extent of their impact. The authors focus on using two approaches, namely SERVPERF and SERVQUAL, in studying factors influencing the demand for transport. The study analyses a system of indicators with independent influences on the demand for air transport, but they are all related to the development of macroeconomic indicators at the national level under the influence of the COVID pandemic. The study of the impact of the pandemic on the service performance and quality of services provided by Sofia Airport allows us to predict the volume of transport activity and to plan the activities of airlines and ground operators, their transport capacity, as well as the need for adopting measures for recovery of the airport from the negative impacts of the pandemic and the necessary investments in airport facilities. The authors argue that evaluating the service performance and the quality of services could contribute to developing appropriate measures for recovery. They summarized appropriate measures based on the leading quality indicators for air transport services.
Keywords: Air Transport, Impact Assessment, COVID pandemic, Service Performance, Service Quality.


Several recent initiatives have been put in place by the CERN IT Department to improve the user experience in remote dispersed meetings and remote collaboration at large in the LHC communities worldwide. We will present an analysis of the factors which were historically limiting the efficiency of remote dispersed meetings and describe the consequent actions which were undertaken at CERN to overcome these limitations. After giving a status update of the different equipment available at CERN to enable the virtual sessions and the various collaborative tools which are currently proposed to users, we will focus on the evolution of this market: how can the new technological trends (among others, HD videoconferencing, Telepresence, Unified Communications, etc.) impact positively the user experience and how to attain the best usage of them. Finally, by projecting ourselves in the future, we will give some hints as to how to answer the difficult question of selecting the next generation of collaborative tools: which set of tools among the various offers (systems like Vidyo H264 SVC, next generation EVO, Groupware offers, standard H323 systems, etc.) is best suited for our environment and how to unify this set for the common user. This will finally allow us to definitively overcome the past antinomy between virtuality and efficiency.


The magnitude and variability of sex differences in vocational interests were examined in the present meta-analysis for Holland's (1959, 1997) categories (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), Prediger's (1982) Things-People and Data-Ideas dimensions, and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) interest areas. Technical manuals for 47 interest inventories were used, yielding 503,188 respondents. Results showed that men prefer working with things and women prefer working with people, producing a large effect size (d = 0.93) on the Things-People dimension. Men showed stronger Realistic (d = 0.84) and Investigative (d = 0.26) interests, and women showed stronger Artistic (d = -0.35), Social (d = -0.68), and Conventional (d = -0.33) interests. Sex differences favoring men were also found for more specific measures of engineering (d = 1.11), science (d = 0.36), and mathematics (d = 0.34) interests. Average effect sizes varied across interest inventories, ranging from 0.08 to 0.79. The quality of interest inventories, based on professional reputation, was not differentially related to the magnitude of sex differences. Moderators of the effect sizes included interest inventory item development strategy, scoring method, theoretical framework, and sample variables of age and cohort. Application of some item development strategies can substantially reduce sex differences. The present study suggests that interests may play a critical role in gendered occupational choices and gender disparity in the STEM fields.


As the scale and complexity of multi-agent robotic systems are subject to a continuous increase, this paper considers a class of systems labeled as Very-Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems (VLMAS) with dimensionality that can scale up to the order of millions of agents. In particular, we consider the problem of steering the state distributions of all agents of a VLMAS to prescribed target distributions while satisfying probabilistic safety guarantees. Based on the key assumption that such systems often admit a multi-level hierarchical clustered structure - where the agents are organized into cliques of different levels - we associate the control of such cliques with the control of distributions, and introduce the Distributed Hierarchical Distribution Control (DHDC) framework. The proposed approach consists of two sub-frameworks. The first one, Distributed Hierarchical Distribution Estimation (DHDE), is a bottom-up hierarchical decentralized algorithm which links the initial and target configurations of the cliques of all levels with suitable Gaussian distributions. The second part, Distributed Hierarchical Distribution Steering (DHDS), is a top-down hierarchical distributed method that steers the distributions of all cliques and agents from the initial to the targets ones assigned by DHDE. Simulation results that scale up to two million agents demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of the proposed framework. The increased computational efficiency and safety performance of DHDC against related methods is also illustrated. The results of this work indicate the importance of hierarchical distribution control approaches towards achieving safe and scalable solutions for the control of VLMAS. A video with all results is available in https://youtu.be/0QPyR4bD2q0 .


Houses are more complex phenomena than accounts based on mode of architectural style. They usually encode a wealth of social and cultural information. In this paper, we examine the spatial configuration of domestic spaces of traditional houses in the M'zab valley in Algeria. We are interested in analysing the space of the houses syntactically, as spatial domains shaped by gendered social relations. Space syntax method is applied to a sample of houses. The achievement of space syntax analysis is the interrogation of the plan through which buildings reveal social ideology embedded in structural genotypes. The research findings suggest a deeply family- centred culture was reflected in the organization of household spaces. An overview of the houses' sample suggests a prime model, that defines the house as a collection of domains, e.g. male visitors/male and family/female. The empirical findings also, suggest that the houses tend to be divided into two separate domains, one section is exclusively used by the inhabitants and the other is reserved for receiving male guests, thus the configuration appears to modulate the social dynamics of the house's occupants by distancing the hosts from immediate contact with male guests.


The U.S. health care information technology (HIT) market is broken; broad-scale adoption of HIT is not occurring despite considerable evidence of its impact on the quality of care and patient safety. Although adoption of HIT will not cure all that ails health care, it is an important step toward transformation of the U.S. health care delivery system. In this commentary I describe several critical issues pertaining to the HIT market failure and several ways in which the federal government may act as a deft and gentle "Third Hand" to assist the Invisible Hand of Adam Smith.


Burrowing benthic animals ventilate their burrow networks, and this enhances the transport of solutes in the sediment and exchange with the overlying water column, a process referred to as bio-irrigation. Various models have been proposed to model bio-irrigation, with different levels of sophistication related to model dimensionality and parameter numbers. Here we address the issue of model complexity for bio-irrigation in permeable sediments. To this end, we simulated flowline patterns and tracer signals using (1) a full 3D model that explicitly models the J-shaped geometry of the burrow in a suitable microenvironment surrounding the burrow, (2) a simplified 2D axisymmetric analogue, which neglects the burrow shaft and only models the location of burrow water injection, (3) a highly simplified 1D model obtained by laterally averaging the microenvironment. Simulation of two separate inert tracer experiments shows that the 2D pocket injection model includes essential features (downward advective transport, spatial heterogeneity of pore water velocity, mechanistic specification of the seepage area) that are lost upon averaging to the corresponding 1D model. This loss of model detail must be compensated for by the introduction of additional, non-mechanistic fitting parameters in the 1D description. Similarly, the extension of the 2D model to a full sophisticated 3D description requires a major increase in computational resources, but only leads to a marginal improvement in the data simulation. Accordingly, we conclude that the 2D description provides an optimal balance between model simplicity and predictive capacity.


Abstract To investigate retention characteristics of hydrogen isotopes in the first wall tiles made of isotropic graphite of JT-60U, surface morphology, erosion/deposition profiles and hydrogen isotope retentions were examined by SEM, XPS, TDS and SIMS. It was found that poloidal deuterium retention profile was rather uniform, while the thermal desorption behavior of deuterium was quite different depending on the locations of the tiles. Deuterium retained in the upper first wall, which was covered by thick boron layers with high concentration of B, was desorbed at lower temperature than that in the lower area covered by carbon layers with much less B content. Hydrogen retained during the boronization has significant contribution on the total hydrogen retention. D/H ratio in the first wall tiles was appreciably higher than that observed in the divertor tiles. Probably, the lower temperature of the first wall compared to that of the divertor tiles would prohibit desorption of the implanted deuterium and/or its replacement by subsequent D or H impingement. The injection of high energy deuteron originating from NBI into the first wall could have some contribution on the high hydrogen retention of the first wall.


Post-transcriptional gene silencing of a primary target gene in plants can coincide with the production of secondary small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) of coding sequences adjacent to the target region and with de novo RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) thereof. Here, we analyzed the susceptibility of transgenic and endogenous targets to RdDM induced by primary and secondary silencing signals. In three different configurations, primary silencing signals were able to direct in trans methylation of chimeric transgenes and the CATALASE2 (CAT2) endogene; however, extensive spreading of methylation occurred only in the transgene, resulting in the methylation of the flanking CAT2 sequence, whereas methylation of the CAT2 endogene was restricted to the target region and the enclosed introns. The secondary silencing signals arising from this transgenic primary target simultaneously silenced a secondary transgene target and the CAT2 endogene, but were only capable of directing RdDM to the transgene. Our data indicate that RdDM is correlated with the in situ generation of secondary siRNAs, occurring in P35S-driven transgenes but not in most endogenes. We conclude that although both endogenes and transgenes are equally sensitive to transitive silencing, differences exist in their susceptibility to undergo secondary RdDM.


The paca (Agouti pace) is a neotropical rodent that requires chemical restraint for handling due to its aggressive nature and susceptibility to stress. Eighteen adult pacas (seven males and 11 females) weighing 6.25+/-2.22 (mean +/- SD) kg were given ketamine hydrochloride (25.0 mg/kg), acetylpromazine maleate (0.125 mg/kg), and atropine sulfate (0.05 mg/kg) combined by i.m. injection during field procedures that included sexing, marking, translocations, physical examinations, and minor surgeries. In all individuals, the induction of anesthesia was rapid and uneventful. Righting reflexes were abolished after 5.95+/-3.56 min, and all animals ceased to react to manipulation after 9.55+/-3.48 min. Response to interdigital and pinnal painful stimuli disappeared after 10.67+/-3.46 min and 11.11+/-3.83 min. respectively. Analgesia and depth of anesthesia were excellent in 61.0% of the animals and good in 39.0%. Muscle relaxation was excellent in 77.8% and good in 22.2%. Duration of anesthesia was 57.33+/-31.10 min. Recovery occurred without psychomotor disturbances, and every animal remained calm until normal ambulation resumed 115.00+/-37.00 min postinjection. The anesthetic protocol was safe for both the animal and the human personnel and is recommended for routine management and medical procedures, including minor surgeries, in A. paca.


ABSTRACT In this article, the discrete analog of Weibull geometric distribution is introduced. Discrete Weibull, discrete Rayleigh, and geometric distributions are submodels of this distribution. Some basic distributional properties, hazard function, random number generation, moments, and order statistics of this new discrete distribution are studied. Estimation of the parameters are done using maximum likelihood method. The applications of the distribution is established using two datasets.


Nowadays, society has a challenge to deal with sustainable water use. High demand and water contamination, environmental degradation and the unpredictability of climate changes are some water insecurity causes. Riparian forests maintenance offers water ecosystems services, but in some cases the riparian ecosystem is in a degraded condition that require human intervention actions for forest restoration. In this way, geotechnologies help us to infer about physical landscape characteristics where watershed is a basic unity for environmental planning. This study aimed to identify important hydrologically areas of Consulta stream watershed and Retiro stream watershed and propose priorities areas for forest restoration and sustainable agricultural destination. The two watersheds are the main sources of public water supply in the city of Bebedouro (Brazil). It is hypothesized that the limits established by Brazilian forest law (BFL) riparian buffers zones may not fully guarantee the two watersheds riparian areas protection. It was assumed that the forest community plays an important role in the attenuation of chemical elements and sediments, and that is essential that there is a disruption of potentially polluting activities near riparian areas. It was used in the study images from orbital sensors spatial resolution 30 m and 90 m and topographical map 1:50.000 for obtaining and processing elevations data and land use in geographic information system (GIS), and environmental legislation. The results allowed to characterize the watersheds that are surrounding and presented similarities in their physical parameters (basin form, drainage density, channel length, and others) and the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) class distribution, slope class, landscape elements and land use. Three scenarios of priority areas for forest restoration were generated. It was observed that the priority areas are distributed close to the drainage channel of watersheds and are partially related to required areas by BFL. It can be concluded that in the three scenarios established the BFL may not be sufficient for the full protection of riparian sites and the adopted methodology proved to be efficient for guiding water resources management actions at larges scales. Key-words: Topographic Wetness Index, Permanent Protection Areas, riparian forests, forest restoration.


The Chesapeake Bay faces a multitude of pressures today from pollution sources, the most pressing being the influx of excessive nutrients. Effluent from waste water treatment plants, animal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations, and agricultural fertilizer are jointly responsible for nutrient loading in the Chesapeake Bay. An often overlooked and even less understood culprit is home lawn fertilization. Of these nutrient contributors, residential turf is the most fragmented and has the largest number of owners, making nutrient inputs from home lawns the most difficult to understand, measure, and regulate. Home lawns from Virginia to upstate New York, from West Virginia to Delaware – 2.85 million acres of green lawns – contribute to the nutrient loading that has so severely degraded the Chesapeake Bay's waters To better understand all the factors affecting lawn maintenance I take a holistic approach and analyze the total ecology of the issue, including the human, biophysical, and institutional ecologies. First, the human ecology of lawn care is explored to understand the social norms and pressures that determine lawn maintenance behavior. Second, the biophysical ecology of fertilizer nutrients is explored through a literature review. Third, the institutional ecology is defined with a description of the relevant governing bodies and current legal mandates regulating lawn maintenance. This section focuses on a review of the mechanisms used by ten states in recently passed legislation to reduce nutrient pollution from home lawn fertilization. The purpose of this paper is to bring together the human, natural science, management, and policy components of the lawn maintenance issue so as to obtain a comprehensive view of the existing knowledge and structure and of the gaps that need to be filled. The goal of this report is to aid state legislators in understanding the lawn maintenance issue and in refining and passing lawn fertilizer bills similar to those recently enacted by ten states in an effort to reduce nutrient pollution specifically from lawn fertilizers. Lawn fertilizer is only one of many contributing factors degrading water quality, but every reduction of pollution sources, however small, helps to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Strict lawn fertilizer laws regulating lawn maintenance behavior can contribute to the effort to achieve healthier water bodies and a healthier Bay.


We compared records of neotropical  Xylaria  species among Belize, Ecuador, the Guianas, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela to determine if there were neotropical taxa consistently found only in cloud forest or high montane forests that might be endangered by climate change. Historical reports were combined with new records from Belize and Guyana. A few collections from the Cerro de la Neblina expeditions in Venezuela were redetermined. Foliicolous (5) and fruit inhabiting (3) species, and species restricted to one country (14) were overrepresented among the 16 species found only in cloud forest as compared to other habitats. The data indicate that several species appear to be specialists of cloud or high montane forests that may be adversely affected by climate change. These include two neotropical cloud forest specialists restricted to that habitat in more than one country (  X. cordovensis, and  X. magnoliae  ), three species reported only from cloud forest and high montane forests ( X. corniculata  ined.,  X. pasochoae  ined. and  X. phosporea  ), and another 21 species reported from a single country that probably include additional cloud forest or high montane specialists. An additional four widely distributed  Xylaria  taxa occurred primarily in cloud forests and might also be affected by climate change.


Based on requirements of modern vehicle, in-vehicle Controller Area Network (CAN) architecture has been implemented. In order to reduce point to point wiring harness in vehicle automation, CAN is suggested as a means for data communication within the vehicle environment. The benefits of CAN bus based network over traditional point to point schemes will offer increased flexibility and expandability for future technology insertions. This paper describes system which uses sensors to measure various parameters of the car like speed, distance from the other car, presence of alcohol in car and accidental change of lane and sends a warning signal to the driver if any of the parameter goes out of range to avoid accidents. In addition to this if accident occurs in any remote area then using bump sensor accident is detected and SMS is send immediately using GSM. A situation that provides a good example of how the system works is when a driver is about to change lanes, and there is a car in his blind spot. The sensors will detect that car and inform the driver before he starts turning, preventing him from potentially getting into a serious accident.


The knowledge-rich nature of the healthcare domain has made it an ideal environment for the application of knowledge-based techniques. However, the abstract nature of tacit healthcare knowledge has resulted in the under-utilization of such a vital component of the overall healthcare delivery system. Therefore, we present a six-step approach to procure tacit healthcare knowledge using healthcare scenarios. This process is supported by a healthcare scenario composer, which is a key component of a wider framework called the Tacit Knowledge Acquisition Info-Structure (TKAI). This information structure aims to combine the effectiveness of healthcare scenarios, ontologies and artificial intelligence techniques to facilitate the efficient acquisition, representation, refinement and dissemination of expert-quality tacit healthcare knowledge from/to healthcare experts.


The experiment object was to compare the effects of the partial rootzone drying (PRD) and the deficit irrigation (DI) strategies applied with 50% of water requirements on leaf stomatal conductance, signal intensity, root development and water use efficiency (WUE) of tomato grown under greenhouse and on soilless. Three treatments were applied: control that was fully and conventionally irrigated, PRD and DI in which 50% of water requirements were applied using PRD and DI irrigation strategies, respectively. For PRD treatment, alternation between the two rootzone sides took place each three days. When vapor pressure deficit rises, PRD and DI stomatal conductance was 26% and 15% respectively lower than control. The comparison between treatments in terms of signal intensity revealed a better resistance to water deficit for PRD-50. Root profile results corroborated previous findings. In fact, when compared to Control, the total number of root hairs is increased by 11% and 90% for DI-50 and PRD-50, respectively. Compared to control, water use efficiency was improved for both treatments: DI and PRD were, respectively, 155% and 160% more efficient.


We have a limited understanding of how we integrate haptic information in real-time from our upper limbs to perform complex bimanual tasks, an ability that humans routinely employ to perform tasks of varying levels of difficulty. In order to understand how information from both limbs is used to create a unified percept, it is important to study both the limbs separately first. Prevalent theories highlighting the role of central nervous system (CNS) in accounting for internal body dynamics seem to suggest that both upper limbs should be equally sensitive to external stimuli. However, there is empirical proof demonstrating a perceptual difference in our upper limbs for tasks like shape discrimination, prompting the need to study effects of limb choice on kinesthetic perception. In this manuscript, we start evaluating Just Noticeable Difference (JND) for stiffness for both forearms separately. Early results validate the need for a more thorough investigation of limb choice on kinesthetic perception.


Abstract Lockie, RG, Murphy, AJ, Scott, BR, and Janse de Jonge, XAK. Quantifying session ratings of perceived exertion for field-based speed training methods in team sport athletes. J Strength Cond Res 26(10): 2721–2728, 2012—Session ratings of perceived exertion (session RPE) are commonly used to assess global training intensity for team sports. However, there is little research quantifying the intensity of field-based training protocols for speed development. The study's aim was to determine the session RPE of popular training protocols (free sprint [FST], resisted sprint [RST], and plyometrics [PT]) designed to improve sprint acceleration over 10 m in team sport athletes. Twenty-seven men (age = 23.3 ± 4.7 years; mass = 84.5 ± 8.9 kg; height = 1.83 ± 0.07 m) were divided into 3 groups according to 10-m velocity. Training consisted of an incremental program featuring two 1-hour sessions per week for 6 weeks. Subjects recorded session RPE 30 minutes post training using the Borg category-ratio 10 scale. Repeated measures analysis of variance found significant (p < 0.05) changes in sprint velocity and session RPE over 6 weeks. All groups significantly increased 0- to 5-m velocity and 0- to 10-m velocity by 4–7%, with no differences between groups. There were no significant differences in session RPE between the groups, suggesting that protocols were matched for intensity. Session RPE significantly increased over the 6 weeks for all groups, ranging from 3.75 to 5.50. This equated to intensities of somewhat hard to hard. Post hoc testing revealed few significant weekly increases, suggesting that session RPE may not be sensitive to weekly load increases in sprint and plyometric training programs. Another explanation, however, could be that the weekly load increments used were not great enough to increase perceived exertion. Nonetheless, the progressive overload of each program was sufficient to improve 10-m sprint performance. The session RPE values from the present study could be used to assess workload for speed training periodization within a team sports conditioning program.


This volume presents the Egyptian-Coptic language in cross-linguistic ('typological') perspective. It is aimed at linguists of all stripes, especially typologists, historical linguists, and specialists in Egyptian-Coptic, Afroasiatic languages, or African languages. Uniquely, the contributions are written by both typologists and experts of Egyptian-Coptic and typologists. The former provide case studies dealing with particular aspects of the various phases of the Egyptian-Coptic language (e.g., COLLIER on conditional constructions), while the latter situate Egyptian-Coptic data in cross-linguistic perspective (e.g., those by GUELDEMANN and GENSLER). The volume also includes an introductory section that includes an overview of the Egyptian-Coptic language (HASPELMATH), a sketch of its sociohistorical setting (GROSSMAN & RICHTER), its relationship with language typology (RICHTER), and the way in which Egyptian-Coptic data should be presented to nonspecialists, focusing on transliteration and glossing (GROSSMAN & HASPELMATH).This is the first book to bring together language typology and the Egyptian-Coptic language in an explicit fashion.


The objective of this paper is to provide guidelines for pediatricians, adult physicians in different medical disciplines and patients' families who are planning the transition to adult care for the adolescent with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). This observational report reflects concerns expressed by patients, their families, and involved physicians regarding the problems encountered with the transition of care. Methods for dealing with transitional issues are presented. OI is a heritable disorder of connective tissue in which fractures are the dominant clinical feature. However, OI is a systemic disorder with broad clinical variability in which there are unpredictable episodes of trauma. Coordinated team support provides the best level of care for the child with OI. This paper discusses 4 key topics related to effecting the transition from pediatric to adult care: 1) Transitioning and maintaining health, 2) Preserving or improving the level of function, 3) Assuring continuity of medical/surgical care, and 4) Re-structuring psychosocial and work-related systems. The process of transition requires active communication between the pediatric and adult team members along with a proactive approach by the patient and family. In addition, as the transition is established, the patient with OI should be encouraged to be his/her own advocate and care coordinator.


We present a neuro-fuzzy controller for intelligent cruise control of semiautonomous vehicles. This paper addresses the problem of longitudinal control that aims at regulating the speed of the controlled vehicle in order to maintain constant time headway with respect to the vehicle in front. A fuzzy radial basis function network (FRBFN) longitudinal controller is designed to incorporate the merits of fuzzy logics as well as neural networks. The FRBFN is prestructured, and its parameters are configured such that they are associated with their physical meaning. The parameters of the output layer are learned online via gradient algorithm. An attractive feature of the proposed method is that it does not require the training data and the vehicle longitudinal dynamic model. Simulation results on a vehicle theoretical model are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this controller. In order to investigate the proposed control algorithms in real-life situations, a small-scaled vehicle with computer and sensors onboard is developed. Experimental results of a conventional PID controller and the FRBFN controller are provided for comparison.


DNA primase activity has been resolved from a purified DNA primase-polymerase a complex of HeLa cells by hydrophobic affinity chromatography on phenylSepharo:se followed by chromatography on hexylagarose. This procedure provides a good yield (55%) of DNA primase that is free from polymerase a. The free DNA primase activity was purified to near homogeneity and its properties characterized. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis of the purified free DNA primase showed a major protein staining band of M 70,000. The native enzyme in velocity sedimentation has an S 0,W of S. DNA primase synthesizes RNA oligomers with single- stranded A-13 DNA, poly(dT) and poly(dC) templates that are elongated by the DNA polymerase a in a manner that has already been described for several purified eukaryotic DNA primase-polymerase a complexes. The purified free DNA primase activity is resistant to neutralizing anti-human DNA polymerase a antibodies, BuPdGTP and aphidicolin that specifically inhibit the free DNA polymerase a and also DNA polymerase a complexed with the primase. The free primase activity is more sensitive to monovalent salt concentrations and is more labile than polymerase a. Taken together these results indicate that the DNA primase and polymerase a activities of the DNA primase-polymerase a complex reside on separate polypeptides that associate tightly through hydrophobic interactions.


Non-viral gene delivery is severely limited by its efficiency. Previous studies aiming to improve the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery have focused on improving the vector system, while the cellular microenvironment where the cells reside is only beginning to be exploited as a means to enhance gene transfer. In this study, the effect of different densities of extracellular matrix proteins namely collagen I (C I), vitronectin (Vt), laminin (Lm), collagen IV (C IV), fibronectin (Fn) and ECM gel (ECMg), and their combinations on gene transfer to mouse mesenchymal stem cells (mMSCs) was studied. Protein coatings that resulted in well spread cells such as Fn, ECMg and C IV, resulted in 14.6, 7 and 6.1 fold increase in transgene expression respectively when compared to uncoated surfaces. The transgene expression was up to 90% inhibited on C I coated surface, which led to less spread cells. Interestingly, the same trend was not observed for polyplex internalization, where protein coats that resulted in less spread cells, such as C I and Vt, resulted in higher polyplex internalization. Subsequently, decreased transgene expression corresponded with inhibited trafficking of the internalized complexes to the nucleus. The effect of combining multiple ECM proteins on non-viral gene transfer was also investigated. Surfaces coated with combinations including C I resulted in inhibition of transgene expression. Furthermore surfaces coated with combination of Vt, C IV and Lm resulted in a statistically similar enhancement in transgene expression as compared to fibronectin. For all ECM combinations analyzed, the extent of cell spreading mediated by the ECM protein had a 70% correlation with the extent of overall gene transfer observed. We believe that the cellular microenvironment can be engineered to promote efficient gene transfer.


The contemporary challenge facing education in South Africa is finding ways to assist the vast majority of school-leavers who do not qualify for direct entry into higher education or the world of work. Aside from the needs of a large number of failed matriculants and other learners who have dropped out of school without completing their secondary-school education, there are the special needs of adult learners in the workplace that must be taken into consideration. It is against this backdrop that the country experiences a pressing need for developing skilled graduates. Many educationalists have believed all along that the problems facing school education are so complex that the majority of school-leavers are underprepared for completing higher education successfully. There is no easy solution to this problem and backlogs may take a considerable period to overcome. Over the years, several higher education institutions (HEIs) have resorted to bridging/access programmes as a quick-fix solution to providing an alternative route for learners who could not meet the entry requirements to higher education courses. These programmes were institution-based and had very few uniform characteristics in terms of duration and curriculum; moreover, they failed to provide any certificate qualification or mobility. At the same time, statistics show that the numbers of students in need of such access courses have increased considerably over the years because of the steady reduction in the numbers of learners who pass matric well enough to enter HEIs. The introduction of the Further Education and Training (FET) band (previously known as the senior secondary phase) in the education policy is providing an opportunity for, among other things, developing a proper intermediate structure between the school sector and the higher education sector to cater for the lower achievers, as well as those who are underprepared at the school exit point. This is done by way of broadening the scope and value of the access programmes already existing in our HEIs. The current dispensation is such that securing a higher education qualification is considered to be the exit point. However, it is high time to consider providing alternative median exit points with undergraduate certificate qualifications that could serve as a part of a coherent learning pathway for those who may fail to reach the exit point of higher education degrees and diplomas without interruption. Such an action plan may help to address the burning national issues of unemployment and high crime rate. This article outlines the research that resulted in the development of a comprehensive access model encompassing FET, which may provide a threefold exit facility. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol.16(2) 2002: 94-103


The global financial crisis presents an opportunity--for the first time in many years--for wholesale reform of the international financial and monetary system. The root causes of the crisis, says Goldstein, can be found in both the financial and monetary spheres and so reforms must be prescribed for both. On the financial side, he emphasizes two problems: pricking asset price bubbles before they get too large and confronting "too big to fail" financial institutions. On the monetary side, he concentrates on what can be done to induce large, surplus economies to abandon now--and avoid in the future--beggar-thy-neighbor exchange rate policies. Central banks and regulatory authorities need to try much harder to identify bubbles before they get too large and consider a better bubble-busting tool kit, which would include some combination of instruments such as regulatory capital and regulatory liquidity requirements, margin requirements, loan-to-value ratios on residential and commercial mortgages, and lending standards. To confront "too-big-to fail," if higher capital requirements for larger financial institutions are not enough, Goldstein prescribes taking together four policy measures: requiring all systemically important institutions to have wind-down plans that would prevent unacceptable spillovers; ensuring that special resolution authority exists for all systemically important financial institutions; designing resolution authority in a way that supports market discipline; and imposing explicit size limits on systemically important financial institutions relative to GDP. Goldstein then draws attention to China's highly significant case of beggar-thy-neighbor exchange rate policy and the International Monetary Fund's abysmal surveillance of the problem. He recommends that the Fund become far tougher on errant countries than it is now. The Fund's engagement with members who have emerging exchange rate problems should be made less subject to politicization and long delays. There needs to be a workable framework for the Fund's exchange rate surveillance that is capable of sending the message that the Fund views the country's exchange rate policy not only as ill-advised but also as being inconsistent with the country's obligations as a member of the Fund and, hence, that the policy has to be changed. Finally, there needs to be a workable, graduated set of penalties for countries that refuse persistently to honor their international obligations on exchange rate policy.


Previous studies had shown that a promising material could be obtained by mixing aluminium-rich sludge with slate powder (with Al2O3:SiO2 molar proportion of 2:1), shaping by uniaxial pressing and sintering at 1300oC, in order both to detoxify the sludge by fixing the metals in a leach-resistant ceramic matrix and to yield a new material from the reactions of the above compounds at high temperature. In view of potential applications, since this material was also found to be inert after leaching tests, a further systematic study, reported in the present paper, was carried out, in order to determine its mechanical properties and discuss them in function of the microstructure. The average values of Vickers hardness HV3 (683), bend strength (126 MPa), Young's modulus (161GPa) and fracture toughness (3.35 MPa.m1/2) are significantly higher than those found for the as sintered slate powders, which is attributed to the increased fraction of α- alumina and reduced content of glassy phase in the microstructure of the material with sludge addition.


BACKGROUND: The repeatability of the response to standardised treadmill exercise testing using dry air and monitoring of heart rate in asthmatic children suffering from exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) has not been well established. METHODS: Twenty seven asthmatic children with known EIB performed standardised exercise testing twice within a period of three weeks. The tests were performed on a treadmill while breathing dry air. During both tests heart rate had to reach 90% of the predicted maximum. Response to exercise was expressed as % fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) from baseline and as area under the curve (AUC) of the time-response curve. RESULTS: The intra-class correlation coefficients for % fall and AUC (log-transformed) were 0.57 and 0.67, respectively. From these data, power curves were constructed that allowed estimations to be made of sample sizes required for studies of EIB in children. These indicated that, if a drug is expected to reduce EIB by 50%, as few as 12 patients would be sufficient to demonstrate this effect (90% power) using a parallel design study. CONCLUSIONS: Standardised exercise testing for EIB using dry air and monitoring of heart rate is adequately repeatable for use in research and clinical practice in children with asthma.


Iris recognition systems are vulnerable to the presentation attacks, such as textured contact lenses or printed images. In this paper, we propose a lightweight framework to detect iris presentation attacks by extracting multiple micro-stripes of expanded normalized iris textures. In this procedure, a standard iris segmentation is modified. For our Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) network to better model the classification problem, the segmented area is processed to provide lower dimensional input segments and a higher number of learning samples. Our proposed Micro Stripes Analyses (MSA) solution samples the segmented areas as individual stripes. Then, the majority vote makes the final classification decision of those micro-stripes. Experiments are demonstrated on five databases, where two databases (IIITD-WVU and Notre Dame) are from the LivDet-2017 Iris competition. An in-depth experimental evaluation of this framework reveals a superior performance compared with state-of-the-art (SoTA) algorithms. Moreover, our solution minimizes the confusion between textured (attack) and soft (bona fide) contact lens presentations.


INTRODUCTION
This project suggests a solution for better utilization of the produced energy, from renewable
energy sources. By helping individual energy consumers use energy at times of low
demand, it decreases the individuals' energy costs, and reduces the workload on energy
sources in times of high demand.
THEORY
Intelligent Home Concept (IHC) is a system made by the electricity company Lauritz
Knudsen, integrated in some new houses. IHC enables the owner of the house to wirelessly
control the individual electricity outtakes, lights, ventilation systems etc.
Remotely read electricity meters (sometimes called "intelligent electricity meters") enables
electricity distributors to remotely read the electricity usage of households.
Also a house owner can view the electricity prices online, at a database updated every day.
Our project merges these three services, and creates a common user interface on Android
based smart phones. Through the smart phone interface, the user can set the IHC-controller
to turn high energy consuming devices on and off at appropriate times, based on energy
prices. Also the device can be used to check for and turn off object when leaving the
building. Therefore assisting the consumer towards a more efficient energy consumption.
THE PRODUCT
Our product is an Android based application that connects with an IHC-controller, a remotely
read electricity meter and uses the internet for collecting data about energy prices. It
enables the user to control devices, based on time of day, energy prices or manually,
through the phone.
The product makes it more attractive for consumers to have a more efficient energy
consumption, by saving the user money and doing so through a commonly known easy-touse
interface.
FUTURE USE
The product is open for further development, such as:
1. Providing an alarm, to remind the user that a device is still turned on, if the person
leaves the building. This could be based either on GPS tracking or WiFi connection
or preferably both.
2. By providing services, for electrical device producing companies (such as washers
etc.) to easily adapt their devices to the application, other products than the IHC
can be included.
3. Solar cells and private windmills could be connected, so that their productivity can
be read directly.
4. Etc.


Background: This study examines the relationship between the topography of challenging behaviour, subsequent attributions and emotional responses, with whether carers use physical intervention and their satisfaction with their intervention. Method: Thirty-seven carers described incidents where a person with an intellectual disability had exhibited verbal or physical aggression. The carer rated attributions of controllability, internality, globality and stability, global evaluations of the person's behaviour and of the persons themselves, emotions of anger and sympathy, and satisfaction with their intervention. The topography of the aggressive behaviour (verbal or physical) and the topography of the intervention (physical intervention or non-physical intervention) were coded from accounts of the incident given by carers in the interview. Results: Attributions of control and internality were significantly associated with less satisfaction with intervention. People who presented with physical aggression were evaluated more negatively. However, only the topography of the behaviour (whether the incident was verbal or physical aggression) was associated with the use of physical intervention. Conclusions: This study did not find a relationship between cognitive-emotional variables and the topography of intervention. However, relationships between cognitive variables and satisfaction with intervention were observed. Implications for research and clinical work are discussed.


This issue completes eight years of publishing the Christian Journal for Global Health.  At the beginning hardly anyone would have predicted that global health would become first in the minds of the majority of the earth's population or that an infectious calamity would become the focus of global attention.  In fact, health in a global sense is testimony to the unity of the human race at a time when fractionation is a strategy for political hegemony.  The Christian understanding of humans, made in the image of God and called to steward the creation, is a fundamental basis for this unity. The editors see the journal as a way to join this understanding with a vision of health for all nations.
The journal editors have issued a call for papers on Vaccinations and Christian Social Responsibility which we anticipate publishing early in 2022.  As a foretaste of that, this end-of-year issue has a commentary by Professor Steffen Flessa on Vaccination Against COVID-19 as a Christian Duty? A Risk-Analytic Approach  He analyzes the decision-making process for getting vaccinated, a process that involves probabilities and risk-analysis, as well as consideration of the greater good.
Two original research articles are included in this issue.  Jorge de Andres-Sanchez with his colleagues from Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Catalonia, Spain, find that belonging to a religious community together with an intact family structure afford protection against unhealthy tobacco and cannabis use.  Syeda Saniya Zehra and Elizabeth Schwaiger from Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan, provide evidence of a unique advantages of attachment to God and a collectivist family culture on reducing perceived stress, among Christians who are a minority of the country's population.
Personal travel gives me opportunity for access to Wi-Fi networks in homes of family and friends and thus acquaintance with creative SSID labels.  One of the more meaningful ones was "readmorebooks".  In pursuance of that advice, this issue has two book reviews that we think deserve the attention of readers.  The first is a review by Arnold Gorske of a two-volume handbook entitled Health Promoting Churches, published by the World Council of Churches and authored and edited by Dr. Mwai Makoka.  As Dr. Gorske comments, these books, "have more lifesaving, health and healing potential than anything else I have read," except the Bible.  The second is Dr. William Newbrander's review of All Creation Groans:  Toward a Theology of Disease and Global Health, edited by Daniel O'Neill and Beth Snodderly.  The essays included in this book create a comprehensive multidisciplinary survey of the theological grounds for church involvement in global health and the spiritual and behavioral aspects of disease origins. Dr. Newbrander's review provides a helpful introduction to these important and often unexplored issues.
The editors are pleased to receive poetry submissions from time to time and we are grateful for our poetry reviewer to help us evaluate them.  I Will Never See a Full Moon the Same is a moving reflection on the death of a young patient, but death with a perspective of hope.
As of the middle of this December, the coronavirus pandemic is still very much with us with surges in case numbers in a variety of countries, and with several variant strains.  The deployment of vaccines, their future development and the means to expedite their uptake around the world continue to be fertile subjects for research, policy, ethics and theology.  We urge and look forward to publishing other submissions in response to this call for papers and other subject early in the new year.
The glory the angels revealed to the shepherds at the birth of Christ, He has given to His people, whom He desires to be unified to reflect that glory (John 17:22).  For those strengthened by beholding each other's work and faith, may your communities experience a very merry Christmas and peaceful new year.


Methotrexate (MTX) decreases adenosine 5′-triphosphate pools and inhibits glycolysis in cultured Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of MTX on sugar transport and phosphorylation. Cells that were grown in continuous spinner cultures were incubated in media with and without 2 × 10-6 m MTX for 24 hr and assayed at intervals for rates of uptake of 3- O -methyl-d-glucose (to measure the rates of sugar transport), of 2-deoxy-d-glucose (to measure the rates of sugar transport and phosphorylation), and of glucose into total cellular material (to compare with the data obtained with the non-metabolizable sugars). MTX progressively and profoundly inhibited 2-deoxy-d-glucose uptake; the effect was on the Vmax and the apparent Km for 2-deoxy-d-glucose was normal. Adenosine 5′-triphosphate depletion by glucose deprivation inhibited 2-deoxy-d-glucose uptake to a similar degree. MTX progressively inhibited the rates of protein synthesis. Hexokinase activity in cell extracts was normal during first 6 hr and decreased after 24 hr. Cycloheximide progressively decreased 2-deoxy-d-glucose uptake rates, which corresponded to the decreases of hexokinase activity in cell extracts. Rates of 3- O -methyl-d-glucose transport were decreased by up to 50% in MTX-treated and in adenosine 5′-triphosphate-depleted cells. This decrease was not due to a change in the saturability characteristics of the transport system, to inhibition of protein synthesis, or to effects on a ouabain-sensitive adenosine-5′-triphosphatase. Hypoxanthine prevented the inhibitions of 3- O -methyl-d-glucose and of 2-deoxy-d-glucose uptakes by MTX. Glucose uptakes into total cellular material were reduced by 50% in cells incubated with MTX for 24 hr, by 30% in cells incubated with cycloheximide for 24 hr, and by 30% in glucose-deprived cells.


We examine the buoyancy-driven motion and deformation of viscous drops through vertical cylindrical capillaries under conditions where interfacial tension effects are important while inertial effects are negligible. Experimental measurements of the terminal velocity of the drops are reported for a range of drop sizes in a variety of two-phase systems, and the drop shapes are quantitatively characterized using digital image analysis. The retarding effect of the capillary wall is found to decrease as the buoyancy force becomes more dominant compared to surface tension, or as the drop fluid becomes less viscous relative to the suspending fluid. However, for a given viscosity ratio, there is a limiting value of the Bond number beyond which the wall effect remains unchanged with further increases in the Bond number. The thickness of the liquid film surrounding large drops is found to be rather insensitive to the value of the viscosity ratio. Theoretical predictions based on the numerical solution of the creeping flow equations using the boundary integral method are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental measurements.


Today in data mining research we are daily confronted with large amount of data. Most of the time, these data contain redundant and irrelevant data that it is important to extract before a learning task in order to get good accuracy. The fact that today's computers are more powerful does not solves the problems of this ever-growing data. It is therefore crucial to find techniques which allow handling these large databases often too big to be processed. Data reduction techniques are therefore a very important step to prepare the data before data mining and knowledge discovery. In this paper we present a comparative study on original and reduced data to see the role data reduction in a learning task. For this purpose, we used a medical dataset; especially a vertebral column pathologies database.


A combined dosage form of cilastatin and imipenem has been simultaneously determined by adopting an HPLC method. Stability indicating studies have been performed under various stress conditions. The reported method adopts Inertsil ODS C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5μm) column as stationary phase and a mobile phase consisting of methanol: acetonitrile: acetate buffer in the ratio of 70:25:05(v/v) at a pH 5.2 and an UV detector at 217 nm. Linear calibration curves for proposed method are arrived in the concentration ranges of 1-6 µg/mL for both cilastatin and imipenem (R2 > 0.999 for both drugs). The method is validated in terms of precision, ruggedness, robustness and accuracy. The developed method has been applied successfully to analyse marketed pharmaceutical formulation and vial samples. Degradation studies have been carried out with cilastatin and imipenem by exposing the drugs to various stress conditions like photolytic, aqueous acid, base, thermal and peroxide conditions. The proposed method successfully separated the drug from its degradation products. Hence, it can be employed as stability-indicating method for the determination of cilastatin and imipenem drugs in pure and formulations.
Keywords: HPLC; Cilastatin; Imipenem; Stability-indicating method.


: This paper considers whether fibro-osseous integration is a feasible outcome for dental implants and whether the mucosal-implant junction is a crucial factor for implant success. It is argued that the periodontal ligament is a connective tissue with specific origin determined early in development. Further, it is argued that fibroblasts of the ligament exhibit unique functional characteristics associated with tooth support and that these characteristics cannot, as yet, be duplicated in other fibroblasts. These specific attributes argue against the feasibility of fibro-osseous integration unless cells of the periodontal ligament are available to develop a fibrous attachment. With respect to the dentogingival junction, it is argued that this structure does not provide a functional seal around the normally functioning tooth and therefore a minor degree of inflammation in the connective tissue adjacent to an implant is acceptable. It is also argued that inflammation associated with fibro-osseous integrated implants is not the result of a deficiency in the epithelial attachment but rather is due to the inability of the connective tissue to withstand the forces applied to it.


We have investigated dislocation image of 4H-SiC wafers projected on synchrotron X-ray topographs taken under different positions in the rocking curve of a diffraction peak. The diffraction geometry was grazing-incidence extremely asymmetric and the diffraction vectors were g = 1 1 2 8 and 112 8. The weak-beam images were demonstrated for basal-plane dislocations and threading-screw dislocations. The basal-plane dislocation images became narrower in width at the off-Bragg conditions, and they were decomposed to separate lines under the weak-beam condition. The threading-screw dislocations showed changes in their shape and contrast as the crystal set was tilted from the rocking-curve peak, and finally the characteristic images near the dislocation core were observed under the weak-beam condition. The origin of these weak-beam images is unclear, but it will offer detailed analysis of the dislocations.


ABSTRACT The SWI-SNF complex has been shown to alter nucleosome conformation in an ATP-dependent manner, leading to increased accessibility of nucleosomal DNA to transcription factors. In this study, we show that the SWI-SNF complex can potentiate the activity of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) through the N-terminal transactivation domain, τ1, in both yeast and mammalian cells. GR-τ1 can directly interact with purified SWI-SNF complex, and mutations in τ1 that affect the transactivation activity in vivo also directly affect τ1 interaction with SWI-SNF. Furthermore, the SWI-SNF complex can stimulate τ1-driven transcription from chromatin templates in vitro. Taken together, these results support a model in which the GR can directly recruit the SWI-SNF complex to target promoters during glucocorticoid-dependent gene activation. We also provide evidence that the SWI-SNF and SAGA complexes represent independent pathways of τ1-mediated activation but play overlapping roles that are able to compensate for one another under some conditions.


SUMMARY Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has recently emerged as a most accurate, less invasive and easily repeatable alternative means of providing data on patients with portal hypertension. It is well established that video-echo endoscopy, with combined endoscopic and sonographic examination is comparable to endoscopy in diagnosing esophageal varices, but is more sensitive in diagnosing the presence of gastric varices. Dilated venous abnormalities outside the gastroesophageal lumen, which cannot be diagnosed by endoscopy, are readily visible by means of EUS or miniature probes. In the clinical setting of portal hypertension, endoscopic ultrasonography is also useful to predict the risk of variceal recurrence or rebleeding, which cannot be reliably predicted using endoscopy alone. The introduction of echo endoscopes equipped with Doppler facilities has allowed sonographic visualization of the vessels, playing an important role in cirrhotic patients, together with the performance of hemodynamic studies. It has thus become feasible, not only to assess the vascular blood flow, but also to evaluate possible morphologic and hemodynamic changes in the vessels after endoscopic or pharmacologic therapy. It is obvious nowadays that EUS is an exciting technological advance that has established its position in the diagnosis of varices and cirrhosis; what lies ahead is for EUS to find a definite application in predicting the risk of variceal bleeding and in the management of portal hypertension.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate different treatment protocols to prevent embryonic death in ewes. A total of 180 Akkaraman crossbred ewes and 10 healthy rams were used as material. The ewes were divided into 3 equal groups, with each of the 3 groups then separated into 3 subgroups. Ewes in estrus, determined with teaser rams, were exposed to mating. Three different treatment protocols of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog (buserelin, intramuscularly) at a dose of 20 µg, vaginal sponges containing 30 mg fluorogestone acetate (FGA), and saline at a dose of 1 mL (control, intramuscularly) were applied on days 4, 12, and 16, respectively, for each subgroup after mating. No significant differences were observed in the pregnancy or multiple birth rates among any of the treatment groups. In the groups treated on days 4 and 12 after mating, the hormonal treatments gave lower rates of embryonic death compared to the control group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the application of GnRH or FGA on days 4 and 12 after mating was found to be effective in preventing embryonic death in ewes.


We examine both the short- and long-term effects of newly preserved open space in an exurban landscape. The open space is secured via voluntary perpetual easements that sever the development right from the land. We find mixed results with significant impacts on developable neighboring parcels, both on their likelihood of subdividing and on their likelihood of entering a preservation easement. We show that subdivision and preservation activity disproportionately locates near past neighboring preservation easement activity. The first outcome is an unintended consequence in contrast to policy objectives while the latter is, in fact, a policy induced effect. The analysis relies on a unique spatially explicit parcel-level dataset documenting residential development and preservation activity for almost 30 years, the primary objective is to test for interaction effects among parcels which would be impossible with any other sort of data and the results are robust across models addressing endogeneity concerns.


Aims: Validated schedules such as the Treatment Perceptions Questionnaire or Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire quantify service user satisfaction levels as a quality of service measure. This study assesses whether the validated survey instrument SERVQUAL can be used to measure service user satisfaction levels of the Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) in English prisons. Methods: In this study, 96 face-to-face prisoner interviews were undertaken using SERVQUAL across eight prisons in England. Expectations, perceptions and a gap analysis were undertaken. Statistical reliability and validity of SERVQUAL were tested using principal components analysis and service quality factors were examined using linear regression methods. Findings: Prisoners were shown to have high expectations of IDTS services. Apart from one domain (tangibles), prisoners perceived services as not meeting their expectations. Factor analysis demonstrated that SERVQUAL had poor construct validity as the five domains did not map as expected. Three new service quality factors were identified – interpersonal, treatment content and professional qualities – along with an inverse relationship with previous treatment experiences prior to prison. Conclusions: Perception-only schedules may mask dissatisfaction levels by excluding the role that expectations play in the treatment process. More nuanced schedules are required to quantify satisfaction levels with reference to previous treatment experiences. Interpersonal qualities and treatment content qualities should form domains that measure service users' satisfaction with treatment.


Trichloroethene (TCE) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and scleroderma in humans. However, experimental studies have not been conducted to establish the role of TCE in causing autoimmunity and/or SLE. To clarify the role of TCE in autoimmune responses, subchronic studies were carried out in female autoimmune prone mice (MRL +/+). Three groups of mice (5 weeks old) received intraperitoneal injections of 10 mmol/kg of TCE, 0.2 mmol/kg of dichloroacetyl chloride (DCAC) (one of the metabolites of TCE with strong acylating property), or an equal volume (100 microliters) of corn oil alone (controls). Animals were dosed every 4th day for 6 weeks and euthanized 24 hr following the last dose. Sera and major tissues were collected and analyzed. Spleen weights in the TCE and DCAC groups increased 36% with a similar pattern of change in the spleen-to-body weight ratios. Serum IgG in the TCE and DCAC groups increased 45 and 322%, respectively. Using specific ELISA assays for mice, autoimmune antibodies were detected in the sera of TCE- and DCAC-treated mice in the following patterns: for anti-nuclear antibodies; controls, 0/4; TCE, 4/4; DCAC, 3/5; for anti-ssDNA antibodies; controls, 0/4; TCE, 2/4; DCAC, 5/5; for anti-cardiolipin antibodies; controls, 0/4; TCE, 0/4; DCAC, 3/5. An ELISA developed for the measurement of DCAC-specific antibodies using conjugated DCAC-albumin as an antigen showed the following pattern: for controls, 0/4; TCE, 0/4; DCAC, 5/5. These results suggest that TCE and its metabolite, DCAC, induce and/or accelerate autoimmune responses in female MRL +/+ mice. The greater responses induced by DCAC at a dose 50 times lower than TCE suggests that this metabolite may be important in the mechanisms leading to TCE-induced autoimmunity.


In this study, determining the design principles of a technology-supported learning environment for teaching vector spaces by taking into account the representation languages defined by Hillel (2000), Harel's (2000) pedagogical principles and Sierpinska's (2000) thinking modes on Linear Algebra teaching were intended to be established. The research is a design-based research and three cycles were conducted to determine the design principles for the learning environment. The study group of the first cycle consists of 51, the second cycle's working group was 44, and the third cycle's study group consisted of 11 teacher candidates. The data of the research were obtained by field notes and video recordings. By analyzing the field notes and video recordings, design principles for the learning environment were determined after the first two cycles in light of the literature. The third cycle was carried out with the determined design principles, and the design principles were revised in line with the opinions of the teacher candidates and the course teacher after the application with the reports obtained during the application process. Design principles in the light of the results obtained from the research are as follows ; the use of technology, usage of modes of description, tasks, worksheets, the role of the teacher and group work. It is thought that a learning environment that will be created by paying attention to these design principles will contribute to the pre-service teachers' differentiation and use of different languages, the development of thinking styles, and to meet the principles of concreteness, necessity and generalizability.


Gene expression and replication of nonsegmented negative strand (NNS) RNA viruses is performed by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The polymerase large (L) protein catalyzes all functions including addition of a cap 1 (m⁷GpppNm) structure on nascent transcripts. Alignment studies show L proteins are modular consistent with a multi-domain protein. Reports of L functions being coupled suggest orchestrated interactions among its domains occur however specific domain interactions have not been experimentally confirmed. At the start of this dissertation virtually no structural information was known for NNS L proteins other than an EGFP-tolerant hinge region just upstream of a methyltransferase domain was discovered in the measles L protein. This dissertation shows a homologous hinge region is also present in the NNS prototype vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) L protein and aims to gain fundamental insight into putative interactions involving domains near this hinge. Insertion of EGFP in VSV L produced a temperature sensitive polymerase in minigenome assays with minimal effects at 33°C but severe attenuation of RNA synthesis at 37°C. This phenotype was also observed in engineered recombinant virus encoding this modified polymerase. Moreover, this virus exhibited an inability to synthesize transcripts in vitro. The specific effect on RNA synthesis led to the proposal here that the insert restricts hinge movement thus impeding critical domain interactions. Four domains adjacent to the hinge were exchanged with VSV serotype counterparts to determine the effect on polymerase function. Exchanging the methyltransferase domain had no impact on L functions in minigenome assays and recombinant virus indicating it enjoyed a degree of autonomy. Exchange of the other domains however abolished RNA synthesis showing polymerase activity depends heavily on peptide sequences in these domains, supporting a model of interaction between these domains and other polymerase components. Combination exchanges of all four domains also yielded polymerase inactivity with one exception. Co- exchange of the methyltransferase and adjacent C-terminal domain partially rescued a defect that occurred by exchanging the C-terminal domain alone. This combination rescued replication activity substantially more than transcription (avg. 67% and 13%, respectively) providing evidence of an essential domain-domain interaction for RNA synthesis that is more favorable for replication


Abstract In rural Nigeria, most households cannot afford food products rich in vitamin A which gave rise to the introduction of bio-fortified agricultural produces. One of these is the Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP). Although introduced about six years ago, empirical evidence as regards the actual level of adoption as well as its effect on their productivity remains relatively scarce. The analysis was built on a field survey of 183 smallholders in Kwara State, Nigeria conducted in the year 2016. Tobit model and the Heckman's two stage models were used to model the determinants the intensity of cultivation and the effect of OFSP's cultivation on the income of the smallholders. Results indicate that almost 87% of the smallholders sampled were into the cultivation of OFSP with 56% of them cultivating it solely for family consumption and its nutritional value. Also, 44% of them put less than half a hectare of their farmland to the cultivation of OFSP. The result showed that aged smallholders, members of cooperative groups and those who cultivate OFSP solely have a smaller proportion of their farmland cultivated to OFSP. Similarly, the age of the smallholders, household size, years of schooling, cost of production were the factors that significantly influence the cultivation OFSP on the income of the smallholders. The policy implication of this is that the potentials of OFSP have to be promoted particularly among the rural smallholders most especially through the existing cooperative groups. This can either be through organized seminars or specifically through demonstration plots.


Spinel ferrites are porous ceramics with remarkable electrical and magnetic properties. They belong to a technologically important class of magnetic materials which have high resistivity and chemical stability. These properties make them suitable for a wide variety of applications, where other magnetic materials cannot be used. Magnetic, electric, and structural properties of ferrites are tunable. These are currently of great research interest due to the ease of tailoring their magnetic properties by systematic substitution of cations and by proper choice of preparation techniques and post preparation treatments. The Cr3+cations have a strong preference to occupy in the B-site and have an affinity for anti-ferromagnetic coupling with Fe ions. Thus, partial or total substitution of one of the cations with Cr induces magnetic frustrations in the spinel ferrite system, which leads to interesting magnetic properties. Therefore, it is very interesting to study variation in magnetic properties on replacement of Cr in the place of Fe in spinel ferrites. This chapter explains tailoring of magnetic and structural properties of some spinel ferrites via solution-self-combustion, fuel-to-oxidizer ratio substitution, and proper substitution.


In this work we describe the URJC&UNED participation in the ImageCLEF 2013 Photo Annotation Task. We use visual informa- tion to find similar images and textual information extracted from the training set to label the test images. We propose two additional visual features apart from the provided by the organization and a method to expand the textual information available. The new visual features pro- posed define the images in terms of color and texture, and the textual method uses WordNet to obtain synonyms and hyperonyms of the tex- tual information provided. The score of each concept is obtained by using a co-ocurrence matrix that matches concepts and textual information of the training images. The experimental results show that the proposal is able to obtain competitive results in all the performance measures used.


The epidemiology of Serratia marcescens is poorly understood. We designed a study to investigate carriage sites of the organism, and possible modes of transmission of infection. Using Sorbitol?MacConkey agar with colistin 200 IU/ml and MacConkey agar with a 10 m g colistin disc we performed cultures from various sites in patients already infected with S. marcescens. Over the same period of time we also investigated all patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) for colonization with the agent. Environmental screening was performed in the ICU only. Of 37 infected patients, 65% demonstrated carriage at a second site and 43% at multiple sites. Throat carriage was found in 59%, faecal carriage in 42%, nasal carriage in 31% and urinary carriage in 22%. Carriage over several weeks was found in 22%. Of 40 ICU patients, 10% demonstrated nasal and/or throat carriage. Environmental screening yielded 4 isolates. All ICU patient strains and a strain from the ICU bedpan macerator were O14:K14 with similar random amplified polymorphic DNA types. These results show that patients with S. marcescens infection are likely to carry the organism at multiple sites and that carriage may be prolonged. A significant level of carriage was also found in non-infected patients in a unit where the organism was prevalent.


Introduction: In this study, we investigate the role of differential expression of splicing factors and exon skipping in the receptor tyrosine kinase family on prostate cancer health disparities in African American men. Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most diagnosed cancer in men and the second leading cause of male-cancer related deaths in the U.S. Dramatic ethnic disparities have been observed in PCa patients, as African American (AA) men are 60% more likely to be diagnosed with PCa and have a 2.4 fold higher mortality rate compared to European American (EA) men. Increasing evidence suggests that, after accounting for epidemiological factors, a remaining component of this disparity is due to intrinsic genetic and biological factors. Interestingly, recent exon array data from our lab suggest that differential expression of splicing factors (SFs) and differential alternative splicing may be occurring in AA PCa. We hypothesize that differential alternative splicing involving exon 14 of the FGFR3 gene is generating a shorter, more oncogenic variant in AA PCa, which is absent or weakly expressed in EA PCa. Differential splicing of FGFR3 and increased expression of SFs in AA patients may be mechanisms contributing to AA PCa health disparities. Results: Exon array data suggested FGFR3 as a candidate for differential alternative splicing. Exon profiling and RT-PCR validated enriched expression of a short variant of FGFR3 due to skipping of exon 14 in AA patient samples and cell lines. Cloning confirmed the presence of the FGFR3-L variant (containing exon 14) and the FGFR3-S variant (without exon 14) from an EA and AA PCa cell line, respectively. Enrichment of FGFR3-S resulted in increased cell proliferation in an AA cell line. RNA-seq data analysis suggests decreased survival of PCa patients with high FGFR3-S/-L expression ratios. Additionally, our exon array data predicted increased expression of seven SFs in AA patients. RT-PCR and IHC analysis validated increased expression in AA specimens. Knockdown of these SFs resulted in decreased invasion and FGFR3 splice switching in an AA cell line. Conclusions: We have identified an oncogene of interest, FGFR3, which undergoes exon skipping that is specific to AA PCa. In cell lines, this shorter isoform of FGFR3 leads to an increased oncogenic phenotype based on proliferation assays. We have shown that AA PCa patient specimens have increased expression of specific SFs compared to EA specimens and knockdown of SFs reduces AA PCa cell invasion and causes splice switching of FGFR3. Thus, differential expression of SFs and exon skipping in FGFR3 may be one mechanism contributing to the increased aggressiveness of PCa in AA patients. Citation Format: Jacqueline Olender, Bi-Dar Wang, Norman H. Lee. Alternative splicing of FGFR3 as a mechanism for African American prostate cancer health disparities. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr C42.


Circadian regulation of glucose homeostasis and insulin secretion has long been appreciated as an important feature of metabolic control in humans. Circadian disruption is becoming increasingly prevalent in today's society and is likely responsible in part for the considerable rise in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and metabolic syndrome worldwide. Thus, understanding molecular mechanisms driving the inter‐relationship between circadian disruption and T2DM is important in context of disease prevention and therapeutics. In this regard, the goal of this article is to highlight the role of the circadian system, and islet circadian clocks in particular, as potential regulators of β‐cell function and survival. To date, studies have shown that islet clocks respond to changes in feeding patterns, and regulate a multitude of critical cellular processes in insulin secreting β‐cells (e.g. insulin exocytosis, mitochondrial function and response to oxidative stress). Subsequently, either genetic or environmental disruption of normal islet clock performance compromises β‐cell function and leads to loss of glycaemic control. Future work is warranted to further unravel the role of circadian clocks in human islet function in health and contributions to pathogenesis of T2DM.


The presence of many completely uncharacterized proteins, even in well-studied organisms such as humans, seriously hampers full understanding of the functioning of the living cells. ADP-ribosylation is a common post-translational modification of proteins; also nucleic acids and small molecules can be modified by the covalent attachment of ADP-ribose. This modification, important in cellular signalling and infection processes, is usually executed by enzymes from the large superfamily of ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTs). Here, using bioinformatics approaches, we identify a novel putative ADP-ribosyltransferase family, conserved in eukaryotic evolution, with a divergent active site. The hallmark of these proteins is the ART domain nestled between flanking leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains. LRRs are typically involved in innate immune surveillance. The novel family appears as putative novel ADP-ribosylation-related actors, most likely pseudoenzymes. Sequence divergence and lack of clearly detectable "classical" ART active site suggests the novel domains are pseudoARTs, yet atypical ART activity, or alternative enzymatic activity cannot be excluded. We propose that this family, including its human member LRRC9, may be involved in an ancient defense mechanism, with analogies to the innate immune system, and coupling pathogen detection to ADP-ribosyltransfer or other signalling mechanisms.


Background: Heterotopic pregnancy is a rare complication of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and diagnosis and treatment can be challenging, particularly with unusual ectopic sites and desire to maintain the intrauterine pregnancy. Case: We review the case of a 29-year-old female who presented with a cornual heterotopic pregnancy following IVF treated with exploratory laparotomy and ultrasound guided resection of the cornual pregnancy, resulting in an ongoing viable singleton intrauterine pregnancy. Conclusion: The management of cornual heterotopic pregnancies is limited by lack of data regarding ideal treatment although several surgical and non-surgical strategies have been described. This case uses abdominal resection of cornual ectopic pregnancy using intraoperative ultrasound as an optimal approach to remove the ectopic pregnancy without disrupting the viable intrauterine pregnancy, which was in close proximity of the cornual ectopic.


Predicting population‐level effects from changes in demographic rates of different life stages is critical to prioritize conservation efforts. Demographic modeling and sensitivity analysis in particular, has become a standard tool to evaluate how management actions influence species' survival. Demographic analyses have resulted in the robust generalization that, for long‐lived species with delayed reproduction, population growth rates will be most sensitive to changes in survivorship of older‐aged individuals. Although useful in guiding management, this simple maxim may limit options for conservation by causing managers to overlook actions that, although possibly not the most effective in terms of increasing a population's growth rate in an ideal world, can nonetheless more feasibly and rapidly slow a population's decline. We examine the population‐level benefits of increasing chick survival in a long‐lived seabird, the Laysan albatross Phoebastria immutabilis. Specifically, we use a simple deterministic modeling approach to evaluate the impact of chick mortality (from ingestion of lead‐based paint) on the population growth rate (λ) for Laysan albatross that breed on Sand Island, Midway Atoll (part of the Hawaiian Archipelago). We estimate that up to 7% of chicks on Sand Island fail to fledge as a result of lead poisoning, which will create a 16% reduction in the Laysan albatross population size (∼190 000 less birds) at 50 years into the future. We demonstrate how straightforward management actions that increase juvenile survivorship (e.g. removal of lead‐based paint) can help slow population declines while efforts are underway to reduce politically and logistically challenging threats to adult survivorship (e.g. mortality from international fisheries bycatch). Our work exemplifies a situation where overgeneralizations about demography can stifle useful conservation actions and highlights the need to consider the population‐level benefits from multiple management strategies.


This paper considers estimating a covariance matrix of p variables from n observations by either banding the sample covariance matrix or estimating a banded version of the inverse of the covariance. We show that these estimates are consistent in the operator norm as long as (logp) 2 =n ! 0, and obtain explicit rates. The results are uniform over some fairly natural well-conditioned families of covariance matrices. We also introduce an analogue of the Gaussian white noise model and show that if the population covariance is embeddable in that model and well-conditioned then the banded approximations produce consistent estimates of the eigenvalues and associated eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. The results can be extended to smooth versions of banding and to non-Gaussian distributions with su‐ciently short tails. A resampling approach is proposed for choosing the banding parameter in practice. This approach is illustrated numerically on both simulated and real data.


The Virginia chicken lines have been divergently selected for juvenile body-weight for more than 50 generations. Today, the high-and low-weight lines show a 12-fold difference for the selected trait, 56-day body-weight. These lines provide unique opportunities to study the genetic architecture of long-term, single-trait selection. Previously, several Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) contributing to weight differences between the lines were mapped in an F2-cross between them, and these were later replicated and fine-mapped in a nine-generation advanced intercross of them. Here, we explore the possibility to further increase the fine-mapping resolution of these QTL via a pedigree-based imputation strategy that aims to better capture the haplotype-diversity in the divergently selected, but outbred, founder lines. The founders of the intercross were high-density genotyped, and then pedigree-based imputation was used to assign genotypes throughout the pedigree. Imputation increased the marker-density 20-fold in the selected QTL, providing 6911 markers for the subsequent analysis. Both single-marker association and multi-marker backward-elimination analyses were used to detect associations to 56-day body-weight. The approach revealed several statistically and population-structure independent associations and increased the resolution of most QTL. Further, most QTL were also found to contain multiple independent associations, implying a complex underlying architecture due to the combined effects of multiple, linked loci on independent haplotypes that still segregate in the selected lines. Article summary After 50 generations of bi-directional selection, the Virginia chicken lines display a 12-fold difference in bodyweight at 56 days of age. Birds from the high and low selected lines were crossed to found an Advanced Intercross Line, which has been maintained for 9 generations. Using high-density genotypes of the founders, we imputed genotypes in intercross birds that were only genotyped for a sparse set of markers. Using single and multi-marker association analyses, we replicated nine known body-weight QTL. Multiple statistically independent associations were revealed in eight of the QTL, suggesting that most are caused by multiple linked loci.


A new approach to low-complexity channel estimation in orthogonal-frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is proposed. A low-rank approximation is applied to a linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) estimator that uses the frequency correlation of the channel. By using the singular value decomposition (SVD) an optimal low-rank estimator is derived, where performance is essentially preserved-even for low computational complexities. A fixed estimator, with nominal values for channel correlation and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), is analysed. Analytical mean-squared error (MSE) and symbol-error rates (SER) are presented for a 16-QAM OFDM system.


Specific protein detection by means of antibody-nanoparticle conjugates is a new field in medical nanobiotechnology. Among many nanoparticles used, gold nanoparticles show strong light-absorption properties which have been exploited in designing nanobiosensors. Fibronectin (FN) plays an important role in extracellular matrix (ECM) structure and function of normal cells; however, in conditions like lung carcinoma its expression increases, especially in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). In this study, we conjugated gold nanoparticles to human fibronectin antibody (anti-hFN) to design a colorimetric nanobiosensor for detection of FN present in ECM of cultured cells. Three different cell lines namely A549 (target cells), AGO-1522 (control cells) and Nalm-6 (negative control cells) were used to compare changes in color resulting from aggregation of gold nanoparticles due to higher amount of FN. Our construct was able to detect increased level of FN which was distinguishable visually by change in color and could be confirmed by spectrophotometer as well.


A 76-year-old man with a background of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease presented with new-onset dysphagia. On examination, pooling of saliva in the pyriform fossa was noted. Systemic examination was otherwise unremarkable. He went on to have a barium swallow examination. During the procedure, he became breathless and oxygen saturation dropped to 85% on room air. Bilateral crackles and wheezing were noted on auscultation. He was transferred directly to our intensive care unit. Chest X-ray was performed immediately, which showed bilateral dense punctate foci and linear opacities in the alveoli and tracheobronchial tree, with greater involvement of the left side as compared with the right (figure 1). What is your diagnosis?


Human-induced climate change represents a global process affecting local communities. Coastal settlements, infrastructure and institutions are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as sea level rise and the increased intensity and frequency of storm events such as floods. This paper outlines a research project that will assess the adaptive capacity of coastal communities to climate change (e.g. to adapt to the effects of climate change on the coast, including sea level rise, shifts in maritime climate patterns, increased coastal erosion rates and increased probability of tropical cyclones, and consequent storm surges). Using a case study approach, the methodology will be used to assess adaptive capacity at different coastal sites of Australia, integrating coastal vulnerability assessments based on the physical forcing scenarios with the identification of socio-economical, environmental and institutional issues. At the same time, the research project will be compared with the findings of current European research projects and case studies dealing with climate change adaptive capacity. A project will contribute to different initiatives are currently being developed in Australia and more specifically in Queensland (the Queensland Smart State project Future Coastlines, and the SEQ Adaptation / CSIRO Cluster involving both Griffith University and the University of the Sunshine Coast).


Sublithographic Programmable Logic Arrays can be interconnected and restored using nanoscale wires. Building on a hybrid of bottom-up assembly techniques supported by conventional lithographic patterning, we show how modest-sized PLA logic blocks, which are efficient for implementing logic, can be organized into a segmented, Manhattan mesh interconnection scheme. The resulting programmable architecture has a macro-scale view which is reminiscent of lithographic FPGA and CPLD designs despite the fact that the low-level, sublithographic fabrication techniques used are much more highly constrained than conventional lithography and are prone to high defect rates. Using the Toronto 20 benchmark set, we begin to explore the design space for these sublithographic architectures and show that they may allow us to exploit nanowire building blocks to reach one to two orders of magnitude greater density than 22nm CMOS lithography.


We present the first quasiperiodic (QP) echoes from 3‐m E region field‐aligned irregularities observed in the Southamerican sector, just outside the magnetic equator (7.5°N geomagnetic). These QP echoes occur only at night and between 105 and 120 km. In general, Piura QP echoes present periods close to the Brunt‐Väisälä period (5 to 10 min), striations with positive slopes and altitude rates of 20‐25 m s−1 (upward/northward), striations spacings of 3 to 10 km, and downward/southward Doppler velocities. These results are compared to midlatitude QP echoes from 3‐ and 6‐m irregularities observed between 13.3°N and 46.7°N geomagnetic. We found that the general characteristics that are common to our observations and other QP observations are the nighttime occurrence and the periods close to the Brunt‐Väisälä period. On the other hand, the discrepancies with some of the QP echoes observed at mid‐latitudes are found in the slope and spacing of the striations, the mean phase velocities, and the mean altitude location of the E layer containing the striations.


Partially thiolated polycytidylic acid (MPC), a representative member of the "antitemplate" class of novel chemotherapeutic agents, is a potent inhibitor of the E. coli DNA-dependent RNA polymerase. It inhibited 50% of the enzymic reaction at a concentration of 6 micrometers. Kinetic studies indicated that MPC had no effect on the chain elongation of the transcription process, but it appeared to inhibit the initiation of RNA synthtesis presumably by competing with the DNA template for binding to the RNA polymerase. Binding studies, using a gel filtration method, showed that MPC and the RNA polymerase formed a stable complex which was not dissociated by 0.3 M NaCl. It is inferred that mixed disulfide linkage(s) might have been formed between the enzyme and MPC. The implications of these findings are discussed.


After several years of difficulties, Eurozone's recovery appears to be underway. However, the ongoing recovery tends to exacerbate the North-South differences. Although the policy measures restored the nominal convergence, the key to the Euro preservation, the continuing real divergencies posed a threat to political social stabilities of some countries. The answer is sought in the structural convergence policies. Those are just beginning, but the issues of political and social histories, together with economic inequalities and transfer problems, loom large. Structural convergence may be the "savior" of the common currency but its realization will be as hard and controversial as many steps taken in the past.