Increasing anthropogenic stresses have challenged the global population's ability to meet the growing demands of food, energy, and water (FEW). With the population set to hit 9 billion by 2050, it becomes indispensable to manage these three vital resources sustainably. Moreover, climate change is expected to have adverse consequences on agriculture, which is one of the primary occupations in developing countries like India. Extreme weather events caused by climate change could impact agricultural productivity severely, affecting economic-food-water-energy security. Hence, there is a dire need to study the impact of climate on agricultural production and its supporting resources – water and energy. Although studying the nexus between FEW is gaining attention lately, evaluating the future FEW interactions in the agricultural sector with an emphasis on climate change is missing. Therefore, this study employs a data-intensive approach to quantify the current and future FEW interactions under the impact of climate change.

First, FAO's CROPWAT 8.0 model was used to estimate crop water requirements for major crops like paddy, sugarcane, groundnut, cotton, and maize in the study area of Andhra Pradesh state, India. CROPWAT uses a soil water balance approach that requires information about several datasets like evapotranspiration, rainfall, soil, and crop information. Massive datasets such as farm-level agricultural data, station-wise rainfall data, and reference evapotranspiration data were incorporated into the model. Second, we calculate the future crop water requirements using future rainfall and temperature datasets, available till 2095, from Global Climate Models (GCMs) under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 emission scenario. To achieve this at the district-scale, we downscaled the information regarding temperature using the delta change method and applied the Thornthwaite method to estimate the reference evapotranspiration. Then, energy consumed by each crop in every district was quantified. Third, we estimated the current and future FEW interactions using the commonly employed two-at-one-time methodology.

Results indicated that water-intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane account for most groundwater and energy consumption. Southern districts of the state consume relatively more groundwater and energy than the northern regions. Further, high water-intensive crops like paddy were being cultivated in several dry regions, furthering the groundwater resources depletion and rising energy costs. For instance, in Kurnool district, the irrigation water requirements for paddy increased by almost 20% from the 2020s (644 mm) to the 2090s (772 mm). Clearly, such an increase can be attributed to a changing climate causing increased evapotranspiration. The resulting increase in groundwater and energy consumption, has the potential to endanger food and water security in countries like India. The approach outlined in this study also allows us to identify vulnerable hotspots that would enable policymakers to design effective adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector. The synergistic benefits offered by FEW nexus approaches have the potential to ensure food security at local and global scales.


Within the project framework the structure and properties was investigated of the cemented carbides, cermets and oxide ceramics using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The X-ray qualitative microanalysis and surface distribution analysis of elements in the investigated materials were made using the EDS X-ray energy dispersive radiation spectrometer. The roughness measurements of the developed materials were made in two orthogonal directions. The Ra parameter was assumed to be the value describing surface roughness. The microhardness tests using the Vickers method were made on the dynamic ultra microhardness tester. The measurements were made in the "load - unload" mode.


We successfully grew high-quality single-grain (Nd0.33Eu0.39Gd0.27)Ba2Cu3Oy pellets using MgO seed crystals, provided a small quantity of ZnO was added. Tc (onset) continuously decreased with growing Zn content. An optimum for ZnO, compromising good superconducting and electromagnetic properties, was 0.035 mol%. With this ZnO content, Tc>92 K, a critical current density of 100 kA cm−2 was achieved at 77 K and 3 T, and the irreversibility field was >7 T. Perfect facet lines up to the bottom of the sample with the c-axis reflection plane appeared after the melt growth, implying a high density of the material and practically no liquid loss. Very small difference in the trapped field distribution on the top and bottom surfaces confirmed a uniform crystallographic structure and the electromagnetic properties of the pellet.


This article focuses on the indeterminate protection challenge of the sensitivity deterioration (SD) (also known as protection blindness) of the overcurrent protection (OCP) devices due to the large-scale integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in the unbalanced distribution networks (DNs). The protection blindness of the OCP has been demonstrated through novel mathematical formulations to quantify the percentage of the SD for different types of distributed generation (DG) units and for the varying DG penetration levels. Furthermore, this issue has been realistically analyzed for the different fault impedances and DG locations to examine its impact on the existing OCP system. A mitigation strategy has been proposed to overcome the SD issue of the OCP protective devices (PDs) for a steadfast operation of the OCP devices without requiring costly upgrades of the protection system. This protection blindness issue has been explored and the mitigation strategies have been tested for both synchronous and inverter-based DGs using the IEEE standardized test feeders. The proposed mitigation strategy has been validated in the IEEE 34-bus test system. The simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed mitigation strategy to restore the protection coordination and suitability to improve grid resilience.


After decerebration at the pons Varolii level and the spinal cord section at Th10, spontaneous alternating movements occurred with a locomotor rhythm in the cat forelimbs and smoothly transmitted into stepping when a treadmill was started. The duration of EMG burst in m. triceps brachii and the cycle duration during the spontaneous locomotor rhythm depended on the forelimbs position. Their values were maximal when the limbs were protracted and minimal in retracted limbs. The cycle duration of the stepping movements in a "slow" treadmill was longer in the preparations whose spontaneous cycle duration was longer. Duration of the stepping cycle was no longer than that of spontaneous cycle when the forelimbs were in the middle position.


Certain cells in the hepatopancreas of the common garden snail (Helix aspersa) contain intracellular granules that are sites of metal-ion accumulation. These granules have been extracted and investigated by u.v. and i.r. spectroscopy, atomic-absorption spectroscopy, X-ray microanalysis, thermogravimetric analysis, enzymic assay and microanalysis. The deposits contain about 18% (w/w) water, 5% (w/w) organic matter and 76% (w/w) inorganic material of which the main components are Ca2+, Mg2+ and P2O7(4)-. The possible origin of these granules is discussed, as is their role in detoxifying heavy-metal ions.


Diode array digital radiography DADR is a method of radiographic imaging that combines the advantages of computer technology with self-scanning linear diode arrays. These digital images are superior to those obtained by film in recording and displaying information in the lightest and the darkest areas of the film, resulting in a balanced image of the entire thorax without compromising detail, and at reduced radiation dose. This is a direct result of the wide dynamic range, high contrast sensitivity, fiber optic coupling, small diode size, short exposure time, and rejection of scattered x-rays of the system coupled with digital post-processing enhancement of the image displayed at 1024×1024 pixels.


This article is an attempt of presenting feeling of threat problem as well as connecting this phenomenon with psychological components of persons functioning in dangerous work environment conditions. Subject of feeling of threat can be understood as "experiencing apprehension concerning results of potential/actual dangers", oscillates in terminological area of anxiety, fear, stress, restlessness and it highlights a cognitive process distinctive for listed phenomenon's. Together with technological and organization changes increases number of health problems affecting workers in different institutions. The hardest work conditions affect people working in high-risk occupation. Physical factors of work environment as well as coexisting psychic occurrence affects multidimensional functioning of worker not only in terms of working conditions. The analysis of feeling of threat and its correlates is going to be presented based on empirical study executed on group of 304 (100 firefighters, 100 miners, and 104 employees of chemical factory). Obtained results will be used to present dependence between multidimensional functioning of person in dangerous work environment and feeling of threat.


Background: The fabella is a sesamoid bone situated within the lateral head of the gastrocnemius tendon, close to the lateral femoral condyle, and adjoined to the fabellofibular ligament. It is a normal variant, found in up to 87% of patients. Fabella Syndrome describes traditionally posterolateral knee pain, occurring due to biomechanical pressure of the fabella against the lateral femoral condyle. Given its rarity, its diagnosis is often overlooked. We present a case of Fabella Syndrome with a modified surgical excision technique and review of the literature. Methods and Results: A thirty-four-year-old man presented with posterolateral knee pain following de-rotation surgery to correct a femoral malunion, from a previous femoral shaft fracture. Due to the patient's complex orthopaedic history, Fabella Syndrome was not initially diagnosed. Fabellectomy eliminated all symptoms of knee pain, with no limitations in knee function. Conclusion: Review of the literature identified ten publications (evidence level IV) describing Fabella Syndrome. This is the first reported case of Fabella Syndrome secondary to femoral de-rotation surgery. The authors recommend fabellectomy as a definitive treatment for Fabella Syndrome, in keeping with published literature.


The Girls' Books in Series collection at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Jackson Library contains over 1850 volumes, with publication dates ranging from the mid-1800s to the 1980s. The library's list currently contains approximately 511 different series. The library owns all the titles for 85 of the series. For 167 of the series, the library does not have any titles, and for the remaining 259, the library owns at least one (and sometimes most) of the titles. The volumes in these series depict a wide range of settings, environments, and situations in which the young heroines act. These books, aimed at a pre-teen and teen audience, both reflected and perhaps molded the lives of girls over the course of a century. They serve as either descriptive or prescriptive views of behaviors deemed normal, exceptional, or acceptable. An area of possible interest concerns images of college life, particularly the freshman year experience. By linking fictional accounts of what it meant to be a female freshman to the actual and evolving status of young women in higher education, it might be possible to ascertain a relationship between teenagers' reading materials and their aspirations to higher education. Another question concerns the quality of children's book series and their role in, and effect on, children's reading behavior.


We report on a study of the electromagnetic response of three different families of high- superconductors that in combination allowed us to cover the whole doping range from under- to overdoped. The discussion is focused on the ab-plane charge dynamics in the pseudogap state which is realized in underdoped materials below a characteristic temperature , a temperature that can significantly exceed the superconducting transition temperature . We explore the evolution of the pseudogap response by changing the doping level, by varying the temperature from above to below , or by introducing impurities in the underdoped compounds. We employ a memory function analysis of the ab-plane optical data that allows us to observe the effect of the pseudogap most clearly. We compare the infrared data with other experimental results, including the c-axis optical response, dc transport, and angle-resolved photoemission.


This study investigated electroencephalographic correlates in chronically depressed patients compared to healthy controls using intracutaneously applied electrical pain stimulus, to better understand the interaction between pain processing and depression. A close interaction between pain and depression is generally recognized although the precise mechanisms are not yet fully understood. The present study focuses on the hypothesis that effective brain connectivity in major depression patients is altered. Multifunctional interactions between brain regions represent a robust index of effective interactions within the brain, and can be quantified by network redundancy. Thus, structural network differences between 18 normal controls and 18 major depression patients before as well as during the processing of moderately painful intracutaneous electrical stimuli were investigated on the basis of network redundancy differences. In our sample, both patients and control subjects exhibit comparable network redundancies before stimulus application. Caused by the stimulus, there is a global increase of network redundancy in both groups. This increase is diminished in the group of major depression patients. We found clear differences between patients and controls during the stimulus processing, where the network redundancy in normal controls is larger in comparison to patients. The differences might be explained by the fact that major depression patients are more restricted to the affective component of the processing. The well-established biasing to affective processing might suppress the somatosensory processing resulting in a lower number of connections within the considered network. This might then lead to a reduction in network redundancy during stimulus processing.


Wildlife-vehicle collisions, especially with deer (Odocoileus spp.), elk (Cervus elaphus) and moose (Alces alces) are numerous and have shown an increasing trend over the last several decades in the United States and Canada. We calculated the costs associated with the average deer($6,617), elk($17,483) and moose-vehicle collision ($30,760), including vehicle repair costs, human injuries and fatalities, towing, accident attendance and investigation, monetary value to hunters of the animal killed in the collision, and cost of disposal of the animal carcass. In addition, we reviewed the effectiveness and costs of 13 mitigation measures considered effective in reducing collisions with large ungulates We conducted cost-benefit analyses over a 75-year period using discount rates of 1%, 3% and 7% to identify the threshold values (in 2007 $) above which individual mitigation measures start generating benefits in excess of costs. These threshold values were translated into the number of deer-, elk-, or moose-vehicle collisions that need to occur per kilometer per year for a mitigation measure to start generating economic benefits in excess of costs. For example, we calculated that wildlife exclusion fencing in combination with large mammal underpasses (one every 2 km) and wildlife jump-outs generates economic benefits if the pre-mitigation collisions are greater than 3.2 deer, 1.2 elk, or 0.7 moose per km per year (all at 3% discount rate). In addition, we calculated the costs associated with large ungulatevehicle collisions on ten road sections throughout the United States and Canada and compared these to the threshold values. Finally, we conducted a more detailed cost analyses for one of these road sections to illustrate that even though the average costs for large ungulate-vehicle collisions per kilometer per year may not meet the thresholds of many of the mitigation measures, specific locations on a road section can still exceed thresholds. While the analyses can be expanded to include other parameters (e.g. the economic value of habitat connectivity or viable wildlife populations), we believe the cost-benefit model presented in this paper can be a valuable decision support tool for determining mitigation measures to reduce ungulate-vehicle collisions.


In the recent years, there has been a considerable increment of diffused generators connected to distribution grids by means of power converters. These converters operate frequently below their rated power due to the fluctuation of the power generated by the renewable sources. In this scenario, power electronics interfaces could be also used as active harmonic compensators for other converters or distorting loads. Typically, these converters do not have information on other loads or on the level of grid current distortion. For this reason, this paper presents a new control algorithm for the grid harmonics compensation that relies only on the measurement of the voltage at the point of connection of the power converter. The reference of the compensating current is calculated from the harmonic content of the voltage in a reference frame synchronous with the grid voltage. Simulation results carried out on a sample distribution network with linear and nonlinear loads show that the proposed method does not require the knowledge of the harmonic current either of the grid or of the load and it is suitable when the distorting loads are unknown.


The genetic engineering methods to produce the snake neurotoxin obviously have potential advantages over the traditional methods of extracting neurotoxin from snakes. This work was to study the expression and the feasibility of scaled production of snake neurotoxin in the routine expression systems such as E.coli with the α bungarotoxin as an example. First, on the basis of the reported amino acid sequence of α bungarotoxin, DNA sequence of α bungarotoxin was deduced and four partially complementary oligonucleotide fragments were designed. The coding region of α bungarotoxin was obtained by renaturing the DNA fragments, nick filling in, ligation and PCR. The coding region of α bungarotoxin was cloned into plasmids pGEX 2T, named pDZ04, and transformed E.coli BL21 in order to study the expression of α bungarotoxin gene. The results of SDS PAGE analysis showed that the recombinant plasmid pDZ04 could express efficiently in BL21, and the fusion protein took up about 30% 40% of total bacterial protein. Finally, The biological activity of the recombinant α bungarotoxin and the fusion protein was studied with the natural α bungarotoxin purified from the snake venom as control, ELISA results showed that they had similar antigenicity.


Chip Multiprocessors (CMPs) have been prevailing in the modern microprocessor market. As the significant heat is converted by the ever-increasing power density and current leakage, the raised operating temperature in a chip has already threatened the system's reliability and led the thermal control to be one of the most important issues needed to be addressed immediately in chip designs. Due to the cost and complexity of designing thermal packaging, many Dynamic Thermal Management (DTM) schemes have been widely adopted in modern processors.
In this study, we focus on developing a simple and accurate thermal model, which provides a scheduling decision for running tasks. And we show how to design an efficient DTM scheme with negligible performance overhead. First, we propose an efficient DTM scheme for multimedia applications that tackles the thermal control problem in a unified manner. A DTM scheme for multimedia applications makes soft realtime scheduling decisions based on statistical characteristics of multimedia applications. Specifically, we model application execution characteristics as the probability distribution of the number of cycles required to decode frames. Our DTM scheme for multimedia applications has been implemented on Linux in two mobile processors providing variable clock frequencies in an Intel Pentium-M processor and an Intel Atom processor. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed DTM scheme, we exploit two major codecs, MPEG-4 and H.264/AVC based on various frame resolutions. Our results show that our DTM scheme for multimedia applications lowers the overall temperature by 4°C and the peak temperature by 6°C (up to 10°C), while maintaining frame drop ratio under 5% compared to existing DTM schemes for multimedia applications. Second, we propose a lightweight online workload estimation using the cumulative distribution function and architectural information via Performance Monitoring Counters (PMC) to observe the processes dynamic workload behaviors. We also present an accurate thermal model for CMP architectures to analyze the thermal correlation effects by profiling the thermal impacts from neighboring cores under the specific workload. Hence, according to the estimated workload characteristics and thermal correlation effects, we can estimate the future temperature of each core more accurately.
We implement a DTM scheme considering workload characteristics and thermal correlation effects on real machines, an Intel Quad-Core Q6600 system and Dell PowerEdge 2950 (dual Intel Xeon E5310 Quad-Core) system, running applications ranging from multimedia applications to several benchmarks. Experiments results show that our DTM scheme reduces the peak temperature by 8% with 0.54% performance overhead compared to Linux Standard Scheduler, while existing DTM schemes reduce peak temperature by 4% with up to 50% performance overhead.


This paper reports on a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the New Labour (1997-2010) discourse of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in schools, and how it was understood and enacted by policymakers in England and in Wales within the context of devolved government across the UK. By SEL I mean universal school-based programs, located in the concept of children's emotional wellbeing and concerned with developing children's ability to understand, express and manage their emotions. Through a series of in-depth interviews with national level SEL policy actors this investigation worked to understand and identify how the SEL policy discourse worked "to privilege certain ideas and topics and speakers and exclude others" (Ball, 2008, p. 5). Through shining a critical light on the discourse of New Labour SEL policy makers this work responds to the call of Gunter et al. (2014) for critical education researchers to develop and amplify voices which challenge the current hegemonic "common sense" discourse. The findings identify that the relationship between language and political ideology in England and Wales during the New Labour years powerfully shaped the SEL policy discourse.


One of the largest uncertainties in ice-volume changes during the late Quaternary Period is the extent of ice sheets over the Barents and Kara seas. Field research on central and eastern Franz Josef Land, Russia, provide new observations on postglacial emergence and deglaciation that further constrain the magnitude and timing of late Weichselian glaciations. Radiocarbon dating of driftage from raised-marine sequences place deglacial unloading prior to 9.4 ka. At a number of localities within 1 to 2 km of the present glacier margin, in situ shells from raised-marine sediments yield 14C ages between 9.7 and 8.4 yr B.P., evidence that outlet glaciers were at or behind present margins by the early Holocene Period.

The altitude of the marine limit on Franz Josef Land ranges from 49 to 20 m above sea level (asl) and is low compared to eastern Svalbard (110 to 60 m asl). The age of the marine limit ranges from ≥10.4 ka to ca. 6.0 ka and exhibits greater diachrony where emergence is <35 m. A low initial rate of emergence reflects glacio-isostatic compensation offset by a eustatic rise in sea level, and perhaps an additional component from renewed water loading of the Barents Sea after deglaciation. The presence of raised beaches at 1 to 4 m asl that are 1 to 2 ka indicates that uplift is incomplete. An exponential extrapolation of uplift data for Franz Josef Land and eastern Svalbard yields current maximum uplift estimates of 0.7 to 1.6 mm/yr, an inferred <5.5 m of uplift remaining. These values are at least 50% to 80% lower than the inferred uplift residual for a modeled ice sheet in the Barents and Kara seas. The discrepancy indicates that further refinement is needed for this ice-sheet model.

The compilation of emergence data from Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, and Novaya Zemlya confine maximum glacio-isostatic compensation to the Barents Sea; comparatively minor ice sheet loads were over Novaya Zemlya and the southeastern Barents Sea. Emergence isobases since 5 and 9 ka descend northward across Franz Josef Land, indicating a diminishing glacio-isostatic response into the Arctic Ocean.


The current work formulated a micromechanical analysis of a cross-ply laminate and calculated the thermal residual stress in a very thick (0/90)(sub 2n) silicon-carbide/titanium laminate. Results were also shown for a unidirectional laminate of the same material. Discrete fiber-matrix models assuming a rectangular array of fibers with a fiber volume fraction of 32.5 percent and a three-dimensional, finite-element analysis were used. Significant differences in the trends and magnitudes for the fiber, matrix, and interface stresses were calculated for unidirectional and (0/90) models. Larger hoop stresses calculated for the (0/90) model indicate that it may be more susceptible to radial cracking when subjected to mechanical loading than the unidirectional model. The axial stresses in the matrix were calculated to be slightly larger for the (0/90) model. The compressive axial stresses in the fiber were significantly larger in the (0/90) model. The presence of the cross-ply in the (0/90) model reduced the constraint on the fiber, producing radial interface stresses that were less compressive, which could lead to earlier failure of the fiber-matrix interface.


Children and adults make rich causal inferences about the physical and social world, even in novel situations where they cannot rely on prior knowledge of causal mechanisms. We propose that this capacity is supported in part by constraints provided by event structure--the cognitive organization of experience into discrete events that are hierarchically organized. These event-structured causal inferences are guided by a level-matching principle, with events conceptualized at one level of an event hierarchy causally matched to other events at that same level, and a boundary-blocking principle, with events causally matched to other events that are parts of the same superordinate event. These principles are used to constrain inferences about plausible causal candidates in unfamiliar situations, both in diagnosing causes (Experiment 1) and predicting effects (Experiment 2). The results could not be explained by construal level (Experiment 3) or similarity-matching (Experiment 4), and were robust across a variety of physical and social causal systems. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate a novel way in which noncausal information we extract from the environment can help to constrain inferences about causal structure.


UNLABELLED
The Cynara scolymus (artichoke) is widely consumed as tea or food and shows important therapeutic properties. However, few studies have assessed the possible toxic effects of artichoke extracts. This study evaluates genotoxic and mutagenic activities of artichoke leaf aqueous extract in mice using the comet assay and the micronucleus test. Leaf extracts were given by gavage (500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg, and 2000 mg/kg) for 3 consecutive days. Extract composition was investigated using phytochemical screening and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, antioxidant capacity was analyzed through the diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and xanthine oxidase assay. Phytochemical screening detected the presence of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and saponins. HPLC analyses indicated the presence of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, isoquercetrin, and rutin. Extracts showed a dose-dependent free radical scavenging effect of DPPH and an inhibitory effect of xanthine oxidase. The genotoxic results showed that leaf extracts did not increase micronuclei in peripheral blood cells. Compared to the control group, a significant increase in comet assay values was observed only in bone marrow of group treated with 2000 mg/kg, the highest dose tested, indicating that artichoke tea should be consumed with moderation.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
This is the first report of in vivo mutagenic and genotoxic evaluation with C. scolymus. The present study revealed leaf aqueous extract from artichoke shows lack of mutagenicity in vivo, and low genotoxicity and antioxidant activity; indicating that artichoke tea should be consumed with moderation.


This article shows how fundamental higher-order theories of mathematical structures of computer science (e.g. natural numbers [Dedekind 1888] and Actors [Hewitt et. al. 1973]) are categorical meaning that they can be axiomatized up to a unique isomorphism thereby removing any ambiguity in the mathematical structures being axiomatized. Having these mathematical structures precisely defined can make systems more secure because there are fewer ambiguities and holes for cyberattackers to exploit. For example, there are no infinite elements in models for natural numbers to be exploited. On the other hand, the 1st-order theories and computational systems which are not strongly-typed necessarily provide opportunities for cyberattack.
Cyberattackers have severely damaged national, corporate, and individual security as well causing hundreds of billions of dollars of economic damage. [Sobers 2019] A significant cause of the damage is that current engineering practices are not sufficiently grounded in theoretical principles. In the last two decades, little new theoretical work has been done that practically impacts large engineering projects with the result that computer systems engineering education is insufficient in providing theoretical grounding. If the current cybersecurity situation is not quickly remedied, it will soon become much worse because of the projected development of Scalable Intelligent Systems by 2025 [Hewitt 2019].
Kurt Godel strongly advocated that the Turing Machine is the preeminent universal model of computation. A Turing machine formalizes an algorithm in which computation proceeds without external interaction. However, computing is now highly interactive, which this article proves is beyond the capability of a Turing Machine. Instead of the Turing Machine model, this article presents an axiomatization of a strongly-typed universal model of digital computation (including implementation of Scalable Intelligent Systems) up to a unique isomorphism. Strongly-typed Actors provide the foundation for tremendous improvements in cyberdefense.


Traditional H-bridge based Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems used in electric vehicle (EV) charging possess many challenges in high power applications such as fast charging and dynamic charging. Although multilevel converters are suitable for high power applications, existing multilevel converter based WPT systems have many drawbacks such as the need for independent DC sources and undesired circulating currents. As a solution, this paper proposes a novel Integrated Boost Modular Multilevel Converter (IB-MMC) suitable for high power WPT applications. The IB-MMC consists of series connected half-bridge (or full-bridge) sub-modules (SMs) forming each arm of the converter where the DC supply is connected to each arm through a boost inductor. This unique circuit configuration enables the IB-MMC to produce a low THD staircase modulated voltage waveform with a significantly higher amplitude without any circulating currents. A mathematical model of an IB-MMC based WPT system is presented and a simple control technique is discussed. Simulation results of an 11 kW IB-MMC with 4 SMs are presented to demonstrate its ability to produce a 5-level staircase voltage at 85 kHz with 16% THD. The advantages of the proposed IB-MMC technology are demonstrated by comparing it with state-of-the-art H-bridge based WPT systems.


Urease is a ubiquitous nickel metalloenzyme. In plants, its activation requires three urease accessory proteins (UAPs), UreD, UreF, and UreG. In bacteria, the UAPs interact with urease and facilitate activation, which involves the channeling of two nickel ions into the active site. So far this process has not been investigated in eukaryotes. Using affinity pulldowns of Strep-tagged UAPs from Arabidopsis and rice transiently expressed in planta, we demonstrate that a urease–UreD–UreF–UreG complex exists in plants and show its stepwise assembly. UreG is crucial for nickel delivery because UreG-dependent urease activation in vitro was observed only with UreG obtained from nickel-sufficient plants. This activation competence could not be generated in vitro by incubation of UreG with nickel, bicarbonate, and GTP. Compared with their bacterial orthologs, plant UreGs possess an N-terminal extension containing a His- and Asp/Glu-rich hypervariable region followed by a highly conserved sequence comprising two potential HXH metal-binding sites. Complementing the ureG-1 mutant of Arabidopsis with N-terminal deletion variants of UreG demonstrated that the hypervariable region has a minor impact on activation efficiency, whereas the conserved region up to the first HXH motif is highly beneficial and up to the second HXH motif strictly required for activation. We also show that urease reaches its full activity several days after nickel becomes available in the leaves, indicating that urease activation is limited by nickel accessibility in vivo. Our data uncover the crucial role of UreG for nickel delivery during eukaryotic urease activation, inciting further investigations of the details of this process.


Background: Childhood is important and critical period in human life. The foundation of ego is shaped in childhood. Play therapy is one of the successful strategies to help children with inner conflicts problems. This method of psychotherapy is base on the normal learning processes of children, provides solutions to relieve feelings of stress, and expands self-expression. Group play therapy can enhance the self-awareness, self- regulation, social communication, empathy and adoptability in children. Methods: Present study investigated the effects of play therapy on relational and emotional skills of pre-school children. For this purpose, the total numbers of 372 pre-school children were randomly selected, and divided into two equal groups (case and control). In next step, the BUSSE-SR methodology was used for evaluation and comparison of self-awareness, self-regulation, social interaction, empathy, adoptability, and control groups. Pre-test were performed for both groups and case group was involved in-group play therapy. According to the results of post-test, correlation of variables between case-control groups was examined by multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: Frequency of boys and girls in our sample were 51.3 and 48.7 percent, respectively. The mean age of children was 5.1±0.6 year. According to the results of present study, play therapy significantly enhanced the social-emotional skills (P< 0.001). Our findings are consistent with the results of previous studies in other nations with different environmental and cultural properties. In conclusion, it seems that play therapy can be used in pre-school centers to help children learn problem-solving skills and communicate with others.


This review traces the history of neuroscience from its origins to recent times. Early physicians recognized that the brain controls sensation and movement, learning and thought, and that communication between the brain and the body is by way of the spinal cord. A fundamental principle of nervous system structure is the neuron doctrine, the idea that brain and spinal cord are made up of individual elements called neurons, which may touch one another but do not fuse. Communication among neurons and activation of muscles is accomplished in most cases by release of a chemical transmitter substance. Understanding of the nature of electrical signalling in the nervous system culminated in the discovery of the ionic basis of the action potential. Early observations of the effect of brain injury on speech and language, sensation and movement revealed that different parts of the brain and spinal cord are specialized for different functions. The development of techniques for single-cell recording in animals and computer-based imaging in humans showed that there are multiple cortical areas dedicated to further processing of the sensory message, and control of movement.

Keywords:

neuron doctrine;
functional localization;
transmitter substance;
Golgi stain;
nerve conduction


Background: Albumin is considered a negative acute-phase protein because its concentration decreases during injury and sepsis. The decrease in serum albumin might be important for perioperative morbidity, even in patients with normal preoperative levels in pediatric population. We here intend to determine the perioperative factors associated with the reduction in serum albumin within 2 postoperative days compared with the preoperative level (∆ALB) and its influence on the perioperative outcome in a pediatric general surgical cohort. Methods: This single-center retrospective review included 939 patients who underwent Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy between August 2010 and Aug 2019. Based on the median ∆ALB (14.6%), patients were separated into two groups, including a high ∆ALB group (≥14.6%) and a low ∆ALB group (<14.6%). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the independent risk factors for the reduction in serum albumin. Propensity score matching was performed to adjust for any potential selection bios for the two groups. In 366 matched patients, influences of operating time on perioperative outcomes, including postoperative recovery, complications measurement, length of hospital stay between the two groups were analyzed. Results: For all 996 patients reviewed, 939 patient records were enrolled into the final analysis. Controlling for other factors, multivariate analysis showed that the high CRP on POD 3 or 4 (OR =2.36 [95% CI, 1.51-3.86]; p =0.007), presence of Charcot's triad (OR=1.73[95% CI, 1.05-2.83]; p = 0.031), the longer operating time (OR=1.18[95% CI, 1.00 -1.53]; p=0.014) were factors that predicted the high ∆ALB level. The high ∆ALB level was associated with postoperative gastrointestinal functional recovery, reflected by the first defecation (p= 0.013) and first bowel movement (p=0.019) and the high occurrence of postoperative complications (16.1% vs 10.9%, RR, 1.57; 95 %CI, 1.02-2.41, P=0.0026). The mean length of postoperative stay was longer than that of patients with ∆ALB < 14.0% group, although no statistic significant was stained (p=0.057). Conclusions: We showed that change in albumins was associated with postoperative outcomes. The risk factors for ∆ALB could be intervened in the perioperative period to permit patients gain a safe recovery and discharge after major abdominal operations


Generative Adversarial Networks have a surprising ability to generate sharp and realistic images, but they are known to suffer from the so-called mode collapse problem. In this paper, we propose a new GAN variant called Mixture Density GAN that overcomes this problem by encouraging the Discriminator to form clusters in its embedding space, which in turn leads the Generator to exploit these and discover different modes in the data. This is achieved by positioning Gaussian density functions in the corners of a simplex, using the resulting Gaussian mixture as a likelihood function over discriminator embeddings, and formulating an objective function for GAN training that is based on these likelihoods. We show how formation of these clusters changes the probability landscape of the discriminator and improves the mode discovery of the GAN. We also show that the optimum of our training objective is attained if and only if the generated and the real distribution match exactly. We support our theoretical results with empirical evaluations on three mode discovery benchmark datasets (Stacked-MNIST, Ring of Gaussians and Grid of Gaussians), and four image datasets (CIFAR-10, CelebA, MNIST, and Fashion-MNIST). Furthermore, we demonstrate (1) the ability to avoid mode collapse and discover all the modes and (2) superior quality of the generated images (as measured by the Fréchet Inception Distance (FID)), achieving the lowest FID compared to all baselines.


In January 2004, the normally picturesque Cache Valley in northern Utah made national headlines with the highest PM2.5 levels in the nation. Epidemiological studies linked exposure to particulate air pollution in other locations with stroke and Alzheimer's disease and to early mortality from all causes, cancer, and cardiopulmonary diseases. To determine potential effects of these particles on human health, human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) were cultured with PM2.5 collected from various locations in the Cache Valley. These particles were slightly cytotoxic, but more potent than NH4NO3, the major chemical component of Cache Valley PM2.5. Gene expression analysis of PM2.5-exposed cells was performed using microarray and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR.) Among other genes, PM2.5 exposure induced genes and proteins involved in the inflammatory response. Most notably, PM2.5-exposed cells showed significant gene level upregulation of activating receptors to interleukins 1 and 6 (IL-1R1 and IL-6R), as well as concomitant increases in protein. Increases in IL-1 receptor associated kinase-1 (IRAK) protein were observed. PM2.5 exposure resulted in release of IL-6, as well phosphorylated STAT3 protein, providing evidence that PM activates the IL-6/gp130/STAT3 signaling pathway in BEAS-2B cells. IL-20 and major histocompatibility complex peptide class-1 (MICA) were upregulated and cleavage of caspase-12 was detected. In total, our results indicate that Cache Valley PM2.5 produces the upregulation of important cytokine receptors and is able to activate both IL-1R- and IL-6R-mediated signaling pathways in human lung cells. These observations are generally consistent with the adverse effects associated with inhalation of fine particulate matter like PM2.5.


The university's 10 year strategic plan charges us to produce 100,000 career-ready graduates. But, what does it mean to be career-ready?A'  In 2015, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released a comprehensive definition of career readiness and related competencies with the goal of providing higher education leaders, policy makers and employers shared language and understanding of the desired learning outcomes for today's college graduate.A'  The NACE career readiness competencies are intentionally broad in order to be applied successfully by faculty across all disciplines to prepare students for entry into today's interdisciplinary workplace and academy.A'  It is commonly accepted that students are more likely to be engaged in course content and achieve academic success necessary to graduate if they can identify and articulate the connection between what they are learning in the classroom and their desired post-graduate goal, whether to enter the workforce or go on for advanced study. In this presentation, representatives from University Career Services will provide an overview of the NACE career readiness competencies and ideas for how to more intentionally and explicitly tie them to classroom learning.A'  Presentation attendees will be able to:1.A' A' A' A' A'  Map existing course assignments to the career readiness competencies2.A' A' A' A' A'  Identify low effort and high impact methods for adding or enhancing current assignments that map to the career readiness competencies3.A' A' A' A' A' A'  Help students articulate the career readiness competencies gained through courseworkA'Â


Growing up with short stature. Psychosocial consequences of hormone treatment To enhance height in children with short stature, growth hormone (GH) can be used. In short children without a detectable pathology underlying their short stature, there is no medical rationale for growth hormone treatment. In order to justify this treatment in short but otherwise healthy children, it is to be shown that being short is associated with psychosocial problems and that hormone treatment improves psychosocial functioning. In adolescence, better effects on height are expected when growth hormone is combined with a puberty delaying hormone (Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Agonist, GnRHa). The administration of this hormone makes the evaluation of the psychosocial effects the more important, as pubertal development is temporarily arrested in adolescents who are already disadvantaged because of their height. This thesis examines psychosocial consequences of hormone treatment in short but healthy children. The literature regarding the psychosocial impact of idiopathic short stature (ISS) and effects of hormone treatment on psychosocial functioning in children with ISS was reviewed and discussed. From the literature review it can be concluded that medically referred children with ISS are a subgroup of short children with, on average and according to their parents, more psychosocial problems than their taller peers and than short children who never visited a pediatrician. Psychosocial adaptation probably depends on the presence or absence of risk- and protective factors, but this has hardly been studied. The literature does not provide evidence that GH treatment, which leads to moderate and variable height gain, improves psychosocial functioning in children with ISS. The psychosocial consequences of combined GH and GnRHa treatment in 38 adolescents with ISS or persistent short stature born small for gestational age (SGA) was prospectively examined in a randomized controlled trial. Before GH/GnRHa treatment, the adolescents with ISS or SGA reported normal psychosocial functioning, whereas the parents reported worries about their children's current behavior or future chances in finding a spouse or a proper job. During three years of treatment, indications for some adverse psychosocial consequences in the treated adolescents were found. This suggests that it is useful to monitor psychosocial functioning during a combined GH/GnRHa treatment in adolescents with ISS or SGA. In young adulthood, both treated and untreated participants showed normal psychosocial functioning compared to Dutch population norms. Height gain was on average 2.3 centimeters more for the treated than for the untreated group. It can be concluded that, in the long term and independent of hormone treatment, adequate psychosocial adjustment is expected in case of short stature. The results of this thesis plead against hormone treatment in short normal adolescents. If in the future hormone treatment will lead to more height gain, making a decision for this treatment in an individual child will be a matter of weighing the pros and cons. It is worthwhile to consider psychosocial interventions instead of or as an adjunct to hormone treatment.


[1] The first simultaneous measurements of discrete chorus emissions on multiple spacecraft, realized in the context of the Cluster mission, revealed a rather unexpected frequency difference of around I kHz between nearly identical discrete elements observed on different spacecraft [Gurnett et al., 2001]. This frequency difference is interpreted herein as a natural outcome of the dependence of the whistler-mode refractive index on the wave normal angle between the wave vector k and the static magnetic field B 0 and the rapid motion of highly localized source region(s) of chorus of 400 km to 1700 km in extent along the field line, but only less than 100 km transverse to the magnetic field, and moving at speeds of 20,000 km/s to 25,000 km/s. Wave packets emanating from the localized regions propagate to two spacecraft at different wave normal angles, and are observed at different frequencies due to the differential Doppler shift between the two spacecraft. These differences in frequency, as well as the different times of arrival of the similar emissions at the different spacecraft, provide a unique opportunity to estimate the source characteristics, using a model involving rapidly moving sources traveling at speeds comparable to the parallel resonant velocity of counterstreaming electrons moving along the Earth's magnetic field lines. We report the determination of chorus emission source region motion for two different cases observed during 2000-2001, where these differences in frequency were readily observable due to the relatively large separation of the Cluster spacecraft. We also report a case in 2002 where the spacecraft separations were smaller, so that these frequency differences were not as evident but nevertheless measurable. In general, our results provide the first experimental evidence that the sources that generate the discrete chorus emissions are in rapid motion.


Linear perturbation theory is appropriate to describe small oscillations of stars, while a mild nonlinearity is still tractable perturbatively but requires one to consider mode coupling, i.e., to take into account second order effects. It is natural to start to look at this problem by considering the coupling between linear radial and nonradial modes. A radial pulsation may be thought of as an important component of an overall mildly nonlinear oscillation, e.g., of a protoneutron star. Radial pulsations of spherical compact objects do not per se emit gravitational waves but, if the coupling between the existing first order radial and nonradial modes is efficient in driving and possibly amplifying the nonradial oscillations, one may expect the appearance of nonlinear harmonics, and gravitational radiation could then be produced to a significant level. More in general, mode coupling typically leads to an interesting phenomenology, thus it is worth investigating in the context of star perturbations. In this paper we develop the relativistic formalism to study the coupling of radial and nonradial first order perturbations of a compact spherical star. From a mathematical point of view, it is convenient to treat the two sets of perturbations as separately parametrized, using a 2-parameter perturbative expansion of the metric, the energy-momentum tensor and Einstein equations in which $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ is associated with the radial modes, $ϵ$ with the nonradial perturbations, and the $\ensuremath{\lambda}ϵ$ terms describe the coupling. This approach provides a well-defined framework to consider the gauge dependence of perturbations, allowing us to use $ϵ$ order gauge-invariant nonradial variables on the static background and to define new second order $\ensuremath{\lambda}ϵ$ gauge-invariant variables representing the result of the nonlinear coupling. We present the evolution and constraint equations for our variables outlining the setup for numerical computations, and briefly discuss the surface boundary conditions in terms of the second order $\ensuremath{\lambda}ϵ$ Lagrangian pressure perturbation.


In this study, characteristics of atmospheric phenomena such as haze and yellow sand (Kosa) events were inves tigated in terms of aerosols by using sky radiometers, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), and optical particle counter (OPC) observations at Fukue-jima and Amami-Oshima Islands from 2003 to 2004. As a result of the data analyses, we determined that aerosol properties such as loading, light absorptivity, particle size, non-sphericity, and vertical distribution showed specific features both in the atmospheric column and near the surface, depending on the atmospheric phenomena compared with normal atmospheric conditions. A specific case was clearly confirmed: the influence of limited light absorptivity dominated even during a Kosa event. In this study, it was confirmed that even if each ground-based instrument observed the phenomena with different ranges for the atmospheric column, lower layer, and surface, the retrieved aerosol properties were consistent. We demonstrated that the combined use of state-of-the-art instrumentation to detect aerosols is useful for quantitatively characterizing the atmospheric phenomena.


Desmosomes are critical for the tissue integrity of stratified epithelia and their appendages. Desmogleins (DSGs) and desmocollins (DSCs) are transmembrane desmosomal cadherins that interact extracellularly to link neighboring epithelial cells. We recently identified a new member of the DSG family, designated desmoglein 4, whose mutations cause hypotrichosis in human, mouse and rat. In this study, we analyzed in detail the expression domains of human desmoglein 4 protein (DSG4) in human skin relative to differentiation markers and other DSGs. Our results show that DSG4 protein is expressed in the more highly differentiated layers of the epidermis. This expression pattern in vivo is recapitulated in highly differentiated HaCaT human keratinocytes and normal human keratinocytes in vitro. In the human hair follicle, DSG4 is expressed specifically in the hair shaft cortex, the lower hair cuticle, and the upper inner root sheath (IRS) cuticle. Using a green fluorescent protein-tagged version of mouse or rat desmoglein 4 protein (Dsg4) and immuno-electron microscopy, we demonstrate that Dsg4 localizes to desmosomes both in vitro and in vivo. The highly specific expression pattern of DSG4 in the human hair follicle, combined with the phenotype of rodent models and human patients with desmoglein 4 mutations, underscores the importance of this adhesion molecule in the integrity of the hair shaft.


Background: We have previously shown that qualitative assessment of surface electrostatic potential of HLA class I molecules helps explain serological patterns of alloantibody binding. We have now used a novel computational approach to quantitate differences in surface electrostatic potential of HLA B-cell epitopes, and applied this to explain HLA Bw4 and Bw6 antigenicity. Methods: Protein structure models of HLA class I alleles expressing either the Bw4 or Bw6 epitope (defined by sequence motifs at positions 77-83) were generated using comparative structure prediction. The electrostatic potential in three-dimensional space encompassing the Bw4/Bw6 epitope was computed by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and quantitatively compared in a pairwise, all-versus-all, fashion to produce distance matrices that cluster epitopes with similar electrostatics properties. Results: Quantitative comparison of surface electrostatic potential at the carboxyl terminal of the α1-helix of HLA class I alleles, corresponding to amino acid sequence motif 77-83, produced clustering of HLA molecules in three principal groups according to Bw4 or Bw6 epitope expression. Remarkably, quantitative differences in electrostatic potential reflected known patterns of serological reactivity better than Bw4/Bw6 amino acid sequence motifs. Quantitative assessment of epitope electrostatic potential allowed the impact of known amino acid substitutions (HLA-B*07:02 R79G, R82L, G83R) that are critical for antibody binding to be predicted. Conclusion: We describe a novel approach for quantitating differences in HLA B-cell epitope electrostatic potential. Proof of principle is provided that this approach enables better assessment of HLA epitope antigenicity than amino acid sequence data alone and it may allow prediction of HLA immunogenicity.


Earth's climate underwent a long-term warming trend from the late Paleocene to early Eocene (~58–51 Ma), with global temperature reaching a sustained maximum during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; 53–50 Ma). Geochemical proxies indicate tropical or warm subtropical sea-surface temperature (SST) conditions in middle and high latitudes in the early Eocene, implying a very low latitudinal temperature gradient. This study investigates whether calcareous nannofossil assemblages in the southwest (SW) Pacific provide evidence of these conditions at middle latitudes in the early to middle Eocene, particularly during the EECO. Specifically, this study documents the biogeographic changes of warm- and cold-water nannofossil species along a paleolatitudinal transect through the EECO to track changes in water masses/ocean circulation at that time.  Early to middle Eocene calcareous nannofossil assemblages were examined from four sites along a latitudinal transect in the SW Pacific, extending from Lord Howe Rise in the north to Campbell Plateau in the south and spanning a paleolatitude of ~46–54°S. All of the sections studied in this project span nannofossil zones NP10–16 (Martini, 1971). The data indicate up to three regional unconformities through the sections: at mid-Waipara, Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 207 and 277, part or all of Zone NP10 (lower Waipawan) is missing; at Sites 207 and 277 a possible hiatus occurs within NP12 (upper Waipawan–lower Mangaorapan); and at all sites part or all of Zone NP15 (lower Bortonian) is missing. Results of this study indicate that nannofossil assemblages in the SW Pacific are more similar to floras at temperate to polar sites rather than those at tropical/subtropical sites. However, variations in the relative abundance of key species in the SW Pacific are broadly consistent with the trends seen in the geochemical proxy records: an increase in warm-water taxa coincided with the EECO, corroborating geochemical evidence for a temperature maximum in the SW Pacific during this interval.  The increase in the abundance and diversity of warm-water taxa and decrease in the abundance of cool-water taxa through the EECO supports previous suggestions that a warm-water mass (northward of the proto-Tasman Front) extended to ~55°S paleolatitude during this interval in response to enhanced poleward heat transport and intensification of the proto-East Australian Current. At the southernmost site, DSDP Site 277, a relatively short-lived influx of warm-water taxa at ~51 Ma suggests that warm waters expanded south at this time. However, greater diversity and abundance of warm-water taxa throughout the EECO at DSDP Site 207, suggests that the proto-East Australian Current exerted greater influence at this latitude for a longer duration than at Site 277. An increase in the abundance of cool-water taxa and decrease in diversity and abundance of warm-water taxa at all sites is recorded following the termination of the EECO. This corresponds with the contraction of the proto-Tasman Front due to weakened proto-East Australian Current flow and associated amplification of the proto-Ross Gyre.  Previous estimates of SSTs from geochemical proxies in the SW Pacific during the EECO indicate that there was virtually no latitudinal temperature gradient and temperatures were tropical to subtropical (>20°C). However, nannofossil data from this study indicate warm temperate conditions (~15–20°C) during the EECO, suggesting that a reduced latitudinal gradient was maintained through this interval, which is in agreement with climate models.


Tapu and noa are often cited as fundamentals by which we enact tikanga, promote well-being and divide labour. However, exactly how tapu informed precolonial gender divisions of labour is difficult to examine, mostly because of the pervasive influence Christianity has had on cosmological narratives, from which tapu derives (Mikaere, 2017; Rewi, 2010; Te Awekotuku, 1994). This article outlines some commentary on the relationship between tapu, gender roles and colonisation, and tries to extend that scholarship. We posit that the tikanga around tapu and noa in contemporary times may be more rigid than it was before, potentially a negative effect of cosmological colonisation. Furthermore, we suggest that precolonial labour may have been divided by the fundamentals of tapu, whereas in contemporary times it seems gender is the primary consideration. The centring (or recentring) of tapu in such conversations may be a worthy decolonisation avenue as we seek to empower Māori of all genders.


The drive toward smart cities alongside the rising adoption of personal sensors is leading to a torrent of sensor data. While systems exist for storing and managing sensor data, the real value of such data is the insight which can be generated from it. However there is currently no platform which enables sensor data to be taken from collection, through use in models to produce useful data products. The architecture of such a platform is a current research question in the field of Big Data and Smart Cities. In this paper we explore five key challenges in this field and provide a response through a sensor data platform "Concinnity" which can take sensor data from collection to final product via a data repository and workflow system. This will enable rapid development of applications built on sensor data using data fusion and the integration and composition of models to form novel workflows. We summarize the key features of our approach, exploring how it enables value to be derived from sensor data efficiently.


In this paper, we report on our implementation of a lattice-based key-policy attribute-based encryption (KP-ABE) scheme, which uses short secret keys. The particular KP-ABE scheme can be used directly for attribute-based access control applications, as well as a building block in more involved applications and cryptographic schemes, such as audit log encryption, targeted broadcast encryption, functional encryption, and program obfuscation. We adapt a recently proposed KP-ABE scheme based on the learning with errors (LWE) problem to a more efficient scheme based on the ring learning with errors (RLWE) problem, and demonstrate an implementation that can be used in practical applications. Our state-of-the-art implementation on graphics processing units shows that the homomorphic public key and ciphertext evaluation operations, which dominate the execution time of the KP-ABE scheme, can be performed in a reasonably short amount of time. Our practicality results also hold when scaled to a relatively large number of attributes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first KP-ABE implementation that supports both ciphertext and public key homomorphism, and the only experimental practicality results reported in this paper.


Orientation: Although tourism growth is higher relative to other industries in South Africa, the failure rate for entrepreneurs in the hospitality subsector is higher relative than other industries. Research purpose: The aim of this research was to identify personality traits affecting entrepreneurial performance in the hospitality subsector. Motivation for the study: By identifying the personality traits affecting entrepreneurial performance, steps can be made to identify individuals who are likely to be successful entrepreneurs. Research design, approach and method:  A random sampling method was used to select respondents. However, only entrepreneurs that employ fewer than 50 full-time employees and who had been in operation for at least 2 years were targeted. A mixed methods research design was then followed. A meeting was held with ten entrepreneurs (qualitative) to discuss the purpose of the study. Consequently, a total of 437 entrepreneurs successfully completed questionnaires (quantitative). Exploratory factor analysis was used to analyse the data. Main findings: The findings clearly indicate that extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to experience significantly ( p < 0.05) and positively affected the performance of entrepreneurs whilst neuroticism significantly ( p < 0.05) and negatively affected the performances of entrepreneurs. Practical/managerial implications: Existing entrepreneurs would do well to develop these traits or employ people with traits that complement their own to assist them in managing their enterprises. Future entrepreneurs may consider these results and decide whether, based on their personality, they are really suited to business ownership. C ontribution/value-add: The research confirms that entrepreneurial attributes differ from industry to industry and are industry specific.


We are investigating the use of 100-mm-long axially oriented scintillator crystals read out at either end by position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMTs) for application to a small-animal positron emission tomography (PET) system. A system design of this type requires a robust and efficient calibration of the detector response in the light-sharing direction in order to accurately decode the location of photon interaction. In this paper, we evaluate methods for determining the axial positioning calibration of dual-ended readout of lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) crystals wrapped in either Teflon or 3M Enhanced Specular Reflector (ESR). We compare a collimated irradiation method to a uniform irradiation method recently proposed by Shao. In the collimated irradiation method, an electronically collimated beam of 511-keV photons aimed perpendicular to the long axis of the crystal is used to irradiate the crystal at nine locations in steps of 1 cm. The ratio of the two PMT signals at each irradiation position is used to give the axial-positioning calibration relating ratio signal to position. In the method by Shao, the crystal was irradiated using either a uniform Ge line source, a Na point source, or the intrinsic background activity in the LYSO. To check the validity of both calibration methods for unbalanced detectors, three voltage variations ranging from 750-800 V were used for the two PMTs. For cases with balanced detector gains, the calibration curves obtained using uniform irradiation and Shao's method agreed very well with the reference curve obtained from the collimated irradiation measurements. For the case with detectors that had unbalanced gain, agreement between uniform irradiation and collimated irradiation methods was only achieved if the trigger threshold energies of the two PMTs were adjusted to give similar single-event rates in both PMTs. These findings suggest that Shao's calibration method using uniform irradiation will provide a simple, accurate, and rapid method for calibration of 100-mm-long dual-ended readout detectors.


OF DISSERTATION SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTIONS IN WINTER WHEAT Aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) are pests of multiple cropping systems, primarily due to the viruses they vector and direct crop damage that is exacerbated by their rapid population growth. In Kentucky, grain aphids (Rhopalosiphum padi and Sitobion avenae) cause significant yield loss to winter wheat as vectors of Barley Yellow Dwarf virus (BYDV), prompting the routine application of insecticides. Coupled with growing human populations and decreasing arable land, it is increasingly evident that biological control services provided by natural enemies represent a viable long-term management option. Aphids are preyed upon by a diverse array of predators that can be exploited in conservation biological control. I designed a field experiment to monitor dispersal into and out of wheat fields, and how these movements were affected by the surrounding habitat. Analysis revealed there are significant movements of R. padi into the wheat in the fall, and S. avenae in spring, and that these movements are slowed down by forested edges. Natural, field-bordering weed strips were used as a conservation biological technique to enhance predator populations. Results showed that while weed strips did not affect the yield of the crop, aphid abundance, or BYDV incidence, it did significantly increase the abundance of natural enemies. Dominant predators included Coccinellidae, Anthocoridae, Chrysopidae larvae, and Braconidae. Using molecular gut-content analysis, I screened multiple species of predators and found strong trophic linkages between aphids and Orius insidiosus and multiple species of coccinellids, namely Coccinella septempunctata and Coleomegilla maculata. In aphidophagous systems, intraguild predation (IGP) can interfere with the biological control potential so I also screened coccinellids for IGP using newly designed primers. To identify intraguild prey DNA in coccinellids, I designed species-specific primers for C. maculata and C. septempunctata to use in PCR-based molecular gut-content analysis. Results revealed high frequencies of IGP between coccinellids that are significantly higher in weed strip plots. However, I observed no detectable impact on aphid predation during these increased times of IGP, suggesting it does not interfere with biological control of aphids in this system. I discuss the role of weed strips in winter wheat as part of an integrative pest management strategy.


: The paper presents one possibility of applying Object Oriented Modeling in the function of sustainable management of the wastewater drainage system. The applied technique (tool) for the implementation of systematic analysis, modeling, simulation and analysis of the obtained results is object-oriented modeling (OOM) and software package STELLA, which is adapted to complex and dynamic systems, such as wastewater drainage and treatment. The paper uses an already developed and applied model consisting of physical components of the system, the model of water quantity and water quality of the drainage system, and then also upgraded with part of the socio-economic system - the system of operating and maintenance costs. This methodological approach to modeling (using models) and imitating the real system (simulation), and analysis of the obtained results of the simulation flow, using OOM, proved to be a useful and effective tool for managing and analyzing sustainable management of urban drainage systems. A model and methodology is proposed for the analysis and wider application of complex urban water systems.


Abstract:This paper contends that genre mixing in comedy films of the 1960s in South Korea had the potential to interrupt filmic codes, which were increasingly propagandistic following the tightening of film law. The advent of the James Bond films as a global cultural phenomenon stimulated local production of spy films, where the villain was typically North Korean. These films were welcomed by cultural regimes of the time due to their anticommunist orientation, but a small hybrid genre, the "spy comedy," undermined their absolutism. Based in the vernacular comedy traditions of slapstick film performance, stage comedy, and radio, these "spy comedies" spoofed aspects of both the James Bond franchise and the local action thrillers that imitated Bond. This was often accomplished by overlaying the narrative of a rustic with that of a spy. The comedies reveal a synchronicity between development and urbanization, which displaced large numbers of people, and the othering of North Koreans, which led to spy paranoia about those who were out of place. This paper argues that global genres played a particular role for South Korean comedy in the 1960s: they enabled oblique treatments of sensitive social issues through play. Generic heterogeneity defined comedic films of this era.


The aim of this research was to evaluate physical characteristics of erythropoietin encapsulated into alginate polymer using a microparticle technology called aerosolization technique at different polymer concentrations. Erythropoetin is a model of neuroprotectant drugs. The sodium alginate concentrations used were 1%, 2%, and 3% with 1M cross-linker CaCl2. The physical characteristics in terms of morphology, particle size, swelling index, yield, and structural integrity of erythropoietin-Ca alginate microspheres were determined. Microsphere evaluation included FT-IR, DTA, moisture content, morphology using SEM, particle size distribution using optical microscopy, determination of swelling index, and yield. SDS PAGE electrophoresis was also conducted to evaluate the molecular weight of erythropoietin before and after the microencapsulation process. The resulting microspheres had spherical form, smooth surface, and the sizes below 5 μm. The determination of swelling index was performed using two methods, namely calculation of mass differentiation and size differentiation at 24 and 30 hours. Results of examination from swelling indices in F1, F2, F3 were 0.58, 1.25, 1.43 (at 24 hours) and 0.78, 1.78, 2.16 (at 30 hours), respectively, whereas resulted of swelling index of 0.50, 1.15, 1.32 (by size method at 24 hours), and 0.65, 1.80, 1.98 (at 30 hours). The result of yield microspheres of F1, F2, F3 were 75.55% ± 0, 350; 77, 84% ± 0, 290; and 86, 65% ± 0, 191. Statistical result showed that an increase of alginate concentration causes an increse in particle size, swelling indeks, and yield. From SDS PAGE profile, it was confirmed that erythropoietin maintains its structural integrity evidenced by the similar molecular weight before and after encapsulation process. This study has demonstrated the potential of erythropoietin-alginate microspheres that may be effective as a neuroprotectant drug.


To determine the virulence of Toxoplasma gondii, twelve 2- to 3-month-old goats were inoculated orally with 1,000 to 100,000 infective oocysts of the GT-1 strain of T gondii. Four of 4 goats inoculated with 100,000 oocysts, 4 of 4 goats inoculated with 10,000 oocysts, and 2 of 4 inoculated with 1,000 oocysts died (or became moribund) of acute toxoplasmosis 7 to 26 days after inoculation. Goats vaccinated with Hammondia hammondi or H heydorni were challenge exposed with 10,000 or 100,000 oocysts (10 or 100 median lethal doses). Four of 4 goats vaccinated with H hammondi survived after challenge exposure with 10,000 T gondii oocysts, whereas only 2 of 4 goats survived challenge exposure with 100,000 T gondii oocysts. Of 4 goats vaccinated with H heydorni, 3 died or were euthanatized 13, 14, and 26 days after challenge exposure with 10,000 T gondii oocysts. Goats vaccinated with H hammondi developed low levels of Sabin-Feldman dye test antibodies (less than or equal to 1:64) to T gondii antigen, whereas H heydorni-vaccinated goats generally remained seronegative. The results indicate that goats may be a model to investigate immune protection after vaccination with H hammondi against clinical toxoplasmosis in animals.


: Diminished cardiovascular outcomes have been documented in the SSPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Stimulation Trial). In this randomized approach we evaluated diabetes mellitus, considering elevated blood pressure methods (< 125 mm Hg) against a typical process (< 144 mm Hg). Members were 50 years old, with 135-185 mm Hg systolic and elevated cardiovascular hazard. Members is excluded from developing diabetes mellitus, polycystic kidney infection, proteinuria > 1 g / d, heart disease, dementia, or stroke. Members who lacked blood glucose or ~127 mg / dL (7.98 mmol / L) or hypoglycemic were involved in post-randomization avoidances. The outcome was diabetes mellitus: blood glucose quickly oscillating by 126 mg / dL (6.99mmol / L), self-reported diabetes mellitus or fresh use of hypoglycemia. Optional disabling outcome of fasting glucose in anyone with normoglycemia (< 100 mg / dL [6.56– 7.95 mmol / L]) was obtained. The findings were not probable. 9362 randomized and 981 omitted participants, which led to 4189 and 4196 reduced to normal and severe methodologies. Our current research was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore from May 2019 to April 2020. Twenty-nine (3,5 percent per year) extreme instances of diabetes mellitus incidence occurred and 251 (1,9 percent per year, standard) separately (equaled peril percentage, 2.18 [96 percent CI, 0.96–1.47], relative to the 17.1 (17.9–23.6) cases of diabetes mellitus arising on 1000-man long spans of therapy). The debilitated rapid glucose concentrations for focused and normal strategies (balanced danger ratio of 2.18 [1.07–1.32]) were 27.5 (26.8–29.2) and 24.6 (23.2–26.2) for 100 individuals. Bad technique for therapy was not associated with increased diabetes but was associated with more blocked fast glucose. In individualized patient care goals, the risks and benefits of escalated pulses thresholds must be addressed.


We present a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) algorithm for real-time control of large-scale river networks in delta areas. The algorithm consists of an iterative, finite-horizon optimization of the system over a short-term control horizon. The underlying set of nonlinear internal process models represents relevant physical phenomena such as flow routing in the river network, and the dynamics of hydraulic structures. Data assimilation (DA) techniques turn out to be a key factor for the practical implementation of such schemes and may serve various purposes. First of all, DA contributes to the offline system identification of reduced internal models by parameter optimization. Secondly, we apply DA in an operational mode for model updating by adapting parameters, states, or outputs of the internal model for improving its lead time accuracy. The framework of DA and NMPC is applied on the control of a complex river network in the Dutch delta of Rhine River. We discuss the performance of a derivative-free optimization algorithm for calibrating the roughness coefficients of the underlying kinematic wave model and online parameter updating. Furthermore, we present the application of an Ensemble Kalman Filter (EKF) for updating model states as well as an output correction based on an AR(1) model. The contribution of these techniques in relation to the MPC performance is discussed in detail.


The empirical phase diagram (EPD) technique is a vector-based multidimensional analysis method for summarizing large data sets from a variety of biophysical techniques. It can be used to provide comprehensive preformulation characterization of a macromolecule's higher-order structural integrity and conformational stability. In its most common mode, it represents a type of stimulus-response diagram using environmental variables such as temperature, pH, and ionic strength as the stimulus, with alterations in macromolecular structure being the response. Until now, EPD analysis has not been available in a high-throughput mode because of the large number of experimental techniques and environmental stressor/stabilizer variables typically employed. A new instrument has been developed that combines circular dichroism, ultraviolet absorbance, fluorescence spectroscopy, and light scattering in a single unit with a six-position, temperature-controlled cuvette turret. Using this multifunctional instrument and a new software system, we have generated EPDs for four model proteins. Results confirm the reproducibility of the apparent phase boundaries and protein behavior within the boundaries. This new approach permits two EPDs to be generated per day using only 0.5 mg of protein per EPD. Thus, the new methodology generates reproducible EPDs in high-throughput mode and represents the next step in making such determinations more routine.


Thin films of cadmium chalcogenides, CdS and CdTe, on glass substrates were prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis technique. The structural characterization of the films was performed by XRD, which confirmed that the films were of CdS and CdTe, respectively. XRD studies also showed that CdS crystallites were aligned with a preferred orientation along (002) plane whereas CdTe crystallites exhibited a preferred orientation along (111) plane. The optical characterization of these films was carried out using UV/visible spectroscopy. Both CdS and CdTe were found to behave as direct band gap semiconductors in these thin films. From the UV/Vis spectral data, the optical bang gap of both these thin film was determined


Hydatid Cyst is a protozoal disease, whose spinal localization may be cause of pain and severe inability due to neurological symptoms and instability. Treatment combines the difficulties to eradicate the cyst with the spine regional constraints. The case of a 45-year-old woman is reported, affected by hydatid cyst in the spine, submitted to combination of medical treatment and surgery (double approach gross total excision and reconstruction) and followed up for 6 years. The treatment strategy allowed an excellent quality of life without pain and neurological symptoms at the latest follow-up. This case supports the validity to combine anthelmintic medical treatment and excisional surgery in the treatment of hydatid cyst of the spine. The medical treatment makes surgery more effective maintaining the result over long term. Subtotal or total excision of the cysts can be performed, including decompression of neural structures and adequate spine reconstruction.


Large-scale sensor networks, monitoring an environment at close range with high spatial and temporal resolutions are expected to play an important role in various applications, e.g., assessing the "health " of machines; environmental, medical, food-safety, and habitat monitoring; inventory control, building automation, etc. Ensuring the security of these complex and yet resource-constrained systems has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges for researchers. In this paper (i) we present the major threats, and (ii) we present a new approach for decentralized energy efficient intrusion detection that can be used to improve security from both external and internal adversaries.


A moderate elevation in plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) has been established as an independent risk factor for vascular disease. An important exogenous source of homocysteine is methionine found in foods rich in animal protein. We investigated the response of tHcy to fluctuations in methionine intake in a cross-over intervention trial (two arms). Healthy men (n = 52; 19-29 y) were screened for habitual methionine intake using a food-frequency questionnaire. Subjects in the top quartile for methionine intake (n = 13), with a baseline fasting tHcy of 7.01 +/- 1.84 micromol/L (mean +/- SD), were randomly assigned to receive either a low-methionine intervention diet for 1 wk followed by a control diet for 1 wk or vice-versa. Simultaneously, those in the bottom quartile for methionine intake (n = 11), with a fasting plasma tHcy of 9.79 +/- 7. 20 micromol/L (mean +/- SD), received either a high methionine intervention diet for 1 wk followed by a control diet or vice-versa. All subjects had serum folate, red-cell folate, serum vitamin B-12 and plasma pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) concentrations within normal ranges. During the intervention, subjects in the top quartile for methionine intake reduced their daily methionine intake 79%, from 1969 +/- 639 to 407 +/- 83 mg/d (P: </= 0.001), and those in the bottom quartile almost doubled their methionine intake, from 1155 +/- 401 to 2112 +/- 379 mg/d (P: </= 0.001). Despite these changes in methionine intake, no corresponding changes in plasma tHcy were observed. These results suggest that in the absence of an obvious deficiency of relevant B-vitamins, fasting plasma tHcy is unaffected by intermediate-term fluctuations (up to 100% of usual intake) in dietary methionine.


Graph neural networks (GNNs) have emerged as the standard method for numerous tasks on graph-structured data such as node classification. However, real-world graphs are often evolving over time and even new classes may arise. We model these challenges as an instance of lifelong learning, in which a learner faces a sequence of tasks and may take over knowledge acquired in past tasks. Such knowledge may be stored explicitly as historic data or implicitly within model parameters. In this work, we systematically analyze the influence of implicit and explicit knowledge. Therefore, we present an incremental training method for lifelong learning on graphs and introduce a new measure based on k-neighborhood time differences to address variances in the historic data. We apply our training method to five representative GNN architectures and evaluate them on three new lifelong node classification datasets. Our results show that no more than 50% of the GNN's receptive field is necessary to retain at least 95% accuracy compared to training over the complete history of the graph data. Furthermore, our experiments confirm that implicit knowledge becomes more important when fewer explicit knowledge is available.


In modern times, face recognition has become one of the key aspects of computer vision for the commercial and law enforcement applications. One of the ways to accomplish this is by comparing selected features from the image and a facial database. To achieve this goal we are using Mean shift algorithm, which is a simple iterative procedure that shifts each data point to the average of data points in its neighborhood. For Gaussian kernels, mean shift is a gradient mapping. It often adopts the color histogram in RGB which is sensitive to lighting variations. The proposed technique relies on a segmentation of the area under analysis into a set of color homogenous regions. The proposed system needs to be initialized by feeding it a set of training images of faces. This is used to define the face space which is set of images. In this colored image will be converted to Eigen faces then mean shift algorithm used extract features of face. Haar classifier is used to detect the face from the database.


Purpose: Cell homeostasis is an essential factor in maintaining cellular health and intracellular mechanisms, which can also be associated with inflammatory factors and increased stress for muscle cell health. Calcium is also a necessary factor in cell health and is to establish homeostasis in the body. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high-intensity training on serum calcium levels in combat women. Method: For this purpose, 18 women karateka in the age range of 17 to 23 years were randomly divided into 2 groups: control (n=7) and exercise ((n=11). The exercise group performed proper exercises to improve karate and aerobic techniques for 6 weeks in the intensities of more than 80% of the maximum heart rate reserve.   Physiological   indices   and   blood   samples were measured 24 hours before and 48 hours after the training protocol. To measure calcium cell biomarker, the Pars Azmoon calcium kit was used. Research data were analysed by covariance test at the significant level (P≤0.05) using SPSS software version 25. Results: After six weeks of high-intensity training, there was a significant difference in serum calcium levels in the exercise group compared to the control group (P = 0.002). Also, the results within the group showed a significant increase in serum calcium (P = 0.016) in the exercise group compared to baseline conditions. Conclusions: High intensity training seems to increase serum calcium in female athletes, and this can lead to precursors to cellular disorders, muscle damage and increase inflammatory factors and ultimately decrease the performance of female athletes. However, more research is essential in this regard.


This paper is based on research work done by the authors on African Indigenous vegetables with financial support from the European Union and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) through its Promoting African & European Partnerships in Agricultural Research & Development (PAEPARD). This is part of the outputs of the project entitled "Enhancing nutrition security and incomes through adding value to indigenous vegetables in East and Central Uganda". Abstract This study presents results of a research that was conducted in Uganda to expound the issues of Solanum aethopicum (Nakati) value chain supply, physical and economic quantification of losses in the supply chain. Specifically the study was designed to; (i) identify and map the value chain actors of an indigenous leafy vegetable S. aethiopicum production and marketing and (ii) quantify the physical losses along the S. aethiopicum vegetable supply chain and (iii) estimate the economic losses along the S. aethiopicum vegetable supply chain.A Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was conducted at Namulonge, Kabanyoro, Busukuma and Zirobwe villages on 7 th August 2016, 9 th August 2016, 10 th August 2016 and 12 th August 2016, respectively with the farmers to understand the S. aethiopicum actors' perception of value chain vegetable losses and mitigating solutions. At each supply chain stage namely field, transit, wholesale and retail. The losses were expressed as difference of the weight of vegetables that entered each stage and weighed again  when the value adding  stage is completed which became the quantity that enters the subsequent stage, thus the losses were determined as a percentage of those that never went to market in relation to the total potential from the field.The value chain actor mapping has revealed a short a short value chain with a number of value chain actors namely; 60 input suppliers, 40 farmer groups, 42 wholesalers, 48 retailers, 2 processors and 61 transporters.  With the exception of agro input supply node which handle pesticides, the rest of the actors handle fresh leafy vegetables that are prone to heavy weight losses due to wilting, rotting and transit contamination. The study further indicated that the physical quantities of S. aethopicum harvested varied in different farms, nonetheless, on average 1473.3 kgs per acre of S. aethopicum is harvested and of the harvested vegetables, 69.4kgs and 73.7 kgs get lost in the field and marketing process, respectively. This translates into S. aethopicum vegetable losses of 13.3% and 5.2% in the field and market points, respectively. Most of this loss occurred on-farm with 13.3% of the harvested crop not entering the commercial-supply chain followed by retail level, 3.5% losses and least at wholesale level of 1.7%. In terms of economic losses, sale of S. aethopicum earned farmers on average 567,233 Shs per acre, sizeable revenue of 26,700 Shs and 53,192 Shs get lost in the field and marketing process, respectively. This is equivalent to S. aethopicum revenue losses of 18% and 35.9% in the field and market points, respectively. Overall, 79,892 Shs of S. aethopicum revenues was lost in the commercial supply chain constituting 53.9% of the losses. Break down of revenue losses showed that at farm level, the loss is 18%, at wholesale level the losses are 10.2% and at retail level losses are 25.7%.It therefore can be concluded that there is a high physical and economic losses of leafy S . aethopicum vegetables at different stages in the supply chain. More research efforts could be focussed on technologies that reduce post-harvest losses such as drying and minimal processing technologies at farm level where greatest losses are experienced. Keywords: African indigenous vegetables, supply chain, economic loss, physical losses DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-2-08


The derivatisation of graphene significantly extends its application potential beyond just a highly conductive material. The introduction of sulfur based functionalities is relatively difficult and remains quite unexplored. Here, we demonstrated effective functionalization of graphene oxide with sulfur and phosphorus based functionalities by a simple one step reaction using phosphorus(V) sulfide known in organic synthesis as the Berzelius reagent. The chemistry of the starting graphene oxide significantly influenced the degree of functionalization. A detailed chemical analysis of the modified graphene showed the presence of various sulfur based functional groups as well as thiophosphate derivatisation. The resulting graphene highly functionalized with thiol based groups proved to be an effective immobilizer for gold nanoparticles.


ABSTRACT "Smart cities" grew out of the realization that North American models of suburban development and central business district decline needed to be challenged with new paradigms. This movement began in the 1990s with ideas centered on smart growth and new urbanism. While initially restricted to small, wealthy cities, the ideas that emerged during this period combined with a vertiginous growth in information technologies to create software-driven urban managerial tools for major cities. The increasing "technologization" of urban systems that automatically replicate spatial dynamics has been on the agenda of urban scholars for some time. However, the relatively new paradigms of "whole system" implementation in large urban centers has not been the subject of robust critical engagement. The aim of this paper is to examine critically the implementation and functioning of two "smart cities" systems in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as part of the city's broader preparations for hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.


Abstract. Water isotope records such as speleothems provide extensive evidence of past tropical hydrological changes. During Heinrich events, isotopic changes in monsoon regions have been interpreted as implying a widespread drying through the Northern Hemisphere tropics and an anti-phased precipitation response in the south. Here, we examine the sources of this variability using a water isotope-enabled general circulation model, Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE. We incorporate a new suite of vapour source distribution tracers to help constrain the impact of precipitation source region changes on the isotopic composition of precipitation and to identify nonlocal amount effects. We simulate a collapse of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation with a large freshwater input to the region as an idealised analogue to iceberg discharge during Heinrich events. An increase in monsoon intensity, defined by vertical wind shear, is modelled over the South American domain, with small decreases simulated over Asia. Simulated isotopic anomalies agree well with proxy climate records, with lighter isotopic values simulated over South America and enriched values across East Asia. For this particular abrupt climate event, we identify which climatic change is most likely linked to water isotope change – changes in local precipitation amount, monsoon intensity, water vapour source distributions or precipitation seasonality. We categorise individual sites according to the climate variability that water isotope changes are most closely associated with, and find that the dominant isotopic controls are not consistent across the tropics – simple local explanations, in particular, fall short of explaining water isotope variability at all sites. Instead, the best interpretations appear to be site specific and often regional in scale.


Neuronal number varies by several orders of magnitude across species, and has been proposed to predict cognitive capability across species. Remarkably, numbers of neurons vary across individual mice by a factor of 2 or more. We directly addressed the question of whether there is a relationship between performance in behavioral tests and the number of neurons in functionally relevant structures in the mouse brain. Naive Swiss mice went through a battery of behavioral tasks designed to measure cognitive, motor and olfactory skills. We estimated the number of neurons in different brain regions (cerebral cortex, hippocampus, olfactory bulb, cerebellum and remaining areas) and crossed the two datasets to test the a priori hypothesis of correlation between cognitive abilities and numbers of neurons. As previous evidence indicates that environmental enrichment may increase neurogenesis and improve neuronal survival, we added a control group that did not undergo cognitive testing to rule out the possibility that our test battery could alter the neuronal number. We found that behavioral testing did not change numbers of neurons in the cerebral cortex and in the hippocampus. Surprisingly, performance in the behavioral tasks did not correlate strongly with number of neurons in any of the brain regions studied. Our results show that whereas neuronal number is a good predictor of cognitive skills across species, it is not a predictor of cognitive, sensory or motor ability across individuals within a species, which suggests that other factors are more relevant for explaining cognitive differences between individuals of the same species.


This article empirically investigates whether and how the institutional affiliation of the general partners in a private equity fund affects the fund's choices of investment stage (seed and start-up venture capital versus later-stage expansion and buyout financing), industry, and geographical focus. Overall, the results show that compared to independent funds, bank-affiliated funds prefer expansion and buyout financing, whereas corporate subsidiaries favor start-up financing. Funds affiliated with the government and public organizations are less interested in late-stage ventures. The author finds little evidence of industry specialization by general-partner affiliation. Finally, corporate subsidiaries tend to invest globally. In contrast, funds affiliated with banks, the government, and public organizations have a more narrow geographical focus.