Abstract The Triassic chronostratigraphic scale is a hierarchy of three series, seven stages and 15 substages developed during nearly two centuries of research. The first geological studies of Triassic rocks began in Germany in the late 1700s and culminated in 1834 when Friedrich August von Alberti coined the term 'Trias' for the Bunten Sandsteins, Muschelkalk and Keuper, a thick succession of strata between the Zechstein and the Lias. Recognition of the Trias outside of Germany soon followed, and by the 1860s Austrian geologist Edmund von Mojsisovics began constructing a detailed Triassic chronostratigraphy based on ammonoid biostratigraphy. In 1895, Mojsisovics and his principal collaborators, Wilhelm Waagen and Carl Diener, published a Triassic timescale that contains most of the stage and substage names still used today. In 1934, Leonard Spath proposed a Triassic ammonoid-based biochronological timescale that differed little from that of Mojsisovics and his collaborators. In the 1960s, E. Timothy Tozer proposed a Triassic ammonoid-based timescale based on North American standards, and his timescale included proposal of four Lower Triassic stages (Griesbachian, Dienerian, Smithian and Spathian). The work of the Subcommission on Triassic Stratigraphy began in the 1970s and resulted in current recognition of seven Triassic stages in three series: Lower Triassic–Induan, Olenekian; Middle Triassic–Anisian, Ladinian; Upper Triassic–Carnian, Norian and Rhaetian. The 1990s saw the rise of Triassic conodont biostratigraphy so that four intervals that have agreed on Triassic GSSPs use conodont occurrences as defining features: bases of Induan, Olenekian, Anisian and Rhaetian. The bases of the Ladinian and Carnian are defined by ammonoid events. The base of the Norian remains undefined, but will most likely be defined by conodonts. Except for the Rhaetian, the Middle and Upper Triassic stages and substages have been fairly stable for decades, but there has been much less agreement on Lower Triassic chronostratigraphic subdivisions. Issues in the development of a Triassic chronostratigraphic scale include those of: stability and priority of nomenclature and concepts; disagreement over and changing taxonomy; the use of ammonoid v. conodont biostratigraphy; differences in the perceived significance of biotic events for chronostratigraphic classification; disagreements about the utility of relatively short stages; correlation problems between the Tethyan and Boreal realms (provinces); and competing standards from the Old and New worlds. Most of these issues have been resolved in the recognition of three Triassic series and seven stages. Further development of the Triassic chronostratigraphic scale needs to focus on definition and characterization of the 15 Triassic substages as these will provide a much more detailed basis for subdivision of Triassic time than do the seven stages.


Severe oxygen and iron deficiencies have evolutionarily conserved detrimental effects, leading to pathologies in mammals and developmental arrest as well as neuromuscular degeneration in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Yet, similar to the beneficial effects of mild hypoxia, non-toxic levels of iron depletion, achieved with the iron chelator bipyridine or through frataxin silencing, extend C. elegans lifespan through hypoxia-like induction of mitophagy. While the positive health outcomes of hypoxia preconditioning are evident, its practical application is rather challenging. Here, we thus test the potential beneficial effects of non-toxic, preconditioning interventions acting on iron instead of oxygen availability. We find that limiting iron availability through the iron competing agent cobalt chloride has evolutionarily conserved dose-dependent beneficial effects: while high doses of cobalt chloride have toxic effects in mammalian cells, iPS-derived neurospheres, and in C. elegans, sub-lethal doses protect against hypoxia- or cobalt chloride-induced death in mammalian cells and extend lifespan and delay age-associated neuromuscular alterations in C. elegans. The beneficial effects of cobalt chloride are accompanied by the activation of protective mitochondrial stress response pathways.


ABSTRACTThe impact of the energy consumption and environmental policies in northeast Asia to the air quality in Seoul, a megacity in South Korea was studied by combining the results of receptor modeling, air parcel trajectory analysis, energy consumption trend, and policies in the region. A chemical mass balance (CMB) modeling study was carried out based on the measurement data of particulate PAHs during 2002–2003 and 2006–2007 along with backward trajectory analysis. The reliability of the modeling result was checked by performance test and sensitivity analysis by including loss term in the source profiles. For both periods transportation and coal consumption for coke oven were major sources for the PAHs level at Seoul. However, during 2006 to 2007, the contribution from coke oven became larger than transportation, while during 2002 to 2003 the contribution from transportation was higher. Furthermore, it was observed that when air parcels moved from north China or Shandong Province the relative contribution from coke oven was higher than when air parcels moved from northeast/north China and North Korea. This observation was in accordance with the trends of coal consumption and cokes production in north China, Shandong Province, and northeast China. On the other hand, the contribution from transportation decreased, mainly due to the emission reduction in Seoul through several policies regulating vehicular emissions. It was suggested that the impacts of China to the air quality of Seoul might continuously keep increasing for some years ahead since the consumptions of coal in general and in coke oven, in particular, are increasing. Thus, more strict policies with additional regulation and introduction of more stringent standards should be considered. Also, uncertainty and limitation of this study result was discussed and further research directions are suggested.


The date fruit is of high nutritional value and its chemical composition is unique in providing energy, minerals, and vitamins for human. Date syrup, date concentrate and liquid date sugar are among semi-finished liquid products produced from low quality dates at industrial scale. In this research, some physicochemical properties of date syrup, concentrate, and liquid sugar in comparison with sucrose solutions were studied and the possibility of replacing sucrose with date liquid products was investigated. The results showed that the main chemical component of all three date products was simple sugars of fructose and glucose. Ash and protein contents of date liquid sugar were much lower than date syrup. pH values of date liquid products were also significantly different. Concentration of total phenolic and flavonoid compounds in date syrup was much greater than date liquid sugar. Overall, processing of date syrup to date liquid sugar reduced its nutritional quality while improving technological properties. It can be concluded that in choosing date liquid products as raw materials in food formulation, for the products that brown color of date liquid products does not affect the appearance of the final products, usage of date syrup or date concentrate is proposed. However, in other foods where brownish color of date syrup or date concentrate deteriorates sensory attributes of the final products, date liquid sugar is suggested. Date liquid products are also good candidates for high sugar products with sugar crystallization problem.


BACKGROUND
The incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in England is increasing. There is a higher incidence of ESRD in British Indo-Asians than in the White population.

AIM
To determine to what degree the increasing demand for renal replacement therapy in the UK is due to Indo-Asian patients. To study the presentation to renal services of Indo-Asian patients with ESRD and report any inequalities in initial treatment of Indo-Asian patients with ESRD compared to their White counterparts.

DESIGN
Prospective, inception cohort study.

METHODS
Consecutive adult patients with ESRD who started renal replacement therapy between 1 April 2000 and 31 December 2001 in all 14 renal units serving an area from North Cheshire to South Cumbria, including Greater Manchester and Lancashire, were recruited and interviewed.

RESULTS
Of the 578 patients, 9.5% were Indo-Asian. The annual acceptance rate for renal replacement therapy was 342 per million population in Indo-Asians, compared with 91 per million population in the White population ( p < 0.001). Indo-Asian patients with ESRD were younger (median age 51 years vs. 60 yrs, p = 0.006) and more socially deprived (81% vs. 36.5% in the 5th Carstairs quintile, p < 0.001). A greater proportion of Indo-Asian patients with ESRD presented late to specialist renal services (31% vs. 19%, p = 0.03). Once adjusting for their younger age, atherosclerotic renovascular disease and/or hypertensive nephropathy was more prevalent in Indo-Asian patients (OR 4.9; p = 0.03). There was no difference in the initial mode of maintenance dialysis or the perception of choice the patients felt they had, based on their ethnicity.

DISCUSSION
There is a silent epidemic of ESRD in Indo-Asian patients in the North-West, possibly vascular in aetiology, in which specialist intervention is late. This suggests that Indo-Asian patients should be prioritized for early intervention strategies to reduce the burden of ESRD.


Spoken dialogue management strategy optimization by means of Reinforcement Learning (RL) is now part of the state of the art. Yet, there is still a clear mismatch between the complexity implied by the required naturalness of dialogue systems and the inability of standard RL algorithms to scale up. Another issue is the sparsity of the data available for training in the dialogue domain which can not ensure convergence of most of RL algorithms. In this paper, we propose to combine a sample-efficient generalization framework for RL with a feature selection algorithm for the learning of an optimal spoken dialogue management strategy.


Social commerce, the combination of e-commerce activities and social media, is a lucrative means for e-commerce companies to increase their sales volumes. As social commerce initiatives considerably depend on the consumers' social interactions, it becomes important for companies to understand how consumers can be stimulated to participate in social commerce. While several empirical studies have already focused on investigating what factors influence consumers to adopt to social commerce, the findings of these studies are scattered across the literature base, sometimes not transparent, and not straightforwardly comparable. To synthesize these findings, we conduct a systematic review of the empirical literature on the consumers' adoption of social commerce. In particular, we identify and classify conceptually similar factors and outcome variables (i.e., behavioral intentions and/or behaviors). Moreover, we apply a votecounting technique and a sign test to aggregate the reported effects between the factors and outcome variables. After analyzing 61 academic publications, we contribute a structured and comprehensive list of factors and their potential effects on various adoption-related outcome variables. Our results reveal that for some factors, such as trust, usefulness, or social influence, the effects point in a clear direction, while for several other factors, such as enjoyment, risk, or social presence, the effects are yet not clear and require further investigations.


Learning the preferences of other people is crucial for predicting future behavior. Both children and adults make inferences about others' preferences from sparse data and in situations where the preferences have complex internal structures. We present a computational model of learning structured preferences which integrates Bayesian inference and utility-based models of preference from economics. We experimentally test this model with adult participants, and compare the model to alternative heuristic models.


During development, cells must coordinate their differentiation with their growth and organization to form complex multicellular structures such as tissues and organs. Healthy tissues must maintain these structures during homeostasis. Epithelia are packed ensembles of cells from which the different tissues of the organism will originate during embryogenesis. A large barrier to the analysis of the morphogenetic changes in epithelia is the lack of simple tools that enable the quantification of cell rearrangements. Here we present EpiGraph, an image analysis tool that quantifies epithelial organization. Our method combines computational geometry and graph theory to measure the degree of order of any packed tissue. EpiGraph goes beyond the traditional polygon distribution analysis, capturing other organizational traits that improve the characterization of epithelia. EpiGraph can objectively compare the rearrangements of epithelial cells during development and homeostasis to quantify how the global ensemble is affected. Importantly, it has been implemented in the open-access platform FIJI. This makes EpiGraph very user friendly, with no programming skills required. HIGHLIGHTS Epithelial images can be converted into graphs to quantify their topology. EpiGraph is a new simple method to capture epithelial organization. Epigraph can detect changes in tissue fluidity. EpiGraph has been designed as a plugin of FIJI to be accessible to any biology lab.


The world's increased energy storage demand, as well as the environmental concerns related to the combustion of fossil fuels, has triggered a transition to intermittent renewable energy sources as well as to electrical and hybrid vehicles. Current day rechargeable batteries are, due to the invention and development of lithium ion batteries, technologically well positioned to answer to some of these demands. Conventional batteries, however, utilize inorganic materials of limited supply that require large amounts of energy during refining and processing. The materials also add a significant cost to the final product, making the rechargeable batteries less attractive for large scale applications. During the last decade, significant efforts have been made to find suitable organic matter based electrode materials that can replace the inorganic materials. One class of organic materials that can be used for electrical energy storage, or be included as components in organic matter based energy storage systems, is conducting polymers.The aim of this thesis was to investigate the possibilities and limitations of using the conducting polymer polypyrrole in energy storage applications. The polymer was synthesized onto cellulose extracted from the Cladophora sp. algae, and the result was a flexible composite material. Symmetrical energy storage devices constructed with the composite material were shown to exhibit a pseudocapacitive behavior. The resistance in the cells was investigated and was found to scale linearly with the separator thickness. Cells could be cycled for 4,000 cycles without significant capacitance loss and cells that were overcharged to 1.8 V cell potential, were found to be protected by a resistive potential drop. Devices were constructed as proof-of-concept and were used to power a remote control and a digital thermometer.The self-discharge in polypyrrole was studied extensively. It was found that oxygen was responsible for the oxidation of the reduced electrode, while the positive electrode self-discharged due to a faradaic reaction. Through spectroscopy and the temperature dependence of the self-discharge, it was suggested that the self-discharge of oxidized polypyrrole is linked to the degradation at high potentials, commonly referred to as overoxidation.


A performance assessment of wave power absorption characteristics of isolated and multiple wave energy converter (WEC) rotors was presented in this study for various wave-heading angles and wave frequencies. Numerical hydrodynamic analysis of the WEC was carried out using the three-dimensional linear boundary element method (BEM) and nonlinear computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Experimental results were used to validate the adopted numerical models. Influence with and without power take-off (PTO) was estimated on both isolated and multiple WEC rotors. Furthermore, to investigate the interaction effect among WECs, a q-factor was used. Incorporation of viscous and PTO damping into the linear BEM solution shows the maximum reduction focused around peak frequency but demonstrated an insignificant effect elsewhere. The q-factor showed both constructive and destructive interactions with the increase of the wave-heading angle and wave frequencies. Further investigation based on the prototype WEC rotor was carried, and calculated results of the linear BEM and the nonlinear CFD were compared. The pitch response and q-factor of the chosen wave frequencies demonstrated satisfactory consistency between the linear BEM and nonlinear CFD results, except for some wave frequencies. Estimated optimal time-averaged power using linear BEM show that the maximum extracted power close to the zero wave-heading angle around the resonance frequency decreases as the wave-heading angle increases. Overall, the linear BEM on the extracted power is overestimated compared with the nonlinear CFD results.


Physical comedy has long been a difficult subject for video games, but recent years have seen the emergence of a microgenre of independently developed games, dubbed "fumblecore" by critics in the popular press, that have taken on this challenge. Approaching the question of how these games can succeed at crafting mishap-based physical comedy while seemingly lacking the buffer of performance that characterizes the reception of traditional slapstick comedy, this essay examines these games' subversion of the norms of the player-avatar relationship. Rejecting any attempt at a "transparent" or unthought relation between play intention and machine response, fumblecore games instead foster a mode of dehiscent performance, foregrounding the discrepancy between human and computer actants and transforming the processes that produce an on-screen character into a form of agonistic shtick. Emerging from this contentious collaboration is a comedic body that, although perhaps initially appearing to conform to a Bergsonian model of humor, ultimately upsets physical comedy's usual mind/body dynamic. Finally, considering the social functions of humor and the ways in which accounts of embodiment can too often slip into normative pronouncements, this essay concludes by investigating whether the fumblecore genre holds any potential to foster empathy around issues of disability.


Q fever, a worldwide zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii, may present as either an acute or a chronic disease. We correlated the results of 844 C. burnetii blood cultures with serological, clinical, and therapeutic data. C. burnetii was isolated from 17% of untreated patients with acute Q fever and from 53% of untreated patients with chronic Q fever. C. burnetii was not isolated from patients who were receiving antibiotics active against C. burnetii. For seven culture-positive patients with acute Q fever, serology was negative when C. burnetii was isolated. One patient with acute Q fever had a positive blood culture 25 days after the discontinuation of specific antibiotic therapy, and another had a positive blood culture after the resolution of symptoms. In one case of chronic Q fever, a positive blood culture resulted from noncompliance with treatment. The culture method described in this report is suitable for all laboratories with cell culture facilities. Our findings suggest that blood samples must be collected prior to the initiation of an antibiotic regimen if C. burnetii is to be successfully isolated.


To the Editor.— Intralesional interferon alfa-2b (Schering Corp, Kenilworth, NJ) has generated significant clinical interest for its potential use in the treatment of a variety of benign and malignant skin tumors. The acute side effects of the interferons are well described and are usually transient. 1 We report two unusual malignant cutaneous tumors (dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans of the scalp and sebaceous carcinoma of the nasal root) that developed in two of five study patients subsequent to treatment with intralesional interferon alfa-2b for in situ squamous cell carcinoma. Report of Cases.—Case 1.— In May 1989, a 59-year-old white man was enrolled in an interferon alfa-2b (Schering Corp, Kenilworth, NJ) protocol for a primary 2.2 × 1.4-cm squamous cell carcinoma in situ of the left upper arm. After an informed consent was obtained, the patient received 1.5 × 10 6 IU of intralesional interferon triweekly for 3 consecutive weeks. There


Background: The belief that there is inefficiency, or the potential to improve patient health at current levels of spending, is driving the push for greater value in health care. Previous studies demonstrate overuse of a narrow set of services, suggesting provider inefficiency, but existing studies neither quantify inefficiency more broadly nor assess its variation across physician organizations (POs). Data and Methods: We used data on quality of care and total cost of care from 129 California POs participating in a statewide value-based pay-for-performance program. We estimated a production function with quality as the output and cost as the input, using a stochastic frontier model, to develop a measure of relative efficiency for each PO. To validate the efficiency measure, we examined correlations of PO efficiency estimates with indicators representing overuse of services. Results: The estimated production function showed that PO quality was positively associated with costs, although there were diminishing marginal returns to spending. A certain minimum level of spending was associated with high quality even among efficient POs. Most strikingly, however, POs had substantial variation in efficiency, producing widely differing levels of quality for the same cost. Conclusions: Differences among POs in the efficiency with which they produce quality suggest opportunities for improvements in care delivery that increase quality without increasing spending.


We review how the (absence of) Ostrogradsky instability manifests itself in theories with multiple fields. It has recently been appreciated that when multiple fields are present, the existence of higher derivatives may not automatically imply the existence of ghosts. We discuss the connection with gravitational theories like massive gravity and beyond Horndeski which manifest higher derivatives in some formulations and yet are free of Ostrogradsky ghost. We also examine an interesting new class of Extended Scalar-Tensor Theories of gravity which has been recently proposed. We show that for a subclass of these theories, the tensor modes are either not dynamical or are infinitely strongly coupled. Among the remaining theories for which the tensor modes are well-defined one counts one new model that is not field-redefinable to Horndeski via a conformal and disformal transformation but that does require the vacuum to break Lorentz invariance. We discuss the implications for the effective field theory of dark energy and the stability of the theory. In particular we find that if we restrict ourselves to the Extended Scalar-Tensor class of theories for which the tensors are well-behaved and the scalar is free from gradient or ghost instabilities on FLRW then we recover Horndeski up to field redefinitions.


CATERPILLER (NOD, NBD-LRR) proteins are rapidly emerging as important mediators of innate and adaptive immunity. Among these, Monarch-1 operates as a novel attenuating factor of inflammation by suppressing inflammatory responses in activated monocytes. However, the molecular mechanisms by which Monarch-1 performs this important function are not well understood. In this report, we show that Monarch-1 inhibits CD40-mediated activation of NF-kappaB via the non-canonical pathway in human monocytes. This inhibition stems from the ability of Monarch-1 to associate with and induce proteasome-mediated degradation of NF-kappaB inducing kinase. Congruently, silencing Monarch-1 with shRNA enhances the expression of p52-dependent chemokines.


Mathematics is of fundamental importance to any natural sciences program (be-cause it provides analytical and approximate results that can be simulated and modeled) and perhaps to other areas of human knowledge. Ordinary differential equations are especially of fundamental importance to engineering programs be-cause the modeling of all phenomena of interest for these programs involves Or-dinary differential equations solutions; at the same time, students experience diffi-culties when learning Ordinary differential equations and about their applications to real physical scenarios. In this study, the problem-based learning method was used to study a group of mechanical engineering students at the SENAI CIMATEC University Center. The study analyzes the effectiveness of Ordinary differential equations instruction given through this program using the specified methodology. To consolidate the study, Conceptual Field Theory is used together with an evaluation of the results to observe student behaviors and attitudes in re-lation to actions arising from the method. At the end of the study, a questionnaire was completed by the students, with which they evaluated the effectiveness of the teaching methodology employed.


Aging and osteoarthritis are associated with high risk of muscle mass loss, which leads to physical disability; this loss can be effectively alleviated by diet (DI) and exercise (ET) interventions. This study investigated the relative effects of different types of diet, exercise, and combined treatment (DI+ET) on muscle mass and functional outcomes in individuals with obesity and lower-limb osteoarthritis. A comprehensive search of online databases was performed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy of DI, ET, and DI+ET in patients with obesity and lower-extremity osteoarthritis. The included RCTs were analyzed through network meta-analysis and risk-of-bias assessment. We finally included 34 RCTs with a median (range/total) Physiotherapy Evidence Database score of 6.5 (4–8/10). DI plus resistance ET, resistance ET alone, and aerobic ET alone were ranked as the most effective treatments for increasing muscle mass (standard mean difference (SMD) = 1.40), muscle strength (SMD = 1.93), and walking speed (SMD = 0.46). Our findings suggest that DI+ET is beneficial overall for muscle mass in overweight or obese adults with lower-limb osteoarthritis, especially those who are undergoing weight management.


There has always been an increasing demand for high density data storage. However, the increased areal storage densities of hard disk drives require a level of miniturisation of the recording heads where the micromagnetic details and switching mechanisms can no longer be ignored. Furthermore, theoretical and numerical studies on thin-film recording heads tend to separate the micromagnetics from the electromagnetic aspects of the head during switching and hence ignore the lossy nature of head materials. This project was aimed to develop a numerical simulation approach that simultaneously incorporates the fundamental micromagnetic and electromagnetic details of magnetic materials to study the fast switching process in soft magnetic materials in general, and in thin-film inductive writers in particular. The project also was aimed at establishing an impedance measurement system to characterise losses in magnetic recording heads, and to allow comparison with the simulations. This project successfully met all its original objectives. A numerical technique to simulate the dynamic behaviour of magnetic materials and devices has been developed, and applied to study the switching process in thin-film recording heads. Two-dimensional simulations of complete commercial head structures including the coils and pole regions were carried out and parameters such as gap field rise times, gap field distributions, and core inductances, which are important for head designers, were predicted. Moreover, the role of eddy currents delaying the magnetisation switching was elucidated. Furthermore, it was found that the gradient of the recording fields were sharper near the conrner regions of the poles when considering magnetic details. A high precision, high bandwidth impedance measurement system was established to characterise losses in magnetic heads. Fittings of measured core inductances to a proposed equivalent circuit model of the core's relaxation processes revealed the switching times of heads (of the order 0.1 to 1.0ns).


In this paper we deal with general camera models that allow to describe any kind of camera as a mapping between each pixel and the corresponding projection rays. This work is inspired by [19] and proposes a study of the multi-view geometry of such cameras and a new formulation of multi-view matching tensors working for projection rays crossing the same 3D line. We also delineate a method to estimate such tensors and recover the motion between the views.


Roadside reserves in Wellington, New Zealand have been the target of a government-led, community-implemented urban greening initiative for the past 25 years. Prior studies of urban greening have shown numerous benefits to neighbourhoods and communities through increased engagement and stewardship, yet there remains a need for research into the ecological effects these programmes have on individual urban landscapes. This research conducted site surveys to determine the variation in ecological functioning and biodiversity within 36 reserves involved in the Wellington Free Plants Programme (FPP). These measures were compared to historical planting data for each site retrieved from council records. Candidate models were constructed based on novel and classical ecological theory, which sought to explain observed variation between physical and ecological measures across study sites and the relationship between these variables and biodiversity. Sites were small with an area ranging from 5.9m² to 246.5m² (mean = 37.8 ±49.5m²), and biodiversity levels (assessed using a Shannon-Weiner Index) ranged from 0.1 to 2.9 (mean = 2.1 ±0.7). The top performing candidate models to predict biodiversity included area, shape, and seedbank density. An examination of the effect of varying urban greening efforts across these sites utilised a multivariate analysis which included measures of ecological functioning, biodiversity, the number of years a site had been planted, and the number of individual plants provided over those years. A significant negative relationship was found between site disturbance and the number of planting years (F33.1 = 4.092, p = .051) while a somewhat significant positive relationship was found between biodiversity and the number of individual plants provided (F33,1 =3.536 , p = .069). These results indicate that current urban greening efforts contribute to the ecological health of roadside reserves and that the patterns and processes governing the biological composition of these reserves may be partially explained with traditional ecological theory.


Point defects, impurities, and defect–impurity complexes in diamond microcrystals were studied with the cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy in the scanning electron microscope, photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy (RS). Such defects can influence the directions that microcrystals are grown. Micro-diamonds were obtained by a hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HF CVD) technique from the methane–hydrogen gas mixture. The CL spectra of diamond microcrystals taken from (100) and (111) crystallographic planes were compared to the CL spectrum of a (100) oriented Element Six diamond monocrystal. The following color centers were identified: 2.52, 2.156, 2.055 eV attributed to a nitrogen–vacancy complex and a violet-emitting center (A-band) observed at 2.82 eV associated with dislocation line defects, whose atomic structure is still under discussion. The Raman studies showed that the planes (111) are more defective in comparison to (100) planes. What is reflected in the CL spectra as (111) shows a strong band in the UV region (2.815 eV) which is not observed in the case of the (100) plane.


This article describes authors designed method then enables mathematic – graphical formalization of system's
functional specification. The result of this method is algebraic system – finite automata that is written in transition table. This
transition table is possible to overwrite to graphic form (state diagram) or to mathematic form (transition and output
function). This method is described by example of switch point control circuit.


Objective--The purpose of this study was to evaluate eosinophil infiltration as well as IL-5 and eotaxin levels in middle ear effusion (MEE) and blood from otitis media with effusion (OME) patients with asthma and to compare the findings with those from OME patients without asthma (control group). Material and methods--Levels of IL-5 and eotaxin in MEE and blood were measured by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results--IL-5 levels in MEE were significantly higher than those in blood in both groups of patients and in OME patients with asthma than in the control group. In addition, in OME patients with asthma, there was a significant correlation between the percentage of eosinophils and IL-5 levels in MEE. Eotaxin levels in blood were significantly higher than those in MEE in both groups of patients and in OME patients with asthma than in the control group. In addition, in OME patients with asthma, the percentage of eosinophils and eotaxin levels in blood tended to correlate, but did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion--These data suggest that, in OME patients with asthma, eosinophilia in MEE depends more on IL-5 than on eotaxin, and that eotaxin may play an important role in the mobilization of eosinophils from the bone marrow into the blood.


Low bone mineral density (BMD) is established as a primary predictor of osteoporotic risk but can also have substantial implications for athlete health and injury risk in the elite sporting environment. BMD is a highly multi-factorial phenotype influenced by physical activity and genetics. The exact contribution of these factors and the specific genetic variants association with BMD, particularly in athletic populations, has yet to be determined. Furthermore, few investigations have considered gene-environment interactions - in particular, whether specific genes may be sensitive to mechanical loading from physical activity and the outcome of such an interaction for BMD and potential stress fracture injury risk. Consequently, the overall aim of the current thesis was to investigate the genetic associations with BMD, stress fracture incidence and marathon performance in high-level endurance runners and compare these to a non-athlete cohort to explore genotype-physical activity interactions. BMD differences between endurance runners and non-athletes as well as between runners who had suffered a stress fracture in comparison to those who had not was observed. Additionally, WNT16 rs3801387 and BDNF-AS rs6265 genotype-cohort interactions with BMD were observed whilst P2RX7 rs3751143, COL1A1 rs1800012 and TNFRSF11A rs3018362 genotype associations with BMD were also present. WNT16 rs3801387, COMT rs4680 and P2RX7 rs3751143 were associated with endurance runner status but no variants were associated with performance or stress fracture incidence. These results identify novel genetic associations with BMD and athlete status in an endurance running population as well as genotype-cohort interactions that influence BMD. In conclusion, there appears to be a genotype-dependent influence on athlete status as well as BMD, which may be influenced by physical activity level. Further research is needed to replicate the associations observed in comparable and different populations. Nonetheless, the work presented here has added to our understanding of the genetic associations with performance, BMD and stress fracture incidence, which may have implications for exercise programme management and improving performance in high-level endurance runners.


Abstract. The general census of population and housing is a statistical operation which consists in counting all the populations and all the dwellings of a given territory at a precise date which must produce data of interest to t users and this is the essential statistical purpose of their execution. Each operation executed during a census must have the goal of producing results that meet the needs of the users. The information collected in this way has several interests of the country. The census in Algeria is taken by the National Statistics Office (ONS) which is preparing its sixth General Census of Population and Housing (RGPH). The census is organized in four steps that are: Cartographic Preparation, Staff Training, Execution of the RGPH, and Exploitation.Algeria, in this year 2020 is in phase of preparation of the RGPH, this phase relates to the cartographic aspect and our contribution will relate to the elaboration of a geographic information system (GIS) This phase concerns the cartographic aspect and our contribution will focus on the development of a geographic information system (GIS) allowing the management of the first stage of the RGPH operation, the latter having a mainly cartographic aspect. The design and production of this BDG were made on the basis of the reflections resulting from a careful study of the manuals for this operation and interviews with the local managers of this. In this perspective, a bibliographical study was made to be inspired by the experiences of other countries, and to gain some insight into the techniques used in them.The tools offered by Open Source software represent an important alternative to find a solution to this problem. The information collected during this preparation phase is also important and is very useful for local actors to better understand the space and distribution of the population, which will allow a more rational management of resources.The objective of this paper is focus of the integration of spatial techniques in the census in Algeria while presenting the national office of statistics. An overview of census techniques in different countries is made to illustrate the know-how of this national office. The purpose of the general population census is to give the state a means that cannot be circumvented so that it can plan, among other things, the budget for the coming years according to the distribution of the population and its demographics.


The preparation of CpRu(MeCN)3PF6 using an easily assembled continuous flow reactor is described. This scalable, reproducible method provides the title compound in excellent yield and purity, and eliminates the need for any purification steps. Under our optimized conditions, the residence time required for complete conversion was only 5 min at an initial substrate concentration of 0.06 M, as compared to a reaction time of 12–36 h for the batch process at 0.02 M. This threefold increase in concentration and significant decrease in reaction time increases the throughput and efficiency of the synthesis. Using the simple laboratory equipment described herein, ruthenium catalyst of >99% purity was produced with a throughput of 1.56 g/h (5 mL reactor), which is 10 times the highest reported throughput for the batch process.


With increased transmissibility and novel transmission mode, monkeypox poses new threats to public health globally in the background of the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic. Estimates of the serial interval, a key epidemiological parameter of infectious disease transmission, could provide insights into the virus transmission risks. As of October 2022, little was known about the serial interval of monkeypox due to the lack of contact tracing data. In this study, public‐available contact tracing data of global monkeypox cases were collected and 21 infector‐infectee transmission pairs were identified. We proposed a statistical method applied to real‐world observations to estimate the serial interval of the monkeypox. We estimated a mean serial interval of 5.6 days with the right truncation and sampling bias adjusted and calculated the reproduction number of 1.33 for the early monkeypox outbreaks at a global scale. Our findings provided a preliminary understanding of the transmission potentials of the current situation of monkeypox outbreaks. We highlighted the need for continuous surveillance of monkeypox for transmission risk assessment.


Background/Objectives: The purpose of this paper is presents various areas where 3D printer can be utilized. It is examine the range of utilizing 3D printer in various areas, and help understand 3D printer through presenting areas where 3D printer can be utilized in dentistry among healthcare areas in particular. Methods/Statistical Analysis: With regard to research method, data were searched for on-line and off-line. Image and papers relating to 3D were searched for and manufacturers were surveyed in Yahoo UK on-line. And cases of use were investigated through calling professionals who actually utilized 3D printer in dental clinic off-line. On the basis of details of on-line and off-line findings, the areas where 3D printers are currently utilized are summarized. Findings: The original purpose of 3D printer was to make a prototype before releasing a product. However, recently, areas where it has been utilized are extended to industry, healthcare and real life areas. In the industry area, a more precise and elaborate process is enabled by using the advantage of 3D printer that stacks one layer on top of another. These characteristics show excellent efficiency that reduces costs and efforts required in product development as the time taken to develop a product is decreased by 5~10 times in comparison with conventional method. In the health care area, 3D prosthesis can be made like that. So, it is possible to make a prosthesis that is more similar to human body part. Cases of applying a 3D printer to health care include prosthetic finger, dental surgery, bioartificial liver, skull, bronchial tube, paranasal sinus cancer surgery, conjoined twins surgery, and model for education. Improvements: In health care areas, an artificial bone, joint or tooth can be manufactured with a structure that best fits a patient's body if a printing technology is utilized by using a 3D printer. So, it is forecasted that dental treatment using this will develop and application scope will become wider in the future.


Presence of a teacher appraisal system plays a major role in deciding the level of professionalism of an educational institution. In addition to this it also plays a major role in improvement in quality of education imparted by the teacher. Recently assessment of the teaching fraternity has become indispensable measure and thus it is necessary to explore a new assessment techniques and proper implementation of the same in an institution. The paper discusses a case study of implementation of teacher appraisal system which initially non existed. In the first phase it was implemented using printed data forms and subsequently in the whole system was converted to online system, at NIT, Jamshedpur, India .The implementation of online system had reduced the man-hours required in manual processing of all data significantly, and also reduced chances of erroneous results in the process making the system robust.


Abstract As with most fractured rock formations, Chalk is highly heterogeneous. Therefore, meaningful estimates of model parameters must be obtained at a scale comparable with the process of concern. These are frequently obtained by calibrating an appropriate model to observed concentration–time data from radially convergent tracer tests. Arguably, an appropriate model should consider radially convergent dispersion and Fickian matrix diffusion. Such a model requires the estimation of at least four parameters. A question arises as to whether this level of model complexity is supported by the information contained within the calibration data. A four-parameter model was developed for the analysis of two Chalk aquifer radially convergent tracer tests. The parameters included an advective travel time, ta, a characteristic fracture diffusion time, tcf, a characteristic matrix block diffusion time, tcb and a Peclet number, P. Because the tracer test duration was less than 500 h, tcb was impossible to identify. Further analysis showed that a large set of correlated values of P, ta and tcf would lead to equally good model fits. To resolve this ambiguity, more and better quality data are needed at the very start of the breakthrough curve, to constrain the mechanical dispersion parameter, P.


assuming in the Harben Lectures that the large increase which has occurred of late in the registered deaths from " tabes mesenterica " in infants indicates a corresponding increase of abdominal tuberculosis? If Dr. Donkin agrees, we have then a clear issue to discuss; if, as I anticipate from his letter, he disagrees, considering the " tabes mesenterica " of the death certificates to bear no relationship to tuberculosis, then I think Sir R. Thorne's use of that term, and the importance rightly attached to his lectures both by the profession and the laity, fully justify my protest, and show sufficiently clearly that, so far from putting up a medical Aunt Sally which no longer even stinks, I amcontending against a belief which still shows much evidence of vitality; or, if dead, as Dr. Donkin asserts, is so very recently defunct as not yet even to call for the interference of the inspector of nuisances.-I am, etc., Ardgour, N.B., Sept. 15th. J. WALTER CARR.


People's alcohol use and abuse tend to increase, peak, and then decrease as they go through the transition to adulthood, a period that spans the late teenage years through the mid- to late twenties. However, more specific pathways, or trajectories, of alcohol use are embedded within the normative alcohol use pathway. Studying these trajectories of alcohol use can elucidate the origins and consequences of alcohol problems as well as guide prevention and treatment programs. Models of the average trend (i.e., normative trajectory approaches) are simpler than models that posit multiple trajectories and may replicate more consistently across samples and age spans. However, multiple-trajectory approaches allow for a more specific understanding of the origins, developmental course, and outcomes of alcohol use and abuse among adolescents and young adults.


This paper uses a volatility decomposition method to study the time series behavior of equity volatility at the world, country and local industry levels. Between 1974 and 2001 there is no noticeable long-term trend in any of the volatility measures. Then in the 1990s, there is a sharp increase in local industry volatility compared to market and country volatility. Thus, correlations among local industries have declined. More assets are needed to achieve a given level of diversification, and there is more of a penalty for not being well diversified by industry. Local industry volatility leads the other volatility measures.


Chromosomal losses involving the short arm of chromosome 8 are frequent in a variety of tumour types, including breast cancer, suggesting the presence of one or more tumour suppressor genes in this region. In this study, we have used 11 microsatellite markers to analyse loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at chromosome 8p in 151 sporadic breast tumours and 50 tumours from subjects carrying theBRCA2 999del5 mutation. Fifty percent of sporadic tumours compared to 78% of BRCA2linked tumours exhibit LOH at one or more markers at 8p showing that chromosome 8p alterations in breast tumours fromBRCA2 999del5 carriers are more pronounced than in sporadic breast tumours. The pattern of LOH is different in the two groups and a higher proportion of BRCA2tumours have LOH in a large region of chromosome 8p. In the total patient material, LOH of 8p is associated with LOH at other chromosome regions, for example, 1p, 3p, 6q, 7q, 9p, 11p, 13q, 17p, and 20q, but no association is found between LOH at 8p and chromosome regions 11q, 16q, 17q, and 18q. Furthermore, an association is detected between LOH at 8p and positive node status, large tumour size, aneuploidy, and high S phase fraction. Breast cancer patients with LOH at chromosome 8p have a worse prognosis than patients without this defect. Multivariate analysis suggests that LOH at 8p is an independent prognostic factor. We conclude that chromosome 8p carries a tumour suppressor gene or genes, the loss of which results in growth advantage of breast tumour cells, especially in carriers of the BRCA2999del5 mutation.


Background : Laryngeal videostroboscopy is an important noninvasive diagnostic tool in patients with dysphonia. More than 50% of patients with dysphonia have a benign laryngeal lesion on vocal fold examination. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients with benign laryngeal lesions by videostroboscopy. Methods : This cross-sectional study was done on 159 patients with dysphonia in Amiralam Hospital in Tehran, Iran during 2006-2007. All the patients underwent stroboscopic examination of the vocal folds, including their movement. We also evaluated the patients for mucosal status, mucosal wave and patterns of glottal closure. Results : Eighty-two patients participating in the study were female and 77 were male. Reflux laryngitis and muscle tension dysphonia were the most observed disorders in the patient population. Patients with sulcus vocalis and intracordal cysts had the worst mucosal wave patterns. Conclusion : Laryngeal videostroboscopy is a useful tool for the diagnosis and treatment planning in patients with benign laryngeal lesions.


Long-distance quantum communication through optical fibers is currently limited to a few hundreds of kilometres due to fiber losses. Quantum repeaters could extend this limit to continental distances. Most approaches to quantum repeaters require highly multimode quantum memories in order to reach high communication rates. The atomic frequency comb memory scheme can in principle achieve high temporal multimode storage, without sacrificing memory efficiency. However, previous demonstrations have been hampered by the difficulty of creating high-resolution atomic combs, which reduces the efficiency for multimode storage. In this article we present a comb preparation method that allows one to increase the multimode capacity for a fixed memory bandwidth. We apply the method to a Eu3+151-doped Y2SiO5 crystal, in which we demonstrate storage of 100 modes for 51 μs using the AFC echo scheme (a delay-line memory) and storage of 50 modes for 0.541 ms using the AFC spin-wave memory (an on-demand memory). We also briefly discuss the ultimate multimode limit imposed by the optical decoherence rate, for a fixed memory bandwidth.


The research work titled "Appraisal of Inventory Management and Control in Manufacturing Firms". The general objective of this study is to appraise inventory management and control in manufacturing firms of some selected manufacturing firms. The specific objectives are to: examine the effectiveness of the various tools and techniques (Economic order quantity and Economic Batch Quantity) used by manufacturing firms in inventory management and ascertain the extents to which inventory control contribute to profitability in manufacturing firms. This study adopted the ex-post factor and descriptive research design. This study is anchored on theory of Economic order quantity (Wilson EOQ). The area of the study is manufacturing firms' precisely two manufacturing firms Nigeria Breweries and Unilever plc. The instruments used were main sources from both Primary data and Secondary data. The primary data was obtained using oral interview and properly structured questionnaire while the secondary data for the study were obtained mainly from textbooks, journals and internet articles. A simple percentage approach was employed to analyze the questionnaire while the hypothesis were tested using Regression Analysis at 5% level of significance. The analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20. The study found that the various tools and techniques of inventory management adopted in manufacturing firms are effective since the significance value (p-value) of 0.046 < 0.05. it further found that inventory control has contributed significantly to the net profit of manufacturing organization (Nigeria Breweries plc) with (p-value) of 0.005 is less than 0.05 while revise is the case of Unilever plc. It therefore recommended that manufacturing firms should diversify their inventory system to suit specific needs of production and at the same time ensure that maximum attention is paid to inventory management so as to avoid or reduce the amount of loss that would be gotten from damaged goods in inventory.


Intermolecular contacts between organic molecules in crystals have been categorized according to the shortest distances between the van der Waals spheres. The distributions of the first, second and next shortest contacts reveal systematic changes in the role of different types of interactions in the aggregation of molecules. These distributions of the shortest contacts can be related to the specific types of cohesion forces as well as to the effect of close packing of molecules. The sequence of close contacts reflects the role of cohesion forces in a given crystal, and their contribution to the stability of crystals in general can be evaluated. Such an analysis has been applied to measure the changes in the types of cohesion forces in polymorphs and in structures undergoing phase transitions. This information is essential to understand the molecular aggregation as well as to validate the crystallographic data. It has been established for the chemical compounds investigated that their phase transitions and polymorphic modifications do not change the closest intermolecular contacts of the first order, and only higher orders of contacts are modified.


Exposed around the margins of Mono basin and the periphery of Long Valley caldera are ∼100 km 3 of potassic, basic to intermediate lavas that record high water and oxygen fugacities. Most eruptions occurred between 4 and 2 Ma, although sporadic potassic volcanism continued into the Quaternary with a pulse between 0.1 and 0.5 Ma, ∼15 km northeast of Mono basin. The lava types include absarokite, minette, hornblende lamprophyre, trachybasalt, and trachyandesite. Estimated water contents for lavas without hydrous phenocrysts range between 2 and 3 wt% considerably more than mid-ocean ridge, oceanic island, or back-arc magmas. Calculated f O 2 , values fall between -0.4 and +1.2 log units of the Ni-NiO buffer. Although this potassic suite was erupted in an extensional tectonic setting at the western margin of the Basin and Range province, its high K 2 O/TiO 2 and low Zr/Ba ratios suggest a subduction-modified mantle source. If subduction was the process that enriched the lithospheric mantle in large-ion lithophile elements (K, Ba, etc.), it was also a mechanism for mantle oxidation and hydration.


Statement of Problem: The integrity of adhesive bond at the tooth/resin interface performs an essential role in the clinical success and survival of restorations. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare microleakage of Class II cavities restored with total-etch or self-etch adhesives and different bulk-fill composites. Materials and methods: Conventional class II cavities were prepared on forty sound human premolar teeth with approximately same size and shape. Half of the cavities restored with a sonic-resin placement system (SonicFill, Kerr), and the other half of the cavities with Tetric N-Ceram (TNC) composite with total-etch; Optibond Solo Plus or self-etch; Optibond XTR, adhesives. The samples stored in distilled water at 37 ° C for 24 hours, and then specimens were under 1000 thermal cycles. The teeth were covered with two layers of nail varnish except for one mm around gingival margins, and then were dipped in glass vials for 48 h at 37°C in a neutral-buffered 2% methy¬leneblue solution. After removal from the dye, the teeth were rinsed and the varnish was removed, and stored individually in a glass vial containing 65% nitric acid. The vials were centrifuged, and 100 μl of the super¬natant from each was then analysed in a UV-Visible spectro¬photometer after a kinetic assay at 550 nm wavelength using concentrat¬ed nitric acid as the blank. So dye extraction was conducted to investigate the leakage test. Data were analysed by ANOVA test (P 0.05). Conclusions: Both of the bulk-fill composites with various adhesives had the same microleakage.


Optical transient induced absorption and bleaching as a function of wavelength for reduced SrTiO3 with a picosecond pump–probe technique have been studied. An energy-level model of the reduced SrTiO3 is proposed to explain the experimental results. The reduced SrTiO3 crystal examined has two absorption bands centered at 1.7 eV and 2.4 eV, which are assigned to transitions from levels lying in the band gap approximately 1.5 eV and 0.8 eV above the valence band, respectively, to the conduction band. The relaxation times of electrons from the conduction band to the level at 1.5 eV and from the level at 1.5 eV to the level at 0.8 eV are determined to be ∼40 ps and much larger than 500 ps, respectively.


We report here the isolation of two new monoclonal antibodies (MB1.1 and MB1.2) against mouse VLA-beta 1 integrin subunit. Characterization by flow cytometry demonstrated binding of MB1.1 and MB1.2 to freshly isolated thymocytes, primary bone marrow mast cell lines, as well as cell lines of distinct lineage each expressing different combination of VLA integrins. The specificity of MB1.1 and MB1.2 was determined by (1) their binding to antigen with M(r) about 120 kDa, and (2) the ability of antiserum against the carboxyl terminal of VLA-beta 1 subunit to deplete antigens for MB1.1 and MB1.2 in sequential immunoprecipitation experiments. The epitopes for MB1.1 and MB1.2 were in close proximity to each other since preincubation of cells with one MAb inhibited the binding of the other. However, MB1.1 and MB1.2 differed in their affinity for the beta 1 subunit. In addition, neither MAbs had any effect on cell adhesion to matrix proteins indicating that the epitopes involved are distant from VLA integrin ligand-binding sites. MB1.1 and MB1.2 appear to differ from the two MAbs so far reported against mouse VLA-beta 1 subunit, KMI6 and 9EG7. Thus, the epitopes for MB1.1 and MB1.2 were readily detectable on unfractionated thymocytes whereas KMI6 has been reported to bind only a fraction of CD4-8- and CD4-8+ thymocytes. Phorbol ester and Mn2+, which have been shown to regulate the binding of 9EG7, had no effect on MB1.1 and MB1.2 binding to VLA-beta 1 integrin subunit.


An ultra-wideband double-balanced resistive mixer with high dynamic range (IIP3) is reported. The mixer is designed and fabricated using HRL Laboratory's GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) (T2) process and it utilises a series resistor-capacitor circuit network termination to the device gate, in order to achieve resonance-free broadband conversion loss and high dynamic range. The measured conversion loss from 3 to 40 GHz is between 5.5 and 8.5 dB at 1 GHz intermediate frequency. Large signal testing at 15 GHz showed a 1 dB gain compression point ( P 1dB ) of 22 dBm.


Over the past several years it has become apparent that the effectiveness of active immunologic strategies for cancer therapy have been limited by cell intrinsic and extrinsic regulatory pathways that act in concert to shape the magnitude, quality, and location of immune responses in order to maximize target destruction and minimize harm to normal tissues. The prototype of cell intrinsic "checkpoints" whose blockade enhances anti-tumor responses is CTLA-4, which has been extensively studied in a large number of animal models and shown to be quite effective in achieving, either as a single agent or in combination with other agents, complete tumor eradication and long lasting tumor immunity. Over 3,500 patients have been treated with an antibody to human CTLA-4 (Ipilimumab, Medarex and Bristol-Meyers Squibb). Significant responses, including complete remissions, have been observed in about 15% of metastatic melanoma patients. This has led to considerable effort to identify biomarkers that would be useful in determining the impact of CTLA-4 on human immune responses in order to identify changes that might correlate with clinical responses, as well as to address combinatorial strategies that might enhance the effectiveness/frequency of clinical responses.

We have shown in melanoma and prostate cancer models in mice that tumor rejection is closely correlated with an increase in the ratio of both CD4 and CD8 effector cells to FoxP3+ regulatory cells. We have also found that CTLA-4 blockade decreases either the conversion of self reactive FOXP3- effector CD4 T cells to Foxp3+ Treg and/or the migration of converted cells into the tumor.

In a presurgical bladder cancer trial it has been shown that CTLA-4 results in an increase in the ratio of IFN-γ producing effector cells that express high levels of the CD28/CTLA-4 homolog ICOS. We have confirmed this in mouse models of melanoma and prostate cancer, and preliminary data suggest that an antibody to ICOS can enhance the therapeutic effects of anti-CTLA-4 in a melanoma model. We have also shown that intratumoral T cells express high levels of another coinhibitory molecule, PD-1, in which there has been considerable interest recently, and have found that blockade of PD-1 together with CTLA-4 enhances anti-tumor responses.

We have also examined two new combinatorial therapies involving CTLA-4 blockade: cryoablation and adoptive T cell transfer. In both we found significant synergy resulting in rejection of tumors that either treatment alone could not achieve.

This abstract was published in Cancer Immunity , a [Cancer Research Institute][1] journal that ceased publication in 2013 and is now provided online in association with Cancer Immunology Research .

 [1]: http://cancerresearch.org/


Programmable processors specialized to intensive numerical computation and real-time signal processing are often deeply pipelined. The ensuing gain in throughput is moderated by the difficulty of efficiently programming such processors. Techniques for overcoming this difficulty are effective only for modest amounts of pipelining. This paper proposes applying an old but rarely used architectural approach to the design of single-chip signal processors so that the potential benefits of extensive pipelining can be fully realized. The architectural approach is to interleave multiple processes (or programs) through a single deeply pipelined processor in such a way that the disadvantages of deep pipelining disappear. Instead, the user is faced with the need to construct programs that can execute as concurrent processes. The main advantage is that much more pipelining can be used without aggravating the programming. A specific experimental architecture is outlined. The solution offered is a "system solution" in that architectural performance is considered along with programmability and ease of use. In the companion paper, data flow programming is suggested so that algorithms can be automatically partitioned for concurrent execution. Data flow provides a natural environment in which to build signal processing programs and can be supported efficiently in an architecture of the type described here.


The Carath\'eodory theorem on the construction of a measure is generalized by replacing the outer measure with an approximation of it and generalizing the Carath\'eodory measurability. The new theorem is applied to obtain dynamically defined measures from constructions of outer measure approximations resulting from sequences of measurement pairs consisting of refining $\sigma$-algebras and measures on them which need not be consistent. A particular case when the measurement pairs are given by the action of an invertible map on an initial $\sigma$-algebra and a measure on it is also considered.


Using simulations of radar cross section (RCS) based on wave-current interaction calculations, the authors investigate the origin of a prominent enhancement in L-band from signals that were transmitted and received, respectively, with horizontal (H) and vertical (V) polarization radar return. This was observed in imagery of the northern boundary of the Gulf Stream (GS) during the first Shuttle Radar Laboratory (SRL-1) mission. The calculations of surface roughness are based on a one-dimensional (1D) surface current model that closely resembles a current shear that was observed in in situ current measurements, taken at both sides of the GS at the time SRL-1 imaged the GS boundary. In agreement with trends observed in the imagery, significant enhancements in L-band HV polarization cross section occur in the neighborhood of the GS thermal boundary, relative to comparable vertical polarization (VV) cross section signatures at X-, C-, and L-band. The authors also find reasonably good agreement between the simulated and observed magnitudes of the GS signatures (based on calculations of wave action) using two different radar imaging models, and they provide an overview of a number of additional submesoscale features associated with the GS that were present in the image of the GS boundary.


Liquid holdup is a crucial parameter when operating catalytic trickle bed reactors related to wetting efficiency and residence time. Most of the classical methods are expensive, time-consuming, or not valid for high pressures. Liquid holdup by gravimetric recirculation (LHGR) measurement method determines the average total liquid holdup using a closed loop with total recirculation of liquid. The recirculating liquid is contained in a vessel that is weighed instantaneously with a known amount of liquid. The difference between the initial amount of liquid and the instantaneous weight gives the liquid holdup. Main benefits are the following: first, the measurement takes only the time of stabilization that at laboratory scale is 2–5 min; second, the system is ready for the next measurement without any modification (the bed is not disturbed nor modified); third, it works for high pressures; finally, it gives values comparable to those from classical techniques like RTD or conductivity methods.


Normal forms for logic programs under stable/answer set semantics are introduced. We argue that these forms can simplify the study of program properties, mainly consistency. The first normal form, called the kernel of the program, is useful for studying existence and number of answer sets. A kernel program is composed of the atoms which are undefined in the Well-founded semantics, which are those that directly affect the existence of answer sets. The body of rules is composed of negative literals only. Thus, the kernel form tends to be significantly more compact than other formulations. Also, it is possible to check consistency of kernel programs in terms of colorings of the Extended Dependency Graph program representation which we previously developed. The second normal form is called 3-kernel. A 3-kernel program is composed of the atoms which are undefined in the Well-founded semantics. Rules in 3-kernel programs have at most two conditions, and each rule either belongs to a cycle, or defines a connection between cycles. 3-kernel programs may have positive conditions. The 3-kernel normal form is very useful for the static analysis of program consistency, i.e. the syntactic characterization of existence of answer sets. This result can be obtained thanks to a novel graph-like representation of programs, called Cycle Graph which presented in the companion article Costantini (2004b).


Abstract The study investigated the in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo efficacy of ajoene and ciprofloxacin (CIP) alone and in combination against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms and biofilm-associated murine acute pyelonephritis. The ajoene–CIP combination exhibited significant greater (p < 0.05) antimotility and biofilm inhibitory effects than those obtained when they were applied individually. The combined action of the agents resulted in a significant increase in serum sensitivity and phagocytic uptake and killing of P. aeruginosa (p < 0.001) compared to the untreated control. Mice groups treated with an ajoene (25 mg kg−1) and CIP (30 mg kg−1 or 15 mg kg−1) combination showed a significantly (p < 0.001) reduced bacterial load in the kidney and bladder as compared to that of infected controls and mice treated with solo agents on the fifth day post-infection. The decreased levels of biomarkers and photomicrographs of the kidney tissue of the treated mice showed a reduced severity of damage. Hence, the study highlights the antivirulent and therapeutic efficacy of the ajoene-CIP combination at the minimal dosage of CIP.


Purpose: Descemet membrane detachment (DMD) is uncommon. It most frequently occurs as a complication of intraocular surgery. The aim of this study was to report a case of DMD after neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser capsulotomy in a patient with Fuchs dystrophy. Methods: We describe the case of an 89-year-old man suffering from Fuchs dystrophy, who underwent cataract surgery on his left eye. Three years later, the patient presented with posterior capsule opacification, which was treated using Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy. The day after the procedure, the patient came back for emergency treatment because of an acute reduction in his vision caused by a DMD. Results: Fifteen days after an initial treatment involving the injection of air into the anterior chamber coupled with ocular paracentesis, clinical examination revealed a significant improvement in visual acuity, reduction in corneal edema, and reattachment of Descemet membrane. These findings were confirmed using anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of DMD after Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy.


Forces acting on an airfoil are often found using computational fluid dynamics, and the accuracy of the solution is highly dependent on the type and resolution of the grid used to capture the flow. The simplest way to increase the resolution of a grid is to globally increase the number of grid points. This method results in significantly higher accuracy at the expense of computing time, and therefore is not generally the best solution. Alternatively, the error can be reduced without significantly increasing the computation time if the grid points are moved such that the points cluster around areas of high errors. Previous efforts have used gradients of properties such as pressure or density as a surrogate for error. These techniques have limited success since the errors in the force calculation are not always linked to high solution gradients; the grid points that are closest to the airfoil have the largest impact on the accuracy of the force calculations, while the flow behind an airfoil does not affect the lift and drag on the airfoil. A previously proposed solution to this problem came in the form of using adjoint flow equations, which provide a direct link between the computed force coefficients and truncation errors in the flow field. This method has been developed theoretically, but has only been verified computationally using an unstructured grid. The focus of this paper is to implement the adjoint adaptation for structured grids and to examine the error in force calculations for several different types of grids. A newly-written program which applies an elliptic grid smoother to an algebraic grid was used to generate the grids. Once this elliptic grid was created, it was read into a separate flow solver to find the coefficients of lift and drag of the airfoil. A double wedge airfoil in a supersonic stream was selected to test the program because an analytical solution for lift and drag could be used for comparison. Table of


Scientific fields differ in terms of their subject matter, research techniques, collaboration sizes, rates of growth, and so on. We investigate whether common dynamics might lurk beneath these differences, affecting how scientific fields form and evolve over time. Particularly important in any field's history is the moment at which shared concepts and techniques allow widespread exchange of ideas and collaboration. At that moment, co-authorship networks show the analog of a percolation phenomenon, developing a giant connected component containing most authors. We develop a general theoretical framework for analyzing finite, evolving networks in which each scientific field is an instantiation of the same large-scale topological critical phenomenon. We estimate critical exponents associated with the transition and find evidence for universality near criticality implying that, as various fields approach the topological transition, they do so with the same set of critical exponents consistent with an effective dimensionality $d \simeq 1$. These results indicate that a common dynamics is at play in all scientific fields, which in turn may hold policy implications for ways to encourage and accelerate the creation of scientific and technological knowledge.


A magnet spectrograph situated at the British Universities joint air shower array at Haverah Park, near Harrogate, has been used for studies of various aspects of the muon component of extensive air showers (EAS).An introduction to EAS and the relevance of muon studies is given, and two momentum spectrographs are described, the second being an improvement over the first, yielding higher precision and momentum resolution. A detailed survey of track-fitting methods applicable to neon flash tube data from muon spectrographs is made, and an accurate method is described. The results of track fitting data from both instruments are presented and discussed. Theoretical model calculations on the muon component are described, and have been used to predict possible areas for further experiments. Comparisons are made between the prediction of model calculations and experimental data from the spectrograph in an attempt to determine several parameters governing the development of EAS. Two methods of obtaining the mean production height of muons in EAS are described, and the results interpreted in terms of the development of EAS. Further experiments which may be relevant to measurements of the primary particle mass are described.


The authors investigate whether investors who have adopted investment strategies based on asset pricing anomalies documented in the academic literature consistently earn abnormal returns. They evaluate the performance of a large sample of U.S. equity mutual funds over the period from 1990 to 2010. They find evidence supporting added value for investors who adopt factor-investing strategies: low-beta, small-cap and value funds earn significant excess returns. They also find that these excess returns are sustainable and have not disappeared after the public dissemination of the anomalies. The authors propose some criteria that might be helpful to determine the successful application of academic insights in the context of investment strategies. Their findings have significant implications for the role of academic research and knowledge management in the investment management industry.


The aim of this study was to analyze the potential of Buton forest onion extract (BFOE) Eleutherine bulbosa (Mill.) Urb. as a prebiotic and an antioxidant. Buton forest onion was extracted using 96% ethanol by maceration method. The prebiotic content of BFOE was determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The ability of BFOE as a prebiotic was analyzed the growth of Pseudoalteromonas piscicida 1Ub and Bacillus sp. NP5.and  its resistance to artificial gastric acid and α-amylase. Antioxidant activities were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhidrazyl (DPPH). Results indicate that the content of the oligosaccharides of BFOE including inulins, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), galactooligosaccharides (GOS), and raffinoses was 2.1%, 10%, 1% and 7.5%, respectively. The mixed oligosaccharides were found capable to stimulate the growth of P. piscicida 1Ub and Bacillus sp. NP5. The optimum BFOE concentration to stimulate the growth of probiotics was 1.25 mg/mL (0.17 ± 0.02 and 0.21 ± 0.00). The mixed oligosaccharides were also resistant to hydrolysis of artificial gastrice acid and α-amylase, with maximum hydrolysis percentages of 8.25 ± 0.25% and 27.52 ± 1.68%, respectively. The BFOE was capable to DPPH radical scavenge with IC50 of 1.48 µg/mL. The BFOE of this study has the potential to be a prebiotic and an antioxidant.


We demonstrate the generation of nanosecond and multikilowatt peak-power pulses in a double-clad Yb-doped fiber amplifier seeded by a spectrally narrowed gain-switched laser diode. Injected pulses with 100 ns duration were simultaneously compressed and amplified by the combination of high amplifier gain and stimulated Brillouin scattering. A maximum peak power of 20 kW has been obtained, corresponding to a single-pass gain of +57 dB in terms of peak power. Part of this output signal was also converted into IR continuum light by splicing a length of single-mode fiber at the end of the fiber amplifier.


Voice spoofing is one of the major challenges that needs to be addressed in the development of robust speaker verification (SV) systems. Therefore, it is necessary to develop systems (spoofing detectors) that are able distinguish between genuine and spoofed speech utterances. In this work, we propose the use of modified gammatone frequency cepstral coefficients (MGFCC) on enhancing the performance of spoofing detection. We also compare the effectiveness of GMM based spoofing detectors developed using mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), gammatone frequency cepstral coefficients (GFCC), modified group delay cepstral coefficients (MGDCC) and cosine normalized phase cepstral coefficients (CNPCC) with that of MGFCC. The experimental results on ASV spoof 2015 database show that MGFCC outperforms magnitude based, MFCC and GFCC, and phase based, MGDCC and CNPCC, features on the known attack conditions. Further, we performed a score level fusion of the systems developed using MFCC, MGFCC, MGDCC and CNPCC. It is observed that the fused system significantly outperforms all the individual systems for known and unknown attack conditions of ASV spoof 2015 database.


To facilitate the study of collisions between 10 GeV polarized electrons and 100 GeVIu heavy ions or 250 GeV polarized protons at luminosities in the 1033cm-2sec-1 range (e-p case), adding a 10 GeV electron storage ring to the existing RHIC complex has been proposed. The interaction region of this electron-ion collider eRHIC has to provide the required low-beta focussing, while simultaneously accomodating the synchrotron radiation fan generated by beam separation close to the interaction point, which is particularly challenging. The latest design status of the eRHIC interaction region will be presented.


In sickle cell (SS) vaso-occlusion, the culminating event is blockage of blood vessels by sickled red blood cells (SS RBCs). As shown in animal models, SS RBC-induced vaso-occlusion is often partial, allowing for a residual flow, hence oxygen delivery to partially occluded vessels could reduce vaso-occlusion. The efficacy of an oxygenated perflubron-based fluorocarbon emulsion (PFE) was tested for its anti-vaso-occlusive effects in the ex vivo mesocecum vasculature of the rat. Microvascular obstruction was induced by the infusion of deoxygenated SS RBCs into ex vivo preparations with or without pretreatment with platelet-activating factor (PAF). PAF induced enhanced SS RBC-endothelium interactions, leading to greater vaso-occlusion. Microvascular blockage resulted in increased peripheral resistance units (PRU). Deoxygenated SS RBCs caused a persistent 1.5-fold PRU increase in untreated preparations and approximately a 2-fold PRU increase in PAF-treated preparations. The greater PRU in PAF-treated preparations was caused by widespread adhesion and postcapillary blockage. Oxygenated PFE, but not deoxygenated PFE, resulted in PRU decreases to baseline values in both groups of experiments (with or without PAF). The PRU decrease caused by oxygenated PFE infusion was caused by unsickling of SS RBCs in partially occluded vessels, with no antiadhesive effect on already adherent SS RBCs as assessed by intravital microscopy. PFE had no effect on vascular tone. The efficacy of PFE appears to result from its greater capacity to dissolve oxygen (10-fold higher than plasma). The dislodgement of trapped SS RBCs and an increase in wall shear rates will help reverse the partial obstruction. Thus, oxygenated PFE is capable of reducing SS RBC-induced vaso-occlusion, and further development of this approach is advisable.


The present study deals with the factors affecting the prognosis in the acute stage of 29 cases with hypertensive thalamic hemorrhage diagnosed by CT scan. It was thought that the following factors were significantly related to the outcome of the patients who were unable to lead daily life, remained in vegetative state or died: (1) consciousness level was below 10 in the so-called 3-3-9 formula, (2) bilateral Babinski's signs were observed, (3) localization of the hematoma was all the thalamic nuclei type, (4) hematoma volume was above 10 ml, (5) the maximum dimension of hematoma was over 30 or 35 mm, maximum width over 30 mm, maximum length over 25 mm and maximum height over 30 or 40 mm, and (6) the ventricles were dilatated. The prognosis had no significant relationship with the age of the patients, the side of the hematoma, the presence or the absence of ventricular penetration of the hematoma, or the existence of midline shift. We believe that in the acute stage of hypertensive thalamic hemorrhage, the prognosis can be forecasted by neurological findings, accurate calculation of the hematoma volume and size, localization of the hematoma and presence or absence of ventricular dilatation as determined by CT scan.


ABSTRACT Central banking as an avenue of research has been of interest to scholars from International Political Economy (IPE) and Public Policy and Administration (PPA) disciplines. Nevertheless, there is very little dialogue between these two perspectives to bridge macro, meso, micro-level analyses and examine the reciprocal relationship between the global and domestic political economy context and monetary policy conduct. This article investigates the Turkish experience to bridge IPE and PPA scholarship on central banking in emerging economies. In doing so, we adopt an analytic eclectic approach combining multiple structural, institutional, and agential causal explanations with particular reference to the Structure, Institution, and Agency (SIA) theoretical framework. This is because analytic eclecticism complements, speaks to, and selectively incorporates theoretical approaches such as the New Independence Approach (NIA) of IPE and institutional and ideational PPA approaches. Drawing on the empirical context of the historical evolution of the Turkish political economy, we explore domestic and international interactions among micro, meso, and macro levels that shape central banking behavior. Our analysis also reveals how global dynamics are translated into domestic policy choices and how particular ideas influence the policymaking process. The analysis underscores the constraining and enabling influence of international dynamics, politics of ideas on emerging economy central banking, and the essential role individual and organizational agency play in the policymaking process.


Objectives To investigate the associations between head and neck cancer risk and occupational exposure to chlorinated solvents. Method ICARE is a population based case-control study conducted in France. Analyses were restricted to men and included 1833 cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and 2747 controls. Complete occupational history was collected. Job-exposure matrices allowed to assess exposure to five chlorinated solvents (trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, methylene chloride, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride). Odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for smoking, alcohol drinking and other potential confounders and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated with logistic models. Results No association was found for occupational exposure to trichloroethylene, methylene chloride, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride, and no dose-response relationships were observed. A non-significantly increased risk of HNSCC was observed for perchloroethylene (OR=2.1, CI 0.7–6.3), when comparing the highest tertile of cumulative exposure with no exposure. Analysis by cancer site showed that this increased risk was limited to laryngeal cancer. The risk of laryngeal cancer increased with cumulative exposure to perchloroethylene (p for trend=0,03), with a significantly elevated OR (OR=5.0, CI 1.6–15.6) for the highest tertile of cumulative exposure. Exposure to perchloroethylene was not associated with the risk of oral or pharyngeal cancer. No associations were found between other chlorinated solvents and any of the cancer sites. Conclusions These findings suggest that high levels of exposure to perchloroethylene may increase the risk of laryngeal cancer. Our study does not provide evidence that other chlorinated solvents are risk factors for HNSCC.


Abstract During the colonial period sexually transmitted infections (STIs) came to be recognised as a major public health problem in African cities. Thus, STI control and urban modernisation became deeply entangled as authorities redrew spatial and social boundaries to manage populations and their cross-cultural interaction. Public health measures, urban planning and policing were part of a coordinated effort to neutralise the potential impact of rapidly growing African urban migration on the Belgian Congo's 'model' capital Leopoldville. While STI control was facilitated by new drugs (arsenicals, sulfonamides and antibiotics) to treat syphilis, chancroid, gonorrhoea and chlamydia (bacterial STIs), the effects of the 1929 economic crisis and urban social change illustrated the limits of colonial authority. Redesigning urban spaces and repressive measures to curb polygyny and prostitution operated in a parallel fashion with the expansion of health coverage, new treatments and awareness campaigns. To gain a better understanding of the evolution of STI incidence among African urban populations during the colonial period between 1910 and 1960, extensive archival records and secondary literature were consulted to assess the interplay between improved screening, diagnostic and therapeutic methods with demographic and social change. They show that STI rates, probably peaked during the pre-1929 period and apart from a short period in the early 1930s associated with mass screening, declined until becoming residual in the 1950s. Reflecting upon sanitary interventions and their broader dimensions, the article analyses the evolution of treatment regimes and their impact in the changing urban organisation and environment of the colony's capital.


Previous research has portrayed buyersupplier and suppliersupplier alliances as important mechanisms to foster learning and exchange efficiencies. Controversy remains, however, as to how these alliances interact. While some propose they reinforce one another (e.g. learning in horizontal ties generates positive spillovers to vertical ties), others propose a negative interplay (e.g. when increasing vertical-tie intensity, suppliers may weaken horizontal ties to avoid retaliation from buyers who wish to preserve bargaining power). We empirically test these competing views using survey data from the Brazilian auto-parts industry. In an attempt at reconciliation, we propose that the positive or negative interaction between vertical and horizontal alliances depends on the level of technological uncertainty of goods exchanged. Vertical ties seem to inhibit horizontal ties when technological uncertainty is low; when technological uncertainty is higher, vertical and horizontal ties do not seem to have any meaningful form of interaction. We discuss implications for theory and practice.


The authors retrospectively analyzed the clinical and histopathological findings in 201 patients with intracranial meningiomas operated on in the period 1978 to 1982. Forty-three of the patients (21.4%) had at some previous time received radiation treatment to their scalp, the majority for tinea capitis. The findings in these 43 irradiated patients were compared with those in the 158 non-irradiated patients. Several distinctive clinical and histological features were identified in the irradiated group, which suggest that radiation-induced meningiomas can be defined as a separate nosological subgroup. The use of irradiation in large numbers of children with tinea capitis in the era prior to the availability of griseofulvin may be responsible for a significantly increased incidence of intracranial meningiomas.


Runtime verification has gained significant interest in recent years. It is a process in which the execution trace of a program is analysed while it is running. A popular language for specifying temporal requirements for runtime verification is Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), which is excellent for expressing properties such as safety and liveness. Another formalism that is used is Interval Temporal Logic (ITL). This logic has constructs for specifying the behaviour of programs that can be decomposed into subintervals of activity [Mos83]. Traditionally, only a restricted subset of ITL has been used for runtime verification due to the limitations imposed by making the subset executable. In this thesis an alternative restriction of ITL was considered as the basis for constructing a library of runtime verification monitors (ITL-Monitor). The thesis introduces a new first-occurrence operator (B) into ITL and explores its properties. This operator is the basis of the translation from runtime monitors to their corresponding ITL formulae. ITL-Monitor is then introduced formally, and the algebraic properties of its operators are analysed. An implementation of ITL-Monitor is given, based upon the construction of a Domain Specific Language using Scala. The architecture of the underlying system comprises a network of concurrent actors built on top of Akka an industrial-strength distributed actor framework. A number of example systems are constructed to evaluate ITL-Monitor's performance against alternative verification tools. ITL-Monitor is also subjected to a simulation that generates a very large quantity of state data. The monitors were observed to deliver consistent performance across execution traces of up to a million states, and to verify subintervals of up to 300 states against ITL formulae with evaluation complexity of O(n3).


Natural resources can have a negative impact on the economy through corruption and civil conflict. This paper tests whether information can counteract this political resource curse. We implement a large-scale field experiment following the dissemination of information about a substantial natural gas discovery in Mozambique. We measure outcomes related to the behavior of citizens and local leaders through georeferenced conflict data, behavioral activities, lab-in-the-field experiments, and surveys. We find that information targeting citizens and their involvement in public deliberations increases local mobilization and decreases violence. By contrast, when information reaches only local leaders, it increases elite capture and rent-seeking. (JEL C73, D72, D74, O13, O17, Q33, Q34)


15 patients with severe haemophilia A recorded the rate and course of acute joint bleedings during one year. The episodes treated by replacement were compared with those not so treated. From the results it is evident, that treatment with factor VIII concentrates (n equal 8) alone does not completely prevent haemophilic arthropathy, but may reduce it in the individual cases to a level where it only occurs with higher bleeding rates. The bleeding rate depends mainly on the stage of the arthropathy. There is significant improvement of joint movement and significant regression of joint circumference after infusion treatment. Acute joint bleedings in haemophiliacs can be successfully treated by a combination of haemostatic and anti-inflammatory substances, as well as by physiotherapy and orthopaedic means.


In the recent years, object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach has emerged with an attempt to overcome limitations inherited in conventional pixel-based approaches. OBIA was performed using Landsat 8 image to map the forest types in Kapilvastu district of Nepal. Systematic sampling design was adopted to establish sample points in the field, and 70% samples were used for classification and 30% samples for accuracy assessment. Landsat image was pre-processed, and the slope and aspect derived from the ASTER DEM were used as additional predictors for classification. Segmentation was done using eCognition v8.0 with the scale parameter of 20, ratios of 0.1 and 0.9 for shape and color, respectively. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) and nearest neighbor classifier (k-NN) methods were used for object-based classification. The major forest types observed in the district were KS ( Acacia catechu / Dalbergia sissoo ), Sal ( Shorea robusta ) and Tropical Mixed Hardwood. The k-NN classification technique showed higher overall accuracy than the CART method. The classification approach used in this study can also be applied to classify forest types in other districts. Improvement in classification accuracy can be potentially obtained through inclusion of sufficient samples from all classes. Banko Janakari A Journal of Forestry Information for Nepal Vol. 26, No. 1, Page: 38-44, 2016


The marine ecology of Maluku has the potential for fertility to be used to increase people's incomes. One of the marine ecologies of interest is seaweed, which is the largest part of marine plants and as one of the potential commodities to be developed, but in reality there has been no serious concern from coastal communities to take advantage of this ecological environment. This study aims to measure the yield of seaweed that can increase the family's economic income. Approach Financial analysis uses a seaweed business analysis that reviews the characteristics of the economy in Ambon City. The calculation results show that the first crops of the farmers have covered the capital from investment and operational costs. If in one period (1 year) there are 7 times of harvest, then the cultivators get a return on capital at the first harvest and six next harvest is profit. Marine ecology is not only a land of seaweed that can provide growth but increase people's income in Ambon City. The next researchers are suggested to examine the extraction of seaweed that can increase farmer income.


The global and local electrophilicity patterns of a series of 15 diazonium ions have been evaluated using the absolute scale of electrophilicity proposed by Parr et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1999, 121, 1922). The predicted global electrophilicity pattern of the whole series of diazonium ions correctly compares with the experimental electrophilicity recently determined for these charged electrophiles. The global electrophilicity is then projected into the different potential active sites of the molecular ions using the electrophilic Fukui function. The highest regional electrophilicity power is found at the terminal nitrogen atom of the arenediazonium ions, yet the highest positive charge is located on the nitrogen atom directly attached to the aromatic ring. This result is consistent with the observed reactivity displayed by diazonium ions toward substituted alkenes, thereby suggesting that the formation of the azocarbocation intermediate is mostly orbital rather than charge controlled.


Through the use of political conditionality, the EU has exercised what many have chosen to call an international normative power. The fast democratisation process of the central European countries that joined the EU in 2004 has often been attributed to the force of EU's normative power. Here, the core of the political conditionality was found in a promised future membership – acting as a reward in exchange for democratic reforms. The new European Neighbourhood Policy however, initiated briefly after the 2004 enlargement, gave rise to new prerequisites to the Unions new neighbours and this time enlargement fatigue prevailed in the EU policy. This case study examines and assesses the ability of the EU to exercise its normative power on Ukraine through the new conditions set up by the European Neighbourhood Policy, were a membership perspective neither is promised nor ruled out. The result show that the effective conditions for the conditionality are favourable and that a good progress on the areas of democracy, rule of law and human rights has been achieved. Although difficult to prove, I argue that this progress most probably is partly due to EU's normative power on Ukraine.


Modern automotive vehicles represent one category of cyberphysical systems that are inherently safety&time-critical. Future automotive technology will to an increasingly large extent be based on an integration of general purpose components for shortening the innovation loops and enabling efficient product evolution. Nevertheless, the adoption of general purpose solutions in automotive vehicles will not be a trivial task. Currently, while domain-specific frameworks like AUTOSAR and ISO26262 facilitate component-based system development based on well-formulated assumptions and interfaces, challenges remain in the areas of contract synthesis, conformity assessment, and diagnostics when issues like mode behaviors, timing, and failures are of concern. This talk presents the EAST-ADL modeling framework and discusses an EAST-ADL based approach to system modularity and risk analysis in order to integrate separately developed electronic components into safety-critical automotive systems. Special attention is paid to the synthesis of both component contracts and the associated runtime services for lifecycle and quality management, anomaly treatment according to ISO26262.