The recent 'greening' of the economy represents possible one of the most profound examples of economic change. While the environment used to be considered a burden to business this perspective has changed making 'eco-innovation' increasingly recognized as a driver of economic development. Evolutionary economic research into the greening of industry and the economy is, however, limited, so explanations of this dramatic change are lacking. This paper seeks to remedy this gap and forward evolutionary explanations and historical cases on the dynamics and scope of green economic change. The theme of the greening of industry and the economy is of interest because of the focus on the fundamental social and economic difficulties of changing direction in technology. Defining the greening of the economy as a techno-economic paradigm change the paper suggests expanding on Perez's framework (Perez, 1983, 2000, 2010) of such paradigmatic changes. While paradigmatic changes are often seen as induced by a technological major 'key factor', the greening of the economy presents a special case. It is rather, the paper suggest, on the one hand, the evolution of a new green generic trajectory of resource efficient problem solving, and simultaneously, the emergence of new green selection criteria on the market. These lead to a series of interrelated eco-innovations, which gain still more force as the green market matures. In the search for the origins of paradigmatic changes, the paper suggests to focus on the neglected ongoing firm learning. In seeking to link up changes at the micro-level of firms with macro institutional and social changes, the paper suggests to synthesize insights from the long wave discussion, innovation systems theory and the evolutionary capabilities approach. The change in the underlying technological trajectory and the changes in selection mechanisms, the paper argues, evolve to a large degree as part of interactive, creative economic processes between firms. The evolutionary capabilities perspective is important in contributing to a better micro theoretical framework of innovation systems theory, in contributing to explain when and where interfirm coordination and learning take place and hence the direction of (green) economic evolution. More specifically they are the sum of three interrelated processes. Ongoing (ex ante) coordination, conflictual (ex post) coordination, and knowledge cooperation. Firms, it is argued, do make each other go green as part of the economic process, entailing major institutional and organizational changes which form important parts of the green economic evolution.


: Nuclear 30S RNP particles were studied by means of fluorescence techniques. It's shown that fluorescamin interacts with NH2-groups of protein molecule. As a result, covalent fluorescent label is formed. Quantum yield (rho), fluorescence spectra, lifetime of excited state (tau) and polarization of fluorescamin complexes with 30S particles were studied. Excitation spectra have their maximum at 395 nm, and fluorescence spectrum at 480 nm. These figures correspond to spectra of fluorescamin complexes with NH2-groups of lysine. Mean quantum yield (rho = 0.27) and lifetime of excited state of fluorescence (tau = 7.8 nsec) were measured. It's shown that fluorescamin forms two types of fluorescent complexes in 30S particles. These complexes differ only by their rho(rho1 = 0.11, rho2 = 0.30) and rho(rho1 = 3.6 nsec, rho2 = 10.0 nsec) by 2.7 times. Migration radius between fluorescamin bound to protein and ethydium bromide adsorbed on double-stranded regions of pre-mRNA in RNP-particles was measured. It's equal to 32 A. Adsorbtion isotherms of ethydium bromide were measured by fluorescence in 0.1 and 0.4 M NaCl. Data obtained showed that 6% of pre-mRNA in 30S particles bound the dye as a strong complex, i. e. this part of pre-mRNA is double-stranded. RNase treatment of RNP had no effect on this value. But the increase of NaCl concentration up to 0.4 M caused the dissociation of protein subunits to some extent followed by appearance of up to 40% free NH2-groups interacting with fluorescamin. Measuring of energy migration from fluorescamin to ethydium bromide showed that double-stranded pre-mRNA regions strictly bound to protein sticked out from RNP particle at a distance of about 27 A. The increase of NaCl concentration up to 0.4 M leads to disruption of this strict bond of double-stranded regions with protein. As a result, these regions of pre-mRNA become labile and move away from the RNP particle at more than 30 A. According to theoretical calculations, there is about 1--2 pre-mRNA hairpins (18--9 base pairs respectively) per one 30S particle.


BACKGROUND
Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a 36-kd nuclear protein whose expression is associated with DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. Tumorigenesis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is proposed to be a multistep process; dysregulation of proliferation is a potential marker of this process.

PURPOSE
PCNA dysregulation was analyzed in squamous cell carcinoma tissue samples containing premalignant lesions (hyperplasia and/or dysplasia) and in adjacent normal epithelium to better understand proliferative changes during head and neck tumor development.

METHODS
Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections by using a monoclonal anti-PCNA antibody. PCNA expression was analyzed in 33 head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and in their adjacent premalignant lesions from different sites and compared with that in the control samples, which had never been exposed to first-hand tobacco smoke. PCNA expression was assessed by semiquantitative scoring (scale 0-3) in three epithelial layers (basal, parabasal, and superficial). The labeling index and the weighted mean index of PCNA expression were calculated.

RESULTS
Normal epithelium adjacent to the tumor had much more proliferative activity than the controls: The weighted mean index of PCNA expression was four-fold higher in the basal layer and sixfold higher in the parabasal layer. PCNA expression increased as tissues progressed from adjacent normal epithelium to hyperplasia (P < .001), hyperplasia to dysplasia (P < .001), and dysplasia to squamous cell carcinoma (P = .065); the total increase in PCNA expression ranged from fourfold to 10-fold from adjacent normal epithelium to squamous cell carcinoma. PCNA expression was higher in the parabasal than in the basal layer at all premalignant stages (23 of 25 samples in adjacent normal epithelium, 12 of 13 in hyperplasia, and 17 of 22 in dysplasia). As the tissue progressed from normal through premalignant stages to squamous cell carcinomas, we observed not only incremental increases in the labeling index, but also incremental increases in PCNA expression per labeled cells.

CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that PCNA could be a useful biomarker for multistep carcinogenesis in head and neck cancer and may serve as an intermediate end point in chemopreventive trials.


This very wide-ranging book, which draws on the authors and editors' fifteen years of laboratory and field experience in Northeastern Brazil, seeks to "bridge the medical and anthropological perspectives on diseases of development." Thus, although the immediate geographic area of concern is confined to one region of the developing world, the relevant topics addressed within that context reach from the biochemistry of pathologic processes involved in certain infectious diseases, to the cultural, economic, and political determinants of poverty and healthcare-related behavior. Virtually all readers will be challenged to absorb some aspects of the subjects treated which are outside of the readers area of knowledge because of the great scope of this book. The potential reward, however, is a fuller understanding of the myriad factors involved in determining health status and health care in developing countries.
The book is arranged in three sections.


It has been theorised that avatars allow for an embodied interaction between the player and the character they are controlling onscreen. This has been discussed through the avatar being an extension of the player's actions, with the two 'bodies' of the virtual and the real becoming merged as the player moves the avatar through a series of events. The issue that resides with these statements is that moving the character through a control device does not recreate the full movement of the avatar onscreen. Instead a represented action occurs, with some actions being the result of programmers code rather than the intended action of the player. The avatar can also be expressed as a series of interactions, rather than purely through a discussion of moving a character through the space of the game. It is these interactions that coincide with the avatar's 'presence' in the world that will be discussed as part of this paper. This will result in understanding the player:avatar relationship as one that mimics a parent:child relationship found in hierarchical design and programming based systems. Instead of the avatar being seen as an extension of the player, or as a puppet to control, the avatar can be seen to have it's own characteristics and animated cycles, beyond the player's input. Therefore in recognising the interaction, and/or 'agency' associated with moving the avatar through the space of the game, the avatar is also recognised as a separate character with it's own interactions and resulting events that lie in the game system, provoked by the player's controller action. The term avatar is questioned and revisited in the later parts of this paper as a way of understanding more emergent game technologies that integrate the player further as part of their design.


Potato color turns to brown after some process such as peeling, cutting, and slicing. In this research, the effect of acid-heat coagulated whey and commercial whey solutions on the color, polyphenol oxidase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity, malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide content of potatoes were compared with pure water (control) immersion and sodium hydrogen sulfide solution. According to color results, there was no significant (P > 0.05) difference was found in the L* and b* values, browning index, and whitening index of the treatment groups. The polyphenol oxidase activity of the sulfide and commercial whey solution groups decreased from the initial values on day 3 then increased over that value. The use of the whey solution in preventing polyphenol oxidase activity showed a similar curve with the use of the sulfide solution. A rapid increase was observed in the malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide values of all treatment groups during the first 3-day storage. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Immersion of potato cubes to whey protein solution prevents the browning and inhibits polyphenol oxidase activity. The browning index of the samples was not affected by the immersing water or whey solutions.


Background: Regular use of snuff is known to cause whitish oral mucosal lesions of variable severity at the usual quid placement site. The main aim of this study was to elucidate cellular mechanisms involved in snuff-induced epithelial changes.

Methods: Expression patterns for markers of cell proliferation (PCNA, Ki-67), cell cycle regulation (p53, p21), keratin changes (pankeratin, CK18, CK19), cell stress (HSP 70) and collagen type IV in 14 snuff-induced oral mucosal lesions and 12 control samples were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC).

Results: On light microscopy, all snuff-induced lesions were characterized by a hyperkeratinized and thickened epithelium. Some vacuolized cells, markers of cell degeneration, were frequently seen (in 9/14 of the samples) in the superficial layers in epithelia. Expression of PCNA and Ki-67 was found in a statistically significantly fewer cells in snuff-induced lesions (P < 0.001) than in the controls. This indicates that epithelia in snuff-induced lesions are not thickened as a result of increased cellular proliferation, but by protracted turnover of differentiating cells. Of cell cycle markers, p21 was found be up-regulated in 4/14 snuff-induced lesions, probably by p53-independent pathways. Only two snuff-induced lesions showed p53 positivity. However, the number of stained cells with p53 and p21 was not statistically different from that in controls. Expression of CK18, but not any alterations in CK19 expression, was seen in 5 of 14 snuff-induced lesions. Snuff also seems to stimulate the expression of collagen type IV, possibly by basal cells, as indicated by the thickened staining of the basal lamina.

Conclusions: The findings of this study showing suppressed cellular proliferation and infrequent p53 dysfunction in snuff lesions may partly explain why dysplastic changes are seldom seen in mucosal lesions induced by the Scandinavian type of snuff.


A study of the significance of implied law in the Abraham narrative. Bruckner examines legal and juridical terminology in the text, with a close reading of legal referents in Genesis 18.16-20.18. He demonstrates that the literary and theological context of implied law in the narrative is creational, since the implied cosmology is based in Creator-created relationships, and the narrative referents are prior to the Sinai covenant. The narrative's canonical position is an ipso jure argument for the operation of law from the beginning of the ancestral community. The study suggests trajectories for further research in reading law within narrative texts, pentateuchal studies, and Old Testament ethics.


"Discrimination," we believe, is wrong. And, because "discrimination" is wrong, we believe that governments like ours – secular, liberal, constitutional governments – may, and should, take regulatory and other steps to prevent, discourage, and denounce it. However, it is not true that "discrimination" is always or necessarily wrong. Nor is it the case that governments always or necessarily should or may regulate or discourage it even when it is. Some wrongs are beyond the authorized reach of government policy; some are too difficult or costly to identify, let alone regulate; others are none of the government's business.When we say that "discrimination" is wrong, what we actually mean is that wrongful discrimination is wrong, and when we affirm that governments should oppose it we mean that governments should oppose it when it makes sense, all things considered, and when it is within their constitutionally and morally limited powers to do so. To label a decision or action "discrimination" is simply to note that one factor or another was or will be taken into account in the course of a decision; it is to invite, but not at all to answer, the questions whether that decision or action was or would be wrong, and whether the public authority may or should forbid or discourage it.The important enterprise of respecting and protecting religious freedom in and through law is closely related, in several ways, to the also-important enterprise of deploying public power to identify, regulate, and discourage wrongful discrimination. It is suggested in this chapter the rhetorical, moral, and legal power of the antidiscrimination norm can sometimes distort or distract our thinking about how we do and should protect religious freedom through law. This is because the near-universal, if sometimes unreflective, conviction that "discrimination" is wrong means that assertions of religious freedom are sometimes heard as requests that the political authorities tolerate a wrong – i.e., "discrimination" – which they would otherwise prohibit, penalize, or discourage. Such requests then raise the question whether it is "worth it" for the authorities to do so – that is, whether doing so would complicate too much the government's own projects or conflict too glaringly with its values – and so, when they are granted, accommodations are regarded all around as concessions. Sometimes, to be sure, we do and probably should think about legal rights as protecting, or simply tolerating, a liberty to do even the wrong thing (so long as the wrong thing is not too wrong). We should not forget, though, that a dimension of the freedom of religion is, sometimes, precisely the freedom to "discriminate," and that this freedom should be protected not simply because such discrimination is an all-things-considered tolerable wrong – sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't – but because it is inextricably tied to a human right and is, sometimes, beyond political authorities' legitimate reach.


Virtual reality is new technology that is finding application in many facets of orthopaedics. We will describe an application of virtual reality in orthopaedic research. Component placement in total knee arthroplasty depends on identification of anatomic landmarks about the knee. We surmised significant interobserver variability occurs in the identification of landmarks of the distal femur used in total knee arthroplasty. The results tested in virtual space show that certain anatomic landmarks used in total knee arthroplasty are not reliable. The significance of this observation is that landmark identification, an integral component of computer- assisted surgical navigation in total knee arthroplasty, represents a source of method error in an otherwise accurate and precise computer-assisted technique.


A cell averaging method for the Chebyshev approximations of first order hyperbolic equations in conservation form is described. Formulas are presented for transforming between pointwise data at the collocation points and cell averaged quantities, and vice-versa. This step, trivial for the finite difference and Fourier methods, is nontrivial for the global polynomials used in spectral methods. The cell averaging methods presented are proven stable for linear scalar hyperbolic equations and present numerical simulations of shock-density wave interaction using the new cell averaging Chebyshev methods.


"Architectures, Rules, and Preferences" reflects the interests and honors the influence of Joan W. Bresnan's two decades of foundational work on Lexical-Functional Grammar. This comprehensive volume includes contributions by leading linguists on language typology, synchronic variation, language change, constituent structure, function identification, subject condition, control, complex predicates, NP internal structure, wh-constructions, syntactic features, and lexical issues. Featuring an impressive range of empirical and theoretical research, this collection covers more than a dozen spoken languages as well as American Sign Language.


During the last 20 years, telemedicine has evolved in Quebec despite several barriers. We studied how a university health centre in Montreal implemented a strategy to enhance the use of telemedicine with the deployment of appropriate infrastructures, continuous training, and the use of advanced technologies, before and during the pandemic. COVID-19 accelerated the use of telemedicine by overcoming some pre-existing barriers. However, telemedicine was mainly limited to a distance consultation during the pandemic using telephone calls or videoconference. The future of telemedicine depends on lifting these obstacles. We need to better define telemedicine and in-person medicine to guarantee the quality of medical and professional acts. We propose some strategies to achieve these goals, combining cultural change, continuous training, new technologies to improve quality of care, and a vision of healthcare with telemedicine oriented on value creation.


Lubricating oils are viscous liquids used for lubricating moving part of engines and machines. Since
lubricating oils are obtained from petroleum – a finite product, and with dwindling production from
world oil reserves, the need arises more than ever, to recycle used lubricating oils. Accordingly, this
research effort focuses on comparative study of four methods of recycling of used lubrication oils:
acid/clay treatment, distillation/clay, acid treatment and activated charcoal/clay treatment methods. Test
carried out on the recycled lubrication oil include: flash point, pour point, specific gravity, metal
contents, viscosity and sulphur contents. The results from the tests showed that, viscosity increased
from 25.5 for used lube oil to 86.2 for distillation, 89.10 for acid/clay treatment and 80.5 is for
activated/clay treatment. This is compared with 92.8 cs for fresh lube oil. Other results from the different
tests showed varied degrees of improvement with the best results obtained using the acid/clay
treatment.


Early Miocene deposits on Rusinga Island (Lake Victoria, Kenya) contain an abundance of faunal and floral remains. Despite the attention that has historically been given to the early Miocene fauna from Rusinga Island, little attention has been given to the early Miocene fossil floras and to date no studies have described fossil leaf morphotypes from Rusinga Island. Here, we present a morphotype catalog of fossil leaves collected from the Grit Member of the Hiwegi Formation on Rusinga Island. We describe 14 morphotypes, comprised of 12 dicotyledonous angiosperms and two monocotyledonous angiosperms, as well as two distinct dicotyledonous angiosperm leaf fragments. Characteristics of the flora and sedimentological evidence, coupled with previous research, suggest that the local paleoenvironment was a riparian habitat within a patchwork of woodland and forested biomes in what was likely a warm climate. This work represents an important first step in understanding the early Miocene vegetation of Rusinga Island, and highlights both the need and potential for future research on these early Miocene floras.


The use of statistical pattern recognition techniques in image processing has led to simplifying assumptions on the statistical interdependence of the pixel value of an image, which allow theoretical analysis and/or computational implementation to be achieved. For instance, the assumption of statistical independence of the values or that their joint distributions are multivariate normal, simplifies the analysis enormously. However, these results are very limiting in representing models for data, and do not allow for analysis of arbitrary spatial dependencies, in the data. One method for modeling two-dimensional data on a lattice array has been developed by Abend et al. called the Markov mesh model, and is a generalization of the familiar 1D Markov chain. The Markov mesh model allows the use of a class of spatial dependencies that is popular in many 2D data processing schemes, including image processing. One advantage of using this model is that it allows a computationally attractive implementation of statistical procedures involving joint and conditional probabilities. In this paper, we generalize Abend et al.'s results to a more comprehensive model, which we call the Markov pyramid model, using the concept of partial ordering. We present the necessary background for this model and show that Abend's model is a special case of our model. Finally, we present a simple application of our results to texture modeling.


A list of online resources for teachers and future teachers, some available all the time and some available specifically during the COVID-19 outbreak.


The aim of this paper is to investigate the relation between organizational silence climate and employees' silence behaviours. This research was conducted in Antalya Education and Research Hospital within the scope of Antalya Health Management. 1837 people in the field of health participated in the study. Because of the limited time, the sample group was chosen based on stratified sampling and composed of 407 employees. The data was gathered from the volunteers through interviews between 1st May and 31st of August, 2013. On those days 407 people were interviewed. In this research it was aimed to understand whether there is a relationship among fear, self-defence, protecting relationships or indifference and employee silence. Besides, one of the main objectives is to be able to explain whether there is a relation between organizational silence climate and employees silence behaviours. Based on the demographic characteristics of the sample group (age, sex, marital status, education, working period, task) it was tired to find out whether they are related to silence behaviours or not. Based on the analyses it was found that the upper management has a great influence on employees' silence behaviours but the effect of unit managers should also be considered. It was observed that employees generally show silence behaviours based on protecting themselves or based on fear. It can be said that there is a relationship between employees' silence behaviours and organizational silence climate. In terms of demographic characteristics, the silence behaviours of employees vary according to their demographic characteristics.


The aim of this project is to improve adherence of stroke documentation per stroke protocols on a stroke unit at an acute hospital setting through nursing education and EPIC modifications. A comprehensive retrospective data collection was done to determine the inconsistencies of nursing documentation per organizational protocols. Firstly, a randomized sample of 163 stroke patients (Site 1 = 98; Site 2 = 65) was generated for retrospective data collection. For this project, the main focus was Site 1 (n = 98). The sample from Site 1 consisted of 4 types of stroke patients, which were patients who either received alteplase (TPA= 19); did not receive alteplase (NTPA= 34); had Intracerebral Hemorrhagic Stroke (ICH= 30); or were suspected of stroke/ Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA= 15). Next, stroke chart audits were done to determine whether or not the nursing documentation was consistent per stroke protocol. The goal of this retrospective data analysis was to recognize areas where there are charting inconsistencies; lacks of adherence to the organization's stroke protocols, and recommend interventions to improve nursing stroke documentation. Results from this retrospective data analysis demonstrate the need to educate nurses on the importance of accurate and consistent documentation along with the legal implications if non- compliant with standard protocols. In addition, there is a need to modify EPIC to enforce stroke protocols and increase nurses' compliance rates.


In this paper we consider a single cognitive radio seeking a transmission opportunity by sequentially sensing a number of statistically independent primary channels. We study the joint optimization of the time spent to sense a channel, the decision threshold to determine whether the channel is free or busy, together with the order with which the channels are sensed. The sensing time and decision threshold are assumed to be the same for all channels. The design objective is to maximize the expected secondary throughput taking sensing errors into account and penalizing for collisions that may disrupt the primary transmission. Motivated by the computational complexity of the problem, we propose suboptimal solutions that significantly reduce the complexity without sacrificing accuracy. Our results reveal a fundamental trade-off between minimizing the probability of collision with the primary user via reducing the sensing errors, which favors a longer sensing time, and increasing the secondary user's throughput, which favors shorter sensing time. The suboptimal approach, for plausible simulation scenarios, is found to reduce the computational complexity by more than 89%, while maintaining a near-optimal throughput within 0.28% of the optimal performance.1


Interest in cultural/heritage tourism has been increasing in recent years. The number of person-trips has increased from 192 million in 1996 to almost 217 million in 2005 (a person trip is one person traveling 50 miles or more away from home, one way). Thus, the number of travelers visiting heritage/cultural events and attractions combined with their propensity to spend more money, make them a very attractive market segment for the state of North Dakota which is home to a wide variety of heritage and cultural attractions. The aim of this project was to assess the characteristics of visitors to North Dakota heritage and cultural tourism sites. Intercept surveys were conducted at three heritage/cultural tourism attractions. Visitors to North Dakota Cultural/Heritage tourism sites were most likely to be married, around 50 years old, with moderate incomes and well educated. They were most likely to find out about the attraction through friends or relatives, followed by the North Dakota State Tourism guide. Medora and the International Peace Garden were assumed to be primary destinations, whereas the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center visitors were likely on a trip elsewhere when they stopped by the site. A majority of Medora respondents had previously visited the site, as had the respondents from the International Peace Garden. Site characteristics and the fact that the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center is a newer site, make it less likely to have as many repeat visitors as the other two study locations. Almost all respondents were likely or very likely to recommend all the sites to others and overall respondents were very satisfied with their visit to the study locations. Most visitors learned about and received information about the attraction from friends or relatives. Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and Medora visitors were more likely to participate in other activities while on their trip. Respondents to Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Medora most frequently planned to participate in art/cultural attractions and pioneer/frontier history. Visitors to the International Peace Garden were not as likely to participate in other activities as visitors to the other study locations. Respondents had a positive perception of North Dakota. The most positive perception was of the state's beautiful scenery, which correlates with what respondents indicated was their motivation for traveling. Respondents most frequently indicated they participated in leisure travel to enjoy scenery and for sightseeing. Most traveling decisions were made jointly by couples.


Introduction: Severe trauma, hemorrhage, and resuscitation can lead to a trauma-related acute lung injury that involves rapid infiltration of immune cells and platelets. This infiltration involves exymatic degradation of matrix proteins, including plasmin, and causes loss of barrier function. Since tranexamic acid (TXA) inhibits plasminogen/ plasmin binding to target substrates, it may attenuate loss of barrier function after severe trauma, hemorrhage, and resuscitation. Methods: Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to polytrauma (laparotomy, and trauma to intestines, liver, right leg skeletal muscle, and right femur fracture), then bled 40% of their blood volume. One hour after completion of polytrauma and hemorrhage, resuscitation was begun with fresh whole blood (FWB) or FWB with prior bolus administration of TXA (10 mg/kg in 0.2 mL). Results: Polytrauma, hemorrhage, and resuscitation with FWB led to an elevation in lung water content that was significantly reduced with TXA administration. Polytrauma and hemorrhage led to rise in the number of neutrophils/monocytes and platelets in the lungs, and a rise in myeloperoxidase (MPO), neutrophil elastase and complement C5a content. While resuscitation with FWB significantly reduced the cellular infiltrate and MPO, FWB/TXA further reduced the levels of neutrophil/monocytes, neutrophil elastase, and complement C5a. Polytrauma and hemorrhage led to rise in lung plasmin activity that was significantly reduced with either FWB or FWB/TXA resuscitation. Conclusion: Severe trauma and hemorrhage leads to increases in lung water content, and immune cell, platelets, MPO, elastase, and C5a content in lung tissue, all markers of inflammation and acute lung injury. The addition of TXA to FWB resuscitation markedly attenuated the rise in these parameters suggesting its utility in treating acute lung injury.


Globalized market competition and the development of information technology have forced enterprises to adopt suitable products development models. It is a hot research topic and has a wide application prospect and practical value that how to do both to ensure internal product development in mass customization premise, but also to achieve inter-enterprise collaborative development network. In this paper, product modeling, collaborative product configuration method, the configuration process and the collaborative design of products were studied, collaborative product development system - CPDS collaborative product development system." Web-based was developed. In this article, the work form of collaborative product development system, configuration structures of CPDS, and function of composition were main studied, and the general idea of system implementation CPDS was given.


The Nine Worthies, a collection of Jewish, pagan and Christian heroes, was a well-established tradition in literature and art by the end of the Middle Ages . Several examples of the Worthies from early modern England make a substantial change to the grouping by replacing Godfrey of Bouillon with the English hero Guy of Warwick . Although it has been sometimes argued that this sub-stitution is evidence of a growing nationalist sentiment, this paper argues that Guy's presence among the Worthies is merely the result of textual confusion in the production of Gerard Legh's Accedens of Armory (1562) . Indeed, Guy is one of several peculiarities of Legh's list of Worthies and all other witnesses to this English tradition simply repeat the list (and its peculiarities) from Legh's very influential heraldic text .


This paper presents a methodology for generating locally optimal control policies for mechanical systems that undergo collisions at point contacts. Principles of
nonsmooth mechanics for rigid bodies are used in both continuous and discrete time, and provide impact models for a variety of collision behaviors. The discrete
Euler-Lagrange (DEL) equations that follow from the discrete time analyses yield variational integration schemes for the dierent impact models. These DEL
equations play a pivotal role in the method of Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control (DMOC), which generates locally optimal control policies as the solution
to equality constrained nonlinear optimization problems. The DMOC method is demonstrated on a 4-link planar walking robot model, generating locally optimal periodic walking gaits.


Modern corporate bankruptcy law has been shaped, and some of it written, by special interests. Even so, the law is rooted in American ideals of renewal, and of viewing failure in the marketplace as a sign of effort and gumption, not moral collapse. It's a powerful idea - shedding the past to begin anew. But for decades, Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code has also been used strategically - to destroy union contracts, edge out competitors, and limit product liability lawsuits.More recently, some private equity firms have honed Chapter 11 as an efficient financial engineering tool for insider sales - and for dumping pensions. Based on partial data from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., at least 51 companies have abandoned pension plans in bankruptcy at the behest of private equity firms since 2001. They've dumped $1.592 billion in pension bills onto a government-backed agency that insures private defined benefit plans. Because pension insurance doesn't cover all benefits, their actions have left some of the nearly 102,000 workers or retirees with lost benefits amounting to at least $128 million. And they've contributed to the chronic deficits at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.Other types of businesses, including publicly held companies, have also abandoned pension plans in bankruptcy. But the business model and practices of some private equity firms can make pension-dumping in bankruptcy especially attractive.The legal and regulatory environments in the U.S. combine with those practices to add up to a form of institutional corruption. In this working paper, I explain how Oliver Wendell Holmes' hypothetical "bad man" can use bankruptcy as a strategy to profit. So, here is a bad man's guide to ditching pensions in bankruptcy - legally.


BACKGROUND
While there have been a number of studies reporting the incidence and implications of elevated troponin levels after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the body of information about the incidence, associations, and implications of elevated troponin levels following coronary angiography (CAG) is limited.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 220 consecutive patients with stable coronary artery disease or intermediate or low-risk acute coronary syndrome without persistent ST-segment elevation (NSTE-ACS) were included in our study. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) levels were measured before and after coronary angiography (CAG) in patients with or without PCI and correlated with a number of clinical variables.

RESULTS
Hs-cTnI elevations above the 99th percentile upper reference limit (URL), or above 20% of the initially positive, yet already declining values, were found in 60 (37.2%) patients after CAG and in 45 (76.2%) patients undergoing PCI. Significant correlations of hs-cTnI elevation were found with the following variables: volume of contrast, fluoroscopy time, dose-area product, amount of contrast agent injected directly into the coronary arteries, total time of balloon dilation and the number and total length of implanted stents (P<0.001 for all).

CONCLUSION
While an asymptomatic elevation of hs-cTnI is a common finding after PCI, it does occur, quite surprisingly, also after CAG. Despite contradictory views regarding the clinical relevance of asymptomatic post-procedural elevated hs-cTnI levels, it is generally believed that a mild elevation is not associated with an increased risk. Still, it may pose a diagnostic quandary following a successful interventional procedure and even more so after an uncomplicated CAG.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinicaltrials.gov - NCT02960321.


Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is characterized by a unique genetic aberration, the t(15;17) chromosome translocation. Translocation breakpoints are located within the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) locus on chromosome 15 and the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) locus on chromosome 17. In the past 2 decades, critical advances have been made in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of APL. APL represents a paradigm for molecularly targeted therapy in cancer and an extraordinary model for translational research in medicine. In fact, the release of differentiation block upon treatment of APL with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) has represented the first example of targeted therapy in human cancer. More recently, the advent of arsenic trioxide (ATO) has allowed further progress in the management of this disease through improved outcomes in patients receiving this agent in combination with ATRA. Finally, optimization of therapy and minimization of toxicity is feasible in this disease through careful monitoring of residual disease using polymerase chain reaction-based approaches targeting the PML-RARA fusion gene.


Aim: The aim of the study was to test the effect of a single heat event (HE), and the additive effects of repeated HEs at whole-vine level, on Shiraz berry composition, including detailed tannins.Methods and results: In a UV-transparent glasshouse, a system was developed to individually heat the above-ground parts of well-irrigated potted Shiraz vines without changing fruit and canopy light exposure. At the end of fruit set, and again prior to véraison, selected vines were heated to + 6 °C above ambient temperature for three consecutive days and nights in a combination of treatments to test the effect of a single HE and the additive effects of repeated HEs. A factorial design was used with four treatments (n=6): Control (C), heated at E-L 31 (HW1), heated at E-L 32 (HW2) and heated twice (HW1&2). Berries were sampled from fruit set until maturity at regular intervals, and primary and secondary metabolites, including detailed tannin composition, were analysed by GC-MS and LC-MS/MS, respectively. Temperatures (mean and maximum) inside the glasshouse were influenced by outside weather conditions and the 1st HE (HE1) was more intense than the 2nd (HE2). Photosynthesis was significantly decreased for the heated vines during HE1 where maximum temperature reached 45 °C, affecting both berry weight and titratable acidity (TA). HE2 was less intense with maximum temperature only reaching 40 °C, and had no effect on photosynthesis and less direct impact on composition. A few primary metabolites were affected by either HE1 or HE2 such as valine, leucine, pyruvic and lactic acids. Interactions between the two HEs were found for TA, malic acid and glucose at harvest. Skin tannin composition was significantly impacted by HE1, applied during the main biosynthesis period, but not by HE2. Epicatechin gallate terminal subunit concentration was the most impacted by heat. Seed physiology was also affected by HE1 and HE2 as well as seed tannin composition right after HE1. A small decrease in both total anthocyanins and total soluble solids at the end of véraison suggested that ripening was slightly delayed for HW1&2.Conclusions: Shiraz grapevines showed an elastic response to short heat stress between fruit set and véraison, with most impacts on physiology and composition observed during early post-treatment no longer evident by harvest.Significance and impact of the study: Increasing climate variability, with more frequent heatwaves, is a threat for viticulture in Australia where a large proportion of vineyards are located in already warm and hot regions. As grapevines may be exposed to abnormal high temperatures prior to véraison, knowledge on the effect of heat on metabolite biosynthesis occurring during this phase, such as tannins, is needed.


While multiple myeloma (MM) treatment with proteasome inhibitors and other agents yields encouraging results, primary and secondary resistance remains an emerging problem. An important factor in such treatment resistance is the overexpression of several proteins. The present study comprehensively evaluates the expression of POMP, PSMB5, NRF2, XBP1, cMAF and MAFb proteins in plasma cells isolated from the bone marrow of 39 MM patients treated with bortezomib-based regimens using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The proteins were selected on the basis of previous laboratory and clinical studies in bortezomib-treated MM patients. It was found that the expression of the investigated proteins did not significantly differ between bortezomib-sensitive and bortezomib-refractory patients. However, the expression of some proteins correlated with overall survival (OS); this was significantly shorter in patients with higher POMP expression (HR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.1–7.0, p = 0.0277) and longer in those with higher MAFB expression (HR 0.32, 95% CI: 0.13–0.80, p = 0.0147). Our results indicate that a high expression of POMP and MAFB in MM plasma cells may serve as predictors of OS in MM patients treated with bortezomib-based regimens. However, further studies are needed to determine the role of these factors in effective strategies for improving anti-myeloma therapy.


Earth-dwelling caves are a kind of traditional housing with unique and typical native characters. The construction of these caves is mostly based on the experiences of native craftsmen, merely passing down and developing orally without forming systematic theories and with little word-recording. However, they embody deep mechanical principles and structural implication worth long protection. At present, the earth-dwelling caves of thousands of years are rapidly disappearing and the techniques of construction are facing the danger of being lost as well, which is bound to bring about the loss of an architectural culture. This paper tries to approach the folk construction techniques of these traditional earth-dwelling caves, which will have a special significance to the passing-down and protection of such a cave housing culture.


Mammary gland slices from lactating guinea pigs were incubated for periods up to 1 h in 10(-2) M theophylline which completely inhibits lactose synthesis. Ultrastructural comparison with control slices shows a significant increase in the size of the Golgi field involving an apparent back-up of microvesicles. Normally distended Golgi cisternae are flattened and contain fewer, less dense, protein granules. Theophylline decreases by 50% both types of secretory vacuoles present: a compact, 300 nm vacuole containing one 250 nm granule, and a swollen, approximately 700 nm vacuole with one or more granules. Changes in granule shape, density and formation were also observed. The findings suggest that the site where theophylline ingibits lactose synthesis may be in the translocation of substances, from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi complex, e.g. the specifier protein alpha-lactalbumin which is essential to the lactose synthetase complex. The significance to the role of cyclic nucleotides in lactation is discussed.


Photovoice provides alternative ways of doing research with schoolgirls, who are vulnerable and often under-acknowledged research participants. It is particularly valuable in dealing with sensitive topics such as gender-based violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. Photovoice is thus widely employed in disciplines such as health, education, economics, sociology, anthropology, and geography. Up until now, however, it has been predominantly underpinned by participatory action research and other community-based participatory related methodologies. This article explores the possibility of blurring the boundaries between photovoice and narrative inquiry to create a narrative-photovoice methodology for gender-based research. In this study, South African schoolgirls participate as coresearchers employing narrative-photovoice and reflect on the value and limitations of this methodology for making meaning of gender (in)equity in their everyday lives. The main findings are categorized into the following themes: (a) superstition and suspicion: a gatekeeper to gaining access, (b) embracing creativity, (c) moving beyond the abstract, (d) digital versus disposable camera, (e) and having fun while learning. In the conclusion, the authors reflect on the participants' experiences of doing narrative-photovoice and highlight particular considerations for using this methodology.


This article offers an innovative pedagogical technique for teaching students to think critically and analytically about race, especially for student populations most accurately characterized as white and middle class. I illustrate this technique by relating my experiences designing and teaching a first-year writing course called the Monstrous and the Human at the University of Delaware. The concept of monstrousness and the problem of race may at first appear unrelated, yet this is precisely the strength of the course, which relies on a method of defamiliarization. Course readings begin by exploring monstrousness in Victorian science fiction novels, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and then shift to a study of how conventions of these novels recur in novels that examine race in American society, such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. In combination with class discussion and course writing assignments, this reading progression invites students to see race from a new perspective. In this article I share my reasons for creating this course, detail its assignments, and show how the course can help students expand their understanding of race in American society. I argue that by teaching race through defamiliarization, we encourage students to arrive at their own understanding of race and racism without inculcating our own beliefs.


Sir, I read with some interest the case report of a 29 year old man with evidence ofparacetamol-induced cardiotoxicity in the absence of hepatic encephalopathy reported by A. Armour and S.D. Slater.' It has not been our routine practice to perform electrocardiograph recordings of patients having overdosed on paracetamol alone but we will now include this as part of our initial investigations. I was, however, surprised that treatment with acetylcysteine was withheld from this man because he had taken the overdose 23 hours previously. There is now evidence that acetylcysteine can be safely given up to 24 hours post-ingestion2 and in some cases it has been given up to 36 hours post-ingestion.3 In my experience, these patients are usually fairly unreliable historians with a view to the time of ingestion and it is probably best to err on the side oftreatment if in doubt. One group ofpeople who seem to show increased susceptibility to the toxic effects of paracetamol are those patients with increased hepatic enzyme induction, for example, chronic alcoholics and patients on anti-convulsant therapy. Interestingly, the British National Formulary recommends treating these patients at serum paracetamol levels at 50% of those recommended for standard treatment with acetylcysteine.


This article is the second part of a series about two-scale modelling of reactive powder concrete (RPC). In the first part [2] a method of modelling RPC microstructure was presented, the boundary value problem of mechanics for a representative cell at the micro scale was formulated and solved. In this part we will consider a method for determining material parameters at the macro level, and describe a technique of enforcement of boundary conditions upon an RVE as well as illustrate the theoretical considerations with results of numerical simulations. In the third part of the series we will present the validation of the proposed numerical model, based on the computational simulations of full size beams made of two RPC mixtures and own laboratory testing of the beams.


Obesity is a condition in which excess body fat is accumulated to an extent that health may be negatively affected. Obesity is associated with a number of chronic health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancer. The current study was constructed to evaluate the efficacy of alcoholic extract of Moringa oleifera in management of obesity induced by high cholesterol diet in rats. Adult female albino rats were classified into four groups. The first group was kept on standard rodent chow for 30 weeks (lean control). The other three groups received high cholesterol diet for 30 weeks. These animals were assigned as obese control group, Moringa oleifera treated group and Simvastatin treated group. The results revealed significant increase in thoracic (TC) and abdominal (AC) circumferences as well as body mass index (BMI) in obese group. Moreover, dyslipidemia, and hyperleptinemia have been demonstrated in obese group. Furthermore, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were significantly increased in obese group versus the lean control group. In addition, obese group revealed significant decrease in serum adiponectin level in concomitant with significant increase in resistin level as compared to lean control group. On the other side, treatment with Moringa oleifera alcoholic extract or simvastatin could reduce food intake and BMI as well as ameliorate the dyslipidemia, in obese groups. Serum leptin level showed significant decrease in obese group due to treatment with Moringa oleifera alcoholic extract or Simvastatin. As well significant inhibition of serum MDA and NO levels was detected as a consequence of treatment with either Moringa oleifera extract or Simvastatin. Additionally, the treatment of obese group with Moringa oleifera extract or Simvastatin resulted in significant decrease in serum resistin level in concomitant with significant increase in serum adiponectin level as compared to obese control group. In conclusion, the data of the current study provides experimental evidence for the anti-obesity effect of Moringa oleifera ethanol extract. Thus, present findings reinforce the advice recommending consumption of Moringa oleifera to modulate obesity.


Ucides cordatus is the most commercially important mangrove crab in Brazil. In spite of its economic importance, there are few studies of its reproduction, in particular the female reproductive system. The present study describes the histology and histochemistry of the spermathecae of U. cordatus. Adult females were caught monthly from July 2004 through June 2005, at Iguape, State of São Paulo. The crabs were anaesthetized, and their spermathecae removed and fixed in Davidson's fluid, following the histological routine for paraffin. The slides were stained with HE, xylidine Ponceau, PAS, alcian blue (pH 1.0 and 2.5), Sudan black B and picrosirius-haematoxylin. Histologically, the spermathecae possesses a capsule of conjunctive tissue, rich in collagen fibres, which surrounds the secretory columnar epithelium. In the lumen, individual sperm packets are not observed; the spermatophores are intermixed with the seminal fluid and secretions of the spermathecae itself. A large proportion of the free spermatozoids and spermatophores are arranged in homogeneous masses in the proximal part of the spermathecae. The secretion produced by the columnar epithelium appears to promote the movement of the gametes to the fertilization chamber, in a ventral position, allowing fertilization of the oocytes. Histochemically, the secretion produced by the columnar epithelium was strongly positive for neutral polysaccharides, positive for acid polysaccharides, and weakly positive for proteins and lipids. This secretion forms a glycoprotein matrix which is associated with maintenance of the spermatophores, which can remain stored for long periods.


Human calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that maintains extracellular Ca2+ homeostasis through the regulation of parathyroid hormone secretion. It functions as a disulfide-tethered homodimer composed of three main domains, the Venus Flytrap module, cysteine-rich domain, and seven-helix transmembrane region. Here, we present the crystal structures of the entire extracellular domain of CaSR in the resting and active conformations. We provide direct evidence that L-amino acids are agonists of the receptor. In the active structure, L-Trp occupies the orthosteric agonist-binding site at the interdomain cleft and is primarily responsible for inducing extracellular domain closure to initiate receptor activation. Our structures reveal multiple binding sites for Ca2+ and PO43- ions. Both ions are crucial for structural integrity of the receptor. While Ca2+ ions stabilize the active state, PO43- ions reinforce the inactive conformation. The activation mechanism of CaSR involves the formation of a novel dimer interface between subunits. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13662.001


Core to the vision-and-language navigation (VLN) challenge is building robust instruction representations and action decoding schemes, which can generalize well to previously unseen instructions and environments. In this paper, we report two simple but highly effective methods to address these challenges and lead to a new state-of-the-art performance. First, we adapt large-scale pretrained language models to learn text representations that generalize better to previously unseen instructions. Second, we propose a stochastic sampling scheme to reduce the considerable gap between the expert actions in training and sampled actions in test, so that the agent can learn to correct its own mistakes during long sequential action decoding. Combining the two techniques, we achieve a new state of the art on the Room-to-Room benchmark with 6% absolute gain over the previous best result (47% -> 53%) on the Success Rate weighted by Path Length metric.


Nash noncooperative power game is an effective method to implement interference cooperation in downlink multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO). Power equilibrium point of Nash noncooperative power game can achieve a satisfactory tradeoff between self-benefits of Internet of Things (IoT) users and interference between IoT users which largely enhance the edge IoT user throughput. However, either power strategy space, i.e., the enabled range of power allocation for IoT users, or overall BS transmit power in the existing Nash noncooperative power games is generally static. This limits the performance of systems, especially in IoT systems, etc., in 5G. As an effort to address these problems, we design a novel framework of Nash noncooperative game with iterative convergence for downlink MU-MIMO. We first decompose the MU-MIMO into multiple virtual single-antenna transmit-receive pairs with a stream analytical model. Afterwards, based on streams, we propose a noncooperative water-filling power game with pricing (WFPGP) where the power strategy space of each stream can be dynamically determined by iterative water-filling. We derive the sufficient condition for the existence and uniqueness of WFPGP game, in which the verification of the sufficient condition can be executed in a distributed manner. By simulations, we verify the performance of WFPGP compared to other Nash noncooperative games.


The biosynthesis of hydroxycinnamic acid (HCA) esters of betacyanins is catalyzed via 1-O-HCA-glucosides as activated acyl donors. To date, this has been shown with protein preparations from cell cultures of Chenopodium rubrum L. (1) and flowers of Celosia argentea Burvenich (Amaranthaceae) in the formation of celosianins, i.e. HCA-acylated betanidin 5-0-glucuronosyiglucoside, as well as flowers of Lampranthus sociorum (L. Bol. ) N. E. Bt. (Aizoaceae) in the formation of lam-pranthins, i.e. HCA-acylated betanidin 5-0-glucoside (1). With flowers of Gomphrena globosa L. (Amaranthaceae) both of these reactions and, in addition, the acylation of gomphrenin (betanidin 6-0-glucoside) have been found. Instead, analogous reactions with flavonoid glucosides proceed via the coenzyme A activated HCA thioesters (e.g. 2, 3). Recent phytochemical studies showed the regular co-occurrence of HCA-acylated betanidin glucosides with 1-0-HCA-glucosides in betanidin-bearing plants (members of the families of Caryophyllales) (4). This corroborates our assumption that the esterification of betacyanins with HCAs is exclusively dependent on HCA-acylglucosides. This type of acyltransferase has been purified from C. rubrum and its physical and kinetic properties investigated.


On behalf of the IEEE ICMA 2015 Conference Organizing Committee, it is our great pleasure, an honor, and a privilege to welcome you to Beijing for the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation. This conference reflects the growing interests in the broad research areas of mechatronics, robotics, sensors and automation.


Challenging the neoclassical economic theory that corporate behavior is best governed by the self-regulating process of the free market, this Article maintains that corporations should continue to be subjected to criminal prosecution for violating the law. Stressing the underlying struggle between social and economic institutions to shape our future society, the Author employs institutional economic theory to identify the shortcomings inherent in market-deployed mechanisms as they relate to curtailing corporate criminal behavior. First, the Article details the public mistrust of corporations in light of recent scandals and explores divergent views among academia and practicing attorneys regarding the application of criminal law to artificial entities. Next, the Author examines the relationship of corporations and the criminal law through the lens of institutional economic theory, asserting that financial penalties alone fail to deter corporate criminal activity. The Author rebuffs the claim that individual actors, and not corporations, commit crimes — asserting that corporate cultures tacitly influence the individual actor and thus the entity should bear responsibility for criminal behavior. Finally, the Article suggests assigning criminal liability to corporations is a rational reflection of the public sentiment and eliminating corporations from the ambit of criminal law runs counter to the expectations of society.


The importance of the research lies in globalization that affected all aspects of life including sports. The research aimed at building sport globalization scale as well as identifying sport globalization. The researchers used the descriptive on (373) members representing (25) Olympic federation and (22) non-Olympic federation.  The data was collected and treated to conclude a sport globalization scale that can be applied to the subjects in addition to that, there are positive and negative effects of sport globalization on the sports community. The researchers recommended the necessity of using the sport globalization scale, holding developmental courses, benefiting from the advantages of globalization, and making similar studies on other subjects.


This work investigates the effect of different media (0.1N of NaOH, H2SO4 and NaCl solution) on the polarization behavior of Al-Zn-Mg alloy and calculates some of the corrosion parameters such as corrosion potential (Ecorr) and current density (icorr), cathodic and anodic Tafel slopes (bc & ba), and the polarization resistance (Rp) . The results of the polarization resistance indicates that Al-Zn-Mg alloy have resistance in slat solution higher than that observed in acidic and basic solution respectively . Also some of the mechanical properties like the hardness and wear were measured. The results for hardness showed that the untreated alloy in the experimental solutions had higher hardness than those which are treated in salt, acidic , and basic solutions respectively . While the results for the rate of wear at different sliding speeds showed that the rate of wear for the samples that treated in basic solution higher than those for samples which are treated in the acidic and salt solutions . Also the same results were get when measure the rate of wear with different applying loads.


Remembering What We've Seen: The Hippocampus and Relational Memory Seth Daniel Koenig Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Elizabeth Buffalo, Physiology and Biophysics Relational memory is the ability to remember arbitrary associations between objects or events. These memories include things related by location, order, and context. Lesions of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) cause severe relational memory impairments suggesting that the MTL plays an important role in the formation of relational memories. Lesions to the hippocampus, the final output of the MTL, also causes relational memory impairments. Single unit recordings in rodents have identified place and time cells in the hippocampus that are hypothesized to support the spatial and temporal aspects of relational memories. Several studies have also identified neurons with spatial representations in the hippocampus of bats, monkeys, and humans, but it is unclear the extent to which spatial representations in non-rodent species may be sensitive to other parameters such as time and context, which are important components of relational memories. The goal of this thesis is to understand how the primate hippocampus could support the formation of relational memories during natural behavior. I first build the tools necessary to describe natural behavior, specifically focusing on behavior during the free viewing of complex images. I describe free viewing behavior using a foraging model and show that several factors including working memory, oculomotor constraints, and bottom-up salience influence viewing behavior. Additionally, scan paths are composed of short sequences of eye movements, and these sequences may aid in encoding relational memories. Furthermore, relational memory modulates these sequences: at first viewing behavior is well characterized by explorative-type behaviors, but then relational memory shifts viewing behavior towards exploitative-type behaviors. After understanding the behavioral correlates of relational memory, I recorded from neurons in the hippocampus of monkeys freely viewing images. Free viewing trials were interleaved with a directed eye movement task to understand how behavioral context modulates neurons in the hippocampus. Single unit recordings revealed representations of space, time, context, and stimulus novelty. In agreement with previous work, spatial representations were modulated by gaze position. Interestingly, each spatially modulated neuron fired at a consistent latency relative to fixation onset, and the response of the population of spatially modulated neurons fully tiled the duration of the fixation forming a spatiotemporal code that could link information across successive eye movements. Overall, my results highlight the importance of active sensing in organizing spatial representation in the hippocampus. Specifically, my results suggest that the hippocampus encodes information in spatiotemporal sequences reflecting the sequences of eye movements observed in the behavior. Certain patterns of eye movements may even help the hippocampus build relational memories. Finally, a review of the neuroanatomy suggests that there are many pathways in the prefrontal cortex that could explain the bi-directional relationship between relational memory and eye movements observed in this thesis. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 7 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter


Taxol is a novel antitumor agent with demonstrated efficacy against ovarian, breast, and non-small cell lung cancers in Phase II clinical trials, but which has been shown not to cross the blood-brain barrier. To adapt taxol as a therapy for brain tumors, we have incorporated it into a biodegradable polyanhydride matrix for intracranial implantation and evaluated this formulation in a rat model of malignant glioma. Fischer 344 rats bearing intracranial 9L glioma tumors were treated with 10 mg poly[bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)propane-sebacic acid] (20:80) copolymer discs, containing 20-40% taxol by weight, 5 days after tumor implantation. The taxol-loaded polymers doubled (38 days, 40% taxol loading, P < 0.02) to tripled (61.5 days, 20% taxol loading, P < 0.001) the median survival of rats bearing tumor relative to control rats (19.5 days). Drug loadings of 20-40% taxol by weight released intact taxol for up to 1000 h in vitro. In rats followed up to 30 days postimplant, the polymer maintained a taxol concentration of 75-125 ng taxol/mg brain tissue (100-150 microM taxol) within a 1-3-mm radius of the disc. At points more distant from the disc (up to 8 mm away, the size limit of the rat brain), the polymer maintained a taxol concentration of greater than 4 ng taxol/mg brain tissue (5 microM). We conclude that taxol shows promise as a therapy for malignant glioma when delivered interstitially from a biodegradable polymer.


The widespread use of restriction endonucleases and DNA sequencing provides a wealth of data on the genetic structure of natural populations. From such data, detailed phylogenies can be constructed and qualitatively different kinds of mutational and substitutional processes can be studied. A neutral model can be constructed to describe the frequencies of sequence haplotypes according to the haplotypes from which they arose and the types of substitution that distinguish them. One feature of such a model is that it examines the ancestors of various sequences. Deleterious selection against a character has a distinct effect on descendant sequences. Individuals containing many deleterious characters leave few or no descendants because these individuals are quickly eliminated by selection. Hence, such a model lends itself to the study of deleterious selection. It is possible to determine if selection is required by searching for any set of mutation rates that can explain an observed set of data. Simulations of artificial populations without selection suggest that this method seldom indicates selection when none is present. Furthermore, recent recombination events between the sequences do not induce false indications of deleterious selection. The method may, however, require relatively large simple sizes in order to accurately reflect the true nature of populations. The method is often very conservative and may not indicate selection when it is, in fact, present.


Botanically, green composites belong to an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum known as Saccharum offi cinarum. There are so many natural fibers available in the environment such as rice husk, hemp fibers, flax fibers, bamboo fibers, coconut fiber, coconut coir, grawia optiva and many others also. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a process to estimate the environmental feature and potential impacts related to a product, by organizing a directory of pertinent inputs and outputs of a product system, assessing the potential environmental impacts related with the said inputs and outputs, explaining the results of the inventory analysis and impact evaluation phases in connection to the objectives of the study. Particularly Bagasse, an agricultural residue not only becomes a problem from the environmental point of view, but also affects the profitability of the sugarcane industries. This chapter discusses the properties, processing methods and various other aspects including economic and environmental aspects related to green composites.


The author of the article explores the problem of the sentencing of the persons who committed crimes against a person's health and life. The author investigates two groups of crimes and discusses the courts' practice in such cases. The first category of crimes person. The author provides several decisions of the courts in similar cases when a person uses a knife and several times hits the body of the victim, what results in a grave bodily injury. In all cases discussed the perpetrator is sentenced for grave bodily injuries but not for an attempt to murder the victim. The author presents an in-depth analysis of the problem and arrives at a conclusion that courts do not pay enough attention to the content of the intention of the perpetrator. According to the Lithuanian criminal law theory, an intention can be definite or indefinite. When an intention is definite, the perpetrator understands that his behaviour is dangerous to the life of a person, predicts the murder of the victim and wishes such a consequence of his actions. When an intention is indefinite, the perpetrator understands that his behaviour is dangerous to the health or the life of the victim, but wishes any possible consequences. When an intention is indefinite, a person should be sentenced according to the arising consequences of the crime. So, when the victim does not die from the injuries, the perpetrator is sentenced for the consequences of his act. However, the author thinks that in the cases when a knife is used to hit the body in such a way that the vital functions are impaired, the perpetrator understands that he endangers not only the health but also the life of the victim. In this context the intention is not indefinite (in-between health and life). In those cases a person should not be sentenced according to the consequences. The perpetrator should be sentenced for the attempt to commit murder (according to the content of his intention). He should be sentenced according to the gravest consequences that he predicted.


Food security is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. In a study of 212 low-income Latino households in California, 45% were food insecure without hunger; 13% food insecure with moderate hunger; and 3% food insecure with severe hunger. Food insecurity was associated with a decline in household supplies of both nutritious and less nutritious foods. Among preschool children, the number of servings per day of all food groups was significantly correlated with household food supplies. A strong safety net to improve food security in low-income populations must include educational strategies and provision of nutritious foods to support a good diet at home and away from home.


In this article, the authors propose a variance-dependent explanation for the contradiction between skewness preference and low expected return concerning lottery stocks. They emphasize an overlooked aspect of skewness as a risk measure: the return uncertainty of extreme events. They show that, during periods of low market volatility, investors dislike large-skewness securities owing to a fear of uncertain results. Thus, one observes a positive relation between skewness and expected return because the security is currently undervalued. Conversely, negative associations occur in high-volatility environments. This conditional skewness–return nexus is demonstrated to possess return predictability and can help in adjusting portfolios with profitable buying and selling decisions. Key Findings ▪ The authors propose variance-dependent skewness to reconcile the skewness preference for lottery stocks with their actual low expected returns. ▪ They emphasize skewness as a risk measure of the return uncertainty of extreme events. ▪ The authors construct portfolios based on the return predictability of skewness conditional on volatility and show that these portfolios remain profitable after considering transaction costs and restrictions on short sales.


The isolation and characterization of three Caenorhabditis elegans temperature-sensitive mutants that are defective at fertilization are described. All three are alleles of the gene fer-1. At the restrictive temperature of 25 degrees, mutant hermaphrodites make sperm and oocytes in normal numbers. No oocytes are fertilized, although they pass through the spermatheca and uterus normally. The oocytes can be fertilized by sperm transferred by wild-type males, indicating that the mutant defect is in the sperm. The temperature-sensitive period for the mutants coincides with spermatogenesis. Sperm made by mutants at 25 degrees cannot be distinguished from wild-type sperm by light microscopy. The sperm do contact oocytes in mutant hermaphrodites, but do not fertilize. Mutant sperm appear to be nonmotile. Mutant males are also steril when grown at 25 degrees. They trnasfer normal numbers of sperm to hermaphrodites at mating, but these sperm fail to migrate to the spermatheca and are infertile. The phenotype of these mutants is consistent with a primary defect in sperm motility, but the cause of this defect is not known.


Wound healing involves the co-ordinated actions of several cell types, soluble cell mediators and extracellular matrix (ECM). This research project aimed at investigating the role of certain ECM proteins in different processes during tissue repair by studying the interaction between dermal cells and ECM. The focus has been on amelogenins, ECM proteins that under physiological conditions aggregate into spherical structures. As a resorbable biomaterial, amelogenins enhances periodontal tissue regeneration and have been introduced in the treatment of hard-to-heal ulcers. However, the mechanisms of action need to be delineated. The aim of this project was to increase the knowledge on the effects of amelogenins on cell behaviour, to further understand the role of this specific ECM protein in tissue repair and regeneration. To study the in vitro effects of amelogenins on wound healing, three human cell types; macrophages, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells, all essential for successful tissue repair, were utilised. The study designs included cell cultures, in monolayer, 3D-culture and an ex vivo model (chick aortic arch assay) for the angiogenesis studies. The evaluation methods included cell quantification, mitogenesis and apoptosis studies by BrdU incorporation and TUNEL measurements respectively, cytokine analysis by ELISA and multiplex bead array, cell surface integrin adhesion assay, gene microarray analysis, phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy for morphology and viability, and ultrastructural studies by electron microscopy. The results demonstrate that amelogenins influence the in vitro cell behaviour of all three cell types investigated. The interaction and uptake of amelogenin aggregates was demonstrated for both macrophages and fibroblasts. In addition, the possible involvement of integrindependent adhesion was demonstrated for fibroblasts and endothelial cells, with increased cell binding by multiple integrins subunits and αvβ3, αvβ5 and α5β1. Amelogenin treatment of cultured macrophages displayed anti-inflammatory properties, directing the release of several proand anti-inflammatory cytokines. In particular, induced secretion of the specific marker of alternative macrophage activation AMAC-1, along with vascular endothelial growth factor was seen, most probably resulting from a switch of macrophage phenotype to an alternatively activated cell, with tissue repair characteristics. Also, amelogenins increased cell proliferation and induced the expression of genes involved in cellular growth, migration and differentiation in normal dermal fibroblasts. Moreover, amelogenins had the capacity to restore an acute-like phenotype in senescent fibroblasts. Finally, amelogenins displayed pro-angiogenic properties in vitro and ex vivo. In conclusion, the effects of amelogenins on wound healing are plausibly, at least partly, conducted by providing macrophages, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells with tissue repair characteristics. These effects are most probably conducted through cell adhesion via integrin interaction.


ABSTRACT Growing societal concern about a crisis in the wellbeing of young people has prompted a range of responses from governments and corporations, predicated on an ideal of the resilient, self-reliant individual. Behavioural economists, data scientists and educational technology companies now offer a variety of psychological interventions based on psychometric data, aimed at 'equipping' individual students with the necessary skills and character to enable them to withstand the pressures of contemporary life. As a consequence, the critical importance of mutually supportive interpersonal relationships continues to be neglected in mainstream approaches to Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). This article draws on Fromm's theory of social character and Zuboff's analysis of 'life in the hive' to challenge the assumptions about human behaviour underpinning data science and its application in digital tools for social and emotional learning and self-managed wellbeing. To improve students' wellbeing, we need to begin with an understanding of why they are more likely to thrive within a network of mutually supportive social relationships than a digital 'hive'.


Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will soon be integrated in the airspace and start serving us in various capacities such as package delivery, surveillance, search and rescue missions, inspection of infrastructure, precision agriculture, and cinematography. In this thesis, motivated by the challenges this new era brings about, we design a layered architecture called Internet of Drones (IoD). In this architecture, we propose a structure for the traffic in the airspace as well as the interaction between the components of our system such as unmanned aerial vehicles and service providers. We envision the minimal features that need to be implemented in various layers of the architecture, both on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)'s side and on the service providers' side. We compare and contrast various approaches in three existing networks, namely the Internet, the cellular network, and the air traffic control network and discuss how they relate to IoD. As a tool to aid in enabling integration of drones in the airspace, we create a traffic flow model. This model will assign velocities to drones according to the traffic conditions in a stable way as well as help to study the formation of congestion in the airspace. We take the novel problem posed by the 3D nature of UAV flights as opposed to the 2D nature of road vehicles movements and create a fitting traffic flow model. In this model, instead of structuring our model in terms of roads and lanes as is customary for ground vehicles, we structure it in terms of channels, density and capacities. The congestion is formulated as the perceived density given the capacity and the velocity of vehicles will be set accordingly. This view removes the need for a lane changing model and its complexity which we believe should be abstracted away even for the ground vehicles as it is not fundamentally related to the longitudinal movements of vehicles. Our model uses a scalar capacity parameter and can exhibit both passing and blocking behaviors. Furthermore, our model can be solved analytically in the blocking regime and piece-wise analytically solved when in the passing regime. Finally, it is not possible to integrate UAVs into the airspace without some mechanism for coordination or in other words scheduling. We define a new scheduling problem in this regard that we call Vehicle Scheduling Problem (VSP). We prove NP-hardness for all the commonly used objective functions in the context of Jobshop Scheduling Problem (JSP). Then for the number of missed deadlines as our objective function, we give a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) formulation of VSP. We design a heuristic algorithm and compare the quality of the schedules created for small instances with the exact solution to the MIP instance. For larger instances, these comparisons are made with a baseline algorithm.


The purpose of this paper is to provide a narrative review of the literature on mental health resilience and other positive mental health capacities of urban and internal migrants.,The methodology for this narrative review included a search of articles published up to 2017. The abstracts were screened and relevant articles studied and discussed. Literature on the particular mental health challenges of urban migrants in India was also studied. References found in the literature relating to neurourbanism were also followed up to explore broader historical and conceptual contexts.,Several key sources and resources for mental health resilience were identified – including familial and community networks and individual hope or optimism. Nevertheless, much of the literature tends to focus at the level of the individual person, even though ecological systems theory would suggest that mental health resilience is better understood as multi-layered, i.e. relevant to, and impacted by, communities and broader societal and environmental contexts.,This paper provides insight into an aspect of migrant mental health that has tended to be overlooked hitherto: the mental health resilience and positive mental health capacities of urban migrants. This is particularly relevant where professional "expert" mental health provision for internal migrant communities is absent or unaffordable. Previous work has tended to focus predominantly on mental health risk factors, despite growing awareness that focusing on risk factors along can lead to an over-reliance on top-down expert-led interventions and overlook positive capacities for mental health that are sometimes possessed by individuals and their communities.


This study aims to systematically review evidence of the accuracy of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for evaluating the presence of cognitive impairment in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and to outline the quality and quantity of research evidence available about the use of the MoCA in this population.

 We conducted a systematic literature review, searching four databases from inception until April 2020.

 We identified 26 studies that met the inclusion criteria: two case–control studies comparing the MoCA to a battery of tests, three studies comparing MoCA to Mini-Mental State Examination, two studies estimating the prevalence of cognitive impairment in individuals with HD and 19 studies or clinical trials in which the MoCA was used as an instrument for the cognitive assessment of participants with HD. We found no cross-sectional studies in which participants received the index test (MoCA) and a reference standard diagnostic assessment composed of an extensive neuropsychological battery. The publication period ranged from 2010 to 2020.

 In patients with HD, the MoCA provides information about disturbances in general cognitive function. Even if the MoCA demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity when used at the recommended threshold score of 26, further cross-sectional studies are required to examine the optimum cutoff score for detecting cognitive impairments in patients with HD. Moreover, more studies are necessary to determine whether the MoCA adequately assesses cognitive status in individuals with HD.


OBJECTIVE:Although a large body of information exists about the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in general, available data specifically addressing nocturnal reflux are limited. Because nocturnal acid reflux is reported to be associated with more severe injuries such as esophagitis and stricture, as well as adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, a better understanding of the prevalence and impact of nighttime heartburn as a sign of nocturnal acid reflux events can have significant potential management implications. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of nighttime heartburn and reflux-attributed supraesophageal symptoms among patients with GERD; and the impact of nighttime heartburn on sleep and several activities of daily living that could affect quality of life.METHODS:A nationwide telephone survey of 1000 adults experiencing heartburn at least once a week was conducted by the Gallup Organization on behalf of the American Gastroenterological Association.RESULTS:Altogether, 79% of respondents reported experiencing heartburn at night. Among those, 75% reported that symptoms affected their sleep, 63% believed that heartburn negatively affected their ability to sleep well, and 40% believed that nocturnal heartburn impaired their ability to function the following day. Of the 791 respondents with nighttime heartburn, 71% reported taking over-the-counter medicine for it, but only 29% of these rated this approach extremely effective. Forty-one percent reported trying prescription medicines, and 49% of these rated this approach extremely effective.CONCLUSIONS:Nighttime heartburn occurs in a large majority of adults with GERD, resulting in sleeping difficulties and impaired next-day function. The expected result from implemented therapy for heartburn is not achieved by a sizable percentage of patients.


Translational repression of maternal mRNAs is an essential regulatory mechanism during early embryonic development. Repression of the Drosophila nanos mRNA, required for the formation of the anterior-posterior body axis, depends on the protein Smaug binding to two Smaug recognition elements (SREs) in the nanos 3' UTR. In a comprehensive mass-spectrometric analysis of the SRE-dependent repressor complex, we identified Smaug, Cup, Me31B, Trailer hitch, eIF4E and PABPC, in agreement with earlier data. As a novel component, the RNA-dependent ATPase Belle (DDX3) was found, and its involvement in deadenylation and repression of nanos was confirmed in vivo. Smaug, Cup and Belle bound stoichiometrically to the SREs, independently of RNA length. Binding of Me31B and Tral was also SRE-dependent, but their amounts were proportional to the length of the RNA and equimolar to each other. We suggest that 'coating' of the RNA by a Me31B•Tral complex may be at the core of repression.


Dyadic gift giving is often described as a mechanism to manage important but insecure relationships (Caplow, 1982). Considering that most gift giving behaviour happens within interpersonal relationships (Ruth, 1996), and that the economic significance of the gift market in the UK represents £40 billion in 2012 (Mintel, 2013), it is important to understand how relationships operate as antecedents of gift giving behaviour.

In this thesis, we aim to provide a broad understanding of dyadic gift-giving behaviour from the perspective of the giver, specifically bringing clarity to the complexity of dyadic gift giving dimensions, elucidating the giver's list of gift receivers and understanding how givers operate as antecedents of gift giving motivations. To enhance this understanding, we use insights from the normative dimension of Attachment Theory, following the idea of attachment as a human tendency to be close to significant others to obtain protection and emotional security (Bowlby, 1969).

By centring their analysis on the giver-receiver dyad, researchers are ignoring some basic components defining dyadic gift giving, such as the focus of the givers' attention and individuals who connect the relationship between the giver and the receiver. Furthermore, the inherent assumption that, givers give solely to maintain their relationship with the receiver and the traditional research focus on the nature of relationships has restricted the study of gift giving to the consideration of a static giver-receiver dyad. This approach neglects the links between each of the members of the dyad and their respective networks. This limitation is extended to the study of gift giving motivations, where the main research interest is on uncovering alternative motivations to give and proposing new classifications for giving motives, thus neglecting how relationships operate as antecedents of gift giving motivations and overlooking why multiple motivations occur within the same gift experience.

To address the abovementioned limitations, the present study adopts an interpretivist approach as an appropriate perspective to look at gift giving and obtain an in-depth understanding of givers' gift experiences. This is in line with most empirical research in gift giving, which has adopted an interpretivist standpoint and qualitative research methods (Davies, 2010). The research design involves a qualitative methodology that encompasses 28 online diaries and 27 follow-up interviews, producing over 700 pages of text in total. Data collection was conducted sequentially in two rounds at two different times of the year in order to capture a variety of gift giving occasions, relationships and behaviours. These methods were used in a complementary way to provide a broader picture of dyadic gift-giving behaviour. The content analysis adopted an interpretivist approach consistent with Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy (1988).

At a theoretical level, Attachment Theory illuminates dyadic gift giving by answering the questions of the main dimensions explaining dyadic gift giving, how givers relate to gift receivers and how relationships operate as antecedents of gift giving motivations. The findings indicate the existence of different dyadic gift giving dimensions including direct, inter-linked and indirect dyadic gift giving forms. These forms involve gift-giving intermediaries and the relationship goals underpinned by Attachment Theory. The differentiation of these three forms of giving shows that dyadic gift giving is more complex than the traditional view, which only considered the giver-receiver dyad (e.g., Weinberger and Wallendorf, 2012).
The data also revealed that givers differentiated the ways in which they relate to gift receivers in attachment terms. As a result, givers distinguished direct receivers who were providers or seekers of support in the eyes of the giver, mediated receivers who were extensions of important individuals for the giver to access the support of a significant person, and surrogate receivers who replaced unavailable but important others. This approach also indicates different levels of permanence of the receiver within the givers' gift list, which endows the givers' gift list with dynamism by identifying permanent, transient and sporadic gift receivers.

Finally, the data revealed that givers' pursuit of distinct relationship goals with different gift receivers attends to attachment as an ultimate motivation to give. At the same time, motivational triggers, drivers and roles are proximate motives that serve specific purposes and complement each other in order to help givers to achieve their relationship goals. The integration of ultimate and proximate connects Social Exchange Theory and Evolutionary Psychology, and it explains the occurrence of multiple gift giving motivations within the same gift-giving event. Therefore, this thesis advances marketing knowledge by the differentiation of novel insights (i.e., new dyadic gift giving dimensions; different types of gift receivers) and by the integration of previously differentiated phenomena (i.e., gift motivations) (MacInnis, 2011).

From a practitioner's perspective, the understanding of givers' characterisation of gift receivers facilitates the implementation of marketing strategies that portray the benefits that individuals look for in a relationship. While the unravelling of multiple motivations allows the design of marketing appeals using gift motivations singularly or in combination to each other within the same event, the consideration of gift-giving intermediaries further develops the customer-decision-making process of selecting a gift.


In this review, an attempt has been made to select, evaluate, and interpret the pertinent literature relative to general anesthesia and the lung. Concepts of intrapulmonary gas exchange and respiratory system mechanics were synthesized, emphasizing the importance of changes in intrapulmonary gas distribution that are induced by general anesthesia and exploring the possible underlying mechanisms of these changes. The area of control mechanisms and the effects of anesthesia on respiratory regulation were not discussed, nor was the distribution of pulmonary blood flow examined. The following general conclusions can be reached: (1) impaired gas exchange occurs during general anesthesia, with both impaired oxygenation and CO2 elimination; (2) increased venous admixture and increased alveolar dead space impair gas exchange; (3) the distribution of ventilation is changed during general anesthesia, and this change is related to a decrease in FRC in the recumbent positions and to altered chest-wall mechanics. Numerous questions regarding the effect of anesthesia on the lung remain unanswered. The close relationship between advances in pulmonary physiology and the pulmonary effects of anesthetic actions is increasingly apparent, as is the importance of this knowledge in applying mechanical ventilation and end-expiratory pressure to patients with pulmonary disease.


The growth in the electric power industry's portfolio of Direct Current (DC) based generation and loads have captured the attention of many leading research institutions. Opportunities for using DC based systems have been explored in electric ship design and have been a proven, reliable solution for transmitting bulk power onshore and offshore. To integrate many of the renewable resources into our existing AC grid, a number of power conversions through power electronics are required to condition the equipment for direct connection. Within the power conversion stages, there is always a requirement to convert to or from DC.

The AC microgrid is a conceptual solution proposed for integrating various types of renewable generation resources. The fundamental microgrid requirements include the capability of operating in islanding mode and/or grid connected modes. The technical challenges associated with microgrids include (1) operation modes and transitions that comply with IEEE1547 without extensive custom engineering and (2) control architecture and communication. The Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) architecture, explored by the University of Pittsburgh, can be visualized as a special type of DC microgrid.

This dissertation is multi-faceted, focused on many design aspects of an offshore DC microgrid. The focal points of the discussion are focused on optimized high power, high frequency magnetic material performance in electric machines, transformers, and DC/DC power converters – all components found within offshore power system architectures. A new controller design based upon model reference control is proposed and shown to stabilize the electric motor drives (modeled as constant power loads), which serve as the largest power consuming entities in the microgrid. The design and simulation of a state-of-the-art multilevel converter for High Voltage DC (HVDC) is discussed and a component sensitivity analysis on fault current peaks is explored. A power management routine is proposed and evaluated as the DC microgrid is disturbed through various mode transitions. Finally, two communication protocols are described for the microgrid – one to minimize communication overhead inside the microgrid, and another to provide robust and scalable intra-grid communication.

The work presented is supported by Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Corporate Research Center within the Active Grid Infrastructure program, the Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) through the Solar ADEPT program, and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO).


In this paper we present a completely new and fully automated system for parallel microcantilever-based biosensing. Our platform is able to monitor simultaneously the change of resonance frequency (dynamic mode), of deflection (static mode), and of surface roughness of hundreds of cantilevers in a very short time over multiple biochemical reactions. We have proven that our system is capable to measure 900 independent microsensors in less than a second. Here, we report statistical biosensing results performed over a haptens-antibody assay, where complete characterization of the biochemical binding on the cantilever surfaces is obtained with higher accuracy than standard optical lever-based setups.