Urban traffic system in Jinan is an vital important sphere to show the city image,as well as a carrier for the local culture. With the development of various lifestyles, it is not merely ornamental, but a cultural experience. At the same time, when the local culture functionality is combined with functionality and times, in order to get a better understanding of it ,modern technology and materials is indispensable to the explore. In this way, citizens will be granted with a better aesthesis.


The hair follicle is a biological oscillator that alternates growth, regression and rest phases driven by the sequential activation of the proliferation/differentiation programs of resident stem cell populations. The activation of hair follicle stem cell niches and subsequent entry into the growing phase is mainly regulated by Wnt/β-catenin signalling, while regression and resting phases are mainly regulated by Tgf-β/Bmp/Smad activity. A major question still unresolved is the nature of the molecular switch that dictates the coordinated transition between both signalling pathways. Here we have focused on the role of Endoglin (Eng), a key coreceptor for members of the Tgf-β/Bmp family of growth factors. Using an Eng haploinsufficient mouse model we report that Eng is required to maintain a correct follicle cycling pattern and for an adequate stimulation of hair follicle stem cell niches. We further report that β-catenin binds to the Eng promoter depending on Bmp signalling. Moreover, we show that β-catenin interacts with Smad4 in a Bmp/Eng dependent context and both proteins act synergistically to activate Eng promoter transcription. These observations point to the existence of a growth/rest switching mechanism in the hair follicle that is based on an Eng-dependent feedback crosstalk between Wnt/β-catenin and Bmp/Smad signals.


The authors present a series of 128 patients with vasorenal hypertension secondary to nonspecific aorto-arteritis. Seventy two patients have been operated upon. This is the largest series of patients so far recorded in the literature. In the preliminary diagnosis of VRH nuclide renography plays an important role, as well as intravenous urography and angiography. To define operative indications and choice of operative treatment additional methods are of value: determination of renin activity in the renal veins and nuclide renography under conditions of induced hypotension. Of 72 operated patients only 5 had primary nephrectomy; in 67 patients (90.3%) revascularization of the kidneys was performed, 42 patients had one-stage reconstruction of the aorta or its branches (visceral or renal). For reconstruction of the renal arteries dacron grafts and transaortic endarterectomy have been most often used. Good and excellent results in the immediate postoperative period have been noted in 91.8% of patients and in the late period (at 1-14 years) in 82.3%, this fact points to the efficacy of operative treatment. In recent years (1975-1979) postoperative mortality has been reduced to 3.7% as the result of improved and modified operative technique and proper choice of surgical approach.


A mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae representing a novel life cycle, named "alternative self-diploidization" or "ASD" homothallism, was obtained fortuitously. In this life cycle, MAT alpha (or MATa) haplophase and MAT alpha/MAT alpha (or MATa/MATa) diplophase alternate. Germinated cells are haploid and mating. They soon become nonmating and sporogenous as they vegetatively grow. They sooner or later diploidize presumably via endomitosis. The diploid cells haploidize via normal meiosis. A single recessive nuclear mutation, named asd 1-1, is responsible for "ASD" homothallism. In the rho 0 cytoplasm, asd 1-1 cells mate even if at a low efficiency and fail to diploidize. Since pet mutations do not have such effects, we conclude that a certain mitochondrial function other than respiration is required for manifestation of "ASD" homothallism. That is, "ASD" homothallism is the result of some sort of nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction.


A climb-controlled guide (CCG) creep model, which has been used to successfully rationalize low-fluence, light-ion irradiation creep data in pure nickel, accounted for low-fluence irradiation creep rates and loop growth rates in Type 316 stainless steel. The model also predicted a weak stress dependence and a weak temperature dependence in agreement with typical observations. Both light-ion and neutron irradiation creep measurements and microstructural observations at low fluences were examined and compared with predictions of the CCG model. Calculated creep rates compared to measured creep rates demonstrated that dislocation glide was the dominant mode of deformation during low-fluence creep when interstitial loops were small. When the interstitial loop radius approached one half the average dislocation glide distance, the dislocation glide contribution was small. The stress-induced preferred absorption (SIPA) creep mechanism contributed an increasing fraction of the total deformation as the loop radius increased and became dominant at fluences greater than 1 displacement per atom (dpa). The CCG creep model assumes that glissile network dislocations intersect the small dislocation loop glide barriers, climb into a favorable orientation, and annihilate the loop through a Burgers vector reaction. Dislocation climb controls the rate of loop annihilation that allows dislocation glide between loop barriers. Themore » creep rate is determined by a balance between irradiation-enhanced dislocation climb and interstitial loop growth. 20 references, 13 figures, 2 tables.« less


We proposed an analytical model to describe the relationship between the axial stress profile of a few-mode fiber Bragg grating with the variations in the resonant wavelengths during a chemical etching process. As a mechanism of preserving state of equilibrium, the etched fiber is experiencing a varying axial strain—contractive or expansive depending on the total axial stress over the remaining cross-sectional area of the fiber. It is found that the induced strain on the etched fiber is the main constituent to the blueshifts and redshifts in the resonant wavelengths during the etching process. The proposed model has been experimentally verified and the estimated axial stress profiles are in good agreement with the measurement by the polariscopic technique.


Of the estimated 400 million patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) globally, approximately 75% are Asians, representing a clinically important subgroup with a higher risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma than Caucasian patients. This review summarizes recent data from clinical long-term and real-life studies of entecavir and tenofovir, the recommended first-line oral therapies for treating CHB, in nucleoside/nucleotide-naive Asian CHB patients with compensated or decompensated liver disease. Long-term treatment with entecavir or tenofovir achieved profound and durable virological suppression, and led to improved liver histology and function. The data presented in this review will help physicians in making evidence-based decision choices regarding first-line antiviral therapy and long-term management in Asian CHB patients.


Internet Room Diagramming Solutions (RDS) has been regarded as not only one of
the most innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) marketing
media for raising the profiles of hotel and convention centre properties, but also as a
practical tool to try out and to communicate planners' ideas on meeting and event
designs. However, there is little research specific to RDS in the hospitality
management and the event management research fields. In the first phase of this
research, a three-round modified Delphi technique was employed with an expert
panel to generate, validate and prioritise a comprehensive set of dimensions and
criteria for measuring the productivity and effectiveness of a leading RDS in the
marketplace, and a hierarchical structure of these dimensions and criteria is presented.
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used in the third round to generate relative
priorities and to give weightings of these dimensions and criteria. In the phase two of
this research, an AHP survey was conducted with the venue operators in the U.S.
chain hotel systems for revalidation of the priorities and weightings of the
dimensions/criteria which had been previously identified by the Delphi Panel experts.
The client base of the leading RDS provider, MeetingMatrix, was used to conduct
this survey. Forty-eight effective responses from the survey results have successfully
revalidated some of the relative priorities in comparison with the Delphi results.
Consistency exists in the priorities of criteria in Impact on Business Partner
Relationships, Impact on Customer Satisfaction and Organisational Context. The
criteria identified in this research could be adopted in order to conduct further
research concerning performance measurements such as the ICT Balanced Scorecard
for strategic management. The research methodology and approaches used could also
be applied to performance measurements for general innovative ICT applications
such as social media.


Globalization of financial markets resulting from both IT (particularly internet standards) and increasing homogeneity of regulation has strongly affected the environment, financial services companies are operating in. Given these changes on the market, innovation is not a choice, but a necessity to survive. Observable today, however, are defensive strategies and poor service quality. In this paper based on investments in trust relationships with customers we propose Sophistication (fit) Banking enabled by IT and qualified staff. While traditional markets are characterized by shrinking margins and declining shareholder values, which can easily be explained by considering the digital character of financial products, new intermediaries for customer-centered Sophistication (fit) Banking have the opportunity of becoming spiders in the web and increasing shareholder values constantly.


Developing and implementing ways to measure sustainability (i.e., indicators) need to cope with rivalry and conflicts in institutional logics to become a useful tool when planning and initiating actions for sustainable development. This paper reports on the structure of a current research project and elaborates on early research results. The aim is to initiate a discussion regarding new challenges and explore potential research directions on the matter of institutional logics and sustainable development when developing smart indicators. The paper presents the initial theoretical framework focusing institutional logics and the methodological structure.


Importance
The National Pediatric Readiness Project is a US initiative to improve emergency department (ED) readiness to care for acutely ill and injured children. However, it is unclear whether high ED pediatric readiness is associated with improved survival in US trauma centers.

Objective
To evaluate the association between ED pediatric readiness, in-hospital mortality, and in-hospital complications among injured children presenting to US trauma centers.

Design, Setting, and Participants
A retrospective cohort study of 832 EDs in US trauma centers in 50 states and the District of Columbia was conducted using data from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2017. Injured children younger than 18 years who were admitted, transferred, or with injury-related death in a participating trauma center were included in the analysis. Subgroups included children with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 16 or above, indicating overall seriously injured (accounting for all injuries); any Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score of 3 or above, indicating at least 1 serious injury; a head AIS score of 3 or above, indicating serious brain injury; and need for early use of critical resources.

Exposures
Emergency department pediatric readiness for the initial ED visit, measured through the weighted Pediatric Readiness Score (range, 0-100) from the 2013 National Pediatric Readiness Project ED pediatric readiness assessment.

Main Outcomes and Measures
In-hospital mortality, with a secondary composite outcome of in-hospital mortality or complication. For the primary measurement tools used, the possible range of the AIS is 0 to 6, with 3 or higher indicating a serious injury; the possible range of the ISS is 0 to 75, with 16 or higher indicating serious overall injury. The weighted Pediatric Readiness Score examines and scores 6 domains; in this study, the lowest quartile included scores of 29 to 62 and the highest quartile included scores of 93 to 100.

Results
There were 372 004 injured children (239 273 [64.3%] boys; median age, 10 years [interquartile range, 4-15 years]), including 5700 (1.5%) who died in-hospital and 5018 (1.3%) who developed in-hospital complications. Subgroups included 50 440 children (13.6%) with an ISS of 16 or higher, 124 507 (33.5%) with any AIS score of 3 or higher, 57 368 (15.4%) with a head AIS score of 3 or higher, and 32 671 (8.8%) requiring early use of critical resources. Compared with EDs in the lowest weighted Pediatric Readiness Score quartile, children cared for in the highest ED quartile had lower in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.45-0.75), but not fewer complications (aOR for the composite outcome 0.88; 95% CI, 0.74-1.04). These findings were consistent across subgroups, strata, and multiple sensitivity analyses. If all children cared for in the lowest-readiness quartiles (1-3) were treated in an ED in the highest quartile of readiness, an additional 126 lives (95% CI, 97-154 lives) might be saved each year in these trauma centers.

Conclusions and Relevance
In this cohort study, injured children treated in high-readiness EDs had lower mortality compared with similar children in low-readiness EDs, but not fewer complications. These findings support national efforts to increase ED pediatric readiness in US trauma centers that care for children.


Recent evidence suggests that apical and basolateral endocytic pathways in epithelia converge in an apically located, pericentriolar endosomal compartment termed the apical recycling endosome. In this compartment, apically and basolaterally internalized membrane constituents are thought to be sorted for recycling back to their site of origin or for transcytosis to the opposite plasma membrane domain. We report here that in the epithelial cell line Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK), antibodies to Rab11a label an apical pericentriolar endosomal compartment that is dependent on intact microtubules for its integrity. Furthermore, this compartment is accessible to a membrane-bound marker (dimeric immunoglobulin A [IgA]) internalized from either the apical or basolateral pole, functionally defining it as the apical recycling endosome. We have also examined the role of a closely related epithelial-specific Rab, Rab25, in the regulation of membrane recycling and transcytosis in MDCK cells. When cDNA encoding Rab25 was transfected into MDCK cells, the protein colocalized with Rab11a in subapical vesicles. Rab25 transfection also altered the distribution of Rab11a, causing the coalescence of immunoreactivity into multiple denser vesicular structures not associated with the centrosome. Nevertheless, nocodazole still dispersed these vesicles, and dimeric IgA internalized from either the apical or basolateral membrane was detected in endosomes labeled with antibodies to both Rab11a and Rab25. Overexpression of Rab25 decreased the rate of IgA transcytosis and of apical, but not basolateral, recycling of internalized ligand. Conversely, expression of the dominant-negative Rab25T26N did not alter either apical recycling or transcytosis. These results indicate that both Rab11a and Rab25 associate with the apical recycling system of epithelial cells and suggest that Rab25 may selectively regulate the apical recycling and/or transcytotic pathways.


Considerable biases in precipitation simulations in climate models have required the adoption of delta-change approaches to construct future precipitation scenarios for hydrological climate change impact studies. However, different delta-change methods yield different future precipitation scenarios that might significantly affect the projected future streamflow. To assess these effects, two delta-change methods were compared: the simple delta-change (SDC) method with a constant scaling factor and the quantile-quantile delta-change (QQDC) method with a quantile mapping-based non-uniform delta factor. The Xinanjiang (XAJ) hydrological model was applied using historical climatic data and two future precipitation scenarios for streamflow simulations in the Pearl River basin, China. The results show that the two delta-change methods have significant influences on future precipitation and streamflow projections, and these impacts become more distinct at finer and extreme event time scales. For instance, the QQDC method projects the 20-year daily maximum precipitation to be 8.1–98.6% higher than the SDC method. Consequently, the XAJ model with the QQDC future precipitation produces the 20-year daily maximum streamflow to be approximately 7.0–65.0% higher than that using the SDC precipitation. It implies that future precipitation transformation methods are a source of uncertainty, affecting future discharge projections. Such uncertainty should be considered in water resources management and flood control strategies for future climate change adaptations.


People with schizophrenia have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, with consequent elevated morbidity and mortality, largely due to cardiovascular disease. Metabolic disorders comprise obesity, dyslipidemia and elevated levels of triglycerides, hypertension, and disturbed insulin and glucose metabolism. The elevated risk of metabolic syndrome in individuals suffering from schizophrenia is believed to be multifactorial, related to a genetic predisposition, lifestyle characteristics and treatment with antipsychotic medications. Relaxin 3 (RLN3, also known as INSL7) is a recently identified member of the insulin/relaxin superfamily that plays a role in the regulation of appetite and body weight control. RLN3 stimulates relaxin-3 receptor 1 (relaxin/insulin-like family peptide receptor 3, RXFP3) and relaxin receptor 2 (relaxin/insulin-like family peptide receptor 4, RXFP4). We have investigated the role of ten polymorphisms in these genes (RLN3 rs12327666, rs1982632, and rs7249702, RLN3R1 rs42868, rs6861957, rs7702361, and rs35399, and RLN3R2 rs11264422, rs1018730 and rs12124383) in the occurrence of metabolic syndrome phenotypes (obesity, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertrigyceridemia, and hypertension) in a cross-sectional cohort of 419 US Caucasian patients treated with antipsychotic drugs. We found several associations between relaxin polymorphisms and hypecholesterolemia, obesity and diabetes, suggesting a role for the relaxin/insulin pathway in the development of metabolic disturbance observed in patients treated with antipsychotics.


In this paper, I present four figurative text phenomena, figurative schemes which play a role in organizing language at the level of the whole text, either by patterning lexis or changing register. These phenomena have all been identified individually by other scholars but no one to date has brought them together into a single framework in the way I do here. Many scholars have engaged in metaphor-led discourse analysis and metaphor identification across genres – such as Cameron & Stelma, Goatly, the Pragglejaz Group and Steen – but their focus has been on local 'emergent' meaning in spoken interaction rather than the impact of metaphor on longer stretches of language; and few have recognized the equally important role of metonymy in organizing longer stretches of language. The framework I present brings together authors from different fields and different eras, from Jakobson, Lodge and Lakoff & Johnson to Al-Sharafi, Koller and Semino. I also reinterpret Halliday & Hasan's (1976) work on 'cohesion' in terms of figurative thought and extend Goossens' (1990) concept of 'metaphtonymy' to the level of the whole text, which I call 'Text Metaphtonymy'.


The molecular recognition between streptavidin and biotin makes the streptavidin-biotin system very useful in a wide range of biotechnological applications. Currently, biotin modified n-alkanethiolates have been extensively studied to create a wide variety of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold surfaces. For the formation of optimum monolayer films, an appropriate biotin-terminated molecule should be selected to minimize nonspecific interactions between streptavidin and the modified surface and to maximize specific binding between them. In the present work, various monolayer films with adsorption of biotin-terminated long-chain n-alkanethiolates and of mixtures with 11-mercaptoundecanol (MUOH) from solution onto the gold surfaces were prepared and characterized by optical ellipsometry, contact angle goniometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).


Half a century ago, the pioneers of chaos theory discovered that the "butterfly effect" makes longterm prediction impossible. Even the smallest perturbation to a complex system (like the weather, the economy or just about anything else) can touch off a concatenation of events that leads to a dramatically divergent future. Unable to pin down the state of these systems precisely enough to predict how they'll play out, we live under a veil of uncertainty.


The goal of this paper is to evaluate the DisTrad sharpening technique for deriving land surface temperatures over urban areas. While the original DisTrad technique is based on the correlation between land surface temperature and NDVI, this study evaluates the performance of DisTrad over different land covers by analysing the correlation between land surface temperature and 15 different indices: BASVI, R, B, NDWI, NDBaI, SVI, SAVI, NDBI, NDSI, UI, FC, VC, V, IBI, NDVI. In addition, we have analysed the correlation between land surface temperature and impervious percentage. These indices and land surface temperature were derived from a Landsat 7 ETM+ image of 2001 covering the city of Dublin. It is concluded isTrad pectral indexes rbanization mapping rban heat island UHI that for most indices selecting 25% of the pixels with the lowest coefficient of variance increases the correlation between the index and the land surface temperature. Results show that the DisTrad technique in combination with impervious percentage sharpens urban areas at 30 m resolution most successfully. Although vegetation cover was high during acquisition of the image, the use of impervious percentage showed improved results compared to NDVI. This allows an improved estimation of spatial patterns of urban heat islands.


The concept of ""un-Americanism"", so vital to the HUAC crusade of the 1940s and 1950s, was resoundingly revived in the emotional rhetoric that followed the September 11th terrorist attacks. Today's political and cultural climate makes it more crucial than ever to come to terms with the consequences of this earlier period of repression and with the contested claims of Americanism that it generated.""Un-American"" Hollywood reopens the intense critical debate on the blacklist era and on the aesthetic and political work of the Hollywood Left. In a series of fresh case studies focusing on contexts of production and reception, the contributors offer exciting and original perspectives on the role of progressive politics within a capitalist media industry.Original essays scrutinize the work of individual practitioners, such as Robert Rossen, Joseph Losey, Jules Dassin, and Edward Dmytryk, and examine key films, including ""The Robe"", ""Christ in Concrete"", ""The House I Live In"", ""The Lawless"", ""The Naked City"", ""The Prowler"", ""Body and Soul"", and ""FTA"".


A strategy is implemented to find the improved configuration design of an existing aircraft structure by executing topology and shape optimizations. Structural analysis of the Initial Design Space is performed in ANSYS under the loads pertinent to operating and ground conditions. By using the FEA results and data, an initial optimized layout configuration is attained by exploiting nonparametric topology optimization in TOSCA software. Topological optimized surfaces are then smoothened and imported in ANSYS to develop the geometrical features. Nodes at the critical locations of resulting voids are selected for sketching rough profiles. Rough profiles are further refined and CAD feasible geometric features are generated. The modified model is then analyzed under the same loadings and constraints as defined for topology optimization. Shape at the peak stress concentration areas are further optimized by exploiting the shape optimization in TOSCA.shape module. The harmonized stressed model with the modified surfaces is then imported in CATIA to develop the final design. Keywords—Structural optimization, Topology optimization, Shape optimization, Tail fin


Objectives:

Convergence is often interpreted as meaning that GNP per capita in developing countries catches up to GNP per capita in developed countries. The aim of this paper is to show how convergence between developing and developed countries can be analysed in a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model.

Our motivation is provided by the Castles/Henderson critique (2003 a & b) of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2000). The SRES is concerned with the greenhouse-gas implications of convergence. Castles and Henderson argue that the SRES may have overestimated the increase in greenhouse gases associated with convergence by using inappropriate measures of current per capita GNP for developing countries.

Estimates of GNP per capita are readily available for most countries of the world in national currencies. When these estimates are converted by market exchange rates (MERs) into a common currency, they imply very large differences between developing and developed countries. For example, IMF statistics show that the $US value of GNP per capita in China at the MER was about $US800 in 2000. This is only about one fortieth of GNP per capita in the U.S. in 2000 (see IMF International Financial Statistics, China and U.S. pages, December 2000). Figures such as these give the impression that convergence will mean enormous growth in output in developing countries. This in turn leads to fears that convergence will generate huge increases in the world volume of greenhouse gas emissions.

Against this, Castles and Henderson (2003 a & b) argue that comparisons of GNP per capita at MERs strongly understate output in developing countries relative to that in developed countries. As a consequence, convergence scenarios based on such comparisons strongly overstate the output growth in developing countries that would follow from convergence. Castles and Henderson suggest that comparisons of GNP per capita between developing and developed countries should be made in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). A PPP of 2 for China and 1 for the U.S., for example, means that $US800 buys twice as much goods and services in China as it does in the U.S. Thus, output in China that is worth $US800 at the MER represents twice as much goods and services as output in the U.S. worth $US800. This in turn leads to the conclusion that convergence means a twenty-fold increase in Chinese output rather than a forty-fold increase. With smaller increases in output, the convergence hypothesis in PPP terms, at least at first glance, seems to imply a smaller increase in greenhouse-gas emissions than is implied by the hypothesis in market-exchange-rate terms.
However, the first-glance conclusion is not necessarily right. If we assume that a country's greenhouse-gas emissions per capita are a function of the real volume of its output per capita, then we might estimate greenhouse-gas emissions at convergence by assuming that emissions per capita in developing countries will converge to those in developed countries. Thus we could calculate the increase in world emissions by comparing the current level with the level that would apply if all developing countries were emitting at the same rate per capita as developed countries. The calculations could be made without even considering current differences in GNP per capita between developing and developed countries let alone worrying about whether these differences should be calculated in terms of MER or PPP.

But the problem with this really simple approach is that different countries have different sources of energy and different climates. Thus, even if there were convergence in output per capita, it may not be reasonable to assume convergence in emissions per capita. So, how should we go about estimating the greenhouse-gas implications of convergence?

Methodology:

The method we investigate is simulation in a multi-country CGE model. We assume that countries have different GNP per capita mainly because they have different technologies (processes by which inputs are turned into outputs). We interpret convergence as meaning that technologies in developing countries become as efficient as those in developed countries.

A CGE model is potentially an attractive vehicle for analysing the effects of technological change. Thus, under our interpretation of convergence, a CGE model is an attractive vehicle for analysing its effects. With technological differences as the starting point for an analysis in a CGE framework, controversies concerning inter-country comparisons of GNP are avoided. At the same time, the CGE framework is potentially rich enough in structural detail to encompass differences across countries in per capita emissions which would remain even after technological convergence.

Data:

57 commodity by 3 region GTAP 5 database.

Anticipated findings:

Our modelling suggests four interesting conclusions.

First, the MER/PPP distinction matters. In simulating the effects of convergence, we found that MER-based estimates of initial technology gaps lead to considerably higher estimates of convergence-induced growth in developing countries than do PPP-based estimates.
Second, under convergence, the outputs of industries in developing countries will not grow as rapidly as their GDPs. This reflects intermediate-input-saving technical change.

Third, for convergence analysis the industry detail in CGE models is valuable. Our simulations showed a wide range of convergence-induced changes in output across industries.
Fourth, convergence by developing countries has only minor implications for consumption and GDP in developed countries.

As well as suggesting potential conclusions about the implications of convergence, our modelling raises technical issues concerning PPP, real exchange rates, terms of trade and capital accumulation.
References:
Castles, I. and D. Henderson (2003a), "The IPC Emission Scenarios: An Economic-Statistical Critique", Energy & Environment, 14 (2&3): 159-185.
Castles, I. and D. Henderson (2003b), "Economics, Emission Scenarios and the Work of the IPCC", Energy & Environment, 14 (4): 415-435.
IPCC (2000), Emissions scenarios, special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Nebojsa Nakicenovic and Rob Swart (eds.), Cambridge University Press, UK.


"I will examine who the contemporary film industries target as well as how they relate to the creation and maintenance of fan communities, who are either familiar with the original text from which the films are adapted or are initially attracted to the films and then cross over to the texts, resulting in even larger fan bases. These communities are essential in insuring a film studio that there are very active audiences that will pay for a ticket in order to judge for themselves how successful the adaptation is. In the process, these fan communities simultaneously become responsible for the creation of mythologies while also taking pleasure in experiencing them, pitting their allegiances towards the mythopoetic against the logic of commodification.

A logical case study to use in this compendium is The Lord of the Rings, an assemblage of multiple products and texts adapted from a narrative trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Since its publication, it has achieved a cultural iconic status within a culture that embraces the gray zone, appealing to audiences in search of a cerebral comic book to those who seek comfort in a reinforcement of the good versus evil trope."--Page 5.


In the pharmaceutical industry, more than half of all tablets receive a film coating. A commonly used technique is drum coating, where a film solution is applied to the moving tablets by a spray nozzle. Important process parameters include the amount and temperature of drying air, as well as spray nozzle position. Among other influences, the proper adjustment of these parameters has a great impact on spray loss, defined as the fraction of spray liquid that does not form a film on the tablets. Often, the lack of scientific data hinders a process setup based on engineering principles, resulting in operational conditions based on trial-and-error approaches. Here, we show how a coating system can be numerically modeled by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. Furthermore, we present how different parameters affect the efficiency of the process, leading to a deeper understanding of the coating device. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012


This paper extends the mean group (MG) estimator for random coefficient panel data models by allowing the underlying individual estimators to be weakly cross-correlated. Weak cross-sectional dependence of the individual estimators can arise, for example, in panels with spatially correlated errors. We establish that the MG estimator is asymptotically correctly centered, and its asymptotic covariance matrix can be consistently estimated. The random coefficient specification allows for correct inference even when nothing is known about the weak cross-sectional dependence of the errors. This is in contrast to the well-known homogeneous case, where cross-sectional dependence of errors results in incorrect inference unless the nature of the cross-sectional error dependence is known and can be taken into account. Evidence on small sample performance of the MG estimators is provided using Monte Carlo experiments with both strictly and weakly exogenous regressors and cross-sectionally correlated innovations.


One of the weaknesses of using receptor models to apportion the sources of ambient particulate matter is their inability to separate collinear sources such as different types of geological material. In order to develop a methodology to separate the different geological source contributions an ambient monitoring and source apportionment study was carried out for the cities of Reno and Sparks, NV during summer 1998. Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) receptor modeling was performed to estimate the contributions of both anthropogenic and natural sources to the observed ambient concentrations. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the geological component of the PM2.5 to determine the sources of that component. Chemical mass balance receptor modeling showed the dominant contribution to summertime PM2.5 mass in Reno and Sparks to be motor vehicle sources (~68%). Geological material was the second most abundant component of the PM2.5 (~14.5%). Sulfate was the predominant secondary species during the measurement period (~11%). The remaining components of significance were vegetative burning (~4%), secondary nitrates (~2%), and salt (NaCl) (0.6%). Scanning electron microscopy of selected ambient samples on a particle-by-particle basis showed the mineral component of the PM2.5 was predominantly aluminum-silicate in nature with a wide range of composition percentages for the major aluminum-silicate minerals (Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, and Ca). Virtually all of the particles examined had P and S in the typical aluminum-silicate spectra, which is attributed to contact with mobile source emissions. In approximately 10% of the examined particles were metallic in nature. Barium was also noted as a minor constituent of some particles, suggesting incorporation of diesel vehicle emissions. This evidence suggests that the source of the majority of the PM2.5 of geological origin in Reno and Sparks during the study period was from the resuspension of paved road dust. Thus, the amount of PM2.5 attributed to mobile source activity was in excess of 80%. © 2008 Jordan Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences. All rights reserved


Recently, enormous interest has been turned to quasicontinuous analysis of glycaemia in the intensive care discipline. For patients under critically ill conditions, the intensive insulin therapy treatment requires reliable assays for blood glucose. Micro-dialysis in combination with infrared spectrometric detection renders a system that can function reagentand calibration-free over an extended period. A programmable fluidics system has been set-up and tested which allows regular spectral sample and reference measurements. Such instrumentation suits the low pressure conditions necessary for microdialysis and the high pressure for transport flow to the flow-through infrared micro-cell. First assay results are presented.


The aim of this thesis is to understand how information systems affect the perception of stress and what consequences this effect has on behavioral outcomes. Previous research in the area of information systems, stress, and behavior has highlighted either stress resulting from interaction with information systems or the potential usefulness of information to reduce stress. Limited research has set out to understand how this dual effect of information systems on stress influences behavioral outcomes. This thesis claims that behavioral outcomes can be better predicted when considering both emphases on the stress-information systems relationship simultaneously. To achieve this research aim, five studies – that set the focus on battery electric vehicles – were conducted. One study provides insights into the positive effect of information systems on the perception of stress and its consequences for behavioral outcomes. A conceptual model was developed that enables investigation of the relationship among information systems, stress, and behavioral outcomes. The results show that the general provision of timely and relevant information through information systems is suitable to reduce stress originating from the limited driving range of battery electric vehicles, thus positively influencing the attitude towards using these vehicles. Two further studies investigate the opposite effect of information systems on the perception of stress. It is shown that the inappropriate provision of information through information systems might increase the perception of stress in the user, which, in turn, may negatively influence the willingness to use battery electric vehicles. Another study integrates both emphases in the stress-information systems relationship, showing that both directional effects influence behavioral outcomes. Finally, one study expands the research focus to mobility-related sustainable business models, revealing the importance of considering the actual impact of information systems on individuals in the design of mobilityrelated sustainable business models. It is shown that information systems-enabled pricing schemes – an important characteristic of mobility-related sustainable business models – influence the stress perception in users of e-car sharing, which, in turn, impacts behavioral outcomes. The thesis provides important implications to researchers and practitioners by challenging the single viewpoint approach on the information systems–stress relationship when assessing behavioral outcomes.


: Dopaminergic replacement therapy (DRT) is effective in treatment the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) but can lead to impulse control disorders (ICD) in some patients. ICD include pathological gambling, hypersexuality, compulsive shopping, binge eating, punding, dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS). Authors studied the prevalence of ICD and its impact on the quality of life and daily activities of PD patients and their relatives. Among 246 patients studied, 55 patients (23%) (28 men, mean age 66.5±9.4 years) were diagnosed with ICD. DDS was noted in 36.4%, punding in 36.4%, binge eating in 23.6%, hypersexuality in 14.5%, compulsive shopping in 14.5% and pathological gambling in 1.8%. Of these 55 patients, 10 (18.1%) had symptoms of 2 of the ICDs: 3 (5.45%) had 3 of the ICDs and 2 (3.63%) patients had 5 of the ICDs. Quality of life ranged from 25% to 89%. Treatment approaches including the adjustment of doses of levodopa and dopamine receptor agonists in PD patients with ICD are presented.


In this text, the author looks behind the trivializing image of the "heav'n-taught ploughman" to uncover the intellectual context of the poet's political radicalism. He reveals Burns as a sophisticated political poet whose work draws on a range of intellectual resources: the democratic, contactarian ideology of Scottish Peresbyterianism, the English and Irish "Real Whig" tradition, and the political theory of the Scottish Enlightenment. Throwing light on the poet's education and his early reading, Liam McIlvanney provides detailed readings of Burn's major poems. The book also offers research on Burns's links with Irish poets and radicals, providing a radical interpretation of the man who is coming to be recognized as the poet laureate of the radical Enlightenment.


Phylogenetic information has been used to determine the co-occurrence and evolutionary relation among the plant species in the plant communities. Phylogenetic studies provide an important tool to assign conservation value to the plant species. Keeping in view the importance of vegetation especially in semi-arid areas, we assessed the phylogenetic structure of plant communities for the conservation of plant communities of District Karak. We surveyed three different plant communities in Southeastern part of District Karak in Pakistan. We used phylogenetic information to compute phylogenetic diversity (PD) of all the plant species in local communities. We computed the standardized effect size of phylogenetic diversity to measure the species diversity among the different communities. Our study revealed positive values of the standardized effect size in the first and second communities indicated the tendency of higher species diversity in the communities while negative values in the third community indicated that there is tendency of less species diversity. We also observed linear correlation between species richness and phylogenetic diversity. We came to the conclusion that high phylogenetic diversity among the studied communities is the result of weak competitive exclusion due to stochastic factors such as recruitment limitations, dispersal limitations and environmental heterogeneity.


The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based therapy for non-oncogene addicted non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has significantly transformed the treatment landscape of the disease. Inhibitors of the programmed cell death protein 1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) immune checkpoint axis, which were initially considered as a late-line treatment option, gradually became the standard of care as first-line treatment for subgroups of NSCLC patients. However, a significant fraction of patients either fails to respond or progresses after a partial response to ICI treatment. Thus, the identification of mechanisms responsible for innate and acquired resistance to immunotherapy within a rapidly evolving tumor microenvironment (TME) is urgently required, as is the identification of reliable predictive biomarkers beyond PD-L1 expression. The deregulation of the epigenome is a key driver of cancer initiation and progression, and it has also been shown to drive therapeutic resistance. Tumor education of infiltrating myeloid cells towards an immuno-suppressive phenotype as well as induction of T-cell dysfunction in the TME is also driven by epigenome reprogramming. As it stands and, given their dynamic nature, epigenetic changes in cancer and non-cancer cells represent an attractive target to increase immunotherapy activity in NSCLC. Accordingly, clinical trials of combinatorial immuno-epigenetic drug regimens have been associated with tumor response in previously immunotherapy-resistant NSCLC patients irrespective of their PD-L1 status. Moreover, epigenetic signatures might represent valuable theragnostic biomarkers as they can be assayed easily in liquid biopsy and provide multiple layers of information. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge regarding the dysregulated epigenetic mechanisms contributing to immunotherapy resistance in NSCLC. Although the clinical data are still maturing, we highlight the attractive perspective that the synergistic model of immuno-epigenetic strategies might overcome the current limitations of immunotherapy alone and will be translated into durable clinical benefit for a broader NSCLC population.


Hexane and ethanolic extracts obtained from aboveground parts of three Solidago species (Solidago virgaurea L., Solidago canadensis L. and Solidago gigantea Ait.) were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thirty nine and forty nine volatile compounds were detected, respectively in ethanolic and hexane extracts of S. virgaurea, sixty two and forty six in S. canadensis extracts, respectively and seventy three and forty five compounds in the ethanolic and hexane extracts of S. gigantea. Moreover, evaluation of the content of total secondary metabolites (flavonoides, o-dihydroxyphenols) was made. It was found that both ethanolic and hexane extracts showed an antibacterial activity and actedstrongly to Gram-positive (Staphyllococcus aureus, Staphyllococcus faecalis and Bacillus subtilis) than Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Hexane extract of S. canadensis acted the strongest of Gram-positivebacteria (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values: 5 to 10 mg/ml), while the otherhexane extracts showed rather weak effect (MIC values: 100 and > 100 mg/ml). In the case of ethanolic extracts relatively strong activity against Gram-positive bacteria were found in S.gigantea and S. canadensis (MIC values: from 10 to 50 mg/ml). In general, alcohol extracts had slightly stronger antibacterial properties compared with lipophilic ones. However, hexaneextracts of the S. virgaurea, S. canadensis and S. gigantea herb exhibited antimutagenicactivity (at a concentration of 2.5 mg/ml), whereas ethanolic extracts, in the applied range of concentrations, did not show antimutagenic activity.

 Key words: Solidago virgaurea, Solidago canadensis, Solidago gigantea, antibacterial activity, antimutagenic activity, chemical composition.


Objectives: To develop and validate a clinical prediction model (CPM) for survival in hypopharynx cancer, thereby aiming to improve individualized estimations of survival. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of hypopharynx cancer patients. We randomly split the cohort into a derivation and validation dataset. The model was fi tted on the derivation dataset and validated on the validation dataset. We used a Cox ' s proportional hazard model and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) selection. Performance (discrimination and calibration) of the CPM was tested. Results: The fi nal model consisted of gender, subsite, TNM classi fi cation, Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 score (ACE27), body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin, albumin, and leukocyte count. Of these, TNM classi fi cation, ACE27, BMI, hemoglobin, and albumin had independent signi fi cant associations with survival. The C Statistic was 0.62 after validation. The model could signi fi cantly identify clinical risk groups. Conclusions: ACE27, BMI, hemoglobin, and albumin are independent predictors of overall survival. The identi fi cation of high-risk patients can be used in the counseling process and tailoring of treatment strategy or follow-up.


This paper considers the issues involved in developing a programme for youth justice practitioners. Contemporary youth justice practice occurs in an increasingly managerialist and punitive context raising questions about how best to develop effective practitioners. It is argued that youth justice practice involves a recurring challenge of meeting situations of high complexity that must be dealt with on a caseby-case basis, guided by a clear understanding of how offending behaviour is constituted. The Professional Certificate in Effective Practice is reviewed and it is argued that education must emphasise reflective understanding. A critique of competency based education in relation to the Diploma in Probation Studies is also presented arguing that such an approach renders invisible important aspects of practice. Recommendations are made for a curriculum for a youth justice programme which stresses humanism, reflective understanding of context and history, criminology, sociology and psychology, social exclusion, social control, risk, victimology and comparative youth justice.


Novel InAlAs/InGaAs heterojunction FETs (HJFETs) with modulated indium composition channels, named CCMTs (Channel Composition Modulated Transistors), have been successfully fabricated, in which an InAs channel is sandwiched by In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As/In/sub 0.8/Ga/sub 0.2/As sub-channels. The channel structure is designed to improve electron transport and electron confinement by increase effective indium content in consideration of channel electron distribution. The fabricated devices also employ an AlAs/InAs superlattice as a barrier layer against impurity contamination for high thermal stability. A 0.2 /spl mu/m T-shaped gate device exhibits gm of 1370 mS/mm, and Ft of 180 GHz at a low drain bias of 1.0 V. In high temperature and DC life test conducted at more than 230/spl deg/C, the devices exhibited less than 3% degradation after 100 hrs, which shows the developed CCMTs with AlAs/InAs superlattice insertion technology can offer high-performance and highly-reliable InP-based HJFETs for various microwave and millimeter-wave applications.


We present a simple method that can be used to directly measure the squeezing of the quantum motional states of a trapped ion. Through the use of the interaction between the trapped ion and classical lasers, one can design a required coupling between the internal electronic and external vibrational degrees of freedom of the ion and can transfer information of the expectation value of a vibrational operator to the atomic internal populations. Thus measurement of squeezing on the quantum motional state can directly be realized. By adjusting the phases of the interacting lasers, one can measure the squeezing of both position and momentum quadratures.


The tumorigenic activities in F344 rats of crotonaldehyde, a representative alpha, beta-unsaturated carbonyl compound, and N-nitrosopyrrolidine, which could produce crotonaldehyde upon metabolism, were compared. Groups of rats were treated with either crotonaldehyde (0.6 mM or 6.0 mM) or N-nitrosopyrrolidine (0.6 mM) in their drinking water for 113 or 84 weeks, respectively. At the 0.6 mM dose, crotonaldehyde induced neoplastic lesions of the liver in 9 of 27 rats; 2 rats had hepatocellular carcinomas, and 9 rats had neoplastic nodules. It also caused altered liver cell foci in 23 of 27 rats. The incidences of tumors and foci were significantly higher than those of the control group. N-Nitrosopyrrolidine induced hepatocellular carcinomas in 20 of 23 rats, liver neoplastic nodules in 16 of 23 rats, and altered liver cell foci in 23 of 23 rats. Thus, crotonaldehyde appears to be a weaker tumorigen than N-nitrosopyrrolidine. At the 6.0 mM dose, crotonaldehyde treatment caused moderate to severe liver damage in 10 of 23 rats. No preneoplastic or neoplastic lesions were observed in these rats. The remaining 13 rats of this group developed altered liver cell foci. The tumorigenicity of crotonaldehyde suggests that alpha, beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, which are ubiquitous in the human environment and can be formed endogenously, may be an important class of potential carcinogens.


In the literature there is need of clinical and instrumental characterization of all neurodegenerative diseases. Particular attention deserves the timing of the onset of motor or cognitive symptoms, which is extremely useful issue giving the frequent overlapping between neurodegenerative diseases. Aim of this review is to provide a description of typical clinical and imaging features of all neurodegenerative diseases, especially idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Particular attention will be devoted to the cluster of symptoms at the moment of the diagnosis. Based on early starting symptoms (cognitive or extrapiramidal) we will introduce criteria to differentiate AD from fronto-Temporal Dementia (FTD), Lewy bodies dementia (DLB) and Vascular dementia (VaD), and between PD, Vascular Parkinsonism (VP) and DLB. All these diseases are characterized by cognitive deficits. PD will be suspected if cognitive impairment occurs at least one year after the onset of the motor symptoms while VP and DLB are more likely if cognitive deficits and motor symptoms appear simultaneously. Finally, we will focus on parkinsonian signs plus other motor symptoms at the time of the diagnosis. The presence of cerebellar or pyramidal signs, with falls and autonomic dysfunction, with or without cognitive deficit should help to consider potential causes of atypical parkinsonism including cortical-basal degeneration (CBD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).


Objectives & Background Until January 2014, The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) Head Injury Guidelines (CG56) issued to clinicians advised anticoagulated patients with a head injury should only receive CT imaging if loss of consciousness or amnesia was experienced. These guidelines have recently been updated to advise CT imaging for all anticoagulated patients. We aimed to investigate how closely the 2007 guidelines were followed and whether the guideline update will mean considerable changes to existing practice. Methods Data was analysed from the AHEAD Study, a large prospective observational multicentre study involving 33 emergency departments in England and Scotland. Within the cohort of anticoagulated patients, those that complied with the NICE guidelines (2007 and 2014) were identified and categorised into 3 groups depending on the NICE CT imaging advice a) <1 hr, b) <8 hrs and c) all patients. The symptoms, treatment and outcomes of these patients were described and compared with actual clinical practice. Results Applying NICE 2007 criteria to the 3534 patients, 779 (22%) patients were identified as eligible candidates for CT imaging—within 1hr, 558 (72%) patients and within 8hrs, 221 (28%) patients. Of the eligible patients, 82% (n=641) actually did have a CT head scan of which 17% (n=111) had a significant head injury-related finding. Adherence in the time to CT was achieved for 16% within 1hr and 90% within 8hrs (Mean 285 and 243 minutes respectively). Neurosurgery was performed in 14 (1.8%) patients and 27 (3.5%) patients died of a head injury-related death. Of those patients that did not fulfil the NICE 2007 criteria (n=2755), 54% (n=1473) had CT imaging on average 431 minutes after ED attendance. A significant CT finding was found in 5.9% (n=87) patients, neurosurgery performed in 5 (0.2%) patients and 15 (0.5%) patients died of a head injury-related death. Applying the updated NICE 2014 advice which states all anticoagulated patients should receive CT imaging, found only 60% (n=2114) of this cohort received it. Conclusion The majority of patients that fulfilled the NICE 2007 criteria did have CT imaging performed (82%). However, a significant number of patients not fulfilling the criteria also had CT imagining performed. Overall, 60% of the anticoagulated patient cohort had CT imaging, this will need to increase considerably to follow the updated NICE 2014 guidelines of CT imaging for all patients.


For the first time in PISA, the Finnish students with an immigrant background were oversampled in 2012. This makes the data more representative and increases the precision of statistical analyses. In this article 691 first-generation and 603 second-generation students with an immigrant background are studied closer as a group. We examine the level of students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and its relation to the educational outcome in PISA 2012 from the perspective of students' linguistic background. According to the results, there are statistically significant differences in students' motivation level in different language groups. All of the non-native language groups represented in PISA 2012 had a higher level of motivation compared to native language groups. Secondly, the results reveal that the correlation between motivation and educational outcome within different language groups is not straightforward. Finally, we discuss some implications concerning the role of motivation and native languages of the student with migrant background in learning and how learning could be supported by taking these factors into consideration when teaching in multicultural and multilingual settings.


INTRODUCTION
The aim of the study was to estimate the influence of a thyroid remnants' volume, postsurgical concentration of thyroglobulin and radioiodine dose on the early treatment efficacy of well differentiated thyroid cancer.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed 91 patients (76 females, 15 men) with well differentiated thyroid cancer.

RESULTS
Histological classification revealed 68.1% (62/91) papillary thyroid cancers, 25.3% (23/91) follicular thyroid cancers, and 6.6% (6/91) oxyphilic thyroid cancers. Among the group, 74 (81.3%) patients reached the remission criteria and the remaining 17 patients (18.7%) showed biochemical and morphological evidence of metastatic disease. The remission was obtained in 100% of patients in stage I of the disease, 68.4% - in stage II, 78.6% - in stage III and 33.3% in stage IV. The total radioiodine dose used in patients with remission, did not differ from the dose used in patients without remission. We did not observe the influence of remnant's volume on treatment efficacy, however larger remants required higher dose of radioiodine to obtain the remission. Patients with remission had lower postsurgical thyroglobulin concentration than patients without remission. (22.2 vs. 103.3 ng/ml; p = 0.00025).

CONCLUSIONS
Early treatment results of well differentiated thyroid cancer depend on the clinical stage, and postoperative serum thyroglobulin level measured after endogenous TSH stimulation. Early treatment results are not dependent on age, sex, histological type of thyroid cancer, the dose of radioiodine used in brackets of 60-150 mCi and additional diseases. Total thyroidectomy is equally efficient as near total.


Upward spiralling health care expenditures have triggered the need to assess the cost-effectiveness of medical interventions. Specifically, interventions in primary and secondary prevention represent an important field of research. A resource utilization analysis was performed on the basis of the recently published Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study. It could be shown that treatment with simvastatin compared to placebo leads to a reduction in patient costs of CHF 8.4 million. This represents a reduction of CHF 3770.- per patient. The effective daily treatment costs can thus be calculated at CHF 1.11, which is equivalent to 36% of the actual acquisition cost per day. These results support the notion that secondary coronary prevention is not only justified from a clinical but also from an economic point of view.


Synthetic Biology is an interdisciplinary research field seeking to correct faulty cellular processes or implement predictable de-novo tasks by engineering biological systems. In this perspective, the potential of developing biosynthetic devices of industrial and medical relevance is hindered by the requirement of accounting for, controlling and finally exploiting the randomness of biochemical events through which biological complexity is implemented.
In this thesis mathematical modelling and experimental acquisitions of basic synthetic circuits are adopted to guide the selection of gene expression control mechanisms and network topologies in the design of synthetic devices able to reliably operate in the stochastic cellular context.
To this end, a noise tester circuits' catalogue, intended as a tool for quantitatively investigating the robustness of newly designed synthetic devices, is implemented. Two synthetic gene circuits, exerting either a transcriptional or post-transcriptional control in the expression of a fluorescent reporter, are selected from the circuits' library for detailed characterization. Based on bulk measurements, deterministic models are defined to identify the kinetic rates of biochemical reactions governing the circuits' function. The inherently derived stochastic models are further used in numerical computations of plasmid copy number effect on gene expression stochasticity.
Subsequently, flow cytometry analysis is used to quantify the steady-state dispersion in protein levels within an isogenic population of transformants. An intriguing feature of the stochastic models describing the observed variance in protein levels is the necessity of including extrinsic components (e.g. cell division events). Numerical analysis identified post-transcriptional control as the best candidate for noise minimization.
Finally, we report the results of research undertaken during a period staying at the "Centre for Synthetic and System Biology" of the University of Edinburgh, where the phenotypic consequences of a long-non coding RNA on the transcriptional activation of GAL1-10 promoter in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae are investigated using fluorescence microscopy and microfluidics.


The aim of green innovative design is to improve environment efficient by function innovation. In order to help designer to generate new product ideas giving attention to customer needs and environment demands, a green innovative design framework based on function analysis is proposed. This framework integrates green design rules and environment factors into the process of function innovation. By analyzing and resolving the functions that will bring environment loads, the new product ideas with low environment impact and energy consumption are obtained. A case study is also presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design framework.


Family firms represent the most prevalent form of business in both Canada and the United States. It is estimated that over 90% of all business in North America are family-owned and operated. Due to their importance, several issues have been the subject of research including succession and conflict. However, little research has been conducted on corporate strategy in family firms. The objective of this thesis, is to examine the critical factors that shape the strategic decision in family firms. The Seagram Company Limited and the Bronfman Family are the focus of the present research. The case study approach was chosen because it allows for the gathering of rich, detailed data from a variety of sources to help explain areas of research which have been neglected. The discussion section reveals two critical issues that affect the strategic decision making in The Seagram Company Limited by the Bronfman Family. Finally, based on the results, the present research seems to suggest a number of factors contributing to success and survival of family firms, we can enhance the quality of decisions and improve the low survival rates.


The robust-generalized iterative approach (Robust-GIA), robust-fast iterative approach (Robust-FIA), and robust-decoder covariance optimization approach (Robust-DCOA) are proposed for designing MMSE transceivers of downlink multicell multiuser MIMO systems with per-cell and per-antenna power constraints and possibly imperfect channel state information. The Robust-DCOA is the most restrictive but is always optimum, the Robust-GIA is the most general, and the Robust-FIA is the most efficient. When the Robust-DCOA is applicable and the decoder covariance matrices are full rank, the three proposed approaches are equivalent and all provide the optimum solution. Numerical results show that the proposed robust approaches outperform their non-robust counterparts in various single-cell and multicell examples with different system configurations, channel correlations, power constraints, and cooperation scenarios. Moreover, performances of the robust approaches are insensitive to estimation errors of channel statistics (correlations and path loss). With cell-cooperation, cell edge interference problems can be remedied without reducing the number of data streams by using the proposed robust approaches.


The rise in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, increasing integration across countries and sectors, and the steady but volatile growth of emerging markets have increased investor awareness of the many investment opportunities outside their home markets. This heightened interest in global investing has fostered several product introductions that offer investors exposure to international benchmarks. To many investors, there appears to be a bewildering array of index choices available and an equally arcane set of vehicles through which exposure can be obtained. However, on closer observation, one set of instruments stands out as offering investors diverse and flexible options to invest in international equity markets. They are exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The iShares MSCI is a series of ETFs that was originally launched in 1996 as a set of 17 single-country portfolios under the World Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS) brand. Managed by Barclays Global Fund Advisors (BGFA), WEBS broke ground not only by offering US investors international exposure, but also as the premier of ETFs based upon 940 Act portfolios. Renamed iShares in May 2000, the BGFA-managed line of U.S. ETFs now numbers 68. More than a third of the iShares portfolios (25) presently track MSCI and S&P international and global indexes. MSCI benchmarks9 market representation is now being broadened as well as being adjusted to reflect free-floating shares. And, as investors might expect, BGFA has moved to adjust the iShares MSCI portfolios accordingly. This article presents the case for international investing and discusses the choice between active and index vehicles for implementation, followed by a study of the many features and benefits of exchange-traded funds.


A method is presented to obtain droplet concentration for water clouds from ground-based remote sensing observations. It relies on observations of cloud thickness, liquid water path, and optical extinction near the cloud base. The method was tested for two case studies (19 April 1996 and 4 September 1996) during the Clouds And Radiation experiment (CLARA). The CLARA experiment was designed to observe clouds using a variety of remote sensing instruments near the city of Delft in the western part of the Netherlands. The measurement of cloud thickness is dependent on the detection of cloud base by lidar and cloud top by radar. It is shown that during CLARA it was possible to detect cloud base with an uncertainty of less than 30 m using current lidar techniques. The agreement between in situ and remote sensing observations of droplet concentration was reasonable. An error analysis indicates that this method is most sensitive to uncertainties in liquid water path and the unknown effects of multiple scattering on lidar signal returns. When the liquid water path is very small the relative error of the liquid water path increases to unacceptable levels, so that the retrieval of droplet concentration becomes very difficult. The estimated uncertainty in the strength of multiple scattering can explain differences between observations and retrievals of droplet concentration on one day, but not the other.


We compute the capacity of mobile ad hoc networks(MANETs) when all the nodes in the network are endowed with M antennas. The derivation is based on a new communication scheme for wireless ad hoc networks utilizing the concept of cooperative many-to-many communication, called opportunistic cooperation, as opposed to the traditional approach that emphasizes on one-to-one communication. We demonstrate that the capacity of MANETs with multiple antennas is improved using cooperation as compared to non-cooperative schemes, i.e., point-to-point communication. Monte-Carlo simulation is used to validate the results.


The Maphumulo Uprising: War, Law and Ritual in the Zulu Rebellion. By Jeff Guy. Scottsville, South Africa: University of KwaZuluNatal Press, 2005. Distributed by International Specialized Book Services, Portland, Oreg. Pp. xii, 276. $34.95 paper. This book examines the last part of what is popularly called the Bambatha Rebellion that occurred in the British territories of Natal and Zululand during 1906. Since Bambatha, a Zulu chief and rebel leader, had almost nothing to do with the events discussed in this book, it becomes apparent that the term Zulu Rebellion is more appropriate. Professor Guy begins by looking at the haunting image of an emaciated Mbombo kaSibindi Nxumalo, a traditional healer who performed a purification ritual on the Qwabe community in Natal just before the outbreak of violence, was later arrested by colonial forces and died after being released on bail. Qwabe desire for purification originated from anxiety over the impact of colonial rule including the greater prevalence of disease brought by the new railway, increased rent and evictions by white settlers who controlled much of the best land, and the announcement that Africans would have to pay a new tax, a poll tax on individuals, on top of many other existing taxes. In fact, as other historians have pointed out, the new poll tax was the main cause of the overall rebellion as it diminished the power of older male homestead heads who usually collected money from their young men to pay hut tax. Those young men now had to assume more control over their individual resources in order to pay the poll tax and most complained that they did not have enough money to do so. Guy concentrates on two prominent and distinguished Zulu chiefs, Meseni kaMusi and Ndlovu kaThimuni, who became the main rebel leaders in the Lower Thukela and Maphumulo areas of Natal. One of the main contentions of the book is that Natal, unlike Zululand, had never been formally subjugated by colonial forces. Since the mid-nineteenth century, chiefs had ruled their people in a sort of partnership, albeit an unequal one, with colonial agents. With the colonial regime becoming more arbitrary and oppressive, Meseni and Ndlovu felt that the principles of good government upon which they had depended were being caste aside. On the other hand, the colonial authorities and settlers saw opposition to the new tax as an opportunity to violently crush the last remnants of African independence in the territory. Guy presents a clear case that the actions of colonial forces in 1906 was not just the suppression of a rebellion but a decisive act of conquest that had not been possible when the colony was first established. African Christians became involved in the violence as they also objected to the colonial regime's aggressive approach and were seen as troublemakers by white officials. The place of Meseni and Ndlovu in Zulu society and history, their different circumstances during the rebellion, and the decisions they made when faced with the wrath of their people over the poll tax are discussed in detail. Geography is also incorporated into the analysis, as Ndlovu was able to choose the rebel path more easily because the forest near his home offered sanctuary while Meseni, whose people lived in open ground and were therefore more vulnerable to European firepower, was forced into revolt by the general colonial violence that swept through the colony. …


Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the effects walking program with dance on gait, cognition, and risk of falls of elderly with dementia in a long-term care hospital. Methods: Subjects consisted of 42 elderly with dementia in a long-term care hospital (21 elderly with dementia in an experimental group and 21 elders with dementia in a control group). Data were collected from March 14 to April 30, 2016. Subjects in the experimental group performed walking program with dance (three times a week, 30-50 minutes session, 18 sessions). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test, paired t-test, repeated measures ANOVA with the SPSS/WIN 21.0. Results: The participants in the experimental group showed significantly increased scores of cadence (F= 8.36, p = .007) and improved scores of cognition (F= 9.95, p = .003) compared the control group. Conclusion: The findings indicate walking program with dance is recommend a regular exercise program to enhance the cadence associated with walking speed and cognitive function elderly.


Traditionally, recommendation systems are built on the assumption that each service provider has full access to all user data generated on its platform. However, with increasing data privacy concerns and personal data protection regulation, service providers such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook are enabling their users to revisit, erase, and rectify their historical profiles. Future recommendation systems need to be robust to such profile modifications and user-controlled data filtering. In this paper, we explore how recommendation performance may be affected by time-sensitive user data filtering, that is, users choosing to share only recent "N days" of data. Using the MovieLens dataset as a testbed, we evaluated three widely used collaborative filtering algorithms. Our experiments demonstrate that filtering out historical user data does not significantly affect the overall recommendation performance, but its impact on individual users may vary. These findings challenge the common belief that more data is essential to better performance, and suggest a potential win-win solution for services and end users.


A cell preparation, useful for studying the regulation of metabolism, was developed by making monolayer baby hamster kidney cells permeable. Hypertonically treated cells were permeable to nucleotides, but retained their gross cellular morphology, intact organelles, 100% of their DNA, and 91 % of their total protein. The permeable cell synthesized DNA, RNA, and protein rapidly when supplied with the appropriate substrates and cofactors. They either could remain permeable or were able to "reseal" when replaced in complete medium under appropriate conditions. Optimal conditions for DNA synthesis were established for permeable cells, giving rates equal to those of intact cells. Replication rather than repair was shown by the cell-cycle dependence of DNA synthesis and its discontinuous nature. Ribonucleotide reductase was active in permeable cells, permitting equal rates of DNA synthesis when ribonucleotide diphosphates or deox ribonucleotide triphos-phates were provided. Hydroxyurea Jid not inhibit DNA syn- thesis in permeable cells supplied with deoxyribonucleotide di-or triphosphates, but drastically inhibited DNA synthesis when ribonucleotide diphosphates were supplied. Hydroxyurea is therefore priarf an inhibitor of ribonucleotide reductase. Permeability was reversed, exposing permeable cells to [3ll1thymidine triphosphate, which was incorporated, which labeled nuclei of cells that went on to mitosis. The reversible permeability procedure should prove especially useful in studying the functions of


BACKGROUND
Long-term opioid use has negative health care consequences. Opioid-naïve adults are at risk for prolonged and persistent opioid use after surgery. While these outcomes have been examined in some adolescent and teenage populations, little is known about the risk of prolonged and persistent postoperative opioid use after common surgeries compared to children who do not undergo surgery and factors associated with these issues among pediatric surgical patients of all ages.

METHODS
Using a national administrative claims database, we identified 175,878 surgical visits by opioid-naïve children aged ≤18 years who underwent ≥1 of the 20 most common surgeries from each of 4 age groups between December 31, 2002, and December 30, 2017, and who filled a perioperative opioid prescription 30 days before to 14 days after surgery. Prolonged opioid use after surgery (filling ≥1 opioid prescription 90-180 days after surgery) was compared to a reference sample of 1,354,909 nonsurgical patients randomly assigned a false "surgery" date. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of surgical procedures and 22 other variables of interest with prolonged opioid use and persistent postoperative opioid use (filling ≥60 days' supply of opioids 90-365 days after surgery) for each age group.

RESULTS
Prolonged opioid use after surgery occurred in 0.77%, 0.76%, 1.00%, and 3.80% of surgical patients ages 0-<2, 2-<6, 6-<12, and 12-18, respectively. It was significantly more common in surgical patients than in nonsurgical patients (ages 0-<2: odds ratio [OR] = 4.6 [95% confidence interval (CI), 3.7-5.6]; ages 2-<6: OR = 2.5 [95% CI, 2.1-2.8]; ages 6-<12: OR = 2.1 [95% CI, 1.9-2.4]; and ages 12-18: OR = 1.8 [95% CI, 1.7-1.9]). In the multivariable models for ages 0-<12 years, few surgical procedures and none of the other variables of interest were associated with prolonged opioid use. In the models for ages 12-18 years, 10 surgical procedures and 5 other variables of interest were associated with prolonged opioid use. Persistent postoperative opioid use occurred in <0.1% of patients in all age groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Some patient characteristics and surgeries are positively and negatively associated with prolonged opioid use in opioid-naïve children of all ages, but persistent opioid use is rare. Specific pediatric subpopulations (eg, older patients with a history of mood/personality disorder or chronic pain) may be at markedly higher risk.


A test of the null hypothesis that a hazard rate is monotone nondecreasing, versus the alternative that it is not, is proposed. Both the test statistic and the means of calibrating it are new. Unlike previous approaches, neither is based on the assumption that the null distribution is exponential. Instead, empirical information is used to effectively identify and eliminate from further consideration parts of the line where the hazard rate is clearly increasing; and to confine subsequent attention only to those parts that remain. This produces a test with greater apparent power, without the excessive conservatism of exponential-based tests. Our approach to calibration borrows from ideas used in certain tests for unimodality of a density, in that a bandwidth is increased until a distribution with the desired properties is obtained. However, the test statistic does not involve any smoothing, and is, in fact, based directly on an assessment of convexity of the distribution function, using the conventional empirical distribution. The test is shown to have optimal power properties in difficult cases, where it is called upon to detect a small departure, in the form of a bump, from monotonicity. More general theoretical properties of the test and its numerical performance are explored.


The role of magnetoelastic coupling in the mechanism of magnetically induced reorientation or redistribution (MIR) of twin variants is still a matter of some controversy. To evaluate this role ordinary magnetostriction of different Ni-Mn-Ga single crystals transforming to 5M (exhibiting MIR) and NM (no MIR) martensite were measured. The magnetostriction of Ni-Mn-Ga austenite is relatively low and steeply increases when approaching to martensite transformation. This is correlated to the softening of elastic modulus. Observed high field contribution of opposite sign may be due to the dependence of higher order elastic constant on magnetic field. The magnetostriction of martensite is difficult to determine as it is masked by much stronger MIR effect and indirect method must be used. The results are discussed in the frame of magnetoelastic model for MIR and compared with magnetic energy model.


We performed a combination of experiments and mechanical simulations to assess the importance of cell geometry and wall structure in tissue and cell mechanics. Osmotic treatments combined with live imaging were used to quantify deformations at the tissue, cellular, and subcellular levels. We used the adaxial epidermis of onion scale as a model system. We found that the osmotically induced surface strain in onion is small because outer periclinal walls are thick and stiff, requiring bending stiffness to be considered in our mechanical models. As expected, the mechanical behaviors of the tissue and its component cells are related. Upon changes in internal pressure, cells embedded in the tissue undergo deformation that is different from isolated cells, while the tissue undergoes a somewhat counterintuitive deformation, e.g., shrinking upon pressurization, that depends on cell geometry. At the subcellular level, the amount of deformation and its anisotropy vary within the walls of individual cells, and are affected by the cell shape and vicinity of three-way wall junctions. When the turgor pressure is lost, the protoplast-facing wall surface wrinkles due to buckling, with the pattern of wrinkles depending on the strain anisotropy and the local wall geometry.


Today, as we approach the end of the second Bush administration, with a new administration in the offing next January, and as the 'credit crunch' further undermines what has been the world's sole hyper-power for the past two decades, there is a general view that, somehow, the 'War on Terror' is also coming to an end and that a new dispensation will inform our policies towards the Middle East and North Africa. I am not convinced that this is so, at least in terms of the foreign policy platforms of the candidates for presidential office. Indeed, I even wonder if such a dispensation is possible or conceivable in the intellectual and policy planning environment that has been created since September 11, 2001, if not long before. And, even if it were possible, I wonder how the West – Europe and the United States – could meaningfully engage with the Arab World, Iran and Afghanistan in ways that would counter the negative and damaging initiatives undertaken as part of the 'War on Terror' over the last eight years. After all, to adopt new policies would mean understanding where the failures lie in the past and that, in part, depends on being able to articulate what they were


HORI, IK., SUZUKI, M., TANDA, S., SAITO, S., ZHANG, Q.-H. and SHINOzAKI, M. Mechanisms for Appearance of No-Flow Areas in Tumor Microvascular Bed. Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1992, 168 (2), 441-443 In order to elucidate the mechanism for appearance of no-flow areas (areas where tumor blood flow temporarily cease), we directly observed the process of tumor-induced neovascularization and measured pressure change in a feeding vessel (starting vessel) which supplies blood to the tumor vascular network. Total length of tumor vascular network from one starting vessel increased exponentially as the tumor increased in size exponentially. The pressure of the starting vessel increased from approximately 40 cmH2 0 to 120 cmH2 0 with enlargement of the tumor size. As soon as the pressure of the starting vessel reached a plateau, however, there was a rapid increase in low-flow or no-flow areas in places within the tumor. We considered that no-flow areas were produced by the imbalance between the pressure elevation of a starting vessel and the enlargement of the vascular network from that vessel. tumor vessel ; no-flow area ; starting vessel


The ratio of males to females with ASD is generally quoted as 4:1 though it is believed that there are biases preventing females being diagnosed and that the true ratio is lower. These biases have not been clearly identified or quantified. Starting with a clinical dataset of 1711 children <18 years old four different methods were employed in an inductive study to identify and quantify the biases and calculate the proportion of females missed. A mathematical model was constructed to compare the findings with current published data. The true male to female ratio appears to be 3:4. Eighty per cent of females remain undiagnosed at age 18 which has serious consequences for the mental health of young women.


With the development of a new and ever expanding wireless applications and services, spectrum resources are facing in demands. In present scenario, the spectrum allotment has been done by providing each new service with its own fixed frequency Slot. Most of the user's spectrum is already assigned, so it becomes very difficult to find spectrum for other users or existing users. This leads to the scarcity of available spectrum and inefficient channel utilization. Cognitive radio is a novel technology which improves the spectrum utilization by allowing secondary user to borrow unused radio spectrum from primary licensed users or to share the spectrum with the primary users. Present paper deals with the spectrum sensing in which multiple users detect the spectrum gap through energy detection and investigate the detection performance in an efficient and implementable way. Simulation results showed that the probability of detection is achieved at small value SNR in case of OFDM modulation as compare the other and simple cognitive environment.


Despite the significant progress in automatic speech recognition (ASR), distant ASR remains challenging due to noise and reverberation. A common approach to mitigate this issue consists of equipping the recording devices with multiple microphones that capture the acoustic scene from different perspectives. These multi-channel audio recordings contain specific internal relations between each signal. In this paper, we propose to capture these inter- and intra- structural dependencies with quaternion neural networks, which can jointly process multiple signals as whole quaternion entities. The quaternion algebra replaces the standard dot product with the Hamilton one, thus offering a simple and elegant way to model dependencies between elements. The quaternion layers are then coupled with a recurrent neural network, which can learn long-term dependencies in the time domain. We show that a quaternion long-short term memory neural network (QLSTM), trained on the concatenated multi-channel speech signals, outperforms equivalent real-valued LSTM on two different tasks of multi-channel distant speech recognition.


Author(s): Serrano, Fernando | Advisor(s): Terraciano, Kevin B | Abstract: This dissertation examines the participation of indigenous workers in the colonial mining industry of the Guanajuato-Michoacan region and the impact that this industry had on those workers and their communities of origin. In the present-day states of Guanajuato and Michoacan, Mexico, there existed a vibrant and lucrative mining economy throughout the colonial period (1521-1810). Michoacan's mining industry produced a steady supply of copper and silver, and Guanajuato is best known for its extremely wealthy silver mines, especially after the mid-eighteenth century, when it became the world's greatest producer of silver. The region's mining industry created a very competitive labor market in which mine owners used different strategies to recruit and retain a labor force. Although mine owners paid many workers for their labor, the industry also relied on coerced forms of labor, including slavery, encomienda, repartimiento, and debt peonage. Many scholars who have studied the economic significance of the mining industry in the region, and its impact on the world economy, have not adequately examined the composition of the labor force. Those who have studied the labor force have focused on particular mining centers, overlooking the regional context within which the mines operated. Miners competed with one another and with other industries for workers. This competition put considerable pressure on the region's indigenous communities to provide the bulk of the labor force. Also, labor demands led many people to migrate, altering the demographic composition of the region. Using a regional history approach and ethnohistorical methodologies, the dissertation examines the nature of the labor institutions that were utilized to recruit workers to the mines, and the impact of the mining industry on indigenous workers and their communities. Ultimately, this dissertation uses a variety of original sources to highlight the important role that indigenous men and women played in the mining industry of Guanajuato, and the persistence of an indigenous identity in this mining town. My findings contribute to the fields of labor history, ethnohistory, and mining history.


Testing of infants suspected of having necrotizing enterocolitis for evidence of exposure of the Thomsen-Friedenreich cryptantigen (TCA) has been advocated, because patients with TCA exposure can have severe hemolytic reactions when undergoing transfusion with plasma containing blood products. We compared 62 patients who were managed with knowledge of TCA exposure status during a four year period with 66 patients who were not screened during a comparable four year period. Evidence of hemolysis after blood transfusion occurred significantly more frequently in patients who were not screened (42 versus 15 percent, p < 0.05) and there was significantly greater mortality (18.0 versus 4.5 percent, p < 0.05) in the group that was not screened. These findings suggest that screening for TCA exposure is not only of diagnostic and prognostic value in necrotizing enterocolitis, but is important for patient management and outcome.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first identified on 8thDecember 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and has since spread globally to become an emergency of international concern. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 may be asymptomatic or present with symptoms ranging from mild clinical manifestations: such as fever, cough, and sore throat to moderate and severe form of the disease such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In some patients, SARS-CoV-2 can affect the heart and cause myocardial injury which is evidenced either by electrocardiographic (ECG) changes or by a rise in serum troponin level. Patients with myocardial involvement are generally at risk of developing severe illness and tend to have a poor outcome. We hereby present a case of a hypertensive male patient with undiagnosed, asymptomatic COVID-19, who underwent an emergency urologic procedure for ureteric calculi. He eventually sustained a postoperative myocardial injury resulting in his demise. This case highlights the importance of detailed preoperative assessment and anticipation of complications during this global pandemic.


This book presents techniques for valuing derivative securities at a level suitable for practitioners, students in doctoral programs in economics and finance, and those in masters-level programs in financial mathematics and computational finance. It provides the necessary mathematical tools from analysis, probability theory, the theory of stochastic processes, and stochastic calculus, making extensive use of examples. It also covers pricing theory, with emphasis on martingale methods. The chapters are organized around the assumptions made about the dynamics of underlying price processes. Readers begin with simple, discrete-time models that require little mathematical sophistication, proceed to the basic Black-Scholes theory, and then advance to continuous-time models with multiple risk sources. The second edition takes account of the major developments in the field since 2000. New topics include the use of simulation to price American-style derivatives, a new one-step approach to pricing options by inverting characteristic functions, and models that allow jumps in volatility and Markov-driven changes in regime. The new chapter on interest-rate derivatives includes extensive coverage of the LIBOR market model and an introduction to the modeling of credit risk. As a supplement to the text, the book contains an accompanying CD-ROM with user-friendly FORTRAN, C++, and VBA program components.


When used as secondary roof purlins, cold-formed steel (CFS) sections are often attached to trapezoidal sheets through self-drilling screws to form a complete roofing system. The load application points are often eccentric to the shear centre, and thus inevitably generate a torsional moment that will induce twisting and/or warping deformations in addition to bending deflection. The connections between purlin and roof sheeting provide a restraining effect on purlin members by preventing such lateral and twisting movements, and hence have a beneficial effect on the load-carrying capacity.

In this thesis the interactional behaviour of CFS purlin-sheeting system have been investigated through the following steps: (1) A F-test is carried out to measure the rotational stiffness at the connections, an engineering-orientated model is developed for quantifying the rotational stiffness regardless to purlin and sheet geometry and loading directions; (2) A set of loading tests on Z- and Σ- roof system are conducted to investigate the impact of rotational stiffness on the overall structural performance, load-carrying capacity and buckling behaviour of the system; (3) Finite element simulations of the existing tests are carried out and successfully validated; (4) Numerical parametric studies are established to study other factors that could affect the rotational stiffness.


This paper presents a discussion on the role of impulsive pressures induced by plunging breakers acting on gravel beaches. In previous works, this process has been hypothesized to play a major role in the observed sediment transport on these beaches. Thus, a diagnostic investigation is carried out here in order to elucidate, in more detail, the anatomy of the impulsive signature in the pressure signal. For this purpose, we employ an integrated approach, which comprises full scale laboratory measurements and their comparison against model results from a well-validated phase/depth resolving numerical model based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. Agreement between observations and model predictions allows us to investigate the contribution of each of the acceleration terms in the momentum balance under the wave-impact event by means of the numerical model. The discussion is presented in order to understand how impulsive pressures are generated under plunging waves and their role in sediment mobilisation. Consistent with prior studies, numerical results show that under plunging breakers the local acceleration (du/dt) alone cannot be used as a proxy for pressure gradients. In addition, the importance of the term w du/dz of total acceleration is recognised for first time. Results from this study suggest that for different types of breaking a different characterisation of the pressure gradient may be sought.


Although many studies have examined inconsistency of cognitive performance, few have examined how inconsistency changes over time. 91 older adults (age 52 to 79) were tested weekly for 36 consecutive weeks on a series of multitrial memory speed (i.e., letter recognition) tasks. A number of multivariate techniques were used to examine how individuals' level of inconsistency changed across weeks and how this change was related to interindividual differences in age and intelligence. Results indicated that (a) inconsistency of performance is a construct separate from the underlying performance ability (i.e., memory speed); (b) inconsistency reduces exponentially with practice; (c) individuals with higher scores on tests of fluid general intelligence (G-sub(f)) reached lower asymptotic levels of inconsistency compared to lower scorers; and (d) after controlling for the systematic effects of practice, variability in inconsistency from week-to-week was more pronounced for individuals with lower G-sub(f) scores compared to individuals with higher scores.


Background The left hemisphere of the human brain is dominant in the production of speech and signed language. Whether similar lateralization of function for communicative signal production is present in other primates remains a topic of considerable debate. In the current study, we examined whether oro-facial movements associated with the production of learned attention-getting sounds are differentially lateralized compared to facial expressions associated with the production of species-typical emotional vocalizations in chimpanzees. Methodology/ Principal Findings Still images captured from digital video were used to quantify oro-facial asymmetries in the production of two attention-getting sounds and two species-typical vocalizations in a sample of captive chimpanzees. Comparisons of mouth asymmetries during production of these sounds revealed significant rightward biased asymmetries for the attention-getting sounds and significant leftward biased asymmetries for the species-typical sounds. Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that the motor control of oro-facial movements associated with the production of learned sounds is lateralized to the left hemisphere in chimpanzees. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the antecedents for lateralization of human speech may have been present in the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans ∼5 mya and are not unique to the human lineage.