After weeks of intense speculation, the question of who will fill the new EU positions of European Council President and High Representative for EU foreign policy has now been answered: Herman Van Rompuy will take office as European Council President on 1 January 2010; and Catherine Ashton will be appointed the EU's foreign affairs chief on 1 December 2009. The question of precisely what powers these two individuals will exercise under the new Treaty of Lisbon, however, remains largely unanswered, as it is not yet clear how they will perform as individuals and in tandem. In this Policy Brief drafted in the days immediately following the selection of these two leaders, CEPS researchers Piotr Maciej Kaczynski & Peadar o Broin, attempt to give at least a general indication of the two leaders' powers, based on the provisions in the Treaties.


Cytokines are important mediators in the intestine regulating both oral tolerance and mucosal inflammation. Central to this immune-regulatory role is the cytokine transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Oral tolerance and inflammatory responses in the gut are regulated through the balance of the Th1, Th2, and Th3 lymphocyte responses--a balance influenced strongly by TGF-beta. TGF-beta also modulates B-cell responses by increasing the production of immunoglobulin A (IgA) while decreasing the production of IgG, IgM, and IgE. In intestinal epithelial cells, TGF-beta activates signal transduction pathways resulting in the inhibition of proliferation and tumorigenesis. Currently, these signaling pathways are being dissected at the molecular level.


As older adults increasingly make use of the Internet to enhance their personal and professional lives, the study of web site usability for older adults is becoming increasingly relevant. Web site usability is concerned with both utilitarian (i.e. functional) and hedonic (i.e. pleasure-related) aspects. This study explores the impact of age on select utilitarian (mental model accuracy and performance) and hedonic (disorientation and engagement) measures of web site usability, and the subsequent impact of these utilitarian and hedonic measures on user satisfaction. A laboratory experiment was conducted where 50 younger and 51 older participants interacted with an experimental web site. The results of the PLS analysis suggest that age has a more pronounced impact on utilitarian constructs than hedonic ones. Specifically, older adults were less able to create an accurate mental model of the web site and in turn had poorer performance with the web site. In terms of impact on user satisfaction, the contribution of hedonic constructs was significant while the impact of utilitarian constructs was not.


Purpose: The starting point of this study is the heterogeneously dispersed knowledge on the business model innovation (BMI) process. To accelerate the development of this topic in research and practice, the study ex- plores insights concerning the BMI process to enhance our understanding about this phenomenon and to present a helpful guidance for researchers and practitioners.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Given the study design (systematic review), we conducted a literature- based investigation to identify important insights on the BMI process in the literature and derive a generic BMI process from the findings.

Findings: Our findings underline the heterogeneous structure of BMI process knowledge in the literature. Furthermore, we could detect several content-related and scope-related differences between existing BMI processes and derive seven generic BMI process steps: Analysis, Ideation, Feasibility, Prototyping, Decision- making, Implementation, and Sustainability.

Practical Implications: The literature review provides researchers and practitioners with a clear guidance on the BMI process literature and the seven generic BMI process phases serve as a blueprint for BMI initiatives in research and management.

Research Limitations: Given the amount of academic journals, it is unlikely that every applicable scientific publication is included.

Originality/Value: The study's main contribution lies in the unifying approach of the dispersed knowledge on the BMI process. Since our understanding of the BMI process is still limited, this study should provide further insights that support the development of the concept and guide its practical application.


Direct urea fuel cells (DUFCs) are considered as promising green energy devices for sustainable energy generation from human waste; however, the lack of efficient urea oxidation reaction electrocatalysts remains a formidable challenge for their practical utility. Herein, we report a flexible, binder-free electrode with a 3-dimensional (3D) hierarchical nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4) architecture on carbon cloth (CC) fibers for high-performance DUFCs. Benefitting from its unique catalytic nanoarchitecture and direct growth on carbon fibers, NiCo2O4/CC-12 demonstrates maximum DUFC power density and durability of 38 mW cm−2 and 180 h, respectively, which significantly outperform DUFC efficiencies reported previously for other catalysts. The influence of dimension, morphology, and chemical structure of the prepared catalysts towards DUFC performance is detailed. Furthermore, considerable improvement in DUFC performance along with enhanced durability is also achieved for NiCo2O4/CC-12 with human urine, offering a novel technological platform for the conversion of human waste into sustainable energy.


Total DNA extraction is the key stage allowing the implementation of various downstream applications in molecular ecology. The widespread application of downstream technologies has led to an increasing demand for highly pure biomolecules. Manual methods and proprietary extraction kits used for the purification of nucleic acids can be laborious and time‐consuming. The breadth of sample types encountered and the increasing number of samples processed result in seeking new ways to enhance sample preparation efficiency and reliability. Representativeness, sensitivity and reproducibility are essential requirements for such an extraction technique that should be applied in a high throughput mode.


The Bacillus subtilis gnt operon is negatively regulated by GntR, which is antagonized by gluconate. Three GntR mutants with diminished gluconate-binding ability were obtained. Two were missense mutants (Met-209 to Ile and Ser-230 to Leu), whereas the third had a deletion of the C-terminal 23 amino acids. The mutant GntR proteins were unable to become properly detached from the gnt operator even in the presence of gluconate.


ya||a is yet another parallel agent-based model for morphogenesis. It is several orders of magnitude faster than onventional models, because it runs on GPUs and because it has been designed for performance: Previously only complex and therefore computationally expensive models could simulate both mesenchyme and epithelium. We chose o extend the simple spheroid model by the addition of spin-like polarities to simulate epithelial sheets and tissue polarity. We also incorporate recently developed models for protrusions and migration. ya||a is written in concise, plain UDA/C++ and available at github.com/germannp/yalla under the MIT license.


Detailed evidence of how the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation behaved after the last ice age. Global climatic and oceanic conditions underwent fundamental transformations after the last ice age ended about 19,000 years ago. In the North Atlantic, for example, the deglaciation was marked by major changes in the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC), which carries warm and highly saline surface water north to cooler regions, where it sinks and creates "deep water" that eventually cycles back to the surface. This process plays a substantial role in regulating climate and levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), and understanding how it operated in the past is important to understanding how it may influence climate in the future. On page 202 of this issue, Thornalley et al. (1) provide impressive and detailed evidence of how the North Atlantic MOC behaved after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), between 19,000 and 10,000 years ago. In particular, they show that the MOC experienced a series of abrupt changes that lasted from decades to centuries, and that some of the water masses involved were far older—and may have stored and released more carbon—than once believed.


Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) has been monitoring atmospheric column carbon dioxide (XCO2) and methane (XCH4) concentrations from space since its launch in January 2009. The primary goal of GOSAT project is to successfully estimate global carbon budget on subcontinental scales using spatiotemporal distribution of XCO2 and XCH4. GOSAT observations have provided the basis for assessments of the values of space-based measurements of CO2 and CH4 concentrations. This work summarizes the benefit of GOSAT observations for the study of global carbon cycle based on previous studies using GOSAT data, together with limitations in data coverage and density. Then we discuss scientific issues that should be addressed in future missions of greenhouse gases satellites observations.


Numerical simulations were performed to investigate the bifurcation in swirling flow between two coaxial vertical cylinders produced by the thermal gradient. The suppressed effects of an axial magnetic field on both vortex breakdown and fluid layers are analyzed. The governing Navier-Stokes, temperature, and potential equations are solved by using the finite-volume method. A conducting fluid is placed in the gap between two coaxial cylinders characterized by a small Prandtl number (Pr = 0.032). Three annular gaps were R = 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 compared in terms of flow stability, and heat transfer rates. The combination of aspect ratio =1.5 and Reynolds number, Re=1500 is the detailed case in this study. In the hydrodynamic case, vortex breakdown takes place near the inner cylinder due to the increased pumping action of the Ekman boundary layer. In addition, the competition between buoyancy and viscous forces develops a fluid layered structure. It is shown that the onset of the oscillatory instability set in by increasing Reynolds number to the critical value. The results show that with an intensified magnetic field, the vortex breakdown disappears, the number of fluid layers will be reduced and the onset of the oscillatory instability will be retarded. Stability diagrams corresponding to the limits of transition from the multiple fluid layers to the one fluid layer are obtained.


Previous research on the effects of celebrity endorsement has focused on the transfer of positive properties (likeableness, credibility, symbolic meanings, etc.) from the endorser to the product. Taking a different perspective, this study suggests that the way in which consumers evaluate an endorser (i.e., the cognitive process, such as applying family origin or achievement as the basis for evaluation) will carry over to the evaluation of the endorsed product (e.g., applying country of origin or performance as the criteria). Five experiments support this process-transfer account and show that it can be induced by subtle verbal/visual cues in advertisements. Because the process transfer is not inherently associated with positive/negative valence, it provides a theoretical rationale for explaining successful endorsements involving endorsers who are less favorable/credible, less of a "fit" with the product, or associated with some negative meanings, in addition to those involving positively or neutrally evaluated endorsers. The process-transfer model supplements existing models and provides a more comprehensive understanding of endorser effects. It provides marketers with a set of less stringent guidelines for selecting endorsers as well as valuable damage control tools for brands when an endorser screws up.


Query answering over big data is cost-prohibitive. A linear scan of a dataset D may take days with a solid state device if D is of PB size and years if D is of EB size. In other words, polynomial-time (PTIME) algorithms for query evaluation are already not feasible on big data. To tackle this, we propose querying big data with bounded data access, such that the cost of query evaluation is independent of the scale of D. First of all, we propose a class of boundedly evaluable queries. A query Q is boundedly evaluable under a set A of access constraints if for any dataset D that satisfies constraints in A , there exists a subset DQ ⊆ D such that (a) Q(DQ) = Q(D), and (b) the time for identifying DQ from D, and hence the size |DQ| of DQ, are independent of |D|. That is, we can compute Q(D) by accessing a bounded amount of data no matter how big D grows. We study the problem of deciding whether a query is boundedly evaluable under A . It is known that the problem is undecidable for FO without access constraints. We show that, in the presence of access constraints, it is decidable in 2EXPSPACE for positive fragments of FO queries, but is already EXPSPACE-hard even for CQ. To handle the undecidability and high complexity of the analysis, we develop effective syntax for boundedly evaluable queries under A , referred to as queries covered by A , such that, (a) any boundedly evaluable query under A is equivalent to a query covered by A , (b) each covered query is boundedly evaluable, and (c) it is efficient to decide whether Q is covered by A . On top of DBMS, we develop practical algorithms for checking whether queries are covered by A , and generating bounded plans if so. For queries that are not boundedly evaluable, we extend bounded evaluability to resource-bounded approximation and bounded query rewriting using views. (1) Resource-bounded approximation is parameterized with a resource ratio α ∈ (0,1], such that for any query Q and dataset D, it computes approximate answers with an accuracy bound η by accessing at most α|D| tuples. It is based on extended access constraints and a new accuracy measure. (2) Bounded query rewriting tackles the problem by incorporating bounded evaluability with views, such that the queries can be exactly answered by accessing cached views and a bounded amount of data in D. We study the problem of deciding whether a query has a bounded rewriting, establish its complexity bounds, and develop effective syntax for FO queries with a bounded rewriting. Finally, we extend bounded evaluability to graph pattern queries, by extending access constraints to graph data. We characterize bounded evaluability for subgraph and simulation patterns and develop practical algorithms for associated problems.


This thesis aims to define and evaluate the role and design of digital information systems in museums. In order to do this, the study addresses the following topic areas:
the tasks of museums as institutions for the public, the conception of digital information systems and the interdependencies between content structure and graphic
design, illustrated by a practical example.
Experiences made by European museums in digital media projects have served as a starting point. The report investigates the role of digital media as information
mediators by looking at Human Computer Interaction and compares different models and structures used for computer-based information provision. In a second part, the thesis outlines the practical use of several theoretical aspects
mentioned by presenting the design and evaluation approach carried out during the conception of the medien.matrix, a digital visitor information system at the Vienna Museum of Technology.
The most significant results of the investigation can be summarized as follows:
Museums primarily have an educational task to fulfill. Virtual information spaces cannot replace real exhibitions but can rather complement them, the only exception being virtual (online) museums, which lack physical objects. A graphic design can only provide didactic support if the content basis is clearly structured.
The thesis concludes with some thoughts about the resources and factors which are vital for a future knowledge society.


Integrated provider networks are burgeoning. With acronyms like MSO, IPA, PHO, IPN, etc., integration can be confusing to the uninitiated. Gerald A. Niederman, J.D., of Faegre & Benson, and Bruce A. Johnson, J.D., M.P.A., of the MGMA Management Consulting Services, offer a primer on integrated provider networks.


Purpose Physical activity, sedentary behaviour (SB) and sleep have traditionally been studied as independent behaviours and not as co-dependent behaviours that are compositional in nature. This study used compositional data analyses to investigate the co-dependent relationships between time spent in movement behaviours (sleep, SB, light intensity physical activity (LIPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity MVPA)) and obesity among children. Methods 434 children aged 10-13 years were studied. Participants wore an Actical accelerometer for 7 days to determine time spent in SB, LIPA, and MVPA. Time spent sleeping was determined from the accelerometer and a log. The outcomes of interest were the body mass index, waist circumference, and fat mass index. Compositional data analysis was used to examine associations. This involved transforming the movement behaviours using an isometric log ratio transformation, using regression to model the associations, and back-transforming the regression coefficients to estimate how displacing time from one movement behaviour with another influenced the obesity measures. Results The composition of movement behaviours was associated with all three obesity measures (p<0.001). Relative to the other movement behaviours, time spent in MVPA was negatively associated with the obesity measures (p<0.01), time spent in LIPA was positively associated with the obesity measures (p<0.05), while time spent in SB and sleep were not associated with the obesity measures. The most meaningful time displacements were for MVPA, and these displacements were larger at lower MVPA levels. For example, reallocating 10 minutes of MVPA to 10 minutes of LIPA was associated with a 2.7% (95% CI: 2.4, 2.8), 2.0% (95% CI: 1.8, 2.1), and 1.5% (95% CI: 1.4,1.6) increase in BMI z-score at the 25, mean, and 75 MVPA percentiles, respectively. ii Conclusion The composition of movement behaviours across the day was associated with the obesity measures. The displacement of time from MVPA to LIPA were associated with the most significant changes in the obesity measures.


The use of biopharmaceuticals has increased significantly over the past two decades. Many original biological drugs were registered, that are mainly protein-based pruducts, produced by a biotechological method. Since biologics are heterogeneous mixtures of complex macromolecules, their characterization is an extremely complicated task. Their analysis is done by an array of chromatographic, electrophoretic and spectroscopic techniques. These methods are suitable for the study of the primary and higher order structure, stability, interactions and multimerization of proteins. Due to its sensitivity, selectivity and high throughput, mass spectrometry coupled to separation techniques is a widely used technique for the study of biological drugs to determine the molecular mass and amino acid sequence of the protein, the heterogeneity of the sample and its post-translational modifications. Additionally, mass spectrometry allows qualitative analysis of these products as well. In the present article, we review biological drugs, biosimilars and their methods for their analysis, with particular emphasis on the application of mass spectrometry.


Summary The histogram equalization (HE) method is widely used for image contrast enhancement. While it can enhance the overall contrast, the inherent dependence of its transformation function on the global content of the image limits its ability to enhance local details at the same time. Furthermore, using the method to reform the image histogram into a uniform one usually results in a significant change in the image brightness and saturation artifacts, specifically in low contrast images. One extension for HE is the local histogram equalization (LHE) method that processes the image on block-by-block basis and uses the transformation function of HE for that block to modify its center pixel. Although the LHE method can enhance image details, it often causes unacceptable and unnatural image modification due to noise amplification, especially in smooth regions. In this paper, we propose a new local enhancement method referred as Automatic Local Histogram Specification (ALHS). The ALHS method is applied locally such that for each pixel in the image a neighborhood/block of specific size is defined with that pixel being at the center of the block. Next, the ALHS method modifies the graylevel value of this central pixel by specifying an output histogram and applying the histogram matching algorithm. The core idea of the ALHS method is specifying the best output histogram for the block associated with each pixel. To specify the output histogram, a minimization problem for a functional with a constraint that preserves the mean brightness of that block is solved. The specified histogram in the ALHS method provides the maximum graylevel stretching and preserves the mean brightness of the block. This is reflected on the processed image by the enhancement of its contrast, preservation of its outlook, and minimum introduction of noise and overenhancement artifacts. The ALHS method is fully automatic and provides an analytic solution for the output histogram as a function of the mean brightness of the block. Our experimental evaluation on a set of benchmark images involved the use of two quantitative measures and visual assessment. The evaluation results show that the ALHS method outperforms both the HE and LHE methods.


The institutionalization of political parties is said to be important for democratic development, but its measurement has remained a neglected area of research. We understand the institutionalization of political organizations as progress in four dimensions: roots in society, level of organization, autonomy, and coherence. On this basis we construct an Index of the Institutionalization of Parties (IIP), which we apply to 28 African political parties. The IIP uses extensive GIGA survey and fieldwork data. Initial results reveal a more differentiated degree of institutionalization than is commonly assumed. In addition to illustrating overall deficits in party institutionalization, the IIP highlights an astonishing variance between individual parties and - to a lesser extent - between national aggregates. Further research on party institutionalization remains necessary, particularly regarding its causes and consequences.


Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) plays an important role in atmospheric pollution, in particular for tropospheric ozone production. However, the removal processes involved in NO 2 deposition to terrestrial ecosystems are still the subject of ongoing discussion. This study reports NO 2 flux measurements made over a meadow using the eddy covariance method. The measured NO 2 deposition fluxes during daytime were about a factor of two lower than a priori calculated fluxes using the Surfatm model without taking into account an internal (also called mesophyllic or sub-stomatal) resistance. Neither an underestimation of the measured NO 2 deposition flux due to chemical divergence or an in-canopy NO 2 source nor an underestimation of the resistances used to model the NO 2 deposition explained the large difference between measured and modelled NO 2 fluxes. Thus, only the existence of the internal resistance could account for this large discrepancy between model and measurements. The median internal resistance was estimated to be 300 s m −1 during daytime, but exhibited a large variability (100–800 s m −1 ). In comparison, the stomatal resistance was only around 100 s m −1 during daytime. Hence, the internal resistance accounted for 50–90% of the total leaf resistance to NO 2 . This study presents the first clear evidence and quantification of the internal resistance using the eddy covariance method; i.e. plant functioning was not affected by changes of microclimatological (turbulent) conditions that typically occur when using enclosure methods.


The ecosystem friendly and socio-economical merits of Electrical Vehicles (EVs) have enhanced its application globally. Although it is widely argued that EVs grid integration undermines power system security, reliability and upsurge electricity consumption, but the benefits in emission reduction is enormous, which conforms to the Asian Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate agreement with US. However, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of EVs on Medium Voltage (MV) distribution network: voltage stability and thermal overloading of transformers and cables on an IEEE 14-Bus system. The proposed method is a holistic approach in which the impact on the steady state operation of individual components (EV charger, load, transformers, buses, etc) of the system would be investigated for reliability. A load flow analysis would also be conducted on the network for power loss evaluation. However, the anticipated results of this study show that integration of large number of EVs to grid system increased line losses, transformer and cable overloading, and reduced system stability, hence, the needed for grid architecture compensation cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, the results after Bus compensation should show improved system stability, voltage profile, reduced thermal loading and congestion.


Part 1 Introduction: background the factors involved in climate change natural factors affecting climate change nuclear war and climate on the perspective concept and climate change studies. Part 2 The observed regularities of climate: the CO2 cycle and global-scale climate changes from observational data detecting the CO2 signal a global system of observations. Part 3 The World Climate Research Programme WCRP: fundamental principles of the WCRP the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment GEWEX. Part 4 Principal climatically-important processes: cloudiness and radiation processes in the ocean the Arctic, the Antarctic and climate land surface processes optically-active minor gaseous compounds aerosols and climate solar-terrestrial interrelations development, verification and application of climate models the comparative climatology of planets. Part 5 The internal variability of the climate system: climate diagnostics the theory of short-period climate changes the sections programme the world ocean and climate nested climate models. Part 6 External impacts on the climactic system: CO2 and climate the multifaceted nature of the atmospheric greenhouse effect volcanoes and climate. Part 7 Conclusion.


Consider each of the following statements. Do you believe the statement to be true or false? 1. College students who disapprove of cheating do not cheat on tests; it is only the students who view cheating as acceptable who do cheat. 2. When segregation was still legal, hotel and restaurant owners with racial stereotypes toward Chinese people would not serve them food or allow them to stay at their establishments. 3. How well people like their jobs is predictive of people's job attendance. Those who like their jobs are less likely to miss a day of work. 4. During the 1970s, people who felt that the energy crisis was a significant problem used less energy than did those who did not really believe that there was a crisis. 5. Regardless of whether an employer makes a snap judgment or deliberates extensively about a hiring decision, if the employer has a negative attitude toward working women, a female candidate will not be hired. All of these commonsense statements assume that people's attitudes influence their actions and decisions. In fact, as we will see in this chapter, none of these five statements is correct. The basic finding of decades of research is that sometimes people act in accordance with their attitudes, and other times they act in ways that are quite inconsistent with their attitudes. In this chapter, we address three fundamental questions regarding the attitude–behavior relation (Zanna & Fazio, 1982). First, is there a relation? That is, do attitudes influence behavior? Second, when is such a relation to be expected? In other words, what variables determine the degree to which attitudes might influence behavior? To the extent that attitudes do predict behavior , this question concerns the identification of other factors that play a role in this relationship.


Expression of adenoviral E1A in cardiomyocytes results in the activation of DNA synthesis followed by apoptosis. In contrast, expression of simian virus 40 large T antigen induces sustained cardiomyocyte proliferation. Previous studies have shown that T antigen binds to 2 proapoptotic proteins in cardiomyocytes, namely the p53 tumor suppressor and p193 (a new member of the BH3-only proapoptosis subfamily). Structure-function analyses identified a p193 C-terminal truncation mutant that encodes prosurvival activity. This mutant was used to test the role of p193 in E1A-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. E1A induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes derived from differentiating embryonic stem cells. Expression of the prosurvival p193 mutant alone or a mutant p53 alone did not block E1A-induced apoptosis. In contrast, combinatorial expression of mutant p193 and mutant p53 blocked E1A-induced apoptosis, resulting in a proliferative response indistinguishable from that seen with T antigen. These results confirm the hypothesis that there are 2 proapoptotic pathways, encoded by p53 and p193, respectively, which restrict cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity in differentiating embryonic stem cell cultures. Furthermore, these results explain in molecular terms the phenotypic differences of E1A versus T-antigen gene transfer in cardiomyocytes. (Circ Res. 2001;88:1004-1011.)


Little is known about the effect of hormones on the photosynthetic process. Therefore, we studied Rubisco content and expression along with gas exchange parameters in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants that are not able to sense ethylene. We also tested for a possible interaction between ethylene insensitivity, abscisic acid (ABA), and sugar feedback on photosynthesis. We measured Rubisco content in seedlings grown in agar with or without added sugar and fluridone, and Rubisco expression in hydroponically grown vegetative plants grown at low and high CO2. Furthermore, we analyzed gas exchange and the photosynthetic machinery of transformants and wild-type plants grown under standard conditions. In the presence of exogenous glucose (Glc), agar-grown seedlings of the ethylene-insensitive genotype had lower amounts of Rubisco per unit leaf area than the wild type. No differences in Rubisco content were found between ethylene-insensitive and wild-type seedlings treated with fluridone, suggesting that inhibition of ABA production nullified the effect of Glc application. When larger, vegetative plants were grown at different atmospheric CO2 concentrations, a negative correlation was found between Glc concentration in the leaves and Rubisco gene expression, with stronger repression by high Glc concentrations in ethylene-insensitive plants. Ethylene insensitivity resulted in plants with comparable fractions of nitrogen invested in light harvesting, but lower amounts in electron transport and Rubisco. Consequently, photosynthetic capacity of the insensitive genotype was clearly lower compared with the wild type. We conclude that the inability to perceive ethylene results in increased sensitivity to Glc, which may be mediated by a higher ABA concentration. This increased sensitivity to endogenous Glc has negative consequences for Rubisco content and photosynthetic capacity of these plants.


Abstract We explored the allelopathic potential of kudzu as a function of its phenolics. Aqueous and methanol extracts of different kudzu organs (leaf, stem, root, and seed) were assayed for allelopathy with the use of lettuce and radish seeds. Both leaf and root extracts significantly inhibited all of the measured germination indices (total germination, speed of germination, and coefficient of the rate of germination) (all P < 0.01). When treated with leaf extract, the total germination of both species was ∼ 20% less than the control. Furthermore, the leaf extract significantly reduced the speed of germination to 38 and 53% that of the lettuce and radish controls, respectively. Lettuce and radish seeds soaked in leaf and root extracts for 24 h imbibed less water (∼ 30% for both species) than those soaked in distilled water (control), suggesting that a reduction of water imbibition might be one of the mechanisms of germination retardation. Stem and seed extracts affected neither the water uptake nor the germination indices of radish and lettuce seeds. Kudzu leaves and roots contain higher amounts of total phenolics (P  =  0.001) and soluble phenolics (P  =  0.005) than stems and seeds, consistent with the results of the germination bioassays. In agar plate bioassays, both litter and rhizosphere soil had phytotoxic effects on the radicle growth of radish (P  =  0.003) and perennial ryegrass (P  =  0.001) seedlings. Perennial ryegrass and cobbler's pegs seedlings grown on leaf and root leachate-amended soil gave ∼ 40% shorter roots and shoots and ∼ 50% less dry weight than those grown in leachate-free soil. Kudzu litter was incorporated and incubated in soil for 6 wk, at which point the soluble phenolics in the soil solution were at a level (> 150 ppm) considered to be allelopathic. Nomenclature: Cobbler's pegs, Bidens pilosa L.; kudzu, Pueraria montana (Lour.); perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne L.; lettuce, Lactuca sativa L.; radish, Raphanaus sativus L.


Using transportation means like cars, public transportation is an important part of modern life style. Thus, it is not unexpected that transportation also plays a significant role in dreams. In a long series (N = 11,463 dreams) of one dreamer (single-case study) about 16% of the dreams included some form of transportation. The dreamer who is driving cars very rarely, dreamed more often about being a co-driver than a driver – in contrast to persons who drive a car regularly, supporting the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. On the other hand, several dreams were "creative", i.e., don't reflect any actual waking-life experiences of the dreamer, for example, traveling in a spaceship or submarine. Car trouble dreams were frequent (40% of the car driving dreams) even though the dreamer never experienced car trouble in waking life, e.g., malfunctioning brakes. This supports the idea of Patricia Garfield that this dream type is metaphorically linked to feelings of not being in control in waking life. Very interesting topics for future research would be studying the relationship of "creative" dreams, i.e., dreams that did not reflect directly the actual waking-life experience of the dreamer, and his or her waking life and the possible metaphoric link between car trouble dreams and waking-life stress.


Both distortion product emissions and transiently evoked emissions typically exhibit an individual fine structure, which seems to be linked to the fine structure of threshold in quiet observable in many normal hearing subjects. However, the recording paradigm for both experiments is rather different. Narrow‐band distortion product emissions are detectable during continuous stimulation with two sinusoids. They represent the nonlinear interaction of the two tones in a stationary condition. Transient evoked emissions on the other hand may be interpreted as a type of impulse response of a nonlinear system. The frequency specificity is comparatively low. The interrelation of both types of emissions is not completely understood until now. To test the hypothesis of a common origin, patterns of spectral fine structure of DPOAE and TEOAE results from normal hearing subjects are compared. In addition, the influence of suppressor tones is investigated in both experiments. Results will be discussed in connection to c...


The marine industry plays an important role in promoting the development of the blue economic zone, and the study of the operating performance of marine industry is of important practical significance. Using DEA method, this article measures the operating performance of marine industry in the blue economic zone. On this basis, using Tobit model, it analyzes the factors influencing the operating performance of marine industry. The results show that the industries of high carbon emission performance are basically the industries of high energy consumption, high emission and high pollution; the level of economic development and the number of important technological achievements can both significantly increase the pure technical efficiency; the sustainable environmental carrying capacity and the number of employees are conducive to improving the technological progress index and overall efficiency; the level of social infrastructure plays a role in promoting the overall efficiency, but the role is not obvious.


Contrary to the public misperception that immigrants are likely to be involved in criminal activities, evidence suggests that immigrants are less likely to engage in violence and criminal behavior at the individual level. Little is known, however, about the relationship between immigration, violence, and delinquency at the school-level. The present study draws from the nationally representative 2015 to 2016 School Survey on Crime and Safety to address two research questions. First, is there an association between an increasing proportion of immigrant students and school-level crime? Second, are there racial/ethnic differences in the association between increasing proportion of immigrant students and school-level crime? Our results indicate no relationship between immigration and school-level crime; however, important and distinctive nuances are related to the study findings.


The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) is establishing the first UK large area soil moisture network. The COSMOS-UK network delivers exciting new data showing how soil moisture varies across the country with soil type, climate and vegetation. COSMOS-UK stations also measure the weather and other environmental variables.

COSMOS-UK has great potential to transform hydro-meteorological modelling by providing real-time data for assimilation and model validation. Leveraging the new technology of cosmic-ray soil moisture sensing makes our measurements representative of areas up to 700m in diameter, which averages the inevitable small-scale variability in soils and vegetation.

COSMOS-UK is funded by NERC as part of the RCUK Capital Investment Strategy. The COSMOS-UK network and its website are under rapid development – new field sites and web features are being added over the coming months. The first five COSMOS-UK network stations are located at established CEH research field sites and by mid 2014, the network will be expanded to incorporate a further 25 stations.


Gasoline produced in Egypt is a low-grade gasoline that contains high concentration of harmful components that are having a toll on our environment. In addition, those pollutants cause countless diseases and deaths annually to the Egyptian population. This paper targets two main sectors in the production of commercial gasoline. The improvement engine efficiency through the upgrading of octane number is first experimented by using a blendstock that ranges from gasoline fractions and Isomerates. An optimum was then chosen depending on the results obtained from different tests. Through those experiments, it was determined which samples obeyed the EU regulation for transportation emissions. Having an excellent gasoline with a high octane number but produced large quantities of harmful emissions was unacceptable. This leads to the section aim of this research, which was to produce an environmental gasoline. This meant that once the gasoline sample is combusted, it should produce limited amounts of emissions such as 1% benzene since benzene is carcinogenic. A sample with euro 3 specification was produced and showed excellent gasoline properties such as an RON value of around 95 without the use of octane enhancers. A second sample showed better results satisfied euro 5 regulations and produced an even higher octane number than the euro 3 sample. This sample was the optimum environmental ETBE-gasoline high octane number blend. By understanding the composition of those samples, maximum yield of commercial gasoline could be produced. This would also lead to the reduction of pollutants in the environment. Completing this task with successful results means that this environmental high octane number gasoline could be produced and used in Egypt. Such blends should be produced on a large scale by exercising euro 3 and/or 5 regulations.


Nominated for the Professor Eduardo de Arantes e Oliveira Award at XII Conference on Steel and Composite Construction in Coimbra 2019


The Citril finch Serinus citrinella is a Paleartic endemic species that breeds in the subalpine mountain zones of western temperate Europe. The species seems to be suffering a serious decline in its northern range, mainly in the Black Forest and the NE of the Alps. Numerous reasons have been provided for this decline, but all of them have been related to breeding habitats. Given that the species undergoes an altitudinal migration and that during winter it may use very different habitats, a sound knowledge of the distribution patterns and habitats used outside the breeding period is needed to conduct adequate conservation policies and management. This information, however, is largely lacking. The aim of this paper was to determine the current habitat used by Citril finches in north-eastern Spain during the winter, to analyse habitat suitability and to study movements, by investigating the origin of birds that overwinter in Catalonia. Citril finch distribution was modelled using both discriminant analysis and maximum entropy modelling, on the basis of species occurrences during winter in Catalonia (data from 1972-2009). Results showed that the presence of two tree species, Black pine (Pinus nigra subsp. salzmanii) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), both as part of mixed open forests, and the presence of abundant farmland and arvensic plants -the two vegetation units located in a typical submediterranean context, where the warm temperatures (sunny days) in late winter permit the cones to open-, were the ecological and bioclimatic variables that explain the distribution model. All these variables in tandem seem to be the key for the current potential distribution of the Citril finch in winter (AUCscores: training data AUC= 0.955; test data AUC = 0.953). We analyzed recoveries (N = 238) of 2,368 birds ringed at wintering grounds and 12,648 birds ringed at subalpine localities in the adjacent Pyrenees from 1977-2004. We found that in the study area, we recovered ringed birds from many different locations from across the distributional range of the species, including trans-Pyrenean birds from the Alps. This stresses the high mobility of Citril finch populations to reach wintering areas. From a conservation point of view, the high importance of pines (mainly Black pine) for the wintering distribution of the species stresses that any threat on pines, especially forest fires, will have acute detrimental effects for Citril finch populations.


Members of the IL-1 family are pleiotropic cytokines that are involved in inflammation, immunoregulation, and other homeostatic functions in the body. IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, and the IL-1 antagonistic molecule [IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1 Ra)] are present in the testis under normal homeostasis, and they further increase upon infection/inflammation. In the present study, we examined the effect of IL-1 Ra gene deletion on male mouse fertility. Male mice [wild type (WT) and IL-1 Ra knockout (KO)] were mated with WT females, and the birth and number of offspring were recorded 21-45 d after mating. Furthermore, the concentration, motility, and morphology of sperm isolated from the cauda of the epididymis were evaluated. The ability of the calcium ionophore (A23187) to induce acrosome reaction (AR) in the sperm of WT and IL-1 Ra KO mice was compared with their ability to fertilize in vitro oocytes from WT females. The direct effect of IL-1alpha and IL-1beta on AR and abnormal morphology in sperm from WT were evaluated. The levels of IL-1alpha and IL-1beta in the testes of WT and IL-1 Ra KO mice were examined by specific ELISA and real-time PCR. Our results show a significant reduction in the capacity of IL-1 Ra KO male mice to fertilize WT females (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the number of offspring in mice fertilized with IL-1 Ra KO male mice was significantly lower than with WT males (P < 0.05). Sperm concentration and the percentage of motile sperm from IL-1 Ra KO and WT were similar; however, the percentage of sperm with abnormal morphology (mainly in the head) and acrosome-reacted sperm cells were significantly higher in the IL-1 Ra KO, compared with that of WT males (P < 0.05). In vitro, the ability of sperm from IL-1 Ra KO male mice to fertilize oocytes from WT females was significantly lower than sperm from WT mice (P < 0.05). In addition, the percentage of reacted sperm from IL-1 Ra KO, spontaneously without ionophore induction, was significantly higher than from WT (P < 0.05). Sperm from WT underwent induction of AR only by ionophore; however, sperm from IL-1 Ra KO were unable to undergo the AR by ionophore, indicating that they are induced and, thus, are inactive in fertilization. Testicular IL-1alpha and IL-1beta levels were significantly higher in IL-1 Ra KO, compared with WT male mice (P < 0.05). The addition of recombinant IL-1alpha or IL-1beta to sperm from a WT mouse induced their AR, and significantly increased abnormal sperm morphology, as compared with controls (P < 0.05). This effect was neutralized by the addition of IL-1 Ra. Our results indicate the involvement of IL-1 in sperm physiology, affecting its morphology and fertilization ability. Higher than homeostatic levels of IL-1 in the testis, as observed in IL-1 Ra KO mice, impaired the ability of sperm to fertilize oocytes. Together, these results may explain some of the male infertility cases with an infection/inflammation background and may hint at the ability to use IL-1 Ra in future therapeutic strategies in these cases.


Cupressaceae pollen is responsible for winter respiratory allergies in the Mediterranean area. Pollen grains of this diverse family share the same characteristics under light microscopy. Consequently, the partial contribution of each Cupressaceae species to the airborne pollen spectrum cannot be determined with conventional aerobiological methods. Studies on major aeroallergens offer better information on the allergic sensitization and appearance of symptoms in patients sensitized to airborne pollen and spores. Our aim was to determine if airborne Cupressaceae pollen concentrations correspond to aerodynamics of the major allergen of Cupressus (Cup a 1), as well as the aeroallergen correlation with different-sized particles. The air was sampled in two cities of Southern Spain (Granada and Córdoba) using the Hirst-type volumetric sampler for airborne pollen detection during 2006 to 2008 and the Andersen Cascade Impactor for aeroallergen detection during the main pollination period of Cupressaceae in the same period. The samples were analyzed by the methodology proposed by the Spanish Aerobiology Network (REA), the minimum requirements of the European Aeroallergen Society (EAS) for pollen, and by ELISA immunoassay to detect airborne Cup a 1. The distribution patterns of airborne Cupressaceae pollen and Cup a 1 were observed throughout the sampling period, although with some irregular oscillations. Cupressaceae pollen and Cup a 1 showed positive and significant correlation during the period of maximum concentrations (January to March). However, the results of this study showed that the period of exposure of aeroallergens depends on the Cupressus species and their abundance in cities. According to the allergy potential obtained, species like C. arizonica could release more allergens than other species like C. sempervirens.


Active disturbance rejection control technology and its application to trajectory tracking control of a linear actuator are presented in this paper. Working principle of each part of this control technology is given, and parameter tuning method is discussed which helps control engineers to use this technology well. In order to test the performance of active disturbance rejection control technology, a sinusoidal trajectory tracking control system of a linear actuator is constructed. Simulation and experimental results show that the introduced control technology can achieve small tracking error at low velocity where friction is the main disturbance. Active disturbance rejection control technology provides a good choice for control engineers in actual industry applications with its simple structure, convenience to use and excellent performance.


When the HITECH Act of 2009 set mandates for the transition from paper to electronic health records (EHRs), few realized the far-reaching impact this technological change would have on the entire healthcare environment. This dissertation examines the many facets of this adoption process by exploring perceptions, responses, and reactions of physicians and patients alike as they navigate through this transformative "medicological environment." Characterized by influences from legal, political, governmental, medical, social, geographical, economic, and technological factors, this multi-faceted space reveals how a new medium for communication—the electronic message within secured health portals—transforms the way in which healthcare is managed and utilized today.

Multiple methods of observation, including oral histories, surveys, critical incident reports, and content analyses of data mined messages, together reveal the many challenges faced by patients and healthcare professionals alike as they attempt to adapt to this change while still maintaining (or improving upon) primary healthcare needs. As demonstrated by the varied responses from those living in rural and urban areas, it was found that each population approached the transition process from different vantage points. The early-adopting, urban physicians provided patient online communication simply because they felt patients expected it while rural physicians tended to resist the process, arguing that patients were media illiterate, lacked Internet access, and preferred face-to-face interactions. Others cited implementation costs and personnel training issues as a deterring factor. This provides insight into how such a new medium can affect user perceptions about online healthcare, including physician availability, online relationship factors, and overall patient care. Future research suggestions include expanded content analyses of the electronic messages themselves and follow-up, longitudinal research once implementation is more widespread.

As the Institute of Medicine (2008) states, all patients have the right to varied means of communicating with their physicians, including but not limited to online interactions. Evidence of a paradigmatic shift exists in physician training as well as patient expectations. The influence of online communication within secured health portals certainly has contributed towards this shift as more personalized, patient-centered care becomes a vital part of this ever-changing medicological environment.


Over the last decade, there have been many studies that focus on modeling driver behavior, and in particular detecting and overcoming driver distraction in an effort to reduce accidents caused by driver negligence. Such studies assume that the entire onus of avoiding accidents are on the driver alone. In this study, we adopt a different stance and study the behavior of pedestrians instead. In particular, we focus on detecting pedestrians who are engaged in secondary activities involving their cellphones and similar hand-held multimedia devices from a purely vision-based standpoint. To achieve this objective, we propose a pipeline incorporating articulated human pose estimation, and the use gradient based image features to detect the presence/absence of a device in either hand of a pedestrian. Information from different streams and their dependencies on one another are encoded by a belief network. This network is then used to predict a probability score suggesting the involvement of a subject with his/her device.


Recently, more and more enterprises have adopted hybrid cloud strategies to simultaneously enjoy the security of on-premise clouds and the low cost of public clouds. The key challenge of hybrid clouds, though, stems from the difficulty of specifying where the data should be stored and where the information could flow efficiently. In order to meet security concerns and performance requirements, we introduce a coarse-grained information flow control (CIFC) model to limit storing, accessing, and disclosing of confidential data in public clouds. The CIFC model aims at providing information control implicitly, without the large overhead of periodically checking access privileges. Moreover, since the CIFC model may request redistributing data whenever the secrecy level of a dataset changes, we formulate the data redistribution problem as an optimization problem and propose the Partition Biased Sampling Algorithm (PBSA) for its solution. We implemented the CIFC model on top of Spark, and our results show that Spark applications can achieve 1.4 to 2.1 times better performance by utilizing the additional computational capacity of public cloud to process non-sensitive data. Furthermore, we integrate the PBSA algorithm into Spark and demonstrate a saving of more than 35% in execution time, compared to the Spark default data distribution strategy.


Amid the voluminous documentary record of the Alger Hiss case, one document is especially noteworthy: a short memorandum Hiss drafted during the Yalta conference in early 1945 setting forth "Arguments against Inclusion of Any of the Soviet Republics among Initial Members" of the proposed postwar United Nations (UN) organization. Drafted when the Soviet Union was pressing for UN membership for two or three Soviet republics, the memorandum has been cited to challenge claims that Hiss acted as a Soviet agent at Yalta (or at any time) while constituting a "puzzling anomaly" for those who believe that Hiss was indeed a spy (as indicated in Soviet intelligence documents). By considering the circumstances of the memorandum's preparation and closely examining its text, this article demonstrates that the memorandum does not contravene the notion that Hiss was a Soviet agent at the time of the Yalta conference.


This research report is an analysis of the main debates, arguments, and concepts pertaining to the topic of public transport and the experiences of students' using public transportation in Johannesburg and Berlin. The purpose of a comparative study is to understand the manner in which public transport is experienced in different contexts, whilst the case study method will be used to narrow the subject area of public transport down through using students' as the analytical lens. A semi-structured questionnaire was conducted on students' at The University of the Witwatersrand. The questionnaire revealed that public transport in Johannesburg is not efficient, as it does not work to improve the experience and participation of students' in this city. I argue that due to the paralysing system of apartheid, South Africa has been left with a dysfunctional administration system that lacks the capacity to actualise policy. With the use of the Berlin case study, I further argue that there are lessons to be learnt from the successful model of public transport systems in this city. These are two contradictory cases that reveal the importance of a combination of policies, financial means, capacity, and the built environment to establish a good public transport system that does more than just enable mobility. This body of research reveals that efficient public transport makes it possible for everyone in the city to contribute to its vitality, making it one of the most important tools of integration between the urban and the people. This recognises that there is a need for transport planning and urban planning, as two spatial tools, to be used in conjunction in the planning of cities that are inclusive for all students' and urban dwellers. iv | A comparative study of students' experiences of public transport in Johannesburg and Berlin Monakali 536527


The addition of bentonite with or without chocolate syrup improved the palatability of activated charcoal preparations. Furthermore, bentonite did not significantly reduce the efficacy of charcoal to absorb aspirin. Chocolate syrup reduced the adsorption effectiveness significantly. The mixtures have a reduced shelf-life when premixed with water. However, the dry ingredients can be pre-weighed and sealed in a large jar. Water can be added just prior to administration.


BACKGROUND
 Artificial neural networks have achieved unprecedented success in the medical domain. This success depends on the availability of massive and representative datasets. However, data collection is often prevented by privacy concerns, and people want to take control over their sensitive information during both the training and using processes.

 OBJECTIVE
 To address security and privacy issues, we propose a privacy-preserving method for the analysis of distributed medical data. The proposed method, termed stochastic channel-based federated learning (SCBFL), enables participants to train a high-performance model cooperatively and in a distributed manner without sharing their inputs.

 METHODS
 We designed, implemented, and evaluated a channel-based update algorithm for a central server in a distributed system. The update algorithm will select the channels with regard to the most active features in a training loop, and then upload them as learned information from local datasets. A pruning process, which serves as a model accelerator, was further applied to the algorithm based on the validation set.

 RESULTS
 We constructed a distributed system consisting of 5 clients and 1 server. Our trials showed that the SCBFL method can achieve an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of 0.9776 and an area under the precision-recall curve (AUC-PR) of 0.9695 with only 10% of channels shared with the server. Compared with the federated averaging algorithm, the proposed SCBFL method achieved a 0.05388 higher AUC-ROC and 0.09695 higher AUC-PR. In addition, our experiment showed that 57% of the time is saved by the pruning process with only a reduction of 0.0047 in AUC-ROC performance and a reduction of 0.0068 in AUC-PR performance.

 CONCLUSIONS
 In this experiment, our model demonstrated better performance and a higher saturating speed than the federated averaging method, which reveals all of the parameters of local models to the server. The saturation rate of performance could be promoted by introducing a pruning process and further improvement could be achieved by tuning the pruning rate.


Abstract. The date palm is a monocotyledon thermophilic desert plant, in Algeria grown more than 18 million trees. To have a better quality of dates for the most answered cultivars in Algeria, we can act with fertilization on the palm and these components of the leaflets and spines that affect dates quality. The three cultivars of date palms (Deglet nour-C1, Ghars-C2 and Mechdegla-C3) have been studied to estimate the relationship between leaflet and spine number and date quality. Five phenotypic traits were exploited and subjected to analysis of the principal components in ascending hierarchical classification. The results revealed that the cultivar Deglet nour scored the highest value for the parameters spine number (25) and weight of the date (8.63g), the cultivar Ghars also recorded the highest value for the parameters: number of leaflets (80) and length (4.35cm) and thickness (2.25cm) of the date. In all studied cultivars positive correlations between the length and width of the leaf – on the one side, and weight of the date – on the other, and between the width of leaf and width of the date were found.


Looking for the resource to help your students fully understand and retain critical knowledge of sectional anatomy? Allow us to introduce this new edition of "Introduction to Sectional Anatomy". Focusing on presenting this highly visual an dynamic topic in a way that makes it engaging and accessible to students, "Introduction to Sectional Anatomy" begins with key terminology and concepts and then moves through the body from head to toe. This new edition has been completely updated to include the most current imaging modalities, including ultrasound, MR, and PET/CT, so your students are fully equipped for what they will encounter in practice. Here's what you can expect to find inside "Introduction to Sectional Anatomy, Third Edition"...A design that makes it easy for students to compare images from several patients; clinical cases demonstrating how knowledge of sectional anatomy is applied in practice; chapter objectives that help students study more efficiently; and clinical application questions at the end of each chapter that review students' understanding of essential concepts.


The treatment of sex offenders with mental retardation is receiving increased attention. Such offenders who are experiencing stress are more likely to use coping strategies effectively if they have a large network of nurturing environmental contacts and are, therefore, less insulated from their environment. In the present study an assessment tool--the ECO-MAP--was used that graphically illustrates the degree of integration of an offender. This instrument has proven to be extremely useful as a clinical aid in the intervention-planning process, the contracting phase of intervention, and in the evaluation of outcomes.


This paper analyzes the economics of the private equity fund compensation. We build a novel model to estimate the expected revenue to fund managers as a function of their investor contracts. In particular, we evaluate the present value of the fair-value test (FVT) carried interest scheme, which is one of the most common profit-sharing arrangements observed in practice. We extend the simulation model developed in Metrick and Yasuda (2010a) and compare the relative values of the FVT carry scheme to other benchmark carry schemes. We find that the FVT carry scheme is substantially more valuable to the fund managers than other commonly observed (and more conservative) carry schemes, largely due to the early timing of carry compensation that frequently occurs under the FVT scheme. Interestingly, conditional on having an FVT carry scheme, fund managers' incremental gains from inflating the reported values of the funds' un- exited portfolio companies would be negligible.


During the decade that followed the adoption of the Hyogo Framework for Action in 2005, calls for greater public, private and civic accountability to reduce risk and vulnerability became increasingly vocal. It also provded guidance to the focal point on Disaster Risk Reduction at the central government level on how to improve leadership in risk governance,
transparency, sharing of risk information, stakeholder participation and public awareness and encouraging and action on stakeholder feedback.
Accountability in disaster risk reduction is intended to enable scrutiny and understanding of actions taken at different levels, and of those responsible for such actions. Article 19(e) of the Sendai Framework articulates the principle that disaster risk reduction depends on coordination mechanisms within and across sectors, full engagement and clear responsibilities of all State institutions and stakeholders, to ensure mutual accountability.
In contributing to this agenda, a workshop on "Ensuring Accountability in Disaster Risk Management and Reconstruction" was organised as a part of a global, regional and national partnership. This workshop and the subsequent policy dialogue had the participation of disaster risk management experts and state and non-state stakeholders to deliberate
on and develop a possible framework for social accountability to be considered for inclusion in a national disaster management plan.


OBJECTIVE
Oxidative stress (OS) significantly correlates with cancer progression. However, targeting OS has not been considered as a therapeutic strategy in skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) due to a lack of systematical studies on validated biomarkers. The work presented here aimed to identify hub prognosis-associated OS genes in SKCM and generated an effective predictive model.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Gene expression profiles of SKCM samples and normal skin tissues were obtained from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases to identify differentially expressed OS genes. The validation cohort was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.

RESULTS
Thirteen hub prognosis-associated OS genes were recognized and incorporated into the prognostic risk model. Our constructed model was significantly associated with overall survival of SKCM patients as well as was shown to be associated with cancer progression. Our prognostic risk model was found to improve the accuracy of diagnostics, as shown using both TCGA and GEO cohorts. Both hub gene expression and risk score were used to generated nomograms that displayed favorable discriminatory abilities for SKCM.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, our study presents a model that may provide novel insights into the prognosis and survival of SKCM patients, as well as the development of individualized treatment therapy.


ABSTRACT Occitan and Catalan are in an increasing state of language obsolescence in France. Their phonologies both contain a voiced palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/, not present in modern French, that is being replaced in all positions by the palatal approximant [j]. It is not clear whether this is an effect of language contact with French because [j] commonly emerges as a variant of /ʎ/ in non-contact varieties of Romance. This article examines the distribution of /ʎ/ in Occitan and Catalan, using auditory and acoustic data from a wordlist-translation task conducted with 40 native speakers. The analysis aims to determine the nature of this sound change either as the result of transfer from French or as a regular sound change that is motivated by the phonetic similarity of [ʎ] and [j]. The mechanisms governing transfer from French are modelled statistically to account for the distribution of historically appropriate and contact-induced variants of /ʎ/, and acoustic analyses test the hypothesis that the change is internally motivated and occurring gradually. Results show that the factors conditioning the change may be different in each of these related languages in that it is contact-induced in Occitan, but potentially due to internal and external factors in Catalan.


This study examined the potential of using waste tyre pyrolysis fuel oil as an industrial burner fuel. The combustion characteristics of tyre-derived fuel (TDF) oil were evaluated using Cuenod NC4 forced draught oil burner equipped with a built-in fuel atomizer and an onboard control system. TDF oil obtained from a local waste tyre treatment facility was blended with petroleum diesel (DF) at TDF volumetric concentration of 40% (TDF 40 ), which was tested against pure petroleum diesel and refined modified tyre-derived fuel (TDF*). Critical combustion parameters such as thermal power output, fuel consumption, flame stability, flue gas temperature, and emissions were investigated to evaluate the performance of the combustion equipment. Using DF as a reference fuel, it was observed that TDF 40 required high air-to-fuel ratio (AFR) in order to produce a stable flame with high flame temperature and less emissions. TDF* produced a reasonably stable flame with less sulphur dioxide emissions compared to TDF 40 ; however, its specific fuel consumption (SFC) was higher than that of DF. It was also discovered that the burner's SFC was higher when fuelled with TDF 40 . Total contamination and viscosity of TDF oil contribute significantly to the flow characteristics of the fuel, resulting in reduced pressure and subsequently poor fuel atomization. Rapid soot formation at atomizer nozzle was also observed when the burner was fuelled with TDF 40 . TDF oil and its derivatives (TDF*) produce SO 2 , NO 2 and CO emission levels higher than the acceptable limits as prescribed by the European Air quality standard (EU2015/2193). It was concluded that TDF oil could be used as a potential industrial burner fuel if diluted with petroleum diesel fuel at TDF volumetric concentration of <40% or any ratio that could adjust the viscosity level below 5.3 cSt. Fuel preheating and multistage filtration system are also recommended to reduce total contamination and water levels in the fuel mixture. Exhaust gas scrubbing is recommended due to significantly high sulphur oxide emission in the flue gas.


To solve camera installation error of vision-guide mobile robot, this paper proposes a vertical and horizontal proportion rectangular deformation method to realize the correction. Based on the law that camera installation error has different effects on the distortion of different areas in imaging plane, the coordinate relation transformation from object stage to camera plane is got by homogenous coordinate transformation, and the correction result be gained by the camera installation error correction matrix. It is demonstrated that the proposed correction algorithm is simplified the parameter model structure and high correction precision.


The Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine acknowledges the following individuals for volunteering to review abstract and case study submissions for the CAP19 meeting.


The structural strength during static loadings for a carbody of railway container freight car was evaluated to verify the structural strength of newly manufactured carbody. The carbody of freight car was designed with SM490YA steel and stainless steel for the general railway transportation. Prior to the assessment of structural strength, finite element method (FEM) characterization was used for the stress and structural analyses on stress distribution in a carbody of container freight car. The strain gages were attached on the carbody based on the FEM results in order to measure structural strength during static loadings such as vertical and compression loadings. The actual vertical loading test and horizontal compression loading test were conducted, and the results were compared with the previous FEM results. In this investigation, the evaluation method for the structural strength in a structural component has been introduced using several engineering techniques, and experimental and theoretical results were compared.


ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to describe the temporal changes of various texture features extracted from pulmonary nodules on dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (DCE-CT) and to compare the feature values among multiple scanning time points. We also aimed to analyze the variability of texture features across multiple scan delay times. Materials and MethodsThis retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board of Seoul National University Hospital with waiver of patients' informed consent. Twenty patients (M:F, 6:14; mean age, 60.25 ± 11.97 years) with 20 lung nodules (mean size, 24.1 ± 12.3 mm) underwent DCE-CT with multiple scan delays (30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 300, and 480 seconds) after precontrast scans. Lung nodule segmentation and texture feature extraction were performed at each time point using in-house software. Texture feature values were compared among the multiple time points using the Friedman test with post hoc pairwise Wilcoxon signed rank test. In addition, the dynamic range (DR) reflecting the variability between 2 time points to the interpatient range was calculated. Thereafter, we determined the stable time range that met both "DR greater than 0.90" and "no statistically significant difference" between all time point pairs for each feature. The degree of variability across all scan delay times was obtained using coefficients of variation. ResultsStandard deviation, variance, entropy, sphericity, discrete compactness, gray-level cooccurrence matrix (GLCM) inverse difference moment (IDM), GLCM contrast, and GLCM entropy did not show significant differences between scan delays of 30 and 180 seconds with DR greater than 0.90 between all time point pairs. When the range was narrowed down to 60 to 150 seconds, an additional 2 values (mean and homogeneity) showed stability. Among the 13 texture features, entropy, sphericity, discrete compactness, and GLCM entropy exhibited the lowest variability (coefficient of variation ⩽5%). ConclusionsMost texture features exhibited stability with low variation between 60 and 150 seconds on DCE-CT. Thus, texture features extracted from contrast-enhanced CT with a scan delay range of 60 to 150 seconds can be used for tumor characterization despite the heterogeneity in delay time.


Planting memorial trees is today a common practice. The act of planting such trees indeed contributed to the promotion of Japanese policies of modernization in the Meiji era, no less than erecting monuments or memorial statues. Two facts support this hypothesis. First, there are texts encouraging the planting of memorial trees, some written by Honda Seiroku, professor of the Imperial University of Tokyo, who laid the groundwork for modern forestry, and others issued by such government offices such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Forestry. Second, the media came to recognize the news value of memorial planting and reported on it. Under these circumstances, memorial trees were planted widely as rites of national significance in modern Japan. The event that I examine here is the ceremony commemorating General Ulysses S. Grant's visit to Japan as a state guest in 1879. Materials indicate that General Grant planted memorial trees at three different parks, all of which were former landholdings of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, transformed now into modern Japan's first public parks by decree in 1873. An analysis of the characteristics and historical changes of these park spaces and the types of memorial trees chosen for planting suggests that the intention was to reflect the policy of Westernization in Japan, with its emphasis on breaking with the past and obtaining new knowledge. At the same time, the root of these ritual practices can be seen in the worship of trees which the government otherwise rejected. There is evidence here that an admixture of old and new ideas regarding nature was one source powering this particular aspect of the promotion of modernization in Japan.


Equiatomic FeCo alloy which has the highest saturation magnetisation of any soft magnetic material is limited in application due to it being very brittle. The development of composite carbon nano-particulate filled alloys has achieved little or no overall benefit due to difficulties with agglomeration in the mixing process.
In this research, improvement in mechanical and magnetic properties has been achieved in FeCo alloy composite with a very low fraction carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforcement prepared only by low energy ball milling, with notable improvement as compared to composites prepared previously by pre-mixing in dimethylformamide, followed by low energy ball milling.
Significant improvement in hardness and magnetic properties have been obtained in FeCo alloy by reinforcement with a small addition of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) alone and prepared by low energy ball milling. However, significant overlapping between the nanoplatelets deteriorated the strength and elongation. Inserting CNT among nanoplatelets was found to reduce the overlapping and enabled refinement of the microstructure, however, at the expense of some increase in porosity in the spark plasma sintered materials.
The spark plasma sintering conditions have been optimised at relatively low sintering pressure by use of high temperature and controlling the heating rate and dwelling time to enable near-full densification in base FeCo alloy. By careful selection of sintering parameters, it was found to be possible to increase yield strength, elongation and suppress the intergranular fracture in FeCo alloy, combined with good magnetic properties. This optimised SPS process was developed following the above-described solvent dispersion studies and applied subsequently to following alloy-composite developments.
The ultimate strength, yield strength and elongation were significantly improved by embedding GNP in flaked FeCo powder, which enabled uniform dispersion up to 6 vol. % in contrast to very poor dispersion in spherical powder.
The increased coercivity from dispersion in flaked FeCo powder was reduced by quenching the composites from the disordered region, which led to further improvement in elongation. However, the highest tensile strength of the heat treated samples was obtained after quenching from the ordered region.
Interface bonding was improved in CNT- and GNP- filled FeCo alloy composites by high energy ball milling, which increased the properties of the composites. However, significant damage to the structure was imparted by ball milling of carbonaceous nanomaterial when the time of ball milling was extended. By nature of their two-dimensional form, dispersion of GNPs was found to be far more challenging in FeCo alloy compared with the CNTs. However, the mechanical properties of the GNP composite exceeded those of their counterpart CNT composite even at a lower volume fraction


Since central banks have limited information concerning the transmission channel of monetary policy, they are faced with the difficult task of simultaneously controlling the policy target and estimating the impact of policy actions. A tradeoff between estimation and control arises because policy actions influence estimation and provide information which may improve future performance. I analyze this tradeoff in a simple model with parameter uncertainty and conduct dynamic simulations of the policymaker's decision problem in the presence of the type of uncertainties that arose in the wake of German reunification. A policy that separates learning from control may induce a persistent upward bias in money growth and inflation, just as observed after unification. In contrast, the optimal learning strategy which exploits the tradeoff between control and estimation significantly improves stabilization performance and reduces the likelihood of inflationary bias.


Abstract Bythinella anatolica sp. n., Bythinella istanbulensis sp. n., Bythinella magdalenae sp. n., and Bythinella wilkei sp. n. from western Turkey are described herein. Illustrations of the shell and genitalia of the newly described taxa, together with comparisons with previously known Bythinella taxa and a key to the species from western Turkey, are also provided.


This study examines the role of aqueous secondary organic aerosol formation in the North American Sonoran Desert as a result of intense solar radiation, enhanced moisture, and biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). The ratio of water‐soluble organic carbon (WSOC) to organic carbon (OC) nearly doubles during the monsoon season relative to other seasons of the year. When normalized by mixing height, the WSOC enhancement during monsoon months relative to preceding dry months (May–June) exceeds that of sulfate by nearly a factor of 10. WSOC:OC and WSOC are most strongly correlated with moisture parameters, temperature, and concentrations of O3 and BVOCs. No positive relationship was identified between WSOC or WSOC:OC and anthropogenic tracers such as CO over a full year. This study points at the need for further work to understand the effect of BVOCs and moisture in altering aerosol properties in understudied desert regions.


The Safety and Tritium Applied Research (STAR) facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is currently being commissioned to investigate tritium-related safety questions for fusion and other technologies. The tritium inventory for the STAR facility will be maintained below 1.5 g to avoid the need for STAR to be classified as a Category 3 nuclear facility. A key capability in successful operation of the STAR facility is the ability to receive, inventory, and dispense tritium to the various experiments underway there. The system central to that function is the Tritium Storage and Assay System (SAS). The SAS has four major functions: (1) receiving and holding tritium, (2) assaying, (3) dispensing, and (4) purifying hydrogen isotopes from non-hydrogen species. This paper describes the design and operation of the STAR SAS and the procedures used for tritium accountancy in the STAR facility.


The wide disagreement between academics and practitioners with regard to the optimal real estate allocation in the mixed-asset portfolio is a long standing puzzle. Extensive research focusing on "fine-tuning" the application of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) has been unable to reach any consensus. This article develops an alternative portfolio theory that extends the MPT to accommodate the unique characteristics such as (1) real estate is subject to significant liquidity risk, (2) real estate return distribution is not independent and identically-distributed, and (3) real estate has high transaction cost. Using real world data, the model produces optimal real estate allocation that is much lower than previously suggested by the literature and is in fact quite in line with the reality of institutional portfolios.


An overview is given of recent advances in the experimental physics of supercooled liquids and glasses. These are described in the context of measurements of non-ergodicity, viscosity and low frequency dynamics. Particular attention is paid to recently reported correlations between melt fragility and the vibrational and mechanical properties of the ensuing glass. Low frequency vibrations are discussed in relation to the Boson peak that characterises the glassy state. Throughout the over-arching role of density fluctuations in glass formation is stressed together with the experimental tools now available to characterise heterogeneity.


Recently, for-hire vehicle services (FHV, e.g., Uber and Lyft) have become essential to people's daily transportation. Similar to taxis, how to effectively dispatch these FHV based on demand and supply is important for both FHV passengers and drivers. Based on real-world multi-source data, we identify two new challenges for FHV dispatching: (i) diverse demand: FHV passengers are a mix of passengers previously using taxis, buses, subways, or private vehicles; (ii) uncertain supply: FHV drivers join and leave the FHV system with spatiotemporal dynamics. As a result, the state-of-the-art taxi dispatching techniques cannot be applied to FHV systems. In this paper, we design the first FHV dispatching system PrivateHunt based on extremely large-scale urban transportation data from New York City and Shenzhen in China. In particular, we present (i) a passenger demand model based on taxi, bus, subway, and private vehicle data; (ii) a driver supply model based on small-scale FHV data; (iii) a dispatching technique for FHV vehicles based on proposed demand/supply models to reduce idle driving time. We implement PrivateHunt based on 14 thousand taxis, 13 thousand buses, and 8-line subway system and 10 thousand private vehicles. The experimental results show that our data-driven dispatching strategy significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art dispatching strategies without data-driven FHV insights.


Some psychotherapists produce better outcomes than others (Crits-Christoph & Mintz, 1991; Kraus, Castonguay, Boswell, Nordberg, & Hayes, 2011), although it has not been established whether therapists vary in their effectiveness with racial/ethnic minority (REM) clients. The importance of identifying therapist factors associated with successful outcomes for REM clients is underscored by imperatives regarding the provision of culturally competent psychotherapy (American Psychological Association, 2003; Smith, Rodriguez, & Bernal, 2011) and by research demonstrating the existence of ethnic disparities in mental health problems (Hayes, Chun-Kennedy, Edens, & Locke, 2011a) and their treatment (Harris, Edlund, & Larson, 2005). In this study, we investigated 36 therapists and 228 clients seen at a university training clinic to investigate whether differences in therapist effectiveness were a function of client ethnicity. Clients completed the Outcome Questionnaire-45 prior to each session. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that (a) outcomes for REM and non-REM clients did not differ, (b) some therapists produced better outcomes than others, and (c) this variability was due in part to client REM status. Thus, it appears that therapists vary in their effectiveness at reducing symptoms with REM clients. Implications for training, multicultural theory, and future research are discussed.


Selecting the appropriate visual presentation of the data such that it not only preserves the semantics but also provides an intuitive summary of the data is an important, often the final step of data analytics. Unfortunately, this is also a step involving significant human effort starting from selection of groups of columns in the structured results from analytics stages, to the selection of right visualization by experimenting with various alternatives. In this paper, we describe our DataVizard system aimed at reducing this overhead by automatically recommending the most appropriate visual presentation for the structured result. Specifically, we consider the following two scenarios: first, when one needs to visualize the results of a structured query such as SQL; and the second, when one has acquired a data table with an associated short description (e.g., tables from the Web). Using a corpus of real-world database queries (and their results) and a number of statistical tables crawled from the Web, we show that DataVizard is capable of recommending visual presentations with high accuracy.


Despite multidisciplinary evidence for crustal magma accumulation below Santorini volcano, Greece, the structure and melt content of the shallow magmatic system remain poorly constrained. We use three-dimensional (3-D) velocity models from tomographic inversions of active-source seismic P-wave travel times to identify a pronounced low-velocity anomaly (–21%) from 2.8 km to 5 km depth localized below the northern caldera basin. This anomaly is consistent with depth estimates of pre-eruptive storage and a recent inflation episode, supporting the interpretation of a shallow magma body that causes seismic attenuation and ray bending. A suite of synthetic tests shows that the geometry is well recovered while a range of melt contents (4%–13% to fully molten) are allowable. A thin mush region (2%–7% to 3%–10% melt) extends from the main magma body toward the northeast, observed as low velocities confined by tectono-magmatic lineaments. This anomaly terminates northwest of Kolumbo; little to no melt underlies the seamount from 3 to 5 km depth. These structural constraints suggest that crustal extension and edifice loads control the geometry of magma accumulation and emphasize that the shallow crust remains conducive to melt storage shortly after a caldera-forming eruption.


Studies on entomogenous galls at restinga areas in the State of Sao Paulo are very scarce, and the diversity of galling insects is completely unknown in these areas. In this study, we investigated restinga environments in Bertioga (S.P.) in order to contribute to the knowledge of the galls and the taxonomy of the galling insects in this State. Two hundred thirty three kinds of insect gall were found on 123 plant species and 48 families. The Myrtaceae and Asteraceae showed the greatest number of attacked species (14 and 13, respectively) and the greatest richness of galls (31 and 29, respectively). Most galls (about 60%) were observed on leaves. Galls of Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera e Thysanoptera were found, being the majority (about 57%) induced by Cecidomyiidae (Diptera). Other dwellers were found in 117 kinds of gall (about 50%): inquilinous; sucessors; predators and parasitoids. Among them, the parasitoids and the inquilinous were the most frequent ones. The parasitoids belong to eigth families of Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae, Platygastridae, Pteromalidae, Torymidae, Braconidae, Encyrtidae, Mymaridae and Eupelmidae, being the first three the most frequent ones. The inquilinous belong to five insect orders: Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Thysanoptera, being the Diptera the most frequent.


The European Defence Fund (EDF) has been interpreted by a number of scholars as a step beyond intergovernmental cooperation and towards the introduction of supranationalism in defence policy. We suggest that past developments in space policy can be a guide for developments in the defence area given the functional dependencies between the two fields and their institutional similarities. Based on this, we believe that the Commission will be unable to convert its new authority over the EDF into actual influence over use of force. On the contrary, the EDF may signal that European defence industrial policy is increasingly motivated by civilian and predominantly commercial considerations, dissociated from the operational objectives of national defence policies. Like the EDF, the European Union's (EU's) space programmes involve the supranational financing of militarily relevant capabilities. We argue that Member States have accepted supranationalism in space policy insofar as the Commission was able to civilianize matters of industrial governance and keep them separate from the conduct of military operations. We show that the EU implemented civilian programmes in areas that were otherwise driven by national militaries. In instances where civilianization was impossible, Member States' security interests are preserved through intergovernmental modes of decision-making, even within purportedly 'community'-driven processes. Member States have also retained significant control over future developments by exploiting a web of overlapping institutions and hazy task allocation.
spillover, neofunctionalism, space policy, European Defence Fund, defence industry, industrial policy


This study examined the impact of US Africa Command on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, between 2007 and 2020, with specific emphasis on the core maritime security challenges in West Africa. The study was anchored on the World Systems Theory, while data were generated using documentary and survey methods. Data collected were analysed using content analysis. The study found that maritime security challenges in West Africa include piracy, armed robbery, and drug trafficking. It also found that maritime insecurity has remained endemic in the Gulf of Guinea, despite the establishment of US Africa Command. The study locates the limited effectiveness of AFRICOM in mitigating maritime security challenges to its establishment without adequate consultation with West African leaders which triggered suspicion and resistance among countries in the Gulf of Guinea. The study posits that the geostrategic importance of the sub-regional maritime has remained the U.S government's strategic interest. The study, therefore, recommends, among others, that the U.S. government should strengthen inter-state collaboration through existing security agencies in the sub-region.


Since the 1990s, a number of anti-corruption conventions have been adopted due to pressure from international financial institutions, donor countries and governments of major industrialised nations. One of these conventions is the Anti-corruption Protocol adopted by the Southern African Development Community. This article examines this Convention against the backdrop of the principal–agent–client (PAC) model which influences much of the current anti-corruption measures ranging from legal and civil service reform through to privatisation of the public sector. In focusing on the efforts to fight and prevent corruption through legal and public sector reform, this paper highlights the limitations of externally imposed solutions largely driven by donors. Using Tanzania, a country that has seen extensive technical input from donor agencies in reforming the law and bureaucratic structures, as an illustration, this article argues that the limited success of such donor-driven anti-corruption strategies is attributable to a number of reasons ranging from reform policies of donors and paternalistic attitudes to political shifts and antipathy towards external demands for reforms that are fuelled by the colonial past. This paper recommends that for a recipient country to take ownership of the anti-corruption strategies it is important to tailor the PAC model to the cultural, social and political context of the recipient country so that the solutions are seen as an indigenous initiative, thus enabling sustainable change in attitudes and behaviour.


CONTEXT
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are prevalent in female athletes. Specific factors have possible links to increasing a female athlete's chances of suffering an ACL injury. However, it is unclear if augmented feedback may be able to decrease possible risk factors.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the effects of task-specific feedback on a repeated tuck-jump maneuver.

DESIGN
Double-blind randomized controlled trial.

SETTING
Sports-medicine biodynamics center.

PATIENTS
37 female subjects (14.7 ± 1.5 y, 160.9 ± 6.8 cm, 54.5 ± 7.2 kg).

INTERVENTION
All athletes received standard off-season training consisting of strength training, plyometrics, and conditioning. They were also videotaped during each session while running on a treadmill at a standardized speed (8 miles/h) and while performing a repeated tuck-jump maneuver for 10 s. The augmented feedback group (AF) received feedback on deficiencies present in a 10-s tuck jump, while the control group (CTRL) received feedback on 10-s treadmill running.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Outcome measurements of tuck-jump deficits were scored by a blinded rater to determine the effects of group (CTRL vs AF) and time (pre- vs posttesting) on changes in measured deficits.

RESULTS
A significant interaction of time by group was noted with the task-specific feedback training (P = .03). The AF group reduced deficits measured during the tuck-jump assessment by 23.6%, while the CTRL training reduced deficits by 10.6%.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of the current study indicate that task-specific feedback is effective for reducing biomechanical risk factors associated with ACL injury. The data also indicate that specific components of the tuck-jump assessment are potentially more modifiable than others.


Pain is a fundamental feature of inflammation. The immune system plays a critical role in the activation of sensory neurons and there is increasing evidence of neuro-inflammatory mechanisms contributing to painful pathologies. The inflammasomes are signaling multiprotein complexes that are key components of the innate immune system. They are intimately involved in inflammatory responses and their activation leads to production of inflammatory cytokines that in turn can affect sensory neuron function. Accordingly, the contribution of inflammasome activation to pain signaling has attracted considerable attention in recent years. NLRP3 is the best characterized inflammasome and there is emerging evidence of its role in a variety of inflammatory pain conditions. In vitro and in vivo studies have reported the activation and upregulation of NLRP3 in painful conditions including gout and rheumatoid arthritis, while inhibition of NLRP3 function or expression can mediate analgesia. In this review, we discuss painful conditions in which NLRP3 inflammasome signaling has been pathophysiologically implicated, as well as NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated mechanisms and signaling pathways that may lead to the activation of sensory neurons.


The corrosion of metals occurs primarily by electrochemical processes involving metal oxidation and simultaneous reduction of some other species. The fundamental understanding of these processes has allowed the development of a number of electrochemical techniques for the study of the corrosion phenomena and assessment of the corrosion rate. In fact, electrochemical techniques are so ingrained in the field that many practitioners think of corrosion rates first in terms of current density rather than thickness or mass loss per unit time. Standard approaches for electrochemical corrosion rate determination are commonly used in the field for on-line monitoring of systems and facilities. Electrochemistry also provides powerful tools for developing fundamental understanding of corrosion phenomena. However, there are some limitations to the abilities of current electrochemical techniques and some needs for the future. This paper describes the status of electrochemical techniques, their limitations, where non-electrochemical methods are required, and future needs in the field.


The main purpose of this work is to reveal the structural changes occured after the impact test on ball bearing steel samples, relative to their ferrite-pearlite phase. The XRD analysis has been used to investigate the level of first and second order internal stresses, the dimensions of mosaic blocks as well as the dislocation density in crystal lattice. The influence of the impact velocity, material hardness and surface roughness on fine structural parameters, mentioned above, is also analysed. On the basis of structural changes it is possible to control the material response during the impact loading.