Objective: Classic laryngeal mask airway (cLMA) is a prototype supraglottic airway device, and Air-Q is a newly introduced device for use as a primary airway and as an aid for intubation. Due to paucity of literature comparing Air-Q with cLMA, this prospective, randomized, single-blinded study was performed, to evaluate their clinical performance as a primary airway conduit. Methods: Sixty patients of either sex with the American society of anesthesiology Grade I or II, weighing between 50 and 70 kg, were randomly allocated to either the cLMA (n = 30) or Air-Q (n = 30) group. After induction of anesthesia, the assigned airway device was introduced. The ease of insertion, vital parameters, oropharyngeal seal pressure (OSP), airway morbidity, and fiberoptic grades of laryngeal view was recorded. Results: There was no significant difference in ease of insertion, the time taken for successful device placement, number of attempts, or postoperative morbidities. Air-Q was found better with respect to hemodynamic stability during placement of the device. There was a significant difference in the OSP between the Air-Q (22.12 ± 1.740 cm H2O) and cLMA (16.28 ± 2.052 cm H2O), P < 0.001. Fiberoptic laryngeal view through Air-Q was also superior (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Air-Q was found to be superior to cLMA for controlled ventilation in view of better OSP and a superior fiberoptic laryngeal view.


Climate change has a strong impact on permafrost coasts in the Arctic. With increasing air and water temperatures, ice-rich permafrost coasts will thaw, which will lead to enhanced thermokarst and erosion. Upon erosion, large amounts of organic carbon previously stored for thousands of years are remobilized and either emitted as greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, redeposited within the landward nearshore zone, or released into the ocean. Yet, little is known about carbon degradation before the organic matter enters the nearshore zone of the ocean. The objective of this study was to investigate these processes at ice-rich thermokarst coasts, by focusing on retrogressive thaw slumps. The study aimed at determining the quantity of organic carbon and nitrogen in undisturbed and non-disturbed (thermokarst affected) coastal stretches, to detect its degradation and accumulation pattern after thawing, as well as its fate in the nearshore of the ocean.

A retrogressive thaw slump located on Herschel Island (Yukon Territory, Canada) was sampled systematically along transects from the undisturbed parts (tundra, permafrost headwall) to disturbed parts (mudpool and slump floor) and the nearshore zone (marine sediments). These thermokarst landforms are ideal study sites as they spatially expose different transport and accumulation stages of thawed permafrost sediments before entering the ocean.

Total and dissolved organic carbon (TOC and DOC) as well as total and dissolved nitrogen (TN and DN) were analyzed to quantify carbon and nitrogen loss. C/N-ratios, stable carbon isotope concentrations (δ13C-TOC and δ13C-DOC), nutrient concentrations (ammonium, nitrite, nitrate), and lipid biomarkers were analyzed to estimate degradation, carbon metabolization, as well as nitrification and plant assimilation processes. Furthermore, dating of lead isotopes (Pb-210) in nearshore sediments and conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles of the sea water in front of the slump were analyzed to assess the possible fate of the organic material in the nearshore zone.

Our results show a general decrease of TOC and DOC as well as TN and DN contents from undisturbed to disturbed zones. TOC/TN-ratios are lower in disturbed zones, especially when comparing to permafrost sediments only. DOC/DN-ratios are highest in the tundra and slump floor but in general lower in disturbed zones. Stable carbon isotopes differ only slightly with lower values in disturbed zones, especially when comparing disturbed areas with permafrost only. Nitrate and nitrite concentrations are highest in disturbed areas, while ammonium concentrations are highest in permafrost and mudpool sediments. In the marine sediment core, Pb-210 values hinted towards a well-mixed environment and non-continuous accumulation. CTD surveys showed frequent brackish and mixed water column conditions.

These results lead to the assumption that sediments released through thermokarst activity are subject to strong degradation, which is supported by lower quantities of TOC and DOC as well as lower C/N-ratios in the disturbed zone. However, slightly lower values of stable carbon isotopes indicate that carbon is less degraded in the disturbed zone. High ammonium values in permafrost and mudpool sediments reflect an increasing activity of bacteria metabolizing organic material. No nitrate and nitrite was found in undisturbed parts, whereas detectable concentrations were found in disturbed parts, leading to the assumption that organic material has been subject to metabolization by bacteria. Lower DN-values in the slump floor reflected the nitrogen fixation by plants that recolonize the disturbed zones.

We suggest that before entering the nearshore zone permafrost organic carbon and nitrogen is subject to substantial degradation and metabolization. Within the nearshore zone, the accumulated sediments are remobilized frequently and transported either along the shore or further offshore.


When China's President Hu Jintao articulated his country's 'harmonious world' (hexie shijie) foreign policy perspective at the United Nations' 60 anniversary in 2005, he spoke of the need 'to preserve the diversity of civilizations in the spirit of equality and openness, make international relations more democratic and jointly build a harmonious world where all civilizations coexist and accommodate each other.' This message has retained its salience in subsequent years and represents a particular vision of world order that is viewed as the 'preferred' option within current Chinese foreign policy. Where does this vision come from? In investigating the ancestry of the current leadership's policy posture of 'harmonious world', which has its domestic counterpart in 'harmonious society', it is necessary to delve into classical Chinese thought. But more than investigate the past to seek the origins and meaning of a key Chinese cultural concept, harmony, this paper also examines the implications of a stronger China articulating such a vision. Like the Contention of the Hundred Schools of Thought (770-221 BC) which flourished with the passing of the Zhou dynasty and its sociopolitical order, so too the sudden end of bipolar strategic competition at the close of the 20 century has left the field open to alternative modes of relating as nations and peoples, with globalization accelerating the transformative process. Is the world on the threshold of a new age of contestation of ideas for how global society advances? China's focus on constructing a 'harmonious world' is indicative of an attempt to render this Confucian idea as more than merely Chinese, that 'harmonious world' is, in effect, harmonious with the UN's vision and global governance cooperation in an era dominated by transnational security issues. This paper will investigate 'harmony' and the notion of humane governance in classical Chinese thought when the social order was being contested, as well as the prevailing world order when the crucial level of analysis is the global system, with China playing a more active role harmonizing dominant and weaker powers, Western and non-Western values.


Being a classic monogenic disease, gene therapy has always been a promising therapeutic approach for Cystic Fibrosis (CF). However, numerous trials using DNA or viral vectors encoding the correct protein resulted in a general low efficacy. In the last years, chemically modified messenger RNA (cmRNA) has been proven to be a highly potent, pulmonary effective drug. We thus explored the expression of human (h)CFTR encoded by hCFTR cmRNA in vitro, analyzed by flow cytometry and Western Blot and its function with a YFP assay. Very similar effects could be observed in vivo when hCFTR cmRNA was assembled with Chitosan-coated PLGA to nanoparticles (NPs) and intratracheally (i.t.) or intravenously (i.v) injected, the latter one as an alternative administration route to circumvent the clogged airways of CF patients. This significantly improved lung function, which suggests that hCFTR cmRNA-NPs are a promising therapeutic option for CF patients independent of their CFTR genotype.


Active contour models (ACM) with level set evolution equations can be used successfully in segmentation of textured objects in a textured background, which is a challenge in image segmentation field. In this paper, a geometric ACM using color and Gabor features is proposed for textured image segmentation. The different orientations and scales of Gabor features are tested to select the major Gabor coefficients as texture features in our proposed geometric ACM. Moreover, a clustering method is also used to select the best color components of different conventional color spaces. Comparing to other ACM-based texture segmentation methods, our proposed ACM improves the accuracy of segmentation results in texture color images.


Background : Liver cirrhosis is on of health problems in Indonesia. Decreasing number of liver cells in cirrhosis cause some complications, one of which is malnutrition. In Indonesia, coconut milk is one of nutrients sources which quite popular. Coconut milk is thought to have hepatoprotective effect and be able to be eliminated by cirrhosis patients. A study about effect of coconut milk supplementation to nutritional status parameters in liver cirrhosis patients is really needed. Method: This study is a randomized controlled trial with parallel design. This study is conducted in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital Jakarta from February to March 2014. Patients are given late night snack (LNS) in form of agar that contained 25 grams of sugar and additional 50 cc coconut milk in group I (experimental group) and additional drink that contained 25 grams of sugar in group II (control group). Variables that measured to look changes in nutritional status between the two groups are triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), mid arm muscle circumference (MAMC), body mass index (BMI), body fat mass (BFM), prealbumin levels and serum albumin levels. Result s: A total of 35 patients with liver cirrhosis in this study to the completion. There are three parameters of nutritional status that increasing better in the group receiving a LNS from combination of carbohydrates and coconut milk, compared to group receiving carbohydrates alone. Those three parameters are mean (SD) MAMC with amount of 9.41 (6.43) mm in group I and 4.68 (5.76) mm in group II, p = 0.028. Median (range) BFM changes 0.67 (-2.47-3.80) kg in group I and 0.21 (-4.96-1.99) kg in group II, p=0,373. Mean (SD) serum albumin level change 0.17 (0.31) g/dL in group I and 0.07 (0.41) g/dL in group II, p = 0,426. There is an increase in the TSF measurement in all subjects after one month of LNS supplementation, but not found any significant differences of TSF changes between the two groups. While the measurement of BMI and serum prealbumin did not show any significant changes after treatment in all subjects research. Conclusion : One month LNS 200 kkal supplementation with combination of carbohydrates and coconut milk have a better effect on the improvement of nutritional status in patients with liver cirrhosis, compared to carbohydrates alone. This shown by the better parameters of MAMC, BFM and increased serum albumin in group I, compared to group II.


The regional programme "Sustainable Varmlandic Growth for the period 2004 – 2007" is a textbook example of the regional development policy that was developed since the early 1990s in Sweden. One can find many similarities with the work being done in this county and the theoretical explanations developed in the "new economic geography". This programme lends itself very well to an analysis of economic geography and gender mainstreaming in regional policy, which we perform in this paper. We build the paper on a qualitative study in the Varmland region in the late 2000s. The study was carried out through making close readings of the growth programme documents and interactive research together with thirty appointed women in senior positions in the region. Our analysis indicates that the process of developing the growth programme was influenced by homotopical networks (place-specific male homosocial practices), as the large partnership that was formed was dominated by men and people from central areas, reconstructing past power relations. We can also conclude that the male dominated clusters were prioritised in the regional growth programme, while potentially successful clusters and innovation systems which included large numbers of women, were to a large degree excluded. We also conclude that the growth programme was not gender mainstreamed. We suggest that the concept of allowing spaces can be applied in ordet to identify alternative development possibilities and for new initiatives to take place, e.g. implying to integrate the women-dominated clusters in as potential clusters to build regional development on. Allowing spaces, we suggest, could have a potential to integrate gender into the discussion of regional development.


With the Industrial Revolution, human beings have faced ecological problems. For this reason, the term "Sustainable Architecture'' came up in the architectural field. In 1987 the United Nations Environmental Commission redefined this term. Also in 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil the human being adopted some principles. When we look at the principles of "Sustainable Architecture", we can briefly refer to these principles as ''Natural Climatization'' or "Thermal Comfort". In spite of all this process, many architects still produce projects under the name of a ''Modern Architecture'' without considering the culture of life formed by climatic conditions in this process. Because of this, most of the users lost their confidence in ''Modern Architecture''. This is not "Sustainable Architecture''. However, the housing built in the past in the rural areas and urban, and even the official buildings are an open laboratory. When the laboratory in Cyprus is examined we can say that, ''the Porch Planned'' type houses, which is developed by the experiments in the Rural Area Housings during the period, started to build also in the cities. We see this development, arising from the climatic conditions, in the Government Agency buildings and Bureaucrats and Military Officers' houses that has built by the British Rule which commands the Cyprus Island during 1878-1960. In addition, porch-planned houses are also seen in the houses that C.M.C (Cyprus Mines Coorparation), which started its activities in 1914 due to the rich copper deposits in the Lefke region, built for its employees.Keywords: Environment. Solar Radiations. Sustainable Architecture. Thermal Comfort. Porch.


The secondary effluent of three WWTPs was treated by ozonation to investigate organic biodegradability enhancement. The bulk experimental method was used. Ozone adding dosage was controlled to be 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 mg/L by adjusting the adding time. Results showed, UV254 and SUVA(UV254/DOC)decreased with the increasing of the ozone dosage. When ozone adding dosage was 6 mg/L, UV254 and SUVA decreased about 54.4% and 56.6% respectively; while BOD5/COD, BDOC and BDOC/DOC were improved above 30%, 360% and 360% respectively. It could be concluded that suitable ozonation could improve the biodegradation of the organic substances in the secondary effluent. The organic substance was analyzed by the excitation-emission matrix (EEM) to investigate the variation regularity of organic matter changes of the ozoned and non-ozoned secondary effluent. The main organic substances of the secondary effluent in the plant were aromatic protein like substances and humic substances, ozone could significantly remove these types of organic substance.


Abstract This article examines what the published letter does as a form that is both intimate and public, and how it is particularly resonant when dealing with the silences and absences around queer and feminist artist of colour histories. Connections are made between three letters published in feminist and queer journals and books, written for readers who may include the writers' loved ones, friends, contemporaries, and future readers. These three letters are contained within the following publications: Surviving Art School (2016) by the group Collective Creativity, a QTIPOC artist group who made the publication as part of a wider project examining the history of Black British Art (members are: Evan Ifekoya, Raisa Kabur, Rudy Lowe and Raju Rage); a special issue of FAN (Feminist Arts News) edited by Lubaina Himid and Maud Sulter in 1988, the precursor to the more well-known collection Passion, edited by Sulter in 1990; ending with Himid's recent reflections on her curation in the 1980s through a series of 'Letters to Susan' published in the 2011 catalogue for the exhibition Thin Black Line(s) at Tate Britain. Through close examination of these examples, this article explores the particularities of the letter form, asking if it allows feminist and queer artists of colour to present their experiences in a manner that encourages all their readers to take part in the conversation, whilst prioritizing calls for other people of colour to respond. The article proposes that the published letter form keeps feminist histories alive and creates a counterpublic that speaks to and for a community that is imagined as both geographically and temporally diffuse.


In this paper, a hybrid topology that combines clamp-mode coupled inductor and voltage multiplier cell is proposed to provide high voltage gain, reduced switching losses and higher power density. The duty ratio of the converter is also maintained at safe limits while obtaining the required voltage gain. The topology has been designed for a 220V, lkW application operating from 12V input. The reactive elements are designed for a switching frequency of 50 kHz. Various operating modes, design equations, simulation and hardware results are presented. Hardware results prove that the converter performs satisfactorily.


A 64-year-old man who had a two year history of hairy cell leukemia became feverish with night sweats. Splenomegaly and enlarged nodes in the neck and in the anterior mediastinum were detected. Splenectomy was performed and multiple white nodules on a dark-red background were seen in the spleen. The white nodules represented a large cell malignant lymphoma; other areas of the spleen contained mononuclear cells typical in hairy cell leukemia. One of the hilar lymph nodes of the spleen was involved by malignant lymphoma, and the other eight lymph nodes were involved by hairy cell leukemia. The coincidence of the two diseases tends to favor the view that hairy cells are of lymphocytic origin.


Men under 20 and over 50 years of age used a free walk-in clinic of the Navy more than women of the same age. Women 20-50 years old used it more than men in this age group. This appears to be a result of the distribution of Navy health care facilities in the study area. Teenagers used the clinic as much as patients over 50. Sore throat, skin rash, abdominal pain, earache, and backache were the five most common complaints (302 per 1,000 patients.) These complaints and 19 other problems were responsible for 822 patient visits per 1,000 in a study of 2,272 consecutive new patient visits. Eighteen percent of all visits were return visits for a specific complaint. An analysis of complaints by body system showed that 21.9 percent were otolaryngological, 18.8 percent musculoskeletal, 12.5 per cent gastrointestinal, 9.7 percent dermatological, 8.7 percent cardiopulmonary, 7.8 percent genitourinary, 9.0 percent general (fatigue, nervousness, malaise, or weakness), and 11.6 percent other system (neurological, hematological, and miscellaneous). These data indicate that a physician's time might be used more efficiently in a walk-in setting and that training for such a clinic must be different from traditional training for such fields as internal medicine.


A Valuation-Based Index (e.g. NCREIF and IPD) requires a set of information that is normally difficult to be collected n the main issue being the availability of annual valuations. This issue is even worse when we want to construct historical indices for markets with thin information. In this paper we identify a subset of information that is sufficient to construct a historical index reflecting the same characteristics a VBI would show. We use initial purchase prices, last valuations and annual capital expenditures/receipts, by applying three main repeated-measures regression (i.e. RMR) methods coming from the literature and a simple backward looking model. We then compare each one of the newly constructed series with both actual VBIs and unsmoothed versions. Not all RMR methods show same statistics and we find that a backward looking methodology (i.e. BW) is to be preferred to other models. Our BW index tends to lead the actual VBI and the two series are highly dependent n with dependency measures increasing if the BW index is lagged by one year.


Putu, discovered nearly thirty-five years ago, remains one of only a few Alaskan sites with fluted points in an excavated context, possibly associated with radiocarbon dates. The potential importance of Putu cannot be disputed, for it also contains other technologies possibly Pleistocene in age, like blades and lanceolate points. This paper presents the results of a reanalysis of the artifact assemblage and its spatial context. The study shows that Putu probably contains at least three components: 1) a Mesa complex Paleoindian component dated to ca. 10,500 radiocarbon years B.P.; 2) a fluted point component, possibly associated with blades and, while essentially undated, very tentatively linked to dates of ca. 8,500 radiocarbon years B.P.; and 3) an historical era component. Making use of detailed provenience data from the original excavations, the reanalysis also demonstrates extensive post-depositional disturbance of the site, which places severe limits on the conclusions that can be drawn. As a result, interpretations of the site must be viewed with caution.


Despite the shallow convective envelopes of delta Scuti pulsators, solar-like oscillations are theoretically predicted to be excited in those stars as well. To search for such stochastic oscillations we organised a spectroscopic multi-site campaign for the bright, metal-rich delta Sct star rho Puppis. We obtained a total of 2763 high-resolution spectra using four telescopes. We discuss the reduction and analysis with the iodine cell technique, developed for searching for low-amplitude radial velocity variations, in the presence of high-amplitude variability. Furthermore, we have determined the angular diameter of rho Puppis to be 1.68 \pm 0.03 mas, translating into a radius of 3.52 \pm 0.07Rsun. Using this value, the frequency of maximum power of possible solar-like oscillations, is expected at ~43 \pm 2 c/d (498 \pm 23 muHz). The dominant delta Scuti-type pulsation mode of rho Puppis is known to be the radial fundamental mode which allows us to determine the mean density of the star, and therefore an expected large frequency separation of 2.73 c/d (31.6 muHz). We conclude that 1) the radial velocity amplitudes of the delta Scuti pulsations are different for different spectral lines; 2) we can exclude solar-like oscillations to be present in rho Puppis with an amplitude per radial mode larger than 0.5 m/s.


Seeking to capture the multi-layered, contradictory, nature of subjectivities and social positions through a framework which insists upon the complex, dynamic nature of the social, intersectionality feminism has inspired Marxist-Feminists to push the social-reproduction feminism paradigm beyond a narrow preoccupation with gender/class relations. Yet even its most politically radical articulations stop short of fully theorising the integrative logic they espouse. This article explores the roots of this under-theorisation, and suggests that a more fully integrative ontology informs certain formulations of social-reproduction feminism. In understanding the social as constituted by practical human activity whose object (the social and natural world) is organised capitalistically, social-reproduction feminism highlights the dialectical relationship between the capitalist whole and its differentiated parts. The challenge for Marxist-Feminism is to embrace this dialectical approach while building on the insights of intersectionality feminism to more convincingly capture the unity of a complex, diverse social whole.


: Sodium acetate has been shown to reverse the myocardial depression induced by halothane in vitro. The biochemical basis for this restoration of contractility has been located in the glycolytic pathway. The present study was designed to determine whether this antagonistic property of acetate also occurs in vivo. Dogs autonomically blocked with guanethidine, phenoxybenzamine, and atropine were sequentially anesthetized with halothane in O2 and N2O-O2-succinylcholine in a random pattern. All animals were given sodium acetate IV in amounts adequate to produce pharmacologically active levels. Myocardial performance was measured by LVdP/dtmax, LVPDP/dt/KPmax, and Vmax. Halothane effected a significant depression of these myocardial parameters. Acetate did not reverse this depressant effect of halothane. Acetate, a well-established peripheral vascular vasodilator, did decrease left ventricular and aortic pressures.


Although wild waterfowl are the main reservoir for low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIv), the environment plays a critical role for the circulation and persistence of AIv. LPAIv may persist for extended periods in cold environments, suggesting that waterfowl breeding areas in the northern hemisphere may be an important reservoir for AIv in contrast to the warmer southern wintering areas. We evaluated whether southern wetlands, with relatively small populations (thousands) of resident waterfowl, maintain AIv in the summer, prior to the arrival of millions of migratory birds. We collected water and fecal samples at ten wetlands in two regions (Yolo Bypass and Sacramento Valley) of the California Central Valley during three bi-weekly intervals beginning in late July, 2010. We detected AIv in 29/367 fecal samples (7.9%) and 12/597 water samples (2.0%) by matrix real time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR). We isolated two H3N8, two H2N3, and one H4N8 among rRT-PCR positive fecal samples but no live virus from water samples. Detection of AIv RNA in fecal samples was higher from wetlands in the Sacramento Valley (11.9%) than in the Yolo Bypass (0.0%), but no difference was found for water samples (2.7 vs. 1.7%, respectively). Our study showed that low densities of hosts and unfavorable environmental conditions did not prevent LPAIv circulation during summer in California wetlands. Our findings justify further investigations to understand AIv dynamics in resident waterfowl populations, compare AIv subtypes between migratory and resident waterfowl, and assess the importance of local AIv as a source of infection for migratory birds.


Phase unwrapping is an essential step for 3D shape measurement based on fringe projection. Temporal phase unwrapping methods can be implemented by analyzing the multiple patterns that encode the fringe order information. They can retrieve the fringe orders on a pixel-by-pixel basis and are less prone to error propagation compared with spatial methods. However, fringe orders errors may still occur due to noise, reflectivity fluctuation and discontinuity of the object surface. Such errors may exhibit an impulsive nature and result in significant error to the recovered absolute phase map. This has been exploited by several methods to correct the fringe order errors, e.g., by filtering the fringe order sequences in a line-by-line manner. In this paper, a new method is proposed to correct the errors associated with fringe orders for the temporal phase unwrapping. The scheme first makes use of the low-rankness property of the fringe order map and sparse nature of the impulsive fringe order errors to more effectively remove the impulsive errors by applying robust principal component analysis (RPCA) algorithm. Then the smoothness of the two-dimensional unwrapped phase map is examined and the residual fringe order errors are detected based on a discontinuity measure of the phase map and corrected by comparing phase difference between two adjacent pixels in the unwrapped phase. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated via numerical experiments.


Calculations of the arc channel radius using the arc current as the independent variable are presented and discussed. Previously reported experimental results for the expansion of approximately 300-A to approximately 3000-A discharges in 460-torr hydrogen are compared with the theoretical radius calculations presented. Errors introduced in the calculated channel radius are investigated by first assuming the channel conductivity to vary according to the Spitzer conductivity, and then assuming the channel conductivity to be constant and comparing the numerical results of these two methods with the experimentally measured values of channel radius. It is shown that according to Hugoniot adiabatics, the apparent relationship between the arc channel pressure and the directed energy of the shock front is given by the pressure-velocity relationship of the gas leaving the shock front instead of the more commonly used pressure-velocity relationship for the gas entering the shock front. >


Building on the picture of post-war Anglo-Danish documentary collaboration established in the previous chapter, this chapter examines three cases of international collaboration in which Dansk Kulturfilm and Ministeriernes Filmudvalg were involved in the late 1940s and 1950s. They Guide You Across (Ingolf Boisen, 1949) was commissioned to showcase Scandinavian cooperation in the realm of aviation (SAS) and was adopted by the newly-established United Nations Film Board. The complexities of this film's production, funding and distribution are illustrative of the activities of the UN Film Board in its first years of operation. The second case study considers Alle mine Skibe (All My Ships, Theodor Christensen, 1951) as an example of a film commissioned and funded under the auspices of the Marshall Plan. This US initiative sponsored informational films across Europe, emphasising national solutions to post-war reconstruction. The third case study, Bent Barfod's animated film Noget om Norden (Somethin' about Scandinavia, 1956) explains Nordic cooperation for an international audience, but ironically exposed some gaps in inter-Nordic collaboration in the realm of film.


The vulnerability of the Lottery Ticket Hypothesis has not been studied from the purview of Membership Inference Attacks. Through this work, we are the first to empirically show that the lottery ticket networks are equally vulnerable to membership inference attacks. A Membership Inference Attack (MIA) is the process of determining whether a data sample belongs to a training set of a trained model or not. Membership Inference Attacks could leak critical information about the training data that can be used for targeted attacks. Recent deep learning models often have very large memory footprints and a high computational cost associated with training and drawing inferences. Lottery Ticket Hypothesis is used to prune the networks to find smaller sub-networks that at least match the performance of the original model in terms of test accuracy in a similar number of iterations. We used CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and ImageNet datasets to perform image classification tasks and observe that the attack accuracies are similar. We also see that the attack accuracy varies directly according to the number of classes in the dataset and the sparsity of the network. We demonstrate that these attacks are transferable across models with high accuracy.


Abstract. The fossil record of mammal dentition provides crucial insight into key ecological and functional transitions throughout mammalian evolutionary history. For cetaceans, both extant clades differ markedly from their stem ancestors; neither retains the differentiated dentition or the tribosphenic molars characteristic of Mammalia. We used quantitative measures of dental complexity across fossil and living cetaceans to identify a trend toward dental simplicity through the Neogene. Both extant cetacean clades depart from the ancestral mammalian condition and concurrently converge upon a reduced and simplified dentition; modern mysticetes all have become entirely edentulous (at birth), and living odontocetes possess teeth as single-rooted, conical pegs. These two parallel trends accompany major shifts in feeding strategy (i.e., filter feeding in mysticetes and echolocation in odontocetes), suggesting that these evolutionary innovations for prey acquisition are enabling factors for the loss of prey processing and subsequent convergence on dental simplification.


Conditional lethality of the Escherichia coli polA12 uvrE502 double mutant may be overcome by a mutation that has been termed polA350. The polA350 mutation restored the polymerizing activity of deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase I at 42 C in the polA12 mutant and partially suppressed ultraviolet (UV) and methylmethane sulfonate sensitivities of the polA12. Mapping experiments have located polA350 between metE and polA12, very close to the latter. The strain carrying polA12 polA350 and recB21 was viable at 42 C. The effects of the recB21 and polA12 polA350 combination on the UV sensitivity were additive. The triple mutant polA12 polA350 uvrE502 was more UV sensitive than the single uvrE502 mutant.


This paper introduces a design method using psychophysiological research output as an inspiration means for the design of products taking user's Kansei highly into consideration. The development of this method is itself a part of a series of design methods based on the collaboration of the research fields of psychophysiology and design. As case studies, two design projects following this process are introduced. Firstly, the colourful rain umbrella lets its user to experience grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Secondly, the sensorial socialising smartphone informs about the user's digital social network activity by the means of warmth, a non-invasive tactile technique. Informed by psychophysiological literature, this design is shown to be not only informational of the network activity, but also motivational towards greater social experience. This approach enables psychophysiology not only to inform and support design ideation, but also to enrich the value of the design concept by bringing new arguments.


The rise of socially targeted marketing suggests that decisions made by consumers can be predicted not only from their personal tastes and characteristics, but also from the decisions of people who are close to them in their networks. One obstacle to consider is that there may be several different measures for closeness that are appropriate, either through different types of friendships, or different functions of distance on one kind of friendship, where only a subset of these networks may actually be relevant. Another is that these decisions are often binary and more difficult to model with conventional approaches, both conceptually and computationally. To address these issues, we present a hierarchical auto-probit model for individual binary outcomes that uses and extends the machinery of the auto-probit method for binary data. We demonstrate the behavior of the parameters estimated by the multiple network-regime auto-probit model (m-NAP) under various sensitivity conditions, such as the impact of the prior distribution and the nature of the structure of the network. We also demonstrate several examples of correlated binary data outcomes in networks of interest to information systems, including the adoption of caller ring-back tones, whose use is governed by direct connection but explained by additional network topologies.


The role of radio and radar astronomy in space exploration is discussed and compared with present and future techniques that use electromagnetic waves of all lengths, gravity waves, atomic particles, etc. A brief description of the universe is then given with the aid of a series of scale drawings, and the possible ranges of the different techniques are considered. The place of space probes and manned space travel in space exploration is also mentioned. It is pointed out that radio astronomy is not only the most promising technique presently available for observing the most distant parts of our universe but it may be the only one.


One substudy of the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) is a randomized trial examining surgery versus radiation therapy for ocular melanoma. To understand the perspective of the physician investigators, a survey of the 101 COMS physicians from 29 major institutions in the United States and Canada was completed before randomization of the first patient. A 95% response rate was obtained, and follow-up interviews were conducted with 87% of the physicians. The study found that (1) COMS physicians identified significant differences between incentives and disincentives to participate in any trial compared with participating in COMS, (2) COMS physicians could be differentiated and had a stronger clinical rather than research orientation, and (3) COMS physicians exhibited a high intention to recruit an identifiable subset of eligible patients. These data suggest that continued support of individual investigators and a close examination of incentives and disincentives to physician participation would be useful in enhancing accrual in this study. A follow-up of this group is planned throughout the anticipated ten-year duration of patient recruitment of this COMS trial.


Subliminal information has been suggested to facilitate insight problem solving. The present study examined whether subliminal hints may influence not only retention of the goals but also planning of sequential steps required to solve the nine-dot problem. Using continuous flash suppression, participants were subliminally presented with either an image depicting the entire solution of the problem, the three steps to solve the problem in a sequential order, or an image of the nine dots that does not involve solution of the problem. Participants presented with the entire solution of the problem tended to show better solution performance and greater relaxation of constraints than those in the latter two conditions, whose performance failed to significantly differ from each other. These results indicate that subliminal information may be stored as a global and static visuo-spatial representation to influence solution but may not involve planning of each step to achieve insight problem solving.


The new IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks defines a specification for an infrared physical layer. This article gives an overview of infrared technology and describes the IEEE 802.11 specification in detail, presenting a historical perspective of its development. The infrared physical layer was designed for diffuse systems supporting two data rates (1 and 2 Mb/s) and includes provisions for a smooth migration to higher data rates. The specification is suitable for low-cost transceivers but allows interoperability with higher-performance systems. The main application envisaged for IEEE 802.11 infrared wireless local area networks is ad hoc networks.


Delivery of drugs to sites of disease can be hampered by the presence of cellular barriers in the human body. The presence of such barriers reduces the therapeutic activity of drugs on the disease target. The barrier present between the bloodstream and the brain for instance, stringently controls what goes into the brain and what not. Diseases that take place in such enclosed systems may be difficult to reach for pharmaceutical compounds because of these barriers and this can reduce their therapeutic effectivity. In this thesis we have described the development of molecules that interact with specific barriers in the human body and that mediate translocation across these barriers. As platform we used antibodies from the llama. Llama antibodies have several favourable properties as compared with other mammalian antibodies. The llama antibody platform was used in the described studies to make entities capable of translocating across cellular barriers. Part of the described studies has looked at the removal of compounds from the body by efflux via the intestinal wall (a cellular barrier). We developed molecules which can interact specifically with that barrier and mediate the passage of unwanted molecules. These molecules can be used for example for the removal of viruses that have infected the body. Fusion of the translocation molecules with compounds that bind viruses would enable the resulting compounds to both bind the virus and mediate its translocation across the intestinal wall. Such therapeutic strategies could tackle the infections of persistent viruses such as HIV. The other part of the described studies has looked at the delivery of blood borne compounds across the blood brain barrier to the central nervous system. Efficient platforms that mediate brain delivery from the bloodstream are scarce/ non-existent. We found molecules which have favourable properties in artificial model systems mimicking the blood-brain barrier. Application of these molecules to mice showed that there was a significant proportion of the injected dose able to accumulate in the brain, which indicates that our molecules indeed can target the brain. Further genetic adaptation of the antibodies might improve the translocation process to the brain environment and deliver a bigger pool of therapeutics to the site of disease. Development of these molecules might yield entities capable of delivering therapeutically relevant compounds to the brain. At the moment, brain delivery of pharmaceuticals is still a feature that is hardly possible without invasive procedures. Due to this aberrant delivery, there is no proper treatment possible of diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and brain cancer. We hope that with further development, our molecules will be able to give a solution to the brain delivery problem and thereby aid in the treatment of brain afflictions. This thesis has given examples of how antibodies from the llama can be used as retargeting agents. We have shown that they can be designed to translocate across cellular barriers and to take along cargo in this process. Development of the antibodies may yield molecules which can help in the diagnosis and treatment of several diseases.


A decline in insulin sensitivity is associated with aging, inactivity, and obesity. The effects of exercise training on glucose homeostasis independent of weight loss in older glucose-intolerant individuals are not well established. We examined the effects of exercise training on oral glucose tolerance, insulin action, and concentration of the GLUT-4 glucose transporters in skeletal muscle. Exercise training at 50 and 75% of heart rate reserve was performed for 12 wk in 18 individuals (age = 64 +/- 2, body fat = 37.0 +/- 1.5%). Peripheral insulin action was determined 96 h after the last exercise bout using a two-step hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic glucose clamp (insulin = 192 and 708 pmol/l). Percent body fat and fat-free mass (FFM) were unchanged with training. Diet composition, assessed by diet record, did not change over the 12 wk. Improved oral glucose tolerance was observed, as exhibited by lower plasma glucose concentrations after training (P < 0.05), whereas plasma insulin response remained unchanged. The rate of glucose disposal was unchanged during the low insulin concentration but increased 11.0% at the high insulin concentration (P < 0.05) after training (54.4 +/- 4.4 vs. 60.4 +/- 5.5 mumol.kg FFM-1.min-1). Skeletal muscle glycogen and GLUT-4 concentration increased 24 and 60%, respectively, with training. There was no direct relationship between the change in GLUT-4 protein and the change in glucose disposal rate. These findings demonstrate that chronic exercise training without changes in body composition improves peripheral insulin action in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Liver mitochondrial cardiolipin (CL) is distinguished from other phospholipids by the presence of linoleoyl in almost all molecular species, and the biosynthesis of these species is not yet understood. The present study was carried out in order to test the hypothesis that the linoleoyl proportion of CL may be specifically enriched by a deacylation-reacylation cycle. Incorporation of [14C]glycerol 3-phosphate into the metabolites of the CL pathway was accompanied by formation of 14C-labelled monolyso- and dilyso-CL. Labelling of dilyso-CL was increased or decreased by stimulation or inhibition respectively of mitochondrial phospholipase A2. These data suggest a rapid deacylation of newly formed [14C]CL by phospholipase A2, whereas endogenous mitochondrial CL was very resistant to hydrolytic degradation. Unlike dilyso-CL, monolyso-CL could be reacylated by [14C]linoleoyl residues. [14C]Linoleoyl incorporation into CL was also observed when exogenous CL was added instead of monolyso-CL, thus indicating the concerted action of de- and re-acylation. Although 1-palmitoyl-2-[14C]linoleoyl-phosphatidylcholine was a suitable acyl donor under experimental conditions, the reaction was not a transacylation but required splitting of [14C]linoleic acid from phosphatidylcholine and formation of [14C]linoleoyl-CoA as an intermediate. The [14C]linoleoyl was mainly bound to the sn-2(2") position of CL, and a small portion (about 20%) to the sn-1(1") position. It is concluded that a cycle, comprising CL deacylation and monolyso-CL reacylation by linoleoyl-CoA, provides a potential mechanism for the remodelling of molecular species of newly formed CL.


Interest in personality is growing in a wide range of disciplines, but only in a few systems it is possible to assess the survival value of personality. Field studies looking at the relationship between personality and survival value early in life are greatly hampered by the fact that personality can at present only be assessed after individuals become independent from their parents. In passerines, for example, this is often after a period of intensive selection for the survival on fledglings. The main aim of this study is therefore to develop a method to measure personality before this period of selection. For this purpose, we developed the handling stress (HS) test. We measured HS in 14-d-old great tit nestlings by counting the number of breast movements (breath rate) in four subsequent 15-s bouts for 1 min; before and after they were socially isolated from their siblings for 15 min. To calculate the repeatability of HS, we repeated the test 6 mo later. To assess the relationship between HS and exploratory behaviour, we correlated the outcome of both tests. We ran tests both on birds of lines selected for extreme personality and on wild birds from a natural population. We found that birds selected for fast exploration reacted more to HS compared with birds selected for slow exploration and that HS was repeatable in different life phases. We confirmed this by finding an increase in the HS with increasing exploratory scores in wild birds. These results show that we can use the HS test as a measurement of personality, making it a potential tool for studying the relationship between personality and survival value early in life.


The introduction of membrane filtration during infant milk formula (IMF) processing represents an innovative approach to increasing native protein content compared to standard IMF. The objective of this study was to compare IMF powder produced using a standard process and IMF produced from raw bovine skim milk with added whey protein isolate using a split-stream process incorporating a ceramic 1.4 μm filter followed by a polyvinylidene difluoride polymeric 0.2 μm filter. Retentates from 0.2 μm microfiltration (MF) were blended with fat, lactose, and minerals and subsequently high-temperature treated (125 °C × 5 s). The heat-treated retentate was merged with the permeate from the 0.2 μm MF, homogenised, and spray-dried (referred to as membrane-filtered IMF or MEM-IMF). A control IMF was also produced using standard treatment (referred to as high-temperature IMF or HT-IMF) without membrane filtration. Both IMF products were characterised by high-performance liquid chromatography, particle size, and enzyme activity assays. MEM-IMF powder had significantly higher amounts of native (1.1 g per 100 g powder) and monomeric (1.48 g per 100 g powder) whey proteins when compared to 0.18 and 0.46 g per 100 g powder in HT-IMF, respectively. MEM-IMF also exhibited a lower degree of protein aggregation compared to HT-IMF. Comparison of microbial and Maillard by-products markers demonstrated that a safe IMF product could be produced at scale, although levels of the Maillard by-product marker, carboxymethyl-lysine, were not significantly reduced in MEM-IMF. This study demonstrates how membrane filtration can be used to retain native proteins during IMF manufacture.


Insect pests in grain storages can cause severe financial losses. Infested grain needs to be treated and can be sold only with lower profit. Intense infestation can lead to contamination with mycotoxins and total loss of stock. Therefore, an early detection of insect storage pests is of great importance to farmers and storage keepers but is difficult to obtain in large amounts of grain. Besides conventional detection methods such as insect traps and monitoring of temperature and relative humidity, acoustic monitoring can identify insect infestation. Insects in grain and other stored products produce sounds at a low level during movement and feeding activity. A new acoustic system was developed as part of the project "InsectTap" to increase the detectability of insect sounds. Highly sensitive microphones were installed inside a metal tube that increased the surface on which beetle signals could be detected. Additionally, the tube worked as a beetle trap recording all sounds from even one single beetle inside the trap. The tube system was tested in 1 and 8 m3 boxes filled with wheat. Infestation could be detected at a very early stage about 8 weeks before a temperature rise, or beetles at the grain surface indicated an infestation. In the next step, this "Beetle Sound Tube"-System will be installed in different grain silos aiming for automatic early detection and specific identification of infestation. The information provided to the farmer or storage 12th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection (IWCSPP) in Berlin, Germany, October 7-11, 2018 Julius-Kühn-Archiv 463 329 keeper allows early and specific treatment to reduce losses. Additionally, the introduction of parasitoids via the tube system will be tested to increase the efficacy of biological control.


A 32-year-old recent Russian immigrant, mother of a 20-month-old son, presented with right hip pain. She had a history of peptic ulcer disease and a positive Helicobacter pylori serology. Her pain was not relieved by analgesics. Spine and pelvic films were unremarkable. A bone scan was consistent with metastatic disease. She underwent several diagnostic tests including computed tomography of the chest and abdomen, magnetic resonance imaging of the spine, mammogram, and breast ultrasound. A bone marrow biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma, primary site unknown. An upper endoscopy performed eight weeks after her initial presentation showed an ulcerating gastric carcinoma. She was treated with chemotherapy but died two months after diagnosis. Our patient had an uncommon presentation of a common disease. Recognizing her country of origin, and other risk factors, may have facilitated an earlier diagnosis.


Lack of transparency in securitization transactions contributed significantly to the current global financial crisis. This article proposes an incentive-compatible mechanism for future securitization transactions that would increase transparency: financial claims with "fingerprints." This mechanism would allow market participants at each stage of the securitization process to easily obtain full information about the underlying original risks and the superior claims that need to be satisfied before receiving their own payoffs. The mechanism would considerably enhance transparency in securitization transactions at the expense of some transaction costs. In 2007, the U.S. housing market bubble burst, triggering a financial crisis that resulted in a worldwide recession. Often mentioned as contributors to the crisis are the securitization of mortgages and the repackaging, or tranching, of mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). MBSs and especially CDOs exhibit a large degree of opaqueness (i.e., market participants often have limited information about the true nature of the risks of the underlying mortgages). Every additional repackaging has the potential for even more information loss. In the run-up to the crisis, this situation caused the market for these securities to dry up. Furthermore, banks that held these opaque securities faced major refinancing problems. The apparent collapse of the market for MBSs has led many policymakers and commentators to demand stricter regulation of transactions and compulsory trading of asset-backed securities at stock exchanges. Some have even called for a complete ban on MBSs. We propose an incentive-compatible mechanism that takes "fingerprints" of the original mortgages and of MBS and CDO transactions. By fingerprints, we mean a complete record of information concerning the original mortgage transactions and all subsequent securitizations of those mortgages. This mechanism would solve many of the markets' problems without stricter regulation and without impeding the potential for innovation in the securitization markets. We believe that our proposed mechanism would offer advantages at all stages of the securitization process, albeit with some possibly minor transaction costs. Our mechanism is related to recent proposals by several researchers, including suggestions to create a global risk map and a global credit register, to increase and standardize information on mortgages, and to set up a clearinghouse to support the regulatory authorities. Some proposals address systemic risks stemming from interbank relationships, counterparty risk, and the opaqueness of financial institutions. Our proposal, however, is targeted at the specific, but important, market segment of mortgage-backed securities that has experienced market failure. Our proposal is extensive, covering transparency for MBS and CDO payment structures. Moreover, our proposal does not entail stricter regulation of MBSs and CDOs; instead, it creates incentives for market participants to enhance transparency and thus keep alive the free market and its innovative forces. Despite our nonregulatory approach, our mechanism could be an integral part of a global risk map. Our proposal is based on an idea put forward by Harry Markowitz, who suggested setting up, as part of efforts to address the immediate problems of the financial crisis, a regulatory body that would conduct an in-depth census of institutions that own securitized assets. The information collected would encompass detailed data on security claim structures and underlying mortgage risks. Markowitz also suggested that the information be used to solve some of the more severe problems of the current crisis—no confidence in financial institutions that hold securitized assets and no trade in "toxic assets." Under our proposal, a systematic collection of securitization transaction data could become the cornerstone of an incentive-compatible mechanism in securitization transactions and thus foster a revival of securitization markets without new regulations.


Pulse decomposition has been proven to be efficient to analyze complicated signals and it is introduced into the photo-acoustic and thermo-acoustic tomography to eliminate reconstruction distortions caused by negative lobes. During image reconstruction, negative lobes bring errors in the estimation of acoustic pulse amplitude, which is closely related to the distribution of absorption coefficient. The negative lobe error degrades imaging quality seriously in limited-view conditions because it cannot be offset so well as in full-view conditions. Therefore, a pulse decomposition formula is provided with detailed deduction to eliminate the negative lobe error and is incorporated into the popular delay-and-sum method for better reconstructing the image without additional complicated computation. Numerical experiments show that the pulse decomposition improves the image quality obviously in the limited-view conditions, such as separating adjacent absorbers, discovering a small absorber despite disturbance from a big absorber nearby, etc.


This paper deals with the question of selectivity of missing data on income questions in large panel surveys due to item-non-response and with imputation as one alternative strategy to cope with this issue. In contrast to cross-section surveys, the imputation of missing values in panel data can profit from longitudinal information which is available for the very same observation units from other points in time. The "row-and-column imputation procedure" developed by Little & Su (1989) considers longitudinal as well as cross-sectional information in the imputation process. This procedure is applied to the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP) when deriving annual income variables, complemented by purely crosssectional techniques. Based on the SOEP, our empirical work starts with a description of the overall incidence of imputation and its relevance given by imputed income as a percentage share of the total income mass: e.g. while 21 % of all observations have at least one missing income component of their pre-tax post-transfer income, 9 % of the overall income mass is imputed. However, this picture varies considerably for more recent sub-samples of the panel survey. Secondly, we analyze the respective impact of imputation on the personal distribution of income as well as on results of income mobility. When comparing income inequality measures based only on truly observed information to those derived from all (i.e., observed and imputed) observations, we find an increase in inequality due to imputation and this effect appears to be relevant in both tails of the distribution, although somewhat more prominent among higher incomes. Longitudinal analyses show firstly a positive correlation of item-non-response on income data over time, but also provide evidence of item-non-response as being a predictor of subsequent unit-non-response. Applying various income mobility indicators there is a robust picture about income mobility being understated using truly observed information only. Finally, multivariate models show that survey-related factors (number of interviews, interview mode) as well as indicators for variability in income receipt (due to increased complexity of household structure and income composition) are significantly correlated with item-nonresponse. In conclusion, our empirical results based on the German SOEP indicate the selectivity of item-non-response on income questions in social surveys and push the necessity for adequate imputation.


The surface energy balance algorithm for land (SEBAL) has been successfully applied to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) and yield at different spatial scales. However, ET and yield patterns have never been investigated under highly heterogeneous conditions. We applied SEBAL in a salt-affected and water-stressed maize field located at the margin of the Venice Lagoon, Italy, using Landsat images. SEBAL results were compared with estimates of evapotranspiration by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) method (ETc) and three-dimensional soil-plant simulations. The biomass production routine in SEBAL was then tested using spatially distributed crop yield measurements and the outcomes of a soil-plant numerical model. The results show good agreement between SEBAL evapotranspiration and ETc. Instantaneous ET simulated by SEBAL is also consistent with the soil-plant model results (R2 = 0.7047 for 2011 and R2 = 0.6689 for 2012). Conversely, yield predictions (6.4 t/ha in 2011 and 3.47 t/ha in 2012) are in good agreement with observations (8.64 t/ha and 3.86 t/ha, respectively) only in 2012 and the comparison with soil-plant simulations (8.69 t/ha and 5.49 t/ha) is poor. In general, SEBAL underestimates land productivity in contrast to the soil-plant model that overestimates yield in dry years. SEBAL provides accurate predictions under stress conditions due to the fact that it does not require knowledge of the soil/root characteristics.


Bidirectionality, forward and backward information flow, is introduced in neural networks to produce two-way associative search for stored stimulus-response associations (A(i),B(i)). Two fields of neurons, F(A) and F(B), are connected by an n x p synaptic marix M. Passing information through M gives one direction, passing information through its transpose M(T) gives the other. Every matrix is bidirectionally stable for bivalent and for continuous neurons. Paired data (A(i),B(i)) are encoded in M by summing bipolar correlation matrices. The bidirectional associative memory (BAM) behaves as a two-layer hierarchy of symmetrically connected neurons. When the neurons in F(A) and F(B) are activated, the network quickly evolves to a stable state of twopattern reverberation, or pseudoadaptive resonance, for every connection topology M. The stable reverberation corresponds to a system energy local minimum. An adaptive BAM allows M to rapidly learn associations without supervision. Stable short-term memory reverberations across F(A) and F(B) gradually seep pattern information into the long-term memory connections M, allowing input associations (A(i),B(i)) to dig their own energy wells in the network state space. The BAM correlation encoding scheme is extended to a general Hebbian learning law. Then every BAM adaptively resonates in the sense that all nodes and edges quickly equilibrate in a system energy local minimum. A sampling adaptive BAM results when many more training samples are presented than there are neurons in F(B) and F(B), but presented for brief pulses of learning, not allowing learning to fully or nearly converge. Learning tends to improve with sample size. Sampling adaptive BAMs can learn some simple continuous mappings and can rapidly abstract bivalent associations from several noisy gray-scale samples.


Dehalobacter sp. strain UNSWDHB can dechlorinate up to 4 mM trichloromethane at a rate of 0.1 mM per day to dichloromethane and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1 mM, 0.1 mM per day) with the unprecedented product profile of 1,2-dichloroethane and vinyl chloride. 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 1,1-dichloroethane were slowly utilized by strain UNSWDHB and were not completely removed, with minimum threshold concentrations of 0.12 mM and 0.07 mM respectively under growth conditions. Enzyme kinetic experiments confirmed strong substrate affinity for trichloromethane and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (Km  = 30 and 62 µM respectively) and poor substrate affinity for 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 1,1-dichloroethane (Km  = 238 and 837 µM respectively). Comparison of enzyme kinetic and growth data with other trichloromethane respiring organisms (Dehalobacter sp. strain CF and Desulfitobacterium sp. strain PR) suggests an adaptation of strain UNSWDHB to trichloromethane. The trichloromethane RDase (TmrA) expressed by strain UNSWDHB was identified by BN-PAGE and functionally characterized. Amino acid comparison of homologous RDases from all three organisms revealed only six significant amino acid substitutions/deletions, which are likely to be crucial for substrate specificity. Furthermore, strain UNSWDHB was shown to grow without exogenous supply of cobalamin confirming genomic-based predictions of a fully functional cobalamin synthetic pathway.


With the introduction of the original prontosil (the hydrochloride of 4-sulfamido-2', 4'-diaminoazobenzene) by Domagk1and the confirmation of the action of sulfanilamide and its derivatives by other observers,2a new era in chemotherapy was begun. The discovery of sulfanilamide as the effective principle in the prontosil molecule and the widespread use of this drug in treatment of infections other than those due to the hemolytic streptococcus quickly followed. A further impetus was given to progress in this renascent field in 1938 by the clinical introduction of sulfapyridine (2-[paraaminobenzenesulfonamido] pyridine) by Whitby,3who demonstrated its striking efficacy in treatment not only of infections due to the pneumococcus but also of those due to the hemolytic streptococcus. These initial observations of Whitby, like those of Domagk, were quickly and amply confirmed in the last several years by numerous workers.4 Despite this rapid advance in the treatment of various


Both acoustics and electromagnetism represent measurable fields in terms of dynamical potential fields. Electromagnetic force-fields form a spacetime bivector that is represented by a dynamical energy-momentum 4-vector potential field. Acoustic pressure and velocity fields form an energy-momentum density 4-vector field that is represented by a dynamical action scalar potential field. Surprisingly, standard field theory analyses of spin angular momentum based on these traditional potential representations contradict recent experiments, which motivates a careful reassessment of both theories. We analyze extensions of both theories that use the full geometric structure of spacetime to respect essential symmetries enforced by vacuum wave propagation. The resulting extensions are geometrically complete and phase-invariant (i.e., dual-symmetric) formulations that span all five grades of spacetime, with dynamical potentials and measurable fields spanning complementary grades that are related by a spacetime vector derivative (i.e., the quantum Dirac operator). These complete representations correct the equations of motion, energy-momentum tensors, forces experienced by probes, Lagrangian densities, and allowed gauge freedoms, while making manifest the deep structural connections to relativistic quantum field theories. Finally, we discuss the implications of these corrections to experimental tests.


An ad-hoc network is a multi-hop wireless network where all nodes cooperatively maintain network connectivity without a centralized infrastructure. If these nodes change their positions dynamically, it is called a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET). Since the network topology changes frequently, efficient adaptive routing protocols such as AODV, DSR, and NTP are used. As the network is wireless, security becomes the major issue in Mobile Ad hoc Networks. Some of the attacks such as modification, fabrication, impersonation and denial of service attacks are due to misbehavior of malicious nodes, which disrupts the transmission. To avoid such attacks some of cryptographic algorithms and key management schemes are used. There are some existing security protocols such as ARAN, SAODV and SEAD etc and will be compared with the proposed algorithm. In this paper, new key management scheme is implemented in NTP protocol, since Node Transition Probability (NTP) based algorithm provides maximum utilization of bandwidth during heavy traffic with less overhead. NTP determines stable routes using received power, but the packet delivery cannot be guaranteed since it is a non secured protocol. The proposal detects the modification, impersonation attacks and TTL attacks and, avoids the effects of malicious node and determines appropriate measures to discard such malicious nodes in dynamic condition.


The hot deformation behaviors of a ferritic spheroidal cast iron (FSCI) have been investigated by compression testing on a Gleeble 3500 machine of the DSI-YSU Joint Laboratory. The temperature rang was from 1073K to 1273K and strain rate from 10-3 to 1 s-1. The total true stain was 0.7. The result shows that the flow curves obtained are typical of dynamic recrystallization processes. The plots of either the natural logarithms of the corresponding temperature or the natural logarithms of strain rate against the hyperbolic of flow stresses satisfy straight line relationships over the experimental data, indicating that the hot compression of the FSCI is thermally activated. The material constants, including activation energy 0H as 240.8 kJ/mol, stress-level coefficient α as 1.352×10-8 Pa-1, stress exponential n as 3.9937, structural factor A as 5.64×108 s-1, are derived .


Abstract In the dry environments of high-temperature gas reactors, aerosols and dust particles can be highly nonspherical and even chainlike agglomerates, and are highly charged. To elucidate the role of both shape and charge on particle dynamics, we have explored numerical solutions of the Poisson equation for arbitrary geometries. In this paper, we describe the general computational framework, and report results for condensation/evaporation for several different cases, including chainlike agglomerates. We find that the shape factor based on the volume equivalent sphere approximation underestimates the actual condensation rate on the agglomerate, in addition to not accounting for the local condensation rates.


The use of virtual reality (VR) techniques for industrial training provides a safe and cost effective solution that contributes to increased engagement and knowledge retention levels. However, the process of experiential learning in a virtual world without biophysical constraints might contribute to muscle strain and discomfort, if ergonomic risk factors are not considered in advance. Under this scope, we have developed a digital platform which employs extended reality (XR) technologies for the creation and delivery of industrial training programs, by taking into account the users and workplace specificities through the adaptation of the 3D virtual world to the real environment. Our conceptual framework is composed of several inter-related modules: 1) the XR tutorial creation module, for automatic recognition of the sequence of actions composing a complex scenario while this is demonstrated by the educator in VR, 2) the XR tutorial execution module, for the delivery of visually guided and personalized XR training experiences, 3) the digital human model (DHM) based simulation module for creation and demonstration of job task simulations avoiding the need of an actual user and 4) the biophysics assessment module for ergonomics analysis given the input received from the other modules. Three-dimensional reconstruction and aligned projection of the objects situated in the real scene facilitated the imposition of inherent physical constraints, thereby allowed to seamlessly blend the virtual with the real world without losing the sense of presence.


Foreland of large mountains ranges with their fold-and-thrust belt and flexural basin provide long and detailed records of the history of mountain growth. The Junggar basin, north of the Tian Shan, Western China, is a unique case of examples where the development of folding and rate of sedimentation in the flexural basin can be unravelled from the sedimentary record. The Tianshan is a 2500 km long Est-west mountain belt that dominated the central Asia topography with summit higher than 7000 m. The range was originally built during Devonian to Carboniferous, then reactivated during Cenozoic by the India-Asia collision. On both its northern and southern sides the Tianshan present piedmonts composed by series of fold and thrust belts with excellent surface exposures. Deep structures are constrained by seismic lines run for gas and oil exploration. We combine structural model of the piedmont and foreland basin, with chronological constraints on the stratigraphy derived from magnetostratigraphic sections to determine recent deformation and erosion rates.


The article studies the characteristics of participatory governance on the level of micro-structures. The analysis of micro-structures allows for better understanding the strengths and weaknesses of participatory discourse. A detailed analysis of communicative structures in partici atory decision-making procedures provides insight into the process of social positioning. The rather strict legal framework in such procedures promotes both inclusive and exclusive dynamics in the process of communication. Participation per se does not guarantee an advance in democratic culture nor is it as such suited to cope with the "democratic deficit" often mentioned in scholarly and political debate. Against this empirical background the article explores new ways for democratic engagement, particularly in the governance of science and technology. In every case of participatory governance the precise function of participation should be clarified with respect to the particular procedure and with respect to the constitutional and legal framework. The competent authority should inform the public about the legal conditions underlying the case, for example in a local information forum. The implementation of "alternative" institutional forms for citizen participation in administrative decision-making should be prepared and accompanied by a precise scientific analysis of the function and structure of participation in the particular model.


An experimental study of the generation of runaway electrons in TEXTOR has been performed. From the infrared synchrotron radiation emitted by relativistic electrons, the number of runaway electrons can be obtained as a function of time. In low density discharges (ne < 1 × 1019 cm-3) runaways are created throughout the discharge and not predominantly in-the startup phase, From the exponential increase in the runaway population and the ongoing runaway production after the density is increased, it is concluded that the secondary generation, i.e. the creation of runaways through close collisions of already existing runaways with thermal electrons, provides an essential contribution to the runaway production. The effective avalanche time of this secondary process is determined to be teff = 0.9 ± 0.2 s


Electricity network resources are frequently identified within different power systems by inhomogeneous names and identities due to the legacy of their administration by different utility business domains. The IEC 61970 Common Information Model (CIM) enables network modeling to reflect the reality of multiple names for unique network resources. However this issue presents a serious challenge to the integrity of a shared CIM repository that has the task of maintaining a resource manifest, linking network resources to master identities, when unique network resources may have multiple names and identities derived from different power system models and other power system applications. The current approach, using CIM 15, is to manage multiple resource names within a singular CIM namespace utilizing the CIM " IdentifiedObject " and " Name " classes. We compare this approach to one using additional namespaces relating to different power systems, similar to the practice used in CIM extensions, in order to more clearly identify the genealogy of a network resource, provide faster model import times and a simpler means of supporting the relationship between multiple resource names and identities and a master resource identity.


The "Adopt a Bacterium" project is based on the use of social network as a tool in Microbiology undergraduate education, improving student learning and encouraging students to participate in collaborative learning. The approach involves active participation of both students and teachers, emphasizing knowledge exchange, based on widely used social media. Students were organized in groups and asked to adopt a specific bacterial genus and, subsequently, submit posts about "adopted genus". The formative assessment is based on posting information on Facebook®, and the summative assessment involves presentation of seminars about the adopted theme. To evaluate the project, students filled out three anonymous and voluntary surveys. Most of the students enjoyed the activities and positively evaluated the experience. A large amount of students declared a change in their attitude towards the way they processed information, especially regarding the use of scientific sources. Finally, we evaluated knowledge retention six months after the end of the course and students were able to recall relevant Microbiology concepts. Our results suggest that the "Adopt a Bacterium" project represents a useful strategy in Microbiology learning and may be applied to other academic fields. © 2018 Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is


High-throughput drug screening of patient-derived organoids offers an attractive platform to determine cancer treatment efficacy. Here, selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) was used to determine treatment response in organoids with endogenous fluorescence from the metabolic coenzymes NAD(P)H and FAD. Rapid 3-D autofluorescence imaging of colorectal cancer organoids was achieved. A quantitative image analysis approach was developed to segment each organoid and quantify changes in endogenous fluorescence caused by treatment. Quantitative analysis of SPIM volumes confirmed the sensitivity of patient-derived organoids to standard therapies. This proof-of-principle study demonstrates that SPIM is a powerful tool for high-throughput screening of organoid treatment response. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement


A field experiment was conducted near Barceloneta in the humid northern coastal plains of Puerto Rico to evaluate the production and persistence of 10 tropical grasses: Cynodon sp. local, Digitaria pentzii Slenderstem, C. nlemfuensis Star, C. plectostachyus Star, C. dactylon Coastcross-1, D. milanjiana Pangola Soto, Panicum maximum Guinea, P. maximum Guinea USDA PI 259553, P. maximum Makueni and D. decumbens Transvala grazed at 3- to 5-week intervals for one and a half year. P. maximum USDA PI 259553 was the most productive grass, but during the 13 grazings in 1981-1982, it was not significantly different (P=0.05) from C. plectostachyus Star; Cynodon sp. Local, D. pentzii Slenderstem, C. nlemfuensis Star, P. maximum Makueni, and D. decumbens Transvala. Guinea and D. milanjiana Pangola Soto were the least productive (P=0.05). Results for 7 grazings from January to June 1983 again showed P. maximum USDA PI 259553 to be the most productive grass, although not significantly different (P=0.05) from D. decumbens Transvala, C. dactylon Coastcross-1 and D. pentzii . The production of P. maximum Makueni and C. plectostachyus Star was intermediate; C. nlemfuensis Star and Guinea were the least productive, and D. milanjiana Pangola Soto did not persist under intensive grazing (P=0.05). The total mean production of all grasses of 0.92 and 1.00 ton/ha/grazing, respectively, were related to rainfall distribution. The general mean in crude protein content of forage was higher during the drier months. Average production of all grasses in this experiment was lower than in a similar experiment at Corozal in the humid region of Puerto Rico, the relative difference varied among cultivars.


Ordered mesoporous materials have inspired prominent research interest due to their unique properties and functionalities and potential applications in adsorption, separation, catalysis, sensors, drug delivery, energy conversion and storage, and so on. Thanks to continuous efforts over the past two decades, great achievements have been made in the synthesis and structural characterization of mesoporous materials. In this review, we summarize recent progresses in preparing ordered mesoporous materials from the viewpoint of interfacial assembly and engineering. Five interfacial assembly and synthesis are comprehensively highlighted, including liquid-solid interfacial assembly, gas-liquid interfacial assembly, liquid-liquid interfacial assembly, gas-solid interfacial synthesis, and solid-solid interfacial synthesis, basics about their synthesis pathways, princples and interface engineering strategies.


Rudolf Rassendyll, having heroically saved the kingdom of Ruritania and nobly given up the hand of the beautiful Princess Flavia, has returned to his normal life in England. But when, three years later, Flavia, now the unhappily married Queen of Ruritania, sends him a love letter, it is stolen by the exiled villain Rupert Hentzau. Rudolf's former adversary has been waiting for the chance to have his revenge, and this provides the perfect opportunity to stir up trouble. Rudolf must return to the troubled kingdom to defeat Hentzau, where he is embroiled once more in a world of deception, intrigue, deadly swordfights and torn loyalties. With the stakes higher than ever, will he pay the ultimate price?


This is a report on some recent work by Gaffney, Massey, and the author, characterizing the conditions Af and Wf for a family of ICIS germs equipped with a function. First we introduce the work informally. Then we review the formal definitions of Af and Wf , and state the theorems that characterize them by the constancy of Milnor numbers. Next we review the definition of the Buchsbaum–Rim multiplicity, and reformulate the theorems by the constancy of certain Buchsbaum–Rim multiplicities. Finally, we review the theory of integral dependence of elements on submodules of free modules, and apply it to prove the reformulated theorems.


AIMS
The aim of this study was to critically appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions suitable for delivery by nurses, designed to enhance cardiac patients' adherence to their prescribed medications.

BACKGROUND
Cardiac medications have statistically significant health benefits for patients with heart disease, but patients' adherence to prescribed medications remains suboptimal.

DESIGN
A systematic quantitative review of intervention effects.

DATA SOURCES
We conducted systematic searches for English-language, peer-reviewed randomized controlled trial publications via Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Web of Science and Google Scholar published between January 2004-December 2014.

REVIEW METHODS
According to pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria, eligible studies were identified and data extracted using a predefined form. Of 1962 identified papers; 14 studies met the study inclusion criteria, were assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane Collaboration tool; and included in the review.

RESULTS
Study findings were presented descriptively; due to the heterogeneity of studies meta-analysis was not possible. Included papers described interventions categorized as: (1) multifaceted; and (2) behavioural and educational, comprising: (a) text message and mail message; (b) telephone calls; (c) motivational interviewing and (d) nurse-led counselling and education.

CONCLUSIONS
Substantial heterogeneity limited the robustness of conclusions, but this review indicated that motivational interviewing, education and phone or text messaging appeared promising as means to enhance cardiac medication adherence. Future research should integrate multifaceted interventions that target individual behaviour change to enhance adherence to cardiovascular medications, to build on the beneficial outcomes indicated by this review.


In addition to the two ~1 PeV neutrinos, the IceCube Collaboration recently reported a detection of 26 neutrino candidates at energies from 30 TeV to 250 TeV, implying a confidence level of 4.3\sigma over the atmospheric background. We suggest that these TeV-PeV non-atmospheric neutrinos may originate from two groups of sources, motivated by the non-detection of neutrinos in the energy range 250 TeV- 1 PeV in current data. If intrinsic, the non-detection of 250 TeV-1 PeV neutrinos disfavors the single power-law spectrum model for the TeV-PeV non-atmospheric neutrinos at a confidence level of ~ 2\sigma. We then interpret the current neutrino data with a two-component spectrum model. One has a flat spectrum with a cutoff at the energy ~ 250 TeV and the other has a sharp peak at ~1 PeV. The former is likely via pp collision while the latter may be generated by the photomeson interaction.


Interzum is the world's largest fair for furniture manufacture and wooden fittings. This award documentation creates a useful and informative aid to orientation. As in 2001 and 2003, this year's version of the book is an excellent work of reference for high quality innovations from the component suppliers for furniture production. It is especially recommended for designers, interior decorators and joiners. In addition, the results of interzum award: intelligent material design 2005, the second design competition accompanying the interzum trade fair in Cologne, are presented.


The role of primary cilia in the gastrointestinal tract has not been examined. Here we report the presence of primary cilia on gastric endocrine cells producing gastrin, ghrelin, and somatostatin (Sst), hormones regulated by food intake. During eating, cilia in the gastric antrum decreased, whereas gastric acid and circulating gastrin increased. Mice fed high‐fat chow showed a delayed decrease in antral cilia, increased plasma gastrin, and gastric acidity. Mice fed high‐fat chow for 3 wk showed lower cilia numbers and acid but higher gastrin levels than mice fed a standard diet, suggesting that fat affects gastric physiology. Ex vivo experiments showed that cilia in the corpus responded to acid and distension, whereas cilia in the antrum responded to food. To analyze the role of gastric cilia, we conditionally deleted the intraflagellar transport protein Ift88 (Ift88−/fl). In fed Ift88−/fl mice, gastrin levels were higher, and gastric acidity was lower. Moreover, gastrin and Sst gene expression did not change in response to food as in controls. At 8 mo, Ift88−/fl mice developed foveolar hyperplasia, hypergastrinemia, and hypochlorhydria associated with endocrine dysfunction. Our results show that components of food (fat) are sensed by antral cilia on endocrine cells, which modulates gastrin secretion and gastric acidity.—Saqui‐Salces, M., Dowdle, W. E., Reiter, J. F., Merchant, J. L. A high‐fat diet regulates gastrin and acid secretion through primary cilia. FASEB J. 26, 3127–3139 (2012). www.fasebj.org


Although fractionation has been widely studied, research on the reinforcement ability of different fibre fractions has not been published earlier. In this study bleached softwood kraft pulp was fractionated using hydrocyclones and pressure screens. The fractionated pulps were blended with TMP and GW and the results showed that the type of mechanical pulp (TMP/GW) and the proportion of chemical pulp had the major effect on the blend sheet properties. The long fibre fraction and the thick-walled fibre fraction gave in the mixture with mechanical pulp higher freeness values than the unfractionated pulp. In addition, when the thickwalled fibre fraction was blended with mechanical pulp, the tear index increase was 12-15% for TMP, and 9-20% for GW, depending on the kraft pulp proportion and the tensile index of the kraft pulp. Corresponding increase in tear index of the blend sheets when using the long fibre fraction was up to approximately 10% in TMP and GW blend sheets. This study also showed that it was possible to increase tear index with up to 16% and fracture toughness index with up to 23% of the GW blend sheet by separate refining of the kraft pulp fractions.


In this paper, a novel common mode inductor structure is proposed to achieve high power density for the EMI filter. For better utilization of space, planar core is adopted. In this new design, the core integrates both the CM and DM inductors. Response surface methodology is applied for better design of the inductor. Furthermore, bifilar windings are adopted for less interaction. Finally, some simulation and experimental results of this planar EMI filter are presented.


The coincidence technique and the coincidence spectroscopy have been developed and applied for over 40 years. Most of popular coincidence measurement systems were based on analog electronics techniques such as time to amplitude conversion (TAC) or logic selecting coincidence unit. The above-mentioned systems are relatively cumbersome and complicated to use. With the strong growth of digital electronics techniques and computational science, the coincidence measurement systems will be constructed simpler but more efficient with the sake of application. This article presents the design principle and signal processing of a simple two-channel coincidence system by a technique of digital signal processing (DSP) using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) devices at Nuclear Research Institute (NRI), Dalat.


ABSTRACT Objective To identify strengths and challenges faced by alcohol and other drug (AOD) non-government (NGO) workers in New South Wales (NSW), Australia to inform future workforce planning initiatives. Methods An online survey assessed workers' demographics, organizational characteristics, health and wellbeing. Results Respondents (N = 294) were mainly female (66.7%), 15.3% identified as lesbian, gay, homosexual, or queer, 8.4% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and 42.5% reported AOD lived experience. A third (34.4%) were ≥50 years, 40.3% had <5 years AOD-related experience, 42.0% had clinical supervision access, and half (55.1%) reported that their organization provided professional development support practices. Satisfaction working in the AOD NGO sector (66.0%) and work/life balance (58.5%) was high, as was turnover intention (31.4%), job insecurity (30.3%), and dissatisfaction with remuneration (67.8%). Most (76%) full-time workers earned below the national average wage. Conclusions Large proportions of older workers and young/inexperienced workers necessitate specific workforce planning and development action. Professional development and supervision access are priority areas for remediation. High turnover intention rates, potentially reflecting job insecurity or remuneration dissatisfaction, require strategies to increase workforce attraction, and retention in this sector.


Flexible Ureteroscopy (F-URS) has become an effective modality for treatment of upper urinary tract stone. This study aims to assess the feasibility of using Hagen-Poiseuille equation as a tool for speculating Renal Pelvic Pressure (RPP) during F-URS. The ureteral access sheath and polyscope were placed in the upper urinary tract model in a standard fashion. A tube was placed in the renal pelvis transparenchymally for pressure measurement. A saline bag surrounded by the pressure cuff of a mercurial sphygmomanometer provided the irrigating fluid at a constant flow rate in the Polyscope under a given pressure. The 20 mmHg pressure gradient was set from 100 mmHg to 300 mmHg. After building the in vitro model, the pressure drop (ΔP) across Polyscope was measured (ΔPm), or was calculated according to the Hagen-Poiseuille Equation (ΔPc). The flow rate (Q) was calculated by perfused fluid volume divided by the perfusion time. The variable (l) was obtained by length measuring. The radius (R) was available in the published literature. The viscosity of water and saline was tested. Finally, the ΔPc and ΔPm was compared statistically. Results showed that, ΔPc from Hagen-Poiseuille Equation failed to fit perfectly with ΔPm, but the regression model showed there was a strong linear relationship (R2=0.977) between them. The linear regression equation was established as ΔPm=0.992 ΔPc-29.498. Hagen-Poiseuille equation can be hopeful as a non-invasive validated tool for predicting the RPP during F-URS.


The accurate prediction of turbine airfoil metal temperatures remains one of the critical issues in the development of high efficiency engines. Free-stream and wake-generated turbulence plays a major role in the external heat transfer of the cooled airfoils. Turbulence simulation experimental methodology has been employed to provide external heat load similarity between the engine and the elevated temperature cascade rig conditions. The methodology is based on simulation of turbulence intensity to produce equal mainstream heat transfer effects at the stagnation region of the airfoil in both engine and cascade environments. A recently completed fill-scale hot cascade facility provides a realistic simulation of an actual engine in terms of gas-side and coolant-side heat transfer. Significant attention is paid to emulating the free-stream turbulence environment of an actual engine. Indirect measurements of free-stream turbulence are performed with a custom designed calorimetric probe and heat flux probe. Well established stagnation point heat transfer correlations are used to deduce the free-stream turbulence intensity. The cascade rig provides a detailed map of local cooling effectiveness along the airfoil, which can be controlled by varying gas-side and coolant-side convective heat transfer. Results of the experimental study demonstrate the practical benefits of this methodology for more accurate evaluation of the airfoil external heat transfer, particularly when a combustor system is redefined or an engine is uprated and the airfoil cooling system has to be modified.Copyright © 1994 by ASME


The c-Ha-ras1 gene belongs to an eucaryotic ubiquitous gene family which codes important molecules involved in the transduction of mitogenic signals and of cellular differentiation. The c-Ha-ras1 estructure, in four coding exons and a non-coding 5'exon, is highly preserved throughout evolution. This gene, which generates a 1.4 Kb transcript, is expressed in practically all the cell lineages with a tissue-specific pattern. The coded protein, of 189 amino acids and 21 kDa, is a small protein that binds guanine nucleotides (GTP/GDP), is associated with the plasma membrane and possesses low intrinsic GTPase activity. p21ras functions as a molecular switch active when GTP is bound to it and inactive in the GDP-bound form. Its activity is very tightly controlled in the cell by various positive and negative control mechanisms. The ras gene family is the most frequently involved in the development of human and animal tumors. Qualitative (point mutations) and quantitative (over expression) mechanisms of oncogenic activation have been described. The possible relation between determined human Ha-ras1 alleles and the predisposition to cancer has been suggested as well.


During neurotransmitter release, exocytosed neurotransmitter vesicles are recycled by endocytosis, which involves the assembly of a complex of endocytic proteins. Assembly of endocytic proteins into a functional complex depends on their dephosphorylation by calcineurin, a calcium-sensitive protein phosphatase and the inhibitory target of immunosuppressive drugs cyclosporin A and FK506. Cain is a recently identified protein inhibitor of calcineurin. We now provide evidence that cain is a component of the endocytic protein complex. The proline-rich region of cain forms a stable association with the SH3 domain of amphiphysin 1. Using a transferrin uptake assay, we found that overexpression of cain in HEK293 cells blocks endocytosis as potently as expression of a dominant negative dynamin 1 construct. The use of other calcineurin inhibitors such as cyclosporin A and FK506 also blocks endocytosis. Since binding of cain to amphiphysin 1 does not affect amphiphysin's interaction with other endocytic proteins, our results suggest that cain negatively regulates synaptic vesicle endocytosis by inhibiting calcineurin activity, rather than sterically interfering with the assembly of the endocytic protein complex.


This contribution aims to open up the rich literature on the conceptualisation of space and place, primarily from the field of geography, for scholars in other disciplines, in particular legal and governance scholars engaged in the debate on (the right to) privacy in public spaces. Although there is no common understanding of what the concepts of space and place mean, they have been extensively conceptualised in human geography. Most legal scholars still tend to think of physical place and space – expressions often used interchangeably – as empty and neutral containers relating to territory: straightforwardly empirical, objective and mappable. Human geography shows that space and place are relational, socially co-produced, and dynamic. The construction of 'places', including places in public space, is intricately related to issues of access control, power relations, and identity-building. Particularly since the 1990s, the ongoing transformation of urban public space, including shifts in design, management, financing, and the proliferation of (digital) surveillance – termed the 'privatisation' and 'securitisation' of public space – has emerged as a key focus of geographical concern. While geography's insights are invaluable for legal scholars researching the regulation of shifting and emerging urban spaces and places, particularly in relation to the theme of privacy in public, geographic research has often not yet reached the debate in other disciplines. This chapter remedies this gap by discussing, through a lawyer's lens, key literature on (public) space and place, mapping out and highlighting different ways of thinking about public place and space in relation to major themes of context, power, and identity, and thereby opening up this rich area to scholars grappling with the regulation of public space.