TMEFF2 is a transmembrane protein with unknown function, containing an altered epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like motif, two follistatin-like domains, and a cytosolic tail with a putative G-protein-activating motif. TMEFF2 is predominantly expressed in brain and prostate and has been implicated in cell signaling, neuronal cell survival, and tumor suppression. We found that expression of TMEFF2 in pituitary corticotrope cells inhibits the effects of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) on the production of intracellular cAMP, and CREB, and transcription of Pomc. Regulation of the activity of CRH by TMEFF2 requires neither the cytoplasmic tail nor the EGF domain, while deletion of the follistatin modules abolishes the inhibitory function of TMEFF2. Moreover, a soluble secreted protein containing the complete extracellular domain is sufficient for inhibition of CRH signaling. TMEFF2-induced inhibition depends on serum components. Furthermore, TMEFF2 regulates the non-canonical activin/BMP4 signaling, PI3K, and Ras/ERK1/2 pathways. Thus, TMEFF2 inhibits the CRH signaling pathway and the PI3K/AKT and Ras/ERK1/2 pathways, contributing to a significant inhibition of transcription of Pomc. We found that expression of TMEFF2 in human Cushing's adenoma is reduced when compared with normal human pituitary, which may indicate that TMEFF2 acts as a tumor suppressor in these adenomas. Furthermore, the overexpression of TMEFF2 decreased proliferation of corticotrope cells. Our results indicate a potential therapeutic use of TMEFF2 or factors that stimulate the activity of TMEFF2 for the treatment of corticotrope tumors in order to reduce their secretion of ACTH and proliferation.


Modern languages like English, Spanish, Russian and Hindi as well as ancient languages like Greek, Latin and Sanskrit all belong to the Indo-European language family, which means that they all descend from a common ancestor. But how, more precisely, are the Indo-European languages related to each other? This book brings together pioneering research from a team of international scholars to address this fundamental question. It provides an introduction to linguistic subgrouping as well as offering comprehensive, systematic and up-to-date analyses of the ten main branches of the Indo-European language family: Anatolian, Tocharian, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, Armenian, Albanian, Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic. By highlighting that these branches are saliently different from each other, yet at the same time display striking similarities, the book demonstrates the early diversification of the Indo-European language family, spoken today by half the world's population. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.


The androgen receptor (AR) signaling is critical for prostate cancer (PCa) progression to the castration-resistant stage with poor clinical outcome. Altered function of AR interacting factors contributes to castration-resistant PCa (CRPCa). Inhibitor of growth 1 (ING1) is an epigenetic regulator of various cellular processes including proliferation and cellular senescence. ING1 dysregulation and its signaling have been implicated in PCa, but its role in AR signaling is still unknown. Based on the shown interaction between AR and ING1b, specific targeting the AR by ING1b can be one possible way to inhibit the AR signaling and induce cellular senescence in PCa cells. The results indicate that ING1b expression is downregulated in CRPCa cells compared to androgen-dependent ones. Thereby, its ectopic expression induces cellular senescence and reduces cell migration in both PCa cells. ING1b knockdown (KD) analysis indicates that ING1b is a downstream target of AR-mediated cellular senescence in PC3-AR cells. ING1b overexpression represses AR transactivation on key target genes in LNCaP cells possibly through AR degradation. Intriguingly, ING1b KD inhibits AR-mediated transcriptional regulation of the same target genes in both PCa cells, which could be verified in vivo using Ing1 KO mice. This interesting result could be explained by the compensatory mechanism through enhanced expression of the ING2a protein in ING1-deficient condition as ectopic expression of ING2a also hampers the AR transcriptional activation similar to ING1b. Taken together, this compensatory mechanism suggests a novel crosstalk among ING family members in regulating AR functions and opens a potential way to inhibit AR signaling in PCa.


A method is outlined by which the limiting resolving power of any prism may be readily determined. It has been necessary to redefine the limit of resolution as the minimum angular of the central maxima of the individual diffraction images at which there may exist a minimum of total intensity between the positions of the individual central maxima. Application to a 10-cm rocksalt prism is included.


Tunnels, culverts, and subway stations are the main parts of an integrated infrastructure system. Most of them are constructed by the cut-and-cover method at shallow depths (mainly lower than 30 m) of soil deposits, where large-scale seismic ground deformation can occur with lower stiffness and strength of the soil. Therefore, the transverse racking deformation (one of the major seismic ground deformation) due to soil shear deformations should be included in the seismic design of underground structures using cost- and time-efficient methods that can achieve robustness of design and are easily understood by engineers. This paper aims to develop a simplified but comprehensive approach relating to vulnerability assessment in the form of fragility curves on a shallow two-story reinforced concrete underground box structure constructed in a highly-weathered soil. In addition, a comparison of the results of earthquakes per peak ground acceleration (PGA) is conducted to determine the effective and appropriate number for cost- and time-benefit analysis. The ground response acceleration method for buried structures (GRAMBS) is used to analyze the behavior of the structure subjected to transverse seismic loading under quasi-static conditions. Furthermore, the damage states that indicate the exceedance level of the structural strength capacity are described by the results of nonlinear static analyses (or so-called pushover analyses). The Latin hypercube sampling technique is employed to consider the uncertainties associated with the material properties and concrete cover owing to the variation in construction conditions. Finally, a large number of artificial ground shakings satisfying the design spectrum are generated in order to develop the seismic fragility curves based on the defined damage states. It is worth noting that the number of ground motions per PGA, which is equal to or larger than 20, is a reasonable value to perform a structural analysis that produces satisfactory fragility curves.


DENVER–The economics of unconventional plays can be improved by placing horizontal wellbores to target facies with the most favorable reservoir and geomechanical properties. Recognizing that, an integrated multidisciplinary approach was developed to reduce economic risk, facilitate improved and faster decision making, and enable more efficient and effective well placement in a tight, stratigraphically complex Upper Cretaceous Sandstone in the Powder River Basin. The subsurface environment was known to exhibit significant variations in lithofacies and reservoir properties, both laterally and vertically. The objective was to provide an accurate and synergized understanding of interwell reservoir characteristics, quantitatively honoring all input geoscience data and verifying through blind well testing. That goal was achieved by utilizing geostatistical inversion to predict lithofacies and reservoir rock/geomechanical properties that honored data from multiple disciplines. By Haihong Wang, Kevin Chesser, Jeff Zawila, Samuel Fluckiger, Gary Hughes, Preston Kerr, Andrew Hennes, Howard J. Titchmarsh and Michael Hofmann Reservoir Optimization The "Better Business" Publication Serving the Exploration / Drilling / Production Industry SEPTEMBER 2016


There is currently limited information on plant biodiversity from Ghana. Most of the information openly available has been published by the Ghana Herbarium at the Department of Plant and Environmental Biology, University of Ghana. The Ghana Herbarium has over 100,000 specimens from Ghana and other West African countries. Of these approximately 85% of the specimen labels have been digitized. The database contains information including species names, taxonomic family, barcode number, name of collector(s), locality data, date of collection, description of species and uses of the plants. Data were captured using Botanical Research and Herbarium Management Software (BRAHMS) software and is openly available on Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (http://www.gbif.org/country/GH/publishing). Less than 1% of the herbarium collection contains bryophyte information of Ghana.
 Even though bryophytes are an often overlooked flora, Ghana has a high diversity of bryophytes. Indeed Ghana has an enormous biomass of bryophytes, particularly in the humid forest areas, that is bound to contribute significantly to the water-retentive capacity of the Ghanaian forest, absorbing water quickly and releasing it slowly. It is clear that the bryophytes are an important part of the ecosystem generally, helping to stabilize the hillsides and acting as a source of water. As very little is known about Ghana's bryophyte flora, a short expedition was undertaken in the Atewa Forest in 2014. A total of 164 species were added to the herbarium collection, including about 58 new to Ghana and at least one new species (Cololejeunea sp. yet to be described).
 The Ghana Herbarium recognises the growing need for digitization across its collections. Data from bryophytes specimens in the Ghana Herbarium and other Ghanaian herbaria as well as other data types on Ghanaian bryophytes will need to be captured using appropriate workflows, technologies and comply with Darwin Core standards. There is also paucity of observational and bryophyte abundance data. This presentation will review the current status of biodiversity information on bryophytes from Ghana and biodiversity informatics activities at Ghana Herbarium. It will also explore ways forward for digitization which incudes capturing the information on the already existing bryophyte specimens in the Ghana Herbarium and the newly added collections using BRAHMS software.


Understanding the formation and evolution of low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) is critical for explaining their wide-ranging properties. However, studies of LSBGs in deep photometric surveys are often hindered by a lack of distance estimates. In this work, we present a new catalogue of 479 LSBGs, identified in deep optical imaging data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). These galaxies are found across a range of environments, from the field to groups. Many are likely to be ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs). We see clear evidence for a bimodal population in colour - Sersic index space, and split our sample into red and blue LSBG populations. We estimate environmental densities for a subsample of 215 sources by statistically associating them with nearby spectroscopic galaxies from the overlapping GAMA spectroscopic survey. We find that the blue LSBGs are statistically consistent with being spatially randomised with respect to local spectroscopic galaxies, implying they exist predominantly in low-density environments. However, the red LSBG population is significantly spatially correlated with local structure. We find that 26+/-5% of isolated, local LSBGs belong to the red population, which we interpret as quiescent. This indicates that high environmental density plays a dominant, but not exclusive, role in producing quiescent LSBGs. Our analysis method may prove to be very useful given the large samples of LSB galaxies without distance information expected from e.g. the Vera C. Rubin observatory (aka LSST), especially in combination with upcoming comprehensive wide field spectroscopic surveys.


It is common to note that social environment and cultural formation shape mental disorders. The details of this claim are, however, not well understood. The paper takes a look at the claim that culture has an impact on psychiatry from the perspective of metaphysics and the philosophy of science. Its aim is to offer, in a general fashion, partial explications of some significant versions of the thesis that culture and social environment shape mental disorders and to highlight some of the consequences social constructionism about psychiatry has for psychiatric explanation. In particular, it will be argued that the alleged dependence of facts about particular mental disorders and about the second order property of being a mental disorder on social facts amounts to a robust form of constructivism, whereas the view that clinician–patient interaction is influenced by cultural facts is perfectly compatible with an anti-constructivist stance.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Component-resolved diagnostics (CRD) is a new tool aiming at detecting IgE-mediated sensitizations against individual, relevant allergens. Here, we discuss recent literature on molecular diagnosis in the field of Hymenoptera venom allergy (HVA) as well as CRD strengths and weaknesses.

RECENT FINDINGS
CRD, using single molecules or panels of allergens, may discriminate between primary sensitization and cross-reactivity in patients with double/multiple positivity in diagnostic tests with whole extracts, allowing the specialist to choose the most suitable venom for specific immunotherapy (VIT), avoiding unnecessary VIT and reducing the risk of side effects. Future availability of the cross-reactive recombinant pairs of allergens of different species may further increase the diagnostic performance. CRD may be useful in patients with negative allergy tests and a proven history of a previous systemic reaction, including those with mast cell disorders, who could benefit from VIT. In honeybee venom allergy, different sensitization profiles have been identified, which could be associated with a greater risk of VIT failure or treatment side effects.

SUMMARY
CRD is undoubtedly an innovative diagnostic method that leads to a more precise definition of the sensitization profile of the HVA patient. Together with a better knowledge of the molecular composition of different venom extracts, CRD may contribute to optimize patient-tailored therapy.


Tetraspanins are a large superfamily of glycoproteins, which are engaged in a wide range of specific molecular interactions by forming tetraspanin-enriched microdomains. Tetraspanin 9 (Tspan9) is a previously poorly studied tetraspanin gene, which was predominantly identified as an amplified gene in serous Fallopian tube carcinoma. However, the expression and role of Tspan9 in gastric cancer have yet to be fully elucidated. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression and clinical significance of Tspan9 in gastric cancer. In the present study, 105 gastric cancer tissue samples and corresponding adjacent normal samples were detected for Tspan9 expression using immunohistochemistry; furthermore, the association between clinical characteristics and Tspan9 expression was also analyzed. Tspan9 expression was determined to be significantly lower in cancer samples compared with those in corresponding adjacent normal samples (P<0.001). However, its increased levels of expression in cancer samples appeared to demonstrate a poorer prognostic tendency, which is associated with deeper tumor depth (P=0.025), more nodal involvement (P=0.01), more advanced tumor/lymph node/metastasis (TNM) stages (P=0.017) and a larger tumor size (P=0.026). Additionally, multivariate analysis demonstrated that high expression of Tspan9 was an independent prognostic factor for poor overall survival (P<0.01). These results suggested that Tspan9 may be used as a potential prognostic factor in gastric cancer.


We study weakly interacting Bose gases using the functional renormalization group with a hydrodynamic effective action. We use a scale-dependent parametrization of the boson fields that interpolates between a Cartesian representation at high momenta and an amplitude-phase one for low momenta. We apply this to Bose gases in two and three dimensions near the superfluid phase transition where they can be described by statistical O(2) models. We are able to give consistent physical descriptions of the infrared regime in both two and three dimensions. In particular, and in contrast to previous studies using the functional renormalization group, we find a stable superfluid phase at finite temperatures in two dimensions. We compare our results for the superfluid and boson densities with Monte-Carlo simulations, and we find they are in reasonable agreement.


North Norwegian has a contrast between /s/ and /ʂ/ that is neutralized in word-initial position before a consonant, and an optional process of Expressive Sibilant Retraction (ESR), which changes /s/ to [ʂ] in precisely the environment where the contrast is neutralized (Broch 1927). ESR appears ambiguous between a word formation process and a spoken gesture (Okrent 2002; Perlman et al. 2015). On the one hand, ESR exploits givens of phonological structure. On the other, treating it as a morphological process entails claiming that the spell-out of certain (" expressive") morphemes may take place after phonological processes have applied, or that the realization of these morphemes takes precedence to phonological constraints. I argue that ESR is a communicative (i.e. non-linguistic, or post-linguistic) spoken gesture that nonetheless exploits the suspension of phonological generalizations in a way that directs attention to its iconic function. I describe the varied interpretations that ESR has depending on whether it indexes an action/event, object, or state/property, and propose that these share a common semantic core. This gesture-based account of ESR is offered as a possible model for "expressive phonology" (e.g. Diffloth 1979) in other languages.


A micro-alloyed non-heat-treated material does not need post heat treatment processes such as quenching and tempering after the forming process in production stages. This material can be called a green material since it can reduce industrial costs and harmful pollutants generated from post heat treatments. In this paper, near-net-shape forming processes were studied in order to make an automotive part using a micro-alloyed material. The cold forging technique using a former was utilized for the main shaping, and the cold incremental forming technique using a cross wedge rolling machine was adopted for the enhancement of strength and the final shaping of the part. In order to get more adequate process, the cross wedge rolling process is compared to the swaging process for the micro-alloyed steel and general carbon steels through experiments.


Most alternative and correctional educators have not had systematic access to relevant knowledge of their field, its history and literature, or parallel programs in other jurisdictions. As a result, they tend to accept whatever strategies happen to be current at their site. This problem is associated with the lack of teacher education programs specific to the field of alternative and correctional education. The purpose of this article is to prompt reflection regarding key principles of teaching, learning, and education service delivery structures. Axiomatic application of any principles can lead to misconceptions that reflective practice can help correct. The theme of the article is that most educative principles can be useful when applied in moderation or in response to identified needs or contexts—but a "one size fits all," or "this is always correct" orientation is usually not appropriate.


A fluorenyl (Fl) tethered diamine was synthesised by nucleophilic substitution of (bromoethyl)fluorene with a diisopropylphenyl (Dipp) substituted diamine to give FlC2H4N(H)C2H4N(H)Dipp (1a) in good yield (85%). Lithiation of 1a with n-BuLi proceeded with coordination of the Li cation to the aromatic fluorenide ring (2), and with subsequent equivalents of n-BuLi, the secondary amines were then sequentially deprotonated. A fluorenyl-tethered N-heterocyclic stannylene (NHSn) was synthesised from the reaction of 1a with SnN''2 {N'' = N(SiMe3)2} as a neutral dimeric species (5), and this was deprotonated with LiN'' to give the corresponding dianionic fluorenide-tethered NHSn (6). Reactions of [{Rh(cod)(μ-Cl)}2] with the mono-deprotonated ligand 2 led to the formation of a mixed-donor amide-amine Rh(i) compound (7), whereas reactions with the anionic NHSn 6 led to a Rh-fluorenyl complex of low stability with an uncoordinated pendent NHSn arm, which X-ray crystallography showed to be dimeric in the solid state.


Cholinergic neurotransmission depends upon the regulated release of acetylcholine. This requires the loading of acetylcholine into synaptic vesicles by the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). Here, we identify point mutants inCaenorhabditis elegans that map to highly conserved regions of the VAChT gene of Caenorhabditis elegans(CeVAChT) (unc-17) and exhibit behavioral phenotypes consistent with a reduction in vesicular transport activity and neurosecretion. Several of these mutants express normal amounts of VAChT protein and exhibit appropriate targeting of VAChT to synaptic vesicles. By site-directed mutagenesis, we have replaced the conserved amino acid residues found in human VAChT with the mutated residue in CeVAChT and stably expressed these cDNAs in PC-12 cells. These mutants display selective defects in initial acetylcholine transport velocity (K m ), with values ranging from 2- to 8-fold lower than that of the wild-type. One of these mutants has lost its specific interaction with vesamicol, a selective inhibitor of VAChT, and displays vesamicol-insensitive uptake of acetylcholine. The relative order of behavioral severity of the CeVAChT point mutants is identical to the order of reduced affinity of VAChT for acetylcholine in vitro. This indicates that specific structural changes in VAChT translate into specific alterations in the intrinsic parameters of transport and in the storage and synaptic release of acetylcholine in vivo.


A new generation of smart meters are called cognitive meters, which are essentially based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and load disaggregation methods for Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM). Thus, modern NILM may recognize appliances connected to the grid during certain periods, while providing much more information than the traditional monthly consumption. Therefore, this article presents a new load disaggregation methodology with microscopic characteristics collected from current and voltage waveforms. Initially, the novel NILM algorithm—called the Power Signature Blob (PSB)—makes use of a state machine to detect when the appliance has been turned on or off. Then, machine learning is used to identify the appliance, for which attributes are extracted from the Conservative Power Theory (CPT), a contemporary power theory that enables comprehensive load modeling. Finally, considering simulation and experimental results, this paper shows that the new method is able to achieve 95% accuracy considering the applied data set.


Abstract Vireo atricapilla (Black-capped Vireo) is an endangered songbird whose habitat use has been well studied in central portions of its breeding range, which is characterized by successional vegetation communities. To expand our understanding of habitat use as it relates to reproductive success, we studied Black-capped Vireo habitat use at the territory and nest-site scales in southwest Texas in 2009 and 2010, an area characterized by xeric and stable vegetation communities. We measured vegetation in territories and at nests to evaluate the influence of habitat variables on nest parasitism and nest survival. Our results showed that Black-capped Vireo nest-site use in southwest Texas differed from that in breeding areas of central Texas and Oklahoma. Black-capped Vireos in southwest Texas used nest sites with a wide range of woody cover (70 ± 13%) and used Juniperus spp. (junipers) as a nest substrate proportionately more than its availability in territories, which is contradictory to previously published literature. Nest parasitism increased significantly with greater nest height, likely due to increased visibility to Molothrus ater (Brown-headed Cowbird). Increasing height of vertical cover above the nest was associated with decreased overall nest survival, likely because nests placed in habitat with taller vegetation are more susceptible to avian predators and Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism. Unlike the findings of studies conducted in the northern part of the species' breeding range, we found that parasitism did not increase the likelihood of depredation or abandonment. Our results indicate that Black-capped Vireo habitat structure and composition, as well as factors influencing nest success in Southwest Texas, differ from their breeding habitat in central Texas and Oklahoma, indicating that management guidelines need to be regi on-specific.


Rapid industrialization is a global trend and a cause of concern for those who care about its unwanted consequences. Industries rely heavily on chemical processes requiring heavy metal compounds which eventually lead to their efflux or emission into the surrounding environment. Heavy metals are toxic in nature to varying degrees and cause a host of diseases in man. Lead (Pd) is a greater health hazard owing to its extensive use in the products that come in our contact on a daily basis. Lead pipes are a source of lead exposure through water whereas the antiknock compounds cause its exposure through air. This review takes a closer look at the various physiological effects of lead toxicity in the light of latest studies that have added significant pieces of experimental evidence to our knowledge of mechanisms underlying toxic effects of Lead which often prove lethal and may even go undetected. The review discusses the possible sources and routes of lead exposure and elaborates on its toxic effects with special reference to nervous system, cardiovascular system, haemopoietic system, excretory system and reproductive system. It is hoped that a thorough understanding of the mechanisms of lead toxicity will lead to development of better strategies of prevention and treatment of lead toxicity.


A new approach toward robust parameter estimation is presented. As opposed to schemes based on classical saddlepoint techniques, the methods apply quite naturally to dependent and/or nonstationary data and also have the advantage of providing a quantitative measure of the degree of robustness offered by a particular estimator. It is shown why censoring observations of large magnitude does indeed impart robustness, and it also shown how nontraditional schemes have certain advantages, particularly when trading off performance and robustness. The application of the results is further demonstrated by including several illustrative examples. >


Discussion of the Carl Schmitt's concept of the political takes the form of a dialogue. Anatoly Akhutin, a philosopher, raises three questions in a letter to Alexander Filippov, a sociologist. These questions are: (1) On Sovereignty. Sovereign, according to Schmitt, is the one who can introduce a state of emergency. Does it mean that the state of emergency can be a way to the approval and support of dictatorial powers? (2) The concepts Entschlossenheit (resoluteness) in Heidegger's work and Entscheidung (decision) in Schmitt's writings are dangerous. The totalitarian bias is apparent here. (3) On speech and democracy. What is political being of humans? Are "friend", "enemy", "struggle" the proper concepts to understand and describe it? Alexander Filippov answers these questions. (1) Correct understanding of Schmitt's point of view is only possible if the distinction made in his book "Dictatorship" (1921) between the commissar and the sovereign dictatorships is taken into account. (2) Schmitt and Heidegger were strongly influenced by the German philosophical anthropology. That is why we should better take into consideration the lectures on the Basic Concepts of Metaphysics instead of Being and Time. One of the most important answers Heidegger has given to his opponents in these lectures concerning the concept "resoluteness" was that Entschlossenheit is not a property of individuals and does not belong to the nature of human existence. (3) At this point, there is no discrepancy between Akhutin and Filippov. Schmitt wrote mainly about the political opposition of one nation to another people and the internal politics in times of crisis.


We found that a sialic acid-binding lectin (SABL) from bullfrog egg bears a remarkable degree of similarity with human angiogenin and the pancreatic ribonucleases (EC 18.104.22.168). Based on (1) the conservation of several disulfide bond-forming cysteines, (2) a cluster of nonpolar residues, and (3) a number of active-site residues of bovine ribonuclease, we propose that SABL has essentially the same secondary and tertiary structures and very likely has ribonuclease activity. Other possible physiological roles are discussed.


In this study, political optimizer (PO) which has entered the literature as a novel socio-inspired meta-heuristic method is used to improve radiation properties of concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAAs) in the far field such as wireless communication of smart grids and Internet of things. The radiation pattern of far field is improved by reducing the sidelobe level (SLL), which is the most important parameter of the antenna radiation pattern. By reducing SLL, unwanted signals and interferences in the same frequency band are suppressed. PO is a novel global optimization method which is based on the multi-phased process of politics. The inter-element spacing and amplitude coefficients of concentric circular antenna array elements are determined optimally by PO algorithm to obtain a radiation pattern with a lower SLL value. To show the flexibility and performance of the proposed algorithm, three-ring CCAAs with different numbers of elements (4, 6, 8 elements and 8, 10, 12 elements) without and with the center element are synthesized. SLL values obtained by PO algorithm are compared with other recent optimization methods in the literature. The results obtained with PO algorithm in all comparisons show that it reached a lower SLL value than other optimization methods.


ABSTRACT The effect of activated charcoal as an amendment to water agar medium on teliospore germination was analyzed for two species of wheat-infecting bunts, Tilletia controversa and T. tritici, and two related wild-grass infecting species, T. bromi and T. fusca. Final percentages of teliospore germination, area under the germination progress curves (AUGPC), and a standardized AUGPC (SAUGPC) on carbon agar and water agar were compared among strains. Carbon agar (CA) significantly increased the final germination percentage of teliospores, AUGPC, and SAUGPC when compared with water agar (WA) for all taxa under study. Additionally, CA reduced significantly the incubation (i.e., lag) period when compared with WA for teliospores of T. bromi, T. controversa, and T. fusca. Bovine serum albumin and polyvinyl pyrrolidone were used as alternative chemical adsorbent amendments to WA to establish the role of activated charcoal in the medium. Only media amended with bovine serum albumin and activated charcoal improved the final germination percentage of all taxa. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone was not significantly better than water agar.


Fiber Bragg optic sensor is embedded in composite material to detect and monitor the damage that occurs in composite structures. In this paper, we deal with the mode-Ι delamination to determine the material strength to crack propagation, using the coupling mode theory and T-matrix method to simulate the FBGs spectrum for both uniform and non-uniform strain distribution. The double cantilever beam test is modeled in FEM to determine the longitudinal strain. Two models are implemented, the first is the global half model, and the second is the sub-model to represent the FBGs with higher refined mesh. This method can simulate damage in composite structures and converting strain to a wavelength shifting in the FBG spectrum. Keywords—Fiber Bragg grating, Delamination detection, DCB, FBG spectrum, Structure health monitoring.


Observations on all fronts strongly support the view of a universe composed of >96% invisible matter and energy. The invisible matter is non-baryonic, cold and likely in the form of new particles generically referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), relics from the early universe. One way to detect WIMPs is to measure the nuclear recoils produced in their rare elastic collisions with ordinary matter. The predicted interaction rate ranges from the best sensitivity of existing experiments of ~1 evts/kg/yr to ~1 evts/1000 kg/yr. Efforts are underway worldwide to realize sensitive direct detection experiments, with large target mass and improved background rejection capabilities. In this talk I will review experiments headed in this direction with the use of cryogenic noble liquids, focusing on those experiments which use the common technique of a dual-phase (liquid/gas) time projection chamber to measure simultaneously the ionization and the scintillation signals produced by radiation in a large volume of liquid xenon or liquid argon. These include experiments such as XENON, ZEPLIN, WARP and ArDM.


Progression in resistance training is a dynamic process that requires an exercise prescription process, evaluation of training progress, and careful development of target goals. The process starts with the determination of individual needs and training goals. This involves decisions regarding questions as to what muscles must be trained, injury prevention sites, metabolic demands of target training goals, etc. The single workout must then be designed reflecting these targeted program goals including the choice of exercises, order of exercise, amount of rest used between sets and exercises, number of repetitions and sets used for each exercise, and the intensity of each exercise. For progression, these variables must then be varied over time and the exercise prescription altered to maintain or advance specific training goals and to avoid overtraining. A careful system of goal targeting, exercise testing, proper exercise technique, supervision, and optimal exercise prescription all contribute to the successful implementation of a resistance training program.


Nanorods hydroxyapatite, (HAP) Ca(10)(PO(4))(6)(OH)(2) is successfully prepared by water in oil microemulsion using, CaCL(2) and H(3)PO(4) (water phase), poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSSS) as template and cyclohexane as oil phase. The nano-structure of the product was studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transmission infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscope (AFM). With this system, we could synthesize nano-particles of hydroxyapatite with high crystallinity and least agglomeration.


Abstract Pandemic mitigation measures can have a negative impact on access and provision of essential healthcare services including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. This rapid review looked at the literature on the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on SRH and gender-based violence (GBV) on women in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) using WHO rapid review guidance. We looked at relevant literature published in the English language from January 2020 to October 2021 from LMICs using WHO rapid review methods. A total of 114 articles were obtained from PubMed, Google Scholar and grey literature of which 20 met the eligible criteria. Our review found that there was an overall reduction in; (a) uptake of services as shown by lower antenatal, postnatal and family planning clinic attendance, (b) service delivery as shown by reduced health facility deliveries, and post abortion care services and (c) reproductive health outcomes as shown by an increase in incidence of GBV especially intimate partner violence. COVID-19 mitigation measures negatively impact SRH of women in LMICs. Findings from this review could inform policy makers in the health sector to recognise the potential adverse effects of COVID-19 responses on SRH in the country, and therefore implement mitigation measures.


We commercialized Reactive Coke Agglomerate (RCA), a cement-bonded pellet to decrease the thermal reserve zone temperature for the reduction of the reducing agent rate of blast furnaces. To achieve a high productivity of supplying RCA to large blast furnaces, a rapid curing process of RCA using steam was investigated. We obtained rapid curing of RCA within 18 h by combining primary curing for 12 h and stream curing at 80°C for 5 h subsequently with drying for 1 h. This combination provided sufficient strength to an RCA product when compared with the strength obtained after conventional yard curing, which requires a long curing time of 14 days. Plant trials revealed that a longer primary curing time was required because of the non-homogeneity of thermal conditions. Nevertheless, the curing period could be shortened by 12.5 days with drying and 9 days without drying. Mineralogy and morphology of hardened cement in RCA after rapid curing were investigated. XRD and thermal analysis revealed that the basic mineral composition of cement after rapid curing was comparable with that after conventional yard curing. In plant tests, during rapid curing, hydration and microstructural evolution of cement in RCA were accelerated by steam curing. RCA involving the steam curing process has been implemented in Oita works and it has been helping in a stable operation of two large blast furnaces under a low RAR.


Data center network faults are hard to debug due to their scale and complexity. With the prevalence of hard-to-reproduce transient faults, root-cause analysis of network faults is extremely difficult due to unavailability of historical data, and inability to correlate the distributed data across the network. Often, it is not possible to find the root cause using only switch-local information. To find the root cause of such transient faults, we need: 1) Visibility: fine-grained, packet-level and network-wide observability, 2) Retrospection: ability to get historical information before the fault occurs, and 3) Correlation: ability to correlate the information across the network. In this work, we present the design and implementation of SyNDB, a tool with the aforementioned capabilities to enable root cause analysis of network faults. We implement and evaluate SyNDB with realistic topologies using large scale simulation and programmable switches. Our evaluations show that SyNDB can capture and correlate packet records over sufficiently large time windows (∼4 ms), thus facilitating the root cause analysis of various network faults.


The goal of this study is to quantify the effects of vocal fold nodules on vibratory motion in children using high-speed videoendoscopy. Differences in vibratory motion were evaluated in 20 children with vocal fold nodules (5–11 years) and 20 age and gender matched typically developing children (5–11 years) during sustained phonation at typical pitch and loudness. Normalized kinematic features of vocal fold displacements from the mid-membranous vocal fold point were extracted from the steady-state high-speed video. A total of 12 kinematic features representing spatial and temporal characteristics of vibratory motion were calculated. Average values and standard deviations (cycle-to-cycle variability) of the following kinematic features were computed: normalized peak displacement, normalized average opening velocity, normalized average closing velocity, normalized peak closing velocity, speed quotient, and open quotient. Group differences between children with and without vocal fold nodules were statistically investigated. While a moderate effect size was observed for the spatial feature of speed quotient, and the temporal feature of normalized average closing velocity in children with nodules compared to vocally normal children, none of the features were statistically significant between the groups after Bonferroni correction. The kinematic analysis of the mid-membranous vocal fold displacement revealed that children with nodules primarily differ from typically developing children in closing phase kinematics of the glottal cycle, whereas the opening phase kinematics are similar. Higher speed quotients and similar opening phase velocities suggest greater relative forces are acting on vocal fold in the closing phase. These findings suggest that future large-scale studies should focus on spatial and temporal features related to the closing phase of the glottal cycle for differentiating the kinematics of children with and without vocal fold nodules.


Electroencephalographic peak alpha frequency (PAF) is a marker of neural maturation that increases with age throughout childhood. Distinct maturation of PAF is observed in children with autism spectrum disorder such that PAF does not increase with age and is instead positively associated with cognitive ability. The current study clarifies and extends previous findings by characterizing the effects of age and cognitive ability on PAF between diagnostic groups in a sample of children and adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder. Resting EEG data and behavioral measures were collected from 45 autistic children and 34 neurotypical controls aged 8 to 18 years. Utilizing generalized additive models to account for nonlinear relations, we examined differences in the joint effect of age and nonverbal IQ by diagnosis as well as bivariate relations between age, nonverbal IQ, and PAF across diagnostic groups. Age was positively associated with PAF among neurotypical children but not among autistic children. In contrast, nonverbal IQ but not age was positively associated with PAF among autistic children. Models accounting for nonlinear relations revealed different developmental trajectories as a function of age and cognitive ability based on diagnostic status. Results align with prior evidence indicating that typical age-related increases in PAF are absent in autistic children and that PAF instead increases with cognitive ability in these children. Findings suggest the potential of PAF to index distinct trajectories of neural maturation in autistic children.


Long-term interest rates that are unusually high relative to shortterm interest rates are often seen to reflect market expectations of increasing inflation. Given that the term structure of interest rates (also called the yield curve) reacts to inflation expectations, does it do so in a reasonable manner? Does the term structure embody inflation forecasts that bear a sensible relationship to the iiaflation that in fact occurs? ; This article reviews the theoretical link between the term structure and inflation expectations, and then it provides empirical evidence on the link in light of the theory. It finds little evidence of a link between the term structure and future inflation at the horizon chosen for study, the relationship between one- and two-year interest rates and the one-year ahead change in the one-year inflation.


System matrix reconstruction of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) require a time-consuming calibration process. The total number of pixels of the desired image has a direct effect on the calibration time. Although there are various techniques that can shorten the calibration process such as compressive sensing or coded calibration scenes, the increase in total number of pixels still require higher number of samples. In this study, we propose a simple super-resolution technique for MPI images during reconstruction. Using simulations on a field free line MPI scanner system with low drive field amplitude, we show that one can achieve higher resolution images by simply applying super-resolution techniques on the rows of the system matrix. We demonstrate that even simple linear models can help resolve high-resolution structures.

Int. J. Mag. Part. Imag. 6(2), Suppl. 1, 2020, Article ID: 2009071, DOI: 10.18416/IJMPI.2020.2009071


One of the central premises of the literature on financialisation is that we have been living in a new era of capitalism, characterised by a historical shift in the finance-production nexus. Finance has expanded to a disproportionate economic size and, more importantly, has divorced from productive economic pursuits. In this paper, we explore these claims of 'expansion' and 'divorce' based on a longue durée analysis of the link between finance and production in Senegal and Ghana. As such, we de-centre the dominant approach to financialisation. Seen from the South, we argue that although there has been expansion of financial motives and practices the 'divorce' between the financial and the productive economy cannot be considered a new empirical phenomenon having occurred during the last decades and even less an epochal shift of the capitalist system. The tendency for finance to neglect the needs of the domestic productive sector has been the structural operation of finance in many parts of the Global South over the last 150 years. Therefore, one cannot put forward a theory of the evolution of finance under capitalism without taking these crucial historical insights into account.


Background: Facial trauma is a common sport-related injury and risk of this injury in contact sports is greater than non-contact sports. Facial trauma has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor of temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of TMD and its clinical manifestation in boxers of Islamic Republic of Iran national team. Materials and Methods: In this study, thirty-two male players with average age of 23.75 ± 2.21 who were playing boxing more than 6 years were evaluated regarding TMD. After taking the history, a clinical examination was performed for each athlete. The presence of at least a sign or symptom was considered as TMD diagnosis. Data were collected and presented as descriptive findings. Results: Of 32 boxers, 28.1% (9 cases) had TMD and 71.9% (23 cases) were healthy. The most common symptom was ante-auricular pain (25%) followed by neck pain (21.87%) right ante-auricular tenderness (9.37%) muscle tenderness (9.37%), neck tenderness (9.37%) and headache (3.12%). The uppermost sign was right joint click (25%) followed by left joint click (12.5%) and jaw deviation during mouth opening (12.5%). average age of (25 ± 2 years) and boxing record (10.44 ± 2.29 years) of athletes with TMD were higher than average age of (23.26 ± 2.4 years) and boxing record (7.26 ± 1.76 years) of athletes without TMD. Conclusions: This study showed that the prevalence of various sign and symptoms of TMD is relatively high in boxers which could result from boxing-related facial trauma.


Abstract The cephalopods from Union y Progreso represent the first fossil assemblage described from the Parras Shale in Coahuila, Mexico. Pseudoschloenbachia (Pseudoschloenbachia) aff. P. (P.) mexicana (Renz, 1936), P. (P.) mexicana (Renz, 1936), Baculites haresi Reeside, 1927, and Menabites (Delawarella) vanuxemi (Morton, 1830) have a geographically restricted occurrence. Didymoceras juv. sp., Menuites juv. sp., Polyptychoceras juv. sp., Pseudoxybeloceras (Parasolenoceras) juv. sp., and Scaphites sp. ex gr. S. hippocrepis (DeKay, 1828) are represented by juveniles and could not be determined to species level. Desmophyllites diphylloides (Forbes, 1846) is the only long-ranging, cosmopolitan species described from this assemblage. Three new species are described: Eutrephoceras irritilasi n. sp., Hypophylloceras (Neophylloceras) arturoi n. sp., and Tetragonites silencioensis n. sp. The morphotype Baculites n. sp. is also inferred to be distinct. The faunal composition of this assemblage indicates a late early Campanian age. This assemblage shows a high degree of endemism. The causes for this endemism are currently unknown and difficult to assess. Nevertheless, the generic composition of the Union y Progreso ammonite assemblage suggests a short-term early Campanian endemic event.


Located in the Taiwan-Luzon convergent belt, offshore southern Taiwan is one of the ideal natural laboratories to study magatrust faults. Morphotectonic features offshore southern Taiwan suggests that the width of the collisional wedge decreases southward and connects to the northernmost part of the Manila subduction system. Reflection seismic profiles across the southernmost Taiwan collisional belt reveal not only fold-thrust belt in the frontal (western) part of the collisional wedge, but a magatrust system with splay faults, which is also supported by OBS velocity profiles. In order to better understand this megathrust system and its variations from south to north, as the tectonic processes changes from subduction in the area offshore south Taiwan to collision on land Taiwan, we analyze a series of large-offset deep seismic reflection profiles that ran across this megathrust fault system. Decollement has clearly been observed below the lower slope domain of the accretionary wedge. The range of the decollement increases from south to north, inferring that the continental materials have been carried into the subduction zone and the subduction angle decreases from south to north. The crustal velocity model derived from OBS data suggests the possible existence of tectonic underplating beneath this collisional belt. The existence of the megathrust system represents this area have high potential of seismic and tsunami threat.


Most residents of Kisumu, Kenya, use latrines constructed over basic pits or attached to more durable concrete vaults and septic tanks. Only one-third of fecal sludge generated in the city, however, is safely collected and treated. Programs for improving fecal sludge management among poor households include the development of formal manual emptying organizations that are recognized by local authorities, employ safety procedures, and transport fecal sludge to a treatment site. In this study, we compared the financial structures of these organizations with those of vacuum trucks that primarily serve wealthier households. We also employed an incentives-based strategy to promote the expansion of safe pit-emptying services in a low-income area and compared the performance of three managing groups to coordinate these services: (1) The Association of Wastewater Managers (The Association); (2) a formal manual emptying organization; and (3) a community-based water supplier interested in coordinating emptying services. Vacuum trucks were more cost-effective than the formal manual emptying organization, and The Association was most efficient in servicing poor households. The Association also demonstrated the ability to service lowincome areas comprehensively by delegating a fraction of jobs (11%) to formal manual emptiers in locations not serviceable by VTOs, and overall showed the highest potential to achieve pro-poor service delivery at scale.


Masonry retaining walls are designed to resist lateral forces. Their stability is essentially warranted by the correct determination of the failure surface geometry. Accordingly, this study intended to investigate the influence of wall and backfill properties that control failure surface geometry of cohesionless backfills. For this purpose, the discrete element method (DEM) is utilized, and a series of parametric studies were conducted. As the wall-joint parameters reflect the mortar quality of the blocks that constitute the masonry wall, three binder types from weak to strong were defined. Additionally, loose to dense backfill soil conditions and wall-backfill interface properties were also investigated. The results indicate that in the case of a thin rigid wall, the failure surface of dense backfill is identical with the classical earth pressure theory. However, for the masonry walls with a higher foundation width, the failure surfaces are much deeper and wider; particularly on the active side compared to the classical earth pressure theories. In addition to that the deformation mechanism and the associated failure surfaces are greatly influenced from the mortar quality which results with either a deep-seated or sliding type of failure.


Permanent magnet linear generator (PMLG) is mostly applied to oceanic wave energy conversion systems because of its excellent conveniences. But the conventional PMLGs suffer from much core loss and demagnetization because of armature reaction during operation, which are responsible for the electrical power generation. To overcome this problem, standard and advanced magnetic materials are applied to the PMLG for analysis in this paper. At first, a PMLG is designed to test the effect of using the advanced magnetic materials. Further, the PMLG is analyzed with standard steel core and M4-Carlite magnetic core along with two neodymium iron boron permanent magnets namely N30H and N48H. Construction, working principle, and mathematical model of the PMLG are presented. Demagnetization curves of N30H and N48H permanent magnets, magnetization, and core loss curves of the standard steel core and M4-Carlite magnetic core are presented for comparison. Simulation works are executed by finite element method. The mesh setup, output power, voltage, current, and core loss are also presented. Various output parameters of the PMLG for two different temperatures are compared. By observing the characterization of the PMLG, N48H permanent magnet and M4-Carlite magnetic core are selected and proposed for the design. Simulation results show that the proposed PMLG can generate 2.85kW more output power while minimizing the core loss significantly.


The authors consider migration based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging of surface or shallowly buried objects using both down-looking and forward-looking ground penetrating radar (GPR). The well known migration approaches devised to image the interior of the Earth are based on wave equations and have been widely and successfully used in seismic signal processing for oil exploration for decades. They have the potential to image underground objects buried in complicated propagation media. Compared to ray-tracing based SAR imaging methods, migration based SAR imaging approaches are more suited to imaging underground objects owing to their simple and direct treatment of oblique incidence at the air-ground interface and propagation velocity variation in the soil. The authors apply the phase-shift migration approach to both constant-offset and common-shot experimental data collected by PSI GPR systems. They address the spatial aliasing problems related to the application of migration to the GPR data and the spatial zero-padding approach to circumvent the problem successfully.


Regression models are widely used as data-driven methods for predicting a continuous target variable. From a set of input variables, regression models predict a deterministic point value for the target variable. But the deterministic point value prediction is not always sufficient because a target variable value often varies due to diverse sources of uncertainty. For instance, in the fused deposition modeling process, the inconsistent results of replications are associated with natural randomness, environmental condition, and noisy process parameters. The point value estimation is not sufficient to represent the variability in this kind of scenario. Instead of point estimation, the interval prediction of a target variable is more useful in this application. In this paper, linear optimization-based techniques are proposed to predict conservative confidence intervals for linear and polynomial regression models. Two linear optimization models, one for ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and the other for weighted least squares (WLS) regression, are proposed. The proposed methods are implemented on several datasets, including an experimental fused deposition modeling dataset to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. The results show that the proposed method is useful for the fused deposition modeling process where the level of uncertainty or the lack of knowledge of uncertainty sources is high. The proposed method can also be leveraged to the Bayesian neural network (BNN), where the optimization techniques for interval prediction will be nonlinear optimization instead of linear optimization.


Generally, drought is a regular event in Sri Lanka, where most part of the year experiences scarcity of water for a considerable time period. It is evident that, in the Yala season (May- September), the entire dry zone is highly vulnerable to dry spells or occasionally drought conditions. Not only drought but also are dry spells serious problem setback the economic and status of that region. In the dry zone the most vulnerable drought affected areas are Monaragala, Vauniya, Hambantota and Polonnaruwa. Most of these areas, agriculture is practiced with rainfall and irrigation water supply. In Anuradhapura, small tank irrigation and large scale irrigation projects have been established to overcome seasonal water scarcity. However, in Monaragala, such water systems are limited. Most prominent agriculture systems are chena cultivation and home gardens. Climatically this area receives of high rainfall from October to November, while the water is scarce in the rest of the year. In order to overcome the agriculture problems, many water utilisation systems have been established by government and NGO"s such as World Vision. Rain water Harvesting Pond systems (RWHP) is one of them. This research examined how far the RWHP system has been successful to solve the farmer"s water problems taking Thanamalwila as the sample. The methods of data collection were questionnaires, structured interviews, in-depth and open ended interviews and key informer interviews. Focus group discussion and general observations were done to identify the environmental condition such as small tanks, soil water, ground water, vegetation and streams. Formal interviews were done with selected 100 frames who utilized RWP. It was found that related to RWHP system, 100% water utilisation was for agriculture. Most farmers use RWHP for multiple purposes such as vegetation cultivation, domestic use of water and animal husbandry. Success is highly dependent on the location of ponds and some ponds are active throughout of the year. According to water availability in the stream, some are active only for a limited period because surface water storage is very limited. Keywords: Drought, Ground water, Irrigation system, Rain water harvesting ponds, Water utility.


Our case describes a 51-year-old female, diagnosed in April 2008 with a triple-negative, BRCA1-positive, infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the left breast. Initial platinum-based therapy resulted in a complete regression until November 2009, when a recurrence of the disease was detected. As no evidence of metastasis was found, a dose-dense regimen of doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide was administered, followed by paclitaxel. The patient was actively monitored until March 2012, when brain metastases were discovered and successfully treated with whole-brain radiation therapy. Three months later, the patient experienced severe abdominal pain, and CT scans revealed extensive metastatic disease, including a large mass in the abdomen and more than 20 bilateral pulmonary metastases. Treatment commenced with carboplatin plus nab-paclitaxel. However, carboplatin was stopped after 4 cycles due to persistent neutropenia, and nab-paclitaxel was continued as monotherapy. Whole-body CT scans performed in October 2012 and March 2013 revealed a significant response to therapy, and the patient reported feeling well and being fully mobile. No treatment-related adverse events were observed. A routine brain MRI scan carried out on April 18, 2013, revealed a recurrence of brain metastases; however, CT scans confirmed that disease progression was not systemic, but confined to the central nervous system. Despite the initiation of treatment with irinotecan plus temozolomide on April 24, the patient died on July 2, 2013. The author believes that this case is the first report of a robust response to nab-paclitaxel monotherapy in triple-negative BRCA1-positive breast cancer, and that it supports further studies of nab-paclitaxel in this aggressive indication.


A 67-year-old male was admitted because of lymphocytosis and huge splenomegaly. Abnormal lymphocytes had cytoplasmic hairy projections and were negative for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining. The bone marrow aspirate contained many lymphocytes with the same morphology. Flow cytometric analysis revealed an increase in IgM and kappa positive B cells. They were positive for CD11c, CD19, CD20 and FMC7, and negative for CD5, CD10 and CD25. The patient was diagnosed as having hairy cell leukemia, Japanese variant. Initially interferon-alpha was administered for a month, decreasing the numbers of leukemic cells but with little effect on splenomegaly. Subsequent administration of cladribine (0.09 mg/kg, 7 days) showed a remarkable effect, and the patient has been in complete remission for 8 months.


This study examined the relationship between parental involvement routines and family resources and former Head Start children's literacy outcomes. A subsample of 3,808 kindergarten children who were former Head Start attendees are from the National Head Start/Public School Transition Demonstration Research Project. The research questions were answered using three measures of family involvement routines and resources and three measures of child literacy outcomes. The results revealed routines at home to be a beneficial aspect of parent involvement at home and at school. The most involved parents in a child's classroom or school did not have the children with the highest outcome scores. Finally, parent resource measures revealed children benefited when parents provided their children with time for personal growth, time for interpersonal relationships, and time with children and family as well as money for luxuries.


Neurology of Early Childhood. By ANATOLE DzxBAN. (Pp. xvii + 488; illustrated. £11.50.) Edinburgh: E. and S. Livingstone. 1970. Pediatric Neurology. By INGRID GAMSTORP. (Pp. xiii + 394; illustrated. £9.00.) London: Butterworths; New York: Appleton-Century Crofts. 1970. In many countries, including the United States, paediatric neurology is a well-recognized and reasonably well-defined speciality. In the United Kingdom it still seems to be looking for its identity. Those who do recognize its existence may approach it primarily from adult neurology or primarily from paediatrics. The two points of view are not irreconcilable; they happily meet for example in the new European Paediatric Neurology Group. But in general the neurologist will be more interested in pathology and localizing neurological signs; the paediatrician more interested in neurological development and its disorders. The two points of view are well represented by these two books, which are of roughly comparable size. Professor Dekaban places great emphasis on neuroanatomy and pathology; his chapter headings are based wherever possible on the pathological classification of disease. Of course, some subjects which cannot readily be put under pathological headings have to be dealt with-cerebral palsy, mental deficiency, and epilepsyand development is not neglected. However, the chapter on development contains a great deal of developmental neuroanatomy-excellently described-and deals perfunctorily with what the child can actually do at different ages. Dr. Gamstorp on the other hand is primarily a paediatrician, though one with great experience of childhood neurological disorders. The developmental approach is more evident throughout her book, and her chapter headings deal largely with symptoms or practical problems rather than particular pathologies. Perhaps reassuringly, the books are not nearly so different on detailed reading as their differences in approach suggest. Either could usefully find a place in the paediatric department library. This reviewer strongly prefers Dr. Gamstorp's approach to the subject, but paradoxically found Professor Dekaban's book marginally more useful. The explanation is that Dr. Gamstorp is best on those subjects which are most familiar to paediatricians, and which they are therefore less likely to look up in the textbook. Professor Dekaban devotes more space to particular pathologies and to the rarer disorders; he describes them well, and gives many useful references, so he provides more help where the practising paediatrician is most likely to need it. On the other hand, Dr. Gamstorp provides a more balanced introduction to the subject for the paediatrician in training. Mental Subnormality in the Community: a Clinical and Epidemiological Study. By HERBERT G. BIRCH, STEPHEN A. RICHARDSON, SIR DUGALD BAIRD, GORDON HOROBIN and RAYMOND ILISLEY. (Pp. viii + 200; with tables and figures. ,C5.75.) Edinburgh: E. and S. Livingstone. 1970. This study of mental subnormality among children 8 to 10 years old of an entire community-the City of Aberdeen-has obvious advantages compared with studies on more limited and selected samples. There are other reasons why this work is of quite unusual value and reliability-the relative stability of the population of Aberdeen, the high quality of the records on all the children, including the maternal and neonatal notes, the availability of psychometric tests on all children in the city at age 7, and, not least, the experience and distinction of the authors. The prevalence rate of mental subnormality as ascertained by the local authority was 12 6 per 1000 children. A further 14-8 children per 1000 had measured IQs below 75 but were in ordinary schools: adding these to the first group gave an overall prevalence of 27-4 per 1000 among children of this age in this community. The most striking epidemiological findings concern the social class distribution of subnormality: by far the largest proportion came from the lowest social class, with the prevalence rate in the unskilled manual working class nine times higher than in the non-manual class. But there was a striking difference in the distribution of types of (administratively defined) mental subnormality within the different social classes. Severe mental subnormality (IQ below 50) had the same prevalenceabout 5 per 1000-in all social classes, whereas the prevalence of mild subnormality (IQ 60 or above) steadily increased with each step down the social ladder from no cases in social classes I to IIIa to 25 cases per 1000 in social class V. The fact that mild subnormality is so much commoner in the poorer sections of the community has been found in previous studies, but rarely so strikingly set out as here. Is this mild subnormality genetically or environmentally determined ? The authors build up what must seem, to readers less critical and scientifically exacting than themselves, an overwhelming case for the environmentalist point of view. They show that even within the lower social classes, mild subnormality is highly significantly related to family size, poor housing, and overcrowding. Yet they cautiously and correctly say, 'In the present study there is no way in which we can separate these factors (constitutional factors and social-familial environment) in terms of relative contribution to cause'. The most difficult part of the study (for the authors


Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) catalyzes the hydrolysis of sn-2 fatty acids from membrane phospholipids resulting in the production of several biologically active phospholipid metabolites such as lysophospholipids, arachidonic acid, eicosanoids and platelet-activating factor. The majority of myocardial PLA2 activity is membrane-associated and does not require Ca2+ for activity (iPLA2). Myocardial iPLA2 demonstrates unique characteristics when compared to other PLA2 isoforms described previously, including a selectivity for plasmalogen phospholipids and resistance to inhibition by methyl arachidonyl fluorophosphonate. Activation of myocardial iPLA2 results in the production of lysoplasmenylcholine and arachidonic acid, both of which can change the electrophysiologic properties of the myocardium. Arachidonic acid can modulate ion channel activity via protein kinase C activation and has been demonstrated to decrease gap junctional conductance. Lysoplasmenylcholine directly produces action potential derangements and alters calcium cycling in cardiac myocytes. Thus, inhibition of iPLA2 activity to block production of phospholipid metabolites that mediate pathologic changes in the myocardium would be of considerable benefit. However, there are situations where inhibition of PLA2 activity would be detrimental to the myocardium, in particular if iPLA2 acts as a phospholipid repair enzyme following oxidative damage. Although little is known regarding the function of cPLA2 or sPLA2 in the myocardium, it is possible that they may be important for signal transduction or may modulate the activity of iPLA2.


It is commonly believed that solvation effects on the vibrational properties of a solute are easily accounted for by simple rules of thumbs, that is, solvating a polar molecule in a polar medium has the only effect of red shifting all its spectroscopical features and, similarly, solvating a polar molecule in a nonpolar medium has the opposite effect. In this work, we use theoretical vibrational spectroscopy at quasi-classical and quantum approximate semiclassical level to gain atomistic insights about solvent-solute interactions for 2'-deoxyguanosine and the G-quadruplex. We employ the quasi-classical trajectory method to include full anharmonicity into our calculated spectra, and then introduce quantum nuclear effects by means of divide-and-conquer semiclassical spectroscopy calculations. Solvation is treated explicitly leading to a good reproducibility of the available experimental data and reliable predictions when an experimental reference is missing.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.


Purpose/Objective: Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at an increased risk for executive dysfunction and simultaneously have increased self-management needs compared to typical adolescents. This unique combination may contribute, in part, to difficulties during transition to young adulthood. Current measures assessing adaptive skills do not assess the executive components (e.g., initiation, prospective memory) of SCD-related self-care tasks. Modeled on the KKIS-Spina Bifida (Jacobson et al., 2013), the Kennedy Krieger Independence Scales-Sickle Cell Disease (KKIS-SCD) is a new caregiver-report measure that assesses independence with self-management of SCD-specific demands as well as routine daily activities in adolescents with SCD. Research Method/Design: Thirty-three youth with SCD and their caregivers participated in this preliminary validation study examining the construct validity of the KKIS-SCD total and composite scores (Initiation of Routines, Prospective Memory) and exploring relationships of this measure with intellectual functioning, demographic factors, illness severity, and age. Results: The KKIS-SCD exhibited generally good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .733 to .803), and demonstrated evidence for construct and discriminant validity when compared to an existing measure of adaptive function. The KKIS-SCD was significantly associated with caregiver-report of executive behaviors but not with intellectual functioning, demographic factors, illness severity, or age. Conclusions/Implications: Results provide preliminary support for the KKIS-SCD as a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of executive components of self-care management skills for youth with SCD. Identifying specific weaknesses in executive function related to self-care management skills might assist in guiding intervention and individualizing transition planning in these at-risk youth.


In this paper, a single-crystal silicon capacitive accelerometer is put forward. The accelerometer is composed of a single-crystal silicon vibration head and two backplates, forming a sandwich structure. With damping holes fabricated on backplates, the squeeze-film damping effect is reduced and a Q factor around 0.7 is obtained. This accelerometer has a simple fabricating process including wet and dry etching and ambient pressure packaging. Its tested sensitivity is 22.6pF/g and calculated noise level is lower than 100ng/√Hz, thus meets the demand of seismic applications.


At Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden a new detector for portal imaging is under development, which could greatly improve the alignment of the radiation beam with respect to the tumor during radiation treatment. The detector is based on gaseous and solid converters combined with GEMs as an amplification structures. The detector will have a large area and will be operated in a very high rate environment. A prototype has been built and extensively tested, both with high rate X-rays as well as in a clinical environment at the Karolinska Hospital. High rates and alpha particles could cause discharges in the GEM and discharge propagation from GEM to GEM and to the readout electronics. Since reliability is one of the main requirements for the portal imaging device, the authors performed systematic studies to find a safe operating range of the device, free from typical high-rate problems, such as discharges.


The vector vortex is a coronagraphic imaging mode of the recently commissioned Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) platform on the 8 m Subaru Telescope. This multi-purpose high-contrast visible and near-infrared (R- to K-band) instrument is not only intended to serve as a VLT-class "planet-imager" instrument in the northern hemisphere, but also to operate as a technology demonstration testbed ahead of the ELTs-era, with a particular emphasis on small inner-working angle (IWA) coronagraphic capabilities. The given priority to small-IWA imaging led to the early design choice to incorporate focal-plane phase-mask coronagraphs. In this context, a test H-band vector vortex liquid crystal polymer waveplate was provided to SCExAO, to allow a one-to-one comparison of different small-IWA techniques on the same telescope instrument, before considering further steps. Here we present a detailed overview of the vector vortex coronagraph, from its installation and performances on the SCExAO optical bench, to the on-sky results in the extreme AO regime, as of late 2016/early 2017. To this purpose, we also provide a few recent on-sky imaging examples, notably high-contrast ADI detection of the planetary-mass companion κ Andromedae b, with a signal-to-noise ratio above 100 reached in less than 10 mn exposure time.


Emerging 5G millimeter-wave (mm-wave) networks use electronic beamforming and beamsteering and support signal bandwidths on the order of hundreds of MHz. Given these characteristics, opportunities exist to develop 3-D sensing applications that leverage 5G mm-wave communications infrastructure. In this context, this work introduces a signal processing pipeline that can: 1) accurately extract the Time of Flight (ToF) of reflected orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications signals and 2) enhance range resolution by coherently aggregating the reflection information from separate frequency bands. In combination with precise beamsteering, the proposed signal processing techniques enable high-resolution 3-D radar imaging without affecting communications protocols. An experimental system demonstrating this concept has been implemented and is described. This system consists of two software-defined phased array radios (SDPARs), one configured as a prototype 5G base station TX, and one as an auxiliary prototype 5G RX. Each SDPAR primarily consists of a Si-based 28-GHz, 64-element, phased array transceiver module and software-defined radio. Simulation and benchmark results show that our coherent bandwidth stitching enables accurate OFDM-based ranging with 15-cm resolution. Measurement results show 3-D radar images of indoor scenes with 2° angular and 15-cm ranging resolution, created by processing reflected 5G-like communication waveforms at 28 GHz. The produced 3-D radar images effectively depict the location of objects in the scene, and these locations are in close agreement with the ground truth.


In a repository for radioactive waste hosted in a clay formation, hydrogen and other gases may be generated due to the corrosion of metallic materials under anoxic conditions, the radioactive decay of waste and the radiolysis of water. If the gas production rate exceeds the gas diffusion rate within the pores of the clay, a discrete gas phase will form and accumulate until its pressure becomes large enough to exceed the entry pressure of the surrounding material.
The purpose of Task A under DECOVALEX-2019 is to better understand the processes governing the advective movement of gas in both low-permeability argillaceous repository host rocks and clay-based engineered barriers. Special attention is given to the mechanisms controlling gas entry, flow and pathway sealing and their impact on the performance of the engineered clay barrier. Previous work suggests gas flow may be accompanied by the creation of dilatant pathways whose properties change temporally and spatially within the medium. Thus, new numerical representations for the quantitative prediction of gas migration fluxes through argillaceous rock formations have been developed. These provide an invaluable tool with which to assess the impact of gas flow on repository layout and therefore design of any future facility. In addition, experience gained through this task is of direct relevance to other clay-based engineering issues where immiscible gas flow is a consideration including shale gas, hydrocarbon migration, carbon capture and storage and landfill design.
Task A is organised into four steps, starting with the code development (stage 0) and followed by the modelling of a 1D gas flow test (stage 1) and a spherical gas flow test (stage 2). Then, the previous models are applied to a natural argillaceous material (stage 3).
This report summarises the outcomes of work in Task A (stages 0 and 1) with work conducted from May 2016 to March 2018 and provides a brief overview of the experimental data, the current task structure and a synthesis of the ongoing work of the participating modelling teams as of March 2018.


Roads disrupt the canopy and can affect arboreal animals in different ways, such as reducing canopy connectivity, generating habitat loss and degradation, and increasing direct mortality. Since arboreal animals mainly use the canopy for movement, mitigation measures for these species usually focus on maintaining or restoring canopy connectivity to guarantee safe crossings. Here we present a case study of a Brazilian coastal road (ES-060) for which we described the use of a canopy bridge and multiple underpasses by three arboreal mammal species and compared these data with roadkill records of the same species in the vicinity of the crossing structures. Our study includes a 75 m long steel cable canopy bridge, monitored for 3 years, and clusters of different types of underpasses, monitored for 16 years. The use of the crossing structures was monitored with sand track beds installed at entrances on both sides, and roadkill surveys were conducted daily for 16 years. We considered a crossing to be successful if tracks of the same species were recorded on either side of a structure and showed opposite movement trajectories. The canopy bridge survey resulted in an observed rate of 0.16 crossings/month for Callithrix geoffroyi, 7.79 for Coendou insidiosus, and 0.46 for Didelphis aurita, and all types of underpasses combined demonstrated a rate of 0.33, 1.94, and 8.43 crossings/month for each species, respectively. The roadkill surveys resulted in an observed rate of 1.41, 0.78, 2.94 roadkills/month for Callithrix geoffroyi, Coendou insidiosus, and Didelphis aurita, respectively. Even with mitigation structures confirmed to be used by these three species, roadkill hotspots occurred in the road sections with the crossing structures. Our study demonstrated the use of a canopy bridge and different types of underpasses by arboreal mammal species. The canopy bridge was mostly used by Coendou insidiosus, while the underpasses were mainly used by Didelphis aurita. As roadkill hotspots occurred red in the same segments where mitigation crossing structures were installed, our results indicate that some important improvements are needed to mitigate roadkills of arboreal mammals in this area, mainly preventing that these species access the road. We present recommendations for a research agenda to support mitigation planning for arboreal mammals, namely: (1) testing the efficiency of different canopy bridge designs for multispecies mitigation, (2) testing the use of connecting structures, such as ropes that connect to the surrounding forest, to encourage underpass use by arboreal species, and (3) testing fence adaptations to block the access of arboreal mammals to roads.


This article shows Justice Frankfurter's positive influence on the development of the jurisprudence of free speech, which has been overlooked in the shadow of his judicial passivism. Reading the decisions of that time carefully, this article finds the theoretical relationship between him and Justice Brennan, who played the main role in the progressive Warren Court.As the Supreme Court began to yield to the hysteria of McCarthyism, Frankfurter's deep concern about the wide discouraging effect of the restraint came to the forefront. It was Frankfurter who began to use the terms 'deter' and 'chill' to describe the negative effect of restrictions on speech. In Sweezy v. New Hampshire, Frankfurter demanded that the State interest be 'compelling' to justify the intrusion on political liberties. Brennan succeeded in developing the compelling interest test in following decisions. It is true that Frankfurter needed more evidence than Brennan to recognize the deterrent effect enough to make restrictions unconstitutional. However, this article confirms that Frankfurter helped the restart of the Supreme Court with his keen sensitivity to the negative potential of restrictions on political liberties.


Construction of multi-storey reinforced concrete (RC) wall buildings in areas of moderate to high seismicity has become a common practice in several Latin-American countries such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico. The large material cost has led to the common practice of designing walls with only one layer of reinforcement and very low thickness. The earthquakes in Chile (2010) and New Zealand (2011) have shown that such design approach can induce out-of-plane failure of the walls under seismic action. In order to study the influence of different parameters on the out-of-plane response of thin members, an experimental campaign on RC columns was recently carried out at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. These columns, axially loaded in cyclic tension-compression, represent the boundary element regions of RC walls, which correspond to the parts of the wall mainly involved in the instability mechanism. This paper illustrates the application of a shell model with truss elements to simulate the response of the tested specimens. The accuracy of the numerical model is assessed by comparison against the experimental results. It is shown that good estimates of the critical tensile strain that leads to out-of-plane instability as well as the out-of-plane displacement in cycles prior to failure are obtained. The failure mode is adequately simulated and also local behaviour is consistently reproduced. Therefore, the application of similar models to assess the vulnerability of thin RC walls to out-of-plane instability appears to be a relatively simple and robust numerical tool for engineering practice.


Abstract Zygoptera show two perching modes, one with wings closed and one with wings open. These perching modes are distributed unequally through the suborder; most Zygoptera perch with closed wings, but species in 43 genera of eight families at least occasionally - in most cases usually - perch with open wings. Alternative hypotheses to explain this dichotomy are assessed. The dichotomy does not seem to be explicable by the Phylogenetic Inertia Hypothesis (PIH), the Wing Display Hypothesis (WDH), or the Thermoregulation Hypothesis (TH). I propose a hypothesis that the openwing position used by some zygopterans facilitates either more rapid takeoff or quicker orientation toward flying prey: the Quick Takeoff Hypothesis (QTH). That openwing species usually take flying prey furnishes support for the QTH, although many closedwing species also take flying prey. However, as most zygopterans perch with closed wings, that behavior needs explanation too, and I propose a hypothesis that perching with wings spread may make a zygopteran more conspicuous to predators and thus may be disadvantageous: the Shiny Wing Hypothesis (SWH). Larger species are less at risk of predation than smaller species, open wings in shade should be less conspicuous than in sunlight, and the majority of zygopterans with open wings are large tropical shade perchers, furnishing support for the SWH.


There is a growing interest in quantifying regional scale actual evapotranspiration (ET) for water resource management. Using moderate-resolution Imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, in combination with meteorological records, an integrated approach is proposed to estimate daily ET over 1-km grid covering North China. The Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) is adapted to partition the sensible heat from latent heat. A gap-filling method for ET estimation during cloudy intervals is accomplished by a combination of SEBS outputs and Penman-Monteith equation. The proposed scheme, named ETWatch, is calibrated and evaluated using measurements from four flux sites in the semi-humid regions with different soil types, land cover, and climate conditions in North China. The gap-filling method reproduces observed fluxes with satisfied correlation, yielding about a 22% MAPD in Yucheng agriculture site. The improved method could be used to study the impact of different agricultural water consuming patterns in North China.


We consider the problem of learning Markov Random Fields (including the prototypical example, the Ising model) under the constraint of differential privacy. Our learning goals include both structure learning, where we try to estimate the underlying graph structure of the model, as well as the harder goal of parameter learning, in which we additionally estimate the parameter on each edge. We provide algorithms and lower bounds for both problems under a variety of privacy constraints -- namely pure, concentrated, and approximate differential privacy. While non-privately, both learning goals enjoy roughly the same complexity, we show that this is not the case under differential privacy. In particular, only structure learning under approximate differential privacy maintains the non-private logarithmic dependence on the dimensionality of the data, while a change in either the learning goal or the privacy notion would necessitate a polynomial dependence. As a result, we show that the privacy constraint imposes a strong separation between these two learning problems in the high-dimensional data regime.


Lifelong learning paradigm raises higher requirements for a teacher: quality and effectiveness are the two key words defining the general education policy of the EU and the main objectives of the current period. Today teachers are required to be able to work in a multicultural environment, flexibly respond and adapt to changes, individualise and differentiate the content of education, and pursue various social functions (such as vocational counseling, conflict management, mediation etc.). Besides high professional requirements teachers are also required to participate in the continuous/further learning process including formal/nonformal professional development, selfeducation, and studies in state and private vocational training organisations not only within the framework of education but also in other spheres. The following question have been raised in the article: how the process of teachers' professional development is organised in Lithuania?


Partial hepatectomy (HPX), which proliferatively activates the remaining liver cells, triggered two transient prereplicative surges in the total activities of cytoplasmic types I and II cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase holoenzymes, and of nuclear catalytic subunits from cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinases. It also induced a transient prereplicative increase in the activities of a nuclear Ca2+‐calmodulin‐stimulable, protamine‐phosphorylating protein kinase, and a nuclear poly(L‐lysine)‐phosphorylating, 105 kDa protein kinase. Thyroparathyroidectomy (TPTX) delayed and reduced the first surge and completely eliminated the second surge of both of the cytoplasmic cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinases, reduced the rises in the activity of nuclear catalytic subunits, and completely eliminated the surge of the Ca2+‐calmodulin‐stimulable protein kinase, but did not affect the surge of the nuclear 105 kDa protein kinase. The impairment of the responses of the two cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinases to HPX in TPTX rats was not accompanied by a rise in the level of heat‐stable inhibitor of cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase activity. One intraperitoneal injection of 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 into TPTX rats immediately after HPX completely restored the post‐HPX surges in the activity of type I cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase, but the hormone, even in high doses, had little or no effect on the type II isoenzyme or the nuclear Ca2+‐calmodulin‐stimulable, protamine‐phosphorylating enzyme.


Salt 'withdrawal' sedimentary minibasins, common features of salt tectonic provinces, are typically subcircular or polygonal, 10–30 km in diameter, and contain as much as 10 km of sediment above evaporite that has been expelled into surrounding diapiric structures. The early development of minibasins typically is not buoyancy driven (Rayleigh-Taylor instability) because thin sediment overburden is usually less dense than salt (strictly, halite) or other evaporites. We analyze an alternative mechanism that applies in compressional regimes involving sedimentation onto salt, lateral flow and shortening of sediment and salt to form viscous pressure ridges (VPRs) (the key process). Loading by sediment ponded between VPRs provides a positive feedback that grows the pressure ridges. We show using lubrication theory and numerical models that this mechanism quantitatively solves the enigma and grows minibasins until the compacting sediment is sufficiently thick and dense for Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities to take over.


Liquid biofuel production will likely have its greatest impact through the large‐scale changes in land use that will be required to meet the production of this energy source. In this study, we develop a framework which integrates species distribution models, land cover, land capability and various biodiversity conservation data to identify natural areas with (i) a potentially high risk of transformation for biofuel production and (ii) potential impact to biodiversity conservation areas. The framework was tested in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, a region which has been earmarked for the cultivation of biofuels. We expressly highlight the importance of biodiversity conservation data that enhance the protected area network to limit potential losses by comparing the overlap of areas likely to become cultivated with (i) protected areas; (ii) biodiversity hot spots not currently protected; and (iii) 'ecological corridors' (areas deemed important for the migration of species and linkages between important biodiversity areas). Results indicate that the introduction of spatial filters reduced available land from 54% to 45%. Including all biodiversity scenarios reduced available land to 15% of the Eastern Cape should avoiding conflict with biodiversity conservation areas be prioritized. The assumption that agriculturally marginal land offers a unique opportunity to be converted to biofuel crops does not consider the biodiversity value attached to these areas. We highlight that decisions relating to large‐scale transformation and changes in land cover need to take account of broader ecological processes. Determining the spatial extent of threats to biodiversity facilitates the analysis of spatial conflict. This article demonstrates a proactive approach for anticipating likely habitat transformation and provides an objective means of mitigating potential conflict with existing land use and biodiversity.


The Author describes and maps, in terms of Vaughan's system of zonal classification, the northern portion of the horseshoe-shaped wooded ridge of Avonian rocks which partly surrounds the synclinal basin of the Bristol Coalfield lying north-east of Bristol. The area described links together the researches of two former papers, and completes the Avonian zonal map of the horseshoe ridge. The chief zonal characteristics may be summarized as follows:— Cleistopora Zone.—Lithologically the zone consists of shales. grits, and thinly-bedded muddy limestones, with the usual fossils. The Bryozoa Bed (α) has been recognized, and the zonal fossil is unusually abundant in the Tytherington-Grovesend railway section. Zaphrentis Zone.—Limestones of the 'Petit Granit' type, with intervening shales in Z1, form the major part of the sequence. At the base of Z1 in the Tytherington-Grovesend railway section is an interesting band of oolite. No chert has been found. Zaphrentids are very abundant, and the 'Z2 Fish-Bed' occurs in the northern part of the area. Horizon γ cannot be differentiated, owing to the absence of Caninia immediately above the konincki subzone. Syringothyris Zone.—The following sequence occurs in ascending order:— (1) Thickly-bedded, nearly unfossiliferous. blue-grey dolomites (laminosadolomites), apparently formed by the dolomitization of crinoidal limestones. (2) A series of fossiliferous crinoidal limestones (Sub-Oolite Bed): non-oolitic in the lower, but oolitic in the upper portions. (3) A thick bed of current-bedded white oolite (Caninia Oolite). This was probably immediately followed by a short period of subaërial denudation. (4) Unfossiliferous thinly-bedded dolomites, with subordinate shales (Caninia Dolomites). Series (2) and (4) a.re considerably thicker than their eqnivalents in the Avon Section. Seminula Zone.—The zone consists of massive limestones, including examples of ,Seminula Pisolite, china-stones, and Seminula Oolites merging into sandstones and conglomerates of a 'Millstone Grit' phase of deposition. A calcareous sandstone (Firestone) occurs near the base of S2 (formerly described from the top of Sl). A calcareous development of the Dibunophyllum Zone is absent in the area described. It is thus established, from the evidence of previous writers and that set forth in the present paI)er, that during Avonian times there was a progressive movement of the northern shore-line of Vaughan's ' South-Western Channel ' in a southerly direction. This movement is registered by noting the level in tile Avonian sequence at which ' Millstone Grit' conditions were established. The maximum thickness of the calcareous Avonian beds is only 1280 feet, as compared with 2540 feet in the Avon section. The Tytherington-Grovesend railway provides a complete section of the Avonian rocks of the area.


Platforms constitute a political communications battlespace in which a plurality of social actors—from Left to Right—struggle for recognition and attention, try to organize consent to their ideologies, and seek to influence how people think and behave. In the spirit of this special issue's investigation of the tactical political uses of new media to bring about social change, this article demonstrates how contemporary platforms are a space of battle, fought over by the altright's white nationalist fascists and a new Left's "digital united front." Drawing upon numerous examples of fascist and antifascist tactical interventions across the platforms, this article is optimistic that the power of the alt-right to win hearts and minds may be waning due to the growth and widespread support for the Left's digital united front. To this end, this article's first section contextualizes the revival of the hard Right's "authoritarian populism" under the auspices of the US Trump presidency and defines the contemporary "alt-right." The article's second section surveys the alt-right's political uses of platforms, and highlights some of these platforms' affordances to the alt-right's reach and ideological influence. The third section conceptualizes the Left's "digital united front," and catalogues some of its tactics for countering platform fascists: no-platforming, doxing, video ideology critique, and memes. This article's overview of the alt-right's platformization of fascism and the Left's digital united front is not comprehensive, but aims to highlight some salient instances of "what's being done" by the altright to platform fascism, and "what's being done" by the Left to disrupt this threat. By scrutinizing the alt-right's platformization of fascism and championing the Left's digital united front, this article aims to contribute to knowledge about the politics of tactical media in the age of platforms, and be a praxiological primer for battling the alt-right. The conclusion critically assesses the notion that the US has become a "fascist" country.