An experiment was conducted to 1) determine quantity of microbial CP and DM associated with undigested feed particles, 2) quantify the amount of microorganisms removed from ruminally incubated forages and 3) compare forage disappearances (D) corrected for microbial contamination, using diaminopimelic acid (DNA) ratios obtained from particle-associated or fluid-associated microorganisms. Samples of alfalfa hay, bermudagrass hay and orchardgrass hay placed in dacron bags were incubated via ruminal cannula for 6 and 12 h. Whole nuninal contents (WRC) were sampled at the time of bag removal and partitioned into fluidand particle-associated microorganisms. Particleassociated microorganisms were further divided into loosely-associated (LA) and f i i y associated (FA) microorganisms. Percentage microbial CP and DAPA, quantities of OM, CP (mg) and DAPA (pg), microbial contamination and microbial contribution to ruminal contents were not affected by time (P > .05). The highest concentrations of CP and DAPA were found in fluid and LA, respectively (P < .01). The total amount (content) of OM, CP and DAPA were highest in FA and lowest in microbes in the fluid fraction. Firmlyassociated microorganisms constituted 54.1 % of the particle-associated population. Corrected DMD were higher (P < .01) based on FA than on fluid and LA microbe compositions. Corrected CPD were similar (P > .lo) between populations except at 6 h, when LA corrected CPD were lower. Theoretically, using FA microorganisms should give the most accurate correction for microbial contamination. However, results indicate that, although the three populations differed in composition, fluid and FA corrected CPD were similar. Corrections based on composition of any of these three populations will yield higher estimates of disappearance compared with uncorrected values. (


Since 2006, several varieties of transgenic Bt-maize are approved for commercial cultivation in Germany. The German regulatory framework for growing these crops comprises ex-ante regulations as well as ex-post liability rules to protect conventional and organic farming from possible negative side effects of transgenic plants and to ensure co-existence. Public regulation is also suspected to impose additional costs to those farmers who intend to plant Bt-maize. We address the question how Bt-maize growing farmers perceive the additional costs of regulation and whether coordination or cooperation takes place in order to diminish these costs. In 2006, we carried out a case study in the Oderbruch region (Brandenburg, Germany) comprising eight Bt-maize growing farmers and six adjacent neighbours. The predominantly large farms chose intrafarm coordination to manage the construction of buffer zones within their own fields and to avoid the planting of Bt-maize close to their neighbours. Inter-farm coordination or cooperation with adjacent farmers was not regarded necessary to achieve co-existence.


Borides and carbides attract the attention of developers of heat-resistant and super hard structural materials due to a unique combination of their resistance to high-temperature oxidation, high hardness, wear resistance, electrical and thermal conductivity and etc. The article presents experimental results on obtaining composites based on TiB2-TiC-Al2O3, CrB2-Al2O3 by a method combining self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) and mechanical activation (MA). The influence of the composition of the initial components, the conditions of SHS and preliminary MA on the formation of the microstructure and phase composition of the SHS-composite based on titanium carbide and titanium, chromium borides has been studied. The SHS products were examined by X-ray diffraction analysis and a scanning electron microscope. High-temperature phases of borides of chromium, titanium, aluminum oxide and their spinel are found in SHS products.


We present multifrequency radio observations from the afterglow of GRB 980519 beginning 7.2 hr after the gamma-ray burst and ending 63 days later. The fast decline in the optical and X-ray light curves for this burst has been interpreted either as afterglow emission originating from a collimated outflow—a jet—or the result of a blast wave propagating into a medium whose density is shaped by the wind of an evolved massive star. These two models predict divergent behavior for the radio afterglow, and therefore radio observations are capable, in principle, of discriminating between the two. We show that a wind model describes the subsequent evolution of the radio afterglow rather well. However, we see strong modulation of the light curve, which we interpret as diffractive scintillation. These variations prevent us from decisively rejecting the jet model.


Aim This study was conducted to explain the role of families in rehabilitating children with cochlear implants based on the participants' experiences and perceptions. Method This research is a qualitative study based on the method of contract content analysis, and it is conducted with semi-structured interviews to collect information in Iran in 2018–2019. The interview was conducted with 12 participants, including caregivers (child caregivers with a cochlear implant), and the process of data collection continued until saturation. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the data were analyzed using Gran Haim and Landman content analysis. This study was guided by consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative (COREQ). Results The results of the study were formed in the main class titled the family, the effective rehabilitation factor, and two sub-classes titled supportive family and continuing professional and non-professional rehabilitation. Conclusion The findings of this study indicated that the rehabilitation process in these children will be incomplete without the presence and support of the family.


Purpose: We developed a method for measuring signal enhancement produced by high‐Z nanofilm electrodes in parallel plate ionization chambers with variable thickness microgaps. Methods: We used a laboratory‐made variable gap parallel plate ionization chamber with nanofilm electrodes made of aluminum–aluminum (Al–Al) and aluminum–tantalum (Al–Ta). The electrodes were evaporated on 1 mm thick glass substrates. The interelectrode air gap was varied from 3 μm to 1 cm. The gap size was measured using a digital micrometer and it was confirmed by capacitance measurements. The electric field in the chamber was kept between 0.1 kV/cm and 1 kV/cm for all the gap sizes by applying appropriate compensating voltages. The chamber was exposed to 120 kVp X‐rays. The current was measured using a commercial data acquisition system with temporal resolution of 600 Hz. In addition, radiation transport simulations were carried out to characterize the dose, D(x), high‐energy electron current, J(x), and deposited charge, Q(x), as a function of distance, x, from the electrodes. A deterministic method was selected over Monte Carlo due to its ability to produce results with 10 nm spatial resolution without stochastic uncertainties. Experimental signal enhancement ratio, SER(G) which we defined as the ratio of signal for Al–air–Ta to signal for Al–air–Al for each gap size, was compared to computations. The individual contributions of dose, electron current, and charge deposition to the signal enhancement were determined. Results: Experimental signals matched computed data for all gap sizes after accounting for several contributions to the signal: (a) charge carrier generated via ionization due to the energy deposited in the air gap, D(x); (b) high‐energy electron current, J(x), leaking from high‐Z electrode (Ta) toward low‐Z electrode (Al); (c) deposited charge in the air gap, Q(x); and (d) the decreased collection efficiency for large gaps (>˜500 μm). Q(x) accounts for the electrons below 100 eV, which are regarded as stopped by the radiation transport code but which can move and form electron current in small gaps (<100 μm). While the total energy deposited in the air gap increases with gap size for both samples, the average high‐energy current and deposited charge are moderately decreasing with the air gap. When gap sizes are smaller than ˜20 μm, the contribution to signal from dose approaches zero while contributions from high‐energy current and deposited charges give rise to an offset signal. The measured signal enhancement ratio (SER) was 40.0 ± 5.0 for the 3 μm gap and rapidly decreasing with gap size down to 9.9 ± 1.2 for the 21 μm gap and to 6.6 ± 0.3 for the 100 μm gap. The uncertainties in SER were mostly due to uncertainties in gap size and data acquisition system. Conclusions: We developed an experimental method to determine the signal enhancement due to high‐Z nanolayers in parallel plate ionization chambers with micrometer spatial resolution. As the water‐equivalent thicknesses of these air gaps are 3 nm to 10 μm, the method may also be applicable for nanoscopic spatial resolution of other gap materials. The method may be extended to solid insulator materials with low Z.


Three samples of acid mine drainage (AMD) collected from Dabaoshan Mine (Guangdong Province, China) were studied. In addition to physico-chemical analyses, bacterial diversities and community structures of these samples were described at genetic level by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA). A total of 60 different ARDRA patterns were obtained from 377 clones and were studied as operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which were re-amplified and sequenced. The sequence data and phylogenetic analysis showed that Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans represented 88.0 % of the bacterial population in Sample LC. However, Samples JX and FS contained more diverse colonies of bacteria, such as Leptospirillum ferrooxidans (JX: 16.9%, FS: 39.1%), Acidiphilum sp. (JX: 38.7%, FS: 25.8%) and A. ferrooxidans (JX: 12.1%, FS: 10.2%). These diversities were characterized by the reciprocal of Simpson's index (IAD) and correlated with the concentrations of ferrous iron and toxic ions in AMD.


The (iminophosphoranyl)(thiophosphoranyl)methanide {CH(PPh2=NSiMe3)(PPh2=S)}(-) ligand has been used for the synthesis of divalent and trivalent rare-earth borohydride complexes. The salt metathesis of the potassium reagent [K{CH(PPh2=NSiMe3)(PPh2=S)}]2 with [Yb(BH4)2(THF)2] resulted in the divalent monoborohydride ytterbium complex [{CH(PPh2=NSiMe3)(PPh2=S)}Yb(BH4)(THF)2]. The 2D (31)P/(171)Yb HMQC-NMR spectrum clearly showed the coupling between both nuclei. The trivalent bisborohydrides [{CH(PPh2=NSiMe3)(PPh2=S)}Ln(BH4)2(THF)] (Ln = Y, Sm, Tb, Dy, Er, Yb and Lu) were obtained by reaction of [K{CH(PPh2=NSiMe3)(PPh2=S)}]2 with [Ln(BH4)3(THF)3]. All new compounds were characterized by single X-ray diffraction. The divalent and trivalent compounds were next used as initiators in the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (CL) and trimethylene carbonate (TMC). All complexes afforded a generally well-controlled ROP of both of these cyclic esters. High molar mass poly(ε-caprolactone) diols (Mn,NMR < 101,300 g mol(-1), ĐM = 1.44), and α,ω-dihydroxy and α-hydroxy,ω-formate telechelic poly(trimethylene carbonate)s (Mn,NMR < 20,000 g mol(-1), ĐM = 1.61) were thus synthesized under mild operating conditions.


This paper aims to estimate Neyman-Scott rectangular pulse (NSRP) modeling application in representing the storm rainfall that occurred in Peninsular Malaysia. This research utilized hourly rainfall data from 48 rain gauges in Peninsular Malaysia during the period from 1970 to 2008. The raingauge stations are given in four territories, namely northwest, west, southwest, and east. The goodness-of-fit test from NSRP model should be done before the other applications of the model. The conclusion of this research revealed that NSRP model is able to show the rainfall data in Peninsular Malaysia.


Wittgenstein's later philosophy of mathematics has been widely interpreted to involve Wittgenstein's making dogmatic requirements of what can and cannot be mathematics, as well as involving Wittgenstein dismissing whole areas (e.g. set theory) as not legitimate mathematics. Given that Wittgenstein promised to 'leave mathematics as it is', Wittgenstein is left looking either hypocritical or confused.
This thesis will argue that Wittgenstein can be read as true to his promise to 'leave mathematics as it is' and that Wittgenstein can be seen to present coherent, careful and non-dogmatic treatments of philosophical problems in relation to mathematics. If Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy is understood in sufficient detail, then it is possible to lift the appearance of confusion and contradiction in his work on mathematics. Whilst apparently dogmatic and sweeping claims figure in Wittgenstein's writing, they figure only as pictures to be compared against language-use and not as definitive accounts (which would claim exclusive right to correctness).
Wittgenstein emphasises the importance of the applications of mathematics and he feels that our inclination to overlook the connections of mathematics with its applications is a key source of a number of philosophical problems in relation to mathematics. Wittgenstein does not emphasise applications to the exclusion of all else or insist that nothing is mathematics unless it has direct applications. Wittgenstein does question the alleged importance of certain non-applied mathematical systems such as set theory and the logicist systems of Frege and Russell. But his criticism is confined to the aspirations towards philosophical insight that has been attributed to those systems. This is consonant with Wittgenstein's promises in (PI, §124) to 'leave mathematics as it is' and to see 'leading problems of mathematical logic' as 'mathematical problems like any other.' It is the aim of this thesis to see precisely what Wittgenstein means by these promises and how he goes about keeping them.


Air quality measurement is a topic of a great interest for any country due to health and environmental reasons. Tis issue is more critical in low-incomes countries since the air quality is generally worse than in developed countries and the governments give fewer budget to lead environmental policy and research. This explains the increasing demand for low-cost dust optical sensors like the Shinyei PPD24NS during the last years. However, those sensors present mixed results in terms of precision and repeatability, especially in case of new applications like the ones in moving context. Moreover, few or confuse information exists on those sensors functioning and conditions of use and the manufacturer does not provide any comprehensive guideline. The present article aims at filling this gap, providing a real study of the internal sensor operating. This includes: a detailed, theoretical and practical, analysis of the electric diagram, a characterization of the airflow through the optical chamber, an output behavior analysis based on particulate matter concentration and some algorithmic issues guideline. The article ends by providing useful tips and recommendations as well as some tracks to improve its precision for new applications.


The lithium ion diffusion coefficient of a 93% Li β-alumina single crystal was measured for the first time using pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR spectroscopy with two different crystal orientations. The diffusion coefficient was found to be 1.2 × 10(-11) m(2)/s in the direction perpendicular to the c axis at room temperature. The Li ion diffusion coefficient along the c axis direction was found to be very small (6.4 × 10(-13) m(2)/s at 333 K), which suggests that the macroscopic diffusion of the Li ion in the β-alumina crystal is mainly two-dimensional. The diffusion coefficient for the same sample was also estimated using NMR line narrowing data and impedance measurements. The impedance data show reasonable agreement with PFG-NMR data, while the line narrowing measurements provided a lower value for the diffusion coefficient. Line narrowing measurements also provided a relatively low value for the activation energy and pre-exponential factor. The temperature dependent diffusion coefficient was obtained in the temperature range 297-333 K by PFG-NMR, from which the activation energy for diffusion of the Li ion was estimated. The activation energy obtained by PFG-NMR was smaller than that obtained by impedance measurements, which suggests that thermally activated defect formation energy exists for 93% Li β-alumina single crystals. The diffusion time dependence of the diffusion coefficient was observed for the Li ion in the 93% Li β-alumina single crystal by means of PFG-NMR experiments. Motion of Li ion in fractal dimension might be a possible explanation for the observed diffusion time dependence of the diffusion coefficient in the 93% Li β-alumina system.


In the last decade, globalization has increasingly involved the internationalization of services sectors as much as of manufacturing, and the various sub-sectors of the real estate industry have been enthusiastic participants in this global area. Builders, brokerage firms, consulting and services firms, real estate finance firms and property investors have extended their area of operations beyond local markets to a world-wide base. From this point, it is important to understand the global real estate market. The main purpose of this study to determine homogeneous housing markets base on countries where house price indices move together. By clustering the housing markets, managers in multinational corporations can better understand the basis for similarities and differences between countriesi housing markets. With this knowledge, they can select appropriate market areas and formulate efficiently diversified investment portfolios. Clusters also can help academicians, property investors by defining the extent to which results should be generalized to other countries. Properly employed results from one country can be generalized to the entire group of countries sharing a particular variable within the same cluster.


Energy-Efficient Algorithms and Access Schemes for Small Cell Networks Haluk Celebi Dense deployment of small base stations (SBSs) brings new challenges such as growing energy consumption, increased carbon footprint, higher inter-cell interference, and complications in handover management. These challenges can be dealt with by taking advantage of sleep/idle mode capabilities of SBSs, and exploiting the delay tolerance of data applications, as well as utilizing information derived from the statistical distributions of SBSs and user equipment (UE)-SBS associations. This dissertation focuses on the formulation of mathematical models and proposes energy efficient algorithms for small cell networks (SCN). It is shown that delay tolerance of some data applications can be taken advantage of to save energy in SCN. This dissertation introduces practical models to study the performance of delayed access to SCNs. Operational states of SBS are modeled as a Markov chain and their probability distributions are analyzed. Also, it argues that SCN can be operated to save energy during low traffic periods by taking advantage of user equipments' (UEs) delay tolerance in SCN while providing high access probability within bounded transmission range. Dense deployment of SCNs cause an increase in overlapping SBS coverage areas, allowing UEs to establish communication with multiple SBSs. A new load metric as a function of the number of SBSs in UE's communication range is defined, and its statistics are rigorously analyzed. Energy saving algorithms based on aforementioned load metric are developed and their efficiencies are compared. Besides, UE's delay tolerance allows establishing communication with close-by SBSs that are either in fully active mode or in sleeping mode. Improvements in coverage probability and bitrate are analyzed by considering different delay tolerance values for UEs. Key parameters such as UE's communication range are optimized with respect to SBS density and delay tolerance. The fundamental problem of local versus remote edge/fog computing and its inherent tradeoffs are studied from a queuing perspective taking into account user/SBS density, server capacity and latency constraints. The task offloading problem is cast as an M/M/1(c) queue in which CPU intensive tasks arrive according to Poisson process and receive service subject to a tolerable delay. The higher the proportion of locally computed tasks, the less traffic SCN handles between edge processor and UE. Therefore, low utilization of SCN can be interperted as increased spectral efficiency due to low interference and close UE-SBS distance. Tradeoff between delay dependent SCN utilization and spectral efficiency is evaluated at high and low traffic loads.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the profit of a participation promotive educational strategy versus traditional teaching on development of the undergraduate medical boarding's clinical aptitude.

METHODS
A quasiexperimental design was made. An instrument was built and validated in order to explore clinical aptitude. It contains three actual clinical cases about iron, folic acid or cobalamin deficiency, and a questionnaire with 164 items to explore eight clinical aptitude indicators; experts attending and teaching physicians validated it. A Kuder-Richardson coefficient of 0.80 was gotten when we estimated the internal reliability. The instrument was applied simultaneously to 55 undergraduate medical boarding from two hospitals of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social the starting year of undergraduate boarding (initial measuring) and at finish once again (end measuring). The experimental group (GE, n = 29) was exposed to a participation promotive educational strategy, and control group (GC, n = 26) to a traditional one.

RESULTS
The overall scores of initial measuring in the GE and GC were low: 57 y 42 respectively (maximum: 164); at end measuring an increase in overall scores was observed: in the GE 68 (p < 0.02) and GC 47 (NS).

CONCLUSIONS
The participation promotive educational strategy is better than traditional teaching for developing the undergraduate medical boarding's clinical aptitude. It must be considerated to propitiate changes to develop a more reflexive and critical education.


Neuromuscular Function and Disorders — Alan J. McComas. Butterworths, 19 Cummings Park, Woburn, Ma. 01801 U.S.A. 363 pages, $39.95. It is a pleasure to welcome this new book on neuromuscular disorders. Although several other books on this subject have appeared in recent years, for example the multi-author volumes edited by Dyck, Thomas and Lambert, and by Landon, and the smaller monographs by Bradley and by Weller and Cervos-Navarro, these have approached the subject from a primarily pathological standpoint with less emphasis on disordered physiology. Dr. McComas' book goes some way to redress the balance as it is concerned with function, and deals with structural problems only insofar as this is necessary for a full understanding of the physiology.


Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have generated unprecedented interest in the scientific community, given their potential applications in regenerative medicine, disease modeling, toxicology and drug screening. However, hPSCs are prone to acquire genomic alterations in vitro, mainly due to suboptimal culture conditions and inappropriate routines to monitor genome integrity. This poses a challenge to both the safety of clinical applications and the reliability of basic and translational hPSC research. In this study, we aim to investigate if the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) such as ISO9001:2015 to ensure reproducible and standardized cell culture conditions and genomic screening strategies can decrease the prevalence of genomic alterations affecting hPSCs used for research applications. To this aim, we performed a retrospective analysis of G-banding karyotype and Comparative Genomic Hybridization array (aCGH) data generated by our group over a 5-year span of different hESC and hiPSC cultures. This work demonstrates that application of a QMS to standardize cell culture conditions and genomic monitoring routines leads to a striking improvement of genomic stability in hPSCs cultured in vitro, as evidenced by a reduced probability of potentially pathogenic chromosomal aberrations and subchromosomal genomic alterations. These results support the need to implement QMS in academic laboratories performing hPSC research.


Human exposure research has consistently shown that, for most volatile organic compounds (VOCs), personal exposures are vastly different from outdoor air concentrations. Therefore, risk estimates based on ambient measurements may over- or underestimate risk, leading to ineffective or inefficient management strategies. In the present study we examine the extent of exposure misclassification and its impact on risk for exposure estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Assessment System for Population Exposure Nationwide (ASPEN) model relative to monitoring results from a community-based exposure assessment conducted in Baltimore, Maryland (USA). This study is the first direct comparison of the ASPEN model (as used by the U.S. EPA for the Cumulative Exposure Project and subsequently the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment) and human exposure data to estimate health risks. A random sampling strategy was used to recruit 33 nonsmoking adult community residents. Passive air sampling badges were used to assess 3-day time-weighted-average personal exposure as well as outdoor and indoor residential concentrations of VOCs for each study participant. In general, personal exposures were greater than indoor VOC concentrations, which were greater than outdoor VOC concentrations. Public health risks due to actual personal exposures were estimated. In comparing measured personal exposures and indoor and outdoor VOC concentrations with ASPEN model estimates for ambient concentrations, our data suggest that ASPEN was reasonably accurate as a surrogate for personal exposures (measured exposures of community residents) for VOCs emitted primarily from mobile sources or VOCs that occur as global "background" source pollutant with no indoor source contributions. Otherwise, the ASPEN model estimates were generally lower than measured personal exposures and the estimated health risks. ASPEN's lower exposures resulted in proportional underestimation of cumulative cancer risk when pollutant exposures were combined to estimate cumulative risk. Median cumulative lifetime cancer risk based on personal exposures was 3-fold greater than estimates based on ASPEN-modeled concentrations. These findings demonstrate the significance of indoor exposure sources and the importance of indoor and/or personal monitoring for accurate assessment of risk. Environmental health policies may not be sufficient in reducing exposures and risks if they are based solely on modeled ambient VOC concentrations. Results from our study underscore the need for a coordinated multimedia approach to exposure assessment for setting public health policy.


Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in honey are obtained from diverse biosynthetic pathways and extracted by using various methods associated with varying degrees of selectivity and effectiveness. These compounds are grouped into chemical categories such as aldehyde, ketone, acid, alcohol, hydrocarbon, norisoprenoids, terpenes and benzene compounds and their derivatives, furan and pyran derivatives. They represent a fingerprint of a specific honey and therefore could be used to differentiate between monofloral honeys from different floral sources, thus providing valuable information concerning the honey's botanical and geographical origin. However, only plant derived compounds and their metabolites (terpenes, norisoprenoids and benzene compounds and their derivatives) must be employed to discriminate among floral origins of honey. Notwithstanding, many authors have reported different floral markers for honey of the same floral origin, consequently sensory analysis, in conjunction with analysis of VOCs could help to clear this ambiguity. Furthermore, VOCs influence honey's aroma described as sweet, citrus, floral, almond, rancid, etc. Clearly, the contribution of a volatile compound to honey aroma is determined by its odor activity value. Elucidation of the aroma compounds along with floral origins of a particular honey can help to standardize its quality and avoid fraudulent labeling of the product. Although only present in low concentrations, VOCS could contribute to biomedical activities of honey, especially the antioxidant effect due to their natural radical scavenging potential.


BACKGROUND:Three major variants of the CARD15 gene confer susceptibility to Crohn's disease (CD). Whether or not these variants correlate with specific clinical features of the disease is under evaluation.AIM:We investigated the possible association of CARD15 variants with specific clinical characteristics, including the occurrence of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA) and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), in a large cohort of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and their unaffected relatives.METHODS:Three hundred and sixteen CD patients (156 with positive family history), 408 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients (206 with positive family history), 588 unaffected relatives, and 205 unrelated healthy controls (HC) were studied. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) R702W, G908R, and L1007finsC of the CARD15 gene were investigated and correlated to age at diagnosis, gender, family history, localization, extraintestinal manifestations, previous resective surgery, stenosing/fistulizing pattern, ANCA, and ASCA.RESULTS:Compared to HC, the frequencies of all three variants in CD were significantly increased: 8.7%versus 4.1% for R702W (p < 0.006), 7.3%versus 2.7% for G908R (p < 0.002), 9.3%versus 0.7% for L1007finsC (p < 0.00001). At least one risk allele was found in 38.2% (p < 0.0001, compared to HC), 13.7% (NS), and 15.1% of CD, UC, and HC, respectively. The L1007finsC risk allele was also significantly increased in unaffected relatives of familial (9.5%; p < 0.00001), and sporadic CD (9%; p < 0.00001), compared to HC (0.7%). Sixteen healthy relatives, carriers of two risk alleles, were asymptomatic after 5–8 yr of follow-up. CD carriers of at least one variant were younger (p= 0.03), more likely to have ileal localization (p= 0.0001), stenosing pattern (p= 0.01), previous resective surgery (p= 0.0001), and presence of ASCA (p= 0.0001). No difference in SNPs frequency between familial and sporadic cases of CD was found.CONCLUSIONS:In our population, both familial and sporadic CD patients carrying at least one major variant of CARD15 had an aggressive clinical course.


Two trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of ionophore rotation programs on performance and digestion by feedlot cattle. A 90% concentrate diet was fed with treatments of no ionophore (C), 33 mg lasalocid/kg diet daily (L), 29 mg monensin plus 11 mg tylosin/kg diet daily (MT), and daily (D) and weekly (W) rotation of L and MT. In Trial 1, feedlot performance of 200 crossbred steers (average initial BW 296 kg) was evaluated during a 133-d period. In Trial 2, four crossbred steers (average initial BW 376 kg) fitted with ruminal, duodenal and ileal cannulas were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square design to evaluate treatment effects (excluding W) on ruminal fermentation and site and extent of digestion. In Trial 1, daily rotation of L and MT improved (P less than .10) feed:gain ratio compared with other treatment groups, but daily feed intake did not differ (P greater than .10) among treatments. Daily gain was greater (P less than .10) for steers fed D than for those fed C or MT, but not different from that of steers fed L or W. Carcass measurements did not differ (P greater than .10) among treatments. In Trial 2, ruminal molar proportions of butyrate and valerate were decreased (P less than .07) by MT and D compared with C and L. Proportions of other VFA, ammonia concentrations and ruminal pH did not differ among treatments. Ionophore treatments did not affect site or extent of digestion of OM, starch or N; no differences among treatments were observed for efficiency of microbial protein synthesis. Although daily rotation of L and MT improved performance of growing-finishing feedlot steers, this improvement was not attributable to alterations in ruminal fermentation, or in site or extent of nutrient digestion.


Cardiovascular disease is the leading contributor to years lost due to disability or premature death among adults. Current efforts focus on risk prediction and risk factor mitigation' which have been recognized for the past half-century. However, despite advances, risk prediction remains imprecise with persistently high rates of incident cardiovascular disease. Genetic characterization has been proposed as an approach to enable earlier and potentially tailored prevention. Rare mendelian pathogenic variants predisposing to cardiometabolic conditions have long been known to contribute to disease risk in some families. However, twin and familial aggregation studies imply that diverse cardiovascular conditions are heritable in the general population. Significant technological and methodological advances since the Human Genome Project are facilitating population-based comprehensive genetic profiling at decreasing costs. Genome-wide association studies from such endeavors continue to elucidate causal mechanisms for cardiovascular diseases. Systematic cataloging for cardiovascular risk alleles also enabled the development of polygenic risk scores. Genetic profiling is becoming widespread in large-scale research, including in health care–associated biobanks, randomized controlled trials, and direct-to-consumer profiling in tens of millions of people. Thus, individuals and their physicians are increasingly presented with polygenic risk scores for cardiovascular conditions in clinical encounters. In this scientific statement, we review the contemporary science, clinical considerations, and future challenges for polygenic risk scores for cardiovascular diseases. We selected 5 cardiometabolic diseases (coronary artery disease, hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and venous thromboembolic disease) and response to drug therapy and offer provisional guidance to health care professionals, researchers, policymakers, and patients.


Bradykinin (BK) is one of the most important peptides regulating vascular tone, water, and ionic balance in the body, playing a key role in controlling BP. It is interesting that patients with essential hypertension excrete less BK than normotensive individuals. For elucidating the mechanism by which BK regulates renal water transport that contributes to its antihypertensive effect, aquaporin 2 (AQP2)-transfected collecting duct CD8 cells, expressing the BK type II receptor (BK2R), were used as an experimental model. In CD8 cells, BK pretreatment impaired forskolin-induced AQP2 translocation to the apical plasma membrane. For clarifying the signal transduction cascade associated with this effect, whether BK induced an increase in cytosolic calcium, via the G protein Gq, known to be coupled to BK2R, first was investigated. Spectrofluorometry using fura-2-AM revealed that 100 nM BK elicited a significant increase in Ca(i), which was abolished by the receptor antagonist HOE-140. BK acts through BK2R coupled to both Gq and Galpha13, a known upstream effector of Rho protein. In CD8 cells, BK causes an increase in Rho activity, likely as a result of Galpha13 activation. This results in stabilization of the cortical F-actin network, thus impairing AQP2 trafficking. These effects counteract physiologic vasopressin stimulation, which instead has an opposite effect on actin network organization through Rho inactivation.


Amici agree with petitioner that the physical presence rule established by Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), should be overturned. As Justice Kennedy has explained, the decision was "questionable even when decided, [and] now harms States to a degree far greater than could have been anticipated earlier." Direct Mktg. Ass'n v. Brohl, 135 S.Ct. 1124, 1135 (2015) (Kennedy, J., concurring).
This brief primarily addresses the important question of what will happen if this Court overturns Quill. There is no doubt that the respondents and their amici will argue that vast confusion will ensue if the states are freed from the bright-line rule of Quill. That will not happen for (at least) three reasons. First, there is little evidence that the states would rush to enact a welter of burdensome use tax collection laws and much evidence to the contrary. Furthermore, the same technological innovations that have made the adverse impacts of the Quill rule so problematic for States like South Dakota have also driven down the cost of compliance, thereby reducing the likelihood that state laws can impose significant costs on remote sellers.
Second, should this Court overturn the physical presence rule established in Quill, that does not mean that this Court, or courts generally, will not be able to protect interstate sellers. There are a number of doctrines that remain to guard against potential abuses. First, should a state or locality impose obligations on remote sellers that do not apply to local vendors, then such laws are virtually per se invalid. Second, should a state or locality impose financially significant obligations on remote sellers, then Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137, 142 (1970), adequately protects them if the "burden imposed [by state laws] is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits."
Third, Congress is standing by to act should states overstep. The Quill rule reversed the default set up by the Constitution under which states are free to act as sovereigns unless Congress acts. If Quill is overturned and the constitutional default restored, amici believe that Congress is fully prepared to act, especially if the problem to be solved is overreaching by a few states or by certain local tax schemes that collectively place excessive burdens on out-of-state sellers. Furthermore, with the Quill tax shelter no longer available, all the states and interstate sellers will favor establishing standard rules of practice in order to facilitate orderly and efficient revenue collection. In this regard, it is notable that commercial interstate interests have had considerable success in persuading Congress to pass balanced laws that have served to streamline their interactions with state and local revenue authorities while protecting legitimate state interests.


The design of security controllers, or more generally of microcontroller platforms implementing measures against hardware attacks, is still a very tedious handwork. Standardized and broadly available design tools as well as the necessary knowledge are rarely available and make secure hardware design a black art, known only within specialized companies building smart cards or Pay TV chips, for example. Secure hardware is, however, of increasing importance in many future embedded systems connected to cyber physical systems. Secure elements, i.e. special security chips or cores on a system on chip, are needed everywhere to protect these systems against physical attacks. Within this talk, the speaker will give some insight in the design flow of two security controller platforms and the special challenges encountered there. After summarizing the main attack scenarios for security hardware, a selection of countermeasures will be presented. These countermeasures have to be implemented and verified during various phases in the design flow. Some self-made tools and scripts have been used to achieve the result of a highly secure implementation, but there is a huge opportunity to accelerate implementation and verification steps. Furthermore, the knowledge about security could be captured inside tools and relieve designers of the task of becoming hardware security experts. The talk should motivate researchers in the EDA world to participate in the development of a new state-of-the-art design flow for secure hardware.


This article argues for the elimination of the contemporaneous objection requirement for depositions. From the original 1938 framing of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to the present, no one has recognized that the theory behind the contemporaneous objection rule in depositions, as drawn from pre-Rules equity practice, does not match the function of depositions in our post-Rules system of open discovery. Pre-Rules depositions were exclusively testimony-preservation devices, and never discovery tools, and the common law and statutory procedural rules for pre-Rules depositions, including the contemporaneous objection rule, reflected this use. But when the original Federal Rules of Civil Procedure converted depositions into primarily fact-discovery devices, the older procedural rules were incorporated into the new Rules, nearly wholesale, and without consideration - and there they remain. Perceived problems with deposition practice have in the last ten years resulted in a number of modifications to the discovery rules, and other proposals to curb aggressive use of objections in depositions. Before 1993, in the federal civil system, the Rules did not specify the manner in which deposition objections were to be made, leading a chorus of commentators to decry the prevalence of speaking and coaching objections. Revisions in 1993 to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the first time required deposition objections to be made concisely and in a non-argumentative and non-suggestive manner. In 1999, the Texas state courts went so far as to limit all objections to deposition questions to two words, either Objection, leading or Objection, form. However, all these modifications and proposals share the pathology of the original Rules: they fail to recognize the theoretical disconnect between antiquated testimony-preservation focused procedural rules and the now-primary use of depositions as fact-discovery devices. Thus, the proposals have focused on treating discovery abuse, rather than addressing the real problem, which is a fundamental misconception of the proper, less-adversarial role of attorneys in depositions. Rather than treat the symptoms, elimination of the contemporaneous objection rule will address the disease, and bring deposition practice more into line with the theory of open discovery upon which its modern incarnation is based.


The image of blonde woman in the society of white people is commonly related to dumbness. The writer takes a movie called Legally Blonde as a research object to change the stereotype of dumbness. The main character of this movie is Elle Woods whose hair is blonde. In doing this research, the writer has purpose to change the image of blonde woman, especially the image of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. The writer wants to describe the life style and behavior of blonde woman reflected in the character of Elle Woods. The writer also wants to show the struggle of Elle Woods to change the image of blonde woman in people's mind.
In this research, the writer uses archive research method and exponential method. Archive research method is used because the writer uses books and data from internet that support this research. The exponential method is used because the writer discusses certain narrative elements and cinematography. The narrative elements used in this research consist of genre, plot, setting and the image of the main character. The cinematography describes the objects from the camera point of view. The writer uses liberal feminism theory that proposed by Mary Wollstonecraft and Betty Friedan. The theory describes the exclusive life of white women from social-middle class and heterosexual society that always enjoy pleasure and give priority to their own beauty. Liberal feminism is closely related to blonde women who focus on their beauty and luxurious life. Thus, this theory is compatible with this research because it describes the image and the life of a blonde woman called Elle Woods.
This research concludes that although Elle Woods has blonde hair, she succeeds to change her image as a dumb blonde woman into smart and tough blonde woman. She proves that she can be a successful lawyer without leaving her luxurious lifestyle. Elle also proves that her blonde hair contributes to her current successful life.


1. The site The construction of a new head barrage for the Muda Irrigation Project, in northwest Malaya, involved knowledge of the in-situ permeability of adjacent alluvial sands, in order to determine the extent of sheet pile cut-off needed on one side of the structure. Figure 1 shows the geological conditions at the site extending from the proposed structure, through the river diversion to the permeability test site. This profile was determined from a number of earlier boreholes and a seismic traverse made during the initial site investigation of the area. The layer of coarse sands with fine gravel seen on the figure was of particular interest in the test. Figure 2 shows the particlesize distribution of both this layer and the overlying layer of fine sands and clayey silty sands. The clays with sand lenses underlying the coarse granular layer were taken as an impermeable base. Three 'wells' were used for the permeability tests. These are marked on Fig. 1 as kl, k2, k3. The spacing between kl and k2 was 38 ft and between k2 and k3, 54 ft. The wells were sunk in line and at right angles to the flow of the river. 2. Method of testing The three permability test wells, each 6 inches in dia., were terminated in the clays below the coarse granular layer. Four-inch internal dia. p.v.c, tubing was inserted inside the cased holes down to the clay stratum and the casing was withdrawn. The bottom 20 ft of the tubes had


Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNAs participating to several biological processes and known to be involved in various pathologies. Measurable in body fluids, miRNAs have been proposed to serve as efficient biomarkers for diseases and/or associated traits. Here, we performed a next-generation-sequencing based profiling of plasma miRNAs in 344 patients with venous thrombosis (VT) and assessed the association of plasma miRNA levels with several haemostatic traits and the risk of VT recurrence. Among the most significant findings, we detected an association between hsa-miR-199b-3p and haematocrit levels (P = 0.0016), these two markers having both been independently reported to associate with VT risk. We also observed suggestive evidence for association of hsa-miR-370-3p (P = 0.019), hsa-miR-27b-3p (P = 0.016) and hsa-miR-222-3p (P = 0.049) with VT recurrence, the observations at the latter two miRNAs confirming the recent findings of Wang et al. Besides, by conducting Genome-Wide Association Studies on miRNA levels and meta-analyzing our results with some publicly available, we identified 21 new associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms with plasma miRNA levels at the statistical significance threshold of P < 5 × 10−8, some of these associations pertaining to thrombosis associated mechanisms. In conclusion, this study provides novel data about the impact of miRNAs' variability in haemostasis and new arguments supporting the association of few miRNAs with the risk of recurrence in patients with venous thrombosis.


ABSTRACT Introduction: A strong link between voice-hearing experience and childhood trauma has been established. The aim of this study was to identify whether there were unique clusters of childhood trauma subtypes in a sample across the clinical spectrum of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and to examine clinical and phenomenological features across these clusters. Methods: Combining two independent international datasets (the Netherlands and Australia), childhood trauma subtypes were examined using hierarchical cluster analysis. Clinical and phenomenological characteristics were compared across emerging clusters using MANOVA and chi-squared analyses. Results: The total sample (n = 413) included 166 clinical individuals with a psychotic disorder and AVH, 122 non-clinical individuals with AVH and 125 non-clinical individuals without AVH. Three clusters emerged: (1) low trauma (n = 299); (2) emotion-focused trauma (n = 71); (3) multi-trauma (n = 43). The three clusters differed significantly on their AVH ratings of amount of negative content, with trend-level effects for loudness, degree of negative content and degree of experienced distress. Furthermore, perceptions of voices being malevolent, benevolent and resistance towards voices differed significantly. Conclusion: The data revealed different types of childhood trauma had different relationships between clinical and phenomenological features of voice-hearing experiences. Thus, implicating different mechanistic pathways and a need for tailored treatment approaches.


Summary

The content and physicochemical properties of resistant starches (RS) from wrinkled pea starch obtained by different molecular mass reduction processes were evaluated. Native and gelatinised starches were submitted to acid hydrolysis (2 m HCl for 2.5 h) or enzymic hydrolysis (pullulanase, 40 U g−1 for 10 h), followed by hydrothermal treatment (autoclaving at 121 °C for 30 min), refrigeration (4 °C for 24 h) and lyophilisation. Native starch showed RS and total dietary fibre contents of 39.8% and 14.3%, respectively, while processed ones showed values from 38.5% to 54.6% and from 22.9% to 37.1%, respectively. From these, the highest contents were among acid-modified starches. Processed starches showed endotherms between 144 and 166 °C, owing to the amylose retrogradation. Native and processed starches showed low viscosity, which is inversely proportional to the RS concentration in samples. The heat treatment promoted an increase in the water absorption index. The pea starch is a good source for obtaining resistant starch by acid hydrolysis.


Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the major causes of death and disability in industrialised countries, with elevated blood cholesterol an established risk factor. Total plasma cholesterol reduction in populations suffering from primary hypercholesterolemia may lower CHD incidence. This study investigated the cholesterol reducing capacity of Lactobacillus plantarum ECGC 13110402, a strain selected for its high bile salt hydrolase activity, in 49 normal to mildly hypercholesterolaemic adults. Primary efficacy outcomes included effect on blood lipids (total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoproteins (LDL-C), high density lipoproteins (HDL-C) and triacylgycerides (TAG), inflammatory biomarkers and occurrence/severity of gastrointestinal side effects to establish safety and tolerance of the intervention. Secondary outcomes included blood pressure, immune biomarkers, gut microbiota characterisation and metabonome changes. The study was run in a parallel, double blind, placebo controlled, randomised design in which the active group ingested 2x109 CFU encapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum ECGC 13110402 twice daily. Daily ingestion of the active treatment resulted in a statistically significant reduction in LDL-C in volunteers with baseline TC<5mM during the 0-12 week period (13.9%, P = 0.030), a significant reduction in TC in volunteers with baseline TC≥6mM in the 0-6 week period (37.6%, P = 0.045), a significant decrease in TAG (53.9% P = 0.030) and an increase in HDL-C (14.7%, P = 0.007) in the over 60 years population in the 6-12 week period. A statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure was also observed across the active study group in the 6-12-week period (6.6%, P = 0.003). No impact on gastrointestinal function and side effects was observed during the study. Similar to blood and urine metabonomic analyses, faecal metagenomics did not reveal significant changes upon active or placebo intake. The results of this study suggest that Lactobacillus plantarum ECGC 13110402 is a well-tolerated, natural probiotic, that may be used as an alternative or supplement to existing treatments to reduce cardiovascular risk.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical trials.gov NCT03263104.


The deformation of free laminated plates subjected to transient hygrothermal loading is simulated by using a semi-analytical non linear model (variational method). A full-field experimental technique, the fringe projection method, has been developed to measure out-of-plane displacements throughout the deformation process. The experimental approach based on a full-field optical method is shown to be suited to capturing the complex behaviour of plates submitted to large hygrothermal loads, where geometrical nonlinearities should be taken into account.


paper presents the hardware design and implementation of a system that ensures a perpendicular profile of the solar panel with the sun in order to extract maximum energy falling on it. Renewable energy is rapidly gaining importance as an energy resource as fossil fuel prices fluctuate. The unique feature of the proposed system is that instead of taking the earth as its reference, it takes the sun as a guiding source. Its active sensors constantly monitor the sunlight and rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is maximum. The light dependent resistor"s do the job of sensing the change in the position of the sun which is dealt by the respective change in the solar panel"s position by switching on and off the geared motor. The control circuit does the job of fetching the input from the sensor and gives command to the motor to run in order to tackle the change in the position of the sun. With the implementation of the proposed system the additional energy generated is around 25% to 30% with very less consumption by the system itself. In this paper, an improvement in the hardware design of the existing solar energy collector system has been implemented in order to provide higher efficiency at lower cost.


Composite electrode materials for supercapacitor were prepared by a combination of incipient wetness impregnation and hydrothermal method in this study. The materials were characterized by XRD, specific surface area and electrochemical testing. The effect of support on the electrochemical performance of the composite electrode materials was investigated. The result shows that the samples prepared by different supports contain nickel nitrate hydroxide hydrate (the electroactive material in the composite) and undecomposed nickel nitrate.The specific surface area decrease after the loading of nickel compounds, which indicates the exisitance of nickel compounds in the pores. The composite prepared by using diatomite support exhibits higher specific capacitance than those prepared by using SBA-15 and Ti-Si molecular sieve, which delivers the specific capacitance of 1162.77 F/g at the scan rate of 5 mV/s.


Quality of service QoS provisioning in mobile ad hoc networks MANETs is one of the fundamental concerns in this area. Autonomous mobility of nodes is one of the main factors affecting the network QoS. A lack of fixed infrastructure and central control on the nodes complicate guaranteeing the QoS in MANETs. Security is a major factor affecting the QoS in such networks. This paper proposes a new routing method based on trust among the nodes and applies a clustering approach to MANETs. This routing scheme can calculate the trustworthiness of the route and the shortest routes to the destination by avoiding identified malicious nodes. The effects of node mobility and number of malicious nodes on routing performances are investigated in the reported research. Simulation is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in comparison with a categorized trust method, Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector, trust vector-based Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector, and trust vector-based dynamic source routing in terms of end-to-end delay, network throughput, and packet delivery ratio at the expense of a moderate increase in the routing overhead. The proposed trust-based routing method finds the trustworthy route by applying end-to-end trust calculation and finds the optimal route by performing clustering scheme from the source node to the destination node. In the extended proposed routing method, adding a nonce-based encryption scheme results in improved packet delivery ratio, network throughput, and malicious node detection rate. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this study, the effect of agglomeration and non-uniform dispersion of silica particles on the mechanical and microstructural properties of cement paste incorporating silica fume and nanosilica (NS) with various specific surface areas (SSA) is experimentally investigated. The SSA and replacement percent of silica particles were considered as test variables and four series of mixes were made including one set of mixes for silica fume with a SSA of 20 m2/g and three sets of mixes for three different types of NS with SSA equal to 90, 200 and 380 m2/g. In each series of mix designs three different cement replacement percents of 1.5%, 3% and 5% were applied. The results indicate that as the SSA and replacement percent of silica particles increase, the domain of variation of compressive strength results rises dramatically. It is observed that an increase in SSA of silica particles results in further agglomeration and difficulty in dispersion of NS particles within the paste. Also, there is significant variation on distribution of NS particles between similar specimens.


On 8 April 2020, 100 days have passed since ProMed posted a 'request for information' about the emergence of a cluster of viral pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan [1]. Back then, a number of similarities triggered memories of the beginning of the severe respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic caused by the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003 [2]. Today, the ProMed post of 30 December 2019 appears far back in time; the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has far exceeded the 2003 SARS epidemic in terms of magnitude and impact. Since the beginning of January 2020, weeks and days have been dominated by changes that had a major bearing on people's professional and personal lives; changes in the epidemic, changes in knowledge about the virus and the disease, and changes in public health measures at a scale that only months ago were inconceivable.


Eisenstein presents the first full-scale, in-depth treatment to date on this fascinating subject. She shows the important effects that the advent of printing had upon prevailing cultural, religious and scientific traditions and rightly argues that this impact deserves more attention. Few, if any, of the changes outlined could have been predicted; even with hindsight they have been little appreciated until now. This book, which records these changes up to the age of the wooden hand press, presents a scholarly analysis. The author has followed Bacon's advice and brought together many closely-related facts of life concerning art, science and technology. With today's printing revolution moving away from the Gutenberg system, it seems appropriate to review the impact of the early printing press upon European history. Although many scholars concur with Bacon's opinion that this invention changed "the appearance and state of the whole world", few took note of the force, effect and consequences of Gutenberg's invention. Of particular interest to the average Leonardo reader, and even more so to those who teach, is the chapter, "Technical Literature Goes to Press: Some New Trends in Scientific Writing and Research". Although Pacioli, in the design of illustrations for his Divine Proportion, appears to have secured the help of Leonardo da Vinci, the artist engineer shunned print insofar as his own writings were concerned. While Leonardo had a good personal library by the year 1500, his own ideas remained buried in his notes and drawings. Nevertheless, one is led to wonder about what revolutionary ideas Leonardo may have germinated in the fields of engraving and printing, perhaps in notes that have not surfaced. These two volumes are so scholarly in their treatment that the reader receives an additional bonus: an excellent review, in parallel, of contemporary scientific achievements in fields other than printing. Special studies are brought together in scattered areas which had not previously been clearly correlated. In addition to achieving her main objective, she certainly enriches the reader's historical perspective. The author provides excellent coverage of the important consequences of the communications shift from script to print in the fifteenth century, hitherto a relatively neglected field. Although this book is mainly a work of synthesis, Eisenstein has proved herself to be an excellent research analyst. She is certainly qualified to further enrich our historical understanding by carrying her analysis into our present communications revolution: Reviewed by Sean ODriscoll, Irish International Art Centre, Castle Matrix, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick, Ireland.


The foraging ecology of rockhopper penguins was investigated at 3 sites marked by contrasting ecological conditions. The northern subspecies was studied at Amsterdam Island (AMS) in oceanic subtropical waters, and the southern subspecies at the Kerguelen Archipelago (KER) in a subantarctic coastal habitat and at the Crozet Archipelago (CRO) in subantarctic neritic waters. During the brooding period, females from every site mainly made daily foraging trips lasting 11 to 12 h. A principal component analysis (PCA) on 22 variables of daily foraging trips reduced these variables to 3 principal components, which were related to diving mode (PC1), foraging effort (PC2) and variation in diving behaviour (PC3). Overall, PC1 indicated that birds from AMS dived shallower, had shorter dive duration and bottom time, and were less active during less efficient dives than birds from KER and CRO. On the other hand, PC3 showed that birds from KER segregated from those of AMS and CRO by performing more uniform foraging trips with less variability in dive parameters. The PCA emphasised that most of the characteristics of daily trips and all the characteristics of foraging dives varied according to the study sites, thus stressing the importance of distinct environments in shaping the foraging behaviour of seabirds. Food loads, and accordingly chick growth, were lower at AMS, medium at CRO and higher at KER, while indices of foraging effort presented little variation. Birds at AMS fed mainly on the euphausiid Thysanoessa gregaria and on larger juvenile squids, while birds from CRO and KER preyed upon the subantarctic krill Euphausia vallentini. Diving strategies together with food loads and chick growth rates suggest that prey availability was low at AMS, intermediate at CRO and high at KER, which is in agreement with previous data on chlorophyll concentrations and zooplankton biomass. The study shows the complexity of foraging behaviour of penguins. It illustrates the importance of behavioural plasticity and suggests that it is a fundamental trait of the life history of seabirds living in highly variable environments.


Recent studies have documented the potential of youth activism for influencing political change toward socially just ends. This special issue builds on such research by focusing on youth activism as a context for learning and development. What kinds of learning opportunities are generated through working on social action campaigns? How do adults support youth's participation in ways that foster youth engagement and leadership? In addition to previewing the articles in this issue, this introduction proposes and describes four distinctive qualities of learning environments in youth activism groups: collective problem solving, youth—adult interaction, exploration of alternative frames for identity, and bridges to academic and civic institutions. It concludes by highlighting directions for future research.


Program understanding plays a pivotal role in software maintenance and evolution: a deep understanding of code is the stepping stone for most software-related activities, such as bug fixing or testing. Being able to measure the understandability of a piece of code might help in estimating the effort required for a maintenance activity, in comparing the quality of alternative implementations, or even in predicting bugs. Unfortunately, there are no existing metrics specifically designed to assess the understandability of a given code snippet. In this paper, we perform a first step in this direction, by studying the extent to which several types of metrics computed on code, documentation, and developers correlate with code understandability. To perform such an investigation we ran a study with 46 participants who were asked to understand eight code snippets each. We collected a total of 324 evaluations aiming at assessing the perceived understandability, the actual level of understanding, and the time needed to understand a code snippet. Our results demonstrate that none of the (existing and new) metrics we considered is able to capture code understandability, not even the ones assumed to assess quality attributes strongly related with it, such as code readability and complexity.


For the past decade and a half, a concerted effort has been undertaken to determine whether policy interventions in residential location can solve the problems of inner-city poverty and racial concentration. Studies based on data from the Gautreaux litigation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—sponsored Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program have provided an overall optimistic interpretation of the possibilities of improving inner-city lives via mobility vouchers and counseling. A reanalysis of the data from the MTO program, focusing specifically on African American households, suggests greater caution in the interpretation of the findings from either Gautreaux or the MTO program. No statistically significant difference exists between the percentage of poor or the percentage of African Americans in the current neighborhoods between MTO and Section 8 experimental groups. In some cases, there is no statistically significant difference between those who move with a voucher and those who move without any assistance at all. Although there is some evidence that MTO programs have brought specific gains for individual families, claims for the MTO program as a whole need to be treated with a great deal more caution than they have been to date.


The world is going through epoch-making changes that are cutting a deep swathe through the way we are, the way we organise our lives and behave, triggered by three consecutive revolutions, macro, micro and nano, sparked by globalisation. We need to follow the continuous thread that runs through them to be able to get to grips with the causes, connections, impacts and trends that will help us live new situations in a profoundly different world, in the Era of Awareness. These powerful changes will need to be understood in order to harness the opportuni- ties they have to offer and to be able to reorganise our socio-economic system along the lines of a new responsible and sustainable development model that will amalgamate growth, competitiveness, employment and quality of life. Changes that have steadily impacted on all levels of society, triggering discontinuity, broken paradigms and serious hardship. A Copernican revolution destined to change our habits and behaviour, that will also influence the way we live and the way we build.


Primary cutaneous follicular helper T-cell (Tfh) lymphoma is a recently described variant of peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified. This particular variant, usually presenting as a sudden onset of multiple plaques and nodules, is characterized by tumoral atypical T cells that express an array of Tfh markers, such as inducible T-cell costimulator, Bcl-6, CXCL13, PD-1, and CD10. The authors now present 3 patients whose known clinical skin findings are consistent with PTCL of Tfh origin (PTCL-Tfh). The typically protracted pattern of skin disease manifesting as scaly patches and plaques encountered in mycosis fungoides was not seen in our 3 cases, and there were distinguishing light microscopic and phenotypic features. These cases are similar to the few previous reported cases of PTCL-Tfh, although systemic involvement was not seen. The categorization of additional patients into this PTCL subtype in the medical literature would be needed to further characterize this new entity and may lead to better targeted treatments based on specific T-cell subtypes.


What is the dollar value of saving a human life? Cost-benefit analysis of health and environmental regulation requires such a number, yet the concept raises numerous ethical and philosophical questions. There are good general reasons to reject the entire enterprise of monetizing life, and specific reasons to criticize the methods used to create such values. Valuations of life are most often based on analysis of the wage premium for risky jobs. Recent EPA analyses have relied on an extensive but dated database of wage-risk estimates, leading to an inflation-adjusted estimate of $6.1 million per life in 1999 dollars. A more appropriate interpretation of that database implies an estimate of at least $9-11 million. Some newer studies suggest much lower values - perhaps due to the weakened bargaining position of labor, a factor that has nothing to do with the value of environmental risk. The risk premium for working women is five times as great as for men, underscoring the impossibility of a "one size fits all" estimate of the value of a statistical life. Such values are not necessary for reasonable decision-making about how to reduce fatal risks.


While a great amount of research has been done on Information Systems success, minor research has been conducted on the MIND Billing System success within organizations.
            This study provides factual analysis on Delone and McLean's MIND Billing System Information System success model. The model consists of 8 dimensions which are: Information quality, System quality, Complementary Technology quality, Service quality, User satisfaction, Use, Perceived Net Benefits, and Average Response. The data collected by survey is from 30 employees from different BTL branches across Belize City. The hypothesized relationship, if MIND Billing System is a success, is shared between the 8 success variables are significantly supported by data. The findings provide several important implications for the Billing System. This paper concludes by discussing the limitations of the study, and the improvement that can be made and should be addressed in future research. The outcome of the Information System was successful within BTL as the users were satisfied which made us meet all of our objectives and hypothesis correct. From the data analyzed, it was consistent with an average 5 out of 7. This information will be helpful to MIND Billing System as it is valuable feedback that can help them improve in some areas.


A large number of studies have tackled the question of asset bubbles, in which whether or not market participants are able to calculate fundamental values is considered to play a key role in reducing bubbles. Contrary to the existing literature on uncertainty, this study conducts a series of laboratory experiments, wherein subjects cannot calculate objective expected returns with certainty. In such cases, gaps between objective and subjective expected returns (perception gaps) arise. The purpose of this study is to clarify (i) how asset prices fluctuate and (ii) if perception gaps lead to inefficient transactions. Moreover, (iii) we estimate the losses caused by perception gaps. Our estimation results indicate that perception gaps linger across rounds, and, accordingly, these gaps may generate earnings losses. Moreover, we find that the greater a perception gap of a subject, the greater is the inefficiency from his/her transactions. Traders now are using artificial intelligence (AI) for decision making. We also discuss policy implications on the introduction of AI into asset markets.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of preoperative epidural administration of racemic ketamine to provide analgesia in sheep undergoing experimental hind limb orthopedic surgery.

ANIMALS
12 adult sheep (weight range, 51.4 to 67.2 kg).

PROCEDURE
Sheep were anesthetized with guaifenesin, thiopental, and isoflurane; after induction of anesthesia, sheep received a lumbosacral epidural injection of ketamine (1 mg/kg; n = 6) or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution (1 mL/7 kg; 6 [control group]). Respiratory and cardiovascular variables were recorded before and at intervals during and for 6 hours after anesthesia. During that 6-hour postoperative period, analgesia was evaluated subjectively with a numeric ranking scale that included assessments of comfort, posture, movement, and response to wound palpation; buprenorphine was administered when a score > 3 (maximum score, 10) was achieved. Rectal temperature, heart and respiratory rates, and lameness were evaluated daily for 2 weeks after surgery.

RESULTS
At all evaluations, cardiovascular and respiratory variables were comparable between the 2 groups. Compared with control sheep, time to first administration of rescue analgesic was significantly longer and total dose of buprenorphine administered during the 6- hour postoperative period was significantly decreased for ketamine-treated sheep. During the second week following surgery, ketamine-treated sheep had significantly less lameness than control sheep.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In sheep undergoing hind limb surgery, preoperative epidural administration of ketamine appears to provide analgesia in the immediate postoperative period and has residual analgesic effects, which may contribute to more rapid return of normal function in surgically treated limbs.


In order to observe the effect of magnetite during anammox start-up and stabilization stages, a novel up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor using magnetite as a functional bio-carrier was designed and operated. Continuous experiments indicated that magnetite could shorten the endogenous denitrification stage and improve the nitrogen removal rate. The nitrogen removal performance increased from −0.06 to 1.17 kg N per m3 per d of R1 and from −0.08 to 1.18 kg N per m3 per d of R0 (as control reactor) on day 150. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of NRR during days 90–150 showed that R1 was statistically different from R0 (p = 0.045 < 0.05). The corresponding quantitative polymerase chain reaction results of nirS and nirK, fluorescence in situ hybridization results and Illumina MiSeq sequencing showed that proliferation of the anammox bacteria was promoted by magnetite with an increase of the nitrogen loading rate. The reduced N2O emission (25.06 ± 15.27 μmol L−1) combined with the reduced nosZ qPCR results (2.26 ± 0.029 × 106 copies per ng) revealed that this magnetite–anammox reactor also can serve as an ideal alternative for N2O emission reduction in ammonium-rich wastewater treatment.


We consider online forecasting problems for non-convex machine learning models. Forecasting introduces several challenges such as (i) frequent updates are necessary to deal with concept drift issues since the dynamics of the environment change over time, and (ii) the state of the art models are non-convex models. We address these challenges with a novel regret framework. Standard regret measures commonly do not consider both dynamic environment and non-convex models. We introduce a local regret for non-convex models in a dynamic environment. We present an update rule incurring a cost, according to our proposed local regret, which is sublinear in time T. Our update uses time-smoothed gradients. Using a real-world dataset we show that our time-smoothed approach yields several benefits when compared with state-of-the-art competitors: results are more stable against new data; training is more robust to hyperparameter selection; and our approach is more computationally efficient than the alternatives.


Introduction The hemostatic powder Hemospray (Cook Medical, Winston-Selem, NC, USA) is licensed for use in non-variceal upper GI haemorrhage and is now in widespread use in the UK. A prospective study of 101 cases showed a 96% immediate haemostasis rate, with rebleed rates of 26% and 33% at 8 and 10 days respectively.1 We introduced Hemospray to Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) in January 2014. Here we compare our first 3 years of real-world usage against that reported in the literature. Method The endoscopy reporting system of ICHT (Scorpio) was interrogated for all gastroscopies for the indication of haematemesis or melaena between the dates of 1/1/14-1/1/17. Variceal bleeds were excluded and cases where hemospray featured on the report selected for further investigation. These were then cross-referenced with the electronic patient records system for date of death, radiological or surgical procedures. Results 1830 patients underwent OGD for haematemesis or melaena during the study period. 195 were variceal and excluded. 254 (15.5%) had therapy applied. Hemospray was used 32 times (2%). Site: 17 in duodenum, 8 in the oesophagus, 6 in the stomach. The bleeding lesion was identified as an ulcer in 18 (56%), Malignancy 3 (9%), Other 11 (34%, 9 Dieulafoy lesions, 2 generalised erythema). Haemostasis was reported by the endoscopist in 28 cases (88%). 5 were rebleeds with previous procedures, 15 had failed therapy with other haemostatic methods during the same procedure. Hemospray was used on 3 occasions after haemstasis had been already been achieved through other methods. 11 patients rebled following hemospray with a median 2.4 days (range 0.25–10 days). 5 were treated with OGD (1 again with hemospray, unsuccessfully), of whom 2 died. 6 were treated with radiological embolization, of whom 2 died. In total 6 patients died, 3 did not have haemostasis at the time of the OGD. 4 were oesophageal in origin (3 Dieulafoy lesions, 1 erythema), 3 were duodenal ulcers). Conclusion Hemospray is being used a variety of situations, but mostly after failure of other therapies (62%). Rebleed rates are comparable to those reported previously.1 It worth noting that this study does not include Hemospray application following elective procedures which is relatively common. Hemospray is predictor of mortality (54%), probably reflecting the high risk groups Hemospray is used in. Reference . Haddara S, et al. A novel hemostatic powder for upper gastrointestinal bleeding: a multicenterstudy (the "GRAPHE" registry). Endoscopy. 2016Dec;48(12):1084–1095 Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The South East Europe Electricitiy Roadmap (SEERMAP) project develops electricity sector scenarios until 2050. The project focuses on 9 countries in South East Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo*, former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. The implications of different investment strategies in the electricity sector are assessed for affordability, energy security, sustainability and security of supply. In addition to analytical work, the project focuses on trainings, capacity building and enhancing dialogue and cooperation within the SEE region.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and it is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICI Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.


This paper examines the representation of English WH-phrase movement in the grammars of Japanese elementary and intermediate EFL learners. It argues that elementary level speakers allow movement of the kind *How manyi did Bill think ti students are smart? and that this is because they treat WH-movement as scrambling. By contrast, intermediate EFL learners do not allow such movement. Given that scrambling is optional, the elementary subjects should also allow WH-phrases in situ. However, this is not the case for some of the speakers. It is suggested that in these cases, informants have an obligatory stylistic WH-fronting rule. It was also found that while the intermediate proficiency EFL learners have acquired the movement property of English WH-phrases, they have not acquired their quantificational force. It is argued that this follows if the Fquant Absorption parameter proposed by Watanabe (2000) has not been reset from its Japanese value.


We demonstrate optical single electron spin-initialization, -storage and -readout in a single self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot using a spin memory device. Single electron spin relaxation is monitored over timescales exceeding ≥30μs, defined only by extrinsic experimental parameters such as the optical detection efficiency. The selective generation of a single electron in the dot is performed by resonant optical excitation and subsequent partial exciton ionization; the hole is removed from the dot whilst the electron remains stored. When subject to a magnetic field applied in Faraday geometry, we show how the spin of the electron can be prepared with a well defined spin projection relative to the light propagation direction simply by controlling the voltage applied to the gate electrode. The spin is stored then in the dot before being read out using an optical implementation of spin to charge conversion, whereby the spin projection of the electron is mapped onto a more robust variable, the charge state of the dot. After spin to charge conversion, we show how the charge occupancy can be repeatedly and non-perturbatively measured by pumping a luminescence recycling transition. The approach is shown to provide a readout signal 104 times stronger per spin when compared to previous methods. In combination with spin manipulation using the optical Stark effect or microwaves, our approach provides an ideal basis for probing spin coherence in single self-assembled quantum dots over long timescales and the development of methods for coherent spin control.


The UK model of incentive regulation of power grids was at one time the most advanced, and elements of it were adopted throughout the EU. This model worked well, particularly in the context of limited investment and innovation, a single and strong regulatory authority, and limited coordination between foreign grid operators. This enlightening book shows that since 2010 the whole context has changed and regulation has had to catch-up and evolve. The EU is entering a wave of investment, and an era of new services and innovation which has created growing tensions between national regulatory authorities in terms of coordinating technical standards and distribution systems. This is being played out against an increasingly disruptive backdrop of digitzation, new market platforms and novel business models.


We present the computation of the NLO QCD corrections to the production of a Standard Model Higgs boson in association with up to three jets through gluon-gluon fusion. The computation is performed in the approximation of an infinitely heavy top quark. Before studying some phenomenologically important observables, we describe some technical detail about the computation.


Geothermal power is a green power source that could provide substantial renewable power. This paper looks at the approximate energy that the planet could provide using the stored thermal energy beneath the surface of the Earth. It was calculated that the energy that could be used was 3.9x1030J. However, actually extracting this energy is unrealistic with today's technology, as well as hazardous to the planet.


There is no established standard of care for the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism in pregnancy for those patients who are not surgical candidates. We present a case of primary hyperparathyroidism in the third trimester that was managed with cinacalcet and a literature review on the various modalities for the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism in pregnancy. The primary aim of this case report is to document a case of hyperparathyroidism in pregnancy that was managed medically and to perform a brief systematic review of the literature available on the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism in pregnancy. The secondary aim is to contribute to the literature available on the use of cinacalcet in pregnancy. A 37-year-old woman with untreated primary hyperparathyroidism presented at 32 weeks of gestation with hypercalcemia that was not amenable to surgical intervention. We treated her with increasing doses of cinacalcet with improvement in her serum calcium until developing pre-eclampsia which prompted emergent cesarean delivery of the infant. The neonate developed respiratory distress after delivery but did not develop hypocalcemia after birth. The neonate became transiently hypercalcemic in the setting of calcium gluconate infusions given to prevent hypocalcemia. The patient underwent surgical removal of a parathyroid adenoma and required calcium supplementation for 1 month afterwards. Hypercalcemic crisis during pregnancy is associated with significant maternal and fetal morbidity. There is limited information regarding the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism due to the lack of high-powered studies and prospective studies owing to the relative rarity of the condition. No serious adverse maternal events were reported for either bisphosphonate or cinacalcet use. Adverse neonatal events include transient hypocalcemia of the infant with cinacalcet use and possibly low birth weight, infantile hypocalcemia, and shortened gestational periods with bisphosphonate use. J Endocrinol Metab. 2020;10(2):49-53 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jem624


There is a long-standing debate on the consequences of the Walmarting phenomenon, namely the spread of Wal-Mart's business model and the national or global implications of its proliferation. On the one hand, Wal-Mart's business practice is based on optimization concepts from logistic, purchasing and finance to achieve and maintain low prices. However, critics have claimed that the domestic impact of Walmarting is to force local businesses into bankruptcy because they are unable to compete with Wal-Mart's low price strategy. Moreover, it has been argued that the international impact of Walmarting is to force American suppliers to rely on low-wage foreign producers for goods, leading in turn to an unfavorable national balance of trade and contributing to the growth of the American temporary and low-wage little job security employment sector. In conclusion, it is difficult to achieve a unique perspective on the phenomenon as the overall effect of the large retail transformation is country-specific. For example, other things being equal, it will be different if we consider a country, such as US, which primary relies on high-tech sectors, or a country, such as Italy, specialised in low and medium-tech sectors already negatively affected by international competition from low-wage countries. Hence, in this case an appropriate country-specific policy strategy is necessary to combine economic efficiency and social wealth.


An operating system provides numerous functions, such as I/O management, memory management, process management, and file management. Since the operating system is a set of the programs that interacts with computer hardware during executing time, process management is the most important function provided by an operating system. CPU scheduling is extremely necessary, as it makes a multi-tasking environment that keeps the CPU and I/O devices busy at all times which results in increased CPU utilization (1). However, numerous scheduling algorithms have already been designed to regulate the access of threads and processes to the CPU, such as FCFS-SJF-SRT-RR. We simulated these scheduling algorithms and evaluated their performance (throughput, latency, utilization, turnaround time, and waiting time) in a multi-processor environment.


In the present study, a biomimetic reaction center model, that is, a molecular triad consisting of a chlorin dimer and an azafulleroid, is synthesized and its photophysical properties are studied in comparison with the corresponding molecular dyad, which consists only of a chlorin monomer and an azafulleroid. As evidenced by (1) H NMR, UV/Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy, the chlorin dimer-azafulleroid folds in nonpolar media into a C2 -symmetric geometry through hydrogen bonding, resulting in appreciable electronic interactions between the chlorins, whereas in polar media the two chlorins diverge from contact. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy studies reveal longer charge-separated states for the chlorin dimer-azafulleroid; ≈1.6 ns in toluene, compared with the lifetime of ≈0.9 ns for the corresponding chlorin monomer-azafulleroid in toluene. In polar media, for example, benzonitrile, similar charge-separated states are observed, but the lifetimes are inevitably shorter: 65 and 73 ps for the dimeric and monomeric chlorin-azafulleroids, respectively. Nanosecond transient absorption and singlet oxygen phosphorescence studies corroborate that in toluene, the charge-separated state decays indirectly via the triplet excited state to the ground state, whereas in benzonitrile, direct recombination to the ground state is observed. Complementary DFT studies suggest two energy-minima conformations, that is, a folded chlorin dimer-azafulleroid, which is present in nonpolar media, and another conformation in polar media, in which the two hydrophobic chlorins wrap the azafulleroid. Inspection of the frontier molecular orbitals shows that in the folded conformation, the HOMO on each chlorin is equivalent and is shared owing to partial π-π overlap, resulting in delocalization of the conjugated π electrons, whereas the wrapped conformation lacks this stabilization. As such, the longer charge-separated lifetime for the dimer is rationalized by both the electron donor-acceptor separation distance and the stabilization of the radical cation through delocalization. The chlorin folding seems to change the photophysical properties in a manner similar to that observed in the chlorophyll dimer in natural photosynthetic reaction centers.


The mechanism of degradation of fructose1,6-bisphosphate aldolase from rabbit muscle by the lysosomal proteinase cathepsin B was determined. Treatment of aldolase with cathepsin B destroys up to 90% of activity with fructose 1,6-bisphosphate as substrate, but activity with fructose 1-phosphate is slightly increased. Cathepsin L, another lysosomal thiol proteinase, and papain are also potent inactivators of aldolase, whereas inactivation is not caused by cathepsins D or H even at high concentrations, or by cathepsin B inhibited by leupeptin or iodoacetate. The cathepsin-B-treated aldolase shows no detectable change in subunit molecular weight, oligomer molecular weight or subunit interactions. Cathepsin B cleaves dipeptides from the C-terminus of the aldolase subunits. Four dipeptides are released sequentially: Ala-Tyr, Asn-His, Ile-Ser and Leu-Phe, and a maximum of five additional dipeptides may be released. There are indications that this peptidyldipeptidase activity of cathepsin B may be an important aspect of its action on protein substrates generally.


This research was the first stage in developing an investment model aimed at assisting regional authorities and the NZ Transport Agency to make public transport investment decisions. The approach assumed that public transport (PT) subsidies should be invested to maximise allocative efficiency n ie. in a way that ensures society gains the greatest overall net benefit from PT. To do this, the investment model applies a second-best pricing method to estimate optimum fare and implied subsidy levels for urban public transport. The model takes into account operating costs and externalities of alternative transport modes (cars and PT), including safety and congestion effects. It also incorporates network spillover effects for existing PT users from changes in frequency. The result is an economic model that incorporates the interactions between prices, service levels and patronage for public transport (bus initially) and private car, and associated performance indicators. The model was developed initially only for Hamilton and detailed in a separate Excel workbook that is capable of expansion to include rail and other cities. The model shows that the costs of public transport are high in Hamilton, and that plausible alternative policy responses include significantly reducing fares or cutting services, with dramatically different budgetary implications. It shows that the idea of a single optimum solution is overly simplistic.


Introgression between cultivars and wild relatives is common in several angiosperm taxa including the grass family Poaceae. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a domesticated allohexaploid species (genome formula BBAADD) without any known wild hexaploid relative in the genus Triticum. Bread wheat is also related to the genus Aegilops L., which has probably contributed two of the three genomes of bread wheat. A few tetraploid Aegilops species, including Ae. cylindrica Host. and Ae. triuncialis L., occur as weeds both in the Mediterranean basin and in West Asia. Introduced populations of these weeds are also known to occur in North America. These species have been known to introgress occasionally with bread wheat when grown near wheat fields. Similarly, rye (Secale cereale L.), a species from a distant genus, has a potential to introgress with bread wheat. A few natural introgressive hybrids between herbicide resistant wheat and Ae. cylindrica and between wheat and rye have been created or recovered in North America. Natural hybrids between wheat and Ae. triuncialis have not been observed in North America. The available data do not suggest the prevalence of large-scale introgression between bread wheat and its wild relatives in North America. Nevertheless, with modern bread wheat cultivars being developed with novel traits, such as herbicide and disease resistance, an in-depth evaluation of the extent and nature of introgression between weedy Aegilops or Secale species and bread wheat is useful both for assessing potential ecological risks that may be associated with trait presence in hybrids and for formulating strategies to manage gene transfer to hybrids. In this review, we discuss the existing literature on reproductive ecology of bread wheat and on introgression between bread wheat and its wild relatives in the genera Aegilops and Secale that occur in North America. We also discuss the implications of introgression in consideration of the current and possible future development of transgenic wheat.


How to make imitation learning more general when demonstrations are relatively limited has been a persistent problem in reinforcement learning (RL). Poor demonstrations lead to narrow and biased date distribution, non-Markovian human expert demonstration makes it difficult for the agent to learn, and over-reliance on sub-optimal trajectories can make it hard for the agent to improve its performance. To solve these problems we propose a new algorithm named TD3fG that can smoothly transition from learning from experts to learning from experience. Our algorithm achieves good performance in the MUJOCO environment with limited and sub-optimal demonstrations. We use behavior cloning to train the network as a reference action generator and utilize it in terms of both loss function and exploration noise. This innovation can help agents extract a priori knowledge from demonstrations while reducing the detrimental effects of the poor Markovian properties of the demonstrations. It has a better performance compared to the BC+ fine-tuning and DDPGfD approach, especially when the demonstrations are relatively limited. We call our method TD3fG meaning TD3 from a generator.


We present velocity dispersion measurements of 20 Local Group stellar clusters (7 < log(age [yr]) <10.2) from integrated light spectra and examine the evolution of the stellar mass-to-light ratio, ϒ*. We find that the clusters deviate from the evolutionary tracks corresponding to simple stellar populations drawn from standard stellar initial mass functions (IMFs). The nature of this failure, in which ϒ* is at first underestimated and then overestimated with age, invalidates potential simple solutions involving a rescaling of either the measured masses or modeled luminosities. A range of possible shortcomings in the straightforward interpretation of the data, including subtleties arising from cluster dynamical evolution on the present-day stellar mass functions and from stellar binarity on the measured velocity dispersions, do not materially affect this conclusion given the current understanding of those effects. Independent of further conjectures regarding the origin of this problem, this result highlights a basic failing of our understanding of the integrated stellar populations of these systems. We propose the existence of two distinct IMFs, one primarily, but not exclusively, valid for older, metal-poor clusters and the other for primarily, but not exclusively, younger, metal-rich clusters. The young (log(age [yr]) < 9.5) clusters are well described by a bottom-heavy IMF, such as a Salpeter IMF, while the older clusters are better described by a top-heavy IMF, such as a light-weighted Kroupa IMF, although neither of these specific forms is a unique solution. The sample is small, with the findings currently depending on the results for four key clusters, but doubling the sample is within reach.