In this study, two control algorithms for the three axes stabilized geosynchronous communication satellite Intelsat V are given. The spacecraft is assumed to be controlled via reaction wheels. First, linear control method is used to design an attitude feedback control algorithm for a rigid satellite with attitude angles. Linearized form of the spacecraft dynamics are given in attitude angles representation. Second, sliding mode control method is used for the attitude controller with equivalent control term for flexible satellite. The performances and disadvantages are discussed on design example for both cases. Modeling and simulation are done by using MATLAB-Simulink programming. The results show that using attitude linear controller may cause the mission cost to be high and decrease the maneuver performances for a geosynchronous satellite mission. Also linear attitude controller does not include neglected nonlinear effects, flexibility effects, etc. That is why the linear attitude controller has a very long settling time. On the other hand, attitude sliding mode controller for geosynchronous satellite with flexible solar arrays uses energy optimally with a great performance and relative small settling time. Moreover, attitude sliding mode controller includes all effects of nonlinear dynamics which is robust to bounded external disturbances and unmodelled dynamics


The Every Child Matters change agenda is leading to the creation of new services and new working practices across the children and young people's sectors. These new configurations are leading to the development of new roles that do not necessarily fit with existing, traditional professional qualifications. This paper outlines the response of one university to this policy agenda. The experience of inter-disciplinary collaboration and inter-professional curriculum development has mirrored many of the challenges facing colleagues in practice settings. In reflecting on these challenges, this paper highlights some of the key issues facing HE providers in developing an appropriate educational response. The paper identifies the need for collaborative and strategic partnership between HE and practice colleagues in order to prepare a future workforce. It further identifies the desirability of a champion with the capacity and determination to keep the agenda from getting lost within all the other uni-disciplinary agendas that operate within universities.


Hydrothermal and precipitation methods have been applied to synthesize nanoscale CeO2 catalysts for selective catalytic reduction of NO with hydrocarbon under oxygen-rich condition. The former procedure has the advantage of enhancing the hydrothermal stability of nanomaterial. BET results show that their surface areas are about 30-80 m2/g. Based on TEM results, hydrothermally prepared CeO2 shows very uniform grain shaped particles with size around 10-20 nanometers. Its thermal stability up to 1200°C has been confirmed by in-situ XRD. Furthermore, deNOx reaction with propene as reducing agent in the presence of 5% oxygen has been carried out to compare catalysts prepared by the above two methods. Results show that hydrothermally prepared catalyst is more active than the one prepared by precipitation method. The latter one lost half of its activity in the presence of 5% water vapor, while the former one could stand up to 10% water vapor in the gas mixture without losing much activity.


ABSTRACT Aberrant immune responses against gut microbiota are thought to be key drivers of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis. However, the extent and targets of immunoglobulin (Ig) A versus IgG responses to gut bacteria in IBD and its association with IBD severity is not well understood. Here, we address this by analyzing fecal samples from Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and Non-IBD patients by flow cytometry for the frequency of bacteria that were endogenously bound with IgA and/or IgG. Assessment of IBD patients from two geographically distinct cohorts revealed increased percentages of IgA- and IgG-bound fecal bacteria compared to non-IBD controls. Notably, the two major subsets of IBD showed distinct patterns of Ig-bound bacteria, with CD activity associated with increases in both IgA and IgG-bound bacteria, whereas UC activity correlated only with increases in IgG-bound bacteria. Analysis of the flow sorted Ig-bound bacterial repertoire by 16S rDNA sequencing revealed taxa that were Ig-bound specifically in IBD. Notably, this included bacteria that are also thought to reside in the oral pharynx, including Gemella, Peptostreptococcus, and Streptococcus species. These data show that the pattern of IgA and IgG binding to fecal bacteria is distinct in UC and CD. In addition, the frequency of Ig-bound fecal bacteria may have potential as a non-invasive biomarker for disease activity. Finally, our results support the hypothesis that immune responses to oral pharyngeal bacteria may play an important role in the pathogenesis of IBD.


In GNSS, longer integrations are required to obtain better signal-to-noise ratio during the signal synchronization process. However the presence of secondary codes on the top of primary codes puts a constraint on the coherent integration duration for pilot channels in a similar way to the effect of data bits in data-carrying channels. In this paper we explore the problem of coherent integration over periods longer than one primary code length and the acquisition of secondary code chip position. We propose an acquisition engine architecture which can handle both these problems together.


In this paper, we consider the problem of transmission delay in terms of finite coding length derived from the random coding bound for different cooperative protocols. Specifically, we first study the impact of cooperative transmission on the routing decision for wireless ad-hoc networks, where a routing optimization problem is formulated to minimize the endto-end delay that ensures a satisfactory error performance. The closed-expression of the optimal solution is developed through the optimization problem and later used as quantitative criterion of routing decision. Furthermore, consider the interference impact on system performance along a multi-hop routing, we then investigate performance gain on transmission delay for wireless cooperative networks by using a simple multi-user detection scheme, called overlapped transmission, in which multiple transmissions are allowed only when the information in the interfering signal is known at the receiver. As a result, both analytical and numerical results demonstrate the significant improvement on the system performance by using cooperative transmission with overlapping as well as the trade-off between the end-to-end delay and network throughput.


ABSTRACT Over ninety years ago Lev Vygotsky warned of a growing crisis in psychology and social science research. Vygotsky's warning has been echoed on many occasions but his solution to the problem has not been widely acknowledged. He advocated for a form of meta-science which he called "general science", an integrative science that could connect and guide the development of specialised disciplines and schools of research. In this paper I explore the parallels between Vygotsky's general science and contemporary forms of meta-level research and discuss their relevance and implications for addressing global challenges.


Remarkable progress is being made in understanding the molecular basis of disorders of human iron metabolism. Recent work has uncovered unantici- pated relationships with the immune and nervous systems, intricate interconnections with copper metabolism, and striking homologies between yeast and human genes involved in the transport of transition metals. This review examines the clinical con- sequences of new insights into the pathophysiology of genetic abnormalities affecting iron metabolism. The proteins recently found to be involved in the absorption, trans- port, utilization, and storage of iron are briefly described, and the clinical manifes- tations of genetic disorders that affect these proteins are discussed. This chapter considers the most common inherited disorder in individuals of European ancestry (hereditary hemochromatosis), a widespread disease in sub-Saharan populations for which the genetic basis is still uncertain (African dietary iron overload), and several less frequent or rare disorders (juvenile hemochromatosis, atransferrinemia, acerulo- plasminemia, hyperferritinemia with autosomal dominant congenital cataract, Fried- reich's ataxia, and X-linked sideroblastic anemia with ataxia).


" History and Underdevelopment in Morocco is a wide-ranging interpretation of the history of Morocco. Drawing not only on the relevant literature of the Maghrib, but also on the more extensive literature on pre-capitalist formations' elsewhere, the author attempts to link the micro-history' of Morocco with the macro-history' of Europe and the Middle East. Covering the mediaeval period through to the present, and using a Marxist approach, he seeks to explain the roots of Moroccan underdevelopment in terms of Morocco's internal and external relations. It is a worthwhile contribution to understanding of Moroccan history and serious analysis of some crucial issues in the theory of historical change. Dr. B. A. Mojuetan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. "


Purpose
A comparison of international construction labour productivity (CLP) is carried out by the conventional use of exchange rates to convert national construction output to a common base currency. Such measurement is always distorted by price-level differences between countries and therefore the purpose of this paper is to adopt a purchasing power parities (PPPs) approach, which eliminates price-level differences, as an alternative means of comparing CLP.

Design/methodology/approach
PPP construction expenditure data from the World Bank's International Comparison Programme 2011 and employment statistics maintained by the International Labour Organization are used to generate the CLP of 93 matching economies. A one-way analysis of variance is conducted to evaluate the relationship between the development status and the CLPs.

Findings
The CLPs of developed economies are higher than developing economies in both PPPs (real) and exchange rate (nominal) measurements. The real CLPs are always higher than nominal CLP in high-income, upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income and low-income economies. Both real and nominal CLPs converge along with the economic growth.

Research limitations/implications
The average figures used in the study may not always be the most representative statistics. The CLPs determined provide an initial approximation for comparison between different economies to gain further insights into the best practices and policies for the more successful economies. Future research is recommended to uncover the underlying factors of CLPs congruence.

Originality/value
The convergence of real and nominal CLPs when economies transit from a developing to developed status indicates that the construction product has transformed from a commonly understood non-internationally traded product to an internationally traded product.


Human rotavirus is a major etiologic agent for infantile diarrhea worldwide. It is responsible for up to 3.3 million deaths per year in children in developing countries. Various rapid and sensitive techniques have been developed to readily diagnose rotavirus gastroenteritis. In the present study, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of immunochromatography and RNA-polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (PAGE) methods with enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for diagnosis of group A rotavirus infection in 200 stool samples from children younger than 5 years old with acute gastroenteritis. Rotavirus was detected in 57 (28.5%) samples by EIA, 52 (26%) samples by ICG and 52 (26%) samples by RNA-PAGE. There was no significant difference between the three methods (P=0.8) nor between EIA and ICG (P=0.57) and EIA and RNA-PAGE (P=0.57). Furthermore, in comparing these methods with age variables, the present study found that  the sensitivity and specificity of ICG and RNA-PAGE compared with EIA were 87.7%, 98.6% and 91.2%, and 100%, respectively (P>0.05). Results of the present study demonstrate that the sensitivity and specificity rates for ICG and RNA-PAGE were as high as EIA. It seems that all the three methods are reliable and suitable for detection of group A rotavirus infection in children affected by enteric diseases.


A guide to the top search engines, subject directories, and portals especially designed for kids. It explains children's searching behaviours and describes the kinds of logical thinking, critical evaluation, and search strategies they need to use when doing research on the Web. Beginning with definitions of search engines, subject directories, and portals, the guide explores the elements of a search tool, discusses ownership and documentation, examines the selection and content coverage, and looks at display and navigation tools, search features, results and rankings. The top 20 recommended search engines and subject directories for kids (including Ask Jeeves for Kids, Cyber Sleuth - Kids, Homework Planet, KidsClick!, Lycos Zone, Searchopolis, and Yahooligans) are covered in detail. The strengths and weaknesses of each is broken down and rated.


Prof Josef Smolen opened the symposium and briefly described the aims of the meeting. Co-host Prof Constantino Pitzalis first discussed the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), identifying the pro-inflammatory cytokines involved and explaining why specific drugs only work in certain conditions. Prof Simon Jones followed with a discussion on comorbidities and adverse events associated with interleukin (IL)-6 intervention in rheumatic disease. Dr Frank McKenna presented on the psychological impact of RA, including mood changes and development of depressive disorders, and Prof Smolen described the upcoming therapeutic approaches for the condition while also comparing and contrasting existing treatment options. The symposium concluded with a question and answer session.


Because of the unavailability of off-site storage for spent power-reactor fuel, the NRC has allowed high-density storage of spent fuel in pools originally designed to hold much smaller inventories. As a result, virtually all U.S. spent-fuel pools have been re-racked to hold spent-fuel assemblies at densities that approach those in reactor cores. In order to prevent the spent fuel from going critical, the fuel assemblies are partitioned off from each other in metal boxes whose walls contain neutron-absorbing boron. It has been known for more than two decades that, in case of a loss of water in the pool, convective air cooling would be relatively ineffective in such a "dense-packed" pool. Spent fuel recently discharged from a reactor could heat up relatively rapidly to temperatures at which the zircaloy fuel cladding could catch fire and the fuel's volatile fission products, including 30-year half-life 137 Cs, would be released. The fire could well spread to older spent fuel. The long-term land-contamination consequences of such an event could be significantly worse than those from Chernobyl. No such event has occurred thus far. However, the consequences would affect such a large area that alternatives to dense-pack storage must be examined--especially in the context of concerns that terrorists might find nuclear facilities attractive targets. To reduce both the consequences and probability of a spent-fuel-pool fire, it is proposed that all spent fuel be transferred from wet to dry storage within five years of discharge. The cost of on-site dry-cask storage for an additional 35,000 tons of older spent fuel is estimated at $3.5-7 billion dollars or 0.03-0.06 cents per kilowatt-hour generated from that fuel. Later cost savings could offset some of this cost when the fuel is shipped off site. The transfer to dry storage could be accomplished within a decade. The removal of the older fuel would reduce the average inventory of 137 Cs in the pools by about a factor of four, bringing it down to about twice that in a reactor core. It would also make possible a return to open-rack storage for the remaining more recently discharged fuel. If accompanied by the installation of large emergency doors or blowers to provide large-scale airflow through the buildings housing the pools, natural convection air cooling of this spent fuel should be possible if airflow has not been blocked by collapse of the building or other cause. Other possible risk-reduction measures are also discussed. Our purpose in writing this article is to make this problem accessible to a broader audience than has been considering it, with the goal of encouraging further public discussion and analysis. More detailed technical discussions of scenarios that could result in loss-of-coolant from spent-fuel pools and of the likelihood of spent-fuel fires resulting are available in published reports prepared for the NRC over the past two decades. Although it may be necessary to keep some specific vulnerabilities confidential, we believe that a generic discussion of the type presented here can and must be made available so that interested experts and the concerned public can hold the NRC, nuclear-power-plant operators, and independent policy analysts such as ourselves accountable.


Feather pecking in laying hens is a serious behavioral problem that is often associated with feather eating. The intake of feathers may influence the gut microbiota and its metabolism. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of 2 different diets, with or without 5% ground feathers, on the gut microbiota and the resulting microbial fermentation products and to identify keratin-degrading bacteria in chicken digesta. One-day-old Lohmann-Selected Leghorn chicks were divided into 3 feeding groups: group A (control), B (5% ground feathers in the diet), and C, in which the control diet was fed until wk 12 and then switched to the 5% feather diet to study the effect of time of first feather ingestion. The gut microbiota was analyzed by cultivation and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of ileum and cecum digesta. Short-chain fatty acids, ammonia, and lactate concentrations were measured as microbial metabolites. The concentration of keratinolytic bacteria increased after feather ingestion in the ileum (P < 0.001) and cecum (P = 0.033). Bacterial species that hydrolyzed keratin were identified as Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus reuteri-like species (97% sequence homology), and Lactobacillus salivarius-like species (97% sequence homology). Molecular analysis of cecal DNA extracts showed that the feather diet lowered the bacterial diversity indicated by a reduced richness (P < 0.001) and shannon (P = 0.012) index. The pattern of microbial metabolites indicated some changes, especially in the cecum. This study showed that feather intake induced an adaptation of the intestinal microbiota in chickens. It remains unclear to what extent the changed metabolism of the microbiota reflects the feather intake and could have an effect on the behavior of the hens.


As a consequence of the structural changes in agriculture many fields were let rest in the past years and decades. This is a particular phenomenon in the New Laender. The present paper deals with fallow land on the "Kleiner Fallstein" in the northern foreland of the Harz (Saxony-Anhalt). The species migration patterns after five years rest is shown here by means of species lists, linear transects and a grid map. The question was which species are able to migrate into fallow land during five years and how far is the distance. The fallow land was chosen after the following criteria: areas directly above calcareous grassland, directly below calcareous grassland, and areas separated from calcareous grassland by broad shrubbery. Most prominent were Festuco-Brometea and Koelerio-Corynephoretea (Sedo-Scleranthetea) species as well as biennial species such as Echium vulgare and Cynoglossum officinale. Species with a high potential of dissemination such as Festuca rupicola migrated up to 204 meters, while Alyssum alyssoides and Bromus erectus were only found in the first 10 meters of the fallow land. 160 species were found in the fallow land but just one rare species (Asperula cynanchica). 21 Festuco-Brometea species und 15 Koelerio-Corynephoretea species migrated into fallow land. There is evidence that at least young fallow land may be a suitable habitat for these species. Many of the species are able to spread by stolones. The number of species migrated into the fallow land depends on the position of the fallow land relatively to the calcareous grassland. The highest number of Festuco-Brometea and Koelerio-Corynephoretea species migrated into fallow land below calcareous grassland, whereas less species migrated into fallow land above calcareous grassland. Broad shrubbery separating fallow land from calcareous grassland seems to delay the migration of Festuco-Brometea and Koelerio-Corynephoretea species into fallow land.


INTRODUCTION
Family members affected by another's substance use disorder experience physical health problems, breakdowns in relationships and reduced psychological wellbeing. This review examines the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for improving the wellbeing of family members.

METHODS
A systematic review of randomised-controlled trials (RCT), non-RCTs and pre-post studies examining group or individual interventions for affected families. Five databases were searched (PubMed, PsycINFO, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library). Outcomes included psychological functioning, quality of life, physical health and substance use, family functioning and coping. Outcomes were analysed by study design and mode of delivery (individual or group). Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane tools (RoB2, ROBINS-I). The review followed PRISMA reporting guidelines and was prospectively registered with the PROSPERO database (CRD42020200260).

RESULTS
Nineteen studies were included (k = 10 included in meta-analyses). In k = 3 RCTs, individually administered interventions significantly reduced depression (standardised mean difference [SMD] 0.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.21, 0.79) and distress (SMD 0.28, 95% CI 0.03, 0.54). In k = 2 pre-post studies, individual interventions improved family functioning (d = 0.51, 95% CI 0.28, 0.73) and coping (d = 0.43, 95% CI 0.24, 0.61). In k = 3 non-RCTs and k = 2 pre-post designs group interventions significantly reduced depression (d = 0.50, 95% CI 0.17, 0.82) and distress (d = 0.44, 95% CI 0.13, 0.75), and improved coping (d = 0.81, 95% CI 0.29, 1.33).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This review summarises the contemporary literature evaluating interventions for affected families, with both individual and group interventions demonstrating favourable outcomes. However, small sample sizes and methodologically weak-quality studies limit conclusions.


ABSTRACT. We determined the bat fauna at Mesa Verde National Park (Mesa Verde) in 2006 and 2007, characterized bat elevational distribution and reproduction, and investigated roosting habits of selected species. We captured 1996 bats of 15 species in mist nets set over water during 120 nights of sampling and recorded echolocation calls of an additional species. The bat fauna at Mesa Verde included every species of bat known west of the Great Plains in Colorado, except the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). Some species showed skewed sex ratios, primarily due to a preponderance of males. Thirteen species of bats reproduced at Mesa Verde. Major differences in spring precipitation between the 2 years of our study were associated with differences in reproductive rates and, in some species, with numbers of juveniles captured. Reduced reproductive effort during spring drought will have a greater impact on bat populations with the forecasted increase in aridity in much of western North America by models of global climate change. We radiotracked 46 bats of 5 species to roosts and describe the first-known maternity colonies of spotted bats (Euderma maculatum) in Colorado. All 5 species that we tracked to diurnal roosts relied almost exclusively on rock crevices rather than trees or snags, despite the presence of mature forests at Mesa Verde and the use of trees for roosts in similar forests elsewhere by some of these species. Comparisons with past bat surveys at Mesa Verde and in surrounding areas suggest no dramatic evidence for effects of recent stand-replacing fires on the composition of the bat community.


Groundwater in the province of "Zuid-Holland" was investigated for residues of pesticides. Aim of this investigation was to get more information about the threat of groundwater quality as a consequence of application of pesticides, in order to take possible measures for protection in higher concentrations than the EC-guideline for drinking water of 0.1 mug/l for one compound or 0.5 mug/l for the total of several residues of pesticides. Five different compounds were found. The decomposition product ETU (ethylenthiourea) which is formed after application of several fungicides was found in four samples in concentration range of 0,2-14,4 mug/l. At a depth of 7-9 m 7,2 mug/l was found. In five samples 1,2-dichloropropane was found in concentrations of 1.5 to 22.7 mug/l, while at a depth of 8-9 m 7.8 mug/l was found. Furthermore three compounds were found in one sample: 1,3-dichloropropane, chloroallylalcohol and aldicarbsulphon. The compound 1,2-dichloropropane, which is a consequence of soil desinfection, was also found in groundwater below glass houses (4x), potato cultured land (3x) and in bankinfiltration (1x). Carbendazim (0.1 mug/l) was found in groundwater below fruit cultured land.


2'-C-cyano-2'-deoxy-1-β-D-arabino-pentofranocyl-cytosine (DFP-10917, CNDAC) is a 2'-deoxycytidine analog with antitumor activity against various tumor cells. However, a clinically available therapeutic regimen for this compound needs to be established and its functional mechanisms in relation to the dosing schedule need to be clarified. In this study, we evaluated the antitumor activity and toxicity of DFP-10917 by varying the dose and administration schedule in human solid tumor and leukemia xenografts in vivo. Compared to a 1-day infusion with a high-dose of DFP-10917 (30 mg/kg/day), a prolonged 14-day infusion with a low-dose (4.5 mg/kg/day) exerted superior tumor growth inhibitory effects without decreasing the body weights of mice in our human tumor xenograft model. In addition, we found that a 14-day infusion of low-dose DFP-10917 markedly prolonged the lifespan of nude mice bearing both acute leukemia and ovarian cancer cell-derived tumors. On the other hand, gemcitabine (GEM) and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), which are similar deoxycytidine analogs and are widely used clinically as standard regimens, exerted less potent antitumor effects than DFP-10917 on these tumors. To elucidate the possible functional mechanisms of the prolonged infusion of DFP-10197 compared with that of GEM or Ara-C, the rate of DNA damage in CCRF-CEM and HeLa cells treated with DFP-10917, Ara-C and GEM was detected using a comet assay. DFP-10917, at a range of 0.05 to 1 µM, induced a clear tailed-DNA pattern in both the CCRF-CEM and HeLa cells; Ara-C and GEM did not have any effect. It was thus suggested that a low concentration and long-term exposure to DFP-10917 aggressively introduced the fragmentation of DNA molecules, namely the so-called double-strand breaks in tumor cells, leading to potent cytotoxicity. Moreover, treatment with DFP-10917 at a low-dose with a long-term exposure specifically increased the population of cells in the G2/M phase, while GEM reduced this cell population, suggesting a unique function (G2/M arrest) of DFP-10917. On the whole, our findings indicate that the prolonged infusion of low-dose DFP-10917 mainly displays a novel functional mechanism as a DNA-damaging drug and may thus prove to be useful in the treatment of cancer patients who are resistant to other cytosine nucleosides, or in patients in which these other nucleosides have been shown to be ineffective.


This paper was presented at IS&T/SID CIC13 Conference in Scotssdale, AZ, November 7-11, 2006. Abstract Over the past twenty-five years a diversity of color display technologies has evolved to support a wide range of applications, including television receivers, computer monitors, cell phones, PDAs, automobile dashboards, aircraft instruments, and even incar and in-flight entertainment systems. In all product categories consumers' expectations for color display performance have grown at a rapid pace, driving the accelerated development of core display technologies, along with supporting color control algorithms and image processing methodology. In this keynote address I review the latest advances in color displays in major application markets and focus on those developments which result in enhanced functional color performance and improved image quality.


Network embedding has been increasingly used in many network analytics applications to generate low-dimensional vector representations, so that many off-the-shelf models can be applied to solve a wide variety of data mining tasks. However, similar to many other machine learning methods, network embedding results remain hard to be understood by users. Each dimension in the embedding space usually does not have any specific meaning, thus it is difficult to comprehend how the embedding instances are distributed in the reconstructed space. In addition, heterogeneous content information may be incorporated into network embedding, so it is challenging to specify which source of information is effective in generating the embedding results. In this paper, we investigate the interpretation of network embedding, aiming to understand how instances are distributed in embedding space, as well as explore the factors that lead to the embedding results. We resort to the post-hoc interpretation scheme, so that our approach can be applied to different types of embedding methods. Specifically, the interpretation of network embedding is presented in the form of a taxonomy. Effective objectives and corresponding algorithms are developed towards building the taxonomy. We also design several metrics to evaluate interpretation results. Experiments on real-world datasets from different domains demonstrate that, by comparing with the state-of-the-art alternatives, our approach produces effective and meaningful interpretation to embedding results.


Abstract. The inner ear of the two higher clades of modern cetaceans (Neoceti) is highly adapted for hearing infrasonic (mysticetes) or ultrasonic (odontocetes) frequencies. Within odontocetes, Platanistoidea comprises a single extant riverine representative, Platanista gangetica, and a diversity of mainly extinct marine species from the late Oligocene onward. Recent studies drawing on features including the disparate tympanoperiotic have not yet provided a consensus phylogenetic hypothesis for platanistoids. Further, cochlear morphology and evolutionary patterns have never been reported. Here, we describe for the first time the inner ear morphology of late Oligocene–early Miocene extinct marine platanistoids and their evolutionary patterns. We initially hypothesized that extinct marine platanistoids lacked a specialized inner ear like P. gangetica and thus, their morphology and inferred hearing abilities were more similar to those of pelagic odontocetes. Our results reveal there is no "typical" platanistoid cochlear type, as the group displays a disparate range of cochlear anatomies, but all are consistent with high-frequency hearing. Stem odontocete Prosqualodon australis and platanistoid Otekaikea huata present a tympanal recess in their cochlea, of yet uncertain function in the hearing mechanism in cetaceans. The more basal morphology of Aondelphis talen indicates it had lower high-frequency hearing than other platanistoids. Finally, Platanista has the most derived cochlear morphology, adding to evidence that it is an outlier within the group and consistent with a >9-Myr-long separation from its sister genus Zarhachis. The evolution of a singular sound production morphology within Platanistidae may have facilitated the survival of Platanista to the present day.


Noble metal nanostructures dispersed on metal oxide surfaces have applications in diverse areas such as catalysis, chemical sensing, and energy harvesting. Their reactivity, chemical selectivity, stability, and light absorption properties are controlled by the interactions at the metal/oxide interface. Single-atom metal adsorbates on the rutile TiO2(110)-(1 × 1) surface have become a paradigmatic model to characterize those interactions and to understand the unique electronic properties of these supported nanostructures. We combine Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to investigate the atomic-scale variations in the contact potential difference of individual Pt atoms adsorbed on a hydroxylated (h) TiO2(110)-(1 × 1) surface. Our experiments show a significant drop in the local contact potential difference (LCPD) over Pt atoms with respect to the TiO2 surface, supporting the presence of an electron transfer from the Pt adsorbates to the substrate. We have identified two characteristic regimes by LCPD spectroscopy. At far tip-sample distances, LCPD values show a weak distance dependence and can be attributed to the intrinsic charge transfer from Pt to the oxide support. Beyond the onset of short-range chemical interactions, LCPD values exhibit a strong distance dependence that we ascribe to the local structural and charge rearrangements induced by the tip-sample interaction. These findings also apply to other electropositive adsorbates such as potassium and the hydrogen atoms forming the OH groups that are present on the h-TiO2(110) surface, promoting KPFM as a suitable tool for the understanding of electron transfer in catalytically active materials.


Enhanced mixing of North Adriatic Dense Water (NAdDW) occurs in a strong frontal region as this cold and fresh intermediate water enters the southern Adriatic basin and meets warm and salty Modified Levantine Intermediate Water (MLIW) coming from the Ionian Sea. This study examines how NAdDW was mixed and transformed as it traveled southward from the Gargano to the Bari region and investigates the pathway and intrusion patterns of MLIW in late winter/spring 2009. Hydrographic data are analyzed to compute source water fractions via a least-squares analysis method and combined with ADCP data to compute source water volume fluxes. Results show that despite an anomalous low year for NAdDW production in the Adriatic, a warmer, fresher and lighter version of traditional NAdDW (i.e. 2009 NAdDW) endured its journey from Gargano to Bari. In the Gargano region, 2009 NAdDW (with fractions up to 80–90%) traveled southward in a non-continuous thin, dense vein between 35 m and 100 m isobaths, with diluted cores ð450%Þ extending to 140 m depth, and with fluxes of −0.05 Sv, to the southeast, south of Palagruz̆a Sill. Near the sill, 2009 NAdDW was further mixed and diluted with MLIW and surface water. By the time it reached the Bari region, the 2009 NAdDW fraction in the water column was reduced to about 20%. MLIW intrusions observed over the Sill and in northern sections of the study area suggest a splitting of MLIW pathways (stemming from the main South Adriatic rim pathway) towards the central Adriatic. Source water fraction results combined with velocity and seismic oceanography data show that eddies in the study area are one mechanism for the generation of MLIW intrusions towards the northwest. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Asymmetric oxidations of organic compounds are limited in their synthetic scope and by practical factors, such as the use of complex catalyst synthesis. A simple and cheap nanostructured catalyst system comprising magnetite nanoparticles stabilized by L-(+)-tartaric acid (Fe3O4/tart-NPs) was successfully synthesized in diethylene glycol. The catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, TGA, ICP-AES, XRPD, SEM and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The catalytic activity of Fe3O4/tart-NPs dispersion in acetonitrile in the presence of isobutyraldehyde was studied in selective aerobic oxidation of olefins to form asymmetric epoxide, an important intermediate for the synthesis of biologically active compounds. In addition, the magnetically recoverable nanocatalyst Fe3O4/tart-NPs can be conveniently separated and recovered from the reaction system by applying an external magnetic field and reused for five cycles without the loss of activity after each cycle. These results demonstrate that the heterogeneous nanocatalysts possess potential applications for green and sustainable development. As synthesized nanoparticles of Fe3O4/tart-NPs are cheap and easy to synthesize asymmetric catalysts which were prepared without the involvement of difficult and cumbersome procedures for the synthesis of complicated asymmetric ligands. Possible reaction mechanisms were outlined.


Dendrimers are a new class of polymeric materials. They are highly branched, monodisperse macromolecules. The structure of these materials has a great impact on their physical and chemical properties. As a result of their unique behaviour dendrimers are suitable for a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. The paper gives a concise review of dendrimers' physico-chemical properties and their possible use in various areas of research, technology and treatment.


Eye cancer is an uncommon disease. Despite its low incidence, ocular tumors such as uveal melanoma and retinoblastoma can be life–threatening in many cases. For small–to–medium ocular tumors, brachytherapy with radioactive 106Ru/106Rh plaques offers good outcomes in terms of local control and disease–free survival. Although these plaques have been used for decades, the measurement and calculation of the produced dose distributions remain challenging
tasks. This thesis aims at improving the current knowledge on the theoretical and experimental dosimetry of 106Ru/106Rh plaques.
First, we used Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport to estimate accurate absorbed dose to water distributions produced by twelve plaque models. Secondly, we developed a practical experimental technique to measure in water the planar dose distributions produced by the plaques. For this experimental validation the EBT3 radiochromic film model was used which, in turn, required to characterize the absorbed–dose energy dependence of this new film model by means of Monte Carlo simulation. A detailed uncertainty analysis was carried out for simulation and experimental results. Both the simulated and measured absorbed dose distributions were compared with the available literature.

The simulated dose distributions agreed within 3% with published data and with the EBT3 measurement results. Some discrepancies from the literature were also solved. This is the first, and currently unique, comprehensive dosimetry dataset for 106Ru/106Rh plaques. Therefore, it can become the basis for the first consensus dataset available. This dataset could also be useful for quality assurance of treatment planning systems.
The simulation of the EBT3 film confirmed an improvement in the absorbed-dose energy dependence for this film model respect to older models. Applications for this film are found in many areas of medical physics.
The measured dose distributions achieved a good agreement in absolute dosimetry with measurements by the manufacturer, and in relative dosimetry with the simulation results. The proposed method would allow users to check absolute dose distributions close to the
plaque surface, and directly in water, thus avoiding the conversion from dose–to–plastic to dose–to–water, as it would occur if solid phantoms were used. With this method, a smaller experimental uncertainty was attained respect to the manufacturer and other authors.


Abstract Background The current guidelines for treatment of carpometacarpal osteoarthritis recommend starting with conservative treatment before a surgical procedure is considered. Objective The objective was to investigate how response to conservative treatment, in terms of pain and hand function, influences the hazard that patients convert to surgical treatment. Design This was a multicenter, prospective cohort study. Methods Participants comprised 701 patients who received 3 months of hand therapy and an orthosis. Pain and function were measured with the Michigan Hand Questionnaire (MHQ) at baseline and at 6 weeks and 3 months follow-up. Conversion to surgical treatment was recorded from clinical records. Joint modeling (a statistical method of combining prediction models) was used to perform the analysis and to calculate hazard ratios (HRs). Results The joint analytical model showed that both MHQ pain score at a certain point (HR = 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.92–0.94) and change in MHQ pain score (HR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.06–1.09) during conservative treatment was significantly associated with conversion to surgical treatment. The joint analytical model between functional outcome and conversion to surgical treatment showed only a significant association between MHQ function at a certain point (HR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.95–0.99), and no significant association between the change in MHQ score for function (HR = 1.0; 95% CI = 1.0–1.0) and conversion to surgical treatment. Limitations Missing data might have resulted in biased estimates. Conclusions Self-reported pain and function, as well as change in self-reported pain during treatment, were associated with the hazard of conversion to surgical treatment, whereas change in self-reported functioning was not associated with conversion. Because a reduction in pain during conservative treatment appears to decrease the rate of conversion to surgical treatment, it is advised to structurally monitor pain levels during treatment. Listen to the author interview at https://academic.oup.com/ptj/pages/podcasts


Pure hereditary spastic paraplegia is characterized by length-dependent degeneration of the distal ends of long axons. Mutations in spastin are the most common cause of the condition. We set out to investigate the function of spastin using a yeast two-hybrid approach to identify interacting proteins. Using full-length spastin as bait, we identified CHMP1B, a protein associated with the ESCRT (endosomal sorting complex required for transport)-III complex, as a binding partner. Several different approaches confirmed the physiological relevance of the interaction in mammalian cells. Epitope-tagged CHMP1B and spastin showed clear cytoplasmic co-localization in Cos-7 and PC12 cells. CHMP1B and spastin interacted specifically in vitro and in vivo in beta-lactamase protein fragment complementation assays, and spastin co-immunoprecipitated with CHMP1B. The interaction was mediated by a region of spastin lying between residues 80 and 196 and containing a microtubule interacting and trafficking domain. Expression of epitope-tagged CHMP1B in mammalian cells prevented the development of the abnormal microtubule phenotype associated with expression of ATPase-defective spastin. These data point to a role for spastin in intracellular membrane traffic events and provide further evidence to support the emerging recognition that defects in intracellular membrane traffic are a significant cause of motor neuron pathology.


Integrated urban environmental plans developed in different Latin American countries show how to reduce systemic challenges in urban areas. Overcoming multi-dimensional urban issues requires a holistic view that includes channels for popular participation, higherlevel government support and cross-sector collaboration. However, it does not exclude a deep understanding of specific local necessities: in Brazil, transportation was a priority; in Colombia, disaster risk reduction; and in Argentina, decentralisation of public services. A critical overview of achievements in these urban environmental governance processes is key for South Asian and African cities that will need to accommodate most of the world's urban growth SUmmArY


Objective: To review the state of research on the association between marital distress and disease progression. Methods: The PubMed Central, Wiley Interscience, Sciencedirect, Biomed central and Springer-link were searched to identify studies published between January 1984 and October 2012 on disease progression. Articles meeting the following criteria were selected for review: 1) study subjects were spouses, 2) the article was published within the past 28 years in a peer-reviewed journal, and 3) the research included at least one of the following outcomes-marital distress or disease progression. Articles were different on time span, the number of surveys, and the definition of disease. Results: Out of 72 screened articles, 18 met our criteria. Research demonstrates that marital distress and disease progression appear to have bidirectional influence on each other. Conclusion: Marital distress has a significant effect on disease progression. This article summarizes what is known about the association of marital distress on disease progression among spouses with disease. The authors speculate that associations between marital distress and disease progression will motivate policy makers in developing countries to allocate more resources towards spousal service.


Sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network have limited power, low memory and little processing capability. One of the primary requirements of the localization algorithm is low power consumption. The paper presents an energy efficient localization algorithm for a wireless sensor network with moving beacons. It is different from other localization algorithms in the way sensors calculate their position. Four beacons move towards the node to be localized and form a square, the sensor node being at the center. The sensor node calculates its position as the centroid of the square after getting co-ordinate information from the four beacons at the corners of the square. Localized and non-localized nodes can be distinguished by assigning a unique code to each sensor in the network. The computational requirement at the node is very low and it has flexible accuracy.


The author has analyzed the incidence of bone fractures in women of various age groups, residents of the Cheryomushki District of Moscow in 1988-1989, using the records of the traumatologic service of the district and the census data. The incidence of bone fractures was the highest in women aged over 45 (up to 2.5%), and was the higher the older the woman grew, 2/3 of all the fractures occurred in women aged 45-64. Analysis of the findings has confirmed that the developing postmenopausal osteoporosis, that was not diagnosed in time and therefore not prevented, contributed to the occurrence of bone fractures in women aged 45 to 65. The author emphasizes the necessity of studying osteoporosis incidence in various age groups and the share of this condition in women with fractures, making use of the monophoton absorptiometry. Language: ru


The present study aimed at finding out the importance of good customer services in
monopolistic business whereby one might assume that so long as it is a
monopolizing water business customers would scramble for their services and profit
would be realized.
The study involved staff and customers of Moshi Urban Water Supply and Sewerage
Authority. The total number of respondents was 50 individuals. Qualitative research
was the predominant approach employed in collecting and analyzing data. Data were
gathered through questionnaires, interview and documentary review guidelines.
The study shows that regardless of a monopolistic business environment whereby
public companies tend to believe that there is no competition and customers avail
themselves, scrambling for their services to the extent of not considering the
importance of a customer as a king rather producer as a king, forgetting the essence
of good customer care, the real fact however is that the business face a big challenge,
loss and stagnation.
The findings reveal that most of the customers are not satisfied with both the
services they get as well as responses to their queries is very poor. As a result most
of Muwsa potential customers withdraw themselves from the services, big amount of
unpaid debts which range around 300 million Tshs, high rate of disconnected
customers due to unpaid bills and increasing incidents of water theft by most of the
disconnected customers as they don not have alternative source of water.The researcher proposes that good customer care should be observed by all
companies in both monopolistic and competitive environment, loss of finance and
customers could be avoided by just providing good and committed customer care.


The problem of an expanding chain (it already has some facilities) in a given area is considered. It may locate a new facility, or vary (up or down) the quality of its existing facilities, or close some of them, or a combination of all those possibilities, whatever it is the best to maximize its profit, given a budget for the expansion. A new competitive location (and design) model is proposed which allows all those possibilities. The resulting model is a difficult to solve MINLP problem. A branch-and-bound method based on interval analysis tools is proposed to cope with it, which can solve medium-size problems in a reasonable amount of CPU time. An ad-hoc heuristic and a hybrid method are also proposed, which usually find a (near)-optimal solution in a fraction of time of the exact method. Some computational studies are presented to show the performance of the algorithms.


ABSTRACT Qualitative education research is an inherently complex landscape, presenting the qualitative researcher with constant ethical and reasoned decision-making. Presented as a narrative dialogic, this paper traces and juxtaposes the method stories of two qualitative researchers who focused their work around education phenomena, but in different contexts and in different ways. One researcher's narrative study of phenomena via interviews is juxtaposed with the other's phenomenographical investigation utilizing Facebook status updates. Seeing researcher thinking side-by-side provides a comparison that teases out the ways in which researchers might consciously grapple with thinking around method. These twin method stories offer ways for other qualitative researchers to think about their own decision-making as they address the challenges of balancing subjectivity and rigour, authenticity of reported data, and protection of participants. This dialogic partnership points to the malleability of method. It also encourages further exploration of the complexities of qualitative education research in which the researcher is often insider–outsider or outsider–insider.


For no clear reason, many retail investors seem to have an unnatural taste for exotic structured products with payoffs that depend on complex and hard-to-value contingencies. Examples include barrier reverse convertibles, turbo certificates, and the object of this article, the bonus certificate. The payoff on a bonus certificate is tied to the level at expiration of an underlying variable, such as a stock index, and the path it has followed over its lifetime. At maturity, the return is the terminal value of the underlying, plus a bonus equal to the greater of a fixed exercise price less the terminal price, which is paid only if the underlying has not penetrated a prespecified barrier level during the contract's lifetime. Valuing such a pathdependent instrument depends heavily on the nature of the return process. Baule and Tallau investigate the pricing and performance of bonus certificates in the German market, under several alternative models, with different assumptions about volatility behavior. The general conclusion, in rough terms, is that the issuers make an excess return while the buyers pay too much.


The author discusses a newly introduced local area network concept that provides a very interesting alternative to the bus and ring networks. He proposes a new type of node that can be integrated into a meshed configuration. This node is composed of several input-output ports that can be internally interconnected in a configuration that is determined by the signal arrivals. This meshed network is referred to under the generic name of Floodnet. The author describes two possible designs for the node: a synchronous and an asynchronous one. He derives an analytical figure that gives an approximation of the achievable throughput and the transmission delay


Municipal workplaces have high levels of sickness absence, and deterioration of the psychosocial work environment has been most pronounced for women and employees in this sector of Swedish working life. This study explores how female leaders in one rural municipality in Sweden experience their psychosocial working conditions and its health consequences. Interviews were carried out with 20 female leaders. Data were analyzed with a content analysis method using major dimensions of work stress models. These were job demands, job control, job resources, social support, and its health consequences. The analysis shows that the leaders experience high and conflicting job demands, limited possibilities to influence their work situation, insufficient job resources and social support, and limited time for their own health promotion. However, the leaders experience possibilities to develop skills in their jobs and opportunities to participate in educational programs. The analyses confirm the need for improvements in the prerequisites for female leaders in public human service organizations. It is important to improve female leaders' psychosocial working conditions by implementing a more narrow control range, increased personal and economical recourses, leadership support, and leader development programs.


Previous geologists showed that Sentolo Formation was interfingering with Jonggrangan Formation and both of them laid unconformably on Old Andesite Formation. The aim of this study is a deeper understanding of the sedimentation dynamics of Sentolo Formation in order to know its stratigraphic relationship to Old Andesite Formation. Petrographic analysis was used to describe the microfacies. Paleontological analysis was used to know the age and sedimentation environment. Stratigraphic measurement of Sentolo Formation in the section of Niten Stream traverse showed that Sentolo Formation was sedimented on the basin environment (SMF3/FZ1; SMF2/FZ1), deep shelf margin (SMF3/FZ3) to foreslope (SMF4/FZ4). The paleontological data indicate that these sedimentary rocks was depositing during Early Miocene until the beginning of Middle Miocene (N6 – N9). Sedimentary rock succession is generally dominated by layered limestone with tuff sandstones that develop well in the lower – middle layer. It indicates that the dynamic of basin sedimentation which formed during that period was influenced by volcanic activity that gradually weakened and caused the basin relatively quiet, producing thick limestone.


In this paper, a new two-level recurrent neural network language model (RNNLM) based on the continuous bag-of-words (CBOW) model for application to sentence classification is presented. The vector representations of words learned by a neural network language model have been shown to carry semantic sentiment and are useful in various natural language processing tasks. A disadvantage of CBOW is that it only considers the fixed length of a context because its basic structure is a neural network with a fixed length of input. In contrast, the RNNLM does not have a size limit for a context but only considers the previous context's words. Therefore, the advantage of RNNLM is complementary to the disadvantage of CBOW. Herein, our proposed model encodes many linguistic patterns and improves upon sentiment analysis and question classification benchmarks compared to previously reported methods.


This introduction links the history of violence to the history of the body and the history of the self. It emphasizes therefore not the phenomenology and situations but the genealogy and relations of violence, the power of violence to create very different relations between very different people. Therefore, the introduction sets out how a histo-ry of violence not only contributes to the history of the state but also shows how violence generated new discourses and practices of the self as well. Within this kind of history of violence, the body is, thus, not seen as a static target or given tool but as a historical product and in its changing productivity within relations of violence. Against this back-ground the aim of this introduction is to promote the analysis of violence beyond war and mass murder – especially between the 1960s and 1980s.


Traditional aquaculture has to a large extent used herbivore species with limited requirements for additional feeding. However, in intensive aquaculture production one farm carnivore species like salmon and also feeds herbivore species with fishmeal as this increase growth. This has lead to a growing concern that increased aquaculture production poses an environmental threat to the species targeted in reduction fisheries as increased demand increase fishing pressure. In this paper we address this question along two lines. First, under which management regimes may increased demand pose a threat to the species in question. Second, we investigate what is the market for fishmeal. Is fishmeal a unique product or is it a part of the larger market for oilmeals which includes soyameal? This is an important issue since the market structure for fishmeal is instrumental for whether increased aquaculture production may affect fishmeal prices, and thereby increase fishing pressure in industrial fisheries.


Abstract With the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) taking over command from the US-led Coalition Forces in southern Afghanistan and the United States focusing on the eastern part of Afghanistan, particularly along the border with Pakistan, crucial questions have arisen regarding securing Afghanistan and its transition to democracy. How will NATO perform its new responsibilities and what will be its counter-terrorism strategies? Will it be substantially different from the US counter-terrorism approach and how will the differences on the issue of 'use of force' among the NATO members be reconciled? These are some of the questions that this article addresses in the broader context of NATO's transformation from its earlier 'support role' to now that of a 'lead role'.


Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has been appreciated extensively because it is abundant in source, cheap in price, safe in transportation and storage. Though catalyst poisoning easily occurs by CO generated from the reaction of methanol oxidation, simultaneously, the efficiency of fuel cell decreases and environmental pollution is caused due to the methanol permeation through proton exchange membrane, application of DMFC is restricted. Phosphomolybdic acid (POM) is attempted to be used as energy storage material in this paper. The energy is stored in reduced POM through methanol oxidation by POM over different catalysts. Electrochemical oxidation of reduced POM produces electricity on the anode of PEMFC. Experimental results showed that under the non-photocatalytic condition methanol could be oxidized by POM over Pt/SiO2 and Ru/SiO2 catalyst. Only CO2 and H2O are yielded in the reaction. The activities for two kinds of catalyst increased with the increasing of reaction temperature and methanol concentration. Apparent activation energy for Pt/SiO2 catalyst was less than that for Ru/SiO2 catalyst. Activity of Pt/SiO2 catalyst is obviously higher than that of Ru/SiO2 catalyst. POM as energy storage material is feasible.


When learning 3D shapes we are usually interested in their intrinsic geometry rather than in their orientation. To deal with the orientation variations the usual trick consists in augmenting the data to exhibit all possible variability, and thus let the model learn both the geometry as well as the rotations. In this paper we introduce a new autoencoder model for encoding and synthesis of 3D shapes. To get rid of undesirable input variability our model learns a manifold in a quotient space of the input space. Typically, we propose to quotient the space of 3D models by the action of rotations. Thus, our quotient autoencoder allows to directly learn in the space of interest, ignoring side information. This is reflected in better performances on reconstruction and interpolation tasks, as our experiments show that our model outperforms a vanilla autoencoder on the well-known Shapenet dataset. Moreover, our model learns a rotation-invariant representation, leading to interesting results in shapes co-alignment. Finally, we extend our quotient autoencoder to quotient by non-rigid transformations.


Between 2002 and 2011 in Peru and Brazil, there have been made studies of correlation and heritability in search of tools for genetic improvement of camu-camu. This work is intended to systematize successful information aiming at the consolidation of criteria for the selection of higher plants. The author evaluated basic collections, progenies and clones existing in experimental centers belonging to INIA (Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria), IIAP (Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana) and INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia). The length of petiole (LP) has an intermediate heritability (in the broad sense) of h2g = 0.42 and correlation coefficients of r2 = 0.37 for fruit yield and r2 = 0.54 for fruit weight. Basal branch number (NRB) also shows levels of heritability average (in the strict sense): h2a = 0.45 and h2g = 0.33 in the broad sense. NRB in turn significantly correlated with fruit yield (FY): r2 = 0.43; fruit weight (FW): r2 = 0.38 and ascorbic acid (AA): r2 = -0.30. The values of pH and soluble solids (degrees Brix) of the pulp showed a high correlation with AA (r2 = 0.85 and r2 = 0.94, respectively). It is emphasized that the parameters, number of basal branches, petiole length and fruit weight that present a relatively high correlation with fruit yield also have an intermediate level of heritability, which qualifies them as important tools for the selection of superior plants of camu-camu.

 Key words: Camu-camu, correlation, heritability, breeding.


Some biochemical properties of purified and non-purified rumen tissue arginase were compared. Homogenization, heating, treatment with aceton, precipitation with ammonium sulfate, dialysis, several centrifugations, gel filtration on sephadex G-200 processes were utilized in the purification procedure of the enzyme. It was found that pre-incubation temperature (60 °C) of arginase and Km (4mM) to its substrate, L-arginine, did not change before and after purification. While pre-incubation period was 10 min and optimal pH 9.7 before purification, pre-incubation period was found to be 5 min and optimal pH 10 after purification. Purified enzyme achieved its highest activity at 2 mM MnCl2 concentration, whereas non-purified enzyme gave the highest activity at 1 mM MnCl2 concentration. Consequently, it was determined that Mn++ cations and preincubation were essential for the activation of the enzyme.


The genome of the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici consists of thirteen essential chromosomes and several so-called dispensable chromosomes. These dispensable chromosomes encode only 6% of the protein coding genes of Z. tritici. To date no genes involved in pathogenicity are described on the dispensable chromosomes which can be lost after meiosis or mitotic cell division without any apparent effect on fitness. To investigate the underlying molecular basis of instability of the dispensable chromosomes, the epigenetic components of both the essential and dispensable chromosomes were characterized here. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing of DNA associated with the centromere specific histone (CenH3) was conducted to identify the centromeres of Z. tritici. It was shown that the centromeres of Z. tritici are small, sequence independent and lack any conserved motif. The centromeres are AT-rich, but not located in the most abundant AT-rich region of the chromosomes, and the centromeric organization is similar for both essential and dispensable chromosomes. To study centromere dynamic, parental and progeny strains derived from a meiotic cross were included in the study. The centromeres of these strains were shown to be conserved among Z. tritici strains. The deletion of the centromere of the dispensable chromosome 14 resulted in several strains were chromosome 14 was completely lost, while only a single strain was identified with a neocentromere on chromosome 14. The chromatin content of both types of chromosomes was also investigated. Three histone modifications specific for either euchromatin or heterochromatin were characterized. The essential chromosomes are enriched with euchromatin while the dispensable chromosomes are mainly heterochromatic. Several repeat rich regions with low gene density were also enriched with heterochromatin on the essential chromosomes. One particularly large region of 780 kb of the essential chromosome 7 was in addition found to be enriched with facultative heterochromatin. Genes in this region are silenced both during axenic and infectious growth. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the difference between the essential and dispensable chromosomes cannot be associated with the centromeres. However, differences in the chromatin states is a main difference between the two types of chromosomes. To investigate the hemibiotrophic lifestyle switch in Z. tritici the epigenetic component of infectious growth was studied with a focus on RNA interference (RNAi). Five mutant strains of several proteins involved in the RNAi pathway were created. It could be demonstrated that Dicer and Argonaute genes play a role during the formation of asexual fruiting bodies called pycnidia. In contrast to the Dicer gene, the Argonaute genes show an unusual degree of sequence variation among Z. tritici strains. Collectively, the work presented here underlines the importance of epigenetics in both genome stability as well as pathogenicity in the fungal pathogen Z. tritici.%%%%Das…


Invisible war wounds have garnered more attention since the Vietnam War. One recent development in this area of study is the concept of moral injury, which was introduced in 2009. Moral injury is as a shame-based reaction in response to a moral transgression, which was perpetrated or witnessed by an individual who had personal agency (or at least the perception of agency) in the outcome of the event. The development of moral injury is influenced by the independent variables: false impetus/perception of cause, the nature of counterinsurgency warfare, and military training protocol. These independent variables influence and are influenced by two mediated variables: moral disengagement and disparity. There is also a brief discussion on moral injury's relationship to the recent increasing rate of soldier suicide, a trend which some have deemed an epidemic. My study is situated within the context of the Iraq War, though it also pulls some information from the Vietnam War. In order to examine moral injury, I review the working definition and use academic literature, news articles, and veteran accounts to engage in a critical analysis. Through this critical analysis I was able to highlight moral injury's theoretical strong points, as well as suggest areas for possible improvement.


This thesis explores how the study of realistic mixes can expand current knowledge about multitrack music mixing. An essential component of music production, mixing remains an esoteric matter with few established best practices. Research on the topic is challenged by a lack of suitable datasets, and consists primarily of controlled studies focusing on a single type of signal processing. However, considering one of these processes in isolation neglects the multidimensional nature of mixing. For this reason, this work presents an analysis and evaluation of real-life mixes, demonstrating that it is a viable and even necessary approach to learn more about how mixes are created and perceived. Addressing the need for appropriate data, a database of 600 multitrack audio recordings is introduced, and mixes are produced by skilled engineers for a selection of songs. This corpus is subjectively evaluated by 33 expert listeners, using a new framework tailored to the requirements of comparison of musical signal processing. By studying the relationship between these assessments and objective audio features, previous results are confirmed or revised, new rules are unearthed, and descriptive terms can be defined. In particular, it is shown that examples of inadequate processing, combined with subjective evaluation, are essential in revealing the impact of mix processes on perception. As a case study, the percept 'reverberation amount' is expressed as a function of two objective measures, and a range of acceptable values can be delineated. To establish the generality of these findings, the experiments are repeated with an expanded set of 180 mixes, assessed by 150 subjects with varying levels of experience from seven different locations in five countries. This largely confirms initial findings, showing few distinguishable trends between groups. Increasing experience of the listener results in a larger proportion of critical and specific statements, and agreement with other experts.


A class D audio amplifier usually have a high efficiency for medium to high output power.
However, in idle mode and for small power outputs, the efficiency drops. During idle
mode, the output switches runs with a 50 % duty cycle in order to create zero volt
over the load. The main task of this thesis was to investigate if the idle losses could
be decreased by lowering the voltage feeding the amplifier. This without lowering the
efficiency on normal operation.
Three designs solutions to lower the voltage have been created and investigated. Two
solutions switches between two separate rails, each at a different voltage level. The third
uses a dual-polarity buck converter to feed the amplifier with just above the necessary
voltage at all times. The designs were simulated in PSpice and the result analysed using
both PSpice and MATLAB. It was concluded that all three solutions work as intended
and lowers the idle power consumption without adding any extra loss of efficiency at
normal operation.
An attempt was made at implementing the buck converters on a printed circuit
board. The results from the measurements performed on the prototype showed that the
PWM signal generation and surrounding control circuits worked. The power path was
also intact, however only DC output could be achieved for frequencies above 500 Hz.


Pebrine is a destructive disease that exhibits horizontal and vertical transmission and therefore it is the only mandatory quarantine item in sericulture. Here, a field-friendly loop-mediated isothermal amplification (FF-LAMP) method has been developed and validated for the rapid detection of Nosema bombycis, a causative agent of pebrine disease in silkworm, Bombyx mori. FF-LAMP primers were selected and designed for small ribosomal subunit gene and the assay was performed to detect the N. bombycis infection in silkworm. The FF-LAMP reaction was effective at 6 mM MgSO4, 1.4 mM dNTPs at 63 °C. The detection range of LAMP assay was found to be 101 dilutions of N. bombycis spores. Specificity of the primers was tested using DNA isolated from pebrine infected silkworm, pebrine free silkworm and pure N. bombycis by conventional PCR and FF-LAMP assay. Results revealed that the primers were specific to N. bombycis DNA. The FF-LAMP assay was validated in different basic silkworm seed farms with simultaneous microscopic examination of N. bombycis infection. This newly developed method is highly effective, specific, sensitive and rapid in detecting N. bombycis infection, eliminating the DNA purification steps and usage of sophisticated equipment. This method can be used in testing large number of samples making it field friendly method in sericulture industry.


This paper examines theories of signal processing as applied to peak magnitude estimation in absorption and emission spectroscopy. Signals obtained from Fourier transform, fixed wavelength, and scanning dispersive instruments are modeled in terms of the time required to obtain a spectrum. The differences between these techniques and the signal processing procedures that should be used for each technique are characterized for a Lorentzian spectral feature. Including the time required to scan over a range of optical frequencies results in optimal signal processing procedures that are different from those previously supposed. In particular, it is found that the optimal matched filter is less efficient than repetitive measurements at a single frequency. The theory developed for the Lorentzian line model is extended to include an arbitrary shaped peak.


We have witnessed a large increase in the number of publications on sustainability challenges over the past decade. One important characteristic of the research is with the wide variety of actors that can make use of the results. Sustainability knowledge is often not only relevant for those in academia or policy-making circles, but it can also be useful for decision-makers in a diversity of societal facets and sectors. It is therefore essential that the sustainability research community have access to a diversity of knowledge dissemination outlets, including those that extend beyond the traditional, and often inaccessible, academic publishing realms. One positive development over the past decade in sustainability research reaching broader audiences has been the proliferation of open access publication outlets. The alternative has provided greater access to scientific articles to almost anyone with an Internet connection. But, is this medium of knowledge dissemination sufficient? Are there additional channels that sustainability researchers can use to broadcast knowledge to even broader user groups?


Continuous queries over data streams often delay answers until some relevant input arrives through the data stream. These delays may turn answers, when they arrive, obsolete to users who sometimes have to make decisions with no help whatsoever. Therefore, it can be useful to provide hypothetical answers – "given the current information, it is possible that X will become true at time t" – instead of no information at all. In this paper we present a semantics for queries and corresponding answers that covers such hypothetical answers, together with an online algorithm for updating the set of facts that are consistent with the currently available information.


CASSCF and CASPT2 studies on the reaction mechanism of the photochromic ring-opening process of a spiropyran (SP) (1',3',3'-trimethylspiro-[2H-1-benzopyran-2,2'-indoline], also known as BIPS) have been performed and possible excited-state C-O (and C-N) bond cleavage pathways and S1-to-S0 nonadiabatic transition channels have been explored. (1) The C-O bond dissociation in SP does not follow a conical-intersection mechanism that has been proposed in a model study with a simplified benzopyran. The CASSCF-optimized crossing points are actually avoided crossings with a large S1-S0 energy gap at the CASPT2 level; thus, they could not act as efficient S1-to-S0 funnels. (2) C-O bond cleavage paths on S1 leading to both the CCC (cis-cis-cis with respect to the configuration around α, β, γ) and TCC (trans-cis-cis) intermediates of merocyanine (MC) are barrierless, in line with the experimentally observed ultrafast formation of MC. (3) An unexpected low-energy hydrogen-out-of-plane (HOOP) valley on the (π→σ*) surface was located not far from the C-O bond cleavage path and was suggested to be an efficient S1-to-S0 nonadiabatic decay channel. Triggered by the active HOOP mode, the molecule can easily access the S1-HOOP valley and then make a transition to the S0 surface through the narrow S1-S0 gap that exists in an extended region. Nonadiabatic decay through a conical intersection on C-N dissociation path as well as the HOOP funnel is responsible for high internal conversion yields of SP. These findings shedding light on the complex mechanism of SP-MC interconversion provide fundamental information for design spiropyran-based photochromic devices.


Noyes, FR, Barber-Westin, SD, Smith, ST, and Campbell, T. A training program to improve neuromuscular indices in female high school volleyball players. J Strength Cond Res 25(8): 2151-2160, 2011—The purpose of this study was to determine if a sports-specific training program could improve neuromuscular indices in female high school volleyball players. We combined components from a previously published knee ligament injury prevention intervention program for jump and strength training with additional exercises and drills to improve speed, agility, overall strength, and aerobic conditioning. We hypothesized that this sports-specific training program would lead to significant improvements in neuromuscular indices in high school female volleyball players. Thirty-four athletes (age 14.5 years ± 1.0) participated in the supervised 6-week program, 3 d·wk−1 for approximately 90-120 minutes per session. The program was conducted on the school's volleyball court and weight room facilities. The athletes underwent a video drop-jump test, multistage fitness test, vertical jump test, and sit-up test before and after training. A significant increase was found in the mean &OV0312;O2max score (p < 0.001), where 73% of the athletes improved this score. A significant improvement was found in the sit-up test (p = 0.03) and in the vertical jump test (p = 0.05), where 68% of the athletes increased their scores. In the drop-jump video test, significant increases were found in both the mean absolute knee separation distance (p = 0.002) and in the mean normalized knee separation distance (p = 0.04), indicating improved lower limb alignment on landing. No athlete sustained an injury or developed an overuse syndrome during training. This program significantly improved lower limb alignment on a drop-jump test, abdominal strength, estimated maximal aerobic power, and vertical jump height and may be implemented in high school female volleyball programs.


We propose a design of a 16-bit RISC CPU core using an adiabatic logic which is called a two phase drive adiabatic dynamic CMOS logic (2PADCL), in this paper. The proposed adiabatic RISC CPU is non-pipelined with a latency of three cycles, and also consists of six blocks; an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), a program counter, a register file, an instruction decoder unit, a multiplexer and a clock control unit. Through the SPICE simulation, the 2PADCL CPU was evaluated for 0.35μm standard CMOS library and was compared with the CMOS CPU. The simulation results show that the power consumption of the adiabatic CPU is about 1/4 compared to that of the CMOS CPU.


A controlled low strength material (CLSM) is a highly flowable cementitious material used for trench backfilling. However, when applying vertical loads to backfilled trenches, shear failure or differential settlement may occur at the interface between the CLSM and natural soil. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the characteristics of the interface friction between the CLSM and soils based on curing time, gradation, and normal stress. The CLSM is composed of fly ash, calcium sulfoaluminate cement, sand, silt, water, and an accelerator. To investigate the engineering properties of the CLSM, flow and unconfined compressive strength tests are carried out. Poorly graded and well-graded sands are selected as the in-situ soil adjacent to the CLSM. The direct shear tests of the CLSM and soils are carried out under three normal stresses for four different curing times. The test results show that the shear strengths obtained within 1 day are higher than those obtained after 1 day. As the curing time increases, the maximum dilation of the poorly graded sand–CLSM specimens under lower normal stresses also generally increases. The maximum contraction increases with increasing normal stress, but it decreases with increasing curing time. The shear strengths of the well-graded sand–CLSM interface are greater than those of the poorly graded sand–CLSM interface. Moreover, the friction angle for the CLSM–soil interface decreases with increasing curing time, and the friction angles of the well-graded sand–CLSM interface are greater than those of the poorly graded sand–CLSM interface. The results suggest that the CLSM may be effectively used for trench backfilling owing to a better understanding of the interface shear strength and behavior between the CLSM and soils.


Serum or plasma progranulin (GRN) is a highly accurate of GRN-related frontotemporal lobar degeneration, which is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the GRN gene. Both null mutations and missense mutations in GRN have also been observed in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Here, the evidence for a role of circulating GRN as a biochemical biomarker in neurodegeneration is reviewed, with a specific focus on its relevance in Alzheimer's disease. We conclude that circulating GRN is a promising, nonintrusive biomarker that warrants screening in both patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type and people with mild cognitive impairment; specifically for, but not limited to, those that have a positive family history of neurodegenerative disease. Once a cure for GRN-related neurodegeneration becomes available, this biomarker will be an important tool in the effort to personalize treatment of dementia.


Efforts to enact structural engineering licensure in more states continue among supporters around the country. Spurred by concerns about the increasingly complex nature of structural engineering and the possible hazards associated with inadequate structural designs, the movement also continues to generate opposition from those who maintain it will diminish the integrity of the professional engineer license. However, supporters assert that the two approaches to licensure are in fact compatible.


Lichens are recently receiving great attention because they have potential anticancer activity. Therefore, in this study, genotoxic and antigrowth properties of lichen species Usnea filipendula Stirt. were tested against human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). Antigrowth effect was assayed by the MTT and ATP viability assays. Cell death modes (apoptosis/necrosis) were evaluated morphologically (fluorescence staining) and biochemically (caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18, caspase-3 activity, and poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage). Genotoxic activity of U. filipendula was determined by using micronucleus, chromosomal aberration, and comet assays in human lymphocyte culture. U. filipendula inhibited growth in a dose-dependent manner and induced apoptosis by cleavage of PARP and induction of active caspase-3. It also showed genotoxic activity in doses (125 and 250 µg/mL) higher than that required for apoptosis. These results suggest that U. filipendula may induce apoptotic cell death at lower doses, while it may be genotoxic at higher doses.


The development of a Vacuum-UV (VUV) multichannel recording spectrometer for laser plasma spectroscopy is described. The instrument covers the spectral region 30 - 325nm and complements an existing Extreme-UV (EUV) system covering the 5 - 50nm range. It is based on an Acton Research Corporation (ARC) VM-521 lm normal incidence vacuum spectrometer fitted with a 1024 element VUV linear array detector.

The array detector comprises of a Galileo VUV-25R Channel Electron Multiplier Array (CEMA), butt-coupled to an EG&G Optical Multi-channel Analyser (OMA) system.

The complete set-up was tested using spectra from laser produced plasmas of polyethylene Selected spectral lines were chosen to illustrate the system performance with respect to resolution, signal to noise ratio etc and compared with both computed and manufacturer stated performance. Potential resolution enhancement using deconvolution procedures is illustrated by preliminary results.

This thesis concludes with a brief description of future work on system optimisation and future applications.


A plant class III alcohol dehydrogenase (or glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase) has been characterized. The enzyme is a typical class III member with enzymatic parameters and substrate specificity closely related to those of already established animal forms. Km values with the pea enzyme are 6.5 microM for NAD+, 2 microM for S-hydroxymethylglutathione, and 840 microM for octanol versus 9, 4, and 1200 microM, respectively, with the human enzyme. Structurally, the pea/human class III enzymes are closely related, exhibiting a residue identity of 69% and with only 3 of 23 residues differing among those often considered in substrate and coenzyme binding. In contrast, the corresponding ethanol-active enzymes, the long-known human liver and pea alcohol dehydrogenases, differ more (47% residue identities) and are also in functionally important active site segments, with 12 of the 23 positions exchanged, including no less than 7 at the usually much conserved coenzyme-binding segment. These differences affect functionally important residues that are often class-distinguishing, such as those at positions 48, 51, and 115, where the plant ethanol-active forms resemble class III (Thr, Tyr, and Arg, respectively) rather than the animal ethanol-active class I forms (typically Ser, His, and Asp, respectively). Calculations of phylogenetic trees support the conclusions from functional residues in subgrouping plant ethanol-active dehydrogenases and the animal ethanol-active enzymes (class I) as separate descendants from the class III line. It appears that the classical plant alcohol dehydrogenases (now called class P) have a duplicatory origin separate from that of the animal class I enzymes and therefore a paralogous relationship with functional convergence of their alcohol substrate specificity. Combined, the results establish the conserved nature of class III also in plants, and contribute to the molecular and functional understanding of alcohol dehydrogenases by defining two branches of plant enzymes into the system.


With the ever-increasing educational demands in the United States, large discrepancies across socioeconomic classes in regards to early childhood development and academic achievement have become evident (Ramey & Ramey, 2004). The purpose of this project is to provide an overview of early childhood intervention programs that have been developed in an attempt to address these discrepancies. This literature review discusses the framework and outcomes measures of three programs that were implemented on a national or state-wide level: Head Start, the ABC Project, and Project CARE. Given that there have been dozens of initiatives rolled out to address early development deficiencies in the poor, this review serves solely as a brief outline of early intervention programs as a whole. To complete this literature review, an annotated bibliography consisting of 10-15 pieces of literature concerning early childhood interventions was created. From this bibliography, the various subtopics/themes found in the literature were organized to create an outline for the direction of the paper. Upon outline completion, the articles were studied further and summarized to produce a review of the early childhood intervention literature selected. The studies' outcome measures provide evidence that participation in early intervention programs positively impacts children's development and their parents' ability to support their development so that they are more likely to enter kindergarten with the skills necessary to succeed on an academic and socio-emotional level (Puma et al, 2010; Ramey et al., 1985; Ramey & Ramey, 2004). These findings have implications that the constructive influence of early intervention programs reach beyond formal education to the general wellbeing of the families involved.


I consider cooperation situations where players have network relations. Networks evolve according to a stationary transition probability matrix and at each moment in time players receive payos from a stationary allocation rule. Players discount the future by a common factor. The pair formed by an allocation rule and a transition probability matrix is called expected fair if for every link in the network both participants gain, marginally, and in discounted, expected terms, the same from it; and it is called a pairwise network formation procedure if the probability that a link is created (or eliminated) is positive if the discounted, expected gains to its two participants are positive too. The main result is the existence, for the discount factor small enough, of an expected fair and pairwise network formation procedure where the allocation rule is component balanced, meaning it distributes the total value of any maximal connected subnetwork among its participants. This existence result holds for all discount factors when the pairwise network formation procedure is restricted. I nally provide some comparison with previous models of farsighted network formation.


Prosecutions for sexual assault most often focus on whether the Crown has proven that the complainant did not consent to the sexual activity in issue, based on her subjective state of mind at the time of the offence. However, Canadian criminal law also provides that no consent is obtained where the complainant is incapable of consenting. In cases where the complainant has a mental disability affecting cognition or decisionmaking, prosecutors in Canada have been reluctant to argue that the complainant was incapable of consenting. In this article, the authors agree that claims of incapacity should be used sparingly, but contend that the doctrine of incapacity may be applicable and useful in some cases where the accused has exploited the complainant's disability. They argue that capacity to consent to sexual activity should be defined situationally, rather than as an all-or-nothing measure. Since consent is given to a specific person in a specific circumstance, incapacity should be also assessed by reference to the particular context of the case. This approach to incapacity has been adopted in English and American cases, which provide examples of how it might be applied and understood in Canada. A situational definition of incapacity offers some legal recognition of the particular challenges faced by women with mental disabilities with respect to sexual abuse, without disqualifying them from any lawful sexual activity in other contexts.


Abstract
The serum of soldiers returned from Vietnam with vivax malaria was examined for up to 1 year after clinical onset by the indirect fluorescence test for malaria antibodies (IFA). Over the entire period, the antibody response was similar in patients with and without a history of previous malaria attacks, and, among the former, was not altered by the number of previous attacks nor by the time interval since their occurrence. Among the small number of patients who later had relapse, the post-treatment, pre-relapse titers of antibodies were not significantly different from those of radically cured patients. In vivax malaria, the IFA titer against Plasmodium vivax antigen usually exceeds that against Plasmodium falciparum; however, the reverse was true early in the clinical course of one patient with a history of two previous attacks of falciparum malaria.


In a method for efficient retransmission of data, symbol accumulation is used to retransmit a packet received in error at a lower energy-per-bit level concurrently in the same frame with a new packet. The destination device receives the data transmission and retransmission, demodulates the signal, and separates the received data into the new and retransmitted packet. The destination device then accumulates the energy of the retransmitted packet with the energy already accumulated for the packet received in error and decodes the accumulated packet. The accumulation of the additional energy provided by the subsequent retransmissions improves the probability of a correct decoding. The throughput rate can be improved since the packet received in error is retransmitted concurrently with the transmission of the new data packet. The capacity is maximized since the retransmission of the packet received in error is at a lower energy level than that of the new packet. The method includes puncturing the code symbols of a data packet for transmission in accordance with a first puncturing pattern. If decoding of the punctured transmitted packet of data is unsuccessful, a negative acknowledgement is received at the source device and the code symbols of the data packet are then punctured in accordance with a second pattern for transmission in response to the receipt of the negative acknowledgement.


The two parts of this text are based on two series of lectures delivered by Jean Berstel and Christophe Reutenauer in March 2007 at the Centre de Recherches Mathematiques, Montreal, Canada. Part I represents the first modern and comprehensive exposition of the theory of Christoffel words. Part II presents numerous combinatorial and algorithmic aspects of repetition-free words stemming from the work of Axel Thue - a pioneer in the theory of combinatorics on words. A beginner to the theory of combinatorics on words will be motivated by the numerous examples, and the large variety of exercises, which make the book unique at this level of exposition. The clean and streamlined exposition and the extensive bibliography will also be appreciated. After reading this book, beginners should be ready to read modern research papers in this rapidly growing field and contribute their own research to its development. Experienced readers will be interested in the finitary approach to Sturmian words that Christoffel words offer, as well as the novel geometric and algebraic approach chosen for their exposition. They will also appreciate the historical presentation of the Thue - Morse word and its applications, and the novel results on Abelian repetition-free words.


A report is given on the extension of the theory of frequency-modulation spectroscopy (FMS) to include multimode laser sources. First, the theory is developed analytically, including the effects of the laser mode intermodulation on the FMS signal. The theory is then investigated in the limit of weak absorption. Finally, the analytical results are evaluated in a number of cases through the use of a computer model that is able to simulate the FMS spectrum expected for arbitrary molecular and atomic absorption lines. The model demonstrates that absorption features that are narrow compared with the overall laser linewidth may still be discernible through the application of multimode laser FMS.


Authenticated teleportation aims to certify the transmission of a quantum state through teleportation, even in the presence of an adversary. This scenario can be pictured in terms of an untrusted source distributing a Bell state between two parties who wish to verify it using some simple tests. We propose a protocol that achieves this goal in a practical way, and analyse its performance and security when the parties have noisy measurement devices. Further, we model a realistic experimental scenario where the state is subject to noise and dephasing. We finally apply our analysis to the verification of graph states with noisy measurement devices.


The Mount Fronsac North volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit is the most recently discovered massive sulfide body in the Bathurst Mining Camp. The deposit occurs within a sequence of intercalated fine-grained felsic tuff and sedimentary rocks (Little Falls member), at the top of the Nepisiguit Falls Formation. Aphyric to sparsely feldspar-phyric rhyolite and related volcanic rocks of the Flat Landing Brook Formation overlie the host sequence. The massive and semimassive parts of the deposit have a north–south strike length of 525 m and a dip of ~45°E; the deposit is continuous downdip for 600 m, and thickness varies from 2 to 20 m. The deposit contains an estimated geologic resource of 14 Mt of low-grade, semimassive (>60%) to locally massive sulfides, and includes a high-grade zone of 1.26 Mt grading 7.65% Zn, 2.18% Pb, 0.14% Cu, 40.3 g/t Ag, and 0.40 g/t Au. The semimassive to massive sulfide intersections occur in an envelope of quartz-sericite±chlorite schist, which is interpreted to be intensely deformed felsic tuff. This sequence has a maximum thickness of 140 m and contains significant (up to 50%) fine- to coarse-grained disseminated pyrite. The pyritic envelope has a strike length of 900 m and extends over 1000 m downdip. Massive sulfides are found throughout this alteration envelope, but more commonly occur at or near the upper contact. The significance of the discovery of this deposit is that it represents a near surface discovery of a large tonnage sulfide body in a mature mining camp, one in which the possibility of discovery of a new shallow deposit had been all but discounted. This opens the possibility for future discoveries in this part of the Bathurst Mining Camp.