The whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus (L.)) exists as only one native population in Wales, U.K., where it occurs in Llyn Tegid and is known as the gwyniad. This population is of national conservation importance but faces a number of environmental threats. Although eutrophication has not directly impacted on gwyniad habitat availability, associated low oxygen levels in the hypolimnion periodically approach its tolerance limit of 2 mg L-1. Anthropogenic water level fluctuations and a 1980 introduction of ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus (L.)), a predator of gwyniad eggs, also pose potential threats. Despite these concerns, gill-netting surveys in the 1960s, 1991, 2003 and 2008 have shown no marked changes in gwyniad population biology in terms of length, weight and condition factor. Furthermore, hydroacoustic surveys from 2003 to 2009 have shown an increasing trend in total fish abundance. On the basis of gill-netting data, this increase is shared by gwyniad which in July 2009 reached a population density of 2,302.2 fish ha-1 (lower and upper 95% confidence limits of 1,795.8 and 2,951.4 fish ha-1, respectively). Nevertheless, a precautionary approach has been adopted to the conservation of this unique population and from 2005 to 2007 a translocation programme transferred 81,300 eggs from 366 male and 50 female gwyniad to the nearby water body of Llyn Arenig Fawr. Monitored hatching rates were generally high and in 2009 a hydroacoustic and gill-netting survey revealed that although the fish community of this site was sparse (1.7 fish ha-1, with lower and upper 95% confidence limits of 0.8 and 3.8 fish ha-1), it now included adult gwyniad. Although it does not yet confirm successful translocation, this observation does demonstrate that the gwyniad is able to reach sexual maturity in the recipient site.


The masking-level difference (MLD) was investigated in a group of children having no known history of ear disease, and a group of children having a history of otitis media with effusion and hearing loss. The MLD is a psychoacoustic measure of the sensitivity of the auditory system to subtle interaural difference cues of time and amplitude and relates to the ability of the listener to detect and to recognize signals in noisy backgrounds. In the otitis media with effusion group, MLDs were measured both before and 1 and 3 months after the placement of pressure equalization tubes. The MLDs were often abnormally small in the otitis media with effusion group before surgery, when hearing loss was present. Significantly, MLDs sometimes remained abnormally small after surgery (after normal hearing had returned). The postsurgery MLD was particularly likely to be abnormally reduced in subjects who had experienced asymmetric losses of hearing.


The recurrence rate and the time interval until the first recurrence were analysed in 169 consecutive conservatively treated patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder, in relation to initial tumour grade, number, size and stage, sex and smoking habits, at least five years after the diagnosis of the disease. The recurrence rate was higher among patients with more than three tumours and among patients with an invasive disease, while tumour size, histological grade and sex had no effect on the recurrence rate. The time until the first recurrence was found to be shorter among patients with an invasive disease and those with more than three tumours, and also among females. Smoking did not have any impact on the disease-free interval or on recurrence. We suggest that patients with multiple tumours are at great risk of recurrent disease. If invasion into muscle is found, the risk of recurrences will be high, and transurethral electroresection might not be an adequate form of therapy.


Recent studies support the validity of both structured risk assessment tools and victim perceptions as predictors of risk for repeat intimate partner violence (IPV). Combining structured risk assessments and victim risk assessments leads to better predictions of repeat violence than either alone, suggesting that the two forms of assessment provide unique and complementary information. However, very little is known about elements involved in women's risk assessments. The present study explores predictors of women's risk assessment and differences in factors linked to victim and actuarial risk assessments in a large sample of women (N = 728) shortly after the arrest of their male partner for IPV. In multivariate analyses, women's risk assessments were strongly related to past relationship violence and their partner's substance abuse but weakly related to demographic factors, family constellation, and the partner's criminal history. Women who perceived high risk but had a low risk score on an actuarial measure were more likely to report the presence of dynamic risk factors, such as escalating violence and violence during separations, along with a history of emotional and psychological abuse. Qualitative findings paralleled quantitative findings, with women's stated reasons for expecting high or low risk indicating that women were attending to IPV history and dynamic factors. Implications for risk assessment and safety planning are discussed.


The authors propose that people have difficulty managing conflict because they quickly develop ownership of arguments and positions they use in the dispute, that these arguments and positions become part of their (extended) self-concept, and that any opposition or counterargumentation therefore becomes an ego-threat. Four studies reveal that individuals value arguments and beliefs more when these are associated with the self and that anticipated or real opposition triggers ego-defensive cognition and behavior, including competitive communication, retaliatory responses, negative perceptions of the partner, and attitude polarization. These effects were weaker when epistemic needs were raised through process accountability or when individuals had high rather than low self-concept clarity. The authors conclude that because people develop ownership of arguments and make these part of their self-concept, conflict is difficult to manage and bound to escalate.


This paper describes the design of the hardware and the basic functions of the operating system for a tree organized multicomputer now being constructed in the Computer Science deptartment at Stony Brook. The processors have separate local memories and are interconnected by communication links specialized for the transfers of short control type messages and large blocks of data. Also discussed is the influence of previous simulation studies and the operating system considerations on the design of the hardware and interprocessor communication protocols.


This paper examines the effects of specialisation (within-sector clustering) and diversity (between-sector clustering) on business services profitability and location choice. We apply a semiparametric Poisson sorting model allowing for firm-specific effects. We find that for most firms, profitability of business services firms is substantially higher close to specialised clusters of business services firms. A standard deviation increase in business services specialisation leads to on average a 40 percent increase in the probability that a business services firm locates there, supporting theories of Marshall, Arrow and Romer. It is also profitable for most business services firms to locate near a group of firms that belong to the same sector, not necessarily business services firms, so diversity is negatively related to location decisions. Almost all firms either benefit from within-sector clustering or between-sector clustering. Within-sector clusters are particularly profitable for large mature firms, whereas between-sector clusters are relatively more profitable for smaller innovative firms.


Author(s): Meyerowitz, Justin Gabriel | Advisor(s): Weiss, William A; Shokat, Kevan M | Abstract: MYC proteins are critical drivers of a wide range of cancers, and as transcription factors are generally considered undruggable. MYCN is the neuroblastoma-derived isoform of MYC and is a driving oncogene in neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma, two deadly solid tumors of childhood. Here we describe, in three chapters, (1) MYC proteins and their role in neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma, and (2, 3) two strategies for MYC-directed therapeutics using ATP-competitive small-molecule inhibitors of kinases. This first strategy entails targeting MYCN for proteolysis through inhibition of Aurora Kinase A (Aurora A). MYCN is ubiquitinated and degraded by the proteasome, and Aurora A physically interacts with ubiquitinated MYCN to prevent its degradation. However, this MYCN-stabilizing function is completely independent of its kinase activity, as conventional Aurora A inhibitors have no effect on MYCN degradation. In chapter 2 we describe a new class of conformation-disrupting (CD) inhibitors of Aurora A that bind the ATP binding pocket and sufficiently alter the conformation of Aurora A as to prevent this physical interaction with ubiquitinated MYCN. This new class of compounds effects potent and rapid loss of MYCN protein in MYCN-expressing neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma, both in cell lines as well as in vivo, and reduces tumor burden and extends survival in an animal model. Furthermore, cell line profiling demonstrates that this new strategy for targeting MYCN is both a MYC- and MYCN-directed therapy, as MYC-like expression signature and MYC family overexpression predicts sensitivity to Aurora A conformation-disrupting inhibitors. These CD compounds represent a new strategy for targeting MYCN by way of inducing its degradation. The second strategy for targeting MYCN, described in Chapter 3, is through the reliance of MYCN on mTOR signaling through 4EBP, the latter a main regulator of cap-dependent translation. 4EBP and c-MYC have been shown to cooperate in oncogenesis, through c-MYC inhibition of the senescence induced by 4EBP and 4EBP inhibition of the apoptosis promoted by c-MYC. Here we show that rapamycin, an allosteric inhibitor of mTOR, blocks signaling through rpS6 but not 4EBP, whereas MLN0128, an ATP-competitive inhibitor of mTOR, blocks signaling through both rpS6 and 4EBP. Accordingly, in MYCN-driven medulloblastoma, MLN0128 but not rapamycin promotes apoptosis, and this apoptosis is consistent with loss of 4EBP phosphorylation but not loss of phosphorylation of other mTOR targets. We also show that the efficacy of mTOR kinase inhibitors is unrelated to any change in MYCN protein levels, and that MLN0128 can reduce mTOR signaling in a mouse model of MYCN-driven medulloblastoma.


Aims: To develop and determine the safety of gold nanorods, whose aspect ratios can be tuned to obtain plasmon peaks between 650 and 850 nm, as contrast enhancing agents for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Materials & methods: In this study we compared the blood clearance and tissue distribution of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)-capped and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated gold nanorods after intravenous injection in the tail vein of rats. The gold content in blood and various organs was measured quantitatively with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results & discussion: The CTAB-capped gold nanorods were almost immediately (<15 min) cleared from the blood circulation whereas the PEGylation of gold nanorods resulted in a prolonged blood circulation with a half-life time of 19 h and more wide spread tissue distribution. While for the CTAB-capped gold nanorods the tissue distribution was limited to liver, spleen and lung, the PEGylated gold nanorods also distributed to kidney, heart, thymus, brain and testes. PEGylation of the gold nanorods resulted in the spleen being the organ with the highest exposure, whereas for the non-PEGylated CTAB-capped gold nanorods the liver was the organ with the highest exposure, per gram of organ. Conclusion: The PEGylation of gold nanorods resulted in a prolongation of the blood clearance and the highest organ exposure in the spleen. In view of the time frame (up to 48 h) of the observed presence in blood circulation, PEGylated gold nanorods can be considered to be promising candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic imaging purposes.


The work of D.A. Linden and N.M. Abramson (Inf. Control, vol.3, p.26-31, 1960, and vol.4, p.95-6, 1961) is completed in the sense that a full investigation of the convergence properties of the expansion is made. By adapting the work of N. Levinson (Am. Math. Soc. Colloq. Pub. vol.26, 1940) on nonharmonic Fourier series and general results from the theory of B-splines, the author extends the result to the case of sampling with uniformly spaced samples. A stability property is proved. >


ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of the adherence to the medications of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services and its association with regular access in users of these medications in the municipality of Sao Leopoldo, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. METHODS This is a cross-sectional study with adults aged 20 years and over, who are users of medications of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services. Sampling was carried out consecutively for users who accessed the service of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services during the period from December 2014 to March 2015. Adherence was measured by the Brief Medication Questionnaire, and adherents were defined as those who did not present barriers to adherence in the three domains. Regular access was defined as getting all medications in the last three months, regardless of how it was obtained (paying or for free). Data analysis was performed using Poisson regression with robust variance. RESULTS We interviewed 414 subjects, being them mostly women (60.9%), with mean age of 55 years (SD = 13), and using a single medication of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services (68.1%). The prevalence of adherence to the medications used in the last seven days was 28.3% and the prevalence of free regular access was 46.1%, and 25.7% did not have access to all treatment. After adjusting for the number of medications in the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services and the number of medications of continuous use, users who had free regular access in the last three months were 60% more likely to show adherence. For individuals with paid regular access, no association was found between access and adherence. CONCLUSIONS The regularity in the free access to the medications of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services has an impact on the behavior of users, contributing to their commitment to treatment and self-care. The Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Services needs programming in order to avoid irregular access, which suggests a significant limitation of the drug policies in Brazil.


Arid geomorphological research continues apace with publications appearing in a diverse range of outlets. Themes common to several recent (2008–2009) books include greater emphasis on the global diversity of arid environments, the improved temporal framework for research findings, and the growing contribution of arid geomorphology to interdisciplinary research fields. Building on previous progress reports, this article touches on all three themes, but particularly highlights how applications of geochronology (e.g. cosmogenic isotope analysis, luminescence dating, and radiocarbon dating) are challenging or revolutionizing understanding of the timing and rates of arid geomorphological change. Four case studies from 'iconic' arid landscapes illustrate changes over different timescales: (1) canyons of the Colorado Plateau region, southwest USA (last ~5–6 Ma); (2) aeolian dunefields in central Australia (last ~1 Ma); (3) palaeolakes in the Kalahari, central southern Africa (last ~300 ka); and (4) alluvial and bedrock-controlled rivers in the southwest USA (last ~12 ka). Other developments across the suite of geochronological techniques are also contributing to improved understanding of arid landscape dynamics and the links with late Cenozoic environmental changes, biological (including hominin) evolution and cultural developments, but many outstanding issues remain. These include: (1) compiling large geochronological data sets to enable rigorous hypothesis testing; (2) establishing guiding conceptual frameworks to aid the selection and interpretation of geochronological data; (3) using multiple chronometers; (4) combining geochronology with other investigative techniques such as computational modelling; and (5) clarifying the causal links between events in different palaeorecords, even when temporal correlation can be established with a high degree of certainty. Despite recent rapid advances, today's understanding of the antiquity and tempo of landscape development in Earth's arid environments undoubtedly will be challenged and extended by further research, with particularly valuable perspectives likely to be provided by arid geomorphological research on other planetary bodies.


This research aims at investigating the effect of Inquiry-Based instruction (IBI) on learners' academic achievement through meta-analytic and thematic approaches. In  the meta-analytic study, 27 studies, which were implemented between 2000 and 2016 years, were examined. CMA and MetaWin statistical programs were used to calculate the effect sizes of these studies. The effect size (0.688) of the study indicates that the use of IBI has a positive effect on learners' achievement. To support findings of the meta-analytic study, a thematic study including 36 studies was applied. As a result of the analysis of the latter study, five themes, namely affective, cognitive and social domain themes, learning environment and negative aspects were generated. The former four themes demonstrated that IBI positively affects learners' achievement except the negative aspects theme. The negative theme stresses out that the effectiveness of IBI depends on how well the IBI activities are planned beforehand. If they are planned in detail, learners can know what to do in the activities. So, IBI can be used systematically in learning as an alternative method which can meet students' needs in technological era.


In this paper I discuss the relevance (and power) of teaching coaches how to question the 'truth' of their everyday coaching practices by beginning to 'think with Foucault.' My insights derive from my experiences teaching a graduate course called, "Coaching 'Knowledges': The Social Dimensions of Performance Sport", that I designed in 2018 as part of the University of Alberta's Masters of Coaching degree. More specifically, through my reflections on my past coaching, my present teaching, and the process of writing this paper, I consider how the act of problematizing, as informed by such Foucauldian concepts as docility, discipline, and power-knowledge, can serve to transform coach development and with that, of course, coaching and all that that entails.


The present study examines the interaction of light damage to the retina and streptozotocin (SZ)-induced diabetes in male and female rats during the early development of the disease, when changes occur in the blood-retinal barrier and in pigment cell membranes. Exposure of rats to low illuminance was used to determine the relationship between photically-induced cell death and diabetes. Other groups of animals were exposed to a greater illuminance for shorter time periods (24 hours) in attempts to identify a specific post-treatment day for the effect of diabetes. Blood glucose levels were monitored to indicate the severity of the diabetes. Morphometric analyses and histopathologic observations demonstrated that the outer nuclear layer (ONL, photoreceptor nuclei) was reduced significantly in thickness in female rats exposed to light during a 9 day period after SZ injection, but was unchanged from the control groups when exposed beginning at 12 days after SZ treatment. Removal of the pituitary gland prior to SZ treatment and light exposure resulted in the survival of more photoreceptor cells and prevented the differential in ONL thickness observed between control and diabetic intact animals. Attempts to establish a period of greatest susceptibility of the diabetic retina to photic damage were unsuccessful, but results indicate that prior light history and/or shipment stress might be related to retinal damage from light exposure.


Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) require an urgent transition from a linear to a circular economy operation/design concept with a consequent resource recovery and more sustainable waste management. Natural resources have to be preserved, and wastes have to become an opportunity for recovering resources and materials (water reuse, energy, sludge reuse). However, the transition toward a circular economy is a complex and long process due to the existence of technical, economic, social and regulatory barriers. These existing barriers are critical challenges for a modern and sustainable WWTP concept. The recovery of resources must be considered a strategic target from the earliest process-design phase. In this context, the European Union's Horizon 2020 project "Achieving wider uptake of water-smart solutions—WIDER UPTAKE" aims to overcome the existing barriers (technological, regulatory, organizational, social and economic) toward the transition from a linear to a circular economy model for WWTPs. This study is aimed at increasing the awareness of the existing barriers to a circular economy and summarizes the key contributions of the WIDER UPTAKE project in terms of water reuse, sludge reuse and nutrient recovery.


Atmosphere and ambience have almost exclusively been studied as phenomena of space and place. Terms like immersion, surrounding space, environment, lived space, or envelopment are prevalent in research on atmosphere. Music and musical movement, in contrast, despite being a vital point of reference for concepts of atmosphere, involve a rather complicated set of relations to space, however defined. Rethinking atmosphere through music not only brings questions of dynamism, duration and performance to the fore but leads back to concerns with causality. In this paper, I investigate the atmospheric dynamics of religious rituals in Myanmar while drawing upon Schmitz's definition of atmosphere as half-thing. I further a notion of atmosphere as collective situation and dynamic performance.


The PKN (protein kinase N) family of Ser/Thr protein kinases regulates a diverse set of cellular functions, such as cell migration and cytoskeletal organization. Inhibition of tumour PKN activity has been explored as an oncology therapeutic approach, with a PKN3-targeted RNAi (RNA interference)-derived therapeutic agent in Phase I clinical trials. To better understand this important family of kinases, we performed detailed enzymatic characterization, determining the kinetic mechanism and lipid sensitivity of each PKN isoform using full-length enzymes and synthetic peptide substrate. Steady-state kinetic analysis revealed that PKN1–3 follows a sequential ordered Bi–Bi kinetic mechanism, where peptide substrate binding is preceded by ATP binding. This kinetic mechanism was confirmed by additional kinetic studies for product inhibition and affinity of small molecule inhibitors. The known lipid effector, arachidonic acid, increased the catalytic efficiency of each isoform, mainly through an increase in kcat for PKN1 and PKN2, and a decrease in peptide KM for PKN3. In addition, a number of PKN inhibitors with various degrees of isoform selectivity, including potent (Ki<10 nM) and selective PKN3 inhibitors, were identified by testing commercial libraries of small molecule kinase inhibitors. This study provides a kinetic framework and useful chemical probes for understanding PKN biology and the discovery of isoform-selective PKN-targeted inhibitors.


The dimension and size of the building blocks as well as the preferential orientation, geometry and regularity of their assemblies are the most important key factors for fabricating thermoelectric materials with a high figure-ofmerit (ZT) which is governed by the efficiencies in transporting electrical and thermal energies along the measurement direction. A one-step and large-area growth approach has been successfully developed employing pulsed laser deposition (PLD) for producing physically selfassembled and well-aligned Bi2Te3 nanostructures on SiO2/Si substrates without pre-built templates or catalysts. The precisely parameter controlled growth provides four highly reproducible and significant Bi2Te3 assemblies, comprising 0-dimensional (0-D) nanoparticles, 1-D nanorods, 2-D nanoflakes, and 3-D nanocanyons, respectively exhibiting an overall (006), (015), (110), and (006) preferential orientation normal to the substrate surface. The nanoparticle assisted crystal growth is proposed, mainly involving the condensation of the plasma species in the gas phase at higher ambient pressures and the following diffusion and reorganization of the deposited nanoparticle atoms on the substrates. The well-aligned 0-D to 3-D Bi2Te3 nanostructures show more excellent in-plane power factors than most of the randomly aligned Bi2Te3 nanostructures at room temperature mainly due to significantly reducing inter resistance. The thermoelectric properties of these well-aligned Bi2Te3 nanostructures are comparable to any other intrinsic Bi2Te3 nanostructures that have ever been reported. The present data are valuable for further improving and designing advanced thermoelectric materials and confirm that precise control of nanostructural aggregation is an effective strategy for enhancing the thermo -electric performance.


Cyberbullying exists in all levels of education, from kindergarten to postsecondary. Few studies have been conducted to examine the impact of cyberbullying in higher education. Minor, Smith, and Brashen (2013) identified the need for colleges and universities to set policies and standards on how to handle faculty being cyberbullying by students. Their study revealed that the majority of respondents were unaware of a policy in existence and/or the proper steps to take when bullying occurs. Six steps have been designed to assist college administrators when creating an antibullying policy and setting standards.


The use and diffusion of geographic information is continuously increasing in the areas of education and research since considered significant for everyday life. As the greatest challenge for libraries is to provide users with the most relevant geographic information, many of them have adapted to the current information climate. Moreover, as librarians are equipped for managing data, they are considered those professionals who have contributed to the development of institutional repositories and the development of many digital collections, changing the information environment.
The last few years things have been changing rapidly in Greece considering the dissemination of public geospatial data, as several public sectors are becoming familiar with open access "culture" and provide geospatial data for free. Nevertheless, this tremendous change has left untouched, in the field of geospatial data collections, the Greek academic libraries that constitute the main information providers, covering their institutions strategic agendas. Therefore, libraries should exploit all the advantages of open access environment especially nowadays that financial crisis has affected all aspects of their operation. Throughout this study we aim to highlight this specific absence of digital geospatial collections in Greek libraries and answer the following questions: 1) Do GIS experts use Greek libraries for covering their information/educational needs? 2) Is geospatial collection development considered a necessity for fulfilling their obligations (educational/research/professional)? 3) Is open access crucial in their everyday life (in public and private sector, in universities etc). To achieve this aim we chose to investigate patrons' opinions as they are the core element in an organization that provides services. Consequently, our research is addressed to Greek GIS users who were approached through an electronic questionnaire circulated via e-mail. We collected 304 completed questionnaires that represent a variety of GIS users (faculty, students, researchers etc). Since this study is the first one that focuses on GIS users and their opinion regarding geospatial collections in Greek libraries, we consider the number of questionnaires capable of drawing conclusions.
According to our results, the majority of users certify libraries as the main organizations for collecting, organizing and distributing geo information even though the current situation does not fulfill their informational needs on the promotion of geospatial data and GIS services. They consider the absence of collection development policies as the main obstacle of preventing libraries from being active in the development of collection/s regarding geo information and the establishment of GIS services. GIS users also claim that libraries are the organizations that ought to deliver geospatial data using the open access method not only to the members of their organization complying simultaneously with the intellectual property laws.
The results depict user's expectations for constant expansion of library's role and provided services in order to cover their information needs. The paper emphasizes in potentially valuable information since it will demonstrate the initial findings of the research above. Issues regarding policies, open access, co operations and strategies will be discussed extensively.


Background: The status of HER2 amplification in breast cancer is an important prognostic and predictive indicator. Only those tumors exhibiting HER2 overamplification are candidates for HER2 targeted therapy. It remains controversial how accurately HER2 status of primary tumors reflects HER2 status in distant metastases. Discordance between primary and metastatic tumors can impact significantly on patient management and suitability for HER2 targeted therapies in the setting of recurrent distant disease. Methods: A literature search of the PubMed database was performed to identify all primary studies comparing HER2 status in matched primary and distant metastatic tumors between January 2005 and February 2011. Review and data extraction was performed by two independent reviewers. Eligible studies evaluated HER2 status by current ASCO guidelines. Studies comparing paired primary and axillary lymph nodes or synchronous primaries and metastases were excluded. Weighted pooled estimates were calculated. Results: The original search strategy retrieved 1703 studies for which there were 62 eligible studies for full evaluation. Metastatic sites included bone, brain, lung and liver. Traztuzumab was received in three studies. Weighted summary estimate for negative to positive discordance was 23% (95% CI, 16.0-28%). Positive to negative discordance had a weighted summary estimate of 4% (95% CI, 0.0-6%). Discussion: Meta analysis of studies adhering to ASCO guidelines for HER2 status determination revealed a significant rate of change to HER2 positive metastatic disease in HER2 unamplified primary breast cancers. This data suggests that nearly one quarter of patients may be denied the benefit of HER2 targeted therapy if HER2 primary status alone is used a the sole measure in determining therapeutic options upon distant recurrence. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr PD05-05.


A novel fiber-optic sensor unit by combining fiber-optic white-light interferometry and fiber Bragg gratings is proposed for simultaneous long- and short-gauge strain measurements. A new demodulation scheme based on spectral coherence theory for fiber-optic white-light interferometric sensors is proposed. This makes it possible that two quite different types of sensors in one unit can be simultaneously demodulated in the spectral domain. An experimental sensor unit has been built and tested. The results demonstrated that the spectral demodulation of the sensor unit is readily realized and that the sensor scheme is feasible.


In this paper, we demonstrate the design and fabrication of a high-power, high-speed flip-chip vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems. The optoelectronic characteristics and modulation speeds of vertical and flip-chip VCSELs were investigated numerically and experimentally. The thermal transport properties of the two samples were also numerically investigated. The measured maximum output power, slope efficiency (SE) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a fabricated flip-chip VCSEL array operated at room-temperature were 6.2 W, 1.11 W/A and 46.1%, respectively. The measured L-I-V curves demonstrated that the flip-chip architecture offers better thermal characteristics than the conventional vertical structure, especially for high-temperature operation. The rise time of the flip-chip VCSEL array was 218.5 ps, and the architecture of the flip-chip VCSEL with tunnel junction was chosen to accommodate the application of long-range LiDAR. The calculated PCE of such a flip-chip VCSEL was further improved from 51% to 57.8%. The device design concept and forecasting laser characteristics are suitable for LiDAR systems.


We demonstrate a novel concept for preparing percolating composites with ultralow filler content by utilizing nanofiller-loaded aerogel and cryogels as a conductive template. This concept is investigated for several porous systems, including resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF), silica, and polyacrylamide (PAM) gels, and both graphene and carbon nanotubes are utilized as nanofiller. In each case, a stable, aqueous nanofiller dispersion is mixed with a sol-gel precursor and polymerized to form a hydrogel, which can then be converted to an aerogel by critical point drying or cryogel by freeze-drying. Epoxy resin is infused into the pores of the gels by capillary action without disrupting the monolithic structure. We show that conductive graphene/epoxy composites are formed with a very low graphene loading; a percolation threshold as low as 0.012 vol % is obtained for graphene-RF cryogel/epoxy composite. This is the lowest reported threshold of any graphene-based nanocomposites. Similar values are achieved in other aerogel and nanofiller systems, which demonstrates the versatility of this method.


This study examined whether being aware of the repetition of stimuli in a simple numerosity task could aid the development of automaticity. The numerosity task used in this study was a simple counting task. Thirty-four participants were divided into two groups. One group was instructed that the stimuli would repeat many times throughout the experiment. The results showed no significant differences in the way automatic processing developed between the groups. Similarly, there was no correlation between the point at which automatic processing developed and the point at which participants felt they benefitted from the repetition of stimuli. These results suggest that extra-trial features of a task may have no effect on the development of automaticity, a finding consistent with the instance theory of automatisation.


When creating freeform drawings, artists routinely employ clusters of overdrawn strokes to convey intended, aggregate curves. The ability to algorithmically fit these intended curves to their corresponding clusters is central to many applications that use artist drawings as inputs. However, while human observers effortlessly envision the intended curves given stroke clusters as input, existing fitting algorithms lack robustness and frequently fail when presented with input stroke clusters with non-trivial geometry or topology. We present StrokeStrip, a new and robust method for fitting intended curves to vector-format stroke clusters. Our method generates fitting outputs consistent with viewer expectations across a vast range of input stroke cluster configurations. We observe that viewers perceive stroke clusters as continuous, varying-width strips whose paths are described by the intended curves. An arc length parameterization of these strips defines a natural mapping from a strip to its path. We recast the curve fitting problem as one of parameterizing the cluster strokes using a joint 1D parameterization that is the restriction of the natural arc length parameterization of this strip to the strokes in the cluster. We simultaneously compute the joint cluster parameterization and implicitly reconstruct the a priori unknown strip geometry by solving a variational problem using a discrete-continuous optimization framework. We use this parameterization to compute parametric aggregate curves whose shape reflects the geometric properties of the cluster strokes at the corresponding isovalues. We demonstrate StrokeStrip outputs to be significantly better aligned with observer preferences compared to those of prior art; in a perceptual study, viewers preferred our fitting outputs by a factor of 12:1 compared to alternatives. We further validate our algorithmic choices via a range of ablation studies; extend our framework to raster data; and illustrate applications that benefit from the parameterizations produced.


Today, air pollution is a serious problem faced by industrial countries. The impact caused by air pollution
is not only a direct impact on human health, but also can damage the environment. One of the sources of
air pollution are now common is the forest fires which generate a compound emissions are carbon dioxide
(CO2).Several studies in the medical literature documenting a causal link between air pollution, especially
CO2 and negative impacts on health after short-term exposure, especially the unknown long-term health
consequences of exposure to pollution. Some studies related to fire management models and CO2 emission
reductions of them use the method of mapping risk of forest fires and the use of reforestation and the
elimination of illegal logging is considered effective to implement.


: To achieve a successful periodontal treatment result, a good and lasting co-operation between therapist and patient is essential. For this reason, the patient must be adequately informed about the development, symptoms and treatment of periodontitis and about the necessity of a high level of self performed oral hygiene. Individual information and instruction by the dentist and dental hygienist is most suited in these cases.


A visually lossless data compression technique is currently being developed for space science applications under the requirement of high-speed push-broom scanning. The technique is also applicable to frame based imaging and is error-resilient in that error propagation is contained within a few scan lines. The algorithm is based on a block transform of a hybrid of modulated lapped transform (MLT) and discrete cosine transform (DCT), or a 2-dimensional lapped transform, followed by bit-plane encoding; this combination results in an embedded bit string with exactly the desirable compression rate as desired by the user. The approach requires no unique table to maximize its performance. The compression scheme performs well on a suite of test images typical of images from spacecraft instruments. Flight qualified hardware implementations are in development; a functional chip set is expected by the end of 2001. The chip set is being designed to compress data in excess of 20 Msamples/sec and support quantizations from 2 to 16 bits.


Carbon dioxide storage in deep saline aquifers is considered a possible option to bring greenhouse gas emissions under control. The understanding of the underlying mechanisms, such as convective mixing and associated mechanisms, affecting this mixing may have an impact on the long-term sequestration process in deep saline aquifers. One of the significant aspects of the flow of miscible species in porous media is velocity dependent dispersion. The effect of dispersion on dissolution of carbon dioxide (CO2) into brine is investigated by full nonlinear numerical simulations. This study reveals that dispersion may dramatically change the trend of CO2 dissolution into brine. It was found that the dissolution of CO2 increases as dispersion strength increases. The mixing pattern also shows three different mechanisms: diffusion, convection, and a highly nonlinear interaction mechanism. However, the medium dispersivity ratios were found to slightly affect the mixing, while having an impact on the fingering pattern. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011


Existing evidence indicates that companies' reported earnings react to tax incentives, but we do not know whether these are accounting responses, evasion responses or real responses. This paper tests for the responses using a quasi-experimental design of a corporate minimum tax scheme introduced in Hungary in 2007 that widened the tax base only for firms with low reported profit rate (profit as a share of revenue). With a new panel dataset containing administrative tax records on corporations I replicate previous findings on the earnings responses to tax incentives, but also document three additional pieces of evidence that suggest accounting rather than real responses. First, companies reacted too quickly to the change in incentives to reflect real responses: only a half year after the introduction of the reform the data exhibit sharp bunching in the distribution of profit rates in accordance with the new incentives. Second, direct measures of real production responses suggest no significant behavioral reactions. Additional analysis of the reported cost structure of corporations shows large changes only in reported material cost which is the most easily over-reportable item, supporting the reasoning that reported changes are mostly coming from reduced cost over-reporting.


Since 1850, glaciers in the European Alps have lost around 40% of their original area, releasing bare forefields, which are colonized by alpine pioneer species, setting the scene for later successional stages. These expanding pioneer communities are likely less restricted by resources and competition than late‐successional systems. We thus hypothesized that rising atmospheric CO2 concentration will enhance plant growth in these high‐elevation communities. Nine characteristic, perennial glacier forefield species were assembled in microcosms and grown at a nearby experimental site in the Swiss Alps (2440 m a.s.l.). The communities were exposed to an elevated CO2 concentration of 580 ppm by free‐air CO2 enrichment for three seasons. Four study species were additionally grown in isolation in containers, half of which received a low dose of mineral fertilizer (25 kg N ha‐1 a‐1) in order to explore a potential nutrient limitation of the CO2 response. Responses of growth dynamics and peak season biomass of the two graminoid species, four forbs and three cushion forming species were analysed by repeated nondestructive assessments and a final biomass harvest. After three seasons, none of the species were stimulated by elevated CO2, irrespective of mineral nutrient addition, which by itself enhanced growth in the fertilized plants by +34% on average. Increased CO2 concentration did not affect total (above‐ plus belowground) biomass but reduced aboveground biomass by −35% across all species, even in the fast growing ones. This reduced aboveground biomass was associated with higher biomass partitioning to roots. Foliar nonstructural carbohydrate concentration increased and nitrogen concentration in leaves decreased under elevated CO2. We observed downward adjustment of photosynthetic capacity by on average −26% under long‐term exposure to 580 ppm CO2 (assessed in graminoids only). Our results indicate that glacier forefield pioneers, growing under harsh climatic conditions are not carbon limited at current atmospheric CO2 concentration.


PROCESS CONTROL OF A LABORATORY COMBUSTOR USING NEURAL NETWORKS by Thana Slanvetpan Active feedback and feedforward-feedback control systems based on static-trained feedforward multi-layer-perceptron (FMLP) neural networks were designed and demonstrated, by experiment and simulation, for selected species from a laboratory twostage combustor. These virtual controllers functioned through a Visual Basic platform. A proportional neural network controller (PNNC) was developed for a monotonic control problem — the variation of outlet oxygen level with overall equivalence ratio (00). The FMLP neural network maps the control variable to the manipulated variable. This information is in turn transferred to a proportional controller, through the variable control bias value. The proposed feedback control methodology is robust and effective to improve control performance of the conventional control system without drastic changes in the control structure. A detailed case study in which two clusters of FMLP neural networks were applied to a non-monotonic control problem — the variation of outlet nitric oxide level with first-stage equivalence ratio (4,) — was demonstrated. The two clusters were used in the feedforward-feedback control scheme. The key novelty is the functionalities of these two network clusters. The first cluster is a neural network-based model-predictive controller (NMPC). It identifies the process disturbance and adjusts the manipulated variables. The second cluster is a neural network-based Smith time-delay compensator (NSTC) and is used to reduce the impact of the long sampling/analysis lags in the process. Unlike other neural network controllers reported in the control field, NMPC and NSTC are efficiently simple in terms of the network structure and training algorithm. With the pre-filtered steady-state training data, the neural networks converged rapidly. The network transient response was originally designed and enabled here using additional tools and mathematical functions in the Visual Basic program. The controller based on NMPC/NSTC showed a superior performance over the conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. The control systems developed in this study are not limited to the combustion process. With sufficient steady-state training data, the proposed control systems can be applied to control applications in other engineering fields. PROCESS CONTROL OF A LABORATORY COMBUSTOR USING NEURAL NETWORKS


In this paper we present a multiscale simulation of charge transport in a solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell, where the real morphology between TiO2 and the hole transport material is included. The geometry of the interface is obtained from an electron tomography measurement and imported in a simulation software. Charge distribution, electric field and current densities are computed using the drift-diffusion model. We use this approach to investigate the electrostatic effect of trap states at the interface between the electron and hole transport materials. The simulations show that when the trapped electrons are not screened by external additives, the dynamics of holes is perturbed. Holes accumulate at the interface, enhancing recombination and reducing cell performance.


Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a useful tool for deepening understanding of the radiation therapy (RT) delivery process flow and for identifying specific process steps that are likely to result in patient harm in the event of errors. Developing an RT process tree can in itself can lead to improved efficiency and safety. FMEA encourages the treatment delivery team to view RT delivery holistically, as it requires the team not only to catalogue possible errors at each process tree step, but to assess their frequency, clinical impact, and potential for propagation without detection into downstream processes. Thus, an FMEA helps focus physics attention on relatively low probability process errors with potential for inflicting catastrophic harm on patients. The AAPM FMEA IMRT analysis raises many questions and issues:

1. How much benefit can a clinic derive from a model FMEA developed for a generic process tree compared to taking their own treatment delivery team through FMEA of their specific process?

2. FMEA gives limited insight into causes of errors; correlation or propagation of errors into other steps; or how to modify a process in order to mitigate errors.

3. FMEA ranks possible errors in order of risk (RPN) to the patient under the artificial assumption that no QA is being performed. The impact of QA tests chosen to address a high RPN error mechanism on remaining risk rankings is not accounted for.

A number of other risk assessment strategies for improving QA cost-effectiveness and robustness should be investigated.

(a) Formal engineering tools such as fault-tree analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and human error classification schemes all start with observed treatment delivery errors or near misses. Such techniques seek uncover the detailed mechanism of the event, its causal relationships to other events, and seek to assign root causes.

(b) Sensitivity of the process outcome (e.g., dose delivery accuracy) to system parameters (e.g., MLC leaf-gap calibration) monitored by QC tests. Such analyses may provide a rational basis for assigning tolerances and action levels to device QC test outcomes.

(c) Statistical process control techniques for identifying optimal QC test frequencies and action levels.

(d) Multidisciplinary forums for developing QA guidance that bring together representatives of all constituencies impacted by RT QA and delivery errors, including radiation oncologists, vendors, and therapists as well as physicists.

Educational Objectives:

1. To understand the potential clinical applications and value of FMEA in designing safe and robust RT processes.

2. To appreciate the limitations of FMEA especially an analysis developed by a consensus panel using a generic process tree.

3. To assess audience feedback on possible future directions of the TG-100 work.

4. To review the potential costs and benefits of additional industrial engineering QM tools for more detailed and specific followup analysis of FMEA findings.


Background Rituximab-mediated late-onset neutropenia (LON) has been described in various diseases. We investigated its prevalence and contributing factors, including B cell related cytokines and growth factors of the myeloid lineage, in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Rituximab-treated patients from the Karolinska University Hospital (n=107) were enrolled. LON was defined as an absolute neutrophil count <1,500 cells/µL, occurring four weeks to two years following treatment, or later in cases of sustained B cell depletion, provided that other apparent causes were excluded. B cell activating factor (BAFF), a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), IL-6, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) were measured using ELISA prior to and post-treatment. Results Thirty-two patients (29.9%) developed LON after a median time of 201.5 days (IQR: 66.8–322.0). Thirteen patients were admitted to the hospital; ten developed fever, and three developed critical conditions. BAFF levels increased from baseline (median: 0.62 ng/mL; IQR: 0.42–1.07) through the post-treatment measurement, both in patients who developed LON (median: 1.73 ng/mL; IQR: 1.03–2.56; p=0.005) and patients who did not (median: 1.03; IQR: 0.65–1.55; p=0.001), with significantly higher BAFF levels in the LON group (p=0.021). APRIL levels were higher in the LON group both at baseline (median: 1.54 versus 1.15 ng/mL; p=0.027) and post-treatment (median: 2.39 versus 1.11 ng/mL; p=0.011). IL-6 and GM-CSF levels decreased in the non-LON group (p<0.001). Cumulative rituximab and cyclophosphamide doses were found to be associated with the development of agranulocytosis (p=0.022 and p=0.021, respectively). Conclusion Post-rituximab LON is a common complication in SLE. Although the phenomenon was self-limiting in most cases, a few patients developed life-threatening conditions; this highlights the importance of regular surveillance for neutrophil counts, fever and infections. Distinct roles of BAFF and APRIL are implicated; BAFF might contribute to granulopoiesis disruptions, whereas APRIL might have a value in distinguishing predisposed patients.


Background: Autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with mutations in the parkin gene. Objectives: To search for the presence of parkin gene mutations in Spanish patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and characterise the phenotype associated with these mutations. Methods: Thirty seven PD patients with either early onset or autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance were selected for genetic study. Results: Mutations were identified in seven index patients (19%). Homozygous mutations were detected in six patients and a heterozygous mutation in one. The age at onset was lower in patients with mutations than in patients without mutations. Dystonia at onset was present in two patients with parkin gene mutations. The disease began in two patients with postural tremor in the upper limbs mimicking essential tremor. Four patients exhibited a long term response to dopamine agonists. The c.255delA mutation was identified in four unrelated families. This is a frameshift mutation leading to protein truncation. Conclusions: Parkin gene mutations are present in Spanish patients with early onset and/or an autosomal recessive parkinsonism. The c.255delA is the most frequent mutation found, suggesting a relative high prevalence in the Spanish population.


ABSTRACT Adequately financed branches contribute to the integration of regional interests into statewide parties. Yet, we have limited knowledge about the determinants of branches' varying income levels in federal contexts. To address this shortage, this article elucidates why branches receive donations from citizens and businesses to different degrees. I hypothesise that party competition at the state level, the difference in regional economic performance and parties' historical legacies can account for the level of branches' donation revenue. Analysing German statewide party branches' income from 2009 to 2017, this study finds support for the facilitating impact of state and federal electoral contests on donation levels. Regional economic disparities, by contrast, only marginally affect donation revenues. At the same time, parties' path-dependent developments help explain asymmetries in average revenue levels between western and eastern branches. The study's findings suggest that intense regional party competition contributes to branches' financial independence within the statewide party organisation.


Purpose: This paper presents a multipart investigation of the benefits and challenges in deploying automated question-answering as an alternative to web-based searching to provide information about prostate cancer screening for low-income men age 40 years and older. Methods: The study comprised: 1) a survey assessing current use of the Internet, mobile phones and texting; 2) a controlled observational study of both web-based searching and automated question-answering for information about prostate cancer; and 3) a formative field study in which subjects interacted with a health department nurse using text messages. Results: Survey results suggest the target population has greater access to, and familiarity with, cell phones and text messaging compared to the Internet and web-based searching. Participants were significantly more confident using a cell phone and preferred to get health information through text messaging. Participants in the controlled observational study accepted the text messaging system, with most indicating it answered their questions, was easy to use and was a favorable tool for information-seeking. The field study also demonstrated potential for automated question-answering and text messaging to help the target population access health information. Conclusion: A two-way text messaging system has great potential to promote health communication and health information distribution. Participant interest in this system was high and did not seem to be specific to prostate cancer screening, suggesting that information about other topics, such as high blood pressure screening, could be provided similarly. We believe more investigations should be focused on this area, especially on benefits for the low-income community. (J Patient-Centered Res Rev. 2014;1:188-196.)


In grade 12 mathematics program in Vietnamese secondary schools, students have an opportunity to learn the concept "integral" and its applications. Thus, it helps them to know the practical significance of mathematics in general and calculus in particular. In addition, they also recognize that mathematics is a unified whole, the subjects of mathematics are consistent and mutually supportive. For example, thanks to integration one can find the formulas for calculating the area and volume of shapes that students have learned in Geometry, and can calculate the area and volume of shapes that it is very hard to find by geometrical tools. With such an importance of integral concept, the question is that: what are students' restrictions on the application and perception towards concepts "integral" students? This paper presents some results relating to the above two questions.


Research in Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Enterprise Systems (ES) projects has identified numerous practitioner governance mechanisms for ensuring project success. However, such research has not developed a theory of why certain critical success factors encourage project success. Our research develops such theory on a case study where even though the levels of several critical success factors were weak, the project nevertheless succeeded. Specifically, the logistics ES project succeeded even though there was (1) only marginal top management support, (2) low key user commitment, and (3) change management, training and other critical aspects of user management and communication were not well done. Using a modified dialectical lens, we highlight that project team legitimacy appears to be the underlying CSF, and many heretofore identified CSFs are really manifestations of project team legitimacy.


Over the past 30 years, cities across the United States have adopted quality-of-life ordinances aimed at policing social marginality. Scholars have documented zero-tolerance policing and emerging tactics of therapeutic policing in these efforts, but little attention has been paid to 911 calls and forms of third-party policing in governing public space and the poor. Drawing on an analysis of 3.9 million 911 and 311 call records and participant observation alongside police officers, social workers, and homeless men and women residing on the streets of San Francisco, this article elaborates a model of "complaint-oriented policing" to explain additional causes and consequences of policing visible poverty. Situating the police within a broader bureaucratic field of poverty governance, I demonstrate how policing aimed at the poor can be initiated by callers, organizations, and government agencies, and how police officers manage these complaints in collaboration and conflict with health, welfare, and sanitation agencies. Expanding the conception of the criminalization of poverty, which is often centered on incarceration or arrest, the study reveals previously unforeseen consequences of move-along orders, citations, and threats that dispossess the poor of property, create barriers to services and jobs, and increase vulnerability to violence and crime.


Flunixin [2-(3-trifluoromethyl-2-methyl-phenylamino)-nicotinic acid, FLX], a potent nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug widely used in veterinary medicine, was found to exist in at least two crystal forms (I and II), in contrast to clonixin [2-(3-chloro-2-methyl-phenylamino)-nicotinic acid, CLX], which exists in four solvent-free forms and multiple solvates. Form I was harvested from a variety of solvents and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, PXRD, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy. Its crystal structure is sustained on the strong acid–pyridine hydrogen bond. Form II was generated by thermal treatment of form I. Other aspects of this polymorphic system were investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Quantum chemistry calculations were performed to shed light on the lack of polymorphism from solution-phase crystallization. Conformational scan of the dihedral angle C2–N7–C8–C9 (τ) revealed two stable conformations, one with τ near 170°, and the other near 70°, corresponding to the molecule in the crystal. Hirshfeld analysis accounted for the major intermolecular interactions contributing to the overall stability of the crystal.


The performance of expanding rice husk (ERH) fixed bed column in removing Zn (II) from aqueous solution were studied in this work. Different column design parameters like bed height, flow rate and initial concentration were calculated. It was found that ERH was found to be an effective adsorbent for removal of Zn (II); and when conducted with Zn (II) concentration 12.8 mg L-1 and flow rate 10 ml min-1 with different bed depths such as 3, 6 and 9 cm, the equilibrium uptake was decreased from 5.181 to 4.33 mg g-1; the equilibrium uptake also decreased from 4.51 to 3.807 mg g-1 with increasing of flow rate from 5 to 15 ml min-1 and increased from 4.447 to 5.752 mg g-1 when initial concentration increased from 12.8 to 35 mg L-1. The dynamics of adsorption process was modeled by bed depth service time (BDST), and indicating the validity of BDST model when applied to the continuous column studies.


We study the phase diagrams of a family of three-dimensional Walker-Wang–type lattice models, which are not topologically ordered but have deconfined anyonic excitations confined to their surfaces. We add a perturbation (analogous to that which drives the confining transition in Zp lattice gauge theories) to the Walker-Wang Hamiltonians, driving a transition in which all or some of the variables associated with the loop-gas or string-net ground states of these models become confined. We show that in many cases the location and nature of the phase transitions involved is exactly that of a generalized Zp lattice gauge theory, and use this to deduce the basic structure of the phase diagram. We further show that the relationship between the phases on opposite sides of the transition is fundamentally different than in conventional gauge theories: in the Walker-Wang case, the number of species of excitations that are deconfined in the bulk can increase across a transition that confines only some of the species of loops or string nets. The analog of the confining transition in the Walker-Wang models can therefore lead to bulk deconfinement and topological order.


The increased exposure to technology raises a need for understanding how the digital world works, just as we learn about the physical world. As a result, countries all over the world are renewing their school curricula in order to include digital competence, computer science or other similar content. In this paper, we provide insight into what teachers see as crucial aspects when implementing a new curricula introducing digital competence as a transversal element. We have analysed 86 Finnish teachers' descriptions of digitally competent schools and digitally competent personnel, in order to identify a list of prerequisites that can be helpful to school leaders who are to drive the change at their local schools.


This guide provides a structured framework for the research and analysis tasks that go into the planned marketing of a product or service. This concise text remains focused, while still considering all aspects of the marketing plan. The focus is on data gathering and assessment, planning and communicating information about the many factors that may impact on a firm's present and future marketing efforts.


The overexpression of the colony-stimulating factor-1(CSF-1) by epithelial ovarian cancer cells enhances invasiveness and metastatic properties, contributing to the poor prognosis of the patients. It has been suggested that CSF-1 3' untranslated region containing AU-rich elements (ARE) could regulate CSF-1 posttranscriptional expression and be responsible for its aberrant abundance in such cancer cells. In this study, normal (NOSE.1) and malignant (Hey) ovarian epithelial cells were used to examine CSF-1 expression and regulation. CSF-1 overexpression in Hey cells was found to associate with increased invasiveness, motility, urokinase activity, and virulence of tumorigenicity, compared with NOSE.1 cells, which expressed little CSF-1. CSF-1 ARE was further found to serve as an mRNA decay element that correlates with down-regulation of protein translation. Moreover, such down-regulation was found more prominent in NOSE.1 than in Hey cells, suggesting differences in posttranscriptional regulation. As a variety of trans-acting factors [AU-binding protein (AUBP)] are known to modulate messenger stability through binding to such elements, we examined the protein content of both cell lines for their ability to bind the CSF-1 ARE. Our results strongly suggested the abundance of such AUBP activity in Hey cells. We isolated a 37-kDa AUBP, which was identified as glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). To summarize, our study identified GAPDH as an AUBP abundant in Hey cells, where it binds to CSF-1 ARE that imparts mRNA decay. These data suggest that GAPDH binding to CSF-1 ARE sequence prevents CSF-1 mRNA decay and subsequent down-regulation of CSF-1 protein translation, leading to CSF-1 overexpression and increased metastatic properties seen in ovarian cancer.


One of the serious problems of arcing in relays and switches is leading to material transfer, thus resulting in the loss of contact material and the early end of lifetime. Although this phenomenon has been studied for many years, there are still many unsolved problems. This paper is a review of material transfer due to arcing based on published work by the authors and by the other investigators. Included are a discussion of transfer mechanism, called PSD model (particle sputtering and deposition model); a survey of contact materials, circuit parameters, electrode temperatures, and surrounding gases which have been determined to affect arc behavior and material transfer; the effect of contact surface temperature distribution, arc spot dimension, arc root stability, and arc duration on wearout or loss of contact material from two contacts; and an idea of balance transfer ("zero" loss) operation. It is expected that this paper could supply some basic considerations for controlling material transfer in practical applications.


Although very common under natural conditions, the consequences of multiple enemies (parasites, predators, herbivores, or even 'chemical' enemies like insecticides) on investment in defence has scarcely been investigated. In this paper, we present a simple model of the joint evolution of two defences targeted against two enemies. We illustrate how the respective level of each defence can be influenced by the presence of the two enemies. Furthermore, we investigate the influences of direct interference and synergy between defences. We show that, depending on certain conditions (costs, interference or synergy between defences), an increase in selection pressure by one enemy can have dramatic effects on defence against another enemy. It is generally admitted that increasing the encounter rate with a second natural enemy can decrease investment in defence against a first enemy, but our results indicate that it may sometimes favour resistance against the first enemy. Moreover, we illustrate that the global defence against one enemy can be lower when only this enemy is present: this has important implications for experimental measures of resistance, and for organisms that invade an area with less enemies or whose community of enemies is reduced. We discuss possible implications of the existence of multiple enemies for conservation biology, biological control and chemical control.


. Boundary Objects (BOs) and Coordination Mechanisms (CMs) are terms with a long history in CSCW. They have both been used widely since their initial definition. We find the concepts used in the same settings to describe some form of cooperation among different peoples or group of people. Sometimes it seems that the choice of concepts has not been thought through. Thus, in this paper, we give a detailed description of both concepts, and then we discuss them side by side by highlighting six issues that researchers should take in consideration before defining an object as a coordination mechanism or a boundary object.


The interior of the hexameric resorcinarene capsule can emulate an enzyme pocket: there is enough space to host reagents and to favour bimolecular reactions. The overconcentration effect can lead to a rate acceleration with respect to reactions in the bulk medium. The reactions between molecules forced in the restricted space inside the resorcinarene capsule usually occur with unusual regiochemical and stereochemical outcomes. Consequently, the classic reactivity rules valid in the bulk medium are many times disregarded. Like a natural enzyme, the resorcinarene capsule can work in a selective way with respect to the structural features of reagents and products and can result in a regio-, enantio-, and diastereoselective reaction. Thanks to these properties, the hexameric capsule has been used as cyclase mimicking in order to catalyse terpene cyclisations. In these cases, the capsule pocket shields the carbocationic intermediates by chemical quenching and stabilise them through cation⋯π interactions. The capsular water molecules perform a double catalytic function: (1) they can act as hydrogen-bonding donor groups in catalysis, and (2) they can play a crucial role in Bronsted acid catalysis. Finally, as in natural systems, the catalytic activity of the hexameric capsule can be modulated in the presence of competitive inhibitors, which show high affinities for its internal cavity. All of these aspects are discussed in this chapter.


According to the fatigue damage failure mechanism of riveted members, a riveted member probabilistic fatigue failure model (RMPFFM) was proposed, and a fracture finite element program is developed to calculate the geometry function of RMPFFM. Furthermore, a system fatigue damage reliability model of riveted bridges was proposed, and based on Monte-Carlo method, a large system fatigue damage reliability analysis program was developed to calculate the system fatigue failure probability. Then the system evaluation model was used to predicate the system fatigue damage reliability of Ganjiang Railway Bridge. According to assessment results, the probabilistic remaining fatigue life, safe inspection intervals and maintenance strategy are determined, which can control and avoid fatigue failure accident and reduce the contingent disaster in bridge service life.


COVID-19 brought multiple challenges to the education sector globally. While introduction of virtual learning advanced benefits such as lowered costs of education, greater flexibility, easy access and reduced need for physical infrastructure in economically viable nations, many economically challenged nations in the Global South experienced risks and challenges from online education. This study investigated the challenges faced by the Zimbabwe education sector in integrating effective virtual learning practice into the secondary school system in Harare Metropolitan province since the advent of Covid-19. A triangulation of research methods including an online survey and key informant interviews conducted with curriculum specialists, teachers and learners, and a review of available literature, aided the collection of primary and secondary data for the study. NVIVO and grounded theory were used to analyse and organise the compiled data into thematic data sets, which were in turn used to theorise befitting findings for the study. Study findings established an array of challenges which reinforced each other to hinder effective learning during the lockdown. Substantial academic and policy research has focused on health specific impacts of Covid-19, while a few studies that have explored the effect of Covid-19 on education have not zeroed in on the context specific geopolitical risks of the pandemic on countries with challenged economies. This study seeks to contribute to this knowledge gap. The study proffers recommendations for improving preparedness for virtual learning in secondary schools during crisis times.


Propolis is important in complementary and alternative medicine having well-known therapeutic applications. Artepillin C, a main component of Brazilian (green) propolis, has attracted great attention for its anticancer action. Consequently, the synthesis of artepillin C has been reported but, due to the limited yield and elevated costs, this biomolecule is largely produced from Brazilian propolis. We report the capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation of artepillin C in Brazilian propolis also comparing the results with those of HPLC-UV-MS. Optimal separation was obtained with a simple buffer constituted of sodium tetraborate 30 mM pH 9.2 and detection at 210 nm. Artepillin C and the polyphenols of propolis were fully separated with a voltage gradient of 30 to 8 kV and a current of 300 μA for a total run of 50 min. The sensitivity of CE-UV was 22 times greater than HPLC-UV and 100 times more than HPLC-MS with also a stronger reduction in the run time and a greater robustness and reproducibility. The development of CE as an effective and reliable method for the analysis of artepillin C is desired as the standardized quality controls are essential before propolis or its biomolecules can be adopted routinely in nutraceuticals, food ingredients and therapeutic applications.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is the leading infectious cause of death globally and an estimated 10.4 million incident cases of tuberculosis (TB) and 1.8 million deaths occurred in 2015 [1]. Central nervous system TB, including tuberculous meningitis and brain tuberculomas, is challenging to diagnose and carries a high risk of severe disability and death [2]. Early diagnosis and prompt initiation of TB treatment offer the best chance of a good neurological outcome; however, an MTB culture of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the current reference standard for tuberculous meningitis, usually requires several weeks or longer for growth and is too slow for initial clinical decision-making. In addition, CSF microscopy using Ziehl–Neelsen staining has a very low sensitivity [2] and, as such, integration of clinical and laboratory findings, as well as neuroimaging results, is necessary in the majority of cases to make a probable or possible diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis in the absence of microbiological confirmation [2, 3]. Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra is a promising new technology to aid the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis http://ow.ly/pwCy30eORBm


CO2 hydrogenation coupled with toluene methylation can markedly enhance the production of high value-added para-xylene. Toluene methylation with methanol to produce xylene has been widely investigated. A simultaneous side reaction of methanol-to-olefin over zeolites is hard to avoid, resulting in an unsatisfactory methylation efficiency. Here, CO2 and H2 replace methanol in toluene methylation over a class of ZnZrOx–ZSM-5 (ZZO-Z5) dual-functional catalysts. Results demonstrate that the reactive methylation species (H3CO*; * represents a surface species) are generated more easily by CO2 hydrogenation than by methanol dehydrogenation. Catalytic performance tests on a fixed-bed reactor show that 92.4% xylene selectivity in CO-free products and 70.8% para-xylene selectivity in xylene are obtained on each optimized catalyst. Isotope effects of H2/D2 and CO2/13CO2 indicate that xylene product is substantially generated from toluene methylation rather than disproportionation. A mechanism involving generation of reactive methylation species on ZZO by CO2 hydrogenation and migration of the methylation species to Z5 pore for the toluene methylation to form xylene is proposed.


Colin Tatz's article provides a provocative and ostensibly 'different' perspective on indigenous suicide. There are multiple problems with the arguments and evidence presented, and the article, as a whole, is arguably more of a rhetorical 'argument' and ideological position and challenge than a research report, considered review of the theoretical or research literatures addressing this phenomenon, or substantive analysis of a critical and salient social problem. It should not be confused with a systematic, evidence and research findings-based study and/or evaluation of the evidence of others. Given the status of the author, the seriousness of the issue, and the social problem construction character of the public discussion to date, it is important that some counter views and caveats are offered, ideally from a spectrum of disciplinary, professional practice, and cross-cultural perspectives. Professional and 'research-based' analyses, accounts and evaluations have real consequences, not only in the context of prevention and intervention programs, policy initiatives and reviews, and funding in the health sector, but also with respect to public understandings of science and, in this case, health and prevention programs. The article and position offered by Tatz could well have unfortunate consequences with respect to prejudicial disciplinary and professional practice judgements, and the discounting of important and very necessary initiatives and programs at the level of preventive public health and individual and community intervention.


Background: Precise determination of amplification efficiency is critical for reliable conversion of within-sample changes in fluorescence occurring on a logarithmic scale to between-sample differences in DNA content occurring on a linear scale. This endeavor is especially challenging for the telomere length (TL) quantitative-PCR (qPCR) assay, where amplification efficiency can vary between reactions targeting telomeric repeats (T) and those targeting a single-copy gene (S) to calculate TL as the T/S ratio. Methods: We compared seven different approaches toward estimating amplification efficiency, including the standard-curve method utilized by the qPCR instrument software, and alternative approaches which estimate efficiency on a reaction-by-reaction basis using the stand-alone program LinRegPCR. After calculating T/S ratios using efficiency estimates from each approach (N = 363), we tested their relative performance on metrics of assay precision and correlates of external validity including chronological age (age range = 1–72 years), across tissues within-person (leukocyte-buccal), and between parents and offspring. Results: Estimated amplification efficiency for telomere reactions was significantly lower than estimates for single-copy gene reactions. Efficiency estimates for both reaction sets were significantly higher when estimated with the standard-curve method utilized by the qPCR instrument relative to estimates reconstructed during the log-linear phase with LinRegPCR. While estimates of single-copy gene efficiency reconstructed using LinRegPCR measured within 90% of perfect exponential doubling (E = 1.92), estimates generated using the standard-curve method were inflated beyond 100% (E = 2.10–2.12), indicating poor fidelity. Despite differences in raw value, TL measurements calculated with LinRegPCR efficiency estimates exhibited similar relationships with external validity correlates to measurements generated using the qPCR instrument software. Conclusion: Since methods to estimate amplification efficiency can vary across qPCR instruments, we suggest that future analyses empirically consider external methods of efficiency calculations such as LinRegPCR, and that already generated data be re-analyzed to glean possible improvements.


Abstract Surface and subsurface geological features of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenic system may be explained by three sets of processes: those related to plate convergence, those related to the gravitational spreading of a fluid middle crust beneath the Tibetan Plateau, and those related to aggressive erosion along the southern margin of the plateau. In this paper, the possible relationships among the last two of these—and their tectonic manifestations—are presented in the form of a 'Channel Flow-Extrusion' hypothesis. This hypothesis, deriving from a series of ideas advanced by many geologists and geophysicists over the past two decades, suggests the definition of three phases in the Early Miocene-Recent history of the orogenic system. During Phase I (Early Miocene), the crust of southern Tibet was sufficiently hot and thick to enable lateral flow of a weak middle crust. To the north and east, this flow resulted in the expansion of the Tibetan Plateau. To the south, erosion at the Himalayan front permitted the mid-crustal channel to breach the surface; this process is recorded in the deformational history of the Himalayan metamorphic core and the Main Central and South Tibetan fault systems that bound it. While the lateral expansion of the plateau by mid-crustal flow has continued throughout Neogene time, some evidence suggests that extrusion across the Himalayan front waned substantially during the Middle Miocene-Early Pliocene interval (Phase II). In Middle Miocene time, large magnitude extension of the decoupled upper crust of southern Tibet led to the development of a subsidiary channel; its extrusion explains the existence of the North Himalayan gneiss domes. Phase III (Late Pliocene-Recent) has involved renewed southward extrusion of the main channel due to climatically induced increases in the erosion rate at the Himalayan range front.


In liver, glucose-6-phosphatase catalyzes the hydrolysis of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) to glucose and inorganic phosphate, the final step in the gluconeogenic and glycogenolytic pathways. Mutations in the glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit (G6Pase) give rise to glycogen storage disease (GSD) type 1a, which is characterized in part by hypoglycemia, growth retardation, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, and hepatic glycogen accumulation. Recently, a novel G6Pase isoform was identified, designated UGRP/G6Pase-β. The activity of UGRP relative to G6Pase in vitro is disputed, raising the question as to whether G6P is a physiologically important substrate for this protein. To address this issue we have characterized the phenotype of UGRP knock-out mice. G6P hydrolytic activity was decreased by ∼50% in homogenates of UGRP–/– mouse brain relative to wild type tissue, consistent with the ability of UGRP to hydrolyze G6P. In addition, female, but not male, UGRP–/– mice exhibit growth retardation as do G6Pase–/– mice and patients with GSD type 1a. However, in contrast to G6Pase–/– mice and patients with GSD type 1a, UGRP–/– mice exhibit no change in hepatic glycogen content, blood glucose, or triglyceride levels. Although UGRP–/– mice are not hypoglycemic, female UGRP–/– mice have elevated (∼60%) plasma glucagon and reduced (∼20%) plasma cholesterol. We hypothesize that the hyperglucagonemia prevents hypoglycemia and that the hypocholesterolemia is secondary to the hyperglucagonemia. As such, the phenotype of UGRP–/– mice is mild, indicating that G6Pase is the major glucose-6-phosphatase of physiological importance for glucose homeostasis in vivo.


Coal-mining activities in the Appalachian Basin have left behind an environmental legacy of acid mine drainage (AMD), which collectively discharges more than 1.2 billion liters of low-pH contaminated water per day into freshwater streams. Meanwhile, concerns over the use of freshwater for hydraulic fracturing applications in the Appalachian Basin are rising, where an average daily withdrawal of freshwater for hydraulic fracturing may approach 60 million liters per day. The use of AMD as a substitute for freshwater has the joint advantages of mitigating existing environmental damage to surface waters and relieving some pressures on freshwater withdrawals, but the practice faces technical, economic, and regulatory hurdles. To reduce sulfate levels, coal-mine drainage that is currently treated to meet Clean Water Act standards may need additional treatment for hydraulic fracturing applications. Reducing sulfate levels without the use of additional freshwater may involve costs of several dollars per barrel versus less than one dollar per barrel for freshwater purchased directly. The cost of treatment to remove sulfates would need to decline by perhaps a factor of 4 in order to be cost-competitive with the purchase of fresh water. So-called abandoned (untreated) mine drainage poses a larger environmental challenge, but treatment and transportation costs may be orders of magnitude larger. Issues regarding handling liability and storage costs for abandoned-mine waters in particular represent significant regulatory barriers. We find that treatment, transportation, and storage costs are the most important factors affecting water-utilization decisions in shale-gas development. While Pennsylvania has proposed policy reforms to address environmental liability issues associated with AMD use, implementation itself will likely raise costs for its use in hydraulic fracturing as compared to the use of freshwater. AMD use may become cost-competitive with the development and use of low-cost AMD treatment technologies in centralized locations designed for long-term use, along with efficient water transfer and storage facilities.


OBJECTIVE
Low birth weight (LBW) is associated with obesity and a higher cardiovascular risk in adult life. Since autonomic dysfunction could be a pathophysiological factor for this association, we assessed the impact of LBW on cardiac autonomic activity and metabolic rate in young adulthood. We hypothesized that the autonomic tone could be coupled with the metabolic rate in subjects with LBW.

METHODS
Heart rate variability (HRV) from 24-hour Holter-electrocardiograms was measured in 15 healthy adults aged 20 to 30 years with LBW (<2500g at term) and 15 paired subjects with normal birth weight (NBW). The pairs were closely matched by gender, age, and body mass index. Resting energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry and body composition by bioimpedance.

RESULTS
Global HRV parameters were significantly higher in the LBW group and a marked difference was observed in the long wave fluctuations of the frequency domain (very low frequency). These fluctuations were positively correlated with the resting energy expenditure per body weight in the LBW and negatively in the NBW group. Only in the LBW group HRV was closely related to body fat.

INTERPRETATION
This case-control study indicates that autonomous nervous function is not generally deteriorated in young adults with LBW and has a significant association with metabolic rate. Thus, it may be a determinant of the body weight regulation in this group. The higher cardiovascular risk in ageing individuals with LBW would therefore rather be a consequence of weight gain than of a primary autonomous nervous dysfunction.


In this paper, we propose a mechanism to switch between multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with two transmit antennas and single-input multiple-output (SIMO) to conserve mobile terminals' energy. We focus on saving uplink RF transmission energy of mobile terminals in cellular systems supporting best effort traffic. The key idea is to judiciously slow down transmission rates when a base station is underutilized. We show that there exists a crossover point on the transmission rate below which SIMO consumes less power than MIMO when circuit power is included. The crossover point is an increasing function of the circuit power, the number of receive antennas and channel correlation, all of which increase the potential energy savings resulting from mode switching. We propose an adaptive mode switching algorithm combined with rate selection to maintain a user's target throughput while achieving energy efficiency. Extensive flow-level simulations under dynamic loads confirm that the proposed technique can reduce the transmission energy by more than 50% and enables an effective tradeoff between file transfer delay and energy conservation.


Problem exists in the tradition studies of the stratified soil slope back analysis. The limitation of the tradition method was analyzed on the basis of previous research in this paper. And the definition of the soil layer displacement, which overcomes the size effect of the soil layer, was presented. This displacement was weighted in the objective function, reflecting the sliding characteristics of different soil. Then the calculation method weight of weighted was presented. At last, the strength parameter sensitivity of the objective function was calculated by an example. The result showed the stratified soil slope back analysis can be solved by the new method.


Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) is a new technology, the novelty effect of which can reduce the enjoyment of iVR experiences and, especially, learning achievements when presented in the classroom; an effect that the interactive tutorial proposed in this research can help overcome. Its increasingly complex levels are designed on the basis of Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, so that users can quickly gain familiarity with the iVR environment. The tutorial was included in an iVR learning experience for its validation with 65 users. It was a success, according to the user satisfaction and tutorial usability survey. First, it gained very high ratings for satisfaction, engagement, and immersion. Second, high skill rates suggested that it helped users to gain familiarity with controllers. Finally, a medium-high value for flow pointed to major concerns related to skill and challenges with this sort of iVR experience. A few cases of cybersickness also arose. The survey showed that only intense cybersickness levels significantly limited performance and enjoyment; low levels had no influence on flow and immersion and little influence on skill, presence, and engagement, greatly reducing the benefits of the tutorial, despite which it remained useful.


We generalize the notion of relative phase to completely positive maps with known unitary representation, based on interferometry. Parallel transport conditions that define the geometric phase for such maps are introduced. The interference effect is embodied in a set of interference patterns defined by flipping the environment state in one of the two paths. We show for the qubit that this structure gives rise to interesting additional information about the geometry of the evolution defined by the CP map.


Background In the last decades, the attention to Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms (IPMNs) has risen due to the increase of their incidental diagnosis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate which factors influenced survival in population affected by intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms. Methods A retrospective study on a prospective database of 357 patients observed at our Institute from January 2007 to December 2016 was conducted. Pre-, intra- and postoperative data were collected. Patients managed conservatively were compared with those who underwent surgery as regards demographic, clinical data, radiological work up, features of the cysts and overall and disease specific survival. Multivariate analyses were carried out in order to assess factors related to patient's management as well as those related to overall survival. Results Multivariate analysis showed that the factors strongly related to surgery were: site (tail of the pancreas-OR 4.48; P=0.011), presence of mural nodules (OR 15.39; P 5 mm (OR 8.55; P<0.001), Wirsung duct size ≥ 10 mm (OR 133.75; P<0.001), positive citology (OR 19.81; P=0.008) and acute pancreatitis (OR 16.7; P<0.001); conversely, age was independently related to the follow up strategy (OR 0.93; P=0.001). Furthermore, parameters that significantly influenced overall survival were: age (HR 1.07; P<0.001), jaundice (HR 7.67; P<0.001) and the presence of mural nodules (HR 2.03; P=0.019). Conclusions Despite the limitations of the study, the main factors related to OS in our experience were age, jaundice and the presence of mural nodules within the cyst.


This paper considers the problem of estimating the population mean of the study variable when auxiliary information is not available and proposes new calibration approach alternative to the recent existing calibration estimators for estimating population mean of the study variable using two auxiliary variables in stratified two-phase sampling. The theory of new calibration estimation is given and optimum weights are derived under two-phase sampling approach. A simulation study is carried out to performance of the proposed calibration estimator with other existing calibration estimators. The results demonstrate that the proposed calibration estimator is more efficient than other existing calibration estimators of the population mean in stratified two-phase sampling.


Reports on vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) infections in hospitals have been increasing worldwide in recent years. The emergence of these resistant bacteria has created a major concern and an urgent need for new anti-bacterial agents. In the past, a variety of plants growing in Indian forests have been used as medicines to prevent and cure several diseases. The use of natural products as anti-VRE agents would therefore be promising, in order to prevent these infections. In this study, the antimicrobial activities of methanolic as well as aqueous extracts of the medicinal plants. Aristolochia indica, Andricus fecundator, Trapa bispinosa and Rheum emodi against vancomycin resistant strains of Enterococci were evaluated. Andricus fecundator and Aristolochia indica showed promising results.


It has been demonstrated that in the frog Rana temporaria the anterior hypothalamus is involved into regulation of the depth of two forms of rest--one with plastic, the other with decreased muscle tone. Resting state with catatonic muscle activity is associated with activation of the posterior hypothalamus. Participation of the anterior hypothalamus in regulation of the resting state with the decreased tone of skeletal muscles may be taken as one of the indications that this form of rest plays the role of sleep in amphibians, being transformed during evolution of vertebrates into the sleep of poikilotherms.


Experimental and anatomical observations upon the Octopoda suggest that the branchial hearts are not the sole contributors to the increase in venous blood pressure between the anterior vena cava and the afferent branchial vessel. The lateral venae cavae are proposed as an additional source of pressure generation, thus contributing to the octopod accessory branchial pump.


Previously we reported a high ratio of free insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) to total IGF-I (fit IGF-I ratio) during early infancy when rapid growth is observed, indicating that high levels of free IGF-I (fIGF-I) may be related to the growth of infants. Rapid growth is also observed during puberty. The purpose of this study is to investigate a possible relationship between pubertal growth and fIGF-I. Here, fIGF-I and total IGF-I (tIGF-I), the f /t IGF-I ratio and proteolysis of IGFBP-3 were studied in the circulation of patients with precocious puberty and normal pubertal subjects, and they were compared with those of prepubertal and adult populations. Higher absolute plasma fIGF-I values were observed in the pubertal children (3.89 ± 1.09 ng/ml, N=45) than in the normal prepubertal children (2.06 ± 1.01 ng/ml, N=31; P<0.05) and adults (2.18 ± 0.68 ng/ml, N=49; P<0.05). Furthermore, there was a correlation between the levels of fIGF-I and height velocity in the prepubertal and pubertal groups (r=0.722, N=76, P<0.0001). Compared to the f/t IGF-I in the prepubertal and adult populations, no increase in fit IGF-I ratios was observed, and the proteolysis of IGFBP-3 was not detected in sera from the pubertal children. These data suggest that the increase in the absolute levels of fIGF-I is related to


The use of wastewater as a nutrient source for algal growth as a biodiesel feedstock could increase the viability of this process and reduce wastewater discharge of nitrogen‐ and phosphorus‐bearing compounds. In this study, four algal bioreactors were fed continuously with municipal wastewater effluent over a 6‐month period; these were monitored weekly to determine algal biomass and lipid production, nutrient removal, and carbon and nutrient availability. Algal biomass production ranged from 0.78 to 15.9 g dry weight m−2 d−1 over the experimental period. Algal reactors removed 19% of dissolved nitrogen and 43% of dissolved phosphorus from wastewater effluent. A stoichiometric analysis of particulates revealed that algal biomass had far lower C:P ratios (67:1) and N:P ratios (6:1), but higher C:N ratios (17:1), than Redfield values. These data suggest that the algae produced were rich in phosphorus, and that nitrogen was likely to be growth‐limiting in these systems. Nonetheless, numerous studies suggest that algal biomass can be enhanced by providing CO2 in excess of normal atmospheric concentrations, and that algal biofuel production can contribute to CO2 sequestration efforts. To optimize nutrient removal in wastewater‐fed algal reactors, and to determine the potential for CO2 sequestration, future reactor engineering research should continue to incorporate the expertise of ecological stoichiometry. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2012