When and why do women gain from increased descriptive representation in deliberating bodies? Using a large randomized experiment, and linking individual-level speech with assessments of speaker authority, we find that decision rules interact with the number of women in the group to shape the conversation dynamics and deliberative authority, an important form of influence. With majority rule and few women, women experience a negative balance of interruptions when speaking, and these women then lose influence in their own eyes and in others'. But when the group is assigned to unanimous rule, or when women are many, women experience a positive balance of interruptions, mitigating the deleterious effect of small numbers. Men do not experience this pattern. We draw implications for a type of representation that we call authoritative representation, and for democratic deliberation.


Multimedia networks will support a wide range of applications with different requirements and traffic characteristics. Connection Admission Control (CAC) algorithms are used to decide whether an incoming connection should be accepted or rejected in order to maintain the quality of service (QoS) demanded by the applications. The objective of this work is to present an environment we developed useful for performance analysis, measurements and experimentation, in particular for testing resource usage based on different traffic characteristics. We demonstrate how a study of the effectiveness of different CAC algorithms can be performed from measurements collected using an ATM switch and the tools we developed. For the studies we selected and implemented two CAC algorithms, one for a non-regulated traffic, proposed by [14], and other for a leaky-bucket regulated traffic, proposed by [5]. The environment tools include a traffic generator supporting IP and native-ATM as well as a CAC module that implements the algorithms above and can be used in conjunction with our test environment. These tools are currently part of the Tangram-II modeling environment [3,11] and available to download.


Maintaining good sleep hygiene is a constant challenge in modern lives. Sleep habits are hard to monitor and record, especially when most sleep monitoring programs overlook the necessity of calculating user input. This input is vital in order to change poor sleeping patterns, as it is difficult to identify the source of an individual's problems. Sleep tracking software also struggle with a lack of user transparency and interactivity leading individuals to mistrust the results these applications generate or otherwise not feel like the insights are actionable. To explore these issues, we designed an interventional chat bot to mediate information collection and interaction between end user and sleep monitoring technology. The SleepBot prompts users with simple questions that attempt to elicit insight into larger problems that contribute to poor sleep and help craft successful sleep hygiene behaviors. Text messaging based interaction eases the process as it is similar to talking with a friend, making for a unique environment in which the user is able to share personal data comfortably.


Social media was started with the intention of expelling the darkness from the lives of people by way of sharing knowledge, networking and communicating with near and dear. It all started with the purpose of imparting its benefits to all and making it user friendly. But the liberation of the down trodden, intended to voice their opinions, was turned into a hysterical chaos given the liberal mindedness of the people. What started off as a source of knowledge turned people into gadget freaks, attention seeking, financial and societal deficits. Given the nature of social media combined with the need to be social has turned it into a platform to mirror the human's self-image. The world has become a ball of information enabling people to never look or stop anywhere. The world is alive and networked 24/7. The digitalization of media turned out to be a flourishing business, especially through social media, smartphones, tablets and apps. A few billion people are always online and it is expected that heaps of devices and sensors will be available on the web soon.


Objectives/Research Problem: Malnutrition is a major public health problem among children below five years of age worldwide. More than half of under five child deaths are due to undernutrition, the majority is in the developing countries, including Ethiopia. This study aims to assess the prevalence and determinant factors of undernutrition among children below five years of age living in Somali region.Materials and Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in August, 2014 among 415 caregivers-child pairs. Caregivers were asked about socio-demographic, and nutrition related questions and nutritional status of the child were assessed. Multistage sampling technique was implemented to select the participants, weighing scale and stadiometer measurements of children such as weight and height were taken by trained health professionals. Bivariate analysis using chi-square and t-test to identify candidate variable for multivariable analysis were done. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the predictors for undernutrition.Results and Discussion: Out of 415 children in the study, 30.4% were stunted, 21% underweight, and 20.2% wasted. Regarding the severity 17.3%, 9.9% and 8% were severely stunted, wasted, and underweight, respectively. As the age of the child increases, the prevalence of all types of malnutrition are significantly increased (P<0.008), where male babies (P=0.016) were chronically malnourished. Time to initiation of breastfeeding were inversely associated with stunting, children started breastfeeding within one hour after delivery were less wasted (P<0.001). Insecticide treated nets (ITNs) user are less stunted and less underweight (P=0.010 and P=0.049) respectively. The number of children below five years in the family, age of the child, and type residence were the main predictors of under nutrition.Conclusion: Undernutrition was common in the study area. The main predictors of under nutrition were age, sex of the children, initiation of breastfeeding, and ITNs uses. Nutrition education programme focusing on awareness creation using behaviour change communication (BCC) strategy to the parents, elders, religious leaders, teachers, youths, and school children, and also refresher trainings and capacity building for the health professionals and health extension workers are necessary.


Skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) is one of the most aggressive malignancies, accounting for approximately 75% of skin cancer-related fatalities annually. Sterile a-motif domain-containing 9-like (SAMD9L) has been found to regulate cell proliferation and suppress the neoplastic phenotype, but its specific role in SKCM remains unknown. To investigate the cancer-associated immunology of SKCM and the role of SAMD9L in tumor progression, we conducted an integrative bioinformatics analysis that revealed elevated expression levels of SAMD9L in SKCM. ROC curves and survival analyses confirmed the considerable diagnostic and prognostic abilities of SAMD9L. Moreover, a real-world cohort of 35 SKCM patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University showed that higher expression levels of SAMD9L were associated with better prognosis. We performed validation experiments, including cell culture, generation of lentiviral-transfected SKCM cell lines, cell proliferation assay, and transwell assay, which demonstrated that down-regulation of SAMD9L significantly promoted proliferation and migration capacities of SKCM cells. Additionally, SAMD9L expression was found to be strongly linked to immune infiltration. Our results revealed a positive correlation between SAMD9L and XAF1 expression, suggesting that SAMD9L may serve as a prospective prognostic indicator of SKCM with co-expressed XAF1 gene. In summary, our findings indicate that SAMD9L may serve as a promising prognostic and therapeutic biomarker and play a critical role in tumor-immune interactions in SKCM.


Analysis of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in serum is fundamental in order to aid in the diagnosis of growth hormone (GH)-related disorders, as well as in the diagnosis and follow-up of other diseases. Considering the importance of IGF-I local normal range, the aim of this study was to determine reference values for IGF-I (Immulite 2000) in a Brazilian adult population from the city of Rio de Janeiro. This study included samples of blood taken from 484 healthy subjects (251 men, 233 women) aged 18 to 70. The subjects agreed with this study, approved by the ethical committee of the Instituto Estadual de Hematologia Arthur de Siqueira Cavalcanti, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The samples were analyzed by an automated immunochemiluminometric assay (ICMA). For data analysis, age and sex-specific figures were fitted after transformation of IGF-I values. In adulthood, a slow age-dependent decrease was seen. IGF-I in women were significantly higher than in men.The present study established age- and sexspecific IGF-I reference values, for the healthy Brazilian adult populatoin from the city of Rio de Janeiro, determined with the currently most widely IGF-I assay used in Brazil (Immulite 2000). Key words : Insulin-like growth factor I, chemiluminescence assay, reference range.


It was not so long ago that developments in the contact lens field were so rapid that by the time a text was published, it was already outdated. That certainly is not true of this book. This trio of European optometrists have written a very readable text that fosters a better understanding of today's contact lens materials and designs. This book also covers a thorough review of the fundamentals that facilitates the understanding of future contact lens developments. a fresh look at contemporary contact lens practice The book is divided into four parts with a total of eight appendixes. It includes numerous illustrations in addition to 55 colored plates. Part 1, "The Background to Contact Lenses," is fairly abbreviated and covers contact lens development and lens types. Part 2, "Hard Corneal Lenses," discusses materials, designs, and fitting techniques. The section on fluorescein pattern evaluation is superb and has excellent color


As Cloud computing emerges as a dominant paradigm in distributed systems, it is important to fully understand the underlying technologies that make Clouds possible. One technology, and perhaps the most important, is virtualization. Recently virtualization, through the use of hyper visors, has become widely used and well understood by many. However, there are a large spread of different hyper visors, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of some of today's commonly accepted virtualization technologies from feature comparison to performance analysis, focusing on the applicability to High Performance Computing environments using Future Grid resources. The results indicate virtualization sometimes introduces slight performance impacts depending on the hyper visor type, however the benefits of such technologies are profound and not all virtualization technologies are equal. From our experience, the KVM hyper visor is the optimal choice for supporting HPC applications within a Cloud infrastructure.


Medical tourism is a term to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling across international borders to obtain health care. Services typically sought by travelers include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries. Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry. This article deals with the situation of India that is promoting the "high-tech healing" of its private healthcare sector as a tourist attraction. The government hopes to encourage a building trade in medical tourism, selling foreigners the idea of travelling to India for low-cost but world-class medical treatment and India is becoming a "global health destination". This policy however does not develops into better services for the local population as corporale hospitals are clustered in urban settings, their prices are out of reach to the locals and the quota of beds reserved free of charge to the domestic population is often disregarded.


The Brillouin fibre laser has experimentally demonstrated its suitability for the measurement of laser linewidth in the 1 kHz to 500 kHz frequency range. A major advantage of this system is to be widely independent of the source wavelength by generating the uncorrelated reference signal at a fixed frequency below the source under test. This solution is simple and affordable, since it only requires widely available standard optical supplies. The measured spectra of a compact diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser and a spectrally-narrowed semiconductor laser are shown.


The citrate gel method, similar to the polymerized complex method, was used to synthesize homogenous tetragonal zirconia at 800oC and 1000oC. Nanocrystalline tetragonal single phase has been fully stabilized with 3, 7, 10 mol% CaO and 10, 15 mol% MgO at 800oC, respectively. In addition, the XRD analysis showed the absence of monoclinic phase after addition of 7 and 10 mol% CaO into zirconia-based solid solutions, which have been fully stabilized both 800oC and 1000oC. The crystallite sizes of the t-ZrO2 with 3, 7 and 10 mol% CaO at 1000oC were 32, 28 and 29nm, respectively. For ZrO2- x mol% MgO (x=3, 10, 15) solid solution, the crystallite sizes of samples at 800oC were less than 29nm, however it was increased up to 69nm at 1000oC. The prepared gel and subsequent heat-treated powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to get detail information regarding to differentiation of polymorphs of zirconia as well as formation of powders.


Biological Web data sources have now become essential information sources for researchers. However, their use is tedious, labor-intensive, repetitive, and possibly involve the integration of data from multiple Web data sources. In this paper, as a first step towards the full integration of Web data sources, we propose a framework that allows an integrated use of biological sources in a task-oriented manner. We define and experimentally evaluate a toolkit-based framework for semi-automatically constructing an integrated (software) system that automates and optimizes the execution of a biology-related computational task at hand. To test and refine the principles of the framework, we build and evaluate "pathway-infer" as a benchmark integrated system


Issue addressed: Health promotion within a new public health framework has emphasised the importance of empowering less advantaged groups in Australian society. Older persons living in collective accommodation are one group that has the potential to be disadvantaged because of the possible relinquishment of their ability to be self- determining. This pilot study sought to explore whether retirement village residents could be empowered to address issues of concern regarding their health and wellbeing. Method: In a participatory action research inquiry, residents of three urban retirement villages were invited to be co-researchers. The process of concurrent investigation and action followed a five part sequence of entry, issue identification, planning, action and reflection. Results: Residents became actively involved in identifying major concerns. Eight main areas of concern evolved regarding their wellbeing. Each village then set up a small group to deal with these concerns in priority sequence. Some actions required support from management, some from the project officer/researcher and some they could implement themselves. More actions focused on enhancing social and emotional health than physical health. On reflection, residents stated that they valued the opportunity to clarify mutual concerns and to make collective decisions on changes that could enhance their own health and wellbeing. Within the short period of the pilot study, some indicators of empowerment were documented. (author abstract)


This guide indicates the appropriate form for layout, in-text citations, and works cited page as specified by the Modern Language Association (MLA).


SUMMARY Lysogenization experiments showed that diphtheria phages can induce the production of diphtheria toxin in strains of Corynebacterium ulcerans and C. ovis.
In addition to diphtheria toxin, lysogenic C. ulcerans and C. ovis strains each produce their own specific toxin; they also maintain their specific morphology and urease production whilst C. diphtheriae strains lysogenized by C. ulcerans phages produce only diphtheria toxin. The majority of C. ulcerans phages are unable to induce the production of diphtheria toxin in strains of C. ulcerans.
Phage typing with Corynebacterium ulcerans phages is a practical possibility. Thirteen well-defined phage types were established by this technique in 172 C. ulcerans and 62 C. ovis strains with only one of the phage types (III C) occurring in both species. C. ulcerans can be distinguished from C. ovis by the pathogenicity test in mice. C. ovis kills mice by any route of inoculation whilst C. ulcerans strains cause only arthritis. C. ulceransw wild strains could be identified in this way and C. ulcerans and C. ovis strains from different type culture collections could be distinguished from each other by these well-defined characteristics.


OBJECTIVE Obesity leads to severe long-term complications and reduced life expectancy. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery induces excessive and continuous weight loss in (morbid) obesity, although it causes several abnormal anatomical and physiological conditions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS To distinctively unveil effects of RYGB surgery on β-cell function and glucose turnover in skeletal muscle, liver, and gut, nondiabetic, morbidly obese patients were studied before (pre-OP, five female/one male, BMI: 49 ± 3 kg/m2, 43 ± 2 years of age) and 7 ± 1 months after (post-OP, BMI: 37 ± 3 kg/m2) RYGB surgery, compared with matching obese (CONob, five female/one male, BMI: 34 ± 1 kg/m2, 48 ± 3 years of age) and lean controls (CONlean, five female/one male, BMI: 22 ± 0 kg/m2, 42 ± 2 years of age). Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs), hyperinsulinemic-isoglycemic clamp tests, and mechanistic mathematical modeling allowed determination of whole-body insulin sensitivity (M/I), OGTT and clamp test β-cell function, and gastrointestinal glucose absorption. RESULTS Post-OP lost (P < 0.0001) 35 ± 3 kg body weight. M/I increased after RYGB, becoming comparable to CONob, but remaining markedly lower than CONlean (P < 0.05). M/I tightly correlated (τ = −0.611, P < 0.0001) with fat mass. During OGTT, post-OP showed ≥15% reduced plasma glucose from 120 to 180 min (≤4.5 mmol/L), and 29-fold elevated active glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) dynamic areas under the curve, which tightly correlated (r = 0.837, P < 0.001) with 84% increased β-cell secretion. Insulinogenic index (0–30 min) in post-OP was ≥29% greater (P < 0.04). At fasting, post-OP showed approximately halved insulin secretion (P < 0.05 vs. pre-OP). Insulin-stimulated insulin secretion in post-OP was 52% higher than before surgery, but 1–2 pmol/min2 lower than in CONob/CONlean (P < 0.05). Gastrointestinal glucose absorption was comparable in pre-OP and post-OP, but 9–26% lower from 40 to 90 min in post-OP than in CONob/CONlean (P < 0.04). CONCLUSIONS RYGB surgery leads to decreased plasma glucose concentrations in the third OGTT hour and exaggerated β-cell function, for which increased GLP-1 release seems responsible, whereas gastrointestinal glucose absorption remains unchanged but lower than in matching controls.


Originally published in 1936, "Nightwood" is a haunting tale of sexual obsession. Robin Vote -- the woman at the heart of this strange and richly atmospheric novel -- is a woman whose passions are strong enough to destroy. The novel circles and spirals as, first, Nora's husband, and then, Nora and Jenny, her lovers, are consumed by her insatiable hunger for human contact.


We build a small open economy, real business cycle model with labor market frictions to evaluate the role of employment protection in shaping business cycles in emerging economies. The model features matching frictions and an endogenous selection effect by which inefficient jobs are destroyed in recessions. In a quantitative version of the model calibrated to the Mexican economy we find that reducing separation costs to a level consistent with developed economies would reduce output volatility by 15 percent. We also use the model to analyze the Mexican crisis episode of 2008 and conclude that an economy with lower separation costs would have experienced a smaller drop in output and in measured total factor productivity with no significant change in aggregate employment.


dvisors and target date funds. One of the appealing aspects of these platforms and products is that they delegate all investment decisions to the asset manager (who is believed to be more sophisticated) and away from the asset owner (who is typically unsophisticated). The appeal of these products and platforms is driven by their ability to make effective forecasts of assets, derive an effective asset allocation, and then to rebalance the portfolios on a periodic basis to this target asset allocation. In this paper, we will just focus on the robo-advisors and argue that one key activity underlying these platforms and even practiced very broadly in institutional investing and defined contribution funds, naive rebalancing, is predicated on bad theory and myths and fails the key test of whether it truly improves performance and/or risk management. We will demonstrate that many previous studies of rebalancing examine this issue from a simplistic perspective of a two-asset portfolio and a simple measure of risk, volatility. When we examine these strategies from the perspective of a multi-asset portfolio and a broader set of risk statistics (that a sophisticated investor would apply), then these naive rebalancing strategies are nothing more than a form of poor market timing and the performance is a coin-toss and the risk profile of the portfolio is typically worsened. Once these flaws of naive rebalancing are exposed, we suggest that investors would be well advised to adopt a more intelligent form of rebalancing, where an intelligent analysis is conducted of the relative attractiveness of assets to then set allocations within a client's policy ranges. This approach has a higher likelihood of improving performance and risk management and the ideas to implement such a program are in the public domain.


In this paper, a series of lab-scale experiments have been focused on the zinc recovery from electric arc furnace (EAF) dust by alkaline extraction, combining with the novel alkaline zinc electrowinning technology. Effects of several leaching variables, i.e. leaching time (1-3 h), NaOH concentration (150-400 g/L), solid/liquid ratio (S/L, 1/5-1/12), temperature (30-90 °C) and stirring speed (300-500 rpm) on zinc recovery (%) were investigated. Around 84 %Zn and 92 % Pb were respectively recovered when the leaching process was operated with 250 g/L NaOH and S/L 1/10 at 90 °C for 2 h. After Pb was selectively removed by sodium sulfide precipitation, the alkaline zinc solution was subjected to electrolysis and zinc powder with a purity of 98.5 % was then obtained. The leaching residue is suitable for safe disposal, while the purifying residue can be marketed for lead recovering.


ABSTRACT The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse is an animal model of human type I diabetes with a strong genetic component that maps to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of the genome. We have identified in NOD lymphocytes a specific proteasome defect that results from the lack of the LMP2 subunit. The pronounced proteasome defect results in defective production and activation of the transcription factor NF-κB, which plays an important role in immune and inflammatory responses as well as in preventing apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor alpha. The defect in proteasome function in NOD mouse splenocytes was evident from impaired NF-κB subunit p50 and p52 generation by proteolytic processing and impaired degradation of the NF-κB-inhibitory protein IκBα. An obligatory role of MHC-linked proteasome subunits in transcription factor processing and activation has been established in a spontaneous-disease model and mutant cells similarly lacking the MHC-encoded subunit. These data suggest that NOD proteasome dysfunction is due to a tissue- and developmental-stage-specific defect in expression of the MHC-linkedLmp2 gene, resulting in altered transcription factor NF-κB activity, and that this defect contributes to pathogenesis in NOD mice. These observations are consistent with the diverse symptomatology of type I diabetes and demonstrate clear sex-, tissue-, and age-specific differences in the expression of this error which parallel the initiation and disease course of insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes mellitus.


Magnetic flux generated within the solar interior emerges to the surface, forming active regions (ARs) and sunspots. Flux emergence may trigger explosive events—such as flares and coronal mass ejections, and therefore understanding emergence is useful for space-weather forecasting. Evidence of any pre-emergence signatures will also shed light on subsurface processes responsible for emergence. In this paper, we present a first analysis of EARs from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic Emerging Active Regions dataset using deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) to characterize pre-emergence surface magnetic field properties. The trained CNN classifies between pre-emergence line-of-sight magnetograms and a control set of nonemergence magnetograms with a true skill statistic (TSS) score of approximately 85% about 3 hr prior to emergence and approximately 40% about 24 hr prior to emergence. Our results are better than a baseline classification TSS obtained using discriminant analysis (DA) of only the unsigned magnetic flux, although a multivariable DA produces TSS values consistent with the CNN. We develop a network-pruning algorithm to interpret the trained CNN and show that the CNN incorporates filters that respond positively as well as negatively to the unsigned magnetic flux of the magnetograms. Using synthetic magnetograms, we demonstrate that the CNN output is sensitive to the length scale of the magnetic regions, with small-scale and intense fields producing maximum CNN output and possibly a characteristic pre-emergence pattern. Given increasing popularity of deep learning, the techniques developed here to interpret the trained CNN—using network pruning and synthetic data—are relevant for future applications in solar and astrophysical data analysis.


This dissertation examines the characteristics of Iranian nationalist discourse between the World Wars. By looking at texts of intellectuals, men and women, published in three journals (Iranshahr, Name-ye Farangestan, and Ayandeh) in the 1920s this study maps the content of nationalist discourse and to what extent this discourse allows for dissonance. Informed by the work of Reinhart Koselleck (conceptual history), Quentin Skinner (the intellectual and his statements) and Michel Foucault (discourse analysis) the study triangulates a method for the in-depth study of the key texts in these journals. The narrative approach of Jorn Rusen is adopted in order to structure and dissect the journal articles. Key concepts in historical sociology help us pin point the underlaying assumptions of how history progresses in general and how modernity can be understood in particular. For these intellectuals Europe is considered both a possible future and a source of threatening imperialism. In constructing their own notion of what constitutes Iran and Iranians, they utilise both Europe (ideal, utopia) and to a lesser extent Africa (dystopia). Certain key issues emerge as of particular importance to modernist and nationalist intellectuals in their political projects and thus their narratives. Here we find national unity and notions of belonging – Iranianess. Subsequently an important medium for instilling this sense of belonging – education – is argued over, revealing ambitions and visions beyond unity. What kind of society and what degree of public participation do different intellectuals clamour for? The most sensitive topic is undoubtedly the gender aspect of nationhood and society. Here the question is how to re-configure gender roles without abdicating patriarchal control. On this topic some of the greatest dissonances can be found, where certain writers, from within a nationalist framework, harshly criticise both traditional gender divisions and reformist notions of marriage and female emancipation. History does not repeat itself in its entirety but, as shown in this dissertation, what took place intellectually and politically in the 1920's and 30's points to salient elements that remain relevant for understanding Iran in the present. (Less)


This study was aimed to investigate the effect of Docetaxel on drug-resistant leukemia cell line HL-60/ADR and its influence on expression of P-pg. BCL-2 and BAX proteins so as to provide a new strategy and theoretical basis for clinical solution of leukemia drug-resistance. The morphological changes of HL-60/ADR were observed by light and transmission electron microscopes; the cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry with Annexin V FITC/PI double labeling; the expressions of P-gp, BCL-2 and BAX were determined by immunohistochemical technique and computer image analysis system. The results showed that the HL-60/ADR cells treated with Docetaxel displayed typical apoptotic morphological changes; the Docetaxel significantly inhibited the growth of HL-60/ADR cells in concentration- and time-dependent manners (r=0.853, r=0.989) and induced the apoptosis of HL-60/ADR cells, but apoptosis rate did not showed the increase trend along with concentration change of drug. The HL-60/ADR cells highly expressed P-gp, there were no significant differences between each groups; the expression of BCL-2 and BAX in HL-60/ADR cells decreased and increased respectively. It is concluded that the Docetaxel induces apoptosis of HL-60/ADR cells, decreases the expression of BCL-2 protein and increases the expression of BAX protein.


It is obvious that the epoch of Leonid Kuchma in Ukraine is coming to its end. When and how this epoch will end and what, let alone who, will follow Kuchma is still extremely uncertain. Kuchma's approval rating is in single digits and his reputation is damaged by scandals ranging from arms trade deals with Iraq to the murder of journalist Georgii Honhadze to anti-Semitic statements. Even with the possible intervention of the Constitutional Court to allow Kuchma to stand for a third term in office, Kuchma realizes that he will not be reelected. In the current situation, leaving office voluntarily would be a much better way for Kuchma to guarantee a more secure future for himself than by attempting to stay in power.


The formation of sdBs is still puzzling, as is the chemical composition of their atmospheres. While helium and other light elements are depleted relative to solar values, heavy elements are highly enriched. Diffusion processes in the hot, radiative atmosphere of these stars are the most likely explanation. Although several attempts were made, it was not yet possible to model all the observed features of sdB atmospheres. A setback of most prior studies was the small sample size. We present a detailed abundance analysis of 68 sdBs. From high resolution spectra obtained with the VLT/UVES instrument in the course of the ESO Supernova Progenitor Survey (SPY) we measured elemental abundances of up to 24 different ions per star. A general trend of enrichment was found with increasing temperature for most of the heavier elements. The lighter elements like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen are depleted irrespective of the temperature. Although there is considerable scatter from one star to another, the general abundance patterns in most sdBs are similar. An interplay between gravitational settling, radiative levitation and weak winds is most likely responsible. About 6 % of the analysed stars show an enrichment in carbon and helium which cannot be explained in the framework of diffusion alone. Nuclear processed material must have been transported to the surface. The late hot-flasher scenario may provide a possible explanation for this effect.


The effect of the tumor promoter phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA) on proliferation and differentiation of normal mammary epithelial cells from 50‐day‐old virgin rats was investigated using a model system that allows for full morphological and functional development of the cells. In this model, mammary epithelial cells are grown within a reconstituted basement membrane in a defined serum‐free medium. PMA at a concentration of 10−6 M effected translocation of protein kinase C from cytosol to membrane. At the same concentration, it stimulated cell proliferation both in the presence and absence of EGF, and this stimulation was observed even when PMA exposure was limited to 15 min at the time of each media change. In contrast to the effect on proliferation, PMA at concentrations of 10−7 and 10−6 M inhibited functional differentiation as assessed by casein accumulation. Phorbol 12,13‐dibutyrate at 10−6 M also stimulated proliferation and inhibited casein accumulation and was more effective than PMA in both cases. In contrast, the nonactive tumor promoter 4‐α PMA had no effect on either proliferation or differentiation. One of the most striking effects of PMA was its ability to stimulate an atypical ductal morphogenesis, as manifested by the formation of intricate web‐like colonies, and to inhibit the development of the well‐differentiated alveolar‐like multilobular colonies. PMA was also shown to completely suppress the growth of the squamous‐like colonies that develop when EGF is absent or deficient. These effects of phorbol esters in mammary epithelial cells to stimulate proliferation, inhibit functional differentiation, and stimulate the development of ductal colonies are consistent with the suggestion that the signal transduction pathways evoked by PMA could act to stimulate the growth of initiated cells or render normal cells more sensitive to carcinogen. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


C arbon's only naturally occurring radioactive isotope, 14 C, is exceedingly rare. Produced when neutrons from cosmic rays interact with nitrogen, the radioisotope makes up just one part per trillion of the carbon in Earth's atmosphere. Yet because of its continual production , its diffusion through the planet's carbon cycle, and its long half-life of 5700 years, 14 C is routinely used to date organic matter as old as 50 000 years. Archaeologists, forensic scientists, and environmental researchers, among others, essentially measure the concentration of radiocarbon in a sample to determine its age. Since the late 1970s, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has served as the benchmark method for the job. In that approach, samples are burned, chemically converted to graphite, and bombarded with cesium ions. The negative carbon ions ejected from the solid samples are then accelerated to a few percent of the speed of light and their mass-to-charge ratios deduced from their trajec-tories through electric and magnetic fields. Fortuitously, the most common isotope of nitrogen in the atmosphere, 14 N, forms no stable negative ion; and its absence eliminates its otherwise large interference with the 14 C signal. Likewise , 12 CH 2 and 13 CH molecules are broken apart during a later, electron-stripping stage and don't survive to interfere with the signal. Both effects help free 14 C signals from background noise. But although the technique is powerful—and applicable to other trace elements—the spectrometers can cost millions of dollars and often require a dedicated facility to maintain their electrodes at hundreds of thousands to millions of volts in a vacuum. A technically simpler approach also begins with burning a sample, but only to transform its carbon atoms into carbon dioxide molecules. With their strong vi-brational absorptions in the mid-IR, the many isotopic combinations of CO 2 can be distinguished optically. The challenge is to measure the intensities of their spectral lines to determine the concentration ratios. The task is not easy if the goal is to count trace isotopes in a sea of abundant ones. The CO 2 molecule has hundreds of vibrational and rotational lines, many of them closely spaced in frequency. And even the most stable lasers suffer from intensity fluctuations. A compact spectroscopic system can measure radioactive carbon dioxide concentrations as low as five parts per quadrillion. Smaller, faster, cheaper detection of radiocarbon that post-synthesis replacement of long ligands with compact inorganic molecules boosted the …


Abstract : It is appropriate to include the Design-to-Cost (DTC) concept as a topic for consideration at the Army Operations Research symposium because successful implementation of DTC will have as its base accurate cost estimates prepared by Operations Research Analysts in the weapons acquisition community. In the two years since the Department of Defense (DOD) issued DOD Directive 5000.1, Acquisition of Major Defense Systems all of the services have initiated development of new weapon systems under DTC. And recently, in a memorandum dated 18 June 1973, Deputy Secretary of Defense Clements established that in the future all new major programs will have established DTC goals. The DTC concept was introduced to make cost a major design criterion equal with performance. DTC establishes a unit production cost as a design goal, and a primary design parameter, at a price DOD can afford to pay for the quantities needed. DTC emphasizes the importance of establishing realistic costs for unit production cost goals, and then designing the weapon and managing the program within these goals. The concept requires the Program Manager and the contractors to conduct cost, schedule, and performance tradeoffs to meet the goals.


As a special approach in discourse analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) aims to study the discursive conditions and consequences of power abuse practised by dominant groups or institutions (van Dijk, 1995). It contributes to raising awareness of the discursive strategies employed by elite groups in order to control the minds of minor ones. It permits them to free themselves from the compulsions and limitations that deprive them of their right to think critically and have the freedom of choice. In the discipline of language learning, learners' awareness of CDA enables them to read critically and produce language in more logical manner. It is one way to empower them with adequate reading and writing strategies and to enhance their consciousness of using speech acts in meaningful context. This paper analyses a text following the framework of text analysis proposed by Fairclough (1992). The authentic text was selected reflecting one aspect of the British culture that does not have the common agreement of the ruling parties in the British community. It holds significant debate between representatives of the Conservative Party and the Labour Party that was taking over at that time. The analysis shows how the lexical and syntactic connotations reflect the attitudes of each Party and the newspaper publishing this article as well. The paper provides insights into how CDA can enhance learners' sociolinguistic competence and language use.


The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the biosynthesis of the necic acid portions of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and has been divided into five main areas: (a) the development of a general route to a variety of 13C- and 2H- labelled isoleucines; (b) the synthesis of a specifically labelled isoleucine; (c) the synthesis of labelled 2-aminobutanoic acid; (d) feeding experiments with plants and transformed root cultures which produce pyrrolizidine alkaloids; (e) the synthesis of new and known synthanecines for biosynthetic studies and investigation of their anti-tumour activity. (a) Development of a General Route to Isoleucine Isoleucine has been shown to be specifically incorporated into the acid portions of several pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Some acids with ten carbon atoms are formed from two isoleucine units. In the development of a synthetic route to isoleucine it would be desirable to assemble the target compound by the stepwise addition of one and two carbon units. This would allow the same route to furnish a range of isoleucines, isotopically labelled with 2H or 13C at different positions. We decided to modify a published route to valine. However this synthesis required many stages, a few of which were low yielding, making this scheme uneconomic as an all-purpose route to labelled isoleucines. DL-[6-2H3]isoleucine hydrochloride (A) together with the allo-racemate was the only labelled amino acid prepared using this procedure. (b) Synthesis of a Specifically Labelled Isoleucine In the biosynthesis of the acid portion of dicrotaline (B) in Crotalaria lachnosema, isoleucine labels four out of the six carbons. A route was developed to [3-2H]isoleucine hydrochloride (C) and the allo-racemate in an attempt to discover which of the two methylene groups of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaric acid is provided by isoleucine. (c) Synthesis of Labelled 2-Aminobutanoic acid 2-Aminobutanoic acid is also a biosynthetic precursor to several necic acids. A short synthesis of this precursor from diethyl acetamidomalonate was developed from literature procedures. Samples of D[3,4-13C2)]-2-aminobutanoic acid hydrochloride (D) and DL[3,4-2H5]-2-aminobutanoic acid (E) were made. (d) Feeding Experiments Feeding experiments were carried out on two plants, Senecio pleistocephalus and Crotalaria lachnosema, and on two transformed root cultures, Senecio vulgaris and Emilia flammea. C. lachnosema produces dicrotaline (B) and 13-O-acetyldicrotaline (F). The crude alkaloid mixture isolated from this plant was converted wholly into 13-O-acetyldicrotaline, and a full 1H and 13C NMR assignment and conformational analysis of this compound (F) were performed. However all feeding experiments on this plant species failed to show any incorporation of stable isotopes into the alkaloid above natural abundance. Successful feeding experiments were carried out with S. pleistocephalus which produces rosmarinine (G). Deuterium (E) and 13C-13C doubly labelled 2-aminobutanoic acid (D) were incorporated into rosmarinine (G) labelling two pairs of carbon atoms, namely C-13 and C-19 plus the C-20 and C-21 positions and equal labelling was observed in both halves of the acid portion. Senecionine (H) from S. vulgaris was also labelled after feeding experiments with 2- aminobutanoic acid. Again the C-13 and C-19 plus C-20 and C-21 positions were labelled with the amino acid incorporated into both halves of the necic acid equally. The root culture E. flammea produces two alkaloids, senecionine (H) and emiline (I). However in the feeding experiment with 2-aminobutanoic acid, only senecionine and a small amount of its geometrical isomer integerrimine (J) were observed. The labelling patterns for senecionine were the same as previously observed with material isolated from S. vulgaris. [diagram] (e) Formation of Synthanecines Synthanecine A (K) and synthanecine B (L) were prepared using known procedures. These synthanecines were fed to S. vulgaris root cultures, but no new alkaloid analogues could be detected. The use of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions was investigated as a method for the manufacture of synthanecines. The use of trimethylamine N-oxide (M) and lithium diisopropylamide with a variety of alkenes proved unsuccessful. In an alternative procedure N-benzyl-N-(trimethylsilylmethyl)aminomethyl methylether (N) did undergo the desired cycloaddition with diethyl fumarate, and the product was subsequently converted into a novel synthanecine (O).


This paper examines the future water supply situation in Adelaide, a relatively dry city in South Australia, in the driest populated continent on earth. Using the Systems Approach, we analyse a diversified strategy with a new portfolio mix of core bulk water: (i) rainfall independent desalinated water from the ocean and (ii) rainfall dependent water from catchments including the Mount Lofty Ranges (MLR) and water piped from the Murray‐Darling Basin (MDB) including via the Mannum‐Adelaide Pipeline. Our focus is on the quantity, indicative costs and risks of water supply, and associated augmentation choices and trade‐ offs, over the next century to 2114. We model using historically‐based projections of drought risks and growth pressures, reflecting a century of rainfall and catchment inflow data based on historical data obtained from Australian Bureau of Meteorology and SA Water, water services in South Australia. A major finding through our simulations is that demand more than drought is the real and looming source of long term shortages of supply relative to demand. However, short‐term risks differ depending on the composition of the supply portfolio. Expanding dams and pipelines will allow a greater share of MDB water to be accessed, but at substantial drought and political risk. Over the next 100 years demand may nearly treble, but the water volumes and the battles over sharing MDB water, dams and pipelines may remain the same. Thus, it is the gap between demand and supply that, absent desalination plants, will generate increasing water supply crises in Adelaide and elsewhere.


Background : Traffic accident is an important problem which causes mortality every year in Khon Kaen University Campus. Campaigns for helmet-usage has been done, but many students don't use. Some of them complaint about the loss of helmet. Objectives : 1) To determine the rate of helmets loss and the rate of being arrest for riding without wearing the helmet and the financial loss by these problems. Method : Descriptive study was done. The study population comprised of student who owns motorcycle. Subjects were randomly selected by systematic random sampling from the time-location sampling from5 common parking places. Self-administered questionnaire was employed and the in-depth interview was also used in this study. Results : From 350 subjects, 99.1% of them were response, 56.5% were female, and 31% and 28.4% were the first and second year students, respectively.  The engineering student and management science student accounted for 18% and 10.8%, respectively.  About 3.7% of the subjects never own the helmet.  The rate of helmets loss is 0.3987 helmet/person-year (95%CI: 0.4, 0.5) and the rate of being arrested is   0.4 time/ person-year (95%CI: 0.4, 0.5), which cost 165.6 Baht/person-year or 3,949,891.2 Baht for total KKU Students in a year.  Most of the helmets were stolen at the owner's dormitory (26.1%) and at the owner's faculty (25.6%). Most of the students did not know the exact time of the stealing (37.2%), while 28.9% happened in the afternoon. When study the securing the helmets on the day it was stolen, 90% of them were left unlocked at the motorcycles and 3.9% were locked. For prevention of the helmet lost, 66% of the subjects asking the university to build the lockers for the students. Conclusions: Two hemets were stolen and 2 were arrested because of not wearing helmet for each 5 KKU students during on year. Key words :  helmet, loss, KKU, stealing, locker


The acquisition of second language phonology has been commanding researchers' attention in recent years. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to this area with a study on Japanese as a second language. The thesis explores both the development of phonological competence by post-puberty second language learners and the end state of pre-puberty bilingual acquisition. Reviewing the literature on the theoretical aspects of mora, syllables and syllable structure, we see that the mora is distinctive and plays vital role in Japanese phonology. We next look at the acquisition theories proposed in recent years, and adopt a Universal Grammar-based approach. Comparing first, bilingual and second language acquisition, three research hypotheses are presented: 1) the Mora Assignment Hypothesis, 2) L2 phonological Acquisition and Age Onset Hypothesis, and the 3) Quality and Quantity of Input Hypothesis. To test these hypotheses, a study was designed involving 24 bilingual children and adults, and 94 adult L2 learners of Japanese at varying levels of proficiency. The results provide evidence to support all three research hypotheses. First the data show that the both English-dominant bilinguals and second language learners at all levels deleted morae and all but the beginning second language learners added morae in oral and written production tasks, indicating non-native competence with respect to morae. In addition, learners attempt to preserve the overall mora count. Since English is not a mora sensitive language, the mora conservation exhibited here is from their Japanese. The learners, including English-dominant bilinguals, first become sensitive to the mora and only at a later stage assign segments to the correct mora slot. The difference in performance between English-dominant bilinguals and Japanese-dominant bilinguals was such that by the age of eight, those who had spent more years in Japan demonstrated native phonological competence, whereas the English-dominant bilinguals' performance pointed to non-native competence. With respect to the second and third hypotheses, results from the bilinguals indicate that in addition to age of onset, the amount of exposure to a second language must be taken into account as a factor influencing ultimate attainment. The study also reveals strong influence of literacy in both oral and written production of Japanese.


The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effect of different levels of microbial transglutaminase (MTG) (0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%) and Naerithorbate (0.5%) on oxidative stability and microbiological and physicochemical properties of wieners stored at 4 o C for 30 days. Color, pH, texture, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB) counts were determined in wieners during storage period. In addition, cooking loss and sensory analysis were performed in final product. The results showed that there was no difference between wiener groups in terms of pH and cooking loss values. The pH values of wieners increased after heating in all treatment groups except wieners produced with Na-erithorbate which resulted in lower pH (P<0.05). Color analysis of wieners revealed that L* values increased and a* and b* values decreased during storage period (P<0.05). The addition of neither Na-erithorbate nor MTG had any significant effect on color values of wieners. The addition of MTG resulted in an increase in texture values, and this increase was proportional to the amount of MTG used (P<0.05). TBARS values increased in all wiener groups during the storage (P<0.05). The lowest TBARS values at the end of 90 days of storage were obtained in wieners produced with Na-erithorbate (P<0.05). Sensory analysis indicated that samples with 2% of MTG had the highest overall integrity while samples with Na-erithorbate had the lowest one (P<0.05). It was concluded that the use of MTG has no significant effect on oxidative stability, however, the use of MTG improved the textural properties compared to other treatments.


Ingestion of various types of foreign bodies (FBs) such as coins, toy parts, jewelry pieces, needles and pins, fish and chicken bones, and button-type batteries is common among children. The curiosity of children and their need to investigate the world around them place them at a higher risk for ingestion of FBs. Fortunately, 80%-90% of ingested foreign objects that reach the stomach will pass uneventfully without intervention. The remainder may become blocked in the esophagus or other region of the alimentary tract, placing the pediatric patient at risk of significant complications such as aspiration, obstruction, bleeding, perforation, fistulization, sepsis, and death. The goals of the initial pediatric patient assessment are to identify the type of object ingested, its location in the gastrointestinal tract, and the presence of associated complications. Factors reported to increase the risk of complications included a sharp FB, a FB with a wide diameter, and symptoms. Plain radiographs still play an important role in the assessment of ingested FBs in the pediatric patient: plain films of the neck, chest, and abdomen are very useful in confirming the diagnosis of FB ingestion because most ingested FBs are radiopaque.


The experiments reported here indicate that, when exposed to insulin, viable lymphocytes rapidly released into the incubation medium a factor capable of increasing the dextran-induced anaphylactoid reaction, but having no effect on the inflammatory response evoked by 5-HT. This pro-inflammatory factor was shown to be elaborated by cell suspensions derived from lymph nodes of rats, rabbits, pigs or calves as well as from human tonsils. Thymus cells showed no such activity. The pro-inflammatory factor was termed as anaphylactoid-inflammation-promoting factor (AIPF). Its production depended upon the dose of insulin, and the time of exposure. AIPF was found to have an elution pattern in Sephadex G-100 gels similar to that of BSA (67,000 daltons). The activity was abolished by heat or incubation with DNase or a-chymotrypsin, but was not influenced by RNase. AIPF by itself did not induce increased vascular permeability, and proved to be distinct from the permeability factors present in the lysate of lymph node cells.


Aggregated neutrophil extracellular traps resolve gout-associated inflammation by degrading proinflammatory mediators. Gout is a painful inflammatory joint disease that is caused by the deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in joints. In advanced disease, MSU crystals are found in structures called tophi, but whether these are detrimental or beneficial structures is unknown. Schauer et al. found by dual-energy computed tomography that tophi were present during the period of an acute gouty attack and persisted during the symptomatically silent phase of the disease that followed. Tophi in tissue sections from patients contained extracellular DNA and neutrophil elastase, two hallmarks of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Furthermore, there were more cells that had undergone "NETosis" in the synovial fluid from gout patients than that from patients with other forms of arthritis. NETs form at sites of inflammation as neutrophils undergo an oxidative burst, forming net-like structures that trap pathogens and contain enzymes that kill pathogens. In vitro studies with human neutrophils revealed that MSU induced NETosis at low densities of neutrophils and that at higher densities, more typical of those associated with infiltrated tissue, the NETs aggregated. NET aggregation required reactive oxygen species, consistent with the involvement of the neutrophil oxidative burst in this process. Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) patients have a mutation in an enzyme important for the oxidative burst and exhibit persistent inflammation; mice with a mutation in Ncf1 (Ncf1**) are a model of this disease. After injection of MSU into air pouches, wild-type mice formed more aggregated NETs and Ncf1** mice produced greater amounts of proinflammatory cytokines, a response that was reduced by adoptive transfer of aggregated NETs into the air pouch. The Ncf1** mice also exhibited prolonged paw edema upon injection of MSU into the footpad. In vitro, low-density human neutrophil cultures exposed to MSU had higher concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines than did high-density cultures that formed aggregated NETs. Instead, anti-inflammatory mediators were abundant in isolated aggregated NETs. Cytokines or chemokines added to isolated aggregated NETs exhibited a time-dependent decrease in abundance. Proinflammatory mediators were also degraded when added to cell pellets of neutrophils exposed to MSU from healthy patients; this degradation was reduced in pellets from patients with CGD. Proinflammatory mediators were degraded by neutrophil elastase and serine proteases in MSU-induced aggregated NETs. Thus, whereas neutrophils that have undergone NETosis and formed NETs contribute to the inflammatory response, aggregated NETs are involved in resolution of inflammation. C. Schauer, C. Janko, L. F. Munoz, Y. Zhao, D. Kienhöfer, B. Frey, M. Lill, B. Manger, J. Rech, E. Naschberger, R. Holmdahl, V. Krenn, T. Harrer, I. Jeremic, R. Bilyy, G. Schett, M. Hoffmann, M. Herrmann, Aggregated neutrophil extracellular traps limit inflammation by degrading cytokines and chemokines. Nat. Med. 20, 511–517 (2014). [PubMed]


ABSTRACT Ants use both terrestrial landmarks and celestial cues to navigate to and from their nest location. These cues persist even as light levels drop during the twilight/night. Here, we determined the compass cues used by a nocturnal bull ant, Myrmecia midas, in which the majority of individuals begin foraging during the evening twilight period. Myrmecia midas foragers with vectors of ≤5 m when displaced to unfamiliar locations did not follow the home vector, but instead showed random heading directions. Foragers with larger home vectors (≥10 m) oriented towards the fictive nest, indicating a possible increase in cue strength with vector length. When the ants were displaced locally to create a conflict between the home direction indicated by the path integrator and terrestrial landmarks, foragers oriented using landmark information exclusively and ignored any accumulated home vector regardless of vector length. When the visual landmarks at the local displacement site were blocked, foragers were unable to orient to the nest direction and their heading directions were randomly distributed. Myrmecia midas ants typically nest at the base of the tree and some individuals forage on the same tree. Foragers collected on the nest tree during evening twilight were unable to orient towards the nest after small lateral displacements away from the nest. This suggests the possibility of high tree fidelity and an inability to extrapolate landmark compass cues from information collected on the tree and at the nest site to close displacement sites. Summary: The nocturnal bull ant, Myrmecia midas, uses multiple cues to navigate and appears to rely heavily on landmark information for navigation.


This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology, ICHIT 2012, held in Daejeon, Korea, in August 2012. The 94 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 196 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on communications and networking; HCI and virtual reality; image processing and pattern recognition; hardware design and applications; computational biology and medical information; data mining and information retrieval; security and safety system; software engineering; workshop on advanced smart convergence (IWASC)


The search for a logic which captures polynomial time is one of the most important challenges in finite model theory. During the last years, significant new insights were obtained by the systematic study of the descriptive complexity of queries from (linear) algebra. These investigations were initiated in 2007 by a striking result of Atserias, Bulatov, and Dawar, who showed that fixed-point logic with counting (FPC) cannot define the solvability of linear equation systems over finite Abelian groups. Their result triggered the development of new candidates for capturing polynomial time, for instance of rank logic (FPR), which was introduced by Dawar, Grohe, Holm, and Laubner in 2009. Before that, only few other candidates had been proposed, of which certainly the most important one is Choiceless Polynomial Time (CPT), developed by Blass, Gurevich, and Shelah in 1999. This thesis continues the search for a logic capturing polynomial time in the light of the following leading questions. (I) How can the algorithmic principles for solving linear equation systems be captured by logical mechanisms (such as operators or quantifiers)? (II) Are there interesting classes of structures on which the solvability of linear equations systems can be used to capture polynomial time? Ad (I), we study in Chapter 3 the inter-definability of linear equation systems over finite Abelian groups, rings, and modules. Our aim is to transform linear equation systems over these algebraic domains into equivalent linear equation systems over simpler domains, such as fields, or cyclic groups, via a reduction which is definable in fixed-point logic. For linear equation systems over ordered Abelian groups, rings, and modules, and also for certain interesting classes of unordered commutative rings, we obtain a reduction to cyclic groups. Moreover, we establish a reduction to commutative rings for the general case. In Chapter 4, we study rank logic (FPR), which extends FPC by operators to compute the rank of definable matrices over finite fields. Our main result validates a conjecture of Dawar and Holm: rank operators over different prime fields have incomparable expressive power. An important consequence is that rank logic, in the original definition with a distinct rank operator for every prime, fails to capture polynomial time, and should be replaced by a more powerful version with a uniform rank operator. We further show that, in the absence of counting, solvability quantifiers are weaker than rank operators. Ad (II), we introduce in Chapter 5 a class of linear equation systems, so called cyclic linear equation systems, which are structurally simple, but general enough to describe the Cai-Fürer-Immerman query, and thus separate FPC from polynomial time. Our main result is that CPT can express the solvability of cyclic linear equation systems. In Chapter 6, we use this definability result to show that CPT captures polynomial time on structures with Abelian colours, a class containing many of the known queries which separate FPC from polynomial time. Our result further solves an open question of Blass, Gurevich, and Shelah: the isomorphism problem for multipedes is definable in CPT.


This paper investigates how firms adapt their innovation strategies to cope with constraints in national institutional environments. It is a comparative case study of Dutch and British dedicated biotechnology firms focusing on a particular type of strategy, the hybrid model. Patterns of skill accumulation and learning present in the Dutch hybrids are indications of how they use institutional advantages to focus on low-risk innovation and build deeper competences while also pursuing high-risk innovation strategies. The Dutch hybrid offers insight into how firms comply with the dominant logic of the biotechnology field even when their institutional frameworks encourage the pursuit of low-risk innovation strategies.


This study investigated the microbiology in landfill leachate sludge for biological H2 production. This sludge originated from sanitary landfill, hence the microbial community which survived in the sludge may have unique H2-producing features. The landfill leachate sludge was pretreated at different temperatures and landfill leachate sludge pretreated at 65 oC revealed the maximum H2 yield of 6.43 ± 0.16 mol H2/mol glucose under the optimum conditions of 37oC and pH 6. This new record of high H2 has exceeded the conventional theoretical yield of 4 mol H2/ mol glucose. Under the same optimum condition (37oC and pH 6), the H2 produced from dairy wastewater was 113.2 ± 2.9 mmol H2/g COD (12.8 ± 0.3 mmol H2/g carb.). The H2 productions from glucose and wastewater were thermodynamically favourable with the Gibb's free energy of –34 and –40 kJ/mol, respectively. The microbial community was successfully revealed by 16S-rRNA Metagenomics using Illumin Miseq. Sludge pretreated at 65 oC was revealed to contain 98% of H2-producing bacteria which mainly belong to the genera Clostridium, Bacillus, Eubacterium and Sporacetigenium. In comparison, untreated sludge which contained mainly H2-consuming bacteria including genera Pseudomonas, Sulfurimonas and Treponema. The sludge pretreatment has successfully eliminated H2-consuming bacteria and enriched H2-producing bacteria which in turn improved H2 yield up to 53%. Three H2-producing bacteria were successfully isolated and identified as Clostridium perfringens strain JJC (AWRZ00000000), C. bifermentans strain WYM (AVSU00000000) and Clostridium sp. strain Ade.TY (AVSV00000000). Based on multiple genome alignment, Clostridium sp. strain Ade.TY is likely to be a new H2-producing species as it does not aligned to the genome of its closest neighbour. The batch mode optimization showed that the maximum H2 production attained from these isolates are in the descending order of C. perfringens strain JJC > C. bifermentans strain WYM > Clostridium sp. strain Ade.TY with yield of 4.68 ± 0.12, 3.29 ± 0.11, 2.87 ± 0.10 mol H2/ mol glucose, respectively. This shows that C. perfringens strain JJC could convert substrates to H2 more efficiently as compared to the others. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the H2 yield from single H2-producing bacterium was less efficient as compared to the performance of H2 production using landfill leachate sludge as inoculum. In summary, landfill leachate sludge contains functional microbial community for efficient H2 production with good potential in industrial application.


Abstract River modifications have had detrimental effects on biota that depend on river systems; therefore, information is needed to understand these effects and direct management efforts. Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are important recreationally, commercially, and ecologically in the Middle Mississippi River (MMR), but few studies have examined their habitat requirements, and food habits have not been evaluated in the MMR. Information about habitat use and food habits could help direct management efforts for channel catfish. To more thoroughly understand the synergistic relation between channel catfish and the associated habitat, we used data from the United States Army Corps of Engineer's Long-Term Resource Monitoring Program to evaluate channel catfish use of large-scale river features (i.e., macrohabitats) and more fine scale mesohabitats (i.e., substrate type, depth, and velocity). Stomach contents from channel catfish were identified and quantified to determine the relative importance of specific prey items in diets. Channel catfish presence was positively affected by current but negatively affected by depth. Off-channel habitats appeared more suitable for channel catfish. In terms of food habits, Cambaridae, fish, and vegetation were most frequently found in the diet, but a variety of other food items were consumed. Conserving premodification habitat characteristics, such as open side channels, shallow sandbars, and seasonally inundated floodplains, as well as habitats with high forage productivity, should help to sustain a stable population of channel catfish in the MMR. Future studies could examine the tenets of the optimal foraging theory within these habitats to determine the mechanisms regulating channel catfish habitat use and prey selection.


Accumulating evidence suggests that physical activity improves explicit memory and executive cognitive functioning at the extreme ends of the lifespan (i.e., in older adults and children). However, it is unknown whether these associations hold for younger adults who are considered to be in their cognitive prime, or for implicit cognitive functions that do not depend on motor sequencing. Here we report the results of a study in which we examine the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and (1) explicit relational memory, (2) executive control, and (3) implicit probabilistic sequence learning in a sample of healthy, college-aged adults. The main finding was that physical activity was positively associated with explicit relational memory and executive control (replicating previous research), but negatively associated with implicit learning, particularly in females. These results raise the intriguing possibility that physical activity upregulates some cognitive processes, but downregulates others. Possible implications of this pattern of results for physical health and health habits are discussed.


Three different metal–organic frameworks, [Zn5(L)4(H2tpim)2(FA)4(H2O)2]n (1), [Zn(L)(Htpim)]n (2) and [Zn(L)(Htpim)]n (3) (HFA = formic acid), have been synthesized in a one-pot solvothermal reaction of Zn(NO3)2·6H2O, 5-nitroisophthalic acid (H2L), and 2,4,5-tri(4-pyridyl)-imidazole (Htpim). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses reveal that compound 1 is a double layer 2D {4·6·72·8·9}{4·6·8}3{6·7·9}2{72·10} topology network because of the existence of FA. In contrast, 2 displays an irregular 2D (44) topology, while 3 exhibits a 2D parallelogrammic (44) topology net built by symmetrical L and Htpim ligands in an up and down mode with binuclear [Zn2(COO)2] units. As far as the ratios of Zn/L/Htpim are concerned, 2 and 3 can be considered as isomers. The thermal stabilities, luminescence properties, selective fluorescence sensing and photocatalytic activities of 1–3 were also investigated. They all display high sensitivity as fluorescent sensors in the detection of acetone (ACE). Moreover, 1–3 exhibit relatively good photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of rhodamine B in aqueous solution under UV irradiation.


This paper investigates posterior sampling algorithms for competitive reinforcement learning (RL) in the context of general function approximations. Focusing on zero-sum Markov games (MGs) under two critical settings, namely self-play and adversarial learning, we first propose the self-play and adversarial generalized eluder coefficient (GEC) as complexity measures for function approximation, capturing the exploration-exploitation trade-off in MGs. Based on self-play GEC, we propose a model-based self-play posterior sampling method to control both players to learn Nash equilibrium, which can successfully handle the partial observability of states. Furthermore, we identify a set of partially observable MG models fitting MG learning with the adversarial policies of the opponent. Incorporating the adversarial GEC, we propose a model-based posterior sampling method for learning adversarial MG with potential partial observability. We further provide low regret bounds for proposed algorithms that can scale sublinearly with the proposed GEC and the number of episodes $T$. To the best of our knowledge, we for the first time develop generic model-based posterior sampling algorithms for competitive RL that can be applied to a majority of tractable zero-sum MG classes in both fully observable and partially observable MGs with self-play and adversarial learning.


Based on a graphical and statistical analysis of 1993 survey data, this article shows that educational inequalities among black school-age children were substantial and systematically associated with socio-economic status. Children of more affluent, better educated and metropolitan parents progressed better in schools, thus attaining higher levels of education, and also outperformed others who had progressed as far in terms of cognitive outcomes (measured by literacy and numeracy test scores). Thus, educational inequalities may become enduring, as the ability to benefit from education is usually transmitted across generations (better educated individuals obtain better jobs, and their children are again better educated). The abysmal educational quality of the largest part of the school system therefore has to be improved drastically, to allow poor children to overcome their socio-economic deficits and to benefit from education.


Abstract Objective: To review the surgical anatomy of the hypoglossal nerve in the neck, analyse its relationship to surrounding structures and offer landmarks to identify the nerve during carotid endarterectomy. Method: The carotid bifurcation, external carotid artery, internal carotid artery, extracranial part of the hypoglossal nerve, occipital artery, sternocleidomastoid artery and surrounding neurovascular structures were dissected and studied on 15 formalin-fixed adult cadaver heads (30 sides and 15 pairs) via a surgical microscope. Landmarks for the hypoglossal nerve and measurements of its distance from the carotid bifurcation are described. The relationship between the sternocleidomastoid artery and the occipital artery is also described. Results: The distance from the carotid bifurcation to the point at which the hypoglossal nerve crosses over the internal carotid artery was variable, ranging from 3.89 to 37.03 mm (mean, 20.95 ± 7.78 mm). The distance from the bifurcation to the point at which the hypoglossal nerve crosses over the external carotid artery ranged from 2.63 to 29.43 mm (mean, 15.33 ± 7.86 mm; Table 1). The sternocleidomastoid artery had a very characteristic course and close relationship with the hypoglossal nerve. Ascending for a short distance in a cranial direction, it crossed over the hypoglossal nerve and then descended toward the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The sternocleidomastoid artery originated from the occipital artery (33.4%), the external carotid artery–internal carotid artery junction (30%), the external carotid artery itself (30%) or even the lingual artery (6.6%). Conclusion: The relationship between the hypoglossal nerve and the carotid bifurcation is quite variable, and this explains the vulnerability of the nerve during carotid endarterectomy. The sternocleidomastoid artery is a good landmark for identifying the hypoglossal nerve. If there is exact anatomical knowledge about the relationship between the sternocleidomastoid artery and the hypoglossal nerve, the incidence of nerve injuries during carotid endarterectomy can be minimized.


Consider Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the droid C3PO from Star Wars, or the Replicants that appear in Bladerunner: They can use language (or many languages), they are rational, they form relationships, they use language that suggests that they have a concept of self, and even language that suggests that they have "feelings" or emotional experience. In the films and TV shows that they appear, they are depicted as having frequent social interaction with human beings; but would we have any moral obligations to such a being if they really existed? What would we be permitted to do or not to do to them? On the one hand, a robot like Data has many of the attributes that we currently associate with a person. On the other hand, he has many of the attributes of the machines that we currently use as tools. He (and other science-fiction machines like him) closely resembles one of the things we value the most (a person), and at the same time, one of the things we value the least (an artefact), leading to an apparent ethical paradox. What is its solution?


Diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton and micronekton is widespread in the ocean and forms a fundamental component of the biological pump, but is generally overlooked in global models of the Earth system. We develop a parameterization of DVM in the ocean and integrate it with a size‐structured NPZD model. We assess the model's ability to recreate ecosystem and DVM patterns at three well‐observed Pacific sites, ALOHA, K2, and EQPAC, and use it to estimate the impact of DVM on marine ecosystems and biogeochemical dynamics. Our model includes the following: (1) a representation of migration dynamics in response to food availability and light intensity; (2) a representation of the digestive and metabolic processes that decouple zooplankton feeding from excretion, egestion, and respiration; and (3) a light‐dependent parameterization of visual predation on zooplankton. The model captures the first‐order patterns in plankton biomass and productivity across the biomes, including the biomass of migrating organisms. We estimate that realistic migratory populations sustain active fluxes to the mesopelagic zone equivalent to between 15% and 40% of the particle export and contribute up to half of the total respiration within the layers affected by migration. The localized active transport has important consequences for the cycling of oxygen, nutrients, and carbon. We highlight the importance of decoupling zooplankton feeding and respiration and excretion with depth for capturing the impact of migration on the redistribution of carbon and nutrients in the upper ocean.


Atomic structure and morphology of 6H-SiC(0001) and 3C-SiC(100) surfaces are studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), synchrotron radiation-based !-spot x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (!-spot XPS) and low energy electron microscopy (LEEM). STM shows very high quality Si-rich 6H-SiC(0001) 3x3 surfaces with less than 2% of atomic defects. Si removal upon annealing leads to atomic crack defects formation with a novel 2"3x2"3-R30° reconstruction coexisting with few 3x3 domains having no crack, suggesting important stress relief during the phase transition. LEEM also shows cracks formation on cubic 3C-SiC(100) surfaces and gives insights about surface morphology with large faceting and mesa (!m) formation. These defect fractures developing upon Si removal are likely to be also generated during initial oxidation since the initial oxygen interaction tends to relieve surface strain on SiC in contrast to Si surfaces. These atomic crack defects could be related to the interface electronic states recurrent at SiO2/SiC interfaces.


The aim of this study was to identify and characterize family caregivers' conceptions of usage of and information on products, technology, and Web-based services when caring at home for next of kin aged over 65 years. A phenomenographic method with semi-structured interviews with ten family caregivers was used. The results show that the family caregivers considered products and technology to be essential for an active life, and they stressed both facilitators for and hindrances to their optimal usage. The family caregivers apprehended a lack of information regarding products, technology and Web-based services, and additionally showed limited interest in using Web-based services. There is a need for better information about the existing availability and for improvement in follow-up regarding prescriptions given. Therefore, it is necessary to involve family caregivers in the prescription and decision process in line with their wishes, since this to a highly degree influences their possibility to take care of their next of kin at home.


Whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype B is the major pest of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Brazil and other countries. Host plant resistance is one of the cornerstones of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and assessment of cultivars for insect resistance is fundamental to provide farmers options for pest control. This study evaluated common bean resistance to whitefly in the winter and rainy seasons in Jaboticabal, Brazil, and correlated the infestation with climatic factors. The plant part and development period of common bean that are more susceptible to whitefly infestation were also examined for potential use in IPM. Field experiments were carried out using 18 and 19 commercial cultivars in the winter and rainy seasons, respectively. Whitefly eggs, nymphs, and adults in the upper part and lower part of plants were sampled from 25 to 60 days after emergence (DAE). Cultivars IAC-Una and IAC-Eldorado had less oviposition and the former also showed lower adult infestation in the winter season. In the rainy season, cultivars IAPAR-81 and Guará had a smaller number of eggs, whereas IAC-Centauro was less infested by nymphs. The number of nymphs and adults was similar among cultivars in the winter and rainy seasons, respectively. The upper part of plants had a greater number of eggs and adults, while, the lower part harbored larger numbers of nymphs. Common bean was more susceptible to whitefly at 25-32 DAE in both seasons. These results add useful information to IPM of whitefly in common bean.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate effects of a high dose of methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) on function of polymorphonuclear neutrophilic leukocytes (PMNs) in dogs.

ANIMALS
7 healthy male Beagles (body weight, 10.5 to 15 kg; age, 2 to 4 years).

PROCEDURES
All dogs were treated by IV administration of a high dose of MPSS (30 mg/kg). Additional doses of MPSS (15 mg/kg) were administered IV at 2 and 6 hours and then at 6-hour intervals until 48 hours after the initial dose. Blood samples were collected before and 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14 days after completion of the MPSS administrations and used for evaluation of PMN functions. Isolated PMNs were used for assessment of functions, such as adhesion, migration, phagocytosis, and oxidative burst.

RESULTS
On days 1, 2, and 4 after completion of MPSS administration, there was a decrease in PMN expression of adhesion markers such as CD11b and CD18. There was a decrease in the phagocytotic ability of PMNs on days 1, 2, and 7 after completion of MPSS administration, with a reduction in the oxidative burst of PMNs detected on day 7. No significant changes were identified for migration. All functional changes returned to their pretreatment values by 14 days after completion of MPSS treatment.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Treatment with a high dose of MPSS suppressed PMN functions in dogs. Analysis of these results suggested that treatment with a high dose of MPSS can suppress some of the major functions of PMNs for at least 7 days.


Unevenly distributed resources and rising costs have become enduring problems in the American health care system. Health care is more expensive in the United States than in other wealthy nations, and access varies significantly across space and social classes. James A. Schafer Jr. shows that these problems are not inevitable features of modern medicine, but instead reflect the informal organization of health care in a free market system in which profit and demand, rather than social welfare and public health needs, direct the distribution and cost of crucial resources. The Business of Private Medical Practice is a case study of how market forces influenced the office locations and career paths of doctors in one early twentieth-century city, Philadelphia, the birthplace of American medicine. Without financial incentives to locate in poor neighbourhoods, Philadelphia doctors instead clustered in central business districts and wealthy suburbs. In order to differentiate their services in a competitive marketplace, they also began to limit their practices to particular specialties, thereby further restricting access to primary care. Such trends worsened with ongoing urbanization. Illustrated with numerous maps of the Philadelphia neighbourhoods he studies, Schafer's work helps underscore the role of economic self-interest in shaping the geography of private medical practice and the growth of medical specialization in the United States.


Purpose:  To compare the short-term efficacy and safety of intraocular Ranibizumab and Bevacizumab in patients with treatment Naïve macular edema.
Study Design:  Quasi experimental study.
Place and Duration of Study:  Amanat Eye Hospital, from August 2018 to November 2019.
Methods:  Patients with macular edema confirmed with optical coherence tomography (OCT) or leakage on fluorescein angiography were included. Patients with NVE, PDR without macular edema and patients who switched to alternative anti-VEGF compounds prior to the completion of three consecutive monthly injections of their respective anti-VEGF or switched to other treatment options were excluded from the study. A thorough clinical examination was conducted including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA, intraocular pressure (IOP), anterior and posterior segment examination and OCT macula. The patients were then allocated to one of the two study arms (either Bevacizumab or Ranibizumab) based on the doctor's input and patient affordability. All patients underwent three consecutive injections of the selected molecule at one month intervals. BCVA, CRT and macular volume were then recorded 04 weeks after the third injection.
Results:  A statistically significant mean vision gain was observed from baseline in both groups (p < 0.05). However, the change in BCVA was not significantly different between intravitreal Bevacizumab group and intravitreal Ranibizumab group (p > 0.05). Similarly, although there was improvement in CRT and macular volume in both groups but there was no statistically significant difference between the two.
Conclusions:  Treatment with intravitreal Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab injections cause statistically similar anatomical and functional results in cases of treatment naïve macular edema.
Key Words:  Bevacizumab, Ranibizumab, Macular Edema, Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, Retinal Vein Occlusion.


Wireless communications can leverage UAVs to provide ubiquitous connectivity to different device types. Recently, integrating UAVs into a macro cell network is drawing unprecedented interest for supplementing terrestrial cellular networks. Compared with communications with fixed infrastructure, a UAV has salient attributes, such as easy-to-deploy, higher capacity due to dominant LoS communication links, and additional design degree-of-freedom with the controlled mobility. While UAV communication offers numerous benefits, it also faces security challenges due to the broadcasting nature of the wireless medium. Thus, information security is one of the fundamental requirements. In this article, we first consider two application cases of UAVs (i.e., a UAV as a flying base station and a UAV as an aerial node) in conjunction with safeguarding the exchange of confidential messages. Then, we demonstrate physical layer security mechanisms via two case studies to ensure security, and numerically show superior performance gains. Finally, we shed light on new opportunities in the emerging network architecture that can serve as a guide for future research directions.


Quantummetrology holds the promise of an early practical application of quantum technologies, in whichmeasurements of physical quantities can be made with much greater precision than what is achievable with classical technologies. In this review, we collect some of the key theoretical results in quantum parameter estimation by presenting the theory for the quantum estimation of a single parameter, multiple parameters, and optical estimation using Gaussian states. We give an overview of results in areas of current research interest, such as Bayesian quantum estimation, noisy quantum metrology, and distributed quantum sensing. We address the question how minimum measurement errors can be achieved using entanglement as well as more general quantum states. This review is presented from a geometric perspective. This has the advantage that it unifies a wide variety of estimation procedures and strategies, thus providing a more intuitive big picture of quantum parameter estimation.


: A collaborative study was conducted to compare the International Dairy Federation (IDF)/International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) proposed methods for the determination of chloride and citrate in processed cheese with the corresponding current AOAC methods. Since there is no current AOAC method for phosphate, only the IDF/ISO/AOAC method was used. Five samples of processed cheese were prepared with varying added amounts of the anions of interest. The samples were analyzed in duplicate by 7 collaborating laboratories. For chloride, both methods are comparable, but since the IDF/ISO/AOAC method is simpler and faster it has been adopted as official first action to replace the current AOAC method, 16.224. For citrate, the colorimetric IDF/ISO/AOAC method is more rapid and simpler than the current AOAC gravimetric method. However, the AOAC method is more precise. Therefore, the proposed method has been adopted as official first action as an alternative to 16.237. For phosphate, 2 of the 7 laboratories were outliers by the Youden ranking test but the results by the remaining laboratories appear satisfactory. The phosphate method should receive further study to reduce the between-laboratory error component.


This paper aims to investigate if the legislation will allow the production of energy from winery by-products and how this can contribute to multifunctionality of the wine makers' income. A medium size winery was selected and an anaerobic digestor process was simulated using the company's data. The main methods of financial evaluation were studied to create information to see if the project concepts were valid. The results highlight the positive level of earnings that the project will generate due to the high level of methane included in the pressings that could be transformed in energy, the short period needed for obtaining methane and the recent substantial level of government support both in Green Certificates and financing of the initial cost of the investments.


The present study examined the effect of three methods of preparation on the properties and catalytic performance of Cu-Mn/SiO2 catalysts for the water gas shift reaction (WGSR). Impregnation and coprecipitation and the new approach of thermal decomposition of [Cu(H2O)6][Mn(dipic)2].2H2O/SiO2 inorganic precursor complex were used for the synthesis of the silica-supported copper-manganese mixed oxide catalysts. The calcined catalysts and the precursors used for their preparation were characterized by XRD, SEM, BET, TGA, DSC, and FTIR spectroscopy. The WGSR was assessed at 180 to 320 °C. The results showed that thermal decomposition of inorganic precursor complex is more convenient than impregnation and coprecipitation for preparing active and stable Cu-Mn/SiO2 catalysts for the WGSR.


Abstract : ISO/IEC 12207 provides a common framework for developing and managing software. IEEE/EIA 12207.0 consists of the clarifications, additions, and changes accepted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) as formulated by a joint project of the two organizations. IEEE/EIA 12207.0 contain concepts and guidelines to foster better understanding and application of the standard. Thus this standard provides industry a basis for software practices that would be useable for both national and international business.


Widespread intentional or unintentional software plagiarisms have posed serious threats to the healthy development of software industry. In order to detect such evolving software plagiarism, software dynamic birthmark techniques of better anti-obfuscation ability serve as one of the most promising methods. However, due to the perturbation caused by non-deterministic thread scheduling in multi-threaded programs, existing dynamic approaches optimized for sequential programs may suffer from the randomness in multi-threaded program plagiarism detection. Some thread-aware birthmarking methods have been then proposed to address this issue, which nevertheless largely rely on manual feature engineering and empirical observations without any ground-truth training, and thus require domain knowledge, making them inflexible to be deployed in the wild. Inspired by the success of self-guided optimization using deep neural networks and their superior feature learning ability, in this article, we transform multiple execution traces for each multi-threaded program under a specified input to the plain feature matrix, and feed it to the deep learning framework to learn latent representation as thread-aware birthmark that enjoys better semantic richness and perturbation resistance; instead of empirically determining the plagiarism over direct birthmark similarity metric, we further build up sophisticated siamese neural networks to supervise birthmark construction, similarity measurement, and decision making. Integrating our proposed method, a system called NeurMPD is developed to perform Neural network-based Multi-threaded program Plagiarism Detection. The experimental results based on a public software plagiarism sample set demonstrate that NeurMPD copes better with multi-threaded plagiarism detection than alternative approaches.


When the spores of filamentous fungi break dormancy, nuclear division is accompanied by a series of ordered morphological events including the switch from isotropic to polar growth, the emergence of a second germ tube from the conidium and septation. Correlation of these morphological events with nuclear number allows them to serve as duplication cycle landmarks. Early duplication cycle landmarks have been characterized in Aspergillus nidulans, but not in other filamentous fungi. To learn more about duplication cycle control in filamentous fungi, a study was undertaken to compare the timing of landmarks in Aspergillus fumigatus and A. nidulans. Nuclear duplication took approximately 45 min in A. fumigatus, with mitosis occupying roughly 5% of this period. Under the same conditions, nuclear duplication in A. nidulans took approximately 60 min, with mitosis occupying roughly 4% of this period. In A. fumigatus the isotropic to polar switch preceded the first mitosis in 22% of cells, while in A. nidulans the isotropic to polar switch did not occur until after the first mitosis. In both A. fumigatus and A. nidulans the earliest emergence of a second germ tube from the conidium occurred after the third mitotic division. However, by the fifth mitosis only 19% of A. fumigatus conidia had a second germ tube, compared to 98% of A. nidulans conidia. In both A. fumigatus and A. nidulans, formation of the first septum occurred after the fourth mitotic division. In all experiments a few cells lagged behind the others in nuclear number. In this delayed group, it was common to see landmark events at an earlier mitotic division. Differences in nuclear number when identical landmarks occur in A. fumigatus versus A. nidulans, and uncoupling of mitotic division and landmarks in delayed cells suggest that nuclear division and morphogenesis lie in parallel pathways, perhaps coordinated by checkpoints.


Background: Severe MTX (methotrexate) toxicity due to low dose MTX used in rheumatic diseases is rare but linked with a high mortality ranging from 13 to 44%. We analyzed 22 cases with a minimum toxicity of CTC (common toxicity criteria) grade 2, that were admitted to our hospital. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed epidemiological data, the weekly MTX dosage, renal function before and at the beginning of the adverse event, co-medication with influence on MTX toxicity or on renal function and potential other co-factors like infections, as well as the outcome, respectively. Results: 22 patients were involved in the study. Three patients died due to pneumonia, all other patients recovered. The main reason for toxicity was an impaired renal function (82%), either from acute renal failure or from acute on chronic renal failure or chronic renal disease stage 4. In 5 cases a dosing error, mainly with daily instead of weekly MTX intake, was the reason. Only in one case the reason remains unclear. Discussion: An impaired renal function with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 11-54 ml/min was the main cause for MTX toxicity with dosage errors being the second numerous reasons. Our data are in accordance with previous case series, but the influence of reduced renal function is still higher than in the most reports. One reason might be that most case series took only into account the serum creatinine but not a calculated GFR. Serum creatinine alone underestimates the stage of renal failure in patients with lower muscle mass.


Six acylation reagents have been compared for their derivatisation potential towards nine synthetic cathinones by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The evaluated reagents were pentafluoropropionic anhydride (PFPA), trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFA), chlorodifluoroacetic anhydride (CLF2AA), heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA), acetic anhydride (AA) and propionic anhydride (PA). The synthetic cathinones included flephedrone (4-fluoromethcathinone or 4-FMC), mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone or 4-MMC), pentedrone (also known as a-methylamino-valerophenone), methedrone (4-methoxy-N-methcathinone, pmethoxymethcathinone), methylone (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylcathinone or bk-MDMA), butylone (bketo-N-methylbenzodioxolylbutanamine or bk-MBDB), ethylone (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylcathinone MDEC or bk-MDEA), pyrovalerone (4-methyl-b-keto-prolintane) and 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). The derivatizing agents were optimised for incubation time and temperature with some important validation parameters studied to evaluate derivatisation reactions. The anhydrides studied proved to be suitable for synthetic cathinones – all of them showing RSD and accuracy below 20%. PFPA and HFBA followed by TFA are the best choice of derivatising agents based on validation parameters. Five internal standards were evaluated with good results. Three way ANOVA, interference, fragmentation patterns and high peak area values at a concentration of 0.50 mg ml 1 were evaluated and discussed. AA and PA derivatives give high relative abundance for most drugs examined. HFBA gives more ions and multi-fragmentation patterns.


Latina/os are members of the largest and also one of the fastest growing minority groups in the United States. However, they are disproportionately underrepresented in more highly compensated professional and leadership roles across corporate America. Recognizing the importance of cultural variables in their career development, this article advances a theoretical framework of how outcomes associated with the Latina/o acculturation–enculturation process may factor into different aspects of their career success. While Latina/os may encounter acculturative stressors in their careers as a result of their experiences with this process, many are well adapted and thrive due to the positive influence of bicultural supports, which can serve as a protective factor and provide positive career-related resources that facilitate Latina/o professionals' objective and subjective career success. Through this lens, we offer important insight on how these cultural factors can help Latina/o professionals bridge the cultural divide of their corporate American workplaces.