Supply-regulated phase-locked loops rely upon the VCO voltage regulator to maintain a low sensitivity to supply noise and hence low overall jitter. By analyzing regulator supply rejection, we show that in order to simultaneously meet the bandwidth and low dropout requirements, previous regulator implementations used in supply-regulated PLLs suffer from unfavorable tradeoffs between power supply rejection and power consumption. We therefore propose a compensation technique that places the regulator's amplifier in a local replica feedback loop, stabilizing the regulator by increasing the amplifier bandwidth while lowering its gain. Even though the forward gain of the amplifier is reduced, supply noise affects the replica output in addition to the actual output, and therefore the amplifier's gain to reject supply noise is effectively restored. Analysis shows that for reasonable mismatch between the replica and actual loads, regulator performance is uncompromised, and experimental results from a 90 nm SOI test chip confirm that with the same power consumption, the proposed regulator achieves at least 4 dB higher supply rejection than the previous regulator design. Furthermore, simulations show that if not for other supply rejection-limiting components in the PLL, the supply rejection improvement of the proposed regulator is greater than 15 dB.


Abstract A coherent polarization-diversity (dual channel) radar can be used to obtain spectral functions analogous to the four parameters derived from a noncoherent polarization-diversity radar. Formulations for the two power spectra and the cross spectrum are developed theoretically, and their interpretation is illustrated by model calculations. Analytical results include the derivation of raindrop size distributions, separation of Doppler velocity components due to air velocity and raindrop fallspeed, and improved identification of hail in rain. Effects of turbulence are illustrated and propagation effects are discussed briefly. The coherent polarization-diversity radar has potential value for a wide variety of research areas, including weather modification, severe storms, precipitation microphysics and electromagnetic propagation.


Concrete reinforcement with fibers is undergoing findings in order to manufacture concrete with low cost but improve mechanical and microstructural properties. Chicken feather fiber(CFF) possesses characteristics, which can improve the mechanical and microstructural properties of the concrete. Concrete is a brittle material with no tension. In this study, samples A (control sample), B1 and C1 constitute of 0%, 1% and 3% by weight of CFF while B and C constitute of 0.5% and 1.5% equal proportion of CFF and Synthetic hair fiber(SHF) respectively. Concrete with CFF and CFF/SHF composites were tested to determine water absorption (WA), thickness swelling (TS), compressive strength (CS) and splitting tensile strength (STS) between 7 to 28 days of curing. Results of WA of concrete increased after 28 days to 10.01%, 12.52% and 23.11% for samples A, B1, C1 and 11.83% and 17.67% for samples B and C respectively. Similarly, TS increased after 28 days to 0.13%, 0.22% and 0.32% for samples A, B1and C1 and for samples B and C it remains stable at 0.25%., respectively. CS of samples A and B1 increased with curing days to values of 20.66 MPa and 9.36 MPa, respectively. However, for samples C1, B and C it decreased to 3.74 MPa, 9.98 MPa and 4.29 MPa. STS of A, B1 and C1 increased with curing days with values of 13.94 MPa, 8.91 MPa and 2.26 MPa respectively while samples B and C decreased with curing days with values of 5.43 MPa and 2.39 MPa respectively, after 7 days. Results of SEM deduced that CFF improves the ductility of ICBs but increased in the proportion resulted in reduction of the STS of the concrete. Similarly, SHF offers higher CS but also serves the purpose of reduction in micro cracking and increasing structural stability.


We develop a general theory of birefringence and dichroism to account for the optical (and electrical) anisotropy exhibited by the refractive indices and attenuation coefficients of biological tissues or of composites of aligned particles. The primary bases for dichroism are the same as we considered before for birefringence (i.e., anisotropic parameters of the particles and of the embedding medium, and anisotropic shapes of the particle and configurational-correlation surfaces), but now the particle parameters are complex to include energy losses. The present birefringent effects are therefore more varied than those considered earlier, and the associated dichroic effects also depend on the refractive and absorbtive properties of the particles. Because the attenuation includes both absorption and scattering losses, scattering dichroism determined by particle shape and configurational fluctuations may be physically significant even if the particles are nonabsorbing and their refractivity is isotropic. The general theory, applied to phenomena involving both dichroism and birefringence, may account for some reported anomalies. We show, for example, that the presence of absorption in birefrigence measurements in which the base index is varied could be misinterpreted as intrinsic birefringence.


AIS is three-dimensional spinal deformity with unclear etiopathogenesis. LBX1 is so far the only multi-centers validated AIS predisposing gene. The imbalance of posterior paraspinal muscles is an important factor in AIS etiopathogenesis. It is poorly understood how LBX1 contributes to the abnormal paraspinal muscles and onset/progression of AIS. We aimed to evaluate the expression of LBX1 in paraspinal muscles at the concave and convex side in AIS, and whether alternation of LBX1 expression could affect myoblastsactivities and potentially influence muscle-bone interaction via myokines expression. Paraspinal muscles from AIS and age- and curvature-matched congenital scoliosis (CS) patients were collected for fiber types analysis. Biopsies were also subjected to qPCR to validate expression of myogenic markers, selected myokines and LBX1. Human skeletal muscle myoblast (HSMM) was used for LBX1 loss-of-function study in vitro. Muscle fiber types analysis showed type I and type IIX/IIAX fibers proportion were significantly different between AIS concave and convex but not in two sides of CS. LBX1, myogenic markers and one myokine were significantly imbalanced in AIS but not in CS. Loss-of-function study showed knockdown of LBX1 could inhibit myogenic markers expression and myokines as well. This study provides new insight into the association between imbalanced paraspinal muscle and potential muscle-bone crosstalk in AIS patients and the biological function of predisposing gene LBX1. Further investigation with appropriate animal models is warranted to explore if asymmetric expression of LBX1 could result in distinct muscle phenotypes and bone qualities thus affect the progression of spine curvature in AIS.


An important part of adverse drug events (ADEs) detection is the validation of the clinical cases and the assessment of the decision rules to detect ADEs. For that purpose, a software called "Expert Explorer" has been designed by Ideea Advertising. Anonymized datasets have been extracted from hospitals into a common repository. The tool has 3 main features. (1) It can display hospital stays in a visual and comprehensive way (diagnoses, drugs, lab results, etc.) using tables and pretty charts. (2) It allows designing and executing dashboards in order to generate knowledge about ADEs. (3) It finally allows uploading decision rules obtained from data mining. Experts can then review the rules, the hospital stays that match the rules, and finally give their advice thanks to specialized forms. Then the rules can be validated, invalidated, or improved (knowledge elicitation phase).


Large screen display system has good prospects for the formation of gaps that have been published. The introduction of this thesis programming before large-screen display system on the current development of software technology involved in a more comprehensive overview and discussion. In introducing the structure of the remote large screen systems design and related implementation techniques, the article discusses the big screen remote system software development, and details of video programming. Due to time and capacity constraints, only the planning and design to complete a thesis as part of the program inside the actual function, but also be further improved.


Background Campylobacter jejuni is a common cause of human bacterial diarrhea in most parts of the world. Most C. jejuni infections are acquired from contaminated poultry, milk, and water. Due to health care costs and human suffering, it is important to identify all possible sources of infection. Unpasteurized milk has been associated with several outbreaks of C. jejuni infection. Campylobacter has been identified on fresh fruit, and other gastrointestinal pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and Cryptosporidium have been involved in fruit juice outbreaks. C. jejuni is sensitive to the acidic environment of fruit juice, but co-cultures with the amoeba, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, have previously been shown to protect C. jejuni at low pH. Methods To study the influence of A. polyphaga on the survival of C. jejuni in milk and juice, the bacteria were incubated in the two products at room temperature and at 4°C with the following treatments: A) C. jejuni preincubated with A. polyphaga before the addition of product, B) C. jejuni mixed with A. polyphaga after the addition of product, and C) C. jejuni in product without A. polyphaga. Bacterial survival was assessed by colony counts on blood agar plates. Results Co-culture with A. polyphaga prolonged the C. jejuni survival both in milk and juice. The effect of co-culture was most pronounced in juice stored at room temperature. On the other hand, A. polyphaga did not have any effect on C. jejuni survival during pasteurization of milk or orange juice, indicating that this is a good method for eliminating C. jejuni in these products. Conclusion Amoebae-associated C. jejuni in milk and juice might cause C. jejuni infections.


"Modernist Influences in Churchill Weavers Textiles: 1922-1949" is an interdisciplinary study of the Berea, Kentucky, handweaving production center, Churchill Weavers, which operated from 1922 to 2007. It documents craft production from Kentucky's Appalachian foothills that exhibited a fusion of traditional and modern craft practices while incorporating a modernist design style. The study highlights traditional hand weaving production with a modern look from the interwar period, coming from a location not typically thought of as a center for innovation, national, or international movements. The study examines textiles designed by Eleanor Churchill in the beginning decades of the company and woven on flyshuttle handlooms designed and built by David Carroll Churchill. Taking into account the cosmopolitan influences from India, Sweden, and the German Bauhaus school, the research documents a craft production center that provided economic development in a rural community. The project highlights the unique role that Churchill Weavers played in American handweaving and craft history by moving textiles into the modern industrial age while maintaining an artisanal practice. The study notes the influences that early twentieth-century feminism and cultural pluralism played in the economic development work of craft promotion, and how Churchill Weavers' founders navigated those influences in their economic enterprise. The Churchills were settler-colonialists whose commitment to artisanal work made a long-lasting contribution to the lives of many in Berea, Kentucky. The author is a Kentucky Community Scholar and a former designer at the company with multiple exposures to the archives of the Churchill Weavers company's rich material culture.


Gari solida is an economically important sub tidal bivalve that inhabits shallow waters of Peru and Chile. Its respiration (RR) and filtration (FR) rates were analyzed in situ on individuals belonging to three ranges of size (45-55mm, 72-87mm and 92-97mm) in Paracas Bay. Experiments were conducted during the months of March 2007, August 2007 and February 2008 and consisted in the installation of twelve acrylic chambers, placed on the seabed at a depth of 4 m, fitted with electric submersible pumps for the recirculation of water, so the individuals could stayed in a closed system through a specific time. The RR and FR per gram of individual were about 4 times bigger in smaller individuals (RR = 0.22 mg h 1.g 1, FR = 0.38 L.h 1.g 1) compared to the larger size ranges (RR = 0.05 mg h 1.g 1, FR=0.08 L.h 1.g 1), which could be due to the increase in tissues of low metabolism as the animals grow. Furthermore, we found no relationship between the levels of dissolved oxygen (5 - 9 mg/L) and chlorophyll-a (2 5 μg/L) present during the evaluations and the physiological rates obtained, however, a seasonal change in the respiration rates was observed obtaining higher averages for the larger individuals during the winter (0.17 mg h 1.g 1) when compared with the summer (0.12 mg h 1.g 1). Finally, after analyzing the composition of phytoplankton on filtered water, G. solida showed a clear preference for phytoflagellates organisms (75%) in its diet.


Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of intralesional Triamcinolone Acetonide (TA) injection and incision and curettage (I&C) and their complications in chalazia.
Study design: Quasi-experimental study.
Place and duration: Combined Military Hospital Multan Pakistan, from May to Nov 2019.
Methodology: We selected individuals with primary chalazion having a size of 2mm or more, with a duration of at least one month and not resolving with conservative treatment. Our sample was divided into two groups. Group-A was given a 5mg/ml Triamcinolone injection under aseptic conditions, and the group-B had incision and curettage.
Results: The overall frequency of lesion in the upper lid 53 (66%) was more than in the lower lid 27 (34%), p=0.004. The complete resolution of the lesions after the repetition of the procedure was found to be almost the same in the two groups. In comparison, the resolution duration was longer in group-A versus group-B. The complications were more in the surgical group 6 (p=0.001) than in the Triamcinolone Acetonide group 11, (p=0.004).Conclusion: Our study signifies that intralesional Triamcinolone Acetonide injection is a safe procedure, having fewer complications. For individuals with poor compliance with conservative management, Triamcinolone Acetonide injections provide an alternative with an almost equal success rate and minimal complication.


At the end of the eighteenth century, the world economic system came to dominate the Sulu Sultanate and its surrounding areas. The island of Jolo became an entrepot and the Sulu Sultanate flourished. This prosperity was made possible by economic interconnections between British India, South- East Asia and China. At that time in England, tea replaced ale as the national drink. Most of this aromatic tea was cultivated in the mountains of Fujian, China. The south Fukienese people who controlled the Amoy trading network on the South China coast had maintained contact with the Sulu Sultanate and eastern parts of the archipelago since the beginning of the eighteenth century. Because of this contact, the dominant ethnic group, the Taosug, had an initial outlet for their marine and forest products, especially trepang, pearls and birds' nest, which the junks carried on the return trip to China. When the British realized that they could participate in the Sino-Sulu trade, they also sought these Sulu zone exports.'

Among the richest sources of such products were the shores and wilderness along the northeast coast of Borneo. Kenyah and Kayan speakers of Borneo's east coast tropical forests and the Subanun of Mindanao's southern plateau were increasingly drawn into trade with the Taosug. They provided enormous amounts of wax, camphor and birds' nest in exchange for salt, textiles and other manufactured goods. At first, trepang was traded for cloth, clothing, iron and other metals; later, for gunpowder, musket and cannon. Guns, gunpowder and other imported products, including textiles and opium became very important to Sulu.

The efforts of ambitious datus, Taosug aristocrats, to participate in this burgeoning world-capitalist economy swelled the flow of global-regional trade and forced up the demand for additional labour, which was met by Iranun and Samal Balangingi slave raiders of the Sulu zone. From the end of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries, South-East Asia felt the full force of these slave raiders who earned a reputation as daring, fierce marauders who jeopardized the maritime trade routes of South-East Asia and dominated the capture and transport of slaves to the Sulu Sultanate.* Tens of thousands of captives from across South-East Asia were seized by these sea raiders and put to work in the zone's fisheries, in the sultan's birds' nest caves, or in the cultivation of rice and transport of goods to markets. More than anything else it was this source and use of labour power that was to give Sulu its distinctive predatory character in the eyes of nineteenth-century Europeans.

 It was powerful economic forces, energized by world commerce demands for a range of products, that pushed the Taosug aristocracy to acquire increasing numbers of slaves. In order to trade, it was necessary for the Taosug to have something to give in exchange and the only way to obtain commodities was to secure more slaves by means of long-distance maritime raiding. In the early nineteenth century, the rate of growth of the sultanate's population had not kept pace with its expanding international trade economy. Since the labour of slaves made global-regional trade possible, slavery rose markedly from this time and became the dominant mode of production.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) aetiology encompasses genetic and environmental factors. Twin studies provide valuable insights to the familial degree (shared genetics and environment) of observed phenotypes. We characterised the gut bacterial composition of twins with IBD to find taxa associated with disease and estimate their familiality.

 Faecal samples were collected from 88 monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs concordant or discordant for Crohn's disease (CD; 26 MZ; 19 DZ) or ulcerative colitis (UC; 16 MZ; 27 DZ). The 16S rRNA gene was sequenced and amplicon sequence variants (ASV) generated. ANCOM software was used to assess differences in IBD vs. non-IBD, stratifying by disease type (CD/UC) and adjusting for age, gender and smoking. Twin pair and zygosity were added as random effects to estimate familiality, defined as percentage of variation due to common environment and genetics. IBD-affected twins were used for differences in disease location or treatment. Participants reporting antibiotic/probiotic treatment within the last 3 months or with a stoma/pouch were not included. In UC, surgery-naive patients were compared to an excluded subset who underwent ileostomy or pouch surgery without any recent antibiotic courses.

 Disease concordance in MZ twins was higher in CD (54%) than UC (19%). Alpha diversity was lower in CD, but not UC, and in ileostomy and pouch vs. surgery-naive UC. Principal component analysis showed that CD-affected twins clustered apart from non-IBD ones (Figure 1A). Familiality was lower in CD, with 5% of ASVs having familiality > 50%, compared to 17% in UC (Figure 1B). Two Lachnospirales order ASVs were less abundant in UC, while 15 ASVs from Clostridia, Bacteroidia, Bacilli and Coriobacteriia classes differentiated CD from non-IBD. Firmicutes were higher in CD (β= 0.95; 95%CI [0.34,1.56]), while no phyla changed in UC. Veillonella, Barnesiella, Faecalimonas and Holdemania genera had opposite trends in ileocolonic or colonic CD vs. ileal, and two Clostridia ASVs were lower in extensive and left-sided UC. Gemmiger and Butyricicoccus_A genera were reduced in UC patients taking aminosalicylates compared to untreated. No treatment differences were found in CD. Patescibacteria was higher in ileostomy and Verrucomicrobiota in pouch, while Bacteroidota and Firmicutes_A were lower in both surgeries.

 Despite higher disease concordance, gut bacteria familiality in CD was lower than UC, indicating that bacterial composition is an information-rich matrix which captures the heterogeneity of IBD clinical manifestations. Accordingly, we found taxonomic changes specific to IBD presence, but also location, medication, or surgery.


Atmospheric-pressure plasma jet sources have proven useful for surface treatments; however, conventional plasma and near-plasma sources have limitations in the number of different plasma gas species that they can handle. We previously developed a damage-free multigas plasma jet source that can generate stable atmospheric-pressure plasma using various gas species without thermal/electrical discharge damage. Herein, we investigate the fundamental characteristics of the generated plasma such as gas temperature (<;57°C) and emission properties. In addition, we evaluate the industrial potential of the jet source by using it with various gas species to induce surface hydrophilization in a polyimide film. The jet source proved useful, and carbon dioxide proved the most effective of the studied gas species for the purpose with the hydrophilized surface maintaining a contact angle of about 30° for over 32 days after plasma irradiation.


Algae are well-recognised for their fouling impact on immersed surfaces. During this thesis, the relationships between surface and bulk properties of coatings and the adhesion preferences of a new test species, Ectocarpus crouaniorum, a filamentous brown alga and a significant member of fouling communities, were explored. A novel laboratory-based adhesion bioassay for E. crouaniorum using small filamentous fragments as inocula was developed. The bioassay was used to screen sets of experimental coatings at an appropriate scale in well-replicated and controlled experiments.
Sets of coatings with varying wettability, surface charge or modulus were produced, characterised and assayed. The attachment and adhesion preferences of E. crouaniorum were influenced by the surface and bulk properties. These preferences were compared with those of U. linza. No linear correlation was observed between the adhesion strength of E. crouaniorum and wettability in contrast to the linear relationship observed testing U. linza; increase of modulus decreased or increased the adhesion strength of E. crouaniorum and U. linza, respectively. However, both species had lower adhesion on uncharged xerogel coatings. The performance of test coatings was also assessed in field assays and the results showed that these data were not always similar to the laboratory assay.


This is a substantial first introduction to the Jewish literature of the period between the testaments. Its nine chapters discuss the books of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls against the relevant historical background, in chronological order, and the discussion of each work is supplemented by a valuable bibliography. When treating specific works, the author first outlines their contents and then discusses their significance and, briefly, the critical problems connected with them. However, the emphasis is on the writings themselves and their significance. His depth of perception makes this far more than a technical manual. 'One important factor that holds together the largest part of this corpus of literature is its common setting in hard times: persecution; oppression; other kinds of disaster; the loneliness and pressures of a minority living up to its convictions in an alien environment. Within this context these writings may be read and appreciated as a sometimes powerful expression of the depths and the heights of our humanity and of human religiousness and religious experience. In them we may see ourselves as we have been or are or might be: the desperate puzzlement of Enoch's decimated humanity; the anguish and the ecstasy of a Tobit; the courage of a Susanna or a Judith; the defiant tenacity of the Maccabean martyrs; the desolate abandonment of an Aseneth; and the persistent questioning of an Ezra'.


Human sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 cells and purified using ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange and dye-affinity chromatography. Purified SDH was crystallized from polyethylene glycol solutions using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. X-ray data were collected to 2.75 A resolution. The crystals belong to the monoclinic C2 space group, with unit-cell parameters a = 145.9, b = 52.3, c = 169.0 A, beta = 101.8 degrees. This is the first crystallization report of human sorbitol dehydrogenase.


Vision in depth is distorted. A similar distortion can be observed for pointing to visual targets in depth. It has been suggested that pointing errors in depth reflect the visual distortion. However, much research has suggested that in case visual information is not rich enough, the sensorimotor system involves prior knowledge to optimally plan movement trajectories. Here, we show that pointing in depth is guided by a prior that biases movements toward the natural grasping distance at which object manipulation is usually performed. To dissociate whether pointing is guided by distorted vision only or whether it takes into account a natural grasping distance prior, we adapted pointing movements. Participants received visual feedback about the success of their pointing once the movement was finished. We distorted the feedback to signal either that pointing was not far enough or in separate sessions that pointing was too far. Participants adapted to this artificial error by either extending or shortening their pointing movements. The generalization of pointing adaptation revealed a bias in movement planning that is inconsistent with pointing being guided only by distorted vision but with the involvement of knowledge about the natural grasping distance. Adaptation was strongest for pointing movements to a middle position that corresponds to the natural grassing distance and it was weakest for movements leading away from it. It has been demonstrated that pointing adaptation in depth changes visual perception (Volcic et al., 2013). We also wondered how effects of pointing adaptation on visual space would generalize in depth.


Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) estimation of acoustic signals is of great interest in various applications including battlefield acoustic and noise localization. Acoustic sensors are employed in an array configuration to estimate DOAs based on the time differences of arrival DOAs. However, the acoustic sensors in the network have all their own Data AcQuisition (DAQ) unit with independent clocks than, it might not be possible to perfectly synchronize the network which affects the performance of the time differences of arrival reliably. In this thesis we consider the issue of clock synchronization errors in a network where Acoustic Vector Sensors (AVSs) are used. AVSs are shown to be advantageous in terms of direction finding compared to conventional Acoustic Pressure Sensors (APSs) due to their directional particle velocity measurement capability. Initiallity the measurement model for AVSs is presented. After that the behavior of the clocks is incorporated in the measurement model of the full array setup. Subsequently, the effects of the clocks on the MVDR DOA estimation method is discussed. The model with clock errors is used in the development of three new DOA-estimation methods. The first two techniques are eigenstructure methods that are capable of finding the DOAs regardless of the accuracy of the synchronization. However, to find the DOAs with high accuracy in a real-time application these methods are not due to their high computational cost. Alternatively, the third proposed algorithm takes the DOA estimate from previous methods with low accuracy as its input. The algorithm estimates the DOA in an iterative fashion with high accuracy based on these estimates with low accuracy. Finally, measurements are conducted in a controlled environment in order to show that these methods are usable in practical situations.


Modern agriculture is characterized by simplified cropping systems, associated with negative effects on environment, biodiversity and biological control potential. Cultivar mixtures are often presented as a more efficient and sustainable alternative due to additive effects of cultivar properties and pest reduction, but previous studies have provided equivocal results for this claim. Therefore, a better understanding of the processes underlying the effects of crop genotypic diversity on plant and herbivore responses is needed.

Our review of published studies on volatile interactions between plants demonstrates that plant communication is a general event not limited to damaged plants, and that it is more a phenomenon of volatile eavesdropping rather than signalling. Empirical studies in this thesis show that barley plants perceive the growth pattern of their neighbours via volatiles and adapt their own growth strategy accordingly, which can be seen as a preparation for future competition. Field experiments show different trait responses of cultivars grown in mixtures, and that these responses depend on the neighbouring cultivar identity. Plants responded to their neighbours with adaptive and maladaptive growth responses, with increased nitrogen accumulation efficiency, biomass production and grain yield as a result. Aphid populations were generally supressed in these cultivar mixtures; not due to aphid colonization pattern or natural enemy abundance, but possibly induced by volatile interactions between neighbouring plants of different cultivars. Aphid responses to one cultivar in a mixture were neighbour specific and pest suppression was most pronounced when both cultivars in a mixture showed a reduced aphid-plant acceptance after reciprocal volatile exposure in the laboratory. Such individual neighbour responses mediated by volatiles can explain the inconsistent effects of cultivar mixtures in previous research. The findings of this thesis establish a better understanding of volatile communication between plants adding a new dimension to plant behaviour and community processes. Combining cultivars in mixtures based on how they interact with each other is a promising strategy for productive and sustainable agriculture.


In the present work, the Yee, Warming and Harten and the Yang schemes are implemented, on a finite volume context and using a structured spatial discretization, to solve the Euler equations in three-dimensions. The former is a TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) high resolution scheme, whereas the latter is a TVD or ENO (Essentially Non-Oscillatory) high resolution algorithm. All three schemes are flux difference splitting ones. An implicit formulation is employed to solve the Euler equations. A spatially variable time step procedure is employed to accelerate the convergence of the numerical schemes. This technique has provided excellent gains in terms of convergence acceleration, as observed by Maciel. The physical problems of the transonic flow along a convergent-divergent nozzle, the low supersonic flow along a ramp, and the moderate supersonic flow along a compression corner are studied. The results have demonstrated that more severe pressure fields are obtained by the Yee, Warming and Harten scheme, although better pressure distributions and accuracy are obtained by the Yang's schemes.

 Key Words: Yee, Warming and Harten algorithm, total variation diminishing high resolution scheme, Yang algorithms, TVD/ENO high resolution schemes, Euler equations.


The main objective of this paper is to generalize the Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics in order to include the anomalous transport in systems in non-equilibrium conditions. Considering the generalized entropy, the corresponding flux and entropy production, and using the time fractional derivative, we have derived a space-time generalized telegrapher's equation with a fractional nested hierarchy which can be used in separate developments for the mass transport, for the heat conduction and for the flux of ions. We have obtained a new formalism which includes the contribution of fast of higher-order fluxes in the mesoscopic and inhomogeneous media. The results take the form of continued fraction expansions. The balance equations are used in a scheme of continued fractions, and they appear as a closure condition. In this way the transport equation and its corresponding wave number-frequency relation are obtained, both of them in the mathematical structure of the continued fraction scheme. Numerical examples are included to show the dispersive nature of the solutions, and the generalized fractional transport equation in the same mathematical form, which can be applied to the mass transport, the heat conduction and the flux of ions.


Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is one of the well-established methods to determine the cost-effective alternative between different transportation infrastructure projects. Life cycle cost of a roadway alternative consists of agency and user costs over an analysis period appropriately selected. Agency costs include initial construction costs, and maintenance and rehabilitation costs incurred within the analysis period. User costs incur when there is a work zone present and also during normal operating conditions. In traditional LCCA, adopted by many agencies around the United States, it is assumed that the difference in user cost between alternatives mainly arise from work zone costs. The costs that arise during normal operating conditions (mainly vehicle operating costs) are not dependent on project alternatives and thus are traditionally considered to be negligible. This paper introduces a methodology to test the sensitivity of vehicle operating costs to roughness and texture profile quantitatively and evaluate its contribution to LCCA calculations. It was hypothesized that even the slight changes in surface profile between various alternatives may result in different user costs between the alternatives. A case study is presented to illustrate the effect of user costs of normal operating conditions on LCCA analysis results. Case study showed that vehicle operating costs that arise during normal operation may greatly affect the results of LCCA and should be considered, especially for low-volume traffic projects.


When considering the human resource is the most important factor to be successful for the companies today, attracting the potential employees who are able to improve themselves, cope with the obstacles that will meet along with his or her careers, adapt to changes, struggle with uncertainties, have a positive perspective for future has become rather important. In the study, it was aimed to measure the effect of the levels of perception of generations career future on employer attractiveness. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with 361 participants. In the measurement of career future perception, "career future scale" developed by Rottinghaus et al. (2005) was used and in the measurement of employer attractiveness, the "employer attractiveness scale" developed by Berthon et al. (2005) was used. According to the results obtained by the conducted research, it is realized that the perception of career future affects especially improvement value, social value, and benefit value of employee attractiveness positively and affects economic value negatively. It was also found that there are differences in career future perceptions and employer attractiveness according to gender, generation, employment status, and education level.


The tumor micro-environment is rich in glutathione. To exploit this feature for tumor-activatable porphyrin-based photosensitizers, a dimeric disulfide-bridged porphyrin has been designed and prepared, together with two reference derivatives, a non-cleavable dimer and a monomer. The three compounds have been investigated from a photochemical and photophysical point of view. It appears that the disulfide-bridged derivative exhibited intramolecular aggregation, but to an insufficient extent to induce a satisfying self-quenching of its photoproperties. Unlike expected, the non-cleavable dimer behaved like the monomeric derivative, due to the superior flexibility of the alkyl bridge over the disulfide bridge.


In Belgium, river floods are among the most frequent natural disasters and they may cause important changes on travel demand. In this regard, we propose to set up a large scale scenario using MATSim for guarantying an accurate assessment of the river floods impact on the transportation systems. In terms of inputs, agent-based models require a base year population. In this context, a synthetic population with a respective set of attributes is generated as a key input. Afterwards, agents are assigned activity chains through an activity-based generation process. Finally, the synthetic population and the transportation network are integrated into the dynamic traffic assignment simulator, i.e. MATSim. With respect to data, households travel surveys are the main inputs for synthesizing the populations. Besides, a steady-state inundation map is integrated within MATSim for simulating river floods. To our knowledge, very few studies have focused on how river floods affect transportation systems. In this regard, this research will undoubtedly provide new insights in term of methodology and traffic pattern analysis under disruptions, especially with regard to spatial scale effects. The results indicate that at the municipality level, it is possible to capture the effects of disruptions on travel behavior. In this context, further disaggregation is needed in future studies for identifying to what extent results are sensitive to disaggregation. In addition, results also suggest that the target sub-population exposed to flood risk should be isolated from the rest of the travel demand to reach have more sensitive effects. CIT2016 – XII Congreso de Ingeniería del Transporte València, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2016. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4098 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).


Background: Prevalence estimates of heterotopic ossification (HO) following cervical artificial disc replacement (ADR) varied widely in previous studies. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize its point prevalence. Methods: Electronic searches of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were conducted to identify studies that reported prevalence of HO. Definitions of HO and severe HO were based on McAfee grading system. Random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence. We conducted subgroup analyses according to the different length of follow-up time, and performed univariate metaregression analyses to explore the effects of potential variables on the overall prevalence. Results: A total of 38 studies were included in this study. The pooled data showed that the prevalence of HO after cervical ADR within the 1 to 2 years, 2 to 5 years, and 5 to10 years of follow-up was 38.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 30.2%–46.5%), 52.6% (95% CI, 43.1%–61.9%), and 53.6% (95% CI, 40.0%–66.7%), respectively, while the prevalence of severe HO was 10.9% (95% CI, 9.0%–13.2%), 22.2% (95% CI, 15.5%–30.7%), and 47.5% (95% CI, 30.0%–65.8%), respectively. Follow-up time was positively associated with the prevalence of severe HO (P < .01), and the 1-month growth of mean follow-up went with 0.63% increase of severe HO. Conclusion: This meta-analysis reported data on the prevalence of HO and severe HO after cervical ADR, and provided information on its process of development. These should be useful to enable surgeons and patients to gain a better understanding of HO after cervical ADR.


This review presents the veterinary physiotherapist's approach to assessment and treatment of back pain in horses, while supporting veterinary care as part of the multidisciplinary team. Veterinary physiotherapists aim to restore painless optimal function using their scope of physiotherapy treatments, which are individualised to the patient, including manual therapy, the use of electro-physical and specific therapeutic exercises, as well as the prescription of a rehabilitation plan. The combination of pain relief and acquisition or maintenance of the required range of motion, along with ensuring postural stability and muscle activity, are the initial principles of treatment. A chartered physiotherapist can also assess the rider and their ability to function optimally, potentially providing interventions to ensure riders do not negatively influence their horse. Following clinically reasoned use of manual and electro-physical therapies for the horse with back pain, re-education of positive movement patterns and subsequent muscle strengthening is required. Successful physiotherapy will ensure that a horse is comfortable and capable of carrying a rider, and is thus able to perform the functional tasks required.


In this work, we propose a simple model that provides permutation invariant maximally predictive prototype generator from a given dataset, which leads to interpretability of the solution and concrete insights to the nature and the solution of a problem. Our aim is to find out prototypes in the feature space to map the collection of instances (i.e. bags) to a distance feature space and simultaneously learn a linear classifier for multiple instance learning (MIL). Our experiments on classical MIL benchmark datasets demonstrate that proposed framework is an accurate and efficient classifier compared to the existing approaches.


Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women according to World Health Organization (WHO). Development of computer aided diagnostic (CAD) systems has great importance as a secondary reader systems for a correct diagnosis and treatment process. In this paper, a deep learning based feature extraction method by convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed for automated mitosis detection for cancer diagnosis and grading by histopathological images. The proposed framework is tested on the MITOS data set provided for a contest on mitosis detection in breast cancer histological images released for research purposes in International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR'2014). By using provided histopathological images, cellular structures are initially found by combined clustering based segmentation and blob analysis after preprocessing step. Then, obtained cellular image patches are cropped automatically from the histopathological images for feature extraction stage. CNN, which is a prominent deep learning method on image processing tasks, is utilized for extracting discriminative features. Due to the high dimensional output of the CNN, combination of PCA and LDA dimension reduction methods are performed respectively for regularization and dimension reduction process. Afterwards, a robust kernel based classifier, support vector machine (SVM), is used for final classification of mitotic and non-mitotic cells. The test results on MITOS data set prove that the proposed framework achieved promising results for mitosis detection on histopathological images.


Prodrugs principle is widely used to improve the pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties of
some active drugs. Much effort was made to develop metronidazole prodrugs to enhance antibacterial activity and
or to improve pharmacokinetic properties of the molecule or to lower the adverse effects of metronidazole.

In this work, the pharmacokinetic properties of some of monoterpenes and eugenol pro metronidazole
molecules that were developed earlier were evaluated in-vitro. The kinetic hydrolysis rate constants and half-life
time estimation of the new metronidazole derivatives were calculated using the validated RP-HPLC method.

Chromatographic analysis was done using Zorbbax Eclipse eXtra Dense Bonding (XDB)-C18 column of
dimensions (250 mm, 4.6 mm, 5 μm), at ambient column temperature. The mobile phase was a mixture of sodium
dihydrogen phosphate buffer of pH 4.5 and methanol in gradient elution, at 1ml/min flow rate. The method was
fully validated according to the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The hydrolysis process
carried out in an acidic buffer pH 1.2 and in an alkaline buffer pH 7.4 in a thermostatic bath at 37ºC.

 The results followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. All metronidazole prodrugs were stable in
the acidic pH, while they were hydrolysed in the alkaline buffer within a few hours (6-8 hr). The rate
constant and half-life values were calculated, and their values were found to be 0.082- 0.117 hr-1 and
5.9- 8.5 hr., respectively.

The developed method was accurate, sensitive, and selective for the prodrugs. For most of the
prodrugs, the hydrolysis followed pseudo-first-order kinetics; the method might be utilised to conduct an in-vivo
study for the metronidazole derivatives with monoterpenes and eugenol.


The 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting at a gay dance club in Florida fomented a surge in Islamophobia, as pundits blamed the perpetrator's Muslim identity for his hateful act. In the aftermath of the violence, vigils across the United States offered forums for Muslim American and other groups to publically express their shared grief and to address homophobia and Islamophobia together. The people affected most intensely by the tragedy were LGBTQ Muslims, who were simultaneously subjected to both intensified homophobia and Islamophobia in the wake of the shooting. This local ethnographic study of Orlando vigils in Michigan examines how the Orlando aftermath encouraged debate about the issue of LGBTQ Muslim visibility and conversation about the potential for Muslim civic leaders and mosque leaders to serve as their allies. During the Orlando vigils, LGBTQ Muslims, allies, and faith leaders drew on, negotiated, and/or resisted various repertoires of mourning and advocacy. Their responses to the Orlando moment provide valuable information about how connections among faith, sexuality, race, and protest are shaping the emergence of LGBTQ Muslim visibilities in the United States today.


BACKGROUND
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in cats.

HYPOTHESIS
Some baseline variables are associated with shorter survival times in cats with CKD.

ANIMALS
Client-owned cats.

METHODS
Cats with CKD with initial plasma creatinine concentration > or =2.0 mg/dL and urine specific gravity (USG) < or = 1.025 were recruited into a prospective clinical trial that compared benazepril with a placebo. We describe baseline variables in 190 cats and their influence on renal survival time in the placebo group (95 cats), which was followed for up to 1,097 days. Renal survival time was defined as the time from initiation of therapy to the need for parenteral fluid therapy, euthanasia, or death related to renal failure.

RESULTS
Of the 95 cats treated with a placebo, 58 were censored and 37 reached the renal survival end point (died, n = 0; euthanized, n = 17; parenteral fluids, n = 12; parenteral fluids followed by euthanasia, n = 8). Increased plasma creatinine concentration, increased urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPC), and increased blood leukocyte count were significantly (P < .01) associated with a shorter renal survival time and were independent risk factors. Increased concentrations of plasma phosphate or urea, and lower blood hemoglobin concentration or hematocrit were significantly (P < .01) associated with a shorter renal survival time and were dependent risk factors, because they also were significantly (P < .01) correlated with plasma creatinine concentration at baseline.

CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Several variables were significantly associated with a shorter renal survival time in cats with CKD.


Research Summary: Our study shows how institutional intermediaries established to foster the creation of new firms might hinder new firm growth instead. We show that intermediaries can reduce new firm growth rates due to institutional conflict. To analyze this idea, we examine the setting of junior stock exchanges, which are commonly formed to facilitate entrepreneurial growth. The introduction of these exchanges focused investment into new technology firms, reduced investment in other sectors, and led to diminishing new firm growth. Our findings demonstrate how institutional conflict causes unintended effects and reveals the complexity of influencing entrepreneurship with institutional intermediaries. Managerial Summary: Investors and entrepreneurs face uncertainty when deciding what firms to start and fund. We show that an intermediation effort to make entry easier for entrepreneurs increases the uncertainty that entrepreneurs and investors face. For investors, the enthusiasm for technology firms engendered by the new exchange can motivate investment in marginal firms to maintain as desired deal flow. However, lower firm growth and less liquidity in the future is likely. For entrepreneurs, our results indicate that it is more challenging to manage technology firm growth as well as there is potential opportunity to investigate other industries. Finally, for policy‐makers and supporters of the new exchanges, our results imply that investment flows are altered as intended, but unless listing standards remain high, the virtuous cycle of investment upon which a healthy entrepreneurial climate rests may be disrupted, muting the intended effects of the new exchange.


The aim of the study was an analysis of two the conceptions of relationships between democracy and religion. One of these conceptions was created by Alexis de Tocqueville. He thought that democracy needs religion as an element that enriches it and helps in removing some negative tendencies inherent in this form of government. He understood that democracy was coalesced with the philosophies that were alien to religion, however, he demanded an alliance of democracy and religion. The other object of philosophical analysis is John Rawls. The theories of this author show an important change in the relationship of religion and democracy, which stems from the fact that he equates religion with philosophy. The political liberalism of Rawls helps us understand why democracy as a form of government has no need of religion. The political liberalism of Rawls reveals an important aspect of relationship between democracy and religion. He differs from Tocqueville by thinking that this form of government is not inherently merged with religion. Democratic state aspires to be neutral towards religion. Believers can be honest democrats, but this regime is indifferent in respect of religion. Democrats are on the side of worldly immanence, and believers side with religious transcendence. These two competing attitudes create a tension between religion and democracy. The solution of this tension, proposed by Rawls, consists in the equalization of philosophy and religion; it reveals that democracy is indifferent towards religion. The equalization of the status of philosophy and religion highlights the fact that this form of government is neutral in respect of the conception of God. This negates the Tocquevillian conception of the role of religion in democracy. Democracy can function without the support of traditions of religious thought.


The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of titanium matrix composites (TMCs) sleeve to Al alloys die-casting. Ti and 1.88 mass% B4C were prepared for the synthesis of 10 vol% (TiC+TiB) hybrid TMCs. In-situ synthesis and net-shape forming of TMCs were carried out in a vacuum induction melting furnace. The synthesized (TiC+TiB) TMCs were examined using scanning electron microscopy, an electron probe micro-analyzer, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The resistance-ability of (TiC+TiB) TMCs to molten Al alloys attack was also examined. Their reactions were carried out in a furnace at 993 K for times varying from 0 to 1200 s. In the case of conventional sleeve material, H13 steel, there were severe interfacial reactions and erosion after 60 s. On the other hand, the resistance of (TiC+TiB) TMCs to interfacial reactions and erosion by molten A380 alloy was significantly increased.


Objectives The Primary outcome of the present work is to detect type and frequency of Ultrasonographic changes in patients with anterior knee pain. Secondary outcome is to determine the role of MSUS in early detection of causes of anterior knee pain (AKP). Methods Sixty patients with AKP and 20 sex and age matched healthy control were included in this study obtained from the outpatient of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology Department of El Hussein and Bab El - Sharia university hospitals. Inclusion criteria: age between 20–40. Exclusion criteria: Trauma, Crystal induced arthritis, connective tissue diseases (RA, SLE, SpA), chronic liver or kidney disease and previous surgery. Full medical history and clinical examination as well as WOMAC, knee Conventional Radiography and Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography (MSUS) were done to all patients. Bilateral MSUS examination of the following common sites: Insertion of quadriceps tendon, Ligamentum patellae and Anterior aspect of the knee from medial to lateral. According to EULAR guide lines for musculoskeletal ultrasonography. Results The mean duration of knee pain in patients group was 11.42±9.134 months. ESR, CRP and WOMAC were higher in patients group (p<0.01). MSUS showed significantly more frequent Supra-patellar and Infra-patellar bursitis in patients than control group (p=0.000). patients had higher frequency of cartilage clarity loss (p=0.039) as well as lower cartilage thickness than control, 2.28±0.258 vs 2.73±0.261 mm respectively (P=0.000, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.58) Conclusions The degree of Knee pain, measured by WOMAC, is positively correlated with inflammatory biomarkers (ESR and CRP) in patients with Anterior knee pain. MSUS revealed a positive correlation between Femoral Articular Cartilage thickness and the periarticular tendon- thickness, namely Patellar origin, patellar insertion and Quadriceps insertion. Interestingly, our data present an evidence of the negative impact of the duration of knee pain over Femoral Articular Cartilage thickness as well as Patellar origin thickness. (FAC thickness get worse with longer duration of pain) References Backhaus, M., et al. Guidelines for musculoskeletal ultrasound in rheumatology. Annals of the rheumatic diseases 60.7 (2001): 641–649. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Bleeding of aneurysm of cervical arteries is an emergency situation in ENT surgery. Compression of trachea and big cervical veins together with blood loss needs immediate treatment. Three cases are demonstrated presenting diagnostic and therapeutic management of one spontaneous respectively posttraumatic aneurysm of the inferior thyroid artery, and two aneurysms of lingual respectively facial artery after tonsillectomy. Interventional angiography plays an important role in overcoming such problems. Intravasal application of a platinum coil stops bleeding of the aneurysm and surgical revision of the neck can be avoided.


Exploring two-dimensional (2D) materials with magnetic ordering is a focus of current research. It remains a challenge to achieve tunable magnetism in a material of one-atom-thickness without introducing extrinsic magnetic atoms or defects. Here, based on first-principles calculations, we propose that tunable ferromagnetism can be realized in the recently synthesized holey 2D C2N (h2D-C2N) monolayer via purely electron doping that can be readily achieved by gating. We show that owing to the prominent van Hove singularity in the band structure, the material exhibits spontaneous ferromagnetism at a relatively low doping density. Remarkably, over a wide doping range of 4 × 1013 cm−2 to 8 × 1013 cm−2, the system becomes half-metallic, with carriers fully spin-polarized. The estimated Curie temperature can be up to 320 K. Besides gating, we find that magnetism can also be effectively tuned by lattice strain. Our result identifies h2D-C2N as the first material with single-atom-thickness that can host gate-tunable room-temperature half-metallic magnetism, suggesting it as a promising platform to explore nanoscale magnetism and flexible spintronic devices.


Expression of the PD-1 receptor on T cells has been shown to provide an important inhibitory signal that down-modulates peripheral effector responses in normal tissues and tumors. Furthermore, PD-1 up-regulation on chronically activated T cells can maintain them in a partially reversible inactive state. The function of PD-1 in the very early stages of T-cell response to antigen in vivo has not been fully explored. In this study, we evaluate the role of PD-1 and its 2 B7 family ligands, B7-H1 (PD-L1) and B7-DC (PD-L2), in early fate decisions of CD8 T cells. We show that CD8 T cells specific for influenza hemagglutinin (HA) expressed as a self-antigen become functionally tolerized and express high levels of surface PD-1 by the time of their first cell division. Blockade of PD-1 or B7-H1, but not B7-DC, at the time of self-antigen encounter mitigates tolerance induction and results in CD8 T-cell differentiation into functional cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs). These findings demonstrate that, in addition to modulating effector functions in the periphery, B7-H1:PD-1 interactions regulate early T-cell-fate decisions.


Thermal sensors are robust to conditions that are constraints for visual sensors, such as illumination changes. Based on this effectiveness, studies on hand tracking have enabled the demonstration of higher performance with low computation times. In this paper, we propose a novel hand detection method and tracking framework based on information extracted from thermal images. An adaptive hand detection (AHD) method was designed with five models that use temperature analysis to obtain the region of interest of the hand. To improve performance, we introduced an AHD-based automatic tracking-by-detection algorithm using the Kernelized correlation filters tracker. Finally, we combined the hand detection and tracking algorithms into a single framework, a guidance framework for tracking by detection (GFTD). To verify the performance, we evaluated the accuracy of the hand detection using success rate (Intersection over Union) and the trajectory using object tracking error (OTE). The proposed GFTD improves the performance in terms of success rate and OTE by 15% and 16.3%, respectively, compared with the conventional methods.


The UK's Air Tightness Testing and Measurement Association competent persons scheme collects pressure test data and metadata from the majority of new build dwellings in the UK. This article uses the dataset to investigate the importance of the ventilation strategy in airtightness design and construction. Design and measured airtightness were tested for association with declared ventilation strategy. It was found that ventilation strategy makes a statistically significant difference to airtightness; however, this difference is too small to be practically relevant. Properties with mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) were shown to have a mean designed air permeability only 0.46 m3/m2h lower than naturally ventilated dwellings. Seventy-three per cent of homes with MVHR have design airtightness greater than or equal to 5 m3/m2h and 17% of naturally ventilated dwellings have design airtightness less than 5 m3/m2h. We discuss how current design is not maximising the CO2, cost and air quality benefit of each ventilation strategy. A new approach to regulatory compliance is proposed, which explicitly links the designed airtightness and chosen ventilation system. It is suggested that compliance could then be achieved using a set of airtightness ranges linked to appropriate ventilation strategies. This could be expected to result in reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions for new build homes compared to the current approach and would also potentially lead to better outcomes for occupants in terms of indoor air quality. Practical application : Analysis of a large database of the airtightness of new UK dwellings found that ventilation strategy makes very little difference to airtightness design. For dwellings with MVHR, the results suggest that infiltration levels are too high to maximise the energy savings; for naturally ventilated homes, there may be air quality issues. Coupling airtightness design and ventilation strategy can reduce a dwelling's energy demand and can support achieving the required energy performance rating.


Abstract Studies that characterize transcriptional regulatory elements involve the site-directed mutagenesis methodology to generate deletions, insertions and point mutations. Commercial PCR-based system kits are widely used to introduce up to four base changes in a target sequence. Sequential mutagenesis experiments allow more than four bases to be altered. In this work, we show that the QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit developed by Stratagene, with an optimum primer design, can change eight adjacent bases. This approach allows us to study the effect of DNA sequence changes on functionality of specific sequences from gene target regions, including promoters, exons and introns. As a result of this methodology, a faster and cheaper way of introducing this number of mutations is achieved in a single step with only one pair of primers, thus reducing the possibility of potential random mutation in the rest of the target sequence.


Most of the growth of human populations worldwide will be in developing countries, including South Africa. Natural resources are under immense pressure and animal scientists are faced with the challenges for increased efficiency and long-term sustainability of livestock production. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, animal genomes have been mapped with genomics, enabling new opportunities for application in farm animal species. The use of microsatellite markers has made significant contributions to the insight in genetic characterisation of indigenous and local developed breeds in most farm species in South Africa and Africa. The single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) marker discovery and development of commercial SNP arrays made genomic selection possible and genomic enhanced breeding values (GEBVs) are used widely in the First World. In South Africa, genomic programmes for beef and dairy cattle were established in 2015 and 2016, with the focus on building training populations for genomic selection. The SA Bonsmara breed was the first to receive GEBV. The availability of hard-to-measure phenotypes is limited, and these are the traits that hold the most potential for genomic selection and answering to the challenges of methane (CH 4 ) emissions and higher efficiency. Genome editing, which involves zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription-activators such as endonucleases (TALEN) and RNA-programmable genome editor (CRISPR/CAS9), includes the most recent technology for application in precision genetics. Welfare and ethical concerns will be an important consideration in the acceptability of genome editing to consumers. Applications that benefit the animals are more acceptable to the public. The use of genome editing to produce polled cattle is one of the first applications with a direct welfare impact as it nullifies the need for painful dehorning. In this paper, genomic technology is reviewed with the focus on the most recent research trends and commercial application of genomics towards the genetic improvement of livestock with specific reference to South Africa. Keywords: Genetic diversity, genomic selection, gene editing, microsatellite markers, SNP


INTRODUCTION
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a rapidly progressing inflammatory lung disease with a high mortality rate without specific pharmacological therapy.

OBJECTIVES
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on corticosteroid use in ARDS.

METHODS
A search of four medical literature databases was conducted. We retained randomized trials (RCTs) of corticosteroids in hospitalized adults with ARDS in a search up to February, 2020. Two reviewers identified eligible studies, independently extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. Authors assessed the certainty of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULTS
We included seven RCTs (n=851 patients). Corticosteroids reduced all-cause mortality (risk ratio [RR] 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59 to 0.95, p=0.02, moderate certainty) and duration of mechanical ventilation (mean difference [MD] -4.93 days, 95% CI: -7.81 days to -2.06 days, p<0.001, low certainty), and increased ventilator-free days (VFD) (MD 4.28 days, 95% CI: 2.67 days to 5.88 days, p<0.001, moderate certainty), when compared to placebo. Corticosteroids also increased the risk of hyperglycemia (RR 1.12%, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.24, p=0.03, moderate certainty), and the effect on neuromuscular weakness was unclear (RR 1.30, 95% CI 0.80 to 2.11, p=0.28, low certainty).

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that systemic corticosteroids may potentially improve mortality, ventilator duration, and VFD in patients with ARDS. However, the studies included different corticosteroid classes and initiated the corticosteroid doses at different times, as well as different dosing regimens. Thus caution in the actual clinical application of these results is recommended.


Direct-acting fibrin(ogen)olytic agents such as plasmin have been proved to contain effective and safety thrombolytic potential. Unfortunately, plasmin is ineffective when administered by the intravenous route because it was neutralized by plasma antiplasmin. Direct-acting fibrin(ogen)olytic agents with resistance against antiplasmin will brighten the prospect of anti-thrombosis. As reported in 'Compendium of Materia Medica', the insect of Eupolyphaga sinensis Walker has been used as traditional anti-thrombosis medicine without bleeding risk for several hundreds years. Currently, we have identified a fibrin(ogen)olytic protein (Eupolytin1) containing both fibrin(ogen)olytic and plasminogen-activating (PA) activities from the beetle, E. sinensis. Objectives: To investigate the role of native and recombinant eupolytin1 in fibrin(ogen)olytic and plasminogen-activating processes. Methods and Results: Using thrombus animal model, eupolytin1 was proved to contain strong and rapid thrombolytic ability and safety in vivo, which are better than that of urokinase. Most importantly, no bleeding complications were appeared even the intravenous dose up to 0.12 µmol/kg body weight (3 times of tested dose which could completely lyse experimental thrombi) in rabbits. It is the first report of thrombolytic agents containing both direct-acting fibrin(ogen)olytic and plasminogen-activating activities. Conclusions: The study identified novel thrombolytic agent with prospecting clinical potential because of its bi-functional merits containing both plasmin- and PA-like activities and unique pharmacological kinetics in vivo.


The mode of incorporation of 2H-labelled putrescines into the rosmarinecine (14) portion of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid rosmarinine (15) in Senecio pleistocephalus plants has been established by 2H n.m.r. spectroscopy. The use of [1,1,4,4-2H4] putrescine (16) dihydrochloride produced rosmarinine (18) with 2H labels mainly at C-3α, C-3β, and C-9pro-S. Rosmarinine (22) derived from [1,1-2H2]putrescine (19) dihydrochloride showed the same 2H n.m.r. spectroscopic signals plus others for C-5α, C-5β, and C-8. These labelling patterns are interpreted by the intermediacy of homospermidine (6) in the biosynthetic pathway and by the existence of 2H isotope effects. Feeding experiments with (R)-[1-2H]-(23) and (S)-[1-2H]putrescine (26) dihydrochloride gave a sample of rosmarinine (25) with 2H present at C-3β, C-5α, C-8α, and C-9pro-S from the former precursor, and a sample (28) with 2H present at C-3α and C-5β from the latter precursor. These patterns are consistent with oxidation of three of the four amino groups involved in the conversion of two molecules of putrescine into 1β-formyl-8α-pyrrolizidine (12) with stereospecific loss of the pro-S hydrogens. Reduction of the 1-formylpyrrolizidine (12) to isoretronecanol (13) takes place by attack of a hydride donor on the C-re face of the aldehyde group. Use of [2,2,3,3-2H4]putrescine (29) dihydrochloride gave rosmarinine (30) labelled with 2H at C-1α, C-2β, C-6α, C-6β, and C-7α. Feeding experiments with (R)-[2-2H]-(31) and (S)-[2-2H]-putrescine (33) dihydrochloride gave rosmarinine (32) labelled with 2H at C-2β and C-6α from the former, and rosmarinine (34) with 2H present at C-1α, C-6β, and C-7α from the latter precursor. Formation of the pyrrolizidine ring involves stereospecific removal of the pro-R hydrogen and retention of the pro-S hydrogen on the carbon destined to become C-1 of rosmarinecine, and hydroxylation at C-2 and C-7 of isoretronecanol (13) therefore proceeds with retention of configuration to form rosmarinecine (14).


A membrane module (3) comprising a plurality of porous hollow membranes (8). The membranes (8) extend between and are fixed at each end in a header (5, 6). One header (6) has one or more of openings (12) formed therein. The openings (12) are in fluid communication with a source of gas and/or liquid (13, 14, 15). The other of the headers (5) is sealingly connected to and in fluid communication with a head-piece (9). The head-piece (9) is adapted to couple to an associated head-piece of a further module to form a rack of modules (17). A potting head (6) for use in mounting porous hollow membranes (8) is also disclosed comprising a preformed potting element (29). The potting element (29) includes one or more cavities (30) for receiving curate potting material which, in use, supports said membranes (8).


A complex velocity model can cause shadow zones in an image computed by migration due to poor illumination. These shadow zones may contain weak signals masked by artifacts. To reduce artifacts and recover the real signal, a target-oriented wave-equation inversion scheme can be developed that uses an explicitly computed least squares inversion Hessian. To solve the otherwise ill-conditioned inversion problem a model regularization needs to be added. One choice for regularization is to use the customary damping in the image space, another is to penalize the energy in the image not focused at zero subsurfaceoffset. To apply the second, the subsurface-offset Hessian needs to be computed by using the adjoint of migration as the modeling operator. Results on Sigsbee model show encouraging results.


Theories and methods developed in molecular pharmacology for drug receptor interactions were used to explain artificially induced myxospore formation. The correlation between inducer concentrations and the yield of myxospores, i.e. the experimentally obtained dose-response curves, were much steeper than expected for an interaction based on mass action law. We postulate that the interaction of an inducer with one of the different receptors of the bacterial cell causes the production of a common stimulus which programmes the cells to turn into myxospores, if a threshold value is reached. Simultaneous addition of inducers of the same or of different inducer groups showed synergistic interactions. Inducer concentrations that by themselves were not inducing gave maximum myxospore formation when combined. Addition of pyrrole, a specific inhibitor, caused a concentration-dependent parallel shift of the glycerol dose-response curve. Compounds, inducers or inhibitors, with identical receptor specificities competed for the common receptor according to their affinity. Interactions of inducers with different receptor specificities could be predicted from calculations with a mathematical model of functional synergism.


[Cu(L)(n)](2+) complexes of 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (L = D6PC) are formed upon electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) of an 8 mM solution of D6PC with 4 mM CuCl(2) in 10 mM ammonium acetate buffer, pH 6.1. The collision-induced dissociation (CID) reactions of the [Cu(L)(n)](2+) complexes were examined in a linear ion trap mass spectrometer. A rich fragmentation chemistry was observed, including: loss of a neutral ligand; intermolecular ligand-ligand S(N)2 methylation; metal ion induced ligand fragmentation via carboxylate abstraction; and phosphate abstraction. The dominant reaction channel depends on the size (n) of the complex. Thus loss of neutral ligand(s) is the sole reaction channel for n = 5-7. At n = 4, S(N)2 methylation and carboxylate abstraction start to compete with neutral ligand loss. At n = 2 the carboxylate abstraction and phosphate abstraction reactions dominate the CID spectrum. The carboxylate abstraction and phosphate abstraction reactions are likely to be driven via neighboring group pathways. PM3 calculations, carried out to compare competing neighboring pathways based on the relative stabilities of the product ions, suggest a preference for five-membered ring formation for ligand fragmentation involving both carboxylate and phosphate abstraction.


This thesis is comprised of five translations, accompanied by a discussion. Three texts were translated from English into Croatian, while two texts were translated from Croatian into English. The texts that were translated from English into Croatian are excerpts from Avrum Stoll's Did My Genes Make Me Do It? (And Other Philosophical Dilemmas), Rick Hanson's Hardwiring Happiness: How to Reshape Your Brain and Your Life and from the document Framework for major emergency management. The texts that were translated into Croatian are an excerpt from Tanja Radovic's novel Pitanje Nade, the article Sloboda udruživanja pod nadzorom from the web portal Kulturpunkt and excerpts from two other articles from the same portal. The discussion focuses on pragmatic translation strategies as outlined in Andrew Chesterman's Memes of translation. After a brief outline of the role of pragmatics in translation studies, each of Chesterman's strategies is explained and accompanied by examples of their use from the translations.


In changing markets for clients and legal employers, law schools that most effectively connect the goals of prospective and enrolled law students to the competencies that clients and legal employers need will be successful. Over time, a school that creates this type of effective bridge will benefit from a reputation both among legal employers and clients for educating highly effective graduates and among prospective students for helping them achieve their goals. All stakeholders benefit, but for faculty, stronger applicant pools and strong post-graduation employment outcomes in particular contribute greatly to the quality of the students and the school's ranking and financial stability.

This article is the first to help faculty and staff make use of new data on the goals of undergraduate students considering law school and enrolled law student, the competencies that clients and legal employers want, and the learning outcomes that the law schools are adopting to design a more effective curriculum to help all the stakeholders to reach their goals. The article in Section II analyzes the growing empirical evidence on prospective law student and enrolled law student goals; in Section III, the article analyzes data on the competencies that legal employers and clients need, and in Section IV, the article examines the learning outcomes that the law schools are adopting as the schools move toward competency-based education required by the 2014 ABA accreditation changes.


This research is intended primarily to inform debates within the contemporary fine art community about 'art and society'. To deal with the material, some of the methodologies of the sociology of culture have been used and the work may be of interest in that and related fields.
The research emerges from the concern in the art world aboutthe gap between its own concepts of art and those existing in the wider community. The thesis argues that this cannot be adequately understood without knowledge of the ways objects and images are used outside the fine art world and of the relationship between these uses of 'art' and those prevalent in the fine art world itself.
The research classifies (and documents photographically) the
objects and images hanging on walls in a cross-section of homes, and explores their meanings for their owners in relation to their ways of life. All objects on walls were included. Whether or not their owners regarded them as 'art' was a question not pre-empted by the researcher.
In order to encounter a variety of people with different ways of life, four groups were sampled. The groups were identified by the character and value of housing. A fifth group was a sample from the households of members of the professional fine art community in the locality.
The nature of the objects and pictures differed in the different samples as did their significances for their owners. In particular, notions of 'art' were differently deployed and the ways in which images were perceived differed in relation to the life circumstances of their owners.

The thesis provides an interpretative map of the ways in which visual images were used in domestic life by people inside and outside the fine-art community in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It describes commonalities and differences in the uses of images related to the values, interests and social positions of the people encountered.


The development of an Artificial Neural Network model of UK domestic appliance energy consumption is presented. The model uses diary-style appliance use data and a survey questionnaire collected from 51 households during the summer of 2010. It also incorporates measured energy data and is sensitive to socioeconomic, physical dwelling and temperature variables. A prototype model is constructed in MATLAB using a two layer feed forward network with backpropagation training and has a12:10:24architecture.Model outputs include appliance load profiles which can be applied to the fields of energy planning (micro renewables and smart grids), building simulation tools and energy policy.


We explore the use of graph neural networks (GNNs) to model spatial processes in which there is no a priori graphical structure. Similar to finite element analysis, we assign nodes of a GNN to spatial locations and use a computational process defined on the graph to model the relationship between an initial function defined over a space and a resulting function in the same space. We use GNNs as a computational substrate, and show that the locations of the nodes in space as well as their connectivity can be optimized to focus on the most complex parts of the space. Moreover, this representational strategy allows the learned input-output relationship to generalize over the size of the underlying space and run the same model at different levels of precision, trading computation for accuracy. We demonstrate this method on a traditional PDE problem, a physical prediction problem from robotics, and learning to predict scene images from novel viewpoints.


Mathematical expertise builds on a foundation of space, especially the ability to map exact numbers to linear space. This "mental number-line" is known to vary cross-culturally, but there is debate about the mechanisms responsible for its cultural elaboration. We investigated the role of co-speech gesture, a ubiquitous cultural activity, in stabilizing and entrenching the mental number-line within a community. Imitating culture-specific gestures systematically shaped gesturers' mental number-line. Moreover, gestures were used spontaneously to infer speakers' spatial understanding of number, and merely observing these gestures was sufficient to shape the observer's own mental number-line. These findings establish co-speech gesture as one mechanism for propagating and perpetuating the number-line.


Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) refers to a general set of behaviours exhibited by employees that are helpful, discretionary, and beyond normal job requirements. Researchers have suggested that high levels of OCB may lead to organisational effectiveness. OCB constructs may generally be organised into seven common themes or dimensions, namely helping behaviour, sportsmanship, organisational loyalty, organisational compliance, individual initiative, civic virtue, and self-development. There are several ways in which OCB may increase organisational performance. Among others, this includes enhancing coworker and managerial productivity, freeing up resources for more productive purpose, devoting less resources to purely maintenance functions, helping to coordinate the activities both within and across work groups, strengthening the organisation's ability to attract and retain the best employees, increasing the stability of the organisation's performance, and enabling the organisation to more effectively adapt to environmental changes.Empirical evidence has shown that OCB positively enhances organisational and group performance.


We report site-resolved radiofrequency spectroscopy measurements of Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb atoms in about 100 sites of a one-dimensional 10 micron-period magnetic lattice produced by a grooved magnetic film plus bias fields. Site-to-site variations of the trap bottom, atom temperature, condensate fraction and chemical potential indicate that the magnetic lattice is remarkably uniform, with variations in trap bottoms of only +/- 0.4 mG. At the lowest trap frequencies (radial and axial frequencies 1.5 kHz and 260 Hz, respectively), temperatures down to 0.16 microkelvin are achieved in the magnetic lattice and at the smallest trap depths (50 kHz) condensate fractions up to 80% are observed. With increasing radial trap frequency (up to 20 kHz, or aspect ratio up to about 80) large condensate fractions persist and the highly elongated clouds approach the quasi-1D Bose gas regime. The temperature estimated from analysis of the spectra is found to increase by a factor of about five which may be due to suppression of rethermalising collisions in the quasi-1D Bose gas. Measurements for different holding times in the lattice indicate a decay of the atom number with a half-life of about 0.9 s due to three-body losses and the appearance of a high temperature (about 1.5 microkelvin) component which is attributed to atoms that have acquired energy through collisions with energetic three-body decay products.


Knowledge bases (KBs) about notable entities and their properties are an important asset in applica- tions such as search, question answering and dialog. All popular KBs capture virtually only positive statements, and abstain from taking any stance on statements not stored in the KB. This paper makes the case for explicitly stating salient statements that do not hold. Negative statements are useful to overcome limitations of question answering systems that are mainly geared for positive questions; they can also contribute to informative summaries of entities. Due to the abundance of such invalid statements, any effort to compile them needs to address ranking by saliency. We present a statistical inference method for compiling and ranking negative statements, based on expectations from positive statements of related entities in peer groups. Experimental results, with a variety of datasets, show that the method can effectively discover notable negative statements, and extrinsic studies underline their usefulness for entity summarization. Datasets and code are released as resources for further research.


Nanocomposites of charge ordered insulating Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (PCMO) and ferromagnetic metallic La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) nanoparticles have been prepared by chemical synthesis. Transport and magneto-transport properties of nanocrystalline LSMO and the PCMO–LSMO nanocomposites have been studied in detail. At a low temperature region, upturn of resistivity for both the compounds was observed. The upturn of resistivity is strongly influenced by the external magnetic field. The results are analyzed considering intergranular spin polarized tunneling model. Our study reveals that spin polarized tunneling (SPT) is the dominant mechanism leading to the rise in resistivity especially below T = 60 K. It also indicates that SPT through the grain boundary is significantly modified in nanocomposite compounds, which leads to the enhancement of magnetoresistance and low field magnetoconductance compared to LSMO nanoparticles.


The Permanent Establishment (PE) concept plays a key role in the distribution of taxing rights between States by determining when the profits derived by an entity are taxable in a State other than the State of its residency. This concept, originally, evidenced the existence of sufficient economic allegiances between a non-resident entity and a State to justify taxation therein. However, the evolution of business models caused situations where a non-resident entity is substantially involved in the economy of a State without triggering a PE. Hence, a divergence between the existence of economic allegiances and the PE definition was created. In order to tackle the circumvention of the PE definition, the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) introduced several changes to the PE rules established in their 2014 Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital (MTC). These changes mainly follow a Substance Over Form (SOF) approach which overlooks the legal qualifications a business model to focus in its economic activities and the value created. In principle, this could reconcile the PE definition with the existence of significant economic allegiances. Closely analysing each change to the PE definition, they do reconciliate these concepts in some scenarios but fail to do so in several others. Particularly these changes mostly fail to reconcile them in the case of digital business models. Moreover, some changes presume the existence of a PE when the non-resident entity may not be substantially involved in the State, thus broadening the divergence. Based on the above, these changes fail to fully reconcile the existence of significant economic allegiances with the PE definition, which translates in a failure to properly distribute taxing rights between States. Furthermore, the SOF approach introduced by the BEPS package brings legal uncertainty for foreign investments which means it loses one of the reasons for its historical success. (Less)


A validated rapid and sensitive capillary zone electrophoretic method for the determination of olopatadine hydrochloride (OLO) is described. Optimum conditions were found: 20 mmol/L sodium tetraborate buffer, acetonitrile 15% (v/v), 10 mmol/L NaCl at pH 9.5, with 25 kV of applied potential, injection time of 10 s at 5 × 103 N/m2, at a wavelength of 205 nm, and fixed temperature of 30°C. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 1.13 × 10-5 mol/L (4.22 μg/mL) to 5.65 × 10-5 mol/L (21.12 μg/mL), with R = 0.9995 for interday precision. LOD and LOQ values were 1.58 × 10-6 (0.58 μg/mL) and 4.78 × 10-6 mol/L (1.75 μg/mL), respectively. Precision values were 1.10-1.97% for intraday and 1.41% for interday RSDs. Accuracy was tested by preparing a synthetic mixture whose composition was similar to the pharmaceutical preparation for Patanol. The RSDs of the recovery values (98.2%) were between 0.42 and 0.65% and the amount of OLO found was 1.09 mg/mL. The result was within the requirements of USP 31-NF 26. Therefore, this validated method is suggested for routine analysis for the determination of OLO in laboratories.


AC1 cells, a bovine adrenocortical cell clone, are rapidly arrested and killed by 2 mM aminooxyacetate, an inhibitor of transmination reactions. Toxicity of aminooxyacetate to cultured bovine adrenocortical cells was previously linked to a high ratio of capacity for oxidation of glutamine relative to pyruvate and was reversible by adding excess glutamine. The toxic effects of aminooxyacetate were shown in the present study to be completely prevented by the simultaneous addition of low concentrations (<100 nM) of d‐α‐tocopherol (vitamin E) or selenious acid or higher concentration of other tocopherols, antioxidants, and ubiquinones (coenzymes Q6 and Q10). When antioxidant analogs were tested, it was found that structural features of the molecules that increase antioxidant potency increased potency for prevention of aminooxyacetate toxicity. α‐Tocopherol‐supplemented AC1 cells were found to be significantly less sensitive than nonsupplemented cells to growth inhibition by rotenone but not by fluorocitrate or dinitrophenol. Dinitrophenol (100 m̈M) stimulated substrate oxidation fivefold but had relatively slight effects on growth, either with or without α‐tocopherol, indicating that limitation of the maximal activity of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and respiratory chain is probably not responsible for the sensitivity to aminooxyacetate and rotenone in cells not supplemented with α‐tocopherol. Sensitivity to growth inhibition by rotenone and the prevention by ubiquinones of aminooxyacetate toxicity suggest a restriction of electron flow at the NADH‐ubiquinone step. The resultant higher NADH/NAD+ ratio would result in a lowered capacity for metabolism of pyruvate with consequent dependence for tricarboxylic acid cycle function and energy production on 2‐oxoglutarate from glutamine by the transmination pathway. Vitamin E and other antioxidants may restore efficient function of ubiquinone by preventing side reactions involving lipid peroxidation. Selenium may have a similar effect as cofactor for glutathione peroxidase. A high ratio of capacity for oxidation of glutamine relative to pyruvate and accompanying sensitivity to aminooxyacetate may reflect a deficiency of vitamin E and selenium in adrenocortical cells in culture.


The authors explore the utility of custom computing machinery for accelerating the development, testing, and prototyping of a diverse set of image processing applications. We chose an experimental custom computing platform called Splash-2 to investigate this approach to prototyping real time image processing designs. Custom computing platforms are emerging as a class of computers that can provide near application specific computational performance. We developed a real time image processing system called VTSplash, based on the Splash-2 general-purpose platform. Splash-2 is an attached processor featuring programmable processing elements (PEs) and communication paths. The Splash-2 system uses arrays of RAM based field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), crossbar networks, and distributed memory to accomplish the needed flexibility and performance tasks. Such platforms let designers customize specific operations for function and size, and data paths for individual applications. >


ABSTRACT Given the recent spate of high profile fires in historic buildings this article will consider the factors that influence the remedial approaches adopted. It will show that if the significance is of a high level, the extent of damage is not prohibitive and the financial means allow, reconstruction may be an acceptable option. The exact form that this might take depends on a wide variety of factors, including the consensus reached by a range of stakeholders; the exact nature of the significance; having sufficient documentation to establish a basis for accurate replacement (or, where lacking, to exclude this as an option) and what precisely the available funds will permit. It is suggested that there is considerable imprecision in the way in which types of reconstruction are categorised and that it remains of key importance to establish clearly what is meant in each individual situation. Although the emphasis should always be on preventing fires from occurring in the first place and of reducing as far as possible the potential damage that might result, having full and complete documentation for any important building is a necessary pre-emptive measure to allow for the worst case and give the subsequent potential for reconstruction.


tive dynamics between law and diplomacy on international trade and investment. It brings together lawyers and political scientists from Europe and Asia in an interdisciplinary effort at tracing the respective roles of law and diplomacy in the relations of the European Union (EU) with its trade and investment partners in Asia. Focusing on trade and investment relations with Asia, the EU presents a particularly interesting case, as it has been a strong proponent of a rules-based international economic order for years and a frequent user of the formal procedures established in international treaties in case of disputes. At the same time, it has kept diplomatically active to adjust dispute management and international agreements to the needs and demands of the partners involved. Furthermore, not only is this region of crucial importance due to the presence of both vigorous emerging economies, like China, India and Vietnam, and more established partners, like Japan, EU–Asia relations also present a broad set of economic disputes and recent negotiation efforts analyzed in the contributions to this volume. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of international trade/economic law, EU politics, EU external relations (law), international relations, diplomacy and more broadly to international relations and Asian studies.


Incorrect Name in Conflict of Interest Disclosure: In the reply to the Letter to the Editor entitled "Dextromethorphan-Quinidine for Agitation in Alzheimer Disease," published in the March 15, 2016, issue of JAMA,1 a financial disclosure contained an erroneous name. The second-to-last sentence of the Conflict of Interest Disclosures should have read "Dr Siffert reported being a full-time employee of Avanir Pharmaceuticals and may hold stock or options." This article was corrected online.


The phase out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has resulted in the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as environmentally acceptable alternative chemicals. Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) has been identified as a degradation byproduct of these compounds, which largely returns to Earth's surface via precipitation. Little is known about the environmental and ecological fate of TFA. Soil retention studies were conducted to evaluate the potential accumulation of TFA in soil of terrestrial ecosystems. Batch equilibrium studies showed that detectable TFA was retained by 34 of 54 soils collected from diverse locations. Retention ranged from a high of 260 to 25 Imol kg -1 (0-60% of added TFA). Most soils (43 of 54) did not retain TFA strongly (>25%), but soils high in organic matter and some mineral soils with high iron and aluminum content exhibited strong retention. Trifluoroacetate retention was correlated (r ) 0.60) with % organic matter content. Organic soils from wetlands, peatlands, and a boreal forest showed the greatest retention. The retention of TFA increased with decreasing pH. The magnitude of TFA retention was similar to Cl - and Br - . Trifluoroacetate retention decreased with increasing concentrations of F - ,C l - , and SO4 2- . The ultimate fate of TFA retained in soils is uncertain.


Bi-axial tensile stress was applied on a polydimethylsiloxane film and mounted on a PMMA plate surface. Then, the film's tensile strain was fixed and the gold film was sputtered onto the surface. A wrinkle pattern was found during the release of tensile strain because of the friction effect between the PMMA plate and a polydimethylsiloxane film. A nickel stamp with a wrinkle structure fabricated using electroforming process and the polymeric wrinkle structure can be replicated successfully by electroforming and by imprinting process.


This paper put forward intrusion detection algorithm based on improved fuzzy C means (FCM) algorithm and execute the anomaly detection on KDDCUP data set, build intrusion detection system based improved algorithm and analyze the feasibility of the system. Through the fuzzy C means value's improvement algorithm, solve the fuzzy C means value algorithm problem that the algorithm sensitive to selection of the initial values and easily to fall in the local best solution. Thereby under the condition guarantee integrality and consistency of data attribute values, get rid of blindness of selecting initial value and reduce clustering time and algorithm complexity, enhance speed of the algorithm.


Although, due to the high variability of key parameters such as the return-stroke speed, it is impossible to determine the lightning current accurately from the remotely measured electric or magnetic field for a given event, we show in this paper that, for an assumed return-stroke model, the statistical estimation (e.g. in terms of mean values and standard deviations) is possible. We show additionally that for the transmission line (TL) model, the equation permitting to infer the mean value of the return-stroke current from the mean value of electric or magnetic field and the mean value of speed has the same functional form as the well-known TL current—far field relationship. This result gives to some extent a theoretical justification to the use of lightning location systems to infer parameters of lightning current statistical distributions from measured fields alone. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


The importance of digital geometry in image processing is well documented. To understand global properties of digital spaces and manifolds we need a solid understanding of local properties. We shall study the join operator, which combines two topological spaces into a new space. Under the natural assumption of local finiteness, we show that spaces can be uniquely decomposed as a join of indecomposable spaces.


In order to define the intermediate workpiece information for the digital manufacturing of aircraft sheet metal parts, the Manufacturing-Oriented Multi-State Model for Sheet Metal Part (MOSS) is further studied. The model structure is constructed by the hierarchy of State, Feature, Element and Data (SFED). The hierarchy represents its content and relationship among its components in detail. The model application scheme shows that state information can be integrated with the systems of process planning and tool design, and the model provides a foundation for digital and intelligent manufacturing of aircraft sheet metal parts.