Among the most characteristic structures in historical constructions for crossing large spans are the masonry vaulted structures by utilizing their geometric stability to safely transfer the loads to supports with regard to their negligible tensile strength. The ability of masonry piers to bear such transferred stresses and safely convey them to the support is directly related to their structural integrity, as well as to a number of other factors. Using an in-house limit analysis code, a study on the crucial parameters impacting the safety level of piers under the thrust of arches is performed. Parameters such as pier texture, joint friction angle, and arch shallowness, namely, shallow, semi-circular, and pointed arches, were investigated under three load scenarios: horizontal and concentrated vertical live load applied at mid-span and quarter-span. The main findings of this work show that all studied parameters have a significant influence on the structure response. Higher friction values, sharper arches, and piers that follow the rule of art result in higher collapse multipliers. Furthermore, this work emphasizes the importance of accounting for the sliding mechanism and masonry texture, parameters that are often neglected.


Survivin was discovered as a member of the Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein (IAP) family showing high expression in almost all human cancers. Although primarily considered as a protein implicated apoptosis and cell cycle/mitotic spindle checkpoint regulation, Survivin is now recognized as a nodal factor involved in a multitude of cellular circuits. By this, Survivin covers a radiation resistance factor in a variety of cancer entities and enhances tumor cell survival upon radiation exposure by impacting DNA double-strand break (DNA DSB) repair. Following irradiation, nuclear accumulation of Survivin was mechanistically been linked to the activity of the DNA-dependent protein kinase, catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), a key component of DNA DSB repair pathway non-homologous end joining (NHEJ).

In this study, we aimed to unravel the determinants of the Survivin-DNA-PKcs interrelationship on a molecular level by computational investigations of the regions of interaction and biochemical approaches. 3D crystallographic structures of Survivin and catalytic PI3K domain of DNA-PKcs were virtually docked using advanced global docking algorithms, simulated by molecular dynamics, and were evaluated according to binding free energies (ΔG) and the spatial accessibility/physical proximity. Next, multiple residues derived from these analyses were mutated, and the functional consequences of the mutagenesis were assayed by flow cytometry-based Forster resonance energy transfer (FACS-FRET) and co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) experiments. Radiation survival and DNA damage repair capacity were assayed by 3D colony formation assays and DNA foci analysis (γH2AX/53BP1), respectively. The effects of the Survivin-DNA-PKcs interrelationship were further analyzed by in vitro DNA-PKcs kinase activity assays and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS2/3)-based multi-proteomic techniques. Finally, a virtual drug screening approach was employed in search for novel small-molecule radiosensitizers targeting the Survivin-DNA-PKcs interaction.

Molecular docking and advanced in silico analyses uncovered residues serine(S)20 and tryptophan(W)67 located in the baculovirus inhibitor of apoptosis protein repeat (BIR) domain of dimerized Survivin to interact with the PI3K domain of DNA-PKcs. Mutagenesis of these residues significantly decreased the interaction compared to wild-type (wt) Survivin, was correlated with an increased radiosensitivity of colorectal cancer cells and a hampered DNA repair capacity, measured by γH2AX/53BP1 foci analysis, after knockdown of endogenous Survivin. By contrast, overexpression of wt Survivin rescued radiation survival and DNA repair. In addition, advanced molecular docking and dynamics simulation analyses revealed a heterotetramer model, where Survivin binds to the surface of pre-existing DNA-PKcs dimer. Moreover, by investigating the effects of Survivin on DNA-PKcs' downstream regulatory functions, differentially abundant phosphopeptides and proteins were identified for multiple pathways, predominantly for DNA damage/repair. Binding of Survivin to a pre-existing DNA-PKcs dimer was lead to a conformational change on the PI3K domain and resulted in a differential change in substrate specificity. Particularly, the previously little-known DNA-PKcs' S/T-Hydr (hydrophobic residues: G, A, V, L, I, P, F, M, W) motif substrates including the FOXO3 S253 phosphosite displayed high conservation within the detected phosphosites. Further, proteomics analyses indicated that the Survivin-DNA-PKcs interrelationship not only displays post-translational but also protein expression-level regulatory properties. Ultimately, the virtual drug screening approach uncovered small-molecule compounds having strong binding affinity to S20, and W67 residues and consequently might show promise for the development of future radiation sensitizing therapeutic approaches.

In summary, in this study, we identified specific residues of Survivin involved in the interaction with the PI3K domain of DNA-PKcs by implementing in vivo live cell protein interaction quantification and in silico structure-based molecular docking technologies. Besides that, findings on radiosensitivity, DNA foci formation, kinase activity, and phosphoproteomics and proteomics analyses further strengthen the notion that Survivin is a fine-tuning regulator of DNA DSB repair and impacts on substrate specificity by fostering the S/T-Hydr motif phosphorylation. Large-scale proteomics and phosphoproteomics studies further discovered novel candidate proteins and phosphosites, enlightening the underlying mechanistic relation between Survivin and DNA-PKcs in response to irradiation and may pave the way to novel Survivin-related cancer and DNA damage response marker discoveries.


The biological and theoretical puzzle of uterine pain in childbirth remain unsolved. The reading of the Old and New Testament does not explain if the pain derive by uterine contractility or by the anguish to deliver out of the terrestrial Paradise. The uterine contractility has to be conscious to allow the mather to reach the right place to protect the fur lacking baby, as the must anautonomous, for a long time after the birth living being of the primate. The meaning of pain in general is not jet defined. The emotional componemt of pain seems to be prevalent. The role of pain in defens mechanism seems to be unquestionable. Defens mechanism in labour from what? Why the componemt of pain become prevalent in the consciousness of uterine contractility in the human being? The anthropological approach to the problem from the very beginning of human being until now I think could be very helpful.


Intrusion detection system is a hot spot in the researching domain of information security. The paper puts forward an intrusion detection model called LMBP. Firstly the paper does a research on different optimal algorithms of BP (back propagation) networks and then combines improved BP algorithm with Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to device LMBP. Based on this model the LM-HIDS intrusion detection system is established. The result of the experiment shows that it is an efficient way to detect host intrusion by applying Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to optimize BP network.


A prominent question in recent comparative work is "when will the personal vote matter?" Typically, scholars approach this question at a cross-national as opposed to a cross-party level: that is, they highlight features of national electoral systems that create incentives for individual politicians to pursue a personal (or a party) vote, rather than highlighting features of parties that might predispose candidates in those parties to pursue personal (or party) votes. Implicitly, the electoral-systems comparisons hold constant party features. In this paper, in contrast, I focus on the characteristics of parties, as opposed to the characteristics of electoral systems, as determinants of personal vote seeking. I argue that adoption of an individualistic or collective strategy depends largely on a party's access to and control over funding and patronage: generally, parties with good access to money and pork should adopt individualistic strategies, while parties with poor access to money and pork should adopt more collective strategies. In this paper, I explore the Brazilian case to test this claim. I test my claims at the national and district level, using multiple regression analysis. Furthermore, I explain how one party, the Workers' Party (PT), has overcome the incentives of the electoral system over the long run


We report on real-time Raman spectroscopic studies of optically trapped living cells and organelles using an inverted confocal laser-tweezers-Raman-spectroscopy (LTRS) system. The LTRS system was used to hold a single living cell in a physiological solution or to hold a functional organelle within a living cell and consequently measured its Raman spectra. We have measured the changes in Raman spectra of a trapped yeast cell as the function of the temperature of the bathing solution and studied the irreversible cell degeneration during the heat denaturation. In addition, we measured the in-vitro Raman spectra of the nuclei within living pine cells and B. sporeformer, Strep. salivarius, and E. coli bacteria suspended in solution and showed the possibility of using LTRS system as a sensor for rapid identification of microbes in a fluid.


Doxycycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic belonging to the tetracycline class. Its use is widespread in cattle breeding for the treatment of the bovine respiratory disease in calves, because it is easy to be administered orally. Moreover, a powder formulation is provided for doxycycline, which makes it easy to be dissolved in milk or its substitutes. In September 2018, in a dairy cattle farm in the province of Milan, the farmer, in order to treat a presumed respiratory disease, administered 100 mg/kg of doxycycline for 5 days to 10 Italian Fresian calves, causing the death of 9 of them. After the death of 4 animals, the veterinarian practitioner performed the full clinical examination of 6 calves that showed the same symptoms as those already dead. Two carcasses were subjected to necropsy at the Department of Pathology of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Lodi. The veterinarian practitioner performed the necropsy of 3 animals on field, and collected tissue samples for histological investigation. The organs were evaluated macroscopically and samples of heart, liver, kidneys, tongue and muscles semitendinosus, semimembranosus, biceps brachialis, diaphragm and external intercostals were collected. The formalin-fixed samples were trimmed and embedded. After the inclusion, 5µm sections were mounted on suitable slides. Histological examination was performed using the standard Hematoxylin-Eosin staining. Calcium deposits in the skeletal and myocardial musculature were observed with Von Kossa staining. The kidney sections were stained using the Periodic Acid Shiff reaction. Stained samples were read with an optical microscope. The disease of the animals included in this study followed a variable course from acute to hyperacute. In the only survivor, symptom remission occurred in about 15 days, but a marked growth retardation became evident. Tachycardia, tachypnea, lethargy and dysphagia, sometimes associated with mucus-purulent nasal discharge, were the symptoms occurring two days after the drug administration. According to the scientific literature, the most frequent lesions, both macroscopic and microscopic, were found in tongue, skeletal muscles and heart. This paper describes the clinical and the macroscopic and microscopic pathological findings during an accidental doxycycline overdose outbreak in calves in the field. In livestock farming, drugs might be improperly administrated without veterinarian clinical examination, or any microbiological investigations, causing unpredictable consequences that cannot be managed by the farmer. The episode of intoxication reported in this paper is a striking example of a iatrogenic disease, in which a misinterpretation of the package leaflet led to the loss of 10 subjects, including 7 which were intended to restock the herd.


Accurately simulating flow over complex terrain has long been a challenging scientific problem.As computational power increases, atmospheric simulations are pushed toward higher resolutions with enough computational resources to better resolve complex topography. Turbulence and flow dynamics which decades ago could not be resolved (e.g. drainage flow over a steep mountain) can now be studied using computational tools. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is a numerical weather prediction and atmospheric research model that can be used in a wide range of grid resolutions from mesoscale weather prediction (km scale) to large-eddy simulation for atmospheric boundary layer studies (∼100 m and finer scales). The WRF model uses terrain-following coordinates, which is adequate for mesoscale models where the details of the terrain are not well resolved and the terrain slope is not very steep. With increased resolution, resolved terrain slopes become steeper, and the native terrain-following coordinates used in WRF result in numerical errors and instability. To eliminate these numerical errors and instability, but still be able to use WRF's grid nesting strategy to include weather effects for complex terrain simulation, an immersed boundary method was implemented into WRF by Lundquist et al. (2010, 2012). The immersed boundary method uses a non-conforming grid where the terrain surface is immersed into the grid. The immersed boundary conditions are enforced by adding an additional forcing term to the Navier-Stoke equations for the points near the immersed boundary. The original immersed boundary method in WRF-IBM uses a no-slip boundary condition, which is suitable for urban simulations with fine resolution (1 m). The no-slip boundary condition is not appropriate for atmospheric simulations at 100 m scale, where the surface layer and the underlying topography are not extremely well resolved.This dissertation focuses on the development of improved log-law boundary conditions forWRF-IBM to enable atmospheric simulations over complex terrain at horizontal resolutions on the order of 100 m. First an existing velocity-reconstruction immersed boundary method (VR-IBM)is implemented into WRF. The VR-IBM is tested extensively for flat terrain, an idealized hill, and flow over Askervein Hill. At very fine resolutions, VR-IBM performs well, but further tests show some limitations at intermediate resolutions, where VR-IBM for example develops spatial1oscillations. Other limitations are found for VR-IBM and another shear-stress reconstruction (SR-IBM) approach depending on resolution and grid aspect ratios (see also Arthur et al., 2019). Next, a new hybrid log-law boundary condition for IBM (HYBRID-IBM) is developed and implemented into WRF. This hybrid method is evaluated against VR-IBM and SR-IBM for a wide range of idealized cases (both flat terrain and idealized 3D hill at different slopes and resolutions) and real cases, including Askervein hill (intermediate resolutions) and Bolund hill (steep slope, fine resolution). Sensitivity tests of the three IBM approaches are performed to examine the effects of the location where terrain intersects with the grid, the grid aspect ratio, the grid resolution, and the terrain slope.Based on our knowledge, this work is the first time a log-law boundary condition has been used with the immersed boundary method and WRF to enable simulations of atmospheric flow at intermediate resolutions. This work also represents the first time that several IBM methods, including the VR-IBM, SR-IBM, and HYBRID-IBM have been validated using a large number and variety of test cases. Specifically, these methods have been tested not only in comparison to theory(flat terrain), but also to observations (Askervein and Bolund Hills) and through direct comparison to WRF results using the native terrain-following coordinate (for the flat terrain, idealized hill and Askervein Hill cases). Furthermore, this dissertation makes a first attempt toward a robust evaluation of the different IBM approaches, using test cases with different resolutions, different terrain slopes, different aspect ratios and different grid setups, to demonstrate the robustness and sensitivity of implementation for the different methods. In almost all test cases, the HYBRID-IBM approach outperforms the other methods. This series of test cases provides rigorous validation of all three IBM methods and thus conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of different methods can be made.


Abstract Understanding how culling practices impact target populations is essential in identifying optimum strategies for controlling population size. Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations are subject to attempted control throughout much of their range due to their impacts on livestock and game, and disease transmission (e.g., rabies); however, the efficacy of different methods in controlling fox populations is low. For mesomammal species, experimental approaches are often limited by issues of scale. We used an individual-based, spatially explicit population model to investigate the efficacy of different culling practices in artificial landscapes. Model outputs were the number of social groups, the fox population before and after breeding, the extent of successful dispersal within the landscape, and the number of migrants out of the landscape. We investigated 4 different population management strategies using our model: 1) hunting with hounds, 2) winter shooting, 3) culling at the den in spring, and 4) fertility control. Population density in the absence of control was most strongly related to carrying capacity and the extent of immigration from surrounding fox populations. Culling at the den was most successful at suppressing fox populations, while fertility control was least effective, but the effect depended on the carrying capacity of the landscape. We conclude that effective control of populations at landscape scales (e.g., 1,600 km2) is not feasible or practical unless immigration from outside populations is low or can be controlled. These results can be used to inform policy on the management of United Kingdom (UK) fox populations and contribute to the ongoing debate on hunting with hounds as practiced in the UK.


Perivulval varices appear during pregnancy and usually disappear after delivery but become more prominent with subsequent pregnancies. They may extend over the buttock and may be associated with recurrent leg varices. Some patients have extensive varices in the broad ligaments and present with the pelvic congestion syndrome. These patients have been shown to have grossly dilated ovarian veins. Elimination of this proximal incompetence relieves the symptoms.


Tuberculosis remains a major cause of morbidity and
mortality globally, one of the causes are multidrug resistant
tuberculosis (MDR-TB). MDR-TB refers to tuberculosis that is
resistant to both rifampicin and isoniazid. Almost 20% of all
TB strains worldwide are resistant to at least one major TB
drug, approximately 10% are isoniazid monoresistant .
Multidrug resistant tuberculosis with additional resistance to
any fluoroquinolone (such as ofloxacin or moxifloxacin) and
also any one of the three second line injectable agents
(amikacin, capreomycin,kanamycin)is designated as
extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (1). Rapid diagnosis
and effective treatment are two of the most important
strategies tuberculosis(TB)control program to prevent
ongoing transmission of disease and to improve patient
outcomes


The support of microbiological diagnosis for the management of the lower respiratory tract infections is of great utility. It is known, however, that for a correct therapeutic approach is essential to obtain clinical data and images diagnostic. Sometimes, in fact, to important clinical symptoms can coincide with microbiological results little worth, or the isolation from a sputum of certain bacteria, can be an expression of colonization or trivial contamination.The objective of this work was to evaluate the frequency of bacterial species responsible for respiratory tract infections, through direct (culture) and indirect (serology) methods. Between October 2007 - October 2008, 192 sputum cultures were examined, from the Department of Pneumology and out-patients.The isolation of bacterial strains was performed by seeding samples on the following media (Dasit): Columbia blood Agar (A.) CNA, mannitol salt A., Wurtz lactose A., Sabouraud A., enriched chocolate A. + bacitracin. For serological tests, immunoassays in microplates (Vircell) were used. The data show that of 192 samples deriving from Department of Pneumology, 41 (22%) were positive, while among the out-patient samples, the percentage of positive cultures was 41% (20 positives on the total of 49 samples).The bacteria more frequently isolated in the department of Pneumology, was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n.8) while in out-patients was Escherichia coli (n.8). Serological tests resulted positive for anti-Mycoplasma pneumoniae antibodies in 3 cases, and for anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae in one case, compared to 53 negative samples. The findings that over 75% of cultures have demonstrated negative results, is suggestive of an origin non-bacterial infections of the lower respiratory tract.Among the bacterial isolates are predominant "opportunistic bacteria" (46%) presumably responsible of nosocomial infections, while in the out-patients are Enterobacteriaceae the prevalent microrganisms isolated.


The early detection of disease is important to keep people healthy, but it is not easy for elderly residents living in rural areas at a distance from well-equipped medical institutes to be examined. Therefore, the present study evaluated the usefulness of real-time telescreening of echocardiography using satellite communications. The participants in this study were 57 residents of a rural community in Japan. The resolution of the real-time ultrasound images sent by communications satellite was almost identical to that of the original images taken in the hospital. Although some problems remain to be solved, telescreening of echocardiography will be a practical method for public health in the near future.


At species' range edges, individuals often face novel environmental conditions that may limit range expansion until populations adapt. The potential to adapt depends on genetic variation upon which selection can act. However, populations at species' range edges are often genetically depauperated. One mechanism to increase genetic variation is to reshuffle existing variation through sex. During range expansions, sex can, however, act as a double-edged sword. The gene swamping hypothesis predicts that for populations expanding along an abiotic gradient, sex can hinder adaptation if asymmetric dispersal leads to numerous maladapted dispersers from the range core swamping the range edge. In this study, we experimentally tested the gene swamping hypothesis by performing replicated range expansions in landscapes with or without an abiotic pH-gradient, using the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila, while simultaneously manipulating the occurrence of gene flow and sex. We show that sex accelerated evolution of local adaptation in the absence of gene flow, but hindered it in the presence of gene flow. The effect of sex, however, was independent of the pH-gradient, indicating that not only abiotic gradients but also the biotic gradient in population density leads to gene swamping. Overall, our results show that gene swamping can affect adaptation in life-history strategies.


Composites based on nanotubes with such active materials as conducting polymers (e.g. polyaniline, polypyrrole), transition metal oxides (manganese oxide) and carbons enriched in heteroatoms (e.g. nitrogen) have been considered as electrodes for supercapacitors. The open mesopores network formed by the entanglement of nanotubes permits the ions to diffuse easily to the active surface of the composite components, hence, a good charge propagation and high values of capacitance (100-350 F/g) have been obtained. Since nanotubular materials are characterized by a high resiliency, the composite electrodes can easily adapt to the volumetric changes during charge/discharge, that drastically improves the cycling performance of supercapacitors. Additionally, it has been proved that combining materials with pseudocapacitance properties in an asymmetric configuration is a very promising direction for developing a new generation of high performance supercapacitors.


At-speed testing of deep-submicrometer or nano-scale integrated circuits (ICs) consumes excessive power and creates hotspots and temperature gradient in the chip-under-test. The problem worsens for 3-D ICs, where heat dissipation across layers is more unbalanced. These hotspots in a circuit often cause severe degradation of performance and reliability, as a rise in temperature can introduce an extra delay along paths. As a result, the delay of an otherwise fault-free path may exceed the functional clock period. Such thermal emergencies can thus lead to over-detection and undue yield loss during testing. Their effects will be more severe for small-delay defects (SDDs), which target to sensitize the long paths in a circuit. In this paper, we quantify, for the first time, the impact of thermal emergencies on SDDs and provide a solution to mitigate them. The proposed method is based on: 1) a new thermal-aware (TA) path-selection method, 2) a TA test-ordering method, and 3) an effective scan architecture and a test-application scheme. Experimental results on benchmarks demonstrate that the new method can significantly reduce the number of over-detections of SDDs.


This volume develops a new multimodal semiotic approach to the study of communication, examining how multimodal discourse is construed transmedially and interculturally and how new technologies and cultural stances inform communicative contexts across the world.
It contributes to current theoretical debates in the disciplines of semiotics, linguistics, multimodality, and pragmatics, as well as those aspects of pedagogy and film studies that engage with the notions of text and narrative by addressing questions such as: How do we study multimedia communication? How do we incorporate the impact of new media technologies into the study of Linguistics and Semiotics? How do we construe culture in modern communication? How useful are the current multidisciplinary approaches to multimodal communication?
Through the analysis of specific case studies that are developed within diverse academic disciplines and which draw on a range of theoretical frameworks, the goal of this book is to provide a basis for an overarching framework that can be applied by scholars and students with different academic and cultural backgrounds.


The stable sandwich structure and the excellent redox activity of ferrocene make it a ubiquitous component in organometallic systems. The introduction of a ferrocenyl unit into a polymer skeleton provides a good avenue towards novel materials for various applications in redox batteries, enantioselective catalysis, optical and magnetic switches, etc. Herein, we report a strategic design and synthesis of new ferrocene-based hyperbranched polymers, and demonstrate promising methods for their morphology control as spheres by direct coupling reactions and hollow polyhedra by a templating approach. Furthermore, task-specific applications targeted for their respective architectures are investigated in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and water treatment, respectively. The spherical polymer used as an electroactive anode in LIBs has a high capacity of 755.2 mA h g−1, stable chargeable performance of over 200 cycles and superior rate capability. For comparison, the hollow counterpart shows a sharp increase of the specific surface area in the precursor-derived magnetic ceramics from 417 to 1195 m2 g−1, and the as-made material exhibits great potential for the rapid removal of trace amounts of pollutants in water with magnetic reusability.


Quality design means designing quality specifications and processing specifications of products with low cost and high efficiency. This paper presents a hierarchical case-based reasoning approach for quality design. The structure and expression of case-base, the hierarchical case retrieval algorithms and similarity computation formula between cases are all studied. Such a hierarchical case-based reasoning method will greatly improve the retrieval accuracy and efficiency.


SUMMARY Accurate and complete replication of the genome in every cell division is a prerequisite of genomic stability. Thus, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic replication forks are extremely precise and robust molecular machines that have evolved to be up to the task. However, it has recently become clear that the replication fork is more of a hurdler than a runner: it must overcome various obstacles present on its way. Such obstacles can be called natural impediments to DNA replication, as opposed to external and genetic factors. Natural impediments to DNA replication are particular DNA binding proteins, unusual secondary structures in DNA, and transcription complexes that occasionally (in eukaryotes) or constantly (in prokaryotes) operate on replicating templates. This review describes the mechanisms and consequences of replication stalling at various natural impediments, with an emphasis on the role of replication stalling in genomic instability.


GigaPan combined with a dedicated concave subject table makes virtually distortion-free, life-size photos of prairie plants with roots more than 10 feet long. The pictures travel to display the mass, detail, and importance of otherwise hidden soil life structure. GigaPan helps The Land Institute enlist support for development of an agriculture modeled on nature's polyculture of perennials – Natural Systems Agriculture.


Background: Acorus calamus is a medicinal plant from India, which is used in the popular medicine for the treatment of malaria, arthritis, bronchial asthma, flatulent colic, and epilepsy. In this study, the genoprotective effect of A. calamus was evaluated in peripheral blood lymphocytes using cytokinesis block micronucleus assay (CBMN) and chromosome sensitivity analysis. Materials and Methods: Preliminary phyto chemical analysis of the extract was performed to determine its major phyto chemical constituents such as alkaloids, sterols, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenolic compounds, saponins, carbohydrates, glycosides, and tannins. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of extract showed the presence of major bioactive compounds. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were treated with bleomycin (BLM) in the presence of methanol extract of A. calamus (MEAC) to observe its antigenotoxic potential. Results: In CBMN assay, treatment with MEAC at different concentrations in culture medium showed a statistically significant decrease in the frequency of micronucleus. A significant reduction in the chromosomal aberration frequency, especially chromosome gaps, breaks, acentric chromosomes, and dicentrics were also observed. Conclusion: The results clearly indicate that A. calamus can protect against DNA damage induced by BLM in cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes and has proved to be a significant potential to protect cellular system from DNA damages.


Traditional frontier literature identifies a positive correlation between land availability and fertility. A common explanation is that the demand for children as labour is higher in newly established frontier regions compared to older and more densely populated farming regions. In this paper we contribute to the debate by analysing the relationship between household composition and land availability in a closing frontier region, i.e. the Graaff-Reinet district in South Africa's Cape Colony from 1800-28. We show that the number of children present in farming households increased with frontier closure, while the presence of non-family labourers decreased over time. We explain this by, differently from the frontier literature, acknowledging that the demand for family labour was not a function of its marginal productivity and that farmers reacted to differently to diminishing land availability depending on their wealth. Poorer households, which made up the majority of this frontier population, responded to shrinking land availability by employing relatively more family labour, while the wealthiest group underwent capital intensification.


Recently the Dutch government has submitted a Foetal Tissue Bill, containing regulations for all uses of foetal tissue. The Bill probably is to be intergrated in the future Embryo Act that is to regulate dealings with living embryos. This article focuses on the nature and legal status of foetal tissue and on the question of whether it is necessary that legislation separate from existing and future laws on the use of human tissue is necessary or desirable. It is concluded that in this context the use of foetal tissue, being the remains of a foetus that is no longer alive, should preferably not be associated with dealings with embryos but with the use of other human tissue.


A bandwidth efficient three-user cooperative diversity scheme is proposed. Each user has two partners who receive its symbols and rotate the phases of these symbols. Then, two partners retransmit the real parts and imaginary parts of these rotated symbols, respectively. This scheme can offer diversity order of three, and the bandwidth efficiency is only decreased by 1/2 compared to a noncooperative diversity scheme. The optimal rotation angles are derived when QPSK and 8PSK modulations are employed, respectively. Then, a new symbol mapping for 8PSK modulation is proposed, and it is a simple way to improve the system performance.


"HTTP/1.0", includes the specification for a Basic Access Authentication scheme. This scheme is not considered to be a secure method of user authentication (unless used in conjunction with some external secure system such as SSL [5]), as the user name and password are passed over the network as cleartext. This document also provides the specification for HTTP's authentication framework, the original Basic authentication scheme and a scheme based on cryptographic hashes, referred to as "Digest Access Authentication". It is therefore also intended to serve as a replacement for RFC 2069 [6]. Some optional elements specified by RFC 2069 have been removed from this specification due to problems found since its publication; other new elements have been added for compatibility, those new elements have been made optional, but are strongly recommended. Like Basic, Digest access authentication verifies that both parties to a communication know a shared secret (a password); unlike Basic, this verification can be done without sending the password in the clear, which is RFC 2617 HTTP Authentication June 1999 Basic's biggest weakness. As with most other authentication protocols, the greatest sources of risks are usually found not in the core protocol itself but in policies and procedures surrounding its use. Franks, et al. Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 2617 HTTP Authentication June 1999


Spatial patterns and temporal trends of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition are important for quantifying their impact on forest carbon (C) uptake. In a first step, we modeled historical and future change in the global distributions of the atmospheric deposition of N and P from the dry and wet deposition of aerosols and gases containing N and P. Future projections were compared between two scenarios with contrasting aerosol emissions. Modeled fields of N and P deposition and P concentration were evaluated using globally distributed in situ measurements. N deposition peaked around 1990 in European forests and around 2010 in East Asian forests, and both increased sevenfold relative to 1850. P deposition peaked around 2010 in South Asian forests and increased 3.5‐fold relative to 1850. In a second step, we estimated the change in C storage in forests due to the fertilization by deposited N and P (∆Cν dep), based on the retention of deposited nutrients, their allocation within plants, and C:N and C:P stoichiometry. ∆Cν dep for 1997–2013 was estimated to be 0.27 ± 0.13 Pg C year−1 from N and 0.054 ± 0.10 Pg C year−1 from P, contributing 9% and 2% of the terrestrial C sink, respectively. Sensitivity tests show that uncertainty of ∆Cν dep was larger from P than from N, mainly due to uncertainty in the fraction of deposited P that is fixed by soil. ∆CP dep was exceeded by ∆CN dep over 1960–2007 in a large area of East Asian and West European forests due to a faster growth in N deposition than P. Our results suggest a significant contribution of anthropogenic P deposition to C storage, and additional sources of N are needed to support C storage by P in some Asian tropical forests where the deposition rate increased even faster for P than for N.


A globally-complete, high-temporal resolution and multiple-variable approach is employed to analyse the diurnal cycle of Earth's outgoing energy flows. This is made possible via the use of Met Office model output for September 2010 that is assessed alongside regional satellite observations throughout. Principal component analysis applied to the longwave component of modelled outgoing radiation reveals dominant diurnal patterns related to land surface heating and convective cloud development, respectively explaining 68.5 % and 16.0 % of the variance at the global scale. The total variance explained 15 by these first two patterns is markedly less than previous regional estimates from observations, and this analysis suggests that around half of the difference relates to the lack of global coverage in the observations. The first pattern is strongly and simultaneously coupled to the land surface temperature diurnal variations. The second pattern is strongly coupled to the cloud water content and height diurnal variations, but lags the cloud variations by several hours. We suggest that the mechanism controlling the delay is a moistening of the upper troposphere due to the evaporation of anvil cloud. The shortwave component 20 of modelled outgoing radiation, analysed in terms of albedo, exhibits a very dominant pattern explaining 88.4 % of the variance that is related to the angle of incoming solar radiation, and a second pattern explaining 6.7 % of the variance that is related to compensating effects from convective cloud development and marine stratocumulus cloud dissipation. Similar patterns are found in regional satellite observations, but with slightly different timings due to known model biases. The first pattern is controlled by changes in surface and cloud albedo, and Rayleigh and aerosol scattering. The second pattern is strongly coupled 25 to the diurnal variations in both cloud water content and height in convective regions but only cloud water content in marine stratocumulus regions, with substantially shorter lag times compared with the longwave counterpart. This indicates that the shortwave radiation response to diurnal cloud development and dissipation is more rapid, which is found to be robust in the regional satellite observations. These global, diurnal radiation patterns and their coupling with other geophysical variables demonstrate the process level understanding that can be gained using this approach and highlight a need for global, diurnal 30 observing systems for Earth outgoing radiation in the future.


Background
The aim of this study was to translate dynamic glucose enhancement (DGE) body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on the glucose chemical exchange saturation transfer (glucoCEST) signal to a 3 T clinical field strength.

Methods
An infusion protocol for intravenous (i.v.) glucose was optimised using a hyperglycaemic clamp to maximise the chances of detecting exchange-sensitive MRI signal. Numerical simulations were performed to define the optimum parameters for glucoCEST measurements with consideration to physiological conditions. DGE images were acquired for patients with lymphomas and prostate cancer injected i.v. with 20% glucose.

Results
The optimised hyperglycaemic clamp infusion based on the DeFronzo method demonstrated higher efficiency and stability of glucose delivery as compared to manual determination of glucose infusion rates. DGE signal sensitivity was found to be dependent on T2, B1 saturation power and integration range. Our results show that motion correction and B0 field inhomogeneity correction are crucial to avoid mistaking signal changes for a glucose response while field drift is a substantial contributor. However, after B0 field drift correction, no significant glucoCEST signal enhancement was observed in tumour regions of all patients in vivo.

Conclusions
Based on our simulated and experimental results, we conclude that glucose-related signal remains elusive at 3 T in body regions, where physiological movements and strong effects of B1 + and B0 render the originally small glucoCEST signal difficult to detect.


This paper presents an efficient stochastic model predictive control (SMPC) framework for quasi-linear parameter varying (qLPV) systems. The framework applies to general nonlinear systems that are driven by stochastic additive disturbances and subject to chance constraints. The qLPV form is featured by a composition of a set of linear time invariant models with state-/control- dependent scheduling variables, which can be obtained by the spatial-temporal filtering-based system identification approach developed in our earlier work. The overall framework can then be transformed into a tube-based MPC optimization problem which can be efficiently handled by a series of quadratic programming problems. A case study on automotive engine control is presented as a pilot demonstration of the proposed qLPV-SMPC where we show its advantage over the zone-based MPC, much greater computational efficiency than nonlinear MPC and less conservativeness of the proposed method as compared to its robust MPC counterpart.


A powerful method of interaction between two software systems is through mobile code. By allowing code to be installed dynamically and then executed, a host system can provide a flexible means of access to its internal resources and services. There are many problems to be solved before such uses of untrusted code can become practical. We focus on the problem of how to establish guarantees about the intrinsic behavior of untrusted programs. Of particular interest are the following: (1) How can the host system ensure that the untrusted code will not damage it, for example, by corrupting internal data structures? (2) How can the host ensure that the untrusted code will not use too many resources (such as CPU, memory, and so forth) or use them for too long a time period? (3) How can the host make these assurances without undue effort and deleterious effect on overall system performance? Our position is that the theory of programming languages, including formal semantics, type theory, and applications of logic, are critical to solving the untrusted code security problem. To illustrate the possibilities of programming language theory, we briefly describe one rather extreme but promising example, which is proof carrying code (PCC). This is a technique by which the host establishes a set of safety rules that guarantee safe behavior of programs, and the code producer creates a formal safety proof that proves, for the untrusted code, adherence to the safety rules. Then, the host is able to use a simple and fast proof validator to check, with certainty, that the proof is valid and hence the foreign code is safe to execute.


OBJECTIVE
Behçet's disease is a chronic, relapsing, multisystemic inflammatory disorder characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers and by ocular, articular, vascular, and central nervous system involvement. The tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) pathway is likely involved in the pathophysiology of Behçet's disease. One of the 2 TNFalpha receptors is TNF receptor superfamily 1A (TNFRSF1A). We searched for R92Q TNFRSF1A mutations in patients with Behçet's disease.

METHODS
A search for TNFRSF1A mutations was performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the TNFRSF1A gene, followed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography scanning.

RESULTS
Among the 74 unrelated European patients with Behçet's disease, 5 (6.8%) carried the R92Q TNFRSF1A mutation. The frequency of the R92Q mutation in patients with Behçet's disease was significantly higher than that in controls (P = 0.006 by Fisher's exact test). Deep vein thrombosis was significantly associated with the R92Q mutation (P = 0.001 [with Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons]). Among the 30 patients with thrombosis, 10 had cerebral thrombophlebitis. None of these patients had the R92Q mutation. Among the 20 patients with Behçet's disease who had extracranial deep vein thrombosis, 6 had the R92Q mutation, whereas 14 did not (P < 0.0001)

CONCLUSION
The R92Q mutation in patients with Behçet's disease is associated with an increased risk of extracranial venous thrombosis. This new finding may help in understanding the complex prothrombotic state in patients with Behçet's disease.


Background: Standard prevention and treatment strategies to decrease peak plantar pressure include a total contact insert with a metatarsal pad, but no clear guidelines exist to determine optimal placement of the pad with respect to the metatarsal head. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of metatarsal pad location on peak plantar pressure in subjects with diabetes mellitus and peripheral neuropathy. Methods: Twenty subjects with diabetes mellitus, peripheral neuropathy, and a history of forefoot plantar ulcers were studied (12 men and eight women, mean age = 57 ± 9 years). CT determined the position of the metatarsal pad relative to metatarsal head and peak plantar pressures were measured on subjects in three footwear conditions: extra-depth shoes and a 1) total contact insert, 2) total contact insert and a proximal metatarsal pad, and 3) total contact insert and a distal metatarsal pad. The change in peak plantar pressure between shoe conditions was plotted and compared to metatarsal pad position relative to the second metatarsal head. Results: Compared to the total contact insert, all metatarsal pad placements between 6.1 mm to 10.6 mm proximal to the metatarsal head line resulted in a pressure reduction (average reduction = 32 ± 16%). Metatarsal pad placements between 1.8 mm distal and 6.1 mm proximal and between 10.6 mm proximal and 16.8 mm proximal to the metatarsal head line resulted in variable peak plantar pressure reduction (average reduction = 16 ± 21%). Peak plantar pressure increased when the metatarsal pad was located more than 1.8 mm distal to the metatarsal head line. Conclusions: Consistent peak plantar pressure reduction occurred when the metatarsal pad in this study was located between 6 to 11 mm proximal to the metatarsal head line. Pressure reduction lessened as the metatarsal pad moved outside of this range and actually increased if the pad was located too distal of this range. Computational models are needed to help predict optimal location of metatarsal pad with a variety of sizes, shapes, and material properties.


Background The role of thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) for postoperative analgesia after video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is still controversial. Some studies have reported the efficacy of ultrasound-guided retrolaminar block (RLB) for the postoperative management of pain after chest wall surgery. The purpose of this study was to compare the postoperative analgesic efficacy and adverse effects of ultrasound-guided RLB with those of TEA in patients undergoing minor VATS procedures. Methods A total of 192 relevant records of patients were enrolled in this study. We reviewed electronic medical records of patients undergoing minor VATS procedures under general anesthesia. The primary outcome was the median differences in the numerical rating scale (NRS) scores during rest between the groups at the morning of postoperative day 1 (POD 1m). A propensity-matched analysis incorporating preoperative variables was used to compare the efficacy of postoperative analgesia in two groups. Results Overall, 94 patients were identified for analysis. Propensity score matching resulted in 47 patients in each group. There were no significant differences in the NRS scores between the two groups. The median differences in NRS scores during rest between the two groups at POD 1m were under 1, which indicates non-inferiority of RLB. There were no significant differences in the incidence of adverse effects and rescue dose of analgesic consumption between the two groups. Conclusions The analgesic effects of continuous ultrasound-guided RLB were non inferior to those of TEA for minor VATS procedures.


For the simplest case of totally electroded plano-convex resonator with a particular unspherical contour respecting the lateral anisotropy of the plate and for the usual boundary conditions (totally free edge, "infinite" plate, totally fixed edges, the mode shapes are very simple. But if some parts of the edge are clamped while others are free, the solution should include higher order terms and the mode shape can become more intricate. In a second part, from computed results obtained with a numerical model, we show that the same effects exist also, with a similar amplitude, for conventional resonators having a spherical contour. The third part reports experiments made to confirm the predicted effects of the fixation. Some cases presenting effects similar to those predicted were observed. Other features of plano-convex resonators with one or with two curvatures of bi-convex and of bevelled resonators were also observed.


The ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker (SCT) together with the pixel and the transition radiation detectors will form the tracking system of the ATLAS experiment at LHC. It will consist of 20000 single-sided silicon microstrip sensors assembled back-to-back into modules mounted on four concentric barrels and two end-cap detectors formed by nine disks each. The SCT module production and testing has finished while the macro-assembly is well under way. After an overview of the layout and the operating environment of the SCT, a description of the readout electronics design and operation requirements will be given. The quality control procedure and the DAQ software for assuring the electrical functionality of hybrids and modules will be discussed. The focus will be on the electrical performance results obtained during the assembly and testing of the end-cap SCT modules.


In the article we provide the new design of pneumatic sowing machine with peripheral cells on the seed disk and a passive device for removing extra seeds with inertia method for precise seeding of cultivated crops. A series of studies was proposed for sugar beet seeds sowing device, we defined the influence of dilution in a vacuum chamber of sowing device and angular velocity cell seed disk on the cells filling factor. The design of the new pneumatic sowing machine can significantly reduce the vacuum in the system having increased the angular speed in cell seed disk to the values of seeding device travelling speed, thus provide a constant point of seeds drop from the seed disc at the same trajectory of their flight to the furrows and the qualitative cells filling. To determine the rational parameters and modes of sowing device we used method of multifactor experiment planning. We determined the main levels and intervals of varying factors for sugar beet sowing along with determining the filling factor of cell seed disk. With application of package Statistica 6.0. for parameter optimization cell seed disk filling factor was constructed response surface and line of even output.


BACKGROUND
Temporary shunt placement can quickly restore perfusion after extremity arterial injury. This study examined the adequacy of limb blood flow with shunt use, non-heparin-bonded shunt patency over prolonged periods, and the safety of this technique.

METHODS
Common iliac arteries were divided and 4.0-mm Silastic Sundt shunts placed in 16 anesthetized pigs. Eight (group I) had shunts placed immediately; eight others (group II) were shunted after an hour of limb ischemia and hemorrhagic shock. Physiologic parameters and femoral artery blood flow in both hindlimbs were continuously monitored. Limb lactic acid generation, oxygen utilization, and hematologic and metabolic effects were serially evaluated for 24 hours.

RESULTS
Shunts remained patent in 13 of 16 pigs. Shunts thrombosed in two group I animals because of technical errors, but functioned well after thrombectomy and repositioning. Patency could not be maintained in one animal that died from shock. Flow in group I shunted limbs was 57 (+/-11 SD) % of control. For group II animals in shock, shunted limb flow initially averaged 46 +/- 15% of control, but 4 hours after shunt placement, the mean limb blood flow was the same as in group I. Increased oxygen extraction compensated for the lower flow. Lactic acid production was not increased in comparison to control limbs.

CONCLUSION
Shunts provided adequate flow in this model of extremity trauma. Correctly placed shunts stayed patent for 24 hours, without anticoagulation, if shunt placement followed resuscitation.


Both rice production and fish culture in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam have a close mutual relationship with the use of water and land resources. First, they are competitive in the use of land and water. Second, rice production discharges pesticides into water bodies causing an external cost to fish culture, which, in turn, leads to an increase in fish cost and price. A dynamic model for maximizing the social surplus is developed for optimal management of resources as well as production. Its first-order conditions provide some important quantitative as well as qualitative interpretation that explains the dynamic relationships among prices, water quality, and shadow price. The time paths and phase diagrams of the model show the variations and the changes in prices, outputs, and water quality over time, and the initial position in regions leading to divergence or convergence. As a result, effective policies are set up to maximize social welfare. Data are collected and used in estimations of demand functions of rice and fish, the function of assimilative capacity, the fish cost function, and the parameter of pesticide discharge. The total loss offish culture (total external cost in the year 2001) due to pesticide use is about 9 billion $US. Two cases oflinear and nonlinear forms are simulated with scenarios of initial values for the year 2001. The simulation shows optimistic results with prices going down and water quality going up over time, meaning the social surplus will rise. The phase diagram shows that the social manager should look for policies to raise the initial value of water quality to get an optimal solution. A comparative analysis of the model simulation shows the directions of change in parameters leading to a change in the steady state values. How to change the parameter values is analyzed and the analysis suggests different policies.


Abstract The classification by many scholars of numerical research processes as quantitative and other research techniques as qualitative has prompted the construction of a third category, that of 'mixed methods', to describe studies that use elements from both processes. Such labels might be helpful in structuring our understanding of phenomena. But they can also inhibit our activities when they serve as inaccurate or limiting descriptors. Based on the observation that mixed methods are fast becoming a common research approach in the social sciences, this paper questions whether the assumptions that are used and perpetuated by mixed methods are valid. The paper calls for a critical change in how we perceive research, in order to better describe actual research processes. A 'core' design typology of the mechanisms underlying research structures and processes is posited to encourage creative thinking around alternatives to the three purported paradigms of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. This 'return to basics' seeks to encourage new and innovative research designs to emerge, and suggests a rebirth of research from the ashes of mixed methods.


A kind of multi-input and multi-output network control system with multiple independent control loops is examined in this paper. The controller of each control loop is connected with the sensor and actuator by a network and each control loop has a different sampling period. The whole mathematical model of this kind of networked control system is set up when the maximum network-induced delay is smaller than one sampling period. And the sufficient condition subject to the asymptotic stability of this kind of networked control system is derived based on the theorem for estimation of feature value deduced from perturbation theory. The research results of this paper have significance in the analysis and design of this kind of networked control system or a similar networked control system.


Sickness absence tends to be negatively correlated with unemployment. This may suggest disciplining effects of unemployment but may also reflect changes in the composition of the labour force. A panel of Norwegian register data for the years 1990-1995 is used to analyse sickness absences lasting more than two weeks. We estimate fixed effects models of the probability of absence and the number of days on sick leave conditional on absence. The county unemployment rate is found to affect the probability of absence negatively. When restricting the sample to workers who are present in the whole sample period, the negative relationship between absence and unemployment remains. The evidence on duration goes in the same direction. This indicates that the revealed procyclical variation in sickness absence is not driven by changes in the composition of the labour force.


Background: Calcified chronic subdural hematomas occur infrequently. When the calcifications are extensive and bilateral, the condition is termed "armored brain". We describe a case of "armored brain" incidentally discovered in an adult presenting with abdominal pain and mild headaches, long after initial placement of a ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunt. Case Description: A 38-year-old woman, treated at infancy with a VP shunt, presented with a 2-month history of abdominal pain associated with nausea and chills. She was neurologically intact on exam. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a rim-enhancing loculated fluid collection surrounding the patient's distal VP shunt catheter tip. As a part of her initial work-up, she received a head CT to evaluate the proximal VP shunt, which demonstrated large bilateral chronic subdural hematomas with heavily calcified walls. She was eventually taken to the operating room (OR) for replacement of the distal catheter. It was felt that her acute clinical presentation was unrelated to the bilateral, calcified subdural hematomas and thus the decision was made to manage them conservatively. Conclusions: This rare complication of chronic shunting for hydrocephalus is sometimes referred to as armored brain. Surgery for armored brain is infrequently indicated and beneficial in only small subgroup of patients, with management guided by clinical presentation. Our patient fully recovered after shunt revision alone.


Objective: To study the protective role of alcoholic leaf extract of Carica papaya in aluminium induced cognitive dysfunction and oxidative damage in albino rats and to explore the neuroprotective effect of Carica papaya represented by behaviour and memory tests. Methods: The study was carried out for a period of 42 days (6 weeks) in aluminium chloride induced model. Behavioural assessment is done using Rota rod apparatus and Elevated plus maze and biochemical parameters from brain homogenate like acetyl cholinesterase (AchE) activity, Total protein, Lipid peroxidation (MDA), Super oxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase, Glutathione Reductase (GR) were estimated. Male Wistar rats (30) were divided into 5 groups of 6 rats each. Group I received normal saline. Group II were administered orally with aluminium chloride (100 mg/kg). Group III received Rivastigmine 0.3 mg/kg body orally. Group IV and V were administered with alcoholic Carica papaya leaf extract 200 and 400 mg/kg along with aluminium chloride of 100 mg/kg orally after 1 hr interval. All the data was analysed using One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test. Results: Administration of alcoholic Carica papaya leaf extract (200mg/kg and 400mg/kg) showed significant (P<0.001) increase in level of acetyl choline, significant (P<0.001) reduction of total protein and significant (P<0.001) increase in the level of SOD, Catalase and Glutathione reductase in a dose dependent manner when compared with positive control. positive control. Conclusion: This study demonstrates alcoholic Carica papaya leaf extract has a neuroprotective effect against aluminium induced behavioural changes.


The obesity is a leading cause of health problems all over the world. It is a comlex health abnormality that is influenced by developmental, behavioural, environmental, and genetic factors. Although the role of physical activity and diet in regulation of body weight is well described, the genetic variants potentially influencing the characteristics and range of the body's adaptive response to physical activity in healthy individuals still remains mostly unknown. The main aim of this study is to review current evidence, through a literature review and the results of our studies, on the influence of selected molecular markers on the development of obesity, as well as the body composition changes in response to regular physical activity. We studied the most reliable candidate genes with a focus on catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT), dopamine deceptor D2 gene (DRD2), fatty acid binding protein 2 gene (FABP2), fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO), and uncoupling protein 1 (UCP-1). This review provides information about recent genetic research progressions in adiposity, as well as molecular mechanisms, associated phenotypes, as well as their implications for human health, physical performance, and adaptive changes in response to physical activity.


The synthesis of ( E )- and ( Z )-3-hexenyl nonanoate, known constituents of essential oil containing plants, and two related compounds is reported. These compounds were assembled from nonanoyl chloride or nonanoic acid and the respective alcohols. In particular, it was found that the use of triethylamine as a co-solvent was necessary to avoid acid-mediated isomerization of the alkenes, which resulted in an inseparable mixture of products. The antimicrobial activity of the four hexenyl and hexyl nonanoate compounds was undertaken using microdilution minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analysis against eight test microorganisms. All four compounds demonstrated activity, with ( E )-3-hexenyl nonanoate 1b having the highest inhibition (MIC value of 0.45 mg mL –1 ) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27858. Furthermore, this compound demonstrated the highest broad-spectrum activity (mean MIC value of 1.24 ± 0.50 mg mL –1 ) with noteworthy activity against all pathogens tested. Keywords:  Essential oil constituent, ( E )- and ( Z )-3-hexenyl nonanoate, antimicrobial, ester synthesis, acid-induced alkene isomerizations PDF and supplemetary file attached.


In recent years, various types of synthetic cannabinoids have become widely distributed and are causing social and health problems throughout many parts of the world. These drugs are considered novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and were created to imitate the cannabimimetic effects similar to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) through interaction with the CB1 and CB2 receptors of the human endocannabinoid system. This paper reports the detection of the recently identified synthetic cannabinoids and metabolites in both blood and urine matrices and presents both postmortem and human performance cases In Miami, Florida. The paper also correlates the identification of these drugs with observed behavior in human performance cases and post-mortem cases. There is limited information available regarding the confirmation of 5-fluoro-ADB involving fatal poisonings.
Results highlight the need for expanded toxicology testing for synthetic cannabinoids in clinical and forensic specimens especially when characteristic symptoms such as memory impairment in a traffic accident and unresponsive cardio-pulmonary arrest are observed.


Background When this study began in 2018, I sought to determine the extent to which the top 50 schools of nursing were using hashtags that could attract attention from journalists on Twitter. In December 2020, the timeframe was expanded to encompass 2 more years of data, and an analysis was conducted of the types of hashtags used. Objective The study attempted to answer the following question: to what extent are top-ranked schools of nursing using hashtags that could attract attention from journalists, policy makers, and the public on Twitter? Methods In February 2018, 47 of the top 50 schools of nursing had public Twitter accounts. The most recent 3200 tweets were extracted from each account and analyzed. There were 31,762 tweets in the time period covered (September 29, 2016, through February 22, 2018). After 13,429 retweets were excluded, 18,333 tweets remained. In December 2020, 44 of the original 47 schools of nursing still had public Twitter accounts under the same name used in the first phase of the study. Three accounts that were no longer active were removed from the 2016-2018 data set, resulting in 16,939 tweets from 44 schools of nursing. The Twitter data for the 44 schools of nursing were obtained for the time period covered in the second phase of the study (February 23, 2018, through December 13, 2020), and the most recent 3200 tweets were extracted from each of the accounts. On excluding retweets, there were 40,368 tweets in the 2018-2020 data set. The 2016-2018 data set containing 16,939 tweets was merged with the 2018-2020 data set containing 40,368 tweets, resulting in 57,307 tweets in the 2016-2020 data set. Results Each hashtag used 100 times or more in the 2016-2020 data set was categorized as one of the following seven types: nursing, school, conference or tweet chat, health, illness/disease/condition, population, and something else. These types were then broken down into the following two categories: intercom hashtags and megaphone hashtags. Approximately 83% of the time, schools of nursing used intercom hashtags (inward-facing hashtags focused on in-group discussion within and about the profession). Schools of nursing rarely used outward-facing megaphone hashtags. There was no discernible shift in the way that schools of nursing used hashtags after the publication of The Woodhull Study Revisited. Conclusions Top schools of nursing use hashtags more like intercoms to communicate with other nurses rather than megaphones to invite attention from journalists, policy makers, and the public. If schools of nursing want the media to showcase their faculty members as experts, they need to increase their use of megaphone hashtags to connect the work of their faculty with topics of interest to the public.


Survival prediction is highly valued in end-of-life care clinical practice, and patient performance status evaluation stands as a predominant component in survival prognostication. While current performance status evaluation tools are limited to their subjective nature, the advent of wearable technology enables continual recordings of patients' activity and has the potential to measure performance status objectively. We hypothesize that wristband actigraphy monitoring devices can predict in-hospital death of end-stage cancer patients during the time of their hospital admissions. The objective of this study was to train and validate a long short-term memory (LSTM) deep-learning prediction model based on activity data of wearable actigraphy devices. The study recruited 60 end-stage cancer patients in a hospice care unit, with 28 deaths and 32 discharged in stable condition at the end of their hospital stay. The standard Karnofsky Performance Status score had an overall prognostic accuracy of 0.83. The LSTM prediction model based on patients' continual actigraphy monitoring had an overall prognostic accuracy of 0.83. Furthermore, the model performance improved with longer input data length up to 48 h. In conclusion, our research suggests the potential feasibility of wristband actigraphy to predict end-of-life admission outcomes in palliative care for end-stage cancer patients. Clinical Trial Registration: The study protocol was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT04883879).


After outlining the collective action issues that the unsecured creditors face in bankruptcy and the conventional notion that creditors' committees or creditors' representatives assist in resolving these obstacles, we compare the recommendations of the UNCITRAL's Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law to the laws on the representation of unsecured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings in eight countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, South Korea, Singapore and China.. Our findings reveal the presence of insolvency laws governing creditor representation in all the reviewed jurisdictions, whether or not the debtor remains in possession. The jurisdictions vary in the structure of the representative bodies, in the criteria for eligibility for a committee, and in the powers given to the committees. Further research will be necessary to ascertain whether these differences affect the dynamics of bankruptcy proceedings, especially reorganization proceedings. Nonetheless, our research clearly shows that there is a widespread acceptance of the notion that unsecured creditors need a specific structure for the representation of their interests and that the structures selected by different legislators tend to share certain characteristics.


— SQL injection is one of the most common types of attacks and has a very critical impact on web servers. In the worst case, an attacker can perform post-exploitation after a successful SQL injection attack. In the case of forensics web servers, web server analysis is closely related to log file analysis. But sometimes large file sizes and different log types make it difficult for investigators to look for traces of attackers on the server. The purpose of this paper is to help investigator take appropriate steps to investigate when the web server gets attacked. We use attack scenarios using SQL injection attacks including PHP backdoor injection as post-exploitation. We perform post-mortem analysis of web server logs based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST and HTTP GET method approaches that are characteristic of SQL injection attacks. In addition, we also propose structured analysis method between the web server application log file, database application, and other additional logs that exist on the webserver. This method makes the investigator more structured to analyze the log file so as to produce evidence of attack with acceptable time. There is also the possibility that other attack techniques can be detected with this method. On the other side, it can help web administrators to prepare their systems for the forensic readiness.


ABSTRACT Bone marrow stromal cell antigen 2 (BST2) is a cellular restriction factor with a broad antiviral activity. In sheep, the BST2 gene is duplicated into two paralogs termed oBST2A and oBST2B. oBST2A impedes viral exit of the Jaagsiekte sheep retroviruses (JSRV), most probably by retaining virions at the cell membrane, similar to the "tethering" mechanism exerted by human BST2. In this study, we provide evidence that unlike oBST2A, oBST2B is limited to the Golgi apparatus and disrupts JSRV envelope (Env) trafficking by sequestering it. In turn, oBST2B leads to a reduction in Env incorporation into viral particles, which ultimately results in the release of virions that are less infectious. Furthermore, the activity of oBST2B does not seem to be restricted to retroviruses, as it also acts on vesicular stomatitis virus glycoproteins. Therefore, we suggest that oBST2B exerts antiviral activity using a mechanism distinct from the classical tethering restriction observed for oBST2A. IMPORTANCE BST2 is a powerful cellular restriction factor against a wide range of enveloped viruses. Sheep possess two paralogs of the BST2 gene called oBST2A and oBST2B. JSRV, the causative agent of a transmissible lung cancer of sheep, is known to be restricted by oBST2A. In this study, we show that unlike oBST2A, oBST2B impairs the normal cellular trafficking of JSRV envelope glycoproteins by sequestering them within the Golgi apparatus. We also show that oBST2B decreases the incorporation of envelope glycoprotein into JSRV viral particles, which in turn reduces virion infectivity. In conclusion, oBST2B exerts a novel antiviral activity that is distinct from those of BST2 proteins of other species.


In lower-middle income countries (LMICs), untapped land mines, war, and diseases such as diabetes and polio have left many residents in need of a prosthetic device. For many whose primary source of income is derived from manual labor, lack of an appropriate prosthetic device often results in decreased productivity and lower quality of life. Across the world, the primary purpose of prostheses is to restore functional capacity in a manner that is both natural and aesthetically pleasing to the user. Some practices from the Western world, such as manufacturing methods, are transferrable to these contexts. However, the availability of materials, resources, and skilled personnel pose particular challenges for LMICs. In general, prostheses designed for LMICs exhibit simplified designs, as well as limited materials and electronic components. This article reviews current upper-limb prosthetic devices developed specifically for resource-constrained environments. An overview of the materials and design for each device as well as a discussion of their limitations are provided.


This study is an attempt to define more clearly the Sabbath institution as it is presented in Exodus 20:8-11. It begins by describing the big-picture contours of the Sabbath institution as it has been depicted by various scholars during the last century. Many of these studies focus on delineating what proper Sabbath observance entails or describing how Sabbath rest mirrors God's rest on the seventh day of creation. However, little investigation has been conducted into the relationship between the fourth commandment in Exodus 20 and the shape of humanity's task and relationship with God on the seventh day. The study then examines the nature of God's rest in the first creation account, describing what "rest" entailed for God, and the work from which he rested. It suggests that this "rest" is from the creational activity of the first six days and that it continues on into the present. It also discusses the relationship between the concept of rest offered by the first creation account and the concept of rest in the understanding of the Ancient Near East and Israel. Humanity's role in the created order is also examined. While humans share some qualities with other creatures, such as an embodied existence, they are also distinct from the rest of creation. Only humans are created in the image of God. As such, they are given tasks unique to their status: subduing the earth, exercising dominion over the creatures of the earth, and expanding the borders of the garden as they multiply and fill the earth. These form the heart of their God-given task that they will carry out as God enjoys his seventh-day rest. Next, the study investigates the particulars of Exodus 20:8-11 and suggests a reading of these particulars against the backdrop of the seventh day as it is described in chapters 3-4. While the rationale for the Sabbath commandment is grounded in the events of the first creation account, the commandment itself also needs to be understood in the context of the Decalogue and, in turn, in the context of the law's reception at Sinai. The law, and hence the fourth commandment, are central to the calling and purpose of Israel. As Israel fulfils its mandate to be a light to the nations, it will reflect the ideals of the seventh day as they are encapsulated in the law. Far from simply mirroring God's rest, the fourth commandment reflects the relationship between God and humanity and humanity's role on the seventh day of creation. The study concludes by drawing together various pieces of the argument and makes suggestions for further research.


The two known Me- and allyl-substituted 1H-imidazol-3-ium bromides 1 and 2, respectively, were converted to the corresponding BF4- and BPh4- salts 3-6 (Scheme 1). Compounds 3 and 4 were liquids at ambient temperature. Reaction of 1 or 2 with [PdCl2] afforded the corresponding 2:1 imidazolium/metal complexes 7 and 8. The latter complex, melting at 58 degrees, can be regarded as a 'true' ionic liquid. Attempts to polymerise 7 by radical promotion (AIBN) were unsuccessful, but resulted in the centrosymmetric 2:1 complex 9. The allyl group of 1 could be arylated (giving rise to 10) or hydrogenated (at 100 bar H-2 pressure). The solid-state structures of compounds 5-7 and 9 were solved by means of single-crystal X-ray analyses (Figs. 1-4).


We present near-infrared spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of ERO J164023+4644, an Extremely Red Object (ERO) with (R-K) = 5.9 at z = 1.05 that has been detected by Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) at 15 μm. ERO J164023 resembles a disk galaxy, with an optical/infrared spectral energy distribution that is strongly reddened by dust (LFIR/LB ≲ 200; AV ~ 5). The combination of the narrow width of the emission lines in our spectra (~300 km s-1) and the relatively high [N II]/Hα line ratio indicate that this is a "composite" starburst-Seyfert galaxy. Assuming that star formation dominates the energy output, we constrain the star formation rate to lie in the broad range ~10-700 M☉ yr-1 from a variety of star formation indicators. We compare ERO J164023 with the only other spectroscopically identified dusty EROs: HR10 (z = 1.44) and ISO J1324-2016 (z = 1.50). ERO J164023 and HR10 have similar disklike morphologies in the rest-frame UV, and both exhibit a variation in the apparent dust obscuration depending upon the diagnostic used, which suggests that there is a complex spatial mix of stellar populations and dust in these galaxies. In contrast, the compact morphology and spectral properties of ISO J1324-2016 indicate that it is a dusty quasar. Overall, our results demonstrate that the population of dusty galaxies identified using photometric ERO criteria includes systems ranging from pure starbursts through transition systems, such as ERO J164023, to dusty quasars. We suggest that the classification of EROs into these subclasses, necessary for the detailed modeling of the population, cannot be reliably achieved from optical/near-infrared photometry and instead requires mid/far-infrared or submillimeter photometry and near-infrared spectroscopy. The advent of efficient multiobject spectrographs working in the near-infrared, as well as the imminent launch of SIRTF, therefore promises the opportunity of rapid progress in our understanding of the elusive ERO population.


As tax-based funding for local public park and recreation services becomes increasingly scarce, alternative funding strategies have received increased attention. Privatization, any activity that reduces the public's role in the financing and delivery of such services, has garnered particular scrutiny. Privatization is simultaneously a promising tool for public park agencies, and a potentially controversial and contentious issue. However, existing research has provided an incomplete picture of privatization in the local public park and recreation context. Previous studies are limited by the localized nature of their samples, as well as their emphasis on dichotomous attitude measurements, which do not fully address attitude strength and structure. To address these gaps, this study used a nationally representative sample to examine cognitive factors that relate to attitudes toward the concept of park privatization as a whole, and toward specific privatization practices. Results indicate only a modest level of attitudinal ambivalence among respondents, indicating that privatization of park and recreation services may not be a highly controversial topic among the general public. Attitudes toward privatization as a whole were moderately positive across the entire sample; however, there were significant variations in acceptability among individual practices (i.e., corporate sponsorship, outsourcing, and the outright sale of public park facilities). Social ideology, attitudinal ambivalence, and knowledge about privatization were shown to be consistent predictors of attitudes toward privatization, while economic ideology was less consistently significant. Social conservatives with greater attitudinal ambivalence and knowledge of privatization were generally more positive toward privatization as a whole, and toward individual privatization practices. Privatization practices in the delivery of park and recreation services are likely to be part of the new reality for many public agencies. As such, a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence the acceptability of these practices will be crucial. This study illustrated that several cognitive factors are significantly related to attitudes toward privatization. For practitioners and decision makers considering implementing one or more of these practices, as well as national professional groups advocating for public parks and recreation, such information may be of significant value. Future research should continue to explore and refine the concept of attitudinal ambivalence as it applies to park privatization practices. Based on the influence of social ideology found in this study, future research must also examine additional factors such as personal value orientation for any potential relationship to attitudes and support for privatization. Subscribe to JPRA


Thermodynamics is a fundamental foundation of all engineering disciplines. A vast majority of engineering undergraduate programmes contain one or more courses on thermodynamics, and many engineers use thermodynamics every day to analyse or design energy systems. However, there is extensive anecdotal evidence as well as a wide range of published literature indicating that students often struggle to understand thermodynamic principles. In an effort to understand students' attitudes and perception of thermodynamics, including their expectations, experience and frustrations, an investigation was conducted. Following a review of the literature on the teaching and learning of thermodynamics in engineering, a survey questionnaire was developed and administered to close to a 1000 students in 17 thermodynamics classes at 13 universities in 7 countries. Survey results were analysed using statistical methods. This paper presents the findings of this investigation.


We seek to bring convenience and efficiency in the process of accessing justice through the courts of law. A lot of time and money is wasted when litigants travel long distances to visit court registries, in order to know the status of their cases. It is also very inconveniencing and frustrating for litigants when they travel for long, only to find that the judicial officer handling their case had given notice that there will not be any sitting on a particular date. In this project, we are developing an integrated solution to these challenges, dubbed FAMALIA. It is a web and SMSbased application that electronically manages the court cases by the Kenyan Judiciary. Litigants and interested parties can access the system via SMS. So far, details of over 28,000 cases have been entered into the system. It is expected that the system will greatly improve access to justice. Relevance to innovation. Famalia is an innovative service within the judicial process in Kenya. It provides a new way of accessing case related information in a convenient, efficient and timely manner. It is a premier solution not only in Kenya but also in the region. By using SMS, Famalia provides social impact by being accessible to even the marginalized people who may not access the courts easily. It is accessible to anyone who can access a phone. With the judicial process being similar all over the country and in neighbouring countries, the solution is replicable and has potential for scaling.


The issue of mental trauma suffered during combat is one that has plagued militaries for as long as wars have been waged. Caring for those who have served their nations should be a top priority for the health sector of any standing army. However, the issues plaguing service personnel, specifically those within armed forces, are a difficult problem for policymakers and military superiors alike. The objective of this study is to analyze mental healthcare administrations in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. within the context of three independent variables: training initiatives, discharge policies and compensation and the role of veterans' organizations in care delivery and advocacy. Through the lens of institutional theory, this thesis will argue that some countries employ more effective tactics than others at mitigating their mental health burden. It will demonstrate that the degree to which institutions are centralized is directly related to the effectiveness with which mental health is addressed. Mental health administration in armed forces is a topic rarely, if at all, analyzed in political science and policy literature. Policymakers have a multitude of medical studies at their disposal, but few studies that suggest manners in which governance and administration can be altered to improve services. This thesis will fill that gap and provide a foundation for future research in the politics of mental healthcare in armed forces.


There are lots of different ways of understanding health and disease. In this dissertation I have tried to explain different environmental and behaviour factors associated with self-rated depression based on the theoretical framework of "Triangle of human ecology". This explains state of health based on behaviour, environment and population factors.The study aims to identify possible geographic patterns of depression and the distribution of other area variables like temperature, education level, urbanity etc. since these factors may have an indirect effect on depression. I also look at individual-based associations between the outcome variable, depression (HADS-D score, based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and associative variables (smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity etc.) by using logistic regression analysis. It is not possible to say anything about causal relationships since this requires information about the temporal ordering between the variables.The empirical data is obtained from HUNT 3 (Health study in Nord-Trondelag) from 2006-2008, Metorologisk institutt and various statistics from SSB (Norwegian Statistics).The analysis show a positive association between HADS-D above 8 and being male, high age, CAGE-score above 2, neurotic personality, difficulties in childhood and self-reported imminent mortal danger the last 12 months. There is however a negative association between HADS-D above 8 and alcohol consumption, having a job, participation in music/theatre and outdoor activity, social support both on personal and neighbourhood level, exercise, extroversion, high temperature and life satisfaction. For people having a job being male, having high age, having high demands at work and short education seems to be positively associated with HADS-D score above 8, while high social support and high control seems to be negatively associated with HADS-D above 8.


Facility planning is crucial to the performance of array fabs in Thin Film Transistor - Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) industry. In order to avoid costly changes and modifications of fab layouts at the installation or production stages, the designers should carefully evaluate design alternatives and then select the best one during the design stage. A TFT-LCD manufacturing process consists of four basic processes: array, color filter, cell, and module. This research proposes an Array Fab Design Procedure (AFDP) to conduct quick calculations to develop and evaluate initial design alternatives for TFT-LCD array fabs. A series of practical formulae are presented to sequentially determine the related design parameters. The proposed AFDP provides a basis for rapid modeling and evaluation of array fab designs. AFDP is developed in Microsoft Visual Basic and data from real array fabs are used to demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency. Results indicate that AFDP can quickly calculate the related fab design parameters. "Job shop with small bays" leads to the least average sheet moving distance. With AFDP as a tool, fab designers can evaluate design alternatives and conduct what-if analysis in the initial phase of fab design.


The human visual attention system (HVA) encompasses a set of interconnected neurological modules that are responsible for analyzing visual stimuli by attending to those regions that are salient. Two contrasting biological mechanisms exist in the HVA systems; bottom-up, data-driven attention and top-down, task-driven attention. The former is mostly responsible for low-level instinctive behaviors, while the latter is responsible for performing complex visual tasks such as target object detection.  Very few computational models have been proposed to model top-down attention, mainly due to three reasons. The first is that the functionality of top-down process involves many influential factors. The second reason is that there is a diversity in top-down responses from task to task. Finally, many biological aspects of the top-down process are not well understood yet.  For the above reasons, it is difficult to come up with a generalized top-down model that could be applied to all high level visual tasks. Instead, this thesis addresses some outstanding issues in modelling top-down attention for one particular task, target object detection. Target object detection is an essential step for analyzing images to further perform complex visual tasks. Target object detection has not been investigated thoroughly when modelling top-down saliency and hence, constitutes the may domain application for this thesis.  The thesis will investigate methods to model top-down attention through various high-level data acquired from images. Furthermore, the thesis will investigate different strategies to dynamically combine bottom-up and top-down processes to improve the detection accuracy, as well as the computational efficiency of the existing and new visual attention models. The following techniques and approaches are proposed to address the outstanding issues in modelling top-down saliency:  1. A top-down saliency model that weights low-level attentional features through contextual knowledge of a scene. The proposed model assigns weights to features of a novel image by extracting a contextual descriptor of the image. The contextual descriptor plays the role of tuning the weighting of low-level features to maximize detection accuracy. By incorporating context into the feature weighting mechanism we improve the quality of the assigned weights to these features.  2. Two modules of target features combined with contextual weighting to improve detection accuracy of the target object. In this proposed model, two sets of attentional feature weights are learned, one through context and the other through target features. When both sources of knowledge are used to model top-down attention, a drastic increase in detection accuracy is achieved in images with complex backgrounds and a variety of target objects.  3. A top-down and bottom-up attention combination model based on feature interaction. This model provides a dynamic way for combining both processes by formulating the problem as feature selection. The feature selection exploits the interaction between these features, yielding a robust set of features that would maximize both the detection accuracy and the overall efficiency of the system.  4. A feature map quality score estimation model that is able to accurately predict the detection accuracy score of any previously novel feature map without the need of groundtruth data. The model extracts various local, global, geometrical and statistical characteristic features from a feature map. These characteristics guide a regression model to estimate the quality of a novel map.  5. A dynamic feature integration framework for combining bottom-up and top-down saliencies at runtime. If the estimation model is able to predict the quality score of any novel feature map accurately, then it is possible to perform dynamic feature map integration based on the estimated value. We propose two frameworks for feature map integration using the estimation model. The proposed integration framework achieves higher human fixation prediction accuracy with minimum number of feature maps than that achieved by combining all feature maps.  The proposed works in this thesis provide new directions in modelling top-down saliency for target object detection. In addition, dynamic approaches for top-down and bottom-up combination show considerable improvements over existing approaches in both efficiency and accuracy.


Background: There is frequent reference to asthma triggers in the patient education literature but little is known of patients' experiences with triggers and their impact on and relationship to asthma control.

Methods: We used patient diaries and an online study to quantify the impact of asthma triggers in patients from five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK). 1202 asthma patients completed the study; 177 also completed an online diary every other day for 3 weeks.

Results: People with asthma expressed concern about the long term impact of triggers – only 1% believed that triggers would not affect their asthma. All triggers were perceived as having an impact on asthma symptoms (at least 6.1 for all triggers on a 10 point scale). Perceived impact increased with the increasing number of triggers identified by each patient. 80% of respondents claimed to have modified their behaviour due to exposure to triggers at least once in the last 4 weeks. Patients reporting a high number of triggers experienced more day and night-time symptoms, a greater number of severe attacks, had a lower Asthma Control Test (ACT) score, were more likely to be hospitalised and to miss days at work/school. People with asthma experiencing 16 or more triggers missed on average 12.2 days compared with 2.9 days for those reporting 1–5 triggers. Of those patients with a high number of triggers, just 3% had never adapted behaviour to manage their asthma.

Conclusion: Asthma triggers can have an important impact on the lives of asthma patients. The impact increases with the number of triggers experienced and results in significant behavioural changes.

Funded by GSK


In experiments on alert rabbits it was shown that during the first blinking conditioned reflex to a sound, a slow negative potential appears in response to the conditioned signal in the auditory area of the cortex. At the cellular level, this correlates with the formation of polysensory neurone activity accompanied by a small increase in its action potential duration (generalization of excitation, depolarization). During stabilization of the reflex, its specialization, coordinative inhibition of other central responses related to narrowing of receptive areas, --a slow positive potential is evoked in EEG by the conditioned stimulus. At the cellular level correspondingly, a shift is observed from group discharges during intersignal periods to single rhythmic discharges in response to conditioned stimulation (concentration of excitation, lowering of excitability).


The European Landfill Directive requires the phased reduction of biodegradable waste disposal to landfill. One option, with significant potential to divert biodegradable municipal waste from landfill, is to encourage householders to compost their organic waste at home and this approach is supported in principle by the UK Government. However, whilst the benefits of home composting are recognized, there is uncertainty about the actual quantitative effectiveness of this approach to biodegradable waste management and, currently, Local Authorities responsible for municipal waste disposal and recycling do not receive credit or recognition for promoting this activity in the UK. This project aims to quantify the amounts of waste diverted from landfill through home composting, and other household waste recycling methods, by measuring the effects of these practices on the quantity and composition of residual waste produced at the individual household level. An automatic weighing system was fitted to a refuse collection vehicle (RCV) to provide data on the waste arisings from 324 households in the urban Borough of Runnymede, West London. The households were allocated into four groups according to the waste management practices: home composting; home composting + kerbside recycling, kerbside recycling only and a control group who did not compost or participate in the kerbside recycling scheme. The RCV weight data were complemented by a detailed compositional analysis of residual waste collected from the households. This paper presents a summary and overview of the key results and outputs from the research programme.