In All the Queen's Men, Peter Brimacornhe seeks to reach a wide audience interested in, but perhaps unfamiliar with, Queen Elizabeth I and the significant men of her reign. Brimacoinbc is a photographer, and author of Curclc~n.s on a Grand Scale. Knights oj'the Round Tdile, and A Tule of Two Cathedrals, among others. In an attractive book replete with black-and-white illustrations of important people and buildings, he presents a cast of characters who shaped the Elizabethan world. The book's biographical sketches fall into topical chapters roughly grouped under politics, religion, culture, and the military. Brimacoirihe's conversational style and emphasis o n personalities allow him to cut a wide swath through the ranks of famous Elixabethans. After dcscriptions of Elizabeth's childhood, Irct accession, and life at court, the statesmen of her rcign appear: William Cecil, Robert Dudley, Christopher Hatton, Walter Raleigh, Francis Walsingham, and Robert Cecil. The adventurers on sea and land follow, with attention given to John Hawkins, Francis Drakc, Richard Grenville, Charles Howard, Mxtin Frobisher, and Humphrey Gilbert. After the inen of action come the suitors to [lie queen. Briniacombe then discusses Elizabeth's religious policics as shaped by Archbishops Matthew Parker, Edmund Grindal, and John Whitgift and contcsted by Catholics such as Edinund Campion and Robert Parsons. He rxarnines scholars of the era including William Camden, Francis Bacon, John Dee, and Thomas Gresham, with special emphasis givcn to the place of Cambridge University ah ;1 center of "New Learning." The last chapters introduce the artists and warriors most famously associated with the glories of the English Rcnaissance: Thomas Tallis, William Hyrtl, Nicholas Hilliard, Robert Smythson, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, William Camden, Philip Sydney, John Norris. Francis Drake, and Charles Howard. Scholars of the period will already be lhiiliar with these inen and will find little connecting analysis to bind the chapters into itn argument. A stronger editorial hand could have prcvented misleading comparisons: a "'Tudor spin doctor," Elizabeth as a "drama Q L I ~ c I ~ , " Roberl Cecil as "an Elizabethan .loaeph Goebbels." Brimaconibe offers anecdotes and images 01' inen "vital to the success of her reign" and so pcrhaph will inspire his audience to read more deeply elsewhere.


This paper investigates the consequences of liquidation and reorganization on the allocation and subsequent utilization of assets in bankruptcy. We identify 129,000 bankrupt establishments and construct a novel dataset that tracks the occupancy, employment and wages paid at real estate assets over time. Using the random assignment of judges to bankruptcy cases as a natural experiment that forces some firms into liquidation, we find that even after accounting for reallocation, the long-run utilization of assets of liquidated firms is lower relative to assets of reorganized firms. These effects are concentrated in thin markets with few potential users, in areas with low access to finance, and in areas with low economic growth. The results highlight that different bankruptcy approaches affect asset allocation and utilization particularly when search frictions and financial frictions are present.


OF THE THESIS Examining the Relationship Between Placental Extracellular Matrix and Trophoblast Differentiation by Trishana M. Norquist Master of Science in Biology with a Concentration in Molecular Biology San Diego State University, 2015 Extracellular matrix is the biological scaffold which provides both structural support as well as factors which support cellular differentiation and tissue/organ function. Cytotrophoblasts (CTB) are the epithelial stem cells in the placenta which can give rise to both villous syncytiotrophoblast (STB) and invasive extravillous trophoblast (EVT). Modified differentiation of CTBs resulting in too few EVTs underlies the abnormalities and symptoms observed in preeclamptic placentas. Studies investigating the plating of progenitor cells on their tissue-specific ECM demonstrated the effect of ECM on cellular processes such as differentiation, proliferation, survival, and adhesion. The results of the study presented here reveal for the first time that primary CTBs can be maintained in an undifferentiated state when cultured on human placental ECM. ECM was prepared from minced third trimester placental tissues following decellularization, detergent washes and nucleic acid treatment. The resulting matrix was dehydrated by a lyophilizer and reconstituted in 0.1M acetic acid before plating. Through the novel approach of decellularizing a human placenta, it was found that clinically normal placentas had 3.64 times higher ECM yield than preeclamptic placentas. Primary CTBs were isolated from term placental tissues per published protocols and cultured either on tissue culture plastic as a control, or 1 mg/mL placental ECM. Differentiation was monitored based on morphology, hCG production, and qPCR for lineagespecific markers. Primary CTBs were also monitored for ECM effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and adhesion. With isolated term CTBs, cells plated on placental ECM, both normal (nlECM) and preeclamptic (peECM) mostly remained mononuclear, produced significantly less hCG, and showed significantly lower expression of markers of STB differentiation, including hCGα, hCGβ, Syncytin, and CSH-1 by qPCR. This study demonstrates that placental extracellular matrix can maintain the undifferentiated state of primary CTBs, while having little to no effect on proliferation, survival, and adhesion. This study also suggests that composition of the extracellular matrix does not play a substantial role in driving modified trophoblast differentiation observed in preeclamptic placenta.


Rice (Oryza sativa var. Nipponbare) was transformed with an artificial avidin gene. The features of this construct are as follows: (1) a signal peptide sequence derived from barley alpha amylase was added at the N-terminal region, (2) codon usage of the gene was optimized for rice, and (3) the gene was driven by rice glutelin GluB-1, an endosperm-specific promoter. Avidin was produced in the grain of the transgenic rice but not in the leaves. The concentration of avidin in the kernels was about 1,800 ppm. All larvae of the confused flour beetle (Tribolium confusum) and Angoumois grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella) died when fed transgenic avidin rice powder or kernels, respectively, whereas most of the test insects developed into adults when they were fed a nontransgenic rice control diet. Avidin extracted from the transgenic rice kernel lost most biotin-binding activity after 5 min heating at 95 °C.


Background: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends a 4-dose vaccination schedule for preterm low birth weight infants (<2 kg) and a 3-dose vaccination schedule for preterm infants (≥2 kg) born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers. However, data remain limited for these high-risk infants, and the optimal dosing schedule in Asia is not well established. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the serologic vaccine responses in preterm infants born to HBsAg-positive mothers using current vaccination guidelines. Methods: Preterm babies of gestation less than 37 completed weeks born to HBsAg-positive mothers were prospectively recruited during 6 years (June 2009 to December 2015) and retrospectively recruited via convenience sampling in 2 years (June 2013 to April 2015) in 2 tertiary pediatric centers. The preterm infants were given 4 or 3 vaccine doses as per ACIP 2005 guidelines. Vaccine response was defined as achieving hepatitis B surface antibody values of >10 IU/L [Abbott Architect (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL)] at 9 months of chronologic age. Results: A total of 24 preterm infants were recruited. Four had a birth weight <2 kg. Of 23 surviving infants, all were negative for HBsAg. One baby (4.5%) did not achieve adequate vaccine response. All 4 infants with birth weight <2 kg achieved seroprotective values. Conclusion: The current ACIP-recommended vaccination schedule results in adequate antibody responses in preterm infants of HBsAg-positive mothers.


Abstract: The effect of electromagnetic treatment on corrosion behavior of carbon steel and stainless steel in simulated cooling water was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potentiodynamic polarization techniques and water analysis. It was found that the charge transfer resistance decreased and the corrosion current density increased after electromagnetic treatment for carbon steel electrode, which shows that such treatment promotes corrosion of carbon steel in simulated cooling water. In contrast, the pitting potential of 316L stainless steel electrode rose which revealed that electromagnetic treatment of the experimental water exhibited corrosion inhibition to 316L stainless steel. Reasons for different corrosion behavior of the two metals were discussed.


Nonlinear dynamic analysis of structures requires strong ground motion time histories (accelerograms) as input. The inherent scarcity of recorded ground motions for specific conditions (magnitude, distance, region, and site) makes utilization of alternatives unavoidable; such alternatives include simulated records and modified real records. There are many simulation methods available, but there is often a preference to using stochastic simulation methods, if justifiable, due to the ease with which many records can be simulated in a generic way. However, there are concerns that such simulated records may not produce similar nonlinear response in structures as real records (or modified real records) due to the lack of realistic phasing and other record characteristics, including peaks and troughs effects and response spectral shape effects. This study investigates peak nonlinear responses of inelastic single-degree-of-freedom systems with different hysteretic characteristics subjected to sets of stochastically simulated records, lightly modified real records, and scaled-real records; the former two of which were proposed by Atkinson and Macias (2009) as representative of expected ground motions for Cascadia subduction earthquakes of M 8.5 at Vancouver, Victoria, and Seattle.

We conclude that (1) the peak nonlinear responses due to the modified records and the scaled-real records are similar if the peaks and troughs effects and response spectral shape effects are taken into account adequately in the choice of scaling factors for the real records; and (2) the peak nonlinear responses due to the simulated and modified records are similar. These findings, though obtained based on limited sets of ground-motion records, are in agreement with previous studies and highlight the need for judicious choices in cases involving the scaling of records. The results also suggest that stochastically simulated records may be an appropriate way to capture overall response potential for both linear and nonlinear structural systems, at least over a range of periods from 0.1 to 2 sec.


This paper aims at addressing the exploitation of solid-state carriers for hydrogen storage, with attention paid both to the technical aspects, through a wide review of the available integrated systems, and to the social aspects, through a preliminary overview of the connected impacts from a gender perspective. As for the technical perspective, carriers to be used for solid-state hydrogen storage for various applications can be classified into two classes: metal and complex hydrides. Related crystal structures and corresponding hydrogen sorption properties are reviewed and discussed. Fundamentals of thermodynamics of hydrogen sorption evidence the key role of the enthalpy of reaction, which determines the operating conditions (i.e., temperatures and pressures). In addition, it rules the heat to be removed from the tank during hydrogen absorption and to be delivered to the tank during hydrogen desorption. Suitable values for the enthalpy of hydrogen sorption reaction for operating conditions close to ambient (i.e., room temperature and 1–10 bar of hydrogen) are close to 30 kJ·molH2−1. The kinetics of the hydrogen sorption reaction is strongly related to the microstructure and to the morphology (i.e., loose powder or pellets) of the carriers. Usually, the kinetics of the hydrogen sorption reaction is rather fast, and the thermal management of the tank is the rate-determining step of the processes. As for the social perspective, the paper arguments that, as it occurs with the exploitation of other renewable innovative technologies, a wide consideration of the social factors connected to these processes is needed to reach a twofold objective: To assess the extent to which a specific innovation might produce positive or negative impacts in the recipient socioeconomic system and, from a sociotechnical perspective, to explore the potential role of the social components and dynamics in fostering the diffusion of the innovation itself. Within the social domain, attention has been paid to address the underexplored relationship between the gender perspective and the enhancement of hydrogen-related energy storage systems. This relationship is taken into account both in terms of the role of women in triggering the exploitation of hydrogen-based storage playing as experimenter and promoter, and in terms of the intertwined impact of this innovation in their current conditions, at work, and in daily life.


We consider extractive summarization within a cluster of related texts (multidocument summarization). Unlike single-document summarization, redundancy is particularly important because sentences across related documents might convey overlapping information. Thus, sentence extraction in such a setting is difficult because one will need to determine which pieces of information are relevant while avoiding unnecessary repetitiveness. To solve this difficult problem, we propose a novel reinforcement learning-based method Policy Blending with maximal marginal relevance and Reinforcement Learning (PoBRL) for solving multidocument summarization. PoBRL jointly optimizes over the following objectives necessary for a high-quality summary: importance, relevance, and length. Our strategy decouples this multiobjective optimization into different subproblems that can be solved individually by reinforcement learning. Utilizing PoBRL, we then blend each learned policies to produce a summary that is a concise and a complete representation of the original input. Our empirical analysis shows high performance on several multidocument datasets. Human evaluation also shows that our method produces high-quality output.


Aim  Two species of the brine shrimp, namely Artemia franciscana Kellogg and A. persimilis Piccinelli and Prosdocimi, inhabit Chile. Most studies so far have shown that A. franciscana is the most widely distributed species in Chile, with A. persimilis present only in Chilean Patagonia. In general, there is good agreement between morphological and genetic comparisons of Chilean populations with respect to species discrimination. However, a number of results indicate an overlap with some populations tending to diverge from A. franciscana and/or resembling A. persimilis. Prior to the mid 90's the use of DNA markers in Artemia was rather limited, despite their successful application in numerous other species. In this study, we investigate whether the conclusions drawn from traditional comparative tools are congruent with the pattern of genetic divergence depicted by DNA analysis at the mitochondrial level.


By mapping the mechanisms through which interventions are expected to achieve impact, program impact pathway (PIP) analysis lays out the theoretical causal links between program activities, outcomes, and impacts. This study examines the pathways through which the Alive & Thrive (A&T) social franchise model is intended to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in Vietnam. Mixed methods were used, including qualitative interviews with franchise management board members (n = 12), surveys with health providers (n = 120), counseling observations (n = 160), and household surveys (n = 2045). Six PIP components were assessed: 1) franchise management, 2) training and IYCF knowledge of health providers, 3) service delivery, 4) program exposure and utilization, 5) maternal behavioral determinants (knowledge, beliefs, and intentions) toward optimal IYCF practices, and 6) IYCF practices. Data were collected from A&T-intensive areas (A&T-I; mass media + social franchise) and A&T-nonintensive areas (A&T-NI; mass media only) by using a cluster-randomized controlled trial design. Data from 2013 were compared with baseline where similar measures were available. Results indicate that mechanisms are in place for effective management of the franchise system, despite challenges to routine monitoring. A&T training was associated with increased capacity of providers, resulting in higher-quality IYCF counseling (greater technical knowledge and communication skills during counseling) in A&T-I areas. Franchise utilization increased from 10% in 2012 to 45% in 2013 but fell below the expected frequency of 9-15 contacts per mother-child dyad. Improvements in breastfeeding knowledge, beliefs, intentions, and practices were greater among mothers in A&T-I areas than among those in A&T-NI areas. In conclusion, there are many positive changes along the impact pathway of the franchise services, but challenges in utilization and demand creation should be addressed to achieve the full intended impact.


Abstract: One of the major methods of data collection used in both formative and outcome evaluations and descriptive studies is the survey method. With survey methods, the issues of generalizability and representativeness of the data are crucial, particularly when response rates are low. A common survey method is the use of mailed questionnaires. However, even when care is taken to select potential respondents randomly, the validity of the responses depends on the willingness of all sectors of the population to respond. In most instances, no effort is made to follow up individuals who do not respond, to ensure that they do not differ on substantive issues from individuals who have responded. The authors describe the process of following up university students who chose not to respond to a mail survey of their life-styles and drug-use patterns, and a comparison of this group with a group of students who did respond to the initial request.


Previous studies have demonstrated that all guinea pig gallbladder neurons receive nicotinic synaptic input and that cholecystokinin (CCK) and norepinephrine have presynaptic facilitory and inhibitory effects, respectively, on these fast synaptic events. The current study was undertaken to determine the sources of the cholinergic terminals that provide nicotinic input to gallbladder neurons. To stimulate potential extrinsic inputs to gallbladder neurons, a stimulating electrode was placed on the nerve bundles that pass along the cystic duct. Stimulation of these nerves elicited fast excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in gallbladder neurons that were sensitive to hexamethonium, facilitated by CCK, and inhibited by norepinephrine. After vagotomy, most neurons (14 of 18) did not exhibit any nicotinic input. However, some neurons (3 of 18) did exhibit fast EPSPs in response to fiber tract stimulation, but not cystic nerve stimulation, indicating that interganglionic communication does exist amongst gallbladder neurons. These results demonstrate that the vagus nerves provide the major nicotinic input to gallbladder neurons. Furthermore, these data suggest that vagal terminals within gallbladder are a site of neurohormonal modulation of gallbladder ganglionic output by CCK, norepinephrine, and possibly other compounds.


ABSTRACT Relationships among selected performance properties have been established using experimental data from a cement-stabilized mixed contaminated soil. The sandy soil was spiked with 3,000 mg/kg each of Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn, and 10,000 mg/kg of diesel. It was then treated with 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% dosages of Portland cement. Different water contents were considered for lower dosage mixes. Selected geotechnical and leaching properties were determined on 28-day old samples. These include unconfined compressive strength (UCS), bulk density, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, leachate pH and granular leachability of contaminants. Interrelationships among these properties were deduced using the most reasonable best fits determined by specialized curve fitting software. Strong quadratic and log-linear relationships exist between hydraulic conductivity and UCS, with increasing binder and water contents, respectively. However, the strength of interrelationships between hydraulic conductivity and porosity, UCS and porosity, and UCS and bulk density varies with binder and water contents. Leachate pH and granular leachability of contaminants are best related to UCS and hydraulic conductivity by a power law and an exponential function, respectively. These results suggest how the accuracy of not-easily-measurable performance properties may be constrained from simpler ones. Comparisons with some published performance properties data support this.


From the Publisher:
Learning Java, Second Edition, provides an accessible yet comprehensive introduction to the programming language that has changed the way we think about computing. Java has become the language of choice for a wide variety of applications: web services, secure network systems, XML-based tools, reusable components, and mission-critical enterprise systems. Learning Java, Second Edition, is filled with easy-to-follow code examples that guide you through Java's many features, APIs, and facilities.
This new edition of Learning Java has been expanded and updated for Java 2 SDK 1.4. It comprehensively addresses important topics such as web applications, servlets, and XML that are increasingly driving enterprise applications. This edition provides full coverage of all Java 1.4 language features, including assertions and exception chaining, as well as new APIs such as regular expressions and NIO, the new I/O package. New Swing features and components are described along with updated coverage of the JavaBeans component architecture using the open source NetBeans IDE, as well as the latest information about applets, and the Java Plug-in for all major web browsers.
The accompanying CD-ROM provides all you need to start working with Java immediately. In addition to the many example programs from the book, the CD includes the complete J2SE SDK 1.4, the NetBeans IDE, the Jakarta Project's Ant make utility and Tomcat application server, as well as BeanShell, a simple open source Java scripting language developed by author Pat Niemeyer.


Aim To increase vaccination rates in the wealthy industrial nation of Germany. For a variety of reasons there is a substantial deficit in the number of individuals who receive vaccinations in comparison with other industrialized countries. Methods In Autumn 2003, a regional vaccination consultation was initiated over a five-week period. Individuals involved in the study provided general information, including their age, health status, and vaccination records, and received an extensive consultation in a pharmacy in Jena, Germany. Participants were provided with a written overview of their vaccination status. After approximately five weeks, the vaccination status of each individual was recorded. Results 312 of 2500 patients received intensive vaccination education based on their accompanying vaccination documentation. Older individuals, who are known for having the largest vaccination gap in Germany, represented the highest percentage of people who used this service. The five most commonly required vaccinations had increased significantly, five weeks after the consultation. These vaccination rate increases included diphtheria, which rose from 55.8 to 71.2%, tetanus, which rose from 73.1 to 86.5%, influenza, which rose from 46.5 to 74.7%, pneumococcal, which rose from 32.4 to 62.8%, and tick-borne encephalitis, which rose from 31.9 to 42.4% (all p<0.008). Conclusions Well structured vaccination consultations help to raise vaccination rates. Thus, pharmacies should consider offering and implementing this preventive measure so as to lower the rates of preventable disease and to save costs.


While liberalisation of trade and the progressive reduction of tariffs have led to significant welfare gains, these may be unfeasible for developing countries where a surge in imports could potentially be detrimental to realising the objective of food security through food self-sufficiency. Developing country members of the World Trade Organization (W.T.O.) have thus been proposing a 'special safeguard mechanism' (S.S.M.). This would permit them to impose measures in circumstances wherein there has been a surge or a decline in prices of agricultural imports, so as to negatively affect the livelihood and food security interests of these nations. These deliberations have gained momentum against the backdrop of the W.T.O.'s Agreement on Agriculture (A.o.A.), which came into force in the Uruguay Round negotiations. Consequently, the W.T.O.'s Sixth Ministerial Conference held in Hong Kong in 2005, endowed developing country members with the right to recourse to S.S.M.'s on account of import surges that could potentially expose its agricultural sector to increased shocks. Nonetheless, the lack of consensus as regards the precise modalities, particularly between the United States and India, resulted in a deadlock. Consequently, during the recent Nairobi Ministerial Conference in 2016, India vehemently opposed to proceeding with any further negotiations, and in particular, as regards the Agreement on Trade Facilitation (T.F.A.). India insisted that its internal mechanisms to support food security and public stockholding - being an issue of policy space should be left unhampered despite the present stipulations of the A.o.A., which pegs the same at 10% of the value of production. Accordingly, the mandate of S.S.Ms. assumed more significance in the Nairobi Ministerial Conference insofar as modalities on these would plausibly permit developing countries to increase tariffs on account of import surges on agricultural products – and thus safeguard their food security and livelihood concerns. S.S.Ms. negotiations have been particularly important for India in its endeavour to insulate its agricultural sector from import deluges that debilitate its livelihood and food security. Its success, however, depends on the ability of the W.T.O. Members to finally negotiate the modalities of this right, in the absence of which, it continues to remain a 'lip service'. This paper, therefore, attempts to explore India's motivation in digging its heels on the S.S.M. issue, appreciating that the country's stand at the W.T.O. appears to be of vital importance to developing country Members with similar anxieties as regards the protection of livelihood and food security. It delineates parameters in these respects which could be workable keeping in mind the agricultural scenario in India.


The growing interest toward the improvement of patients' quality of life and the use of medical signals in nonmedical applications such as entertainment, sports, and brain-computerinterfaces, requires the implementation of miniaturized and wireless biopotential acquisition systems with ultralow power dissipation. Therefore, this paper presents the implementation of a complete EEG acquisition ASIC tailored towards the needs of such applications, i.e., high-signal quality, low-power dissipation and ease of use. The presented ASIC includes eight readout front-end channels and an 11-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The key to its high performance and low-power dissipation is the new AC coupled chopper stabilized instrumentation amplifier (ACCIA) implementation that uses a coarse-fine servoloop and reaches more than 120 dB CMRR, consumes only 2.3 muA , and achieves a noise-efficiency factor (NEF) of 4.3. Furthermore, the ease of use of the ASIC is realized by incorporating Calibration and Electrode Impedance Measurement Modes to the ASIC. Therefore, the former can be used to check the functionality of the ASIC, as well as, to calibrate the gain matching of the channels, where as the latter can be used to track the quality of the biopotential electrode. The ASIC is implemented in 0.5 mum CMOS process and the total current consumption is 66 muA from 3 V.


Abstract Despite its excellent record in the field of non-proliferation of technologies, know-how and equipment related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to other states, India has been essentially a passive actor in global non-proliferation initiatives. As a result, it does not as yet have a comprehensive framework or strategy within which it defines its anti-proliferation objectives. The Indo-US nuclear agreement of July 2005, with non-proliferation as an important component of cooperation, has given an opportunity to India to debate and prepare its approach for involvement in this crucial field. Since the early 1990s, the United States has promoted counter proliferation as a strategy to tackle proliferation of WMD as well as augment capabilities to operate in a nuclear, biological and chemical environment. However, after the 9/11 attacks, this strategy has attained a new character, represented by new initiatives that advocate methods such as military interdiction and coercive action to tackle proliferation and terrorism. Although the effectiveness of these initiatives is debatable, they have now widened the scope of mechanisms and regimes created to deal with perceived and emergent threats. Despite its reservations on many components of US-promoted initiatives, India may have to consider in the near future the feasibility of using diplomatic and military tools to tackle the proliferation problem in its neighbourhood, especially if it is tied to terrorism. While examining prospects of an Indian anti-proliferation strategy, a key question would be to what extent India should cooperate with new US initiatives.


The problem of Wi-Fi and LTE coexistence has been significantly debated in the last years with the emergence of LTE extensions enabling the utilization of unlicensed spectrum for carrier aggregation. Rather than focusing on the problem of resource sharing between the two technologies, in this letter, we study the effects of LTE's structured transmissions on the Wi-Fi random access protocol. We show how the scheduling of periodic LTE transmissions modifies the behavior of 802.11's distributed coordination function (DCF), leading to a degradation of Wi-Fi performance, both in terms of channel utilization efficiency and in terms of channel access fairness. We also discuss the applicability and limitations of a persistent DCF model in analyzing Wi-Fi performance under periodic LTE interference.


The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea—something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to. (Joseph Conrad, 1899, The Heart of Darkness, Blackwood's Magazine)


Previous studies on acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) focused on drinking behavior or alcoholism because the ALDH2*2 allele protects against the risk of developing alcoholism. The mechanism provides that the ALDH2 gene's protective effect is also involved in dopamine metabolism. The interaction of the ALDH2 gene with neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, is suggested to be related to alcoholism. Because alcoholism is often co‐morbid with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), previous association studies on antisocial alcoholism cannot differentiate whether those genes relate to ASPD with alcoholism or ASPD only. This study examined the influence of the interaction effect of the ALDH2*1*1, *1*2 or *2*2 polymorphisms with the dopamine 2 receptor (DRD2) Taq I polymorphism on ASPD. Our 541 Han Chinese male participants were classified into three groups: antisocial alcoholism (ASPD co‐morbid with alcohol dependence, antisocial ALC; n = 133), ASPD without alcoholism (ASPD not co‐morbid with alcohol dependence, antisocial non‐ALC; n = 164) and community controls (healthy volunteers from the community; n = 244). Compared with healthy controls, individuals with the DRD2 A1/A1 and the ALDH2*1/*1 genotypes were at a 5.39 times greater risk for antisocial non‐ALC than were those with other genotypes. Our results suggest that the DRD2/ANKK1 and ALDH2 genes interacted in the antisocial non‐ALC group; a connection neglected in previous studies caused by not separating antisocial ALC from ASPD. Our study made this distinction and showed that these two genes may be associated ASPD without co‐morbid alcoholism.


Small wastewater treatment plants play a very important role in German environmental politics. Presented here is a new system for biological wastewater treatment with simultaneous aerobic sludge stabilization. This system operates as a charge process and can be used in the range of 300 to 2000 population equivalents. Different modes of operation were tested in an experimental plant. The system is applicable for both separate sewerage systems and combined systems with large amounts of storm water. The quality of the purified water was good and even under the worst case conditions it met the demands of standard discharge consent conditions.

A theoretical simulation of the operation has not yet been started, because the system equations are very complex, due to the variable water volume.


ABSTRACT The Stone Geology Structure of Ciremai Mountain West Jawa. A Middle to Late Miocene rocks association around the Ceremai Volcano, namely the Cinambo, Cantayan and Bantarujeg Formations is a deep marine sediment that physiographically belongs to the Bogor Zone. As a submarine fan system, this turbidite sediment has already prograded to the north. The provenance of sediments is a landmass that occupied the southern part of the deep basin. Shallowing of the basin during Late Tertiary is roled by Pliocene claystone forming of the Subang, Kaliwangu and Citalang Formations. The claystone was deposited in a middle neritic to fluviatile environment. During the early Quaternary time the deep basin has totally become a landmass and the building of Ceremai Volcano was started. The difference kind of rocks will influence chemical composition of soil, and the diversity of vegetation is possibly implied by this phenomenon. Key words: stone. structure, geology, ciremai


Design:We assessed foreskin inflammation associated with HIV and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in circumcised men. Methods:Foreskin tissues were assessed in 97 HIV-infected and 135 HIV-uninfected men enrolled in randomized trials of circumcision in Rakai, Uganda. Inflammation was quantified using an ordinal score evaluating extent, intensity, and cellular composition of infiltrates in the epithelium and stroma. Prevalence rate ratios of inflammation were estimated by multivariate Poisson regression. Results:Foreskin inflammation was primarily focal. Epithelial inflammation was present in 4.2% of men with neither HIV nor HSV-2 infection; 7.8% of men with only HSV-2; 19.0% with HIV alone (P = 0.04); and 31.6% in HIV/HSV-2 coinfected men [prevalence rate ratio (PRR) 7.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3–23.8, P < 0.001]. Stromal inflammation was present in 14.1% of HIV/HSV-2 uninfected men, compared with 29.7% in men with HSV-2 alone (P = 0.03), 33.3% in men with HIV alone (P = 0.04), and 61.0% in men with HIV/HSV-2 coinfection (PRR 4.3, 95% CI 2.3–7.9, P < 0.001). In HIV-infected men, epithelial inflammation was associated with higher HIV viral load. Epithelial inflammation was more frequent among men reporting recent genital ulceration. Both epithelial and stromal inflammation were more common among men with smegma on physical examination. Conclusion:Foreskin inflammation is increased with HIV and HSV-2 infections, higher HIV viral load and presence of smegma. Foreskin inflammation may have implications for HIV transmission and acquisition in uncircumcised men.


This survey is meant to serve computer scientists, mathematicians and others who need to get quickly acquainted with the most relevant results in the biology and psychology of the tactile senses but have little or no prior exposure to the field. The survey is written from the point of view of a computer scientists studying artificial neural networks (ANNs). Questions of relevancy - what to include and what to exclude in the survey - are always very subjective. This survey tries to include biological and psychological knowledge and results that could provide ANN research with new ideas and insights. Also, the survey includes matters that could make the opposite to take place: ANN research providing biology and psychology with new ideas or insights.


We live in an era of continuous change. In the branch of engineering, beyond
the usual and pressing objectives of functionality, safety and integrity,
computers are now used pervasively, new economic pressures and concern
for the environment are looming, and the availability of energy resources and
proper functioning of materials supply chains are ever more important.
Students need an education that allows them to understand and deal with
these changes, in a time when growth in the number of students,
expectations and pressure on teaching resources is a challenge for
professors, particularly for younger academics.
Engineers create things out of materials. What do engineering students need
to know to select and use materials that perform as expected, are safe,
economically efficient and have the least environmental impact? This
question leads to the introduction of the design approach. Knowledge, data
and tools are necessary for students to make decisions that meet complex
design requirements. This means that science is introduced in a way that
facilitates understanding how to meet design requirements and select
materials and processes.
This paper also introduces briefly some of the new aspects of the 2012 CES
EduPack. This tool developed by Granta Design, supports professors and
helps students of both introductory and advanced courses in branches such
as engineering, design and science in the study of materials. CES EduPack
is used in more than 850 universities and institutes around the world and is
continually evolving to offer a new version each January. Changes and new
features are focused on two pathways, one active (eg development of Eco
Selector and Eco-audit tool) and another in response to feedback from users.
The latter has made the software more intuitive and easy to use.


In the context of gyrokinetic flux-tube simulations of microturbulence in magnetized toroidal plasmas, different treatments of the magnetic equilibrium are examined. Considering the Cyclone DIII-D base case parameter set [Dimits et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 969 (2000)], significant differences in the linear growth rates, the linear and nonlinear critical temperature gradients, and the nonlinear ion heat diffusivities are observed between results obtained using either an $s-\alpha$ or an MHD equilibrium. Similar disagreements have been reported previously [Redd et al., Phys. Plasmas 6, 1162 (1999)]. In this paper it is shown that these differences result primarily from the approximation made in the standard implementation of the $s-\alpha$ model, in which the straight field line angle is identified to the poloidal angle, leading to inconsistencies of order $\varepsilon$ ($\varepsilon=a/R$ is the inverse aspect ratio, $a$ the minor radius and $R$ the major radius). An equilibrium model with concentric, circular flux surfaces and a correct treatment of the straight field line angle gives results very close to those using a finite $\varepsilon$, low $\beta$ MHD equilibrium. Such detailed investigation of the equilibrium implementation is of particular interest when comparing flux tube and global codes. It is indeed shown here that previously reported agreements between local and global simulations in fact result from the order $\varepsilon$ inconsistencies in the $s-\alpha$ model, coincidentally compensating finite $\rho^*$ effects in the global calculations, where $\rho^*=\rho _s / a $ with $\rho_s$ the ion sound Larmor radius. True convergence between local and global simulations is finally obtained by correct treatment of the geometry in both cases, and considering the appropriate $\rho^* \rightarrow 0$ limit in the latter case.


The present study assesses changes (1949-2008) in the structure of a Mediterranean urban area (Rome, Italy) in three phases (compact growth, medium-density growth, low-density growth) of its recent expansion which reflect different economic contexts at the local scale. Using a quantitative approach based on land-use indicators and landscape metrics, distribution and fragmentation of built-up areas were analyzed from high-resolution and diachronic digital maps covering the investigated area (1,500 km 2 ). The analysis of the (changing) urban structure during the study period allows for an indirect evaluation of planning impact on Rome's expansion. City's morphology changed rapidly due to urbanization. While in the first examined phase (1949-1974) metrics indicated compactness and densification trends, the fractal dimension of urban settlements increased in the subsequent period together with patch fragmentation, dispersion and shape complexity. The study identified the indicators better characterizing Rome's expansion as a contribution to the understanding of long-term urban dynamics in the Mediterranean region.


Exploration based on state novelty has brought great success in challenging reinforcement learning problems with sparse rewards. However, existing novelty-based strategies become inefficient in real-world problems where observation contains not only task-dependent state novelty of our interest but also task-irrelevant information that should be ignored. We introduce an informationtheoretic exploration strategy named CuriosityBottleneck that distills task-relevant information from observation. Based on the information bottleneck principle, our exploration bonus is quantified as the compressiveness of observation with respect to the learned representation of a compressive value network. With extensive experiments on static image classification, grid-world and three hard-exploration Atari games, we show that Curiosity-Bottleneck learns an effective exploration strategy by robustly measuring the state novelty in distractive environments where stateof-the-art exploration methods often degenerate.


BACKGROUND
It is not known whether evaluation of motor and sensory function of the rectum using a barostat may help to distinguish subtypes of constipation.

METHODS
Motor and sensory function of the rectum have been evaluated using a barostat in 14 patients with slow transit constipation (STC), 12 patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and 18 healthy controls. First minimal distending pressure was determined, after which spontaneous adaptive relaxation of the rectum was monitored. Then a step-wise isobaric distension procedure was performed, during which symptom perception was determined. The distension was followed by a 90-min barostat procedure: for 30 min in the basal state followed by ingestion of a semi-liquid meal (postprandial state).

RESULTS
Minimal distending pressure was not different between both patient groups and controls, neither was compliance different between constipated patients and controls. The degree of spontaneous adaptive relaxation was in the same range in all groups. During distensions with high pressures, the perception of urge was significantly reduced in STC patients compared to IBS and controls, while the perception of pain was significantly increased in IBS versus STC and controls. Postprandially, a small decrease of rectal volume was only observed in the control group, but not in the patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Rectal motor characteristics are not different between patients with constipation-predominant IBS, patients with STC and healthy controls while during isobaric distensions, sensations of urge were reduced in STC and sensations of pain were increased in IBS. Rectal visceroperception testing may help distinguish groups of patients with different subtypes of constipation.


: The following symmetries are conventionally termed "nonclassical": conformal symmetry, inversion symmetry, Mikheev homology, curvilinear symmetry, colour symmetry, and antisymmetry. These symmetries are applicable to biomorphs differing in linear dimensions and proportions (such as the shells of bivalves, crustaceans, diatoms, etc.) and to such three-dimensional biomorphs as gastropod shells. These three-dimensional objects used to be substituted so far with two-dimensional images. The shift transformation causing inhomogeneous deformations is discussed in the framework of Mikheev homologies. Antisymmetry and colour symmetry are discussed by the example of flowers, duckweed plants, and the crustacean chela. Early stages of cleavage, like colloid crystals, may be represented as polyhedrons. They have Euler characteristics and face symbols, and, because of this, stages of cleavage may have symmetries of crystals. Mastering nonclassical symmetries may promote the progress of biosymmetrics. The potential of discrete (arithmetical) biomorphology in taxonomy and the potential of continuous (geomertical) biomorphology in biosymmetrics are discussed.


Huang, H.-H. 2013. Promoter Engineering for Cyanobacteria. An Essential Step. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1063. 58 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-8724-9. Synthetic biology views a complex biological system as an ensemble in the hierarchy of parts, devices, systems, and networks. The practice of using engineering rules such as decoupling and standardization to understand, predict, and re-build novel biological functions from modeldriven designed genetic circuits is emphasized. It is one of the top ten technologies that could help solving the current and potential risks in human society. Cyanobacteria have been considered as a promising biological system in conducting oxygenic photosynthesis to convert solar energy into reducing power, which drives biochemical reactions to assimilate and generate chemicals for a specific purpose such as CO2 fixation, N2 fixation, bioremediation, or fuels production. The promoter is a key biological part to construct feedback loops in genetic circuits for a desired biological function. In this thesis, promoters that don't work in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803 in terms of promoter strength, and dynamic range of gene regulation are identified. Biological parts, such as ribosome binding sites, and reporter genes with and without protease tags were also characterized with the home-built broad-host-range BioBrick shuttle vector pPMQAK1. The strong L03 promoter, which can be tightly regulated in a wide dynamic range by the foreign Tet repressor, was created through an iterative promoter engineering cycle. The iteration cycle of DNA breathing dynamic simulations and quantification of a reporting signal at a single-cell level should guide through the engineering process of making promoters with intended regulatory properties. This thesis is an essential step in creating functional promoters and it could be applied to create more diverse promoters to realize the emphasized practices of synthetic biology to build synthetic cyanobacteria for direct fuel production and CO2 assimilation.


textabstractIf Jane prefers a over b, and b over c, we normally expect her to prefer a over c too. Such transitivity of behavior is central to our normative assessment of the rationality of choices. However, experimental evidence shows recurring and stable violations of transitivity in choices over time. Are we ultimately incapable of satisfying our own criteria of rationality? In the present article, I shall argue against this conclusion. In ultimately choosing c rather than a, Jane might have been guided in her decision-making process by rational considerations (yet) unknown to the observer. New information or changed circumstances could have influenced the initial option c (and hence its assessment) such that it can be meaningfully refined and re-described as c*. As c* is preferred over a the transitivity of the preference ordering is preserved. Such a strategy, however, has been criticized by Paul Anand (1990). According to him, to re-describe prima facie intransitive behavior in transitive terms is necessarily ad hoc, arbitrary, and self-defeating. In the present article this conclusion is contested as Anand bases his reasoning on two questionable assumptions: a division between descriptive and normative decision theory, and observable choice being the sole criterion for describing preferences.


The increasing spread of β-lactamase-producing pathogens represents an emerging serious public health threat specially to treat nosocomial infections. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence and molecular characterization of β-lactamase-producing Enterobacter cloacae isolates; and to estimate the prevalence of integrons in these isolates. A total of 41 clinical isolates of E. cloacae were recovered from different hospitals in the North West Bank-Palestine. Enterobacter cloacae isolates were identified using API 20E system and β-lactamase genes (ESBL, MBL and AmpC β-lactamase genes) detection was carried out using multiplex PCR technique. Results of the current research showed that the prevalence of β-lactamases among the studied clinical E. cloacae isolates was (34/41) 82.9%. The prevalence of ESBLs, MBLs and AmpC β-lactamase genes was 80.5%, 14.6% and 9.8%, respectively. For ESBL, blaTEM gene was the most dominant with a prevalence rate 63.4%. Other detected genes were 31.7%, 29.3, and 7.3% for blaOXA, blaSHV and blaCTX-M, respectively. Coexistence of 2 ESBL genes or more was detected in 39% of E. cloacae isolates. For AmpC β-lactamases only blaDHA gene was detected with a prevalence 4.9%, whereas for MBLs, the prevalence of blaIMP alone was 9.8%, blaSPM and blaIMP, and blaSIM and blaSPM together was 2.4% for each. A total of 8 isolates (19.5%) showed coexistence with at least another type of β-lactamases. In this study, class 1 integrons were detected only in β-lactamase-producing E. cloacae isolates with prevalence of (17/34) 50% among β-lactamase producers. ERIC-PCR typing of 34 clinical isolates of E. cloacae harbored different β-lactamase genes, were grouped into 5 ERIC PCR profiles (clusters) at a 70% similarity level. Results of ERIC-PCR typing showed that at lease there are 3 identical clones circulating among these hospitals and the predominant clone is C1CL1. The emergence and increase of β-lactamase-producing E. cloacae infections is worrisome. Effective measures should be taken to control the spread β-lactamase-producing bacteria.


Childhood mortality and morbidity patterns in the English-speaking Caribbean have changed significantly over the past 40 years. Acute respiratory illness, physical injury and conditions originating in the perinatal period have replaced malnutrition, gastroenteritis and other infectious diseases as major causes of illness and death in Caribbean children. Although population growth has slowed down, about one-third of the population of the English-speaking Caribbean remains under the age of 15 years. Infant mortality rates have also fallen but the major contributor to this decline has been a reduction in post-neonatal deaths. The decrease in mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases has led to a prominence of disorders originating in the perinatal period, psychosocial problems and chronic childhood disorders. Adverse economic conditions are held culpable for the re-emergence of protein energy malnutrition (PEM) and pulmonary tuberculosis in some territories. There is an urgent need to focus attention on the areas of perinatal and adolescent health, childhood disability, accidental and non-accidental injury, sexual abuse and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Immunization programmes also require continuing support and expansion. These tasks cannot be accomplished without meaningful long term investment of financial and human resources in the health and educational services of the region.


The human skeletal form underlies our ability to walk on two legs, but unlike standing height, the genetic basis of limb lengths and skeletal proportions is less well understood. Here we applied a deep learning model to 31,221 whole body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images from the UK Biobank (UKB) to extract 23 different image-derived phenotypes (IDPs) that include all long bone lengths as well as hip and shoulder width, which we analyzed while controlling for height. All skeletal proportions are highly heritable (∼40-50%), and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of these traits identified 179 independent loci, of which 102 loci were not associated with height. These loci are enriched in genes regulating skeletal development as well as associated with rare human skeletal diseases and abnormal mouse skeletal phenotypes. Genetic correlation and genomic structural equation modeling indicated that limb proportions exhibited strong genetic sharing but were genetically independent of width and torso proportions. Phenotypic and polygenic risk score analyses identified specific associations between osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip and knee, the leading causes of adult disability in the United States, and skeletal proportions of the corresponding regions. We also found genomic evidence of evolutionary change in arm-to-leg and hip-width proportions in humans consistent with striking anatomical changes in these skeletal proportions in the hominin fossil record. In contrast to cardiovascular, auto-immune, metabolic, and other categories of traits, loci associated with these skeletal proportions are significantly enriched in human accelerated regions (HARs), and regulatory elements of genes differentially expressed through development between humans and the great apes. Taken together, our work validates the use of deep learning models on DXA images to identify novel and specific genetic variants affecting the human skeletal form and ties a major evolutionary facet of human anatomical change to pathogenesis.


We present the results of a survey of 807 FTEs observed by Interball-1 on the midand high-latitude dayside and flank magnetopause. Dayside magnetosheath events show a strong tendency to occur for southward magnetosheath magnetic fields suggesting origin via component (or perhaps antiparallel) reconnection near the equatorial plane. Flank FTEs occur for both magnetosheath magnetic field orientations with only a slight preference for southward magnetosheath magnetic fields. These events are consistent with generation along an extended subsolar component reconnection line for all IMF orientations or a combination of reconnection along a subsolar component reconnection line for southward IMF and antiparallel reconnection at higher latitudes for northward IMF. The distribution of direct and reverse magnetosheath FTEs and the tilt angle of the reconnection line for dawnward and duskward IMF are in a good agreement with the theoretical predictions of the component merging model. The clear anticorrelation between the magnitude of the east/west (Bm) perturbation observed within magnetosphere FTEs versus Bm in the magnetosheath also demands an explanation of the FTEs in terms of reconnection along a tilted subsolar merging line, e.g. in terms of component merging.


This report outlines principles of management for extensive corrosive esophageal burns in children complicated by formation of a tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF). Direct operative attack on the fistula usually is unsuccessful, since the tracheal tissues are so damaged that they will not hold sutures. On the basis of experiences with six children, we suggest the following plan of management: (1) early investigation of suspected TEF with thin barium or Dionosil; (2) early tracheostomy using a short, plastic tube; (3) end cervical esophagostomy with closure of the distal stump of the cervical esophagus; (4) gastrotomy; (5) complete disconnection of the intra-abdominal esophagus from the stomach. This can be completed in a single operation and leaves the thoracic esophagus containing the fistula completely isolated so that the trachea is protected from contamination by saliva and gastric juice. The esophageal mucosa in all cases has been destroyed so extensively by the corrosive material that the esophagus heals as a band of muscle and scar. If protected from continuous contamination by saliva, the trachea heals itself with little long-term defect. The esophagus is replaced with colon or a gastric tube 6 to 12 months later when the child is in good health. All four children treated by this regimen have survived and are able to eat normally.


Background: Ankle fractures in patients with diabetes mellitus have long been recognized as a challenge to practicing clinicians. Ankle fracture patients with diabetes may experience prolonged healing, higher risk of hardware failure, an increased risk of wound dehiscence and infection, and higher pain scores pre- and postoperatively, compared to patients without diabetes. However, the duration of opioid use among this patient cohort has not been previously evaluated. The purpose of this study is to retrospectively compare the time span of opioid utilization between ankle fracture patients with and without diabetes mellitus. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using our institution's TriNetX database. A total of 640 ankle fracture patients were included in the analysis, of whom 73 had diabetes. All dates of opioid use for each patient were extracted from the data set, including the first and last date of opioid prescription. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression models were employed to explore the differences in opioid use between patients with and without diabetes after ankle fracture repair. A 2-tailed P value of .05 was set as the threshold for statistical significance. Results: Logistic regression models revealed that patients with diabetes are less likely to stop using opioids within 90 days, or within 180 days, after repair compared to patients without diabetes. Female sex, neuropathy, and prefracture opioid use are also associated with prolonged opioid use after ankle fracture repair. Conclusion: In our study cohort, ankle fracture patients with diabetes were more likely to require prolonged opioid use after fracture repair. Level of Evidence: Level III, prognostic.


Munc13-1 is an essential component of synaptic vesicle releasing machinery. Three rat Munc13-1 constructs were rationally designed based on homology and function, overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and purified to homogeneity with a final yield higher than 2 microg/ml of cell culture. The purified Munc13-1 recombinant proteins had distinct oligomeric states, monodispersity and homogeneity properties. Their secondary structural contents were analyzed by the circular dichroism method, and the sedimentation coefficients of these recombinant proteins were measured by analytical ultracentrifugation. The long helical bundle-like topology of Munc13-1 was first revealed by analysis of our data. In addition, these purified recombinant proteins provide ideal starting materials for further biochemical, biophysical, and structural studies on mammalian Munc13 proteins.


The problem of estimating the parameters of a one- dimensional signal comprising of a time varying deterministic signal plus zero mean non-stationary non-Gaussian noise (NSNGN) is addressed. An algorithm has been developed to estimate the deterministic signal as well as the parameters of NSNGN of the signal. NSNGN has been modelled by Gaussian mixture probability density functions (pdf). The parameters of NSNGN was estimated using maximization of log likelihood function. Simulation results are included to validate this algorithm.


Parthenolide (PN) is the main sesquiterpene lactone found in feverfew with potent anti-inflammatory function. The anticancer property of PN has been demonstrated in both in vitro cell culture and in vivo animal model, while the molecular mechanisms remain to be further elucidated. In the present study, we evaluated the involvement of nuclear transcription factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in the anticancer activity of PN by examining the sensitization effect of PN on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-induced apoptosis in human cancer cells. Pre-treatment with PN greatly sensitized various human cancer cells to TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis. Such sensitization is closely associated with the inhibitory effect of PN on TNF-alpha-mediated NF-kappaB activation. Our study revealed a new mechanism that PN inhibits TNF-alpha-mediated NF-kappaB activation via disrupting the recruitment of the IkappaB kinases (IKK) complex to TNF receptor, which then blocked the subsequent signaling events including IKK kinase activation, IkappaBalpha degradation, p65 nuclear translocation, DNA binding and transactivation. Moreover, PN also markedly enhanced and sustained TNF-alpha-mediated JNK activation. A specific JNK inhibitor (SP600125), as well as over-expression of dominant-negative forms of JNK1 and JNK2 abolished the sensitization effect of PN on TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis. It is thus believed that suppressed NF-kappaB activation and sustained JNK activation contribute to the sensitization effect of PN to TNF-alpha-mediated cell death in human cancer cells.


Chuanxiong, as a medicinal plant, has been demonstrated useful for the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases in China. The physicochemical characterization of Chuanxiong particles was greatly influenced by ultrafine pulverization. To study the physicochemical characterization of Chuanxiong, the raw plant material of Chuanxiong was ground to 6 μm particles by HSCS (High Speed Centrifugal Sheering) pulverizer. The micron particles were characterized by optical microscope and SEM. Ferulic acid is one of active ingredients of Chuanxiong, and its extraction yield was determined to evaluate the chemical characterization of Chuanxiong powder. Ferulic acid was analyzed by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography). The results showed that after ultrafine pulverization, the plant cell walls were broken into pieces and the extraction yield of ferulic acid was increased by 7.739% compared with the normal particles.


Functional studies have shown that orchidectomy increases the effects of phenylephrine on rat portal veins, but that it is completely prevented in the presence of both ETA and ETB receptor antagonists. Although it suggests the involvement of endothelin-1 (ET-1), the local production of this vasoactive peptide has not been directly quantified in portal veins. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to verify if orchidectomy increases the local expression of ET-1 as well as ETA and ETB receptors in the rat portal vein. Indeed, the genic expression of ET-1, ETA and ETB receptors in rat portal veins taken from control (CONT), orchidectomized (ORX) and ORX plus testosterone-replacement therapy (ORX + T) animals were determined by Real Time RT-PCR. The results showed that orchidectomy induced a significant increment in genic expression of ET-1and ETB receptors in the rat portal veins, which was completely reversed by testosterone replacement treatment. In conclusion, the results suggest that orchidectomy increases the production of ET-1 in the rat portal vein and that, at least partially, it may be related to the previously reported elevation of responses to phenylephrine.


Feature selection (FS) is an essential preprocessing step in utmost solutions for the high-dimensional problem to reduce the number of features by deleting irrelevant and redundant data that preserve a suitable grade of classification accuracy. Feature selection can be treated as an optimization problem. Heuristic optimization algorithms are hopeful approaches to solve feature selection problems because of their difficulty, especially in high-dimensional data. Binary Harris hawk optimization (BHHO) is one of the lately suggested metaheuristic algorithms that has been demonstrated to be used more efficiently in facing some optimization problems. Support vector machines (SVMs) are a vital technique that are employed competently to resolve classification issues. We modified the BHHO algorithm with SVM classifier to solve the feature selection issue. This study suggests BHHO-FS to fix the feature selection problem in biomedical datasets. We ran the proposed approach BHHO-FS on real biomedical datasets with 17 types of cancer for Iraqi patients in 2010-2012. The experimental results demonstrate the supremacy of the proposed BHHO-FS in terms of three performance metrics: feature selection accuracy, runtime and number of selected features compared to four other state-of-art algorithms: Fire Fly (FF) algorithm, Genetic Algorithm (GA), Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) and Particle Swarm Algorithm (PSO). Comparative experiments designate the importance of the proposed approach in comparison with the other four mentioned algorithms. The implementation of the proposed BHHO-FS approach on 17 datasets for different types of cancers reveals 99.967% average accuracy.


• Chronic orbital myositis, an uncommon granulomatous inflammatory disease of the extraocular muscles of unknown origin, occurred in a 15-year-old boy. Fifteen patients with this disorder have been seen at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Its characteristics include ophthalmoplegia, ocular pain, histologic and ultrasonographic evidence of inflammation of extraocular muscles, sensitivity to prednisone, remission and exacerbation, and recurrence.


Acute pancreatitis is a challenging disease with a clinical course that is often difficult to predict. In severe acute pancreatitis, mortality increases significantly if intestinal bacteria translocate from the intestine and infect pancreatic necrosis. Surgical and prophylactic treatment strategies are challenged by complex pathophysiology of the disease. This thesis addresses some key aspects of acute pancreatitis: surgical management, pathophysiology and probiotic prophylaxis. Outcome in patients treated surgically in the UMC Utrecht between 1988 and 2001 was in line with reports in literature. Further scientific research is needed to identify the optimal surgical technique to remove infected pancreatic necrosis. If the colon seems to have become necrotic during acute pancreatitis, resection is the preferred strategy to prevent potential colonic perforation or additional complications during follow up. Retroperitoneal spread of pancreatic enzymes is often the cause of colonic involvement in severe acute pancreatitis. Gallstones are a major cause of acute pancreatitis, but the role of bile composition in the pathogenesis of gallstone pancreatitis is unknown. In a rat model of gallstone pancreatitis, hydrophobic model biles induced severe acute pancreatitis, whereas hydrophilic model biles did not. Phospholipids reduced and cholesterol crystals increased severity. These results confirm a role of bile composition in biliary pancreatitis. Bacterial translocation during the course of acute pancreatitis is of major influence to outcome. Animal models have been proven indispensable as a tool to study its pathophysiology, but some major aspects of bacterial translocation, including origin of translocating bacteria, remain unclear. The colon is often identified as the source of translocating bacteria. However, in a rat model, subtotal colectomy prior to acute pancreatitis resulted in duodenal bacterial overgrowth which correlated significantly with bacterial translocation to the pancreas. This confirms a role for the small bowel in the pathophysiology of bacterial translocation. Prophylactic antibiotics do not improve outcome. Prophylactic multispecies probiotics may offer an effective alternative to reduce bacterial translocation. A multispecies probiotic mixture (Ecologic 641) was specifically designed to target three major aspects of bacterial translocation: 1) small bowel bacterial overgrowth, 2) mucosal barrier failure and 3) immune responses. In a rat model of acute pancreatitis modification of intestinal flora with Ecologic 641 reduced pathogen growth in the duodenum and reduced bacterial translocation. Clinical course was less fulminant and late mortality was reduced in rats receiving probiotics. Specific cytokine signatures were associated with early mortality or bacteraemia potentially causing late mortality. Probiotics reduced pro-inflammatory immune responses, and indirectly seemed to reduce late phase immune paralysis. In a mouse model of acute pancreatitis, probiotics completely prevented late phase mucosal barrier failure. A number of issues concerning probiotics remain to be addressed. These include clinical efficacy, the effect of timing of probiotic treatment, locations and mechanisms of probiotic action, and choice of probiotic strains for specified pathophysiological targets. However, data presented and discussed in this thesis demonstrate that prophylactic multispecies probiotics possess great potential as a future prophylactic treatment strategy in acute pancreatitis.


Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the impact of pay-for-performance (PFP) perception and pay level satisfaction on work attitudes (job satisfaction, turnover intention and affective commitment) and extra-role behaviors (discretionary effort and interpersonal helping), and further, how three aspects of conditional factors – intrinsic motivation, leader–member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) – moderate the main-effect relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted at a Chinese private-owned company in the beauty industry, and a survey was conducted with the frontline employees in each office, asking information about their perceptions and attitudes toward the PFP scheme implemented in the company, work attitudes and performance, individual characteristics and their perceptions of group and organizational characteristics.

Findings

Results show that PFP perception and pay level satisfaction are significant predictors of work attitudes and extra-role behaviors. Further, depending on the specific work outcome examined, the three conditioning factors are found to strengthen the hypothesized main-effect relationships. The findings of the study have important theoretical and practical implications for the implementation of PFP schemes in organizations.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to the scholarship on PFP schemes in two ways. First, the findings show that PFP perception and pay level satisfaction are important for understanding employee work attitudes and extra-role behaviors. Second, the investigation of the moderating roles that intrinsic motivation, LMX and POS play in the relationships of PFP perception and pay level satisfaction with the work outcomes provides evidence to the limited understanding about the conditions that may strengthen or weaken the effectiveness of PFP schemes.


An increasing number of therapeutic spinal injections are performed each year despite little validation in randomized controlled trials. Additional injections are performed for diagnostic purposes of localizing symptomatic nerve roots, again without detailed evaluation of accuracy, specificity, or sensitivity. Drs. Slosar and White argue that selective nerve root blocks are extremely useful; Dr. Wetzel believes that selective nerve root blocks have no role in selecting patients for surgery. Scott D. Boden, MD Robert F. McLain, MD Associate Editors; Spine Controversies


Snowmass is a US long-term planning study for the high-energy community by the American Physical Society's Division of Particles and Fields. For its simulation studies, opportunistic resources are harnessed using the Open Science Grid infrastructure. Late binding grid technology, GlideinWMS, was used for distributed scheduling of the simulation jobs across many sites mainly in the US. The pilot infrastructure also uses the Parrot mechanism to dynamically access CvmFS in order to ascertain a homogeneous environment across the nodes. This report presents the resource usage and the storage model used for simulating large statistics Standard Model backgrounds needed for Snowmass Energy Frontier studies.


In both Barley malt is an important highland crop in Mexico. Due to a high demand from the malt industry there is a need to increase its production throughout higher yielding and disease resistant cultivars for rainfed conditions. The new cultivar 'Adabella' was developed by the National Barley Breeding Program of the National Research Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock of Mexico. Adabella is tolerant to all diseases that occur in the central highlands of Mexico, high yielding, with grain of excellent industrial quality and suited for rainfed conditions in areas from average to higher productivity. Adabella was evaluated in more than 50 year-location combinations and its yield was 15% higher than that of the commercial check 'Esmeralda'.


A study has been carried out to understand how the NIST research reactor (NBSR) might be converted from using high-enriched uranium (HEU) to using low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. An LEU fuel design had previously been determined which provides an equilibrium core with the desirable fuel cycle length—a very important parameter for maintaining the experimental, scientific program supported by the NBSR. In the present study two options for getting to the equilibrium state are considered. One option starts with the loading of an entire core of fresh fuel. This was determined to be unacceptable. The other option makes use of the current fuel management scheme wherein four fresh fuel elements are loaded at the beginning of each cycle. However, it is shown that without some alterations to the fuel cycle, none of the transition cores containing both HEU and LEU fuel have sufficient excess reactivity to enable reactor operation for the required amount of time. It was determined that operating the first mixed cycle for a sufficiently reduced length of time provides the excess reactivity which enables subsequent transition cycles to be run for the desired number of days.


Climate change, a consequence of excess greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) into the atmosphere, may seriously disrupt the world economy in future decades. In a 2006 report, the results of which have been widely publicised, economist Nicholas Stern considered that in the absence of coordinated intervention by the international community, the average temperature could rise more than 3°C by the end of the century, which would cost the planet's inhabitants the equivalent of 5% of gross world product each year (Stern, 2007). We study and compare two types of tools at the disposal of the public authorities to encourage a reduction in carbon emissions: a carbon tax and subsidies for "green" research and development (R&D). We show that the two policies are not antagonistic but in fact complementary, with each reinforcing the role of the other in the correction of the externality justifying its implementation.


A six-year-old girl was examined upon development of pain, swelling, and locking in her right knee after a considerable period of discomfort and popping sensation. She had no history of trauma. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a discoid lateral meniscus, filling the entire lateral plateau and exhibiting signs of degeneration. On arthroscopic examination, a bucket-handle tear of the discoid lateral meniscus was noted and the patient was treated with arthroscopic subtotal meniscectomy. During the first month of follow-up, the patient had a full range of motion and normal gait. At three years, she maintained full range of motion without pain, locking, or popping. Due to the likelihood of joint degeneration, long-term follow-up was recommended.


G-protein signaling modulators (GPSM) play diverse functional roles through their interaction with G-protein subunits. AGS3 (GPSM1) contains four G-protein regulatory motifs (GPR) that directly bind Gαi free of Gβγ providing an unusual scaffold for the "G-switch" and signaling complexes, but the mechanism by which signals track into this scaffold are not well understood. We report the regulation of the AGS3·Gαi signaling module by a cell surface, seven-transmembrane receptor. AGS3 and Gαi1 tagged with Renilla luciferase or yellow fluorescent protein expressed in mammalian cells exhibited saturable, specific bioluminescence resonance energy transfer indicating complex formation in the cell. Activation of α2-adrenergic receptors or μ-opioid receptors reduced AGS3-RLuc·Gαi1-YFP energy transfer by over 30%. The agonist-mediated effects were inhibited by pertussis toxin and co-expression of RGS4, but were not altered by Gβγ sequestration with the carboxyl terminus of GRK2. Gαi-dependent and agonist-sensitive bioluminescence resonance energy transfer was also observed between AGS3 and cell-surface receptors typically coupled to Gαi and/or Gαo indicating that AGS3 is part of a larger signaling complex. Upon receptor activation, AGS3 reversibly dissociates from this complex at the cell cortex. Receptor coupling to both Gαβγ and GPR-Gαi offer additional flexibility for systems to respond and adapt to challenges and orchestrate complex behaviors.


Background: Trauma is the leading cause of death in people under 40 years of age worldwide. Various studies have been conducted focused on reducing the annual mortality rate due to trauma. One of the most important measures is reducing the time between the incident and the treatment set up, therefore estimation of the severity of trauma and progressing to mortality before further evaluation is justified. Numerous trauma scoring systems have been apllied worldwide as models for predicting mortality of trauma patients in short and long term periods based on clinical and laboratory data. In this study we aim to compare different trauma scoring systems (such as GAP, MGAP, RTS, TRISS) with a relatively new model – Shiraz Trauma Transfusion Score (STTS) – and to discribe the best qualities of these scoring systems for trauma patients in short (less than 24 hours) and long (more than 24 hours) term.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from hospitalized trauma patients in Rajaei hospital (center B) of Shiraz, Iran from May to November 2016 were collected and analyzed. Collected data consisted of age, sex, hospital admission duration, mechanism of trauma along with clinical data for calculating different trauma scoring systems, were recorded. Results: while RTS and STTS were the best predictors of mortality in trauma patients in the first 24 hours (sensitivity of 100.00%), GAP and MGAP were the best predictors of the patients' survival (specificity of 93.83% and 92.59%). GAP and ISS were the best predictors of mortality in trauma patients for more than 24 hours (sensitivity of 82.02%). On the other hand, TRIS and RTS was the best predictors of patients' survival (specificity of 82.59% and 80.26%).Conclusions: Our study findings suggest that the utility and applicability of Shiraz Trauma Transfusion Score(STTS) in predicting mortality is not only comparable with other commonly used scoring methods but it may be of more value in short term mortality prediction.


A training process for facial expression recognition is usually performed sequentially in three individual stages: feature learning, feature selection, and classifier construction. Extensive empirical studies are needed to search for an optimal combination of feature representation, feature set, and classifier to achieve good recognition performance. This paper presents a novel Boosted Deep Belief Network (BDBN) for performing the three training stages iteratively in a unified loopy framework. Through the proposed BDBN framework, a set of features, which is effective to characterize expression-related facial appearance/shape changes, can be learned and selected to form a boosted strong classifier in a statistical way. As learning continues, the strong classifier is improved iteratively and more importantly, the discriminative capabilities of selected features are strengthened as well according to their relative importance to the strong classifier via a joint fine-tune process in the BDBN framework. Extensive experiments on two public databases showed that the BDBN framework yielded dramatic improvements in facial expression analysis.


The effects of gamma-globulin therapy have been studied from clinical, immunological, and electrographic perspectives in 10 children affected by severe organic epilepsy. After the first or the second injection of large doses of IgG, an appreciable reduction in seizure frequency and an improvement in behavioral and psychological performance were observed in seven children. These clinical modifications were not correlated with an important decrease of the EEG epileptic elements, but in most cases they were associated to an increase in alpha activity and/or in power of the predominant EEG frequency. These changes were observed during the entire treatment period and tended to disappear when therapy was interrupted. No significant changes in both immunological data and plasma levels of antiepileptic drugs accompanied the clinical and EEG changes.


XTT can be metabolically reduced by mitochondrial dehydrogenase in viable cells to a water-soluble formazan product. Thus XTT has been widely used to evaluate cell viability and to screen anti-HIV agents and the cytotoxicity of these agents. The present studies demonstrated that XTT formazan derived from XTT in cell culture significantly inhibits the fusion of HIV-1-infected cells with uninfected cells. Synthetic XTT formazan effectively inhibited the replication of laboratory-adapted and primary HIV-1 isolates and cell-to-cell fusion with low cytotoxicity. It blocks the six-helix bundle formation between peptides derived from the N- and C-terminal heptad repeat regions of the gp41 ectodomain (designated N- and C-peptides, respectively). Analysis by a computer-aided docking program indicates that XTT formazan may bind to the highly conserved hydrophobic pocket on the surface of the central trimeric coiled coil of gp41. These results suggest that XTT formazan inhibits HIV-1 entry by targeting the alpha-helical coiled-coil domain of gp41. This small molecular nonpeptide antiviral compound can be used as a lead for designing more effective HIV-1 entry inhibitors targeting the fusion stage of HIV-1 infection. But because XTT formazan itself has anti-HIV-1 activity, caution should be exercised when XTT is used to evaluate HIV-1 infectivity.


We Are Everywhere is a whirlwind collection of writings, images and ideas for direct action by people on the frontlines of the global anticapitalist movement. This is a movement of untold stories, because those from below are not those who get to write history, even though we are the ones making it. We Are Everywhere wrenches our history from the grasp of the powerful and returns it to the streets, fields and neighbourhoods where it was made.


The strength of recombination radiation reabsorption in GaN is discussed. For material comparisons a distance-dependent radiative recombination transfer function F(u) is introduced. In spite of high absorption rates of GaN, calculations predict ca. one order of magnitude higher photon recycling efficiency in GaN than in GaAs. Simulations of 2H-GaN p −i −n structures predict appearance of S-shaped forward I/V characteristics due to the generation of extra carriers in the base center. The study of GaN bipolar transistors shows that the radiative recombination will reduce the carrier lifetimes in the base and thereby restrict essentially the achievable current gains.


In the following study I have used a mix of trivial, journalistic and academic resources from relevant sources to draw a conclusion on the question posed; does tangible design and print hold value in the contemporary digital age? Explorations into the benefits of tangible design, how digital and material media is consumed, and the implications for design practice drove me to consider a range of elements to this query. These included reminiscence and nostalgia, the benefits of Lo-fi as an aesthetic choice, the freedoms that independent print media such as Zines can provide the designer and the unique sense of community that this can foster, how tangible design can be interactive in order to appeal to multiple senses and therefore create a deeper and more memorable connection for the consumer, and the unique set of benefits that come with stickers being such a tangible design media such as the appeal of free advertising and consumer freedoms of context choice. I also consider in this exploration the benefits of digital vs tangible when collaborating on a design piece. I drew the conclusion that tangible collaboration holds higher value due to more personal and time effective physical collaboration between multiple designers, however it must be said that digital collaboration brings forth its own set of benefits, such as allowing for long distance collaboration which may not otherwise be possible. When exploring how digital and tangible can be used not only for design but as tools to advertise design work and their comparable effectivity, I considered tangible design benefits such as stickers doubling as free advertising, and digital benefits such as being able to pay to reach larger audiences from broader scopes. The benefits considered by the stated explorations lead me to conclude that tangible print does still hold value in the contemporary digital age, which is proven by its still


This article presents an analysis of the general approach and the specific measures of the Youth Guarantee Programme in Spain, using the analytical tools of the Capability Approach. The objective is to study to what extent the design of the actions of the youth guarantee can be effective taking into account the characteristics of the group to which they are addressed: young people with difficulties to enter the labour market. The analysis leads us to conclude that there are reasonable doubts in relation to the level of adjustment between the general design and the specific measures of the Spanish Youth Guarantee Programme and the characteristics of its target population. Thus, the several obstacles to ensuring that the resources devoted to youth guarantee have the desired effects become evident.


Keeping Baby Safe Because half the genes from a developing fetus are inherited from the father, from the mother's perspective, a fetus is "foreign." How, then, does the maternal immune system tolerate the fetus? Nancy et al. (p. 1317) found that careful regulation of cellular recruitment signals allowed for fetal tolerance in mice. Although high numbers of T cells localized to the myometrium layer of the uterine wall in pregnant mice, very few T cells were found in the decidua, the uterine tissue that encapsulates the fetus and placenta. Thus, in pregnancy, regulation of immune cell localization may allow for organ-specific immune tolerance. Turning off the expression in the placenta of T cell attractants allows the mother to tolerate the fetus. The chemokine-mediated recruitment of effector T cells to sites of inflammation is a central feature of the immune response. The extent to which chemokine expression levels are limited by the intrinsic developmental characteristics of a tissue has remained unexplored. We show in mice that effector T cells cannot accumulate within the decidua, the specialized stromal tissue encapsulating the fetus and placenta. Impaired accumulation was in part attributable to the epigenetic silencing of key T cell–attracting inflammatory chemokine genes in decidual stromal cells, as evidenced by promoter accrual of repressive histone marks. These findings give insight into mechanisms of fetomaternal immune tolerance, as well as reveal the epigenetic modification of tissue stromal cells as a modality for limiting effector T cell trafficking.


In the last few decades, there has been growing interest in the use of agricultural wastes as feed ingredients in poultry diet to maximise their potential output. Many wastes of the agroindustry (e.g. citrus, grape, pomegranate and apple processing) have significant antioxidant properties, due to their bioactive compounds (polyphenols, flavonoids). It has been reported that citrus and grape wastes can be successfully included in broilers diets up to 3%, which increases carcass and meat yield and reduces abdominal fat (by 10% on average). Pomegranate can be included up to 2% supplementation and is associated with improved feed efficiency (by 12% in broilers). Apple by-products can be formulated up to 5% in diets for meat-type broilers and up to 10% in laying hens diet to reduce oxidative stress. Therefore, the application of these by-products in poultry diets could combine the positive effects of improving the qualitative characteristics of animal products as well as human health with reducing concerns related with their disposal into the environment. In this review, the findings on the effects of some agricultural wastes, from typically-cultivated products originating in Mediterranean and Middle East regions on poultry performance, carcass characteristics, immune response, plasma constitutes, intestinal microbiota and enzyme activity are reviewed and discussed.


CSlukya sites at Pattadakal and AihoJS right across to Orissa. It is copiously illustrated in her photographs without comment (see especially planche xm (Mahua); planche xx, ph. 90 (Batesvar); planche xxxv, ph. 149 and 150 (Osia), and planches LJX-LX (Badoli)). The work includes a good glossary (i, 237-8) and an excellent bibliography (ibid., 239-43), and is indexed. It is perhaps ungenerous to find fault with so splendidly researched and produced a work. However, in view of the fact that the map (n, p. xxi) includes the Calukya sites, it seems a pity that their ornament was not, even briefly, featured. These monuments, belonging to the seventh century, so clearly participate in both Nagara and Dravida styles. It is hard too to justify the omission of the Orissa temples that have such obvious close links with the author's work (see especially n, planche LIX, ph. 251 (Badoli)). Such sites could at least have been included in the plates for comparison with her subject, and as reinforcement of her admirablyresearched thesis.


The χ-criterion is defined as the product of the energy conversion efficiency and the heat absorbed per unit time by the working substance [de Tom′as et al., Phys. Rev. E 85(2012) 010104(R)]. The χ-criterion for Feynman ratchet as a refrigerator operating between two heat baths is optimized. Asymptotic solutions of the coefficient of performance at maximum χ-criterion for Feynman ratchet are investigated at both large and small temperature difference. An interpolation formula, which fits the numerical solution very well, is proposed. Besides, the sufficient condition for the universality of the coefficient of performance at maximum χ is investigated.


Our first objective was to link the seasonality of fine root dynamics with soil respiration in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa P. & C. Lawson) plantation located in the Sierra Nevada of California. The second objective was to examine how canopy photosynthesis influences fine root initiation, growth and mortality in this ecosystem. We compared CO2 flux measurements with aboveground and belowground root dynamics. Initiation of fine root growth coincided with tree stem thickening and shoot elongation, preceding new needle growth. In the spring, root, shoot and stem growth occurred simultaneously with the increase in canopy photosynthesis. Compared with the other tree components, initial growth rate of fine roots was the highest and their growing period was the shortest. Both above and belowground components completed 90% of their growth by the end of July and the growing season lasted approximately 80 days. The period for optimal growth is short at the study site because of low soil temperatures during winter and low soil water content during summer. High photosynthetic rates were observed following unusual late-summer rains, but tree growth did not resume. The autotrophic contribution to soil respiration was 49% over the whole season, with daily contributions ranging between 18 and 87%. Increases in soil and ecosystem respiration were observed during spring growth; however, the largest variation in soil respiration occurred during summer rain events when no growth was observed. Both the magnitude and persistence of the soil respiration pulses were positively correlated with the amount of rain. These pulses accounted for 16.5% of soil respiration between Days 130 and 329.


A series of novel N-substituted-β-d-glucosamine derivatives that incorporate benzenesulfonamides were designed using a fragment-based drug design strategy. Each derivative was synthesized and evaluated in vitro for its inhibitory activity against human carbonic anhydrase (hCA) IX; several derivatives displayed desirable potency profiles against this enzyme. The molecular docking studies provided the design rationale and predicted potential binding modes for carbonic anhydrase (CA) IX and three target compounds, including the most potent inhibitor, compound 7f (IC50 = 10.01 nM). Moreover, the calculated Log P (cLog P) values showed that all the compounds tended to be hydrophilic. In addition, topological polar surface area (TPSA) value-based predictions highlighted the selectivity of these carbohydrate-based inhibitors for membrane-associated CA IX.


The growth of thrust and improved aeroengine efficiency has been gained by
increased temperatures throughout the engine. This has been achieved by improved
material technology and the continuous cooling of components complemented by the
addition of thermal barrier coatings (TBC) to turbine and combustion chamber
components. The aggressive nature of the application process of the TBC has
previously made the measurement of metal surface temperature and strain
exceedingly difficult on components to which it is applied.
In the present study magnetron sputter-deposited thin film sensor techniques have
been developed specifically for compressor and turbine applications of noble metal
thermocouples and strain gauges. The deposition, patterning and evaluation of
reactively sputtered aluminium oxide, type R platinum thermocouples as well as
PdCr and PtW dynamic strain gauges is reported. A sputtered NiCoCrAlY coating
has been developed to replace the vacuum plasma spray process currently used in the
TBC system. The most favourable location for the thin film sensor is at the
metal/ceramic interface of the TBC system. However, in order to protect the sensor
from the aggressive TBC process, the sensor has been deposited in a novel
installation between two layers of NiCoCrAlY bond coat. Several trials have been
performed to fabricate this package on turbine blade material substrates.
This work has demonstrated that the proposed sensor structure is feasible. However
there are problems with delamination due to contamination and residual stress and
with poor electrical insulation and these have limited the high temperature testing
that could be performed. The novel techniques developed are already being utilised
in measurement applications on components without TBCs. This work has been
performed in an industrial context. The extensive project and risk management
activities are reported.


Personalized federated learning is tasked with training machine learning models for multiple clients, each with its own data distribution. The goal is to train personalized models in a collaborative way while accounting for data disparities across clients and reducing communication costs. We propose a novel approach to this problem using hypernetworks, termed pFedHN for personalized Federated HyperNetworks. In this approach, a central hypernetwork model is trained to generate a set of models, one model for each client. This architecture provides effective parameter sharing across clients, while maintaining the capacity to generate unique and diverse personal models. Furthermore, since hypernetwork parameters are never transmitted, this approach decouples the communication cost from the trainable model size. We test pFedHN empirically in several personalized federated learning challenges and find that it outperforms previous methods. Finally, since hypernetworks share information across clients we show that pFedHN can generalize better to new clients whose distributions differ from any client observed during training.


Description: This continuing authoritative series deals with the chemistry, materials science, physics and technology of the rare earth elements in an integrated manner. Each chapter is a comprehensive, up-to-date, critical review of a particular segment of the field. The work offers the researcher and graduate student a complete and thorough coverage of this fascinating field.


We study how to find plans that maximize the expected total utility for a given MDP, a planning objective that is important for decision making in high-stakes domains. The optimal actions can now depend on the total reward that has been accumulated so far in addition to the current state. We extend our previous work on functional value iteration from one-switch utility functions to all utility functions that can be approximated with piecewise linear utility functions (with and without exponential tails) by using functional value iteration to find a plan that maximizes the expected total utility for the approximate utility function. Functional value iteration does not maintain a value for every state but a value function that maps the total reward that has been accumulated so far into a value. We describe how functional value iteration represents these value functions in finite form, how it performs dynamic programming by manipulating these representations and what kinds of approximation guarantees it is able to make. We also apply it to a probabilistic blocksworld problem, a standard test domain for decision-theoretic planners.