The large estuaries can present long narrow branches called subestuaries or tidal creeks. These types of subsystems are distributed along the Uruguayan coast of the Río de la Plata estuary and are very important as nursery and refuge areas for fish. For the first time, the seasonal composition and abundance of the fish community of the Solís Chico subestuary was studied by using beach and gill nets. Fourteen species, mainly euryhaline (86%) presented a significant representation of juvenile stages. The fish community was dominated by Odontesthes argentinensis, Platanichthys platana, Mugil liza, Brevoortia aurea, Micropogonias furnieri and Paralichthys orbignyanus, similar to adjacent subestuaries. While Micropogonias furnieri and B. aurea were the most abundant species, some other species were rarely caught. A seasonal variation of the fish assemblage abundance was detected, with higher values in autumn showing a positive correlation with temperature. Species that complete their life cycle in the Río de la Plata estuary, some of which are relevant to fisheries (64% of the analyzed species) were captured in the Solís Chico subestuary. The importance of this environment as a transitional system for some estuarine fish species is advised.


Animal science researchers have the obligation to reduce, refine, and replace the usage of animals in research (3R principles). Adherence to these principles can be improved by transparently publishing research findings, data and protocols. Open Science (OS) can help to increase the transparency of many parts of the research process, and its implementation should thus be considered by animal science researchers as a valuable opportunity that can contribute to the adherence to these 3R-principles. With this article, we want to encourage animal science researchers to implement a diverse set of OS practices, such as Open Access publishing, preprinting, and the pre-registration of test protocols, in their workflows.


The purpose of this study was to compare open to percutaneous tendo-achilles lengthening (TAL) as treatment for equinus deformity (ED) in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Eighteen ambulatory spastic CP children (28 feet) with isolated primary fixed ED were randomized to these two methods and prospectively followed up 7 to 18 months postoperatively (mean 11 months). The study found that the percutaneous TAL gave shorter operative time, shorter hospitalization period, better active dorsal and plantarflexion abilities, better parent satisfaction, and lower complication rate. It was concluded that percutaneous TAL seemed to be superior to the open TAL regarding the studied parameters.


In Europe, fiscal policy will be distinctly more restrictive from 2011 onwards. The fiscal consolidation efforts scheduled for 2011 represent 1.2 percentage points of GDP in the eurozone and 1.8 percentage points in the UK. Such adjustments hit short-term demand and depress activity by Keynesian effects. However, non-Keynesian mechanisms can attenuate them, not least through expectations and supply effects. The impact of fiscal consolidation is also related to the economic background: in line with the recent developments on sovereign bond markets, fiscal variables are found to have a significant impact on interest rate spreads on euro area public bonds. According to our main result, when debt exceeds 100 percentage points of GDP, the marginal effect on the spread of one additional point of debt would be about 7 to 8 basis points. Accordingly, fiscal consolidation is likely to weigh down on euro area sovereign risk premiums. In this light, the NiGEM international macroeconomic model is used to assess the GDP impact of European fiscal consolidation plans. Overall, euro area's GDP in 2011 is estimated to have been 0.6% lower than in a scenario without fiscal consolidation. This impact may however be an upper bound: these simulations do not take account of the possibility of a sudden increase of financial distress following a major loss of confidence in the sovereign bonds of some euro area countries.


A case of a 65-year-old patient, showing dyspnea to strains and right side pain as main symptoms of an approximately 8 cm cyst in the pericardium. The physical, biochemical and electrocardiographic examinations did not evince any changes. The results from the thoracic radiography, CT scan and echocardiogram suggested pericardial cyst. Based on those clinical evidences, the patient was submitted to a thoracotomy in the right side thoracic region and a complete excision of the mediastinal mass was performed, with complete remission of the symptoms.


Water treatment using microfiltration (MF)/ultrafiltration (UF) membranes is gaining in popularity all over the world but the problem of membrane fouling needs to be addressed. In this study, the influence of calcium on irreversible fouling in MF/UF membrane filtering natural organic matter (NOM) was investigated on the basis of a series of bench-scale filtration tests. Two types of feed water, solution of commercially available humic acid and surface water used for drinking water source, were filtered with four different MF/UF membranes. It was found that the influence of calcium on the evolution of irreversible fouling would differ depending on the feed water characteristics. Calcium facilitated the aggregation of small molecules with hydrophobic nature contained in commercially available humic acid and the aggregate probably plugged the micropores, resulting in severe irreversible fouling. The effect of calcium was not obvious in the case of the surface water used in this study. This result implies that the use of commercial humic acid for the examination of membrane fouling would be inappropriate.


In this paper, we propose an efficient event-based motion estimation framework for various motion models. Different from previous works, we design a progressive event-to-map alignment scheme and utilize the spatio-temporal correlations to align events. In detail, we progressively align sampled events in an event batch to the time-surface map and obtain the updated motion model by minimizing a novel time-surface loss. In addition, a dynamic batch size strategy is applied to adaptively adjust the batch size so that all events in the batch are consistent with the current motion model. Our framework has three advantages: a) the progressive scheme refines motion parameters iteratively, achieving accurate motion estimation; b) within one iteration, only a small portion of events are involved in optimization, which greatly reduces the total runtime; c) the dynamic batch size strategy ensures that the constant velocity assumption always holds. We conduct comprehensive experiments to evaluate our framework on challenging high-speed scenes with three motion models: rotational, homography, and 6-DOF models. Experimental results demonstrate that our framework achieves state-of-the-art estimation accuracy and efficiency. The code is available at https://github.com/huangxueyan/PEME.


Discriminative confidence estimation along with confidence normalisation have been shown to construct robust decision maker modules in spoken term detection (STD) systems. Discriminative confidence estimation, making use of termdependent features, has been shown to improve the widely used lattice-based confidence estimation in STD. In this work, we augment the set of these term-dependent features and show a significant improvement in the STD performance both in terms of ATWV and DET curves in experiments conducted on a Spanish geographical corpus. This work also proposes a multiple linear regression analysis to carry out the feature selection. Next, the most informative features derived from it are used within the discriminative confidence on the STD system.


In paradoxical situations, organizational actors face various demands that are contradictory and interdependent at the same time. While the current literature focuses on how organizational actors respond to these paradoxical demands, it does so in a depersonalized manner with little attention to the stakeholders behind these demands. Therefore, it fails to explain how organizational actors legitimize their responses to paradox to those stakeholders who bring up the paradoxical demands. Using a narrative sensemaking approach, we study how social entrepreneurs legitimize their efforts to respond to paradoxical stakeholder demands for both delivering and measuring social impact. We find that social entrepreneurs legitimize their responses to this paradoxical situation through a narrative mechanism of folding. Through folding, narrators construct legitimizing accounts by narratively producing temporary alignments with some stakeholder interests, while opposing others. Through the recurring and consistently inconsistent use of the narrative practices of embodying and positioning, narrators produce a legitimizing account that overall portrays their responses to paradox as balanced and non-biased. As our main contribution, we offer a model of folding as a narrative, interest-based mechanism that explains how organizational actors legitimize their efforts to navigate paradoxical situations by portraying themselves as attending to paradoxical demands through a temporary and fluid shift between momentary alignments and oppositions of stakeholder interests.


In a long term study the effects of a nematicide and six rotations: root-knot-susceptible tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L. cv."KM10" grown continuously (ContKM10), root-knotresistant tobacco cv. "RK8" grown continuously (ContRK8), grass-grass-grass-KM10 (G-G-G-KM10), grass-grass-grassRK8 (G-G-G-RK8), KM10-Crotalaria juncea (KM10-Cr) and RK8-Crotalaria juncea (RK8-Cr), on root knot nematode, Meloidogyne javanica and sore shin, Rhizoctonia solani infection were studied. The nematicide used was ethylene dibromide (EDB) and was applied to each tobacco crop, as is standard practice. Chloris gayana cv. "Rhodes Katambora", presumably a poor host of nematodes, was the grass used in all the grass-grass-grass-Tobacco rotations. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design. ContKM10, KM10-Cr, G-G-G-RK8, ContiRK8 and RK8-Cr reduced root knot galling while G-G-G-KM10 increased galling. Sore shin increased with every year of rotation regardless of rotation, except in the case of G-G-G-KM10 and G-G-G-RK8 which reduced infection relative to other rotations. With the exception of G-G-G-RK8, all rotations that included RK8 suppressed root knot infection but did not suppress sore shin infection. The rotations including KM10 suppressed nematodes only with EDB treatment yearly and did not suppress sore shin except the rotation G-G-G-KM10. The role of Crotolaria juncea was masked by either RK8 or EDB. Host plant resistance in the form of RK8 was effective in controlling nematodes but did not reduce sore shin except mildly when rotated with the grass. This work recommends the use of resistant cultivars with broad-spectrum resistances.


Background ARGOS satellite telemetry is one of the most widely used methods to track the movements of free-ranging marine and terrestrial animals and is fundamental to studies of foraging ecology, migratory behavior and habitat-use. ARGOS location estimates do not include complete error estimations, and for many marine organisms, the most commonly acquired locations (Location Class 0, A, B, or Z) are provided with no declared error estimate. Methodology/Principal Findings We compared the accuracy of ARGOS locations to those obtained using Fastloc GPS from the same electronic tags on five species of pinnipeds: 9 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), 4 Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki), 6 Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus), 3 Australian fur seals (A. p. doriferus) and 5 northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). These species encompass a range of marine habitats (highly pelagic vs coastal), diving behaviors (mean dive durations 2–21 min) and range of latitudes (equator to temperate). A total of 7,318 ARGOS positions and 27,046 GPS positions were collected. Of these, 1,105 ARGOS positions were obtained within five minutes of a GPS position and were used for comparison. The 68th percentile ARGOS location errors as measured in this study were LC-3 0.49 km, LC-2 1.01 km, LC-1 1.20 km, LC-0 4.18 km, LC-A 6.19 km, LC-B 10.28 km. Conclusions/Significance The ARGOS errors measured here are greater than those provided by ARGOS, but within the range of other studies. The error was non-normally distributed with each LC highly right-skewed. Locations of species that make short duration dives and spend extended periods on the surface (sea lions and fur seals) had less error than species like elephant seals that spend more time underwater and have shorter surface intervals. Supplemental data (S1) are provided allowing the creation of density distributions that can be used in a variety of filtering algorithms to improve the quality of ARGOS tracking data.


This contribution discusses the recent Dubovets case before both the European Court of Human Rights and the Russian Constitutional Court, and its implications for the changing design of Russian property law as increasingly shaped by international human rights law and good governance principles. Communicated in December 2016, the application in Dubovets v. Russia continues the line of the European Court's cases against Russia on the protection of good faith private owners of real estate against property claims by the government. Prompted by this case law, the Russian Constitutional Court in its Judgment of 22 June 2017 No 16-P struck down Article 302 of the Russian Civil Code as unconstitutional insofar as it entitled the government to reclaim possession of state property that had been previously alienated due to the government's own negligence. This judgment manifests the increasing interdependence between private and public law – of classical property law, on the one hand, and international human rights law and good governance principles, on the other hand. It also contributes to ongoing evolution in the understanding of the state's property rights in Russia: from the superior status of public property in Soviet times – to formal equality between public and private property rights in the landmark legal instruments of the 1990s – and now to the growing need for special protection of individual property rights vis-à-vis the state, in light of the latter's double role as both the largest owner and the (quite unrestrained) regulator.


The aim of this thesis is to explore ways of organising and supporting open learning in food science, food quality and animal welfare at the boundary between society, the university and other academic institutions. Two specific practices are explored, work-based learning (WBL) and the use of open educational resources (OER). The aim is both analytical to understand boundary activities in these domains and design oriented to develop models and methods for working with and enhancing open learning practices. The thesis also attempts to make a contribution to sustainable development and a system of food production that is in compliance with the views of society. The theoretical approach is cultural historical activity theory, and more specifically theories on boundary crossing and learning at the boundary between activity systems. The empirical research the thesis build on is presented in five articles focusing on questions about boundary activities of students, teachers and actors in industry, concerned with a local WBL practice, a global community using OER and quality assessment of OER. The empirical material was collected through surveys, video recordings and interviews, and analysed with qualitative as well as statistical methods. A main contribution of this thesis is that it demonstrates how WBL can support boundary crossing activities between academia and industry and carry a potential for learning at the boundary. Furthermore, the use of OER supports boundary activities between academic institutions. Both these practices challenge established structures and involve tensions that are subject of negotiations. In WBL student projects as boundary crossing activities must fulfill demands from both higher education and industry, where students have a mediating function and individual student agency becomes important. In working with OER there is a tension between institutional quality concerns on one hand and participatory approaches and a sharing culture on the other. Furthermore, the study indicates that open learning approaches are most vigorous when situated in content-driven, subject specific and rather small and open communities. A local community of higher education teachers in food science is one example and the global community of animal welfare teachers another. This thesis does not aim at generalising to higher education in other scientific fields than food science, food quality and animal welfare. However, some of the results could be generally applicable to learning at the boundary such as WBL carrying a learning potential and OER carrying a potential for a sharing culture. WBL and OER as approaches to open learning can be instruments for higher education to be in dialogue with society. Finally, the thesis points at the complexity of our relationship to food and suggests that more inclusive learning approaches could contribute to sustainable development and more democratic food systems. ISBN: 978-91-982069-7-5


A report submitted to the Department of Construction Economics and Management, School of the Built Environment, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of a Post Graduate Diploma in Construction Project Management of Makerere University.


Colletotrichum dematium has been rarely reported from India before. The present case, a farmer, developed peripheral corneal ulcer five days following trauma with plant. At presentation his visual acuity was 6/60 (unaided) and 6/24P with pinhole. Slit lamp and fluorescent stain examination revealed paracentral corneal ulcer with irregular margins, stromal infiltration and multiple epithelial defects. Microbiological examination of corneal samples confirmed the initial diagnosis of fungal corneal ulcer and the fungus was identified as C.dematium. Patient was treated with topical natamycin and ciprofloxacin. Patient left against medical advice and was lost to follow up. This report emphasizes that Colletotrichum keratitis may not be rare. Early diagnosis may help in institution of specific therapy early in the disease.


When anyone attains to over a century at the time of their death it is inevitable that there should be few, even of near contemporaries, who can attest to the personal qualities that marked the individual in the full vigour of his career, but this deficiency is less marked with respect to H. N. Ridley, since he retained so much of his vigour and particularly his mental zest until almost the closing years of his life and, moreover, he fortunately left a personal record that has been invaluable in reconstructing the beginnings of his career. The writer is also indebted to his widow and to Mr I. H. Burkill, who succeeded Ridley as Director of the Botanic Gardens, Straits Settlements, from 1912 to 1925, for help in relation to the earlier years. Henry Nicholas Ridley was born on 10 December 1855 at the period when plant physiology under the influence of Dutrochet, Leibig and Boussingault was beginning to affect the general approach to the study of plants, and when Hofmeister had conclusively shown the nature of the sexual process in phanerogams and had given an impetus to the study of the life history of plants. Thus Ridley grew up in a period of great intellectual activity but, above all, in its influence on the young men—the Origin of Species appeared when he was four years old. By the time Ridley was a student this had become a vitalizing influence in botanical thought and outlook, which gave a new significance to the study of modes of dispersal of seeds and fruits and to the geographical distribution of plants, that had a lifelong effect on Ridley's concepts and interests.


. On the one hand, MHD instabilities in advanced tokamak scenarios are favourable as they can contribute to the stationarity of the current pro(cid:12)les and act as a trigger for the formation of internal transport barriers (ITBs). In particular, (cid:12)shbone oscillations driven by fast particles arising from NBI are shown to trigger ITBs in low and reversed magnetic shear discharges. During the whistling down period of the (cid:12)shbone oscillation the transport is reduced around the corresponding rational surface, leading to an increased pressure gradient. This behaviour could be explained by the redistribution of the resonant fast particles resulting in a sheared plasma rotation due to the return current in the bulk plasma, which is equivalent to a radial electric (cid:12)eld. On the other hand, MHD instabilities limit the accessible operating regime. Ideal and resistive MHD modes such as double tearing modes, infernal modes and external kinks degrade the con(cid:12)nement or even lead to disruptions in ASDEX Upgrade reversed shear discharges. Localized electron cyclotron heating and current drive are shown to signi(cid:12)cantly a(cid:11)ect the MHD stability of this type of discharge.


Query autocompletion has become a standard feature in many search applications, especially for search engines. A recent trend is to support the error-tolerant autocompletion, which increases the usability significantly by matching prefixes of database strings and allowing a small number of errors.
 In this article, we systematically study the query processing problem for error-tolerant autocompletion with a given edit distance threshold. We propose a general framework that encompasses existing methods and characterizes different classes of algorithms and the minimum amount of information they need to maintain under different constraints. We then propose a novel evaluation strategy that achieves the minimum active node size by eliminating ancestor-descendant relationships among active nodes entirely. In addition, we characterize the essence of edit distance computation by a novel data structure named edit vector automaton (EVA). It enables us to compute new active nodes and their associated states efficiently by table lookups. In order to support large distance thresholds, we devise a partitioning scheme to reduce the size and construction cost of the automaton, which results in the universal partitioned EVA (UPEVA) to handle arbitrarily large thresholds. Our extensive evaluation demonstrates that our proposed method outperforms existing approaches in both space and time efficiencies.


This paper reports the potential of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight
(MALDI-Q-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) for the analysis of lipids of dairy interest, i.e., glycerophospholipids (Phosphatidylcholine, Phosphatidylethanolamine, Phosphatidylinositol), sphingolipids (Sphingomyelin) and glycerolipids (Triacylglycerols, Diacylglycerols), respectively. The matrix used was 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB), together with cationizing agents such as sodium and lithium salt that enhanced fragmentation of most lipid classes. The alkaline adducts obtained helped to define in a fast way the polar head groups of different glycerophospholipid classes and provided information about the constituent fatty acid residues. Moreover, information about the position
(sn-1, and -2) of the fatty acid residue on the glycerol backbone was obtained. Besides, lithium ion adducts appeared to be the most informative for the structural characterization of glycerophospholipids, glycerolipids and sphingolipids. The present approach proved then to be a convenient, fast and informative way for lipid analysis.


Giant-cell hepatitis in adults is a rare event resembling either chronic non-A, non-B or autoimmune chronic active hepatitis. The etiology is unknown. Paramyxoviruses may be implicated. The clinical picture varies remarkably from mild chronic liver disease to subacute hepatic failure. Liver biopsy is diagnostic, showing giant cells as the common pathological finding. Due to the unknown cause of the disease, treatment is symptomatic. Steroids are applied, as in the case of autoimmune disease, with remarkable results in some patients. In fulminant cases, however, liver transplantation is the only option for cure.


In this paper, multi-stage auction-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) coordination mechanisms are investigated in the context of dynamic and uncertain mission environments, such as those faced by expeditionary strike groups. Each attribute of the mission task is modeled using a hidden Markov model (HMM) with controllable emission matrices, corresponding to each ISR asset. For each HMM-sensor pair, we evaluate a matrix of information gains (uncertainty reduction measures); the elements of this matrix depend on the coordination structure and the concomitant delays accrued. We consider three coordination structures (distributed ISR coordination, ISR officer serving as a coordinator, ISR officer serving as a commander) here. We evaluate these structures on a hypothetical mission scenario that requires the monitoring of ISR activities in multiple geographic regions. The three structures are evaluated by comparing the task state estimation error cost, as well as travel, waiting and assignment delays. The results of analysis were used as a guide in the design of a mission scenario and asset composition for team-in-the-loop experimentation at NPS. Our solution has the potential to be a mixed initiative decision support tool to an ISR coordinator/commander, where the human provides possible sensor-task pairings and the tool evaluates the efficacy of assignment in terms of task accuracy and delays.


This paper describes an on-going field study to develop an eHealth and mHealth system to accurately monitor heart failure and guide appropriate actions. We describe the foundations of the tool to nurture appropriate self-care behaviors along with the theoretical development to serve as the foundation. The on-going research and research design is explained in detail and implications are discussed. Preliminary data collection and descriptive analysis are presented and on-going research plans are discussed. The research will develop and test the impact of the system on the quality of care for patients, the care processes for caregivers and presents implications for the cost of care. The research is guided by the hypothesis that the mHealth tool will impact the health care provider by reducing emergency department visits and same cause readmissions – both factors that significantly impact the cost and quality of care.


A handful of digital platforms mediate a growing share of online commerce and communications. By structuring access to markets, these firms function as gatekeepers for billions of dollars in economic activity. One feature dominant digital platforms share is that they have integrated across business lines such that they both operate a platform and market their own goods and services on it. This structure places dominant platforms in direct competition with some of the businesses that depend on them, creating a conflict of interest that platforms can exploit to further entrench their dominance, thwart competition, and stifle innovation.

This Article argues that the potential hazards of integration by dominant tech platforms invite recovering structural separations. Structural separations have been a mainstay element of American economic regulation. Traditionally applied to critical networks and essential infrastructure, structural separations prohibited entry in certain markets and prevented dominant intermediaries from directly competing with the businesses reliant on their services. In recent decades, structural separations have been largely abandoned. At the same time that lawmakers have weakened or eliminated sector-specific regulatory regimes, judicial interpretation of antitrust law has drastically narrowed the forms of vertical conduct and structures that register as anticompetitive. And when antitrust enforcers have targeted these forms of conduct and structures, they have applied remedies that generally (1) fail to target the underlying source of the problem and (2) overwhelm the institutional capacities of the actors assigned to oversee them. Neglecting structural remedies results in both substantive harms and institutional misalignments—effects that are especially pronounced in digital platform markets.

This Article seeks to give structural separations a seat back at the table. Tracing the history of separations reveals that they have been motivated by a host of functional goals, ranging from fair competition and system resiliency to media diversity and administrability. Recalling this broader set of concerns brings into focus the range of factors at stake when dealing with dominant intermediaries and invites consideration of the degree to which separations in platform markets would also respond to a diverse set of problems.


Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have been widely used to deal with sequence learning problems. The input-dependent transition function, which folds new observations into hidden states to sequentially construct fixed-length representations of arbitrary-length sequences, plays a critical role in RNNs. Based on single space composition, transition functions in existing RNNs often have difficulty in capturing complicated long-range dependencies. In this paper, we introduce a new Multi-zone Unit (MZU) for RNNs. The key idea is to design a transition function that is capable of modeling multiple space composition. The MZU consists of three components: zone generation, zone composition, and zone aggregation. Experimental results on multiple datasets of the character-level language modeling task and the aspect-based sentiment analysis task demonstrate the superiority of the MZU.


One hundred one women undergoing elective abdominal hysterectomy were given perioperative cefoperazone or cefoxitin in a prospective randomized blinded study. Both regimens were well tolerated and no significant toxic or allergic manifestations were observed. Interrelationships between antimicrobial concentration in serum and pelvic tissues, intraoperative cardinal ligament cultures, febrile morbidity, and major postoperative infection were determined. At uterine removal, mean cefoperazone concentrations in serum (56.1µg/mL) and pelvic tissues (18.6 n-g/g) were significantly higher than mean concentrations of cefoxitin, ie, 16.1 µg/mL and 8.1 µg/g, respectively (P<.001). The incidence of major postoperative infection was 6% or less with both regimens. Perioperative prophylaxis significantly reduced the incidence of this infection. When it did develop, however, it continued to cause significant morbidity, prolonging hospital stay a mean of more than four days (P<.001) and increasing the hospital bill a mean of almost $1500 (P<.001).


The focus of the present research was to assess the dependent variable i.e., Vector Autoregression (VAR) study model estimation with lag 2 indicated that Akaike AIC and Schwarz Sc for data using lag 2 is smaller than lag 3, lag 4 and lag 5, so the lower values Akaike AIC 17.11070 and Schwarz Sc 19.23172 for lag 2 make the model more fitted. For that reason, VAR model lag 2 in the study is more prefer-able as compared to other lag values. The ADF test showed the variables of model to be non- stationary at straight levels of significance and indicated that the first difference variables are completely stationary, which showed that all the variables are integrated of order-1, whereas water availability data is already in the stationary form. Area under rice crop is not expected to be different from the 2014-15 and the productivity is forecasted as 42.6 mds per hectare, which is a good yield but not good enough, and most probably due to the climatic uncertainty. Furthermore, the econometric results illustrated that the increase in temperatures and a decrease in precipitation tendency would cause less or more negative impact on rice productivity in up-coming years in the province of Sindh, where estimated productivity will get decreased by 7.32 percent in the short-run and 13.31 percent in the long-run with an increase in temperature by 1°C and 10 percent decrease in precipitation. Results showed decline in the productivity of the crop under study area. This might be an alarming situation and the big threats to agricultural productivity associated with rapid climate changes. A well-defined planning and sagacious policies will play sustainable productivity of the rice crop. New hybrid and climatic change resistance crop varieties may be introduced to secure the staple food crops including rice for food security.


Nucleic acid testing (NAT) for malaria parasites is an increasingly recommended diagnostic endpoint in clinical trials of vaccine and drug candidates and is also important in surveillance of malaria control and elimination efforts. A variety of reported NAT assays have been described, yet no formal external quality assurance (EQA) program provides validation for the assays in use. Here, we report results of an EQA exercise for malaria NAT assays. Among five centers conducting controlled human malaria infection trials, all centers achieved 100% specificity and demonstrated limits of detection consistent with each laboratory's pre-stated expectations. Quantitative bias of reported results compared to expected results was generally <0.5 log10 parasites/mL except for one laboratory where the EQA effort identified likely reasons for a general quantitative shift. The within-laboratory variation for all assays was low at <10% coefficient of variation across a range of parasite densities. Based on this study, we propose to create a Molecular Malaria Quality Assessment program that fulfills the need for EQA of malaria NAT assays worldwide.


Membrane desalination is a crucial process that enables access to unconventional drinking water sources, such as brackish water and seawater. Membranes are used in the desalination process and critical challenges remain for optimizing performance, most notably biofouling. New innovations in desalination membranes that involve the incorporation of emerging nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, propose a potential solution to alleviate biofouling as well as enhance salt and contaminant rejection. However, carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) have been shown to degrade through chemical and biochemical pathways. While all degradation products have not been identified under all studied conditions, existing literature suggests the possible formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivatives. The complete degradation pathways of forming these or similar degradation products (DPs) are not resolved under relevant desalination conditions, including the presence of key components needed to catalyze CNM degradation in these processes, namely relevant enzymes (e.g., from biofilm) and oxidants (e.g., from membrane cleaning). The potential to produce harmful DPs is of concern due to the possible subsequent release to drinking and irrigation waters. This research develops an experimental approach to identify the formation of DPs under simulated desalination conditions as an initial step towards determining their potential formation in desalination processes that use CNM-enabled membranes. Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with characteristics matching those used most in the membrane literature were exposed to model conditions containing various representative chemicals used as membrane cleaning agents (sodium hydroxide, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, and sodium dodecyl sulfonate) and Sphingomonas biofilm. Sphingomonas aromaticivoransis was chosen because it has been identified as the dominant species that also initiates biofilm formation on RO membranes and thus, would be in direct contact with the CNT-amended membrane. This study investigated and simulated membrane desalination conditions and developed methods for CNM DP isolation. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to characterize degradation of parent PAH molecules and SWCNTs under different conditions. The results herein serve as the foundation for future research to further resolve and identify the chemical structure of DPs with the ultimate goal of safely realizing the potential of the novel CNM-enabled membranes.


After pituitary suppression, the ovarian vascularization/follicle was lower in PCO-patients. The follicles in polycystic ovaries required much less FSH stimulation to acquire the same level of vascularization than the follicles in normal ovaries. Also hCG induced an increase in the follicular vascularization in both normal and polycystic ovaries. The follicle count correlated with the total vascularized volume in the ovaries throughout the IVF-cycle. Conclusions: Follicles in polycystic ovaries seem to be less vascularized than the follicles in normal ovaries after GnRHtreatment. It is possible that restricted blood supply to the follicles in PCO might be associated with the follicular arrest observed with PCO. We could confirm that follicles in PCO are more sensitive to gonadotrophin stimulation than follicles in normal ovaries.


A three-factor experiment was set at the Horticulture Laboratory, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during April-May 2014 to study the effects of the controlled deterioration (CD) on the bush bean seeds at the constant temperature of 35o C. The 3 factors considered were: two bush bean varieties; four ageing periods (0, 4, 8, and 16 days); and three seed moisture contents (12, 16 and 20% moisture content). The twenty four treatment combinations compared in the Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with the three replications for the eight parameters were: % germination, % abnormal seedlings, % dead seeds, % soil emergence and seedling evaluation test for the root and shoot lengths as well as their dry matter contents. Identical prototypes of notable (5-1% level) degradations were recorded everywhere. But the disparities were clear under the extreme stresses. Moreover, highly noteworthy (1% level) relations were traced amid all the traits ranging from -0.466 (seed dry matter x abnormal seedling) to 0.983 (normal seedling x root length). So, the controlled deterioration technique was very effectual in judging the physiological statuses of the varieties studied. Thus, the germination test might be add-on by a vigour test. The latter of which could be assessed by quantifying the seedlings' root and shoot lengths and/or their dry matter accumulations. Moreover, in the seed quality certification, the suitable limits of vigour for the chosen traits could also be got by this technique. But the seeds of several bush bean varieties should be exploited to fix-up the agreeable limits of the traits. In addition to that, the variety BB1 could also be used in hybridization program as a parent to have better seeds of inherent quality. Finally, to shorten time, the ageing epoch could also be condensed by elevating the seed moisture contents to a certain stage. * Corresponding Author: Mohammad R. Reza International Journal of Biosciences | IJB | ISSN: 2220-6655 (Print), 2222-5234 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 6, No. 2, p. 188-202, 2015


The need for low-cost, high-reliability, modular, easy to use and maintain power electronics systems is fuelling the drive for standardized power electronics building blocks (PEBBs). Increased power density, user-friendly design, multifunctionality and increased reliability are the major issues that are being investigated. This paper proposes a new distributed digital control architecture for medium and high power PEBBs. The proposed architecture features high level of flexibility, modularity and paves the way towards future plug and play power converter systems.


Burkholderia
glumae presumably induces a grain rot symptom of rice that
is threatening to rice production in most rice producing states of the USA. The
present study was to identify the causal agent of bacteria panicle blight (BPB), virulence based on hypersensitive reactions and
distribution of the pathogen within a plant. 178 rice panicles samples were
analyzed with semi-selective media (CCNT), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with
bacterial DNA gyrase (gyrB) specific markers, and hypersensitive reactions on
tobacco leaves. A total of 73 samples out of 178 produced a yellow bacterial
colony with similar morphology on CCNT medium suggesting they were bacterial
panicle diseases. However, with PCR
reactions we only determined that 45 of 73 were due to B. glumae, and the causal agent for the remaining samples was
undetermined. Within the 45 samples, 31 highly, 6 moderately, and 5 weakly
virulent isolates were grouped based on lesion sizes of the hypersensitive
reactions. Pathogenicity variability among the 45 B. glumae detected suggests that different degrees of pathogenicity
exist. To determine the existence of bacteria in different plant tissues,
naturally infected plant parts were examined with CCNT media and PCR analysis. B. glumae was again isolated from seeds
followed by stems and sheaths from light yellow pigmented CCNT media. In
contrast, roots and leaves show no visible yellow pigment on CCNT. Consistent
PCR products were produced from the stem, sheath, and seed, but not from the
root and leaves. These findings suggest that B. glumae is distributed in the stem, sheath, and seed, and not in
the leaf and root. Together this study demonstrated the usefulness of
artificial culture media, tobacco reactions, and DNA test with PCR for
characterization of BPB, and distribution of bacteria in plants. These findings
will help to understand the mechanism of bacteria translocation in plants.


This research examines consumers' general in-store mobile phone use and shopping behavior. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that mobile phone use decreases point-of-purchase sales, but the results of the current study indicate instead that it can increase purchases overall. Using eye-tracking technology in both a field study and a field experiment, matched with sales receipts and survey responses, the authors show that mobile phone use (vs. nonuse) and actual mobile phone use patterns both lead to increased purchases, because consumers divert from their conventional shopping loop, spend more time in the store, and spend more time examining products and prices on shelves. Building on attention capacity theories, this study proposes and demonstrates that the underlying mechanism for these effects is distraction. This article also provides some insights into boundary conditions of the mobile phone use effect.


Nowadays more and more TV terminal devices for digital terrestrial broadcast are also equipped with broadband network interfaces. In view of this fact, we developed a novel redundancy on demand (RoD) system to improve the reception of terrestrial broadcast signals with the help of additional redundancy data transmitted via broadband networks. We propose various forms of redundancy, which can be provided on request by the receiving terminal in case of reception errors. RoD does not require any changes of the current broadcast network structure and is compatible with conventional receivers. Simulation results show that a small portion of additional redundancy data provided by the broadband network leads to significant performance improvements of the reception, making high data rate broadcasting feasible in a realistic environment. RoD introduces a new degree of freedom for network planning helping to reduce transmission cost and network energy consumption.


Flash lamp annealing of multilayer stack of the type SiC/Silicon overlayer(SOL)/SiC reduces the defect densities in the 3C-SiC/Si heteroepitaxial structure. Ge and C additions to the SOL lead to a substantial increase of the mass transfer from the upper layer to the lower SiC layer. If the Ge content of the SOL and the flash lamp annealing conditions are properly chosen a homogeneous layer with a 3C-SiC thickness between 150 and 200 nm can be achieved corresponding to a growth rate between 7.5 and 10.0 +m/s. The thickening of the lower layer depends on the SOL composition. Ge and/or C incorporation into the SOL and therefore into the Si melt enhances the mass transport from the upper SiC layer to the lower one.


,65%ofpatientsdidnotknowhowHBVistransmitted,and6%ofpatientshadafamilymemberwith aknownHBVinfection.Therewere17newHBVdiagnoses(primaryED:16,clinic-referral:1),whichcorrespondstoaseroprevalenceof2.0%[95%CI1.2,3.2].Nopatientshadlivermassesdetectedonpointofcareultrasound. Conclusion: We demonstrate the feasibility of implementing an ED-based, combined HBV and HCC screening protocol with short-interval training of local providers. This study could serve as a model for HBV/HCC screening in regions with high HBV endemicity and low rates of community screening.


Context. In gamma-ray binaries such as LS 5039, a large number of electron-positron pairs are created by the annihilation of primary very high-energy (VHE) gamma rays with photons from the massive star. The radiation from these particles contributes to the total high-energy gamma-ray flux and can initiate a cascade, decreasing the effective gamma-ray opacity in the system. Aims. The aim of this paper is to model the cascade emission and investigate whether it can account for the VHE gamma-ray flux detected by HESS from LS 5039 at superior conjunction, where the primary gamma rays are expected to be fully absorbed. Methods. A one-dimensional cascade develops along the line-of-sight if the deflections of pairs induced by the surrounding magnetic field can be neglected. A semi-analytical approach can then be adopted, including the effects of the anisotropic seed radiation field from the companion star. Results. Cascade equations are numerically solved, yielding the density of pairs and photons. In LS 5039, the cascade contribution to the total flux is large and anti-correlated with the orbital modulation of the primary VHE gamma rays. The cascade emission dominates close to superior conjunction but is too strong to be compatible with HESS measurements. Positron annihilation does not produce detectable 511 keV emission. Conclusions. This study provides an upper limit to cascade emission in gamma-ray binaries at orbital phases where absorption is strong. The pairs are likely to be deflected or isotropized by the ambient magnetic field, which will reduce the resulting emission seen by the observer. Cascade emission remains a viable explanation for the detected gamma rays at superior conjunction in LS 5039.


The authors propose an integrated approach to protocol specification design and a new method of synthesis of protocol specifications with more than one software module for the approach. In this approach, after designers specify protocols without any restrictions, errors included in the protocol specifications are automatically detected by the acyclic-expansion-based protocol validation and efficiently corrected by the component-based protocol synthesis. In the validation, incomplete specification parts consisting of executable state transition sequences to reach errors in each process are obtained. In the synthesis, the incomplete specification parts are completed by applying certain components which are provided as fundamental parts of correct specifications. The proposed approach has been implemented as an integrated system consisting of CAPE (computer-aided protocol engineering) tools for protocol validation and synthesis. The effectiveness of this approach has been confirmed experimentally. The proposed approach is expected to enhance the productivity of protocol specification design. >


Permanent dryland pastures are under-utilised in southern Australia (Angus and Peoples 2012), possibly due to the lack of well adapted perennial legume species that can fit into current farming systems. Lebeckia ambigua has been proposed as a candidate to fill this void with its adaptability to drought, acidic and infertile soils in low rainfall areas (Howieson et al. 2013). The research on L. ambigua has so far focussed on deep, sandy soils where cropping is problematic. Increasing the soil fertility in these previously low-profitable regions could provide mixed farming production with a comparative advantage over continuous cropping (Angus and Peoples 2012). However, the successful incorporation of L. ambigua into an agricultural system will require an understanding of its symbiont, Burkholderia species. Although L. ambigua and Burkholderia spp. have only recently been identified for domestication into agriculture (Howieson et al. 2013), researchers have had success with cultivating them throughout southern Western Australia (WA), except with inoculation.

There is a challenge to keep the inoculant B. spp. alive, in a peat carrier, when coated onto L. ambigua seed for sowing in a drying environment. Clay granules, as an alternative carrier, have previously been shown to be unable to carry high numbers of cells of B. spp. (Howieson et al. 2013). Field experiments with amended clay granules carrying B. spp. produced nodules on L. ambigua, albeit not in large number. Attempts at quantifying the numbers of cells in the amended granules, by resuscitating B. spp. from them using antibiotic media and plant infection techniques, were unsuccessful. However, antibiotic profiling of B. spp. strains identified chloramphenicol (20μg/ml) in YMA as an excellent media to suppress contaminants in the clay to facilitate enumeration.

Recently recovered strains of B. spp. were assessed alongside previous strains for tolerance to desiccation, which gave rise to a set of possible strains that could surpass the commonly used strain in this regard (WSM4204). Although clay granules were indicated to hold B. spp. cells sufficient for nodulation in the field, further studies must focus on the optimisation of a suitable inoculant technology for L. ambigua. The B. spp. and strain differences in tolerance to desiccation identified in this work may assist this target.


Semantic segmentation requires a lot of training data, which necessitates costly annotation. There have been many studies on unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) from one do- main to another, e.g., from computer graphics to real images. However, there is still a gap in accuracy between UDA and supervised training on native domain data. It is arguably at-tributable to class-level misalignment between the source and target domain data. To cope with this, we propose a method that applies adversarial training to align two feature distribu- tions in the target domain . It uses a self-training framework to split the image into two regions (i.e., trusted and untrusted), which form two distributions to align in the feature space. We term this approach cross-region adaptation (CRA) to distinguish from the previous methods of aligning different domain distributions, which we call cross-domain adaptation (CDA). CRA can be applied after any CDA method. Experimental results show that this always improves the accuracy of the combined CDA method, having updated the state-of-the-art.


Between 1987 and 1992, Canadian leaders negotiated two agreements, the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords, intended to end Canada's longstanding constitutional impasse by meeting Quebec's conditions for adhesion to the constitution. These accords would have redefined the relationships between Francophone Quebec, Canada's nine Anglophone provinces, the federal government in Ottawa, and Canada's First Nations. Both accords failed: Meech Lake died when Manitoba's and Newfoundland's legislatures refused to bring it to a vote in 1990, while Charlottetown was defeated in a national referendum in 1992.

The news departments of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English- and French-language television networks (the CBC and Radio-Canada) faced the task of explaining not only the political and legal implications of the complex accords but also how different linguistic and cultural communities interpreted them. Two forms of translation played central roles in their coverage: linguistic translation, when journalists speaking one language quoted a politician speaking another, and cultural translation, when journalists interpreted Canada's diverse communities for viewers. In both cases, translation was characterized by a paradox: while it appeared to facilitate communication across linguistic and cultural lines, it instead worked to confirm viewers' preexisting assumptions about each other.

A historically grounded analysis of Canadian broadcasting policy and the Canadian television industry, combined with a statistical and textual analysis of coverage of the accords by the CBC's The National and Radio-Canada's Le Telejournal , reveals several points where translation failed. For instance, political and institutional pressures defeated the corporation's attempts to use its all-news cable networks to deliver subtitled programs to Anglophone and Francophone viewers. Similar pressures shaped the culturally specific techniques journalists used to incorporate translated speech into The National and Le Telejournal . As a result, these programs attributed different meanings to the accords' key terms, especially recognition of Quebec as a "societe distincte"/"distinct society."

Such cultural and linguistic disconnects can be ameliorated, however. New uses of television and internet technology, in particular viewers' ability to post responses to news stories, offer the potential to allow Canadians to move closer to understanding how people they perceive as different interpret the world.


Introduction The TOPPIC trial is a UK based randomised control trial of 6-mercaptopurine vs placebo in the prevention of post operative Crohn's disease originally conceived, designed and powered in 2003, but recruiting its first patient in 2008. During this period there has been a substantial increase in the availability and use of biologic agents for the treatment of Crohn's disease. Methods As recruitment to the TOPPIC trial proceeded, it became apparent that actual recruitment did not match that projected. Therefore prior to an expansion of the centres to include sites across the UK, analysis of the resection figures from the initial sites (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow) was undertaken by retrospective review of data held by each centre regarding the number of ileocolonic resections with primary anastamosis performed for the 6-year period 2003–2008. Results Complete data for this period were available from two of the five initiating sites (Dundee and Glasgow) representing a total of 237 resections and a median number of resections of 43.5 per year (range 40–56). Across the 6 years there was an overall reduction in the number of resections with a linear correlation coefficient of R2=0.47 representing a 26% reduction in the number of resections from 2003 to 2008. This downward trend was more pronounced in Dundee with a median number of resections of 27.5 per year and a linear correlation coefficient R2=0.47 comprising an increase in the first 3 years and then a significant reduction from 2005 to 2008 (p=0.025). Glasgow with a median number of resections of 18.5 per year also had an overall downward trend with a linear correlation coefficient of R2=0.03 which consisted of a marked initial reduction that then stabilised at the reduced rate. Conclusion The reduction in surgical resection rates is likely to be multifactorial but the concurrent increase in the use of biological therapies in the UK is further circumstantial evidence that these therapies alter the natural history of Crohn's disease. The TOPPIC trial continues to recruit across the UK and will be in a position to report further on this important observation regarding the number of ileocolonic resections in addition to the trial primary endpoint.


Virgil's "Eclogues" represent the introduction of a new genre, pastoral, to Latin literature. Generic markers of pastoral in the "Eclogues" include not only the representation of the singing and speaking of shepherd characters, but also the learned density of the text itself. Here, Brian W. Breed examines the tension between representations of orality in Virgil's pastoral world and the intense textuality of his pastoral poetry. The book argues that separation between speakers and their language in the "Eclogues" is not merely pastoral preciosity. Rather, it shows how Virgil uses representations of orality as the point of comparison for measuring both the capacity and the limitations of the "Eclogues" as a written text that will be encountered by reading audiences. The importance of genre is considered both in terms of how pastoral might be defined for the particular literary-historical moment in which Virgil was writing and in light of the subsequent European pastoral tradition.


Abstract Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) feed predominantly on marine crustaceans, mollusks, and other hard-shelled macroinvertebrates. In this note, we report on a subadult loggerhead observed to be feeding on live fish swarming around the turtle in a prey-fish ball. The observation suggests that loggerheads occasionally prey upon certain pelagic fish species other than those encountered as carrion or fishing bait, and may explain accounts of turtles impaled by billfish (Istiophoridae) rostra.


RESPON OF SHOOT GROWTH PROTOCORM-LIKE BODIES INTO DENDROBIUM HYBRID ORCHID PLANTLETS IN VITRO AGAINTS TWO TYPES OF MEDIA AND TRIPTON . Dendrobium is great interest because of its high value as a floricultural commodity and a kind of elite herbage plant in Indonesia. An efficient in vitro propagation system via protocorm-like body (PLBs) induction has been developed using one-year-old axillary node explants. The potential of different media and supplements triptone for reliable Dendrobium orchid plantlet regeneration from in vitro PLBs explants were studied. In all two media under investigation, shoot regeneration was achieved when the PLBs were transferred onto solidified MS half strenght and Growmore medium with or without 2 g L-1 triptone supplemented with 15% (v/v) coconut water, 20 g L-1 sucrose, and 2 g L-1 charcoal. The shoots development investigation after three month of culture. 1/2 MS and Growmore media significantly influenced the plantlet regeneration of Dendrobium orchid. Among the media, Growmore showed better performance on shoots and leaves per plantlet, but triptone showed no significant effect on number shoots and leaves. The longest shoots were found in Growmore medium without triptone.


Placental 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11beta-HSD) regulates transplacental passage of maternal glucocorticoids to the fetus and is thus a key determinant of fetal glucocorticoid levels. It has also been proposed that placental 11beta-HSD expression may influence local glucocorticoid actions by regulating access of corticosterone to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) or mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Therefore, the present study used a rat model to assess whether the GR or MR are coexpressed with the two forms of 11beta-HSD (types 1 and 2) in the placental labyrinth zone, the major site of maternal-fetal transfer, and in the basal zone, the primary site of placental hormone synthesis. In situ hybridization analysis was used to assess messenger RNA (mRNA) expression for the GR, MR, 11beta-HSD-1, and 11beta-HSD-2 in the two placental zones on days 16, 19 and 22 of pregnancy (term = day 23). Whereas expression of the GR appeared relatively unchanged in both zones at these three stages of pregnancy, that of 11beta-HSD-1 clearly increased in the labyrinth zone but fell in basal zone, whereas the opposite pattern of expression was observed for 11beta-HSD-2. MR expression was not detected at any stage. The pattern of placental 11beta-HSD-2 mRNA expression over days 16, 19, and 22 of pregnancy was paralleled by changes in 11beta-HSD-2-specific bioactivity, but despite clear expression of 11beta-HSD-1 mRNA, no bioactivity attributable to this enzyme was measurable in either placental zone. To assess the role of fetal adrenal maturation on these changes in 11beta-HSD, two experimental models, maternal adrenalectomy and fetectomy, were employed. Maternal adrenalectomy on day 13 advanced maturation of the fetal adrenal cortex but had no effect on 11beta-HSD-2 bioactivity in either of the placental zones at day 19. Placental 11beta-HSD-2 bioactivity on day 22 was also unaffected by fetectomy 3 or 6 days earlier. In conclusion, the consistent expression of the GR in the two placental zones late in pregnancy suggests that concomitant and marked changes in 11beta-HSD-1 and 11beta-HSD-2 expression could have a major influence on glucocorticoid action in the placenta at this time. Moreover, the changes in 11beta-HSD expression appear to be unrelated to development of the fetal adrenal cortex and are likely to reduce the placental glucocorticoid barrier near the end of pregnancy.


The repeated use of psychostimulants in humans has been associated with progressive enhancement of anxiety, panic attacks, and eventually paranoid psychosis. The appearance of such behaviors has been termed behavioral sensitization, which forms part of the basic pathological mechanisms involved in drug addiction. Psychostimulants act via a circuit involving the ventral tegmental area (VTA), prefrontal cortex (PFC), and nucleus accumbens. The PFC sends glutamatergic projections that activate dopaminergic neurons in the VTA. These projections provide an extremely important excitatory drive necessary for the development of sensitization. The effects of cocaine administration on the response of dopaminergic VTA cells to activation of the PFC have not been reported. Here the effects of acute cocaine administration on VTA cell response to PFC stimulation are examined. Statistical analysis of the changes in spontaneous activity and evoked response revealed a significant decrease in spontaneous activity at 1.0 mg/kg i.v. after cocaine treatment compared to baseline levels. The net effect was an increase in signal-to-noise ratio. Treatment with MK-801 at a dose of 2 mg/kg showed that the excitatory response was, at least partially, NMDA-mediated. Prazosin pretreatment (0.5 mg/kg i.p.) did not prevent a significant decrease in spontaneous activity brought about by cocaine (15 mg/kg, i.p.). Nonetheless, prazosin alone induced a significant decrease in the response to PFC stimulation when compared to baseline. In addition, iontophoretic application of norepinephrine (NE) onto VTA cells revealed that NE potentiated (19.2%), enhanced (26.9%), or suppressed (46.2%) the glutamate-evoked response in VTA cells. The results suggest that a possible role of cocaine in the process of sensitization might be to amplify the PFC-induced excitation at the VTA. Since the iontophoretic release of NE in almost half of the sampled cells produced similar effects to those of cocaine it may suggest a possible NE-mediated mechanism for cocaine actions. Address for correspondence: C. A. Jiménez-Rivera, Department of Physiology, Universidad Central del Caribe, P.O. Box 60-327, Bayamon, Puerto Rico, 00960 email@example.com 158 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


OBJECTIVE
Males with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are at high risk of ischaemic stroke given that atherogenic risk factors for both diseases are similar. We hypothesized that neurologically asymptomatic males diagnosed with PAD would demonstrate calcified carotid artery plaques (CCAP) on panoramic images (PI) significantly more often than similarly aged males not having PAD.

METHODS
Investigators implemented a retrospective cross-sectional study. Subjects were male patients over age 50 diagnosed with PAD by ankle-brachial systolic pressure index results of ≤ 0.9. Controls negative for PAD had an ankle-brachial systolic pressure index > 0.9. Predictor variable was a diagnosis of PAD and outcome variable was presence of CCAP. Prevalence of CCAP amongst the PAD+ patients was compared to prevalence of CCAP among PAD- patients. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were computed and p-value was set at 0.05.

RESULTS
Final sample size consisted of 234 males (mean age 72.68 ± 9.09); 116 subjects and 118 controls. Among the PAD+ cohort, CCAP+ prevalence rate (57.76%) was significantly (p = 0.001) greater than the CCAP+ rate (36.44%) of the PAD- (control). There was no significant difference in atherogenic "risk factors" in the PAD+ cohort between CCAP+ and CCAP- subjects.

CONCLUSION
We demonstrated that CCAP, a "risk factor" for future stroke and "risk indicator" of future myocardial infarction is seen significantly more often detected on the PIs of older male patients with PAD than among those without. Dentists treating patients with PAD must be uniquely vigilant for the presence of CCAPs on their patients' PI.


Interactive virtual reality (VR) applications are experiencing a great development nowadays. This development is supported by the constant emergence of virtual reality devices (HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, etc.) that are becoming more robust and reliable. Currently, there are virtual reality applications for increasingly diverse fields, from VR games and movies to tutorials and virtual labs. The educational field is no exception, at present there are many VR applications that try to increase the interest for learning the specific knowledge of different school subjects.
On the other hand, the experience of users with virtual reality educational devices and applications is influenced by a number of factors. Some of these factors are related to the technical features and facilities of VR devices, another category of factors is to the accuracy and correctness of the educational content of VR applications and there are also factors related to infrastructure (Internet connectivity and workspace).From this perspective, there is a need for reliable tools for evaluating the pedagogical effectiveness of virtual reality applications for the educational environment.
The purpose of this study is to test the first version of a tool for evaluating virtual reality educational applications. The evaluation tool is structured on several dimensions related to both the ergonomics of the VR platform and the pedagogical effectiveness of the tested applications. For testing, the Edmersive application was used, a virtual laboratory that offers an experimentation and learning environment for several disciplines (geography, chemistry, biology, history, etc.). In total, 52 students from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, from the University of Bucharest participated in the study and tested the Edmersive virtual laboratory, using HTC VIVE devices.
The results of the study show that students with specialization in the pedagogical field find it useful to use the Edmersive virtual laboratory in the teaching process. At the same time, the evaluation tool has been revised and future releases will focus on refining the scale and increasing validity.


This paper highlights events and issues in the development of physical education as a school subject. From the origin of physical culture in the German and Swedish "Battle of the Gymnastics Systems" to the advent of the New Physical Education in 1927, physical education curriculum has been a contested terrain. This remains true today as physical educators must compete for school funding and other resources with highly valued subject areas. Unfortunately, serious contextual constraints continue to hamper the efforts of highly motivated, effective physical educators to teach physical education content in schools. Perhaps in the future, better opportunities can be found in other venues where physical education can one day be perceived as a high need, high demand priority for children and their families.


Efficient resource scheduling of multithreaded software on multicore hardware is difficult given the many parameters involved and the hardware heterogeneity of existing systems. In this paper we explore the efficient deployment of query plans over a multicore machine. We focus on shared query systems, and implement the proposed ideas using SharedDB. The goal of the paper is to explore how to deliver maximum performance and predictability, while minimizing resource utilization when deploying query plans on multicore machines. We propose to use resource activity vectors to characterize the behavior of individual database operators. We then present a novel deployment algorithm which uses these vectors together with dataflow information from the query plan to optimally assign relational operators to physical cores. Experiments demonstrate that this approach significantly reduces resource requirements while preserving performance and is robust across different server architectures.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Bromeliaceae is a species-rich neotropical plant family that uses a variety of pollinators, principally vertebrates. Tillandsia is the most diverse genus, and includes more than one-third of all bromeliad species. Within this genus, the majority of species rely on diurnal pollination by hummingbirds; however, the flowers of some Tillandsia species show some characteristics typical for pollination by nocturnal animals, particularly bats and moths. In this study an examination is made of the floral and reproductive biology of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia macropetala in a fragment of humid montane forest in central Veracruz, Mexico.

METHODS
The reproductive system of the species, duration of anthesis, production of nectar and floral scent, as well as diurnal and nocturnal floral visitors and their effectiveness in pollination were determined.

KEY RESULTS
Tillandsia macropetala is a self-compatible species that achieves a higher fruit production through outcrossing. Nectar production is restricted to the night, and only nocturnal visits result in the development of fruits. The most frequent visitor (75 % of visits) and the only pollinator of this bromeliad (in 96 % of visits) was the nectarivorous bat Anoura geoffroyi (Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae).

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report of chiropterophily within the genus Tillandsia. The results on the pollination biology of this bromeliad suggest an ongoing evolutionary switch from pollination by birds or moths to bats.


The ideas behind open source software are currently applied to the production of encyclopedias. A sample of six English text-based, neutral-point-of-view, online encyclopedias of the kind are identified: h2g2, Wikipedia, Scholarpedia, Encyclopedia of Earth, Citizendium and Knol. How do these projects deal with the problem of trusting their participants to behave as competent and loyal encyclopedists? Editorial policies for soliciting and processing content are shown to range from high discretion to low discretion; that is, from granting unlimited trust to limited trust. Their conceptions of the proper role for experts are also explored and it is argued that to a great extent they determine editorial policies. Subsequently, internal discussions about quality guarantee at Wikipedia are rendered. All indications are that review and "super-review" of new edits will become policy, to be performed by Wikipedians with a better reputation. Finally, while for encyclopedias the issue of organizational trust largely coincides with epistemological trust, a link is made with theories about the acceptance of testimony. It is argued that both non-reductionist views (the "acceptance principle" and the "assurance view") and reductionist ones (an appeal to background conditions, and a—newly defined—"expertise view") have been implemented in editorial strategies over the past decade.


The aims of this research are to analyse the optimal allocation rate of resources. utilization of pond culture, to estimate and to analyse land rent value of prawn pond culture and to estimate affect of change In exogeneous variable on the land rent value. Finding of the researcah shows that economic value of prawn pond culture of Tanjung Paslr village, Is estimated to be Rp163.864.380,95 and of Tanjung Baru village to be Rp192.484,85. Based on Ricardian land rent concept. tanjung Baru village has land rent value of Rp1.560.182,OO while Tanjung Paslr village has about Rp1.065.431,OO. Multiple regression model, applied for this research Indicates that1here Is a corelation between land rent value and produdivlty fadors and distance. the model has also shows that fador productivity has a positive correlation to the land rent value,.while distance has a negative correlation to the land rent value. It Is also indicated that Tanjung Baru village has reached almost an optimal condition. The finding of sentivity analysis shows that the increase of oil price and urea fertilize reduced the value of land rent and the magnitude of change in the value of land rent be affected by the fador of fertility rate and the distance of the pond location from the existing local spot market.


Two novel amphipathic small molecular conjugated electrolytes (SMCEs) with self-doping effect were successfully synthesized by incorporating diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) as n-type backbone and amine-based groups as polar pendants. In favor of the n-type backbone and amine-based groups, an obvious n-type doping was obtained, resulting in the dramatically improved conductivity of the SMCEs. The formation of the polar group induced dipoles at the SMCEs/Al interface to provide a favorable energy for cathode. Subsequently, the two small molecule electrolytes as cathode interlayers have been successfully applied in the polymer solar cells (PSCs) with a wide thickness range from 7–33 nm. A notable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.2% for PSCs were achieved. And the two SMCEs also showed a good universality with substantial performance. These findings indicate that these small molecular conjugated electrolytes are promising candidates as cathode interlayers for highly efficient polymer solar cells.


Banks are considered more opaque than non-bank firms because bank loans are privately negotiated between a bank and its customers. Information about the creditworthiness of the customers and the terms of the contracts are generally not available to outside investors. In addition, the trading assets of banks are intrinsically difficult to value given their complexity.  Although it is required that a bank reports its trading assets periodically, it is difficult to impossible to determine how trading assets change between two reporting dates.  Furthermore, bank managers have as strong a motivation to conceal negative news as their non-bank counterparts do.  When the upper limit on how much negative news can be accumulated is reached, all negative news will be uncovered all at once, possibly leading to a stock price crash. We examine how bank assets opacity affects bank crash risk, using loans and trading assets (both measured as a percentage of total assets) as proxies for opacity.   We find that opacity of assets is positively related to bank crash risk.  In addition, we look at how CEO compensation affects bank crash risk since equity-based pay is blamed for motivating CEOs to engage in opportunistic behaviors such as news hoarding.  However, we do not find evidence supporting the view that CEO equity-based pay is associated with higher crash risk.  Our results are robust to different specifications and measures of crash risk.


The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) maintains a registry of approximately 4 million volunteer unrelated donors for patients in need of a stem cell transplant. When several comparably HLA-matched volunteers are identified for a patient, various criteria are used to select a donor. A retrospective analysis of 6978 bone marrow transplantations facilitated by the NMDP from 1987 to 1999 was conducted to study the effects of various donor characteristics on recipient outcome. The evaluation addressed possible effects of donor age, cytomegalovirus serologic status, ABO compatibility, race, sex, and parity on overall and disease-free survival, acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), engraftment, and relapse. Age was the only donor trait significantly associated with overall and disease-free survival. Five-year overall survival rates for recipients were 33%, 29%, and 25%, respectively, with donors aged 18 to 30 years, 31 to 45 years, and more than 45 years (P =.0002). A similar effect was observed among HLA-mismatched cases (28%, 22%, and 19%, respectively). A race mismatch between recipient and donor did not affect outcome. The cumulative incidences of grade III or IV acute GVHD were 30%, 34%, and 34%, respectively, with donors aged 18 to 30 years, 31 to 45 years, and more than 45 years (P =.005). The corresponding incidences of chronic GVHD at 2 years were 44%, 48%, and 49% (P = 0.02). Recipients with female donors who had undergone multiple pregnancies had a higher rate of chronic GVHD than recipients with male donors (54% versus 44%; P <.0001). The use of younger donors may lower the incidence of GVHD and improve survival after bone marrow transplantation. Age should be considered when selecting among comparably HLA-matched volunteer donors.


1. Although mast cell hyperplasia is a feature of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, the extent and nature of mast cell activation in joint disease have not been clearly established. 2. We have investigated the levels of mast cell tryptase and histamine and also of eosinophil cationic protein in synovial fluid collected from 31 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 14 with seronegative spondyloarthritis and nine with osteoarthritis. Two RIAs for tryptase were employed: one with monoclonal antibody AA5, which was found to bind equally well to both alpha and beta isoforms on Western blots of the recombinant enzyme, and the other with antibody G5, which recognizes predominantly beta-tryptase. 3. alpha-Tryptase, which is likely to be released constitutively from mast cells, appeared to be the major form in synovial fluid, as the assay with antibody AA5 detected appreciably more tryptase than that with antibody G5. beta-Tryptase, which is released on anaphylactic activation of mast cells, was detected in 14 out of 45 synovial fluid samples studied, with concentrations of up to 12 micrograms/l measured by the G5 assay. The apparent levels of beta-tryptase, but not of alpha-tryptase, were closely correlated with those of histamine in the synovial fluid. Patients with osteoarthritis appeared to have a greater proportion of beta-tryptase in the synovial fluid than those with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as higher concentrations of histamine. Eosinophil cationic protein was present at high levels in the synovial fluid, although eosinophil numbers were low, and its concentrations were not correlated with the concentrations of the mast cell products. 4. These data suggest that anaphylactic degranulation of mast cells may have occurred to a greater extent in osteoarthritis than in rheumatoid arthritis, despite the relative lack of synovial inflammation in osteoarthritis. Although the eosinophil cationic protein detected may not reflect eosinophilic inflammation in the joint, the presence in synovial fluid of tryptase of both major forms, and of histamine, appears to indicate that mast cell products are secreted constitutively, as well as by processes of anaphylactic degranulation in rheumatoid arthritis, seronegative spondyloarthritis and osteoarthritis.


In India, fruits and vegetables (F&V) significantly contribute to food and nutritional security; they also enhance the livelihoods of smallholders. In recent years, demand has been increasing for these important crops, yet their productivity has been decelerating. Technical innovations can reduce yield gaps and increase the productivity of F&V crops. This paper measures technical efficiency (TE) of F&V production and its determinants based on Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function. TE is defined as the maximum output that can be produced from a specified set of inputs, given the existing technology available to the farmer. The study surveyed a sample of 240 households who mostly cultivate F&V in Salem, Trichy, and Theni districts, Tamil Nadu. Mean TE level was estimated to be 0.60. The farmers in Trichy had higher TEs than those in the other districts. This means Trichy farmers use inputs more efficiently. If the average farmer in the sample could achieve the TE level of his/her most efficient counterpart, then he/she could increase output by about 34 percent with the same level of inputs. There is considerable room for increasing F&V output without additional inputs. Accessibility of irrigation facilities significantly contributed to the higher TE in Trichy. While the test for equality showed that TE did not vary significantly across farm sizes, the larger landholdings had higher TE than smaller landholdings, indicating that farm size and TE are directly related. The results showed that accessibility of infrastructure facilities (e.g., road) contributed positively to TE. Other variables such as level of education and access to credit also had positive relationship with TE.


Recommender Systems (RS) help the users by showing better products and relevant items efficiently based on their likings and historical interactions with other users and items. Collaborative filtering is one of the most powerful technique of recommender system and provides personalized recommendation for users by prediction rating approach. Many Recommender Systems generally model only based on user implicit feedback, though it is too challenging to build RS. Conventional Collaborative Filtering (CF) techniques such as matrix decomposition, which is a linear combination of user rating for an item with latent features of user preferences, but have limited learning capacity. Additionally, it been suffering from data sparsity and cold start problem due to insufficient data. In order to overcome these problems, an integration of conventional collaborative filtering with deep neural networks proposed. A Weighted Parallel Deep Hybrid Collaborative Filtering based on Singular Value Decomposition and Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) proposed for significant improvement. In this approach a user-item relationship matrix with explicit ratings is constructed. The user - item matrix is integrated to Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) that decomposes the matrix into the best lower rank approximation of the original matrix. the user-item matrix neural Machine (RBM) for learning latent features of user- item matrix to predict user preferences. Thus, the Weighted Parallel Deep Hybrid RS uses additional attributes of user - item matrix to alleviate the cold start problem. The proposed method is verified using two different movie lens datasets namely, MovieLens 100K and MovieLens of 1M and evaluated using Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results indicate better prediction compared to other techniques in terms of accuracy.


This revisionist book compares and contrasts US and British naval practice and war planning in the Far East during the pre-war period. Drawing on new archival evidence, the author reveals information about the state of war planning in both navies, which radically challenges the conclusions of Marder, Roskill and others.The terms 'Singapore Strategy' and 'Main Fleet to Singapore' have carried with them implications that British Far-Eastern strategy was devoted exclusively to the relief of Singapore, and that the Admiralty was unconcerned about the area north of the Malay Barrier. This book suggests otherwise. The author argues that Admiralty planning had returned to a pre-war framework that called for the rescue and relief of Singapore and Hong Kong together; the Admiralty was not only concerned with the defence of the Malay Barrier but also had a strong interest in the area to its immediate north, and had already agreed to operate the fleet on arrival from Manila.


Hudson Bay experiences a complete cryogenic cycle each year. Sea ice begins to form in late October, and the Bay is usually ice-free in early August. This seasonally varying ice cover plays an important role in the regional climate. To identify secular trends in the cryogenic cycle, we examined variability in the timing of sea-ice formation and retreat during the period 1971– 2003. The dates of ice freeze-up and breakup at 36 locations across Hudson Bay were catalogued for each year from weekly ice charts provided by the Canadian Ice Service. We used the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test to determine the statistical significance of the trends and the Theil-Sen approach to estimate their magnitude. Our results indicate statistically significant trends toward earlier breakup in James Bay, along the southern shore of Hudson Bay, and in the western half of Hudson Bay, and toward later freeze-up in the northern and northeastern regions of Hudson Bay. These trends in the annual ice cycle of Hudson Bay coincide with both the regional temperature record and the projections from general circulation models. If this trend toward a longer ice-free season continues, Hudson Bay will soon face important environmental challenges.


This paper describes an effort to create and disseminate a series of stereoscopic 3D videos that raise awareness about the value of computational science. While the videos target the general population, including the K-12 community, the audience for this paper includes scientific or technical peers who may be interested in sharing or demonstrating their own work more broadly. After outlining the motivation and goals of the project, the authors describe the visual content and computational science behind each of the videos. We then discuss our highly collaborative production workflow that has evolved over the past decade, as well as our distribution mechanisms. We include a summary of the most relevant and appropriate stereoscopic display technologies for the intended audience. Lastly, we analyze and compare this work to other forms of engagement, summarize best practices, and describe potential improvements to future stereoscopic 3D video production.


—Dr Reider's comments on our recent article in theArchives 1 raise a fundamental question of the reliability of digoxin radioimmunoassay (RIA). Discrepancies in the measurements made with different kits are well recognized. 2,3 Analytical recovery studies have shown that RIA consistently overestimates serum digoxin levels. 2 Whether this is due to the endogenous digoxinlike substance (endoxin) has not been conclusively demonstrated. In our study, the calculated digoxin level underestimated the serum levels in five patients and overestimated it in two (patients 5 and 14). This observation indicates that the presence of endoxin cannot be the sole explanation for the discrepancy between the measured and calculated serum digoxin levels. Digoxin concentration measurements done by commercially available RIA methods may not be optimal. 2,3 However, the purpose of our study was not to establish the reliability of digoxin RIA, but to determine the predictability of immunoassayable serum digoxin concentrations measured by


Abstract A nickel(II) pincer complex, [(MeN2N)Ni-Cl], was used to catalyze alkyl–alkyl and alkyl–aryl Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions of unactivated alkyl halides. The coupling of 9-alkyl-9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane and 9-phenyl-9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane reagents with alkyl halides was achieved in modest to good yields. The reactions tolerated a variety of useful functional groups including ester, ether, furan, thioether, acetal, and Boc groups.


Increase in the number of eavesdroppers during information exchange between the source and intended destination has indeed called for a more robust method for securing data transfer. Due to increasing use of images in industrial process, it is essential to protect the confidential image data from unauthorized access. In this ECC-DWT processor along with watermarking a secure image algorithm is proposed. The group of rational points on elliptic curves over finite fields can be used for public-key cryptography. The elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) has been identified and employed as an efficient and suitable scheme for public key cryptographic systems. Image is used for the steganography and a LSB (Least Significant Bit) algorithm is employed to encode the message inside the image and is applied during discrete wavelet transform (DWT) on coverage image. The proposed system not only hides large volume of data in an image, but also limits the perceivable distortion that might occur in an image while processing it, and provide a strong backbone for its security.


In this paper we present an algorithm for 3D medical image segmentation based on an affine invariant flow. The algorithm is simple to implement and semi-automatic. The technique is based on active contours evolving in time according to intrinsic geometric measures of the image. The surface flow is obtained by minimizing a global energy with respect to an affine invariant metric. Affine invariant edge detectors for 3-dimensional objects are also computed which have the same qualitative behavior as the Euclidean edge detectors. Results on artificial and real MRI images show that the algorithm performs well, both in terms of accuracy and robustness to noise.


Wireless multi-vision applications for home entertainment are becoming an important trend in consumer electronics domain. Currently, most of the existing applications rely on the 802.11g/n standards, capable to seamlessly stream HD video contents. These standards are operating in the license-free ISM band, which, due to the rapid revolution in wireless communication in past years, is becoming overexploited and experiences serious coexistence problems. The spectrum overcrowding in the free bands puts in a new light the VHF and UHF bands that are currently seen as a promising alternative spectrum resource, especially in the perspective of the worldwide switchover from analog to digital TV and in the light of the new emerging dynamic spectrum access techniques. Within this framework, this paper presents an unlicensed cognitive radio indoor multi-vision system operating in the UHF TV band for short-range indoor transmission of high definition TV contents. The system relies on a combined exclusive approach of spectrum sensing and geo-location database and is compliant with the DVB-T2 broadcasting standard. A proof-of-concept digital terrestrial television (DTT) compliant prototype has been implemented on a test-bed based on commercial DTT receivers in combination with software defined radio hardware devices. Extended measurements performed in a real indoor environment assessed the feasibility of the proposed system in terms of coverage and protection of the incumbent users.


Intravasation, vascular dissemination and metastasis of malignant tumor cells require their passage through the vascular wall which is commonly composed of pericytes and endothelial cells. We currently decided to investigate the relative contribution of these cell types to B16F10 melanoma metastasis in mice using an experimental model of host Shb gene (Src homology 2 domain‐containing protein B) inactivation. Conditional inactivation of Shb in endothelial cells using Cdh5‐CreERt2 resulted in decreased tumor growth, reduced vascular leakage, increased hypoxia and no effect on pericyte coverage and lung metastasis. RNAseq of tumor endothelial cells from these mice revealed changes in cellular components such as adherens junctions and focal adhesions by gene ontology analysis that were in line with the observed effects on leakage and junction morphology. Conditional inactivation of Shb in pericytes using Pdgfrb‐CreERt2 resulted in decreased pericyte coverage of small tumor vessels with lumen, increased leakage, aberrant platelet‐derived growth factor receptor B (PDGFRB) signaling and a higher frequency of lung metastasis without concomitant effects on tumor growth or oxygenation. Flow cytometry failed to reveal immune cell alterations that could explain the metastatic phenotype in this genetic model of Shb deficiency. It is concluded that proper pericyte function plays a significant role in suppressing B16F10 lung metastasis.


In I, Daniel Blake (2016), British filmmaker Ken Loach points to topics of social injustice and inequality in contemporary British society. Loach explores the inadequacies of the British welfare system and the problems of those who are being left behind and blamed for their situation, following what researchers have termed \textit{the 'underclass' approach} (Madanipour et al. 2015). The film highlights the welfare system's dysfunctionalities through the main characters Daniel (Dave Johns), a 59-year old carpenter, having suffered a heart attack, and Katie (Hayley Squires), a single mother of two, who both fall victim to a social system that should support them but instead blames them for their situation.
This paper, then, examines how face work and politeness strategies influence the conversations taking place in the film and how these lead to the characters' enhanced (in)voluntary (in)visibility. I argue that visibility (Brighenti 2007 and 2010) and face work (Brown and Levinson 1999) interact and produce heightened (in)voluntary visibilities. This is particularly relevant, as visibility has become a major discourse within surveillance and digitisation both thriving on exposure and allegedly omnipresent visibility. In the film, as I argue, this is contrasted against the invisibility and impermeability of the social welfare system and the state.
Ultimately, this paper suggests that bald on-record strategies (Brown and Levinson 1999) are used to expose claimants and keeping face is used as a strategy that strongly characterises scenes that highlight the importance of empathy.


We analyze in detail the evolution of curvature of 3C-SiC layers grown on vicinal silicon substrates. A common feature of (100) and (111) oriented layers is a strongly asymmetric wafer bending that may suggest an anisotropic stress relaxation within the layer. A comparative study of the curvature, lattice parameter, surface morphology and structural defects for the off-angles ranging from 0.5° to 6° is performed in order to confirm or disprove this hypothesis. We find a homogeneous, tensile in-plane lattice deformation. We also show the correlation of the orientation of the high and low curvature axes with the morphology and defect pattern of the layer.


In this work we look at the shapes of pathogen phylogenetic trees derived from the the spread of an infection. The mathematical framework is the general Crump-Mode-Jager branching process. In an exploratory, simulation study we look at how memory affects the general shape of the tree. By general shape we intend measures such as the imbalance of the tree, the average ladder length, and others. Memory is introduced by defining a non-constant infectivity function which, through a non-honogeneous Poisson process, defines the spread of the infection between hosts. We found that memory, in the way we introduced it, has less effect than expected on the overall shape, but has a marked effect on the size of the tree, even if the Malthusian parameter is kept constant. With a more theoretical approach, we investigate the frequency of subshapes in supercritical branching processes. Through characteristic functions we were able to count the number of subshapes within a growing tree. We prove that the ratio between the number of such shapes and the tips converges to a limit as the tree grows. In the case of homogeneous processes, the limit of the cherries to tips ratio depends only on a simple function of the basic reproduction number of the pathogen. We used this relation to develop a new method of inference of the basic reproduction number. This method increase precision for larger sets of taxa, which are becoming more and more available after the advent of next generation DNA sequences. However, the correctness of the tree reconstructed with the methods currently available still remains dubious, thus the number of cherries may be incorrect. To by-pass the reconstruction, we develop an algorithm able to provide an estimate of the number of the cherries directly from the sequences. Its precision is similar or higher than other methods that reconstruct the tree first to provide the cherries estimate. Its high level of parallelisability enables time complexity to be linear, but it is quadratic if not parallelised. This technique combined with the inference of the basic reproduction number constitutes the first phylodynamics method without a tree. On a side project we evaluate the prevalence of tuberculosis mixed infection, which is likely to be twice as high of the detected 15%.