The effectiveness of selected cultural practices in managing the Columbia lance nematode, Hoplolaimus columbus, on cotton was evaluated in experiments in growers' infested fields. The effects of planting date, cotton cultivar, treatment with the growth regulator mepiquat chloride, and destruction of cotton-root systems after harvest on cotton-lint yield and population densities of H. columbus were studied. The yield of cotton cultivar Deltapine 50 was negatively related (P = 0.054) to initial population density of H. columbus whereas the yield of Deltapine 90 was not affected by preplant density of this nematode, indicating tolerance in Deltapine 90. Reproduction of this nematode did not differ on the two cultivars. Planting date and treatment with the growth regulator mepiquat chloride did not influence cotton yield in a consistent manner. Application of mepiquat chloride suppressed (P </= 0.05) numbers of Columbia lance nematode, although there was an interaction (P </= 0.05) with cultivar and year. Early vs. late destruction of cotton-root systems did not impact population densities of this nematode either year, and had no impact on the subsequent cotton crop. The nematicide fenamiphos increased (P </= 0.03) cotton yield when H. columbus numbers exceeded the damage threshold.


OBJECTIVE
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the antihypertensive efficacy of the chlorthalidone and telmisartan combination in Indian hypertensive patients who remained uncontrolled after taking the hydrochlorothiazide and telmisartan combination.

METHODS
A total of 100 eligible patients were enrolled in this prospective, open label study. The patients were given telmisartan (40 mg) and chlorthalidone (12.5 mg), who had not achieved the target blood pressure (140/90 mmHg) despite taking the combination of telmisartan (40 mg) and hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 mg). The assessment was done at the end of 4 weeks and 8 weeks.

RESULTS
The mean SBP and DBP after taking telmisartan (40 mg) and hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 mg) were 154.88±9.57 (range 144 to 160) mmHg and 99.37±2.78 (range 92 to 106). At the end of 4 weeks of being on telmisartan (40 mg) and chlorthalidone (12.5 mg), the mean SBP and DBP were 145.56±5.12 (range 134 to 158) mmHg and 95.14±4.27 (range 84 to 100) mmHg. Significant falls in the SBP (5.32±2.64) and DBP (4.18±2.48) were noted at the end of the 4 week therapy. They were sustained at the end of 8 weeks also. The SBP target (<140 mmHg) was achieved in 24 % patients. The DBP target (<90 mmHg) was achieved in 19% patients. The combined SBP and DBP target (<140/90 mmHg) was achieved in 15% patients. No significant clinical adverse events were reported. Similar falls in the SBP and DBP were noted in the subgroups (smokers, females, diabetics, etc).

CONCLUSIONS
The hypertensive patients who do not achieve the target blood pressures on telmisartan and hydrochlorothiazide can be switched on to the telmisartan and chlorthalidone combination. This combination is effective and well tolerated.


BACKGROUND
Xerostomia is the feeling of dryness in the mouth, usually owing to hypofunctioning of the salivary glands. Causes of xerostomia include medications, the effects of radiation therapy on the salivary glands during the treatment of head and neck cancer or thyroid cancer, and autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome. The primary treatment to reduce xerostomia is oral pilocarpine.

OBJECTIVE
This review discusses the randomized trials available on the efficacy and tolerability of oral pilocarpine for the treatment of xerostomia.

METHODS
The randomized trials of pilocarpine for xerostomia available in the medical literature are reviewed.

RESULTS/CONCLUSION
Pilocarpine has some efficacy in the treatment of xerostomia from radiation therapy, graft-versus-host disease and Sjögren's syndrome. It has limited activity for the prevention of xerostomia during radiation therapy. It may have increased efficacy in combination with newer forms of radiation therapy.


The geological body has uncertainty and complexity characters, therefore the predesign scheme for construction has blindness. Field measurement and back analysis can help identify rock mass parameters in actual engineering field. The paper combines an intelligent optimization arithmetic-particle swarm optimization (PSO) and 3-D fast Lagrange numerical method to construct a parameters back analysis method for underground engineering. The PSO has global robust optimization property and overcomes the conventional optimization method problem of being limited in local optimization. The FISH language is used to develop the PSO arithmetic and is embedded in the business software- FLAC-3D. The method is used in Dalian Metro construction and it proves that this method has not only fast convergence speed but also high prediction. It offers a new idea to geotechnical parameters identification.


The work described in this thesis is an investigation into the reactivity and possible
synthetic applications of oxiranylcarbinyl radicals. These radicals rapidly rearrange via β-cleavage,
which can proceed by breakage of either the C-O or the C-C bond. Cleavage of
the latter only occurs when the molecule has a vinyl or phenyl stabilising group attached to
the epoxide ring. [Continues.]


Abstract Binary and ternary sulfides in the Fe-Ni-S system are of major fundamental and practical interest in environmental, geological, and planetary science. Despite extensive thermodynamic modeling of phase equilibria, the enthalpies of formation of solid solutions in this system have not been measured directly as functions of both nickel/iron and metal/sulfur ratios. This communication reports enthalpies of formation of Fe-Ni monosulfide solid solutions [mss = (Fe1-xNix)1-zS, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1; 0.875 ≤ 1-z ≤ 1] quenched from 750 °C, representing disordered structural states. Measurements were performed on three series of solid solutions using oxidative solution calorimetry in molten sodium molybdate solvent at 702 °C. The measured enthalpies of formation of Ni1-zS solid solutions from elements are consistent with prior data reported for a few compositions. The enthalpies of formation of ternary compositions, (Fe1-xNix)1-zS, are reported for the first time. Within their uncertainties, the enthalpies of formation of the solid solutions, quenched from high temperature, with respect to the end-members (enthalpies of mixing) at 25 °C are zero. An experimentally derived equation is proposed for the calculation of enthalpies of formation of all high-temperature monosulfide solid solutions in the Fe-Ni-S system. The thermodynamic stabilization of these disordered solid solutions arises not from energetic terms but from the configurational entropy.


The development and application of data mining algorithms requires the use of powerful software tools. With challenges such as big data encountered in economy or gene sequencing for life science, data mining is important for daily problems as well as specialized fields. However, the large variety of requirements and user groups lead to a huge number and diversity of software tools. We give an overview by discussing the historical development and presenting a range of existing state‐of‐the‐art data mining and related tools. This paper is an update of our previous article from 2011 following the encyclopedic aspect of Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews to include new findings or references and changing outdated information. However, since the paper should be able to stand alone, it includes many still valid elements of the previous article. Following the original paper, we propose criteria for the tool categorization based on different user groups, data structures, data mining tasks and methods, visualization and interaction styles, import and export options for data and models, platforms, and license policies. These criteria are then used to classify data mining tools into nine different categories. The typical characteristics of these types are explained and a selection of the most important tools is categorized.


Recent research on mechanofluorochromic materials based on the aggregation-induced emission molecules has been presented. The structure–property relationships and mechanisms of the AIE mechanofluorochromic materials have been described. The structural relationships between the aggregation-induced emission compounds and mechanofluorochromism have been recognized. The molecular design strategy based on the AIE structures may be widely applicable to the mining of new mechanofluorochromic materials.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and one of the leading causes of death. The Aim and objective of the present study is to perform in-silico docking analysis of the major active constituents identified in three Indian medicinal plants namely Convolvulus pluricaulis, Coriandrum sativum and Panax ginseng for its effectiveness against the targets of Alzheimer Disease. In-silico docking analysis was performed by Molegro Virtual Docker (MVD-2010, 4.2.0) and Schrodinger Mestro (V 11.8). In addition, Drug likeness property, pharmacokinetics (ADME) and safety profile prediction studies were performed to identify the best drug candidates using Qikpro and Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (T.E.S.T). The target for Alzheimer Disease is Acetylcholinesterase and Butyrylcholinesterase. The X-ray crystal co-ordinates of AChE (PDB ID: 4bdt) and BChE (PDB ID: 6eqq) obtained from the Protein Data Bank. The phytoconstituents of three medicinal plants were retrieved from PubChem compound database in mol format. The standard drugs Donepezil, Rivastigmine, Galantamine, Memantine was obtained from the drug bank in .mol format for comparison. It was analysed from the parameters of docking that the phytoconstituents from Panax ginseng showed better anti-Alzheimer activity compared to that of the standard drugs. Based on the research findings, further studies can be performed in in-vitro & in-vivo animal models of Alzheimer's disease to establish the efficacy of promising phytoconstituents.


Social networking sites form a special type of virtual community where we share our personal information with people and develop new relationships on the Internet. These sites allow the users to share just about everything, including photos, videos, favorite music, and games, and record all user interactions and retain them for potential use in social data mining. This storing and sharing of large amounts of information causes privacy problems for the users of these websites. In order to prevent these problems, we have to provide strict privacy policies, data protection mechanisms, and trusted and built-in applications that help to protect user privacy by limiting the people who get access to a user's personal information. Thus, the privacy problem has prompted us to provide a solution that offers the users of these social networking websites an opportunity to protect their information. In this paper, a social networking application and its system design, algorithm, and database structure are described. Our application offers a reputation-based trusted architecture to social network users. It creates and monitors social reputations, finds social circles, and helps the users to group their friends easily, meaningfully, and automatically to protect their privacy. This system provides the grouping of users through an automated system into different social circles by analyzing the user's social connections depending on what common information or application they share that should not be accessed by other users.


Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of pediatric acute lower respiratory tract infection worldwide. Detailed data on the health and economic burden of RSV disease are lacking from tropical settings with year-round RSV transmission. We developed a statistical and economic model to estimate the annual incidence and healthcare cost of medically attended RSV disease among young children in Singapore, using Monte Carlo simulation to account for uncertainty in model parameters. RSV accounted for 708 hospitalizations in children <6 months of age (33.5/1,000 child-years) and 1,096 in children 6–29 months of age (13.2/1,000 child-years). The cost of hospitalization was SGD 5.7 million (US $4.3 million) at 2014 prices; patients bore 60% of the cost. RSV-associated disease burden in tropical settings in Asia is high and comparable to other settings. Further work incorporating efficacy data from ongoing vaccine trials will help to determine the potential cost-effectiveness of different vaccination strategies.


Abstract LA–ICP-MS (laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) has the potential to measure uranium concentration for fission-track (FT) chronometry as an alternative to thermal neutron-induced fission of 235U. This study examines the effect that chemical etching, required to reveal spontaneous fission tracks of 238U, has upon LA–ICP-MS analyses. Uranium concentrations were measured before and after etching for six large gem-quality apatite crystals and six zircon samples – three large crystals and three FT age standards. Comparison of the results shows no significant difference in 238U concentrations measured on the etched and unetched mineral surfaces. The 238U concentrations determined by the LA–ICP-MS provide reasonable FT ages for the zircon age standards, which, with the previously reported LA–ICP-MS apatite FT results, promotes the use of the LA–ICP-MS for FT chronometry.


Over the last decade, research has increasingly highlighted the inextricable links between emotion and cognition as well as the profound effects emotions have in academic contexts in both individual and social learning settings (Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012). Although much of this research has been undertaken in face-to-face learning, such notions have also been evidenced in online learning environments (Henritius et al., 2019; Reis et al., 2018). With the increased understanding of the importance of emotions in educational contexts, researchers have started to develop tools that can be used by students to help raise awareness of their emotions and help them regulate their feelings when undertaking learning activities (Jarvela et al., 2016). One such tool is The Socio-Emotional Sampling Tool (SEST) (Webster and Hadwin, 2013) which aims to prompt students to metacognitively monitor and evaluate their current emotional state before, during and after undertaking computer-supported collaborative learning activities. The SEST has been developed to have both research and instructional purposes; on the one hand, it can be used as a research tool to collect data about students' emotional experiences, whilst on the other hand it can be used as an instructional tool to help students become more aware of their emotions and think about ways of regulating their feelings. In this research, we have adapted the SEST and implemented this tool (using real time student feedback) throughout an 9-week assessed, online collaborative project in the Communication and Information Technologies (TM255) module at The Open University. Specifically, students were presented with the opportunity to fill out short feedback forms on four occasions throughout the project (once before it had started, twice during the project, and once after it had finished). Although each form aimed to assess students' current feelings towards the activity, the two forms completed during the task were also aimed at getting students to think about how they could regulate their emotions. Links to each of the four forms were embedded into the weekly content of module's Virtual Learning Environment. In this presentation, we will report preliminary findings from the study as well as discuss practical implications of using real time student feedback as an emotion awareness and regulation tool in assessed, online, collaborative projects in a distance learning setting.


Biological cells or bioparticles separation is a primary step in most biological studies. One of the microfluidic bioparticles separation methods is the magnetic-based method. Integrated microfluidic magnetic bioparticle separation device is made up of a microfluidics channel and a magnetic system. From past studies, the design of the microfluidic channel is least discussed in comparison with the magnetic system. To fill this gap, this study has focused on numerical simulation of a microfluidic channel with chamber design and the drag forces experienced by the magnetic beads. Simulation of the microfluidics channel was done with ANSYS Fluent software. The width ratios of trapping chamber and main channel ranged from 1 to 20, the flow rates ranged from 1 μL/min to 100 μL/min, and the bead sizes ranged from 5 μm to 25 μm were used in the numerical investigation. It was discovered that as the width ratio between the trapping chamber and main channel increases, the maximum velocity decreases, causing the Reynold's number to decrease. The pressure drop become greater at higher flow rate. Higher width ratio caused the drag force to reduce at a constant microbead size. At a constant width ratio between the trapping chamber and main channel, larger microbead sizes caused larger drag force. The microfluidic system with width ratio of 20 and flow rate of 1 μL/min produced the lowest drag force, 3.64 x 10 4 pN. Since particle trapping would occur when the magnetic force is larger than the drag force, therefore a high gradient magnetic system which offered high magnetic force was proposed to be integrated with the microfluidics system.


Question
What is the impact of the fire cues smoke and ash on seed germination of important functional groups in the heathland system, namely ericads, herbs and graminoids? We predict that if germination from heathland seed banks is in part regulated by fire cues, there should be stronger responses to fire cue treatments in seed bank samples taken from heath that has not been recently burned in comparison with samples taken from newly burned heath, where seed banks have been exposed to the same cues in situ.

Location
Lygra, Lindas commune, western Norway.

Methods
The efficacy of smoke, charred wood, ash and heat in promoting germination has been documented in a wide range of species and systems, but relatively little work has been done on fire-related cues in northern European heathlands under anthropogenic fire regimes. We studied fire experimentally by testing the effects of aqueous smoke solution, ash and a combination of the two treatments, on the germination of graminoids, herbs and ericads. A greenhouse germination trial compared seed banks from old heath (28 yr since the last fire) with seed banks from newly burned heath (burned the previous year), where we expected that fire-cued germination had already occurred.

Results
We found that both ericads and graminoids responded to fire cues, whereas herbs did not. In line with our predictions, responses were stronger in the old heath than in the young heath. Further, the smoke treatment is a more effective cue than ash across all functional groups.

Conclusions
The prevalence of positive fire cue responses across functional groups underscores the importance of fire in the ecology of these heathlands, and hence of burning as a central tool for their management. The finding that the germination response is stronger in naive seed banks than in seed banks that have already been exposed to recent fire cues through in situ fires further supports the role of fire in the successional dynamics of these heathlands.


One option for the disposal of sewage sludge is land spreading, including application to private croplands. Land spreading may allow some of the sewage treatment costs to the municipality or county to be offset by farmers' payments for sludge as a crop producing resource. This study investigates the conditions under which a market for sludge will emerge. A linear programming model of a profit maximizing corn for gain farm is formulated and the quantity of sludge available is parametrically varied to trace out marginal productivity curves under various situations. The results for Anne Arundel county, Maryland sludge show a range in value from 0-35 $/ton at application rates from 0-20 tons/acre/year for three years.


An objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the small strain model developed by the authors can be incorporated into the conventional kinematic hardening plasticity framework to predict pre-failure defor mations. The constitutive model described in this paper is constituted by three elliptical yield surfaces in triaxial stress space. Two inner surfaces are rotated ellipses of the same shape, representing the boundaries of the linear elastic and small strain regions, while the third surface is the modified Cam clay large-scale yield surface. Within the linear elastic region, the soil behaviour is elastic with cross-coupling between the shear and volumetric stress–strain components. Within the small strain region, the soil behaviour is elasto-plastic, described by the kinematic hardening rule with an infinite number of loading surfaces defined by the incremental energy criterion. Within the large-scale yield surface, the soil behaviour is elasto-plastic, described by kinematic and isotropic hardening of the small strain region boundary. Since the yield surfaces have different shapes, the uniqueness of the plastic loading condition imposes a restriction on the ratio between their semi-diameters. The model requires 12 parameters, which can be determined from a single consolidated undrained triaxial compression test. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The economy of Dominica faces a unique set of challenges. As with many other Caribbean nations, Dominica has historically been dependent upon agriculture. Over the past several hundred years, the island's economy has been largely supported through the concentrated mono-cropping of a variety of export-oriented crops including coffee, limes, vanilla, and bananas (FAVACA, 2008). Today, approximately 45% of Dominica's labor force is employed in the agricultural sector (FAVACA, 2008). While neighboring countries have economically benefited from tourism, due to its lack of white sand beaches, Dominica is not a typical tourist destination. Taking advantage of its landscape, rainforests, and diversity of natural wildlife, in an effort to diversify its economy Dominica has instead catered to eco-/wellness tourists. Bridging its agricultural foundations with the ecological preservation needed to support its tourist industry, the government of Dominica has signaled its interest in transforming Dominica into an Organic Island ('Organic Dominica') by 2015. Through this initiative, sustainable, organic agricultural production methods will be encouraged. Complementing this, a 'Buy Organic, Locally Grown' campaign has been proposed to encourage domestic and regional consumption of Dominica's agricultural outputs and food products. As such, 'Organic Dominica' has the potential to simultaneously address ongoing national concerns surrounding food security, foreign exchange availability, domestic un/underemployment, and environmental preservation. Before and since proposing this policy, surveys were conducted to identity the major stakeholders in (organic) agricultural production, and current and potential markets for organic production. It remains, however, to quantify Dominica's capacity to produce organic goods, the scale of the potential market, and the price premia that organic production could command. This information is critical to determining the appropriate initial level of producer support and marketing programs required to successfully promote the production and consumption of Dominica's organic outputs and propel Dominica toward the desired status of a model 'Organic Island'.


Background: Cognitive rehabilitation has been suggested as a means to improve cognitive function. However, cognitive rehabilitation is only effective in a subset of MS patients. It is therefore imperative to identify characteristics that might influence the ability to respond to rehabilitation of cognitive impairment. While cognitive impairment in MS is related to changes in functional connectivity (FC) of cognitive brain networks such as the default mode network (DMN), it is unknown how functional network characteristics affect the brain's ability to respond to cognitive training. Aim: To investigate whether baseline resting-state FC within and between the DMN, dorsal attention network (DAN) and ventral attention network (VAN), can distinguish responders from non-responders to an attention training in MS. Methods: Patients were randomized into an attention training (home-based computerized C-Car: 7-week, 45 min/week, N=58, age=48.4±10.2 years, 34 women, RRMS=42, median EDSS=4.0) or a waiting-list control group (CG, N=24, age=48.5±9.4 years, 19 women, RRMS=16, median EDSS=4.0). Neuropsychological assessment at baseline and follow-up included tests of attention, memory, information processing speed, and executive functioning. Based on the CG, a reliable change index (RCI) was calculated, adjusted for practice effects. Responders were defined as patients scoring RCI>1.64 (90% CI) on at least two tests. 3D T1 MRI and resting-state fMRI was obtained at baseline. After preprocessing and denoising using ICA-AROMA, a subject-wise fMRI correlation matrix was computed. Within- and between-network measures of FC of the DMN, DAN, and VAN were calculated using relative correlations and the Brainnetome atlas and compared between responders and non-responders. Results: Responders (N=22) and non-responders (N=36) did not differ significantly in age, sex, education, MS subtype, EDSS, disease duration, or baseline cognition. Responders, compared to non-responders, had lower average FC between DMN and DAN (0.85 vs 0.92 respectively; p=0.04) and DMN and VAN (0.90 vs 0.98 respectively; p=0.04). There were no significant group differences in within-network FC. Conclusion: Lower FC between DMN and attention networks seems an indicator of response to attention training in MS, which might reflect a more intact network functioning at baseline.


Henry Playford (1657-1709) was one of the most important London music publishers in the period 1680 to 1710. He was the son of the music publisher John Playford and a member of the Company of Stationers, and his business practices owed much to his father and to his training in traditional methods of book publishing and production. Henry Playford's publishing career is here examined in two ways: as a continuation of his father's methods; and as a response to competition from publishers of engraved music, most notably John Walsh.  The lives and trade practices of both John and Henry Playford are described. Publications are examined in three main categories: musical publications originally established by John Playford and continued by Henry; new kinds of musical publications introduced by Henry; and publications not containing music. Details concerning his career as a bookseller are presented, as is information relating to other activities not directly relevant to publishing or bookselling, most notably his activities in the sale of art works. His relationships with other members of the book trade - printers , partners and apprentices - are described, and documents relating to the lawsuit between Playford and the printer William Pearson are re-examined and re-assessed. His competitors and successors are identified , and their activities described. This section concludes with an examination of previous writings about Henry Playford, and a re-assessment of his place and importance in English music publishing.  The basis of the study is a descriptive bibliography of the publications issued by Henry Playford. It is presented, together with indexes of the works and of book trade members, and with illustrations of some title - pages, printed ornaments, and engravings.


The Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device is an advanced superconducting tokamak to establish scientific and technological bases for an attractive fusion reactor [1]. In-vessel vertical coil (IVC) power supply (PS) is developed for vertical stability and shape control of KSTAR plasma. IVC PS in KSTAR is based on a single-phase full-bridge inverter. The output voltage and current are dc ±1 kV and ±10 kA, respectively. Insulated gate bipolar transistor is used as switching power device in IVC PS and maximal 5 kHz of switching frequency is adopted to meet the requirement of fast control by plasma control system. This paper describes the configuration and engineering of the IVC PS system and analyzes both the IVC coil commissioning and the major performances that D-shape plasma achieved in experiments.


The cyclic nature of the Phanerozoic sedimentary rock distribution, carbon-sulphur coupling, and material transfer among sedimentary reservoirs appears to be controlled by tectonic factors. The distribution of preserved sedimentary mass in terms of rock mass remaining U. geologic age shows a minimum c. 300-350 Ma ago, which separates two subcycles of erosion and deposition of sedimentary rocks. The older subcycle was interrupted because of the major continental collisions of the Devonian and late Carboniferous. These collisions resulted in a reduction of outcrop areas of rocks of the older cycle relative to their masses, leading to a decline in the probability of destruction and an increase in half-life of these older sediments. A strong correlation exists between the long-term cyclicity in the Phanerozoic global sea level curve and the distribution of carbon and sulphur among their major exogenic reservoirs. This correlation is related to two principal tectonic modes of the Phanerozoic: oscillatory and submergent. It is postulated that the submergent mode of active plate convergence, obduction and subduction of sediments, large ridge volume, and high sea level gave rise to low erosion and sedimentation rates, less restricted environments of carbonate deposition, and relatively high atmospheric CO2 levels (high temperatures ?), resulting from an increased rate of production of CO2 from diagenetic and metamorphic reactions at subduction zones. As sea level rose carbon was transferred from the sedimentary reservoir of reduced organic carbon to that of oxidized inorganic carbon in limestones, whereas sulphur moved from the oxidized sulphate reservoir to the reduced sulphide reservoir. As sea level fell, reservoir transfers were opposite to those above culminating in the oscillatory mode of generally elevated continental interiors. These reservoir transfers are consistent with secular changes observed in the distribution of δ13C and δ34S in Sedimentary materials during the Phanerozoic. Petrographic examination of Phanerozoic oolite formations shows that öoids with preserved calcitic relict textures are characteristic of pre-Carboniferous carbonate rocks, whereas öoids with relict textures indicative of initial aragonite mineralogy are dominant in rocks of younger age. These changes in öoid mineralogy may be interpreted as reflecting changes in CO2 levels of the ocean-atmosphere system consistent with the above tectonic considerations. Atmospheric CO2 levels were higher prior to Carboniferous time, favouring formation of calcitic öoids and skeletal parts; after the Carboniferous, CO2 levels fell and aragonite and Mg-calcites of greater than 8 mol % Mg increased in abundance as precipitates.


Conventionally, oxygen is given at 4 to 6 L/min through nasal cannula for supplementation of oxygen. The FiO2 achieved through this can be up to 0.4. Flows more than this can cause dryness to the nasal mucosa without much increase in the FiO2. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) uses flow up to 60 L/min. Positive end-expiratory pressure is created in the nasopharynx and it is also conducted to the lower airways. Studies have shown HFNC improves washout of CO2 and decreases respiratory rate. Patient compliance also improves due to the comfort of the cannula compared to the non-invasive ventilation through a mask.


Background: Professional grooming and professional development are important for growth not just positive image but also respect in the place of work. Objectives: The objective of the study was to check the influence of personal characteristics of preceptor on professional grooming of nursing students. Materials and methods: A crosssectional, descriptive, qualitative, correlational study design was used to check the relationship between preceptor characteristics and professional grooming of nursing students. The study was carried out in 117 students of under graduation from LSN, the University of Lahore. Convenient sampling technique was used for data collection. Inventory of Learning Environment (CLEI=19), preceptorship relationship scale, self-esteem scale, assessment of clinical professional competence questionnaire and registered nurse 'readiness' for work questionnaire were used in this study after informed consent. Results: The results of the study was positive significant relationship was found between personal characteristics of preceptor and professional grooming of student nurses which was checked by Pearson correlational test on SPSS version 23. The responses of significant values of preceptor personal characteristics and professional grooming were 1 and 0.616 and significant values were p>0.000. Above values showed the positive significant relationship between variables. Conclusion: Preceptor knowledge based on theoretical and practical, and personal characteristics of the preceptor was proved important components in this study. Most of the students, who participated in this research, have perceived the positive significant relationship between preceptor characteristics and professional grooming which enhanced the self-esteem, nursing professional behavior/competence and readiness for work related to the clinical learning environment. Moreover, according to the results of the study, efforts should be involved by stakeholders to develop the relationship between preceptor and students for the production of competent nurses in the future.


We present observational evidence for linkages between extreme Arctic stratospheric ozone anomalies in March and Northern Hemisphere tropospheric climate in spring (March–April). Springs characterized by low Arctic ozone anomalies in March are associated with a stronger, colder polar vortex and circulation anomalies consistent with the positive polarity of the Northern Annular Mode/North Atlantic Oscillation in March and April. The associated spring tropospheric circulation anomalies indicate a poleward shift of zonal winds at 500 hPa over the North Atlantic. Furthermore, correlations between March Arctic ozone and March–April surface temperatures reveal certain regions where a surprisingly large fraction of the interannual variability in spring surface temperatures is associated with interannual variability in ozone. We also find that years with low March Arctic ozone in the stratosphere display surface maximum daily temperatures in March–April that are colder than normal over southeastern Europe and southern Asia, but warmer than normal over northern Asia, adding to the warming from increasing well-mixed greenhouse gases in those locations. The results shown here do not establish causality, but nevertheless suggest that March stratospheric ozone is a useful indicator of spring averaged (March–April) tropospheric climate in certain Northern Hemispheric regions.


A highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza (AI) has been confirmed in 420 human cases and has caused 257 deaths in the world starting from 2003. Using face-to-face interviews, our data were collected by utilizing a stratified sampling scheme following the distribution of gender and age in three major metropolitan areas in Taiwan, including Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. The questionnaire was designed to retrieve information including AI knowledge, risk perceptions, and behavioral changes of two types of consumers, primary shoppers and general consumers. In total, 501 primary shoppers and 505 general consumers completed the survey in June 2007 and were recorded for analysis. The empirical results show several interesting findings, especially, that risk perception and some socioeconomic characteristics such as age are the key factor which determines changes in purchasing behavior.


Purpose: ACRIN 6695 was a feasibility study investigating whether CT perfusion (CTP) biomarkers are associated with progression-free survival (PFS) at 6 months (PFS-6) in patients with advanced ovarian cancer who were treated with carboplatin and either dose-dense (weekly) or conventional (3-weekly) paclitaxel, with optional bevacizumab in the prospective phase III GOG-0262 trial. Experimental Design: ACRIN 6695 recruited participants with residual disease after primary cytoreductive surgery or planned interval cytoreduction following neoadjuvant therapy, to undergo CTP studies before (T0), 3 weeks (T1), and 4 weeks (T2) after chemotherapy initiation. Tumor blood flow (BF) and blood volume (BV) were derived with commercial software. Fisher exact tests assessed the associations of CTP biomarkers changes from T0 to T2 dichotomized at zero with PFS-6 and overall radiographic response rate, while Cox regression assessed the associations between CTP biomarker changes and PFS and overall survival (OS). Bonferroni correction was used to account for multiple comparisons. Results: Seventy-six of 120 enrolled patients from 19 centers were evaluable with a median age of 61 years. BV increase was significantly associated with lower chance of PFS-6 (P = 0.028), while BF achieves borderline significance (P = 0.053). In addition, BF increase was associated with shorter PFS (HR 2.9, 95% CI, 1.3–6.4, P = 0.008) and remained significant after adjusting for age, change in tumor volume, and surgery status (P = 0.007). Neither BF nor BV changes were significantly associated with treatment response rate or OS. Conclusions: Early CTP biomarkers measurement may provide early prognostic information for PFS in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 23(14); 3684–91. ©2017 AACR.


Colonoscopy is a safe and effective procedure to diagnose and treat the large bowel with the help of the flexible endoscope. This paper presents a new colonoscopy training simulator to help trainees practice and acquire the necessary skills and experiences with no risk to the patients and possibly less cost. The simulator includes a specialized haptic interface to transfer force feedback through a long and flexible tube, and graphics algorithms to display the virtual colon realistically while managing the large number of polygons. A new 2-d.o.f. haptic device with folding guides is developed to transmit large decoupled forces of the colonoscopy simulation to the user. The physicians apply a jiggling motion to the colonoscopy tube to advance the scope. This jiggling is an important skill of colonoscopy and is incorporated for the first time by using the new sensor mechanism. A colonoscope handle that shares the look, feel and functions with an actual colonoscope is developed with the necessary electronics inside. The simulator contains controllers to compensate for the inertia and friction effects, and is evaluated by physicians. New graphics algorithms including polygon reduction, navigation and collision detection are developed to compute the deformation and the corresponding reflective force in real-time.


The future tense system in French has undergone important reorganisations during the period from Middle to Modern French. During this period the synthetic future (parlera 'will talk') has changed from a system in which it expressed two semantic values to a system in which it expresses one single value. At the same time, the analytic future (va parler 'is going to talk') has undergone the opposite evolution having thus expanded its domain of use and covers nowadays a part of the domain formerly belonging to the synthetic future.
At the same time, it is interesting to observe a parallel between the change of the grammatical forms of the future tenses and their acquisition by learners of FLE. Indeed, the learners seem to master the future tense form in progression (i.e. the analytic future) earlier than the future tense form in the process of reduction (i.e. the synthetic future). Furthermore, they tend to use the analytic future as their default form.
In this contribution, three major factors are proposed as an explanation of this order of acquisition: 1. The frequency of the future tense forms in the oral and written input that the students receive in and outside the classroom; 2. The transfer from the students' native language (Danish) which only possesses an analytical future form (will + infinitive); 3. The relation between the form and the function of the two future tenses.
Finally, it is discussed to which extent the linguistic forms in the process of reduction should be taught.


OBJECTIVESurgical repair and closure of myelomeningocele (MMC) defects are important and vital, as the mortality rate is as high as 65%-70% in untreated patients. Closure of large MMC defects is challenging for pediatric neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons. The aim of the current study is to report the operative characteristics and outcome of a series of Iranian patients with large MMC defects utilizing the V-Y flap and with latissimus dorsi or gluteal muscle advancement.METHODSThis comparative study was conducted during a 4-year period from September 2013 to October 2017 in the pediatric neurosurgery department of Shiraz Namazi Hospital, Southern Iran. The authors included 24 patients with large MMC defects who underwent surgery utilizing the bilateral V-Y flap and latissimus dorsi and gluteal muscle advancement. They also retrospectively included 19 patients with similar age, sex, and defect size who underwent surgery using the primary or delayed closure techniques at their center. At least 2 years of follow-up was conducted. The frequency of leakage, necrosis, dehiscence, systemic infection (sepsis, pneumonia), need for ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion, and mortality was compared between the 2 groups.RESULTSThe bilateral V-Y flap with muscle advancement was associated with a significantly longer operative duration (p < 0.001) than the primary closure group. Those undergoing bilateral V-Y flaps with muscle advancement had significantly lower rates of surgical site infection (p = 0.038), wound dehiscence (p = 0.013), and postoperative CSF leakage (p = 0.030) than those undergoing primary repair. The bilateral V-Y flap with muscle advancement was also associated with a lower mortality rate (p = 0.038; OR 5.09 [95% CI 1.12-23.1]) than primary closure. In patients undergoing bilateral V-Y flap and muscle advancement, a longer operative duration was significantly associated with mortality (p = 0.008). In addition, surgical site infection (p = 0.032), wound dehiscence (p = 0.011), and postoperative leakage (p = 0.011) were predictors of mortality. Neonatal sepsis (p = 0.002) and postoperative NEC (p = 0.011) were among other predictors of mortality in this group.CONCLUSIONSThe bilateral V-Y flap with latissimus dorsi or gluteal advancement is a safe and effective surgical approach for covering large MMC defects and is associated with lower rates of surgical site infection, dehiscence, CSF leakage, and mortality. Further studies are required to elucidate the long-term outcomes.


Background: Almost all women are at risk for unintended pregnancy, and reducing unwanted pregnancy is one of the priorities for health professionals. This study was conducted in Chabahar to evaluate the impact of education on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of urban women with high risk pregnancies. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled intervention study was conducted on 94 women aged 15 to 49 who got married in 2012 in Chabahar. It was a multi-stage random sampling method. Data were gathered by a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software version 19 by using paired t-test, independent t-test and, chi- square test. Training was given by group discussions, question and answer sessions through PowerPoint presentations. Results: According to the chi-square test, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the experimental and control groups in terms of demographic variables. The experimental group's knowledge, attitude and behaviors increased significantly compared to the pre-intervention period (p<0.05). Conclusion: The designed educational program was effective in knowledge, attitude, and finally promoted preventive behaviors regarding unwanted pregnancy.


We consider a class of sparse learning problems in high dimen sional feature space regularized by a structured sparsity-inducing norm that incorporates pri or knowledge of the group structure of the features. Such problems often pose a considerable chall enge to optimization algorithms due to the non-smoothness and non-separability of the regulari zation term. In this paper, we focus on two commonly adopted sparsity-inducing regularization erms, the overlapping Group Lasso penaltyl1/l2-norm and thel1/l∞-norm. We propose a unified framework based on the augmented Lagrangian method, under which problems with both types of r egularization and their variants can be efficiently solved. As one of the core building-blocks of this framework, we develop new algorithms using a partial-linearization/splitting tech nique and prove that the accelerated versions of these algorithms require O( 1 ε ) iterations to obtain anε-optimal solution. We compare the performance of these algorithms against that of the alterna ing direction augmented Lagrangian and FISTA methods on a collection of data sets and apply them t o two real-world problems to compare the relative merits of the two norms.


Abstract Little is done to connect hydrological modelling with stakeholder participation. This study incorporates agricultural development and climatic changes within the Water Evaluation and Planning hydrological model. This is done with a participatory approach involving four scenario workshops, 400 household surveys and two focus group discussions in the period of 2010–2012 for the ungauged Huai Sai Bat sub-basin as a case study in the Mekong region. The modelling results indicate future increased streamflow during the wet (monsoon) season in response to shifts in the regional climate. Modelled land-use and management changes brought about large unmet water demands, primarily in the dry season.


In recent years, there is an increase in customer requirement on the comfort of vehicles. As a result, reducing the odor inside the vehicles has become an important and elusive task. Extensive experimental results show that the odor inside vehicles mainly comes from VOC (volatile organic compounds) emitted by the interior ornaments and parts. Given there are many VOC components affecting the odor, determining which VOC components are essential to the odor becomes a main difficulty in optimizing the odor in vehicles. In this paper, we proposed a new approach to optimize the odor of VOC in vehicles based on data-driven modeling and goal programming. To this end, we first collected mass spectrograms of vehicle parts and their odor ratings, where the mass spectrograms are obtained by mass spectrometer and ratings are scored by olfactory engineers. Then we used these data to build a data-driven model based on Weber-Fechner Law. The data-driven model is solved using lasso regression. Based on the data-driven model, we found out the contributions of the VOC components to the odor rating, which enables us to focus on certain specific VOC components that contribute much to the odor ratings. By strategically reducing those specific VOC components using goal programming, we finally obtained an optimized design with a better odor rating. To be specific, when performing the optimization, instead of minimizing the VOC odor rating, we set an ideal odor rating as the goal and formulated the optimization as a goal programming problem. To validate our approach, we collected 179 VOC mass spectrograms to train and test our data-driven model. The average accuracy of predicting odor ratings from mass spectrograms can reach 85% ∼ 90%. This data-driven model implies the contributions of VOC components on different mass weights to the odor rating, and the selected high-contribution mass weights can give reasonable optimization scheme to reduce the VOC gas odor.


A general approach to improving simulation accuracy uses information about auxiliary control variables with known expected values to improve the estimation of unknown quantities. We analyze weighted Monte Carlo estimators that implement this idea by applying weights to independent replications. The weights are chosen to constrain the weighted averages of the control variables. We distinguish two cases (unbiased and biased), depending on whether the weighted averages of the controls are constrained to equal their expected values or some other values. In both cases, the number of constraints is usually smaller than the number of replications, so there may be many feasible weights. We select maximally uniform weights by minimizing a separable convex function of the weights subject to the control variable constraints. Estimators of this form arise (sometimes implicitly) in several settings, including at least two in finance: calibrating a model to market data (as in the work of Avellaneda et al. 2001) and calculating conditional expectations to price American options. We analyze properties of these estimators as the number of replications increases. We show that in the unbiased case, weighted Monte Carlo reduces asymptotic variance, and that all convex objective functions within a large class produce estimators that are very close to each other in a strong sense. In contrast, in the biased case the choice of objective function does matter. We show explicitly how the choice of objective determines the limit to which the estimator converges. Subject classifications: simulation: statistical analysis; finance: asset pricing. Area of review: Simulation. History: Received October 2002; revisions received June 2003, December 2003; accepted December 2003.


Research has pointed out how tourism destinations in northern, sparsely populated areas are typically developed in accordance with the ideals of growth. This hinders efforts towards sustainable development in destination communities. The objective of this paper is to look into the large-scale growth-focused path creation process by studying how such tourism path creation appears from the perspective of various tourism actors in a destination community. The research draws on insights from local tourism actors in the case study area of the Ylläs in Finnish Lapland. This paper approaches tourism path creation by combining poststructural political economy thinking with evolutionary economic geography perspectives. The analysis highlights the existence of alternative economic knowledge on tourism development in the Ylläs tourism destination community, which deviates from the strongly growth-focused tourism path. The paper proposes that if regional economies of northern sparsely populated areas are to be developed in line with the goals of sustainability, tourism path creation should appreciate such alternative economic thinking existing in the community. In doing so, the paper suggests there is a possibility for less resource-intensive and more locally-led path creation through tourism in the sparsely populated north.


Previous grassland biodiversity experiments were carried out in uniform environments. It is conceivable, however, that biodiversity effects on community characteristics such as primary productivity might be enhanced under more realistic levels of environmental heterogeneity, if this allows complementary resource use by different species in mixture. Therefore, we would expect larger complementarity effects between species in a heterogeneous environment than in a uniform environment. We tested these hypotheses with experiments in four non-overlapping species pools containing the three functional groups grasses, herbs and legumes. We established all species in monoculture, 3and 6-species mixture on plots with horizontally heterogeneous or uniform distribution of the same total amount of soil nutrients. The positive net biodiversity effects on aboveground biomass production were similar in both heterogeneous and uniform environment. When the net biodiversity effects were partitioned into components, however, it became clear that in the heterogeneous environment they were due to increased complementarity among species whereas in the uniform environment dominance of species with high monoculture yield played also an important role.


: An improved septoplasty procedure has been performed on 204 patients, 49 in combination with rhinoplasty. There were 2 minor complications: 1 small perforation and 1 septal hematoma. The use of septal sutures avoids the necessity of postoperative intranasal packing or splints. Magnification, proper lighting, and improved instrumentation have simplified the technique, and a nontraumatic anatomical dissection can more easily be performed on the most complicated septal deformities. By dispensing with intranasal packing, a one-stage septorhinoplasty can be done without fear of producing a widened dorsum from outward pressure of the packs. The sutures also increase the stability of the septum by preventing displacement of the caudal portion during the healing process. Postoperative patient discomfort is minimized, as the airway is not blocked by packs; painful removal of the packs is also eliminated.


Spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression plays an important role in developmental timing in plants and animals. FUSCA3 regulates the transition between different phases of development by acting as a link between different hormonal pathways in Arabidopsis. However, the mechanisms governing its spatiotemporal expression patterns are poorly understood. Here, we show that FUS3 is expressed in the chalaza and funiculus of the mature ovule and seed, but is repressed in the embryo sac, integuments and endosperm. FUS3 repression requires class I BASIC PENTACYSTEINE (BPC) proteins, which directly bind to the FUS3 locus and restrict its expression pattern. During vegetative and reproductive development, derepression of FUS3 in bpc1/2 or pML1:FUS3 misexpression lines results in dwarf plants carrying defective flowers and aborted ovules. Post-fertilization, ectopic FUS3 expression in the endosperm increases endosperm nuclei proliferation and seed size and delays or arrests embryo development. These phenotypes are rescued in bpc1/2 fus3-3. Lastly, class I BPCs interact with FIS-PRC2 (FERTILIZATION-INDEPENDENT SEED-Polycomb Repressive Complex 2), which represses FUS3 in the endosperm. We propose that BPC1/2 promotes the transition from reproductive to seed development by repressing FUS3 in ovule integuments. After fertilization, BPC1/2 and FIS-PRC2 repress FUS3 in the endosperm to coordinate endosperm and embryo growth.


Summary: A small series of high-frequency wavelets overlapping the earliest part of the N20 wave (high-frequency oscillations, HFOs) can be observed in the somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) of normal subjects after filtering then with a high-pass filter (>500 Hz). These HFOs have been related to interneuronal activity in the primary somatosensory cortex. In patients with cortical myoclonus there is a sensorimotor cortical hyperexcitability, expressed neurophysiologically as high-amplitude waves in the SSEPs (giant SSEPs). There have been contradicting reports in the literature on the changes in the HFOs in these patients. The authors studied HFOs in a group of 20 patients with cortical myoclonus of different origins and in a control group by means of time-frequency transforms, comparing the results obtained with the amplitude and latency of the classical SSEP waves. All controls had normal HFOs, with two components. Nine patients had no HFOs, nine patients had low-amplitude and/or delayed HFOs, and the remaining two patients, the only without ataxia, had high-amplitude HFOs with a long latency. These results suggest heterogeneity in the pathophysiology of cortical myoclonus, which might be related to the different systems affected.


Background:
 Hypothyroidism can lead to hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and cardiac dysfunction, which are risk factors for stroke. Activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis may contribute to functional stroke outcomes. Low levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) correlate with an increased risk of ischemic stroke. However, once a stroke occurs, hypothyroidism is associated with more favorable outcomes. It is well known that thyroid hormone levels drop rapidly in critically ill patients ("sick-euthryoid" syndrome), which may be prevented by the exogenous thyroid replacement provided to hypothyroid patients. We directly assessed thyroid function with measurements of TSH, free T3 (fT3) and free T4 (fT4) in patients with ischemic stroke and evaluated acute and long-term outcomes.

 Methods:
 Blood was collected prospectively from patients with radiologically confirmed ischemic stroke (AIS) (n=136) 24 hours after symptom onset. Serum levels of TSH, fT4, and fT3 were quantified by ELISA. Primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and admission NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Secondary outcomes were admission to discharge change in NIHSS, modified Barthel Index (mBI) and modified Rankin score (mRs) at 3 and 12 months (mo), and mortality at 3 and 12 mo.

 Results:
 AIS patients show a negative correlation in fT3 with age (r=-.332,
 p<0.01
 ). AIS patients with a higher pre-stroke mRS had higher levels of fT3, and fT4 ,
 p=0.01, p=0.03
 ). Patients that died or went to hospice had significantly lower levels of fT3 and TSH (1.99pg/ml (1.75-2.48), 0.52 pg/ml (0.30-0.76)).TSH levels were lower in AIS patients with worsened NIHSS (0.72 pg/ml (0.36-1.12)). Higher fT3 levels were significantly associated with better mRS and mBI at 3 and 12 mo (
 p=0.01, p=0.01, p=0.03, p=0.02
 ), whereas lower levels of TSH were significant for worse mRS at 3mo (0.87pg/ml (0.59-1.48)).

 Conclusion:
 While higher levels of fT3 correlate with stroke risk factors, high fT3 is seen in patients with better functional outcome at 3 and 12mo post-stroke. Ischemic stroke patients with low TSH levels at 24 hrs have higher mortality. Thus, monitoring the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis during acute stroke may improve long-term stroke outcomes.


The story of the rise of radicalism in the early nineteenth century has often been simplified into a fable about progressive social change. The diverse social movements of the era - religious, political, regional, national, antislavery, and protemperance - are presented as mere strands in a unified tapestry of labor and democratic mobilization. Taking aim at this flawed view of radicalism as simply the extreme end of a single dimension of progress, Craig Calhoun emphasizes the coexistence of different kinds of radicalism, their tensions, and their implications. "The Roots of Radicalism" reveals the importance of radicalism's links to pre-industrial culture and attachments to place and local communities, as well as the ways in which journalists who had been pushed out of "respectable" politics connected to artisans and other workers. Calhoun shows how much public recognition mattered to radical movements and how religious, cultural, and directly political - as well as economic - concerns motivated people to join up. Reflecting two decades of research into social movement theory and the history of protest, "The Roots of Radicalism" offers compelling insights into the past that can tell us much about the present, from American right-wing populism to democratic upheavals in North Africa.


The concept of umbrella species assumes that concentrating resources on the protection of a single species contributes to the conservation of a suite of species and ecological processes belonging to the same ecosystem. The environmental requirements and geographical distribution of the umbrella species should thus overlap those of the group of targeted species. In western France, the conservation of several large grassland floodplains relies on agri-environmental schemes targeting one single bird species, the corncrake Crex crex. It is considered as an umbrella species but no real assessment of its effectiveness has been carried out so far. We used a two-step methodology to assess the potential of the corncrake to act as an umbrella species by estimating niche overlap in the environmental and geographic space between the main ground-nesting species of the bird community in these grasslands, including the corncrake and four passerines. The five species showed substantial differences in their ecological niches so that their distributions did not perfectly overlap. Overlaps in predicted distributions between pairs of species depended on the threshold used to convert suitability to binary maps. Moreover, the number of species that could be protected by a candidate umbrella species was affected by the overlap criterion of success. Although the corncrake may be used as an umbrella species, it would be outperformed by several passerine species. Our study highlights the potential of using niche overlap to select umbrella species. It also reveals the importance of analysing the sensitivity of outputs when changing thresholds and overlap criteria.

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Trade volume between Pakistan and China largely remained insignificant. It did not constitute a viable economic partnership between the two countries until the first decade of the present century. Bilateral trade could further strengthen Pakistan-China relationship.  China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in effect from July 2007,  introduced a new dimension in the promotion of the bilateral trade. As Pakistan could not devise a dynamic trading policy toward China, this resulted in a huge trade deficit with China after 1984. Pakistani industry and exporters should adopt new measures to increase exports to China and to bring about a reasonable equality in mutual trading relations.


Crowdfunding is a new financing channel for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual entrepreneurs to raise funds for innovation projects online. In reward-based crowdfunding projects sponsors invest money and receive rewards as a return. This paper investigates sponsor satisfaction in reward-based crowdfunding projects. The findings indicate that sponsors' satisfaction is determined by their utilitarian value and hedonic value from the projects. Utilitarian value is significantly related to reward delivery timeliness and the extent to which the reward meets the specifications as planned, while hedonic value may be increased through sponsors' citizenship behaviors in the process of project implementation. This paper contributes empirically to crowdfunding research and has practical implications for crowdfunding platforms and entrepreneurs.


In the context of the proliferation of extremist hate speech in Europe in recent years, legislative provisions have been enacted that inevitably resulted in potentially substantial limitations on the right to freedom of speech. A number of individuals have been subjected to onerous administrative measures in relation to their speech – sometimes after a criminal conviction, sometimes in the absence of criminal law action. Thus, the question of proportionality has inevitably arisen – to what extent can a state legitimately and justifiably restrict the right to freedom of expression in the interests of national security? To put it differently, in respecting its broader social obligation to ensure and preserve security, how much should a state qualify the right to freedom of expression? In addressing these questions, this comparative report will first outline in more detail the applicable international and regional legal obligations and relevant case law in Sections 1 and 2 respectively. Section 3 will focus on the following countries – Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – with particular emphasis on domestic legislative provisions, jurisprudence and national strategies specifically adopted to respond to the risks posed by extreme speakers. It should be noted at the outset that the United Kingdom has legislated against extreme and radical speech within its counter-terrorism legislation. The report will conclude a list of conclusions and closing remarks based on the impact of these domestic practices and legal responses on the right to freedom of expression.


For a given class of materials, universal displacements are those displacements that can be maintained for any member of the class by applying only boundary tractions. In this paper, we study universal displacements in compressible anisotropic linear elastic solids reinforced by a family of inextensible fibers. For each symmetry class and for a uniform distribution of straight fibers respecting the corresponding symmetry, we characterize the respective universal displacements. A goal of this paper is to investigate how an internal constraint affects the set of universal displacements. We have observed that other than the triclinic and cubic solids in the other five classes (a fiber-reinforced solid with straight fibers cannot be isotropic), the presence of inextensible fibers enlarges the set of universal displacements.


A fundamental issue in foraging theory is whether it is possible to find a simple currency that characterizes foraging behaviour. If such a currency exists, then it is tempting to argue that the selective forces that have shaped the evolution of foraging behaviour have been understood. We review previous work on currencies for the foraging behaviour of an animal that maximizes total energy gained. In many circumstances, it is optimal to maximize a suitably modified form of efficiency. We show how energy gain, predation and damage can be combined in a single currency based on reproductive value. We draw attention to the idea that hard work may have an adverse effect on an animal's condition. We develop a model of optimal foraging over a day when a forager's state consists of its energy reserves and its condition. Optimal foraging behaviour in our model depends on energy reserves, condition and time of day. The pattern of optimal behaviour depends strongly on assumptions about the probability that the forager is killed by a predator. If condition is important, no simple currency characterizes foraging behaviour, but behaviour can be understood in terms of the maximization of reproductive value. It may be optimal to adopt a foraging option that results in a rate of energy expenditure that is less than the rate associated with maximizing efficiency.


This paper presents a method for end-to-end cross-lingual text-to-speech (TTS) which aims to preserve the target language's pronunciation regardless of the original speaker's language. The model used is based on a non-attentive Tacotron architecture, where the decoder has been replaced with a normalizing flow network conditioned on the speaker identity, allowing both TTS and voice conversion (VC) to be performed by the same model due to the inherent linguistic content and speaker identity disentanglement. When used in a cross-lingual setting, acoustic features are initially produced with a native speaker of the target language and then voice conversion is applied by the same model in order to convert these features to the target speaker's voice. We verify through objective and subjective evaluations that our method can have benefits compared to baseline cross-lingual synthesis. By including speakers averaging 7.5 minutes of speech, we also present positive results on low-resource scenarios.


Chip testing is an important step of integrated circuits ("chip") manufacturing. It involves applying tests to each manufactured chip using expensive testers (automatic test equipment) to identify and reject bad (malfunctioning) chips. Various types of manufacturing defects (shorts, disconnects, missing vias, etc.) can occur during fabrication and cause a chip to malfunction. Testing not only needs to verify every gate, cell, interconnect, etc. are operational as expected, but also needs to help identify and analyze existing manufacturing defects so that improvements in fabrication, design and even test can be made in a timely manner.The cost of developing high-quality tests is being driven up by the increasing complexity of defect behaviors. New processing technologies introduce new types of defects, some of which only occur in certain circuit/layout configurations. It is no longer possible to detect all types of defects using only conventional stuck-at tests. More sophisticated fault models and test metrics have been developed to guide the test development toward better defect detection, but they also require a significantly larger volume of tests to achieve acceptable coverage. Test engineers need to reduce test volume in order to save test cost (i.e., achieving high test efficiency), and at the same time prevent most bad chips from escaping test (i.e., achieving high test effectiveness). The ability to diagnose a failing chip precisely and accurately (diagnosability) also depends on the tests applied. This important characteristic of test is often downplayed in production testing, but could be very important during yield ramp-up for quickly discovering major yield-loss contributors. In this dissertation, four new methods are developed to improve the state of the art for test development, either in terms of diagnosability, test effectiveness or test efficiency. These methods can be used in conjunction, or individually for achieving a specific prioritized, goal in test development.First, a test-reordering method is developed to improve the diagnosability of production tests. To our knowledge, this is the first-ever work that examine the impact of test order on logic diagnosis. Due to constraints such as limited test time or tester memory, a commonly-used practice during production testing is to only record the first few failing tests or pins for a failing chip. This recording of an incomplete tester response adversely affects the outcome of diagnosis because less information is provided for diagnosis. The proposed test-reordering method tries to find an optimal test ordering that can better distinguish stuck-at faults when recorded tester response is incomplete. Since the set of candidate defect sites is typically obtained based on stuck-at faults, faults that are distinguished from each other are unlikely to become the candidate defect site at the same time, which leads to better outcome for diagnosis.Second, a fault-model evaluation method (DELAY-METER) is developed to improve test effectiveness. Various delay fault models are proposed in previous work to capture defects that escape slow-speed testing, but which models should be used to guide the generation of tests for at-speed testing remain an open question. The conventional method is to evaluate fault-model effectiveness using test experiments involving actual fabricated chips, in other words, tests are developed using various fault models and applied to a population of chips to determine which tests are best at detecting defects. Alternatively, DELAY-METER evaluates the effectiveness of delay fault models using readily-available fail data from production testing, so that an optimal mix of delay fault models can be chosen for at-speed testing.Third, a defect-level prediction model (the DDP model) is developed to balance test effectiveness and test efficiency. Defect level (DL) represents the fraction of defective chips among all chips that pass tests. However DL is difficult to measure directly and be able to predict during test development is of critical importance. Conventional DL prediction models become insufficient when tests are generated from multiple fault models. The DDP model learns the defect detection probability (DDP) of multiple fault models from diagnosis, and combines it with the coverages of multiple fault models to provide a more accurate prediction. The more accurate prediction of DL by the DDP model thus enables a better trade-off analysis between test effectiveness and test efficiency.Finally, a test-selection method is developed to improve test efficiency. Test time reduction (TTR) is a focus of research in test development to save test cost and improve test efficiency. One method for TTR involves identifying a subset of tests from a large baseline test set. Test selection can be performed based on actual tester data measured from tested chips, or data taken from the simulation of the circuit design that has faults/defects injected. Previous work that uses simulation for test selection are only applied to archaic benchmark circuits that are too small to be meaningful. A one-pass test-selection method is developed in this dissertation that identifies a subset of tests that maximize fault-model coverage while requiring relatively limited CPU time and memory.To demonstrate the practical utility of the four methods developed in this dissertation, several real designs from industry are used in various experiment. Specifically, an ASIC and GPU designs and test data taken from a large population of actual fabricated chips are used to experiment the proposed test-reordering method and test-selection method. Experiments results demonstrate the improvement in diagnosability and test efficiency, respectively. The same ASIC design and test data is not only used by DELAY-METER to evaluate the effectiveness of different delay fault models, but also used by the DDP model as both a training data for building a DL-prediction model, and a verification data for verifying the prediction accuracy.


This study overviews the development of 11 Asian equity markets, namely, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Prior to the onset of the global financial crisis, the Asian stock exchanges were generally bullish, underpinned particularly by China's robust economic performance. Innovations in financial products and services have been growing in importance, as stock exchanges in these countries have been making a concerted effort to introduce new features and best practices, with the objectives of raising market efficiency, enhancing service quality, and generally bringing operations up to par with international standards. But the potential to realize or support market efficiency can only be possible within an adequate legal framework, a sound market infrastructure, and appropriate corporate governance mechanisms. Thus, many challenges are still to be overcome in the region.


Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a common developmental anomaly of the human forebrain and midface where the cerebral hemispheres fail to separate into distinct left and right halves. We have previously reported haploinsufficiency for Sonic Hedgehog ( SHH ) as a cause for HPE. We have now performed mutational analysis of the complete coding region and intron-exon junctions of the SHH gene in 344 unrelated affected individuals. Herein, we describe 13 additional unrelated affected individuals with SHH mutations, including nonsense and missense mutations, deletions and an insertion. These mutations occur throughout the extent of the gene. No specific genotype-phenotype association is evident based on the correlation of the type or position of the mutations. In conjunction with our previous studies, we have identified a total of 23 mutations in 344 unrelated cases of HPE. They account for 14 cases of familial HPE and nine cases of sporadic HPE. Mutations in SHH were detected in 10 of 27 (37%) families showing autosomal dominant transmission of the HPE spectrum, based on structural anomalies. Interestingly, three of the patients with an SHH mutation also had abnormalities in another gene that is expressed during forebrain development. We suggest that the interactions of multiple gene products and/or environmental elements may determine the final phenotypic outcome for a given individual and that variations among these factors may cause the wide variability in the clinical features seen in HPE.


The memory colour reproduction is an important factor in judging image quality of photographic images of real life scenes. As the most important memory colour category, skin tone was extensively studied for preferred colour reproduction in this research. The methodology to study skin colour preference was then applied to study the colour preference of two other important colour categories: green foliage and blue sky.

There are three essential parts for preferred skin colour enhancement: 1) building a skin colour model to detect skin colours or skin pixels; 2) finding a preferred skin colour region or a preferred skin colour centre; and 3) developing an algorithm to morph skin colours toward the preferred skin colour region. This study for skin colour enhancement started with the mathematical modelling of the skin colour region for skin colour detection. The modelling of skin colours was then applied to adjust skin colours of test images for psychophysical experiments that were to determine a preferred skin colour region. Finally, the skin colour modelling and the preferred skin colour centres were applied to adjust skin colours of digital photographic images for preferred colour reproduction.

Two approaches were developed to model the skin colour distribution for skin colour detection. The first approach was to model a local colour region for general applications. A convex hull is constructed to fit the geometrical shape of a local region, and then the convex hull is approximated with mathematical formulae. The formulations and data fitting are adjusted with interactive 3-D visualization. The approach is flexible for fitting data gamut with various mathematical forms for different purposes.

The other approach was to model skin colours with elliptical shapes. Three elliptical skin colour models were developed for skin colour detection. The first one is to model the skin colour cluster using a single ellipse ignoring the lightness (or luminance) dependency. It is simple and efficient, and the skin colour detection accuracy may be adequate for many applications. In the second model, the skin colour ellipse is adapted to different lightness so that the shape of the ellipse fits the skin colour cluster more accurately. The model is more complex to train and is less efficient in computation, but it is more accurate in skin colour detection. In the third method, an ellipsoid is trained to fit the skin colour cluster. It is almost as simple to train as the first model, but the skin colour detection accuracy is improved. Finally, these models were applied to train mixed skin colours, African skin colours, Caucasian skin colours, and Asian skin colours.


The large scale structure bispectrum in the squeezed limit couples large with small scales. Since relativity is important at large scales and non-linear loop corrections are important at small scales, the proper calculation of the observed bispectrum in this limit requires a non-linear relativistic calculation. We compute the matter bispectrum in general relativity in the weak field approximation. The calculation is as involved as existing second-order results. We find several differences with the Newtonian calculation such as the non-cancellation of IR divergences, the need to renormalize the background, and the fact that initial conditions must be set at second order in perturbation theory. For the bispectrum, we find relativistic corrections to be as large as the newtonian result in the squeezed limit. In that limit relativistic one-loop contributions, which we compute for the first time, can be as large as tree level results and have the same 1/k2 dependence as a primordial local non-Gaussianity signal where k is the momentum approaching zero. Moreover, we find the time dependence of the relativistic corrections to the bispectrum to be the same as that of a primordial non-Gaussianity signal.


The response of the European climate to the Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV) remains difficult to isolate in observations because of the presence of strong internal variability and anthropogenically forced signals. Using model sensitivity experiments proposed within the CMIP6/Decadal Climate Prediction Project Component C (DCPP-C) framework, the wintertime AMV–Europe teleconnection is here investigated in large ensembles of pacemaker-type simulations conducted with the CNRM-CM5 global circulation model. To evaluate the sensitivity of the model response to the AMV amplitude, twin experiments with the AMV forcing pattern multiplied by 2 and 3 (2xAMV and 3xAMV, respectively) are performed in complement to the reference ensemble (1xAMV). Based on a flow analog method, we show that the AMV-forced atmospheric circulation tends to cool down the European continent, whereas the residual signal, mostly including thermodynamical processes, contributes to warming. In 1xAMV, both terms cancel each other, explaining the overall weak AMV-forced atmospheric signal. In 2xAMV and 3xAMV, the thermodynamical contribution overcomes the dynamical cooling and is responsible for milder and wetter conditions found at large scale over Europe. The thermodynamical term includes the advection of warmer and more humid oceanic air penetrating inland and the modification of surface radiative fluxes linked to both altered cloudiness and snow-cover reduction acting as a positive feedback with the AMV amplitude. The dynamical anomalous circulation combines 1) a remote response to enhanced diabatic heating acting as a Rossby wave source in the western tropical Atlantic and 2) a local response associated with warmer SST over the subpolar gyre favoring an anomalous high. The extratropical influence is reinforced by polar amplification due to sea ice melting in all the subarctic seas. The weight between the tropical–extratropical processes and associated feedbacks is speculated to partly explain the nonlinear sensibility of the response to the AMV forcing amplitude, challenging thus the use of the so-called pattern-scaling technique to evaluate teleconnectivity and related impacts associated with decadal variability.


Science teaching-anxiety and science teaching-efficacy are influential factors in teachers' teaching practices and behaviors. In order to encourage elementary teachers to do better teaching practice, this study identified factors that have caused teachers' science teaching-anxiety, developed an instrument measuring science teaching-anxiety, and investigated the relationship between science teaching-anxiety and science teaching-efficacy. In addition, we attempted to suggest practical implications to enhance teachers' confidence in science teaching. The guiding research questions were 1) which factors affect science teaching-anxiety level of the preservice elementary teachers, and 2) how each factor of science teaching-anxiety is related to science teaching-efficacy. The subjects were 133 Korean preservice elementary teachers (57.1% were female) in a large city. The data sources included teachers' responses to three paper and pencil questionnaires: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Science Teaching-Anxiety Questionnaire (STAQ), and Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B). To clarify the science teaching-anxiety, we specified it into six factors: trait anxiety about nature of science and science teaching, state anxiety about instruction, science activities, student assessment, and professional responsibilities. The results indicated three significant aspects of science teaching anxiety and efficacy. First, their level of anxiety about professional responsibility and science teaching was relatively high among six factors. Second, there was a negative correlation between science teaching-anxiety and science teaching-efficacy. Third, trait anxiety about science teaching is the most influential factor for science teaching-efficacy while state anxiety about instruction and professional responsibilities were followed.


Mold steel 3Cr2Mo has been used widely in manufacturing of plastic mold formed parts, owing to fine mechanical properties. However, it is also very difficult to cut mold formed parts of steel 3Cr2Mo due to high hardness. Ordinary NC cutting method of steel 3Cr2Mo is unable to relate to modern mold manufacturing due to bad cutting property, so it is extremely significant for improving cutting property of steel 3Cr2Mo to study the high speed milling technology. On the basis of improving the traditional cutting force formula, the mathematical model of high speed milling force for steel 3Cr2Mo was derived and solved by using the experimental data and constructing matrix equation based on MATLAB software. Comparing with experimental data, the error of mathematical model of high speed milling force could be controlled within 6 percent. Due to high precision the model of high speed milling force can meet practical engineering requirement and has great value in the fields of CAD/CAM/CAE.


The last two decades have seen remarkable progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology particularly in the synthesis of metal nanomaterials, aiming at finding better materials that have desired physical and chemical properties from enhancement of the surface and quantum confinement effects. Intermetallic aluminides such as Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles have attractive properties for examples low densities, high strength and stiffness at elevated temperatures, strong resistances to mechanical, corrosion, acids and alkalis, and outstanding catalytic activity. They are of significant for wide potential applications in pigments, catalysts, and absorbents for Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles and in turbine blades, automobile engines, aircraft,electricity generation, and anode electrode materials for Al-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles. Such impressive characteristics and applications of Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles have led us to research their functional systems with the objectives to synthesize Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles and characterize their morphological and crystal structures, optical properties, and reduction mechanism by examining the influence of absorbed dose and initial precursors concentration on the yield, particle size, size distribution, and conduction band energy of the synthesized nanocrystals. Colloidal Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles may be synthesized using various methods, including the chemical, photochemical, electrochemical, sonochemical, and radiolytic reduction techniques. Of these techniques, the radiation-induced synthesis offers additional benefits over the other conventional methods because it produces fully reduced and highly pure bimetallic nanoparticles with free from by-products or reducing agents, and is capable of controlling the particle size. In this work, colloidal Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles were synthesized by gamma irradiation technique in aqueous solutions containing metal chlorides as precursors, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a capping agent, isopropyl alcohol as a radical scavenger of hydroxyl radicals, and distilled water as a solvent. The initial precursor concentrations were between 3.5×10-5 and 4.5×10-5mol/mL for AlCl3 and between 1.5×10-5 and 1.9×10-5mol/mL for both NiCl2 and CuCl2 with Al/Ni and Al/Cu mole ratios of 20/80, 30/70, 50/50, 70/30, and 80/20. All the samples were irradiated with 1.25-MeV 60Co gamma rays at absorbed doses from 50 to 100 kGy for colloidal Al-Ni nanoparticles and from 60 to 120 kGy for colloidal Al-Cu nanoparticles. Gamma rays interact with matter in aqueous solution to produce secondary electrons, which induced reactive species such as solvated electrons and radicals by hydrolysis of water. These electrons and radicals are strong reducing agents that reduce metal ions into zero-valent atoms, the mechanism controlled by the redox potentials of the ions before the atoms agglomerated to form metal nanoparticles. The formation Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles were characterized by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV-visible absorption spectrometry. The XRD, TEM, and absorption analyses confirmed the formation of Al–Ni bimetallic alloy nanoparticles at all mole ratio, Al-Cu bimetallic alloy nanoparticles at lower Al/Cu molar ratio, and a mixture of Al-Cu bimetallic and bimetallic core-shell nanoparticles at higher Al/Cu mole ratio. The TEM analysis for particle size and size distribution revealed that the average particle size of Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles decreased with the increase of absorbed dose and increased with the increase of precursor concentrations. The average diameter d decreases exponentially with dose D and increases exponentially with precursor concentration C can be represented by an empirical equation ⁄ and (⁄ ) respectively.The smallest particle sizes of 4.4 and 3.7 nm have been achieved for Al-Ni and Al-Cu nanoparticles respectively, which were obtained at the lowest precursor concentration and the highest absorbed dose. At higher doses, the amount of nucleation is more than unreduced ions and smaller particle sizes are produced. On the other hand, at lower doses nucleation events are less than the total initial metal ions and large particle sizes are produced owing to the fact that metal nanoparticles can be ionized again into larger ions before the metal ions reduce into larger metal nanoparticles by solvated electrons. At higher precursor concentrations the amount of unreduced ions is more than the amount of nucleation induced by radiation and larger particle sizes are produced. The optical absorption spectra reveal that the absorption peaks blue shifted from 391 to 377 nm with the increase of dose from 50 to 100 kGy for Al-Ni nanoparticles and from 580 to 576 nm with the increase of dose from 60 to 120 kGy for Al-Cu nanoparticles,owing to a decrease of particle size with increasing dose. It was confirmed by the TEM measurements. This quantum confinement effect permits the conduction band energy increases from 3.17 to 3.29 eV for Al-Ni nanoparticles and from 2.139 to 2.154 eV for Al-Cu nanoparticles with decreasing particle sizes. In conclusion, it was found that the absorbed dose and the precursors' molar ratio and concentration are key parameters to influence the composition, crystalline structure, particle size, size distribution, and optical properties the final products of colloidal Al-Ni and Al-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles stabilized in PVA. This is because the competition between nucleation, growth, and agglomeration processes in the formation of nanoclusters during and after irradiation by 1.25 MeV gamma rays.


Author(s): Seger, Kerri Dawn | Advisor(s): Thode, Aaron M | Abstract: The past two centuries have seen an increased exploitation of marine habitats by humans, so a growing appreciation of the role ambient noise plays in cetacean studies has resulted. To achieve a broad acoustical view of understudied areas (namely Mexican waters), this dissertation tackles three overarching principles: (1) parameterizing current baseline ambient acoustic environments for subsequent comparisons, (2) determining whether the sounds that animals introduce into their environments can provide employable information for population estimation purposes, and (3) cataloguing and characterizing the sounds whales use to communicate so they can later be compared across time, geography, and ambient noise levels. Only when we have a handle on the relative contributions of anthropogenic, physical / geological, and biological sounds in a whales habitat can we begin to understand how each source may elicit and / or change their calling behaviors.Chapter 2 uses an 8-year acoustic dataset from Laguna San Ignacio (LSI), Mexico, to investigate a complex acoustic environment, and to quantify the extent that human-generated noise contributes to this environment relative to natural sound sources. This lagoon has been deemed to be a critical habitat for breeding whales and calving mothers, so vessel traffic is minimized and regulated. I found that humans contribute some noise to the lagoon, but crepuscular snapping shrimp and dusk-centric croaker fish are more intense and pervasive. Therefore, my research validates current management policies for the lagoon and provides a baseline account of a stable acoustic environment that can be compared to future years, should tourist traffic increase.Chapter 3 develops a model to estimate humpback whale density using ambient noise arising from the songs of many individual animals. What initially began as an analytical model for wind-generated ambient noise, using a collection of randomly distributed sources near the surface, was adapted for randomly-distributed calling whales. The model was tested using data collected in the Los Cabos region of Mexico, which is a breeding ground and part of the migration route for the North Pacific substock. A Generalized Linear Model was used to link humpback-generated ambient noise intensity to concurrent visual surveys. I found that the analytical model provided good predictions of how the intensity of humpback-generated noise varies as a function of acoustic frequency, singer population size, and singer spatial density. In particular, the ambient noise model accurately predicted that singing humpback whales maintain the same separation distance from each other, regardless of singer population size.Chapter 4 assembles a catalogue of social calls used by humpback whales in the same Los Cabos region and compares them to known social calls from Alaska, Hawaii, and Australia. By using acoustic tags to collect twenty-one samples from three different social group types over two years, I was able to determine the geographical uniqueness, call rate, repertoire diversity, and repertoire entropy of the whales in that breeding ground. I then determined the variability of these behaviors between differently composed social groups. This work provides a starting point for subsequent studies of social calling behavior of Mexican whales, such as temporal changes in social call repertoire, behavioral context of calls between different social groups, and geographical comparisons between the acoustic composition of other humpback whale habitats.By tackling all three of these acoustic principles, this dissertation aims to set the stage for understanding ambient noise as part of cetacean habitats by laying out how to measure it, how to use it to our advantage, and how to characterize and compare calls within it. With the new novel tools to quantify sound sources in ambient acoustic environments and to monitor population levels that this dissertation provides, my future research can delve into exploring any geographic and temporal commonalities and disparities.


An urban design studio conducted in Barcelona in 2016 put into practice the generative forces of organic urbanism. In a collective site appropriation workshop held at the outset, groups of students physically claimed land plots using stakes and fixed lengths of boundary tape, thereby designing and drawing a provisional urban plan at full scale. Throughout an iterative studio process, ongoing conflict and negotiated trade-offs eventually resulted in the highly resolved urban and architectural design of a neighborhood. The course demonstrated the possibility of simulating a genuinely organic urban design process consistent with theories of architectural ethology, specifically Evolutionary Aesthetics of architecture.


Background Although antimicrobial peptides protect mucus and mucosa from bacteria, Helicobacter pylori is able to colonize the gastric mucus. To clarify in which extend Helicobacter escapes the antimicrobial defense, we systematically assessed susceptibility and expression levels of different antimicrobial host factors in gastric mucosa with and without H. pylori infection. Materials and Methods We investigated the expression levels of HBD1 (gene name DEFB1), HBD2 (DEFB4A), HBD3 (DEFB103A), HBD4 (DEFB104A), LL37 (CAMP) and elafin (PI3) by real time PCR in gastric biopsy samples in a total of 20 controls versus 12 patients colonized with H. pylori. Immunostaining was performed for HBD2 and HBD3. We assessed antimicrobial susceptibility by flow cytometry, growth on blood agar, radial diffusion assay and electron microscopy. Results H. pylori infection was associated with increased gastric levels of the inducible defensin HBD2 and of the antiprotease elafin, whereas the expression levels of the constitutive defensin HBD1, inducible HBD3 and LL37 remained unchanged. HBD4 was not expressed in significant levels in gastric mucosa. H. pylori strains were resistant to the defensins HBD1 as well as to elafin, and strain specific minimally susceptible to HBD2, whereas HBD3 and LL37 killed all H. pylori strains effectively. We demonstrated the binding of HBD2 and LL37 on the surface of H. pylori cells. Comparing the antibacterial activity of extracts from H. pylori negative and positive biopsies, we found only a minimal killing against H. pylori that was not increased by the induction of HBD2 in H. pylori positive samples. Conclusion These data support the hypothesis that gastric H. pylori evades the host defense shield to allow colonization.