The contribution of soft institutional change to improve freshwater governance in the coastal zone will be examined. Freshwater management seeks to reduce losses due to overexploitation of the common-pool resources provided by river catchments and their associated ecosystems. Due to the complexity of the governance system, improving the performance of one coastal social-ecological system means searching for the appropriate "soft" institutional change. In the Pertuis Charentais region, increasing scarcity of freshwater in summer threatens the health of the coastal ecosystem and the sustainability of human activities, which depend on the use of natural resources. The allocation of freshwater among competing uses or concerns is a core issue for integrated coastal zone management. To address this issue, we have constructed an analytical framework that combines the ecosystem services approach with the institutional analysis of common-pool resources, and have developed an integrated simulation tool based on the system dynamic modeling approach. Freshwater scarcity generates three kinds of user conflict: (1) conflict between two extractive uses of freshwater (irrigation and drinking water), (2) conflicts between extractive uses (provisioning services) and other services (support, regulatory, and cultural) provided by freshwater, and (3) competition within a given activity sector (agriculture or shellfish farming). Participation by local managers led to the identification of realistic soft institutional changes that might mitigate conflicts and improve the governance system. These possible institutional changes were then integrated as fixed exogenous parameters in the simulation model. The simulated scenarios suggest that innovative collective arrangements involving farmers could be an alternative to other more restrictive top-down measures. This participatory experiment also illustrates the potential of social-ecological modeling for exploring acceptable new institutional arrangements.


Background: The majority of treatment research on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has focused on emotional processing theory (EPT)-based exposure-based interventions. Despite the outcomes of EPT-based exposure and response prevention (ERP), a sizeable percentage of patients do not respond whereas 50%–60% of those who respond experience at least partial relapse at follow-up assessments. Inhibitory learning theory (ILT) provides a novel foundation for understanding how exposure therapy can be maximized to overcome such deficits but has not been adequately studied and compared to other evidence-based management in OCD. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare ILT-based ERP plus selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) with only SSRI treatment in OCD patients. Materials and Methods: The present study is pretest/posttest control group design with single masking, where participants (n = 32) diagnosed with OCD were randomly assigned into two treatment groups, namely ILT-based ERP plus SSRI and SSRI alone. Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale was primary outcome measure. Intervention was done for 3 months. Thereafter, the participants were followed up for 6 months. Results: ILT-based ERP and SSRI are both effective treatments. There was no significant difference in treatment effects between combined treatments of SSRI plus ILT-based ERP and SSRI alone in immediate post assessment. However, combined treatment of SSRI plus ILT-based ERP had significantly better treatment effects on follow-ups than SSRI alone. Conclusions: SSRI combined with ILT-based strategies to maximize ERP is significantly better than SSRI alone in the treatment of OCD.


Food intake is one of the principal exposure routes of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in humans. This study focuses on fish consumption as a PBDE exposure route. A probabilistic intake assessment of PBDEs and healthy long chain omega-3 PUFAs (LC n-3 PUFAs) was conducted for Belgian fish consumers in order to study the balance of the intake of LC n-3 PUFAs and PBDEs. Based on the observed fish consumption level in the sample, the mean intake of brominated diphenyl ether (BDE)-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, and 154 via fish was 0.85 ng/kg body weight (bw)/day and the intake of LC n-3 PUFAs was 3.45 mg/kg bw/day, being low compared to the recommendations. Scenario analyses showed that consuming 150 g salmon twice a week is advisable to achieve the recommended LC n-3 PUFA intake with a rather low PBDE intake. When replacing 150 g salmon by herring, the PBDE intake is higher without an increase in LC n-3 PUFAs. In contrast, the combination of cod and salmon leads to a similar PBDE intake compared to twice a week salmon, but to a lower LC n-3 PUFA intake. In conclusion, the methodology presented in the paper allows balancing benefits and risks related to fish consumption.


A computer model for simulating experiments done on surface organelles(so called pili) on the Escherichia Coli bacteria have been developedand implemented. The objective of the computer simulation wasto mimic the results of experiments done with optical tweezers and to displaya graphical, three dimensional, representation of these experiments.The experiments measured the force response to elongation of pili.This force response can be divided into three regions of elongation, regionI, II and III, each with different properties. Region I is characterized by aconstant increase in force, in region II the pilus is unfolded under constantforce, and in region III the force versus elongation curve assumes a nontrivialshape with increasing force. The pili are also able to retract to itsoriginal length giving a similar force response curve. The computer modelshould be able to handle all these properties. The developed model couldhandle elongation in region I and II. In region III, the force response givenby the simulation differed from the one given by the experiments.


Performance of employees in the Ministry of Health, Nairobi City County has been dismal. There have been instances of inability amongst employees to meet deadlines, low efficiency, and dismal productivity. The objectives of the study included; assessing the influence of recruitment, career management, reward and performance appraisal practices on performance of employees in the Ministry of Health. The study was guided by the strategic management and performance theories. The study adopted mixed methods approach and thus applied descriptive research design. The target population comprised of 15 Departmental Heads and 425 employees all totaling to 440. Using the Central Limit Theorem, 132 respondents, that is, 30.0% of 440, was selected. Stratified sampling was applied to create five strata based on the number of departments in the Ministry of Health Nairobi. Heads of department will be selected using purposive sampling whereas 25 employees will be selected from each department using simple random sampling to avoid bias. This procedure enabled the researcher to realize a sample of 5 heads of departments and 127 employees. The questionnaire was used to collect data from employees whereas interviews with heads of departments. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically along the objectives and presented in narrative forms whereas quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using frequencies and percentages and inferentially analyzed using ANOVA Test Analysis with the help of SPSS Version 23. The study established that, at the Ministry of Health in Nairobi County, employees' efficiency, productivity and ability to meet deadlines are low. It is also evident that strategic human resource management practices such as recruitment, career management, reward and performance appraisal practices have not been fully exhausted. Thus, the study recommends that the Ministry of Health should endeavor to train their employees in order to improve the organizational performance. The Ministry of Health should provide employees opportunity to make decisions on how to go about their tasks, seeking employees' input in managerial decisions, delegating to them tasks that they can handle, equipping them with skills required by their jobs, setting achievable targets and incorporating employees in fair evaluation of performance, salary increase and fair administration of rewards. Job performance should be considered in determining the compensation of employee's performance.


Housing is important to Canadian women as they generally have lower incomes than men, they live longer, and are more likely to live alone. With a mix of private and shared spaces, cohousing is an option worth exploring as an option for women baby boomers as residents share resources and support. The aim of this study was to discover how common areas in cohousing contribute to a sense of belonging for women baby boomers in cohousing. This exploratory research was based on an interdisciplinary review of literature in design and architecture and qualitative data collection. Findings suggest that for women baby boomers in cohousing the opportunity for sense of belonging is created through the coalescence of many factors, including common space, interactions, meaning and time. The findings will be of interest to designers and architects interested in cohousing as a housing option for some women baby boomers.


A 22-year-old man presented with a painful 'clunking' sensation in the right mid-clavicle, and pain and dysaesthesia along the medial aspect of his right arm and hand. Three months earlier, he had been involved in a vehicle accident and sustained a right clavicle fracture. He had a large step off of the right clavicle with a medialisation of the right shoulder. At 90° abduction in external rotation of both shoulders he developed pain, paraesthesia and disappearance of the right radial artery pulsation. CT of the right shoulder in the neutral position demonstrated the clavicle-to-first rib distance of 5.5 mm, MRI showed the clavicular bone callus had a mass effect with effacement of anterior fat adjacent to the brachial plexus cords. He was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and underwent a corrective right clavicle osteotomy with the use of an AcuMed superior clavicle plate.


Human-Object Interaction (HOI) recognition, due to its significance in many computer vision-based applications, requires in-depth and meaningful details from image sequences. Incorporating semantics in scene understanding has led to a deep understanding of human-centric actions. Therefore, in this research work, we propose a semantic HOI recognition system based on multi-vision sensors. In the proposed system, the de-noised RGB and depth images, via Bilateral Filtering (BLF), are segmented into multiple clusters using a Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) algorithm. The skeleton is then extracted from segmented RGB and depth images via Euclidean Distance Transform (EDT). Human joints, extracted from the skeleton, provide the annotations for accurate pixel-level labeling. An elliptical human model is then generated via a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). A Conditional Random Field (CRF) model is trained to allocate a specific label to each pixel of different human body parts and an interaction object. Two semantic feature types that are extracted from each labeled body part of the human and labelled objects are: Fiducial points and 3D point cloud. Features descriptors are quantized using Fisher's Linear Discriminant Analysis (FLDA) and classified using K-ary Tree Hashing (KATH). In experimentation phase the recognition accuracy achieved with the Sports dataset is 92.88%, with the Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU) 3D HOI dataset is 93.5% and with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) RGB+D dataset it is 94.16%. The proposed system is validated via extensive experimentation and should be applicable to many computer-vision based applications such as healthcare monitoring, security systems and assisted living etc.


OBJECTIVE
We examined the evidence of systematic reviews in the Cochrane Library on interventions that influence the duration of labor.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Of the 208 Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth systematic reviews, 69 deal with labor and birth of which 20 address the effect of intrapartum interventions. We analyzed the reviews with respect to those interventions that affected the duration of birth.

RESULTS
Six reviews, related to 5 interventions (amniotomy, epidural analgesia, continuous support, amnioinfusion, and maternal position), reported a significant effect on the duration of labor. Six found no significant effect on labor duration. The remaining eight reviews did not assess the effect of the intervention on labor duration.

DISCUSSION
Interventions that have a significant influence on labor duration may interact with each other. Therefore, perinatal databases should ascertain not only if but also when an intervention has been performed.


How have social media changed celebrity and fandom? Using the case study of Marina Abramovic, whose 2010 live performance at the Museum of Modern Art catapulted her into celebrity, "Celebrity 2.0" presents four theses about celebrity in order to identify which features of modern celebrity have remained fairly constant for over a century and which have been significantly altered by the advent of digital media.


Background: Leiomyomas are the most prevalent benign tumors of the uterus and are seen more with increasing age. 50 mg biweekly dose was compared with 25 mg daily dose in terms of efficacy and safety in symptomatic women as the biweekly dose maybe an economically better alternative. Two different dosages of mifepristone for medical management of fibroids were compared in terms of efficacy and safety in symptomatic women. Materials and Methods: Ninety-two women were recruited who fulfilled the criteria after informed consent and were randomized in two groups. Sample size was calculated on the basis of earlier literature, for response in terms of reduction in fibroid volume, assuming 1% level of significance and 95 % power of study, the optimum sample size came out to be minimum 27 in each group. Assuming loss to follow up of few patients, we took 45 patients in group 1 and 47 patients in group 2. Group 1 was given mifepristone in a dose of 25 mg once a day and Group 2 was given mifepristone 50 mg biweekly for 3 months. Fibroid volume, uterine volume, endometrial thickness, pictorial blood loss assessment chart score, hemoglobin levels, and liver transaminases were recorded at the beginning and at the end of treatment. Side effects were noted at the end of the treatment. Results: Both the dosages lead to improvement in symptoms of the patients. Mifepristone significantly reduced fibroid volume in both the groups, but the difference between the groups was not significant (P = 0.99). Mifepristone treatment significantly reduced bleeding and increased hemoglobin levels in both the groups. The side effects were mild and tolerable. Conclusion: Mifepristone in both dosages is highly efficacious in causing amenorrhea, improving anemia, and enhancing the quality of life, and hence 50 mg biweekly dosage shows potential for being cost efficient.


The main objective of this thesis is to provide the reader a basic knowledge about the issue of effective and nominal corporate tax rates. The theoretical part is concerned with the different approaches to the effective tax rates and with the corresponding methods of their calculation. The main contribution of the thesis presents the empirical part, which tries to assess the real corporate tax burden of Czech companies. The data required for the computation were collected according to PX stock-index and we applied the methods of backwardlooking micro approach. The obtained results were subjected to a thorough analysis. In fact, the companies taking part in the research pay on average the income tax 17,07% in the period 2008-2012, which is significantly lower than the nominal tax rate 19%. Although the current academic literature reports about steadily declining effective tax rates, it does not correspond to our results. The reason for this might be caused by the nature of micro method used, that reflects the sensitivity of the economic cycle's development. The observed period in the research coincides with the time of the world economic crisis, that may inflict an undesirable bias. JEL Classification F15, F23, F43 H25


Background Treatments of chorea in patients with HD have limited efficacy and side-effects. AFQ056, a selective metabotropic glutamate receptor-5 antagonist shown to reduce levodopa-induced dyskinesia in PD, was hypothesised to reduce chorea in HD. Objective To assess anti-choreatic efficacy, safety, and tolerability of AFQ056 (Mavoglurant) in HD. Methods This was a 32-day randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo (pbo)-controlled, proof-of-concept study. Patients were 30–85 years old, with HD (CAG ≥36) in clinical stage I–III, and maximal chorea sum score >10 in the UHDRS-TMS. Patients were randomised (1:1) to AFQ056 (Days 1–12, titration 25–150mg bid; Days 13–28, 150mg bid; Days 29–32, 50mg bid) or pbo. Primary objectives were to assess efficacy of AFQ056 vs pbo at Day 28 on UHDRS-TMS maximal chorea sum score and orientation index (non-dominant hand) from quantitative-motor (Q-Motor) grasping task and to assess safety and tolerability of AFQ056. Key secondary efficacy assessments included total UHDRS-TMS, UHDRS-TMS Luria score, UHDRS-TMS finger taps, and additional Q-Motor measures. Results Overall 42 patients (mean age 55.2 years, HD duration 6.6 years) were randomised. At Day 28, there were no significant improvements on UHDRS-TMS maximal chorea sum score (p = 0.155) or orientation index (non-dominant hand, p = 0.626) in AFQ056-treated patients vs pbo. A significant reduction in Q-Motor speeded-tapping variability was observed favouring AFQ056 vs pbo (p = 0.011) and reverting at study end; this was accompanied by UHDRS-TMS finger-tapping scores showing a trend towards improvement. No significant treatment effects were observed at Day 28 on other key secondary endpoints. Adverse events were reported by 14 and 12 AFQ056- and pbo-treated patients, respectively. Conclusions AFQ056 did not reduce involuntary choreatic movements in HD. The Q-Motor findings in speeded-tapping may reflect an improvement in fine motor coordination, but their clinical relevance is unknown. Overall, AFQ056 was well tolerated. Study supported by Novartis Pharma AG.


Lawyering and Positive Professional Identities aims to help law students successfully navigate the demands of law studies and legal practice through the development of positive professional legal identities. It does this by focusing on the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for law students to be motivated and engaged learners, and psychologically healthy individuals.

The text will fill an important gap for many law schools seeking to enact the threshold learning outcomes for law by addressing these important topics in their curricula. It is a valuable guide for all law students who wish to maximise their success and chances of thriving at law school and beyond.

Positive lawyering knowledge and practice are central themes of this book, with a particular emphasis on lawyers' roles as upholders of the rule of law, as dispute resolvers and as ethical professionals. Throughout, the authors provide practical, experience-based advice on the development of core skills for legal education and practice.


This paper estimates the change in policy multipliers in the U.S. relative to their pre-2008 financial crisis levels using an augmented Blanchard-Perotti model to allow for the dynamic effects of shocks to the central bank balance sheet, real interest rates and debt levels on economic activity. Given the elevated debt level and significantly larger central bank balance sheet in the U.S. after 2008, the paper estimates the likely impact of new stimulus packages. We find that expenditure multipliers have fallen post-2008 crisis because of higher government debt, implying that the effectiveness of fiscal policy has declined. The analysis also investigates the impact of quantitative easing. The results suggest that it is beneficial, but requires sizable balance sheet interventions to lead to noticeable effects on real GDP. The results are used to assess the impact of the policy packages to address COVID-19. Because of rising debt stocks, dealing with a crisis is becoming more and more costly despite the current low interest rate environment. JEL Classification Numbers: E60, E62, E63, C51


In this paper I argue that chiefs created the contemporary fashion of ceremonial sites (marae) and that this was a phenomenon that we may call the zeitgeist (spirit of the time) of the Society Islands that extended far beyond the local sphere. This is based on the fact that memory based societies are driven by spontaneous subjective actions, which allow such changes, since only accepted ideas are remembered. A House Society model is explored to explain how certain chiefs successfully dominated larger areas and expressed power through domestic and ritual material remains. Their status position in society made it possible for the chiefs to exclude, as well as to include, others by help of such material expressions as well as by threats of war, through their war god missionaries, the arioi society. Intermarriages between powerful chiefly houses in different islands have been additional important factors to form alliances and create access to land e.g. to legitimize power relations. Ceremonial sites, generally called marae, were the important material expression of this power game. They were the focal points of important decisions in society, and the place where humans met with the gods. They were ritual sites, as well as memorial places tied to genealogies, mythologies and land titles. These monuments went through constant changes since re-building and additions were necessary to keep their functions alive.


ABSTRACT There is controversy as to whether the cell entry mechanism of Sindbis virus (SIN) involves direct fusion of the viral envelope with the plasma membrane at neutral pH or uptake by receptor-mediated endocytosis and subsequent low-pH-induced fusion from within acidic endosomes. Here, we studied the membrane fusion activity of SIN in a liposomal model system. Fusion was followed fluorometrically by monitoring the dilution of pyrene-labeled lipids from biosynthetically labeled virus into unlabeled liposomes or from labeled liposomes into unlabeled virus. Fusion was also assessed on the basis of degradation of the viral core protein by trypsin encapsulated in the liposomes. SIN fused efficiently with receptor-free liposomes, consisting of phospholipids and cholesterol, indicating that receptor interaction is not a mechanistic requirement for fusion of the virus. Fusion was optimal at pH 5.0, with a threshold at pH 6.0, and undetectable at neutral pH, supporting a cell entry mechanism of SIN involving fusion from within acidic endosomes. Under optimal conditions, 60 to 85% of the virus fused, depending on the assay used, corresponding to all of the virus bound to the liposomes as assessed in a direct binding assay. Preincubation of the virus alone at pH 5.0 resulted in a rapid loss of fusion capacity. Fusion of SIN required the presence of both cholesterol and sphingolipid in the target liposomes, cholesterol being primarily involved in low-pH-induced virus-liposome binding and the sphingolipid catalyzing the fusion process itself. Under low-pH conditions, the E2/E1 heterodimeric envelope glycoprotein of the virus dissociated, with formation of a trypsin-resistant E1 homotrimer, which kinetically preceded the fusion reaction, thus suggesting that the E1 trimer represents the fusion-active conformation of the viral spike.


The article looks at Holocaust related death lists in the permanent exhibition of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial Museum. The museum opened to the general public in October of 2007. I argue that Holocaust lists are best understood as memorial objects which project a particular kind of aura. This aura also surrounds the sacral and criminal landscape of Bergen-Belsen, which the lists have come to represent and mediate. It is the relationship of list to landscape that structures their shared auratic resonances, in the interplay between presence (what is documented in the list) and absence (names that have been destroyed, never to be retrieved). In the case of the lists of Bergen-Belsen this is even more nuanced, in that there were two landscapes where the detritus of the genocide unfolded: the iconic mass graves of Belsen and the displaced persons camp, several kilometers down the road from the concentration camp, where the sick and dying were transported after the liberation. Given that there is no original list of the dead in the mass graves of the concentration camp, the death lists in the displaced persons camp take on a more complex memorial meaning. In conclusion, I make the argument that the memorial experience of Bergen-Belsen is a useful template from which to view other transnational sites of destruction and crimes against humanity.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the anti-proliferation and anti-angiogenesis effect of curcumin-K30 solid dispersion (Cur-K30) on tumors in vivo.

METHODS
Growth inhibition rates of the tumor cells was measured with MTT method. Tumor inhibition was detected by tumors transplanted subcutaneously in mice treated with Cur-K30 [50, 100, and 200 mg/(kg · d)]. The expressions of CD34 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were assessed by immunohistochemical study, and analyzed by Imageproplus software.

RESULTS
Cur-K30 had inhibitory effect on different tumor cell lines in a dose dependent manner with IC₅₀ values from 6.6 to 12.12 μg/mL. The in vivo study showed that the inhibitory rates of the 200 mg/(kg · d) Cur-K30 group on H22, B16, and SW480 were 43.2%, 53.1%, and 59.8%, respectively, which were all much higher than the inhibitory rates of curcumin suspension group with the same dose. Compared with the control group, the expression of CD34 and VEGF in SW480 tumors was down-regulated in the 200 mg/(kg · d) Cur-K30 group (P <0.01).

CONCLUSION
The proliferation inhibition of Cur-K30 is higher than curcumin in vivo, and the most significant effect is obtained in SW480 tumors transplanted subcutaneously in nude mice. Down-regulation of VEGF and decreased microvascular density may contribute to the anti-tumor effect of Cur-K30.


Objective: To investigate whether methamphetamine use is associated with sexual risk behavior among adolescents. Method: A cross-sectional survey of 1,561 male and female high school students in Cape Town (mean age 14.9 years) was conducted using items from the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT) HIV Risk Scale. Results: Nine percent of the students had tried methamphetamine and 30% of male and 17% of female students reported sexual debut. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that methamphetamine use in the past year was significantly associated with being in a higher HIV/STI risk category (RRR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.10–4.03, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Methamphetamine use, coupled with a high HIV prevalence in South Africa, raises serious cause for concern about the potential for methamphetamine to further exacerbate the prevalence and spread of HIV in Cape Town.


The ultrafast bouncing motion of a liquid droplet has been investigated for droplet manipulation with a single droplet actuator using an electrostatic force for the first time. Under an electrostatic field, various kinds of liquid droplets (e.g. deionized water and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) solution) were rapidly bounced between two superhydrophobic electrodes, one from a capacitive electrode and another from a stage electrode. They were formed by sequential processes of a galvanic displacement method and the coating of a self-assembled monolayer on circular-patterned Cu films on a printed circuit board substrate. The frequency of the bouncing motion of the droplets reached up to 0.57 kHz and 0.71 kHz for water and PEDOT:PSS solution, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of the droplet volume, different types of liquid material such as water and conducting polymer solution, and applied voltages on the droplet bouncing motion were fully analyzed. A charge transfer between the droplet surface and the super-hydrophobic electrodes leads to droplet bouncing and its repetitive charging/discharging process across two electrodes results in a continuous bouncing operation. We successfully measured the transferred current of nA level from several single droplets under rapidly-bouncing motion via the stage electrode. This rapidly-bouncing droplet actuator using electrostatic force can be effectively used for various chemical and biological applications due to its high-speed, contamination-free and facile method.


Methods to compute tight bounds for steady-state token probabilities of a class of generalized stochastic Petri net (GSPN) models are presented. Such bounds also give a better estimate of the error produced when decompositions and aggregations are used to compute the various performance measures. A method to compute the best lower and upper bounds for conditional token probability of a class of GSPN subnets when only the subnet is considered is described. Such bounds can be improved when additional information about other subnets can be used. This technique is extended, and an algorithm to compute the bounds for error due to aggregation and decomposition at the GSPN level is outlined. An example is presented to illustrate the technique and algorithm.<<ETX>>


: To successfully compete with other services for scarce hospital funds, Child Life professionals must be able to demonstrate accountability through competent program evaluation. In addition to the function of assessing the achievement of programs goals, evaluation offers an opportunity to educate supervisory personnel by indicating: (1) the value of the services offered, (2) the competence of Child Life personnel and their concern for quality, and (3) the need for additional hospital support. Guidelines for conducting and submitting an evaluation and the relationship between evaluation and the promotion of Child Life goals are discussed.


A Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, aerobic bacterial strain, designated LPB0140T, was isolated from sea water. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity analysis demonstrated that the closest relative of the isolate is Sphingorhabdus contaminans (96.4 %), but the new isolate formed an independent phyletic line within the genus Sphingorhabdus. Its genome is composed of a circular chromosome of 2.53 Mb with DNA G+C content of 46.1 mol%. The genome includes 2359 protein-coding genes, and two copies of rRNA operons. Strain LPB0140T possessed C14 : 0 2-OH, C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c, and C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c as the major cellular fatty acids and Q-10 as the isoprenoid quinone. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, and sphingoglycolipid, but phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine and phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine were also detected as minor polar lipids. The chemotaxonomic properties and enzymatic activities of the novel isolate clearly differed from those of its closest relatives. Thus, based on the phylogenetic and phenotypic data presented in this study, strain LPB0140T should be classified as a novel species in the genus Sphingorhabdus. The type strain is LPB0140T (=KACC18891T=JCM31568T).


Task-based Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs) such as the Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri are increasingly being adopted for a wide variety of tasks. These tasks are grounded in real-world entities and actions (e.g., book a hotel, organise a conference, or requesting funds). In this work we tackle the task of automatically constructing actionable knowledge graphs in response to a user query in order to support a wider variety of increasingly complex assistant tasks. We frame this as an entity property ranking task given a user query with annotated properties. We propose a new method for property ranking, CrossBERT. CrossBERT builds on the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and creates a new triplet network structure on cross query-property pairs that is used to rank properties. We also study the impact of using external evidence for query entities from textual entity descriptions. We perform experiments on two standard benchmark collections, the NTCIR-13 Actionable Knowledge Graph Generation (AKGG) task and Entity Property Identification (EPI) task. The results demonstrate that CrossBERT significantly outperforms the best performing runs from AKGG and EPI, as well as previous state-of-the-art BERT-based models. In particular, CrossBERT significantly improves Recall and NDCG by approximately 2-12% over the BERT models across the two used datasets.


Hypocalcaemia is low number twenty levels inside the body substance. The traditional vary is 2.1–2.6 mmol/L (8.8–10.7 mg/dl, 4.3–5.2 mEq/L) with levels however 2.1 mmol/l printed as hypocalcemia. Gently low levels that develop slowly generally haven't got any symptoms. Otherwise symptoms would possibly embody symptom, muscle spasms, seizures, confusion, or cardiac arrest. Common causes embody glandular disease and cholecarciferol deficiency.Others causes embody renal disorder, inflammation, number twenty channel blocker drug, rhabdomyolysis, tumor lysis syndrome, and medications like bisphosphonates. Identification need to generally be confirmed with a corrected number twenty or ionised number twenty level. Specific changes is additionally seen on Associate in nursing cardiogram (ECG).


Acute heart failure (AHF) represents a broad spectrum of disease states, resulting from the interaction between an acute precipitant and a patient's underlying cardiac substrate and comorbidities. Valvular heart disease (VHD) is frequently associated with AHF. AHF may result from several precipitants that add an acute haemodynamic stress superimposed on a chronic valvular lesion or may occur as a consequence of a new significant valvular lesion. Regardless of the mechanism, clinical presentation may vary from acute decompensated heart failure to cardiogenic shock. Assessing the severity of VHD as well as the correlation between VHD severity and symptoms may be difficult in patients with AHF because of the rapid variation in loading conditions, concomitant destabilization of the associated comorbidities and the presence of combined valvular lesions. Evidence‐based interventions targeting VHD in settings of AHF have yet to be identified, as patients with severe VHD are often excluded from randomized trials in AHF, so results from these trials do not generalize to those with VHD. Furthermore, there are not rigorously conducted randomized controlled trials in the setting of VHD and AHF, most of the data coming from observational studies. Thus, distinct to chronic settings, current guidelines are very elusive when patients with severe VHD present with AHF, and a clear‐cut strategy could not be yet defined. Given the paucity of evidence in this subset of AHF patients, the aim of this scientific statement is to describe the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and overall treatment approach for patients with VHD who present with AHF.


The concentration of taurine in rat milk is very high for the first few days after birth and then falls rapidly. [35S]Taurine injected intraperitoneally into lactating dams after birth was transferred via the milk to the pups, and accumulated in the brains of the pups to a greater extext than in the livers of the pups. Maximal accumulation of [35S]taurine so transferred to the brain of the pups was reached by 5 days after birth, and remained constant for at least 10 days beyond this poiht. The specific radioactivity in the brain of the pups also reached a maximal value at 5 days after birth and thereafter declined because of the expanding pool of unlabeled taurine in brain. At 5 days after birth, each pup has received approximately 4 mumol taurine from the mother via the milk, and a minimum of 7% of the total taurine in brain at this time originated from the milk. Speculation Even in the rat, a species which can synthesize taurine very easily from cysteine and methionine precursors, a significant amount of performed taurine is transferred to the developing animal via the milk. We suggest that the human infant, who cannot synthesize adequate taurine from cysteine and methionine precursors (9, 10, 40), may be dependent on its diet as a taurine source. Human milk contains a high concentration of taurine, whereas synthetic formulas contain virtually none. Taurine may be an essential nutrient for the rapidly growing human infant (and may be for the adult human also) and perhaps should be included as a supplement in synthetic formulas.


A new kind of numerical control (NC) system for machining shafts with non-circular cross-section is proposed in this paper. It is composed of one X-Z platform, a special micro-feed mechanism driven by a simple cam, and one rotating tool. A new circumferential curve interpolation algorithm based on the cam mechanism is put forward to machine the shafts with any non-circular cross-section, and its efficiency is verified by the simulation. Especially, the larger cutting force can be obtained by use of individual rotating tool. The requirement on response speed is no longer strict. It shows more flexibility on manufacturing.


Abstract Deep argillaceous rocks are reducing environments. When exposed to air, reduced minerals of these rocks react with oxygen, modifying the surrounding chemical conditions. Thus, oxidation is an issue in studies about the confining properties of such rocks in the framework of geological disposal projects for radioactive waste. Previous studies in several underground research laboratories (URLs) in argillaceous rocks have shown that oxidation reactions mainly occurred in the excavation-induced fracture network surrounding the drifts. In the Callovian–Oxfordian argillaceous rock, at −490 m in drifts from the Meuse/Haute-Marne URL, oxidized features were systematically looked for in 115 borehole cores. The concerned drifts were of various ages, from a few days to 6.5 years. After 5 months, oxidized features were encountered in numerous excavation-induced extensional fractures. In excavation-induced shear fractures, oxidized features were observed in a few borehole cores after 2 years, and they became frequent after 6 years. In all cases, the oxidized features observed were found on the fracture walls or were connected to them, and were less than 1.8 m from the drift walls. These observations about the oxidation front and its evolution over time provide insights regarding the properties of excavation-induced fractures with respect to oxygen transfer.


This article presents the results of a Master ́s study conducted at the Graduate Program in Education of Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, which sought to understand how educational practices occur in the teaching of art in Youth and Adult Education in Cuiabá city, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, using qualitative, descriptive and interpretative methodology. Conceiving teaching in a constructivist perspective, based on the triangular proposal for the teaching of art, which emphasizes actual doing, reading and contextualization during the classes, we observed how the teacher acted as a mediator in the construction of the knowledge of Art. Such knowledge is important as education is grounded on the construction of knowledge, which is actually achieved by human activity and, in this case, art. Although some young and adult students had concepts of art that needed to be expanded, the teacher sought, through the contact with the different artistic expressions, to lead students to develop the concept that art is a human production, that is, an object of knowledge which has been an integral part of life since the dawn of mankind. She also sought to teach that learning how to read, how to understand a work of art, makes the students become competent readers who can produce meaningful interpretations of the world around them. Therefore, the concepts and practices of art produced by the students are important, as they are constructions of knowledge based on their life experiences.


The immune response to a given cancer can profoundly influence a tumour's trajectory and response to treatment, but the ability to analyse this component of the microenvironment is still limited. To this end, a number of immune marker gene signatures have been reported which were designed to enable the profiling of the immune system from transcriptomics data from tissue and blood samples. Our initial analyses of these resources suggested that these existing signatures had a number of serious deficiencies. In this study, a co-expression based approach led to the development of a new set of immune cell marker gene signatures (ImSig). ImSig supports the quantitative and qualitative assessment of eight immune cell types in expression data generated from either blood or tissue. The utility of ImSig was validated across a wide variety of clinical datasets and compared to published signatures. Evidence is provided for the superiority of ImSig and the utility of network analysis for data deconvolution, demonstrating the ability to monitor changes in immune cell abundance and activation state. ImSig was also used to examine immune infiltration in the context of cancer classification and treatment. Patient-matched ER+ breast cancer samples before and after treatment with letrozole were analysed. Significant elevation of infiltration of macrophages and T cells on treatment was observed in responders but not in non-responders, potentially revealing a biomarker for response. ImSig was also used to study the immune infiltrate in 12 cancer types. By computing the relative abundance of immune cells in these samples, their relationship to survival was investigated. It was interesting to observe that half of the cancers showed trends towards poor prognosis with increased infiltration of immune cells. ImSig alongside the network-based framework can also be used for a more explorative analysis such as to identify biomarkers and activation or differentiation states of immune cells. Melanoma is a highly immunogenic cancer and has shown tremendous success with immune checkpoint inhibitors in a subset of patients. In chapter-6, the molecular subgrouping of melanoma was explored using a network-based approach. Despite the plethora of evidence suggesting various aspects of the immune system to contribute towards the response to immunotherapy in melanoma, there has been little to no effort to consider this heterogeneity while developing molecular subgroups. The use of ImSig was therefore explored for the stratification of melanoma patients into immuno-subgroups. The subgrouping methodology divided the tumours into four groups with different immune profiles. Interestingly, these groupings showed prognostic significance, reiterating the need to consider the heterogeneity of immune cells in future studies. On identifying the most dominant phenotypes that contribute towards prognosis of these patients and in comparison to the published subgroupings of melanoma, we argue that the subgroup of samples enriched in keratin genes are not clinically meaningful. ImSig and the associated analysis framework described in this work, support the retrospective analysis of tissue derived transcriptomics data enabling better characterisation of immune infiltrate associated with disease, and in so doing, provide a resource useful for prognosis and potentially in guiding treatment.


The paper seeks to determine what transverse oscillatory movements a slender fish can make which will give it a high Froude propulsive efficiency, $\frac{\hbox{(forward velocity)} \times \hbox{(thrust available to overcome frictional drag)}} {\hbox {(work done to produce both thrust and vortex wake)}}.$ The recommended procedure is for the fish to pass a wave down its body at a speed of around $\frac {5} {4}$ of the desired swimming speed, the amplitude increasing from zero over the front portion to a maximum at the tail, whose span should exceed a certain critical value, and the waveform including both a positive and a negative phase so that angular recoil is minimized. The Appendix gives a review of slender-body theory for deformable bodies.


This volume reflects the philosophy and methods of the clinical pathological conferences of the Cook County Hospital, in Chicago. There is an excellent historical introduction on the growth of this teaching technique and on the advantages of the multidisciplinary approach. The cases selected are limited to three groups—cardiac, vascular, and renal. In the cardiac group there are cases of heart failure due to unusual myocardial degeneration, cyanotic congenital heart disease, silicosis with cor pulmonale, hypertensive heart disease with rupture of the aorta as a result of medial necrosis, left ventricular aneurysm, and tuberculous pericardial effusion. The vascular cases include sickle-cell anemia with thromboses, thrombocytopenic purpura with endocrinopathy, diffuse lupus erythematosus, atypical periarteritis nodosa, and pulmonary fibrosis with scleroderma. The renal group includes renal amyloidosis in rheumatoid arthritis, pyelonephritis and pyonephrosis with amyloidosis, fulminating acute glomerulonephritis, malignant hypertension, polycystic kidneys, diffuse glomerulonephritis with parathyroid hyperplasia and metastatic calcification, Addison's disease with


We introduce two large open data collections of Indian Art Music, both its Carnatic and Hindustani traditions, comprising audio from vocal concerts, editorial metadata, and time-aligned melody, rhythm, and structure annotations. Shared under Creative Commons licenses, they currently form the largest annotated data collections available for computational analysis of Indian Art Music. The collections are intended to provide audio and ground truth for several music information research tasks and large-scale data-driven analysis in musicological studies. A part of the Saraga Carnatic collection also has multitrack recordings, making it a valuable collection for research on melody extraction, source separation, automatic mixing, and performance analysis. We describe the tenets and the process of collection, annotation, and organization of the data. We provide easy access to the audio, metadata, and the annotations in the collections through an API, along with a companion website that has example scripts to facilitate access and use of the data. To sustain and grow the collections, we provide a mechanism for both the research and music community to contribute additional data and annotations to the collections. We also present applications with the collections for music education, understanding, exploration, and discovery.


Single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) and chitosan composite (chitosan*CNT) based sensors were developed as DNA biosensors, and then they were applied for electrochemical investigation of the interaction between the anticancer drug mitomycin C (MC) and DNA. The oxidation signals of MC and guanine were monitored before and after the interaction process by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The DPV results were in good agreement with those of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Analytical parameters such as DNA concentration, MC concentration, and MC interaction time with DNA were optimized. The detection limits were 6.85 m g/mL for DNA and 11.01 m g/mL for MC.


Though a lot of research works have been done, some key technologies of finite element simulation have not been resolved completely. A detailed finite element model of high speed orthogonal cutting of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V is developed. Several mechanics models of cutting process, such as material constitutive model, chip separation model and chip damage model, are implemented to improve finite element simulation accuracy. The chip shape and cutting force agree well with experimental results, which show the finite element model developed in this study is reasonable. Using this finite element model, chip formation process of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V is simulated. Results indicate that the material between the shear bands is only weakly deformed, and the deformation is stronger on the tool side of the chip. This work will be a base for process parameter optimization, tool's optimization selection and design during high speed cutting of difficult-to-cut titanium alloy.


With the widespread use of harmonic generating devices, the control of harmonic currents to maintain a high level of power quality is becoming increasingly important. An effective way for harmonic suppression is the harmonic compensation by using active power filter. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of active power filter (APF) control strategies put forward recently. It is aimed at providing a broad perspective on the status of APF control methods to researchers and application engineers dealing with harmonic suppression issues. Many control techniques have been designed, developed, and realized for active filters in recent years. This paper presents different types of Synchronous reference frame methods for real time generation of compensating current for harmonic mitigation and reactive power compensation. All the techniques are analyzed mathematically and simulation results are obtained which are being compared in terms of its compensation performance with different parameters under steady state condition. The three techniques analyzed are the Synchronous Reference Frame Theory (SRF), SRF theory without synchronizing circuit like phase lock loop (PLL) also called instantaneous current component theory and finally modified SRF theory. Simulation results are obtained under sinusoidal balanced voltage source balanced load condition. The comparison and effectiveness of all the methods is based on the theoretical analysis and simulation results obtained with MATLAB employing a three phase three wire shunt active filter test system. Finally shunt active power filter is applied to BLDC drive application. THD plots with and without APF is presented.


This article examines the control practices used in drug treatment services to regulate the behaviour of people with drug problems. Drawing on an extensive qualitative study, we developed a conceptual framework, integrating the notion of responsive regulation with Wrong's sociology of power. The picture that emerges is of a complex 'web of controls', combining diverse forms of power and control techniques, used to steer action and shape behavioural outcomes. It is argued that we can understand these control practices within drug treatment as part of broader strategies for the social regulation of the poor, built on deep-rooted hybrids of punishment and welfare. The article concludes with the suggestion that drug treatment represents an important site for understanding penal power today.


Based on the in-depth study the principle of NC generating gear tooth surfaces by application of the disc milling-cutter, finger milling-cutter NC generating spiral bevel gear tooth surfaces is presented in this paper. Through using a 5 shaft 4 linkage machining center, the finger milling-cutter is mounted on the imagination disc milling-cutter, in fact, 2 NC axes are used simultaneously to control the finger milling-cutter motion, imitating a blade motion of disc milling-cutter, and the motion of the blank is not change, to generate the spiral bevel gear tooth surfaces. A spiral bevel pinion is simulation machined by using machining simulation system VERICUT and the feasibility of the machining method is verified.


Usability is an important factor in ensuring development of quality and usable software product. Ignorance and unawareness about the concept of usability and failure to address usability during software development process has led to usability problems in software product. Many efforts has been suggested in literature to overcome usability problem in software products but current practices faces challenges in reducing these usability problems. Alternatively, the concept of risk management can be used to control usability problems even though these problems cannot be eliminated totally. The concept of risk management is important to deal with usability problem before it occurs. Unfortunately, there is still lack of proper definition of usability risk and a proper model to identify, analyze and prioritize potential usability risk during Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). This paper presents comprehensive study on the need for Usability Risk Assessment Model to reduce usability problems in software products.


1. A traditional approach to the nutritional ecology of herbivores is that larger animals can tolerate a diet of lesser quality due to a higher digestive efficiency bestowed on them by comparatively long ingesta retention times and lower relative energy requirements.
2. There are important physiological disadvantages that larger animals must compensate for, namely a lower gut surface : gut volume ratio, larger ingesta particle size and greater losses of faecal bacterial material due to more fermentation. Compensating adaptations could include an increased surface enlargement in larger animals, increased absorption rates per unit of gut surface, and increased gut motility to enhance mixing of ingesta.
3. A lower surface : volume ratio, particularly in sacciform forestomach structures, could be a reason for the fact that methane production is of significant scope mainly in large herbivores and not in small herbivores with comparably long retention times; in the latter, the substrate for methanogenesis - the volatile fatty acids - could be absorbed faster due to a more favourable gut surface : volume ratio.
4. Existing data suggest that in herbivores, an increase in fibre digestibility is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in overall apparent dry matter digestibility. This indicates a comparative decrease of the apparent digestibility of non-fibre material, either due to a lesser utilization of non-fibre substrate or an increased loss of endogenous/bacterial substance. Quantitative research on these mechanisms is warranted in order to evaluate whether an increase in body size represents a net increase of digestive efficiency or just a shift of digestive focus.


The purpose of this research was to analyze the effect of the Contribution of Regional Revenue (PAD) and General Allocation Grant (DAU) to Economic Growth (PDRB) of Semarang City through Capital Expenditure (BM). The data used in this research secondary data. The variables of this research consisted of Contribution of Regional Revenue (PAD), General Allocation Grant (DAU) as independent variables. Economic Growth (PDRB) as the dependent variable and the Capital Expenditure (BM) as an intervening variable. The test results and analysis of the data it can be concluded that the Contribution of Regional Revenue (PAD) and General Allocation Grant (DAU) directly effect on Economic Growth (PDRB) and Capital Expenditure (BM). and Capital Expenditure (BM) directly effect on Economic Growth (PDRB).
Keywords: Revenue, Capital, Economic


INTRODUCTION
Dentinal hypersensitivity is an exaggerated response to a sensory stimulus that usually causes no response in a normal healthy tooth. It is a source of chronic irritation that can severely affect an individual's eating and drinking habits. The management of tooth hypersensitivity by oral healthcare professionals requires an appreciation of the complexity of the problem together with knowledge of available treatments.

AIM
To review the symptoms, contributing oral factors, prevalence, measurement and mechanisms of dentinal hypersensitivity, together with current and potential future therapies for the condition.

METHOD
Narrative literature review.

PRINCIPLE FINDINGS
The permeability and fluid movement in open, exposed dentinal tubules has provided a favoured theory for stimulus transmission through dentine. Occlusion of dentinal tubules has been identified as a potential method of reducing pain associated with sensitive teeth. Current treatments work to occlude dentinal tubules. However these treatments can be expensive and their effects are often transient. In comparison, future therapies could be based upon either laser or iontophoresis techniques.

CONCLUSION
Future therapies may provide a more permanent and cost effective way of treating dentinal hypersensitivity for health care professionals and their patients.


The performance of recycle pass solar air heater with V-corrugated absorber plate was examined experimentally. The results were compared with single pass solar air heater with V-corrugated absorber plate. The measured parameters were temperature difference, useful energy, pressure drop, and collector efficiency. It's founded that, the recycle pass has an increase in these parameters as they compared with single pass. The air flow rate range between 0.01 – 0.03 m3/s was tested in winter 2016 in Iraq. Experimental data show that, the useful energy and thermal efficiency were increased with increases of air flow rate. The useful energy generated by recycle pass was 18.8 % more energy per day than the single pass solar air heater. Maximum temperature difference between outlet air temperature and ambient temperature for recycle pass and single pass were 31 oC and 25 oC, respectively. The maximum value of the performance curve of the recycle and single pass were 68 % and 61 %, respectively.


The concept of fractal index is introduced in connection with the idea of universal class $h$ of particles or quasiparticles, termed fractons, which obey fractal statistics. We show the relation between fractons and conformal field theory(CFT)-quasiparticles taking into account the central charge $c[\nu]$ and the particle-hole duality $\nu\longleftrightarrow\frac{1}{\nu}$, for integer-value $\nu$ of the statistical parameter. The Hausdorff dimension $h$ which labelled the universal classes of particles and the conformal anomaly are therefore related. We also establish a connection between Rogers dilogarithm function, Farey series of rational numbers and the Hausdorff dimension.


Objective: To compare the neuroimaging profile and clinical outcomes among patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) related to use of vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Methods: We evaluated consecutive patients with NVAF with nontraumatic, anticoagulant-related ICH admitted at 13 tertiary stroke care centers over a 12-month period. We also performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of eligible observational studies reporting baseline characteristics and outcomes among patients with VKA- or DOAC-related ICH. Results: We prospectively evaluated 161 patients with anticoagulation-related ICH (mean age 75.6 ± 9.8 years, 57.8% men, median admission NIH Stroke Scale [NIHSSadm] score 13 points, interquartile range 6–21). DOAC-related (n = 47) and VKA-related (n = 114) ICH did not differ in demographics, vascular risk factors, HAS-BLED and CHA2DS2-VASc scores, and antiplatelet pretreatment except for a higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease in VKA-related ICH. Patients with DOAC-related ICH had lower median NIHSSadm scores (8 [3–14] vs 15 [7–25] points, p = 0.003), median baseline hematoma volume (12.8 [4–40] vs 24.3 [11–58.8] cm3, p = 0.007), and median ICH score (1 [0–2] vs 2 [1–3] points, p = 0.049). Severe ICH (>2 points) was less prevalent in DOAC-related ICH (17.0% vs 36.8%, p = 0.013). In multivariable analyses, DOAC-related ICH was independently associated with lower baseline hematoma volume (p = 0.006), lower NIHSSadm scores (p = 0.022), and lower likelihood of severe ICH (odds ratio [OR] 0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.13–0.87, p = 0.025). In meta-analysis of eligible studies, DOAC-related ICH was associated with lower baseline hematoma volumes on admission CT (standardized mean difference = −0.57, 95% CI −1.02 to −0.12, p = 0.010) and lower in-hospital mortality rates (OR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.21–0.91, p = 0.030). Conclusions: DOAC-related ICH is associated with smaller baseline hematoma volume and lesser neurologic deficit at hospital admission compared to VKA-related ICH.


This paper presents a detailed insight into the design space of wide-range transimpedance amplifiers enabling the design of micro-power, adaptive circuits for integrated current sensing applications. The analysis proves that the power dissipation of the nonadaptive structures varies linearly with dynamic range and quadratically with bandwidth. We present two adaptation techniques, modifying the bias current or output resistance, both of which alleviate this strong dependence on dynamic range. It is shown that adapting the bias current is most suitable for our application which requires a modest bandwidth but very wide dynamic range. Measurements demonstrate operation with currents ranging seven orders of magnitude from 200 fA to 2 muA with an average error of 0.8% and maximum error of 3.4%. The power consumption averaged over this entire range of currents is 3.45 muW . Either signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or bandwidth can be made to tradeoff with the input current magnitude depending on the application. If the bandwidth is limited to 5 kHz, it achieves an average SNR of 65 dB.


Breaking of cellular symmetry in order to establish an apico-basal polarity axis initiates de novo formation of cell polarity. However, symmetry breaking provides a formidable challenge from a signaling perspective, because by definition no spatial cues are present to instruct axis establishment. Instead, symmetry breaking is driven by amplification of stochastic fluctuations in signaling activity. A concomitant problem of this is that polarization can occur at multiple sites; a situation that could be detrimental to the cell. Therefore, cells must be able to restrict polarization to a single domain. Throughout evolution, small GTPases, and Cdc42 in particular, are involved in the control of symmetry breaking events. By engaging different GEFs, GAPs and effectors, Cdc42 signaling is orchestrated with pinpoint precision to control the various cellular processes that contribute to cell polarization. In this thesis, novel signaling pathways are revealed that contribute to symmetry breaking during enterocyte polarization. The prime model system for studying these pathways are Ls174T:W4 cells, which break cellular symmetry upon forced polarization. The central research question underlying this work is: how are intracellular signaling pathways organized to enable symmetry breaking? We demonstrate that singularity in apical domain specification during epithelial cell polarization is actively enforced and that this requires Cdc42 signaling. For this Cdc42 mobility at the apical domain is regulated by the disease-associated flippase ATP8B1. Loss of this regulation results in the formation of multiple apical domains and affects apical membrane size in Ls174T:W4 cells. In a 3D context, loss of ATP8B1 affects lumen architecture indicative of an important function for singularity enforcement in tissue morphogenesis. We reveal that upon activation by the Cdc42GEF Tuba, Cdc42 mobility is drastically reduced to ensure localized signaling. The molecular origin of this immobilization is identified and the importance of this regulation is demonstrated. We investigate the role of the tumor suppressor PTEN in apical domain specification and find that PTEN is required to restrict apical domain formation and that for this PTEN requires binding to PTPL1. In chapter five signaling by the Rap2 small GTPases is introduced. An overview is provided on the biochemical mechanisms of Rap2 signaling and the biological functions in which Rap2 signaling is implicated are discussed. In chapter six the mechanisms of isoform specific Rap2 signaling during brush border formation are elucidated. Rap2A is the sole isoform contributing to enterocytic brush border formation despite expression of the highly similar Rap2B and Rap2C isoforms. A combination of specific localization and selective activation explains how highly similar GTPases can signal independently. We therefore identify novel signaling mechanisms that contribute to symmetry breaking by controlling apical membrane clustering, singularity in apical domain specification and brush border formation. Importantly, we reveal that singularity in apical domain specification is actively safeguarded in polarized epithelial cells by Cdc42 signaling and implicate this regulation in human pathologies.


The paper describes the current evolution of the class of Fo¿laga underwater vehicles, whose actuation mechanism is a hybrid between oceanographic gliders and standard, self-propelled autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The Fo¿laga vehicles have been designed for coastal oceanography and environmental sampling; the application-oriented design approach has resulted in light-weight, low-cost, low-maintenance vehicles. A description of the vehicles' design and guidance, navigation and control capabilities is given, together with data from recent experimental trials.


The 2011 participation decision study involved exploration into the impact of the external education environment on the decision for private school participation in Federal funding, one deliberately declining player in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB) choice and competition equation. In the qualitative collective case, three religiously triangulated Michigan private school decision-makers submitted to semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the external environmental factors was through the lens of Gould and Eldredge's (1977) environmentally oriented theory, punctuated equilibria philosophy of change. Analysis involved layering, direct interpretation, categorical aggregation, and cross-comparison of two external environmental categories identified at literature review (NCLB-content and privatization-dynamic) with numerous major and sub-groupings and space for newly emergent material. The category privatization-dynamics emerged as significant influence, as did the major theme trust and the sub-themes motivational intent, competency, consistency, grapevine, creativity or inspiration, restrictions on curriculum, lack of awareness of opportunities available, and fear of failure. The study included five specific recommendations for leaders of change to explain, predict, and improve organizational performance toward greater synchronization in operation of the NCLB choice and competition mechanisms.


Introduction Advances in endoscopy training and endoscopic resection techniques have facilitated the development of advanced EMR service in few regional centres. This should equate to a reduction in the number of surgery for benign colorectal polyps. Interestingly, a previous study of hospital episode statistics database for national trends in benign colorectal polyp surgery had showed no significant difference in the reduction of surgery over a 10 year period.1We aimed to assess the impact of a new advanced EMR service on the need for surgical intervention for benign polyps in a tertiary care centre. Method The advanced EMR service (including level 3 and 4 polyps)2was set up in May 2013. We retrospectively looked at the MDT outcomes 20 months prior and after setting up of the service to identify patients requiring external referral or surgery for benign polyps. Hospital electronic records were reviewed to ascertain details concerning polyp size, complications and bed days. Results In the period before the EMR service, 51 patients underwent surgery for benign polyps requiring 285 bed days. 8 complications were encountered. The average polyp size was 3.2 cms (Range 1–8 cms). 6 patients were referred externally for advanced EMR. Between May 2013 and Dec 2014, since the setting up of the service, 8 patients have had surgery requiring 46 bed days. During the same time, 180 polyps were encountered in 168 patients. The mean polyp size varied from 1.5 cms to 12 cms. Excluding patients who had surgery for invasive cancer, 91% of patients avoided surgery. Of 139 completely resected benign polyps, 66 (47%) polyps were level 4 and 89% polyps achieved complete endoscopic clearance with one procedure. 4 complications required 9 bed days. Conclusion An advanced EMR service decreases the need for surgical intervention, reduces the number of bed days and complications. Moreover, such a service also offers important savings for local healthcare economies. This study also emphasise the need for the development of regional benign polyp MDT. Disclosure of interest None Declared. References Almoudaris AM, et al. Surgery for benign colorectal polyps in England – trends and outcomes from 1997 to 2007. Gut 2011;60:A4 Gupta S, et al. The "SMSA" scoring system for determining the complexity of a polyp. Gut 2011;60:A129


This article presents the analysis of the current literature and the original data of the authors providing the rationale for the use of magnetic therapy for the treatment of the children presenting with cerebral ischemia taking into consideration pathogenesis of this disease. It is demonstrated that the application of the general magnetic field decreases the tone of the cerebral vessels and improves blood flow to the brain which increases resistance to cerebral hypoxia. The results of investigations into the microcirculatory changes and liquor dynamics in conjunction with the ventriculometric measurements give evidence of the effectiveness of the combined treatment of cerebral ischemia making use of general magnetic therapy.


The genus Peridinium Ehrenb. comprises a group of highly diversified dinoflagellates. Their morphological taxonomy has been established over the last century. Here, we examined relationships within the genus Peridinium, including Peridinium bipes F. Stein sensu lato, based on a molecular phylogeny derived from nuclear rDNA sequences. Extensive rDNA analyses of nine selected Peridinium species showed that intraspecies genetic variation was considerably low, but interspecies genetic divergence was high (>1.5% dissimilarity in the nearly complete 18S sequence; >4.4% in the 28S rDNA D1/D2). The 18S and 28S rDNA Bayesian tree topologies showed that Peridinium species grouped according to their taxonomic positions and certain morphological characters (e.g., epithecal plate formula). Of these groups, the quinquecorne group (plate formula of 3′, 2a, 7″) diverged first, followed by the umbonatum group (4′, 2a, 7″) and polonicum group (4′, 1a, 7″). Peridinium species with a plate formula of 4′, 3a, 7″ diverged last. Thus, 18S and 28S rDNA D1/D2 sequences are informative about relationships among Peridinium species. Statistical analyses revealed that the 28S rDNA D1/D2 region had a significantly higher genetic divergence than the 18S rDNA region, suggesting that the former as DNA markers may be more suitable for sequence‐based delimitation of Peridinium. The rDNA sequences had sufficient discriminative power to separate P. bipes f. occultaum (Er. Lindem.) M. Lefèvre and P. bipes f. globosum Er. Lindem. into two distinct species, even though these taxa are morphologically only marginally discriminated by spines on antapical plates and the shape of red bodies during the generation of cysts. Our results suggest that 28S rDNA can be used for all Peridinium species to make species‐level taxonomic distinctions, allowing improved taxonomic classification of Peridinium.


Nursery functions of US West Coast drowned river valley estuaries are not well understood. Using long-term fish-monitoring data (1995-2017) in Suisun Marsh, San Francisco Estuary, California, USA, we examined spatial and temporal trends in abundance and apparent growth of fishes with diverse life-history types. Focal species were Sacramento splittail Pogonichthys macrolepidotus, striped bass Morone saxatilis, tule perch Hysterocarpus traski, and starry flounder Platichthys stellatus, which collectively represented 55% of total catch (n = 140092). We identified keystone habitat patches that functioned as nursery hotspots during the peak young-of-the-year recruitment window. Deep, flow-through sloughs close to the open estuary were important nursery habitats for the marine transient starry flounder. In contrast, splittail and striped bass mostly migrated through such corridors to rear in shallow, dead-end sloughs bisecting tidal marsh plains, managed tidal ponds, and uplands. Tule perch were concentrated in shallow, interior sloughs, reflecting their resident life-history type and adaptations to variable conditions in a small home range. Interactions among freshwater flows and stationary habitat features (e.g. channel depth, land-to-open-water ratio) were related to fish abundance; however, species and age classes differed in their relationships to these interactions, suggesting a mechanism for habitat partitioning in space and time. Overall, we inferred that habitat connectivity—longitudinal, lateral, and vertical—along the estuarine-terrestrial gradient was a driver of fish species diversity and productivity. Consideration of seascape-landscape dynamics across multiple spatial and temporal scales in estuaries should help maintain or increase fish populations and ecological resilience in the face of rising sea levels and other environmental stressors.


Compression algorithms reduce the redundancy in data representation to decrease the storage required for that data. Lossless compression researchers have developed highly sophisticated approaches, such as Huffman encoding, arithmetic encoding, the Lempel-Ziv (LZ) family, Dynamic Markov Compression (DMC), Prediction by Partial Matching (PPM), and Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT) based algorithms. Decompression is also required to retrieve the original data by lossless means. A compression scheme for text files coupled with the principle of dynamic decompression, which decompresses only the section of the compressed text file required by the user instead of decompressing the entire text file. Dynamic decompressed files offer better disk space utilization due to higher compression ratios compared to most of the currently available text file formats. Keywords—Compression, Dynamic Decompression, Text file format, Portable Document Format, Compression Ratio.


A discharge-based proton transfer reaction (PTR) ion source was operated using a mixture of H2O and rare gases such as He, Ne, Ar, and Kr in combination with a custom-built time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. In contrast to an "H2O-only" discharge, which usually functions above a field strength (E/N) of 100 Td for a drift tube, an "H2O-rare gas"-based discharge was operated successfully at E/N values between 30 and 50 Td. (E is the electric field strength (V cm-1), N is the buffer gas number density (molecule cm-3), and 1 Td=10-17 cm2 V molecule-1.) The intensity of primary ions (H3O+·(H2O)n) generated in the "H2O-rare gas" discharge was comparable to that in the "H2O-only" discharge. Although detection sensitivities decreased for nonpolar molecules such as isoprene, benzene, toluene, and p-xylene, they increased for polar molecules such as acetone and acetaldehyde. This suggests that the operation of the PTR-TOF mass spectrometer at low drift-tube field-strengths improves both the detection sensitivity and selectivity for the polar molecules. In addition, fragmentation in the drift tube was suppressed significantly for fragile species such as methyl nitrate, in the low E/N operation.


Stress state of soft soil foundation under vacuum preloading is completely different from its counterpart under surcharge preloading, and the method of calculating the final settlement of soil mass by means of surcharge preloading (positive pressure) is unreasonable in present design. According to a case of soft foundation stabilized with vacuum preloading and through consolidated-undrained triaxial (CU) test on the specimens sampled in situ, the stress paths under different confining pressure are obtained. The settlement of soft foundation treated with vacuum preloading is calculated by strain isoline method. Compared with the practically measured field data, the errors are analyzed and discussed.


Bikshal Babu Kasimala(1), Reshma Syed(2), Kalpana Pammi (2),B.Sandhya3* 1. Hindu College PG Courses, Guntur, AP 2. Dept of Biochemistry, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Guntur.A.P 3. SIMS College, Dept of Life Sciences, Guntur. Mail: email@example.com ABSTRACT A simple, selective, linear, precise and accurate RP-HPLC method was developed and validated for rapid assay of RIFAXIMIN in tablet dosage form. Isocratic elution at a flow rate of 1ml min-1 was employed on a symmetry C18 column at ambient temperature. The mobile phase consisted of Acetonitrile: Ammonium Acetate 85:15 (v/v). The UV detection wavelength was at 236nm.Linearity was observed in concentration range of 5-50ppm. The retention time for RIFAXIMIN was 4.3 min. The method was validated as per the ICH guidelines. The proposed method can be successfully applied for the estimation of RIFAXIMIN in pharmaceutical dosage forms.


The goal of this paper is to develop test generation procedures for testing microprocessors in a user environment. Classical fault detection methods based on the gate and flip-flop level or on the state diagram level description of microprocessors are not suitable for test generation. The problem is further compounded by the availability of a large variety of microprocessors which differ widely in their organization, instruction repertoire, addressing modes, data storage, and manipulation facilities, etc. In this paper, a general graph-theoretic model is developed at the register transfer level. Any microprocessor can be easily modeled using information only about its instruction set and the functions performed. This information is readily available in the user's manual. A fault model is developed on a functional level quite independent of the implementation details. The effects of faults in the fault model are investigated at the level of the graph-theoretic model. Test generation procedures are proposed which take the microprocessor organization and the instruction set as parameters and generate tests to detect all the faults in the fault model. The complexity of the test sequences measured in terms of the number of instructions is given. Our effort in generating tests for a real microprocessor and evaluating their fault coverage is described.


The authors carried out two experimental campaigns on a pedestrian bridge, of length 83 m, built by assembling two parallel timber beams and several steel elements. A wireless telecommunication architecture designed by the authors was used to cover the whole length. The report is focused on the comparison of the collected results.


Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Technology P. O. Box 35239, Baghdad, Iraq A new compact narrowband multiresonator microstrip filter design is presented in this paper as a candidate for use in modern wireless communication systems. The proposed filter structure is generated using Peano fractal curve geometry. The proposed filter structure is fractally generated using Peano fractal curve geometry. Two 2nd and 4th order Chebyshev bandpass filters have been designed based on the 2nd iteration Peano fractal curve at a design frequency of 2.45GHz using a substrate of a relative dielectric constant of 9.6 and thickness of 0.508 mm. Filter structures based on the second iteration Peano geometry leads to compact size single mode resonators with dimensions of about (0.075×0.086)λg. This article represents better miniaturization level compared with the other microstrip bandpass filters based on other space-filling geometries and designed at the same frequency using the same substrate material specifications. Simulation and theoretical performance of the resulting filter structures have been carried out using method of moments (MoM) based electromagnetic simulator IE3D, from Zeland Software Inc. The results also show that the proposed filter structures possess good return loss and transmission responses besides the size reduction gained, making them suitable for use in a wide variety of wireless communication applications.


Encountering cryptogenic populations that are either native or introduced is a common but underreported phenomenon in field biology. Such local species' occurrences of unknown origin hamper our understanding of species' natural distribution ranges, and pose a problem to conservation management decisions. Genetic tools are frequently used to infer the ancestry of natural or invasive populations based on spatial geographical variation. Here we describe the occurrence of cryptogenic crested newts Triturus cristatus c. 25 km away from their main range and situated in an area where an introduction has taken place half a century ago. We first verify the suitability of a coalescent‐based analysis that reconstructs the number of founder individuals of a putative propagule from a source pool, based on previously published data documenting a well‐known introduction (the Laysan finch on the Hawaiian archipelago). After showing the validity of the approach, we apply this analysis to the case of T. cristatus, revealing that the number of effective founders would have been of the same order as the current effective carrying capacity of the population. We thus argue that the local T. cristatus occurrence is in fact of natural origin, with the documented introduction having little or no impact to the current gene pool. The result has major implications to our understanding of the species' habitat requirements in a zone of parapatry with a closely related species.


We report on the efficient coupling of terahertz (THz) waves into a dielectric waveguide by means of a diffraction grating engraved at the top of the waveguide. The waveguide is made of a 201-microm-thick high-resistivity silicon wafer. The transmission of the device, measured versus frequency by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, shows usual m lines when a frequency component of the THz pulse spectrum satisfies the phase-matching condition and is coupled into the waveguide. The experimental data are well modeled with the differential electromagnetic method to compute the diffraction pattern of the grating device. The dispersion curve of the first four modes of propagation is determined from the frequency position of the m lines recorded for different angles of incidence of the THz beam. The waveguide exhibits a weak group velocity dispersion at high frequencies.


The main objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of putrescine (Put) (1 and 2 mM for 10 min) and ultrasound treatments (32 kHz for 10 min) alone or in combination on changing biochemical compounds and extending postharvest life of grape. After treatments, clusters were packed in boxes with modified atmosphere packaging and stored at 1-2 °C with 90-95% relative humidity for 60 days. The weight loss, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, total anthocyanins, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, stem browning, decay rate and visual appearance at 0, 20, 40 and 60 days after harvest were recorded. Statistically significant differences were observed between different treatments in all measured parameters except for weight loss and total soluble solids. The data showed that individual Put or ultrasound treatment had a positive response in maintaining grape quality during storage, but conjugation of Put with ultrasound treatments showed better effects. Combination treatments maintained higher levels of anthocyanins, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity and reduced the loss of sensory acceptability and decay incidence compared to control. At the end of the storage, control grapes markedly lost their quality, reaching below the critical marketable level while all the treatments preserved better the visual quality. These results demonstrated that the combined treatments of Put and ultrasound could be a promising approach to maintain postharvest storage quality of grapes.


We provide the first complete continuous time framework for denoising diffusion models of discrete data. This is achieved by formulating the forward noising process and corresponding reverse time generative process as Continuous Time Markov Chains (CTMCs). The model can be efficiently trained using a continuous time version of the ELBO. We simulate the high dimensional CTMC using techniques developed in chemical physics and exploit our continuous time framework to derive high performance samplers that we show can outperform discrete time methods for discrete data. The continuous time treatment also enables us to derive a novel theoretical result bounding the error between the generated sample distribution and the true data distribution.


The goal of this thesis is to (i) systematically review all epidemiologic studies reporting on the relationship between occupational exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes among nurses and physicians, (ii) compare the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes between singleton newborns of nurses, midwives, and physicians and those of women in other occupations (reference groups) and (iii) investigate the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes among parents exposed to welding fumes or metal dust. Data were obtained from all epidemiologic studies reporting on the relation between occupational exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes among nurses and physicians, the 1990–2006 Finnish Medical Birth Register, and the Finnish Prenatal Environment and Health Study (FPEHS). Occupational exposure to anaesthetic gases was associated with spontaneous abortion and congenital malformation among nurses and physicians. Chemotherapy agents were associated with spontaneous abortion among nurses. There was moderate to substantial heterogeneity in the studied relations. In the FHCPS, singleton newborns of nurses have increased risk of low birth weight, post-term delivery, and small-for-gestational-age compared to those of teachers (reference group). Maternal employment as a midwife was not related to adverse pregnancy outcomes. The risk of high birth weight and post-term delivery were lower among singleton newborns of the physicians compared to those of other upper-level employees (reference group), but the risk of SGA and LGA did not differ between the newborns of physicians and those of the reference group. In the FPEHS, paternal exposure to welding fumes only was related to small-for-gestational-age. Maternal exposure to metal dust only was related to low birth weight and pre-term delivery and the joint effect of welding fumes and metal dust was related to small-for-gestational age. In conclusion, maternal employment as a nurses and parental occupational exposure to welding fumes or metal dust may increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.


Proceeding with their observations on bovine nematode epidemiology in Guaira, State of Sao Paulo, the authors carried a study on the natural development of nematode infections in crossbred calves born at the dry season. The fecal nematode egg counts per gram (e.p.g.) performed every fortnight were positive at the start, in October, when calves were two months old, and reached the peak when they were five months old; cultures of faeces revealed larvae of Cooperia, Haemoncus, Oesophagostomum and Trichostrongylus. From this time on, until 12.5 months old, when the calves were slaughtered, the variable e.p.g. decreased continually, the average being, in the last examinations, 40 e.p.g. Strongyloides eggs were present in the faeces when the calves were two months old but they disappeared by the 5th month of age. The post-mortem examination revealed the following species of nematodes: Haemoncus similis, Haemoncus contortus, Trichostrongylus axei, Bunostomum phlebotomum, Cooperia punctata, Cooperia pectinata, Oesophagostomum radiatum, Trichuris discolor and Dictyocaulus viviparus.


The real-zero interpolation method is applied to a Fourier-transformed infrared (FT-IR) interferogram. With this method an interferogram is reconstructed from its zero-crossing information only, without the use of a long-word analog-to-digital converter. We installed a phase-locked loop circuit into an FT-IR spectrometer for oversampling the interferogram. Infrared absorption spectra of polystyrene and Mylar films were measured as binary interferograms by the FT-IR spectrometer, which was equipped with the developed circuits, and their Fourier spectra were successfully reconstructed. The relationship of the oversampling ratio to the dynamic range of the reconstructed interferogram was evaluated through computer simulations. We also discuss the problems of this method for practical applications.


The shape of an object lies at the interface between vision and cognition, yet the field of statistical shape analysis is far from developing a general mathematical model to represent shapes that would allow computational descriptions to express some simple tasks that are carried out robustly and e↵ortlessly by humans. In this thesis, novel perspectives on shape characterization are presented where the shape information is encoded inside the shape. The representation is free from the dimensions of the shape, hence the model is readily extendable to any shape embedding dimensions (i.e 2D, 3D, 4D). A very desirable property is that the representation possesses the possibility to fuse shape information with other types of information available inside the shape domain, an example would be reflectance information from an optical camera. Three novel fields are proposed within the scope of the thesis, namely 'Scalable Fluctuating Distance Fields', 'Screened Poisson Hyperfields', 'Local Convexity Encoding Fields', which are smooth fields that are obtained by encoding desired shape information. 'Scalable Fluctuating Distance Fields', that encode parts explicitly, is presented as an interactive tool for tumor protrusion segmentation and as an underlying representation for tumor follow-up analysis. Secondly, 'Screened Poisson Hyper-Fields', provide a rich characterization of the shape that encodes global, local, interior and boundary interactions. Low-dimensional embeddings of the hyper-fields are employed to address problems of shape partitioning, 2D shape classification and 3D non-rigid shape retrieval. Moreover, the embeddings are used to translate the shape matching problem into an image matching problem, utilizing existing arsenal of image matching tools that could not be utilized in shape matching before. Finally, the 'Local Convexity Encoding Fields' is formed by encoding information related to local symmetry and local convexity-concavity properties. The representation performance of the shape fields is presented both qualitatively and quantitatively. The descriptors obtained using the regional encoding perspective outperform existing state-of-the-art shape retrieval methods over public benchmark databases, which is highly motivating for further study of regional-volumetric shape representations.


Abstract:This article contrasts two Communications Workers of America (CWA) strategic organizing campaigns at Sprint and Southwestern Bell wireless in the 1990s. In the first case, the NLRA failed to protect Sprint workers after their employer closed the call center to avoid a union election, despite a complaint filed by a Mexican union under labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the second case, the CWA's "bargain to organize" strategy neutralized Southwestern Bell's opposition, and 40,000 wireless workers chose CWA representation under a negotiated neutrality/card-check recognition process. This article demonstrates how neoliberal regulatory changes in the telecommunications sector in combination with weak labor laws fostered the decline in union representation in this vitally important and dynamic sector of the economy.


In documenting biological response to climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used phenology studies from many parts of the world, but data from high latitudes of North America are scarce. This thesis reports climate trends and corresponding changes in sequential bloom times for seven plant species in the central parklands of Alberta, Canada (52–57° north latitude). The data span seven decades (1936–2006), drawing on historic Agriculture Canada data, observations by the Federation of Alberta Naturalists, and the Alberta PlantWatch program in both urban and rural areas of central Alberta. An analysis of historical weather station data revealed a substantial warming signal over the study period (1936–2006), which ranged from +5.3°C for mean monthly temperature in February to +1.5°C in May. The earliest blooming species (Populus tremuloides and Anemone patens) advanced their bloom dates by two weeks over seven decades, while the later species advanced their bloom dates between zero and six days. Early-blooming species advanced faster than predicted by thermal time models, which may be due to decreased diurnal temperature fluctuations. This unexpectedly sensitive response resulted in an increased exposure to late spring frosts. A criticism by climate change skeptics is that the observed warming signal is an artifact of the increasing heat island effect of growing cities. The current dataset offered the opportunity to test this claim due to the spatially and temporally extensive phenology database. The data indeed show an increasing heat island effect over the period 1931–2006 in both weather station data and plant phenology response. Across all seven plant species, the advance in phenology observed in Edmonton was 2.1 days (±0.9 SE) greater than in the surrounding rural areas over the last 70 years. This accounted for one third of the general warming signal, while the remaining advance of 3.7 days observed in rural settings was attributed to climate change. Finally, as guidance for those initiating new observer networks, an analysis of factors that determined the quality of the PlantWatch phenological data was carried out. The thesis concludes with recommendations for effective volunteer training, observer motivation, and program protocols.


The factors influencing the outcomes of mild/moderate acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) are still unclear. Retrospective analyses were performed to identify such factors. The medical records of all patients who were admitted to Saiseikai Shiga Hospital with mild (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score of 14–15) or moderate (GCS score of 9–13) ASDH between April 2008 and March 2017 were reviewed. Comparisons between the patients who exhibited favorable and poor outcomes were performed. Then, independent factors that contributed to poor outcomes were identified via logistic regression analyses. A total of 266 patients with a mean age of 70.2 were included in this study. The most common concomitant injuries were subarachnoid hemorrhages (SAHs; 56.8%). The patients' Injury Severity Scores (ISS) ranged from 16 to 75 (median: 21). The 66 moderate ASDH patients exhibited significantly higher frequencies of surgery and mortality (24.2% and 13.6%, respectively) than the 200 mild ASDH patients (8.0% and 4.5%, respectively). The factors associated with poor outcomes were age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.06) and the ISS (OR: 1.24) in the mild ASDH patients, and older age (OR: 1.09) and the higher ISS (OR: 1.15) in the moderate group, too.


SUMMARY: A thiosulphate-oxidizing system of Thiobacillus novellus grown on thiosulphate was studied using intact cells, crude cell-free extracts and isolated membrane vesicles. All active preparations oxidized thiosulphate to sulphate, without intermediary accumulation of polythionates, consuming two moles of oxygen for every mole of thiosulphate oxidized. Less active cell-free preparations required reduced glutathione, NADH or sulphite for thiosulphate oxidation. An active membrane-associated thiosulphate-oxidizing system from crude cell-free extracts was isolated by either Sepharose 4B column chromatography or differential centrifugation. The isolated multi-enzyme complex system exhibited high specificity for thiosulphate with an apparent K
m value of 0.12 mM. Enzyme activity was optimum at pH 7.5 and 25 °C. The system was sensitive to oxygen, storage at certain temperatures and freezing. Inhibition studies indicated that active sulphydryl groups and an electron transport chain were involved during thiosulphate oxidation. Electron micrographs of active crude extracts and the isolated membrane complex after negative staining showed the presence of spherical structures with a diameter of about 0.1 to 0.4 μm. An ultra-thin section of the membrane complex revealed that the large spherical particles observed in the negatively stained preparations were aggregated structures consisting of smaller vesicles 0.02 to 0.05 μm in diameter.


Climate changes projected for 2100 and beyond could result in a worldwide race for adaptation resources on a scale never seen before. This paper describes a model for estimating the cost and materials of elevating coastal seaport infrastructure in the United States to prevent damage from sea level rise associated with climate change. This study pilots the use of a generic port model (GenPort) as a basis from which to estimate regional materials and monetary demands, resulting in projections that would be infeasible to calculate on an individual port-by-port basis. We estimate the combined cost of adding two meters of additional fill material to elevate the working surface and then reconstructing the generic port. We use the resulting unit area cost to develop an estimate to elevate and retrofit 100 major United States commercial coastal ports. A total of $57 billion to $78 billion (2012 US dollars) and 704 million cubic meters of fill would be required to elevate the 100 ports by two meters and to reconstruct associated infrastructure. This estimation method and the results serve as a thought exercise to provoke considerations of the cumulative monetary and material demands of widespread adaptations of seaport infrastructure. The model can be adapted for use in multiple infrastructure sectors and coastal managers can use the outlined considerations as a basis for individual port adaptation strategy assessments.