CHRISTINE LAIDLAW, The British in the Levant: Trade and Perceptions of the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century (London: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2010), Pp. 288, $ 100 clothChristine Laidlaw, a former British diplomat with a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, has produced a sparkling, absorbing account of the social affairs of the British trading community in the eastern Mediterranean at a time when Britain was a rising star and the Ottoman sultanate still a formidable great power. Laidlaw gives us vivid insights into the workings of the Levant Company, a hybrid of private commercial drive and ad hoc state interests that represented an introductory step toward formalized inter-state relations between Britain and the Ottomans in the nineteenth century. Her treatment of her subject is clear, methodical, impressively documented, and highly readable.Laidlaw begins with a tidy survey of relevant sources (company records, unpublished letters, private papers, and secondary literature) and of the history and fluctuating fortunes of the Levant Company as the framework for British life, commerce, and diplomatic operations in the Ottoman Empire. This covers the period from Elizabeth I's founding of the company in 1582 to its downfall as an unpopular trading monopoly in 1825. In the main body of the book she focuses on the eighteenth century for dissection of the lives of residents of the British "factories" (trading stations) in Istanbul, Izmir, and Aleppo. She gives us a fascinating portrayal of the administrators, headed by the British ambassador in Istanbul who was both chief officer of a commercial association and Crown representative to the Ottoman state. She continues with the chaplains, vital to community morale and cohesion in an alien environment; the physicians, who spearheaded interaction with local Ottoman society; and family activity as women and children increasingly were featured through the century.A colorful array of personalities and the ups and downs of their experiences of the Ottoman world pass vividly before us in Laidlaw's narrative. There was Ambassador John Murray, who served effectively in Istanbul between 1766 and 1775, balancing wife and mistress, enduring trying house guests, and managing shaky finances. Laidlaw gives us such scenes as Murray's Polish manservant's acting as a spy for the French ambassador and rifling Murray's correspondence while the latter enjoyed his dinners. Then, in Aleppo between 1740 and 1770, there were the Scottish physicians Alexander and Patrick Russell, who spoke Arabic and tended local Ottoman officials as well as British and other foreign residents. The Russells produced The Natural History of Aleppo, a portrayal of a great Ottoman provincial city in addition to being a compendium of Syrian plants and herbs.In terms of social sketches, the final chapter on Family life and Recreation provides memorable treatment of women's roles and of the British populations as real little communities. …


The Lung Screen Uptake Trial tested a novel invitation strategy to improve uptake and reduce socioeconomic and smoking-related inequalities in lung cancer screening (LCS) participation. It provides one of the first UK-based 'real-world' LCS cohorts. Of 2012 invited, 1058 (52.6%) attended a 'lung health check'. 768/996 (77.1%) in the present analysis underwent a low-dose CT scan. 92 (11.9%) and 33 (4.3%) participants had indeterminate pulmonary nodules requiring 3-month and 12-month surveillance, respectively; 36 lung cancers (4.7%) were diagnosed (median follow-up: 1044 days). 72.2% of lung cancers were stage I/II and 79.4% of non-small cell lung cancer had curative-intent treatment.


Objective: Adverse events following left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation are more common in women than in men, but the impact of gender differences on right ventricular (RV) failure is not well defined. Therefore, we calculated RV strain before and after LVAD implantation in matched groups of men and women to determine if gender differences in RV failure after LVAD might account for the gender differences in overall outcomes. Methods: RV free wall longitudinal strain (FWS) and fractional area change were calculated preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively using speckle-tracking echocardiography analysis. A total of 172 patients (86 women, 86 men) were then propensity score matched (1:1) for comparison. Results: Although women had higher preoperative CHA2DS2-VASc scores and more frequent moderate mitral regurgitation than men (P = 0.018), the preoperative hemodynamic parameters were similar. Preoperative RV-FWS was −6.7% in women and −6.0% in men (P = 0.65). Postoperatively, women had more progression to severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) than men (15% vs 7%, P = 0.06). At 3 months the RV-FWS was −7.7% in women and −7.0% in men (P = 0.59). Postoperative TR was moderate–severe in 20% of women and in 9% of men (P = 0.001). Women had a higher incidence of venous thromboembolism, cardiac arrhythmias, and bleeding compared with men. Women also had higher mortality rates at discharge and 30 days after surgery, but the survival rates at 5 years were similar. Conclusions: RV strain measurements track standard hemodynamic and echocardiographic parameters and confirm that gender differences in outcomes following LVAD implantation are not related to gender differences in RV failure rates.


The research described in this article formed part of a larger project concerned with re-designing a number of Supplementary Benefit documents. Five forms and letters from the original sample are discussed here. These documents, at present in national use, are compared with five re-designed versions which were put into use for a limited period. A comparison between the 'old' and 'new' documents was carried out using both in-use and non use testing techniques. The results indicate the relative success of the different versions and highlight areas of concern f or future studies of a similar nature.


This study was carried out to assess the vegetable growers of Taluka Usta Muhammad District of Jaffarabad, Balochistan for their awareness about the effects of pesticides use in vegetables and their opinion in relation to situation improvement and major problems they face. The study covered the 80 vegetable growers. Apart from the demographic information of the respondents, the farmers were also asked to perceive on their knowledge about pesticide application, impact of pesticides on vegetables, human health and environment and some other related aspects. The study revealed that majority of growers were 31-40 years of age (32%); educated upto primary (31%);>40 acre landholding (31%);tenant (46%);mostly having 5-10 years farming experience (39%); cultivate vegetables on 11-20 acres (38%) growers, respectively. The likert type scale results on different assumptions for majority growers show: 'not satisfied' (81%) about the usefulness extension services regarding proper use of pesticides; 'satisfied to some extent' (68%) on their awareness regarding techniques of pesticide application; (56%) on awareness regarding unsafe pesticide application as a health risk; 'satisfied to some extent' (62%) following label instructions; 'satisfied to some extent' (45%)  on awareness of safe use of pesticides; 'satisfied to some extent' (55%) knowledge regarding precautions for pesticide application; 'satisfied to some extent' (63%) on their awareness on unsafe pesticide application is a health risk;  'satisfied to some extent' (49%) for awareness on adverse pesticide effects on animals and other ecosystem; 'not satisfied' (45%) with the traditional methods. Majority growers 'strongly agreed' (82%) that use of pesticide increases the yield of vegetables; (72%) disagreed the pesticides as cause of unground water contamination; (44%) strongly agreed that use of pesticides is harmful for biological life; (51%) strongly agreed that abundant use of pesticides pollutes the atmosphere; (46%) strongly agreed on changed natural taste of food due to pesticidal sprays;(40%) strongly agreed that birds are affected by the indiscriminate use of pesticides; (71%) strongly agreed that due to residual effects of pesticides in vegetable produce human health is at high risk. Majority of growers suggested training programs on proper pesticide application on vegetables, motivation campaigns, effective extension services, effective role of mass media, demonstration plots, role of EPA, training of residual effects and human health. Neighboring farmer was rank-1 source of information while 'financial constraints' was rank-1 problem faced by the growers. Keywords: Vegetables, Pesticides, Awareness, Ecosystem, Knowledge, Farmer and Growers


We have established a quantitative method for evaluation of ocular surface lesions on the basis of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, malate dehydrogenase (MDH) activity, and albumin levels in rabbit tears. Lesions were produced with solutions of 0.005-0.02% benzalkonium chloride (BAK), 0.01-0.03% chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX), and 0.01-0.03% polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride (PHMB), all of which are widely used in topical ophthalmic preparations. Two drops of test solution were instilled 15 times into rabbit eyes at 5 minute intervals. Sixty minutes after 0.02% BAK instillation, tear LDH activity increased from 1,840 U/L (without instillation) to 26,100 U/L, and concomitantly tear albumin levels rose from 0.11 mg/mL (without instillation) to 9.48 mg/mL. Instillation of 0.03% CHX and 0.03% PHMB caused smaller increases in LDH and MDH activity and albumin tear levels. LDH activity and albumin levels in tears were significantly correlated with the degree of total ocular surface lesions in both cornea and conjunctiva as observed by slit lamp biomicroscopy quantified using a modified Draize score. Based on the results of this study, we believe that LDH activity and albumin level in tears can be used as objective indicators for the quantitative evaluation of ocular surface lesions on both cornea and conjunctiva following application of topical ophthalmic preparations containing cytotoxic preservatives in animals and man.


Resonance scattering of a Dirac particle (electron) in a screened Coulomb potential (of Lorentz vector type) is investigated. The so-called direct and spin-flip differential cross-sections (DCSs) for Dirac particles are analyzed by a partial-wave analysis, as well as the spin-polarization parameters, here denoted S ?> , T ?> and U ?> . This model study of angular as well as energy behaviors shows that DCSs, at forward and backward angles, together with the polarization parameter T ?> seem to be best indicators of energy and orbital angular momentum of sharp, isolated, resonances.


A disadvantage of pin lasers is often the bad quality of the laser beam. One aim of this investigation was the improvement of the beam divergence by an irregular arrangement of the needles in the cathode. In addition, the influence of a preionization was studied and the laser output is qualitatively compared with that of a UV-preionized one.


In Thailand, water is life. Recently however, water has been more associated with conflict and problems, both natural and manmade, from drought to floods to dams to pollution. This paper investigates two major problems related to the management of water resources, dry-season allocation and water quality. In Thailand, water allocation has been considered an administrative problem and solutions have largely been supply- oriented. Economic instruments have not been used to solve them. In dealing with water quality as well, economic instruments have Largely been neglected. This paper outlines some of the major problems of water use in Thailand, including conflicts over the quantity and quality of water. It provides some examples of both the political and economic consequences of government policy, specifically the "open access" regime which ignores the true costs and benefits of various types of water use. The paper then goes on to discuss economic instruments for the management of water resources, especially water pricing and pollution charges. Finally, the paper presents conclusions to be drawn from the various studies of water resources in Thailand.


The shape of bacteria is determined by their cell wall and can be very diverse. Even among genera with the suffix 'cocci', which are the focus of this review, different shapes exist. While staphylococci or Neisseria cells, for example, are truly round-shaped, streptococci, lactococci or enterococci have an ovoid shape. Interestingly, there seems to be a correlation between the shape of an organism and its set of penicillin-binding proteins--the enzymes that assemble the peptidoglycan, the main constituent of the cell wall. While only one peptidoglycan biosynthesis machinery seems to exist in staphylococci, two of these machineries are proposed to function in ovoid-shaped bacteria, reinforcing the intrinsic differences regarding the morphogenesis of different classes of cocci. The present review aims to integrate older ultra-structural data with recent localization studies, in order to clarify the relation between the mechanisms of cell wall synthesis and the determination of cell shape in various cocci.


Objective To study the efficacy of acellular human dermal (AHD) allograft as a material for static slings used to treat ptosis of the oral commissure after facial paralysis. Design In the university facial plastic surgery practices (Baltimore, Md, and Albuquerque, NM) of the senior author (J.L.F.), 11 consecutive patients with facial paralysis were treated with AHD allograft slings. Follow-up was 4 to 14 months with 1 patient excluded for inadequate follow-up. Six of the remaining 10 patients received radiation therapy. Results were considered excellent and designated grade 1 when the affected oral commissure was at the same level as the normal commissure. Complete ptosis was designated grade 4. Grades 2 and 3 were designated between these extremes. Results All 10 patients showed improvement in the position of the oral commissure, in oral competence, and in cheek ptosis. Four patients were grade 1; 5, grade 2; and 1, grade 3. There were no implant extrusions or infections. Conclusions The increased biointegration of AHD allografts in comparison with alloplastic materials may account for the absence of infection reported in this study and the relatively high success rate, especially in patients receiving radiation therapy.


The last two decades have seen the legislation and institutionalization of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong. This study examines the transformation wrought by these changes through the life story of a practitioner of Chinese medicine, in his sixties, who claims to be a zǔchuán zhōngyī (祖傳中醫, literally "inherited Chinese medicine practitioner"), meaning that the practice has been handed down from generation to generation in the family. Drawing on oral history and archival research, the article shows how this practitioner has been marginalized by globally dominant Western medicine, and by the institutionalization of his profession, and how he employs different strategies to continue to practice Chinese medicine in a wet market. His experiences provide a lens to explore how Chinese medicine has been institutionalized under the Western biomedicine framework, and how marginalized practitioners negotiate for space to continue traditional practices outside the mainstream of modernized, scientized "traditional Chinese medicine" (TCM). The dynamics between Western medicine and Chinese medicine lead to a consideration of some broader issues of globalization and health.


Sports nutrition for 35 athletes was supplemented by the metabolic preparation cytofl avin 1 month before a pre-competition training camp. Their physical status was estimated using a specialized Omega-C hardware-software complex. It was shown that cytofl avin promotes physical fi tness of the athletes by improving energy supply, psychoemotional conditions, and competition form. It is recommended to use cytofl avin for the training of athletes in the pre-competition period.


A lot of studies provide strong evidence that traditional predictive regression models face significant challenges in out-of sample predictability tests due to model uncertainty and parameter instability. Recent studies introduce particular strategies that overcome these problems. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a relatively new learning algorithm that has the desirable characteristics of the control of the decision function, the use of the kernel method, and the sparsity of the solution. In this paper, we present a theoretical and empirical framework to apply the Support Vector Machines strategy to predict the stock market. Firstly, four company-specific and six macroeconomic factors that may influence the stock trend are selected for further stock multivariate analysis. Secondly, Support Vector Machine is used in analyzing the relationship of these factors and predicting the stock performance. Our results suggest that SVM is a powerful predictive tool for stock predictions in the financial market.


The narrator's uncharacteristically emphatic apostrophe to vanity in Joseph Andrews suggests that Fielding is worried--worried about how vanity affects his readers and worried about what they, like his characters, may unknowingly do in its service: O Vanity! How little is thy Force acknowledged, or thy Operations discerned? How wantonly dost thou deceive Mankind under different Disguises? Sometimes thou dost wear the Face of Pity, sometimes of Generosity: nay, thou hast the Assurance even to put on those glorious Ornaments which belong only to heroick Virtue. Thou odious, deformed Monster ... The greatest Villanies are daily practised to please thee ... All our Passions are thy Slaves. (1) Readers familiar with Joseph Andrews may recall that Henry Fielding begins his novel with a meditation on affectation, carefully separating vanity from hypocrisy as two causes of affectation, and emphasizing hypocrisy's "violent Repugnancy." Joseph Andrews presents hypocrisy as "an Endeavour to avoid Censure by concealing our Vices under an Appearance of their opposite Virtues." Vanity, on the other hand, deceives us by concealing our vices from us as virtues. It is clear why "these two Causes are often confounded"; however, as "they proceed from very different Motives, so they are as clearly distinct in their Operations: for indeed, the Affectation which arises from Vanity is nearer to Truth than the other; as it hath not that violent Repugnancy of Nature to struggle with, which that of the Hypocrite hath" (8). Because hypocrisy is the practice of conscious deceit in social relationships, the narrator ridicules and castigates hypocrites for what are consciously villainous acts. It is an evil that knows itself to be so, yet it persists nevertheless. Fielding, therefore, rates hypocrisy higher than vanity; this prioritization, however, doesn't negate the very real concerns he raises about vanity. I am interested in exploring what is less recognized about Fielding's fictional works, both in Joseph Andrews and beyond: his critique of self-deceit in the form of vanity and the way it too creates problems of sociability. Vanity poses a significant moral and epistemological problem for characters in Fielding's fiction. While it is a commonplace that the vain cannot perceive their own vanity, Fielding puts pressure on this observational bias by asking questions about how vanity affects the processes of our understanding. The broad outline of influence that the narrator of his Joseph Andrews proposes is not encouraging. It is the self-deceptiveness of vanity that troubles Fielding the most, and with good reason, for self-deception indicates that our participation in "villanies" is not strictly consensual, nor is our moral understanding reliable. Fielding believes people want to be virtuous but are encumbered in that pursuit by an unacknowledged, self-interested syllogism: our judgment is "deformed" such that we believe we act virtuously because we are inclined to understand our actions to be so. We don't consider ourselves villains or our actions "odious"; instead, we act assured that we are moral, even "heroick," without any external, verifying standard of meaning for these categories. The deceptions of vanity are problematic not merely because we end up acting in immoral ways that we do not recognize, but also because they corrupt how we think, disabling our ability to make clear or accurate judgments. Fielding therefore suggests that we exist in a paradoxical condition in which our best impulses to be moral, sociable, and good-natured are inverted by an inveterate, enslaving, and invisible predisposition to be the opposite. In these terms, vanity is a complex epistemological problem with deep implications for how we understand our world and participate in it. Fielding explains that vanity is fundamentally the pursuit of adulation or "applause" from others, a pursuit that overrides our critical faculties; it "puts us on affecting false Characters," persuading us that we are other, better, than we are (JA, 8). …


The ability to predict rapid kidney function decline (RKFD) in patients with early stages of type 2 diabetic kidney disease (T2DKD) can improve long-term health outcomes through earlier intervention. Our objective was to develop a robust risk score for patients with early stages of T2DKD. We obtained EHR and plasma from patients with T2DKD (Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes [KDIGO] G1-G2, A2-A3 or G3a-G3b, A1-A3) from the Mount Sinai BioMe Biobank and the Penn Medicine Biobank and measured soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (sTNFR1, sTNFR2) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) via a validated quantitative electrochemiluminescent assay. A machine learning model was trained using the EHR/biomarker data to predict RKFD, defined as eGFR decline of ≥5 ml/min/year or ≥40% sustained decline in eGFR or kidney failure within 5 years, and performance was compared to a clinical model and KDIGO risk-matrix. A total of 1146 subjects with a mean age of 63, baseline eGFR 54 ml/min, and median UACR 61 mg/g were randomly divided into 60% training (n=686) and 40% validation (n=460) sets. The median follow-up was 4.3 years and 241 (21%) experienced RKFD. The AUC of KidneyIntelX for RFKD was 0.85 (95% CI 0.84-0.86) in training and 0.77 (95% CI 0.76-0.79) in the validation set vs. AUC of 0.67 (95% CI 0.64-0.70) for a clinical model. Using pre-specified cutoffs from the training set, KidneyIntelX stratified 47%, 37% and 16% of the validation set into low-, intermediate- and high-risk strata, with a PPV of 62% (vs. 41% for KDIGO) in the high-risk group (p Disclosure L. Chan: None. G.N. Nadkarni: Advisory Panel; Self; Renalytix AI. Consultant; Self; AstraZeneca, Reata, Renalytix AI. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Renalytix AI. Other Relationship; Self; Renalytix AI. F. Fleming: Board Member; Self; Renalytix AI plc. F.E. Salem: None. B. Murphy: Board Member; Self; RenalytixAI. M.J. Donovan: Consultant; Self; Renalytix AI plc. S. Coca: Advisory Panel; Self; Renalytix AI plc. Consultant; Self; Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc., CHF Solutions, Relypsa, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Renalytix AI plc. S.M. Damrauer: Consultant; Spouse/Partner; Rhythm Pharmaceuticals. Research Support; Self; CytoVas LLC, Renalytix AI plc. Funding Renalytix AI plc


In multinational and complex projects that are often
implemented by multiple organizations, the entire projects need to be divided
into manageable subprojects. At the same time, all subprojects
are needed to be kept aligned with the project goals and targets by integration
and coordination. The
purpose of this article is to study the role of a particular, work-shop type,
collaborative meeting by utilizing the characteristics of an integrative
information processing framework. A single case study method
was used to observe the practices of collaborative meetings. This study contributes to the
project management research by analysing how collaborative meeting practice can
be used as a mechanism to reduce uncertainty and equivocality in a large investment
project. The results of this study are two folds: Firstly, the
case project's collaborative meetings are described in detail; secondly, the perceived features and
procedures of the collaborative meetings in the case project are illustrated
showing the role of the collaborative meetings as an integrative tool.
Moreover, the perceived integrative characteristics of the collaborative
meetings reducing uncertainty and equivocality are presented. This study
indicates that collaborative meeting is an integrative mechanism reducing
uncertainty and equivocality in a large investment project context.


When Hamlet reflects on the charged power of the tragic theater, the figure who haunts his imagination is Hecuba, Queen of Troy, whose tragedy came to define the genre in sixteenth-century Europe. As a bereaved mourner who seeks revenge, Hecuba offers a female version of Hamlet. Yet even while underscoring her tragic power, Shakespeare simultaneously establishes a new model of tragic protagonist, challenging the period's longstanding identification of tragedy with women. In exploring why both Hamlet and Shakespeare are preoccupied with Hecuba, this chapter argues that ignoring the impact of Greek plays in sixteenth-century England has left a gap in our understanding of early modern tragedy. Attending to Hecuba highlights Shakespeare's innovations to a genre conventionally centered on female grief. In invoking Hecuba as an icon of tragedy, Shakespeare both reflects on and transforms women's place in the genre.


Recent public policy debates have led to increased calls for full transparency of executive compensation. However, in practice, many firms are reluctant to disclose the full details of how they link executive compensation to performance. One possible reason for lack of full disclosure is that managers use their power to hide the details of their compensation plan in order to disguise opportunistic rent extraction. If this is the reason for secrecy, then public policy designed to force firms to provide full disclosure is unlikely to be resisted by shareholders. However, another possible explanation for less than full transparency is that some degree of secrecy about executive compensation may be in the interest of the company and its shareholders. If this explanation is correct, then public policy moves to increase transparency may be met by counter moves designed to protect managers and shareholders from such policies. In this paper we investigate if full disclosure of executive compensation arrangements is always optimal for shareholders. We develop a model where optimal executive remuneration solves a moral hazard problem. However, the degree to which the moral hazard problem affects the shareholders depends on hidden information, so that disclosure of the executive compensation scheme will typically reveal the hidden information, which can be harmful to shareholders. The model derives, therefore, the optimal disclosure policy and the optimal remuneration scheme. We find that the shareholders are better off pre-committing not to disclose the executive compensation scheme whenever possible. Executive directors are shown to be better off too in the absence of disclosure of executive compensation schemes. An argument for mandating disclosure is that it provides better information to shareholders but our analysis demonstrates that disclosure does not necessarily achieve this objective. The results suggest that less than full disclosure can be in the interest of shareholders, the reason for this being that disclosures cannot be made selectively to shareholders but will also be made to strategic opponents. This will be the case if the board of directors and the remuneration committee includes enough independent directors. Whether or not non-disclosure to shareholders is in their interest is however an empirical matter involving a trade-off between the proprietary costs associated with disclosure to shareholders and the costs of potential collusion between executive and non-executive directors associated with non-disclosure.


To clarify the role of mitogen-inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-2) in the development of malignant tumors, we investigated the effects of COX-2 inhibitors on the growth of gastric cancer xenografts in nude mice in vivo. MKN45 gastric cancer cells (5 x 10(6) cells/animal) that overexpress COX-2 were inoculated subcutaneously into athymic mice. NS-398, a specific COX-2 inhibitor, or indomethacin, a nonspecific COX-2 inhibitor, was administered orally to animals every day for 20 days. These drugs reduced the tumor volume significantly. Immunohistochemistry using bromodeoxyuridine, nick end labeling, and electron microscopy showed that NS-398 induced apoptosis in cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited cancer cell replication slightly. Indomethacin also induced apoptosis and suppressed replication of tumor cells. There was a significant negative correlation between tumor volume and apoptotic cell number within the tumor. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that COX-2 inhibitors suppress growth of gastric cancer xenografts mainly by inducing apoptosis and suppressing replication of the neoplastic cells. It follows that COX-2 plays an important role in the development of gastric cancer.


Display maps have had a significant impact throughout history, yet since extremely few have survived this has not always been fully appreciated. These often magnificent maps, expressing an enormous variety of differing world views, used size and beauty to convey messages of status and power. This book takes the best surviving examples to re-establish manuscript, painted and mural maps as a major cultural medium particularly in early modern Europe by illustrating the settings in which they were displayed and discussing the background and purpose of individual examples. Sourced from one of the greatest map collections in the world, many of these visual delights will be completely new even to experts.


SUMMARY: Large transient increases in the concentration of some dry airborne spores coincident with the start of rain suggested that the first raindrops to wet surfaces might disperse spores other than in splash droplets or by wetting fructifications. Experimental collisions between glass beads or water drops and spore-bearing surfaces showed that both rapid air movement in advance of radially spreading splashes and vibration can suspend spores in air. Removal by air movement is most effective when large drops collide with surfaces carrying spores that are loose or raised above the surface.


The Arabidopsis thaliana SFD1 (suppressor of fatty acid desaturase deficiency1) gene (also known as GLY1) is required for accumulation of 34:6 (i.e., 18:3–16:3) monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and for the activation of systemic acquired resistance (SAR), an inducible defense mechanism that confers resistance against a broad spectrum of pathogens. SFD1, which has been suggested to be involved in lipid-based signaling in SAR, contains a putative chloroplast transit peptide and has glycerol-3-phosphate synthesizing dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) reductase (also referred as glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) activity. The goals of this study were to determine if the DHAP reductase activity and chloroplast localization are required for SFD1's involvement in galactolipid metabolism and SAR signaling. The crystal structure of a Leishmania mexicana glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was used to model SFD1 structure and identify Lys194, Lys279, and Asp332 as potential catalytic site residues in SFD1. Mutational analysis of SFD1 confirmed that Lys194, Lys279, and Asp332 are critical for SFD1's DHAP reductase activity, and its involvement in SAR. SFD1 proteins with these residues individually substituted by Ala lacked DHAP reductase activity and were unable to complement the SAR defect of the sfd1 mutant. The SFD1–Ala279 protein was also unable to restore 34:6-MGDG content when expressed in the sfd1 mutant. In vivo imaging of a green fluorescent protein-tagged SFD1 protein demonstrated that SFD1 is targeted to the chloroplast. The N-terminal 43 amino acids, which are required for proper targeting of SFD1 to the chloroplast, are also required for SFD1's function in lipid metabolism and SAR. Taken together, these results demonstrate that SFD1's DHAP reductase activity is required in the chloroplast for lipid metabolism and defense signaling.


In this paper, we propose a deep learning model based on deep multi-view representation learning, to address the video object segmentation task. The proposed model emphasizes the importance of the inherent correlation between video frames and incorporates a multi-view representation learning based on deep canonically correlated autoencoders. The multi-view representation learning in our model provides an efficient mechanism for capturing inherent correlations by jointly extracting useful features and learning better representation into a joint feature space, i.e., shared representation. To increase the training data and the learning capacity, we train the proposed model with pairs of video frames, i.e., Fa and Fb. During the segmentation phase, the deep canonically correlated auto encoders model encodes useful features by processing multiple reference frames together, which is used to detect the frequently reappearing. Our model enhances the state-of-the-art deep learning-based methods that mainly focus on learning discriminative foreground representations over appearance and motion. Experimental results over two large benchmarks demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to outperform competitive approaches and to reach good performances, in terms of semantic segmentation.


Clock gating is an effective way to decrease dissipated power in synchronous design. The most effective way to do this is by masking the clock that turns toward the unused part of design. In this paper, a comparative evaluation of power consumption in existing clock gating techniques in Arithmetic Logical Unit (ALU) design was achieved. an innovative signal clock gating method offers extra immunity in the direction of the present issue in an accessible mechanism. A Gated Clock Generation designs using a tri-state connection and logic gate, generated by the set of bubbled input with NAND gate, is used for the latest suggested clock gating. This design saves power even when the clock is at applying to the target module. Complete power analysis reveals that the proposed technique has an effect on the dynamic power that decreases total power consumption up to 24.90% relative to traditional power.  All experiments are done in arithmetic logic unit design. 130 nm standard logic libraries have been used for implementation in order to achieve ALU frameworks. The ALU design architecture was developed using the Verilog HDL, and the simulations are performed utilizing ModelSim-Altera 10.0c (Quartus II 11.1) Starter Version.


This thesis is based on a two-year ethnography, conducted in a special school, on how young people with physical disabilities use the internet. The thesis focuses on four key areas identified during the research. Firstly, the thesis highlights the embodied rhythms or pace and journeys or wayfaring that characterise how young people move in and between digital media and that are not captured by studies focusing on typologies of internet use. Secondly, the thesis discusses how young people with physical disabilities struggle to overcome stigma and exclusion in their online relationships, as rather than facilitate disembodied communication(s), digital media is increasingly saturated with normative visuality. Thirdly, the thesis discusses how young people with physical disabilities use of digital media is regulated by their teachers and parents, often limiting their use of this medium. Finally, the thesis explores how the young people enact disability in different contexts including the special school, mainstream colleges and the home, and what this tells us about these institutional contexts. In addition to participant observation the fieldwork also involved in-depth interviews with a small cohort of young people with physical disabilities and video diaries produced by participants that showcased how they use the internet in the home. Interviews were also carried out with some school staff from the special school as well as parents of participants. Home visits enabled observation of how participants use the internet in domestic settings, and some participants were followed to their mainstream colleges as they progressed into further education, or attended placements during the two-year period.
A concern addressed in the thesis is how inequalities are reproduced and embedded in young people with physical disabilities habitual use of the internet. At the same time, the study found that these young people used the internet much in the same way as their able-bodied peers, for example, to play games, socialise and post images to garner approval. Video diaries revealed significant differences in the rhythms and journeys underpinning the way in which the young people used digital media, articulating contextual and habitual factors and the level of their disability.
Furthermore, these young people used the internet to find, build and maintain social relationships online, to explore their sexuality and to engage in self-promotion on social networking sites. However, when online they also encountered various obstacles and struggled to overcome bodily stigma and exclusion within the visual and narrowly normative presentation of the self-online.
School teachers and parents were found to adhere to regulatory policies and advice on how to mediate young people s access and use to digital media. This study found the regulatory practices (monitoring, blocking, filtering content) restricted how young people with physical disabilities could access and use digital media in the home and at school. For some participants their gender and ethnicity was found to intersect with their disability making them subject to substantial regulatory practices in the home. Moreover, the students who were more able-bodied found ways to evade the regulatory practices encountered in the school and at home.
Finally, the study also found that the special school created a protective environment that fosters an inclusive space, where students with different abilities can prosper. In contrast however, their transition to mainstream colleges reveal that when they are expected to practice and adjust their disability to the normative practices in place for able-bodied students, they become hindered in their ability to feel included and perform academically.


The renaissance of myringoplasty has evolved the use of many different types of autogenous tissues for the closure of tympanic membrane perforations or the reconstruction of the entire tympanic membrane. The work of Guilford and Wright in the use of split- and full-thickness skin grafts, and the use of vein grafts of Shea are 2 of the outstanding examples of the recent contributions to this phase of otosurgery. There are many advantages and disadvantages in the use of skin to close tympanic membrane perforations. One of the main disadvantages is the constant desquamation and maceration, with subsequent infection and loss of the graft. These have been some of the major problems in this type of closure of tympanic membrane perforations. Technically, this procedure is also considerably more difficult than the other procedures. The vein graft as devised by Shea is certainly a very definite contribution to the problem. The only


Echoing the call to incorporate the intersectionality framework into studies of gender structure, this paper applied the framework to re-analyse the quantitative and qualitative findings of an evaluation study on a women empowerment community project in Hong Kong. This effort revealed the importance of the gender structure's dimension of sexual division of labour and the intersectional effects of gender, race and class in explaining the mixed traditional and progressive views in different items within a domain and across different domains of the gender division of labour, specifically the marital, parental, employment, social activities and education domains. The low-income migrant women have upheld different traditional ideas in these domains. However, in contrast with the richer and local women who also shared these traditional views, low-income migrant women in this study questioned some prevailing ideas in these domains, due to their need to survive the conditions defined by the intersection of gender, race and class. The findings of this study, despite being preliminary and limited, demonstrate the significance and feasibility of studying gender structure adopting the perspective of intersectionality. Arguably, this lack of understanding of the intersectional effects diminishes the effectiveness of community intervention. In light of the paucity of research adopting the intersectionality framework in the community development field in general, and a similar deficit in the feminist and community development fields in Hong Kong in particular, the failure to adopt the intersectionality framework by the community project under consideration is understandable. It is likely that as this framework becomes more prominent in the future, given its potential to offer deeper insight into the dynamics of gender structure, community interventions for women of different identities could be strengthened.


Issues users have with use of the web on a mobile device can be attributed to difficulties with the mobile interface. A major challenge that we address is improving the user experience for handling of interruptions and multitasking when using the web in a mobile context. The usability issues with a mobile device (e.g. intensive navigation) is directly related to the negative impact on user performance, described as cognitive overhead related to attention and memory. There is a lack of addressing attention and memory in relationship to the user interface and user performance during use of a mobile device. Also lacking is interface support for users when doing more than one task. We proposed a form of mobile assistance, an Attentive Interface for Mobile Multitasking (AIMM) that aids users with managing interruptions by dynamically adapting forms of support to facilitate attention and memory for a task. This research contributes to building a conceptual, empirical and theoretical foundation for designing mobile assistance. These issues were addressed empirically by examining how people use the mobile Web and handle interruptions that result in multitasking. In conceptualizing mobile assistance, a multitasking and interruption framework was developed to identify aspects of the user, tasks, context, mobile device and user performance that are relevant to user handling of interruptions. This multitasking framework was a basis to developing assistance support when handling interruption tasks on a mobile device. Three experiments were presented, on understanding the influence of an interruption task on user web task performance. A fourth experiment is presented on the use of visual markers such as an automated point of return indicator (PRI) and a user controlled interactive suspension point (ISP) to support a user with resuming a primary task after an interruption. Based on our research we conclude the following: An interruption task generated from the same device (same origin) having similar interactions (e.g. pointing with a stylus or mouse cursor and entering information on screens) with a single screen display leads to serial switching between tasks that negatively influences user performance. We have attributed delays on interrupted primary task performance to the following: disruption in memory for recalling where to begin the task, memory decay and interference (e.g. from serial switching and similarity in interaction between tasks) which negatively impacts working memory, leading to confusion and difficulty in reconfiguring a task for resumption. Our interaction design recommendations include assistance for use of the mobile Web when multitasking with interruptions. As part of the Attentive Interface for Mobile Multitasking framework, assistance is needed for supporting the user's attention and memory (e.g. PRI and ISP) on the primary task. User handling of the interruption task can be improved by enhancing user anticipation of an interruption. Interceding of an interruption task is also recommended in the form of content summarization of a message. Furthermore, the assistance of interruption management itself needs to be understood and appropriately adapted to the user. Mobile assistance for interruption management is a means toward improving usability of the mobile Web.


For example, President [Bush], asked about the Gallup Poll, said that if the United States shows leadership in the war on terrorism, 'the world will follow'. Not really. While the United States might be able to twist the arms of its Muslim allies to join the campaign on terror, it will not be able to influence Muslim public opinion without direct and full engagement with local societies. The Bush administration must adopt a farsighted, longer-term strategy to aggressively compete in the war of ideas and persuade the large 'floating middle' of Muslim public opinion that it is committed to promoting human rights, peace and development in Muslim societies. The United States must also directly explain to Muslims the rationale for its foreign policies and make these policies more palatable to them. Lesson 1: The more open Muslim societies are, the less anti- American they tend to be. Lebanon and Turkey, two of the freest countries in the Muslim world, had the highest number of respondents who viewed the United States favorably, with 41 percent saying they view America in a positive light.


The issue of routing in interconnected local area networks (LAN's) is considered. Of particular interest is Source routing where the source station specifies, in an inter-LAN frame, the complete path traversed by that frame. In source routing, a mechanism is needed for the source station to determine a path to any given destination. A pathfinding algorithm has been proposed by Sy, Pitt, and Donnan. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of that algorithm using a simulation model of interconnected token rings. Our evaluation is based on a connection-oriented environment and the assumption that the pathfinding algorithm is used each time a new connection is established. Our results indicate that the algorithm selects paths with good delay and throughput performance for the new connection. As to the existing connections, the algorithm yields good throughput behavior, but may not perform well as far as delay is concerned.


The issue of the conditions governing the reuse of previously developed knowledge during design activities and its effects on the process assumes considerable importance in the built environment sector. We link this with another issue, being the effects of taking into consideration social practices and user experience on the relevance of built products. We believe that the joint consideration of the two problems provides a better understanding of the interleaving between the relevance of the products and the quality of their production and management processes. Thus, by exploring theoretical and empirical studies that feed this understanding, we want to contribute to the theoretical foundation of usability of buildings. We argue that usability is achieved by the interplay of user experience, design and management processes, and buildings.


Pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), for which there are no efficacious vaccines or therapeutics that are urgently needed. We expressed three versions of spike (S) proteins—receptor binding domain (RBD), S1 subunit and S ectodomain—in insect cells. RBD appears monomer in solutions, whereas S1 and S associate into homotrimer with substantial glycosylation. The three proteins confer excellent antigenicity with six convalescent COVID-19 patient sera. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) analyses indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 S trimer dominate in a unique conformation distinguished from the classic prefusion conformation of coronaviruses by the upper S1 region at lower position ~15 Å proximal to viral membrane. Such conformation is proposed as an early prefusion state for the SARS-CoV-2 spike that may broaden the knowledge of coronavirus and facilitate vaccine development.


Understanding how and when transformers are likely to fail is of critical importance to the asset
management of large networks. Ideally a reliable end-of-life model would be established based on
years of previous experience over several lifecycles of equipment of a type representative of that still
in service. For large power transformers however establishing such a model is not easy because we are
still in the first asset lifecycle and many of the transformers installed when the National Grid system
was first developed are still in service well beyond their original design life.
Maintaining the reliability of the network is clearly a priority, but this must be done efficiently and
economically . Replacement plans must therefore be properly targeted both tactically, to replace those
transformers in the worst condition and at the most critical sites, and strategically to make sure the
replacement numbers are sustainable in terms of available resources such as outage capacity, supplier
capability and investment funding. Given the expected strongly non-linear relationship between
system reliability and plant reliability and the possibility of hidden failures in the system where plant
in service has aged to a condition where it cannot withstand the power flows resulting from a system
failure elsewhere, the best possible understanding of ageing and failure is required.
This paper gives the historical failure rate of the transformers used on the National Grid system in the
UK and shows that failures to date are random in nature and not statistically age related. This means
that traditional approaches to building a statistical end-of-life model cannot be used. Analysis of the
insulation of transformers removed from service for any reason indicates a very wide range of
condition, some samples show severe thermal ageing and it is clear that age-related failures can be
expected if replacement is not carried out, other samples show little ageing and for these transformers
it appears that very long lifetimes might be expected if other ageing mechanisms do not become
apparent.
Transformer condition assessment techniques are now very good and provide a sound basis for
replacing transformers before failure. A condition assessment scoring system based on anticipated
remaining useful lifetime has been implemented and condition based replacement has made a major
contribution to maintaining system reliability. The success of the condition based replacement process
however has a profound biasing effect on the failure statistics as transformers are not left in service to
fail, so that these statistics cannot be used directly for lifetime modelling.


A collaboration between the W. M. Keck Observatory (WMKO) in Hawaii and the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) in California, the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA) was commissioned in 2004 to archive observing data from WMKO, which operates two classically scheduled 10 m ground-based telescopes. The observing data from Keck is not suitable for direct ingestion into the archive since the metadata contained in the original FITS headers lack the information necessary for proper archiving. Coupled with different standards among instrument builders and the heterogeneous nature of the data inherent in classical observing, in which observers have complete control of the instruments and their observations, the data pose a number of technical challenges for KOA. For example, it is often difficult to determine if an observation is a science target, a sky frame, or a sky flat. It is also necessary to assign the data to the correct owners and observing programs, which can be a challenge for time-domain and target-of-opportunity observations, or on split nights, during which two or more principle investigators share a given night. In addition, having uniform and adequate calibrations are important for the proper reduction of data. Therefore, KOA needs to distinguish science files from calibration files, identify the type of calibrations available, and associate the appropriate calibration files with each science frame. We describe the methodologies and tools that we have developed to successfully address these difficulties, adding content to the FITS headers and "retrofitting" the metadata in order to support archiving Keck data, especially those obtained before the archive was designed. With the expertise gained from having successfully archived observations taken with all eight currently active instruments at WMKO, we have developed lessons learned from handling this complex array of heterogeneous metadata that help ensure a smooth ingestion of data not only for current but also future instruments, as well as a better experience for the archive user.


The objective of this study, carried out from October to December 2006, was to analyze the effects of increasing doses of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) as well as the interaction between these elements on the growth of sweet basil plants cultivated under field conditions. The experimental design was split plots, holding in the main plots the N doses and in the subplots the K rates. Doses of 0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha-1 were established for N and K, applied as urea and potassium chloride, respectively. The seedlings were transplanted to beds, in 40 x 30 cm spacing, and each plot had 24 plants. The evaluations at 45 days after transplanting detected no effect of N levels in stem diameter, Spad index and number of internodes. A quadratic polynomial model was defined for the relationship between N rates and the referred characteristics. A NK interaction for total leaf area was observed, indicating that, on the absence of K fertilization, increasing N doses resulted in higher total leaf area. Higher doses of N decreased total leaf area of plants under greater K doses.


Two patients with acute Wemicke's encephalopathy, with the diagnosis confirmed pathologically at autopsy, showed substantial vacuolatiou and neuronal degeneration in discrete nuclei of the thalamus. Thalamic vacuolation has not been described previously in acute Wemicke's encephalopathy. The use of frozen sections to minimize processing artifact was fundamental in demonstrating this pathology. The pathogenic mechanism underlying this change appears to be different to that seen in the more typical periventricular, mamillary body and brainstem lesions. We hypothesize that a specific neural pathway may be involved and suggest that this pathway could be the ascending nitric oxide-containing cholinergic pathway from the brainstem.


With the advent of improved psychiatric medication, there has been a phenomenal increase of students with psychiatric disabilities studying at higher education in North America. Similarly in Malaysia, and unaware to many, there has been a growing number of such a population. The aim of this research was to determine the demographic characteristics of students with psychiatric disabilities studying at higher education in Johore, and their level of performance at four related variables (coping difficulties, symptomatology, self-esteem and academic achievement). The survey was conducted at Sultanah Aminah Hospital and Permai Hospital, Johore. (The pilot study was done in Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching.) Data from a sample of 30 respondents was collected using a questionnaire and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v. 13. Besides reporting descriptive statistics on demographic characteristics, their level of coping difficulties at school was found to be low, illness symptoms low, self-esteem high and academic achievement at a good GPA mean of 3.03 (out of a 4 point system). The findings imply coping difficulties experienced, that they do not pose a danger, the role change to being a "student� assisted recovery and the findings also imply the capability to pursue educational goals. Recommendations are thus made to professionals and co-workers, as well as policy makers (the latter regarding the proposed Persons with Disabilities Act 2002).


The propagation of various influenza virus strains in primary rhesus monkey kidney (RMK), primary hamster kidney (HK), and the MDCK-USD canine kidney (CK) cell cultures was compared. Virus-infected cultures were examined for cytopathic effect (CPE) and by performing the hemadsorption (HAd) technique. The highest HAd titers were found most often in HK, followed by RMK and CK. However, the CK cell line provided the best substrate for detecting CPE. Although influenza B strains tended to grow to higher titers, these strains produced less CPE than did the A strains.


The aim of this study was to examine the intra-uterine exposure to Sarcocystis spp. antigens, determining the number of foals with detectable concentrations of antibodies against these agents in the serum, before colostrum ingestion and collect data about exposure of horses to the parasite. Serum samples were collected from 195 thoroughbred mares and their newborns in two farms from southern Brazil. Parasite specific antibody responses to Sarcocystis antigens were detected using the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and immunoblot analysis. In 84.1% (159/189) of the pregnant mares and in 7.4% (14/189) of foals we detected antibodies anti-Sarcocystis spp. by IFAT. All samples seropositive from foals were also positive in their respective mares. Serum samples of seropositive foals by IFAT, showed no reactivity on the immunoblot, having as antigens S. neurona merozoites. In conclusion, the intra-uterine exposure to Sarcocystis spp. antigens in horses was demonstrated, with occurrence not only in mares, but also in their foals, before colostrum ingestion these occurrences were reduced.


The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the capacity of model predictive control (MPC) to generate stable walking motions without the use of predefined footsteps. Building up on well-known MPC schemes for walking motion generation, we show that a minimal modification of these schemes allows designing an online walking motion generator that can track a given reference speed of the robot and decide automatically the footstep placement. Simulation results are proposed on the HRP-2 humanoid robot, showing a significant improvement over previous approaches.


The use of games in citizen science is growing, but can create tension as gaming and science can be seen as incompatible areas of activity. For example, the motivations for winning a game and scientific pursuit of knowledge may be seen as contrary. Over a one-year period, we conducted a virtual ethnographic study of the public forums of two online citizen science projects, Foldit and Galazy Zoo, the first a project in which gaming is an explicit design feature and the second in which it is not. The aim was to provide a nuanced view of how participants topicalize and respond to tensions between gaming and science. Thematic analysis of discussion forum posts suggests that participants in the two projects respond differently to the tension. By unpacking participant responses to the tension between games and science, our study highlights that citizen science projects using games are not just about fun. To enroll and retain volunteers, these projects also must recognize and manage the implicit normative scientific ideals that participants bring with them to a project. We further conclude that ideals of science embraced by citizen scientists appear to influence the reasons why they participate, either emphasizing equality, like in Galazy Zoo, or meritocracy, like in Foldit.


REPORT OF A CASE A 76-year-old Hispanic man presented with a 2-month history of scalp pruritus. One month after onset, a pruritic area over his frontal scalp began to bleed after scratching, then progressed to oozing pus. The affected area thickened, and the skin beyond his anterior hairline also became thickened and dusky red. Two weeks before presentation, his face became swollen, which was most apparent on awakening but became constant. He denied dyspnea, weight loss, fevers, sweats, chills, headache, focal neurologic deficits, or liver disease. He did not have a birthmark on the affected area. Medical history was notable for chronic alcoholism and "renal stones," diagnosed in Mexico but never treated. His only medication was a lowpotency topical steroid, used intermittently on the scalp. He denied allergies. He was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States after 30 years of age, where he worked in a meat


Scientists debate whether people grow closer to their friends through social networking sites like Facebook, whether those sites displace more meaningful interaction, or whether they simply reflect existing ties. Combining server log analysis and longitudinal surveys of 3,649 Facebook users reporting on relationships with 26,134 friends, we find that communication on the site is associated with changes in reported relationship closeness, over and above effects attributable to their face-to-face, phone, and email contact. Tie strength increases with both one-on-one communication, such as posts, comments, and messages, and through reading friends' broadcasted content, such as status updates and photos. The effect is greater for composed pieces, such as comments, posts, and messages than for 'one-click' actions such as 'likes.' Facebook has a greater impact on non-family relationships and ties who do not frequently communicate via other channels.


The work characterizes 424 patients with injuries to the nerves of the upper and lower extremities who were operated on one year after the trauma and later. It was established that such factors as the type of injury, the length of the defect in the nerve, and the degree of "refreshment" of the nerve segments may be important in predicting the outcome of the late suture applied to the nerves of the extremities. The severity of the injury and faults in the diagnosis and treatment are the main causes of the prolonged delay in nerve repair. Some peculiarities of a late suture applied to the nerves of the extremities are pointed out.


Students are given instructor-designed computer-generated "sequencing gels" that they are told
were generated after sequencing PCR from samples isolated during a hemorrhagic fever outbreak. They
must read the sequencing gel and then using this sequence go to the NCBI home page and perform a
BLAST search to determine the identity of the virus. The class compares the results of these
searches, and students answer a series of questions about the virus for which they have sequence
information. The class then attempts to determine the cause of the outbreak as a group.


Superconductivity is a fascinating quantum phenomenon characterized by zero electrical resistance and the Meissner effect. To date, several distinct families of superconductors (SCs) have been discovered. These include three-dimensional (3D) bulk SCs in both inorganic and organic materials as well as two-dimensional (2D) thin film SCs but only in inorganic materials. Here we predict superconductivity in 2D and 3D organic metal-organic frameworks by using first-principles calculations. We show that the highly conductive and recently synthesized Cu-benzenehexathial (BHT) is a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer SC. Remarkably, the monolayer Cu-BHT has a critical temperature (Tc) of 4.43 K, while Tc of bulk Cu-BHT is 1.58 K. Different from the enhanced Tc in 2D inorganic SCs which is induced by interfacial effects, the Tc enhancement in this 2D organic SC is revealed to be the out-of-plane soft-mode vibrations, analogous to surface mode enhancement originally proposed by Ginzburg. Our findings not only shed new light on better understanding 2D superconductivity but also open a new direction to search for SCs by interface engineering with organic materials.


Recently, there has been a mounting realization that lexical semantic analysis of Biblical Hebrew has, on the whole, both historically and characteristically lacked an explicit methodological framework that might facilitate the assessment of a lexeme's range of meaning. This necessarily has resulted in lexica that are underpinned by implicit, intuitive-driven analyses. In light of this lacuna, the present article proposes a methodology for ascertaining the semantic potential of a particular Biblical Hebrew word class, which happens to showcase the versatility of meaning: prepositions. The aim of the proposal is not to provide a better method for the presentation of semantic content (i.e., lexicography), but rather, and more fundamentally, to explore the ways in which this content might more systematically be derived (i.e., lexicology). The proposal is anchored primarily in the cognitive linguistic enterprise and secondarily, in the theory of grammaticalization. Employing insights from the two fields, the author suggests that a replicable and rigorous assessment of a preposition's semantic potential might be offered. In particular, such assessment would afford a well-endowed identification and explanation of the various elements comprising a target lexeme's semantic network—both its constituent parts and the composite structure as a whole. Specifically, this would be accomplished through the provision of criteria and parameters aimed at determining sense-distinction, -primacy, and -contingency as well as the employment of alternate modes of network-viewing that allow, among other things, the dynamic nature of meaning to surface.


A novel stepped-reflector antenna (SRA) suitable for dual-band multiple beam satellite payloads is introduced in this paper. The SRA system produces "flat-top" radiation patterns for receive beams and highly efficient Gaussian patterns for transmit beams over a geographic coverage region as seen by the geo-synchronous satellite. It combines the reflector improvements through the use of SRA with the feed horn advancements through the use of dual-band "high-efficiency horns" in order to realize an efficient multiple beam antenna (MBA) system supporting both downlink transmit and uplink receive signals of communication satellites. It is shown that the SRA provides a congruent set of spot beams on ground for both transmit and receive frequencies with the benefits of significantly improved edge-of-coverage gain, improved co-polar isolation among beams that re-use the same frequency channels, receive beam patterns that are less sensitive to satellite pointing error, and reduced number of reflector antennas when compared to conventional MBAs


Background Increasing reports suggest the safe use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in electrical cardioversion. The aim of this study was to assess the trends and 30-day outcomes associated with anticoagulation for cardioversion. Methods Patients who underwent electrical cardioversion from January 2015 to October 2020 with a 30-day follow-up were included; and outcomes including stroke, transient ischemic attack, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and major gastrointestinal bleeding were recorded. Results Of the 515 patients, 351 (68%) were men and 164 (32%) were women, with a mean CHA2DS2VASc score of 2.6 ± 1.6. Outpatient apixaban use increased from 10% in 2015 to 46% in 2020 (P < 0.001) with a decline in the use of warfarin from 24% in 2015 to 10% in 2020 (P = 0.023). Apixaban use peri-procedurally for cardioversion increased from 32% in 2015 to 35% in 2020 (P = 0.317), while warfarin use decreased from 23% in 2015 to 14% in 2020 (P = 0.164). At discharge, apixaban prescriptions increased from 21% in 2015 to 61% in 2020 (P < 0.001), while warfarin prescriptions declined from 30% in 2015 to 13% in 2020 (P = 0.009). No ICH was recorded in the 30 days after cardioversion. Ischemic stroke occurred in four (0.7%) patients with one (0.29%) of the 338 patients on a DOAC, one (0.8%) of the 124 patients on warfarin and two (5.5%) of the 36 patients not receiving anticoagulation post cardioversion. There were seven (1%) major gastrointestinal bleeding events in patients on oral anticoagulation, of which four (3%) were on warfarin and three (0.8%) were on DOACs. Conclusions Our study shows the increasing and safe use of DOACs for the purpose of cardioversion. The rates of 30-day ischemic stroke post cardioversion were low and only occurred in patients admitted in the intensive care unit.


History is a construct based on the reselection, reconstruction and reinterpretation of past events in order to validate former, present, as well as future actions of actors. Therefore, there is no single history but rather many histories based on different ways of reinterpretation. The reinterpretation of history plays an important role in the process of regional identity formation. In this paper we aim to examine how and to what extent the relatively new ad hoc regions – Local Action Groups (LAGs) – in Czechia use history and historical and historicizing elements to present the region's image, and how LAGs reinterpret history in order to foster a sense of territorial togetherness among inhabitants. The research had two phases. In the first phase, we evaluated the primary presentation of all 180 LAGs.While in the second one, more detailed analysis was performed on the strategies of selected LAGs towards the reinterpretation of history. In general, we can conclude that LAGs work with history and historical themes only to a limited extent. However, some LAGs use actively history. The paper identifies three ways of reinterpretation of history engaged in the process of regional identity formation: regional patriotic, critical and conciliatory.


Today's broadcast based shared media networks are beginning to be the bottleneck of computer systems in many organizations. A new networking paradigm, frame and cell switching, promises to meet the ever-increasing demands for network services. The objective of this project is to create design guidelines for designing switched network. The restriction was made to only focus on layer 2 switching in IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) and IEEE 802.3u (Fast Ethernet) networks. Performing benchmark tests on a few different network architectures, and then comparing the results, helped forming the guidelines. In our benchmark test we had nine clients and one server. The only computer the clients communicated with was the server, where clients did not communicate with each other. The results showed that there was no benefit of using a switch as long as the server was connected to the switch at 10 Mbps. The results also showed that using switches in a wrong way could have negative effect on the throughput of the network. As expected when the switch was used in the right way, the throughput increased significantly.


The purpose of image optimization is that the salient region of image is stand out, and is layout an image met the demand. The existed image optimization method is summarized, and their advantages and disadvantages respectively analyzed. The improved visual attention model is described, and is used to detect the salient region of image. The parameters of image optimization are calculated by the optimization function of image layout rules. At last, the weights of the images optimized parameters are adjusted by the image layout and adjustment function based on image optimized parameters, to achieve image layout and obtain the most optimal image, to realize image optimization. Experimental results validate that this methods not only achieve image optimization, but also accurately and automatically achieve to shorten distance and enlarge salient regions, improve the quality of the image optimization, and has good robustness.


Tephritis ozaslani sp. nov. is described from Artvin Province of Turkey and placed in the T. pulchra species group. The key to the T. pulchra group is provided, which includes 9 species. The main characters that distinguish the new species from the closely resembling Palaearctic species, T. cometa israilis Freidberg, T. acanthiophilopsis Hering, T. erdemlii Kutuk, T. divisa Rondani, T. recurrens Loew, T. merzi Freidberg & Kutuk, and T. hurvitzi Freidberg, are discussed. In addition, Inula oculus christi L. (Asteraceae) is determined as a host plant of the new species.


This study presents a historical view of Roman diplomacy toward the local powers in North Africa which was known as "the province of Africa" from the end of the third century BC until the end of the third century AD. There is no doubt that Rome's diplomacy toward these powers paralleled with general Roman policy, which is based on in containment diplomacy before resorting to the use of military powers. This study presents a Trackless topic, It is rare to talk about it, as usual when talking about the Roman Empire, we are talking about wars and expansions and the use of forces was talking about Roman diplomacy is something new worth checking. The study shows Rome's diplomacy toward the local forces in North Africa, how to deal with Carthage, when Romans succeeded in pursuing a diplomatic policy with the barbaric and violent tribes in the desert, they were able to achieve their colonial objectives in North Africa without fighting. The same success with the Moorish tribes which indicates the extent of Roman wisdom in the use of this flexible mechanism through different stages of its application both at the level of the Kingdom and at the level of tribes that formed an economic and political force.


Maternal alcohol use during pregnancy is prevalent, with as many as 12% of pregnant women consuming alcohol. Alcohol intake may vary from an occasional drink, to weekly binge drinking, to chronic alcohol use throughout pregnancy. Whereas there are certain known consequences from fetal alcohol exposure, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, other effects are less well defined. Craniofacial dysmorphologies, abnormalities of organ systems, behavioral and intellectual deficits, and fetal death have all been attributed to maternal alcohol consumption. This review article considers the theoretical mechanisms of how alcohol affects the fetus, including the variable susceptibility to fetal alcohol exposure and the implications of ethanol dose and timing of exposure. Criteria for diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome are discussed, as well as new methods for early detection of maternal alcohol use and fetal alcohol exposure, such as the use of fatty acid ethyl esters. Finally, current and novel treatment strategies, both in utero and post utero, are reviewed. Target Audience: Obstetricians and gynecologists, family physicians Learning Objectives: After completing this CME activity, physicians should be better able to diagnose fetal alcohol syndrome and other fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, understand the mechanisms by which alcohol damages the fetus, identify the effects of maternal alcohol consumption on the fetus, and outline treatment options available for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.


Introduction Pancreatic cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours in the digestive tract in both sexes. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma shows the highest frequency of K-ras gene mutations among the common human cancers but the reasons are unknown. There is lack of knowledge of prevention, early diagnosis, and effective therapy. The molecular mechanism of pancreatic carcinogenesis remains to be fully explored from India. The study was designed to clarify the sensitivity and validity of K-ras point mutational analysis at codon 12 and codon 13 in North Indian patients with pancreatic diseases, and the possible correlation between the presence of mutation and histopathological findings. Methods Sixty-five North Indian patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and fifty chronic pancreatitis were enrolled in this study. Out of 65 pancreatic cancer, 24 patients were female (36.92%) and 41 patients were male (63%) having an average age of 47.42±11.32 years (range 22–70 years), 50 chronic pancreatitis only seven were female (14%) and 43 were male (86%) having an average age of 36.02±10.55 years (range 20–63 years). Codon 12 K-ras mutations were examined using the two step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with RFLP, followed single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and automated DNA sequencing. Results The sensitivity of K-ras mutational analysis in surgically resected tissue samples of the pancreatic carcinoma was 72.30% (47/65) and mutations were found in 63% which was significantly higher than the chronic pancreatitis 33% (5/15) (P<0.01). The mutation pattern of K-ras codon 12 in pancreatic carcinoma 63% while it was 12% in chronic pancreatitis. The nucleotide sequences of K-ras showed the following transitions at codon12 GAG to GTG, GGC to GGG. The control group showed wild type GGA and GGC at codon12. It was also found that K-ras mutation rate was progressively increased from normal duct at the tumour-free resection margin to pancreatic carcinoma. Conclusion Overall, our findings support the observations that K-ras mutations play a key role in dysregulated growth of pancreatic cancer and may explain at least in part the aggressive behaviour of this tumour type.


ABSTRACT Greater longevity in the UK population has led to the increasing diversity of women experiencing aging in a multitude of ways. Internationally, gender inequalities in aging are still relatively invisible within both government policy and everyday life for particular groups of women. This article explores the concept of women growing older "solo"—by which we mean women who find themselves nonpartnered and aging without children as they move into later life. We report on the findings from a mixed-methods survey of 76 solo women in the UK aged 50 years and over, used to provide a broader overview of the issues and challenges they face as they move into later life. Qualitative data from the survey captured respondents' perspectives about the links between their relationships status and well-being in later life and highlighted specific cumulative disadvantages emerging for some women as a result of their solo lifestyles. We discuss two key themes that were identified, "solo-loneliness" and "meaningful futures," in conjunction with the relevant literature and make suggestions for future research within gender and aging studies that could enhance more positive approaches to solo lifestyles.


This paper demonstrates that nonnegative matrix factorisation is mathematically related to a class of neural networks that employ negative feedback as a mechanism of competition. This observation inspires a novel learning algorithm which we call Divisive Input Modulation (DIM). The proposed algorithm provides a mathematically simple and computationally efficient method for the unsupervised learning of image components, even in conditions where these elementary features overlap considerably. To test the proposed algorithm, a novel artificial task is introduced which is similar to the frequently-used bars problem but employs squares rather than bars to increase the degree of overlap between components. Using this task, we investigate how the proposed method performs on the parsing of artificial images composed of overlapping features, given the correct representation of the individual components; and secondly, we investigate how well it can learn the elementary components from artificial training images. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with its predecessors including variations on these algorithms that have produced state-of-the-art performance on the bars problem. The proposed algorithm is more successful than its predecessors in dealing with overlap and occlusion in the artificial task that has been used to assess performance.


When approaching a new, interdisciplinary field it is important to consider what has gone before. Music archaeology, archaeoacoustics and sound archaeology are closely related areas, which have a history stretching back 40 years or more. This paper discusses some of the previous developments in the field, providing a context for current work. It points readers to a number of different sources of further information as well as discussing some of the issues raised by working across the borders of the disciplines of music, archaeology and acoustics. It addresses intentionality, scientific studies and interpretation, as well as the freedom post-processual archaeology offers from the dogma of trying to find simple answers to complex questions.


Original methods are described for producing constant preparations of plant integral embryo sacs and pollen complexes isolated by means of tissue maceration with Helix pomatia gastric juice enzymes. The Feulgen stained preparations are put into the Canada balsam. According to this procedure there is no need of paraffin treatment and work with a microtome; it makes use of other methods which highly accelerate the production of constant preparations. In connection with putting the object in Canada balsam the method of treatment and the succession of operations are changed as compared to the routine procedure of producing total preparations of embryo sacks.


Synthetic polymeric constructions (SPCs) including the consensus sequence of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) surface envelope glycoprotein gp120 V3 loop (GPGRAF) blocked the fusion between HIV-1- and HIV-2-infected cells and CD4+ uninfected cells. A structure-activity relationship study using V3 SPC analogs showed that the most efficient inhibitor of cell fusion was an eight-branched SPC with the hexapeptide motif GPGRAF (i.e., [GPGRAF]8-SPC). N-terminal acetylation or incorporation of D-amino acids in the GPGRAF sequence of this SPC resulted in significant loss of activity. Analogs with fewer than six residues in the motif (i.e., GPGRA or GPGR), as well as SPCs with a nonrelevant sequence, did not inhibit cell fusion, demonstrating the high specificity of the antifusion activity. [GPGRAF]8-SPC, which was not toxic to CEM cells at concentrations of up to 50 microM, inhibited 50% of HIV-1(LAI) replication in these cells at a concentration of 0.07 microM. Moreover, [GPGRAF]8-SPC inhibited the infection of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by several HIV-1 and HIV-2 isolates, including laboratory strains [HIV-1(LAI), HIV-1(NDK), and HIV-2(ROD)], and fresh primary isolates, including two zidovudine-resistant HIV-1 isolates and two HIV-2 isolates obtained from infected individuals. The multibranched peptide also inhibited infection of human primary macrophages by the highly cytopathic macrophage-tropic isolate HIV-1(89.6). The antiviral activity of [GPGRAF]8-SPC was not related to a virucidal effect, since preincubation of HIV-1 with the peptide did not affect its infectious titer. This result is in agreement with the concept that the multibranched peptide mimics a part of the V3 loop and thus interacts with the host cell. The therapeutic properties of synthetic multibranched peptides based on the V3 loop consensus motif should be evaluated in HIV-infected patients.


I have constructed the genomic library of M. leprae Thai 53 strain, and cloned the alpha antigen like protein gene by plaque hybridization method by using M. leprae alpha antigen DNA fragment as probe which was characterized in the previous study, I have termed it as alpha 2 antigen gene. The alpha 2 antigen gene has been characterized by sequencing. By comparing the deduced amino acid sequence of alpha and alpha 2 antigen with 85 complex antigen of other mycobacteria. I have found the higher homology between alpha 2 antigen and 85A antigen and between alpha antigen and 85B antigen. We have constructed the over expression system of M. leprae alpha and alpha 2 antigen gene in E. coli using vector pMALc-RI. Recombinant alpha and alpha 2 antigen has been purified by amylose column chromatography at the purity of more than 95%. More than 6 mg and more than 10 mg of recombinant alpha and alpha 2 antigen has been obtained from 200 ml of liquid culture, respectively. ELISA tests have been performed with the sera of leprosy patient and healthy control against the recombinant alpha and alpha 2 antigens. The antibody titers in sera of leprosy patient against the two kinds of antigens were all much higher than healthy controls. The antibody titer against the alpha 2 antigen was higher than that against alpha antigen. Recombinant alpha and alpha 2 antigens in this study could be used as a new specific antigen for serodiagnosis of leprosy.


In this paper, a two-dimensional Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) technique to simulate the poiseuille flow in a microchannel is developed using an in-house code. The calculated Reynolds number is reduced via adjusting the DPD parameters. The obtained velocity profile is compared with the analytical results and a good agreement is found. The drag force and the drag coefficient on a stationary cylinder exerted by the fluid particles are obtained using the developed DPD code. The calculated drag coefficient exhibits a close match with already published data in the literature.


Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANET) are emerging as one of the promising technologies for the future. It can be a specific case of real-time distributed systems. Ad hoc routing can be applied to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, but some important points should be considered. Main issue in VANET is its high mobility. Once built routing path can be out of order very quickly and needs to be reconstructed with existing routing protocols. In this paper we propose Road Map Based (RMB) routing protocol for real-time vehicular ad hoc networks – routing algorithm which includes some techniques taken from geographical ad hoc routing. It handles mobility using road map and builds stable routing path on the road segments but not on the nodes. Routing path is done through distributed real-time participants of the network. We propose route discovery, data forwarding and route maintenance mechanisms.


This dissertation is a communication history of the early communist anti-colonial movement in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1920-1926. While for three centuries struggles against Dutch imperialism had been sporadic, local, and traditional in character, in this period people organized themselves for the first time in a radical, national, and global revolutionary movement. Rather than resort to weapons and warfare, the resistance movement developed collective actions around new emerging communicative technologies and practices—"media of resistance"—that included schools, public debates, popular journalism, arts, and literature. The dissertation examines the processes by which ordinary people produced these media of resistance as a new way of organizing and mobilizing. The aim is twofold: first, to reveal the centrality of communicative sociotechnical systems (practices, processes, and technologies) in the emergence, development, success, and demise of a social movement; and, second, to highlight the roles of ordinary people in that process, a focus hidden in the previous historiography due to leader-, party-, and formal event-centered narratives. I utilize underexplored concepts of mobility and sociability to analyze shipping and railway lines, openbare vergaderingen (public meetings), People's Schools, the revolutionary newspaper Sinar Hindia , as well as government legal interventions into these communicative practices. This research suggests two main findings. First, while the aforementioned media of communication were intended to expand colonial power, the ordinary people in the movement creatively repurposed and brought them together to become the "media of resistance," revealing the centrality of media of communication in the making of a social movement. These creative repurposing practices point to the nature of communicative sociotechnical systems as projects and sites of struggle. Second, through historical GIS method, I also find that the movement was mobilized for the first time across widespread geographical areas, as well as across different cultural borders and identity markers. This widespread solidarity gave voice to anti-colonial sentiments, Islamic modernism, national liberation, women's emancipation, and human rights, appealing to universal concerns. The dissertation concludes by arguing for the broader significance of this research for global media studies, its treatment of non-western experiences, and studies of enlightenment and social movements.


The significance of youth suicide as a public health concern is underscored by the fact that it is the second-leading cause of death for youth globally. While suicide rates for White groups have declined, there has been a precipitous rise in suicide deaths and suicide-related phenomena in Black youth; rates remain high among Native American/Indigenous youth. Despite these alarming trends, there are very few culturally tailored suicide risk assessment measures or procedures for youth from communities of color. This article attempts to address this gap in the literature by examining the cultural relevancy of currently widely used suicide risk assessment instruments, research on suicide risk factors, and approaches to risk assessment for youth from communities of color. It also notes that researchers and clinicians should consider other, nontraditional but important factors in suicide risk assessment, including stigma, acculturation, and racial socialization, as well as environmental factors like health care infrastructure and exposure to racism and community violence. The article concludes with recommendations for factors that should be considered in suicide risk assessment for youth from communities of color. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).


OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of root canal debridement in apical 3mm when instrumenting with traditional stainless-steel number 20 K file and traditional stainless-steel number 40 K file at working length with commonly used irrigation solutions. MATERIALS & METHODS: This in vitro comparative study was conducted at Operative Department, Lahore Medical & Dental College, Lahore. Data was collected from 2005 to 2006. Fifty human mandibular incisor teethwere selected. Preoperative radiographs of each tooth were taken and teeth were extracted. Teeth were divided in to two groups and, decoronated at cementoenamel junction. Group A was instrumented with stainless steel # 20 K file and group B was instrumented with stainless steel # 40 K file to the working lengths. Sodium hypo-chlorite and EDTA compounds were used as chemical means to debride the canals. All these selected teeth were, decalcified and sliced at 0.5 millimeters, 1.5 millimeters, and 2.5 millimeters levels from the root apex and set for histological inspection. RESULTS: No dissimilarities were recognized between each level within each root apex size group except at1.5 millimeters level from the apex, open dentinal tubules were seen in Group B which was instrumented with the # 40 K type file. CONCLUSION: File size # 40 K is more effective in debris removal from the root canal system as compared to file size # 20 K while preparing the canals.


This study was intended to understand how the phenomenon of gender equity and reproductive rights in pesantren using the theoretical framework of attitude. The research was conducted in a qualitative approach through a case study method. Sources of data consisted of 10 interviewed subjects, 18 FGD subjects, and survey of 327 subjects. Subjects were varying from pesantren's supervisor, teacher, manager and doctor of pesantren's Community Health Center, and santri itself. Data was also obtained from the observation of the supervisors' behaviors and the pesantren's environment. Subjects tended to agree in distinguishing the male and female gender role based on what's happening, different from the religious teachings they learned which tended to be gender fair. Regarding with women reproductive cases, subjects tended to be gender biased based on the interpretation of religious texts although they admitted that it was hard to be manifested in behavior, example: prefering monogamous marriage,never beating women, and not promoting early marriage. Subjects agreed and understood that women had different, and yet more complex anatomical processes and functions, however their health service were just considered the same as men.


The carbon dioxide (R-744) as a natural refrigerant has been an attractive alternative refrigerant to replace HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) refrigerants currently used in air conditioning systems, due to the environmental concerns. Because new compressors with CO2 are going to be operated under the high pressure, the tribology of sliding surfaces in the compressor becomes very important. To develop new compressor, especially scroll type, the friction and wear characteristics of sliding surfaces between a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll in the scroll compressor were investigated in this paper. The sliding tests of pin-on-disk type were carried out between scroll surfaces under various sliding speeds, normal loads, surface roughness, and refrigerant pressures. Two types of lubricants were used, namely POE (polyol ester) oil and PAG (polyalkylene glycol) oil. The friction forces, wear amounts and surface temperatures were monitored during the tests. Test results showed that the wear amounts increased with increasing normal load and rotating speed, and also decreased with decreasing surface roughness. Also, the results of the sliding tests showed that using PAG oil has an advantage over POE oil in CO2 environment. As the pressure of CO2 refrigerant became higher, the amount of wear and coefficient of friction became larger in CO2/POE mixed environment, but wear and friction remained constant in CO2/PAG mixed environment. The wear coefficients in CO2/PAG and CO2/POE mixed environment were 8.60×10-9 ㎣/N·m and 2.35×10-8 ㎣/N·m, respectively.


Patterns of foraminiferal species diversity were examined along the eastern margin of North America by utilizing the number of species, S, the information function, H(S), and species equitability, E. The 350 modern samples we studied extended from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico at depths ranging from a few meters to more than 5,000 m. In addition, 29 samples from Miocene strata of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and continental shelf were studied.

Modern species diversity as measured by S and H(S) generally increases as depth increases and latitude decreases. Some notable exceptions occur, however, which are difficult to explain. For example, species diversity in the Arctic depth interval of 0 to 100 m is as high or higher than that found immediately south of Nova Scotia, in the Gulf of Maine, on Browns and Georges Banks, and even off the Gulf of Mexico deltas. At the moderate depth interval of 100 to 1,000 m, however, the entire margin north of Browns and Georges Banks has lower diversities than that to the south. The highest diversity by far in this depth interval occurs in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. At the depth interval greater than 1,000 m, the more southern areas studied generally have a higher species diversity than the more northern Cape Cod to Maryland area. An exception to this is the northwestern Gulf of Mexico; this area is also an exception in that species diversity is significantly lower in the deeper waters than in the shallower waters in the same area.

The measure of species equitability, E, showed no clear pattern with depth or latitude. This may be so because no simple pattern of species proportions exists or because the sampling was inadequate to measure it.

Samples from the Miocene strata show a striking resemblance in species diversity to modern samples at similar depths and latitudes. Our observations indicate that species diversity and equitability have not increased during the last 15 × 106 yrs. The fossil and modern data indicate that each environment has its own carrying capacity and that this capacity is reached rather quickly. Although time and environmental stability are undoubtedly important in determining species diversity, as presently defined they are inadequate to explain all observed patterns. Long-term observations in various environments will be required to determine the relative importance of variables that affect species diversity.


Subgraph GNNs are a recent class of expressive Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) which model graphs as collections of subgraphs. So far, the design space of possible Subgraph GNN architectures as well as their basic theoretical properties are still largely unexplored. In this paper, we study the most prominent form of subgraph methods, which employs node-based subgraph selection policies such as ego-networks or node marking and deletion. We address two central questions: (1) What is the upper-bound of the expressive power of these methods? and (2) What is the family of equivariant message passing layers on these sets of subgraphs?. Our first step in answering these questions is a novel symmetry analysis which shows that modelling the symmetries of node-based subgraph collections requires a significantly smaller symmetry group than the one adopted in previous works. This analysis is then used to establish a link between Subgraph GNNs and Invariant Graph Networks (IGNs). We answer the questions above by first bounding the expressive power of subgraph methods by 3-WL, and then proposing a general family of message-passing layers for subgraph methods that generalises all previous node-based Subgraph GNNs. Finally, we design a novel Subgraph GNN dubbed SUN, which theoretically unifies previous architectures while providing better empirical performance on multiple benchmarks.