MOTIVATION
Methods that predict the structure of molecules by looking for statistical correlation have been quite effective. Unfortunately, these methods often disregard phylogenetic information in the sequences they analyze. Here, we present a number of statistics for RNA molecular-structure prediction. Besides common pair-wise comparisons, we consider a few reasonable statistics for base-triple predictions, and present an elaborate analysis of these methods. All these statistics incorporate phylogenetic relationships of the sequences in the analysis to varying degrees, and the different nature of these tests gives a wide choice of statistical tools for RNA structure prediction.

RESULTS
Starting from statistics that incorporate phylogenetic information only as independent sequence evolution models for each position of a multiple alignment, and extending this idea to a joint evolution model of two positions, we enhance the usual purely statistical methods (e.g. methods based on the Mutual Information statistic) with the use of phylogenetic information available in the sequences. In particular, we present a joint model based on the HKY evolution model, and consequently a X(2) test of independence for two positions. A significant part of this work is devoted to some mathematical analysis of these methods. We tested these statistics on regions of 16S and 23S rRNA, and tRNA.


In this paper, we attempt to estimate reaction functions of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) based on Taylor rule and Hybrid McCallum-Taylor rule. We apply Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) and Limited Information Maximum Likelihood (LIML) methods for estimating monetary policy reaction functions, over the period when the CBRT has conducted inflation targeting by using nominal interest rate as a monetary policy tool in free floating exchange rate regime. Our efficient and robust empirical findings show that only Taylor rule specifications are able to explain the behaviour of the CBRT.


Measurements were made on the tomographic imaging abilities of a rotating slant hole collimator and a rotating scintillation camera system using a standard heart phantom and thallium-201. This allowed a comparison to be made between these and published results for conventional imaging and the seven pinhole technique under standardised conditions. Although better intraplanar resolutions were obtained with the rotating slant hole, the rotating camera was found to give superior definition of a defect and less propagation between reconstructed sections of the phantom.


In arXiv:1601.02203, a simple model has been proposed in order to solve one of the problems related with the cosmological constant. The model is given by a topological field theory and the model has an infinite numbers of the BRS symmetries. The BRS symmetries are, however, spontaneously broken in general. In this paper, we investigate the BRS symmetry in more details and show that there is one and only one BRS symmetry which is not broken and the unitarity can be guaranteed. In the model, the quantum problem of the vacuum energy, which may be identified with the cosmological constant, reduces to the classical problem of the initial condition. In this paper, we investigate the cosmology given by the model and specify the region of the initial conditions which could be consistent with the evolution of the universe. We also show that there is a stable solution describing the de Sitter space-time, which may explain the accelerating expansion in the current universe.


The genetic architecture of a phenotype plays a critical role in determining phenotypic evolution through its effects on patterns of genetic variation. Genetic architecture is often considered to be constant in evolutionary quantitative genetic models. However, genetic architecture may be variable and itself evolve when there are dominance and epistatic interactions among alleles at the same and different loci, respectively. The evolution of genetic architecture by genetic drift is examined here by testing the breeding value of four standard inbred mouse strains mated across a set of 26 related recombinant quasi-inbred (RqI) lines generated from the intercross of the Large (LG/J) and Small (SM/J) inbred mouse strains. Phenotypes of interest include age-specific body weights, growth, and adult body composition. If the genetic architecture of these traits has differentiated by genetic drift during the production of the RqI strains, we should observe interactions between tester strain and RqI strain. The breeding values of the tester strains will change relative to one another depending on which RqI strain they are crossed to. The study included an average of 15.1 offspring per cross, over a total of 100 different crosses. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicate that there is strongly significant interaction for all traits. Interaction is more pronounced in males than in females and accounted for an average of about 40% of the explained variation in males and 30% in females. These results indicate that the genetic architecture of these traits has differentiated by genetic drift in the RqI strains since their isolation from a common founder population. Further analysis indicates that this differentiation results in changes in the order of tester strain effects so that common patterns of selection in these differentiated populations could result in the fixation of different alleles.


The new generation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors is providing images with very high spatial resolution, improved up to the meter scale. Such a resolution increase allows more accurate monitoring capabilities by means of interferometric approaches. The use of higher frequency enhances the sensitivity of the system even to minute changes, such as thermal dilations. This phenomenon has an impact on the interferometric products, particularly on the deformation velocity maps, if not properly handled. Man-made structures, such as steel core bridges and specific buildings, may be very sensible to thermal dilation effects. By extending the multitemporal differential interferometry SAR processing chains, in our case based on the multidimensional imaging (MDI) approach, an additional parameter related to temperature differences at acquisition instants, the thermal coefficient, can be accurately estimated. This parameter provides interesting perspectives in application to infrastructure monitoring: It brings information about the thermal behavior of the imaged objects. In this letter, we investigate the thermal response of the Musmeci bridge (Potenza, Italy), by experimenting the extended MDI approach on a real TerraSAR-X data set. Results highlight the possibility of such a technique to obtain measurements of the motion that is highly correlated with temperature, thus providing useful information about the static structure of bridges.


ABSTRACT A biopsy of gastrocnemius muscle from a patient with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome was studied histologically in semithin sections stained by hematoxylin-and-eosin (H&E) and toluidine blue, and ultrathin sections by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). H&E stain demonstrated typical ragged-red fibers (RRFs) and affected fibers in fascicles. Toluidine-blue stain showed an irregular meshwork in the center of RRFs. TEM demonstrated damaged myofibrils and variations in mitochondrial structure in RRFs and affected fibers. Dense mitochondria were compacted with cristae and pleomorphic electron-dense inclusions. Lucent mitochondria included paracrystalline inclusions with a parking lot appearance. At high magnification, the paracrystalline inclusions were composed of plates that paralleled and connected with mitochondrial cristae. These observations indicated that electron-dense granular and paracrystalline inclusions resulted from cristal degeneration and overlapping in mitochondria in MELAS syndrome.


Background: Integrons are considered as to play a significant role in the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance genes. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (collected from Zanjan hospitals between March 2015 and February 2016) were investigated for molecular characterization of MBLs and Class I and II integrons. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was also performed based on the CLSI guidelines. The frequency of MBL producing isolates and the susceptibility to various antimicrobial agents were investigated. Results: Based on the obtained results, BlaIMP was the most frequently detected metallo-β-lactamase. The frequency of blaVIM, blaSPM, and blaSIM, in MBL producing isolates was 17.1, 57.1, and 14.1%, respectively. No blaGIM harboring isolate was detected in our study. We detected two (5.7%) multidrug resistant P. aeruginosa strains isolated from the urine and sputum samples, which harbored blaNDM-1. These isolates also contained blaIMP and blaSPM. Class I integron was detected in 94.3% of the MBL positive isolates while 8.5% of the isolates contained Class II integrons. Of five different gene cassettes identified in Class I and II integrons, cassette encoding resistance to trimethoprim (dfr) was found to be predominant. Conclusion: These results indicate that Class I integrons are widespread among the MBL producing P. aeruginosa isolates. Therefore, appropriate surveillance and control measures are essential to prevent the further spread of MBL and integron producing P. aeruginosa in hospitals.


This paper addresses the legal tension between a teacher's right to privacy and a school board's right to demand exemplary conduct by teachers in and out of school. The watershed case in the area of a teacher's right to a private life appears to be "Morrison v. Board of Education" (California 1969), which identified factors that a board may consider when determining whether a teacher's conduct indicates unfitness to teach. Authority for the proposition that teachers serve as role models for students is examined in part 1. Part 2 discusses the emergence of the "nexus issue," where school boards that terminate a teacher's contract for immoral conduct must show a connection between the teacher's conduct and a likely negative effect on the school ("substantial nexus"). Cases that illustrate the range of issues involved and the reasoning of various courts are discussed in parts 3 and 4. The cases involved sexual misconduct, moral turpitude, theft of school district funds/property, abuse of sick leave, and theft/burglary. Overall, the past 25 years have seen a general trend of judicial leniency toward the teaching profession. While the courts are extremely aware of the "special role" that teachers play in society, they nonetheless exhibit a growing tendency to balance societal interests with the private rights of a teacher. Virtually no behavior except criminal offenses and student/teacher sexual relationships constitute immorality per se. Since the "Morrison" decision, the courts evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis. However, the current wave of privacy cases will probably not end controversy over the issue of teachers as role models. Two flow charts illustrate the legal analysis that most courts follow when examining these issues. (LMI) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** TERMINATING TEACHERS AND REVOKING THEIR LICENSURE FOR CONDUCT BEYOND THE SCHOOLHOUSE GATE By Clifford P. Hooker, Ed.D. ** U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIOII Once ot Educaloonal Reset :h and trnoro,ment EDUC IONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (MCI ThiS document has Peen reProcIt+Cecl as received trorn the WW1 or organaatiOn orionsal.ng .1 O Minor changes have been mad* to rrnprOve reproduction Dually Points ot view or options staled, this 00eu rnent do not necessarly represent otficat OEM posansn or policy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDuCA RONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)


In recent years, considerable attention has been given to research on various aspects of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) applications. UAVs are currently used for various military and civilian missions in the air, sea, space, and on the ground. In two recent papers, Shima (2007) and Kim (2007) considered closely similar m-UAV problems. In Shima (2007), the problem is considered with each target being served by only one UAV to minimize the total travel distance across all UAVs (called load balancing), however, in Kim (2007), the problem is considered with maximum number of targets that each UAV can serve with the objective of minimizing load balancing. Kim presented mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulations of the load balancing problem both for when the UAVs return to their original depot and when they do not. Shima presented a combinatorial optimization formulation of their model with a branch-and-bound solution procedure. The MILP formulation of the load balancing problem is also adaptable to Shima 's problem. However, there are major inefficiencies with the MILP formulation presented in Kim 's model. In fact, The MILP formulations presented in Kim are highly complicated with huge number of variables and constraints making them impractical for applications. The purpose of the present note is to provide explicit MILP formulations that dramatically reduce the number of variables and the number of constraints for variety of UAV tour assignment problems including the two models mentioned above and via simulation we show significance of these new formulations.


ABSTRACT: Oxidative stress is one of the important mechanisms of jaundice induced encephalopathy. The aim of this study was to examine the possible protective effect of Nigella sativa (NS) seed oil against the oxidative stress of brain tissue induced by experimental obstructive jaundice in rats. BiliarY obstruction was performed in male Wistar albino rats by bile duct ligation and scission (BDL). Intragastric NS oil (1 mg/kg p.o.) or saline was administered for 28 days. At the end of the experiment, in the half of the rats the blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability was evaluated by Evans blue (EB) extravasation. Other rats were decapitated and brain tissue samples were obtained for the measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and Na+,K+-ATPase activities. ChronIC biliary obstruction caused a significant increase in the BBB permeability which was verified by EB extravasation while this effect was attenuated by NS oil treatment. On the other hand, BDL-induced decrease in brain GSH level and Na+,K+-ATPase activity were elevated back to control level in NS oil-treated BDL group. Increase in tissue MDA level, and MPO activity due to BDL were also attenuated by NS oil treatment. Our results suggest that NS oil treatment protects the brain from oxidative damage following bile duct ligation in rats. This effect possibly involves the inhibition of neutrophil infiltration and lipid peroxidation and the restoration of antioxidant status in the tissue. Accordingly, supplementing cirrhotic patients with adjuvant therapy of NS oil may have some benefit against hepatic encephalopathy. KEYWORDS: Nigella, black cumin, bile duct, brain, edema


The lack of large realistic datasets presents a bottleneck in online deception detection studies. In this paper, we apply a data collection method based on social network analysis to quickly identify high quality deceptive and truthful online reviews1 from Amazon. The dataset contains more than 10,000 deceptive reviews and is diverse in product domains and reviewers. Using this dataset, we explore effective general features for online deception detection that perform well across domains. We demonstrate that with generalized features – advertising speak and writing complexity scores – deception detection performance can be further improved by adding additional deceptive reviews from assorted domains in training. Finally, reviewer level evaluation gives an interesting insight into different deceptive reviewers' writing styles.


Data assimilation is the Bayesian conditioning of uncertain model simulations on observations to reduce uncertainty about model states. In practice, it is common to make simplifying assumptions about the prior and posterior state distributions, and to employ approximations of the likelihood function, which can reduce the efficiency of the filter. We propose metrics that quantify how much of the uncertainty in a Bayesian posterior state distribution is due to (i) the observation operator, (ii) observation error, and (iii) approximations of Bayes' Law. Our approach uses discrete Shannon entropy to quantify uncertainty, and we define the utility of an observation (for reducing uncertainty about a model state) as the ratio of the mutual information between the state and observation to the entropy of the state prior. These metrics make it possible to analyze the efficiency of a proposed observation system and data assimilation strategy, and provide a way to examine the propagation of information through the dynamic system model. We demonstrate the procedure on the problem of estimating profile soil moisture from observations at the surface (top 5 cm). The results show that when synthetic observations of 5 cm soil moisture are assimilated into a three‐layer model of soil hydrology, the ensemble Kalman filter does not use all of the information available in observations.


Anionic polymerization and controlled radical polymerization enabled the synthesis of novel block copolymers with non-covalent interactions (electrostatic interaction and/or hydrogen bonding) to examine the relationships between mesoscale phenomenon and macroscopic physical properties. Non-covalent interactions offer extra intraand inter-molecular interactions to achieve stimuli-responsive materials in various applications, such as artificial muscles, thermoplastic elastomers, and reversible biomacromolecule binding. The relationship between non-covalent interaction promoted mesoscale phenomenon (such as morphology) and consequent macroscopic physical properties is the key to optimize material design and improve end-use performance for emerging applications. Pendant hydrogen bonding in ABA block copolymers promoted microphase separation and delayed the order-disorder transition, resulting in tunable morphologies (through composition changes) and extended rubbery plateaus. Reversible additionfragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization afforded a facile synthesis of ABA triblock copolymers with hydrogen bonding (urea sites) and electrostatic interactions (pyridinium groups). Pyridine groups facilitated hydrogen bonding through a preorganization effect, leading to highly ordered, long-range lamellar morphology and a significant increase of flow temperature (Tf) 80 oC above the hard block Tg. After quaternization of pyridine groups, electrostatic interaction, as a second physical crosslinking mechanism, disrupted ordered lamellar morphology and decreased Tf. Yet, extra physical crosslinking from electrostatic interactions pertained ordered hydrogen bonding at high temperature and exhibited improved stress-relaxation properties. Both conventional free radical polymerization and RAFT polymerization generated a library of poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) homopolymers with imidazolium groups as bond charge moieties. A long chain alkyl spacer between imidazolium groups and the polymer backbones ensured a low glass transition temperature (Tg), which is beneficial to ion conductivity. Four different counter anions enabled readily tunable Tgs all below room temperature and showed promising ion conductivities as high as 2.45 × 10 S/cm at 30 oC. For the first time, the influence of counter anions on radical polymerization kinetics was observed and investigated thoroughly using in situ FTIR, NMR diffusometry, and simulation. Monomer diffusion and aggregation barely contributed to the kinetic differences, and the Marcus theory was applied to explain the polymerization kinetic differences which showed promising simulation results. RAFT polymerization readily prepared AB diblock, ABA triblock and (AB)3 3-arm diblock copolymers using the ionic liquid (IL) monomers discussed above and deuterated/hydrogenated styrene. We demonstrated the first example of in situ morphology studies during an actuation process, and counter anions with varied electrostatic interactions showed different mesoscale mechanisms, which accounted for macroscopic actuation. The long chain alkyl spacer between imidazolium groups and polymer backbones decoupled ion dynamics and structural relaxation. For the first time, composition changes of block copolymers achieved tunable viscoelastic properties without altering ion conductivity, which provided an ideal example for actuation materials, solid electrolytes, and ion exchange membranes. Bridging Mesoscale Phenomena and Macroscopic Properties in Block Copolymers Containing Ionic Interactions and Hydrogen Bonding


I am delighted to have the opportunity to participate in this panel discussion. Honourable Vice-President Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari has very eloquently defined scientific temper and equally eloquently lamented the lack of scientific temper in the country. Thus he has made our job easy; the panel can straightaway begin its business of asking why scientific temper is lacking in our society, why are blind faith and superstition so prevalent, and what can we do about it.


For the characteristic of short storage life and quick value decay for Short Lifecycle Products (SLPs), it is supposed that suppliers provide Quantity Discount Pricing (QDP), lead time and demand rate comply with stochastic normal distributions, and stock-outs are permitted. And the optimal ordering models of SLPs were developed for discrete and continuous stochastic demand. Then the arguments analysis received the important reference results. In addition the algorithm procedure and numerical value example were provided to figure out the optimal order quantity and safe stock.


Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) are large ion channels that are responsible for the release of Ca(2+) from the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum. Calmodulin (CaM) is a Ca(2+) binding protein that can affect the channel open probability at both high and low Ca(2+) concentrations, shifting the Ca(2+) dependencies of channel opening in an isoform-specific manner. Here we analyze the binding of CaM and its individual domains to three different RyR regions using isothermal titration calorimetry. We compared binding to skeletal muscle (RyR1) and cardiac (RyR2) isoforms, under both Ca(2+)-loaded and Ca(2+)-free conditions. CaM can bind all three regions in both isoforms, but the binding modes differ appreciably in two segments. The results highlight a Ca(2+)/CaM and apoCaM binding site in the C-terminal fifth of the channel. This binding site is the target for malignant hyperthermia and central core disease mutations in RyR1, which affect the energetics and mode of CaM binding.


This year the Journal of Philosophy in Schools kicked off with a special issue, volume 5 number 1, comprising seven invited articles that addressed the foundational question of why philosophy should be taught in schools. Deftly guest edited by Michael Hand from the University of Birmingham, the papers make a cumulative and convincing argument for why philosophy should be taught across the pre-tertiary educational curriculum. The issue makes a strong argument that may be used to defend and propagate the philosophy in schools movement. We hope it will be used pragmatically, politically, and persuasively by our readers to raise awareness and further the cause of teaching philosophy to young people and extending philosophy beyond the Academy.This issue honours one person who has dedicated his career to furthering this cause. Philip Cam is an international authority on philosophy in schools who has been a pioneer in introducing philosophy and ethics into schools in Australia. Phil completed his MA in Philosophy at the University of Adelaide and his DPhil at the University of Oxford. He is Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where he has been for over 30 years. In the various positions Phil has held at UNSW, in the Philosophy in Schools Association for NSW, and for the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA), he has worked hard, inspired and taught many, and contributed much to the shape of philosophy in schools across Australasia. This year, a little bird informed the JPS that Phil was retiring and turning 70, even while he continues to be productive, publishing, presenting and assisting with philosophy in schools projects and events. The opportunity thus presented itself to publish a collection of papers critically engaged with Cam's work. Two further articles are included in this issue.


With the arrival of heterogeneous manycores comprising various features to support task, data and instruction-level parallelism, developing applications that take full advantage of the hardware parallel features has become a major challenge. In this paper, we present an extension to our CAL compilation framework (CAL2Many) that supports data parallelism in the CAL Actor Language. Our compilation framework makes it possible to program architectures with SIMD support using high-level language and provides efficient code generation. We support general SIMD instructions but the code generation backend is currently implemented for two custom architectures, namely ePUMA and EIT. Our experiments were carried out for two custom SIMD processor architectures using two applications.
 The experiment shows the possibility of achieving performance comparable to hand-written machine code with much less programming effort.


Despite enormous handicaps and serious errors, the achieve ments of the USSR, including its crisis-free economic system providing full employment and rapid expansion in the age of automation, its outstanding health and educational services and cultural facilities, its prac tical equality of the sexes and of nationalities, have done much more than benefit Soviet citizens: they have indicated what all men can gain today.


An interpenetrating bulk-heterojunction structure with a domain size of 10–20 nm is the ideal morphology for carrier generation, separation and transportation in organic solar cells. However, depending on the blend composition, the phase-separation behavior of the crystalline small molecule blend system of donor 7,7′-(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-silolo[3,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl)bis(6-fluoro-4-(5′-hexyl-[2,2′-bithiophen]-5-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole) (p-DTS(FBTTh2)2) and acceptor N,N′-bis(1-ethylpropyl)-perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (EP-PDI) is quite different. When the weight ratio of p-DTS(FBTTh2)2/EP-PDI is greater than 8 : 2 or smaller than 4 : 6, a large phase separation structure is observed induced by p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 or EP-PDI crystallization. When the ratio of p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 : EP-PDI changes from 7 : 3 to 5 : 5, no obvious phase separation can be detected due to the interaction between p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 and EP-PDI. In order to obtain the interpenetrating bulk-heterojunction structure with a domain size of 10–20 nm, we proposed to tune the molecule diffusion of p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 and EP-PDI by different thermal annealing temperature to control the phase separation domain size and phase purity. When the annealing temperature is T Tc p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 − Tb (T is the thermal annealing temperature, Ta and Tb are constants), the molecule diffusion rate of both p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 and EP-PDI is too slow or too fast, resulting in no phase separation or large phase separation morphology. When T is between Tm EP-PDI + Ta and Tc p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 − Tb, EP-PDI is in a melting state, but p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 self-assembles into crystals. As a result, p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 crystallized and formed a framework, which inhibited the massive crystallization of EP-PDI due to the spatial confinement of the p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 crystallization framework, leading to the formation of a bi-continuous phase separation structure with suitable domain size and phase purity. Based on the above phase separation structure we got, a power conversion efficiency of 4.25% was obtained, which is relatively high in this system without any additives.


In the present paper we study high-order cubature formulas for the computation of advection-diffusion potentials over boxes. By using the basis functions introduced in the theory of approximate approximations, the cubature of a potential is reduced to the quadrature of one dimensional integrals. For densities with separated approximation, we derive a tensor product representation of the integral operator which admits efficient cubature procedures in very high dimensions. Numerical tests show that these formulas are accurate and provide approximation of order O(h6) up to dimension 10.


: The present paper reports on the results of PTA in the treatment of subclavian steal syndrome and significant proximal subclavian artery stenosis in thirteen patients. In all cases, it was possible to dilate the stenoses successfully and without complications. Cerebral symptoms caused by the steal phenomenon (seven patients) were relieved in all cases and ischaemic symptoms in the arms produced by exercise were cured in ten out of eleven patients. Balloon catheter dilation of proximal subclavian stenosis in symptomatic patients is the treatment of choice, as judged by our own experience and the data in the literature.


Portal hypertensive cholangiopathy is a rare complication of extrahepatic portal vein obstruction and portal cavernoma. It is usually asymptomatic but may be associated with jaundice, biliary colic, and fever. Abdominal sonography and Doppler are ideal initial diagnostic modalities, followed by magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. These imaging modalities are important if an intervention is planned for the management of portal hypertension and for relieving biliary obstruction. If computed tomography (CT) is performed in isolation, it may be challenging to distinguish this entity from acute on chronic portal vein thrombosis. The diagnostic results should be interpreted cautiously. This case report of an abdomen CT performed on a patient with a history of portal vein thrombosis masqueraded as an acute on chronic portal vein thrombosis with cavernous collaterals. Doppler confirmed the diagnosis of portal hypertensive cholangiopathy. Correlation with clinical symptoms and Doppler may be necessary to distinguish portal hypertensive cholangiopathy from acute portal vein thrombus.


With an increase in the US focus on biorenewable energy, more forces are competing for agricultural land. This structural change in the agricultural economy warrants re-examination of the relationships between agricultural production decisions and the factors which influence those decisions. However, relevant data may be limited. To address this issue, a maximum entropy estimated Markov decision process model (MDP), a model ostensibly robust with limited data, is employed to examine agricultural decisions in three studies. First, the question of the MDP's application to endogenous price changes is addressed by incorporating the MDP into a structural partial equilibrium model examining corn and soybean production in Iowa and Missouri from 1995-2005. This model is compared to a calibrated constant coefficient model and shocked to examine performance differences. The MDP was found to be more responsive to changes in price than a traditional model, although constraints on the model estimates were required to cause the model to follow economic response expectations. Second, the MDP was applied to a newly acquired satellite imaging dataset showing warm season grass (WSG) area, a possible cellulosic ethanol feedstock, in the Midwestern US from 2001-2009, comparing the relationships between WSG, corn, soy, and wheat. The model proved problematic with large datasets, but showed the possibility


This paper deals with estimating performance measures, such as average response time for spatially distributed networks. Demands are generated stochastically at the nodes and the service units are stationed at service centers when available. Whenever a call arrives, a service unit will travel to the call's location. When there are no available servers, the call will enter an infinite capacity queue at that node. The service units will travel from node to node serving the calls and return to the service center only when there are no more calls waiting. In most cases, exact models are too complicated to analyze. This paper presents approximations which are tested using simulation and found to give good results.


Introduction: Dyspepsia is a very common group of symptoms referring upper gastrointestinal tract for which patients consult the physician, accounting for about 4% to 14% of their consultations. Annual Incidence of Helicobacter pylori is 6%-14% in developing countries with faeco-oral route of transmission. In this context this study has been undertaken to look for the association of Helicobacter pylori in patients of dyspepsia with comparative evaluation of diagnostic test for detection of helicobacter pylori and also look for effects of smoking and alcohol consumption over symptomatic colonization in dyspeptic patients attending the NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Digdoh hills, Nagpur, a tertiary care hospital catering to rural population of central India. Materials & Methods: It was a cross sectional prospective study involving 92 patients. After obtaining history of their dietary and personal habits, 3 mucosal biopsy specimens were collected from pyloric end of the stomach along with blood sample. Specimens were processed immediately for culture, direct gram staining, rapid urease test, histology and serology along with Urea breath test by HeliprobeTM. All the data was managed in Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis was done using Epi-info. Pearson's chi square test was used for comparative evaluation between two groups. Results: 55% patients were considered as positive by the three test criteria and taken as Reference Standard as being infected by H. pylori. Diagnostic tests used as well as dietary habits were evaluated against the reference standard. Conclusion: Culture and in absence of culture; RUT, Direct Gram Stain, and Serology in combination, followed by RUT, Direct Gram Staining with Histology are the best for increasing the specificity for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients of dyspepsia. Alcohol consumption is not significantly associated but smoking and tobacco chewing or smoking along with alcohol consumption is highly significant for symptomatic colonization of H. pylori in dyspeptic patients.Key-words: Helicobacter pylori, Dyspepsia, Reference Standard, Evaluation of diagnostic tests, Dietary influence, Smoking, Alcohol.


In this study, cellulose was obtained from rice straw by dewaxing with Soxhlet extraction and treating with sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide. The obtained cellulose was used to successfully fabricate cellulose aerogels with a binder by freeze drying technique. The materials were then functionalized with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) to achieve hydrophobicity. The morphology, pore structure and other properties of the aerogels were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA), thermal conductivity and water contact angle (WCA) measurements. The rice straw cellulose aerogels exhibited very low specific density (0.0412-0.0470 g/cm3), high porosity (> 96 %), superhydrophobicity (WCA > 137o) and low thermal conductivity (0.034-0.036 W/(m.K)). The aerogels showed good oil adsorption capacity of 15.66-16.09 g/g.


Phylogenomic studies with hundreds or thousands of loci are rare for most invertebrate groups, including freshwater gastropods. This can prevent understanding of phylogeny, which hinders many areas of research. Pleuroceridae is a family of freshwater snails that is highly imperiled and plays an essential role in the ecology of many freshwater systems of the eastern United States. However, the evolutionary history of the family is not understood, and the systematics of the family has not been revised in a modern framework. Pleurocerids display a variety of egg-deposition behaviors and shell shapes, making the family an ideal system for studying evolution of invertebrate life history and morphology. However, past mitochondrial-based phylogenetic analyses have failed to produce meaningful phylogenetic hypotheses, preventing conclusions about pleurocerid systematics and evolution. Here, we generated a novel anchored hybrid enrichment probe set with phylogenetic utility for Pleuroceridae. We sampled pleurocerids from across their range to test the probe set and generated a backbone phylogeny. Our analyses uncovered striking levels of polyphyly among currently accepted genera. Numerous species were also polyphyletic, indicative of unrecognized diversity. Phylogenetic patterns also revealed considerable convergence of shell morphologies. In contrast, anatomical and life history features appeared to be much less homoplastic. Despite generic paraphyly, high support for most major clades and phylogenetic cohesiveness of non-shell characters indicate utility of the AHE probe set for studying pleurocerid evolution.


This paper investigates whether social media provides an alternative protest forum minimizing bodily harm for vulnerable groups through an analysis of the "Challenge Accepted" movement on Instagram. The Instagram challenge constituted a part of the physical and online protests against the actions of the authorities and mechanisms in Turkey, especially after the Turkish government's decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, which increased women's vulnerability. Based on Judith Butler's writings, I propose four main properties for an effective protest: 1. Visibility of the protesters and their bodies, 2. Plural action, 3. Occupation of "public" spaces, 4. Vulnerability of the protesters. Looking into the properties and tactics that carry over from physical to virtual protests, I argue that social media offers its users an alternatively embodied political presence in public that minimizes harm and allows for plural political action, and has tangible socio-political consequences and effects on protesters' bodies and lives. Although I ultimately argue that hybrid physical-online protests are more effective and less risky for the protesters, this paper is an attempt to re-think and imagine alternative protest platforms that reduce vulnerability and increase social and political impact, which is much needed under certain circumstances that increase protesters' vulnerability and discourage physical participation, such as police brutality, governmental oppression and the COVID-19 pandemic.


ABSTRACT Some compounds of a series of novel pyrrolo-1,5-benzoxa(thia)zepine, a well-known group of tubulin targeting agents, display anti-tumor effects mainly inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in several human cancer models. A member of this family, pyrrolo-1,5-benzoxazepine-15 (PBOX-15), has previously shown potent pro-apoptotic activity in a variety of human tumor cell types, with minimal toxicity toward normal blood and bone marrow cells. In this study, we evaluated the PBOX-15-mediated effects in human colorectal cancer cell (CRC) lines, DLD-1 and HT-29. The compound, used at concentrations equal to or greater than 1 μM, inhibited the proliferation of human CRC cells, inducing a significant cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase. In DLD-1 cells, treatments prolonged over 48 h triggered a strong activation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway as indicated by activation of caspase-9, caspase-3 and PARP cleavage. Moreover, nanomolar concentrations of PBOX-15, significantly improved the oxaliplatin and 5-fluouracil-induced anti-proliferative effects in DLD1 cell line. The observed synergistic interaction of both PBOX-15/Oxaliplatin and PBOX-15/5FU may involve activation of p38 MAPK and JNK pathway, which in turn significantly increased caspase-3 cleavage in DLD-1 cells, treated with PBOX-5/Oxaliplatin but not with PBOX-15/5FU. Moreover, PBOX-15/5FU-treated cells showed an increase in expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax. Taken together, these results show that PBOX-15 could represent a promising compound for the treatment of human CRC and a strong candidate for novel therapeutic options.


Fat metabolism is important for judo in weight loss and recovery and for cycling in the energy production and recovery during workouts and competitions. Leptin controls the size of fat stores by inhibiting appetite. The purpose of this study was to compare serum leptin, lipoproteins and glucose levels between male national judoists and cyclists. The subjects of this study consist of totally 61 athletes, including 24 Turkish National junior judoists and 37 senior national cyclists. The mean age, training age and body mass index (BMI) of two groups are different from each other. Both judoists and cyclists were training before international competitons. Analyses of serum lipoproteins, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol, were determined by an automated chemistry analyzer kits. The differences between two groups was tested by Mann-Whitney U test and the correlations among parameters was obtained from Pearson Correlation formula. There were statistically significant differences in the mean age, training experience and BMI between judoists and cyclists statistical analyzes showed no significant difference among the means of total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and leptin between two groups. Significant differences were observed in the mean glucose, insulin and HDL values between judoists and cyclists. Significant difference was found only at 0.01 level in the mean of insulin and at 0.05 level in other parameters. Judoists had a higher insulin, total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL levels than the cyclists, whereas cyclists had higher values than judoists In the mean of insulin, HDL and leptin. Cyclists also had lower insulin sensitivity than judoists. In conclusion, neither judo nor cycling had an effect on leptin, LDL, triglyceride, total cholesterol level. But glucose, insulin and HDL levels were changed depending on type of sports.


Despite the great importance of a (Z39.50) Protocol in any mechanical system because of its serious benefits for libraries and information, however, there are limitations in using this Protocol in Jordanian universities libraries. Therefore the study dealt with protocol (Z39.50) practically and theoretically to benefit from it in Jordanian libraries through applying it at the Jordanian University Libraries represented by (Yarmouk University Library and the library of the University of Science and technology Irbid), and how to use and benefit from the mechanism applied in foreign libraries compared to the application in studied Jordanian libraries. The study consisted of (30) staff (60) officer in the sections of the studied university libraries (indexing and categorization, provisioning, periodicals, databases), formed (50%) of the chosen randomly sample study. Data collection adopted two methods: first: written interview questions, composed of (15) question. Second: asked questions questionnaire, consisting of (17) question, and after analyzing it, it showed that (84%) of workers were assisted by the protocol in doing their works, and it has a great role in information retrieval and search and retrieval of bibliographic records, while the system using the protocol in Jordanian universities only use (Horizon) system, also it was found that the Protocol does not provide collaborative interlibrary loan service between libraries. Search recommended that training courses must be done for library professionals to familiarize them with the Protocol and services so they can use it optimally, and the utilization of the possibilities provided by protocol must be expanded throughout the libraries. Key w ords: libraries , Application, Protocol, Government university


This thesis is focused on improving execution time and precision of scalable pointer analysis. Such an analysis statically determines the targets of all pointer variables in a program. We formulate the analysis as a directed graph problem, where the solution can be obtained by a computation similar, in many ways, to transitive closure. As with transitive closure, identifying strongly connected components and transitive edges offers significant gains. However, our problem differs as the computation can result in new edges being added to the graph and, hence, dynamic algorithms are needed to efficiently identify these structures. Thus, pointer analysis has often been likened to the dynamic transitive closure problem. Two new algorithms for dynamically maintaining the topological order of a directed graph are presented. The first is a unit change algorithm, meaning the solution must be recomputed immediately following an edge insertion. While this has a marginally inferior worse-case time bound, compared with a previous solution, it is far simpler to implement and has fewer restrictions. For these reasons, we find it to be faster in practice and provide an experimental study over random graphs to support this. Our second is a batch algorithm, meaning the solution can be updated after several insertions, and it is the first truly dynamic solution to obtain an optimal time bound of O(v+e+ b) over a batch b of edge insertions. Again, we provide an experimental study over random graphs comparing this against the standard approach to topological sort. Furthermore, we demonstrate how both algorithms can be extended to the problem of dynamically detecting strongly connected components (i.e. cycles), thus achieving the first solutions which do not need to traverse the entire graph for half of all edge insertions. Several other new techniques for improving pointer analysis are also presented. These include difference propagation, which avoids redundant work by tracking changes in the points-to sets, and a novel approach to field-sensitive analysis of C. Finally, a detailed study of numerous solving algorithms, evaluating our techniques and algorithms against previous work, is contained herein. Our benchmark suite consists of many common C programs ranging in size from 15,000-200,000 lines of code.


Modern industrial facilities generate large volumes of raw sensor data during the production process. This data is used to monitor and control the processes and can be analyzed to detect and predict process abnormalities. Typically, the data has to be annotated by experts in order to be used in predictive modeling. However, manual annotation of large amounts of data can be difficult in industrial settings. In this paper, we propose SensorSCAN, a novel method for unsupervised fault detection and diagnosis, designed for industrial chemical process monitoring. We demonstrate our model's performance on two publicly available datasets of the Tennessee Eastman Process with various faults. The results show that our method significantly outperforms existing approaches (+0.2-0.3 TPR for a fixed FPR) and effectively detects most of the process faults without expert annotation. Moreover, we show that the model fine-tuned on a small fraction of labeled data nearly reaches the performance of a SOTA model trained on the full dataset. We also demonstrate that our method is suitable for real-world applications where the number of faults is not known in advance. The code is available at https://github.com/AIRI-Institute/sensorscan.


Digital badges (DBs) serve as an innovative approach to gamifying nursing education by engaging socially connected, technologically savvy nursing students in learning. Because assessment and credentialing mechanisms are housed and managed online, DBs are designed as visible indicators of accomplishment and skill. This article describes important considerations for faculty when incorporating game-based pedagogies such as DB into nursing education and identifies potential pitfalls with DB use that faculty should consider.


Background At the Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal, Pharmacology is taught during the first four semesters of the undergraduate medical course. Personal or P-drug selection is an important exercise. The present study was carried out to obtain student opinion about the P-drug learning sessions, the assessment examinations, and on the small group dynamics. Method The practical sessions on P-drug selection are carried out in small groups. Student feedback about the session was obtained using focus group discussions. The focus groups were selected to represent both genders and the three main nationalities, Nepalese, Indians, and Sri Lankans. There were four Nepalese, five Indians, and three Sri Lankans. Within each nationality and gender category the students were randomly selected. The respondents were explained the objectives of the study and were invited to participate. Written informed consent was obtained. The discussion lasted around two hours and was conducted in the afternoon in two groups of six students each. The first author (PRS) acted as a facilitator. The responses were recorded and analyzed qualitatively. Results The overall student opinion was positive. Around 25% (3 respondents) of respondents were confused about whether P-drugs were for a disease or a patient. Group consensus was commonly used to give numerical values for the different criteria. The large number of brands created problems in calculating cost. The students wanted more time for the exercise in the examination. Formative assessment during the learning sessions may be considered. The group members usually got along well. Absenteeism was a problem and not all members put in their full effort. The physical working environment should be improved. Conclusions Based on what the students say, the sessions on P-drugs should be continued and strengthened. Modifications in the sessions are required. Sessions during the clinical years and internship training can be considered.


This study aims to investigate a new and sustainable approach for the reuse of industrial by-products from wastewater treatment. The dairy industry produces huge volumes of wastewater, characterized by high levels of phosphate that can result in eutrophication and degradation of aquatic ecosystems. This study evaluated the application of acid mine drainage (AMD) sludge, coal fly ash, and lignite as low-cost adsorbents for the removal of phosphate from dairy wastewater. Material characterization using X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis revealed significant amounts of crystalline/amorphous Fe/Al/Si/Ca-based minerals and large surface areas of AMD sludge and fly ash. Batch adsorption isotherms were best described using the Freundlich model. The Freundlich distribution coefficients were 13.7 mg0.577 L0.423 g−1 and 16.9 mg0.478 L0.522 g−1 for AMD sludge and fly ash, respectively, and the nonlinearity constants suggested favourable adsorption for column applications. The breakthrough curves of fixed-bed columns, containing greater than 10 wt% of the waste materials (individual or composite blends) mixed with sand, indicated that phosphate breakthrough did not occur within 100 pore volumes while the cumulative removal was 522 and 490 mg kg−1 at 10 wt% AMD sludge and 10 wt% fly ash, respectively. By contrast, lignite exhibited negligible phosphate adsorption, possibly due to small amounts of inorganic minerals suitable for phosphate complexation and limited surface area. The results suggest that both AMD sludge and fly ash were potentially effective adsorbents if employed individually at a ratio of 10 wt% or above for column application.


Abstract In the past decade the gut microbiome has received scientific attention like few other topics. It has become increasingly apparent that the commensal microbiota plays an important role in maintaining the health of the host. Changes of the microbiota composition or function coincide with different disorders such as infectious (i. e. Clostridium difficile infection) or inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Although the significance of this observation has not yet been fully elucidated and understood, several of attempts aimed at modulating the microbiota composition have been made. This article gives an update on current advances and clinical implications of the gut microbiome in infectious and inflammatory bowel diseases.


Across the country prisons are jammed to capacity, and in extreme cases, barges and mobile homes are used to stem the overflow. Probation officers in some cities have caseloads of 200 and more--hardly a manageable number of offenders to track and supervise. And with about one million people in prison and jail, and two and a half million on probation, it is clear we are experiencing a crisis in our penal system. In Between Prison and Probation, Norval Morris and Michael Tonry, two of the nation's leading criminologists, offer an important and timely strategy for alleviating these problems. They argue that our overwhelmed corrections system cannot cope with the flow of convicted offenders because the two extremes of punishment--imprisonment and probation--are both used excessively, with a near-vacuum of useful punishments in between. Morris and Tonry propose instead a comprehensive program that relies on a range of punishment including fines and other financial sanctions, community service, house arrest, intensive probation, closely supervised treatment programs for drugs, alcohol and mental illness, and electronic monitoring of movement. Used in rational combinations, these "intermediate" punishments would better serve the community than our present polarised choice. Serious consideration of these punishments has been hindered by the widespread perception that they are therapeutic rather than punitive. The reality, however, Morris and Tonry argue, "is that the American criminal justice system is both too severe and too lenient--almost randomly." Systematically implemented and rigorously enforced, intermediate punishments can "better and more economically serve the community, the victim, and the criminal than the prison terms and probation orders they supplant." Between Prison and Probation goes beyond mere advocacy of an increasing use of interdediate punishments; the book also addresses the difficult task of fitting these punishments into a comprehensive, fair and community-protective sentencing system.


The Sustainable Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project of Nicaragua aims to: (a) to increase the access to sustainable WSS services in selected poor rural areas of Nicaragua through the consolidation of rural WSS sector institutions and the provision of adequate infrastructure; and (b) to improve Nicaragua's capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible emergency. Potential negative impacts may occur because of the presence of Indigenous and Afro-Nicaraguan Peoples in the project area. An indigenous and Afro-Nicaraguan Peoples Planning Framework (IAPPF) will be prepared by the EMERGENCY SOCIAL INVESTMENT FUND (FISE), and Indigenous and Afro-Nicaraguan Peoples Plans (IAPP) will be submitted for approval prior to the construction of any public works.


The addition of Zn2+ dramatically enhanced the enantioselective fluorescent responses of 3,3′-diformyl-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol toward chiral functional amines in methanol. One enantiomer of the chiral substrates, including diamines, amino alcohols and amino acids, was found to turn on the emission of this molecular probe at λ > 500 nm much more than the other enantiomer. This emission signal is greatly red-shifted from most of the other BINOL-based enantioselective fluorescent sensors whose fluorescent signals are generally at 400 ± 50 nm. Thus, a new window is opened for the use of BINOLs to observe chiral recognition events. The fluorescent responses of the new probe in the presence of Zn2+ toward a chiral diamine have also allowed a visual discrimination of these two enantiomers because of their different emitting color and intensity. The mass spectroscopic analyses for the reaction of the probe plus Zn2+ with the two enantiomers of a chiral diamine have revealed that the chirality match and mismatch between the probe and the substrate have produced different reaction products, generating very different fluorescent responses.


Using retrospective data, we introduce evidence that occupational exposure significantly affects disability risk. Incorporating this into a general equilibrium model, social disability insurance (SDI) affects welfare through (i) the classic, risk-sharing channel and (ii) a new channel of occupational reallocation. Both channels can increase welfare, but at the optimal SDI they are at odds. Welfare gains from additional risk-sharing are reduced by overly incentivizing workers to choose risky occupations. In a calibration, optimal SDI increases welfare by 2.3% relative to actuarially fair insurance, mostly due to risk sharing. JEL CODES: E62, I13


Word production is an essential feature of successful communication where semantic information
(meaning) of a word is activated first, and this representation then activates the corresponding
phonological form followed by the articulation of the target word. However, the production of words
becomes effortful and impaired following neurological impairments (e.g., aphasia). The nature of
word production impairments in aphasia is poorly understood and inadequately treated. In healthy
monolingual speakers, word production involves selection of target word from competing lexical
items within the target language. The situation becomes complicated for bilinguals with two sets of
lexical systems leading to enhanced lexical competition. Research has shown different executive
control processes are involved while resolving lexical competition. There is currently not a consensus
in the literature as to whether this lexical competition is resolved in the same way by monolingual and
bilingual speakers. Moreover, research on the nature of word production deficits in bilinguals with
aphasia (BWA) and their relationship to executive control mechanism is not established in the
literature, especially in Indian languages. In this project, we investigate the relationship between word
production and executive control in a systematic and stepwise exploration in two phases (Phase I in
UK and Phase II in India) by using different participant groups, wide range of linguistic measures,
and separate executive control measures.
Participants in Phase I were 25 healthy Bengali-English bilinguals and English monolinguals
who were matched on age, gender, years of education, non-verbal intelligence, and vocabulary.
Participants completed two linguistic experimental tasks (verbal fluency in Chapter 2 and blockedcyclic
naming in Chapter 3) in English and three executive control tasks (inhibitory control: Stroop
task, mental-set shifting: colour-shape switch task, working memory: backward digit span test).
Results revealed bilinguals performed at par with the monolinguals in some linguistic measures
(semantic fluency and heterogenous context in blocked-cyclic naming) and outperformed
monolinguals in certain linguistic measures (e.g. letter fluency and homogenous context in blockedcyclic
naming). Therefore, bilingual disadvantage in the linguistic domain can be negated if
vocabulary is controlled for. Also, bilingual advantage in the non-linguistic domain can be extended
to the linguistic domain if the linguistic tasks were made more challenging by increasing the executive
control demands.
Bilingual Participants in Phase II were eight Bengali-English BWA and eight Bengali-English
bilingual healthy adults (BHA) who were matched on age, gender, years of education, and measures
of bilingualism. Participants completed two linguistic tasks (verbal fluency in Chapter 4 and picture
naming involving cognates and non-cognates in Chapter 5) in both languages and same executive
control tasks as in Phase I, except for mental-set shifting (Trail Making Test). As expected, we found
evidence of linguistic and executive control impairments at the group level for BWA individuals.
Similar to the monolingual group in Phase I, we found BWA had more difficulty in the linguistic measures (e.g. fluency difference score, number of switches, between-cluster pause) where executive
control demands were higher. However, the underlying executive control deficits in the linguistic
tasks may not be visible with the usual analysis techniques. Therefore, we argued in favor of
including a more fine-grained analysis of linguistic tasks. In terms of cross-linguistic impairment
following a stroke, our results showed similar impairment in both the languages and the post-stroke
language ability (e.g. better performance in Bengali) mirrored their pre-stroke language ability
(Bengali dominant). Findings from the linguistic tasks revealed that despite showing deficits in
lexical access, BWA still mirrored the BHA in terms of the underlying language processing
mechanism which is required to perform in the linguistic tasks.
In summary, performance differences on the linguistic measures were mediated by various
factors such as the participant groups, nature of the task, language proficiency, and executive control
abilities. We emphasise the importance of characterising the BWA participants in terms of their
linguistic impairments in both languages, bilingualism related variables, separate linguistic and
executive control measures and involved analysis approaches. We provide a foundation for future
research on understanding the interplay of linguistic and executive control processes during word
production in healthy bilinguals as well as in BWA population.


An adaptive control system automatically performs a loop over monitoring, assessment, and corrective action following a goal. A goal, for example, can be to keep the operational parameters of a controlled system within defined ranges. This work presents the way in which Hewlett-Packard's Utility Data Center (UDC) is extended by a control system for server group flexing for horizontally scalable applications. Capacity of server groups is automatically adjusted during operation by acquiring or releasing servers. In contrast to similar control systems that operate in clusters, the control system here operates in the heterogeneous environment of a commercial data center. Joining and releasing servers from its virtualized application environments is inherently more complex and requires securely crossing protection domains. The control system is based on the Grid's Web services standard OGSI leveraging OGSI's built-in security and event models. Adopting OGSI in the enterprise data center environment also introduces the opportunity for creating Grids in commercial enterprises.


The present study investigated the reptilian fauna in Amasya Province, Turkey. Reptile species were identified from collections made during field studies or recorded in literature, with some new locality records obtained. Field studies were undertaken over two consecutive years (2016 and 2017). Two lacertid species, one skink species, two colubrid species and one viper species were officially recorded for the first time or their information was updated. In addition to species locality records, chorotypical and habitat selection were also assessed and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species criteria included. Data on the distribution and locality information for each taxon is also provided. Our findings demonstrate that Amasya might be an ecotone zone between the Mediterranean, Caucasian, and European ecosystems. Although there are some concerns for the sustainable dynamics of reptilian fauna, relatively rich and different European nature information system habitat types provide basic survival conditions for reptilian fauna in the province.


Overnight return in stock market is one kind of information that can reflect the volatility of the corresponding financial instrument. However, some volatility estimators, either based on range-based or high-frequency data, do not include this information in their formulations. In this study, we investigate the impact of overnight return on Engle's Multiplicative Error Model (MEM). Garman's and Hansen's whole-day-based estimators are studied to demonstrate the effects under minimum-variance situations. Besides, a general framework for incorporating overnight information is proposed and the results are discussed. Our findings demonstrate that overnight return gives a non-monotonic influence and it does contain useful information for predicting the CBOE volatility indexes under specific combinations.


The increasing place of numerical modelling in the geosciences, as in numerous fields is well known. Owing to rapid progress in computer sciences and hardware, more and more complex systems, i.e. also more and more realistic ones, can be simulated. HYTEC is a versatile coupled reactive transport code, currently used for several applications, such as groundwater pollution studies, safety assessment of nuclear waste disposals, CO2 storage, geochemical studies or interpretation of laboratory column experiments. This work presents a newly developed functionality in HYTEC, which allows taking into account isotopic speciation and filiation. Variations in isotopic compositions give useful information for the geosciences. They can help track the evolution of aqueous and mineral species, mixing of different origin fluids, and are helpful for dating. Then, environmental isotopes experiences and modelling complete geochemical and physical hydrology studies.


Teeth of odontocetes accumulate annual dentinal growth layer groups (GLGs) that record isotope ratios, which reflect the time of their synthesis. Collectively, they provide lifetime records of individual feeding patterns from which life history traits can be inferred. We subsampled the prenatal dentin and postnatal GLGs in Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) (n = 65) that stranded or were collected as bycatch in Taiwan (1994–2014) and analyzed them for δ15N and δ13C. Age-specific δ15N and δ13C values were corrected for effects of calendar year, stranding site, C/N, and sex. δ15N values were higher in prenatal layers (14.94‰ ± 0.74‰) than in adult female GLGs (12.58‰ ± 0.20‰), suggesting fetal enrichment during gestation. Decreasing δ15N values in early GLGs suggested changes in dietary protein sources during transition to complete weaning. Weaning age was earlier in males (1.09 yr) than in females (1.81 yr). Significant differences in δ15N values between weaned males and females suggest potential sexual segregation in feeding habits. δ13C values increased from the prenatal to the 4th GLG by ~1.0‰, indicative of a diet shift from 13C-depleted milk to prey items. Our results provide novel insights into the sex-specific ontogenetic changes in feeding patterns and some life history traits of Risso's dolphins.


In today's North Atlantic, warm and salty surface waters are transported northwards from the subtropics, releasing their heat and eventually sinking to form a deep southward-flowing water mass. This process in the meridional-vertical plane is termed the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Changes in the strength and structure of the AMOC play a critical role in the Earth's climate system and have been thought to be implicated in the climate variability of the Late Holocene.
In this thesis, two sediment cores RAPiD-35-25B and RAPiD-17-5P recovered from the Eirik Drift (South of Greenland) and the Iceland Basin are used to produce Late Holocene palaeoceanographic reconstructions of some of the main constituents of the AMOC at sub-decadal to multidecadal resolution.
Upper water column reconstructions from the Eastern Labrador Sea based on multi-species planktonic foraminiferal δ18O, Mg/Ca and faunal assemblages indicate millennial to centennial variability in the influence of polar waters reaching the Labrador Sea which likely led to reductions in deep water convection in the Labrador Sea. Inferred shifts of Labrador Sea Water formation appear concomitant with climatic anomalies recorded in the North Atlantic region. It is suggested that these climatic oscillations may have resulted from a coupled ocean-atmosphere response to reductions in solar irradiance.
The paired δ18O and Mg/Ca composition of the thermocline-dweller G. inflata, shows multi-centennial shifts in the temperature and salinity of the North Atlantic Current during the last millennium with a potential link to solar forcing. The recorded hydrographic variability is explained in terms of the effects of atmospheric blocking events on subpolar gyre dynamics.
Sortable silt mean grain size measurements show millennial-scale trends towards slower and faster vigour of the overflows east and west of Iceland during the Late Holocene. Potential upstream and downstream mechanisms are investigated and it is concluded that the millennial-scale variability in the strength of the overflow likely resulted from insolation driven Neoglacial changes in the freshwater budget and atmospheric circulation in the Nordic Seas. Furthermore, an antiphasing relationship between the strength of the two overflows is found, supporting previous predictions from modelling studies.


FAULT TOLERANT SLIDING MODE CONTROL SCHEMES WITH AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS Halim Alwi The thesis concerns the theoretical development and implementation of sliding mode schemes for fault tolerant control. The theoretical ideas developed in the thesis have been applied to aerospace systems. In particular, actuator and sensor fault tolerant control schemes have been developed for a high fidelity full nonlinear model of a Boeing 747 aircraft which is a widely researched testbed in the open literature. A key development in this thesis considers sliding mode control allocation schemes for fault tolerant control based on integral action and a model reference framework. Unlike many control allocation schemes in the literature, one of the main contributions of this thesis is the use of actuator effectiveness levels to redistribute the control signals to the remaining healthy actuators when faults/failures occur. A rigorous stability analysis and design procedure is developed from a theoretical perspective for this scheme. A fixed control allocation structure is also rigorously analyzed in the situation when information on actuator effectiveness level is not available. The proposed scheme shows that faults and even certain total actuator failures can be handled directly without reconfiguring the controller. A design of an adaptive gain for the nonlinear component of the sliding mode controller for handling faults is also described. The later chapters of the thesis present the results obtained from real time hardware implementations of the controllers on the 6-DOF SIMONA flight simulator at Delft University of Technology as part of the GARTEUR AG16 programme. The schemes have been evaluated by experienced pilots and the results have shown good performance in both nominal and failure scenarios. A reconstruction of the Bijlmermeer ELAL 1862 scenario on SIMONA using one of the controllers shows that a safe flight and landing is possible with significant reduction in pilot workload when compared with the classical controller.


: The wide variety of terms, or other designations, that have been applied to the mammalian IO have been described above and are summarized in Tables I-IV. Although divergent in their general character there are some common threads that can be used to weave an acceptable and appropriate set of terms that can be applied to most, if not all, mammals studied to date. Concerning the MAO it is clear that there are six principal subdivisions of this part of IO (Table II A, II B). In addition to individual descriptive terms (such as 'ventral part') they have been designated as "subgroups", "cell groups", or "subnuclei" by various investigators. Since MAO, by its name (medial accessory nucleus) is already identified as a subdivision of IO, we suggest that the term 'subgroup' is appropriate to specify further subdivisions of this nucleus. With this in mind we suggest the following nomenclature for the MAO, subgroups, a, b, c (nucleus beta), and d (dorsal cap), the vlo, and dmcc. This is obviously a combination of styles currently in use yet when used together seem most appropriate for several reasons. First, the terms a-d have gained wide acceptance; acceptable equivalent terms for c and d are nucleus beta and dorsal cap, respectively. Second, this method method will accept present opinions concerning probable subdivisions of each subgroup, or future studies which may show that such further subparts exist. For example, such subdivisions can be designated as a and a1 (as is currently done in certain marsupials), b and b1 and so forth. Such an approach would also accommodate the suggestion that subgroup d (dorsal cap) in certain primates consists of two parts. It has been suggested that nucleus beta and subgroup c are separate entities in rat. However, the overwhelming opinion from studies on a variety of other forms is that these are separate terms for the same cell group. One could argue that nucleus beta in rat is subgroup c and what has been called c could be designated c1. Third, the terms vlo (ventrolateral outgrowth) and dmcc (dorsomedial cell column) have gained wide acceptance and, in our opinion, are preferable to other designations. To date no subdivisions of either of these cell groups have been proposed. In addition, the terms 'cell group g' and 'subnucleus g' have been used to describe parts of DAO and MAO, respectively. Consequently, continued use of this designation may confuse the terminology issue more than clarify it.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Aims Neurofibromatosis type 1(NF1) is a common genetic condition with multisystem involvement. Clinical presentation of this condition can be varied, requiring clinicians to be aware of associated comorbidities and complications. We relate our experience of children seen within a tertiary centre. Methods We analysed 100 consecutive patients with an established diagnosis of NF1 seen in a tertiary NF1 clinic. Records of patients were reviewed to determine clinical presentation and associated range of comorbidities. Results Of the 100 patients (M:F = 55:45; median age 11.6 years (range 9 months–21 years)), 57 had at least one neurodevelopmental concern ranging from Learning difficulties 32%, specific learning difficulties 2%, social communication difficulties including ASD in 12%, attention difficulties including ADHD 18%, significant behavioural difficulties 11%, coordination difficulties 8%, sleep problems 13%, anxiety and low self esteem 3%, epilepsy in 4%. Majority of these children were in mainstream schools, so appropriate support would need to be provided for. 7/100(7%) of patients developed intracranial tumours, 14% optic pathway gliomas, 8 had non–tumour cranial abnormality identified on imaging. 10 children required neurosurgical intervention. 30% of children developed scoliosis, 5/30 required surgical fixation. 4 children had pseudoarthrosis, including a late presentation at 10 years. 17% had refractory errors. 14% of children underwent investigations for poor growth, 2 required hormone replacement therapy. 6 patients underwent investigations for concerns relating to puberty (2 precocious puberty, 2 premature adrenarche, 2 delayed puberty). 3 patients were on treatment for hypertension (Renal artery stenosis 2, essential hypertension 1). Plexiform neurofibromas, which can cause pain and affect cosmetic appearance, were present in 27/100 patients (9 required surgery). Conclusions Under recognition of associated neurocognitive deficits and neuropsychiatric conditions in children with a diagnosis on NF1, can have significant impact on their educational outcome. The varied spectrum of clinical presentation warrants a comprehensive assessment for this group of patients. Establishing networks between local services and specialist centres will assist in early identification and management of Neurofibromatosis1 related complications.


The mutant regulator of APX2 1-1 (rax1-1) was identified in Arabidopsis thaliana that constitutively expressed normally photooxidative stress-inducible ASCORBATE PEROXIDASE2 (APX2) and had ≥50% lowered foliar glutathione levels. Mapping revealed that rax1-1 is an allele of γ-GLUTAMYLCYSTEINE SYNTHETASE 1 (GSH1), which encodes chloroplastic γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase, the controlling step of glutathione biosynthesis. By comparison of rax1-1 with the GSH1 mutant cadmium hypersensitive 2, the expression of 32 stress-responsive genes was shown to be responsive to changed glutathione metabolism. Under photo-oxidative stress conditions, the expression of a wider set of defense-related genes was altered in the mutants. In wild-type plants, glutathione metabolism may play a key role in determining the degree of expression of defense genes controlled by several signaling pathways both before and during stress. This control may reflect the physiological state of the plant at the time of the onset of an environmental challenge and suggests that changes in glutathione metabolism may be one means of integrating the function of several signaling pathways.


After immunization of guinea pigs with Shigella sonnei ribosomal vaccine O-antibodies appeared not only in the blood serum of the animals, but also in their lacrimal fluid. Since no correlation between the levels of serum and secretory antibodies was detected and since the time course of changes in these antibody levels was quite different (serum antibodies reached their peak on day 7 while secretory antibodies, on day 14 after vaccination), antibodies in lacrimal fluid were supposed to reflect local immune response induced by parenteral administration of ribosomal vaccine, irrespective of systemic immune response. The peak of secretory O-antibodies coincided in time with the period of the highest protection of guinea pigs from Shigella keratoconjunctivitis. The animals with a high level of secretory antibodies were better protected from Shigella infection than those with a low level of secretory antibodies. These data suggest that locally produced O-antibodies play an important role in protective immunity induced by parenteral administration of the ribosomal vaccine.


Objectives
Analyze chemically the food supplies of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) during the 2016-2017 school year, to evaluate the adequacy of breakfast menus that are provided to preschool and school age children in Sonora, Mexico.

Methods
4 samplings of food inputs were programmed with the SBP menus during 2016-2017. A total of 33 supplies integrated the school breakfast menus, both hot and cold foods. Later, the food supplies were analyzed for the determinations of protein, fat, moisture, ash, fatty acids, sugars, total dietary fiber and sodium, through the Official Method of Analysis of Chemical (AOAC International, Ed 18th, 2011). Finally, the energy contribution and the average distribution of energy were calculated, according to the official recommendations in each menu (n = 40) that is provided in the modalities of the SBP.

Results
The food supplies meet, mostly, with the regulations of the Estrategia Integral de la Asistencia Social Alimentaria (EIASA) according to the specifications required by the The National System for Integral Family Development and the official guidelines for the sale and distribution of food and beverages in schools. Regarding the menus of the SBP that are made with the analyzed supplies, it was found that 83% of them meet the requirements of energy distribution for the preschool and school-age children groups, and 17% exceed the recommended energy aside.

Conclusions
The food supplies that make up school breakfasts in Sonora, Mexico comply with the requirements of the EIASA for the school population. It is necessary to adjust the energy content to a low number of SBP menus to contribute in full to the food security of the population benefited by the SBP.

Funding Sources
Sistema para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, DIF Sonora.


We introduce a simple two-stage game of endogenous network formation and information sharing for reasoning about the optimal design of social networks like Facebook or Google+. We distinguish between unilateral and bilateral connections and between targeted and collective information sharing. Agents value being connected to other agents and sharing and receiving information. We consider multiple utility specifications. We show that the game always has an equilibrium in pure strategies and then we study how the network design and the utility specifications affect welfare. Surprisingly, we find that in general, targeted information sharing is not necessarily better than collective information sharing. However, if all agents are either "babblers" or "friends", irrespective of whether the network is unilateral or bilateral, in equilibrium, targeted information sharing yields higher welfare than collective information sharing.


Historically, researchers have solved optimal control problems using the calculus of variations-an approach called the indirect method. This technique led to the solution of a multipoint boundary value problem. Unfortunately, in practice, the indirect method is often insufficient. To eliminate the indirect method's deficiencies, an approach called direct transcription has been developed. For most problems, this method is robust, needs minimal user interaction to define the problem, does not require any additional analytic derivations, and treats path constraints automatically.


This article was developed from a paper originally prepared for the 2013 Salzburg Workshop on Cyber Investigations under the supervision of Professors Laurel E. Fletcher, Chris Hoofnagle, Eric Stover, and Jennifer Urban. Digital Evidence and the American Servicemembers' Protection Act Aida Ashouri and Caleb Bowers provide background information on the American Servicemembers' Protection Act and examine the circumstances surrounding the passage of the Act, its important provisions and their exceptions, and how the Act affects investigations by the International Criminal Court. Index words: United States of America; American Servicemembers' Protection Act; International Criminal Court; digital evidence; information sharing


The present study analyzes the differential contribution of a familial or social focus in imaginative ideation (the personal fable and imagined audience mental constructs) to the separation-individuation process of firstborn, middleborn, and lastborn children. A total of 160 young adults were divided into 3 groups by birth order. Participants' separation-individuation process was evaluated by the Psychological Separation Inventory, and results were cross-validated by the Pathology of Separation-Individuation Inventory. The Imaginative Ideation Inventory tested the relative dominance of the familial and social environments in participants' mental constructs. The findings showed that middleborn children had attained more advanced separation and were lower in family-focused ideation and higher in nonfamilial social ideation. However, the familial and not the social ideation explained the variance in the separation process in all the groups. The findings offer new insights into the effects of birth order on separation and individuation in adolescents and young adults.


Despite their widespread use in research and clinical practice, the cognitive abilities purportedly assessed by different verbal fluency task variants remain unclear and may vary across different healthy and clinical populations. The overarching aim of this study was to identify which cognitive abilities contribute to phonemic, semantic, excluded letter, and alternating verbal fluency tasks and whether these contributions differ across younger and older healthy adults. Method: Ninety-six younger (18–36 years) and 83 older (65–87 years) healthy participants completed measures of estimated verbal intelligence, semantic retrieval, processing speed, working memory, and inhibitory control, in addition to phonemic, semantic, excluded letter, and alternating fluency tasks. Eight hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted across the four fluency variants and two age groups to identify which cognitive variables uniquely contributed to these fluency tasks. Results: In the younger group, verbal intelligence and processing speed contributed to phonemic fluency, semantic retrieval to semantic fluency, processing speed and working memory to excluded letter fluency, and semantic retrieval to alternating fluency. In contrast, in the older group, verbal intelligence contributed to phonemic fluency, no cognitive variables contributed to semantic fluency, inhibition to excluded letter fluency, and verbal intelligence to alternating fluency. Conclusions: Our findings highlight that both lower and higher order cognitive skills contribute to verbal fluency tasks; however, these contributions vary considerably across fluency variants and age groups. The heterogeneity of cognitive determinants of verbal fluency, across variants and age, may explain why older people performed less proficiently on semantic and excluded letter fluency tasks while no age effects were found for phonemic and alternating fluency. Interpretation of verbal fluency performances need to be tailored according to which verbal fluency variant and age group are used.


AIM
This cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of malocclusion and associated factors in preschoolers with the aim of assessing the existence of an association between bad habits and mouth breathing with the most severe malocclusions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A sample of 1616 children aged 3-6 years was visited by applying the Baby ROMA index, an orthodontic treatment need index for preschool age. The following were searched: the prevalence of malocclusion, the association of bad habits and mouth breathing with malocclusion, how often are found in association and how this association is statistically significant. Chi-square and Fischer test were applied to verify the statistical significance of the association between the variables.

RESULTS
The data show that 38% of the sample need orthodontic treatment and 46% have signs of malocclusion of less severe degree that require a close monitoring and the elimination of risk factors so that they can improve spontaneously with growth. Moreover the prevalence of bad habits and oral breathing increases with increasing severity of the malocclusion, and sucking habits and oral breathing are both closely related to anterior open bite, posterior crossbite and increased overjet.

CONCLUSIONS
In the context of prevention and early treatment of disorders of the craniofacial growth, bad habits and mouth breathing, being risk factors of malocclusion, should be intercepted and corrected early on to prevent the development of malocclusion, or the worsening of existing ones. From this point of view it is important to follow the patients with a multidisciplinary approach.


This paper analyzes how presidential candidates Fabricio Alvarado and Nayib Bukele used Facebook during the elections in Costa Rica (2018) and El Salvador (2019) respectively to develop a particular style of communication that blended populist elements and religious discourse. This style of communication extended traditional modes of populism that have prevailed in Latin America since the turn of the century (emphasizing the notion of the hero who comes to rescue "the people") but expressed them in an explicitly religious way (stressing the role of a "messiah" who comes to alter the established political order). We conducted both content and multimodal discourse analyses of 838 posts made by these candidates on Facebook during their respective electoral campaigns. We argue that the study of these campaigns would be incomplete without accounting for the relationship between populism, religion, and social media. While populism gave political validity to religious discourse, a religious imaginary provided populism with charismatic and messianic authority. This populist/religious reason found an ideal expression in Facebook and, simultaneously, was resignified by this platform's affordances. In this way, we assess how fundamentalist Christianity has become a legitimating force of knowledge and politics in the context of epistemic tensions that shape contemporary Latin-American societies.


: Acute ileus has been for years a topical problem in abdominal surgery. Successful surgical treatment with the pathology depends not only on a surgical scheme but also on the efficiency of anesthetic management. The purpose of the present case study was to investigate issues related with appropriate anesthesia for elderly and senile patients in ileus surgery. General analgesia with sodium oxibutiratis, ketamine and phentanil, when combined with epidural anesthesia with ropivaciane, provides for an adequate anesthetic management of elderly and senile patients in ileus surgery.


Preethika Seshasainam: Consumer Options and Forward Pricing Theory And Empirical Analyses In Ticket Markets (Under the direction of Sridhar Balasubramanian and Barry L. Bayus) Sports markets are lucrative. Most sports markets have one or more elimination-style tournament in which individuals or teams compete. Currently tickets to these games are sold in advance. Inherently, in these games there is uncertainty regarding the teams that will ultimately participate in the event. Because tickets are sold in advance, fans who want to wait and buy tickets after they know which teams are playing in the game need to head to scalpers. Since scalpers can charge exorbitant prices, many fans are irate at the leagues for not doing anything about them. Further, the presence of scalpers suggests that the leagues are leaving money on the table. Thus, it seems that there are reasons why both fans and leagues might not be happy with the current practice. In this dissertation I propose alternative pricing mechanisms which give the fan the choice of waiting before buying the ticket while simultaneously giving the league more profits. Essay 1 suggests that the league offer "consumer options". Initially defined in the finance literature, buying an option confers a right, but not an obligation, to follow through on some course of action. I examine this pricing mechanism both from the fans' and the league's perspectives. iii Essay 2 is aimed at empirically understanding fan behavior in a real-life forwards market for sports tickets. A consumer forward is different from a consumer option in that it is team-specific (i.e., if the team for which the forward is bought does not make it to the final game, the forward expires). Given that forwards expire, it becomes crucial to 'pick' the right team when buying forwards. I study the problem of how fans can maximize their chances of attending the final game while simultaneously minimizing their cost and suggest recommendations based on fan type. Essay 3 studies the concept of consumer forwards using an analytical model and experimental data. Further I contrast the profitability of option versus forward pricing. Taken together the three essays suggest alternate ways of pricing tournament tickets and assess their profitability for the league while simultaneously understanding fan behavior in these markets.


In this paper we present a new technique for constructing zero cross correlation codes (ZCC). The proposed technique can be adapted to any weight and any number of users with minimum code length. Many techniques have been proposed for constructing zero cross correlation codes (ZCC), among the popular ones are detailed in [1]. However these codes suffer from various limitations one way or another. The code construction is complicated and the weight is always related to the number of users, especially for weight w more than one (e.g. ZCC [2]), or the code length is too long (e.g. ZCC [3] and ZCC [4]). Long code length is considered disadvantageous in its implementation since either very band sources or narrow filter bandwidths are required.


We present a novel annotation task evaluating a patient's engagement with their health care regimen. The concept of engagement supplements the traditional concept of adherence with a focus on the patient's affect, lifestyle choices, and health goal status. We describe an engagement annotation task across two patient note domains: traditional clinical notes and a novel domain, care manager notes, where we find engagement to be more common. The annotation task resulted in a kappa of .53, suggesting strong annotator intuitions regarding engagement-bearing language. In addition, we report the results of a series of preliminary engagement classification experiments using domain adaptation.


Increasingly, children and adolescents with complex chronic conditions are living in the community. Federal legislation and regulations facilitate their participation in school. Some of these children and adolescents and their families may wish to forego life-sustaining medical treatment, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, because they would be ineffective or because the risks outweigh the benefits. Honoring these requests in the school environment is complex because of the limited availability of school nurses and the frequent lack of supporting state legislation and regulations. Understanding and collaboration on the part of all parties is essential. Pediatricians have an important role in helping school nurses incorporate a specific action plan into the student's individualized health care plan. The action plan should include both communication and comfort-care plans. Pediatricians who work directly with schools can also help implement policies, and professional organizations can advocate for regulations and legislation that enable students and their families to effectuate their preferences.


The case study method of instruction is a teaching method which uses discussion of a case to illustrate or to derive principles important to a profession from the case material. Case study also provides a framework for students to analyze complex situations common to the planning profession. For purposes of training in urban and regional planning, a case is defined as a narrative record of an issue which has been faced by planners together with surrounding facts and opinions upon which decisions were made. Although the case method is used in various courses of study, a systematic exposition of its pedagogic advantages has not been produced for planning. This thesis attempts to fill the gap in the literature by: 1) adapting and demonstrating use of the case method of instruction as a pedagogy in undergraduate planning education; 2) developing problem oriented methods for analysis of case material drawn from planning practice; 3) proposing that a normative theory of planning offers the best structure for planning education; 4) documenting the strong and permanent ties between geographers and planning education; 5) proposing formation of a Case Writing in Planning Programme as a means of improving planning education. These objectives are met through presentation and analysis of four original planning cases. Each case is analyzed differently in ascending order of difficulty and complexity. Each analysis contains a "Best Planning Practice" and a "Best Educational Practice" section which highlights appropriate professional and pedagogic use of the case material.


The selective conversion of alcohols to their carbonyl derivatives is a critical step towards a sustainable chemical industry. Heterogeneous Pd catalysts represent some of the most active systems known, even so further studies into the active species and role of support are required. Through controlling support mesostructure, using non-interconnected SBA-15 and interlinked SBA-16 and KIT-6, we have evaluated the role of pore architecture on supported Pd nanoparticles and their subsequent activity for liquid phase aerobic allylic alcohol selective oxidation.[1,2] These synthesised silica supports exhibit high surface areas (>800 m2g-1), and similar mesopore diameters (3.5 to 5 nm), but differ in their pore connectivity and arrangement; p6mm (SBA-15), I3mm (SBA-16) and I3ad (KIT-6). When evaluated alongside commercial non-mesoporous silica (200 m2 g-1) they promote enhanced Pd dispersion with interpenetrating assemblies providing further elevation. Macropore introduction into SBA-15, producing a hierarchical macro-mesoporous silica (MM-SBA-15), allows control over mesopore length and accessibility which escalates Pd distribution to levels akin to KIT-6 and SBA-16. Controlling dispersion, and likewise nanoparticle size, is thus facilitated through the choice of support and additionally Pd loading, with cluster sizes spanning 3.2 to 0.8 nm. X-ray spectroscopies indicate nanoparticles are PdO terminated with the oxide content a function of dispersion. Kinetic studies allude to surface PdO being the active site responsible, with a constant TOF observed, independent of loading and support. This confirms activity is governed by PdO density, whilst also overruling internal mass diffusion constraints. MM-SBA-15 facilitates superior activity and TOFs for long chain acyclic terpene alcohols due to reduced internal mass transport constraints.