A novel technique for determination of the temperature of spherical micrometre-sized particles from forced/free convection and photophoretic forces has been developed. The three forces were measured for suspended charged particles in an electrodynamic chamber. The forces were applied to the particle in three-dimensions, normally to each other, and measured directly in terms of the three-dimensional electric field required to maintain the particle at a fixed position. The suspended particle was irradiated horizontally, by a focused laser beam, from one side (to generate a photophoretic force) and forced convection was applied horizontally and normally to the laser radiation. Free convection was generated upwards (naturally). Glassy carbon particles in the size range of 60-150 µm in diameter were used, varying their temperature in the range 300-1200 K. The particles were subjected to nitrogen flow at velocities in the range 0-0.1 m s-1, providing very low Reynolds numbers, that is in the Stokes regime. According to theoretical considerations the ratio of hot to cold forced-convection forces should depend linearly on the ratio of the viscosity at the film temperature to the surroundings' viscosity. This was verified experimentally and the particle temperature was readily attained from the viscosity. Using this method, laser power was converted into temperature and the other forces (free convection and photophoretic) were presented as functions of the temperature. A theoretical correlation for the photophoretic force that depends on temperature was consequently verified experimentally, providing a perfect fit between theoretical results and experimental ones. The photophoretic force was found to depend very strongly on temperature and hence can be a sensitive means of determining the particle temperature. An empirical correlation between the free-convection force and a particle's temperature and diameter was found. This empirical correlation can be used as an additional means for determining the particle temperature. The current calibration in the forced- and free-convection cases is valid, regardless of the particle material, whereas the calibration of the photophoretic case is limited to the examined material only.


Mozambique's first privately operated concession to generate, distribute, and sell electricity is now up and running in a rural area of Inhambane Province isolated from the country's main transmission grid. The contract was won through competitive bidding by a Mozambican and South African consortium and leaves the private operator free to develop the power system in the concession area in the way most cost-effective. Designed to tackle the extremely low levels of connectivity, the concession uses output-based aid subsidies to close the gap between what new infrastructure costs and what households are willing and able to contribute. Payment of the subsidies, made available through an International Development Association credit, is contingent on physical verification of households being connected. Encouraged by early success with the concession arrangement, the government is identifying areas for similar schemes.


This paper introduces an original algorithm for the labeling of the regions of a partitioned image according to the stacking level of membranes in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. Image analysis of membrane protein TEM images represents a particular challenging task because of the important noise and heterogeneity present in these images. The proposed algorithm adapts automatically to fluctuations and gray level ranges characterizing each membrane stacking level. Some information
about the organization of the objects in the images is introduced as prior knowledge. Three types of qualitative and quantitative
experiments have been specifically devised and implemented to assess the algorithm.


The gamble of the euro starts from the belief that a single currency for a single market would have opened again the road to unification process and created an economic environment capable of balancing competition and the diffusion of knowledge. The positive relationship between a single currency and a single market was certainly a necessary condition to restart the integration process. Nonetheless, it was not a sufficient condition. The optimism about the recovery of the European project, and the emphasis on the benefits that a single currency, combined with the network of the single market, could generate, put in the shadow the costs necessary to close the real imbalances within the market itself in terms of technologies and institutional set-up. The differences among the countries of the Eu were undervalued. The positive knock-on effect of the single currency overshadowed the economic policies necessary for integration. Minimizing the size of the distortions triggered by an excessive tax burden could be a first step towards the removal of frictions that prevent a recovery of growth in the Euro area, notwithstanding the need of Governments and Parliaments of finally leading the development in the European Union. At the root of this reconciliation between the characters of the economic policy of the Euro area and the strategies of the Nation-States, members of the European Union, there are some more questions. The European economy, and its currency, can match characters of an optimum currency area? How to combine the convergence among European regions, and precise solutions for each of the regional economies within the European Union? Will the debt be absorbed by broadening the growth or does the presence of debt, and the use of strong deflationary policies, to reduce debt, preclude a real possibility of growth?


In what follows I shall try to outline an answer to the question which forms the title for this article: can the 'theological virtues' have meaning for philosophy? I shall first outline the ontological and metephysical geography within which alone it is sensible to ask the question, and then consider each of the virtues in turn. I have placed the expression 'theological virtues' in quotes, and refer to them as 'so-called' theological virtues, because I wish to challenge the purely theological ascription: a genuinely philosophical understanding of Faith, Hope and Love is, I believe, as desirable in the discipline of philosophy as it is in theology, and can be helpful to both disciplines. My examination of these virtues will, I hope, reveal what philosophical interest they can have. I hope therefore that this essay, however tentatively or sketchily, goes towards something I have elsewhere suggested to be desirable, namely a way of doing philosophy which, while not comproming either the strictness of philosophical methods or the autonomy of the discipline, is able to be nourished by what religion has to say. For these reasons my essay falls between two stools. It is not the scholarly exegesis of a text, and neither is it theology in the usual sense of that term, the hermeneutics of some religious tradition. I believe it to be an essay in philosophical theology, but one which tries to go beyond the usual boundaries which circumscribe and the limit that discipline, in order to encounter and come to grips with issues normally dealt with by theology in the usual sense. This may account for a certain eccentricity of method - I am not a professional theologian and am not trying to pass myself off as one; I am, rather, a philosopher who listens to the voice of religion, and who tries to think philosophically through some of the religion's, or at least Christianity's, foundational conceptions. In doing so I am forced to rely on my own 'lay' understanding of what these conceptions are, rather than on the kind of understanding that could be expected from a professional theological scholar. For the defects that result from this approach, I apologise in advance, but I think also that such an experiment is nonetheless justified, even if only as a first tentative step.


This study investigates Greek-Cypriot English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' perceptions towards error production, and their attitudes towards Corrective Feedback (CF). Moreover, students' attitudes are explored in relation to other individual differences, in order to demonstrate whether concepts such as age, gender, motivation, and personality traits, influence students' attitudes. In addition, the study describes error-treatment interaction patterns in Greek-Cypriot EFL classrooms, and interprets students' reactions to CF in terms of immediate uptake. Furthermore, the relationship between students' attitudes, other individual differences, and the production of uptake is explored, and the reasons for the success of CF are interpreted. The study adopts a mixed methods research approach through the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, in the form of questionnaires and naturalistic classroom data. Findings revealed Greek-Cypriot EFL students' awareness about error production, and their positive attitudes towards CF. Outcomes also indicated that students' individual differences explained variances in their attitudes towards error-related issues. Additionally, the study found the distributions of error, CF, and uptake types, and the relations between errors and CF, as well as between CF and uptake, in naturalistic Greek-Cypriot EFL classrooms. What is more, the study identified emerged CF techniques, characteristics, and combinations of CF types that could help students' immediate reactions to CF. Lastly, the study showed a relation between students' attitudes, other individual differences, and the production and quality of uptake, as well as features of CF that could affect students' immediate uptake, irrespective of students' attitudes towards the relevant CF techniques.


The role played by monetary policy in creating the conditions that culminated in the current crisis and the failure of the Fed's efforts to end the credit freeze in 2008 are critical components of the analysis needed as a backdrop for reform. This paper argues that the link between excess liquidity, the buildup in debt, the asset bubbles that debt created and the financial crisis that followed are outcomes of monetary as well as regulatory policy failures; that they reflect a substantial weakening in the Fed's ability to implement countercyclical initiatives. It argues that the effectiveness of monetary policy can -and must- be restored and proposes a new system of reserve management that assesses reserves against assets rather than deposits and applies reserve requirements to all segments of the financial sector. It concludes that a change in the current system for implementing monetary policy is needed to end the credit crunch, address the impact of the current crisis on the financial sector and the economy and ensure the success of any fiscal stimulus that will be undertaken.


Penalized estimation is a useful technique for variable selection when the number of candidate variables is large. A crucial issue in penalized estimation is the selection of the regularization parameter because the performance of the estimator largely depends on an appropriate choice. However, no theoretically sound selection method currently exists for the penalized estimation of moment restriction models. To address this important issue, we develop a novel information criterion, which we call the empirical likelihood information criterion, to select the regularization parameter of the penalized empirical likelihood estimator. The information criterion is derived as an estimator of the expected value of the Kullback–Leibler information criterion from an estimated model to the true data generating process.


From countercultural resistance to world music craze, Balkan music captured the attention of global audiences. Balkanology, the 1991 quintessential album of Bulgarian music, highlights this moment of unbridled creativity. Seasoned musicians all over the world are still in awe of the technical abilities of the musicians in Ansambl Trakia–their complex additive rhythms, breakneck speeds, stunning improvisations, dense ornamentation, chromatic passages, and innovative modulations. Bridging folk, jazz, and rock sensibilities, Trakia's music has set the standard for Bulgarian music until today, and its members, especially Ivo Papazov, are revered stars at home and abroad. The album reveals how Romani (Gypsy) artists resisted the state's prohibition against Romani music and fashioned a genre that became a youth movement in Bulgaria, and then a world music phenomenon. Balkanology underscores the political, economic and social roles of music during socialism and postsocialism.


Potassium-induced contractions of rat aortic strips are completely inhibited by N-benzyl-beta-(isobutoxymethyl)-N-phenyl-1-pyrrolidine-ethylamine (bepridil, Cordium) 10(-5) mol/l. In contrast, contractions induced by norepinephrine are only partially inhibited (by 40%) by identical doses of bepridil. Since the latter effect could be due to an inhibition of calcium release from intracellular compartments it was investigated how bepridil influences the effect of calcium on functionally isolated contractile structures. Smooth muscle preparations (guinea pig taenia coli and pig coronary artery) were skinned with octoxinol and suspended in adenosine triphosphate salt solution. During long-term incubation (greater than 40 min) of skinned fibres in low-calcium solution (pCa greater than 8) the calmodulin (CaM) is extracted. A calcium-induced contraction occurs only by adding CaM, showing the necessity of CaM for contraction. In the presence of bepridil 10(-4) mol/l the following effects were observed: submaximal contractions induced by calcium (1.1-1.6 mumol/l) were inhibited completely, the effects of calcium (4 mumol/l and 30 mumol/l) were inhibited by 83 +/- 4.5% and 53 +/- 10.5% respectively (mean +/- S.E.M.; n = 5). These effects could be completely antagonized by addition of calmodulin, final concentration 5 mumol/l. Verapamil did not show any inhibitory effects even in high concentrations (up to 10(-3) mol/l). Thus the effects of bepridil on the contractile mechanism in vascular smooth muscle are at least partly mediated through an intracellular mechanism - most probably inhibition of calmodulin.


In this paper we describe BlueSSD, an open platform for exploring hardware and software for NAND flash-based SSD architectures. We introduce the overall architecture of BlueSSD from a hardware and software perspective and briefly explain our design methodology. Preliminary evaluation shows that BlueSSD delivers performance comparable to commercially available SSDs.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Ellagic Acid is a naturally occurring compound that demonstrated anti cancer activity in vitro and in vivo. Ellagic acid inhibits protein kinase CK2, which has been identified as a promoter of tumorogenesis. Blocking CK2 activity can reactivate dormant cellular defensive mechanism and further block signaling pathways that induce cancer. In this study, we are testing HPV 18 positive cervical cancer cells (HeLa) to investigate the effect of ellagic acid on CK2 kinase activity, HPV oncogenes E6 and E7 expression and downstream targets leading to cell death in vitro and in vivo. Treating HeLa cells with ellagic acid induced in vitro cell cycle arrest and caspase mediated apoptosis in both time and dose dependent manner. Ellagic acid inhibited CK2 phosphorylation activity, as well as the expression of viral oncogenes E6 and E7. Inhibition of HPV oncogene expression was accompanied by an increase in P53 and a decrease in cyclin A expression. Ellagic acid treatment induced cytochrome c release in the cytosol and subsequent activation of caspase 3, which led to the fragmentation of Poly (ADP) RibosePolymerase (PARP) at the end of the caspase cascade. Finally, mice treated with ellagic acid demonstrated inhibition of cervical cancer xenograft growth and longer survival compared to vehicle-treated mice confirming the potent anti-tumor activity of ellagic acid. Our results suggest that ellagic acid has anti-tumor and anti-viral properties which could make it suitable for the prevention of HPV induced cervical carcinoma.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1933. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1933


A new technique for the detection and description of moving objects in natural scenes is presented which is based on an object-oriented, statistical multifeature analysis of video sequences. To cope with the problem that image signal changes can have causes other than object motion, additional features, viz, texture and motion beyond temporal signal differences, are extracted and evaluated in an object-oriented fashion. The adaptation of this method to normal fluctuations of the observed scene is performed by a time-recursive space-variant estimation of the temporal probability distributions of the features. Feature data which differ significantly from the estimated distributions are interpreted to be caused by moving objects. For motion feature extraction, a robust displacement estimation algorithm is applied which is oriented towards the joint estimation of displacement vectors and their corresponding reliability measures. The reliability measures judge object motion and control the alarm setting. The advantages of the presented object detection algorithm compared to mere change detection techniques are demonstrated by some experiments. Due to its capability to automatically learn the observed scene the calibration effort of the sensor is extremely small.


This article documents the life and achievements of Judy Yaiyon Aupae from the perspectives of her three daughters. Judy was born in Enga Province and raised by her mother, who was the second wife of a chief. The article explores the origins of Judy's interest in health care as a child. It further explores her commitment to helping others through training as a nurse and, later, through working in physiotherapy. The article also documents Judy's recent gaining of further qualifications in physiotherapy through her completion of a degree at Divine Word University in Madang.


Introduction Globalization is a concept developed during the 1970s. The concept brings countries into a global economic and industrial market in which they can compete freely without economic or legal restrictions. Whatever the strengths or weaknesses of the concept, it has engulfed the whole world. Ogunmodede (2006) contends that for many countries and people, "globalization is a propelling dream, a momentous vision that must be realized in the new millennium vision or never ... from all indications, it seems to be catching fire and its fire is already burning deep leaving some positive as well as overwhelming devastating effects in developing countries". This paper considers one of the most profound positive effects of globalization, and the challenges it poses to librarians, particularly in use of computers and the competence it requires. This paper considers one of the most profound positive effects of globalization, and the implications and challenges posed to librarians and their profession in the use of computers and the competence it requires. ICT has catapulted the world into an information-driven society that relies on ideas and information. The exponential growth in ICT has caused socio-cultural, political, educational, and economic change. ICT has engendered a new approach to work and service delivery, and is a technological devlopment that has come changed work and job expectations (Salisu 2002). ICT has collapsed barriers and promoted fast communication and interactions across boundaries. Hence, the need for a sound mind with the ability to produce sound responses under pressure is essential to meet the daily responsibilities and challenges of life. The need to meet these basic challenges and responsibilities has also informed the invention and the use of information technologies. Prominent among the several offshoots of information technologies is the computer. It is an all embracing mechanism. It is also an electronic device that is capable of accepting storing, retrieving and processing data based on predefined instructions (Owoyemi 2001). Prominent among the several offshoots of information technologies is the computer. It is an all embracing mechanism that is capable of accepting storing, retrieving and processing data based on predefined instructions (Owoyemi 2001). Before the advent of computer technology at the close of the 20 th century, computers were rare in libraries. The basic functions of librarians were carried out manually. The computer is capable of quickly accomplishing a large volume of what can be done manually. The computer has become a basic tool for generating and processing information. Nwachuku (2005) contends that using computers to make information accessible and consumable engages diverse skills needed by information professionals, especially librarians. He goes on to say that computer skills for academic librarians will mean the use of computers for giving service quickly and inexpensively. Computers have enhanced efficiency and librarians must acquire relevant computer skill and competence to make their profession and roles relevant in this information-driven age. Literature Review The advent of ICT and the ready availability of information have redefine librarians' roles and duties. Griffiths and King (1985) contend that three major factors have led to the information age: new technologies, social adaptation to information availability and use, and the emergence of a new information profession. The appearance of ICT on the global scene has caused a revolution in libraries and all service providing industries. ICT has changed the ways and patterns in which information and other services are dispensed. Nwachukwu (2005) supports this by observing that with all the changes in information and the processes of access, storage, transmission, and reproduction, and librarians and libraries must adapt to new roles and skills to cope with change. …


Montane forests are unique ecosystems in the tropics and they regulate soil and water functions at the landscape scale. Their conservation is important because forests contribute with their abundant above and belowground biomass to increased soil stability and reduced soil erosion. However, tropical forests are the hotspots of land use change mainly due to the fertile soils and the mild climatic conditions where they grow. In the East African highlands, the demand for agricultural land by an increasing human population and the cultivation on steep hillslopes put pressure on forest and water resources. Streams in these montane catchments are often enriched in suspended sediments, which affect water quality and represent a loss of soil capital. However, these tropical montane ecosystems are understudied, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Having a scarcity of studies on sediment dynamics and hydrology makes it more difficult planning for future sustainable land use. To contribute towards closing this knowledge gap, this thesis uses three study catchments (27-36 km2) under different land use (e.g. natural forest, tea-tree plantations and smallholder agriculture) as a 'microcosm' within which to understand process response to disturbance within the headwaters of the Sondu River Basin (3,470 km2) in the Mau Forest Complex of Kenya. A four-year high-resolution sedimentological time series recorded the highest sediment concentrations in the smallholder agriculture catchment, followed by the tea-tree plantation and the natural forest catchment, caused by increased surface runoff. Rainfall-runoff modelling showed that soils of the natural forest catchment had high permeability reflected in the deep water flow pathways, in contrast to the compacted soils in the smallholder agriculture catchment with a dominance of shallow sub-surface flow to surface runoff. Sediment response to rainfall (up to 3.5 hr) was delayed in the smallholder agriculture catchment compared to the nearly instantaneous response (<1.5 hr) in the forested catchment due to sediment supply from near-by sources. Sediment fingerprinting conducted at the smallholder agriculture catchment unravelled the relative contribution of four different sediment sources. Agricultural land accounted for the largest contribution (75% with 95%-confidence interval 63-86%) of the total sediment, while channel banks, gullies and unpaved tracks were shown to be local sediment hotspot sources. Suspended sediment collected with time-integrated, manual- and automatic-event based sediment samplers at the outlet of the three catchments over a period of up to four months, demonstrated that particulate carbon and nutrient concentrations were up to three times higher in the natural forest compared to the smallholder agriculture catchment. The low particulate macronutrient concentrations point to the fast impoverishment of agricultural soils after deforestation. The findings of the study clearly show that land use change has an important impact on sediment dynamics and hydrological pathways, which can affect the water balance of the whole ecosystem and deteriorate downstream water supplies and the water quality of Lake Victoria. The findings of this study further contribute to the wider knowledge of other tropical montane systems facing similar pressures like agricultural expansion and deforestation.


This article provides a framework for evaluating randomised controlled efficacy trials for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, in low and middle income countries, applied to Narrative Exposure Therapy. A list of methodological and conceptual indicators to evaluate trial data was developed and utilised to assess six trials. The efficacy of this therapy to reduce symptoms is mainly deduced from effects that were measured at long term follow-up points, and that had not been seen at relatively early follow-up points. Focused interventions, such as the Narrative Exposure Therapy, may be too short in duration to comprehensively address posttraumatic stress disorder developed as a consequence of serial, long term exposure to trauma with the consequent disruption of social contexts. The Narrative Exposure Therapy approach also does not consider the cultural and political context, nor the effect of traumatic events on communities and appears to be disconnected from more comprehensive care systems. As a result, data for the efficacy of this therapy in post disaster settings are not yet conclusive. Conceptual problems should be addressed in further effectiveness trials.


In this paper, we briefly describe existing principles and stages for generating code from OCL expressions pointing out the drawbacks that cause inefficiencies of the resulting code. The proposed improvement of the transformation is based on extended abstract syntax trees (AST) with context-specific attributes. Principles for defining such attributes on AST trees and an example of transformation is presented.


The issue of "digital divide" as a new form of social inequality regarding the access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has not yet received substantial attention in contemporary policy and social debate in Greece. Most of the research has taken place within the framework of the "Observatory for the Greek information society" supported by the EU and established as part of EU-funded initiatives concerning the promotion of the "Information Society" within European countries. Within this context, the aim of this article is to give an overview of the Greek digital divide, drawing on the survey data of the Observatory for Greek Information Society published over the period 2008 to 2010, and at the same time to bring out the fundamental limitations and implicit assumptions underlying such official research. The goal is to uncover the issues at stake and the challenges for further investigation.


"A detailed taphonomic analysis of trilobite-dorninated fossil concentrations was performed in the middle-upper part of the Acoite and Sepulturas Formations at the western flank of Cordillera Oriental, Jujuy Province. Based on biostratinornic indices and fabric of the concentrations, three types of bioclastic deposits have been recognized: (1) bidimensional bioclastic deposits, (2) thin and closely packed bioclastic deposits, and (3) tabular bioclastic deposits with complex microstratigraphy. Bidimensional bioclastic deposits were formed under null sedimentation rates. Two grades have been distinguished according to the effects of physical processes: grade ""a"" in which primary biogenic processes were obliterated, and grade ""b"" interpreted as biogenic concentrations subsequently reworked. Thin and closely packed bioclastic deposits are formed under low rates of detritial sedimentation and high rates of autochthonous hard part input, alternating with episodic increments in clastic supply. Both types of bioclastic deposits reflect diastemic interruptions during the aggradational process of the stratigraphic record. Despite the ecological shifts related to substrate consistency and turbidity levels, no significant faunal replacement was achieved during the development of these deposits. The tabular bioclastic deposit with complex microstratigraphy accounts for a shallowing-up cycle in an otherwise distal shelf environment. The complex internal nature indicates condensation of the palaeontologic and sedimentologic record. The faunal turnover is interpreted as an example of community tracking in response to sea level changes. From a palaeoecological viewpoint trilobite associations display low levels oftirne-averaging. They were only slightly affected by short term environmental fluctuations, showing a long term trend of ecologic persistence."


Phenylglyoxal, a dicarbonyl modifier of arginyl residues with a high selectivity for anion substrate binding sites in active centers of proteins, was shown to irreversibly modify and inhibit erythrocyte plasma membrane Ca2+ transport and (Ca(2+)+Mg2+)-ATPase activity. A method that allows the reaction to proceed in the presence of the modifier was used to analyze the kinetics of inactivation. This proved particularly important for the determination of the inactivation rate constant for Ca2+ transport, because inside-out vesicles cannot withstand the removal of the inhibitor after preincubation. Analysis of both (Ca(2+)+Mg2+)-ATPase and inside-out vesicular Ca2+ transport inactivation rate constants using this approach yielded an irreversible inhibition pattern. This pattern was consistent with the interpretation that both activities underwent noncomplexing nonsaturable reactions with the inhibitor. ATP was shown to compete with phenylglyoxal by reducing its effects on Ca2+ transport. Phenylglyoxal did not appear to alter passive permeability of the vesicles to Ca2+ and, in concurrently performed vesicular Ca2+ uptake and (Ca(2+)+Mg2+)-ATPase measurements, exhibited IC50 values of 2.9 and 3.4 mM, respectively. These data support the evidence for a functionally essential arginyl residue in the active site of the Ca2+ pump/ATPase and provide pharmacological evidence for a tightly coupled ion-motive enzyme complex responsible for Ca2+ efflux.


Monitoring systems for water distribution and sewerage networks constitutes an indispensable condition for smooth operational management of existing communal infrastructure. The question of an effective use of resources and means to supervise, regulate and control water supply networks requires special care already in the planning stage and also during the implementation process of maintenance equipment. To meet the above demand telemetry and data system to monitor the performance of water mains has been developed making use of GSM/GPRS data transfer technology. One of the fundamental problems of building the system is how to supply energy to the distributed control and measurement devices. A possible solution to these problems could be, as proposed in this paper, a wireless energy supply system using the measuring medium, i.e. the flowing water for energy transport. To this end, a construction of a mini-hydrodynamic generator, i.e. a device transforming the kinetic energy of water into electrical energy using carbon polymers reinforced with carbon fibers has been made, in which the flow of the operational medium is the working environment.


Underwater environment poses a difficult challenge for autonomous underwater navigation. A standard problem of underwater vehicles is to maintain it position at a certain depth in order to perform desired operations. An effective controller is required for this purpose and hence the design of a depth controller for an unmanned underwater vehicle is described in this paper. The control algorithm is simulated by using the marine guidance navigation and control simulator. The project shows a radial basis function metamodel can be used to tune the scaling factors of a fuzzy logic controller. By using offline optimization approach, a comparison between genetic algorithm and metamodeling has been done to minimize the integral square error between the set point and the measured depth of the underwater vehicle. The results showed that it is possible to obtain a reasonably good error using metamodeling approach in much a shorter time compared to the genetic algorithm approach.


Some formal aspects of supersymmetry breaking are reviewed. The classic "requirements" for supersymmetry breaking include chiral matter, a dynamical superpotential, and a classical superpotential which completely lifts the moduli space. These "requirements" may be evaded in theories with large matter representations. The mechanisms of supersymmetry breaking by confinement and quantum deformation of the moduli space are explained, with emphasis on the importance of identifying the relevant degrees of freedom in the ground state. Supersymmetry breaking and the behavior of the Witten index in non-chiral theories are discussed. The quantum removal of directions which are classically unlifted is also illustrated. Examples of product gauge group theories that admit dual descriptions of the non-supersymmetric ground state are also presented.


Abstract The exponential development of science in recent times makes it easy for formal education to become outdated. In many cases, school curricula have not adapted to those changes fast enough. Informal education events play important roles in bringing science discoveries and science in general to youths and prospective scientists as well as to wide audiences of all generations. Keeping in mind the influences that geoscience has, from purely scientific to social and political, which impact every person on this planet, lifelong informal geoscience education is important. Different ways of informal geoscience represent best-practice examples from science promotional events in Serbia in the past five years.


The mode transformation effect is considered for axially tuned corrugated waveguides. Recently, this effect for transmitted fields was introduced by using a certain kind of material which couples the propagating fields. In this paper, a reflector type mode converter based on ferrite material is proposed. The properties of ferrite can be changed by using a static magnetic field, which allows the possibility for tuning to obtain an optimal mode transformation in reflection. The properties of transverse fields in reflection are considered.


Forensic Pathology Reviews is a new (April 2004) and ambitious series published by Humana Press and edited by Michael Tsokos, MD of the Institute of Legal Medicine at the University of Hamburg. It is a part of an explosive growth in forensic publications that is difficult not to link to the recent interest from the spate of television shows or forensics. However, the introduction to the series correctly refers to a significant expansion of scientific progress in the forensic sciences and states: "The Forensics Pathology Reviews knowledge on special topics in the field, focusing closely on the dynamic and rapidly growing evolution of medical science and law." The introduction further states that the series is intended to take a problem-oriented approach and provide comprehensive and well documented reviews of the international literature with insights into new diagnostic techniques.


This paper aims to represent the bibliometric characteristics of the American Historical Review (AHR) in an attempt to highlight the journal's contribution to the field of History as one of the leading journals in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). AHR has the highest impact factor among the other journals in its field, and has been bringing together scholars from all over the world since 1895. Although the field of History is known as localized and non-interdisciplinarity, the present study's findings reveal that AHR has different characteristics compared to traditional contributions to the field of History by other journals. In addition, the results show that approximately three quarters of AHR citations, from 67 different categories, are gathered by articles. This indicates that AHR has an increased degree of convergence with other disciplines. These findings may be interpreted as an indication that traditional historical scholarly communication is increasingly changing toward interdisciplinarity. However, it would be problematic to generalize these findings for all history literature, based on a single journal evaluation. This study suggests that AHR has become increasingly diversified and consequently no longer reflects the main characteristics of the field of History. Future studies of more History journals are needed to validate the results and reveal possible changes in the field.


FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) declared that 12% of the world's population is undernourished while in Mexico the number is around 5%. Minerals are essential for the daily diet; iron (Fe) is an important mineral on human welfare because it has a main role on the function of the immune and central nervous systems, among others. Most Mexicans fulfill their iron requirements from vegetables, which are poorly absorbed; nevertheless, in coastal populations, where seafood-rich in ironis available, it is not consumed on a regular diet. The aim of this work was to analyze minerals, focusing on the iron content of Octopus hubbsorum B (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae), an animal of the Mexican Pacific coast. Three specimens were analyzed, two from the north and one from central Pacific Ocean. Data obtained for the central Pacific Octopus was 0.008% and data for the North Pacific were 0.008% and 0.011%, repectively. In conclusion, the supply of iron for the Mexican diet provided by Octopus hubbsorum B is significant, therefore is recommended to consume more of this resource, to diminish iron deficiency, a world-wide problem, and to improve human health.


ABSTRACT Soybean pods are located at the nodes, where they are in the shadow, whereas cowpea pods are located outside of the leaves and are exposed to sunlight. To compare the effects of light quality on pod growth in soybean and cowpea, we measured the length of pods treated with white, blue, red or far-red light. In both species, pods elongated faster during the dark period than during the light period in all light treatments except red light treatment in cowpea. Red light significantly suppressed pod elongation in soybean during the dark and light periods. On the other hand, the elongation of cowpea pods treated with red light markedly promoted during the light period. These results suggested that the difference in the pod set sites between soybean and cowpea might account for the difference in their red light responses for pod growth.


Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed neoplasms affecting women world-wide, and it remains a leading cause of both mortality and morbidity. While genetic pre-disposition plays a critical role in the development of this neoplasm, significant epigenetic dysregulations accompany existing variants. The emergence of acquired drug resistance to current chemotherapeutics poses a significant challenge in managing therapy. However, progress has been made in developing novel agents that directly target epigenetic modifications. These agents, called "epi-drugs," can be used alone in the clinic or in combination with current treatment regimens, offering the potential to create diversified effects on the disease's predictive process. Within the scope of this review, general information about the major epigenetic dysregulations in breast cancer will be provided, and their effects on the molecular mechanisms in the carcinogenesis process will be discussed. Furthermore, current treatment approaches for breast cancer will be explored, classifying these epi-drugs, such as DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTIs), histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDA-CIs), histone acetyltransferases (HATIs), and others that have been developed to target these mechanisms. Predictions regarding the future prospects of these epi-drugs are highlighted, and their contributions to the field of personalized medicine are emphasized based on the results obtained from clinical studies.


In this research work, for the first time, a new mode of dispersive solid-phase extraction named syringe to syringe magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction is introduced as an efficient, simple, rapid, and eco-friendly sample extraction method. A nickel–aluminum layered double hydroxide coated on magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Ni–Al–CO3-LDH), as an efficient nanosorbent, was synthesized and successfully applied for the concurrent extraction of trace amounts of Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions in food and water samples prior to their determination using a microsampling-flame atomic absorption spectrometry technique. After extraction and magnetic separation, the elution step was easily performed through dissolving the magnetic layered double hydroxide (LDH) containing the target analytes in an acidic solution. Also the use of a magnetic LDH overcomes the difficulty of phase separation that decreases the extraction time. The optimum conditions efficiently evaluated via the response surface methodology (RSM) were pH 7.0, 13.7 mg of the nanosorbent, 16 extraction cycles, 125 μL of 3.8 mol L−1 trifluoroacetic acid, and an ultrasonic time of 75 s. According to the optimum conditions obtained in above, good linear ranges (0.75–35 ng mL−1 for Cd2+ ions and 4.0–370 ng mL−1 for Pb2+ ions) with coefficient of determination (R2) values higher than 0.995 were obtained. The limits of detection were found to be 0.25 and 1.0 ng mL−1 for Cd2+ and Pb2+, respectively. The preconcentration factor for the target analytes was 80 in a 10 mL sample solution. The obtained results indicated the high quality of the developed procedure for the much-needed quantification of the aforementioned metal ions in food and water samples.


Profitability ratios make it easy for companies to analyze a company's ability to earn and generate profits over time. The better profitability ratio, the better the ability to describe the company's high profitability. One of the profitability ratios, namely Return on Assets (ROA), is a ratio that shows how much the asset contributes to creating net income. The purpose of the research was to determine the effect of accounts receivable turnover and inventory turnover partially and simultaneously. The research methodology used is descriptive and associative . This research was conducted on the Manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the period 2013-2017 was using purposive sampling. Based on the results of partial or t test, the variable accounts receivable turnover has a significant negative effect on Return on Assets (0,0028 < 0,05), while inventory turnover has no effect and is not significant for Return on Assets (0,1669 > 0,05). The results of research simultaneously or the F test, the variable receivable turnover and inventory turnover significantly influence profitability with the significancy value 0.006 < 0.05.


Current methods for specifying data models lack well-defined descriptions of the expressions, which represent data types, attributes, attribute values, and operations. It is impossible to define clear translation rules for data models, because the relation between source and target data model elements is not computable. Furthermore, translation has to account for imprecision caused by conceptual heterogeneities and measurement error. In this thesis we use the DOLCE foundational ontology to provide a semantic reference frame for geospatial data. Available extensions to DOLCE are profiled and additional geospatial characteristics, such as topological relations are included. Annotating (or semantically referencing) expressions, which are used to define geospatial data models, with this frame supports computability and allows for selecting appropriate translation rules on the attribute level. Using a logic-based approach, semantically referenced data models allow for inferring relations between source and target attributes. This includes inference on applicable translation operations and the detection of match types (exact, upper bound, and lower bound) between attributes. If detected match types fit the user's purpose, translation scripts are extracted. The scripts are executed using an algebraic theory, which includes propagation of measurement errors. The approach allows for specifying data model semantics and imprecision. A demonstrator is provided as proof of concept. Our research is guided by an example of translating information about road width from a national data model (ATKIS road data model) to an international one (INSPIRE Data Specification for Transport Networks).


This article explores the role of Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) in creating the collective identity of the Muslim Brotherhood. It examines the enduring impact of al-Banna's thoughts and legacy on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The article argues that al-Banna interweaved a distinctive frame of identity for the MB which is still vibrant and operative. It also contends that the MB's identity plays a pivotal role in preserving the movement's coherence and sustaining its political and social activism. Al-Banna, the founder and the chief ideologue of the MB, had crafted what this article calls the 'Jama'a' paradigm. It refers to the cognitive system of aims and objectives, duties and means, phases and norms, symbols and meanings that encompasses and guides the MB's members in everyday life. The Jama'a paradigm operates as a frame of reference to the MB's collective action. While other studies focused on the historical and chronological journey of al-Banna, this study unpacks al-Banna's legacy and investigates its effects on the MB's identity. Based on a field research, the article provides a fresh and nuanced account for al-Banna enduring impact on the MB.


Background: The transition to the Next Accreditation System is well underway, and a shift toward competency-based assessment in the form of milestones is now the standard. A significant effort has been completed by the Plastic Surgery Milestones Working Group to develop specific milestones and assessment tools for plastic surgery training. Methods: The history of the development toward competency-based assessment was reviewed. Data regarding the trends and regulations associated with board certification and the role of maintenance of certification were reviewed. Results: The work of the Plastic Surgery Milestones Working Group has sparked interest in assessment and created an opportunity for further development. The efforts toward validating assessment tools by our colleagues working in other surgical specialties serve as a suitable roadmap for further progress. Board certification is an integral part of successful practice and should be regarded as an expectation. Despite the burdens associated with maintenance of certification, it serves a valuable function in ensuring optimal patient care and is often retrospectively seen as an important component of practice. Conclusions: The competency-based milestones are the new standard, and work on this new methodology of assessing plastic surgery trainees is expected to continue. Accurate assessment is critical to the pathways for board certification and maintenance of certification, which serve important roles for all parties involved in the delivery of medical care.


Writing centers that employ undergraduates offer the tutors invaluable experiences, and the undergraduate tutors bring a distinctive perspective and skill set to their work. Indeed, undergraduate peer tutors are in a unique position: as we work with writers to decipher instructor comments we may suddenly realize why "awk" was scribbled in the margins of our own papers; as we are writing a 10-12 page paper we may suddenly discover a new way to tackle paper organization with a tutee. Although all writing consultants wear many hats as diagnosticians, audience members, devil's advocates, and guides, being an undergraduate adds another layer that influences the way peer tutors wear these other hats. Like other undergraduate tutors, my experiences in the classroom shape my abilities as a peer tutor and my experiences as a tutor impact my class work by providing me with useful tools and inspiration


A new hydrogel of Gellan gum grafted Poly(acrylamide-co-itaconic acid) has been made through chemical crosslinking by graft copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm) and itaconic acid (IA) on to Gellan gum (GG) via free radical polymerization in presence of N, N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as crosslinking agent. Characterization of the gel has been made using FT-IR, TGA and SEM techniques. The influence of preparation conditions, pH and ionic strength on the swelling behaviour of the gels has been investigated. The results revealed that synthesized gels exhibit a reasonable sensitivity to pH and ionic strength.


Title: Jouhikko: An Instrumental Evolution Author: Rachel Bracker Mentor: Dr. Timothy Smit, Department of History The Jouhikko is a unique instrument from Finland that has been in use since around the twelfth century. The Jouhikko is a member of the bowed lyre instrumental family, and its origin is surrounded in mystery and uncertainty. However, references to the Jouhikko, and instruments which could be potentially related to it, can be found in the Finnish epic the Kalevala and in archaeological sites throughout the Scandinavian region. The first portion of this project investigates the evolution of the Jouhikko over time. This is done by examining the history of instruments with similar designs and/or construction, such as the Gusli and the Erhu, as well as looking into the evolution of the bow. The playing styles of instruments from the neighboring regions, such as of Novgorod Russia and the Asian Steppes, are also examined. The second portion of this thesis documents how I constructed my own replica of a Jouhikko and compares my construction method with the method used by a professional luthier. The final portion of this thesis will analyze different methods used to play the Jouhikko, and compares these methods to the playing styles of the Erhu, Gusli, and the Kantele.


This paper introduces the unsupervised learning problem of playable video generation (PVG). In PVG, we aim at allowing a user to control the generated video by selecting a discrete action at every time step as when playing a video game. The difficulty of the task lies both in learning semantically consistent actions and in generating realistic videos conditioned on the user input. We propose a novel framework for PVG that is trained in a self-supervised manner on a large dataset of unlabelled videos. We employ an encoder-decoder architecture where the predicted action labels act as bottleneck. The network is constrained to learn a rich action space using, as main driving loss, a reconstruction loss on the generated video. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on several datasets with wide environment variety. Further details, code and examples are available on our project page willi-menapace.github.io/playable-video-generation-website.


This paper presents a series of tests that were performed on a state-of-the-art real-time automatic speech recognition system for English, in a single-computer implementation. As the intention is to use the system for speech-based query-free document retrieval in conversations, several parameters were varied: text type, microphone quality, computing power, speaker fluency, and pace of the speech. Word accuracy over various word counts, including a restriction to content words, varied in the 30%-70% range. The paper compares results over many conditions, and concludes that the ASR system is acceptable for the intended use only if all the parameters are in optimal conditions. If more than two parameters are suboptimal, then its output becomes too noisy for document retrieval.


Pig sucrase/isomaltase (EC 22.214.171.124/10) was purified from intestinal microvillar vesicles prepared from animals with and without pancreatic-duct ligation to obtain the single-chain pro form and the proteolytically cleaved final form respectively. The purified enzymes were re-incorporated into phosphatidylcholine vesicles and analysed by electron microscopy after negative staining. The two forms of the enzyme were observed as identical series of characteristic projected views that could be unified in a single dimeric model, containing two sucrase and two isomaltase units. This shows a homodimeric functional organization similar to that of other microvillar hydrolases. The bulk of the dimer was separated from the membrane by a maximal gap of 3.5 nm, representing a junctional segment connecting the intramembrane section of the anchor to the catalytically active domain of sucrase/isomaltase. The enzyme complex protrudes from the membrane for a distance of up to 17 nm. From charge-shift immunoelectrophoresic studies of hydrophilic prosucrase/isomaltase and from electron microscopy of reconstituted pro-sucrase/isomaltase, there was no evidence to suggest the presence of anchoring sequences between the sucrase and isomaltase subunits.


In order to attain a reliable laboratory work assessment, we argue taking the Learning Environment as a core concept and a research paradigm that considers the factors affecting the laboratory as a particularly complex educational context. With regard to Laboratory Learning Environments (LLEs), a well known approach is the SLEI (Science Laboratory Environment Inventory). The aim of this research is to design and apply an alternative and qualitative assessment tool to characterize Laboratory Learning Environments in an introductory course of organic chemistry. An alternative and qualitative assessment tool would be useful for providing feed-back for experimental learning improvement; serving as a complementary triangulation tool in educational research on LLEs; and generating meaningful categories in order to design quantitative research instruments. Toward this end, spontaneous questions by students have been chosen as a reliable source of information. To process these questions, a methodology based on the Grounded Theory has been developed to provide a framework for characterizing LLEs. This methodology has been applied in two case studies. The conclusions lead us to argue for using more holistic assessment tools in both everyday practice and research. Likewise, a greater attention should be paid to metacognition to achieve suitable self-perception concerning students' previous knowledge and manipulative skills.


Epilepsy and migraine are neurological conditions that are characterised by periods of disruption of normal neuronal functioning. Aside from this paroxysmal feature, both conditions share genetic mutations and altered cortical excitability. People with epilepsy appear to be diagnosed with migraine more often than people without epilepsy and, likewise, people with migraine seem to be diagnosed with epilepsy more often than people without migraine. Changes in cortical excitability may help explain the pathophysiological link between both conditions, and could be a biomarker to monitor disease activity. In this thesis, the association between migraine and epilepsy and their relation to cortical excitability is further explored. A meta-analysis of previous population based studies provides epidemiological evidence for the co-occurrence of migraine and epilepsy. The combination of computer modelling with human electroencephalographic recordings offers insight into multi-stability of brain states in epilepsy. Results described in this thesis show that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation can be used to measure cortical excitability, but that its use as a biomarker of disease activity in epilepsy is limited due to large interindividual variability. By combining Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with electroencephalography, two novel variables that may contribute to cortical excitability are investigated: phase clustering, which possibly reflecting functional neuronal connectivity, and the non-linear residual of a stimulus-response curve, which may reflect brain state multi-stability. The results presented in this thesis suggest that the higher propensity to global synchronisation is not shared between epilepsy and migraine. These new variables have potential value to differentiate people with epilepsy, but not people with migraine, from normal controls.


Neuronal ensemble and brain plasticity play an important role in memory consolidation and subsequently memory reactivation. Till date many studies have been designed to study effect of exercise, heart-rate variability and other factors on brain plasticity and memory. We present a case study in which we demonstrate effect of neuronal ensemble and memory formed during High intensity aerobic training (VO2 max) and Target Heart rate (THR) training and its effect of reactivation of same memory on THR and performance. Noteworthy: The reactivation and recreation of memory stimulus learned and formed during High intensity training like place, time, odour and other conditions can elevate THR to same previous peak zone even in low intensity. This demonstrates that reactivation of previously acquired memory or using stimulation of neuronal ensemble of consolidated memory during specific event of training may exert same physiological effect on exercise or body learned during memory acquisition phase. Hence as exercise has effect on memory, memories may have effect on exercise performances.


AbstractThe stories of three adult students who completed bachelor's degrees in an intensive learning community are examined. A controlling narrative learned from families and the culture had led them to interrupted educations and lives that failed to reflect their full capacities. With the guidance of faculty mentors and the collaboration of a peer community, they each reexamined, reinterpreted, and rewrote their failure narratives. Once they understood how they and their peers had accepted society's construction of their identities, these three were able to revise those self-constructions. Further contextualizing their experiences through the lenses of history, art, and literature enabled Helen, Ben, and Millie to make dramatic personal transformations. Helen, a single mother on welfare, rejected the hypothesis that an artist must be a genius or a man. Ben, a Vietnam-era veteran, let go of the macho warrior model and adopted a different way of contributing to the human community. Millie, an African American activist, found the common experience that connected her to both White workingclass women and Cambodian refugees. (Adult Learning, Learning Comunity, Narrative, Collaboration, Mentors, Peer Learning, Personal Transformation)


The effects of dietary 2‐acetylaminofluorene (2‐AAF) on cell cycle‐related proteins was studied in regenerating livers from male Wistar rats. The levels of cyclins, cyclin dependent kinases (cdks), and related proteins were studied at different times during the first cell cycle after partial hepatectomy (PH). The frequency of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)‐positive nuclei, a marker of S phase progression, was almost zero during the first 27 hours after PH in the mitoinhibited 2‐AAF‐treated rats, while about 50% of the nuclei were labeled 24 hours after PH in control animals. Accordingly, Western blot tests showed markedly elevated PCNA protein levels from 18 hours to the end of S phase in untreated animals but no upregulation in response to 2‐AAF. Compared with control animals, animals treated with 2‐AAF showed increased levels of cdk 4 and cyclin D3 from 12 and 15 hours after PH, respectively, and altered cyclicity in cyclin D3 expression. No effects on cyclin E were observed, while the increase in cdk 2 levels in control animals during late G1/S (15‐27 hours) was abolished by 2‐AAF. p53was induced by 2‐AAF treatment during the same period, with a peak at 24 hours. The protein detected with p21 antibodies was highly expressed in unstimulated hepatocytes in control animals, and further increased by 2‐AAF. The expression was sustained until 15 hours after PH in control rats while 2‐AAF‐treated animals lacked detectable protein during this period; however, a transient increase was observed at 21 hours. Thus, 2‐AAF affects several parameters of cell cycle regulation of possible relevance for its inhibitory effects on hepatocyte proliferation in vivo.


The last volume of the trilogy on the Southern sub-continent, following "A Dragon Apparent" and "Golden Earth". It was Norman's belief that much of the old India described by early travellers remained to be re-discovered off the beaten track, and accordingly he undertook a journey of 2,500 miles in search of this. His travels begin, far from the tourist itinerary, in the feudal state of Bihar, currently the scene of a brutal case war in which untouchables attempting to defend their newly-won rights are massacred by higher caste gangs. From these violent happenings Lewis takes refuge in the mountains of the East, investigating the extraordinary customs of some of the 3 million bow-and-arrow tribal peoples who have survived in isolation here defending a seductive life-style. The India Norman Lewis describes is lonely, beautiful and unspoilt.


On Friday, February 12, 2016, USDA announced that a coalition of partners led by the Illinois Corn Growers, and including the University of Illinois, had been awarded a $5.3 million Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) agreement to implement the Precision Conservation Management effort to help address nutrient loss and water quality. The award represents the latest effort to help Illinois farmers reduce nutrient losses and improve water quality. This article begins a series discussing the nutrient loss and water quality issues following the Illinois Farm Economics Summit (IFES) discussion in December 2015 (see farmdoc daily, December 29, 2015).


Developing efficient metal-free luminescent materials is a challenging topic because their quantum yields are usually quite low. Here, for the first time, we report a new metal-free blue-emitting melem with a high quantum yield of 56.9%. Rod-like structured melem was synthesized by treating a bulk melem with nitric acid and ethylene glycol. The quantum yield of the rod-like melem (56.9%) is about 1.6 times higher than that of the ordinary melem (35.2%) and is substantially higher than that of bulk g-C3N4 (4.8%), a well-known metal-free blue emission material. This promising blue phosphor, which is easy to synthesize, abundant on earth and contains no metal elements, has great potential for practical applications.


The two-dimensional flow induced by the breaking of modulated wave trains is numerically investigated using the open source software Gerris (Popinet, J. Comput. Phys., vol. 190, 2003, pp. 572–600; J. Comput. Phys., vol. 228, 2009, pp. 5838–5866. The two-phase flow is modelled by the Navier–Stokes equations for a single fluid with variable density and viscosity, coupled with a volume-of-fluid (VOF) technique for the capturing of the interface dynamics. The breaking is induced through the Benjamin–Feir mechanism, by adding two sideband disturbances to a fundamental wave component. The evolution of the wave system is simulated starting from the initial condition until the end of the breaking process, and the role played by the initial wave steepness is investigated. As already noted in previous studies as well as in field observations, it is found that the breaking is recurrent and several breaking events are needed before the breaking process finally ceases. The down-shifting of the fundamental component to the lower sideband is made irreversible by the breaking. At the end of the breaking process the magnitude of the lower sideband component is approximately 80 % of the initial value of the fundamental one. The time histories of the energy content in water and the energy dissipation are analysed. The whole breaking process dissipates a fraction of between twenty and twenty-five per cent of the pre-breaking energy content, independently of the initial steepness. The energy contents of the different waves of the group are evaluated and it is found that after the breaking, the energy of the most energetic wave of the group decays as $t^{-1}$ .


Most research on animal behaviour in the deep ocean (to depths of 6000 m) is restricted to the capture of dead specimens or viewing activity over small areas of the sea floor by means of cameras or submersibles. This paper describes the use of a miniature acoustic code-activated transponder (CAT) tag and short base-line sonar to track the movements of deep-sea fish in two dimensions over an area 1 km in diameter centred on a lander platform. The CAT tags and sonar are transported to the deep-sea floor by means of a subsea mooring which is ballasted so that it lands and remains on the sea floor for the duration of the tracking experiment (the lander). A description of the CAT, lander and short base-line sonar is given. Results are presented to illustrate the operation of the system.


Background: Synovial fibroblasts (SF) play a major role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and develop an aggressive phenotype destroying cartilage and bone, thus termed RASF. JAK inhibitors have shown to be an efficient therapeutic option in RA treatment, but less is known about the effect of JAK inhibitors on activated RASF. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of JAK inhibitors on activated RASF. Methods: Synovium of RA patients was obtained during knee replacement surgeries. Synoviocytes were isolated and pretreated with JAK inhibitors. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and matrix degrading proteinases were measured by ELISA in supernatant after stimulation with oncostatin M or IL-1β. The proliferation of RASF was measured by BrdU incorporation. Cell culture inserts were used to evaluate cell migration. For adhesion assays, RASF were seeded in culture plates. Then, plates were extensively shaken and adherent RASF quantified. Cell viability, cytotoxicity and apoptosis were measured using the ApoTox-Glo™ Triplex and the CellTox™ Green Cytotoxicity Assay. Results: Tofacitinib and baricitinib decreased the IL-6 release of RASF stimulated with oncostatin M. JAK inhibition attenuated the IL-6 release of IL-1β activated and with soluble IL-6 receptor treated RASF. In contrast, only peficitinib and filgotinib decreased the IL-6 release of RASF activated with IL-1β. Peficitinib decreased also the MMP-3, CXCL8, and CXCL1 release at 5 μM. Moreover, peficitinib was the only JAK inhibitor suppressing proliferation of activated RASF at 1 μM. Peficitinib further decreased the migration of RASF without being cytotoxic or pro-apoptotic and without altering cell adhesion. Conclusions: JAK inhibitors effectively suppress the inflammatory response induced by oncostatin M and by transsignaling of IL-6 in RASF. Only peficitinib modulated the IL-1β-induced response of RASF and their proliferation in vitro at concentrations close to reported Cmax values of well tolerated doses in vivo. In contrast to filgotinib, peficitinib also highly suppressed RASF migration showing the potential of peficitinib to target RASF.


A longitudinal observational study from pregnancy onwards shows that the mother's emotional/muscular tension affects her body-self perception, posture and body language, the perception of the pre- and postnatal baby and the progress of labour and birth. The mother-baby relationship is shaped during prenatal life and is exquisitely bodily. The mother's body is the visible metaphor of her feelings about her pregnancy, birth and baby. Her body-self image is seen as a psycho-physiological process, which continuously and harmoniously adjusts to the emotional and physical changes brought by pregnancy and birth. The womb, as receiver and sender of messages, is for the unborn baby a sonorous environment and a learning ground. The baby's earliest perceptions concern rhythms: mother's heart and breathing activities, digestion sounds, voice, rhythm of her body in motion and at rest and other rhythms which our adult mind is unable to conceive. Their emotional content can be distorted or amplified by the muscular resonance of the mother, an aspect of her body-self image. This rhythms coordination forms the primal dialogue between mother and baby. The mother's integrated or harmonious body-self image may impinge on the unborn baby's core self-perception. Mter birth, it will let her love gestures evolve free from excessive tension and display through the way of holding, rocking, feeding and talking to her baby. Therefore, birth is a re-meeting between two individuals who have long been communicating. Given the extraordinary sensitiveness of the baby to vibrations, I conceive music, and mindfull baby massage postnatally as powerful means of enhancing the primal communication. Moreover, they may help mother integrate her body-self image and consequently, promote a harmonious development of the baby's body-self image. However, the mother is not just a receptor but also a container in that she creatively gives meanings to the baby's signals. Before seeing, the baby has long been seen and to become self- observer he needs to be sensitively and mindfully observed. The womb space is a creative space, which needs to be filled with the mother's creativity in order for her to be able to contain herself as well as her baby. The regressive state of the pregnant woman seems to be adaptive and enables her to rediscover her primitive language and thus identify with her baby through mirroring. The surrounding environment of the mother, whether it is supportive or not, affects the perception of her internal space, her body and her baby. Improving the conditions of birth means encouraging the mother-baby dance, a more likely fulfilled individual and thus working for a better society. It is of utmost importance that research take into consideration the psyche-biological unit during pregnancy, which proves the importance of the relationship from conception. Research has to embody the subjective factors. Therefore, it has to do more listening and observational study on the mother's and father's pre-birth and birth experience. Furthermore, research needs to take place hand by hand with emotional support to allow the mother, and the couple, to feel safe and confident in a natural environment. This is one of the guide principle of Active Birth, which proves being the optimal approach to pregnancy, birth and childcare, as it allows the woman to express her body-self image in its wholeness and thus to use her natural resources.


There have been calls for more diffused policy advisory systems where a plurality of actors, particularly actors from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), engage with government in deliberating policy interventions to address collective problems.  Previous research has found that government-based policy workers tend to have low levels of interaction with outside actors. However, very little is understood about the nature of these interactions.  To shed light on this important relationship, a multi-regression structural equation model examines the nature of government-based policy work across three Canadian provinces.  From an online survey of 603 Canadian provincial government policy workers, we develop six hypotheses that focus on the drivers of policy capacity and their degree of interaction with non-governmental organizations.  The results revealed that increased interaction by the respondents with stakeholders was an important determinant for inviting stakeholders to policy discussions and led to increased perceptions of policy capacity.  However, the ongoing trend of politicization in policy work had a dampening impact on overall policy capacity. More importantly, it appears that undertaking more evidence-based policy work did not lead to a greater policy capacity perception or interaction with stakeholder groups. The survey design and model development have the potential to be replicated in other jurisdictions.


Additional, discontinuous functions are added to the displacement field of standard finite elements in order to capture highly localised zones of intense straining. By embedding discontinuities within an element it is possible to effectively model localisation phenomena (such as fracture in concrete) with a relatively small number of finite elements. The displacement jump is regularised, producing bounded strains and allowing the application of classical strain softening constitutive laws. It is then possible to achieve mesh-objective results with respect to energy dissipation without resorting to higher-order continuum theories.


Two conjugated oligomers, representing elementary segments of fluorene-thiophene copolymers, are compared in terms of the microscopic morphology and the optical properties of thin deposits. The atomic force microscopy morphological data and the solid-state absorption and emission spectra are interpreted in terms of the assembly of the conjugated molecules. The compound with a terthiophene central unit and fluorene end-groups shows well-defined monolayer-by-monolayer assembly into micrometer-long stripe-like structures, with a crystalline herringbone-type organization within the monolayers. Polarized confocal microscopy indicates a strong orientation of the crystalline domains within the stripes. In contrast, the compound with a terfluorene central unit and thiophene end groups forms no textured aggregates and the optical spectra in the solid-state are very similar to those recorded in solution, suggesting that the molecules interact only weakly in the solid. The difference in behaviour between the two compounds most probably originates from their different capability to form densely-packed assemblies of interacting π-systems.


Introduction: Considering the importance of maintaining the energy and health of the staff and faculty members as human beings, organizational conflict can have a significant impact on public health, performance, and the rate of depression in these individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between job performance and depression with organizational conflicts in professors and staff of Larestan University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 on 82 professors and staff of Larestan University of Medical Sciences selected by census sampling method. In order to collect information in the present study, three questionnaires (organizational conflict, job performance, and Goldberg depression) were used.
Results: The mean of depression was 58.20 with a standard deviation of 17.16, the mean of job performance was 30.55 with a standard deviation of 27.5, and the mean of organizational conflict was 93.20 with a standard deviation of 42.5. Conflict with subordinate had a higher mean score and conflict with peers had a lower mean score. The frequency distribution of depression among the participants showed that healthy individuals had the highest frequency (27.7%) and individuals with severe depression had the lowest frequency (4.8%).
Conclusion: The findings showed an inverse relationship between depression and job performance, but a direct relationship was observed between depression and organizational conflict. By identifying and modifying the causes of stress in the workplace, we can see the improvement of performance and the creation of desirable and efficient feelings in medical personnel


Human urinary kallikrein (EC 126.96.36.199) was purified to electrophoretically homogeneity by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100, followed by affinity chromatography on aprotinin-Sepharose. The molecular weight, estimated by gel filtration, is 64,000 Daltons, by dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis 45,000 Daltons and 29,000 Daltons, and it is microheterogeneous on electrofocusing, yielding isoelectric point values of 3.8, 3.9 and 4.05. The kinetic constants for hydrolysis of BZArgOEt, TosArgOMe, CbzTyrONp, and human HMW-kininogen were determined. Benzamidine and aprotinin are competitive inhibitors of human urinary kallikrein.


In beyond-generalized Proca theories including the extension to theories higher than second order, we study the role of a spatial component v of a massive vector field on the anisotropic cosmological background. We show that, as in the case of the isotropic cosmological background, there is no additional ghostly degrees of freedom associated with the Ostrogradski instability. In second-order generalized Proca theories we find the existence of anisotropic solutions on which the ratio between the anisotropic expansion rate Σ and the isotropic expansion rate H remains nearly constant in the radiation-dominated epoch. In the regime where Σ/H is constant, the spatial vector component v works as a dark radiation with the equation of state close to 1/3. During the matter era, the ratio Σ/H decreases with the decrease of v. As long as the conditions |Σ| ≪ H and v2 ≪ ϕ2 are satisfied around the onset of late-time cosmic acceleration, where ϕ is the temporal vector component, we find that the solutions approach the isotropic de Sitter fixed point (Σ = 0 = v) in accordance with the cosmic no-hair conjecture. In the presence of v and Σ the early evolution of the dark energy equation of state wDE in the radiation era is different from that in the isotropic case, but the approach to the isotropic value wDE(iso) typically occurs at redshifts z much larger than 1. Thus, apart from the existence of dark radiation, the anisotropic cosmological dynamics at low redshifts is similar to that in isotropic generalized Proca theories. In beyond-generalized Proca theories the only consistent solution to avoid the divergence of a determinant of the dynamical system corresponds to v = 0, so Σ always decreases in time.


Background Successful provision of palliative care requires multidisciplinary collaboration from various healthcare professionals.1 Purpose To explore the views of the multidisciplinary healthcare team towards the role of the clinical pharmacist within the palliative care unit of an oncology hospital. Material and methods Open ended and close ended questions in the form of recorded semi-structured focus groups were chosen as the most appropriate tool to explore the views of the team. The questions (referred to as the topic guide) were formulated after an extensive literature review and were then assessed for face and content validity by an expert panel. Willing eligible participants (n=26) were randomly assigned into three heterogenous focus groups with one group acting as the pilot study. The recorded data were then transcribed ad verbatim into raw text where participants were anonymised. The transcripts were analysed using the framework method whereby emerging categories and themes were devised. Quotations were then selected depending on their relevance to context of narrative text. Results The framework analysis resulted in five main categories, namely: pharmacists as the expert reference point, ward availability, personal characteristics, attitudes towards potential clinical services and the link with the community. Key study outcomes were then highlighted as follows. Clinical pharmacists are considered as a valuable reference point for guidance in mixture compatibility and documentation issues. They are desired in the ward (including ward rounds) for their pharmaceutical expertise, especially in stock management and medication review. They are also believed to have a role in formulary management, principally in making protocols more lenient. They are required for patient counselling to increase compliance and to educate both patients and doctors alike on waste management. A missing link with the community in terms of hospital pharmaceutical services was acknowledged. Innovative concepts were also mentioned, including medication reviews on an outpatient basis. Conclusion The general view of healthcare providers on the clinical pharmacist's role in palliative care was largely supportive and positive. This should encourage policy makers to introduce clinical pharmacy services within this setting. References and/or acknowledgements 1. Hall P, Weaver L. Interdisciplinary education and teamwork: a long and winding road. Med Educ2001;35:867–75. No conflict of interest


: Tricyclic antidepressants have anticholinergic, adrenolytic and quinidine-like activity. These actions result in a variety of cardiac and blood pressure effects. Tricyclic antidepressants can reverse the antihypertensive effect of guanethidine and clonidine. Orthostatic hypotension may be increased with diuretics and hydralazine. Myocardial depression may occur with lidocaine, phenytoin or propranolol. Dangerous additive effects may result from concomitant use of a tricyclic antidepressant and either quinidine or procainamide.


Patients with disorders of the basal ganglia, such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and Tourette's Syndrome, exhibit characteristic motor symptoms and less obvious cognitive deficits. These deficits can be understood with reference to the model of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuitry proposed by Alexander et al. (1986) which highlights how the basal ganglia can affect the functioning of the whole of the frontal lobe. This thesis explored the possibility that patients with these disorders also have difficulties with social cognition. Patients with Parkinson's exhibited deficits in reasoning about mental states. These deficits can largely be attributed to executive dysfunction which results from disordered activity in the circuitry linking the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia. Patients with Huntington's exhibited reduced fear responses which most likely results from abnormal amygdala activity. Patients with Tourette's exhibited deficits on a wide range of social cognitive tasks involving reasoning about mental states, non-literal language interpretation and economic decision making. These difficulties probably reflect dysfunction in circuitry linking the anterior cingulate and insula with the basal ganglia. These studies offer insight into the neuroanatomical basis of the behavioural symptoms associated with these conditions whilst highlighting the necessity to develop more precise and inclusive models of frontostriatal circuitry.


Media has important and influential roles in lives of individuals and communities in modern era, as it can show the negative effects that complicate the development process in developed high society and nations as well. It can also take a role of taking the initiative to put forward plans to raise human knowledge in operations cognitive and behavioral awareness, which in turn leads to the growth of society in general. Now ,the world has a set of problems that surround the environment, resources and energy, man abusing these ground sources all these things make the development of a humanitarian issue urgent and indispensable for many peoples of the world, especially for the developing peoples or least-developed and comes the role of the media in achieving sustainable development through the entrance to the dissemination and adoption of ideas the new and the entrance to prioritize the public about development issues.


Since the Middle Ages, strict regulations had divided the Venetian craft guilds according to the raw materials that they used. Because of this there were few occasions in which to compete over the production of cognate objects. Altarpieces were the major exception. The design and production of an altarpiece, whether its central image was painted or carved from stone or wood, had involved multiple competencies, providing work for different artisans, and facilitating the exchange of ideas across mediums. Over the last third of the fifteenth century, however, sculpted altarpieces flourished and their designs increasingly eschewed participation from painters as polychromy became more and more limited and new classicizing tastes prevailed. While collaboration did not disappear, the dialogical nature of altarpiece production in this period was imbued with a sense of competition. The discourse on media, however, was not restricted to the realm of aesthetics and matters of business or personal pride. Reflection upon the ontologies, merits, and symbolic efficacy of their materials was also informed by these objects' privileged locations on or in proximity to the altar.
Previous studies on sculpted altarpieces have focused on morphology, iconography, and patronage. My study, in contrast, examines this object category as an intermediary, in a threefold sense: altarpieces acted as facilitators, as go-betweens engendering practical interaction between professional groups; they constituted a locus of artistic exchange between mediums, and of reflection upon the ontology of the crafts of painting and sculpture; the materiality of sculpted altarpieces engaged in a reciprocal inflection of meaning with their setting, the altar.

By virtue of their unique status as a shared object category, altarpieces allow us to chart the interaction between the arts of Venice. Their privileged position at a fulcrum of holy space opens their interpretation to an array of written sources of information. An examination of these sources and of this formal and thematic dialog provides a window into understanding the artistic principles that guided artists and viewers in a city that produced almost no theoretical literature directly addressing the arts until the middle of the sixteenth century.


Purpose To report a case of bilateral acute myopia and angle closure glaucoma after ingestion of methazolamide. Methods An interventional case report of a 70-year-old male who developed bilateral, acute myopia and angle closure glaucoma after ingesting methazolamide tablets for the treatment of normal tension glaucoma. Results Bilateral anterior chamber shallowing associated with ciliary body edema, supraciliary effusions, and shallow posterior choroidal effusions were documented with slit-lamp photography and high-frequency ultrasonography. Near complete resolution of these signs after discontinuation of methazolamide were also documented. Conclusion Methazolamide may be associated with secondary myopia and angle closure glaucoma. Discontinuation of methazolamide leads to resolution of this process, as documented by slit-lamp photography and high-frequency ultrasonography.


Multiple organ dysfunction
syndrome (MODS) is a systemic, dysfunctional inflammatory response that
requires long intensive care unit (ICU) stay. It is characterized with high
mortality rate depending on the number of organs involved. It has been
recognized that organ failure does not occur as an all-or-none rule, but rather
a range of organ dysfunction exists resulting in clinical organ failure. In the
absence of a gold standard scoring or tool for early diagnosis or prediction of
MODS, a novel bio-clinical scoring is mandatory. Moreover, understanding the
pathophysiology of MODS in medical, surgical and trauma, ICUs should take a priority to
achieve a favorable outcome. Herein we reviewed the literatures published in
English language through the research engines (MEDLINE, Scopus, and EBASE) from
1982 to 2011 using key words: "multiorgan dysfunction", "organ failure",
"intensive care units" to highlight the definition, mechanism, diagnosis and prediction of
MODS particularly at its earliest stages. Bring up new bio-clinical scoring to
a stage where it is ready for field trials will pave the way for implementing
new risk-stratification strategy in the intensive care to reduce the morbidity
and mortality and save resources. Prospective studies are needed to answer our
question and to shift MODS from an inevitable to a preventable disorder.


Abstract In contemporary society, many people move away from their personal networks for extended periods to reach professional and/or educational goals. This separation can often lead to feelings of loneliness, which can be stressful and sometimes debilitating for the individual. We seek to understand how a person's use of online social networks (OSNs)—technology-enabled tools that assist users with creating and maintaining their relationships—might affect their perceptions of loneliness. Prior research has offered mixed results about how OSNs affect loneliness—reporting both positive and negative effects. We argue in this study that a clearer perspective can be gained by taking a closer look at how individuals approach their relationship management in OSNs. Building on theoretical works on loneliness, we develop a model to explain the effects of relationship characteristics (i.e., relationship orientation, self-disclosure, and networking ability) and OSN features (i.e., active or passive) on perceived loneliness. Our findings show that OSN can be linked to both more and less perceived loneliness, that is, individuals' relationship orientation significantly affects their feelings of loneliness, which are further moderated by their degree of self-disclosure within the OSN. Furthermore, how users engage in the OSN (either actively or passively) influences their perceptions of loneliness. Practical implications regarding perceived loneliness include recommendations for firms to encourage mobile workers to utilize OSNs when separated from others, for education providers to connect with their new students before they arrive, and for users to utilize OSNs as a social bridge to others they feel close with.


Birmingham Zero Carbon House was retrofitted and extended from an 1840 end of terrace house to an award-winning house with negative operational emissions, receiving a RIBA Award for Architecture in 2010. In addition to a super-insulated envelope, the house achieves its negative emissions status using a photovoltaic system, a solar thermal system and a wood burning stove. The house has been extensively monitored since 2011, with circa 20 performance parameters recorded every minute of the day. Despite its negative operational emissions confirmed by the monitoring, this article for the first time introduces embodied emissions into the calculation of the overall carbon emissions performance. Taking into account embodied emissions from materials, construction process, maintenance and the end-of-life emissions due to deconstruction and disposal, taken over a 60-year span, the analysis reveals that the sum of embodied and operational emissions reached zero in 2012. Taking a rigorous approach of quantifying embodied and operational emissions, the paper puts into perspective the scale of efforts that need to be deployed across the UK and beyond to reach net zero by 2050.


Bovine respiratory disease caused by Pasteurella haemolytica may be partially mediated by a leukotoxin secreted by the microorganism. We examined the effect of leukotoxic Pasteurella supernatants on leakage of the cytosol enzyme lactate dehydrogenase and the lysosomal enzyme arylsulfatase from bovine granulocytes. Lactate dehydrogenase release (94%) was much higher than arylsulfatase release (38%) over 30 minutes of incubation. The Pasteurella supernatants inhibited superoxide production by stimulated granulocytes at concentrations which also caused substantial cell death as measured by failure to exclude trypan blue. Both toxic effects were prevented by serum from aerosol-immunized calves, and protection appeared to be antibody-specific by comparison with fetal bovine serum or with serum absorbed against intact P. haemolytica. These findings suggest that the leukotoxin may selectively disrupt the granulocyte plasma membrane, and that antibody directed against a surface component of the microorganism is also capable of protecting against the leukotoxin effect.


Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from patients with atopic dermatitis (A.D.) were examined for their capacity to generate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) during mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC). Cell-mediated lympholysis (CML) activity, but not proliferative response during MLC, was significantly decreased (p less than 0.01) in patients with A.D. (n = 19) compared with normal controls (n = 19) or patients with other skin diseases (n = 14). Regression analysis revealed a significant correlation (p less than 0.001) between CML activity and the percentage of circulating T8+ suppressor/cytotoxic T cells. Deficient CML activity in A.D. patients, however, was not corrected when isolated autologous T4+ and T8+ cells were recombined at a normal ratio (2:1) of T4+ to T8+ cells. Examination of CML activity in co-cultures of isolated T4+ and T8+ cells obtained from two A.D. patients and their respective HLA-identical healthy siblings indicated that the defect in CML resided in both the helper/inducer T4+ cells and the effector T8+ cells. The defective cytotoxic T cell function reported in the present study may account for the increased susceptibility of patients with A.D. to develop severe viral infections.


OBJECTIVE Patient satisfaction has emerged as a powerful determinant and outcome of health care quality. Patient satisfaction is influenced by their socio-demographic characteristics and their social environment. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between individual level self-reported social capital and patient satisfaction with cancer care. METHOD The study design was cross-sectional. Over 10 consecutive weeks in 2007, 84 in-patients in an oncology department met the inclusion criteria, of whom 52 agreed to participate (62%). They completed, by interview, two questionnaires: The Social Capital Questionnaire (SCQ) and the Comprehensive Assessment of Satisfaction with Care (CASC). Correlational and simple and multiple linear regression analyses (including sex, age and education) were performed among social capital factors (participation in the community, feelings of safety, value of life and social agency, tolerance of diversity) and 11 dimensions of cancer care (medical, nursing, administrative). RESULTS Patient satisfaction rating on a 10-point scale had the highest correlation coefficients with the total social capital score (r=0.570, p<0.001) and with value of life and social agency (r=0.532, p<0.001). In multivariate analyses, the majority of patient satisfaction subscales were related to the total social capital score and to the factor value of life and social agency. Feelings of safety and tolerance of diversity were both correlated with some dimensions of patient satisfaction. Community participation was not related to patient satisfaction. The dimensions of care associated to a greater degree with social capital were those for which patients believe they do not have enough knowledge or experience to make a judgment on (e.g., doctors' technical skills). CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the social capital of patients is associated with their satisfaction with health care. When individual-level social capital or some of its subscales increase, so does the level of patient satisfaction with certain aspects of cancer care. Patients may show a social predisposition when evaluating health care for reasons unrelated to the actual care received. These results are in agreement with bibliographic documentation of the influence of social capital on health outcomes. The inclusion of social capital will provide more accurate evaluation in patient satisfaction surveys. ............................................... G. Kritsotakis, A.D. Koutis, A.K. Alegakis, S. Koukouli, A.E. Philalithis


Recent work highlights the fact that there are clear differences in the quality of the news product offered by different news outlets. What is not clear is why some news outlets consistently produce a more informative and less superficial news product while others do not. Media scholars suggesting an institutional view of the news media have acknowledged the idea that institutions can be multi-layered, and point to the need to understand specific institutional aspects of the media at all levels. Building from the idea that we can benefit from understanding the institutional similarities and differences between local media outlets, this article examines the quality or issue substance in campaign news coverage as a function of the institutional arrangements within media outlets and their economic and political contexts.