Inspired by concepts from ergodic theory, we give new insight into coding sequence (CDS) density estimation for the human genome. Our approach is based on the introduction and study of topological pressure: a numerical quantity assigned to any finite sequence based on an appropriate notion of 'weighted information content'. For human DNA sequences, each codon is assigned a suitable weight, and using a window size of approximately 60,000bp, we obtain a very strong positive correlation between CDS density and topological pressure. The weights are selected by an optimization procedure, and can be interpreted as quantitative data on the relative importance of different codons for the density estimation of coding sequences. This gives new insight into codon usage bias which is an important subject where long standing questions remain open. Inspired again by ergodic theory, we use the weightings on the codons to define a probability measure on finite sequences. We demonstrate that this measure is effective in distinguishing between coding and non-coding human DNA sequences of lengths approximately 5,000bp. We emphasize that topological pressure is a flexible tool and we expect it to be useful for the investigation of many other features of DNA sequences such as interspecies comparison of codon usage bias. We give a first result in this direction, investigating CDS density in the mouse genome and comparing our results with those for the human genome.


Cacopsylla melanoneura (Foerster) is considered one of the most important vectors of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma mali', the phytoplasma associated with apple proliferation disease. In the last years several studies concerning the biology, the infectivity and the transmission activity of this psyllid highlighted the crucial role of the overwintered adults in the epidemiology of the disease. However very few information on the overwintering sites are available. The aestivation and overwintering habitats of C. melanoneura in Northwest Italy were studied. Samplings were carried out in conifer forests, chosen by following the direction of warm ascending currents. The altitudinal distribution of the psyllid as well as the shelter plants were investigated. Adults of C. melanoneura were collected on Abies alba (Miller), Picea abies (L.), Pinus sylvestris (L.) and Larix decidua (Miller) predominantly at an altitude range between 1,350 and 1,650 m a.s.l. It was possible in this way for the first time to follow the whole life cycle of C. melanoneura throughout the year.


This paper examines the concept of open innovation within the context of corporate social responsibility. It demonstrates how the practice of open innovation unfolds in inter-organizational collaborations that involve the voluntary or charitable sector, outlining the findings of an explorative collective case study of eight voluntary dyadic partnerships between corporate and nonprofit organizations in the United Kingdom, which have resulted in innovation outcomes. Two generic approaches to open innovation were witnessed: firstly, a more exploratory approach to dyadic engagement activities that resulted in an emergent innovation process, and secondly, a focused and pre-determined search activity to exploit the resources of the nonprofit partner that demonstrated a more planned innovation process. Two distinct boundary-spanning roles were identified: in dyads exhibiting few organizational linkages, the role was associated with formal responsibilities from senior management to 'manage' innovation opportunities and outcomes. In dyads exhibiting high linkages, there was no such formality; the role was a 'conduit' to facilitate search and exploration to locate opportunities for innovation through idea exchange. Overall, this research demonstrates the value of an open innovation approach driven by the need to address societal and social issues (rather than those purely economic). Such practice broadens a firm's 'search' activities and delivers innovations in exchange for enhanced social legitimacy – acting innovation capital for future enterprising activities and market advantage.


Let M = S/Γ, Γ is a finite group which acts freely and isometrically on the (2n + 1)-sphere and therefore M is diffeomorphic to a compact space form. In this paper, we first investigate Katok's famous example about irreversible Finsler metrics on the spheres to study the topological structure of the contractible component of the free loop space on the compact space form M , then we apply the result to establish the resonance identity for homologically visible contractible minimal closed geodesics on every Finsler compact space form (M,F ) when there exist only finitely many distinct contractible minimal closed geodesics on (M,F ). As its applications, using this identity and the enhanced common index jump theorem for symplectic paths proved by Duan, Long and Wang in [13], we show that there exist at least 2n+ 2 distinct closed geodesics on every compact space form S/Γ with a bumpy irreversible Finsler metric F under some natural curvature condition, which is the optimal lower bound due to Katok's example.


Ge doped ZnO films were synthesized on silicon substrate via RF magnetron co-sputtering methods. The effects of annealing temperature on the optical and structural properties of the Ge doped ZnO films were investigated by means of photoluminescence spectra, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The ultra-violet emission should be related with the free-exciton recombination, and blue and yellow emissions should be attributed to the defect state caused by Ge. The varieties of annealing temperature affect greatly the optical properties. The high annealing temperature leads to the oxidation of Ge and the formation of Zn2GeO4, which could lead to the change of PL spectra.


After a century of critical neglect, poet and writer Amy Levy is gaining recognition as a literary figure of stature. This definitive biography accompanied by her letters, along with the recent publication of her selected writings, provides a critical appreciation of Levy's importance in her own time and in ours. As an educated Jewish woman with homoerotic desires, Levy felt the strain of combating the strictures of British society in the 1880s, the decade in which she built her career and moved in London's literary and bohemian circles. Unwilling to cut herself off from her Jewish background, she had the additional burden of attempting to bridge the gap between communities. In Amy Levy: Her Life and Letters Linda Hunt Beckman examines Levy's writings and other cultural documents for insight into her emotional and intellectual life. This groundbreaking study introduces us to a woman well-deserving of a place in literary and cultural history.


. This paper presents an optimization-based calibration process for tuning a digital formfinding algorithm used with knitted textile materials in architectural tension structures. 3D scanning and computational optimization are employed to accurately approximate a physical model in a digital workflow that can be used to establish model settings for future exploration within a knit geometric typology. Several aspects of the process are investigated, including different optimization algorithms and various approaches to data extraction. The goal is to determine the appropriate optimization method and data extraction, as well as automate the process of adjusting formfinding settings related to the length of the meshes associated with the knitted textile behavior. The calibration process comprises three steps: extract data from a 3D scanned model; determine the bounds of formfinding settings; and define optimization variables, constraints, and objectives to run the optimization process. Knitted textiles made of natural yarns are organic materials and when used at the industrial level can satisfy DSG 9 factors to promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation in building construction through developing sustainable architectural systems. The main contributions of this paper are calibrated digital models of knitted materials and a comparison of the most effective algorithms and model settings, which are a starting point to apply this process to a wider range of knit geometries. These models enhance the implementation and further development of novel architectural knitted systems.


We have investigated the evolution of the C-12/C-13 ratio along the AGB through the circumstellar isotopologue (CO)-C-12/(CO)-C-13 abundance ratio for a significant number of M-, S-, and C-type AGB stars. The isotopologue ratios are estimated through a detailed radiative transfer analysis of single-dish radio-line observations. The circumstellar (CO)-C-12/(CO)-C-13 ratio differs between the three spectral types; the median values are 13, 26, and 34 for the M-, S-type, and carbon AGB stars, respectively, consistent with what is expected from stellar evolutionary models assuming that the spectral types constitute an evolutionary sequence. The spread of the abundance ratio among carbon stars is much larger than for the other chemical types. We find no correlation between the isotopologue ratio and the mass-loss rate.


CAVE systems are nowadays one of the best Virtual Reality (VR) immersive devices available for rendering virtual environments. Unfortunately, such kind of hardware is extremely expensive, complex and cum-bersome, thus limited in its spread. Several cheaper solutions already exist, but they implement usually only a subset of features of a professional CAVE (like a reduced number of wall-displays, no stereographic at all or with a low-quality support, low brightness, etc.). In this paper we describe how we have built a low cost CAVE with four screens (three walls and a floor), stereographic rendering and user tracking by only using hardware commonly available on the market and free software, we show the different solutions and work-around we implemented to solve the problems we encountered and we conclude with a fair evaluation of our system by using two applications we developed with it.


Metaphors pervade discussions of critical issues and influence how people reason about these domains. For instance, when crime is a beast, people suggest enforcement-oriented approaches to crime-reduction (e.g., by augmenting the police force); when crime is a virus, on the other hand, people suggest systemic reforms for the affected community. In the current study, we find that extending metaphoric language into the descriptions of policy interventions bolsters the persuasive influence of metaphoric frames for an array of important issues. When crime is a beast, people are even more likely to endorse "attacking" the problem with harsh enforcement tactics; when crime is a virus people are even more likely to to endorse "treating" the problem through social reform.


Perturbative algebraic quantum field theory (pAQFT) is a mathematically rigorous framework that allows to construct models of quantum field theories on a general class of Lorentzian manifolds. Recently this idea has been applied also to perturbative quantum gravity, treated as an effective theory. The difficulty was to find the right notion of observables that would in an appropriate sense be diffeomorphism invariant. In this article I will outline a general framework that allows to quantize theories with local symmetries (this includes infinitesimal diffeomorphism transformations) with the use of the BV (Batalin-Vilkovisky) formalism. This approach has been successfully applied to effective quantum gravity in a recent paper by R. Brunetti, K. Fredenhagen and myself. In the same paper we also proved perturbative background independence of the quantized theory, which is going to be discussed in the present work as well.


The relaxed conformation of plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 (PAIr) is formed during inactivation of the matrix-degrading enzyme urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA). The presence of PAIr in tissues, therefore, indicates the in situ inhibition of uPA-mediated proteolysis. In addition, PAIr functions as a ligand for the clearance receptor low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP), thereby promoting internalization of receptor-bound uPA-PAIr complexes from the cell surface. The rapid internalization of receptor-bound, inactivated uPA has been suggested to be characteristic of invasive cell phenotypes. The aims of this study were to characterize the immunohistochemical localization of PAIr in human term gestational tissues (amnion, choriodecidua, and placenta) and to establish its co-expression with other components of the uPA cascade. The results obtained indicate that PAIr immunoreactivity was exclusively localized to amnion epithelial cells, with only minimal staining in the underlying chorion. PAIr immunoreactivity was not detectable in any of the trophoblastic tissues examined (villous and extravillous). The tissue-specific expression of PAIr immunoreactivity was not significantly altered in association with labor onset. uPA and PAI-2 staining was localized predominantly to amnion epithelial cells, underlying chorion, and trophoblast cells of villous and extravillous tissue. Amnion and trophoblasts of extravillous and chorionic tissue showed uPAR immunoreactivity, whereas staining in placenta was absent. Immunoreactive LRP was confined to trophoblasts of the chorion, and the villous and extravillous tissue. For the first time, localization of PAIr at the tissue level has been identified. The data obtained are consistent with the hypothesis that cells of invasive phenotype, although expressing all components of the uPA cascade, do not accumulate immunoreactive PAIr, because it is rapidly internalized from the cell surface. Conversely, cells of noninvasive phenotype will accumulate PAIr immunoreactivity only in the absence of LRP expression. We propose that the presence of PAIr and the absence of LRP at the cell surface are putative markers of noninvasive phenotypes.


Weight loss is a common problem in Parkinson's disease (PD), but the causative mechanisms behind this weight loss are unclear. We compared 26 PD patients with sex and age matched healthy controls. Examinations were repeated at baseline, after one and after two years. Body fat mass was measured by Dual X‐ray Absorptiometry (DXA). Seventy three per cent of the PD patients lost body weight. Loss of body fat mass constituted a considerable part of the loss of body weight. In the patients who lost weight, serum leptin levels were lower than in those who did not lose weight. The relationship between low body fat mass and low leptin levels seems to be relevant, at least for female PD patients. It is reasonable to believe that low leptin levels in these patients could be secondary to the decreased body fat mass. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society


Abstract Dysfunctional use of cybersex has often been conceptualized as a "behavioral addiction" sharing common traits with substance addiction. We describe the case of a treatment-seeking man, who displayed addictive use of pornography. The case is presented from two perspectives: (1) a symptom-based approach inspired by the addiction model of excessive sexual behaviors and (2) a process-based approach aimed to identify the psychological processes and risk factors that may foster the development of addiction-like symptoms. This article shows how case conceptualization according to a process-based approach is likely to result in psychological intervention that targets the specific processes and risk factors involved in addictive cybersex use.


The authors report an unusual case of cerebellar abscess in a 6-week-old infant without an antecedent of sepsis or congenital heart disease. The abscess was treated successfully by percutaneous punction-aspiration and further excision. Shunting procedure was not necessary.


Abstract Rubbed wings, analysed calls and a peculiar sound generator structure in males of a conocephaline katydid, Xiphelimum amplipennis, give insight into the making of broadband spectra. High shear forces are indicated by a robust forewing morphology. Intensity is high for frequencies in a 20–60 kHz ultrasonic band. Besides a typical katydid sound-radiating mirror and harp, this insect has a long costal series of semi-transparent specular sound radiators. These wing cells are loaded behind by an enlarged and partitioned subwing air space. Calls repeat steadily with five different time domain sound elements. Distinctive spectra are associated with two of these, giving stepwise frequency modulation that combines to create the exceptionally wide spectral breadth. Broadcast sound levels at 10 cm dorsal, right and left, are near 100 dB. Costal wing-cell sound radiation was explored by loading the costal "speculae" with wax. This produced almost no decrease in lateral sound levels, but did alter spectral content. Apparently, this insect's costal region both baffles and radiates. The species lives at high densities in cluttered vegetation and sound signal attenuation should code via spectral shape for distance ranging.


Many works on the temperature distribution of power apparatus have usually done by coupled magneto-thermal analysis. Such a method can not consider the internal gas or oil flow in the power apparatus such as gas insulated switchgear, GIS bus bar, and power transformer. Moreover it can not show the internal temperature distribution of the power apparatus exactly. This paper proposes a coupled magneto-thermal-flow analysis considering Navier-Stokes equations. The convection heat transfer coefficient is calculated analytically by applying Nusselt number for natural convection and is applied to the boundary condition of proposed method. Temperature distribution of the GIS bus bar model considering thermal flow is obtained by the proposed method and shows good agreement with the experimental data.


In Clostridium perfringens, toxins that cause histotoxic and gastrointestinal diseases have been identified on a family of large conjugative plasmids. The tcp transfer locus was initially identified on the prototype conjugative plasmid, pCW3. This locus has been shown to mediate conjugative plasmid transfer and studies on several of the Tcp proteins have identified their role in plasmid transfer. In general less is known about the mechanism of conjugative transfer in Gram positive bacteria, nonetheless some functional similarity between the protein families in the C. perfringens conjugation system and other Gram positive systems have been identified. To contribute to our understanding of the mechanism of conjugative transfer in C. perfringens this thesis examined the functional role of TcpM (formerly called IntP), TcpD, TcpE and TcpJ, all of which are encoded on the tcp transfer locus of pCW3 (Chapter 2 and 3), and identified components of the novel relaxosome of pCW3 (Chapter 3). To determine the role of the hypothetical proteins, TcpD, TcpE and TcpJ, independent homologous recombinant mutants were constructed. Conjugative mating studies with the pCW3∆tcpD and pCW3∆tcpE mutants and their complemented derivatives showed that TcpD and TcpE were essential for pCW3 transfer. The pCW3∆tcpJ mutant transferred at levels similar to wild-type, which showed TcpJ was not required for conjugative transfer. To further analyse the role of TcpD and TcpE, functional HA-tagged derivatives were constructed and shown to complement the respective mutants. Cell fractionation, western blot and immunofluorescence studies showed that TcpD and TcpE were localized to the cell envelope, primarily at the poles of C. perfringens cells, independently of proteins encoded on pCW3. These results provide evidence that the essential conjugation proteins, TcpD and TcpE, form part of the multi-protein transfer apparatus in C. perfringens donor cells. Although several components of the multi-protein transfer apparatus had been identified, nothing was known about the relaxosome complex that must be essential for C. perfringens plasmid transfer. Key components of this complex, the relaxase gene and the oriT site, had not been identified on pCW3. The first gene on the tcp locus, tcpM, was hypothesised to be the pCW3 relaxase due to its similarity to tyrosine recombinases, a family of DNA processing proteins. A tcpM insertion mutant was constructed and shown to have a significantly reduced level of plasmid transfer. Site-directed mutagenesis identified a tyrosine residue Y259 as the only conserved tyrosine recombinase catalytic residue involved in the in vivo activity of TcpM. The residue Y259 was also shown to be required for the ability of TcpM to relaxase plasmid DNA in an in vitro assay, which is consistent with the requirement for nucleophilic attack on the DNA substrate by a relaxase. A gene encoding a potential accessory protein, TcpK, of the pCW3 relaxosome was identified outside the tcp locus. Mutagenesis and complementation studies showed that TcpK was required for wild-type pCW3 transfer. Mobilization studies then were used to identify the pCW3 oriT site. A 150 bp fragment located within the intergenic region between tcpK and tcpM increased mobilization of a shuttle vector. Gel mobility shift studies showed that TcpM bound to the oriT site. The addition of TcpK resulted in the formation of a supershift, providing evidence that TcpK could bind to the TcpM-oriT complex. In conclusion, this thesis has completed the genetic analysis the tcp transfer locus on pCW3, identified a gene outside of the currently defined tcp locus as being involved in conjugative transfer and identified the DNA substrate, the pCW3 oriT site. Overall these results have lead to the identification of the novel pCW3 relaxosome. These findings have furthered our understanding of the mechanism of C. perfringens plasmid transfer and have contributed to the advancement of knowledge of Gram positive conjugation systems.


Biological drugs revolutionized the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. However, not all clinically eligible patients have access to biologicals due to significant costs and budget impact. Biosimilars are highly comparable to their originator product in terms of clinical efficacy and safety. Biosimilars are priced 15-75% lower than their reference product, which makes them a less costly alternative and is expected to offer better patients access to biologicals. The total projected cost savings are significant. If the achieved budget savings were used to cover more biological therapy, several additional IBD patients could be treated. Currently, the main barriers to the increasing uptake of biosimilars are the few incentives of the key stakeholders, while physicians' and patients' skepticism towards biosimilars seems to be changing. Over the coming years, biosimilars are expected to gain a growing importance in the treatment of IBD, contributing to a better access to treatment, improving population-level health gain and sustainability of health systems. This review summarizes the results of the literature on the economic considerations of biosimilars in IBD and the role of biosimilar infliximab in the treatment of IBD.


BACKGROUND Valid clinical guidelines can be effective in improving patient care. Genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the commonest curable sexually transmitted disease (STD) in England and Wales and is an important cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), tubal infertility and ectopic pregnancy. No published guidelines exist on managing genital chlamydial infection in British general practice. OBJECTIVE We aimed to develop valid guidelines for the management of genital chlamydial infection for use in British general practice. METHODS A district-wide postal questionnaire survey was used to document current clinical practice. A critical review of the evidence concerning the management of genital chlamydial infection as it relates to British general practice was performed. The information gained from the critical review and survey was used to develop evidence-based guidelines within a multidisciplinary guideline recommendation group. RESULTS The guidelines covered the diagnosis, investigation, drug treatment and referral of adult male and female patients with genital chlamydial infection in general practice. CONCLUSION Valid guidelines for the management of genital chlamydial infection have been developed for use in British general practice. Appropriate dissemination and implementation of the guidelines should lead to earlier detection and treatment of men and women with chlamydial infection and thereby reduce the incidence of PID, tubal infertility and ectopic pregnancy in women.


In February 2008, British Telecommunications (BT) introduced automatically renewing, or 'rollover', contracts into the UK market for fixed-voice telephone service. These contracts included a 12-month Minimum Contract Period (MCP) with associated Early Termination Charges (ETCs). Unless customers opted out, at the end of the 12 months they would automatically be rolled over into a new MCP and face new ETCs if they later wished to leave BT. Using a unique, disaggregate, customer billing dataset, we measure the impact of rollover contracts on BT customers' decision to switch to another provider. We find that, controlling for the effects of tenure, broadband purchase, price discounts, and self-selection, rollover households switch after their first MCP 34.8% (54.8%) less than comparable customers on standard plans (fixed-term contracts). These imply rollover contracts induce switching costs on the order of 33.0% of the monthly price of the average BT fixed-voice telephone service. This raises significant concerns about the competitive effects of such contracts in media and telecommunications markets.


Background Neurology is widely considered one of the most challenging subjects in the undergraduate medical curriculum, so any improvement in training large numbers of medical students simultaneously in a standardised way would be welcomed. E-learning is currently a prominent area of research and is thought to hold potential for future education as it enables large groups of students to be taught at a time and place convenient to them. Methods An e-module on epilepsy was created to meet the specified learning outcomes for Neurology in one UK medical school, and evaluated subjectively by groups of medical students in years 3, 4 and 5. Knowledge test scores before and after using the module were also recorded. Results Students perceived a significant improvement in their knowledge after using the module, and this was confirmed by a statistically significant improvement in knowledge test scores. The results of the study also supported findings in the literature of the main benefits of e-learning, and how this should be used. Conclusion This study has shown that e-modules can be successfully used to increase both objective and subjective knowledge of epilepsy in students at one UK medical school. However there is still opportunity for further research to prove the usefulness of e-modules for long-term information retention, and teaching different subjects and training grades.


A real-time broadband radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzer is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to rapidly measure the RF spectrum of broadband optical signal. Cross phase modulation in the highly-nonlinear fiber is used to convert the RF spectrum carried by the pump to the optical spectrum of the probe signal, then the optical spectrum is real-time analyzed with the parametric spectro-temporal analyzer (PASTA) technology. The system performances are investigated in detail, including bandwidth, resolution, frame rate, and dynamic range. It achieves large RF bandwidth of over 800 GHz, as well as 91-MHz frame rate without sacrificing the resolution. It is noted that 91-MHz frame rate is several orders of magnitude improvement over those previous reported all-optical RF spectrum analyzers. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, this real-time broadband RF spectrum analyzer successfully characterizes the ultra-short pulse trains with repetition rate of 160GHz, which is far beyond capability of the conventional electrical spectrum analyzer. It presents a new way to implement rapid and broadband RF spectrum measurement, and would be of great interests for some ultrafast scenarios, where the real-time RF spectrum analysis can be applied.


Thermophilic (55�C) anaerobic enrichment cultures were incubated with [14C-lignin]lignocellulose, [14C-polysaccharide]lignocellulose, and kraft [14C]lignin prepared from slash pine, Pinus elliottii, and 14C-labeled preparations of synthetic lignin and purified cellulose. Significant but low percentages (2 to 4%) of synthetic and natural pine lignin were recovered as labeled methane and carbon dioxide during 60-day incubations, whereas much greater percentages (13 to 23%) of kraft lignin were recovered as gaseous end products. Percentages of label recovered from lignin-labeled substrates as dissolved degradation products were approximately equal to percentages recovered as gaseous end products. High-pressure liquid chromatographic analyses of CuO oxidation products of sound and degraded pine lignin indicated that no substantial chemical modifications of the remaining lignin polymer, such as demethoxylation and dearomatization, occurred during biodegradation. The polysaccharide components of pine lignocellulose and purified cellulose were relatively rapidly mineralized to methane and carbon dioxide; 31 to 37% of the pine polysaccharides and 56 to 63% of the purified cellulose were recovered as labeled gaseous end products. An additional 10 to 20% of the polysaccharide substrates was recovered as dissolved degradation products. Overall, these results indicate that elevated temperatures can greatly enhance rates of anaerobic degradation of lignin and lignified substrates to methane and low-molecular-weight aromatic compounds.


Background and Goal Melatonin may inhibit reactive oxygen species-related pathogenesis in the alimentary tract by neutralizing free radicals. In the present study we assessed the potential protective action of melatonin in ulcerlike dyspepsia. Study Sixty patients aged 19 to 39 years with the diagnosis of functional dyspepsia according to the Rome Criteria II and no Helicobacter pylori infection were involved in the study. Melatonin, at a dose of 5 mg (n=30), or placebo (n=30) were taken in the evening for a period of 12 weeks. At this time, patients were on an equivalent diet and were only to take an alkaline drug in case of the abdominal pain. Results After 12 weeks, the dyspeptic symptoms completely subsided in 17 patients in the melatonin-treatment group (56.6%). In other 9 individuals (30.0%) a partial improvement in health was achieved, especially in the frequency and intensity of nocturnal pain. After placebo, the majority of patients (93.3%) did not experience any improvement in symptoms. Multivariate analysis indicated that melatonin (odds ratio 95.86, 95% confidence interval 3.72-2469.37, P<0.01) correlated independently with significantly improved patients health. H. pylori past infection decreased positive effect of melatonin in ulcerlike dyspepsia. Conclusions Melatonin can be considered as an auxiliary drug in the treatment of ulcerlike dyspepsia.


This study is an attempt at combining James Phelan's rhetorical approach to narrative, particularly his theory of narrative progression, and Nie Zhenzhao's theory of the Sphinx factor. It takes as its subject of study the appellations of the protagonist in 《陆犯焉识》(Prisoner Lu Yanshi, 2011) by Yan Geling, a major overseas Chinese female writer. It delineates how the narrative progression of the novel is governed by the dynamics of Lu Yanshi's varied appellations which are bound with varied ethical identities and ethical duties. It argues that the varied appellations serve as the instabilities of the narrative. At the story level, the protagonist transforms from a proud saint to a humble human being, as a result of the discovery of his animal factor which comes to the surface under extreme circumstances. At the level of discourse, circuitous narration and double focalizations create tensions between the protagonist's understanding of and readers' responses to the ethical implications of the appellations, thus helping the readers to see the ethical message conveyed by the novel – a complete human consists of both the human factor and the animal factor; he is defective when solely controlled by either of them.


In this paper we analyze whether the Softwood Lumber Agreement between US and Canada imposed significant economic costs on the users of Lumber in the US. To ascertain this impact we use an event study. Our event study analyzes variations in the stock prices of lumber using firms listed at the major stock markets in the US. We find that events leading to the Softwood Lumber Agreement had significant negative impacts on the stock prices of industries using softwood lumber. The average reduction of stock prices for our sample of firms was approximately 5.42% over all the events considered.


The purpose of this guide is to provide study abroad students with one central point for information pertaining to Ecuador and the Galapagos


It is argued that compared with large countries, small countries rely more on trade and therefore are more likely to adopt liberal trading policies. The present paper extends this idea beyond the conventional trade openness measures by analyzing the relationship between country size and the number of documents required to export and import, a measure of trade facilitation. Three important results follow. First, trade facilitation does improve as country size becomes smaller; that is, small countries perform better than large countries in terms of trade facilitation. Second, the relationship between country size and trade facilitation is nonlinear, much stronger for the relatively small than the large countries. Third, contrary to what existing studies might suggest, the relationship between country size and trade facilitation does not appear to be driven by the fact that small countries trade more as a proportion of their gross domestic product than the large countries.


Background Experimental studies demonstrate that high aortic pressure in late systole relative to early systole causes greater myocardial remodeling and dysfunction, for any given absolute peak systolic pressure. Methods and Results We tested the hypothesis that late systolic hypertension, defined as the ratio of late (last one third of systole) to early (first two thirds of systole) pressure–time integrals (PTI) of the aortic pressure waveform, independently predicts incident heart failure (HF) in the general population. Aortic pressure waveforms were derived from a generalized transfer function applied to the radial pressure waveform recorded noninvasively from 6124 adults. The late/early systolic PTI ratio (L/ESPTI) was assessed as a predictor of incident HF during median 8.5 years of follow‐up. The L/ESPTI was predictive of incident HF (hazard ratio per 1% increase=1.22; 95% CI=1.15 to 1.29; P<0.0001) even after adjustment for established risk factors for HF (HR=1.23; 95% CI=1.14 to 1.32: P<0.0001). In a multivariate model that included brachial systolic and diastolic blood pressure and other standard risk factors of HF, L/ESPTI was the modifiable factor associated with the greatest improvements in model performance. A high L/ESPTI (>58.38%) was more predictive of HF than the presence of hypertension. After adjustment for each other and various predictors of HF, the HR associated with hypertension was 1.39 (95% CI=0.86 to 2.23; P=0.18), whereas the HR associated with a high L/E was 2.31 (95% CI=1.52 to 3.49; P<0.0001). Conclusions Independently of the absolute level of peak pressure, late systolic hypertension is strongly associated with incident HF in the general population.


DTU Orbit (08/11/2019) Essential Climate Variables for the Ice Sheets from Space and Airborne measurements The Greenland Ice Sheet is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.Over the past decade, it has undergone substantial changes in e.g. mass balance,surface velocity, and ice thickness. The latter is reflected by surfaceelevation changes, which are detectable with altimetry. Therefore, this studyexploits the advantages of radar and laser altimetry to analyze surface elevationchanges and build a Digital Elevation Model of the ice sheet. Selected advantagesare radar data's continuity in time and laser data's higher horizontal andvertical accuracy. Therefore, ESA Envisat and CryoSat-2 radar altimetry dataare used in conjunction with laser data from NASA's ICESat and airborneATM and LVIS instruments, and from ESA's airborne CryoVEx campaign.The study is part of the ESA Ice Sheets CCI project. With the release ofREAPER data, one goal is to use the more than two decades of ESA radaraltimetry to develop a long-term surface elevation change product from 1992 topresent. The optimal method is found by comparing ten different solutions submittedby the scientific community across the choice of altimeter and method: A combination of repeat-tracks and cross-overs. The former produces estimatesalong repeat ground-tracks while the latter exploits intersecting groundtracks.The combination increases the spatial data coverage and reduces topographicerrors. Two results based on Envisat data are presented here: The first repeat track solution (2002 – 2010) of the Greenland Ice Sheet and a merged repeat track and cross-over result from 2006 – 2010.A 2 × 2 km Digital Elevation Model is built from combined radar and laserdata. It is applicable for elevation change detection and correction of topographicerrors. Current models have limitations as they are based on shortobservation periods from one sensor, limiting the spatial data coverage, ormultiple years of data from various sensors, inheriting errors from intermediateelevation changes. The model here consists of Envisat and CryoSat-2 datafrom 2010 merged with ICESat, ATM, and LVIS data. Vertical radar errors are corrected with laser data. Thus, the Digital Elevation Model is referencedto a specific epoch in time and exploits the high spatial coverage of input data. An important finding in the study is disagreeing relocations of radar data dependingon the method. Validation shows the preferred method to be the Pointof Closest Approach with an a-priori Digital Elevation Model to extract thesurface topography. The preferred spatial resolution of the model is 2 × 2 kmfor Envisat and CryoSat-2 LRM data near Jakobshavn Isbræ, i.e. over regionswith both steep and smooth topography.


Until the 1970s, the few interactions between Sderot and the
neighboring kibbutzim in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council revolved
around the kibbutzim's economic and political dominance. As political
resistance to this control increased, kibbutz members became worried
about the consequences of segregation and economic exploitation and
wished to alter these problematic relations. Thus, the Sderot–Sha'ar HaNegev
partnership program, which aimed to create a shift in the relational
structure, was established. This article analyzes the power dynamics
between Sderot residents and the kibbutzim during the program's operation.
The partnership, although expected to reduce segregation and
change the power relations between the communities, did not bring about
a transformation from paternalism to partnership, but rather evolved
from dominance to hegemony. Although the hierarchical relations are still
in place, the interaction between spatial, class, and identity elements has
created new ways in which the relationship operates up to the present day.


Urine samples from 19 nursing home patients with long-term urinary catheters were cultured every 3 months for 18 months. Providencia stuartii, present in 74% of the elderly and in 59% of urine specimens, was the most frequently isolated bacteria. The persistence of P. stuartii was significantly higher among females than among males. In order to study the epidemiology of bacteriuria in this nursing home, bacteria were characterized by biochemical tests, antibiotic susceptibility pattern, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern indicated that each patient had two to three different strains of P. stuartii during the 18 months of follow-up. In contrast, the RFLP analysis revealed that a specific strain had persisted in the urinary tract of the patient during the entire follow-up period. According to the biochemical profile, 74% of the patients had the same bacteria in urine cultures, pointing to a common source of transmission. RFLP analysis, however, demonstrated different patterns of RFLP, suggesting concomitant multiple sources of infection.


This paper presents a sequence of tests for experimental evaluation of potential substitutes for pulmonary surfactant. Differential thermal analysis and the pulsating bubble technique were applied to identify an emulsified mixture of synthetic lipids with properties similar to those of natural surfactant. Instilled into the airways of premature newborn rabbits, this emulsion improved pulmonary pressure-volume characteristics and enhanced lung-thorax compliance during artificial ventilation. However, the in vivo effect was inferior to that of natural surfactant, especially as the emulsion failed to prevent the development of bronchiolar epithelial lesions.


Human activity is deeply funded on the availability of natural resources. They are mostly provided for free by the environment and often neglected by traditional accounting systems since it is difficult to express their contribution or their physical weight in monetary unit, more familiar to most people. Inventorying all the flows of energy and matter that feed a territorial system and giving them a non-market value plays an important role in the field of natural resources management, sustainability policies and territorial planning. A physical based environmental accounting method is implemented in order to evaluate all the resources used within the area on a common basis, beyond the economic scheme, which allows a deeper knowledge of the system. The tool is emergy evaluation, a thermodynamics-based approach, introduced by Howard T. Odum during the 1980s. The use of emergy enables one to calculate some sustainability indicators (such as Environmental Loading Ratio, Emergy per Person, Empower Density, Emergy Investment Ratio), and is able to give a systemic and holistic picture of the system from an environmental point of view. The paper presents a sustainability assessment at regional level by monitoring the use of resources and the results of the analysis could be used to design different development models and scenarios with several implications for the administrative activity. The results orient environmental management solutions for territorial planning and sustainable policies.


Intraoperative fine needle aspiration (IFNA) of masses of the pancreas and extrahepatic biliary system provides a method of rapid tissue diagnosis with a much lower complication rate than either wedge or large bore needle biopsies. Few series include IFNA of extrahepatic biliary system masses in their analyses. We retrospectively evaluated all IFNA of pancreatic, extrahepatic biliary and ampullary masses at the University of Virginia from March 1981 to December 1991 to assess the diagnostic accuracy of this procedure. Ninety-nine IFNA were performed--75 of the pancreas, 17 of the extrahepatic biliary system and seven of the ampulla. All aspirations were performed with direct visualization or palpation of the tumor, or both, using several passes with a 22 gauge needle. A diagnostic "positive" or "negative" reading was rendered in 90 of 99 IFNA. Carcinoma was confirmed by positive tissue diagnosis or clinical course consistent with cancer. Benign disease was confirmed by negative pathologic factors from a resected specimen or confirmatory clinical course of at least 18 months. Diagnosis was confirmed by these criteria in 82 patients. Thirty-four of 43 patients with confirmed carcinoma of the pancreas had positive cytologic factors by IFNA. Three pancreas IFNA were deemed as "suspicious" and six as "unsatisfactory." Two patients with "suspicious" findings had pathologically confirmed well-differentiated carcinoma. Carcinoma of the ampulla and extrahepatic biliary tract was detected by IFNA in 17 of 18 confirmed patients. The overall sensitivity of positive or negative IFNA in this series in 90 percent, with 100 percent specificity and 92 percent accuracy. IFNA has a positive predictive value of 100 percent and negative predictive value of 74 percent. We conclude that IFNA is a highly accurate diagnostic procedure and represents the preferred technique of obtaining an intraoperative tissue diagnosis in masses of the pancreas, extrahepatic biliary tract and ampulla. Positive IFNA may definitively guide surgical decision-making; however, we caution that negative IFNA cannot be relied on definitively to exclude the diagnosis of carcinoma.


In order to improve resisting performance of heat, wear and erosion as well as anti-thermal fatigue, surface build-up welding material of brake-disc for drilling rig with better performance is developed, and its wear mechanism is investigated based on friction and wear experiment at variable temperature. Morphology, constituents and phase structure of wear surface of brake disc are analyzed by employing SEM, EDAX and XRD when thermal equilibrium temperature is at 150°C and 300°C, and its tribological behaviour and wear mechanism of surface build-up welding materials are revealed. In initial stage of wear, friction temperature is lower and hard particles like AL2O3, SiO2, SiC, TiO in brake block plough the surface of brake-disc, oxide layer forms on friction surface with rise of friction temperature and its cracking and regenerating become a major way of wear, meanwhile hard grains in brake block slough off due to frequent ploughing and three-body abrasive wear occurs, and spalling of surface film is mainly caused by fatigue. In stage of high temperature wear, oxidization wear and plastic deformation of brake-disc increase greatly, brake-block starts to soften, severe adhesive wear occurs and spalling of surface film is mainly caused by adhesive tearing. Wear mechanism of brake-disc is comprehensive effects of abrasive, oxidizing and adhesive wear.


The fate of ochratoxin A and citrinin during malting and brewing processes was studied by the use of naturally contaminated lots of barley, as well as by the addition of crystalline toxins to the mash. Complete degradation was observed for ochratoxin A from moderately contaminated barley lots and for citrinin added to mash. The use of highly contaminated barley resulted in transmission of ochratoxin A into the beer, but only 2 to 7% of the initial content was detected, corresponding to levels of 6 to 20 μg of ochratoxin A per liter of beer. Barley lots with this high ochratoxin contamination (1,000 to 5,000 μg/kg) will be easily detected and, therefore, because of pronounced deterioration, should be rejected during inspection upon admittance to the breweries.


Ossifying fibroma (osteofibrous dysplasia) is a rare fibro-osseous lesion made up of fibrous tissue with woven bone formation. It is most commonly found in the tibia and fibula of children ten years of age or younger. The most important differential diagnosis is monostotic fibrous dysplasia, which is radiologically similar but without woven bone rimmed by active osteoblasts like ossifying fibroma on histological examination. No epitheloid cells are found as in adamantinoma. We report the case of a 45-year-old woman who had a 12-month history of pain and slight swelling. Radiographs showed a multilocular radiolucent lesion with sclerotic rim in the proximal tibia. The lesion was curetted and the defect was packed with bone graft and acrylic cement. Microscopic examination showed active osteoblasts rimming the irregulary woven bone. One-year follow-up showed good functional recovery without recurrence of the lesion.


A new design for halloysite nanotube materials was obtained by grafting chemically modified cyclodextrin units onto the nanotube surface. In particular, grafted cyclodextrins were decorated with thiosaccharide pendants, in order to mimic the well-known binding of sugars to proteins and the glyco-cluster effect occurring during cellular recognition events. The obtained materials were characterized by using a combination of varied techniques (FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, turbidimetry), and their potential drug-delivery abilities were tested by studying their interactions with the common naturally occurring anticancer agent curcumin. A suitable model describing the interaction between our materials and curcumin is proposed.


Panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PD/A) is common and can be treated effectively with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication or cognitive–behaviour therapy (CBT). However, the lack of access to CBT services has motivated the development of self-help approaches requiring less therapist contact. A novel treatment modality in this field, showing efficacy in several randomized trials but until now not evaluated within the context of regular psychiatric care, is Internet-based treatment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Internet-based CBT for patients in a psychiatric setting. Twenty consecutively referred patients with PD were included in the study. A structured clinical interview with a psychiatrist was conducted for inclusion, as well as at post-treatment and at the 6-month follow-up. The treatment consisted of a 10-week CBT-based self-help programme, including minimal therapist support by e-mail. At post-treatment, 94% of patients no longer met DSM-IV criteria for PD (82% at 6-month follow-up). The within-group effect sizes (for the main outcome PDSS; Panic Disorder Severity Scale) were Cohen's d=2.5 (pre- to post-treatment) and 2.8 (pre-treatment to follow-up), respectively. The proportion of responders on the PDSS was 75% at post-treatment and 70% at 6-month follow-up. The results supports earlier efficacy data on Internet-based CBT for PD and indicates that it is effective also within a regular psychiatric setting. However, a larger randomized controlled trial should be conducted, directly comparing Internet-based CBT with traditionally administered CBT within such a setting.


Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are randomly sequenced cDNA clones. Currently, nearly 3 million human and 2 million mouse ESTs provide valuable resources that enable researchers to investigate the products of gene expression. The EST databases have proven to be useful tools for detecting homologous genes, for exon mapping, revealing differential splicing, etc. With the increasing availability of large amounts of poorly characterised eukaryotic (notably human) genomic sequence, ESTs have now become a vital tool for gene identification, sometimes yielding the only unambiguous evidence for the existence of a gene expression product. However, BLAST-based Web servers available to the general user have not kept pace with these developments and do not provide appropriate tools for querying EST databases with large highly spliced genes, often spanning 50 000-100 000 bases or more. Here we describe Gene2EST (http://woody.embl-heidelberg.de/gene2est/), a server that brings together a set of tools enabling efficient retrieval of ESTs matching large DNA queries and their subsequent analysis. RepeatMasker is used to mask dispersed repetitive sequences (such as Alu elements) in the query, BLAST2 for searching EST databases and Artemis for graphical display of the findings. Gene2EST combines these components into a Web resource targeted at the researcher who wishes to study one or a few genes to a high level of detail.


The research was classroom action research (CAR). The purpose was to improved student's activeness and mastery of chemistry learning which concerned to colloid systems by using cooperative learning model type TGT (team games tournaments) at the XII grade of engineering major (TKJ) in SMK YAPIM Siak Hulu, district of Kampar, RIAU. Based on the result of research which accomplished into two cycles, I cycle and II cycle by applying cooperative learning model, particularly TGT (team games tournaments) type during chemistry teaching learning process could improve student's activeness and score completeness of chemist learning the average presentation of students activity in I cycle was 54,59% (enough), meanwhile in II cycle was 63,52% (enough). The improvement of students learning activity presentation was followed by the improvement of students accomplishment in chemist learning at I cycle as 77,42% (STDS) and II cycle as 87,10% (STDS.)


The present study develops a classification model to correlate the binding pockets of 70 HIV-1 protease crystal structures in terms of their structural descriptors to their complexed HIV-1 protease inhibitors. The Random Forest classification model is used to reduce the chemical descriptor space from 456 to the 12 most relevant descriptors based on the Gini importance measure. The selected 12 descriptors are then used to develop classification models using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and logistic regression (LR). The top eight descriptors were found to produce the best LDA model with an overall error of 30% and a leave-one-out cross validation error of 44.29%, while the top five descriptors were found to produce the best LR model with an overall error of 28.57% and a leave-one-out cross validation error of 41.43%. Hierarchical clustering was performed on the top five and eight descriptors to verify whether the descriptor selection of Random Forest can group together the binding pockets based on their complexed ligands. The selected descriptors would play a crucial role in understanding the HIV-1 protease binding pocket structure in terms of its chemical descriptors.


A matched sample of men and women in the US. Navy (N = 1,068) were examined in a study of shipboard medical-care use. The instrument used in this study is theoretically based on the Health Beliefs Model (HBM). Theoretically, the HBM attempts to explain health-seeking behavior by describing the antecedent conditions within the individual. Preliminary chi-square results indicate statistically significant gender differences in health-care use. Separate discriminant function analyses were employed for men and women. Results for each separate discriminant function analysis yielded a single statistically significant function for female crewmembers only. Univariate F-ratio results between female medical users and nonusers show that users have significantly higher ratings of health value, health comparison, and "reason" barriers (e.g., "I already see the doctor a lot"). Male users and nonusers differ in that users have significantly higher ratings of medical-care satisfaction, whereas nonusers have significantly ...


Political trust is an important predictor of compliance with government policies, especially in the face of natural disasters or public health emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, multiple studies related political trust to increased compliance with mobility restrictions. Yet these findings come mostly from high-income countries where political trust and wealth correlate positively. In Latin America, both variables correlate negatively, allowing for better testing of competing explanations. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that in Latin America wealth and, counterintuitively, low politi- cal trust predict increased compliance. To understand mechanisms, we decompose political trust and wealth into underlying predictors (social protection, corruption


Demanding Taxation, disciplining, and even at times requiring the sacrifice of life, the State is undoubtable one of the most influential and important structures within a subject's existence. Nonetheless, despite these great demands, very few subjects actually choose or construct the State they inhabit. On the contrary subjects rather find themselves born into these great structures which transcend their existence. Consequently understanding how subjects come to learn about, and relate to, these great structures they are thrown into is vital for both an understanding of politics and the human condition generally. In this thesis I will explore an alternative approach to investigating the subject and State relationship: The 'Subjective approach'. Inspired by the thought of Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, the aim of this approach will be to explore the encounters that the subject has with the State, what perception of the State is given to subjects in these encounters, and how the relationship between subject and State grows out of such encounters. The aim of this thesis is therefore to provide prolegomena to such an approach. I shall aim to outline why such an approach should be considered for investigating subject and State relations, and explore how one may begin articulating such an approach.


Reports of key information systems issues have been published over the last two decades in many journals. Leading IS journals (e.g., MIS Quarterly, Information & Management, among others) have published key IS management issue reports every three or four years over the last 15 years, and will probably continue to provide such reports in the future. Although these reports claim to provide decisional guidance to practitioners, researchers, consultants, etc., the authors in their experience have noted concerns about their usefulness. While not questioning the validity of the methods and analysis conducted in these studies, we address two important questions in this article: the manner of reporting of the key issue results (which might be misleading), and the relevance of the results (are they providing what they intended to?). We hope that our discussion will provide new perspectives in making resource allocation decisions to both readers and authors of key issue articles.


This paper describes an experimental evaluation of small (h</spl lambda//100) wire transmitting antennas for amateur radio applications at 136 kHz and 73 kHz. Efficiencies between 0.0033% and 0.13% are obtained, whilst the radiation pattern is found to be that of a short monopole. Causes of low efficiency, and discrepancy between measured and calculated field strengths are discussed.


In this paper we share our experience and describe the methodologies that we have used in designing and recording large speech databases for applications requiring speech synthesis. Given the growing demand for customized and domain specific voices for use in corpus based synthesis systems, we believe that good practices should be established for the creation of these databases which are a key factor in the quality of the resulting speech synthesizer. We will focus on the designing of the recording prompts, on the speaker selection procedure, on the recording setup and on the quality control of the resulting database. One of the major challenges was to assure the uniformity of the recordings during the 20 two-hour recording sessions that each speaker had to perform, to produce a total of 13 hours of recorded speech for each of the four speakers. This work was conducted in the scope of the Tecnovoz project that brought together 4 speech research centers and 9 companies with the goal of integrating speech technologies in a wide range of applications.


The examination of patients with spinal trauma by computed tomography offers a direct view into the spinal canal. A stenosis of the spinal canal by fragments of a fracture or haematoma is recognized easily; myelography has become redundant. For the injured patient computed tomography is connected with only a minimal risk.


Investment of information technology (IT) in the government sector in Indonesia continues to increase every year. However, this increase has not been followed by good governance due to the lack of attention to good IT management. Measurement of IT governance is therefore required as a basis for the continuous improvement of the IT services to government agencies. This study is aimed at producing an application to measure the maturity level of IT governance in government institutions, thus facilitating the process of improvement of IT services. The application developed is based on COBIT 4.1 framework and the design used is Unified Modeling Language. Through stages of information systems development, this research results in an applications for measuring the maturity level of IT governance that can be used by government agencies in assessing existing IT governance


Bond Team have a new recruit. She's cute (Eddie is already starry-eyed), she's clever (Lori and Ben are well impressed) and she's hard as nails (as Eddie will soon find out!). But she's not Jennifer. Which probably explains why Jake doesn't like her. Then again, his feelings might stem from the fact that agents started to go missing about the same time as their new team-mate arrived. And for some reason equipment keeps going dangerously wrong when Bex is around. Could it be that Bond Team are harbouring a double agent...? Spy High continues with: 5: THE SOUL STEALER (Nov '03); 6: THE ANNIHILATION AGENDA (Jan '04) Visit www.thedeverauxcollege.co.uk and www.atombooks.co.uk for more details.


Can a government reduce income inequality by changing the composition of public spending while keeping the total level of expenditure fixed? Using newly assembled data on spending composition for 83 countries across all income groups, this paper shows that reallocating spending toward social protection and infrastructure is associated with reduced income inequality, particularly when it is financed through cuts in defense spending. However, the political and security situation matters. The analysis does not find evidence that lowering defense spending to finance infrastructure and social outlays improves income distribution in countries with weak institutions and at higher risk of conflict. Reallocating social protection and infrastructure spending towards other types of spending tends to increase income inequality. Accounting for the long-term impact of health spending, and particularly education spending, helps to better capture the equalizing effects of these expenditures. The paper includes a discussion of the implications of the findings for Indonesia, a major emerging market where income inequality is at the center of policy issues.


Sociality involves a constant trade-off between fitness benefits and costs of living in groups, and this trade-off can be influenced by the social and ecological environment in which individuals live. In this PhD I explored socioecological factors underlying the social and spatial population structure and dynamics of a large tropical herbivore with a highly fission-fusion social system, the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). Using a dataset of more than 3,000 uniquely identified individuals collected over a period of 8 years in the coupled human-natural Tarangire Ecosystem of northern Tanzania, I (1) investigated natural and anthropogenic factors as mechanisms of giraffe grouping dynamics, social structure, space use, and vital rates; (2) quantified fitness consequences of social behaviours of adult female giraffes in relation to the influence of their physical environment; and (3) compared social versus spatial dispersal of subadult female and male giraffes. I used capture-mark-recapture techniques to estimate survival rates while accounting for imperfect detection, and social network analysis to derive network- and individual-level social metrics and to delineate discrete communities of socially associated adult female giraffes within a larger contiguous metapopulation. Natural and anthropogenic factors included vegetation types and preferred plant forage species, natural predation, and distance to traditional (bomas) and modern human settlements (towns). I found that grouping patterns of giraffes were influenced by food availability, predation risk, and presence of humans, with particular requirements for mothers with calves (chapter 1). I parsed the metapopulation into 14 distinct, modular yet overlapping communities of socially associated adult female giraffes, with 11 communities large enough to test hypotheses explaining variation in social structure (chapter 2). Adult females in communities closer to bomas had weaker relationship strengths among all members of the community and more exclusive relationships with fewer other females, suggesting that the presence of humans disrupted their social structure. In an examination of social versus ecological drivers of variation in reproduction and survival among 10 of the communities, I showed demographic rates were correlated with vegetation and proximity to humans, as communities with more dense bushlands had lower calf survival while those closer to human settlements had higher reproductive rates (chapter 3). Adult female survival did not differ among communities (chapter 3), but more gregarious females (being in larger groups) and females with higher betweenness (associated with more groups) had higher survival (chapter 4). Survival of adult females is improved by being well-integrated into their larger social community through having weaker bonds with many others rather than by forming stronger and highly stable bonds with just a few individuals. This suggests that the disruption of social structure close to bomas as evidenced in chapter 2 could have demographic consequences, although proximity to bomas did not influence adult female survival as much as their level of sociability (chapter 4). In chapter 5, I investigated patterns of natal dispersal, and found that while most young males dispersed into new social communities far from where they were first detected as calves, many shifted into new communities that were close to their natal areas. In contrast, few young females dispersed, but those that did disperse rarely shifted into a new social community. Instead females moved spatially while remaining within their natal community, further demonstrating the importance of maintaining social ties, from calf to adulthood, across their community of associates. Human presence influenced space use of adults, as adult females living closer to densely populated towns had significantly larger home ranges, but no such relationship was evident with bomas, indicating a difference in anthropogenic impact on movements of giraffes between traditional versus modern human lifestyles (chapter 6). My research indicates that social associations among individuals in addition to ecological conditions are likely to be important for population persistence, and should be considered when developing and implementing conservation measures for giraffes such as land-use plans and translocations.


Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a central constituent of surface waters which control its characteristic color and chemistry. While the sources and controls of headwater stream DOC can be mechanistically linked to the dominant landscape types being drained, much remains unknown about the downstream controls at larger spatial scales. As DOC is transported from the headwaters to catchment outlets, the fate of stream DOC is largely dependent on the interaction of varying catchment processes. In this study, we investigated the main mechanisms regulating stream DOC in a mesoscale catchment. A landscape‐mixing model was used to test the role of landscapes in determining stream concentrations. The quantity of DOC lost to in‐stream processes was calculated using bacterial respiration and photooxidation rates. We investigated whether there was a change in water pathways using a mass balance model and comparison of hydrology between a headwater catchment and the entire catchment. A Monte Carlo approach was used to test robustness of the model assumptions and results to uncertainty in the process parameterizations. The results indicated that during high‐ and intermediate‐flow conditions, DOC concentrations were regulated by the contributing upstream landscape types. During base flow, the connectivity between the mesoscale river and the upstream landscape reduced resulting in large residuals in the landscape model which could not be explained by the in‐stream processes. Both the mass balance model and a specific runoff comparison between upstream/downstream sites independently indicated large input of deep groundwater during base flow. Deep groundwater was important for diluting stream DOC concentrations during base flow.


Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Vpu protein promotes both extracellular release of viral particles and degradation of CD4 in the endoplasmic reticulum. The correlation of anti-Vpu antibody (Ab) reactivity to Vpu and AIDS disease progression was studied in 162 HIV-1/AIDS patients after they had received highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for 1 year. Anti-Vpu Ab reactivity was analyzed by Western blot using a recombinant Vpu protein. Results showed that at baseline (prior to initiation of HAART), 31.5% of patients (51/162) had anti-Vpu Ab. The proportion of anti-Vpu Ab in patients with CD4 counts ≧500, 200–500 and <200/mm3 were 40.6, 34.7 and 14.3%, respectively (χ2 test, p < 0.05). In addition, decreasing levels of anti-Vpu Ab reactivity were significantly correlated with increasing levels of HIV-1 viral load. After receiving HAART for 1 year, 7 of 111 anti-Vpu Ab-negative patients (6.3%) seroconverted (– → + group) and 8 of 51 anti-Vpu Ab-positive (15.7%) patients became negative (+ → – group). Among 104 anti-Vpu Ab-negative patients, 40 were selected for analysis of the vpu gene. All of them had an intact vpu gene. Patients were further divided into four groups according to their anti-Vpu Ab serostatus and anti-HIV-1 Ab was measured. The results showed that only the anti-Vpu Ab seroconverted group (– → +) had increased serum levels of anti-HIV-1 Abs after 1 year of HAART, while the other three groups (+ → +, – → – and + → –) had decreased serum levels of anti-HIV-1 Abs after 1 year of HAART (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the presence of anti-Vpu Ab is associated with improved prognosis following HIV-1 infection, and seroconversion of anti-Vpu Ab in patients on HAART indicates significant recovery of immunity.


In this paper we present an empirical, comparative performance, analysis of fourteen Differential Evolution (DE) variants on different classes of unconstrained global optimization benchmark problems. This analysis has been undertaken, with an objective, to compare and to identify competitive DE variants which perform reasonably well on problems with different features. Towards this, fourteen variants of DE are benchmarked on 14 high dimensional unconstrained test functions grouped by their modality and decomposability viz. unimodal separable, unimodal nonseparable, multimodal separable and multimodal nonseparable. The analysis identifies the overall competitive variants as well as the feature based performances of all the variants.


Conventional pistonic loudspeakers excite the modes of an enclosed sound field in such a way as to introduce modal
artefacts which may be problematic for listeners to high-quality reproduced sound [1]. Their amelioration may
involve the use of highly space-consumptive passive absorptive devices or active control techniques [eg 2,3,4].
Other approaches have concentrated on the design of the driver used to excite the room. Distributed sources ranging
from the dipole [5] to more complex configurations [6] may be expected to interact with the room eigenvectors in a
complicated manner which may be optimised in terms of the spatial and frequency-domain variance of the soundfield. Recent interest in distributed sources has centred on the Distributed Mode Loudspeaker (DML), and this paper reports an investigation into the interaction of DMLs with modal soundfields. It is shown that large DMLs may be expected to modify the low-frequency soundfield. Producing useful low-frequency control remains difficult but may be achieved in some circumstances.


While venture capital investing may not appear to be aligned with the core activities of most corporations, it is a financial practice that has found its way into many technology-intensive businesses. Unlike traditional venture capital, corporate venture capital (CVC) primarily serves strategic purposes. Among the industries where CVC is prevalent, the pharmaceutical industry has many features that distinguish it from other technology-based businesses. For example, product development times are long, attrition rates of initiated products are high, and companies live off of the income from relatively few high-revenue products. With these characteristics in mind one can easily imagine that CVC fulfills strategic purposes in the pharmaceutical industry differently than it fulfills strategic purposes in other industries. In this study I ask whether CVC truly serves a useful role in pharmaceutical companies and, if so, does it benefit some pharmaceutical companies more than others? I argue that given its relatively low cost versus high strategic benefit, CVC has a role in all pharmaceutical companies. However, it has greater value in companies with complex business models. Furthermore, as volatility in the industry externalities escalates, the value of CVC in the pharmaceutical industry increases.


This article introduces a planar monopole patch antenna for global positioning system (GPS) application. Our design has a circular patch with a stub of inverted L-shape which is used as the radiating portion and partial ground. Our proposed design of the stub allows the antenna to operate at a frequency of 1.5 GHz. The circular monopole is fed by an offset feeding to have an impedance match of 50 ohms. The compact antenna has been designed and simulated on RT Duroid 6006 material with relative permittivity ( ) of 6.15 and 0.0019 as the loss tangent. Our antenna has a dimension of 65 × 55 × 2.54 mm3 . A gain of 1.23 dB is observed at the resonant frequency of 1.5 GHz and the antenna exhibits dipole like radiation pattern both in E and H-plane. The antenna has better impedance matching, good gain and steady characteristics of radiation pattern across the operating bandwidth. High frequency structure simulator (HFSS) v.13.0 is used to carry out all the simulations.


Dengue is now established as the world's most important arboviral infection. This Aedes mosquitotransmitted pathogen is considered to be the cause of a major re-emerging tropical disease and significant public health concern. Four distinct but genetically similar serotypes of dengue virus, DENV 1-4, are responsible for provoking a spectrum of clinical symptoms in humans that range from mild fever to severe haemorrhagic manifestations. Recently, a phylogenetically more distant fifth serotype has been mooted. Confirmation of the identification of this virus is required before its status as DENV-5 can be formally ecognized. Nevertheless, the possibility of a further serotype raises the spectre of those antidengue therapies and vaccines predicated on DENV 1-4 that are currently under clinical trial being intrinsically suboptimal. Hence, the potential impact of the existence of DENV-5 and other sylvatic arboviruses on the strategy to combat dengue fever and related pyrexias of unknown origin should be considered in order to refine guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control.


In the event of a direct lightning strike to a protected building which is integrated with an electrical or electronic system installed on the roof such as roof-top PV system, dangerous arcing may occur between the external lightning protection system (LPS) and the conductive components of the electrical system. To prevent such side flashes, a minimum separation distance between the metallic components and the air termination system is required. Even though, IEC62305-3 Standard provides a formula to specify the necessary separation distance, so far there is no extensive study that has been done to evaluate the suitability of the application of equation to calculate the separation distance, specifically to the safety of electrical systems integrated into the roof top of building. In this study, a new computational method has been developed for calculation of the separation distance between an LPS and metallic components on the roof. In the proposed method which is based on the theoretical background of the IEC62305-3 Standard formula, the break down behavior of the gap geometry between the LPS and the metallic components for the applied voltage across the gap is analyzed. PSCAD software was used to model the LPS and the lightning strokes.


The retinoblastoma gene product (RB) undergoes cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. Pulse-chase experiments revealed that the change in RB gel electrophoretic migration which occurs near mitosis is due to enzymatic dephosphorylation (J. W. Ludlow, J. Shon, J. M. Pipas, D. M. Livingston, and J. A. DeCaprio, Cell 60:387-396, 1990). To determine the precise timing of RB dephosphorylation and whether a specific phosphatase is active in this process, we have utilized a nocodazole block and release protocol which allows a large population of cells to progress synchronously through mitosis. In such experiments, RB dephosphorylation began during anaphase and continued until complete dephosphorylation was apparent in the ensuing G1 period. In addition, late mitotic cell extracts were capable of dephosphorylating RB in vitro. This RB-specific mitotic phosphatase activity was more active in anaphase extracts than in pro- or metaphase extracts, which is consistent with the results obtained in vivo. Okadaic acid and protein phosphatase inhibitors 1 and 2 inhibited this specific RB phosphatase activity. These results suggest a role for serine and threonine phosphoprotein phosphatase type 1 in the late mitotic dephosphorylation of RB.


Distributed data storage and access in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) recently has found increased popularity driven by many mission-critical applications. While WSN security has been extensively studied in recent years with focus on network communication security, little attention has been paid to the security and dependability of distributed data storage and access control. However, it is of paramount importance to ensure data security and dependability in the mission-critical applications, where data genuineness and availability can be about life or death. This paper sketches an outline of the motivation and the development of security mechanisms for data security and dependability.


The purpose of the present study is the understanding of Gentili's position on the law of the sea as expressed in his classic De iure belli (Hanoviae 1598). The key constitutive elements turn out to be: 1) the idea of the sea as 'res communis' to all mankind, which amounts to the concept of 'freedom of the sea'; 2) 'jurisdiction' of the coastal state on the adjacent sea, even on the high seas, in order to police crime and prevent/punish piracy. As such these two key elements, if taken in isolation, are rooted in the civil law tradition, but their true meaning can only be captured by placing them in the intellectual framework of which they constitute an integral part. Firstly, the epistemic structure of discourse hinges on the new science of natural jurisprudence, as applied to the subject of 'ius gentium bellicum'; secondly, the constituent theoretical languages emanate from a distinctive combination of civil law, scholastic-theological and humanist traditions. This procedure enables us to highlight the strikingly original and distinctly modern traits of Gentili's perspective on the law of the sea, which emerges as a corollary of his project of international/global order. A project that is based on the crucial notion of 'respublica magna' of mankind, a notion encompassing the two notions of 'freedom' and 'jurisdiction' that constitute and define the legal regime of the sea. The Stoic humanist notion of universal human society as 'corpus unum' implies, first of all, 'freedom of intercourse', or 'ius communicationis', to start from 'free passage' and 'freedom of commerce'. It is in the context of his argument about these basic freedoms that Gentili is finally led to discuss the subject of the 'law of the sea'. But, not only the concept of 'res communis', or 'freedom of use', but also the concept of 'jurisdiction', or 'protection', are strictly related to the same foundational concept of 'respublica magna'. This is a crucial characteristic of Gentili's approach to world order that is proved by reference to two cardinal points of his new 'cosmopolitan justice': 1) the 'international right to punish', as exemplified by the legitimacy of the wars of 'humanitarian intervention' and of the wars in support of the 'common law of mankind'; 2) the 'occupation of vacant land', which again underlines the relevance of the principle of 'jurisdiction' by striking a balance between the principle of 'free use' of nature and the 'jurisdiction' of the local ruler. Such a reconstruction definitely rejects the traditional image of Gentili as a supporter of 'maritime protectionism', on the ground of his Advocatio Hispanica published posthumously in 1613 and containing his pleadings as Spanish advocate before the Court of Admiralty. The guiding assumption here is that the book is strictly of a forensic character and as such devoid of any coherent theoretical substance. To the contrary, in his De iure belli , far from anticipating the English position in favour of 'mare clausum', Gentili tends to anticipate the essentials of Grotius' position, especially at the level of the ethic of the 'modern cosmopolis' and the related theme of colonial empire. On this very plane of discourse, Gentili's thinking transcends the so-called battle of the books and emerges as especially significant in illuminating the wider and deeper intellectual currents that contributed to the development of what were to become basic standard positions of modern international theory.


Objective In spite of the growing recognition of the specific association of waist circumference (WC) with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and insulin resistance (IR), current guidelines still use body mass index (BMI) as a tool of choice. Our objective was to determine whether WC is a better T2D predictor than BMI in family-based settings. Research Design and Methods Using prospectively collected data on 808 individuals from 42 extended Mexican American families representing 7617.92 person-years follow-up, we examined the performance of WC and BMI as predictors of cumulative and incident risk of T2D. We used robust statistical methods that accounted for the kinships and included polygenic models, discrete trait modeling, Akaike information criterion, odds ratio (OR), relative risk (RR) and Kullback-Leibler R2. SOLAR software was used to conduct all the data analyses. Results We found that in multivariate polygenic models, WC was an independent predictor of cumulative (OR = 2.76, p = 0.0002) and future risk of T2D (RR = 2.15, p = 3.56×10−9) and outperformed BMI when compared in a head-to-head fashion. High WC (≥94.65 cm after adjusting for age and sex) was also associated with high fasting glucose, insulin and triglyceride levels and low high-density lipoprotein levels indicating a potential association with IR. Moreover, WC was specifically and significantly associated with insulin resistant T2D (OR = 4.83, p = 1.01×10−13). Conclusions Our results demonstrate the value of using WC as a screening tool of choice for future risk of T2D in Mexican American families. Also, WC is specifically associated with insulin resistant T2D.


The optical characterization of the ZnCdSe/ZnSe quantum dot (QDs) system is studied by photoluminescence (PL) spectrum measured at temperatures from 22 to 300 K. The distinct quenching rates of spectral integrated intensity demonstrate that there are divergent lateral exciton transfer modes between two types of coexistent QDs with different sizes and densities. The smaller and denser QD assemblies are advantageous to trigger lateral migration of thermally activated excitons due to their shallower localization and more coupling channels. However, the carrier repopulation-induced redistribution of excitonic emission energy is contrarily observed in the deepest localized case. The extra redshift of transition energy with increasing temperature is attributed to the incompletely three-dimensional excitonic confinement induced by the morphological features. In contrast with scanning probe techniques, using PL as spectral probe is a nondestructive way to explore inner morphology of capped multiple quantum structure.


The significance of the anesthetic management in prevention of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) was studied in 79 patients operated for severe-course gestosis. The results denoted that the used tactics of infusion epidural anesthesia, based on a combined application of the hyperosmolar sodium chloride solution, hydroxyethylized starch and crystalloids, contributed to a fast development of mechanisms of urgent hemostasis adaptation of female patients with severe gestosis at surgical treatment stages. Stabilized hemodynamics as well as better hemocoagulation and rheology blood properties were registered, which verified the efficiency of the anesthetic management within the prevention scheme of SIRS in female patients with severe postoperative gestosis.


Abstract 4334

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by accumulation of immature hematopoietic cells due to a blockage in myeloid differentiation at various stages. Since the current chemotherapy rarely eradicates the leukemic clones entirely, differentiation induction therapy has evolved. Previous experiments have shown that ligation of CD44, a cell surface glycoprotein strongly expressed on all AML cells, with anti-CD44 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) could reverse the differentiation blockage of leukemic blasts and inhibit their proliferation in most AML subtypes, rendering CD44 a promising target for AML therapy. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of the induction of differentiation by anti-CD44 mAbs have not been fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the signaling pathways triggered during anti-CD44 mAb (A3D8)-induced granulocytic differentiation of HL60, a human leukemic cell line commonly used as a model of human AML type2/3.

Extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK1/2) pathway plays a major role in the regulation of differentiation and proliferation for myeloid cells and has been reported to be aberrantly activated in AML. In our studies, we observed an increase of ERK1/2 phosphorylation by mitogen-activated ERK kinase (MEK) following A3D8 treatment. The use of U0126 (a MEK inhibitor) significantly abrogated the anti-CD44 induced granulocytic differentiation of HL60 cells, suggesting that ERK1/2 is critical for the induction of differentiation via CD44 in AML-M2/3. Our work provides the first evidence for the importance of the ERK pathway in granulocytic differentiation via CD44 and adds a new argument to the use of CD44 in differentiation therapy of AML.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Abstract. Mawasid FP, Syukur M, Trikoesoemaningtyas. 2019. Epistatic gene control on the yield of tomato at medium elevation in the tropical agroecosystem. Biodiversitas 20: 1880-1886. Cultivation of tomatoes on the middle-low plain generally decreases the quantity and quality of the yield due to high-temperature stress. Increasing the size and weight of lowland tomatoes is needed to enhance national production. Information on the action and genetic model of target characters is needed in the preparation of the assembly program, especially for selection needs. This study aims to obtain genetic information and heritability of tomato yield characters, as a basis for assembling large tomato varieties for the lowlands. The study was conducted using six populations (P1, P2, F1, BCP1, BCP2, and F2) resulting from two different crosses of 99D x Tora (C-I) and 97D x Tora (C-II). The results show that the action of non-additive genes and non-allelic interactions has a large value, with duplicate epistasis being more dominant than complementary epistasis. Duplicate epistasis was found in the character of harvest time, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight in cross I and flowering time, harvest time, fruit length, fruit diameter, and number of fruits in cross II, while complementary epistasis was found in flowering time, fruit weight per plant, number of fruits in cross I, and fruit weight, fruit weight per plant in cross II. Moderate to high heritability was found in the character of fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight, and fruit weight per plant. The values are higher in population from the cross I (99D x Tora) for each character, indicating that the cross I has a higher potential for genetic progress than cross II. Selection is recommended when the homozygosity has increased, using the Bulk method or Single Seed Decent. The two methods above can maintain variability in the next generation, so epistasis genes that control target characters are not drastically eliminated.


Capsule endoscopy has opened the small bowel for direct inspection. However, the diagnostic sensitivity of capsule endoscopy is not 100 %. We have observed that forward orientation and backward orientation of the camera in the small bowel provide different information on pathological findings. Double-head capsule endoscopy may offer the answer to this problem.


OBJECTIVE
The effects of vitamin A supplementation on morbidity of children born to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women were evaluated in a population where vitamin A deficiency is not endemic.

METHODS
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of vitamin A supplementation was carried out in 118 offspring of HIV-infected women in Durban, South Africa. Those assigned to receive a supplement were given 50,000 IU of vitamin A at 1 and 3 months of age; 100,000 IU at 6 and 9 months; and 200,000 IU at 12 and 15 months. Morbidity in the past month was then recalled at each follow-up visit. Analysis was based on 806 child-months.

RESULTS
Among all children, the supplemented group had lower overall morbidity than the placebo group (OR = 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.48, 0.99). Among the 85 children of known HIV status (28 infected, 57 uninfected), morbidity associated with diarrhea was significantly reduced in the supplemented infected children (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.27, 0.99), whereas no effect of supplementation on diarrheal morbidity was noted among the uninfected children.

CONCLUSION
In a population not generally vitamin A deficient, vitamin A supplementation for children of HIV-infected women appeared to be beneficial, reducing morbidity. The benefit was observed particularly for diarrhea among HIV-infected children.


The application of cw lasers as powerful excitation sources for transient (triplet-) state spectroscopy is demonstrated. By focusing a cw laser beam on a sample with the aid of a lens, high triplet optical densities ODT((lambda) ) can be recorded. Using McClure's method, triplet extinction coefficients (epsilon) T((lambda) ) of many organic compounds are conveniently measured. To illustrate the method, we recorded (epsilon) T values on syn- (dimethoxyphosphinylmethyl,methyl) bimane. Exciting organic compounds with light causes various degrees of photodecomposition. We have developed a method to measure triplet optical densities ODT((lambda) ) in the presence of photodecomposition. The method is demonstrated on Coumarin 120. One records ODT((lambda) ) values as well as the accumulation of absorbing photoproducts as a function of time. Turning off the cw laser excitation, one records the accumulation of photoproducts only. Separating the two processes, one can determine how the triplet optical density declines as a function of time t. The decline curve can be expressed with an equation that is of second order in time. This equation allows one to extrapolate back to t equals 0 and recover ODT when there was no photodecomposition. Because the cw laser light is highly polarized, triplet-triplet (T-T) photoselection spectroscopy can be employed. The degree of polarization P of several syn- binanes was recorded, providing important insight on the polarization of T-T transitions. These data may be used to improve laser action properties of syn-bimanes by substitutions.


In the study a novel method for synthesis of a dark magnetic flake powder for detecting latent fingerprint has been developed. Even though, flake powders ,of aluminium, brass and highly reflective magnetic iron flake are already in use in crime scenes , it is highly desirable to develop a suitable darker variety of magnetic flake powder for print development on light background surfaces.
In order to achieve rapid production of dark metal flakes, a new high energy prototype vibratory mill has been designed, manufactured and develo ed. The design concepts were developed following a comprehensive review of the various commercially available milling devices and undertaking some initial experimentation. The mechanical milling process which
results in changing the particle morphology of starting atomised iron powder to flaky shaped powder was investigated in terms of different milling phases like micro forging, fracture and agglomeration. The effect of milling process parameters on the flake quality was investigated. It was shown that the amount of stearic acid content, ball packing fraction and weight loading were important parameters in determining the final flake qualities. The quality of latent fingerprint development with the dark flake powder was investigated. Some of the flake powders produced excellent ridge quality details with good adherence quality on a range of background surfaces.
The present study has been able to establish the relationship between the visual characteristics ( dark) and adherence property of the flake fingerprint powder with respect to the particle dimensions and surface characteristics of the flakes. It was also found that finer flakes are darker in colour and the low weight percentage of stearic acid has produced the best
adherence quality for the dark flake powder. Some unique relationship between the flake dimensions with the nature of the print deposit was also established as it was found that slightly coarser flakes are suitable for heavy print deposit whereas finer flakes are more sensitive to aged prints. Further, the role of process variables in influencing the milling process were
established such that optimum conditions by vibration milling can be determined to obtain dark flakes of desired quality. While the weight loading significantly influenced the milling behaviour of the powder, the role of stearic acid as an additive was found to influence the surface quality of flakes, besides restricting particle welding. Increasing the pre determined
theoretical ball size does not result in faster milling, but increasing the ball packing fraction from 50% to 70% has proved to be more effective. Some relation with the oxidising behaviour of the powder with vibration milling has also been established. Moreover, the study has demonstrated that high energy milling by a vibration mill can be utilised for consistent production of a novel dark magnetic flake powder.


Investigating Hungarian urbanization processes – especially when using the example of the Budapest Metropolitan Area – has been a central research topic of the Hungarian regional science discourse during the past decades. Research work increasingly contributed to better understanding of those urbanization processes, on the basis of a model of urbanization elaborated by Leo van den Berg and – as for the Hungarian literature – Gyorgy Enyedi.  This article conceptualises the two most important approaches to urbanization, the 'evolutionary school of thought' and the 'historical school of thought'. The evolutionary school can be interpreted as a group of theories that identifies urbanization as a universal process of successive 'stages of urban development'. The historical school of thought is relatively unknown. This is because it does not concentrate on popular – and, sometimes, slightly simplistic  –generalisations, but rather on characteristics of individual trajectories of urbanization Joining forces with the historical school. The present article tries to formulate a clearer notion of the urbanization development within the context of the recent Budapest Metropolitan Area during the period of 1900-1945. Using contemporary statistical publications, we built a database that helps to quantify the intensity of urbanization processes. We were able to distinguish communities falling under the 'immediate urbanization zone', communities falling under the 'broader urbanization zone' and communities that did not participate in any urbanization processes at all.


A previously unknown instability creates space-filling lattices of 3D vortices in linearly-stable, rotating, stratified shear flows. The instability starts from an easily-excited critical layer. The layer intensifies by drawing energy from the background shear and rolls-up into vortices that excite new critical layers and vortices. The vortices self-similarly replicate to create lattices of turbulent vortices. The vortices persist for all time. This self-replication occurs in stratified Couette flows and in the dead zones of protoplanetary disks where it can de-stabilize Keplerian flows.