Developing neuronal systems intrinsically generate coordinated spontaneous activity that propagates by involving a large number of synchronously firing neurons. In vivo, waves of spikes transiently characterize the activity of developing brain circuits and are fundamental for activity-dependent circuit formation. In vitro, coordinated spontaneous spiking activity, or network bursts (NBs), interleaved within periods of asynchronous spikes emerge during the development of 2D and 3D neuronal cultures. Several studies have investigated this type of activity and its dynamics, but how a neuronal system generates these coordinated events remains unclear. Here, we investigate at a cellular level the generation of network bursts in spontaneously active neuronal cultures by exploiting high-resolution multielectrode array recordings and computational network modelling. Our analysis reveals that NBs are generated in specialized regions of the network (functional neuronal communities) that feature neuronal links with high cross-correlation peak values, sub-millisecond lags and that share very similar structural connectivity motifs providing recurrent interactions. We show that the particular properties of these local structures enable locally amplifying spontaneous asynchronous spikes and that this mechanism can lead to the initiation of NBs. Through the analysis of simulated and experimental data, we also show that AMPA currents drive the coordinated activity, while NMDA and GABA currents are only involved in shaping the dynamics of NBs. Overall, our results suggest that the presence of functional neuronal communities with recurrent local connections allows a neuronal system to generate spontaneous coordinated spiking activity events. As suggested by the rules used for implementing our computational model, such functional communities might naturally emerge during network development by following simple constraints on distance-based connectivity.


Challenging performance targets have been set for the UK National Health Service. In order to respond to these targets, the NHS has adopted approaches such as Lean Healthcare to reduce waste and improve its effectiveness. This paper explores the topic of Performance Management and the consequent redesign of services in the NHS. Using the lens of the TFV model, changes in the NHS are examined in an effort to understand the impact on the demand for infrastructure. The traditional approach in the health service is based on a transformation model concept where functional areas are central and the emphasis is on clinical specialties. Lean Healthcare concepts are now being applied to reduce lead times in the NHS. This represents a transition from a transformation model to one where the flow of patients is the main perspective. In an effort to reduce the lead time for patients to access services, major service redesign efforts have led to changes in the demand for infrastructure and the need for refurbishment and new buildings where functional areas are co-located. The NHS is also moving towards being 'patient led' and increasing value to the taxpayer and to the patient. It has been demonstrated that infrastructure has a high impact on patient satisfaction and their choice of health service provider. Thus, as the NHS moves towards a competitive healthcare marketplace, high quality infrastructure is of increasing importance.


Abstract The results of apatite fission-track analyses of the Western Pontides of NW Turkey point to three discrete episodes of Cenozoic exhumation correlatable with major supraregional tectonic events. (1) Paleocene–early Eocene exhumation reflected the closure of the İzmir–Ankara ocean. (2) Late Eocene–earliest Oligocene exhumation was the result of renewed tectonic activity along the İzmir–Ankara suture. (3) Late Oligocene–early Miocene exhumation recorded the onset of northern Aegean extension. Samples collected north and south of the tectonic contact between the two terranes forming the Western Pontides (i.e. İstanbul and Sakarya terranes) record the same cooling events, suggesting that such terranes were amalgamated in pre-Cenozoic times.


This study explores pricing methodologies, economic theories and various frameworks that influence the price-setting in different dynamic markets, while considering ways to minimise price discounting at a transactional level. Upper management in a small industrial supply firm, Shannon Hardware, recently discovered large losses in sales revenue due to price discounting at the transactional level from sales personnel due to the ever-changing dynamic markets they serve. This has made the company to look for a new price structure for their locations. A new pricing paradigm is created using a three-phase pricing methodology: 1) analyse pricing variables, economic theories and market conditions; 2) create and optimise the pricing paradigm; 3) execute the pricing paradigm and simulate what if scenarios. Once the pricing paradigm is implemented into Shannon Hardware's ERP system, the anticipated companywide benefit is to recapture an average of 7% in sales revenue per month for an increase of $140,000 dollars annually.


The objective of this investigation was to find a simple method for the production of phenolic rich products and sugar derivatives (biopolyols) via separation of liquefied lingocellulosic materials. Liquefaction of lignocellulosic materials was conducted in methanol at 180 °C for 15 min with the conversion of raw materials at about 75%. After liquefaction, the liquefied products were separated by addition of a sufficient amount of water. It was found that the hydrophobic phenolics could be largely separated from aqueous solutions. The phenolic products that precipitated from the aqueous phase were mainly composed of phenolic derivatives such as 2-methoxy-4-propyl-phenol and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzoic acid methyl ester. Afterwards, the aqueous solution was distilled under vacuum to remove water and formed a viscous liquid product henceforth termed biopolyol. As evidenced by GC-MS analysis, the biopolyols contained methyl sugar derivatives, including methyl β-D-mannofuranoside, methyl α-D-galactopyranoside, methyl α-D-glucopyranoside, and methyl β-D-glucopyranoside. The effect of glycerol on promotion of the liquefaction reaction was also studied. The yield of residue was significantly decreased from approximately 25 to 12% when a glycerol–methanol mixture was used as solvent rather than methanol. According to the GC-MS analysis, the total content of phenolics and poly-hydroxy compounds (including glycerol and sugar derivatives) in phenolic products and biopolyols was 65.9 and 84.9%, respectively. Therefore, a new method for fractionation of liquefied products was proposed according to the molecular structure of the biomass.


Recently, a great concern has risen about the increasing prevalence of autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Environmental factors as significant contributors to children's health through a wide range of routes are linked to remarkable increases in this disorder. It is well known and accepted that young children are more vulnerable to environmental toxins, compared to adults. Modern day lifestyles with more mercury and lead exposures, fast food, cell phones, and microwaves place children at higher risk of neurotoxicity. Moreover, a huge number of synthetic chemicals termed as high-productionvolume (HPV) chemicals are found in many products such as medications, cosmetics, building materials, plastic, and car fuels. These HPVs highly contribute to brain damage in developing infants. Other environmental toxins include thalidomide, valproic acid, misoprostol, and many infectious agents among which are pathogenic bacteria or their metabolites are found to be neurotoxic and/or linked to incidences of autism. This chapter summarizes the most important routes of exposure to environmental neurotoxins and explains how these toxins are related to the remarkable increase in the prevalence of autism through different etiological mechanisms such as oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, impaired neurochemistry and glutamate excitotoxicity.


A Lagrangian model following the history of every droplet belonging to an evolving droplets population, originally developed to simulate pattern evolution in the framework of in-flight icing phenomenon, is used in order to simulate dropwise condensation over different shaped micro-structured surfaces. Both the mechanical and the thermal energy balances are solved for every droplet, allowing to predict droplet velocity and condensing flow rate. Coalescence phenomenon is also implemented. The model in the present form is an evolution of the code presented at ICNMM 2019, introducing the effect of vapor shear, a physical model of the evolution of the dynamic contact angle during droplet growth and a prediction of condensing flow rate through the solution of thermal energy balance, thus taking into account the influence of the droplet size. Shared memory parallelization is also carried out decomposing the computational domain into different subdomains, allowing the efficient simulation of a larger number of droplets.
 Here, the model is validated and used to predict the heat transfer performance of hybrid condensation surfaces, both plane and curved, under the action of both gravity and vapor shear. Starting from literature proposals, several patterns, each characterized by a complex composition of patches with different wettabilities, are numerically investigated and the configuration ensuring the best heat transfer performance and liquid drainage is identified. The sensitivity of the solution with respect to the uncertainty on the estimate of some parameters, such as nucleation density, is also discussed.


Hypothalamic Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons are classically known to trigger satiety. However, they encompass heterogeneous subpopulations whose functions are unknown. Here we show that POMC neurons releasing GABA, glutamate or both neurotransmitters possess distinct spatial distribution, molecular signatures and functions. Functional specificity of these subpopulations relies on the energy sensor mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1), since pharmacological blockade of mTORC1, by mimicking a cellular negative energy state, simultaneously inhibited POMC/glutamatergic and activated POMC/GABAergic neurons. Chemogenetics and conditional deletion of mTORC1 then demonstrated that mTORC1 blockade in POMC neurons causes hyperphagia. This is due to decreased POMC-derived anorexigenic α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and the recruitment of POMC/GABAergic neurotransmission, which is restrained by cannabinoid type 1 receptor signaling. Genetic inhibition of glutamate release from POMC neurons also produced hyperphagia, recapitulating the phenotype caused by mTORC1 blockade. Altogether, these findings pinpoint the molecular mechanisms engaged by POMC neurons to oppositely control feeding, thereby challenging conventional views about their functions.


A thesis submitted in partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management at Strathmore Business School


The nuclear receptor RXR is an obligate partner in many signal transduction pathways. We report the high-resolution structures of two complexes of the human RXRalpha ligand-binding domain specifically bound to two different and chemically unrelated agonist compounds: docosa hexaenoic acid, a natural derivative of eicosanoic acid, present in mammalian cells and recently identified as a potential endogenous RXR ligand in the mouse brain, and the synthetic ligand BMS 649. In both structures the RXR-ligand-binding domain forms homodimers and exhibits the active conformation previously observed with 9-cis-RA. Analysis of the differences in ligand-protein contacts (predominantly van der Waals forces) and binding cavity geometries and volumes for the several agonist-bound RXR structures clarifies the structural features important for ligand recognition. The L-shaped ligand-binding pocket adapts to the diverse ligands, especially at the level of residue N306, which might thus constitute a new target for drug-design. Despite its highest affinity 9-cis-RA displays the lowest number of ligand-protein contacts. These structural results support the idea that docosa hexaenoic acid and related fatty acids could be natural agonists of RXRs and question the real nature of the endogenous ligand(s) in mammalian cells.


We construct quasiconformal deformations of convergence type Fuchsian groups such that the resulting limit set is a Jordan curve of Hausdorff dimension 1, but having tangents almost nowhere. It is known that no divergence type group has such a deformation. The main tools in this construction are (1) a characterization of tangent points in terms of Peter Jones' beta's, (2) a result of Stephen Semmes that gives a Carleson type condition on a Beltrami coefficient which implies rectifiability and (3) a construction of quasiconformal deformations of a surface which shrink a given geodesic and whose dilatations satisfy an exponential decay estimate away from the geodesic.


Hunting for improved energy storage devices based on rechargeable Li-ion batteries and
other advanced rechargeable batteries is one of the hottest topics in today's society. Both Li-
ion batteries and Li-O₂ batteries have been studied within the thesis. The research work of
this thesis contains two different parts. Part 1. The controlled synthesis of the extreme small
sized nanoparticles and their application for Li-ion batteries; Part 2. The study of the O₂
reduction mechanism in Li-O₂ batteries with aprotic electrolytes.
In the first part, two different types of extremely small-sized TiO₂ nanoparticles with at lease
on dimension less than 3 nm was synthesised via solvothermal/hydrothermal reaction, i.e.,
anatase nanosheets and TiO₂(B). These nanoparticles were obtained without any
contamination of long chain organic surfactants. A series of systematic characterisation
methods were employed to analyse the size, phase purity, and surface condition. These
extremely small-sized nanoparticles exhibit improved capacity, rate performance as anode
materials for Li-ion batteries. The shapes of load curves of charge and discharge are
significantly modified due to the reduced size of TiO₂ nanoparticles.
In chapter 3, we will see the variation of the capacity and the load curve shape of the anatase
nanosheets according to their thickness and surface conditions. The origin of the excessive
capacity is analysed based on the electrochemical data. It has been identified that both
pseudocapacitive (interfacial) Li+ storage and the excessive Li+ -storage from the bulk
contribute to the increased capacity.
In chapter 4, the shape and size of the sub-3 nm TiO₂(B) nanoparticles are studied, a method
based the PXRD data is established. These nanoparticles demonstrate a reversible capacity of
221 mAh/g at a rate of 600 mA/g and remain 135 mAh/g at 18000 mA/g without significant
capacity fading during cycling.
In the last part, a systematic study of O₂ reduction mechanism for aprotic Li-O₂ batteries
based on the combination of a series of electrochemical and spectroscopic data is presented.
The novel mechanism unifies two previous models for the growth of Li₂O₂ during discharge,
i.e., Li₂O₂ particle formation in the solution phase and Li₂O₂ film formation on the electrode
surface. The new mechanism provides fundamental conceptions for the improvement of
Li₂O₂ batteries and shed light on the future research of Li₂O₂ batteries.


In this research, a novel method was performed to obtain hydrogel with superior thermal stability by incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) into gelatin based hydrogel. Glutaraldehyde was used as cross-linker due to its high chemical reactivity towards NH2 group on gelatin. Different ratio of gelatin/CNC hydrogel was produced in order to study the effects of CNC towards the swelling behaviour and thermal stability of gelatin based hydrogel. The obtained hydrogel was subjected to Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) to verify that gelatin had been cross-linked, swelling test with different pH for swelling behaviour and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for thermal stability. The presence of C=N stretching group in the FTIR spectrum for gelatin/CNC hydrogel indicated that the cross-linking reaction between gelatin monomer had been successfully carried out. The hydrogel showed impressive pH sensitivity and maximum swelling was obtained at pH3. The TGA results clearly showed that the incorporation of CNC into gelatin was able to produce hydrogel with higher thermal stability compare to neat gelatin.


Background Stable genetic transformation of plants is a low-efficiency process, and identification of positive transformants usually relies on screening for expression of a co-transformed marker gene. Often this involves germinating seeds on solid media containing a selection reagent. Germination on solid media requires surface sterilization of seeds and careful aseptic technique to prevent microbial contamination, but surface sterilization techniques are time consuming and can cause seed mortality if not performed carefully. We developed an antimicrobial cocktail that can be added to solid media to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth without impairing germination, allowing us to bypass the surface sterilization step. Results Adding a combination of terbinafine (1 µM) and timentin (200 mg/L) to solid media delayed the onset of observable microbial growth and did not affect germination of non-sterile seeds from ten different wild-type and mutant Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. The method was also compatible with Nicotiana tabacum germination. Seedlings sown in non-sterile conditions could be maintained on antimicrobial media for up to a week without observable contamination. The antimicrobial cocktail was compatible with rapid screening methods for hygromycin B, phosphinothricin (BASTA) and nourseothricin resistance genes, meaning that positive transformants can be identified from non-sterile seeds in as little as four days after stratification and transferred to soil before the onset of visible microbial contamination. Conclusion The antimicrobial cocktail presented here delays microbial growth for long enough to permit germination of non-sterile Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings on solid media and it is compatible with rapid screening methods. We were able to select genetic transformants on solid media without seed surface sterilization, eliminating a tedious and time-consuming step.


Background & Aims : Nausea and vomiting are common hard symptoms experienced by pregnant women in the first trimester. Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) has adverse effects on the quality of a woman's life, social, relationship with family, and her general health. The aim of this study was determining the relationship between during pregnancy with anxiety and depression. Material & Methods: It was a descriptive, correlational study. Anxiety and depression scores of 220 women were investigated by using the Spielberger's state-trait anxiety questionnaire and the Edinburgh Depression Inventory. NVP were scored by using the pregnancy unique quantification of emesis and nausea (PUQE). Data was analyzed by SPSSver.16 and Chi-square, and spearman tests. Results: The frequency of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy was 83/6%. A significant correlation between incidence of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and both anxiety and depression score (p<0.001) was found. Conclusion: There is an association between anxiety and depression early in pregnancy and severity of NVP. Furthermore, a psychological evaluation of the pregnant women in addition to other medical evaluation would be useful.


Education is positively associated with level of cognitive function but the association between education and rate of cognitive decline remains unresolved, partly for methodological reasons. In this article, we address this issue using linear mixed models and Bayesian hypothesis testing, using data from the Betula cohort-sequential longitudinal study. Our results support the null hypothesis that education does not alter the rate of cognitive decline for visuospatial ability, semantic knowledge, and episodic memory. We propose that education is only a relevant variable for understanding cognitive performance in older age because of the association between performance and education that is formed in early development.


In this paper, graph theory is used to analyze real power transfer between individual generators and loads, which is important to transmission open access. Related lemmas are proved first to present necessary conditions required by the method. Based on an AC load flow solution a novel method is suggested which can determine downstream and upstream power flow tracing paths and calculate the contribution factors of generations and loads to the line flows efficiently in the system without circulating power. When the existence of circulating power in the system is detected, by revealing the reasons which cause circulating power, the optimal power flow (OPF) approach is suggested to eliminate it and a new feasible AC load flow solution will be obtained for tracing. The computer tests yield satisfactory results. The suggested method is suitable for both active and reactive power flow tracings of real power systems.


Structural differences between two antigenic types (designated C and Z) of γ-globulins, both of low molecular weight, produced in " Heavy chain" disease are revealed by their relative susceptibilities to enzymatic degradation by papain and the nature of the cleavage products. Corresponding structural differences exist between the respective type C and type Z myeloma γ2-globulins. These structural differences are tentatively assigned to the H-chains, and more specifically to the portion of the H-chain contained in the fast-moving (F) fragment of papain-treated γ2-globulins.


This thesis investigates possibilities for fusion, i.e. combining of different types of image descriptors, in order to improve accuracy and efficiency of image classification. Broad range of techniques for fusion of color and texture descriptors were analyzed, belonging to two approaches – early fusion and late fusion. Early fusion approach combines descriptors during the extraction phase, while late fusion is based on combining of classification results of independent classifiers. An efficient algorithm for extraction of a compact image descriptor based on early fusion of texture and color information, is proposed in the thesis. Experimental evaluation of the algorithm demonstrated a good compromise between efficiency and accuracy of classification results.
Research on the late fusion approach was focused on artificial neural networks and a recently introduced algorithm for extremly fast training of neural networks denoted as Extreme Learning Machines - ELM. Main disadvantages of ELM are insufficient stability and limited accuracy of results. To overcome these problems, a technique for combining results of multiple ELM-s into a single classifier is proposed, based on probability sum rules. The created ensemble of ELM-s has demonstrated significiant improvement of accuracy and stability of results, compared with an individual ELM.
In order to additionaly improve classification accuracy, a novel hierarchical method for late fusion of multiple complementary descriptors by using ELM classifiers, is proposed in the thesis. In the first phase of the proposed method, a separate ensemble of ELM classifiers is trained for every single descriptor. In the second phase, an additional ELM-based classifier is introduced to learn the optimal combination of descriptors for every category. This approach enables a system to choose those descriptors which are the most representative for every category. Comparative evaluation over several benchmark datasets, has demonstrated highly accurate classification results, comparable to the state-of-the-art methods.


: The genome of Vibrio harveyi BAA-1116 contains a nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene cluster ( aebA-F ) resembling that for enterobactin, yet enterobactin is not produced. A gene predicted to encode a long chain fatty acid CoA ligase (FACL), similar to enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of acyl peptides, resides 15 kb away from the putative enterobactin-like biosynthetic gene cluster ( aebG ). The proximity of this FACL gene to the enterobactin-like synthetase suggested that V. harveyi may produce amphiphilic enterobactin-like siderophores. Extraction of the bacterial cell pellet of V. harveyi led to the isolation and structure determi-nation of a suite of eight amphi-enterobactin siderophores comprised of the cyclic lactone of tris -2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl-L-serine and acyl-L-serine. The FACL knockout mutant, ∆ aebG V. harveyi , and the NRPS knockout mutant, ∆ aebF V. harveyi , do not produce amphi-enterobactins. The amphi-enterobactin biosynthetic machinery was heterologously expressed in E. coli and reconstituted in vitro


ABSTRACT Popular and scholarly literature describes the conflicts experienced by some gay and lesbian Christians, but less is known about the unique experiences of bisexual and pansexual populations. The purpose of this study was to understand the process by which bisexual and pansexual individuals with a Christian upbringing resolved conflict between sexual identity and religious beliefs. Grounded theory analysis of 17 interviews revealed a fluid and multidimensional process of resolution, which was influenced by community and relationships as well as experiences of isolation, secrecy, and shame. This study took place in the Bible Belt and was the first of its kind to explore the experiences of bisexual and pansexual individuals who continue to identify as Christian as well as those who have left their religion. It has implications not only for bisexual and pansexual individuals experiencing faith conflicts, but also for the faith leaders and helping professionals who support them.

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Levy_Denise_2018_I Never Felt Like There.pdf


In this paper, the coupled dispersive (2+1)-dimensional long wave equation is studied. The traveling wave hypothesis yields complexiton solutions. Subsequently, the wave equation is studied with power law nonlinearity where the ansatz method is applied to yield solitary wave solutions. The constraint conditions for the existence of solitons naturally fall out of the derivation of the soliton solution.


Over 200 general practitioners (GPs) and others have contributed to the development of Membership by Assessment of Performance (MAP): a new scheme for assessing established GPs. By means of a Delphi consultation with a broad cross-section of the profession, a working conference, piloting with potential candidates, and repeated checking with reference panels, the assessment was developed within two years. We report the development of MAP, including the results of the Delphi consultation, which asked 'Which aspects of a general practitioners performance are important to assess?'.


Purpose: Demodex folliculorum is a transparent mite, 0.3 - 0.4 mm long, which asymptomatically
parasitizes the human pilosebaceous follicles. D. folliculorum is observed in normal
skin with a prevalence of 100% and a density of ≤ 5 D/cm2 in the adult
population. Materials and Methods: This study evaluated the differences in pH on the five facial sites between the
two populations with and without D. folliculorum. The relationship between pH and skin surface oil was analyzed
in populations with and without Demodex mites. Mongolian 750 subjects (370
males and 380 females) aged 16 - 84 years, who
lived in Ulaanbaatar city, were enrolled in this study. The eligibility
criteria included a minimum age of 16 and no physical and dermatologic illness,
no cosmetic. Results: Skin surface
oil among the five facial areas differed significantly in both subjects with
and without Demodex folliculorum (P < 0.001). When the skin surface oil on the T-zone, U-zone was
compared, those on the T-zone were significantly higher than those of the
U-zone (P < 0.001) in
both populations (P< 0.01). The pH levels on the five facial sites, and
U-zone, T-zone and MFpH differed significantly in among both subjects with and
without Demodex folliculorum (P < 0.001). In both groups, the pH levels of the U-zone were
significantly lower than the pH of the T-zone (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Among the five facial sites in subjects with Demodex
folliculorum, there were significant negative correlations between skin surface
oil and pH on the forehead (p < 0.001, r = 652), cheek (P < 0.001, r = 0.656), nose (P < 0.001, r = 0.754), chin (P < 0.001, r = 0.679), and T-zone (P < 0.001, r = 0.698), MFSE-MFpH (P < 0.001, r = 0.483). In contrast, among the five
sites in subjects without Demodex folliculorum, a significant negative
correlation between skin surface oil and pH was observed on the forehead (p < 0.001, r = 766), cheek (P < 0.001, r = 0.798), nose (P < 0.001, r = 0.706), chin (P < 0.001, r = 0.823), and T-zone (P < 0.001, r = 0.602), U-zone (P < 0.001, r = -0.550)


The northwestern Gulf of Mexico shelf experiences the largest seasonal hypoxic (dissolved oxygen, DO ≤ 2.0 mg l−1) zone in the western hemisphere. This study uses bottom trawl and hydrographic surveys over 3 yr to quantify low DO avoidance thresholds, patterns of aggregation in nearby oxygenated refuge habitats, and spatial overlap of brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus and several finfishes on the nearshore Louisiana shelf. On average, DO avoidance thresholds were low (1 to 3 mg l−1) and near incipient lethal levels for similar species, suggesting organisms avoid the lowest, lethal DO levels on the shelf. Avoidance thresholds varied both within and among years, indicating that behavioral responses to low DO are context-dependent and vary in relation to the severity of hypoxia and possibly other factors. Despite the absence of physical barriers to movement, evading organisms aggregated at short distances (1 to 3 km) just beyond the margins of the hypoxic zone, indicating that sublethal and indirect effects of hypoxia are probably most intense within a relatively narrow region along the hypoxic edge. DO avoidance thresholds and patterns of aggregation were similar between brown shrimp, the primary target of the commercial shrimp trawl fishery, and several juvenile and small adult finfishes that comprise most of the bycatch. In addition, spatial overlap between brown shrimp and finfishes was highest in the years when hypoxia was most severe, and this effect was stronger for benthic fishes than for pelagic fishes. These results suggest the potential for enhanced harvest and bycatch interactions along the margins of the hypoxic zone as an indirect effect of hypoxia-induced shifts in spatial patterns. Such spatially mediated indirect effects are an important means by which hypoxia influences mobile species in the Gulf.


Algebras axiomatized entirely by rank 1 axioms are algebras for a functor and
thus the free algebras can be obtained by a direct limit process. Dually, the
final coalgebras can be obtained by an inverse limit process. In order to
explore the limits of this method we look at Heyting algebras which have mixed
rank 0-1 axiomatizations. We will see that Heyting algebras are special in that
they are almost rank 1 axiomatized and can be handled by a slight variant of
the rank 1 coalgebraic methods.


Objective: To better understand the combined influence of employee engagement, health behavior, and physical health on job performance and absenteeism. Methods: Analyses were based on 20,114 employees who completed the Healthways Well-Being Assessment from 2008 to 2010. Employees represented three geographically dispersed companies in the United States. Results: Employee engagement, health behavior, and physical health indices were simultaneously significantly associated with job performance and also with absenteeism. Employee engagement had a greater association with job performance than did the health behavior or physical health indices, whereas the physical health index was more strongly associated with absenteeism. Specific elements of the indices were evaluated for association with self-rated job performance and absenteeism. Conclusion: Efforts to improve worker productivity should take a holistic approach encompassing employee health improvement and engagement strategies.


The effect of infection with low-virulence, tissue culture-propagated strains of reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) on protective vaccinal immunity against Marek's disease (MD) lymphomas was investigated. Vaccinated chickens inoculated at hatching with greater than 10(4) focus-forming units of REV and challenged with MD virus were poorly protected against MD lesion development as indicated by protective indices of 53 to 79% for strain CS (P less than 0.05) and 42 to 49% for strain T (P less than 0.01) compared to 78 to 100% for REV-free controls. Furthermore, the response of blood lymphocytes to mitogen stimulation and the antibody response to sheep erythrocytes and Brucella abortus were less in REV-inoculated chickens than in controls. The REV-induced depression of immune responses was more severe in chickens infected with mildly pathogenic strain T than in chickens infected with the apathogenic strain CS and was generally transient with both virus strains. Little or no depression of immune responses was observed in chickens inoculated with less than 10(3) focus-forming units of REV. These studies extend knowledge on the immunodepressive ability of low-virulence REV strains and establish that infection with these viruses depresses certain parameters of MD vaccinal immunity, an important model for cellular immunity against virus-induced neoplasia in the chicken.


In contemporary discussions of the NT canon, focus has been on its polemical aspects, that is, when it was closed. By so doing the idea of a canonical process suffers. In attempting to understand Tatian's Diatessaron in this process it is argued here that the very existence of the harmony testifies against a closed fourfold Gospel canon in the mid–second century. A proper distinction between canon and scripture is foundational in this understanding. Discussions about the closed NT canon belong to a day far removed from Tatian's. By placing Tatian's Diatessaron in the perspective of process we are less tempted to view his use of the four Gospels as proving their canonicity, a view which is anachronistic and inaccurate.


Everyone knows that new customers represent the best opportunity for new business, right? Wrong! Prospecting for new customers is the most costly and difficult task in business. The biggest payoff and true sales gold lies in winning back former customers. And this uniquely engaging book shows how to do it. Best-selling author George R. Walther presents an easier, surer way to capture big profits by turning conventional marketing wisdom upside down. He shows how to reach people whose buying activity has tapered off or stopped - and convert them into the company's best customers. Using an easy-to-grasp conveyor belt analogy, Walther takes readers through the process of salvaging lapsed customers - using their feedback to find and fix problems keeping their loyalty - and adding new long-term customers. Each chapter contains practical tips and an action plan that readers can apply to their own situation. Upside-Down Marketing also provides plenty of hands-on examples. Case studies include well-known multinationals like IBM, Lexus, Apple, and American Express. But there are also plenty of do's and don'ts drawn from smaller firms like regional banks, ad agencies, and cable TV companies.


When SKL (Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science) gets images to analyse, the task often is to identify a person or an object. In that work it's important to find features. Unfortunately images from camera surveillances often contain a lot of noise, so details can be hard to discern.A simple method to improve an image from a sequence is to compute the mean of some of the images. However, the part of interest in the image has to be in the same position in all images. Neither the camera nor the object can make a move between the images, and then all the movements are seen in the image instead.In this report, one way to register some images so they look like each other in a special area is described. The image, which is showing most of the interesting object, is chosen to be a reference image. Then the transformation which describes the global movement between the images can be found.The transformation maps one image to each other with interpolating. When the object is equals in all interesting images they can get together and create a better image. All the algorithms have been written in MATLAB and a Graphical User Interface was also developed. To use this program when an object has done local deforms the image can be divided and local transformations can then bee computed. In the end of the report some results are present.


Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging public health problem worldwide. Agricultural practices have been suggested as one of the main contributors to the emergence and transmission of AMR worldwide. Aquatic animals like fish have an important role to play in the emergence and transmission of AMR strains. Escherichia coli is commensal in gastrointestinal tracts of many animals including fish, and is an indicator organism and opportunistic pathogen. It has been listed as one of the important bacteria involved in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the AMR patterns of E. coli isolated from the intestinal tract of fish within the Lake Victoria basin. A total of 60 Oreochromis niloticus fish were sampled from cages, wild and earthen ponds. Distal gastrointestinal tract was recovered, crushed and streaked on violet red bile agar, incubated at 37 OC for 24 hours. The isolates confirmed biochemically as E. coli were screened for antibiotic susceptibility against 10 commonly used antibiotics using disc diffusion method. Eighty three percent of the sampled fish were positive for E. coli. Generally, isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, cephalexin, ceftriaxone and nitrofurantoin (100%); tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (81.8%) and nalidixic acid (72.7%). However, most of them were resistant to ampicillin and erythromycin (72.7%). The results show that fish are reservoirs of E. coli, which is resistant to some antibiotics. The factors responsible for the observed resistance patterns need to be followed up with more research. Good aquaculture practices, surveillance and monitoring of resistant bacteria will help in understanding the problem of AMR. Key words: Antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance, Escherichia coli, fish


Abstract An earlier study of the creep behaviour of Elektron 21 alloy has been extended to 290°C (0.61Tm; Tm: melting temperature). The combined results confirm a stress exponent of creep rate close to 6, but with an activation energy for creep of (310 ± 20) kJ/mol for 240 to 290°C and 40 to 90 MPa. Possible mechanisms giving rise to this behaviour are discussed.


: A rare observation of the gall bladder polyposis in a woman of 56 with clinical symptoms of chronic cholecystitis is described. In this case, polyposis of the gall bladder was combined with extensive extra- and intrahepatic lithiasis. The observation is compared with reports in the literature.


We study a participatory budgeting problem, where a set of strategic agents wish to split a divisible budget among different projects by aggregating their proposals on a single division. Unfortunately, the straightforward rule that divides the budget proportionally is susceptible to manipulation. Recently, a class of truthful mechanisms has been proposed, namely the moving phantom mechanisms. One such mechanism satisfies the proportionality property, in the sense that in the extreme case where all agents prefer a single project to receive the whole amount, the budget is assigned proportionally.

While proportionality is a naturally desired property, it is defined over a limited type of preference profiles. To address this, we expand the notion of proportionality, by proposing a quantitative framework that evaluates a budget aggregation mechanism according to its worst-case distance from the proportional allocation. Crucially, this is defined for every preference profile. We study this measure on the class of moving phantom mechanisms, and we provide approximation guarantees. For two projects, we show that the Uniform Phantom mechanism is optimal among all truthful mechanisms. For three projects, we propose a new, proportional mechanism that is optimal among all moving phantom mechanisms. Finally, we provide impossibility results regarding the approximability of moving phantom mechanisms.


The paper presents the experimental results on an aluminum alloy and a silver alloy processed by equal channel angular extrusion in order to refine the grains. Two type of extrusion dies have been used for experimental works: one with fixed walls and the other one with movable walls in order to reduce the friction during extrusion process. The new concept of the die consists in simultaneously pressing of two samples in one entering channel with two opposite exit channels. The channel geometry, friction contact, strain rate, extrusion load and micro structure aspects are presented.


Abstract In 2010, a survey was carried out in Jigawa, Kano and Katsina States to ascertain the level of reuse of the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) bags (technique for cowpea storage) among 2008 users. The PICS project has recommended to farmers to reuse their PICS bags as long as they are not punctured. Survey results suggest that the majority of farmers (both demonstrators-DF [farmers that were used in the initial demonstrations] and nondemonstratorsNDF, those who bought PICS bags without participating in demonstrations) were reusing their PICS bags (66.2%, i.e., 90 respondents out of 136) for cowpea storage in 2009, while the remaining 33.8% (i.e., 46 respondents) reused their bags for other purposes such as storage of other crops, as bedding and roofing material, and given out to others. Among the reusers, 68.9% (62 respondents out of 90) were demonstrators and 31.1% (28 respondents) were nondemonstrators. To ascertain the determinants of reuse of PICS bags, a Logit model was fitted on the data with independent variables such as Farmer type, Age, Gender, Household size, Education, Membership of association, and quantity of cowpea harvested. The result on determinants of reuse of PICS for cowpea storage was significant at 1% level of probability. The result revealed, among others, that the probability of reusing the bag for cowpea storage statistically increased if the user was a demonstrator, an experienced farmer (age), male (gender), a member of a farmers' association; the quantity of cowpea harvested aso affected reuse.


The optimal transmission switching (OTS) problem, a mixed-integer program (MIP), has been proposed as a way to choose lines to take out of service to reduce generation costs. One impediment to the use of OTS in practice is the very long computing time to solve it. This paper proposes two heuristics which rely on a line-ranking parameter that is based on the optimal solution to the ordinary dc optimal power flow problem, a linear program (LP). One heuristic solves a sequence of LPs, removing one line at a time, and the other heuristic solves a sequence of MIPs, removing one line at a time, and each MIP has far fewer binary variables (for switching the lines out of service) than the original MIP. The proposed heuristics are tested on 118-bus and 662-bus systems, and compared with the most common previous heuristic in the literature, which solves a sequence of MIPs, removing one line at a time, with each MIP having all binary variables, i.e., one for each line. Both heuristics are much faster than the previous heuristic from the literature. In almost all cases tested, both proposed heuristics find cost reductions that are approximately as large as the previous heuristic. The computing time reductions are so great that OTS may now be practical with respect to the computing time issue.


CONTEXT
Previous 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and mortality studies have included mostly individuals of European descent. Whether the relationship is similar in Blacks and to what extent differences in 25(OH)D explain racial disparities in mortality is unclear.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between 25(OH)D, PTH, and mortality in Black and white community-dwelling older adults over 8.5 yr of follow-up.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Health ABC is a prospective cohort study conducted in Memphis, TN, and Pittsburgh, PA.

PARTICIPANTS
Well-functioning Blacks and whites aged 71-80 yr with measured 25(OH)D and PTH (n = 2638; 49% male, 39% Black) were included in the study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Multivariate-adjusted proportional hazards models estimated the hazard ratios (HR) for all-cause, cardiovascular, cancer, and noncancer, noncardiovascular mortality (n = 691 deaths).

RESULTS
Mean 25(OH)D concentrations were higher in whites than in Blacks [mean (sd): 29.0 (9.9) and 20.8 (8.7) ng/ml, respectively; P < 0.001]. Serum 25(OH)D by race interactions were not significant, however. Lower 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with higher mortality in Blacks and whites combined [HR (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.27 (1.59-3.24), 1.48 (1.20-1.84), and 1.25 (1.02-1.52) for < 10, 10 to < 20, and 20 to < 30 vs. ≥30 ng/ml]. In the multivariate model without 25(OH)D, Blacks had 22% higher mortality than whites [HR (95% CI) 1.22 (1.01, 1.48)]; after including 25(OH)D in the model, the association was attenuated [1.09 (0.90-1.33)]. The mortality population attributable risks (95% CI) for 25(OH)D concentrations less than 20 ng/ml and less than 30 ng/ml in Blacks were 16.4% (3.1-26.6%) and 37.7% (11.6-55.1%) and in whites were 8.9% (3.9-12.7%) and 11.1% (-2.7 to 22.0%), respectively. PTH was also associated with mortality [HR (95% CI) 1.80 (1.33-2.43) for ≥70 vs. <23 pg/ml].

CONCLUSIONS
Low 25(OH)D and high PTH concentrations were associated with increased mortality in Black and white community-dwelling older adults. Because 25(OH)D concentrations were much lower in Blacks, the potential impact of remediating low 25(OH)D concentrations was greater in Blacks than whites.


Hexagonal ultrathin nanoplates of basic lead carbonates were synthesized in aqueous lead acetate solution under ambient conditions. The sizes of the nanoplates were found to reach several hundreds of nanometers to micrometers, whereas the plate thickness was only several nanometers, corresponding to 3, 4, or 5 stacking layers along the c-axis. These nanoplates exhibited effective catalytic properties for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes, such as nitrobenzene, 4-nitroaniline, and 4-nitrophenol, and other organic dyes, such as methylene blue and methyl orange in aqueous solutions in the presence of KBH4. Pb nanoclusters were generated in situ during the catalytic process and were well dispersed on the surface of the nanoplates, leading to the formation of a zero-dimensional/two-dimensional (0D/2D) heterostructure. It was also found that the heterostructure exhibited different catalytic behaviors for the hydrogenation of the compounds mentioned above due to the different molecular structures and different adsorption and desorption abilities of the reactants and products. Such a heterostructure can be also anticipated to be an effective photocatalyst due to its strong UV-light absorption, the ultrathin characteristics of the highly crystalline nanoplates and the transfer abilities of the Pb nanoparticles.


Crack arrest of fast running cracks is an important issue for the safety of steel structures. Crack arrest design can prevent fatal damage of large structures by restricting the influence of the incidents. Therefore crack arrest design is important especially for very large structure, where accidents may cause huge economical and social losses. Propagating shear fracture, long running ductile crack propagation in pipelines and brittle crack propagation in heavy thick shipbuilding steels have been investigated. For the propagating shear fracture issue, a new HLP simulation model, applicable to various backfill conditions, including underwater backfill, was developed. The proposed backfill model can be applied to the prediction of the crack arrest of propagating shear fracture under various backfill conditions. The new HLP simulation was successful in estimating full-scale burst tests with various backfill depths. The new HLP simulation for underwater pipelines indicated that propagating shear cracks are easily arrested in offshore pipelines compared to onshore pipeline. The toughness requirement of the line pipe for preventing propagating shear fracture can be significantly smaller in underwater pipelines compared to onshore pipelines. The margin of the underwater pipeline for propagating shear fracture was clarified by the new model developed in this thesis. For brittle crack arrest, an empirical approach for long crack propagation has been conducted. Several large-scale crack arrest tests were carried out in order to investigate the long crack arrestability of heavy-thick shipbuilding steel plates. All plates and their welded joints used in this study satisfied the Charpy toughness requirement for EH-grade shipbuilding steels and welded joints. A brittle crack ran along a welded joint and penetrated through the test plate under a stress exceeding 200MPa, despite the presence of longitudinal stiffeners across the test weld. A brittle crack in a base plate model test with longitudinal stiffeners propagated through the specimen under the maximum design stress. These results suggest that EH-grade cannot ensure arrestability even in the base plate, in case of heavy thick shipbuilding steel. Two crack arrest tests were conducted in order to demonstrate the possibility of long crack arrest using high arrestability steels. The test results indicated that the crack arrest concept could be achieved by a combination of high arrest toughness materials and a special fabrication method which can derive a brittle crack into the base plate of high arrestability plate. The crack arrest design can be used in practice even for large-scale structures using heavy thick steel plates. The effective K concept, as proposed by Machida, et al.31), provides the boundary of the "arrest" and "propagate" data in the large-scale tests conducted in this work. The effective K concept was found to be valid even for long crack propagation of such a heavy thick steel plate as investigated in this paper.


Previous attempts to promote regeneration after spinal cord injury have succeeded in stimulating axonal growth into or around lesion sites but rarely beyond them. We tested whether a combinatorial approach of stimulating the neuronal cell body with cAMP and the injured axon with neurotrophins would propel axonal growth into and beyond sites of spinal cord injury. A preconditioning stimulus to sensory neuronal cell bodies was delivered by injecting cAMP into the L4 dorsal root ganglion, and a postinjury stimulus to the injured axon was administered by injecting neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) within and beyond a cervical spinal cord lesion site grafted with autologous bone marrow stromal cells. One to 3 months later, long-projecting dorsal-column sensory axons regenerated into and beyond the lesion. Regeneration beyond the lesion did not occur after treatment with cAMP or NT-3 alone. Thus, clear axonal regeneration beyond spinal cord injury sites can be achieved by combinatorial approaches that stimulate both the neuronal soma and the axon, representing a major advance in strategies to enhance spinal cord repair.


Microplastic is generally defined as synthetic polymers which size less than 5 mm. Based on the latest research, microplastics pollutions have many impacts on the environment and human. Jatiluhur, as one of the biggest freshwater reservoir in Indonesia, has potential to be polluted by microplastics because the water source of this reservoir streamed from Citarum watershed. Citarum River is one of the most polluted river in Indonesia. To find the occurrence of microplastics and to facilitate future policies in order to overcome microplastic pollution which occurs in Jatiluhur Reservoir, a study of microplastic abundance is conducted. Primary data is obtained by using the volume reduced sampling method. Manta trawl is pulled beside a boat for 5 -15 minutes for each sample and flow meter installed onto the mouth of manta trawl to determine the towing distance in surface water. Microplastic abundance in surface water presented in the form of microplastics amounts per unit surface area. Furthermore, microplastic characteristics analyzed with visual analysis, particle density analysis, and polymer analysis using FTIR. Based on seven sampling locations, microplastics have found in Jatiluhur Reservoir ranging from 0.71×104 – 4.59×105 particles/km2. The most type of microplastic found is fragmented polyethylene.


This is an early version of an entry to be published in 2020 in the Max Plank Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law.

The "right to benefit from progress in science and technology" (more commonly referred to as "the right to science") is one of the earliest internationally recognized human rights. It can be found both in the American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

This article discusses the incorporation of the so-called "right to science" (or, less succinctly, the right to benefit from progress in science and technology) in national constitutions. It does not address the so-called "rights of science" (i.e. the rights of scientists and those essential for the scientific enterprise, like academic freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of movement etc.).
First, the article briefly reviews origin, definition, legal value and limitations of the right to science. Then, it traces the four main components of the right to science (i.e. i) the enjoyment of the benefits of scientific progress, ii) the freedom of science; iii) the protection from adverse effects of science, and iv) the duty to foster scientific and technological progress) in constitutions throughout the world.
Comparative analysis shows that provisions that protect freedom of science and guarantee access to the benefits of scientific and technological progress appear in a vast number of national constitutions, and that many echo the wording of Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.


This report provides a continuation of the review of environmental noise policies and economics in 2014-2016, presented at ICBEN 2017 and published in a previous issue of the South Florida Journal of Health. The report addresses the international progress on noise mitigation policies and strategies, best practices, and guidelines for environmental noise management. It focuses on developments in evidence and policy by international bodies and in selected countries. There is a considerable amount of new relevant documents on these topics in international organizations and in some countries since the last ICBEN Congress in 2017. Much of this progress was made in the European Union, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Developing countries in Latin America, especially Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Paraguay, and Perú are increasingly committed to improve environmental noise policies. Also, China has continued to approach sustainable development goals with respect to noise challenges. Kazakhstan has started to address the noise problem by developing a code to mitigate noise-related impacts.


This paper presents a flexible and efficient subband adaptive second-order Volterra filter (SBVF) structure for nonlinear system identification. The structure is first described in detail, where the underlying filter-bank scheme and adaptive filtering algorithms are explained, followed by a computational complexity analysis. Simulation results are then presented, showing that the proposed structure can achieve equal system-identification performance compared with that of a fullband second-order Volterra structure at a much-reduced complexity. In addition, the structure provides a more precise system model compared with that of a linear-only structure at a potentially similar computational expense. The results also demonstrate the suggested structure's ability to exploit a priori knowledge of the nature of the system nonlinearity through selectable nonlinear subband filtering, resulting in further complexity savings. The simulation results are experimentally verified under a practical acoustic-echo-cancellation scenario. It is shown that the SBVF structure can achieve up to a 10-dB lower mean-square error than that of a linear-only model at a comparable complexity.


This study investigated the strength of 88 Taiwanese university students' English
learning motivation and what motivational factors influence the level of motivation in
this particular context. The complex, contextual and dynamic nature of motivation
and different motivational factors were examined via a mixed methods approach and
various analyses. Four data collection instruments were applied in the study, namely a
main questionnaire, a short weekly questionnaire, a semi-structure interview and
classroom observation. Additionally, the researcher not only collected data at different
time points, but also compared the data between two achievement groups: high and
low achievers.
According to the results, the dynamic interactions of the nine motivational factors
identified in this study would impact the level of motivation. When the participants
had a positive English learning experience and higher levels of Cultural diversity,
Interest, Travel orientation and the Ideal L2 self, they tended to have stronger
motivation. However, when the learners possessed higher levels of Ethnocentrism,
Fear of assimilation, English anxiety and the Ought-to L2 self, these factors could
have both facilitating and debilitating effects on their motivation.
The findings also indicated that the participants were generally moderately motivated
to learn English. Nevertheless, the strength of their motivation decreased over time
and they might not regard themselves as working harder than their classmates, not
greatly look forward to taking their English course and not consider that the English
course was interesting enough to motivate them to learn. In particular, low achievers
tended to have lower motivation. The implications of the findings are that (1)
students' motivation is influenced by different motivational factors and (2) motivation would be improved through English courses that make English learning more
enjoyable, relevant and important for the learners and that help them to believe that
they are able to learn it well.


Individual‐ and species‐level heterogeneity in contact rates can alter the ability of a pathogen to invade a host community. Many pathogens have multiple modes of transmission—by direct or indirect contact. It is important to identify the role of heterogeneity in different types of transmission when managing the risk of disease spillover at the interface among different host species. We developed a network‐based analysis to explore how individual‐ and species‐level heterogeneity shape multi‐mode contact networks. We applied this network‐based approach to contact data from proximity loggers collected in a multi‐species host community that contributes to the spillover of the disease bovine tuberculosis (bTB) to cattle populations in Michigan, USA. We used this approach to (a) quantify how individual‐ and species‐level heterogeneity influence direct and indirect contacts in this system, (b) explore how management interventions to control spillovers, such as the installation of deer fences, can alter observed contact networks and c) predict the role that wildlife species have in maintaining bTB in the community. We found that individual‐ and species‐level heterogeneity disproportionately influenced indirect and direct contact networks, with individual‐level heterogeneity having a greater effect on indirect contact networks and species‐level heterogeneity having a greater effect on direct contact networks. We also found that the installation of deer fences significantly reduced deer‐specific indirect contacts. We used the results from our network analysis to show that white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) could act as the sole reservoir host for bTB in this community with important implications for understanding past bTB dynamics and managing the persistence of bTB in the future. Synthesis and applications. Analyses of epidemiological networks rarely account for multiple modes of contact, which can lead to an incomplete understanding of how individual‐ and species‐level heterogeneity affect disease transmission. The multi‐mode, multi‐species network analysis we develop in this study illustrates that individual‐ and species‐level heterogeneity can play significantly different roles depending on the type of contact network considered. This has important implications when managing disease at the wildlife–livestock interface, where strategies may need to be multi‐pronged to account for the variable role of heterogeneity on different modes of contact.


Summary: The effect of glucocorticoids on the intestinal transport of water, electrolytes, and glucose in the infancy period is not known. Therefore, we studied the effect of parenteral glucocorticoids on intestinal transport of water, electrolytes and glucose in suckling rats with an in vivo single pass perfusion technique. Glucocorticoids enhanced significantly net sodium transport only in the colon segments compared to controls. Net sodium transport in the small intestinal segments was similar in glucocorticoid and control groups. Similar to adult animals, glucocorticoids enhanced glucose transport in the ileum. but not in jejunum segments. Net potassium absorption was decreased five-fold in jejunum segments and reversed to net secretion in the ileum and colon segments by glucocorticoids. These results are the first to extend the known effects of glucocorticoids into the infancy period.Speculation: The lack of enhancement in intestinal sodium transport with glucocorticoids in the suckling rat may suggest a maturational phenomenon. It is possible that a steroid sensitive mechanism in the adult animal intestine has not yet appeared in the suckling intestine.


Dynamic Graph Neural Networks recently became more and more important as graphs from many scientific fields, ranging from mathematics, biology, social sciences, and physics to computer science, are dynamic by nature. While temporal changes (dynamics) play an essential role in many real-world applications, most of the models in the literature on Graph Neural Networks (GNN) process static graphs. The few GNN models on dynamic graphs only consider exceptional cases of dynamics, e.g., node attribute-dynamic graphs or structure-dynamic graphs limited to additions or changes to the graph's edges, etc. Therefore, we present a novel Fully Dynamic Graph Neural Network (FDGNN) that can handle fully-dynamic graphs in continuous time. The proposed method provides a node and an edge embedding that includes their activity to address added and deleted nodes or edges, and possible attributes. Furthermore, the embeddings specify Temporal Point Processes for each event to encode the distributions of the structure- and attribute-related incoming graph events. In addition, our model can be updated efficiently by considering single events for local retraining.


The computerized tomographic scans of five catatonic patients and five matched controls were blindly assessed. The catatonic patients showed preponderant atrophy of the brainstem and cerebellar vermis. Catatonia may be associated with lesions in these areas.


We have previously reported that exogenous bradykinin activates immature dendritic cells (DCs) via the bradykinin B2 receptor (B2R), thereby stimulating adaptive immunity. In this study, we show that these premises are met in a model of s.c. infection by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan that liberates kinins from kininogens through its major protease, cruzipain. Intensity of B2Rdependent paw edema evoked by trypomastigotes correlated with levels of IL-12 produced by CD11c dendritic cells isolated from draining lymph nodes. The IL-12 response induced by endogenously released kinins was vigorously increased in infected mice pretreated with inhibitors of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), a kinin-degrading metallopeptidase. Furthermore, these innate stimulatory effects were linked to B2R-dependent up-regulation of IFNproduction by Ag-specific T cells. Strikingly, the trypomastigotes failed to up-regulate type 1 immunity in TLR2 / mice, irrespective of ACE inhibitor treatment. Analysis of the dynamics of inflammation revealed that TLR2 triggering by glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mucins induces plasma extravasation, thereby favoring peripheral accumulation of kininogens in sites of infection. Further downstream, the parasites generate high levels of innate kinin signals in peripheral tissues through the activity of cruzipain. The demonstration that the deficient type 1 immune responses of TLR2 / mice are rescued upon s.c. injection of exogenous kininogens, along with trypomastigotes, supports the notion that generation of kinin "danger" signals is intensified through cooperative activation of TLR2 and B2R. In summary, we have described a s.c. infection model where type 1 immunity is vigorously up-regulated by bradykinin, an innate signal whose levels in peripheral tissues are controlled by an intricate interplay of TLR2, B2R, and ACE. The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 177: 6325–6335.


The synthesis, characterisation and anion binding properties of a series of bifunctional boryl-substituted ferrocene systems, and monofunctional boryl-substituted ferrocene and cymantrene systems are reported. Thus, the bis-borylated ferrocene systems: Fe rj5-C5H4B(OR)2 2 and Fe n5-C5H4Bcat 2 where (OR)2 = OCH(Ph)CH(Ph)0 (la) or OCH2CH(2-napthyl)0 (5a), and cat = catecholate (2a), 3,5-di-terr-butylcatecholate (3a), or 3-methoxycatecholate (4a) and the mono-borylated ferrocenes and cymantrenes (t 5-C5H5)Fe r 5-C5H4B(OR) 2 (lb), -n.5-C5H4B(OR)2 Mn(CO) 3 (7), (n5-C5H5)Fe n5-C5H4Bcat (2b), and n5-C5H4Bcat Mn(CO)3 (8) where (OR) 2 = OCH(Ph)CH(Ph)0 and cat = catecholate have been synthesised and characterised by NMR, UV/Vis and IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental microanalysis, and in most cases by X-ray diffraction. Electrochemical analyses of all ferrocene-based compounds has demonstrated the electronic and redox properties associated with boryl-substituted metallocenes, and allowed a comparison to be made between mono- and disubstituted systems. The anion binding characteristics of the borylated metallocenes and half-sandwich compounds have been probed by spectroscopic (including NMR, UV/Vis, fluorescence and IR spectroscopy) and electrochemical techniques, revealing a specific affinity for binding of the fluoride ion. Binding is shown to occur through monodentate coordination of fluoride, even for the bifunctional Lewis acids such that two equivalents of the anion are bound by the ferrocenyl-host system. In particular, the bis-borylferrocene receptors display remarkable behaviour on complexation of two equivalents of fluoride, such that a colorimetric response is observed on fluoride binding, attributable to the redox chemistry of the ferrocene moiety to which the binding site is covalentfy linked. The synthesis, characterisation and potential hydrogen fluoride binding capabilities of mixed Lewis acidic boron-Lewis basic nitrogen containing systems are also presented here. Both (ri5-C5H 5)Fe ri5-C5H4B(OCH2CH2)NCH 3 (9a) and (n5- C5H5)Fe r 5-C5H 4B(OR)2 where (OR)2 = OCH2CH(CH 2NC5Hi0)O (10a) have been synthesised and characterised by standard techniques, and the former shown by X-ray diffraction to display an intramolecular N-B dative bond. In addition to these newly synthesised Lewis acid-Lewis base-containing systems, hydrogen fluoride binding studies involving the literature compound 2-(AAdimethylaminomethyl)ferrocene boronic acid (11a) are also presented. Analyses of the reactions of different hydrogen fluoride sources with these three compounds have been performed via NMR spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and in the cases of 9a and 11a, by X-ray crystallography. The results indicate that HF treatment of 9a and 10a, causes B-0 bond cleavage leading to loss of the amine function. The Lewis basic component is preserved in the treatment of 10a with HF, however, leading to formation of an HF adduct.


The Papoose Flat pluton of eastern California is commonly cited in the geologic literature as a classic example of a "forcibly" emplaced pluton, although the relative importance attributed to magmatic versus tectonic processes in controlling the structural evolution of the pluton has been controversial. Reexamination of this Late Cretaceous (83 Ma) pluton, using a combination of new structural, petrographic, microstructural, and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data on the pluton–wall-rock system, has shown that the pluton is an inclined and internally zoned tabular structure, assembled by forcible intrusion of successive pulses of magma at a crustal depth of 12–15 km. Initial pluton formation involved magma ascent in a vertical west- northwest–striking feeder dike, which was arrested at a stratigraphically controlled mechanical discontinuity in the overlying Cambrian metasedimentary rocks, leading to formation of a southwest-dipping sill. Subsequent sill inflation, accompanied by horizontal infilling from the feeder dike at the base of the sill, resulted in deformation and vertical translation of previously emplaced magma pulses and local raising of the sill roof, facilitated by thermal weakening as the wall-rock temperatures progressively rose during emplacement of successive magma pulses. Cooling from the roof of the pluton downward resulted in cessation of vertical inflation on the west side of the pluton and promoted lateral expansion toward the northeast and floor depression below the eastern part of the pluton. We have been unable to document any regional-scale structures (e.g., of equivalence to similar-age synplutonic strike-slip shear zones in the Sierra Nevada batholith to the west) that may have controlled emplacement of the Papoose Flat pluton. However, this fact does not preclude the likelihood that the country rocks were subjected to a regional deviatoric stress field at this time; indeed, tectonic overpressuring was probably essential for producing sufficiently high magma pressures for laccolith formation at this midcrustal level. Simple thermal modeling, using microstructural and thermobarometric data, indicates that the total duration of emplacement of the pluton did not exceed 30 000 yr. This rapid emplacement rate may explain why the pluton appears to be anorogenic even though it was emplaced during a period of regional- scale deformation.


This article begins by examining multiple drafts of a parliamentary legislation that aims to provide rights and reservations to transgender persons in India, so as to trace the ways in which hijras have been absorbed into the discourse of nationalism. The most current draft of this bill, 'The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill of 2016' shows that despite claims to protect transgender citizens, the state uses the discourse of nationalism to justify the increased governmentalisation of hijra bodies and lives. I bring attention to the state's insistence on the distance between homosexuals and hijras and the active endorsement of Sexual Reassignment Surgery to argue that the legislations are consolidating heterosexuality rather than making space for queer citizens. The project of heterosexualisation marks the disjuncture between colonial and contemporary ambitions of policing hijras, which have remained remarkably consistent and centred around their economic activity of begging. Based on ethnographic research conducted in rural Odisha, I question the glossing of hijras' practice of seeking alms or challa as begging, to show how limits of nationalism are drawn and render hijra forms of being as incommensurable with the state.


OBJECTIVE
Recently, the vital role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in human diseases have got much attention. In this research, lncRNA DLX6-AS1 is studied to verify how it affects the development of cervical cancer (CC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
DLX6-AS1 expression was detected by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) in both CC cells and tissue samples. Besides, functional experiments including cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, and transwell assay were performed. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanism was explored through qRT-PCR and Western blot assay. The function of DLX6-AS1 was also identified in vivo.

RESULTS
By comparing with corresponding tissues, the DLX6-AS1 expression level was significantly higher in CC samples. Moreover, cell growth ability and invaded ability of CC cells were inhibited after DLX6-AS1 was knocked down. Furthermore, the expression of FUS was inhibited after knockdown of DLX6-AS1. It was found that the expression level of FUS positively correlated to the expression of DLX6-AS1 in CC tissues. In addition, knockdown of DLX6-AS1 inhibited tumor formation and metastasis of CC in nude mice.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that DLX6-AS1 could enhance cell proliferation and metastasis of CC by upregulating FUS, which might be a potential therapeutic target in CC.


Recent evidence shows that option volatility skews and volatility spreads between call and put options predict equity returns. This study investigates whether such predictive ability is driven by option traders' information advantage. We examine the predictive ability of volatility skews and volatility spreads around significant information events including earnings announcements, other firm-specific information events, and events that trigger significant market reactions. Consistent with option traders having an information advantage relative to equity traders before information events, we find that the option measures immediately before these events have higher predictive ability for short-term event returns than they do in a more dated window or before a randomly selected pseudo-event. We also find that option measures have predictive ability after information events. However, this predictive ability holds only for unscheduled corporate announcements, which suggests that, relative to equity traders, option traders have superior ability to process less anticipated information.


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The significance of incorporating soil-structure interaction (SSI) effect in the analysis of building frames is increasingly recognized but, still not penetrated to all the level owing to various complexities involved in the modeling of SSI. The SSI effect considerably influences the design of multi-storey buildings situated in the seismic zone. Hence, there is a need to incorporate certain elements in the structure which will counterbalance the effect of SSI. The provision of shear walls is one of the potential option as these acts as major earthquake resisting element and also, increases the overall stiffness of the structure. The geometrical configuration of these shear walls alters the response of buildings, and therefore, it is important to evaluate the most beneficial locations of the shear walls. In present study, multi-storey reinforced concrete framed buildings of different heights with shear wall at five alternate locations in the building incorporating the effect of soil flexibility is considered to investigate the effectiveness of shear walls to control SSI. The study is carried out using Winklerian approach. The study reveals that, shear walls play important role to control SSI effect and very effective when placed centrally, near to centroid of building in resisting seismic load.


Objectives. To describe the prevalence of asthma in a mid-Swedish region and measure the detection rate of asthma in primary care. To compare clinical outcomes for adolescents with asthma in primary care or in paediatric care and to perform a clinical validation in children with airway, nose and skin symptoms. Material and methods. A questionnaire survey of respiratory symptoms and disease in an adult population and an investigation of the occurrence of clinically detected asthma in primary care. A cross-sectional study comparing management, asthma control and quality of life in adolescents. The last study was a nested case-control study with a clinical validation of reported allergic symptoms in children. Results. The prevalence of asthma in the adult population was 8%. The clinical prevalence of asthma in primary care was 2%. The detection rate was higher in primary health care centres with asthma clinics, as compared to primary care without such clinics. In adolescents with asthma there was no difference in clinical outcomes between primary care and paediatric care. The validation study showed a high correlation between assigned cases and disease. Conclusions. Asthma is a common disease where the majority of cases are managed in primary care. Many cases are, however, not diagnosed and the detection rate becomes a quality care indicator. The study of adolescents confirms that proactive care can be further improved regardless of whether their management is in primary or paediatric care. The nested case-control design is suitable to suggest causational risk factors for asthma and for prediction of allergic disease development.


Abstract. Urban growth is a complex process created through the interaction of human and environmental conditions. The spatial configuration and dynamic process of urban growth is an important topic in contemporary geographical studies (Thapa and Murayama, 2010). However, urban growth pattern recognition is a challengeable task and it has become one of the major fields in Cartography. Since classical era of cartography, several methods have been employed in modelling and urban growth pattern recognition. It shows that there is no agreement among cartographer or any other spatial scientists on how to map the diverse patterns of urban growth.Typical urban theories such as von Thünen's (1826) bid-rent theory, Burgess's (1925) concentric zone model, Christaller's (1933) central place theory, and Hoyt's (1939) sector model explain the urban structure in different manner. Most of them do not contribute to visualize the urban growth pattern spatiotemporally. Recently, by addressing this limitations, several sophisticated methods are used in urban growth visualization. Among them, morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) is one of emerging raster data analysis methods which allows us to integrate neighbourhood interaction rules in urban growth pattern recognition and visualization. Angel et al. (2010) developed urban land classification (urban, suburban, rural, fringe open space, exterior open space, and rural open space) based on built and non-built land categories and detected three major types of urban growth (infill, extension, and leapfrog). However, developing urban land classifications using binary land use type and recognising only three types of urban growth pattern may be insufficient due to the existence of a higher complexity of urban growth. In such context, the present study introduce a geovisualization approach to map spatial patterns of urban growth using multiple land categories and develops three sub-levels of urban growth pattern for each major urban growth pattern.The entire process of urban growth pattern recognition developed in this study can be summarized into three steps (Figure 1): (1) urban land mapping – Landsat imageries representing two time points (2001 and 2017) were classified into two land categories (built and non-built) and developed into multiple classes using ancillary data, (2) recognizing three major patterns of urban growth (infill, extension, and leapfrog) – the raster overlay method based on neighbourhood interaction rules, (3) development of sublevels of urban growth – major three patterns were further developed and visualized nine urban growth patterns, namely low infill (LI), moderate infill (MI), high infill (HI), low extension (LE), moderate extension (ME), high extension (HE), low leapfrog (LL), moderate leapfrog (ML), and high leapfrog (HL). The developed procedure of this study in urban growth pattern recognition was tested using a case study of Colombo metropolitan area, Sri Lanka.


The climate-active gas dimethyl sulfide (DMS) plays an important role in global sulfur cycling and atmospheric chemistry. DMS is mainly produced through the bacterial cleavage of marine dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). When released into the atmosphere from the oceans, DMS can be photochemically oxidized into DMSO or sulfate aerosols, which form cloud condensation nuclei that influence the reflectivity of clouds and, thereby, global temperature. SAR11 bacteria are the most abundant marine heterotrophic bacteria, and many of them contain DMSP lyase DddK to cleave DMSP, generating DMS. In this study, based on structural analyses and mutational assays, we revealed the catalytic mechanism of DddK, which has universal significance in SAR11 bacteria. This study provides new insights into the catalytic mechanism of DddK, leading to a better understanding of how SAR11 bacteria generate DMS. ABSTRACT The osmolyte dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is produced in petagram quantities in marine environments and has important roles in global sulfur and carbon cycling. Many marine microorganisms catabolize DMSP via DMSP lyases, generating the climate-active gas dimethyl sulfide (DMS). DMS oxidation products participate in forming cloud condensation nuclei and, thus, may influence weather and climate. SAR11 bacteria are the most abundant marine heterotrophic bacteria; many of them contain the DMSP lyase DddK, and their dddK transcripts are relatively abundant in seawater. In a recently described catalytic mechanism for DddK, Tyr64 is predicted to act as the catalytic base initiating the β-elimination reaction of DMSP. Tyr64 was proposed to be deprotonated by coordination to the metal cofactor or its neighboring His96. To further probe this mechanism, we purified and characterized the DddK protein from Pelagibacter ubique strain HTCC1062 and determined the crystal structures of wild-type DddK and its Y64A and Y122A mutants (bearing a change of Y to A at position 64 or 122, respectively), where the Y122A mutant is complexed with DMSP. The structural and mutational analyses largely support the catalytic role of Tyr64, but not the method of its deprotonation. Our data indicate that an active water molecule in the active site of DddK plays an important role in the deprotonation of Tyr64 and that this is far more likely than coordination to the metal or His96. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis suggest that the proposed catalytic mechanism of DddK has universal significance. Our results provide new mechanistic insights into DddK and enrich our understanding of DMS generation by SAR11 bacteria. IMPORTANCE The climate-active gas dimethyl sulfide (DMS) plays an important role in global sulfur cycling and atmospheric chemistry. DMS is mainly produced through the bacterial cleavage of marine dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). When released into the atmosphere from the oceans, DMS can be photochemically oxidized into DMSO or sulfate aerosols, which form cloud condensation nuclei that influence the reflectivity of clouds and, thereby, global temperature. SAR11 bacteria are the most abundant marine heterotrophic bacteria, and many of them contain DMSP lyase DddK to cleave DMSP, generating DMS. In this study, based on structural analyses and mutational assays, we revealed the catalytic mechanism of DddK, which has universal significance in SAR11 bacteria. This study provides new insights into the catalytic mechanism of DddK, leading to a better understanding of how SAR11 bacteria generate DMS.


People experiencing homelessness have worse health outcomes than the general population and limited access to primary/preventative healthcare. This leads to high hospital readmission rates. Effective discharge planning can improve recovery rates and reduce hospital costs. However, most hospital discharge policies and best practice guidelines are not tailored to patients with no fixed address, contributing to inappropriate discharges and health inequities for people experiencing homelessness. We discuss the lack of discharge policies, identifiable processes or plans specifically tailored to this population as a healthcare and policy gap, and we identify key areas for better understanding and addressing this issue.


Background: Rates of exclusive breastfeeding are exceedingly low in the Arabic world. This study aims to estimate the local prevalence of, and knowledge about, exclusive breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia. Method: This is a cross-sectional survey of mothers of infants aged 6–12 months who attended Taif-based "well-baby clinic." A structured questionnaire was developed to explore predictors of, and participants' knowledge about, exclusive breastfeeding. Results: Participants in the study were 202 mothers. The rate for initiation of breastfeeding in the first hour after childbirth was 13.9%. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 16.3%. Knowledge level was great among participating mothers as 65.3% of mothers scored over 75% of the total knowledge score and 95% got more than half of the questions right. Only having 3–6 children (P = 0.023) and 1-year interpregnancy interval (P = 0.005) were associated with the positive likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding. Baby age (P = 0.0218), birth in a private facility (P = 0.00843), and university education (P = 0.0131) were associated with better knowledge. Discussion and Conclusion: Rates of exclusive breastfeeding practice are low in Saudi Arabia despite adequate knowledge about its benefits and necessity.


In Asian Financial Crisis during the end of 1990s, millions of people lost their money in one day, international investors were reluctant to lend to developing countries, leading to economic slowdowns in developing countries in many parts of the world. This paper will talk about how the crisis become, speculators how to speculated the financial market, a case in HK how to defeat speculators attack, and IMF provided support package for rescuing attacked countries.  We hope our paper can give some ideas to people and show the importance on balancing the domestic economy to avoid the crisis happen again.


T1-weighted IR sequences and T2-weighted SE sequences and combined SE/IR sequences were carried out in 62 patients with malignant and 50 patients with benign liver tumours and the T1 and T2 relaxation times were measured. IR sequences proved the most sensitive method for imaging focal liver lesions and providing good contrast between liver tissue and tumour. For lesions above 1.5 cm, quantitative MRI achieved an accuracy better than 95% in distinguishing between haemangiomas and malignant lesions. Routine quantitative measurements of relaxation times were sufficiently reproducible for clinical use.


OBJECTIVES
To describe stigma experiences of adolescents with congenital and acquired facial differences.

DESIGN
Used baseline cross-sectional stigma-related responses from a four site (Seattle WA, Galveston TX, Chicago IL and Chapel Hill NC) US study enrolling 185 English speaking, US participants ages 1118 years old with facial differences (60% male; 80% congenital conditions). Closed-ended, self-administered questions drawn from the Youth Quality of Life Instrument Facial Differences Module (YQOL-FD) determined perceptions of stigmatization. Mothers (n=153) were independently asked seven matching questions.

RESULTS
Frequencies report combined responses of 'sometimes,' 'fairly often,' and 'very often.' Mother's responses are in parentheses. *35% (47%) noticed people staring at their face in the past week. * 28% (43%) talked with others about how their face looks in the past month. * 29% (31%) heard others say something about their face in the past month. * 32% (32%) told peers about their facial difference in the past month. * 12% (12%) felt left out of doing things with peers because of how their face looks in the past month. * 11% (8%) got into a fight because of how their face looks in the past month. * 20% (18%) were teased about how their face looks in the past month.

CONCLUSIONS
Stigma experiences were frequently reported by youth with facial differences and were correlated with independent parental report. This level of stigma suggests that media and public health interventions may be warranted to reduce discrimination, prejudice and negative adolescent social experiences related to facial difference.


Although synanthropic invasive murid rodents are freely traded in pet shops in South Africa, their taxonomic identities, however, remain largely unknown. Twenty-four murid rodents were sampled from pet shops in four of the five municipalities in Gauteng Province, South Africa for genetic identification using mitochondrial cytochrome b (mtDNA) sequence data. Distance-based Neighbour-Joining (NJ), character-based maximum likelihood (ML) and model-based Bayesian inference (BI) were used to infer the relationship between the pet murid rodents. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus musculus) were the most dominant species in the pet shops. The results demonstrated that pet shop owners lacked the taxonomic expertise to identify murid rodent species they trade in. For example, the juveniles of brown rats were misidentified as adults of the house mouse. The murid rodents sampled in the current study were genetically affiliated to both wild and laboratory strains of R. norvegicus and M. musculus. The results of the BI showed that the pet murid rodents were in the terminal clades as those of conspecifics in NCBI GenBank reference sequences. The molecular data used in the current study may be useful for developing national policies and regulations for synanthropic invasive murid rodents in the pet trade industry in South Africa.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The biologic mechanisms leading to aneurysm healing or rare complications such as delayed aneurysm ruptures after flow-diverter placement remain poorly understood. We used RNA sequencing following implantation of coils or flow diverters in elastase aneurysms in rabbits to identify genes and pathways of potential interest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Aneurysms were treated with coils (n = 5) or flow diverters (n = 4) or were left untreated for controls (n = 6). Messenger RNA was isolated from the aneurysms at 4 weeks following treatment. RNA samples were processed by using RNA-sequencing technology and were analyzed by using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis tool. RESULTS: With RNA sequencing for coiled versus untreated aneurysms, 464/9990 genes (4.6%) were differentially expressed (58 down-regulated, 406 up-regulated). When we compared flow-diverter versus untreated aneurysms, 177/10,041 (1.8%) genes were differentially expressed (8 down-regulated, 169 up-regulated). When we compared flow-diverter versus coiled aneurysms, 13/9982 (0.13%) genes were differentially expressed (8 down-regulated, 5 up-regulated). Keratin 8 was overexpressed in flow diverters versus coils. This molecule may potentially play a critical role in delayed ruptures due to plasmin production. We identified overregulation of apelin in flow diverters, supporting the preponderance of endothelialization, whereas we found overexpression of molecules implicated in wound healing (dectin 1 and hedgehog interacting protein) for coiled aneurysms. Furthermore, we identified metallopeptidases 1, 12, and 13 as overexpressed in coiled versus untreated aneurysms. CONCLUSIONS: We observed different physiopathologic responses after endovascular treatment with various devices. Flow diverters promote endothelialization but express molecules that could potentially explain the rare delayed ruptures. Coils promote wound healing and express genes potentially implicated in the recurrence of coiled aneurysms.


Silica supported Cu–Ni (20 wt% Cu + Ni on silica, molar ratio of Cu/Ni = 2) alloys are prepared via impregnation, coprecipitation, and deposition–coprecipitation methods. The approach to co-precipitate the SiO2 from Na2SiO3 together with metal precursors is found to be an efficient way to prepare high surface area silica supported catalysts (BET surface area up to 322 m2 g−1, and metal area calculated from X-ray diffraction particle size up to 29 m2 g−1). The formation of bimetallic Cu–Ni alloy nanoparticles has been studied during reduction using in situ X-ray diffraction. Compared to impregnation, the coprecipitation and deposition–coprecipitation methods are more efficient for preparation of small and homogeneous Cu–Ni alloy nanoparticles. In order to examine the stability of Cu–Ni alloys in high pressure synthesis gas conversion, they have been tested for high pressure CO hydrogenation (50 bar CO and 50 bar H2). These alloy catalysts are highly selective (more than 99 mol%) and active for methanol synthesis; however, loss of Ni caused by nickel carbonyl formation is found to be a serious issue. The Ni carbonyl formation should be considered, if Ni-containing catalysts (even in alloyed form) are used under conditions with high partial pressure of CO.


This paper presents a 40 Gb/s serial-link receiver including an adaptive equalizer and a CDR circuit. A parallel-path equalizing filter is used to compensate the high-frequency loss in copper cables. The adaptation is performed by only varying the gain in the high-pass path, which allows a single loop for proper control and completely removes the RC filters used for separately extracting the high- and low-frequency contents of the signal. A full-rate bang-bang phase detector with only five latches is proposed in the following CDR circuit. Minimizing the number of latches saves the power consumption and the area occupied by inductors. The performance is also improved by avoiding complicated routing of high-frequency signals. The receiver is able to recover 40 Gb/s data passing through a 4 m cable with 10 dB loss at 20 GHz. For an input PRBS of 2 7-1, the recovered clock jitter is 0.3 psrms and 4.3 pspp. The retimed data exhibits 500 mV pp output swing and 9.6 pspp jitter with BER <10-12. Fabricated in 90 nm CMOS technology, the receiver consumes 115 mW , of which 58 mW is dissipated in the equalizer and 57 mW in the CDR.


Zingiber montanum (ZM) is known as cassumunar ginger and in Indonesia it is locally known as bangle. The rhizome of ZM is known for its use in folk medicines to treat various diseases such as asthma, carminative, colic, diarrhea, stomachic, muscle and joint pain [1,2]. Some related species from the genus of Zingiber also available in local Indonesia market and could be potential adulterants for ZM such as Z. americans (ZA) and Z. zerumbet (ZZ). In Indonesia, ZA and ZZ are known as lempuyang emprit and lempuyang gajah, respectively, and they are also reported to have some similar use like ZM. These three rhizomes look similar in having a pale yellow color, the differences are found in their smell and the size of the rhizome. So physically, to differentiate them is not difficult but it will become challenging if they are present in powdered forms. Moreover, the price of ZM normally is higher than ZA and ZZ, thus ZA and ZZ are sometimes found as adulterants for ZM. Therefore, an accurate analytical method for the identification and authentication of ZM is crucial in order to prevent an adulteration and also to ensure the quality of herbal medicines that use ZM. Fingerprint analysis was recently introduced for this purpose. Identity and authenticity as a part of quality can be derived from fingerprint chromatograms. So far, fingerprint analysis is widely used as a feasible and useful method for species identification and authentication [3]. Since fingerprint chromatograms are complex and they represent the chemical characteristics of a sample, it will contain a large amount of data. To deal with it, we need the help from multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis is used for data handling such as exploratory data analysis or pattern recognition to build an identification, authentication, or classification of the samples. In this study, we developed for the first time a fingerprint analysis using capillary liquid chromatography for identification and authentication of ZM. Fingerprint chromatograms of each sample were obtained by using C18 stationary phase with 60% acetonitrile used as the eluent and was supplied at flow rate 5 ∝L/min, and the detection was monitored at 254 nm. By comparing the fingerprint chromatograms of ZM, ZA and ZZ (Fig. 1), we could identify and authenticate ZM samples using their marker peaks. Combination of the CLC fingerprint and multivariate analysis such as principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA) also could differentiate them successfully. The result indicated that CLC fingerprint analysis was successfully applied for identification and authentication of ZM in combination with PCA and DA.


Existing industrial control and monitoring systems have a significant portion of their costs in cable installation and the maintenance costs associated with moving and replacing cables during machinery maintenance and re-configuration. As the number of wireless and self-configuring devices increases, the wireless coverage footprint expands and removes the need for cable connectivity. Additionally, due to the mobile nature of the wireless devices, the network is also mobile because of its ad-hoc self-configuring ability. The emergence of wireless LANs provides mobility and flexible network deployment to applications and systems.