Recent EU and National policies for agriculture and rural development are mainly focused to foster the production
of high quality products as a result of the increasing demand of food safety, typical foods and traditional processing
methods. Another word very often used to describe foods in these days is "typicality" which pools together
the concepts of "food connected with a specific place", "historical memory and tradition" and "culture". The importance
for the EU and the National administrations of the above mentioned kind of food is demonstrated, among
other things, by the high number of the PDO, PGI and TSG certificated products in Italy.
In this period of global markets and economical crisis farmers are realizing how "typical products" can be an opportunity
to maintain their market share and to improve the economy of local areas. At the same time, new tools and strategy are needed to reach these goals. A lack of knowledge has being recognized also on how new technologies
and results coming from recent research can help in exploiting traditional product and in maintaining the
biodiversity. Taking into account the great variety and richness of typical products, landscapes and biodiversity, this
report will describe and analyze the relationships among typicality, innovation and research in horticulture.
At the beginning "typicality" and "innovation" will be defined also through some statistical features, which ranks
Italy at the first place in terms of number of typical labelled products, then will be highlighted how typical products
of high quality and connected with the tradition and culture of specific production areas are in a strict relationship
with the value of agro-biodiversity.
Several different examples will be used to explain different successful methods and/or strategies used to exploit and
foster typical Italian vegetables, fruits and flowers. Finally, as a conclusion, since it is thought that innovation should
be compatible with typical products without interfere and modify the link between product and area of production
the role of research will be defined and quantified.


Background: It is important to investigate the role of cognitive, developmental and environmental factors in the development and maintenance of Obsessive Compulsive Symptomatology (OCS). Aims: The main objective of this study was to examine the vulnerability factors of OCS in a non-clinical sample. On the basis of Salkovskis' cognitive model of OCD, the study aimed to investigate the role of perceived parental rearing behaviours, responsibility attitudes, and life events in predicting OCS. Furthermore, the mediator role of responsibility attitudes in the relationship between perceived parental rearing behaviours and OCS was examined. Finally, the specificity of these variables to OCS was evaluated by examining the relationship of the same variables with depression and trait anxiety. Method: A total of 300 university students (M = 19.55±1.79) were administered the Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision, Responsibility Attitudes Scale, s-EMBU (My memories of upbringing), Life Events Inventory for University Students, Beck Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Form. Results: Regression analysis revealed that perceived mother overprotection, responsibility attitudes and life events significantly predicted OCS. Furthermore, responsibility attitudes mediated the relationship between perceived mother overprotection and OCS. The predictive role of perceived mother overprotection and the mediator role responsibility attitudes were OCS specific. Conclusions: The findings of the present study supported that perceived mother over-protection as a developmental vulnerability factor significantly contributed to the explanation of a cognitive vulnerability factor (namely responsibility attitudes), and perceived maternal overprotection had its predictive role for OCS through responsibility attitudes.


Introduction:
 Cerebral white matter lesions (WML) increase the risk of stroke and dementia. WML burden is highly heritable, but few genetic variants have been identified to date, which explain a small proportion of the trait variance. To identify novel genetic loci for cerebral white matter lesions, we conducted a trans-ethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies.

 Methods:
 We included 21,079 people of European (N=17,936), Afro-American (N=1,943), Hispanic (N=795), Chinese (N=204) and Malay (N=201) descent from 22 population-based cohorts in the middle-aged and elderly. People with dementia or stroke were excluded. WML burden was quantified on MRI either by a validated automated segmentation method or a validated visual grading scale. Genotype data in each study was imputed to the 1000 Genomes reference panel. We investigated the relationship between each SNP and WML burden with linear regression models, adjusted for age, sex and intracranial volume. A fixed-effects meta-analysis was conducted using a z-score based method for each ethnicity separately and for the total sample.

 Results:
 In the European sample, we confirmed a previously known locus on chr17q25 (p=3.9E-19) and identified two novel loci: on chr2p21 (p=4.1E-08) and chr10q24 (p=9.4E-10). Two additional loci, on chr1q22 (p=4.6E-08) and chr2p16 (p=1.6E-08), were identified in the trans-ethnic meta-analysis. The novel loci contain genes that are involved in the extracellular matrix (chr2p16), ubiquitination (chr1q22) and apoptosis (chr10q24) and have been implicated in Huntington's disease (chr2p21), multiple sclerosis (chr2p21), medulloblastoma (chr10q24) and glioma (chr10q24, chr2p16). Suggestive associations (p<10-6) include loci on chr2q33 containing a gene involved in gliomas, and chr7q31 containing a gene implicated in autism and schizophrenia.

 Conclusions:
 We identified four novel loci for WML burden in a trans-ethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies and confirmed a previously identified locus.


Dietary fibre is discussed to act as an anti-nutritional factor by reducing apparent prececal protein and amino acid (AA) digestibility due to reduced absorption and/or increased endogenous secretion. In the present study the reduction of protein retention caused by fibre supplementation to a threonine (thr) limiting diet is taken as an estimate for increased endogenous thr losses. Methods: Two experiments with twelve castrated male pigs each between 37 and 75 kg of body weight (BW) were conducted to measure the effect of 150 and 300 g per day fibre intake from wheat bran (WBF) (exp.1), and of 150 g per day fibre from rape seed (RSF), cassava leaves (CLF) and cassava roots (CRF) (exp. 2) on nitrogen (N) retention, respectively. Two balance periods were performed in exp. 1, and three periods in exp. 2 where animals were subjected to the dietary treatments according to a cross-over design. All animals received 1.35 kg per day of a basal diet (B) in thr was the first limiting AA. To determine the effect of thr on N retention the basal diet was reduced to 1.15 kg per day (diet B, 1.15) and supplemented with corn starch to reach equal energy intake and an unchanged AA pattern. The different fibre sources were received by a treatment of the respective feeds similar to that of NDF-determination. Results and conclusion: N retention decreased by 2.4, 4.8, 2.4, 0.8, and 0.8 g for WBF (150), WBF (300), RSF, CLF and CRF, respectively. Because diets were thr limited the fibre associated thr losses can be estimated and amount for 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 1.2 and 1.1 g per kg WBF (150), WBF (300), RSF, CLF and CRF, respectively. In many feedstuffs, fibre contributes to a significant proportion of the energy value, however their maintenance is enhanced and thr supply has to be increased to achieve the same level of growth.


Quail-thrushes (Passeriformes: Cinclosomatidae: Cinclosoma ) are ground-dwelling corvoid songbirds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Until now, the only known quail-thrush fossils have been from late Quaternary cave deposits in Australia. A new species of quail-thrush, Cinclosoma elachum sp. nov., is described from the early to middle Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland, Australia. A second, larger quail-thrush is identified from the middle Miocene of Riversleigh. The new fossils considerably extend the geographic and temporal ranges of cinclosomatids, and indicate the presence of two species of quail-thrushes in the Miocene of northern Australia, located more than 300 km from the nearest extant member of Cinclosoma . These fossils provide a minimum age of ~18 million years for Cinclosomatidae. They cannot be confidently assigned to the crown group of the genus Cinclosoma , but can be used to calibrate the split between this genus and Ptilorrhoa in molecular dating studies of the Corvides radiation and Passeriformes overall. This material also adds to the growing diversity of songbirds identified from the pre-Pleistocene record of Australia, and reemphasises the global significance of the Riversleigh deposits in developing understanding about the early evolutionary history of passerines.


Reduced-reference systems can predict in real-time the perceived quality of images for digital broadcasting, only requiring that a limited set of features, extracted from the original undistorted signals, is transmitted together with the image data. This paper uses descriptors based on the color correlogram, analyzing the alterations in the color distribution of an image as a consequence of the occurrence of distortions, for the reduced reference data. The processing architecture relies on a double layer at the receiver end. The first layer identifies the kind of distortion that may affect the received signal. The second layer deploys a dedicated prediction module for each type of distortion; every predictor yields an objective quality score, thus completing the estimation process. Computational-intelligence models are used extensively to support both layers with empirical training. The double-layer architecture implements a general purpose image quality assessment system, not being tied up to specific distortions and, at the same time, it allows us to benefit from the accuracy of specific, distortion-targeted metrics. Experimental results based on subjective quality data confirm the general validity of the approach.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to burnout among residents, a population already at increased risk for heightened stress and work-related fatigue. Residency programs were also forced to alter schedules and educational objectives. We assessed how social distancing restrictions (specifically self-isolation) enacted early in the COVID-19 pandemic affected family medicine (FM) resident well-being and burnout. Our FM department created a 2-week reserve rotation as a response to the need to socially distance and protect the residents. We explored how the reserve rotations impacted their experiences.

METHODS
A purposive sample of FM residents were recruited in May and June of 2020. Qualitative interviews explored well-being and burnout, changes in education and provision of patient care, and overall adaptation to the pandemic. We employed interpretative phenomenology to analyze the interviews.

RESULTS
We interviewed six out of 24 residents before saturation was reached. Qualitative analysis revealed themes related to positive and negative consequences of the pandemic, including uncertainty/fear of the unknown, schedule/life changes, communication, and adapting to a new routine.

CONCLUSIONS
The COVID-19 pandemic placed an additional burden on residents, a group already at increased risk for burnout. While uncertainty and disruptions in work and home life were significant stressors, this cohort demonstrated adaptability and resilience that was facilitated by peer support and effective communication. These factors, along with the reserve rotation with decreased clinical responsibilities, led to an improved sense of well-being and decreased feelings of burnout.


Simple and accurate formulations are employed to represent discrete-time infinite impulse response processes of both first- and second-order differentiators in the Z-domain. These formulations, in conjunction with the representations of transmission-line elements in the Z-domain, lead to transmission-line configurations that are eligible for wide-band microwave differentiators. Both the first- and second-order differentiators in microstrip circuits are implemented to verify this method. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulation values.


A new pilot generation and detection system is described for use in a feedforward compensated power amplifier (FFPA). The pilot tone is generated using frequency-selective nonlinear positive feedback within the FFPA and the IF detection circuit. A feedback loop containing the main amplifier, the second cancellation loop, an IF bandpass filter, and a soft limiter generates a low-level oscillation used as the pilot tone. The frequency of the pilot tone is constrained to the bandwidth of the IF detection filter, and is designed to be outside the bandwidth of the linear signal (carrier). When the pilot tone is isolated sufficiently from the linear signal, the detector output is a monotonic function of the second loop misalignment, making it ideal for loop alignment algorithms based on power minimization. The proposed system differs from other pilot approaches because the feedback structure causes the pilot amplitude to turn-off automatically when the second loop is near the optimal alignment (second loop cancellation reduces the feedback gain below the level needed to sustain an oscillation). This eliminates spurs in the output spectrum associated with pilot feed-through. The pilot re-appears automatically if the alignment degrades (due to the increase in the feedback loop gain). A prototype has been built and tested, verifying the correct operation of the circuit. An open loop power sweep measures the characteristics of the detector and the pilot generator. A closed loop test, where the loop attenuation is swept, demonstrates the system's ability to measure the cancellation provided by the second loop of the FFPA. The pilot system is also tested as part of a FFPA.


N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) is the most prevalent internal modification of eukaryotic messenger RNAs (mRNAs), affecting their fold, stability, degradation, and cellular interaction(s) and implicating them in processes such as splicing, translation, export, and decay. The m 6 A modification is also extensively present in non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and transfer RNAs (tRNAs). Common m 6 A methylation detection techniques play an important role in understanding the biological function and potential mechanism of m 6 A, mainly including the quantification and specific localization of m 6 A modification sites. Here, we describe in detail the dot blotting method for detecting m 6 A levels in RNA (mRNA as an example), including total RNA extraction, mRNA purification, dot blotting, and data analysis. This protocol can also be used to enrich specific RNAs (such as tRNA, rRNA, or miRNA) by isolation technology to detect the m 6 A level of single RNA species, so as to facilitate further studies of the role of m 6 A in biological processes. This protocol was validated in: eLife (2022), DOI: 10.7554/eLife.75231.


Abstract. High altitude stations are often emphasized as free tropospheric
measuring sites but they remain influenced by atmospheric boundary layer
(ABL) air masses due to convective transport processes. The local and
meso-scale topographical features around the station are involved in the
convective boundary layer development and in the formation of thermally
induced winds leading to ABL air lifting. The station altitude alone is not
a sufficient parameter to characterize the ABL influence. In this study, a
topography analysis is performed allowing calculation of a newly defined
index called ABL-TopoIndex. The ABL-TopoIndex is constructed in order to
correlate with the ABL influence at the high altitude stations and long-term
aerosol time series are used to assess its validity. Topography data from
the global digital elevation model GTopo30 were used to calculate five
parameters for 43 high and 3 middle altitude stations situated on five
continents. The geometric mean of these five parameters determines a topography
based index called ABL-TopoIndex, which can be used to rank the high altitude
stations as a function of the ABL influence. To construct the ABL-TopoIndex,
we rely on the criteria that the ABL influence will be low if the station is
one of the highest points in the mountainous massif, if there is a large
altitude difference between the station and the valleys or high plains, if
the slopes around the station are steep, and finally if the inverse drainage
basin potentially reflecting the source area for thermally lifted pollutants
to reach the site is small. All stations on volcanic islands exhibit a low
ABL-TopoIndex, whereas stations in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau have
high ABL-TopoIndex values. Spearman's rank correlation between aerosol
optical properties and number concentration from 28 stations and the
ABL-TopoIndex, the altitude and the latitude are used to validate this
topographical approach. Statistically significant (SS) correlations are
found between the 5th and 50th percentiles of all aerosol parameters and the
ABL-TopoIndex, whereas no SS correlation is found with the station
altitude. The diurnal cycles of aerosol parameters seem to be best explained
by the station latitude although a SS correlation is found between the
amplitude of the diurnal cycles of the absorption coefficient and the
ABL-TopoIndex.


This paper deals with the problem of flight tracking control against actuator faults using the linear matrix inequality (LMI) method and adaptive method. An adaptive fault-tolerant flight controller design method is developed based on the online estimation of an eventual fault and the addition of a new control law to the normal control law in order to reduce the fault effect on the system without the need for a fault detection and isolation (FDI) mechanism. In the framework of LMI approach, the normal tracking performance of the resultant closed-loop system is optimized without any conservativeness and the states of fault modes asymptotically track those of the normal mode. A numerical example of an F-16 aircraft model and its simulation results are given


Objective: The article presents a focused review of the literature surrounding training methods for addressing the proprioceptive loss and subsequent balance problems that result from inversion ankle sprains. Data Sources: The authors searched the MEDLINE and CINAHL databases for the period 1985 through December 2001 using the key words ankle, ankle sprain, and rehabilitation. Study Selection: Any study investigating a rehabilitation or prevention program for the proprioceptive or balance aspects of ankle instability was included. Data Synthesis: Key components of the training regimen used in each study are described, and major findings are summarized. Conclusions: Based on the literature reviewed, there is evidence to suggest that training programs for individuals with ankle instability that include ankle-disk or wobble-board activities help improve single-leg-stance balance and might decrease the likelihood of future sprains. Key Words: sprain, balance, physical therapy, rehabilitation Madras D, Barr JB. Rehabilitation for functional ankle instability. J Sport Rehabil. 2003;12:133-142. © 2003 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.


The c-Fes protein tyrosine kinase is a proto-oncogene that can also act as a tumor suppressor. We implemented a novel phosphoproteomics-based analysis that establishes cognate kinase-substrate associations, and revealed that c-Fes directly phosphorylates Dok1, Ptpn18 and Sts1, facilitating recruitment of the Src inhibitory kinase Csk to these substrates. These interactions resulted in modulation of Src signaling following B-cell receptor (BCR) stimulation and subsequent alteration of the protein levels of CD19, a membrane-localized BCR co-receptor and emerging key protein affecting the development of B- and plasma cell-lymphoma. Strikingly, manipulating c-Fes expression levels drove opposing biological outcomes. Low-level exogenous c-Fes expression led to a strong increase in CD19 protein levels while high c-Fes expression abolished CD19 protein levels. Thus, we propose that a balance of c-Fes and Src signaling can regulate maintenance of CD19, which may influence cellular outcome of accelerated hematopoietic tumorigenesis or tumor suppression. Evaluation of Cttn phosphorylation by the Fes SH2-kinase using co-expression and immunoblotting. Flag-tagged Cttn, Flag-tagged Fes SH2-kinase and Fes E708A SH2-kinase were transfected into DG75 cells and immunoprecipitated with Flag M2 antibody. Immunoblotting revealed increased autophosphorylation of Fes E708A as well as increased phosphorylation of the Cttn substrate as judged by anti-phosphotyrosine staining.


Because of the multi-user and multi-function characteristics of the Teaching Management System of universities, the application system is usually designed to be distributed architecture. This paper analyzes its complex functional demands through building a use case model, finds out the key factors from the aspect of the use case model, and finally meets the distributed needs with the application of lightweight container architecture. The analysis and design of the distributed teaching management system can reduce the risk of failure, and the functional demands of the application system can be realized gradually with the coherence of the architecture.


ABSTRACT In this study, the aeroelastic stability and response of a swept composite wing in subsonic incompressible flow are investigated. The wing is modeled as an anisotropic tapered thin-walled beam with the circumferentially asymmetric stiffness structural configuration to establish proper coupling between bending and torsion. The structural model considers a number of nonclassical effects, such as transverse shear, material anisotropy, warping inhibition, nonuniform torsion, rotary inertia and three-dimensional strain effects. The aerodynamic strip method based on two-dimensional Wagner function in unsteady incompressible flow is used. Following the analysis, the mass, stiffness and the damping matrices of the nonconservative aeroelastic system are formed such that the extended Galerkin method and the separation of variables method can be employed. As a result, the coupled and linear governing system of dynamic equations is obtained. Then, by transforming matrices into the state-space and state-vector forms, the problem under study is finally converted into an eigenvalue problem. The flutter and the divergence speeds for various layer configurations with different geometric and material properties and fiber orientations are obtained. By solving the aforementioned equations of motion in the time domain, the aeroelastic responses of the tapered swept composite wing are computed. The obtained results are compared with the available literature.


A D-Band ×2 frequency multiplier-amplifier chain implemented in a fT/fMAX = 250/330 GHz 0.12 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology is presented. The chain achieves a peak output power of 17.8 dBm at 115 GHz and consists of input balun and push-push frequency doubler which drives a balanced three stages Power Amplifier (PA). It operates from 110 GHz to 130 GHz (3 dB power bandwidth) with -2 dBm input power at V-Band and consumes a total DC power of 600 mW. The PA achieves output 1 dB compression point and saturated power of 13.5 and 17.6 dBm, respectively, at 120 GHz and peak small signal gain of 32 dB.


The Middle Oligocene-Lower Miocene deltaic sediments of the Osmancik and Danişment Formations in NW Turkey comprise organic matter-rich shales and coals. The shales and coals have a mostly very good source rock potential due to its total organic carbon content ranging from 0.02 to 45.53%. T-max (pyrolysis temperature at the maximum rate of kerogen conversion) values have been measured between 351 and 449°C. Thus, the sediments are ranging from immature (only biogenic gas) to middle mature. In addition, organic petrographic investigations in this study suggest that organic matter content of the coals and shales are made up of amorphous (0–5%), herbaceous (3–15%), woody (75–95%), and coaly (0–15%).


Managing disease prevention and monitoring its progression benefits professionals facing the challenge of acquiring new knowledge and information for fighting the many diseases that negatively affect the life of people in areas such as public health systems, families, economic and business systems. From economic and operational points of view, Cancer Registries as organisations managing information by collecting, storing, reporting and interpreting data to improve cancer monitoring which is needed to plan health policies evaluation and design. Sustaining the role of the Cancer Registry as information system for fighting against cancer relies on paying attention on regulatory and ethical aspects with regard to the protection of confidential data, understanding and meeting the organisational challenges, learning from theory and practice emerging from the comparison of international experiences, bringing together voluntary, private initiatives of associations and public programs for sustaining the relevance of gathering and collecting data, information for knowledge about managing prevention and monitoring of the disease as core competence for driving public health systems towards sustainable development. Regulatory and organizational infrastructures help improve both information and knowledge management and design and implement effective measures and initiatives leading to efficacy in preventing and monitoring cancer disease as support to medical scientific research for cancer cure.


Influencing public policy in favor of interest groups can be achieved through advocacy associations legally constituted whose mission is to: (1) promote professional excellence in the application of advanced practices of advocacy, (2) strengthen civil society participation in development of public policies and (3) continuously develop policies to private firms.. Through advocacy associations can uphold and enforce the values of entrepreneurship and free enterprise. Any resource used in advocacy efforts associations should generate added value and impact, contribute to the progress, development and improved quality of life. Advocacy associations must primarily promotes technical and professional skills of advocacy for any civil society interested group with honesty, dignity, mutual respect, transparency and social responsibility in order to strengthen the system of participatory democracy to which they are signatories.


While time pressure is a both common phenomenon and a critical issue in information system (IS) projects, consensus concerning time pressure's impact on IS project outcomes is still lacking. To ad-dress this shortcoming stemming from focusing on quantitative assessments of time pressure's role in sequential projects, we identify seven themes concerning time pressure in IS projects based on in-depth insights gained by conducting semi-structured interviews using the critical incident technique. Considering the different approaches to managing requirements in sequential and agile IS projects, 13 interviews were conducted with requirements engineers working on both IS project types in Germany. Our study reveals a number of differences between agile and sequential projects concerning time pressure, including causes and severity of time pressure as well as requirements engineers' perceptions of time pressure. Insights from a requirements-engineering context advance our understanding in this domain. While our contribution is limited due to its narrow sample, we suggest several directions for future research. Furthermore, we provide guidance for addressing time pressure in IS projects.


ABSTRACT Cutinases have shown potential for hydrolysis of the recalcitrant synthetic polymer polyethylene terephthalate (PET). We have shown previously that the rate of this hydrolysis can be enhanced by the addition of hydrophobins, small fungal proteins that can alter the physicochemical properties of surfaces. Here we have investigated whether the PET-hydrolyzing activity of a bacterial cutinase from Thermobifida cellulosilytica (Thc_Cut1) would be further enhanced by fusion to one of three Trichoderma hydrophobins, i.e., the class II hydrophobins HFB4 and HFB7 and the pseudo-class I hydrophobin HFB9b. The fusion enzymes exhibited decreased k cat values on soluble substrates (p-nitrophenyl acetate and p-nitrophenyl butyrate) and strongly decreased the hydrophilicity of glass but caused only small changes in the hydrophobicity of PET. When the enzyme was fused to HFB4 or HFB7, the hydrolysis of PET was enhanced >16-fold over the level with the free enzyme, while a mixture of the enzyme and the hydrophobins led only to a 4-fold increase at most. Fusion with the non-class II hydrophobin HFB9b did not increase the rate of hydrolysis over that of the enzyme-hydrophobin mixture, but HFB9b performed best when PET was preincubated with the hydrophobins before enzyme treatment. The pattern of hydrolysis by the fusion enzymes differed from that of Thc_Cut1 as the concentration of the product mono(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate relative to that of the main product, terephthalic acid, increased. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis revealed an increased scattering contrast of the fusion proteins over that of the free proteins, suggesting a change in conformation or enhanced protein aggregation. Our data show that the level of hydrolysis of PET by cutinase can be significantly increased by fusion to hydrophobins. The data further suggest that this likely involves binding of the hydrophobins to the cutinase and changes in the conformation of its active center.


Aurantiochytrium, a heterotrophic microalga, produces hydrocarbons inside its cells and has a higher growth rate than other photosynthetic microalgae. To investigate a possible method of extracting hydrocarbons from wet Aurantiochytrium cells, cell cultures of Aurantiochytrium were treated with a high-pressure homogenizer. The influence of cell disruption and extraction time on the cell morphology, hydrocarbon yield, and energy balance of hydrocarbon extraction was evaluated. The hydrocarbon yield increased with an increase in extraction time regardless of cell disruption. After one round of the homogenizing treatment in which cells were fragmented (one-pass treatment), a second round (two-pass treatment) did not cause any additional morphological change. For the 40-min extraction, the yield of hydrocarbon from disrupted samples was found to be over ten times higher than that of undisrupted ones. In contrast, for the 180-min extraction, the yield of undisrupted samples was almost the same as that of disrupted ones because the cells of Aurantiochytrium were disrupted by extended contact with n-hexane over the longer extraction time. Furthermore, the input energy of the 40-min extraction with cell disruption was 78% lower than that of the 180-min extraction without cell disruption to obtain almost the same hydrocarbon yield.


With the objective of establishing guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of compensatory hyperhidrosis, consensus meetings were held. Attendees included a general surgeon and thoracic surgeons affiliated with the Brazilian Society of Thoracic Surgery. The topics addressed were those that would ostensibly broaden multidisciplinary knowledge. Based on recent guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and (clinical and surgical) treatment of compensatory hyperhidrosis, as well as on a review of the medical literature, the participants prepared a preliminary text, whose recommendations were revised and subsequently approved by all of the participants. The consensus text was posted on the Internet, becoming the object of further corrections and revisions prior to taking on its present form.


The authors used a single-case design to examine the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) and person-centered teacher consultation (PCTC) for four elementary students identified with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Two students participated in CCPT and their teachers participated in PCTC. Two students participated in reading mentoring and CCPT. Behavioral observations of all students occurred three times per week. Results indicated that two students demonstrated a substantial reduction and two students demonstrated questionable reduction in ADHD symptoms due to participation in CCPT. Implications for elementary school counselors are discussed.


We generalize the classical mean value theorem of differential calculus by allowing the use of a Caputo-type fractional derivative instead of the commonly used first-order derivative. Similarly, we generalize the classical mean value theorem for integrals by allowing the corresponding fractional integral, viz.\ the Riemann-Liouville operator, instead of a classical (first-order) integral. As an application of the former result we then prove a uniqueness theorem for initial value problems involving Caputo-type fractional differential operators. This theorem generalizes the classical Nagumo theorem for first-order differential equations.


School-average achievement is often reported to have positive effects on individual achievement (peer spillover effect). However, it is well established that school-average achievement has negative effects on academic self-concept (big-fish-little-pond effect [BFLPE]) and that academic self-concept and achievement are positively correlated and mutually reinforcing (reciprocal effects model). We resolve this theoretical paradox based on a large, longitudinal sample (N = 14,985 U.S. children) and improved methodology. More appropriate multilevel modeling that controls for phantom effects (due to measurement error and preexisting differences) makes the BFLPE even more negative, but turns the peer spillover effect from positive to slightly below zero. Thus, attending a high-achieving school has negative effects on academic self-concept and a nonpositive effect on achievement. The results question previous studies and meta-analyses showing a positive peer spillover effect that do not control for phantom effects, along with previous policy and school selection decisions based on this research.


There are species differences between the currently used ACE2 inhibitors (MLN-4760 and DX600) that could be critically relevant to the proper interpretation of studies with these compounds. The effect of these inhibitors on ACE2-driven angiotensin peptides formation and degradation has not yet been studied. Accordingly, we examined the ability of MLN-4760 and two conformational variants of DX600 [a linear (L) and a cyclic (C) form] to inhibit human (h) and mouse (m) recombinant (r) ACE2 using a novel ex vivo LC-MS/MS based approach to concomitantly measure several peptides within the RAS system in plasma. Both mrACE2 and hrACE2 (5ug/mL) when added to blood plasma caused a complete disappearance of Ang II and lead to the formation of Ang-(1-7). As a result of the increase in Ang-(1-7) formation, both mrACE2 and hrACE2 lead also to the formation of Ang-(1-5). This reaction was likely driven by ACE which, like other peptidases, is present in plasma ex vivo assay. The effects of hrACE2 and mrACE2 on the above mentioned Ang peptides were inhibited by MLN-4760 at 10-5M and also at lower concentrations (10-6M and 10-7M). Both, L-DX600 and C-DX600 inhibited the effect of hrACE2 on Ang-(1-7) and Ang-(1-5) formation and this effect was also dose-dependent. By contrast, neither L-DX600 nor C-DX600, even at a high concentration (10-5M), prevented the changes on Ang peptides effected by mrACE2. hrACE2 decreased Ang I levels by 60% whereas mrACE2 did it only marginally. Of note, hrACE2 resulted in the formation of Ang-(1-9) from Ang I whereas mrACE2 did not. In conclusion, there are major differences between the known specific inhibitors of ACE2 between hrACE2 and mrACE2. MLN-4760 inhibits both hrACE2 and mrACE2 whereas DX600 inhibits hrACE2 preferentially. DX600 does not prevent mrACE2-driven formation of Ang-(1-7) from Ang II. mrACE2 effectively degrades Ang II forming Ang-(1-7) whereas it has no effect on the formation of Ang-(1-9) from Ang I. RAS "fingerprinting" is a powerful novel approach to simultaneously evaluate quantitatively several angiotensin peptides in plasma and can be used to demonstrate profound differences on the effect of available ACE2 inhibitors on the formation of various angiotensin peptides driven by human and mouse ACE2.


Stereology is the science that uses geometric probability to extract the internal quantitative properties of a three dimensional object based on lower dimensional information. It is a valuable research tool in biological science and relies heavily on statistical principles. In this dissertation, we focus on studies that examine the number of neurons in a brain region of interest using stereological techniques in order to compare subjects in different diagnostic groups, e. g., subjects with schizophrenia and control subjects. A large number of counting frames are usually used to obtain a prespecified precision for an individual in these kinds of studies. Typically, researchers determine the number of counting frames for each individual by controlling the coefficient of error for the individual. However, the researchers from the Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders (CCNMD) at University of Pittsburgh primarily focus on comparing biomarkers among different diagnosis groups rather than evaluating individuals. A design goal for such stereological studies is to keep study cost within budget and time constraints, while maintaining sufficient statistical power to address the research aims. Statistical power can be increased by either adding more subjects or more counting frames. And the cost of a study can be approximated by a linear combination of the number of subjects and number of counting frames. To address this need, we have developed new technologies that enable researchers to design a cost efficient study balancing the number of subjects with the number of counting frames for each subject. We also develop adaptive designs to conduct stereological studies. Adaptive designs allow the opportunity to look at the data at an interim stage, and to modify the design based on the information obtained from the first stage data. In our adaptive design, we estimate the stereological variance without breaking the blind of the Stage I data, and re-design the second stage based on the stereological variance estimator obtained from the first stage. Based on our procedure, we show researchers can cost-effectively modify the design while maintaining the desired study power.


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Party politics is about cooperation and conflict be ween political parties. At certain times, a party may rule out all political c ooperation with a particular other party. In these cases, there is only conflict betwe n the parties. This dissertation is about such situations. I define the systematic refusal of a particular par ty to cooperate politically with a particular other party as the party's ostracism o f the other party. It is the causes and consequences of ostracism that I wish to explain in this thesis. In order to do so, I first define the concepts of the 'anti-immigration party' and the 'communist party.' Based on both a literature review and an expert survey, c onducted in the course of this study, I classify other parties' responses to the existenc e of 46 anti-immigration and communist parties in 15 countries in postwar Wester n Europe as either 'ostracism' or 'no ostracism.' In the first part of this dissertation, I use the r esulting classification as the dependent variable in a comparative-empirical analy sis, in order to explain the variation in other parties' political responses to particular political parties. Using logistic regression analysis on the basis of two di fferent data sets, I find that other parties are likely to systematically boycott a far right party if they do not need to cooperate with it anyway. They are even more likely to do so if it holds antidemocratic ideologies. The 'ostracism' / 'no ostracism' classification is the main independent variable in the second part of the research, which aims at e xploring the consequences of the exclusion of political parties for their electoral support. I argue and empirically demonstrate, by way of different regression analysi s techniques on the basis of 15 different data sets, that when ostracized, anti-imm igration and communist parties are less able to affect policy outcomes, which is what generally interests voters. As a result, these parties lose votes. There is one main exception to this rule. Anti-immi gration parties that operate in a political context where opposition influence i n parliament is high, and which are represented in the national parliament, are immune to the deleterious impact of ostracism on their electoral support. It seems that ese parties can exercise power over policy-making in spite of being ostracized, th ereby remaining attractive to voters. Thus, institutional factors determine whether or no t ostracizing a rival party is an effective tool in the hands of targeting parties in order to safeguard democracy – or just to hold on to power.


This article uses theories of practice to offer new lines of analysis of distinction through food. Middle-class households typically consume more vegetables than lower-class households. We examine aspects of vegetable consumption practices that might explain this fact. After briefly presenting theories of practice, we define vegetable consumption as a practice. We use household purchase data collected in 2007 for 2600 French households to address two questions: (1) is this theoretical framework relevant in accounting for the determinants of fresh and processed vegetable purchases, and (2) how do commitments to cooking and shopping intervene in the relationship between class position and vegetable consumption? We conclude that distinction occurs through modes of engagement in vegetable consumption. Because the practice's teleoaffective structure is consistent with middle-class notions of health and proper food, these households engage more in fresh vegetable consumption, even though their commitment to cooking is rather low.


Reconfigurable Petri nets are Petri nets together with rules for the dynamic change of the nets. We employ them for the formal modeling in the context of the Living Place Hamburg, a smart home that is an urban apartment serving as  a laboratory for investigating different areas of ambient intelligence. The interaction of the resident and the smart home is modeled using informal descriptions of scenarios. These scenarios provide the resident's procedures together with the smart home's support. A case study using reconfigurable Petri nets for modeling these scenarios has required extensions of the theory and has clearly shown the need for an interleaving semantics for reconfigurable Petri nets. Scenarios are then given by nets, namely decorated place/transition nets that can be adapted to the evolving subgoals by applying rules that change the nets and hence the behavior of the smart home. Decorated place/transition nets are annotated place/transition nets with additional transition labels that may change when the transition is fired. To obtain such reconfigurable Petri nets  we prove that decorated place/transition nets  give rise to an M-adhesive HLR category. The abstract interleaving semantics we introduce is a graph with nodes that consist of an isomorphism class of the net structure and an isomorphism class of the current  marking. Arcs between these nodes represent computation steps being either a transition firing or a direct transformation.


A Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) technique is used in this research for approaching the digital divide problem in Indonesia. In this research, a train system was chosen as infrastructures as DTN routers using Wi-Fi. Tens/hundreds/thousands of remote areas are passed through by a train, this makes Internet services proposed having low costs and appropriate for remote areas. The complete Internet services system was successfully designed and implemented.


ABSTRACT We review the state of evaluation within outcome-based commissioning in the United Kingdom. This is the first review to include empirical evaluations of both PbR and SIB programmes. We find a paucity of evaluation and that the quality of evaluations is not high. Moreover, studies tend to conflate the outcomes-based commissioning mechanism with the intervention or services that are funded, and are unable to assess the contribution of these separate elements to impact. Our review also highlights the challenges faced by evaluators in measuring social outcomes. We suggest ways to address these challenges.


Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) was first identified in Japanese quail to be an inhibitor of gonadotropin synthesis and release. GnIH peptides have since been identified in all vertebrates, and all share an LPXRFamide (X = L or Q) motif at their C-termini. The receptor for GnIH is the G protein-coupled receptor 147 (GPR147), which inhibits cAMP signaling. Cell bodies of GnIH neurons are located in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in birds and the dorsomedial hypothalamic area (DMH) in most mammals. GnIH neurons in the PVN or DMH project to the median eminence to control anterior pituitary function via GPR147 expressed in gonadotropes. Further, GnIH inhibits gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-induced gonadotropin subunit gene transcription by inhibiting the adenylate cyclase/cAMP/PKA-dependent ERK pathway in an immortalized mouse gonadotrope cell line (LβT2 cells). GnIH neurons also project to GnRH neurons that express GPR147 in the preoptic area (POA) in birds and mammals. Accordingly, GnIH can inhibit gonadotropin synthesis and release by decreasing the activity of GnRH neurons as well as by directly inhibiting pituitary gonadotrope activity. GnIH and GPR147 can thus centrally suppress testosterone secretion and spermatogenesis by acting in the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis. GnIH and GPR147 are also expressed in the testis of birds and mammals, possibly acting in an autocrine/paracrine manner to suppress testosterone secretion and spermatogenesis. GnIH expression is also regulated by melatonin, stress, and social environment in birds and mammals. Accordingly, the GnIH–GPR147 system may play a role in transducing physical and social environmental information to regulate optimal testicular activity in birds and mammals. This review discusses central and direct inhibitory effects of GnIH and GPR147 on testosterone secretion and spermatogenesis in birds and mammals.


The aim of the study was to investigate serum levels, as well as the ability to produce in vitro, some pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in patients with brain tumours (BT). Serum concentrations of IFN-gamma, IFN-alpha, TNF-alpha, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, and RA IL-1 were determined in 17 patients with brain tumours, and in 21 healthy donors. The results showed that baseline levels of cytokines studied was above normal in most patients (78%) had the highest rates of IFN-gamma. During the whole observation period, slightly higher in patients compared with healthy individuals (t=1.8) was the content of IFN-alpha. Serum concentrations of IL-4 in patients before treatment were significantly higher than in control group (p<0.01), remaining at about the same level, and after treatment. Levels of Rail-1, IL-6 and IL-8 in patients before treatment were within normal limits, while remaining unchanged at the end of the survey. Indicators induced in vitro production of cytokines studied to some extent correlated with their serum levels. Hyperproduction in vitro IFN-gamma was observed in 61% of patients, low production - 28% of patients, and only in 11% of cases, these figures were within normal limits. In patients with malignant brain tumors were identified violations of serum levels and production of cytokines studied. The most significant was the increase of PHA-induced production of IFN-gamma, which was not reduced by the end of treatment. High serum and, in particular, PHA-induced levels of IFN-gamma at the end of treatment may be recommended as an additional criterion for immunodiagnosis in a dynamic laboratory monitoring.


Dental implant supported restorations have been added substantially to the clinical treatment options presented to patients. However, complications with these treatment options also arise due to improper patient selection and inadequate treatment planning combined with poor follow-up care. The complications related to the presence of inflammation include perimucositis, peri-implant bone loss, and peri-implantitis. Prevalence rates of these complications have been reported to be as high as 56%. Treatment options that have been reported include nonsurgical therapy, the use of locally delivered and systemically delivered antibiotics, and surgical protocols aimed at regenerating the lost bone and soft tissue around the implants. The aim of this article is to report on three cases and review some of the treatment options used in their management.


Measurement of elemental carbon (EC) and black carbon (BC) aerosols was carried out using AE-31, 7 channel aethalometer at Kathmandu and Biratnagar; two mega cities of Nepal, for five months, January to May 2011 to study its temporal and spatial variation. Total solar radiation was also monitored using Kipp and Zonen CMP 6 pyranometer. Monthly concentration variation for EC and BC was distinct in both study sites. At Biratnagar, monthly EC concentration varies from 3.3 -20.7 µg /m 3 while in Kathmandu it varies between 6.0-13.7 µg /m 3 . Similarly, BC monthly concentration ranges from 3.3 -20.1 µg /m 3 and 7.0-14.9 µg /m 3 respectively. It was found that both EC and BC were highest during January in both the sites and it decreases gradually. Monthly average solar radiation shows a maximum value in May and minimum in January. A distinct anti-correlation between monthly average carbonaceous aerosols and total solar radiation was observed. Moreover, there was a pronounced diurnal variation of both carbonaceous aerosols EC and BC in the sites with two high peaks one in the morning at about 9:00 and another at late evening 20:00 local time with minimum concentration in the afternoon. The nature of peaks were different at two sites. Biratnagar shows a larger evening peak while Kathmandu shows in the morning inferring heavy domestic and industrial fuel consuming activities in evening and morning respectively. In addition to this, daily and monthly concentration of EC was more than BC at Biratnagar reflecting slightly more biomass fuel consumption than fossil fuel for domestic, industrial and other urban activities. In contrast to this, Kathmandu shows more domination of fossil fuel than biofuel because of reverse order concentration of carbonaceous aerosols. Total solar radiation also shows apparent diurnal variation in both sites with the highest value at around noon time.


Prior work on controllable text generation has focused on learning how to control language models through trainable decoding, smart-prompt design, or fine-tuning based on a desired objective. We hypothesize that the information needed to steer the model to generate a target sentence is already encoded within the model. Accordingly, we explore a different approach altogether: extracting latent vectors directly from pretrained language model decoders without fine-tuning. Experiments show that there exist steering vectors, which, when added to the hidden states of the language model, generate a target sentence nearly perfectly (> 99 BLEU) for English sentences from a variety of domains. We show that vector arithmetic can be used for unsupervised sentiment transfer on the Yelp sentiment benchmark, with performance comparable to models tailored to this task. We find that distances between steering vectors reflect sentence similarity when evaluated on a textual similarity benchmark (STS-B), outperforming pooled hidden states of models. Finally, we present an analysis of the intrinsic properties of the steering vectors. Taken together, our results suggest that frozen LMs can be effectively controlled through their latent steering space.


Since the end of the 1980s the Norwegian education system has gone through major reform, largely influenced by new managerialist ideas. Strategies to renew the public sector were promoted as the new public management (NPM). This paper investigates the way ideas connected to NPM reforms have been introduced and interpreted in the Norwegian education sector. Based on our studies of selected policy documents from the last two decades, we have identified three areas of discursive struggle. The first one is linked to ideologies and the national history of schooling, the second to contested issues of teacher professionalism and the third is associated with strategies for modernising and improving education. A main argument is that NPM reforms changed direction and sped up when Norway was listed among the 'lower-performing' countries according to Pisa and other international tests. Leadership and accountability became the dominant themes in Norwegian education.


Post-apartheid foreign policy has witnessed a fundamental shift in South African foreign policy objectives and strategies as the country has aimed to move from a pariah to a participant in the international community. Since 1994, South Africa has become an active player in the international system and has assumed an increasingly active role in international organisations. One distinct strand of South African foreign policy which has emerged is a commitment to the use and support of multilateralism. Yet, as the country has become increasingly active in multilateral fora, so too, it is argued, has it been torn between the promotion of its own interests and those of its African peers. At times South Africa is seen to vociferously champion African interests, and at others to sideline the interests of its African partners and the notion of the African Renaissance, in favour of its own interests. Yet, whilst inconsistencies in South African multilateral foreign policy exist, this study argues that overall, South Africa has actively and consciously attempted to establish itself as an African middle power within the international system, and to create a distinct niche for itself as "the voice of Africa" in multilateral fora. Employing a Middle Power approach and utilising the concept of niche-building diplomacy this study investigates first, South Africa's middle power niche in the international system at large, before, secondly, investigating South Africa's role at the World Trade Organisation. The study concludes that, while South Africa has continually attempted to establish itself as "the voice of Africa" in a range of multilateral fora and has acted in a manner consistent with this stated objective, it has acted contrary to its established niche at the World Trade Organisation since joining this organisation in 1994. Indeed, this study finds that whereas in other multilateral fora South Africa has acted as the standardbearer of African interests, in the World Trade Organisation it has acted contrary to African interests time and again. The findings indicate that the Middle Power concept in international relations itself needs to be revisited, that South Africa's role as a middle power in the international system requires greater investigation, and that further research is required on the roles played by other middle powers at the World Trade Organisation.


The dorsum of the human tongue has three types of papillae, filiform, fungiform and circumvallate. Some investigators have studied these by light and transmission electron microscopy. Since knowledge of the morphology through studies by scanning of the morphology through studies by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is scant, this investigation was started with the purpose of studying human tongues at different ages. One fetal tongue and portions of three tongues from newborns were removed. Additional specimens were biopsied from the anterior region of three adult tongues. Samples were processed routinely for light microscopy, transmission electron microscoy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Two distinct features were evident on the fetal tongue. The first was that the surface epithelial layer of the tongue appeared to be periderm. The second was that fungiform papillae began their development earlier than filiform. At birth, the putative periderm had disappeared and a few filiform papillae were observed. On the adult tongue, filiform papillae were numerous and were comprised of two cell populations. One cell population contained numerous keratohyalin granules (KHG). The KHG were two types, eosinophilic and basophilic. Ultrastructurally, the eosinophilic granules were less electron dense and larger in size than the basophilic KHG.


The economic downturn has strongly impacted the Spanish labour market, resulting in the shedding of labour with significant differences across regions. Among them, the region of Andalusia is one of the most striking cases. Since the beginning of the crisis, the regional economy exhibited more negative changes in GDP and an uninterrupted decrease in the employment rate greater than that experienced in the country as a whole. In this context, this paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the behaviour of the Andalusian economy focusing on analysing the region's productive structure and how it is reflected in its labour market. To do so, the paper first presents a comparative analysis of the Andalusian economic structure between 2005 and 2010, before and during the economic crisis, based on the information provided by the corresponding Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs). Then, a shift-share analysis is carried out to analyse the effects of the evolution of productive structures on regional employment trends. The results show that there have been slight changes in the productive structure of Andalusia during 2005-2010 period and this has been reflected in a general decrease in its capacity to generate jobs. However, performance within the group of key productive sectors has been mixed during this time. Of those sectors, manufacturing industries and construction sector have been reduced further, whereas this capability has contracted less for the transport, warehousing and communication services and has increased for commerce services. In this point, the shift-share shows that the general economic climate negatively impacted the manufacturing industries both before and during the crisis, and this is reinforced by the sectoral influence over the complete study period and the continuing loss of specialisation. Although they are a bit more dynamic at the regional level during the crisis period, the above effects can explain the decreases in their capacities to create jobs in 2010 compared with 2005. The construction sector was hardly hit during the crisis period, exhibiting positive behaviour at the regional level during this time, with slight but positive dynamism at the regional level, making the decrease in its capacity barely lower than that observed for the manufacturing industries. Commerce is the most striking case, being the only sector, even among the strategic sectors, that exhibits good job creation performance during the crisis period. This behaviour can be explained by the modest but continuing sectoral and regional effect over the entire study period. In contrast, transport, warehousing and communication services, which was distinguished as a relevant sector with greater dynamism at the regional level during the crisis period, slightly reduced its job capacity, probably due to the simultaneous decrease in its degree of specialisation.


Reliability predictions are often used as the basis for important business decisions, including parts selection, environmental controls, qualification plans, warranties, maintenance plans, and spare requirements. Before a production can be trusted for use, especially in applications requiring high reliability and safety, it must be carefully assessed for validity. In other words, reliability models should only be employed once they are judged to be reliable themselves. It is thus imperative that they satisfy an established set of assessment criteria before being applied to electronic products. This paper establishes the minimum criteria needed to assess the value of a reliability model. The criteria emphasize the influence of environmental and operational stresses; variabilities in failure mechanisms, modes, and sites; design parameters; manufacturing processes and defects; and the statistical distribution of failures. If a model satisfies the criteria, it can be certified as robust enough to provide competent assessments. As an example, the criteria are used to assess various microcircuit reliability models.


[1] Samples of precipitation and atmospheric water vapor were collected together with shallow firn/ice cores as part of the new deep drilling project in northwest Greenland: the NEEM project. These samples were analyzed for their isotope composition to understand the processes affecting the climatic signal archived in the water stable isotope records from the NEEM deep ice core. The dominant moisture source for the snow deposited at the NEEM-site may be originating as far south as 35°N from the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. The surface atmospheric water vapor appears in isotopic equilibrium with the snow surface indicating a large water exchange between the atmosphere and snowpack. The interannual variability of NEEM shallow firn/ice cores stable isotope data covering the last ∼40 years shows an unexpectedly weak NAO signal. Regional to global atmospheric models simulate a dominant summer precipitation in the NEEM area, suggesting that the intermittency of modern winter precipitation is responsible for the lack of a strong NAO imprint. The interannual variability of NEEM isotope data however shows a strong correlation with interannual variations of Baffin Bay sea ice cover, a relationship consistent with air mass trajectories. NEEM deep ice core isotopic records may therefore provide detailed information on past Baffin Bay sea ice extent. NEEM stable water isotope content increasing trend points to a local warming trend of ∼3.0°C over the last 40 years.


2 Rhymer JC, Bell TJ, Perry KC, Ward JP. Hyponatraemia following transurethral resection of the prostate. Br j Urol 1985;57:450-2. 3 Sullevold 0, Tveter K. Changes in oncotic pressure, osmolality and electrolytes following transurethral resection of the prostate using glycine as the irrigating solution. Scand J Urol Nephrol 1983;17:31-6. 4 Yamada S, Morimoto T, Nose H, Ogura K. Responses of the vascular-interstitial-lymph system to saline loading in rats.Jpn J Pzys'ol 1994;34:575-86.


: The logistics of aeromedical evacuation are discussed. The order of magnitude of the problem and detailed analyses are presented. Examples are presented for patient transfer from point of injury in areas remote from hospitalization through successive installations to the hospital for extended treatment and convalescence.


OBJECTIVE
To report the successful treatment of intervertebral disc protrusion with minimally invasive microsurgery in a large breed dog.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective case report.

ANIMAL
A 4-year-old, neutered male, German shepherd dog presented with chronic progressive ambulatory paraparesis and thoracolumbar pain; lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion and severe spinal cord compression at L2-L3 were diagnosed.

METHODS
A minimally invasive approach was used to access the target surgical area by using a muscle splitting technique and retractors. Intraoperative fluoroscopy confirmed correct placement. Magnification and illumination through a surgical microscope were used (microsurgery) to perform the spinal cord decompression by means of a foraminotomy and lateral corpectomy.

RESULTS
Technically, the combination of fluoroscopy and muscle splitting approach offered adequate minimally invasive access. Microsurgery allowed for precise and efficient spinal cord decompression. Clinically, no immediate postoperative neurological deterioration was observed. Opioid usage was limited to 24 hours postoperatively. Focal muscle swelling was observed postoperatively for 2 days, and hospital stay was 3 days. At 7 weeks postoperatively, neurological examination results were normal, and postoperative MRI confirmed spinal cord decompression. No complications were reported.

CONCLUSION
The procedure was associated with a small incision, limited muscle trauma, early improvement of the neurological status, a short hospital stay, and limited postoperative pain.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
This case provides evidence that minimally invasive microsurgery is an effective treatment for intervertebral disc protrusion in large breed dogs and may offer benefits regarding postoperative pain and functional recovery.


In this paper, we develop an extended framework of the daily return-volume relationship which incorporates information and liquidity shocks. First, we distinguish between two trading strategies, information-based and liquidity-based trading and suggest that their respective impacts on returns and volume should be modeled differently. Second, we extend the microstructure setting of Grossman and Miller (1988) at the daily frequency in order to model the impact of liquidity frictions on daily trading characteristics. In particular, the model explains how the liquidity frictions can increase the daily traded volume, in the presence of liquidity arbitragers. Finally, based on this structural framework, we extend the econometric model of Tauchen and Pitts (1983) and derive a modified mixture of distribution hypothesis (MDH) model with two latent factors related to information and liquidity. This model allows us to infer the presence of liquidity frictions from daily data. We thus propose a stock-specific liquidity measure using daily return and volume observations of FTSE100 stocks. JEL classification: C51, C52, G12


Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are useful for many practical tasks in machine learning. Synaptic weights, as well as neuron activation functions within the deep network are typically stored with high-precision formats, e.g. 32 bit floating point. However, since storage capacity is limited and each memory access consumes power, both storage capacity and memory access are two crucial factors in these networks. Here we present a method and present the ADaPTION toolbox to extend the popular deep learning library Caffe to support training of deep CNNs with reduced numerical precision of weights and activations using fixed point notation. ADaPTION includes tools to measure the dynamic range of weights and activations. Using the ADaPTION tools, we quantized several CNNs including VGG16 down to 16-bit weights and activations with only 0.8% drop in Top-1 accuracy. The quantization, especially of the activations, leads to increase of up to 50% of sparsity especially in early and intermediate layers, which we exploit to skip multiplications with zero, thus performing faster and computationally cheaper inference.


In the original description of Palaemon canaliculatus, from "mer des Indes", Olivier (1811) presented the following observations among other more general ones: carapace with median sulcus extending from near posterior margin to base of rostrum, and two lateral ones beginning at same level as median sulcus and reaching tip of rostrum; ventral margin of rostrum bearing single tooth near apex, and lateral margins of telson setose and slightly spinous (un peu epineux). These features indicate that his species is closely related to, if not one of, the following Indo-West Pacific Penaeus: P. japonicus Bate, 1888, P. latisulcatus latisulcatus Kishinouye, 1900, P. latisulcatus hathor Burkenroad, 1959, P. longistylus Kubo, 1943, and P. plebejus Hess, 1865, the only Penaeus in the region that possess all of these characters; however, all five are armed with well-developed spines on the telson.
A few years later, Latreille (1818) published an illustration of P. canaliculatus in which telsonic spines are lacking. In 1837, H. Milne Edwards mentioned various differential characters of P. canaliculatus among which the lack of telsonic spines was included, and cited material from Celebes and I'lle-de-France (Mauritius Island). Later, De Haan (1849) identified material from Japanese waters — an area in which all species of Penaeus with long adrostral sulci possess spines on the telson — as P. canaliculatus. Nobili (1906) considered that De Haan's specimens were P. japonicus, but De Man (1911) indicated that they were probably members of P. latisulcatus.
Since those works appeared, the name P. canaliculatus has been applied to Indo-West Pacific specimens with long adrostral sulci, which either lack or possess spines on the telson. For instance, Paulson (1875) applied the name


The existence of the plasmid incompatibility group D was reaffirmed as a result of compatibility experiments done on plasmids R687, R711b, R778b and R840 which were previously tentatively accepted as constituting the group. The group was further delineated by the isolation of a phage, phage D, which adsorbed specifically to IncD plasmid-encoded pili produced by Escherichia coli K12 strains and strains of Salmonella typhimurium, Proteus morganii and Klebsiella oxytoca harbouring one of these plasmids. Plaque formation, like that of phage pilH alpha, was temperature sensitive in that plaques formed at 26 degrees C but not at 37 degrees C. Plaques were fairly clear, regular in outline and varied from pinpoint to about 1.5 mm in diameter on E. coli hosts where plaques were detected, but on the other hosts the plaques were more turbid and often irregular in outline. The phage did not plate (or propagate) on IncD plasmid-carrying strains of Providencia alcalifaciens, Providencia stuartii or Serratia marcescens. The phage had an isometric hexagonal outline with a diameter of about 27 nm. It contained RNA and resembled two other RNA-containing phages, M and pilH alpha, by being sensitive to chloroform. It adsorbed to the sides of the very distal ends of the shafts of IncD plasmid-coded pili.


The first-order or Blatter-Pattyn ice sheet model, in spite of its approximate nature, is an attractive alternative to the full Stokes model in many applications because of its reduced computational demands. In contrast, the unapproximated Stokes ice sheet model is more difficult to solve and computationally more expensive. This is primarily due to the fact that the Stokes model is indefinite and involves all three velocity components, as well as the pressure, while the Blatter-Pattyn discrete model is positive-definite and involves just the horizontal velocity components. The Stokes model is indefinite because it arises from a constrained minimization principle where the pressure acts as a Lagrange multiplier to enforce incompressibility. To alleviate these problems we reformulate the full Stokes problem into an unconstrained, positive-definite minimization problem, similar to the Blatter-Pattyn model but without any of the approximations. This is accomplished by introducing a divergence-free velocity field that satisfies appropriate boundary conditions as a trial function in the variational formulation, thus dispensing with the need for a pressure. Such a velocity field is obtained by vertically integrating the continuity equation to give the vertical velocity as a function of the horizontal velocity components, as is in fact done in the Blatter-Pattyn model. This leads to a reduced system for just the horizontal velocity components, again just as in the Blatter-Pattyn model, but now without approximation. In the process we obtain a new, reformulated Stokes action principle as well as a novel set of Euler-Lagrange partial differential equations and boundary conditions. The model is also generalized from the common case of an ice sheet in contact with and sliding along the bed to other situations, such as to a floating ice shelf. These results are illustrated and validated using a simple but nontrivial Stokes flow problem involving a sliding ice sheet.


Treatment of HIV-1-infected patients with antiretroviral agents is not always successful due to the emergence of resistant HIV-1 mutants with reduced susceptibility to the agents. However, factors other than viral mutation may also contribute to treatment failure. It has been demonstrated that the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) is a key determinant of oral bioavailability of HIV-1 protease inhibitors and their penetration of the central nervous system. More recently, we have found that the expression of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) in a CD4+ T-cell line confers cellular resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). The anti-HIV-1 activity of the NRTI zidovudine (AZT) was significantly diminished through the reduction of its metabolite levels in MT-4 cells which express high levels of BCRP. Moreover, the BCRP-specific inhibitor fumitremorgin C could completely restore the cytotoxicity of AZT and intracellular levels of its metabolites in BCRP-expressing cells. Thus, BCRP is considered to be a cellular factor that modulates the anti-HIV-1 activity of NRTIs.


We propose that a new type of drill, alternately known as a Fast Mechanical-Access Drill, or Coiled Tubing Drill for Ice (CTDI), be developed for polar research. The proposed drill is similar in concept to the latest coiled tubing (CT) drills used for commercial oil and gas develop- ment. CT drills use a metal or advanced-composite tube to deliver fluid downhole to a hydraulic motor that drives a cutting bit. This technique should permit drilling rates of ∼ 40 m·hr −1 in polar ice. The bulk of the components are commercially available. The CTDI would be: a) capable of drilling through 3-4 km of ice in 6-8 days, including setup time, b) aircraft (LC-130) transportable and sled-mounted for rapid mobilization/demobilization, c) able to drill an array of deep boreholes in a single season, d) able to produce semi-permanent uniform-diameter holes with minimal thermal disturbance, e) capable of acquiring rock cores, frozen sediment cores, and short ice cores, f) suffi- ciently modular and flexible by design that new tools can be added to satisfy future research needs. The capabilities of the CTDI would fill the void between existing deep ice-core drills and hot-water drills. It is believed the new drilling system would greatly enhance several lines of current research, as well as allow the pursuit of new scientific investigations that are not currently feasible. The CTDI could be used by the research community to help address outstanding questions concerning the Earth's climate system, the history and dynamics of ice sheets, the geology and tectonics of polar regions, and the biology within and beneath polar ice sheets. Finally, we discuss access drills for investigating conditions within Antarctic subglacial lakes.


Atherosclerotic plaque rupture is responsible for the majority of acute coronary syndromes and myocardial infarctions. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging is a widely available clinical technique providing real time cross-sectional images of the vessel wall and plaque morphometry. However, IVUS echo images have limited ability to predict the vulnerability of the plaque. The mechanical behavior of the plaque is consistent with its underlying components, suggesting that measurements of plaque mechanical response can be used to assess the likelihood of plaque rupture [1]. Arterial wall strain in response to luminal pressure change is such a measurable quantity. IVUS elastography has been developed to measure the radial strain through correlation analysis of the IVUS radiofrequency (RF) signal [2]. Due to the movements of IVUS catheter caused by cardiac motion and the nonlinearity of tissue deformation, reliable strain is obtained by elastography only when the tissue motion is aligned with the RF direction and the RF traces correspond to the same axial location. This is difficult to achieve in vivo. We have developed a strain estimation method based on IVUS image registration. This 2D processing method has the ability to overcome in-plane catheter movement and heterogeneous tissue deformation, thereby increasing its accuracy. Using retrospectively retrieved cardiac phase information, we propose a practical method to estimate cross-sectional coronary arterial wall strain distribution from clinically acquired images during a conventional IVUS procedure.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Cloud governance, and in particular data governance in the cloud, relies on different technical and organizational practices and procedures, such as policy enforcement, risk management, incident management and remediation. The concept of accountability encompasses such practices, and is essential for enhancing security and trustworthiness in the cloud. Besides this, proper measurement of cloud services, both at a technical and governance level, is a distinctive aspect of the cloud computing model. Hence, a natural problem that arises is how to measure the impact on accountability of the procedures held in practice by organizations that participate in the cloud ecosystem. In this paper, we describe a metamodel for addressing the problem of measuring accountability properties for cloud computing, as discussed and defined by the Cloud Accountability Project (A4Cloud). The goal of this metamodel is to act as a language for describing: (i) accountability properties in terms of actions between entities, and (ii) metrics for measuring the fulfillment of such properties. It also allows the recursive decomposition of properties and metrics, from a high-level and abstract world to a tangible and measurable one. Finally, we illustrate our proposal of the metamodel by modelling the transparency property, and define some metrics for it.


How much should a family save for retirement and for the kids' college education? How much insurance should they buy? How should they allocate their portfolio across different assets? What should a company choose as the default asset allocation for a mandatory retirement saving plan? We believe that the life-cycle model developed by economists over the last fifty years provides guidance for making such decisions. The theory teaches us to view financial assets as vehicles for transferring resources across different times and outcomes over the life cycle, and that perspective allows households and planners to think about their decisions in a logical and rigorous way. This paper lays out and illustrates the basic analytical framework from the theory in nonmathematical terms, with the aim of providing guidance to financial service providers, consumers, and policymakers.


We report on a microscopic investigation of the polariton parametric emission in the presence of coherent and incoherent interaction processes by means of a full quantum description based on a nonequilibrium quantum Langevin approach for open systems applied to interacting-electron complexes described within the dynamics controlled truncation scheme. It provides an easy recipe to calculate multi-time correlation functions which are key-quantities in quantum optics. In particular we report on calculations of polariton intensities (i.e. single time correlators) and spectra (i.e. two times correlators). We apply our scheme to a two-pumps set-up in microcavity recently proposed showing a quantitative analysis of the quantum correlation properties of the emitted photons. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.


To be accepted as a music major, both freshmen and transfer students must successfully complete an audition on their major applied instrument, complete The Undergraduate Placement Examination in Music Theory, and be evaluated in keyboard skills. Prospective students should contact the School of Music for information on specialized programs, as well as dates and times for The Undergraduate Placement Examination in Music Theory.


Iran has a various salt
structures that their tectonic geomorphology is subject of this paper. Geologic
situation of salt structures in Iran have determinate. According to age and
geological setting of salt deposits that revealed by tectonic geomorphology
methods, salt structure provinces of the Central and Southern Iran have been
distinguished. Also, critical concepts of salt diapirism in the Southern Iran
and Central Iran salt basins have explained. Therefore, Central Iran's salt
diapirs have triggered by tectonic forces, but salt diapirism in the Southern
Iran has triggered by halokinesis, then it has effected by tectonic forces,
especially in Zagros fold and thrust belt.


Objectives: The impact of HIV and associated opportunistic infections compounded by inappropriate dietary practices among children leads to under nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. This study determined the dietary practices, morbidity patterns and nutrition status of HIV/AIDS infected and non-infected pre-school children in Kibera slums. Methodology and results: A comparative descriptive design was used to conduct a study in May 2005 among 64 HIV/AIDS infected and 64 non-infected pre-school children in Kibera slum. Data was obtained a researcher administered questionnaire and focus group discussion guides. Results indicated that the average number of meals consumed per day was 3.4. The consumption of cereals, vegetables, fruits and animal products were irregular. Except for fat, intake of macronutrients and micronutrients were inadequate. The main illnesses were malaria, cold, cough and pneumonia which manifested as fever, diarrhea, vomiting and loss of appetite. A total of 44, 33 and 52% of the infected children were stunted, wasted and underweight as compared to 22, 21 and 17%, respectively, for the non-infected group. .The education level of the caregiver, amount of kilocalories taken, and number of meals taken per day, household size and morbidity patterns of the children significantly affected the nutrition status. The children's poor nutrition status was due to poor dietary practices. This was compounded by the effect of the manifestations of various infections like diarrhea, vomiting, fever and loss of appetite which deteriorated the nutrition status. There was no significant difference between the number of meals per day (p = 0.061), amount of kilocalories taken per day (p = 0.093) for the two groups. However, there was a significance difference in the number of sick (p = 0.048), wasted (p = 0.043), stunted (p = 0.035) and underweight (p = 0.028) children for the two groups. The significant difference in morbidity patterns and nutrition status was due to opportunistic infections which increases nutrient needs. The infected children were frequently ill with the manifestations of the infections lasting longer. Conclusions and application of the findings: The study recommends the use of nutrient dense products to provide more nutrients as needed, educating caregivers on nutritional management of HIV patients and initiating income generating activities to improve food security in the study areas.


One of the responses to the fight against climate change by the developing world has been the large-scale adoption of solar energy. The adoption of solar energy in countries like India is propagating mainly through the development of energy producing photovoltaic farms. The realization of solar energy producing sites involves complex decisions and processes in the selection of sites whose knowhow may not rest with all the stakeholders supporting (e.g., banks financing the project) the industry value chain. In this article, we use the region of Bangalore in India as the case study to present how open innovation using satellite imagery can provide the necessary granularity to specifically aid in an independent initial assessment of the solar photovoltaic sites. We utilize the established analytical hierarchy process over the information extracted from open satellite data to calculate an overall site suitability index. The index takes into account the topographical, climatic, and environmental factors. Our results explain how the intervention of satellite imagery-based big data analytics can help in buying the confidence of investors in the solar industry value chain. Our study also demonstrates that open innovation using satellites can act as a platform for social product development.


Electrical actuation systems have recently been introduced in aviation pursuing the concepts of More Electric Aircraft. Instead of employing hydraulic pipelines, Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) transfers the power by "wires" with a consequent improvement of the aircraft actuation performance. However, the integration of linear electromechanical actuators is promising yet challenging in safety critical systems. Within this context, this work critically reviews electromechanical actuators currently available for aerospace application, the limits for their upcoming deployment and the different solutions to achieve an on-condition maintenance to reduce any safety risk during lifetime. First of all, the typical conversion mechanism adopted so far are briefly described with emphasis on the most suited for aerospace applications. A further insight is given to failure modes of these systems, which dramatically contrast the countless inherent advantages thereof. A particular attention is given to the jamming of the driven load, which is a critical mechanical transmission failure in many applications such as primary flight controls or landing gears extension and steering. Finally, the focus is moved to possible strategies to avoid any hazard induced by this failure. In particular, any structural alteration which is prone to induce jamming can be monitored towards the establishment of a predictive maintenance. Different possibilities are available in the way to timely assess the bearing of inner EMA surfaces where screwing is enabled.


Can George count all the way to 100? He has picked the perfect day to try: It's his town's 100th birthday today, and everyone is coming out to celebrate! Young minds (and little fingers) will learn along with George, discovering different techniques for counting to 100, such as grouping and mapping. Each colourful page features familiar things to count, from home (toys, shoes, and plates) to the park (bugs, sticks, and clouds) to school (paste, crayons, and books). Now, in a newly redesigned paperback with a smaller trim and bright new cover, this is the perfect book for celebrating counting, numbers, and the 100th day of school.


Multi-drug resistant bacteria are a public health problem associated with high morbidity and mortality globally. This increasing drug resistance has been linked to gene exchange between bacteria. Integrons are gene exchange systems and are known to play a significant role in the acquisition and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes especially in Gram negative bacteria. Hence, this study aims to evaluate integrons in members of Enterobacteriaceae obtained from clinical samples. Forty- nine (49) isolates identified as Escherichia coli (45), Proteus mirabilis (2), Shimwellia blattae (1), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (1) were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanate, cefuroxime, cefixime and ceftazidime while 43(87.76%), 45(91.84%), 46(93.88%) and 29(59.18%) of these strains were resistant to gentamicin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and nitrofurantoin, respectively. Class 1 integrons were found in E. coli (18), Klebsiella pneumoniae (1) and Proteus mirabilis (1). This study revealed that large proportion of the strains studied were multi-drug resistant, and possessed integrons. Consequently, there is a need for proactive antibiotic surveillance system in both healthcare and community settings with a view to reducing the incidence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes between different species of bacteria.

 Key words: Enterobacteriaceae, clinical samples integrons, multidrug resistance.


Abstract : The Willamette Valley was historically dominated by three types of wetlands: wet prairies, shrub/scrub, and forested. As a consequence of drainage for agriculture and urban development, most of these diverse wetlands have been lost. Restoration of native wetlands is limited by a lack of knowledge about native plant species' growth and establishment requirements. This report presents results from four investigations of establishing wetland vegetation native to the Willamette Valley. In the first study, Pest Plant and Seed Bank Reduction (Chapter 2), three site preparation techniques were applied to a disturbed wet prairie that contained exotic species. The objectives of the study were to determine (a) whether the treatments reduced pest plant abundances for more than 1 year, (b) if treatments also reduced native plant species, and (c) whether treatment effects were consistent among years. Tilling with fall owing and solarization (heating under plastic) were generally found to be more effective than burning at reducing existing plants. Native plants were affected by all treatments. Although each treatment was effective at reducing at least one exotic plant species, none of the treatments were generally effective at controlling pest plants. This may have been due to cool, dry weather conditions during the treatments that were not conducive to seed germination. The authors conclude that site treatments should be applied for more than 1 year, and native plant materials should be planted as soon as possible to outcompete the recovering exotic species.


Abstract My contrapuntal readings of the indigenous rights debates that took place in the United Nations in the 1990s and two Native American historical novels on the Indian Removal published in the United States around the same time reveal that Native American literary production has been deeply inflected by the law. Robert Conley's Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears (1992) needs to be read as a critique of the idea that Native American rights can be secured from within the United States' legal order. Through the jarring juxtaposition of historical legal documents and a romantic plot, the novel deconstructs the idea of domestic law as an agent of change and introduces the language of human rights as an alternative normative framework for Native resistance. Diane Glancy's Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears (1996) engages with a question that figured prominently in the debates about indigenous rights, namely whether these rights can be realized within the context of a human rights regime that puts the individual center stage. On closer scrutiny, the novel opens up an alternative way of thinking about the relationship between individual and group rights. It thereby contributes to closing the theoretical gap between individual and group rights, which stymied indigenous rights debates considerably.


This research explores how secondary school English teachers frame and address the problems of teaching comprehension, knowledge about language (KAL) and writing, and how this influenced the uptake of ideas about genre pedagogy. Literacy attainment in Scotland has plateaued (OECD, 2010), and the new curriculum guidelines, (Scottish Government, 2009) locate literacy as a cross cutting theme that all teachers need to address. In many schools, English teachers are considered best placed to implement this. The data consists of pre- and post-intervention standardised comprehension tests (Burg et al., 2010) and criterion referenced writing assessments (Rose & Martin, 2012), administered to 108 pupils aged 11-12 yrs, from four classes in three local authorities and one independent school in Scotland. Teacher views on literacy teaching were collected through semi-structured interviews focused on their experiences of teaching literacy, the challenges; pupils' progress, and professional development opportunities prior to their engagement in a Comenius funded project linked to genre pedagogy 'Reading to Learn' approaches developed by Rose & Martin, (2012). Results indicate that English teachers found it difficult to articulate how they taught reading skills. They taught writing by deconstructing exemplars and encouraging learners to incorporate the features into their own writing. Challenges included pupils' poor grasp of world concepts and weak vocabulary, which were linked to insufficient personal reading. They did not link KAL or talking and listening to their teaching of reading/writing. The pupil attainment data indicates different impacts on different cohorts. It is often assumed that English teachers' specialist language knowledge ensures the ability to articulate how to progress children's literacy through teaching. This study shows that that teaching was framed by texts, personal dispositions and comprehension questions and lacked a strong pedagogical framework for advancing literacy development in inclusive and purposeful ways. To deliver the increased literacy attainment that Scotland requires, it may be beneficial to address the literacy pedagogical knowledge of English teachers. The paper suggests methods of approaching this.


An illustrated guide to exploring the Universe in three dimensions. Astronomers have made remarkable discoveries about our Universe, despite their reliance on the flat projection, or 2D view, the sky has offered them. But now, drawing on the vast stores of data available from telescopes and observatories on the ground and in space, astronomers can now use visualization tools to explore the cosmos in 3D. In Stars in Your Hand, Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke offer an illustrated guide to exploring the Universe in three dimensions, with easy-to-follow instructions for creating models of stars and constellations using a 3D printer and 3D computer imaging.
 Stars in Your Hand and 3D technology make learning about space an adventure. Intrigued by the stunning images from high-powered telescopes? Using this book, you can fly virtually through a 3D spacescape and hold models of cosmic objects in your hand. Arcand and Watzke outline advances in 3D technology, describe some amazing recent discoveries in astronomy, reacquaint us with the night sky, and provide brief biographies of the telescopes, probes, and rovers that are bringing us so much data. They then offer images and instructions for printing and visualizing stars, nebulae, supernovae, galaxies, and even black holes in 3D. The 3D Universe is a marvel, and Stars in Your Hand serves as a unique and thrilling portal to discovery.


This paper outlines the formulation of a state of the art intelligent multi agent society that exploits, through semantic enhancement, the data available in an existing digital building model (DBM) software architecture (see (Dibley et al., 2009)). Collectively the agents combine a range of specialist ontologies scoped to sub domains to realise individual and collective skills. Each ontology uses an appropriate knowledge representation to maximise simplicity while retaining adequate expressivity. A shared upper ontology is employed to support general communication and to provide 'common sense' knowledge. The agents in general are characterised by the strong notion of agency (as described in the literature), using the BDI (belief, desire, intention) model of agency as a powerful abstraction tool that is suited to applications where the complexity of systems and processes cannot be fully modelled using conventional techniques. The goals of the agents are, typically, to maximize some defined utility, and resulting behaviours are individual and collaborative, aligned and opposed. Knowledge retained, evolved and utilised by agents needs only to be generally locally consistent, and collectively the system can contain redundancy. The BDI model hasn't yet been exploited in construction industry applications; most existing work employs task/plan rather than goal focussed deliberative agents.