In a conversation with his physician, a 19th-century resident of Paris who lived near the railroad described sensations of colour generated by the sounds of trains passing in the night. This patient - a synaesthete - experienced "colour hearing" for letters, words and most sounds. Synaesthesia, a phemomenon now known to science for over a century, is a rare form of perception in which one sense may respond to stimuli received by other senses. This book provides an historical treatment of synaesthesia and a closely related mode of perception called eideticism. Kevin Dann discusses divergent views of synaesthesia and eideticism over the last 100 years and explores the controversies over the significance of these unusual modes of perception. Celebrated at the turn of the century as a uniquely creative form of consciousness, synaesthesia became embroiled in a debate between Romantics who championed it as a desirable harbinger of a new, more spiritual age, and positivists who denounced it as primitive and irrational. The author debunks Romantic notions of the transcendental nature of synaesthesia and shows that although novelist Vladimir Nabokov was a true synaesthete and eidetic, other individuals the Romantics considered synaesthetes were not. Drawing on studies of autism and hallucinogenic drugs, Dann offers perspectives on synaesthesia and eideticism and how they relate to the evolution of human consciousness.


A highly sensitive optical fiber torsion sensor with femtosecond laser-induced low birefringence SMF-based Sagnac interferometer (SI) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. A straight-line waveguide positioned horizontally with respect to the fiber core is inscribed by the femtosecond laser in the cladding of the SMF, which leads to the asymmetry stress distribution in the SMF, and then gives rise to the low birefringence in the SMF. Compared with most of the previous reported SI based torsion sensors, there is no splicing joint in the femtosecond laser-induced low birefringence SMF-based SI, which lowers the transmission loss and makes the SI based torsion sensor more robust simultaneously. The experiment result shows that the proposed torsion sensor exhibits a torsion sensitivity of up to 3.2562 nm/degree, with the high torsion resolution of 0.003 degree. In contrast, the temperature cross-sensitivity and strain cross-sensitivity of the proposed torsion sensor are low, to -0.000055 degree/°C and 0.000013 degree/με, respectively, thus overcoming the cross-sensitivity problem resulting from temperature and strain. Moreover, theoretical analysis are carried out to compare with the experimental results to demonstrate the feasibility and good consistency.


This thesis investigates the question of whether judicial review of legislation is a hindrance to democracy. My main claim is that the existing literature on this topic fails to pay adequate regard to the symbolic significance of political institutions, that is, the role that legislatures and courts play in the popular imagination. I argue that we should not view constitutional systems merely as decision-making mechanisms, since a society's institutional structure will colour its sense of political agency and shape the way in which citizens view their relationships with political officials and with one another. Different constitutional structures accordingly project different visions of constitutionalism and democracy. In particular, I argue, representative government should be viewed not merely as a compromise between equality of input and quality of output, but as a distinctively valuable form of government in its own right. The representative assembly serves as the focal point for public political debate and symbolises a commitment to government through an inclusive process of deliberation. Legislative supremacy – the practice of accepting the enactments of a representative assembly as the decisions of the people as a whole – can therefore allow the law to be seen as the output of the political power of a self-governing people. Judicial review, on the other hand, will tend to signify a set of boundaries around the democratic political process, thus truncating the people's shared sense of self-government.


Todays, industries are seeking the ways to improve their competitiveness and responsiveness in order to achieve the most share of markets and customer satisfaction. Optimization of strategic and tactical decisions in a logistics network would improve total performance of the supply chain in a long term planning horizon. This paper presents a Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to optimize logistics networks under real limitations such as demand, capacity, and budget constraints. Due to NP-hard nature of the proposed model a Differential Evolutionary (DE) algorithm is proposed to solve the large sizes of the presented model in reasonable time. Finally, the computational results obtained through the DE algorithm are compared with the solutions obtained by GAMS optimization software. The results reveal that the proposed methodology is an efficient tool to optimize large scale logistics networks.


Reflecting the substantially increased interest in tautomerism, this book demonstrates the transformation of fundamental knowledge into novel concepts and the latest applications. Each chapter introduces the theoretical background, before reviewing and critically discussing the experimental techniques and corresponding applications. Special emphasis is placed on tautomerism under unusual conditions, such as in supramolecular solids and at surfaces, displaying the wide scope between basic research and timely applications.


We propose a reconstruction scheme adapted to MRI that takes advantage of a sparsity constraint in the wavelet domain. We show that artifacts are significantly reduced compared to conventional reconstruction methods. Our approach is also competitive with Total Variation regularization both in terms of MSE and computation time. We show that ℓ1 regularization allows partial recovery of the missing k-space regions. We also present a multi-level version that significantly reduces the computational cost.


The Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) mission provides information on high resolution X-ray spectra emitted by collisional bremsstrahlung of thermal and non-thermal electrons with ions in solar flares. One of the aims of the mission is to infer information about the acceleration and transport mechanisms of hard X-ray emitting electrons and 7-ray emitting ions in solar flares. I investigate events observed during distinct attenuator states of the satellite, which have unique characteristics in their photon and mean electron distributions. Such characteristics include evidence of low energy cutoff features and other such physically real bump and dip features. In the framework of a colli-sionally thin bremsstrahlung model and an adjustable thermal function I forward fit these to the background-removed count flux data, using least squares minimization via OSPEX (Object Spectroscopy Executive). Along with Chi-Square Tests, I present random and non- systematic residuals to show goodness of fit. Conversion from count rate to count flux and then to photon flux spectra is a traditional approach to modelling hard X-ray spectra, but is significantly unreliable due to its dependence on parametric electron distribution approximations. Model independent hard X-ray spectra can be non-trivially calculated using the Detector Response Matrix (DRM) and are computed using a sequence of algorithms solving a linear system of equations, which present an inversion problem characterized by numerical instability due to the non-diagonal nature of the DRM. The extent of such instability is unique for different DRM configurations, hence different under each attenuator state. We then address the solution of this inversion problem- by using a regularization algorithm with the aim of inferring accurate and useful electron distribution spectra. Adjustment of this procedure to convert directly between counts and electrons, which is a one step rather than two step process, presents more robust and detailed information about features of electron dynamics during flares. Significant features such as low and high energy cutoffs tell us much about electron acceleration properties and energy losses in the flare evolution. Comparing regularized solutions in each event through different approaches will allow for confirmation of the existence or non-existence of such features. This innovative regularization technique is capable of portraying a truer interpretation of both hard X-ray and mean electron spectra.


Abstract The Yakataga Formation contains mudstones, sandstones, and diamictites that represent fluctuating marine and glaciomarine deposition in the Gulf of Alaska since the latest Miocene. These rocks contain distinctive benthic foraminiferal assemblages that provide insight into the depositional, structural, and climatic history of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Qualitative analyses of benthic foraminiferal distribution patterns have been used previously to define eight stratigraphic sequences in the offshore Yakataga Formation. Results of multivariate quantitative methods are presented here to provide additional insight into the nature of foraminiferal faunas and to demonstrate the potential for using quantitative methods in sequence biostratigraphy. Cluster and polytopic vector analyses of 158 samples from the offshore Yakataga Formation indicate distinct mixtures of foraminiferal faunas within the samples. Polytopic vector analysis suggests that samples contain mixtures of seven end members representing the neritic through bathyal environments: EM1: Elphidium excavatum clavatum biofacies (inner neritic); EM2: Epistominella pacifica biofacies (upper bathyal and middle bathyal); EM3: sharp-margined Cassidulina spp. biofacies (outer neritic); EM4: round-margined Cassidulina spp. biofacies (outer neritic); EM5: Cassidulina californica biofacies (outer neritic); EM6: Uvigerina ex gr. peregrina biofacies (upper to middle bathyal); and EM7: Haplophragmoides spp. biofacies (outer neritic through upper bathyal). Identification of several outer neritic biofacies indicates heterogeneity within this environment, probably due to differences in substrates and nutrient levels. Mixing of biofacies is primarily due to downslope transport of faunas across the shelf and slope and may also be the result of constriction of environmental zones due to advances of the tidewater glacier margins across the shelf.


The recent increase in interest in Interactive Storytelling systems, spurred on by the emergence of affordable virtual reality technology, has brought with it a need to address the way in which narrative content is visualized through the complex staging of multiple narrative agents' behaviors within virtual story worlds. In this work we address the challenge of automating several aspects of staging the activities of a population of narrative agents and their interactions, where agents can have differing levels of narrative relevance within the situated narrative actions. Our solution defines an approach that integrates the use of multiple dynamic regions within a virtual story world, specified via a semantic representation that is able to support the staging of narrative actions through the behaviors of the primary and background agents' that are involved. This encompasses both the mechanics of dealing with the narrative discourse level as well as the interaction with the narrative generation layer to account for any dynamic modifications of the virtual story world. We refer to this approach as MISE-en-scene Region (MISER) support. In this paper, we describe our approach and its integration as part of a fully implemented Interactive Storytelling system. We illustrate the work through detailed examples of short narrative instantiations. We present the results of our evaluation which clearly demonstrate the potential of the MISER approach, as well as its scalability.


The theme of the conference was "Library Supporting Studying: Spaces and Collaboration". My presentation focused on Manchester Met Library's ethos and approach to developing a 24 hour library service. Detailing the practical and political elements of delivering a 24 hour service; including key considerations, issues to overcome and benefits. My presentation also covered the vital role of RFID self-service and complimentary customer services, such as our virtual helpdesk.


Occupational exposure to toxic chemicals such as Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) from diesel engine exhaust implicates genotoxic risk. The objective of this study was to determine the DNA damage among KL Sentral depot workers exposed to TVOC by means of cytogenetic analysis. Data were obtained partially from disseminated questionnaires and buccal cells samples were collected from a total of 27 depot workers and 10 office workers by using wooden tongue depressor. TVOC measurement was carried out by using Photoionisation Detector (PID). 4 sampling points were selected, namely Locomotive (LOCO), Power Generating Car (PGC), refuelling of diesel and coach. Cytogenetic analysis was done by using Acridine Orange (AO) staining. Micronucleus (MN) frequency as a biomarker for DNA damage was scored from 1,000 cells per sample observed under fluorescence microscope. The results showed that the overall means of concentrations for TVOC were 0.1±0.1, 0.0±0.0, 0.1±0.0 and 0.1±0.0 in LOCO, PGC, refuelling of diesel and coach, respectively. TVOC concentration measured did not exceed the permissible level based on DOSH 2010. For the cytogenetic analysis, depot workers showed significantly higher MN (p<0.001) than the office workers. Besides that, the sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, smoking status) and the MN frequency of the depot workers were also significantly higher than the office workers. However, there was no significant difference in MN frequency between workers wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and without wearing PPE [MN (p=0.491)]. In addition, there was a positive correlation between the working period (year) and the frequency of MN with r2=0.54, p<0.01. The result also showed that exposure to TVOC was a significant predictor of the MN frequency (p<0.001). On the other hand, smoking status did not show any significant association with the frequency of MN. These findings showed that depot workers exposed to TVOC were prone to DNA damage. Therefore, biomonitoring of DNA damage among depot workers is recommended in order to improve occupational health and safety condition in their workplace.


Objective To assess the nature of the decline in residual renal function (RRF) after the initiation of peritoneal dialysis, and to identify risk factors influencing the preservation of RRF. Design A retrospective single-center study. Setting Tertiary medical center. Patients Eighty patients who were clinically stable and had been on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) for a minimum of 6 months. Main Outcome Measures All subjects had at least three measurements of RRF, which was calculated as the average of creatinine clearance (Ccr) and urea clearance from a 24-hour urine collection. All measurements of RRF were plotted on a logarithmic scale and a linear scale against the duration of CAPD. Covariables used in the correlation analyses were age, sex, the presence of diabetes mellitus, mean blood pressure, mean diastolic blood pressure, hematocrit and Ccr at the start of peritoneal dialysis, peritoneal membrane transport characteristics by peritoneal equilibration test (PET), and the rate of peritonitis. Results A significant correlation was found between CAPD duration and RRF decline represented on a logarithmic scale with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.355 (p < 0.001). In contrast, on a linear scale, the correlation coefficient was only 0.273 (p < 0.01). By linear multiple regression analysis, the only independent risk factor for the decline of RRF was the rate of peritonitis (r = -0.446, p < 0.001). Conclusion These results suggest that RRF declines exponentially rather than linearly with time, and that the rate of peritonitis is an independent risk factor for the decline of RRF in CAPD patients.


Majority of research on human regenerative medicine has focused on the use of human mature cells/tissues and stem cell derived products. To ensure their safety and efficacy for clinical application, preclinical testing in large animals such as pigs, using pre-clinical and clinical matching protocols, is required. However, presently, there is no universal, stable, adjustable immunosuppressed pig model in which human regenerative cell and tissue products may be evaluated. Consequently, we established a controllable immunocompromised pig model by surgical excision of immune organs and varying the administration of immunosuppressive agents based on the physical condition and pharmacokinetic profile. Here, we describe the precise experimental procedure and provide information on immunosuppression therapies in different breeds of laboratory pigs. We provide practical information for the production of operational SCID pigs. We believe that our procedure may be immediately implemented in human-to-pig experiments, resulting in cost-benefit perspectives and furthering the development of new regenerative medicine.


Based on personal interviews, this paper presents the story of a substance-abusing woman and her journey in pursuit of recovery. Factors of her childhood and the multiple issues she encountered later in adulthood were highlighted. Although this paper focuses only on one woman, it provides an in-depth and intimate close-up of the world of a substance-abusing woman. The goal is to demonstrate a coherent picture, context, and journey of a substance abusing woman by linking all the identified important concepts and components. The function of this paper is to help readers obtain a more intimate and real sense of understanding of and a more holistic perspective on a substanceabusing women's life. While quantitative studies often focus on isolated variables, this case study ties relevant variables and creates a holistic and more meaningful picture. Analyses and suggestions are developed to help practitioners better understand the needs, struggles, and strengths of the woman to more effectively help her.


This article analyses entropy changes triggered by specific events in deterministic and indeterministic systems. Article considers a simple model consisting of water in a cuvette, an ice cube in the device above the cuvette and a random number generator (RNG) that controls the probability of dropping the ice into water. Article introduces the entropic potential Z(T, A) of an event A occurred in a system R at the moment Т0, which describes the influence of the event A to the entropy of the system R in the future (for the moments T>Т0). The entropic potential of an event Z(T,A) can be calculated as the difference between the mathematical expectations of entropy of the system R for the moment T (T>Т0) made immediately before and immediately after the event A as Z(T, A) = ŜT(Т0+dT) - ŜT(Т0-dT). Article also presents examples of calculations of the entropic potentials of events in indeterministic systems with different probabilities of events. Since real-life systems are mostly indeterministic, the entropic potentials of events in real-life usually have non-zero values. The entropic potentials of the events "useful" for the system are negative, and entropic potentials of the events "harmful" for the system are positive.


Title of Document: INTERNET SEARCHING IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: A LONGITUDINAL FRAMEWORK OF YOUTH SEARCH ROLES Elizabeth Foss, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Directed by: Dr. Allison Druin, College of Information Studies The current landscape of literature investigating youth Internet searching focuses mainly on how youth search in classrooms or libraries at a single point in time and highlights problems youth encounter, rather than taking an expansive view of the entire search process. This research uses a framework of searching roles, or patterns of search behavior, to provide a complete picture of how youth behave as searchers in the home environment. The searching behavior of the youth participating in this research is examined by viewing the whole searcher, where search problems are important, but equally important are factors such as affect, context, and the process of search. This longitudinal study examined participants at ages 7, 9, and 11 in 2008 to 2009 and again at ages 10 to 15 in 2012 to 2013. The searching behaviors displayed during the study's in-home interviews were analyzed according to qualitative methods that evolved throughout the research. Results of the research provide a comprehensive picture of how youth search roles and search behaviors change over time, and through case study analysis of selected participants. The research also provides in-depth description of how individuals change as searchers over time. Additionally provided is a graphic to summarize the main characteristics of search roles in youth searchers. This research concludes with recommendations to adult stakeholders such as teachers, librarians, search engine designers, researchers, and parents to aid in promoting search literacy for youth. INTERNET SEARCHING IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: A LONGITUDINAL FRAMEWORK OF YOUTH SEARCH ROLES


This paper shows a very promising approach for developing the structure of grain orientation through weak magnetic interaction of ceramics particles in a high magnetic field. Grain oriented bismuth titanate ceramics was successfully developed through a processing in a high magnetic field. XRD and SEM show that c-axes of particles were oriented perpendicular to the applied magnetic field. The orientation structure developed by sintering, and the orientation factor achieved 0.85 as determined using the Lotgering method.


DNA barcoding of aquatic macroinvertebrates holds much promise as a tool for taxonomic research and for providing baseline reference for phylogenetic analysis and aquatic ecosystem biomonitoring. We obtained 112 novel sequences of the barcode region of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene representing 11 families, 25 genera, and 43 species of mayfly (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) from South Korea. No species shared barcode sequences and all can be identified with barcodes with a possible exception of some species. Minimum levels of interspecific genetic distances ranged from 6.7 to 32.9% (mean: 23.7%), whereas average levels of intraspecific divergence was 3.7%. The latter value was inflated by the presence of very high divergences within some taxa. In fact, approximately 33.3% (15/45) of the species included two or more haplotype clusters showing greater than 5.0% sequence divergence and some values were as high as 32.9%. Many of the species with high intraspecific divergences are para‐ or polyphyletic and represent the possibility of species complexes. Our study suggests that type or topotype specimens should be sequenced to identify accurate barcoding clusters with morphological species concepts and also to determine the status of currently synonymized species.


A security design model shows that multinational firms needing to finance their operations should issue different securities to investors in different countries in order to aggregate their disparate information about domestic and foreign cash flows. However, if the firm becomes bankrupt, investors may face uncertain costs of reorganizing assets in a foreign country and thus may value foreign assets at their average value. This penalizes superior firms with low reorganization costs. Such firms minimize the adverse selection penalty by designing securities that allocate all the cash flow in bankruptcy to investors for which the adverse selection costs are the smallest given the exchange rate. We show that this sharing rule can be implemented with currency swaps because these instruments allow the priorities of claims in bankruptcy to switch depending on the exchange rate.


The way in which prokaryotes, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, regulate their lipid compositions in response to changes in their growth media can provide insights into how bacteria adapt to life in oligotrophic environments. In this thesis, it is reported how electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) techniques can be adapted to map the impact of growth conditions on the regulation of the phospholipid biosynthetic pathways in E. coli and B. subtilis. Reliable counting of bacterial number densities is one of the main barriers to achieving reproducible quantitative lipid composition profiles. Consequently an improved method has been developed, based on an automated cell counter, to characterize the bacterial number densities and cell size for each of the samples used in the ESI-MS experiments. This approach has enabled the observation of unexpected changes in both the relative and absolute amounts of the phospholipid species isolated from bacteria grown under different conditions. These studies have investigated the adaptation of E. coli and B. subtilis to a glucose deplete growth medium. In E. coli the effect of growth in a nutrient rich growth medium, phosphate depletion and CTAB addition was investigated. In B. subtilis initial studies were performed into nitrogen depletion, myristic acid addition and DOPC addition. The changes in phospholipid classes, as well as in the homologues within each class, that we have observed may be related to changes in the fluxes within the lipid biosynthetic pathway of the organism. The expectation is that studying the changes in growth conditions using E. coli and B. subtilis as a model organism could help with the understanding of biofilm formation and help towards a greater understanding of bacterial adaptation to stressful environments.


The delays for signalized intersections from the Highway Capacity Manual [using the Highway Capacity Software (HCS)], PASSER II-90, PASSER IV-96, Synchro, and CORSIM software were compared. An examination was made of how much delay reduction materialized when optimized signal settings were implemented. Synchro should not be compared with HCS unless certain precautions are taken to make the conditions analyzed in Synchro comparable with those analyzed in HCS. For both pretimed and actuated signals, if simultaneous phases exist in which one of them terminates ahead of the others, the results of HCS and Synchro are not comparable. For both pretimed and actuated signals, when the phases terminate simultaneously, whether the data are imported from Synchro or manually entered in HCS, the condition analyzed will not be comparable unless precautions are taken. Once these precautions were taken, control delays from Synchro and HCS were not significantly different for pretimed, uncoordinated signals. For actuated—uncoordinated and for actuated—coordinated controllers, the comparisons are not meaningful. Delays for optimized conditions for PASSER II and PASSER IV were not significantly different from the delays before optimization. However, for Synchro, the delays for optimized conditions were significantly lower than the delays before optimization. CORSIM was used to assess the impacts of the optimization. If optimized signal settings suggested by PASSER II, PASSER IV, or Synchro are implemented, the delays for the optimized condition would not be significantly lower than the delays before optimization.


The paper provides the results of studying the protective properties of the immunomodulator Gala-Vet alone and in combination with the cellular antigens of Echinococcus multiocularis protoscolexes in experimental murine hydatidosis. After checking inoculation with E. multilocularis protoscolexes and acephalocysts (a dose being 750+/-50 specimens), the protective efficiency in the mice immunized with the cellular antigen subcutaneously injected thrice in a dose of 60 micromg was 91.7%. In the mice immunized with the cellular antigen of parasitic protoscolexes in the same dose in the same manner, the protective effect was 75%. The similar protective effect (75%) was recorded in the group of mice receiving the immunomodulator Gala-Vet alone. After inoculation and slaughter, all the control mice administered a sterile physiological solution in the immunization period were infested.


The actinomycin D treated discs were transplanted into imago or larvae ready for pupation to determine the period of synthesis of mRNA's engaged in eye development during the development of eye imaginal discs. When transplanting 24, 48 and 72 hrs eye imaginal discs into larvae ready for pupation, no inhibition of either eye pigment synthesis, or cuticular structure development by actinomycin D was found. When transplanting actinomycin D treated 72 hrs and prepupal eye imaginal discs into imago, the inhibition of eye pigment synthesis was found only in 72 hrs discs.


The impact of glycemic variability on brain glucose transport kinetics among individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) remains unclear. Fourteen individuals with T1DM (age 35 ± 4 years; BMI 26.0 ± 1.4 kg/m2; HbA1c 7.6 ± 0.3) and nine healthy control participants (age 32 ± 4; BMI 23.1 ± 0.8; HbA1c 5.0 ± 0.1) wore a continuous glucose monitor (Dexcom) to measure hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and glycemic variability for 5 days followed by 1H MRS scanning in the occipital lobe to measure the change in intracerebral glucose levels during a 2-h glucose clamp (target glucose concentration 220 mg/dL). Hyperglycemic clamps were also performed in a rat model of T1DM to assess regional differences in brain glucose transport and metabolism. Despite a similar change in plasma glucose levels during the hyperglycemic clamp, individuals with T1DM had significantly smaller increments in intracerebral glucose levels (P = 0.0002). Moreover, among individuals with T1DM, the change in brain glucose correlated positively with the lability index (r = 0.67, P = 0.006). Consistent with findings in humans, streptozotocin-treated rats had lower brain glucose levels in the cortex, hippocampus, and striatum compared with control rats. These findings that glycemic variability is associated with brain glucose levels highlight the need for future studies to investigate the impact of glycemic variability on brain glucose kinetics.


Tunable side-polished fiber comb filters based on the thermooptic effect of a polymer layer inserted between a side-polished fiber and an overlay waveguide are presented. The thermal electrodes formed on a polymer layer control the refractive index of one and its index variation induces the shift in coupling wavelength by the phase change of an evanescent field at the overlay waveguide boundaries. The tuning rate as a -0.017 nm/mW and the response time with a 50 ms/nm have been achieved. The authors have also demonstrated that this comb filter makes it possible for the tunable erbium-doped fiber ring laser to be used as a lasing-wavelength selective element. The tunable range of this laser is obtained about 17 nm (1545-1562 nm).


BACKGROUND
A brush made of chitosan has shown to be an effective and harmless device for non-surgical treatment of mild to moderate peri-implantitis. To date, no study has evaluated the use of a chitosan brush in the non-surgical treatment of residual pockets in periodontal treatment.

METHODS
Seventy-eight patients with periodontitis were included in this multicenter, randomized, examiner-blind clinical trial of six months duration. Patients with residual probing pocket depth (PPD) of ≥ 5mm and ≤7 mm following previous active periodontal treatment were included. Patients were assigned either subgingival treatment with curettes (control) or an oscillating chitosan brush (test). Changes in bleeding on probing (BoP) and PPD between baseline and terminal evaluation at six months were evaluated.

RESULTS
A significant reduction in both PPD and BoP was seen within both groups. There was no significant difference in BoP between test and control groups after six months, but the reduction in PPD was significantly improved in the test group (p ≤ 0.01). The combined outcome of no BOP and PPD ≤4 mm was significantly better in the test group (p ≤ 0.01). No adverse reactions were seen.

CONCLUSION
Treatment of residual periodontal pockets (PPD = 5-7mm) with a chitosan brush disclosed equal or better clinical results as compared to regular curettes. This study supports that a chitosan brush can be used for subgingival biofilm removal and soft tissue curretage in the treatment of periodontitis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


A micro-structure supported on a droplet is subjected to capillary force and aligned dependent on its shape. If the droplet's boundary conditions at the bottom and the micro-structure are non-circular, capillary torque is exerted on the structures. The direction of torque is determined by the boundary conditions and the position of the structure. By changing the boundary conditions continuously, rotational motion of a plate was achieved. The boundary conditions of the droplet were controlled by electrowetting. We patterned electrodes in an annular shape on the plate supporting the droplet. By changing the voltage-applied electrodes, the boundary conditions were changed and the plate is rotated. The droplet and the plate worked as a capillary motor with this method. We report the relationship between the characteristics of the capillary motor and its rotational motion. We sandwiched a 3.0-microL water droplet between two plates and achieved a rotational motion of 720 rpm at maximum.


: The following report is to appraise the utility of the Selective Committee of Works of the Pediatric Surgery Society as an assessing organ for the Directive Board to develop the scientific program for the annual congress. For this purpose, a revision was made of a four year period (1990-1993), compiling 738 summaries, which focused primarily on the capacity of the communicated message to widen our concept of disease or our diagnostic or therapeutic possibilities. The secondary topic focused on was the way in which the investigation was decided on planned and executed. The last point taken into consideration was the formal aspects of the summary, according to the regulations given to the authors. From the 738 summaries evaluated, 510 were remitted to be presented as oral communications and 228 as posters. From all these, a total of 311 articles were admitted (172 oral communications and 139 posters). The average pointage obtained was 8.22 (maximum: 20). The articles with the highest acceptance were those dealing with experimental surgery and/or clinical investigation (70%), transplantation (665), urology (50.7%), oncology (45.6%), cardiovascular surgery (45.5%) plastic surgery (40.5%), orthopedics (39.1%), digestive-abdominal (36.8%) and maxillofacial surgery (26.3%). In 77.5% of the articles, the study method followed is not specified, in 70.7% there is no description of the results obtained and in 85.4% there is no description of the conclusions. Deducing from the above information exposed, it is necessary to maintain a system of selection of the best communications, which in turn, will guarantee a greater scientific quality in the congresses.


Seventy one samples of granitic rocks have been collected from Peninsular Malaysia, covering Langkawi, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, parts of Johor, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu to represent the granite provinces of the Peninsula. Included in the samples are the Cretaceous granites from Gunung Ledang, Batang Melaka and Gunung Pulai. The samples were crushed and anlaysed by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), and values obtained were normalised against chondrite. The results indicate that the total rare earth elements (IREE) are generally low with a range of 85- 414 ppm. The Langkawi granite especially have low IREE values, usually less than 200 ppm while those of the Main Range, Central and East Coast Provinces granites have contents higher than 200 ppm. The East Coast samples have a wide range, from 85 to 327 ppm. Out of the nine samples of the Cretaceous granites, six samples have values of less than 200 ppm while the highest value recorded for the group is 231 ppm. The shapes of REE patterns for the granitic rocks obtained varies from typical "bird-wing" pattern, with a distinct negative Eu anomaly, to a simple upward-concave pattern with a hardly visible Eu anomaly. The negative Eu-anomalies have degrees of magnitudes, but most are small to moderate, clearly seen on their REE curve. Exceptions are from Jemaluang and Kledang granites, that have moderate to large negative Eu anomalies (EuiSm 0.0009-0.074). The Central Province and the East Coast granites have dominantly small to moderate anomalies, together with patches of granites with small or no negative Eu-anomalies. Based on the REE patterns, the Peninsular Malaysian granites can be divided into two groups, a) with anomalous Eu values and "bird-wing" REE pattern from the West Coast Triassic, parts of Central and East Coast Provinces, and b) without or with small Eu anomaly from the Cretaceous granites of the West Coast, granites of Gua Musang area and granite patches from the East Coast Province. The non-anomalous Gua Musang granites seems similar to the Noring granite and may be related to the Cretaceous granites ofthe southern Peninsular. The non-anomalous East Coast granite is related to the I-type granite, whereas anomalous ones in the Province is from S-type, like those of the Main Range. The anomalies are due to partial melting or fractional crystallization or both, of parental materials from a sialic basement originally rich in plagioclase feldspars. The dominant shapes of REE patterns in the Peninsular granites could be explained as such. But the small to non-anomalous patterns in the Cretaceous granites are probably due to a poor plagioclase source. The Cretaceous southern Peninsular granite is derived from a primitive mantle source. The non-anomalous I-type granite in the East Coast is derived from an oceanic or primitive mantle source.


This large, handsome volume is a virtuoso performance in the creation of a patterned approach to dermatopathology. The search for Bronowski's "hidden likeness in diversity" has led to the development of nine patterns of pathology, to be recognized as subsuming all inflammatory pathologic events in the skin. The patterns to be recognized at scanning power of the microscope are as follows: superficial perivascular dermatitis, superficial and deep perivascular dermatitis, vasculitis, nodular and diffuse dermatitis, intraepidermal vesicular dermatitis, subepidermal vesicular dermatitis, folliculitis, fibrosing dermatitis, and panniculitis. Each section is defined and illustrated by explanatory drawings and not only is each individual entity described, but a highlighted outline of the pathology precedes the longer descriptions. Clinical information is used to emphasize the differential diagnosis, as well as problems of diagnosis. Each section is beautifully and selectively illustrated with low- and high-power photomicrographs. The labeling of the photomicrographs is extensive, discrete, and accomplished


International criminal law imposes responsibilities directly on individuals and punishes violations through international mechanisms such as the ICTR, the ICTY, and the ICC.


Abstract. As the Baroque style complex in Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace), Xiyanglou (Western Buildings) carries a unique history of the imperial resort. The significance of its restoration has drawn much attention from home and aboard in the field of cultural heritage conservation. Yuanmingyuan Digital Restoration Research Project was officially launched in 2013. Five out of the thirteen scenes in Xiyanglou, namely Xieqiqu (Harmonious Wonder), Haiyantang (Hall of National Peace), Fangwaiguan (Belvedere), Xushuilou(Water Supply Building) and Guanshuifa (Throne to observe water displays), have been studied and restored digitally within the first two years of the project. Among all the scenes in Xiyanglou, Xieqiqu is the first European-style palace and the first scene to be studied in the Digital Restoration Research Project. The 3D reconstruction of the site is based on the current-day survey of the ruins in combination with the historic archival research. Taking Xieqiqu as a case, this paper introduces the digital restoration methodologies, progress and achievements of Yuanmingyuan Digital Restoration Research Project.


Proteins localized to mitochondria by a carboxyl-terminal tail anchor (TA) play roles in apoptosis, mitochondrial dynamics, and mitochondrial protein import. To reveal characteristics of TAs that are important for mitochondrial targeting, we examined the TA of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fis1 protein. We generated a library of Fis1p TA variants fused to the Gal4 transcription factor, then selected for mutations allowing Gal4 activity in the nucleus. Next-generation sequencing allowed quantification of TA variants in our mutant library both before and after selection for loss of TA targeting. High-throughput results were confirmed by further analysis of individual Fis1p TA mutants. Intriguingly, positively charged residues were more acceptable at several positions within the membrane-associated domain of the Fis1p TA than negatively charged residues. These findings provide strong, in vivo evidence that lysine and arginine can "snorkel" when associated with a lipid bilayer and place their terminal charges at the membrane interface. Our work provides the first high-resolution analysis of an organelle targeting sequence by deep mutational scanning.


Novel approaches to anemia associated with cancer and chemotherapy are reviewed. Anemia in cancer patients is usually related to treatment with antineoplastic agents or to the disease itself. The normal concentration of endogenous erythropoietin ranges from 0.1 to 0.2 microU/mL and may increase to 2-10 microU/mL in patients with severe anemia. Many cancer patients with anemia do not have an increase in erythropoietin levels, however. Recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin alfa), the standard for treating anemia caused by chronic renal failure, is also used to treat cancer chemotherapy-related anemia. It resolves anemia, decreases the need for transfusions, and may improve a patient's quality of life. A newer erythropoiesis-stimulating protein, darbepoetin alfa, was initially evaluated in patients with chronic renal disease. In patients who had never taken epoetin alfa, darbepoetin alfa was able to achieve a hemoglobin concentration of 11 g/dL by four weeks in most patients, and 97% of patients maintained on epoetin alfa were successfully switched to the other drug. Similar positive results were achieved in patients with solid tumors receiving chemotherapy, patients with anemia of chronic disease associated with cancer, and patients with lymphoproliferative malignancies. Darbepoetin alfa has a longer half-life than epoetin alfa, enabling less frequent administration. No difference in toxicity between the two agents has been reported. Epoetin alfa and darbepoetin alfa are effective in the treatment of anemia in patients with cancer.


Temporal point process (TPP) is commonly used to model the asynchronous event sequence featuring occurrence timestamps and revealed by probabilistic models conditioned on historical impacts. While lots of previous works have focused on `goodness-of-fit' of TPP models by maximizing the likelihood, their predictive performance is unsatisfactory, which means the timestamps generated by models are far apart from true observations. Recently, deep generative models such as denoising diffusion and score matching models have achieved great progress in image generating tasks by demonstrating their capability of generating samples of high quality. However, there are no complete and unified works exploring and studying the potential of generative models in the context of event occurence modeling for TPP. In this work, we try to fill the gap by designing a unified \textbf{g}enerative framework for \textbf{n}eural \textbf{t}emporal \textbf{p}oint \textbf{p}rocess (\textsc{GNTPP}) model to explore their feasibility and effectiveness, and further improve models' predictive performance. Besides, in terms of measuring the historical impacts, we revise the attentive models which summarize influence from historical events with an adaptive reweighting term considering events' type relation and time intervals. Extensive experiments have been conducted to illustrate the improved predictive capability of \textsc{GNTPP} with a line of generative probabilistic decoders, and performance gain from the revised attention. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that adapts generative models in a complete unified framework and studies their effectiveness in the context of TPP. Our codebase including all the methods given in Section.5.1.1 is open in \url{https://github.com/BIRD-TAO/GNTPP}. We hope the code framework can facilitate future research in Neural TPPs.


The compressive characteristics and fracture behavior of CW67 aluminum alloy and of a composite based on CW67 alloy were studied under unaxial compressive loading in the temperature range 25-400°C, at a constant strain rate of 1 - 3 10 4 . 2 s × . The yield strength values of the composite were higher than those of the monolithic alloy at all temperatures. The ultimate strength values of the composite were lower at room temperature, but higher at elevated temperatures when compared with those of the monolithic alloy. The composite exhibited lower ductility than the monolithic alloy in the entire temperature range. High concentration of SiC particles in the structure of CW67 composite affected its compressive properties. At higher temperatures, it behaved like a typical precipitation hardened alloy, in other words, with temperature increase the main influence on the mechanical properties occurred in its matrix. When temperature rises, the fracture process changes from particle cracking and particle agglomerate decohesion (at room temperature) to particle matrix debonding (at high temperature).


OCR, is the process of electronic conversion of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. OCR systems are given additional consideration nowadays. The PDF files consist of text, images and graphs. Mixed Raster Content (MRC) technique segregates text and non-text region from the PDF files and the text part alone is extracted. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is a standard pattern classifier and extensively applicable to various problems and here uses Backpropagation learning algorithm which is very usable for image processing. SVM is a classifier that performs classification to find an optimal solution. Thus, this research uses the BPNN and SVM method for OCR from the extracted text files using features. 100 different format of PDF files have been tested and the experimental results with recognition performance are tabulated by comparing both the techniques


INTRODUCTION Allomengea, formerly known as Mengea, is a well-known genus in northwestern Europe. It is a small genus with only four species, which, though locally abundant, are not at all common. The males are easily recognized by the palp, which is adorned with a bunch of modified spines standing on the tip of a horn-like projection of the cymbium. Because of the long, thin embolus, which corresponds with coiled membraneous tubes in the female vulva, the genus is placed in the tribus Linyphiini 1). The genus appeared to be Holarctic, since Holm (1960) transferred the North American Microneta pinnata Emerton to Allomengea and at the same time published the first records from the extreme northwestern part of the Nearctic Region (Alaska) of Allomengea scopigera (Grube), which until then had only been known from Eurasia. This paper contains additional North American records of Allomengea scopigera, the first North American record of Allomengea vidua (L. Koch) (warburtonii O.P.-Cambridge), as well as a summary of all records, old and new of A. pinnata (Emerton). Also included in this paper is a fourth species, Allomengea dentisetis (Grube), which occurs in Siberia. It was originally described in Micryphantes, and closely resembles A. pinnata. Regretfully the name A. warburtonii must fall into the synonymy of the older Allomengea vidua (L. Koch). Emphasis is laid on the distributions of all four species under consideration, but our knowledge on the subject is much hampered by the lack of data from Asia. Micryphantes dentisetis Grube, described from Irkutsk, Siberia, was found to belong to Allomengea, and despite the poor condition of the holotype (a male with both palps missing) it is considered a synonym of Allo-


Substance use research in the United States has focused on ethnicity/race to the detriment of studying the role of nonethnic sociocultural factors. Reliance on politically defined ethnic categories has not added to knowledge on the etiology, prevalence, prevention, or treatment of substance use and misuse. Rather it has reflected the preoccupation with race/ethnicity in the larger United States society and has contributed to further stereotyping of non-European ethnic groups. Ethnicity serves as a proxy for a number of sociocultural factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) that are linked to substance use. To make progress in understanding substance use and misuse, researchers must move away from the simplistic reliance on ethnic labels to a more complex understanding of the impact of the sociocultural variables that such labels represent.


Time-dependent and direction-dependent neutrino and gravitational-wave (GW) signatures are presented for a set of three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic models of parametrized, neutrino-driven supernova explosions of non-rotating 15 and 20 M⊙ stars. We employ an approximate treatment of neutrino transport based on a gray spectral description and a ray-by-ray treatment of multi-dimensional effects. Due to the excision of the high-density core of the prot o-neutron star and the use of an axis-free (Yin-Yang or "'baseball"') overset grid, the models can be followed from the post-bounce accretion phase through the onset of the explosion into more than one second of the early cooling evolution of the PNS without imposing any symmetry restrictions and covering a full sphere. GW and neutrino emission exhibit the generic time-dependent features already known from 2D (axi-symmetric) models. Violent non-radial hydrodynamic mass motions in the accretion layer and their interaction with the outer layers of the proto-neutron star t ogether with anisotropic neutrino emission give rise to a GW signal with an amplitude of∼ 5− 20 cm in the frequency range of 100‐500 Hz. The GW emission from mass motions usually reaches a maximum before the explosion sets in. After the onset of the explosion the GW signal exhibits a low-frequency modulation, in some cases describing a quasi-monotonic growth, associated with the non-spherical expansion of the explosion shock wave and the large-scale anisotropy of the escaping neutrino flow. Variations of the mas s-quadrupole moment due to convective activity inside the nascent neutron star contribute a high-frequency component to the GW signal during the post-explosion phase. The GW signals exhibit strong variability between the two polarizations, different explosion simulations and different observer directions, and besides common basic features do not possess any template character. The neutrino emission properties (fluxes and e ffective spectral temperatures) show fluctuations over the ne utron star surface on spatial and temporal scales that reflect the di fferent types of non-spherical mass motions in the supernova core, i.e., post-shock overturn flows and proto-neutron star convection. However, because very prominent, quasi-periodic sloshing motions of the shock due to the standing accretion-shock instability are absent and the emission from different surface areas facing an observer adds up incoherently, the modulation amplitudes of the measurable neutrino luminosities and mean energies are significantly smaller than predicted by 2D simulations.


Self-assembly in aqueous solution has been investigated for two Fmoc [Fmoc = N-(fluorenyl)-9-methoxycarbonyl] tetrapeptides comprising the RGDS cell adhesion motif from fibronectin or the scrambled sequence GRDS. The hydrophobic Fmoc unit confers amphiphilicity on the molecules, and introduces aromatic stacking interactions. Circular dichroism and FTIR spectroscopy show that the self-assembly of both peptides at low concentration is dominated by interactions among Fmoc units, although Fmoc-GRDS shows β-sheet features, at lower concentration than Fmoc-RGDS. Fibre X-ray diffraction indicates β-sheet formation by both peptides at sufficiently high concentration. Strong alignment effects are revealed by linear dichroism experiments for Fmoc-GRDS. Cryo-TEM and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) reveal that both samples form fibrils with a diameter of approximately 10 nm. Both Fmoc-tetrapeptides form self-supporting hydrogels at sufficiently high concentration. Dynamic shear rheometry enabled measurements of the moduli for the Fmoc-GRDS hydrogel, however syneresis was observed for the Fmoc-RGDS hydrogel which was significantly less stable to shear. Molecular dynamics computer simulations were carried out considering parallel and antiparallel β-sheet configurations of systems containing 7 and 21 molecules of Fmoc-RGDS or Fmoc-GRDS, the results being analyzed in terms of both intermolecular structural parameters and energy contributions.


To measure health status in Dutch rheumatoid arthritis patients, we have translated and revised the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and added questions about psychosocial status from the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS). The resultant questionnaire turned out to be reproducible and valid. In a double-blind trial comparing Hydroxychloroquine and Sulphasalazine, after 48 weeks the Physical Disability score showed a significant difference in favour of the Sulphasalazine group, reflecting the smaller deterioration in radiographic damage in this group. Thus the Physical Disability part of the questionnaire is sensitive to difference between two slow-acting anti-rheumatic drugs.


IPEC 3349 World Resources and Development (3 semester credit hours) Analysis of resource mobilization, technological changes and economic development from a multidisciplinary perspective. Primary focus on the problems of the less-developed countries. Topics include technology transfer, industrialization strategy, education policy, population growth, nutrition and foreign aid. (3-0) R IPEC 4301 Political Economy of Industrialized Countries (3 semester credit hours) How can German carmakers be among the best in the world if they are required to give two years notice before firing someone? Why did Swedish firms help to introduce a free universal health care system? Why it is rational for German companies to grant their workers veto rights over management decisions, but not for U.S. firms? Clearly, labor rights, market regulations, and industrial organization differ significantly across the United States, Germany, and Sweden. Yet, economics as a social science typically does not incorporate these differences. On the other hand, political economy analyzes how factors such as the electoral system, degree of business coordination, and governmental regulation shape business strategy. Understanding the effect of these differences is essential for managers designing investment strategies or policy makers developing policy recommendations. Using case studies, this course offers students opportunities to sharpen their analytical skills with real world applications and expand upon black-and-white theories from business and economics. (3-0) T IPEC 4302 Political Economy of Developing Countries (3 semester credit hours) We typically assume that democracy is good for economic growth. But if this is the case, how do we explain China's economic success? Similarly, economic theory states that governments should not interfere with the market, but why did South Korea industrialize at an incredible pace by doing exactly that while Argentina failed miserably? Why are natural resources a blessing in Botswana but a curse in Nigeria? If we have learned anything from developing countries' experiences, it is that there is no universal "one-size-fits-it-all" answer. This course explores the conditions under which grand theories of development are valid. It is crucial to take these differences in local conditions into account when developing policy recommendations or investment strategies. Using case studies in every class, this course offers students opportunities to sharpen their analytical skills to make sense of a complicated world. (3-0) T IPEC 4303 Political Economy of South and Southeast Asia (3 semester credit hours) South Asia is the Indian peninsula. Southeast Asia is the great swath of countries from Burma and Thailand through Malaysia to Indonesia and Australia. This is a region of great cultural, political, economic, religious, and historical diversity. This course surveys the region by selectively examining key countries and their mutual interactions. The major countries, which will always be included, are Pakistan, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia. Additional countries, which will be included according to interest and available material, include Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, East Timor and New Zealand. (3-0) T IPEC 4304 Political Economy of Latin America (3 semester credit hours) Addresses historical and contemporary issues in Latin American political economy. Uses case studies and cross-regional comparisons to assess competing explanations. Analyzes the current political and economic situation facing Latin America in its quest for economic growth and development. The emphasis is to understand the patterns of development and change in the region. (3-0) T IPEC 4305 Topics in Science, Technology and Institutions (3 semester credit hours) This course introduces the student to important facets of the relationship between science, technology and political-social institutions. The course begins by addressing issues relating to the philosophy of


Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is most often indolent at diagnosis but has a highly variable clinical course, and many patients will eventually progress and require treatment. Currently, there are a number of clinical and molecular markers known to be predictive of prognosis in CLL that can be applied to discriminate patients that are more likely to develop a progressive disease. Gene-expression profiling studies have identified genes with differential expression between prognostic subgroups in CLL, and research on these RNA-based prognostic markers has expanded during recent years. For example, high lipoprotein lipase and CLLU1 mRNA expression have recently been shown to be strong markers of poor clinical outcome. In this review we will provide a summary of the most significant prognostic markers in CLL, focusing on the recent category of RNA-based markers in particular.


The main objective of this paper is to contribute to the public policy discussion regarding whether or not a growth target (or a flexible inflation target) should be assigned to the Bank of Israel by reformulating this question in a way that leads to verifiable and falsifiable propositions.It is shown that the answer to this question depends on the structure of the economy as summarized by the objective tradeoff between stabilization of inflation and stabilization of output. If a change in the interest rate has a strong impact on inflation and little impact on output, strict inflation targeting is indicated. Otherwise, some form of growth (or flexible inflation) targeting is desirable. The paper identifies some of the basic parameters that determine this crucial tradeoff coefficient and utilizes recent estimates to evaluate it. It is also argued that the desirability of growth targeting rises the more inflationary expectations are anchored in the economy. Finally, due to the unobservability of potential output and the output gap, even optimal monetary policy is subject to serially correlated forecast errors. Flexible inflation targeting that assigns a positive weight to stabilization of the output gap leads to larger discrepancies between the actual and the full- information interest rate than strict inflation targeting. The paper also briefly evaluates the case for nominal income targeting.


Background and objective: A prospective study was carried out for estimation the concentration of the erythropoietin hormone and its effects on some hematological parameters in chronic renal failure patients despite medical treatment. The object of the study was to evaluate the available evidences which support the relationship between anemia and adverse outcomes in chronic renal failure patients, to estimate the erythropoietin concentration of plasma in chronic renal failure patients and to examine the relationship between the anemia and erythropoietin concentration in patients with chronic kidney disease. Methods: One hundred and eleven (111) patients with CRF on dialysis in the Dialysis and Kidney Disease Center in Hawler Teaching Hospital and (40) control groups were studied. Haematological parameters: were performed by conventional manual methods. The quantitative measurement of erythropoietin concentration in serum was done by using the Erythropoietin ELISA kit (IBL Immuno Biological Laboratories Hamburg Erythropoietin Kit, German). Results: Hemoglobin, red blood cells, packed cell volume, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were significantly decreased (P<0.001) in all age groups of Chronic renal failure patients, while, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were increased significantly (P<0.001). Total white blood cells were decreased significantly (P<0.01) at the ages (40-60, >60) years groups, while not significantly decreased at the ages (<20, 20-40) years. Plasma erythropoietin was decreased significantly at the level (P<0.001) in chronic renal failure patients. Conclusion: Anemia is a common and often an early complication of chronic renal diseases and decreased renal production of erythropoietin is the major cause of anemia in these patients.


We present a prototype of an adaptive intraocular lens based on a modal liquid-crystal spatial phase modulator with wireless control. The modal corrector consists of a nematic liquid-crystal layer sandwiched between two glass substrates with transparent low- and high-ohmic electrodes, respectively. Adaptive correction of ocular aberrations is achieved by changing the amplitude and the frequency of the applied control voltage. The convex-shaped glass substrates provide the required initial focusing power of the lens. A loop antenna mounded on the rim of the lens delivers an amplitude-modulated radio-frequency control signal to the integrated rectifier circuit that drives the liquid-crystal modal corrector. In vitro measurements of a 5-mm clear aperture prototype with an initial focusing power of +12.5 diopter, remotely driven by a radio-frequency control unit at ~6 MHz, were carried out using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The lens based on a 40-mum thick liquid-crystal layer allows for an adjustable defocus of 4 waves, i. e. an accommodation of ~2.51 dioptres at a wavelength of 534 nm, and correction of spherical aberration coefficient ranging from -0.8 to 0.67 waves. Frequency-switching technique was employed to increase the response speed and eliminate transient overshoots in aberration coefficients. The full-scale settling time of the adaptive modal corrector was measured to be ~4 s.


Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus are associated with altered brain function, a complication referred to as diabetic encephalopathy. The issues surrounding the cognitive and emotional status in chronic, older diabetic patients remain complex. The literature shows contrasting findings and especially the role of recurrent hypoglycemic episodes remains controversial. The research of this thesis was designed to further unravel the clinical and cognitive characteristics of altered central nervous system functioning in type 1 as well as type 2 diabetes and to identify risk factors. Two groups of older patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes were compared to a group of age-matched non-diabetic control participants with respect to their performance on a broad range of cognitive parameters. Furthermore, levels of physical and psychological complaints were assessed and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was performed to explore the presence of abnormalities in brain structure (e.g., atrophy or white-matter lesions). The first part of this thesis focuses on the characteristics of diabetic encephalopathy in type 1 diabetic patients. A quantitative analysis of previous findings shows that type 1 diabetes is associated with modest cognitive impairments in young to middle-aged adult patients. Lowered cognitive performance was associated with the presence of microvascular complications, but not with the occurrence of severe hypoglycemic episodes. More or less the same deficits were found in older people with type 1 diabetes. Surprisingly, the magnitude of these deficits was similar to the magnitude seen in younger adults. Also, these cognitive deficits were not accompanied by obvious changes in brain structure . The second part of this thesis focuses on type 2 diabetic patients. There is a clear relationship between cognitive deficits and brain MRI abnormalities in older patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients had significantly more cortical and subcortical atrophy, more deep white-matter lesions and infarcts than controls. Patients with type 2 diabetes showed impairments across several cognitive domains, notably in information processing speed, learning and retrieval of information, and executive functioning. It appears that patients have a diminished ability to efficiently process unstructured information and to flexibly use stored information. Another important finding is that structural and functional brain effects in patients with over thirty years of type 1 diabetes are similar to those seen in patients of a similar age and education with only seven years of type 2 diabetes. We could not find differences in cognitive profile or levels of psychological well-being between these two groups, although patients with type 1 diabetes had slightly better MRI ratings than patients with type 2 diabetes. In conclusion. the cognitive deficits and brain abnormalities of patients with diabetes are subtle and the cognitive impairment can best be characterised as mental slowing. Risk factors for the development of this diabetic encephalopathy are chronic hyperglycemia and atherosclerotic vascular disease. The occurrence of repeated episodes of hypoglycemia probably does not induce neurocognitive dysfunction.


Dear Sir:

We congratulate Duncombe and colleagues1 for their interesting review concerning the role of the geographic information system (GIS) for dengue surveillance. They provide examples, particularly from the developing countries, showing the various functions of GIS to automate spatial identification, visualization, analysis, and decision making aiming to assist dengue-related public health actions. Despite the challenges, the authors advocate the use of open access technologies and international collaboration to improve dengue surveillance at the sub-national, country, and regional levels. Although we agree with the international collaboration proposition, on the contrary, we doubt that this initiative alone could lead to improvement of dengue surveillance at a sub-national level.

Incomplete data and untimely reporting are the main challenges to surveillance systems in developing countries. Although the authors mention some technical challenges confronted by developing countries, they do not sufficiently recognize issues in their individual health systems,2 particularly decentralization policies, which interfere with comprehensiveness and accuracy of surveillance systems. Indonesia and the Philippines are among the dengue-burdened countries that have decentralized various health policies in the last decade, leading, in our view to at least three anecdotal phenomena. First, until well established, decentralization policy leads to structural and regional changes. Elimination, formation, amalgamation, and expansion of regions have problems in initial implementation, for example in causing troublesome spatial data processing and analyses. Second, more autonomous authority in the lower level has initiated idiosyncratic local rules and procedures. Unfortunately, national policies have not been implemented with decentralization of procedures and data collection/exchange. Third, policy makers at the national level are still confronted with inequities and gaps among regions in terms of human resources, fiscal capacity, local health problems, and infrastructures (including information and communication technologies) when commencing this reform. Finally, recommendations to foster international collaboration for GIS dengue surveillance should be balanced with efforts to strengthen surveillance capacity at national and subnational levels, particularly with regard to standard data collection, exchange and sharing.


In evaluating the performance of concatenated error-correction codes, it is useful to know the error statistics at the inner code output. A common inner code is a convolutional code. Methods for characterizing the output error statistics for convolutional codes do exist, but the computational effort required grows exponentially with the constraint length. This paper presents a computationally feasible method for characterizing error statistics output from any convolutional code. Specifically, a technique for determining the error statistics for a k=3, rate /sup 1spl solsub 3/ and a k=7, rate /spl frac12/ convolutional encoder is discussed. An error state diagram is utilized to derive discrete state equations necessary to solve for the transfer function in terms of trellis transition probabilities. Work presented by Best can be manipulated to yield theoretical transition probabilities, but doing so is not computationally practical. Results presented in this paper are based on using empirical trellis transition probabilities in the transfer function.<<ETX>>


Hemorrhage remains the leading cause of potentially survivable death in both military and civilian populations. Although various hemostatic products have been shown to be effective in establishing hemostasis, they remain deficient in a number of desired criteria. An alternative approach to hemostasis is through the application of mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) which can provide a platform to accelerate natural hemostasis and control hemorrhage. However, the materials may not be considered as ideal hemostats since they do not offer antimicrobial activity. The gallium ion (Ga+3) not only exhibits antibacterial properties but may also be effective in the early stage of hemostasis. The main objective of this study was to develop MBGs containing increasing amounts of Ga2O3 (1, 2 & 3 mol %) via the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process and investigate their potential as hemostatic systems. The physicochemical properties, hemostatic response, antibacterial effect as well as the biocompatibility of the materials were investigated. The second objective of this study was to compare the Ga-MBG determined to have greatest hemostatic efficacy with two commercial hemostats, CeloxTM (CX, Medtrade Products Ltd. Crewe, United Kingdom) and QuikClot Advanced Clotting Sponge PlusTM (ACS+, Z-Medica, Wallingford. Connecticut, USA). The results showed that the inclusion of 1 mol% Ga2O3 content into the MBG system not only resulted in better textural properties (i.e. surface area and pore volume) compared with Ga-free MBG and other substituted glasses, but also increased the release of silicon and calcium ions and degradation rates. The 1%Ga2O3-containing MBG (1%Ga-MBG) was also found to be more effective in inducing blood coagulation, platelet adhesion and thrombus generation as compared to the other Ga2O3-containing MBGs. All experimental MBGs exerted more efficient antibacterial action against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as compared with Ga-free MBG. The results also indicated that antibacterial activity of MBG increased with increase in Ga content in its matrix. Likewise, Ga-doped MBGs showed excellent cytocompatibility with human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells even after 3 days; particularly the 1%Ga-MBG. No significant differences were found among the 1%Ga-MBG and CX with respect to the numbers of adherent platelets to their surfaces. 1%Ga-MBG activated the intrinsic pathway of coagulation cascade, induce platelet activation, thrombin and thrombus formation more significantly than CX and ACS+. In addition, the 1%Ga-MBG showed higher weight loss in comparison to the CX and ACS+ after 35 days. The results of the cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that all the examined materials were non-cytotoxic to HDF cells after 3 days with the 1%Ga-MBG attaining the higher biocompatibility. Overall, 1%Ga-MBG was found to be superior to CX and ACS+ as it possesses essential factors required for coagulation activation. The results of this study identify 1%Ga-MBG as a promising material platform for designing hemostats for clinical application.


The experience of childbirth is an important life experience for women. However, in-depth knowledge about long-term experiences is limited. The aim of the study was to describe women's experiences two to 20 years after birth. This study is a part of a meta-synthesis project about childbearing in the Nordic countries. Methodologically, the study was a secondary analysis performed on original data from three selected qualitative studies by the authors, in three Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland and Sweden, and in two different forms of care, birth centre care and standard maternity care. There were 29 participants, both primipara and multiparous women. The result from this study shows that women, in a long-term perspective describe childbirth as an encounter with different participants and the most important is with the midwife. The midwife is also important in connection to the atmosphere experienced during birth. The childbirth experience has a potential to strengthen self-confidence and trust in others or, on the contrary, it can mean failure or distrust. Impersonal encounters linger feelings of being abandoned and alone. This dimension is in particular demonstrated in the description of the woman who had given birth at standard maternity care. The conclusion of this study is that childbirth experience has a potential to strengthen self-confidence and trust in others or on the contrary failure or distrust. Maternity care should be organized in a way that emphasis this aspects of care.


The capsid protein sequences of 10 representative parvoviruses were aligned against the sequence and three-dimensional structure of canine parvovirus (CPV). The structure of CPV was then analyzed after mapping onto it position-dependent sequence similarity scores and the locations of residues that are phenotypically important in other parvoviruses. Antigenicity is primarily associated with external exposed loops of high sequence variability. Amino acids in the canyon, a surface depression encircling each fivefold axis, are well conserved, but may have a function other than external receptor binding. Residues important to parvoviral cell specificity and erythrocyte binding are scattered near the rim of a less-conserved depression near the twofold axis, and on a shoulder of the threefold spike. The number of residues involved in various interactions and their conservation and properties suggest that uncoating may involve separation of fivefold and twofold related subunits before those related by threefold symmetry. The inner surface residues of the capsid are generally more highly conserved than those on the outer surface, presumably due to interactions with DNA, although the binding site that contains ordered DNA in the structure is not especially conserved.


Increased short-term blood pressure (BP) variability is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hypertension. The present study investigated the long-term prognostic significance of the short-term blood pressure variability in patients on hemodialysis. A total of 149 patients (53.0% male; mean age: 54.5±15.1 years) receiving regular hemodialysis for >6 months were enrolled. They completed a 44-hour (excluding the hemodialysis session) ambulatory BP monitoring and comprehensive hemodynamic assessments, including carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and pressure waveform decomposition (forward and backward wave amplitude). Blood pressure variability parameters, including average real variability (ARV) of systolic BP, diastolic BP, and pulse pressure (ARVp) during daytime, nighttime, and overall 44 hours were calculated. During a median follow-up of 14 years, 78 deaths (52.4%) were confirmed. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, none of the ambulatory BP parameters were predictive of mortality. In contrast, nighttime ARVp was consistently and significantly associated with all-cause mortality in multivariable Cox models adjusting for age, sex, albumin, hemodialysis treatment adequacy, and 44-hour systolic BP (continuous variable analysis, per 1-SD, hazard ratio=1.348; 95% CI, 1.029-1.767; categorical variable analysis, ≥8.5 versus <8.5 mm Hg; hazard ratio=1.825; 95% CI, 1.074-3.103). Forward wave amplitude and 44-hour systolic BP were identified as the 2 most important determinants of nighttime ARVp. Addition of nighttime ARVp to the base model significantly improved prediction of all-cause mortality (Net reclassification improvement =0.198; P=0.0012). In hemodialysis patients, increased short-term nighttime pulse pressure variability but not ambulatory BP levels were significantly predictive of long-term all-cause mortality.


This chapter seeks to investigate the potential relationship between mobile technologies and professional learning for teachers through:
- an analysis of recent global trends in increased access and use of mobile communications networks, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the implications of such trends for teacher professional development.
- case studies showing early examples of harnessing the potential of mobile devices for educational and developmental purposes, including the SEMA project in Kenya (Sankale 2007), and the DEEPER project in South Africa (Power & Thomas 2007).

From these sources, this article seeks to identify current practices and future possibilities for capitalising upon the mobile revolution as a tool for education and development, with a particular focus on the professional knowledge and practices of teachers serving disadvantaged rural communities

The case studies here represent two early examples of exploring the possibilities. In order to move forward, it is necessary to establish:
1. The ways in which mobile devices can support good classroom practices
2. The ways in which mobile devices can support best practices in teacher professional development programmes
3. The nature of infostructure (software and resources) development required to support 1) and 2).

There is an ongoing whirlwind of change in access to mobile networks, ownership of mobile devices and the the capabilities of mobile devices. There remains much more that is yet unknown about whether and how such changes might be exploited to help equip teachers with the professional knowledge, tools and resources that are desperately needed in the global south. But it seems clear that the educational technology world can no longer afford to ignore the mobile revolution.


ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis is a major cause of food-borne salmonellosis in the United States. Two major food vehicles for S. Enteritidis are contaminated eggs and chicken meat. Improved subtyping methods are needed to accurately track specific strains of S. Enteritidis related to human salmonellosis throughout the chicken and egg food system. A sequence typing scheme based on virulence genes (fimH and sseL) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs)—CRISPR-including multi-virulence-locus sequence typing (designated CRISPR-MVLST)—was used to characterize 35 human clinical isolates, 46 chicken isolates, 24 egg isolates, and 63 hen house environment isolates of S. Enteritidis. A total of 27 sequence types (STs) were identified among the 167 isolates. CRISPR-MVLST identified three persistent and predominate STs circulating among U.S. human clinical isolates and chicken, egg, and hen house environmental isolates in Pennsylvania, and an ST that was found only in eggs and humans. It also identified a potential environment-specific sequence type. Moreover, cluster analysis based on fimH and sseL identified a number of clusters, of which several were found in more than one outbreak, as well as 11 singletons. Further research is needed to determine if CRISPR-MVLST might help identify the ecological origins of S. Enteritidis strains that contaminate chickens and eggs.


As a poet, philosopher and social commentator of the 20th century, T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) was interested in organising a social structure based on traditional values. Eliot's intellectual quest through Indic and Western philosophies more or less ended in 1927, as he openly embraced Anglican Catholicism. From then on, he advocated the Anglican centralities involving tradition, scriptural hermeneutics and reason as the vital ways to synthesize a definite order. Thus, Eliot's Anglicanism is a distinct manifestation of his Conservative politics. Also, Eliot's allegiance to the ecclesiastical centres as a means to consolidate the European society is akin to Thomas Hobbes's (1588-1679) social contract theory of society and state formation. Hobbes's theory elucidates the role of an absolute Sovereign who commands and controls people's unruly passion through consent and wilful submission. Hobbes saw the state of nature or pre-governmental stage of mankind as "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" (Hobbes, 1901, p. 97). Hobbes was determined to prevent anarchy, war and statelessness. Whereas, Eliot focussed on constituting a peaceful and protected federal society by relying upon the authority of Anglo-Catholic tradition. Eliot wrote the Ariel Poems after his conversion to Anglican Catholicism. The paper explores Eliot's theological persuasions concerning social integration by delineating his selected Ariel Poems . It includes a detailed examination of Eliot's arrival at the Hobbesian contracterian centres through Anglican politics. This article analyses whether centrality is an indispensable principle for peace, order and protection.


The primary aim of this paper is to document and explain the 10000 BP - AD 1800 history of the Thukela Basin hunter-gatherers. The primary information for this study comes from my excavation, between 1981 and 1984, of eight rock shelters in the upper Thukela catchment. My aims and theoretical orientation have altered substantially since the project's inception. They have changed from being concerned primarily with ecological phenomena to the reconstruction of a regional social history. As part of this redefinition I have developed a critique of South African Later Stone Age (LSA) studies from the early 1960s, arguing that the predominant ecological approaches of this period are inadequate in dealing with past human societies. My reason for adopting a socially orientated historical approach concern the social relevance of archaeology, and the need to generate the best possible insight into past societies. I submit that historical materialism offers a very valuable framework for social historical analysis. The theoretical and methodological propositions germane to this study are presented. I then concentrate specifically on Thukela Basin hunter-gatherer history. The periods dating to before and after 2000 BP are dealt with separately because of the arrival of farmers in the Thukela Basin around AD 500. A study of the 10000 - 2000 BP subsistence strategies and occupation density suggsts that this society experienced a process of intensification. It is proposed that this phenomenon results from social structural changes. An analysis of the material culture remains and the subsistence strategies suggests that the initial alliance network which covered most of the research area disintegrated before 4000 BP and was replaced by three such networks. I submit further, that a gender related struggle was the main component informing this society's historical development. I argue that women moved from a position of low status to higher status, principally by increasing their subsistence contribution, coupled with their control over the food they collected. Considering the 2000 BP - AD 1800 period, emphasis is placed on hunter-gatherer/farmer relations and the social development of hunter-gatherer communities. It appears that up to AD 1000, these groups enjoyed close, equitable relations. Inadequate information inhibits our assessment of their relations after AD 1000, but it is suggested that the hunter-gatherers may have become clients of the farmers. The conclusion highlights the advantages of my socially oriented approach, by comparing the knowledge generated by it and the ecological approaches used in South African LSA studies. Finally, future avenues of research are suggested. To cite this article: Mazel, A. D. 1989. People making history: the last ten thousand years of hunter-gatherer communities in the Thukela Basin.  Natal Museum Journal of Humanities 1 : 1-168.


We present a first principles LSDA+U study of the magnetic coupling constants in the spinel magnets CoCr2O4 and MnCr2O4. Our calculated coupling constants highlight the possible importance of AA interactions in spinel systems with magnetic ions on both A and B sites. Furthermore, we show that a careful analysis of the dependence of the magnetic coupling constants on the LSDA+U parameters provides valuable insights in the underlying coupling mechanisms and allows to obtain a quantitative estimate of the magnetic coupling constants. We discuss in detail the capabilities and possible pitfalls of the LSDA+U method in determining magnetic coupling constants in complex transition metal oxides.


Soil microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are expected as an application to produce sustainable energy. Here, we focused on soil ecosystems, specifically the earthworms which are known to improve soil-fertility by degrading fallen leaves or plant litter. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of earthworm on power generation of the SMFC. The maximum power density and the internal resistance were compared to the SMFC with and without earthworms. The power density increased by about 800% and the internal resistance decreased by about 90%. The soil structure of each SMFC was different and the clear soil aggregate structure was found in the SMFC with earthworms, which had been made with the passage of soil through the earthworm gut. The results indicated that adding earthworms had a significant effect on the SMFC performance, especially the power and soil structure. It is considered that the soil environments were changed biologically and physicochemically by adding earthworms into SMFC and these changes had a positive influence on SMFC. There is no report of hybrid type SMFC combined with earthworm. This is a very novel approach to use earthworms as enhanced power generation through the SMFC.


B215 The HIM Study is a prospective HPV natural history study among men in the US, Mexico, and Brazil. The goal is to further our understanding of the natural history of HPV infection in men so that effective programs can be developed to reduce cancer burden in both men and women. The specific aims are to establish a cohort of 3,000 men ages 18-44 years examined every 6 months for 4 years; determine the incidence and persistence of type-specific genital HPV infections; study the humoral immune response to HPV infection; and, identify factors independently associated with acquisition, persistence, and clearance of type-specific HPV infections in men. Between December 2005 and June 2006, 840 men enrolled to the HIM Study. Preliminary analyses of enrollment questionnaire data indicate that the majority of men have completed a high school education (96.4%), 46.3% are circumcised, 53.6% report an age at first intercourse younger than 17 yrs., 33.6% report having >10 lifetime number of sexual partners, 66.7% of men with a current sexual partner report sexual relations with only one sexual partner in the past three months (monogamy), and 33.8% report having a new sexual partner in the past three months. Follow-up compliance for this cohort at enrollment following a run-in visit and at 6 months is 86% and 90% respectively. In samples combined from the coronal sulcus, glans penis, shaft, and scrotum we observe beta-globin positively in 98.7% of samples. To date, HPV prevalence of HIM Study participants at enrollment is 56.5% with 26.2% oncogenic, and 33.4% non-oncogenic infections. HPV 51 (8.2%) and 16 (7.9%) are the most commonly detected oncogenic HPV infections and HPV 6 (6.6%) and 62 (5.7%) are the most commonly detected non-oncogenic infections.


—The vascular wall contains intimal endothelium and medial smooth muscle that act as contiguous tissues with tight spatial and functional coordination in response to tonic and episodic input from the bloodstream and the surrounding parenchyma. Focal adhesions are molecular bridges between the intracellular and extracellular spaces that integrate a variety of environmental stimuli and mediate 2-way crosstalk between the extracellular matrix and the cytoskeleton. Focal adhesion components are targets for biochemical and mechanical stimuli that evoke crucial developmental and injury response mechanisms including cell growth, movement, and differentiation, and tailoring of the extracellular microenvironment. Focal adhesions provide the vascular wall constituents with flexible and specific tools for exchanging cues in a complex system. The molecular mechanisms that underlie these vital communications are detailed in this review with the goal of defining future targets for vascular tissue engineering and for the therapeutic modulation of disordered vascular growth, inflammation, thrombosis, and angiogenesis. ( Circ Res . 2006;98:606-616.)


This paper analyses an unpublished Dutch-language Book of Hours in the John
 Rylands Library, focusing on unusual core texts the manuscript contains and
 distinctive features of its cycle of illumination. The miniatures and the richly
 painted decoration of the manuscript can be attributed to the Master of the
 Haarlem Bible and dated c.1450–75. The inserted
 full-page miniatures include iconographically noteworthy examples, and the
 placement of some in the volume is anomalous, suggesting that they may not have
 been planned when the volume was written. Our analyses of distinctive texts and
 images of the manuscript lead us to offer suggestions about the religious status
 or affiliations of its patron and to propose possible monastic settings in which
 it might have been used. We discuss the disparate character of its textual and
 illustrative components in relation to current reappraisals of the organisation
 of manuscript production in the Northern Netherlands.


Due to the problems associated with increase of greenhouse gases, and the limited supply of fossil fuels, switching to clean and renewable sources of energy seems necessary. Wind energy is a very suitable form of renewable energy which can be a good choice for those areas around the world with sufficient amount of wind annually. However, in order for the commercial wind turbines to be cost-effective, they need to operate at very high elevations, and therefore, blades with the length as high as 60–70 m are common. Because of the high manufacturing and transportation costs of the wind turbine components, it is necessary to evaluate and predict the performance of the turbine prior to shipping it to the installation site.Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has proven to be a simple, cheap and yet relatively accurate tool for prediction of wind turbine performance, where suitability of different designs can be evaluated at a low cost. Total lift and drag forces can be calculated, from which one can estimate the torque, and ultimately the output power. Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) is a well-known Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence model, which is typically more accurate than eddy viscosity models, but it comes with higher computational cost.In the present work, turbulent flow of air around a horizontal axis wind turbine blade is modeled computationally by using a modified version of RSM, known as Algebraic Stress Model (ASM) for the near-blade region.Because of the periodicity nature of the flow domain, only one of three blades is modeled by applying the periodic conditions on the sides of a 120 degree sector of the domain. While the flow is solved in the bulk fluid using the k-epsilon model, in order to better capture the near-wall effects and to make the computations cost effective, it is proposed to apply ASM only in the locations very close to the blade surface.A number of reasonable assumptions are made in ASM in order to convert the transport differential equations of the Reynolds stresses into an algebraic form. The highly coupled system of non-linear equations is then solved concurrently for six Reynolds stress components. Turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent dissipation rate, and mean velocity gradients are calculated from the k-epsilon model and used as initial values and iterated through the ASM computations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that ASM is used for analysis of Reynolds stress for flow around rotating wind turbines blades.Reynolds stresses are obtained at several locations (heights) along the blade, and at different radial distances from the blade. Different variations of implicit and explicit ASM are examined and compared in terms of accuracy. Results indicate that the implicit ASM method using the full form of pressure-strain term tends to show predictions that are closer to the predictions of the fully-resolved RSM simulation, as compared to the other ASM models examined. Therefore, there seems to be a good potential for reducing computational costs for determination of near wall Reynolds stresses and ultimately calculating torque and power generated from wind turbines without sacrificing the accuracy.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Bacterial drug resistance is an increasingly serious problem that threatens public health and researchers need to develop new drugs. The biosynthetic pathway of the bacterial peptidoglycan is a known and good target for the development of novel antibacterial agents.

This research project focused on the first lipid-linked step of peptidoglycan biosynthesis. The enzyme required for this step is Phospho-MurNAc-pentapeptide Translocase MraY. Our aim was to screen for novel inhibitors of MraY. A continuous fluorescence MraY assay was developed and optimised to test known and potential inhibitors such as nucleoside natural products, antimicrobial peptides and structurally new small molecule potential inhibitors.

The fluorescence assay was adapted to a high-throughput fluorescence assay in microtitre plate format and around 2,000 compounds were screened from the diversity set of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) against MraY in order to identify novel inhibitors. However, around 22 % of the test compounds from the diversity set interfered with fluorescence. Therefore, a radiochemical MraY assay was developed as an independent method. We eventually identified one potential MraY inhibitor from the diversity set, the naphthylisoquinoline alkaloid, michellamine B, with IC50 values of 400 and 340 μg/ml against E. coli and B. subtilis MraY respectively. The compound showed antibacterial activity against B. subtilis with an MIC value of 16 μg/ml.

It was established that MraY inhibition from the pacidamycin producer, S. coeruleorubidus, was detectable directly from culture supernatants by the fluorescence and by the radiochemical MraY assays. Therefore, we tested culture supernatants and cell extracts from various Streptomyces strains. MraY inhibition was observed using cell extracts from Streptomyces venezuelae, and higher levels of inhibition were observed from a gbnB/gbnR S. venezuelae mutant, though it was not possible to identify the active species present.

Following an earlier report of halogenated fluoresceins identified from a combined MraY/MurG screen, we also tested several halogenated fluoresceins, and found that phloxine B, a tetra-bromo fluorescein analogue, was an inhibitor of E. coli MraY with an IC50 value of 32 μM, and also inhibited MraY from P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, M. flavus and S. aureus with IC50 values ranging between 100 and 210 μg/ml.


Bifuran motifs can be accessed with nickel-bipyridine electrocatalyzed homocouplings of bromine-substituted methyl furancarboxylates, which, in turn, can be prepared from hemicellulose-derived furfural. The described protocol uses sustainable carbon-based graphite electrodes in the simplest setup - an undivided cell with constant current electrolysis. The reported method avoids using a sacrificial anode by employing triethanolamine as an electron donor.


The present study was undertaken to explore the cardioprotective potential of bioflavonoids against isoproterenol induced cardiotoxicity in rats. Cardiotoxicity was induced by isoproterenol (85mg/kg body weight) in animals. Blood biochemical, hematological parameters, urinalysis and histopathological studies were carried to assess the cardio protective effect. Isoproterenol administration induced significant cardiotoxicity in rats, which was evident from enhanced levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides and calcium except sodium. Pretreatment with quercetin (50 mg/kg dose orally) significantly reversed isoproterenol induced cardiotoxicity than the silymarin (50 mg/kg dose orally). From the obtained results it may be concluded that quercetin exerted a significant cardioprotective effect against isoproterenol induced cardiotoxicity in rats than silymarin (p<0.001) for most of the blood biochemical parameters, mean corpuscular hemoglobin count as well as in attenuation of pathological changes in cardiac tissues.