Biological statistics is a relatively young science and, although it was initially developed to aid agricultural researchers, it is now used in nearly all fields of research. Horticulturists were fortunate because one of the first major statistical publications (Field Experiments in Horticulture) was written by T.N. Hoblyns, who appreciated the practical difficulties of horticultural research in field settings. This book was the standard for 20 years, and much of the information is still applicable, but over the years many procedures have been extended. The widespread accessibility of fast computers with large amounts of memory has allowed the rapid improvement of statistical software packages so researchers can perform analyses that are more appropriate than those that were available just 13 years ago. With these new procedures, researchers can extract increasing amounts of information from their data. However, the availability of computer-aided statistics has also generated opportunity for misuse, especially in regard to the factors necessary for valid application of the basic procedures, and for interpretation of their results. Statistical analyses first appeared in ASHS publications in the early 1940s, and became common by the early 1960s. Statistical analysis of data is now required for publication in most agricultural journals. Most horticulture graduate students take one or two statistics courses, then rely on their notes and textbooks as references for the duration of their careers. Researchers attend professional meetings and read journals to remain current in their disciplines, but rarely attempt to keep up with rapid changes in the field of statistics. More than 15 years have passed since ASHS had a colloquium on statistics, so this colloquium is long overdue. Before developing the program for this session, associate editors from the Journal and HortScience were asked for suggested topics. Everyone who responded indicated that we need more programs on statistics. There were many very good suggestions. Some suggested topics were too broad and would require several hours to cover, whereas others were too narrow and would be of interest to a limited audience. It is obvious that ASHS members would like to have more programs on statistics and I hope more will be planned in the near future. The topics selected for this colloquium should be of interest to nearly every horticultural researcher, and will provide a modern approach to analyzing and interpreting data from traditional experimental designs.


The aim of this project is to extend accurate and patient-specific treatment planning to new treatment modalities, such as molecular targeted radiation therapy, incorporating previously crafted and proven Monte Carlo and deterministic computation methods. A flexible software environment is being created that allows planning radiation treatment for these new modalities and combining different forms of radiation treatment with consideration of biological effects. The system uses common input interfaces, medical image sets for definition of patient geometry and dose reporting protocols. Previously, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), Montana State University (MSU) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) had accrued experience in the development and application of Monte Carlo based, three-dimensional, computational dosimetry and treatment planning tools for radiotherapy in several specialized areas. In particular, INEEL and MSU have developed computational dosimetry systems for neutron radiotherapy and neutron capture therapy, while LLNL has developed the PEREGRINE computational system for external beam photon–electron therapy. Building on that experience, the INEEL and MSU are developing the MINERVA (modality inclusive environment for radiotherapeutic variable analysis) software system as a general framework for computational dosimetry and treatment planning for a variety of emerging forms of radiotherapy. In collaboration with this development, LLNL has extended its PEREGRINE code to accommodate internal sources for molecular targeted radiotherapy (MTR), and has interfaced it with the plugin architecture of MINERVA. Results from the extended PEREGRINE code have been compared to published data from other codes, and found to be in general agreement (EGS4—2%, MCNP—10%) (Descalle et al 2003 Cancer Biother. Radiopharm. 18 71–9). The code is currently being benchmarked against experimental data. The interpatient variability of the drug pharmacokinetics in MTR can only be properly accounted for by image-based, patient-specific treatment planning, as has been common in external beam radiation therapy for many years. MINERVA offers 3D Monte Carlo-based MTR treatment planning as its first integrated operational capability. The new MINERVA system will ultimately incorporate capabilities for a comprehensive list of radiation therapies. In progress are modules for external beam photon–electron therapy and boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Brachytherapy and proton therapy are planned. Through the open application programming interface (API), other groups can add their own modules and share them with the community.


Purpose: To evaluate intraocular pressure (IOP) and anterior chamber depth (ACD) change after phacoemulsification with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 84 patients with senile cataract were included. All patients had normal IOP. Patients with traumatic and complicated cataract, any history of uveitis, glaucoma, or other ocular disease or surgery were excluded. Patients underwent phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation by the same surgeon. IOP, ACD, and lens thickness were measured and recorded before surgery. IOP was measured at 4, 8 and 12 postoperative weeks and ACD was measured 12 weeks after surgery. Results: The mean preoperative ACD significantly increased from 2.93 mm to 3.54 mm postoperatively (p<0.0001). Mean preoperative IOP was 16.06 mmHg which decreased to 12.01 IOP mmHg, 12.57 mmHg and 12.90 mmHg at 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks postoperatively, respectively (all p-values<0.0001). There was a correlation between lens thickness and changes of and ACD after the surgery. There was also a positive correlation between preoperative IOP and IOP reduction after the surgery. Conclusion: Phacoemulsification decreases IOP specially in eyes with higher preoperative IOP and thicker lenses.


Using alternative cache indexing/hashing functions is a popular technique to reduce conflict misses by achieving a more uniform cache access distribution across the sets in the cache. Although various alternative hashing functions have been demonstrated to eliminate the worst case conflict behavior, no study has really analyzed the pathological behavior of such hashing functions that often result in performance slowdown. We present an in-depth analysis of the pathological behavior of cache hashing functions. Based on the analysis, we propose two new hashing functions: prime modulo and prime displacement that are resistant to pathological behavior and yet are able to eliminate the worst case conflict behavior in the L2 cache. We show that these two schemes can be implemented in fast hardware using a set of narrow add operations, with negligible fragmentation in the L2 cache. We evaluate the schemes on 23 memory intensive applications. For applications that have nonuniform cache accesses, both prime modulo and prime displacement hashing achieve an average speedup of 1.27 compared to traditional hashing, without slowing down any of the 23 benchmarks. We also evaluate using multiple prime displacement hashing functions in conjunction with a skewed associative L2 cache. The skewed associative cache achieves a better average speedup at the cost of some pathological behavior that slows down four applications by up to 7%.


In the treatment of breast cancer, breast-conserving surgery (BCS) may result in incomplete excision of the tumor. In order to improve the outcome of this surgery, iodine-125 seeds may be inserted in the tumor under mammographic or ultrasonic guidance prior to surgery. These seeds provide intraoperative information about the location of the tumor. A system of two gamma camera heads and two parallel-hole collimators was recently proposed to record projection images from which the location of a single radioactive seed can be derived. In the present study, computer simulations were used to evaluate the influence of two standard and 95 non-standard collimators on the accuracy and precision with which this location can be derived. Simulation results indicate that this location can be derived with accuracies ± precisions of 5.2 mm ± 1.8 mm and 5.6 mm ± 2.1 mm if the system is equipped with standard collimators. Simulation results also indicate that this location can be derived with an accuracy ± precision of 4.9 mm ± 1.7 mm if the system is equipped with non-standard collimators (each of these collimators had a resolution of 5 cm at a collimator-source distance of 75 cm). These results were observed when the signal from the radioactive seed with an activity of 7.4 MBq was recorded at a collimator-source distance of 75 cm with an imaging time of 2.5 s (this seed was positioned within a 6.5 cm thick block phantom). In conclusion, these results indicate that the accuracy with which the 3D location of a single radioactive seed can be established during BCS by this gamma camera system cannot be significantly improved if non-standard collimators are used instead of standard collimators.


Existing quantitative studies use various measurements and methods to examine Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction in the field of education, yet, most either misunderstand the conception, or only test part of the theory. This article addresses these gaps by using the "Structure-Disposition-Practice" framework to picture an integrated model of cultural reproduction. It aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the interrelationship between social position, parents' and student's dispositions, practices, and field empirically. Using the Chinese Educational Panel Survey (CEPS) we develop a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test the theory. The results suggest parents' habitus plays a more crucial role in the cultural reproduction process than the family's social position in China. And social class may not be the primary source of educational inequality. The findings shed a light on quantitatively understanding the cultural reproduction process with relational thinking.


In this paper, we propose the use of character n-gram and multiple conditional random field (CRF) models for BioCreAtIvE 2 Task 1, gene/protein name recognition. We investigated different state transition weighting schemes for CRFs and discovered that models provided independent nonoverlapping mentions. To improve recall, the results of multiple models are combined. To improve precision, character n-gram models classify gene/protein mention containing sentences. Our best approach achieved a precision of 84.35%, recall of 81.39% and F-measure of 82.85%.


We propose an effective and intuitive method for controlling flexible models such as ropes and cloth. Automating manipulation of such flexible objects is not an easy task due to the high dimensionality of the objects and the low dimensionality of the control. In order to cope with this problem, we introduce a method called Geodesic Control, which greatly helps to manipulate flexible objects. The core idea is to decrease the degrees of freedom of the flexible object by moving it along the geodesic line of the object that it is interacting with. By repeatedly applying this control, users can easily synthesize animations of twisting and knotting a piece of rope or wrapping a cloth around an object. We show examples of "furoshiki wrapping", in which an object is wrapped by a cloth by a series of maneuvers based on Geodesic Control. As our representation can abstract such maneuvers well, the procedure designed by a user can be re‐applied for different combinations of cloth and an object. The method is applicable not only for computer animation but also for 3D computer games and virtual reality systems.


In this paper we describe a fuzzy approach for the synthesis of a speech waveform from a phonetic description in Italian language. The system is based upon a set of fuzzy rules which linguistically describe the transitions between phonemes. The fuzzy system has several interesting properties, such as an easy management of the set of rules and the possibility to continuously improve the system by adding more knowledge to it using linguistic descriptions. Some experimental results are included, and future possible developments are outlined.


In the wide slit nozzle, even when applied repeatedly to the end that can be applied without creating a gap with no il it overlapped part comes almost up again. In the embodiment 1 using the wide slit nozzle, a x = 15mm, y = 14mm, α = 0.3mm, β = 0.6mm. Thus, the entire length (width) of the slit (2), 15 + 14 × 2 = 43 (mm) is, but the coating material has a width of, since the discharge state takes the pressure from the slit (2), the slit (2) It becomes much wider than is applied. Here, in all cases, is discharged at a rate of 7 liters per minute, the coating width in the case of the first embodiment is to 100mm. Overlapped portion (p2) width (raepgap) (z) is in the case of 10 mm, in the case of 20mm, overlapped portions (p2) the increase of the thickness of the as + 25%, very little of components disposed on the floor there is no possibility of interference with the pipe passing through floor or above.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate angiogenesis after the use of intramedullary direct electrical current in rabbit tibia. Thirty-two New Zealand rabbits were divided into four groups: group 1, false electrode group; group 2, hole group; group 3, control group; and group 4, intramedullary electrical stimulation group. One-half of the rabbits in each group were evaluated angiographically, pathologically, and scintigraphically on day 7, and the rest were evaluated on day 21. Results proved that electrical stimulation was not capable of the induction of angiogenesis in the subjects killed on day 7 and day 21. Furthermore, we found some fibrotic changes secondary to electrical stimulation on day 7 (P = 0.04) and day 21 (P = 0.01). However, an increase in new capillary vessels occurred in the false electrode group (P = 0.02). We found no useful effect of electrical stimulation in our study, a finding that is possibly due to our use of a method previously undocumented in the literature. We believe that this study can be the new baseline for further studies into the stimulation or inhibition of angiogenesis using intramedullary wire with or without electrical stimulation.


We propose an algorithm for solving nonsmooth, nonconvex, constrained optimization problems as well as a new set of visualization tools for comparing the performance of optimization algorithms. Our algorithm is a sequential quadratic optimization method that employs Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) quasi-Newton Hessian approximations and an exact penalty function whose parameter is controlled using a steering strategy. While our method has no convergence guarantees, we have found it to perform very well in practice on challenging test problems in controller design involving both locally Lipschitz and non-locally-Lipschitz objective and constraint functions with constraints that are typically active at local minimizers. In order to empirically validate and compare our method with available alternatives—on a new test set of 200 problems of varying sizes—we employ new visualization tools which we call relative minimization profiles. Such profiles are designed to simultaneously assess the relative performance of several algorithms with respect to objective quality, feasibility, and speed of progress, highlighting the trade-offs between these measures when comparing algorithm performance.


Introduction Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) occurs when insulin-producing cells are destroyed by an autoimmune response, resulting in hyperglycaemia. Hyperglycaemia accelerates collagen cross-linking in tendons, which can deteriorate tendon structure and predispose to tendon injury (Reddy 2003). Tendon pathology has been observed in the type 2 DM (T2DM) population (Akturk et al. 2007; Papanas et al. 2009), however little is known about T1DM and tendon pathology. This review examines whether there is an association between T1DM and lower limb tendon pathology. Methods Five databases were comprehensively searched for English language journal articles that reported on three key domains: (i) T1DM, (ii) lower limb, and (iii) tendon pathology. Reference lists of included studies or reviews were manually inspected for relevant papers. Articles were excluded if they were: case reports; animal models; conference abstracts; or did not provide T1DM data. Results The search yield of 593 papers was evaluated by title and abstract and 38 papers were read in full text. Only one article met all inclusion criteria (Figure 1). Three potentially eligible articles pooled tendon outcome data for T1DM and T2DM individuals (Bolton et al. 2005; D'Ambrogi et al. 2005; Giacomozzi et al. 2005). Original data was sought from the authors, but was no longer available. Abstract 110 Figure 1 Flowchart of study yield The one included article was a cross-sectional study that reported the prevalence of T1DM among individuals with midportion Achilles tendinopathy. This study reviewed electronic medical records from GP practices in the Netherlands, where all reasons for visit are recorded on a computerised registration system. The prevalence of T1DM in those with Achilles tendinopathy (1.8%, 95% CI, 0 to 4.5) was the same as in the general Dutch population (0.8%, CI, NA) (de Jonge et al. 2011). Discussion The main finding of this review was no difference in the prevalence of T1DM between individuals with tendinopathy and the general population. The review highlighted two other key points: (i) there is very limited published data on tendon pain or structure in T1DM, and (ii) despite profound difference in T1/T2DM pathophysiology and co-morbidities, data are commonly combined. Articles that pooled T1DM and T2DM tendon data did not meet the review inclusion criteria. An effort was made to obtain original T1DM data, which was unsuccessful. These studies found DM individuals had significantly thicker Achilles tendons (p < 0.05) (D'Ambrogi et al. 2005; Giacomozzi et al. 2005), but similar flexor hallucis longus tendon thickness (p > 0.05) (Bolton et al. 2005) compared to controls. However, the influence of T1DM on tendon structure in these studies is unknown. The interest in investigating T1DM and T2DM separately comes from the differing pathophysiological causes of DM and exposure to hyperglycaemia. Other characteristics more specific to T2DM may predispose tendons to pathological changes, such as insulin resistance (Gaida et al. 2009b), elevated lipids (Beeharry et al. 2006) and adiposity (Gaida et al. 2009a). References Akturk et al. Exp clin endocrinol. 2007;115:92–6 Beeharry et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2006;65:312–5 Bolton et al. Clin Biomech. 2005;20:540–6 D'Ambrogi et al. Diabetic Med. 2005;22:1713–9 de Jonge et al. Brit J Sport Med. 2011;45: 1026–8 Gaida et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2009a; 61:840–9 Gaida et al. Med Sci Sport Exer. 2009b; 41:1194–7 Giacomozzi et al. Clin biomech. 2005;20:532–9 Papanas et al, Exp clin endocrinol. 2009;117:645–8 Reddy, J Orthopaed Res. 2003;21:738–43


Aphasia denotes an acquired central disorder of language, which alters patient's ability of understanding and/or producing spoken and written language. The main cause of aphasia is represented by ischemic stroke. The language disturbances are frequently combined into aphasic syndromes, contained in different vascular syndromes, which may suffer evolution/involution in the acute stage of ischemic stroke. The main determining factor of the vascular aphasia's form is the infarct location. Broca's aphasia is a non-fluent aphasia, comprising a wide range of symptoms (articulatory disturbances, paraphasias, agrammatism, anomia, and discrete comprehension disorders of spoken and written language) and is considered the third most common form of acute vascular aphasia, after global and Wernicke's aphasia. It is caused by a lesion situated in the dominant cerebral hemisphere (the left one in right-handed persons), in those cortical regions vascularized by the superior division of the left middle cerebral artery (Broca's area, the rolandic operculum, the insular cortex, subjacent white matter, centrum semiovale, the caudate nucleus head, the putamen, and the periventricular areas). The role of this chapter is to present the most important acquirements in the field of language and neurologic examination, diagnosis, and therapy of the patient with Broca's aphasia secondary to ischemic stroke.


One hundred and five strains of Salmonella enteritidis isolated
from five different sources including humans, food animals, avian, wild
animals and environments were studied. All isolates were
characterised for their biotype, plasmid profiles and resistance to
antibiotics. Biotyping of the isolates subdivided them into two biotypes
i.e., A and E. Subdivision of the isolates by plasmid profiling identified
fifteen plasmid patterns i.e. PP0 to PP14. Plasmid pattern PP14 was
the most common pattern encountered in 47 (44%) of the total isolates
from various sources. Resistance to antibiotics was not uncommon
with 104 (99%) of the isolates were resistant to more than one
antibiotics. Subdivision by antibiotic resistance pattern exhibited ten
antibiograms designated as R1 to R10. A total of 87 (82%) of the isolates fell into resistant pattern R1 which showed resistant
towards erythromycin, penicillin G and triple sulpha. In conjugations
studies, the ability of transferring antibiotic resistance was
demonstrated in the transconjugants with the concomitant transfer of
the respective plasmid and resistant to tetracycline. Sixty seven
representative strains of S. enteritidis studied for restriction
endonuclease digestion polymorphism by - pulsed-field gel
electrophoresis (REDP-PFGE) exhibited different PFGE fragment
patterns. Digestion with low-frequency-cleavage restriction
endonucleases, i.e., Xbal (5'- TCTAGA-3')and Spel (5'-ACTAGT-3')
produced five and three restriction patterns respectively. Interrelationships
of the PFGE patterns among the isolates could be
determined by the calculation of similarity index, F. The F values
grouped the strains as closely related, unrelated or indistinguishable.
The phage-typed strains of S. enteritidis were subdivided into one
biotypes, eleven plasmid profiles, six resistance patterns and seven
restriction polymorphisms. In general, characterisation by DNA-based
method of plasmid profiling gave more discrimination compared to
other methods. These methods also provide effective adjunct to
antibiotic resistance pattern and phage typing for subdivision of S. enteritidis.


In Malaysia the issue of illegal building is not a new issue. The problems of illegal building can give effect to the local authority, neighbour, occupant and public surroundings. However for the local authority they also prepared some
explanation and information to the public before their doing the plan approval according current regulations. But nowadays the owner of building still not followed the explanation and information that local authorities have been
prepared. For them, there have their own reason why they do this construction without getting formal permission from the local authority. The objectives of this research are to identify the building control aspect in respect of building regulation for building approval, to identify the common type
of illegal building or structure that happen in building construction and to analyse the enforcement practice and action made by a local authority in controlling illegal building. In complete these researches the questionnaire have been prepared. The questionnaire has answers by the staff of local authority from Building Control Department. From the analysis the conclusion is the local
authority has their own action enforcement in settle the problems of illegal building. But the public also should have responsibilities to make sure they followed the regulation from local authority.


The purpose of this report is two-fold. It is first designed to assess, at least in part, unmet HIV programming and service needs. It is also designed to evaluate: (a) if at-risk populations have been accurately targeted for HIV-related programs and services, (b) if programming and services have effectively impacted targeted populations and (c) if demand for services accurately reflects need for services.


Simple, accurate, precise, sensitive and highly selective spectrophotometric methods were developed for the estimation of Nateglinide. The estimation of Nateglinide was carried outby same solvent like phosphate buffer ph is 6.8(method I) at 239nm, (method II) at 248nm and (method III) at 217nm. And these methods were found to be linear in the range of 2-16μg/ml, for method I,2-12 for method- II and 2-16μg/ml for method III. And Beers law rangewere found to be 1-15μg/ml, 1-15μg/ml, and10-250μg/ml, and with mean recovery of 99.84 %, 99.45 % and 100.3 % of Nateglinide for methods I, II and III respectively. The developed method was validated according to ICH guidelines and it found to be accurate and precise Thus the proposed method can be successfully applied for simultaneous determination of Nateglinide and in routine analysis work.


Not too many years ago, scholars could reasonably speak of the U.S. Supreme Court as being among the most activist in American history. Both empirical and normative scholarship was driven by the sense of a Court that was aggressive in the assertion of its own supremacy and active in the exercise of the power of judicial review. The Court under Chief Justice John Roberts cannot be viewed in the same way. The Roberts Court has issued its share of controversial constitutional decisions, but a rarely observed but important feature of the Roberts Court is its unusual restraint in the exercise of judicial review. By some measures, in fact, the Roberts Court can thus far be called the least activist Supreme Court in history. This article demonstrates that the Roberts Court is deserving of that title and investigates some features of the exercise of judicial review of the current Court compared to its recent predecessors. The Court has become less likely to strike down federal laws, but importantly it has become far less likely to invalidate state laws. Although the willingness of modern conservative jurists to strike down statutes is notable, the declining ability of the liberals on the Court to form majorities willing to strike down state laws has been particularly important to the creation of a restrained Court. The return of judicial activism on the Supreme Court is likely to depend on the appointment of more liberals justices to the Court who could press the constitutional views that are now most often expressed in dissent.


A 50-year-old man, presented with sudden onset of right leg coldness, numbness and pain for 1.5 months. It was found that the right superficial femoral artery was thrombosed, which ended at the mid-thigh level and a continued as the popliteal artery in magnetic resonance angiography. Persistence of the sciatic artery is extremely rare vascular anomaly. It is prone to undergo early atherosclerotic changes, occlusive embolism, and aneurysm formation. In this article we report a patient with acute artery occlusion developed in popliteal and crural arteries in a patient with persistent sciatic artery which was successfully treated through surgical and endovascular intervention.


This paper presents a parametric video quality model for monitoring the perceived quality of High Definition (HD, 1920×1080) encrypted videos for IPTV services. The model has been developed based on the results of extensive subjective video quality tests. In this study we focus on the modeling of the quality impact of packet-loss in case slicing has been applied as basis for subsequent packet-loss-concealment (PLC) for H.264 encoding. We introduce a parameter which describes the spatial-extent and duration of the loss by considering "frame-layer" information such as the frame type. This parameter is combined with an erroneous Group-Of-Picture (GOP) counter for predicting the perceived quality. With the slice size as additional parameter, the model coefficients are independent of the GOP structure, of the packet-loss distribution and of the number of slices per frame. The model thus is more general, and shows higher performance than models not considering "frame-layer" information.


To explore the contributions that fishing, trophic interactions and plankton production make to explanations of the observed variation of higher trophic (principally fish) levels in the western English Channel ecosystem, Ecosim simulations were run from 1973 to 1999 using the most complete data set yet assembled. The results indicate that a bottom-up mechanism plays an important role in the system production. Inclusion of a primary producer biomass forcing term, estimated from empirical data, improved the goodness of fit of the model estimates to the available biomass data by about 25% compared to fitting using only the series of fishing mortalities. Model fitting was further improved by changing the so-called vulnerability parameters, causing an overall improvement of 62% in explained variation. Incorporating the new vulnerability values, the model was used to estimate a primary production anomaly function to replace the primary producer biomass forcing in driving the model simulations. In this scenario, the model estimated a series of values for primary producer abundance that approximated the empirical data, but gave lower estimates than were observed towards the end of the period. This version also gave a better fitting to the zooplankton abundance data and generally improved the fitting to all functional groups.


Different molecular layers on TiO2 were prepared by using the p-dimethylaniline triphenylamine based organic dye, D29, together with the coadsorbents decylphosphonic acid (DPA), dineohexyl bis(3,3-dimethylbutyl)phosphinic acid (DINHOP), and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA). The surface molecular structure of dye and coadsorbent layers on TiO2 was investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). A focus was to determine the surface molecular concentrations using characteristic photoelectron core levels. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were prepared from the same substrate and were further characterized by photoelectrochemical methods. Together the investigation gives information on the arrangement of the mixed molecular layer and a first insight to the extent to which the coadsorbents exchange with dye molecules on the TiO2 surface for the examined conditions.


Research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the
Witswatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Public Health in the field of Hospital Management


We analyze the environments and galactic properties (morphologies and star formation histories) of a sample of 153 close kinematic pairs in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1 identified in the zCOSMOS-bright 10 k spectroscopic sample of galaxies. Correcting for projection effects, the fraction of close kinematic pairs is three times higher in the top density quartile than in the lowest one. This translates to a three times higher merger rate because the merger timescales are shown, from mock catalogs based on the Millennium simulation, to be largely independent of environment once the same corrections for projection are applied. We then examine the morphologies and stellar populations of galaxies in the pairs, comparing them to control samples that are carefully matched in environment so as to remove as much of the well-known effects of environment on the properties of the parent population of galaxies as possible. Once the environment is properly taken into account in this way, we find that the early–late morphology mix is the same as for the parent population, but that the fraction of irregular galaxies is boosted by 50%–75%, with a disproportionate increase in the number of irregular–irregular pairs (factor of 4–8 times), due to the disturbance of disk galaxies. Future dry mergers, involving elliptical galaxies comprise less than 5% of all close kinematic pairs. In the closest pairs, there is a boost in the specific star formation rates of star-forming galaxies of a factor of 2–4, and there is also evidence for an increased incidence of post-starburst galaxies. Although significant for the galaxies involved, the "excess" star formation associated with pairs represents only about 5% of the integrated star formation activity in the parent sample. Although most pair galaxies are in dense environments, the effects of interaction appear to be largest in the lower density environments. By preferentially bringing more pairs into the sample in lower density environments, this could dilute the dependence of pair fraction on environment and may introduce other biases into the observational study of mergers, especially those based on morphological criteria.


When no longer attached to the head, human hair is disconcerting. Sometimes treated as waste or as gift, relic, sacred offering or commodity, it reveals much about our notions of health, fashion, beauty, sex, religion, race, cultural identity, aging and mortality.

Whether it's being harvested in Indian temples, crafted into wigs in China, untangled in rural workshops across Asia or sold as extensions in the United States, Europe and Africa, human hair is part of a hidden but expanding global trade. Entangled in religion, politics and cultural identity, it finds second lives in wigs, toupees, rope, embroidery, paintbrushes, fertiliser and proteins. But what happens when different hair worlds collide?

In 'Entanglement' Emma Tarlo follows the secret global journeys of hair. She meets the collectors, untanglers, stitchers, knotters, traders, buyers and wearers of hair as she tracks its movement across India, Myanmar, China, Africa, the United States and Europe. Entering the closed spaces of Chinese factories, Afro hair fairs, Jewish wig parlours, Hindu and Buddhist temples and hair loss clinics, she investigates what hair means in different circumstances and how it connects the lives of people with very different aspirations and needs in distant parts of the world.


People often encounter situations where they evaluate outcomes that they and other persons receive. Part of this evaluation concerns how fair the distribution is. Whether people are treated fairly or unfairly give rise to different emotional reactions. In Study I work performance in relation to outcome in fair or unfair distributions (i.e., distributive justice) and discrete emotional reactions was examined. In the first study participants read one of five possible work-related vignettes after which they rated emotions toward their boss, a co-worker and self. Variations in the vignettes were made with regard to own performance compared to the co-worker's performance and own outcome in comparison with the co-worker's outcome (i.e., salary). The results showed that participants in the most positive and fair situations reported happiness-related emotions toward oneself. In contrast, in the most negative and unfair situation participants reported sadness-related emotions toward oneself, envy toward the co-worker and anger-related emotions toward the boss. Besides considerations about justice, different aspects of culture have consequences for everyday life (Fiske, 2002). In Study II it was examined if discrete emotional reactions to work performance in relation to outcome in fair or unfair distributions were regulated differently in different cultural settings. In the second study participants read one of two possible work-related vignettes after which they rated emotions toward their boss, a co-worker and self. In line with Fiske (1992), emotions were regulated differently by participants in Indonesia (with authority ranking likely to be the predominant relational model) than in Sweden (with market pricing being the predominant model). Emotions which can be directed outward (as anger and envy) and have negative consequences in a relation were avoided by participants from Java in Indonesia. In contrast, emotions that can be directed inwards (as shame and uneasiness) and have negative consequences on the self, but not the relation, were experienced to a higher degree by the participants from Java in comparison with their Swedish counterparts.


The aim of this paper is to develop a model for planning the number of public servants, taking into account the dynamics of socio-economic development of public legal entities. We use both qualitative methods (comparative legal analysis, document analysis, classification) and quantitative econometric methods (correlation analysis, construction of multiple regression and estimation of statistical significance of coefficients using Student's t-statistics, Fisher's F-statistics, the Durbin-Watson test for homoscedasticity of the model, and scattering diagrams). The strategy of socio-economic development of each subject of the Russian Federation (Strategy) serves as the basis for the public programs and other strategic planning documents. Given that the entire system of public authorities is involved in the implementation of the Strategy, it is important to make a reasonable choice of priority areas and realistic targets for the Strategy. Currently, these conditions are not always met (less than half of the target indicators of the analyzed region Strategy are fully or partially correspond to the Federal program of statistical observations, and the relationship between the forecast and actual dynamics of indicators is rather negative). Planning the number of public servants is carried out under the influence of endogenous factors rather than the status of managed fields. As a result, agencies operating in areas with upward and downward dynamics of development may have similar staff . Staff adjustments do not take into account the level of the Strategy's goals achievement, which leads to uneven efficiency of departments. The associated periodic reductions in the number of public servants occur without taking into account the processes in the managed fields. The current paper proposes a method of forecasting the staff of executive authorities, taking into account the dynamics of socio-economic development under conservative, innovative and forced labor productivity growth scenarios. While building the model we ensured the functional nature of the relationship between the number of employees in priority areas and the rate of development of these areas. Also a number recommendations to ensure the quality of the Strategy are provided, e.g. implementing objective statistics, engaging the expert community, variable planning of targets. As all the subjects of the Russian Federation solve similar problems of socio-economic development, it seems that the conclusions and recommendations of this paper can be applied in a broad regional context, both at present and in the future.


This research focuses on the syntheses of polyaniline with poly(styrenesulfonic acid) and their electrochemical behavior, including absorbance behavior and electrochemical response time of polyaniline-poly(styrenesulfonic acid) [PANI–PSSA]. The complexes PANI–PSSA were prepared by electrochemical polymerization of monomer (aniline) with PSSA, using indium-tin oxide (ITO) as working electrode in 1M HCl solution. Polyaniline (PANI), poly(o-phenetidine)–poly(styrenesulfonic acid) [POP–PSSA], and poly(2-ethylaniline)–poly(styrenesulfonic acid) [P2E-PSSA] also were prepared by electrochemical polymerization and to be the reference samples. The products were characterized by IR, VIS, EPR, water solubility, elemental analysis, conductivity, SEM, and TEM. IR spectral studies shows that the structure of PANI–PSSA complexes is similar to that of polyaniline. EPR and visible spectra indicate the formation of polarons. The morphology of the blend were investigated by SEM and TEM, which indicate the conducting component and electrically conductive property of the polymer complexes. Elemental analysis results show that PANI–PSSA has a nitrogen to sulfur ratio (N/S) of 38%, lower than that for POP–PSSA (52%) and P2E–PSSA (41%). Conductivity of the complexes are around 10−2 S/cm, solubility of PANI–PSSA in water is 3.1 g/L. The UV-Vis. absorbance spectra of the hybrid organic/inorganic complementary electro-chromic device (ECD), comprising a polyaniline–poly(styrenesulfonic acid) [PANI–PSSA] complexes and tungsten oxide (WO3) thin film coupled in combination with a polymer electrolyte poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-propane-sulfonic acid) [PAMPSA]. PANI–PSSA microstructure surface images have been studied by AFM. By applying a potential of ∼3.0 V across the two external ITO contacts, we are able to modulate the light absorption also in the UV-Vis region (200–900 nm) wavelength region. For example, the absorption changes from 1.20 to 0.6 at 720 nm. The complexes PANI–PSSA, POP–PSSA, and P2E–PSSA were prepared by electrochemical polymerization of monomer (aniline, o-phenetidine, or 2-ethylaniline) with poly(styrenesulfonic acid), using ITO as working electrode in 1M HCl solution, respectively. UV-Vis spectra measurements shows the evidences for the dopped polyaniline system to be a highly electrochemical response time, recorded at the temperature 298 K, and the results were further analyzed on the basis of the color- discolor model, which is a typical of protontation systems. Under the reaction time (3 s) and monomer (aniline, o-phenetidine, 2-ethylaniline) concentration (0.6M) with PSSA (0.15M), the best electrochemical color and discolor time of the PANI–PSSA is slower than POP–PSSA complexes (125/125 ms; thickness, 3.00 μm) and P2E–PSSA complexes. Under the same thickness (10 μm), the best electrochemical color and discolor time of the PANI–PSSA complexes is 1500/750 ms, that is much slower than P2E–PSSA complexes (750/500 ms) and POP–PSSA complexes (500/250 ms). In film growing rate, the PANI–PSSA complexes (0.54 μm/s) are slower than P2E–PSSA complexes (0.79 μm/s) and POP–PSSA complexes (1.00 μm/s), it can be attributed to the substituted polyaniline that presence of electro-donating (OC2H5 or C2H5) group present in aniline monomer. The EPR spectra of the samples were recorded both at 298 K and 77 K, and were further analyzed on the basis of the polaron–bipolaron model. The narrower line-width of the substituted polyaniline complexes arises due to polarons; i.e., it is proposed that charge transport take place through both polarons and bipolarons, compared to their salts can be attributed to the lower degree of structural disorder, the oxygen absorption on the polymeric molecular complexes, and due to presence of electro-donating (OC2H5 or C2H5) group present in aniline monomer. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100:4023–4044, 2006


In the last three decades a wave of privatization and deregulation policies affected most European countries. This process involved many sectors, among which the provision of public transport. The research question addressed by this work is straightforward: is satisfaction correlated to the number of providers of local transport services? We use the results of a large survey conducted in 2009 in 33 European cities and analyse the probability of satisfaction with standard probit models. Results show that highest levels of satisfaction are correlated to the presence of one single provider, as opposed to an industry structure where more providers compete with one another or are not integrated.


: Many types of positive airway pressure (PAP) devices are used to treat sleep-disordered breathing including obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, and sleep-related hypoventilation. These include continuous PAP, autoadjusting CPAP, bilevel PAP, adaptive servoventilation, and volume-assured pressure support. Noninvasive PAP has significant leak by design, which these devices adjust for in different manners. Algorithms to provide pressure, detect events, and respond to events vary greatly between the types of devices, and vary among the same category between companies and different models by the same company. Many devices include features designed to improve effectiveness and patient comfort. Data collection systems can track compliance, pressure, leak, and efficacy. Understanding how each device works allows the clinician to better select the best device and settings for a given patient. This paper reviews PAP devices


Background: Volatile anesthetics are known to limit myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injuries. Mitochondria were shown to be major contributors to cardioprotection. Cyclophilin D (CypD) is one of the main regulators of mitochondria-induced cell death. We compared the effect of isoflurane, sevoflurane, and desflurane in the presence or absence of CypD, to clarify its role in the mechanism of cardioprotection induced by these anesthetics. Methods: Oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial membrane potential, and H2O2 production were measured in isolated mitochondria from wild-type (WT) or CypD knockout mice in basal conditions and after hypoxia–reoxygenation in the presence or absence of volatile anesthetics. Results: All volatile anesthetics inhibited mitochondrial state 3 of complex I, decreased membrane potential, and increased adenosine diphosphate consumption duration in both WT and CypD knockout mice. However, they differently modified H2O2 production after stimulation by succinate: CypD ablation reduced H2O2 production, isoflurane decreased H2O2 level in WT but not in CypD knockout mice, sevoflurane affected both lines whereas desflurane increased H2O2 production in CypD knockout and had no effect on WT mice. Conclusions: This study showed different effects of isoflurane, sevoflurane, and desflurane on mitochondrial functions and highlighted the implication of CypD in the regulation of adenosine diphosphate consumption and complex I–induced radical oxygen species production.


A cross-sectional study involving 400 mothers was conducted in the Manya Krobo district of Ghana with the objective of studying household dietary practices, quality of diets and family nutritional status of rural Ghana. A combination of methods, including structured interviews using questionnaire, dietary assessments and anthropometry was used to collect data for the study. The data obtained was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 10 in Windows. Means and standard deviations were generated for continuous variables and frequency distribution for categorical variables. Most women consumed meals three times a day but only a few (12.5%) cooked all three meals at home. Breakfast and lunch were the two main meals purchased from food vendors. The most frequently consumed food items on daily basis were the starchy staples, maize, fish, pepper, onion, tomato and palm fruits. The nutritional qualities of diets were poor in terms of calcium and the B-vitamins. A significant proportion of the women were nutritionally at risk of being either underweight (12%), overweight (17%) or obese (5%). For adequate nutrition in this population, nutrition education intervention programs aimed at improving nutrient intake through improved diet diversity and increased use of local foods rich in calcium and the B-vitamins needs to be undertaken. There is also the need to intensify education on excessive weight gain and its attendant health problems in the area.


For a system of polynomial equations over Q;p; we present an efficient construction of a single polynomial of quite small degree whose zero set over Q;p; coincides with the zero set over Q;p; of the original system. We also show that the polynomial has some other attractive features such as low additive and straight-line complexity.The proof is based on a link established here between the above problem and some recent number theoretic result about zeros of p-adic forms.


One of the evident consequences of the deregulation in electricity industry is the volatility of market clearing prices (MCP). In this paper, we use variance to measure this price volatility and propose supply function equilibria and Cournot models to characterize the impact of bilateral contracts on the variance of MCP. As the result, we show that bilateral contracts reduce the variance of MCP. Finally, a numerical study based on Singapore electricity market to support our models is presented.


The synthesis of hybrid metallic-dielectric substrates as reliable SERS platforms relies on core-shell nanoparticles, obtained by wet chemistry, with an outer dielectric shell composed of SiO2 or TiO2. Apart from the shell composition, the nanoparticle density and aggregation type strongly affect the surface-enhanced SERS. Going beyond a single layer by building random aggregates of hybrid NPs would result in a step forward in the production of reliable hybrid SERS platforms. Here we achieve the fabrication of a 3D nanogranular film of Ag metallic cores not fully enclosed in a TiO2 capping layer, defined as a Ag@TiO2 quasi-shell-isolated Raman substrate (Ag@TiO2 QuaSIRS) by an environmentally friendly gas phase synthesis technique (SCBD). The Ag core drives the electromagnetic enhancement with plasmonic hotspots while the TiO2 shell passivates it and leads to different possible surface functionalization. The SERS capabilities of the Ag@TiO2 QuaSIRS peak at a film thickness of 60 nm providing a detection limit of 10-9 M concentration for Methylene Blue at 632.81 nm. The importance of the nanogranular 3D morphology is evidenced by the very good detection of analytes dispersed in aqueous solutions, since the liquid can penetrate the pores hence exploiting most of the plasmonic hotspots present in the film. The versatility of SCBD to deposit such reliable hybrid SERS platforms by a single step at room temperature over different substrates provides an opportunity to design a new generation of hybrid SERS-active substrates based on hybrid nanoparticles.


Death of sensory hair cells in the inner ear results in two global health problems that millions of people around the world suffer: hearing loss and balance disorders. Hair cells convert sound vibrations and head movements into electrical signals that are conveyed to the brain, and as a result of aging, exposure to noise, modern drugs or genetic predisposition, hair cells die. In mammals, the great majority of hair cells are produced during embryogenesis, and hair cells that are lost after birth are not replaceable. However, in the last decades, researches have shown some model organisms that retain the ability to regenerate hair cells damaged after embryogenesis, such as Zebrafish and chicken, providing clues as to the cellular and molecular mechanisms that may block hair cell regeneration in mammals. This discovery initiated a search for methods to stimulate regeneration or replacement of hair cells in mammals, a search that, if fruitful, will revolutionize the treatment of hearing loss and balance disorders. One aim of my project is to study the role of retinoic acid in adult Zebrafish and in mice, which is a metabolite of vitamin A known as an essential molecule to activate hair cell regeneration after cells damaged in Zebrafish embryo. We want to study important genes involved in retinoic acid pathway, such as Aldh1a3 and RARs genes, to check what their role is in the inner ear of adult Zebrafish and compare result obtained in the inner ear of mice. On the other hand, Zebrafish lateral line contains neuromast, which are formed by the same structure than the inner ear: hair cells surrounded by supporting cells and neurons. The lateral line is a structure below the skin's surface that makes easier to damage hair cells to study their regeneration. For that reason, another aim of my project is to study how Sox2 and Atoh1, essential genes during the inner ear development, change their expression during hair cell regeneration in the lateral line. In my project, the most important concepts related to Zebrafish world are explained in order to understand why we have studied this animal and these essential genes. Then, techniques that we used are explained, with their protocol attached in the annexes. Finally, results of my project are shown, but many of them were not expected and they would be needed to follow studying.


Abstract We use georeferenced information on the location of violent events in sub-Saharan African countries and provide evidence that external income shocks are important determinants of the intensity and geography of civil conflicts. More precisely, we find that (a) the incidence, intensity, and onset of conflicts are generally negatively and significantly correlated with income variations at the local level; (b) this relationship is significantly weaker for the most remote locations; and (c) at the country level, these shocks have an insignificant impact on the overall probability of conflict outbreak but do affect the probability that conflicts start in the most opened regions.


AbstractPurpose – The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding on how brand equity for non-profit entertainment-based service firms in the cultural sector can be cultivated.Design/approach/methodology – An existing model to cultivate brand equity in commercial service firms is utilised to assess the applicability on specific non-profit firms. Furthermore, five interviews have been held to investigate the case companies' practises and a survey has been taken to measure the perceptions from the visitors/customers' point of view, which is referred to as a triangulation method.Findings – The findings show that brand equity can be cultivated by the means of the tested model, though, the popularity and famousness of a particular artist temporarily transfers its brand equity to the particular cultural institution wherefore the brand awareness is boosted significantly and brand meaning becomes more elucidated. As a result, entertainment-based cultural (non-profit) firms need to guarantee high quality experiences in which both the service and performance are amalgamated. Furthermore, companies must adapt to the rapid changing advertisement methods to reach (new) visitors. Thereby, a new model has been developed based on the study outcomes, which includes a new factor that influences the cultivation of brand equity in the specified sector and firms. The added factor in the developed model is "Programme Brand Equity" and exerts its influence on the original factors.Limitations and further research – Limitations are that the findings from these particular firms may not be found in other similar firms, which is a typical implication of every case study. Furthermore, this research is first in this topic wherefore supplementary literature is obligatory. Consequently, the findings of this research may have substantial abnormalities from practise. The developed model should be tested for generalisation of outcomes.Originality/value – This study links brand equity cultivation methods to entertainment-based cultural non-profit service firms and is first on this topic hence suggestions for further enlightenment are provided since it brings implications along.Key words – Brand equity, Word-of-Mouth/WOM, Brand Meaning, Brand Awareness.


Objective:To empirically evaluate a method of treating adolescents with cognitive communication disorders, including pragmatic deficits, secondary to acquired brain injury (ABO in a group setting by objectively measuring outcomes before treatment and immediately after treatment and at 6 months posttreatment. Design:A before-after trial with follow-up in a consecutive sample, with no control group. Setting: Inpatlent and outpatient pcdiatric rehabilitation center. Subjects:Adolescents who demonstrated pragmatic deficits and scored a rating of 3 or less on each subdomain of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Rating Scale of Pragmatic Communication Skills (R1CE-RSPCS) were eligible for the study. Eight subjects were recruited into the study, and two subjects were lost to follow-up. Thus, six of the eight completed the study. Main Outcome Measures:RICE-RSPCS, Communication Performance Scale (CPS). Results: Clinically relevant and statistically significant (P<.01) changes occurred during the treatment and were maintained at follow-up for the four RICE-RSPCS subscales and the CPS. Conclusion:These results suggest that the potential and often typical long-term pragmatic and subsequent social difficulties associated with ABI can possibly be lessened through effective intervention.


We consider a tumor model with two time scales: the timet during which the tumor evolves and the running time si for each of the phases of the cell cycle for the cells in the tumor. The model also includes the effect of genes mutations in the sense that populations of cells with different mutations and in different phases of the cell cycle evolve by different rules. The model is formulated as a coupled system of partial differential equations; a transition from one population to another occurs at the 'restriction points' located at the ends of theG1 andS phases. The PDEs for the cell populations are hyperbolic equations based on mass conservation laws. The model includes also a diffusion equation for the oxygen concentration and an elliptic equation for the internal pressure caused by proliferation and death of cells. The tumor region is viewed as a domain with a moving boundary, satisfying a continuity equation at the free boundary. Existence and uniqueness are proved for a small time interval, for general initial conditions, and for all time in the case of radially symmetric initial conditions.


TCR signaling induces GATA3 expression in FOXP3+ Treg, but the underlying mechanism for GATA3 accumulation and its role in Treg function remains unclear. Here we identify the E3 deubiquitinase USP21 as a positive regulator of GATA3 in FOXP3+ T cells. By screening for regulators which may affect the function of key transcription factors essential for T cell lineage differentiation and function, we found that USP21 dramatically increases the cellular level of GATA3. Reciprocal co-immunoprecipitation studies indicated that USP21 can interact with GATA3 in vivo. Overexpression of wild type USP21, but not the enzymatically inactive mutant C221A, specifically promotes the up-regulation of GATA3 protein expression, suggesting that the deubiquitinase activity of USP21 is essential for the upregulation of GATA3. Moreover, we found that T cell activation via TCR and CD28 costimulation may upregulate the level of USP21 and GATA3 in FOXP3 expressing T cells. shRNA mediated knockdown of USP21 can prevent GATA3 accumulation after T cell activation, suggesting that the mechanism by which USP21 stablizes GATA3 may occur through preventing GATA3 degradation. Functionally, overexpression of wild-type USP21 promotes GATA3 mediated upregulation of IL-4. Our studies have identified a unique pathway to upregulate GATA3 activity at posttranslational level by reversing ubiqutination-mediated protein degradation.


This thesis paper examines how Amelia Lanyer uses classical mythology in the dedicatory poems to Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum to comment on early modern concepts of marriage. By examining her poetry within historical and cultural context, I demonstrate how Lanyer attempts to synthesize marriage with an early modern emphasis on celibacy, piety, and devotion. To substantiate this claim, I will examine how Lanyer creates an imaginative celibate space in the dedicatory poems "To all vertuous Ladies in generall" and "the Authors Dreame to the Ladie Marie, the countesse Dowager of Pembrooke." The space is inhabited by celibate and virginal mythological figures and mirrors a monastic society. After establishing a celibate realm, Lanyer introduces the married Lady Sidney and praises her as an emblem of chaste marriage, which synthesizes the monastic life with the married life. Running counter to the poem's chaste images are the non-celibate goddesses and the image of Juno's Chariot, which disrupt the realm and signal the dangerous and inevitable nature of early modern marriage. The classical images, when taken with historical and cultural context, create a tension within the poems that is centered on marriage. Lanyer seems uneasy with the lack of choice available to women after the Reformation, and she uses the space accorded to her by classical mythology to explore the tension within early modern marriage. However, she is unable to resolve the tension completely, and her final conclusion about the state of marriage is ambiguous.
Secondly, this thesis examines how George Herbert's "The Sacrifice" portrays the physical body of Christ and how Christ's portrayal undermines a reading of the poem as a medieval Catholic meditative poem. Instead, Herbert ironically uses the traditional poetic structure of a meditative poem to emphasize the impossibility for man to recreate Christ's suffering. I examine how Herbert incorporates early modern concepts of the physical body into his depiction of Christ in order to undermine the genre of medieval meditative poetry on the Passion. To substantiate this claim, I establish the physical nature of Christ within the framework of the early modern body by using the concepts of galenic humoral theory, the semi-permeable nature of the body, and the body's communal aspects. Herbert integrates those concepts into "The Sacrifice" and uses the format of a medieval Catholic meditative poem on the Passion to help the reader identify with and partly relive the pain of Christ. However, Herbert overloads the poem's medieval structure with Christ' refrain "Was ever grief like mine?" and His physical pain, which reveals the impossibility of humanity recreating the Passion sequence. This paper demonstrates how Herbert uses the medieval structure of the poem ironically on both a physical and spiritual level, and how it positions the poem as a Protestant work written in opposition to Catholic meditative modes.


We establish in the world of stochastic processes a theoretical relation between sparsity and wavelets. The underlying principle is to treat stochastic processes as generalized functions, which facilitates the study of their properties in a transform domain. We focus on symmetric-$\alpha$-stable (S$\alpha$S) processes, with $\alpha\in(0,2]$. They are central to a recently proposed framework for sparse stochastic processes. The case $0<\alpha<2$ corresponds to heavy-tail processes and, thus, to sparse signals with the level of sparsity being more pronounced for smaller values of $\alpha$. The limit case $\alpha=2$ yields the classical Gaussian processes, which are not considered to be sparse. In the first part of the thesis, we identify a particular class of wavelets and show that they provide an independent-component analysis for S$\alpha$S AR(1) signals, which form an important subclass of sparse processes. This contribution can be considered as the first theoretical result ever found about the optimality of wavelets in a stochastic framework. It is remarkable that, by decreasing the parameter $\alpha$, we continuously run the gamut from Fourier (for $\alpha=2$) to wavelets (for $\alpha\le1$), thus providing a unifying view that sees Fourier and wavelet transforms as two extremes of a single spectrum. In the second part of the thesis, we study the wavelet decomposition of self-similar processes---which form a second important family of sparse S$\alpha$S processes. In particular, in the context of the wavelet-based denoising of a stochastic process, we are able to theoretically predict the exact performance of an arbitrary orthonormal wavelet basis. As it turns out, our prediction takes a tractable simple form, which allows us to design the optimal Meyer wavelet as an example of application. Our theoretical results suggest that the performance depends crucially on the localization of wavelets. Consequently, in an image-processing context, we introduce a moment-based measure of localization and propose an optimization framework to design better wavelets. We end the thesis with the experimental confirmation that the proposed wavelets outperform the previously existing ones.


Central Asia in contemporary Russian literature is represented by two main discourses, Nostalgia discourse and New Orientalism discourse. This article follows a diachronic perspective in an attempt to understand their origins, the characteristics of the Tashkent text and the Tajikistan text in literature, as well as historical and cultural factors which led to the present-day image of Central Asia in Russian culture, from the first Orientalist works through hybridisation processes to the collapse of the USSR and the Post-Soviet trauma. As a sample of contemporary literature, novels by Dina Rubina, Suhbat Aflatuni, Andrey Volos, Yevgeny Chizhov and other writers are analysed.


Affine term structure models have gained significant attention in the finance literature, mainly due to their analytical tractability and statistical flexibility. The aim of this article is to present both theoretical foundations as well as empirical aspects of the affine model class. Starting from the original one-factor shortrate models of Vasiček and Cox et al, we provide an overview of the properties of regular affine processes and explain their relationship to affine term structure models. Methods for securities pricing and for parameter estimation are also discussed, demonstrating how the analytical tractability of affine models can be exploited for practical purposes.


The effect of annealing condition on nanocrystalline amorphous FINEMET type of alloy with nominal composition Fe74Cu1.5Nb2.5Si12B10 prepared by rapid solidification method has been studied to observe the structural properties and crystallization behavior of the material. Nanocrystalline alloy with ferromagnetic bcc nanocrystals with size 15-29 nm embedded in a residual amorphous matrix was produced from amorphous precursor by appropriate annealing condition. The amorphosity of the material, primary crystallization temperature, the nanometric grain size, Si content and the lattice parameter of Fe(Si) nano-phase have been determined from XRD patterns of the samples annealed at different temperatures ranging from 475°C - 650°C with annealing time 5, 12, 20 and 30 minutes. The annealing temperature 475°C (with annealing time of 12 minutes) was determined as primary crystallization temperature with grain size 15 nm, Si content 16.25 at.% and lattice parameter 2.8431 A. The grains were found to grow rapidly after 550°C attaining a maximum value of 29 nm at the annealing temperature of 650°C. The grain size and Si content increase whereas the lattice parameter decreases with the increase of annealing temperature and time. Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 64(1): 71-75, 2016 (January)


OBJECTIVES
The study was a novel exploration of possible associations between attachment status and psychotic phenomenology, applied within a social mentality framework (Gilbert, 1989, 2001). We hypothesized that attachment avoidance would be associated with higher endorsement of paranoid ideation. Consistent with social mentality theory, we hypothesized that higher levels of interpersonal problems would also be associated with higher paranoia scores and greater attachment avoidance.

DESIGN
An analogue cross-sectional cohort design was used.

METHODS
Two hundred and thirteen individuals completed self-report measures of current attachment style, interpersonal problems, paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, depression, and anxiety.

RESULTS
Confirmatory factor analysis of the attachment measure suggested a two-factor structure: attachment anxiety and avoidance. Covariance modelling suggested both attachment and a strategy of interpersonal distancing predicted paranoia. Hallucinatory phenomena were predicted by latent constructs representing interpersonal dependence and avoidance strategies.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings confirmed a two-factor dimensional model was the optimum model for attachment self-report data. The interaction of attachment theory and social mentalities appears to be a promising framework for exploring developmental aspects of psychotic phenomenology.


Innate behaviors involve both reflexive motor programs and internal states. In Drosophila, optogenetic activation of male-specific P1 interneurons triggers courtship song, as well as a persistent behavioral state that prolongs courtship and enhances aggressiveness. Here we identify pCd neurons as persistently activated by repeated P1 stimulation. pCd neurons are required for P1-evoked persistent courtship and aggression, as well as for normal social behavior. Activation of pCd neurons alone is inefficacious, but enhances and prolongs courtship or aggression promoted by female cues. Transient female exposure induced persistent increases in male aggressiveness, an effect suppressed by transiently silencing pCd neurons. Transient silencing of pCd also disrupted P1-induced persistent physiological activity, implying a requisite role in persistence. Finally, P1 activation of pCd neurons enhanced their responsiveness to cVA, an aggression-promoting pheromone. Thus, pCd neurons function within a circuit that integrates P1 input, to promote a persistent internal state that enhances multiple social behaviors.


BEFORE 1892, the name of William Osler meant but little to me; he was simply one of the teachers in the new medical school in Baltimore. But when, in that year, he published his textbook, "The Principles and Practice of Medicine," 1 all was changed. After reading its 1,079 pages, I wrote a long, laudatory review, which closed with the statement that it was not extravagant praise to call it the best textbook in English on the practice of medicine. At that time I was 31. Today, at 87, I still believe my early opinion was justified. The textbook's successive editions have well deserved the blue ribbon award of merit. It must have been about 1898 when I first met William Osler in person. For no good reason I had pictured him as of the dignified, unapproachable type, rather paunchy and burly, perhaps with muttonchop whiskers. One day, as I


Forests provide essential goods and services to humanity, but human-induced forest disturbances have been on ongoing at alarming rates, undermining the capacity for forests to continue providing essential goods and services. In recent years, the understanding of the short-term and long-term impacts of deforesting and degrading forest ecosystems has improved, and global efforts to reduce forest loss are ongoing. However, in many parts of the globe, significant forest areas continue to be lost. To fully protect forest ecosystems efficiently, timely, reliable and location-specific information on new forest disturbances is needed. Frequent and large-area forest mapping and monitoring using satellite observations can provide timely and cost-effective information about new forest disturbances. However, there are still key weaknesses associated with existing forest monitoring systems. For example, the capacity for forest monitoring systems to detect new disturbances accurately and timely is often limited by persistent cloud cover and strong seasonal dynamics. Persistent cloud can be addressed by using observations from multiple satellite sensors, but satellite sensors often have inter-sensor differences which make integration of observations from multiple sensors challenging. Seasonality can be accounted for using a seasonal model, but image time series are often acquired at irregular intervals, making it difficult to properly account for seasonality. Furthermore, with existing forest monitoring systems, detecting subtle, low-magnitude disturbances remains challenging, and timely detection of forest disturbances is often accompanied by many false detections. The overall objective of this thesis is to improve forest change monitoring by addressing the key challenges which hinders accurate and timely detection of forest disturbances from satellite data. In the next paragraphs, I summarise how this thesis tackled some of the key challenges which hamper effective monitoring of forest disturbances using satellite observations. Chapter 2 addresses the challenge of seasonality by developing a spatial normalisation approach that allows us to account for seasonality in irregular image time series when monitoring forest disturbances. In this chapter, I showed that reducing seasonality in image time series using spatial normalisation leads to timely detection of forest disturbances when compared to a seasonal model approach. With spatial normalisation, near real-time forest monitoring in dry forests, which has been challenging for many years, is now possible. Applying spatial normalisation in areas where evergreen and deciduous forests co-exist is however challenging. Therefore, further research is needed to improve the spatial normalisation approach to ensure that it is applicable to areas with a combination of different forest types. In particular, a spatial normalisation approach which is forest type-specifics is desirable. In this chapter, forest disturbances were detected by analysing single pixel-time series. Spatial information was only used to reduce seasonality. Taking in account the fact that forest disturbances are spatio-temporal events, I investigated whether there is an added-value of combining both spatial and temporal information when monitoring forest disturbances from satellite image time series. To do this, I first developed a space-time change detection method that detects forest disturbances as extreme events in satellite data cubes (Chapter 3). I showed that, by combining spatial and temporal information, forest disturbances can still be detected reliably even with limited historical observations. Therefore, unlike approaches which detect forest disturbances by analysing single pixel- time series, the space-time approach does not require huge amount of historical images to be pre-processed when monitoring forest disturbances. I then evaluated the added-value of using space-time features when confirming forest disturbances (Chapter 4). I showed that using a set of space-time features to confirm forest disturbances enhance forest monitoring significantly by reducing false detections without compromising temporal accuracy. With space-time features, the discrimination of forest disturbances from false detections is no longer based on temporal information only, hence providing opportunity to also detect low-magnitude disturbances with high confidence. Based on the analysis for conditional variable importance, I showed that features which are computed using both spatial and temporal information were the most important predictors of forest disturbances, thus enforcing the view that forest disturbances should be treated as spatio-temporal in order to improve forest change monitoring. In Chapter 2 – 4, forest disturbances where detected from medium resolution Landsat time series. Yet, recent studies showed that small-scale forest disturbances are often omitted when using Landsat time series. In Chapter 5, I investigated whether detection of small-scale forest disturbances can be improved by using the 10m resolution time series from recently launched Sentinel-2 sensor. I also investigated whether the spatial normalisation approach developed in Chapter 2 can be used to reduce inter-sensor differences in multi-sensor optical time series. I showed that the 10m resolution Sentinel-2 time series improves the detection of small-scale forest disturbances when compared to 30m resolution. However, the 10m resolution does not supersede the importance of frequent satellite observations when monitoring forest disturbances. I also showed that spatial normalisation approach developed in Chapter 2 can reduce inter-sensor differences in multi-sensor optical time series significantly to generate temporally consistent time series suitable for forest change detection. Spatial normalisation does not completely remove inter-sensor differences, but the differences are significantly reduced. Monitoring of forest disturbances is increasingly done using a combination of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical time series. Therefore, Chapter 6 investigated whether the spatial normalisation approach developed in Chapter 2 can also reduce seasonal variations in SAR time series to facilitate the integration of SAR-optical time series for forest monitoring in dry tropical forests. This Chapter demonstrated that seasonal variations in SAR time series can also be reduced through spatial normalisation. As a result, observations from SAR and optical time series were combined to improve near real-time forest change detection in dry tropical forest. In Chapter 7, it is demonstrated that spatial normalisation has potential to also reduce inter-sensor differences in SAR-optical time series, resulting into temporally consistent SAR-optical time series. In conclusion, this thesis developed a space-time forest monitoring framework that addresses some key challenges affecting satellite-based forest monitoring. In particular, new methods that allow for timely and accurate detection of forest disturbances using observations from multiple satellites were developed. Overall, the methods developed in this research contribute to our capacity to accurately and timely detect forest disturbances in both dry and humid forests.


Objective: Alterations of the immune–neuroendocrine interplay have been described in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Employing a recently developed method, the study set out to investigate whether patients with CFS have an altered sensitivity to glucocorticoids (GCs) when under stress. Methods: A total of 21 CFS patients and 20 healthy age- and gender-matched controls underwent a standardized psychosocial stress test (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST). Salivary and plasma cortisol levels were measured repeatedly following exposure to the stressor. GC sensitivity was assessed in vitro by dexamethasone inhibition of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated production of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNC-α). Results: Cortisol responses following the TSST did not differ significantly between CFS patients and healthy controls. GC sensitivity differed significantly between CFS patients and healthy controls, with CFS patients showing a greater sensitivity towards GCs (TNF-α: F1/39 = 7.32, P = 0.01; IL-6: F1/39 = 9.73, P = 0.004). Conclusion: Consistent with recent evidence, CFS patients are characterized by an enhanced sensitivity to glucocorticoids. The implications for secondary processes, such as the regulatory influence of glucocorticoids on immune processes, are discussed.


You need A vitamin

Vitamin A is an essential fat soluble vitamin that must be obtained solely from diet or vitamin supplementation. Normal vitamin A levels are required for appropriate functioning of our immune system, skin, retina, and ocular surface. Without adequate levels of vitamin A in the body (hypovitaminosis A), serious systemic consequences can occur, including significant ophthalmic complications leading to potential vision loss and ultimate blindness if the deficiency is not recognised and corrected. Hypovitaminosis A remains a major health problem of epidemic proportions worldwide with over 127 million people and 4.4 million preschool children affected. Vitamin A deficiency remains the leading cause of preventable blindness in children with an estimated half a million children rendered blind each year; yet even more alarming is many of those children die of the same disease.1 While the major cause of hypovitaminosis A across the world remains malnutrition, Chae and Foroozan in this issue of BJO (p 955) have astutely reminded us that iatrogenic vitamin A deficiency from surgical alteration of the small intestine, the site where vitamin A absorption occurs, can create any number of ophthalmic findings as seen with a malnourished vitamin A deficient patient.2 This problem has global implications as developed countries, which have typically been spared malnutrition and vitamin A …


Surfactants with built-in weak bonds, so-called cleavable surfactants, are interesting candidates in the search for more environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional surfactants. The objective of this thesis was to perform a systematic study in which cleavable surfactants with different hydrolyzable bonds were compared with regard to physicochemical properties, and chemical and biological stability. Nonionic surfactants where the head group and the tail are linked by an ester, an amide or a carbonate bond were prepared and characterized. The stability was investigated by subjecting the surfactants to base-catalyzed hydrolysis, enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis and biodegradation. The effect of steric hindrance near the hydrolyzable bond on the surfactant stability was also investigated. A series of surfactants with different degree of substitution at the α-carbon of the hydrophobic chain were prepared and compared.
Physicochemical properties, such as critical micelle concentration (CMC) and cloud point, showed that the carbonate group and the ester group are more hydrophobic than the amide group. It was found that the ester bond was more labile than a carbonate with respect to base-catalyzed hydrolysis, while the amide was virtually stable. The surfactants showed a pronounced difference in stability with respect to the type of substitution in the vicinity of the hydrolyzable bond. Hydrolysis studies above the CMC revealed that the ester bond of aggregated surfactant is protected from attack by hydroxide ions. Biodegradation tests showed that all three types of hydrolyzable bonds give surfactants that fulfill the main criterion for being classified as readily biodegradable.
Furthermore, mixed surfactant systems containing cleavable surfactants were investigated. It was shown that it is possible to govern the hydrolysis rate of a hydrolyzable surfactant by the addition of a second surfactant species


We examined employees' emotional hardiness and intentions to quit employment in Nigeria. Data were generated from 118 respondents. The Pearson's Product Moment Correlation was utilized as test statistic in assessing the hypothesized relationship. Results indicated that the psychological resources of commitment, control, and challenge dimensions of employee emotional hardiness had significant (albeit) negative relationships with intentions to quit. The study found that an increase in the dimensions of employee emotional hardiness moderates the intentions of employees to quit. We recommend management should encourage regular training of employees in hardiness, enhance good social support in work relationships, and encourage the use of effective stress management strategies to mitigate intentions to quit arising from such distressful circumstances. Keywords :             Employee Emotional Hardiness, Commitment, Control, Challenge, Intention to quit, Thinking of quitting, Searching for alternative career, Desire to leave or stay.


An experimental program was formulated to investigate the characteristics of complete stress-strain curve of UHPC in uniaxial compression and flexural behaviors of prestressed UHPC beams. The particular focus was the influence of the partial prestress ratio and jacking stress on the flexural response of UHPC beams. The tests of beams demonstrated that the UHPC beams have an excellent behavior in load carrying capacity, crack distribution and deformability; their ultimate deflection can reach 1/34~1/42 of the span. Based on this investigation, theoretical correlations for the prediction structure response of UHPC beams are proposed.


The human microbiome is comprised of thousands of microbial species. These species will substantially influence the normal physiology of humans and cause numerous diseases. Microbiome data can be measured by sequencing, microarray, or other technologies. With the fast development of these technologies, downstream analysis methods should also be designed to effectively and accurately discover the valuable information that is hidden in the data. Many methods have been designed for the count data of microbiome. However, to our knowledge, there are only a few methods developed for the continuous microbiome data. Many microbiome data have an over-dispersed and zero-inflated data structure. Traditional methods rarely characterize this data structure and only focus on the differences in the abundance between different samples. In this study, we introduce a novel method, the zero-inflated gamma (ZIG) omnibus test, to specifically test the continuous and zero-inflated microbiome data. In this test, abundance will be tested along with zero prevalence and dispersion. We compared this method with five other popular methods. We found that ZIG omnibus test has significantly higher power and a similar or lower false-positive rate than the competing methods in the tests of simulated data. It also found more proved microbiomes in the real data with tonsil cancer. So, we conclude that ZIG omnibus test is a robust method across various biological conditions in the differential expression test of microbiome data.


Pricing in ports is an important element of port competitiveness when it comes to the establishment of logistics and transportation systems, determining cargo flows, and developing optimum and quality service. This paper aims to examine the need to modify the port tariff in the North Port of Split through comparison of the tariff system in the main Croatian cargo ports for specific vessel categories and types of cargo. The results were also compared with the port tariffs in the ports of Koper and Trieste to identify shortcomings and suggest potential modifications of individual service prices. The analysis revealed a discrepancy in the segment of port charges, towage and light dues (which account for almost 75 % of the total price), with the latter indicated as a crucial problem in all Croatian ports. Tariff adjustment would eventually improve port competitiveness, with the possibility of expansion to new markets, extension of the gravitational area, and acquisition of additional cargo for the North Port. The inclusion of "environmental charge", with envisaged discounts or additional charges for environmental protection and sustainable development, is essential for the port's strategic orientation and market positioning.


Survey researchers are increasingly interested in obtaining as much auxiliary information on all sample units as possible, given trends of declining response rates in surveys of all formats worldwide. Surveys conducted using in-person (or "face-to-face") interviews therefore often request that interviewers collect observations on key features of selected households, given that interviewers are the eyes and ears of the survey organization out in the field. Unfortunately, recent studies have suggested that these observations are prone to error, and that the errors may decrease the effectiveness of nonresponse adjustments based in part on the observations. In addition, no studies have investigated the strategies being used by interviewers in the field when they are making these observations, or addressed the question of whether certain observational strategies improve the accuracy of the observations. This paper examines the associations of observational strategies used by field interviewers collecting face-to-face interviews from a large area probability sample with the accuracy of observations collected by those interviewers. A qualitative analysis shows that certain strategies are in fact associated with increased accuracy of the observations, and recommendations for future practice are presented.


Abstract Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) have recently emerged as the 21st century approach to managing protected areas in southern Africa. Unlike national parks and other protected areas that place emphasis only on the protection of plant and animal species within their borders, transfrontier conservation areas promote conservation beyond the borders of protected areas. Consequently, this mega-conservation initiative encourage multiple land-use practices with the purpose of improving rural livelihoods whilst promoting biodiversity conservation. Thus, land parcels under different forms of tenure are brought together into a common nature conservation project. This study argues that the integration of various land-use practices within one area benefits conservation goals at the expense of local communities and irrigation farmers. To substantiate this argument, the study draws on fieldwork material collected in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area spanning parts of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The study concludes that multiple-land use practices in transfrontier conservation areas is only promoted by wildlife managers to gain access to extra land.


Illegal treatment of a person or group (either intentional or unintentional) on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics), genetic information (including family medical history), ancestry, marital status, age (over 40), sexual orientation, citizenship, pregnancy[2] or service in the uniformed services (as defined by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)) [3].


Fifteen North American Mississippi Valley-type districts, distributed from the Arctic archipelago to Arkansas and in host rocks ranging in age from Late Cambrian to early Carboniferous, were selected for abroad test survey of Mississippi Valley-type district thermal histories. For each district in which data were collected, histograms of homogenization temperatures for the ore minerals were compared with the temperature range of the corresponding host rocks, as indicated by color alteration index (CAI) determinations on conodonts in the host-rock carbonates. Although a special effort was made to collect conodonts from the Upper Cambrian Bonneterre Formation, host rock to the Southeast Missouri district, all samples were devoid of conodonts. Thus only 14 districts were used in the final analysis.Comparison of fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures in main-stage ore minerals with color alteration index-determined host-rock temperatures reveals that a majority of Mississippi Valley-type districts (Pine Point, Newfoundland Zinc, Mascot-Jefferson City, Copper Ridge, Sweetwater, Central Missouri, Northern Arkansas, and Tri-State) are representative of group 1 (i.e., they are in thermal equilibrium with their host rocks insofar as could be determined by the color alteration index method). Ore minerals in group 2 districts (Upper Mississippi Valley, Polaris, and central Tennessee) are significantly hotter than surrounding host rocks and, as such, define a positive thermal anomaly. Host rocks to the Austinville-Ivanhoe, northern Newfoundland, and Robb Lake deposits (group 3) revealed the highest color alteration index values of North American Mississippi Valley-type districts, with host-rock temperatures greatly exceeding ore mineral fluid inclusion temperatures (negative thermal anomaly).With respect to major tectonic elements of North America, group 3 deposits (cool ore in hot rocks) are positioned within orogenic belts but on the continental side. Some group 1 deposits (ore temperature = host-rock temperature) are well within the continental interior but others are adjacent to orogenic belts on the continental side. Group 2 deposits (hot ore in cool rocks) are all within the continental interior.Current hypotheses regarding the formation of Mississippi Valley-type deposits and simultaneous heating of their host rocks invoke the migration of hot brines set into motion craton-ward by the hydraulic gradient produced by orogenic uplift at the craton edge. Once the ore-bearing fluids entered the foreland carbonate platforms, they traveled through sedimentary aquifers of the continental interior raising the temperature of the thinly covered carbonate rocks. The fluids left, as evidence of their passage, elevated color alteration index values and group 1 Mississippi Valley-type deposits distributed with decreasing homogenization temperatures away from the orogenic front. The correspondence between host-rock and ore temperatures suggests that group 1 deposits were deposited essentially within their own aquifers.Group 2 deposits were formed when the same, or genetically similar, fluids rose from the regional aquifer(s) into structurally controlled conduits in the continental interior, possibly developed as a result of synorogenic doming and arching. This upward channeling of the fluids resulted in rapid and localized fluid flow which precluded or at least inhibited wide-spread heating of the host rocks by ore fluids; consequently, color alteration index values in group 2 districts record only maximum burial depths of the host rocks and bear little relation to temperatures of the ore fluids. Although the cause of the unusually high color alteration index values (4-5) of group 3 districts is not fully understood, it is noted that these districts occur near the extreme outward edge of foreland platforms, near or within the leading margins of orogenic belts. Whether these group 3 host rocks were heated by simple tectonic burial or by passage of heated fluids under shallower conditions is not known.


Peroxisomes are cytoplasmic organelles involved in fatty acid oxidation, ether-phospholipids biosynthesis, glyoxylate metabolism and purine catabolism among other metabolic pathways. However, these organelles are still poorly studied in molluscs. During a light and electron microscopy study of the digestive glands of cephalaspidean sea slugs unusually large peroxisomes reaching about 5 µm in diameter were found in basophilic cells of Philinopsis depicta (Aglajidae), being among the biggest ever reported in metazoan cells. These round or oval peroxisomes were clearly visible with the light microscope, and their diamond shaped core was strongly stained by the tetrazonium coupling reaction for protein detection. However, in the basophilic cells of Aglaja tricolorata, another aglajid cephalaspidean, peroxisomes were more variable in shape and no bigger than 1 µm in length. Round peroxisomes with a diameter of about 0.5 µm were common in basophilic cells of Philine quadripartita (Philinidae) and Haminoea navicula (Haminoidae), whereas in Bulla striata (Bullidae) these organelles frequently had a diameter of between 1.0 and 1.5 µm. Peroxisomes were larger in basophilic cells than in digestive ones. In all these species, the electron-dense peroxisomal cores were diamond-shaped, and in H. navicula two cores could be seen in each peroxisome. The abundance and large size of peroxisomes in the digestive gland points out the importance of these organelles in the metabolism of this organ.


Computer-assisted prosody training (CAPT) has so far mainly been used to teach foreign languages, although prosody is still hardly taken into account in language leraning. Conversely, prosody receives a lot of attention in studies and activities related to public-speaker training. But, despite that, CAPT tools are practically unknown in this type of training. The present paper addresses this gap and introduces the "Web Pitcher", a new browser-based version of the feedback and evaluation software "Pitcher" that was developed in 2018 for the prosody-oriented training of charisma – a key characteristic of successful public speakers, which is defined as signaling competence, self-confidence and passion. In an online experiment with 60 test users it is investigated here whether and to what extent the Web Pitcher positively influences the prosodic charisma triggers of its users, and which feedback modes in which order lead to the greatest learning success. An acoustic analysis of before- vs. after-training speeches given by the 60 test users shows that the Web Pitcher improves six key prosodic charisma triggers of its learners by an average of 53 % after one hour of training – and thus performs at eye level with its offline precursor, the Pitcher. With the correct combination of its two feedback modes, the Web Pitcher even outperforms its offline precursor in terms of user improvement. The results are discussed with a view to further R&D steps and the integration of the Web Pitcher in real coaching activities. In this context, the paper also contains a link through which researchers can register and use the Web Pitcher for their own scientific purposes, also beyond questions of public-speaker or charisma training.


A comprehensive theoretical analysis of the triple-coupler ring-based optical guided-wave resonator (TCRR) is presented. Channel-passing and channel-dropping transmittance characteristics of the TCRR are derived by using a combination of transfer matrix and chain matrix formulations. The dependence of the transmittance characteristics on the amplitude coupling ratios of the three directional couplers are investigated, and optimum design relationships are determined. It is shown that the TCRR is ideally a nonterminating filter at antiresonance. An extensive comparison between the TCRR and a double-coupler ring resonator (DCRR) with same radius of curvature, waveguide propagation loss, coupling loss and finesse, is carried out. It is shown that the TCRR, by suitably sizing its waveguide lengths, has a free spectral range double that of the DCRR and features also higher transmission at resonance and better extinction ratio. These characteristics make the TCRR particularly advantageous for frequency selective filtering applications in optical frequency division multiplexing transmission systems. >