Novel pyrroles have been designed, synthesized and evaluated against mycobacterial strains. The pyrroles have originally been designed as hybrids of the antitubercular drugs BM212 1 and SQ109 2 that showed common chemical features with very similar topological distribution. A perfect superposition of the structures of 1 and 2 revealed by computational studies suggested the introduction of bulky substituents at the terminal portion of the pyrrole C3 side chain and the removal of the C5 aryl moiety. Five compounds showed high activity toward Mycobacterium tuberculosis, while 9b and 9c were highly active also against multi-drug resistant clinical isolates. Compound 9c showed low eukaryotic cell toxicity, turning out to be an excellent lead candidate for preclinical trials. In addition, four compounds showed potent inhibition (comparable to that of verapamil) towards the whole-cell drug efflux pump activity of mycobacteria, and thus turning to be promising multi-drug resistance reversal agents.


Aniakchak caldera, located on the Alaska Peninsula of southwest Alaska, formerly contained a large lake (estimated volume 3.7 × 10 9 m 3 ) that rapidly drained as a result of failure of the caldera rim sometime after ca. 3400 yr B.P. The peak discharge of the resulting flood was estimated using three methods: (1) flow-competence equations, (2) step-backwater modeling, and (3) a dam-break model. The results of the dam-break model indicate that the peak discharge at the breach in the caldera rim was at least 7.7 × 10 4 m 3 s −1 , and the maximum possible discharge was ≈1.1 × 10 6 m 3 s −1 . Flow-competence estimates of discharge, based on the largest boulders transported by the flood, indicate that the peak discharge values, which were a few kilometers downstream of the breach, ranged from 6.4 × 10 5 to 4.8 × 10 6 m 3 s −1 . Similar but less variable results were obtained by step-backwater modeling. Finally, discharge estimates based on regression equations relating peak discharge to the volume and depth of the impounded water, although limited by constraining assumptions, provide results within the range of values determined by the other methods. The discovery and documentation of a flood, caused by the failure of the caldera rim at Aniakchak caldera, underscore the significance and associated hydrologic hazards of potential large floods at other lake-filled calderas.


Objective Direct visualization of the velopharynx and, in particular, the levator muscle is particularly important in the assessment of velopharyngeal function and normal speech production. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the development of a static and dynamic magnetic resonance imaging protocol for evaluation of velopharyngeal structures and function. Methods A high-resolution, T2-weighted turbo-spin-echo three-dimensional anatomical scan (sampling perfection with application optimized contrasts using different flip angle evolution) was used to acquire a large field of view covering the velopharyngeal anatomy. Dynamic speech assessment was obtained using a fast-gradient echo, fast low-angle shot, multi-shot spiral technique to acquire 15.8 frames per second (FPS) of the sagittal and oblique coronal image planes. Results Using a three-dimensional data set, as opposed to two-dimensional data, the full contour of the levator muscle can be appreciated. Dynamic images were obtained at 15.8 FPS in the sagittal and oblique coronal planes, enabling visualization of the movements of the velum, posterior pharyngeal wall, lateral pharyngeal walls, and levator muscle during speech. Conclusions A three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging sequence, such as that used in the present study, may provide better analyses and more precise measurements. A dynamic fast low-angle shot sequence allows for visualization of the levator muscle and the velum during speech at a high image rate. This protocol could have a significant impact in improving the process of visualizing pathology and promoting clinical treatment plans for individuals born with cleft lip and palate.


Previously, we described GFP-spectrin, a membranelocalized derivative of the green fluorescent protein that can be employed as a marker during the simultaneous identification of transfected cells and cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry (Kalejta et al., Cytometry 29: 286‐291, 1997). A membrane-anchored GFP fusion protein is necessary because the ethanol permeabilization step required to achieve efficient propidium iodide staining allows cytoplasmic GFP to leach out of the cell. However, viable cells expressing GFP-spectrin are not as bright as cells expressing cytoplasmic GFP and their fluorescence intensity is further diminished after ethanol treatment. Here, we demonstrate that the fluorescence intensity of cells expressing an integral membrane GFP fusion protein (Us9-GFP) is similar to that of cells expressing cytoplasmic GFP and is quantitatively maintained in cells after ethanol treatment. By allowing an accurate assessment of the expression level of GFP, Us9-GFP allows a more precise analysis of the effects of a cotransfected plasmid on the cell cycle and thus represents an improvement upon the original membraneassociated GFP fusion proteins employed in this assay.


Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) were obtained from graduates of an intensive care nursery (ICN) when those babies were in stable physiological states and ready for hospital discharge. Intensity ranged from ABR threshold to 80 dB nHL, and all recordings were made in a sound-isolated chamber. The data reviewed here are from 585 babies having presumably normal hearing, based upon bilateral ABR thresholds of 30 dB nHL or less. To insure that estimates of population statistics were not biased by high correlations between ears, only the data from the left ears were used in most analyses. Larger correlations were observed between conceptional age (CA) and ABR latencies than between either gestational age (GA) or chronological age (CHA) and the same latencies. Data were grouped into six CA groups for further analyses. Distributions of all response-component latencies were similar in shape and depended upon CA, showing orderly decreases in latency with increasing age. None of these distributions differed significantly from normal, and they were well fitted by normal ogives. Thus, accurate estimates of percentiles can be obtained from the means and standard deviations. The results indicate that it is important to take CA into account when evaluating ABR latencies.


. The study of early modern diplomatic history has in recent decades expanded beyond a bureaucratic, state-centric focus to consider the processes and personal interactions by which international relations were maintained. Scholars have begun to consider, among other factors, the role of diplomatic gifts, diplomatic hospitality, and diplomatic culture. This article contributes to this discussion from an East Asian perspective by considering the role of ' brush talk ' – written exchanges of classical, literary Chinese – during diplomatic missions from the Korean Choso ̆ n court to the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan during the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Drawing upon of fi cial records, personal diaries, and illustrations, I argue that brush talk was not an of fi cial part of diplomatic ceremony and that brushed encounters with Korean of fi cials even extended to people of the townsman classes. Brush talk was as much about ritual display, calligraphic art, and drawing upon a shared storehouse of civilized learning as it was about communicating factual content through language. These visual, performative aspects of brush talk in East Asian diplomacy take it beyond the realm of how a lingua franca is usually conceived, adding to the growing body of scholarship on how this concept applies to non-Western histories.


In this paper, eigenequations of TE and TM mode about coaxial resonator with longitudinal inner-outer corrugation are derived by the surface impedance theory and the first-order transmission line equations with mode coupling coefficients are obtained by means of the transmission line and coupling wave theory. According to these equations, the resonant frequency, diffractive quality factor Q, and field profile geometry of the eigenmode of the coaxial resonator can be calculated, and the effect of the inner (outer) slot depth and tooth width on the resonant frequency and Q factor can be discussed. Numerical results display as follows: 1) the resonator can effectively suppress the mode competition and 2) the inner slot depth and tooth width of the resonator does not almost affect the resonant frequency, and the outer slot depth and tooth of the resonator can affect the resonant frequency, whereas the Q factor is not affected by them.


During development, tissues undergo precise and controlled changes in shape and size. Various signaling pathways regulate these changes, temporally and spatially, by altering cytoskeleton dynamics to alter cell shape. One such pathway involves the Shroom and Rock proteins that reorganize the actomyosin cytoskeleton in epithelial cells to alter tissue morphology. The Shroom family of proteins are multi-domain, actin-binding proteins required for many developmental processes such as neural tube formation, and retinal morphogenesis. Shroom proteins interact with Rho-kinase (Rock), another conserved cytoskeleton regulator, to activate non-muscle Myosin II and assemble a contractile actomyosin network. All Shroom proteins contain a highly conserved C-terminal domain called Shroom Domain 2 (SD2) that interacts with the Rock Shroom binding domain (SBD) and is required for Shroom-mediated apical constriction. In the Shroom-Rock system it is unclear how this interaction activates the kinase activity of Rock. The goal of this dissertation is to understand the mechanistic details of the Shroom-Rock interaction. Using structural studies I have started to dissect the SD2-SBD interaction. I first determined the crystal structure of the Drosophila Shroom SD2 domain at 2.7 A resolution to be a novel fold composed of a three-segmented, anti-parallel, coiled-coil dimer. Using mutational analysis and a combination of in vivo and in vitro assays we identified surfaces within the central coiled-coil segment of the SD2 domain that mediate Rock binding. The anti-parallel nature of the SD2 domain introduces internal symmetry into the SD2 domain such that there are two identical binding sites for Rock on opposite sides of the molecules suggesting interesting implications for the Shroom-Rock interaction. We also determined the crystal structure of the Rock SBD to 2.5 A resolution and saw that it is a parallel coiled-coil dimer. Using mutational analysis combined with biochemical assays I have identified two conserved patches on opposite ends of Rock SBD that are required for Shroom interaction. These patches, unlike the patches on the SD2 domain, are not identical. Biochemical characterization of the SD2-SBD complex suggests that molar ratio of this complex is 1:1. Based on these results we can start to suggest models for how Shroom and Rock interact.


Interferon lambda-1 (IFN-lambda1), the prototype Type-III interferon, has antiviral functions similar to those of the Type-I interferons, IFN-alpha and IFN-beta. However, IFN-lambda1 is capable of signaling through almost all STAT molecules and so it is possible that it may have novel immunoregulatory functions in addition to antiviral ones. From a range of chemokines tested, IFN-lambda1 elevated mRNA levels of only 'Monokine induced by IFN-gamma' (MIG/CXCL9), 'IFN-gamma inducible protein-10' (IP-10/CXCL10) and 'IFN-gamma inducible T-cell alpha chemoattractant' (I-TAC/CXCL11) from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. As their names suggest, these chemokines are also induced by IFN-gamma, the only member of the Type-II interferon family. This action of IFN-lambda1 did not depend on intermediate induction of IFN-gamma and is therefore, likely to be independent of IFN-gamma. Further, our results suggest that donors responded to IFN-lambda1 stimulation either 'early' or 'late'. Overall the action of IFN-lambda1 was similar to that previously reported for IFN-gamma and may invite more detailed investigation of the role of IFN-lambda1 at the innate/adaptive interface.


Abstract The clinicopathologic features and natural history of primary sclerosing cholangitis were reviewed in 53 patients followed at the Yale Liver Center during the past 30 yr. At presentation, the mean age of patients was 46 yr, and the male to female ratio was 1.4:1. Biliary sclerosis was limited to the intrahepatic ductal system in 21% of the patients. Fiftythree percent of the patients had mild disease without portal hypertension at presentation, and 25% had no symptoms attributable to their liver disease. Long-term follow-up was available for 42 patients and averaged 56 mo. Over this period, 16 patients remained mildly symptomatic, and 11 were asymptomatic. Survival was calculated by a Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis and demonstrated that 75% of the patients were alive 9 yr after the diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis. A multivariate analysis of clinical features revealed that hepatomegaly and a serum bilirubin level >1.5 mg/dl at the onset of disease were independent discriminators of a poor prognosis. Patients referred to this university medical center displayed different clinical characteristics than previously reported in primary sclerosing cholangitis. A higher percentage were older, female, and asymptomatic, and more had disease limited to the intrahepatic ductal system. Survival was also considerably improved in this group of patients and suggests that the long-term prognosis for patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis may be considerably better than previously believed.


Potential of mean force (PMF) with respect to localized reaction coordinates (RCs) such as distance is often applied to evaluate the free energy profile along the reaction pathway for complex molecular systems. However, calculation of PMF as a function of global RCs is still a challenging and important problem in computational biology. We examine the combined use of the weighted histogram analysis method and the umbrella sampling method for the calculation of PMF as a function of a global RC from the coarse-grained Langevin dynamics simulations for a model protein. The method yields the folding free energy profile projected onto a global RC, which is in accord with benchmark results. With this method rare global events would be sufficiently sampled because the biased potential can be used for restricting the global conformation to specific regions during free energy calculations. The strategy presented can also be utilized in calculating the global intra- and intermolecular PMF at more detailed levels.


Analysis of the satellite imagery reveals two different perspectives of the vegetation ecotone dynamics in Gangotri catchment. On one hand, there is evidence of upward shift in the alpine tree and vegetation ecotone over three decades. On the other hand, there has been densification happening at the past treeline. The time series fAPAR data of two decades from NOAA-AVHRR confirms the greening trend in the area. The density of trees in Chirbasa has gone up whereas in Bhojbasa there is no significant change in NDVI but the number of groves has increased. Near Gaumukh the vegetal activity has not shown any significant change. We found that the treeline extracted from satellite imagery has moved up about 327±80m and other vegetation line has moved up about 401±77m in three decades. The vertical rate of treeline shift is found to be 11m/yr with reference to 1976 treeline; however, this can be 5m/yr if past toposheet records (1924 – 45) are considered as reliable reference. However, the future IPCC scenario based bioclimatic fundamental niche modelling of the Betula utilis (a surrogate to alpine treeline) suggests that treeline could be moving upward with an average rate of 3m/yr. This study not only confirms that there is an upward shift of vegetation in the alpine zone of Himalayas, but also indicate that old vegetation ecotones have grown denser


Many marine turtle populations are smaller than they once were, having been exploited at varying levels since prehistory. However, in areas where exploitation of adults has been substan- tially reduced or halted, increases in local nesting populations of several species have been shown. There is a paucity of published information on catch rates, methodologies, target species and size classes in small scale marine turtle fisheries. In the Cayman Islands a legal, highly regulated turtle fishery exists; laws regarding turtle protection regulate seasonality, capture location and method, size class, and levels of take via a licensing system. Licenses have only been issued to 'traditional' fishermen and will not be issued to other individuals in the future. Analysis of fishery data from legally captured animals (n = 27) shows that all turtles reported as captured were either adults or very large juveniles, and many were captured during periods when adults were likely to have been in the waters of the Cayman Islands to breed. We conclude that, given the critically small size of the local nesting populations, it is possible that this directed take, although at very low levels in regional terms, may impede the local population recovery sought through other conservation and manage- ment steps being taken in the Cayman Islands.


ABSTRACT Digital networks have stretched and circulated territory and politics, forming new hybrids at different scales that go beyond traditional binaries such as 'liberal' or 'illiberal', or regional delineations such as 'East' or 'West'. This paper interrogates the territorial and aterritorial webs of illiberalism through the case of Singapore as both a city-state with unique authoritarian territorial restrictions and as an aterritorial and relational illiberal imaginary that operates across multiple spatial scales. Singapore's authoritarian territory thereby undergoes a 'worlding' via global combinations, circulations and rescalings; the world is, likewise, Singaporeanized, as bits of the city-state become embedded in global flows and then reattach to territory. Out of these hybrids, both openings and closures emerge and circulate across the built and digital environments in and beyond Singapore. This is a multilateral process, such as the way Trumpian 'fake news' rhetoric attaches to Singapore's context and is repurposed in a Singaporean way. Drawing critically upon debates within urban and political geography, and based on research conducted between 2011 and 2019, this paper argues that digital space is a complex yet valuable field site for the study of state–society relations and the construction of planetary urban politics, fixed in territory and enmeshed in the space of flows.


Based on powerful survey data from an international oil company in Norway, we explore perceptions of performance appraisal and career opportunities among leaders and employees. Perceptions indicate that performance and payoff is better balanced among women than among men. Moreover, the connection between perceived achievement and appreciation is strengthened by time of service for leaders, but not for employees in non-managerial positions. Finally, perceptions of performance appraisal and career opportunities depend on characteristics of the local work environment, with positive influence from key phenomena like change capability, competency focus, trust and identity.


The human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene promoter binds a sequence-specific single-strand DNA binding protein termed NF-GMb. We previously demonstrated that the NF-GMb binding sites were required for repression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) induction of the proximal GM-CSF promoter sequences in fibroblasts. We now describe the isolation of two different cDNA clones that encode cold shock domain (CSD) proteins with NF-GMb binding characteristics. One is identical to the previously reported CSD protein dbpB and the other is a previously unreported variant of the dbpA CSD factor. This is the first report of CSD factors binding to a cytokine gene. Nuclear NF-GMb and expressed CSD proteins have the same binding specificity for the GM-CSF promoter and other CSD binding sites. We present evidence that CSD factors are components of the nuclear NF-GMb complex. We also demonstrate that overexpression of the CSD proteins leads to complete repression of the proximal GM-CSF promoter containing the NF-GMb/CSD binding sites. Surprisingly, we show that CSD overexpression can also directly repress a region of the promoter which apparently lacks NF-GMb/CSD binding sites. NF-GMb/CSD factors may hence be acting by two different mechanisms. We discuss the potential importance of CSD factors in maintaining strict regulation of the GM-CSF gene.


Hardware component databases are vital resources in designing embedded systems. Since creating these databases requires hundreds of thousands of hours of manual data entry, they are proprietary, limited in the data they provide, and have random data entry errors. We present a machine learning based approach for creating hardware component databases directly from datasheets. Extracting data directly from datasheets is challenging because: (1) the data is relational in nature and relies on non-local context, (2) the documents are filled with technical jargon, and (3) the datasheets are PDFs, a format that decouples visual locality from locality in the document. Addressing this complexity has traditionally relied on human input, making it costly to scale. Our approach uses a rich data model, weak supervision, data augmentation, and multi-task learning to create these knowledge bases in a matter of days. We evaluate the approach on datasheets of three types of components and achieve an average quality of 77 F1 points—quality comparable to existing human-curated knowledge bases. We perform application studies that demonstrate the extraction of multiple data modalities including numerical properties and images. We show how different sources of supervision such as heuristics and human labels have distinct advantages that can be utilized together to improve knowledge base quality. Finally, we present a case study to show how this approach changes the way practitioners create hardware component knowledge bases.


This paper analyzes the persistence of both the apartheid and social exclusion despite the supposed information democratization that would be made possible by the introdution of new technologies in the communication means at educational and institutions curricula. Such new technologies (TVs, VCRs, computers connected to the Internet), having been adopted by the cultural industry, continue "producing" illiterate people and known as functional illeterate as well as, lately, the "illeterate dot com". These resources have generated neither greater knowledge nor individual participation in the political decisions and in the socio-cultural goods restricted to a minority of people who could be called "citizens". The overcome of fashion pedagogic aiming critical and creative education driven to emancipating objectives is still a task to be accomplished.


A final year student of diploma course in Interior Design is necessary to organize one final year project. The project that had been selected for the final project is to propose New Interior Design of True Religion Brand Jeans Boutique for Bread And Butter Sdn Bhd at Lot 201, Level 2, Avenue K, Kuala Lumpur. The reason to propose this project is because there is no True Religion Brand Jeans Boutique in Malaysia. The target market for the users of this True Religion Brand Jeans product are men, women, boys and girls from all ages and classes. The product includes footwear, headwear, swimwear, eyewear, hosiery, socks, and fragrance. Thereafter, a plan was proposed to organize a boutique design that may interest and fulfil the public demand, needs for both of client and customers. From the study and observation conducted on the product and the location, the information and details gathered was used as a guideline to prepare the design. Some of the gained information of the study is through interviews, printed media, internet, observation, and through the result from the case study either locally or internationally. For this propose project, site at Avenue K was choose after had done survey in few places and it seems that the site chosen gives good impact and the surroundings suit the business purpose.


An inadvertent consequence of asset quality review by the Reserve Bank of India is that it portrayed public sector banks as inefficient managers of the burgeoning non-performing asset crisis relative to their private sector peers. A study, which used panel data regression to investigate the NPAs of 46 scheduled commercial banks between 2007 and 2016, has explored the myth by adopting a strategic orientation perspective to look into the antecedent periods of high uncertainties and jolts, leading to the build-up of NPAs, the changes in banks' strategic orientations, and their effects on provisioning and NPA reduction. But no evidence was found to support the myth and to suggest that banks, across ownership, are incrementally exposing their NPAs ex post, subject to provisioning ex ante and that a moderate approach during periods of high uncertainty is most effective in managing NPAs. The study questions the received wisdom regarding the nature of risk-free sovereign debts and their impact on the NPA problem.


Surveys of the air flow over the upper surface of four different airfoils were made in the full-scale wind tunnel to determine a satisfactory location for a fixed Pitot-static tube on a low-wing monoplane. The selection was based on small interference errors, less than 5 percent, and on a consideration of structural and ground handling problems. The most satisfactory location on the airfoils without flaps that were investigated was 10 percent of the chord aft and 25 percent of the chord above the trailing edge of a section approximately 40 percent of the semispan inboard of the wing tip. No satisfactory location was found near the wing when the flaps were deflected.


A variety of chemical compounds has been released into water from industrial and agricultural activities and urban wastes. Some of those chemicals are harmful to living organisms and are resistant to degradation, thus named persistent organic pollutants (POPs). In efforts to manage chemical pollutants such as POPs in Asia, the United Nations University (UNU) and Shimadzu Corporation established a pilot project in 1996, "Environmental Monitoring and Analysis in the East Asian Region", to aid developing Asian countries with the knowledge and technology to analyse and monitor such pollutants in the environment. This book summarizes some highlights of monitoring results obtained by the project's activities for 15 years, and reports the present status of the project, touching on the future development of the project by analysing challenges ahead of the project.


Constant change in current market and social conditions has triggered the demand for a more adaptable building stock. The capacity to assume and accommodate change has thus become a new requirement for buildings. At the same time, there is a growing demand for more environmentally conscious buildings. New protocols, building codes, and certification systems are becoming stricter regarding buildings' CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, and other environmental aspects. The current building industry fails to satisfy these two demands; conventional buildings rarely enable change, unless undergoing complex renovations, and rarely consider environmental features beyond mandatory legislation. In this context, this paper proposes Modular Ecotechnological Architecture as a response to both demands. The basis is an integrated design that looks at energy, water, and materials' efficiency altogether, combined with a modular industrialized building system. The system allows buildings to grow or reduce in size according to their needs, with little impact for their inhabitants, enabling versatility for a variety of uses within the same space and over time. This paper presents the concept of this new building system together with the technical, building code-related, and economic challenges encountered throughout recent experimental projects.


Abstract. Hydatid disease caused by the Echinococcus granulosus is a common health problem in Turkey, Middle East and Mediterranean Countries. The most affected organs are the liver and the lungs. The other organ involvements such as spleen, kidney, brain and muscle are rare. Here we present a case of hydatid cyst of the choledochus with an i nactive group of liver hydatid cyst, producing obstructive jaundice. Key words: Echinococcosis, choledochus, obstructive jaundice


We give an overview of the worldline numerics technique, and discuss the parallel CUDA implementation of a worldline numerics algorithm. In the worldline numerics technique, we wish to generate an ensemble of representative closed-loop particle trajectories, and use these to compute an approximate average value for Wilson loops. We show how this can be done with a specific emphasis on cylindrically symmetric magnetic fields. The fine-grained, massive parallelism provided by the GPU architecture results in considerable speedup in computing Wilson loop averages. Furthermore, we give a brief overview of uncertainty analysis in the worldline numerics method. There are uncertainties from discretizing each loop, and from using a statistical ensemble of representative loops. The former can be minimized so that the latter dominates. However, determining the statistical uncertainties is complicated by two subtleties. Firstly, the distributions generated by the worldline ensembles are highly non-Gaussian, and so the standard error in the mean is not a good measure of the statistical uncertainty. Secondly, because the same ensemble of worldlines is used to compute the Wilson loops at different values of $T$ and $x_\mathrm{ cm}$, the uncertainties associated with each computed value of the integrand are strongly correlated. We recommend a form of jackknife analysis which deals with both of these problems.


ABSTRACT The emerging field of cancer radiomics endeavors to characterize intrinsic patterns of tumor phenotypes and surrogate markers of response by transforming medical images into objects that yield quantifiable summary statistics to which regression and machine learning algorithms may be applied for statistical interrogation. Recent literature has identified clinicopathological association based on textural features deriving from gray-level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) which facilitate evaluations of gray-level spatial dependence within a delineated region of interest. GLCM-derived features, however, tend to contribute highly redundant information. Moreover, when reporting selected feature sets, investigators often fail to adjust for multiplicities and commonly fail to convey the predictive power of their findings. This article presents a Bayesian probabilistic modeling framework for the GLCM as a multivariate object as well as describes its application within a cancer detection context based on computed tomography. The methodology, which circumvents processing steps and avoids evaluations of reductive and highly correlated feature sets, uses latent Gaussian Markov random field structure to characterize spatial dependencies among GLCM cells and facilitates classification via predictive probability. Correctly predicting the underlying pathology of 81% of the adrenal lesions in our case study, the proposed method outperformed current practices which achieved a maximum accuracy of only 59%. Simulations and theory are presented to further elucidate this comparison as well as ascertain the utility of applying multivariate Gaussian spatial processes to GLCM objects.


In order to clarify the failure behavior of plasma sprayed thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems under the complicated modes of thermal-mechanical-chemical loadings, the stress rupture property evaluation and failure analysis were conducted for Y2O3-ZrO2 (YSZ) and CaO-SiO2-ZrO2 (C2S-CZ) TBC systems in air and two kinds of high-temperature corrosive environments. Static creep loading was found to bring about the typical creep failure for TBC systems even in the aggressive environment so called hot corrosion almost in similar manner to the case in air. On the contrary, it was revealed that the dynamic fatigue loading tends to cause a significant failure life reduction of TBC systems both in air and in corrosive environments. For YSZ TBC system, the penetration crack preexisting through the top-coat layer tends to provide a nucleation site for the fatigue crack even in air, and more significantly a short circuit path for the corrosive species in hot corrosive environment. For C2S-CZ system, on the contrary, the top-coat / bond-coat interface tends to provide easily the nucleation site for a main crack to propagate thereafter toward both the alloy interior and outer surface. Under lower stress level at 950°C, however, the oxide-induced crack closure together with crack tip blunting attributed mainly to the high reactivity of Ca compounds as a major constituent of the TC is effective to suppress substantially the crack propagation, so as to cause the prolonged failure life as compared to YSZ system even in aggressive gaseous environment.


Multiplication measurements on GaAs p/sup +/-i-n/sup +/s with i-region thicknesses, w, between 1 /spl mu/m and 0.025 /spl mu/m and Monte Carlo (MC) calculations of the avalanche process are used to investigate the applicability of the local ionization theory. The local expressions for multiplication are able to predict the measured values surprisingly well in p/sup +/-i-n/sup +/s with i-region thicknesses, w, as thin as 0.2 /spl mu/m before the effect of dead-space, where carriers have insufficient energy to ionize, causes significant errors. Moreover, only a very simple correction to the local expressions is needed to predict the multiplication accurately where the field varies rapidly in abrupt one-sided p/sup +/-n junctions doped up to 10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/. However, MC modeling also shows that complex dead-space effects cause the local ionization coefficients to be increasingly unrepresentative of the position dependent values in the device as w is reduced below 1 /spl mu/m. The success of the local model in predicting multiplication is therefore attributed to the dead-space information already being contained within the experimentally determined values of local coefficients. It is suggested that these should therefore be thought of as effective coefficients which, despite the presence of dead-space effects, can be still be used with the existing local theory for efficiently quantifying multiplication and breakdown voltages.


Intertidal harvesting of marine invertebrates has significant potential to come into conflict with the interests of nature conservation. This is particularly so for overwintering shorebirds that rely heavily on invertebrate prey to maintain body condition throughout the winter and to fuel migration towards breeding grounds. Harvesting activities in these areas therefore require careful management to achieve sustainability and to maintain healthy ecosystem functioning. This thesis investigates impacts of intertidal harvesting on benthic habitats and invertebrate communities as well as the potential impacts of harvesting on shorebird populations. Implications for management of inshore and intertidal fisheries are discussed. A meta-analysis investigated the response of key invertebrate prey groups to different gear types used in different intertidal habitats. Hand gathering most severely reduces prey abundance, which is likely to be due to the accuracy of harvesting with these gear types, while recovery trends vary between different combinations of gear and habitat and taxonomic groups. Results suggest that impacts may persist for longer in sandy habitats than in muddy habitats. In some cases fishermen may develop gears in response to local circumstance and the development of harvestable populations of new and introduced species. Extensive fieldwork was carried out to assess benthic impacts of 'pump-scoop' dredging in Poole Harbour, UK, a designated Special Protection Area under the European Union Birds Directive. The pump-scoop dredge is a novel gear type developed by local fishermen following the introduction of the manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum in the 1980s. The use of this gear type elicits significant changes to macrobenthic community structure and a loss of fine sediments, while reductions in abundance of the target species of up to 95% occur in some areas throughout the open season. Although population dynamics of R. philippinarum vary across a gradient of fishing pressure, determining cause and effect is prevented by a lack of environmental data that could help isolate fishing impacts more confidently. Data on fishing effort is often lacking, particularly in inshore fisheries where Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) data are not collected. The analysis of aerial imagery collected by an unmanned aerial system (UAS) was used as an alternative measure of fishing effort in intertidal areas. Results indicate that the physical scarring of the sediment (quantified through image classification methods and calculation of a measure of image texture) is a reliable proxy for the distribution and intensity of fishing effort in intertidal areas. Remote sensing techniques offer an alternative source of data, useful to inform management of inshore fisheries, where no log book program or VMS data exists. A combination of fieldwork and individual-based modelling (IBM) was used to investigate the effect of shellfish dredging on shorebird populations in Poole Harbour. Field surveys showed no significant effect of dredging on shorebird feeding or intake rates, nor species distribution across the site, although continued monitoring is recommended. IBM results indicate that increased shellfish landings in Poole Harbour elicit a behavioural response in the Eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus population, characterised by an increase in the time spent feeding and the amount of marine worms consumed. These shifts in behaviour and diet represent compensatory measures in response to a loss of preferred shellfish prey. The work presented in this thesis can directly contribute to ecosystem-based management of inshore fisheries. Results from the meta-analysis will assist managers in predicting the effects of harvesting on benthic ecosystems and provide useful evidence of recovery patterns, while survey data provide information on the impacts of pump-scoop dredging in Poole Harbour, directly contributing to management. Other work provides demonstration of how tools such as remote sensing and IBMs can be applied to accurately quantify disturbance and predict the responses of shorebird populations to harvesting. The work presented will help ensure sustainable fishing, productive benthic habitats and healthy shorebird populations into the future.


This paper presents an automated technique to perform SRAM wide statistical analysis in presence of process variability. The technique is implemented in a prototype tool and is demonstrated on several 45 and 32nm industry-grade SRAM vehicles. Selected case studies show how this approach successfully captures non-trivial statistical interactions between the cells and the periphery, which remain uncovered when only using statistical electrical simulations of the critical path or applying a digital corner approach. The presented tool provides the designer with valuable information on what performance metrics to expect, if manufactured. Since this feedback takes place in the design phase, a significant reduction in development time and cost can be achieved.


Microbial electrosynthesis has recently emerged as a promising technology for the sustainable production of organic acids, bioplastics, or biofuels from electricity and CO2. However, the diversity of catalysts and metabolic pathways is limited to mainly mesophilic acetogens or methanogens. Here, eleven hyperthermophilic strains related to Archaeoglobales, Thermococcales, Aquificales, and methanogens were screened for microbial electrosynthesis. The strains were previously isolated from deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where a naturally occurring, spontaneous electrical current can serve as a source of energy for microbial metabolism. After 6 days of incubation in an electrochemical system, all strains showed current consumption, biofilm formation, and small organic molecule production relative to the control. Six selected strains were then incubated over a longer period of time. In the course of one month, a variety of metabolic intermediates of biotechnological relevance such as succinic acid and glycerol accumulated. The production rates and the promotion of specific metabolic pathways seemed to be influenced by the experimental conditions, such as the concentration of CO2 in the gas phase and electron acceptor limitation. Further work is necessary to clearly identify these effects to potentially be able to tune the microbial electrosynthesis of compounds of interest.


Current generative-based dialogue systems are data-hungry and fail to adapt to new unseen domains when only a small amount of target data is available. Additionally, in real-world applications, most domains are underrepresented, so there is a need to create a system capable of generalizing to these domains using minimal data. In this paper, we propose a method that adapts to unseen domains by combining both transfer and meta-learning (DATML). DATML improves the previous state-of-the-art dialogue model, DiKTNet, by introducing a different learning technique: meta-learning. We use Reptile, a first-order optimization-based meta-learning algorithm as our improved training method. We evaluated our model on the MultiWOZ dataset and outperformed DiKTNet in both BLEU and Entity F1 scores when the same amount of data is available.


Pleuropulmonary blastoma is rare embryonal tumor of infancy and early childhood and it often arises from lung and more rarely from the parietal pleura. We present this entity which has no systematic data associated with its incidence in order to discuss clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical features and the differential diagnosis. A three-year-old boy presented with fever showed signs of upper respiratory tract infection. Radiological examination revealed a solid mass filling the right hemithorax. The patient underwent core needle biopsy, wedge biopsy and lobectomy. Biopsy and surgical material were examined histopathologically. The tumor was composed of predominantly solid areas consisting blastemal cells with spindle, polygonal and round nuclei in the myxoid stroma. Immunohistochemical staining of the tumor cells were positive with vimentin and desmin. MIB-1 labeling index was above 90%. Histological diagnosis was pleuropulmonary blastoma type 3. The surgically sampled adjacent diafragma was also infiltrated with the tumor. The patient was treated with chemotherapy and showed no signs of recurrence in the follow-up of 9 months. Pleuropulmonary blastoma is a very rare childhood cancer that needs to be kept in mind in the pathological differential diagnosis of thoracic tumors in the children.


Mortars, one of the most common construction materials, have not received any substantial modification for many decades. This has changed in recent years; new compositions are now being developed, with new properties, using nano-additives, fibres and capsules. In this work, surfaces with new and innovative functionalities that promote energy savings and improve air quality have been developed and studied. Incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in construction products is currently under study by different research groups. However, these studies only address their incorporation separately. Adding new additives into the mortar's matrix can be complex—due to microstructural modifications that will influence both fresh and hardened state properties. Moving from a single additive to multiple additions, as in this study, increases the system's complexity. Only with a good understanding of the microstructural properties, it is possible to add multiple additives (including nano and microparticles) to mortars, without damaging its final quality. This work demonstrates that a higher additive content is not always a guarantee of better results; lower additions can often provide a better compromise between performance and final mechanical properties. The results presented in this paper confirmed this and show that combining PCM microcapsules and TiO2 nanoparticles open a new path in the development of mortars with multiple functionalities. In this study, a new material with depolluting, self-cleaning and heat storage was created. For the development of new and innovative mortars, a proper balance of multiple additives, supported by the study of microstructural changes, can lead to an optimization of the compositions, ensuring that the mortar's final properties are not affected.


Conduction of clinical trials may benefit from the reuse of EHR data. The upcoming EHR system eHDSI provides data exchange between European countries and thus represents an attractive data source for multinational trials. In this paper we analyze to what extent eHDSI could provide data relevant for trials with a focus on patient recruitment. Data elements identified in the EHR4CR project to be frequently used in trials were mapped to the HL7 templates of the eHDSI document types using the open source tool ART-DECOR. From the 149 EHR4CR data elements, 44 (30%) could be mapped to eHDSI document components. Despite this moderate coverage, eHDSI could still provide a substantial contribution for recruitment by an automatic pre-filtering process of large groups of potential trial candidates.


This paper presents the principles of the transistor compensation technology of temperature coefficient of sensitivity (TCS) of pressure sensor. A quantitative compensation formula is demonstrated in mathematics. By experiments, the absolute value of the compensated TCS is easy to be 10×10-6/°C~100 ×10-6/°C with individual adjustment and calibration of each device's temperature compensation. The feasibility and practicability of this technology are tested. The disadvantages are discussed after the research of the experimental data, while the improvement methods are also given in the designing period. This technology exhibits the great potential practical value. These applications are promoted in the volume production. The operating performances of these pressure sensors using this technology are studied and proved they are reliable and stable.


The Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS Principle (GIPA) has been a core commitment for many people involved in the community-based HIV/AIDS movement. GIPA refers to the inclusion of people living with HIV/AIDS in service delivery and decision-making processes that affect their lives. Despite its central importance to the movement, it has received little attention in the academic literature. Drawing on focus group discussions among staff members and volunteers of AIDS service organizations, activists, and community members, we explore challenges to the implementation of the GIPA principle in community-based HIV/AIDS organizations in Ontario, Canada. Our findings reveal ways in which implementing GIPA has become more complicated over recent years. Challenges relating to health, stigma and disclosure, evolving HIV/AIDS organizations, and GIPA-related tensions are identified. This paper considers our findings in light of previous research, and suggests some implications for practice.


Produced water from oil and gas development requires management to avoid negative public health effects, particularly those associated with dissolved solids and bromide in drinking water. Rapidly expanding drilling in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania has significantly increased the volume of produced water that must be managed. Produced water management may include treatment followed by surface water discharge, such as at publically owned wastewater treatment plants (POTWs) or centralized brine treatment plants (CWTs). The use of POTWs and CWTs that discharge partially treated produced water has the potential to increase salt loads to surface waters significantly. These loads may cause unacceptably high concentrations of dissolved solids or bromide in source waters, particularly when rivers are at low-flow conditions. The present study evaluates produced water management in Pennsylvania from 2006 through 2011 to determine whether surface water discharges were sufficient to cause salt or bromide loads that would negatively affect drinking water sources. The increase in produced water that occurred in 2008 in Pennsylvania was accompanied by an increase in use of CWTs and POTWs that were exempt from discharge limits on dissolved solids. Estimates of salt loads associated with produced water and with discharges from CWTs and POTWs in 2008 and 2009 indicate that more than 50% of the total dissolved solids in the produced water generated in those years were released to surface water systems. Especially during the low-flow conditions of 2008 and 2009, these loads would be expected to affect drinking water.


Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major contributor to mortality in the developed world. Investigations involving recent nationally representative surveys, including the Scottish Health Survey Cohort (SHeSC), have not demonstrated the expected strong U or J shaped association between adiposity and mortality. Given modern treatment and primary/secondary prevention strategies, we question whether adiposity has the same relationship with CHD incidence as it does with mortality? Objectives To examine the association of adiposity with CHD incidence, CHD mortality and all-cause mortality using body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). Design The SHeSC provides representative population data linked to hospital admission and death records. Participants 19329 respondents from three survey waves (1995, 1998 and 2003) aged 18–86 years at the time of interview (8532 men, 10797 women) with complete data and no previous admissions for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Main Outcome Measures CHD incidence (789 first events - admission or death), CHD mortality (212 deaths) and all-cause mortality (1278 deaths). Methods Gender stratified, multilevel Cox analyses were used to model the relationship between these outcomes and each anthropometric variable (divided into four categories). HR for survival time from interview to event or December 2008, using the second lowest category as referent, were adjusted for age, smoking status, alcohol consumption and survey year; then further adjusted for socio-economic status. Results The prevalence of obesity, using BMI (≥30 kg/m2), WC (men≥ 102 cm, women≥ 88 cm) and WHR (men≥1.0, women≥0.85), was 21.8%, 25.8% and 17.7% respectively. For both genders, the highest category of each anthropometric measure was associated with a similar magnitude of increased risk for CHD incidence. The HR for obese men, using BMI, was 1.66 (95% CI 1.27 to 2.15) while for women the HR = 1.86 (1.39 to 2.50). There was also an increased risk of death from CHD for these categories but it was only significant for women in the highest category of WHR (HR = 2.14; 1.13 to 4.05). For all-cause mortality, only WHR identified an increased risk associated with obesity, HR for men = 1.29 (1.04 to 1.60) and for women = 1.56 (1.26 to 1.93). Adjusting for socio-economic status had minimal impact. Conclusions The different relationship between adiposity and CHD incidence as opposed to CHD death could be a consequence of effective and timely medical intervention following a CHD event or could be an example of the 'obesity' paradox. Alternatively these indices may predict CHD events but not their severity, except for WHR in women.


Lymphocyte phenotypes and cellular immune responses (blastogenesis and production of cytokines) to Cryptosporidium parvum were determined for spleen cells taken from BALB/c mice. These parameters were measured in mice at 1, 2, 3, and 4 wk of age, either exposed or not exposed to C. parvum in vivo. The percentage of T cells and the T-helper subset increased from weeks 2 to 4; B cells reached a peak percentage at 2 wk. Blastogenic responses were elevated at 1 wk and declined to a low level during weeks 2 to 4. Interferon-gamma production was maximal at 4 wk. No interleukin-5 production was seen. Data obtained were similar for cells from mice either exposed or not exposed to C. parvum in vivo. These data indicate that age-related changes, particularly the increased percentage of T cells and increased interferon-gamma production, are temporally related to the acquisition of resistance to colonization of mice with C. parvum. The data also indicate that these age-related changes occur in the absence of specific exposure to parasite antigens.


This article is concerned with the way in which criminal justice systems cause harms that go well beyond the 'headline' punishment announced at sentencing. This is the phenomenon of 'collateral consequences of criminal conviction'. This phenomenon has been widely criticised in recent criminological literature. However, the critics do not normally explore or defend the normative basis of their claims – as they need to if their arguments are to strike home against sceptics. I argue that the normative basis of the critics' position should be seen as involving important normative claims about the responsibilities that societies have towards those who break the law. Some important strands of criticism, I claim, rest on the view that we have associative duties towards offenders (and their dependants and communities) as fellow participants in a collective democratic enterprise, duties that are violated when states impose, or allow, harms that go significantly beyond the sentence.


Transition radiation at the interface between two media having regular inhomogeneities is considered in the framework of perturbation theory, assuming that the dielectric constants of the two media differ insignificantly from each other. The advantage of this approach is that no limitations exist on the characteristic size of the inhomogeneities. The general case of a surface with two-dimensional roughness is considered. Attention is paid to radiation characteristics that are general for periodic structures, independently of their particular features. The physical picture of the radiation from a rough interface is determined by both longitudinal and transverse effects. The case of normal incidence of an electron on a planar interface having either single or multiple rectangular lugs (diffraction grating) is analyzed in detail. For the single lug infinite in one dimension, simple expressions for transition radiation intensity are obtained, for both relativistic and nonrelativistic electrons. They demonstrate that corrections to the plane-surface intensity become significant at small radiation angles. In this case the radiation is also completely unpolarized, i.e., the spectral energy density of the perpendicular component has the same order of magnitude as that of the parallel component. Consideration of these issues is important since rough surfaces, as compared to planar surfaces, give a number of additional results that may be used for the analysis of surface irregularities.


textabstractAbstract
The government has realized that the textile and clothing sector is one sector that offers good prospects for diversification away from
traditional commodity exports, for entry into the area of manufacturers, for absorption of large pools of manpower, for crossing the
big divide between the rural and urban sectors, for poverty alleviation, and for gender empowerment." (Ministry of Finance, 2003,
emphasis added)
In 2005, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) will give way to more liberalised global trade in textiles and clothing (T&C).
The T&C industry is Pakistan's major export engine. It also is a major employer of female workers. In the context of the social
seclusion of women in Pakistan, the strong representation of women in the T&C industry makes the ATC implementation a gender
equality issue.
So far, the labour market implications of the change in the trade regime in general and its effects on gendered access to employment,
in particular, have been neglected completely. The paper highlights the potential impact of the phase out of the textile quota regime on
gendered employment in Pakistan.


Organizational leaders face an ever-growing set of challenges exemplified through customer demands and needs, increased global competition, and the pressure for higher returns. One way to accomplish these goals is through information technology. This literary review synthesizes an information technology flexibility model from eight different sources. The works of Dr. Lawrence Ness, an instructor at Capella University forms the center of the synthesized model and works from Byrd and Turner, Gerbauer and Schober, Bond, Hayes and Barnes-Holmes, Bhatt and Grover, Byrd, Pitts, Adrian and Davidson, and Overby, Bharadwaj and Sambamurthy provide collaborative information technology flexibility material. These eight sources combine to show the relationship between information technology flexibility, information technology effectiveness, and organizational alignment. After combining these sources, the information technology flexibility component is considered relative to the information technology infrastructure of the organization and the available skills found within the information technology group. While the organizational alignment corner of the triangle examines psychological aspects and executive leadership attitudes that lead to organizational alignment. The combination of these facets provides a comprehensive information technology flexibility model.


Unit cell modeling is performed to determine the effect of electromagnetic coupling on the propagation characteristics of a meander delay line, which is widely used in printed circuit boards and packages. Since the design of a delay line must guarantee several tens of picosecond timing margin in modern high-speed packages and board level interconnections, a penetrating understanding of the meander effect is essential. The propagation delay, the characteristic impedance, and the stop-band characteristic of the meander delay line have been carefully investigated based on a full-wave analysis using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) periodic structure modeling method. The periodicity of the meander line is utilized based on Floquet's theorem, resulting in a reduction of the computational domain in the FDTD simulation and providing a unit cell model of the meander line. The unit cell modeling of the meander delay line shows the effect of electromagnetic coupling in meander line structure on the reduction of the propagation delay. Also, an analysis based on the unit cell modeling was confirmed by time-domain reflection/transmission measurements.


Prostate cancer (PCa) in dogs is a highly malignant disease akin to its human counterpart. In contrast to the situation in humans, multi-gene approaches facilitating risk stratification of canine PCa are barely established. The aims of this study were the characterization of the transcriptional landscape of canine PCa and the identification of diagnostic, prognostic and/or therapeutic biomarkers through a multi-step screening approach. RNA-Sequencing of ten malignant tissues and fine-needle aspirations (FNA), and 14 nonmalignant tissues and FNAs was performed to find differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and deregulated pathways. The 4098 observed DEGs were involved in 49 pathways. These 49 pathways could be grouped into five superpathways summarizing the hallmarks of canine PCa: (i) inflammatory response and cytokines; (ii) regulation of the immune system and cell death; (iii) cell surface and PI3K signaling; (iv) cell cycle; and (v) phagosome and autophagy. Among the highly deregulated, moderately to strongly expressed DEGs that were members of one or more superpathways, 169 DEGs were listed in relevant databases and/or the literature and included members of the PCa pathway, oncogenes, prostate-specific genes, and druggable genes. These genes are novel and promising candidate diagnostic, prognostic and/or therapeutic canine PCa biomarkers.


The challenge facing managers in the South African public sector is to promote a culture of continuous learning if they want their diverse employees to succeed in reaching their full potential and thereby enhance organisational effectiveness. This requires a systematic, multi-level approach to institutionalise an infrastructure for creating a learning organisation. Understanding the notion of the learning organisation provides managers and other stakeholders in the public sector with the skills to develop best practices and to sustain the learning process.
This article addresses some effective mechanisms and strategies to institutionalise a learning organisation. Various and debates on what constitutes a learning organisation are presented. The concept of a learning organisation is contextualised within an integrated and systematic framework. It is significant that a multi-level approach is required to create a learning organisation. The fundamental role of some of the building blocks required for the institutionalising of a learning organisation, are highlighted. In addition, the value of an integrative relationship between the employee, employer and the various components of the organisation is described. The role of the manager in communicating and developing a culture of learning is emphasised.


A study was made of the distribution and properties of tyrosinase (polyphenol oxidase) in sugarcane. The enzyme was extracted with phosphate buffer (pH 7) from freeze-dried tissues which had been ground to pass a 60-mesh screen. Tyrosinase was assayed spoctrophotometrically at 390 mµ by measuring the optical density increase of a buffered mixture of catechol and enzyme. Fractionation of cane extracts with ammonium sulfate showed that tyrosinase is precipitated readily from 20- to 70-percent saturation. The richest source of the enzyme was meristematic tissue. Considerable activity was also obtained from leaves — 1 and 0, whereas only traces of the enzyme were present in both 8 to 10 and 1 to 3 nodes and internodes. Tyrosinase preparations were heat-sensitive, losing most of their activity within 2-1: hours of extraction at room temperature (28-29°C.) and laboratory temperature (19-21°C). In contrast, to cane peroxidase, no recuperative capacity was evident after inactivation by boiling. Substrates acted upon by tyrosinase included tyrosine, catechol, DOPA (3,4, dihydroxyphenylalanine), pyrogallol, guaicol, resorcinol, hydroquinone, and paracresol. No reaction was observed with phenol or metacresol. Optimum temperature was about 21°C, and optimum pH was 7.5. Apparent Km was 4.0 X 10-3 mols of catechol per liter. Thiourea and hydroxylamine markedly inhibited the enzyme at concentrations of 1 umol/ml.  Cysteine, ascorbic acid, and cyanide caused virtually complete inhibition at this concentration. Carbon monoxide likewise inhibited. Tyrosinase which was inactivated by KCN was reactivated following prolonged dialysis against distilled water and addition of copper. No other metal tested (molybdenum, manganese, zinc, iron, magnesium) served to reactivate the catalyst. Possible roles and significance of cane tyrosinase are discussed.


Petroleum mobility in shale is closely correlated with the attributes of shale petroleum and pores; however, the relationship between these attributes is poorly understood. To characterize petroleum mobility in self-sourcing reservoirs, a suite of mature Eocene shales was selected and subjected to organic solvent extraction, and both the raw and solvent-treated samples were analyzed using pyrolysis, nitrogen adsorption, and x-ray diffraction. The results show that the pore surface area and pore volume of these shales are mainly controlled by their clay and quartz content rather than their organic matter (OM) content and are limited by the presence of carbonates. Correlations of soluble OM with pore surface area and volume after solvent extraction indicate that petroleum mobility of studied shales is initiated when the petroleum content reaches 0.70 wt. % of the rock and the pore diameter is over 12.1 nm. These thresholds are established in the studied area and should be similar for the self-sourcing reservoirs from similar sedimentary environments. This work proposes a method to reveal the thresholds of petroleum content and pore diameter for petroleum mobility in self-sourcing reservoirs, which is useful in the assessment of petroleum producibility and is of significance for unconventional petroleum exploration and exploitation.


Objective: The prevalence and incidence of multiple sclerosis may vary according to the influence of the altitude of a geographical area as well as the genetic and environmental factors. This study ained to determine the incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Edirne population. Material and Methods: Patients with a definite diagnosis of MS according to McDonald's criteria, admitted to one of the three MS clinics in Edirne, were included in this two-stage study. Also the records of hospitals in Istanbul serving patients from Edirne, have been evaluated. Results: The prevalence rate of confirmed MS patients was 33.9/100000 (95% CI: 32-36) in 2003. The mean annual incidence was 3.48/100000 (95% CI: 2.90-4.00). Mean age of the patients was 36.5p9.6 years. Mean age at onset was 29.2p8.5 years. Mean duration of disease was 6.9p5.2 years. Overall, 69.2% had a relapsing-remitting course, 20.5% had a primary progressive course and 10.3% had a secondary progressive course. Mean Expanded Disability Status Scale score was 3.04p2.18. The prevalence and annual incidence after one year was 36.5 per 100000 (95% CI: 33.2-38.6) and 2.60 per 100000 (95% CI: 2.1-3.8), respectively. Conclusion: This is the first city-based MS prevalence study performed in Turkey. The MS prevalence in Edirne is similar to that of Greece and Bulgaria but lower than that of European countries.


In recent years application of Neural Network (NN) algorithms in both target tracking problem and DoA estimation have become popular because of the increased computational efficiency This paper presents the implementation of modified neural network algorithm(MN-MUST) to the uniform circular dipole array in the presence of mutual coupling. In smart antenna systems, mutual coupling between elements can significantly degrade the processing algorithms. In this paper mutual coupling affects on MN-MUST has been investigated. MN-MUST algorithm applied to the Uniform Circular Array (UCA) geometry for first time. The validity of MN-MUST algorithm in the presence of mutual coupling has been proved for UCA. Simulation results of MN-MUST algorithm are provided for UCA. The presence of mutual coupling degraded the MN-MUST algorithm performed in the absence of mutual coupling, as expected.


This study aimed to examine the ameliorating effect of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) KFY02 on low-fiber diet-induced constipation in mice. LP-KFY02 was isolated from the natural fermented yogurt in Korla of Xinjiang. The mice with low-fiber diet-induced constipation in experimental groups were administered 1 × 109 CFU/kg LP-KFY02 (KFY02H) and 1 × 108 CFU/kg LP-KFY02 (KFY02L). After LP-KFY02 treatment with constipation mice, the mice fecal water content, intestinal transit ability and defecation time of constipated mice were improved. The mice fecal flora diversity, abundance and structure of the intestinal flora were regulated to the balanced state. The mice serum levels of gut motility related neuroendocrine factors have been increased, the intestinal mucosal barrier function and gut motility related gene expression were regulated in mice colon tissues. At the same time, the mice colon tissue damage were improved. These parameters in the KFY02H group were close to the normal group. These results suggested that LP-KFY02 could be considered as a potential probiotic to help alleviate low-fiber diet-induced constipation. They also provided a theoretical basis for the study of probiotics to relieve constipation by regulating intestinal flora.


This paper presents a fuzzy linear regression model for estimation of reverse osmosis permeating parameters conditions. The proposed model can effectively take on non-crisp, fuzzy and crisp data. This study model used for estimation of reverse osmosis permeating parameters data from Tirupur examines the variables that contribute to the deterioration of membrane. This result demonstrates the capability and effectiveness of the proposed model to assign membrane. The study system requires an accurate and efficient prediction model. Key words: Fuzzy regression, membership function, chlorine(Cl-), membrane, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH.


Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, if powered by renewable electricity, could serve as a sustainable technology for carbon recycling and energy storage. Among all the products, ethanol is an attractive liquid fuel. However, the maximum faradaic efficiency of ethanol is only ~10% on polycrystalline Cu. Here, CuZn bimetallic catalysts were synthesized by in situ electrochemical reduction of ZnO-shell/CuO-core bi-metal-oxide. Dynamic evolution of catalyst was revealed by STEM-EDS mapping, showing the migration of Zn atom and blending between Cu and Zn. CuZn bimetallic catalysts showed preference towards ethanol formation, with the ratio of ethanol/ethylene increasing over five times regardless of applied potential. We achieved with this catalyst 41% faradaic efficiency for C2+ liquids. Transitioning from H-cell to an electrochemical flow cell, we achieved 48.6% faradaic efficiency and -97 mA cm-2 partial current density for C2+ liquids at only -0.68 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 1 M KOH. Operando Raman spectroscopy showed that CO binding on Cu sites were modified by Zn. Free CO and adsorbed *CH3 are believed to combine and form *COCH3 intermediate, which is exclusively reduced to ethanol.


Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) are typically used to restore functionality of a sensory modality that has been lost, like vision for the blind, by recruiting another sensory modality such as touch or audition. Sensory substitution has given rise to many debates in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy regarding the nature of experience when using SSDs. Questions first arose as to whether the experience of sensory substitution is represented by the substituted information, the substituting information, or a multisensory combination of the two. More recently, parallels have been drawn between sensory substitution and synaesthesia, a rare condition in which individuals involuntarily experience a percept in one sensory or cognitive pathway when another one is stimulated. Here, we explore the efficacy of understanding sensory substitution as a form of 'artificial synaesthesia'. We identify several problems with previous suggestions for a link between these two phenomena. Furthermore, we find that sensory substitution does not fulfil the essential criteria that characterise synaesthesia. We conclude that sensory substitution and synaesthesia are independent of each other and thus, the 'artificial synaesthesia' view of sensory substitution should be rejected.


Esophageal carcinoma (EC) comprises two well-defined histotypes, such as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC), which are different each other in terms of etiology, epidemiology, prognosis and response to therapy (1). Unfortunately most studies about EC and even gastric cancer (GC) included indifferently SCC and AC, therefore making difficult to correlate the outcome to the specific histotype (2-6).


The de facto racial segregation pervasive at colleges and universities across the country undermines a necessary precondition for the diversity benefits embraced by the Court in Grutter — the requirement that students partake in high-quality interracial interactions and social relationships with one another. This disjuncture between Grutter's vision of universities as sites of robust cross-racial exchange and the reality of racial separation should be of great concern, not just because of its potential constitutional implications for affirmative action but also because it reifies racial hierarchy and reinforces inequality. Drawing from an extensive body of social science research, this article explains that the failure of schools to achieve greater racial integration in campus life perpetuates harmful racial biases and exacerbates racial disparities in social capital, to the disadvantage of black Americans. After providing an overview of de facto racial segregation at America's colleges and making clear its considerable long-term costs, this article calls for universities to modify certain institutional policies, practices, and arrangements that facilitate and sustain racial separation on campus. To this end, this article concludes by proposing several specific reforms that would enable universities to more fully obtain the potential social and educational benefits made possible by student body diversity.


This volume contains papers presented at the symposium entitled "Microstructural Processes in Irradiated Materials" at the 1998 MRS Fall meeting in Boston, MA. The scope of this symposium concentrated on the microstructural changes that occur in solids during irradiation with ions, electrons, gamma rays, neutrons, and x-rays. Materials discussed at the symposium included insulators, semiconductors, metals, intermetallics, and superconductors. Also included in this volume are papers from joint symposiums entitled "Multiscale Modeling of Materials" and "Scientific Basis for Effects in Nuclear Waste Management." Our readers may be mostly interested in Part II, which is titled "Fundamentals of Radiation Effects in Electronic Materials, Ceramic, and Polymers." For anyone interested in gas permeable polymer membranes for gas separation technology, there is a paper showing the effects of H ion radiation on the ability of polyamides to separate O2, N2, He, and CH4. There are also papers on SiC, and on optical properties of diamond surfaces, ZnO, ZnS, and ZrO2. While the majority of these proceedings cover the effects of radiation on Si and Ge semiconductors, various ceramics, and hardening of metals, anyone with research interests in these areas will find the most up-to-date work in these proceedings.


We consider multiphysics applications from algorithmic and architectural perspectives, where "algorithmic" includes both mathematical analysis and computational complexity, and "architectural" includes both software and hardware environments. Many diverse multiphysics applications can be reduced, en route to their computational simulation, to a common algebraic coupling paradigm. Mathematical analysis of multiphysics coupling in this form is not always practical for realistic applications, but model problems representative of applications discussed herein can provide insight. A variety of software frameworks for multiphysics applications have been constructed and refined within disciplinary communities and executed on leading-edge computer systems. We examine several of these, expose some commonalities among them, and attempt to extrapolate best practices to future systems. From our study, we summarize challenges and forecast opportunities.


Every country requires and needs well trained intelligence analyst. But what is the profile of the intelligence analyst? How should the training look like for this personnel category? If we look at the literature on this field, we may find many descriptions about how they should be, but very little about the training needs: intelligence analyst should be well informed, but aware that he can't know everything; he should be willing to make steps back and examine his/her arguments; he should be aware of the possibility that his/her arguments have been used before. The critical argumentation, along with critical thinking represents key components for the intelligence analysis and involves thinking, research, observation, analyzing, selecting, concluding, logical presentation. Does the analyst prove that they have the same values, attitudes and individual behaviors (extraprofessional, but that can affect the manner of fulfilling work tasks or the image and the efficiency of the department) which are in accordance with the ones of the department (social behavior, discretion, lack of vices that could affect the job etc.)? Specific skills refer to abilities of using tools of collecting, analyzing and presenting/communicating the information; they are measured based on a detailed inventory of the latter as well as, if case be, of a questionnaire in which the degree of mastering each ability is evaluated. With this article, I am trying to create a questionnaire – from the perspective of an educational expert – that will analyze what are the training needs for the intelligence analysts. This questionnaire could also be used as a working tool in selecting the best training programme or in designing your own training programme.


Storm surges represent a major hazard for many coastal regions worldwide. The 1953 and 1962 catastrophes are well remembered in Europe, and recent incidents in Bangladesh and Myanmar caused over 100,000 casualties. Developing innovative responses and overcoming the frequently fragmented discussion about this global phenomenon and its regional implications call for improved knowledge of present risks and future conditions based on sound interdisciplinary approaches. This selection of articles presents multiple scientific and management oriented perspectives on current and future storm surges, covering the fields of observing, modelling and forecasting, risk and vulnerability analysis, planning and innovative coastal protection concepts. It originates from the international '2010 Storm Surges Congress - Risk and Management of Current and Future Storm Surges,' initiated and organized by the Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (formerly the GKSS-Research Centre) in collaboration with the KlimaCampus (CliSAP) of the University of Hamburg, Germany. The Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) co-sponsored the event and its international project office (IPO) provided the necessary organizational support. The congress was generously supported by international and national partners. Some highlights: Remote sensing surveillance and mapping of storm surge extent based on NASA MODIS sensors may ultimately provide new global insights into the vulnerability of deltas where human pressures outbalance natural land-ocean forcing. Up-scaling hazard lines and risk mapping from local to full continental scale is the ambition in India. From an insurance risk perspective, its societal perception and economic issues determine societal response options. In urban contexts flood risk is anticipated as a combination of climate change-induced sea level rise and socio-economic drivers. A cost-benefit analysis of flood defence in London underlines the fact that future investment will be highly beneficial; thoughtful planning rather than rushing to new engineering solutions is preferable. Several modelling case studies and approaches are presented, covering the effects of individual storms, the development of analytical models that can help us to understand relevant processes and mechanisms, and sensitivity studies that test the impact and relevance of various physical processes for storm surge generation and evolution. Hydrodynamic models applied to different emission scenarios suggest that the threat of extreme storm surges in the North Sea may increase but strong decadal fluctuations and internal variability need to be considered. A Korean study suggests that future global warming may not always lead to an increase in the number of intense cyclones or the magnitude of associated storm surges. Past and recent storm surges arising at the dune coast of France call for improved assessment and management of a growing flood risk in future sea-level rise projections. In the same context rather than deterministic approaches, considering the uncertainties that influence extreme water levels can significantly improve the design levels of coastal structures and flood defences. The innovative Dutch "Building with Nature" concept employs natural processes for coastal flood protection. Previously published in Natural Hazards, Volume 66, No. 3, 2013


INTRODUCTION
Vaccine hesitancy represents a state of uncertainty before a decision about vaccination is made. It can lead to limited vaccine uptake despite adequate supply and an efficacious product. Western Australia (WA) presents a unique challenge with a population widely spread across metropolitan and rural sites and diverse opinions regarding vaccination.

OBJECTIVE
To elicit and compare the common COVID-19 vaccine concerns in rural and metropolitan WA, and to identify proposed solutions to vaccine hesitancy.

DESIGN
A voluntary online survey was distributed via social media over a 2-week period in August 2021 during Phase 2A of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Strategy. General practitioners and members of the public living in rural and metropolitan WA over the age of 18 were surveyed regarding COVID-19 vaccine concerns (blood clots; long- and short-term side effects; lack of testing; and other concerns) and suggested methods to address vaccine hesitancy. Data were analysed with a sequential mixed methods and thematic analysis approach.

FINDINGS
There were 468 general population respondents to our survey, of whom 19.0% (n = 89) lived rurally. A majority (52.6% [n = 246]) of general respondents expressed concerns about COVID-19 vaccine safety. The commonest concerns were long- and short-term side effects, blood clots and inadequate testing. There was a positive correlation between rurality and vaccine concerns; an inverse relationship between rurality and vaccine uptake; and an inverse relationship between vaccine concerns and uptake. Improved media coverage was the commonest solution suggested to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

DISCUSSION
A significant proportion of respondents had concerns about vaccine safety; concerns were more common in rural respondents. Rural communities may benefit from location-targeted media campaigns with a focus on breaking down barriers specific to these members of the population. Vaccine access is more challenging, and consistent messaging from trusted sources is of utmost importance to improve uptake.

CONCLUSION
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is more common in rural populations. Targeted media-based education regarding vaccine safety may improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake.


In this paper, electrohydrodynamic jetting is investigated in order to print ultra-fine dots and lines in drop-on-demand (DOD) mode, using micro-electromechanical system-based printhead with a piezoelectric actuator. In such hybrid system, jetting ultra-fine droplets in DOD mode, without applying an extremely high-voltage pulse, is possible as the meniscus is first disturbed by a piezoelectric actuator and the droplet is ejected by the applied electric field. As the amplitude of the drive waveform of the piezoelectric actuator is varied, droplets with volumes of 3.4 to 46.8 pL are realized. As the amplitude of the electric field is increased, the ejected droplets lengthen and at 8 kV, thin elliptical dots are printed. Although changing the jetting frequency from 0.1 to 2.0 kHz resulted in volume reduction from 9.4 pL down to 2.9 pL, the DOD characteristic is well maintained throughout. Such hybrid jetting characteristics enable the generation of diverse patterns in the printed electronics area.


Mobile power sources (MPSs), including mobile emergency generators, truck-mounted mobile energy storage systems, and electric vehicles, have great potentials to be employed as grid-support resources during power grid emergency operating conditions to supply the critical loads and enhance the resilience of distribution system (DS) via a swift disaster restoration. We here investigate the MPS dispatch (i.e., routing and scheduling) in coordination with DS dynamic network reconfiguration. We propose a two-stage restoration scheme to facilitate the DS restoration following the high-impact low-probability (HILP) seismic disasters. In the first stage, a seismic hazard is simulated through a Monte Carlo simulation engine to estimate the unavailability of power distribution branches under a suite of seismic force scenarios. In the second stage, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) optimization model is formulated for DS restoration that cooptimizes the routing and scheduling of MPSs and DS dynamic network reconfiguration. The MINLP model is then linearized to a mixed-integer linear programming model to reduce the computation complexity, where the seismic-resilience recovery strategies are generated at different timescales. The efficacy of the proposed method is evaluated on the IEEE 33-node test system and the results verify a significant reduction in the load outages and an improved power system resilience to HILP earthquakes.


Background: Depression after stroke not only affects rehabilitation and recovery, but increases caregiver burden. With rapidly increasing aged population, stroke burden substantially increases in Korea, which makes depression after stroke an important concept to assess.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to (1) assess the prevalence of depression and (2) identify predictors of depression among elderly stroke patients in Korea.

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in a convenience sample of 233 hospitalized elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke using a self-administered survey. We assessed depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and collected demographic data and stroke severity (e.g., hemiparesis, dysphagia, cognitive impairment). Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis.

Results: Of the total participants, 60.5% were men, 76.8% were aged ≥ 61 years, 70% were married, 80.3% lived with family, and 71.7% were depressed (HADS depression scale ≥ 8). Individuals who were women (χ2=10.32), lived alone (χ2=3.38), had symptoms of dysphagia (χ2=6.14), dysphasia (χ2=8.14), hemiparesis (χ2=5.61), cognitive impairment (χ2=4.86), or anxiety (χ2=54.53) were more likely to be depressed than those who were men, lived with family, had no symptoms of dysphagia, dysphasia, hemiparesis, cognitive impairment ( p < .05), or anxiety. The likelihood of being depressed was higher in individuals who had anxiety (OR=18.93, 95% CI=[6.88, 52.08]) or lived alone (OR=0.28, 95% CI=[0.06, 0.77]) than individuals who did not have anxiety or lived with family.

Conclusions: In conclusion, the study findings suggest that clinicians who handle elderly stroke patients should pay attention to the individuals who have anxiety or live alone as the risk of depression after stroke seems to be higher in these groups. Further research focus should be given to (1) identifying underlying factors of anxiety, (2) developing preventive interventions for depression after stroke, including strategies to decrease anxiety and ensure social support, and (3) exploring the association of depression with other health outcomes, such as quality of life and mortality.


This paper is part of a larger study on public finance aspects of population ageing in Finland.
We are using the VATTAGE model to calculate the welfare effects of various tax increases designed to improve the budgetary position of the Finnish government, that is we are calculating the marginal cost of funds (MCF) raised by different taxes. VATTAGE has been extended to include leisure and savings choice in the specification of household behaviour. This extension is necessary for useful MCF calculations.
The main contribution of this paper is the development of a back-of-the-envelope (BOTE) equation to guide the explanation of MCF results generated from a full-scale, dynamic CGE model.

Following this, the paper provides a detailed back-of-the-envelope (BOTE) calculation to explain the MCF results in terms of 6 effects taken into account in VATTAGE:
(1) the employment/leisure effect. This is the deadweight loss caused by tax distortion of consumer choices between labour and leisure.
(2) the import effect. This is the deadweight loss caused by reductions in imports which carry welfare-affecting tariffs.
(3) the terms-of-trade effect. This is the effect on consumer welfare of changes in the terms of trade induced through changes in exports and imports caused by changes in the taxes under consideration.
(4) the involuntary unemployment effect. This effect arises in sticky-wage simulations in which changes in tax rates can cause involuntary unemployment.
(5) the inter-temporal trade-off effect. This effect captures tax-induced distortions in the saving/consumption decisions of households.
(6) the government expenditure effect. This effect is concerned with the implications for consumer welfare of changes in public expenditure.
The final section contains concluding remarks and plans for future research.


This paper proposes a model to identify education and/or training emphasis for 3D Virtual Environments. Through a survey of such applications specific characteristics of each emphasis were identified. Although few authors highlight the distinction between Virtual Environments for Education and Training, the correct definition of each of these types can facilitate the attainment of educational goals for the niche one wants to accomplish. In this study a special focus is given to the training applications, with the proposal of a standardization of the "training modes" based on a functional conceptual framework. At the end of the article a case study of a desktop Virtual Reality (VR) system for training will be presented. This system includes a maintenance sub-system in a Hydroelectric Energy Unit, using a "learn by doing" approach.


805 Multiple overlapping thin slab acquisition (MOTSA) is a novel timeof-flight magnetic resonance (MR) angiography technique that combines many of the advantages of multiple-section two-dimensional and direct three-dimensional volume methods. To rigorously evaluate the vascular detail that can be obtained with MOTSA MR angiography, the authors have quantified the frequency of visibility of intracranial arterial segments and have correlated their visibility with yessd size as measured at cut-film angiography and with the position and orientation of the arterial segment. Intracranial arterial segments at least 0.9 mm in diameter (the voxel dimension used in the current application) are consistently visualized with the MOTSA technique. The fraction of small vessels visualized is improved when voxel dimensions are reduced. Visibility is noticeably better in the primary images compared with the maximumintensity-projection (MIP) images. Top-of-slab saturation and resulting decreased vessel intensity occurred infrequently and did not result in marked image degradation in the axial images.


T he current work includes measurements of the resonance angle and reflectance for p-polarization of the electric field by using the Fresnel equation at a given length. Gold's surface plasmon wave can be seen at the metal-to-air boundary. We try to determine the greatest (SPR) angle for a metal thin layer that is most suitable for the surface plasmon excitation while stimulated by a 632.8 nm laser. SPR was performed of a (50𝑛𝑚) single film of gold placed on a glass prism; there are SPR modes in this structure, which match the surface plasmon. We also suggest that the SPR mode associated with the Au surface, which is extremely sensitive to changes in the surrounding environment, particularly (dielectric). A few considerations to be taken into account to attain the SPR, like the incident angle of light rays addressed and analyzed for the purpose of finding the essential value for the plasmon to be emerge; the gold/air resonance angle. Furthermore, we can compare our result with other work, which was performed by using the Finite-Element-Method (FEM), the simulation is done by


Chromosome banding techniques have permitted the identification of every normal chromosome in the mouse, Mus musculus, and the demonstration of strain differences. By identifying the chromosomes involved in a series of translocations, it has been possible to assign 14 of the 19 known linkage groups to 14 different chromosomes. These powerful cytological methods promise to revolutionize cytogenetic studies in higher organisms.


The problem of wheeled mobile robot kinematics is formulated using the transport theorem of vector algebra. Doing so postpones the introduction of coordinates until after the expressions for the relevant Jacobians have been derived. This approach simplifies the derivation while also providing the solution to the general case in 3D, including motion over rolling terrain. Angular velocity remains explicit rather than encoded as the time derivative of a rotation matrix. The equations are derived and can be implemented recursively using a single equation that applies to all cases. Acceleration kinematics are uniquely derivable in reasonable effort. The recursive formulation also leads to efficient computer implementations that reflect the modularity of real mechanisms.