Previous studies have yielded conflicting results concerning the physiological role of profilin, a 12-15-kD actin- and phosphoinositide- binding protein, as a regulator of actin polymerization. We have addressed this question by directly microinjecting mammalian profilins, prepared either from an E. coli expression system or from bovine brain, into living normal rat kidney (NRK) cells. The microinjection causes a dose-dependent decrease in F-actin content, as indicated by staining with fluorescent phalloidin, and a dramatic reduction of actin and alpha-actinin along stress fibers. In addition, it has a strong inhibitory effect toward the extension of lamellipodia. However, the injection of profilin causes no detectable perturbation to the cell- substrate focal contact and no apparent depolymerization of filaments in either the nonlamellipodial circumferential band or the contractile ring of dividing cells. Furthermore, cytokinesis of injected cells occurs normally as in control cells. In contrast to pure profilin, high- affinity profilin-actin complexes from brain induce an increase in total cellular F-actin content and an enhanced ruffling activity, suggesting that the complex may dissociate readily in the cell and that there may be multiple states of profilin that differ in their ability to bind or release actin molecules. Our results indicate that profilin and profilactin can function as effective regulators for at least a subset of actin filaments in living cells.


The human intestinal mucosal surface represents the first defense against pathogens and regulates the immune response through the combination of epithelial cell (EC) functions and immunological factors. ECs act as sensors of luminal stimuli and interact with the immune cells through signal–transduction pathways, thus representing the first barrier that HIV-1 virus encounters during infection. In particular, the HIV-1 Nef protein plays a crucial role in viral invasion and replication. Nef is expressed early during viral infection and interacts with numerous cellular proteins as a scaffold/adaptor. Nef is localized primarily to cellular membranes and affects several signaling cascades in infected cells modulating the expression of cell surface receptors critical for HIV-1 infection and transmission, also accompanied by the production of specific cytokines and progressive depletion of CD4+ T cells. At the intestinal level, Nef contributes to affect the mucosal barrier by increasing epithelial permeability, that results in the translocation of microbial antigens and consequently in immune system activation. However, the pathological role of Nef in mucosal dysfunction has not been fully elucidated. Interestingly, Nef is secreted also within exosomes and contributes to regulate the intercellular communication exploiting the vesicular trafficking machinery of the host. This can be considered as a potential inter-kingdom communication pathway between virus and humans, where viral Nef contributes to modulate and post-transcriptionally regulate the host gene expression and immune response. In this mini-review we discuss the effects of HIV-1 Nef protein on intestinal epithelium and propose the existence of an inter-kingdom communication process mediated by exosomes.


Over the past few decades, a significant number of incidents and fatalities have been associated with mining vehicle wheels. Correspondingly, a literature review was completed dealing with various topics associated with the mining wheels with specific attention to the incidents arising as a result of servicing multi-piece wheels. A detailed analysis of the obtained data indicated that three piece mining vehicle wheels were found to be most commonly involved in such incidents. To assess the mechanical performance of three piece mining wheels, experimental testing was completed on such a wheel. Additionally, a numerical model of the wheel assembly used in the experimental testing was developed and simulated under similar loading conditions as in the experimental work. Predictions of the finite element model were in good agreement to the experimental findings with percentage errors typically in the range of 10% to 20%. Numerical simulation of the SAE J1992 wheel cornering fatigue testing condition was completed on the numerical model of the wheel. The predictions from simulation were used to assess fatigue factors of safety utilizing the modified Goodman theory (von Mises and Sines approaches), simplified damage mechanics and critical plane approaches considering multi-axial loading. This predicts an infinite life for the wheel, whereas in practical applications, it is observed that the wheels do not usually have an infinite life as predicted. This contradiction in the numerical prediction is attributed to the wear and degradation of the mining wheel as a result of environmental effects and localized damage imparted onto a mining wheel during operation.


Forming temporal expectations plays an instrumental role for the optimization of behavior and allocation of attentional resources. Although the effects of temporal expectations on visual attention are well-established, the question of whether temporal predictions modulate the behavioral outputs of the autonomic nervous system such as the pupillary response remains unanswered. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain an online measure of pupil size while human participants were asked to differentiate between visual targets presented after varying time intervals since trial onset. Specifically, we manipulated temporal predictability in the presentation of target stimuli consisting of letters which appeared after either a short or long delay duration (1.5 vs. 3 s) in the majority of trials (75%) within different test blocks. In the remaining trials (25%), no target stimulus was present to investigate the trajectory of preparatory pupillary response under a low level of temporal uncertainty. The results revealed that the rate of preparatory pupillary response was contingent upon the time of target appearance such that pupils dilated at a higher rate when the targets were expected to appear after a shorter as compared to a longer delay period irrespective of target presence. The finding that pupil size can track temporal regularities and exhibit differential preparatory response between different delay conditions points to the existence of a distributed neural network subserving temporal information processing which is crucial for cognitive functioning and goal-directed behavior.


Some of the problems encountered in mapping a parallel algorithm are examined, emphasizing mappings of vision algorithms onto mesh, hypercube, mesh-of-trees, pyramid, and parallel random-access machines (PRAMs) having many simple processors, each with a small amount of memory. Approaches that have been suggested include simulating the ideal architectures, and using general data movement operations. Each of these is shown to occasionally produce unacceptably inefficient implementations. It appears that as long as PRAMs cannot achieve the desired cost and performance goals, programmers must contend with carefully designing algorithms for specific architectures. >


Co-evolving with the human host, gut microbiota establishes configurations, which vary under the pressure of inflammation, disease, ageing, diet and lifestyle.
In order to describe the multi-stability of the microbiome-host relationship, we studied specific tracts of the bacterial trajectory during the human lifespan and we characterized peculiar deviations from the hypothetical development, caused by disease, using molecular techniques, such as phylogenetic microarray and next-generation sequencing.
Firstly, we characterized the enterocyte-associated microbiota in breast-fed infants and adults, describing remarkable differences between the two groups of subjects. Successively, we investigated the impact of atopy on the development of the microbiome in Italian childrens, highlithing conspicuous deviations from the child-type microbiota of the Italian controls. To explore variation in the gut microbiota depending on geographical origins, which reflect different lifestyles, we compared the phylogenetic diversity of the intestinal microbiota of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania and Italian adults. Additionally, we characterized the aged-type microbiome, describing the changes occurred in the metabolic potential of the gut microbiota of centenarians with respect to younger individuals, as a part of the pathophysiolology of the ageing process. Finally, we evaluated the impact of a probiotics intervention on the intestinal microbiota of elderly people, showing the repair of some age-related dysbioses. These studies contribute to elucidate several aspects of the intestinal microbiome development during the human lifespan, depicting the microbiota as an extremely plastic entity, capable of being reconfigured in response to different environmental factors and/or stressors of endogenous origin.


ABSTRACT China's disputes with its South East Asian neighbours and Japan in the South and East China Seas have emerged as important tests of the implications of China's rise, posing dilemmas not just for regional states but also for other global actors, including European states and the European Union (EU). European responses to these disputes have pulled in three directions: a normative approach emphasising the resolution of disputes within the framework of international law; a power balancing approach, led by France and the United Kingdom, involving support for freedom of navigation operations and strengthened bilateral and EU ties with other Asian states; and de facto acquiescence to Chinese advances in the region. In terms of understanding EU foreign policy, this case suggests a sequence: a normative approach as the initial default EU policy; a turn to power balancing when the effectiveness of that policy is called into question, but also the possibility of acquiescence and consequent divisions amongst EU member states. Europe faces dilemmas in balancing support for the United States, Japan and the South-East Asian states with its strategic partnership with China, but in practice European policy is much closer to that of the former group than that of Beijing.


We discuss a class of models for particulate gels in which the particle contacts are described by an effective interaction combining a two-body attraction and a three-body angular repulsion. Using molecular dynamics, we show how varying the model parameters allows us to sample, for a given gelation protocol, a variety of gel morphologies. For a specific set of the model parameters, we identify the local elastic structures that get interlocked in the gel network. Using the analytical expression of their elastic energy from the microscopic interactions, we can estimate their contribution to the emergent elasticity of the gel and gain new insight into its origin.


Haemoglobin Constant Spring (Hb CS) mutation and single gene deletions are common underlying genetic abnormalities for alpha thalassaemias. Co-inheritance of deletional and non-deletional alpha (alpha) thalassaemias may result in various thalassaemia syndromes. Concomitant co-inheritance with beta (beta) and delta (delta) gene abnormalities would result in improved clinical phenotype. We report here a 33-year-old male patient who was admitted with dengue haemorrhagic fever, with a background history of Grave's disease, incidentally noted to have mild hypochromic microcytic red cell indices. Physical examination revealed no thalassaemic features or hepatosplenomegaly. His full blood picture showed hypochromic microcytic red cells with normal haemoglobin (Hb) level. Quantitation of Hb using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) revealed raised Hb F, normal Hb A2 and Hb A levels. There was also small peak of Hb CS noted in CE. H inclusions was negative. Kleihauer test was positive with heterocellular distribution of Hb F among the red cells. DNA analysis for alpha globin gene mutations showed a single -alpha(-3.7) deletion and Hb CS mutation. These findings were suggestive of compound heterozygosity of Hb CS and a single -alpha(-3.7) deletion with a concomitant heterozygous deltabeta thalassaemia. Co-inheritance of Hb CS and a single -alpha(-3.7) deletion is expected to result at the very least in a clinical phenotype similar to that of two alpha genes deletion. However we demonstrate here a phenotypic modification of alpha thalassemia presumptively as a result of co-inheritance with deltabeta chain abnormality as suggested by the high Hb F level.


OBJECTIVES
Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is a type of nitric oxide synthase that mainly exists in the endothelium. It produces nitric oxide (NO) to regulate the function of endothelial cells. Endothelial dysfunction and increased NO metabolites have been shown in animal models of lupus and in lupus patients, so eNOS gene polymorphisms may be important in the pathogenesis of SLE. This study aimed to investigate the association of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of eNOS and paediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE).

METHODS
A total of 91 pSLE cases and 90 healthy controls were used in this study. We divided these patients into 4 subgroups according to kidney or central nervous system involvement. Four selected SNPs in the gene were analysed with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Statistical methods were carried out to investigate the correlation between the SNPs and pSLE.

RESULTS
SNP rs1808593 genotype GT in case group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p=0.047), and the genotype GT had positive correlation with pSLE (OR=1.93, 95% CI: 1.01-3.69). In subgroup C (the patients with central nervous system but no kidney damage), the genotype GT was significantly higher than those in the control group (p=0.028), and the genotype GT was related to pSLE with central nervous system damage (OR=6.24, 95% CI: 1.17-33.15). In male patients, we found SNP rs1808593 genotype GT in pSLE group was significantly higher than in the control group (p=0.0065), and the risk of pSLE increased in patients with genotype GT (OR=8.36, 95% CI: 2.02-34.6).

CONCLUSIONS
SNP rs1808593 GT genotype is significantly higher than that in the control group, which may indicate that this genotype increases the risk of pSLE, especially in boys, and also this genotype might increase the risk of central nervous system involvement. Therefore, eNOS gene SNP rs1808593 genotype may have an important role in predicting the occurrence of pSLE and central nervous system complications in pSLE.


This study used institutional theory as a lens to understand the factors that enable the adoption of interorganizational systems. It posits that mimetic, coercive, and normative pressures existing in an institutionalized environment could influence organizational predisposition toward an information technology-based interorganizational linkage. Survey-based research was carried out to test this theory. Following questionnaire development, validation, and pretest with a pilot study, data were collected from the CEO, the CFO, and the CIO to measure the institutional pressures they faced and their intentions to adopt financial electronic data interchange (FEDI). A firm-level structural model was developed based on the CEO's, the CFO's, and the CIO's data. LISREL and PLS were used for testing the measurement and structural models respectively. Results showed that all three institutional pressures-mimetic pressures, coercive pressures, and normative pressures-had a significant influence on organizational intention to adopt FEDI. Except for perceived extent of adoption among suppliers, all other subconstructs were significant in the model. These results provide strong support for institutional-based variables as predictors of adoption intention for interorganizational linkages. These findings indicate that organizations are embedded in institutional networks and call for greater attention to be directed at understanding institutional pressures when investigating information technology innovations adoption.


Introduction FEMME FATALE. Surely you've noticed. Female superheroes aren't nearly as revered as male superheroes. BUBBLES. Sure they are. There's Supergirl. Batgirl. FEMME FATALE. Shhh. They're so lame. Merely extensions of their male counterparts. Who besides you is a heroine in her own right? BLOSSOM. Huh! There's Wonder Woman and ... eh ... um ... um . . .Wonder Woman BUTTERCUP. She's right! There is no one else. The above exchange was included m a 2002 episode titled "Equal Fights" of the animated series Powerpuff Girls (1998-), which follows the adventures of three diminutive superheroes. In this episode, the Girls-Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup - encounter Femme Fatale, a criminal who carries a C-shaped gun and demands that the teller of the bank she is robbing fill the loot sack with only Susan B. Anthony coins. When the Powerpuff Girls capture Femme Fatale, this villain, in an attempt to evade punishment for her crimes, appeals to the Girls in the name of female solidarity: "Sending me to jail would be a blow for all of womankind ... including you" ("Equal Fights"). Femme Fatale's ploy works, for a time; the Girls become angry -with all men, from the mayor they have willingly assisted m the past to a male classmate who accidentally knocks down a female playmate during a game of catch. By the episode's end, though, the Girls have realized that Femme Fatale must pay for her crimes because, as Susan B. Anthony taught by example, equal rights for all do not include special privileges for some. Unfortunately, not all representations of superheroes promote the same equal-opportunity perspective on heroism. While most hero stories include a series of trials designed to prove the hero's worthiness (Bongco 94), many female superheroes have the privilege of demonstrating their abilities or defending their roles as heroes in a manner not afforded their male counterparts. And Wonder Woman, the "heroine m her own right" named by Blossom, set the precedent. Although Wonder Woman, who debuted in All-Star Comics in 1941, challenged previous notions regarding the subordination of female superheroes to men (Inness 144), she was still not equal to her male counterparts. In Wonder Woman's first comic book story line, the Amazon princess Diana must compete in and win a series of physical challenges that culminate in a frightening and potentially deadly game of "bullets and bracelets" (i.e., deflecting gunshots with her wristbands) to prove to the Amazon Queen-her mother-that she is a "Wonder Woman" worthy to venture into man's world to "fight for liberty and freedom and all womankind" ("Introducing" 15). In contrast, in the first Superman comic book story line published three years earlier, Clark Kent decides to don a cape and enforce justice-a decision that is neither questioned nor challenged. He becomes a hero simply because he chooses to be: "Early, Clark decided he must turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind. And so was created ... Superman!" ("Superman" 11). Thus, Wonder Woman's legacy is one of deference, or at the least, limited agency; Superman's is one of assumed autonomy. Because of these respective positions of submission or dominance, the resolution of heroic trials, in their various forms, differs significantly based on the gender of the hero. Female superheroes on trial must prove their merit to a sanctioning institution, while male superheroes on trial affect the outcome on their own behalf. The use of the narrative device of the "hero on trial" extends beyond the superhero comic book genre to portrayals of such superpowered characters on television. Like Wonder Woman, the sister witches of Charmed (1998-) and the title character of Buff y the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) face examination to justify possession of their conferred powers. Unlike Wonder Woman, the teenage Clark Kent of Smallville (2001-) and Jake Foley of Jake 2. …


The protection of cyber-physical networks is a topic of increasing importance. The evolution of IT (cyber) systems that control and supervise the underlying physical system has grown over decades, whereas security has not become a concern until quite recently. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) have proven to be a difficult but significant challenge for practitioners. This paper adopts a game-theoretic modeling of APTs and applies it to the (sub) problem of physical intrusion in an infrastructure. The gap between defining a good theoretical model and practically instantiating it is considered in particular. The model description serves to illustrate what is needed to put it into practice. The main contribution of this paper is the demonstration of how simulation, physical understanding of an infrastructure, and theoretical methods can be combined toward a practical solution to the physical intrusion avoidance problem. Numerical results are given to show how the physical intrusion game is being set up, and how the results obtained from its analysis can be interpreted and used for an optimized defense.


We present general constraints on dark matter stability in hadronic decay channels derived from measurements of cosmic-ray antiprotons. We analyze various hadronic decay modes in a model-independent manner by examining the lowest-order decays allowed by gauge and Lorentz invariance for scalar and fermionic dark matter particles and present the corresponding lower bounds on the partial decay lifetimes in those channels. We also investigate the complementarity between hadronic and gamma-ray constraints derived from searches for monochromatic lines in the sky, which can be produced at the quantum level if the dark matter decays into quark– antiquark pairs at leading order.


Among emerging issues on nanoscale MOSFETs, two aspects are discussed. One is a new type of parasitic capacitance in MOS capacitors, and the other is analysis of channel transport in terms of a newly developed reflection-transmission formalism. The non-zero thickness of charge layer in the MOS gate electrode causes a new type of parasitic capacitance, which is comparable to and is equally serious as the notorious inversion and gate-depletion capacitances. The reflection-transmission approach suggests difficulty of achieving ballistic transport by simple down-sizing, showing that even a 5 nanometer MOSFET suffers considerable degradation of ballistic current. At the same time, the analysis shows the energy relaxation due to optical phonon emission plays an essentially different role from the elastic scattering. The elastic scattering causes carrier back-scattering and degrades the device current, but the optical phonon emission prevents the back-scattering and encourages the device current


Observing the optical cross-section and electron micrographs of mechanically skinned fibres of frog skeletal muscle, we found that ethylene glycols (EGs) of small (mono-, di-, tri- and tetra-EGs; M(r) 62-194) and medium (poly-EGs; M(r) 900 and 3350) molecular weights efficiently dehydrate the fibres to shrink them radially without microscopic inhomogeneity. The medium-sized poly-EGs at 30% weight/weight concentration absorbed almost all the evaporable water from the fibre. Passive tension measurement at near slack sarcomere spacing indicated that this dehydration by EGs did not accompany longitudinal fibre shrinkage. Chemically relevant fully hydric alcohols (glycerol, threitol, ribitol and mannitol; M(r) 92-182) showed no appreciable dehydrating ability on fibres. An intimate correlation was found between fibre dehydration and CH(2)-concentration of the solutions. Viscosity measurements indicated that the hydrodynamic radii of the alcohols were comparable to those of the small EGs. Therefore, hydrodynamic radii are not a primary determinant of the dehydrating ability. Additionally, CH(2)-concentration of EGs but not alcohols was found to correlate intimately with the measured viscosity of the bulk solution of EGs. These results suggested that the interaction between water molecules and CH(2)-units in crowded cytoplasm of skeletal muscle affects cytoplasm as a whole to realize anisotropic fibre shrinkage.


The question that general anesthetics (both inhaled and intravenous) might be neurotoxic for the developing brain has been asked for more than two decades, following an extensive number of animal studies. Nevertheless, the same effect on human developing brain was mostly ignored on the basis of difficulty with direct application of animal data to humans. Recently, two epidemiological studies showed an association between learning disabilities and anesthesia during the first years of life, suggesting that general anesthetics could potentially be harmful. Human, prospective, randomized trials are underway to try and clarify this issue, but their results will be available only 5-6 years from now. In this article, we are presenting a review of the rapidly growing scientific evidence for anesthesiainduced neurodegeneration and its implications for pediatric anesthesia.


Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) has important physiological activities, such as reduction of the plasma cholesterol and triglyceride, lowering effect of systolic blood pressure, anti-inflamatory and anti-tumor activities, etc. Recent studies also strongly suggest that DHA plays a key role in the brain and retina. DHA commonly exists in fish oil obtained from sardines, mackerels, menhadens, etc. Usually, however, it contains DHA at a relatively low level (5-10%) and many other polyunsaturated fatty acids, and thus isolation of pure DHA from fish oil is quite difficult.Recently, we found that (1) orbital fat of a bonito (Katsuwonus) and a tuna (Thunnus) fish was an excellent source of DHA, (2) DHA content in the total fatty acids of the orbital fat isolated from a bonito and a tuna fish was 42% and 30%, respectively, and (3) DHA existed as triglyceride in both cases.Purification of DHA was examined after ethanolysis of orbital fat oil obtained from a tuna fish, and resulted in 95%-99% purity of DHA-ethyl ester by a new method using Ag ion. Thus, finding of the excellent source and the purification procedure will greatly accelerate the research on DHA.


Are economic freedoms going to clear our way to prosperity? Is the growth of economic freedoms our path to prosperity? Is it in the base of the new understanding of development? If yes, what will necessarily have to be changed in the economic practice of every country and whole world in general? What will be changed in economic theory? What are potential consequences of an attempt to offer resistance to the new concept of development? These are just some of the questions discussed in this paper, whereas the starting point is the economy and economic development of Montenegro.
Key words: Economic Freedom, Economic Paradigm, Global economy, National state.JEL: F02, O43, B52.


Executive pay practices are currently a "cause celebre" of corporate governance in the media, among regulators, in the marketplace, and in academia, in the US, the UK, and Europe. The purpose of this paper is to examine the approaches taken across Europe to the regulation of executive pay practices in listed companies. The outstanding feature of the regulation of executive pay across Europe is the extent to which it reflects the interconnection between pay and corporate governance. This link is expanded on in Part B with respect to the different rules found across European legal systems and how they address/prioritize the concerns which executive pay potentially raises. The role of public regulation is relatively important for disclosure of executive pay, while best practices and private codes generally have some impact on the way in which executive compensation is set for listed companies. On the whole, there is some convergence in continental Europe towards the Anglo-American model. The merits of full disclosure of executive remuneration are increasingly acknowledged in corporate governance codes and reports, while the use of remuneration committees is on the rise in the Continent. The research data on reported pay practices for 2001 among FTSE Eurotop300 companies reveal a reliance on performance-based pay generally and a somewhat variable adoption of share options programmes and other equity-based incentive contracts, which are generating difficulties in dispersed ownership systems. The executive pay problem may therefore be a particular cost of dispersed ownership, and the particular legal and policy responses, which are widely debated a specific feature of Anglo-American corporate governance. Nonetheless, the faultline between both systems, which is evident from the different approaches European states have taken, calls for particular care in the adoption of pan-European reforms but also in the transplanting of reforms based on the Anglo-American experience.


Background: In Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) the malignant Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells comprise only a small fraction of the total cellular tumor population, which orchestrate an inflammatory microenvironment of reactive cells that propagate a permissive milieu for HL growth. This HL-mediated immune suppression may have effects that extend beyond the tumor microenvironment. Previously we have shown that the circulating T cells of HL patients show high expression of the receptor programmed death-1 (PD-1). Here wecharacterize the systemic immune profile of 20 HL patients with newly diagnosed (ND) or relapsed (R) disease. Methods: Informed consent obtained from patients with ND (n = 14) or R (n = 6) HL treated since January of 2013. Blood samples were drawn pre-treatment, and at sequential time-points during therapy. Cryopreserved PBMCs were thawed then evaluated with multi-color flow cytometry. Cells were stained with fixable viability dye (eBioscence); then stained with fluorescent-conjugated antibodies. For intracellular staining, cells were fixed and permeabilized using FOXP3 staining kit (eBioscience) then stained with intracellular antibodies. Stained cells were analyzed using LSRII flow cytometer (BD Bioscience) and FlowJo software (Tree Star). The following anti-human antibodies were used: CD3, CD4, CD8, CD25, CD160, CD45RO, CD27, HLA-DR, PD-1,FOXP3 and Helios, (Biolegend). Singlet lymphocytes were gated based on forward and side scatter properties. Dead cells were excluded based on viability dye. Patient samples were compared to normal controls matched for age and sex (n = 20). Results: The median HL patient age was 38 (range: 20-90 years). Twelve of the HL subjects were male and 8 were female. All but 1 ND patient were treated with upfront ABVD. Two out of 6 R patients had prior stem cell transplant (SCT), but were not on immunosuppression. Thirteen patients (12 ND, 1 R) responded to therapy (11 CR and 2 PR); 4 patients (1 ND, 3 R) progressed on therapy or had stable disease, 2 patients do not have disease status confirmed. HL patients displayed distinct circulating immune profile compared to normal age matched controls, with increased circulating CD4 and CD8 effector cells and a decrease in CD8 central memory cells. The proportion of CD4 or CD8 effector memory T cells expressing CD160+ and PD1+ CD4 effector memory cells, were also highly significantly increased in HL patients. In contrast, a decreased percent of bona fide CD4+ regulatory T cell subset (Foxp3+Helios) was found in HL patients. Together these findings suggest that the systemic immune profile in HL patients is perturbed towards severe chronic activation/exhaustion of T cells. Conclusion: HL patients have evidence of chronic activation/exhaustion in their central memory T cells, suggesting that ineffective immune clearance of the HRS cells may be a systemic phenomenon. This underscores the rationale for immune targeted therapy in HL patients. Citation Format: Catherine S. Diefenbach, Bruce Raphael, Kenneth Hymes, Michael Grossbard, Tibor Moskovits, David Kaminetzky, Meghan Mcshea, Peter Martin, Jia Ruan, Lina Kozhaya, Maryam Bonakdar, Cem Abidoglu, John Leonard, Derya Unutmaz. Hodgkin lymphoma patients demonstrate evidence of chronic activation/exhaustion in circulating T cell subsets. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4895.


: The porphyrias are a group of disorders caused by deficient activity of the enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of haem. The skin is one of the major organs involved in most of these diseases because the porphyrins which accumulate are phototoxic. The common cutaneous porphyrias are variegate porphyria, porphyria cutanea tarda, congenital erythropoietic porphyria and erythropoietic protoporphyria, each caused by a different enzyme deficiency causing a distinctive pattern of porphyrin accumulation and typical clinical features. The genes encoding these enzymes have all been cloned recently, enabling the genetic defects underlying these disorders to be elucidated. The factors triggering sporadic porphyria cutanea tarda in predisposed individuals are now becoming clear: hepatic iron overload is required to induce the hepatic enzyme defect and many patients are haemochromatosis gene carriers. Hepatitis B, C, and HIV virus infection also contribute to disease expression. In erythropoietic protoporphyria, up to 5% of patients develop liver failure. It is now clear that some of these patients suffer from a different recessively transmitted form of the disease: this finding may make it possible to identify these patients at an earlier stage. Gene therapy holds particular promise as a future therapy and has successfully been used to correct enzyme defects in vitro. Bone marrow transplantation has also been tried in patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria. The joints are not involved by porphyria. However, some non-steroidal inflammatory drugs prescribed by rheumatologists have phototoxic properties similar to uroporphyrin. These drugs cause a syndrome clinically and histologically indistinguishable from porphyria cutanea tarda which is known as pseudoporphyria.


A new 2-DOF positioning table of high speed and accuracy, directly driven by voice coil actuator, is put forward, which can be applied to IC packaging for wafer wire bonding equipment. With the help of a novel elastic decoupling mechanism, the driving element is mounted on the baseboard, diminishing its moving inertia, improving its dynamic performance. By establishing dynamic model of VCA and positioning table, an electromechanical coupling control system based on displacement PID controller is proposed. The prototype experiment shows that the new 2-DOF positioning system is of higher speed and higher accuracy than the traditional ones.


The substitution of mineral waxes by renewable raw materials is possible by the use of organogel, via the incorporation of an organogelator, 12-hydroxystearic acid (12-HSA). However, the physico-chemical characteristics of renewable vegetable raw materials differ from those of mineral waxes. The structure of the blends in which they are used is modified. The addition of 12-HSA promotes the creation of weak bonds, as hydrogen bonds with the liquid fraction, particularly rapeseed oil; thus, allowing the gelling of 12-HSA-rapeseed oil blend. This was shown by infrared spectroscopy. The study of the microstructure of blends containing 12-HSA by polarized light microscopy shows that the addition of 12-HSA also results in a modification of the crystal microstructure: the crystal lattice is denser and the crystal size is reduced. This modification of the crystal lattice has an impact on the phase transition of the blends. The addition of 12-HSA causes a change in the thermal behavior of the blends, as measured by differential scanning calorimetry. The enthalpies of crystallization and melting are divided by two with respect to the referent blend, containing a majority of petrochemical paraffins. In addition, the higher the 12-HSA content, the higher the values of the enthalpies of crystallization and melting. Thus, these results show an improvement of the strength of the interactions between the 12-HSA molecules and between 12- HSA and rapeseed oil. To conclude, the incorporation of an organogel makes it possible to obtain a solid texture with a high content of liquid vegetable oil.


This enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay procedure for quantifying serum amyloid P (SAP) in human plasma makes use of affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies to SAP in a "sandwich"-type format. The procedure is sensitive, reproducible, simple, and easily automatable. Results correlate well with those by a rocket immunoelectrophoresis method performed with the same antibodies. Sera from apparently normal individuals had a mean SAP content of 44.17 mg/L and increased with age.


The use of both Genetic Algorithms and Linier programming to solve the general problem of communication system design is considered. The network synthesis problem is known to be Np-complete and the combinatorial nature of it lends itself to genetic algorithms rather than conventional mathematical programming approaches. Once a network topology is established, linier programming can be used to optimize network flows to satisfy specified origin-destination demands.


In this paper, we propose a novel interactive image ranking technique, color-structured image search, by exploiting color spatial relation information, and demonstrate it in image research results refinement. This technique enables users to draw a few color strokes, called target color structure, to indicate the intent. Beyond the conventional image retrieval methods based on query by image content that simply view the target color structure as an image and compute the similarity merely according to the spatial correspondence criterion, the proposed method represents the target color structure using a set of spatially relational colors, and evaluates the similarities between target color structure and image color structure by exploiting their spatial correspondence information, and an extra novel criterion, the consistency of spatial relation of colors implied in target color structure, and even offering a scheme to handle the uncertainty of target color structure. This similarity evaluation process can be accomplished efficiently. Moreover, a convenient interactive interface is presented to allow users to specify target color structure flexibly. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.


Background: Young people in low and middle income countries (LMICs) in societal transitions with rapidly changing norms face an increased risk of suicide. This study explores how young people in Cambodia understand the impact on suicidal behaviour from societal attitudes, media and religion. Material: Focus group discussions were held with school students from a suburban area. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. Discussion: Participants perceived the prevailing suicide-stigmatizing societal attitudes, the double-edged media and suicide-ambiguity in Buddhist religion as challenging. Globalization was recognized as contradicting with traditional Cambodian norms and values. Conclusion: Suicide prevention programmes should take into consideration the complex picture of suicide that young people are exposed to.


Large body size, the defining characteristic of "charismatic megafauna," is often viewed as the most significant correlate of higher public interest in species. However, common, local species (many of which are not large) can also generate public interest. We explored the relative importance of body size versus local occurrence in patterns of online interest in birds using a large sample of digital human‐wildlife interactions (367 million Wikipedia pageviews) that included more than 10,000 bird species and a range of cultural and geographic contexts (represented by 25 Wikipedia language editions). We compared interest in Wikipedia, as measured by pageviews, with a bird's body size and its regional observation frequency (using data from eBird.org). We found that local species (i.e., those that occur in the wild in the country responsible for the majority of a Wikipedia language edition's pageviews) attract more pageviews than global species. Both body size and observation frequency had a positive correlation with Wikipedia pageviews across languages, but eBird observation frequency explained more of the variance in pageviews on average. In a model that included both observation frequency and body size, observation frequency was a significantly better predictor of pageviews than body size in 24 of 25 languages. Our results demonstrate that the opportunity to encounter birds in the wild is a significant correlate of increased online interest in birds across multiple linguistic and geographic contexts. This relationship provides insight into why some species attract greater interest than others and emphasizes the overlooked potential of common species in conservation marketing.


Spectral detector computed tomography (SDCT) is a novel technology that uses two layers of detectors to simultaneously collect low and high energy data. Spectral data is used to generate conventional polyenergetic images as well as dedicated spectral images including virtual monoenergetic and material composition (iodine-only, virtual unenhanced, effective atomic number) images. This paper provides an overview of SDCT technology and a description of some spectral image types. The potential utility of SDCT for cardiovascular imaging and the impact of this new technology on radiation and contrast dose are discussed through presentation of initial patient studies performed on a SDCT scanner. The value of SDCT for salvaging suboptimal studies including those with poor contrast-enhancement or beam hardening artifacts through retrospective reconstruction of spectral data is discussed. Additionally, examples of specific benefits for the evaluation of aortic disease, imaging before transcatheter aortic valve implantation, evaluation of pulmonary veins pre- and post-pulmonary radiofrequency ablation, evaluation of coronary artery lumen, assessment of myocardial perfusion, detection of pulmonary embolism, and characterization of incidental findings are presented.


Regional power pools present a significant and potentially defining opportunity for African power systems to develop domestic energy resources, improve system reliability, and contribute to overall economic development. Hydropower is expected to play a significant role in many regional power pools in Africa. Feasible power transmission highways from Grand Inga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia to other regions on the continent create the possibility of a pan-African electricity grid. However, in the medium and long term, global climate change is expected to cause major variations in Africa's hydrological resources and it is not known how these changes may impact the value of regional power sector integration. This paper presents a model developed to study the value of different levels of regional integration in sub-Saharan Africa and how this value may change in the face of climate change. This work builds on previous studies by incorporating the ability to trade between different regional pools, co-optimisation of generation and transmission, the ability to share reserves, and detailed simulation of the major hydropower basins in Africa. Numerical results of the analysis will be presented in a parallel paper.


Automatic recognition of plant species recognition is a challenging problem in the area of pattern recognition and computer vision. An efficient plant recognition system will be beneficial to many sectors of society which includes medical field, botanic researches and plant taxonomy study. Manual identification process requires prior knowledge and also it is a lengthy process. This paper proposes a simple and efficient methodology for Ayurvedic plant classification using digital image processing and machine vision technology. The three major phases in proposed methodology are pre-processing, feature extraction and classification. Pre-processing is done in order to highlight the relevant features to be used in the proposed methodology as well as to reduce unwanted noise from the input image, which reduces the chance of getting optimal feature values. In feature extraction phase, different morphologic features such as mean, standard deviation, convex hull ratio, isoperimetric quotient, eccentricity and entropy are extracted from the pre-processed leaf image. In the third phase, a new approach to classify ayurvedic plant species is adopted to recognize plant species by calculating the leaf factor of the input leaf using the extracted feature values and it is compared with the trained values that are stored in the database. An accuracy of 93.75% is obtained for the proposed methodology.


BACKGROUND
We previously demonstrated very low levels of xenoreactive natural antibodies in newborns, suggesting the possibility of prolongation of xenograft survival in newborn recipients. We used a pig-to-newborn goat heterotopic cardiac xenograft model to examine our hypothesis that hyperacute rejection would be absent in newborn recipients and that both humoral and cellular rejection would participate in the late phase of discordant xenograft rejection.

METHODS AND RESULTS
The serum of newborn goats was found to have very low titers of natural anti-pig antibodies. Newborn pig hearts were transplanted heterotopically into the neck of four unmanipulated newborn goats: none of these xenografts underwent hyperacute rejection. Dilation of the xenografts and decreased contractility were observed 4 to 6 days after transplantation, and the xenografts eventually ceased functioning between 6 and 8 days after transplantation. Blood samples collected after transplantation demonstrated a dramatic increase in anti-pig xenoantibody titers and correlated with histological studies demonstrating features consistent with delayed humoral rejection, including reactive vascular endothelial and perivascular stromal cells, marked capillary congestion, and interstitial hemorrhages. Scant to diffuse perivascular and interstitial infiltration of activated lymphoid cells occurred.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study demonstrates that hyperacute rejection does not occur, allowing limited prolongation of xenograft survival in a pig-to-newborn goat cardiac xenograft model. We propose that this is attributable, at least in part, to the very low titers of natural antibodies in newborn recipients. Delayed xenograft rejection, however, remains an important problem in these newborn recipients. This delayed xenograft rejection is likely the result of both humoral and cellular rejection mechanisms.


A foreign subsidiary's way of breaking through exogenous barriers to competition triggers growth of the subsidiary and the firm as a whole. This article contributes to literature on international business strategy by developing a conceptual framework that underscores the contextual role of subsidiary's strategic orientation in breaking through the barriers. Propositions are developed based on analysis of four high growth subsidiaries of Swedish industrial firms operating in the USA. The propositions distinguish types of exogenous competition barriers encountered by the foreign subsidiary, and types of strategic orientation. First, it is proposed that the more extensive the foreign subsidiary's entrepreneurial orientation the weaker the negative association between a scale barrier and subsidiary's growth. Second, it is proposed that the more extensive the foreign subsidiary's market orientation the weaker the negative association between customer access barriers and subsidiary's growth. Contributions to literature and practical implications are discussed.


The present study was focused on the morphology of the diencephalic nuclei (likely involved in reproductive functions) as well as on the distribution of GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) in the rhinencephalon, telencephalon and the diencephalon of the brain of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) by means of immunohistochemistry. Bluefin tuna has an encephalization quotient (QE) similar to that of other large pelagic fish. Its brain exhibits well-developed optic tecta and corpus cerebelli. The diencephalic neuron cell bodies involved in reproductive functions are grouped in two main nuclei: the nucleus preopticus-periventricularis and the nucleus lateralis tuberis. The nucleus preopticus-periventricularis consists of the nucleus periventricularis and the nucleus preopticus consisting of a few sparse multipolar neurons in the rostral part and numerous cells closely packed and arranged in several layers in its aboral part. The nucleus lateralis tuberis is located in the ventral-lateral area of the diencephalon and is made up of a number of large multipolar neurones. Four different polyclonal primary antibodies against salmon (s)GnRH, chicken (c)GnRH-II (cGnRH-II 675, cGnRH-II 6) and sea bream (sb)GnRH were employed in the immunohistochemical experiments. No immunoreactive structures were found with anti sbGnRH serum. sGnRH and cGnRH-II antisera revealed immunoreactivity in the perikarya of the olfactory bulbs, preopticus-periventricular nucleus, oculomotor nucleus and midbrain tegmentum. The nucleus lateralis tuberis showed immunostaining only with anti-sGnRH serum. Nerve fibres immunoreactive to cGnRH and sGnRH sera were found in the olfactory bulbs, olfactory nerve and neurohypophysis. The significance of the distribution of the GnRH-immunoreactive neuronal structures is discussed.


In this brief, we present a dual-mode (high and low) power amplifier (PA) for fourth-generation long-term evolution (LTE) handset applications using a device switching technique to improve the efficiency at low output power. In particular, the effects of the gate voltage variation of the input and output switches on the amplifier performances are described. In addition, a bias control circuit for a dual-mode PA, which can provide the correct voltage to the input and output switches and can be effectively controlled by the mode control voltage, is also proposed. The bias control circuit, the mode switch, and the PA are implemented with the integrated pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) and heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology on the same chip (i.e., bipolar field effect transistor process). A dual-mode PA with a gain of 27.2 dB, PAE of 34.5%, a ACLRE-UTRA value of -31.2 dBc, and error vector magnitude (EVM) of 2.97% has been achieved in high-power mode; whereas a 22 dB of gain, PAE of 19%, a ACLRE-UTRA value of -31.6 dBc and EVM of 2.84% were measured in the low-power mode with LTE uplink signals.


Over the past decade, public libraries have shifted from quiet repositories of knowledge to raucous centers of public engagement. Public libraries seek to fill the educational and social gaps left by other informal education organizations (such as museums and science centers) that target specific populations or require paid access for their resources. These gaps are filled by hiring social workers, providing accessible makerspaces, developing English language learner (ELL) programs, facilitating hands-on STEM activities, providing information about community resources and social services, providing summer meals, and much more. But what are the next steps to continue this high level of engagement? By utilizing a Community Dialogue Framework (Dialogues), libraries have engaged with new members of their communities to reach groups not currently benefiting from library services, provided equitable access to new resources, engaged with new partners, and - in the time of COVID - began to address the digital divide in their communities. An examination of forty public libraries' engagement with and learning from Dialogues was conducted using a qualitative approach and reflexive thematic analysis. An account from a librarian who hosted multiple Dialogues is also presented as a first-person narrative describing their methods and successes using the tool. Benefits and practical considerations for conducting Dialogues are discussed in the results section, followed by limitations and recommendations for further research in this area.


The related notions of habitation and habitability offer a very promising way for framing the conversation about the issues around which environmental political theory has gravitated from its inception: sustainability, environmental justice, preservation. However, the connection between the two must probably be revised in order to produce an ideal of habitation that is useful in the current sociopolitical context. This paper seeks to clarify their mutual relations and explores the way for the politicization of habitation. Underlining the role of nonintentional actions in the past history of habitation, it will argue that, in order to politicize habitation, the latter must be made salient -so that citizens realize that the socionatural relation is not that 'natural'. Ernesto Laclau's notion of the political as an uncovering of contingencies may be useful, while the Lacanian notion of fantasy may be used to explain the gap between current (instrumental) modes of habitation and pervasive (Arcadian) ideals of it. As to how can the relation between habitation and habitability be effectively politicized, this paper will argue that it is the political, rather than politics, what offers a most promising path for re-imagining habitation in our complex and ambivalent societies. Ecological citizenship and newly created spaces for nature are sketched as strategies for politicizing habitation. Bioregionalism is recovered as a radical politics of habitation whose flaws must be avoided if habitation is to be reframed in a mostly urban, hypertechnological world. In this regard, the paper also develops a particular narrative for a reframed habitation, a 'clever adaptation' understood as a regulatory ideal towards which different actions and discourses can be directed. _____________________________________________________________________________________


The Centers for Disease Control defines syndromic surveillance as, "an investigational approach where health department staff, assisted by automated data acquisition and generation of statistical alerts, monitor disease indicators in real-time or near real-time to detect outbreaks of disease earlier than would otherwise be possible with traditional public health methods" (CDC, 2004). While syndromic surveillance has traditionally been used in the context of detecting natural outbreaks, it is increasingly being used to develop systems to detect bioterrorism outbreaks. Timely response to a bioterrorism event requires accurate information exchange between clinicians and public health officials. This entails building highly complex surveillance systems that provide access to heterogeneous/distributed medical data, computational resources and collaborative services, for real-time decision making in a highly reliable and secure environment. In this paper we propose enhancing syndromic surveillance through grid and autonomic computing augmentations, and present our approach to a proof of concept modeling and simulation environment.


In the paper the new results of the safety investigations of the multistate complex systems with dependent components in variable operation conditions called critical infrastructures are presented. The multi-state safety function of the critical infrastructure system is defined and determined for an exemplary critical infrastructure. In the developed models, it is assumed that the system components have the multistate exponential safety functions with interdependent departures rates from the subsets of the safety states.


Traditionally the characterisation of mixing in a system is achieved by injecting a tracer solution and monitoring the changes of tracer concentration with time using conductivity probes. In this paper we demonstrate that a non-intrusive laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique can be used to quantify the behaviour of viscous fluids in a model oscillatory baffled column (OBC). The OBC is an alternative-mixing device in which longitudinal periodic fluid oscillations are transposed onto a column with evenly spaced doughnut shaped baffles. This combination of baffles and oscillation generates an enhanced yet uniform mixing system. In LIF, a dye fluoresces when it is induced by a laser. The intensity of the light emitted can be converted into the concentration of the dye. The timed profile of average concentration (within a baffled cell) leads to the determination of the mixing time and axial dispersion coefficient. This paper attempts to show that LIF is a powerful tool in studying mixing.


We optimize the speed of real-time databases by optimizing the scheduler. The performance of a database is directly linked to the environment it operates in, and we use environment characteristics as guidelines for the optimization. A typical telecom environment is investigated, and characteristics that are relevant to performance are derived. A theoretical study of database scheduler performance is combined with the characteristics of the telecom environment. Design issues are extracted from this combination. It turns out that the scheduler overhead, rather than the concurrency is the most important factor in database performance. With the derived issues in mind, a light-weight optimistic concurrency control (OCC-light) scheduler has been designed. The OCC-light is implemented in the Mnesia database. Experiments were conducted to compare OCC-light against the existing two phase locking (2PL) scheduler. The OCC-light compared favorably to 2PL, as was already suggested by our theoretical study.


Bolus is used for therapeutic purposes in order to increase the dose to be received in cancer on the surface of the skin. In this research, the ingredients of bolus made of Silicone Rubber (SR) with an additional copper (Cu). The purpose of this study was to characterize the density, relative electron density (RED) and surface doses of boluses. Bolus is made with a thickness of 0.5 cm and a variation of weight percent (wt%) of 0 wt%, 6 wt%, 8 wt% and 10 wt% for samples A, B, C and D, respectively. Synthesis of SR-Cu bolus samples was carried out by the chemical solution deposition method. Bolus printed with dimensions 17 × 17 × 0.5 cm. Bolus is illuminated using electron beams from Linac with an energy of 8 MeV. The calculation results show that bolus density approaches the density value of soft tissue, with the highest density in sample A and the lowest in sample B. Overall the use of this bolus can increase the surface dose. At energy of 8 MeV, the highest percentage of surface dose was in sample D, while the lowest in sample A. The elasticity test of the sample was carried out using ASTM D638M-64 with the highest modulus young value in sample A and the lowest in sample B. The elasticity calculation results showed that all bolus samples with the addition of Cu powder will become more elastic. Bolus made from SR-Cu can be used as an alternative material for radiotherapy.


Delirium is a distressing and under-diagnosed syndrome of acute alteration in mental state. It occurs frequently in patients with advanced cancer and is often associated with a worsening of prognosis and difficult challenges in symptom management. Given its associations with older age, recognition and management of delirious patients are likely to become an even more important aspect of oncological practice in the future. The potential for prevention of delirium is being studied, and protocols which involve modifications in hospital care, in addition to screening and rapid identification and treatment of precipitants, may reduce the burden of the condition. However, such approaches require further study and validation in an advanced cancer population. Routine use of appropriate and validated screening tools is a low burden strategy which is likely to improve diagnosis, care and understanding of delirium. The evidence to guide pharmacological management is not strong. Well designed clinical trials are urgently needed in order to improve supportive care outcomes for delirious patients and to clarify the role of antipsychotic and other medications in symptomatic management.


Abstract Social media is often assumed to espouse ego-centred networking. Yet by comparing posts to Facebook and Instagram, it becomes apparent that the experience and aspirations of the individual are often embedded in structures of family and other institutions that have been historically determined. This article locates images posted by women to two social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, within the Caribbean island of Trinidad's wider history of the significance of visibility and visuality. What individuals choose to make visible and its consequences form a visual language in which Trinidadians are entirely fluent. By extension, images are used to communicate forms of differentiated identity that are made visible through social media. The material gathered was based on 15 months of ethnographic research in a semi-urban town in Trinidad where, generally, uses of social media are expressive of a place-based sense of identity. The town is simultaneously a place that urban dwellers look down on and villagers look up to. Visual content posted to Facebook and Instagram reveal that while individuals seek to craft and shape images and aesthetics according to their own tastes, this must be done in a socially acceptable way; that is, placing emphasis on group conformity is far more of a social value than expressing individual distinction. Social media in this context communicates the imagination of oppositional futures and a divergence of lifestyles for young women: those who identify with being locally-oriented and those who identify with being globally-oriented.


[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The design, simulation, and development of a sequentially-fired pulse forming network (SFPFN) to power a large bore helical coil electromagnetic launcher (HCEL) is presented and discussed in this thesis. This investigation furthers the previous work of a medium-bore HCEL SFPFN. Improvements on the previous design include increasing total stored energy and peak current. Additional improvements include a more robust charging program as well as a computer controlled firing system. The new field programmable gate array (FPGA) firing system allows for an easily variable and accurate firing system as well as fault monitoring trip out system to protect the SFPFN in case of a fault.


Numerous econometric studies report that financial asset volatilities and correlations are time varying and predictable. Over the past decade, this knowledge has stimulated increasing interest in various dynamic portfolio risk control techniques. At present, the two basic types of risk control techniques—risk control across assets and risk control over time—are not implemented simultaneously, and there has been surprisingly little theoretical study of optimal dynamic portfolio risk management. This article fills this gap in the literature by formulating and solving the multiperiod portfolio choice problem. Using several datasets and performing out-of-sample simulations, the author demonstrates that it is optimal to simultaneously control portfolio risk across assets and over time. Specifically, the author shows that portfolios with risk control only across assets outperform equally weighted portfolios and that portfolios with risk control both across assets and over time outperform portfolios with risk control across assets only.


This dissertation discusses the effects of parents' participation on children's academic performance in Arusha District Council. The study is organized in five chapters; the first chapter shows the introduction and background to the problem. It also gives the statement of the problem. Moreover, the chapter presents the significance of the study, objectives of the study and limitations and delimitations. The Second chapter reviews the few available studies on the effects of parents' participation in children's academic performance. The third chapter describes the methods applied in the study. It is organized under the following sections: The areas of study research design, population inquiry, sampling, sampling techniques, instruments for data collection and data analysis. The fourth chapter is about data presentation, analysis and discussion of the findings. The fifth chapter summarizes the findings and concludes the study. The study is framed within three objectives: to explore the parental support on children academic performance; to examine ways family participation in learning affect children's academic performance; and to determine the effects of parent's level of education on children's academic performance. 20 teachers, 25 students and 45 parents were involved during the collection of data, which was done through questionnaire, interview and documentary review. The study found that as a way to support their children, parents encouraged children to read. Parents also helped their children to prepare for tests. Furthermore, the study found that family support promotes school attendance; motivate children to aspire to earn higher grades. Moreover, the study found that parents' level of education had a lot of effects on children's academic performance. For example, parents with higher level of education had higher aspirations for their children and socialized their children towards higher levels of educational achievement and occupational success by modeling achievement-related behaviors. Those with low level of education lacked knowledge, skills and materials to support their children. The study recommends that schools should encourage parents to participate in school events, develop a working relationship with teachers and keep up with what is happening with their children's schooling activities. Also the study recommends that, the government should make an effort to empower parents to be more active in the lives of their children, include supporting them morally and materially in their education.


Objective. In 2005 a large outbreak of Salmonella hadar occurred in Spain following the consumption of commercial precooked roast chicken. We estimated the incidence and risk factors for reactive arthritis (ReA) and other musculoskeletal sequelae in the patients of this outbreak in 2 health departments of Castellon province. Methods. A prospective cohort study of the patients and their families was carried out. Clinical infection with Salmonella was considered as the exposure factor. The cohort was studied for ReA symptoms using a telephone questionnaire. Telephone interviews or medical examinations of subjects with musculoskeletal symptoms were conducted by a rheumatologist. Robust Poisson regression models were used in the analysis. Results. From the cohort of 262 people, 248 (94.7%) participated in the telephone survey, 155 with clinical salmonellosis (infected), 78 noninfected, and 15 with some symptoms but not clinical salmonellosis. One hundred one infected patients (65%) reported musculoskeletal symptoms, compared to 19 noninfected (24%) (adjusted relative risk = 2.60, 95% CI 1.73–3.90). Of the infected group, 16 ReA (incidence 10%, 95% CI 6.0–16.2), 7 enthesopathies, and 2 arthralgias were detected, and zero in the noninfected group. The risk factors for ReA were age, weight loss, and duration of diarrhea. Antibiotic treatment for the infection protected against symptoms of peripheral or axial arthritis (adjusted relative risk = 0.73, 95% CI 0.55–0.98). Conclusion. The incidence of ReA and musculoskeletal symptoms after the infection was high. The use of antibiotics for S. hadar infection offered some protection against musculoskeletal symptoms.


By 1967, telephone harassment complaints in the United States had hit an all-time high. Telephone companies, government officials, police, and media scrambled to make sense of and harness the surge in obscene calls. Such a phenomenon drew on the publics' fears of an unknown and anonymous 'pervert,' which now had access to their private sphere through the technology of telephone calls. Previous research which had focused on obscenity laws and censorship with regards to cultural products, however neglects the gendered, sexual, and racialized implications of this historical episode of obscene calls. The discourse around obscene calls during the 1960s demonstrates that the telephone shifted from a technology of progress to a technology of 'terror' that delivered social anxieties around race, gender, and sexuality into the domestic sphere.


Historical aspects of teaching Law as a school subject are considered in outline in the Prologue to this Thesis. Part 1 discusses the extent to which it is appropriate to teach Law as an examination subject in schools today. This is followed in Part II by an extensive examination of what kind of law may be taught as evidenced by the provision of G.C.E., G.C.S.E. and alternative syllabi. Methodology and pupil perceptions are discussed in Part III, whilst the possibility of truly professional teaching of Law at school level is examined in Part IV. In the final Part, an attempt is made to decide whether Law in schools is - or should be - an end in itself or merely a stepping stone to further study of the subject at a higher level. Finally, the Epilogue seeks to answer to the question as to whether Law has a future as a school examination subject.


Turbidity currents in the ocean and lakes are driven by suspended sediment. The vertical profiles of velocity and excess density are shaped by interaction between the current and bed as well as between the current and the ambient water. This paper presents 48 series of experiments in which saline gravity currents flow through a laboratory sinuous flume. flume contains three successive bends with three different relative curvature radiuses: R/B=2, 4 and 6, 8.5m length, 20cm width and 70cm height. Experiments performed by four discharges (0.7, 1, 1.5, 2 lit/s) and four concentrations (10, 15, 20, 25 gr/lit). ADV was used to record the local velocity. According to the results of experiments on the mobile bed, increasing the concentration of the incoming flow, the flow velocity of the fluid is also increased and, the maximum velocity occurs near the bed instead of the top of the current. The important point in the flow rate profiles is that the rate of increase in velocity depends on changes in the form of the bed due to the increase in concentration. By increasing concentrations of turbidity flow, the shear stress of the bed is also increased. Therefore, the rate of increase in velocity will occur by removing the bed forms and reducing the roughness and shear stress of the bed. Thus, increasing the concentration increases the power of the current, so at the beginning, the roughness and shear stress of the bed increased and then by removal of bed forms shear stress decreased.


Summary. In endoscopy-negative reflux disease just 25% remain in remission after drug therapy, in reflux oesophagitis only 10%. Long-term management is therefore mandatory in this quality oflife-impairing chronic disorder. Following the GENVAL consensus conference proton pump inhibitors (PPI) should be used primarily in a step-down regimen; isomere PPIs reduce duration of acute therapy by 50%. According to Klinkenberg-Knol et al. 100% of all patients with H2-resistant reflux oesophagitis are asymptomatic and free of recurrency when dosage of PPI is adapted to a higher level. The same result was obtained in the prospective study by Lundell et al. comparing fundoplication and long-term management with omepra zole for 3 years.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) constitutes an emerging health problem for companion animals in veterinary medicine. Therefore, discovery of novel antimicrobial agents for treatment of Staphylococcus-associated canine infections is urgently needed to reduce use of human antibiotics in veterinary medicine. In the present work, we characterized the antimicrobial activity of the peptoid D2 against S. pseudintermedius and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is another common integumentary pathogen in dogs. Furthermore, we performed a structure–activity relationship study of D2, which included 19 peptide/peptoid analogs. Our best compound D2D, an all d-peptide analogue, showed potent minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against canine S. pseudintermedius (2–4 µg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (4 µg/mL) isolates as well as other selected dog pathogens (2–16 µg/mL). Time–kill assays demonstrated that D2D was able to inhibit MRSP in 30 min at 1× MIC, significantly faster than D2. Our results suggest that at high concentrations D2D is rapidly lysing the bacterial membrane while D2 is inhibiting macromolecular synthesis. We probed the mechanism of action at sub-MIC concentrations of D2, D2D, the l-peptide analog and its retro analog by a macromolecular biosynthesis assay and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our data suggest that at sub-MIC concentrations D2D is membrane inactive and primarily works by cell wall inhibition, while the other compounds mainly act on the bacterial membrane.


To maintain good operation of a chemical pulp mill, efficient removal of sodium scales attached to the heating surfaces in the black liquor evaporators is necessary. Increased knowledge about the cleaning process for the scales can lead to overall improved performance for the mill, with reduced production losses and increased heat economy as main advantages. Making the black liquor evaporation process more efficient will not only reduce the running cost of the plant, it will also influence the global environment in a positive way since resources are used in a more efficient way.
Within this thesis, an existing modelling tool that simulates the dissolution of sodium scales in black liquor evaporators have been further developed and modified for industrial operation. The updated modelling tool enables the scale distributions to be determined from the boiling point rise, and the probability with each scale distribution to be verified via analysis of the heat transfer coefficient. A case study was done at BillerudKorsnas' mill in Skarblacka and a full scale test was performed where liquor samples and online process data were collected during one wash sequence. The aim was to utilize the updated cleaning model, together with data obtained from the case study, to gain fundamental understanding of the dissolution process of the scales in an effort to improve evaporator cleaning. Furthermore the work also aimed on being able to predict how the scales were distributed within the evaporator.
It was found that the most reliable parameters to monitor were boiling point rise from online process data and dry solids content from laboratory analyses. The previous showed high sensitivity towards changes in scale thickness and was concluded to be the most effective parameter to monitor trends during the wash and to follow to determine it the wash is finished or not. Dry solids content from lab analyses on the other hand showed better performance to predict absolute values. Another finding made was that if it is desirable to have a short cleaning time, the evaporation rate should be low.


PURPOSE
We present a series of urethral erosion following a pubovaginal sling procedure due to synthetic and nonsynthetic materials and discuss their management and continence outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
During a 3-year period 57 patients underwent urethrolysis for urethral obstruction after receiving a pubovaginal sling. Urethral erosion, defined as sling material entering the urethral lumen, was present in 9 patients and this cohort comprises the focus of our review. In 3 patients the eroded material was synthetic, that is ProteGen (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts) in 2 and polypropylene in 1. This condition was treated with removal of the whole sling, multilayer closure of the erosion and selective use of a Martius flap. In 6 patients the eroded material was nonsynthetic, that is allograft fascia in 5 and autograft fascia in 1. This condition was treated with sling incision and multilayer closure of the urethra. Preoperative assessment included a urogynecologic questionnaire, measurement of pad use, a voiding diary, cystourethroscopy and videourodynamics. Postoperatively similar parameters were used to assess continence outcomes and the need for subsequent procedures.

RESULTS
Nine patients were followed 30 months after urethrolysis. All 9 women had some manifestation of voiding dysfunction following the pubovaginal sling procedure, including urinary retention in 4, urge incontinence in 3 and mixed incontinence in 2. Urinary retention resolved in 3 patients and urge incontinence resolved in 4. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) persisted in 2 of the 3 patients in the synthetic group, while no patient in the nonsynthetic group had recurrent SUI. There were no recurrent urethral erosions or fistulas in either group.

CONCLUSIONS
Urethral erosion after a pubovaginal sling procedure can occur irrespective of the sling material. However, recurrent SUI is not an invariable outcome of the management of urethral erosion following the pubovaginal sling procedure.


Measurements are reported on the mechanical properties of high-aspect-ratio micromechanical structures formed using a conventional 0.5-μm CMOS process. Composite structures are etched out of the CMOS dielectric, aluminum, and gate-polysilicon thin films using a post-CMOS CHF3:O2 reactive-ion etch and followed by a SF6:O2 silicon etch for release. Microstructures have a height of 5 μm and beam widths and gaps down to 1.2 μm. Properties are strongly dependent on the relative metal and dielectric content of the beams. Beams with three metal conductors and polysilicon have an effective Young's modulus of 62 GPa, residual stress of -29 MPa, and an average out-of-plane radius of curvature of 1.9 mm. Maximum Young's modulus variation is 3 GPa die-todie, and is 9 GPa between two runs. Die-to-die variation of stress and stress gradient is poor for many beam compositions, however local matching on a die is very good. Cracking is induced in a resonant fatigue structure at 620 MPa of repetitive stress after over 50 million cycles.


PURPOSE
To report on a case of limbal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with necrotizing scleritis in a young, previously healthy, white Australian male.

METHODS
A 31-year-old man presented with a left limbal lesion intermittently causing a red eye and foreign body sensation. He had enjoyed surfing for many years. Repeat HIV tests were negative and the lesion was biopsied.

RESULTS
Biopsy showed a well-differentiated SCC apparently arising in an intra-epithelial (in situ) carcinoma of the conjunctiva. The lesion was excised and a corneoscleral graft repair was performed.

CONCLUSION
The present case highlights the potential for a significant increase in the prevalence of ocular surface neoplasia in healthy young people who have had excessive UV-B exposure.


Aim of work: Cannabis is the most frequently abused illicitsubstance in Egypt. An increase in the number of cases of pediatric accidental cannabis poisoning has been documented. We described a case of accidental cannabis poisoning with acute mega colon in a ten month old infant in Zagazig University hospitals.
Findings: Clinical presentation included reduced level of consciousness, vomiting, severe abdominal distention, hypotonia,and shock. Abdominal scan showed severe colonic dilatation without mechanical obstruction. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was detected by urine screening for cannabinoids and confirmed by HPLC. The patient was admitted to PICU and treated with supportive care. The patient recovered uneventfully and was discharged after 24 hours of admission. This case represents the first case of megacolon in accidental cannabis poisoning in previously healthy infant.


This article recovers the Afropolitan histories of Liberated Africans by examining their mobility and freedom politics. Liberated Africans enacted Afropolitanism when they returned from Sierra Leone to Old Calabar and fashioned themselves into Black Englishmen. Their Afropolitanism incorporated a dissident mode of Anglo-cosmopolitanism, thereby undermining orthodox British visions of imperial subjecthood. In using petitions to British authorities to assert their identity as British subjects, they secured their precarious freedom but challenged British monopoly of the Bight of Biafra's transatlantic palm oil trade. Rather than being mere recipients of abolition, Liberated Africans refashioned abolition. They used forged "freedom papers" to emancipate, repossess, and traffic slaves from Old Calabar society while defending their behavior as "redemption" of slaves. Contrary to imperial fixity of African subjects, Liberated Africans evinced an Afropolitan vision of belonging. They simultaneously claimed to be natives of Sierra Leone and Old Calabar. Their contradictory ideologies and practices mitigated their marginality and confounded African elites and British imperial agents.


ABSTRACT While the link between leadership and follower well-being is well established, less is known about the relation between leaders' leadership behaviour and their own well-being. Particularly, a systematic integration of existing studies is missing. Based on an integrated framework summarising major theories on the leader well-being–leadership link, we quantitatively synthesised findings on the relations between different leadership behaviours and leader well-being indicators. The meta-analytical results (95 effect sizes; N = 12,617) confirmed significant relationships of constructive and destructive leadership with leader well-being in the expected directions. Relative weight analyses on the constructive leadership behaviours showed that change-oriented and relational-oriented leadership (e.g. transformational, participative) accounted for more variance in leader well-being than task-oriented leadership (e.g. transactional). Regarding destructive leadership, active destructive leadership (e.g. abusive supervision) showed stronger negative associations with leader well-being than passive leadership (e.g. laissez-faire). Based on our integrated framework, we proposed and found support for divergent patterns of associations for different forms of well-being (positive vs. negative, short-term vs. long-term, job-related vs. general). Our study demonstrates a considerable linkage between leader well-being and leadership, supporting the adoption of leadership development programmes and organisational health interventions for leaders given their impact on employees, teams and organisations.


This study investigated whether behavior disordered children would decrease aggressive behavior if their social interest were developed. Three hypotheses that were tested predicted that there would be a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group on adjusted mean scores on aggressive behavior on post test scores. The measuring instruments used were the Child Behavior Checklist Parent Report Form, the Child Behavior Checklist Teacher Report Form, and the Child Behavior Checklist Director Observation Form. It was also predicted that there would be a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group on post test adjusted mean scores as measured on the Social Interest Scale. An analysis of covariance was employed to test the data.
Behavior disordered students in the experimental group participated in three activities designed to develop their social interest. They participated in peer tutoring, socialization with nursing home residents, and group discussions.
Data were collected from parents, teachers, and observers of behavior disordered students in an elementary school in Northwest Louisiana during the summer term of 1987. Teachers did report a statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control groups in the decrease of aggressive behavior. These results are in accord with predictions generated by Adlerian theory and with naturalistic data. Parents and observers did not report a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the decrease of aggressive behavior. Significant differences were not found between the experimental and control groups in the development of social interest.
Since the teachers did report statistically significant results in this study, it is recommended that these same activities to develop social interest be repeated, that counseling sessions be designed to be more therapeutic, and that additional modeling and role playing be included. It is further recommended that an instrument be developed to measure social interest in children, and that parents and teachers of the children be provided with education and training in Adlerian theory and its application to their interactions with children.


The research question of this study is "What is the best strategy for Momento-Uni, especially in holiday". Momento-Uni is a cafe and restaurant which is located in the Waikato University in Hamilton. In this study, it is aim to develop and identify a proper strategy for Momento-Uni to create competitive advantages and increase its sales in normal period of time, furthermore, a specific strategy also needs to be developed when there is a holiday period to balance its loss and profits. On the other hand, because of the special location of the Momento-Uni, the strategy needs to be created for its sustainable and long-term development and its unique marketing position.

In this study, a mixed research method is used which includes quantitative and qualitative study design and observation. A questionnaire is developed to collect the information and data about the customers' evaluation and recommendation for Momento-Uni's service and products. An interview was held with their manager to understand Momento-Uni's business goals, current situation, internal working environment and future development. The observation was developed by the researcher to evaluate their competitor and internal working issues.

As a result, it shows that the main customers are students from 18-30 years old and coffee and drinks and snacks take up most profit of the whole sales. Through the result, a focus strategy is developed because students are the mainly targeted segments and to meet their needs. However, Momento-Uni does not have a clear differentiation and cost-leadership strategy to meet customers' variable needs. As students do not have a high consumption level, in the future, the challenges will be existed. The results also shows that in holidays, the number of customers are declined steeply which increase the difficulties in the future growth.

According to the results, it recommends that Momento-Uni needs to develop a clear strategy with differentiation and cost-leadership strategy to offer customer differentiated service and products, creates its products varieties and improve its service quality. For the customer psychology and behavior, by better understanding the potential thought, feeling and intentions of the customers, a proper strategy needs to be developed about validation of existing insights and the creation of new and novel insight to follow the marketing trend to increase its marketing competitiveness. For the human resource management, Momento-Uni needs to have a reasonable staff management during the normal time, especially in holidays, the opening hour for each site in holiday will be adjusted, Lake site and Ms2 site will be closed in a few weeks. Lake site always have overmuch staff, the staff in lake site will be reduced in normal time. For the future growth, the new working policy and business plan will be developed and improved to achieve its business goals for the future success.


Quantum computing (QC) has already entered the industrial landscape and several multinational corporations have initiated their own research efforts. So far, many of these efforts have been focusing on superconducting qubits, whose industrial progress is currently way ahead of all other qubit implementations. This paper briefly reviews the progress made on the silicon-based QC platform, which is highly promising to meet the scale-up challenges by leveraging the semiconductor industry. We look at different types of qubits, the advantages of silicon, and techniques for qubit manipulation in the solid state. Finally, we discuss the possibility of co-integrating silicon qubits with FET-based, cooled front-end electronics, and review the device physics of MOSFETs at deep cryogenic temperatures.


The Intercity State Transport Company is one of the two state funded transport companies in Ghana competing with a range of other service providers mainly from the private sector in the industry. Once well respected and described as the pride of intercity travels in Ghana, it is currently a mere shadow of its former glory with rapid decline in passenger movements over the past years. This study sought to analyse passenger movements over the past five years and also explored challenges that have led to the steady decline of ISTC over the years. Secondary data was provided by the company and this was complemented with in-depth interviews with management. Findings of the study revealed that the service suffered a 60% decline in passenger movement between 2007 and 2011; however there was a high utilization of its services in January 2010 and December 2011. Finally, there was no statistically significant difference in the volume of passengers between 2010 and 2011. Keywords: intercity, intercity bus, passenger movement, ISTC


The purpose of this study was to investigate whether meat from blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) harvested from offshore structures could be used as an alternative protein source in aquaculture fish feed for turbot (Scophthalmus maximus). Two feeding experiments with turbot were conducted in an initial experiment to test the applicability of mussel meal as a fishmeal replacement and/or supplement in turbot feed. In experiment A, the welfare, acceptance, and digestibility of feedstuff with 100%, 50% and 0% of mussel meal replacement for the fishmeal were tested for 8 weeks. In experiment B that followed, the convenience ratio of mussel meal protein in turbot feed for optimum growth was examined. Feedstuff with 25%, 10% and 0% of mussel meal were also fed for 8 (+6) weeks. Growth rates of fish were measured every 2 weeks and their health condition (liver somatic index) determined at the beginning and end of the experiments. Experiment A revealed that a replacement of fishmeal with either 100% or 50% mussel meal resulted in depressed growth (SGR: 1.31 ± 0.04 with 100% mussel meal; 1.54 ± 0.04 with 50% mussel meal; 1.71 ± 0.07 with 0% mussel meal). Experiment B revealed that a fishmeal replacement with 10% or 25% of mussel meal did not reduce growth nor did it have a negative effect on the health of the tested turbot. The study revealed that mussel meal has a high potential to serve as a supplement or as a fishmeal replacement in feed for turbot raised in aquaculture systems. Thus, its use in commercial aquaculture should be given future consideration.


Anatomical studies have identified brainstem neurons that project bilaterally to left and right oromotor pools, which could potentially mediate bilateral muscle coordination. We use retrograde lentiviruses combined with a split-intein-mediated split-Cre-recombinase system in mice to isolate, characterize, and manipulate a population of neurons projecting to both the left and right jaw-closing trigeminal motoneurons. We find that these bilaterally projecting premotor neurons (BPNs) reside primarily in the supratrigeminal nucleus (SupV) and the parvicellular and intermediate reticular regions dorsal to the facial motor nucleus. These BPNs also project to multiple midbrain and brainstem targets implicated in orofacial sensorimotor control, and consist of a mix of glutamatergic, GABAergic, and glycinergic neurons, which can drive both excitatory and inhibitory inputs to trigeminal motoneurons when optogenetically activated in slice. Silencing BPNs with tetanus toxin light chain (TeNT) increases bilateral masseter activation during chewing, an effect driven by the expression of TeNT in SupV BPNs. Acute unilateral optogenetic inhibition of SupV BPNs identifies a group of tonically active neurons that function to lower masseter muscle tone, whereas unilateral optogenetic activation of SupV BPNs is sufficient to induce bilateral masseter activation both during resting state and during chewing. These results provide evidence for SupV BPNs in tonically modulating jaw-closing muscle tone and in mediating bilateral jaw closing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We developed a method that combines retrograde lentiviruses with the split-intein-split-Cre system in mice to isolate, characterize, and manipulate neurons that project to both left and right jaw-closing motoneurons. We show that these bilaterally projecting premotor neurons (BPNs) reside primarily in the supratrigeminal nucleus and the rostral parvicellular and intermediate reticular nuclei. BPNs consist of both excitatory and inhibitory populations, and also project to multiple brainstem nuclei implicated in orofacial sensorimotor control. Manipulation of the supratrigeminal BPNs during natural jaw-closing behavior reveals a dual role for these neurons in eliciting phasic muscle activation and in maintaining basal muscle tone. The retrograde lentivirus carrying the split-intein-split-Cre system can be applied to study any neurons with bifurcating axons innervating two brain regions.


We show that the star-forming regions in high-redshift luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) and submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) have similar physical scales to those in local normal star-forming galaxies. To first order, their higher infrared (IR) luminosities result from higher luminosity surface density. We also find a good correlation between the IR luminosity and IR luminosity surface density in starburst galaxies across over five orders of magnitude of IR luminosity from local normal galaxies to z ∼ 2 SMGs. The intensely star-forming regions of local ULIRGs are significantly smaller than those in their high-redshift counterparts and hence diverge significantly from this correlation, indicating that the ULIRGs found locally are a different population from the high-redshift ULIRGs and SMGs. Based on this relationship, we suggest that luminosity surface density should serve as a more accurate indicator for the IR emitting environment, and hence the observable properties, of star-forming galaxies than their IR luminosity. We demonstrate this approach by showing that ULIRGs at z ∼ 1 and a lensed galaxy at z ∼ 2.5 exhibit aromatic features agreeing with local LIRGs that are an order of magnitude less luminous, but have similar IR luminosity surface density. A consequence of this relationship is that the aromatic emission strength in star-forming galaxies will appear to increase at z>1 for a given IR luminosity compared to their local counterparts.


In this thesis, fundamental properties of the turbulent ow above di erent wind-farm models were determined by means of wind-tunnel measurements. The assessed wind farms consisted in two staggered congurations, and two inline congurations, where two di erent streamwise spacings were evaluated. The experiment was focused on dense wind farms: the spacing in the spanwise direction was xed to approximately 3d (where d indicates the rotor diameters) for every case, and two streamwise spacings were used: 2.5d and 5d. Freelyrotating turbines were used to perform this experiment. The wind-turbine models had a diameter of 45 mm and a height of 85 mm from the ground to the top tip. The wind-farm models were placed one at a time inside the test section of the KTH NT2011 wind tunnel, where the inow was completely at, i.e there was no simulated atmospheric boundary layer. X-wire anemometry was the measurement technique to measure the streamwise and wall-normal velocities above the wind farms. From the results, it could be observed that close to the turbines, the streamwise mean velocity had variations in the spanwise direction for inline and staggered congurations, even deep downstream on the wind farms. Horizontal averages were applied to the data to account for the inhomogeneity of the properties above the wind farms. A scaling behaviour was found on the ow above all the wind farms studied: in order to have the streamwise mean velocity prole, all that was needed was the boundary layer thickness, the free-stream velocity, and the streamwise velocity close to the top tip of the turbines. Other scaling behaviours were found for the Reynolds stresses. The dispersive stresses above di erent wind farms did not scale with the friction velocity, since it was seen that these stresses are highly dependent on the wind farm layout. Therefore, it was concluded that Reynolds stresses and dispersive stresses cannot be compared to each other because they come from di erent scales: the small scales and the large velocity scales, respectively. An equation to estimate the friction velocity above wind farms was derived, requiring measurements of the angular velocity of the turbines, the free-stream velocity, and the mean velocities close to the tip of the turbines. Finally, it was found that the angular velocity of the turbines was 25 % higher for the staggered arrangement, when comparing it with an inline wind farm.