Part I. 1. The ability of extracts of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma to phosphoralate deoxyribonucleoside monophosphates was studied with a view to using this system as a means of preparing the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates on a large scale. 2. The extracts were found to be able to convert dAMP to dATP in 60% - 80% yield, dGMP to dGTP in 50% - 60% yield, dCMP to dCTP in about 15% yield TMP to TTP in about 1% yield. 3. A method for the preparation of dATP and dGTP on an large seals, using extracts of Ehrlich ascites carcincma, is described. Part II. 1. TTP was prepared from TMP in 18% yield by the method described by Smith and Khorana for the preparation of ATP from AMP. 2. An investigation of the purification led to several improvements. 3. This improved method (Method I) was used in the isolation of TTP-H3 prepared from TMP-H3 by the method of Smith and Khorann. An overall yield of 36% was obtained. 4. The effect on the yield of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate of deoreasing the ratio of the deoxyribonucleo-side memophosphate to the other constituents of the reaction mixture, was investigated. By using reaction mixture, involving twice and three times the amounts of the reactants used by Smith and Khorana for the same amount of deoxyribonucleoside monophosphate, greatly improved yields of the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates were obtained. 5. The effect on the yield of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate of reacting the deoxyribonuclcoside monophosphate in phosphate of reacting the deoxyribonuclcoside monophasphate in the from of the tri-n-butylammonium salt instead of an the free acid was also studied. Still futher improvements in the yields of the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates were obtained. TMP was converted to TTP in 92% yield, dAMP to dATP in 93% yield, dGMP to dGTP in 92% yield and dCMP to dCTP in 73% yield. 6. A charcoal column procedure for the simultaneous removal of lithium chloride and inorphanic polyphosphates from the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate solution obtained after anion exchange chromatography was developed and incorporated in Method I giving Method II. 7. TMP32 was prepared from thymidine by the methods of Rurwits and Tener. 8. The TMP32 thus obtained was converted, via the trin-butylammnium salt, to TTP in 90% yield and the TTP thus formed isolated by Method II in 70% yield. The specific activity of the TTP thus prepared was 1.0 x 1.5 x 10.


We all are experiencing heavy traffic in our metropolitan cities now a days. At such times it becomes very difficult for us to wait in heavy traffic jams. A solution to such conditions is given in our project, Dynamic traffic control using DIP n RFID sensors. At the traffic signals the count of the vehicles is taken (density count) and according to it, the duration of the traffic signal lights are modulated. Moreover for security purpose we are also using continues traffic monitoring and identification of the vehicle which has broken the signal is done using RFID sensors. Using GSM module and the data acquired from RFID module a penalty message is sent to the culprit with corresponding fine amount.


. . ABSTRACT A study examined the effects of verbal and perceptual dimensions of individual differences in relation to the efficacy of two different kinds of modeling procedures in the acquisition of a teaching skill (analytic questioning). Aptitude tests for cognitive factors plus specially developed audiovisual tests were administered to 121 intern teachers randomly assigned to three treatment groups: a film-mediated modeling treatment (a filmed portrayal of analytic questioning); a written modeling treatment (a text ofthe film sound track); and a control treatment which received no model, but went through all other steps ilcluding initial instructions and microteaching pretest and two cycles of models, rehearsal, and microteaching. The criterion performances assessed by trained raters included the frequency, variety, and quality of analytic questions used in three separate teaching sessions in addition to scores on two written posttests. Instructional treatment main effects as well as aptitude by treatment interactions were investigated using analysis of variance and comparison of regression slopes. Findings, which supported hypotheses, suggest that the rate and level of learning of a specific teaching strategy varies as a function of model presentation film-mediated modeling most effective: no modeling least effective); and that the, effectiveness of instructional methods varies from S to S with such differences being related to trainee aptitudes. (ED 017 985 and ED 028 982 are related documents.) (JS)


We present an on-line algorithm for maintaining a topological order of a directed acyclic graph as arcs are added, and detecting a cycle when one is created. Our algorithm takes O(m^{1/2}) amortized time per arc, where m is the total number of arcs. For sparse graphs, this bound improves the best previous bound by a logarithmic factor and is tight to within a constant factor for a natural class of algorithms that includes all the existing ones. Our main insight is that the bidirectional search method of previous algorithms does not require an ordered search, but can be more general. This allows us to avoid the use of heaps (priority queues) entirely. Instead, the deterministic version of our algorithm uses (approximate) median-finding. The randomized version of our algorithm avoids this complication, making it very simple. We extend our topological ordering algorithm to give the first detailed algorithm for maintaining the strong components of a directed graph, and a topological order of these components, as arcs are added. This extension also has an amortized time bound of O(m^{1/2}) per arc.


The seasonal population abundance of Rhynchites cribripennis (Desbrochers) adults on olive trees was studied by collecting samples from an olive grove on the island of Zakynthos, Greece, from April 1994 to the end of July 1995. Moreover, the population abundance of larvae, pupae, and adults of R. cribripennis was recorded in soil samples from two soil depths (0-4 and 4-8 cm) from October 1994 to October 1995. Results showed that adult populations increased considerably on trees during May and June and peaked on 16 June (19.9 adults per twig) and 8 July (7.7 adults per twig) in 1994 and 1995, respectively. In 1994, no significant differences were found in the number of adults sampled from the different tree quadrants (northwest [NW], northeast [NE], southwest [SW], and southeast [SE]). However, in 1995, adult numbers in the NW quadrant of trees were significantly higher than those in the SE or SW quadrants. In soil samples, larvae were recorded throughout the sampling period with the highest numbers occurring in December, 2.4 larvae per soil sample, whereas pupae were found in lowest numbers in October and November. Adults were present in the soil samples from December to May, but the highest numbers were recorded in December, with a peak of one adult per sample. The number of adults was significantly higher, and that of larvae numerically higher, in the upper compared with lower soil layer, whereas pupae were found with similar numbers in both soil layers. Results of these studies suggest that this weevil exhibits a prolonged larval diapause and a 2-yr life cycle. The ecological implications of this behavior are discussed. Moreover, a prediction of the highest adult population on trees was estimated by taking into account the rate of increase of adult numbers in the early period of adult occurrence on trees.


In the modern database environment, new non-traditional database types appear that are Not SQL database (NoSQL). This NoSQL database does not rely on the principles of the relational database. Couchdb is one of the NoSQL Document-Oriented databases, in Couchdb the basic element was a document. All types of databases have the same conceptual data model and it was deferent in the logical and physical model, this mean UML class diagram can be used in the NoSQL design at a conceptual level, that is, it can be used to design a Couchdb database. In this research, we suggest a method to model and implement the conceptual level of the Couchdb database from the UML class diagram in using simple way depending on the association types. Depending on the types of relationships between classes, we can have more than one database model to choose from and find the most suitable for the system to be designed. A medical clinic database was proposed to implement the transfer steps according to the proposed method. Three database models were designed and implemented to study the suitability of the proposed transfer method


One of the most severe events occurring in critically ill patients admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) center is represented by the multiple organ failure (MOF), a systemic inflammatory response leading to a progressive organ dysfunction and mortality in newborns. MOF may occur in newborns primarily affected by multiple single organ diseases, including respiratory distress syndrome neonatal sepsis with acute kidney injury, post-asphyxial hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection. In a previous article from our group, based on the histological examination of all organs at autopsy of newborns affected by MOF, all organs studied did not escape to be damaged, including thymus and pancreas normally not mentioned in the literature of MOF. The aim of this article is to review the most important pathological changes pathologists should look for in every case of MOF occurring in the perinatal period, with particular attention to systemic endothelial changes occurring in blood vessels in all organs and sytems. On the basis of our experience, matching data during the last phases of the clinicopathological diagnosis represents a useful method, much more productive as compared to the method based on giving pathological answers to the clinical questions prospected before autopsy. As for the pathological features observed in neonatal MOF, one of them deserves a particular attention: the vascular lesions, and in particular the multiple changes occurring during MOF development in endothelial cells, ending with the loss of the endothelial barrier, probably the most relevant histological lesion followed by the insurgence of interstitial edema and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Small vessels should be observed at high power, with particular attention to the size and shape of endothelial nuclei, in order to evidence endothelial swelling, probably the initial modification of the endothelial cells leading to their death. Finally, only the clinical pathological discussion may lead to a good diagnosis, correlating the morphological evidences with the clinical history and the sequence of clinical events that, at the best of our experience, are always different in a new case of MOF. Proceedings of the International Course on Perinatal Pathology (part of the 10 th International Workshop on Neonatology · October 22 nd -25 th , 2014) · Cagliari (Italy) · October 25 th , 2014 ·  The role of the clinical pathological dialogue in problem solving Guest Editors: Gavino Faa, Vassilios Fanos, Peter Van Eyken


In this paper, we address energy detection for M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals. In the literature deterministic signal model is widely used and detection probability is a function of signal energy. Unlike constant amplitude signals, the QAM signal is not deterministic since the energy in each QAM symbol can randomly vary. For random signals, model where both signal and noise are Gaussian has been widely used. However, this approximation may not provide accurate detection probability for QAM signals. Instead the detection probability should be averaged over the distribution of the energy. Previous work has considered calculating exact detection probability for given M analytically. However, the method presented previously has complexity that increases as a function of M and the number of samples.In this paper, we show that the distribution of observed energy for any M can be accurately approximated by one distribution which is derived analytically. Multiple numerical results showing probability density function, Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance, and detection probability are shown. Based on these results, a range where the proposed approximation is applicable is obtained.


The Asia, Pacific and Oceania (APO) region is the centre of diversity of many important species of crops, animals and livestock. Most of its resource-poor farmers depend on this agrobiodiversity for food security and livelihood. Agrobiodiversity in APO has served as the source of genetic materials that propelled the Green Revolution in the region. It has enabled continuous growth in productivity, allowing agriculture to cope with declining yield, emergence of pests and diseases and occurrence of abiotic stresses like drought and floods. Agrobiodiversity is also being explored in developing climate change ready crops for the future. In recent years, this agrobiodiversity has been threatened due to simplification of ecosystem and species, and planting of a few preferred varieties. Several countries have thus initiated programmes focusing on collecting, characterizing, evaluating, documenting and conserving the region's extant crop diversity. Approximately 900,000 accessions of the most important crops including wild relatives have been collected and maintained. However, these were not exhaustive. APO countries vary in their capacity to implement national genetic resource programmes, with 18 out of 45 countries having at least some kind of national coordination system. This has led to a situation where the collections are there but may not be viable anymore and hence can be lost forever. Nonetheless, APO's genetic resources are underutilized, with only a small portion of agrobiodiversity being used in genetic improvement programs or in agriculture. There are still many constraints to the greater use of genetic resources including the continuing under-investment in this area. To promote collaboration on the conservation and sustainable use of genetic diversity in APO, Bioversity International (formerly the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, IPGRI) organized regional and crop/plant networks. Recently, the different networks have been tapped by the Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust) in developing and implementing the regional strategy for conservation and utilization of crop diversity. Bioversity in APO is primarily responsible in coordinating the implementation of Bioversity's global programs aimed at improving livelihood, food security and better nutrition through conservation and utilization of genetic resources. The national programmes of member-countries are Bioversity's main partners in programme implementation. To respond to the aforementioned challenges these activities need immediate attention in the region: 1) review of priorities, 2) strengthen network collaboration, 3) enhance capacity development, 4) strengthen germplasm exchange and quarantine procedures, 5) promote use of new methodologies, 6) improve information and documentation system, 7) increase focus on underutilized crops, and 8) promote Global Plan of Action (GPA) implementation.


Nine strains of spiroplasma subgroup 1-3, which comprise the etiological agent of corn stunt disease, were similar in their serological properties. Strain E275T(T = type strain) was studied by using criteria proposed by the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology Subcommittee on Taxonomy of Mollicutes for descriptions of new mollicute species. This strain was shown to belong to the class Mollicutes by the ultrastructure of its limiting membrane, its procaryotic organization, its colonial morphology, and its filtration behavior and to the family Spiroplasmataceae by its helical morphology and motility. Although some serological cross-reactions with other group I spiroplasma strains was observed, strain E275Tcould be readily distinguished from representatives of other group I subgroups. Subgroup 1-3 spiroplasmas and other group I strains also differed in their one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel protein patterns, plant and insect host ranges, and pathogenicities. Growth in MIA or MID medium occurred at 20 to 30°C. Cholesterol was required for growth. Glucose was fermented, and arginine was catabolized. Subgroup 1-3 strains, including strain E275T, reacted with considerable homogeneity in deformation tests and were completely separable from strains belonging to subgroup I-1 (Spiroplasma citri) and subgroup I-2 (Spiroplasma melliferum). Strain E275Twas also serologically distinct from subgroups I-4 through I-8, Spiroplasma floricola (group III), Spiroplasma apis (group IV), Spiroplasma mirum (group V), and representative strains of spiroplasma groups II and VI through XI. The deoxyribonucleic acid of strain E275Thybridized with the deoxyribonucleic acid of S. citri at significant levels (33 to 68%, depending on the technique used). These results demonstrate that strain E275Tand similar strains meet the criteria proposed by the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology Subcommittee for elevation of spiroplasma subgroups to species. We propose that such strains be named Spiroplasma kunkelii. Strain E275Thas been deposited in the American Type Culture Collection as strain ATCC 29320T.


Granular cell tumors involving multiple bronchial and extrapulmonary sites were found in a young man. Carbon dioxide laser ray was applied through a specially fitted rigid bronchoscope to a lesion at the left mainstem bronchus. Serial follow-up bronchoscopies revealed a white scarred plaque without evidence of regrowth. A partially obstructing lesion at the left lower lobe bronchus did not respond to one application of laser therapy. Laser treatment of proximal benign bronchial lesions is feasible; however, peripheral lesions may require several courses of laser therapy.


Alternating field and thermal demagnetization of dolomite samples from the Silurian (Llandovery) horizontally-bedded sequence of central Estonia reveal two secondary magnetization components (A and B) both of chemical origin. A low-coercivity (demagnetized at Ł50 mT) component A (D = 60.7°, I = 7.7°, a95 = 16.6°) with high dispersion (k = 14.2), yields a palaeopole at 18.2°N and 139.5°E that points towards the Late Devonian -- Mississipian segment of the Baltica APWP (Apparent Polar Wander Path). A high-coercivity component B (D = 13.5°, I = 60.7°, k = 67.0, a95 = 4.7°) carries both normal and reversed polarities. Comparing the palaeopole (71.1°N and 173.3°E) with the European APWP reveals a Cretaceous age. These two remagnetizations are linked to mineral assemblages of magnetite and maghemite (A), and hematite (B) determined from mineralogical (X-ray, SEM and optical microscopy) and rock magnetic (acquisition and thermal demagnetization of a 3-component IRM; Lowrie-test) studies. The results suggest that the first (A) Palaeozoic remagnetization was caused by low-temperature hydrothermal circulation due to the influence of the Caledonian (more likely) or Hercynian Orogeny after the diagenetic dolomitization of carbonates. Hematite, carrying the component B, and goethite, are the latest ferromagnetic minerals that have precipitated into the existing pore space (hematite) and walls of microscopic fractures (goethite) that opened to allow access for oxygen-rich fluids during the Late Mesozoic.


The effect of surface treatment on the rheological properties of 20 and 40 wt.% short glass fibre reinforced polypropylenes (GF/PP) and of the same composites containing maleic anhydride modified polypropylene (GF/mPP/PP) were investigated. Glass fibres were surface-treated by aminosilane coupling agent (ASC, γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane). Steady state shear and dynamic properties in the molten state were measured using a cone and plate type rotational viscometer. Surface treatment increased the rheological properties of the molten composites. This trend was more pronounced for composites containing modified PP. In the case of the GF/PP materials the increase was monotonous for all measured functions, while in the case of the GF/mPP/PP ones, the parameters representing elasticity showed peaks at 0.5 wt.% ASC. The Cox-Merz empirical law was found to be applicable to untreated GF/PP and GF/mPP/PP composites at low shear rates (angular frequencies), where the materials showed Newtonian plateaux. As for ASC surface treated materials, GF/mPP/PP followed the same trend. On the other hand, GF/PP exhibited a higher complex viscosity than the steady state shear one over the whole range of angular frequencies (shear rate) covered by the experiments. Surface treatment enhanced apparent yield stress, as did increasing the glass fibre content. The effect of the latter was more pronounced in the case of the GF/mPP/PP series. The viscosities of the re-mixed composites became lower than those of the original ones, and the difference between untreated and ASC treated systems was detectable only in the case of the complex viscosity of the GF/mPP/PP sample.


This paper shares a practice of encouraging critical analysis in science students by comparing mobile applications and peripherals to traditional tools to record physiological variables such as heart rate and blood pressure. A progressive series of case studies is described with learning outcomes mapped to the benchmark statement for Bioscience from the United Kingdom's Quality Assurance Agency. A student reflection and staff commentary of the practice is also offered.


Background . Osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes are common comorbidities in postmenopausal women. An important role in the bone remodeling over the menopausal transition can be played by cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). It was shown that allelic variants in polymorphic positions of the genes of cytokines and MMPs affect the expression of these molecules under normal and pathological conditions. Aims . To examine associations between polymorphisms in the gene promoters of cytokines (TNFA, IL1B, IL4, IL6, IL10, VEGFA) and MMPs (MMP2, MMP3, MMP9) with bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. Materials and methods . We studied 197 Caucasian diabetic women, from 50 to70 years of age. An examination of BMD in the spine, proximal femur and forearm was performed by DEXA. Thirteen polymorphisms in the promoters of TNFA: -238 A/G (rs361525), -308 A/G(rs1800629) and -863 C/A (rs1800630), IL1B: -31 C/T (rs1143627), IL4: -590 C/T (rs2243250), IL6: -174 C/G (rs1800795), IL10: -592 C/A (rs1800872) and -1082 A/G (rs1800896), VEGFA: -2578 C/A (rs699947) and +936 C/T (rs3025039), MMP2: -1306 C/T (rs243865), MMP3: -1171 5A/6A (rs3025058) and MMP9: -1562 C/T (rs3918242), were investigated. Results . Seventy-three women had normal BMD, in 90 ones we revealed osteopenia, and 34 women had osteoporosis. Age, BMI and smoking were strongest predictors of BMD in multivariate regression analysis (p<0.0001, p=0.003 and p=0.01, respectively). In the additive model, C allele and CC genotype in MMP9 -1562 position were associated with low BMD (OR 2.16, p=0.0007 and OR 2.02, p=0.0008, respectively). Association of the polymorphism with BMD remained significant after adjustment for clinical risk factors (p<0.001). Twelve combinations of genotypes, associated positively with low BMD, were revealed by bioinformatic analysis (all p<0.005). The СС genotype in position -1562 of MMP9, CC genotype in position -863 of TNFA, GG genotype in position -308 of TNFA, and AA genotype in position -1082 of IL10 were the most prevalent variants in these combinations. Conclusions . Variability in the gene promoters of cytokines and MMPs may confer individual susceptibility to osteoporosis in postmenopausal type 2 diabetic women.


Abstract. The pattern of streamflow recession after rain events offers clues about the relationship between watershed runoff (observable as river discharge) and water storage (not directly observable) and can help in water resource assessment and prediction. However, there have been few systematic assessments of how streamflow recession varies across flow rates and how it relates to independent assessments of terrestrial water storage. We characterized the streamflow recession pattern in 61 relatively undisturbed small watersheds (1–100 km2) across the coterminous United States with multiyear records of hourly streamflow from automated gauges. We used the North American Regional Reanalysis to help identify periods where precipitation, snowmelt, and evaporation were small compared to streamflow. The order of magnitude of the recession timescale increases from 1 day at high flow rates (~1 mm h−1) to 10 days at low flow rates (~0.01 mm h−1), leveling off at low flow rates. There is significant variability in the recession timescale at a given flow rate between basins, which correlates with climate and geomorphic variables such as the ratio of mean streamflow to precipitation and soil water infiltration capacity. Stepwise multiple regression was used to construct a six-variable predictive model that explained some 80 % of the variance in recession timescale at high flow rates and 30–50 % at low flow rates. Seasonal and interannual variability in inferred storage shows similar time evolution to regional-scale water storage variability estimated from GRACE satellite gravity data and from land surface modeling forced by observed meteorology, but is up to a factor of 10 smaller. Study of this discrepancy in the inferred storage amplitude may provide clues to the range of validity of the recession curve approach to relating runoff and storage.


In the present study we try to examine the exchange rate changes and  financial flexibility as the economic stable indexes on the financial leverage  use in the companies so the main issue in this study is to define the financial leverage relation with  exchange rate changes and financial flexibility. That is why 88 companies of the companies listed in Tehran stock exchange in 2005–2011. The study type is descriptive–correlative and the multivariable linear regression was used to analyze the data. The findings from the hypotheses test state there is a significant relation between financial leverage and financial flexibility while there isn't relation between financial leverage and exchange rate changes.


In the deep disposal of radioactive waste, the presence of several barriers serving complementary safety functions enhances confidence that the waste will be isolated and contained to protect human health and the environment. The barriers include the natural geological barrier and the engineered barrier system (EBS). The EBS itself may comprise a variety of sub-systems or components, such as the waste form, container, buffer, backfill, seals and plugs. These proceedings include the main findings and presented papers from the third NEA-EC workshop on engineered barrier systems, which focused on the role of EBS modelling in the safety case for deep disposal.  The workshop examined the modelling tools currently available and identified complex areas of assessment in which further dialogue is needed.


The objective of this article is to explore how education for innovation of our young people may help develop an innovative mindset. The article develops the theoretical justification of a skills set which, it is argued, is fundamental for the development of an innovative mindset of young people, and consequently their personal development. We focus here on the qualitative work – focus groups and interviews with teaching staff and students aged 14–19 years – that informed our understanding of the five characteristics of this mindset; leadership, creativity, self-efficacy, energy and risk-propensity. The research attempted to capture the differences in context, constraints and school types and ethos that potentially shaped behavioural expression. Case studies based on types of school revealed detailed differences in context – regional, local and personal – that shaped students' engagement and their innovative behaviour in particular. The paper also reflects on teaching style, extracurricular opportunities for skills' development and student motivation to acquire an innovation skills set. The paper reflects on practical and policy implications of this work and identifies areas for further research.


This essay examines syntactic variation between Complement–Verb (XV) and Verb–Complement (VX) order in a corpus of Middle Norwegian texts written between 1250 and 1525. In comparison to traditional studies which relate word order variation and the subsequent loss of XV word order to overt case morphology, this analysis proposes that information structure and variation in the underlying structure of the VP play a significant role. Empirical data point to the interaction of endogenous and exogenous factors, including language contact between Norwegian and Danish, which ultimately brings about the decline of XV word order in 15th-century Norwegian.


The lift-generated wake vortices trailing behind an aircraft present a danger to aircraft following the same or a nearby path. The degree of hazard to the following aircraft depends on the nature of the wake encountered in its flight path and on the ability of the aircraft to counter its effects. This report describes the current state of understanding of the factors that influence the motion and dissipation of wake vortices. The relationships of these factors to parameters that are measurable through meteorological sensors and from a priori knowledge of the vortex generating aircraft characteristics are discussed as an aid to structuring development plans for the creation of wake vortex advisory products by the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) and by special wake vortex sensors.


The mechanism of the formation of coumarins via the Pd-catalyzed intramolecular hydroarylation of the C-C triple bond is elucidated computationally, in corroboration with experimental data. It is shown that the reaction follows the concerted metalation-deprotonation (CMD) mechanism. The typically suspected mechanisms of ambiphilic metal ligand activation (AMLA), electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS), and oxidative addition (OA) are suggested to be non-competitive, based on predicted conformations and energetics. Two forms of the Pd catalysts are used: Pd(OAc)2, and Pd(TFA)2. The predicted activation free energy barrier for the TFA-based catalyst is lower, both in the gas phase and in the CH2Cl2 solvent, in agreement with the experimental observations. Adding electron-withdrawing groups to the catalyst assists the first and rate-limiting step of the reaction, the deprotonation of the aromatic ring, as understood through charge analysis.


The senior authors of the above article [Norman AB, Tabet MR, Norman MK, Fey BK, Tsibulsky VL, and Millard RW (2011) J Pharmacol Exp Ther 338:724–728; doi: https:// doi.org/10.1124/jpet.111.183244], Andrew B. Norman and Vladimir L. Tsibulsky, have recently identified data entry and data analysis errors. In Fig. 2 the data points presented did not correspond to the original data files for the representative sessions shown. The data in the corrected Fig. 2 are from the original session files. These sessions did not have the same magnitudes of maximum response, as shown in the published figure, but the time tomaximal effect (Tmax) for each antagonist used is largely independent of the dose over the ranges of antagonist doses used in these studies. Therefore, in the corrected Fig. 2 given below, the ordinate axis is normalized to a percent of the maximumeffect for each session defined by the best fit model shown by the line through each data set. The data included in Fig. 3 were reanalyzed. The updated Tmax values were plotted against the log D at pH 7 (retrieved from the CAS registry database) instead of the calculated log D at pH 7.4. The linear regression line has a correlation coefficient of 0.0237 and p 5 0.693, indicating there was no correlation between the two sets of values as was stated in the original paper. We were unable to verify which sessions were used to generate the mean 6 SEM Tmax values nor the values used to generate themean6 SEM antagonistKi orKd values shown in Fig. 4. Consequently, the Tmax values for the antagonists used for the correlation in Fig. 4 were reanalyzed from the original data, but using all sessions across a range of antagonist doses that generated ameasurablemaximum response. The number of rats used is shown in parentheses as is the total number of sessions used to generate themean6SEMTmax values for each antagonist and the range of doses used is also shown: spiperone (13, 49), 40 – 150 nmol/kg; nemonapride (5, 9), 10 – 15 nmol/kg; eticlopride (8, 13), 15 – 30 nmol/kg; haloperidol (8, 33), 40 – 300 nmol/kg; thioridazine (4, 8), 5,000 – 9,000 nmol/kg; triflupromazine (6, 16), 50-750 nmol/kg; olanzapine (12, 35), 200 – 2,000; aripiprazole (6, 50), 100 – 800 nmol/kg; molindone (4, 14), 400 – 1,500 nmol/kg. The authors apologize for these errors. The reanalyzed data are consistent with the conclusions of the original published paper. An investigation by the University of Cincinnati has determined that AB Norman, MK Norman, BK Fey, VL Tsibulsky, and RWMillard did not take part in and were unaware of any inappropriate data handling. The authors acknowledge the efforts of Hanna N. Wetzel in the data reanalysis.


Judges are society's elders and experts, our masters and mediators. We depend on them to dispense justice with integrity, deliberation, and efficiency. Yet judges, as Alexander Hamilton famously noted, lack the power of the purse or the sword. They must rely almost entirely on their reputations to secure compliance with their decisions, obtain resources, and maintain their political influence. In Judicial Reputation, Nuno Garoupa and Tom Ginsburg show how reputation is not only an essential quality of the judiciary as a whole, but also of individual judges. Perceptions of judicial systems around the world range from widespread admiration to utter contempt, and as judges participate within these institutions some earn respect, while others are scorned. Transcending the conventional lenses of legal culture and tradition that are used to analyze this variation, Garoupa and Ginsburg approach the subject through their long-standing research on the economics of judiciary information and status, examining the fascinating effects that governmental interactions, multi-court systems, extrajudicial work, and the international rule-of-law movement have on the reputations of judges in this era.


Spoofing attacks are one of the approaching threats in open source networks where the attacks are beyond the scrutinizing range. Spoofing attacks can be localized and based on localization; it can be eradicated such that the spoofer is over whelmed in a particular network coverage region. The previous approaches based on frequency face a storm when the number of data transferred from source to destination is not constant. The TOA fails in examining the exact location of the spoofer. The new approach of DALD (Distance based Attack Localization and Detection) is a counter measure to the spoofing and a methodology to overcome the drawbacks of the existing frequency based approaches.


This study presents a typology of innovative small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) based on their anticipated returns to an investment in the commercialisation of an innovation. A large multi-country sample was surveyed in relation to the process of commercialisation. A discriminant analysis identified four distinct groups based on their anticipated returns from the innovation, and how systematic they were in their process of commercialisation. The findings suggest that differences exist between firms in relation to age, size, R&D intensity, preference for project financing, treatment of intellectual property and the novelty of the innovation. Younger firms were more likely to have higher anticipated innovation returns, but a less systematic commercialisation processes. Adolescent firms were more systematic and more optimistic over returns. However, as firms matured and increased in size their commercialisation process became more systematic, but their anticipated returns more subdued. Older firms were both unsystematic and anticipating low returns.


Thickness effects on thermal conductivities of black phosphorus nanosheets, which are anisotropic in the zigzag and armchair planar directions, are experimentally and theoretically investigated in the thickness range of 13 to 48 nm. The thermal conductivities decrease with the thickness, decreasing from 13 to 8 W m-1 K-1 in the zigzag direction and from 10 to 6 W m-1 K-1 in the armchair direction at 300 K, respectively. The anisotropic thermal conductivities, regardless of the thickness, might result from the anisotropic phonon velocity arising from the hinge-like structure. The surface-driven suppression of the thermal conductivities at a nanometer scale is remarkable for a wide temperature range of 100 to 300 K due to phonon-boundary scattering, while the thermal conductivity becomes less dependent on the thickness at higher temperatures above 300 K, owing to the dominant phonon-phonon scattering.

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Background: Hidden Curriculum (HC) plays an essential role in nursing education and professionalism. However, its positive consequences have been overlooked. Thus, this study aimed to explore and discuss the positive consequences of HC in nursing undergraduate education. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted to investigate articles published between January 2010 and December 2020. Furthermore, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to select articles, and Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative research (COREQ) and Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) tools were employed to appraise qualitative and quantitative studies, respectively. The applied search strategy resulted in a final list of 16 articles out of a total of 132 articles. Next, the data were integrated and categorized using the Whittemore and Knafl methodology. Results: Three categories were identified: Individual Consequences; involving increased self-confidence, self-esteem, assertiveness, adaptation, autonomy, and lifelong learning. Social Consequences; involving enhanced socialization, cultural consciousness, and social interactions. Professional Consequences; involving professional socialization, professional identity, professional ethics, link theory and practice, and professional dignity. Conclusions: Altogether, we concluded that the emergence of HC and its positive and remarkable consequences in nursing knowledge helps the personal, social, and professional development in nursing.


Ascorbic acid appears to have two opposite roles in animal tissues: to act as an antioxidant or to act as a prooxidant. The effects of ascorbic acid supplementation on the tissue antioxidant status seem to be dependent on the dose of ascorbic acid and the vitamin E status. Adequate doses of ascorbic acid supplementation to vitamin E-deficient subjects or animals help to partially maintain vitamin E levels, probably through sparing the degradative metabolism of vitamin E, and thus increase the antioxidant effectiveness. The sparing effect of ascorbic acid on vitamin E metabolism is also shown in the partial reversal of the manifestation of vitamin E deficiency. On the other hand, when the animals are marginally adequate in vitamin E status, ascorbic acid supplementation in large doses appears to promote lipid peroxidation and significantly decreases the antioxidant potential of animals. An increase of the level of vitamin E supplementation overcomes the prooxidant effect of large doses of ascorbic acid. This observation suggests that vitamin E requirement may be increased with a large dose of ascorbic acid supplementation.


The over treatment of prostate cancer patients is a significant concern, as recent clinical trials suggest that many patients are over treated which can lead to significant patient morbidity. Although the Gleason score is a powerful predictor of lethal or indolent disease, a significant proportion (∼40%) of men present with early stage Gleason score (GS) 7 tumors, for whom prognosis is variable. The goal of this study is to develop and optimize a robust prognostic gene signature that can be utilized on formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) core biopsy tumor material to better classify patients with intermediate risk, GS 7 tumors into good and poor outcome groups. Three gene signatures were derived from publicly available gene expression profiles of the Swedish Watchful Waiting cohort. The Genomic Grade Index consisted of the top 25 molecular signatures discriminating between high (8, 9 & 10) and low (≤ 6) GS tumors. The Lethal Gene Score consisted of the top 25 molecular signatures discriminating between lethal and indolent disease within GS 7 tumors only. A network-based gene signature consisted of 88 genes which accurately stratified GS 7 patients into high risk and low risk groups, resembling the survival curves of high GS and low GS patients. The prognostic capacity of the combined gene signature was tested in silico on the gene expression profiles of the Mayo cohort. Results demonstrated the gene signature9s highly robust capacity for differentiating low risk and high risk patients within GS 7 patients. The NanoString nCounter System will be used to quantify mRNA from prostate FFPE blocks to assess the expression of the 138 prognostic genes. 156 archived prostate tumor blocks will be collected from intermediate risk, GS 7 patients enrolled in the 2005 PR5 prostate trial, which also collected 12 years of clinical follow-up information. Results will be correlated with biochemical (PSA) failure rates and overall survival. In short, our findings provide proof-of-principle that through the use of gene signatures it is possible to separate prostate cancer patients of intermediate risk into good and poor outcome groups. Furthermore, they also identify multiple gene candidates whose expression could likely be formulated into a clinically applicable assay, the implementation of which could serve to stratify prostate cancer patients with tumors of intermediate risk into more accurate high and low risk groups. Citation Format: Brian Li, Robin Hallet, Ying Wu, Greg Pong, John Hassell, Sebastien Hotte, Mark Levine, Himansu Lukka, Anita Bane. Prognostic gene signature for intermediate risk prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4346. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4346


Background 3D tumor microtissues or spheroids are widely accepted as a more representative biological model in phenotypic drug discovery. Size and morphology are important determinants to evaluate the biological behavior of 3D spheroids, particularly in development of anti-cancer drugs where monitoring cell growth is a particularly critical endpoint. The increasing number of applications of 3D tumor spheroids as an in vitro model for drug discovery requires their adaptation to large-scale screening formats in every step of a drug screen, including high-throughput image analysis. In this study, we assessed the growth and morphology changes of HCT116 colorectal cancer spheroids in response to two chemotherapy drugs-gemcitabine and docetaxel- using a high throughput, bright-field spheroid imager (Cell3iMager, SCREEN Holdings Ltd., Inc.). Methods Tumor spheroids consisting of the HCT116 colorectal cancer cell line were aggregated in InSphero9s GravityPLUS™ plate (a scaffold-free hanging drop platform). The aggregated spheroids were transferred into a GravityTRAP™ plate prior to dosing. Spheroids were dosed with anti-cancer drugs-gemcitabine and docetaxel (0.8-20nM) at day 0 and re-dosed at day 3. The plates were scanned and spheroid size and morphology were analyzed daily for 7 days. Endpoint analysis of ATP content was carried out at day 7 utilizing a luminescence-based ATP assay (CellTiter-Glo® 2.0 Assay, Promega) Results HCT116 spheroids were measured daily for 7 days to determine dose-response effects of gemcitabine and docetaxel treatment (0.8-20nM) on spheroid area (um 2 ). A size increase was observed for the control and the lowest compound concentration treated spheroids whereas the spheroid growth was inhibited at the higher concentrations tested (>4nM). Among the tested compounds, HCT116 spheroids showed less sensitivity to docetaxel compared to gemcitabine. At day 7 the treatment with 20nM gemcitabine resulted in more than 50% reduction in tumor area (um2) which was positively correlated with the decrease in cell viability, determined by ATP content. Using HCT116 tumor microtissues cultured in InSphero9s GravityTRAP™ plates, we demonstrate that the measurement of tumor size with the Cell3iMager could be a suitable endpoint compared to that of ATP content for drug induced cytotoxicity in tumor spheroids, without lysing cells or otherwise interfering with long term culture of spheroids. Conclusions Label-free measurement of changes in 3D microtissue size and morphology using the Cell3iMager enables efficient assessment of phenotypic endpoints without disrupting tumor growth, and can be used to focus selection of therapeutic targets and treatment strategies before costly and tedious testing in animal models. Citation Format: Leena Mol Thuruthippallil, Jens M. Kelm, David Fluri. High-throughput, bright-field imaging of 3D tumor spheroid growth and morphology for therapeutic and efficacy screening: A study using chemotherapeutic compounds. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2015 Nov 5-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(12 Suppl 2):Abstract nr B75.


This paper develops a spectral element model for elastic-elastic two-layered beams. First, the axial-bending coupled equations of motion for an elastic two-layer laminated beam are derived. The spectral element model is then formulated by using the wave solutions satisfying governing equations in frequency-domain as the frequency-dependent shape functions. The spectral element model is finally applied to a cantilevered elastic-elastic two-layered beam as an illustrative problem. The high accuracy of the present spectral element model is verified by comparing the SEM results with those obtained by conventional FEM.


Courts seeking the most likely intent of contracting parties should interpret contracts according to Bayes's rule. The best interpretation of a contract reflects both the prior likelihood (base rate) of a pair of contracting parties having a given intention and the probability that the contract would be written as it is given that intention. If the base rate of the intention associated with the simplest reading of the contract is low, then Bayes's rule implies that the simplest reading is not necessarily the interpretation of the contract that most likely captures the intention of the parties. The Bayesian framework explains when default rules should be more or less sticky and helps to define the appropriate role of boilerplate language in contractual interpretation.


Background. The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) is a newly developed instrument to assess music perception and memory, associated to temporal lobe functioning. The non-symptomatic temporal lobe epilepsy is a prevalent condition in Mexico, and it gives an opportunity to test the MBEA, considering the fact that epileptic seizures can cause neuropsychological impairment according to lobar localization and hemispherical lateralization of the epileptogenic foci. Objective. To explore the psychometric and diagnostic properties of the MBEA. Method. Two non-probabilistic samples of 31 control subjects and 22 cases with non-symptomatic temporal lobe epilepsy were assessed with the MBEA. Data from the original validation were used to compare with the control group. Results. Analysis with t test showed significantly lower performances in the case group relative to controls, and a general lower performance of controls compared to the norm. There was no significant difference in performance between cases with left epileptogenic foci and cases with right epileptogenic foci. ROC curve analysis showed questionable properties of sensitivity and specificity in the MBEA. Discussion and conclusion. Impairments in music perception were found in cases, although theoretical inconsistences with respect to relation between impaired functions were also detected. The performance of the control group relative to the norm aims to the continuation of the validation process, considering cultural differences. The MBEA seems to be a poor measure in terms of sensibility and specificity for the detection of amusic impairments in subjects with non-symptomatic temporal lobe epilepsy, and its utility for determining hemispheric lateralization of epileptogenic foci remains uncertain.


Mega-engineering projects in the construction industry are generally carried out by public–private partnership models with the participation of different stakeholders. This paper aims to identify the effect of stakeholder-associated risks on the success of mega-engineering projects. Therefore, the risks were determined and then validated by focus discussions. Afterwards, an illustrative case study was presented to better understand the effects. Finally, a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process method was used to prioritize the identified risks. The prominent risks were found to include "improper partner selection," "inadequate relationships with employer," and "incompetent contractor selection." Engineering managers need to work in close coordination with all members of the project. To better manage projects, engineering managers are expected to be familiar with the concepts of project risk management, because effective project risk management has a direct and positive effect on project management performance. Professionals in the field of engineering management can benefit greatly from the findings of this study by using it as a baseline for coordinating the relationships in multistakeholder organizational structures and analyzing stakeholder-associated risks throughout their projects.


The belt conveyor is a transporting machine by friction in a continuous manner. The two order helical gearing reducer may be generally used as conveyor transmission, and can reduce speed and increase torque of belt. The objective function may be specified that that total center distance of the reducer incline to minimum, so the optimization model including the property and boundary constraints is created. Then the objective function with penalty terms is converted by penalty strategy with addition type, so as to transform the constrained optimization into the unconstrained optimization model. Considering the problem of low efficiency and local optimum caused by standard optimization methods, the simulated annealing algorithm is adopted to solve the optimization model of Belt Conveyor Transmission, and neural network method is applied to fit relative coefficient, then BFGS Quasi-Newton method is recalled automatically when the setting working precision is achieved again. So that the optimization process is simplified and global optimum is acquired reliably.


Libraries at Seventh-day Adventist affiliated colleges and universities collect their denominational materials exhaustively. Many use the Library of Congress Classification Scheme (LCC). The challenge is that these exhaustive collections must fit in a classification scheme based on a general collection that does not typically hold much on this topic. LCC uses BX6151-6155 for Seventh-day Adventists. Following the LCC notation without modification or expansion results in the proliferation of decimals, impeding both library users and staff. When a number of institutions share this same need, finding a standard notation they all can use is a mutual benefit. This paper reports on the development of a modification and expansion to LCC to address this need for libraries with exhaustive collections of Seventh-day Adventist books. This scheme follows a different method than the other denominational collections that have published an expanded or modified LCC to meet their purposes. The method has proven functional and collaborative efforts have made the scheme a success for libraries using it. This method may be of use to other small and highly specialized denominational collections in the LCC class BX.


The main objective of this descriptive-correlational study was to determine the effectiveness of career development program on employee job satisfaction and retention of 35 non –teaching staff drawn from the different colleges at the University of Perpetual Help System Laguna. The study showed that career coaching and mentoring helps employees to work with others more easily and productively. Guidance and counseling help clarify their goals and how it will contribute to the organization's overall goals and objectives and that Career Development Program is mainly a function of Human Resources Department.  Likewise, Career planning is an integral part of employee training and development and it helps them identify the skills they need to meet future job requirements, and that job rotation improves employees' planning and organization skills. Furthermore, employees' training program is aligned with their career development. The study also showed that employees are satisfied with their work because they have the opportunity to learn and grow with the organization, likewise employees are willing to stay with the organization because of good opportunities and career growth.  The more effective the perceived effect of the company's development program the more satisfied they would be in their training and development, the higher the level of satisfaction, the more the employee agree to the factors affecting employee retention and the more effective their company's career development program the more they agree in career planning and training and development.


Sir .—Dr Heifer's editorial "Primary Care: Does It Belong in Pediatrics?" 1 was indeed thought provoking and very much to the point. As a faculty member of a university division of general pediatrics (pediatric generalist with subspecialty in developmental pediatrics), I can readily agree with Dr Helfer on most of his points. However, I all too often am privy to the confessions of pediatric residents who explain their decisions to pursue one of the more lucrative tertiary subspecialties because they have decided they "simply cannot afford to practice primary care." I believe Dr Helfer was in error when he compared the pediatrician's otoscope to the plumber's roto-rooter. Recently, I was grateful when the plumber's assistant relieved the impaction in our bathtub drain with the help of his "hi-tech gimmick," but my gratitude was somewhat short of ecstatic when this young high school dropout presented me with a bill for $60


ABSTRACT Financialization influenced the Turkish economy and housing industry mostly through financial liberalization moves and soaring capital inflows. It both increased household liabilities and mortgage loans dramatically and offered various facilities for the housing industry. Relevant legal regulations not only helped the Turkish housing industry prosper but also eased its integration into the national and global financial system. In addition, political implications constituted a strong motivation for governments to attach special importance to the housing industry. I examine housing financialization as an integral part of the accumulation model of the Turkish economy and argue that the housing industry lies at the very heart of the contradictions of this model. The large-scale capital inflows both intensified the dependency on foreign resources and increased the role of the domestic demand. This is the main contradiction of the accumulation model; it manifests itself in the interest rate dilemma and is also critical for housing financialization in Turkey because the characteristics of this model are especially valid for the housing industry. Moreover, not only do the contradictions of the accumulation model disrupt the housing industry, but also the characteristics of the housing industry contribute to the disruption of this model.


The authors propose a working scheme to choose the method of treatment of diaphyseal fractures of segments of the upper and lower extremities with an obligatory application of perosseous osteosynthesis by the Ilizarov apparatus in combination with other curative measures. The scheme described was used in 26 patients and gave good anatomical and functional results.


At the end of last year, Bowker‐Saur published Information UK 2000 on behalf of the British Library. This is the report of an attempt to forecast the most significant developments in the way information would be generated, handled, stored and used over the next decade, and to assess their possible impact. A number of experts were invited to express their views as to the likely changes and developments in their areas of expertise which could have an impact on the library and information world. These experts were organised into Task Forces, each considering a specific theme. The experts first prepared individual forecasts, which were combined within each Task Force, by one member acting as coordinator, to provide a consolidated forecast for each theme. The Task Force reports were then combined, together with inputs from other studies, to produce a final report constituting a global forecast covering the whole of the field.


Finite element method (FEM) was used for planar ablation problem of heat protection materials based on thermal analysis. ANSYS, a commercial FEM code, was employed for modeling and calculating, and material deleting and boundary moving problems were solved with its advanced techniques. Various heat flux (HF) densities ranging from 1 to 10 MW/m2 as thermal loads were investigated to the effects of heat conduction and ablation, respectively. The results showed that a sudden thermal load can cause great temperature rise and high thermal gradient near the surface of the material. The ablative quantity and ablation rate were also calculated, and mathematical models have been deduced for them.


The inter-subject alignment of functional MRI (fMRI) data is important for improving the statistical power of fMRI group analyses. In contrast to existing anatomically-based methods, we propose a novel multi-subject algorithm that derives a functional correspondence by aligning spatial patterns of functional connectivity across a set of subjects. We test our method on fMRI data collected during a movie viewing experiment. By cross-validating the results of our algorithm, we show that the correspondence successfully generalizes to a secondary movie dataset not used to derive the alignment.


Online financial news sources continuously publish information about actors involved in the Norwegian financial market. These are often short messages describing temporal relations. However, the amount of information is overwhelming and it requires a great effort to stay up to date on both the latest news and historical relations. Therefore it would have been advantageous to automatically analyse the information. In this report we present a framework for identifying actors and relations between them. Text mining techniques are employed to extract the relations and how they evolve over time. Techniques such as part of speech tagging, named entity identification, along with traditional information retrieval and information extraction methods are employed. Features extracted from the news articles are represented as vectors in a vector space. The framework employs the feature vectors to identify and describe relations between entities in the financial market. A qualitative evaluation of the framework shows that the approach has promising results. Our main finding is that vector representations of features have potential for detecting relations between actors, and how these relations evolve. We also found that the approach taken is dependent on an accurate identification of named entities.


Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is rare transmissible spongiform encephalopathy caused by abnormal, host-encoded prion proteins that accumulate in the central nervous tissue. CJD occurs in 3 forms: sporadic, familial and acquired (iatrogenic and variant). Six different molecular subtypes (MM1, MM2, MV1, MV2, VV1, and VV2) of sporadic CJD (sCJD) have been identified by genotype at codon 129. The VV1 type represents one of the rarest subtyp es. In contrast to the classic sCJD types, these patients are characterized by young age at onset, and slowly progressive dementia. Our case illustrates that sCJD VV1 subtype can have a rapid progression. A 50 year old Caucasian presented with memory loss and personality changes. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed increased signal intensity in the grey mater of cerebral cortex. Brain biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of sCJD VV1 subtype. Currently there is no effective treatment and patient succumbed to death within 3 months of presentation.  doi:10.4021/jmc221w


In contrast to traditional steel and aluminum, short fiber reinforced polymer composites (SFRCs) provide promising alternatives in material selection for automotive and aerospace applications due to their potential to decrease weight while maintaining excellent mechanical properties. However, uncertainties about the influence of complex microstructures and defects on mechanical response have prevented widespread adoption of material models forSFRCs. In order to build confidence in models' predictions requires deepened insight into the heterogenous damage mechanisms. Therefore, this research takes a micro-mechanics standpoint of assessing the damage behavior of SFRCs, particularly micro-void nucleation at the fiber tips, by passing information of microstructural attributes within neighborhoods of incipient damage and non-damage sites, into a framework that establishes correlations between the microstructural information and damage. To achieve this, in-situ x-ray tomography of the gauge sections of two cylindrical injection molded dog-bone specimens, composed of E-glass fibers in a polypropylene matrix, was conducted while the specimens were monotonically loaded until failure. This was followed by (i) the development of microstructural characterization frameworks for segmenting fiber and porosity features in 3D images, (ii) the development of a digital volume correlation informed damage detection framework that confines search spaces of potential damage sites, and (iii) the use of a Gaussian process classification framework to explore the dependency of micro-void nucleation on neighboring microstructural defects by ranking each of their contributions. Specifically, the analysis considered microstructural metrics related to the closest fiber, the closest pore, and the local stiffness, and the results demonstrated that less stiff resin rich areas were more relevant for micro-void nucleation than clustered fiber tips, T-intersections of fibers, or varying porosity volumes. This analysis provides a ranking of microstructural metrics that induce microvoid nucleation, which can be helpful for modelers to validate their predictions on proclivity of damage initiation in the presence of wide distributions of microstructural features andmanufacturing defects.


Information on the spatial distribution of poverty can be useful in designing geographically targeted rural poverty reduction programs. This paper uses recently released municipio-level data on rural poverty in Brazil to identify and analyze spatial patterns of rural poverty in the Sao Francisco River Basin (SFRB). Moran's I statistics are generated and used to test for spatial autocorrelation, and to prepare cluster maps that locate rural poverty 'hot spots' and 'cold spots.' Research results demonstrate that rural poverty is spatially correlated in some parts of the SFRB, and where correlated, worse-off (better-off) municipios tend to be located next to worse-off (better-off) municipios. The policy implications of these results are discussed, as are proposed next steps in research.


We begin to show that the design of optimum codes is a very difficult tasks by a set of preliminary brute force experiments where we generate all the possible optimum codes of a given length and minimum Hamming distance and then estimate the probability of finding one of these codes filling randomly the matrix that defines the code. Then we develop a novel approach to the code design problem based on the well known optimization technique of Mixed Integer Programming. Unfortunately our optimization software package limitation of 10 indexes imposes a limit of a maximum length 5 in the code to be designed. We show some results confirmed by the literature with this MIP model. Finally we develop a simplified randomized algorithm that surprisingly has better runtimes than the MIP model.


Mice of the DBA/2J, A/J, C3H, C57BL/L, ICR and Swiss strains were studied with respect to acute and chronic morphine administration. The acute administration of morphine resulted in a dose-dependent running response in C57BL/6, C3H, ICR and Swiss strains, but no running response in DBA/2J and A/J strains. Strain differences in sensitivity to morphine-induced running activity did not parallel differences in sensitivity to morphine-induced running activity did not parallel differences in sensitivity to antinociception in the abdominal constriction test (r = 0.404), but significantly correlated with differences in the expression of physical dependence as measured by either precipitated (r = 0.957) or abrupt (r = 0.927) withdrawal jumping behavior in mice made dependent by morphine pellent implantation. Mortality for 3 days of pellet implantation ranged from 5% in ICR mice to 84% in A/J mice. Strain differences in degree of initial physical dependence. These results suggest the possibility that the running response and withdrawal jumping may involve at least part of the same neuronal pathway. This pathway may include dopamine-containing neurons which terminate in the neostriatum.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Abstract Objective: To observe the impact of different hormonal treatment options on nocturia, its causative factors and bother in postmenopausal women. Methods: This prospective study recruited 245 postmenopausal women and divided them into four treatment groups based on patient's choice: Estrogen + Progesterone (E+P), Estrogen-only in patients with a prior hysterectomy, tissue-selective estrogen complex (TSEC) and no treatment. Nocturia and its causative factors were observed using two standardized questionnaires before and after treatment: the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Nocturia Module and the Targeting the individual's Aetiology of Nocturia to Guide Outcomes (TANGO). The results of the Targeting the individual's Aetiology of Nocturia to Guide Outcomes were divided in four influencing topics of which the sum score was calculated. Results: A significant reduction in prevalence of nocturia ≥ twice per night was seen after treatment, as the prevalence decreased from 27.7% (59/213) to 16.4% (35/213). Specified per therapy, a significant reduction in nocturnal voiding frequency was observed in patients treated with E+P and TSEC (P = 0.018 and P = 0.018, respectively). This improvement could be explained by a significant reduction in SLEEP sum score in patients treated with E+P and TSEC (P < 0.001, P = 0.013, respectively). Estrogen-only led to a significant change in URINARY TRACT sum score, which is the result of a reduction in urgency prevalence (P = 0.039). Conclusions: E+P and TSEC treatment led to a significant reduction in nocturia prevalence and bother in women with ≥ 2 nocturnal voids. This effect is mainly the result of improvement in sleep disorders, however an improvement in bladder disorders can be suggested as well. More research is necessary to confirm these findings. Video Summary:http://links.lww.com/MENO/A710.


Introduction Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and aspirin remain the most common cause of life-threatening iatrogenic pathology. Risks are age-dependent and can be reduced by switching to a selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor or co-prescription of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended that PPI co-prescription is sufficiently cost effective to be justified in all users of NSAIDs or COX-2 inhibitors. However, use of both PPIs and COX-2 inhibitors is widely discouraged by UK pharmacy advisers. Methods We conducted an analysis of prescribing trends in patients aged 45 or over in UK general practices, recorded in the QResearch electronic database of general practice records. A patient was considered to be receiving a drug in any year if they had received >2 prescriptions in the 6 months prior to 1 April. Results There were 459 practices which met the inclusion criteria. Overall there were 1 825 406 patients with at least 12 months of medical records and 1 594 369 were >45 years old. This resulted in 4 875 250 person-years of observations. Prescribing of aspirin rose from 9.9% in 2004 to 14.01% in 2007, while NSAID prescribing fell slightly from 5.57% to 5.49%. A PPI was co-prescribed with aspirin in only 11.7% of aspirin users in 2004 and 20.2% in 2007. For NSAIDs the values were 8.9% in 2003 and 23.1% in 2007. During this time prescription of PPIs in patients not on aspirin or NSAID rose from 4.4% to 7.8%, suggesting that increased use in aspirin and NSAID users was largely untargeted. Even among high-risk patients aged 80–84, protective strategies were limited, with 23.6% of male and 23.1% of female aspirin users receiving a PPI in 2007. In this age group, only 29.0% of men and 31.3% of women receiving an NSAID were co-prescribed a PPI. Of patients on aspirin, 17.7% in 2004 and 11.1% in 2007 were also prescribed and NSAID despite a potentially harmful pharmacodynamic interaction. Use of COX-2 inhibitors was limited (1.33% in 2003 and 0.33% in 2007), with co-prescription of a PPI in 25.0%. Conclusion Most prescribing of anti-inflammatory drugs in the UK is on an unprotected background even in the highest risk patients and NICE advice to co-prescribe a PPI is not followed. Given evidence that the combination of a COX-2 inhibitor and a PPI may virtually eliminate the risk of ulcer complications associated with NSAIDs, our data suggest UK patients are exposed to unacceptable levels of avoidable risk. Whether deficiencies in prescribing standards are due to financial pressures of a need for education requires further evaluation.


Pothos suggests dispensing with the distinction between rules and similarity, without defining what is meant by either term. We agree that there are problems with the distinction between rules and similarity, but believe these will be solved only by exploring the representations and processes underlying cases purported to involve rules and similarity.


We constructed and characterized arrayed bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries of five Drosophila species (D. melanogaster, D. simulans, D. sechellia, D. auraria, and D. ananassae), which are genetically well characterized in the studies of meiosis, evolution, population genetics, and developmental biology. The BAC libraries comprise 8,000 to 12,500 clones for each species, estimated to cover the most of the genomes. We sequenced both ends of most of these BAC clones with a success rate of 91%. Of these, 53,701 clones consisting of non-repetitive BAC end sequences (BESs) were mapped with reference of the public D. melanogaster genome sequences. The BES mapping estimated that the BAC libraries of D. auraria and D. ananassae covered 47% and 57% of the D. melanogaster genome, respectively, and those of D. melanogaster, D. sechellia, and D. simulans covered 94-97%. The low coverage by BESs of D. auraria and D. ananassae may be due to the high sequence divergence with D. melanogaster. From the comparative BES mapping, 111 possible breakpoints of chromosomal rearrangements were identified in these four species. The breakpoints of the major chromosome rearrangement between D. simulans and D. melanogaster on the third chromosome were determined within 20 kb in 84E and 30 kb in 93E/F. Corresponding breakpoints were also identified in D. sechellia. The BAC clones described here will be an important addition to the Drosophila genomic resources.


This work is focused on the evaluation of the dynamic performance of different neck protection devices.In order to evaluate the mechanical response of the safety devices, a multibody model of the human neck has been developed in Matlab™ SimMechanics™.The mechanical behavior of the neck is described in the paper and different injury indices are presented and compared. The information about anatomy and physiology of the cervical spine of the neck has been collected from the literature, with particular focus on the mechanism of damage of vertebrae, disks and soft tissues.The multibody model has been validated against experimental data available in the literature concerning impulsive loads representative of crash phenomena.By means of the presented model, some relevant injury indices are computed for an accident involving a motorcyclist.Since the focus has been set on mild injuries of the neck, the simulated crash should cause a high probability of injuries of the neck together with a low probability of damages of the head while wearing a standard helmet.The performance of neck safety devices that link the helmet with the thoracic-shield are evaluated and compared. For sake of clearness, three types of neck safety devices are considered referencing to US patents: an airbag jacket, a 3D cushion wrapping the motorcyclist's neck, and a "spring and dampers" system.The airbag jacket has been modeled as a high stiffness and low deformation system by considering the airbag in its fully deployed configuration and by neglecting its dynamic performance during inflation phase. The other safety devices have been modeled as lumped parameters spring-damper systems.A sensitivity analysis on the injury indexes has been performed by changing the stiffness and the damping parameters of these safety systems. The injury indexes collected by simulating the different neck safety systems have been compared.© 2012 ASME


The image reconstruction in Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) relies on efficiently solving an ill-posed inverse problem. Current state-of-the-art reconstruction methods are either based on row-action methods with fast convergence but limited noise suppression or advanced sparsity constraints showing better image quality, but suffering from a higher computational complexity and slower convergence. In this contribution, we propose a novel row-action framework where advanced sparsity constraints, e.g., a combination of L1- and TV-norm, can be included. Its performance is numerically evaluated on simulated and real MPI data, showing a significant reduction of computation time while retaining the enhanced imaging quality.

Int. J. Mag. Part. Imag. 6(2), Suppl. 1, 2020, Article ID: 2009002, DOI: 10.18416/IJMPI.2020.2009002


Fluorescent Resonance Energy Transfer [FRET] is the transfer of excitation energy from a donor fluorescent molecule to an acceptor fluorescent molecule. FRET has been developed to achieve fast ratiometric, transmembrane potential sensitive fluorescence changes in single cells. The mechanism relies on the rapid redistribution of hydrophobic fluorescent anions. These anions redistribute from one face of the plasma membrane to the other according to the Nernst equation. A second fluorophore is used to label an extracellular surface and undergoes energy transfer with the membrane bound sensor. During membrane depolarization the FRET is disrupted. This large change in fluorescence allows for imaging of the transmembrane potential. It is the objective of this work to adapt the FRET measurement system for eventual use in intact cardiac tissues. Currently, studies are underway for the individual verification of the functionality of each dye placed in the FRET system. The fluorescent anion experiments have shown the expected decrease in fluorescent intensity with a decrease in transmembrane potential.


Linear kinetic dispersion theory is used to investigate a regime transition of the ion Bernstein instability driven by a proton velocity distribution with positive slopes with respect to the perpendicular velocity, ∂fp(v∥∼0,v⊥)/∂v⊥>0. The unstable waves arising from this instability are ion Bernstein waves with proton cyclotron harmonic dispersion. However, in the inner magnetosphere, particularly inside of the plasmapause where plasmas are dominated by a cold background, the instability leads to ion Bernstein waves which approximately follow the cold plasma dispersion relation for fast magnetosonic waves and are, therefore, fast magnetosonic‐like. Subsequently, the relevant waves have been termed fast magnetosonic waves and many studies have assumed the cold plasma dispersion relation to describe them. On the other hand, how the dispersion properties of ion Bernstein waves become fast magnetosonic‐like has not yet been well understood. To examine this regime transition of the instability, we perform linear dispersion analyses using a two‐component proton model of fp(v) = fM(v) + fs(v), where fM is a Maxwellian velocity distribution and fs is an isotropic shell velocity distribution. The results show that the unstable waves are essentially ion Bernstein waves; however, when the shell proton concentration becomes sufficiently small (less than 10), the unstable waves approach the cold plasma dispersion relation for fast magnetosonic waves and become fast magnetosonic‐like. Although a reduced proton‐to‐electron mass ratio of 100 has been used for convenience, which reduces the number of unstable modes involved by lowering the lower hybrid frequency, this does not change the overall regime transition picture revealed in this study.


In this article, the authors apply well-studied factor strategies from the U.S. equity anomalies literature to Chinese A-shares, demonstrating which factors have worked and which have not over the last two decades since the opening of China's stock markets. They find that although a number of traditional factors such as value and size appear to work well in China, other factors are less effective—including A-shares momentum, which works in the opposite direction. Their analysis reconciles conflicting results from the prior A-shares anomalies literature and explains differences in U.S. and Chinese factor investing experiences on the basis of unique features of China's evolving investing landscape, including issues related to regulation, financial reporting standards, differences in market microstructure, and investor behavior. Their findings will be of interest to researchers of equity anomalies and those developing quantitative strategies for Chinese equities.


Abstract:This article examines the goals, methods, and implications of regional organizations founded and dominated by autocracies—including the Commonwealth of Independent States (spearheaded by Russia), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China), Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Venezuela), and Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia). It shows the role that these organizations play in preserving and promoting autocracy and the different tools they use for this purpose: rhetorical endorsement; the redistribution of resources to support weaker authoritarian states; and even military interventions to suppress revolution. The existence of authoritarian regionalism poses an important challenge for Western states and institutions in democracy promotion around the world.


Induction of metallothionein-I (MT-I) and metallothionein-II (MT-II) by glucocorticoids was determined by h.p.l.c. analysis of proteins and Northern-blot analysis of MT mRNAs. Rats were injected with dexamethasone (0.03-10 mumol/kg) and hepatic concentrations of MTs were determined 24 h later. In control rats, only MT-II was detected (9.4 +/- 2.5 micrograms/g of liver), whereas the hepatic concentration of MT-I was below the detection limit (5 micrograms of MT/g). Dexamethasone did not increase MT-I above the detection limit at any dosage tested, but MT-II increased to 2.5 times control values at dosages of 0.30 mumol/kg and higher. Time-course experiments indicated that MT-II reached a maximum at 24 h after a single dosage of dexamethasone and returned to control values by 48 h. To determine whether dexamethasone increased MT-I in liver, samples were saturated with 109Cd, after which the amount of 109Cd in MT-I and MT-II was determined. Results indicated that, by this approach, MT-I and MT-II could be detected in control rats, and there was approx. 1.8 times more 109Cd in MT-II than in MT-I. At 24 h after administration of dexamethasone (1 mumol/kg), there was a small increase in the amount of 109Cd bound to MT-I, whereas the amount of 109Cd bound to MT-II increased to more than 2 times control values. Northern-blot hybridization with mouse cRNA probes indicated that MT-I and MT-II mRNAs increased co-ordinately after administration of dexamethasone. Thus, although glucocorticoids increase both MT-I and MT-II mRNAs, MT-II preferentially accumulates after administration of dexamethasone.


OBJECTIVE: To study whether women with antepartum depression have an increased risk for adverse perinatal outcome. METHODS: From a sample of 1,489 women, an index group (n = 259) of all women with depressive symptoms on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in gestational week 35–36 was selected. Two hundred fifty-nine women with no depressive symptoms on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale antepartum or postpartum were randomly chosen as the reference group. Medical, gynecologic, and obstetric history, socioeconomic status, pregnancy, and perinatal data were collected from standardized medical records for all women. RESULTS: Women with antepartum depressive symptoms were more often multiparas with a history of earlier obstetric complications. Complications during the present pregnancy were more frequent in the antepartum-depressed group of women. There were no differences concerning outcome of delivery, puerperium, and neonatal health between the index and reference groups. Forty-six percent of the women with antepartum depressive symptoms had depressive symptoms at 6–8 weeks or 6 months postpartum or both. CONCLUSION: Women depressed during pregnancy constitute a group without an increased risk for adverse obstetric or neonatal outcome but with a high risk for postpartum depressive symptoms. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2


We claim that there are important cases of "incommensurability" in public policymaking, in which all relevant reasons are not always comparable on a common scale as better, worse, or equally good. Courts often fail to confront this. We are by no means the first to contend that incommensurability exists. Yet incommensurability's proponents have failed to sway the courts mainly because they overlook the fact that there are two types of incommensurability. The first ("incompleteness incommensurability") consists of the lack of any appropriate metric for making the comparison. We argue that this type of incommensurability is relatively unproblematic in that courts are well-positioned to construct such a metric if necessary. In contrast, the second ("comparison-excluding incommensurability") consists of a commitment that blocks comparison on a common scale, even if such a scale does exist. Incommensurability of this sort has not been widely acknowledged and does raise deep problems for judicial decision-making. When facing comparison-excluding incommensurability, the courts should not always disregard such commitments, but should acknowledge them in case such commitments are justified in a procedural manner. In this sense, comparison-exclusion incommensurability plays a key constitutive role in the construction of both individual identities and collective identities.


We formulate a model for a cooperative ballistic deposition (CBD) process whereby the incoming particles are correlated with those already adsorbed via attractive force. The strength of the correlation is controlled by a tunable parameter a that interpolates the classical car parking problem at a=0, the ballistic deposition at a=1, and the CBD model at a>1. The effects of the correlation in the CBD model are as follows. The jamming coverage q(a) increases with the strength of attraction a due to an ever-increasing tendency of cluster formation. The system almost reaches the closest packing structure as a-->infinity but never forms a percolating cluster, which is typical of one-dimensional systems. In the large a regime, the mean cluster size k increases as a(1/2). Furthermore, the asymptotic approach towards the closest packing is purely algebraic both with a as q(infinity)-q(a) approximately a(-1/2) and with k as q(infinity)-q(k) approximately k(-1), where q(infinity) approximately 1.


PURPOSE
To report the causes of childhood-onset uveitis in a tertiary pediatric ophthalmology hospital in Egypt.

METHODS
Retrospective study of the medical records of all uveitis patients following up at a tertiary pediatric ophthalmology hospital in Egypt from January 2017 to December 2020.

RESULTS
The present study included 388 patients. The most common anatomical category was intermediate uveitis (30.4%), and around half of these children had pars planitis. This was followed by panuveitis (25.5%), posterior uveitis (23.5%), and anterior uveitis (20.6%), in decreasing frequency. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, toxoplasmosis, and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome were the most common causes of anterior uveitis, posterior uveitis, and panuveitis respectively. Cataract (40.5%), glaucoma (33.8%), and cystoid macular edema (31.6%) were the most frequent ocular complications.

CONCLUSION
The present report provides the relative prevalence of the different anatomical types of uveitis, as well as their main causes in a cohort of Egyptian patients with childhood-onset uveitis.


Previous research has shown that gay men are at particular risk from body image issues. This study aimed to investigate how media factors, gender role, and body dissatisfaction influenced gay men's social physique anxiety.
An internet snowball sample of 191 gay men completed an online questionnaire measuring internalisation of media messages, gay magazine and pornography exposure, male gender role identification, muscle and fat dissatisfaction, and social physique anxiety.
A hierarchical regression and ANOVAs were used to investigate the effects of the variables on social physique anxiety. General media internalisation, male gender role, and muscle and fat dissatisfaction were uniquely predictive of social physique anxiety. Those with high media internalisation had significantly higher social physique anxiety than those with low media internalisation. Those with higher male gender role identification had significantly lower social physique anxiety than those with low male gender role identification.
Male gender role, media influences and body dissatisfaction can all be used in the prediction of body image based anxiety. Recommendations for further study are made in terms of different age groups, feelings of belonging within the gay community, and different gay subcultures.


The basis for ethnicity-related distinctions in gonadotropin secretion are unknown but may have important populational and physiological implications. In male contraceptive trials, exogenous testosterone and progestins suppress spermatogenesis to a greater degree in Asian than Caucasian men. In addition, iv infusion of testosterone inhibits LH release more in Asian than Caucasian volunteers. We test the converse postulate that experimental reduction of androgen-dependent negative feedback by way of the steroidogenic inhibitor combination ketoconazole/dexamethasone will unveil ethnicity-related mechanisms of regulated LH secretion in young men. LH release was monitored by sampling blood every 10 min for 24 h followed by immunoradiometric assay, model-free pulse detection, an entropy (regulatory) statistic, and cosine regression. Statistical comparisons revealed that healthy young Asian and Caucasian men maintain comparable baseline concentrations of LH, testosterone, estradiol, SHBG, and molar testosterone to SHBG ratios. In contrast, the two ethnic groups differ prominently in each of basal, pulsatile, entropic, and 24-h rhythmic LH adaptations to short-term androgen withdrawal. Therefore, we postulate that physiological nonuniformity of sex steroid-dependent negative feedback in particular may contribute to populational diversity in LH regulation.


Three phases of Tertiary compressional deformation have been demonstrated in the Faeroe-Rockall Plateau (Boldreel & Andersen 1993). Compressional structures are mainly evident on the northern part of the Faeroe-Rockall Plateau and near the northern and western margins of the plateau (Fig. 1). The first deformation phase followed extrusion of the Faeroe plateau basalts and affect the oldest of the sediments above the basalts. The age of these sediments is presumed to be earliest Eocene, and the authors believe this deformation phase followed immediately after the final break-up between the Faeroes and Greenland. The major ridges south of the Faeroe Islands (Wyville-Thomson, Ymir and Munkegrunnur) are evidence of this deformation phase. During this phase the Wyville-Thomson and Ymir Ridges formed as ramp anticlines on a north-dipping fault system (Boldreel & Andersen 1993). Renewed compression in the Oligocene was located in the same area, and these authors believe that during this phase inversion of the West Lewis Basin was linked to deformation of the Wyville-Thomson and Ymir Ridges (Earle et al. 1989). The latest and most widespread compression phase occurred in the Miocene. This resulted in the NW-SE trending compression structures along the continental margin north, west and southwest of the Faeroes. Evidence of this phase is also seen in the Faeroe-Shetland Channel. It is likely that pre-existing structural elements controlled the actual location and orientation of some, if not all, of the structures we have observed. For instance, the proposed linkage between inversion of the West Lewis Basin and deformation of


Background. We examine the ability of various publicly available risk models to identify high-cost individuals and enrollee groups using multi-HMO administrative data. Methods. Five risk-adjustment models (the Global Risk-Adjustment Model [GRAM], Diagnostic Cost Groups [DCGs], Adjusted Clinical Groups [ACGs], RxRisk, and Prior-expense) were estimated on a multi-HMO administrative data set of 1.5 million individual-level observations for 1995–1996. Models produced distributions of individual-level annual expense forecasts for comparison to actual values. Prespecified "high-cost" thresholds were set within each distribution. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for "high-cost" prevalences of 1% and 0.5% was calculated, as was the proportion of "high-cost" dollars correctly identified. Results are based on a separate 106,000-observation validation dataset. Main Results. For "high-cost" prevalence targets of 1% and 0.5%, ACGs, DCGs, GRAM, and Prior-expense are very comparable in overall discrimination (AUCs, 0.83–0.86). Given a 0.5% prevalence target and a 0.5% prediction threshold, DCGs, GRAM, and Prior-expense captured $963,000 (approximately 3%) more "high-cost" sample dollars than other models. DCGs captured the most "high-cost" dollars among enrollees with asthma, diabetes, and depression; predictive performance among demographic groups (Medicaid members, members over 64, and children under 13) varied across models. Conclusions. Risk models can efficiently identify enrollees who are likely to generate future high costs and who could benefit from case management. The dollar value of improved prediction performance of the most accurate risk models should be meaningful to decision-makers and encourage their broader use for identifying high costs.


Within weeks of the nation-wide COVID-19 shutdown, more than 200 regional and community newspapers across Australia announced they could no longer keep their presses running due to the unprecedented crisis. A drain in advertising spend, a broken business model and the refusal of digital behemoths to pay for content were blamed for their collapse, ironically as audiences' demand for credible news and information soared across the globe. There is no doubt the COVID-19 crisis has widened existing, deep cracks in the news media industry. In response this article sets out to explore possible solutions and strategies for local newspapers in the post-pandemic media landscape. We take an analogical approach to argue some of the issues that emerged during COVID-19 and strategies used to fight the global health pandemic also present valuable lessons for the preservation of public interest journalism and news at the local level. We conceptualise five coronavirus-related themes that resonate with a much-needed innovations agenda for local newspapers in Australia: (1) support for essential services, (2) warnings of complacency against an evolving biological threat, (3) appreciating the power of the social (4) coordinated government/policy responses and (5) 'we are all in this together'.


This thesis highlights one of the most significant concerns that has preoccupied drivetrain
engineers in recent times, namely drivetrain clonk. Clonk is an unacceptable audible sound,
which is accompanied by a tactile drivetrain response. This may occur under several different
driving conditions. Many drivetrain NVH concerns are related to impact loading of subsystems
down-line of engine. These concerns are induced by power torque surge through
engagement and disengagement processes, which may propagate through various
transmission paths as structural waves. The coincidence of these waves with the acoustic
modes of sub-system components leads to audible responses, referred to as clonk.
The approach usually undertaken and reported in literature is either purely theoretical or
constitutes experimental observation of vehicle conditions. A few research workers have
reported rig-based investigations, but not under fully dynamic conditions with controlled and
reproducible impulsive action.
The research reported in this thesis combines experimental and numerical investigation of
high frequency behaviour of light truck drivetrain systems, when subjected to sudden
impulsive action, due to driver behaviour. The problem is treated as a multi-physics
interactive phenomenon under transient conditions. The devised numerical method combines
multi-body dynamics, structural modal analysis, impact dynamics in lash zones and acoustic
analysis within an overall investigation framework. A representative drivetrain system rig is
designed and implemented, and controlled tests simulating driver behaviour undertaken.
The combined numerical predictions and experimental noise and vibration monitoring has
highlighted the fundamental aspects of drivetrain behaviour. Good agreement is' also found
between the detailed numerical approach and the experimental findings. Novel methods of
measurement such as Laser Doppler Vibrometery have been employed. Simultaneous
measurements of vibration and noise radiation confirm significant elasto-acoustic coupling at
high impact energy levels.
One of the major finds of the thesis is the complex nature of the clonk signal, being a
combination of accelerative and ringing noise, with the latter also comprising of many other
lower energy content as observed in the case of transmission rattle and bearing-induced
responses. Therefore, the link between rattle and clonk, long suspected, but not hitherto
shown has been confirmed in the thesis. Another major find of particular commercial interest
is the insignificant contribution of torsional damping devices such as dual mass flywheels
upon the accelerative component of the clonk response.


Mithun is a domesticated beef bovine species in Himalayan foothills of Southeast Asia. It inhabits at an altitude from 300 to 3000 m MSL, often under extensive grazing system. Mithun is a very fertile animal, able to produce one calf/year. Mithun can interbreed with other bovine species, but male offspring are sterile. This chapter intent is to gather and discuss available information on several aspects of reproduction in female Mithun. The morphology of the reproductive organs is different from cattle and has a longer reproductive tract and pregnancies compared to cattle. Although its estrus period is longer than in cow, Mithun usually displays silent heats, requiring a breeding bull for heat detection. Seasonal fluctuations on reproductive pattern have been reported, which are related to forage availability and quality. Calving in summer takes longer to resumption of cyclic ovarian activity than calving in winter. As Mithun is an important socio-cultural-religious-economic asset in India, to counter some short comings, new breeding strategies have been introduced like multiple ovulation and embryo transfer technology. A good understanding of different aspects of reproduction is crucial to support effective reproductive managements to enhance socio-economic status and cultural importance of tribals to preserve Mithun germplasm to be used in future.