Fluorescence microscopy provides an unparalleled tool for imaging biological samples. However, producing high-quality volumetric images quickly and without excessive complexity remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a simple multi-camera structured illumination microscope (SIM) capable of simultaneously imaging multiple focal planes, allowing for the capture of 3D fluorescent images without any axial movement of the sample. This simple setup allows for the rapid acquisition of many different 3D imaging modes, including 3D time lapses, high-axial-resolution 3D images, and large 3D mosaics.


Pesticides frequently leach through clayey tills, even when they are expected to be strongly adsorbed. In this study, we observed that sorption of two strongly sorbing pesticides, tebuconazole and glyphosate, varied by more than an order of magnitude across soil domains in 5-m-deep clay till profiles with biopores and fractures. Eight soil domains were identified in each of the profiles: five matrix soils and three in the macropores. Tebuconazole sorption was controlled by soil organic matter content, except in the reduced matrix, which was low in organic matter, where there was surprisingly high sorption. Glyphosate showed high variation in sorption between fractures and matrix soil from the same depths. The domain-specific sorption of both tebuconazole and glyphosate was, however, overruled by dilute liquid manure. Sorption of tebuconazole was, as expected, decreased by liquid manure in several domains, but tebuconazole sorption increased in a few domains due to sorption of the manure-derived organic matter itself. Liquid manure unexpectedly had a greater effect on glyphosate sorption, which was strongly decreased by dissolved organic matter and phosphate in the manure. The variation in sorption across domains, as well as the effects of liquid manure, should be taken into account when assessing leaching risks.


Each company operates within the framework of interrelated structures: ownership, corporate governance and capital structure. The particular combination of these dimensions determines the corporate financial architecture of the company. Despite the growing body of literature on the challenges of the knowledge economy to the structural dimensions of companies, still little is known about the financial architecture of innovative firms. At the same time it is widely recognized that such companies substantially differ from traditional types of businesses in their business models and dynamics. Meanwhile, the financial architecture of a company generates the distribution of the incentives to enhance innovations affecting interests and risk-sharing among stakeholders. To address the lack of research into the interaction of corporate structures and their distinct features in innovative companies, this paper aims at identifying the robust financial architecture patterns of innovative companies. Using a sample of more than 1,300 publicly traded US-based manufacturing companies, we use an agglomerative hierarchical clustering method to identify relevant patterns and compare them to the firms which are not considered to be 'knowledge intensive'. The empirical results allow the identification of seven robust financial architecture patterns within innovative companies. Our findings show that the first major difference between the financial architecture of innovative and non-innovative firms is in the higher role of activist institutional investors in the ownership. The second notable difference is related to CEO-duality, which plays a significant role in corporate governance only in innovative firms. Moreover, innovative companies are less leveraged than non-innovative firms. In addition, mature innovative companies demonstrate better financial performance.


This dissertation seeks to engage with some of the complex means by which English subjects in the twentieth century envisage their relationship with the concept of nation, and with their own nation in particular. These are deeply ambivalent relationships, which present simultaneously seemingly contradictory and irreconcilable characteristics. In some ways the nation seems hegemonic and repressively conditioning to many English writers over the last hundred years. It is also deeply embedded in our ways of conceiving of ourselves, and is an irresistibly enticing means of understanding the world around us. It pushes individuals towards resistance and yet strongly resists evasion. At times the nation enables the establishment of identity in opposition to other ideological forces; at other moments, it becomes the problematic ideological structure in itself. These and other dichotomies will be examined in the course of this study. In chapter one I consider examples of writing between the wars, and comparable ways in which two authors render the subjectivity of the English individual as an untenable balancing act between living inside and outside the nation's literal and metaphorical territory. Woolf and the little known C. E. Montague narrate their changing engagement with England during and between the World Wars. Wartime is a moment of profound reification of the nation, where failure to fully commit to support it is potentially punishable by death. Both Mrs. Dalloway and Montague's Rough Justice narrate, in their differing ways, just such a death. Both authors share a developing sense of the frailty and decrepitude of England in the period, but both also develop a clear model for the recasting, rather than the casting out, of England into more enduring and politically palatable terms. In the second chapter I turn to the nation as it attempts to reproduce itself abroad. In the 1930s colonial English abroad are rendered in a state of dislocation from their home nation by Orwell and Mary O'Malley. They are cast as "ambassadors" for the English nation, proxies who are expected to prove themselves the most respectable of exemplars for their home. However, in the course of Burmese Days and O'Malley's Peking Picnic these central characters prove unqualified to maintain the impossible ideals of the nation they are expected to represent. They are instead aliens, in relation to both their home nation and their new "home" abroad. Chapter three ranges from the 1930s to 1960s, and to English regional narratives in which characters actively attempt to evade their nationality. The conceptual center of the chapter is the Angry Young Men movement of the 1950s, quintessentially represented by Alan Sillitoe and Keith Waterhouse. Beyond manifesting a rebelliousness towards the English nation in general, these two writers outline characters who employ a technique of fantasizing other lives as an attempt to liberate themselves from the pressures of an English nation with which they cannot, or will not, align themselves. They daydream visions of empowerment, glory and power. In so doing they momentarily disrupt the direct influence of the nation over them. Phyllis Bentley, a Northern English writer from an earlier decade, renders in her novel Environment a comparable desire to break from the influence of the English nation by dint of daydreaming another, independent existence. The relatively obscure Arthur Wise, writing in the late 1960s, enacts this fantasy in the most extreme terms in his 1968 novel The Day the Queen Flew to Scotland for the Grouse Shooting, a text that depicts the dream of bloody revolution and complete fragmentation of England, North and South. In my final chapter I turn to writing from later in the century, in which ambivalence about national affiliation leads to an extreme skepticism towards the nation as a concept in general, and to all other ideological constructs along with it. William Golding and Ian McEwan, in their novels Free Fall and Black Dogs, create willfully nihilistic characters that fear all hegemonic forces and struggle to gain and retain independence from investment in nation. Neither of these central protagonists can remain dislocated from allegiances for long however – the need for alignment with some form of collective construct outside themselves (like nation, personal love, theological values, etcetera) is overwhelming. I conclude, on the basis of the work of these ten writers, that the English nation is in a deeply unstable position, its authority, and even its substantive existence, challenged in a variety of ways both from without and from within. Its external opponents, both in rival nation-states and sub-national ideological movements (a number of which are violently threatening) are largely manifest. Perhaps more dangerous still, for England's continued endurance, are the threats which these writers suggest can come from national 'insiders,' who resist, evade, question, even attack, the nation from which they


We consider the possible production of the Higgs Boson in association with a top-quark pair and its subsequent decay into a tau-lepton pair or a W-boson pair. This process can give rise to many signatures of the Higgs boson. These signatures can have electrons, muons, tau jets, bottom jets and/or light flavour jets. We analyze the viability of some of these signatures. We will look at those signatures where the background is minimal. In particular, we explore the viability of the signatures "isolated 4 electron/muon" and "isolated 3 electron/muon + a jet" The jet can be due to a light flavour quark/gluon, a bottom quark, or a tau lepton. Of all these signatures, we find that "isolated 3 electron/muon + a tau jet", with an extra bottom jet, can be an excellent signature of this mode of the Higgs boson production. We show that this signature may be visible within a year, once the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) restarts. Some of the other signatures would also be observable after the LHC accumulates sufficient luminosity.


Traditional simulation tools for power system studies are, in general, shipped with built-in and closed model libraries. Typically, the models' implementation is not thoroughly documented, preventing the user to gain a full understanding of their implemented behavior. Previous efforts from the authors have focused on the development of an open source software library of power system components developed using Modelica: the Open-Instance Power System Library (OpenIPSL), which provides models that can easily be accessed and studied by the user. Recent developments have focused on the implementation of a software architecture facilitating collaborative developments on OpenIPSL. Employing the latest technologies available in the software development community, this paper details the implementation of a continuous integration workflow, providing automated testing and behavior verification of the library's models. This platform seeks to increase the library's stability and to provide more reliable models developed collaboratively by multiple individuals. Moreover, this software architecture only utilizes open source software, which can be fully tailored to the specific needs of users and other library developers.


As the survival of juvenile scallops released onto the seabed is of critical importance in programs seeking to enhance scallop populations, the basis of the vulnerability of seeded cultured scallops needs to be understood. High mortality rates following seeding operations could reflect weaker predator escape responses by cultured scallops. Thus, we compared behavioral responses as well as morphometric and biochemical measurements of cultured and wild sea scallops Placopecten magellanicus (35 to 45 mm shell height) sampled in August 1999 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, eastern Canada. Cultured scallops had larger somatic tissues and higher muscle energetic contents than their wild counterparts. This may reflect the more favorable temperatures and better food supply during suspension culture. When faced with the starfish predator Asterias vulgaris, cultured scallops re- sponded with a greater number of claps, longer clapping period and faster recuperation of clapping performance. However, wild scallops had stronger shells and showed more intense escape responses (higher clapping rate) to the starfish. These differences contribute to making cultured scallops more vulnerable to predation by grasping predators (crabs) and asteroids.


A heterogeneous mixture of amyloid beta (Aβ) variants exists in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains. So far, little is known how individual Aβ species contribute to development and progression of this neurodegenerative disorder.
Several studies revealed an important role of N-terminally truncated Aβ species in AD etiology. Besides other Aβ isoforms, N-truncated Aβ4-42 is highly abundant in AD brains and is one of two dominant isoforms in the hippocampus and cortex of sporadic and familial AD subjects. In a recent work it was demonstrated that Aβ4-42 exhibits one of the highest aggregation propensities to form stable aggregates. Moreover, it demonstrates strong toxic effects when studied in primary cortical neurons and is able to induce working memory deficits after intracerebroventricular injection into wildtype mouse brains. Despite these findings a possible role of Aβ4-42 in AD etiology has not been analyzed in detail so far.
The aim of the present work was to investigate the potential neurotoxic effects of Aβ4-42 in in vivo and in vitro model systems. Recently, the first transgenic mouse model expressing exclusively N-terminal truncated Aβ4-42 (Tg4-42 mouse line) was generated in our lab. This mouse model was used to study the effects of Aβ4-42 expression on neuropathology such as Aβ accumulation, inflammation and neuron loss. Furthermore, hemizygous Tg4-42 mice at three and 12 months of age underwent several behavioral tests to assess motor abilities and cognitive function. Acute hippocampal tissue slices of Tg4-42 mice at three, 12 and 24 months of age were used to examine the impact of Aβ4-42 on synaptic function and plasticity. Relative gene expression levels of synaptic markers were additionally analyzed in hippocampal tissue of young Tg4-42 mice.
Using immunohistochemistry, it was shown that Tg4-42 mice develop region-specific intraneuronal Aβ accumulation most notably in the hippocampus starting at two to three months of age. This is accompanied by a marked astro- and microgliosis in the same brain region. DAPI-staining revealed a distinct loss of neuronal cells in hippocampal CA1 area that deteriorates while aging. Additionally, Tg4-42 mice demonstrated age-dependent deficits in spatial learning, spatial reference memory and forms of associative memory when performing Morris water maze and fear conditioning tasks. Neurophysiological analyses in acute hippocampal tissue slices revealed an increased basal synaptic transmission at Schaffer collateral/CA1 synapses. In contrast, short-term and long-term plasticity were not affected. Commencing analysis of gene expression levels demonstrated a down-regulation of synaptoporin and neuroligin 1 levels in hippocampal tissue of three-month-old transgenic mice that might be linked to the detected hyperexcitability. These findings indicate a pathological role for N-truncated
Aβ4-42 in AD etiology as these impairments are comparable to AD typical dysfunctions.


In this work we introduce a new mathematical tool for optimization of routes, and topology design in wireless sensor networks. We introduce a vector field formulation that models communication in the network, and routing is performed in the direction of this vector field at every location of the network. The magnitude of the vector field at every location represents the density of amount of data that is being transited through that location. We define the total communication cost in the network as the integral of a quadratic form of the vector field over the network area. Our mathematical machinery is based on partial differential equations analogous to the Maxwell's equations in electrostatic theory. We use our vector field model to solve the optimization problem for the case in which there are multiple destinations (sinks) in the network. In order to optimally determine the destination for each sensor, we partition the network into areas, each corresponding to one of the destinations. We define a vector field, which is conservative, and hence it can be written as the gradient of a scalar function (also known as a potential function). Then we show that in the optimal assignment of the communication load of the network to the destinations, the value of that potential function should be equal at the locations of all the destinations. Also, we show that such an optimal partitioning of the network load among the destination is unique, and we give iterations to find the optimal solution


Plastics are extremely diverse in terms of chemical composition, properties and possible applications, and are widely distributed in the society and the environment. In the last 15 years the global annual production has doubled, reaching 245 million tons in 2008. Several of the chemicals used to produce plastics are hazardous for human health and the environment. These, and their degradation products, may be released during the life cycle of a plastic product. The plastic polymers are not considered as toxic, but in plastic products there may be non-bound residual monomers, polymerisation chemicals, degradation products, and additives which have toxic properties. The overall aim of this thesis, which is based on five papers [I-V], was to study the environmental and health hazards of chemicals in plastic polymers and products. Leaching tests, toxicity tests and Toxicity Identification Evaluations (TIEs) were made on plastic products [I, II], synthetic textiles [III], and discarded electronic products [IV]. A hazard ranking model was developed and used to rank plastic polymers based on monomer composition and environmental and health hazard classifications [V]. Also other hazardous substances needed to produce each polymer were identified [V]. Substances causing acute toxicity to Daphnia magna (water flee) leached from one third of all 83 plastic products/textiles even during short term (1-3 d) leaching in deionised water [I-III]. The toxic leachates came mainly from products that were soft to semi-soft, i.e. plasticised PVC (11/13) and polyurethane (3/4), and from epoxy products (5/5), and from synthetic textiles made of various plastic fibres [I-III]. The electronic product leachates that were acutely toxic came from mixed material and metal components, and not from plastics components. TIEs, performed on some leachates, indicated that the major toxicants were hydrophobic organics for the plastic product and synthetic textile leachates [I-III], and metals for the electronic product leachates [IV]. The polymers ranked as most hazardous are made of monomers classified as mutagenic and/or carcinogenic (category 1A or 1B). These belong to the polymer families of polyurethanes, polyacrylonitriles, PVC, epoxy resins, and styrenic copolymers (ABS, SAN and HIPS), and have a large global production (1-37 million tons/year). A considerable number of polymers, 31 out of 55, are made of monomers that belong to the two highest of the ranking model's five hazard levels [V]. Examples of such polymers, with a large global production (1-5 million tons/year), are phenol formaldehyde resins, unsaturated polyesters, polycarbonate, polymethyl methacrylate, and ureaformaldehyde resins [V]. The ranking model was useful for identifying and comparing hazardous substances, and the results from the hazard identification can be used for further hazard and risk assessment for decisions on the need for risk reduction measures, substitution or phase out. In conclusion, considering the extensive dispersion in the society and the environment, the growing production, and the release and use of many hazardous chemicals, it is important to further assess the risks of chemicals associated with plastic polymers and products.


A Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary American English is an invaluable tool for all learners of American English, providing a list of the 5,000 most frequently used words in the language. The dictionary is based on data from a 385 million word corpus - evenly balanced between spoken English (unscripted conversation from radio and TV shows); fiction (books, short stories, movie scripts); more than 100 popular magazines; ten newspapers; and 100 academic journals - for a total of nearly 150,000 texts. All entries in the rank frequency list also feature the top 20-30 collocates (nearby words) for that word, which provide valuable insight into the meaning and usage. Alphabetical and part-of speech indexes are provided for ease of use. The dictionary also contains 31 thematically organised and frequency-ranked lists of words on a variety of topics, such as family, sports, and food. New words in the language, differences between American and British English, and grammar topics like the most frequent phrasal verbs are also covered. A Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary American English is an engaging and efficient resource enabling students of all levels to get the most out of their study of vocabulary. It is also a rich resource for language teaching , research, curriculum design, and materials development. A CD version is available to purchase separately. Designed for use by corpus and computational linguists it provides the full text in a format that researchers can process and turn into suitable lists for their own research work.


: Operations were carried out on 41 patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder. Coexistent cholelithiasis was encountered in all cases. Ultrasonic examination (USE) and computed tomography (CT) are the most informative methods of preoperative diagnosis. With the use of both methods the correct diagnosis was made in 100% of cases. The true diagnosis was made before the operation in 73% of cases. In 9 patients the correct diagnosis was established only during the operation. Two patients underwent operation for calculous cholecystitis, stage I gallbladder carcinoma was identified during planned histological study. Among 32 patients 2 were found to have stage I, one--stage II, 17--stage III, and 12 patients--stage IV of the disease. Radical operations were carried out on patients with stages I and II and on 7 patients with stage III of the disease. Nine patients (28%) died in the immediate postoperative period. Cholecystectomy with careful removal of the elements of the gallbladder bed should be considered the radical operation for stage I of the disease; in stage II the operation should be supplemented by lymphadenectomy along the course of the hepatoduodenal ligament. Hemihepatectomy or atypical resection of the liver is indicated in stage III of the disease.


Background: Blisters often form at the margins of post-operative dressings, most frequently encountered in the specialty of orthopaedics, and there have been many attempts to prevent them forming. After a spate of blistering on postoperative wounds on a gynaecology ward an opportunity arose to trial a new product, OpSite Post-Op, which may help to prevent blister formation. Aims: The aim of the study was to compare the current traditional postoperative island dressing that was in use in the department with the new product to demonstrate if blistering could be reduced or resolved. Methods: Hysterectomy patients were divided into two groups by dividing the patients according to their surgeon. One group was treated with OpSite Post-Op (trial) and the other with Mepore (control). Results: Sixty-seven women were included in the study: 35 in the control cohort and 32 in the trial group. The results were very positive for the trial dressing as no blisters formed in this group whereas eight blisters formed in the control group. Conclusions: The new dressing performed well and demonstrated that postoperative wounds need not have the unnecessary complication and discomfort of blistering at the margins. Conflict of interest: Smith & Nephew provided dressings for the trial arm of the study.


This study examines the impact of both rater and ratee race on job performance ratings. Traditionally the true nature of race-based distortions to performance ratings is difficult to ascertain due to a lack of true score in performance. By utilizing a series of walk-through performance measures Cronbach's (1955) accuracy components were used to determine the true nature of race-based distortions. Overall the majority-member supervisors did not deflate the ratings of minority-members. In fact the ratings of minority-members were inflated by both source levels; and peers inflated ratings significantly more when compared to supervisors. Moreover majority members were rated accurately by both supervisors and peers. The implications of this and the potential reasons for it are discussed.


Sixteen fish aggregation devices (FADs) were deployed in 50 to 500 m deep of water in the Canary Islands. Species composition and abundance were determined by visual census carried out by divers on 55 occasions from April to October 1995 and from August 1996 to May 1997. A total of 15 species representing nine families of fish were observed. Pseudocaranx dentex (Bloch and Schneider, 1810), Seriola spp. and Naucrates ductor (Linnaeus, 1758) were the most abundant species. The number of species associated with FADs increased with immersion time, but fish biomass did not increase. The maximum number of fish species registered exactly under the FADs at any one time was five. The average estimated biomass was 9.47 Kg per FAD (SD= 25.2). However, when only baitfish were taken into account, the mean aggregated fish biomass was 3.20 Kg (SD= 4.32). The estimated biomass was higher when Coryphaena spp. was present, increasing to 53.9 Kg per FAD (SD=53.6). A significantly lower fish biomass and number of species was observed in FADs deployed in shallower waters (50-100 m depth).


The aim of this work is to present the first results obtained by means of the new validation of the water balance and crop development model CRITERIA-ID, specifically set up for the SWAMP (Smart Water Management Platform) platform on one of the pilots, in the framework of the SWAMP project, aimed at providing support for precision irrigation in agriculture. The platform consists of an IoT solution for monitoring the farming and irrigation systems combined with data analytic solution to assess the irrigation need of plants, and support for irrigation planning and water distribution both at farm and district level. CRITERIA-ID has been tested on two test cases for the Italian pilot, located in the land reclamation and irrigation consortium of Emilia Centrale (North Italy). The comparison of crop irrigation water needs computed by CRITERIA-ID with actual irrigation performed by farmers has been carried out, together with a comparison of crop water stress. The analysis has shown that for both the test cases the two data series are comparable, but some differences have been highlighted: in some cases the farmer irrigation is not decided on the basis of the actual water needs of the crops but on farm management decisions. In addition, if the total annual volumes of irrigation of the two series are comparable, the scheduling is different, where the observed irrigation data bring the crop to too high (or too low) level of water stress. Thus, the present work has shown that the application of CRITERIA-ID simulation model is a valid tool to support irrigation management because it allows an optimal use of the resource avoiding crop yield losses with a rational irrigation scheduling. The reliability of these outcomes sets the conditions for further exploitation of the model in the future, firstly for its integration into the SWAMP platform.


Abstract In a view of language as part of embodied and situated cognition, reduction of its meaning to individual mental representations ceases to be sufficient. Language relies on and at the same time enables distributed cognition thus the key aspects of meaning are in the interaction of individuals within their world. This special issue is an outcome of a workshop, which gathered representatives of several disciplines in a common effort to find appropriate theoretical concepts for the characterization of those aspects of meaning that lie in the mutual constraining between language and collective practice. The emerging picture is complex, involving multimodal participatory construction of meaning in multiple systems and on multiple timescales. The Authors, however propose also several innovative methods to navigate this complexity. In this short introduction we aim at placing the works contained in this issue on a broader map of ongoing efforts to understand language as a proper part of human ecology.


In recent literature, several approaches have been developed to solve over-constrained travel planning problems, which are often framed as conditional temporal problems with discrete choices. These approaches are able to explain the causes of failure and recommend alternative solutions by suspending or weakening temporal constraints. While helpful, they may not be practical in many situations, as we often cannot compromise on time.

In this paper, we present an approach for solving such over-constrained problems, by also relaxing non-temporal variable domains through the consideration of additional options that are semantically similar. Our solution, called Conflict-Directed Semantic Relaxation (CDSR), integrates a knowledge base and a semantic similarity calculator, and is able to simultaneously enumerate both temporal and domain relaxations in best-first order. When evaluated empirically on a range of urban trip planning scenarios, CDSR demonstrates a substantial improvement in flexibility compared to temporal relaxation only approaches.


We study a sequential variance reduction technique for Monte Carlo estimation of functionals in Markov Chains. The method is based on designing sequential control variates using successive approximations of the function of interest V. Regular Monte Carlo estimates have a variance of O(1/N), where N is the number of samples. Here, we obtain a geometric variance reduction O(ρN) (with ρ < 1) up to a threshold that depends on the approximation error V - AV, where A is an approximation operator linear in the values. Thus, if V belongs to the right approximation space (i.e. AV = V), the variance decreases geometrically to zero.

An immediate application is value function estimation in Markov chains, which may be used for policy evaluation in policy iteration for Markov Decision Processes.

Another important domain, for which variance reduction is highly needed, is gradient estimation, that is computing the sensitivity ∂α, V of the performance measure V with respect to some parameter α of the transition probabilities. For example, in parametric optimization of the policy, an estimate of the policy gradient is required to perform a gradient optimization method.

We show that, using two approximations, the value function and the gradient, a geometric variance reduction is also achieved, up to a threshold that depends on the approximation errors of both of those representations.


The maximum sensitivity of a thermal IR sensor can be available either by means of the sensor material, having its own absorbing properties, or by the deposition of an additional absorber structure on the detector surface. In this thesis, the theory of two absorption structures is discussed. The first is called the interferometric absorber structure. The second structure under investigation uses a lead selenide layer for the IR absorption. In the interferometric structure, a new epoxy material SU8-2002 was used as a dielectric medium. This material has a very low thermal conductivity of 0.3 W/mK, which makes it suitable for thermal detectors. The interferometric structure is based on three layers, a 40–60 A thick Ti layer, a SU8–2002 layer with a thickness of 2000 A thick and a 2000A Al layer. Using standard cleanroom processing an interferometric structure was fabricated. Transfer matrix theory was used in order to simulate the interferometric structure and the lead selenide was fabricated by means of an argon-plasma sputtering process. Both fabricated samples were characterized through Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy together with a specular reflectance accessory. The thicknesses of the added layers were measured using Atomic force microscopy (AFM) for both the interferometric and lead selenide structure. It was determined that by changing the reflective index value of the SU8-2002 from the reported value of 1.575 to about 2.40 that this provided a better agreement with the experimental results. The absorption results for the interferometric structure were determined to be approximately 82–98% for the wavelength region of 2-20µm at 30 degree. The PbSe absorption spectra showed 30%–50% absorption for the wavelength region 2.5 – 6.67μm.


Problem statement: The objective of this study is to develop techniques for assessing and analyzing sand desertification in the northern part of Shaanxi Province, China. Approach: In order to reveal the process of land degradation, especially the latest situation of sandy desertification, a method integrating remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and field survey was employed to build a sandy desertification dataset for analysis. Remote Sensing images included the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images in 1987 and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images in 1999). Eight land-cover classes, including active sand dunes, fixed sand dunes, semi-fixed sand dunes, grass land, farm land, wet land, built up area and unused land and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), were identified. Results: The results showed that the active sand dunes and semi-fixed sand dunes have increased with a change rate of 128.70 and 55.65 km2 year-1, respectively, in the meantime the fixed sand dunes has decreased with a decreasing rate of 182.14 km2 year-1. During the 1987s, the area of sandy desertified land reached 12,006.11 km2 (57.17% of the total sandy area), of which severely desertified, medium desertified and slightly desertified land areas were 4,442.23, 4,253.45 and 3,310.43 km2, respectively. By the year 1999, the area of desertified land was increased to 13,782.30 km2 (65.63% of the total sandy area), of which severely desertified, medium desertified and slightly desertified land areas were 5,169.89, 4,918.15 and 3,694.26 km2, respectively increasing by 1,776.19 km2. Conclusion: Spatial change detection based on active sand dunes showed that the expansion area was much larger than the reversion in the past two decades and that several active sand belts has been formed, suggesting that sandy desertification of northern part of Shaanxi Province, China, will be a long-term task.


The classification of European newts has fluctuated throughout history based on morphological and genetic discoveries. In this study, specimens of Ommatotriton from Turkey were compared by using morphometrical features and partial mitochondrial sequences data. When we used the TCS program, 15 haplotypes were found for a 541 bp fragment of the 16S rRNA gene in 118 specimens, while 25 haplotypes were found for a 398 bp fragment of the cytb gene in 112 specimens. The sequence divergence of 16S rRNA gene ranged from 0.18% to 5.70% while for cytb gene it ranged from 0.25% to 12.84%. Combined sequences showed that newts collected in three distinct geographical areas of Turkey (Southern Anatolia, Western Black Sea and Eastern Black Sea) form four distinct lineages (Hatay, Adana-Mersin, Western Black Sea and Eastern Black Sea). A total of 195 adult specimens (94 males and 101 females) from 20 different populations belonging to the three distinct geographic areas were used in the morphometrical comparisons. Canonical Variate Analysis demonstrated that the four groups were successfully separated and formed geographically homogeneous groups in the canonical space. As a conclusion, our molecular data suggest that individuals from Western Black Sea are not conspecific with Eastern Black Sea ones and they could represent a good species (Ommatotriton nesterovi). Finally, we suggest that three distinct species, O. nesterovi, O. ophryticus and O. vittatus should be recognised as banded newts of Turkey.


An accurate description of the microemulsion-phase behavior is critical for many industrial applications, including surfactant flooding in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Recent phase-behavior models have assumed constant-shaped micelles, typically spherical, using net-average curvature (NAC), which is not consistent with scattering and microscopy experiments that suggest changes in shapes of the continuous and discontinuous domains. On the basis of the strong evidence of varying micellar shape, principal micellar curves were used recently to model interfacial tensions (IFTs). Huh's scaling equation (Huh 1979) also was coupled to this IFT model to generate phase-behavior estimates, but without accounting for the micellar shape.
 In this paper, we present a novel microemulsion-phase-behavior equation of state (EoS) that accounts for changing micellar curvatures under the assumption of a general-prolate spheroidal geometry, instead of through Huh's equation. This new EoS improves phase-behavior-modeling capabilities and eliminates the use of NAC in favor of a more-physical definition of characteristic length. Our new EoS can be used to fit and predict microemulsion-phase behavior irrespective of IFT-data availability. For the cases considered, the new EoS agrees well with experimental data for scans in both salinity and composition. The model also predicts phase-behavior data for a wide range of temperature and pressure, and it is validated against dynamic scattering experiments to show the physical significance of the approach.


Alternative splicing of genes is one way in which humans generate more complex biological systems from a set of genes only slightly larger than that of worms or flies. Such splicing can be regulated in response to activated signaling pathways, and Matter et al. now propose a mechanism by which mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) ERK1 and ERK2 control splicing of the CD44 protein, a transmembrane receptor that binds hyaluronic acid. They found that the protein SAM68 (Src-associated in mitosis) bound to a splice regulatory element in the CD44 RNA. SAM68 also showed a shift in apparent molecular size during gel electrophoresis when isolated from cells in which ERK protein kinases were active, and recombinant ERK2 phosphorylated SAM68 fusion protein with glutathione in vitro. Results from in vitro splicing reactions provided further support for direct regulation of SAM68 by ERKs. GST-SAM68 that had been phosphorylated by ERK2 promoted splicing whereas unphosphorylated SAM68 had little effect. When expression of SAM68 was reduced in cells expressing morpholino antisense molecules, regulation of splicing through the ERK signaling pathway was diminished. The authors propose that SAM68 is a regulator of splicing that can be modulated in response to MAPK-mediated signals. N. Matter, P. Herrlich, H. König, Singal-dependent regulation of splicing via phosphorylation of Sam68. Nature 420, 691-695 (2002). [Online Journal]


The extraction of collagen from fish scales with papain under ultrasonic pretreatment was conducted in this paper. The effects of the ultrasonic pretreatment time, the ratio of papain to fish scales, the extraction temperature and the extraction time on the extraction rate of collagen were investigated by single factor experiment and orthogonal experiment, respectively. The results showed that the optimum conditions for collagen extraction from fish scales were: ultrasonic pretreatment time 4min, ratio of papain to fish scales 4%, temperature 60°C and extraction time 5h. Under the optimum conditions the extraction rate of collagen reached 90.7%.


In this paper, an elastic metamaterial beam with a novel two-degree-of-freedom local resonator is investigated theoretically, and the dispersion relation is calculated by using transfer matrix (TM). In order to confirm the existence of band gaps, the transmission spectrum of flexural wave are also studied by using finite element method. The formation mechanism of the flexural vibration bandgaps (FVBGs) are further analyzed by studying the displacement fields of the eigenmodes at the band-gap edges. At last, the evolution of the dispersion relations with the increasing of the distance from the one side rubber to the center of the local resonance mass are discussed in detail, and the effects of the outside diameter of the Cu ring and the equivalent stiffness k of the rubbers on the FVBGs are also investigated. Through the above analysis, we can draw the following conclusions, due to the unequal of the torques provided by the two rubbers, two different rotational vibrations of local resonance mass with two different local resonance frequencies are introduced in the local resonance system, thus the elastic metamaterial beam shows two FVBGs at low frequencies. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the numerical results. The magnitude of torques introduced in the local resonance system can obviously affect the locations of the FVBGs. With the asymmetry decreasing, the frequency region of the first FVBG moves to the higher value, while that of the second FVBG tends to the lower value, and when the two torques are equal, the two FVBGs coupled into one wider gap. For the elastic metamaterial beam with heavy resonance mass and weak rubbers is appropriate to obtain a lower band gap, and the total width of the FVBGs becomes wider. However, it does just the opposite under the condition of the case with light Cu ring and strong rubbers, but the total width of the band gaps also becomes wider. The propagation properties of the flexural wave in the designed local resonance beam can potentially be used to control and insulate vibration at low-frequency range and the unequal distances between the two rubbers to the center of the local resonance mass provide possibilities to expand the application of the beams for the vibration control in the needed frequency ranges.


A model-potential method is employed to calculate binding, elastic scattering, and annihilation of positrons for a number of atoms and small nonpolar molecules, namely, Be, Mg, He, Ar, H$_2$, N$_2$, Cl$_2$, and CH$_4$. The model potential contains one free parameter for each type of atom within the target. Its values are chosen to reproduce existing ab initio positron-atom binding energies or scattering phase shifts. The calculations are performed using a Gaussian basis for the positron states, and we show how to obtain values of the scattering phase shifts and normalized annihilation rate $Z_{\rm eff}$ from discrete positive-energy pseudostates. Good agreement between the present results and existing calculations and experimental data, where available, is obtained, including the $Z_{\rm eff}$ value for CH$_4$, which is strongly enhanced by a low-lying virtual positron state. An exception is the room-temperature value of $Z_{\rm eff}$ for Cl$_2$, for which the present value is much smaller than the experimental value obtained over 50 years ago. Our calculations predict that among the molecular targets studied, only Cl$_2$ might support a bound state for the positron, with a binding energy of a few meV.


Upcoming CO2 legislation in Europe is driving heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to develop highly efficient engines more than ever before. Further improvements to conventional diesel combustion, or adopting the reactivity controlled compression ignition concept are both plausible strategies to comply with mandated targets. This work compares these two combustion regimes by performing an optimization on both using Design of Experiments. The tests are conducted on a heavy-duty, single-cylinder engine fueled with either only diesel, or a combination of diesel and gasoline. Analysis of variance is used to reveal the most influential operating parameters with respect to indicated efficiency. Attention is also directed towards the distribution of fuel energy to quantify individual loss channels. A load-speed combination typical for highway cruising is selected given its substantial contribution to the total fuel consumption of long haul trucks. Experiments show that when the intake manifold pressure is limited to levels that are similar to contemporary turbocharger capabilities, the conventional diesel combustion regime outperforms the dual fuel mode. Yet, the latter displays superior low levels of nitrogen oxides. Suboptimal combustion phasing was identified as main cause for this lower efficiency. By leaving the intake manifold pressure unrestricted, reactivity controlled compression ignition surpasses conventional diesel combustion regarding both the emissions of nitrogen oxides and indicated efficiency.


SUMMARY: Magnesium is essential for the normal cell division of bacilli in complex media. Under conditions of magnesium deficiency or magnesium excess, cell division is inhibited and filamentous cells may be formed. Under the same conditions there is no appreciable interference with the division of chromatinic bodies. The magnesium requirements of the Gram-positive bacteria are considerably greater than those of the Gram-negative bacteria, possibly because the former incorporate magnesium into the structure of the Gram complex.
SUMMARY: In a previous communication (Webb. 1948 a) it was shown that magnesium was essential for the normal cell division of Clostridium welchii. In complex media deficient in ionic magnesium, CI. welchii grew in the form of long filaments, which reverted to cells of normal morphology when subcultured in a medium containing 0.0015 % (w/v) magnesium ion. In extending these studies, the influence of magnesium on the growth and division of various other species of bacteria in complex media has been determined. The results, described here, suggest that magnesium is essential for the normal cell division of all the rod-shaped bacteria studied, but that fundamental differences exist between the magnesium requirements of Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. 2. The Effect of Magnesium on the Growth and Cell Division of Various Bacterial Species in Complex.


Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of using novel non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) for anticoagulation following left atrial appendage closure (LAAC). Methods A total of 70 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent successful LAAC between November 2018 and September 2019 in the Department of Cardiology of the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China. All patients subsequently completed a 45-day postoperative follow-up period. Patients were grouped according to the postoperative anticoagulation regimen they received: there were 40 patients in the NOACs group and 30 patients in the warfarin group. Baseline clinical data, intraoperative data, and short-term postoperative follow-up data were collected and the two groups were compared. Results The intraoperative results showed no statistical difference between the two groups in respect of the occlusion rate, the compression ratio of the occluder, the volume of pericardial effusion, or the incidence of the following: residual shunts, device-related thromboses (DRT), stroke, and pericardial effusion (P > 0.05 in all cases). The residual shunt volume in the NOACs group was significantly smaller than that in the warfarin group (P = 0.04). During the 45-day postoperative follow-up period, there was no statistical difference between the two groups in respect of the residual shunt volume, or the incidence of DRT, ischemic stroke and cerebral hemorrhage (P > 0.05 in all cases). Compared with the warfarin group, the residual shunt volume was significantly reduced in the NOACs group (P = 0.03). The incidence of minor hemorrhage and the total hemorrhage incidence in the NOACs group were significantly lower than those in the warfarin group (5% vs 30%, P = 0.004, and 5% vs 33.3%, P = 0.002, respectively). Conclusion In this study, the use of NOACs for postoperative anticoagulation therapy following LAAC did not increase the risk of embolization or hemorrhage during the short-term follow-up period.


Bond-order potentials (BOPs) are derived from the tight-binding approximation and provide a linearly-scaling computation of the energy and forces for a system of interacting atoms. While the numerical BOPs involve the numerical integration of the response (Green's) function, the expressions for the energy and interatomic forces are analytical within the formalism of the analytic BOPs. In this paper we present a detailed comparison of numerical and analytic BOPs. We use established parametrizations for the bcc refractory metals W and Mo and test structural energy differences; tetragonal, trigonal, hexagonal and orthorhombic deformation paths; formation energies of point defects as well as phonon dispersion relations. We find that the numerical and analytic BOPs generally are in very good agreement for the calculation of energies. Different from the numerical BOPs, the forces in the analytic BOPs correspond exactly to the negative gradients of the energy. This makes it possible to use the analytic BOPs in dynamical simulations and leads to improved predictions of defect energies and phonons as compared to the numerical BOPs.


Purpose: This study is not a fragmentary study on characteristics of respiratory synergist when breathing, however it was intended to determine the effect of currently available respiratory exercise and to provide basic clinical information through investigation of oxygen demand and respiratory synergist that mobilizes for respiration during application of respiratory exercise. Methods: Experimental group I was selected from second grade of severity classification of GOLD, which has the highest percentage among patients with COPD, and experimental group II was selected from third grade of severity classification as a clinical sampling. After respiration pursing up lips and diaphragm respiration exercise were mediated together for six weeks, activity of respiratory muscles and oxygen saturation were measured and analyzed. Results: In comparison of change of respiratory synergist and oxygen saturation, activity of respiratory synergist in sternocleidomastoid muscle and scalene muscle showed a meaningful decrease in experimental group I. And, in comparison of change of respiratory synergist and oxygen saturation, activity of respiratory synergist in rectus abdominis muscle showed a meaningful increase in experimental group II. In comparison of change of respiratory synergist and oxygen saturation, activity of respiratory synergist in sternocleidomastoid muscle, scalene muscle, and rectus abdominis muscle showed a meaningful difference between experimental groups. Conclusion: Respiratory synergists work mainly as agonist of chest and upper limbs. Therefore it is very important to lower mobilization of respiratory synergist when breathing. It is considered that a multilateral approach and continued clinical research for improvement of respiratory function for patients with COPD will be needed in the future.


The design of residential care facilities for people with dementia has become an area of increasing clinical, architectural and research interest (Kitwood, 1997; Judd et al., 1998; Lawton, 2001). Less is known about day care design and about staff views of the adequacy of the social and built environment in which day care takes place. This article reports survey data on a study of 18 day centres providing dementia-specific care across the Republic of Ireland. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 77 practitioners (nurses in charge, care staff and branch managers). The focus of the research was on examining staff views of the physical characteristics of day care settings, the effectiveness of day care and staff views on the major benefits derived from day care attendance. The research also explored the perceptions of staff on how design features could be improved and their views on challenging behaviours, the suitability of certain clients for day care, staff training needs and the cost of care. Policy, practice and research implications emerging from the study are discussed. The article argues for the need for guidelines in best practice in dementia day care to be established in Ireland.


This study aims at providing a clear understanding of the factors that affect the quality of the performance of the external auditor working in the Iraqi audit firms and companies. The importance of external auditing stems from its impartiality of working to increase the credibility of the reports by conducting high quality audit to provide the appropriate information and raise the degree of reliability. In addition, this study highlights the important role of the auditor's performance quality. The study has an empirical field dimension related to finding the factors affecting the quality of external auditor performance, which is an analytical study of the opinions of auditors working in Iraqi audit firms and companies. To achieve the objectives of the study and approve its hypotheses, a survey was conducted consisting of 102 questionnaires distributed to a number of auditing offices and companies operating in Iraq, which represent the population of the study. The population of the study was all majored in accounting and auditing to obtain adequate answers that reflect the reality of the audit work provided by the audit offices in Iraq. As far for the statistical methods, the researcher has chosen two reliable methods that are suitable for the researcher empirical results and findings. These methods adopted are SPSS and Five-Point Likert Scale. The study has reached a number of conclusions, the most important of which is that 'The need to strengthen the role of external auditing through the issuance of instructions, guidelines, and controls to develop the profession, in the field of accounting and auditing.' The study reached important recommendations, the most important of which is the need for the audit offices to adhere to the quality control system (peer review) and complete independence from the customer, which enhances confidence in the auditor's report by all parties dealing with the economic unit.


Currently, macroporous hydrogels have been receiving attention in wastewater treatment due to their unique structures. As a natural polymer, alginate is used to remove cationic dyes due to its sustainable features such as abundance, low cost, processability, and being environmentally friendly. Herein, alginate/montmorillonite composite macroporous hydrogels (cryogels) with high porosity, mechanical elasticity, and high adsorption yield for methylene blue (MB) were generated by the one-step cryogelation technique. These cryogels were synthesized by adding montmorillonite into gel precursor, followed by chemical cross-linking employing carbodiimide chemistry in a frozen state. The as-prepared adsorbents were analyzed by FT-IR, SEM, gel fraction, swelling, uniaxial compression, and MB adsorption tests. The results indicated that alginate/montmorillonite cryogels exhibited high gelation yield (up to 80%), colossal water uptake capacity, elasticity, and effective dye adsorption capacity (93.7%). Maximum adsorption capacity against MB was 559.94 mg g−1 by linear regression of Langmuir model onto experimental data. The Pseudo-Second-Order model was fitted better onto kinetic data compared to the Pseudo-First-Order model. Improved porosity and mechanical elasticity yielding enhanced dye removal capacity make them highly potential alternative adsorbents compared to available alginate/montmorillonite materials for MB removal.


We report the detection of very high energy γ-ray emission from the intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object W Comae (z = 0.102) by VERITAS. The source was observed between 2008 January and April. A strong outburst of γ-ray emission was measured in the middle of March, lasting for only 4 days. The energy spectrum measured during the two highest flare nights is fit by a power law and is found to be very steep, with a differential photon spectral index of Γ = 3.81 ± 0.35stat± 0.34syst. The integral photon flux above 200 GeV during those two nights corresponds to roughly 9% of the flux from the Crab Nebula. Quasi-simultaneous Swift observations at X-ray energies were triggered by the VERITAS observations. The spectral energy distribution of the flare data can be described by synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) or external Compton (EC) leptonic jet models.


Information Technology (IT) is becoming a utility and, in this context, IT services in its mode called "cloud computing" are playing a growing role. This kind of outsourcing has proved advantageous in many ways, despite the existence of both barriers that oppose contracting this sort of services, and inherent risks. In order to explore in greater depth the issues related to the advantages, barriers, and risks, we carried out a research project that included a Delphi panel in which Brazilian experts and scholars were involved and whose steps and conclusions regarding risks are described in this article. The Delphi panel led panelists to suggest 15 risks, which were merged with other ones extracted from the literature and, after all, the top 12 risks, according to panelists' opinion, were selected and ranked. In the final ranking, is evidenced that operational risks stand out from other ones, as shown by the fact that four out of the top five risks are operational.


The black and white ruffed lemur, Varecia variegata, which is endemic to Madagascar, is under the threat of extinction due to the loss and fragmentation of its natural habitat, a consequence of deforestation. Behavioural researchers studying a population of V. variegata inhabiting the Manombo Special Reserve, noted that over a 4‐year period, none of the family groups within the reserve produced offspring while those in neighbouring populations had been reproductively successful. Inbreeding depression was postulated as the trigger for this occurrence. However, another explanation exists. A cyclone, striking the region in 1997, destroyed a large percentage of the mature fruit‐producing trees that V. variegata relied upon as a food source, which is likely to have produced a nutritional deficit. A panel of 25 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers was utilised to assess the genetic diversity within four V. variegata populations, including individuals from Manombo and three other populations in southeastern Madagascar. The data revealed that the level of genetic diversity apparent within the Manombo population is comparable to the other groups studied. Therefore, it seems probable that genetic factors are not responsible for the recent lack of reproductive success on the part of the V. variegata at Manombo Special Reserve.


I completed my undergraduate education in Atatürk University, Education Faculty, Biology Department. Then pursued my graduate education at the Biology Department of Mersin University. Both my master's and PhD theses were on the biological and population genetics features of various fish species. My initial encounter with tunicates dates back to my Postdoc at Israel Oceanographic and Limnologic Research Institute (IOLR) in 2011, where I was working on a DNA barcoding project. During that time, the entire institute was actively engaged in research on tunicates, and discussions during lunchtime often revolved around this fascinating group of organisms. Prof. Rinkevich usually only spoke seriously about tunicate biology but 1 day he told me "You know Botryllus schlosseri is riding horse in Black Sea coasts of Turkiye." I was totally surprised and was trying to understand the meaning of this comment from a scientific perspective. He then showed me the picture of a B. schlosseri colony attached to a seahorse. Following several more Postdoc experiences, I began working as a Principal Investigator at Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University (IMS-METU) in 2017. Since then, my team and I have been working on tunicate biodiversity, evolutionary biology, genomics, DNA barcoding, metabarcoding, metabolomics, whole-body regeneration (WBR) and aging related pathways.


Background: A life-threatening gastrointestinal emergency, necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) presents commonly in neonates. It may be medically or surgically managed. The demographics of NEC patients in the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) and their long-term outcomes are largely unknown. Aims: To investigate factors associated with NEC, including methods of management, and correlate these with outcomes (mortality/discharge). Methods: A retrospective service evaluation comparing inborn and outborn infants diagnosed with NEC during a 5-year period, who were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), UHW. The Vermont-Oxford Network (VON) criteria determined the confirmed cases and the data was collected from the 'BadgerNet' database and IMPAX image viewer. Results: All infants with poor outcomes (mortality) were preterm. Most were born by emergency caesarean, had low APGAR scores and birth weights <1kg. There was a significant difference in the volume of feeds at diagnosis between the inborn and outborn cohort (p<0.01) and between those who died and those with better outcomes (p<0.05). Discussion: Most infants in UHW with NEC require surgical input, but surgery alone does not correlate directly with higher mortality. Low gestation/birthweight and larger volume of feeds at diagnosis are high contributors. Further research will expand the database and permit follow-up of the cohort post-discharge.


Discussions regarding the use of hypnotism in dentistry featured prominently in dental journals and society proceedings during the decades around the turn of the twentieth century. Many dentists used hypnotic suggestion either as the sole anesthetic for extractions or in conjunction with local and general anesthetics for excavation and cavity filling. With the heralding of humanitarian dentistry and improved local anesthesia around 1905, a number of dentists advocated using suggestion psychology to calm nervous patients and increase their comfort and satisfaction levels while undergoing dental procedures. The practice of hypnotic suggestion with local and general anesthesia in providing patients with increasingly painless procedures constituted the earliest variety of behavioral dentistry, a discipline not fully developed until the closing decades of the twentieth century. Hypnosis and suggestion became driving forces for psychological applications in the formative years of behavioral dentistry.


We analyze brain waves acquired through a consumer-grade EEG device to investigate its capabilities for user identification and authentication. First, we show the statistical significance of the P300 component in event-related potential (ERP) data from 14-channel EEGs across 25 subjects. We then apply a variety of machine learning techniques, comparing the user identification performance of various different combinations of a dimensionality reduction technique followed by a classification algorithm. Experimental results show that an identification accuracy of 72% can be achieved using only a single 800 ms ERP epoch. In addition, we demonstrate that the user identification accuracy can be significantly improved to more than 96.7% by joint classification of multiple epochs.


The incidence of invasive cervical cancer and consequently mortality decreased due to adequate screening programmes in Canada from 1969 to 2003. Systematic cervical screening programmes similar to those in Europe should be implemented throughout Canada. The new techniques, including a liquid-based cytology, associated or not with identifying human papilloma virus (HPV), allow the best results in prevention and early diagnosis of cervical cancer and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). In the future a vaccine against HPV type 16 could reduce the incidence of cervical cancer worldwide.


Strain 200T, isolated from a soil sample taken from Antarctic tundra soil around Zhongshan Station, was found to be a Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and aerobic bacterium. Strain 200T grew optimally at pH 7.0 and in the absence of NaCl on R2A. Its optimum growth temperature was 20 °C. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain 200T belonged to the genus Sphingomonas. Strain 200T showed the highest sequence similarities to Sphingomonas kyeonggiense THG-DT81T (95.1 %) and Sphingomonas molluscorum KMM 3882T (95.1 %). Chemotaxonomic analysis showed that strain 200T had characteristics typical of members of the genus Sphingomonas. Ubiquinone 10 was the predominant respiratory quinone and sym-homospermidine was the polyamine. The major polar lipids were sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was determined to be 60.9 mol%. Strain 200T contained C16 : 0 (31.6 %), summed feature 8 (comprising C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c, 22.7 %), summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c, 11.2 %), C18 : 0 (7.8 %) and C14 : 0 2OH (6.7 %) as the major cellular fatty acids. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis, and physiological and biochemical characterization, strain 200T should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonasantarctica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 200T (=CCTCC AB 2016064T=KCTC 52488T).


We demonstrate a packaging system/test probe suitable for testing complex, large scale superconducting integrated circuits with thousands of Josephson junctions. The cryopackage is designed to work with a 1 cm superconducting die, with liquid He immersion cooling using a standard storage dewar. The package has 80 high-speed input-output lines (DC to 20 GHz) which connect the chip to room temperature electronics. The tip of the cryopackage, containing the chip, is shielded from the ambient magnetic field with two mumetal cylinders and contains a built-in coil, which provides in-situ degaussing of the inner shield. To clear flux trapped in the chip being tested, the probe contains a novel gas manifold and a system of heaters. During the defluxing operation, a heater evaporates liquid helium inside the chip enclosure, the expanding vapor purging the liquid from the sample cell and warming the chip above its transition temperature. Once the chip is defluxed, the liquid helium is allowed back into the cell, at a rate slow enough to avoid trapping flux in the chip while it is cooled. The process can be automated and does not require any movement of the probe once inserted in the dewar.


There continues to be discourse about declining policy capability at high government levels in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Over the past 25 years, New Zealand public sector agencies have taken various initiatives intended to change policy practices with a view to professionalising policy analysis and advice. Policy practice refers to the activities of policy staff and agencies to contribute to policy analysis and policy advice. The initiatives indicate an ongoing resolve to improve policy capability and the quality of policy advice to the satisfaction of advice clients.  This thesis examines the initiatives developed by the central government agencies and three agencies (two policy ministries and one council, a local government, which are collectively referred to as 'agencies') in New Zealand. The central government initiatives developed between 1990 and 2015 are examined to identify the concepts and ideas used to improve policy capability and the quality of policy advice and explain the contexts that influenced the initiators' choice and use of initiatives. The initiatives developed between 2008 and 2015 by the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry for the Environment and the Auckland Council are examined in depth to identify and explain the initiators' choice and use of initiatives. 'Initiatives' are used as a means to study organisational choices and activities, centred on the development, use and consequences of initiatives to build, improve or maintain policy capability and ensure high-quality policy advice. The research question addresses what initiatives are developed, why and with what consequences.  A qualitative inquiry draws on evidence from the literature on policy analysis, policy advice and policy capability, focusing on the knowledge, skills, competencies and behaviours required to produce policy analysis and advice. Similarities and differences in the drivers, designs and approaches of the initiatives across three cases are analysed using data from documents and interviews with policy staff and experts outside the case-study agencies.  The findings relating to central agency initiatives suggest that the focus of policy capability initiatives sought to standardise policy practices, ensure the quality of policy inputs with special attention to the use of evidence, tools and frameworks, bring a future focus to policy analysis, and promote collaborative policy analysis. Overall, these initiatives respond to the contextual conditions emanating from state sector reforms.  The findings relating to agency initiatives suggest that policy capability initiatives are driven, approached and designed by the circumstances specific to the organisations (internal influences) and the expectation–response relation between the producers of and clients for policy advice at different levels (external influences). The similarities of the forms of the initiatives with slight modifications in their design but differences in their approaches across the organisations, imply that the initiators are influenced by the contextual conditions.  The initiators' used their insights and experiences to contextualise initiatives and mixed several ingredients for policy capability to ensure both policy analytical and management capability of policy staff. In some instances, they followed local and international practices considered 'effective' in other public-sector organisations. At other times, they responded to the circumstances specific to the agency and external influences on policy capability, and focused on meeting the clients' quality expectations from policy advice.  The findings confirm that improving policy capability is strongly reliant on the senior leaders' and policy managers' ability to identify and apply an appropriate analytical style to policy analysis and bring practical and contextual considerations to bear on policy advice. The appropriateness of the analytical style is determined by a range of factors such as the nature of clients, nature of the problem, political views on the problem, and the demand and supply of policy skills.  The significant influences of contextual variables suggest that policy capability discourse can also be framed as the ability of the policy managers and senior leaders of the organisations to choose policy analytical styles that are fit-for-purpose. This conclusion reveals that the conventional understanding of declining policy capability as due to analytical deficiency is limited in its ability to account for the innovative efforts in New Zealand to improve both policy analytical and management capability at individual and organisation levels.


: Endometriosis is the second most frequent benign disease of the female of reproductive age. In spite of extensive research, the etiology of this disease is still largely enigmatic. A causal therapy has not been found yet. Several drug therapy approaches are available but none offers a permanent cure of endometriosis. In addition, the range of side effects of the particular drug therapies has to be considered individually. The treatment of patients with endometriosis cannot be standardized but has to differentiate the individual factors and life circumstances of the patients.


This paper deal with the urgent problem to create integrated PLM solutions in today's European automotive industry. Two European automotive companies have been used as case companies in order to carry out these studies. Configuration management and engineering change management are two information management processes that span throughout the extended company, through engineering domains and through the product lifecycle. This makes them ideal as study objects to create new methods, and to enable PLM for cross-x engineering design. Several guidelines regarding IT system architectures for cross-x PLM are presented, e.g.: modularity, central coordination, standard communication, minimum process redundancy, and general modelling constructs.


The Resource Constraint Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) is one of the most challenged scheduling topics. Compared to the other scheduling problems, the RCPSP pays special attention to the consumable resources with limited capacities, which is the major issue that industry has to cope with. In our study, we tackle a Multi-Objective RCPSP with minimization of the makespan, the total job tardiness and maximization of the workload balance level. Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGAII) and NSGAIII are applied at first to find approximated Pareto fronts. In particular circumstances, decision makers would prefer preselected propositions than the whole Pareto front. For this reason, we have integrated in our study, the Self Controlling Dominance Area of Solutions (SCDAS) in our algorithms find more fine-grained Pareto fronts, and solutions with good qualities on all objectives. Small, medium and large size instances, featured by different parameters of jobs and resources are tested. A comparative study is carried out where the hypervolume and the metric-C are used to evaluate the performances of different methods. The improvements brought by the SCDAS are proved regarding both metrics.


Rockfall threaten infrastructure and people throughout the world. Estimating the runout dynamics of rockfall is commonly performed using models, providing fundamental data for hazard management and mitigation design. Modelling rockfall is made challenging by the complexity of rock-ground impacts. Much research has focused on empirical impact laws that bundle the rock-ground impact into a single parameter, but this approach fails to capture characteristics associated with the impact configuration and, in particular, the effects of rock-shape. While it is apparent that particular geological settings produce characteristic rock-shapes, and that different rock-shapes may produce characteristic runout dynamics, these aspects of rockfall are poorly understood.

This study has focused on investigating the mechanics behind the notion that different rock-shapes produce characteristic runout dynamics and trajectories. The study combines field data on rockfall runout, trajectory and dynamics, laboratory analogue testing in controlled conditions, and numerical modelling of the influence of rock-shape. Initially rock-shape, deposition patterns and rockfall dynamics were documented at rockfall sites in Switzerland and New Zealand. This informed a detailed study of individual rock-ground impacts on planar slopes in which laboratory-scale and numerical rockfall experiments were combined to isolate the role of rock-shape on runout. Innovatively, the physical experiments captured the dynamics of impacts and runout paths using high speed video tracking and a sensor bundle with accelerometers and gyroscopes. Numerical experiments were performed using a 3-D rigid-body rockfall model that considers rock-shape, and has allowed the variability of rockfall behaviour to be explored beyond the limitations of physical experimentation.
The main findings of the study were on understanding rockfall-ground impacts, the influence of rock-shape on rockfall dynamics, and influence of rock sphericity. By measuring velocity, rotational speed, impact and runout character, it has been possible to quantify the variability of individual rock-ground impacts as a function of rock-shape. Investigation of single rebounds reveals that if classical restitution coefficients are applied, $R_n$ values greater than unity are common and rebounds are highly variable regardless of constant contact parameters. It is shown that this variability is rooted in the inherent differences in the magnitudes of the principal moment of inertia of a rock body brought about by rock-shape. Any departure from a perfect sphere induces increased range and variability in rock-ground rebound characteristics. In addition to the popular description of a rock bouncing down slope, rebounds involve the pinning of an exterior edge point on the rock, creating a moment arm which effectively levers the rock into ballistic trajectory as it rotates. Observations reveal that the angle of the impact configuration plays a key role in the resulting rebound, whereby low angles produce highly arched rebounds, while large impact angles produce low flat rebounds. The type of rebound produced has a strong bearing on the mobility of the rocks and their ability to maintain motion over a long runout. The mobility of rocks is also shown to be related to rotation, which is governed by the differences in the principal inertial axes as a function of rock-shape. Angular velocity measurements about each principal inertial axis indicate that rocks have a tendency to seek rotation about the axis of largest inertia, as the most stable state. Rotations about intermediate and small axes of inertia and transitions between rotational axes are shown to be unstable and responsible for the dispersive nature of runout trajectories, which are inherent characteristics of different rock-shapes.

The findings of this research demonstrate the importance of rock-shape in rockfall runout dynamics and illustrate how it is essential that the rock-shape is included in rockfall modelling approaches if the variability of rockfall behaviour is to be simulated.


Urban areas are the primary source of human-made litter globally, and roadsides are a primary accumulation location. This study aimed to investigate how litter arrives at roadsides and determine the accumulation rate and composition of roadside litter. We monitored select roadsides in the Inland Empire, California, for litter abundance (count) and composition (material, item, and brand type). Receipt litter with sale time and location information was used to investigate whether wind, runoff, or human travel were dominant transport agents. Only 9% of the receipts could have experienced runoff, and wind direction was not correlated with receipt transport direction. However, human travel and receipt transport distances were similar in magnitude and distribution, suggesting that the displacement of litter from the place of purchase was predominantly affected by human travel. The median distance receipts traveled from the sale location to the litter observation location was 1.6 km, suggesting that most sources were nearby to where the litter was found. Litter accumulation rates were surprisingly stable (mean 40 349 (33 255–47 865) # km−1 yr−1 or 1170 (917–1447) kg km−1 yr−1) despite repeated cleanups and the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. A new approach was employed to hierarchically bootstrap litter composition proportions and estimate uncertainties. The most abundant materials were plastic and paper. Food-related items and tobacco products were the most common item types. The identified branded objects were from the primary manufacturers (Philip Morris (4, 2%–7%), Mars Incorporated (2, 1%–3%), RJ Reynolds (2, 1%–3%), and Jack in The Box (1, 1%–3%)), but unbranded objects were prevalent. Therefore, identifiable persistent labeling on all products would benefit future litter-related corporate social responsibility efforts. High-resolution monitoring on roadsides can inform urban litter prevention strategies by elucidating litter source, transport, and accumulation dynamics.


The injection molding process is suitable for manufacturing complicated plastic products. As the customer request higher quality products increase, realization of the precise dimensional and shape controls is getting more important. For this purpose it is important to obtain uniform cooling procedure over the whole surface of the high temperature molded plastic. Failure to this may lead to different shrinkage speed, internal stresses and unwanted shape deformations. It is necessary to distribute coolant flow rates to the main channel and to the sub-channels properly to insure uniform cooling process when there are parallel cooling channels. In this study, three-dimensional turbulent flow simulations for representative parallel cooling channels were performed. To insure the intended flow rate to each sub-channels, various shape designs for the channel system were investigated. The results show that as the Reynolds number increases the effect of shape design is more profound. Through the proper flow distribution, uniform cooling effects would be expected.


Many service providers need to provide many other functions than just a network connectivity. They also need to provide network functions such as network address translation, firewall, encryption, Domain Name Service (DNS), caching, routing and many other services. Usually these functions come with the hardware at the user or customer's premises. This can increase the revenue of the revenue, but also can cost a lot and also be extremely difficult to maintain. In traditional network architecture, it is very difficult to configure the network and later modify the configuration, since both the data plane and control plane are bound together. To address this issue, SDN exists which decouples the data and the control plane. However, within SDN there are also different types of failure with some existing solutions to these types of failure. A divide and conquer approach in the high-level architecture of SDN-based networks with a semi-global controller will be discussed. The semi-global controller will be responsible for any failure that a conventional distributed master-slave controller architecture cannot handle, allowing the system to have an extra layer of fault tolerance. The research will begin comparing the traditional networking with Software Defined Networking. Then looks at different fault domains in SDN. Next the solution playing on the high-level architecture of SDNs with a semi-global controller will be defined. Also, some metrics and results against the prepared prototype will be analyzed and compared with other existing fault tolerance solutions.


The focus of this paper is the prima facie plausible view, expressed by the principle of Counter-Closure, that knowledge-yielding competent deductive inference must issue from known premises. I construct a case that arguably falsifies this principle and consider five available lines of response that might help retain Counter-Closure. I argue that three are problematic. Of the two remaining lines of response, the first relies on non-universal intuitions and forces one to view the case I construct as exhibiting a justified, true belief to which none of the usual diagnoses of knowledge failure in Gettier cases apply. The second line involves claiming that Fake Barns and its ilk are misdiagnosed by epistemological orthodoxy as Gettier cases. We are thus confronted by a trilemma: either the case I discuss undermines the first-blush plausible principle of Counter-Closure; or the case I discuss instantiates a novel kind of Gettier case; or a popular conception of a key range of alleged Gettier cases must be rejected. No matter which horn we choose, the case points to a philosophically curious conclusion.


Stacked unsupervised learning (SUL) seems more biologically plausible than backpropagation, because learning is local to each layer. But SUL has fallen far short of backpropagation in practical applications, undermining the idea that SUL can explain how brains learn. Here we show an SUL algorithm that can perform completely unsupervised clustering of MNIST digits with comparable accuracy relative to unsupervised algorithms based on backpropagation. Our algorithm is exceeded only by self-supervised methods requiring training data augmentation by geometric distortions. The only prior knowledge in our unsupervised algorithm is implicit in the network architecture. Multiple convolutional"energy layers"contain a sum-of-squares nonlinearity, inspired by"energy models"of primary visual cortex. Convolutional kernels are learned with a fast minibatch implementation of the K-Subspaces algorithm. High accuracy requires preprocessing with an initial whitening layer, representations that are less sparse during inference than learning, and rescaling for gain control. The hyperparameters of the network architecture are found by supervised meta-learning, which optimizes unsupervised clustering accuracy. We regard such dependence of unsupervised learning on prior knowledge implicit in network architecture as biologically plausible, and analogous to the dependence of brain architecture on evolutionary history.


Influence maximization is the problem of finding influential users, or nodes, in a graph so as to maximize the spread of information. It has many applications in advertising and marketing on social networks. In this article, we study a highly generic version of influence maximization, one of optimizing influence campaigns by sequentially selecting "spread seeds" from a set of influencers, a small subset of the node population, under the hypothesis that, in a given campaign, previously activated nodes remain persistently active. This problem is in particular relevant for an important form of online marketing, known as influencer marketing, in which the marketers target a sub-population of influential people, instead of the entire base of potential buyers. Importantly, we make no assumptions on the underlying diffusion model, and we work in a setting where neither a diffusion network nor historical activation data are available. We call this problem online influencer marketing with persistence (in short, OIMP). We first discuss motivating scenarios and present our general approach. We introduce an estimator on the influencers' remaining potential – the expected number of nodes that can still be reached from a given influencer – and justify its strength to rapidly estimate the desired value, relying on real data gathered from Twitter. We then describe a novel algorithm, GT-UCB, relying on probabilistic upper confidence bounds on the remaining potential. We show that our approach leads to high-quality spreads on both simulated and real datasets. Importantly, it is orders of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art influence maximization methods, making it possible to deal with large-scale online scenarios.


Nanofibers are generally referred to fibers with a diameter less than 1 micron. They have different commercial applications due to their properties such as high surface area and porosity. The production methods, physical properties and different application areas of these fibers are given in this article.


Recently, differentiable neural architecture search (NAS) methods have made significant progress in reducing the computational costs of NASs. Existing methods search for the best architecture by choosing candidate operations with higher architecture weights. However, architecture weights cannot accurately reflect the importance of each operation, that is, the operation with the highest weight might not be related to the best performance. To circumvent this deficiency, we propose a novel indicator that can fully represent the operation importance and, thus, serve as an effective metric to guide the model search. Based on this indicator, we further develop a NAS scheme for "exploiting operation importance for effective NAS" (EoiNAS). More precisely, we propose a high-order Markov chain-based strategy to slim the search space to further improve search efficiency and accuracy. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed EoiNAS, we applied our method to two tasks: image classification and semantic segmentation. Extensive experiments on both tasks provided strong evidence that our method is capable of discovering high-performance architectures while guaranteeing the requisite efficiency during searching.


A sequence of vectors {x(t)} with dimension N is given, such that x(t+1) is obtained from x(t) by introducing p new elements, deleting p old ones, and shifting the others in some fashion. The sequence of vectors $ is sought. This paper presents a method of calculating these vectors with proportional-to-Np operations and memory locations, in contrast to the conventional way which requires proportional-to-N 2 operations and memory locations. A non-symmetric case is also treated.


The Supreme Court's decision in S.E.C. v. Chenery II has been applied overbroadly by appellate courts. By its own terms, the automatic remand rule of the decision applies only to "the domain which Congress has set aside exclusively for the administrative agency." 332 U.S. 194, 196 (1947) (emphasis added). This exclusive domain encompasses policy determinations and findings of legislative facts. However, ordinary adjudicative facts — those that have no application beyond an individual case — are not the exclusive domain of agencies. Although courts owe deference to agency fact finders, they generally have power to reverse adjudicative factual findings that are clearly erroneous. Therefore, applying Chenery to reflexively remand adjudicative findings for additional analysis instead of reviewing such findings on the merits is an extension that is unmoored from the separation-of-powers theory that animates the opinion.
This problem is far more than academic because the refusal of appellate courts to engage with the merits of agency decisions imposes needless costs and delay on both agencies and those contesting agency actions. In one extreme example, decades of data show that the refusal of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to engage with the merits in 80% of the cases it remands to the Board of Veterans' Appeals has dramatically increased processing times and remands at the agency level without changing the rate at which the Board grants claims. Moreover, such remands do not have a strong correlation to outcome changes in the individual appeals. As a result, there is little connection between the court's findings of insufficient analysis and actual changes in outcome at either an individual or systemic level. Therefore, the court should abandon its current approach to review in favor of a traditional approach of reviewing agency findings of adjudicative fact for clear error.


The demand for fast and accurate structural analysis is becoming increasingly more prevalent with the advance of generative design and topology optimization technologies. As one step toward accelerating structural analysis, this work explores a deep learning-based approach for predicting the stress fields in 2D linear elastic cantilevered structures subjected to external static loads at its free end using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Two different architectures are implemented that take as input the structure geometry, external loads, and displacement boundary conditions, and output the predicted von Mises stress field. The first is a single input channel network called SCSNet as the baseline architecture, and the second is the multichannel input network called StressNet. Accuracy analysis shows that StressNet results in significantly lower prediction errors than SCSNet on three loss functions, with a mean relative error of 2.04% for testing. These results suggest that deep learning models may offer a promising alternative to classical methods in structural design and topology optimization. Code and dataset are available.2


What insights into literary realism can be found by dwelling in the empty rooms and abandoned spaces of Bleak House, a novel more often read for its representation of overcrowded environments? Traveling between and imaginatively inhabiting empty houses of Charles Dickens's and Virginia Woolf's construction, this article proposes empty-house-time as a distinctive narrative chronotope, one that nineteenth- and twentieth-century British writers use to investigate the processes of realist fiction, especially its affective dimensions. Taking the character-less built environment as a figure for the novel form, the article shows that the chromatic present that characterizes narratives of spaces like Chesney Wold when the Dedlocks are absent throws into flux boundaries between the fictional and the real, the reader and the world of the text, and different modes of imagining. It opens up continuums along which strategies of realist characterization and world-building are dramatized and interrogated. Most powerfully, empty-house-time reveals how affects associated with imagining the world going on without you shape encounters with fiction. Identifying the vital, ongoing existence of unoccupied rooms in Dickens's writing can in turn revitalize studies of the relationship between Victorian and modernist novels and theories of realism. This article concludes by turning to the Ramsays' abandoned coastal home in To the Lighthouse, in which Woolf, like Dickens, links an interrogation of realist fictionality to a historically specific reimagining of the household.


Four factors contribute to the roles played by chance and necessity in determining mineral distribution and diversity at or near the surfaces of terrestrial planets: (1) crystal chemical characteristics; (2) mineral stability ranges; (3) the probability of occurrence for rare minerals; and (4) stellar and planetary stoichiometries in extrasolar systems. The most abundant elements generally have the largest numbers of mineral species, as modeled by relationships for Earth9s upper continental crust (E) and the Moon (M), respectively: Log ( N E ) = 0.22 Log ( C E ) + 1.70 ( R 2 = 0.34 ) ( 4861 minerals , 72 elements ) Log ( N M ) = 0.19 Log ( C M ) + 0.23 ( R 2 = 0.68 ) ( 63 minerals , 24 elements ) , where C is an element9s abundance in ppm and N is the number of mineral species in which that element is essential. Several elements that plot significantly below the trend for Earth9s upper continental crust ( e.g. , Ga, Hf, and Rb) mimic other more abundant elements and thus are less likely to form their own species. Other elements ( e.g ., Ag, As, Cu, Pb, S, and U) plot significantly above the trend, which we attribute to their unique crystal chemical affinities, multiple coordination and oxidation states, their extreme concentration in some ore-forming fluids, and/or frequent occurrence with a variety of other rare elements—all factors that increase the diversity of mineral species incorporating these elements. The corresponding diagram for the Moon shows a tighter fit, most likely because none of these elements, except Cu and S, are essential constituents in lunar minerals. Given the similar slopes for Earth and the Moon, we suggest that the increase in mineral diversity with element abundance is a deterministic aspect of planetary mineral diversity. Though based on a limited number of collecting sites, the Moon9s observed mineralogical diversity could be close to the minimum for a rocky planet or moon comparable in size—a baseline against which diversity of other terrestrial planets and moons having radii in the same range as Earth and its Moon can be measured. Mineral-forming processes on the Moon are limited to igneous activity, meteor impacts, and the solar wind—processes that could affect any planet or moon. By contrast, other terrestrial planets and moons have been subjected to more varied physical, chemical, and (in the case of Earth) biological processes that can increase mineral diversity in both deterministic and stochastic ways. Total mineral diversity for different elements is not appreciably influenced by the relative stabilities of individual phases, e.g. , the broad pressure-temperature-composition stability ranges of cinnabar (HgS) and zircon (ZrSiO 4 ) do not significantly diminish the diversity of Hg or Zr minerals. Moreover, the significant expansion of near-surface redox conditions on Earth through the evolution of microbial oxygenic photosynthesis tripled the available composition space of Earth9s near-surface environment, and resulted in a corresponding tripling of mineral diversity subsequent to atmospheric oxidation. Of 4933 approved mineral species, 34% are known from only one or two localities, and more than half are known from five or fewer localities. Statistical analysis of this frequency distribution suggests that thousands of other plausible rare mineral species await discovery or could have occurred at some point in Earth9s history, only to be subsequently lost by burial, erosion, or subduction— i.e. , much of Earth9s mineral diversity associated with rare species results from stochastic processes. Measurements of stellar stoichiometry reveal that stars can differ significantly from the Sun in relative abundances of rock-forming elements, which implies that bulk compositions of some extrasolar Earth-like planets likely differ significantly from those of Earth, particularly if the fractionation processes in evolving stellar nebulas and planetary differentiation are factored in. Comparison of Earth9s upper continental crust and the Moon shows that differences in element ratios are reflected in ratios of mineral species containing these elements. In summary, although deterministic factors control the distribution of the most common rock-forming minerals in Earth9s upper continental crust and on the Moon, stochastic processes play a significant role in the diversity of less common minerals. Were Earth9s history to be replayed, and thousands of mineral species discovered and characterized anew, it is probable that many of those minerals would differ from species known today.