In aquatic environments, visual communication is expected in animals that inhabit clear, shallow waters. Here, we investigate variation in the colorful traits of bluegills, Lepomis macrochirus, to elucidate their possible function. Bluegills use alternative mating tactics whereby males develop into one of two irreversible phenotypes termed parental and cuckolder. Parentals build and defend nests and care for offspring whereas cuckolders obtain matings by sneaking copulations. We hypothesized that bluegill coloration might function as a sexual ornament in parental males and that ornamental coloration might serve as an honest indicator of male quality. We predicted that coloration should be more pronounced in parental males than in females and immature males and should be more pronounced during the breeding season. We also predicted that males in better condition should be more intensely colored than fish in poor condition. To test our predictions, we sampled 510 bluegills during the breeding and post-breeding seasons at nine lakes in southern Ontario, Canada, in 2007. We used reflectance spectrometry to quantify the coloration of five body regions, aged and sexed each fish, and calculated Fulton's condition factor from morphological measurements. A separate experiment showed that color did not fade several minutes post capture, suggesting that coloration could be measured reliably and consistently. We found that color was influenced by maturity, sex, and season, in the predicted direction, for three body regions (breast, cheek, and opercular flap). We also found that color varied with the condition of males such that males in better condition were darker for the sexually dichromatic ventral and facial regions. Our findings therefore suggest that some colorful traits in bluegills may serve as condition-dependent sexual signals during the breeding season. Our research contributes to a growing appreciation of the importance of visual signaling in aquatic environments.


Multinational teams are becoming the standard as companies compete globally. We hear stories of USbased teams who prefer Agile development practices but who encounter growing pains, including cultural and time zone differences, when they add overseas contributors. Engineering teams want to collaborate and work well together regardless of how they may be distributed. This case study delves into the problems we experienced on one team spread across two continents (in United States and India). To bridge the differences and solve these problems, we had to take the time to really communicate with one another about how each site interpreted Agile concepts, what they saw as the main obstacles to development, and how we could best solve problems without sacrificing our priorities. The solution was not for the team members at one site to issue a process to the entire team; instead we collaboratively reached a solution that ensured communication between sites, decreased turnaround time, improved quality, and received buy-in from the whole engineering team. Some of the practices we have put into place could assist other teams in being successful working across development sites. In the end, we found that Agile development can work internationally if the process has enough structure, team knowledge is made more explicit, and everyone's voice is heard.


Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal chalcogenide nanostructures exhibit unique electronic, optoelectronic and mechanical properties, showing great potential for innovation of future electronics, renewable energy, sensing, and catalysis fields. Despite achieving great progress, fabricating 2D nanostructures of non-layered ternary thiospinels remains a great challenge, and their bifunctional electrocatalytic properties toward both oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER) have not been explored. In this paper, 2D nanostructures of an earth-abundant non-layered ternary thiospinel compound – CuCo2S4 nanosheets (NSs) – with their (111), (022) and (004) planes mainly exposed, are synthesized via a "leveling metal activity and structure-directed one-pot sulfurization" strategy. The electrocatalytic tests in alkaline solution show that such CuCo2S4 NSs can efficiently catalyze both the ORR and OER, whose bifunctional catalytic properties are superior to binary metal sulfide nanostructures, Pt/C, CuCo2S4 nanoparticles, and recently reported some bifunctional oxygen-electrode catalysts (e.g. CoxSy@C-1000, N-doped G/CNTs, Co3O4/NBGHSs, CoFe2O4, CoxMn3−xO4, MnOx, NiCo2S4 hollow spheres, NiCo2S4@N/S-rGO, etc.). Combined with spin-polarized density functional theory computations based on a computational hydrogen electrode model, their excellent bifunctional catalytic properties originate from the presence of the two special facets, (022) and (004), which have different preferences in terms of the ORR/OER. This work not only enriches the current 2D material family but also paves the way for rational design of advanced multifunctional 2D electrocatalysts for use in renewable energy fields.


Stable, biologically compatible pharmaceutical compositions in the form of water-in-oil microemulsions (w/o), for the sustained release by parenteral administration of active ingredients which are hydrophilic or are made hydrophilic by suitable derivatization, a process for the preparation of said microemulsions and the use thereof.


The primary objective of this study is to investigate the design, implementation, and evaluation of a graphical user interface prototype, called InfoVis, for direct manipulation of databases. This prototype information exploration and visualization interface allows users to explore a database with graphical widgets such as a novel dynamic slider. Specifically, the InfoVis interface enables the user to search a database without the need to create or formulate complex syntactical query statements. The dynamic slider and other widgets are utilized to assist users in mental visualization and representation of objects and actions. A pilot empirical study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the InfoVis interface prototype. The primary results suggest that subjects who used the InfoVis interface performed at a higher level than their counterparts who did not use InfoVis interface.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize benign prostate-specific antigen (PSA) bounces of at least 2.0 ng/mL and biochemical failure as defined by the Phoenix definition after prostate brachytherapy at our institution, and to investigate distinguishing features between three outcome groups: patients experiencing a benign PSA bounce, biochemical failure, or neither. Material and methods Five hundred and thirty consecutive men treated with low-dose-rate brachytherapy with follow-up of at least 3 years were divided into outcome groups experiencing bounce, failure, or neither. A benign bounce was defined as a rise of at least 2.0 ng/mL over the pre-rise nadir followed by a decline to 0.5 ng/mL or below, without intervention. Patient and tumor characteristics, treatment variables, and PSA kinetics were analyzed between groups. Results Thirty-two (6.0%) men experienced benign bounces and 47 (8.9%) men experienced failure. Men experiencing a bounce were younger (p = 0.01), had a higher 6-month PSA level (p = 0.03), and took longer to reach a final nadir (p < 0.01). Compared to the failure group, men with bounce had a lower pre-treatment PSA level (p = 0.01) and experienced a rise of at least 2.0 ng/mL that occurred sooner after the implant (p < 0.01) with a faster PSA doubling time (p = 0.01). Only time to PSA rise independently differentiated between bounce and failure (p < 0.01), with a benign bounce not being seen after 36 months post-treatment. Prostate-specific antigen levels during a bounce reached levels as high as 12.6 ng/mL in this cohort, and in some cases took over 5 years to decline to below 0.5 ng/mL. Conclusions Although there is substantial overlap between the features of benign PSA bounces and failure, physicians may find it useful to evaluate the timing, absolute PSA level, initial response to treatment, and rate of rise when contemplating management for a PSA rise after low-dose-rate brachytherapy.


Part IIIA of the Australian Trade Practices Act defines circumstances in which a facility owner may be required to provide a third party with use of its facility. This paper examines what Part IIIA might be doing from an economic perspective and criticises 'monopoly leveraging' arguments for third-party access. It argues that the transactions costs of access are potentially significant, and can exceed any efficiency gains third-party access permits. These contentions are corroborated by reference to the long-running dispute between the Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Billiton Iron Ore over access to rail track in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.


Larval settlement of the polychaete Hydroides elegans Haswell, 1883 is mediated by marine biofilms; complex agglomerates of bacteria, diatoms, fungi and protozoa enmeshed in a matrix of extracellular polymers (EPS). In our previous investigations, benthic diatoms were demon- strated to be potent mediators of larval settlement in H. elegans. The putative diatom-derived settle- ment cues were heat-stable components in close association with the diatom surface. For an in-depth investigation of the chemical nature of diatom-derived larval settlement cues, the EPS of the induc- tive (Achnanthes sp., Nitzschia constricta) and non-inductive (Amphora tenerrima, Nitzschia frustu- lum) diatoms were bioassayed for their effect on larval settlement. When EPS fractions larger than 100 kDa were immobilized in stable hydrogels to mimic their association to a solid substratum, they evoked an effect on larval settlement similar to that of the respective monospecies diatom films. The crude exopolymer samples mainly consisted of polysaccharides with a small proportion of proteina- ceous sample components. After enzymatic removal of proteinaceous EPS components, the samples evoked an effect on larval settlement similar to that of the crude EPS samples, indicating the negligible role of large proteins or glycoproteins as settlement cues.


Current cross-national organisational theory remains tied to stark polarisation between convergence and divergence, universal and relative, frames of analysis. Attempts at synthesis between these forces allow for, but do not always explain, why the organisation of work should be constantly pressured to conform to one particular `best practice'. Our approach examines three sources of external influence on work organisation practices: (i) the economic mode of production; (ii) national legacies and institutional patterns; and (iii) `best practice' or universal modernisation strategies generated and diffused by the `society-in-dominance' within the global economy at a particular period of time. In other words, the influences upon work within a particular country are the result of a three-way interaction of what we call system effects, societal effects and dominance effects. All societies are marked by these three influences, although the order of influence varies historically and between societies.


Extension service of the land grant university system is often the first source of public information for emerging soil amendments such as biochar. Biochar is a charcoal product made by heating plant biomass via pyrolysis and is increasingly marketed as an organic soil amendment. As energy-producing pyrolysis industries expand, there is increasing opportunity to utilize locally produced biochar for its potential value in sustainable agriculture. However, the highly variable properties of biochar materials and their effects on plant growth and soil nutrient supply make it difficult to objectively study the effect of this soil amendment and provide guidance to users of locally sourced biochar materials. Therefore, preliminary screening studies are needed to identify potentially beneficial ranges of biochar properties and their effects on soils and plants that can then be rigorously tested in field research. The role of extension in conducting such screening studies is invaluable to providing both guidance to researchers in developing sound study methods, and in educating the public on biochar and the myriad of uncertainties surrounding its use; thereby establishing the need for rigorous research on its properties. In 2014, a simple, yet informative screening trial was performed to identify optimal biochar pyrolysis production temperature, conditioning (that is, degree of crushing) and soil application rate for future field experiments. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa, var. Parris Island Cos) chosen for its short growth period and rapid biomass development, was grown in 9-L pots filled with silt loam field soil amended with biochar and/or fertilizer (or none) made from Utah-sourced cherry wood. The pots were uniformly drip irrigated once daily to keep them near field capacity throughout the study period, thereby eliminating any influence of differential soil-plant-water relations. Three biochar products created from the same cherry wood source, but resulting from three different pyrolysis temperatures (375, 475 and 575°C) and either powder ground (P) or masticated (M) texture were applied to soil at three application rates (1, 2 and 3% by weight). Variation in plant dry weight at harvest within and among treatments was high. Lettuce growth with the addition of biochar was decreased as compared to control treatments in all cases, except for biochar produced at the lowest temperature, 375°C. Results indicate that masticated biochar produced at 375°C and applied to soil at the rate of 2% by mass offers the best combination of beneficial response and ease of handling for future field evaluations. This case study's benefit for demonstrating the value of preliminary screening trials to inform both future research and public outreach education is discussed.

 Key words: Biochar, soil amendments, pyrolysis, plant growth, high temperatures.


We discuss a case of a 42-year-old female who was admitted for chronic intractable lower back pain requiring elective spinal surgery. Postoperatively, she experienced chest pressure and abdominal pain with a notable elevation in cardiac markers. A cardiac catheterization and left ventriculogram revealed normal coronary arteries and basal anterolateral hypokinesis, with the normal movement of the distal segment of the anterior wall. A rare variant of stress cardiomyopathy was diagnosed.


The zebrafish, Danio (Brachydanio) rerio, has become one of the most widely studied model systems in developmental biology. We present a DNA-based phylogeny of zebrafish and other species of the genus Danio, and the genera Rasbora, Puntius and Cyprinus. Homologous regions of the large (16S) mitochondrial ribosomal RNA gene were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and directly sequenced. The phylogeny revealed: (i) the zebrafish, Danio (Brachydnio) rerio, is identical in its 16S sequence to its aquarium breeding morph, the leopard danio; (ii) the pearl danio (Danio albolineatus) is more closely related to the zebrafish than the giant danio (Danio aequipinnatus); and (iii) species of the genus Rasbora (hetermorpha, trilineata, elegans, pauciperforata, dorsiocellata) are more closely related to the danios than members of the genus Puntius ( tetrazona,conchonius) and Cyprinus, the carp. All of these species are readily available in the aquarium trade, easily kept and bred in captivity, and amenable to developmental work. It is hoped that this molecular phylogeny will invite developmental biologists to use the comparative method to ask questions about function (e. g. cellular and genetic aspects) and evolution of zebrafish developmental biology in a phylogenetic context.


Genome duplication occurs while the template DNA is bound by numerous DNA-binding proteins. Each of these proteins act as potential roadblocks to the replication fork and can have deleterious effects on cells. In Escherichia coli, these roadblocks are displaced by the accessory helicase Rep, a DNA translocase and helicase that interacts with the replisome. The mechanistic details underlying the coordination with replication and roadblock removal by Rep remain poorly understood. Through real-time fluorescence imaging of the DNA produced by individual E. coli replisomes and the simultaneous visualization of fluorescently-labeled Rep, we show that Rep continually surveils elongating replisomes. We found that this association of Rep with the replisome is stochastic and occurs independently of whether the fork is stalled or not. Further, we visualize the efficient rescue of stalled replication forks by directly imaging individual Rep molecules as they remove a model protein roadblock, dCas9, from the template DNA. Using roadblocks of varying DNA-binding stabilities, we conclude that replication restart is the rate-limiting step of stalled replication rescue.


A 50-year-old male of Indian descent presented with jaundice and right hypochondrium pain. Following a computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen, a segment 7 liver lesion was visualized, accompanied by extensive peritoneal tumour deposits. An ultrasound guided liver biopsy was performed and histology showed loose nests and sheets of tumour cells with a small blue round cell morphology. The tumour cells showed patchy strong immunopositivity for cytokeratins (AE1/3, CK7, CK19) and synaptophysin, while showing diffuse strong perinuclear positivity for desmin. Interphase fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) study using EWSR1 breakapart probe was positive for EWSR1 gene rearrangement. Desmoplastic small round cell tumour is a rare but aggressive intra-abdominal mesenchymal tumour. While the primary sites of involvement are usually the peritoneum and omentum, visceral involvement can occur. We wish to highlight the importance of considering this entity when evaluating a liver biopsy especially in a less than classical clinical context.


Abstract : Although the role of microstructure on the initiation and growth of fatigue cracks, and thus the fatigue performance of a structural metal, has long been recognized, quantitative models of the linkage(s) between microstructural characteristics and structural fatigue performance have not been widely available. The absence of such models, coupled with the compositional basis of material specifications, has limited the ability to exploit improvements in material performance which have been generated by microstructural consequences of manufacturing process improvements. The potential performance benefits of quality-improved materials have thus remained inaccessible to airframers, who lack the means of specifying such materials or characterizing their merits without committing massive testing resources. Opportunities for reducing airframe weight and/or cost have thus been lost. A program of experimental and analytical tasks has been conducted to develop a path for defining the linkage(s) between microstructural characteristics and fatigue performance in an aluminum alloy typically used for airframe structural applications. Within the framework of this overall objective, life-limiting microstructural features have been classified and ranked by severity, and models to quantitatively describe the evolution and growth of macrostructural cracks from those features have been developed. The use of these models to probabilistically describe the structural implications of different levels of microstructural quality has been demonstrated, thereby allowing the efforts of material pedigree to the predictively linked with the structural integrity of end components. The focus of this work was on several process variants of aluminum alloy 7050-T7451 thick plate.


BACKGROUND
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data show an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality with an increased intake of added sugar.

OBJECTIVE
We determined the dose-response effects of consuming beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) at zero, low, medium, and high proportions of energy requirements (Ereq) on circulating lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for CVD and uric acid in adults [age: 18-40 y; body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 18-35].

DESIGN
We conducted a parallel-arm, nonrandomized, double-blinded intervention study in which adults participated in 3.5 inpatient days of baseline testing at the University of California Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center's Clinical Research Center. Participants then consumed beverages sweetened with HFCS at 0% (aspartame sweetened, n = 23), 10% (n = 18), 17.5% (n = 16), or 25% (n = 28) of Ereq during 13 outpatient days and during 3.5 inpatient days of intervention testing at the research center. We conducted 24-h serial blood collections during the baseline and intervention testing periods.

RESULTS
Consuming beverages containing 10%, 17.5%, or 25% Ereq from HFCS produced significant linear dose-response increases of lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for CVD and uric acid: postprandial triglyceride (0%: 0 ± 4; 10%: 22 ± 8; 17.5%: 25 ± 5: 25%: 37 ± 5 mg/dL, mean of Δ ± SE, P < 0.0001 effect of HFCS-dose), fasting LDL cholesterol (0%: -1.0 ± 3.1; 10%: 7.4 ± 3.2; 17.5%: 8.2 ± 3.1; 25%: 15.9 ± 3.1 mg/dL, P < 0.0001), and 24-h mean uric acid concentrations (0%: -0.13 ± 0.07; 10%: 0.15 ± 0.06; 17.5%: 0.30 ± 0.07; 25%: 0.59 ± 0.09 mg/dL, P < 0.0001). Compared with beverages containing 0% HFCS, all 3 doses of HFCS-containing beverages increased concentrations of postprandial triglyceride, and the 2 higher doses increased fasting and/or postprandial concentrations of non-HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein CIII, and uric acid.

CONCLUSIONS
Consuming beverages containing 10%, 17.5%, or 25% Ereq from HFCS produced dose-dependent increases in circulating lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for CVD and uric acid within 2 wk. These results provide mechanistic support for the epidemiologic evidence that the risk of cardiovascular mortality is positively associated with consumption of increasing amounts of added sugars. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01103921.


Objective To evaluate whether changing dopamine infusions every 12 hours and preparing these infusions 30 min before administration reduces blood pressure fluctuations in preterm and term neonates. Design This was a retrospective study using data from live patients on the neonatal unit and prospective study exploring stability of infusions in a laboratory-based neonatal ward simulation. Setting Single-centre study in a tertiary neonatal surgical unit in a university teaching hospital. Patients Neonates who received more than one subsequent dopamine infusion and had invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring, during their admission in the neonatal unit, were included. Interventions As part of the Quality Improvement project, the standard operating procedure (SOP) was changed, and dopamine infusions were prepared by nursing staff and left to rest for 30 min before administering to the neonate. Additionally, infusions were replaced every 12 hours. Main outcome measures The percentage change in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and the percentage loss in the drug concentration during infusion during changeover. Results Our findings indicate that up to 15% of the initial dopamine concentration is lost after 24 hours. This results in a sharp variation in the dopamine concentration during infusion changeover that correlates with observed rapid fluctuations in MAP. In changing the SOP, no significant difference in the concentration of dopamine and MAP were observed over 12 hours. Conclusions Delaying administration of dopamine infusions by 30 min after preparation combined with changing infusions 12 hourly has reduced MAP fluctuations. Therefore, the risks associated with MAP fluctuations, including intraventricular haemorrhages, are reduced.


The COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious consequences in the last few months and trying to control it has been the most important objective. With effective prevention and control methods, the epidemic has been gradually under control in some countries and it is essential to ensure safe work resumption in the future. Although some approaches are proposed to measure people's healthy conditions, such as filling health information forms or evaluating people's travel records, they cannot provide a fine-grained assessment of the epidemic risk. In this paper, we propose a novel epidemic risk assessment method based on the granular data collected by the communication stations. We first compute the epidemic risk of these stations in different intervals by combining the number of infected persons and the way they pass through the station. Then, we calculate the personnel risk in different intervals according to the station trajectory of the queried person. This method could assess people's epidemic risk accurately and efficiently. We also conduct extensive simulations and the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Section 154), stipulates that national and provincial government must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to operationalise their constitutional mandate. The primary mandate of the provincial Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the national Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) is to promote sustainable development by providing support to local government. Such support should strengthen the financial, human, technical and administrative capacity of municipalities and enable them to achieve their developmental objectives. To facilitate such support, a Government-wide Monitoring & Evaluation System (GWM&ES) was established. This article reports the results of empirical research conducted in a sample of 36 local municipalities to determine the extent to which COGTA and DCoG utilise the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) system in support of municipalities. Based on these results, a model is proposed for the improvement of M&E system utilisation by COGTA and DCoG, helping them to fulfil their support mandate more efficiently.


Two kinds of specimen made of a kind of Ta-W alloy material with high melting point about 3000°C were processed by a traditional EDM (TEDM) and a powder mixed EDM (PMEDM) separately, and its surface characteristics were tested. After processing, their surfaces had the roughness of Ra 0.542μm and Ra 0.174μm, respectively. Moreover, their surface wear-resistance was studied on a CJS111A friction and wear tester. The micro-appearances on the wear surfaces were observed and analyzed by using a SEM. The test results indicated that the better wear-resisting ability the specimen, the higher wear rate displayed during the test the grinding balls. The wear rates of grinding balls corresponding to the two processed surfaces are 2.4×10-5 mm3/m for the TEDM and 1.4×10-4 mm3/m for the PMEDM, and the latter is 5.8 times of the former. The results show that the PMEDM is better at improving the wear-resistance, roughness and hardness than the TEDM, which means that the technique of PMEDM has a great potential in processing the special material.


In this paper, theoretical analysis is performed on the influence of multiple piezoelectric effects on piezoelectric coefficients. And a kind of classical piezoelectric ceramics was adopted to conduct the experimental validation. The experimental results of short-circuit boundary condition are obtained by the methods that a capacitor whose capacitance is much larger than that of the stack is parallel with PZT-5. Influence results are obtained through comparing them with open-circuit piezoelectric coefficient. Experimental result shows that multiple piezoelectric effects make piezoelectric coefficient of PZT-5 be altered by 18%.


We examined the effects of an inhibitor of PI3K, XL147, against human breast cancer cell lines with constitutive PI3K activation. Treatment with XL147 resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth and levels of pAKT and pS6, signal transducers in the PI3K/AKT/TOR pathway. In HER2-overexpressing cells, inhibition of PI3K was followed by up-regulation of expression and phosphorylation of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases, including HER3. Knockdown of FoxO1 and FoxO3a transcription factors suppressed the induction of HER3, InsR, IGF1R, and FGFR2 mRNAs upon inhibition of PI3K. In HER2+ cells, knockdown of HER3 with siRNA or cotreatment with the HER2 inhibitors trastuzumab or lapatinib enhanced XL147-induced cell death and inhibition of pAKT and pS6. Trastuzumab and lapatinib each synergized with XL147 for inhibition of pAKT and growth of established BT474 xenografts. These data suggest that PI3K antagonists will inhibit AKT and relieve suppression of receptor tyrosine kinase expression and their activity. Relief of this feedback limits the sustained inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathway and attenuates the response to these agents. As a result, PI3K pathway inhibitors may have limited clinical activity overall if used as single agents. In patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, PI3K inhibitors should be used in combination with HER2/HER3 antagonists.


This paper presents high-density arrays of 7 × 7 n- and p-type piezoresistive field effect transistor (piezo-FET)-based stress sensors realized with a pitch of 23 μm using a commercial complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The sensor elements make it possible to extract the distribution of the in-plane normal stress difference σxx-σyy and the in-plane shear stress σxy under electroless nickel (eNi) bumps. For the first time, pre-deposition stress caused by openings in the passivation, stress induced by the eNi bump deposition, and stress redistribution during anneals between 50°C and 260°C are presented. Typical values of σxx-σyy of ±25 MPa are introduced by bump deposition. These values are further increased by up to 160% during anneals up to 260°C. The in situ monitoring of the mechanical stress redistribution during annealing and thermal cycling is studied. At the deposition temperature, the system is found to be almost stress free. The stress due to bump deposition is numerically modeled. The unknown adhesion strength between nickel bump and silicon nitride (SiN) passivation is taken into account using an adjustable Young's modulus of SiN. For an optimized model, the correlation between measured and simulated spatial stress distributions is found to be high, while the magnitude of the stress values is underestimated in the model by about 35%.


Due to its competitive political system and strong non-oil export capacity, Mexico is not considered an oil Rentier State. Yet, the consistent and intensive use of crude oil has fundamentally altered the trajectory of its political economy. State institutions, which had consistently relied on oil rents to finance their operations, tend to preserve social stability and political consensus rather than promote development.
The central bureaucracy's need to control oil rent strengthens and reinforces the role of budgetary institutions within politics and administration. Budget institutions provide the government with an inordinate degree of discretion to allocate the budget, a capacity that supports the State's political legitimation and helps to overcome economic turmoil. Paradoxically, oil produces a policy curse that reinforces the State's socio-political embeddedness at the expense of its economic leverage. Thus, undermining the incentives for public officials to tax and deliver expenditure quality, thereby deepening the State's detachment from normal economic behaviour.
Oil rent maximization serves to increase the size and cost of public employment and the magnitude of transfers and subsidies at the expense of gross fixed public investment, the maturation of a merit-based bureaucracy, and the Legislature's role in controlling the Executive. In addition, rents short-term logic is inimical to the country's long-term strategic planning because they do not provide public and sectoral policies with a sound financial basis. Rentier behaviour is enforced within the State apparatus by a structure of incentives where budgeteers and elected officials are largely exempted, given budgetary secrecy and discretion, to make enforceable and accountable commitments.
In order to provide for valid causal inferences and increase explanatory leverage, research findings are supported by a comprehensive use of quantitative and qualitative primary sources (period 1970-2010) as well as pertinent comparative observations from other oil endowed States. Finally, by considering Mexico an outlier, this research refines some of the theoretical and methodological insights of the available literature on rentier States.


Background Prognostic information for asymptomatic patients with aortic stenosis (AS) from prospective studies is scarce and there is no risk score available to assess mortality. Objectives To develop an easily calculable score, from which clinicians could stratify patients into high and lower risk of mortality, using data from the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) study. Method A search for significant prognostic factors (p<0.01) among SEAS patients was made by a combined judgemental and statistical elimination procedure to derive a set of three factors (age, gender and smoking) that were forced into the model, and four additional factors captured by the data: left-ventricular mass index, bilirubin, heart rate and natural logarithm of C reactive protein. Calibration was done by comparing observed with calculated number of deaths by tenths of calculated risk using coefficients from the simvastatin + ezetimibe group on placebo group patients. Results Discrimination was good with ROC area of 0.76 for all patients. Estimated probabilities of death were categorised into thirds. An optimised split point of estimated 5-year risk was about 15% (close to the upper 14% tertile split point), with risk 4 times as high in the upper compared to the two lower thirds. The SEAS score performed better than another established high risk score developed for other purposes. Conclusion A new seven factor model for risk stratification of patients with mild to moderate asymptomatic AS identified a high risk group for total mortality with good discrimination properties. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT 00092677.


The intravenous injection of the serine protease, tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), has shown to benefit stroke patients by promoting early reperfusion. However, it has recently been suggested that t-PA activity, in the cerebral parenchyma, may also potentiate excitotoxic neuronal death. The present study has dealt with the role of the t-PA inhibitor, PAI-1, in the neuroprotective activity of the cytokine TGF-beta1 and focused on the transduction pathway involved in this effect. We demonstrated that PAI-1, produced by astrocytes, mediates the neuroprotective activity of TGF-beta 1 against N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated excitotoxicity. This t-PA inhibitor, PAI-1, protected neurons against NMDA-induced neuronal death by modulating the NMDA-evoked calcium influx. Finally, we showed that the activation of the Smad3-dependent transduction pathway mediates the TGF-beta-induced up-regulation of PAI-1 and subsequent neuroprotection. Overall, this study underlines the critical role of the t-PA/PAI-1 axis in the regulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission.


Assessment of the potential allergenicity (IgE‐inducing properties) of novel proteins is an important challenge in the overall safety assessment of foods. Resistance to digestion with pepsin is commonly measured to characterize allergenicity, although the association is not absolute. We have previously shown that specific IgE antibody production induced by systemic [intraperitoneal (i.p.)] exposure of BALB/c strain mice to a range of proteins correlates with allergenic potential for known allergens. The purpose of the present study was to explore further the utility of these approaches using the food allergen, actinidin. Recently, kiwifruit has become an important allergenic foodstuff, coincident with its increased consumption, particularly as a weaning food. The ability of the kiwifruit allergen actinidin to stimulate antibody responses has been compared with the reference allergen ovalbumin, and with the non‐allergen bovine haemoglobin. Haemoglobin was rapidly digested by pepsin whereas actinidin was resistant unless subjected to prior chemical reduction (reflecting intracellular digestion conditions). Haemoglobin stimulated detectable IgG antibody production at relatively high doses (10%), but failed to provoke detectable IgE. In contrast, actinidin was both immunogenic and allergenic at relatively low doses (0.25% to 1%). Vigorous IgG and IgG1 antibody and high titre IgE antibody responses were recorded, similar to those provoked by ovalbumin. Thus, actinidin displays a marked ability to provoke IgE, consistent with allergenic potential. These data provide further encouragement that in tandem with analysis of pepsin stability, the induction of IgE after systemic exposure of BALB/c strain mice provides a useful approach for the prospective identification of protein allergens. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We developed a habitat suitability model for the federally endangered Least Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) across its current and historic range in California. The vireo disappeared from most of its range by the 1980s, remaining only in southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico. This decline was due to habitat loss and introduction of brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) into California in the late 1800s. Habitat protection and management since the mid-1980s increased southern California vireo populations with small numbers of birds recently expanding back into the historic range. The vireo habitat model will help meet the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery objectives by distinguishing specific areas to survey for new occurrences; characterizing important vireo-habitat relationships; and identifying areas for habitat management. We constructed models based on the vireo's current range to predict suitable habitat in the historic range, which differs substantially in environmental conditions. We used the partitioned Mahalanobis D2 modeling technique designed to predict habitat suitability in areas not included in a sample of species locations and under novel conditions. We constructed alternative models with different combinations of environmental variables hypothesized to be important components of vireo habitat. We selected a set of best performing models to predict suitable habitat for a riparian vegetation grid buffered 500 meters across California. Most models for southern California did not predict suitable habitat in the historic range. The top performing model has an area under the curve value of 0.93. It is a simple model and discriminated among riparian habitats, with only 6 percent predicted as suitable. On average, suitable vireo habitat had more than 60-percent riparian vegetation and flat land at the 150-meter scale, little-to-no slope, and was within 130 meters of water.


This paper reports a case of acute purulent rhinitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in a HIV/AIDS patient seen at the Hospitalization Center of "Pedro Kourí" Tropical Medicine Institute. The clinical findings were fever, severe purulent rhinorrea and affected general condition. Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated with standard and advanced diagnosis techniques. Antimicrobial sensitivity test revealed that it was sensitive to cefaloridien, ampicillin, penicillin G and oxacillin. The patient was treated with a dose of 2 g of ampicillin daily for 10 days. The clinical picture of the patient improved and there was a total remission of the symptoms.


Metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a widely used multivariate method with applications in almost all scientific disciplines. Eigenvalues obtained in the analysis are usually reported in order to calculate the over-all goodness-of-fit of the distance matrix. In this paper, we refine MDS goodness-of-fit calculations, proposing additional point and pairwise good-ness-of-fit statistics that can be used to filter poorly represented observations in MDS maps. The proposed statistics are especially relevant for large data sets that contain outliers, with typically many poorly fitted observations, and are helpful for improving MDS output and emphasising the most important features of the dataset. Several goodness-of-fit statistics are considered, and both Euclidean and non-Euclidean distance matrices are considered. Some examples with data from demographic, genetic and geographic studies are shown.


Over the past 25 years research on the pathogenesis of cholera has focused on the role of enterotoxin, largely to the neglect of the other extracellular components such as neuraminidase, mucinase and proteinase. The main object of this thesis has been to study the effect of Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase on the histochemistry of the sialomucin layer, and the binding of the bacteria and of the enterotoxin to gut mucosa. Both laboratory-prepared and commercial sources of neuraminidase were utilised. For the former, V. cholerae NCTC 10732 was grown in proteose peptone broth containing bovine colostrum. The culture supernate, which contained the enzyme, was precipitated with methanol and the methanolic precipitate filtered on Sephadex G 100. The peak of neuraminidase activity in the eluate from the gel column did not coincide with the main protein peak as measured by either 280 nm absorption or the Lowry method. The partially purified neuraminidase preparations contained endoglycosidase, phospholipase-G and proteinase activity (as expected from previous studies) but lacked aldolase activity. Neuraminidase activity was determined both by the thiobarbituric acid assay (T.B.A.) and also by the methoxyphenyl neuraminic acid method (M.P.N.). Both procedures had advantages and limitations. The advantages of the M.P.N. method were greater sensitivity and better stability of the colour complex, especially at low enzyme concentrations. The main drawback of the method was its dependence on the synthetic substrate M.P.N. which is not part of the mucin of the small-gut. The main virtue of the T.B.A, assay was its applicability to detecting N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA)-containing moieties liberated from a variety of natural substrates. However, the procedure could not determine whether the NANA was liberated as monosaccharides (indicative of neuraminidase activity) or as more complex NANA-containing entities (indicative either of endoglycosidase activity or simple solubilisation of sialomucin). A further drawback of the T.B.A. method is that its colour complex is generated not only by NANA but by 2-oxo-3-deoxy sugar acids. In order to investigate the possible effect of neuraminidase on rat intestinal mucosa in vitro, it was first necessary to find a tissue fixation procedure which preserved the sialomucin layer in tissue segments and frozen sections against loss during exposure to aqueous environments. Neither formal-saline nor Bouin's fluid were satisfactory but the paraformaldehyde vapour method cited by Culling gave adequate retention of the mucin layer. The susceptibility of the NANA moiety of mucin in paraformaldehyde vapour-fixed frozen sections to neuraminidase activity was monitored by Alcian Blue-Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) staining. In agreement with previous published observations, it was noted that treatment of the sections with V. cholerae neuraminidase caused a general reduction in Alcian blue staining and a corresponding increase in PAS staining. This was interpreted as being due to loss of NANA (detected by Alcian blue) coupled with retention of the general muco- substance (detected by PAS). Quantitation of this phenomenon was obtained by determining the proportion of goblet cells staining with Alcian blue or PAS. The proportion of PAS-staining goblet cells was related to enzyme activity and thus provided a histochemical assay for neuraminidase, Although V. cholerae neuraminidase pretreatment of fixed rat ileal tissue caused significant histochemical change in the sialomucin layer, as revealed by the Alcian blue/PAS staining, it did not affect the adherence capacity of the tissue for live V. cholerae organisms. This result emerged from 8 experiments in which the numbers of these bacteria adhering to standardised tissue segments showed no significant difference when exposed to highly purified commercial V. cholerae neuraminidase compared with enzyme-free buffer.


The diffusion of the glycosylated albumin in the retinal vascular system has been studied in male New Zealand rabbits, using fluorangiographic techniques. A first group of animals was treated for 15 days with the peptide fraction from bovine Factor VIII (Vueffe); a second group, used as control group, was treated with physiological solution. At the end of treatment, glycosylated albumin was made fluorescent and then injected into the marginal vein of the rabbit. The direct observation and the photometric measurements performed on the digitized photograms with an image processing system showed a considerable reduction in retinic capillary diffusion of glycosylated albumin in the animals treated with the peptide fraction. The substance used in the study might therefore be of importance in the treatment of systemic disease with retinic vascular damage.


The behavior of financial markets and decisions of individuals are many a time driven by various biases. This can be attributed to the tendency of humans to resort to shortcuts owing to the constraints on time and mental capacity to process unlimited information. Various researchers have made an attempt to classify these biases into various types. But these biases have been viewed in isolation, thereby ignoring the possibility of any interaction or relationship between them. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive view of the behavioral biases by taking into account such interactions and developing a conceptual framework that incorporates the antecedents or causes of the biases and their outcomes or consequences. It also explores the possibility of overcoming some of the biases. It is argued that certain biases reinforce each other. The strength of each bias is a function of several factors like the external environment and presence of other biases in the process. The paper concludes that behavioral biases have been and will continue to influence human judgement. Although it is possible to avoid some of the biases in specific situations, it is not possible to completely eliminate them.


In previous studies 1-3 % of ALS patients have TARDBP mutations as the cause of the disease. TARDBP mutations have been reported in ALS patients in different populations but so far there are no studies on the frequency of TARDBP mutations in Finnish ALS patients. A cohort of 50 Finnish patients, 44 SALS and 6 FALS patients, were included in the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from venous blood or muscle tissue and a mutation analysis of TARDBP was performed. No definitely pathogenic mutations could be identified in TARDBP in our patient cohort. However, two previously unknown variations were found: one silent mutation in exon 2 and one relatively deep intronic single nucleotide insertion in intron 5. In addition, two previously known non-pathogenic polymorphisms in intron 5 were detected. The size of our cohort is obviously not large enough to conclusively exclude TARDBP mutations as a very rare cause of ALS in Finland. However, based on our results TARDBP mutations do not appear to be a frequent cause of familial or sporadic ALS in Finland.


Since the 90s, censuses of wintering waterfowl have been carried out in the main wetlands of Lazio. We analysed the trends of 31 species in the 1993-2006 period (base year 1993) by means of TRIM (Trends and Indices Monitoring data) software (Model 3). Among the species regularly recorded in the region, Ardea alba, Ardea cinerea, Bubulcus ibis and Anser anser showed a strong increase; Podiceps cristatus, Nycticorax nycticorax, Egretta garzetta, Phoenicopterus ruber, Anas penelope, Anas strepera, Anas crecca, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas clypeata, Netta rufina, Aythya ferina, Aythya nyroca, Circus aeruginosus, Fulica atra, Pluvialis apricaria and Vanellus vanellus showed a moderate increase; Gavia arctica, Tachybaptus ruficollis, Podiceps nigricollis, Phalacrocorax carbo, Aythya fuligula and Numenius arquata resulted "stable"; Botaurus stellaris, Tadorna tadorna, Anas acuta, Pluvialis squatarola and Calidris alpina showed an uncertain trend. The trends for most species are similar to those recorded at a national level.


The WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Agreement) obliges governments to use international standards as a basis for regulation yet leaves a degree of flexibility with respect to the choice of standard and the manner of its use. This interplay between obligation and flexibility has given rise to tension in various for a of the WTO, including in committee work, negotiations and dispute settlement. This paper brings together these three distinct strands of WTO work to illustrate core aspects of the international standards debate. In our analysis, we first briefly outline the nature of the discipline in the TBT Agreement itself; next, we describe where and how the discussion arises in the WTO; and, finally, we explore under what circumstances international standards contribute to regulatory convergence and the challenges they face in this regard. We propose that greater regulatory convergence could be fostered through a renewed focus on the procedures used by international standardizing bodies (the how) and greater emphasis on robust technical/scientific underpinnings of the standards themselves (the what).


In the period between 1961 and 1981, 55 patients with the Paget-Schroetter syndrome were under observation. Clinical-expert examination was conducted by rheovasography, skin temperature measurement, capillaroscopy, phlebomanometry, and phlebography. Phlebography is most important in establishing the diagnosis of the disease, determination of the extent of occlusion of the deep veins and the prognosis.


There has been much recent work on training neural attention models at the sequence-level using either reinforcement learning-style methods or by optimizing the beam. In this paper, we survey a range of classical objective functions that have been widely used to train linear models for structured prediction and apply them to neural sequence to sequence models. Our experiments show that these losses can perform surprisingly well by slightly outperforming beam search optimization in a like for like setup. We also report new state of the art results on both IWSLT'14 German-English translation as well as Gigaword abstractive summarization. On the large WMT'14 English-French task, sequence-level training achieves 41.5 BLEU which is on par with the state of the art.


This study compares the PHB synthase activity of Nostoc muscorum, a N2-fixing cyanobacterium under control (grown in usual BG-11 medium), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deprivation and chemoheterotrophic conditions. Specific activity of PHB synthase did not depict significant variations in the latter three types of cultures, except for the control one, where a significantly lower activity was recorded. PHB synthase activity was detected only in the soluble fractions of both the control as well as cells incubated under chemoheterotrophic conditions. A Km of 80.2μM DL-β-hydroxybutyryl-CoA and Vmax of 197.5 nmol thiobenzoate (TNB) mg protein−1min−1 were observed for the enzyme. PHB synthase remained insensitive to acetyl-CoA, ATP, NADP, NADPH supplementation under in vitro condition. Addition of acetyl phosphate was found to activate the enzyme and the level of activation was dependent on the concentration of acetyl phosphate supplementation. Inhibition of PHB synthase in 2,3-butanedione supplemented cultures and reactivation following acetyl phosphate addition proved the post-translational control of acetyl phosphate over PHB synthase.


This coastal hazards emphasize the need for engineers to understand the fundamental processes causing damage and the potential of maximum damage in order to design coastal communities with increased resilience to tsunami events. Common methods used to evaluate local conditions caused by tsunamis include post-disaster reconnaissance field surveys, numerical modelling, and laboratory experiments. Behavior of land side tsunami, inundation, is not well known as well as the fluid forcing, fragility characteristics and accuracy of tsunami hazard mapping. This study targets to understand local tsunami behavior in a city scale including complex buildings and improve modelling of tsunami inundation in an urban area. Laboratory experiments are an essential starting point in the investigation of urban roughness effects on wave propagation and maximum pressures in coastal communities. Physical modelling usually uses solitary wave, bore wave, and wave imitating Nankai Trough Earthquake as a tsunami wave.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/-4niVrzXviE


The East Asian–Australian Flyway spans from north Asia to Australia and is the world's richest birds' flyway because it involves > 40% of global migratory bird species. However, information is lacking on individual migratory routes and non-breeding grounds for small land birds using this flyway. Here, we present the first migration tracks of the songbird Stejneger's stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri from this part of the world using light-level geolocators. This species depends on grasslands during the entire annual cycle and was captured and equipped with tracking devices in Hokkaido, northern Japan. All individuals traveled through southern Primorye or eastern Heilongjiang (Russia/China) before flying southward via central China toward their major non-breeding grounds in southeast Asia (China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam). Individual stonechats spent 42–70 d en route during their autumn migration. Both the major non-breeding grounds and the stopover sites are likely to pose challenges to the persistence of this species, because these habitats are currently degraded and will likely be lost in the near future due to intensified agriculture and the establishment of permanent croplands. Moreover, the areas used by Stejneger's stonechat during migration largely overlapped with illegal trapping areas in northeastern China.


Climatic factors of a region determine the critical periods of corn crop development and affect the sowing planning in order to reduce the negative effects on yield. This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance of eight corn genotypes and two sowing dates in the edaphoclimatic conditions of Manaus, Amazonas. Four experiments were carried out in the agricultural years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, conducted in two sowing periods under harvest season and off-season conditions each year. The sown of the harvest season and off-season were made in October and March, respectively. The experiments were conducted in a randomized block design, with eight genotypes (four varieties - BR 106, BR 5011 Sertanejo, BRS 4103, and BRS Caimbe; and four hybrids - AG 1051, BRS 1055, BRS 3040, and BRS 3046), and four replicates evaluated in two sowing periods for each year. The data were submitted to individual variance analysis for each sowing period, joint for each year, and to the means comparison test. Corn cultivation at the Manaus region could be carried out both during the harvest season, sowing at the beginning of the rainy period (October), and in the off-season, with sowing near the end of the rainy period (March). Hybrids have higher yield potential than open-pollinated varieties for both grain and green ear cultivation, regardless of sowing, harvest, or off-season.


Home care is an important player in the health care arena because of its desirability and potential for cost savings. Today, home care nurses are joining physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes at the table in policy discussions with government, business, insurers, and consumers. Home care nurses are speaking up and demanding a piece of the health care pie, on behalf of their patients. By virtue of their frontline position in the community, on the street, and in the patient's home, home care nurses are often the first to see unmet needs or identify inequities. They are taking these to the public, if needed, to effect the necessary change to ensure access, promote quality of care, and improve quality of life. They are also holding payers, such as government, accountable when promises to patients are broken. Home care nurses are doing what they have always done, doing what they have to do to find services for patients. Today that means becoming political.


In pattern recognition, the principal component analysis (PCA) is one of the most famous feature extraction methods for dimensionality reduction of high-dimensional datasets. Furthermore, Simple-PCA (SPCA) which is a faster version of the PCA, has been carried out effectively by iterative operated learning. However, in SPCA, when input data are distributed in a complex way, SPCA might not be efficient because it is learned without class information of the dataset. Thus, SPCA cannot be said that it is optimal for classification. In this paper, we propose a new learning algorithm, which is learned with the class information of the dataset. Eigenvectors spanning eigenspace of the dataset are obtained by calculation of data variations belonging to each class. We will show the derivation of the proposed algorithm and demonstrate some experiments to compare the SPCA with the proposed algorithm by using UCI datasets.


Abstract. Integrated assessment models (IAMs) are a central tool for the
quantitative analysis of climate change mitigation strategies. However, due
to their global, cross-sectoral and centennial scope, IAMs cannot explicitly
represent the temporal and spatial details required to properly analyze the
key role of variable renewable energy (VRE) in decarbonizing the power
sector and enabling emission reductions through end-use electrification. In
contrast, power sector models (PSMs) can incorporate high spatiotemporal
resolutions but tend to have narrower sectoral and geographic scopes and
shorter time horizons. To overcome these limitations, here we present a
novel methodology: an iterative and fully automated soft-coupling framework
that combines the strengths of a long-term IAM and a detailed PSM. The key
innovation is that the framework uses the market values of power generations
and the capture prices of demand flexibilities in the PSM as price signals that change the capacity and power mix of the IAM. Hence, both
models make endogenous investment decisions, leading to a joint solution. We
apply the method to Germany in a proof-of-concept study using the IAM REgional Model of INvestments and Development (REMIND) v3.0.0 and the PSM Dispatch and Investment Evaluation Tool with Endogenous Renewables (DIETER) v1.0.2 and confirm the theoretical prediction of
almost-full convergence in terms of both decision variables and (shadow)
prices. At the end of the iterative process, the absolute model difference
between the generation shares of any generator type for any year is
< 5 % for a simple configuration (no storage, no flexible demand)
under a "proof-of-concept" baseline scenario and 6 %–7 % for a more
realistic and detailed configuration (with storage and flexible demand). For
the simple configuration, we mathematically show that this coupling scheme
corresponds uniquely to an iterative mapping of the Lagrangians of two power
sector optimization problems of different time resolutions, which can lead
to a comprehensive model convergence of both decision variables and (shadow)
prices. The remaining differences in the two models can be explained by a
slight mismatch between the standing capacities in the real world and
optimal modeling solutions based purely on cost competition. Since our
approach is based on fundamental economic principles, it is also applicable
to other IAM–PSM pairs.


Domain-wall dynamics in ferroic materials underpins functionality of data storage and information technology devices. Using localized electric field of a scanning probe microscopy tip, we experimentally demonstrate a surprisingly rich range of polarization reversal behaviors in the vicinity of the initially flat 180° ferroelectric domain wall. The nucleation bias is found to increase by an order of magnitude from a two-dimensional 2D nucleus at the wall to three-dimensional nucleus in the bulk. The wall is thus significantly ferroelectrically softer than the bulk. The wall profoundly affects switching on length scales on the order of micrometers. The mechanism of correlated switching is analyzed using analytical theory and phase-field modeling. The longrange effect is ascribed to wall bending under the influence of a tip with bias that is well below the bulk nucleation level at large distances from the wall. These studies provide an experimental link between the macroscopic and mesoscopic physics of domain walls in ferroelectrics and atomistic models of 2D nucleation.


This article explores the growth of graphene under low-pressure Ar conditions. Carbon- and silicon-face 4H-SiC samples are subjected to epitaxial graphene growth at 1600 °C in vacuum, in 1 mbar argon, or in 10 mbar of argon. High-resolution x-ray scattering is used to characterize all graphene films. On the C-face, specular scans reveal a bimodal distribution of thicknesses that decrease with increasing Ar pressure. Thin and thick regions are approximately 15 and 46 monolayers in C-face graphene grown at high vacuum, 14 and 42 monolayers thick in graphene grown at 1 mbar, and 12 and 32 monolayers thick in graphene grown at 10 mbar. Azimuthal scans confirm in all cases that graphene layers are epitaxial and display expected crystallographic relationships with the underlying SiC substrate. In-plane azimuthal scans show the rotational disorder increases as pressure increases. Peaks in radial scans are asymmetric, suggesting the grain structure has a bimodal distribution of large and small domains. The sample displaying the lowest average Hall mobility (grown at 1 mbar) has the largest population of small crystallites (coherence length on the order of ∼30 nm). Variations in structure and mobility of C-face graphene are attributed to inadequate control of Si sublimation during growth.


A pyroMEMS igniter with increased combustion reliability is presented. The igniter consisted of a thin-film platinum Joule heater fabricated on a borosilicate glass substrate. Two different igniter layouts (meandering and annular) and three different binder mass fractions (5, 10 and 20 %) were evaluated. High-speed videos were used to judge the success or failure of the combustion events. Although the ignition success rate was 100 %, the combustion success rate was approximately 87.5 ± 7.1 % for the annular design versus 12.5 ± 7.1 % for the meandering layout. No effect on success rate was observed for the different binder contents tested. Rather, increasing the binder mass fraction increased the combustion duration.


Abstract Long macroblades, generally known in Australia as 'leilira' blades and created by direct percussion, were used as knives and spear points in many parts of northern and Central Australia until very recently. By the 1960s, however, it is clear that there were no Indigenous knappers remaining who could produce such blades in a regular and consistent manner. There are very few ethnographic accounts of the manufacture of these blades and those that do exist generally lack technological detail that is useful to those wishing to understand the reduction processes involved in their creation. More recent studies involving Indigenous knappers have provided important insights into many concepts relating to stone as a 'living entity', focusing on power, the significance of the blades, access to quarries and other social phenomena rather than successfully demonstrating the technology itself. It is apparent that, dependent on the form of the raw material, a number of different techniques were used to produce these blades. This paper seeks to examine the Australian literature relevant to the production of leilira blades and, drawing on experimental work, to consider the technological factors relevant to the knapping process.


The benefits of fixed-dose combinations of antituberculosis agents are well recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) and preferred over separate formulations. Therefore, a comparative bioequivalence study of rifampicin and isoniazid together in a fixed-dose combination and separately (at the same dose levels) was performed on a group of 12 healthy subjects. The study was designed as a single-blind, crossover experiment. Nine blood samples were collected from each subject over a period of 24 h. The plasma concentrations of rifampicin were assessed by a method developed in this laboratory. Various pharmacokinetic parameters of rifampicin such as AUC, Cmax, Tmax and t1/2 were also calculated. The study demonstrates that a fixed-dose combination (test formulation) and separate formulations (standard formulations) are bioequivalent for rifampicin.


A groundwater management model has been developed that predicts human health risks and uses a noisy genetic algorithm to identify promising risk-based corrective action (RBCA) designs. Noisy genetic algorithms are simple genetic algorithms that operate in noisy environments. The noisy genetic algorithm uses a type of noisy fitness function (objective function) called the sampling fitness function, which utilises Monte-Carlo-type sampling to find robust designs. Unlike Monte Carlo simulation modelling, however, the noisy genetic algorithm is highly efficient and can identify robust designs with only a few samples per design. For hydroinformatic problems with complex fitness functions, however, it is important that the sampling be as efficient as possible. In this paper, methods for identifying efficient sampling strategies are investigated and their performance evaluated using a case study of a RBCA design problem. Guidelines for setting the parameter values used in these methods are also developed. Applying these guidelines to the case study resulted in highly efficient sampling strategies that found RBCA designs with 98% reliability using as few as 4 samples per design. Moreover, these designs were identified with fewer simulation runs than would likely be required to identify designs using trial-and-error Monte Carlo simulation. These findings show considerable promise for applying these methods to complex hydroinformatic problems where substantial uncertainty exists but extensive sampling cannot feasibly be done.


Abstract Fechner's conception of psychophysics included both "outer psychophysics" the relation between stimulus intensity and the response reflecting sensation strength, and "inner psychophysics" the relation between neurelectric responses and sensation strength. In his own time outer psychophysics focussed on the form of the psychophysical law, with Fechner espousing a logarithmic law, Delboeuf a variant of the logarithmic law incorporating a resting level of neural activity, and Plateau a power law. One of the issues on which the dispute was focussed concerned the appearance of contrasts if the overall illumination was increased or decreased; another issue was the question of whether a sensation of a "just noticeable difference" established for one value of a sensory dimension appeared the same for a value elsewhere on the dimension. The development of "inner psychophysics" led through the works of Delboeuf, Solomons, Jastrow, and Thurstone to modern signal detection theory. A third line of research, devoted to the question of what was meant by the "measurement" of sensation strength, stemmed from the criticism of Fechner's work by von Kries (1882) and others. Although a valid body of science could be built up without the intervening variable called "sensation strength," such a science might be a cumbersome representation of reality. When an optical contrast is set up, and its overall illumination is increased or decreased, subjective contrasts involving medium levels of lightness vary little as illumination varies (as a power law based on sensation ratios or a logarithmic law based on sensation differences predict), but subjective contrasts involving extreme levels of lightness might be subject to the effects of other variables.


Most researchers have neglected the effect air-drag force on yarn tension during rotor spinning. This paper aims to study the effect of rotor air-vacuum pressure in conjunction with opening roller speed and yarn linear density on the yarn tension generated during the rotor spinning, which has established their significant influences on both the mean and the peak tension.This is the first of one-of-a-kind experimental study being reported to demonstrate the influence of air-drag force on yarn tension during the rotor spinning under dynamic condition.,The dynamic measurements on yarn tension at the exit of the doffing tube were carried out by using an electronic capacitive yarn tension meter during rotor spinning. The derived experimental data were fitted into equations to construct the response equations and to work out the coefficients of multiple correlation between the data and the predicted equation for both the mean and the peak tension. Various surface plots were constructed by using those response surface equations, so as to study the effect of variables on yarn tension generated during the rotor spinning.,The study has established that the rotor vacuum is responsible in causing a change in yarn tension, it increases with the decrease in air-vacuum inside the rotor. The involvement of the opening roller speed in altering yarn tension during rotor spinning has been proved. As the opening roller speed changes, so does the air stream surrounding the opening roller speed with consequent alteration of the centrifugal force generated due to the rotation of the rotor. The centrifugal force and, hence, the yarn tension generated in the rotor will be simultaneously affected by both the rotor relative vacuum and the opening roller speed.,This is a structured experimental study to verify the influence of air-drag force generated during rotor spinning on yarn tension. Very limited theoretical work has been carried out in this direction as reported in the introductory part of the paper. The result of the present study will encourage future researchers to revisit the theory on generation of air-drag force during rotor spinning and work out a new formula.,Next only to the conventional ring spinning system, the rotor spinning holds the second place in the share of global yarn production. Because of its advantage of lower cost of production and amenability to automation, the rotor spinning has gained acceptance in spun yarn production, particularly for spinning coarse and medium counts of yarns. Currently, it has acquired about 25 per cent share in the world's spun yarn production. As many of the rotor machine variables significantly affect fibre configurations and, subsequently, the yarn properties by influencing the airflow characteristics inside the rotor unit, the study of yarn tension during rotor spinning and its analysis assumes a significance.,Rotor spinning is a relatively new and faster method of conversion of discrete fibres into continuous staple yarn and, subsequently, various textiles and garments. Its yarn is distinct and a bit different compared to the conventional ring yarn. It has got wide acceptance in the market and fashion. As such, the spinning sector that converts fibres into yarns is an important industry world over, providing employment to many. Besides, being the basic operation in the fibre value chain, it supports many downstream activities, including human clothing and fashion. Thus, the research on rotor spinning, particularly the yarn engineering to produce better products will be helpful to strengthen and grow the textile value chain.,This is an original research study. The magnitude and the direction of the air drag on the yarn during rotor spinning is very difficult to assess. Thus, most researchers for the sake of simplicity in analysis have neglected its effect on yarn dynamics, but a few of them have taken note of it in their theoretical propositions. However, no experimental result has been reported so far in the literature, supporting the influence of such air-drag force on yarn tension in the rotor spinning. In fact, none of the above studies have considered the induced effect of centrifugal force caused because of the rotation of the opening roller on the airstream that flows from the transfer channel inlet into the rotor because of its partial vacuum, causing consequential effects on air-drag force and tension in the yarn inside the rotating rotor. This is the first of one-of-a-kind experimental study being reported to demonstrate the influence of air-drag force on yarn tension during the rotor spinning under dynamic condition.


In this paper we apply survivability and software rejuvenation modeling to evaluate alternative software architectures. We analyze failure history in two large industrial projects and propose a unified failure model to be used for the assessment of system survivability at the software architecture phase. Our goal is to assess the mean time to repair a system, conditioned that it starts from a failure prone state. To this aim, we use the failure model as one of the components of an analytical survivability framework which yields the desired metric of interest. The framework comprises a phased-recovery model and a software rejuvenation model. We instantiate the proposed framework to analyze a data streaming system used as case study. Numerical investigation allows us to quantify the impact of architecture deployment alternatives, phased recovery and software rejuvenation on the mean time to repair.


The human gut is the natural habitat for a large and dynamic bacterial community. Recently developed molecular biology tools suggest that a substantial part of these bacterial populations are still to be described. However, the relevance and impact of resident bacteria on host's physiology and pathology is well documented. Major functions of the gut microflora include metabolic activities that result in salvage of energy and absorbable nutrients, protection of the colonized host against invasion by alien microbes, and important trophic effects on intestinal epithelia and on immune structure and function. Gut bacteria play an essential role in the development and homeostasis of the immune system. It is important to underscore that the specialised lymphoid follicles of the gut mucosa are the major sites for induction and regulation of the immune system. On the other hand, there is evidence implicating the gut flora in certain pathological conditions, including multisystem organ failure, colon cancer and inflammatory bowel diseases.


We consider beam selection using a fixed beamforming network (FBN) at a base station with M array antennas. In our setting, a Butler matrix is deployed at the RF stage to form M beams, and then the best beam is selected for transmission. We introduce some properties of the noncentral chi-square distribution and prove the resulting properties of the beam selection gain verifying that beam selection is superior to antenna selection in Rician channels with any K-factors. Furthermore, we find asymptotically tight stochastic bounds of the beam selection gain, which yield approximate closed form expressions of the expected selection gain and the ergodic capacity. Beam selection has the order of growth of the ergodic capacity Θ(logM) regardless of user location in contrast to Θ(log(logM)) for antenna selection.


The Sanskrit Yasna Manuscript S1 contains the facsimile images of the manuscript S1 together with an introduction written by Leon Goldman.


This present paper describes the process and methods of the numerical analysis, including yielding criterion, 3-D geometrical model, rock mass mechanical parameters, initial geostress field, method to simulate excavation process, simulation method for supporting structures. Then, the paper gives the computational results of rock deformation and stability for the large cavern group and comparisons for three cases: with no supporting structures; with bolts and shotcrete lining but no prestress-cables and with all the supporting structures of bolts, cables and lining. Finally, the paper reaches several conclusions.


Washington State Route 410 over Chinook Pass (1656 m) is generally closed from late November through late May each year due to heavy snow loads and avalanche hazards. By early April each year, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) begins clearing the highway. The clearing project exposes highway workers to over 100 avalanche paths as they make their way toward the summit of Chinook Pass. This process has been repeated each year since 1935. In 1983 the WSDOT Avalanche Forecasting and Control Program was called upon to provide assistance with the spring opening. This marked the beginning of a unique backcountry avalanche program where travel to avalanche paths is limited to ski touring, and the avalanche forecasters have the opportunity to work closely with the snowpack as it transitions from a fine-grain, layered snow pack to a homogenous, well-drained snow pack. At the 1986 International Snow Science Workshop, Craig Wilbour presented an overview of this newly created program. This paper and corresponding presentation will provide an update of the Chinook Pass Avalanche Forecasting and Control Program, some 25 years after its inception.


This paper presents the experimental determination of iron losses in an outer-rotor permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) by using an inverse thermal model (ITM) in connection with transient thermal measurements. First, the theory and assumptions lying behind the method are presented. Afterwards, 3D finite element method (FEM) based simulations are used to determine the flux density distribution and iron losses in the magnetic steel parts of the investigated machine. Thermal measurements are conducted to determine local iron losses in the stator tooth tips using the ITM. Finally, measurement and FEM simulation results are compared.


For devices irradiated from the front and the back, where ions have the same LET in the sensitive volumes, the SEU sensitivities and charge collection spectra are different. A specific test setup has been developed to make precise measurements of both collected charge and SEU in CMOS SRAMs. We present a set of new data and discuss the possible experimental artifacts that could affect these measurements. In all the cases, the device is more sensitive when irradiated from the back than from the front. This phenomenon seems related to energy transfer mechanisms from the ion to the material target, with secondary particles from both electronic and nuclear reactions being forward emitted. This effect may influence net sensitivity of scaled down devices, with shallow sensitive layers, and heavy metal interconnects.


When breathing with air, pO2 in anesthetized rats was 24.1+/-1.8 mm Hg, while after urea administration it was 19.4+/-1.7 mm Hg. A sharp increase in pO2 was revealed in hyperoxia(911+/-48 mm Hg at 6 atm during first 5 min, and 924+/-38 mm Hg--by the 7th min). The high pO2 was only reduced in 10-15 min after decompression. At a combined action of urea and hyperoxia, pO2 was significantly lower (714+/-52 mm Hg); pO2 in successive cortical layers (0-2400 mcm with a 200-mcm step) was progressively decreasing (from 40.7+/-4.9 mm Hg to 16.0+/-1.0 mm Hg in control, and from 928+/-35 mm Hg to 274+/-64 mm Hg in hyperoxia).


The key goals of this volume are to identify and to promote alternative ways in which psychology might be applied to inform and improve criminal justice systems. In doing so the authors have not adopted a strict or exclusive notion of 'psychology' but, rather, they have recognized it as one of the behavioural sciences. However, there has also been an, implicit, tendency to adopt an individualistic focus. In one sense that is unsurprising since criminal justice systems are, overwhelmingly, concerned with issues relating to individuals, for example their capacity, criminality, intentions and punishment. But individuals live, work and play in groups, communities, organizations. It is, at least, artificial to ignore or to underplay the significance of social, cultural and other factors on our individual behaviour and organizations can constitute legal entities. Corporations, for example, are 'people' in legal terms; they have 'births' can 'die' although they merge rather than marry. As well as being able to own property and make contracts, and so on, in their corporate capacity, they can also be sued and -to a limited extent- be prosecuted. Many other organizations, public, private and voluntary, such as police forces, hospital trusts, prisons and voluntary bodies, are in a similar position, whether for profit or not.


During boreal winter, the climatological stationary wave plays a key role in the poleward transport of heat in mid- and high latitudes. Latent heating is an important driver of boreal-winter stationary waves. In this study, the temporal relationship between tropical and extratropical heating and transient–stationary wave interference is investigated by performing observational data analyses and idealized model experiments. In line with stationary wave theory, the observed heating anomaly fields during constructive interference events have a spatial structure that reinforces the zonal asymmetry of the climatological heating field. The observational analysis shows that about 10 days prior to constructive interference events, tropical heating anomalies are established, and within 1 week North Pacific and then North Atlantic heating anomalies follow. This result suggests that constructive interference involves a heating–circulation relay: tropical latent heating drives circulation anomalies that transport moisture in such a manner as to increase latent heating in the North Pacific; circulation anomalies driven by this North Pacific heating similarly lead to enhanced latent heating in the North Atlantic. This heating–circulation relay picture is supported by initial-value model calculations in which the observed heating anomalies are used to drive model circulations. Our results also show that the constructive interference driven by both tropical and extratropical diabatic heating generates a relatively large-amplitude wave in high latitudes and leads to particularly prolonged Arctic warming episodes, whereas when both the tropical and extratropical diabatic heating are weak, constructive interference is confined to midlatitudes and does not lead to Arctic warming.


Abstract Experiments show that enclosed air in a thin walled structure affects some modes of vibration significantly. Air coupling between vibrating sides of the structure cannot (always) be neglected and frequencies cannot be predicted if calculations are performed as if in a vacuum. As a first attempt to include the enclosed air in a FE model of a violin body, the elastic properties of the air are modelled as a set of one dimensional non-interacting elastic members (columns of air) connecting opposite sides of the orthotropic shell structure. This admittedly oversimplified (but easy to formulate) model must be used with great care, since it neglects the three-dimensional wave behaviour of the enclosed air. A lower limit of allowed frequencies is that which corresponds to a wavelength in air which is much greater than a characteristic length of the object. For the violin this lower limit is less than about 600 Hz. Optical modal analysis of the real, physical, violin model has been performed by using electronic holography. Calculated modes of vibration are compared with experimental ones. For the lowest eigenmodes a good agreement between measured and calculated frequencies is reached despite the simple air model used. Modal shapes remain surprisingly unaffected. For some engineering calculations the simple one-dimensional model might be used.


Olfactory bulbectomy in rats has been suggested as a comprehensive animal model of affective disorders associated with an array of behavioral changes, responsivity to chronic antidepressant treatment, and alterations in limbic structures thought to be critical in the pathophysiology of affective disorders. Recent work showing increased motivational responsivity to amphetamine suggests that olfactory bulbectomy could also be a useful animal model of dual diagnosis disorders. To further investigate this possibility, we studied locomotor activity in olfactory bulbectomized rats 14 days postsurgery in response to novelty and upon acute and repeated injections of cocaine (15/mg/kg) or saline. Consistent with prior studies, lesioned animals showed greater locomotor activity in response to a novel environment and significantly heightened locomotor activation upon initial cocaine exposure. Over 7 days of repeated cocaine injections, lesioned animals also showed a presensitized pattern of activity, with a loss of incremental increases in locomotion observed in control animals. Daily saline injections produced no group differences in pre‐ or postinjection activity, while cocaine‐treated bulbectomized rats demonstrated a decline in their daily preinjection activity. These results suggest that neural alterations caused by olfactory bulbectomy produce altered behavioral response patterns to repeated doses of cocaine, and support the study of olfactory bulbectomy as a useful neurobehavioral model for understanding substance use disorder comorbidity in mental illness. Synapse 52:167–175, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Data fusion is one of the key techniques in Wireless sensor network (WSN). Data fusion can reduce quantity of data transmission in the network, extend network lifetime by reducing energy consumption, and improve efficiency of bandwidth utilization. At present, researches on data fusion in WSN mainly fall into the following aspects: aggregation tree construction and data processing. This paper proposes an aggregation tree construction method based on grid named ATCBG which makes some improvements over GROUP. The results of simulation experiment show that the average energy consumption of ATCBG is evidently lower than GROUP, and the lifetime of the network is much longer than GROUP before the emergence of node death.


This paper addresses the multistage expansion problem for multistate series-parallel systems. The study period is divided into several stages. At each stage the demand distribution is predicted in the form of a cumulative demand curve. The additional elements chosen from a list of available products can be included into any system-component at any stage to increase the total system capacity and/or reliability. Each element is characterized by its capacity (productivity), availability, and cost. The objective is to minimize the sum of costs of the investments over the study period while satisfying reliability constraints at each stage. To solve the problem, a genetic algorithm is used as an optimization tool. The solution encoding technique allows the genetic algorithm to manipulate integer strings representing multistage expansion planes. A solution quality index comprises both reliability and cost estimations. The procedure based on the universal generating function is used for evaluating the availability of multistate series-parallel systems. An example illustrates finding the optimal expansion plan for a coal-transportation system of a power station.


Recently, coded masks have been used to demonstrate a thin form-factor lensless camera, FlatCam, in which a mask is placed immediately on top of a bare image sensor. In this paper, we present an imaging model and algorithm to jointly estimate depth and intensity information in the scene from a single or multiple FlatCams. We use a light field representation to model the mapping of 3D scene onto the sensor in which light rays from different depths yield different modulation patterns. We present a greedy depth pursuit algorithm to search the 3D volume and estimate the depth and intensity of each pixel within the camera field-of-view. We present simulation results to analyze the performance of our proposed model and algorithm with different FlatCam settings.


Describes an approach to the design of Schottky-clamped integrated circuit transistor layouts. Three-dimensional distributed resistances are modeled using a grid of lumped resistors. A computer circuit analysis program is used to obtain a simple lumped equivalent circuit for the clamped transistor. The equivalent circuit enables accurate prediction of the useful range of d.c. operating conditions for a given structure. An improved small-area clamped transistor layout has been developed using this approach.


Abstract This study proposes an alternative way to access customer priority information on competitive criteria that a food industry company needs to take into account. Based on this approach, it is possible to identify a consistent set of information that assists in the decision-making process at an operational strategy level, such as investments in dedicated or shared production lines, quality programs, and cost reduction. This study is a single embedded case study. Data were collected through interviews with ten customers of each business unit (BU). Descriptive statistics of the results were performed to analyze data: mean central tendency, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. The Fleiss Kappa Index was then used to analyze the agreement between respondents' answers. Finally, a new statistical analysis was performed. This analysis was weighted considering the representativeness of each customer in the company's billing. The results show that there are differences among competitive priorities of each BU. In addition, the proportionality of participation of each BU in the company influences the order of preference of competitive criteria.


This study is an attempt to measure the attitude of customers towards the wireless Internet services in Bangladesh based on the Mertin Fishbein's multi attribute attitude model. Some salient attributes (i.e., speed, bandwidth fluctuation rate) of WIMAX based and EDGE/EVDO based Internet services that affect the attitude of the customers have been selected which customers emphasizes to take purchase-decision as well as usage continuation decision. Two types of wireless Internet service providers (WIMAX and EDGE/EVDO) and ten salient attributes have been considered for this study. It has been found from the study that customers form more positive attitude towards WIMAX based Internet service than EDGE/EVDO based service. Observed differences in mean attitude of different attributes for the two categories of wireless Internet services are measured through Z-test to test the significance of those differences. Findings of this study may be used as an index by the Internet service providers for improvement of their services to satisfy the customers. Key words: Wireless Internet; Customer Attitude; WIMAX; EDGE; EVDO DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbt.v6i1.9994 Journal of Technology (Dhaka) Vol. 6(1), January-June, 2011 49-60


Progressive collapse is the failure of the whole structure caused by local damage, which leads to significant economic and human losses. Therefore, structures should be designed to sustain local failures and resist subsequent nonproportional damage. This paper compared four procedures for a progressive collapse analysis of two RC structures subjected to a corner column loss scenario. The study is mainly based on the methods outlined in the current Russian standard (linear static (LS) pulldown, nonlinear static (ND) pulldown, and nonlinear dynamic), but also includes LS and NS pushdown procedures suggested by the American guidelines and linear dynamic procedure. We developed detailed finite element models for ANSYS Mechanical and ANSYS/LS-DYNA simulations, explicitly including concrete and reinforcement elements. We applied the Continuous Surface Cap Model (MAT_CSCM) to account for the physical nonlinearity of concrete. We also validated results obtained following these procedures against known experimental data. Simulations using linear static pulldown and linear dynamic procedures lead to 50–70% lower results than the experimental because they do not account for the nonlinear behavior of concrete and reinforcement. Displacements obtained from the NS pulldown method exceed the test data by 10–400%. It is found that correct results for both RC structures can only be found using a nonlinear dynamic procedure, and the mismatch with the test data do not exceed 7%. Compared to static pulldown methods, LS and NS pushdown methods are more accurate and differ from the experiment by 28% and 14%, respectively. This relative accuracy is provided by more correct load multipliers depending on the structure type.


Applications to equip semiconductor phased-array wavelength demultiplexers with nonbirefringent waveguides are increasing. In several applications, the waveguides are multimodal and elimination of first-order mode excitation is required for their design. The optimized offset for eliminating the first-order mode excitation at the junction of straight and curved waveguides with a two-dimensional (2-D) structure is analyzed theoretically. We assume that the waveguide has a laterally symmetric index profile. By the perturbation method, the offset is obtained to the first order in the inverse of the bending radius. The offset is simply expressed by the effective refractive indices of the straight waveguide.


We propose a new decoding procedure for Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) and Reed-Solomon (RS) codes over Z/sub m/ where m is a product of prime powers. Our method generalizes the remainder decoding technique for RS codes originally introduced by Welch and Berlekamp and retains its key feature of not requiring the prior evaluation of syndromes. It thus represents a significant departure from other algorithms that have been proposed for decoding linear block codes over integer residue rings. Our decoding procedure involves a Welch-Berlekamp (WB)-type algorithm for solving a generalized rational interpolation problem over a commutative ring R with identity. The solution to this problem includes as a special case, the solution to the WB key equation over R which is central to our decoding procedure. A remainder decoding approach for decoding cyclic codes over Z/sub m/ up to the Hartmann-Tzeng bound is also presented.


THE WERNICKE-KORSAKOFF SYNDROME By Maurice Victor, Raymond D. Adams, and George H. Collins. (Pp. 206; illus.; £4-00.) Blackwell Scientific Publications: Oxford. 1971. This latest addition to the series on contemporary neurology is a classic of its kind and can already be recognized as the definitive work on the WernickeKorsakoff syndrome. It is an example of what can still be learned by the traditional methods of clinicopathological correlation. The authors, who are distinguished both as clinicians and pathologists, have studied over 20 years 250 cases of this rare but important syndrome and not only bring together previous work but add much original material on pathology and on prognosis. A number of older observations are subjected to careful analysis and found to be correct. It is confirmed that the disease


After most of the native ant species are displaced by the Argentine ant invasion, it is probable that some ecological processes carried out by natives are not replaced. In some cases this could be due to a morphological difference between the Argentine ant and the displaced native ants. The significant decrease in ant richness after the invasion (only two species detected in the invaded zones vs. 25 species in surrounding non-invaded zones) implies a drastic reduction in the ant mandible gap range (the mandible gap spectra of all the ant species in a community) in the invaded zones. This reduction could explain why some roles that were previously carried out by the displaced native species are not performed by the invasive species. This could be due to a functional inability to carry out these activities. The mandible gap was
positively correlated with the ant body mass in the 26 ant species considered. The functional inability hypothesis could be applied to other invasive ants as well as to the Argentine ant


This study determined the effects of extraction buffer pH and postmortem aging on the extraction of salt-soluble and water-soluble proteins from broiler pectoralis muscle. Deboned broiler breast fillets were collected at 4 h postmortem, packaged, and then stored at 4°C until 1, 5, or 8 d postmortem. After the designated aging period, salt-soluble and water-soluble protein extractions were performed using buffers at 7 different pH levels (pH 5.4, 6.4, 6.9, 7.2, 7.5, 8.0, 9.0). Protein concentrations of the extracts were measured and SDS-PAGE analysis was performed. Salt-soluble protein concentration increased (P < 0.0001) as buffer pH increased from pH 5.4 to 6.9 and then remained unchanged from pH 6.9 to 9.0. Water-soluble protein concentration increased (P < 0.0001) as buffer pH increased from pH 5.4 to 7.2 and then remained unchanged from pH 7.2 to 9.0. There was not a significant extraction buffer pH by aging treatment interaction for the total protein concentration of either the salt-soluble or water-soluble protein extracts. The protein concentrations of salt-soluble extracts were similar at both 1 and 8 d postmortem but lower (P < 0.0001) at 5 d postmortem. The protein concentrations of water-soluble extracts were similar at both 1 and 5 d postmortem, but higher (P < 0.0001) at 8 d. Both extraction buffer pH and postmortem aging influenced the SDS-PAGE protein profiles of salt-soluble and water-soluble protein extracts from breast muscles. Data demonstrate that postmortem aging and extraction buffer pH influence both the total amount and the composition of the myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins that can be extracted from broiler breast fillets.