Ethnic Identities and Nationalism in the Streets: The Political Manipulation of Art and Religion in Trinidad, West Indies. (August 2000) Francesca Giancristofaro-Caivi, B.A.; B.S.; M.S., University of Massachusetts: M.A., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Norbert Dannhaeuser The identity of a community is shaped by socio-economic factors as well as history. The Caribbean island of Trinidad is characterized by a weak economy, high unemployment, and a variety of ethnic, class, and religious groups. Diverse kinship structures, economic opportunities, cultural behaviors, and residential patterns have facilitated the persistence of spatial and social differentiation. Despite this history, my research suggests that trends toward social homogenization are becoming stronger and that a growing ethnically mixed population may facilitate a cultural, and possibly even a political bridging between local collectivities. Studies on ritual practices suggest that public celebrations are used as demarcators of boundaries and as weapons in the conflict over political and economic supremacy. The recognition of the power struggles invested in Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. religious and artistic expressions can therefore enhance our understanding of the social fabric of a country. This research focuses on the impact that selected Trinidadian cultural forms have on shaping local ethnic identities and citizenry. In particular, it hypothesizes that public celebrations can function as occasions where differences and tensions are negotiated in a relatively peaceful manner. My work limits its scope to the numerically predominant AfroTrinidadian and East Indo-Trinidadian communities. Through participant observations and interviews, it explores the government's over-arching nationbuilding effort as well as practices of resistance to it by Trinidadians of African and East Indian descent (Africans and Indians hereafter). Furthermore, it discusses the relevance of globalizing economic forces and their profound effect in providing this society with alternative identities. In a world where countries are often threatened from within by antagonistic groups intent on nationalistic, religious, or ethnic cleansing, it is my hope that this work will produce insights into how ideologies acknowledging pluralism of expressions and beliefs can contribute to a more tolerant society. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.


Prediction of performance of traditional, reformulated, and novel oral formulations in adults and pediatrics is of great importance. This study was conducted to assess solubility of celecoxib in age-appropriate fasted- and fed-state gastric and intestinal biorelevant media, classify celecoxib into biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS), and assess the effects of age-related developmental changes in the composition and volume of gastrointestinal fluids on the solubility and performance of oral formulations containing celecoxib. Solubility of celecoxib was assessed at 37°C in the pH range specified by the BCS-based criteria in 13 age-appropriate biorelevant media reflective of the gastric and proximal small intestinal environment in both fasted and fed states in adults and different pediatric subpopulations. A validated HPLC-UV method was used to quantify celecoxib. Experimental and computational molecular descriptors and in vivo pharmacokinetic data were used to assign the permeability class of celecoxib. Celecoxib belonged to BCS class 2. The pediatric to adult solubility ratios were outside the 80–125% boundaries in 3 and borderline in 1 biorelevant media. Significant age-related variability could be predicted for oral formulations containing celecoxib intended for pediatric use. Findings of this study indicated that the criteria used in the adult BCS might not be directly applied to pediatric subpopulations.


The treatment of acute appendicitis when appendix is technically impossible to remove, remains controversial. The clinical case of a 12-years-old child diagnosed of acute appendicitis in which appendectomy was not initially performable is presently described. After treatment with antibiotics, he was submitted to appendectomy five months later. Operative and pathologic findings in this second laparotomy prove the predisposition of the patient to a second acute appendicitis, and uphold the preventive attitude, the interval appendectomy.


We previously reported that a maraviroc (MVC)-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1variant, generated using in vitro selection, exhibited high sensitivity to several neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NMAbs) and autologous plasma IgGs. The MVC-resistant variant acquired 4 sequential mutations in gp120: T297I, M434I, V200I, and K305R. In this study, we examined the mutation most responsible for conferring enhanced neutralization sensitivity of the MVC-resistant variant to several NMAbs and autologous plasma IgGs. The virus with the first resistant mutation, T297I, was sensitive to all NMAbs, whereas the passage control virus was not. The neutralization sensitivity of the variant greatly increased following its acquisition of the second mutation, M434I, in the C4 region. The M434I mutation conferred the greatest neutralizing sensitivity among the 4 MVC-resistant mutations. Additionally, the single M434I mutation was sufficient for the enhanced neutralization of the virus by NMAbs, autologous plasma IgGs, and heterologous sera relative to that of the parental virus.


The selection pressures imposed by mate choice for species identity should impose strong stabilizing selection on traits that confer species identity to mates. Thus, we expect that such traits should show nonoverlapping distributions among closely related species, but show little to no variance among populations within a species. We tested these predictions by comparing levels of population differentiation in the sizes and shapes of male cerci (i.e., the clasper structures used for species identity during mating) of six Enallagma damselfly species. Cerci shapes were nonoverlapping among Enallagma species, and five of six Enallagma species showed no population variation across their entire species ranges. In contrast, cerci sizes overlapped among species and varied substantially among populations within species. These results, taken with previous studies, suggest that cerci shape is a primary feature used in species recognition used to discriminate conspecific from heterospecifics during mating.


In this paper, we perform mathematical validation of the Peierls--Nabarro (PN) models, which are multiscale models of dislocations that incorporate the detailed dislocation core structure. We focus on the static and dynamic PN models of an edge dislocation. In a PN model, the total energy includes the elastic energy in the two half-space continua and a nonlinear potential energy across the slip plane, which is always infinite. We rigorously establish the relationship between the PN model in the full space and the reduced problem on the slip plane in terms of both governing equations and energy variations. The shear displacement jump is determined only by the reduced problem on the slip plane while the displacement fields in the two half spaces are determined by linear elasticity. We establish the existence and sharp regularities of classical solutions in Hilbert space. For both the reduced problem and the full PN model, we prove that a static solution is a global minimizer in perturbed sense. We also show that there is a unique classical, global in time solution of the dynamic PN model.


Paediatric dosage of gentamicin. T. A. McAllister and D. G. Young. Department of Pathology, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow C.3. Ototoxicity of the broad spectrum antibiotic gentamicin has been recognized for 10 years and it has been customary to use it cautiously to achieve blood levels of 2 to 10 ,ug/ml. Most sensitive bacteria have a minimum inhibitory concentration of less than 2 ,g/ml and ototoxicity is most unlikely below 10 ig/ml. Evidence of gentamicin nephrotoxicity is poor unless it is used in combination with cephalosporins or diuretics. Therapeutic levels are achieved in adults with a dose of 0 * 8 mg/kg 3 times daily, but with this regimen results in children are disappointing. The drug is excreted by glomerular filtration, which is proportional to surface area and therefore more efficient in children, especially neonates. We studied 61 peak serum assays in 30 children with severe or potentially severe sepsis given 2j to 3 times the adult dose intramuscularly or intravenously. The children had a variety of surgical conditions, complicated by infection, and ranged in age from 3 days to 12 years. There was little difference in response in the different age groups. Apart from 3 'dampened responders', we concluded that children require a dose of at least 2 mg/kg 3 times daily for therapeutic efficacy. Neonates may require more, but all cases should be monitored by serum assays. These recommendations have been submitted to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines.


This paper aims to set an agenda for more in-depth, holistic research on the relationship between migration and political change. The European policy discourse on migration and development has affected the academic analysis on this relationship. Almost invariably, the hypotheses on the link between migration and political change that are being tested are limited to whether migrants' transnational engagement contributes to democratization. Yet the operationalization of 'political change' as 'democratization' fails to capture the different temporalities, dimensions and directions of political change. This paper takes the case of Tunisia to illustrate the complexity of political change in relation to mobility and immobility, which appeals simultaneously towards hopes and fears of migrants' contribution to political changes. Through a historical narrative approach, the paper (1) give a descriptive overview of the different temporalities of political change throughout the history of Tunisia and (2) apply an actor-oriented analytical framework to deconstruct the different interrelated dimensions of political space and political change, as a process that changes over time and is both steered from below and from above, in order to establish (3) what the role of migrants and (im)mobility is in these processes, revealing a dynamic and changing role of migration and mobility. Based on this exploration, the paper highlights five questions to bring research on the relationship between migration and (political) change further. The paper concludes that a more holistic take on change itself allows for a much more interesting view on the role of mobility and immobility in processes and outcomes of both change and continuity. A policy question that arises is therefore how the right circumstances can be promoted that lead to the desired 'change'.


B-splines are one of many spline formulations for representing smooth curves. These formulations are found in a variety of applications, including interactive curve design. Previous research has shown that the B-spline is an effective formulation for this setting. However, a possible drawback for the novice user in using the B-spline is the fact that control vertices may lie far away from the curve, making its manipulation unintuitive. This problem is compounded in three dimensions. A direct manipulation technique, allowing a curve to be manipulated with points that lie on the curve itself, offers an alternative to control vertex manipulation. An experiment was conducted to compare the interactive design of 3D curves using control vertex manipulation of B-spline curves and a particular type of direct manipulation of B-spline curves. The results of the experiment revealed that direct manipulation was significantly faster than control vertex manipulation, without sacrificing accuracy in the shape of the final 3D curve. A general testbed designed for this investigation and related studies of 3D interaction techniques was used to conduct the experiment.


Zanzibar Poverty Reduction policy framework vested in SMEs development related strategies, among other sectors. While the sector has shown some promising results in some countries in one hand, on the other hand it doesn't make much difference in other countries. This descriptive case study conducted in Pemba Eastern coast establishes the contribution of SMEs to Poverty Reduction in Zanzibar taking a case of salt industry in Pemba Island. The results are of significant importance to poverty reduction practitioners to be more focus in designing pro-poor policies and programs. While data drown from individuals with great state in salt production Simple Random Sampling (SRS) was applied in sample selection. The study revealed that; the SMEs sub sector have the potential to utilize idle labour force and generate income to the incumbents including owners, employees and labourers. On the other hand it identified that, SMEs is still in infant stage and is confronting with a number reinforcing problems which hinder their effectiveness in poverty reduction contribution efforts. Although the study find that the majority of SMEs incumbents under study managed to cut across both the Zanzibar food and basic need poverty lines, there is no much to be praised and awarded credit for the matter. Similarly, there is a move towards innovative SMEs, but the use of R&D and application ICT and together its impact HRD is still at minimum. Hence, based on the current status of SMEs in Zanzibar, it can be concluded that, the sector has not yet exploited to the maximum and little convincing in its contribution to poverty reduction. To improve the sector and its contribution to Poverty alleviation, financing, human resources, marketing, R&D and technology and cooperative governance aspects should be properly and effectively addressed.


Responses by human neutrophils to stimulation include superoxide anion generation and lysosomal enzyme release. Both of these responses occur after distinct lag periods. The effects of calcium antagonists and anion channel blockers on these lag periods were examined to discern some activation steps mediating the effects of the chemotactic peptide f-Met-Leu-Phe and the calcium ionophore A23187. The intracellular calcium antagonist TMB-8 and the calmodulin inhibitor trifluoperazine both lengthened the lag periods for superoxide anion generation with either stimulus. This effect was dependent on the concentration of antagonist employed. Similar results were obtained for lysosomal enzyme release in response to A23187, as measured by a rapid centrifugation technique. None of the antagonists altered the lag periods for azurophil granule secretion, as monitored by the 9-aminoacridine technique. These results suggest a role for intracellular free calcium and calmodulin-dependent reactions in activation of the superoxide anion generation system in response to either stimulus, and activation of lysosomal enzyme release system in response to A23187.


Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause of death in developed and developing countries including Malaysia. High prevalence of CHD occurs amongst those who have risk factors especially smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, taking fatty food and abnormality of blood lipid levels. Fishermen had low prevalences of CHD risk factors and low incidence of IHD. A cross-sectional study was done amongst 223 persons consist of fishermen (n=176) and non fishermen (n=51) in Tumpat Kelantan. The response rate was 75.6% and 70.8% respectively. The main objective of the study is to determine the prevalence of CHD risk factors and the association with age and social economic status and also to compare with non-fishermen. Fishermen had low social economic status. Prevalence of poverty was 71.4% and 36.8% had no formal education(p<0.05) .Three main risk factors found to be high were smoking (76.5%), HDL-cholestrol <35mg/dl (95.8%) and hypertension (28.8%) .All these 3 factors were high amongst fishermen. Prevalence of overweight was associated with income level and Body mass index was positively correlated with protein intake, diastolic and systolic blood pressure and triglyseride (p<0.05) .Mean diastolic blood pressure in fishermen was lower amongst smokers as compared to non-smoker. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was significantly higher amongst older age group. Prevalences of hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholestrolemia, hyperLDL-cholestrolemia and hypoHDLcholestrolemia were not associated with age and social economic status. Overall calorie intake was lower in both groups except protein. Fishermen's calorie and protein intake were lower as compared to non fishermen. It's were statistically significant. 46.6% fishermen had 2 and only 24.1% had 3 or more risk factors as compared to non fishermen's 33.3% and 33.3% respectively. Only 8.3% fishermen and 15.2% non fishermen did not have risk factors. There was difference in number of risk factors according to age group (p<0.05) .


The outbreak of food poisoning due to Staphylococcus aureus has been reported with a significant level of morbidity worldwide. The outbreaks occur due to lack of proper food handling practices by the food handling personnel. In this study, the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage as well as their knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) were determined among food handlers and its association with the gender, age, work duration, educational level and food premises. 128 samples taken from nasal swabs of 64 food handlers' and 64 food items were collected and analyzed. Furthermore during the collection of samples, questionnaire regarding KAP on food hygiene and sanitation were also distributed among the food handlers. The isolates were identified as S. aureus based on colonial morphology, Gram stain, mannitol salt agar fermentation, catalase and coagulase test. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of the isolates were also done in order to study the resistance pattern of the isolates. Twenty three percent of food handlers were found to be positive for S. aureus nasal carriage and 37.5% of the food samples were contaminated with an average of 8.4 x 106 CFU/g. None of the isolates was resistant to oxacillin and mupirocin but most of the isolates (74.4%) were resistant to penicillin. Only 15.4% and 5.1% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and erythromycin, respectively. In addition, seven antibiotic profiles were determined from the antibiotic susceptibility test. The mean score (SD) of the food handlers' knowledge, attitude and practice were 83.98% (13.26), 82.8% (10.94) and 77.04% (14.98) respectively. Premise grades C proves to be a significant predictor for food handlers knowledge [OR 21.0, (95% CI = 3.522-125.219, P value = 0.001)]. In addition, knowledge on food hygiene and sanitation showed a significant association with attitude [OR 10.0, (95% CI = 1.988-50.291, P value = 0.005)]. The result for attitude section also showed that food handlers with diploma proves to be a significant predictor for attitude [OR 7.9, (95% CI = 1.890-32.905, P value = 0.005)]. Moreover, knowledge on food hygiene and sanitation showed a significant association with practice [OR 18.3, (95% CI = 1.440-23.408, P value = 0.005)]. However sociodemographic dharacteristic and food handlers' KAP have no significant association with food handlers carrier status. The result shows that even though the KAP level of food handlers were excellent, more than 20% of them were S. aureus nasal carriers and the number of contaminated food was also high. Thus, improvement in hygiene and sanitation is needed.


This study aims to: (a) design the description of the application of the scientific approach to science learning in elementary schools, (b) discuss whether there is an effect of scientific approaches to science learning on student motivation and students' learning outcomes in elementary schools. This type of research is a pre-experimental design with the design of one group pretest-posttest design. The variables of this study are independent variables and dependent variables. The independent variable is the scientific approach, and the dependent variables are learning motivation and science learning outcomes. The sample of this study is 12 teachers of the fifth-grade of elementary school and 406 students coming from 12 different elementary schools that apply K13 in Gowa Regency. Data collected includes observation techniques, questionnaires, tests, and interviews. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 2.2 statistical t-test technique. The results of the study show that: (a) a scientific approach to science learning is applied using 5M principle in thematic science teaching. However the 5M indicator has not been applied wholly, (b) students' learning motivation is fit to the "motivated" category, and (c) the students' learning outcomes are in the "good" category. In addition, there is an effect of the application of the scientific approach to science learning on students' learning motivation and learning outcomes. It is recommended that principals encourage teachers to develop their pedagogical competencies by attending workshops and apply a scientific approach to learning in all subjects in elementary school. Keywords—scientific approach, motivation, learning outcomes


Recommender systems can support everyday digital tasks by retrieving and recommending useful information contextually. This is becoming increasingly relevant in services and operating systems. Previous research often focuses on specific recommendation tasks with data captured from interactions with an individual application. The quality of recommendations is also often evaluated addressing only computational measures of accuracy, without investigating the usefulness of recommendations in realistic tasks. The aim of this work is to synthesize the research in this area through a novel approach by (1) demonstrating comprehensive digital activity monitoring, (2) introducing entity-based computing and interaction, and (3) investigating the previously overlooked usefulness of entity recommendations and their actual impact on user behavior in real tasks. The methodology exploits context from screen frames recorded every 2 seconds to recommend information entities related to the current task. We embodied this methodology in an interactive system and investigated the relevance and influence of the recommended entities in a study with participants resuming their real-world tasks after a 14-day monitoring phase. Results show that the recommendations allowed participants to find more relevant entities than in a control without the system. In addition, the recommended entities were also used in the actual tasks. In the discussion, we reflect on a research agenda for entity recommendation in context, revisiting comprehensive monitoring to include the physical world, considering entities as actionable recommendations, capturing drifting intent and routines, and considering explainability and transparency of recommendations, ethics, and ownership of data.


Deep learning models have been successfully used in medical image analysis problems but they require a large amount of labeled images to obtain good performance. However, such large labeled datasets are costly to acquire. Active learning techniques can be used to minimize the number of required training labels while maximizing the model's performance. In this work, we propose a novel sampling method that queries the unlabeled examples that maximize the average distance to all training set examples in a learned feature space. We then extend our sampling method to define a better initial training set, without the need for a trained model, by using Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) feature descriptors. We validate MedAL on 3 medical image datasets and show that our method is robust to different dataset properties. MedAL is also efficient, achieving 80% accuracy on the task of Diabetic Retinopathy detection using only 425 labeled images, corresponding to a 32% reduction in the number of required labeled examples compared to the standard uncertainty sampling technique, and a 40% reduction compared to random sampling.


Gastric adenocarcinoma is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. Although it is a relatively infrequent neoplasm in North America, it is associated with a high mortality rate. Gastric adenocarcinoma is believed to result from inflammation of gastric cells leading to peptic ulcers which then progresses to cancer. Our case highlights a rare presentation of a rapidly growing gastric adenocarcinoma, originally unseen on endoscopy a month prior, and later appearing as a large circumferential mass. Initially the H. pylori and biopsy results in negative findings for adenocarcinoma, however, a month later the biopsy results were positive for gastric adenocarcinoma. Gastric adenocarcinomas are usually insidious and presents initially as non-specific symptoms such as dyspepsia, nausea, and early satiety. The initial workup consists of an EGD and EUS for localization, tissue biopsy, and determination of tumor size/depth as well as locating regional lymph nodes. Our case highlights the emphasis of frequent surveillance and close follow-up of patients who have increased risk factors for gastric adenocarcinomas as these cancers can often be missed and are fatal.


Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous short non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level typically by promoting destabilization or translational repression of target RNAs. Sometimes this regulation is absent or different, which likely is the result of interactions with other post-transcriptional factors, particularly RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Despite the importance of the interactions between RBPs and miRNAs, little is known about how they affect post-transcriptional regulation in a global scale. Results In this study, we have analyzed CLIP datasets of 49 RBPs in HEK293 cells with the aim of understanding the interplay between RBPs and miRNAs in post-transcriptional regulation. Our results show that RBPs bind preferentially in conserved regulatory hotspots that frequently contain miRNA target sites. This organization facilitates the competition and cooperation among RBPs and the regulation of miRNA target site accessibility. In some cases RBP enrichment on target sites correlates with miRNA expression, suggesting coordination between the regulatory factors. However, in most cases, competition among factors is the most plausible interpretation of our data. Upon AGO2 knockdown, transcripts that contain such hotspots that overlap target sites of expressed miRNAs in 3'UTRs are significantly less up-regulated than transcripts without them, suggesting that RBP binding limits miRNA accessibility. Conclusions We show that RBP binding is concentrated in regulatory hotspots in 3'UTRs. The presence of these hotspots facilitates the interaction among post-transcriptional regulators, that interact or compete with each other under different conditions. These hotspots are enriched in genes with regulatory functions such as DNA binding and RNA binding. Taken together, our results suggest that hotspots are important regulatory regions that define an extra layer of auto-regulatory control of post-transcriptional regulation.


In this work, poly(amide imide) (PAI) fibers containing various silicon content ratios were prepared for the precursor of carbon fibers by electrospinning method from 25 wt.% PAI in dimethylformamide (DMF) solution. The fibers were stabilized and then subsequently carbonized in a flow of nitrogen to obtain porous Si/carbon fibers. The morphologies and the crystalline structures of the Si/CFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The electrochemical behaviors of the Si/CFs were observed by cyclic voltammetry tests. The experimental results indicated that the Si/CFs exhibited convoluted structure and wrinkled surface morphology. The silicon particles had a uniform diameter of approximately 1 μm. And the electrochemical activity of the Si/CFs was gradually improved due to the buffering effect of the large Si volume expansion and shrinkage. In addition, the fibers exhibited large accessible surface area, high reversible capacity, and relatively good cycling performance at high current densities. Consequently, it was found that the introduction of silica could affect the electrochemical properties of the CFs, and the Si/CFs might have potential applications for various fields of electrochemical materials.


This article focuses on behavioral markers—changes in communicative behaviors that reliably indicate the presence and severity of mental health conditions. We explore the potential of behavioral markers to provide new insights and approaches to diagnosis, assessment, and monitoring, with a particular focus on music therapy for depression. We propose a framework for understanding these markers that encompasses three broad functional categories fulfilled by communicative behaviors: semantic, pragmatic, and phatic. The disordered interactions observed in those with depression reflect changes in many types of communicative behavior, but much research has focused on pragmatic behaviors. However, changes in phatic behaviors also seem likely to be important, given their crucial role in facilitating interpersonal relationships. Given the strong phatic element of music-making, music represents a fertile context in which to explore these behaviors. We argue here that the uniquely multimodal and profoundly interactive environment of music therapy in particular allows for the identification of changes in pragmatic and phatic communicative behaviors that reliably indicate depression presence/severity. By identifying these behavioral markers, we open the door to new ways of assessing depression, and improving diagnosis and monitoring. Furthermore, this markers-based approach has broad implications, being applicable beyond depression and beyond music therapy.


This paper forwards a low power design of a grating detection system chip (GDC) on length and angle precision measurement. Traditional grating detection methods are complex, costly, and suffer big power consumption for the complex divide circuit scheme and CPU software compensation. GDC achieves the whole grating detection system function, high speed orthogonal signal handling in a single chip with very low power consumption. It is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), integrated micro controller unit (MCU), power management unit (PMU), two LCD controller, keyboard interface, grating detection unit and other peripherals. Working at 10MHz, GDC can afford 5MHz internal sampling rate and 1.25MHz orthogonal signal from grating sensor. By implementing low power system design, orthogonal signal dividing and Low power divider design, GDC consumes 0.9mw in test mode and 0.2mw in real mode. GDC is tape out in HJTC 180nm process with evaluation kit and demo system developed.


While cholinergic receptor activation has long been known to dramatically enhance the excitability of cortical neurons, the cellular mechanisms responsible for this effect are not well understood. We used intracellular recordings in rat (both sexes) neocortical brain slices to assess the ionic mechanisms supporting persistent firing modes triggered by depolarizing stimuli following cholinergic receptor activation. We found multiple lines of evidence suggesting that a component of the underlying hyperexcitability associated with persistent firing reflects a reduction in the standing (leak) K+ current mediated by Ether-a-go-go-Related Gene (ERG) channels. Three chemically diverse ERG channel blockers (terfenadine, ErgToxin-1, and E-4031) abolished persistent firing and the underlying increase in input resistance in deep pyramidal cells in temporal and prefrontal association neocortex. Calcium accumulation during triggering stimuli appears to attenuate ERG currents, leading to membrane potential depolarization and increased input resistance, two critical elements generating persistent firing. Our results also suggest that ERG current normally governs cortical neuron responses to depolarizing stimuli by opposing prolonged discharges and by enhancing the poststimulus repolarization. The broad expression of ERG channels and the ability of ERG blocks to abolish persistent firing evoked by both synaptic and intracellular step stimuli suggest that modulation of ERG channels may underlie many forms of persistent activity observed in vivo. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Persistent activity, where spiking continues beyond the triggering stimulus, is a common phenomenon observed in many types of neurons. Identifying the mechanism underlying this elementary process of memory is a step forward in understanding higher cognitive function including short-term memory. Our results suggest that a reduction in the currents normally mediated by Ether-a-go-go-Related Gene (ERG) K+ channels contributes to persistent firing in neocortical pyramidal cells. ERG currents have been previously studied primarily in the heart; relatively little is known about ERG function in the brain, although mutations in ERG channels have recently been linked to schizophrenia. The present study is among the first to describe its role in neocortex in relation to biophysical correlates of memory function.


Business demands for powerful computing resources are increasing the workload in data centers, hence raising the complexity in managing the data center. The impact of data centers on the environment is now a particular concern. Although there are now efforts to realize Green data centers through harnessing Green technologies, their sustainability still remains an issue. Data center management includes planning its capacity. However, capacity planning for data center efficiency has only focused on measurements of power and cooling (part of infrastructure operation), which are insufficient to ensure the sustainability of the data center. In fact, a more thorough set of components must be considered. Therefore, this study proposes a capacity planning framework to derive practical solutions for Green data center management and thus ensure the sustainability of the Green data center. To this end, the components for Green data center sustainability and capacity planning were determined using Content Analysis and the findings verified by Green data center experts.


Tuberculosis (TB), a chronic infectious disease mainly caused by the tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of the world's deadliest diseases that has afflicted humanity since ancient times. Although the number of people falling ill with TB each year is declining, its incidence in many developing countries is still a major cause of concern. Upon invading host cells by phagocytosis, M. tuberculosis can replicate within infected cells by arresting the maturation of the phagosome whose function is to target the pathogen for elimination. Host cells have mechanisms of controlling this evasion by inducing autophagy, an elaborate cellular process that targets bacteria for progressive elimination, decreasing bacterial loads within infected cells. In addition, autophagy activation also aids in the control of inflammation, contributing to a more efficient innate immune response against M. tuberculosis. Several innovative TB therapies have been envisaged based on autophagy manipulation, with some of them revealing high potential for future clinical trials and eventual implementation in healthcare systems. Thus, this review highlights the recent advances on the innate immune response regulation by autophagy upon M. tuberculosis infection and the promising new autophagy-based therapies for TB.


In this paper, an enhanced adaptive fuzzy control (AFC) strategy with guaranteed convergence of an optimal fuzzy approximation error (FAE) is presented for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems in the general Brunovsky form. Based on the fuzzy logic system (FLS) with variable universes of discourse, relaxed sufficient conditions that guarantee the optimal FAE being convergent are given, and the upper bound of the optimal FAE is obtained. The control singularity problem resulting from the unknown affine term is resolved by a novel fuzzy approximation equation, and the parameter adaptive law of the FLS is derived by the Lyapunov synthesis. By means of the optimal FAE bound result, it is proved that the closed-loop system achieves partially asymptotic stability under a certain selection of control parameters. The proposed approach retains all advantages of a previous similar approach under relaxed constraint conditions. Thus, it provides a more flexible solution to the AFC with optimal FAE convergence. Simulation studies have demonstrated high-precision tracking performance with smooth control input of the proposed approach.


Sugarcane is a prime bioethanol feedstock. Currently, sugarcane ethanol is produced through fermentation of the sucrose, which can easily be extracted from stem internodes. Processes for production of biofuels from the abundant lignocellulosic sugarcane residues will boost the ethanol output from sugarcane per land area. However, unlocking the vast amount of chemical energy stored in plant cell walls remains expensive primarily because of the intrinsic recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass. We report here the successful reduction in lignification in sugarcane by RNA interference, despite the complex and highly polyploid genome of this interspecific hybrid. Down-regulation of the sugarcane caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene by 67% to 97% reduced the lignin content by 3.9% to 13.7%, respectively. The syringyl/guaiacyl ratio in the lignin was reduced from 1.47 in the wild type to values ranging between 1.27 and 0.79. The yields of directly fermentable glucose from lignocellulosic biomass increased up to 29% without pretreatment. After dilute acid pretreatment, the fermentable glucose yield increased up to 34%. These observations demonstrate that a moderate reduction in lignin (3.9% to 8.4%) can reduce the recalcitrance of sugarcane biomass without compromising plant performance under controlled environmental conditions.


What is the difference between a ruin and a badly maintained building? The question can hardly be answered, for what defines ruins is not material decay in itself, but a specific understanding of it. Today, the message of ruins appears obvious: Ruins are predictably fascinating, romantic and picturesque. This romanticism is not timeless, but has its own cultural history. The murmur of ruins is the speech of modernity and the modern conception of time and history. It is about the development of a thoroughly modern subjectivity, centred on the emotionally competent individual, and the ethical values associated with this kind of personality and personal authenticity.


Many state-of-art robotics applications require fast and efficient motion planning algorithms. Existing motion planning methods become less effective as the dimensionality of the robot and its workspace increases, especially the computational cost of collision detection routines. In this work, we present a framework to address the cost of expensive primitive operations in sampling-based motion planning. This framework determines the validity of a sample robot configuration through a novel combination of a Contractive AutoEncoder (CAE), which captures an occupancy grids representation of the robot's workspace, and a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), which efficiently predicts the collision state of the robot using the output from the CAE. We evaluate our framework on multiple planning problems with a variety of robots in 2D and 3D workspaces. The results show that (1) the framework is computationally efficient in all investigated problems, and (2) the framework generalizes well to new workspaces.


Objectives: To create reference ranges for nasal bone length (NBL) and prenasal thickness (PT) based on measurements performed on 3D to the exact median plane corrected profile views and to examine their mutual relationship in normal second and third trimester fetuses. Methods: 3D profile volumes of 200 normal fetuses at 15–33 weeks gestation were reviewed and adjusted by multiplanar mode to the correct median profile. The nasal bone was measured from the nasion to the most anterior end of the ossification line. The frontal bone extends behind the nasal bone, therefore care was taken not to add this part of the frontal bone to the measurement of NBL as this would erroneously increase the measurement. The PT was measured as the shortest distance between the nasion and the frontal skin. Results: Good visualization of the landmarks and good NBL and PT measurements were obtained in 109 cases and 108 cases, respectively. In 106 cases, both NBL and PT could be measured in the same profile. NBL increased with gestational age, from 3.2 mm at 15 weeks to 9.0 mm at 33 weeks (NBL followed a second order polynomial trend). PT increased with gestational age from 2.3 mm at 15 weeks to 6.1 mm at 33 weeks (PT followed a first order polynomial trend). NBL and PT were highly correlated (r = 0.83, P < 0.001). Linear regression analysis showed that NBL contributes to 46% of PT increase (r = 0.46, P < 0.001). Conclusions: These are the first reference range for NBL and PT constructed on by multiplanar view corrected exact median profiles of normal second and third trimester fetuses. The range extends to the third trimester and both parameters are measured in the same fetus. Redefinition of the measurement technique for the NBL by excluding erroneous inclusion of part of the frontal bone, produces systematically smaller measurements than previously published reference ranges. NBL and PT increase linearly with gestation, with less steep increase for the NBL after 28 weeks.


We present IMP, an automated pipeline for reproducible integrated analyses of coupled metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data. IMP incorporates preprocessing, iterative co-assembly of metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data, analyses of microbial community structure and function as well as genomic signature-based visualizations. Complementary use of metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data improves assembly quality and enables the estimation of both population abundance and community activity while allowing the recovery and analysis of potentially important components, such as RNA viruses. IMP is containerized using Docker which ensures reproducibility. IMP is available at http://r3lab.uni.lu/web/imp/.


Herein, a high surface area electrode (HSE) consisting of indium tin oxide (ITO) as a scaffold and ultrathin Ti‐doped hematite (α‐Fe2O3) as the absorber material is developed. The HSE exhibits sixfold improvement in photoactivity over an analogous photoelectrode with a flat morphology. Interfacial recombination due to dopant impurities and shunting resulting from a high pinhole density in the hematite layer limit the device performance. These limitations are mitigated by introducing a tin oxide barrier layer, which reduces recombination at the solid–solid interface and mitigates shunting. Employing the HSE with an appropriate barrier layer improves charge separation efficiency and catalytic activity compared to conventional planar devices. This strategy can potentially be extended to other light absorber materials whose performance is affected by charge transport limitations.


How can cultural understandings simultaneously diverge from and contribute to aggregate patterns of action? On one hand, shared cognitive associations guide people's everyday actions, and these actions comprise the behavioral trends that sociologists seek to measure and understand. On the other hand, these shared understandings often contradict behavioral trends. I address this theoretical puzzle by considering the empirical case of sexual relationships and school dropout in Malawi. Moving recursively between longitudinal survey data and in-depth interviews, I compare statistical patterns and cultural beliefs about the relationship between sexual relationships and school dropout. Interviewees emphasized ways that relationships render girls incapable of continuing in school, whereas survey data provide limited support for these posited causal processes. However, these shared beliefs about the detrimental effects of relationships for school performance have real effects: teachers, parents, and students act as if these narratives were true, and these behavioral responses sustain the broader antinomy between sex and schooling. This analysis reveals new insights into how cultural understandings—and the various ways people respond to and enforce them—contribute to the demographic patterns we observe using survey data.


The adoption of stream standards, whether for direct application or for the establishment of realistic effluent standards, creates a need to predict the impact of pollution loads on river water quality during critical flow periods or as the result of future user demands. Because of the complexity of aquatic systems, mathematical models are an excellent medium for bringing together the state-of-the-art knowledge from a variety of disciplines into a form which can be readily applied to practical problems. Applying a mathematical model to a river system has the added advantage of providing a structure for the systematic consideration of the many diverse aspects of water quality phenomena. This report describes the development of a river simulation model (QUAL-U) for predicting water quality and its preliminary application to the Weber River drainage basin in northeastern Utah. The model involves the numerical solution of a set of differential equations representing the aquatic system under steady state conditions. The development and use of a second model which provides the flow boundary conditions for the first model is also described. This model is a simple interactive procedure for obtaining flows at specified locations on the river system given the measured flows at other locations and typical flow ranges of headwater, diversions, surface and subsurface lateral inflows, and point loads. Previous river water quality models are reviewed and the structure of QUAL-U is presented. The economic and physical characteristics of the study area are described and the Weber River system is represented by subbasins, reaches, and computational units. Model calibration was based on water quality data collected at over eighty sampling locations in the study area during a four day period in September, 1973. Each of the sampling points was subsequently surveyed to obtain representative hydraulic characteristics for each reach of the river system. Coefficients for the mathematical equations representing hydraulic characteristics and chemical and biological reactions were estimated and adjusted during the model calibration procedure until model responses satisfactorily resembled the observed data. Results for the calibration period and also for studies involving critical low flow conditions are described and model limitations are considered. The work on which this report is based was performed for the State of Utah, Department of Social Services, Division of Health as part of a Waste Load Allocation Study on the Weber River. The scope of this project provided only for supplying the calibrated model to the client and does not include predictive runs or interpretation of management alternatives.


CBA-p and CBA-T6T6 females were mated with vasectomized males of A strain and early in the morning the eggs were activated in situ with the electric shock of 30, 40 and 50 V. Females were killed between the 5th and the 10th day of pregnancy and the implantation sites were studied histologically or their content was examined under the dissecting microscope. Of the uterine horns, 43-6 % contained at least one implantation and the mean number of implantations per horn was 0-76. Altogether 152 implantations were collected. The implantation rate was twice as high in older females (12 weeks and over) as in young ones (6-8 weeks). The number of living embryos decreased with every day so that on the 9th and 10th day only 2 out of 86 embryos were alive (2-3 %). With one exception all embryos which were alive at the time of examination were retarded in development for approximately 1 day. The most advanced embryo was at the 8-somite stage. Two attempts aimed at increasing the synchrony between the embryos and the uterus at the time of implantation (activation immediately after delayed mating and transfer of 4-5-day embryos to 3-5-day uterus) did not improve the survival of embryos after implantation.


Symbioses between marine animals and aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria are found at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in the deep sea where reduced, methane-rich fluids mix with the surrounding oxidized seawater. These habitats are 'oases' in the otherwise nutrient-poor deep sea, where entire ecosystems are fueled by microbial chemosynthesis. By associating with bacteria that gain energy from the oxidation of CH4 with O2 , the animal host is indirectly able to gain nutrition from methane, an energy source that is otherwise only available to methanotrophic microorganisms. The host, in turn, provides its symbionts with continuous access to both electron acceptors and donors that are only available at a narrow oxic - anoxic interface for free-living methanotrophs. Symbiotic methane oxidizers have resisted all attempts at cultivation, so that all evidence for these symbiotic associations comes from ultrastructural, enzymatic, physiological, stable isotope and molecular biological studies of the symbiotic host tissues. In this review, we present an overview of the habitats and invertebrate hosts in which symbiotic methane oxidizers have been found, and the methods used to investigate these symbioses, focusing on the symbioses of bathymodiolin mussels that have received the most attention among methanotrophic associations.


LTE evolved Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (eMBMS) is an attractive solution for video delivery to very large groups in crowded venues. However, deployment and management of eMBMS systems is challenging, due to the lack of realtime feedback from the User Equipment (UEs). Therefore, we present the Dynamic Monitoring (DyMo) system for low-overhead feedback collection. DyMo leverages eMBMS for broadcasting Stochastic Group Instructions to all UEs. These instructions indicate the reporting rates as a function of the observed Quality of Service (QoS). This simple feedback mechanism collects very limited QoS reports from the UEs. The reports are used for network optimization, thereby ensuring high QoS to the UEs. We present the design aspects of DyMo and evaluate its performance analytically and via extensive simulations. Specifically, we show that DyMo infers the optimal eMBMS settings with extremely low overhead, while meeting strict QoS requirements under different UE mobility patterns and presence of network component failures. For instance, DyMo can detect the eMBMS Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) experienced by the 0.1% percentile of the UEs with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.05% with only 5 to 10 reports per second regardless of the number of UEs.


Under the setting of a case-cohort design, covariate values are ascertained for a smaller subgroup of the original study cohort which typically is a representative sample from a population. Individuals with a specific event outcome are selected to the second stage study group as cases and an additional subsample is selected to act as a control group. We carry out analysis of such a design using conditional likelihood where the likelihood expression is conditioned on the ascertainment to the second stage study group. Such likelihood expression involves the probability of ascertainment which need to be expressed in terms of the model parameters. We present examples of conditional likelihoods for models for categorical response and time-to-event response. We show that the conditional likelihood inference leads to valid estimation of population parameters. Our application considers joint estimation of haplotype-event association parameters and population haplotype frequencies based on SNP genotype data collected under a case-cohort design.


Many youth programs are delivered to provide opportunities for youth to acquire the assets deemed essential to their development into caring, responsible adults. Engaging as a volunteer is considered an experience that provides access to the acquisition of key developmental assets. To date, research has focused on the positive outcomes that can result for adolescent volunteers with little attention being paid to volunteers younger than age 15. This research explored whether and in what ways being a volunteer contributed to the development of youth ages 8 to 12. Interviews were conducted with 73 Boys and Girls Club youth and seven Club Executive Directors in Atlantic Canada. Results indicated that volunteering offered youth an opportunity to serve their communities, care for its members, and feel valued. Younger youth also developed various skills and experienced enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence.


Superconducting GHz electronics can be improved by variable tuning circuits. We present a low temperature (< 150°C) process for the fabrication of niobium (Nb) thin film air bridges as variable capacitors, which can be integrated in Nb superconducting electronics. These elements can be applied for on-chip adjustment of filters, resonators and tuning circuits. Measurements and calculations of the electrostatic actuation of the bridges will be compared.


As the demand for water grows in southern California, more distant sources of surface water must be utilized (at increasing costs per unit), and it becomes increasingly essential that the management of imported supplies and local groundwater basins be closely integrated. The recent Supreme Court decision on the Colorado River jeopardizes the area's future supply of water from the river and intensifies the importance of making full use of southern California's quota while it is still available. For at least a few years following completion of the proposed aqueduct from northern California, import capacity will likely exceed that needed for current use. Construction of facilities for importing surface water is only one step toward stopping the overdraft of groundwater basins in Los Angeles County. An opportunity exists for building up groundwater levels while excess import capacity is available. Major institutional changes are necessary, however, for efficient joint utilization of local groundwater and imported supplies of surface water needed to accomplish this objective.


Summary The recently published, largest trial with cangrelor, the Cangrelor versus Standard Therapy to Achieve Optimal Management of Platelet Inhibition (CHAMPION)-PHOENIX, suggested that the experimental agent significantly reduced the rate of stent thrombosis (ST) and myocardial infarction (MI) during PCI at 48 hours (h) and 30 days. However, the declared impressive cangrelor vascular non-fatal benefit was contradicted by identical deaths at 48 h, and a trend toward excess mortality at 30 days. We analysed the mismatch between outcomes in the CHAMPION-PHOENIX trial. The trial reported identical mortality (18 death in each arm; odds ratio [OR] 1.00 (0.52–1.92); p>0.999) at 48 h, but more deaths, 60 vs 55, after cangrelor at 30 days. There was a significant reduction of ST from 0.8% (n=46) of the patients in the cangrelor group versus 1.4% (n=74) in the clopidogrel group (odds ratio, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.90; p= 0.01) at 48 h, and a persistent but less impressive ST prevention benefit OR of 0.68 (0.50=0.92, p = 0.01) at 30 days. There were also 48 less MI's following cangrelor usage enforced by a significant difference (odds ratio 0.80 (0.67–0.97) p = 0.02), which was also less prevalent at 30 days (OR 0.82 (0.68–0.98), p = 0.03). The reported ST/MI advantage should result in at least a trend towards numerically less deaths after cangrelor at 30 days follow-up, which was opposite of the results reported in CHAMPION- PHOENIX trial. Efficacy of cangrelor is challenged by the disproportional "reduction" of ST and MI conflicting with identical mortality at 48 h and worsened at day 30 fatalities. The dissociation between vascular mortality and non-fatal vascular ischaemic occlusions, unless compensated by some other unreported cause(s) of death, should be explored and explained. Unadjudicated 30-day outcomes, and all ST types should be fully disclosed. The ongoing FDA cangrelor review should focus on appropriate event count and/or possible mismatch between site-reported and extra adjudicated events in the CHAMPION-PHOENIX trial.


This thesis describes the design and implementation of an environment to allow quantum computation to be simulated on classical computers. Although it is believed that quantum computers cannot in general be efficiently simulated classically, it is nevertheless possible to simulate small but interesting systems, on the order of a few tens of quantum bits. Since the state of the art of physical implementations is less than 10 bits, simulation remains a useful tool for understanding the behavior of quantum algorithms. To create a suitable envrionment for simulation, we constructed a 32-node cluster of workstation class computers linked with a high speed (gigabit Ethernet) network. We then wrote an initial simulation environment based on parallel linear algebra libraries with a Matlab front end. These libraries operated on large matrices representing the problem being simulated. The parallel Matlab environment demonstrated a degree of parallel speedup as we added processors, but overall execution times were high, since the amount of data scaled exponentially with the size of the problem. This increased both the number of operations that had to be performed to compute the simulation, and the volume of data that had to be communicated between the nodes as they were computing. The scaling also affected memory utilization, limiting us to a maximum problem size of 14 qubits. In an attempt to increase simulation efficiency, we revisited the design of the simulation environment. Many quantum algorithms have a structure that can be described using the tensor product operator from linear algebra. We believed that a new simulation environment based on this tensor product structure would be substantially more efficient than one based on large matrices. We designed a new simulation envrionment that exploited this tensor product structure. Benchmarks that we performed on the new simulation environment confirmed that it was substantially more efficient, allowing us to perform simulations of the quantum Fourier transform and the discrete approximation to the solution of 3-SAT by adiabatic evolution up to 25 qubits in a reasonable time. Thesis Supervisor: Stephen A. Benton Title: Professor of Media Arts and Sciences


Volume 1: The truth about the West African land question (1st edition 1898). Volume 2: Gold Coast native institutions, with some thoughts upon a healthy imperial policy for the Gold Coast and Ashanti. Volume 3: Ethiopia unbound.


Most modern approaches in temporal action localization divide this problem into two parts: (i) short-term feature extraction and (ii) long-range temporal boundary localization. Due to the high GPU memory cost caused by processing long untrimmed videos, many methods sacrifice the representational power of the short-term feature extractor by either freezing the backbone or using a small spatial video resolution. This issue becomes even worse with the recent video transformer models, many of which have quadratic memory complexity. To address these issues, we propose TALLFormer, a memory-efficient and end-to-end trainable Temporal Action Localization Transformer with Long-term memory. Our long-term memory mechanism eliminates the need for processing hundreds of redundant video frames during each training iteration, thus, significantly reducing the GPU memory consumption and training time. These efficiency savings allow us (i) to use a powerful video transformer feature extractor without freezing the backbone or reducing the spatial video resolution, while (ii) also maintaining long-range temporal boundary localization capability. With only RGB frames as input and no external action recognition classifier, TALLFormer outperforms previous state-of-the-arts by a large margin, achieving an average mAP of 59.1% on THUMOS14 and 35.6% on ActivityNet-1.3. The code is public available: https://github.com/klauscc/TALLFormer.


In the testing of highly absorbent materials, it is necessary to use
high transmitted power to obtain echoes with an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio from deep defects. However, the maximum peak power which can be used is limited by the construction problems of the probes and
the physical properties of the crystal materials. Using longer pulses to transmit more energy could improve the detection, but would reduce the resolution of the system. Pulse compression techniques which
overcome the conflict between resolution and pulse duration, provide a possible solution to the above problem. The method involves the
transmission of a long coded pulse and the processing of the received echo to obtain a relatively narrow pulse, thus preserving resolution. After a study of the principles of pulse compression, various practical schemes were investigated, and the linear frequency-modulated pulse compression systems were found to be most economical to implement. Upon being received, the pulse may be compressed by means of a dispersive
ultrasonic delay line, and simple Gaussian shape filter may be employed to reduce the resulting sidelobes. Theoretical studies on the dispersive modes of propagation of
elastic waves in narrow metallic strips were then made, and demonstrated the
feasibility of using a metallic strip as the dispersive delay device, provided that equalisers are introduced to compensate for the inherent time delay non-linearities in the strip. Design problems associated
with the piezoelectric bar transducers for use with the line were also investigated. Based on the above studies, a pulse compression testing system
consisting of a transmitting unit, a pair of wide-band transmitting
and receiving transducers and a receiving unit, has been constructed.
The transmitting unit comprises a linear frequency-modulated oscillator
and timing circuits; the receiving unit incorporates equalisers, a weighting filter and an aluminium strip delay line. The operating system achieves a time bandwidth product of 80 and a sidelobe level of -25 dB.
Practical tests were carried out and test results are reported. Finally, the power and limitations of the testing system are discussed.


Having come to understand recently the nature of the relation that creates what the Individual apprehends as emotional experience, I share here my view on the secret of happiness. In essence, happiness is a song that each Individual composes and plays for him/herself . And when you are trying to get someone else or the world to be your dancing monkey, playing your song in an effort to force others and the world around you into an arrangement that you think will reflexively evoke within you a wanted emotion, then you are not playing the song of happiness. And if you are not playing the song of happiness then you are playing its opposite, because for Existence, which is what we all are, there is no third option.


In order to reveal the character of motivation influence on the stability of the unconscious visual set, young adult healthy subjects were promised to be rewarded for correct solution of the cognitive task. A substantial increase in set stability was observed under conditions of augmented motivation of a subject to the result of his performance. Positive and negative aspects of the impact of the increased motivation of a subject on his cognitive activity at the stages of set formation and actualization are discussed.


A random matrix model is introduced that probabilistically describes the spatial and temporal multipath propagation between a transmitting and receiving antenna array with a limited number of scatterers for mobile radio and indoor environments. The model characterizes the channel by its richness delay profile which gives the number of scattering objects as a function of the path delay. Each delay is assigned the eigenvalue distribution of a random matrix that depends on the number of scatterers, receiving antennas, and transmitting antennas. The model allows one to calculate signal-to-interference-and-noise ratios (SINRs) and channel capacities for large antenna arrays analytically and quantifies to what extent rich scattering improves performance.


In February 2005 the world's first offshore HVDC transmission was successfully commissioned. It consists of two parallel 40 MW transmissions connecting the Troll A gas platform in the North Sea, with the mainland 132 kV grid via compact polymeric DC cables. A compact and lightweight offshore module was designed by ABB in collaboration with the client Statoil. The project has given ABB, valuable experience in the design and construction of high voltage plant in a salt laden, hostile environment. With safety as a primary consideration ABB has gained considerable experience in offshore construction techniques. The success of the ABB Troll project has been one of the key components for British Petroleum, who in June 2005 placed a second offshore HVDC Light order with ABB for their 78 MW transmission to the Valhall field. The engineering design and construction challenges overcome by ABB in these pioneering offshore projects is directly transferable to the new high power, high voltage, offshore substations required to enable, safe, reliable operation of the future very large offshore wind farms.


Sabo et al. (Research Articles, 8 December 2017, p. 1270) use sophisticated analyses of flow and fishery data from the Lower Mekong Basin to design a "good" hydrograph that, if implemented by planned hydropower dams, would increase the catch by a factor of 3.7. However, the hydrograph is not implementable, and, if it were, it would devastate the fishery. Further, the analyses are questionable.


Objective: To test the hypothesis that people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) would differ significantly from a healthy control group on measures of general personality and perfectionism, specifically on measures of neuroticism and unhealthy perfectionism. Method: A total of 27 female CFS outpatients and 30 female healthy controls completed questionnaires, including the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, the Multi-dimensional Perfectionism Scale and measures of anxiety and depression. Results: The CFS group was significantly more fatigued, anxious and depressed than healthy controls. They scored significantly higher on neuroticism and unhealthy perfectionism. Healthy and unhealthy perfectionism were positively correlated in the CFS group, but not in the control group. Conclusion: The present study confirms the link between neuroticism and fatigue and finds a link between unhealthy perfectionism and fatigue. A 'healthy trait', such as healthy perfectionism, when coupled with evaluative concerns is not necessarily healthy in a fatigued population. Researchers and clinicians should note the context in which apparently benign traits are expressed, and how they interact with other traits.


ABSTRACT The existing literature on party and government preferences on Europe mostly focuses on the integration process as a whole. In addition, studies of party-based Euroscepticism tend to offer competing typologies that present some terminological problems. With the increase in differentiation and the potential for disintegration, it is now important to deconstruct support for European integration per policy area. Accordingly, the main purpose of this contribution is to solve problems of existing conceptualizations of élite-based Euroscepticism by presenting a specific operationalization of support for European integration. Based on a qualitative analysis of party documents and élite interviews, such operationalization focuses on policies and policy areas where differentiation takes place, using a scale ranging from full opposition to full support for integration and taking into account internal divisions. This operationalization is then applied to three Nordic countries that have experienced different levels of (differentiated) integration since the early 1990s: Finland; Sweden; and Norway. The contribution concludes that whereas existing categorizations of Euroscepticism are useful to broadly understand élite preferences, operationalizing support for European integration per policy area where differentiation takes place can help understand the mainstreaming of Euroscepticism and offers a more accurate way of understanding new situations where parties supporting and opposing participation in European Union policies co-exist in coalition governments.


The crystal structure of tristrontium trigallium tetraborate oxide hydroxide has been determined by X-ray diffraction using a crystal grown by hydrothermal crystallization of a strontium gallo-borate glass. It represents a new orthoborate structure type built of complex layers formed by BO(3) triangles sharing corners with Ga(2)O(7) tetrahedral dimers and GaO(4)OH square pyramids. The Sr atoms occupy both inter- and intralayer sites.


There is a dearth of knowledge on the selection and utilization of Columbia milkvetch (Astragalus miser Dougl. ex Hook. var. serotinus) by grazing livestock on rangelands in British Columbia. Four grazing trials were conducted with cattle on Columbia milkvetch range in southern interior British Columbia. In the first 2 trials during 1990 and 1991 cattle grazed an upper grassland site in late spring. In 1992 and 1993, the animals grazed a lodgepole pine forest site during early summer. The density of Columbia milkvetch and its basal area were similar at both locations. The Columbia milkvetch was not a preferred species on the grassland site as indicated by the bite count technique that determined its percentage in the diet. Consumption of Columbia milkvetch increased gradually as other forage species were preferentially selected and depleted. On the grasslands, consumption of Columbia milkvetch by individual animals did not show an addictive pattern. At the forest site, utilization of Columbia milkvetch was determined on a weekly basis during 1992 and on a biweekly basis during 1993 by paired plots. In contrast to the grassland site, Columbia milkvetch was a preferred species at the forest site where it was utilized to a greater extent than grasses or other forbs. Approximately 80% of the Columbia milkvetch was utilized during 1992 and 60% during 1993, which was significantly greater than the utilization of grasses or other forbs. Forage nutrient analysis at the forest site indicated Columbia milkvetch had higher crude protein and lower ADF content than other forages but it caused livestock poisoning in 1993.


The kinetics of oxidative decomposition of malathion pesticide using selected manganese-doped Bi-Sr-Vanadate Bi2SrV1.9Mn0.1O9 was studied carefully in ethanolic solution in the presence of H2O2 under condition of pseudo-first order reaction. The catalyst was prepared by conventional solid state reaction technique; the structural and micro-structural properties of the catalyst were characterized well by XRD and SEM respectively. Many of the kinetic parameters were investigated in this article, results obtained indicated that, the rate of oxidative degradation of malathion was found to be pH-dependent. The mechanism was proposed and the activation parameters were calculated.


This paper proposes a new synthetic test circuit to confirm the switching behavior of thyristor valve in HVDC converter. The proposed circuit consists of a 2-phase chopper with IGBT switch and auxiliary circuit to supplies low-voltage high current to the test valve during on-state. The operation of proposed circuit was verified through theoretical approach and computer simulation. Based on computer simulation results, a hardware scaled model for the proposed circuit was built and tested to confirm the feasibility of implementing a real test facility. The proposed synthetic test circuit could be widely used to test the thyristor valve with synthetic manner.


Dielectric substrates are technologically necessary components of various microwave and optical structures and devices, and may strongly affect their performance. For metasurfaces composed of subwavelength resonators, placing dielectric components in the proximity of resonators can lead to strong modification of subwavelength resonances and related transmission regimes. We focus on the effects exerted by material and geometrical parameters of such a dielectric substrate on linear-to-linear polarization conversion that appears in quasiplanar structures containing two coupled metasurfaces and enabling chirality. It is shown that spectral locations of the polarization conversion resonances and transmission efficiency at these resonances are strongly sensitive to the substrate parameters, whereas the ability of polarization conversion and related asymmetry of transmission can be preserved in wide ranges of parameter variation. The effects of a substrate are considered in detail for the mechanisms with and without tunneling, indicating a route to compact designs of quasiplanar structures for singleand multiband polarization conversion.


We have used the human promonocyte-like U937 cell line as a model to study the regulation of interstitial collagenase and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) during mononuclear phagocyte development. Our results show that differentiation of U937 cells with exposure to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) induces a temporally delayed (16-24 h) but marked increase in the biosynthesis and secretion of interstitial collagenase and TIMP. Similarly, steady-state mRNA levels for both proteins rose dramatically during the period of exposure, but again after considerable time delay (12-16 h). For interstitial collagenase, induction was transcriptionally regulated as demonstrated by nuclear run-on experiments, and required the synthesis of proteins as indicated by cycloheximide treatment. However, transcriptional activation of collagenase was never observed prior to 10-12 h; since c-fos is rapidly induced in U937 cells and largely disappears by 2 h (Mitchell et al., 1985), our data strongly suggest that collagenase induction in this system cannot be explained simply or entirely by an AP-1-dependent mechanism. Although TIMP steady-state mRNA levels also increased substantially with cellular differentiation, no transcription was detected by run-on experiments. However, TPA exposure markedly prolonged the half-life of TIMP mRNA from 4 h to > 20 h. While cycloheximide treatment completely blocked TPA-mediated induction of collagenase mRNA, it only marginally interfered with simultaneously induced TIMP mRNA levels. Our results demonstrate that differentiation of U937 monocytic cells is accompanied by markedly enhanced production of both interstitial collagenase and TIMP. However, there are multiple, and perhaps differing, molecular mechanisms regulating these responses.


Microcell‐mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT) is a powerful genetic technique that permits the transfer of a single chromosome from one mammalian cell to another. The utility of MMCT for gene mapping strategies is critically dependent on the careful characterization of the chromosomes being transferred. We have recently reported the identification of a single rearranged human chromosome, designated Tneo, which corrects the UV sensitivity and excision repair defect of cells of xeroderma pigmentosum genetic complementation group D (XP‐D) in culture (Flejter WL et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:261–265, 1992). Additionally, those studies demonstrated a role for the excision repair cross‐complementing 2 (ERCC2) gene in the observed phenotypic correction. We now report the results of detailed conventional and molecular cytogenetic characterization of the complementing Tneo chromosome. This analysis revealed a complex rearrangement involving material from human chromosomes 16, 17, and 19. Characterization of deletions of Tneo which retained or lost XP‐D complementing ability mapped the gene responsible for phenotypic correction to a small region of the terminal q‐arm of this chromosome. This region includes the previously described human DNA repair gene cluster located in the region 19q13.2‐q13.3, a result consistent with the notion that the in vitro correction of XP‐D cells by the Tneo chromosome is rendered by die ERCC2 locus. The data illustrate the potential value of detailed cytogenetic characterization of a human chromosome present in a somatic cell hybrid, even when that material involves complex rearrangements.


UNLABELLED
Hospital inpatients frequently leave their rooms for diagnostic procedures and for other reasons. For some, interruption of oxygen therapy during transport could lead to serious complications. In our institution, non-ICU patient transport is done mainly by nonclinical personnel from an independent transport service.

MATERIALS & METHODS
We reviewed respiratory care department and transport service records for 5 arbitrarily selected days to determine the number of non-ICU patients receiving O2 therapy, the number of times these patients were transported, and the number of occasions on which O2 was used during the transport. We then interviewed the primary nurse for each patient transported without O2 and reviewed the charts of those patients to determine whether this practice was consistent with the therapy as it had been ordered. After our initial investigation showed a high rate of transport without prescribed O2, we sent memoranda to all nursing units describing proper procedures for transport of patients for whom O2 had been ordered. We then repeated the audit. Because the second audit showed the need, we conducted education sessions with all nursing personnel on the affected units and posted guidelines for O2 use during transport. A third audit was then conducted. In addition, we performed a telephone survey of respiratory care department managers to learn the patient-transport practices in all hospitals in our state with more than 200 beds, using a structured questionnaire.

RESULTS
During the initial 125 patient-days of O2 therapy, O2 accompanied patients on only 30 of 55 transports (55%). After distribution of memoranda, O2 use increased to 28 of 35 transports (80%) during 82 patient-days. The second educational effort resulted in O2 use with all 35 transports (100%) performed during 99 patient-days. Survey results from 24 hospitals with 225-680 beds showed that 11 (46%) had separate transport services and that decisions on O2 use during patient transport were generally made by nursing staff. Although respiratory care departments supplied the O2 equipment, their personnel were involved in non-ICU transports in only 5/24 hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients receiving O2 therapy on acute-care wards are often transported to other areas of the hospital without O2. This potentially dangerous practice can be corrected by respiratory care practitioners through educational efforts targeted toward those responsible for administering O2 therapy in non-ICU hospital areas.


Background Unhygienic and ineffective menstrual hygiene management has been documented across low resource contexts and linked to negative consequences for women and girls. Objectives To summarise and critically appraise evidence for the effectiveness of menstruation management interventions in improving women and girls' education, work and psychosocial wellbeing in low and middle income countries. Methods Structured systematic searches were conducted in peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify studies evaluating education and resource provision interventions for menstruation management. Individual and cluster randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion, as were non-randomised controlled trials. Study characteristics, outcomes and risk of bias were extracted using a piloted form. Risk of bias was independently assessed by two researchers. Results Eight studies described in ten citations were eligible for inclusion. Studies were highly heterogeneous in design and context. Six included assessment of education-only interventions, and three provided assessment of the provision of different types of sanitary products (menstrual cups, disposable sanitary pads, and reusable sanitary pads). A moderate but non-significant standardised mean difference was found for the two studies assessing the impact of sanitary pad provision on school attendance: 0.49 (95%CI -0.13, 1.11). Included studies were heterogeneous with considerable risk of bias. Trials of education interventions reported positive impacts on menstrual knowledge and practices, however, many studies failed to assess other relevant outcomes. No trials assessed or reported harms. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence to establish the effectiveness of menstruation management interventions, although current results are promising. Eight trials have been conducted, but a high risk of bias was found and clinical heterogeneity precluded synthesis of most results. Whilst trials provided some indication of positive results, further research is needed to establish the role of menstruation hygiene management in education performance, employment and other psychosocial outcomes. This review provides a concise summary of present trials and highlights improvements for future work.


Pancreas transplant alone (PTA) is usually performed in type 1 diabetic patients with preserved renal function to correct severe metabolic complications. One of the major concerns is renal failure after PTA. Here, we reported the cumulative incidence of kidney failure requiring kidney transplantation (KF/KT) among PTA recipients in the United States. Using the Organ Procurement Transplant Network/ United Network for Organ Sharing database, all primary adult PTA recipients with estimated baseline glomerular filtration rate (by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation) >or=60 mL/min/1.73m2 were selected (n=1085). KF/ KT after PTA was defined as: wait-listing for or receiving a kidney alone (KA) or simultaneous pancreas kidney (SPK) transplant. The median follow-up time was 1185 days (25-75%: 524-2183). Ten years post PTA, 120 (11.1%) patients developed KF/KT; of those, 70 (6.5%) subsequently received a KA/SPK transplant (56 received KA and 14 received SPK) and 50 (4.6%) recipients were listed without receiving a transplant. The cumulative incidence of KF/KT after PTA at 1, 3, and 5 years after PTA was 0.3, 2.5, and 9.7%, respectively. In conclusion, KF/KT after PTA was not uncommon (9.7% at 5 years), and prospective PTA recipients should be aware of the risks of kidney failure after transplantation.


Desirability functions have been one of the most important multiresponse
optimization technique since the early eighties. Main reasons for
this popularity might be counted as the convenience of the implementation
of the method and it's availability in many experimental
design software packages. Technique itself involves somehow subjective
parameters such as the importance coefficients between response
characteristics that are used to calculate overall desirability,
weights used in determining the shape of each individual response
and the size of the specification band of the response. However,
the impact of these sensitive parameters on the solution set is
mostly uninvestigated. This paper proposes a procedure to analyze
the sensitivity of the important characteristic parameters of desirability
functions and their impact on pareto-optimal solution set. The
proposed procedure uses the experimental design tools on the solution
space and estimates a prediction equation on the overall desirability
to identify the sensitive parameters. For illustration, a classical
desirability example is selected from the literature and results are
given along with the discussion.


AGIPD is a hybrid pixel detector developed by DESY, PSI, the University of Bonn and the University of Hamburg. The detector is targeted for use at the European XFEL, a source with unique properties: a bunch train of 2700 pulses with> 1012 photons of 12 keV each, only 100 fs long and with a 220 ns spacing, is repeated at a 10 Hz rate. This puts up very demanding requirements: dynamic range has to cover the detection of single photons and extend up to > 104 photons/pixel in the same image, and as many images, as possible have to be recorded in the pixel to be read out between pulse trains. The high photon flux impinging on the detector also calls for a very radiation hard design of sensor and ASIC. The detector will consist of 16 Sensor modules arranged around a central hole for the direct beam. Each made of a single sensor bumpbonded to 2 × 8 readout chips of 64 × 64 pixels in a grid of 200μ pitch. Each pixel of these ASICs contains a charge sensitive preamplifier featuring adaptive gain switching, changing sensitivity in three ranges, and a buffer to provide correlated double sampling (in the highest sensitivity mode). Most of the pixel area, albeit, is used for an analogue memory to record 352 frames. It is operated in random-access mode: data containing bad frames can be overwritten and the memory can be used in the most efficient way. The readout between two bunch trains is arranged via 4 ports: Data from pixels of one row is read in parallel and serialised by 4 multiplexers at the end of the pixel columns and driven off-chip as differential signals. The operation of the ASIC is controlled via a three-line serial interface, using a command based protocol. It is also used to configure the chip's operational parameters and internal timings.


Self-government has become a major policy objective for First Nations in Canada. The common law of aboriginal title, the law relating to treaty rights and treaty interpretation, the distribution of legislative authority over indigenous peoples, and emergent jurisprudence under s. 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, currently resist native aspirations for greater control over their individual and collective destinies by imposing Anglo-Canadian categories of legal understanding onto indigenous reality. The imposition of Anglo-Canadian norms is effected in law by a rhetoric of justification that simultaneously views indigenous people as similar to and different than non-indigenous people, and establishes and maintains legal relationships of dependence and hierarchy between First Nations and the Canadian state. Each area of the law, however, contains moments of transformative possibility that could assist in the realization of First Nations self-government. The author argues for specific reconceptualizations of Anglo-Canadian conceptions of property, contract, sovereignty, and constitutional right to permit the construction of legal spaces in which First Nations self-government can take root and flourish and to enable indigenous peoples to participate in the formation of laws that shape and govern their lives.


Key minerals may soon be in short supply as shallow mineral deposits are mined-out; therefore exploration for economically feasible deep-seated deposits to sustain a long-term global growth is a great challenge. New deposits are likely to be found using reflection seismic surveys in combination with drilling, field geological mapping and other geophysical methods. Seismic methods have already have contributed significantly to the discovery of some of the world's major mineral deposits (Milkereit et al., 1996; Pretorius et al., 2000; Trickett et al., 2004; Malehmir and Bellefleur, 2009; Malehmir et al., 2012). However, use of the method is not widespread because it is deemed to be expensive. Although improvements in computing capabilities have led to cost reductions, the costs are still beyond exploration budgets of many companies. Thus, mining companies have had little financial ability to acquire new reflection seismic data, and very little governmental support has been available to acquire research seismic surveys for mineral exploration.
Over the last few years, there has been a proliferation of seismic solutions that employ various combinations of equip-ment, acquisition, and processing techniques, which can be applied in hard rock situations to improve the imaging resolution (Denis et al., 2013). The best acquisition solutions to date have come from the deployment of high-density receiver and source arrays which the extension of the seismic bandwidth to six octaves using broadband sources (Duval, 2012). Another area of seismic research has focused on surface seismic acquisition using three-component (3C) microelectro-mechanical (MEMS-based) seismic landstreamers (Brodic et al., 2015), coupled with wireless seismic recorders, and surface-tunnel-seismic surveys (Brodic et al., 2017). However, numerous difficulties have been encountered, even with these innovative acquisition seismic approaches. Seismic surveys acquired in the mining regions suffer from noise produced by the drilling, blasting and transport of rock and the crushing of ore. Furthermore, in some mining regions the acquisition of new data is not permitted due to new environmental regulations.
In such a fast evolving seismic technological era, legacy reflection seismic data are often regarded by mining companies and geoscientists as inferior compared with the newly acquired data. This paper demonstrates that if the legacy data are properly retrieved, reprocessed, and interpreted using today's standard techniques, they can be of significant value, particularly in the mining regions where no other data are available or the acqui-sition of new data is difficult and expensive. The development of multitudes of processing algorithms and seismic attributes, in particular, make it worthwhile to reprocess and interpret legacy data to enhance the detection of steeply dipping structures and geological features below the conventional seismic resolution limits (i.e., a quarter of the dominant wavelength), which was not possible with the tools that were available when the data were originally acquired and processed. The new information obtained from the legacy data may benefit future mine planning operations by discovering new ore deposits, providing a better estimation of the resources and information that will help to site and sink future shafts. Thus, any future mineral exploration project could also take the geological information obtained from the reprocessed and interpreted legacy seismic data into account when planning new advanced seismic surveys (Manzi et al., 2018). The latest seismic algorithms are particularly interesting to South Africa's deep mining industry because South Africa has the world's largest hard rock seismic database, which could benefit from new processing techniques and attributes analyses. These techniques could be applied to legacy seismic data to identify areas of interest, improve structural resolution and to locate deeper ore deposits. Seismic attributes, in particular, could be used to identify any subtle geological structures crosscutting these deposits ahead of the mining face that could affect mine planning and safety.


We hypothesised that combining an early warning score (EWS) based exclusively on laboratory tests (LDTEWS) with the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) would improve the discrimination of hospital mortality compared with each system individually. We used a combined electronic database of haematology, biochemistry and vital signs measurements collected routinely soon after admission for 88695 adult admissions for whom the admission specialty was Medicine. The data were divided into 23 sets (Q1-Q23), each corresponding to three months. LDTEWS was generated using decision tree analysis of haematology and biochemistry results for episodes from set Q1. LDTEWS (to haematology and biochemistry results) and NEWS (to vital signs measurements) were then applied in 22 discrete data sets each of three months long (Q2, Q3......Q23) (range of n = 3580 to 4186). A combined EWS was determined for each episode by summing, for each episode, the EWS values for NEWS and LDTEWS. The abilities of NEWS, LDTEWS and the combined EWS to discriminate in-hospital death were assessed using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve values (95% CI), with in-hospital death as the outcome for the validation sets Q2-Q23: • for LDTEWS, ranged from 0.743 (0.718 to 0.768) (Q10) to 0.799 (0.773 to 0.825) (Q9) • for NEWS, ranged from 0.704 (0.675 to 0.733) (Q7) to 0.759 (0.732 to 0.786) (Q8) • for the combined EWS, ranged from 0.799 (0.776 to 0.822) (Q10) to 0.836 (0.813 to 0.861) (Q21). This study provides evidence that a combined EWS using commonly measured laboratory tests and vital signs better discriminates in-hospital mortality than using either an EWS based on laboratory data or vital signs alone. We hypothesise that, with appropriate modification, the combined EWS could be used for identification of patients at high risk of death in the short term (for example, 24 hour mortality).


Democratization in every aspect of life as well as the impact of the demands of the process of political change is considered positive or negative impact for changes in society, especially for developing countries, which are in transition to developed countries to be desired, which characterized the openness of society. A country that is also expected to provide assurance and compliance for penyejahteraan society (welfare state). This article intends to describe theoretically the political concept of plurality in the context of Indonesian society follows the role of the media in achieving democratization and strengthening civil society. Keywords: political plurality, the democratization of the media, civil society


The present study reveals the first documented distribution record of Desmodema polystictum (Ogilby, 1898) from the Andaman coast, eastern Indian Ocean. The species is rare in nature and the knowledge regarding the taxonomy, ecology and distribution is still limited. Only few records have been come from the Indian Ocean. The study is based on a single specimen (34 cm total length) collected from the northeastern region of Andaman Islands, India. The present record of D. polystictum from Andaman waters provides greater latitude and depth distribution than previously acknowledged from the Indian Exclusive Economic zone. Along with the comparative morphometric and meristic data from previous reports, description of present specimen as well as distributional information are also provided and discussed.


IBD is characterised by an inappropriate immune response to our own gut microbiota in the setting of a genetically susceptible individual. The consequence of this dysregulated process is activation of the innate immune system which in turn produces cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and activation of the adaptive immune system with subsequent recruitment of pro-inflammatory T and B cells to the colon or small bowel. This in turn leads to further amplification of pro-inflammatory cytokines release which bind to cognate receptors and activation of intercellular pathway such as JAK and STAT to mediate tissue inflammation. The mainstay of treatment for individuals with moderate to severe disease UC or Crohn's disease has been therapeutic targeting of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNFα. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of individuals will be refractory to these medications or eventually lose efficacy. This has widened the search for other pathways that might be targeted to treat IBD. The most advanced of these treatments are the integrin inhibitors that target trafficking of lymphocytes to the gut.1

The maintenance of gut immunity is critically dependent on regional immune responses that are generated in the gut-associated lymphoid tissues. Dendritic cells (DCs) are positioned within the lamina propria in close relation to the enterocytes to continuously monitor the micro environment for potential antigens. Once an antigen is detected, gut DCs migrate to the mesenteric lymph nodes and the Peyer's patches. Within these secondary lymphoid tissues, DCs imprint on naive T and B cells' knowledge of the antigen to generate an appropriate immune response. DC–lymphocyte priming conveys recognition of the antigen and the shape of the immune response required such as a …


The breaking-limited (or depth-limited) approach is a traditional method to determine the maximum possible wave height for the design of coastal structures in the surf zone. It is well recognized that the maximum wave height in the surf zone is limited by wave breaking. The maximum possible wave height is usually determined from a breaker height formula. The present study was undertaken to examine the applicability of 14 existing breaker height formulas for computing the maximum possible wave heights. The existing breaker height formulas were examined against measured regular and irregular wave heights. A total of 17 863 data points from 30 sources of published experimental data were used to examine the formulas. The experiments cover a wide range of wave and bottom topography conditions including small-scale, large-scale, and field experiments. It was found that the errors of existing formulas for regular and irregular waves have the same tendency. The existing formulas give considerable underestimation of the maximum possible wave heights in shallow water. The top three formulas were modified by including a new form of relative depth into each formula. Overall, the modified formulas give a considerable better estimation than those of existing formulas.