Background : Leukotriene (LT) , , and , the main components of slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis (SRS-A), have been suggested to play an important role in bronchial asthma such as antigen-induced bronchoconstriction, airway hyperreactivity, and pulmonary eosinophil accumulation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of treatment with the cysteinyl-LTs (cys-LTs) antagonist, pranlukast on allergen-induced guinea pig asthma model. Methods : Guinea pigs of treatment and placebo groups were sensitized by subcutaneous injection of ovalbumin(OVA) and challenged by inhalation of aerosolized OVA (1% weight/volume OVA). Normal control group did not sensitize with OVA. Oral ingestion of pranlukast and normal saline to the treatment and placebo groups was performed. In the treatment and placebo groups, airway resistance was measured before and after oral ingestion. Serum and eosinophilic infiltration of the bronchiolar and peribronchiolar tissues were measured after ingestion in the treatment and placebo groups. Results : Allergen-induced airway constriction developed in 20 (8 in treatment group, 12 in placebo group) among 35 guinea pigs. Airway resistance was significantly decreased at 3 and 6 minutes after OVA challenge in the pranlukast treatment group. In the placebo group, there was no difference of airway resistance between before and after saline ingestion. Serum levels showed 348.4 pg/ml in the treatment group, 373.9 pg/ml in the placebo group, and 364.4 pg/ml in the control group. There were no statistically significant difference between treatment and placebo group (p=0.232), and treatment and control group (p=0.501). Eosinophilic infiltrations in the peribronchiolar region per one-microscopic field (400 high power fields) demonstrated 7.06 in the treatment group, 19.2 in the placebo group, and 4.50 in the control group. There was significant decrement of eosinophilic infiltration in the treatment group which was compared with placebo group (p=0.001). Conclusion : These results demonstrate that pranlukast, a cys-LTs receptor antagonist, can attenuate allergen induced early-phase bronchoconstriction and eosinophilic infiltration in the bronchiolar tissues.


Myelin basic protein (MBP) was demonstrated in the CSF of 15 out of 41 patients with assumed or ascertained neurosyphilis using a radio-immunoassay. In parenchymatous syphilis (progressive paralysis, tabes dorsalis) more than 50% of patients had MBP-positive CSF independent of immunological findings and previous treatment. CSF of patients with meningovascular neurosyphilis was mostly negative, only in 2 cases with acute symptoms was MBP demonstrable. In one of these patients MBP was no longer demonstrable in the CSF 6 months after treatment. The frequent occurrence of MBP in CSF in parenchymatous neurosyphilis can be taken as evidence of persistence of demyelinising activity even in cases where immunological finding point to "syphilis satis curata" (sufficiently treated syphilis).


Paul Gunther (1966), proved the following result: Given a continuous function f on a compact surface M of constant curvature -1 and its periodic lift g to the universal covering, the hyperbolic plane, then the averages of the lift g over increasing spheres converge to the average of the function f over the surface M.

Heinz Huber (1956) considered the following problem on the hyperbolic plane H: Consider a strictly hyperbolic subgroup of automorphisms on H with compact quotient, and choose a conjugacy class in this group. Count the number of vertices inside an increasing ball, which are images of a fixed point x in H under automorphisms in the chosen conjugacy class, and describe the asymptotic behaviour of this number as the size of the ball goes to infinity.

In this thesis, we use a well-known analogy between the hyperbolic plane and the regular tree to solve the above problems, and some related ones, on a tree. We deal mainly with regular trees, however some results incorporate more general graphs.


Theoretical calculations at the HF and DFT levels of theory were performed on the H-A-X (A = group two atoms, X = F, Cl, Br) molecules. The vibrational wavenumbers, bond lengths, infrared intensities and Raman activities are reported. The study predicts that H-Be-X and H-Mg-X are stable while H-Ca-X is unstable.


The increasing adoption of location-based services and smart devices have propelled optimistic forecasts for location-based advertising as a unique and effective tool to improve consumers' attitude and purchase intention towards goods and services. While so, concerns regarding over the use of personalisation in a LBA context is prevalent. Given so, this study examines the influence of personalisation tactics on attitudes and purchase intention towards a focal product, with brand familiarity as a moderating factor, in the context of location-based advertising. It is hypothesized that high personalisation improves attitude towards a focal product and secondly, that high brand familiarity aids the resulting outcome of personalisation. Finally, it is hypothesized that attitude is positively related to purchase intention. As a central part of the study, an experiment involving 100 participants was conducted. The experiment's stimuli involved the presence and absence of personalisation and brand familiarity respectively, forming a total of four equal participant groups. It was found that personalisation positively affects the effects of location-based advertising; while brand familiarity indeed moderates the effects of personalisation on attitudes. Specifically, high brand familiarity allows for heightened effects of personalisation on attitudes, while in low brand familiarity situations, the effects of personalisation in a location-based ad is negligible. Since so, brand familiarity is an evidenced boundary condition for the effective application of location-based advertising. The study supports past research in establishing that brand familiarity lowers perceived risks and increases trust for location-based advertising, and that personalisation allows for more effective marketing messages. From a practical perspective, marketers of well-known brands should look to personalisation in location-based marketing opportunities to exploit their inherent brand value. On the other hand, less-known brands should look to improve their brand familiarity before applying personalisation in locationbased ads.


The central theme of this paper was to establish the moderating influence of government policy compliance on the relationship between project critical success factors and completion of construction project in public secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. Guided by theory of construction management and soft value management theory, the study used a mixed method approach which embraced both qualitative and quantitative approaches including hypothesis testing. The study target population of 610 consisted of principals, PTA Chairpersons and Quality Assurance Officer's from which the sample size of 461 was drawn. The study used a questionnaire and an interview schedule as the main instruments of data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and data presented in frequency tables while qualitative data was presented in narrative form. Hypothesis was tested using linear regression at 0.05 level of significance to determine the degree and direction of relationships among variables. The study attained Cronbach Alpha of coefficient of 0.839 for all the questions on Government policy compliance implying that the instrument was reliable. The results showed government policy compliance had a statistically significant moderating influence on the relationship between critical success factors and completion of construction projects in public secondary schools in Bungoma County (procurement r=0.393, p<0.05 and usage and audit of school project r=0.623, p<0.05. The study therefore concluded that Government policy compliance has a statistically significant moderating influence on the relationship between project critical success factors and completion of construction projects in Bungoma County, Kenya. This findings form basis for future reference in the field of project planning and management by researchers and any other interested parties.


Problem statement: The purpose of this study was to assess the severity of asthma and associated risk factors among asthmatic primary school children in the selected urban, industrial and rural areas of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Approach: A total of 207 respondents were involved in this study, in which 87 were children from the urban areas, 67 children were from the industrial areas and another 53 children were from rural areas. The selection of respondents was based on purposive sampling method, where only asthmatic children who had been diagnosed by physicians were involved. Health records of the children were obtained from the school administration office. Respondents were children from Standard 2 to Standard 5, with informed consent from their parents. A modified ISAAC Questionnaire translated into the Malay language was administered to the children and then completed by the parents. Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) readings were measured using a peak flow meter Mini Weight Model AFS CE 0120 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before and after the school hour. Continuous ambient air pollutants (PM10, CO, SO2 and NO2) levels were obtained from the Department of Environment. Results: Results showed significant influence of PEF reading before and days in the week, on the PEF reading after school among respondents. The severity of asthma among respondents was classified according to the PEF variability, day and night symptoms as well as the respiratory scores. Most of the children had mild and moderate asthma. Statistics showed that PM10 and allergy to pollen significantly influenced the asthma severity among respondents. Conclusion: The air pollutants in term of PM10 which may contain pollen were higher in the urban and industrial areas. This study provided a confirmatory evidence that the asthmatic children who live in urban and industrial areas have greater risk of developing severe asthma.


Practicing physicians, medical students, technologists, and other members of the allied health service professions will welcome this important contribution to the literature of medical laboratory diagnosis. Through five previous editions of this book, Goodale has justified his original objective, to create a concise and practical reference work which assembles the truly useful elements from a broad and complex field of medical science. Widmann has revised extensively and updated the present volume, while retaining the basic plan and objectives which have distinguished earlier editions. In this era of sophisticated technology and molecular biology, it is a great consolation to find an occasional book, like this one, which addresses itself to the common and everyday problems of medical practice. It is reassuring to see a work wherein the practical aspects of a vast technical literature are made accessible to a broad readership, while it remains sufficiently current and authoritative to support the


Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated with various nanostructured TiO2 morphologies, including interconnected beads-like (IBL), square platelets-like (SPL), spindle shape-like (SSL), and porous spheres-like (PSL), synthesized in different solvents (ethanol, mixture of ethanol + H2O and HF), and size and shape-tuned Ni-NCs of mixed triangular and hexagonal morphological crystals with sizes ranging from 15 to 62 nm in ethylene glycol (polyol) medium. These different TiO2 and Ni-NCs were constructed via a rapid, facile microwave-assisted solvothermal (MW-ST) route. The application potential of these TiO2 NCs as photoanodes unveiled excellent morphology-dependent PCEs (5.3% to 9.33%) using a conventional electrolyte and N719 dye as a photosensitizer. Subsequently, after impregnating Ni-NCs in the I−/I3− electrolyte, the nanoparticles on the surface of each TiO2 morphology acted as excellent scattering centers to provide a potential interface between TiO2 and Ni-NCs and enhance both light absorption and scattering, leading to improvements in the PCEs to 5.8%, 8.37%, 9.19% and 10.02% for the PSL, SSL, SPL and IBL-based photoanodes, respectively. This enhanced PCE was accomplished by systematic optimization of factors such as the surface morphology of the TiO2 photoanode and the size and concentration of the Ni-NCs in the electrolyte to attain the best advantages of scattering-induced effective light utilization and size-mismatching effects at the photoanode and Ni-NCs integrated electrolyte interface. The incorporated Ni-NCs effectively trap incident light and successively improve the rate of electron–hole pair formation and short circuit current (Jsc); they also exhibit excellent stability in the conventional I−/I3− electrolyte over a period of 30 days.


We have investigated mechanisms that regulate the generation of IL-8 by human neutrophils on contact with zymosan particles in vitro. Zymosan stimulated IL-8 production, which increased with increasing particle numbers and was abolished by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. IL-8 was detectable in culture supernatant at 8 h reaching a maximum at 24 h. In all further experiments IL-8 was measured at 24 h. mAbs to neutrophil CD18 (60.3 and 6.5E) caused a marked suppression of IL-8 generation, but only if added up to 2 h after zymosan stimulation. An anti-CD11b mAb (KIM 225) substantially inhibited zymosan-induced IL-8 release. We investigated whether other mediators generated during phagocytosis modulate IL-8 production. Two selective platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor antagonists, WEB 2086 and UK 74505, produced a profound suppression of IL-8 generation, when added within 30 min to 1 h of zymosan stimulation. An IL-1R antagonist, a leukotriene B4 antagonist, and an anti-TNF-alpha Ab had no effect on IL-8 generation. FMLP, PAF, and a stable PAF agonist did not stimulate significant IL-8 production, however, a calcium ionophore (A23187) did induce IL-8 release and this was suppressed by UK 74505. We conclude that zymosan-induced IL-8 generation involves stimulation of the neutrophil via a CD11b/CD18 receptor resulting in beta 2-integrin mediated activation of signal transduction mechanisms that leads to cytokine synthesis. Furthermore, endogenously generated PAF, or a PAF, or a PAF-like molecule, appears to have an autocrine function in regulating this pathway of IL-8 production at an early stage after the interaction between the neutrophil and the particles.


This study aimed to assess whether sex moderates the association of fundamental movement skills and health and behavioral outcomes. In 170 children (10.6 ±0.3 years; 98 girls), path analysis was used to assess the associations of fundamental movement skills (Get Skilled, Get Active) with perceived sports competence (Children and Youth—Physical Self-Perception Profile), time spent in vigorous-intensity physical activity, sedentary time, and body mass index z score. For boys, object control skill competence had a direct association with perceived sports competence (β = 0.39; 95% confidence interval, CI [0.21, 0.57]) and an indirect association with sedentary time, through perceived sports competence (β = −0.19; 95% CI [−0.09, −0.32]). No significant association was observed between fundamental movement skills and perceived sports competence for girls, although locomotor skills were found to predict vigorous-intensity physical activity (β = 0.18; 95% CI [0.08, 0.27]). Perceived sports competence was associated with sedentary time, with this being stronger for boys (β = −0.48; 95% CI [−0.64, −0.31]) than girls (β = −0.29; 95% CI [−0.39, −0.19]). The study supports a holistic approach to health-related interventions and highlights a key association of perceived sports competence and the time children spend sedentary.


Two hundred patients with carcinoma of lungs, 56 patients with chronic pneumonia and 142 donors were investigated to reveal the presence of 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid antigen in their blood serum. The antigen was found to equal 91,5%, 25% and 1,4% respectively. The pronounced tendency to decrease the response to 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid antigen and to increase the titres of isohemagglutinins was observed in radically operated patients. The opposite tendency was found to develop in incurable patients.


The largest living carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), is the sole survivor of a lineage originating about 12 Ma. We set out to investigate the spectrum of transposable elements found in the Tasmanian devil genome, the first high-coverage genome of an Australian marsupial. Marsupial genomes have been shown to have the highest amount of transposable elements among vertebrates. We analyzed the horizontally transmitted DNA transposons OC1 and hAT-1_MEu in the Tasmanian devil genome. OC1 is present in all carnivorous marsupials, while having a very limited distribution among the remaining Australian marsupial orders. In contrast, hAT-1_MEu is present in all Australian marsupial orders, and has so far only been identified in a few placental mammals. We screened 158 introns for phylogenetically informative retrotransposons in the order Dasyuromorphia, and found that the youngest SINE (Short INterspersed Element), WSINE1, is no longer active in the subfamily Dasyuridae. The lack of detectable WSINE1 activity in this group may be due to a retrotransposon inactivation event approximately 30 Ma. We found that the Tasmanian devil genome contains a relatively low number of continuous full-length LINE-1 (Long INterspersed Element 1, L1) retrotransposons compared with the opossum genome. Furthermore, all L1 elements in the Tasmanian devil appeared to be nonfunctional. Hidden Markov Model approaches suggested that other potential sources of functional reverse transcriptase are absent from the genome. We discuss the issues associated with assembling long, highly similar L1 copies from short read Illumina data and describe how assembly artifacts can potentially lead to erroneous conclusions.


Jean Baudrillard was one of the foremost intellectual figures of the late twentieth century and his work is currently reaching a new prominence in the English-speaking world. Known as the "high priest of postmodernity", Baudrillard never directly addressed theological concerns. However, his provocative analysis of the changing nature of reality, subjectivity and agency is of increasing importance to contemporary theology. Furthermore, his mode of cultural analysis (which he himself describes as "mystical") provides fruitful possibilities for theological reasoning in the post-idealist world he describes.
James Walters provides the context of Baudrillard's writing and identifies key influences. He then sets out his core ideas, drawing in theological responses and relating them to theological concerns. Finally, he highlights some areas of his work of particular theological interest.


Six novel derivatives of pyridine-alkoxide ligated Cp*IrIII complexes, potent precursors for homogeneous water and C–H oxidation catalysts, have been synthesized, characterized, and analyzed spectroscopically and kinetically for ligand effects. Variation of alkoxide and pyridine substituents was found to affect their solution speciation, activation behavior, and oxidation kinetics. Application of these precursors to catalytic C–H oxidation of ethyl benzenesulfonate with aqueous sodium periodate showed that the ligand substitution pattern, solution pH, and solvent all have pronounced influences on initial rates and final conversion values. Correlation with O2 evolution profiles during C–H oxidation catalysis showed these competing reactions to occur sequentially, and demonstrates how it is possible to tune the activity and selectivity of the active species through the N^O ligand structure.


A 16‐year‐old Caucasian male was diagnosed with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) 5 years following the diagnosis of nonmetastatic osteosarcoma of the left proximal humerus. The patient was initially treated with standard chemotherapy and limb salvage resection for osteosarcoma. Nine months after the completion of therapy, he developed lung metastases for which he underwent surgical resection and received additional chemotherapy. Almost 5 years after the osteosarcoma diagnosis, the patient was diagnosed with a supratentorial PNET, which represents the first known case reported in a patient with osteosarcoma. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;53:496–498. Published 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


SUMMARY Materials and construction methods were investigated to improve artificial nests suitable for Osmia rufa that were simple to use and durable for several seasons. In 1999 we tested common reed (Phragmites) stalks, plastic drinking straws, plastic thermoshrink electro-insulating tubing, packing paper and grooved wooden laminates (which were assembled to form blocks with cylindrical chambers inside); these nesting tubes were all 6 mm in diameter and 22 cm long. In 2000 we tested reed, wood, cork and wooden tubes lined with plastic sheet used for inkjet printers; all tubes were 7 mm in diameter and 18 cm long. We measured the percentage of each type of material actively provisioned by female O. rufa, the number of the brood cells and cocoons in the tubes, and the number of adults that emerged. All nest tubes made of reed and those made of printer sheeting inserted into openings in wooden blocks were occupied by O. rufa. The greatest mean number of brood cells was found in nests made of wood (8.3 in 1999 and 12.2 in 2000). The number of cocoons also was highest in wooden nests (5.8 in 1999 and 9.4 in 2000). Reed stalks (4.3 cocoons per nest in 1999 and 5.2 in 2000) and cork (4.7) had the second greatest numbers of cocoons per nest. The number of cocoons was low in paper and in all types of plastic tubes. The production of adult bees per occupied nest was greatest in wooden nests (5.3 in 1999 and 8.8 in 2000). Overall the average production of bees per nest tube offered was greatest in either wood or reed stems. Managing O. rufa was easiest in the disassembled nests made of wood. The design of these nests permitted easy removal of the cocoons and nest reuse for several breeding seasons.


: Analysis of data on utrastructure of granulocytes of freshwater and marine bony fish of orders Salmoniformes, Cypriniformes, and Perciformes showed that in all studied species there were revealed two types of granulocytes - neutrophils and eosinophils. The exception was the bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix L. whose pronephros hemopoietic tissue was found to contain one type of the granulocytic line - neutrophils. The identification parameters of granular leukocytes are specific granules filling the cytoplasm. The main form of specific granules in neutrophils of bony fish of various phylogenetic groups is an elongated granule with different distribution of fibrils or a granule that has crystalloid formed from fibrils. The main form of eosinophil granules - large, electron-dense, homogenous.


The U.S. corporate governance system has recently been heavily criticized, largely as a result of failures at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and some other prominent companies. Those failures and criticisms, in turn, have served as catalysts for legislative change (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) and regulatory change (new corporate governance listing standards from the NYSE and NASDAQ). In this paper, we consider two questions. First, is it clear that the U.S. system has performed that poorly; is it really that bad? Second, will the changes lead to an improved U.S. corporate governance system? We first note that the broad evidence is not consistent with a failed U.S. system. The U.S. economy and stock market have performed well both on an absolute basis and relative to other countries over the past two decades. And the U.S. stock market continued to outperform other broad indices after the scandals broke. Our interpretation of the evidence is that while parts of the U.S. corporate governance system failed under the exceptional strain of the 1990s, the overall system, which includes oversight by the public and the government, reacted quickly to address the problems. We then consider the effects that the legislative, regulatory, and market responses are likely to have in the near future. Our assessment is that they are likely to make a good system better, though there is a danger of overreacting to extreme events.


Infertility problem in today world has become a social anxiety and many couples experience infertility problem in some way in their fertility ages. This can cause psychological shock to couples and affect marital life, interpersonal and social relation. For this reason this research which is descriptive study has been designed to investigate the tense factors and coping strategies of infertile women who were admitted to Alzahra Educational and Treatment Center of Tabriz in 1998. The purpose of this research is to investigate physical, psychological and social tense factors and coping strategies concerning affective on infertile woman. In this research 150 infertile women have been chosen on basis of convenient sampling. Data were collected by regular interview using a questionnaire including 3 main parts. The first part was related to sociopersonal characteristic, used diagnosis and treatment ways and cause of infertility, the second part was about physical and psychosocial tense factors and the third part was about determination of coping strategies of infertile women. For evaluation of findings of the research, chi-square test statistics was used. The results of this study showed that fatigue of frequent come and go to clinic was the most physical tense factor (67/3%) with high level. Main psychosocial tense factor was wordiness about achievement of treatment with high and very high level (87/3%). Among coping strategies praying was the always-used coping strategy (79/3%) of participant. Amongst coping strategies 79.3% of participant in research used always praying. Most common coping strategy focusing affective was praying with 79.3% of replying always and accepting the situation with 74% of always reply, was the most used coping strategy focusing on used solution.


The phenomenon of expressing cultural identity in architecture is apparent in many parts of the world: this paper examines it in the context of Kuwait. It focuses on architects, and the strategies they use in expressing cultural identity. The aim is to understand their views and current efforts in this context. In Kuwait, architecture has passed through dramatic transformations during the second half of the twentieth century that were the result of economic, regional and global changes. A survey of the views of eighteen Kuwaiti architects was conducted using focused interviews and a standardised questionnaire. Examples of their projects were analysed to illustrate their views and ways of thinking. The study concluded that there were several strategies employed by Kuwaiti architects to express a Kuwaiti cultural identity in their work. A three- dimensional matrix was developed to illustrate the relationship between the ranges of these strategies and architecture in Kuwait. It is hoped that this matrix will be useful for practitioners and critics of contemporary architecture in Kuwait interested in understanding current trends in achieving a cultural identity in architecture.


Acid maltase or acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) is a lysosomal enzyme that hydrolyzes glycogen to glucose and is deficient in glycogen storage disease type II. Previously, we isolated a partial cDNA (1.9 kb) for human GAA; we have now used this cDNA to isolate and determine sequence in longer cDNAs from four additional independent cDNA libraries. Primer extension studies indicated that the mRNA extended approximately 200 bp 5' of the cDNA sequence obtained. Therefore, we isolated a genomic fragment containing 5' cDNA sequences that overlapped the previous cDNA sequence and extended an additional 24 bp to an initiation codon within a Kozak consensus sequence. The sequence of the genomic clone revealed an intron-exon junction 32 bp 5' to the ATG, indicating that the 5' leader sequence was interrupted by an intron. The remaining 186 bp of 5' untranslated sequence was identified approximately 3 kb upstream. The promoter region upstream from the start site of transcription was GC rich and contained areas of homology to Sp1 binding sites but no identifiable CAAT or TATA box. The combined data gave a nucleotide sequence of 2,856 bp for the coding region from the ATG to a stop codon, predicting a protein of 952 amino acids. The 3' untranslated region contained 555 bp with a polyadenylation signal at 3,385 bp followed by 16 bp prior to a poly(A) tail. This sequence of the GAA coding region differs from that reported by Hoefsloot et al. (1988) in three areas that change a total of 42 amino acids. Direct determination of the amino acid sequence in one of these areas confirmed the nucleotide sequence reported here but also disagreed with the directly determined amino acid sequence reported by Hoefsloot et al. (1988). At two other areas, changes in base pairs predicted new restriction sites that were identified in cDNAs from several independent libraries. The amino acid changes in all three ares increased the homology to rabbit-human isomaltase. Therefore, we believe that our nucleotide sequence for GAA is more precise. We have also identified single base-pair polymorphisms at 18 sites for human GAA, some of which are not silent.


Using radioactive microspheres, mucosal and muscular capillary blood flow have been measured in the rumen, reticulum, and omasum of conscious sheep. Total forestomach capillary blood flow (7.7 ml min(-1) kg body wt(-1)) was about 7% of cardiac output; 95% of the flow was in the mucosa and only 5% in muscle layers. Blood flow in the rumen was 6 times higher than in the reticulum and 4.4 times higher than in the omasum. Mucosal capillary flow per unit area of mucosal epithelium in the omassum (disregarding the increment in area due to papillae) was only one-third of that in the ventral rumen (long papillae); flow in the dorsal rumen (short papillae) was about half the flow in the ventral rumen. Mucosal flow seems to provide a convenient, indirect estimate of the increase in mucosal surface due to papillae and, thereby, of the functional forestomach surface area. Heat stimuli resulted in decreased capillary blood flow--primarily in mucosa during exposure to a warm environment and, also, in muscle during hypothalamic or spinal cord heating.


ABSTRACT Next-generation sequencing has revolutionised molecular ecology. Its key advantages are a more accurate representation of genetic variation made possible by the generation of large volumes of data, more quickly and at a lower price per sequence than traditional sequencing methods. Yet these benefits come with a cost. For example, next-generation sequencing is error prone and requires increased quality control compared with traditional methods. Problems associated with next-generation sequencing may be exacerbated when sequencing gene complexes such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Although not eliminated, significant progress has been made in addressing some of those problems and there is an increasing literature utilising this technology for studies of the MHC. However, what is generally lacking is detailed documentation of the methods used, and clear reasoning, for each step. Here we document detailed methodology, using an Australian lizard, Egernia stokesii, as a case study, with explanations, for MHC amplification, sequencing and allele identification. This work provides molecular ecologists with a comprehensive guide to follow, particularly when first employing next-generation sequencing techniques similar to those used here. In addition, the E. stokesii MHC genotypes derived from this work provide foundation data for future investigations of the influence of social structure on the MHC.


Scholarly debate on the use of deceased controls in epidemiologic research continues. This systematic review examined published epidemiologic research using deceased persons as a control group. A systematic search of 5 major biomedical literature databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and EMBASE) was conducted, using variations of the search terms "deceased" and "controls" to identify relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. Information was sought on study design, rationale for using deceased controls, application of theoretical principles of control selection, and discussion of the use of deceased controls. The review identified 134 studies using deceased controls published in English between 1978 and 2015. Common health outcomes under investigation included cancer (n = 31; 23.1%), nervous system diseases (n = 26; 19.4%), and injury and other external causes (n = 22; 16.4%). The majority of studies used deceased controls for comparison with deceased cases (n = 95; 70.9%). Investigators rarely presented their rationale for control selection (n = 25/134; 18.7%); however, common reasons included comparability of information on exposures, lack of appropriate controls from other sources, and counteracting bias associated with living controls. Comparable accuracy was the most frequently observed principle of control selection (n = 92; 68.7%). This review highlights the breadth of research using deceased controls and indicates their appropriateness in studies using deceased cases.


Dolerite dykes provide the only manifestation of igneous activity in the thick, Riphean to Lower Cambrian, weakly metamorphosed sedimentary sequence of Varanger Peninsula. Major and trace element abundances and ratios from two distinctive generations of mafic dyke, one metamorphosed and cleaved and the other post-metamorphic and fresh, reveal disparate grouping and trends in several variation diagrams. Older metadolerites show an overall major-element compositional similarity with abyssal tholeiites, a relationship which is confirmed by most trace element concentrations and ratios. Certain element abundances, together with the tectonic environment, suggests however that these dykes are representative more of magmas transitional to those producing abyssal and Continental tholeiites. The younger dolerites are also subalkaline though less typically tholeiitic than the metadolerites. Comparison of their element contents and ratios reveals calc-alkaline affinities, as well as similarities with data for Continental tholeiites. The trend of relative enrichment in Si, Ba, Zr, Rb and alkalies in the dolerites may possibly signify a greater depth of magma generation than that which produced the metadolerites. The petrogenesis of the dyke sets is discussed in the light of the regional geology and recently published K-Ar whole-rock ages which place the dolerites in the uppermost Devonian and date the metadolerites, provisionally, as Riphean. D. Roberts, Norges geologiske undersøkelse. P.0.80x 3006, N-7001 Trondheim, Norway


BACKGROUND
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is considered one of the healthiest dietary models, as it decreases the risk of chronic diseases and may modulate the organism's early response to environmental pollution. In recent decades, Mediterranean countries have been replacing their traditional diet with other less healthy eating habits, especially among children and teenagers.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the MD and the level of adherence to it in 6-8 year old Italian children, in relation to residence, lifestyle, and social and family contexts.

METHODS
A questionnaire was administered to the children's parents in two seasons in 5 Italian towns. The diet section contained 116 questions investigating the frequency of consumption of different types of food. The Italian Mediterranean Index (IMI) was calculated according to the intake of 6 typical Mediterranean and 4 non-Mediterranean foods. On the basis of IMI score, MD adherence was classified as low (≤ 3 IMI score), medium (4-5) and high (≥ 6). Total energy load and diet composition in micro- and macronutrients were calculated from consumption frequency.

RESULTS
Diet analysis was computed on 1164 subjects with two complete questionnaires. Body mass index, calculated for each subject, showed that 28.9% of the children were overweight, the figure varying slightly with area of residence. Our findings showed that 59.0% of the children had a low score for MD adherence.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study showed that most Italian children did not follow the MD and socio-economic characteristics appeared not to be associated with type of diet.


Language-processors that are constructed using top-down recursive-descent with backtracking parsing are highly modular, and are easy to implement and maintain. However, a widely-held inaccurate view is that top-down processors are inherently exponential for ambiguous grammars and cannot accommodate left-recursive syntax rules. It has been known that exponential time and space complexities can be avoided by memoization and compact graph-structured representation, and that left- recursive productions can be accommodated through a variety of techniques. However, until now, memoization, compact representation, and techniques for handling left-recursion have either been presented independently, or else attempts at their integration have compromised modularity and correctness of the resulting parses.
Specifying syntax and semantics to describe formal languages using denotational notation of attribute grammars (AGs) has been widely practiced. However, very little work has shown the usefulness of declarative AGs for constructing computational models of natural language. Previous top-down approaches fall short in accommodating ambiguous and general CFGs with arbitrary semantics in one pass as executable specifications. Existing approaches lack in providing a declarative syntax-semantics interface that can take full advantages of dependencies between attributes of syntactic constituents to model linguistically-motivated cases.
This thesis solves these shortcomings by proposing a new modular top-down syntactic and semantic analysis system, which is efficient and accommodates all forms of CFGs. Moreover, this system provides notation to declaratively specify semantics by establishing arbitrary dependencies between attributes of syntactic categories to perform linguistically-motivated tasks such as: building directly-executable natural-language query processors, computing meanings of sentences using compositional semantics, performing contextual disambiguation tasks, modelling restrictive classes of languages etc.


This paper presents a work in progress on the task of unsupervised parsing, following the main stream approach of optimizing the overall probability of the corpus. We evaluate a sequence of experiments for Czech with various modifications of corpus initiation, of dependency edge probability model and of sampling procedure, stressing especially the treeness constraint. The best configuration is then applied to 19 languages from CoNLL-2006 and CoNLL-2007 shared tasks. Our best achieved results are comparable to the state of the art in dependency parsing and outperform the previously published results for many languages.


Modern risk analysis studies of the power system increasingly rely on big datasets, either synthesized, simulated, or real utility data. Particularly in the transmission system, outage events have a strong influence on the reliability, resilience, and security of the overall energy delivery infrastructure. In this paper we analyze historical outage data for transmission system components and discuss the implications of nearby overlapping outages with respect to resilience of the power system. We carry out a risk-based assessment using North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Transmission Availability Data System (TADS) for the North American bulk power system (BPS). We found that the quantification of nearby unscheduled outage clusters would improve the response times for operators to readjust the system and provide better resilience still under the standard definition of N-1 security. Finally, we propose future steps to investigate the relationship between clusters of outages and their electrical proximity, in order to improve operator actions in the operation horizon.


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently sent contact lens practitioners a letter advising them that the FDA had asked manufacturers to indicate a maximum recommended wearing time of 7 days for cosmetic extended wear soft contact lenses. This paper discusses the authority of the FDA and the legal consequences of the FDA's "7-day Letter." Congress has authorized the FDA to enact rules, guidelines and recommendations. The 7-day letter does not appear to be any of the above. However, it does have a significant effect on contact lens practitioners' professional responsibilities and legal obligations because the letter has led to changes in product labeling and the standard of care for extended wear patients. Practitioners would be wise to give careful consideration to any deviation from the FDA's recommendation and the provisions of the product labeling. As any deviation will likely impose greater legal responsibility on the practitioner, the special circumstances that justify the deviation should be thoroughly documented in an informed consent agreement.


Abstract : This report describes work done on Contract DAAG29-81-K-0173, An Investigation of Millimeter Wave Propagation in the Atmosphere: Measurement Program, conducted by the Georgia Tech Research Institute during the period September 1981 through May 1987. The objective of this program was to measure the effects of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of millimeter wave radiation, with emphasis on inclement weather effects. Five separate measurement sessions were conducted at a site near Urbana, Illinois, and these measurements were made jointly with personnel from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who furnished meteorological instrumentation and information on experiment design. Personnel from the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory at White Sands Missile Range also contributed to this program. Measurements were made at frequencies near 118, 142, 173, and 230 GHz to cover all of the major atmospheric features in the millimeter wave spectral range, and were made during clear air, rain, fog, and snow. The equipment comprised a small step-van transmitter truck and an array of four receivers, pumped by a common local oscillator, mounted in a semi-trailer.


Violence has always been part of the human experience. Its impact can be seen, in various forms, in all parts of the world. Overall, violence is among the leading causes of death worldwide for people aged 15-44 years. "Genderbased violence (GBV) is the general term used to capture violence that occurs as a result of the normative role expectations associated with each gender, along with the unequal power relationships between the two genders, within the context of a specific society." While women, girls, men and boys can be victims of GBV, the main focus of this resource package is on violence against women and girls. The present study was done to demonstrate medico legal aspects of violence against females.


Between 1992 and 2011 a series of archaeological excavations and an evaluation were carried out in advance of limestone quarrying at Dimmock's Cote, Wicken, Cambridgeshire, by Oxford Archaeology East (formerly CAMARC and Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit). These investigations encompassed a total stripped area of c.5.3ha and a total study area of c.7.9ha.
This document brings together the results of all of the archaeological interventions within the current quarry area. These revealed activity of Early Neolithic to post-medieval date. Notably, several Early Neolithic pits were identified, which contained significant quantities of pottery and flint, including a single piece flint sickle-knife. Moderate quantities of Early Neolithic flint and pottery were also recovered from natural solution hollows.
Early Bronze Age activity included a C-shaped monument, whose ditch contained a small collared urn. In addition, several sherds of Beaker pottery were found within two pits. There was also evidence for Middle Bronze Age activity and significant Late Bronze Age finds. These included a very tightly crouched inhumation burial, which has been radiocarbon dated to 1130-900BC and a series of pits and postholes. Among these was a rectangular six-post structure, from which several sherds of pottery were recovered, while a complete loom weight was found in a further posthole nearby.
The most significant Iron Age find was a crouched burial, with a complete pottery vessel, radiocarbon dated to 350-30BC. A rectangular enclosure with a series of internal postholes may represent an Iron Age shrine. However, very little pottery, a whelk shell and an intrusive fragment of a horseshoe were recovered from it.
Roman remains included field system ditches and an enigmatic sub-circular feature. This may have been a hayrick, but it was isolated and yielded a significant pottery assemblage suggestive of occupation and perhaps association with a small structure, possibly a shelter for a shepherd.
Ridge and furrow were present across most of the site, as were a series of small grub huts. These contained pottery of 12th to 14th century date and were aligned on a ridge in the ridge and furrow. They were unusually small and late for traditional grub huts and the small finds assemblages they contained argues against full time occupation. Two silver pennies were found, one in a furrow and the other in the ploughsoil.


This indispensable new guide to Canadian history is comprehensive, authoritative, and--above all-- companionable. It the essential guide to the significant events, issues, institutions, people, and places that have shaped Canadian life from earliest times to the late twentieth century. In more than 1,700 entries, the country's leading historians describe and analyze events in political, military, social, economic, cultural, and intellectual history, drawing on the latest scholarship. Topics such as gambling, potlatches, abortion, hockey, capital punishment, jackatars, and shipwrecks find a place alongside more traditional entries like prime ministers and suffragists, exploration and fur trade, railways and responsible government. Politicians, soldiers, scientists and industrialists, feminists, social activists and religious leaders, all make an appearance. Vikings and Basque whalers, Jesuits and filles du roi, the Huron Feast of the Dead, privateers, charivaris, the Acadian grand derangement, the Metis buffalo hunt, rebellions, the On-to-Ottawa trek, bunkhouse men and bush pilots, the battle at Vimy Ridge, gold rushes, Spanish influenza, Frontier College, corvettes, trade unions, midwives, Automatistes, the Mad Trapper, La Bolduc, free trade and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, all contribute to the fascinating story which is Canada's history. Entries are arranged from A-Z and fully cross-referenced, with a complete index to guide readers to related topics. This new companion provides learned, accessible, and up-to-date studies of the key subjects and personalities in Canadian history.


Emotion recognition is attracting the attention of the research community due to its multiple applications in different fields, such as medicine or autonomous driving. In this paper, we proposed an automatic emotion recognizer system that consisted of a speech emotion recognizer (SER) and a facial emotion recognizer (FER). For the SER, we evaluated a pre-trained xlsr-Wav2Vec2.0 transformer using two transfer-learning techniques: embedding extraction and fine-tuning. The best accuracy results were achieved when we fine-tuned the whole model by appending a multilayer perceptron on top of it, confirming that the training was more robust when it did not start from scratch and the previous knowledge of the network was similar to the task to adapt. Regarding the facial emotion recognizer, we extracted the Action Units of the videos and compared the performance between employing static models against sequential models. Results showed that sequential models beat static models by a narrow difference. Error analysis reported that the visual systems could improve with a detector of high-emotional load frames, which opened a new line of research to discover new ways to learn from videos. Finally, combining these two modalities with a late fusion strategy, we achieved 86.70% accuracy on the RAVDESS dataset on a subject-wise 5-CV evaluation, classifying eight emotions. Results demonstrated that these modalities carried relevant information to detect users' emotional state and their combination allowed to improve the final system performance.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been recognized as a promising communication technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). In particular, smart grid applications rely on WSNs for enabling pervasive monitoring and control of the electric grid. However, these applications are commonly deployed in harsh environments that adversely impact the reliability of low-power wireless links in WSNs. Efficient link quality estimation has been shown as a prerequisite to overcome link unreliability. Several WSN Link Quality Estimators (LQEs) have been proposed in the literature. However, there is a lack of real world experimentations that investigate their adequacy to assess low-power links in smart grid environments. To fill this gap, this paper presents a thorough experimental study of representative LQEs in a smart grid distribution substation. Both single and composite LQEs are evaluated in terms of reliability, stability and reactivity, by analyzing their statistical behavior. This study would help system designers choose the most appropriate estimators for smart grid environments. Especially, it shows that composite LQEs, such as Opt-FLQE, F-LQE, and four-bit, are more reliable than single LQEs, including PRR, WMEWMA, and RNP. Further, experimental results show that Opt-FLQE is found to be the most reliable estimator, F-LQE, PRR, and WMEWMA are the most stable estimators, while Opt-FLQE, RNP, and four-bit are the most reactive LQEs.


INTRODUCTION
Much scientific research focuses on assessing and understanding individuals' perceptions of sexual pleasure, enjoyment and satisfaction. Many existing measures of pleasure and satisfaction provide valuable information but are limited in their ability to assess event-level quality.

AIMS
To develop a scale for measuring the event-level quality of a sexual experience that could be used regardless of the age, gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status of the individual and across sexual activity types.

METHODS
Interviews about the measurement of sexual quality and pleasure were conducted with 15 experts in the field of sexual health and informed the development of an event-level scale to measure the quality of sexual experiences. Scale items were administered to a cross-sectional nationally representative probability survey of Americans ages 18 to 60.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Socio-demographic items; Quality of Sexual Experience (QSE) scale items; event-level items related to overall sexual quality ("Quality item"), comparison to other sexual events ("Comparison item"), and orgasm ("Orgasm item").

RESULTS
QSE scores were significantly correlated with responses to the Quality Item (r=0.901, P<0.001 for both women and men). Better experiences were associated with significantly higher QSE scores than were worse experiences; significant linear relationships were found for both women (GLM F[4,1461]=129.46, P<0.001) and men (GLM F[4,864]=71.84, P<0.001). QSE scores were significantly related to responses on the Orgasm Item for women [F[3,1430]=246.53, P<0.001] and men [F[3,858]=117.24, P<0.001].

CONCLUSIONS
The QSE scale is a valid and reliable event-level measure of the quality of a sexual experience in both women and men with outstanding psychometric properties. Clinical and research implications are discussed.


Regime analyses and cultural studies are exclusionary approaches to the study of democratization but they present thematic interfaces on theoretical and historical problems. Such are the issues of clieritelism and of the normative concept of democracy, the relevant sociopolitical actors, the level and unit of analysis, etc - which both approaches face differently. This article reviews these differences, and maintains that they reveal the internal limitations and unsolved theoretical problems of both approaches, as challenges for a more comprehensive theoretical and empirical approach to democratization.


This work represents a synthesis of the information available on the urban centres of the Roman province of Lusitania. The purpose of the study is to identify the most important cities of Lusitania, using evidence provided by historical sources, epigraphic finds, and the archaeological record. According to Roman historical sources, many of the major cities of modern Portugal and Spain had already been established by the end of the third century AD. However, these sources do not present a clear chronological portrait of the development of many of these cities from indigenous settlements to important components of the Roman administration of the province of Lusitania. While a thorough discussion of this process lies well beyond the bounds of the current project, this study does represent the first synthesis of the historical, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence for the earliest imperial Roman presence at the cities of Lusitania.


ABSTRACT GIS software applications and other mapping tools enable users to correlate data from multiple layers and gain insight from the resulting visualizations. However, most of these applications only feature basic, monolithic layer compositing techniques. These techniques do not always support users effectively in their tasks, as we observed during interviews with GIS experts. We introduce MapMosaic, a novel approach based on dynamic visual compositing that enables users to interactively create and manipulate local composites of multiple vector and raster map layers, taking into account the semantics and attribute values of objects and fields in the compositing process. We evaluate MapMosaic 's interaction model against that of QGIS (a widely used desktop GIS) and MAPublisher (a professional cartography tool) using the 'Cognitive Dimensions' framework and through an analytical comparison, showing that MapMosaic 's model is more flexible and can support users more effectively in their tasks. We also report on feedback obtained from experts, which further confirms the potential of this highly dynamic approach to map layer compositing.


Abstract Objective: The study investigated the associations between fine particulate matter (PM2.5; <2.5 μm in diameter), indoor environment, pulmonary function, and healthcare utilization in a vulnerable group of elderly persons with asthma. We hypothesized that environmental conditions were associated with adverse pulmonary health outcomes. Methods: The study involved elderly (n = 76; mean age 64.6 years; 48 women) vulnerable persons in Detroit, Michigan, USA, with physician-diagnosed asthma. Exposure variables included measured outdoor PM2.5, self-rated outdoor and household environmental pollutants. Outcome variables were self-rated and measured pulmonary function, and asthma-related healthcare utilization. Results: Mean ambient PM2.5 concentrations during the study was 14.14 ± (S.D. 6.36) µg/m3 during the summer and 14.20 (6.33) during the winter (p = 0.95). In multiple regression analyses, adjusting for age and gender, mean 6-month concentration of PM2.5 was related to shortness of breath (SHOB; standardized β = 0.26, p = 0.02) and inversely with self-rated respiratory health (SRRH; β = 0.28, p = 0.02). However, PM2.5 did not predict lung function (FEV1% predicted and FEV1/FVC). However, PM2.5 was related to use of asthma controller drugs (β = 0.38, p = 0.001). Participants' air pollution ratings predicted total healthcare utilization (β = 0.33, p = 0.01). Conclusions: In elderly persons with asthma, living near heavy industry and busy highways, objective and perceived environmental pollution relate to participants' respiratory health and healthcare utilization. Importantly, air pollution might increase use of asthma controller drugs containing corticosteroids with implication for elderly persons' risk to develop osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.


To employ SiC/SiC composite as blanket components of a fusion reactor, permeation behavior of helium gas has to be investigated since the helium is used as the coolant. For this purpose, a vacuum system consisting of upstream and downstream chambers was fabricated for the measurement of permeability, and the permeability was measured for several SiC/SiC composite materials recently developed. For the pressure range from 102 to 105 Pa in the upstream chamber, the pressure rise due to the permeation of helium in the downstream chamber linearly increased with the pressure of the upstream chamber. Then, the permeability was roughly constant for the pressure range of the upstream chamber. The permeabilities of SiC/SiC composites produced by polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP), hot pressing (HP) and melt-infiltration-finished PIP were 5 × 10−5, 4 × 10−6, and 9 × 10−7 m2/s, respectively. In the matrix structure of the SiC/SiC composite made by the PIP method with a high permeability, cracking in the matrix and pores of micron size were observed. Compared to these materials, SiC/SiC composites produced by liquid phase sintering using submicron or nanopowder of β-SiC and the HP method had extremely low permeabilities. The permeability of the SiC/SiC composite made by using submicron or nanopowder of β-SiC became 1.5 × 10−9 or 4 × 10−11 m2/s. Based upon the present data, the helium gas flow was analyzed for a blanket module consisting of only SiC/SiC composite. If a vacuum pump is attached to the module, the helium leak into a plasma can be ignored, compared to the heliums produced by fusion reactions. Hence, the entire module can be made by only SiC/SiC composite, from a viewpoint of helium permeation.


The article examines some trends in curriculum development for children with learning difficulties in Ghana, drawing some comparisons from perspectives in the United Kingdom. Reference is made to a research on the institutionalisation of children with learning difficulties to illustrate the contradictions and dilemma that exist in the teaching of quantitative concept or arithmetic to children with learning difficulties in two special schools in Ghana. The article argues the need to address the learning needs of pupils with difficulties. Example of the focus of these needs are the development of quantitative concepts and survival arithmetic through differential learning experiences, while a review of methodology or approaches to teaching is underlined. It is important to reiterate that this article is part of a major study on the institutionalisation of children with mental retardation in two residential schools in Ghana, and consequently reference is made to the research study when examples are cited from schools in Ghana. African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences Vol. 2(1) 2004: 75-82


Symmetry-based neural networks often constrain the architecture in order to achieve invariance or equivariance to a group of transformations. In this paper, we propose an alternative that avoids this architectural constraint by learning to produce canonical representations of the data. These canonicalization functions can readily be plugged into non-equivariant backbone architectures. We offer explicit ways to implement them for some groups of interest. We show that this approach enjoys universality while providing interpretable insights. Our main hypothesis, supported by our empirical results, is that learning a small neural network to perform canonicalization is better than using predefined heuristics. Our experiments show that learning the canonicalization function is competitive with existing techniques for learning equivariant functions across many tasks, including image classification, $N$-body dynamics prediction, point cloud classification and part segmentation, while being faster across the board.


In this work a new kind of CaSiO3-doped α-Ca3(PO4)2 ceramic materials, with compositions lying outside the field of the Ca3(PO4)2 solid solution in the system Ca3(PO4)2- CaSiO3, were obtained and some of their properties, relevant for bone repairing, were studied in vitro. Crystalline α-Ca3(PO4)2 solid solution and minor amounts of non-equilibrium residual glass were the only phases in the materials containing 2 and 5 wt% of CaSiO3. α-Ca3(PO4)2, crystalline eutectic-like phase and residual glass were observed for sample containing 15 and 20 wt% of CaSiO3. The mechanical strength improved for all the doped ceramics with regard to un-doped Ca3(PO4)2. The release of ionic Ca and Si in simulated physiological conditions increased with the content of CaSiO3 and favored α-Ca3(PO4)2 surface transformation. The soluble components extracted from the CaSiO3-doped α-Ca3(PO4)2 bioceramics were not cytotoxic to human fibroblastlike cells. Initial cell adhesion onto the surface of the materials seemed to be partially hindered by surface reactivity and remodeling, however those cells adhered to the experimental bioceramics were viable and proliferated normally.


The model of the γ→α transformation calculated with the CATRAN program is described. The expected effect of former austenite grain size on the transformation kinetics as well as the final microstructure is analyzed and compared with experimental data. The effect of austenite grain size distribution spread on the transformation kinetics is also considered and must be included as the additional input parameter in the computer model of austenite decomposition. In particular, probable variations of grain size non-uniformity should be taken into account when comparing transformation kinetics observed in the dilatometer experiment and under industrial conditions.


We consider the classic problem of pole placement by state feedback. Our recent work [1] offered an eigenstructure assignment algorithm to obtain a novel parametric form for the pole-placing gain matrix to deliver any set of desired closed-loop eigenvalues, with any desired multiplicities. The method was adapted from the classic eigenstructure assignment algorithm of Kautsky, Nichols and van Dooren [2]. In this paper we employ this parametric formula to introduce an unconstrained nonlinear optimisation algorithm to obtain a gain matrix that delivers any desired pole placement with optimal robustness.


The algebraic code excited linear prediction (ACELP) algorithm, due to low complexity and high quality in its analysis-by-synthesis (AbS) optimization, has been adopted by many speech coding standards. In this paper, the scalability of computational complexity to the global pulse replacement search method for ACELP is proposed. In addition, the proposed method can achieve the lowest computational complexity with perceptually negligible degradation. Based on the standard subjective and objective quality measurements, the experimental results reflect the facts.


Contact hole array imaging is compared to line-space grating imaging to determine the resolution of contact hole features printed by stepper lenses. Both calculated and experimental results are reported. Image intensity profiles, IIPs, have been calculated for selected cross-sections of square contact holes and equal line-space gratings. The calculations are done according to the method of Hopkins for circular aperture optical systems, partial coherence levels, fractional pupil fill (S), of 0.5 and 0.7, and various levels of optical defocus. The calculated results show that for S = 0.7, at resolution levels (i.e., half-pitch of equal line-space grating or the width of the square contact) greater than 0.9 λ/NA, the IIP of the lateral cross-sections of contact hole arrays to be equal to or better than that of the correspondingly dimensioned gratings. At resolution levels less than 0.9 λ/NA, the contact hole IIP degrades rapidly with respect to the grating IIP. A comparison of the lateral and diagonal cross-sections of contact holes with no defocus aberration shows that the shape of the contact changes from a 'square' to a 'circle' in the 1.25 to 1.00 λ/NA range. In the 1.0 λ.NA resolution region the lateral contact hole IIP has a greater intensity than that of the space of the grating. The effects of optical defocus on contact hole imaging are examined for g, h, and i-line stepper lens at the same λ/NA resolution levels. Contact hole IIPs degrade more rapidly with optical defocus than the correspondingly dimensioned grating IIPs. Experimental comparisons between contact hole and grating resist images are presented for several stepper lens systems. The comparison between calculated and experimental results shows significantly less than 'perfect' imaging for some stepper lenses. Contact hole imaging characteristics are much more sensitive to residual aberrations in the optical system and can be used as a relative measure of the magnitude of these aberrations.


Phoenix rising? Minding the gaps? Learning lessons from intimate publics

In November 2008 I started a blog. I called myself 'phoenixrising' and my blog 'mindingthegaps'. My first post set out my aims, which were firstly to provide 'a window on what I am willing to share/make public and what I want to keep private', secondly a way to 'trouble the academic habit of presenting a clever front' and thirdly a test of my willingness to 'ramble publicly'. These aims arose out of my experience. I felt that being a PhD student had started to involve silencing other aspects of my life which were nevertheless, I believed, part of my PhD student 'self'. They thus connected with some age old feminist concerns and with debates around reflexivity, voice and self (here, specifically, 'the academic self'), particularly as they pertain to auto/biographical productions. My blog was intended to be both academic production and cultural artefact (I am also producing a quilt) and a way for me to address limiting beliefs I had about my technical and technological competency.

Seven months later I posted the following

When I started this blog I wanted to explore the borders of public and private. It seemed like quite an adventure. However, what I have learned in the past days is that there is a serious side to this. As is my wont, I set out full of hope and excitement and in joyful expectation of the learning that lay ahead, little imagining the mischief some may make of this. I wish wisdom would join me as a travelling companion. Or even common sense. I was aware that 'putting myself out there' would expose me to critical scrutiny but I did not anticipate it would also expose me to personal scrutiny and attack. This has been salutary.

This paper is an auto/biographical account of the months between these two posts.


Environmental harms exert a significant toll and pose substantial economic costs on societies around the world. Although such harms have been studied from both legal and social science perspectives, these disciplinary-specific approaches are not, on their own, fully able to address the complexity of these environmental challenges. Many legal approaches, for example, are limited by their inattention to the motivations behind environmental offences, whereas many social science approaches are hindered by an insufficient grounding in current legislative frameworks.

This edited collection constitutes a pioneering attempt to overcome these limitations by uniting legal and social science perspectives. Together, the book's contributors forge an innovative socio-legal approach to more effectively respond to, and to prevent, environmental harms around the world. Integrating theoretical and empirical work, the book presents carefully selected illustrations of how legal and social science scholarship can be brought together to improve policies. The various chapters examine how a socio-legal approach can ultimately lead to a more comprehensive understanding of environmental harms, as well as to innovative and effective responses to such environmental offences.


Whilst the excitonic properties of J-aggregates have been investigated in great detail, those of H-aggregates have not been systematically investigated yet. In this regard, we have explored the exciton dynamics and excited-species formation processes in columnar H-aggregates of planar PBI dyes that are stacked in a helical fashion by various spectroscopic techniques such as time correlated single-photon counting and femtosecond pump–probe measurements with anisotropy changes. The outcome of this study is that photogenerated excitons in helically stacked PBI dyes experience complicated relaxation processes that involve excited-state interactions such as exciton delocalization and excimer formation. To scrutinize the exciton dynamics in the helically stacked aggregates, we have also included distorted bay-substituted PBI dyes as reference molecules that exhibit either no or only relatively small-sized dimeric aggregate structures. The comparative study revealed that the excited-state interactions in the large-sized helically stacked aggregates extend beyond two PBI units, leading to a final excimer (here, excimer means not only an "excited dimer" but an "excited multimer") trap state within ∼50 ps. Although in competition with this relaxation path into the excimeric trap state, exciton diffusion has been revealed by exciton–exciton annihilation processes, occurring at high excitation power. Whilst the excimer formation process interrupts the direct observation of exciton diffusion in these columnar PBI aggregates, the exciton migration distance could be estimated by the incorporation of non-fluorescent PBI quencher molecules. From this analysis we can conclude that the exciton diffusion can reach a length of about 10 monomer units. Although this value appears to be shorter than those values observed for J-aggregates, this result shows that columnar PBI stacks might still be useful for optoelectronic applications if the relaxation process leading to excimer traps is prevented, e.g. by structural modifications of the molecules.


Objectives: Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer, and has a 5-year survival rate of about 40% to 45%. This ratio ranges from 15% to 95%, based on prognostic factors. There are numerous clinical, pathological and biological factors related to prognosis. The aim of this study was to assess prognostic factors in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: A total of 119 stage III and stage IV ovarian cancer patients were evaluated. The patient's age, menopausal status, age of menarche, number of children, height and weight values, surgery, tumor histopathological features, presence of metastasis, residual tumor volume, presence of ascites, abdominal lavage cytology, chemotherapy regimen, number of chemotherapy cycles, the first and last chemotherapy dates, relapse, and recent status were evaluated. Results: The median age of the study patients was 54 years (minimum: 34, maximum: 79 years). The pathological stages were 10 (8.6%) patients with IIIA, 6 (5%) patients with IIIB, 76 (63.9%) patients with IIIC, and 27 (22.7%) patients with stage IV. In multivariate analysis, age of diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.22-087; p=0.01), postoperative tumor residual status (HR: 0.32; 95% CI, 0.14-0.71; p<0.01), number of adjuvant chemotherapies (HR: 0.48; 95% CI, 0.23-0.98; p=0.04), and platinum sensitivity (HR: 0.37; 95% CI, 0.18-0.74; p<0.01) were found to be independent variables related to longer survival. Notably, a patient treated with more than 6 cycles of chemotherapy had a worse prognosis. Conclusion: Independent indicators of a poor prognosis in our study were determined to be advanced age at diagnosis, a residual tumor more than 2 cm in size, more than 6 cycles of chemotherapy, and the presence of platinumresistant disease. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to improve prognosis.


BACKGROUND
Few studies have investigated occupational groups reporting low rates of sickness absence because of an assumption that these rates indicate low morbidity. This is inconsistent with the view that sickness absence, which may be caused by social and psychological rather than medical factors, does not equate with morbidity. This paper investigates rates of sickness absence and factors influencing decisions not to take sick leave among doctors and a comparative professional group.

METHODS
A postal survey was sent to 670 general practitioners (GPs), 669 hospital doctors and 400 company 'fee earners'. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 64 doctors reporting an illness lasting one month or more in the last three years.

RESULTS
Self-reported health status was similar for both groups but GPs reported higher levels of occupational stress. However, doctors were significantly less likely to report short periods of sick leave in the previous year. Over 80 per cent of all respondents had 'worked through' illness, citing cultural and organizational factors behind their decision not to take sick leave. Barriers to sick leave among doctors included the difficulty of arranging cover and attitudes to their own health.

CONCLUSIONS
Considerable emphasis has been given to the role of social factors in contributing to rates of sickness absence. These may also contribute to the decision not to take sick leave, resulting in possible inappropriate non-use. Measures to encourage and enable doctors to take sick leave might improve the management of their own health.


Cervical cancer screening is not routinely done in Cameroon because of poor knowledge of the disease. This study evaluated the validity of VIA test, assessed women's knowledge on cervical cancer and assessed the relationship between knowledge score and previous screening participation. Between June and September 2018, this cross-sectional study enrolled 256 women aged between 25 and 65 years at the Douala General Hospital. After filling in a structured questionnaire, consented respondents were screened for cervical cancer using the Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) and the Papanicolaou (Pap) smear. Descriptive statistics were carried out using SPSS v 20. Of the 256 respondents, 30 [11.7%, 95% CI: 8.2 - 16.0] and 34 [13.3%, 95% CI: 9.3 - 17.5] were positive for Pap smear and VIA test, respectively. VIA test had the sensitivity of 80.0% and the specificity of 95.6%. About 251 [98.0%, 95% CI: 96.1 - 99.6] respondents were aware of cervical cancer; 236 [92.2%, 95% CI: 88.7 - 95.3] other had poor knowledge of the disease but 95 [37.1%, 95% CI: 31 - 43] declared previous screening participation. Respondents with satisfactory knowledge score were more likely to have had previous screening participation [OR= 2.89: 95%CI: 1.08-7.70, p= 0.029] than those with poor score. High prevalence of cervical cancer and low previous screening participation were attributed to poor knowledge of the disease, thus necessitating a planned health education.

 Key words: Cervical cancer, Pap smear, VIA test, sensitivity, specificity, knowledge.


A novel detection method of laser direction and wavelength synchronal is fabricated by combining the four wedges and CMOS array camera. The unitized wedges we designed are composed of the four same wedges, and the joint is non-transparent. When the laser incident in the random direction, we calculate the distance of interference fringes in the four wedges, and deduce laser direction and wavelength. By simulation, it generates the drawings of optical path difference and the mini-distance when the minimum identification angle is 1o. In experiment, when we choose the angle of wedge is 0.01rad (≈0.57o), the distance of interference fringes is 10μm, larger than 8μm in CMOS array camera, so the interference fringes with the 532nm laser can be detected.


If Europe is serious about climate change, it has to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, thereby effectively going to a (near-) zero carbon energy and thus, electricity system. The European Climate Foundation, Eurelectric, and the International Energy Agency have consequently published a study elaborating on the final goal of this transition. The studies project scenarios of how such a (near-) zero electricity system would look like and provide recommendations on the policies needed to guide the transition. In this paper, we observe that these studies tell a tale with many similarities. In spite of increased energy efficiency, the electricity demand is projected to increase substantially, with up to 50% from today towards 2050, due to shifts from other sectors towards electricity. This demand will be supplied by a minimum of 40% electricity generation by RES, with the remainder being filled up with nuclear and fossils with CCS. The importance of grid reinforcement, expansion, and planning in this context is emphasized in all three studies. While all three studies further recommend relying on the EU ETS for the transition, the European Climate Foundation and the International Energy Agency consider continuing with targets for RES in combination with a more harmonized EU RES support scheme.


Worldwide, the demand for organic food products appears to have expanded quickly in recent years, stimulated by consumer perceptions that organic products are safe, clean and ethical. The growth rate was estimated to be around 10-20 per cent per annum in the next few years, with sales reaching $US 29-31 billion in 2005. The biggest growth in consumption has occurred in developed countries, such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan that are also major importers of organic foods. It is clear that Australia, traditionally a major exporter of agricultural products, stands to benefit from the expansion in demand for organic products. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the Australian organic food products industry, including production, marketing and certification of organic foods, with the aim of assessing whether the opportunity presented in the world market will be able to be taken. Major issues facing the Australian organic industry are discussed and areas for future research are identified. Production issues include the small production base and conversion to organic farming, while marketing issues focus on prices and product integrity. When applicable, market situations for organics in Europe and the United States are also reviewed to serve as a reference point for comparison.


Summary form only given. The role of signal processing has traditionally been assumed away beyond the physical layer. The idea of transmitting one user at a time forms the basis of most MAC protocols. In this talk, we argue that a cross-layer design that takes into account signal processing capabilities at the physical layer will result in substantial gains in network throughput and stability margin. We consider the applications in the reach-back problem for a large scale sensor network and the use of an antenna array in wireless LAN.


Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) is a cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous chronic and acute inflammatory conditions. In the present study, we have characterized the ability of TNFalpha in inducing eosinophil accumulation in rat skin and have shown the inhibitory effects of anti-alpha4 integrin and anti-vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) antibodies on this response. The intradermal injection of recombinant human TNFalpha induced a slowly developing, dose-dependent accumulation of 111In-eosinophils in rat skin that was maximal at the dose of 10(-11) mol/site. Coadministration of TNFalpha with the soluble TNFalpha receptor (p55)-IgG fusion protein (TNFR-IgG) totally inhibited the 111In-eosinophil accumulation induced by the cytokine. The TNFalpha-induced 111In-eosinophil accumulation was not affected after pretreatment of rats with the platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor antagonist UK-74,505 or the antihuman interleukin-8 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) DM/C7. In contrast, the intravenous administration of an anti-alpha4 integrin MoAb, HP2/1 (3.5 mg/kg), or an anti-VCAM-1 MoAb, 5F10 (2 mg/kg), greatly inhibited the 111In-eosinophil accumulation induced by TNFalpha (the responses detected at 10(-11) mol/site were inhibited by 78% and 50%, respectively). These results show that TNFalpha is an effective inducer of eosinophil accumulation in vivo, with this response being dependent on an interaction between alpha4 integrins and VCAM-1.


APPLICATION OF A STATISTICAL ZONATION TECHNIQUE TO GRANNY CREEK FIELD IN WEST VIRGINIA VENKATA KRISTAMSETTY The significance of dividing the sedimentary intervals into flow units reflects groups of rocks that has similar geologic, physical properties and depositional environment that affect fluid flow. Variations in rock properties result from depositional, diagenetic and post-depositional changes. A flow unit is a volume of a reservoir rock that is continuous laterally and vertically and has similar averages of those rock properties that affect fluid flow. In this study, a statistical zonation technique developed by Testerman to identify and describe naturally occurring zones in a reservoir is applied to Granny Creek field in West Virginia. This technique is particularly useful in describing a reservoir where crossflow between adjacent strata is important in determining reservoir behavior. We established a linear relationship between the core permeability and density from the log in the cored wells to predict the permeability of the uncored wells, allowing for extension of flow units to these wells. Then the flow units from well to well were correlated by statistical calculation. Although it has been used for permeability zonation, the technique is general and can be used to correlate any reservoir property. .


An anthology of simple Urdu prose which will act as an intermediate stage between an elementary teaching course and a study of the literature itself has long been needed. In this respect Dr. Narang's selection of literary prose passages is certainly a welcome addition to the few Urdu textbooks which have recently become available. The book is intended for students who have acquired the elements of the language and wish to increase their vocabulary and reading proficiency. The passages have been arranged more or less in order of difficulty and a serial glossary, full enough to suit the needs of the student for whom the book has been designed, accompanies the text on the opposite page. The pronunciation of each word is indicated in transcription followed by the meaning or by an explanation, which is often all too brief. The glossary also contains notes on grammar or style which are brief and occasionally misleading. In my own experience a serial vocabulary accompanying almost any text during the first years of study is extremely useful for the student who is obliged to read a vast quantity of literature rapidly in a limited amount of time. Looking up every word in a dictionary can be a tedious process and would seem to do little to increase the student's interest in a language which, like Urdu, possesses such a wide and varied vocabulary.


We present an alternative scheme for the generation of the entangled microwave radiation with amplification in single triple-Λ five-level molecular magnets driven by two strong control fields and one relative weak pump field. By numerically simulating the dynamics of the system, we show that three fully entangled modes with different frequencies can be obtained in the presence of the relaxations. Our numerical results also show that the entanglement occurs among the three cavity fields with a large number of photons. Physically, the responsible mechanism is quantum coherence. Two strong control fields induce two cavity modes coupled with the strong-driven levels to a quantum beat, and then the relative weak pump field leads to the parametric interaction between such a beat with the third mode coupled with the weak-driven level. The present work provides an efficient approach to achieve tripartite continuous-variable entanglement in the molecular magnets system, which may be necessary for the progress of solid-state quantum information.


Questionnaire-based zygosity assessment in twins has generally been found to be valid. In this report we evaluate sex- and age-differences in the validity of such questionnaire-based classification when using the four questions that have been the basis of zygosity assessment in The Danish Twin Registry for half a century. Three hundred and forty-two male and 531 female twin pairs were zygosity diagnosed using genetic markers and the results compared with the original questionnaire based classification. We found significant differences in the accuracy of questionnaire based zygosity diagnosis when stratifying the data for sex as well as age: males and monozygotic having the highest misclassification. However, even in the group with the highest misclassification rate the frequency was less than 8%. The overall misclassification rate was only 4%, with a clear tendency towards a higher proportion of misclassified monozygotic than dizygotic twins. The results demonstrate that questionnaire based zygosity diagnosis can still be regarded as a valid and valuable classification method for most purposes.


Ordered double perovskite oxides (Sr2-3xLa2xBax)FeMoO6 (0≤x≤0.3) have been investigated in this work. X-ray powder diffraction reveals that the crystal structure of the compounds changes from a tetragonal I4/m lattice to a cubic Fm 3m lattice around x=0.2. Though the nominal average size of the A site cation of (Sr2-3xLa2xBax)FeMoO6 is designed to be almost independent of x, the refinements of the crystal structure show that the lattice constants increase with x in both the tetragonal and the cubic phase regions due to electron doping. As the x increases, the degree of cationic ordering on the B site is decreased pronouncedly, while the Curie temperature of the compounds is nearly unchanged.


Heparin has long been established as an anticoagulant. Although heparin has been demonstrated to reduce brain injury after ischemia and reperfusion, its mechanism of action remains unknown. Recent investigations reveal that it can modulate biological processes such as binding to adhesion receptors on endothelial cells and leukocytes. The authors hypothesized that heparin's protective effect is closely related to its antileukocyte adherence property. They evaluated the efficacy of sulfated polysaccharides (unfractionated heparin, low-molecular-weight heparin, heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate C, and dextran sulfate) on leukocyte accumulation, infarction size, and neurological outcome after transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats subjected to 1 hour of ischemia and 48 hours of reperfusion. Forty-nine animals were included in the study. The animals receiving unfractionated heparin or dextran sulfate showed a significant reduction in leukocyte accumulation, infarct size, and neurological dysfunction 48 hours after reperfusion (p < 0.05) when compared to untreated animals. The animals receiving unfractionated heparin also showed significantly better results than the animals receiving an equivalent anticoagulant dose of low-molecular-weight heparin. These data indicate that heparin's antileukocyte property plays a more important role than its anticoagulant ability in neuronal protection. The relative potency of the sulfated polysaccharides tested in leukocyte depletion was closely related to their degree of sulfation. Thus, in addition to demonstrating the potential efficacy of heparin as a therapeutic agent for ischemia and reperfusion injury by the prevention of leukocyte accumulation, the results also serve as a basis for studying important cellular and molecular events that contribute to tissue damage.


: Within the framework of a joint Russian-Norwegian project on human health assessment under the eight-nation Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, a study of persistent organic compounds was conducted in 42 non-indigenous women who delivered in the hospitals of Norilsk and Salekhard during February and March 1995. Samples of venous blood, breast milk, umbilical cord blood, and placental tissue were collected. The concentration of organochlorines (chlorinated pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls) was estimated by high-resolution gas chromatography, and levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with a fluorescence detector. The results obtained are related to, first, the global transport of organochlorine contaminants not used in Arctic, and second, the level of local food consumption, especially freshwater fish, smoked and dried. A comparison of the results of this study with the data of the Inuit Health Survey was made. This has shown that the discrepancy between Canadian and Russian data may be explained by differing dietary factors.


The electronic or pneumatic multi-section and multi-probe gauges are widely used for diameter and coaxiality measurements due to their high measurement efficiency in workshops. However, their measurement accuracy is determined mainly by the manufacturing errors of the assembly coaxiality master, therefore, how to establish coaxiality measurement datum reference is the key technology. The physical coaxiality masters are expected to be the impossible "zero error datum reference". The higher manufacturing accuracy of the masters, the more expensive for their manufacturing costs. A novel mathematical method on the basis of error separation principle was proposed in order to separate the manufacturing errors of the master. The basic principle is that the eccentric error of the coaxiality master can be expressed as the first harmonic function and the ideal zero-error datum reference could be established by the mathematical method of two sampling operations in phase difference of 180° in coaxiality master for gauge initialization. This method can be called as "mathematical datum reference" for coaxiality measurement. Experimental results indicate that the coaxiality measurement results of the multi-section and multi-probe gauge by the novel mathematical method coincide with those of the three-coordinate measuring machine and the maximum difference of both is about 0.0014 mm. The new coaxiality measurement principle can separate the datum error of the coaxiality master theoretically and can improve the coaxiality measurement accuracy greatly with the common accuracy coaxiality master.


In past studies, patients with cholera and cholera‐like diarrhoea treated with rice oral rehydration solution (ORS) had lower purging rates and a shorter illness duration. We evaluated a new packet form of rice ORS (CeraLyte‐90) in 167 boys aged 5 to 15 y, with acute, dehydrating cholera and cholera‐like diarrhoea in Bangladesh. The patients were randomized to receive either CeraLyte‐90 (n= 85) or glucose ORS (n= 82) and were given early feeding and early antibiotics. The efficacy of the two solutions was compared for stool output during the first 8 h, the first 24 h, and total output, duration of diarrhoea, hematocrit, serum electrolytes and requirement for unscheduled intravenous fluids. The clinical and laboratory characteristics of the two groups were comparable on admission, and most of the patients had cholera (88% and 84% in the CeraLyte and glucose groups, respectively). The mean (± SE) stool output was 20% less in the rice ORS group during the first 8 h of treatment (86.2 ± 6.6 ml/Kg vs 108 8 ± 7.9 ml/Kg, p < 0.05), but the outputs during the other time periods were similar in the two groups, although children in the rice ORS group had slightly more vomiting on day one (p < 0.05). The mean serum electrolyte concentrations in both groups of children remained within normal range.


This thesis examines a number of literary texts from and about the nineteenth-century American South through a transatlantic lens, in order to consider mutations and alterations in the pastoral tradition importantly fostered in the region by Thomas Jefferson. Due to the turbulent political and, eventually, military situation in the United States during the period under discussion, detailed attention is given here to the many ways in which literary pastoral was adapted in response to shifting regional needs. The thesis begins by considering the pastoral influences on the political philosophy of Jefferson, specifically his notion of America as a pastoral New Jerusalem . It establishes the emergence of American pastoralism through the colonization process, and examines how an English yeoman ideal came to exist in the colonies. Part Two maps and evaluates alterations to the Jefferson ideology in several Southern novels of the antebellum period (especially John Pendleton Kennedy s Swallow Barn and Nathaniel Beverley Tucker s The Partisan Leader), such as a focus less on the small farmer than on the land more generally, that emerged in the face of the political threat from Northern abolitionism. This section of the thesis also considers plantation literature s idyllic tropes in a new light by utilizing the American travel writing of British authors particularly Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope so as to establish a parallax interpretive position. In Part Three, the thesis provides detailed examination of Southern texts of the postbellum period, with especial focus upon writings by Mark Twain and the lesser-known Virginian writer Mary Tucker Magill s novel, The Holcombes. This section investigates the reimagining of and by the South following defeat in the Civil War. Focused on returns to, and further divergences from, the original Jeffersonian ideal of the pastoral, it also emulates Part Two in turning to selected English writing here, Thomas Hardy s own fictional negotiations of significant rural change so as better to identify and assess the politics of the Southern literary imagination.


Interneurons are essential to controlling excitability, timing, and synaptic integration in neuronal networks. Golgi cells (GoCs) serve these roles at the input layer of the cerebellar cortex by releasing GABA to inhibit granule cells (grcs). GoCs are excited by mossy fibers (MFs) and grcs and provide feedforward and feedback inhibition to grcs. Here we investigate two important aspects of GoC physiology: the properties of GoC dendrites and the role of calcium signaling in regulating GoC spontaneous activity. Although GoC dendrites are extensive, previous studies concluded they are devoid of voltage-gated ion channels. Hence, the current view holds that somatic voltage signals decay passively within GoC dendrites, and grc synapses onto distal dendrites are not amplified and are therefore ineffective at firing GoCs because of strong passive attenuation. Using whole-cell recording and calcium imaging in rat slices, we find that dendritic voltage-gated sodium channels allow somatic action potentials to activate voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) along the entire dendritic length, with R-type and T-type VGCCs preferentially located distally. We show that R- and T-type VGCCs located in the dendrites can boost distal synaptic inputs and promote burst firing. Active dendrites are thus critical to the regulation of GoC activity, and consequently, to the processing of input to the cerebellar cortex. In contrast, we find that N-type channels are preferentially located near the soma, and control the frequency and pattern of spontaneous firing through their close association with calcium-activated potassium (KCa) channels. Thus, VGCC types are differentially distributed and serve specialized functions within GoCs. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Interneurons are essential to neural processing because they modulate excitability, timing, and synaptic integration within circuits. At the input layer of the cerebellar cortex, a single type of interneuron, the Golgi cell (GoC), carries these functions. The extent of inhibition depends on both spontaneous activity of GoCs and the excitatory synaptic input they receive. In this study, we find that different types of calcium channels are differentially distributed, with dendritic calcium channels being activated by somatic activity, boosting synaptic inputs and enabling bursting, and somatic calcium cannels promoting regular firing. We therefore challenge the current view that GoC dendrites are passive and identify the mechanisms that contribute to GoCs regulating the flow of sensory information in the cerebellar cortex.


This article brings together two case studies that examine how nontransgender people, "gender normals," interact with transgender people to highlight the connections between doing gender and heteronormativity. By contrasting public and private interactions that range from nonsexual to sexualized to sexual, the authors show how gender and sexuality are inextricably tied together. The authors demonstrate that the criteria for membership in a gender category are significantly different in social versus (hetero)sexual circumstances. While gender is presumed to reflect biological sex in all social interactions, the importance of doing gender in a way that represents the shape of one's genitals is heightened in sexual and sexualized situations. Responses to perceived failures to fulfill gender criteria in sexual and sexualized relationships are themselves gendered; men and women select different targets for and utilize gendered tactics to accomplish the policing of supposedly natural gender boundaries and to repair breaches to heteronormativity.